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Getting to G‑dliness
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| © Claudia Ravel |
Deep in meditation, quarrying the strata of the secret wisdom, stripping away layer beneath layer of the hardened sediment draped over truth, the mind’s eye attains perception of the light.
That is not yet G‑dliness.
Immersed in received knowledge of the higher realms, secluded from the confusion of humankind and earthly pleasures, there comes a day when the prophet hears with his ears the voice that brings all into being; he sees with his eyes the splendor of that light.
That is not yet G‑dliness.
Arriving in the ancient Temple of Solomon, each person, great or small, saw the light with such clarity that all sense of being was lost, nothing existed other than the singularity of the Infinite Light that shone openly in that place.
Yet, still, that is not yet G‑dliness.
In a time to come, when the fruits of all our labor will blossom and the world will attain its state for which it was created, when “I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy,” then every small child will see more than the greatest prophet has ever seen, “and all flesh shall see”—the physical eye will perceive an unbounded divine light that has never before been revealed. The very stones of the earth will scream out, “There is nothing else but He!” in every corner of the world, even within its inert matter, “for all the earth shall be filled with the knowing of G‑d, as waters fill the ocean basin.”
There will be a world, and the world will know that it is nothing but a manifestation of the Infinite Light.
That will be G‑dliness.
Reinterpreting the Stone
How could a human ego know it is nothing but a figment of a Supernal Mind, and yet remain a human being?
How could a finite, physical eye perceive infinite, G‑dly light, and yet remain an eye?
How could a stone scream out that there is nothing else but G‑d, and yet remain a stone?
It must be that the ego is not the ego we imagine it to be; that the physical is not the physicality we imagine it to be; that existence is not the absoluteness of being we assume when we speak of existence.
It must be that the true reality of all these things is a deeper meaning, the purpose for which they emerged into being; that the underlying condition that allows anything the privilege of existence is to know the divine.
The ego, the eye, the very physicality of the world—we have misinterpreted all of them. They are all nothing but instruments by which G‑d’s oneness can be known.
The Mandate of Darkness
As impossible as it sounds, as absurd as it may seem: The mandate of darkness is to become light; the mandate of a busy, messy world is to find oneness.
We have proof, for the greater the darkness becomes, the greater the confusion of life, the deeper our souls reach inward to discover their own light.
How could it be that darkness leads us to find a deeper light? That confusion leads us to find a deeper truth?
Only because the very act of existence is set to know its own author. That is the cosmic drama, its theme and its plot: That otherness should come to know oneness.
And we are the players in that drama.
By Tzvi Freeman
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, also heads our Ask The Rabbi team. He is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of Rabbi Freeman's writing, visit Freeman Files subscription.
About the Artist: Claudia Ravel obtained a computing degree from the Buenos Aires University, in Argentina. Then she studied drawing, painting and art history at the workshop of great masters in art. She studied Art Therapy and scenography. Many collectors, from Argentina and throughout the world, particularly Japan, Israel, France, Canada and the United States own Claudia Ravel paintings. Ms. Ravel has had more than 50 solo and group shows in Argentina from 1989 to 2011, having also participated in art fairs in her native country and abroad, receiving important prizes and distinctions. View her work at www.zazzle.com/ClaudiaRavel.
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san francisco
This is one of the most profound statements I have ever read - and I am very grateful for it. This 'mandate' is surely the meaningfulness of and for us all, and I re-read the opening chapters of Genesis with so much greater understanding.
Rabbi Freeman - thank you for sharing this.
Wellington
We are recreating the Divine Fire through dialogue right here, on Chabad. We are all souls, and the paradox articulated within this article, once seen, is very difficult for the human mind to assimilate, to absorb. But it is a deep, Divine truth. And beauty IS truth.
There is a deep secret in SOD, and to articulate this secret is not a capacity of any man, because it will not be received, unless the receiver is able to carry that lantern, to hold the light, which has everything to do with sod, itself, in all manifestations of the word, including the English.
To go this deep, is to enter another Kingdom, and yet it's always been here, and then, so totally visible, but not visible, due to the need to take a journey of soul to get there.
marshfield hills, ma
How does it find light?Does it happen when its darkness is filled by the light created by itself in others?Then is it also transformed in light?But what is the price that darkness must pay for the evil its darkness had created?Does that"no more darkness"still have a place among those who fought its disgrace?In the world to come or in the messianic time ,will there be still a place for Teshuvah,or is it now the last opportunity?
What is darkness’ end?
Let's stay consistant. You are the greatest, God is every where and with everyone.
Even in my earthly body, we can travel to the heavenly spheres and visit with the sages and angels.
Shabat Shalom,
Escondido, Ca.-U.S.A-
Ottawa, Ontario/Canada
Palm Beach, Fl
Mesa, Arizona, USA
In your article, you have expressed the Light of Hashem and The Beit HaMikdash in such a beautiful and visual manner.
May we merit to see both Lights speedily, in our days.
Amen sela.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia