According to Kabbalah, we humans are “made of desire.” This desire is the human soul, which longs to realize its godlike potential and, like its Creator, to become the architect of its own life. In his fascinating book The Power of Kabbalah, Yehuda Berg describes this as:
“Be the cause of your own happiness; be the creator of your own fulfilment; share the implementation; manage your affairs.”
- Read: What Are We Made Of?
To learn how to become the cause of our own happiness, there is an essential condition: we must not receive what we want served to us on a silver platter. In the Kabbalistic tradition, creating this condition is called “bread of shame,” which represents the soul’s unconscious resistance to receiving without effort. Through the concept of the “bread of shame,” we can understand why unexpected obstacles arise on the path to what we long for. Even when our conscious mind wants things to come easily, the soul resists having its desires handed to it without earning them. It knows that the only way to grow is by overcoming challenges.
When we begin to understand the meaning behind the obstacles to fulfilling our desires, and use them as stepping stones for growth, we connect with the World of Light, where the primary cause of what happens in our human lives lies. Kabbalah also calls this realm “the World of the 99%.” This world is different from the material world we experience through our five senses, which in this tradition is called “the World of the 1%.”
Psychologically, “light” means consciousness, because, as Jung writes, “the longing for light is the longing for consciousness.” Only when we become aware of the primary cause of our life on Earth do we gain the power to influence the obstacles that stand in the way of realizing our desires.
In the language of this Program, understanding the meaning of obstacles on the Path refers to the development of spiritual intelligence.
