Divinity
From SiddurWiki
[edit] Robert Wright
Robert Wright, writing in his book The Evolution of God, posits that culture evolves just as living creatures evolve. In the book, he traces the concept of religion from its earliest manifestations in hunter-gatherer societies, through shamans, chiefs, polytheists and ultimately the "Abrahamic" monotheism that is prevalent today in the three most common religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism).
In Wright's view, "cultural evolution" has led to the reality of a sense of morality that transcends a single individual or the fear that the great "policeman" in the sky is watching so you'd better show moral behavior. Wright says that morality is somehow "out there" as a transcendent concept. This in his mind is "divinity."
We find references to divinity throughout the siddur. The most poetic perhaps is the concept of the shechinah - see the page on Kabbalat Shabbat here. Wright's understanding helps us read passages such as לכה דודי - Lecha Dodi more easily.
Wright's concept of divinity won't please those with a supernatural understanding of God. It nevertheless can be very comforting.
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