The Four Sons

Laitman_003.jpgQuestion: What are the four sons that the Passover Haggadah refers to: one wise, one wicked, one simple, and one who does not know how to ask a question?

Answer: All the four sons contemplate the same question: “How can we rise above our egoism?” The wise son philosophizes and says that these laws can be interpreted in one way or another, but there is no solution that would allow us to get out of Egypt, that is, to rise above our egoism.

The wicked son says: “But why do we need to rise above it?” He does not want to do this at all and asks: “What is the use of this work against egoism? Leave me alone, I’m fine.” Therefore, in our eyes, he is wicked because he does not wish to rise above his current state, although it is bad. He takes everything as it is and does not want to come out of Egypt.

The simple son says that these laws are not understandable and it is not clear why we came out of Egypt. He is not aware that he is in bondage and how to rise out of this slavery.

We are sitting around the holiday table. One feels like the wise son, the other as the simple one, and the third one as the wicked one, and the fourth is like the one who does not know how to ask a question. And this fourth son, who does not know how to ask, needs to say that day: “This is in honor of the fact of what the Creator has done for us, taking us out of Egypt.”

This son does not know how to ask, not because he is stupid, abstruse, or wicked. He realizes that there is something, some kind of way to get out of our nature that we cannot perceive and recognize.

All the guests at the table are also wondering: “Where do we need to exit to and why? Where have you seen that you can get rid of your ego? This does not exist in nature.” Everyone is asking these questions, the wise, the simple, and the wicked.

But he who does not know how to ask does not ask questions, knowing that there is a secret hiding about which nothing can be asked because it is completely inaccessible to us. There is something beyond our lives, beyond our egoism, in whose hands we are found.

There is a reason we were created and exist in this miserable way. But it is not clear what can be done with it; we cannot see the exit. Therefore, it is said that it is necessary for it to be explained. Indeed, if a person develops to such a state when he has nothing to say to justify his egoism, then he finds a solution.

Everyone has eventually become the son who does not know how to ask questions. These are the four stages of human development. Each of us is on his stage of development and thus may recognize himself in one of the four sons according to the question he asks.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/31/15

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One Comment

  1. Can one become spiritually irrelevant? How would one know?

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