Designing the Cosmos
The traditional understanding of the metaphysical/spiritual aspects of the creation process may be seen (ex post facto) as following from the traditional conception of its purpose, i.e., the creation of free-willed moral beings. In order to make the free-willed actions of these ‘ moral beings ' truly independent of the will of their designer-and-creator, we intuit a sacrifice of the sovereignty of the Creator ' s Will, a withdrawal and narrowing of its exclusivity.
This parallels God ' s tsimtsum (contraction) before Creation, as described by the Kabbala.
We can intuit[2] that in order for the Creator to bring an additional independent consciousness into existence, the pre-existent unity had to be shattered. This parallels the traditional mystical concept of shvirat ha' kelim , the breaking of the vessels.
So that it will be morally responsible for its actions, the created being is given a share of the Creator' s free will — the attribute that underlies Creation itself.[10] In biblical terms, humans were created “ in the image of God ” [11] with some infusion of the Divine during the Creation process: “ And God breathed into man the spirit of life ” [12].
As it is not fair to create an entity burdened by existence, it makes sense to create the being in an idyllic environment (the Garden of Eden) to gain its retroactive acquiescence to having been created. It is similarly unfair to impose the obligation of moral responsibility on a being that did not choose it. The being could reject its moral responsibility by claiming that it had not chosen to be faced with moral dilemmas.
A situation can therefore be arranged whereby the being itself chooses whether or not to bear the burden of moral responsibility. The Creator forbids the assumption of this burden, so that the responsibility of the choice becomes that of the chooser alone.[13]
With the assumption of moral responsibility and the acquisition of free-willed consciousness, purposive history can begin.