Hi guys! This is my first podcast ever so please excuse all the rookie errors.Below, you should find the sources used in the podcast plus an outline of what we spoke about. I hope both will be of aid. Remember, please feel free to email me with any questions, or comments, at [email protected].
Sources.
Rambam Introduction to 11th Chapter of Sanhedrin
להאמין מציאות הבורא יתברך והוא שיש שם נמצא שלם בכל דרכי המציאות הוא עילת מציאות הנמצאים כלם בו קיום מציאותם וממנו קיומם ואל יעלה על הלב העדר מציאותו כי בהעדר מציאותו נתבטל מציאות כל הנמצאים ולא נשאר נמצא שיתקיים מציאותו ואם נעלה על לבנו העדר
הנמצאים כלם זולתו לא יתבטל מציאות הש"י
2)Sefer Hachinuch, 25
וענין האמנה הוא שיקבע בנפשו שהאמת כן ושאי אפשר חלוף (בחלוף) זה בשום פנים. ואם נשאל עליו, ישיב לכל שואל שזה יאמין לבו ולא יודה בחלוף זה אפילו יאמרו להרגו, שכל זה מחזיק וקובע האמנת הלב כשמוציא הדבר מן הכח אל הפעל, רצוני לומר כשיקים בדברי פיו מה שלבו גומר. ואם יזכה לעלות במעלות החכמה ולבבו (ישעיהו ו י) יבין ובעיניו יראה במופת נחתך, שהאמנה הזאת שהאמין אמת וברור, אי אפשר להיות דבר בלתי זה, אז יקים מצות עשה זו מצוה מן המבחר.
1) Introduction to specific Podcast.
a) The first cause proof is a logical demonstration aimed at proving the existence of a free willing cause of all physical existence.
b) The reality of such an existence is important for a Jew to know as this represents the first principle of belief in Maimonides 13 principles of faith. (Source #1,#2)
2) Why is belief not enough?
a) There is a Mitzveh to bring that belief into rational knowledge. (Source #3)
b) Bringing belief into rational knowledge is helpful in fully understanding the topics that we are supposed to belief. (E.G. we are supposed to belief that G-d is an uncaused first cause, What does this mean?)
c) Most important. The key to inappropriate behavior is self-justification. Easier to introduce doubt in the level of belief that most of us have than in to things we know to must be true.
3) What the proof will and will not demonstrate
a) Will demonstrate that an unforced, causal being is responsible for the existence of everything.
b) Will demonstrate that said being is higher than time. ( And even now cannot be in time, because if it started to be part of time, then by definition it had times it could have started this being in time, which would be measured in potential added time to universe. If out of time it is always)
c) Will demonstrate that the being is conscious.
d) Cannot demonstrate that there is only one of them.
e) Cannot demonstrate that this is the Jewish idea of G-d, outside of it being out of time. (i.e. Omnipotent, omniscient etc.) Both seem to be rational, but unproven.
f) Cannot prove that G-d created the universe something from nothing. Again, seems to be rational, but cannot prove it.
4) Assumptions
a) Logical necessity is also reality. This is the basis of all rational inquiry; man cannot live his life any other way. This will be an assumption in every one of our proofs.
5) Let’s get started
a) The universe is here. This is either in reality or in illusion. Makes no difference.
b) There are only 2 possible ways that could be. 1) Always was here. 2) Came into being at a certain point.
c) Within coming in to being at a certain point there are only 2 options. 1) created by self. 2) created by something else, lets call else Jim. (We will define his properties later.)
d) Those are all the options, nothing else.
6) Eliminating options.
a) Once we have concluded these are all the options, we can focus on narrowing down the field.
b) Assuming it was not always here we had two options 1) created by self. 2) created by Jim.
c) Nothing can create itself, it would, have to already be here in order to create itself, so in essence you are saying “was always here”.
d) Therefore, if it was not always here, it must have been caused by Jim.
e) Essentially, we are left with two options. Universe was always here, or it was created by Jim.
7) Could it have always been here?
a) The universe as we know it is changing and one moment precedes the next. This could be in reality, or illusion makes no difference.
b) If the universe always existed, then from this perceived moment, going backwards, there would have been an infinite amount of changes. Again, whether in reality or illusion, makes no difference.
c) This is a problem. As anyone knows. The definition of infinite is that it is not finite. That being said, since we are at a particular moment in history, and that moment has supposedly been pre-empted by an infinite amount of events, it would seem we have the end of infinite.
d) Example of birthday cake with infinite amount of kids eating before you.
e) Example of counting to infinite. Etc. You get the idea.
f) Therefore, since we are at an event, the universe could not have already existed infinitely. Since that was the necessary conclusion of saying the universe always existed, this must not be true.
Jim must have done it
a) Since we have knocked out always existing, and we have knocked out self-creation the only logical possibility left is Jim must have done it.
b) But in order for Jim to have done it we have to make sure that Jim does not have the same pitfalls as the universe. So, Jim must have the following prerequisites 1) Jim cannot be subject to Change. If he could, he also wouldn’t be able to be around forever. So there must have been zero processes prior to creation. 2) Jim cannot have a prior cause. If he did, that cause would be the Jim. There cannot be an infinite amount of Jims or else we would never get to the Jim who created the universe. 3) Since Jim cannot have a prior cause, he must be able to effectuate the cause by himself, because if he isn’t causing it, and no one else is, it couldn’t happen. This necessitates consciousness as he has to trigger the cause.
c) So, to recap. These are the characteristics of Jim. He is; Creator of the universe, Above time and change, and he is the primordial cause.
d) Let us replace Jim’s name with G-d and there you have a demonstration of all the things promised. An unforced causal being created the universe. That being is above time and change. That being is conscious.
9) Common objections and their answers.
a) How can you say G-d is above time and change if he created the universe?
b) Could say doesn’t need to be above time post-creation. Just can’t have change prior to creation. This would allow him to ”get” to creation.
c) Bad answer. The very ability to create at a time already places the creator in time by definition. This can be measured by the amount of time that could have been added to the existent finite universe. There obviously couldn’t have been infinite additions or else an infinite amount of potential time would have had to be negated prior to creation. This is a problem.
d) Real answer. G-d must be able to create without changing. The mechanism I will address at a later podcast, in short since he is above time there is no period of before creation so post creation is not a change in his reality. But either way, we have proved that said entity must exist, we don’t have to explain mechanism of said entity. The reason why it cannot be universe is because universe changes. Therefore, it is not the entity. However, we have demonstrated that something must be.
e) Why could the universe not have always existed, but only have started changing a finite amount of time ago?
f) Same problems. If its state of always existing was stagnant, meaning no change, then no change would be occurring. Since there is no time, this would be the eternal state. If something else came and changed it, that other thing would have to be Jim or face the consequences of not being him. This on top of the fact that we previously demonstrated that ability to change also causes problems
g) What if time is just an illusion?
h) Does not matter. How long ago did the illusion start? Finite, or infinite? Has to be finite. Was state before stagnant, or changing. If stagnant, always stagnant. If changing, could not have always existed. Cause of change from non-change to illusion of change must have been caused by Jim.
i) Maybe we just do not understand infinite?
j) We do understand it is not finite, and that is all we need to know
10) What we could not demonstrate
a) We couldn’t demonstrate how many of these causes exist simultaneously. i.e. monotheism vs. polytheism. But no reason to assume existence of unproved causes.
b) We couldn’t demonstrate if the being is aware of what occurs in the world. But no reason to assume not, after all he is the cause of it.
c) We couldn’t demonstrate the being has any abilities within the world (Omnipotence)
d) We couldn’t demonstrate that the being created the universe from nothing. Only that he is the cause for its transformation into a functioning and changing universe.
11) What we have achieved
a) We have achieved in proving the existence of an above time, free-willing cause of our reality. While we have not proven everything we have wanted to about the G-d we know in the Torah, we have taken quite a few steps closer. The rest for now will still have to be Emunah.
Closing Remarks
A) I hope you have enjoyed the podcast. For questions, comments or clarification please feel free to email me at [email protected]. If there are good questions, we will release a supplementary podcast answering the questions.
B) Don’t forget to subscribe and share!
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