I Have A Plan
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Everyone knows, you won't succeed unless you have a plan. You can't live your life without a purpose, and wander aimlessly in this world without an intention. This will get you nowhere, quickly, and give you nothing of meaning. Whatever we do in life must fit into the greater context of things. If we just live, without a goal, without a reason, then life loses its value. You must admit though, that most people don't know what they're doing. They grow up, most of them gain an education, and then they look for a job. Why find a job? Why work? What's the point? |
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At school they learn. What for? To gain an education. But while they are studying, most people find the course work to be meaningless. During elementary school they complain: "Why do I have to go to school? Why can't I stay home and play?" But they're just kids. They don't see things the way their parents do. They don't view the world from a greater context. Nor do they worry about the future. They just want to have fun. They're kids at heart and of body--they're free spirits, without worries and responsibilities. But their parents know better, and so does the government. They have no choice, they must go to school. They must learn, and learn to fit into the world. |
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Then they reach middle high school. Now they think they're much older, and don't need to listen to their parents anymore. They think they understand everything and know how to manage on their own. They have learned how to socialize, and fit themselves into different social groups. What do they need their parents for? Why should they sit at home and be bothered by their family? They like to be on their own. They like to do things by themselves. They want to gain independence from their parents and they want to feel like they're no longer children--helpless and inexperienced. |
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The next thing you know, they're in high school. Now they really have a mind of their own. Now they've become people, that think for themselves and don't trust anyone else. "Why should I take math? Why should I study this stuff? Why should a grade judge who I am? Why should I bother studying what the government, or my parents, think is best for me? Who are they to decide my future? Who are they to plan my life?" By then they've realized what life is, although most don't understand the responsibility they have taken upon themselves. They've become rebels without a cause, or rebels with a very limited purpose. All they want is to be free and do whatever they like, but they're also not willing to carry the burden that goes along with life. |
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If this is the case, then what they yearn for is fake. What they want is a drug. They want the high; the rush. They want to be happy, successful, famous, and special, but they don't want to be burdened by the work, effort, and sacrifice that must come first. They want to be movie stars. They want someone to tell them: "You're special. You're great. Just do what you do on tv, just be a great personality, and we'll give you fame, glory, money...everything." What they're looking for is a quick high--something that's rare and hard to find. Besides, anything you get that wasn't earned will in the end be meaningless to you. It might seem great in the beginning, and could make you feel like you're on top of the world, but in the end they all discover how petty and empty it is. Like a drug, these people get high and then they get low. They turn a world of value and vitality into a dark and empty prison. They turn everything that's precious and special, into a lie that's only painful. |
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And we're no different today than in any other time. Despite our technology and the inflated flattery of our science, the world hasn't changed at all. It's been the same since day one. People have always been looking for the meaning of life. They've always yearned for something better than what they have. They've always searched for the fountain of youth. They've always longed for the Garden of Eden. They've always wanted all the pleasure they could possibly have, and cursed the pain that weighed them down. Adam didn't eat from the fruit of the Forbidden tree because Eve told him it was OK. They didn't disobey the Word of God because they thought the snake was the one in charge. They ate the Forbidden fruit because they were human; because they couldn't overcome the temptation. What temptation? It was only a fruit, you might say. But it was much more than that: It was an escape. |
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God Gave them everything. He Created the world and everything in it, for them to enjoy. He even Told them, you must enjoy life; you must eat from the fruit I Give you (except for the Forbidden one). God Created man for him to rule over the world and guard it as well. He even Gave Adam a wife, Eve, as a companion, so that he would be happy. Like parents that care for their children and provide for them to their best ability; God Fathered man and Gave him all that he has. But Adam, like almost every child, yearned for something else. Adam had all the pleasure he wanted. He had an easy life. Everything he needed was Provided for him. All he had to do was enjoy himself, rule the world, and care for its creatures. Everything was taken care of; like a child that's being cared for by his parents. But of course, Adam wasn't happy. Adam wanted to live for himself. He wanted to decide for himself. Adam wanted to free himself from God's Care; he wanted to lead his own life. To choose his own path. To decide what he liked, what's good and what's bad; what's wrong and what's right. Like a child, Adam didn't know very much, but he knew one thing--he wanted to be free. |
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Of course, there was a price to pay for his freedom; Adam had to suffer for his disobedience. God Sent him off to fend for himself. No longer was he under God's Care, like a child that's being cared for by his parents. Adam had to work and sweat for his food. He had to suffer for his pleasure. And so, man must labor for his gain; he must feel pain if pleasure is to be rewarding. Since Adam wasn't satisfied with the easy life God had Given him, Hashem Told him to go and find his place in the world. God Told him to sweat and suffer for his bread, so that he would appreciate what is Given and find pleasure in the world that was Created for him. |
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But there's more. Freedom is not without responsibility. Man has been Given his own decision. Therefore we are free to make mistakes; we are free to make bad decisions. We are faced with a heavy burden in life, for we must decide what's good and what's bad; what's wrong and what's right. Children have no responsibilities; their parents take the blame for them. But Adam separated himself from God, he began to think for himself, and with that, all certainty was lost. Adam's knowledge was mixed up. He no longer had God to Guide him and Tell him what is good and bad. Adam no longer knew what was meaningful and important in life. Man was lost to the thoughts of his mind and became a servant to the temptations of his body. |
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God had Warned Adam he would surely die if he ate from the fruits of the Forbidden tree, and God did not lie. To a certain degree, man had died. What is death? It is the separation of a soul from a body, or in the case of animals, the separation of the spirit of life from the creature, hence, only a lifeless carcass remains. After Adam and Eve ate the Forbidden fruit, their eyes opened and they realized they were naked. What does this mean? It means they ceased to be a spirit and became a body. Before they were a spirit with a body, like a person riding his donkey. Then they ceased to be a spirit, and became simply a body with a soul within it. Therefore they noticed "they" were naked, were embarrassed, and covered themselves. Before they didn't perceive things through their own eyes. God Told them what was good and bad. Then their soul was separated from them, and they became human. What is a human? It is a twisted and perverted being that is not an animal, because its spirit was Created in God's Image, in that the Breath of God is within it and it can think and perceive divine things. Yet it is also not a divine being because it sees the world through its senses, from its limited perspective, and is a slave of its temptations like the rest of God's Creations. A human is a being that was Created to rule the world and care for its creatures, but became so twisted that it could hardly control and care for itself and causes more problems than it helps. |
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Since Adam banished himself from Eden, the womb of mankind, he chose to leave from God's Care and lead his own life. He then had to discover the world for himself and decide what was meaningful to him. His purpose was distorted--he no longer had an ultimate purpose. In Eden, God Told him to enjoy himself, rule the world and care for it. Everything was clear to him. Man knew what his purpose was...it was what God Told him to do. But after he disobeyed God, he wasn't sure anymore. After he made his own choices and acquired free-will, Adam didn't know the difference between good and bad, and lost touch with his purpose in the world. He began to see things through his own eyes, through his senses, and thus became a slave of his body and a prisoner of his limited perceptions. Man became imperfect. Adam was deceived. His eyes led him astray and he lost his soul within his body. His purpose was overshadowed by illusions. He became distracted by temptations, such that the meaning of life was no longer apparent to him. He saw the fruit, that it was good, and lost himself to the world. |
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After Adam, man (ben-Adam, "son of Adam" or "son of man") declined, following in the footsteps of Adam. Humanity took the world that is precious and holy, and turned life into something cheap and meaningless. Man was iniquitous. People so distorted God's Purpose for humanity, and strayed so far from God, that Hashem "Regretted" having ever Created us. We took God's Gift and used it for selfish purposes. We used the Breath of God, the Divine spark that is within us, to do evil in the world. We used our soul only to serve the desires of our body. Like animals we were, only much worse. We are animals with divine abilities and with the freedom to decide what we like; what's good and what's bad. We are animals that do what we want and have the Gift of doing divine things: controlling nature, transforming nature, ruling the world and one another. But man chose to direct his energies towards the desires of his body. Mankind bowed down to the physical and subjected its soul to the material. Rather than enjoy the world Given to us, we became infatuated with physical pleasures and couldn't control our desires. People thought their purpose was to please their bodies, when in fact it is to please their soul; to rule the world and care for God's Creations, so that life will be special and the world Created for us will be appreciated. |
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So What is True Pleasure? And What is the Purpose of Man?
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Intro 
For Israelis Ab...
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