A Beautiful World

My dream is a beautiful world. A world made beautiful through obedience to G-d's law.

Think about it. A world without theft, where wives and husbands stick together through difficulties no matter what. A world without war or murder. A world where nobody follows the false gods of wealth or sex or fame. Where as long as you have enough to survive, no one covets what another has and you are content. Where parents are honored. Where everyone speaks the truth, and no one lies. Where there is no king but G-d.

While the idea that human beings could be the ruination of the Earth was not dealt with in the Torah in modern terms (pollution, extinction, climate change,) it was dealt with. Care for the Earth was emphasized in such laws as not taking all the eggs from a nest or not cutting down fruit trees even of your enemies in a time of war. Evil people and kingdoms are spoken of as actually contaminating the Earth itself, and this is depicted as a crime against G-d. The Israelites were told that they are tenants and the land is G-d's. There is no 11th Commandment to protect the Earth, but it is implicit in the Ten and in other statements in the Torah. So this beautiful world would not only be beautiful to human lives, but beautiful period.

Now the fact that this world will almost certainly never be THAT beautiful world, is completely irrelevant. Some truths are indeed irrelevant truths, many in fact. A man of G-d does not base his actions on measurements of his odds of success. He does not commit actions based on their believed outcomes. The future is known to G-d alone. Basing the morality or rightness of your actions on their likely outcomes is anathema to a man of G-d, because it is based on the arrogant idea that we can ever predict outcomes or that we are allowed to gamble with ethics. We can't play G-d with the future.  G-d's Law is the rule that a righteous man follows.

The idea that the ethics of an action are determined by their outcome is called Teleological Ethics. And such a concept is hateful to G-d, and it is a black hole from which there is little chance of escape except by the grace of understanding how very wrong-minded and wrong-hearted it is.

And it is only too common. Indeed, some people would be surprised to be told there is any other kind of ethics.

And so the fact that this world will likely never be that beautiful world where everyone obeys G-d's law has no bearing on my actions, heart or behavior. *I* need to do right, whether or not anyone else does. That is my task. And I fall short sometimes: this world is a difficult place for those who try to keep the Commandments. It was meant to be. This is the Enemy's turf, and I am trespassing.  I do not seek to be conformed to this world. That is why I do not measure people's likely responses when I tell them what G-d's law is. I am obligated to tell them plainly. Whether they heed or not is not my department. Usually they don't.

My job is to bring that beautiful world into existence somewhere, in whatever pocket of land that the Lord sees fit to bring me to. My job is also to live that beautiful world now, in so far as I am able. I will speak truthfully, not covet what belongs to other human beings, honor the Lord my G-d and have no other gods, not steal from human beings, honor my ancestors, not do violence to anyone except to protect life, keep the Sabbath Day holy, and not commit any of the varied forms of adultery and sexual immorality. I will seek forgiveness from G-d and reform if I break any of these.

I actually do believe in the existence of this beautiful world where everyone keeps G-d's Law, and I aspire to be fit for it. It's not here, and it's not now, but it is.

I do not want to live according to THIS order of existence, I want to live according to THAT one.