Can Jack, Elon and the Bird App Help Us Understand The Divine Secret of Creation?
Tech Tribe Dispatch #150
💡 Think:
It seems this week, Twitter has been abuzz about… Twitter. Elon Musk’s purchase of the microblogging service (remember that term? 😂) has dominated the discourse on the app itself and in the news in general.
I’m not going to proffer any conjecture on what the purchase spells for the future of the service - outside of my hope that the app, which has been such a valuable tool for building the Tech Tribe community, continues to flourish, and that our many friends and Tech Tribe community members who work there have continued success at Twitter, or wherever they choose go.
Elon’s motivations remain somewhat opaque - with the discourse ranging from a call for free expression, an act of vanity to be renowned, or perhaps simply just… because.
One of them, however, stood out:
I do not know if whatever Elon does will extend the Light of Consciousness in the world, at least not without Elon and Jack taking up my offer to study Chasidic discourses.
But I do firmly believe that the purpose of technology at its core is a powerful portent to revealing the divine light of consciousness in this world…
We can look at human actions as the soul’s reflection (sometimes accurately, sometimes distorted by the dross corporality of the body) of the Divine desires for this world.
The Baal Shem Tov, for example, describes our desire for for sustenance as not just a need for food, but an expression of the souls desire to connect and uplift the vivifying sparks within the food.
As such, leaving behind the earthly reasons of the man, which are what they are, perhaps we can unpack some of the supposed reasons for the purchase of everyone’s the social network, as a jumping off point to discuss some of the reasons offered by the Sages and Chasidic masters as to why G-d created the world. T
his analysis, rendered here with the utmost apologies to the actual source material, is discussed in the opening of the the 61 discourse 1905 magnum opus of Rabbi Sholom Dovber of Lubavitch, known by the Hebrew name of the year — 5666.
To Make His Name Known: The Zohar explains that creation was so that His name be known, that a revelation of His essence could be felt and received by creation. Only through creation, through a world where He is not yet felt, could G-dliness be received and united with. To be known.
For Ultimate Freedom of Expression: Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as the Arizal, and his students ponder the infinite revelation of an infinite Creator. G-d is not bound by the strictures of being revealed in any way, yet once G-d does reveal Himself, to say there was a place where that revelation does not take place would be to place a limit on His expression. Thus a place for Creation as a means to ultimate divine expression.
Because He Wanted To: While there is truth in both the Zohar and Ari’s explanations, there is ultimately a limitation to their utility to explain Creation. After all, they remain relegated to the G-dly expression in Creation, but not the ultimate ‘why’ behind it . . . and could not these needs, to have G-dly revelation known and done so without limit, be enough if it took place in some Heavenly sphere? Why create a world of chaos and concealment, of trolls and turbidity, to be found in?
The Midrash teaches that ‘G-d, blessed be He, desired a dwelling place in this lowly world.’ G-d wants to be revealed, wants to have a home where His Essence, where he is beyond revelation, could be felt. It’s a desire, a transcendent expression of self, that — as the saying goes — one can’t truly ask any questions on a desire.
As such, now that we are here, G-d desires to be intimately expressed in our lives. So that our actions can reveal the Divine, imbuing the physical with the transcendent. So that even our Tweets, can be used to express G-dliness.
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🕯️ Remember:
We remember Terry (Tevya Liron) in honor of his on yahrzeit on 2 Iyar. May his memory be a blessing.
📚 Read:
📲 Autocorrect Explained: Why Your iPhone Adds Annoying Typos While Fixing Others Tpying truble? During the iPhone’s first 15 years, its keyboard software has evolved, but it still sometimes flubs your lines. Here’s how it works and what you can do about it.
🎻 Nostalgia for the Slaughterhouse A new documentary about the making of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ evokes wonder at our idealization of a past that wasn’t very nice.
🔥 Lit:
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