Degrees Of Independence

Achieving independence is in essence the entire work of a person on this earth. The whole process—from the moment of our birth in this world and before entering the spiritual world and the subsequent development of the soul until the end of its correction—is advancement toward independence.

Independence is realized in achieving similarity with the upper force, the Creator, nothing more or less than that. Until a person reaches the Creator’s degree, power, and similarity with Him in all qualities, he won’t complete his development and won’t gain independence.

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” “It is written in The Zohar: “With this composition, the Children of Israel will be redeemed from exile.” Also, in many other places, only through the expansion of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the masses will we obtain complete redemption. They also said, “The Light in it reforms him.” They were intentionally meticulous about it, to show us that only the Light enclosed within it is the cure that reforms a person.

Hence, it is clear that only in this way is it possible to reach the independence that we want so badly and to become free, even in the material sense. Only in this way will we be able to free ourselves from the external threat that doesn’t leave us even for a moment, each time forcing us to fight for our survival.

After all, the opportunity to return to their land was given to the people of Israel as an opportunity for a limited period of time, precisely in order to achieve independence that depends on the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah among the masses.

We exist inside the system of nature, in a special network that acts according to its laws. It is possible to study particular forms of the manifestation of these laws on inanimate, vegetative, and animate degrees, as does physics (the inanimate level), botany (the vegetative), biology, zoology, and genetics (the animate, that is, everything relating to living organisms).

There is also a part that relates to a person’s inner world. Psychology and psychiatry dabble in it, but their abilities are very limited, and, in fact, this area remains practically unknown.

The only science that really deals with the person’s inner world is the wisdom of Kabbalah. It studies a person as an internal system acting according to certain prescribed laws, and it lets you understand these laws and use them in order to change human nature and bring the person to the good form of existence.

We can improve our environment and make it comfortable by knowing the laws of physics, chemistry, and other sciences. We can also improve a person’s inner qualities by knowing the laws that the wisdom of Kabbalah explains to us.

These laws remain unchanged and absolute from generation to generation. They are ready for our use, unlike the laws of psychology that constantly change, with declarations that something considered harmful yesterday is today considered useful.

The person’s inner nature is subject to absolute and immutable laws. These laws come from the Creator, nature’s highest force we comprehend to creation’s very depths, the nature of which is opposite to the Creator.

Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that only through the disclosure of the wisdom of Kabbalah can the entire world shift from exile to redemption. The people of Israel must do it first and show an example to all other nations. This is called “to be a Light unto nations.”

In this way we exit all of this world’s limitations. We are compelled to exist in this world in order to support our body, trying every moment to provide to it the most comfortable conditions. We spend our entire life servicing the body, which eventually dies, turning all our efforts to ashes.

However, we can start working on ourselves in order to achieve true, eternal degrees of existence that are above the care for our animalistic body. When we do so, our main concern becomes attaining the upper force and similarity of qualities with it.

To the extent we become similar to the Creator, we receive an opportunity to be as eternal as He is. Then we begin to climb the degrees, reaching an ever-greater force of eternity and perfection.

Of utmost importance is rising above our body that is given to us only in order to accompany us for some time, until we exit it. If I dedicate myself to the care for it, meaning place myself inside it, then I am engaged in a losing business from the beginning.

It turns out that I invest all my strength and my entire life in developing and filling something that will inevitably die. It means that all my efforts are completely useless. Therefore, we simply are obligated to realize opportunities that the wisdom of Kabbalah gives us.
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