Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 190

If Love of Friends Is a Means to Reach the Creator, How Do We Check That the Goal Has Not Been Replaced by the Means?

In a case where we forget that we acquired love of friends in order to draw closer to the Creator, but our general thinking is still directed at the goal, the goal can be recalled through simple means such as shouting the word “goal” or through some reminder from another person. Even at our degree this works.

Forgetting the goal is a result of concealment. Of course, we need to rely on others in order to remember, and whoever remembers should remind everyone. However, in principle it is impossible to remember spirituality if it is not illuminating for you. In such a case, even if you write reminders on all the walls, you will not see what you have written. If our will to receive is not directed at it, we will not see it. This is how we are built. How is it that we do not see spirituality? Our will to receive cannot feel it when it is not directed at it. The same applies to every feeling and every other thing in life.

Therefore, even in such a state, when we do not remember the purpose of creation, various actions that we perform will later combine with thoughts and intentions that we carry out at another time. This is why we exist in this world, which is a degree in which the reality of time exists. In spirituality, the moment we do something, if we are in adhesion and act according to it, that is considered an action. If we are not in adhesion at that moment, it is not called “spirituality” and not considered an action. However, in this world every effort can later connect with every thought and operate together. This is the special wonder that exists in this low degree called “this world.”

Baal HaSulam writes about this in “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: a student who is with their teacher is not constantly in adhesion with him, but if they serve him a cup of tea and only later think that by serving the tea they wished to connect to spirituality, the thought and the action will work together as if they had indeed served the teacher the cup of tea for the sake of connection. That is, time works in our favor. Time connects all the efforts, everything that we are not able to connect. Through this, we ascend the degrees.

When we are constantly in the company of a great person, very close to them, it is very difficult to maintain a correct attitude. Naturally, we will suddenly feel contempt, a lack of desire, we do not feel like it, and we grow tired of learning from them. This is natural because since we see a body, that is, we see no difference between ourselves and the great person, while the inner essence is concealed. Therefore, Baal HaSulam says that even if we do things because we feel some necessity, human obligation, or discomfort if we do not do them, and afterward attach spiritual reasons to our actions, such as the desire to reach spirituality through them, even later, when we are no longer close to the teacher and it becomes easier to think about it, the thought and the action join together. The same is true with friends. Of utmost importance is to act, so that the future thought will have something to dress itself in.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 189
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 188
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 187

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