Description
The Equation of Life – By Pinchas Winston
FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, it has always been an issue of da’as.
The very first test that mankind was given, within hours of standing on his own two feet,
was to not eat from the Aitz HaDa’as Tov v’Rah—the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
From that point onward, it has always been a issue of what you know, how you come to know it,
and how such knowledge can apply to life.
As the name of the tree itself teaches, there is good da’as, and there is bad da’as.
As history has testified throughout the millennia, just as good da’as results in wonderful light,
bad da’as causes terrible darkness, capable of destroying the world.
Not only is this simple fact of life conceptually true, it is mathematically accurate as well.
Indeed, this truism can actually be expressed in a simple, yet elegant numerical equation- 25 + 11 = 36
—which we will call the “Equation of Life,” since it is the operating principle of all of Creation.
An elegant solution, often referred to in relation to problems in disciplines such as mathematics,
engineering, and programming, is one in which the maximum desired effect is achieved with the smallest,
or simplest effort.
A solution loses elegance as it becomes more complicated, even though it may be a more accurate description
of reality, like a long and complicated physics calculation.
However, this is not the case with respect to the Equation of Life.
Indeed, never has an equation been so short, and yet so precise and accurate in its description of life,
while at the same time alluding to the deepest secrets of Creation. In other words, the Equation of Life is elegant,
extremely elegant.
25 + 11 = 36
So simple, and yet so profound, and what really should have happened that fateful day in the Garden of Eden.
Had Adam HaRishon applied the Equation of Life during his test, not only would he have passed it,
but he would have brought history to an early, but glorious end, and exile, instead, and all the devastation that
has accompanied each one, would have remained only theoretical concepts.
But, of course, this will not be clear until all of these numbers are properly defined, and it is shown
how they apply to every aspect of life, throughout all of history.
