READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN TUESDAY

Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 11. Joy with Trembling

11. Joy with Trembling

I heard in 1948

Joy is considered love, which is existence. This is similar to one who builds for himself a house without making any holes in the walls. You find that he cannot enter the house, as there is no hollow place in the walls of the house by which to enter the house. Therefore, a hollow space must be made through which he will enter the house.

Therefore, where there is love, there should also be fear, as fear is the hollow. In other words, one must awaken the fear that one might not be able to aim to bestow.

It follows that when there are both, there is wholeness. Otherwise, each wants to revoke the other. For this reason, we must try to have both of them in the same place.

This is the meaning of the need for love and fear. Love is called existence, whereas fear is called a deficiency and a hollow. Only with the two of them together is there wholeness. This is called “two legs,” where precisely when one has two legs can one walk.