Whoever Is Born Today Is Not Responsible For Yesterday

Question: Does a person need to do some kind of work with disappointment, with his heaviness of heart, or should one simply be sorry and that’s all?

Answer: In general I would not recommend entering or deepening this sorrow, but relating to it with maximal simplicity, as if you don’t remember anything and don’t feel anything of what was. Every day you must be a new person.

It is written, “A fool sits with his hands folded and eats his own flesh.”  “What did I do and why did I behave like this, oh, oh, oh my, ay ay! How badly I behaved, what I have done!” This is foolishness, especially because of your lack of faith in what the sages said, that everything is managed from Above and that the Creator in advance has arranged the results of all of your actions.

So we follow a different line and never look back. Certainly this is not always successful because suddenly thoughts arise about how much harm you caused, what you did, and you begin to eat yourself up. You are given these states intentionally because you must rise above them.

Everything that a person did in the past sinks into the past; everything is done according to the instruction of “There is none else besides Him.” It’s forbidden for you to get involved with this and think that supposedly you could have changed something in the past and brought about other results. Everything went out one hundred percent correctly regarding what had to be; and at the end of correction, it will be revealed how correct this actually was.

Believe me, I have experience; it’s forbidden to think that something in the past depended upon you. Nothing depended upon you! So at every moment, you need to become a new person, “I was born just now; what do you want from me? There is nothing to demand of a newborn.”

You were born and will begin the work anew, clarifying: “Who am I, what am I, and who is this higher power that I must resemble? Ah, so I have a group, how nice! What do I need to do with the help of the group? Connect with them? Okay, I will connect. What for, why, and how do I get that?”

At every moment you begin to clarify from a clean slate, and don’t carry anything from the past with you. At every moment a new Reshimo is discovered within you; so how is it possible to continue something? It has already transformed, just like digested food; it’s impossible to begin to digest it again. You must want to become completely new, like a fetus.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/14, Writing of Rabash

Absence Precedes Presence

Baal HaSulam, “This is for Judah:” The Creator made creation existence from absence. Hence, there is not a single creation that was not previously in absence. However, this absence has a distinct form in each element in creation, because when we divide reality into four types: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, we find that the beginning of the still is necessarily complete absence.

However, the beginning of the vegetative is not complete absence, but merely its former degree, which, compared to itself, is considered absence. And in the matter of sowing and decay, which are necessary for any seed, it is received from the shape of the still. Also, it is the same with the absence of the animate and the speaking: the vegetative form is considered absence with respect to the animate, and the animate form is considered absence with respect to the speaking.

The main thing a person has to clarify on his current level in order to ascend to the next level is that he doesn’t have the upper level! As it says: “absence precedes presence.” I don’t exactly know what my next level has to be, but I feel that I lack it! If my deficiency regarding the next level is ripe enough, I move on to it. This means that “absence precedes presence.”

This is what happens in the transition from the level of the still to the level of the vegetative, and from the level of the vegetative to the level of the animate, and from the level of the animate to the level of the speaking. How can one ascend from the level of the speaking to the level of the Creator? Where can we begin to clarify what we lack?

Hence, the text teaches us that the absence that precedes man’s existence is the form of the beast. This is why it is written, “a wild ass’s colt is born a man,” as it is necessary for every person to begin in the state of a beast. And the writing says, “Man and beast Thou preserves, O Lord.” And as a beast is given all that it needs for its sustenance and the fulfillment of its purpose, He also provides man with all that is necessary for his sustenance and the fulfillment of his purpose.

Therefore, we should understand where is the advantage of man’s form over the beast, from the perspective of their own preparation. Indeed, it is discerned in their wishes, since man’s wishes are certainly different from those of a beast. And to that extent, God’s salvation of man differs from God’s salvation of a beast.

It turns out that we need to feel that we don’t want the Creator and the spiritual world, but that we want to remain beasts who carry on with our comfortable life in our pen and nothing but that. This means that I have to discover my real desire in the current state and my refusal to leave it by even one millimeter. This is a feeling of absence.

I don’t feel that I lack the next level and actually see that I don’t miss it in any way. According to my nature I am ready to remain on the corporeal level forever. Without this feeling I cannot reach the recognition of the negative form.

This teaches us that the form of the absence is but the negation of the presence. And we know the form of the presence, redemption,  from the verse, “and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor… for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Hence, the form of the previous absence, meaning the form of exile, is only the absence of the knowledge of the Lord. This is the absence of the Aleph, which is missing in the Gula (exile), and present in theGeula (redemption) —the Dvekut (Adhesion) with the “Champion of the world.” This is precisely the redemption of our souls, no more and no less, as we have said that all the letters of Geula are present in Gula but the Aleph, which is the Champion of the world.

If all we lack is the revelation of the Creator, the force of bestowal, not for our own pleasure but because it’s a more sublime attribute, we are ready to advance to the state of redemption.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Harmful Children’s Fairy Tales

In the News (from Scientific American Blog): “Childrens’ literature and movies are rife with talking mice and ducks who wear clothes (even if they’re occasionally portrayed without pants) and dogs that range from, well, dogs, to dogs that might as well be people.

“Stories are one of the main ways that our species understands the natural world. Giving human attributes to animals is by no means a recent phenomenon; ancient gods were often hybridized human-like animals (or animal-like humans). In the classic story illustrated above by Arthur Rackham, three bears sit at a table and eat porridge, like humans.

“Given how ubiquitous these anthropomorphic animal-people are in our culture, University of Toronto psychologist Patricia A. Ganea wondered how those sorts of representations influence the way that young children think about real animals.

“Young children already have a hard time distinguishing reality from fantasy, especially before they reach their fifth birthday. And while most children can distinguish reality from fantasy when it comes to visual representations of animals, that distortion can also be reflected in the content of the story itself. ‘Human consciousness, knowledge, abilities, purpose, and intentions are often attributed to animal characters (e.g., seals solve mysteries, cats build houses, and mice drive cars) and even to inanimate objects (e.g., lamps have faces and dance the tango, trains strive against all odds to achieve impossible goals),’ Ganea writes.

“Together, the findings show that language matters more than illustration when it comes to learning about animals’ biology and psychology. Even when the stories were accompanied by realistic images, if the language was anthropomorphic, the kids transferred that false knowledge to real animals.

“More importantly, it isn’t just that the kids failed to learn true facts when exposed to the anthropomorphic stories; those stories actually made it harder for them to learn, teaching them falsehoods rather than facts. They were even more likely to think of animals in human-like terms after reading the books than if they had never seen the books at all!

“Do children transfer the fantastical abilities of non-human animals in their storybooks to their real life models? If so, then those sorts of stories could seriously impede kids’ ability to learn and remember true facts about real animals, or at least to distinguish fact from fiction. That would be especially true for children in urban and suburban areas, who have few opportunities to regularly interact with actual animals, at least compared to their rural counterparts. ‘Presenting animals to children in ways that are similar to how humans act and behave is likely to be counter-productive for learning scientifically accurate information about the biological world and to influence children’s view of the biological world,’ she says.

“The problem is actually more pervasive than it sounds: human adults, at least in the US, are also highly likely to imbue non-human animals with human-like emotions and motivations. It’s a tricky line to navigate. Research is increasingly revealing the fundamental similarities between our species and the rest of the animal kingdom, but there are also aspects of human culture that are, indeed, unique to our species. Is it reasonable to suggest that an animal can feel something complex like pride or embarrassment? We are poised to attribute a similarly complex emotion, guilt, to dogs, but a deeper look reveals that while dogs indeed have a ‘guilty look,’ they probably do not actually realize that they’ve transgressed. If children are routinely exposed to these sorts of anthropomorphic representations of animals, it is no wonder that they grow up to become adults who look at non-human animals as if they are people wearing animal suits.”

My Comment: By the way, in Judaism there are no tales of human-like animals, and if the Torah speaks about a talking donkey, it happens at God’s command. Kabbalah in general looks at the texts of the Torah as secret, the meaning of which is revealed only to one who has attained love of friends.
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Don’t Flee From The Work But From Yourself

Question: What is the slavery of a person in Egypt?

Answer: He tries to connect with others and is slightly successful every time through some new test, but the fruits of this connection go to Pharaoh who sucks them out of the back of the neck. This means that the ego steals everything and keeps it inside for itself. A person feels that he has nothing. This is what happens with us.

And then, as it is said, (Job 20:15): “He swallowed up riches and vomited it out.” The power of the ego swallows the fruits of the labor and then spits in out vomits giving everything back to the person all at once.

Question: When will this finally happen?

Answer: When a sufficient amount of efforts that have been swallowed by the ego accumulate, it makes it possible for a person to rise to for the sake of bestowal. It is impossible to stockpile negative exertion, negative impressions, in any other way. You cannot work if they are all in front of you.

Even when a little is shown to you, you take account of what you have, this is bad and that is bad, and you flee immediately. And so you won’t run away but will continue to work, your disappointments disappear. This gives us the opportunity to continue by coming again and again to disappointment about our abilities.

As a result, the accumulated disappointment and consequently the need for the group must be so great that you cry out and want to leave. This doesn’t mean fleeing the work, but fleeing from your ego, from yourself!

There are several conditions that must ripen and accumulate. This is a cumulative process; nothing can be done about it. In order to help you with it, there is darkness and the absorption of your failures. And then you need to be inspired by the group, the study, and the teacher, and every day you need to get back up on your feet again.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/14, Writing of Rabash

I Am There, Not Here

Question: Could it be that the outcry from the slavery in Egypt is not my own frustration but our common frustration?

Answer: Indeed, I begin to see myself as an integral man. I am not myself but my connection with others, the mutual incorporation. I make the decision that I is my connection with the group, that I am not here inside my body but there inside the group.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/02/14, Writings of Rabash

I Brought You Part Of The Miracle

Question: What should I do if I cannot persuade people and cannot give them an example when I go out to disseminate? There are many examples in our world of the harm that the connection between people has brought them instead of any good.

Answer: If we approach people from the center of the group, we bring them the Light that Reforms. You should understand that you are performing a spiritual act by that, you are bringing a person part of the miracle that can happen in his life. You bring him the initial connection and contact with the Light, and he will complete the rest.

This action should be more spiritual. I don’t try to persuade a person like a rag merchant or other goods. I bring him the end of the pipe of the spiritual channel, and when I speak to him I think about how I can bestow upon him and how I can make this pipe a more reliable, better, more focused, and more efficient conductor of the Light.

This is my goal and my aim and I am not responsible for anything else. After all, who am I? How can I convince a person? Where would I find such skills? Only one out of a thousand salespeople knows how to persuade others, and it isn’t persuasion either but a lie. This means that he knows how to confuse people. This is how it works in our world.

But we don’t even have these skills. We have no merchandise that we can sell, and there is nothing we can give a person except the end of the pipe from which the Light will pour. This is the Surrounding Light, which we don’t see or feel but which will operate in a person.

Each of us should feel that he is performing a spiritual action. I can only be a pipe if I am connected to the center of the group from which I take its spirit and go out to disseminate. When I come in contact with someone, I focus on the spiritual action and use my mind just a bit, and most importantly with the inner feeling. A person will sense this.

This is the actual outcome you need to discover as a result of your work. People don’t need your logical philosophizing; they need a sensation. If the Light operates in the feelings, a person will be with you.

The main war in dissemination is done that way. In order to be a loyal pipe for the Light, the main thing is not to forget that I am performing a spiritual action, pouring an infusing into a person so that he will understand the reason for all evil and what the remedy for all the problems is, and that it remains in him and will keep on working.

Try to touch his heart with your heart. If you speak to him when your heart is in it, then your heart will pour into his heart. And then you will see that people will follow you.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/14, Writings of Rabash

Exodus Occurs In No Time At All

Question: How can we determine the exact measure of the desire needed for a prayer? Perhaps a person who asks for bread has to go hungry for two weeks first, but a person who hasn’t eaten for three days may feel that this cry is the strongest it could be.

Answer: There is no standard measure. It’s a personal feeling that I cannot remain in this state any longer. Besides, we also need a prayer before the prayer because I cannot feel real hatred towards my Egypt and I want to experience the slaveryso that I can really hate it. This is also a prayer because this hatred also comes from the Light that Reforms, and every prayer is meant to draw and bring the Light closer.

All these states are carried out very quickly. The Torah tells us a lot about what happens before coming to Egypt. Then there is the story about how the children of Israel entered Egypt, about the birth of Moses, about his escape and his life with Jethro. However the actual exodus is very fast, as if it takes no time. Therefore we only need to ask.

If the Light begins to work and a person is dominated by the Light, he immediately goes through states as if above time. We are very close to this and we can force the Light to operate.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/14, Writings of Rabash

Working Alone Keeps Us In Egypt

Question: What stops a person most from coming out of Egypt?

Answer: A person forgets that we acquire spirituality by connecting. So this becomes the work in Egypt. If you work alone, you are calledPharaoh’s slave.

We should always check ourselves with regard to the group because there is no other scale we can use. We were given vessels, shattered deficiencies that are scattered among all of us since everyone is incorporated in everyone else. Therefore, we don’t understand what is happening. We need to start arranging ourselves in the group and to bring it to the form of a spiritual Partzuf.

It should be a form in which the upper force, the Creator, is revealed. This is all our work: building ten Sefirot, not nine and not eleven, no more no less. All of creation is made of ten Sefirot.

We have to find our place in the Partzuf, the place of those who want to connect in bestowal. This matches GE, the phase of Israel, and rest are AHP that join us and help us. How can we grow? We grow by the AHP, with its help. The bigger the AHP is, the bigger our part of the GE above it can be. Thus we build Aviut (thickness) in GE too, and then the work with the real AHP begins.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/14, Writings of Rabash