It’s more than just chemistry, you know. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it’s all about shared essence, a similarity of form.
Baal HaSulam, in his introduction to the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, uses a powerful analogy to explain this. He says that just as an axe cleaves a physical object, splitting it in two, so too does a difference in form – in essence – separate spiritual entities.
Think about it: When two people are deeply in love, we often say they are “one.” But what does that really mean? It's not physical proximity, is it? It's that they share a similar outlook, similar values, similar loves and hates. They resonate with each other. They’re in sync. This similarity of form, Baal HaSulam argues, is what binds them together. They cleave to one another.
But what happens when that harmony is disrupted? What happens when one person starts to love what the other hates? Suddenly, that sense of connection begins to fray. The distance between them grows, not necessarily in miles, but in spirit. The more their forms diverge, the further apart they drift.
And at the extreme end of the spectrum? When two people are complete opposites, when everything one cherishes, the other despises? Then, says Baal HaSulam, they are as far from one another as east is from west. It's a powerful image, isn't it? An unbridgeable gulf created not by physical separation, but by a fundamental discordance of being.
So, the next time you find yourself drawn to someone, or repelled by them, remember the axe. Remember the form. It might just offer a deeper understanding of the invisible forces that connect us – or drive us apart.