A Ticket To The World Of Desires

Question: In the book Shamati, in the article “The Most Important Thing is to Want Only to Bestow,” it says: “The force of faith is sufficient for one to work in the form of bestowal.” What is faith?

Answer: We don’t know what faith is. It is a kind of force that doesn’t exist in our world. In our world, in all the natural sciences, in physics, chemistry, biology, and other sciences, we discover the forces of the still, vegetative, and animate nature that operate as forces of attraction and rejection.

In the spiritual world we suddenly discover forces that operate oppositely from these forces. Suppose, there is a natural force of rejection that we see in this world, but in spirituality it is the opposite, the force of mutual attraction is formed between these objects, as it says: “Love shall cover all sins.”

We begin to discover this to a certain extent in quantum physics: If we place elementary particles that are equally charged (electrons for example) in the same place, they will begin to reject one another, not only because they have the same charge, but for quantum reasons as well (the force of anti-symmetry); none of them wants to be where the other is.

So what is the force of bestowal? It is a force that is revealed above our nature in a form that is opposite from it, as it says: “I have seen the opposite world.” We can only say that the spiritual world operates according to intentions and not actions. There are no actions there; only what takes place in the intentions is taken into account, since our bodies don’t exist in the spiritual world, but only the desires and the intentions.

Imagine that your desires operate. What terrible things would happen in the world! In a split of a second the world would cease to exist, people would burn one another.

So in order not to find ourselves in such a world, we are all in an imaginary world in which we can perform physical actions as much as we are allowed to. To the extent that a person can operate his desire for the good of others, he ascends above his body and enters the spiritual domain where he acts according to his desire and his intention.

Otherwise, how could it be possible to bring a person into a reality that is totally under the domination of his desire?! After all, he has no control over his own desire and his intention.

So only to the extent that a person to hold his desires and work correctly with his desire and his intention does he enter the spiritual world, is he allowed to enter. It is called “entering the King’s palace after having climbed the mountain,” and there he begins to correct the world, to the extent that he can control himself.
[92082]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, Shamati #30

A Playing Field

A replica of the last shattered spiritual level is revealed in us as the corporeal world, which we feel with our five senses. At the same time both matter and the senses are imaginary, and they depict spiritual contours, like a picture on a wall. The picture is old, but it isn’t real. Reality is there behind the wall and there is only a projection on the wall.

People watch movies and experience different feelings, is it real or not? These are just reactions and impressions. It is as if we are living in a movie that is being projected to us.

But besides the movie, I don’t see anything and don’t know anything. My whole life takes place in it and goes through it and so all my feelings reflect this movie. My sight, my hearing, my sense of smell, and touch are all reflected in this movie.

Today we are being shown three-dimensional films that present an even greater reality. It is no secret that a person can be placed in a certain sphere and be shown that it is his life; if he gets used to his tiny world, it would be hard to prove to him that there is an external reality, “Here there are human beings, and here is the earth, and here are the stars, everything is in its place. …” He doesn’t leave the limits of this sphere in his senses. For him there is nothing beyond the limits of his current feelings. He doesn’t feel a deficiency for something in some extra sense or that his reality is inferior.

Today, I too, by using my five senses, perceive only what is inside my sphere. Where is the extra sense, a vessel that cannot be filled by anything that is here, no matter how hard you try? The extra deficiency is called a “point in the heart” (•) and it is aimed at what is outside our universe. When a person feels this desire, he doesn’t find his place, he begins to search and eventually he finds us. Our goal is to connect him with the outside world. He needs to break out, outside the “fence” and get rid of it.

The whole point is that our sphere is built as a replica of the upper world, and they are similar. We should only use what is here correctly. I take my spark, the point in the heart, and insert it into the mutual relations with the friends, as if I want to love them. Then I see that I actually don’t want that, but the deficiency has already been created, and the spark already has a direction and I can demand correction.

So the main thing is to insert my spark into the “playing field” and to force myself to play according to the rules. By this game I acquire a real mind and the right deficiency. Thus from a demo model, from a parallel similar form, I can move on to the real world.

This world is merely an imaginary “playing field” and only my spark is real. This tiny “point in the heart” is a Godly part from Above, and if I use it correctly in the game, I succeed and I grow.
[92099]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

When Everything Is Fine

Question: How do we turn the vessels of receiving into vessels of bestowal?

Answer: We create a variety of different forms from metals. We make gears, grilles, bars, etc. We also work with the desire to receive according to the same principle, although it will never bestow itself. In Kabbalistic terms “vessels of bestowal” are vessels of receiving that can bestow when they operate in a special way. In other words, they take on a special form. After all, they cannot do anything but receive.

So receiving is improved to such an extent that it will become like bestowal.

Today, whether I like it or not, my intention remains egoistic. In order to correct it I need a special external force. To do this, we study in order to evoke it.

I cannot change anything by myself, and so I don’t worry about my desires; they will develop according to the plan. I don’t have to worry about whether my vessels are full and if they are what there is in them and how much. Here everything is fine, and I am only concerned about the intention, about aiming my thoughts. I differentiate between the action and the intention and only in my intention am I constantly adhered to the goal. As long as I keep the same focus, no matter what I do—I am corrected and everything is fine with me. This is why it says that a person is where his thoughts are.

100% of an intention to bestow ensures me 100% of correction. It is the intention that counts and not the action. So even if I steal and destroy, I steal and destroy parts of my egoistic desire in order to perform acts of bestowal. A person is not responsible for his actions; it is the intention that determines everything.

The problem is that when we look at one another, we see actions and not intentions. But this problem brings us to correction. I have to rise to the height of mutual connection in order to judge others according to their intentions and not their actions. This obligates us to be Kabbalists. There is no other choice; otherwise we cannot connect correctly. The disasters are increasing, so where is my influence on the upper?

Question: If the intention is the same form that is dressed on the matter of the desire, how do we correct it?

Answer: With the help of the Light that Reforms. We try to act in bestowal, we try to connect and our failures reveal the need for the Light.

After all, there is a part of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) in every person. As a result, some people are drawn to the Light, and this attraction is revealed in them when the question “What is the meaning of life?” arises. They want to know, to discover the secret of life. Such people are especially egoistic. They are very far from being nice and they are even quite disgusting and don’t care about this world at all. They disrespect it and are not satisfied with its “nonsense.” In short, people who are not nice at all reach the wisdom of Kabbalah. After all, a great desire suppresses small desires. Eventually, a person burns because of one thing only; he wants to know why he should go on living.

Other than that he can be worried about high philosophical questions like: “What is the universe? Why does all this exist?” in other words, he feels that it is crowded here and he cannot stand it.

All this is caused by the part of GE that has awakened and is in AHP in the meantime, increasing it and pushing a person to search, forcing him to open himself to everything, trying to “swallow” all of reality, including the Creator.

Then, thanks to his actions in the group and the study, a person begins to appreciate and to sort out all these phenomena correctly and then he comes closer to correction.

In addition, it depends on the root of his soul, on the quality of his GE. Someone may yearn for general, global knowledge according to his Reshimot (informational genes). After all, certain Reshimot were very high once, and fell so deep that they require much work. Such people don’t succeed immediately, but after decades, they ascend accordingly while others don’t.

In any case, “He who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater.” This is what the number of actions of correction he has to perform depends on.

But in any case, parts of GE and AHP are initially in everyone, including the nations of the world. After all, we have all been through the shattering including in ancient Babel. Then too the crisis was revealed as it is today, and as a result, only a small group came out of the crowd—the nation of Israel. Now when all the other “Babylonians” are suffering, having no choice, they will have to correct themselves together with this small group in order to finally leave Babel. Then everyone will be called “Israel,” which means “straight to the Creator” (Yashar—El).

It isn’t about a nation but about resembling the Creator. The difference is the order of things: Someone begins the process and someone continues. Each one does his share, and eventually everyone corrects the shattering of Babel.
[92001]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/02/12, The Zohar

Freedom From All The Conditions Of The Ego

We speak quite a lot about the importance of the goal and the Creator’s greatness without which we cannot work, since we need power. But the question is what do I need the Creator’s greatness for? Is it a condition under which I will agree to bestow, or do I want to attain bestowal and in order to do that I need the Creator’s greatness? This is the whole difference: Am I working within reason and below it, or am I working in faith above reason?

I have a condition that I want to feel the Creator’s greatness since otherwise I won’t be able to work, so it is an action within reason. But if I say that I must reach bestowal since it is the most important thing for me, and I ask for the power that I don’t have at the moment so that it will enable me to bestow, and for me it is just a means, it means that I want this greatness only in order to work in faith above reason.

This is a very subtle difference, which I have to clarify internally. It is impossible to express it in words since they only confuse us.

Rabash says: “So when a person doesn’t feel the Creator’s greatness, the body cannot nullify itself before Him in all of one’s heart and soul.” It is a law: The desire to receive surrenders only before the Creator’s greatness.

“But if a person puts the condition that he agrees to work for the Creator only if he will see the Creator’s importance and greatness, already it appears that he wants to get something from the Creator.” This means that a person wants the burden he will suffer to be light. If you know that a suitcase belongs to an important person, then it isn’t difficult for you to carry it. “Otherwise one doesn’t want to work with all his heart, since a person is limited and is under the domination of the concealment and is not free to say that he doesn’t want anything but only to bestow.”

If a person places the Creator’s greatness as a precondition for his work, then this state cannot be a state of Bina and cannot serve as an “ark” for him in which he can be saved from all the doubts and the problems sent to him by the left line.

So the attribute of Bina is Hafetz Hesed, which doesn’t need to receive anything; therefore, it is free. Only those who need to receive something are limited and subject to the opinions of others. If someone works with his eyes closed and doesn’t need greatness or anything else, it is called freedom.
[92040]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, Writings of Rabash

Self-Correction As A Major Occupation

Due to our internal and external work, we go through very rigorous changes due to internal and external work. And one should not interfere with the other. After all the work, we go outside with the speed with which the world is moving, turning to them with what they are ready to hear. As it is written, “Educate the child according to his own ways,” and this “child” is the whole world, and it requires the same attitude on our behalf.

As to our internal work, we should be oriented toward one goal and stick to very rigid definitions. Even when our perception alters, we still must collect all impressions into one general picture that continually acquires visible contours, thus becoming more and more accurate. We must permanently sharpen our focus and see the goal in front of us more precisely.

It’s impossible to change our “profession” and look for other ways to earn a living. Any changes that happen to us must retain similarity with the model of the group and be based on our unity.

One must be consistent in one’s exertions and activities in order to positively accept various images of the world that constantly fluctuate and be ready to consent to obstacles that perpetually show up in our way. One must understand that all of them are sent from one higher source and that there is nothing at all but this source. The purpose of all difficulties that we go through is to direct us toward the goal.

If we have this kind of attitude to everything around us, then we won’t drown in troubles and problems. We will accept them positively, rise above them, and above the problems, we will connect. By doing so, we can check ourselves constantly.
[91530]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/12, Writings of Rabash

Accumulating The Treasury Of Prayer Penny By Penny

There is nothing more important than prayer, MAN. After all, it sums up all our great efforts in concentrating on the importance of the goal, on the greatness of the Creator, and on the qualities that we strive to obtain in order to overcome and re-shape our ego, the desire to receive.

In order to formulate a prayer, we must work on it. Rabash kept reiterating that it is the kind of exertion where every penny counts and eventually amounts to a large sum. I heard him say this ten to twenty times a day.

It means that, at each given moment in life, a person collects and stores one’s efforts, every moment fine-tuning them to the goal. And that is why we must establish a system of mutual guarantee, a structure of common opinions and sensations that will re-direct us constantly to focusing on the most significant and vital things, instead of concentrating on less important matters.

It should help us come to the conclusion that the most essential thing for us is the greatness of the Creator. And if we consider Him indispensable, He instantaneously gains power over us and perpetually re-shapes our desire to receive, our self-awareness, and attitude.

Now I look at life from this new point of view, and new hindrances emerge in our way, and again I change. This is how we collect pennies. According to Baal HaSulam, in one of his letters (No. 18), “There is no other way to self-correct, except connecting one’s present and future moments in life with His great name.” We should never cease doing it.
[91526]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/12, Writings of Rabash

Tears Won’t Help

Question: Now that there is a storm in America and people are worried, can we convey our message to them through the heart and not through the mind?

Answer: Yes, it turns out that I don’t write romantic novels, and I can’t express feelings as I would like to. I am built differently, I can cry when I see a formula, when I look at its components, like in medicine when a patient who looking at his medical tests sees some catastrophe reflected in them. It may seem that these are just numbers, but they evoke a storm of emotions in him.

It is the same here. We are disrupting the basic law of nature, the law of balance, it’s like bending an iron rod—at a certain point it breaks, but in the meantime it seems that we still have some margin of safety. This is how it always happens: there is a limit as to how far you can go, but you mustn’t cross that limit.

We should explain this to people in different ways. Here is the root of all our troubles. We should tell them the truth: We could cry with you, but it won’t help. Crying is just a folly, and we have to locate the real problem. The real problem is that we are going against the laws of nature. It’s enough to look at the statistics of natural disasters even in the last year. It doesn’t matter that experts don’t always agree as to their anthropogenic character. One way or the other, they stem from the laws of nature, and so we have to aspire for balance.

We could have done it sooner and then there wouldn’t have been an economic crisis, a crisis in the family, in education, etc. But today one general crisis is being revealed in greater intensity in many aspects. Why? It’s because we haven’t corrected the imbalance when the first signs were minor. “Oh well, so what if there are more divorces? So what if the kids are undisciplined? So what if the media is corrupt? So what if we can buy and sell everything?” We don’t pay attention to the growing ego that increasingly distances us from balance, and the outcome of all this will be a total collapse. First it’s revealed in the economy, then in natural disasters, then in global hunger, etc.

So we mustn’t tarry. We have to explain to people scientifically why balance, homeostasis, is essential. There are enough articles about this and solid proof.
[91808]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

Shorten The Path To The Creator

After all the efforts a person makes, being confused, running around and then relaxing, trying to do something in the group or by himself, in the study, in external dissemination, after all these attempts all these efforts concentrate in one point called a request, a prayer, the raising of MAN, a demand. This request, which is an urgent need for help creates the first contact between a person and the Creator, since as a result of all his efforts, both consciously and subconsciously, he summons upon himself the influence of the Light. We do everything because of deficiency, desire, it doesn’t matter what type it is, whether it’s for or against, negative or positive, there is only a desire, a deficiency and from it we act. So every time we discover a new deficiency, a new need for fulfillment, we evoke and summon the Light, since they are inherently connected. So we first evoke the Light, and then it operates.

Thus, by different actions, we just need to shorten the path. What do we mean by “to shorten?” If we operate with the right intention, the changes in us occur much faster and we increase the frequency of our changes. We can’t skip a thousand Reshimot (spiritual informational genes), to miss them, and then to skip several thousands again, and thus leap along the time axis. We can only “scan” all the Reshimot by processing each of them, but if I operate purposefully together with the environment that supports me, organizes, and pressures me, I process the Reshimot quickly.

Eventually, we reach the right deficiency, which according to its intensity and character are “Reshimot of dressing” and “Reshimot of thickness.” “Reshimot of dressing” is not inside, since it’s always on a higher level, but I understand it more or less, I imagine the state that I want to reach with the sufficient thickness. If this Reshimot is more or less adapted to the state of connection, to the contact with the Creator, then it happens.

Fulfilling the Reshimot most quickly occurs during the study of the sources, as it says in many articles that it’s desired to turn the study into a prayer. Usually all the efforts are revealed in a person during the study and the most efficient conditions are while readingThe Book of Zohar.

If a person thinks about his correction in the connection with the group, in order to incorporate in it, to lose himself, to turn it to a general desire to reveal the Creator and by that to bring Him contentment, The Zohar is very helpful in fulfilling the Reshimot in this direction in the quickest way.
[91799]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, The Zohar