How Things Work: A Brief History of Reality
BOOK II: The Power of Three (Science & Religion) – Consideration #79. "The Jewish Tradition"
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD is one."
– Deuteronomy 6:4
PREFACE
Judaism represents one of the oldest traditions on earth. The Jews have been practicing their unique understanding of spirituality, in some form, for over 3,500 years. Consider the following timeline of spiritual, or “rational” events, in human history:
*1850-1700 BCE: Age of Biblical Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)
1500-1200 BCE: Composition of the Rig Veda
1350 BCE: Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaton Embraces Monotheism (The Sun God “Aten”)
*1250 BCE: Moses leads the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to the “Promised Land.”
1200 BCE: The I Ching (Book of Changes) is written.
* 950 BCE: King Solomon builds the First Temple in Jerusalem
900-500 BCE: Composition of the “later” Vedas (Brahmanas and early Upanishads)
* 860-840 BCE: The Jewish Prophet Elijah renounces Canaanite influences proclaiming “Yahweh” as the one “true God” of Israel and is “taken to heaven in a chariot of fire.”
604 BCE: Lao Tzu, establishes Taoism.
600 BCE: Pythagoras teaches the metaphysics of mathematics and his theory of the universe related to the “Music of the Spheres.”
* 587 BCE: The destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.
563-483 BCE: Siddhartha Gautama experiences “mystical enlightenment” becoming the first “Buddha.”
551-479 BCE: Confucius develops his philosophy of “Confucianism.”
469-399 BCE: Socrates teaches in Athens.
460-360 BCE: Democritus develops the first concept of an “atom.”
* 400-300 BCE: The canonization of the Jewish Torah is completed.
400-325 BCE: Diogenes develops “cynicism.”
399-295 BCE: Chaung Tzu expands on Lao Tzu’s concepts of Taoism.
387 BCE: Plato establishes The Academy
335 BCE: Aristotle founds the Lyceum.
100 BCE: Composition of the Bhagavad Gita
* 6 BCE – 39 ACE: Jesus of Nazareth preaches “Torah reform” and is executed by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate
66-70 ACE: The Gospel of Mark is written.
* 70 ACE: The Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans.
Judaism has had a major influence in our perception of reality for over 3,500 years and has spawned the two most popular religions in all of human history: Christianity and Islam.
CONSIDERATION #79 – The Jewish Tradition
Judaism is the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, founded by Abraham almost four thousand years ago. The “Hebrew Bible” is called the Tanakh, which includes the Torah. The Torah is the first five books of the Tanakh, which are the same as the “Old Testament” in the Christian Bible, although in a slightly different order.
“In 587 B.C.E. the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s Temple and the Jewish people were exiled.”
The essence of Jewish practice is manifested through “the law” given to Moses by God after fleeing Egypt on a forty-year journey into the Promised Land. Approximately 1,000 B.C.E King David ruled the Jewish people, and his son, King Solomon, built the first holy Temple in Jerusalem. In 931 B.C.E the kingdom split into two unique groups: Israel in the North, and Judah in the South. In 587 B.C.E. the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s Temple and the Jewish people were exiled. A second Temple was constructed in 516 B.C.E. and was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.C.E.
“With the fall of their nation and homeland, the Jewish people disseminated throughout the world…”
With the fall of the second Temple, the Jewish people no longer had a primary place for worshipping and gathering, which shifted the focus of their religious practice to local synagogues. With the fall of their national and religious homeland, the Jewish people disseminated throughout the world; often seen as “outsiders” by their new local communities – resulting in widespread anti-semitism throughout Europe and other nations.
“In 1948, that region of Palestine officially became the independent nation of Israel.”
The peak of Jewish persecution and anti-semitic bigotry occurred in Germany under Adolf Hitler where more than six million Jews were exterminated in NAZI concentration camps. After World War II, many European Jews returned “home” to a region in the Middle East called Palestine. In 1948, that region of Palestine officially became the independent nation of Israel. From their perspective, the Jews had returned home to “the promised land.”
“The United States of America was the first country to officially recognize the new nation of Israel…”
However, many “native” Palestinians have never accepted the legitimacy of the new nation, resulting in continuous tension between Israel, the native Palestinians, and other hostile bordering states. The United States of America was the first country to officially recognize the new nation of Israel on May 14, 1948.
There are between 14-15 million Jews worldwide today.
POSTSCRIPT
Judaism and Monotheism
“Our tradition does not expect us to find the answers to the riddle of Truth, but it does expect us to grapple with the questions. In Jewish tradition, the unity and oneness of God does not require a unity of opinion and belief. In fact, it teaches the opposite. Judaism stresses engagement in a process of struggling to understand, a process that ideally includes engaging in the quest with others. It will never provide "the" answer, but the very process of seeking and trying out answers, according to both Torah and Talmud, is in itself a spiritual act.”
Rabbi Reuven Firestone - Monotheism and the Problem of Truth
Monotheists believe that all reality stems from the ultimate principle called “God,” or what Aristotle called, “the Good.”
“Monotheism is the belief that this power inherently resides in one entity.”
This omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent eternal essence is the source of everything except itself. Monotheism is the belief that this power inherently resides in one entity. In today’s vernacular, the concept of “The Force” from the Star Wars series serves as a limited metaphor to the One unifying Force called God, or the Creator. Therefore, unlike paganism, which acknowledges a variety of “spirits” representing the natural world, monotheism is the belief that all creative power resides in one being or consciousness, that created the entire universe. And at some level, continues to maintain it. God is the first cause of everything; Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover.
“The very foundation of Judaism is monotheism; the belief in one God.”
Judaism is a religion based on a covenant between the patriarch Abraham, the “father of Israel,” and the “Sovereign Lord” we commonly now call, God. The very foundation of Judaism is monotheism; the belief in one God. However, the real story of Judaism, and Christianity, is the story of God’s relationship with human beings. Which is expressed through a narrative known as “The Bible.”
Next week we begin to consider the ubiquitous influence of the Judeo-Christian tradition on Western Civilization and our current perception of Reality…
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Excerpt from Tomorrow’s Untangling the Knots of Reality – Podcast #43: "Untangling Locke’s Concept of Enlightened Government" (Part 2)
This Week on “The Thread”…
•Untangling the Knots of Reality Podcast: #43 "Untangling Locke’s Concept of Enlightened Government – Part 2" (“Essentially, Locke argues that the purpose of government is specifically to defend the natural rights of those who entered into the Social Contract. Therefore, a government’s power should be limited to encourage such an outcome. Unlike Hobbes, who promised complete self-destruction without an all-powerful task master to keep us in compliance through divine proclamation, Locke believed in the potential of the individual, and that if allowed to maintain and exploit their natural rights, they would take positive actions and the world would become a much better place. In 1689, Locke introduced the concept of a constitutional government for the first time in his Two Treatises of Government…” )
•Reality by a Thread Discussion Thread: “Artificial Intelligence – Just One More Thing!” (A “bit” is the essential building block of digital code. An individual bit can be in a state of either being “on” or “off.” The state of each bit creates patterns that result in specific consequences, or possibilities. For example, “eight” bits creates a “byte” which increases the possibility of “color;” transcending from a possibility of two colors White (on) or Black (off) to the possibility of 256 tonal variations capable of producing over 16 million colors. This is the “power” of “numbers” and “patterns.” We, as human beings, are currently the “creators” and “programmers” of this “digital reality.”
EMPIRICAL REALITY is a duality in which “on” and “off” represents “life” and “death;” or “in” physical reality or “not in” physical reality. If we think of the possible consequences of this in terms of a color analogy, we could say that “eight lives” produce “256 physical variations” capable of influencing over 16 million empirical possibilities… We are still questioning “who” the “creator” and “programmer” of our empirical reality is. But we know that it was not “us...”)
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