Prison

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

PRISON
Abraham is thrown into a dungeon for ten years.
Dear reader, I trust you already realized that everything
that happens to you in life happens exclusively for your own
benefit. Your entire life on this earth is nothing other than
your individual journey to the Creator as He leads you to
Himself.
The dungeon that your Abraham is thrown into is
the optimal state for your development at this time. Your
Abraham must realize that he is hopelessly attached to his
ego. He must experience it first-hand, not conceptually, but
really feel it! And the only way to feel it and clearly see that the
ego is an evil force of darkness robbing you of your freedom,
is to put yourself “deep into the earth,” in the dungeon—the
darkest and innermost part of your ego, where you can’t
help but feel terrible and shackled by it. This can only be
done in the prison of the ego, in the bowels of the earth.
I’d like to reiterate that the word “earth” (Eretz) derives
from the word Ratzon (desire). In other words, you are


being immersed in the bowels of the earth, deep within
your desire. This is an important experience for your
Abraham, who must feel and live through it all to break
away from the ego.
Here, Abraham is going through a phase that every
person who cannot let go of his ego goes through. You try
everything in your power to reconcile the ego with what
you’re studying; you wish to remain an egoist, yet connect to
the Creator at the same time. Thus, Abraham finds himself
imprisoned.
The period when you feel as though you’re languishing
in prison is a preparatory one, and it may feel extraordinarily
long.
In Kabbalah this state is called “the double concealment
of the Creator.” This is followed by a period of “single
concealment.” These are phases of your “imprisonment.”
You already know about the existence of the Upper
Governance when you are already with Abraham, but you
realize that your nature cannot be defeated.
This is the state called “imprisonment,” which lasts until
you begin to realize that you can regain your freedom, but
not by your own efforts. Rather, you can be free only if the
Creator rescues you.
It takes time to realize this.
As the Midrash states, your Abraham remains in prison for
ten years. Needless to say, we’re not talking about corporeal
years, for your liberation can happen in an instant. Ten
years later, Nimrod finally realizes that Abraham cannot be
broken, and orders to have him executed.