Offering God Divine Service

But what about God?

Our simplest perception of God tends to be with the 'Beyond' perspective, the idea that God is the King of all kings, above and beyond us mere mortals. But what if we could perceive God even in the little things, even "down here," in ourselves, in others, and in our surroundings? Whereas man is naturally "low" and accomplishes by movin' on up, it would seem to us that God is naturally "high" and accomplishes by moving down to the nitty-gritty. (Obviously, the notion that anything is "natural" or "unnatural," "accomplished" or "unaccomplished," to the Infinite is absurd, and should not be taken in the physical literal sense.) God's American Dream would be to gain repute in a "place" in which He was previously unknown. If we were to come to see God not just as 'Beyond', but 'Within' our lives, our world, and our issues, we would have the eternal God-movie. For God, a move down to the specifics of our world is a move up in terms of His being perceived and experienced.

This is a glimpse into what we mean by Divine Service.

Divine Service does not mean I am effecting a change in God's essence; God is infinitely 'Beyond', independent of my actions and perception. However, Divine Service does mean that to the extent that I act in a Godly manner here in this world, in my struggles and within the mundane, I radiate Godly traits even here in the limited material realm, where it is otherwise difficult to perceive God. When I persevere in dealing with my deficiencies, and conduct myself with humility when dealing with my strengths, I radiate God in an arena in which God is otherwise unknown.

In matter of fact, the more difficult the hurdle, the more Godliness I embody when I overcome it. If I have a particularly strong inclination toward anger yet manage to overcome that anger with overwhelming compassion, I manifest the Godly trait of compassion in a stronger manner than one whose anger is not as potent. (Through this it is clarified that all deficiencies were really the backdrop for the ultimate efficiency. All the apparent lack of God-awareness in the world was the foundation for the ultimate revelation of God-awareness. In the end, it becomes apparent that our world was in fact created perfectly imperfect.)

The Role of the Soul
Our essential Godliness that we bring forth in this world of struggle is what we mean by soul. The soul is described in Kabbalistic works as a spark of divinity here in this seemingly imperfect world.

This is who we are, as we will describe in detail next time . . .