For the past couple of weeks we have been learning about the giving of the Torah. This was a revelation from above to below. God revealing himself to the Jewish people from the heavens above to the earth below. This week's parsha begins with the command for us to construct a sanctuary so that God may dwell among us. We are charged with creating a revelation of God from below to above.Through the hard work of human beings manipulating the physical world we must create a dwelling place for God in the physical realm below.
I once had discussion with Jeff Rosen about lightning. He said it come from the ground up. I said he was crazy. It turns out we were both right. Lightning does begin from above to below but the strike we see, the bright luminous flash, comes not from the heavens but starts on earth and travels straight up. Pictured above a lightning strike slowed down.
A reason God created the world, created humans, created physical matter is so that he could be revealed through the natural world. Studying science, working a 9-5 job , interacting with the government are not incidental activities that we must go through in order to later have a spiritual experience. When we work and earn an honest living, when we walk in the park and feel the warmth of God, this is a reason why we were created, why physical matter was created. So that God could dwell in and through the physical world in order to be revealed through it.
Har Sinai and Matan Torah are no big deal for God. Lightning, thunder, smoke and fire , special effects are not a challenge for the creator of the universe. What is truly miraculous, what is truly supernatural is when humans are able to reveal God through the physical world. A revelation from below to above. That is something truly electrifying.
I once had discussion with Jeff Rosen about lightning. He said it come from the ground up. I said he was crazy. It turns out we were both right. Lightning does begin from above to below but the strike we see, the bright luminous flash, comes not from the heavens but starts on earth and travels straight up. Pictured above a lightning strike slowed down.
A reason God created the world, created humans, created physical matter is so that he could be revealed through the natural world. Studying science, working a 9-5 job , interacting with the government are not incidental activities that we must go through in order to later have a spiritual experience. When we work and earn an honest living, when we walk in the park and feel the warmth of God, this is a reason why we were created, why physical matter was created. So that God could dwell in and through the physical world in order to be revealed through it.
Har Sinai and Matan Torah are no big deal for God. Lightning, thunder, smoke and fire , special effects are not a challenge for the creator of the universe. What is truly miraculous, what is truly supernatural is when humans are able to reveal God through the physical world. A revelation from below to above. That is something truly electrifying.
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