You buy a brand new car. Each time before you go for a drive, you carefully make a 360 degree circuit around the car to ascertain that there are no scratches or dents. When you arrive at your destination, you leave your new car in a lone spot, far from the other cars parked like sardines. In this way, no laissez-faire motorist will unthinkingly swing his door open into your car.
The baby starts to crawl. Suddenly, a speck on the carpet is no longer innocuous; it might be daintily picked up by the baby and happily popped into her mouth. Loose change becomes a potential enemy when it rolls out of your pocket. You get down on your hands and knees, or perhaps even lower, to peer around from a kids-eye-view, scanning the terrain for anything that the horizontally mobile baby might go for.
Isn’t it interesting how the slightest change in circumstances can alter your whole perspective on how you see your surroundings?
This insight answers a frequently asked question about the coming of Moshiach, whose arrival we await every day. How is it possible that the material world will remain unchanged with all its natural laws and characteristics, and yet, at the same time, we will have a heightened sensitivity to spirituality and be able to perceive the G-dliness in all of creation?
Our examples above can help us understand the answer to this question. The world will remain the same world. It is our perspective that will change. Our new consciousness of and sensitivity to the good and G-dly within ourselves and all of creation will allow us to be aware of and appreciate things we did not even notice before.
Another example, and this one from a wholly positive viewpoint: You are on vacation and are touring ancient historical sites. You are impressed by the thought that you are seeing something which has been around for hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of years. You ask your tour guide questions. Back in your hotel room you read a history book you picked up that has a detailed account written by an eyewitness to an event which actually occurred in that place.
You visit the site a second time. But this time your new perspective literally opens your eyes to an appreciation you could not have imagined before.
And so it will be with the Redemption. Our newfound appreciation of G-dliness and G-d’s world will open our eyes and enable us to have a completely different perspective on the world and its real meaning.
The Rebbe tells us that we don’t have to wait. By learning more Torah in general, and more about Moshiach and the ultimate Redemption in particular, we can open our eyes now and enjoy the inherent harmony and G-dliness of the world in anticipation of Moshiach’s arrival.
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