When Man, and only Man, decides how to measure “progress,” he expels God and the acceptance of the absolute values emanating from the Throne of Judgment.
When Man makes the measuring rod, his measurements are meaningless and he ceases to measure altogether:
The lowest individual becomes equal to the greatest, and Man can no longer tell if he is growing or shriveling.
The Divine measuring rod renders judgment according to the Divine criteria – values that are not manmade and are not determined in relation to Man.
It is on the Day of Judgment that the Divine criteria are reinstated.
The world sorely needs this Divine set of criteria.
A value system based on a theory of relativity is the highway to the deluge.
Holding onto “the finger of God” (Exodus 8:15) offers us a way to return to the possibility of redemption.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz