Likutay Moharan - Torah-teaching 171

171. “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awaken: these to everlasting life, and these to shame and everlasting abhorrence” (Daniel 12:2).

Through the awakening of a new intellect in the service of God—something previously unknown— “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awaken.” Yet, it states: “These to everlasting life, and these to shame and everlasting abhorrence.”

As it is written: “The righteous shall walk in them” (Hosea 14:10)—that is, the righteous use this new intellect to serve God. But “transgressors shall stumble through them”—they do not use this intellect to serve God, but rather to scorn and disgrace the world. Because they are aware of this new understanding, and the rest of the world is not, they use it only to deride and mock. As I have heard: the phrase “to shame and everlasting abhorrence” refers to scorning and belittling the world, using this new knowledge only to deride others, since they know it while the world remains empty and lacking of it.