2022-01-28

Conceptual Knowledge vs. Nonconceptual Wisdom

I think I understand even more clearly now the fundamental limitations of linguistics and academic studies of Judaism and my concomitant total loss of interest in them. These limitations may also apply to other areas of intellectual occupations, which I haven't experienced directly (thus I prefer not to generalize). This is in sharp contrast with teachings and practices of nonduality, including Chabad Chassidus. This contrast can be summarized in one phrase as that between conceptual knowledge, which is limited by our linguistic faculty, which by nature is dualistic vs. nonconceptual wisdom, which transcends this linguistic duality.

The following is yet another rather contradictory attempt to explain the fundamental limitations of these dualistic occupations with the help of a dualistic tool called language.

The true, first-tier, reality of the universe seems to defy any attempts to understand it purely conceptually, especially using a language without being aware of its dualistic limitations.

Linguistics and academic studies of Judaism, among others, seem to occupy themselves with the second-tier reality instead. The moment we label something (or someone in this respect, too) linguistically without accompanying direct experiences, we distance ourselves maximally from the first-tier reality. In other words, the more conceptual knowledge we accumulate, the more distant we seem to become from nonconceptual understanding. We can spend our whole life trying to know as much as possible about honey, for example, but we can never fully know it unless we directly experience it, that is, taste it.

My conclusion so far after spending about four years studying Chabad Chassidus, partly in a formal setting and partly by myself, as well as other nondual teachings by myself is that by merely occupying ourselves with the second-tier reality we don't seem to be able to reach the first-tier reality, nor nonconceptual wisdom.

All the linguistic ideologies, including Yiddishism and Esperantism, which used to occupy me for more than three decades, as well as nondualistic religious dogmas seem to suffer from these fundamental limitations.

Unfortunately, few of these people, including linguists and scholars of Judaism, seem to be fully aware of these limitations. But on the other hand, one can also say that thanks to this unawareness of theirs they may still be able to occupy themselves with these academic and non-academic activities. As for me, I've already had enough to continue wasting my time. But I just want to stress here that this doesn't mean that I delegitimize these activities. They are not simply for me any more.