The pervasive idolatry that one finds in the religious world is upsetting.

 I tend to see Reform and Conservative as more in accord with Torah because these groups lack the idolatry aspect that one usually gets in the religious world . But I can not account for why this is. It would seem that the more people would be interested in keeping Torah, the farther away from idolatry they would get. But in practice, the effect seems to be just the opposite.

And to stay away idolatry is not just a minor issue in Torah. It is the major point.

You can see this in for example the case of a עיר הנידחת a city that has been seduced to serve idolatry that is burnt. That is the whole city. And even its ashes are forbidden to be be used for any purpose. And in fact because of this, I tend to stay away from the religious. The pervasive idolatry that one finds in the religious world is upsetting. 

[You would think that since idolatry is the one and most issue in Torah that it would have the most weight.  Yet the religious seem to ignore the issue. So the best idea is to avoid the religious world unless this issue gets fixed.]

[I should add that this problem seems to be a lot less in the Litvak world which goes by the Gra. Still no one in the religious world seems innocent in this regard. Clearly the Gra himself saw this problem and for that reason signed the letter of excommunication. But the Gra in this very important issue is ignored,]

[There is also an odd fact that everyone sees this but no one mentions it--like the king's clothes. And I think that one ought to object. After all even if one's objection is not heeded, still there is an obligation to show that the religious does not represent the Torah at all, since the idolatry makes the whole thing forbidden.]  

[It is no accident that the vast majority of Jews do not want any connection with the religious because the fact that the religious put on this show and dance about how they supposedly keep Torah, but in fact worship dead people.]

Just to give an idea of how serious the issue of idolatry is let me mention that not just עיר הנידחת the city that has most of its peopled doing idolatry needs to be burnt to a crisp but even the ashes are forbidden to be used. Or at least that seems clear from the Tosephta and Gemara.   

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There is a major point that I gained from the advice of Rav Nahman that I wanted to share. One is the path of learning. Even though the idea of learning fast is common place in the great Litvak yeshivas based on the Gra, still Rav Nahman puts it in a way that makes it possible for even small mediocre people like me to get to  levels of learning. Say the words and go on even without understanding. The deeper reasons he said this might be many. However I found this to be a great benefit, whether in Torah, or also later in Physics.  For if I had gotten stuck on  every single point in learning before I could go on, I never would have gotten anywhere. However, the only way to get to authentic Torah learning is through the Gra and the great Litvak yeshivas. But if one is in a authentic Litvak yeshiva then the advice of Rav Nahman is an amazing help.

[And in Litvak yeshivas there is an emphasis on review and learning in depth. What seems the best to have some kind of combination. For example, half learning in depth and the other half just saying the words and going on.]

You can see that the Torah takes a dim view of worship of any being besides God alone.]

Laws of Idolatry. When the Torah says "this and that" there is an argument between R Yoshiyahu and R Yonathan whether it means this or that or both, or if it means it has to be both. This comes up in Bava Metzia chapter 11.

This might explain the the fact that the Rambam says a city that has been seduced to serve idolatry "ir hanadachat" is from 100 to the majority of a tribe but also that the number of people that have been seduced can not be less than 100. However anywhere from 200 and up, it is enough to have the majority of the city. So it looks like the Rambam is understanding you need two conditions in order to be a ir hanidachat. It has to be a city of no less than hundred and that you need no less that 100.

This way of looking at that Gemara does require some explanation. The way Tosphot understands it along with most other rishonim is the city has to be no less than 100 but the actual number of seduced people is just the majority; i.e. 51 in a city of 100. Why in a city of 100 you need the whole city is hard to understand unless the Rambam is understanding that you need the city itself and the number of those seduced to be two condition that you need both like the opinion when the Torah says this and that it means both together.

[You can see why I stay away from the religious world as far as possible since I think they all are deeply into idolatry except for the people that follow the Gra. You can see that the Torah takes a dim view of worship of any being besides God alone.] 

the religious teachers are the enemies of Torah.

 Even though Rav Nahman emphasizes the importance of not speaking lashon hara [slander], he still peppers the Le.M with his idea that the religious teachers are the enemies of Torah. The subject of  "Torah Scholars who are demons" comes up in the LeM vol. I chapter 12 and 28.  Rav Israel Odesser the founder of the Na Nach group even makes the same point מפורסמים של שקר ("the famous people that are frauds"). That is the language Rav Nahman uses in LeM volume II chapter 1. And Rav Israel Odesser says אם מפורסם הוא שקר ("If one is famous, then you know he is a fraud"). 

So to where can one go to learn Torah. It is not automatic that even the name of "Breslov" involves actually following the advice and ideas of Rav Nahman. In fact, usually it does not. So to my mind it seems clear that Litvak yeshivas [based on the path of the Gra] are the only places where one can go to learn authentic Torah. And within that context, it is good to learn Rav Nahman's advice and follow it.

 I can see that Hegel wants to use the idea that opposites turn into each other to get to his idea of sublimation. The opposites subsumed in some higher idea of being until everything reaches the Absolute Idea. But to me it seems he is lacked the idea of "birur" sifting. That is separating what is good from what is evil.  [Maybe you might say that birur is implicit in what he means, but to me it does not seem that way. And the lack I think of this idea  means that lots of dumb ideas could be hung on Hegel and there does not seem to be any kind of "birur process".

On the other hand, he is a post Kant person that seems to me to take account of Kant, but avoids much of the mind is needed for matter that seems a bit too much embedded in "Idealism". He might be going with mind but his mind is "Logos", not the human minds of Kant. Or even animal minds. There was plenty of matter before there were minds.

There is an idea you see a few times in Tehilim [psalms] of searching out the works of God. [E.g psalm105.] This corresponds to what some rishonim wrote about the importance of learning Physics and Metaphysics.  This was an issue at the Mir. It was not thought to be proper to be at the Mir and also to go to university. In one way the Mir was right. Most of what is taught in universities is pseudo science. But not everything. If they would stick with the natural sciences that would be great. Allan Bloom wrote in the Closing of the American Mind the problems with the departments outside of STEM.

[Even though when Ibn Pakuda and other rishonim emphasized Metaphysics their intension was concerning Aristotle still I think you have to count Kant, Hegel, and Leonard Nelson [i.e. that particular post Kant approach.] Physics I think means String Theory, but that would include some of the background behind it like Algebra and Topology.]