How Can You Get To Know Yourself?

We can understand reality and what happens only from an upper level downward, and there is no way we can understand the current state a person is in. If I am in a certain state, which I cannot digest or perceive, it is because this state is stabilized by the Upper at any given moment. Only by attaining the Upper, can I attain my current self. So a person never attains himself and his state.

I am on a certain level and above me there is the Upper who has totally designed me: my whole inner state and all the external conditions, since it is actually one vessel. He designed me, and I am a result of His actions; I am created by Him. I don’t understand myself, attain myself, or my reality. So I can never make the right decisions regarding this reality. I shouldn’t make any decisions regarding myself since I will surely be wrong. I don’t have the attributes that made or created me since these are the attributes of the Upper.

So when it seems to a person that he makes decisions in this world, it is absolute nonsense since it indicates his lack of understanding. In this state he is like a small child who thinks that he does something by himself and doesn’t know that the parents are watching him from a distance, guarding him from making any mistakes.

This means that I can never know my current state, the current level I am on, but only what is below that level, the levels to which I am like the Creator and they are my created beings. So if I want to attain who and what I am, then I have to attain the Creator. It is only from that state that I will understand and know who I am.
[128033]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Enough With Feeling Bored, Let’s Start Working!

Question: What is the spiritual root of indifference?

Answer: The spiritual root of indifference stems from the state of rest that our ego is attracted to. It is the lowest egoistic state. I lie, doing nothing, filling my sight with interesting pictures, my hearing with pleasant sounds, my mouth with tasty food, and my nose with pleasant odors. If I totally fill myself, I have no deficiencies left, and there is no motion. I can enjoy the quiet!

Question: So how can we overcome the indifference, especially during the workshopwhen I suddenly feel bored and indifferent?

Answer: I don’t understand how someone can be bored during the workshop if it provides a great opportunity to work. I listen to the friends and I feel that I am burning. First I have to be incorporated in each one. One of the friends speaks nonsense, but I annul myself and try to fathom his words, accepting them as if he were Eliyahu the prophet. I penetrate the friend and want to live in his words, which are the only reason to be incorporated in him.

Then another friend speaks and begins to philosophize, and I can hardly restrain myself, but I let him finish. Here I have another type of work: I am incorporated in him, suffer, and see to what extent what he says is right or wrong. It is not in order to criticize what he says, but in order to help me be incorporated in him even more. The more my ego criticizes the friends, the more deeply it helps me penetrated them.

When we end a round of debate, I am incorporated in each one and practically burst as a result of the experiences that fill me. I am not full of their words since I don’t even remember what they said, but I am full of my efforts to be incorporated in them.

We have to see the workshop as an opportunity to be incorporated in the friends, despite our criticism. First it seems that one friend speaks nonsense, another friend speaks too much, another didn’t hear the question at all, and another one doesn’t even understand how low he fell. But all this doesn’t matter! Even if I went to some other place to participate in a round table discussion, I would also be incorporated in my partners and would do the same work with them. I wouldn’t receive less from them than I receive here.

How can I feel bored if I constantly work? No matter what the friend says, I try to delve deeper into him and to feel his inner space. Each one is like a womb for me and by the connection between the friends I form the womb, enter it, and feel that I am inside some kind of space, inside a human being.

Every friend is my environment. When we complete a full round, I form a bubble of all the friends, a sack of amniotic fluid inside the womb. I feel like a baby. I penetrate the friend, discover an inner space and try to get used to him, and by my thoughts, feelings of repulsion, I begin to identify with what is inside him.

Start working! This inner work is called a friends’ meeting and not debates on foreign affairs.
[128062]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/14, Writings of Rabash

Parents Protect From Suffering

The entire system of creation is experiencing negative shocks because its parts are not functioning together in harmony. There is a part that is called Aba (father) and a part called Ima (mother).

Ima is the characteristic of complete bestowal, Hafetz Hesed(absolute mercy). The characteristic of Aba is the higher intelligence,Ohr Hochma, the source of life. These two parts must exist in harmony between them.

There is also Keter or the Creator, the thought, idea, program, prior to some kind of realization below.

Ima must make the infrastructure, a place for receiving the Light of the Creator. But this is only possible to the degree that we, the souls, ask her for this since she is found in a state of absolute Hafetz Hesed and doesn’t want anything for herself.

Both Aba and Ima suffer with overflowing love for the children, but they are unable to do anything because the children are not asking for this. Instead they ask for something else entirely opposite to the parents, something against them.

Just as in our world, if children asked to taste alcoholic beverages, drugs, and cigarettes, a mother and father, by not allowing them to do this, would suffer both because they cannot give a child something good and also because he is asking for something bad.

In order not to cause such double suffering to Aba and AVI (Aba ve Ima) in our spiritual advancement, we must specifically ask for what we really need: love and bestowal.
[128200]From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Workshop 5

Ascending The Levels Of Correction

Question: How do we connect the two expressions: “commandments that don’t need an intention” and a “commandment without an intention” is like a body without a soul?

Answer: “Implementation of the commandments does not require an intention” refers to the fact that even when we don’t have an intention of in order to bestow yet, we still try to connect with the friends and that brings us to the right intention of love and bestowal.

An intention of in order to bestow means that I focus on you and I want to fill you. A person in this world has no such intention. We are born without it, live our lives, and then reach the group. This means that the commandment doesn’t need an intention, so start the way you are.

Even if you have an intention, it is only for yourself and not for anything else (this is how you were brought to the wisdom of Kabbalah). So, study and you will succeed.

Suppose we have two levels of energy. The lower level is the intention of in order to receive that lacks the intention to bestow. There is a phase of preparation (Achan) for the intention of in order to bestow between this level and the next one, and then there is aMachsom (barrier that separates us from the upper world).

Above the Machsom, we discover the intention that is external to me, or to bestow, the attribute of Bina, the Light of Hassadim (charity). Then, there is the intention of to receive in order to bestow, or the Light of Hochma, and there is the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

First, we are on the lowest level on which we have a normal healthy desire to receive in order to enjoy.

Gradually, we come to the recognition that we have no intention to bestow.

A person decides, “I must start changing myself,” and so he reaches the phase of the very serious preparation for the intention of in order to bestow called the time of preparation (Zman Achan).

This very hard work may take months and even years. Gradually, under the influence of the Upper Light, a person reaches the intention of bestowal outside of himself.

At the same time, he doesn’t give anything but simply exists as an embryo (Ubar). He adheres to the upper and annuls himself like an embryo, or like a small child with regard to a grownup, without interfering with his growth as he allows the upper to do whatever is necessary with him: “Do whatever you want with me; I agree to everything,” and this is aimed against his growing ego.

When he completes the correction of all his desires, he ascends to the last level where he can receive pleasure in order to bestow for the sake of the Creator.

This is a very high level, and we want to attain it by performing and completing all the corrections.
[127820]

The Point From Which The Creator Approaches Us

Question: How does a person clarify that the Creator really helps him?

Answer: A person discovers that the Creator helps him in every state he finds himself in, both the good and the bad. Of course, he doesn’t understand this immediately. But what’s important is that he discovers that the Creator is also part of all his clarifications and his decisions, all his thoughts and of all his apparent mistakes. All this was prepared and arranged from Above.

There is one point of something from nothing which the Creator created. Nothing other than that was created, and now the Creator reveals Himself with regard to the point of something from nothing.

It turns out that the Creator must devote Himself to the point of something from nothing so that it will be like Him, that it will reach the same understanding, the same recognition, and the same feeling, which means that it will know Him fully. To the extent that this point reveals the Creator’s plan, it ascends all the 125 levels.

This work is fulfilled by a person’s incorporation in the group, and the main outcome of this work is the attainment of the uniqueness of the Upper Force that has prepared our whole way and what we feel along that way. These are all the phases of spiritual attainment, all the manners of attaining the depth of the thought of creation.

We reveal the thought of creation in every phase. This is the main point from which the Creator approaches us. A person may also reveal states that preceded his creation in the thought of creation.
[127845]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/14

Quick Growth

Question: I sometimes feel that for a couple of seconds I understand everything that you say and then I don’t understand anything and it is like this constantly, over and over again.

Answer: Very good! This means that you are digesting the spiritual food quickly and that you are growing quickly. This will bring you to a certain accumulation and to a certain outcome. Keep going, don’t just stop and don’t feel disappointed.
[127947

Expecting The Messiah

Question: A couple of days ago you said that if we keep the same level of connection that we have attained the Messiah will come. Are we headed in the right direction? How can we provide the mutual support and how do we continue our work correctly?

Answer: We are heading in the right direction and I am really pleased with the outcome of the convention and with your conduct after the convention. However, we still lack the inner connection, which it isn’t up to us but up to the world around us since we have to draw it after us. Therefore, we will not receive the force of the Messiah until there are hundreds of thousands and even millions behind us since we need to receive the force of Messiah for them.

We have to build up a “layer of fat,” so that there will be a place around us in which people will understand, hear, and feel to some extent what the solution to the crisis is. Then our prayer will not be egoistic and not in order to receive. We don’t receive anything in spirituality for no reason, but only if we have whom to convey it to on the outside. Otherwise it will be a fall, a terrible shattering!

Only when we connect to millions will we gradually be able to convey the Light that Reforms to them and our spiritual attainment will be a billion times greater than what we convey to them. So we need a quantity of people on the outside to whom we will be connected more or less, which can be the result of a lecture that we give, giving someone a book, or telling someone about our ideas, etc. There is no need for any physical connection since it’s by these actions that they already connect to us to some extent through the virtual spiritual network.

We are on the right track and we try to fulfill everything. The main thing is to participate in the lessons and in dissemination: no matter whether the outcome seems good or not. We have to provide people with the minimal information that this is the only way to correct the world, and that’s enough. If we could attract two million people this way, we would really be rewarded with the Light that would raise us to the next level. It’s called Messiah, or the force that draws us through the Machsom (barrier) from the lowest state to the next higher state.

Question: When does an ordinary person connect to us? Suppose he reads something and says that he agrees, is that it, does he already become part of us?

Answer: He has to participate in the connection between us in some way, at least passively, like reading what is on our site or by reading the material that you send him. No matter how a person responds, as long as you nourish him a little with excerpts or articles or invite him to a meal without asking for anything in return but simply inviting him since we gather together. If he only reads something that we publicize, he is already part of us; don’t underestimate these small weak connections!
[127952]

Fear, A Basis For Mutual Connection

Question: I was at a convention in Israel for the first time, and I cannot be freed from the feeling of fear of losing something great. I felt a very great difference between being in my group and being here, in the Bnei Baruch group. The thought haunts me all the time. Isn’t this ego, or is this a normal fear of losing that intensity that is felt in a congress?

Answer: This intensity doesn’t disappear anywhere. It exists on the spiritual plane. If you are connected to it, then you are in it. If you are detached, then you lose it, and after that, you can connect again. This is eternal.

That you feel fear is very good. What is the first Mitzva? It is the Mitzva of fear. I could be detached from the spiritual level, could lose it, I won’t be able to bestow, and so forth. This is the main thing. Therefore, you have a very good basis for staying in a good connection with us.
[128011]

Living With Thoughts About The Creator

Question: What is maintaining a link with the Creator? What should one imagine in one’s mind?

Answer: Maintaining a link with the Creator means trying all the time to see Him in everything, everything within you and around you.

Question: How can I maintain a link with the Creator throughout the workday if my work is mentally taxing?

Answer: This is a problem. Try to clean out and empty a small area in the mind where you still think about the Creator all the time even though you are involved with work, and try all the time to live on this background.
[128014]

An Orchestra Of Virtuosos Of Correction

Question: How can it be that at the end of correction there will still be some differences between us, but at the same time will we be totally equal?

Answer: It is like a philharmonic orchestra in which every musician is an outstanding, well known talent, but one plays the violin, another the viola, and another the bassoon, and so on. All the players differ from one another, but at the same time they are on the same level.

This is the equality that we want to reach among people. Although they are all different by nature, we still want them all to reach the same level. If everyone bestows upon the whole integral system, he is completely equal to the others. There are no great or small. These differences exist only until the end of correction, and then afterward, everyone complements one another and they become equal.
[128025]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/17/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Toward The Man Within Me

Question: How do I nullify myself toward the group?

Answer: It is very difficult to do this, it is just about impossible. It is necessary to close your eyes and put yourself under the influence of the group and try physically, morally, psychologically, and spiritually to be nullified within the environment. It is only like this! Submit and lower yourself and accept them as they are. If this is the group to which they brought me and I nullify myself toward it, then I attain my restriction.

Therefore, it is most important at every given moment to organize yourself internally, and clarify: “Toward where are my thoughts, powers, and desires directed—everything that is in a person?”

Constantly carrying out a scan of the internal self-image, I describe to myself who I am at this moment, a beast or something close to the image of man. Unfortunately, I always discover that I am a beast. However, after that, movement happens, even a small one, in the direction of the human in me.
[127748]

You Won’t Confuse It With Anything

Question: How can a person be sure that he has really attained thefirst spiritual level of Nefesh De Kedusha (non-living saint) and that his mind is not deceiving him?

Answer: When you reach this state you will immediately understand it. You won’t confuse it with anything.

This means that you will see how detached you are from all the thoughts about yourself. It’s an amazing attribute when your “I,” which in the past has been so troublesome and sticky, suddenly disappears and ceases to exist.

You ascend above the field of gravity like a rocket or a missile and that’s it, quiet. There is no up or down, nothing. There is no force of gravity. But this is only at this stage and then you have to move on.
[127585]

The Taste Of Connection With The Creator

Question: What are the limitations we should impose on required needs in order to proceed correctly towards spirituality?

Answer: There are no limitations. Eat, drink, have fun and do what you want, but from within that maintain a permanent connection with the Creator: “There is none else besides Him.”

To the same extent that you are not able to be with this thought, you must reduce exaggerated living. In other words, doing all that you want, begin to reduce the threshold of material excesses so that the “There is none else besides Him “ will constantly be the main thing for you. And at Gmar Tikkun (the end of correction), you will consume without limits and will ask from the Creator all that there is in life.

Kabbalah is the science of receiving eternal and infinite pleasure. With time you will begin to understand which pleasures to exchange with which, and you will see how few of them are exchanged with others or clothe upon others.

Thus, there is no need to limit yourself, but only if you execute all the conditions of adherence with the group, with the teacher, and with the Creator.

The vessel that was entirely received from the Creator makes a restriction. This restriction does not apply to our world. From within it, you can use everything. If the corporeal pleasures don’t interfere with rising towards the Creator, don’t distract your opinion of Him, then use them.

Would it be that from sitting down to a meal with friends and crying or eating vegetables, you would turn into a saint? The opposite, enjoy the tasty food, but it should be that all of this will complement the happiness of the meal and will in no way detract. When you feel that there weren’t even anything on the table and you would have stayed with the same uplifted spirit with the friends, then you can add all that.
[127510]
From a lesson in Russian 2/10/14

A Workshop Is The Creation Of A “Spiritual Partzuf”

A workshop is a Partzuf that we build in a connection between us, and, specifically in it, we feel the spiritual world. If we don’t build it then we don’t feel anything. This is our common Partzuf about which the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks: Rosh, Toch, Sof, ten Sefirot, and so on.

When ten people are nullified toward each other and begin to discuss some subject, they create a connection between them. When they insert the problem into this connection, they are lifted above it, and in this form, they find the solution but on a spiritual level. Specifically, the connection and not the attempt to be clever should give the correct decision.

In fact, we haven’t reached this yet because in the groups the communication between people is still not right. I ask some question and you begin to go into it deeply instead of connecting above it. You see the connection is more important than the question itself.

You want to find the answer by way of your intellect. Yet, in fact, it is necessary to find it from the connection. Therefore, don’t pay attention to the question itself. If you connect correctly, you will receive an answer without lengthy searches and philosophy.
[127756]

Grandpa’s Computer

Question: If we are the ones who correct the shortcomings of the wider public, including them in our desires and elevating them, then what is left for the rest of humanity to do?

Answer: Obviously we don’t resolve the work for them.

Question: Is this saying that they will also pass through the same states on the way to connection?

Answer: They must pass through those same states through which we pass, but on the smallest scale.

Suppose that for fifty years I developed and built a computer. Eventually I brought it home and turned it on. But the moment that I turned around, my grandson immediately sat in front of the screen and began to press the keys of the keyboard. I am fundamentally a person who is used to the right approach, carefully learning the instruction manuals, and he throws them up in the air: “Grandpa, everything is very simple here! I will just try a few things and then I will explain everything to you.”

He learns instinctively, interactively, feels within himself, and easily guesses how we get the result. Apparently the computer is built for the way he thinks and not the way I do. For me this computer was produced from suffering and effort and my grandson doesn’t need to make the effort; instead he grasps everything naturally. In other words, I made a great correction so that my grandson would get everything ready-made. And now he can work more efficiently than I can on the device that I built.

Lurking here are two opposites, two levels. We carry out greater and more difficult work, and apparently others only reap the fruit and rise more easily to the level of their generation.

For them everything will be much simpler, natural. We invest years in order to attain some kind of result, in order to find the form of the workshops that will raise new questions, and they will immediately get it and understand that certainly this is what should be done. Following the trouble that we take now, sweating and being in doubt, with them the complete picture will be immediately managed in their heads.

Question: If this is the case, is it necessary for the whole world to participate in at least one workshop and then everything will begin to be arranged by itself, or must we direct people again and again?

Answer: They will get feelings and intelligence “automatically”, regardless of the forms that this process will take.

In general, in the way of spiritual advancement, every level is the opposite of its predecessor; therefore, it is impossible to speculate, to assess a particular state based on another state. In my estimation people feeling that connection in the form of the workshops makes it possible for them to solve all problems in life. And so they will themselves seek and adopt the method through the Internet, television, and so forth without much talk, like children who don’t need instructions to operate a computer. And the current fashion is transient.

Question: So it could be that it is up to us to bring into public awareness an expansion of the information touching upon the new method as quickly as possible?

Answer: No. If we ourselves don’t make more of an effort, other people will also remain “outside of the business.” The grandson is smart because his grandfather and father took the trouble throughout their lives, they “gained” his new mind, new understanding.

It is up to us to make an effort to a particular level and then suddenly there will be a breakthrough, and a buyer will be found for our “merchandise.”
[127772]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam