Reward And Punishment In Our Lives, Part 2

Kabbalists do not perceive rewards and punishment as the general public does; they view them as reactions to them from the system. This is why they calmly receive any criticism or accusation as the system trying to help them to advance.

They do not attribute it to some specific individual, but only to the general system. And so the accusations that may seem to another as punishment, to a Kabbalist represent the material with which to work until it is experienced as a reward.

Question: How can it be considered a reward when a person is accused or shamed?

Answer: For many years now I have also been criticized, accused of deceit and a desire for power. But I understand that this criticism does not come from specific people who have some kind of freewill, but from the system. And therefore, I must receive this criticism in order to feel myself in exile.

Their behavior is appropriate because they help me in my correction, and as I progress toward correction, I feel these negative manifestations as positive. And if I feel them as negative, it is only because I am still not corrected in my certain inner qualities.

In other words, rewards and punishments from a natural and egoistic perception are entirely opposite to what is perceived by one who desires to advance, and is, therefore, relating to them above his own egoism.

For this reason, people who want to free themselves of their egoism, perceive all negative criticism toward them as a gift, given to them in the form of an opportunity to rise and to turn punishments into rewards because this means that the system is paying attention to me, gently and with care, as a mother raising a small child and teaching him good behavior.

Question: Like a mother who gives her child healthy food instead of a can of soda?

Answer: Yes, to receive blows is very healthy. They should not trigger resistance or defensive accusations, but rather an analysis: What specifically is triggering me, what are these qualities, thoughts, and desires in me? All these I need to correct in the exact place where I am experiencing the blow.

This is precisely what I need in order to rise from my egoistic state. If I feel the blow there, it means that there is still a calculation for personal benefit and I need to rise to a higher-level calculation.

Question: But don’t you want to receive a positive reaction from others?

Answer: I want to receive a positive reaction as an indicator that this quality in me has reached correction, not because I want to see that others around me became corrected. It is written, “Each judges according to their own flaws”, so when I correct myself, I will no longer experience blows. The system is built in such a way that then no one will criticize or accuse me any longer.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/2/17