000614.1907
Whatever it was that HaShem truly created first, We can intuit two things for sure: 1) It was singular in it's design. This is so because it was the only thing yet created. 2) It is dual in nature. This is so because it exists in one sense but in another sense could not possibly exist. It cannot possibly truly exist because God is indivisible, so part of Him cannot become truly distinct from another part. I use the word 'truly' many times in the above descriptions because it is necesary to maintain clarity. One can better understand the meaning of 'truly' in this context by replacing it with the word 'logically'. I shy away from actually using the word 'logically' because of the underlying connotations. The two intuitions listed above arrange themselves into what one may call a duality or a paradox. (I will use these two words (paradox and duality) interchangeably) Since the advent of Logic people have attempted to use it (logic) to discern the nature of this experiential world in which we live. The paradox is a very important logical construct for this purpose, although by its very nature it seems illogical. To my knowledge only a few (eastern) religions truly understand the importance of paradox in an understanding of the world as it is. Modern science has also begun an understanding of just such a nature (in the last hundred years). The Maharal of prague clearly understood paradoxical existence in the interaction between the natural world and the spiritual separate ('nivdal') world. It is the very essence of paradox which allows us to exist as separate entities from HaShem. (As discussed in 000) It is also the presence of paradox which, the Maharal explains, allows for miracles to be perceived or go unnoticed.
First I would like to suggest something: you should create a broad category or box in your mind. Label this box 'Paradox.' Anything which can be observed in two contradictory states should be left uncontemplated and placed in this box. (When one tries to see through a paradox, one falls into a train of thought patterned on a mobius strip. It is my understanding that this lies at the depth of Ben Zoma's insanity in the story of the four Rabbis who entered the Pardes.)
Since the last two expressions (000 & 001) discussed the manner in which the world is an unfolded paradox I will go into it only minutely here. The current expression's goal is to share man's relationship to the world, we will not delve into the intricate structure of weavings which are the underbelly of this experiential world. Instead we will focus on the paradox that causes the most rational problems for any religion that believes in a truly omniscient and omnipotent God. This of course is the question of free will vs. foreknowledge of events. If God already knows what will happen, how is it that we have free will. Unlike the Maharal, I am hindered by an incomplete understanding of the nature of time and so I can hide behind at least one further satisfying answer: God is beyond time, so he sees time as if it were any other spacial dimension. In a similar way we could eliminate ourselves from the participatory experience and observe things prior to their occurrence by making use of Einstein's relativistic laws. It should be sufficient to say that we too can, by way of science (at least in theory), experience things before they occur. However we have no way to warn people of potential events due to distance and the limitations on the speed of communication put forth by Einstein. In simpler terms, while we could witness things before they occur, we wouldn't be able to tell anyone until after they have occurred. The Torah does not let us off that easily however, because we know that not only HaShem himself informed us of events prior to their occurrence, but even prophets were able to see and warn us of things before they happened. So my rational/scientific viewpoint fails to answer this question.
Now let us examine free will and prophecy from the paradoxical perspective. I make the assumption here, and I think you will bear with me and perhaps even agree, that the world is purposeful. I do not pretend to understand the purpose, but, whatever it may be, the world was created to fulfill some purpose. To achieve some purpose, change is required, yet God is beyond change, being completely united and singular in nature. So God must allow change to occur, without the potential for change to exist. One can express this in an opposite manner as well: God must allow for the potential for change, without any change actually taking place. Without further tumbling into the pitfall of endless mental gymnastics, allow me to lay out a paradoxical structure that may perhaps make sense of this muddle.
The purposeful world is created in paradox and broken into two contradictory states: 1) The world is structured. 2) The world is alterable. On the surface this may not seem to be a paradox, but it certainly is. The structure of the world must be total and fixed, such that foreknowledge is possible. The world must be alterable such that the outcome falls upon us to decide. A human being usually exists in a constant flux between these two states. When one looks, one percieves structure. When one acts, one affects change. The reason we look and act in near simultaneity is due to the way in which the two paradoxical states are tied to our physical bodies. We have motor neurons that act, and sensory nerves that observe. The human brain is a fine weaving of the many paradoxes that make up reality, but this paradox most of all. Because the brain is responsible for both action and observation, we cannot observe without acting, and we cannot act without observing.
The righteous and humble person, the Tzaddik and Hasid, can remove himself from his physical body sufficiently to accomplish one without the other. This is the attainment of prophecy or the performance of miracles. These are accessible to all people, not only Jews. Miracles are an affectation of change. Prophecy is an observation of structure. When acting in the name of HaShem, Jews can take these abilities one level further. We have the potential to separate these two paradoxical states, observation and action, and reintegrate them. We can unite them, and so we see the prophet Ezekiel taking action in the midst of prophecy (Besieging Yerushalayim), and Aharon achieving prophetic state in the midst of action (When he blessed the children of Israel).
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