Two Opposing Forces: Egoism and Altruism

The entire creation is built on the interaction between two opposite forces: egoism, the desire to receive pleasure, and altruism, the desire to please. The path of gradual correction is the experience of transforming our egoistic desires into the opposite desires, and this path is built by combining the two forces.

Gradually, small quantities of egoistic desires merge with the altruistic desires and are thereby corrected. This method of transforming our nature is known as “the work in three lines.” The right line is called “the white line” because it contains no faults or defects.

After we have gained possession of the right line, we can obtain the greatest part of the left line, the so-called “red line,” which contains our egoism. There is a prohibition against the use of egoism in spiritual actions, since it is possible for us to fall under its influence.

The Middle Line in Spiritual Work

The impure forces/desires strive to receive the Light of Wisdom, Ohr Hochma, for their own sake, to perceive the Creator and to indulge in self-gratification, using these perceptions to satisfy egoistic desires. If we, by virtue of faith above reason, (by striving to receive, but not into our egoistic desires), refuse the possibility of perceiving the Creator, His actions, and His domain, and refuse the gratification from His Light; if we decide to go beyond our natural aspirations to know and to experience everything, to get prior knowledge of everything, to know what reward we will receive for our actions; then we will no longer be bound by the prohibition of using the left line.

When we choose this course, it is called “the creation of a shadow,” because we are isolating ourselves from the Light of the Creator. In this case, we have the option of taking a small part of our left desires and connecting them with the right.

The resulting combination of strengths and desires is known as “the middle line.” It is precisely in this line that the Creator reveals Himself. Subsequently, this whole process repeats itself on a higher spiritual level, and so on, until the end of the path.

The Selfless Desire to Serve the Creator

The difference between hired help and a slave is that in the process of working, the hired help thinks of the reward that will be received for the work; the size of the reward is known, and it serves as the reason for that person’s work. The slave, on the other hand, does not receive any reward, but only the bare necessities for survival. A slave owns nothing; the master owns all. Therefore, if a slave works hard, it indicates the slave’s desire to please the master, to do something nice for him.

Our goal is to feel towards our spiritual work the way a slave does who works without any reward.

Our spiritual journey should not be influenced by any fear of punishment or any anticipation of reward, but only by a selfless desire to carry out the Will of the Creator.

Moreover, we should not even anticipate perceiving Him as the result, because that, too, is a form of reward. We should carry out His Will without wanting Him to know that we did it for His sake, without even thinking that anything special has actually been done for His sake, without seeing the results of our work, but only having faith that the Creator is pleased with us.

If our work should truly be as described above, then we should eliminate notions of reward and punishment completely from consideration.

“Unlocking the Secret of Spiritual Advancement” is based on the book, Attaining the Worlds Beyond by Dr. Michael Laitman.