The Spiritual Ecosystem

The Light to fulfill your needs always exists.

The only reason you may experience lack in your health, finances, emotions & spirit is because you have caused a spiritual blockage - either in this incarnation or in a previous one - that needs to be cleared before you can receive the blessings and fulfillment that is meant to be yours.

This raises an interesting question - Where does all that abundance of blessings go? There are millions and millions of people in the world with differing degrees of lack. One might think that all the blessings, as yet unearned, remains somewhere in the spiritual realm, un-manifested and hidden from this world.

This is not the case.

Everything needed by everyone in this world already exists in this world. All the food, money, health, emotional and spiritual support needed by any one of us is here, right now. But it’s in someone else’s possession.

For different reasons, we each receive abundance beyond what we need. It is not ours, but rather an overflow that belongs to another person who, at this time, is not able to draw that blessing to themselves.

This understanding, when you really get it, can completely shift how you view the abundant gifts you have. When you have more of something (patience, kindness, physical abilities, abundance, etc.) it simply means there is another person in the world lacking in this area, and you are holding their blessings for them until the time comes when they can ask for it.

If, for instance, you are someone with great wisdom in emotional matters, then it is not about whether or not you “choose” to share your time helping someone in pain. The real understanding is, this abundance of wisdom you can give another person “belongs” to this other person. It isn’t yours, you don’t own it - you are simply the custodian of it until they ask for it. Their action of coming to ask for help clears their blockage and enables them to receive from you what is actually theirs.
When you internalize this understanding, you realize you never “give of yourself,” but rather, you give back to others what is rightfully theirs.

This leads us to a fundamental understanding of our lives and actions. The Kabbalists speak of a spiritual ecosystem referred to as, The Tree of Life, from which all blessings, protection, inspiration, joy & fulfillment originate. There are two ways to interact with this amazing world.

One way that most people follow is thinking of their gifts as their own. When they share, they think they are being spiritual or doing a good thing by sharing with others less fortunate. They think it’s their choice whether or not to share, and how much and how often.

While it is true that such a view will bring Light and blessings into their lives (because every positive action reveals Light), this way of life is limited in its blessings.

Profounder still is when we understand the existence of the spiritual ecosystem and that our abundance is not ours alone. We are simply holding gifts for others. It is no longer our choice to give, but rather our duty.

When we view our gifts in this way, we start to share because we are doing our part in the ecosystem. This consciousness creates a greater opening to receive from others and taps us into an unending flow of abundance.

It’s not that we “earn” the great blessings that will come to us – we “open up” to them, allowing all the supernal angels, Light and abundance to flow into us unimpeded. The blessings, joy and fulfillment that become ours when we take part in the spiritual ecosystem are great.
Be honest with yourself. See how you view your gifts and why you share. As you endeavor to change from the “My Things” view to a “Spiritual Ecosystem” view, you will open yourself up to a new level of protection, blessings and fulfillment that may be far beyond anything you have ever experienced up until now.

I Might Be Wrong

We often make mistakes when we are wrong, but the greatest mistakes are made when we are sure that we are right. It is unfortunate, but true, that so many friendships and families are needlessly broken apart due to one person being sure that they are right. That person is often us.

In the Bible we are told the story of Moses, one of the greatest leaders in history who, through great difficulties and challenges, was able to lead the Israelites from a place of darkness to enlightenment. What is less well-known is that throughout his years in leadership there were two people who constantly caused him trouble and whenever there were times of danger and doubt they were always there to argue with and awaken opposition to Moses’ leadership.

Their names were Dathan and Aviram and they were great souls with tremendous potential. But, in their hearts they had jealousy towards Moses. They thought it was their right to be in positions of leadership, not Moses and his brother Aaron. But -and this is the important point – they were completely oblivious to this motivation and truth about themselves. If you would have hooked them up to a lie detector and asked them, “Why are you always rising up against Moses?” they would answer that they were doing this because they truly cared about others. They believed that Moses was failing as a leader and that it was their obligation as caring and enlightened souls to raise their voice when they saw danger and incompetent leadership. If they came to believe that their motivation was jealousy and selfishness they would have stopped this behavior immediately.

We sometimes mistakenly feel that as long as we think our motivation for speaking and standing up against another person is right and just then, “let the chips fall where they may, I will do what is right…” It seems like such a proper and correct position. But what we must learn is that we are too often completely blinded to our true motivations. We might honestly and truthfully think that our motivations are pure and just but in truth somewhere deep in our heart, what is pushing us to cause separation and to speak ill of another person is a negative feeling that we are completely unaware of.

The kabbalists teach that we are all blind; the only difference is that some of us know that we are blind and others don’t. They use the parable of two blind men, one knows that he’s blind and the other somehow believes he can see. The first man walks gingerly, always feeling his way carefully before taking his next step. But the other man walks quickly and confidently always, falling into pits, hitting all kinds of objects and blaming these external things for hurting him.

Never once does he think he might be blind and therefore should be more careful as he walks through life. In the same way we are all blind to one degree or another. The only difference between a person who will be able to create a life full of fulfillment and feel less pain, and a person who will continue on the path of pain, is the person who knows he is blind will be careful in his actions.

If we are blind to our blindness then we will barrel through life getting hurt, falling and always blaming others for our pain.

The most important lesson is to always tell ourselves: “I might be wrong”.

“I know that annoying person is completely wrong, and I should lash out at him…but I might be wrong.”

“I know that my family member deserves a retribution for what they did to me…but I might be wrong.”

“I know that my friend acted in a terrible way towards me….but I might be wrong.”

Therefore, we won’t act upon these things we believe to be true, because it is possible that our real motivation is not so pure, and maybe what’s pushing us to act in a way of anger and separation is coming from a place of selfishness.

“Do I want to cause pain and separation if my motivation is wrong?”

Many great souls throughout history made terrible mistakes, thinking that their actions were true and just, while being blind to their true motivation. We should all be awakened from this understanding. We are blind in ways that we do not know, therefore we should never act in ways that cause others pain and separation.

No matter how clearly we believe we see the situation, no matter how right we believe we are, we never know - we might be wrong.

Awakening Compassion as a Path Towards Fulfillment

Most people who are spiritual are aware of the importance of feeling compassion for others. But I believe most of us are not fully aware of the need for continuous deepening of our compassion if we are to achieve the purpose for which we came into this world.

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One of the great teachers in this regard is the biblical figure Moses. He lived at a time of great misery and darkness, when the Israelites were under a forced labor decree, all male babies were killed, and endless suffering ensued. Moses, after his birth, was found by Pharaoh’s daughter and grew up in a comfortable environment and was shielded from the suffering that was occurring throughout Egypt. However, the Bible relates that Moses would go out every day and see the pain, suffering, and death happening outside. He not only saw and felt pain but also spent many hours a day meditating and focusing on what he saw so that he could internalize the pain, feel it as his own, and grow his feelings of compassion.

The kabbalists write, “He focused his eyes and heart to pain for them.” The message is clear – compassion is work. It is not in our nature to experience something outside ourselves, for example, someone born rich cannot feel the hunger of the poor man.

However, it was precisely because of this constant work of experiencing and awakening the greater feelings of compassion that Moses ultimately achieved the potential of his soul and was able to accomplish the purpose for which he came into this world.

Constant awakening and growth in this way will enable all of us to manifest the potential of our lives. It begins with pushing ourselves on a regular basis to find new ways to feel the pain of those around us, especially the people we deal with every day whose feelings we often don’t consider.

There is a beautiful story that can help you further internalize this idea. Before Moses was called on to become the leader of the Israelites, the level of his compassion was tested through his work as a shepherd. One day a young goat ran away from the rest of the flock, and Moses ran after the kid for some time until it finally reached a pool of water and began to drink. Moses cried out and said to the little goat, “I am so sorry, I did not know that you were thirsty.” He then picked up the goat, cradled it and carried it back to the rest of the flock.

Upon seeing this love and care, the Creator said, “You are merciful in tending sheep, you can now take care of people and be the leader and redeemer of the Israelites.” Only after showing real love and compassion to the animals in his flock was Moses deemed fit enough to become a leader of people.

The lesson the kabbalists are teaching us is we can achieve the purpose for which we came to this world, the potential of our soul, true and lasting fulfillment, with a constant growing of compassion towards others.

Knowing this, let us ask ourselves everyday, “How much time do I spend seeing others’ pain and internalizing it? What am I doing to grow my feelings of compassion and care for others?” As we make this work the focus of our lives, we will reveal more Light and blessings for ourselves and for others, and we will know for certain that we are on the true path towards lasting fulfillment.