Intention Is Everything

Kabbalah teaches us that, before our reality was created, humanity existed in a simple perfection with the Creator, what is often referred to in the ancient writings of the kabbalists as the Endless World. In this perfect harmony, the Creator shared endlessly with us, and we received endlessly. However, in our receiving, we inherited a desire to become like the Creator, to share and to actually earn the Creator’s blessings. We asked to separate from the Creator in order to grow and ascend to a higher spiritual level. This created a new reality, the world in which we currently exist. 

"The true outcome – the spiritual outcome – is something we cannot see with our eyes.."

In Rav Ashlag’s writings on the Ten Luminous Emanations, he explores the idea that our reality may appear to be dark and negative when you look at its imperfections. However, as Rav Ashlag explains, because the intention behind the creation of this reality – our soul’s desire to elevate to a higher spiritual level – was positive, so, then, is the reality itself positive.

There is a valuable lesson here. Often in our spiritual journey, we tell ourselves that if our intentions are not in the right place, bad things will happen. Likewise, we believe that if our intentions are pure, the manifestation of our actions will be positive. However, Rav Ashlag is teaching us that this is not exactly true. He reveals that, while it is vital that our consciousness be in the right place, the actual manifestation in the physical world does not really matter because the spiritual manifestation will be a positive one.

Think about how many times we try to do the right thing, and yet the situation still seems to go wrong. We have our hearts in the right place, but the result is not what we intended. We ask ourselves, “How could this happen when I was trying to do the right thing?” We are often fooled by the physical manifestation of our thoughts. We believe the outcome that we see is either our reward or punishment. But the true outcome – the spiritual outcome – is something we cannot see with our eyes. 

"Remember the power of our thoughts and intentions."

This is why we are often blind to the impact of our spiritual work. We don’t always see how our prayers are revealing miracles in the world. We don’t always recognize the hardships and obstacles in our lives as blessings that are giving us exactly what we need. We don’t see the great Light we are revealing in the world through our spiritual journey.

Our sight is limited in the physical world. When an outcome appears negative, it cannot truly be negative if the intention behind it was positive. As long as the cause is pure, even if the effect appears negative, it is spiritually positive in the eyes of the Creator. This goes both ways. When things are going the way we want, we think it means we must be doing something right, and we pat ourselves on the back. But if we manifest great things in the world from a place of impure intentions, then it doesn’t matter how positive the result was, it is not building a stronger connection to the Creator. It is only the cause that matters, not the effect.

In our spiritual work, we talk a lot about doing positive actions. Helping, sharing, giving. And while these are all incredibly important things to do, we must remember the power of our thoughts and intentions. As Rav Ashlag teaches us, when we set our consciousness in the right direction, we build a stronger connection with the Creator, and this is all that matters.  

*Taken from Michael Berg’s class: Ten Luminous Emanations - Lesson 6.