Emanation of the Ari is not the same thing as the belief that nothing exists besides God.
There is a verse: "You were shown to know that the Lord is God, there are no others besides Him." אתה הראתה לדעת כי ה' הוא האלהים אי עוד מלבדו.
The Rambam explains this verse in the beginning of Mishne Torah that the existence of all beings is dependent on God, but his existence is independent. He writes in halaka 4 that that is the meaning of the verse אין עוד מלבדו.
הוא שהנביא אומר וה' אלקים אמת הוא לבדו אמת ואין לאחר אמת כאמתו והוא שהתורה אומרת אין עוד מלבדו כלומר אין שם מצוי אמת מלבדו כמותו
But to get the full picture of what the Rambam is saying it helps to look also at halaka 3 where he explains all beings need Him, but he needs none of them.
I once had long essay on this where I brought the Ari concerning the צמצום (Contraction). The Ari brings in the beginning of the Tree of Life that God contracted Himself to make a place for Creation.
There is no logical connection between this and the issue of whether anything else besides God exists.
Even though in ארבע מאות שקל כסף there is one place that the Ari says God contracted his light to make a place for creation, that still does have any logical relation to the question.
The issue is more serious however.
Things exist or they don't. This is a simple result of the law of the excluded middle.
Madmen might deny the existence of reality, but I see no reason to take their views seriously.
Common sense says I exist and you exist. And I am not God, and you are not God. If someone does not see that, there is nothing more plain and simple to appeal to.
If people are very clever in books, but are reduced to justifying themselves by confusion and lunacy like this, then that is their sufficient refutation.
[Frankly the whole business seems to me to be part of the general nature of the Sitra Akra (evil inclination) to go around in the world convincing people of all kinds of terrible nonsense. Each person is approached with some different kinds of nonsense. But there is always some grain of truth to it that makes it sound reasonable. A hundred year ago anyone with brains thought socialist revolutions were the greatest thing since the wheel was invented. It take a long time for nutty ideas to be revealed for what they really are--long after they have done their irreparable damage.
There is a verse: "You were shown to know that the Lord is God, there are no others besides Him." אתה הראתה לדעת כי ה' הוא האלהים אי עוד מלבדו.
The Rambam explains this verse in the beginning of Mishne Torah that the existence of all beings is dependent on God, but his existence is independent. He writes in halaka 4 that that is the meaning of the verse אין עוד מלבדו.
הוא שהנביא אומר וה' אלקים אמת הוא לבדו אמת ואין לאחר אמת כאמתו והוא שהתורה אומרת אין עוד מלבדו כלומר אין שם מצוי אמת מלבדו כמותו
But to get the full picture of what the Rambam is saying it helps to look also at halaka 3 where he explains all beings need Him, but he needs none of them.
I once had long essay on this where I brought the Ari concerning the צמצום (Contraction). The Ari brings in the beginning of the Tree of Life that God contracted Himself to make a place for Creation.
There is no logical connection between this and the issue of whether anything else besides God exists.
Even though in ארבע מאות שקל כסף there is one place that the Ari says God contracted his light to make a place for creation, that still does have any logical relation to the question.
The issue is more serious however.
Things exist or they don't. This is a simple result of the law of the excluded middle.
Madmen might deny the existence of reality, but I see no reason to take their views seriously.
Common sense says I exist and you exist. And I am not God, and you are not God. If someone does not see that, there is nothing more plain and simple to appeal to.
If people are very clever in books, but are reduced to justifying themselves by confusion and lunacy like this, then that is their sufficient refutation.
[Frankly the whole business seems to me to be part of the general nature of the Sitra Akra (evil inclination) to go around in the world convincing people of all kinds of terrible nonsense. Each person is approached with some different kinds of nonsense. But there is always some grain of truth to it that makes it sound reasonable. A hundred year ago anyone with brains thought socialist revolutions were the greatest thing since the wheel was invented. It take a long time for nutty ideas to be revealed for what they really are--long after they have done their irreparable damage.
