If mind is common to us all, then also the reason, whereby we are rational beings, is common. If this be so, then also the reason which commands us what to do, and what not to do. If this be so, there is a common law also; if this be so, we are fellow citizens; if this be so, we are members of one political community; if this be so, the world is a kind of commonwealth. For in what other common government can we say that the whole human race partakes? And thence, from this common political community, is derived our mind itself, our reasoning faculty, and our sense of law, or whence do they come? For as my earthly part is a portion from some earth, and the watery from a second element, and the vital spirit from some source, and the hot and fiery from yet another source of its own (for nothing comes from nothing, just as nothing returns to nothing), so therefore the mind also has come from some source.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rambam: Guide for the Perplexed 3:11
These great evils that come about between the human individuals who inflict them upon one another because of purposes, desires, opinions, and beliefs, are all of them likewise consequent upon privation. For all of them derive from ignorance, I mean from a privation of knowledge. Just as a blind man, because of absence of sight, does not cease stumbling, being wounded, and also wounding others, because he has nobody to guide him on his way, so too, the various sects of men – every individual according to the extent of his ignorance – does to himself and to others great evils from which individuals of the species suffer. If there were knowledge, whose relation to the human form is like that of the faculty of sight to the eye, they would refrain from doing any harm to themselves and to others. For the knowledge of truth removes hatred and quarrels, and prevents mutual harms. This state of society is promised to us by the prophet in the words: “The wolf will live with the sheep [and the leopard will lie down with the kid; and a calf, a lion whelp, and a fatling together, and a young child will lead them.] A bear will graze and their young will lie down together; [and a lion, like cattle, will eat hay.] A suckling child will play by a viper’s mouth; [and a newly weaned child will stretch his hand toward an adder’s lair” (Yeshayahu 11:6-8). The prophet also points out what will be the cause of this change, for he says that hatred, quarrel, and fighting will come to an end, because men will then have a true knowledge of God. “They will neither injure nor destroy in all of My holy mountain; for the earth will be as filled with knowledge of Hashem as water covering the sea bed” (ibid. 11:9). Note it.
----------
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com
"The Tefilah Podcast":
Share this post