Think about the most inspiring piece of art you have ever looked at. Or the most powerful book you have ever read. Or the most moving play or movie you've seen.
Now -- why did you find it so beautiful?
There were probably any number of reasons -- it may have changed the way you thought about things. It might have emotionally affected you. It almost certainly stuck with you afterwards.
But despite the fact that whatever you chose was personal and subjective, there seem to be certain facets of beauty that cut across all genres, times and places. Educator Howard Gardner argues in his book Truth, Beauty and Goodness Reframed that there are three main elements of beauty: we find something beautiful if it is interesting, if it is memorable and if it is has a "pull" to it, leading us to continually come back to it.
In fact, it's that third factor, what he calls the "invitation to revisit," that is the sine qua non of beauty. The most beautiful objects are ones we can't seem to leave alone -- there always seems to be more to them than meets the eye at first glance, and the more we experience them, the more we appreciate them. And Gardner explains that this "invitation to revisit" could arise from several possible factors: "one likes the experience, one has curiosity to learn or to understand better, or one has a feeling of awe..." (53)
But what's fascinating is that two of those elements -- curiosity and awe -- are two of the driving forces behind both science and Judaism. They are what lead us to see their inherent beauty.
The beauty of science was eloquently described by Nobel-Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman, who talked about what he saw when looked at a flower:
As he says, while he could appreciate the surface beauty of a flower as well as anyone else, knowing about the science broadened and deepened his experience: "I see much more about the flower... I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty...It adds...[a]ll kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower." So a fuller understanding of science gave him a richer sense of beauty. And notice what specifically what enriched it: curiosity and awe.
So how do these two elements give us a sense of beauty both in science and in Judaism?
Curiosity
As Feynman tells us, the more questions we can ask about something, and the more ways we can look it, the deeper our appreciation of it will be. Indeed, curiosity in science almost demands an "invitation to revisit," asking how we can look at the same set of facts in a new way, and looking to see how an answer to one question leads to a whole host of new ones.
But that same process also guides the study of Jewish texts.
Study in Judaism begins with the Torah. But when we study Torah, we are not supposed to stop at the p'shat, the simple, literal level of the text. Instead, we are primarily seeking to create drashot, inerpretations of the text. We are asking, "What are the unspoken assumptions here? What other questions do we need to ask? What are the different ideas that this text is trying to teach, and how many different ways can we read it?"
We do this because while the text is static, we are dynamic. While we read the same words each day, each week, and each year in our prayerbook and in our Torah, what we take away from them changes. We revisit the same texts because when we repeatedly come back to the same words, we find new meaning in them and new ways to discover values that guide our actions. The text is the always the same -- but we are not.
And so curiosity, asking new questions, always wondering "What else could this mean?", leads us to revisit both scientific data and Jewish texts, and elevates our sense of beauty in both realms.
Awe
Science easily gives us a deep sense of wonder, whether we are looking out onto the vast reaches of space, or are examining how our mind works, or are wondering how the variegated species on this earth arose. But even as we intellectually explore those ideas, there will always be an emotional aspect to that experience that we cannot describe in words.
After all, when we feel a moment of awe, we are not seeking to analyze or describe it. Our most powerful experiences, our most wondrous moments, our most significant encounters simply cannot be put into words, let alone dissected and scrutinized. Indeed, it is that very inability to describe those experiences that makes them so beautiful.
And as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel explains in his landmark book God in Search of Man, that sense of ineffability is the root of religion, as well:
[I]n religious and artistic thinking, the disparity between that which we encounter and that which is expressed in words and symbols, no words and symbols can adequately convey. In our religious situation we do not comprehend the transcendent; we are present at it, we witness it. Whatever we know is inadequate; whatever we say is an understatement. We have an awareness that is deeper than our concepts; we possess insights that are not accessible to the power of expression...
The roots of ultimate insights are found...not on the level of discursive thinking, but on the level of wonder and radical amazement, in the depth of awe, in our sensitivity to the mystery, in our awareness of the ineffable. It is the level on which the great things happen to the soul, where the unique insights of art, religion and philosophy come into being.
[Our experience of God] is the result of wonder and radical amazement, of awe before the mystery and meaning of the totality of life beyond our rational discerning. Faith is the response to the mystery, shot through with meaning; the response to a challenge which no one can forever ignore. (116-117)
And so religion, as Heschel argues, is how we respond to that sense of awe. Religion doesn't begin with trying to prove the existence of God. It doesn't even begin with asking whether we "believe in God" or not. It begins with a moment of mystery. And even if we can scientifically explain that mystery, it will never lose its emotional impact.
Indeed, while curiosity broadens our minds, awe deepens our souls.
Turn it and turn it
Ultimately, it's that combination of curiosity and awe, that mixture of breadth and depth, that joining of head and heart that allows us to see the beauty not only in science, but in Judaism, as well.
In Pirkei Avot, Ben Bag Bag taught that there is always more to Torah than meets the eye. And so we are to "turn it and turn it, because everything is in it." (Avot 5:21) But it's not that the Torah has all the answers -- it's that the more we turn it and turn it, the more we learn about ourselves and our place in the world.
Because there is beauty when we see connections that we had not made before. There is beauty when we discover things we never knew. And there is beauty when we realize just how much we don't know.
After all, the most beautiful things are ones we keep coming back to -- not because the objects themselves have changed, but because we ourselves are constantly discovering new levels of meaning within them.
Follow Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RabbiMitelman
The Beauty in Science and the Beauty in Judaism | Sinai and ...
Sinai and Synapses | Judaism and a Closer Look at Human Nature
Albert Einstein Quotes on Spirituality
Argument from beauty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
beauty as "evidence" of intelligent design (evolution, science ...
It would have been permitted. Abraham was not in possession of the Torah. Torah was revealed six generations latter to Moses. The basic laws which Abraham taught were the Noachide laws. In Jewish legal tradition “Noachide” is a “term of art” and means universal.
God gave humanity six categories of commandments through Adam and Eve. Ten generations latter he added an additional Commandment and gave these seven commandments or seven categories of morals and law to humanity through Noah and Noah’s family, God gave them to humanity’s common ancestors for the good of all mankind, forever. Noah’s descendants failed to properly transmit them. Ten generations after Noah, God taught these same seven Commandments or categories of law to Abraham. It is these Seven Commandments which constitute the universal code which guides all human behavior.
The Sinai revelation was specific to Israel and not binding on "the nations".
Associate professor of biochemistry Michael Behe stated that one result of recent discoveries within the living cell "is a loud, clear, piercing cry of 'design!'" He added that this result of efforts to study the cell "is so unambiguous and so significant that it must be ranked as one of the greatest achievements in the history of science."
Understandably, evidence of a Designer creates problems for those who adhere to the theory of evolution, for evolution cannot account for the sophisticated design within living things, especially at the cellular and molecular levels. "There are compelling reasons," says Behe, "to think that a Darwinian explanation for the mechanisms of life will forever prove elusive."
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20000122/article_02.htm
Jews represent 1.7% of the USA population and only 13,300,000 out of 7,000,000,000 people in the world.
Why not more articles about Shamanism, Wiccans or Druids for example.
Google any religion that interests you. I bet you'll find plenty of info.
So their Faith has never seemed to get in the Way of their Science.
I am a cell biologist as well as a person of Faith
and the divide between the two is fine by me. One does not intrude on the Other and I can talk about Evolution in terms of a Reasoned testable theory as well as Faith as something that requires a leap off the Edge of Reason. This causes no Conflict for me and does quite the opposite makes me appreciate what I believe to be an even deeper underlying Harmony...
Embracing both sides led me to become a very balanced, and happy individual...
And on a genetic level you can test similiar organisms/species and extrapolate backwards how much their genomes have in "common" and then analyze the differences and (given known and accepted mutation/change rates) how far back those differences diverged/emerged. And usually you can find or point ot an environmental change or stressor that led to that divergence around that Time.
True as far as it goes. Curiosity and awe are elements of both the Torah approach as well as the scientific approach. However, Torah seeks the holy. Many beautiful, creative, worthwhile things and ideas that are not holy.
There are traditionally four levels of Torah interpretation, including literal, considered authentic. The Rabbi is not referring to the highest level or “hidden” (Kaballah), nor to Israel’s normative tradition.
At its highest level Torah is a dynamic “blue print of creation”, governing the relationship between God and creation for all time. Mystics deconstruct Torah allowing it to express infinite meaning.
The “law” is interpreted rationally and grows out of the social needs of a living community. It has its own hermeneutics. It is not approached homiletically, mystical interpretations are forbidden.
Torah is not “dogmatic”. Immutability is guaranteed by practice, I.e. “law”, rather than theosophy or homiletically derived exegesis. Behavior is regulated, the mind is free. There is no conflict with science.
Many Jews have abandoned Jewish norms and misunderstand the purpose of exegesis. This results in “moral relativity” which is totally alien to traditional Torah.
Unlike the lotto, you can win if you don't play.
I suggest to research this topic in the Bible a bit closer and in context of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures... THEN you will find the truth of what the Bible Really Teaches...
[[Who will be resurrected? Jesus said that “all those in the memorial tombs will hear his [Jesus’] voice and come out.” (John 5:28, 29) ...The apostle Paul said: “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Acts 24:15) What does that mean?
“The righteous” include many of the people we read about in the Bible who lived before Jesus came to the earth. You might think of Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Ruth, Esther, and many others. But “the righteous” also include Jehovah’s servants who die in our time... —Hebrews 2:15.
What about all the people who did not serve or obey Jehovah because they never knew about him? These billions of “unrighteous” ones will not be forgotten. They too will be resurrected and given time to learn about the true God and to serve him. During a period of a thousand years, the dead will be resurrected and given an opportunity to join faithful humans on earth in serving Jehovah. It will be a wonderful time. This period is what the Bible refers to as Judgment Day.]]
http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_07.htm
There may be beauty in superstition but ONLY if books of superstition are acknowledged to be myth at best that are very often taken as a reason to discriminate, suppress individual freedoms and stuff superstition down society's throat through anti-women, anti-homosexual, anti-contraception, anti-freedom of choice, anti-euthanasia, anti-stem cell research, anti-same sex marriage, ... laws.
Claiming that because both science and religion produce curiosity and awe is silly. Science can produce curiosity and awe in everyone - because it is real. You don't have to follow any dogma to be amazed at the idea that the universe is billions of years old, that all life on this planet started from a single cell or that some flowers grow just the right way so that just the right insect or bird can pollinate it. All of these things can be awe inspiring when simply told about them.
Religion on the other hand, and particularly Judaism, can only provide a sense of awe and curiosity if you supplant reason with superstition and believe it. Saying that there is awe and curiosity in the Torah, really? Some could say that about all the delicate intricacies of the Harry Potter series if one began to deeply interpret it. That doesn't really make it awe inspiring (in fact if someone dedicated their life to just that and based a morality and scriptural superiority around it we would think they were nuts).
The question now is how not to sound churlish whilst disagreeing with you. Unfortunately, the comparisons you make sound great at a surface, skim read, level but just do not stack up. As another poster has said Feynman appreciated both the human ability to feel awe and felt it enhanced by,say, understanding how the reflected wavelength of light creates the colours of a flower. He absolutely did not then ascribe any deific meaning to the flower.In which case the correct comparison should be that the Torah has no more meaning than simply existing and is interesting as a collection of texts, as paper and ink or at an anthrpological level and no more. But that is not the point you are making.
Surely, the point should be that the ability to experience awe (in the same way as fear, love, cold, heat, tension.....) is fantastic but that the feeling of awe toward the Torah deserves no more importance than a sunset or a pretty flower or anything else that each of us considers worthy.
The author did not make the claim that Feynmen said anything about the Torah. Instead what is being pointed out is that a methodology proposed by Feynmen is equally as applicable and accurate for the Torah for those who find beauty in it.
Something about missing the forest for the trees, here.
Shane - I am afraid that YOUR (for emphasis - just in case you were getting concerned at my use of capitals once again) comment is irrelevant (dont you just love a shouting match - are you angry about something Shane?).
By pointing out the methodology used by Feynman the author was precisely trying to align science and religion as similar. The fact that it was attempted in such a subtle way obviously passed you by.
As far as throwing out history books - if a history book was riddled with errors (and some are) do you continue viewing that source as legitimate? I would guess that you discard it and find another source to use. However, that does not happen with religion. We know it is wrong but people continue going back for more.