Letter & Spirit: What is the purpose of life?
In this week’s edition of Letter & Spirit, we present a letter from the Rebbe In it he uses the scientific method to give an in depth analysis to the question: What is the purpose of life? The meaning of a Jew? as he explains the concept of a Higher Authority responsible for an orderly universe in its minutest detail. the entire system is beyond our comprehension. The letter was written through the Rebbe’s trusted secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and was made available by the latter’s son-in-law, Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro.
This weekly feature is made possible by a collaboration between CrownHeights.info and Nissan Mindel Publications. Once a week we publish a unique letter of the Rebbe that was written originally in the English language, as dictated by the Rebbe to Rabbi Mindel.
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By the Grace of G-d
5737
Mr.
Teheran, Iran
Greeting and Blessing:
…You write that you are at a loss to find answers to such questions as What is the purpose of life? What is the meaning of a Jew? etc., and that doubts and confusions are sorely afflicting you
Since you write that you have attended college and have studied science, you are probably aware of what the approach should be to an intricate problem. If we have to verify a certain system, as to the laws and principles prevailing in it, we begin by verifying the parts of it that lend themselves more easily to analysis and verification. When we have, step by step, verified the greater part of the system, we can then safely assume that if the greater part of it has been found to conform to certain specific laws, the rest of it is also ruled by the same laws.
Applying this approach to the universe as a whole, we are increasingly convinced, year after year, of the law and order that rules in nature, including inert matter, to the minutest atom and even smaller particles. Nuclear science has discovered undreamed of harmony and order in the some one hundred elements known to this day. In a universe of such orderliness and harmony, obviously man too must be subject to order and purpose.
Going one step further, the conclusion is inevitable that since there is such law and order in the universe, there must be a Higher authority responsible for it. The analogy is well known: when we get hold of a printed book, of hundreds of pages, containing a connected story, or philosophy, we cannot by any stretch of the imagination assume that a bottle of ink has been spilled and has accidentally produced the book. Still less, and infinitely so, is it admissible that our universe, with is infinite number of atoms, molecules and particles, all arrange in perfect order and harmony, could have come into existence by accident. Obviously, there is a Creator and an Architect, Who arranges and relates all the various parts of the universe in perfect unity and harmony, in conformity to the set of laws which He creates and supervises. It is plain that the whole system is beyond our comprehension, since our comprehension, as our existence as a whole, is but an infinitely minute part of the entire cosmic order, and certainly in no degree comparable to the Creator Himself. It is, clearly, absurd to expect to comprehend the Creator, and even more nonsensical to deny His existence by reason of our inability to comprehend Him. Can “one” contain and infinite number of “ones”? And here at least there is some relationship, for both the one and the infinite number of ones are the same objects – numbers, while there is no such community between the created and the Creator.
Carrying the analogy from science a step further: In physics, chemistry, etc., when a law is deduced from a number of experiments and verified by different people, under varying conditions of pressure, temperature, humidity, etc., thus eliminating the possibility of error, side effects, etc., such a law is accepted and becomes valid also for the future.
This scientific “rule” holds good also with regard to events and phenomena in the past. Where a certain event or phenomenon is attested to by many historians and reported in an identical manner, there is no “scientific” doubt that this is how the event actually took place.
Such an historic event was the Revelation at Mount Sinai, which has been reported in an identical way by millions of people, men, women and children, people from all walks of life and backgrounds who had witnessed it themselves, and then faithfully reported to their children, generation after generation, without interruption to this day. At no time, even during the worst pogroms and massacres of Jews, were there less than millions of Jews faithfully maintaining this tradition, it is well known that at no time in Jewish history was there a break in the chain of Jewish tradition from Sinai down to the resent day. This makes this event the most authenticated of all historical events in human history!
This means that the Torah we have and cherish is G-d given, and it contains not only our way of life but also the way to our existence for all times, since it is eternal, as is its Giver. It is not a book of theory, philosophy and speculation, but a practical guide for our daily life, valid in all places and at all times, including 20th century America.
Here, in the Torah, the Written and the Oral Law, the purpose of man’s life on this earth is clearly indicated. To put it in a nut shell: It is to live in accordance with the Torah, by fulfilling its positive commandments (mitzvos assey) and abstaining for its prohibitions (mitzvos lo-taaseh).
The Torah has also made provisions for man’s frail nature, and the temptations and trials which he, as a creature of flesh and blood, faces in life. It is difficult, almost impossible, for man never to fail and the Torah has indicated that should this happen, there is no need to be discouraged, there is always teshuvah – return to G-d and the right path, and the very failure can be made a spring-board for a leap forward and further advance.
It may be asked: If all above is so plain and logical, how is one to explain the comparatively small number of those who conform to the Torah and mitzvos, while transgressors are so numerous?
The answer to this question is also simple enough, “I see it from my own flesh:” (Iyov 19:26) When one reflects upon his conduct and deeds, particularly in his everyday life, (not during periods of special spiritual elation, such as during the days of Yom Tov, etc.) – it is not hard to see that a very great number of one’s actions are motivated by one’s desires and inclinations, not by one’s intellect. This is particularly true where the conflict does not raise the immediate threat of “reprisals.” The farther removed is the threat of sanctions, the weaker becomes the intellectual motive, and the more strongly is the conduct influenced by desire and emotions; even more so when the sanctions are of an “abstract” nature. For the fear of physical sanctions (imprisonment or fine, etc) is more effective than admonition or argumentation in the name of morality, justice, humanity etc.
There enters also an additional factor of human nature. When man succumbs to temptation and commits a sin, he may experience one of two kinds of reaction: if he is honest and courageous, he will recognize his act for what it is, a failure, as well as a breach of his own true will and conscience. Recognizing his failure as a sign of weakness, he will seek to overcome it and to do better next time, and “G-d has compassion with and forgives him who concedes his mistake and resolves to correct it.”
One, however, who is afraid to face the truth and its consequences in the case of failure, begins to find excuses for himself and to justify his negative action. Moreover, as “one transgression brings another in its train,” the guilt complex and need for self-justification will become ever more persistent and pressing, both in order to pacify his own troubling conscience, as well as to square himself in the eyes of others. “Love covers up all offenses,” particularly self-love, and “bribery blinds the eyes of (even) the wise,” especially the self-bribery that goes with vanity. He will thus become biased in his own favor and in his befuddled thinking will “devise” a “personal philosophy,” or even a “Weltanschauung,” to fit his conduct, which will not only “justify” it, but even turn vice into virtue.
Needless to say it is difficult to enlarge upon these aspects in a letter. I trust, however, that the points mentioned will serve as starting points for you to reflect upon and realize that the world is not confusion and that everything and everybody has his place and purpose. If you can consider yourself objectively, freed from preconceptions, environmental influences and the like, you will discover your own place and purpose in life, in the light of what has been said above.
With blessing,
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The above letter is from a forthcoming volume of The Letter and the Spirit Series, two volumes of which have been published to date, with volume three coming out shortly, IYH. The letters are from the archives of Rabbi Dr. Nissan Mindel, a personal secretary to the Previous Rebbe and The Rebbe, whose responsibilities included the Rebbe’s correspondence in English.
We thank Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro, director of Nissan Mindel Publications and the one entrusted by Rabbi Mindel, his father-in-law, with his archives, for making these letters available to the wider public. May the merit of the many stand him in good stead.
