Myswizard

Light My Desire

I have a question for you. Have you ever experienced a really nagging, excruciating toothache? Like, the worst kind. Shooting pain, sweats, desperate for treatment?

So, would it be safe to assume that you possess, right now, a desire not to want a toothache? Five seconds ago, before you read this, were you aware that you had a desire not to want a toothache? No. Why?

Because that desire was already fulfilled.

But if suddenly your tooth started aching right now, BOOM, your desire would awaken. You’d say, “I don’t want to have a toothache.” And then, when that toothache pain dissipated, you would feel great fulfillment. Correct?

We have no awareness of desire that is already fulfilled.

The kabbalists explain that when we - the souls of humanity - were originally created, every possible desire was already fulfilled. We were born a completely fulfilled soul.

We were also born unappreciative of what the Creator was instilling within us.

Just like you were unconscious of your desire not to have a toothache, because that desire was completely fulfilled, we were literally born unconscious, unaware, unappreciative of what the Creator was instilling within us.

Think about this for a minute. Imagine all the possible joys in your life, from sex and food and movies to watching your kids grow and feeling competent at work and being in a loving relationship. Every conceivable pleasure we now have a desire for was once ours.

But we were unconscious. So we said to the Creator, “Hey, we want to wake up! We want to truly appreciate. We need to experience a world that will ignite our desire.”

If the Light we were born into included infinite happiness, we needed to experience infinite sadness to awaken a thirst and hunger for that happiness.

If infinite peace of mind was included in everything that was fulfilling us, we asked to experience infinite depression, fear, and anxiety to awaken the desire and thirst for that healing and fulfillment.

That is why the Zohar says you only know something by its opposite. You only know white when you see black. You only know Light when you see darkness. You only know up when you see down.

It’s a bit depressing, no? Does this mean we need to experience pain every time we want to taste happiness? The answer is no.

This week, pay attention to the law of opposites. Reflect back on your life, your happiest memories, your feelings of greatest accomplishment. Were they preceded by hardship, by lack, by tough times? The next seven days, find strength to see through to the other side of whatever difficulty you are facing by meditating on the words of Rav Ashlag:

“Every good situation is nothing more than the fruit born
by a bad situation that preceded it.”

And stay tuned for next week’s answers to these questions:

If the Light is infinite, and includes infinite solutions to our problems, couldn’t the Light also come up with the solution to the ultimate paradox of existence?

How do we experience pleasure without having to experience pain?

How can we awaken that desire?

All the best,

Yehuda