Everything That Happens To Us Is Meant To Guide Us To Kabbalah

soul and bodyA question I received: I have been studying Kabbalah for a few months, since Winter 2009, first with the Learning Center via the Internet, and now going to your morning lesson, reading the texts and being part of the Kabbalah group. My question is about your blog post, “We Are Brought to Perfection Through The Cure Of Absolute Kindness.”

I was a ballet dancer in a company, and a childhood competitive gymnast. I have had many physical injuries, including foot, knee, and an achilles tendon injury and a serious back injury that finally necessitated three surgeries and a spinal fusion.

For the last three years I was on opioid pain medication. In the last six months I have been able to stop using the very strong medication and now only use over-the counter medication. However, I do use the medication every day, as without it, I still am in pain all the time.

Tell me if I am right or wrong. It seems as if I have had to suffer these incessant blows in order to come to the eventual realization that everything has been done in absolute kindness to bring me to my destiny, and by studying Kabbalah, this will calm me down, be my painkiller and I will no longer have pain of any kind. Meaning I will not need to take any more pain medication.

Should I be trying to stop even the over-the-counter medication? Does this mean I may expect eventual, hopefully soon, release from this pain?

My Answer: Everything that has happened until now took place so that you would come to Kabbalah!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Our Greatest Asset Is Everything We’ve Gone Through
Laitman.com post: Kabbalah Gives Humanity The Opportunity To Live In Total Harmony
Laitman.com Post: We Can Change Our Destiny
Spiritual Search: “How to Relate to Suffering in Life”- Talks
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: 34.”Suffering Sent As Absolute Kindness”
Video: Kabbalah on Suffering (0.59)

The Notions Described In The Torah Represent Spiritual Actions

relative The revelation of the Creator happens in the Light of Hochma. The Light of Hassadim, bestowal for the sake of bestowal, is simply a preparation for the soul to receive the Light. We cross Machsom, attain the property of bestowal (the intention of “for the sake of bestowal” – the property of Bina) and remain in this state during the period of correction “40 years in the desert,” until we finally reach correction by filling our desires with the Light of Hassadim.

Later on we begin to “receive for the sake of giving.” We “step into the Land of Israel,” where the word “Eretz” means “land” and is derived from the word “Ratzon” – desire, and Isra-el stands for “directly to the Creator.” We use our desire to receive for the sake of bestowal by revealing the Creator (the Light of Hochma in the Light of Hassadim). This is why it is written that the Creator reveals himself only in the “Land of Israel” (the desire to give), and the exodus from Israel is called banishment or exile (from giving and spirituality).

Between the words “exile” (Golah) and “redemption” (Geula) there is only one letter that differs, “Alef,” which stands for the Creator (the First and the Only One in the world). “The Land of Israel” is a desire in which we receive for the sake of giving. Those desires through which we are not able to receive and reveal the Creator, which serve only to give for the sake of bestowal, signify that we are not yet in the Land of Israel, but are close to it.

This is why Kabbalah describes various areas as circles around the Land of Israel. We gradually distance ourselves from Babylon and conquer the Land of Israel by correcting our desires step by step. However, we are dealing with the same desire, a desire which stays constant, with only our attitude changing.

We leave Babylon, arrive in Egypt and then leave Egypt as we pass through various desires with self-serving intentions. We agree to restrict these desires, which means crossing the Ultimate Sea.

We are ready to rise above our egoism, above the mountain of Sinai (the mountain of hatred) and connect with unfamiliar desires (“Love your neighbor as thyself.”) It’s not that we acquire the same desires as our neighbor, but rather we turn our own desires inside out like a glove, making their aim “for the sake of our neighbor” instead of ourselves.

Later we become ready to receive pleasure through those desires, yet not for our own sake as before, but for the sake of bestowal, for the sake of our neighbor. The desires of others become more important to us than our own, giving us an  “indirect” fulfillment of our desires as opposed to “direct” fulfillment.

It follows that all the notions described in the Torah – such as Egypt, Mount Sinai, 40 years in the Sinai desert, and the Land of Israel – stand for spiritual actions inside of the same desire. The only thing that changes is our attitude toward the way we implement our desires. Then, what we thought was geography and history becomes an internal portrait.

Gradually we will come to the correct outlook and will be taken aback, asking ourselves, “How could we have been so wrong as to think that the Torah taught us about external historic events and geography?” We won’t even believe that we used to see the Torah as a historical novel. It will become so natural for us to understand that it speaks of human desires through which we attain spirituality. The only thing outside of us is Olam HaMedumeh – a world of illusions.

To Be Immersed In An Ocean Of Goodness

light A developed person differs from others in that he is willing to endure great suffering for a long period of time in order to reach a goal that is great and therefore requires a great amount of effort and time to achieve. A person’s level of development is determined by how much effort and time he is willing to put into meriting a reward, due to the fact that he is able to imagine a goal worthy of such effort.

We see in our world that there are people who live and make money “as it comes” – by chance. In the morning a person leaves his house, finds a job that will make him enough money to feed himself for that day, and then he comes home. I once had a neighbor who used to say, “I have fifty bucks for today and that’s enough. My family and I are going to the beach. We have enough money to buy sandwiches all day, so we can sit back and relax.” I was surprised and asked, “But what about tomorrow?” He replies simply, “I have enough for today!” This was his attitude to life.

Meanwhile, another person leaves his house concerned. You ask him, “Did something happen? Do you not have money to feed your family?” He replies, “No, everything is fine.” So you ask him, “What’s the matter?” He then begins to tell you about problems in the “world,” or about something that may happen in several years’ time.  If you suggest to him to go  to the beach with his family and relax, he would not be unable to block these worrisome thoughts even there.

The more developed a person, the greater his area of concern, the greater his goal, and the more he is willing to suffer in order to reach the goal. It is the same with regard to spirituality because a person who will reach the spiritual goal is one who is willing to bear much suffering, put forth effort and wait years in spite of his inner criticism and disagreement with the path itself.

The only thing a person needs is the sensation that he is heading toward this goal, even if he doesn’t know when he will reach it – immediately or an infinite time into the future. If we feel this way, it means that we have corrected our Kelim. If our goal is to reach bestowal, then we don’t ask about the reward.

We have to feel that we don’t demand anything except this goal and that it doesn’t matter when we will receive it or even if we will receive it at all. If we feel this way, it means that we already exist within it! This is the method for a person to enter the spiritual world, and there to experiences perfection, to feel immersed in an ocean of goodness.