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Getting Warmer
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The world is getting warmer, say the ecologists. The temperature of the atmosphere, the ground and the ocean are all rising. If so, you may be wondering, how do we account for last year’s severe winter? Climatologists explain that the melting ice caps release huge masses of cold water into the oceans, which evaporate and cause cooling in other parts of the globe. The rise in sea levels also accounts for a rise in severe storms and hurricanes.
The warming weather has been a boon for polar researchers, who have recently discovered that in the distant past, the region was far warmer than it is today. In fact, tropical creatures such as crocodiles once flourished there. They have also found various plants growing in the arctic that indicate that at one time, the region was a tropical paradise.
According to paleontologists and ecologists, global climate is actually cyclical, going through periods of extreme heat and extreme cold. A change of only 10 degrees Celsius is enough to melt the glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica and release vast quantities of water into the ocean. Considering that over 90%t of the world’s most populated cities are on the sea coast, this news doesn’t sound very good for modern civilization…
Perhaps not. But we can take a look at the phenomenon from a deeper perspective. Every event in the physical world has its source and counterpart in the spiritual. Already we see a global warming trend in a spiritual sense, over the past few generations.
The long-standing suspicion and apathy towards religion is beginning to thaw. Brutal, cold-blooded regimes that ruled over millions of people have fallen, to be replaced by democratic, humanitarian governments. All this, as a preparation to the coming of Moshiach.
The world of today is warmer, more open, more interested in the welfare of others. The wars, and bloodshed and barbarity of past generations, once considered legitimate and proof of strength and heroism, are now viewed with disgust. Today, nations reach out to one another with humanitarian aid and shared economic and scientific goals. Collectively we have come to realize that the welfare of our own country is dependent on the state of the world economy.
This progress on the humanitarian plane is a preparation for the time of Redemption, when G-d will “remove the sun from its sheath,” in the words of the Midrash. Nothing will cover over our innate G-dly warmth and caring, which will encompass all of creation
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