| Kabbalah
and Education A Kabbalistic Approach to Spiritual Growth |
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| Kabbalah and Jewish Meditation |
Part
19 As we saw in the verse from Proverbs:
the
particular must be present within the generic ("educate the youth in
accordance with his way"). Inspiration triggers the process of growth
by awakening the desire for good that lies within the unconscious root of
every soul. Yet, with all the excitement and drama of emotions, typically,
students only glimpse the possibilities, while they still have not changed
in any real way. They must work, struggle and sacrifice to actually build
this new awareness into their personality. Otherwise, when the romance
passes, they will be left unmoved, for even at the height of their
inspiration, they are still bound by the limitations of the personality--the
only difference is that now they have a goal.
An
educator must address both where each individual student is holding and
where that student wants to go. The educator's efforts will produce
fruit--that is, motivate his students' spiritual growth--only if they are
realistically and properly tailored to each student's level and personality.
Thus a parent motivates the young child with candy but a teacher encourages
the student with classroom privileges. The teacher must appeal to the
student's interests even when they seem superficial and petty.
In
the final analysis, however, only the packaging varies; the content of the
teaching remains essentially the same for everyone. This is because in any
real awakening there is a hidden point of objectivity--a point that can
develop into an awareness of universal truth that goes beyond the
short-sighted subjectivity of each personality.
If
the educator makes sure that the particular is in the generic, then his
teaching will be potent--it will draw his students into harmony with God's
will, and wean them from dependency upon external reward and punishment. The
students will become self-motivated. Their newly internalized love of God
will compel them from within to pursue that point of truth sensed beyond the
horizon.
The
second half of the verse from Proverbs describes the presence of the generic
within the particular ("even when he grows old, he will not abandon
it"). "Old” here indicates the ultimate fulfillment of the
person’s purpose in life, and even then, he does not abandon the basic
desire for good that characterized his initial awakening.
The
necessity of including inspiration within integration is most apparent in
crisis, when the students fall from the level of awareness they have earned
thus far. At such times, they temporarily lose their breadth of vision and
tumble to their ground state. While these "black-outs" are
frightening and terribly unsettling, nevertheless they enable growth. By
nullifying a previous state of being, they allow a new and more perfect
awareness to emerge.
The
teacher plants the seeds of integration within the initiation by suggesting,
either explicitly or implicitly, how his students could profit by applying
the new awareness to their particular life situation. In this way the
students gain a toehold--they create an inner connection to the idea, and so
have a place to begin drawing it into their personalities. Otherwise, the
concept could overwhelm them; its complexity, loftiness, or implications
might paralyze their ability to digest the information, or incorporate the
change. When inspiration infuses integration, then in the event of some
lapse or regression, the students will be cushioned in their fall. Their
initial state of inspiration and their general commitment to good will not
allow them to sink below a certain point, or become too lost as they
struggle to find home--the place within from where they will once again
begin the journey in pursuit of truth, good and the fulfillment of God's
will.
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