The primary principle of Kabbalah and Chassidus is this, our emotions, similar to what it states in Sefer Yetzirah the foundational book of Kabbalah written by Abraham, the first and perhaps true founder of Kabbalah “Nothing is higher than pleasure, nothing is worse than pain.”

In other words, we humans seek obviously not to be in pain and to be in pleasure.

As the framers of the American Constitution put it so succinctly “The pursuit of happiness.”

But this pursuit is erroneous.

For what actually will happen if you become happy?

The answer is – and I will use myself as an example – I think my life thank-G-d started off very good; I have good parents, hence my physical and emotional world was secure and like many in western civilization I came to realize that our society is aimless, meaningless, and not more style than substance, but only style and no substance; so I began to search for the truth and then one bright day I hit upon a book written by Rabbi Bechayah called “Duties Of The Heart” and in it, The Chapter on “Gateway To Trust” he shows G-d’s loving-kindness, and that was my moment of inspiration (BTW the Baal Shem Tov teaches, when G-d calls man – which is the ultimate purpose of our existence, the personal recognition of truth – first there is a high …) so that was my high/happy stage “wow there is a truth and with crystal clarity I could see it;” however, I was too high, because one of the unique functions of how G-d made us, is we assume that the state we are in, namely, happy or miserable, is how others feel too and I wasn’t sensitive enough to another’s pain and suffering. Eventually (as the Baal Shem Tov teaches) that high was taken away and a very difficult journey of growth occurred, till I realized this teaching, as mentioned the fundamental principle of Kabbalah / Chassidus:

As the Alter Rebbe quotes from the Zohar “One side of your heart must be joyous, the other crying.”

In other words, we are emotional beings and we tend to be either happy or miserable.

But here is a very very very important idea – we must be both happy and miserable simultaneously!

Happy, because to function, to give, you must be happy; and miserable, because to be aware of another’s pain and suffering, you must have an element of misery.

There are a thousand and one techniques to do this; the Alter Rebbe mentions, one should rejoice over their good and be miserable over their bad.

But the Rebbe who is our last great master, hence in Jewish tradition the final authority is the most important (as he read all the previous works and is offering the latest and greatest lessons) says, as we are so close to Moshiach we should literally be dancing that Moshiach is almost here and simultaneously we should be miserable that he isn’t!