Maimonides' Conclusions in his "Guide for the Perplexed"

Yesterday we talked about taking a moment to write down the wisdom that you've wrestled out of life thus far, because this is what makes a holy book, a Torah, that truth at the core of your life.


Today, we will look to one of the most well-known and revered sages in Jewish tradition to see what he has to say about this truth at the core of your life's purpose.

Considered to be one of the greatest thinkers and sages of all time, Moses ben Maimonides, also known by the acronym Rambam (RAbbi Moses Ben Maimonides) is best known for two massive books: The Guide for the Perplexed, and his Mishneh Torah. Today I will be referring to his Guide for the Perplexed.

Maimonides lived from about 1135 to 1204 CE, first in Spain, then in Morocco and Palestine, and finally in Egypt, where he eventually became the leader of the Egyptian Jewish community and its principal teacher. He was the pre-eminent legal authority and philosopher, and he was also a physician. In other words, a brilliant thinker.

His Guide for the Perplexed, written in Arabic and completed in 1190, offered a philosophical interpretation of the Torah. However, Maimonides was relentlessly rational and had great contempt for superstition. He was impatient with stupidity, especially a stupidity which he saw as masquerading as piety. For Maimonides, only a completely rational and philosophical approach  works, even in the realm of the spiritual.

Author Micah Goodman has written a modern day book to help us understand Maimonides, titled, Maimonides and the Book That Changed Judaism: Secrets of The Guide for the Perplexed. In his book, Micah Goodman contends that Maimonides’ sees the Torah’s purpose as not to bring clarity about G!d and not to resolve inscrutable religious issues, but rather to give us insight into the true nature and purpose of our lives, the very question we began exploring in yesterday's post.

For Maimonides, life was about perfecting the capacity to think clearly and gain a perception of the absolute truths that rule the universe. There was only one problem that vexed him... As Maimonides looked at Moses, he sees in the Torah that Moses stands face to face with G!d. Maimonides says this is the goal of everything human, to understand G!d so much that we see G!d face to face. YET, what does Moses do after seeing G!d face to face at the top of the mountain? He comes back down the mountain.

Maimonides' overriding question of perplexity which drove him to write his 800 page tome was this: If the goal and climax of human existence is to gain the ultimate truth of G!d, why did Moses (and why would anyone) want to come down from the mountain? Why wouldn't we want to spend the rest of our days basking in the glorious presence of G!d? Is this not the most worthy purpose one could have, to see G!d face to face? And if so, why would we ever come back down from the mountain?

So Maimonides writes his Guide for the Perplexed. His entire 800 page book is about how to climb the mountain, how to "see G!d face to face" as did Moses, except for the last 2 pages. In those last two pages, he finally answers his question, by talking about the four kinds of perfection.

The first kind of perfection, and most common, is the acquisition of stuff. How much effort do people put into making a living and having things? Mind you, there is nothing evil in the acquisition of wealth, as long as wealth is an INSTRUMENT to achieve higher goals. If the purpose of your life is only wealth and acquisition for the sake of wealth and acquisition, fame and fortune, then it becomes an object of worship. Obtaining wealth in order to help your family, your community, better educational opportunities for you, your family, and others, supporting religious institutions, and such, this is a righteous endeavor. It is in these ways that we can perform the mitzvah of tzedakah. Tzedakah does not mean charity, even though this is the common (mis)understanding of the word; it means being righteous. In other words, wealth and acquisition of things should lead us to other goals, so it must never be the core purpose of our lives in and of itself.

Maimonides sees the second kind of perfection as one which is oriented towards the body. Once again, physical desire, enjoyment, and pleasure are not sinful, not bad things we must avoid in order to be spiritual. We are NOT born with some sort of "original sin." This is NOT supported in the Torah. The body is not an enemy of the spirit. It gives us the capacity to pursue other goods. It is okay to pursue good health in myriads of ways, but not as an end in itself, not as a core purpose of our lives. Like wealth and acquisition of things, it should lead us to other goals.

The third kind of perfection is moral perfection, the highest degree of excellency in one's character. Again,  righteousness is valuable, very very very valuable, but it is instrumental to other goals, and pursued in the realm of a community. The hermit who lives alone has no need for moral perfection as there are no others with whom to interact. There is no morality outside of living for one's own self.

I recently read the book, The Stranger in the Woods, in which a young man decided to give up the world and go live alone in the middle of a densely wooded area surrounding a lack in Maine, a popular vacationing area, and he had NO human contact for 27 years. None. Not even a conversation. No one even knew where he was holed up, nor that he had done so. Not even the landowner knew he was squatting on her land. Even his family did not look for him, nor even reported he had gone missing. In order to survive, he took to stealing food from local residences and even a camp for special needs kids. He didn't need moral character because no one existed in his world save himself. To him, he wasn't stealing from others; he was merely surviving. His sense of moral perfection was surviving alone. The local residents even put signs on their doors saying they would supply the unknown thief with whatever he needed if he would simply make a list. They would buy his items and leave them for him to collect. He didn't have to break in and steal. But he continued to steal and refused any and all contact. He would not even leave a list of what he needed. He continued to hide without permission on property that wasn't his, breaking in and stealing from locals in order to survive. Because he chose to entirely leave society, his moral character justified stealing for his continued survival.

Maimonides reminds us that morality only allows us to live the life we want to live in community with others. It is important, but it can never be our sole soul purpose.

Maimonides now arrives at the fourth kind of perfection, which he calls the "true perfection" of us as humans: "possession of the highest, intellectual faculties: the possession of such notions which lead to true metaphysical opinions as regards G!d. With this perfection [one] has obtained [one's] final object;... it gives [one] immortality..." Mind you, this is according to Maimonides!

According to Maimonides, the highest purpose of life is to understand life, knowledge, wisdom, to understand the world and other humans, because, says he, if you understand all of that, you will understand G!d.

According to Maimonides, why do we have money? So we can learn and still survive. Why do we have health? So we can learn and still survive. Why do we have moral perfection? So we can live in a peaceful society so we can learn. His notion of ideal perfection is knowledge.

Towards the end of his 800 page book, Maimonides points to one proof text for all of this in the Bible: Jeremiah 9:22-23--

Verse 22: "This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,"

(Notice this follows exactly, in reverse order, the first three kinds of perfection Maimonides has mentioned--wealth, health, and moral wisdom.)

Verse 23: "but let the one who boasts boast about this:
    that they have the understanding to know me..."

And here we arrive at Maimonides' conclusion about the fourth kind of perfection, that the highest purpose of life is learning in order to understand and draw closer to G!d.


HOWEVER, stay with me here, this isn't the end....


That's not all Jeremiah says.


Maimonides continues, "Having stated the sublime ideas contained in that Scriptural passage, and quoted the explanation of our Sages, we will now complete what the remainder of that passage teaches us. The prophet does not content himself with explaining that the knowledge of G!d is the highest kind of perfection....he says, however, that [one] can only glory in the knowledge of G!d and in the knowledge of [G!d's] ways and attributes, which are kindness, justice, and righteousness."

Let's read ALL of Jeremiah 9, verse 23:

Verse 23: "but let the one who boasts boast about this:
    that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
    justice and righteousness on earth,  for in these I delight,” declares the Lord."


In other words, Maimonides spends 798 pages detailing and enumerating what he believes the Torah tells us about every possible way to act in the world with kindness, justice, and righteousness, how to live a G!dly life with deliberation and intention, because, according to Maimonides, this is the truest purpose of life.


In short, whether or not we follow Maimonides' interpretation of HOW, our sole soul purpose is to inject kindness, justice, and righteousness into our every action and interaction.


And now you understand the kernel of Maimonides' 800 page book, Guide for the Perplexed.


Maimonides' conclusions from Jeremiah remind me of the words of another prophet, Micah: "What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your G!d?" (Micah 6:8).

There is definitely a consistency in the Bible about how to live a G!dly life. There is, however, a difference in the interpretation of the details of exactly how to do that.

The bottom line, I think, is less about the HOW and more about the THAT we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly; it is THAT we inject those G!dly qualities of  kindness, justice, and righteousness into our every action and interaction.

That's a tall order! And we will elaborate on that in the next post....