A question I received: How can we come to feel shame and make a restriction on our ego?

My Answer: Shame is a very exalted sensation, which does not come at the beginning of our path. This shame is with respect to the Creator, the Giver. It is precisely because He is the Giver and I am the receiver.

In our world we always restrict our reception in order to avoid feeling shame. We must justify receiving; we are compelled to preserve the feeling of self-dignity as our “I” is even more important than life itself. In fact, we are prepared to die if doing so would stave off humiliation. This is the basis of our nature. People are willing to face death in order to bolster their “I,” their self-esteem.

Shame is when I feel my “I” annul and disappear. If I lose my desire and fulfillment, I don’t feel that I cease to exist. A person dies and doesn’t feel that he completely disappears from reality. He only feels that he loses some part of himself as if shedding something from his past.

However, when the sensation of shame comes to me, it cancels my spiritual existence. It is a kind of inner feeling as though nothing of me remains. It is above our life and death, that is how deep it is. And it is impossible to withstand. Man is willing to commit suicide in order to save the point of his “I.” The body is merely an animal, and we’re not particularly afraid of losing it. We see how people risk their lives.

The Creator continuously plays a game with us by consistently and methodically offending the point of our “I,” and we are left without a choice but to take measures so as to preserve our individuality. The feeling that I must rise above this life, above death, helps me to acquire a second nature. I am prepared to accept it. I am told to bestow, and I am willing to do it. Do I need to lose myself as of today? Sure, I am ready! As long as the point of my “I” is preserved.

This sensation can only be granted by the Light that Reforms. The Light affects us and awakens in us this point that lies at our very core, the initial point called “Esh Mi Ayin” (created from nothing – existence from absence). This is not the material of the desire to enjoy, but something even deeper.

The only way to attain it is through the study of Kabbalah in a Kabbalistic group. In the group we endeavor to build a model of spiritual unity similar to what exists in the World of Infinity. By studying in the conditions of this unity, we draw the Light that elevates us to that very state. There are no other means besides the group and the study in the group.

Shame is a terrible sensation, but it is precisely shame which brings us salvation.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Morning Lesson 5/14/10, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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