The point in the heart erases all previous values that society instilled in the individual. Everything around him that was considered good is not good enough for him. In a certain way, he resembles a child who has just been born, “a blank sheet” prepared to absorb new values from his environment inside.
Only now, for the first time in his life, contrary to everything that has happened before, the possibility opens up for him to determine for himself the new values according to which he will perform. The only possibility to do so is by choosing an environment where spiritual attainment is his supreme value.
From here it is understood why our free will is the choice of an environment.
In a society that determines that reception = pleasure, and bestowal = pain, we do not have control over our life, because it is exactly what the desire to receive tells us. There is no one who can go against those determinations.
In such a society, which is in an endless race after physical pleasures, they replace pleasure with pleasure and unconsciously run after every pleasure that the society determines.
When society says that bestowal = pleasure, a controversy is created between the desire to receive, which opposes that determination, and the values of society. It’s a good controversy, because now, the person has two options. He who was subjected like a slave to his desire to receive, is now faced with an additional possibility: prefer bestowal to reception.
That conflict creates the place of our independence, the place of free will. In that space, each one is free to express within himself, his desire to bestow.
Imagine that you receive a new car. They get on the road and start traveling. On the route, there are signs that lead to “pleasure” or “emptiness”, naturally, they only choose the paths that lead to “pleasure”. For you, it is inconceivable to visit the “void”. Also, all other cars, choose to visit the “pleasure”. No one goes into the “empty”.
After having spent years traveling after the signs of “pleasure”, they come to the conclusion that there is no real pleasure in those parts.
You are looking for a solution. But since all the vehicles on the road continue to choose the path of “pleasure”, and seeing no other way to go, they must choose just like them. You are at an impasse. In “pleasure” there is truly no pleasure, and you do not have the possibility to travel to “vacuum”.
The only way to break that deadlock is by changing the environment. If you could find an environment where other drivers are heading for “void” and explain to them that the signs pointing to “void” are an illusion, and in fact, they are headed for some wonderful, new, and special place, that there is no other the same, a place of infinite pleasure, then you too would have the option of getting there.
Because we are in an environment
The parable that sealed the previous part of the lesson illustrates very well the situation in which we find ourselves with the awakening of the point in the heart, but in everything related to the choice of environment, it can create confusion.
The parable indicates that the person must change the environment in which he finds himself and choose a new one. The truth is, and in this case it is very important to highlight it, that we do not have to change anything externally.
To choose a correct environment, we must not move our house to a new place, or disconnect in any way from the environment close to us.
Our job is to build parallel to the environment in which we live, an additional one, whose most important value is spirituality. Just as a piece of iron is attracted to a magnet, so the person who awakens the point in his heart is attracted to the environment of other people who also desire spirituality, to the right books and to the teacher, who It will guide you on how to study. This person has not yet chosen that environment and certainly does not deal with its construction; she was directed towards him without being asked. Only now, after reaching the place where he can develop, he is given the possibility to build his spiritual environment and make it grow, within his free will.
The work of building a spiritual environment is divided into two levels:
- The construction of an internal environment.
- The construction of an external environment.
As in any other field of studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, the inner work is more important than the outer work, but the outer is necessary to be successful on the inside.
First, we will describe the work we need to do in building the internal environment, and then we will describe the external work.
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, each person is, in his essence, desire
to receive, and the social group in which we find ourselves is neither more nor less than a collection of desires. Our goal in building the spiritual environment is to increase our desire for spirituality.
To the extent that our desire for spirituality is greater, we can raise the importance of the spiritual in relation to the material. The theme is that each one of us begins his spiritual journey with a point in the heart, which, as his name says, is a small point, a small desire. To enlarge it and build within ourselves the desire and importance for spirituality, we must acquire the desires of others; build within us a spiritual environment, which prefers the spiritual to the material.
It is a subtle work, which demands a lot of attention. We must locate the internal desire that guides our friends towards the spiritual path and be justly impressed by it, raising the importance of that desire above the external image that is captured by our five senses. That work is done entirely within us.
To implement it, no external action is required of us, but rather a lot of sensitivity, which is acquired by studying the wisdom of Kabbalah.
In summary: we must accumulate within ourselves a great desire for spirituality, and we build it by connecting with the desires of friends on the spiritual path.
In this way, we build the spiritual environment within ourselves, and we choose the right environment.
And there is also a job in the choice of the external environment. The increase in the desire for spirituality can also be acquired with the orderly study of the wisdom of Kabbalah, in each of the study frameworks of “Kabbalah La’am”, with reading the books of Kabbalah, watching the channel of television “Kabbalah La’am”, on the website. Both books, television and the web page are parts of our spiritual environment. And in free hours, we have the possibility to opt for them.
On the importance of choosing the environment, Baal HaSulam writes with his precise words: “Whoever makes an effort during his life, and chooses each time a better environment, is worthy of praise and reward… not for his good thoughts or actions, which arise inevitably, not by choosing them, but by their efforts to acquire a good environment for those thoughts and practices.
And this is what Rabbi Yeoshua ben Perahia said: Make yourself a teacher and buy yourself a friend. Another of the ways to build a spiritual environment is to participate in the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is written: “in the multitude of the people the King shines”.
The more abundant our spiritual environment is, the more its influence on us will increase, and in parallel, our importance for spirituality will increase. Participation in the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah as a means for spiritual advancement is exclusive to our generation, for the first time in history, the entire humanity has to begin to rise towards spirituality.
On the importance of the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah for spiritual development, we will expand later.
About life and death
At the end of the lesson, a few words about our famous friend, whose head is a skull with slit eyes, his hands hold a scythe, and he wears a turban on his head. It turns out that he is also related to free will.
To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, we will immediately begin at the end: “the Angel of death” according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, is neither more nor less than “the desire to receive.” The famous character who comes to take our lives dressed in a long robe may have a place, perhaps, in horror movies, but it does not have a place in the wisdom of Kabbalah.
“Angel”, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, is a force that with its help the Creator directs the Creation. “Life”, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, is the sensation of spirituality, and “death”, which separates us from the sensation of true life, is, as has been said, the desire to receive, or more accurately, the intention in order to receive.
What is the relationship between the intention to receive (the angel of death) and free will? The relationship is simple: our true freedom of choice is found in the exit to the freedom of the control of the intention in order to receive.
In other words, our true freedom is deliverance from the angel of death. As long as we are under the control of the intention in order to receive, it will control us from within, without asking us, like a hand inside a glove, and we will not have free will. Only by correcting the intention in order to receive do we become capable of choosing.
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