We live in a tangible and physical world, and it is the very nature of our surroundings that creates automatic obstacles in connecting with HaShem. It would be an exhaustive list to mention all the ways that we are pulled into our material reality. We are constantly at a distance from the holy and spiritual. But this is in the very design of the human being, since we need to make choices, of our own free will, to connect with the Higher Essence of the Universe.
Yet, the biggest hurdle to overcome is our very own mind---we are trained to think logically, rationally, and practically---with science as a strong foundation, leaving little room for what we don't see with our senses.
However, we don't have to sacrifice any of that to come to accept that there might be a greater One that exists to bring about everything else in existence. Yet, this is only recognizable to us vaguely....by the faintest feeling.
Some of us recognize (perhaps most of you reading this) that there is a deeper spiritual reality which connects and underlies all things. We have a sense that there is a unifying force for the very fabric of life....beyond what is physically perceptible and that which is beyond our imagination.
And this is why we are seekers and learners.
Kabbalistic thought identifies this feeling that we have as a 'second recognition' that part of our inner soul was once connected to HaShem. The first recognition, so it goes, was lost when we were born into this world. It is this sense that lies at the core of the idea that every person is created "B'tzelem Elokim"...in God's shadow, so to speak. (B'tzelem Elokim is usually translated as "the Image of God, but the word 'tzel' - צל also means shadow). So, in that case, we are a part of the whole.
Remember when you first learned about the magic of a hologram? It was an amazing technology. You can remove the tiniest piece of a hologram, and it will be representative of the entire whole. [The word hologram originates from Greek, holos meaning whole, since it contains the total information of the object].
Our souls are like a part of a hologram, separate and disconnected but yet containing an essence of a larger whole. We contain an imprint of the whole, the One, B'tzelem Elokim.
Yet, when you think about it, isn't that how all of life is created?
Seeds remain seeds unless given the proper environment to grow into their full potential---a whole new tree. Yet each seed contains all the "DNA" to make it a tree.
Each cell in the human body contains all the DNA for the entire person. Yet, each cell does not become a person...it turns into cells for eyes, toes, hands, all the organs, and on. It is truly amazing, spectacular, and-----miraculous. And so are we.
We can think of ourselves in this way....as a vibrant part of creation ---- connected in a deep way to our Source. And we can make the conscious choice to connect, to be aware of who we are, at our essence---in our core. This is the way of all life.