Book recommendation on why to believe

amother

↑ Jade

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 10:26 am

amother Crocus wrote:

What bothers me about these threads are not the questions but the other posters who jump in to agree with the OP.
One person with questions is not the same as everyone else with questions, each one has a unique life story that contributed to their current situation and no two are alike. They shouldn't be conflated.
What I mean is that five people can be doubting Hashem but they are not the same, even if it sounds the same superficially.

To OP: the Tanya tells us specific things that lead to timtum halev vhamoach. Perhaps consider this.

This!!!

kneidelmeidel

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 10:46 am

Hi OP,
I think you’re really brave for putting this out there, I suspect a lot of people go through life with these questions and never do anything about it.
It’s hard to recommend you a book when I have no idea what kind of angle/ approach would sit well with you, maybe if you gave some direction, would you appreciate a very rational approach/ mathematical/ scientific/ esoteric/ Kabbalistic or emotive?
Different souls connect to different ideas and approaches.
And, talking of souls, that’s quite a solid reason to believe- because our bodies are temporary yet they take up an inordinate amount of our time and interest, whilst our souls, which are eternal, are often largely neglected.
Standing on one foot, how do we nourish our souls? By choosing intellect over instinct. Intellect is our soul, instinct is our body.

amother

Snowdrop ↓

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 10:55 am

Everything you are working for the in your life, you are doing for yourself. You want to have fun, so you have fun. Your not actually a good person going beyond yourself, your just serving yourself I’m not calling you selfish everyone is this way, but I searched for meaning when my life was idyllic because I felt what I wrote above deeply. To me, the efforts I put in, even to have fun, felt empty.

About the existence of God- I consider myself a very logical thinker, and I’m good at debating. I’m seemingly more spiritually inclined than you overall, but I had/have some serious issues with religion that basically made me want to drop it all. I read through atheist arguments and thesis, and none of them were iron clad. It isnt at all a more reasonable conclusion when you are open to the fact that Hashem may have created the world through methods of evolution and we don’t understand Bereishis.

You can’t prove the existence of God, but when you analyze the arguments white a open mind, the conclusion is that the existence of God is most likely and most logical.

↑ Peersupport

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 12:19 pm

amother OP wrote:

That a being exists who monitors and cares about our day to day existence and the minutiae of our lives. That Torah is a divine book and not just the rules of an ancient people some of which are beneficial and some of which aren’t.
That I need to have a connection to this being in order to have meaning in my life.

Among other things. But those are a few.

So why would that change when you are going thru challenges?

amother

↑ Lightcyan

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 1:06 pm

amother Snowdrop wrote:

Try listening to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Saks and see what that does for you.
This is an example of one of his presentations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipDdd1SISoM

amother

↑ Snowdrop

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 2:22 pm

amother Lightcyan wrote:

Try listening to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Saks and see what that does for you.
This is an example of one of his presentations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipDdd1SISoM

I read all his books. He’s amazing! To OP I recommend science and faith- the great partnership and Morality. He wrote both of them, and they both changed me fundamentally

amother

Snow

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 9:39 pm

It’s hard for me to get a read on your personality and outlook so not sure these suggestions make sense… but here are some things that are helping me in my own journey.

1. A Letter in the Scroll by Rabbi Sacks which talks about our role in the transmission of Torah which may help give you the “why” to keep learning.

2. Finding Torah teachers who speak to you and then learning their Torah. Even if you don’t connect to Hashem directly right away, you can connect to his Torah in whatever way works for you (more text-based/intellectual, psychological, etc.) I can’t connect to more yeshivish or fluffy teachers at this point in my life so I am very selective with who I learn from.

3. Learning original sources. I did a beginner Gemara class and also a deeper Tanach class because I think there is so much fluff in the way women are taught and we get confused so I am trying to go back to basics to see what the Torah actually says.

Good luck!

amother

Dill

Tue, Oct 08 2024, 9:45 pm

amother OP wrote:

To clarify: I don’t need books to convince me of God’s existence. Nothing will convince me of that and I understand that ultimately it is about belief. I need books to convince me that it’s important and worth it for me to even try to believe and connect to God.

The book “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Not a Jewish book but a great perspective on Gd and spirituality.