By Tzvi Freeman
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25 Comments Posted
At some point in time in my late 20's, I believe as a result of my imagination being stirred by certain esoteric and scientific literature, it became evident and obvious to me that stellar bodies as well as galactic structures are conscious.
Considering that this is a most uncommon concept of thought, I gave serious pause to examine my sanity. This knowledge of mine does not come up in conversation with others for obvious reasons, so it is comforting for me to find the odd rare site which discusses these things.
I have come to believe that the awareness of stellar consciousness' reality is a gift bestowed on few, for whatever reason, and is a result of the activation of certain higher faculties of the mind. For me, this revelation seemed to open a door of mystic perception. It became as though I could will an uncanny insight into things esoteric, and a whole new world has opened to me.
I have learned to tread softly on this path of awareness.
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I don't believe we are the only beings in the universe. I think God created many worlds. I don't think we will see them in our life time due to space and time between our worlds. This i believe was done for a reason. We and have infected with sin, and God has made it that we don't infect our worlds with our curse.
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i simply can't agree with the statement that human beings need torah to have free will. there are millions of people who have lived on this planet who never even heard of torah, yet they all had just as much free will as i do. torah may give us the knowledge to make BETTER choices, but not having it does not mean we don't have free will, or intelligence.
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You have a good point. However, Torah is not limited to the Jews. When G_d spoke to Adam and to Noah, that was also Torah. Humanity as a whole was given a choice at our very conception.
The Jews were entrusted with the entire Torah, to ensure that its message would survive unadulterated and to be a "light unto the nations" so that they would adopt the ethics of the Torah that apply to them.
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If the inhabitants of Meroz are non-human, then by definition they have no free will (as you so aptly point out).
So how is it that the verse in lambasting them for not having come to aid in the battle?
Seems we have a bit of a paradox here, no?
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Finally, someone is thinking. Why didn't any other reader realize this earlier?
As I wrote, this is the Rebbe's statement. My understanding is that there are degrees of free choice. There are no robots in G_d's universe. Everything has a bounded nature, but there is always flexibility within those bounds. Proof is, the Talmud and Midrash discuss punishments for the angels and even for animals.
So when we claim that human beings are the lone bearers of free choice, we are speaking in relative terms. Humans are the sole beings capable of transcending the bounds of their nature.
Therefore the creatures of Maroz could still be punished for making a choice, when the two options are both within the bounds of their nature--just as angels could be similarly held culpable (or even animals). A human can be held culpable for an action when the alternative means going beyond his nature (such as cleaning for Pesach when you hate housework and would rather be typing answers such as these).
Have a wonderful Passover!
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maybe each one of the stars is the soul of someone who has passed on. The brighter the star, the purer their soul is and the better a person they were when they were alive. Everyone who has ever walked the earth is out there - both good and evil. The brightest stars always outshine the dimmest ones and the brightest of them all would be Moses. Next time you look up at the great beyond, consider that you might actually be looking at something more familiar than you'll ever understand.
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Man chooses his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
There is much said in that statment. How much control does a man have in his life of where he is at any given time.
Choices are placed before us, we choose how we will respond to them. Where we go from that point on, is that not from the Lord?
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Some have suggested that Maroz is Mars. It sounds right because Mars is the Roman god of war. However, it's very difficult because at the time of Devorah, there were no Romans in the vicinity. The name Mars has no Semitic or Indo-European derivation. It's most likely from the Etruscan "Maris". No Etruscans in the vicinity either.
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looking at NASA's JPL site about extrasolar planets, there's currently 248 planets known including our 8. so which is Maroz, or where might we find it?
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Rabbi Tzvi says there's only one Torah 'cause there's only one truth. But if there are beings on other planets who have developed religion, wouldn't that religion be suited to the unique conditions there, just as religions like Judaism are designed to be practiced on Earth? For example, what if there were alien kashrut? Since there would probably be different species on another planet, then what is and is not acceptable for G-d's chosen species to eat on that planet would require guidelines suited for that planet, right?
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I have to disagree, God looked into the torah and made the universe, for the sake of man to utilizise his free will, the universe is worth existing even for a single man. If God created other beings it tremendously lowers the esteem of torah and man. There is no need for other beings, if man and the torah were why the universe was created
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Me again. Don't have much to say beyond keep going from strength to strength. Every evening I read the comments and I'm reminded how the lucky don't know how lucky they are. There bis no greater good fortune than to be born Jewish.
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Shalom Rabbi ve todah rabah. Would it be possible to imagine that there exist intelligent and technologically advanced beings out there, who are easily capable of traveling to/from earth; and who have a degree of free will and intelligence. Indeed your arguments seem rule out the possibility of Jewish "aliens"; but could not there be other beings, who have free will like humans, similarly to Non-Jews in remote part of the globe - that have been very isolated for many centuries, but are eventually intended to come (or should i say, return) in contact with the Torah? Perhaps those aliens were fathered by Adam and left earth very early, and with technology that even today, we can not fathom, and their potential was to be technologically advanced and prepare the universe to become a livable place (I think it is said that the righteous will have entire world at their disposal) but not to be at Sinai. Thank you so very much for your articles, and for taking the time to read. Daniela
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Isn't Torah written in the language of man? With parables and stories to teach and guide us to perfect THIS world. Yes Torah is Truth, but we can never comprehend G-d's truth fully. Maybe there is another Torah out there completely Identical to ours in G-d's language, but writen with the purpose of perfecting ANOTHER world and given in a way that G-d felt is appropriate for that alien sociaty. Is this theory even considerable?
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I think it's "considerable"--although apparently the Rebbe rejects it. Perhaps for the same reason we reject the idea that our Torah can change according to the needs of the time (which is actually presented as a possibility in the Sefer Ha-Ikrim). The problem with this is that we understand Torah as more than just another of G_d's ideas (such as this world is). But Torah is more than that, as the Zohar says, "Torah and G_d are one". That doesn't mean just the abstract concept behind Torah, it means the very letters with which the Torah is written. So, just as G_d does not change, His Torah cannot change.
Similarly, just as there is only on G_d, there can only be one Torah.
There's still more to ponder on this.
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First of all, im not of jewish faith, but i am really interested about these things, especially religions other than my own. i want to create an understanding for my own, derived from messages of all religions.
are you saying that for example, there are humans in mars, that these humans dont have free will because they dont know the jewish faith?
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No, I don't think that's what the Rebbe was saying at all. Torah provides free choice for all of humanity. Torah is G_d saying to humankind, "You already know what you could do, here's what you should do."
Only that the Jewish People, as a "light to the nations," are given even more shoulds than the rest of the world.
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Wasn't the Torah given to all Israel? Why do you say Jewish? Isn't Israel being sifted through the nations?
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I have to disagree. One can have intelligence without Torah. Look at all the non-Jews. I don't agree with them, but the notion that intelligence doesn't exist without Torah is quite silly.
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Please read the comments above. You'll see that all human beings have free choice because Torah is a lesson for all of humanity.
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Not all Israelites are Jews. And Gentiles were also freed out of land of Egypt with the Jews for it is clearly stated this way too.
And Torah was given to the Israelites, this also includes the Jews, since they are also a part of the Israelites. And it is the Israelites that are scattered throughout all the nations where G-d scattered them.
And we also know that Moshe went up to heaven to receive the Torah, for the angels wanted to know why Moshe wanted it in the first place. So we can safely say that Torah did come down from Heaven. And explain why Moshe also received the Zohar along with the Torah??
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Does the truth in Torah depend on the historical narrative along with the 613 commandments it contains? It seems to be the mitzvahs could be given to any conscious being worthy of having it revealed. Noah, Abraham and others were all conscious, intelligent beings who made choices. Revelation provided which choices are good and which are otherwise. Why couldn't, in essence, a Jewish Martian-to pick a neighbor-wear Tefillim?
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Why worry about other life on other planets and if they use tfillin or keep shabbath? We got the Torah and the mitsvoth, it is difficult enough to keep these.
Let martians or other life worry about their own tsores (problems), we have our tsores but thank G-d also rights from G-d.
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If the torah contains many hidden secrets, why couldn't the Torah be given to other life forms in a way they can understand. If other worlds exist within ours, then why couldn't other life forms exist in different forms that we may not be able to comprehend. Is the power of the Torah only in the physical presentation or in the meanings, obvious and hidden. Is it not our own ego that leads us to believe that we are the only life form that can recieve the truth and value of the Torah?
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