Most of my ideas arrive fully formed and then collapse the moment I try to say them out loud. There’s a whole world inside my head that almost never survives the translation.
Why can't trying to be understood be noble AND stupid? Noble because you gotta try. Stupid because, of course, you will not succeed. But you may help me understand a little better.
And sometimes, at least for me, having someone listen and not freak out, and even have some stuff to contribute to/shape/illuminate my picture via their own conception, helps. Good luck.
It is incredibly hard to share an epiphany. The best I would suggest is to bring them to the same experience. (Think how few people are brought to observance or to leave observance because of a logical argument vs. those who were moved by positive or negative experiences with it.)
On another topic:
I think your statement about the numinous and "And just past the furthest edge your mind can reach - beyond the last horizon of everything you can imagine - that’s where I place God."
The beauty of Adon Olam is that it blends the G-d of All Creation, the Transcendent, with the G-d Who "listens and cares for me" (so to speak), the Immanent. Shema declares their unity, even when it doesn't seem possible.
Master of the Universe Who reigned before any creature was created.
At the time when all was made by His will, then was His Name proclaimed King.
And after all things shall cease to be the Awesome One will reign alone.
He was, He is, and He shall be in glory.
He is One, and there is no second to compare to Him, to associate [with Him].
Without beginning, without end, power and dominion are His.
Yet He is my God and my ever-living Redeemer, the Rock of my destiny on the day of distress.
He is my flag and my refuge; He is the portion of my cup on the day I call.
Into His hand I entrust my spirit [both] when I sleep and when I awaken.
And with my spirit my body [too], Hashem is with me, I shall not fear.
Adon Olam is one of the most beautiful prayers ever written. Even in the long years I didn’t recite prayers daily it still moved me deeply and gave me comfort. There is good reason why it’s one of the first prayers recited every day and the last prayer we say before going to sleep.
As for the OP’s comments on tools: AI is a terrible writer. The OP’s messy and personal sentences are far more interesting than the soporific prose AI churns out.
Rav Soleveitchik wrote The Lonely Man of Faith for a reason. Subjective experience/consciousness by definition cannot be share because even if you succeeded perfectly, you'd get the other person's subjective experience of yours which is necessarily different.
The answer is (a) to satisfy our need for connection sharing life by finding as much shared value and meaning as we can wherever we can find it. Torah can often accomplish this to a significant degree, though for deeper thinkers never enough. But (b) is to appreciate that the gift of that experience was created just for you and to develop and increase your inner strength in order to be able to take enough satisfaction from sharing that with God, Who is the One who shared it with you in the first place. It means taking on a certain sense of leadership, watch is always a lonely place to be - "it's lonely at the top." The beauty is that in our own way, each of us is "at the top." Yes, it's lonely down here but only because we can't feel the ultimate sharing of the joy and meaning of existence in general and our own in particular with anyone but our Creator, who, for the time being, is leaving us on our own to figure out all out and meet Him at the end as a whole person who has made it through this challenging life and come out on top in a whole new way.
Reminds me of the Dr Seuss book “Horton Hears a Who!”
I love this post Nochum. Words fail to capture the ecstasy of an insight.
Did you ever see the old science center movie contrasting inner/outer space to the power of ten?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0
One can get lost in the massive space between quarks and find G-d's embrace there as well.
G*D is “beyond understanding”, “beyond all praise”, His ways are “past finding out”.—TaNaKh.
Unfathomable.
Feels familiar.
Why can't trying to be understood be noble AND stupid? Noble because you gotta try. Stupid because, of course, you will not succeed. But you may help me understand a little better.
And sometimes, at least for me, having someone listen and not freak out, and even have some stuff to contribute to/shape/illuminate my picture via their own conception, helps. Good luck.
It is incredibly hard to share an epiphany. The best I would suggest is to bring them to the same experience. (Think how few people are brought to observance or to leave observance because of a logical argument vs. those who were moved by positive or negative experiences with it.)
On another topic:
I think your statement about the numinous and "And just past the furthest edge your mind can reach - beyond the last horizon of everything you can imagine - that’s where I place God."
The beauty of Adon Olam is that it blends the G-d of All Creation, the Transcendent, with the G-d Who "listens and cares for me" (so to speak), the Immanent. Shema declares their unity, even when it doesn't seem possible.
Master of the Universe Who reigned before any creature was created.
At the time when all was made by His will, then was His Name proclaimed King.
And after all things shall cease to be the Awesome One will reign alone.
He was, He is, and He shall be in glory.
He is One, and there is no second to compare to Him, to associate [with Him].
Without beginning, without end, power and dominion are His.
Yet He is my God and my ever-living Redeemer, the Rock of my destiny on the day of distress.
He is my flag and my refuge; He is the portion of my cup on the day I call.
Into His hand I entrust my spirit [both] when I sleep and when I awaken.
And with my spirit my body [too], Hashem is with me, I shall not fear.
Adon Olam is one of the most beautiful prayers ever written. Even in the long years I didn’t recite prayers daily it still moved me deeply and gave me comfort. There is good reason why it’s one of the first prayers recited every day and the last prayer we say before going to sleep.
As for the OP’s comments on tools: AI is a terrible writer. The OP’s messy and personal sentences are far more interesting than the soporific prose AI churns out.
I think I hear you. I would say, keep writing. Do you draw? Maybe you could draw what you see.
I think that everything has a purpose. It just takes time until we see things as puzzle pieces and where they fit.
Every time you try to explain what you see, you get a little closer.
Rav Soleveitchik wrote The Lonely Man of Faith for a reason. Subjective experience/consciousness by definition cannot be share because even if you succeeded perfectly, you'd get the other person's subjective experience of yours which is necessarily different.
The answer is (a) to satisfy our need for connection sharing life by finding as much shared value and meaning as we can wherever we can find it. Torah can often accomplish this to a significant degree, though for deeper thinkers never enough. But (b) is to appreciate that the gift of that experience was created just for you and to develop and increase your inner strength in order to be able to take enough satisfaction from sharing that with God, Who is the One who shared it with you in the first place. It means taking on a certain sense of leadership, watch is always a lonely place to be - "it's lonely at the top." The beauty is that in our own way, each of us is "at the top." Yes, it's lonely down here but only because we can't feel the ultimate sharing of the joy and meaning of existence in general and our own in particular with anyone but our Creator, who, for the time being, is leaving us on our own to figure out all out and meet Him at the end as a whole person who has made it through this challenging life and come out on top in a whole new way.