Renewal for Liberals?

Poh, that link to Steinsaltz Aleph Society has a very nice section on what they call Daf Yomi which is an essay about of each of the Talmud sections. Very nicely assembled. I will be reviewing this as a supplement to my Talmud classes. Thanks for the link.
 
Poh, I've never mentioned that book.
I'm sorry - maybe it was BB - I'm pretty sure it was one of you and the book is a good reference (now I'll have to go back and check my notes when I heard about this book or it will drive me crazy wondering) .... and Avi, you're welcome. he hawai'i au, poh
 
dauer said:
There's also a bit of more recent writing that challenges the notion human development can be fully understood in terms of levels that I'm looking forward to studying.
well, the interesting thing about both spiral dynamics and the kabbalistic frameworks is that they're holistic rather than strictly hierarchical, in that it isn't seen as a [simple] teleological progression but rather a process of ongoing development requiring all levels, nodes and connections to be in dynamic equilibrium.

yes, i meant 2d rather than 5d.

When you're talking about tensions, do you mean the way we could talk about a sefirah of a sefirah within an olam?
i suppose so, but that's more of a subtle, partzufic tension, the more overt tensions are those between the left, right and middle pillars and within the top, middle and bottom triads, as well as between the five dyads of the Tree, in particular the integrative tension between 6=9 and 1=10.

If so, I agree, AQAL doesn't seem to handle that as well, although there is a calculus that Wilber came up with for dealing with perspective that's addressed only in a few places which comes closer to that in some ways (I don't remember the calculus but, first you have to divide each of the quadrants into an inside and outside perspective. From there you could have things like a 3rd person perspective of a 1st person interpretation of a 1st person experience.
that sounds far more like the [nested] sefirah of a sefirah within an 'olam approach that you mentioned above and also wilber's idea of a "holarchy", which someone at work compared to a russian doll last week, which i thought was a very useful metaphor.

Where AQAL is useful I think is in providing a basic grammar for interdisciplinary dialogue that transcends traditions. In that sense it seems a bit like the esperanto of ideology and metaphysics. It requires everyone to compromise and in some ways might not function as well as individual systems, but it also allows everyone a way to communicate together. Of course we all know how successful esperanto has been.
oh, i see what you mean. that might be a useful way to talk about it, although of course esperanto is probably rather robust. but then again, estis un rano in mi bideo.

The formula expressed is valid. They might argue that it's only an issue of semantics, but it's at least semantically true.
that's what i meant.

In this case there's a strong hasidic influence on my thought in terms of "Not a leaf turns..." My thinking on this matter is very much in line with Reb Zalman who's used it to argue that Jesus on some level can't be seen as some great evil if a person believes in hashgachah pratit. But you've made similar arguments so maybe our views aren't so dissimilar.
i'm sure they aren't. remember, the hasidic thinking on this is influenced by the ar"izal, so it's going to be similar from where i'm coming from.

Have you written anything on that idea? I'd be interested in reading it.
well, it's nothing that complicated. all it is a theory that having systematically analysed the entire corpus of halakhah, rambam had deduced that the only irreducible axioms in it were these thirteen, from which everything else flowed as a logical consequence. consequently, he found it necessary to state them so categorically as "ani ma'amin be-emunah shleimah" precisely to highlight their unique status as axioms. the list itself is so interesting precisely because rambam is so often portrayed (at least in the traditional world) as a rational dogmatist (in a nice way, that is) whereas precisely what dogma may or may not have meant to him, as opposed to his contemporaries and successors, is a matter of some debate, if you read menachem kellner on the subject, which i do strongly recommend ("must a jew believe anything?") as it touches on the larger subject of the barriers to klal yisrael arising from the systematic misinterpretation of rambam. also, this was not the only list in town.

I've found that Yigdal and ani ma'amin work very well in the siddur because there it can be treated as tefilah rather than philosophy.
as irreducible axioms, they are more suited to contemplative approaches than to analysis.

The first time I picked up on that was when reading a pretty awful interpretive chantable translation of Yigdal by Joel Rosenberg. Worst verse:
"In Israel none arose a prophet like Moshe,
A prophet who would come to see the "image" in the sneh
Torah of truth God gave the people Yisrael,
By truest prophets hand that in God's house would dwell."
dear G!D, that really is shocking stuff. why do they do it? why not just learn the hebrew and come up with a tune that actually fits the scansion, like we do in the sephardi world? besides, ashkenazim miss out several verses of yigdal (and adon 'olam while we're at it).

c0de said:
Personally, (regarding all things mystic) I think that ideas which try to merge/rationalize extra-dimensional experiences with our material existence are ultimately dualistic and subjective.
subjective i understand, but why necessarily dualistic?

Those who want to believe in both the empirical rules of rationality, and want to believe in a connection with the transcendent at the same time are at a loss.
why on earth should that be when the concept of constructive paradox is available? this is precisely what the revelatory concept of synesthesia is alluding to - it is about tension resolved by dynamic equilibrium.

This is why I think we have to redefine our definitions. Instead of assuming that there is a transcendent reality and "us" on the other side of that reality - maybe "we" are already within that "ongoing reality outside of time"...
which is what i think.

dauer said:
Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you could say similarly that a banana is infinite.
i feel as if i should in some way take offence at this. of course a banana alludes to the Infinite by virtue of the curve in its basic form.

Avi said:
One can interprete rationally or irrationally.
to be precise; one may interpret rationally or irrationally based on axioms, but the axioms themselves are likely to be irrational, as it is the nature of axioms to be irreducible and thus a matter of faith on some level.

b'shalom

bananabrain
 
BB said:
i suppose so, but that's more of a subtle, partzufic tension, the more overt tensions are those between the left, right and middle pillars and within the top, middle and bottom triads, as well as between the five dyads of the Tree, in particular the integrative tension between 6=9 and 1=10.

Ahh, okay. I don't think AQAL touches that much at all. Similar problems may be dealt with by looking at different levels, but because they're framed as levels rather than dyads or tryads the approach to them is going to be different and more potential objections to pre/trans fallacy arise.


dear G!D, that really is shocking stuff. why do they do it? why not just learn the hebrew and come up with a tune that actually fits the scansion, like we do in the sephardi world? besides, ashkenazim miss out several verses of yigdal (and adon 'olam while we're at it).

They do it because a lot of people, even if they can read the Hebrew, don't understand it. And for others who do understand, it's not quite the same as hearing one's native tongue. While I would fully support all people who attend shul learning to both read and understand Hebrew, I know that's not going to happen anytime soon if ever. I like some of the chantable English, like Reb Zalman's Yedid Nefesh, and in every setting where I've seen it used it's been at the same time as the Hebrew. That has a nice effect. But this yigdal reminds me of some of the attempts I've seen to translate liturgy into English poetry that isn't meant to be chanted. I can remember when I was little there was some translation of something that would be recited at pretty much every service and I had to fight with myself every time not to start laughing because the rhyme was so ridiculous.


i feel as if i should in some way take offence at this. of course a banana alludes to the Infinite by virtue of the curve in its basic form.

You know, I didn't even have you in mind when I said that. Are you alluding to that interview with that guy from that show who did that other thing about how a banana proves God's existence?

YouTube - Banana's are Proof God Exists
 
D + BB + poh

Shalom ppl :)



@ D

The two approaches of tzimtzum are interesting, although they don't appeal to me because they seem to impose limitations on God (what God "has" to do in order to do something else). And its weird but when I read your initial comment of "a finite manifistation..." I read it quite differently then the Chabad hasidism hypothesis. I agree that God could contain Himself in a finite space if He wanted to (He can do anything, as He says) But if wont "have" to do anything. To me, this seems to be the same riddle: can God create a rock big enough that He cannot lift Himself? I would say yes, God can limit His own power, if He wanted.



@ BB

I wanna know more about this "constructive paradox", do you have any sources for further reading about this on the web? I couldnt find anything.

subjective i understand, but why necessarily dualistic?

Whenever you separate the material and "spiritual," aren't you basically in Cartesian dualism? While the purely phenomenological approach, while monist, is subjective.


@ poh

thnx for the sources poh :)
 
c0de,

And its weird but when I read your initial comment of "a finite manifistation..." I read it quite differently then the Chabad hasidism hypothesis. I agree that God could contain Himself in a finite space if He wanted to (He can do anything, as He says) But if wont "have" to do anything. To me, this seems to be the same riddle: can God create a rock big enough that He cannot lift Himself? I would say yes, God can limit His own power, if He wanted.

If I'm understanding you correctly, that was more or less my point. I don't agree with Chabad's hypothesis. When I say "a finite manifestation of the infinite" I don't mean it as they suggest (indeed, as adherents to the latter approach to tzimtzum, they would also agree with "finite manifestation of the infinite" as I mean it, as a part of a greater totality.) I meant that the way you had originally phrased what you were trying to say, it struck me as being potentially interpretable as a similar approach to Chabad's.
 
I can remember when I was little there was some translation of something that would be recited at pretty much every service and I had to fight with myself every time not to start laughing because the rhyme was so ridiculous.
hah. i hear ya.

Are you alluding to that interview with that guy from that show who did that other thing about how a banana proves God's existence?
nope, except it does anyway. in the words of "mr everything-comes-from-india" from "goodness gracious me":

Banana? Curved. Space-time? Curved? You see? G!D Exist. Obvious isn't it yaar?

c0de said:
I wanna know more about this "constructive paradox", do you have any sources for further reading about this on the web? I couldnt find anything.
stick "synesthesia" and "Torah" or "sinai" into google and follow your nose. the key verse is the one that contains the phrase "and the people saw the sounds".

Whenever you separate the material and "spiritual," aren't you basically in Cartesian dualism? While the purely phenomenological approach, while monist, is subjective.
oh, i see. lucky for me i don't do that, eh?

b'shalom

bananabrain
 
BB + Avi



@ BB

Oh... I know about synesthesia dude. I actually watched a doc once which talked about Moses (pbuh) experience of the burning bush and reduced it down to him eating some wild mushrooms i.e. auditory and visual hallucinations...

But this is a materialist point of view
because it reduces everything down to a neurological processes in the brain. So going back to my comment about merging the transcendental with the material, this POV of "synesthesia" actually rejects the transcendental altogether.

Here is a lecture by Ramachandaran on synthesia that might interest you, im listening to this right now in the other tab: Ramachandran: Synesthesia, Metaphor, Language, & Abstraction • videosift.com



@ Avi

That it is not agreeable to "reason". (I used to be a rationalist too, by the way.)
 
OK - the two of you have lost me completely now .... but today in my daily lessons on the Torah came an answer that I did not expect but is the most exciting thing I have read in a long time. Seems to me (and this is just my opinion) that the issue of whether one follows orthodox, reform, renewal , the teachings of the kaballah or a combination of any of these, the following tells us what we all are looking for and it is connected with the return of the Mashiach . (this is from Lessons in Truth, 27 Av, 5769 ) Hashem has promised the Jewish people that after the coming of the Mashiach, everyone will merit to learn Torah directly from Him, just as we merited to hear the first two of the Ten Commandments directly from Him at Sinai. At that glorious time, all Jews will ascend to the level of prophets, as it is written, "And it will be after this, I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your elders shall dream, your young men shall see visions." (Yoel 3:1)

The interpretation of the above is different from mine, but I see a connection to what I have tried to express in words - in the end we will all walk a different path, but when we reach the mountaintop we will see the same moon. The process to achieve this is buried in the Torah and is a strong part of Kaballah - what happens at the regathering. The Hopi Indian have a saying that also relates to the coming times - they say "this is the time in which we will meet ourselves". Edgar Cayce said when the three become one - meaning when the three hemispheres of the brain merge into one we become whole again. It is an internal process and we must connect our heads back to our bodies. OK - I'm getting carried away, but this is the first time I've read this passage in the way I read it today. Liberals, conservatives - doesn't really matter in the end, we all have the potential to get to the same place and to effect the return and the regathering.

Again in Yoel 3:2 - "Before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, I will set portents in the sky and on earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke; the sun shall turn into darkness And the moon into blood." This is also prophesized in the Hawaiian Chant of Creation, the Kumulipo - but it is done in Hawaiian terminology and legends (which by the way many Hawaiians may not agree with me) one of the sacred or hidden names of the Goddess Pele is Hina-i-ke-ahi which translates as "the-moon-in-flames". There is also an Apache Red Sky Prophecy "the sky suddenly turned back to a liquid and then turned blood red" .

Today is a good day. he hawai'i au, poh
 
Regarding polyamory...

I'm not personally for it. I'm selfish enough that I don't want to share. But I am for allowing adults to choose for themselves how they wish to live, especially when it comes to matters of the home and heart.
. Don't want to share... Does that imply ownership?
 
This poster, Avi, was quite brilliant!!
I can’t help but think of a famous line in Casablanca delivered by Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine — “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” I wonder why that might be.
 
Dauer’s last post was 2020. Wasn’t there a Chabadnik also at that time?
 
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@Avi was banned for some reason by past Admin. The ban has now been revoked and he is free to post here
 
Good to know, RJM. If he channels me, I will let him know 😉. What about RabbiO? Has he learned his lesson about Conservadoxy ?
 
I just know that I read all the threads but it was usually over my head and just made me feel dumber than rocks. I appreciated very much the tolerance they all had for each other.
 
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