Contrast Of Opposites

The created beings cannot perceive reality except through the contrast of opposites. We inevitably must feel ourselves and what is outside of us, and only in this way do we perceive reality. Therefore, first we develop our egoistic perception of reality in the desire to receive. Then, after many thousands of years of development, having reached a certain level of egoistic perception, we become ready to move to the perception of the true reality the way it actually exists, not limited by our egoism and by our nature.

But we are not the Creator, for whom this reality is natural, but rather the created beings, and therefore, we reveal the true reality only in contrast to our egoistic reality in which we grew up. Every detail of the upper reality we discover includes two opposites: one side that we notice and feel in our egoism and the other one that we perceive above our egoism.

It is like a candle that consists of oil and a burning wick where the two opposites support each other. Only in this way can we grasp, feel, study, and begin to live in the reality called “the Creator.” We perceive it only from our opposite state of creation in the contrast of opposites.

Therefore, we must always keep to the middle line without deviating either to the right, where everything is for the sake of bestowal, or to the left, where everything is for the sake of reception. Only in the middle between these two lines can we exist as the created beings and acquire the nature of the Creator.

We should not despair that we are thrown from one extreme to the other, from an absolutely egoistic perception of reality to quasi-altruism. It is the combination of these two opposites that will lead us to the true reality. We must be patient and get used to such a split, because one opposite supports the other, revealing the advantage of the Light over darkness. Without this, it is impossible to feel the upper reality.

If I agree with the darkness, understanding that this is an inseparable and most important part of my perception of reality, then I look objectively at both forms. On one hand, I depend on both of them, and on the other hand, I am between them. By my equal attitude to the Light and to the darkness, to pleasant and unpleasant states, and to good and evil, I correctly balance myself and can remain as an independent created being, moving in the middle line toward the purpose of creation, that is, toward adhesion with the upper force.¹
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/18, Lesson on the Topic “The Work Within Reason And The Work Above Reason”