The wise man and the Prophet

 My Thanks to Reb David Guttman for his help in thinking of the idea behind this post and for posting it on his excellent blog.

A few days ago, I was asked a very good question about Prophecy, by Josh K. I thought we all could benefit from the discussion, as another useful backgrounder to tzelem.Here is the ,slightly edited, discussion.
Josh Asks

1) why is it that Jewish prophecy no longer occurs? If it is (like Rambam tell us) not a miraculous event in which God randomly selects an individual; but rather the individual must be of a sound mind and so on. Surely as the generations continued and people became more aware of their surroundings scientifically and philosophically our minds would develop as such.

I respond

What allows a person to shift from what we call "thinking" to "prophecy" is a matter of completeness of mind. We tend to think of this "completeness" as an ability to delight in the majesty of a unified wisdom expressed in the external world, love of God as seen in Newton and Einstein, Abraham, Moses and Rambam. In reality, this ability to delight in the unified wisdom of the external external world while necessary, is not sufficient to completeness of mind. To attain this completeness, one must also attain objectivity about oneself and ones humble position in the universe as well- awe of God. Note Rambam
What is the way to love and fear God? Whenever one contemplates the great wonders of God's works and creations, and one sees that they are a product of a wisdom that has no bounds or limits, one will immediately love, laud and glorify [God] with an immense passion to know the Great Name, like David has said, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God". When one thinks about these matters one will feel a great fear and trepidation, and one will know that one is a low and insignificant creation, with hardly an iota of intelligence compared to that of God, like David has said, "When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers...what is man, that You are heedful of him?". Bearing these things in mind, I shall explain important concepts of the Creator's work, as a guide to understanding and loving God. Concerning this love the Sages said that from it will come to know God.

This duality of wisdom- in terms of delight and humility, expresses itself in Rambam's view of the true Philosopher. Such a one must be very wise, as well as humble and well ordered in character. He does not just know things about the external world, this knowledge is the basis of his humble attitude and wise path of action.

Just as a wise person is recognisable in his wisdom and temperaments and is differentiated by them from other people, so also should he be recognisable in his actions: his manner of eating, drinking, copulation, relieving himself, speaking, walking, dressing and the conducting of his affairs with his work and his giving [should all be exemplary]. All of these actions should be as fine and as correct as possible.

This duality,of course, also expresses itself in the prophet

 One of the bases of religion is to know that God visits people in prophetic visions, which come only to exceedingly wise people of outstanding characteristics, whose inclinations never lead them to earthly matters but who always conquer their inclinations, and who are of correct temperaments. A person who fullfils these criteria, and is of perfect health, will, when he studys the foundations of philosophy and is attracted by those elevated issues and is of an appropriate temperament to understand and comprehend them , and sanctifies himself by moving away from the path of the common man, who concerns himself with ephemeral matters, and instead encourages himself not to have any thoughts about useless matters and its contrivances, but rather have his thoughts permanently attuned to above

As such the prophet is, to a very large degree, limited by his ability to perceive his place humbly. If a circumstance arises that a prophet cannot handle, he may become angry- unaccepting of his reality, and his thought or prophecy ceases.

There are some intermediate temperaments which one is forbidden to have, but one should adopt one of the extremities of such temperaments. One of these is the temperament of haughtiness. It is not good [enough] for one to be just modest, but one should be humble, and one's spirits should be low. Therefore, concerning Moses our Teacher it is written, "...very humble", and not just, "humble". Therefore, the Sages commanded that one should be very humble. They said further that anyone who raises his spirits is denying the most essential reality, as it is written, "...then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God". They also said that all those with haughty airs should be excommunicated, even if they are only slightly haughty. It is the same with anger, which is an extremely bad temperament and from which it is fitting for one to distance oneself as far as its opposite extreme. One should teach oneself not to get angry, even over something about which it would be normal to get angry. If one wanted to instill fear in one's sons or members of one's household, or in the community if one was their leader, and one wants to be angry at them in order that they will return to the good [ways], then one should show them that one is being angry at them just to correct them, and, when displaying such anger, one should bear in mind that one is like a man who is similar to being angry, and that one is not really angry. The original Sages said that if one is angry, it is as if one has worshipped idols. They also said that when a man gets angry, then if he was wise his wisdom leaves him, and if he was a prophet his prophecy leaves him, and that the life of angry people is not [really] a life.

In Jewish exile, it is extraordinarily difficult to not be angry and depressed about the circumstance of man, and one self. Living in a world dominated by ignorant and superstitious people is no picnic, as you well know. What sort of human communities will these people create? As you know well, this superstitious ignorance has enormous impact on every facet of life. In fact, it seems that it was a unique character of Abraham our father to so transcend his circumstance that he could remain focused on thought, despite the devastation all around him. Even Rambam was not so blessed. We look forward to our redemption from ignorance and the restoration of Wisdom and Justice as the basis of our Human community. This time, we are told, will also see the restoration of prophecy.

40  In our times, severe troubles come one after another, and all are in distress; the wisdom of our Torah scholars has disappeared, and the understanding of our discerning men is hidden.  Thus, the commentaries, the responses to questions, and the settled laws that the Geonim wrote, which had once seemed clear, have in our times become hard to understand, so that only a few properly understand them.  And one hardly needs to mention the Talmud itself--the Babylonian Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud, the Sifra, the Sifre, and the Toseftot--which all require a broad mind, a wise soul, and considerable study, before one can correctly know from them what is forbidden or permitted and the other rules of the Torah.

41  For this reason, I, Moshe son of the Rav Maimon the Sephardi, found that the current situation is unbearable; and so, relying on the help of the Rock blessed be He, I intently studied all these books, for I saw fit to write what can be determined from all of these works in regard to what is forbidden and permitted, and unclean and clean, and the other rules of the Torah:  Everything in clear language and terse style, so that the whole Oral Law would become thoroughly known to all, without bringing problems and solutions or differences of view, but rather clear, convincing, and correct statements in accordance with the legal rules drawn from all of these works and commentaries that have appeared from the time of Our Holy Teacher to the present.