Only Rabbi Akiva came out of paradise in peace… But why not just enter paradise and stay there? Why must we leave? The Zohar says if you know only to enter but not to leave better not to enter.
God created us down here on earth for a good reason. We have a mission to perform. Our mission is to make this lowest realm of existence a "dwelling place" for God.
God wants to reveal Himself to us as He really is! He can't do it in the higher spiritual worlds. In paradise He can reveal some of His light but not His very essence.
To be yourself, your true self, without inhibition, you have to be in that place that you really like to be, the place that you most connect to. For God that is the physical world below, not the spiritual worlds above.
God wants to be where He was initially most concealed. He wants to reveal His true Self from within a context of total spiritual darkness. For some mysterious reason that we cannot fathom He most identifies with darkness (before creation He was in a state of absolute darkness), and that's where He wants to be – not swallowed up in the darkness but revealed in the darkness!
Our ascent to paradise is in order to bring down to earth a bit of paradise-consciousness – inspired awareness of God and His will – each time we enter and leave in peace. We need that bit of light to illuminate our purpose in life, our Divine mission on earth. That bit of paradise-consciousness is intended to teach us not to long for paradise but to long for God, for the revelation of His essence.
God doesn't want us to remain in paradise, He doesn't need us there, He needs us down here.
1 comment
Taking a piece of para-dise with us may be a para-chute but it is a para-dox! How do we live with a piece of Paradise in peace and parity, for Heaven's sake?!