Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 161

What Should We Do in the Next Moment?

In the next moment, we must unite more deeply with our sensations, further sharpen our senses, and develop greater inner acuity in our contact with the Creator. This search, this connection, this discovery of contact, is given to us by increasing the illumination upon us. That is the reward.

We need to understand that advancement toward the final correction, even though it includes various states of alternating light and darkness, is itself the reward. When we are given a deficiency and the ability to realize that deficiency, that is our reward. How could it be anything other than reward?

Punishment is when we feel abandoned, when we feel as though we are not being attended to, as if we are in suspension. There is no greater punishment. “Why have You forsaken me?” That feeling itself is the punishment.

Kabbalists are people who yearn for Godliness, and who are indeed, as it is written, “Jews,” meaning from the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How was Abraham different from the other nations? It is that he was a Kabbalist. In that he recognized his Creator and wished to unite with Him, he differed from his Persian neighbors.

To clarify, the Israeli nation is not unique by biological genes, but because it is a group of Kabbalists that separated from the Persian people. Therefore they called themselves “Jews” (Yehudim) or “Hebrews” (Ivrim). “Jews” because they seek unification (Yichud), and “Hebrews” because they cross over (Laavor) the barrier (Machsom) between our world and the spiritual world. That is our nation. When we fall from the degree of Kabbalists, we become called “gentiles.”

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 160
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 159
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 158

Filed under: Talks about the Steps of the Ladder | Add Comment →