Jews did not
look at their religion philosophically until the middle Ages. Barbarian Arabs
had driven them out
of their land of "Promise". The different
tendencies of Arabian
thought had great influence, which in turn reflected in
Jewish philosophy of the middle Ages. Avicebron (Solomon ibn Gebird), who lived
in Spain during the eleventh century, offered a
compendium of Neo-Platonism in his book called "Fons Vitae", it
became widely known among the teaching class of Europe. The greatest Jewish philosopher of the
period was Moses Maimonides of Cordova (Mose ben Maimum, 1135-1204), a follower
of Aristotelianism and author of "Guide for the Perplexed" (Moreh
Nebuchim). He turns to Jewish revelation for
knowledge of the divine, upholding
the doctrine of creation out of nothing and the notion of an all-wise
providence in human affairs. He defined "soul" as "the acquired
active intellect"AA1; and in that sense it is immortal. Both Christians
and Jews denied the Aristotle view that the universe was "eternal".
Thus they strayed away from Hinduism too.
The middle Ages
were soon over. The new waves of new thoughts were in the air; the science was
gaining ground, though a bit by bit, over superstitions; Islam and Christianity
decided to rely more on muscle power for spreading their doctrines. New ties
began to find fault with the old traditions, theological systems, and the
authoritarian religion. It was only the thinking class of Christians, Jews who
revolted against the authority and tradition; common man stayed put but
couldn''t be ignored. Science was probing into the secrets of the Nature;
universe and modem physics was probing into cosmic principles. Metaphysics,
theology and natural science could not yield to western though universal and
necessary knowledge. The idea of God remained far away from Westerns called
rational sciences. Ancient Vedic sages believed the original thought came from
God. There could have been no knowledge, no connected world of experience without
such original concept of thought of Vedic sages.
This thought
alone helped producing, developing a unified and unifying consciousness or self
consciousness and the synthetic unity of apperception (mental perception)
followed. The mind to develop rationally, to perceive in ways of space and
time, and to think in the universal terms, even to go beyond and probe cosmos
was the order of the sages. This esoteric insight helps to sees through the
understanding knowledge of supersensible in Meta physics. This thought from God, of God, and
for the understanding of God is all pervading; sages made it their business to
go out to understand it.
They meditated
for hrs, some for days, and some for months. It is believed they drank from their
brain the juices that oozed out. God himself made this possible it was to be
probed and accepted: 1) that the world has a beginning in time, and that it has
no beginning in tie, or is eternal; that it is limited in space, and that it is
unlimited in space. 2) That bodies are infinitely divisible, and that they are
made of simple parts, or atoms, which cannot be further divided; 3) That there
is freedom in the world, and that everything in the world takes place according
to the laws of nature; 4) That there exists an absolutely necessary being as
cause of it; and that there is no such being as the cause of it. Sages
promulgated their esoteric cogitations, their disciples articulated these
observations; disciples'' disciples produced extemporaneous decantation out of
assimilated ponderings. The dedicational probing produced Vedas, Upanishads,
Vedanta, Vaisheshiks, Yogas, and many more Sutras and sub-sutras.