Heaven, Earth, and Humanity

There is a person who wants to live on a high plane. He thinks, learns, prays, creates, seeks depth, touches great ideas, and then he discovers that his simple life does not always keep pace. The body is tired, the natural powers weaken, drives and desires awaken, the practical routines are pushed aside – in an ordinary world this dissonance leads to a crash. Rav Kook is not alarmed by this. One who seeks a life of depth must know that there will be tensions between spirit and body – this is an essential part of the world the Holy One created. Therefore one must set aside 'expansive times.' There is narrow time and there is expansive time. Narrow time is the time in which we run, react, move from task to task, and even when the body stops, the soul still keeps running. Expansive time is time in which practical life is given room: the body, the home, society, the simple routines, freedom. Breath. Only thus will those great lights received above illuminate for him the path below. We are human beings – there may be a fraction of a percent of people whose entire lives are only 'above'; we are human beings and we need to live a life that has heaven in it, but also earth!