5. Seeing Within - Daily Dose of Wisdom

Man sees a tree and the tree says, “I am here, I was here, and I am nothing more but a thing that is here.”

Man ponders and answers, “No! I give you a name! You are ‘tree’! You have beauty and you have a soul. You point upwards and you say, ‘There is something higher, there is the One who gives me life and gives me my very being.’”

And so Man goes on, until he has brought the whole of creation down on its knees.

Man alone can accomplish what the angels cannot. Man alone can discover the spiritual within the material.

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The Bridge

G-d In Exile

Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson

From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. To order Rabbi Freeman’s book, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, click here.

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October 15, 2012

Seeing Within

I like the concept of a tree reaching higher - a simple visual that is easy to try to apply.

I spend a lot of time outdoors - there is much beauty in G-d's creation.

When I think of materiel, I guess I tend to think of man's creations - buildings, bridges, fountains, etc. That is the challenge to find spirituality ... the closest I can get is G-d blessed man with intelligence, creativity and a soul that yearns to return to its Creator.

I have also seen beauty in that man-made world; it is just harder to find.

Karin Kruger
Oklahoma City, OK/USA

May 27, 2010

Material & Spiritual

The combination of material & spiritual seems opposite, but my intuition says it is highly workable and perfect. Thanks for sharing!

Regards.

Syed Shahid Ali
Karachi, Pakistan

May 27, 2010

Angels and Man

What we share with the nothingness or materiality of this Earthly plane is what allows us to know and express it's nature. The Rebbe also alluded to the fact that man ponders and then expresses or "says" his ideas about the tree. This also illustrates how the Shechina moves in speech to illuminate our dark surroundings. By elevating our G-dly soul, and exclaiming that G-d is one, we raise ourselves above and subdue creation. The only question left is, how do we take care of the gift that G-d has given us.

Dovid
Kalamazoo, MI

December 26, 2009

Angels Put into effect the will of Gd

Did not an angel visit Abram and Lot? Did not angels grab the hands of Lot's family and pull them from the wasteland that would be Sodom & Gommorah? Did not angels protect that family--minus Lot's wife, who looked back and was crystalized with that debris? Was it man or an angel that surrounded the three in the furnace; was it man that kept the lion from devouring the servant Daniel?

Esdras Zachariah
Minneapolis, USA