“O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” – Psalm 63:1
It is now our task to pull together the thoughts of our five Jewish sources into a cohesive description of ultimate reality. I believe there is consensus on three general elements: the abstract, the divine being, and the perceived world. Let’s take them individually.
THE ABSTRACT
It seems to me the Old Testament is silent on the abstract pervading reality, but I believe our four thinkers infer correctly of that which is left unwritten. The key abstract pieces they have uncovered are: Truth, Infinity, Being/Non-Being, and Material/Spiritual Dualism. Of these Truth appears universally accepted and appears to be the apex of ultimate reality. Judaism is founded on the vital principal that there is truth instantiated in reality, and the Hebrew Bible offers the highest kind of Truth, although our thinkers differ in their exegesis.
Following Truth is the concept of Infinity or ‘the Infinite’ called Ein Sof in the Kabbalah. The Zohar claims the mysterious Ein Sof is the origin of the divine and entirely outside human understanding as is arguably true for the concept of infinity itself. Our other thinkers more often use the word incomprehensible in place of infinite, but all specifically imply infinity at least in reference to time since God is invariably described as eternal.
The concepts of Being and Non-being are implicated in the Bible when considering the status of living persons and the oblivion awaiting the ‘wicked.’ The Kabbalist conjoins the Infinite and Non-being as the unfathomable source of the Being of the divine while Maimonides uses the via negativa to explain God as neither existent nor not-existent.
Material/Spiritual dualism is asserted most clearly by Philo, but the Bible, Maimonides, the Kabbalists, and Buber all appear to accept that there is a spiritual facet of God and of humans which permits a relationship wholly distinct from that between spirit and matter. Most also agree that the human spirit is the location of faith, morality, and immortality (such as there may be).
In short, Truth, Infinity, Being/Non-being, and metaphysical dualism characterize the underpinning of ultimate reality in the theology of Judaism.
(continued next post)
—————————————–
Having trouble leaving a question or comment? E-mail me at gregoryciliberti@gmail.com
