Legacy of Galen, or Tradition, tradition! (Part 3)

I was reading some time ago the biography of Aelius Galenus, aka Claudius Galenus, aka Galen of Pergamum, known to most of people today simply as Galen, the famous doctor and anatomist of Roman Empire. Now, the figure of Galen is near and dear to the hearts of all students of Chassidus Chabad, since anatomy and physiology that can be found in the works of Chassidus (e.g., Tanya — including the famous descriptions of compartments of the heart, one’s seed coming from one’s brain, etc.) is borrowed from Galen.

But that’s not the reason that I am mentioning him today. As one could tell from a series of a few recent posts, I have been pondering for a while about the role of tradition in the life of a human being, a Jew, a Chossid and an amateur philatelist. Some of my thoughts are more positive, some are more negative (positive and negative in what aspect, you ask? good question...), some are more traditional (no pun intended), some are more heretical. After this meta-paragraph, let me present to you the part of Galen’s biography that caught my attention, namely, his legacy (you can skip to the bottom line after the quotes if you so desire):

Plagiarizing from G-d

Thoughts on Theory of Evolution

One of several thoughts from starting to read The Hand by Frank R. Wilson.

My problem with obsession with the Theory of Evolution is not that I don’t believe in TE. I do. I mean, I believe the facts. If the facts contradict each other, I can try to find the way to reconcile them (as in contradiction of Quantum Mechanics and General Theory of Relativity), bend one set of facts to another, or just let the contradiction be. And I believe that I really can reconcile Evolution and Judaism.

So, I accept Evolution as a fact, albeit perhaps interpreted by me differently from the most. The problem appears when people start defining their lives according the Evolution, defining the essence of humanity. Defining me, after all.

Because I don’t believe that. Whatever facts I may believe, I am still a theist, a Chassidic Orthodox religious Jew whose outlook on the definition and essence of life, its purpose and its meaning derives from Judaism. Facts are facts. They are out there. The world looks old. Nu. The species look like they share common ancestry. Nu. Perhaps they do — in physical, or, more likely, in mystical sense (which practically yields the same consequences). Nu.

But these things don’t define me. The purpose with which my Creator sent me into this world does.

At the same I could see how these things would most meaningfully define an atheist’s life. Or perhaps not — I don’t know what would meaningfully define an atheist’s life (just like I don’t know what would be his meaningful definition of morality) without him being intellectually dishonest, ignorant, stupid or lying to himself.

But perhaps this is what irritates the Conservatives about TE, which I never understood (the theory being for me just a scientific, biological fact and a useful model for interpreting and representing data, not any life-defining or -changing set of principles or ideas).

Science is fun

(source)


Question:

J.M. Kearsey et al. “Does the p53 up-regulated Gadd45 protein have a role in excision repair?” Science 270, 1004–1005 (1995)

Answer:

G. Barreto, G. et al. “Gadd45a promotes epigenetic gene activation by repair-mediated DNA demethylation.” Nature 445, 671–675 (2007)

Another answer:

S.G. Jin et al. “GADD45A does not promote DNA demethylation.” PLoS Genet. 4, e1000013 (2008)

Carbon monoxide and reishus — part II

[Continued from the previous post — but also independent]

My rabbi uses the following example: one can suffocate from breathing in poison or from not breathing at all. If one is not breathing, it is not enough to say: “Well, he is not taking in poison either, is he? So, he must be fine.” If one is not breathing, it’s as dangerous as if one is taking in poison.

If you look at the way carbon monoxide, a common poison leading to suffocation, works, however, words of Alter Rebbe may become even clearer. Carbon monoxide binds hemoglobin and myoglobin, proteins used as transporters of oxygen in red blood cells and muscle cells respectively, in the same sites that oxygen binds. Because carbon monoxide’s chemical affinity to these proteins is higher, it acts as an active competitor of oxygen, thus preventing the latter from reaching the living cells — and resulting in suffocation.

So, one way to look at the world is by dividing it into three categories: required by Torah, forbidden by Torah and permitted by Torah (which is not forbidden per se, but not required specifically for service of Torah). The other way to look at the world is by dividing it into two categories: that which connects me with my Father in Heaven and that which doesn’t.

If I am not connected to my Father in Heaven, G-d forbid, then I am suffocating. Whether it’s because I am ingesting poison or because I am not breathing, or perhaps because the poison prevents me from breathing. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Either I am breathing or I am not breathing.

As Chassidim of old used to say, that which is forbidden is forbidden, and that which is permitted is unnecessary.

* * *

Now, we were sent into this world to elevate it. To make it a dwelling place for G-d’s Essence. It’s all very well to be high, pure, holy and connected with G-d’s Light, but His Essence is to be found and encountered specifically in the darkness of the reishus, the permitted. But that’s exactly the point and innovation of Torah in general and Chassidus in particular: it allows an individual to elevate even the mundane.

When you put your clothes on in the morning, why do you do it? If you do it because Hashem wants you to keep tznius — and if you do it according to Hashem’s Will (e.g., right shoe on first, etc.) — then you elevate a mundane act of wearing clothes.

If you eat an apple because you like its taste, you just connected to physicality of the apple — which by its nature denies existence of G-d (otherwise, it wouldn’t be material). If, however, you eat an apple because you’re required to eat in order to survive (or because by eating an apple — or, more appropriately, a piece of meat, you’re able to concentrate better on your Gemara), you have just elevated it.

This is why it is said that the main field of battle against sitra achra (lit., “the other side”, i.e., the forces of unholiness that define this world by concealing G-d from it) is in the realm of reishus, the permitted. If Torah requires you to do it — nu, of course you do it. If Torah forbids you to do something — of course you don’t do it. Those things are not even under consideration. But what if Torah permits something to you — do you engage in it for the sake of itself or for the sake of G-d?

Light will remain light. Darkness which cannot be broken through will remain darkness (until the coming of Mashiach). But the darkness that can be illuminated — which way will it be? It’s up to you.

* * *

Now, some people seem to use the above idea, shockingly, to allow themselves to indulge in the world for its own sake. These are frum Jews (but not Chassidim) who say: “Look, back in the day there was Torah and the outside world. If you engaged in Torah, you were holy, but if you engaged in the outside world you became unholy. But, came Chassidus and introduced the doctrine of elevating the mundane, so now we can go to a movie, eat an ice cream, watch a football game — and be holy at the same time. After all, if we are wearing tzitzis and yarmulkeh while doing this, if we are not, G-d forbid commiting any aveiros, we are actually elevating the mundane.”

I am sorry, but I don’t think it works this way. Alter Rebbe is very clear in Chapters 6–8: things have to be used specifically as means of connecting to Hashem (i.e., keeping mitzvos).

Seeing G-d in the world

Recently, I visited MIT museum of science. I used to think that it’s very difficult to see Hashem in the science. But I may be changing my opinion. Just like when you cook something in a pan in which another dish has been cooked, and the second dish absorbs the taste of the first, when you look at the world, having learned Chassidus (which explains that — and how — there is nothing but G-d), you can see Hashem in the Universe.

I think.

A few moments in the life of a cell (turning on sound helps — but beware…).

Penguins seen in Florida!

(Global warming has reached Washington, D.C.)

Well, not quite, but close.