WEDNESDAY PRAYER: YESOD-MAIN READING FOR THIS WEEK – FOR MITZVOT – Perfection and the World

READING: SUNSET TUESDAY

Main Reading for KABBALISTIC PRAYER this week, today with THE READING FOR MITZVOT.

ARVUT OF: Sheridan Moreton-Judd.

Perfection and the World

-Rabbi Michael Laitman, PhD

As we know the essence of the Creator’s commandments is in love, that we give the maximum attention and compassion to all people in society, just as we do to ourselves. Let us try to see if we can take this on faith.

Maybe it is also possible to check this practically. I think the reader will appreciate my dislike to empty philosophising. Our generation knows better than others how such false philosophies can be implemented in practice. Then, millions of people may suffer just because some theoretical ideas taken as a base are proven false and/or misleading. Thus, the whole theory may come crashing down..

Is it possible by studying the world and its laws, basing our conclusions on fact, we can come the conclusion that it’s necessary to follow the Creator’s demands.

When we are watching the existing order in nature, we are amazed by the incredible control that is evident (both in micro and in macro worlds). Let’s take for an example something which is close to us – man himself.

A cell from the father comes to a safe, protected place in the mother. There it receives all that it needs for growth and development. Nothing can hurt it until it is born and becomes a separate organism. Even later, nature gives the parents the necessary feeling for their baby. Thus the child is absolutely sure of the love and care of those around him..

Just like man, so do the animals and plants take great care of their offspring and their next generations. However, after the new organism, the new individual is born, he has to start a struggle for survival which intensifies as time goes on. This is in stark contrast to the warmth and care he is surrounded with in the beginning. This amazing contradiction in the question of control in this world has occupied the mind of mankind from ancient times. It has also brought about the creation of many theories.

EVOLUTION. This ancient theory does not find it necessary to resolve the contradiction. The Creator has made the world and controls everything. Being as the evolutionists believe unfeeling and unthinking, He creates a species in accordance with strict physical laws. Having appeared, the species develops according to evolution, adhering to the strict principle of “the strongest survive”. According to this theory the Creator is called “nature”, thus emphasizing his lack of feelings and emotions..

DUALISM. We know that the incredible wisdom of nature far exceeds man’s possibilities. Thus predicting and “programming” future creations and organisms has to include some sort of feed-back. Also the side that is giving (nature) has to have intellect, memory and feelings. For it is impossible to claim that in all levels of nature only mere chance rules.

This chain of thought brought about the idea of the existence of two forces..One is positive and the other negative. They have intellect and feelings and they endow these qualities to all that is created by them. The development of this dualism theory has brought about the creation of some others:.

“Many Gods” while analyzing the actions of nature and sorting them according to different character traits, some religions have appeared (like the ancient Greek) having many gods. According to this belief, each of these gods is controlling a certain power, a certain field..

The lack of control (uncontrolability) Recently, with the appearence of new instruments and new technological methods, many scientists have discovered a link between various fields in our world. Thus the theory of “many forces” controlling the world has been abandoned and some new ideas have appeared. Basically, the idea is that there has to be one force which bonds us and wisely controls the whole world. Since mankind is so small and negligible compared to this force, we (as mankind) are actually left to our own devices..

However, despite all the different theories of the creation of this world and its control, mankind still suffers. And man still doesn’t understand why nature has treated him with such tnederness and care while in his mother’s womb, but turns out to be so merciless later. In the years when he is older, it would seem that he needs nature’s care even more. A question appears: Aren’t we ourselves the very reason for nature’s crulety to the living world.

All of the actions of nature are intertwined. Thus when we break one of its rules the entire system becomes unbalanced. It doesn’t matter whether we talk about Nature as a “leader” or about the Creator having a plan, a certain goal and great wisdom.

Either Nature or the Creator (which is unimportant in principle) act on us through certain laws and rules. We have to follow them since they are objective and enforcing. (Incidentllly, according to the Kabbalah, the numeric value of the word “Elokim” – God is equal to the numeric value of the world “Tevah” – Nature. This demonstrates the link between us and the creator through the laws of nature). For us it is important to understand the laws of nature. We know that if we don’t keep these laws we will suffer. It is quite obvious that man needs the company of other people. If someone would suddenly decide he wants to isolate himself from society, he would condemn himself to a life full of suffering. He would not be able to provide for himself all the things he would need.

It is Nature itself which makes man live within society, with other people like him. Within this life he is involved in two operations. He is “getting” from society all that he needs. On top of that he has “to give”, to ensure society of his production, of his work. He who breaks one of these commitments also disturbs the balance and deserves to be punished by society. When someone is guilty of excessive “getting” (for example theft!) the punishment comes immediately. When on the other hand someone refuses “to give” of himself to society the punishment as a rule doesn’t come at all. So this condition of “giving” of your talents and skills to society isn’t often kept.

Nature on the other hand acts like a just judge punishing mankind in accordance with its development. According to the Torah, the changing of the generations in our world menas only the appearance and disappearance of the bodies of the people. The soul on the other hand, the one that fills the body is the main “Me” of the person. It carries his wishes, character, thoughts written on a material “carrier” – the brain cells. This soul does not disappear, but only changes the carrier. The number of the souls is limited (constant) and their turn around, their coming down to our world “dressed” in new bodies is what gives us a new generation of people.

So as for the souls all the gneration from first to last can be considered as one generation. Its life goes on from the time of mankind’s birth a few millenia ago. It will go on until mankind’s death and it doesn’t matter how many different forms each soul will take in different bodies. Death doesn’t affect the soul because it is made of a “higher matter”. Just in the same way as cutting our hair or nails doesn’t effect our body and its life.

Having created and given to us his worlds, the Creator has given us a task; we should strive to meet and converge with him. This should be done through spiritual growth, bonding and uplifting ourselves. But a big question ariese: Should mankind obey the Creator’s will. The Kabbalah shows the complete picture of the ways in which we are controlled, and the result is surprising. It turns out that whether it is out of free will or through suffering we eventually reach the same conclusion. It can happen in this life or the next one, it can happen because of physical, social or economic forces affecting us. Sooner or later each one of us and eventually mankind as a whole will have to accept the idea: The goal and purpose of the Creation should be ur goal and purpose in life!.

At the end of all generations, everyone will reach this goal. The only difference is the route chosen to reach this goal. The person who strives for this goal will doubly benefit. He receives pleasure out of his “converging” with the Creator and this comes instead of suffering. The dramatic point is that mankind doesn’t yet imagine all the misfortunes that it will have to face. As we know the goal to strive for is alreay set and the laws of the Torah are unchangeable. And so whether its our own personal suffering or some periodic global catastrophe, each one of us is drawn to the right idea. We have to follow the Creator’s commandments. We should free ourselves from egoism, envy, and develop the feelings of compassion, mutual help and love..