The Foolish Acquisition of Knowledge without Heart

HH

Knowledge without Heart

Science is known to be cold and calculating. Science measures time, space, and all that those contain, it even measures the soul, levels of emotion and so forth. What science doesn’t know how to measure is the heart, good and evil. Science in fact tries to ignore this dimension. Science for example, regulates urine and stool examples with extreme professionalism, in a septic environment and system, a brazen face against the real nature of these items that are the waste and excrement that the body rejected which stink and are repulsive. Doctors are considered above the temptations of the flesh as they practice their profession, professionalism is considered somehow to be immune to the dimensions of good and bad, the desires of the heart.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in his most monumental work, his translation and comments on Sefer Yetzira – Book of Creation, writes an amazing chidush (novelty) which he came up with. One dimension (a line) has 2 directions, two dimensions (a plane), adds another factor of two, how far to extend the lines width, making it two to the power of two. Three dimensions, adds breadth, another factor of two, making it two to power of three . These three dimensions are that of space, making space measurable by a factor of 8. Following this, when the dimension of time is added, there will be another factor of two, making it two to the power of four, 16. When the dimension of good and evil is added, there will be another factor of two, making it 32 directions, 32 is Hebrew is LEV – heart!

With this we can gain deeper appreciation for what it says in Proverbs (17:16), “For what is the payment of the fool in his hand, to acquire knowledge but with no heart?” For the book of Proverbs especially belittles the superficial wisdom of science and philosophy. All the money in the world, all the quantification and research, if it is without heart, it is for nothing.

The Torah says that the world was created for man, all of creation, inanimate and all life forms are supposed to be at his disposal. Man is therefore responsible for the wellbeing and welfare of all creation, as its master. However when man sees himself responsible for creation as its servant, this is the exact opposite of the purpose of creation, and it brings absolute mayhem into the world. Because the world was designed to have man as its master, and if man chases after its tail, then this GF throws the whole sequence and order of the world upside down GF.

[The same holds true regarding climate change, the world was created for man, and man must build and beautify it and not destroy it, but at the same time he must not fall subservient to the conduct of nature. The world was created to host man and all his needs, and man need not and should not view himself as an intruder or a slave who must try to help the environment.]

In today’s society people in the city must clean up after their dogs, and so thousands of people without being fazed at all, without any compunction tend to their dogs manure, picking it up with their hands, very scientifically septic with a plastic bag and all, and carry it with them until they can dispose of it properly. This is done purely scientifically not considering for a moment what is really going on. The peoples need for the animal’s love and acceptance is so great to them that they have become subservient to the extent that they stoop to pick up its manure, relying heavily on their scientific knowledge that there is nothing inherently different in manure than anything in the world, it is just a bunch of chemical components thrown together that forms this mass, which might or might not smell, regardless. But because scientifically it is known to be a terrible affront to many people, and it can contain harmful bacteria and so forth, they must remove it, and so they do without any misgiving.

According to science, a male or female is just so many qualities and properties, and all of those can be manipulated as one sees fit, and viola, it is completely arbitrary. Because there is no heart. Sure they will provide the measurements of the emotions of the person, but the heart, the real heart, they can’t touch that whatsoever. On the contrary, they use all the external emotions and physical properties to project and make claims to dictate what the heart is, it is male or female, because this person has such and such emotions and so forth. They make the heart the servant of the external emotions and properties, when it is the exact opposite, the heart is the king of the body, and all the emotions and properties must subject themselves to the heart. So in their empty arrogant ignorance, they claim that they know the heart!

Then these great scholars and scientists weigh their grand opinions on society how to run the country, policy making and so forth. They have everything figured out according to their great knowledge and faith in science, and they confidently and emphatically apply their adept knowledge with great certitude, not being able to fathom at all how anyone can doubt let alone staunchly disagree with their conclusions.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman!

Slaves of Time

HH

Movies drag a person down into the confines of time. This is something that becomes apparent especially when reading the awesome exposition of Rabbi Nussun in Likutay Halachos (Yoreh Daya 2), Laws of Circumcision (4), where he elaborates on the principles Rabbainu revealed about time, mainly that in reality there is no time, just according to the deficiency of daas, as can be seen with dreams when one isn't cognizant a few minutes can seem like eternity with elaborate plots of tens of years transpiring, so time imposes itself proportionately, so that the more daas one has the less he is restrained by time, and his time includes in it vast inordinate amounts of time of those with lesser daas, and a true tzadik has daas which transcends time altogether. This Rabbainu revealed in his Stories of Ancient Times, the story of the Seven Beggars, the Blind Beggar of the first day, is connected to the sense of sight. Thus the Blind Beggar who merited to transcend time was completely blind of the physicality of this world, which didn't amount in his eyes to even an eyeblink. According to the kabala, sight is a feminine sense, and the person who is seeing is on the receiving end. Rabbi Nussun explains a theme found already in Kabala and chasidus that time is a feminine aspect, time specific, the 28 different time enumerated in Koheles, all of these designations are the female aspects which is the vessel for those specific times, each one in its own right. These times constrain a person in their confines, for in reality there is no time, there is just this aspect that the female is the vessel for those times, to be filled and raised to eternity. Thus Rabbi Nussun asserts it is the duty of the male to raise the female to transcend time. This of course is accomplished through keeping the Torah and Mitzvoas which are the vehicles of transposing this world to the infinite. The letters of the Torah and each mitzva are also the aspect of female vessels, and they bring those that induce them to transcend time and the finite properties of this world. Thus when one put his eyes to see the physical world as it is without looking for the Torah inside, especially television, sports, and movies which are intent on captivating a person to concentrate on the physicality of the screenplay, the observer is dragged and incarcerated more in more into the trappings of time and becomes more and more subservient to the confines of time, like inducing a dream, he puts his consciousness deeper and deeper into deficiency of daas and will suffer the increasing dominance of time.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!