Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, 1966
20.9.11
Faith doubts
“Perhaps, like Socrates, I corrupt youth, but I do teach that Judaism encourages doubt, even as it enjoins faith and commitment. A Jew dare not live with absolute certainty not only because certainty is the hallmark of the fanatic and Judaism abhors fanaticism, but also because doubt is good for the human soul, its humility, and consequently its greater potential ultimately to discover its Creator.”
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"And now, you who read, give judgement. That moment when I either saw or thought I saw the House—does it tell against the gods or against me? Would they (if they answered) make it a part of their defence? say it was a sign, a hint, beckoning me to answer the riddle one way rather than the other? I'll not grant them that. What is the use of a sign which is itself only another riddle? It might—I'll allow so much—it might have been a true seeing; the cloud over my mortal eyes may have been lifted for a moment. It might not; what would be easier than for one distraught and not, maybe, so fully waking as she seemed, gazing at a mist, in a half-light, to fancy what had filled her thoughts for so many hours? What easier, even, than for the gods themselves to send the whole ferly for a mockery? Either way, there's divine mockery in it. They set the riddle and then allow a seeming that can't be tested and can only quicken and thicken the tormenting whirlpool of your guess-work. If they had an honest intention to guide us, why is their guidance not plain? Psyche could speak plain when she was three; do you tell me the gods have not yet come so far?"
ReplyDeleteCS Lewis, Till We Have Faces, 133-134
"If it's a mistake to sharpen our minds by narrowing them, then it's a mistake to look to the Bible to close a discussion. The Bible opens, widens, and deepens discussion. It is not an oracle to be consulted for specific advice on specific occasions, it is a well of wisdom about the glories and horrors, the ambiguity and insolubility of the human situation."
ReplyDelete"Psychosclerosis," The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin: The Riverside Years, vol. 2 (2008), 543
Just don't doubt that haShem can give you wisdom! :) "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God... but let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind." -- Jacob 1:5-6
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