Exactly a year ago I left Jerusalem for a few inevitable practical reasons after living there for 24 years in total. Hopefully I've learned and grown more from this experience in the past year than I had continued living there, not because I wanted to leave but because the new challenges I've been struggling with in this new place have forced me to get out of my comport zone.
After experiencing spiritual awakening, or liberation from the control of the ego, especially in thought, several years ago, I've been experiencing another kind of awakening, or liberation from the brainwashing by the collective ego in one important area. As I lost the common language with most of those I had known before my first awakening, I'm losing the common language with many of those I used to be in touch with before this second awakening.
This is also the second time that I left Jerusalem. When I left Jerusalem for the first time about 30 years ago, my new life in "exile" was very difficult. I spent the first two years doing nothing productive. But this time I'm not affected by this old new condition, mostly thanks to Chabad Chassidus, which I was lucky enough to have learned for three years back in Jerusalem prior to this "exile".
Though I live in social isolation with no regular physical contact with any Jewish community except once or twice a year when I visit a Chabad house in a distant city inside the same country, I've never felt lonely.
The fact that I've identified my life purpose in this past year helps me not only survive but also thrive in this new life as I can see clearly now that these new life challenges put me in an ideal condition for pursuing my life purpose.
This is also a very powerful experience for internalizing the Chassidic faith and confidence I learned in Jerusalem - the faith that everything is good, and the confidence that I'll be given the power to discover that everything is good.