Everything that exists—whether it be an object, a living organism, an event, or even a memory of the past—each and every thing is an artifact of a divine spark.

These sparks are not fiery sparks or even electromagnetic sparks. The divine spark of a thing is its meaning, what it’s really trying to say, its place in the puzzle of this grand story we call time.

The Kabbalists tell us that when the world was created, these sparks were all scattered. Something like taking a book and throwing all its words and letters into the air. That’s why so much of this world seems so meaningless, noisy, confusing and often downright ugly and nasty.

Our job is to rescue and liberate these sparks so that we end up with a beautiful, harmonious and meaningful world. We do that by putting the pieces of the puzzle back together in such a way that everything starts to make sense. We give things real value and meaning.

For example, money.

It makes no sense to hoard money, or to waste it on things that don’t benefit anyone. It makes more sense to invest it in ways that benefit the entire world. Ways that give more people a sense of self-worth and a better life, without harming the environment or hurting others.

Or gadgets. Anything we invent also has a divine spark—it’s just that this spark had to wait for its time in the story to appear. But now that it’s here, we need to discover how it fits into the grand scheme of things, enabling people to take charge of their own lives, and to increase understanding between people and wisdom in the world.

Or some life experience. Some person you meet or a vacation you take. A job you start or a class you take. A friendship. A falling-out. A success. A failure. Wherever you go, whatever you see, there’s something you need to learn from that experience, something that gives you a deeper understanding of life and of the Creator of life.

The more we uncover the meaning of each thing, the closer the world comes to its fulfillment. Once we reach a critical mass of liberated sparks, the world begins to sing the song it was always meant to sing, loud and clear.