Immediate Transformation

This week’s energy is tailored to help us improve our level of humility.

Humility, according to the kabbalists, is not just a good quality but is actually the foundation of all our spiritual work.

We may think of pride as just plain arrogance, but the Spiritual Leader of The Kabbalah Centre, Karen Berg, shared that pride is thinking our abilities are the product of our own genius. Humility, on the other hand, is knowing that the Creator is the source of everything and is essential in any endeavour.

A perfect example of humility is the biblical character Joseph the Righteous. We all go through challenges and misfortune, but the question is how much humility we can maintain during those times? As we will see, humility is the key to transforming those times of darkness into light.

Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob the Patriarch, was sold into slavery by his brothers – for no good reason! He was then thrown into a dungeon for a crime he didn’t commit. The Zohar explains that as soon as Joseph was able to successfully interpret the dreams of Pharaoh (the ruler of Egypt at the time), he was immediately released from the dungeon. One minute he was sitting on probably a very dark, damp, cold stone floor, suffering – and the next he was cleaned up, groomed and standing next to Pharaoh in his palace as second in command of Egypt. Quite a transformation!

The Zohar portion of Miketz, verse 41, says:

The word, vayritzuhu (“and they brought him hastily”) is spelled without the letter Vav TO INDICATE THAT IT IS SINGULAR INSTEAD OF PLURAL. Who BROUGHT HIM HASTILY FROM THE DUNGEON? The Holy One, blessed be He, for there is no one else who imprisons and frees people from prison…

Hence it is written, “and they (he) brought him hastily out of the dungeon,” THAT IS, THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, BROUGHT HIM HASTILY OUT OF THE DUNGEON.

Yosef had the level of humility to know the Creator had put him in that prison, and also that the Creator desperately needed to get him out. He was therefore propelled from darkness to light in the blink of an eye!

This week, we get the strength to know that if we have humility there is always a chance that the biggest challenge we face can change in the blink of an eye.

There is a beautiful parable in which a wrongly imprisoned doctor is asked by the minister to take written notes about the condition of each of the other prisoners while he is incarcerated. The minister comes back after months to check that the doctor is still ‘fit for the task’ and is very surprised to see him looking so radiant and happy while in a prison! He asked the doctor for his secret, and the doctor replied, “I created a special medicine that I take every day…”

The medicine consisted of the following ingredients:

• Trusting in the Light
• Knowing I am the cause of my reality, so there’s no need to complain
• Knowing the Light gives me challenges to help me grow and cleanse my negativity
• Knowing there are even greater misfortunes than mine
• Knowing the Creator’s help can come in the blink of an eye

In the Study of the Ten Luminous Emanations, Rav Ashlag, a master kabbalist who founded The Kabbalah Centre in 1922, teaches that darkness comes before great revelations. This darkness allows us to create the vessel for the great Light that has been prepared for us. If we ask to stop the challenging process in the middle (which is there to create the perfect vessel), we will receive less of the Light than we were meant to get after the period of darkness is over.

On the one hand, we need to know the process is necessary – but at the same time remember that the transformation can happen immediately when we are ready!

This week, we can work on having the certainty to know that if we feel darkness and judgement, a great revelation must be coming. Let’s also work on building the humility to let it happen ‘in the blink of an eye’.