Cloning Humans

 

 

            In Jewish folklore there is a statement, Great is the blessed G‑d for creating each person different from one another.  Imagine a craftsman who uses a form for creation. Wouldnt all the things created by that form look the same? Yet the Almighty creates all human life and they all are different.

            There are four distinct worlds or orders: mineral, vegetable, animal and mankind. Each has a divine spark or soul. Each level compliments the one above and the one below. Their relationship truly is symbiotic; mutually enriching. As one enters the other it achieves full enrichment and purpose. This very act of transcendence is not a sacrifice but, rather, a passage for the soul or spark of the created being to a higher world. This is true for the lower three worlds and not for mankind. When each world feeds the higher one it is fulfilling a divine mission.

            Now lets turn to a current question. What do religious people think of cloning? Is there a basis to permit this in the symbiotic life cycle? I believe that cloning for humans is unacceptable because humans cannot uplift or transcend other human beings.

            Let me explain. When observing the four worlds we see the lower worlds being raised to a higher level. This is witnessed by lifes process of worlds becoming integrated within higher worlds. This cannot be said of a human being. Becoming a higher human being by integrating a cloned human is not possible. The humans have already reached their higher level!

            The greatest gift for the inanimate mineral is to actualize its inherent power of being a source for the higher life which is the vegetable. As the vegetable grows, receiving nourishment from the lower mineral, it elevates the soul of the inanimate. When the vegetative world is eaten by the next higher world, the animal, it too is uplifted, ascending upwards. Each life is given a greater opportunity to grow, be uplifted, and ascend to a higher purpose.

            When man eats the animal a wonderful thing happens. The flesh of the animal becomes uplifted to the flesh of the human. In contrast, the simple animal now becomes a human.

            The symbiosis of inanimate to vegetative to animal culminates with the highest world order, mankind. All the souls are now together, possessing a tremendous energy.

            Where does man go with all this energy? He strives to be good and G‑dlike. As the Bible states, man was created in the image of Gd. As man aspires to be Gdlike, he completes the cycle of uplifting the three lower worlds and brings to fruition mans purpose in this world.

            There are times when he is neither good nor Gdlike. For example, if man kills an animal for selfish pleasure, that is, for no good purpose, he is guilty of a most heinous crime. He destroys G‑ds purpose of creation. Not only has he killed an animal, he also has killed the vegetable and, even more, the mineral. By taking the life of the animal for no reason, causing it not to exist, he frustrated Gds plan of having a balanced world. Man must not waste. He doesnt have the right to destroy anything.

            The Kaballah states that if a man destroys an animal, he is even lower than the animal. The animal acts like an animal. This is its fate. However, when man destroys, he causes a descent. That is the antithesis of the life cycle.

            You may also ask, Why does man have the right to experiment with animals? Isnt it a cruel thing to do? The answer is yes and no. You may experiment and no, its not cruel.

            The obvious answer is when the animal gives its life soul to help mankind, then it doesnt feel that its being sacrificed. It knows that its being uplifted. The animal is transcending its animal life and entering the human life. The divine spark that created the animal now enters man. If there is a need to experiment with an animal, understandably, we must do it in the least painful manner. With the above in mind, we now can understand a novel way to look at cloning.

            When the cells of an animal are cloned in order to produce a special kind of animal, then the cloning is being done to elevate the animal to a higher level. Now imagine that the animal can be two animals and both can be elevated to man. Wouldnt it be great to help mankind reach a high level of productivity by having a better and higher quality animal! This may even be part of the divine plan, to move the mundane soul of the mineral to vegetable, the vegetable to animal and the animal reproduces itself and becomes a higher specialized breed. Imagine, all of this is in order to help mankind. The four worlds are each reaching the highest potential.

            We must remember a glaring fact, that there is no way that a human can lift other humans to a higher level except through maximizing the goodness and intellectual power of man. The energy of mankind is used to uplift those under him but not those parallel to him. By elevating one soul to another in the lower worlds, the spirit fuses with the higher life.

            Yes, we may have the right to create and perhaps even to clone animals. This is no different from in the past where we have cloned and crossed-pollinated seeds found in the vegetable world, producing a better and healthier crop.

            The growth of cures and better species are part of the major plan for man to be Gdlike. Dr. Ian Wilmut, the British scientist who  created a cloned sheep named Dolly, urged lawmakers to be careful about restricting scientific pursuit of the technology he has pioneered. Animal cloning holds great promise for animal husbandry and for the treatment of human disease.

            In the wish to prevent any misuses of the technology, it is important that we preserve the opportunities to take advantage of all of the benefits, Wilmut said. Its important that we do not throw out this particular baby with the bathwater.

            Cattle may be cloned to produce milk that will have human proteins that can treat genetic diseases. Pigs might be cloned to be used for human transplantation. Animals may be cloned to study genetic disorders and cures.

            If and when we attempt to clone human beings, we will quickly realize that we are attempting to change man, which is wrong. We were not given the freedom to make that change. We may not tamper with the DNA of humans for cloning as we were not entrusted with that mission. Our task is to uplift only the lower three worlds and, by doing so, we accomplish our divine mission. To clone humans is to doom our work with ascendancy. We destroy Gds plan for the symbiotic relations of the four life cycles.

            The only time cloning was permitted was when Gd took the rib from Adam and cloned a wife. Ever since that time we have the responsibility to uplift the lower worlds to a higher level. We are to move the sparks souls ­ of the lower ones to a higher life cycle but we cannot move the human spark soul to a higher level by cloning. We cannot replicate Gds work.

            It is Gd who said, Let us make man. This excludes man from doing a work he wasnt trusted to do.

            And the rib, which the Lrd Gd had taken from the man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the man said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (Genesis II, v. 22 & 23)