Can we really bring G-d into our individual lives?
The idea sounds so wonderful, but is it for real?
G-d is Infinite, un-graspable, and totally beyond our ken. So how can a small human embrace the Infinite, and how does one bring Infinite Energy into a finite life without ‘blowing the system’?
Not surprisingly, that’s an old question.
Centuries apart, Moses and Solomon were puzzled by the same thing.
When the Jews were in the desert, G-d commanded Moses to create a Tabernacle, a portable sanctuary. G-d said of this Tabernacle - which was quite finite and had very specific design and measurements - "make for Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell [there, among the people]".
Moshe wondered how a limited space could possibly be a ‘dwelling place’ for the Infinite.
Hundreds of years later, after the Jews had settled in Israel, G-d told King Solomon to transform this Tabernacle into the Holy Temple (the Beit Hamikdash) in Jerusalem.
Solomon asked "Would G-d truly dwell on earth? The heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain You, and surely not this Temple which I have built!"
Yet, even as the question is asked, Moses, Solomon, you and I both know that we can bring the Infinite into our lives. At this moment.
What does Infinite mean?
A theological Infinite (as distinct from a mathematical one) means a Force that is truly without limits or bounds, at any dimension or level. This itself means that the Force must be able to manifest within the Finite, or else we’ve just located its limitation (its inability to be present within the finite).
In easier language: G-d being Infinite means that G-d is present wherever G-d wants to be present. There are no limitations.
Whether it’s in:
the Tabernacle
the Holy Temple
your life
the Infinite can/will be present.
A Chassidic Master was once asked “Where can I find G-d?” He answered: “Wherever you let Him in.
When we set aside our self-serving instinctive impulses to consider what G-d wants from us at this moment, and surrender to that destiny, we become a Sanctuary for the Divine.
Do we feel the Infinite? No; that would ‘blow the system’.
At the same time, it feels right. It feels connected. Because there’s nothing more right and connected than bringing the Divine into your life.