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decomposes back to its physical source, the earth (adamah). This highlights the existence of the life force (soul). Its presence (or lack of) is the only thing that changes between a dead and a living body.
The reason people aren't consciously aware of the presence of their soul is because God wants us to have a 'free choice'. If people were able to recognise their vainness and consciously see that their entire existence is only possible because of their godly life force, people would not be able to choose freely and would act similarly to robots, fulfilling their godly mission.
When the soul leaves the body's limitations, it returns to its source. The purpose of the soul's journey is to enable the soul to reach an even higher spiritual level after each mission.
At the source, the soul and its past life (thoughts, speech and actions) are viewed and scrutinised. A good soul leads to a higher spiritual level, one of the infinite number of levels within Paradise. Reaching higher levels requires increasing levels of purity. A tainted soul needs to be purified and cleansed so it is able to enter the spiritual realms of paradise and receive and absorb new revelations. Jews believe that it is worth 70 years of suffering in this physical just to experience one moment of Paradise. Hell is the cleansing place for souls that allows them to enter the lofty spiritual levels of Paradise. However, sometimes a person's actions are too evil and corrupted that they obstruct the soul from entering the lofty levels of Paradise, instead condemning it to the pit of destruction.
3. What is your definition of faith?
We are used to thinking of faith as a strategy for people who can't think for themselves. King Solomon wrote, “The fool believes everything, the wise man understands”. True faith, however, is an innate conviction, a perception of truth that transcends, rather than evades, reason. It might sound contradictory, but wisdom, understanding and knowledge can enhance true faith.
Nevertheless, faith is not based on reason. Reason can never attain the certainty of faith. Faith is more than just understanding something. Faith is more like seeing something for yourself. When you accept something based on logic and reasoning, your acceptance can be proven wrong by better logic and reasoning. However, when you see something for yourself, it is more difficult to be convinced that you didn't see it.
Faith leads you to accept and follow God's commandments, even when they defy logic you understand.
Individuals must constantly work on expanding their level of understanding and faith. Yesterday's
beliefs can become today's logic and today's belief can become tomorrow's understanding. Because understanding infinity is beyond our limited capabilities, we can only try to grasp the concept that for every level of understanding and belief, there is another level to follow. It is an infinite game. King Solomon said, “I used to think I'd be able to understand and fully grasp God's infinite commandments but I'm as far now as I was when I started”.
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