A Squirrel In A Cage Or A Human Being?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe consider only the quantity of desires and pleasures without examining their quality. In a never-ending chase for pleasure, man inevitably begins to face the question: “Why do I need this? What is the meaning of life?”

In the past nobody gave it thought with the exception of a few philosophers, but today a lot of people are asking: “Why am I here ? What is this world for? What’s in it?”

This is a qualitatively different question, an essential question. Today an eternal chase for pleasures makes man ponder over it on a higher level: He wants to know what the meaning of life is.

Failing to keep pleasures and striving to find new ones, I run around like a squirrel in a cage. Pleasures may never run out, yet I nevertheless rise from the animate level to the human one and ask myself: “What for?”

We ourselves do not notice these qualitative transformations in desire. It would seem, how can I feel unhappy if every day gives me more opportunities to enjoy? However, a certain tendency is hidden within, and that is why a new age is called the age of depression.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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Above The Limits Of The Temporary World
Emptiness Is Our Construction Site
The Birth Of Intention Or Man

One Comment

  1. This is me — chasing pleasures every single time. Only glimpses of infinity is felt whenever the feeling is fleeting and I don’t want it to flee. True, there is a tinge of depression and one asks what for. Very real cycle every single time. But at the same time, one still plays it constantly — the game of chasing pleasures. Thanks to this wisdom it gives an opening — an exit route out of this cylce, at least in perception — to see beyond all these mashuganas in earthly life.

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