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Secular Knowledge for Moshiach
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How does advancement of secular knowledge bring us closer to the Geulah?
The Zohar teaches that in the six-hundredth year of the sixth millennium after Creation, there will be a great advance in the secular sciences, in order to ready the world for the advent of the seventh millennium.
This can be understood from three perspectives:
a) Utilizing this knowledge for the service of G-d provides us with a certain glimpse of the level of perception that will be attained in the Era of the Redemption: “And all flesh will see that the mouth of G-d has spoken.” I.e., all flesh will then enjoy perceptions of divine service with physical, sensory vision. The telephone and radio, for example, provide us with palpable models that enable us to visualize the concept of “an Eye that sees and an Ear that hears.”
b) When the radio, for example, is used to disseminate Torah knowledge worldwide, it pre-echoes the universal diffusion of knowledge in future time: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d, as the waters cover the ocean bed.” Moreover, it foreshadows the promise of the above-quoted verse, that “all flesh will see...,” for the physical sound is heard simultaneously around the world.
c) The advance of scientific understanding is increasingly revealing the inherent unity in the universe, as expressed in the forces of nature. Being aware of this can serve as a preparation and prologue to the Era of Moshiach, for at that time the Creator's simple, uncompounded Unity will become evident. That time will also reveal the way in which G-d's Unity finds expression in the unity that is inherent in all of Creation.
Likutei Sichos, Vol. XV, p. 42. Translated by From Exile to Redemption, published by Sichos in English.
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