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HISTORY OF ISRAEL LIBRARY |
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CONTENTS
Introduction
I. Isaac
Israeli
II. David
ben Merwan Al Mukammas
III. Saadia
ben Joseph Al-Fayyumi
IV. Joseph
Al-Basir and Jeshua ben Judah
V. Solomon
Ibn Gabirol
VI. Bahya
Ibn Pakuda
VII. Pseudo-Bahya
VIII. Abraham
Bar Hiyya
IX. Joseph
Ibn Zaddik
X. Judah
Halevi
XI. Moses
and Abraham Ibn Ezra
XII. Abraham
Ibn Daud
XIII. Moses
Maimonides
XIV. Hillel
ben Samuel
XV. Levi
ben Gerson
XVI. Aaron
ben Elijah of Nicomedia
XVII. Hasdai
ben Abraham Crescas
XVIII.
Joseph Albo
Conclusion
CHAPTER VII. PSEUDO-BAHYA
It had
been known for a number of years that there was a manuscript treatise in Arabic
on the soul, which was attributed on the title page to Bahya. In 1896 Isaac
Broydé published a Hebrew translation of this work under the title “Torot
ha-Nefesh”, (“Reflections on the Soul”). The original Arabic was edited by
Goldziher in 1907. The Arabic title is “Maani al-Nafs”, and should be
translated “Concepts of the soul”, or “Attributes of the soul”.
There
seems little doubt now that despite the ascription on the title page of the
manuscript, the treatise is not a work of Bahya. It is very unlikely that
anything written by so distinguished an author as Bahya, whose “Duties of the
Hearts” was the most popular book in the middle ages, should have been so
thoroughly forgotten as to have left no trace in Jewish literature. Bahya as
well as the anonymous author refer, in the introductions to their respective
works, to their sources or to their own previous writings. But there is no
reference either in the “Duties of the Hearts” to the “Attributes of the Soul”,
or in the latter to the former. A still stronger argument against Bahya as the
author of our treatise is that derived from the content of the work, which
moves in a different circle of ideas from the “Duties of the Hearts”. Our
anonymous author is an outspoken Neo-Platonist. He believes in the doctrine of
emanation, and arranges the created universe, spiritual and material, in a
descending series of such emanations, ten in number. The Mutakallimun he
opposes as being followers of the “Naturalists”, who disagree with the
philosophers as well as the Bible. Bahya, on the other hand, is a strict
follower of the Kalam in his chapter on the “Unity”, as we have seen, and the
Neo-Platonic influence is very slight. There is no trace of a graded series of
emanations in the “Duties of the Hearts”.
The
sources of the “Attributes of the Soul” are no doubt the various Neo-Platonic
writings current among the Arabs in the tenth and eleventh centuries, of which
we spoke in the Introduction and in the chapter on Gabirol. Gabirol himself can
scarcely have had much influence on our author, as the distinctive doctrine of
the “Fons Vitae” is absent in our treatise. The reader will remember that
matter and form, according to Gabirol, are at the basis not merely of the
corporeal world, but that they constitute the essence of the spiritual world as
well, the very first emanation, the Universal Intelligence, being composed of
universal matter and universal form. As we shall see this is not the view of the
“Attributes of the Sou”l. Matter here occupies the position which it has in
Plotinus and in the encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity. It is the fourth in
order of emanations, and the composition of matter and form begins with the
celestial sphere, which is the fifth in order. Everything that precedes matter
is absolutely simple. At the same time it seems clear that he was familiar with
Gabiro’'s doctrine of the will. For in at least two passages in the
"Attributes of the Soul" we have the series, vegetative soul, spheral
impression, [psychic power], universal soul, intellect, will.
The “Categories”
of Aristotle is also clearly evident in the “Attributes of the Soul”. It is the
ultimate source of the definition of accident as that which resides in substance
without being a part of it, but yet in such a way that without substance it
cannot exist. The number of the species of motion as six points in the same
direction. This, however, does not prove that the author read the
"Categories." He might have derived these notions, as well as the
list of the ten categories, from the writings of the Brethren of Purity. The
same thing applies to the statement that a spiritual substance is distinguished
from a corporeal in its capacity of receiving its qualities or accidents
without limits. This probably goes back to the De Anima of Aristotle where a similar contrast between the senses
and the reason is used as an argument for the “separate” character of the
latter. The doctrine of the mean in conduct comes from the ethics of Aristotle.
The doctrine of the four virtues and the manner of their derivation is
Platonic, and so is the doctrine of reminiscence, viz., that the soul recalls
the knowledge it had in its previous life.
Ibn Sina
is one of the latest authors mentioned in our work; hence it could not have
been written much before 1037, the date of Ibn Sina’s death. The terminus ad quem cannot be determined.
As the
title indicates, the anonymous treatise is concerned primarily with the nature
of the soul. Whatever other topics are found therein are introduced for the
bearing they have on the central problem. A study of the soul means psychology
as well as ethics, for a complete determination of the nature of the soul
necessarily must throw light not only upon the origin and activity of the soul,
but also upon its purpose and destiny.
The first
error, we are told, that we must remove concerning the soul, is the doctrine of
the “naturalists”, with whom the Mutazilites among the Arabs and the Karaites
among the Jews are in agreement, that the soul is not an independent and
self-subsistent entity, but only an "accident" of the body. Their
view is that as the soul is a corporeal quality it is dependent for its
existence upon the body and disappears with the latter. Those of the Mutazilites
who believe in “Mahad” (return of the soul to its origin), hold that at the
time of the resurrection God will bring the parts of the body together with its
accident, the soul, and will reward and punish them. But the resurrection is a
distinct problem, and has nothing to do with the nature of the soul and its
qualities.
The true
opinion, which is that of the Bible and the true philosophers, is that the soul
is a spiritual substance independent of the body; that it existed before the
body and will continue to exist after the dissolution of the latter. The
existence of a spiritual substance is proved from the presence of such
qualities as knowledge and ignorance. These are opposed to each other, and
cannot be the qualities of body as such, for body cannot contain two opposite
forms at the same time. Moreover, the substance, whatever it be, which bears
the attributes of knowledge and ignorance, can receive them without limit. The
more knowledge a person has, the more capable he is of acquiring more. No
corporeal substance behaves in this way. There is always a limit to a body's
power of receiving a given accident. We legitimately conclude, therefore, that
the substance which bears the attributes of knowledge and ignorance is not
corporeal but spiritual.
To
understand the position of the soul and its relation to the body, we must have
an idea of the structure and origin of the universe. The entire world, upper as
well as lower, is divided into two parts, simple and composite. The simple
essences, which are pure and bright, are nearer to their Creator than the less
simple substances which come after. There are ten such creations with varying
simplicity, following each other in order according to the arrangement dictated
by God's wisdom. As numbers are simple up to ten, and then they begin to be
compound, so in the universe the ten simple substances are followed by
composite.
The first
of these simple creations, which is nearest to God, is called in Hebrew “Shekinah”.
The Torah and the Prophets call it “Name” (Exod. 23, 21), also “Kabod”, Glory
(Is. 59, 19). God gave his name to the nearest and first of his creations,
which is the first light, and interpreter and servant nearest to him. Solomon
calls it “Wisdom” (Prov. 8, 22); the Greeks, Active Intellect. The second
creation is called by the Prophets, “the Glory of the God of Israel” (Ezek. 8,
9); by the Greeks, Universal Soul, for it moves the spheres through a natural
power as the individual soul moves the body. The soul partakes of the
Intelligence or Intellect on the side which is near to it; it partakes of
Nature on the side adjoining the latter. Nature is the third creation. It also
is an angel, being the first of the powers of the universal soul, and
constituting the life of this world and its motion.
These
three are simple essences in the highest sense of the word. They are obedient
to their Creator, and transmit in order his emanation and the will, and the
laws of his wisdom to all the worlds. The fourth creation is an essence which
has no activity or life or motion originally, but only a power of receiving
whatever is formed and created out of it. This is the Matter of the world. From
it come the bodies which possess accidents. In being formed some of its
non-existence is diminished, and its matter moves. It is called “hyle”, and is
the same as the darkness of the first chapter in Genesis. For it is a mistake
to suppose that by darkness in the second verse of the first chapter is meant
the absence of the light of the sun. This is accidental darkness, whereas in
the creation story the word darkness signifies something elemental at the basis
of corporeal things. This is what is known as matter, which on account of its
darkness, i.e., its imperfection and
motionlessness, is the cause of all the blemishes and evils in the world. In
receiving forms, however, it acquires motion; its darkness is somewhat
diminished, and it appears to the eye through the forms which it receives.
The fifth
creation is the celestial Sphere, where for the first time we have motion in
its revolutions. Here too we have the first composition of matter and form; and
the beginning of time as the measure of the Sphere's motion; and place. The
sixth creation is represented by the bodies of the stars, which are moved by
the spheres in which they are set. They are bright and luminous because they
are near the first simple bodies, which were produced before time and place.
The last four of the ten creations are the four elements, fire, air, water,
earth. The element earth is the end of “creation”. What follows thereafter is “formation”
and “composition”. By creation is meant that which results through the will of
God from his emanation alone, and not out of anything, or in time or place. It
applies in the strictest sense to the first three only. The fifth, namely the
Sphere, already comes from matter and form, and is in time and place. The
fourth, too, enters into the fifth and all subsequent creations and formations.
Still, the term creation is applicable to the first ten, though in varying degrees,
until when we reach the element earth, creation proper is at an end. This is
why in the first verse in Genesis, which speaks of heaven and earth, the term
used is “bara” (created), and not any of the other terms, such as “yazar”, “asah”,
“kanah”, “paa”l, and so on, which denote formation.
From
earth and the other elements were formed all kinds of minerals, like rocks,
mountains, stones, and so on. Then plants and animals, and finally man.
Man who
was formed last bears traces of all that preceded him. He is formed of the four
elements, of the motions of the spheres, of the mixtures of the stars and their
rays, of Nature, of the Universal Soul, the mother of all, of the Intellect,
the father of all, and finally of the will of God. But the order in man is
reversed. The first two creations, Intellect and Soul, appear in man last.
The soul
of man, embracing reason and intellect, is thus seen to be a divine emanation,
being related to the universal soul and Intellect. On its way from God to man
it passes through all spheres, and every one leaves an impression upon her, and
covers her with a wrapper, so to speak. The brightness of the star determines
the ornament or “wrapper” which the soul gets from it. This is known to the
Creator, who determines the measure of influence and the accidents attaching to
the soul until she reaches the body destined for her by his will. The longer
the stay in a given sphere the stronger the influence of the sphere in
question; and hence the various temperaments we observe in persons, which
determine their character and conduct. For at bottom the soul is the same in
essence and unchangeable in all men, because she is an emanation from the
Unchangeable. All individual differences are due to the spheral impressions.
These impressions, however, do not take away from the soul its freedom of will.
In the
rest of his psychology and ethics the anonymous author follows Platonic
theories, modified now and then in the manner of Aristotle. Thus we are told
that the soul consists of three powers, or three souls, the vegetative, the
animal and the rational. We learn of the existence of the vegetative soul from
the nourishment, growth and reproduction evidenced by the individual. The
animal soul shows its presence in the motions of the body. The existence of the
rational soul we have already shown from the attributes of knowledge and
ignorance.
The
vegetative soul comes from certain spheral influences, themselves due to the
universal soul, and ultimately to the will of God. It is the first of the three
to make its appearance in the body. It is already found in the embryo, to which
it gives the power of motion in its own place like the motion of a plant or
tree. Its seat is in the liver, where the growth of the embryo begins. Its
function ceases about the twentieth year, when the growth of the body reaches
its limit.
The
animal soul springs from the heart. Its functioning appears after birth when
the child begins to crawl, and continues until the person loses the power of
locomotion in old age. The rational soul resides in the middle of the brain.
She knows all things before joining the body, but her knowledge is obscured on
account of the material coverings which she receives on her way down from her
divine source.
The
virtue of the vegetative soul is temperance; of the animal soul, courage; of
the rational soul, wisdom. When these are harmoniously combined in the
individual, and the two lower souls are controlled by the higher, there results
the fourth virtue, which is justice, and which gives its possessor the
privilege of being a teacher and a leader of his people. In Moses all these
qualities were exemplified, and Isaiah (11, 1-4) in describing the qualities of
the Messianic King also enumerates these four cardinal virtues. "The
spirit of wisdom and understanding" represents wisdom, "the spirit of
counsel and strength" stands for courage; "the spirit of knowledge
and fear of the Lord" denotes temperance; and justice is represented in
the phrase, "and he will judge the poor with righteousness."
Virtue is
a mean between the two extremes of excess and defect, each of which is a vice.
Thus an excess of wisdom becomes shrewdness and cunning and deceit; while a
defect means ignorance. The true wisdom consists in the middle way between the
two extremes. Similarly courage is a mean between foolhardiness and rashness on
the side of excess, and cowardice on the side of defect. Temperance is a mean
between excessive indulgence of the appetites on one side and utter
insensibility on the other. The mean of justice is the result of the harmonious
combination of the means of the last three. If the rational soul has wisdom and
the two other souls are obedient to it through modesty and courage, their
substance changes into the substance of the rational soul, i.e., their bad qualities are transformed into the four virtues
just mentioned. Then the two lower souls unite with the rational soul and enjoy
eternal happiness with it. On the other hand, if the rational soul follows the
senses, its wisdom changes into their folly, its virtues into their vices, and
it perishes with them.
The
immortality of the soul is proved as follows. Things composed of elements
return back to their elements, hence the soul also returns to its own origin.
The soul is independent of the body, for its qualities, thought and knowledge,
are not bodily qualities, hence they become clearer and more certain after the
soul is separated from the body than before, when the body obscured its vision
like a curtain. The fact that a person's mind is affected when his body is ill
does not show that the soul is dependent in its nature upon the body; but that
acting as it does in the body by means of corporeal organs, it cannot perform
its functions properly when these organs are injured.
Since
death is a decree of God, it is clear that he has a purpose in changing the
relations of body and soul. But if the soul comes to an end, this change would
be a vain piece of work of which he cannot be guilty. Hence it follows that the
destruction of the body is in order that we may exist in another similar form,
similar to the angels.
The
purpose of the soul’s coming into this world is in order that she may purify
the two lower souls; also that she may know the value of her own world in
comparison with this one, and in grieving for having left it may observe God’s
commandments, and thus achieve her return to her own world.
In the
matter of returning to their own world after separation from the body, souls
are graded according to the measure of their knowledge and the value of their
conduct. These two conditions, ethical and spiritual or intellectual, are
requisite of fulfilment before the soul can regain its original home. The soul
on leaving this world is like a clean, white garment soaked in water. If the
water is clean, it is easy to dry the garment, and it becomes even cleaner than
it was before. But if the water is dirty, no amount of drying will make the
garment clean.
Those
souls which instead of elevating the two lower souls, vegetative and animal,
were misled by them, will perish with the latter. Between the two extremes of
perfection and wickedness there are intermediate stages, and the souls are
treated accordingly. Those of the proud will rise in the air and flying hither
and thither will not find a resting place. Those which have knowledge, but no
good deeds, will rise to the sphere of the ether, but will be prevented from
rising higher by the weight of their evil deeds, and the pure angels will rain
down upon them arrows of fire, thus causing them to return below in shame and
disgrace. The souls of the dishonest will be driven from place to place without
finding any rest. Other bad souls will be punished in various ways. Those souls
which have good deeds but no knowledge will be placed in the terrestrial
paradise until their souls recall the knowledge they had in their original
state, and they will then return to the Garden of Eden among the angels.
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HISTORY OF THE JEWS
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