Ever felt like the universe is just... ignoring you? Like you're shouting into the void, and all you get back is silence? Some people take that feeling and run with it, constructing elaborate arguments about how God must have abandoned us. We're too insignificant, they say. Too messed up. He wouldn't bother with us.
But is that really a satisfying answer?
Baal HaSulam, in his introduction to the Zohar, tackles this very question head-on. He's not gentle with those "thinkers" who claim God has forsaken us. He sees their argument as not just wrong, but deeply offensive.
Think about it. What kind of being intentionally creates life knowing that it will be filled with suffering? That these beings will experience pain, loss, and hardship? And then, on top of it all, decides to just... walk away? To offer no guidance, no support, no providence?
We'd call that person a monster! We'd condemn them without hesitation. And yet, these same thinkers are willing to project that image onto the Divine.
Can we really imagine saying such a thing about the "necessary, existent God"? About the very source of all being? About the one we believe to be all-good, all-knowing, all-powerful?
Baal HaSulam isn't just defending God's honor here. He's pointing out a fundamental flaw in the argument. This idea of a detached, uncaring God is not only theologically problematic, it's also deeply psychologically unsatisfying. It offers no comfort, no hope, no reason to strive for something better.
It's a bleak and ultimately nihilistic view. And according to Baal HaSulam, it reveals more about the "thinkers" themselves than it does about the nature of the divine. It speaks to their own "lack of understanding," their own inability to grasp the depth and complexity of God's relationship with creation.
So, next time you feel like the universe is ignoring you, remember this: maybe it's not that God has abandoned us. Maybe it's that we haven't yet learned how to see the subtle ways in which providence is always at work. Maybe the silence isn't emptiness, but an invitation to listen more closely.