Our Purpose: Love

At times it is easy to forget our purpose in this world. In the work Pardes Rimonim, by Rabbi Moshe Cordevero, we are given a beautiful reminder within his description of the order of the Sefiros. He writes there that before the iniquity of eating from the Tree of Knowledge, the sefirah of Malchus sat directly beneath Tiferes and received vitality therefrom, and granted said life force to Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. Through the clarification of this sefirah, she can be restored to this place again.

When we look at the spiritual practice of Judaism, it seems to be couched in far too many laws and practices. To be fair, this could be said about any spiritual practice that requires some degree of self-control, as well as an investment of time and resources. The key point though of these practices is the refinement of the physical self, and the world around us. The key to performing the Tikkun (Reparation) of Malchus, which is the Tikkun of the Shechina Tata’a (“Lower” Shechina), is wholehearted devotion to God, to long for the Source as two infatuated lovers yearn for one the other. Through this intense love can the personal aspect of the sefirah be elevated, which has the net effect of bringing all aspects of Creation we interact with into this love, hence elevating a world seemingly covered with darkness to a place of Divine light and ecstasy, as it was in the beginning before we lost that experience on a constant basis. Through interacting with the world in a mindful way, remembering the Source of All, with great love and yearning, we can attain the state of mind we lost from before our minds were polluted with illusions of separation from Divinity.

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