Is The Soul Inside Or Outside Of Us?

clip_image001A question I received: You said that we should search inside of ourselves for everything that’s written in The Book of Zohar. However, The Zohar only talks about the correction of the soul, and we receive a soul only when we enter the spiritual world. So how can I correct something that is external, inside myself?

My Answer: That’s true. Sometimes we say that spirituality exists outside of us, where “outside of us” means “outside of our desire.” In truth, all of me is the desire to receive and to be self-fulfilled. Therefore, I say that spirituality is outside of my desire to receive pleasure.

We are not talking about distances and spaces; we are talking about qualities. With regard to the quality of reception there is no spirituality. Spirituality is outside of it. Therefore, when I say “outside of us” I mean “outside of our present desire.”

On the other hand, we say that spirituality exists inside us – much deeper than all our current desires. If I penetrate through all my momentary desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, and power – deeper and deeper within, into more internal, personal, important, eternal, and immense desires – there I find the spiritual world and a spiritual desire.

This spiritual desire is called the “point in the heart,” the innermost desire which is revealed in me now. Why is it the most intimate and greatest desire? It is so because of its elevated stature. After all, we are talking about the goal and purpose of my whole life, and about what will remain after my life. All these most intimate and deepest questions are concentrated within one point.

Kabbalists tell me: right now it is merely a point. However, when we read The Book of Zohar and “dig” within this point, we begin to reveal that there is a whole world inside it: crocodiles, houses, stars, sun, moon, people, wicked people, and righteous people.

This point begins to widen and suddenly we discover that it has within it everything that The Zohar explains to us in the most diverse styles: through the language of Kabbalah, the language of stories, in the form of a historical novel, or in the form of descriptions of laws and commandments. The entire Book of Zohar talks only about what happens within this point and expresses it in a special style every time.

Therefore, I read The Book of Zohar and really want to cognize everything it talks about inside of me. After all, Kabbalists say: there, within this point, is your eternal part. The body dies and disintegrates, and this point remains. Therefore, it pays for me to reveal it. Moreover, I am told: if you cognize this point, widen it, and begin to reveal the spiritual within it even slightly, you remain with this sensation, and there is no life and death for you.

This is because you can already begin to identify yourself with this point and you see life within it. This spiritual life seizes you and draws your attention to such an extent that all your desires and aspirations are concentrated there. And due to this, you attach importance to this corporeal life only to the extent that you can develop it more, reveal, and widen your point in the heart.

Then you suddenly begin to see how this point becomes bigger and bigger, and you reveal a whole reality within it – an inner dimension not perceived before. At first you didn’t feel that there was a point in the heart inside you, then you felt it, and now suddenly you reveal a whole world within it where you exist eternally.

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