People don’t believe that anything can be learned from lies, that anything can be gained from suffering. Most people’s most basic instinct is pleasure seeking, goal seeking. Got to get the thing you want. Even the noble goals are pleasure seeking.

Did you once say that everything is a lie? I did indeed, and the lies have their own categories. To the Orthodox Kabbalists these are the masks or shells concealing truth. From my point of view, they are just the filters that focus truth. But that is just my view. Each virtue has a companion vice. Each life affirmative ideal has its own facet of despair.

This world is a lie, but a necessary one because we need it to learn and grow. This is why the tree of shadow is also called the tree of death. Death being transformation. Any change is a death. Old states pass in favour of newer states. Old things fall away or withdraw. Remember, to Kabbalah, God is literally all things.

You still grow in death? You do still grow in death. You even die in death. We call that reincarnation.

Do we fear being reincarnated as we fear death? We do, because we fear ourselves. Instead of having the self, we choose cookies.

Is there a point when nothing can grow any more? There is a point of critical spiritual mass, so yes. When you reach the spiritual critical mass you become as God. You become a creative force in full where before you created in part. You know in full where before you knew only in part, but that is a long way down the road, or up depending on how you see it.

Simple illustration. Anyone name a virtue. I will discuss how it manifests in the word and how it transforms into shadow.

Love. Excellent. Love. We see love in the desire to preserve life, to affirm worth, to embrace peace. We see love when we seek to create the most positive outcome possible for the most people possible. This about cover it?

Love is easily exploited. It doesn’t even have to be exploited. It has a shadow self. When we seek to affirm life with as much conviction as possible, when we seek to embrace life totally, we begin to lose sight of balance. We seek to affirm all things, and to do so all at once. This leads us into lusts. In the name of preserving safety, we develop blood lust. In the name of embracing our counterpart fully, we move into sexual lust.

So seeking to affirm something when you know you don’t and won’t accept it is the shadow of love? It has nothing to do with not accepting. As I said, the shadow and the light are not at war. They don’t resist each other. There is no such thing as purity, not as humanity defines it. All love clung to becomes lust. All love committed to becomes blind.

That is what some would take advantage of? The lust from another like the gold digging woman? Actually, as I said, no exploitation necessary. As the song says, “Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to get used by you. Sweet dreams are made of these. Who am I to disagree?”

It happens on its own. I can see it in some who love Jesus. Loving Jesus leads to hating Jews, unless one comes to understand that really loving Jesus means obeying Jesus when he said to love your neighbour. Which makes you step down the fervour, cool the passion, puts you out of the rapturous state.

Like love for America is to love freedom for all and not hate other countries. Love can lead to inspiration which can lead to zeal.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~