Worldly Pleasures
November 13th – November 19th, 2005
Do you sometimes get this feeling that you just need to take a break and escape into the one percent reality? Scorpio is a high pressure month, so don’t feel guilty about doing what you need to do to recharge and realign yourself. If it’s a manicure at the salon or a shopping spree at the mall or getting lost in a video game - do it.
Just make sure what you are doing is ultimately creating a bigger vessel for your sharing. Let me explain.
There are other spiritual philosophies out there that say you should reject physicality, that it’s bad to partake in the pleasure of malchut (physical world.) That’s not at all what we’re teaching at the Kabbalah Centre. If the Zohar makes one thing clear, it is that the world was created for the sake of benefiting its inhabitants.
You are not here to become a being of the desire to share, you are here to become a being of the desire to receive for the sake of sharing. Translation: you need to want more and get more in order to give more.
Last week I mentioned that the institution of love was created so you can learn to love the Creator. The lesson is you can’t give what you don’t have within. So if you are stressed and riddled with anxiety, what kind of friend can you be? Or parent? Or lover?
There is an old story about a kabbalist who meets a fellow townsperson in the local apple orchard. Both the man and the kabbalist pick an apple from the same tree. The man looks at the kabbalist and says, “Amazing! We are so alike. Here you are, a great master of the spiritual world, and here I am a simple man. Yet we both enjoy the same pleasures in life.”
The kabbalist turns to him and says, “there is one thing that makes us different. You eat the apple because you are driven by your desire for the apple itself. I, on the other hand, eat the apple because I am driven by the Light that is concealed within the apple.”
The idea here is that there are sparks of the Creator in everything physical. You have to ask yourself, “am I connecting to the spiritual concealed within the physical?”
Do kabbalists go to the movies or to Coldplay concerts (ok, ok, I love Coldplay)? Yes we do. Because there is Light to be experienced in the pleasures of this world. And if these pleasures are invigorating us so we can be clearer channels for the Light, then it’s all good.
But this is something you have to discern for yourself. If what makes you happy is smoking pot everyday or spending your pay check on clothes or binge eating, then perhaps there is something else missing in your life. And trust me, I am not judging you. I am simply waking you up to be honest with yourself.
This is another beautiful gift of Scorpio, the ability to see deeper into how your addictions keep you stuck in the illusion of happiness. And if you are struggling with finding your genuine happiness, this is the month to call a teacher, or a grounded friend, and to get help. Remember what my brother Michael said in this month’s Scorpio newsletter…“it’s never too late.”
Have an awesome week. Enjoy…
All the Best,
Yehuda