Question: If the Light is the most absolute, total pleasure, then I want to get to know it better. How do I do that? It seems to have come to take me along, but I didn’t notice it….

Answer: You must decide whom you do choose: the Light or the pleasure it brings? If you choose the pleasure, it won’t work.

It’s only at the beginning that the Light raises you by way of pleasure, so you may grow up and be an adult. Likewise, we raise children in our life. Our children receive, taking everything for granted and keep growing until they reach a certain age, and then we tell them: “Hold it, from now on you are an adult.” He can scream that he wants to remain a child and keep getting candy; it won’t work. If you grew up, you have to do your duty in the army and work; you must act as an adult.

What does it mean to be mature? An adult can’t run after pleasure; he must go for bestowal! You live in the society and have to bestow to all others: go to work, contribute to society, and then you will have the right to exist.

It is exactly the same in the spiritual world. An adult doesn’t wish to simply enjoy; he strives to reach an exalted and great purpose in his life. To be mature means to be in bestowal, to work not for the sake of the pleasure but for its source.

This is the kind of loyalty that is expected of us. This is when we establish a connection with the Light itself, not just with what we receive from it.

Hence, we are presently entering a new era, when the Light is no longer giving us pleasure. It no longer promises us that there are nice things ahead, and we don’t run forth in anticipation of receiving some new pleasures any more. Nothing attractive lies ahead.

At this point, we don’t have a choice but to transition to a new paradigm: rather than chasing after pleasure, to go after its source. And if we don’t wish to do so, it will get worse. The Light will still force us to do it by cutting us off from the opportunity to enjoy anything. Then, we will start asking: “What is happening? What is my life for? Why is the pleasure gone? What do I do?”

You begin asking not about pleasure, but rather about its source: “Where did the pleasure go? What happened with its source? Where did it used to come from?” And so we advance.

For as long as we keep receiving pleasure, we don’t ask about it. But as soon as we don’t get it in the present and don’t expect it in the future, it becomes a problem. I start seeking where it was supposed to come from: “Why hasn’t it come? What happened there?”

And at this point, I begin to see that if I wish to reach pleasure, I have to get closer to its source. And to get to it means to replace my desires to receive with the desire to bestow.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/10, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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