Question: When raising a child, adults mostly use tenderness in an attempt to encourage and support the child in any way they can. Why do I get a feeling that the Creator educates us more with a stick than a carrot?

Answer: That is called: "Every person judges according to their own flaws." But when you reveal His attitude towards us, you will see with what infinite mercy He has acted. Looking with our egoistic eyes, we can’t see and understand it.

Even if you get a complete, one hundred percent fulfillment today, the next instant, when new informational genes (Reshimot) emerge, you will feel as though you have nothing and ask: "Well, where is He who created me? Why doesn’t He fill me?!"

From the ego’s point of view, it’s a fair claim. If He’s created the desire to enjoy, He probably should fill it with pleasure, shouldn’t He? We just don’t take into account that He wants to fill us with pleasure on another, much higher level, and to achieve that, we must first become like Him. Being on our level, it’s impossible to justify the actions of the Creator. Therefore, the stage of the righteous begins from Bina and above.

Because we constantly feel that our ego is being beaten, we have the ability to proceed by faith above reason. Only by being submerged in never ending problems and doubts are we able to break away from our ego. Had the Creator always filled me with pleasure, I would have been running like a thief in front of the crowd, screaming louder than the rest: "Stop the thief!"

Next, I would be singing praise from dawn to dusk: "Hail to the Creator, the Good, and Who Doeth good!" I would thank Him for His generosity to my egoism.

We, however, need to rise above these empty desires. They are not just empty, but have a huge "minus" sign of great suffering. If a person is able to rise above such sensation and start to bestow, that means he is making a restriction (Tzimtzum) and a screen over his ego.

Moreover, if in addition to that he is able to receive pleasure, but not for himself, agreeing to remain empty inside while being filled only in order to bestow to the Creator, then he is called a complete righteous.
[30617]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World”

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