Mystical Ideas

Mystical Ideas

Upright Man - no creature on earth has a body structure totally upright like man. Not only insects, fish, and land animals that walk on all fours, but even for birds who walk on two legs, their bodies are facing the ground and only their necks and head are lifted up*. The only creature ever found whose body structure is built to stand totally upright from foot to head is man. This comes to indicate and testify to man's lofty purpose, namely, as the Torah states - man was created to serve and minister unto G-d, his Maker and Creator; unlike the animals who were not created for this purpose. Therefore, their bodies bend toward the ground in subordination..(see Gesher HaChaim, Maharal, Avot 2:1) Likewise, the animals are always looking down to eat and eat. This is their life. But man is made to contemplate wisdom and grow spiritually. Therefore he walks upright like a watch tower to observe and contemplate the universe.

Man was also endowed with a beard to give him a majestic appearance, though this honor was also bestowed to the lion due to being the king of beasts (Meam Loez, Bereishis). (see Gesher HaChaim pt.3 ch.4 for 12 other differences between man and the animals)

(Penguins have legs in a crouching position, not upright. As can be seen from their skeletons. The fat covers their legs to protect them from the cold. Also, their body shape is built primarily for swimming like seals as evidenced by their slow and clumsy walking on land.)

Modern scientific inquiry has also revealed that our position and orientation in the Milky Way galaxy is highly significant. For it allows us to peer out into space and observe galaxies beyond ours. If we were positioned closer to the center, this would have been impossible and we would have thought our galaxy is the entire universe. Scientists would have continued to maintain it never had a beginning and our knowledge of it would be highly limited. By peering out further we are able to study it and learn about it and deduce many things such as that it indeed had a beginning.

The size of the universe is also just right for us to be able to study it. Due to the vast amount of stars and galaxies we are able to test many theories and rare phenomena by observance. The size of galaxies is also just right for us to see them at the other end of the universe and deduce many things about the early universe.
Eye of the Universe - Although man's body is but a minuscule speck of dust in this vast universe, but nevertheless, his mind is bigger than it. For he can peer out into the sky and observe it's far reaches and even inquire higher above to its Creator (R.Saadya Gaon). see here for more.
Universe Academy - the Midrash (Kohelet Rabba 7:13) states that the universe was created entirely for man's sake. When an expert craftsman wishes to build a masterpiece, he builds only one perfect device. But when he is trying to teach his disciple, he will build all sorts of different devices of various shapes and sizes in order to teach him. So too, the universe was created for teaching man. Everything in it contains a lesson or ethical teaching for man to draw, such as modesty by the cat (Eiruvin 100b, see there). On this concept, the "Perek Shira" was composed. For example, it says there: "The heavens say: 'the heavens recite the glory of G-d, and the skies tell of His handiwork' (Tehilim 19:2)". This means the heavens teach us on the glory, i.e. the infinite might of G-d. For He is the underlying Power moving these awesomely vast celestial objects (stars, galaxies, etc). This teaches on his infinite power so man will learn this aspect of his Maker. Another example there, "The Dogs are saying, 'Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before G-d our Maker'" For the dog, is always full of gratitude and submission towards its master. Thus man should draw a lesson regarding his Maker. (Sefer Ikarim 3:1). Likewise, the vast variety of creatures is for giving us many opportunities to tangibly recognize the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator (Shaarei Orah vol.1 shaar bechina). Dr.David Jeremiah (christian) said on this: "We are made to know G-d - to know about Him and to know Him personally"
Only Free Will is in Man's Hands - in the book L'Avdecha b'Emet by Rabbi Dov Yaffe pg.26: "Rabbi Aharon Kotler ztl would say: "there is a simple proof that man was created to serve G-d. For, our eyes can see that the only thing in man's hands (at all times) is the opportunity to serve G-d. If man were created for worldly matters, how is it conceivable that the means to attain the things he was created for are not in his control?"
Eerie Duality - there is an uncanny dual symmetry in the world. In the realm of particle physics, for example, all charged particles ever found have a corresponding anti-particle (ex. electron-positron, proton-antiproton, quarks, leptons, etc.) with all properties inverted. Even energy photons such as light consists of alternating electrical and magnetic fields which continuously invert each other. Likewise every "particle" itself (including light) exhibits a dual nature at the quantum level (particle/wave duality).
So too in animal life, we find virtually all creatures exhibit symmetry, most of which is mirror symmetry, namely, the creature can be divided into mirror image halves.

Another example is the Fibonacci sequence which is a series of numbers where each number (Fibonacci number) is the sum of the two preceding numbers. Its ubiquity and astounding functionality in nature suggests its importance as a fundamental characteristic of the Universe. This fact has intrigued mathematicians, artists, designers and scientists for centuries. It would take a whole book to present this properly. Do some research and see for yourself.

Other examples of duality are night and day, the moon and the sun (which amazingly appear to us the same size. even though the sun is 400x bigger, it is also 400x further away), male and female, body and soul, good and evil. Where does this duality come from? The Torah which is the blueprint of creation, starts with the second letter - Beit. The Midrash says G-d created the world with the Beit. This is its source. Amazingly, even the form of the Beit reflects duality. It consists of two parallel lines connected by a thin line.
According to the Vilna Gaon, the Beit contains the essence of creation. Namely, the top line represents heaven (the spiritual, the soul). While the bottom line represents earth (the physical, the body). The connecting line is man's purpose - to connect or bring down the spiritual into the physical. This he says is man's job in this world. (perhaps that tiny dot on the top left represents the singularity (Big Bang) from which the universe seems to have emerged). The duality of the Beit and the world also hints to the absolute Unity of G-d, for Unity always precedes plurality and as the Midrash writes that the top right protrusion of the Beit points backwards to the Aleph, the first letter which represent the One G-d.
Signature of G-d - as is known G-d's primary Name is the four-letter Tetragramaton (the Eternal. see Shaarei kedusha part 4 Gate 3 - "everything is included in it"): . Interestingly, the number four appears frequently in the fabric of nature.

For example, there are four dimensions of space-time (space=3+time=1. Though string theorists say there are perhaps more extremely tiny dimensions, but for all practical purposes from a human perspective there are four). Likewise, Four fundamental forces in physics (gravitational, electromagnetical, strong nuclear, weak nuclear), four states of matter (solid, liquid, gas, plasma, some say energy instead of plasma), four main particles (protons, neutrons, electrons, photons. again from a human perspective, these are the particles we interact with. ex. a table or computer has protons, neutrons, and electrons and we see it through photons).

Likewise, everything is governed by the four fundamental mathematical operations +-x/. All known living things share a common base-4 DNA genetic code, and many other biochemical structures. Likewise geologically the earth has four seasons and four directions of the compass.

Dr. Michael Denton points out in his book "Nature's Destiny" several examples of the number four appearing throughout molecular biology. In page 192 he writes: "we have also seen that because of the natural twist in the DNA double helix, protein recognition motifs such as the alpha helix can only feel about 4 bases in the DNA double helix. It has often been said that G-d is a mathematician; on the evidence of molecular biology we might add that He is keen on the number four" end quote.

Likewise, in Kabala, there are four levels of soul, four worlds, four kingdoms - inanimate, plant, animal, and human, four windows in the face (eyes, ears, nose, mouth - see Etz Chaim, shaar panim v'achor 1 (which says explicitly that all these things correspond to the letters in G-d's Name), and many other examples (see the book Shaarei Kedusha for details). Is this all a coincidence?
Existence of Evil - you'd think the more intelligent someone is, the more rational he is. But we can observe in our times how despite the vast, seemingly endless wisdom in cells and in the cosmos is being increasingly revealed, highly intelligent scientists continue to maintain with complete confidence that there is no intelligence behind nature. But is this really the sort of situation where a rational person should be confidently asserting that there was no intelligence involved? Is it not surprising when so many won't even allow for the obvious?! How can so many of these brilliant scientists assert with 100% confidence that there was no intelligence involved? Not to mention, that these scientists admit to their absolute failure to understand even the simplest known bacteria. Don't you think a little humility would be called for when you discover something so complex that you are unable to fully understand how it works despite intensely studying it for decades. On the contrary, the more you study it, the more you realize how much more there is to know? To quote Rabbi Pinchas Winston (Torah.org - Tazria 5763) - "The answer, of course, is Tuma (spiritual impurity). Tuma is like a veil over a person's mind's eye that blurs their perception of reality. They may view the world physically with 20-20 vision, but depending upon how deeply a person is immersed in Tuma, their intellectual take on the situation will be quite blurry and obscured."

Magen David Snowflakes - probably the most striking example of natural artistry in the inanimate world is in the formation of snowflakes. Each snowflake is a miracle of beauty, a masterpiece of design and no one design seem to ever be repeated. Even more amazing is that if you look carefully under a microscope, many snowflakes show a hexagon pattern which frequently has a Magen David or an outline of it discernable in the middle. Do an image search for "real snowflakes" (not just "snowflakes") and see for yourself. Is this just a coincidence or were the various physical constants rigged to produce this effect? see also this video at 33 min.

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