Q: How is it possible to avoid disappointments along the spiritual journey? After all, it is more convenient for us to think that the Creator deprived us by not giving us a desire to come near Him, so we justify ourselves and blame the Creator. But if we understand that, can we correct these processes inside us?
A: There is nothing in us that should not be there. We remain precisely as we were created, but if we try to correct ourselves, we correct the way in which we use our attributes, those we were born with. All we change is the intent, from doing “for us,” to doing “for Him.”
So you needn’t complain about your preliminary qualities, and if you were put here, you might as well look around you and start doing something about it.
Q: How is it possible to avoid the letdowns during the spiritual journey?
A: The letdowns are unavoidable. They are actually positive, because they are a sign of your dissatisfaction with your desire for pleasure. They are signs that you’re going in the right direction. A person who works for self is full of energy because that person believes that this way promises eternal bliss.
Q: But it is easier for us to feel that the Creator deprived us.
A: The question is, how do we react once we feel the dissatisfaction with our condition: do we blame the Creator for not pampering us, or do we ask for help against our own nature?!
Q: …and then we justify ourselves and blame the Creator.
A: Reverse the order. Blame ourselves and justify the Creator. There is an inner contradiction when we blame the Creator for not letting us draw near. Nearing the Creator means that we are in a state where we want nothing for ourselves, but take everything that comes to us as the best possible thing, because we believe that everything extends from the Creator.
So what request is there to talk about?
Q: It is easy to blame the Creator for not giving us a desire and a way to approach Him.
A: If we continue to say that the Creator doesn’t “let us approach Him,” then that is exactly the situation where we have something to ask. We must ask that the Creator render more qualities of love for our fellow creatures, so that we will be completely satisfied with how the Creator leads the world, and instead of cursing Him, we will bless the Creator.
We can certainly do that.
Being in the left line is necessary to reveal new attributes of self-reception. After that, we correct them, become filled with Light and knowledge, and thus rise above our former state. It happens all the time.
We can only accelerate the speed of the ongoing process and cut down on our lingering at each phase. It all depends on our adaptation to a certain situation.
Whining and blaming the Creator is easy because it relieves us of acting or making an effort. But what the mind does not do, time will. Everything passes, and we will gradually get used to these changes and begin, to a certain extent, to control them. In any given situation, we should act as it says: “Whatsoever thy hand attaineth to do by thy strength, that do” (Ecclesiastes 9, 10).
Even if you don’t know how to do it, it doesn’t matter. Just do it. Even the most misunderstood, mistaken act speeds up the pace and brings you closer to the next degree, which is always closer to correction than before.