It's all about desire, and where we choose to direct it.
See, according to Baal HaSulam, in his introduction to the Zohar, our primary task in life is to acquire and expand our desire to receive… but not just in the ways we usually think. From the moment we're born, we're wired to want things. Toys, attention, success. But that's all just materiality.
Before the age of thirteen, a person's desire, while intense, is focused on the here and now – grabbing at all the "revealed wealth and honor" in this temporary world, which is fleeting, "like a passing cloud," as Baal HaSulam puts it. We want to be popular, have the coolest stuff, maybe even be famous. These desires can be powerful, even overwhelming.
But the real game-changer, the truly "exaggerated desire to receive," only kicks in when we start craving something more profound: spirituality. It's about wanting to grasp and enjoy all the goodness and wealth of the eternal Olam HaBa, the World to Come – a permanent and unending acquisition.
Think about it. That brand new car? It'll be old news in a few years. That promotion? There's always someone else climbing the ladder. But the desire for spiritual connection, for understanding our place in the universe – that's something that can grow and deepen forever. That desire, according to this understanding, isn’t complete until it aims for something beyond the material, until it yearns for something spiritual.
So, what does it mean to have a spiritual desire to receive? It's about wanting to connect with something bigger than ourselves. It's about wanting to understand the mysteries of the universe. It’s about wanting to experience the divine. It’s a desire that material possessions simply cannot satisfy.
Maybe that's why we often feel that nagging emptiness. We're chasing the wrong things. We're focusing on the temporary, the fleeting, instead of cultivating that deeper, more lasting desire for spiritual fulfillment. What if we shifted our focus? What if we started directing our energy towards something truly eternal?