Near the beginning of his sefer that explains the
basics of life, Derech Hashem (I,2), the Ramchal
explains very clearly Hashem's point in creation: "The
purpose of the Creation is to benefit others with His
Goodness, may He be blessed. And He is not satisfied with
doing a minimal amount of good, but only with benefiting with
the maximum good that created beings can receive. This
maximal good cannot be found anywhere but in Him, and
therefore His wisdom decreed that the true benefit [that He
will give to His creations] will consist in giving His
creations an opportunity to cleave to Him, may He be
blessed."
This is the fundamental principle of Creation, and absolutely
everything that is, flows from that. Nothing just exists.
Everything is part of the great plan of the Creator to shower
the maximum benefit that He possibly can shower onto us,
limited by our ability to receive rather than His ability to
give.
Often it is hard for us to see the connection. We cannot
always determine how a particular fact or state contributes
to maximizing Hashem's beneficence. But it is wrong to feel
"that's just the way things are." Since the whole world was
created to spread Hashem's goodness, everything in it -- each
and every particular thing -- is part of that great project,
whether we can always see it or not.
The world does not present itself to us in that way. The
world shows itself as a bunch of inert facts, stuff that just
seems to be there without any great purpose.
It is we who must inject the purpose into the world,
following the instructions of the Torah. Hashem has given us
the keys to using properly the bounty that He has given us,
so that we may reach the goal for which the entire Creation
was set up. When we use the world to follow the Torah, then
we raise ourselves and along with us the whole Creation.
Just as the goal of bringing benefit to us is the fundamental
principle of the way things are made, so should the awareness
of this state of affairs be the fundamental animating
principle in what we do. Just as Hashem has made the world
motivated, as it were, to bring us the greatest goodness
possible, so should we orient ourselves and do whatever we do
suffused with the awareness of the fact that the world is
made for our benefit.
This is especially important to keep in mind at this time of
the year, when the timely mitzvos are so demanding, in terms
of time, money and emotion.
We should be filled with gratitude for all that Hashem does
for us throughout the year, and especially for having given
us these special times of the year in which we can pause and
reflect, and fulfill the mitzvos of the day, in gratitude for
all that we have received in the past and in the hope that it
will continue in the future. We must be sure to focus on
these ideas, leaving all aspects of the "outside world"
behind during these holy days.
Then we can effectively accept Hashem as our King, and pray
for His rule to be extended to the entire world, to spread
the goodness as far as it can go.
Kesivoh vechasimah tovoh to all.
