God’s oneness, His will and control
The Rule of Good and Evil and the rule of unity

The entire Wisdom of Truth (Chochmat Ha-Emet, the Kabbalah) comes only to demonstrate the truth of Faith (Emunah). It comes to explain how all the created realms and beings and everything that happens in the universe all emerge from the Supreme Will (HaRatzon HaElyon). It shows how everything is governed in the right way by the One God, blessed be He, to bring the entire cycle of creation to complete perfection in the end. The component details of this wisdom provide detailed understanding of all the laws and processes by which the universe is governed.



Thus the first axiom of this wisdom is that everything we see, including all created beings and all that occurs within time, is under only One Master, blessed be He. God alone makes and does all this, and He governs everything.



The purpose of this wisdom is to explain the ways in which He acts to make and govern the creation. If so, the oneness of God is what we must explain first, since this is the very foundation of the creation. If we can understand this subject, we will have an understanding of the foundation of the creation, its root and purpose.

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When we say that there is one Emanator, blessed be His Name, Who is oneness and unity in all respects, we must immediately understand that His power is also all one. Since it is impossible for two powers both to be in complete control, we must say that only one Will is in complete control, and all others are not in control. It is still legitimate to say that now, other beings exist besides the First Existent. For this does not negate the power of the First Existent. He exists and He creates, and these other beings exist only through Him.



However, if we were to argue that an absolute will exists besides the Supreme Will, even while conceding that the existence of these other wills is not necessary and that they derive from the Supreme Will, this would be a denial of the absolute power of the Supreme Will. For it is impossible to say that two powers can both be in complete control.



If we say that the first absolute power made another absolute power, neither the original power nor the new one are in complete control.



Accordingly, when we say that the First alone has power, it is inconceivable that there is any other absolute power. So when we say the universe has One God, which means one absolute Ruler and Controller, it is inconceivable that there is any other absolute power. For if there were, there would no longer be one Ruler but as many as the number of independent wills that had been brought into being, and then none of them could truly be called “Ruler”.



Accordingly, we need to know that not only does God alone exist, but also that God alone is in control. This is what is meant by the oneness of his Will: that nothing in the world could ever negate His will, for He alone is in control.



Everything we see that appears to be the opposite of His will exists only because He allows it in accordance with His deep plan, which will continue unfolding until He brings everything to complete perfection. At present God leaves man with freedom of choice for as long as He wills. But in the end – whether through repentance or by means of punishment – everything will return to complete perfection.

Seeing that His will is only to benefit, it must be that things will not continue endlessly in their present state. Granted, if He did not spurn the destruction of the wicked, we could have said that their punishment is not bad, but rather that, “Evil pursues sinners” (Proverbs 13:21) and their punishment is fair retribution, as discussed above. However, now that we have said this is not His way, but that he punishes the sinner in order to bring him to repent so as to benefit him, if so, the punishment itself is bad. As such, it cannot continue forever. It must come to an end so that the sinner may be released. Since the punishment is bad, it is against the Supreme Will. And just as it cannot continue forever in each individual case, so it cannot continue forever in the world as a whole, for it is against the Supreme Will.

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|-138 Openings of Wisdom – Openings 1-2 (RaMChaL), retrieved from https://www.azamra.org/spirit/openings.php