tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448378901591621575.post1070469742369076286..comments2023-10-31T03:44:21.678-07:00Comments on Mount and Mountain: Rami: Response to Mike's 3/22 PostingMike Smith and Rami Shapirohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12797108504119005047noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448378901591621575.post-10843312451787202182008-03-28T14:02:00.000-07:002008-03-28T14:02:00.000-07:00I too am a Lao Tzu fan--thanks to you. And as such...I too am a Lao Tzu fan--thanks to you. And as such I tend to agree with you vis a vis the unknowability of God. But I'm surprised to find you claiming that the way of God can be known. Doesn't the chinese word Tao commonly translate as "path" or "way?" <BR/><BR/>I don't mean to create a semantic argument, and I do recognize the line you've drawn between Tao and te. Still, though I'm no Taoist scholar, my quick and admittedly haphazard Google search led me to a Brittanica article that suggests "te" is more Confucian than Taoist--refering to a rather rigid moral or ethical system of behaviors, rather than the absolute, and awe-ful freedom of Tao. <BR/><BR/>Even so, if, as you claim, we may come to know the te of God by reading Exodus, then I find it incredible that such a reading would lead you to conclude that the way of God included mercy, grace and forgiveness. The Egyptians certainly would have a few objections: the drowning of their army, the deaths of their firstborn male children, locusts, boils, etc, etc. <BR/><BR/>I remember hearing a midrash, though now I cannot locate it, that has God interrupting the Israelites in their celebration after the Red Sea crossing, demanding that they mourn for the drowned Egyptian soldiers. The Passover seder demands the same of us, when we diminish our glasses of wine for each of the ten plagues. <BR/><BR/>Ruthlessness and compassion are inextricably linked in Exodus, and in its attendant rituals. In fact, I'm (disturbingly?) reminded of Aleister Crowley: Do as thou wilt is the whole of the law; love is the law: love under will." While compassion, mercy, and love are law, they are not the whole of the law, and are tempered by, directed by, free will. <BR/><BR/>Returning to Exodus, God is faced with a moral dilemma: what does he value more, life or freedom? Freedom is the choice, but it comes at a terrible cost. Free will catapults us out of Mitzrayim, out of the narrow te, and into the ethical wilderness of Tao, where ambiguity reigns, and we all have blood on our hands. Our compassion demands that we mourn the blood, but we cannot wash it off.AaronHerschelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08886387346974535323noreply@blogger.com