Can You Handle the Truth?
July 25th – July 31st, 2004
I mentioned last week that we were entering the three most negative weeks of the year. Last Sunday we entered into the most challenging 9 days of these three weeks, and with the most negative day approaching this Tuesday, July 27th, starting Monday night, July 26th, things are getting more intense. After Tueday, everything will lighten up.
The question is, what can you do about it? Sitting around isn’t the answer – there’s always a benefit to difficult times – so what can you do? What’s your opportunity?
This week’s energy is very powerful, and there are a few things to note.
My teacher and father Kabbalist Rav Berg explains that these 7 days you need to remember what you learned when you first started Kabbalah: there is a force existing in the universe called Satan, a negative force that exists and surrounds you no matter how spiritual you might be.
It’s there, it’s in you, and you have to be aware of it. Its greatest ploy is to make you forget it exists.
No matter how good your intentions, or how spiritual you are, Satan is there. And Satan plays an important role. Remember, it’s why you’re here – so that you can use your free will and make choices in your life.
This force is at its peak power these nine days, so it’s necessary to have clarity as to what you need to transform in you in order to protect yourself.
Here is an exercise that you can do – write down on a piece of paper, the sentences:
1. This is what I appreciate about you.
2. This is what you might want to change.
Leave spaces for answers. Then give it to a friend and ask them to fill it out! Pick a good friend, one who has no agenda other than love for you.
The amazing thing you will realize is that both the good and the bad traits relate to the same issue. For example, if someone writes that you are a good leader, a great teacher, and know how to show others direction, what could be the negative aspect of that? It most likely will be ego, and a need for control.
The core essence of your being is one thing. Good and bad are two sides of the same coin.
The energy of this whole month is about converting negativity into positivity. It’s about converting bad to good. For example, a person born under the sign of Cancer is beautifully sensitive; it’s an aspect of Light in them. But the Satan turns it into something bad, such as hypersensitivity.
There has to be this Satan force, though. And you should never underestimate its power.
The moment you understand that your essence is good and it is the Satan force that weakens it , you can take the good back from the bad.
How do you do that this week? There are three ways:
1) Take all that’s bad about you and bring it back to an embryonic state when it was only good! Let’s say you’re jealous. What would jealousy be at an embryonic state? It would appear simply as a big desire – wanting to have it all. And that’s good! But Satan changes it into not wanting to have to work for it – just wanting it now and not wanting anyone else to have it. This week, take all your negativity and bring it back to an embryonic state to see the positive in it.
2) Don’t react to anything negative, no matter what goes wrong! Don’t deal with it! Be an ostrich and stick your head in the sand – let the Light take over! The Zohar promises that if you don’t react, the Light will take care of everything. If the bank calls and says you’re missing $10,000 dollars – don’t do anything. Surrender, trust the Light, and everything will be fine.
3) Become a witness to your own actions. The Zohar says this is a profoundly simple tool to convert negative to positive. Have an “out-of-body” experience; take yourself out of any situation you’re in and look at your behavior. Imagine a friend behaving like you and ask yourself if you would put up with them. Most of the time, if you see your own behavior, you’ll find other things you want to change.
It’s painful to see your garbage. But this physical process is necessary for your spiritual one. People get more confused as they get more spiritual. It’s because the more you do, the more that comes up. After 20 years of working on yourself, you can get tired – it’s hard. It’s hard because when you first start working on yourself, you deal only with big stuff. The further down the spiritual path you go the deeper you get into the details.
When you start your first Kabbalah class and you want to correct yourself, the only answer you get is to restrict. Very broad, very easy. Then in Kabbalah II, you hear you have to restrict your ego. Then in your third class, as you learn more, you hear that you have to restrict your ego in a specific way. The more you learn the more specific the work gets. You are continually refocusing.
The whole idea is to realize that the more you study and do, the more direction your restriction has. Yet the more you have details, the more you know you are progressing!
Do this week’s exercises with excitement. Know that each uncomfortable truth you face creates a bigger opening for the things you are searching for to enter your life.
All the Best,
Yehuda Berg