Mystery of Time
It seems to us that the past is gone and the future is not yet here. Yet past and present are always with us. Two thousand years after the ancient Kabbalists revealed this concept, Einestein (who was a profound mystic by the way along with his ingenious scientific mind) made similar assertions. It's only the limits of our consciousness that prevent us from perceiving yesterday and tomorrow - right now.
But how can past, present and future all exist at once?
Here is a thought experiment:
Imagine a 30 story building. We are now standing on the 15th floor, which represent the present moment. Floors 1 through 14 represent the increments of time that brought us to this moment. Floors 16 through 30 represent the future of our lives.What do we currently perceive with our five senses?
Only the 15th floor.
We cannot see the floors below, and we cannot see the floors above.
Yet all the floors - that is, past, present, and future - exist as one unified whole: the entire 30 story building. And if we could float outside the building's 15th floor and look at it from a distance, we could see all 30 stories at once!
That's a nice abstract concept to engage the mind, but what's the lesson for our lives? Who cares if time is really one? The answer lies in understanding the concept of Test of Time and what Tricks does to us out of illusion that Time creates.
When we behave proactively, the Opponent uses time against us to sabotage our accomplishments. Just as the chaos may be delayed, the Light due to us may also be delayed. If we think we've been proactive, but find ourselves wondering when we'll get the Light, our adversary has won another round. It was just a devious delay tactic to incite us into reacting with doubt and disbelief.
Thus time is further defined as the distance between good deeds and their dividends. Just as time is the distance between crime and punishment. It is also the space between Resistance and reward.
It can get even trickier. Suppose there is a wonderful reward in store for someone, because of positive deed he or she committed some ten years prior. Now at the precise moment of a new negative misdeed, the Opponent takes time out of the cause-and-effect process relating to the prior positive action. What happens? All of a sudden, a reward falls into the person's lap right after committing the negative act. It appears as though this person received Light for the wrongful behavior. It looks as if this person go away with the crime and actually benefited in other areas of his or her life.
Or consider this scenario. A person decides to resist a negative reactive urge. Instead, this individual chooses to be proactive and perform a positive deed. But then, the negative payback that is due from a prior reactive action suddenly stares him or her in the face. Why? How? Simply because the chunk of time that was delaying the prior judgment is immediately removed from the process by the crafty Opponent. So, after having performed a wonderful act of kindness, life suddenly gongs this person on the head.
This creates the fantastic illusion that life lacks true justice and that goodness doesn't pay. This whole chaotic view of reality occurs because we are shortsighted people who allow time to rule and dictate our lives.
The Weapon of Complacency
Spirituality, according to Kabbalha, is not about trekking up a mountain to commune with God and nature while meditating alongside a clear steam as the birds sign the beauty of the world. That makes for a poetic scene, but it not the purpose of our lives. Nor is divorcing ourselves from the physical world, secluding ourselves up on a mountaintop contemplating the majesty of nature. According to Kabbalah, there are not effective ways to achieve spiritual growth.
We came down from the mountain, so to speak, to enter the world of chaos, hardship, turmoil and burden so we could confront the triggers that ignite reactions. Each trigger gives us the opportunity to transform our reactive behavior and become the cause of our fulfillment.
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
Our wonderful characteristics and endearing qualities serve no practical purpose when it comes to arousing new levels of fulfillment and Light in our lives. Those traits are already in a proactive state. On the contrary it is our negative characteristics and traits that give us the opportunity to effect a true transformation of character.
The Weapon of Disguise
One of the Opponent's most potent weapons is the ability to confuse us. We feel sad and disoriented, angry and envious, and we never know who our real opponent is. In the course of all the mergers and acquisitions, all the takeovers, deal cutting, wealth building, promotions, job changes, spousal fights, bad-mouthing, rationalizing, justifying, and blaming, we think the opponents are our neighbors, our enemies, and our friends whom we feel compelled to outdo with our cars, homes, clothes and holidays. Or we think the opponent is our business competitor. Or the person at work who gets all the credit for the work we do. Or maybe the opponent is the whole rotten world, the whole corrupt system that has failed us and done us wrong. May be that's why our lives are so miserable.
The Opponent is a master magician. A master of disguise. The Opponent projects himself onto other people so you recognize all of your faults in others and see the enemy as the other person. In reality, you're playing against the Opponent and don't even know it. You even doubt his existence right now, while reading a book on Kabbalah that plainly identifies him!
One of the most important Kabbalistic Principle states:
Never- that means never lay blame on other people or external events. (take responsibility even when the Opponent whispers to your mind that you are not responsible, its all "others faults", its all because "he or she did this or that"). Never- that means never lay blame on other people or external events.
- from Power of Kabbalah by Yehuda Berg
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