By: Michael BergFriday December 26, 2008
Igniting a Focus on Goodness
Many of us have learned the spiritual importance of not judging people and situations, and seeing the good instead. Yet, many of us have difficulty acting this way. This week, I wish to explain the spiritual laws that underlie this teaching so that it may serve as an impetus for us to truly see the good in everything.
Dormant Forces of Positivity and Negativity
Kabbalah teaches that we all have dormant forces within us - both positive and negative. These forces are awakened depending on where we focus our thoughts and consciousness. When we focus on the positive aspects in others, and in our life situations, we awaken the dormant positive forces within us. When we focus on others’ darkness and negativity, or on the negative aspects of our life situations, we awaken the dormant forces of negativity within us.
In our daily lives, we are all thrust into difficult interactions that lead us to judge and to see the worst in others. However, the kabbalists teach it is in our best interest to fight this innate tendency to obsess over the negativity we so plainly see – and to find only the good – because within every single one of us there exists these sleeping forces. Whether we are conscious of it or not, how we choose to view the world directly affects the latency or activation of these forces.
I always remember the Rav speaking about the fact that scientists are baffled because, although all people have dormant cancer cells, they can’t seem to figure out why they become active in some and remain inactive in others.
In the same regard, we all have hibernating forces of positivity and negativity within, and the triggering of these forces (through judging or seeing the good) is what determines whether we live a life marked by chaos and lack or joy and fulfillment.
Constant Supernal Assistance
A second point that ought to awaken us to want to see only the good in people and situations is that, kabbalistically, the only reason we are able to be the people we want to be is through the supernal assistance we are constantly receiving.
For those of us who think of ourselves as good, decent, spiritual people, it’s important to understand that it is only the constant support of the Light of the Creator that empowers us to be so. When we look at another person and judge them, subconsciously, it’s like we're saying, “I am better than you because on my own I am able to be a better person.”
This thought – again, it’s something we are usually not conscious of – is a total denial of the supernal assistance our souls are in constant need and want of. So the Creator says to us, “If you think it’s all about you, then I will allow it to be all about you,” and the assistance is withdrawn, making us vulnerable to internal and external forces of negativity.
For most, this lesson of not judging and seeing the good is just that, a nice spiritual lesson. It sounds right when we read it, and yet when we are honest with ourselves, we see it does not provide a strong or real enough impetus to dismantle our innate judging apparatus.
This week, think about the two deeper explanations I have described to you. Find the good within every difficult person and situation you encounter, and this is by no means easy. In fact, at times it will be a struggle that you will fight at the very core of your being. However, this fight is the best, most proactive way to protect yourselves, to maintain your supernal protection and to awaken only the dormant forces of goodness within.
