Faith is Lived...
Not proven by quantificational logic.
As we move toward the millennium, it's to be expected that the atheists and G-d haters of the world will redouble their efforts to draw good Jews away from their faith.
So, too, the false religions of Islam and Xtianity, with their phony gawds La-La and Please-us, will toil to pry us from our land, law and trust in Hashem, Master of Legions.
And as for the Erev Rav… well, it goes without saying.
Our enemies boast a wide array of weapons and techniques with which to destroy us — “These trust in chariots and these in horses” — but we Jews possess a remarkable and failsafe defense: “we invoke the name of the Lord our God.”
Another Battleground Opens
Substack, too, is witness to the end of days effort to bring low the Jews and their Torah.
Here, old-fashioned antisemites, Hamas cheerleaders and the ‘modern’ logic fetishists among our people (Jews who demand proof of G-d's existence, proof of ‘special creation’, credible evidence to legitimate our faith) together comprise a tripartite alliance of hostile hominids attempting to purge G-d from the world.
And this is precisely why Hashem sent them all — and precisely at this time, too, directly before the coming of His great and awesome day: to test those of us who still believe, and to check who’ll remain steadfast in his faith.
And this, in turn, requires us to make an internal accounting.
For, indeed, how strong is our faith and trust in our Master?
And in what, exactly, is that belief grounded?
And it's here precisely that we come face to face with the scoffers and G-d deniers.
Over a month has now passed since a gentleman named Yehuda Michaelmas sent me a direct message asking me to prove my belief in the Al-mighty.
The man is to known to me from comments on several posts as an apikoros and a somewhat craven character, but I responded nonetheless. Not with rational proofs, mind you, as he desired, but with a series of questions intended to lead the heretic back to his roots.
Alas, he declined to answer them, and therewith ended the correspondence.
I reproduce the questions below in order to assist those of an impoverished spirit and overly-rational disposition to come to an understanding of what faith is.
And what it is not.
Don’t be alarmed if, at first, they seem arbitrary or irrelevant. Yehuda Michaelmas certainly thought they were, was put off and fled — cowardly mutt that he is — may Hashem have mercy on his black and cavernous soul.
Please note, too, that they were never meant as a means of gathering evidence against or blackmailing the man.
Confidentiality was always assured.
And now…
QUESTIONS FOR YEHUDA MICHAELMAS:
Are you a father?
If not, have you ever been with a woman?
Have you ever tasted pepperoni/bacon pizza?
Have you ever tried LSD or other hallucinogens, peyote, etc.?
Have you ever been to war — a hot war — and been on the receiving end of gunfire aiming to kill you?
Have you, yourself, ever killed a man?
Have you ever lost a sibling or child?
There is a distinct purpose in asking these questions, Yehuda — one that will become abundantly clear in the coming discussion.
You will now answer…
And now you ask…
What in heaven’s name?!
And we say, thank you for reading thus far.
And here's your answer —
All of the above questions refer to experiences that cannot be properly — i.e., rationally — described to the uninitiated.
That is, it's not possible to convey in words what any of the foregoing are genuinely like and expect even the most attentive reader or listener to comprehend in full, or even in part, what you’re describing, unless they've gone through them themselves.
Such is the nature of the most unique, consequential and life-changing events known to man.
They defy logical explanation.
Many, perhaps, have tried and succeeded in small measure to communicate the corresponding sense of fear, joy, pain or ecstasy of the above to a reader.
But to capture the unique essence of the experience?
With words?
Not a chance.
That said, if there's a budding Jewish Frege out there, or a Russell or a Dawkins who'd like to take a stab at it, we'd welcome the effort, by all means. But most have the sense, we believe, to concede the point.
And that brings us to faith in the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Belief in G-d is not a matter that could ever be rationally imparted to a non-believer.
The sense of G-d’s existence, of His ultimate concern for me, personally, of His guidance of my life and his constant messaging and attention to my needs, is an experience that defies explanation. It is something that I live, but could never adequately describe.
Just as a new father lives the experience of his first child coming into the world; as the soldier lives the harrowing experience of incoming bullets, lo aleynu; as the goy lives his experience of dining on hot pepperoni pizza; so, too, l’havdil, is the experience of Hashem in one’s life beyond the realm of definitions. It is as elusive as describing colors to a blind man.
Our purpose in lumping these items into one, of course, is not to diminish in any way the experience of faith — only to properly categorize it is an experience that is beyond the realm of grammar, syntax and logic — regardless one's command of language or rhetorical aptitude.
Faith is much more, of course, than the taste of pepperoni pizza.
Unlike the other experiences mentioned, faith is an experience that possesses the potential to be consciously ever-present in our lives — if one desires it to be so and trains oneself accordingly to be open to it.
It thereby qualifies as the grandest of all experiences, and for those who have tasted it, there is nothing more desirable or sublime, no experience more exalted or transcendent than the experience of faith and trust in the Creator of Heaven and Earth.
The atheist, by contrast, can never experience something of this nature because he’s handcuffed by his compulsive commitment to logic and rationality.
And his aversion to the value and instructive potential of experience.
He ‘knows’ ONLY by reason.
Never by experience.
And that is truly a sad state of being.
Because there are ways of knowing that go beyond the accounting of mathematicians.
But they are only for those who live life.
And not for those who insist on only measuring it.
Dean Maughvet
Atheism is the ultimate in irrationality and absurdity. Those who believe in absurdities will commit atrocities.
You’re absolutely right that conscious experiences in general, but most clearly ones like the things you mention seem to point toward something beyond the boundaries of pure materialism.
That said, this doesn’t really advance the case when it comes to making specific claims about the divine origin of particular religious texts you may feel connected to. If anything, to many, these experiences seem to gesture toward something that transcends those kinds of frameworks altogether. And that’s before even addressing the deeper issue: how do you explain an unchanging creative force, one without thoughts, emotions, or any kind of change, being described as having “written a book” or “promised a nation a land”? Yes, I know these questions have been addressed, (most convincingly in my opinion by mystics who have had first hand extreme experiences like you mention) but the answers are neither simple nor obviously convincing to everyone, and with good reason.
Interestingly, the one “New Atheist” who has actually had the kinds of experiences you’re referring to, Sam Harris, would agree with your point that these experiences suggest something greater than materialism alone.