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Michael Laitman, PhD

Soul as a System in the Model of the Universe

System – is a totality of elements that exist in relation to, and in connection with each other, which generates certain integrity – unity.

System characteristics

In our opinion, a soul is a united, total system of the universe; the main feature of which is integrity, that is, the inability to reduce any system to a sum of its parts. This means that where one common soul, called "Adam" exits, only this soul truly exists. All the parts that have become detached from it are not its separate parts, but something completely different. To a level to which they re-unite again into this common structure, they already form a single common organism. That is, any state of each individual soul, each individual object, is defined only by a degree to which it is connected with the remaining objects. Only in this can we find its level or degree, in order to record its state, and to define its quality. We can characterize it only to a level at which it is compatible with the remaining objects, as well as a level to which these separate objects, these separate souls, interconnect with each other; that is, a certain commonality, integrity, essence, structure, and order emerge among them. This structure has a completely new and different quality. It is not a simple sum of these separate objects, but a qualitatively different creation. It is what they create together, thanks to interconnection between each other. What is being created is a new performance, a totally new system.

Hierarchy

Each component of a system sees itself as being the most important part, and as the principle organizer of the remaining parts. Each component of a system behaves in exactly the same way. Each individual soul is the main one in relation to the rest of them.

That is, as a result of the separation of the common soul into parts and the subsequent re-connection, we have a situation when they impose on each other, and each of them acquires qualities of this entire association. It is conditionally agreed that an amount of individual souls after a break up of an original soul, a united object, is six hundred thousand.

So, we used to have a single soul, which broke into six hundred thousand pieces, and now, re-uniting together, these pieces form a new system that is equivalent to the original one, multiplied by six hundred thousand: these are six hundred thousand single souls, existing among each other, imposing on each other’s souls. This means that we get a system, which is absolute, because each of its elements is the main one, defining, and connecting all the rest and at the same time, allowing all the others to get connected to it.

Plurality of descriptions

Plurality of descriptions results from the fact that each original object consists of its four levels: still, vegetative, animated, and human. In turn, each of these levels consist of sub-levels, etc, meaning that, in principal, nature is unlimited in each of its parts and their total interaction. That is why we can describe a system, structure it on each of its levels, and look at it from different angles, all of which, in general, are equivalent. We cannot say which one of these parts is better, worse, higher or lower because if the system is perfect (and it becomes so at the end), then any aspect of it is also perfect. It only expresses this perfection in a different way - in a different language. A man can be described as a plant, an animal, a biological, social, or spiritual element. This will include all of his information.

In the eyes of a psychologist or a philosopher the personality of a human is a systematic object in that it is a part of different systems (physical, social, etc.); a human is an active subject; and the personality itself is a special system in that it is a open and developing system. In this regard, some specific characteristics can be added to the common ones, such as purposeful existence of complex technical living, and social systems, and their ability to self-organize - change their own structure.

The Science of Kabbalah has an opportunity to examine a human soul as an open self-developing system of the universe and to search for new characteristics of this system and new ways of its functioning.

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