I thought it relevant to mention that from an early age I had a great interest in Physics and Chemistry. In part it was just my own curiosity about how the world works and in part from love and admiration for my Dad. But neither of my parents actually indicated that they wanted me to go into those fields. They definitely let my own interests guide me.
But I also think that they saw a numinous kind of value [holy value] in those fields along the same lines that you see in early Rishonim like Ibn Pakuda (Obligations of the Heart) and Maimonides/ Rambam.
In the Rambam, Physics and Metaphysics takes on a dimension that you do not see much. To him, learning these two subjects are a fulfillment of the commands to love and fear God.
But as he points out in the Guide, the intention of learning these subjects has to be directed towards the goal of coming close to God.[That is in the parable of the king at the end of volume 3.]
If I may, I would like to suggest that I also see something in these subjects that one could call "tikunim"(corrections). Tikunim is an idea mainly associated with Rav Nahman of Breslov. With Rav Nahman saying certain parts of Torah have a corrective power for various problems.[The list is too long to go into here. In short, for almost any problem you can think of, he has some verses or sections of Torah that are a correction for it. But I think he means to say them daily for 40 days in a row of more until the problem is solved. Not just to say them once.]
The most famous example is the ten psalms (16,32,41,42,59,77,90,105,137,150). But there are lots of other examples in his writings.
So what I am thinking is that the very act of learning Math and Physics is a tikun. [Though there is support for this idea in the very beginning of Rav Nahman's major book and in other places inside it, I am not depending on those places since people can argue that that is not what those place imply. But in the Rishonim the issue is much more clear.]
In the Rambam, Physics and Metaphysics takes on a dimension that you do not see much. To him, learning these two subjects are a fulfillment of the commands to love and fear God.
But as he points out in the Guide, the intention of learning these subjects has to be directed towards the goal of coming close to God.[That is in the parable of the king at the end of volume 3.]
If I may, I would like to suggest that I also see something in these subjects that one could call "tikunim"(corrections). Tikunim is an idea mainly associated with Rav Nahman of Breslov. With Rav Nahman saying certain parts of Torah have a corrective power for various problems.[The list is too long to go into here. In short, for almost any problem you can think of, he has some verses or sections of Torah that are a correction for it. But I think he means to say them daily for 40 days in a row of more until the problem is solved. Not just to say them once.]
The most famous example is the ten psalms (16,32,41,42,59,77,90,105,137,150). But there are lots of other examples in his writings.
So what I am thinking is that the very act of learning Math and Physics is a tikun. [Though there is support for this idea in the very beginning of Rav Nahman's major book and in other places inside it, I am not depending on those places since people can argue that that is not what those place imply. But in the Rishonim the issue is much more clear.]
