In truth, despite my example, you are not a puppet. You are created in image of G-d. You are invested with conscious awareness and power to choose.

You can choose to relate to yourself only within context of your limited ‘role’; specific circumstances, struggles and goals of your daily life. You can believe, or at any rate live, as if that is whole picture. This is like identifying with appearance and role of puppet and with script of whatever play is being acted out today.

Or you can choose to look deeper, seeing through limits of your ego-based identity and immediate life circumstances to Creative Divine spark that makes you live.

So what’s this got to do with love?

Back to my experience. I didn’t know who I was, much less who man was. I was disconnected from all stories, agendas, past and future. I was disassociated from my identity, puppet. But love – leaping of my heart, my essence, to connect with another, was very, very real.

That’s because love is an indelible part of landscape of soul. Like spark within a flintstone - invisible but unextinguishable - spark of pure unconditional love is concealed but infinitely present within essence of every one of us.

Kabbalah often compares soul to flame of a candle. Just as a flame is always reaching up, trying to reconnect with its source in supernal fire, at pure heart of all love and yearning is soul’s passionate desire to reconnect with its Divine Source.

Within every human being who walks face of this earth, there is a pure spark of Divine Source of us all. Just as we’re drawn to connect with our Source, we are drawn to connect with that spark. Your own pure essence is seeking to connect with pure essence and spark of another.

As long as you identify exclusively with puppet, i.e. your limited ego-based identity, love that you experience will be limited as well. You will allow yourself to embrace only that which reinforces your ego, helps you meet your ‘survival’ needs, and protects you from a frightening sense of vulnerability. This level of love, although very human and an integral part of most relationships, is conditional and agenda-based.

But when you identify with Divinity within yourself, part beyond stories and agendas, you create an opening for your essence. This automatically creates an opening for essence of others. And wherever essence touches essence – love – authentic love - becomes revealed.

Making it real:

There are two basic paths to creating this opening, and both are important:

CREATE AN OPENING: Challenge limiting boundaries of your identity by doing things that take you out of your comfort zone. It’s especially important to do this in your relationships. For example: allow yourself to be vulnerable, let someone else be right, listen to understand instead of to be understood, open yourself to a new point of view, give generously of your resources even when it feels hard.

FILL YOURSELF WITH LIGHT: Nurture your inner spark by doing things that connect you with G-d and your own soul, a higher, truer plane of reality. Communicate with your Creator from your heart. Get more deeply acquainted with G-d’s perspective and your soul’s mission by learning, absorbing and integrating deep, powerful light of Authentic Kabbalah. Give charity and practice kindness. Watch for your messages and for opportunities to make a difference.

All of these things will help you to expand limits of who you know yourself to be and create an opening and channel for your essence to express itself.

© Shifra Hendrie, Kabbalah of Transformation

Shifra Hendrie is a personal and spiritual coach who has been studying principles of authentic Kabbalah for over 20 years. Her workshops deliver this transformational spiritual wisdom in a unique and powerful way.

A second point for reflection is meaning of a life. Eddie saw his life as worthless ? he had lost those he had loved and worked at what he saw as a dead-end job, yet he comes to discover that everything had its purpose. How many times in our lives do we search for meaning? As women, caught up with responsibilities of family and home, we can sometimes feel invisible. There are also times when paid employment can seem devoid of purpose, a means to a paycheck but little else. For us who believe in God, we trust that there is a plan for our lives. As Philip Yancey states in Searching for Invisible God (Zondervan Publishing House, 2000) ?God promises to use any circumstance to serve his ultimate will.? The seemingly mundane, even painful, aspects of our lives are woven together with extraordinary moments to create unique tapestry that God has designed especially for us. As difficult as it can be at times, we should embrace our lives and realize that every breath we take is imbued with mystery of God. We are all a part of a great plan that we haven?t even begun to understand. Hopefully, like Eddie in Album?s book, someday it will all be clear.