Knowledge without God?

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Howard: Can man enjoy scientific wisdom while being ignorant of God’s existence? 

Rabbi: An atheist or one ignorant of God—by definition—does not recognize that natural order has a designer. They assume things came to be randomly with no intent or purpose. To such people, existences and natural forces follow merely mechanical behaviors, which somehow benefit man, that also curiously cooperate. An unsatisfying explanation. But if trees grew auto engine parts, that when assembled would propel a car, such people would surely claim the tree is the work of a designer. But strangely, they treat nature differently.

Without knowledge of a creator, one cannot understand the true nature of anything, as will be explained below. Furthermore, considering that man’s existence is not temporary, as our eternal metaphysical souls do not suffer physical death, we expand our question: Which knowledge benefits our souls? For our eternal existence surely is of greater concern to us than our temporal earthly life. 

Maimonides states:

The fundamental of all fundamentals and the pillar of all wisdom is to know that there is a Primary Being who brought into being all existence. All the beings of the heavens, the earth, and what is between them came into existence only from the truth of His being. If one would imagine that He does not exist, no other being could possibly exist. If one would imagine that none of the entities aside from Him exist, He alone would continue to exist, and the nullification of their [existences] would not nullify His existence, because all the [other] entities require Him and He, blessed be He, does not require them nor any one of them. Therefore, the truth of His [being] does not resemble the truth of any of their [beings].  (Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 1:1-3)

Nothing came into existence or continues to exist without God. That is the meaning of a “first cause.” Reality dictates that nothing can create itself, so a creator is mandatory for everything to exist. And if one assumes no God exists, meaning no first cause, nothing could exist. Others suggest the universe is eternal with no beginning. But that would mean the present could never be reached; an impossibility. Thus, all existence—the universe and mankind—are due to a first cause: God. 

Let’s consider Howard’s question: Can man enjoy scientific wisdom while being ignorant of God’s existence?  The atheist cannot explain how any existence came about, or how it remains existing. Therefore, he lacks knowledge of “existence”: the most primary property of everything. Thus, his knowledge of anything concerns minor knowledge, only accidental properties, like color, shape, location, motion and interaction, but he doesn’t know how anything exists. He lacks knowledge of the most crucial property of everything. This is Maimonides’ point, that God is the cause of everything, and that all existences and knowledge of everything depends on His existence. And without this knowledge, an atheist has knowledge only of a thing’s mechanics, but not knowledge of its essential nature, nor of its purpose. The atheist’s enjoyment of natural interaction is no different than the appreciation of a house created randomly by wind blowing branches accidentally into form.

But if one discovers that existence is due to a first cause, now he knows the truth of a thing’s primary properties of how it exists and remains existing. That’s essential knowledge that greatly surpasses an atheist’s knowledge. Furthermore, as Rabbi Israel Chait taught, now he is enabled to move past the first question of how everything exists, and progress to learn its purpose. For without a designer, one cannot discuss “purpose.” If during a violent volcanic eruption, the volcano walls blasted apart, shattering into randomly formed stone fragments, one could not seek any purpose in their shapes. But if an architect drew a house blueprint with various size windows for each room, one would correctly determine such variation has reason, as there is a mind behind the design. Without a designer, purpose cannot be determined. Rabbi Israel Chait taught, “knowledge of God is the pillar of all wisdom, as it propels man to search for perfectly rational explanations of the world which must exist, due to God’s existence.” An atheist cannot demand reasoning behind all existence, as he rejects a designer. Thus he fails to search for answers and fails to attain wisdom.

An atheist will marvel at the intricate and harmonious systems of meteorology, botany and biology: the design of water, evaporation, cloud formations, wind, condensation, rainfall, irrigation and vegetation growth, human digestion and human growth. He would say random evolution developed living beings perfectly fit to find sustenance through vegetation. He could not explain why evolution progressed that way or what drives the existence of evolution. He feels, “It’s all accidental that the precise needs of biological organisms perfectly match the nutrients in vegetation.” But in truth, it’s impossible there should exist a perfect match between the properties of meteorology, botany and biology without a designer, for any orchestration of diverse systems that complement each other demands a mind developed all the parts with a plan for the interactive whole. No one would suggest evolution naturally formed pistons, gas tanks, drive trains, transmissions, gas, tires and spark plugs. No, there must be a mind intent on creating autos. And even without cars, no one would suggest such mechanical parts would evolve from nature. None ever have. 

The atheist is outside the pale of a reasonable explanation for existence, and he’s also outside the pale of explaining purpose in creation. All his knowledge is limited to mechanical knowledge or knowledge of accidental features. 

Without a designer—God—existence and the purpose if existence cannot be rationally explained. Therefore, the atheist and those ignorant of God miss the essence of the wisdom of all existences. Their advanced knowledge and manipulation of the mechanics of creation are no reflection of true knowledge. Essential knowledge must explain the essence of existence, which refers to how existence came about, and why it exists, its purpose.

The follower of God views meteorology, botany and biology in the context of God, and creation’s purpose: sustained life for the objective of pursuing wisdom. That is, man, as the only intellect on Earth, is to pursue knowledge of God. That is why on Earth, man alone possesses intelligence. The atheist is ignorant of the purpose of creation: man is to recognize all that exists targets knowledge of God (Avos 2:8 Rashi). 

This is Maimonides second chapter (Ibid. 2:1):

It is a mitzvah to love and fear this glorious and awesome God, as [Deut. 6:5] states: "And you shall love God, your Lord" and, as [Deut. 6:13] states: "Fear God, your Lord." 

Knowledge must ultimately arrive at an appreciation of God as the source of the universe. 

Maimonides continues:

What is the path [to attain] love and fear of Him? When a person contemplates His wondrous and great deeds and creations and appreciates His infinite wisdom that surpasses all comparison, he will immediately love, praise, and glorify [Him], yearning with tremendous desire to know [God's] great name, as David stated: "My soul thirsts for the Lord, for the living God" [Psalms 42:3]. When he [continues] to reflect on these same matters, he will immediately recoil in awe and fear, appreciating how he is a tiny, lowly, and dark creature, standing with his flimsy, limited, wisdom before He who is of perfect knowledge, as David stated: "When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers... [I wonder] what is man that You should recall Him" [Psalms 8:4-5]. Based on these concepts, I will explain important principles regarding the deeds of the Master of the worlds to provide a foothold for a person of understanding to [develop] love for God, as our Sages said regarding love: "In this manner, you will recognize He who spoke and [thus,] brought the world into being." (Ibid. 2:2)

Again, “When a person contemplates His wondrous and great deeds and creations and appreciates His infinite wisdom that surpasses all comparison, he will immediately love, praise, and glorify [Him], yearning with tremendous desire to know [God's] great name.”  So not only is enjoyment of wisdom compromised when one is ignorant of how matter exists, but he is also without the enjoyment of wisdom if his studies don’t arrive at an appreciation for God. How is man’s enjoyment of wisdom crippled when he is ignorant of God? Rabbi Chait was asked why God, in His universe and Torah, embedded wisdom that far surpasses that capacity of any man to comprehend. He said as follows:

There are two things in perceiving wisdom: a perception of what you know, but also a sense of what you don't know. And that's why we mentioned that a great scientist senses that he only scratched the surface. That means man's knowledge enables him to know certain things, but it enables him to sense that what he sees, is only the surface that stems from an infinite source. That's all part of wisdom. There's a draw to wisdom, a draw towards the infinite. That's why scientists say that with every door you open, you then see that there's another five doors. And as man progresses in knowledge, he sees the infinite looms even greater before him. That's the process of wisdom. Without the infinite, there's no wisdom. 

Part of man's relationship to wisdom is a relationship to the infinite. It's not enough if a person knows something. He has to be able to sense that this which he knows comes from something which is of an infinite magnitude. He's scratching the surface. That's like Einstein said, that when a person studies nature, he realizes that the elements [tools] that he's using are very crude mechanisms compared to what is necessary to understand the delicate and abstract ideas of the universe. That's the experience of wisdom. If it's not infinite, it's not wisdom. In other words, when a person pursues ideas, there's greater and greater unification and more and more abstract. Man will never be able to get to the end of that road of abstractions. Because the abstractions reach up to God’s throne, it's impossible [to reach]. How far on the path he gets, depends on each individual. Depending on his abilities and depending on how much he dedicates himself to it, his discipline, that will determine what level along the path each individual attains. But no one will get to the end. 

There's a reason for this. What is study? In study, man approaches God. How does man approach God? His sense of the infinite. Through wisdom, a person senses the infinite, and that relates him to God. Without the sense of the infinite, if it's a finite idea and that's the end of it, he has no relationship to God. Ultimately, his draw is towards God. And God is impossible for any being to understand, even angels. And no one, no being can understand God. So that's why it has to be the infinite. Without the infinite, there's no study. Just to know a certain idea, a certain fact, that's not study. Study is where the person is drawn towards God [“One who loves and desires wisdom—even though he does not know anything—behold, this one is called a wise man.” Rabbeinu Yona, Avos 4:1]. How is he drawn towards God? When the world of the infinite starts opening up, like the Rambam says, he desires to get closer and closer, to move in a certain motion towards the infinite, towards God. 

Can man enjoy scientific wisdom while being ignorant of God’s existence? While a man ignorant of God can appreciate how the world operates, during life he loses immensely by not being propelled to seek answers to every question, as he does not agree there is a designer and a rational purpose to everything. He also has no joy and appreciation for God of infinite wisdom, for Whom King David, Einstein and others marveled. Finally, he forfeits his afterlife, which cannot exist for one who denies God.