The Correct Use of "The Desire to Receive"

In Kabbalistic terms, Nature has instilled in us a desire to receive or enjoy. Kabbalist Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, known as Baal HaSulam, explains our desire to receive from the perspective of Kabbalah.

"The desire to receive is all the substance of Creation, from beginning to its end. Thus, all the numerous creations, their multitude incidents, and the ways by which they are conducted, that have appeared and that will appear, are only measures and changes in the values of the desire to receive." (Baal Hasulam, "Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah," Item 1.)

Kabbalah teaches us that to attain sustainable happiness, we must change the way we use our desire to enjoy, moving from an egoistic approach to an altruistic one. And in this regard, we have much to learn from the rest of nature. By looking at the numerous examples of altruistic behavior in nature, we can find the best and wisest way to use the will to receive and to progress toward bonding with others.

Kabbalah does not require that we suppress our natural egoistic desires. On the contrary, it acknowledges their existence and explains how we can best and most effectively use them to reach perfection. Our desire to receive pushes us forward through life, and without it, we would not have evolved as a human society.

Finally, thanks to our desire to receive pleasure, we are now arriving at a situation where we are no longer willing to settle for familiar pleasures, but want to know what lies beyond them. Kabbalah puts us into contact with what lies beyond the fleeting pleasures of this world to a higher degree of Nature, the spiritual world. However, there is a condition: It happens only if we channel these natural inclinations in a positive and beneficial direction, enabling us to attain balance with Nature’s altruistic force.

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