Who stands at the center: man or the Creator?
Last time we discussed the big question of who stands at the center: man or the Creator. The Western world has generally centered man, while Islam has, by contrast, centered God. In fact, the Islamic world rejects many of Western civilization’s basic assumptions and holds the traditional position that God is the absolute center of everything. Man, according to this view, is left with a peripheral position of submission to the Divine.
The liberal ideology that characterizes the West is viewed by the Islamic world with suspicion. According to the Muslim world, the moral permissiveness currently rampant in the Western world is proof that it holds a flawed position. Liberal democratic regimes are seen as decedent and as threatening to moral and spiritual values.
In such a conflict, it seems impossible at first glance for any understanding or reconciliation to be reached. How can the gap be bridged between one who places God at the center and one who places man at the center? The only way for these two civilizations to be brought together and reconciled is by listening carefully to the unique message of Israel, which offers a solution able to square the circle. According to Israel, neither God nor man is at the center, but rather the dialogue between them, with man’s active participation in completing the act of creation.
The goal is therefore the dialogue itself. This uniquely Hebrew approach resolves the contradiction. Until now, there has been sympathy between the Creator and His creation. This sympathy exists both in the life of the individual and in the life of the collective. The partnership between the Creator and man is happening in our time, through the process of Israel’s return to Zion and the restoration of the Divine Presence among His people in their sovereign state.
