See How Tasty It Is!

The law is very simple, we cannot get to know our root unless we reach a form that is opposite from the Creator. It’s impossible to get to know something if we don’t have a deficiency for it. First we have to build the vessel, the desire, the revelation of the deficiency. The revelation of the deficiency has to be opposite from the following attainment.

It’s a very simple principle, but we cannot accept it since we want to receive something, to feel the pleasure internally, and we forget that we don’t have a deficiency for spirituality. Only the natural deficiency is evoked in our world and every creature feels a need to live and to enjoy. So we usually don’t worry about a deficiency. Only when a certain problem suddenly comes up do we understand how complicated it is. The doctor tells a patient that he has to eat something, but the patient has no appetite and cannot even swallow a tiny bit.

In our world the deficiencies are usually revealed by themselves and we only have to try to fulfill them and to attain what is missing. In spirituality it’s the exact opposite. First we have to acquire a deficiency for spirituality and then there is no problem fulfilling it. In our world we chase pleasures, while in spirituality, we have to chase the deficiency for the pleasure. The pleasure is abundant since the Upper Light is in a state of absolute rest.

This is a very important principle since we make a great effort trying to attain the filling. However, we shouldn’t think about the filling but about the right deficiency! We work in order to fill the deficiency that we already have, but we should understand the very simple fact that we need to reach the deficiency in order to receive the right deficiency and not the filling. It’s a very important point.

The Creator has prepared infinite treasures for us, but we don’t even look in the right direction. It’s just like trying to convince a child that you have prepared many delicacies for him, different delicious dishes, but he doesn’t even want to see them since he has a certain idea and he thinks about something else and doesn’t even hear you calling him.

We are behaving in the exact same way now. So our goal is to want what the Creator has prepared for us and then we will receive everything! But all our prayers are only that He should give us more and more! These are the requests of a child who doesn’t understand anything. What else can He give us? Here take it, it’s all before you! Why are you asking for something else if the Creator already serves everything into your mouth? Just swallow it. But we are confused and we look the other way.

The psychological shift from looking for pleasure to looking for a deficiency is called the transition from Lo Lishma (not for its sake) to Lishma (for its sake). Only after we begin to worry about bestowal upon the Creator for His sake, for the sake of the created beings, do we understand that we need a deficiency and not a filling. It’s a very important moment.
[114965]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam