[339] MERGE WITH ABOVE: Free will transcends both determinism and randomness : it involves decisions which are rational yet non-determined , free yet non-random. Free will is essentially a self-causative phenomenon , as is the universe - the universe exists , yet could not have been caused .[Time is coexistent with the universe, and there could be no 'time' when the universe did not exist. (see Rambam) - since 'cause' implies temporal order , therefore 'cause' is impossible when the universe did not exist , and therefore the universe could not have emerged from non-existence to existence via 'cause'.Therefore the universe is acausal , or self-caused.]
A close parallel exists between this reasoning and Rambam's view on the issue of God's reason/motive for creating the universe.
That is, reasons involve infinite regress , i.e. causal deterministic chains of reasons, whereas the lack of reasons implies the randomness of caprice.
To circumvent this difficulty, Rambam employs a concept related to self-causation: the way to avoid infinite regress is via acausality : existence is the reason for existence - existence is an intrinsic good , and therefore God gave the universe existence.
[340]* see Guttmann p. 196 for references.
[341] This theory has been tested and verified many times for elementary particles moving at high speeds, and also for macroscopic objects at slow speeds. The theory of special relativity is therefore accepted as fact, not merely as a speculative theory. However, travel to the future in this way is not yet possible as today's rockets are not capable of moving anywhere near the speed of light, and to do so would require vast amount of fuel - perhaps necessitating the equivalent of burning entire stars as fuel.
[342] The mathematical structure of relativity theory as understood today allows the existence of wormholes - whether they are actually physically possible is under contention.
[343] 'Godel universes' contain closed time-lines which may give rise to similar paradoxes. However, clearly if spacetime is a four dimensional manifold, and there is no additional super-time along which the time direction develops, the four-manifold cannot change, and therefore the past and future are fixed. (speculation: leaves, branches, windings etc. of manifold about another, fiber of times above each space point.)
[344] This idea as explained here was described in a footnote earlier in the book.
[345] As the passage states (Gen.3:22) "man has become as one of it [mimenu]" - where now one can understand "it" [mimenu] as referring to the tree, as it does elsewhere in that chapter.
[346] According to tradition, the creation and Eden accounts refer to the same essential process. Humanity was created on the sixth day, and the Eden account tells of the events which occured on that day, so that the eating of the tree of knowledge and its aftermath took place prior to the conclusion of the creation process at the end of the sixth day, when the universe became a self-consistent physical entity operating according to 'natural law'. Thus the reference to "Adam" is to the essence of humanity at a point prior to the end of creation and the institution of natural physical law.
Since the essense of a human being is the soul ("and God breathed into man the spirit of life'), the pre-natural law "Adam" or humanity refers to the collective soul of humanity, so that in the present context the Eden account tells us that prior to the creation of the physical universe and the laws of nature, the collective soul of humanity accepted upon itself the burden of moral obligation. (This is similar to the traditional belief that all the souls of the Jewish people ever to be born were present at Sinai and accepted the Torah, making it binding on all future generations.) The Eden account is then an allegorical reference to this event.
[347] See the discussions in the midrash and classical commentaries.
[348] This was in text here, but seems like a non-sequitar : The big questions of why the universe exists, what is God, how can spirit and body coexist, what is free will, are beyond us - at least at present. Thematically however, there is an interelationship between meaning purpose and free will, and existence creation mind/body and spirit/body, so that the accounts of the creation and the Garden of Eden take on a new light individually, and in juxtaposition to each other.
[349] See the Midrash "Fathers of R. Natan" chapter 1, where R. Shimon ben Elazar and R. Shimon bar Yochai may be making a similar point about Adam and his situation.
[350] "der alter fon Slabodka", in the opening chapter of his "Madregat Ha'adam".
[351] Thus not only are the creation and Eden accounts related, but even the form of these accounts are appropriate to the self-referential and circular nature of their contentSee Ch. "Existence,Free Will and Self-Causation".
[352] Even such a consultation would be 'unfair' since to be consulted one has to be created, and once one exists, one might not wish to be terminated, leaving no real choice.
[353] an allegorical adaptation and interpretation of the phrase "Let us make man in our image".
[354] Before and after are not defined where time is non-existent (outside the physical universe) and therefore one can substitute ‘beyond’, or ‘logically prior’ for these terms.
[355] Halachically one does not erect doubly-removed protections around God’s prohibitions.
[356] "which God created to do".
[357] Of course the full expression of condemnation for murder follows shortly in the next account, that of Cain and Abel. And, it is there that the Torah introduces clearly the doctrine of free willed choice, and the ability to overcome inner inclinations to evil.
The remaining commandments of the ten are also hinted at in the creation and Eden accounts. "Therefore shalt man leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife" hints at an obligation to help them until setting up one's own family, and therefore implies the need for a certain respect for, and obedience to, one's parents.
Adam bears possible false witness against his wife, blaming her for the eating of the fruit, and the snake does so as well by deliberately quoting God in an incorrect fashion when speaking to Eve. This is also a false usage of the name of God, and it is therefore taking God's name in vain.
In this way, all of the ten commandments are presaged, or alluded to, in the creation and Eden accounts.