24.5.15
I tend to do better in discernment by means of negative results. That is by making mistakes I tend to learn more than by any kind of inherent intuition. That is the reason that I hold by a small set of things that I concentrate on. I tend to see that by deviating from this set that things go haywire.
Not everyone I know is like that. My learning partner seems to have an inherent compass. He tends to see fallacies in different groups even before getting involved in them. Not me. I need to jump into the boiling water to find out how hot it is.
So this explains why my priorities are things that my parents told me and I did not listen to. I learned eventually that they knew a lot more about the world and the way things are that I ever could.
This also makes me see the importance of the State of Israel, and also learning Torah. It is not that I have such great appreciation for any of the above. It is just that when I see when either I or others abandon any of these things that highly negative results follow.
My parents were very much into the idea of being a mensch--a decent moral person with all that implies.The Ten commandments. Working for a living and never asking for and never accepting charity. Going to university [and not to be a rabbi under any circumstance]. Never to use the Torah for money. But to learn Torah and keep it in every last detail. Learning Physics and Math also was very high on their list of priorities. And also Mozart. and general classical music.
Not everyone I know is like that. My learning partner seems to have an inherent compass. He tends to see fallacies in different groups even before getting involved in them. Not me. I need to jump into the boiling water to find out how hot it is.
So this explains why my priorities are things that my parents told me and I did not listen to. I learned eventually that they knew a lot more about the world and the way things are that I ever could.
This also makes me see the importance of the State of Israel, and also learning Torah. It is not that I have such great appreciation for any of the above. It is just that when I see when either I or others abandon any of these things that highly negative results follow.
My parents were very much into the idea of being a mensch--a decent moral person with all that implies.The Ten commandments. Working for a living and never asking for and never accepting charity. Going to university [and not to be a rabbi under any circumstance]. Never to use the Torah for money. But to learn Torah and keep it in every last detail. Learning Physics and Math also was very high on their list of priorities. And also Mozart. and general classical music.
The path of Torah is hard to figure out. I have a basic approach that is this learn and do the whole Written Torah and the whole Oral tradition. Now the Oral tradition is admitted not the same level as prophecy. But it is a vigorous and rigorous attempt at understanding the Torah. The oral tradition it something that is a kind of grey area. But at least we know what was actually given in tradition.
There is no doubt about what the Talmud is or how it came to be written. It was written by flawed men but contains the basic tradition of how the Jewish people understood the word of God, It is not some mysterious book that some person claimed was revealed to him.
So while it can be hard to figure out how to apply the Talmud to our daily lives still we know what it is and basically what it says.
The Zohar is not that. But that does not mean I think there is no validity in Isaac Luria. It is just that the Zohar I see as problematic.
Musar I think got way too much influenced by Kabalah. I would suggest a modification of the Musar movement based on the school of thought of the son of the Rambam and the whole geonic school. before kabalah confused everything.
All books of Jewish Ethics after the the Zohar accept the paradigm of the Zohar. This I am not happy about. Kabalah is a mixed bag. On one hand you have Isaac Luria, Shalom Sharabi, and Yaakov Abuchatzeira , who were amazing and great people that served God and received true revelations.
On the hand (--and what makes it all confusing) is that the Zohar is not what it claims to be. It is not from Shimon Bar Yochai as Rav Yaakov Emden made all too clear in his book showing that the Zohar cant be from the Rashbi.
On one hand you can have mystics. That is a kind of personal revelation type of thing. On the other hand you have text based mysticism--based on Zohar. And in the later I see very little good. I think it is what caused the insane religious world to fall into the Sitra Achra.
There is no doubt about what the Talmud is or how it came to be written. It was written by flawed men but contains the basic tradition of how the Jewish people understood the word of God, It is not some mysterious book that some person claimed was revealed to him.
So while it can be hard to figure out how to apply the Talmud to our daily lives still we know what it is and basically what it says.
The Zohar is not that. But that does not mean I think there is no validity in Isaac Luria. It is just that the Zohar I see as problematic.
Musar I think got way too much influenced by Kabalah. I would suggest a modification of the Musar movement based on the school of thought of the son of the Rambam and the whole geonic school. before kabalah confused everything.
All books of Jewish Ethics after the the Zohar accept the paradigm of the Zohar. This I am not happy about. Kabalah is a mixed bag. On one hand you have Isaac Luria, Shalom Sharabi, and Yaakov Abuchatzeira , who were amazing and great people that served God and received true revelations.
On the hand (--and what makes it all confusing) is that the Zohar is not what it claims to be. It is not from Shimon Bar Yochai as Rav Yaakov Emden made all too clear in his book showing that the Zohar cant be from the Rashbi.
On one hand you can have mystics. That is a kind of personal revelation type of thing. On the other hand you have text based mysticism--based on Zohar. And in the later I see very little good. I think it is what caused the insane religious world to fall into the Sitra Achra.
23.5.15
Music link from the n series
n47 mp3 n47 midi n47 nwc format
mathematics
n54 [n54 midi] [n54 nwc]
black hole [black hole in midi] [black hole nwc]
hs
Written in Borispol Airport [Kiev] while waiting for a plane to NY.
p120
orchestra piece
mathematics
n54 [n54 midi] [n54 nwc]
black hole [black hole in midi] [black hole nwc]
hs
Written in Borispol Airport [Kiev] while waiting for a plane to NY.
p120
orchestra piece
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)