If I feel evil forces, it means I am able to understand what good forces are, which are situated across from them. However, I am not under the influence of the good forces; I instead fall into the domain of the evil forces.

For example, I have a home, which is a good, warm, and safe place. But at night I find myself in a dark forest, where I feel scared and miserable because I have something good to compare it to. However, if I did not have a good, warm home, I would not suffer; I would simply accommodate myself to living in the forest. It would not seem dark and scary to me, but would be my regular life. In the same manner, we have gotten used to life in this world – the worst of all worlds.

This understanding should help us avoid being confused by the images that The Zohar describes. When we read about the scary characters, we have to tell ourselves that “all of this exists inside me.” These are my desires, in which I want to receive pleasure. All of these demons, spirits, and hell are right here.

We have to clearly understand this. Otherwise, we will picture all sorts of material images of hell and heaven, which are customary in religions that tell us: you are forbidden to go here, and allowed to go there. This is why Baal HaSulam created the commentary to The Book of Zohar; it was in order to help us get rid of all these made up images and to search for all of this inside of ourselves.

We are studying the inner part of the Torah, which tells us that everything is inside a person and a person is a small world. All of this is me, and there is no one except me in existence. The only thing that exists inside me is the Creator (the Light), or the opposite perception of Him. There is only He and I, and He tells me how to reveal Him from His own concealment. He purposely arranged everything this way, where as a result of my effort and my search, I would reveal Him.

By correcting my desire, I come to know Him, the One who created me in this form. By attaining the Creator, I attain myself – all of my qualities and capabilities. How do I attain this correction? I constantly ask for His help in collecting and understanding some parts of my soul. In response, He comes and reveals Himself to me, and we begin working together and uniting through this work.

This system that we work with becomes my soul, where He and I exist together. And The Zohar tells us about all of this.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar | Add Comment →