|
Moses Maimonides
Jewish Philosopher
1135-1204 A selection from
THE GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED
Narrated by Grover Gardner
This file is 5.7 MB;
running time is 12 minutes
alternate download link
This audio program is copyrighted by Redwood Audiobooks.
Permission is granted to download for personal use only;
not for distribution or commercial use.
It is necessary to consider the nature of the divine influence, which
enables us to think, and gives us the various degrees of intelligence. For
this influence may reach a person only in a small measure, and in exactly
the same proportion would then be his intellectual condition, whilst it may
reach another person in such a measure that, in addition to his own
perfection, he can be the means of perfection for others. The same relation
may be observed throughout the whole Universe. There are some beings so
perfect that they can govern other beings, but there are also beings that
are only perfect in so far as they can govern themselves and cannot
influence other beings. In some cases the influence of the Active
Intellect reaches only the logical and not the imaginative faculty; either
on account of the insufficiency of that influence, or on account of a defect
in the constitution of the imaginative faculty, and the consequent inability
of the latter to receive that influence: this is the condition of wise men
or philosophers. If, however, the imaginative faculty is naturally in the
most perfect condition, this influence may, as has been explained by us and
by other philosophers, reach both his logical and his imaginative faculties:
this is the case with prophets. But it happens sometimes that the influence
only reaches the imaginative faculty on account of the insufficiency of the
logical faculty, arising either from a natural defect, or from a neglect in
training. This is the case with statesmen, lawgivers, diviners, charmers,
and men that have true dreams, or do wonderful things by strange means and
secret arts, though they are not wise men; all these belong to the third
class. It is further necessary to understand that some persons belonging to
the third class perceive scenes, dreams, and confused images, when awake, in
the form of a prophetic vision. They then believe that they are prophets;
they wonder that they perceive visions, and think that they have acquired
wisdom without training. They fall into grave errors as regards important
philosophical principles, and see a strange mixture of true and imaginary
things. All this is the consequence of the strength of their imaginative
faculty, and the weakness of their logical faculty, which has not developed,
and has not passed from potentiality to actuality.
It is well known that the members of each class differ greatly from each
other. Each of the first two classes is again subdivided, and contains two
sections, namely, those who receive the influence only as far as is
necessary for their own perfection, and those who receive it in so great a
measure that it suffices for their own perfection and that of others. A
member of the first class, the wise men, may have his mind influenced either
only so far, that he is enabled to search, to understand, to know, and to
discern, without attempting to be a teacher or an author, having neither the
desire nor the capacity; but he may also be influenced to such a degree that
he becomes a teacher and an author. The same is the case with the second
class. A person may receive a prophecy enabling him to perfect himself but
not others; but he may also receive such a prophecy as would compel him to
address his fellowmen, teach them, and benefit them through his perfection.
It is clear that, without this second degree of perfection, no books would
have been written, nor would any prophets have persuaded others to know the
truth. For a scholar does not write a book with the object to teach himself
what he already knows. But the characteristic of the intellect is this: what
the intellect of one receives is transmitted to another, and so on, till a
person is reached that can only himself be perfected by such an influence,
but is unable to communicate it to others, as has been explained in some
chapters of this treatise. It is further the nature of this
element in man that he who possesses an additional degree of that influence
is compelled to address his fellowmen, under all circumstances, whether he
is listened to or not, even if he injures himself thereby. Thus we find
prophets that did not leave off speaking to the people until they were
slain; it is this divine influence that moves them, that does not allow them
to rest in any way, though they might bring upon themselves great evils by
their action. For example, when Jeremiah was despised, like other teachers and
scholars of his age, he could not, though he desired it, withhold his
prophecy, or cease from reminding the people of the truths which they
rejected. “For the Word of the Lord was unto me a reproach and a
mocking all day, and I said, I will not mention it, nor will I again speak
in His name; but it was in mine heart as a burning fire, enclosed in my
bones, and I was wearied to keep it, and did not prevail”.
This is also the meaning of the words of another prophet, “The Lord God hath
spoken, who shall not prophesy?”
Every person possesses a certain amount of courage, otherwise he would not stir
to remove anything that might injure him. This psychical force seems to me
analogous to the physical force of repulsion. Energy varies like all other
forces, being great in one case and small in another. There are, therefore,
people who attack a lion, whilst others run away at the sight of a mouse.
One attacks a whole army and fights, another is frightened and terrified by
the threat of a woman. This courage requires that there be in a man’s
constitution a certain disposition for it. If man, in accordance with a
certain view, employs it more frequently, it develops and increases, but, on
the other hand, if it is employed, in accordance with the opposite view,
more rarely, it will diminish. From our own youth we remember that there are
different degrees of energy among boys.
The same is the case with the intuitive faculty; all possess it, but in
different degrees. Man’s intuitive power is especially strong in things
which he has well comprehended, and in which his mind is much engaged. Thus
you may yourself guess correctly that a certain person said or did a certain
thing in a certain matter. Some persons are so strong and sound in their
imagination and intuitive faculty that, when they assume a thing to be in
existence, the reality either entirely or partly confirms their assumption.
Although the causes of this assumption are numerous, and include many
preceding, succeeding, and present circumstances, by means of the intuitive
faculty the intellect can pass over all these causes, and draw inferences
from them very quickly, almost instantaneously. This same faculty enables
some persons to foretell important coming events. The prophets must have had
these two forces, courage and intuition, highly developed, and these were
still more strengthened when they were under the influence of the Active
Intellect. Their courage was so great that, e.g., Moses, with only a staff
in his hand, dared to address a great king in his desire to deliver a nation
from his service. He was not frightened or terrified, because he had been
told, “I will be with thee”. The prophets have not all the
same degree of courage, but none of them have been entirely without it. Thus
Jeremiah is told: “Be not afraid of them,” etc., and Ezekiel is
exhorted, “Do not fear them or their word”. In the same
manner, you find that all prophets possessed great courage. Again, through
the excellence of their intuitive faculty, they could quickly foretell the
future, but this excellence, as is well known, likewise admits of different
degrees.
The true prophets undoubtedly conceive ideas that result from premisses
which human reason could not comprehend by itself; thus they tell things
which people could not tell by reason and ordinary imagination alone; for the
action of the prophets’ mental capacities is influenced by the same agent
that causes the perfection of the imaginative faculty, and that enables the
prophet thereby to foretell a future event with such clearness as if it was
a thing already perceived with the senses, and only through them conveyed to
his imagination. This agent perfects the prophet’s mind, and influences it
in such a manner that he conceives ideas which are confirmed by reality, and
are so clear to him as if he deduced them by means of syllogisms.
This should be the belief of all who choose to accept the truth. For all
things are in a certain relation to each other, and what is noticed in one
thing may be used as evidence for the existence of certain properties in
another, and the knowledge of one thing leads us to the knowledge of other
things But what we said of the extraordinary powers of our imaginative
faculty applies with special force to our intellect, which is directly
influenced by the Active Intellect, and caused by it to pass from
potentiality to actuality. It is through the intellect that the influence
reaches the imaginative faculty. How then could the latter be so perfect as
to be able to represent things not previously perceived by the senses, if
the same degree of perfection were withheld from the intellect, and the
latter could not comprehend things otherwise than in the usual manner,
namely, by means of premiss, conclusion, and inference? This is the true
characteristic of prophecy, and of the disciplines to which the preparation
for prophecy must exclusively be devoted. I spoke here of true prophets in
order to exclude the third class, namely, those persons whose logical
faculties are not fully developed, and who do not possess any wisdom, but
are only endowed with imaginative and inventive powers. It may be that
things perceived by these persons are nothing but ideas which they had
before, and of which impressions were left in their imaginations together
with those of other things: but whilst the impressions of other images are
effaced and have disappeared, certain images alone remain, are seen and
considered as new and objective, coming from without. The process is
analogous to the following case: A person has with him in the house a
thousand living individuals; all except one of them leave the house: when
the person finds himself alone with that individual, he imagines that the
latter has entered the house now, contrary to the fact that he has only not
left the house. This is one of the many phenomena open to gross
misinterpretations and dangerous errors, and many of those who believed that
they were wise perished thereby.
There were, therefore, people who supported their opinion by a dream which they
had, thinking that the vision during sleep was independent of what they had previously believed or heard when awake. Persons whose mental capacities are
not fully developed, and who have not attained intellectual perfection, must
not take any notice of these [dreams]. Those who reach that perfection may,
through the influence of the divine intellect, obtain knowledge independent
of that possessed by them when awake. They are true prophets, as is distinctly stated in scriptured:
“And the true prophet possesseth a heart of wisdom.” More information about Moses Maimonides from Wikipedia
Another selection from a Jewish Philosopher:
More selections (45) in this category: Philosophy More selections (44) in the iTunes category: Society & Culture/Philosophy
|
|
