Ok at the risk of putting this in the wrong place again, with regards to the golem and truth post:
Also I am going to start with all I know about the golem story is the broadest of outlines so I may be missing something important here but:
I think you are being a bit hard on the golem. There is a vast gulf between knowing and doing. How often do we humans know the truth, know something is harmful to ourselves and others, that it is wrong, yet do it any way? We may justify and minimize to assuage our guilt but we do it none the less. A golem is a flawed creation of a flawed creature (us). Why would you expect it to be better at doing what is right just because it has perfect truth? Now I have to go look up the full story and read it.
Thanks for your comment. I think it's an interesting perspective you present where you mention that the golem is a flawed creation of us, flawed creatures.
What I was trying to understand is the question of the purpose of knowing the ultimate truth. Since all religions search for the ultimate truth, what is the purpose of knowing this truth if, as we see with the golem, he still turns into a destructive force?
It was thought that knowing the ultimate truth would bring justice, goodness and peace to the world. In fact, I would posit that religion surmises that knowing the ultimate truth would turn a flawed creature such as the golem, or us, into the best that we could be. It would be a return to the state found in the Garden of Eden.
So then why armed with the ultimate knowledge of the universe did the golem not become peaceful? Are we then not really supposed to know the truth? Is it more about the journey to find the truth and who we become during that journey rather than the ultimate goal of the truth itself?
I don’t know as you can consider the Garden of Eden a state of the best that we can be. If truth is supposed to make us good or our best, then why would eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil be seen as bad? Is that not the ultimate truth or at least a part of the ultimate truth?
I don’t think our flaws reside in not knowing the truth. How will knowing the ultimate truth change the fact that we already do not always adhere to the parts of the truth that we do know? Is it not possible that with the ultimate truth, some people would also become the ultimate tyrants? What is there to stop them?
Truth, either ultimate or not, is neither good, nor evil. That comes from us. What is it in our egos that we feel we must know an ultimate truth. It may be far better that we don’t.
I think your question about it being the journey may be closer to the mark. One thing we humans, on the whole, always seem to do is strive. We are always reaching beyond ourselves for more. This has been both good and bad throughuot history. What happens to us when there is nothing more to strive for? Do we cease to be human any more? If so, what do we become?
I'm the rando who wrote about the need for a Golem. I meant it figuratively. I'm perfectly aware of the tragic ending of the Golem story. After all, I was born in Prague, where Rabbi Loew (Yehuda Ben Bezalel) created his creature made of clay. We need a far more powerful advocate than just the hasbara of the Israeli government - I guess that's what I was trying to say.
Well Israel does many things well but Hasbara is not one of them. OTOH not sure anything would help Israel in that regard, when the world’s news outlets and social media companies are aligned against you.
Ok at the risk of putting this in the wrong place again, with regards to the golem and truth post:
Also I am going to start with all I know about the golem story is the broadest of outlines so I may be missing something important here but:
I think you are being a bit hard on the golem. There is a vast gulf between knowing and doing. How often do we humans know the truth, know something is harmful to ourselves and others, that it is wrong, yet do it any way? We may justify and minimize to assuage our guilt but we do it none the less. A golem is a flawed creation of a flawed creature (us). Why would you expect it to be better at doing what is right just because it has perfect truth? Now I have to go look up the full story and read it.
Thanks for your comment. I think it's an interesting perspective you present where you mention that the golem is a flawed creation of us, flawed creatures.
What I was trying to understand is the question of the purpose of knowing the ultimate truth. Since all religions search for the ultimate truth, what is the purpose of knowing this truth if, as we see with the golem, he still turns into a destructive force?
It was thought that knowing the ultimate truth would bring justice, goodness and peace to the world. In fact, I would posit that religion surmises that knowing the ultimate truth would turn a flawed creature such as the golem, or us, into the best that we could be. It would be a return to the state found in the Garden of Eden.
So then why armed with the ultimate knowledge of the universe did the golem not become peaceful? Are we then not really supposed to know the truth? Is it more about the journey to find the truth and who we become during that journey rather than the ultimate goal of the truth itself?
I don’t know as you can consider the Garden of Eden a state of the best that we can be. If truth is supposed to make us good or our best, then why would eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil be seen as bad? Is that not the ultimate truth or at least a part of the ultimate truth?
I don’t think our flaws reside in not knowing the truth. How will knowing the ultimate truth change the fact that we already do not always adhere to the parts of the truth that we do know? Is it not possible that with the ultimate truth, some people would also become the ultimate tyrants? What is there to stop them?
Truth, either ultimate or not, is neither good, nor evil. That comes from us. What is it in our egos that we feel we must know an ultimate truth. It may be far better that we don’t.
I think your question about it being the journey may be closer to the mark. One thing we humans, on the whole, always seem to do is strive. We are always reaching beyond ourselves for more. This has been both good and bad throughuot history. What happens to us when there is nothing more to strive for? Do we cease to be human any more? If so, what do we become?
I'm the rando who wrote about the need for a Golem. I meant it figuratively. I'm perfectly aware of the tragic ending of the Golem story. After all, I was born in Prague, where Rabbi Loew (Yehuda Ben Bezalel) created his creature made of clay. We need a far more powerful advocate than just the hasbara of the Israeli government - I guess that's what I was trying to say.
Thanks for reading my post
Well Israel does many things well but Hasbara is not one of them. OTOH not sure anything would help Israel in that regard, when the world’s news outlets and social media companies are aligned against you.
https://foreignlocal.substack.com/p/the-only-palestine-i-care-about-is