There’s Nothing Worse than Indifference

We have to fight indifference because this is the worst possible state. Indifference is called death.

We very much respect the two forms that are opposite to it: love and hate. Pharaoh, Haman, and all the other sinners described in the Torah are very important characters. Without them, we would not be able to rise to holiness. We receive all of our vessels, desires, from them. All of the righteous men stand opposite them because the Creator made one against the other.

Therefore, it doesn't matter whether a person supports something or protests against it. The most important thing is that he cares about it very much, as opposed to being indifferent to it, feeling that it is "neither here nor there."

It is possible to awaken a spark in anyone. This spark is concealed in every person because he originates from the broken vessel. Therefore, he definitely has a spiritual spark and it can be awakened. The only question is: How deeply is it concealed?

However, when this spark is awakened, he might react negatively: A person does not want to hear about it and he curses himself, the Creator, Kabbalah, and the whole path to bestowal. He does not agree to it and hates all of it. But Baal HaSulam says that this does not matter. It's the same as if he agrees to it, the same as if he wants it because he is revealing his desire in this form. Even if the desire is corrupted, he already has it.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 07/31/11, Shamati

Balance That Causes Development

Baal HaSulam, "The Peace": Nature has prepared a wonderful foundation in the mother's womb so that no stranger may harm the new life. It tends to its every need like a trained nanny who will not forget it even for a moment.... Like a loving mother, it brings it to such loving, loyal people it can trust, called "Mother" and "Father," to assist it through its days of weakness until it grows and is able to sustain itself....

But those who examine that reality from the perspective of provision and persistence of existence can clearly see great disorder and confusion, as though there were no leader and no guidance. Everyone does that which is right in his own eyes, building himself on the ruin of others....

Bear in mind that this oppositeness, set before the eyes of every sensible, educated person, has preoccupied humanity even in ancient days. And there are many theories to explain these two apparent opposites in Providence, which occupy the same world.

On one hand, we see that nature is wise and assiduous toward every creature. It develops every element successively and carefully. Look at the structure of organisms, their ability to grow, to give birth to offspring, and to interact. Everything is built in an integral form, every person has his own place and is in balance with others. If we could see the balanced world, undisturbed by human despotism, we would reveal a wonderful system, one that is not static, but perfectly balanced for development.

However, we do not see the causes of this development and do not understand why everything has to be precisely this way. Therefore, we do not understand the phases of the path. Besides, we look at it through the prism of our egoism and evaluate it according to our criteria. Therefore, we see the world upside down, as if flipping it over in our perception.

Nevertheless, from scientific research it is clear to us that in order to develop the species, nature has created, produced, and formed all of the necessary systems that take care of the ideal creativity.

But on the other hand, a problem arises with the subsequent existence. Once any part of nature grows up and "stands up on its own feet," it starts fighting for survival and integrating into the environment without parental help. This happens to all living creatures, but among people it takes on the most difficult forms because a person has to prepare for life in a society that is complex and artificial, built upon a multitude of mechanisms. Envy and lust for power ignite within him, pushing him to oppose others. Others seem successful, while he seems to be lagging behind them because of his nature or due to the circumstances.

Nature, which took such great care of us while we were growing, now places us in conditions that require efforts to survive. So does the Creator exist or not? If everything was all right, then we would say, "Thank God." But if everything is not all right, then what you can say?

This is the problem that Baal HaSulam describes before he talks about the attempts to solve it.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 07/31/11