“From the book The Power of Kabbalah, by Yehuda Berg.*
“Who are we? What do we consist of? What is our material, our essence, our core? Of what primary element are we made? Have you ever really thought about this question? Kabbalah defines us in a single word:
DESIRE!
When Kabbalah defines us by the word desire, it is not a metaphor. Desire is indeed our inherent quality. It is the material of which we are made. Our essence. Desire is what drives us. It is our engine. We are all walking desires, we are all constantly striving to accomplish what we desire. Our hearts beat, our blood flows, our bodies move only because there is a desire, an urge that seeks fulfillment. Kabbalist Rav Ashlag writes that man would not lift a finger without some inner desire.
In the language of Kabbalah, desire is called Vessel. The vessel is like an empty cup that seeks to be filled. Unlike the true cup, however, the Judgment of our desires is not based on anything material…
So what does our heart really desire? We can safely say that the main object of our desire is unceasing happiness, although the word happiness means something different to each person.
In fact, the desire for constant happiness is the only thing that unites humanity. There is no need to convince the criminal, the lawyer, the construction worker, the director, the villain, the good-hearted person… to want constant happiness. The desire for endless happiness is our very essence…
However you define them, all the objects of our desires are actually different forms of self-realization. These different factors of satisfaction drive and shape our lives.
Kabbalah sums up these different forms of self-realization in one word…
LIGHT!
The term Light is simply a code name, a metaphor by which the ancient Kabbalists referred to the broad spectrum of attainments that men crave…
But Light is not defined only as happiness and joy. From a kabbalistic point of view, Light denotes unending pleasure, unceasing joy. It is the difference between momentary pleasure and lasting satisfaction. We do not want only a fleeting peak of pleasure. Our deep desires are not limited to 15 minutes of glory. Or with the fleeting buzz around making a great deal…
The fact that our desires are not permanently imbued with Light is at the root of unhappiness and anxiety… There is a deep-seated, constant fear that our happiness will eventually end. When we find ourselves in a rare state of contentment and calm, we possess the negative capacity to believe that it is too good to be true. We worry about tomorrow…
In light of the above, Kabbalists state that the greatest human desire is the desire for Light. Moreover, they claim that Light is everywhere. It is the most pervasive substance in the universe. It fills the cosmos and saturates our reality. Light is infinite. Boundless. And always ready to accomplish more than we can imagine. This leads to an imposing question:
If people are full of desire
and the universe is imbued with Light,
What stands in the way of our eternal happiness?
THE ANSWER IS: A CURTAIN.”
* The quotation in this article is translated from Bulgarian.
