Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World

Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World

by Jonathan McGregor Bethel

When we walk through the world and look around ourselves, we see turmoil surrounding us in many guises: disease, starvation, poverty, illiteracy, and so many others. Like the Buddha upon learning of sickness, old age, and death, we each hold the desire to rid the world of these travesties.   Is there any one act above all others that will help bring aid and relief to this seemingly unending suffering?  The kabbalistic mystics of the past utilized a philosophy of rectifying the world to its intended glory, bringing aid and relief to this state of disarray and inadequacy; they called this notion "Tikkun Olam," literally meaning "repairing the world."

Some may ask why the world must be repaired when it is made of the archetypal perfection of god. This is an age old dilemma that has captured the minds of many people who have contemplated its facets, for it is obvious to any thinking individual that although that world contains many beautiful and divine creations, it also contains many instances and things that are grotesque and inharmonious, like death, violence, hatred and disease.   It is to this aspect of creation that Tikkun Olam is addressed.

Kabbalists believe that before the present configuration of the sephiroth and the tree of life, the primal processes of creation created a scheme whereby the light of Ain Soph, God, poured forth and was contained in consecutive vessels of creation, the sephiroth as they were before. However, an instability occurred, and the vessels shattered, light spilling out and the lower dimensions being created.   The shards of the broken vessels became matter and the physical cosmos, and the light also became locked in the dimension of the dark tree of life as evil intelligences, the qlippoth. These are truly demonic minds beyond our worst nightmares and are the source of our negative behavior and the evils of this world.   Tikkun Olam seeks to rectify this situation and lift this physical plane to the heights and archetypal synergy it was intended to know, thereby repairing the world and ending an ancient and ongoing torment.

Tikkun Olam is performed through an action that even a child can perform, simple acts of kindness.   It can also be performed by true Agape, spiritual love, and sharing with the world knowledge that will aid in its' rectification, or it may come through an individual performing the required preliminary steps in resolving any conflict that may have presented itself. These intentional causal acts will have many effects that bring peace, wellbeing, gratitude, health, prosperity, and all of the things that this world so desperately needs.

Those well acquainted with the metaphysical scene know all about the concept of a light-worker. These bearers of the light seek to bring harmony and divine sustenance wherever they may wander, and they seek to rectify any wrongdoing as they travel; these are Tikkun Olam specialists by another name.   They spread the essence of love and wellbeing, the qualities that this universe was intended to display.

And that brings up a very interesting question: Are we repairing a broken universe, or have we been and are we groping our way toward perfection, working out the kinks as we go?   Does the fact that the universe intends archetypal perfection mean that is broken and missed the mark, or as many kabbalists presume, are we moving toward a perfected state that has never yet existed?

You may have read in my previous articles how I am very much a manifestation enthusiast, in that I believe that mind is creative and affects our physical cosmos.   I realize I just lost all credibility with anyone with a scientific bent. But in actuality, science is bearing out the fact there is a relationship between our mind and the physical cosmos.  At any rate, mind is very creative, and it is crucial at this juncture in time that we set up the right causes.  As systems theory and complexity dynamics have surmised, in late 2012 humanity reaches a bifurcation point in its evolutionary trek.   It either goes the way of self-destruction and decimation or self-liberation and enlightenment. What will it be, folks?  We hold immense power in determining the course of events; we need to step up to the plate and hit a home run.

Never before has so much been riding on our collective actions and intentions.   What will we do?  Can you feel it?  Can you feel the mystery of it all bearing down on us?   It's spring 2007, and that target date is bearing down on us and is not far off, 12-21-2012, what will we do?   Utilizing the principles of Tikkun Olam in such tumultuous times is the only sane thing to do, and it is the right thing to do!   Blessings to all!  

For an article I wrote about what we may be facing in 2012 go to www.jonathanbethel.com ~ there you will find an article I wrote for John Jay Harper's upcoming book, "Science of the Soul."  The article is entitled, "2012, Doomsday, and the Omega Point."