No Rest

Kabbalists call our physical world the World of Action. This name holds within it a very important and powerful lesson.

The purpose of our lives in this World of Action is simply action. We need to constantly push ourselves to do more and more actions of spiritual transformation. This is a relatively clear lesson, but there is another side to this lesson, which is frightening, and important.

The lesson from the term World of Action is not simply an exhortation asking us to continue our spiritual actions and growth, but a statement of fact. This is a world where action will be present in one way or another in our lives here. Our choice is whether this “action” will be positive and proactive or not as positive and reactive. This is not reward or punishment per se but rather the nature of this World of Action.

We can chose to spend our time of “action” in proactive action of sharing and spiritual growth or the “actions” can be forced upon us with situations, problems and stress that we would rather avoid. This needs to be a very serious understanding. We cannot change the need for action, it is the nature of this world, but we certainly can control the nature of the “action”.

Understanding this we gain more impetus for our spiritual work, for not only does our spiritual work and actions bring fulfillment to our lives but it also prevents any other not so positive actions from coming into our lives. We should remind ourselves that this is a World of Action, not of rest; our power is in determining what kind of action our lives will be filled with.

Keeping this lesson in mind always can ensure that our lives our filled with nothing but positive, proactive, fulfilling actions.

Finding Our Blessings

Kabbalah stresses the need for transformation as the key to our spiritual work and ultimate fulfillment. It is important that we understand this in a deep way.

The important spiritual process is a constant transformation from a being of receiving into a being whose essence of one of sharing. There are many reasons for this needed transformation. The Kabbalists explain it in a simple and powerful way. Our destiny is a life full of blessings abundance and fulfillment. But, the place where we are right now is limiting. Our attachment to the desire to receive for the self-alone restricts our ability to receive all that we are meant to receive.

We can view it in physical terms where a person is standing fifty feet away from a million dollars, all he needs to do is walk and move those fifty feet and he will have the million dollars. But, as long as he stays stuck in his place or moves only forty feet then he might have no money and complain and be upset that he has no money. Looking at him we would think that he is pretty silly all he needs to do is move a little more and he will get the million dollars.

This is exactly where we all find ourselves in our spiritual development. There are unending blessings waiting for us, we simply need to move and transform - then we will begin finding those gifts waiting for us down the road. As long as we do not change or do not change enough we can find ourselves complaining about our lack, but as we see above, this is pretty silly.

We simply need to transform in order to move to where all the blessings are waiting for us.

There is another important aspect of this understanding. Sometimes when the Creator sees that we are not moving closer to our blessings fast enough, he assists along the way. Sometimes this push of assistance does not feel great but when we understand the reason behind it, we cannot help but be grateful for it.

Imagine if a friend of the man in the parable came over and pushed him towards the million dollars, the man will certainly not be upset, but ever-thankful for the push and assistance.

Understanding this we can realize the amazing blessings waiting for us, and the need to transform as quickly as we can to attain those blessings. We can also be more appreciative of the assistance we receive, even if it is not always pleasant, along our way towards the gifts that are simply waiting for us.

Two Paths

In order to maintain a constant upward direction in our spiritual development it is important to remember clearly that there are only two paths one of Light and one of Darkness. And, that we are on either one of the two, there is no middle ground. In addition it is important to be clear what each path contains, and the connection between our actions and these paths.

The path of Darkness holds within it all negativity, sadness pain and eventually death. The path of Light holds within it all that is good, joy, freedom and life. The Kabbalists also clarify the two groups of actions that connect us to each path. Actions that are from our desire to receive for the self-alone connect us to the path of Darkness. Actions that are for our desire to share connect us to the path of Light.

This means that whenever we do an action that is based on our desire to receive we are connecting to the path of darkness drawing to ourselves negativity, sadness, pain and eventually death. This is a scary and important understanding. The ancient Zohar explains that death usually occurs when a critical mass of darkness has been drawn through actions based on the desire to receive. Conversely when we do positive actions we remove a degree of darkness and draw joy freedom and life.

I cannot exaggerate the importance of this lesson. It is pretty simple to understand and many people might feel that they know this information. But I know for sure that there are a precious few people who actually live this consciousness all the time. This is a lesson that when understood and remember can change the entire course of our actions and life.