Back to the Future

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

Back to the Future

If you remember at the beginning of the chapter, we stated that
the Root was the beginning, at the top of the ladder. Although
it may seem like a contradiction, it’s important to remember it
because it means that you and I contain the seeds of the Root
within us—the seeds of the Creator, if you will.
So the Root is both the beginning of the cycle of spirituality
and our ultimate goal. Having “fallen,” you and I seek to
regain the top, or correct ourselves. That requires climbing the
spiritual ladder, from the earthly world back up to the Root.
To understand how to return to your Root, you need to know
your root and how you came down from there (the Reshimot). 

How else could you know where to return if you hadn’t already
been there in some way? The emergence of new desires, new
Reshimot, indicates that you are making progress, how fast you
are progressing, and if you’re on the best and fastest route.
In the end, we will all reach the end of correction, but a
correct use of the Reshimot can save us much trouble, time,
and effort. 

You move up the ladder each time you increase your desire
to be spiritual. As you
become more spiritual, you
build on the last degree
of spirituality to achieve
the next. Every time you
increase your need, your
future spiritual degree responds
by elevating you to
it. The cycle repeats itself and moves you to become more like
the Creator.
Once you have examined all your egoistic desires on the
egoistic level, called “this world,” a new desire appears. This new
desire is special. It is your first desire with a non-egoistic intention.
This event in a Kabbalist’s life, though it is a natural evolution
of the surfacing of the desires (Reshimot), is so radical that it is
known as “The Crossing of the Barrier,” or “the admittance to
the spiritual world.”
At any state your soul is in, the Reshimo (singular for Reshimot)
is predetermined. If you have an urge to realize the Reshimo,
this urge stems from within. But if you use the environment
to strengthen your desire and accelerate the unfolding of the
Reshimo, that would not only shorten the unfolding period, but
also elevate the experience to the spiritual level and make it
adventurous and exciting.