Can People Really Change?

CAN PEOPLE REALLY CHANGE?

CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

MOST PEOPLE NEVER REALLY CHANGE

Sad, but true.

Some people never even try.

But those of us who do – and I assume that you are in that group – often experience great frustration and disappointment as we encounter the same limitations over and over again.

Life can start to seem downright repetitive.

CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

Why is it that in most cases your life keeps looking like some variation of whatever you’ve experienced before?

The answer is: because you are creating something from something. You’re attempting to create a new and different future based on the limitations of your past.

Imagine that you are a potter and you have a piece of clay. You can study your craft and make pots that are smoother, sturdier, or more beautiful than before. But when all is said and done, they’re still just clay pots.

Who says you have to be a potter? And who says you can only make things out of clay?

G-D CREATES SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

There is a fundamental kabbalistic principle of Creation known as ‘yesh m’ayin’ – something from nothing.

This principle explains that G-d is bringing the entire world, including you, into existence from absolute nothingness at every moment.

G-d didn’t create this world once and withdraw back into Heaven, where He supervises from a distance and intervenes when appropriate. Rather, He is actively and intentionally speaking the world into existence from nothing in the present moment, again and again and again. In fact, if G-d would stop creating this world – with all of its myriad details – at any moment, the world and everything in it would disappear as if it had never been.

Based on this, two things are clear:

1. The world has no existence outside of G-d. Everything we experience in life is part of G-d and His intention and purpose for Creation.
2. G-d desires the world – and you – with an intense and personal desire. Everything you do has great meaning and significance to Him. That’s why He keeps on creating you.

Remember those old commercials where a little kid said something like: “I must be good because G-d made me, and G-d doesn’t make junk”?

Actually, the truth is much more powerful than that. G-d doesn’t make anything or anyone without a profound purpose. He passionately desires you and just as passionately wants you to desire Him. And He is waiting - with bated breath - for you to embrace the Divine purpose for which you have been created. To make your life, your relationships and your circumstances a “dwelling place” for the Divine.

WHAT’S NOTHINGNESS?

G-d creates from Nothing because Nothingness, ayin, actually means absolute, infinite possibility. No limitations. No restrictions. None at all.

When you don’t need to be any particular something, you’re free to be anything. Kabbalah calls this infinite potential nothingness – not because there’s nothing there, but because there are absolutely no limitations that define or restrict this infinite possibility in any way.

YOU’RE ALREADY CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

As a human beings created in the image of G-d, you are also empowered to create something from nothing. And you do, all the time.

Unfortunately, most of the time what we create from nothing are the stories about what we can’t do, aren’t capable of, will never have – together with all the reasons why.

These stories are continuously being recreated from nothing in each of our lives. But unlike G-d, who creates consciously, we create this reality unconsciously. It’s a sort of default programming. Yes, I understand that you have reasons for what you believe, but those reasons, while they may help to explain your past, do not have the power to limit your future. Unless you think they do, and act accordingly.

Most of us don’t wake up in the morning in awe of our own potential, in touch with our Divine purpose, filled with the joy of life, ready to create. More often we wake up all-too-conscious of our limitations, our disappointments, our frustrations, our unfulfilled needs, and the burdensome problems we need to solve. No wonder so many of us are worn out before we even get out of bed.

HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON

You might have read a cute little children’s book called “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. In this book, Harold, a baby, draws things with his purple crayon on his bedroom walls. He draws things like castles, mountains, roads and tigers. The interesting part is that then Harold climbs the mountains, runs down the roads, explores the castles and runs away from the tigers. Sometimes he gets so far into the picture that he can’t figure out how to get home again – but then, he just takes his purple crayon and draws the road back.

Harold is always creating something from nothing.

YOU CAN CREATE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING TOO

Your life, your present and future, is actually an ayin – nothing. Yes, as a soul in a specific physical body, there are some limits to what you can create.

But you have no idea what they are.

- - Do you want to experience unconditional love? How would you behave if you were committed to love others unconditionally, especially those people who long for your love? Your parents. Your children. Your spouse. Your friends. What if you noticed, accepted and appreciated the way they love you – even if it doesn’t yet look exactly the way you want it to look?

What might happen today if you behaved that way? What if you stayed committed to that experience over time – what might happen to your most intimate relationships, your family, your community, your world? Don’t shortchange yourself by skipping over this question. Really think about it.

- - Do you want to experience your power to live as a creator rather than a victim in your life? How would you behave if you refused to let your fears and past failures put any limits on what you do right now?

What would you do that you’ve been putting off? What else? What might you actually create or achieve over time if you do those things? And perhaps even more important, what would life be like for you right now if you choose to be a person who isn’t stopped by fear?

Do you want to be more intimately in touch with your Creator and your Divine purpose? How would you behave if you were a person committed to seeing G-d’s intimate, infinite and loving presence in all aspects of your life? What if every action you take was based on the assumption that nothing is wrong – because G-d is intentionally, creating your world right now on behalf of your ultimate purpose and fulfillment?

What might your life be like – today – if you behaved that way? How about your relationships? Your energy? Your happiness? Your peace of mind?

HOW TO CREATE MIRACLES

Like a farmer who tills his field, plants seeds, waters and tends them, sometimes it can take time to see the results of your efforts. But if you are willing to create something from nothing, you don’t have to twiddle your thumbs while you wait for things to grow. The very decision to be a creator in your own life brings with it some powerful, intrinsic rewards; rewards like joy, fulfillment - and miracles.


© Shifra Hendrie, Kabbalah of Transformation / www.kabbalahoftransformation.com.

*Since the Torah forbids the erasing of G-d’s name, it’s customary to avoid writing it out in full.