Light/Life
It seems to me that in Kabbalistic thought the notions of
light and life are interchangeable. It seems like they are two ways of
referring to the same reality, though different aspects of that reality. If so,
why doesn't electrical light or candle light seem alive in the way plants,
animals and humans do?
I think electric light or candle light is alive! But,
it's in the category ofwhat’s called in Hebrew domem ( דומם ), meaning silent,
along with rocks and other inorganic materials.
At this level of life, the entities are silent
about the life they bear. Yet on Chanukah, we use that "silent"
light/life for our menorahs; possibly to teach that even what seems silent,
in the right context, can be still quite expressive. It can be used to express
a message of freedom of worship and hope.
One day such lights will even be more
expressive; actively conveying an expression of life on their own accord.
Truthfully, there is no such a thing of something which is not alive. Every
detail of existence exists because some drop of God’s Infinite Light flows
through it. If it’s not alive in some sense, it would not exist at all. The
drop of Infinite of Light which flows into what appears to our naked eyes as
inanimate is simply hidden. However, since darkness is nothing more than
compacted and suppressed light, there’s nothing which is not filled with life
and hence, very alive!
Part of the hope which Chanukah holds out for us is that
there will yet be a time when the hidden light will be revealed. The hidden
light is not merely a heavenly light, from a higher realm, which will
pervade earthly existence. It is also a light which is hidden within the bowels
of the physical itself, which is yet to be discovered and/or revealed. There
will yet be a time when the light from below will match the light from above in
sublime union!
May it happen in our swiftly in our days!
---------✡ 🔥🔥🔥🔥 🔥 🔥🔥🔥🔥 ✡--------
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