Scripture says that Jacob fought a man—who was the Angel of Esau—and would not release him until this angel blessed him. This man asked Jacob what his name was and Jacob replied that it was Jacob. This seems like an incomprehensible dialogue. However, the Zohar reminds us that if we attempt to understand Scripture on a literal level, all we wind up with is a total misinterpretation, if not a corrupted idea of what scripture really has in mind to teach us. Therefore, we must resort to the Zohar, to begin to unearth the real concealed message awaiting us.
"We must resort to the Zohar, to begin to unearth the real concealed message awaiting us."
The Zohar says that prior to the physical encounter that Jacob would have with Esau; there was a metaphysical struggle between Jacob and the Angel of Esau, Satan. But why would Jacob want a blessing from Satan? He had received so many blessings from the Divine, from the Lightforce of The Creator, why would he then feel it necessary to request a blessing from Satan? Furthermore, when Satan asked him what his name was, did Satan not know who he was wrestling with in the first place? What is this story really all about?
The Torah goes on and tells us that Jacob “crossed the ford of Jabbok” and connected with the Tree of Life reality. The Zohar explains that here we are being taught that we have an opportunity to “cross the ford of Jabbok” and tap into the Flawless Universe and make changes; eliminate the flaw, eliminate the chaos, and eliminate the pain and suffering. It is a war; it is a battle between good and evil. It means that in essence life is a battle. This is the battle that goes on in our lives, each and every single day, day in and day out and that the battle cannot to be won on this physical reality. What we achieve by studying this section of the Zohar is the power to be infused with energy of the Lightforce of The Creator within to remove and eliminate some, if not all, of the chaos that overtakes our lives. Consciousness dictates every single aspect of our body, so therefore the metaphysical encounter determines the outcome on this physical level.
"We can reach into that Flawless Universe and then bring it to bear in this physical reality."
The Zohar tells us that the Lightforce of The Creator can and will remove and eliminate a good deal, if not all the pain, chaos, and suffering that we must inevitably endure in this world. This battle is what The Kabbalah Centres are all about. This is not paying lip service. This is not a question of worship. These are hard, difficult battles on the level of consciousness where the battle has to take place. This is where we utilize these connections with the Lightforce of The Creator, so we can reach into that Flawless Universe and then bring it to bear in this physical reality.
What we learn from this awesome story is that the battle we have, whether it will be illness, whether it will be financial misfortune, whatever the chaos might be, does not have a name; it is a shadow of Satan. This is the message.
Satan knew that for the battle to be won in the material it must take place in another arena, in the realm of our consciousness. The Zohar tells us that when we beseech the Light-Force of The Creator, which is immaterial, and bring that to bear upon ant type of chaos, there is no reason why we cannot eliminate it at the level where it starts, where the true operations exist, not down here. In the physical level already there is very little that can be done. The changes have got to take place in that immaterial level known as the Flawless Universe. Jacob was victorious on this level of consciousness before his physical encounter with Esau to the point that when Esau, bent on killing Jacob, ran towards him and went for his jugular vein, he embraced and kissed him instead.
What happened? The Zohar explains Esau felt the Light that was flowing through Jacob on to this physical realm. Instead of destroying Jacob in a negative way, Rav Shimon bar Yochai says Esau embraced him and truly loved him. Hate was transformed into love. Here we have an incredible lesson that I have learned from my teacher, who learned it from his teacher.
Everyone wants the Light but there are times when the channels of Light are shut for people who are evil—regardless of their religion. For all the good reasons they go ahead and destroy. But this enemy of ours also feels the Light. This is what Jacob accomplished; he brought Light into that chaos. And because Light and darkness cannot coexist, when the Light was brought to bear, the chaos was not removed (it cannot be removed), it was transformed into positivity, it has no choice. This is what happened with Esau. By scanning the Zohar our personal chaos will have no other choice but to transform into Light and blessings.
