Obstacles—Help To Reach The Goal

Comment: You once said that our whole world is one big obstacle.

My Response: Yes, because it obscures the Creator.

Question: Who is stopping us and what is considered an obstruction?

Answer: Our egoism. Egoistic desires draw to us everything that surrounds us. It is hard to believe, but stones, trees, electronics, everything we create, see, and work with, and we ourselves, are just obstacles that disallow our revelation of the Creator.

Question: Does that mean that the Creator created this world in order to prevent me from reaching His state?

Answer: No, quite the opposite. It is with the help of obstacles that I attain Him.

Question: Do you consider obstacles as help?

Answer: Of course. For example, you are an athlete. For how long do you have to work with all sorts of weights to reach some result? What is it for?

Comment: I don’t even ask myself about it because if I would start asking, I would stop doing it.

My Response: You see. Wherever we try to achieve results and success, we must apply effort. What for? Why are there obstacles in any work, in any achievement, no matter what?

Comment: But I have a goal. Let’s say I want to be a champion. That is why I exercise. I lift a few tons of iron every day. And if it were not for the goal of getting respect from society and feeling good, I would not do it.

My Response: That is, in order to achieve something, you must make great efforts, in general, in monotonous activities, exercises, and checking yourself to see how much you are advancing. As a result, you come to a state where you reach your goal. So it is in everything.

Question: But how does this manifest in our case? After all, our goal is to attain the Creator, the quality of bestowal.

Answer: Here the situation is somewhat different: You build up external muscles and Kabbalists build up internal muscles. They work on a different principle.

In other words, I must work against my egoism, like you, but work acquiring the quality of bestowal above it. Instead of a small egoistic desire to lie down, to rest, you are attracted to sports. And I, instead of lying down to relax, am attracted to my internal work. I apply effort so that instead of an egoistic desire, an altruistic desire appears in me—concern for others, for my friend, for the Creator.
[259986]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/25/19