For Time Bomb

Derech Hashem /Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto / RamChal http://www.feldheim.com/


As I study Derech Hashem 1:5:8 this morning I thought of you. I am very cautious of what goes in my mind and what stays out, but I thought of you as I studied this morning.

Light is not just a free concept, like a butterfly ready to be caught indeterminately. I've been working on understanding a Tanya teaching of bittul and bottol. It has been a long walk that is a golden ring for me, but it eludes me.

My study this morning lead me slightly closer and it is seemingly so simplistic that a first grader could comprehend. But there is a deeper learning from this simple knowledge.

I learned many, many years ago that the Light (all goodness) is God and that absence of this Light, to whatever degree is evil. It sits firmly in my mind, but my heart understands it only superficially. I'm not asking for explanation from anyone, I will find it on the pathway. A short constructive discussion could be interesting, but my veto pen would be in hand because far flung, half baked, teachers outside of Torah study are very dangerous. I do read Hebrew and have learned many intricacies according to my level.

RamChal: The True cause of everything good, whether among the Forces or their effects, is the Light of God's Presence. The cause of all evil, on the other hand is the absence of this light.

MH: So the God is the cause of actual good, "both general and in particular." So evil is the absence of this "good." Like a shade tree blocks the sun's light. A boxed in room with no windows is all dark. It is not dark in itself, but is merely the absence of the sun. This is where my mind seizes in regard to bittul and bottol.

There is deep learning in this that I want to extract in this lifetime.

So, in essence, God is an indirect cause of evil, because He is not present in darkness. Very explanatory of the situation of the world we live in now.

RamChal: The purpose of the source of evil was to give rise to particular concepts, to the extent that the Highest Wisdom determined necessary so that both man and the world be in its desired state. Isaiah 45:7. [God] forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates evil.

MH: It is about a deficiency.

RamChal: The activity of these evil forces, both individually and as a whole, depends on the extent to which God's LIght is absent and His Presence concealed. The greater this absence of LIght, the more authority and power these Forces have to act, both in general and in particular.

MH: The more weakened good, the more powerful evil. Today we have weakened good to the extent that bad is seen as totally acceptible.

RamChal: When these evil Forces are subjugated and deprived of their authority and power to act, on the other hand, then the good becomes strengthened. The Roots of all created things are then rectified and are set in a agood state so that both they and their brances are strengthened.