While students of The Kabbalah Centre may use kabbalistic tools for the removal of chaos, somehow chaos still stays with us. What is the reason we have not done the job yet? Is it that we do not have a critical mass of people using the tools?
The answer is that when we use these tools to tap into the profound, enormous energy known as the Lightforce of God, we do not have the vessel to capture all of that Light.
"In order to cleanse, one must feel the problem that one wants to heal."
In this week’s portion of Chukat, we read about the Red Heifer which has the power to cleanse all impurities and forms of negativity. Therefore, Chukat connects us to the power of the Red Heifer, even though the Red Heifer does not physically exist. It can be done on Shabbat because Shabbat is the one day of the week when there is no interference between us and the Lightforce of God. The only problem is that our vessels are not capable of containing all the energy that we draw through the tools of study and the Zohar.
We learn something strange in the portion of Chukat—the priest who administered the Red Heifer remedy to the Israelites who had suffered extreme negativity, such as touching the corpse of a dead person (the highest form of negativity), became impure himself. The priest became infected with everything that the person he helped to purify was afflicted with. Why is that? Why in the cleansing process does he become infected with that same malady? The answer, says the Zohar, is that in order to cleanse, one must feel the problem that one wants to heal. If you cannot feel the problem, then chances are you will not be able to heal that individual. You have to put yourself in his shoes. If you cannot do that, if you cannot fully have empathy, then you should not try to even make an attempt to help. It is an exercise in futility.
This is very profound for something that was written thousands of years ago. To this day, science still does not understand this concept; a doctor, for instance, while treating his patient, cannot be interested in the stock market. He must feel the patient’s pain or he cannot help. This is what the Zohar tells us: If we want to help others, the chances of our success are very poor if we do not feel or comprehend that person’s pain.
We are learning that it is important to have sympathy and empathy for our neighbor and our family—to feel for them, to feel what they feel. The spiritual, the human dignity, has been lost to the materialism that we all strive for.
Anytime we enter into an argument or a discussion, or even a war, we need to understand that it is not only to rid the world of chaos but also to teach ourselves a lesson—that what brought about the chaos in the first place is the lack of human dignity toward others. Therefore, to wage war and to decide to kill people today will be in vain, unless it is for the absolute ultimate goal: to do away with negativity.
"Bringing chaos to an end is what Kabbalah and the Zohar are all about."
What we are asking for when we read and connect to the portion of Chukat is to achieve a total cleansing—a cleansing of all those impurities that have been lurking in our bodies for 20, 40, 60, or 100 years, and to rid ourselves of all of those different forms of infections.
But if we do not know about it, if we have no consciousness of it, if we are not aware of it, it is a wasted opportunity. For us, there is something more to it, something deeper. It is to help and support each and every individual in their own pursuit of happiness, which means being free of chaos. Happiness cannot coexist with chaos.
In this world precision does not truly exist. It exists only for a while to give us the impression that maybe it is the real reality, and to guide and mislead us into a feeling of security in this world— when in reality the world is filled with chaos.
Does the fact that I’m experiencing happiness and the world is experiencing chaos mean the world is no longer in chaos? To think like that would be like an ostrich putting its head in the ground and not seeing anyone else. At The Kabbalah Centre we do not look at reality this way. We are looking for the ultimate—that everyone be relieved of chaos. Not only me, not only you, but everyone in this universe; and that is the possibility of the energy this week.
While reading Chukat, this consciousness and thought of collectively removing all forms of chaos in all the infinite ways it appears should be uppermost in our minds—not the stock market or the individual chaos that we might have. The pain that chaos inflicts each and every minute of the day on mankind is indescribable. It is time we brought it to an end.
Bringing chaos to an end is what Kabbalah and the Zohar are all about.
