ZEITGEIST MOVING FORWARD sub ITA / ESP / ENG 2011

Highly recommended film about our existence in this system, is this what we got, what we wanted ....?

The Creator’s Formula

Posted on May 9th, 2011

In our spiritual work we cannot do anything ourselves because we don’t know how to identify the unified force and relate it to many situations in our life. What should we attune ourselves to? Simply saying that the Creator is everywhere doesn’t help.
This is why we are given the group, and if we unite together, we discover this unified force called “there is none else besides Him” between us. The Creator deliberately split the creature He had made into a multitude of parts so that they would reassemble once more into a single thought, a single desire. Then, in this common desire, they will reveal the unified force that exists only in the connection they have formed, in unity and adhesion with them.
By uniting together into one desire, we don’t attain this force outside of us, but reveal ourselves and this force together as one whole. Indeed, there is no Light without a vessel (Kli), there is no Creator without the creature. The closer we bond together, the more we reveal the Creator within our unity.
In other words, our unification is the Creator. That is what it was at the start of creation, after which we dispersed and descended to this world in the form of small egoistic creatures.
Therefore, by uniting together we are building the Creator. We are creating Him independently, which is why He is called the Creator (in Hebrew Bo-Reh or  “come and see”). There is no other place where we can build Him, discern Him, unite and achieve adhesion with Him, but only within our unification in the group. And all of humanity will need to connect together in the same way.

The Game “Behind The Scenes”

Posted on May 9th, 2011

The degrees of our connection, of how much tighter we bond with each other, are the spiritual ladder of rungs, the ladder of the worlds. We bond in the minimal degree, overcome the minimal thickness of our desire (Aviut Shoresh), and thereby attain the Creator only at the level of the Light of Nefesh.
When we unify in a greater degree, we attain Him as the Light of Ruach, followed by the Light of Neshama, Haya, and Yechida. Thus we pass forth from the world of Assiya to the world of Yetzira, followed by the worlds of Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, and finally reach the world of Infinity where our unity has no borders and everything is linked as one whole.
Until then, this unique force keeps working among us, confusing us, and nurturing us in all possible ways so that we would develop a need to unify among ourselves and merge with it. However, this force acts from “behind the scenes.” That’s how we play with children since we want them to “brainstorm” and use all their skill to do something independently. We know that only when a child exerts personal effort does he gain wisdom and understanding of life. In this, we are the same.
On the other hand, children have a tremendous natural yearning and desire to grow; they are always ready to act and learn about the world, while we are lazy and unable to make ourselves exert the necessary effort. And this is where the external force, the force of the group (and never the force of the Creator!) can do it, as it is written: “They helped everyone his friend.”

The Two Great Partners

Posted on May 9th, 2011

Until we reach the force of unity in which we reside in the center of the sphere of all the worlds, in the world of Infinity, and from where we withdrew from each other and descended into our external world, the same very source, the Creator, affects us with good and evil and entangles us from every direction, as it is written: “Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before.”
What does “behind and before” mean? Baal HaSulam explains that “You hem me in behind and before” means that it’s both when the Creator is revealed and concealed. After all, He is the only one who rules, and everybody will attain it. And then the notion of time and the feeling of past, present, and future will disappear. If there is only one force at work, nothing changes and everything is at absolute rest.
The attainment comes gradually, in correspondence with how we unify with this single force, the Creator. Besides, we don’t lose control of reality and turn into nothingness, but rather become like Him. We, together with Him, become the same exact magnificent, governing, singular force. And neither of us cancels the other: The Creator doesn’t nullify the created being, nor does the latter nullify the Creator. Moving forward and closer to Him, I don’t nullify myself. Instead, it is my ego that gets cancelled, while I rise like the Creator and come to adhesion with Him in all His perfection.
Then, I discover that I have been governed by this one force all the time, but it was simply hiding from me on purpose so that I would acquire it on my own and become as autonomous and magnificent as this singular force, the Creator. As I keep building myself in equivalence to Him, the Creator appears before me as an equal, magnificent partner and thereby we merge.
Every time when I gain autonomy, by transcending my ego in uniting with the group, I find the Creator within us, and we unify together thereby.

From Wars To Peace

Posted on May 9th, 2011

In commemoration of National Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism
We received this land when we came out of Babylon. Our spiritual root in relation to the material world lies only here. Baal HaSulam says that here, we have to give an example to the entire humanity of what it means to be a nation corrected in accordance with the upper force, with nature. All the nations and the entire world have to abide by this natural law in order to continue to exist. Otherwise, a mass destruction will begin.
We must endeavor so that all the wars of the state of Israel were not in vain. We have to be faithful custodians of what we have obtained thanks to those who fell in wars. A succession of endless wars is not the way to advance the country. On the contrary, in honor of those who have given everything for us, we must understand how to live on, how to put an end to wars and killing.
It depends on us. So, instead of talking, let’s do what we have been entrusted with. Our duty is not only to prepare for a possible war, but to advance toward a true reconciliation, to peace. Only united with each other will we pass on the peace between us to everybody else.

Don’t Be A Donkey At The King’s Feast

Posted on May 5th, 2011 at 6:35 pm

Question: If the Creator created everything as perfect in the first place, why should we correct anything?

Answer: Yes, but we are not yet in the state that He created. We are outside of it, behind all kinds of veils, concealments. These screens have to do only with us since we are the ones who feel concealment.

The Creator created only one state regarded as the world of Infinity. However, in order to feel that we are actually in this Infinity, we need to accumulate all sorts of experiences.

Suppose someone wants to treat me to some exotic dish, but in order for me to really appreciate its taste, I need a desire for it. I am supposed to have an idea of what it is and how it is eaten. Otherwise, I won’t get it, like the farmer mentioned in The Book of Zohar who lived on a farm all his life, grew wheat, and, until he once visited a city, hadn’t even suspected how many delicious things could be made from it. All he had ever known was the rough grain.

So, while being in the Light of Infinity, we feel it only as a donkey does, chewing on the rough grain. Except for the simple “grain” and “water,” we don’t desire anything else. We don’t sense in the Light of Infinity all the delicacies that the Creator has prepared for us.

How then do we start desiring the Light that fills Infinity and feel it in all its manifestations, through its entire depth, with total clarity? We don’t have such a need. We must create it within ourselves.

In order to build up a desire to smell the sweetest pie instead of the rough grain, in order to sense Infinity instead of the minimal Light of Nefesh de Nefesh while being in the same state and the same Light, we need to cultivate desire. Desire grows by way of concealment, when I am shown a little bit of the Light and then it is concealed again, exposed and then concealed. This is regarded as “flirting,” playing.

This is a very serious game since concealment increases desire. This is how the Light is playing with us, by exposing and concealing itself. This is why we withdraw from the world of Infinity and become separated from it by numerous concealments, until we end up in this world, in its total concealment.

All we need is desire. At the instant I do get it, I will receive the precious “pie.” As soon as it grows some more, I will be given an even bigger treat. With every new step, I need to increase my desire, and the upper Light starts illuminating me in full force. My desire opens me for connecting with Him and allows Him to enter me.

The Creator created all of these states from the start, but out of the whole of Infinity, you can feel only the minimal Light of Nefesh right now. It’s because you don’t have a desire of your own to wish specifically for it and to feel pain because you are lacking it.

This desire has to be totally new, unlike your instinctive desire. You receive it by forcing, overriding yourself and struggling with your entire nature. When you start wanting the Light this much, it will be an authentic desire. In other words, you need to wish for bestowal!

At present, it seems to be something totally silly, some strange bestowal and love. However, these are simply familiar words that mean a new type of desire which doesn’t exist in us yet.
[42186]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk

Posted on May 4th, 2011 at 1:32 pm

Question: How do the horrors of the Holocaust combine with the principle of “There is none else besides Him” and “He is good that does good”?

Answer: There is none else besides the Creator; He is consistently good and does good, while we are opposite to Him. And hence, not reforming ourselves, we provoke the development and strengthening of the negative forces. In the world, only we possess free will. In reality, there is a balance of forces. However, in the process of exploring them, man tends to bring into the picture his own resentments, pains, and impressions, as well as worries and fears, along with the burden of his personal history.

When we approach something with our own instruments, we should study natural phenomena rather than the subjective factors that make us laugh or cry. As a true scientist, I research the forces of nature that in our world generated a form called Nazism. Who could have prevented it? Why did everything occur as it did?

This is what the research shows: A force that is good and does good acts upon us from Above, and there is nothing else besides it. The upper Light remains at absolute rest; it is invariable, and its laws are indisputable. One could provide many citations, and all of them prove but one thing: The Creator’s force and the program of creation don’t change because of our cries. They are constant and are moved by the engine that drives us to the end of correction.

The more we correspond to this process, the better our condition is. The less aligned to it we are, the more misfortunes befall us and we feel worse. Everything depends on our choice.

Essentially, the blows we receive assist our correction, but thereby we advance by the path of hardships and pain, which will bring us to the destination at a designated time. If, however, we study the system and seek an opportunity to adapt to it, we can advance along with the system, in accordance with it. Thereby, instead of being hit, we can evolve by taking a pleasant path of hastening time.

One way or the other, everything depends on us, on how we integrate ourselves into the mechanism that advances us and the whole humanity forward. Moreover, we are the only ones who can do it, unlike all other nations. Before anything else, Israel must become a model of a new, integral, global humanity, of “altruistic communism,” as Baal HaSulam defined it.

Having prepared ourselves for it, we will justify our existence. We have been chosen only for this. Only through a small group can the method of correction be brought into the world.

Therefore, there is no other option: We will either accomplish what we are supposed to, and then the entire world will be well, or, God forbid, we will choose the unpleasant path as it previously happened in history. There is no use in sitting and crying; we have to examine and evaluate all the factors and be very serious about it. This is what characterizes sensible and wise people, unlike little children who can only cry, which is exactly what the nation is doing so far.
[42026]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Unifying The Two Forces Of Nature Within

Posted on May 4th, 2011 at 6:51 pm

There are only two forces in the world: the force of bestowal and that of reception. By interacting with one another, they must come to equilibrium, adhesion, and oneness.

The will to receive starts forming inside the desire to bestow, the Light. The Light constantly influences the desire to receive by developing it, while the latter responds to the Light. Thereby, they begin to interact. As a result, the desire to receive pleasure evolves to an ability to act on its own, to experience, think, and react to the desire to bestow.

Thus, these two desires gradually decrease, descending lower and lower. In the end, this allows us to analyze very fine details that combined, allow us to construct the complete system. It is as if from a global analysis we move on to a very fine research (as if we are using tweezers), which enables us to get information unavailable in a general approach. And the latter provides what is missing in the particulars.

As a result, we need to come to a state when the general and the particular will be fully analyzed and completely corrected. This is why there was the descent of the spiritual worlds up to this world, followed by development in this world. In the process of its development, our world undergoes the same four stages and arrives at the creation of the desire to bestow: from below upward, in order to return to the world of Infinity.

Kabbalists take great care to explain this process to us. First of all, they are scientists, and this is the physics of the two forces acting in creation, which explains how these forces come down to us in order for us to connect and start working with them. After all, they become realized only in our desires, intentions, and discernments.

In nature, these two forces are balanced. But we are supposed to get in between them and assemble ourselves, completely incorporating both of them within. As nature, the Creator, consists of both of these forces, His own force of bestowal and the force of reception through which He influences us, so must we construct ourselves from these two forces. That is what the entire program of creation and evolution entails.
[42017]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The Science That Studies The Self

Posted on May 4th, 2011 at 7:06 pm

Kabbalah is a science about reality. Man is a creature that strives to understand why and for what purpose he exists and how he can come to the truth. He yearns to uncover the meaning of such notions as “truth,” “facts,” “purpose,” or “reaching the goal.” He is made to demand this kind of fulfillment.

Man’s greatest need is to know who he is, as it is said: “From my flesh shall I see the Creator.” Indeed, to learn who I am, I need to know who the Creator is. This necessity mandates me to search.

The entire wisdom of Kabbalah is dedicated to the study of man since besides him, nothing exists. All of reality is within man, and everything occurs solely in him. I don’t see anything in this world except myself. All that is happening around me is me, images within me. I don’t have the slightest idea what is going on outside of me.

This means that Kabbalah is the study of the self, self-attainment, self-awareness. All other books describe some kind of illusions, as if there is an external reality around us. Therefore, everything but these sacred books is a total lie made up by man; they are the fruit of his imagination.

We don’t realize how unique these books are; besides, as far as the truth is concerned, we have nothing to hold on to. Without these books, we would exist in this world as some little insects that live only for as long as the time allotted to them permits. Only with the help of these books can we gradually develop ourselves and start examining, measuring, and learning “who and what we are.”

Thus we find out that we contain the whole worlds, Partzufim, Sefirot, and numerous parts that seem alien to us, which in the end turn out to be the parts of your own soul. This is your very desire split into the still, vegetative, animate nature, and humans as well. And at the last, fourth degree, we must collect all these parts together in order to come to the intention “to bestow,” which is mandatory for this final, fourth, stage of creation.

When I gain this intention to bestow for all parts of creation, I will finally find out who I am; I will know myself. And there is nothing else to study in reality.
[42014]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Living For The Sake Of The Moment

Posted on May 6th, 2011 at 12:02 pm

The world as it is today is rapidly sinking. We are destroying nature by exhausting its resources and are ruining human society in all areas of its life. Moreover, we can’t stop. No matter what, we are still trying to move ahead in the same egoistic direction.

If you don’t have the point in the heart, if you don’t draw the upper Light, you don’t get a chance to compare yourself with it in order to find what is wrong with you. You function like a machine with only one electric cord plugged into it. A mechanical bunny keeps hopping in a similar manner, totally oblivious of the fact that every time it jumps, it falls down. If there is no force that can show me this evil, I won’t become aware of it: “It’s okay; it didn’t happened today, but maybe tomorrow it will.”

This is the problem of  the “world reformers” Baal HaSulam is writing about. We are talking about a spiritual concept that derives from the idea that pleasure, the Light, never stays in our egoistic desire. We constantly strive for it, making efforts, but nothing helps. And it won’t since we are opposite to the Light and don’t feel any of this.

Having barely touched a desire, the pleasure immediately disappears, and I have to start digging for it again, for a mere moment of contact between the Light and desire. I’m living solely for this moment. If only we could see this process from aside: desire, a drop of pleasure, desire, a drop of pleasure. In order to tap into it, I constantly keep “hitting the button,” like an experimental animal, with no free will. This is what our life is all about, which has taught us nothing over the course of thousands of years of evolution.

Thus, “world reformers” is a very deep philosophical notion. It is the correct, egoistic, and only form of development. It is a property implanted in our nature, and there is no place to hide from it. Only if the point in the heart emerges in a person and he or she starts developing correctly, led by their new desire, can one acquire a force that opposes the mechanics of desire and pleasure: the force of the Light. This Light makes a person feel that he or she is missing a third element: the new intention, calculation, the screen.

The point of this search is that it is aimed against the “world correctors” within a person. It turns out that there is someone else over you, and this someone creates the flaw in the first place and then corrects it.

This is the process we must undergo. And we are yet to see its effects on human development. As Baal HaSulam describes, everybody expects the others to admit that they are wrong and acknowledge that the former are right. But it will never happen, and everybody will keep insisting on their own opinion. Humanity will take this path: The arguing parties will keep fighting to the very end. And there is no way out of this; it will lead us to wars and self-destruction.

If we don’t counter this process with the dissemination of Kabbalah, fighting will never stop. The only question is this: Will they hear us before mass destruction begins or after it, when only a small part of humanity will remain?

Correction will still occur according to the method of Kabbalah, but will it come to catastrophes, demise of billions, and extreme survival conditions for the rest who will hear the method and start actualizing it, hurried by horrible pain? Or, will we manage to explain this method to the world before it runs to extremes?
[42196]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/2011, “Peace in the World”

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“A Thousand Times The Righteous Will Fall And Rise Again”

Posted on May 5th, 2011 at 10:17 am

Question: Why is it that my mind understands that the Creator is worthy of being justified for what He is doing to me right now, but I am feeling bad nonetheless? Why can’t I affect my inner state with external actions such as a prayer?
Answer: What your desire is feeling at the moment is, in fact, you. In spirituality, you can’t pretend and say something you don’t feel. You have to come to the correction of your heart. And before anything else, we still have to figure out what exactly is in our hearts.
If you are crying, what is crying in you: your eyes or your heart? That’s the difference! The problem is that everything we do is on the outside, while the science of Kabbalah is the internal wisdom, the inner part of the Torah. You must dig into the heart of hearts, study, and test it.
Then you’ll understand that external actions only stand in your way and cover the authentic image up; they deceive and confuse you. You need to bare your heart and work with it without any outer theatrics, laments, and tears!
If you take a sedative and stop raging, will it really turn a sinner in you into a righteous one? No, everything is evaluated by the inner feeling in the heart. And we know what it is like. We think that all we have to do is to become embittered and make ourselves cry. Kabbalah doesn’t cancel external actions, but it wants them to reflect the internal state since without it being true, our work is pointless, and we won’t fulfill our designation.
Therefore, don’t fear that you’ll have to become a “sinner” at one point and “righteous” at another. They are two stages of the same spiritual degree, as it is said: “One cannot carry out a Mitzva (commandment) unless one breaks it first.” This means that one first undergoes the burdening of the heart (an additional load of egoism), and he is regarded as a “sinner” who broke the “Mitzva” and feels to what extent he is unable to do it.
And then, he gets stronger with the help of the environment, demands the Light that Reforms, corrects his desire, and becomes “righteous,” only to fall again. After all, he receives another dose of egoistic desire and turns into a “sinner” once more, in order to keep correcting himself in order to become “righteous.” It is said: “A thousand times the righteous will fall and rise again.”
Every spiritual degree starts with a new load of egoism, and you start it as “a sinner.” Afterward, you finish correcting it and reach adhesion with the Creator at this degree, and then you are regarded as the righteous.
[41999]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011, Shamati No. 16
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