an artistic/graphic representation

&&

Q4P∞QUEST FOR POTENTIAL∞/ Extraordinatiation

a companion work to

www.SummaM.org

&

COPYRIGHT © 2010DAVID BIRNBAUM

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Birnbaum, David.

Q4P∞ / David Birnbaum.

ISBN 978-0-9843619-2-2

1. Metaphysics. 2. Judaism. 3. God and Evil.

4. Religion and God. I. Title.

www.q4p.us

P R E S SBoston * New York

CLASSICS PUBLISHERSsince 1865

Danny Levine, Managing Director

HarvardYardPress@gmail.com

To contact author’s representative:

fax: (212) 398-9438

DBprivate@aol.com

&&

FOREWORDDavid Birnbaum’s God and Evil is a bold and highly original synthesis which attempts to provide an overarch-ing metaphysical solution to the vexing problem of radical evil in a world created and sustained by an all powerful, all knowing, benevolent God. Birnbaum’s treat-ment of the highly intimi-dating and emotionally wrenching problem of a

by Sanford Drob

I N T RO D U C T I O N

FOREWORDJewish theodicy in a post-Holocaust

world is audacious yet sensi-tive, traditional and yet highly

innovative. The work ranges over a multi-tude of traditional and contemporary (Ortho-

dox and non-Orthodox) Jewish sources, draws inspi-ration from the likes of Gersonides, Isaac Luria, Rav Kook and Rav Soloveitchik, but also from such unexpected quar-ters as Aquinas and Irenaeus, and yet somehow manages to stay within the parameters of an authentically Jewish, halakhic point of view. Birnbaum’s book is an intellectual

&

odyssey, yet it is also, as becomes very clear as one reads on, a highly passionate and emotional quest. The author is him-self deeply troubled (as we all should be) by the stark con-trast between his abiding faith in a God who is betrothed to (Hosea 2:21-21) and promises to guard the Jewish people in all their ways (Psalms 91:11), and who keeps kindness and mercy to the thousandth generation (Exodus 34:6-7), and the realities of newborn infants “immersed” unto death, and children being thrown alive into fires and having chemicals injected into their eyes, spines and brains, to name but a fraction of the atrocities experienced by God’s people in Nazi Europe.The originality of Birnbaum’s approach is evident in his philosophical point of departure. Instead of first focusing on God’s attributes, and the possibility of reconciling these at-tributes with manifest evil, Birnbaum begins with the ques-tion of the “purpose of man,” a query he believes can only be answered by conducting a far more radical inquiry into the ultimate purpose and, indeed, the origin of God. Birn-baum, like the kabbalists of old, dares to raise the question

&

I N T RO D U C T I O N

of the origins of the Creator of the universe, a question which, in his view, must be raised on the grounds that its correct solution is a necessary propadeutic to genuine inquiry into the problem of evil.Birnbaum’s proposed solution to the question of divine ori-

gins, to the mystery of the kabbalists’ En Sof (the infinite theistic principle giving rise to the God of Israel) is that “Holy Potential is at the epicenter of the Divine,” that God is, by His very nature, potential and possibility, “transcending, space, time and cosmos,” and ever-surging towards greater actuality. Birnbaum bases his thesis, in part, on the name by which God first became known to Moses and Israel: Eheye Asher Eheyeh, “I-will-be-that-which-I-will be” (Exodus 3:13-14) which he sees as a prooftext for his claim that potential is the holiest state of the Divine. Birn-

baum sees the kabbalists’ sefirot as “primal quests for potentiality” which bridge the gap from “emptiness”

to “somethingness,” and thereby become the vehicles of creation.

&

The significance of “Holy Potential” as the primal thrust of the universe, is that man, created in the image of God, has as his cosmic purpose the fulfillment of his own potential, en-capsulated in the first Biblical command, peru u’rivu, “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:26). Birnbaum sees man-kind’s potential displayed in two possible, but mutually ex-culsive, sets of dynamics that were laid out in the Garden of Eden. The first of these, the dynamic of the “Tree of Life/Bliss” promises a gilded cage existence, dependence upon God, eternal life, tamed evil but a limited potential for growth; the second, the dynamic of the “Tree of Knowledge/Poten-

tial” promises a life of challenge, freedom, privacy, respon-sibility, independence, untamed evil and mortality, but an infinite potential for growth. The two of these dynamics are, according to Birnbaum, mutually exclusive, in that insofar as one participates in the first, he cannot participate in the second, and vice versa. A life of infinite freedom/ potential is logically incompatible with dependence on God and per-sonal immortality.Given the fact that man, like God, has as his core essence, the realization of his potential, it is an essentially foregone conclusion, written into the very act of creation, that man

&&

I N T RO D U C T I O N

would eat of the fruit, be banished from Eden, and fulfill the dynamic of the Tree of Knowledge. As such both natural and moral evil would forevermore both plague and chal-lenge mankind. Indeed, the very possibility of man’s fulfill-ing his potential for good, both on the individual and collec-tive levels, is predicated on the possibility of both natural evil (as a challenge to man’s resources) and moral evil (as a challenge to his freedom).The closer mankind comes to fulfilling his spiritual, intel-lectual and other potentials, the closer he comes to fulfilling his purpose on earth via his role as a partner with God in creation. In doing so, however, man must maximize his pri-vacy, independence and freedom. As mankind then moves closer to its own self-actualization, God must, of necessity, retreat further and further into “eclipse.” Mankind has, over the centuries, indeed ascended greatly in knowledge, im-plicitly demanding greater and greater freedom. For God to intervene directly in human affairs at this late stage in man-kind’s development, as he did, for example, for the Jews in

would eat of the fruit, be banished from Eden, and fulfill the dynamic of the Tree of Knowledge. As such both natural and moral evil would forevermore both plague and chal-lenge mankind. Indeed, the very possibility of man’s fulfill-ing his potential for good, both on the individual and collec-tive levels, is predicated on the possibility of both natural evil (as a challenge to man’s resources) and moral evil (as a challenge to his freedom).The closer mankind comes to fulfilling his spiritual, intel-lectual and other potentials, the closer he comes to fulfilling his purpose on earth via his role as a partner with God in creation. In doing so, however, man must maximize his pri-vacy, independence and freedom. As mankind then moves closer to its own self-actualization, God must, of necessity, retreat further and further into “eclipse.” Mankind has, over the centuries, indeed ascended greatly in knowledge, im-plicitly demanding greater and greater freedom. For God to intervene directly in human affairs at this late stage in man-kind’s development, as he did, for example, for the Jews in

Egypt, would reverse the very devel-opment of both His and mankind’s es-sence, and in Birnbaum’s terms, threat-en to “unravel the cosmos.”

Sanford DrobEditor-in-Chief

NY Jewish ReviewFebruary 1990

Egypt, would reverse the very devel-opment of both His and mankind’s es-sence, and in Birnbaum’s terms, threat-en to “unravel the cosmos.”

&

&

100

100.00Holy potential is at the epicenter of the Divine.

200 200.00Holy quest for potential is the underlying core dynamic of the cosmic order.

200 200.00Holy quest for potential is the underlying core dynamic of the cosmic order.

&

300.10Two possible but mutually exclusive sets of dynamics were open to man (at Eden).

300.20The two dynamics are:

“Tree of Life/ Bliss”

1. A “gilded cage” existence2. Intellectual satedness3. Limited growth potential4. Dependence5. Eternal life6. “Leashed” “natural evil”7. Bliss8. Limited potential for “moral good,” “moral evil”9. Lesser dignity

300

“Tree of Knowledge/Potential”

1. A life of challenge, freedom, privacy, and responsibility2. Pursuit of knowledge3. Infinite growth potential4. Independence5. Mortality6. “Unleashed” “natural evil”7. Pain and Joy8. Higher potential for “moral good,” “moral evil”9. Higher dignity

&

300.30In a world predicated on potential, man inexorably took the route of “Tree of Knowledge/Potential.”

300.40“Natural evil” and “moral evil” would consequently forevermore plague and challenge man.

&

400

400.10Evil is the implicit flip-side, or converse, of good. Evil is anti polar to good.

400.20With the creation of potential for good, which is required for man to be able to reach his spiritual potential, potential for evil indirectly, but nevertheless, inexorably, came into existence as a consequence.

400.30To destroy evil would, at the least, destroy good.

400

400.10Evil is the implicit flip-side, or converse, of good. Evil is anti polar to good.

400.20With the creation of potential for good, which is required for man to be able to reach his spiritual potential, potential for evil indirectly, but nevertheless, inexorably, came into existence as a consequence.

400.30To destroy evil would, at the least, destroy good.

400.40While an omnipotent Deity may have an impact on nature, even an omnipotent Deity does not violate universal laws and dynamics implicit in the universal Deity’s essence, as violating them could unravel the cosmos.

&

500

500.10Man is finite+ seeking to approach Infinity

500.20The purpose of man is to quest for his potentialities—spiritual, intellectual, and all other.

&

500.30The closer man approaches the achievement of his spiritual and other potentialities, the closer he comes to fulfilling the primal quests of creation.

500.40Man, (infinite) God, and the universe are all questing for their potentialities.

&

600

600.00Man is innately free and striving for fuller freedom.

700 700.10In order for man to reach his full potential, he must operate from a base of freedom. (This is a law of the universe in concert with the balanceof dynamics of the Tree of Knowledge chosen at Eden.)

700.20The greater the freedom component of man’s base, the greater his ultimate potential (inherent in Tree of Knowledge paradigm chosen at Eden).

&

800 800.10Man is ascendant - at least in knowledge.

800.20As mankind and Judaism ascend in knowledge (and possibly in consciousness) on the road to fulfilling a primal drive of cre-ation, there is an implicit demand for fuller freedom. (This is implicit in our para-digm of the Tree of Knowl-edge.)

800.30A demand for fuller freedom (as a consequence of an ascent in knowledge) has embodied within it a demand for greater privacy, responsibility,

and self-hood - so that man can more ably quest for his potential.

&

900 900.10As mankind ascends in knowledge, implicitly demanding more freedom, there is a proportional contraction (tsimtsum) of Divine here and now consciousness. This is a primary form of Hester Panim which yields man ever greater freedom, privacy, responsibility, and selfhood - with concomitant potential.

900.20As the contraction of real-time Divine consciousness continues, (as mankind ascends in knowledge and freedom), there is a commensurate lower incidence and level of direct particular providence- for the sake of the general providence of allowing mankind to quest for its full potential.

&

&&

www.MetaphysicsA.com

www.SummaM.org

&&

www.MetaphysicsB.com

www.Q4P.us

www.MetaphysicsB.com

www.CosmicWomb.org

&&

www.MetaphysicsC.com

www.CosmicToolKit.com

Cosmic CodeCosmic Code

www.MetaphysicsC.com

www.CosmicCode.com

&

www.q4p.us

DbPRIVATE@aol.com

www.DBacademic.com

If you are currently on

Full Screen mode,

First press ESC key

&

2-book set $100

If you are currently on

Full Screen mode,

First press ESC key