“It is not up to you to complete the work. But neither are you free to desist from it. The day is short, there is much work to be done, the reward is great, the workers are lazy, and the master of the house is knocking.” – Ethics of the Fathers
“The Time of Your Redemption has Arrived” – the Lubavitcher Rebbe
From the moment our ancestors were exiled from the Garden of Eden, we have been forced to live life in a world of struggle, darkness and death. In this state of conflict, scarcity and isolation, we are cut off not only from the physical Garden, but from our own essence, from G-d, and from each other. There is no question that life holds the possibility of amazing beauty and deep pleasure. But this pleasure is always mixed with the inevitability of pain. In all of history, not a single human being has managed to entirely escape the consequences of the exile from the Garden. Whether in tragedy and loss or in the everyday struggles of life, we all feel it, on some level, every day. But life as we know it to be, the life of exile, was never meant to go on forever. Our mission has always been, whether we were aware of it or not, to elevate and transform the world of exile into a home for G-d and a place where humanity can thrive. When the mission is completed, life will look very different from the way it does now. We are destined to go back to the Garden. Or more accurately, to make of the entire world a garden – a place of beauty, harmony and holiness. This process, as never-ending as it seems to be, had a beginning and will have an end. And the end of this process, the climax of history, is far closer than ever before. According to Kabbalah, right before the end of the process we will live through a time of transition between exile and Redemption. A time of intensified darkness and intensified light. A time when, after thousands of years of homelessness, we prepare ourselves to go back home. The purpose of this time is to move us to a whole new level of consciousness. It’s time to align ourselves with our destiny, to remember who we are and why we’re here. At this time, our choices make more difference than ever before. It’s always darkest before the dawn. But at the same time, it’s getting lighter too. It’s as if, throughout history, we’ve been riding a moving train through a long tunnel. As we near the end of the tunnel, the light coming from the beginning gets weaker and weaker, and the darkness grows. But at the same time, a new light, the light at the end of the tunnel, is beginning to shine.
As the darkness increases, our problems increase too. It’s not the first time in history that we’ve face challenges, but it is the first time that they have held such destructive power.
Our old paradigms – the light from the beginning of tunnel – will not enable us to solve these problems. The level of consciousness that we’ve held until now is simply not enough. But this is the language of golus. From the perspective of Geula, the expansion of consciousness that is being called forth by our challenges is the very reason they’re here. It’s all part of the Blueprint, the Tapestry, the vast cosmic plan.
But bear in mind that whatever form they may take, these crises have all been predicted. They are all part of the plan.
The words below, written thousands of years ago, describe this time of transition. I leave it to you to decide whether or not it sounds anything like our world today: Insolence and self-centeredness will increase, there will be oppressing inflation,people will be addicted to the good life and the costs will be high, moral standards will dissolve, morality and wisdom will be denigrated, there will be unbridled irresponsibility on the part of authorities, centers of learning will turn into centers of immorality, poverty will increase, the young will denigrate the old, families will disintegrate, leadership will be impudent. The world will see a succession of troubles, epidemics of terrible diseases, and international confrontations. The face of the generation will be ‘like the face of a dog’. Just as dogs are not embarrassed by anything they do, so too people will lose their sense of embarrassment.
We are being called upon to expand beyond our boundaries. Our challenges will force us, as challenges so often do, to dig deep within ourselves to find entirely new ways of thinking and being. They will compel us to strengthen our relationship with our Creator and to listen more intently for the soft voice of our soul. Out of the breakdown of the old and unworkable, we are destined to create something completely new.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of 3 in the next few days of The Climax of History......
