Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 144
Why Do We Feel No Taste in Spiritual Work?
If we were to spiritually progress according to the same pattern in corporeality, we would prefer spirituality because it is better for us, or immediately afterward we would prefer corporeality, because it is better. We would thus increase both within our will to receive.
However, if we have faith in those who have already attained spiritual fulfillment, who advise us that it is worthwhile for us too, and convince ourselves that in this world we can taste only fleeting pleasures anyway, and that it is better to yearn for spirituality, we join a group engaged in Kabbalah and begin to learn from them how to be fulfilled by spirituality instead of toiling in vain chasing the pleasures of this world. We perform brainwashing on ourselves and intensify our desire for spirituality.
Does this mean we think “in order to bestow”? No, we constantly imagine that spirituality will give us something, just as all pleasures give us something. This is called growing in Lo Lishma. How do we move from Lo Lishma to Lishma? It is with a special remedy (Segula), because we cannot think for the sake of the Creator by ourselves.
We should not deceive ourselves otherwise. That is the reality. We each think only of our own benefit, and beautiful, elevated words do not change that. We are built in such a way where we think only about ourselves. Not only do we think, but we are truly programmed and structured so that our whole body, brain, hormones, discernments, every cell, and everything at all levels, from mechanical movements to biological ones, move solely in the direction of self-benefit. This is ingrained in our nature. We can say “in order to bestow,” but we will act only for our own benefit.
Therefore, only through a special remedy do we move from Lo Lishma to Lishma. The remedy was given to us by the Kabbalists in their books, and because we are engaged in what the Kabbalists wrote, and they wrote about the spiritual world, we are truly engaged in the concept of the giving of the Torah. The giving of the Torah is the means from above through which we can prepare ourselves to cross the barrier to the spiritual world.
That is, the constant growth of our desire is only one part of the picture. Our desire grows from desires for animalistic pleasures, to money, to honor, to knowledge, and finally to Godliness. But as we approach Godliness, there is a special addition: not only does one desire replace another, but the desire for Godliness needs to acquire an additional form called “in order to bestow.”
It does not matter whether a desire is positive or negative. All kinds of desires grow continuously, from the lowest state to the highest that is revealed in us. If, for instance, our soul has one ton of desire, we are shown only a part of it at a time, one gram, five grams, another ten grams, another twenty grams. It is as if each time a slightly wider opening is made in our box of desires, and we feel more and more desires.
The desires already exist within us. They are simply revealed slowly, and each time they appear as stronger and greater desires. We grow from below upward, from this world up to the end of correction, in the absolute measure of desire. However, besides this, if we want to grow beyond the specific plane called “this world,” the desire must be directed not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of the Creator.
Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 143
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 142
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 141
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Intention is a consequence of the force of Bina that exists within me and the extent to which I use it: either by using the Creator for myself or by using my nature for His sake.
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