Question: Suppose a person has endured a serious illness, suffered greatly, and then recovered. Does this mean that he has drawn closer to the Creator?

Answer: In principle, by experiencing such suffering, a person begins to take his state and his capabilities more seriously.

But no one draws closer to the Creator through suffering, this is an incorrect method. He has absolutely no need for our suffering. On the contrary, the Creator wants a person to be in joy from the fact that He created the world, created man within it, and gave him the possibility to draw closer to Him.

Therefore, under no circumstances should one submit to suffering. This is an incorrect attitude both toward the Creator and toward life. We must try at all times to feel ourselves within the benevolent field of the Creator. The sufferings we have endured should teach us not to enter such situations again.

Question: But if, as a result of suffering, a person comes to the question, “What am I living for?” Is that getting closer to the Creator?

Answer: This is simply a question that should bring him into a special state in which he clearly clarifies what he lives for.

But under no circumstances should one sink into self-torment, because it distances us from the Creator. It may seem to a person that through suffering he becomes purer. This is incorrect. In Kabbalah there is no such view. It is quite possible that many religions welcome this, but under no circumstances does Kabbalah.

Suffering has never purified a person from egoism, nor has it given one the ability to rise above the ego. On the contrary, it pushes him away from using egoism only because he fears suffering. But this is not a correction.

Suffering merely pushes us toward a more correct decision. We must draw the correct conclusion and act as required.
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From Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 1/26/20

Related Material:
Unnecessary Sufferings
Suffering is the Absence of Light
We Don’t Need to Suffer

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