Question: How does Kabbalah relate to the contradiction between the creation of the world 5,770 years ago and the time of the “Big Bang”?
The Big Bang occurred approximately 14 billion years ago. Its cause was a spark of the upper light that reached its lowest level—egoism. The spark contained within it all the matter and energy of our world, and from it the entire universe was created.
Planet Earth was created approximately 4.6 billion years ago as a result of the condensation of the solar system. In time, the crust of the Earth cooled, the atmosphere was formed and life began. None of it was coincidental. Everything that happens is a manifestation of information that preexisted in the initial spark of light.
Following the inanimate nature, plants appeared, then animals, and finally man. The interpretation of evolution based on its superficial appearance—that species evolve from other species, which then evolve into even more species—is incorrect.
The reason for the appearance of every detail in nature is the information that was initially rooted in the spark of light. Kabbalah explains evolution as a process of unfolding bits of data (genes), called Reshimot (recollections).
Man developed from the ape hundreds of thousands of years ago, as the ARI (Isaac Luria) writes in The Tree of Life. However, only 5,770 years ago (as of the writing of this book) was a point in the heart first awakened in a human being. His name was Adam, from the verse Adame la’Elion (”I shall be like the Most High” Isaiah, 14:14). His name reflected his desire to resemble the Creator.
The day Adam revealed the spiritual world is called “the day of Creation.” This was when humanity first touched the spiritual world, which is why it is the point from which the Hebrew count of years begins. According to the plan of Creation, within 6,000 years we must all attain the level of the Creator. This will be called “the end of correction” (of the human ego).