The Last Disappointment Before A Joyous Encounter

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen the Creator sends us suffering, it is His way of giving us clues that we will be unable to receive pleasure directly. After all, the purpose of creation was to make man equal to the Creator, as perfect as Him, and not just be a simple receiver!

Only those who pertain to the still, vegetative, and the animate levels simply receive from Him nothing more than what they need “for life.” But man, Adam, means “similar to the Creator” (Dome). Hence, the still, vegetative, and animal levels simply live their lives, and all the suffering they sometimes experience is the fault of man who does not carry out his purpose.

As to man, he always suffers…. He is unable to fulfill himself, and his entire development is the constant growth of the desire to receive pleasure, which keeps becoming bigger and clearer, forcing man to constantly pursue new types of fulfillment.

He constantly hopes that he is about to receive fulfillment, but every time he is left with nothing. And at the end he becomes completely disappointed and suddenly understands that he is no longer able to continue the same way! He stops believing that he is able to achieve anything in this life with its egoistic approach and constant pursuit of pleasure.

All of this was arranged ahead of time, with the intention to have man turn around and, instead of searching for a way to fulfill his desire, to start looking for a way to acquire the form of the Light, the form of the Host, that is, instead of wanting to receive Light itself, for him to want to acquire its qualities—the qualities of the Creator.

But the form of the Host, the form of the giver, must clothe in the desire of the creature. And for this reason, the aspiration to bestow, this bestowing form which dresses itself in the desire to receive pleasure, is called the “screen” and the “Reflected Light.” This is the new, non-egoistic approach man must come to once he completely becomes disappointed in his ability to fulfill himself egoistically.

For this he needs to change his entire approach to life, and instead of pursuing pleasure, to start pursuing the Creator’s image, which would dress into him. In this case, the desire to receive pleasure, which has restricted its egoism and armed itself with a screen and the Reflected Light, will acquire the same form as the Creator, the desire to bestow. And then the upper Light will robe itself in the egoistic desire in the form of bestowal on man’s part, directed back to the Creator.

There, inside this desire to receive pleasure, inside man himself, their encounter will take place—the encounter of man and the Creator. And this is why the Creator is named “Boreh” (“come and see”). After all, you reveal Him within you and nowhere else.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 20

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Remoteness from the Creator is the Reason for All Suffering

If a person from Israel degrades the virtue of the internality of the Torah, which deals with the correction of the souls, with regard to the advantage of the externality of the Torah, which deals only with the mechanical observance of rituals, by that one degrades the children of Israel and enhances the Nations of the World over them, which will regard Israel as superfluous, as though the world has no need for them. Furthermore, one evokes the strengthening of the destructors of the world, which leads to pogroms and wars.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69

The Light of love will not awaken in the world before Israel starts engaging in the Torah for the sake of correction and not reward. Thus, the length of the exile and afflictions depends on our decision to correct ourselves. Then the Light of love will immediately awaken, and we will be granted complete redemption [from egoism].
Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 36
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Shamati #117 You Labored and Did Not Find, Do Not Believe
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 1 Table of Answers for Topics,” Item 59, Lesson 37
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 23, Lesson 16
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Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 17, Lesson 12
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