Amid Disaster, the Light That Binds

If each incident is a word in the language of the world, what would the world be saying?

It seems from minute to minute there is some new disaster making the headlines. We're just recovering from one world-altering, paradigm-shifting event and another follows: Revolutions, earthquakes, tsunamis, animals dying en mass. We listen to the analysts who offer speculations and predictions on what led to these disasters and what future disasters will be caused by these events, but how can we understand what is really happening?

Kabbalists say you can know the seed of something by examining the fruit it bears as it grows. The fruit of an apple tree is the effect of an apple seed. If we stand back and look at the fruits of the recent events, what we uncover is our humanity. After all, isn't it in the wake of catastrophic devastation, when the earth shudders and rips off our masks, that we remember who we really are and see our underlying similarities?

Out of the rubble of destruction we find proof that the human spirit is illuminating our way home in the darkness. I heard a story about a rescue worker in Japan who pulled a woman from a car, and didn't just give her aid, he gave her a hug. That was beyond the call of duty -- heart touching heart.

The purpose of life, as I understand it from the wisdom I study and teach, is that each and everyone of us has within us the Light of God -- no matter our religion, our race, our nationality, our political affiliations, our belief system, our manner of worship. Our responsibility in this incarnation is get to the place in our consciousness where we see and respect that Light and give the person housing it the dignity and space he/she deserves to live freely.

When will we stop cheating and oppressing, hating and incarcerating, discriminating and profiling, slandering and humiliating, exploiting and torturing those who we perceive to be different and less than us?

"Everything that exists in our world has a right to exist. Therefore we need to understand and to take great care that we do not find faults in any part of Creation, declaring this or that to be superfluous or unnecessary, because this amounts to giving a bad name to He Who created it." Rav Ashlag wrote this 1922, in an article entitled "Global Peace." It was the same year he founded The Kabbalah Centre.

I hope his profound message will inspire our daily thoughts, words and actions. Let's not wait for another disaster headline to publicize a story of global humanity.

 

Follow Karen Berg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/simplelight72

Comments

[Ana Luisa Davila]

01:39 PM on 03/23/2011

Its amazin, how alone we feel, but how linked we really are!!It seem like the world is up side down.

[Char22]

12:59 AM on 03/23/2011

Thank you for this article Karen. to answer your question - If each incident is a word in the language of the world, what would the world be saying? Sadly I think the world is angry, outright mad....and it has been reflecting in our music for a long time too.
While anger shifts energy - staying angry cant last - it has to stop it has to end... because this race will blow itself right up.
We can teach prayer it is a universal tongue, but we can show love, love too is a universal language. I think that if we do all that we can to put a smile on someone, inspire someone, give a hand to someone, forgive, be grateful, and generous, we can show the way.
I love this saying: It reminds us to keep going, doing, loving, sharing and never stop. :)
May we keep our feet deeply in the PAST
Our Minds keenly absorbed in the PRESENT
And our vision directed unafraid toward the FUTURE.
With Love
Charlotte NYC

[Sadia Afridi]

09:11 PM on 03/22/2011

Karen's article really hits a nerve. A better world for ourselves and our children is in our own hands. We are responsible for whats going on around the world and only we can fix it by behaving with human dignity and respect towards others.

[Veronica Ciko]

05:34 PM on 03/22/2011

Having been part of the Kabbalah Centre for many years I know HaRav and Karen are living the words of Rav Ashlag because people from all parts of the globe, all walks of life, religious, and spiritual backgrounds have been embraced by the Kabbalah Centre.

[Racheltop]

02:37 PM on 03/22/2011

I do not know when we will transform us but something tells me that we will soon ...
Thank you for your light to get warm.

[Miguel Arellano]

12:29 AM on 03/22/2011

Karen Berg's message is a true testament of what the world is going through. We must all take responsibility for our actions. Love your neighbor like yourself. We are one! Karen's message is eye opening. The work to bring happiness and peace to the world must start now!!! We are all in this together. Let's all unite.

[Billy Phillips]

11:40 PM on 03/21/2011

Unfortunately, the human ego is predisposed to deny, refute and disbelieve what Karen Berg has just shown to be the true cause and underlying seed of all disasters in our world—intolerance. It's too easy to just laugh at the suggestion that human negative actions can cause a shaking of the earth, crashes in the economy, sickness, disease, hurricanes and all the chaos that afflicts us.

So we have a choice: Laugh and allow the world to bleed some more. Or we can try reigning in our ego, and consider, for just a moment, that perhaps my kindness to strangers and my tolerance and care for those who are opposite of me in belief and culture can shift the consciousness mankind towards civility and peace instead of shifting tectonic plates towards disaster.

It's worth a try. Twenty centuries of intolerance hasn't worked.

[Stephanie Rudat]

12:16 AM on 03/22/2011

Fantastic comment on a beautiful article! Thank you both for sharing! Love & Light