How Multi-Faith Mysticism & Maimonides Can Bring Peace to Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Everyone
There have been times when those of many faiths have lived in peace and it will come again. This is one way how.
This post is the twenty-sixth in an ongoing series on antisemitism and culture. See the previous installments here:
What It Means When the Leader of the Republican Party Dines With THREE Antisemites
When & Why Conspiracy Theorists Sometimes Stumble Onto the Truth
The JFK Conspiracy Theory Which Makes the Most Sense & Why It Matters Today
An Open Letter to Elon Musk Thanking Him for the Correct Decision Shutting Down Neo-Nazi Kanye West
4 Stupid Reasons People Don't Take Antisemitism as Seriously as They Should
Obsessing Over 'the Left' Sabotages the Fight Against Antisemitism
Elon Musk Brings Onboard 'How to Fight Anti-Semitism' Author Bari Weiss to Twitter 2.0
Even the Smartest Brains Can Become Infected with Antisemitism
Is Qatar the Most Terrible State in the Middle East? Or Is Iran Worse?
Indifferent to Racist Hate in America, Indifferent to Genocidal Hate in Ukraine
Please, My Jewish Friends: We Desperately Need You Here in America
7 Reasons This Christian Hippie Became a Zealot Against Jew Hatred
Bipolar Disorder Is Not an Excuse for Kanye West's Jew Hatred
Why This Bible Thumper Is Going to Keep Using Plenty of Profanity
Kevin McCarthy Makes a Deal with the Devilish Far Right Allies of Antisemitism and Genocide
These writings are part of my ongoing effort to overcome my PTSD by forcing myself to try to write and publish something every day commenting on and analyzing current cultural affairs and their impacts on politics, faith, and, well, everything. “Politics is downstream from culture,” the late Andrew Breitbart popularized among conservative bloggers while he was alive. I’d go a step further: Everything is downstream from culture. The cultures you embrace determine who you are and who you become. You become what you worship.
I’ve spent so much focus in this series identifying, explaining, and profoundly condemning varieties of antisemitism that I have perhaps neglected a harder challenge on the subject: techniques to overcome it. What tools are available for Jews and their non-Jewish allies to combat antisemitic attitudes?
Well, I can think of two in particular and I’m going to talk about them in this post. They were inspired by a recent Substack post by a writer who’s been very kind to me.
One of the earliest supporters of this Substack who has recommended it on his own and thus I deeply appreciate is a guy I don’t know named Samuel Griswold who writes a fascinating publication called Suspense & Spirituality mostly devoted to drafting and presenting his novel. And he recently published a simply wonderful post I had to recommend and comment on as I adored it so passionately:
As I explained some months ago, one of the principle “prophetic visions” from my experiences of Ketamine infusions was a call to unify Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The children of Abraham must end their wars:
I wrote at the time:
So my “intention” for the second ketamine infusion - I’m supposed to choose a goal or target at the start of each one - this time was the mantra “clarity of direction.” The whole infusion was just one extended prayer of me asking God, “What do you want of me? I am your servant, what am I supposed to do next?”
And He told me. When I emerged from the ketamine experience after two hours - which felt like 20 minutes - and Dr. Ko asked me what insights I had gained I had something very specific that had come to me: I need to act as a bridge to help facilitate peacemaking between the Jewish and Muslim peoples. The God of Israel does not like when his children fight each other. He wants all of us to live in peace and not make war against one another.
I had already planned part of this as a component of God of the Desert Books - the God who inspired Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is a God of the Desert, and it’s important to me to take an Abraham Accords-inspired stance of trying to encourage greater creative collaboration between Jewish writers and Muslim writers.
In Samuel’s post he identified two crucial elements for bringing together the children of Abraham in peace:
Sharing our Jewish, Muslim, and Christian mystical practices with one another.
A general celebration and inter-faith study of the writings of the unique Jewish philosopher Maimonides, and especially his monumental Guide of the Perplexed, one of my very favorite books for years which I’ve proclaimed I intend to cite regularly in the book project I’ll be drafting on this Substack this year:
So let’s consider some of the insights from Samuel’s post, but be sure to of course read the whole thing and subscribe to his Substack.
Samuel begins by noting a powerful historical truth that is often forgotten:
Today, we live in a world where Jews and Muslims are divided over the State of Israel. Many of us would find it hard to believe there was ever a time that followers of the two faiths ever got along and worked together. But that is exactly the case. An example would be the relationship between Jewish and Sufi mystics, who shared ideas that helped give birth to Islamic mysticism and brought renewal to the Jewish faith.
Samuel cites one fascinating example of a Sufi mystic who shares a conviction which I do as well, that much of the value Jewish people bring is a unique understanding of the Bible which we all can benefit from learning:
Ibn Said, an eleventh century Sufi mystic from Toledo, Spain said the Jewish people had a special understanding of the Prophets and the Book of Genesis… “This people is the house of prophecy and the source of the prophetic message of mankind and the majority of the prophets…the blessings and peace of Allah be upon them.”
Samuel further notes that one of the central books of Jewish philosophy and a key influence on Jewish mysticism, Maimonides’ mind-blowing Guide of the Perplexed was embraced by many Muslims - as it should be now by Christians too:
Ibn Arabi of the 13th Century borrowed mystical concepts of humanity’s relationship to God from the “Guide For The Perplexed” by Moses Maimonides. Even before the death of its author, Jewish scholars were teaching the “Guide For The Perplexed” to Muslim students in their madrassas!
Abu Ali Ibn Hud of Damascus, a 13th Century Sufi, spent his time teaching the “Guide For The Perplexed” to students of all religious backgrounds. He is said to have secretly worn a yarmulke beneath his turban and when asked by a spiritual seeker for instruction replied, “Upon which road: the Mosaic, or the Muslim?”
I simply love Maimonides, even today his writing is so alive and invigorating to behold. It’s hard to fully process that a man who lived from 1138 through 1204 could somehow compose prose that even today dazzles and amazes.
Why is The Guide such a special, amazing text and so crucial for mystical practice? Because in it Maimonides digs into the symbolic language of the Torah, and reveals how Biblical faith is wholly compatible with Greek, scientific secular rationalism. It was a monumental achievement for a man of his time and revolutionized Judaism. If one were to proclaim Maimonides the most important Jewish thinker to a group of Jews from across the spectrum of Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist, it’s hard to suspect any disagreement about his importance. Who even comes close?
And learning to read our holy texts the way Maimonides taught in The Guide is infinitely important and a key component of the mystical way of life. What one gains from studying Maimonides is the ability to transcend the scourge of religion, the source of so many centuries of religious warfare: literalism and its vile cousin fundamentalism.
Throughout history people of differing religious faiths have killed each other for a very simple reason: they are dead sure that they have the one true understanding of the meaning in the scripture and they are justified in murdering “heretics” who disagree with them. This happens because so many people are too stupid and childish to ever grow up and realize that most of the Bible is written in poetic language and metaphors with much deeper hidden meanings than the simple literal understandings so many embrace across faith traditions. A mature person of faith will realize there are multiple ways to interpret scriptures and none of us possess the brilliance and perfection to know which is the one “true,” “correct” one.
Maimonides disassembles this fundamentalist mentality and I’ll explore how as I’m drafting my A-Z guide on ideology as a form of idolatry. I also plan to get back to my series of mystical podcasts - Muslim on Fridays, Jewish on Saturdays, and Christian on Sundays. My apologies that I have lapsed in this ritual here. The unfortunate truth is that while I’ve somehow rediscovered the ability to write again I still struggle to focus enough to read deeply or watch long films - hence too the slowing down of Sally Shideler's and my arthouse film podcas series. But I am gradually improving andd I hope with my upcoming "Morning Pages" ritual that I'll be announcing soon inspired by an incredible gift from my future-in-laws that will help with getting me back to reading and also provide a good excuse to return to studying Maimonides' incredible Guide along with other books I’ve missed.
I've got my popcorn. I'm just going to sit back and see what you are going to be sending our way.