Each of us possesses all kinds of qualities. Some seem good to us, others bad; we agree with some and disagree with others.

Many of our traits are unknown even to us. We discover them within ourselves and are horrified, or, on the contrary, perhaps we feel pleased by what we uncover. We have qualities that we conceal from ourselves; we are ashamed that they exist in us, so we hide them deep inside.

We also present ourselves to ourselves in a certain way. A complete revelation of ourselves could cause such suffering that a person simply would not be able to continue existing. Therefore, we constantly maintain ourselves in a false but comfortable state.

But suppose we imagine what our nature truly means; we are horrified; what next? Are we even capable of correcting ourselves?

An ancient prayer says: “God, grant me the strength to change what I can in my life. Grant me the courage to accept what is beyond my power to change. And grant me the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.”

This is a proper, practical way of addressing life. It concerns an ordinary person: show me what I can do and I will know where I can apply my efforts; show me what I cannot do—why should I keep banging my head against a wall if I cannot change anything anyway?

In other words, let me see this, and give me the strength to work on what I can change. If only I knew correctly what I can change and what I cannot, and could relate wisely to the difference, life would already become much easier.

But this prayer speaks not merely about a peaceful, everyday level of life. It speaks about the fact that, despite everything, we must completely correct ourselves. How can we complete this?

I can say one thing: until a person begins to sense the Creator, before the Machsom, not yet in an explicit form, but as an implicit manifestation of the general plan, the common field of love permeating and guiding everything, there is no hope or possibility that anything within him will change.

But how can we correct ourselves? We cannot! Only the manifestation of the Creator can help us: the revelation of the light, the sensation of the world in which we live, and the realization that behind everything we currently perceive stands one, unique, constant, and benevolent governing force. Until we sense this, we will not want to become like it. But as soon as we do, we begin to correct ourselves to that extent.

Here we can draw a very important conclusion: A person must never think that he has to correct himself, because this is impossible. No one expects us to pull ourselves out by our own hair from the swamp in which we are trapped. Only to the extent that the Creator is revealed to us and draws us toward Him do we become corrected.

Therefore, this is the only thing we should think about and strive toward. But we should not strive toward it because “it will be good.” We should strive because we want to resemble Him, because we desire to be like Him in relation to humanity and to creation.
[361978]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 9/24/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

Related Material:
Is Acquiring New Qualities Worthwhile?
Correct Flaws in a Timely Manner
Little By Little The Creator Will Correct Us

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work | Add Comment →