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Podcast: The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton
Episode: S1, E3 The Purpose of Creation, according to the Ramchal
Description: Could a perfect God who lacks for nothing have a motive for creating the world? If He has no needs, what impetus is there for Him to create?Â
Ramchal teaches that creation does indeed have a clear and specific purpose: goodness. God is good and therefore does good. Not out of need but out of pure beneficence, God created a world of goodness, which is identical with godliness.
This profound idea is the crux of Ramchal's system of theology and is also the basis of his great ethical work, the Mesillas Yesharim.
For th...