The Avodah (growth) paradigm

The Rebbe teaches (or so I heard – please confirm or deny if you know) that to unravel the knots of an argument one must understand what is behind the argument!

 

“I hate you.” “No, I hate you!” may really mean, “I love you and I am upset that in my opinion you neglected me!”

 

So the answer shouldn’t be “I hate you too!,” rather “I love you, and I am so sorry I made you feel neglected!”

 

In your opinion, which answer is more accurate?!

 

So to, we must get to the very heart of existence, to understand the next step.

 

As there are faces, so there are opinions about the meaning or lack thereof behind existence.

 

According to Rabbi Pinchus Hirshprung, one of the Torah giants in our day (who was a giant even before the war, when there were many giants) the uniqueness of the Lubavitcher Rebbe stood (at least inclusively, i.e. not including many other uniqueness’s) in that most people have an opinion for which they strive to find logical or Torah proofs, but really their opinion is based on an emotion (something they desire – love or fear etc.) the Rebbe was different, his opinions were based on the wisdom of God, as conveyed in the Torah, and that then became his emotions.

 

So at the very heart of existence, lies a most interesting idea, which is that God created the world to unite with you!

 

In other words, as God is good, and it is the nature of good (people) to do goodness and kindness (as that is what they enjoy) hence God knowing that he is the ultimate emotion, sensitive joyful goodness, hence it would be in our interest to feel him.

 

To do this, he created light and darkness – for to appreciate light one first needs the feeling of darkness.

 

Wandering aimlessly for millennia, humanity has shed the shackles of darkness, for only once one sees it as such, can one unlock ones attachment to it – and hence seeks the light.

 

It is in the era of post materialism (which was the aim of society till now) that people (at least those who regurgitated the “pleasures” of materialism) are seeking the light.

 

This is the most important process in God’s ability / desire to unite with you.

 

For once you are an empty container, once you shed your selfish desires, illusions of hope in happiness from materialistic or narcissistic pleasures (including honor etc.) it is now that you are a container fitting to hold a new light, a new energy, namely what is called the shechina, the essence of God.

 

The Rebbe teaches, that there is essence and revelation.

 

Now revelation is awesome, but it holds nothing on essence.

 

Essence is simple unity, simple merging of two, whereas revelation consists of one people or even one person being overawed, hence receding in favor of a higher being.

 

Now is God’s ultimate goal revelation? – so we see, such miracles where we cease to see ourselves and only see God?

 

No.

 

Rather, God’s essence is about merging the essence of God into the essence of man.

 

To do this you essentially need three things a. you need God; b. you need you; c. you need a bridge that somehow allows you to be you, and at the same time merge with God!

 

In the world of revelation this is impossible, for if you would say, plug in your computer straight into the nuclear reactor where its energy emanates to your plug, obviously it would blow up and in a human level you would cease to exist and only God would exist.

 

But there is a place in which you and God can merge and yet the two do not blow each other up, rather seamlessly fit like a plug into a socket, and that is in your mind.

 

In other words, as the Zohar famously teaches, and the Rebbe tirelessly quotes, “God and the merging with the Jewish people occur through Torah.”

 

How so, because when you not only follow Torah but internalize the pnimiyous, the wisdom behind the Torah, then your mind has become God’s mind, for if you and I both believe, say happiness is dependent on unity (an idea I just conceived,) then effectively you and I have the same idea – though of course my idea and I are not one, God has the unique ability to actually place himself within his ideas, hence it truly is God, as the verse states “you are taking me” like an intimate union, when you understand Torah.

 

Hence the ultimate union of God and man in preparation for the coming of the Moshiach has begun.

 

For thousands of years our relationship has been in a certain one dimensional – obeying orders, hence like revelation, we recede in favor of God.

 

But ultimately it is through pnyimius hatorah the wisdom of Chassidus coming from the essence of God, internalized into our minds, hearts, soul, that there grows a deeper connection which was hitherto impossible.

 

In this vein as the Rebbe teaches, this internal union is the merging of essences.