As I wrote in yesterday’s post, we must give as well as receive. The two are integrally connected. Indeed, when we give, we open ourselves to receiving. We also become “like God,” since God is the Giver and we are the receivers. We, therefore, move closer to God, reducing the separation we tend to feel or to believe exists between us and the Divine.
Yet, as I explained yesterday, if we only give we don’t fulfill our Divine purpose, which is to receive. So, today we go on to part two and learn how to be both givers and receivers.
Receiving and then Giving for the Sake of Giving God Pleasure
We are supposed to develop a will to receive in order to give pleasure to our Creator. Of course, we are personifying God, but bear with me. We accept gifts from God, because it makes God happy. That’s all we have to “do.”ย The giving is simply in accepting the gift.
Plus, since God wanted to give to us for the sake of giving us pleasure, we achieve true affinity of form with God when we do the same in return. Prior to this, we do, indeed, become givers and “like” God but not in the total sense of what I’m talking about here.
Okay, so the fact that God receives pleasure seems a bit far fetched, I know. This takes us back to this idea of God as a “man” or “woman” with feelings. I don’t really want to go there.
If, however, we simply say that the formula involves a Giver and a receiver, by not accepting what we are given we don’t complete the formula. To better understand how the process works, think of God like a power source and humans like electronic pieces of equipment. If we (the pieces of equipment) don’t receive (allow in) the electrical current, we short circuit the system. We send the electricity back to Source where it goes “ZZZZT!” Now, that probably wouldn’t feel too good at that end, would it? Plus, the flow of electricity would be stopped at our end and sent back. Our equipment wouldn’t run well, if at all, nor would we receive what we need. At the other end, the Source remains unlimited and the energy can be resent, but the circuitry along the way could eventually become damaged if we continued to only give or not to receive. Plus, by only giving and not receiving, eventually, we’d run out of power. Like a battery-run electric item, our battery would eventually run out of juice. We would find ourselves lacking what we need most.ย I think you get the idea.
We want to transform our receiving into giving because this “gives pleasure” to our Creator or fulfills the purpose of Creation. As written in In the Shadow of the Ladder,” In Kabbalah, giving to each other is likened to giving to God. By using the will to receive in order to give, we become in affinity of form with the Source. We become one with the Creator. This is a new and complete form of vessel that did not exist prior to the creation of the worlds. This vessel now fulfills the ultimate purpose of creation in that it enables God to give pleasure to His creatures without leading to separation between the vessel and the light.”ย In other words, we can receive all that we desire including oneness with God.
And at the end of the day – at the end of our lives – we can’t take any of the “stuff” with us. What we will want more than anything at that last moment is to know we are one with our Creator.
And What About Giving to Others?
So, how does all of this relate to what we Jews call tikkun olam, or repairing the world, and tzedakah, or charity?ย Here’s how I understand it.ย First we must heal ourselves. The healing (tikkun) we must do on ourselves revolves around manifesting a new desire – the desire for a higher consciousness. This consciousness is one that actually sees or experiences receiving as giving.ย In other words, in our minds and in our experience the two acts must become one and the same.ย When we accomplish this, we truly become one with God. We tap into the Divine flow of light or energy or “gifts” that constantly flows forth, and enable God to fulfill the purpose of creation. This purpose revolves around God giving us pleasure -desires granted, needs filled, fulfillment in whatever form we conceptualize.
And when we give, we become channels for God’s light and energy. We become that very same constant current of electricity, that ever-flowing river of abundance, that very same Source of all that is, ever was and ever will be.
If that’s not good enough reason to give, I don’t know what is.
If you liked these two posts, you might enjoy The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation.
