The Light

When does cancer begin?  What about a heart attack or any other illness.  What about a fight with a loved one, or the end of a relationship?  Don't we seem to view things as happening suddenly?  When a bunch of things go wrong, we are in the mind set of  "Oh my God all of a sudden the shit is hitting the fan!"  The truth is, cancer starts long before diagnosis, heart attacks brew well in advance of the actual attack, and the seeds of fighting and relationship turmoil are planted way before we experience them. Nothing manifests itself suddenly in life. Imagine what you would think if someone said to you "I went outside this morning and all of a sudden there was a giant oak tree in front of my house."  You would think he was crazy! So why don't we know and stop the progression of steps we take towards hardship?  There's a concept in the philosophy of Kabbalah known as the 1% realm versus the 99% realm.  The 1% realm is the limited view of things.  It is our limited perception of reality, and where we jump to conclusions, panic in the face of hardship, and judge things based on how they initially appear.  The 99% realm is the bigger picture.  It's where we tap into intuition, talent, power, goodness and understanding.  What's the difference between the two?  Continuing with the Kabbalistic definition, "the light" exists in the 99% realm, and the 1% is the gate blocking you.  What I mean by the light, is the universal energy of fulfillment.  It can be God, a higher power, or an unseen force.  Whatever it is, we are all gunning for it aren't we?  What's interesting is that most of us chase that light, or  fulfillment in such a way that we will never get it.  We think that if we could just get that job, girl, guy, house, or anything else you might want, we will be fulfilled.   But we won't.  Fulfillment isn't tangible, and we'll never get it by chasing it.  Part of the problem is we are all so ruled by the ego.  It wants it and it wants it now and anything less than that is catastrophic.  We don't see obstacles as gifts and opportunities to learn and grow from, we just focus on relieving the pain they cause ASAP.  We seek short term gratification at the expense of long term fulfillment.
By admitting to yourself that you don't see the big picture, that you don't have all the answers, and that you need help, you can begin to move out of the 1% and into the 99%.  We all have repetitive patterns of reactions to hardships, and also to the good things in life, and sometimes we are trapped by these patterns. Just asking for help, and admitting that you don't see the big picture doesn't guarantee that you will suddenly have all the right answers.  Tapping into the light is a gradual process.  But as long as your intent is to let go of your desire to hear what you want to hear and not what you need to hear the right answer will get to you.