Kabbalistically speaking, the world is wired. Just like your brain has your entire body wired, checking up on activity in every limb, so the universe has nodes of cosmic awareness planted everywhere. They're known as Ayins.

The Zohar calls them "the eyes that are constantly moving" and describes them as angels, continually transmitting information. Not just audio-visual data—even thoughts and emotions are noted, transmitted and stored. "Before I know my own thoughts," King David sang, "You already know them."

The question is, the Infinite Light is everywhere—why does He need data collectors? With a human observer, first something must happen, then he can observe it. But with the MasterMind of the universe it's the opposite way around: Things happen because He is imagining them. So why does He need a report stating, "Yes, sir, Your imagination came out just the way You imagined it!"

Quite simply, because a predictable world is boring. If you know everything before it happens, what's the point behind making a world? So the Infinite Light, so to speak, writes Himself into the story. He plays the role of Great Cosmic Consciousness, observing all and judging accordingly. In the language of the Zohar, it's called, "Lower Level Consciousness"—as opposed to the "Higher Level Consciousness" that brings everything into existence in the first place. Being infinite and totally unbounded, He can play both parts at once—the Ultimate Isifier bringing everything into existence, and the Ultimate Observer observing it subjectively at once. As in, "G‑d said it should be light" and then, "G‑d saw the light that it was good."

The main thing is that we need to keep Him engaged in both roles. Since His imagination is infinite, we have free choice to grind through the storyline or to enhance it. When we do things that bring His light into the world in a tangible way—acts of beauty, wisdom and kindness—the storyline works out so much nicer.

It must be neat to be G‑d.