To be sure, the world as a whole may be viewed as a divine manifestation, but the world remains as something else than God, while the soul of man, in its depths, may be considered to be a part of God.
Indeed, only man, by virtue of his divine soul, has the potential, and some of the actual capacity, of God Himself.
This potential expresses itself as the ability to go beyond the limits of a given existence, to move freely, and choose other paths, enabling man to reach the utmost heights -- or to plumb the deepest hells.
It is, in other words, the power to will and to create."
--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From The Thirteen Petalled Rose by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
