Proper Knowledge

What does Parshat Shemini have to do with with parshat Parah?  Rashi says the parah is an atonement for the agel.  How does the parah atone for the agel?  Why is the derash of acquiring Torah by being ממית יצמו עליה (Berachot 63b) derived from אדם כי ימות באוהל in the parsha of Parah?  Why did Adam have to die because of eating from the eitz hadaat?  What was so wrong with eating from the eitz hadaat, why would gaining knowledge be prohibited?  

Before eating form the eitz haddat Adam had soul knowledge.  His daat was in tune with the chachma Elokut.  His actions were motivated by a pure spiritual outlook.  The eitz haddat brought bodily knowledge into Adam.  He now had daat about how his guf viewed things.  He went from a pure spiritual being who was governed by the nefesh to a being where the nefesh and guf had conflicting values.  This separation of the guf and nefesh means that it became impossible for Adam to fully achieve unity with Hashem in bodily form.  Therefore, there had to be death to the body for the soul to experience complete unity with Hashem.  This separation is what leads to a person being tamah upon death. 

The Beis Halevi (cited here,) explains that the source of the sin of the agel was that Klal Yisroel had a chesbon that they needed something to connect them with Hashem.  They used eitz hadaat knowledge.  They had a plan which made sense based upon their assessment of the situation but it was not what Hashem wanted, it was not in line with Sechal Eloki.  The tikkun to this tumat meis is to nullify themselves to soul knowledge.  To try to listen to the whispers of the soul.  This is reflected in the avodah of the parah adumah which is the paradigm of all chukim.  It is when one suspends their own manly knowledge and accepts their is something that escapes the sophistication of the human mind.  The closest way to come to this form of knowledge, the way to come closest to be in line with Sechal Eloki is through intense study of Torah.  That is why the derash of  intense Torah study is derived through the parsha of parah.  For it is the parsha of parah that comes to fix the sin of man, to get tangled in the brain which reflects the desires of the body and lose the pure thought process of the nefesh.  The way to become closer to true knowledge through Torah study.  

As explained in the last post, the sin of Nadav and Abihu was not following the rules that Hashem set forth for avodah.  They wished to offer a sacrifice of their own accord.  This made sense to them but it was not in line with the Ultimate Daat. The tikkun for that is the parah. 

The Rambam at the end of the Laws of Mikvaot describes how one who descends into a mikvah should view himself as being enveloped into the מי הדעת.  When one goes into a mikvah the intent is to purify the mind to be able to come closer to the pre sin knowledge.  In the avodah of the parah the מים חיים, the water untainted by sin which causes is death is sprinkled upon the individual to draw him closer to the proper daat.  It is a עתתערותא דלעילא to purify mankid from all of his חשבונות רבות which clutter the head.