Development and getting closer to the truth even as we sink deeper

HH

There are already a few posts on the blog about science and magic. In Egypt everything was magic, today everything is technology, and the true reality is faith, as the verse says (Psalms 33:4), "and all His deeds/creations are with faith," magic and technology are what the Talmud dismisses as "chaizoo diheye almuh" - facades of this world, wrappings. When the world is more spiritual then the wrappings will also be more spiritual, and that obviously has a strong plus in that faith is in air, and not only does that make it easier to connect, and make a very strong connection to holiness, it also has everyone believing to some extent. Even still there is a great advantage to the sorrowful state of physicality we have sunk to today. The Sages revealed that demons (-the workings of magic) have no power over creatures smaller than a hairbreadth (Rashi on Exodus 8:14), and today most of technology and science works with tiny particles much much smaller. This (I posit) leaves the material free of the influences of the occult, laying it bare for what it is, and that is a huge opportunity affording it to be a pure platform for the true reality. Sure the scientists will undoubtedly continue to misconstrue the import of what they are researching, but even still the matter will remain pristine and unsullied for everyone to still see it for what it truly is. [See however the posts about artificial intelligence, which explain how it is basically just a platform for the imprisoned embedded souls. Even still souls are from an inner paradigm of truth as opposed to demons and the occult which are all external trappings]. This is congruous with what tzadikim said that today even though the souls are so sunken they are more truthful.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman!

Earth First and Central

HH

Imagine being suspended in the atmosphere 1000 meters high. Pretty frightening. Good thing that we have the solid earth under our feet. The reality however is that we are the earth. It isn’t like we just happened or managed to secure ourselves on earth. Perhaps the whole superficial perspective of the heliocentricity is due to the faulty premise that first there was space and then then formations of matter therein. The reality is that first there was earth, and everything from great to small was derived from the earth (this is a dictum in the Medrash often cited in the Kabbala – הכל היה מן העפר אפילו גלגל חמה), and we know that man is a microcosm of the universe, which means that wherever man stands he is the earth, suspended in the reality (“hypostasis”) just as securely as earth.

  

With this understanding we can explain the commandment of not to have foreign gods – which HY set for the gentile nations (Deuteronomy 4:19), to mean that a Jew is forbidden to see himself existing as some arbitrary floating dot in space, where all types of others things also meander, roam, or orbit. A Jew must be geocentric, knowing that the whole world was created for him (see Likutay Moharan Torah-teaching 5), and revolves, operates, and functions completely in synchronization to him. Every person according to the level of humility – likening to the earth – pivots themselves closer to the truth of this reality. The tzadik is the quintessence of this (Likutay Moharan 70), and is the root of all the souls.

There is definitely a perspective that HY created to see the world as if it was created in space together with all types of other forces and formations. That is a superficial perspective which HY set for the nations to be occupied with, but a Jew must not let himself get stuck there. That is like getting stuck with the physics of Newton and refusing to acknowledge and understand quantum physics, just much much worse. [See the beginning of Daas Tevunos 2, where the Ramchal reveals that HY made the world this way, that there is the true reality of the Torah, and there is a superficial facade masking it].

This is what it says in (Deuteronomy 31:17), “Because my G-d is not inside of me I have been beset with all this evil.” That is when one loses the true perspective that he is the world and G-d is shining into him, he falls into the hands of all the multivariable forces and formations competing in the superficial ecosystem of the universe.

It is also possible to understand with this the first two of the Ten Commandments which we heard directly from HY. The first commandment, “I am Hashem… Who took you out of the land of Egypt,” Egypt in Hebrew is mitzra-yim, borders and constraints, because as long a person retains this outlook that he exists in space together with other things, then he is living under the domination of limitations. The second commandment says, “You should not have foreign gods….” this was explained above, that as long a person sees himself as a creation in space he will be subject to the vying entities in his universe.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman!

The innate prohibitive problem with movies and tv

HH
Much has been said to explain why movies and tv are so detrimental, but even they don't address the main core of the issue, and therefore when it comes to really kosher educational media there are allowances and approval. The truth however is that the very nature of movies is harmful and the quintessential opposite of Torah values.
The Talmud extols Rav, one of the sages, praising him for never ever glancing out of his four cubits, and this virtue is an instruction enumerated and highly encouraged in the classic work Raishis Chuchma and other ethical works. In these holy texts we find a term "chaizoo (the sight) dihigh (of this) almu (world)," the Ramchal in Adir Bamurom goes so far as to say the senses we have are actually inhibitions which block the true senses of our soul! And in one of the greatest revelations of Rabbainu Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'Uman, the Story of Ancient Times of the Seven Beggars, Rabbainu revealed how the saints completely transcended the sensory faculties of this world. Now even though these are obviously tremendously high levels which at best we can pray for from our very remote vantage point, nevertheless they are the true reality of this world, and even if we do not see ourselves achieving their recognition it is definitely forbidden to give power and strength to the false reality. So as much as we are trapped and enslaved by the facade of this world, and we must contend with it, there is really no excuse to bring upon ourselves extraneous succor to the allusion. Such is the nature of every movie, even a very kosher and educational one, it entraps a person in the facade of the world. For the lessons we learn even with our physical senses are seeking the truth which is really imbued and transpiring, whereas a movie is really intent on the visual scenario which is the antithesis of the reality. So even when there is a good message the loss might far out way the gain.
Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'Uman