Rav Kook on Unity and Life

“A chaotic world stands before us as long as we have not attained that degree of higher perfection in which we unite all life-forces and all their diverse tendencies. As long as each one exalts themselves, claiming, ‘I am sovereign, I and none other’–there cannot be peace in our midst…. All our endeavors must be directed toward disclosing the light of general harmony, which derives not from suppressing any power, any thought, any tendency, but by bringing each of them within the vast ocean of light infinite, where all things find their unity, where all is ennobled, all is exalted, all is hallowed.” (Orot HaKodesh 2:588)


“Great souls cannot dissociate themselves from the most universal concerns. All they desire and aspire for is the universal good, universal in its comprehensiveness, universal in its full width, height and depth…


When love possessed people see the world, living creatures full of quarrels, hatred, persecutions and conflicts, they yearn with all their being to share in those aspirations that move life toward comprehensiveness and unity, peace and tranquility…
When they confront the human scene, and find divisions among nations, religions, parties, with goals in conflict, they endeavor with all their might to bring all together, to mend and to unite…
They want that every particular shall be preserved and developed and that the collective whole shall be united and abounding in peace.” (Ibid 2:456-7)


“When we reflect on the aggadah that the descendents of Sisera taught Torah in Jerusalem and descendants of Haman taught Torah in Bnei Brak [and the descendants of Sennacherib taught Torah in public]
(Gittin 37b) we reach the depth of compassion, which calls on us not to be caught up in the stream of hatred even of our fiercest enemy.”
Rav Kook TZ’L (Orot HaKodesh:3:326)


“When love possessed people see the world, especially living creatures full of quarrels, hatred, persecutions and conflicts, they yearn with all their being to share in those aspirations that moves life toward towards wholeness and unity, peace and tranquility. When they confront the human scene and find divisions among nations, religions, parties, with goals in conflict, they endeavor with all their being to bring all together, to mend and to unite…They want that every particular shall be preserved and developed and that the collective whole shall be united and abounding in peace.” (Lights of Holiness, 2-457)

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