Searching For An Eternal Soul
Question: Is there anything eternal inside
us?
Dr.
Laitman's Answer: In every
aspect relating to the material body, we are mere animals, although more developed,
endowed with feelings and a mind. Nevertheless, every animate body is mortal.
There is a
second nature, the desire to bestow, which is called the spiritual world, the
soul, or the "part of divinity from Above." Besides it, everything else belongs
to egoism, the animate level, or the material world. Therefore, for now there
is nothing connecting us to eternity besides one point that belongs to infinity.
This point has to organize an environment for itself as a means to develop.
I am not
talking about the animate soul that enlivens the body, which is the "vital
force" present in all creatures: still, vegetative, and animate. Besides it,
man has one real point of the root which he has to develop. It is because of
this point that he is called "human"-"Adam," "similar" (Dommeh) to the
Creator, whose level he can attain.
A regular
person contains nothing besides this point that is spiritual and eternal. Just
as his animate body lives, so it dies-and nothing remains! And what about that
point, do we get to keep it at least? Well, was it ever present inside the
body? No, it does not belong to the body. We will never be able to transplant
it to another person together with some other organ.
From the 4th part of the Daily
Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/10, "Body and
Soul"
Preparing For The Lesson Once Again
The Light
builds our connection and we will reveal the Creator only inside it. We have to aspire to this not
for our own good, but only in order to give Him pleasure. Once we attain love
for the Creator, we will reveal His love for us. All of our study is intended
to reveal or awaken our love for the Creator.
Obviously,
right now we do not feel the slightest need for this. We remember about the
Upper Force's existence only when we feel bad. It is our nature to act only
when we lack something, desiring to complete and fill ourselves.
We don't
feel any need for the Creator and moreover for loving Him. But if we try to
artificially aspire to the Creator by means of working in the group, we
gradually elicit the influence of the Light upon us that brings us special
qualities, ones of love and bestowal.
This quality
can be directed only toward the Creator because He is the only one in existence
besides us. However, in order to reach Him we have been placed in a special
state called "this world." Here, with the help of our family and friends, we
can make efforts and practice to acquire love for the appropriate environment.
Then we will go from love for the creatures to the degree of love for the
Creator.
That is how
we come out of egoism, shifting from self love to love for the neighbor, and
through our family and friends, we acquire love for the Creator.
Then we
reveal the true nature of the "means" we have used. It turns out that the
Creator Himself divided our reality in this way so we would have the
opportunity to come to Him by means of these "exercises." In reality there is
nothing besides myself, incorporating all of reality and the Creator who is
above it.
So let us
build the intention to receive the Light that Reforms from our mutual study in
order to reveal love between us and our love to the Creator.
From the 1st part
of the Daily
Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/10, The Zohar
Kabbalah International
