Healing Crisis
May 29th – June 4th, 2005
I received a curious email from a student last week. He was concerned that since he began scanning The Zohar, he was becoming more aware of his anxiety and his overall negativity. He thought maybe he was doing something wrong (’I thought everything was supposed to be perfect after I got The Zohar’ he wrote.)
I wrote back to him that what he’s experiencing is actually a good sign. Because when we’re going through difficult periods after using the tools of Kabbalah, it means the Light is at work in our lives, bringing our garbage to the surface, so we can face it and transform it.
My mother, Karen Berg, recently spoke about this concept during a Q&A session on her God Wears Lipstick Book Tour. She is very interested in holistic medicine and the central tenet of their philosophy is that the key to good health is drawing out that which causes the dis-ease, rather than suppressing it.
So, when a person commits to a path of natural medicine, usually one of the first things to happen is the body purges the toxins, poisons, viruses and bacteria that had been laying dormant in the body. They term this phenomenon a healing crisis.
It is the same with spiritual health. When a person commits to a spiritual path, the soul begins to purge that which is toxic to spiritual health. So we may experience bursts of apparent chaos which might seem to be negative. And it can cause us to doubt ourselves and the efficacy of the kabbalistic system.
But these negative episodes are actually indications that the Light is forcing the darkness within us out. Our vessels (souls) have a certain capacity to contain Light and in order for them to contain more Light, this darkness must disappear.
So, if there is anger or depression or low self-esteem within you, would you rather shove it down deeper so you can’t see it (even though it will one day explode on you?) Or would you rather get it out now?
This choice is one we will face our entire lives: temporary pain & lasting fulfillment or temporary fulfillment & lasting pain.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll choose lasting fulfillment every time. I hope you do the same this week - and every week.
All the Best,
Yehuda