He Is Everywhere. So Where Am I?

Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”: Thus, we are at the hands of these four factors, as clay in the hands of a potter.

We are surrounded by the influence from Above from all sides. The Creator rules over us in a very harsh and absolute manner as He controls all the channels, both internal and external, in our desires, thoughts, habits, and nature. We have nothing that is ours, and even the words I am saying now are arranged by Him.

So what is our free will? After all, we cannot attribute freedom to any object, action, thought, or the smallest particle of the desire to receive. The Creator created it, He influences it absolutely, so what can be free in it?

People have come up with theories about two authorities and polytheism, about which Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Peace.” It is hard to agree that there is only one authority that “covers” everything. If the Creator is unified, if there is none else besides Him, if everything depends on Him, then I am under His absolute control, and it is as if I don’t exist, but rather dissolve in Him. So it is preferable to have two authorities: a good one and a bad one. This is understandable; in between them there is room for me, and I can affect things.

Still, at some point I realize that behind everything that affects me there is one Source. It isn’t an image that we can picture, but a mind, a feeling, something unified. I only have to discover the reason why it affects me, what it wants from me? What I should become according to its influence?

By knowing what He wants from me, I will know Him. What for? Is it just to make an acquaintance or in order to fulfill His desire?

What was His intent in creating me? What does He want by managing me this way? If He only wants me to obey Him, then it’s better not to know anything, but to simply act according to the instructions I have received. But if He really wants me to attain, to reveal Him, then I have to do everything to attain this goal and not to act automatically.

So there is a lot of work a person has to do regarding the initial cause of everything. This is our only work: to constantly sharpen and “polish” our attitude to Him. Who is He? What does He want from me? Why did He make me react this way? I constantly climb the levels of my attitude and clarify what He wants to give me by putting demands to me. What He wants is that thanks to bestowal upon Him, I will understand Him.

I continue this chain and constantly raise the level of His demands to me. Thus I have to justify the evil just like the good since they both come from one source. I have to understand why He splits His bestowal into two—thanks to this I will be able to check myself, to adjust my course. For Him this duality doesn’t exist, but my reality is divided into bestowal and reception.

Eventually, we must constantly reveal the concept of Unified, and not more than that. If I paid attention to that, I would see that there is nothing else in my life. Even in the corporeal world everything comes down to this clarification that discovers unity and reveals the Creator.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/2011, “The Freedom”

The Real Work

Question: Why is the network of our broken relationships not revealed to us? Why are we not shown the cause of all evil so that we know where to put efforts?

Answer: It’s because then we would correct ourselves out of hopelessness. Our efforts would be regular egoistic work. It would be like earning money for food. In spirituality, it is not considered work if I am pushed by the simple threat of hunger.

In reality, without any need, I have to want to strive for the goal for which I feel no need. My nature does not oblige me, and I develop a completely free desire, independent from anything. Bestowal is not conditional for me; I do not need it; I do not depend on anybody or anything. Like the Creator, I am above everything.

And then, I discover my dependence on others; I want to bestow, to serve them, and to be the last, the lowest of all. Otherwise, the work is done not by me but by the Creator.

In my spiritual work, there is a point that I need to grow constantly: the point of freedom that is totally unknown to us in our world. At this point, I depend on no one and can do nothing. The whole world is at my feet with no effort on my part. This is where there is the opportunity for real work.

To bring me to this point, I am sent troubles and problems, thanks to which I learn. But then, when I actually get acquainted with the spiritual world, my work will turn into its opposite, as if switched to reverse. I will be told: ”Take everything!” And I will refuse this gift.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/2011, “The Nation”

The Condition Of Absolute Freedom

The Creator created everything to give pleasure to man. But we need a vessel, desire, to receive the good that He wants to give. He wanted to give the pleasure that He enjoys Himself: bestowal. There is no other pleasure in the world!

However, to feel this pleasure, we need to have the opposite quality, the lack of fulfillment, because the opposite of the desire to bestow is the desire to receive pleasure. That is why the Creator creates the desire to enjoy, an artificial creature that did not exist before, as a reverse imprint of Himself.

And now, the creature feels these opposites in itself. On one hand, it feels that it is possible to enjoy the fulfillment of its desire. But then, it makes a calculation and begins to desire bestowal. That is, it no longer seeks fulfillment.

Bestowal is not fulfillment, but a property, a desire to give. In bestowal, a person does not get pleased by what he receives in return, but the very action of bestowal becomes fulfillment for him. Whereas in reception, an action is separate from fulfillment. And when fulfillment enters me, I feel pleased. That is, my desire and fulfillment are two opposite things, and I need to toil hard to receive fulfillment since it is opposite to me.

However, in bestowal, I need only to feel somebody else’s desire and satisfy it. And this very action, relative to the other person whom I satisfy, becomes my fulfillment. I do not expect to receive any reward in return. My pleasure is in the action of giving.

Due to this difference, a person working with reception always has to check and evaluate: How much I have given, and how much they will pay me? It’s because the payment depends not on me, but on the other, on how much he would like to pay me. But if I work in bestowal and want only it, I do not depend on anyone and can decide myself where my boundary is!

Therefore, the one who walks the path of bestowal establishes himself to what extent he wants to be in it. And the Creator agrees with him! There is only one general law of bestowal and love, which envelopes and fills the entire creation. There was no restriction or ban on bestowal! That is why each creature can decide for himself at what level he wants to be in relation to this quality, thought, the intention to bestow.

Here can be no calculation of how much I have done and how much I will be paid. There is no need to fear that if I did less, I would receive less. I am in this general law of mutual bestowal, enveloping the whole universe and filling it, as “there is none else besides Him.” I myself establish at what degree I want to be. According to this degree, I experience the revelation or concealment of my ability to bestow, and to that extent I enjoy.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/2011, Shamati #61

Think With Our Heart

We are at a beautiful moment on this planet where a new world is being birthed based on integrity, dignity, harmony, peace and love. The most obvious sign that this is well underway is that everything is changing and nothing seems to make sense. In fact, in many ways it appears to be the total opposite of an emerging new world. We are witnessing lies, deceit, greed, extreme wealth and poverty, ... sickness, destruction, disease, dis-honor, addictions, abuse, and environmental chaos, along with countless other named and unnamed calamities and certainly little evidence of peace or love. Yet appearances can be deceiving in themselves and what we see and perceive is only a tiny fragment of the bigger picture.

What I have noticed lately is that so many people I speak with are hopeful of a better world and at the same time they are troubled by the one they appear to be presently experiencing. They know in their hearts that life is not meant to be a struggle filled with much fear and doubt, yet they find it difficult at times to reconcile the seeming chaos and atrocities that are bombarding them from every seeming angle internally and externally.

What is we stepped back and set aside our endless judgement for a moment and looked at the bigger picture?

What if we stepped into the realm of our heart and began to listen to it's wisdom?

When we stop and truly and genuinely look around what do we see and what are we really experiencing?

What is our mental and emotional filter of life and how is it effecting our current perspective? Do we perceive our reality as an observer or are we still allowing ourselves to be caught up in the drama like a character actor in a play?

If it is the latter, do we know how to shift our perspective to see a larger view and a greater whole? Is there a way that we can realize the real peace and love that already exists within? Is unconditional love a key that unlocks this potential?

Our mind has been our thinker for too long and now it is time to move our energy into the heart and begin to thing from this vantage point. By expressing from the heart, we can do something different in our own lives to shift our experience and in turn, the reality around us. Coming from unconditional love, we move directly out of duality and polarity of right and wrong, good and bad, ... and begin to share that which we already are... powerful, wise, loving and lovable beings of immense talent, creativity, compassion and strength. Not to mention, individuals filled with integrity, dignity, harmony, peace and love.

Shifting from one reality to another always includes a phase where old gives way to the new and this often takes on the momentary appearance of chaos, strife, the need to let go of the known and a courageous willingness to allow the new to manifest. Underlying this or any transition is the loving intelligence that guides us between worlds and emanates from out own heart.

No matter what the appearance, the heart knows the bigger picture and from this grander perspective we can make a profound difference.

Make a choice today to suspend judgment and relax into what simply is.

Let go of what you mentally think is going on and center your awareness in the heart. Be present in the now and experience only the moment that is real and tangible. BREATHE. ALLOW. Be at peace and you will know peace.

Share your unconditional love and the world will know love.

You are the one birthing this new world and I am honored to be in your presence.

Spiritual Geometry: From A Pyramid To A Point

Posted on September 26th, 2010

I join the group and with its help I start forming the image of the Creator in my mind. Meanwhile, I don’t wish to unite with the group, to listen to the friends, or to accept their opinion above my own mind. Yet, gradually I develop a clearer, more detailed understanding of the notion of “group,” where I must keep annulling myself. As a result of this opposition, I gradually discern the place of my free choice.
Baal HaSulam explains that free will implies choosing the group. At the current stage, the general understanding of this is: Join the group, realize yourself inside the unity, and everything will be fine. But in truth, all the worlds or all the 125 steps of spiritual ascension to the goal are located exactly between me and the group. When I adhere to the group inseparably and irreversibly, I will reach the full correction, the World of Infinity, where we are united together in one point.
All of the worlds are laid out along this path and they are all yours. Our entire work lies in unifying with each other. In our times all of mankind is standing at the threshold, as it were, in the form of a pyramid. We, the souls who are a little closer to starting this work, are the upper part of the pyramid. The remainder of the pyramid below is the rest of the world. The difference is that we at least are trying to unite, while the rest of the world isn’t even thinking about it. Yet, the world is experiencing extreme pressure through suffering and the global crisis.
Why is it global? It’s because mankind is being shown that it must come together, that this is imperative in our era, and that our aim is unity. Granted, this is a long and difficult process, but nonetheless, it has been set in motion. This point is being rubbed into every person’s face.