The Ultimate Ends of Strict Logic is the Nothingness of Love

Or something like that-- good thing I'm not a philosopher: those guys are all about the catchphrases.

The Gemara (the Talmud), employs wild contortions of deep deep logic to prove various positions of Divine Law. All sides of a case are explored, torn apart, and, very often, shown to follow a brilliant course of rational proof. I say that it's night, you say that it's day, and we both prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that our position (savara) is right.

And thus, God's will is interpreted and brought down into the world as a somewhat ascertainable reality.

Of course, the true essence of the Holy One, BBH, is ungraspable to finite creatures, transcendent beyond language, ultimately hidden. The true name of God-- the Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh is unspeakable -- encompassing all Creation, and yet infinitely greater and deeper than it.

And then there's love (among other human frailties...). I have, in the past, in times of emotional crisis, explored the viability of a love relationship by using the incisive logic style of the Gemara, developing savaras for every possible position: it's good; it's no good; it'll get better; it's broken beyond belief; we should be married; i'm in love; i'm not in love but we should get married anyway; she makes great tamales; i'll never be loved again; what would esta say......

and in that way, on the page ("inside," as we say in yeshiva), this Talmudic logic works, proves that the ultimate truth of each and every position IS the supreme Emet (emes- "truth"). Therefore, since every contradictory position is the Ultimate Truth-- the Ultimate Truth is a giant self-contradiction, which cancels out all reasoning, and reveals itself to be-- NOTHING.

Nothing in my mind, at least.

It's as if, by using all of our mental faculties to bring God into the world, we've succeeded by showing that God, The Holy One of Being, is the very negation of all thought, all logic.

{hey-- it's 1:00am after a long day. you didn't come to wanderingstu.com for sensicality anyway. quit sniggering and read on}

And so, logic ultimately fails the test. analysis goes out the window, and just have to DO God's Will, and then figure it out. The Book of Names (Exodus) has the People Israel responding to God's command-- Na'aseh v'Nishma!! "We'll do it!! Then we'll figure it out..."

[yo-- i'm talking about love and Gemara, not killing people or stealing or beating up old ladies-- in those cases, use some damn logic]

[yo-- chances are, i don't even KNOW what I'm talking about. that's why I'm becoming a rabbi...]

So you move with the gut, and pursue the Emes. And when you reach the Throne of Glory, before which ALL is Revealed and Known, you say "Amen, Selah! Ain't the Lord Good!?"
And if your gut is all tangled up-- uh, well, uh, my unsubtle message to the Universe is-- pursue love & connection, for they are the highest values.

And when you fall on your face and forget there even EXISTS a Throne of Glory-- then Rebbe Nachman says "Azam'ra l'Elohai b'Odi-- I shall sing out to My God with what little I have left."

Sing on, holy fools and friends.

and if anyone made sense of any of this, let me know. because i'm not proofreading tonite.