mscaprikell 
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(11/7/05 2:17 pm)
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 WCT - Piggy Bank (article)
November 6th – November 12th, 2005
Piggy Bank
You may remember in The Power of Kabbalah the reference I made to the shadow and the hand (pg. 30, "Chasing Our Shadows"). The basic concept is that we spend so much of our lives trying to move the shadow when we need to focus on moving the hand that creates the shadow.
This is especially true in relationships (romantic, family, friendships, work). We’re constantly trying to fix, correct, and change the other person. This is an exercise in futility.
The physical body (which includes the emotions and the intellect) is only the one percent manifestation of the 99 percent. When we care about someone, it's not enough to love them physically or emotionally. We need to be in a constant state of recognizing the Light within them.
Rav Yehuda Ashlag, the great 20th-century kabbalist and founder of The Kabbalah Centre, writes that love that depends on something disappears when that something disappears. In other words, love based on physical attraction or social status (or any other condition) vanishes when that condition is no longer present.
What's the message here? If we don't love the Light within the other person, we don't actually love the other person.
But wait, it goes deeper.
Rav Ashlag goes on to say that the whole institution of love was created as a training ground for us to learn how to love the Light force of the Creator.
I think that is one of the most beautiful things I have ever learned. Think about it. What is the thing that shakes, rattles, and rolls us more than anything? It's love, right? For most of us, when we don't have love, we feel like we don’t have anything at all. We’re especially in touch with this emptiness when a relationship ends.
But the secret is, loving another person is not the goal -- it is the means by which we achieve the goal. And again, the goal is to love the Light of the Creator, not only in another person, but in everything.
Think about your favorite place in nature. You know that peace that comes over you when you're absorbed in the beauty? Or the thrill of biting into your favorite dish? In those moments, you are extracting Light from those physical delights.
But here's the kicker -- it's easy to connect to the Light in those moments because you're getting something out of the one percent and the 99 percent. The real test is when a co-worker pushes your buttons and you want to reach into their cubicle and choke them. Or when the parking attendant shows up one minute before you can put another quarter in the meter. Or when someone you trusted breaks your heart.
If you can manage to see the Light in these people -- well, that's what the kabbalists call true love.
A great exercise for this week is to open a spiritual piggy bank for someone in your life.
Work on contributing pennies to this bank every day by doing something nice for them, by being considerate of their feelings. Avoid taking pennies out by resisting being irritable or self-centered with them.
Imagine that the other person is involved with this game, too, that their "deposits" and "withdrawals" also affect the little piggy. When you notice a withdrawal on their part, don't criticize them. Instead, YOU make the effort to make another deposit.
In the big picture, this exercise is about creating unity with the Light. If you consistently work to keep your piggy full, so too will your heart be filled -- with love, joy, confidence, and all things Light.
All the Best,
Yehuda
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