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Posted on August 14, 2003 By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman | Series: | Level:

Now, that Divine component of our being has its own rules and regulations, as does everything else. And they’re colored by the fact that the Divine component is connected to our body and our soul’s animalistic component.

(Interestingly enough, we’re often surprised to hear that utterly non-material phenomena like our souls, angels, etc. have properties, and follow criteria and rules. But they do. After all, being non-material doesn’t imply chaos and unpredictability, but rather invisible but G-d-driven order and rules. Let this clear up any wild and phantasmic ideas you may have of the life of the spirit.)

One of the rules our Divine component is bound by — because of its connection to the body and such — is that its natural connection to other transcendent entities is limited. Another is that it’s affected by our actions, and is thus open to connections to the forces of corruption (which, of course, affects its ultimate state of being).

But the relationship is two-sided, to be sure, in that the Divine component also affects the lower parts of our being. One of the ways it does that is by guiding us through our minds. And this is where the communication with the Heavens we’d mentioned before begins to come into the picture after all.

Because — depending on our readiness for them, and the spiritual direction we’re heading in — our soul’s Divine component projects various images on to our minds and encourages certain thoughts and wishes.

This series is dedicated to the memory of Yitzchak Hehrsh ben Daniel, and Sarah Rivka bas Yaakov Dovid.

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