True, But Frustrating

After finally getting to the final response from the Yirei Elokim, I don't think I'm truly satisfied. There are some interesting points the guy brings up that do restore my faith in G-d and this world after it was crushed multiple times during the course of this class, but I'm still a little shaky on believing everything this guy says. First of all, he says that there will be days of darkness when you feel that everything is hevel. That's pretty realistic, everyone does have their bad days, so it seems like he's stealing from the Chachum's playbook. I'm cool with that. He then says, what seems to be his main point, that man and the human mind are limited and finite. Man cannot know everything or control everything. That does not mean that man just shouldn't try, which were the conclusions of the Amal and Nehena,  but that man should attempt to understand the world and use Chachmah, he just also must realize that when he can't understand something, it does not mean that there is anarchy and chaos and everything is hevel. It just means that there are some things that are incomprehensible for man. The only thing that man can truly know is that man cannot know everything.

The more I think about that line, the more true I find it to be. But it is also extremely frustrating. The Yirei Elokim wants man to understand that he is limited so he should not strive for perfection or to have everything. There is something bigger than man, G-d, and if everything is about man and you can't be satisfied until you have it all, then you can never find meaning. It can't be all about the end goal, because if you're looking for it all then you're not going to reach it and you will never find meaning that way.

The Yirei Elokim makes some good points that really make you think, but the more I think about it, the less I am satisfied with it. It's not because I think this ideology is flawed, I just think as a human, it is hard to think that there are end goals that are simply unreachable because G-d is bigger than us or because we are incapable of reaching perfection. We say it all the time. We can't be perfect, we can't have it all, but when you think about it, it's kind of sad. If I want perfection and that is my goal, I will lose sight of meaning in the world. So can you not have both? Meaning in life and striving for perfection don't seem to mix according to the Yirei Elokim. I would have liked to see the Chachum's view on this response. It's frustrating to be told that we are limited and we are being held accountable for our actions when there still is no proof of any of this.

The Yirei Elokim also strikes down the theory that the cycles of nature make no progress because they just go around and around, ending up in the same place they started. He says that although the water might return to its origin at the end of the day, or that the sun rises and sets in the same place each day, they also accomplish many things during the day. Wind moves seeds and creates new life and the sun gives us warmth and keeps us alive. Along the way, things do happen--new things, even. There is progress. I do like this concept. I think it's another example of looking at the bigger picture, or from a new angle. Instead of looking at it in a negative light--no progress--we can look at it from a positive angle--looking at all that's accomplished while the cycle takes place.