The Glass Doesn’t Wait For The Bullet

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 33: And you must know that any contentment of our Maker from bestowing upon His creatures depends on the extent that the creatures feel Him – that He is the giver, and that He is the one who delights them. For then He takes great pleasure in them, as a father playing with his beloved son, to the degree that the son feels and recognizes the greatness and exaltedness of his father and his father shows him all the treasures he had prepared for him….

Question: How does this “playing” combine with the suffering on the way?

Answer: When a person begins to work with spirituality, he divides himself into two parts. On the one hand, he wants to acquire the desire to bestow and on the other hand, he wants to correct his desire to receive upon which he builds bestowal. Therefore he suffers within the desire to receive and has pleasure within the desire to bestow.

Question: Is it possible to feel the playing before crossing the “Machsom”?

Answer: No. For the playing is a relationship with the Creator where I am connected with Him, where we are together in an embrace, in love, where He fulfills me. How is it possible to feel this within the damaged vessels? If the Creator were to be revealed before the Machsom, I would remain forever within the vessels for the sake of reception and would no longer succeed in escaping from the Klipa. Even at the time of the Shevirat ha Kelim (shattering of the vessel), the pleasure doesn’t enter into the desire to receive for the purpose of reception, for its Masach was shattered previously. So the glass starts to shatter before the bullet strikes it.

The spiritual pleasure that is received for the sake of reception would suck me in forever. Drugs and other addictions in our world are only a small taste of it. After the restriction(Tzimtzum), the Light can no longer enter into the vessel without a Masach (screen). The moment that it approaches, even before its entry, the vessels is immediately shattered, for it’s not ready to receive, to feel it. And so it remains only a Ner Dakik (thin candle) whose goal is to correct the shattering.

The Light never enters the desire to receive. This is because the law of equivalence of form that preceded creation is latent in the thought of creation, and it is the desire of the Creator that the creature will be like Him, which is to say, perfect.

Precisely from the shattering, from the distance, we reach the “playing.” The way begins from great yearning, from thirst. For the playing is not merely pleasure. That is, I am constantly in contact with Him, I “taste” Him, experience a wide variety of feelings on all sides and in all manners. The playing is not “easy and cheap” pleasure, rather it’s something that we never cease to enjoy, we discover more and more new possibilities. But in the meantime we don’t know what the true pleasure from bestowal is.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A Temple That Is Built In The Heart

Question: Are the objects and the buildings mentioned in the Torahrelated to spiritual forces in any way?

Answer: Of course. But a person who does not understand and who isn’t in the spiritual world cannot physically play with them. He will not know how!

So only the wise, which means those who are on a spiritual level, can draw all this from their spiritual level, knowing every movement they make: how to process things and how to do them. But if they are not on a spiritual level they cannot even depict all this on paper.

Some call it building the third Temple, but how should they build it, what should they build? You don’t even know how to start. It has to live in you. You should understand exactly how it should be done, without drawings!

Like Ramchal, the drawings should be inside you, including all the details: the stones, the wood, etc. You cannot instruct anyone since everyone should understand you internally. There has to be a team in which there is the Temple that simply embodies its external form, its imprint.

On the whole there is no need for an external display if we come to the general end of correction so that everything will live in us and ascend from the worlds of BYA to the world of Atzilut then there is no need to embody anything in stone. The third Temple is the spiritual end of correction that requires an embodiment in the heart and not in stone.
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From Kab TV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/19/13

Don’t Devote Any More To This World Than It Deserves

Question: I noticed that  over time, I gradually become less sensitive by the standards of this world.

Answer: You become less sensitive to some things and more sensitive to others. The main thing is to be sensitive to the connection with the friends, the group, and to be generally sensitive to being incorporated. This is what should impress you and cause an inner shivering, that should pressure you and excite you and cause you pain and joy.

You should look at all the corporeal aspects of life like food, sex, family, money, respect, and knowledge as useful and essential aspects only. I need all this in order to advance normally, on a level that “is not condemned and is not praised.” Make sure you have all the basic necessities and use this world according to your needs, but be above it in your thoughts and your intentions. Don’t be overenthusiastic or ascetic. Don’t regret what happens to you in this world. Don’t devote to this world any more than it deserves. On the corporeal level, you should use it rationally, and in sensation, you yearn for connection with the Creator through the group.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A Prayer By The Central Pillar

“Introduction toThe Book of Zohar,” “The Torah and a Prayer,” Item 184: And only after he is included in all three corrections of our holy fathers will he begin to correct Divinity, from the place Jacob the patriarch had left for us: to elevate fear to the quality of exaltedness because He is great and rules over everything. Afterwards, he will enter the house of assembly and will pray his prayer. That is, he should pray and extend the upper lights in her, with the fear of exaltedness, to bring her into the end of correction. Then it is written, “And He said to Me, ‘You are My Servant, Israel, in Whom I will show My glory.’”

We begin our corrections from Abraham, from the property of Hesed, Isaac, the property of Gevura, and Jacob, the property of Tifferet. These stages are called the forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then we reach the level of the sons: Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. It’s impossible to reach the corrections of the sons without correcting the levels of the forefathers first, from which we reach a prayer that fills us with the powers to take care of the sons. Thus we convey all the attributes of bestowal from HGT to NHY.

This is the work on our connection. Therefore, it is said that a person reaches a place called the house of assembly (synagogue), where he tries to be incorporated in everyone’s desires and sees to what extent he cannot do it. Then he raises a prayer.

A prayer is correct if it comes from the desire to connect. All our desires, our deficiencies, and our requests for connection come together and demand connection. This is called a prayer of many, in reply to which comes the Light that Reforms from Above and connects us. Such a connection among everyone becomes a vessel that is called a house of assembly and from it we receive a response to our prayer.

A house of assembly (congress) is not a corporeal building or a place but rather the groupin which our connection and unity is fulfilled. Jacob is the middle line, the central pillar. If we reach the middle line, it means that we pray in front of the pillar, which means that we ask for the correction from our connection. This is called being a prayer leader (the phase of Jacob) that is incorporated in everyone and prays that our connection be fulfilled and that we will be incorporated in one another, dissolve into one another and be as one.

Then this place becomes a house of assembly. The connection between us is calledShechina, and we are filled by the corrections of the Light that Reforms, and the Creatoris revealed in our corrected desires. We shouldn’t try to escape anywhere, instead we only should clarify this state and fulfill it more and more.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

The Rhythm Of Spiritual Development

In order to give new examples in my lectures, I constantly process texts from the primary sources and follow the news, documentaries, and anything that can help me find relevant associations.

Even if I don’t share all the information that I accumulate during the lessons, it still exists in the overall system since I am connected to everyone. So I don’t consider it my personal intellectual acquisitions because it already exists in relation to others even if I don’t express it verbally.

Question: So you never have the feeling of losing time?

Answer: This also happens sometimes. I used to see this when I was with Rabash and I didn’t understand how a person under the upper influence could be so detached from spirituality until he becomes nothing more than an ordinary protein body. Such states when you have no desire to read or to listen to anything are very rare, but from time to time they must occur, as if completing a certain rhythm in the spiritual development.

These states are very short, although they may sometimes take several hours, and when they are over, a person suddenly discovers a new stage and keeps on advancing. The best thing is if he manages to fall asleep when he is cut off, then it doesn’t pass in vain.

On the whole we deal with the desire and not with the body or with a person; the desire has to process itself to its full depth and its full height. It has to be incorporated, absorbed, and connected with all the other attributes, to develop itself, to respond, etc. Interestingly, when you are on the inanimate material level you feel it. But it is all a natural process.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/19/13

Living In Denial

Question: When does a person get to see that everything that happens in his life comes only from the Creator?

Answer: A person gets to see, as it is written, “There is none else besides Him” when he rises to complete faith and is ready to work without any response or reaction from the Creator, from the only power. He stops hoping to receive some kind of answer within his receptive Kli to see the Creator and to be convinced that this comes from Him. Only then will he merit feeling the only higher guidance, for otherwise everything goes into his egoistic, receptive Kli.

You are waiting for when you will actually see that the Creator is doing everything and you can prove that everything is right and you are ultimately be released from all doubts. However, this gain would be felt within your ego, so you will never get it. You simply don’t understand what the path is. You must discover more each time that it is impossible to advance on this path through your corporeal senses and intellect but only through the force of bestowal and the total nullification of the self.

If you let go of everything that you have now, then you will reach a level of spirituality that becomes a nullification of this life. Besides the necessities for the beastly body, all the rest of life goes on in full self-nullification.

You discover that “There is none else besides Him” after you construct this single Creator within yourself.

Nullification is realized within a group. I throw myself into the hands of the friends, but this is so they will take care of me. I hand myself over, and at that moment, I feel that there is a system here like called a “group” and it is concerned about me.

Question: However, what if I give myself over to the friends and I suffer?

Answer: If you suffer, this is a sign that you have not given yourself over. I give myself over happily! I am happy that I don’t use my feelings or my intellect for I have friends, a teacher, the Creator! I don’t exist by myself. I only adhere myself to them and this is all. They are my head and I am only the operator, their body. Whatever they desire, I carry out.

This is what is called adhesion. I want to exist like this. And as much as all kinds of problems, egoism, and heaviness of heart are added to me, I aspire to adhere to them even more. I want them to decide for me. This is not saying that I release myself from any responsibility to make life easier for myself. I do this because I want to adhere to what is higher—and for the upper to be my head and I will be the body. I will receive all orders, all instructions, from it.

I don’t ask the Creator when He will be revealed. I don’t need to discover Him. I want to nullify myself and not discover Him.
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From a Talk during the Meal 1/17/14

You Decide

Question: If a person is used to seeing us only on television or a computer screen, what would make him switch to an active phase and make him come to the February congress? After all, he feels good being at home, even if he agrees with what he is hearing.

Answer: Undoubtedly, it is more comfortable being at home.

In this case, everything depends on your free choice. First, do you have an opportunity to come to the congress? If everything was arranged from Above so that the answer is yes—if money, time, health, and other conditions that do not depend on you are granting you this possibility—then you are obliged to come.

It is a different matter if you were denied the ability to, let’s say, buy a ticket. Our friends are gathering from all over the world, including the most remote corners. For example, traveling from South America or Australia is very expensive. For some it is almost a prohibitive amount, yet they are coming.

This is where the freedom of choice comes in: If you were given an opportunity and you did not come, then you are simply rejecting the chance given to you by the Creator to come closer to Him, to arrive at a meeting with Him. After all, as it is written, “I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”

If you are not granted this possibility, if insurmountable obstacles, which truly do not depend on you, are placed in front of you, then you will be given the same direct connection while being on the other side of the screen, but only on the condition that, for given reasons, it must be exactly this way.

One way or another, the analysis is entrusted to you. I already have received dozens of letters with similar questions and I almost never answer because this is a person’s free choice. He or she needs to make this decision on their own. Sometimes, there are unsolvable problems usually related to health. In that case, I take the responsibility upon myself and send a reply.

Essentially, we need to understand that this is where freedom of will lies. If you can come, then you must, and, if you are not able to—well, the Creator has arranged it this way so that, by staying at home, you will receive even more than from physical participation. Perhaps the external impression from what you would have seen in person would have been so negative that it would have flung you to the side. Perhaps it would have entered into an irreconcilable contradiction with your tastes, habits, and so on.

In any case, however, a person needs to make this decision on his own. He only needs to seize this opportunity because it is now that he can make a true breakthrough on the path.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A Person’s Clothes Are His Inner Expression

The Torah, “Exodus,” 28:2: You shall make holy garments for your brother Aaron, for honor and glory.

Clothing (Levush) symbolizes the correction that has to be made on a person’s desires. If I have egoistic desires, distinct desires that are strong or even the weakest desires, we have to clothe them all, which means to clothe them with the intention for the sake of others, for the Creator.

The clearer, more aggressive, and more serious a desire is, the greater corrections it should undergo, which means “garments of splendor.” Thus the uncorrected correction, Aaron, is the worst.

It says: “When Israel falls, it falls lower than any nation in the world, and when they ascend, they ascend all the way to Heaven.” The reason is that it is possible with a giant egoistic desire in its revised form to do anything all the way to the Creator’s level. Then everyone will be impressed by their splendor because it’s impossible to compare the correction any ordinary nation has to make, with the ordinary desires people have.

Thus Moses and then the sons of Aaron and then the other priests are the clearest, most disgusting egoistic desires there may be if they are not corrected. So we see humanity’s attitude towards the Jews, and in the corrected states it will be the opposite. So the nations of the world are waiting for the Jews to acquire clothing, to ascend and to start working in order to bestow with all our special attributes.

Thus the “clothing of Aaron” is no simple concept. What actually distinguishes people in our world? It’s their clothes. It can be clothes, a house, whatever surrounds a person, whatever indicates his level, his state, has ascent above others, or his descent. This means that it’s an expression of status, of a person’s state.

Question: It appears that modern fashion has very powerful roots?

Answer: Of course, it stems from the same nature. The ego uses this means for its ascent.

In the spiritual world, clothes emphasize a person’s inner ascent above the world; the level of one’s bestowal, love and self annulment. To the extent that you annul yourself, you also ascend. In our world however it’s the opposite, it’s to the extent that you decorate yourself in front of the mirror like a monkey.

This will continue until we understand that clothes are a person’s inner expression. The fact that we wear fashionable clothes is not a correction but the opposite, a distortion.

After the sin of the tree of knowledge, the Creator told Adam that he needs to put on clothes, which means that he has to correct his ego so that it will help him overcome himself and reach love and bestowal. The Torah says that the Creator sewed these clothes for them, which means that he gave them the Upper Light by which the Returning Light, which means the intention of in order to bestow, was dressed in the ego.
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From Kab TV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/19/13