If a person does not devote his life to pursuing any path, either he wastes himself on many different searches and ends his life with nothing, or he lives like an animal without any search for a purpose. All this is determined not by him, but by his desire.

I do not imagine myself pursuing wealth, power, or fame. After all, these things end along with my life. Why do this? I am already over seventy years old. Okay, let us say I will have another ten years. So what is next? Then nothing and that’s it, it’s over. So what should I do in these ten years?

Comment: Work in a garden, grow flowers, watch TV.

My Response: Yes, yes, also children, grandchildren… I’m not against it. Kabbalah obliges a person to take part in everyday life, but the purpose of life should still guide us forward.

Comment: There is a classic notion, I will have my children there to give me a glass of water in my old age.

My Response: What difference does this make in how I die? What is next if my children will bring water to me or not in old age? This is where everything ends. Let’s say I have a special five-star nursing home. Nurses and caretakers will be around me, pampering me like a small child. They will wipe and bottle-feed me until I happily fall asleep in their arms, soothed by eternal restful sleep. Is that it? Why did I live my life?

Today, a person only thinks about his life and its end, hoping to live out his last years more comfortably. There’s nothing to talk about here.

But the fact is that people who come to study Kabbalah understand that if they do not find the purpose of life, then this life is of no use to them; it would be better if it did not exist.
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From KabTV’s “I got a call, To Believe a Kabbalist” 1/28/10

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