The Enigma that Is Freedom of Choice
All throughout history philosophers have sought the answer to the question: “Is there freedom of choice?” They tried to define the concept of choice and reached the conclusion that only a limited freedom of choice in society is given to those who have a developed personality.
But among themselves, they understood that freedom of choice is always limited by our inability to control the future, because there is always the possibility that we could be run over by a truck, catch a fatal illness, or go into a coma. Of course, we can ignore such examples of the absence of freedom of choice, but that would not make life any easier. The evolution of genetics hasn’t improved our situation either, but only strengthened the feeling that we are in a closed compartment, surrounded by chains of genes from which we can never escape.
Freedom of Choice through Accelerating Your Development
And then comes the wisdom of Kabbalah, which Kabbalists regard as the last stage of the development of science, and we find that not only are we chained by our biological genes, but we are programmed throughout many lifetimes with a long and consistent chain of Reshimot that is set in the mind, the heart, and the soul throughout all time, and that is what determines our lives.
But besides describing all that Kabbalah also tells us that we have freedom of choice in accelerating the surfacing of the chain of Reshimot.
By using our freedom of choice, we find that the self-acceleration of our progress brings us a wonderful outcome: If we want to realize our desires to attain the Creator by ourselves, we precede the pains and the natural pace of the surfacing of the Reshimot and become free from the Reshimot as though we escaped the pains.
How to Become Free of External Influences
And not only do we precede the surfacing of the Reshimot and the pains, we become like a horse running faster than the flogging of the rider’s whip. It is not that we awaken the reshi- mot before they awaken naturally in us, but we begin to be free of any outside pressure or influence. We act not under the influence of the Reshimot, but out of our own free will. That is why they say that Israel is above the stars and fortunes. A person who advances independently toward the Creator, who is called Israel (Yashar, directly; El, Creator), is not influenced by providence from above, for he or she leads the world independently, by preceding the instructions of the Creator.
Thus, by preceding the Reshimot, we not only accelerate the process of advancement, we become leaders. When we precede providence, even before we know what it is and before the surfacing of the Reshimot, we create the advancement and become completely independent and free. We feel ourselves above the entire universe, equal to the Creator.
What Attaining True Independence Entails
The Creator created everything—worlds, Partzufim, Sefirot, and people—yet all those things are not regarded as creations. The term creation relates exclusively to something that begins to express an independent will. People who live in our world and perform actions are not regarded as creatures in the full sense of the word; only one who has an independent desire for the Creator can be called a creature.
A person who comes to study Kabbalah was brought to it from above. Only later, when the first independent desire for spirituality appears in that person, will he or she be called a “creature.” That desire surfaces in us when we cross the barrier and stand at the lowest point in the spiritual world, called the conception of the soul. At this point a soul is called an “embryo” in a body of a spiritual Partzuf called Ima (mother). Kabbalists are regarded as creatures, each according to his or her own degree, because they possess such an independent desire.
Why Intention Is so Important for Your Development
People who do not possess that independent desire remain as “robots,” messengers of the Creator. To them, there are no rewards or punishments, they haven’t any choice, and they are led entirely by the Creator. The Creator gradually pushes them to accumulate pains that stem from their desire to enjoy only for themselves, from the egoism in which they were created. The experiences of pains they gather will force them to understand that egoism is bad and will prompt them to choose spirituality, with the help of the Creator.
The character has no bearing on the spiritual level of a person. Any act can be spiritual or egoistic, depending on the direction we give to our desires. What matters is not the act itself, but the intent that goes with it.
“How to Attain Freedom of Choice” is based on the book, Awakening to Kabbalah: The Guiding Light of Spiritual Fulfillment by Dr. Michael Laitman.
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