Why Is Lesson Preparation Needed?

When a person comes to studying the wisdom of Kabbalah he does not understand where he has come. He thinks that the main thing is knowledge and study.

He is curious to know how many angels are in heaven, what their names are, what the upper world is, what our lives are, who controls us, and how we can control our own destiny. However, he does not have and cannot have the right attitude to spirituality.

This is like a three-year-old child who does not understand how the world is organized,  how everything works, and what the true reasons is for everything that is happening. He lives by being close to the adults who arrange his world. And he perceives this world to the extent of his abilities.

So also a person who comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah at first hopes to learn something interesting, to gain some kind of power. However, over time, he understands what “faith above reason” means, which allows him to see with his inner vision the real world, the world of truth.

Then he begins to prepare himself for the transition from the perception of the world in corporeal sensory organs to perception in the vessels of bestowal in order to see the world as the Creator sees it. He wants to become like the Creator, to adhere to Him, to be together with Him, and to feel like He does; therefore, he always checks himself regarding his attitude to the Creator.

When he falls from this perception and begins to feel only this world, he returns to his demand to feel the Creator and all of reality as the Creator feels it, in the qualities of bestowal.

In this way, he constantly moves from the qualities of reception to the qualities of bestowal, from the left line to the right one, and begins to climb the degrees of the spiritual ladder, as though with two legs. He does not try to hop from step to step on one leg because this is impossible; rather, he first steps with his left leg, rising in the left line one degree higher, and then lifts his right leg there. And then again: the left line a degree higher and the right line that joins it. A person rises and each time changes his perception and measure of adhesion with the Creator. This is how his advancement takes place.

Therefore, the preparation for the lesson is aimed at increasing our sensitivity. It depends on what part of the world a person is in and what time of day they come to class. For many, it is early morning. They wake up from sleep and need to awaken their dulled feelings.

If a person lives in America, he comes to class after work, with the burden of the day’s worries. Therefore, we need preparation before the lesson, which should inspire the person, let him know where he is going and with whom he is dealing.

If he just woke up, he is completely detached from reality. And if he just came from work, he is immersed in his material problems and should shake them off. Therefore, we need to set ourselves up for the correct sensory perception of the study.
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