Perfection Exists Within

[Guest guest]

Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.

You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.

You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.

And it is well you should.

The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring

to the sea;

And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your

eyes.

But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.

For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, " I have found the truth, " but rather, " I have found a truth. "

Say not, " I have found the path of the soul. " Say rather, " I have met

the soul walking upon my path. "

For the soul walks upon all paths.

The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.

The soul unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals.

Kahlil Gibran

All of us have at one point or another done something, or perhaps

many things, of which we are not proud. In fact, we may even feel

that because of our actions we have somehow damaged our soul,

rendering us incapable of growing and maturing spiritually.

To this the Kabbalists say the soul can never be damaged; it can only

be covered up.

The spark of soul inside every one of us is perfect and pure beyond

words. At every moment we are connected to the Light of the Creator

and no action can sever this connection. We can veil this connection,

thereby preventing our soul from shining as bright as it can for

ourselves and others, but we can never destroy it.

At the core of our being, we are perfect and pure. Always.

We must know this if we are to lead the fulfilling lives we are meant

to lead. Keep in mind, this is not meant to be a nice message

designed to make you feel good about yourself. This lesson is

connected to the fundamental kabbalistic concept that states,

blessings cannot rest on darkness.

The idea is, when we share with someone, Light is revealed.

Naturally, we want to add that Light to our spiritual bank account.

However, what the Kabbalists are saying is, if our view of ourselves

is dark, then the Light can't come to us because there is no

affinity.

For those of us who are a little too hard on ourselves, we need to

change our self-perception so that we can experience the Light our

actions are revealing.

Remember this always, we can connect to the Zohar, pursue actions of

sharing, and do everything the kabbalists prescribe to reveal Light.

However, if we are missing this one essential ingredient, then the

Light we reveal will have no place on which to rest.

Seeing our perfection is the groundwork on which Kabbalah is

practiced. We must be ever-vigilant to not push ourselves off the

path with thoughts of, I don't deserve, I've caused too much damage –

to others and to myself, I cannot grow and change now.

It's these very thoughts that block the Light of the Creator from

permeating our lives.

When we desire a deeper flow of Light and blessings into our lives,

we must be conscious of our innate perfection. It doesn't mean we are

not honest with ourselves. We have all obscured our souls with layers

of selfishness and hurt, and there is an on-going removal process

that needs to take place. But our negative actions can never

extinguish our spark of Light.

To put a fine point on it, there is a distinct difference between

thinking, I am a bad person, and thinking, I am a perfect soul that

is partially covered up by actions I have done.

Self-loathing is so sabotaging because if we are trying to connect to

the Light while thinking badly about ourselves, then we simply cannot

draw the Light. Therefore, to combat this tendency of unproductive

self-criticism, we must strengthen our consciousness to see beyond

the clutter, and into the pure, powerful truth at the center of our

being.

The Kabbalists take this thought one step further. If we want to help

the people in our lives, then we have to see their perfection as

well. When we only see the darkness within our friends, students,

children, and colleagues, we cannot help them. Only by seeing their

perfection can we be of any real assistance.

When I want to help a friend who has done something wrong, I must

restrict my natural tendency to judge, because once I am in that

frame of mind, it's useless. I can't help him any more, certainly not

in a lasting way. Rather, what I need to do is remind myself that he

is connected to the Light, he is a perfect soul, and all that I am

doing is helping him to remove those veils so that his perfection can

shine.

This week, concentrate on your greatness. Let this be a focus for

your morning prayers or meditations. Remind yourself that you have an

amazing soul and that you are always tremendously connected to the

Creator. As you strengthen this consciousness, the Creator's Light

can shine brighter than ever before.