Jewish Ideas: Reality of Life (Emes HaChaim)

The way in which Hashem created the world was to set up dense smoke screens to pervade the human senses and establish a distorted reality. This reality allowed for man to have freedom of choice and the ability to conquer and prevail over the world's challenges, thereby allowing him to attain otherwise unattainable spiritual heights.

There are on occasion various plateaus and mountain tops whose jagged edges jut above the endless sea of misleading fog. These visible pinpoints of reality are formed by basic, inescapable facts, which lie however deep or dormant inside of every person's soul. These facts if fanned and brought to life give us footholds and allow us to descend beneath and penetrate the veil cloaking existence. These visible snippets of land, if not for the confusion caused by the contradicting indications constantly being thrust upon ones senses, would be always present in ones thoughts and it would be impossible to doubt their validity.

If a person would allow himself to reach out and think rationally and emotionally, he would realize without any question that there is a G-d who created the concept of existence. There are many irrefutable reasons, if approached with pure logic and rationale, such as why and how would you exist if you weren't created with a purpose, and if you weren't created and didn't have a purpose what's the point of life, you might as well be dead, since anyway eventually you'll fade away into nothingness.

There is no logical basis or rationale as to why a person desires certain physical aspects of this world while he disdains others, just G-d imbued within him certain innate and unexplainable desires and dislikes to pose as a mask over what is truly desirable and undesirable. When a person passes on into the world of truth, this mask of falsehood is peeled away and the true set of values are revealed. At that point a person realizes how much he gave up, every instant in which he ran after the eluding mirage of false desires, instead of directing his focus and energy toward worthwhile and fulfilling pursuits.

An important realism for a person to keep in focus, is that the scale of ranking and success which is superficially observed in this world, is totally unaligned and oblivious toward the set of rankings in which G-d views his creations. This is due to the fact that we judge people by the level which they are presently on, while the true tale of a person's success is told by the progress he has made in lieu of the hardships and impediments which have been placed in his path. However even if we do take into account the strides and accomplishments that a person has made, it is not feasible for us to know whether it was easier for him than his fellow man.

Based on the idea that people were created with different tests and challenges, and established in different environments facing different scenario's, it is impossible for you to determine whether or not a person will be held responsible for an action which he is doing. Therefore it is futile and purposeless to have any negative feelings against other people, since you should realize that they are just trying their best to cope with the world in which G-d placed them.

The concept of time as we assume it to be, is limited to our view of the physical world. In the spiritual world however, there is no set time factor. It is true that there are concepts of one thing preceding the next, but all spiritual actions remain eternal.

Part of the reason why Hashem introduced the concept of time into the physical world is since the physical world, unlike the spiritual world, is not everlasting. Therefore, in order for man to have the ability to accomplish and progress, the world must develop in stages as opposed to just being. This is because the world to come lasts forever and does not change its spiritual heights and it's as if no time passes, while the whole purpose of this world's creation, is to achieve and progress, and the only way to change from what you once were, is to cut off and separate your old spiritual self from your new one.

Knowing that this world in which we are presently in is in an entirely different realm in comparison to the world to come, and that our life in this world takes up an infinitesimal minuscule percentage of our life in the world to come, a person should make a concrete decision to use all his resources and work his whole life, sparing nothing, to serve his creator and thereby reap utopia forever.

Life isn't about what happens to you, it's about how you handle what happens.- Nicholas Evans, 'The Smoke Jumper' While I'm still confused and uncertain, it's on a much higher plane, d'you see, and at least I know I'm bewildered about the really fundamental and important facts of the universe. - Discworld scientists at work, Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas, they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind. - Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte 'And if you're going to criticize me for not finishing the whole thing and tying it up in a bow for you, why, do us both a favor and write your own book, only have the decency to call it a romance instead of a history, because history's got no bows on it, only frayed ends of ribbons and knots that can't be untied. It ain't a pretty package, but then it's not your birthday that I know of so I'm under no obligation to give you a gift.' - Orson Scott Card, Alvin Journeyman 'How can I help it?' he blubbered. 'How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.' "Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane." - 1984 (George Orwell) The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues. - Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures. To paraphrase Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear, and all those guys, "I wish I had known this some time ago." - Corwin, Sign of the Unicorn In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. - The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy It only makes sense that every facet of our daily lives should depend upon the position of celestial bodies hundreds of millions of miles away. - Calvin and Hobbes 'The surest sign that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.' - Calvin and Hobbes I don't need parents. All I need is a recording that says, 'Go play outside!' - Calvin and Hobbes I thought I had a great idea today, but it never really took off. In fact, it didn't even get on the runway. I guess you could say it exploded in the hangar. - Calvin and Hobbes Reality continues to ruin my life. - Calvin and Hobbes The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars. - Jack Kerouac, On the Road The reason I'm having so much trouble flying this ship is because it's black. The walls are black, the floor is black, the console is black, the switches are black, the labels are little black letters printed on a black background, and when you press anything, a black light lights up in black to tell you you've done it.' Ford Prefect - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy The eyes are purjors, right enough. But do you truly trust the testimony of your ears, of your nose, of the root of your tongue? Not I, my friend. The universe lies to our senses, and they lie to us, and how can we ourselves be anything but liars? For myself, I trust neither the message nor the messenger neither what I am told, nor what I see. There may be truth somewhere, but it never gets down to me. But, you never know. I could be wrong. - Peter Beagle, 'The Last Unicorn' The most common mistake people make when designing something completely foolproof, is underestimating the ingenuity of complete fools. - Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless So we reach into the raging chaos, and we pluck some small glittering thing, and we cling to it, and tell ourselves it has meaning, and that the world is good, and we are not evil and we will all go home in the end." - Lestat, Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice Some pirates achieved immortality by great deeds of cruelty or derring-do. Some achieved immortality by amassing great wealth. But the captain had long ago decided that he would, on the whole, prefer to achieve immortality by not dying. - Terry Pratchett, The Color Of Magic A bore is a person who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company - John MacDonald in 'The Turquoise Lament', 1973 Behind them lay pain, and death, and fear. Ahead of them lay doubt, and danger, and fathomless mysteries. But they weren't alone. - The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman Certain things should just stay as they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. - Holden, 'Catcher in the Rye' Does the walker choose the path, or the path, the walker? - Sabriel, by Garth Nix Don't try to out-weird me, three eyes. I get weirder things than you in my breakfast cereal. - Zaphod Beeblebrox, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galazy Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity... we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance. - A.E. Newton God does not play dice with the universe: He plays an ineffable game of His own devising which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players (*i.e., everybody), to being involving in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules and who smiles all the time. -Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet 'Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.' - Alice Hoffman(Practical Magic) If I ever meet myself, I'll hit myself so hard I won't know what's hit me. - Zaphod Beeblebrox, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy In the course of a lifetime, what does it matter? In the real world, as in dreams, nothing is quite what it seems. - The Book of Sorrows Just because you have a mind like a hammer doesn't mean you should treat everyone else like a nail - Terry Pratchett, Only You Can Save Mankind Life... loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it. - Marvin the Paranoid Android, Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. - Gandalf, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring My doctor says that I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre and that I am therefore excused from saving universes. - Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: part III: Life, The Universe and Everything Shared pain is lessened, shared Joy increased, thereby do we refute Entropy... - Michael Callahan, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson The butler entered the room, a solemn procession of one. - P.G. Wodehouse The structure of the university was such that, to become a member of the faculty, you merely found some obscure subject that nobody else claimed to teach, set up an office, and showed up at meal times. If you were unlucky, you may attract students. - Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent The thing I want to know is, if you tell your brain not to do stuff like that and it keeps doing it anyway, does that mean your mind has a mind of its own? And if it does, then who's in charge here, anyway? -Jed, Armageddon Summer (Yolen) A bad decision now is preferable to a good decision five minutes later, if you're dead in four. - Keller, S.T. There is no such thing as good guys and bad guys, just them and us. - Belgarath, David and Leigh Eddings This book is dedicated to my brilliant and beautiful wife without whom I would be nothing. She always comforts and consoles, never complains or interferes, asks nothing, and endures all. She also writes my dedications. - Albert Malvino Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons. - Popular Mechanics, 1949 'Life is pain. Anybody that says different is selling something.' - Fezzik's mother, The Princess Bride 'Not all who wander are lost.' - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Jewish Ideas

Reality of Life (Emes HaChaim)

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