|
"In
its Time I Will Hasten it":
The Secrets of the Final Redemption
Part
4
Conscious
Determination
Conscious
determination is the essential power of the Jewish soul to change reality in
general, and to hasten the coming of Mashiach,
in particular. The four stages of conscious determination exactly parallel
the four stages of progress toward Messianic reality brought about by
studying about the redemption:
-
True faith in the objective.
-
Strong will to achieve goal.
-
Using intelligence motivated by strong will
to determine plan of action.
-
Identifying changes and living in desired
reality.
There
are two dimensions to the fourth stage of living in the Messianic reality:
-
The outer dimension, in which one
opens his eyes to see that what he has learned already exists in
reality.
-
The inner dimension (parallel to Stage
5 in the previous chapter), in which one sees that although not
everything that he learned has already been realized, the study itself
is the study of the Torah of Mashiach, and he himself is already living
in the Messianic reality.
The Secret of Chashmal
The Ba'al
Shem Tov taught that every rectified process follows three stages, as
hinted at in the mystical word chashmal
from the Workings of the Chariot in the first chapter of Ezekiel.
-
The first stage, chash ("silence"),
is submission and inner silence when faced with a given reality.
-
The second stage, mal
("circumcision") is separation of the good from the bad
(as when the foreskin is circumcised from the holy Jewish body).
-
The third stage, mal ("speaking")
is sweetening, when the Divine essence is revealed in reality.
This leads to "speaking" to all about the revelation of the
Divine reality.
The
process of creating Messianic reality also parallels the Ba'al Shem Tov's
model:
-
Submission: Faith
in the coming redemption and will to make it happen are both
characterized by silence -- the inability at this stage to act upon one's
faith and desire. In the first stage of submission, one's faith is very
strong, but he does not believe that he can act to change his reality.
In the second stage of submission, although one strongly desires to act
to bring the redemption, he does not know how to proceed. This form of
submission may lead one to frustration at his lack of action, resulting
in heartfelt prayer to God to show him how to advance his goals.
-
Separation: When
one studies about the redemption, he can distinguish between the factors
that help to advance Messianic reality and those that hamper his goal.
He separates between the good and bad, removing the foreskin that is
concealing the redemption.
-
Sweetening: Sweetening
also has two stages. First, external reality is sweetened. This is the
illumination of the positive, sought-after reality -- world peace, which
is the essential transformation from unrectified reality to Messianic
reality. The following stage is the sweetening of internal reality
through the learning of the secrets of the Torah. This study will lead
us to realize that the laws of nature and the laws of the Torah are
identical. Learning and internalization of the Torah of Mashiach is an
eternal process of sweetening, in which we ascend from one level of
understanding to the next "until 50,000 Jubilees."
To summarize:
The
Process of Chashmal
in Creating Messianic Reality
|
Hebrew
Term
|
State
of Soul
|
First
Stage
|
Second
Stage
|
|
Chash
"silence"
|
Submission
|
Faith
in the redemption without confidence to act
|
Will
to bring redemption with no idea how
to proceed
|
|
Mal
"circumcision"
|
Separation
|
Distinguishing
between factors that advance or hamper goal
|
|
|
Mal
"peaking"
|
Sweetening
|
External
sweetening of reality -- world peace
|
Internal
sweetening of reality -- the Torah of Mashiach
|
|
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