The Feeling of Remoteness from Spirituality

Not a single creation can avoid the predestined goal—to begin yearning for spiritual qualities. But what should be done by a person who feels a lack of sufficient desire to part with the pleasures of this world? How can one deal with the idea of parting with relatives, family, and the entire world so full of life and of small delights, with all that the egoistic desires so vividly paint in that person’s mind? What should one do if, even while asking for the Creator’s help, one does not truly wish the Creator to hear and grant this plea?

To help and support those in this position requires special preparation and the realization how vital it is to acquire altruistic qualities. Such a realization develops gradually as one realizes how remote one is from the spiritual joys and inner peace that attract that person from afar.

This can be likened to a host who must appease the appetite of his guests with appetizers so they will enjoy the meal that lies in store for them. Without first being prepared for the meal, the guests will never experience true delight from it, no matter how delicious or plentiful it may be. This approach is also effective in arousing an appetite for such unnatural and unfamiliar delights, such as receiving pleasure from altruism.

Ready to Receive the Creator’s Help?

Our need for closeness with the Creator is gradually born in us when under the influence of our efforts inspired during times of extreme remoteness from spiritual redemption. These include times of severe deprivation and darkness, when we need the Creator for personal salvation, so that the Creator delivers us from the hopeless situations in which He placed us.

If we are truly in need of the Creator’s help, then this can be considered as the sign that we are ready to receive this help, since we have developed an “appetite” for accepting the pleasures prepared for us by the Creator.

The degree to which we have experienced suffering will parallel the degree to which we will be able to receive pleasure. However, if we must go through suffering, and receive joy from Above to the same degree that we have suffered, then this is the path of suffering, not the path of Kabbalah.

Salvation and the Power of Prayer

In addition, a question arises: is there really a need to ask the Creator for anything at all? Maybe one should experience suffering to the point that the body desires complete redemption and cries out to the Creator with such strength that He will save it.

The answer is simple: a prayer, even if does not spring from the depths of one’s heart, still prepares the individual for salvation.
In a prayer, we promise the Creator that after we receive spiritual strength, we will concentrate all our efforts on returning the spiritual aspirations that are presently lacking. In this lies the great power of the prayer.

The Creator accepts a plea of this kind, and as a result, we will advance by the path of Kabbalah, rather than by the path of suffering. For this reason, we should never agree to the path of suffering, even if we are certain that the suffering is being sent by the Creator; and even if we firmly believe that everything that is sent by the Creator is sent for our benefit.

The Creator does not want us to passively accept suffering. On the contrary, He expects us to prevent suffering, to avoid the condition in which He must push us from behind by suffering. He wants us to strive by ourselves through the means of faith, and ask for this opportunity to move forward.

“How to Boost Your Desire for Spirituality Today” is based on the book, Attaining the Worlds Beyond by Dr. Michael Laitman.