The Peace (Baal HaSulam)

Baal HaSulamThe very essence of the spiritual law is the love of others. In practical terms, it can be defined as “giving to others” so as to remember the intention.

The Necessity of Caution with the Laws of Nature

The safekeeping of creation extends from the Creator, who undoubtedly has purpose in His actions. Thus, one who breaches any of nature’s laws corrupts the goal, which is built over all of nature’s laws, put together. Hence, nature will punish him.

It makes no difference whether the supervisor is called “nature,” meaning mindless and purposeless, or is wise, knowing, sensitive, and whose actions are purposeful. In the end, we are obliged to keep the laws of Providence, i.e. the laws of nature. Moreover, we all admit that one who breaches the commandments of Providence – nature’s laws – should be punished.

Providence demands that we keep the law of giving to others in a way that each of us will work in the full measure required to guarantee the success of society. As long as we are idle in keeping this law in the fullest measure, nature will continue to punish us. And besides the blows we suffer today, we should consider the drawn sword for the future. We should draw the right conclusion: nature will eventually defeat us and we will all be forced to obey its laws in the fullest required measure.

The Wheel of Transformation

Although we see that bodies change from generation to generation, it is only so with bodies. The souls – the very essence of the body – do not disappear. Instead, they move from one body to the next, and from one generation to the next.

Thus, the souls of the generation of the flood came in the generation of Babel, and so on through our generation, and onwards through the end of correction. Hence, there are no new souls, but a number of souls that reincarnate and dress in new bodies each generation.

All the generations, from the beginning of creation to the end of correction, are as one generation that has extended its life over several millennia, until it evolved and became as corrected as it should be. It is completely unimportant that each of them has changed their bodies thousands of times; the soul did not suffer at all from these changes.

The Law of Evolution

Humanity’s corrupt conduct is the very cause of the good states. Put differently, any good state is a result of the bad state that preceded it.

Values of good and bad are not judged with respect to the state in and of itself, but with respect to the common goal. Thus, every state that promotes humanity towards the goal is considered “good,” and that which removes it from the goal is called “bad.”

The lifespan of every state is only the time it takes to intensify the bad in it to an extent that the public can no longer tolerate being in it. At that time, the public must rise up to it, destroy it, and reorganize itself in a better state for the correction of that generation.

Thus, the states emerge consecutively until they arrive at such a corrected state that will not have a shred of bad in it.

Using the wisdom of Kabbalah unveils a force that pulls toward the purpose of creation. In that state, one is drawn to it willingly, lovingly, and without pain and suffering.

Scientists know that a person will not make even the slightest movement without a motivating force, without benefiting himself. For example, if one moves one’s hand from the chair to the table, it is because one believes that placing the hand on the table will give him greater pleasure. Had he not believed so, he would leave his hand resting on the chair for the rest of his life.

There is no cure for humanity except in taking upon themselves the law of Providence: “Giving to one’s fellow person, in order to give to the Creator.”

The measure of giving to others should be no less than the inherent measure in us to care for our own needs. Moreover, the needs of the others should come before our own needs.

Love of the Creator must be the prevailing goal during one’s work for others. In other words, one should labor only to achieve the love of the Creator.

As long as there is self-love among the nations, even those who want to obtain the love of the Creator will not be able to achieve it to the fullest. This is because they will not be able to fully implement the love of man.

Related Material:
* ARTICLE: The Peace – English translation of Baal HaSulam’s article “The Peace”
* LESSON: The Peace – Transcript of a lesson on the article “The Peace” (M. Laitman, 02-08-2005)

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