Humble Opinions

We live in a fascinating and unbelievable world. I use the term unbelievable because it is truly hard to believe. We live at a time where people can be seen casually walking down the street, watching a realtime, high definition video stream of events taking place on the other side of the planet on a wireless handheld device. Information is sent and received across oceans literally instantaneously, and perfectly recorded musical performances of the past can be listened to at one’s leisure, while zipping down a paved highway at 65 miles per hour in a personal transport vehicle - free of charge. An enormous percentage of humankind’s labor has shifted from physical toil that produce physical results, to the simple typing on a keyboard that results in virtual currency being transferred to one’s virtual collection of wealth. Employees and employers no longer need to live on the same continent, and highly successful businesses can be run by individuals whom have never met face-to-face. Man has truly optimized the output of the human brain and soul in ways history never dreamed possible.

What a world, ladies and gentlemen. It really does deserve a moment of analysis and awe. Look how far we’ve come as a species. We have worked and worked, tried and failed, learned and re-learned, improved and enhanced almost every aspect of life and the world to get to where we are. Congratulations man - you’ve come a long way. Now here’s the kicker……   so what? What’s the point of all of this, and what are we going to do with it now that we’ve created it?

Ask the businessman, and he may answer the point is to expend as much energy as possible to yield the highest possible wealth and success in a single lifetime. Ask the musician, and he may answer the point is to create something beautiful that touches and enlightens the mind; and to bring world peace - apologies for the stereotype ;). Ask the atheist, and he may answer there is no predefined point - the whole thing is pure coincidence that can disappear as easily as it appeared.

This is something I think about a lot. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will one day die, and as rapidly moving and confusing as the world can be, it has been important for me to know what this whole thing is about, and what the end game is. I have been on an ongoing search for this, sometimes unbeknownst to myself, from the moment I was born.

I have had the phenomenal opportunity to live in two countries - two very different countries. The United States of America, and Israel. I look at the US, and see an endless loop of work ethic, consumerism, and momentary fads that ultimately lead to no end game. I see people trying to satisfy the desires of their soul with the desires of their body. I see the glorification of fabricated illusions, and the promotion of nothingness. It saddens me. I look at Israel, and I see something wildly different - an end game, true goals, spiritual fulfillment, and the strive to replace evil with good.

The original monotheistic religion, Judaism, is a very deep, complex religion. It is based around the belief and knowledge of a single Creator of what we call the world, as well as a single goal for mankind. It includes the strict observance of many hundreds of commandments believed to have been given by said Creator as guidelines for achieving this goal. It teaches the use of the physical aspects of existence for the purpose and perpetuation of the spiritual. What is this single goal? Tikkun HaOlam, in it’s original Hebrew, which in English I would translate as the completion of the world. Judaism believes the world was created incomplete, and mankind, the leader of all species, was given the tools to complete it, using its unobstructed freedom of choice.

This raises many questions, such as why? Why was the world created like this, and why was man left to complete it? These are vital questions that I unfortunately don’t have the time to attempt to explain here in a simple blog post. These are the questions the sages of Judaism have spent literally thousands of years investigating, probing, and studying tirelessly. I highly recommend exploring these areas of study, as I have found them to be very intellectually challenging, and truly perspective changing.

For now, I’ll touch on the question of how. How is man supposed to complete the world? The answer is relatively simple at face value. Use the tools he has been given to craft a perfect world - a world free of war, free of manipulation, free of greed and immorality. Every tool is like a yin yang that can be used for good or for evil. Nuclear energy can power the world, or blow it all up. The internet can help spread education, globalization, and medical advances, or can be used to organize a hateful intifada aimed at the destruction of people. The human organs that can be used to produce the next generation of life can also be used in unspeakable manners. A position of power can be exercised to help a lesser fortunate people, or to exploit the helpless.

The answer? Think. Think hard. The next time you set out to do something; the next time you set out to build something; think of the end game. Will you help fix the world, or are you adding to the noise distracting the rest of mankind in its goal? An iPhone is a monstrously powerful device. Please don’t use it to video tape your friend peeing on his neighbor’s lawn, and upload it to Facebook.

Thanks!

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