{"id":12,"date":"2012-06-25T08:11:35","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T08:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/kabbalahcounseling\/?p=12"},"modified":"2012-06-27T19:20:36","modified_gmt":"2012-06-27T19:20:36","slug":"god-in-under-4-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/kabbalahcounseling\/2012\/06\/god-in-under-4-minutes.html","title":{"rendered":"GOD &#8212; in under 4 minutes!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"GOD - in under 4 minutes!!\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RYz9HHoSHgw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>I think the discussion on Judaism, Jewish philosophy, Jewish spirituality, and Kabbalah, begins when we take a walk outside.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine you are walking down the block with Average Joe, and the two of you see a table standing there in the middle of the street. If you were to ask Average Joe, \u201cWhere did this table come from?\u201d there are numerous possible answers Joe might have for you: a tree, a factory, IKEA, China, etc. All sorts of possibilities.<\/p>\n<p>However, what Average Joe is not going to answer you is that the table just popped out of nowhere. He is not going to say this because the table is something that is finite \u2013 within the bounds of time and space.<\/p>\n<p>There are two things we can know about anything that\u2019s finite:<\/p>\n<p>#1 \u2013 From nothing, nothing comes.<\/p>\n<p>And #2 \u2013 Nothing finite can create itself.<\/p>\n<p>That is to say, the table couldn\u2019t have popped out of nowhere, and the table couldn\u2019t have brought itself into existence.<\/p>\n<p>As another example of something that is finite, take your own existence.<\/p>\n<p>Are you finite? Are you within time and space? Certainly \u2013 whatever we perceive of you is within the finite bounds.<\/p>\n<p>That means that, similar to the table, we can know two things about you straight off the bat:<\/p>\n<p>#1 \u2013 You couldn\u2019t have popped out of nowhere.<\/p>\n<p>And #2 \u2013 You couldn\u2019t have brought yourself into existence.<\/p>\n<p>This means that it is not a matter of faith or belief, but we can <em>know<\/em> that you have or had parents. Or, you were created by scientists in a lab or you are a test tube baby, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s assume for now that you have parents.<\/p>\n<p>Now, are your parents also finite beings? Of course. So, again, it is not a matter of faith or belief, but we can know that you have or had grandparents.<\/p>\n<p>And with the grandparents it\u2019s the same story \u2013 \u201cfrom nothing nothing comes\u201d and \u201cnothing finite can create itself,\u201d therefore I know that you have or had great-grandparents.<\/p>\n<p>Suppose we take this all the way back to the first person \u2013 or if you want to throw in evolution for now, the first ape-like being, the first monkey, the first amoeba, the first gas, the first cell, the first and smallest finite thing that is so tiny that we\u2019d need a super-powered microscope in order to see it \u2013 and we were to ask, \u201cWhere did this original finite entity come from?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since, within the finite, \u201cfrom nothing, nothing comes\u201d and \u201cnothing finite can create itself,\u201d it\u2019s not a matter of faith or belief, but we can know that there can be no other logical alternative other than the idea that there is something outside the laws of the finite; something outside the laws of time and space that created time, space, and that which is in it.<\/p>\n<p>And, in one word, we call this the \u201cInfinite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let us be clear that we are not saying anything more about the Infinite than what it\u2019s not \u2013 \u201cIn-finite,\u201d that which is \u201cnot finite\u201d \u2013 that which is beyond the limitations of time and space.<\/p>\n<p>In Judaism, this is what we are referring to when we say \u201cGod.\u201d<\/p>\n<h1>Infinite Ramifications<\/h1>\n<p>Now, the question that is bigger than the God-question is: Who really cares? So there\u2019s an Infinite Being \u2013 so what? What difference does this make to me?<\/p>\n<p>And, given that there is this Infinite Being, what did He\/She\/It put me here for? After all, what can I possibly do for an Infinite Being?<\/p>\n<p>Of course, we must begin by coming to terms with the fact that there is <em>nothing<\/em> that I can do for an Infinite Being. There is nothing I can do that will make a change in God\u2019s essence. After all, if I am a good person or if I pray to God, is God now Infinite plus one?<\/p>\n<p>Obviously that does not work.<\/p>\n<p>So, the next question that arises is: If there is nothing that <em>God<\/em> gets out of my existence, what can <em>I<\/em> get out of my existence?<\/p>\n<p>This leads us to search out what it is that people are searching for&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Tune in next week as we\u00a0uncover the inner motivations of humanity to act, and the place that this takes us.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Rabbi Eliyahu Yaakov <\/strong><\/em><em>is a sought after international speaker on Kabbalah, relationships, parenting, and life. His recently released #1 Amazon Best Seller,<\/em><em>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amazon.com\/dp\/0987995405\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Jewish By Choice: A Kabbalistic Take on Life &amp; Judaism<\/em><\/a>,<\/em><em> has won wide acclaim as one of the clearest, most comprehensive, easily accessible, and practical\u00a0depictions of Kabbalah and the &#8220;whys&#8221; of Judaism.<\/em><em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I think the discussion on Judaism, Jewish philosophy, Jewish spirituality, and Kabbalah, begins when we take a walk outside. Imagine you are walking down the block with Average Joe, and the two of you see a table standing there in the middle of the street. If you were to ask Average Joe, \u201cWhere did this&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":506,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GOD - in under 4 minutes!! - Kabbalah Counseling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/kabbalahcounseling\/2012\/06\/god-in-under-4-minutes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GOD - in under 4 minutes!! - Kabbalah Counseling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I think the discussion on Judaism, Jewish philosophy, Jewish spirituality, and Kabbalah, begins when we take a walk outside. 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