The Lesson
Stuart Fickler, Ph.d.
God is the Cosmic Teacher. From Babel, we learn that any effort to define God is futile. It led to the division of a united humanity into separate cultures with separate languages. This is the basis for conflict. The rebellions will now be among humans, not against God.
Included in that division are separate religions with separate perceptions of God. Thus, God challenged humankind to recognize the singular Cosmic God whose dominion established the principles and laws of all of God's Creation. The perception of God had to be transformed from the egocentric domain to the cosmocentric domain. Furthermore, this time, it had to be achieved by humanity itself.
Maimonides strongly asserts that God is totally beyond the comprehension of human beings 1. Then, where and how do we find that Cosmic God? This set humanity on a long, difficult, and still continuing journey. Along the way, they will be confronted with many tests. That journey began with just two words ... "Lech lecha" 2.
Footnotes
1. Guide for the Perplexed, Part I, Chapter XXXV
2. Genesis 12:1
