Parashat Vayikra 5785 – 04/05/2025
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.
Vayikra 1:1-5:26
We now continue with Rambam’s explication of the movement of the elements:
Inasmuch as the fifth body as a whole is engaged perpetually in a circular motion, it thus engenders forced motion in the elements because of which they leave their places. I have in view fire and air, which are pushing toward the water. All of them penetrate toward the body of the earth, in the valleys. In consequence a mixture of the elements comes about. Afterwards they start to move in order to return to their places; and because of this, portions of the earth in their turn are made to leave their places as they accompany the water, the air, and the fire. In all this, the elements exert influence upon one another and are influenced by one another. Accordingly changes occur in the mixture so that, in the first place, the various species of vapors come into being from it, then the various species of minerals, then all the species of plants, then many species of living beings in accordance with what is determined by the composition of the mixture. Everything that is subject to generation and corruption is generated from the elements and, being corrupted, passes away into them. The elements likewise are generated from one another and, being corrupted, pass away into one another; for the matter of the all is one; and the existence of matter without form is impossible and, on the other hand, no natural form subject to generation and corruption exists without matter. Thus the state of things with regard to the generation and corruption of the elements and with regard to the generation of everything that is generated of them and is corrupted so as again to be changed into them, comes back in a circle similar to the circular movement of heaven; so that the movement of this matter endowed with forms is, in respect to the succession of the forms subsisting in it, like the movement of heaven in respect to the “where,” every part of heaven returning repeatedly to the selfsame positions.
We began to dissect this paragraph a few weeks ago. The motion of the outermost sphere is somehow coupled to the inner spheres and therefore its motion causes them to move. I thought earlier that the coupling would be through friction, which I thought would not fit well with the “perfection” of the heavens, but upon further consideration, friction is not the only kind of coupling that might be available. For example, there might be coupling through electromagnetic fields, in a manner similar to the interaction between the earth’s core (the motion of which generates the earth’s magnetic field) and the solar wind and the auroras.
In any event, the movement of the outermost sphere gets transferred to the inner spheres and their “contents.” Now this presents an interesting problem. If the motion of the outermost sphere gets transformed into the motion of everything inside it, then it would seem that the outermost sphere would lose energy (and slow down), while the inner spheres would be gaining energy as the motion of their contents speeds up. Yet, according to the science of the time, as Rambam describes it, we should actually be in a steady state. The outermost sphere rotates constantly at the same rate, which means that any energy it loses to its interior has to be replaced somehow. Similarly, the inner spheres cannot gain energy constantly or the whole system would fly apart.
Now finding a source for the energy to keep the outer sphere moving is not so hard, conceptually. Gd is outside this whole system, indeed is sometimes called the Prime Mover, and can certainly add energy to that sphere. I suppose one could think of Gd as removing the excess energy from the inner spheres as well. In any event, having a Deus ex machina allows one to maintain that the universe is in some kind of steady state. Whether or not this issue bothered Rambam, or any of the ancient or medieval philosophers, I don’t know. Since it was believed that nothing moved without having a force applied to it, at least the action of the Prime Mover on the outermost sphere must have been part of the calculations, but as for a sink for the energy of the inner realms, I don’t know.
So the picture Rambam paints overall is one of a steady state, constantly cycling in a repeating loop, so to speak. However, on the micro level, he describes a constant process of generation and dissolution, as the elements in the inner spheres constantly arrange themselves in different patterns. He actually describes what sounds like a very non-linear system:
In all this, the elements exert influence upon one another and are influenced by one another. Accordingly changes occur in the mixture so that, in the first place, the various species of vapors come into being from it, then the various species of minerals, then all the species of plants, then many species of living beings in accordance with what is determined by the composition of the mixture. Everything that is subject to generation and corruption is generated from the elements and, being corrupted, passes away into them. The elements likewise are generated from one another and, being corrupted, pass away into one another; for the matter of the all is one; and the existence of matter without form is impossible and, on the other hand, no natural form subject to generation and corruption exists without matter.
First, he points out that the elements influence each other – each influences the other 3 and the other 3 in turn influence the 4th. This is a system with numerous feedback loops – earth influences, say water, and water turns around and influences earth. A system with these kinds of feedback loops is called non-linear, because the response of the system is not linearly related to the input.
The physicist Ilya Prigogine demonstrated that thermodynamic systems that are open and far from equilibrium are non-linear systems, and if there is sufficient flow of energy and/or material through them, they will make spontaneous transitions to more and more complex states of functioning. A typical example is the air over a desert blacktop road in the summer – the flow of energy from the hot surface into the cooler atmosphere causes convection cells to form. These convection cells are more advanced level of structure than the quiescent air that was above the road before it heated up, and it is, in fact, a more efficient structure for transferring the heat from the road up to the atmosphere above the road.
Rambam’s description of the universe appears to be just such an open system. Energy flows through from the outermost sphere, through the inner spheres, creating various combinations of the elements – the variety and structure we see around us. In truth, it doesn’t really matter what kind of structure we posit for the universe – in any case it is open to Gd and to the flow of Gd’s energy and therefore it will evolve. Gd is the ultimate source of energy and intelligence in creation, and the more we are open to that energy and intelligence the more evolutionary our lives become.
We will continue this discussion next week, Gd willing.