External Validation

Most of us want and seek to be seen. And this is natural. But often we try to have others see precisely what we fear we lack. And when this lack does not receive a genuine response, it begins to seek solutions from the outside. Glances, compliments, approvals. Slowly a dependent relationship is built with the world, in which our self-worth no longer flows from within us but is reflected to us through others. Thus the falsehood begins to cover over an inner lowliness and lack. Rav Kook explains that it would not be right for us to fight against this need, but to understand it and to repair the root. To enlarge the inner wholeness. To build a truth that needs no approval. To be built from within, and to return sincerely to who we truly are.