Parashat Noach 5784 — 10/21/2023
Beginning with Bereishit 5781 (17 October 2020) we embarked on a new format. We will be considering Rambam’s (Maimonides’) great philosophical work Moreh Nevukim (Guide for the Perplexed) in the light of the knowledge of Vedic Science as expounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The individual essays will therefore not necessarily have anything to do with the weekly Torah portion, although certainly there will be plenty of references to the Torah, the rest of the Bible, and to the Rabbinic literature. For Bereishit we described the project. The next four parshiyyot, Noach through Chayei Sarah, laid out a foundational understanding of Vedic Science, to the degree I am capable of doing so. Beginning with Toledot we started examining Moreh Nevukim.
Bereshit 6:9-11:32
Rambam takes a chapter now to delve into a very important issue when it comes to gaining knowledge, and especially knowledge of Gd:
Know, thou who studiest this my Treatise, that belief is not the notion that is uttered, but the notion that is represented in the soul when it has been averred of it that it is in fact just as it has been represented. If you belong to those who are satisfied with expressing in speech the opinions that are correct or that you deem to be correct, without representing them to yourself and believing them, and still less without seeking certain knowledge regarding them, you take a very easy road. In accordance with this, you will find many stupid people holding to beliefs to which, in their representation, they do not attach any meaning whatever. If, however, you belong to those whose aspirations are directed toward ascending to that high rank which is the rank of speculation, and to gaining certain knowledge with regard to Gd’s being One by virtue of a true Oneness, so that no composition whatever is to be found in Him and no possibility of division in any way whatever – then you must know that He, may He be exalted, has in no way and in no mode any essential attribute, and that just as it is impossible that He should be a body, it is also impossible that He should possess an essential attribute. If, however, someone believes that He is one, but possesses a certain number of essential attributes, he says in his words that He is one, but believes Him in his thought to be many.
It seems to me that Rambam is making an important point about the quality of knowledge that one can attain. There are two parts to knowledge – direct experience and intellectual understanding. It appears that Rambam is saying that direct experience is the more important component of the two. Thus, “belief is not the notion that is uttered, but the notion that is represented in the soul… .” I think “the notion that is uttered” is the idea, or mental structure, that can be expressed in the manner of linear speech that can be intellectually understood and processed.
On the other hand, real knowledge is “…the notion that is represented in the soul… .” What is this kind of knowledge? Our tradition tells us that the soul has 5 levels. Of these, the deepest is yechidah / unified level and this corresponds to the ayn sof / infinite, which we can experience as Transcendental Consciousness or Pure Consciousness. In this state of consciousness there are no boundaries, no objects, no “things” to be aware of in the ordinary sense of perception, where we perceive something that is outside our self. However, since Transcendental Consciousness is a state of consciousness, it must be conscious of something, and that something can only be itself. Thus Transcendental Consciousness “knows itself,” and of course, since it is self-knowledge, it is the most intimate knowledge possible. This is one level of a “notion that is represented in the soul.” We can try to describe Transcendental Consciousness – it is infinite, unbounded, eternal, bliss – but ultimately it has to be experienced on its own level to be understood.
When it comes to knowing other things, outside ourselves, we have the same dichotomy. We saw the analogy of the strawberry, but I think Rambam is talking about something deeper than a physical object. Whenever there is a structure of any kind in creation, if the structure of our mind is sufficiently expanded, we should be able to “get our head around” that concept or structure. If our mind / intellect is more restricted, then we may not be able to do so. But if we interact with the system in question there is a process of unification between the individual (observer) and the object of observation that somehow appears to be able to transfer the structure of the object into the structure of the observer. This is called direct experience, and is a much more intimate and total form of knowledge. I believe that this is a “notion that is represented in the soul.”
When it comes to knowledge of Gd, we are talking about a Being Who is transcendental and infinite above all infinities we might even conceive of. Clearly, we cannot “get our head around” Gd! All intellectual constructs we might create to describe Gd are doomed to failure. So while intellectual understanding may be of some use, it really falls very far short of anything that we might call knowledge.
On the other hand, we know from our experience with TM that the mind is capable of settling down to the level of Transcendental Consciousness, and that with repeated experience of Transcendental Consciousness we rise to the level of Cosmic Consciousness, where our individuality (waking, dreaming and sleep states of consciousness) coexists with universal Pure Consciousness. With further development of the mind, senses and nervous system, we begin to perceive that Pure Consciousness is the deepest reality of every object of perception, and that in fact Pure Consciousness is a continuum of wholeness, with all the boundaries of creation being virtual fluctuations within Pure Consciousness. Wholeness dominates, and boundaries, or partial values, are like a fleeting shadow across the continuum of wholeness.
I am not trying to equate Pure Consciousness with Gd, but Gd is certainly all-pervading wholeness as we say in the liturgy: ayn od milvado / There is nothing but Gd . Having the awareness of all-pervading unity on the level of mind, intellect and senses gives us the most direct experience possible of Gd. When our soul is fully expanded, then and then only will it be able to hold the impression of what Gd might be like. Anything less is just “belief which is uttered.”
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Noach
“Noach” means “rest” as in “Be Still and Know that I Am Gd” (Psalm 46:10). To Noach whose stillness allowed him to hear Gd’s Words and to follow them, Gd gave the task of keeping life on Earth alive while most of it was destroyed.
In Parashat Noach, our world begins again after Gd destroys its population, all but those in the Ark.
In Bereishit, many say Creation begins; others say, the separation of Heaven and earth begins; I say it is not the beginning, it is not a new creation. It is another joyful cycle in the infinitely rapidly cycling that is the vibration of Torah, the Liveliness of Gd. Torah and Gd are One.
It is not that there is ever a new Creation, Gd is eternally complete: all is already accomplished in Gd. The Whole of Gd is in every point of Gd and at every point, every moment, cycling infinitely rapidly, Gd reveals Unity separating into Heaven and Earth, into Subtle and Gross and returning to Unity. All of Torah is always taking place in an infinitesimal instant and also timelessly and in Infinite Cosmic Time.
In Parashat Noach, we see the story of how the diversity of the Gross is dissolved into the Ocean of Subtlety and yet an Ark with the seeds of diversity remains to reveal that the Wholeness is always there, diverse and also unified.
Parashat Noach inspires us to be aware that we can experience this Wholeness. It begins by describing Noah as righteous, perfect in his generations, walking with Gd. Since all but Noah’s family were destroyed in the Flood, we are all descen-dants of Noah and have the potential to be perfect although clearly neither today, throughout Torah, nor throughout history do we see more than a few people fulfilling this potential.
We can also be inspired by remembering that not only are we descendants of righteous Noah but also as Bereishit says ““… in the image of God He made man. “ Genesis 9:6
Since there is nothing but Gd, to say that Gd made man in Gd’s own Image means that we have the potential to remember we are roles Gd Plays, and we can rise to a level where we are perfectly comfortable playing our roles in God’s Play. We can do this by favoring those thoughts and actions that do the positive mitzvot Torah ordains and avoiding the negative ones.
And yet we can wonder “what is keeping us from realizing this full potential?” My answer is simply that whenever Gd wants to Reveal to us that we are Gd playing the roles of us, Gd will do it. In the meantime, everything we experience is a clue in the puzzle and we need to keep guessing and acting, refining our guesses with each result we experience from our actions.
Nonetheless, even in this state of massive ignorance compared to the Omniscience of Gd, I experience life as joyful, blissful with a lot of teshuvah, return to Oneness, already taking place and it seems to me that many in our congregation and community can say the same.
So, life is fun, even in our state of ignorance, and we enjoy the safety of a bit of an ark of Joy and kind actions that helps us flourish in the floods of ignorance, misinformation and selfishness that are so common in our world.
This parshah tells us one thing we should do to avoid falling more deeply into ignorance. Do not think that any action of ours can reach Gd. Only Gd Knows Gd and only Gd’s Grace can reveal Gd within us. Forgetting this, in their vanity, descendants of Noah sought to build a tower that would reach the heavens. Prior to this attempt, they were a single people, speaking a single language. To prevent them from wasting time with their project, (which could never succeed since a gross building made of gross materials can never reach the subtle realm: heaven is not in the sky, it is in the delicate loving feelings that are primordial vibrations of Gd.) Gd limited their understanding so they were divided into 70 different nations, each speaking a different language. This separation continues in our times but we see a rise of Love, loving Wholeness, loving details. Through kindness, we are experiencing deeper and finer levels of feeling, of Love; we are learning to link the diversity of life with the Unity. We are learning to create the effect that the tower was intended to create but without the vanity: we are learn-ing to experience the subtle and to experience Gd, the Wholeness, in which all levels of subtlety and coarseness are but Joyful Vibrations of Gd Knowing Gd.
The parshah ends with Terah, taking his family, including Abraham and Sara (at this time, Abram and Sarai) toward Canaan, which will be the Promised Land. The family does not enter Canaan, they settle on the way, in Haran. “Haran” means “mountain,” “Canaan” means “synchronicity.” We are getting a taste of the fruit of Torah, the last parshah, V’Zot Haberacha, in which Gd has Moses ascend a mountain from which he can see Canaan. From this mountain, Abraham and Sara have the possibility for experiencing the synchronicity that unites the diversity of the separate nations, languages.
The next parshah, Lech Lechah, is often translated as “Go forth, your self” or, as those with a bit of experience of the self as Self, can read, “Go to your Self.” Go to the Promised Land outside you by revealing to your self, the Promised Land within you, the Self.
Since Gd will later speak with Abraham as he did with Noah, we see in the ending of this parshah a foretaste of this return of perfection to our world, to humanity. We are seeing a foretaste of a world in which we can synchronize diversity and create unity, common language, common experience, while delighting in and creating ever more and more delightful diverse expressions of Unity.
We see signs of this in our community; not that I know either that we have members to whom Gd speaks or that I know that we don’t but I do feel that we are dedicating our lives toward right action, service and a return to Wholeness, Oneness. We are learning to cherish each other and to meet, by Zoom or in person, on the level of fine feeling, of Love.
Baruch HaShem