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“In every person, even in the secular, there is an unknown spark that demands unification with God. When it sometimes awakens, it awakens a passion to know God, or deny God, which is the same.” – Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “The Writings of the Last Generation.”
This “spark that demands unification with God” is the root of our soul, through which we feel a sense of disconnection from our true state of being—outside our connection with the Creator.
From a psychological perspective, this spark can be likened to a deep insatiable hunger. Just as a hungry person longs to fill themselves with food, a person with an awakened spark feels an internal emptiness demanding fulfillment. The person who feels this emptiness fails to understand what exactly it is or how to fulfill it, but it is a powerful force that drives them to seek something greater.
People generally struggle to identify what exactly is missing in their lives. They might not immediately recognize that it is the lack of divinity, the absence of a deeper connection with the Creator, i.e., with the force of love, bestowal and connection that created and sustains reality. Instead, such people feel their lives as empty, without purpose or direction, and they find themselves yearning for an undefinable “something else.” They might turn to alcohol, drugs or other distractions in an attempt to fill this void, but such means quickly reveal their falseness and shortcomings in providing genuine fulfillment.
However, our true need, our innermost desire, is a connection with God, and we need guidance on how to achieve such divine fulfillment. As Baal HaSulam mentioned in the above excerpt, this spark “sometimes awakens,” i.e., it awakens periodically, stirring a deep desire for connection with God whenever it does. What we need to do is ensure that this awakening is no rare occurrence but a constant presence in our lives. We can achieve this by explaining the purpose of our lives and why this feeling of a lack of God appears toward the attainment of our life’s purpose. When we recognize this lack in relation to its purpose, the trajectory of our lives then more optimally calibrates toward its ultimate destination, and we thus begin our spiritual development.
Once this spark awakens, it is crucial to nurture it. We then need to read, listen and engage with everything related to this spark. This spiritual awakening, the desire for spirituality that surfaces in us, which Kabbalah calls “the point in the heart,” is the key to our spiritual growth.
There are those who deny the existence of this spark and those who are drawn to it. This variation depends on external circumstances in which people find themselves. It does not matter whether a person denies or is attracted to the spark; what matters is that we provide them with the knowledge and tools to recognize and nurture it.
Our mission at the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute is to explain to everyone that what we truly need to fill our inner lack is a connection with God, i.e., with the upper force of love and bestowal. By doing so, we help people understand their true purpose and guide them to a life of spiritual fulfillment. Through continuous education, support and encouragement of this spark, we can help it awaken more and more and provide the means to nurture its development, which ultimately leads to the purpose of our lives: complete connection with the Creator.
Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on July 6, 2024. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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