Not inquiring about pre-creation - why?

Question

ואמר רב אחא בר יעקב עוד רקיע אחד יש למעלה מראשי החיות דכתיב (יחזקאל א, כב) ודמות על ראשי החיה רקיע כעין הקרח הנורא עד כאן יש לך רשות לדבר מכאן ואילך אין לך רשות לדבר שכן כתוב בספר בן סירא (בן סירא ג, יט-כ) במופלא ממך אל תדרוש ובמכוסה ממך אל תחקור במה שהורשית התבונן אין לך עסק בנסתרות. תניא, אמר רבן יוחנן בן זכאי: מה תשובה השיבתו בת קול לאותו רשע בשעה שאמר ״אעלה על במתי עב אדמה לעליון״ — יצתה בת קול ואמרה לו: רשע בן רשע, בן בנו של נמרוד הרשע, שהמריד כל העולם כולו עליו במלכותו

חגיגה יג א

I count roughly 5 or 6 reasons why it is not appropriate to learn about what happened before creation:

1. It is forbidden/אין לך רשות לדבר/אל תדרוש
2. It is secret/נסתרות
3. It is covered and concealed/מופלא/מכוסה
4. It is dangerous (see story of Nimrod)
5. It is "beyond" and "above" our understanding/עוד רקיע אחד יש למעלה מראשי החיות
6. It is none of our business/אין לך עסק

I am not disputing these claims and this is what I've been told all my learning life but I just want to understand them better - I would like to know why, even if not what, that's all. I've never heard a good answer to that (except a couple of things in chassidus on a couple of the points, but I'd like to widen my net)

Eg.

1. Why is it forbidden? Is there anything I can understand to help me understand what is wrong with it? It seems like such a fair, natural, innocent question.
2. What is secret about it? I.e. what type of secret is it? Without revealing the secret, do we know anything about what makes it a "secret" topic?
3. What does "concealed" even mean here?
4. What is the danger? Death? Why? What causes death to those asking this natural question?
5. What makes it beyond our understanding? We study a lot of esoteric mathematics and philosophy, that is "beyond our understanding" and do very well, like multi-dimensional mathematics, quantum physics etc. What makes this different?
6. What about it makes it none of our business? As per the main theme of my question: it seems like such a fair and natural thing to be curious about, perhaps even be considered necessary for someone to know what happened before they came on the scene. It seems very much our business, and therefore I would like to know why it isn't!

Answer 1

The Midrash tells us that, before creating our world, God created many worlds and destroyed them, because He did not like them. [Genesis Rabbah 9:2]

But why would God not want us to know about these earlier worlds, in some detail? The Midrash gives a very simple answer: If a king builds a sumptuous palace on top of a sewer, or a dung heap, or a pile of trash, he does not want the matter known, and we must respect his wish. [Genesis Rabbah 1:5]

Answer 2

Based on Raschar Hirsch commentary throughout the Torah (notably in Genesis 1, but also in other places, implied in 19 letters):

In order to conduct research, we need first of all specify the goals, and choose the right methodology.

So let's investigate:

What is the goal of research?

• Is it just curiosity, asking for the sake of knowing?
• Is it to enhance our lives, physically or spiritually?
• Is it to prove a point?
• Is it to construct a lifestyle based on the findings?

And what is the right methodology?

By choosing to comprehend the reality using our intellect, emotion, physical senses, aren't we limited by the same limitations those methods are limited (inherently, or by not possessing certain skills)?

The Rishonim usually call sciences like geometry or biology "חכמת התכונה" "חכמת הרפואה" etc. because for the most part there's no intristic value to that knowledge (also see Maharal in Tiferet Yisrael in the beginning), it only gains any value when it serves the purpose of helping sustain life etc.

Thus by reseraching a period or a topic that has no effect whatsoever on our lives, first of all it's a waste of time - same as overly-sophisticated mathematic problems that serve nobody but the curious mind.

Secondly, we already have sufficient guidance for our lives, that is the Torah. What do we strive to achieve by unlocking theses secrets, which shouldn't have any influence on our lives, opinions?

There's a Midrash about Elisha Ben Avuya who saw the angel M-t sitting amongst the standing angels which caused him (or confirmed his) dualistic worldview. It's an example of how the "heavenly" order doesn't have anything to do with ours, and it's wrong to derive any conclusions from this knowledge.

Methodolgy:

"הארץ נתן לבני אדם" - the earth is for us to understand and study with our logic, it is based on certain laws, and our mind and senses can healthily interact with it.

But to how many terribly wrong conclusions have philisophers come by reseraching metaphysics? Save for a few, how many came to the truth by mind-stretching?

And cannot we acknowledge that there are some things are beyond our sense of logic, similarly to how we cannot see xray through the naked eye? Perhaps those supraearthly realms would just appear wrong to our minds, like an optical illusion?

Also, the Mekubalim didn't see an issue in studying the structure of other worlds, for the right goal (getting closer to HaShem / understanding the creation) and with the right methology (Kabbalah).

So:

1. Forbidden, because it's a waste of time and could have negative influence on our lives / opinions.

2 + 3 + 5. It all means the same - one may see a cloaked figure, but not understand what it is, because of the inevitable veil that separates between them.

4. The obsessive preoccupation with the otherworldy, with laws and system that have nothing to do with actual life, actual human life - is destructive. See for example the scientific preoccupation, basing the life-views on a certain stage in our understanding of biology and making thus moral conclusions; or archaeology, or eugenics...

A significant part of the world thinks that humans are nothing but molecules - because that's the current stage of scienctifc knowledge - because scientific research is "scientific" and "logical" and "wise". Doesn't that have certain very grave implications?

The same applies to diving into esoteric topics like "עבירה לשמה" / how bad is also good etc.; unless you have the right goal and the right instruments better stay off.