Are We Being Tested?

Answer

Jewish mysticism teaches us two surprising rules of life.

Rule number one: D

arkness has a power that surpasses light. Negative forces are more energetic than the forces of good. In kabbalistic terminology, the highest sparks fall to the lowest places.

This is why negativity is so powerful. B

ad experiences make a greater impression on us than pleasant ones. At the end of an otherwise good week, we remember the one thing that went wrong. One traumatic experience can erase a lifetime of happy memories. What takes years to build can be demolished in a day.

But here's the second rule: Darkness is only there for the light to become stronger. When we face bad times and don't fall, when we stare darkness in the eye and keep our faith, we not only survive, we grow. The power that the darkness once had becomes ours, and we

turn the negative energy into positive. This gives us a strength that good experiences can't offer.

The Hebrew word for "test", Nisayon , also means "elevation". Every test we go through in life is there to lift us higher. We don't grow in spite of pain. We grow from it. The blockage is itself the source of elevation. The darkness brings greater light.

We don't know why it has to be this way. But it is.

The unity we see today is another example of this dynamic. We are extracting a great blessing from negativity, and harnessing a painful moment to bring out more good. Peaceful times don't have that energy. It can be no other way.

At least that is how things are for now. But a time will come when we finally pass the test and we won't need hardship to elevate us anymore. In the words of Job, the great biblical sufferer, "G-d set an end to darkness." We will beat it one day, once and for all.