All our actions in this world are carried out by command from above, except for those in which we are free. My freedom of will lies only in rising upward, that is, in correcting the soul to resemble the Creator.

Everything else in me and around me is dictated from Above by the laws of the higher world. If I have no freewill in anything earthly, if everything is dictated from above, then there is neither punishment nor reward for any earthly deeds! After all, I didn’t do any of it, it was done through me from above.

Therefore, it is said that we are all like animals, until we become similar to the Creator. To the extent that we resemble Him, we are called “Adam” — “similar” (Domeh in Hebrew).

Similarity to the Creator begins with a tiny desire, a yearning toward Him, called “the point in the heart.” If it exists, if it has revealed itself, a person will inevitably come to Kabbalah; it will lead him there.

The point in the heart is like a drop of semen from which you develop. But the spiritual body, the soul, can be developed only through one’s own efforts. In this lies our only freedom of will (see Baal HaSulam’s article “Freedom of Will”).

Push the whole world into the background and begin to develop it, raise yourself into the higher system. Be ready to give up everything just to remain there.

This is the only choice, the only action that can be recorded to your credit. The reward is life within the soul!
[5628]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/09, Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book From the Mouth of a Sage“

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