Observations placeholder
Maimonides - Aristotle and disembodied souls
Identifier
003119
Type of Spiritual Experience
None
Background
Medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides explained his view of angels in his Guide for the Perplexed II:4 and II:6:
A description of the experience
Guide for the Perplexed II:4, Maimonides
...This leads Aristotle in turn to the demonstrated fact that God, glory and majesty to Him, does not do things by direct contact.
God burns things by means of fire; fire is moved by the motion of the sphere; the sphere is moved by means of a disembodied intellect, these intellects being the 'angels which are near to Him', through whose mediation the spheres [planets] move... thus totally disembodied minds exist which emanate from God and are the intermediaries between God and all the bodies [objects] here in this world.