Grow From A Naïve Angel Into Adam

Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 15:Now we can understand the words of Hillel Hanasi to the proselyte, that the essence of the Torah is, “Love thy friend as thyself,” and the remaining six hundred and twelve Mitzvot are but an interpretation of it.

And even the Mitzvot between man and God are regarded as a qualification of thatMitzva, which is the final aim emerging from the Torah and Mitzvot, as our sages said, “The Torah and Mitzvot were given only so as to cleanse Israel.”

The correction consists of restoring the shattered vessel and the transformation of all the rejection between its shattered parts into connection. Then the intensity of the connection between the shattered parts will grow 613 times from what it was before and then the vessel will be able to reveal the Creator in full depth and in all the details.

On the day that he was created, Adam was created as an angel; he had no comprehension of anything: neither good nor evil. But through discovery of the great egobetween all of his parts, through transforming them to connection, he received a deep comprehension of the Creator, the Light, the Bestower, the Upper, and reached adherencewith Him. His gain compared to the initial state is his own growth and adherence with the Creator.
[135865]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Routine Work Does Not Bring Benefit

Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 14:This is because the work in Mitzvot between man and God is fixed and specific, and is not demanding, and one becomes easily accustomed to it, and everything that is done out of habit is no longer useful.

But the Mitzvot between man and man are changing and irregular, and demands surround him wherever he may turn. Hence, their cure is much more certain and their aim is closer.

We cannot reach the Creator. We cannot feel Him and check if we are acting correctly or not in regard to Him, or how He reacts. As long as our desire is not really ready, we are not prepared to hear, see, or feel Him in any form.

Even to attain the first level of spirituality of Nefesh de Nefesh requires preparing a complete desire for the level of zero with its ten Sefirot. But we don’t know how to approach this, how to begin, how to pass through half or a quarter of the way in order to prepare a vessel in this manner.

We never have the ability to feel the Creator and His attitude towards us before we become ready for this kind of connection. So we work with the shattered vessel that was given to us. Through our gathering of its parts, connecting in the right form, and by relating to each other with a true intention, we discover our connection with the Creator through intentions of bestowal and connection with our friends.

Through mutual relationships with the friends, I attain a vessel that is more linked, more complex, more connected, and within it, I discover the Creator. We have no possibility of working directly with the Creator but only through the correction of the vessel in which we clarify our mutual relationship with the friends, all its pros and cons, and we understand only how to react and behave to achieve the right connection.
[135872]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A Society Deprived Of Purpose

Opinion (Dmitry Leikin): “The struggle for the rights of minorities in the West takes absurd forms. The problem is that Western society needs a purpose – and simultaneously forbids itself to have it.

“The modern human being, equipped with developed intellect and higher education, desperately needs a purpose for his existence, which goes beyond him and his family, a social goal, society-wide.

“But Western countries are not able to set goals before people; their function is not to prevent people from living the way they want. They view a big goal as communist projects.

“For lack of anything else, a European enthusiastically enters into the battle for the rights of gays and transsexuals, against non-environmental oil platforms, etc., as he previously made revolutions. By the way, the revival of neo-Nazi movements in Europe has the same cause – Nazism; despite all its monstrous essence, it still gives people a super goal.

“And the way out of this social chaos can be only one: to begin to set before society real super goals that it needs.”

My Comment: There is such a goal, and it must be set before the community: to achieve universal equality and unity in which we will experience the next (other worldly) level of existence.
[135802]

Joy For The Upright Of Heart

Psalm 97: The Lord has reigned, the earth will exult; many islands will rejoice. Cloud and thick darkness are around Him; righteousness and judgment are the foundations of His throne.Fire will go before Him and will burn His enemies all around. His lightnings illuminated the world; the earth saw and quaked…You who love the Lord, hate evil; He watches the souls of His pious ones, He rescues them from the hands of the wicked. A light is sown for the righteous, and for the upright of heart, joy. Rejoice, you righteous, with the Lord, and give thanks to His holy name.

In each and every line we notice how King David reveals the Creator more and unites with Him, feeling an increasingly deeper and more internal connection with the Upper.

This is usually attained by the rule You who love the Lord, hate evil to the extent that a person clarifies his egoistic desires and wants to leave evil and thinking about himself, which is possible only by incorporation and adhesion to the group where the Light that Reforms operates on him and helps him advance.

He begins to love the Creator to the extent that he hates evil, He watches the souls of His pious ones, He rescues them from the hands of the wicked. If a person keeps away from evil, he is guarded from Above. His constant efforts to be in thought, inadhesion, with the Upper Force in a request, awakens the Light that Reforms and he receives correction.

Hatred towards evil helps a person ascend from it. He doesn’t need anything but this feeling of hatred, because the evil, the desire to receive, remains. The evil has to accumulate in order to discover the love, the connection, above it.

A person who understands the basics of the creation correctly doesn’t wait for the evil to disappear and for everything to be rosy and bright. These two forces exist one opposite the other and are equal in their power, while a person between them determines which of them is more important: Is holiness more important than the Klipa (shell) or is theKlipa more important than holiness?

This decision constantly changes, moving like a pointer on a balance scale. Thus a person clarifies this balance each time and establishes his middle line, between the two forces, above them, by including the two.

He justifies the creation by including the good and the evil inside him and justifies both, as it is written: A light is sown for the righteous, and for the upright in heart, joy. Honesty and truth is the middle line, by which he attains joy by delighting the Creator.

It is because he determines that everything that was created by the Creator is only for the benefit of man, if used correctly, and has to be aimed at the benefit of the Creator. Thus he reaches adhesion: Rejoice, you righteous, with the Lord, and give thanks to His holy name.
[135460]
From the Preparation for Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14

A Time When You Will Remember Everything That You Have Heard

Question: Why does Rabash write to a student who asked him to explain the order of spiritual work that as soon as he would start the work, he would immediately remember and understand all that he had heard from Rabash and Baal HaSulam?

Answer: If a person advances in the right way, he discovers all that is written in the books of Kabbalah by himself. It is as if he doesn’t need these writings, he discovers by himself everything that is written.

The writings are required in order to set yourself in the right direction all the time, to know whom are you going to, towards what, and to examine and update yourself. But in truth, if a person works in a group according to the right method, then a small adjustment is enough for him to discover all the rest.

The matter of forgetting is a unique power from Above; it makes free choice possible for us. If we didn’t forget but gathered and kept everything that we heard or felt like a computer, it would stop us and it would not be possible to do anything.

Forgetting, confusion, concealment, and lack of clarity come to give us a place for building ourselves. Therefore it is written, “Write on your heart,” because everyone must write the entire book of Torah on his desire, meaning to convey it to himself by way of all of these states.
[135502]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14, Writings of Rabash

Discouragement Is More Contagious Than Influenza

Question: How does the group help a person see that the Creatormanages the whole world?

Answer: We cannot advance if we don’t build a support system so that everyone gets immediate support when he falls. It is forbidden to harm others by giving them a descent. If someone goes around with a sour face, another loses his good mood when he looks at him, and so does a third. Ultimately this bad mood extends to the whole group.

It should become a habit, a custom, to have a smile on one’s face. If not a smile, then at least you should show interest, vigor, and the greatness of the goal. Everyone must act and portray this to others. You cannot show others that you are tired, not externally but mentally, or  that you are drained and have lost energy and faith.

I may be physically sick, but I never show everyone my descents and the disappointments that come until the end of correction. They are not as they are with beginners; rather, the higher the level, the stronger they are. But in no way should one show this.

It is not allowed to have a bad mood or show despondency in a group. The group, which is designed to support each one separately and everyone together, thanks to a good connection, suddenly begins to operate in a completely opposite manner. This is very dangerous and eliminates many previous attainments. We must be very careful about this.
[135580]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/14, Writings of Rabash

Material Problems Are The Reason For Spiritual Progress

Question: How can one learn the language of the Creator and how should we respond to His message?

Answer: We must understand that everything that happens must be resolved in this life according to how things work in this world. All these physical laws are also determined by the Creator and people have determined that they need these laws. So it makes no difference if they seem good or bad to us; I must keep them. This is because they are all derived from one source; there is nothing other than that.

When I get some problem, I must determine that it was sent by the Creator. I must resolve it as is customary. But I arrange things such that I operate within the connection with the friends, with the group. Even though it is personal and is irrelevant to anyone else, it obligates me to connect more strongly with the group.

And actually, physically, I respond to this problem exactly as someone else in my place would. Only he would not think that with this the Creator is drawing his attention to Him, with this He is giving him  this work; rather he would simply solve it in the framework of this world.

I also solve the problem in the framework of this world, but actually, this world becomes the spiritual world. And that is how I advance. For me every event in the material world becomes a reason for spiritual advancement, for resemblance and greater equivalence to the Creator.
[135658]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 4

Pain Relief Through The Importance Of The Goal

Question: How does a person rise with faith above reason above his feeling of darkness?

Answer: A person ascends above darkness and all problems only through the Light that Reforms. It is not important if he understands this or not, feels this or not. That is how this action happens and is realized. The difference is only in whether he understands this action or not. It is a matter of perceiving the actions of the Creator on a person both in good and pleasant feelings and in bad and unpleasant feelings.

It is necessary to reach a state of accepting all bad things as good, as things that help me advance. The importance of the goal changes the character of an action to its opposite: from feeling the bad in an action to feeling its goodness so much that we stop feeling pain.

This means that we have the power of faith above reason. The importance of the goal extinguishes the bad feeling that makes us suffer within our desire to receive. It means that I am ready to make a Tzimtzum (restriction) and rise above the bad feeling. And that is how we advance.

But only the Light performs the action, and my job is to attract and hasten the action. I can arouse the Light and prepare myself to approach its action only as much as I can through my request or gratitude. This is how I shorten the time.

This determines our term; time exists only for us. For the Creator, time doesn’t exist, and we are always in the perfect, corrected, final state. What is additional can only be within our consciousness, how much we are ready to discover it as good, as the true form of His relationship.
[135667]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/14

First Steps In Practical Kabbalah

Question: Did Baal HaSulam leave us information about all the stages on the way so that it will be possible to create the method on the basis of this information?

Answer: No, Baal HaSulam didn’t leave us with information like this. We need to find the way ourselves. The path seems clear, but how to advance on it from stage to stage is what nobody knows.

The problem is that we have to go out on this path without any guarantee, any knowledge, but only by realizing the need and having no choice. The world pressures us, meaning that the Creator pressures us through the world, and we must bring people to connection so that through it they will attain the equivalence of form with the Creator.

The moment we begin the right search through our connection with friends, we begin to discover the method. This is because it is imperative for us and is expressed in our words, our manner and style, with all of our conditions. No Kabbalist until our day could write anything about this.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a practical science that was conceived through experience, through experiment. And someone who is not living in our time didn’t know and wouldn’t know even if he were a great Kabbalist. He could talk about general tendencies, about two ways, but he could not write more about our time. That’s why the Kabbalists were deployed in each and every generation, and now we find ourselves in our times.

In the writings of Baal HaSulam, it is possible to find some hints about our time. There is something mentioned in the writings of The Last Generation, but it is impossible to copy blindly from there. One may discover that he is trying to draw into the present reality something that will be realized after many years and which in the meantime, is of little importance.
[135705]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/14, The Book of Zohar

Purification From Sin

The Torah, “Leviticus” (Tzav), 6:17-6:18: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin-offering: The sin offering shall be slaughtered before the Lord in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. It is a  holy of holies.”

Sin is a state of being submerged in the ego. If I am closer to myself than to someone else it is already a sin. Therefore it is usually difficult not to sin.

So we must correct the desire in which I want to enjoy before I delight others. This is called an offering (Korban), which in Hebrew stems from the root “getting closer” (Karov)bringing our desire closer to the attribute of bestowal. An offering is the part of my ego I can sacrifice in order to bestow unto others and to love them.

Our role and the role of humanity is to perceive, to understand, and to feel that the ego is bad, because there is nothing other than that. But we refer to the ego that doesn’t allow us to connect with others and not the personal inclinations and calculations every person has, which have nothing to do with the Torah. The Torah is the gathering of the desires around Mt. Sinai, around the mutual hatred we feel towards one another, that starts from a small thing, from my being closer to myself than to you.

Everything comes down to the revelation in the egoism. The formula is very simple: “I have created an evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice,” since the Light in it reforms. It is because the Light of the Torah brings us back to the source, to the Creator, to the attribute of bestowal and love.
[135395]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/10/13

The Main Thing Is Not To Divert From The Path

Rabash, Letter 22: Therefore, if you write that you live a life of sorrow, it is a sign that you are following the path of the Torah. This means that you have black and white, since the Torah is written in black on top of white. But you have to try to have a black fire on top of a white fire, which means that everything that you feel will be as flaming fire.

We should feel constant tension, be under pressure, and inclined with all our might to yearn for the goal. It makes no difference what happens to a person as long as he is focused in the right direction. Whatever happens on the way depends on the way itself, and I only need to adjust myself according to it,

The road itself, how many twists and turns are on it and how many failures we have, is not up to us, but rather depends on the structure of our soul.

Since the Creator wants us to receive the Torah, we must feel the deficiency for the Torah ourselves, since one is not given luxuries from Above, but only necessities.

I will not receive what I ask for from Above unless my request is solely for necessities without which I cannot exist. Otherwise these are merely powerless requests.

Of course, it takes a long time until a person comes close to a real prayer. First there should be the intensity of the request by which it can be heard. Second, it has to be for the right thing that is exactly on the path.

A person should grasp onto a real part of the string on the path each time. If I ask for something now, my outcry may be correct, but perhaps it isn’t mine, and is instead arranged by the Creator.

I attribute everything to myself, and this is totally wrong. I have to search myself more deeply and find out who directs me, who arranges a good action, my prayer, or the desire to connect to society. If all this comes from Above, then what do I ask for?

And the greatest reward is that a person needs the Creator, which means the giver of the Torah. Therefore, when a person feels his lowliness, it is a reason for him to need the Creator. However, if he feels that he can help himself and that he doesn’t need the Creator, then he is separated from Him.[135483]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14, Writings of Rabash

A Long Way To Connection

Question: Why did the Creator choose one nation for a special mission, and is this choice related to religion?

Answer: The true religion is to love your friend as thyself. This is the rule that Abraham publicized in ancient Babylon, and he gathered the people around him according to this rule into a group called Israel, which means Yashar El (straight to the Creator).

Only some of the people of Babylon followed Abraham; those who had greater vessels of bestowal. All the others had vessels of receiving. This was intentional so that they would have a chance to help one another.

First the vessels of bestowal are corrected so that they can ascend to a spiritual level. When Abraham collected them, they had nothing. So first they had to go through thehardening of the heart called Egypt, that is, they don’t ascend but rather descend.

After the exodus from Babylon, they go down to Egypt, then come out of Egypt and ascend to the receiving of the Torah. They then cross the desert, build the first Temple, and fall. They ascend again to the height of the second Temple and go through another descent to the corporeal level. This is in order to be mutually incorporated with the nations of the world and get ready for the end of the correction of the world.

The whole process, starting with the exodus from Babylon and everything that follows, is in order to reach greater connection. This is what Abraham taught. The moment they started to connect, they felt that they were in a greater and greater descent.

The Light that shone on them made it possible for them to descend more and more deeply into their ego and to see that they were far from bestowal, from the Light. Therefore, they felt the gap, the delta between the state of the exile in Egypt and the level they were on when they left Babylon, and they would have remained on that level if it weren’t for the Light. This is the gap between the Light and our ego.
[135413]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A New Focus With The Eyes Of The Group

It is impossible to direct myself towards the Creator alone because I am compelled to go out of my ego. And so I must be connected with other people. It is desirable that we have ten people.

If we unite together to find the Creator, then we begin to see that only through the disengagement of each one from himself and disappearance into our connection can we abandon our old vision and focus on the Creator. This is like stereo pictures that look like a chaotic drawing with lots of lines. But if we look at this picture with unfocused eyes, then we begin to see all kinds of images in the depth of the picture.

That is also how we need to disengage from our egoistic view of the world, which is typical of everyone’e nature. In this vision, we lock ourselves artificially in a very limited world, and to leave it, we need to open our senses.

This is possible only by creating a new focus. It is necessary to see the world, not with our egoistic eyes, but with the eyes of the group, and then a new focus appears in all directions. Thus we enter, not a three-dimensional world, but a world of infinite dimensions, where in every direction and passes some plane coordinate axes. If I want to advance correctly, first of all I need to act through the group. There is no other mechanism for nullifying the focus of my vision and directing it spiritually. Only through the group can I try to feel something spiritual.

If I feel the world through the group, this is a sign that I have focused on the spiritual world, similar to the efforts to see the stereo picture. The main thing is to discern that everything comes from the Creator to teach me to understand Him. The world is His language with which He speaks to me.

Someone screams at me and there’s a set of events that takes place at every moment, while I must try to understand what the Creator wants it to tell me, what kind of reaction is required from me towards Him.

This means that first of all I must understand that this comes from Him. After that, I decide how I must react to what is happening. The reaction must be such that through what the Creator said to me and my desire to answer Him from within, between us we become closer, meaning that I understood Him and I did what He expected from me.

And then with everyone, I will behave exactly in this form: with the children, in the family, with people near and far. The clarification of my attitude towards the Creator, the reception of information from Him and responding to it, is called intention. And after that there can be action. We must be involved with this at every moment in our lives.
[135420]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 4

Investigating The Source Of All Reality

A person who yearns to discover the true world, who wants to know for what and why he is living on the face of this earth and what is happening here in general, sees himself as an investigator who learns about the world in order to understand and to feel it. But in fact, this is not the right approach, because in the center of the world, the higher power is found and not us. It moves and determines everything. And if we want to investigate the world, then we must always adhere to that higher power.

In order to truly discover the picture of the world, it is necessary, first of all, to see this source of all of reality and all that happens within it. I must know that everything is derived from a single power. And all creatures, including myself, the still, vegetative, animate, and humans, everything that exists in this world, what we know and what is still unknown, is received from this higher source.

I must concentrate my attention specifically on that, on the Creator. This means that all the events that happen with me and with others, all of our feelings, all of the past, present, and future—everything comes from the Creator and for only one purpose, to bring us to Him.

But so all of us will come to Him, it is necessary to receive all kinds of observations from Him; it is not important whether they are negative or positive. We need to be always be between these experiences and observations, and so time after time we learn about Him more and more.

These stages of our advancement towards the Creator are called “five worlds” (Olamot), which comes from the word “Alama (concealment)”: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, after which comes the world of Infinity where we merge with the Creator as a single whole. So step after step we approach Him, let’s say 20% with every stage, until we reach one hundred percent resemblance and equivalence to, understanding and perception of the Creator.

If follows that I don’t ascribe all of the internal feelings of our body and personal experiences to those people around me who seemingly cause them, but instead to the Creator. All of the people, the whole world, including my body and myself, are moved by Him. So I only need to know how to relate correctly to all that is happening: First of all, remember that everything comes from the Creator; second, it comes to teach me to understand Him.

This means that I must draw conclusions from all these states through which I am passing and see a good sign in what I now feel. This is because the Creator didn’t create anything bad and if I am directed towards Him, then I cannot feel anything bad. But if I am directed in some other direction, then it will be bad for me. As I continually follow, like radar, this view of the world and everything that is happening, I absorb the attitude of the Creator, meaning that I see that everything is coming from Him to direct me towards Him and only with what is good.

So it is written: (Psalms 97:10), O ye that love the LORD, hate evil. We begin to discover that when we are aimed in the right direction, towards the Creator, then everything that opposes bestowal is discovered as evil. This is because being directed towards Him requires us to be like Him. This is what we must learn during every second of our lives.
[135427]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 4

Chosen To Serve The Creator And The Creatures

The entire great Kli of the soul was shattered into fragments, and among the fragments are pure Kelim (vessels) that are close to the characteristics of the upper Light. It is very easy for them to be awakened, so when Abraham called to them, they were immediately awakened, got up, and followed him, leaving Babylon.

This is Israel, which only seems to be the most egoistic part in the world because it has already gone through the path of spiritual development. But essentially, this is a very refined Kli (vessel) and belongs to the Kelim of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE).

Every remaining part of the collective Kli belongs to the nations of the world, and specifically through their correction, we attain Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom). They are the goal of creation, whereas Israel acts only as a help in this realization, in the role of an adaptor, a conduit.

Question: It follows that the Creator chose these refined Kelim as sacrifices?

Answer: On the one hand, we are sacrifices, but on the other hand, Israel is a unique nation that serves all the others. Everything depends on how you accept this honored mission: Do you think and receive your service to the Creator and to the world as a respectable merit or as a punishment?

You came into this world to serve all the nations of the world and through this to serve the Creator. These are the refined Kelim that are awakened first and have the readiness to connect. They have an initial preparation for correction because they have the “merit of the forefathers,” meaning that they have already passed through spiritual states that were latent in them in a concealed form and they can be awakened again.

All this is done to be a light to the nations, so that in them the thought of creation will be realized. The goal is to reach all the heaviest Kelim. They are called “the chosen people” because they have a unique role.

Israel is in the service of the Creator and the creatures, and we are in the middle as a conduit, as a pipe. And it is essential to accept this mission when it is necessary, otherwise you will always be obligated from Above. There is no reason to argue with the program of creation; the more rapidly that Israel understands what must be done, it will be to our benefit and the benefit of others and there will be less suffering.
[135410]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

First Steps

Most important is the relationship of a person to concealment, to darkness, even though the darkness is very exhausting. It is precisely according to the attitude toward the darkness that closeness to revelation is determined, not the attitude toward theLight, to the time when you are in ascent.

At the time of ascent, everyone wants to go forward, as if they just got a shot of energy. The main thing is when in darkness, losing strength, taste, and desire, to nevertheless you organize yourself at this stage in order to be Domem de Kedusha (still level of holiness). You are now given the opportunity to manage your Kelim (vessels) by yourself, as much as possible.

In ascent, in the elevation of mood when the goal illuminates and attracts a person and pushes him forward, he doesn’t advance through his own powers. It is from within the darkness and the descents,specifically from the departures: For out of Zion shall go forth the law (Isaiah 2:3, Micah 4:2), that you require the Light that Reforms, which is called Torah.

Then, you say, Thou hast made the LORD who is my refuge (Psalms 91:9), meaning that the Creator covers you. You begin to see a higher mercy  in this darkness because it conceals you from those physical pleasures, which you would have pursued and forgotten about holiness. And so concealment comes, and from this concealment, you need to draw the importance of spirituality inside yourself and to work on it.

Now, you are given the opportunity to discover yourself, like a child whom they stand up and let take his first steps alone. There is no choice but to try to take these steps alone, for they are for your own good. You must understand that all the concealment prepared for you by the Creator is only for your own good.

Certainly it is impossible to do this alone. It is best if you get to some meal, event, ordissemination activity where you join with others. This is a wonderful remedy that acts faster and better than anything. The main thing is not to remain alone at this time; you should schedule participation and integration into all kinds of events and activities in order to get out of the descent as quickly as possible with the help of others.

For He will give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (Psalms 91:11), and in the darkness that is sent to you, you must believe that everything is arranged by the Creator. However, you specifically are given free choice within this state. The Creator is seemingly concealed and removed. This gives a person the opportunity to act and participate independently in a state of O thou that dwellest in the covert of the Most High (Psalms 91:1), meaning in single concealment.
[135241]
From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/14

Why Is It Hard To Remember That There Is None Else Besides Him?

Question: If all the friends are also part of my soul, what do I have to learn about my attitude toward them from every picture that theCreator shows me?

Answer: It is through the friends that the Creator gives us the tools by which we can contact Him. Then, the same must be done with the entire world, as required to reach the level of “There is none else besides Him.”

Question: Why is it so hard to think that there is none else besides Him? I constantly want to leave this thought because it is so difficult.

Answer: First, the Masach (screen) is very thick, and it is very hard for us to penetrate it in order to constantly hold on to the thought “There is none else besides Him.”

However, the Masach gradually becomes thinner, and then it becomes easier to overcome it. Eventually, we understand that it is even a good thing for the Masach to remain since it provides us with the letters of the work, the feelings and the ability to hold on to the Creator.

If the Masach disappears completely, we would certainly say that “There is none else besides Him” in everything, and the picture of the world will show a person how to hold on to the Creator.
[135332]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Help That We Seek In Concealment

Question: What kind of help must be sought in concealment?

Answer: If the final goal is adherence, which is possible only with equivalence of form, then it is good that darkness is revealed to me now. All my ego, all desire to receive, is taken from me and the egoistic joy from one of its parts is taken. Now, it is from this part that I can carry out some kind of altruistic movement directed towards bestowal, closeness to the Creator.

It follows that concealment comes specifically to make it possible for me to do something, to take a step forward, to determine in what form I want to be. Of course, I must work together with the Light that Reforms, yet I can use it as a means that is at my disposal all the time, like a vehicle that travels in any direction that I want. If my request is for the right thing, then the Light will carry it out fully, both quantitatively and qualitatively, meaning that the Light will do everything that I want.

Question: In what is my independence expressed at the time of concealment?

Answer: My independence is to act in a group and with dissemination in order to connect with the friends as strongly as possible in the state of concealment, and this is due to previous preparation. I don’t know what the right form for me should be. I only know that I want to build contact with the higher power together with the friends and the group in order to feel how I give pleasure for the Creator. I want to discover the happiness from His side; this is disclosure.

And this is not to make myself happy but to discover connection with the Creator beyond concealment. This will be called my future “head of the Partzuf,” meaning the beginning of the soul.

Question: How is a request in a state of concealment different, indeed in any state where I am asking for power?

Answer: In a state of ascent, I ask for for the force that will allow my mind and heart to justify and praise the Creator. In every state we are searching for clarification of adhesion, so that I will have signs, clear sensations, in order to know in which impressions, desires, and thoughts I am in connection with the Creator, adherent with Him, where He embraces me and I embrace Him.

Spiritual adhesion is like adhesion between physical bodies where there is protrusion and indentation, bestowal and reception, matched one to the other. Yet what is unique about spiritual adhesion is that with every desire I both receive and bestow. All of the desires that bestow are like protrusions and receptions are like indentations. That is how we connect absolutely and reach a shared sensation.

I seek full adhesion and want my partner to feel pleasure from me. He is good and benevolent and I want to be like Him. This is my goal.
[135340]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/14

Unique Joy

Question: What is the difference between the joy in the Torah and the joy we feel in this world?

Answer: It is impossible to compare them. First the corporeal joy is temporary and not eternal, it is limited by the vessel of the desire. It is so tiny that it is as if you were locked in prison in solitary confinement and you rejoice at a piece of bread and some water that you are given.

It is impossible to compare the pleasures of this world with those of the spiritual world because they are fulfilled in different vessels. The most real and candid joy in this world is the joy of a baby who clings to its mother, feeling her warmth and receiving physical and emotional pleasure from her. In her arms, he feels that he is in heaven, breathing her scent, suckling her milk, totally adhered to the upper.

There is not a better feeling than this in our world. Otherwise a baby would not be able to grow. But it is impossible to compare this pleasure with spiritual pleasure. Our world is fictitious and temporary. We can only compare concepts that are linked in some way, that have a common formula, as in mathematics or physics.

There must be some link between them, so that it can be checked and measured in comparison to the standard. Here, however, there is nothing we can measure.
[135496]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14, Writings of Rabash

Boomerang

Question: If I haven’t found a dissemination task that is suitable for me, is it possible to be busy with “internal dissemination” instead of that in the meantime, which means holding intention?

Answer: No, that is not a substitute. We do not know what our intention is. The intentions are built in us by the Light that bestows. A person has no connection or control of his intention.

My intentions are determined by my present situation. I am not able to create an intention within me according to my desire. I cannot sit and attempt not to think of a white elephant, and then force myself to think about a green alligator without being distracted.

All of my intentions are a result of the state that I am in. I can’t turn a knob to turn an intention on or off, to change an intention from one to another. That is impossible.

I must work with the environment, disseminate, study, and because of my energy, efforts, and investment, the Light that Reforms will come and change my intention. I am not in control of my intention, I can only, through my efforts and prayers, invite a response for my desire to change, which will come back to me like a boomerang, and the upper Light will change me.

I am not able to build it myself; it’s like giving birth to myself. It is only possible to influence it so that it will happen. But that influence is my entire work. How am I able to awaken the Light so that it will produce the correct intention within me?

My prayer, my MAN (Mayin Nukvin- female waters) is up to my expectations. So I need to have contact with the group, mutual work, envy, lust, and honor in relation to the friends, and admiration for what they value and what they do not. In this way I acquire at least some kind of deficiency for bestowal, even though they are egoistic in the meantime, Lo Lishma (not for Her Name).

But I cannot change my inner self by myself, to direct myself to certain thoughts and intentions. I have no such control panel with which I could calibrate myself correctly.
[132092]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/14, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

Receiving Everything He Wants To Give

Question: I have to ask for equivalence of form with the Creator, but how can I imagine this?

Answer: Equivalence of form means equal. This means that internally you are totally different from someone else, but to a third party it seems that you behave in exactly the same manner; there is equivalence of form in the relationship between you according to someone on the outside.

This is only in form. You have different desires, different thoughts; everything is different, but you stabilize yourselves in an equivalent form.

If I just resemble someone, it isn’t considered being equivalent to him. If I am exactly like him, then we cannot communicate with one another: We both like meat and hate fish, so there is nothing we can give one another.

I have to give him what I have and he has to give me what he has. There has to be some correspondence here, like between a male and a female who are included in each other. Then there is compatibility according to the one who bestows and the one who receives.

I reach equivalence of form with the Creator by wanting to receive whatever He wants to give me. Since I bestow unto Him, we both bestow unto one another, but I am in contact with Him by receiving from Him. I am like a female with regard to Him and He is Zeir Anpin.

If my receiving is only for Him, it is like bestowal. As it says, if the bride gives a present to the groom, it’s important, it is as if she receives from him.

It turns out that equivalence of form is a very complicated concept. I have to want to receive from the Creator everything that He wants to give me in my desire, and He wants to give me the world of Infinity, the Infinite Light. But according to my intention, it should be the opposite, I have to want to give just as much as He does.

Our actions are different: I receive and He gives, but according to our intention, it is the opposite, I am actually the one who gives and He enjoys. Thus I save the situation since otherwise I cannot delight Him. There is no chance of delighting Him, only this way.

Only under the condition that I accept all that He has, like a cow bursting with milk wanting to please Him, can He enjoy.
[135289]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

The Most Useful Occupation

Question: In the future society, how will people behave who don’t have the strength and perseverance to attain the goal? Today they don’t even have the power to try to do something for themselves. How will they try to do this for others?

Answer: These people will get strength from serving society and will use the strength for society’s benefit; they will feel immense fulfillment from this. Today they barely move because society doesn’t nourish them with strength, it doesn’t thank them, it doesn’t express appreciation, it doesn’t awaken them, it doesn’t warm or agitate them. Society simply doesn’t pay attention to them.

If they were to begin to awaken the person, then everyone could invest a lot of energy at work. If this is a person and not a beast, then it is always possible to ignite him through envy, lust, and honor. It is necessary only to use these tools wisely. Ultimately, everyone will yearn to give society as much as possible.

Question: But what is there to do if I am not like this? I don’t yearn to give to society!

Answer: Nobody yearns for this today, and not just you! One hundred percent of people are like that, like you. Nobody is born with a desire to give to some stranger. Only crazy people can do it.

But we need to show examples of the method that enables a person to discover the awareness that he will benefit a thousand times more from his connection with others. Nobody is required to sacrifice himself for the sake of society. If we give you the possibility of investing in a profitable business: However much you invest, you will receive a thousand times more. Is it worthwhile to invest or not? Certainly, it is worthwhile!

This is an egoistic calculation. Nobody calls upon you just to love and to sacrifice yourself for others. It is necessary only to understand that there is a special force contained in connection. If we connect and unite for the good of all, then to the degree of his investment, each one will begin to receive interest, profits, and will earn much. You receive both material and spiritual satisfaction.

Question: In what way is this satisfaction different from the satisfaction that a violinist gets from his concert today?

Answer: Your current fulfillment is very limited: a little money and a little respect, this is all. It comes only from people, from how much they clap and cheer, from some positive review that is written afterward in the newspaper.

If you give to society, then through it you begin to see the upper world, its eternity, its wholeness, its higher harmony and you are not just happy about earning another million, having the audience of a thousand people applauding and shouting bravo for you. You enter a higher level, a new world.

It is impossible to convey in words the essence of that payoff; in this is the entire difference between a person and a beast. Now you are getting beastly fulfillment, but if you serve society, you will become a man.
[135448]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/29/14