The Point Where Prayer And Gratitude Meet

There are two types of work: in feeling a deficiency and in feeling complete wellbeing. After all, we were created of matter that is always in a state of emptiness. So we aspire for a connection with the Creator who created us and who has everything that we lack.

If we include these two forces inside us—the natural force of receiving, our matter, and the force of bestowal, the small “spark” that is in us and which we want to develop so that it will dominate all our matter—we will have to clarify two things: On the one hand, with regard to the matter, we have to clarify the spark of bestowal, and on the other hand, with regard to the spark, we have to clarify and examine the matter. In other words, on the part of the created being, we have to study the Creator and also our own desire.

So we do one type of work with our desire to receive, which is a work of requests, prayersand the sorrow of Shechina (Divinity), the destruction of the Temple. If we don’t feel all the hardships of this state to their full severity, we will not be able to reach the right prayer, which means to reach such an intense request that will summon a response of bestowal from the Light.

This is because the Light only bestows upon a whole desire. The levels of the whole desire are called “spiritual levels,” and we have to attain at least the lowest level.

The other type of work is when we are before the Creator who created us, manages us, takes care of us, corrects us, and raises us to His height of perfection. Then our work is in gratitude and praise.

These are two opposite forms, and in both cases a person has to make sure that one will not annul and cover up the other. Both forms are essential for a whole true measure. The clash between them, the tension between them, creates a point that will draw the Light so strongly upon itself that it will raise a person and turn one end of his work to Keter and the other end to Malchut. So the first level of a person’s spirituality made of ten Sefirot is within the desire to receive, from requests, begging, a broken heart, and also from gratitude and blessing the Creator, which means from the point of Keter. This is how we should advance.

A person constantly forgets these things and is confused. He thinks that the confusion is coincidental and stems from the daily hardships of life. He supposes that if he lived by himself somewhere on a desert island in the middle of the ocean far away from the dailyinterruptions, he would advance quickly and successfully along the spiritual path. He, however, has to worry about endless things and go through life dealing with different problems, both internally and externally.

But this is a wrong attitude since everything belongs to one system. There is no justification to move or to change the external conditions. A person should try to makeefforts to constantly remain in the spiritual work without changing anything externally so that through the environment that he has now he will be able to bring the Creator contentment.

We should understand that this is the environment that the Creator has prepared for him. Later a person will understand to what extent these conditions were the most suitable for his advancement.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

“Nature Abhors A Vacuum”

Rabash, “What is that A Man Must Give Birth to a Son and a Daughter in the Work”: But when a person, after his great efforts, sees that he cannot exit the domination of the desire to receive for himself, yet he sees that he is working within reason and that only the Creator can help him.

As the sages said “a person’s inclination grows daily, and if the Creator didn’t help him, he wouldn’t be able to overcome it,” he doesn’t have to believe in “above reason,” as ordinary worshippers who observe the Torah andMitzvot, who believe “above reason” that the Creator does indeed help them, do. But rather as people who want to work in order to bestow, for whom it is within reason, to such an extent that they have to believe above reason that the Creator can indeed help them exit the domination of the desire to receive.

It says that, “there is none wiser than the experienced.” We need real vessels of perception and not imaginary ones. First we need to attain everything that we need within reason, and only then work above reason. We have to do everything that we possibly can to build and to attain our vessels of perception.

So it is impossible for a person to say in advance that he believes in everything that is written in the book and only waits for it to be fulfilled. He must first exert himself as much as he can.

There is a law that “Nature abhors a vacuum.” So we have to understand that there cannot be a vacuum. It is an undesirable state and whoever creates a void means that he desecrates (from the same root in Hebrew), that he brings about corruption. So we must do our best by our exertion to collect all the necessary data and reach a certain decision.

If we complete our part and see that only the Creator can operate from there onwards, then we have to continue our work in faith above reason so that He will fill the void that is left. Otherwise we will not be able to carry out this mission.

A religious person says in advance that everything depends on the Creator who does everything, and there is nothing a person can do but pray. He believes that everything is in the hands of the Creator and everything is for the better. But if he determines this in advance, he cannot do the first part of the work and will not reach the recognition within reason and so he will not be able to later continue his work above reason so that the prayer will be above him.

We, however, have to fulfill “you should do whatever is in your power,” and only then can a prayer burst from inside. It is because we discover a new void that the Creator can fill by our exertion, and this will already be “above reason,” in vessels of bestowal, in the head of the spiritual Partzuf.

This is the big difference between people who work below reason and those who work above reason. The difference is that those who want to work above reason must first reach reason and to know from their clarifications and experience that it isn’t in their power to perform any spiritual act. I strongly advise that you hurry with this clarification.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/13

When You Run Out Of Fuel

Question: When I meet people lately, I see that they are not looking for success like they did before and are not trying to achieve something. It is as if the ego has stopped growing and is even going backward; people agree to have less, why is that so?

Answer: It is not a simple question. Why has the ego stopped growing? Moreover, why does the ego “concede and give up,” growing weaker? Does it really grow weaker?

The point is the ego changes; it becomes “round,” integral. We are moving from one type of ego: the simple individualistic “straight” ego with the approach of “grab as much as you can” to another type that we don’t understand yet. It has not been fully revealed in us yet. It is a kind of an integral ego that is accompanied by a general mutual connection. We already feel it and don’t know how to manage and cope with it.

Up until now we have developed technologies, science, and knowledge, but now it is time for attainment, which is characterized by a new kind of desire. Once the world was dominated by power, then by technology, and then it was science’s turn, then information became the key, now the main thing is the understanding. All the previous methods will not help us anymore; they cease to be effective.

This has never happened before. All the previous levels used to support the new, more advanced levels, but today it is different. It is as if everything that we have achieved is gone, slipping away between our fingers, no longer causing any inner responses. It is actually so. It is because the “world” is vessels, desires, with the Lights in them. These vessels disappear and gradually turn into different vessels. For the first time there is not a discrete attribute that is revealed in them, of a vessel and another vessel, but the connection with the first ten Sefirot, the first spiritual level.

So we cannot identify this state. We don’t have the necessary inner pattern of perception, the “sensor,” the right sense that enables us to see the new reality. So people stop their chase and nothing attracts them anymore. They feel the outcome of the process: the vessel beginning to “round,” to connect to the ten whole Sefirot.

For the first time the first level of the upper world is revealed, for the time being in the vessels of posterior, but it is already being revealed. By being incompatible with it, we encounter emptiness, and the suffering will grow even if we don’t learn how to adapt ourselves to reality. This situation can actually make people feel helpless, not wanting anything, not wanting to work, as the soul feels hopelessness and a person feels despair.

The linear advancement allowed us to find a replacement for something we despaired of. The ego’s protective force still pushed us forward. But today, many don’t have the energy to get up in the morning and to start a new day, “I don’t need anything and whatever will be will be.” This actually stems from disorientation in the network of the global connection that is being revealed now. A person doesn’t feel the network yet, but he sees that the previous vessels don’t work any more. This is really a very sad situation…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

The Entire World For A Cup Of Coffee

Question: Does the order of my internal actions in relation to theCreator coincide in the case when I feel bad and in the case when I feel good?

Answer: On the spiritual path, bad feelings are not suffering in the usual sense, but the sufferings of love.

Imagine that you place an order in a restaurant. Why isn’t it brought right away even if everything is ready? They give you time to talk with your companion or just to sit, and this is no accident. Once, my friend was choosing a coffee maker for his office and wanted a machine that would take 15 minutes to prepare one serving. He needed time for a quiet conversation with clients.

This is what is called preparing desires, which we usually ignore. We want to “swallow” everything as quickly as possible, but this approach is incorrect. Because of it, we do not feel the taste in life, the meaning in life. Spiritual concealment is needed to cause a strong, firm desire in us.

Question: What should fill this time of delay before meeting the Creator?

Answer: I make a preparation, yearn for Him in the right way, and, then, I can discern the relationship and find contact. It is said, “I will eat what has been prepared in advance.” I do not discover anything new; my revelation is a direct result of this completed preparation.

Even now, I am in the world of Infinity, but I do not see it, do not notice the connection between people, do not distinguish the actions of the Creator, and do not feel the waves of this force, which changes everything. My eyes can see only separate, small phenomena. Thus, everything depends on preparation.

The problem is that I choose for myself a coffee machine with this or that “time of preparation,” but the preparation period is not set by me, and I do not know when it is over. So, you should hurry. It is very important how we cope with the preparatory stage. It is already underway and the fate of the entire world is here at this point.

Question: How can we apply every effort so as not to lose time?

Answer: First of all, are you trying to bestow to the Creator, or do you just want to get your “coffee” sooner? For whom is the pleasure of your efforts intended? After all, you have a chance to bring Him pleasure. What is it for you: a burden or an honorable right? If it is a right, then you want to finish the job quickly and prepare all the best for Him, and if it is a burden, then you evade it to the last moment. “It is a deadline, and there is nothing I can do; I must act.” The approach determines everything.

You can speed up the “coffee” cooking time without having to wait 15 minutes. Since The Book of Zohar was revealed and the science of Kabbalah came into the world, you can quickly complete the process and reach the end of correction. Don’t wait until 6,000 years pass; do it today! If you were given the means, time is not a function. If you wait, you advance in “due time,” according to the program of Nature, without adding your efforts in order to show your results to the Creator. So, accelerate, unite with friends, keep the intention all the time, strive for the goal, and understand that all the disturbances on your path are good for you. They help you connect with the friends, studies, and intention. Since you were given the opportunity, you must realize it.

Question: But all the friends already are doing this. So, where is the problem?

Answer: You do not ask. You are given an opportunity to ask. So, ask!

Question: But we are thinking about and asking this all the time.

Answer: If you had asked as you are supposed to, wouldn’t you have received a response? So, your request is not the right one yet. It is lacking either quantity or quality of effort, and the most important thing here is quality. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the 18^th paragraph of The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot: and, if one practices Torah and fails to remove the evil inclination from himself, it is either that he has been negligent in giving the necessary labor and exertion in the practice of Torah—as it is written, “I have not labored but found, do not believe”—or, perhaps, one did put in the necessary amount of labor, but has been negligent in the quality.

I received an awakening from the Creator. He lit a spark in me and now I must wake myself further, adding quantity and working on quality, to check why and for what do I do this, to what do I aspire. In whole, I need a vessel, a desire, a need for the right amount and quality. If I gather the necessary measure for the revelation of the upper Light, It will be manifested immediately. It is here; it is ready.

In physics, there is a concept of “quantum,” a minimal “portion” of light. So, when I have a need for a quantum of Light, I will reveal it on the first level of Nefesh. Then, I will form an even greater need, I will want “quantum squared,” and will reveal the Light of Ruach. At the same time, the vessel grows both quantitatively and qualitatively.

What we need is the desire. For that, we are always talking about self-annulment and restriction and we organize workshops in order to reveal, to “whiten” the desire.

So, why, after the lesson, don’t I feel a concern about the friends, to want the fire of desire to propel them forward? Why don’t I feel the same concern on their part and why don’t I flare up from their flashes? There is no care, no shared responsibility for us, for the world, and especially for the Creator who gave us a chance. In essence, our concern for us and for the world is shallow and egoistic, but we need to start somewhere. In fact, we have a chance to bestow to the Creator, but we do not want to turn toward this direction at all.

In short, we still have much to do. Don’t wait until the coffee is ready.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

The Creator Is In Focus

Question: How can we become similar to the Creator if we sometimes think that His actions are wrong?

Answer: Not sometimes, but constantly! What good is there in this world? Even the most evil villains can’t bear what’s happening in it. And yet, this world is created by Him.

The fact of the matter is that we regard this world as being a 100% opposite to the Creator. Why? It’s because we are opposite to Him. The Creator shines within us and His Light is absolute goodness. But when the Light falls on our “light-sensitive film,” it makes a negative that is opposite to the original. So, the more Light we receive the greater the darkness becomes, and vice versa. This is the way we see the world.

The Light draws various shapes on the screen of our desire to receive, and all of them are drawn on the negative. They are opposite to the Light. This is how the world is outlined within us.

How can we achieve similarity with the Creator? How out of our oppositeness can we see Him and not an imaginary picture? For that, we have to transform the “frame” and to reverse its contrast range. And if we do it with the first “frame,” we attain the first spiritual degree. Then, we will work with the second, the third, and all subsequent “frames.”

So, the entire Torah correlates with a person and lives within him. Every person is a small world.

This way, it all has to do with the “technology”: how to work internally so as to transform the imaginary darkness into light, and the imaginary light into darkness. For this, I need to turn my own properties into their opposite: to transform a negative into a positive. This inner transition is the Torah, the Light that Reforms. This is what I need.

I feel the Creator within me. Even now I perceive Him in the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature and in people. Everything around me is the Creator who “translates” Himself for me and copies Himself within me. I only have to decode this picture.

I work not with the world, the friends, or the Creator, but rather with myself, within myself. While doing so, I’m allowed to use the shapes, seemingly external ones, so as to decode the original image.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/31/13, “A Speech on the Completion of The Zohar”

Don’t Slip Into The Swamp Of Life

No one can tell me what I should do. I need to clarify this and to decide by myself which goal is fictitious and which goal is real. I have to take the responsibility for the steps I take. Otherwise, why was I given this life?

My life is like being in a middle of a swamp in which there are only a few places I can step on to cross it and not to sink in. It has to be my decision. No one else can move my feet and put them in the right place.

If I slip, I will drown in the swamp of life for several decades. If this happens, I have to understand that it had to happen. I should do whatever is in my power to clarify everything in advance. If later I still make a mistake and drown for several decades, it is a sign that it had to have happened. I don’t know why and for what reason now, but I will find that out later. It is like it says about the direct and the indirect Providence, “Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before.”

Question: How can I make my own decision, if I am totally under the influence of the environment, in a spiritual society or an external one?

Answer: This is all your freewill—to be impressed by the spiritual society as much as you can and not to go around with “your nose up high,” considering yourself superior to everyone else. Otherwise you will not be able to be positively impressed by them.

But this doesn’t mean that you can come to the friends and ask them what you should do: whether to go abroad to make money or not. You mustn’t let others decide for you. Your decision has to be the result of you inner clarifications, the result of your efforts to subdue yourself before the society, which means before the spiritual idea, before the yearning for connection and unity, for advancement towards adhesion with the Creator above reason. This is what the society, the collective force, means to me. To the extent that you subdue yourself before the spiritual idea, you will decide what is important for you in life.

Then I look back and don’t see my body! It already disappears somewhere in my previous life, long since eliminated from my path. I have to provide it with some basic food and I do that. Basic necessities mean that I do something since I must, since I have to take care of the body. I force myself to think about my animal body, which is called a basic necessity. But in all my other thoughts I am in the group, in the connection, and then I make the right decision.

This connection sustains me and doesn’t let me leave. I am so strongly adhered to it that I can worry about some basic necessity only by forcing myself. We can test this by how happy I might feel if I didn’t have to take care of my body but could only worry about the group and the Creator 100%, not leaving even 1% for myself.

But when I begin to worry only about the basic necessities of my animal body, I suddenly realize that it isn’t mine! Then dealing with my body and my family become spiritual work. I felt that they were mine as long as I received some egoistic profit from them, but if I don’t receive any profit from these necessary dealings, it is simply a game that I was given, a means for spiritual clarification.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Dangerous Fictitious Dealings

Baal HaSulam, Letter 47:Therefore, turn away from all the fictitious dealings, and pay attention to think and to come up with the right inventions to connect your hearts as one heart… and start connecting lovingly to the right extent, and then you will find a taste in it.

Question: What are “fictitious dealings”?

Answer: Fictitious dealings are all sorts of efforts that are not aimed at attaining the spiritual goal. This includes any effort that is above the effort to provide the body with the basic necessities and dedicating everything else to attaining the goal.

Any effort that is even a little bit off this track is fictitious, which means that it only seems to you that you will gain from it, but in fact, it immediately pushes you to the path of “in its time,” the path of suffering.

It seems that there is a spiritual goal before me (!), and if I work for it, I will gain something. I exert myself and gain from it. If it is a real goal, which means that it is on the path to the Creator, then I work correctly.

But this goal may not be directed towards the Creator (!), and I don’t know the right direction, and it seems that this goal is real. If I invest my powers in it, then, in return, I receive sufferings that push me from behind instead of a gain. These are called “fictitious dealings.”

It seems that I profit from them and that I yearn for the real goal. Even material profit: physical profit, money, respect, knowledge, all these eventually lead me, after many efforts along the way, to a void, to sufferings.

This fictitious goal, the fictitious dealings, can be very complex and complicated. It may take 30 to 40 years for me to finally realize that the goal was fictitious. It isn’t just one business and may very well be many dealings. Everything that you do beyond the basic necessities of the body belongs to these fictitious dealings.

Dealing with the basic necessities is a must, since you have no choice. All your attention, 100% of it, must be focused in one direction—on the Creator. Then, to the extent that you have to exert yourself for your family, it is already a necessity because all your thought will be focused on the Creator.

It is not clear that this goal is fictitious. It is a big question for you. Even if you are aware of it rationally, you disagree with it emotionally. Then you find yourself in an inner struggle, not knowing what to do. You make different concessions, forgive different minor weaknesses, thinking, “Well, never mind, I was a bit distracted.” Fictitious dealings appear in many different manners.

So, how can we clarify which dealings are fictitious? Everything that does not relate to the group, to the teacher, to the study, to dissemination, to the inclination to unity with the Creator—are all fictitious dealings! If you focus all your efforts on the goal, then the family worries are also included in it. Then you discover that the Creator has arranged all these things for you in the most perfect way. But only if your family doesn’t object to your path and allow you to study.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

The Entire World For A Cup Of Coffee

Question: Does the order of my internal actions in relation to the Creator coincide in the case when I feel bad and in the case when I feel good?

Answer: On the spiritual path, bad feelings are not suffering in the usual sense, but the sufferings of love.

Imagine that you place an order in a restaurant. Why isn’t it brought right away even if everything is ready? They give you time to talk with your companion or just to sit, and this is no accident. Once, my friend was choosing a coffee maker for his office and wanted a machine that would take 15 minutes to prepare one serving. He needed time for a quiet conversation with clients.

This is what is called preparing desires, which we usually ignore. We want to “swallow” everything as quickly as possible, but this approach is incorrect. Because of it, we do not feel the taste if life, the meaning in life. Spiritual concealment is needed to cause a strong, firm desire in us.

Question: What should fill this time of delay before meeting the Creator?

Answer: I make a preparation, yearn for Him in the right way, and, then, I can discern the relationship and find contact. It is said, “I will eat what has been prepared in advance.” I do not discover anything new; my revelation is a direct result of this completed preparation.

Even now, I am in the world of Infinity, but I do not see it, do not notice the connection between people, do not distinguish the actions of the Creator, and do not feel the waves of this force, which changes everything. My eyes can see only separate, small phenomena. Thus, everything depends on preparation.

The problem is that I choose for myself a coffee machine with this or that “time of preparation,” but the preparation period is not set by me, and I do not know when it is over. So, you should hurry. It is very important how we cope with the preparatory stage. It is already underway and the fate of the entire world is here at this point.

Question: How can we apply every effort so as not to lose time?

Answer: First of all, are you trying to bestow to the Creator, or do you just want to get your “coffee” sooner? For whom is the pleasure of your efforts intended? After all, you have a chance to bring Him pleasure. What is it for you: a burden or an honorable right? If it is a right, then you want to finish the job quickly and prepare all the best for Him, and if it is a burden, then you evade it to the last moment. “It is a deadline, and there is nothing I can do; I must act.” The approach determines everything.

You can speed up the “coffee” cooking time, without having to wait 15 minutes. SinceThe Book of Zohar was revealed and the science of Kabbalah came into the world, you quickly can complete the process and reach the end of correction. Don’t wait until 6,000 years pass; do it today! If you were given the means, time is not a function. If you wait, you advance in “due time,” according to the program of Nature, without adding your efforts in order to show your results to the Creator. So, accelerate, unite with friends, keep the intention all the time, strive for the goal, and understand that all the disturbances on your path are good for you. They help you connect with the friends, studies, and intention. Since you were given the opportunity, you must realize it.

Question: But all the friends already are doing this. So, where is the problem?

Answer: You do not ask. You are given an opportunity to ask. So, ask!

Question: But we are thinking about and asking this all the time.

Answer: If you had asked as you are supposed to, wouldn’t you have received a response? So, your request is not the right one yet. It is lacking either quantity or quality of effort, and the most important thing here is quality. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the 18^th paragraph of The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot: and, if one practices Torah and fails to remove the evil inclination from himself, it is either that he has been negligent in giving the necessary labor and exertion in the practice of Torah—as it is written, “I have not labored but found, do not believe”—or, perhaps, one did put in the necessary amount of labor, but has been negligent in the quality.

I received an awakening from the Creator. He lit a spark in me, and now I must wake myself further, adding quantity and working on quality, to check why and for what do I do this, to what do I aspire. In the whole, I need a vessel, a desire, a need for the right amount and quality. If I gather the necessary measure for the revelation of the upper Light, It will be manifested immediately. It is here; it is ready.

In physics, there is a concept of “quantum,” a minimal “portion” of light. So, when I have a need for a quantum of Light, I will reveal it on the first level of Nefesh. Then, I will form an even greater need, I will want “quantum squared,” and will reveal the Light of Ruach. At the same time, the vessel grows both quantitatively and qualitatively.

What we need is the desire. For that, we are always talking about self-annulment and restriction and we organize workshops in order to reveal, to “whiten” the desire.

So, why, after the lesson, don’t I feel a concern about the friends, to want the fire of desire to propel them forward? Why don’t I feel the same concern on their part and why don’t I flare up from their flashes? There is no care, no shared responsibility for us, for the world, and especially for the Creator who gave us a chance. In essence, our concern for us and for the world is shallow and egoistic, but we need to start somewhere. In fact, we have a chance to bestow to the Creator, but we do not want to turn toward this direction at all.

In short, we still have much to do. Don’t wait until the coffee is ready.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

A New Morning Depends On The Previous Day

Question: I feel that during the lesson I lack the recognition of the greatness of the goal, what should I do?

Answer: On the whole, a person lacks only one thing: the right awakening that can only come from the group. What have you done about that? Have you sent letters demanding that the friends help you? Did you give them presents according to what each of them likes? You have to evoke the friends’ attention so that they will think about you, so that they will worry about whether you understand the greatness of the goal, so that that they will not forget you in their prayer…bribe them with something!

During the lesson it’s already too late to correct the corruptions. You use what you have prepared. The whole preparation is done before the lesson. The day turns to evening and the evening turns to night and a person finds himself in the dark, confused and lacking understanding. Then he prepares himself for the meeting with the Light. From midnight he rushes toward the Light by arranging his vessels, his desires. He comes to the lesson with a ready load, after having raised his requests to the Creator. He connects everything that he has to the study.

Thus, the time of the study is already the result of the events that happened during the day. Get ready, think about what seems important with regard to this, but don’t forget: Everything that you do during the lesson is a result of your activities before the lesson. Check it and you will see that it’s really so. During the moments of awakening in the morning before the lesson and during the lesson itself, you will deal with what you filled yourself the day before; everything depends on yesterdays’ preparation.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

Waiting For Payment

Question: What can we understand from the books of Kabbalists when they tell us about the spiritual levels?

Answer: It is said, “It isn’t the wise who learns.” Your understanding or you lack of understanding have nothing to do with your advancement.

Suppose there is a wise man who has read many books sitting next to you. On the other side, there is a person who isn’t very clever but who has a big heart. There people who excel neither in their feelings, nor in their mind, and there are others who have plenty of both, but all this has nothing to do with our advancement. It doesn’t matter whether you understand the material or not. We should understand one thing only: the principles. Can you hear them? Can you evoke yourself to that?

Sometimes you may want to hear them, but you don’t. Then patience and persistence are helpful. Even if everyone has already entered spirituality and a person may be ten years behind, he actually “gains” more by acquiring the depth of the clarification, the ability to see the global picture. In short, we should be patient and persistent. The main thing is not to leave the path, to subdue yourself no matter what comes from Above. It’s because eventually the Creator determines everything and although it may not be very simple, a person gains a lot by that.

Baal HaSulam writes about that in his article “The Attribute of the General Hidden Wisdom”: The undeveloped person cannot wait for the payment for a long time. He has no patience, like a child, who wants to receive the payment now, and cannot wait for even one moment. And he chooses jobs for which he is paid immediately, even if the wages are lower. One can learn how to be a taxi driver and receive an immediate payment from the passengers without any delay. On the other hand, he can spend years studying to become a musician, for example. And a more developed person can restrain himself and choose jobs for which one is paid more, even if the payment may be much later. And we should know that this is the scale to measure the wise, since it depends on the corporeal development of every individual, and whoever can prolong the payment can get much higher wages.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

About Giving And Receiving

Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“:We should know that spiritual matters are not like corporeal matters, where giving and receiving come as one. In spirituality, the time of giving and the time of receiving are separate. This is because first it was given from the Creator to the receiver; and in this giving He only gives him a chance to receive. However, he has not received a thing yet, until he is properly sanctified and purified. And then one is rewarded with receiving it. Thus, it may take a long time between the time of giving and the time of receiving.

Question: Why is there a disparity between the time of giving and the time of receiving?

Answer: Giving is bestowal and receiving is bestowal. But the giving prepares the “vessels” in us, the details of perception. After all, there is no concept of “time” in spirituality, but when it comes to our “matter,” to our desire to receive, the upper bestowal cannot be in contact with it.

There is a “shell” between them that keeps the dualism of their relationship—separation and mutual connection.

How does the Light reach the vessel in the first place? How can the connection between these two opposite attributes exist? There is nothing like it in our world. When fire and water come in contact, one of them annuls the other, but they both belong to one world and the inner nature that is aimed at conquering, at mutual annulment, is concealed in them.

On the other hand, when a spiritual force reaches a corporeal force, they cannot come in contact, they cannot “get to know” one another.

The first attempt to come in contact would evoke mutual annulment in them. We know about such phenomena in physics. Contact between opposites is simply impossible.

This is the reason for the “shell” that should be highly respected, which is wonderful, powerful, whole, and very complicated.

It is exactly what creates the right connection between “Holiness,” which means the attribute of bestowal, and the egoistic desire that simply wants to receive pleasure. The “shell” brings the “lie of the truth” and the “false truths” to life, what “has not been said to the end,” and “what has not been fully clarified,” as areas that “coordinate” between the poles that cannot be tied into one. We use such tricks in politics and in other fields.

So the time of giving is not the end of history. All of creation—its essence is in the difference between the time of giving and the time of receiving.

The chain of events from the top down into this world and the ascent back from the bottom up are only so that from state 1 we will reach state 3, and they are the perception of the Creator’s message to the created being. You also see how long it takes to “digest” this idea and to respond to it.

Question: According to what formula does the connection between the opposites exist? How is the string from the upper to the lower actually drawn?

Answer: If we speak about an initiative that comes from the upper, it is possible only if we annul ourselves and receive His desire as the one which determines things instead of our own desire; this is the connection.

Using the same technique, we bring different parts in contact, equalize their ranges, and use a certain link as a “coordinator” between them.

We have to create a certain place in which this equivalence takes place.

In spirituality it is the seven lower Sefirot of Bina, the “mother’s womb,” the lower third ofZeir Anpin to which Malchut connects.

We have to design this special “adaptor” which in Kabbalah is also called YESHSUT, or the system of TzeLeM.

One way or the other, the task of the two sides that are connected is for each side to annul itself in order to connect to the other. But while the upper can do that since it is perfect, the lower, being totally imperfect, attains it, accepts it, and annuls himself before the upper.

It is about simple things. In everyday life we constantly renew our place on the scale of connection and communication. In media, instruction, education, and culture the connection is built even instinctively by itself. If I want be in contact with another, I have to withdraw from my uncompromising stance to some extent, and to accept the other’s opinion.

Question: How does the lower become adapted to the giving of the upper?

Answer: The upper descends to the lower and gives him what he wants, but in this “package,” in this message, there is the whole inner force that develops the lower.

After all, the lower only wants to “fill its belly.” He doesn’t want to grow and doesn’t know what it is. But in the “milk” of the upper, which means in the Light of Hassadim, there is the “blood” that operates, the Light of Hochma that raises the baby. The lower would not be able to grow without the “blood” in the “milk.”

First, during the time of Ibur (gestation), the lower annuls himself before the upper and agrees to receive everything from Him. Then he receives the “blood”—the direct bestowal of the upper. Then the lower becomes more independent and the upper intentionally designs a system in the lower one that matches it and that is used as an adapter between them. It is exactly like the mechanism of lactation, feeding milk. In fact, it is about the same “blood,” about the Light of Hochma, but it receives the “dress ofHassadim.” Now the lower can compare the attribute of bestowal that is typical of the Creator and the attribute of receiving that is typical of the created being, and when he grows, he receives them both simultaneously.

But at this point, the lower is still small because he annuls himself with regard to the “milk,” and agrees to receive it from the upper…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

A Big Void And How To Deal With It

Question: How is external dissemination connected to internal work?

Answer: Today internal work is impossible without dissemination. In fact, the general pyramid of humanity is divided into two parts: the upper part called “Israel” (Yashar—El – straight to the Creator), and the lower part called “the nations of the world.”

The people who belong to “Israel” have a “point in the heart” (•), and as a result they are in contact with the Creator. Those who belong to the “nations of the world” have only a big void (-) and they feel bad, but don’t know what to do.

So “Israel” has to bring the correction to those called “the nations of the world.” This is why they exist, otherwise they wouldn’t exist at all.

The “created being” is actually the lower part of the desire to receive, while “Israel” are “the Godly part from Above.” On the whole, “Israel” is called “a point,” “a spark,” in the desire and not the desire itself. On the other hand, “the nations of the world” are the main “matter” of creation. It is for them that the world was created; everything exists for them, and the correction should take part in them. It is here that the third Temple will be built. “Israel” is the link, priests and educators. Every person with a “point in the heart” belongs to this group.

On the whole, the whole pyramid is called “Babylon,” since everything in it is confused (same root in Hebrew) and mixed after the shattering.

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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

The Embryo Is Part Of Mother “Bina”

Some time before the last convention we began our preparation for the state of the spiritual “embryo” and we continue persistently.

This is the short-term goal for the major part of our global group. In the group there are more advanced students and less advanced ones, but the majority are in a state that they must prepare for the conditions of existing in the form of an “embryo” in the spiritual world.

It says that an embryo is part of his mother, which means that he totally annuls himself and “eats what his mother eats.” Mother clarifies what is best for him and he receives everything gratefully as something that comes from “there is none else beside Him.” He is completely incorporated in the Creator without taking any independent decisions. All his powers are focused only on how to follow with eyes closed.

This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have his own opinion and his own feelings, but he tries to resemble the upper in every way possible. He still has no inner “vessels,” not in his mind and not in his heart, which enable him to start working with such desires by himself. He can only rise above them.

This means that he has no “mouth,” but that he receives everything through the “Tabur” (the umbilical cord), which means straight into his “vessels.” A “Peh – mouth” (the mouth of the Partzuf) is the place of the Masach (screen), 32 teeth, 32 routes of wisdom. When he has teeth, he will already be able to chew with them, to examine, to divide, and to decide whether this filling is suitable for him or not, but in the meantime, all this does not exist in the embryo, and he receives everything thanks to the bestowal of Hassadim from his upper, from mother Bina, although he is in total darkness.

If we could imagine this state of Ibur (gestation), and see ourselves as an “embryo” with regard to the group, which means that we annul ourselves before the group, then by our collective effort we will enter the spiritual world.

This is a very high level. It is unlimited, since by the annulment of his vessels a person becomes independent and unlimited. He receives everything that comes to him and is ready for any condition. He accepts everything that comes to him from the upper “above reason,” and thus advances through all the months of pregnancy.

Everything depends on us, on our effort. We don’t have to wait for this to come from Above by itself. Nothing will come just like that except for sufferings that come along the path of “in its time” instead of along the path of “I shall hasten it,” the path of the Light.

But if we want to hasten this state so as not to develop according to the natural speed that will take many years before we attain it, we have to spur one another, as it says: “Every one shall help his friend.” We have to set an example of the spiritual embryo for one another, which means showing how each one annuls himself before the group and accepts everything gladly, enthusiastically, in elation, and in awakening. Although a person doesn’t feel it internally, he annuls himself before the upper.

This state is called an embryo since all this doesn’t match his desire, but is against it, in contrast to his feelings and his mind. But if he rises above himself, above his mind and feelings and begins to receive from the upper who is whole, he will advance and gradually become an embryo.

This state is built above the corporeal feelings and mind and is the first level that is built above them. In it we already have to clarify how to fulfill the advice of Kabbalists by mutual help, awakening, and feeling the importance of the goal. This the immediate goal facing us.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/13

Accelerate Time

Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: And besides the blows we suffer today, we must also consider the drawn sword for the future. The right conclusion must be drawn—that nature will ultimately defeat us and we will all be compelled to join hands in following its Mitzvot with all the measure required of us.

We are in one force called “nature,” the force of bestowal. We are the second force, the force of receiving. According to its size, we have to keep the balance, the equivalence of form with the force of bestowal.

Although we don’t know and are not acquainted with the force of bestowal, we have to work with the environment. If I keep the balance by receiving and giving in this world, then it means that everything is fine. If I want to give to the environment more than is necessary to keep the balance, it means that I advance by the path of “I shall hasten it,” accelerating my development. Then the force of my ego is evoked in me faster than in others and it is as if I rush forward leaving them behind since if I am drawn to the force of bestowal. The force of receiving will grow inside me, thus hastening the emergence of theReshimot (spiritual genes) so that they can be fulfilled.

On the other hand, if I lag behind the pace of the general development of the system ofMalchut, which means the “assembly of Israel” and unity, then I feel pressure. The upper Light evokes the shattered Reshimot wanting to raise them to correction. If this chain ofReshimot develops faster, then it is good, and if it develops more slowly, then we feel the Light as bad.

On the whole, this whole system is called “this world.” In it there is Malchut, the “assembly of Israel,” meaning those who want to correct themselves and to attain connection and also the “nations of the world.” Everything is included here in Malchut. It is called the world. But it is hard for me to work with the whole world and so there is a small part before me, the group, in which I fulfill my corrections.

The Creator, the upper Light, has a beginning (0) and an end (100%). And we have no other choice but to reach the end. The question is only how exactly do we reach it. This is only what it is about.

We have been through three phases in our evolution: inanimate, vegetative, and animate. These phases are essential and no one asked for our consent.

But starting from the level of the “speaking,” we must be conscious, by our own consent, we raise a request for correction (MAN) and not otherwise. This means that the upper Light will pressure us every step of the way until we turn to it by ourselves with our request.

It is impossible to advance by sufferings. On the contrary, they force us to stand still until they accumulate and change our attitude to what is happening. Only then will we be ready to bow our heads.

In any case, without the preliminary deficiency, we will not be able to go through the phase of “speaking” in our evolution. It is because this phase requires understanding and recognition, which is possible only if I have a deficiency for it. However, on the levels of inanimate, vegetative, and animate, I advanced and developed without any understanding and recognition.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/13, “The Peace”