The Quality of Life

Life is sanctioned by G-d,

for the sake of mankind:

to create harmony amongst us,

and the rest of His creation.

Life is disrupted by the neglect

of attention to the myriad details of its complexity,

lack of respect to the values of others,

and disavowal of responsibility to the voiceless.

Life does not repeat itself

by way of reincarnation,

nor can it be preserved by downloading

your essence onto a mainframe computer

or uploading your memories

into the artificial brain of an android.

Life only gives us one chance

to make the most of every day,

as we journey along the path to fruition

of all of our efforts, both material and spiritual,

culminating in an eternal reward.

Life regards kindness, compassion,

and helping others as assets

in our spiritual bank account;

and meanness, hatred,

and harming others as deficits

that will accumulate against us.

Life holds all things in balance,

as the Creator looks on with keen awareness

of the plight of mankind,

inclusive of every individual

on the face of the planet.

dVerse prompt

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Perfect Day

The conception of the world began in a moment, sparking the beginning of time, galvanizing matter, bringing order out of chaos, as the universe expanded. Then the original light of the world was spoken into existence by the Creator, Who also separated between light and darkness. Let us understand, that this light appeared before the sun, moon and stars, the luminaries of the sky. For, those were not created in the sequential order of things until the fourth day. The light, called into being on Day One, is described in the original Hebrew of the Bible as ohr.

The past will fold back into itself like dust, returning to the earth, as the light draws us toward that perfect day, when all of creation is renewed. Then ohr chadash, the original light of creation, that has been hidden away until this day, will resurface for the righteous to enjoy, as crowns are placed upon their heads. And, the night will no longer consume the sun, nor will death cast its shadow anymore over mankind. All will live in harmony with G-d, mankind, and creation. Even the natural world will be at peace with itself when the lion lies down with the lamb.

Darkness into light,

cast bright upon the land,

will vanquish death.

In the beginning, My servant Job

In the beginning

he would rise early in the morning

now the earth was chaos and waste

from roaming the earth and walking on it

darkness was on the surface of the deep

but now, stretch out Your hand

Then G-d said, Let there be light

only do not extend your hand against him

Then G-d made the two great lights

so the adversary departed from the presence of the L-RD.

—– —– —– —– —– —–

over the day and over the night

a messenger came to Job

to separate the light from the darkness

the fire of G-d has fallen from heaven

and G-d saw that it was good

I alone escaped to tell you

So there was evening and there was morning

while this one was still speaking.

—– —– —– —– —–

above the land across the expanse

suddenly a mighty wind came

over the whole earth

and struck the four corners

the flying creatures of the sky,

fell to the ground and worshipped

And it happened so.

I will return there

G-d saw everything

blessed is the name of the L-RD.

dVerse prompt

note to reader: This poem alternates between phrases from the Book of Genesis, chapter 1 (in italics); and the Book of Job, chapter 1 (plain text). Hopefully, the poem appears as a seamless whole, despite some of the juxtapositions, that might seem awkward.