In Kabbalah, the masses are known as the “homeowners” (ba’al bait), because they aspire to build their own house (an egoistic vessel, kli) and fill it with pleasure. The desires of one who is ascending spiritually stem from the Light of the Creator, and focus on the task of building a home for the Creator in one’s heart, in order for it to be filled with the Light of the Creator.
How can a human being—who was created with the qualities of absolute egoism; who feels no desires save those dictated by the body; who cannot even imagine anything outside of one’s own perceptions—how can a human being proceed beyond the desires of the body and grasp something that exists outside the realm of one’s natural sensory organs?
Spiritual, altruistic fear, like all other anti-egoistic qualities of spiritual objects, is completely unlike any of our qualities or perceptions. “Fear of the Creator” is the fear of being pushed away from the Creator. This arises not from calculations of selfish benefit, nor from fear of being left with egoism, nor from fear of becoming similar to the Creator. All of these are based on notions of personal benefit and take into consideration only one’s own state.
The Light of the Creator fills all of creation. Although we swim inside this Light, we cannot perceive it. The pleasures that we feel are but tiny rays, which, with the Creator’s mercy, reach us; since without any pleasure we would end our existence.
We feel these rays as forces that attract us to certain objects, into which the rays enter. The objects themselves are of no consequence, which becomes evident to us when, at some point, we stop being interested in things that once posed a great attraction to us.
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.
Welcome to the official Kabbalah Blog of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute: http://kabbalah.info. Here you will find all the latest Kabbalah articles, videos, audio, news, features, Kabbalah books and Bnei Baruch website updates and content additions.
Copyright © 2024