AND GOD CREATED HUMANKIND in his own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.
And God gave them, the male and female, brains to think and hearts to feel. And he knew that this might be a problem, because the feeling heart and the thinking brain would not always agree, and sometimes they would disagree vehemently, and He knew (because He knows everything) that it would give them trouble. God didn't see a way around it. And anyway, the 'heart' was really the brain, it was just another aspect of it.
And God knew humankind needed to possess agency - the ability to make decisions about how to live life and to act. Plus, humankind needed to possess awareness of having agency, otherwise what was the point of giving agency? He didn't want to create a humankind that only followed instructions, not even if the instructions came from God. He didn't want to create automatons or robots. And the awareness of agency God called consciousness.
And God made the source of humankind's agency the heart, for it was emotion that would distinguish humankind from being just a thinking machine. For God realized that it was the experience of sadness and joy that gave life meaning to humankind. And this is what is meant by in 'His own image'. Humankind was not a creature of instinct, and not a slave to a master, but humankind had to be free to inquire about the meaning of life, the way the image of a face in the mirror inspects its own face. And this was the essence of the relationship between humankind and its Creator, and this pleased Him.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
2 comments:
According to many meforshim, the fruit that Eve (and later Adam) ate was not an apple, but actually an etrog. An etrog is shaped like a heart (not the emoji heart, but the actual heart that is inside our bodies).
There is much more to discuss on this topic, perhaps on our next zoom call? Although I like your reading of the story very much, the heart in the Torah is not usually associated with emotion. That's a more modern, Romantic idea. The "lev l'daat" is the heart of understanding, of human reasoning and knowledge. So when God hardens Pharaoh's heart, it has nothing to do with emotion, but everything to do with changing his ability to understand and reason, and with taking away his free choice to make the right judgement call.
I've heard that about the etrog. I had in mind the Torah term "chochmos lev" which I understood as a kind of wisdom that balances EQ and IQ, for lack of a better phrase. Since it's used in the Torah in the context of describing an artist's art or a craftman's craft, I understood that it referred to an innate talent, the special gift some artisan's have of understanding of the limits of their material (IQ), while using their talent to fashion this material into objects that reflect spiritual, aesthetic and emotional depth ie. turning the limited into the limitless (EQ). Understanding that we are both mortal and eternal. Which is the very essence of great art (and craft). I must admit that I've always been puzzled by that strange phrase 'And G-d hardened Pharaoh's heart' in the context of the plagues. It makes it sound like G-d is a puppet master, manipulating Pharaoh's responses (which may have been true, since there was nothing undetermined in what was going to happen.) But this interpretation, which would jibe with the notion that G-d was 'taking away his free choice' as you say, seems to be contrary to a principle of Torah ie. that mankind has free choice. Seems more likely that Pharaoh's capacity to think clearly was becoming progressively clouded by his rage with every plague, and that's how his judgment become compromised.
Post a Comment