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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..
Author: Rav Michael Laitman, PhD |
