I've written about nanotech and tikkun olam and modern nano golems, today's midrashic lesson from Howard Lovy's Institute for Underfinanced NanoKabbalistic Studies comes from Rabbi Yehuda Berg, (yes, Madonna's personal guide to Jewish mysticism).
I'm not sure if my 17th century ancestor, Rabbi Jehudah Loew, creator of the Golem of Prague, would have understood the Material Girl's message, but I do know old great-grandpa did much to spread a complex spiritual/scientific system to the masses.
Rabbi Berg writes:
- This week you can open the box and step out. Practically, this means the passion grows, the money flows, the moments of enlightenment never stop. According to Kabbalah, this is the state of nanotechnology.
... The genius of nanotechnology is the reduction of space. Smaller is infinitely more powerful. Consider the first transatlantic telephone cable. This bulky line carried approximately 32 phone calls. You might assume that to add more callers, one must simply enlarge the cable. That was the old way of thinking. Today, scientists recognize that less matter and less space, not more, equals more raw power. A micro-thin fiber optic cable can now carry 320,000 phone calls on a simple thread of light.
It seems that scientists on the cutting edge of nanotechnology are reaching the same conclusions about space as did the kabbalists thousands of years ago.
For 4,000 years, kabbalists have been explaining that achieving immortality is the removal of space. Space, as defined by the kabbalists, is the opening for negativity to enter your life. Eliminate the space, and the world of limitations becomes limitless.
Now, whereas technologists have created microscopic tools to affect changes in the physical world, Kabbalah’s singular tool is non-physical. This tool is consciousness.
... My father and teacher Kabbalist Rav Berg explains that an open heart is when you see another person possessing something you don't have and you are totally excited and happy for them…even though you don't seem to have what they have.
Example: A guy you know is getting married. He found the perfect wife, and on top of it, he has the perfect job, body, house - the whole nine yards. And there you are, alone, stuck in a dead-end job, out of shape, out of luck – you get the picture. How can you not be jealous of this guy?
The Rav teaches us that there is no space between you and this guy. It is simply a rule of the universe – we are all connected. However, the moment you identify with the illusion that you are separate from him (and by doing so focus on your lack), is the moment you create space for negativity to enter your life. With this type of thinking, you are no closer to finding your soul mate and all the things your soul desires. This is not nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is knowing that if this guy is able to manifest these blessings, you can too. It is using the tools of Kabbalah, i.e. certainty and restriction, to disconnect from the feeling of lack (space) and to plug into the confidence that your fulfillment will come too - as long as you work for it. This is true nanotechnology.
It is especially important that you don’t allow any space to enter your life this week, for this week you are playing for immortal stakes. And by using the nanotechnology of Kabbalah – your consciousness – you will win this game and claim your prize.
Update: Is it Shavuot again already? RU Sirius and David Pescovitz celebrate with a discussion on technological counterculture as catalyst for human evolution. Man, sometimes, all things considered, I'd rather be in San Francisco. Palo Alto will do.
Another Update: Says Nick Gray: "I didn't have any idea what Kabbalah was until I read this blog post comparing it to nanotech."
And Sleepy-Head wakes up long enough to write: "Interesting entry about nanotechnology and kabbalah. Interesting only because of what it says about the kabbalah, as I’m not sure the person understands nanotechnology at all. I don’t think the benefit of nanotechnology has as much to do with size as it does density. It’s not that the phone line works because it is small, it works because the pieces are better, and more dense."
Related Posts
Nanotech and Tikkun
The Golems of our Era
No comments:
Post a Comment