Dual Control Of A Single Power

As a result of our work in a group, in studying and in dissemination, we need to reach such a state in which we feel that we are under the control of two authorities, two forces. One control is the control of our ego, the evil inclination, the king of Egypt Pharaoh who holds us in slavery.

But sometimes, more or less, depending upon the advancement of the person, another control is also discovered: the good inclination, the power to bestow, the yearning to go outside of oneself towards the other, towards the friends, towards unity, connection, and so forth.

A person is in the midst of such dual power, under the control of two angels: the good inclination and the evil inclination, which hold him by the hands on both sides and guide him forward towards the goal of creation. Certainly the evil inclination also acts according to the program of the Creator and helps a person to advance independently, exercising his freedom of choice.

If he didn’t have free choice, he would be like a beast and not an Adam (man). Through clarifying for himself how to use the evil inclination and the good inclination, the power of reception and the power of bestowal, and choosing how to advance with the right mixture between them, he builds himself as an Adam in the likeness of the Creator.

The connection between the evil inclination and the good inclination begins from the first approach to Pharaoh together with the Creator. The person begins to establish these two forces one against the other. The two forces are under his authority. He decides himself according to his inner state, which of them manages him now and can even pass from one control to another control in that he chooses who has control over him and why, if he is able to do it or if he requires the help of the higher force.

Pharaoh wants to control, and if the person agrees to the evil inclination separating him from the Creator, then he truly is in the Egyptian exile. That is, he attributes some kind of independent control to his evil inclination and says that he is not ready to resist it and is in complete servitude to it.

Of course, if a person thinks this way, it is a sign that he is a slave. But everything depends upon the person himself. He decides and determines in which form Pharaoh will use him or if he will use Pharaoh.

And all of this work was to reveal that there is no other force involved, as it is written “I, myself, and not a messenger.” A person clarifies that the Creator is above the two forces, beyond both the good inclination and the evil inclination. These two forces come from Above. Through the two forces, the good inclination and the evil inclination, that are revealed to him alternately, a person reaches the final conclusion and decision that there is a force beyond them that plays with him through these two angels: the good inclination and the evil inclination.

Sometimes one of them comes to a person and sometimes the other one, which is why one feels he is thrown from one extreme to the other, in two directions. But thus it forms a relationship both with this force and that force, and ultimately with the one higher power, the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/02/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A Vague Revelation Of The Creator

The Torah, “Exodus” (Pekudei), 40:33: He setup the courtyard all around the Mishkan and the altar, and he put up the screen at the entrance to the courtyard, and Moses completed the work.

The building of the general vessel in which the Creator can be revealed has ended. A person’s preparation for the attainment of the Creator has ended.

Now, we are required to perform special, inner work for the creation of such conditions in which the upper force will be revealed in a person’s seemingly corporeal attributes.

The Torah, “Exodus” (Pekudei), 40:34-40:38: And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan. When the cloud rose up over the Mishkan, the children of Israel went out in all their journeys. But if the cloud did not rise up, they did not set out until the day that it rose. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the Mishkan by day, and there was fire within it at night, before the eyes of the entire house of Israel in all their journeys.

If we examine what the Torah says through images in our world, we can cross the Sinai desert in two weeks. However, the Israeli nation wandered in the desert and actually camped there for 40 years. So, this is how the preparation of the place for the revelation of the Creator is described allegorically. If we have a desire to reveal the Creator, He is revealed but not in a clear, external manner.

The point is that there are different levels and grades on the part of our desires, of coming closer to the state of love and bestowal in the connection between us. Although some of our desires have attained the level of Moses, the other desires do not adhere to this state. Therefore, the revelation of the Creator is vague at the moment.

The cloud and the smoke are signs of the right and the left lines. Fire is revelation and a cloud is concealment.

This refers to the initial states of our spiritual development, leading to a complete connection. There is already a vessel (a corrected desire) formed in a person, and he knows that when he continues to work, he will discover the upper force in this vessel. It is a very serious stage in our spiritual formation.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/16/13

A Real Picture Of The World

The Torah, “Exodus” (Pekudei), 38:22: Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, had made all that the LORD commanded Moses.

Bezalel means “in the shadow of the Creator” which means theMasach (screen) that the ego builds in resembling the Light according to the materials in us. They are all upgraded according to the level of Aviut (thickness).

The Torah, “Exodus” (Pekudei), 38:24: All the gold that had been used for the work in all the work of the Holy the gold of the weaving was twenty nine talents, seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the holy shekel.

Shekels are not coins but a measurement of gold since everything was measured by its weight in ancient times.

Here we have a full account of the gold and silver and other materials that were used in the holy work.

There are materials that belong to the level of the still, like clay, gravel, etc.; materials from the vegetative world, as wool and different plants, and materials from the animal world like hides and cotton used to make cloths etc. They all symbolize desires from the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature.

In spiritual work we raise these desires to the uppermost level called Adam (a human being) and create the Tabernacle, the vessel for the revelation of the Creator.

All the desires are inside a person, and the person is the vessel for the whole world. It is because the world is inside me and not on the outside, although I feel that it is corporeal, material, real, and that it exists outside of me.

When I feel these dualities I can calibrate myself to return as often as possible to the right picture of the world. This helps me re-examine my attitude to those around me, to the ecological environment and to all of humanity.

All the wars in the world are actually inside me. They occur before my eyes since I am like a projector that projects before me everything that happens inside me: battles, problems, explosions, space, etc.

This feeling is gradually revealed inside me under the influence of the Light, and I begin to feel that all the troubles and the problems in the world are a projection of my uncorrected attributes. First I have to correct myself, and by that I correct the whole world. This is the correct perception of reality.

Unfortunately, we want the opposite: to correct everything around us so that we will feel good internally. But this happens according to the thought of creation in order to focus on the right attitude, the correct perception of the world.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/16/13

On The Way To Ideal Relationships

Question: In the wisdom of connection there is an exercise called “the ideal husband.” Is it worthwhile to change this into a game where each of the members of the family describes the others to himself as ideal?

Answer: Certainly; this is very interesting. But at the same time, we must always leave some kind of delta (incremental change) that in the meantime we are far from being the ideal; rather, we only agree about an ideal relationship between us; we want to reach it, so we are drawn towards it somewhat.

This standard is, in fact, unattainable because all of us are human and everyone has his own ego. But we need to yearn to rise above ourselves as much as possible, to connect together, to value this state and consider it as the ideal.

Such a state must become a shared general familial standard. If we play with this correctly with the children, they will be much happier than us because we come to this in the second half of our lives.

Question: There is another similar game called, the “Joy of Concession.” Indeed it is difficult for us to concede something to each other, but this is easy in the form of a game. Suppose a daughter says, “I’ll be back from the party at 11 o’clock.”  The father says, “At 10.” Well Dad, “Let’s play ‘Joy of Concession.’ Lost! At 11.” And he concedes. Is the game useful like this?

Answer: Only if this is mutual and to a certain degree of reasonableness. First of all, the child doesn’t need to manipulate with this. Second, he must understand that with this he is entering into the trust of others, inviting them to trust him, he must take all of this into account.

In other words, the parents give him their trust, but together with this, he should accordingly carry out what they require of him. Suppose that they let their daughter come home at eleven o’clock at night, but this is on condition that someone will accompany her or meet her. They must demand that she be responsible for what she does.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 12/11/13

Redemption Is Life, and Slavery Is Death

Exile differs from redemption since it lacks the letter “Aleph,” which means that the Creator is revealed in the time of redemption. Thus, we prepare our deficiency for Him.

I must picture my connection with the Creator even when I am in exile. It is like a void, a place of deficiency, that later is filled by something. However, this deficiency already has the form of the future redemption. It begins to take on the right formation. According to it, I begin to understand what the exile should be and what I expect of it.

It isn’t redemption from the pots of beef, onions, and garlic. So, what is the redemption exactly? Perhaps, I suffer and feel the exile on the animal level or the level of a plant, but not on a level of a human being, Adam, who resembles (Domeh) the Creator.

The entire difference between exile and redemption is the presence of the Creator. At the end of the exile, I must picture what it is like when this is the only thing missing. It turns out that I already have an impression, that I know what must be revealed.

I must be ready for it, to expect it, as if I already can taste what the redemption should bring me, what liberation, and what freedom from the angel of death. What symbolizes life and death for me? Life is redemption and slavery is death.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/14, Shamati #190

To Give My Ego To Slavery

Question: There are types of dissemination that require all of us to be out in front of the public. But what should be done if not everyone has the ability and talent required for that?

Answer: I only know one thing. If I want to execute an action correctly, I need to put myself into the hands of the group so that it will decide and determine what I should do. It could be that they will say, “Sit and don’t do anything since you will spoil it all.” And so that will be my participation in the dissemination.

I can be a driver, an usher, a lecturer. It doesn’t matter what I do. But it is preferred that the group decide that for me and that I don’t decide anything for myself. That means being a slave. I am in spiritual work.

And then I am released from all the doubts: I was told and I do it in the best and most completely naïve way, without entering my mind into it. My mind is only for understanding what they want me to do and to carrying it out in the best way without going into my “I,” into my initiative.

Thus, there needs to be the leadership that includes experts in dissemination who decide and determine what to do, who themselves participate in all these activities in order to be an example to everyone. And everyone needs to follow them. And those who don’t want are drilling a hole in the general boat, and we don’t need him at all in the group.

A person needs to understand that he needs to purify himself from all these forms of the ego, from the worry of it not being pleasant, from the doubts about doing this or that. If you simply cannot carry out what the group decides, then leave the group. After all, you must rise above your beast.

The group is stronger than you, and if you receive its protection, then execute and be happy that you now have the opportunity to do it. And if not, then you will stay with your ego and have no chance to advance. In this case, no need to bother the others. Go rest, we will meet in the next incarnation.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Apparently I Am A Slave Of Pharaoh

Question: What does it mean to ask to be above Pharaoh?

Answer: To be the slave of Pharaoh means to clarify with certainty, with mind and heart, that I am not ready to do anything except what the ego, the desire for pleasure, dictates to me now. That is how I discover Pharaoh,  the power that controls me now.

However, how can I know that this is Pharaoh? It is on condition that the Creator invites me to go with Him, when He says: “Come to Pharaoh.”

This means that the second power is revealed, the Creator,  the power of bestowal in contrast to the power of reception. And then I can clarify relative to every one of the forces and decide when I am under the control of the Creator and when under the control of Pharaoh. Ultimately, “the children of Israel sighed from the labor”, we are not prepared to remain in slavery to Pharaoh any longer.

99.9% of the time of my entire life, I am under the control of Pharaoh and am not ready to be freed from this control. The more that I advance, this percentage grows to just about 100%. First I didn’t think that I belonged to Pharaoh 100%; I thought that I fell into the ego rarely, like all people.

Then I felt myself in the Egyptian exile and I didn’t feel this at first. For the first seven years of plenty, I was also under the control of Pharaoh and fulfilled all of his orders, but I agreed to this and therefore everything was wonderful. I didn’t feel myself in Egypt, in slavery. I had knowledge, control (Joseph managed all of Egypt), and I was filled with plenty.

However after that it became clear that all of this wasn’t good. In reality nothing changed except my assessment. What seemed to me as good, spiritual, causing advancement, now seems completely otherwise now. I see that all of this was egoistic, not spiritual, but absolutely materialistic, and there is no advancement in it, rather the opposite. Therefore this is called the “seven years of famine.”

No change took place except in our perception. Everything is determined by a person’s attitude, but outside nothing changes.

Question: If I am completely under the control of Pharaoh, how can a request for redemption be built within me?

Answer: When I discover that this is Pharaoh, then the opportunity to ask is created. If I begin to understand that I have business with Pharaoh, this means that the second force already exists in opposition to him, the power of the Creator. Otherwise, I would not have discerned that Pharaoh is in front of me; rather, I would have lived a normal, good life, advancing in studying, in dissemination, and in the group.

Why is it suddenly bad for me? It is because I determine that this life is bad. Apparently what do I lack? Yesterday everything was still okay. Right, only today everything is no longer okay because I have new demands and I don’t agree with a life like this. Here the seven years of famine begin.

Question: What is the difference between my request to rise above Pharaoh and the state where I am found beneath him?

Answer: One of the criteria is: Who wins: the power of reception or the power of bestowal? Where do I get the reward I deserve in exchange for my efforts? No one works for nothing and I also want a profit.

My profit can be in the vessels of reception or in the vessels of bestowal: either I feel that the profit belongs to me or to someone else. And this someone could be close to me or far away and even a hated enemy. This depends upon the degree of correction of my desires of bestowal.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Black Letters That Describe The Light

In spirituality there are no letters, there are no symbols through which one can comprehend it. Spirituality is comprehended only with vessels that we gradually construct within us. Baal HaSulam writes in Letter 14: “All the multiplication in spirituality relies on the letters that are sucked from the materiality of this world…,” meaning that from the states through which a person passes, as is written: (Isaiah 45:7) ‘…and creates darkness.’”

We are not ready to grasp the Light, we perceive it according to its absence, according to the black letters on the white background. In such a form we reach awareness of the Light from the darkness, from the troubles, from the absence of Light.

A person doesn’t have the vessels for discovering the Creator, discovering the characteristic of bestowal. He doesn’t know, doesn’t understand, and doesn’t feel this. This is found beyond him. To explain bestowal to us is like teaching a dog to be a person: to understand, to feel, and to make decisions like a person. This is simply impossible.

Everyone is born on the level of a beast, as it is said: (Job 11:12), “…from a wild donkey a man will be born.” And only the Light that is summoned by us builds the level of Adam (man) in us. So we require all kinds of “letters” that are built in us from darkness. Some kind of illumination, some kind of small revelation, reaches us and suddenly all kinds of deficiencies and problems are revealed. So over this contrast of one opposite the other, we learn about various states until they are all connected into spiritual sensations and discernments.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam