While I was attending university I was able to start the long process of recovering from the childhood abuse that I had suffered. There was a particular author that helped me tremendously in those early years.
Namely, Abraham Joshua Heschel, who wrote a book entitled God in Search of Man - A Philosophy of Judaism
Here are some quotes:
Theology starts with dogmas. Philosophy sees the problem first; theology has the answer in advance. Philosophy is a kind of thinking that has a beginning but no end; the problems outlive all solutions.
We teach children how to measure and weigh, but fail to teach them how to revere, how to sense wonder and awe. Modern man fell into the trap of believing all enigmas can be solved and wonder is a form of ignorance. Mankind will not perish for want of information, but for want of appreciation.
What is, is more than what you see; we are unable to attain insight into the ultimate meaning and purpose of things. We live on the fringe of reality and hardly know how to reach the core. Inaccessible to us are the insights into the nature of ultimate reality. Even what is revealed is incomplete and in disguise.
Awe is an act of insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. Knowledge is fostered by curiosity; wisdom is fostered by awe. Awe is the awareness of transcendent meaning; loss of awe is a great blockage to insight.
“The ineffable” is a synonym for hidden meaning rather than for absence of meaning, a dimension so real and sublime that it stuns our ability to adore it. All creative thinking comes out of an encounter with the unknown. It is a fact of profound significance that we can sense more than we can say.
The world as scrutinized and depicted by science is but a thin surface of the profoundly unknown.
I like all of them but the first. I am fairly sure that I understand what he’s getting at, that very often religious dogma is used to shut down curiosity. But factually speaking both philosophy and theology start with axioms, oftentimes the same axioms. The history of all philosophy, west and east, is deeply intertwined with theology and scientific inquiry. Up until the 1600s religious life, mysticism, intellectual life, and science were considered to all be essential to each other in most cultures.
Grateful to see this post. Dogmas are passed down, which requires individual wrestling in a community. One of the realities of all faiths is they have some form of revelation, and Heschel himself has some great things to say about doctrines of revelation. Revelation changes how we solve problems as a community, the end result being dogmatics.
I appreciate your quotes. IMO: unfortunately modern humanity won’t give them the time to read. If you don’t have a “bumper sticker” or Twitter size phrase. Forgettaboutit.
I feel as though that’s a bit reductive and not really the energy we should be bringing to a discussion. I’m not necessarily saying you’re not right in a lot of cases, but it could be seen as disparaging to some.
Man, it’s been years since I’ve read this book! Thank you for adding these quotes. I’m particularly struck by “Awe is an act of insight. . . . wisdom is fostered by awe.” Many of the problems I see on the Twitterverse is a distinct lack of awe in the users. The Heschel quote makes me wonder if that is why there’s a lot of unwisdom on the internet.
