Post by holistichealer on Oct 27, 2008 4:49:22 GMT
"The Way", is a book on the Kabbalah. Over time, the Kaballah is something that I've looked at more than once, every time turning away with confusion, the same way I did from algebra in school.
But a few weeks ago, someone I recently met handed me the book and when I heard that word, "Kabbalah", I said, "Uhhh No thanks...".
"Just open it somewhere and see what it says there. You'll see, it's important..", she said.
"Uhhh... O.K.", I said, not wanting to be too close minded... So I did... And she was right.
I opened the book to, "What is Evil?"... an interesting topic. And what it had to say fit right in with some recent "revelations" I've had. Typical for my impression of Jewish lore, it used a parable:
"A king wanted to test the character of his son, to see whether he was worthy to inherit the kingdom. In order to do this, the king sought out the most disreputable harlot in the land, and he instructed her to try to seduce his son. But should he also instruct her to reveal the fact that she's working for the king? Of course not, because in that case, there would be no test.... Far from seeing her as an evil temptress, he would understand that she was another loyal servant of the ruler.
"...Kabbalah teaches us that evil resides in our perception of evil. If we understood the true origin and purpose, it would be revealed as another manifestation of the Creator's wisdom.
"Until I read this parable, I had always wondered about the teaching that a truly righteous individual sees no evil in any other human beings regardless of how they might appear to the rest of the world.... ... it's not that the righteous person does not see evil at all, but that he or she sees it differently than the rest of the world. A righteous person sees evil not as an independent phenonemon, but as a powerful testing instrument of the Creator.
"Rabbi Akiva, who lived in the second century C.E., was a shepherd until the age of fourty, whereupon he began to follow a spiritual path. In the year 132, following a Jewish rebellion against the Romans... it was decreed that he should be put to death in a public execution. On the day the sentence was to be carried out, Rabbi Akiva confronted this terrible evil like the great Kabbalist that he was. On the way to execution, his students were in disbelief that such a thing could be happening to this great and good man. Yet Rabbi Akiva was unconcerned about who was responsible for this great injustice. In fact, he was perfectly serene... Moreover, when the actual execution was about to take place and another student was lamenting the tragedy, Rabbi Akiva sternly told him to be silent- and then he added, "This is the greatest moment of my life.".
"...he had been given the opportunity to confront evil in it's purest manifestation, and he had been up to the task... He freely chose instead to see even the worst acts of his enemies as a form of service to Creator."
The entire book is like that. I highly recommend it...
But a few weeks ago, someone I recently met handed me the book and when I heard that word, "Kabbalah", I said, "Uhhh No thanks...".
"Just open it somewhere and see what it says there. You'll see, it's important..", she said.
"Uhhh... O.K.", I said, not wanting to be too close minded... So I did... And she was right.
I opened the book to, "What is Evil?"... an interesting topic. And what it had to say fit right in with some recent "revelations" I've had. Typical for my impression of Jewish lore, it used a parable:
"A king wanted to test the character of his son, to see whether he was worthy to inherit the kingdom. In order to do this, the king sought out the most disreputable harlot in the land, and he instructed her to try to seduce his son. But should he also instruct her to reveal the fact that she's working for the king? Of course not, because in that case, there would be no test.... Far from seeing her as an evil temptress, he would understand that she was another loyal servant of the ruler.
"...Kabbalah teaches us that evil resides in our perception of evil. If we understood the true origin and purpose, it would be revealed as another manifestation of the Creator's wisdom.
"Until I read this parable, I had always wondered about the teaching that a truly righteous individual sees no evil in any other human beings regardless of how they might appear to the rest of the world.... ... it's not that the righteous person does not see evil at all, but that he or she sees it differently than the rest of the world. A righteous person sees evil not as an independent phenonemon, but as a powerful testing instrument of the Creator.
"Rabbi Akiva, who lived in the second century C.E., was a shepherd until the age of fourty, whereupon he began to follow a spiritual path. In the year 132, following a Jewish rebellion against the Romans... it was decreed that he should be put to death in a public execution. On the day the sentence was to be carried out, Rabbi Akiva confronted this terrible evil like the great Kabbalist that he was. On the way to execution, his students were in disbelief that such a thing could be happening to this great and good man. Yet Rabbi Akiva was unconcerned about who was responsible for this great injustice. In fact, he was perfectly serene... Moreover, when the actual execution was about to take place and another student was lamenting the tragedy, Rabbi Akiva sternly told him to be silent- and then he added, "This is the greatest moment of my life.".
"...he had been given the opportunity to confront evil in it's purest manifestation, and he had been up to the task... He freely chose instead to see even the worst acts of his enemies as a form of service to Creator."
The entire book is like that. I highly recommend it...
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