The Gate Was Always Open
Externality
is everything that depends on the outer form:
on the clothing, on an act without intention, on a custom, on a framework, on the story around it.
It is the place where a person acts because “that’s how it’s done,” out of habit, fear, or imitation.
Externality belongs to the world of the “klipah” (the shell/husk)—it exists, it protects, but it is not the purpose.
Internality
is the intention, the soul within the matter, the knowledge of why I am doing something, the equivalence of form with that which is good and bestows good.
This is the work on the will, on the heart, on the connection.
Baal HaSulam writes that the Torah of Mashiach is the “internality of the Torah”—meaning, the light that is hidden behind every form.
Externality is meant to hold us on the path until we awaken.
Internality is the key to revealing the Creator; it is reality itself.
As long as a person remains only in externality, it is as if they are circling a locked gate.
When they enter into internality, they discover that the gate was always open; they were just busy with the shell.
Externality = doing because you were told.
Internality = doing because the soul knows.
When internality is revealed,
externality is sweetened,
receives true meaning,
and there is no longer a conflict.
Reflect:
Where in your life are you operating from “externality”—doing things out of habit, fear, or because “that’s how it’s done”?
Can you think of one external action you take and try to connect with its “internality”—the soul, the deep intention, the “why” behind it?
What would it feel like to stop circling the “locked gate” and realize that the entrance to true reality is always open from within?
Share what comes up.