Towards a Jewish Mystical Theory of Activism
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
According to Rabbi Chayim of Volozhin, the "World to Come" is a person's deeds themselves. That is to say, we do not do what we do in this world, then have an accounting once we die, and then enter a different reality called "The World to Come."
Rather we do good or bad in this world, and those deeds impact the world directly, making it into a world that's better or worse. That's "The World to Come" - the world we bring into being ourselves. This sacred and humanist theory of impact compels each of us to see every one of our thoughts, words, and deeds as consequential. Nothing is neutral.
It can be both exhausting and exalting to live in this way. Mostly both.
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