A Deficiency Worthy Of Our Effort

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have to try hard and do our best in order to advance towards the goal of creation. After all, this road is much more than our natural development.

A Hard Nut

Nature pushes us forward and develops different desires and deficiencies in us, and we, of course, chase after and search for what we lack. What we lack are pleasures that are associated with food, sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge,

This is also how monkeys constantly take care of their needs, and their list of needs  similar to ours. In fact, we have a common lifestyle: We establish the same social hierarchy in human society; we love power, and in addition to that we love money. Nature obliges us to do so and this is how we advance.

But we haven’t advanced in any significant manner in this natural way and haven’t changed human society in any meaningful way in the last five to fifty thousand years.

If we speak about the goal of creation, however, it is about becoming similar and equal to the Creator, about adhering to Him. The Creator is a force that is opposite to our nature. We have a slight inclination to it that is tightly wrapped in a variety of “robes,” which is very subtle, covered by a shell like a nut.

To reach the goal of creation, we have to be equipped with a new deficiency not provided for by nature. This deficiency, the yearning for the goal of creation, will not grow in us by itself; we need to develop it inside us by our own efforts, of course with the help of the means we were given: a society, a method (the Torah), and the teacher.

The problem is that very few people want that, even less tend to the real search, and even less attain what is desired.

Coming Out of the Jungle

The truth is that today things are changing because we are facing global blows that threaten all of humanity. These blows have forced us to think about a new society that is not arranged according to a hierarchy or social classes that always raise those who are richer and more powerful.

Things are similarly arranged in the animate world. Generally speaking, this is the natural structure of a group, a nation, a society, humanity: the biggest baboon beats his chest and demands submission and obedience from others. We are the same: living in a general jungle divided into packs.

But the new nature, the goal of creation, demands a new organization and reformation from us; it demands that we become a circle, connected, one society. It demands new values based not even on desires for knowledge, which also give a little force, but on love and bestowal, on general mutual care.

It requires everyone to be on par with each other rather than seeking to dominate one another. In contrast to the old paradigm, the more a person exits himself further toward care for others, he can become more adapted to the real goal of our evolution, which is what we should reach.

It is time to be equipped with a new deficiency that becomes a circle, connection outside myself where I have no self interests.

The Birth of Man

But for me to flourish, something called Adam (man) needs to be revealed; there is a need for a different environment that provides me with the right examples of the new values. Where can I get the need for that? Nature doesn’t equip me with it because otherwise I would remain a baboon albeit of another kind.

However, a human being is not only a different social structure and not only equality with others. No, it is an attitude, an inclination; this relationship, mutual connection, must be conscious on my part so that I should want bestowal because of its special value. Moreover, I have no inclination for it, no power that awakens me and obliges me to want it.

Here we should somehow be equipped with a desire, with a new direction, for which we have no desire. In order to do so, there is the upper force, nature, the plan of creation that prepares an aid for me in an opposite manner so that during the process of the recognition of evil, I will still be able to understand who and what I am. And gradually, through quite difficult phases in the order of cause and effect, I will understand what deficiency I have to develop inside me in order to continue my advancement above it.

When I understand the problem I am facing in constructing a human being from the state of a baboon, I regard this new deficiency as a very valuable thing. If it is revealed in me, at least to some extent, I am very happy because this is how a human being is born that is ready to ascend above the creation.

The Exact Opposite

We have to relate to the deficiency that appears in us through the evil inclination that the Creator has created. It is called by different names: Pharaoh, Bilam, Balak, and Amalek. There are 70 names for the evil inclination, and on every level and in every state, they serve as help against opposition to the goal and enable me to advance towards it.

This help invokes an inclination, an urge in me, that is focused precisely on the goal. It helps me in a qualitative manner so that I will gradually understand how different this new goal is from my current feelings and mind. Therefore, we have to relate to all the disruptions that are invoked in us with great sensitivity.

Red Days on the Calendar

The same thing refers to all the Jewish holidays and the red days on the calendar. Rosh Hashana, Yom KippurSukkot, Simchat Torah, Tu Bishvat, Purim, Pesach, Lag Ba’omer, Shavuot, and the 9th of Av are all states along the way in which a new deficiency is revealed, a revelation of new evil that allows us to use it correctly, intentionally, and consciously.

It is revealed within us in this manner so that we will be free in our advancement towards our goal in a conscious manner, like human beings and not like baboons that nature pushes and who run ahead only by the force of the ego. We discover several forces and the balance between them.

The main thing we learn from these holidays is which special deficiencies we need to discover in order to ascend to every level that the holidays and special days represent. They require a deficiency that is focused on attaining the goal.

This deficiency stems from the human level that is external to us. If we look correctly at the problems that arise, we will discern the help against the creative force within them.
[155037]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/02/15, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
The Train Stops At Each Station On The Way To The Goal Of Creation
The Need To Be Human
Upgrading Human Psychology

Discussion | Share Feedback | Ask a question




Laitman.com Comments RSS Feed