Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Mind of G-d: The Unification of Torah and Science, Part One

The Mind of G-d is the Music of the Spheres (Sefirot) Resonating in 10 Dimensional Hyperspace -
Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist on String Theory

We are at a tense time in world events.  North Korea is asking foreigners to leave their country and the capital of the country to their south by Wednesday or Thursday (which would be Rosh Chodesh Iyar).  As a relief from the tension, I thought that we should discuss the Theory of Everything, the 4 primary forces of nature, and the equations that unite them, in order to relieve the tension.  Science after thousands of years of trying and over 400 years of the scientific method as devised by Frances Bacon has finally caught up with the Torah.  As Stephen Hawking said in his book in its final paragraph, A Brief History of Time:

However, if we do discover a complete theory (of the 4 forces of nature), it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists.  Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist.  If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason --for then we would know the mind of G-d.

Now, I must emphasize that theoretical physics will never find the answer to Why.  It can only describe what and how.  The why must be left to those who contemplate what G-d wants from us either by

1. studying the laws of nature and then logically deriving what G-d desires of us.  Most Noachide Law is derivable by studying Nature and understanding Nature's G-d above it all.  If this were not the case, then human beings could not be held accountable to G-d's Laws of common decency.  Imagine an Algonquin Indian in the 11th Century sitting on a hilltop in upstate New York contemplating the universe.  He is far removed from any Divine Revelation of any sort  All he has is the study of nature and the hierarchy within nature (1. human beings , 2. animal life, 3. plant life, and 4. the inanimate world).  He then concludes that an Infinite Being created this hierarchy.  And after some study he can derive most of G-d's Laws of common decency.  The exception to this are some of the finer points of the laws against incest, specifically defining what incest is for Son of Noach (that is what is included as incest for a Noachide).  Yet, the laws against homosexuality, bestiality, and adultery can be derived in the above manner by studying nature and logically deriving what Nature's G-d would command.  The other Noachide Laws against murder, theft, idolatry, blasphemy, tearing the limb off a live animal, and having the moral outrage to set up a system of justice to hold others accountable for the previous 6 laws can be derived by studying Nature and logically deriving what Nature's G-d would demand.  I have discussed this point before.  So I will not dwell on it again.

2. The Holy Torah:  For those of us who heard G-d's voice at Sinai, we have another way to know why G-d created us.  It is in the Holy Torah.  The Torah itself transcends the physical world, and most of its diverse laws cannot be derived simply by studying nature.  We may for instance know that one of the reasons why we can't eat animals that do not chew their cud is so that we do not ingest a carnivorous instinct, but simply by knowing that we might ingest such an instinct does not prove that we should not consume animals that eat other animals.  Plus, why would the Torah then add that these herbivores must have a completely split hoof??  Is it not enough that we only eat animals that can only digest cellulose (the cell walls of species in the Plant World) by chewing their cud?  No, it is not enough.  We also do not eat land mammals unless they also have a split hoof.  In addition, what is wrong with the carnivorous instinct when we need to defend ourselves in a violent way?  absolutely nothing.  Having a "blood instinct" can always be used in self-defense.  So the rhyme or reason for the laws of the Torah cannot be derived even from the legitimate reasons for why we keep its laws.  This is the nature of a Chok in the minds of Chaza"l (Sages of the Ages).  There are reasons for many of the laws, but the reasons themselves do not "prove" that we must keep those laws.  We need the Lawgiver to know if it is what He desires.  So we had our closest encounter with G-d at Har Sinai 3325 years ago and the 40 years that followed in the desert.

It is brought down in Qabbalah that there are four universes.  Three of them were created (Asiyah= Universe of deeds, Yetzirah=  Universe of Formation,  Beri'ah= Universe of Ex Nihilo Creation), and one was not created Atzilut= The Divine Throne Room where HaShem dwells with His Ten Sephirot   The Name Elokim refers to these ten Sephirot (1. Keter, 2. Chochmah, 3. Binah, 4. Chesed (or Gedulah), 5. Din (or Gevurah), 6. Tiffereth (best translated as charisma),  7. Netzach (eternity or victory), 8. Hod (glory), 9. Yesod (foundation), 10. Malkhut (kingship)).  Without getting into the specifics of each sephirah, what must be noted is that the Name of G-d, Elokim, refers to these ten Sephirot (Spheres).  The Name HaShem (Y-H-W-H) is His very essence of Eternity and Timelessness.  That Name often called The Name includes all three tenses of the verb "to be" in Hebrew in one condensed Name indicating that G-d exists in both the past, present, and future all at the same time.  So the Name HaShem Elokim tells us that HaShem, the Infinite, Eternal, and Timeless Creator of the universe has a Divine Garment or Throne that can be only be understood as 10 emanations of His Infinite essence.  Perhaps I am falling short of how the Ramban or the Ba'al Tanya would have explained this, but the point must be made that this universe called Atzilut transcends the created worlds which only came into existence out of nothing when time, space, and matter came into being over 15 billion of our years ago.  If these 15 billion years are condensed into days as G-d would see them from His reference frame that fills the entire created universe with His Glory, then those 15 billion years using Einstein's General Theory of Relativity are six 24 hour days.   This has been explained before on this blog here and here.  Study those two posts first if you want a basic foundation.  What must be understood is that, the three created universes (Beri'ah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah) exist from the moment that time, space, and matter came into being.  Before time equals zero, there was only the timelessness of Atzilut.  This timelessness (hyperspace) cannot be tested in any laboratory since it transcends the test tube of the created universe, but make no mistake:  It does exist in ten dimensions or sephirot.  And modern science has finally found it through mathematically trying to unify the four fundamental forces of nature.  The Theory of unification of the four fundamental forces of nature is String Theory, and can begin to be understood through the following three lectures on the subject (HT: A.K. for sending me links to these lectures months ago):

String Theory:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

There are other lectures after part 3, but they are not needed to understand this post.  By all means, listen to the rest of the lectures in this wonderful series introducing the layman to String Theory.

This post is only part One.  What I will discuss in part 2 is, in part, the following:

The four fundamental forces of nature emanate from each one of the four universes that exist in accordance to Qabbalah.  The force of Electro-magnetism emanates from the Universe of Asiyah.  This is the universe of the world that we experience day by day when we wake up in the morning. This is the universe of our five senses where we experience the Chemistry or the electro-magnetism of this world.

The force called the Weak Force which is responsible for radioactive decay of nuclei by beta (electron or positron) emission from the nucleus emanates from the Universe of Yetzirah.  In this universe our animal souls exist within us as the fundamental source of our evil inclinations and also the source of our drives and our energy which can be used for the positive building of the world in which we live.  Our animal souls are only comprised of 7 of the ten spheres because these animal souls exist within nature.  Nature is made up of 7 half-dimensions, (x, -x, y, -y, z, -z, and time which only moves forward).  In the language of the Sephirot, the 7 dimensions are all of the above except Keter, Chochmah, and Binah.  So this nefesh behamit or animal soul includes (chessed, gevurah, tiffereth, netzach, hod, yesod, and malkhut).  It pointedly does not include the higher cerebral spheres of Keter (crown), Chochmah (wisdom), and Binah (understanding).  For an explanation on how Da'at sometimes replaces Keter in the list of the ten sephirot, please consult the Ba'al Tanya.  The focal point of the animal soul is often described as our feelings which emanate from our hearts but is manifest through our brain stems and the more animal parts of our brains.

The Strong Force which binds the nuclei of atoms together with all of their protons and neutrons tightly packed into nuclei of atoms emanates from the Universe of Beri'ah.  This is the universe where angels and neshamot (transcendent human souls) dwell.  Because the neshamah is in the image of Elokim, it too has ten dimensions.  Yet, a ten dimensional soul is not naturally part of this world of Nature as the 7 dimensional animal soul is.  It therefore must be noded to the body in two places in order to prevent it from "leaving this world" during our waking hours.  While we are awake it is noded to both our hearts and our brains at both ends.  When we sleep, the brain releases the upper parts of this soul to the World of Beri'ah while the lower part of the neshamah is still noded to the heart.  When we pass on, the entire neshamah leaves this world of Asiyah to be judged.  Again more will follow in a later post.

And finally the Force of Gravity which binds all the matter in the created universe over the huge distances of the entire created universe of time, space, and matter emanates from the universe that existed before time, space, and matter came into existence, Atzilut.  For now, read this post, and watch the first three parts on String Theory above on Youtube....  Prepare yourselves for a all-encompassing understanding on how science has finally, finally caught up with the Eternal Torah that we received at Sinai 3325 years ago from the Infinite Creator of the Universe.

A full post on how the various four fundamental forces of nature emanate from the Four Universes will follow later.

18 Comments:

Anonymous Alex said...

Awesome post. I just wanted to comment because I am reading a book called The Anatomy of the Soul. In the book it talks about all of this. In chapter 3 and 4 of the book talks about the four elements (fire wind water and earth) and what they represent. There also is a fifth element which is a Tzaddik. He has the power to unite all the four elements.
I wonder if Luc Besson knew of this when he wrote the movie The Fifth Element.

4/10/2013 3:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting interview with Lisa Randall regarding String Theory:

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/jul/interview-randall#.UWTa9PKTeJk

4/10/2013 6:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

FWIW a prevailing theory is that gravity is not so much a force as we percieve it but a topography of time flow. So a gravity well effect is similar to how a river slows and moves around a rock or log. Time, gravity, and the speed of light(C) are very tightly bound though light waves/photons are produced as a different force but their speed constant, doppler effect, and gravity are tied. The relative measurable with a stopwatch difference seen by an observer when light approaches a gravity field is NOT a change in C but simply a relativistic effect caused by the change in time/space topography not readily apparent when only considering 3D space.
I seem to remember this topographic effect vs quantum gravity theory being reinforced a few years ago when some experiments to prove the Planck time (tine as granular chunks rather than infinitely dividable) did not show the expected blurring effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_time
Gravity is still the most troublesome and hard to understand of the four forces for physicists.

4/10/2013 9:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Most Noachide Law is derivable by studying Nature and understanding Nature's G-d above it all."

......but the concept of Noachide itself is a Jewish rabbinic invention that has no basis whatsoever in the tanak.

Every tribe/people have their mythology developed over years of history. What makes Jewish mythology tragic is it is based on the tanak -the word of the one true God !!

4/10/2013 10:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To the above Anonymous: There is no mythology in Judaism! What our holy sages of old taught all comes from the Torah. Mostly, non-Jews cannot comprehend that the Torah is both the Written and Oral laws both given at Sinai by G-D through His servant, Moses. The Oral Laws are the interepretations of the Written Laws which were transmitted from Moshe to Joshua, to the Elders and on through the generations, compiled in the Talmud, Mishnayos, etc. For example, the Written Torah speaks of putting on tefilin, tzizit,slaughter of animals, etc. but no where does it explain how to do this and only through the teachings of the Oral Law transmitted by G-D to Moses and then to Joshua, etc., do we learn the hows and whys. The Nach is (Neviim, Ksuvim) Prophets and Writings. Most likely, you are not Jewish and do not understand that Torah is complete with Written & Oral Laws given by G-D at Har Sinai and all our teachings derive therefrom and are all holy.

4/10/2013 5:56 PM  
Blogger LondonMale said...

I am not clear as to how Keter, Chochma and Binah (and Daat) fit into this theory beyond them existing in the Neshama and as emanations of G-D. If these three (four) Sephirot are not in the natural world, how come we talk of them so often, and are encourage to seek them? Is it that by studying Torah we bring down these Sephirot into the natural world, and in so doing transform it and ourselves for the better? Is this related to how we (Jews) do not use a constellation for astrology, but have our own Mazal (destiny/luck) which is supernatural? And how we have a different spiritual constitution from non-Jews. That somehow we connect more with the supernatural Sephirot than the natural ones?
At some point possibly scientists are going to find out that Jews represent part of this String Theory?

4/11/2013 3:33 AM  
Blogger Neshama said...

Here's a thought: Stephen Hawking: Humans Will Not Survive Another 1,000 Years ‘Without Escaping’ Earth.

"Moshiach" where are you? (in a loud crying out tone)

4/11/2013 9:18 AM  
Blogger Neshama said...

Or think about this: Ali Razeghi, a Tehran scientist has registered "The Aryayek Time Traveling Machine" with the state-run Centre for Strategic Inventions.

4/11/2013 9:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

maybe it's not a string, maybe it is the vibration of the string - the sound, or the voice of HASHEM ?

just a thought -- just thinking out loud

4/11/2013 1:00 PM  
Blogger vincent said...

Goodday Rabbi Dov,
G'd bless you, and your loved ones etc.etc.
This series I loved watching some time ago. Very understandable. The strings are the dimensions, are the sephiroth! And a whole lot more to enjoy!
http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/912082/jewish/Unified-Field-Theory.htm

4/11/2013 3:49 PM  
Blogger Dov Bar-Leib said...

Why am I not surprised? If it is not Dr. Gerald Schroeder talking about the "Theory of Everythig", it is Chabad. Of course, thank you Vincent.

Now get Rav Shteinman excited about the confluence between Torah and science, and we could have a real Kiddush HaShem. We would not need Shai Piron forcing a math and science curriculum on the Chareidi world. It would happen from within.

4/11/2013 4:21 PM  
Anonymous mkf said...

i know this is not to the topic of this interesting post, but regarding the earlier conversations.

it's so disgusting i don't even know how to comment.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/167016#.UWa3y7VTCHg

4/11/2013 4:21 PM  
Blogger Dov Bar-Leib said...

Yes, a Pulsa D'Nura on Bennett is disgusting. It is hard not to get depressed over something like that. We seem to continue to treat each other like garbage. No Chareidi draft proposal will be implemented for four years. We have four years to work out a compromise deal. The process of the coming of Mashiach, at least part one of it, will be in spite of all the intramural hatreds. In the end those promoting those hatreds will have no part in the process whatsoever. Doing a Pulsa D'Nura counts as supporting such hatred.

Vincent: The next link after this introductory link is not working for whatever reason.

4/11/2013 5:07 PM  
Blogger Neshama said...

They are rotting from the inside ... out. When will they stop using witchcraft! It's disgusting. It's turning people off to them.

"People living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones!"

4/11/2013 5:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would suspect that the letter is a lie. Anyone who understands the pulsa denura knows that when performed on a tzadik or even a non-rasha the curse reflects back and destroys the curser Billam style.
The best medicine in this situation is to learn a bit more and attend every bris possible.
At the bris milah Eliyahu ha navi has been commanded to attend each one forever after he said there were no more Jews following the Torah.
Eliyahu is either the gilgul or actually is Pinchus hacohen blessed with not having to die after receiving the bris shalom directly from Hashem from the episode of Cozbi and Zimri. He is a zealot and will not suffer the presence of a rasha, he would strike them down. Hashem therefore must mkaper everyone present even the non-observant as though they had just finished Yom Kippur. I have heard that the sandak holding the infant is like the cohen gadol offering the ketores.

4/11/2013 5:52 PM  
Blogger Dov Bar-Leib said...

Ok, I think that this is the next link on the Chabad page:

http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/912083/jewish/Dimensions-of-the-World-Space-Makom.htm

4/11/2013 6:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

An even more powerful segula against an ayn hara is to never speak lashaon hara. If a person is shomer hlashon mida kneged mida all mouths of kitrogim are also sealed in the beit din shel mala.

4/11/2013 9:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

496 = malchut , bereshite bara = keter malchut 1116 + 2 for the kollels = shemah yisrael '".Strings tzizit 32 fringes =lev , heart = first and last letters Torah lev . Pirke avot a good lev exceeds them all . As for the mathematics disscussed genius level .

4/12/2013 2:00 AM  

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