A Voice Calling In The Dark Forest

Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 241, “Call ye upon Him While He is Near,” (Isaiah 55:6): We must understand what “while He is near” means, since “the whole earth is full of His glory”! Thus, He is always near, so what does “while He is near” mean? It would seem that there is a time when He is not near. …

Similarly, one who has lost the good way and entered a bad place, and has already accustomed himself to live among beasts, from the perspective of the will to receive, it would never occur to him that he should return to a place of reason and Sanctity. Yet, when he hears the voice calling him, he awakens to repent.

Hence, when the Creator wishes to bring him out of the dense forest, He shows him a remote Light, and the person gathers the remains of his strength to walk on the path that the Light shows him, in order to attain it.

But if one does not ascribe the Light to the Creator, and does not say that the Creator is calling him, then the Light is lost from him, and he remains standing in the forest. …

Everything depends on our preparation, to the extent that we yearn to discover the attribute of bestowal, which is called to discover the Creator. To this extent, we begin to hear the Creator’s voice calling us and inviting us to Him, giving us different signs of His coming near us. However, a person only can feel them when he imagines the goal that he wants to attain correctly, the attribute of bestowal that is above his attribute of receiving, and not something else. This is called having “faith above reason.”

However, if a person has not corrected himself yet, he cannot feel or believe that it is the Creator calling him and he thinks that these are coincidental occurrences or that he simply has awakened by himself. He doesn’t understand that it is the Creator’s voice calling him by pulling him toward the attribute of bestowal.

Everything is determined by a person’s preparation. If the preparation was correct and sufficient, if a person has exerted himself enough and has filled his measure, then he begins to feel how the Creator invites him in every opportunity he encounters.

If a person makes efforts, then, eventually, he sees that the Creator is waiting for him around every corner, inviting that person to Him through giving different signs and clues. Thus, the connections between them are formed, and the person becomes the Creator’s partner. To the extent that the Creator is attracted to the person, that person also is attracted to the Creator, to mutual bestowal, until they meet and embrace one another.

Here, everything depends on a person’s preparation. At first, a person doesn’t even feel that he is lost in the dark forest. He is looking for the wrong place and thinks that he can break through by himself and attain what he desires by himself. Or, he simply may wait for someone to come and save him—there is also this phase along the way. It takes time until he manages to identify the Creator’s voice and understand that it is really the Creator calling him.

Then, they connect, and the Creator saves the person because the person already understands what true salvation is.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/13