On the Indefinable, the Ineffable, and On the Shema

On What and Who Came First

In order for human beings to say Some things are indefinable, the definable, or material, must already exist. The former is only possible if the latter already exists.

Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Ineffable is only possible if the mountains and valleys, the Universe are already there.

In the beginning, the Tanach asserts, God created the heavens and the earth.

Since indescribability and ineffability are human concepts, for there to exist such notions, human beings must also first exist, though all those who preceded homo sapiens may also have had expressions for these phenomena. It may well be said, therefore, that man and the human concept, God itself, preexisted God, the phenomenon, Himself.

There is also the fact that theoreticians can, with a theory, without any knowledge of the facts at all, can predict the existence of sets of realities – see, for example, Einstein’s works.

Finally, there is the assertion that for the concept to exist, the phenomenon must already have been there.

There are those who would say that, The more Time passes, the more humans are able to make sense of what previously could not. Yet, the more formulae and descriptions are produced, the more indescribable “endings” present themselves. That is to say, where previously there were only one or two possible endings, now there are more.

On The Shema

The Shema would have it that God is One. This declaration, however, is not completely exclusive: it does not preclude the existence of other gods!

However, neither is it accepted that other gods exist.

According to some thinkers, the “One” of the Shema should be understood to mean “Unique”; but does it follow that all other gods are not – unique ie – ?

How did the author(s) of the Shema know that God is one?