Revenge, The Defeat Of Egoism

Question: Where does the feeling of revenge in a person come from?

Answer: The feeling of revenge comes as a result of a very difficult defeat of the ego, an ego that experiences humiliation. In such a situation, a person is ready to do anything; he has no other choice. A situation in which you insult the most central point of my ego, if you show me that I am zero, and you do not leave me an opportunity to exist, this feeling arouses a feeling of revenge in me.

If I thought that I was higher and you “push” me off of that summit, showing me that I am nothing, then an extreme reaction is formed in me toward the factor that produced that emotion in me. In such a situation, I am not only ready to kill, burn, and trample, but I also want this factor to disappear form this world, in any form!

Question: Is it possible to arouse an emotion like this in a Kabbalist?

Answer: Certainly, Kabbalists experience emotions much more acutely than others. However, the Kabbalists understand that these feelings come from the Creator and come only so that a person will draw himself back to Him.

Question: In a humiliating situation, the average person will take vengeance. What would a Kabbalist do?

Answer: The Kabbalist will correct himself until he reaches a state in which that emotion will not be felt as humiliation in him even a little, because that feeling comes from the Creator and not from anyone else. This is because“There is none else beside Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35).

Question: Why is it, that among particular peoples, revenge is raised to the rank of tradition and passes from generation to generation, while among other peoples this is not so?

Answer: This is related to upbringing and the period in which they are living. There were periods when a “blood feud” was a very widespread custom. It was impossible to tolerate defeat, and only a duel could erase these feelings.

In the whole history of mankind, there have been many periods when a person who felt great humiliation calculated how to proceed. Today, egoism has become so great that it has created special mechanisms of protection. Otherwise, with every blast of a horn from a passing car, we would see drivers shooting each other.

Today, a Kabbalist doesn’t relate to insults, forgiving, or taking actions in response to an insult. Basically, we must not take it to heart in order not to feel humiliated, even though, in fact, life is an immense source of humiliation.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/21/16