We Are Rewarded According To Our Efforts

clip_image001The Zohar, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” Item 68: It has another way of approaching the herbs: When the quiet Nile returns from Malchut to its place, when it rises and falls. Since its waters are still, it walks quietly and the great monster climbs unto those Niles and is not there in the still Nile. And all the herbs grow around that still Nile on either side. Then, that monster climbs unto the herbs and grows among them, and then returns to all these Niles.

In this section, The Zohar explains how the Direct Light is revealed in the Reflected Light. To the extent that the desires in Malchut can work with the Reflected Light, the Direct Light clothes into it. If the Reflected Light is reduced, the Direct Light vanishes from it.

What does this story do for us when we don’t understand it and can’t connect it to our desires and their fulfillment? The Zohar doesn’t give us any explanation to go along with the story. It doesn’t tell us exactly what is happening here or give us anything to “grab” onto.

The answer is that it doesn’t want to clarify the story. The Zohar could have explained it to us in the language of Kabbalah or in another more sensory, psychological, and understandable manner. However, instead The Zohar leaves room for our efforts to understand and feel, “What is this? What is it for? Where is it inside me?” Everything it describes undoubtedly occurs in every person.

I am performing all the actions that are described in The Book of Zohar. After all, my true state is that I am in the World of Infinity right now, but there are 125 degrees of concealment between my present state and the World of Infinity.

The Zohar purposely presents the story this way so that I would seek out these things within me in order to return to the sensation of the World of Infinity. The search itself gives birth to new qualities, senses, and inner differentiations within me. It helps me begin to feel what I presently don’t feel by developing the senses that perceive the spiritual world.

Therefore, the effort is mandatory. It is written, “One receives a reward according to one’s effort.” In the spiritual world, nothing will help except your effort. It is also written, “I labored and found.” When will you find spirituality? When the Upper Light influences you to the same extent as your effort. Then, it will fulfill your sense of spiritual perception. This is what happens every time you ascend from one degree to another. However, the most important thing is to rise at least to the first spiritual degree.

One Comment

  1. What is the “effort”? How can one increase their effort to begin to receive the “Light that reforms?

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