Discoveries Made In A Cave

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

DISCOVERIES MADE IN A CAVE

What are the growth conditions you must provide for your
Abraham? You must put him in a cave. So says the Midrash:
“Terah orders him to be hidden in a cave.” What does it
mean to hide your newborn Abraham (intention to bestow)
in a cave? It means to create in the earth, in your own ego,
a special place in which Abraham (Bina, the part of the
Creator in you, the intention to bestow) can develop.
In other words, in this egoistic, material world, filled with
corrupt calculations and hatred, where people exploit one
another for personal profit, you must dig a cave for yourself,
meaning choose a special environment. You must find likeminded
friends who also aspire to the spiritual, books that
describe the exalted, spiritual worlds, and a guide who will


lead you toward the spiritual goal. If you do this, it will mean
that you have dug a cave in the earth.
Remember that Noah—the first desire for the spiritual
that arose at the smallest egoistic level—took the same
approach. The book of Genesis states that Noah entered
the ark as though it were a cave, a ship that sails along the
waters, and that ensured his salvation. He was able to avoid
being saturated with the values of this egoistic world, and
later came out onto an earth that had been purified by the
flood waters.
So it is now, at the new degree of the ego’s development.
History repeats itself, only the growth of Abraham inside
you takes place not on an ark, but in a cave. He is raised in a
special environment, which is why it is written: “The young
Abraham grew up in a cave, far away from the boisterous
world of people. Possessing an extraordinary mind, he came
to know the Creator when he was only three years of age.”
Why “three years of age”? It denotes the first phase of
development of the Abraham inside you. It is the period of
his birth. As we’ve already mentioned, at the higher level of
the ego’s development, a new method of sensing the spiritual
is born within you. The next phase is called “nursing.”
While “in the cave,” your inner Abraham undergoes
this period of nursing in his environment, reading the
works of great sages, listening to the teacher’s guidance and
striving to follow it. The third phase (three years) signifies
understanding, the phase of Bina, the sensation of the
spiritual, the realization that everything in this world is
governed by the Upper Force, which leads the world toward
its best possible state.


The Abraham inside you comes to understand this. Hold
on to your Abraham; he knows where he must bring you.
It is written: “Moreover, he did it on his own, having
reached this conclusion by way of observation and
reasoning.” Observation is the continual development of
the quality of Bina within you, the Creator’s quality. As you
already know, Bina derives from the word Mevin or Havana,
which translates as “understanding.”
Thus the method continues to develop. The phase of
Abraham, the degree of Bina, operates inside you, and you
are drawing closer and closer to the Creator.
“Perhaps I should worship the earth,” he reasoned,
“for man is nourished by its fruits? Yet the earth is not allpowerful,
but is dependent on the heavens, which bestow
the rain. Should I therefore worship the firmament? It is
clear that the firmament is governed by the sun, whose
warmth and light sustains the world’s livelihood.”
Abraham prostrated himself before the sun. But when
the night fell and the sun gave way to the moon, Abraham
reasoned that the moon may be no less divine. But he
relinquished that thought as well, judging that since the
moon only shines at night, it cannot be more powerful than
the sun, which only shines during the day.
You understand that growth can only happen thanks to
changes in your inner states: from “day,” when everything
is clear and the spiritual goal is of utmost importance in
your life, to “night,” when doubts come and you must find
within you the strength to give the ego a good punch in the
teeth. Darkness is essential to your growth. Out of Nimrod
rises Terah, out of Terah rises Abraham, and so on.

And so you cleanse, passing through all these states. Night
replaces day, which is again followed by night, though already
at a different phase of your understanding (or observation).
And so, together with your Abraham, you perceive that only
one force governs the world, and this force is one of love and
bestowal—the Creator. And Abraham is its spark.
The most important insight that you’ve gained by your
observations is that egoism in and of itself is not evil.
Using egoism for your own benefit, however, is evil. But if
you were to use it for the sake of others, you would cease
to perceive it as evil. It is as if you shed your old skin, your
ego becomes constructive, and you derive pleasure from its
constructive nature.
So what’s changed? Your intention has changed. The ego
has stopped being destructive, and has become constructive.
You realize that “I delight in bestowing. The pleasures that
awaken in me now are eternal and never-ending, for they
don’t neutralize the desire to bestow.”
This is what a simple intention called “Abraham” does—it
offers you a way to be happy. You now understand that the
essences of desire and intention are completely different.
The intention pertains to thought, whereas the desire
pertains to its corporeal manifestation.
The moment you truly begin to recognize and categorize
these two forces within you, you will feel very clearly that
your spiritual vessel is forming. You will begin to identify
yourself with intentions, rather than desires.
Your attitude toward the world, toward other people
and everything that surrounds you will change drastically.
This change will be the result of your ability to categorize
everything that happens to you into two distinct domains:


“my desire” and “my intention.” You will say to yourself, “I
work only with the intention and do not take my desire into
account. I don’t care one bit what my desires are. I rise above
this plane where people are judged by their desires. It’s not
for me anymore. I deal exclusively with intentions.”
This gradual realization that only the intention, and not
the desires, over which you have no control, is the foundation
upon which you are built. It allows you to see the world and
the entire universe with new eyes. Your worldview undergoes
a fundamental change. From a receiver, you turn into a giver
enabling you to see the true world—the Upper World—to see
the Creator.
Abraham drew a conclusion that an all-powerful and wise
Creator must be present behind all of this: “It follows that a
supernal Intellect must exist, guiding them.”
You see how two intentions can exist over one desire.
These two intentions are currently at war within you. It’s
also worth noting that your old intention “for yourself,”
the root of egoism, is not being destroyed. On the contrary,
everything is founded on it. Your gigantic ego is preserved, but
is fulfilled in a different way, with the method of Abraham.
Thus, in observing these two intentions you arrive at the
attainment of the Creator’s singularity. This singular Upper
Force is the foundation of absolutely everything: night and
day, intentions to receive or to bestow—everything is subject
to this force.
“I’ve not seen the Creator,” Abraham said, “but I know
that only a mighty and merciful God could create this
wonderful world around me, and that only His supernal
intellect could sustain the existence of this world. It is He
whom I will worship!”


You couldn’t see this wonderful world while in your
egoistic state because you were always worrying about yourself
and how to fulfill your ego. How could any world in which
you’re perpetually pursuing any and all fulfillment—be it
money, fame or power—be wonderful? The ego continues to
grow, and you must continue to assuage it with more money,
more fame, and more power!
But the wonderful world refers to the world that Abraham
sees. You can see this wonderful world as well, if you merge
with your intention to bestow. If you use your egoism
correctly you will rise above it, and you’ll begin to see the
future and your life going forward. All your aspirations
are to bestow. That is the meaning of “seeing a wonderful
world,” to receive for the sake of bestowal.
Abraham is the degree of Bina inside you, which is
absolute bestowal. That degree is saying, “I don’t need
anything; I want only to bestow.”
But is this state really perfect? You ask yourself, “Where
is this ego that I rose above? What happened to it? I haven’t
fulfilled it as a result of this action, but simply pushed it
away from me and rose above it. But I was born an egoist
and must learn how to use my egoism.”
With this, you ask how to connect your Abraham with
your egoistic nature, ensuring that Abraham will then
demand to be rewarded with the next degree. He insists,
“Give me the opportunity to actualize your absolute desire
to bestow, give me a son, so that at this degree I could learn
to fulfill my ego through bestowal!”
“I’ve not seen the Creator,” Abraham said, “but I know
that only a mighty and merciful God could create this
wonderful world around me.”


What is the meaning of “I’ve not seen the Creator”? It
means that by connecting with Abraham you connect with
the quality of Hassadim (mercy) inside you. It’s as if you
gain the ability to rise above this world and above your ego,
without fulfilling it. You simply leave the ego by the wayside.
This is why Abraham knew, but didn’t “see” the Creator.
So when will you be able to “see” the Creator? Only when
the Light of Life (Ohr Hochma) enters you. When will that
happen? When the Abraham inside you attains new degrees,
when “his sons” appear, who won’t flee from the ego, but
will find a way to fulfill it. In other words, they will do what
is essentially the purpose of man: receiving all the pleasures
the Creator has prepared for him.