Tumah(why do you call yourself Tumah?),
Just a name I've been using for a while, completely unrelated to anything.
Anyway, you say: "There's nothing else. Only our perception that there is something else." Then you say: "On an essential level there is G-d and there is me."
How is this not a logical contradiction?
My logical mind tells me(I'm speaking for myself) "There's nothing else", while I practice Judaism as if "On an essential level there is G-d and there is me".
This creates in me cognitive dissonance(which I can live with), but it is not a logical contradiction(which I can't live with).
The reason why I said it, is because I understand from my (albeit very limited) understanding, the connection between G-d to the physical world works through a kind of evolution from the One to the many. Meaning G-d is one and the further you get from G-d to the physical the stronger plurality appears. Or the further you get from the physical, the more the Unity becomes apparent. Similar to Philo's emanationism, I think. This is also reflected in the evolution of the Simple to the complex, and the Singularity to the universe. The closer to the Source we go, the more everything reflects the Divine Unity.
So although even the latest stages of complexity is really only a manifestation of the Divine in a way that
appears complex, and all is really One. At some early point along these stages, begins the appearance of the reality of the self.
That is what I mean, that although in reality, there is nothing else. Still the world was created in such a way that at a certain stage of the process I have a perception of self.
I think this is also reflected in the names of the soul: The higher levels of the soul is called the YeCHiDaH, the Unity of the individual. Then above that is the "CHaYaH D'KLaLuS" or "General Life", where the souls of the nation are unifying and then the "YeCHiDaH D'KLaLuS", the "General Unity" where the souls are really one. At least this has been my understanding.
I've been trying to piece these issues together for some time now. I think we've had the same basic questions. There aren't many clear sources available on these subjects as philosophy is not an area of study generally encouraged because of the dangers involved. And the sources that do deal with these issues require a much more profound knowledge of Jewish literature before engaging in them.
So, I don't know if I am putting it all together correctly or understanding the ideas correctly. But so far this is what I've come up with from everything I've learned either from studying on my own or asking my Rabbis.
