Body
and
Soul
Before
I
clarify
this
exalted
matter,
it
is
important
for
me
to
note
that
although
all
the
readers
seem
to
consider
it
impossible
to
clarify
and
bring
such
a
matter
closer
to
the
human
mind,
except
by
relying
on
abstract,
philosophical
concepts,
as
is
usually
the
case
with
such
scrutinies,
since
the
day
I
have
discovered
the
wisdom
of
Kabbalah
and
dedicated
myself
to
it,
I
have
distanced
myself
from
abstract
philosophy
and
all
its
branches
as
the
east
from
the
west.
Everything
that
I
will
write
henceforth
will
be
from
a
purely
scientific
perspective,
in
utter
precision,
and
by
means
of
simple
recognition
of
practical,
useful
things.
Although
I
will
mention
their
words
below,
it
will
be
only
to
indicate
the
difference
between
what
the
human
mind
can
conjure
up
and
what
can
be
understood
using
the
concepts
of
the
Torah
and
the
prophecy,
which
are
based
on
practical
foundations
(as
I
have
shown
in
“The
Essence
of
the
Wisdom
of
Kabbalah”).
I
would
like
to
hereby
thoroughly
clarify
the
terms
“body”
and
“soul”
as
they
truly
are,
since
truth
and
commonsense
are
one
and
the
same,
since
the
truth
is
available
for
anyone,
but
only
according
to
the
spirit
of
the
Torah
and
by
removing
all
the
distorted
concepts
that
have
taken
root
among
the
people.
These
are
primarily
taken
from
abstract
methods
from
which
the
spirit
of
our
Torah
is
utterly
removed.
Three
Methods
in
the
Concepts
of
Body
and
Soul
In
general,
we
find
that
the
methods
that
abound
in
the
world
concerning
the
concepts
of
body
and
soul
are
gathered
into
three
methods:
1)
The
Method
of
Faith
The
method
of
faith
argues
that
all
that
exists
is
the
spirit
or
the
soul.
They
believe
that
there
are
spiritual
objects
separated
from
one
another
by
quality.
They
are
called
“souls
of
people,”
and
they
exist
independently,
prior
to
dressing
in
a
human
body.
Afterward,
when
the
body
dies,
the
death
does
not
apply
to
it,
since
a
spiritual
object
is
a
simple
object.
In
their
view,
death
is
but
separation
of
the
elements
comprising
the
object.
This
is
possible
with
physical
objects,
comprised
of
several
elements
which
death
disintegrates.
But
the
spiritual
soul,
which
is
an
utterly
simple
object,
lacking
any
complexity,
cannot
be
separated
in
any
way,
as
this
separation
would
annul
its
existence.
Hence,
the
soul
is
eternal
and
exists
forever.
The
body,
as
they
understand
it,
is
like
clothing
over
this
spiritual
object.
The
spiritual
soul
clothes
in
it
and
uses
it
to
manifest
its
forces:
the
good
qualities
and
all
kinds
of
concepts.
Also,
it
provides
the
body
with
life
and
motion
and
guards
it
from
harm.
Thus,
the
body
itself
is
lifeless,
motionless,
and
contains
nothing
but
dead
matter,
as
we
see
once
the
soul
departs
it—when
it
dies—and
all
the
signs
of
life
we
see
in
human
bodies
are
but
manifestations
of
the
powers
of
the
soul.
2)
The
Method
of
Believers
in
Duality
Those
who
believe
in
duality
think
of
the
body
as
a
complete
creation,
standing,
living,
and
nourishing,
and
safekeeping
its
existence
in
all
that
is
required.
It
does
not
need
any
assistance
from
any
spiritual
object.
Yet,
the
body
is
not
considered
man’s
essence.
Man’s
primary
essence
is
the
perceiving
soul,
which
is
a
spiritual
object,
as
in
the
view
of
the
supporters
of
the
first
method.
The
difference
between
these
two
methods
is
only
in
the
concept
of
the
body.
Following
the
extensive
developments
in
physiology
and
psychology,
they
have
found
that
Providence
has
provided
for
all
of
life’s
needs
within
the
machine
of
the
body
itself.
This,
in
their
view,
restricts
the
role
of
the
soul’s
functionality
within
the
body
solely
to
concepts
and
virtues
of
the
spiritual
kind.
Thus,
while
they
believe
in
duality,
in
both
methods
together,
they
say
that
the
soul
is
the
reason
for
the
body,
meaning
that
the
body
is
a
result,
extending
from
the
soul.
3)
The
Method
of
the
Deniers
The
method
of
deniers
of
spirituality,
who
acknowledge
only
corporeality.
Supporters
of
this
method
completely
deny
the
existence
of
any
kind
of
abstract
spiritual
object
within
the
body.
They
have
evidently
proven
that
man’s
mind,
too,
is
but
a
product
of
the
body,
and
depict
the
body
as
an
electronic
machine
with
wires
that
stretch
from
the
body
to
the
brain
and
are
operated
by
encounters
with
external
things.
Also,
they
send
their
sensations
of
pain
or
pleasure
to
the
brain,
and
the
brain
instructs
the
organ
what
to
do.
Everything
is
run
by
wires
and
cords
built
for
this
task.
They
move
the
organ
away
from
sources
of
pain
and
toward
sources
of
pleasure.
Thus,
they
clarify
all
of
man’s
conclusions
from
life’s
events.
Also,
what
we
feel
as
concepts
and
rationalities
within
our
minds
are
but
images
of
corporeal
occurrences
within
the
body.
Man’s
pre-eminence
over
all
animals
is
that
our
minds
are
developed
to
such
an
extent
that
all
the
body’s
events
are
depicted
in
our
brains
as
images
that
we
experience
as
concepts
and
rationalities.
Thus,
the
mind
and
all
its
deductions
are
but
products
that
extend
from
the
events
of
the
body.
In
addition,
there
are
proponents
of
the
second
method
who
completely
agree
with
this
method
but
add
the
spiritual,
eternal
object
to
it,
called
“the
soul
that
dresses
within
the
machine
of
the
body.”
This
soul
is
man’s
essence,
and
the
machine
of
the
body
is
but
its
clothing.
Thus,
I
have
laid
out
in
general
terms
all
that
human
science
has
thus
far
contrived
in
the
concepts
of
“body”
and
“soul.”
The
Scientific
Meaning
of
Body
and
Soul
According
to
Our
Torah
Now
I
shall
explain
this
exalted
matter
according
to
our
Torah,
as
our
sages
have
explained
it
to
us.
I
have
already
written
in
several
places
that
there
is
not
a
single
word
of
our
sages,
not
even
in
the
prophetic
wisdom
of
Kabbalah,
that
relies
on
a
theoretical
basis.
It
is
a
known
fact
that
man
is
naturally
doubtful,
and
each
conclusion
that
the
human
mind
deems
certain,
it
deems
uncertain
after
some
time.
Hence,
one
doubles
the
efforts
of
one’s
study
and
invents
another
inference
and
once
again
declares
that
it
is
certain.
But
if
one
is
a
genuine
student,
he
will
walk
around
this
axis
all
of
one’s
life,
since
yesterday’s
certainty
has
become
today’s
uncertainty,
and
today’s
certainty
becomes
tomorrow’s
uncertainty.
Thus,
it
is
impossible
to
determine
any
definite
conclusions
for
more
than
a
day.
Revealed
and
Concealed
Today’s
science
has
sufficiently
understood
that
there
is
no
absolute
certainty
in
reality.
Yet,
our
sages
arrived
at
this
conclusion
several
thousand
years
earlier.
Hence,
concerning
religious
matters,
they
guided
and
forbade
us
not
only
to
refrain
from
drawing
any
conclusions
based
on
theory,
but
even
prohibited
us
from
being
assisted
by
such
theories,
even
by
way
of
negotiations.
Our
sages
divided
the
wisdom
into
two
matters:
revealed
and
concealed.
The
revealed
part
contains
everything
we
know
from
our
direct
consciousness,
as
well
as
the
concepts
built
upon
practical
experience,
without
any
assistance
from
scrutiny,
as
our
sages
said,
“A
judge
has
only
what
his
eyes
see.”
The
concealed
part
contains
all
those
concepts
we
had
heard
from
trusted
people
or
have
acquired
by
ourselves
through
general
understanding
and
perception
of
them.
However,
we
cannot
sufficiently
approach
it
so
as
to
criticize
it
with
a
healthy
mind,
with
straightforward
cognizance.
And
this
is
regarded
as
“concealed,”
where
we
were
advised
to
accept
matters
with
“simple
faith.”
And
with
all
that
concerns
religion,
we
have
been
strictly
forbidden
to
even
gaze
at
matters
that
could
arouse
us
to
scrutinize
and
study
them.
Yet,
these
names,
“revealed”
and
“concealed,”
are
not
permanent
names,
applying
to
a
certain
kind
of
knowledge,
as
the
masses
think.
Rather,
they
apply
only
to
the
human
consciousness.
Thus,
one
refers
to
all
those
concepts
one
has
already
discovered
and
has
come
to
know
through
actual
experience
as
“revealed,”
and
regards
all
the
concepts
that
are
yet
to
be
recognized
in
this
manner
as
“concealed.”
Thus,
throughout
the
generations,
all
people
have
these
two
divisions.
The
revealed
part
will
be
permitted
for
study
and
research,
as
it
relies
on
a
true
basis,
and
the
concealed
part
is
forbidden
for
even
a
shred
of
scrutiny,
since
one
has
no
real
basis
there.
Permitted
and
Forbidden
in
Using
Human
Science
Hence,
we
who
follow
in
the
footsteps
of
our
sages
are
not
permitted
to
use
the
human
science,
except
with
knowledge
that
has
been
proven
by
actual
experiences
and
of
whose
validity
we
have
no
doubt.
Therefore,
we
cannot
accept
any
religious
principle
from
the
above
three
methods,
all
the
more
so
concerning
concepts
of
body
and
soul,
which
are
the
fundamental
concepts
and
the
subject
of
religion
as
a
whole.
We
can
only
accept
concepts
of
life
sciences
taken
from
experiments
that
no
one
can
doubt.
Clearly,
such
a
proof
cannot
be
found
in
any
spiritual
matter,
but
only
in
physical
matters,
set
up
for
perception
by
the
senses.
Hence,
we
are
permitted
to
use
the
third
method,
to
an
extent.
It
engages
only
in
matters
of
the
body,
in
all
those
deductions
that
have
been
proven
by
experiments,
and
which
no
one
doubts.
The
rest
of
the
concepts,
which
combine
the
reason
of
their
method
and
other
methods,
are
forbidden
to
us.
One
who
uses
them
breaches,
“Do
not
turn
to
the
idols.”
Yet,
this
third
method
is
foreign
and
loathsome
to
the
human
spirit.
There
is
hardly
any
truly
educated
person
who
is
able
to
accept
it.
This
is
so
because
according
to
them,
man’s
human
form
has
been
erased
and
vanished.
Man
has
been
made
into
a
machine
that
walks
and
works
by
other
forces.
In
their
opinion,
man
has
no
free
choice
whatsoever,
but
is
rather
pushed
by
nature’s
forces,
and
all
his
actions
are
compulsory.
Hence,
man
has
no
reward
or
punishment,
since
no
judgment,
punishment,
or
reward
apply
to
one
who
has
no
freedom
of
will.
Such
a
thing
is
utterly
unthinkable,
and
not
only
for
the
religious,
who
believe
in
reward
and
punishment,
since
believing
in
His
Providence,
that
all
of
nature’s
forces
are
guided
by
Him,
assures
them
that
everything
has
a
good
and
desirable
cause.
Yet,
this
method
is
even
stranger
in
the
eyes
of
the
nonreligious,
who
believe
that
everyone
is
given
to
the
hands
of
the
blind,
mindless,
and
aimless
nature.
These
intelligent
ones
are
like
toys
in
its
hands,
led
astray,
and
who
knows
where?
Hence,
this
method
has
become
despised
and
unaccepted
in
the
world.
Indeed,
know
that
the
method
of
those
who
conceive
duality
came
only
to
correct
this
above-mentioned
distortion.
For
this
reason,
they
have
decided
that
the
body,
which
is
but
a
machine
according
to
the
third
method,
is
not
at
all
the
real
human.
Man’s
real
essence
is
something
altogether
different—invisible
and
imperceptible
to
the
senses.
It
is
a
spiritual
entity,
clothed
and
hidden
within
the
body.
This
is
man’s
“self,”
the
“I.”
The
body
and
everything
within
it
are
considered
possessions
of
that
eternal
and
spiritual
I,
as
they
have
written.
Yet,
by
their
own
admission,
this
whole
method
is
lame
since
they
cannot
explain
how
a
spiritual
entity,
being
the
soul
or
the
self,
can
move
the
body
or
decide
anything
concerning
it.
This
is
because
following
the
philosophical
precision
itself,
the
spiritual
has
no
contact
whatsoever
with
the
physical.
It
has
absolutely
no
impact
on
it,
as
they
themselves
have
written.
The
Accusation
against
Maimonides
Yet,
even
without
this
question,
their
method
would
have
been
forbidden
among
Israel,
as
we
have
explained
above.
It
is
important
that
you
know
that
the
whole
accusation
against
Maimonides
by
Israel’s
sages
and
the
harsh
judgment
to
burn
his
books
were
not
because
they
had
any
doubt
of
the
righteousness
and
piousness
of
Maimonides
himself.
Rather,
it
was
only
because
he
used
philosophy
and
metaphysics,
which
were
at
their
peak
at
the
time,
as
assistance
in
his
books.
Maimonides
wished
to
save
them
from
it,
yet
the
sages
did
not
agree
with
him.
Needless
to
say,
today
our
generation
has
already
recognized
that
metaphysical
philosophy
contains
no
real
content
upon
which
it
is
worthwhile
to
spend
one’s
time.
Hence,
it
is
certainly
forbidden
for
anyone
to
take
any
spices
from
their
words.