8. Are We or Aren't We?

Once the patriarch Abraham realized that the Prime Mover was necessarily in the world, as much as beyond it, he was faced with the very same dilemma that has plagued philosophers ever since: The Are We or Aren't We Paradox.

Simply stated it amounts to this: If G-d exists, he must be infinite. That's Monotheism 101, no way around it. Being that He's infinite, there is no place devoid of Him, that is, He must be omnipresent, He exists everywhere. So if there is no place where He isn't, He must be here where I am. Because if He is not here where I am, He is limited spatially, and if He's limited in space, He's not unlimited and therefore He's not G-d. So He must be here where I am. The only problem is, I'm here and I'm not Him. And if it's really Him that's here and not me, then what am I doing here? Do I really exist? What's going on here?

To understand this better, there is a famous story about a Chassidic charity collector who traveled to a Jewish community that was not friendly to the Chassidic movement. So anti-Chassidic were they, that they appointed a community leader to interrogate visiting charity collectors to ensure they weren't members of "The Sect" as those townsfolk not-too-lovingly referred to the Chassidic movement.

So this erstwhile Chassidic alms-gatherer was being pointedly questioned by the community leader, saying "What is your opinion of the Sect?"

The collector replied, "Oh them. They are always thinking about themselves whereas the fine people of this town are always thinking about G-d!" Satisfied with this answer, he was given a note of endorsement to support him in his rounds. Once he had finished is work in town, he stopped by the local synogogue to bid farewell to the congregants.

He walked up to the lectern, gave it a bang and announced: "Gentlemen! Some of you may have been wondering what I meant when I said that the Chassidim are always thinking about themselves whereas the people of this fine town are always thinking about G-d. What I meant was this: What is reality? You are probably thinking 'what a silly question'. Reality is what you see all around you. So for you, the fact that you are real is obvious. So you will always be wondering about the Creator, asking yourself how could it be that He is here when the fact is that you are here and not Him? The Chassidim however, realize that G-d is the true reality, so they are always wondering about themselves, thinking how can they be here, when the fact is that G-d is really here, and not them!"

With that he dashed out the door into the waiting wagon and sped off down the road before they had a chance to react to their lesson in philosophy.

And so, dear reader, there is no way around it. All of existence is a paradox, and we live in an enigmatic universe. And with regards to whether and how one might come to resolve the Are We or Aren't We Paradox, that's a topic for next week.