The Drop Of Unity Is Priceless

Everything that ever happened to us, all the suffering we have gone through over the course of all of our history was for our own good. Baal HaSulam writes in Letter #23 that a person who has revealed a drop of unity with the Creator would happily chop off his arms and legs several times a day just to feel the taste of unity with the Creator at least once in his lifetime!

And that's no exaggeration. If a person would consider how much Light one single drop of unity brings him compared to all of the most horrible suffering of this world, then he would feel that it outweighs everything!

We do not understand what the Upper Light is that clothes into the soul. We think that it's simply something pleasant that makes us feel good. We don't feel the true meaning of the words "eternity, perfection, and harmony."

-from the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/10

It’s Difficult Being Human

A person has to choose between truth and falsehood, but when it comes to "sweet versus bitter" he has no choice for it's obvious that he will always choose what is good and sweet over evil and bitter. I am unable to prefer a bad state to a good one. Yet, if I see "true versus false" against "sweet versus bitter," then I may possibly choose the bitter truth, a bad sensation, because the truth is more important to me.

These are two different dimensions: The animate level makes the analysis of "sweet versus bitter," whereas the human level makes the analysis of "truth versus falsehood" because a person works by "faith above reason." If you ascend to the single consideration of "truth" which includes all the other forces and possibilities, it means you attain unity with the Creator.

However, if you only consider "sweet or bitter," then you are making an animate analysis and choice. An animal will never make a mistake on its level. It always chooses what is good for it. However, it does not make progress on the "human level." Nature will not allow us to remain on the animate level and will compel us to develop.

On the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, the animate analysis of behavior comes down only to the analysis of "sweet or bitter," where one prefers what is sweet. On the other hand, a human being makes a distinction between two levels: the animal in him which makes the analysis of "sweet or bitter" and the human being in him that makes the analysis of "true or false." Therefore, a person is always in turmoil going between the animal and human in him, looking for "what to choose." He searches for a compromise because he wants what is sweet, but he sees that the most useful thing is the truth.

-from the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/10