“And Now Do You See?” – “Yes!”

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 54: When the Creator sees that one has completed one’s measure of exertion and finished everything he had to do in strengthening his choice in faith in the Creator, the Creator helps him. Then, one attains open Providence, meaning the revelation of the face. Then, he is rewarded with complete repentance, meaning he cleaves to the Creator once more with his heart, soul, and might….

There is no patronage here, there is no reason to wait for the Creator to get fed up and take pity on us like a merciful father. We should not expect the Creator to be touched by our tears and have mercy and intervene in our situation and forgive our lack of investingefforts.

This means that hope is meaningless, that instead of our effort it is possible to wait a bit, cry a bit, and everything will take care of itself. In general, in our world a person expects exactly this kind of attitude towards himself from other people and from the Creator. But this doesn’t happen here.

We are obliged to carry out and complete the amount of effort required from our side. And this should truly be effort, meaning effort in building our spiritual Kli for revelation. As it is said: He hath made a decree which shall not be transgressed (Psalms 148:6). If you have a desire of ten grams, which is, suppose, the first degree of adaptation to the first compulsory level for discovering the Creator, then you will feel His presence, meaning He will be revealed.

And as long as your desire is less than “ten grams,” you are below the threshold and don’t feel the Creator. This means the Creator is concealed. All of the senses work according to this principle, including the spiritual senses.

Perception in the spiritual senses is divided into 125 levels that are divided internally into many other sublevels. And no matter what, we must reach the level of sensitivity matching the first level. And this depends on the measure of effort by which we raise our sensitivity, meaning expanding our Kli.

This is our sensitivity to the degree of bestowal because the Creator is bestowal, love, and connection. He is revealed to us as such. So we must prepare accordingly: bestowal, love, and connection among us. And we don’t even have to attain these characteristics directly but only have a yearning to acquire them. And if we specifically direct our desire and yearning towards this and have enough force, then we begin to discover the Creator. That is everything.

This is like a visual examination with an optometrist: “Do you see these letters?” – “No!” “And do you see them now?” – “Yes!” There is a sensitivity threshold for each and every sense, and when it is attained, suddenly the discovery happens.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam