Inspiring Change by Michael Berg

One day a man onboard a ship walks by one of the cabins and notices a man drilling a hole in the floor. He shouts, “What are you doing? Are you crazy?!” The man looks up bewildered and says, “This is my cabin, and I can do whatever I want in it.” The other man becomes irate. “You fool, a hole in your cabin will sink the whole ship.”

This seems like a simple story, but The Zohar uses it to clarify a deeper secret of life: we’re each responsible for one another.

Frequently things in life are exciting in the beginning and then they lose their excitement over time. Most people are more in love on the first date than they are 15 years into marriage, or more enthusiastic about a job in the first week than three years into that job.

Sometimes it breaks over us like a slow-moving wave, other times it strikes as suddenly as lightning. The cause may be hidden or all too obvious: someone says the wrong thing or says nothing at all. In an instant we’re red-faced, unable to speak, perhaps close to violence. Overcome, we not only forget who we are, but we literally become someone else.

We are now entering the month of miracles, and soon opening the gift of Chanukah, referred to by kabbalists this way because there is almost nothing required of us.

It is simply a gift. All that’s required is the desire and knowledge to receive it. On other holidays there are many prayers, meditations, and physical actions designed for drawing the Light.

Michael discusses the concept of "living in the Upper Worlds." According to the kabbalists, we can choose to live in one of two realities - our current world of worry, disappointment and fear or a world without the chaos of everyday existence. Learn how to connect with the pure part of the soul and choose to live in a world without fear, disappointment or worry.

The month of Scorpio gives us the gift of becoming aware of our sparks of purity, and the ability to fan them into huge flames, to recover our true selves.

The Zohar teaches us that within every single one of us exists a spark of purity that can never be corrupted - no matter how negatively we may act.

The kabbalists teach that Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the New Year, when our true self is born anew. But what does that really mean?

Every one of us has a spark of the Light of the Creator within us. The kabbalists explain no matter how many negative actions we have committed, this true essence – our real selves – never becomes disconnected from its source. The Creator is always within us.

We are now in the beginning of the month of Elul, better known as the month of repentance.

On a simple level, it can be understood that in the upcoming month of Tishrei (sign of Libra), we will all be judged. Therefore, we should cleanse ourselves beforehand. But there is a deeper secret to this month.

Kabbalists throughout the ages have sought to awaken within their students the ability to be free from approval-seeking. They often pushed them to great lengths to release their addiction.