Conclusion of the More Newochim. Excellent Morals. Definition of the True Worship of God, Which Makes Priests Unnecessary
THE FINAL SECTIONS of this superb work contain, as a conclusion, Maimonides’ practical application of morality. In this section, Maimonides shows what true religious worship consists of, worship, that is, of someone who has achieved real knowledge of God, and he also shows how such worship can be the means of achieving both earthly and eternal happiness.
He begins with the following comparison. The king, he says, lives in his palace. Of his subjects there are some within the vicinity of the palace, others outside it. Among the first group [140] there are some who turn their backs on the royal palace and distance themselves from it. Others set out for the palace with the intention of gaining an audience before the king but don’t manage to complete the journey. Others reach the palace but can’t find the entrance. A few make it into the outer courtyard, and a few get into the palace itself, where it is hard to catch a glimpse of the king and to speak with him, but they persist and, by virtue of much effort, succeed.
We can apply this parable to religious service in a number of ways.1
All those who have just as little natural as revealed religion are outside the vicinity of the divine palace. Numbering among this type are, for example, the wandering Nordic Tartars as well as the wandering Southern Moors. They have nearly the same rank as animals lacking reason. They are less than humans but somewhat more than apes, because they have the external form of humans and at least some of their knowledge. [141]
Those who are in the vicinity of the palace but who, nevertheless, turn their backs on the palace, counted as religious people. However, they are people whose religion is based on false beliefs, which they have either come to by themselves or arrived at by holding to a tradition. The further they devote themselves to these beliefs, the more they distance themselves from true religion. This group is even worse than the first one, and it must sometimes be wiped out completely, so that others aren’t ruined (Here Maimonides has in mind the Mosaic law: “You should eliminate and spare no soul”).2 Those who strive to reach the royal palace, but who never get to see it are the common horde, who obey the laws perfunctorily, without understanding their ground. Those who reach the royal palace only to circle it eternally, unable to find the entrance, are the Talmudists. They have come to true beliefs through tradition and have formulated a theory of religious laws. But they haven’t considered the [142] foundations of religion. Nor have they explored the ground of their faith. Those who truly explore the foundations of their religion are in the outer courtyard. There are different gradations among them. Those who, finally, achieve thorough scientific knowledge of all of this are in the royal palace.
Note well, my son! As long as you are still studying mathematics and logic, you will count among those who walk around the palace searching for the entrance. Hence the allegorical expression of some of our sages: “Bensomma (a certain Talmudist) is still outside!”3 If you focus on natural science, you will make it to the outer courtyard. As soon as you have finished this course and have embarked upon the study of metaphysics, you will find yourself in the palace near the king. There are many gradations of knowledge here, however. Those who, in the end, achieve perfection in this science, who abstract their thoughts from all other things and focus on knowledge of the Highest Being, consider everything [143] only in relation to it, they will have the good fortune of conversing with the king. This is the grade of perfection characteristic of prophets. One went so far in the degree of his knowledge and in abstracting from all his thoughts except those about God that it is said about him: He remained with God,4 conversing with Him in this holy state in the most familiar way, with the result that he experienced such an ecstatic state that he ate no bread and drank no water.5 His higher powers held the upper hand over the lower ones. Thus, some prophets see God up close, others from far away. God appeared to me in the distance!6
After achieving right knowledge, one must, then, direct one’s thoughts toward God alone. This is the religious worship characteristic of the person searching for truth, a worship that comes along with the steady acquisition of knowledge. But whoever does not have a right concept of God, and yet thinks about and speaks about God in accordance with an imagined idea of Him or one handed down by others [144], he doesn’t speak or think about God at all, for what he imagines and what he speaks about is an arbitrary fabrication, which doesn’t correspond to a real object.
If you want to achieve a true idea of God, you must begin to devote yourself to Him, to come closer to Him, and to constantly reinforce the bond between you and Him (the intellect). The Holy Scripture also teaches us that the true religious worship requires a right knowledge of God. Thus, we read: Love your God Jehova and serve Him with all your heart.7 Love is proportional to knowledge. The Talmudists, too, say the worship in question is the service of the heart,8 which means abstracting one’s thoughts from all things and directing them exclusively toward the Highest Being. This can only be sustained in solitude; for this reason, thinkers love solitude and seek out company only in moments of great need. [145]
1 Maimon’s explication of Maimonides’ famous closing parable also prepares the reader for the “little allegory” with which he closes his own autobiography.
2 Deut. 20:16. Maimon’s note follows the commentary of Shem Tov.
3 Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Hagiga, 15a. Simon ben Zomah was a first and second century CE Mishnaic sage.
4 Exod. 34:28.
5 Exod. 34:28.
6 Jer. 31:2.
7 Deut. 11:13.
8 Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Taanit, 2a; Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Berachot, 4:1.