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Maimonides, also known as HaRambam, or Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, was a notable medieval Jewish philosopher, astronomer, physician, and intellectual figure. Famous works by Maimonides include “Mishne Torah,” a commentary on the Talmud, and “The Guide for the Perplexed,” philosophical discussions regarding theological matters. Today, we will share the Rabbi Moses ben Maimon’s insightful guidance on the spiritual challenges one may face. “The Guide for the Perplexed” is a book of theology that holds logical explanations on a variety of topics.
We will now read excerpts from Part 3, Chapters 11 and 12. “All the great evils which men cause to each other because of certain intentions, desires, opinions, or religious principles, are likewise due to non-existence, because they originate in ignorance, which is absence of wisdom.” “If men possessed wisdom, which stands in the same relation to the form of man as the sight to the eye, they would not cause any injury to themselves or to others; for the knowledge of Truth removes hatred and quarrels, and prevents mutual injuries.”
“This state of society is promised to us by the prophet in the words: ‘And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,’ etc.; ‘and the cow and the bear shall feed together,’ etc.; and ‘the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,’ etc. The prophet also points out what will be the cause of this change; for he says that hatred, quarrel, and fighting will come to an end, because men will then have a true knowledge of God. ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’ Note it.”
“For an ignorant man believes that the whole universe only exists for him; as if nothing else required any consideration. If, therefore, anything happens to him contrary to his expectation, he at once concludes that the whole universe is evil. If, however, he would take into consideration the whole universe, form an idea of it, and comprehend what a small portion he is of the Universe, he will find the truth. For it is clear that persons who have fallen into this widespread error as regards the multitude of evils in the world, do not find the evils among the angels, the spheres and stars, the elements, and that which is formed of them, namely, minerals and plants, or in the various species of living beings, but only in some individual instances of mankind.”
