Thursday, May 25, 2006
Thoughts on Judaism
This is in relation to my post, Thoughts on God, from last week. In fact, it was part of the same conversation.
I don't see Judaism as a religion. Though it is often classified as a religion, once you get to know it, it is much more of a philosophy of life. That is one reason that I believe the God of Israel is so undefinable. He is the source of all things, the governer of all, and the nurturer of all. That's why I really liked defining God as Love. It seems to embody a "short and to the point" depiction of God. Not a "great eye in the sky", nor impersonal, a person, something seperate from us, or directing the world from afar; rather a very personal, very connected, source of life, linking us all together, and guiding our values.
One of my favorite authors, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, wrote in Invisible Lines of Connection:
There are two ways to understand our relationship with God: God can be above us or we can be within God. In the first, it is possible for us to have a relationship with God. There are two descreet parties who can each behave freely and independently. And since God is other than the world, there must be some things which are not God: A devil, an evil instinct, the "dark side of the force." Evil has its own indelendent existence. It is in business for itself.
In the second model, we are within God; we are one with God. God is everywhere and everything. All being derives its reality from God. According to this paradigm, if God is within all creation, then what appears as evil can only be a distant, albeit distorted, expression of the divine. This doesn't make it "good." But nothing can be entirely separate from or independent of God. Everything, tehrefore, is the way it is "supposed" to be.
We are not so separate from God as we would like to think, nor are we from creation. I believe when we look at our core, at the values and principle things that are transcendent and guide mankind to greater things, what we find is God looking back at us. And that God we find there seems to be well seated within Judaism.
It's interesting to note that when going back over history, what one might call the basic tenets of modern civilization and morality almost all find their origin within Judaism. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach outlines part of this very well in the first chapter of his book, Judaism for Everyone. From belief in the brotherhood of mankind, to our outlook on peace, leadership, values, potential, family, diversity, and other utopian ideals, Judaism is found at their origin, and still instills these values to this day. It is also the one "religion" that focuses not on escaping this world, but rather on enjoying this world (party!), making it a better place (perfecting it), being inclusive of all mankind, and maximizing our potential as humans.
If you're looking for a more scientific approach, I highly recommend Rabbi David Nelson's book, Judaism, Physics, and God. It explores not so exclusive subjects of faith and science, in thankfully non-technical terminology.
As I study, I find myself more and more amazed at how scientifically advanced Torah is, not to mention civilly. I have yet to explore its proposed methmatical perfectness, but I've had one of my friends completely dumbfound me with information about that as well.
