Good Environment – 11.17.10
Posted on November 17th, 2010
Who is the Creator? The Creator is the general quality of bestowal and love. That is why He is concealed from you, since He is entirely bestowing, while you are an egoist, a receiver. That is why you do not feel Him.
Does He really conceal Himself? It is you hiding Him and not wanting to recognize Him! You say, “If only You would give me egoistic pleasure, which I desire right now. Then I would get to know You. Do you want to give me pleasure by bestowal? Well, I want to enjoy by reception!”
And that is the entire problem. No one conceals the Creator from you. You are inside Him and there is none else besides Him! But look at what kind of world you perceive yourself in….
Canceling your ego does not mean canceling your desires. It’s only the negation of the egoistic intention for your own sake. I don’t need to limit myself in any way. I must only limit my egoistic intentions and increase my intentions “for the sake of bestowal.” We don’t touch the actual desire.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”
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A person can check how included he is in the group and whether it is able to provide a new intention for him. Obviously, bestowal is opposite to his nature and he is initially unwilling to do this, yet he must artificially build himself and his environment so it really “brainwashes” him.”
The group has to “bend” a person, pushing him off the “straight” path to his beloved self, onto the path of bestowal and unity which appears to him like a crooked path. Therein lies the first criterion for making the check: Which values will the group give me? For now we are talking about the values of unity. This is the task that the group must place before me, raising its importance in my eyes.
But at the same time, we must understand that there are other goals which the group cannot yet arm itself with and realize in full force. In the meantime, by means of the environment, my intention changes: I think about my own benefit more and more, but I already connect it to the group and find personal benefit in the unity with friends.
Then it becomes clear that we do not simply connect to one another, but reveal the Upper One, something spiritual. Now we expect that this will be to our benefit: We will ascend higher and higher up the spiritual degrees. This is already a group intention of Lo Lishma.
But after that, we start to slightly think about a true altruistic intention, Lishma, because in reality all our efforts must benefit the Creator. With time we start to have thoughts even of this nature.
Of course, we do not want this, yet to some degree we agree to talk about this. Then every person starts to slightly connect to the true goal and to be permeated by it.
That is how we go from one state to another, from one “place” to another, from one degree to another, as we improve our desire and its intention which we received from the friends. Gradually we correct our desire, and more than that, our intention. Our intention is the vector we receive from the environment, the direction we take above the desire.
Therefore, we have to ensure that the purpose, the goal we obtain from the environment, will constantly change, becoming higher and more important, and becoming truer in our eyes. As a result of all the “intermediate” intentions, we will consolidate together in the group in order to give pleasure to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/10, The Zohar
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Question: If there is none else but the Creator and I do not exist, then how can I ask Him to become like Him?
Answer: You ask the Creator to become like Him precisely because you do not exist and for now it is all Him. Consequently, you will also reveal the point of your “I.” You only have one independent point, the point in the heart, which He gave you to begin building your independence with it.
Your independence is precisely in your requesting the Creator to make you similar to Him. When you begin to ask, demand to become like Him, possess His powers, then everything that you receive from Him will be on your account. After all, you gathered this desire and realized it. This will be your "I." And all your corporal desires and properties do not count at all, as if they never existed.
Question cont.: But in order to ask the Upper One for help, I must know who He is. How do I build the image of the Creator, which I must turn to, within me?
Answer: The image of the Creator is built with your questions, requests, and contradictions. This form is opposite to the Creator, and His image gradually becomes revealed in it.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/10, The Zohar
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Question: Since after the Convention, while reading The Book of Zohar, I feel as if I have fallen into a black hole. What should I do?
Answer: You should try to climb out of it! Be like a frog that dabbles in the milk it fell into and whips it with its legs until the milk becomes cheese. Then the frog is able to jump out.
There is no other choice. It is written: “Whatever is in your power, do it!”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/10, The Zohar
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If on our path spiritual fulfillment would become available to us as everybody is asking, it would block our desire for spirituality. This is the greatest obstacle on the path.
Hence, I am given a wall that blocks my way. I stand before it, anticipating the wonders awaiting me on the other side. Yet, if such a wall has been revealed to me, it means I am already equipped with a force of resistance so that I wouldn’t quit advancing, but rather would break through this wall.
Even though I cannot accomplish it in one blow and must apply a few more strikes until I break it, the wall will keep cracking and will finally crumble. But I already have the necessary breaking force, the power of attack, or I wouldn’t be shown it.
If we now see the wall standing before us, the wall we have within, in our hearts, it is a sign of our ability to break through it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t show since “obstacles are not placed in front of the blind.” I thought we were able to overcome it, and this is why we made a step toward unity.
Now, we just have to unite thanks to studying and the rest of the work that we do and gradually collect, crumb to crumb, all our efforts in one collective breaking force. We need to do it in order to probably discover again that this force is insufficient to break through, and we have to unite even more.
And thus again and again we will gather more strength and increase pressure until the wall falls. That is the stage of the exodus from Egypt, the very end. This is why it brings joy.
The problem is that right now everyone experiences this wall on their own. Meanwhile, we have to feel that this wall is common for all, and to the extent that we do, we will feel that the force that we are trying to employ to break through this wall is collective as well. In that case, it would be not one person but the group standing against it.
It is similar to fleeing from Egypt: one night, one Pharaoh, one threat, same plagues for all Israel unified as one man with one heart. Nobody is counted separately from the others, and everybody unites together. This is how the group must feel. In that case, despite the frightening height of the wall, we will still overpower it.
That is because when people unite, they discover that they lack the Creator’s presence among them, and without Him, we cannot do! He will become the very force of this breakthrough that will ruin the wall.
Pharaoh himself will assist us. After all, it is he who is chasing Israel out of Egypt and then follows and guides them, as The Zohar describes. A person keeps trying to go back, whereas Pharaoh throws them all out of Egypt as he is a faithful assistant of the Creator.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”
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Question: What should I do if I am constantly finding new flaws in myself while being on this path, as if I am running a lengthy marathon?
Answer: Think of it as a sign of advancement! There are criminals who take pride in their transgressions, and we should learn from them and be proud that we managed to discover these flaws within ourselves, that we are indeed criminals! If I find that I am such in order to assist my advancement toward the goal, I have to rejoice in it.
It is similar to being a scientist who is studying himself and keeps discovering how much is yet unknown and what enormous field of work lies ahead of him. So, he is glad that he has an opportunity to advance and a place to work and explore. We should view it as work in the internal laboratory.
You work as a scientist who is making discoveries and corrections, and you are moving into Infinity, unaware of the final destination point, constantly discovering something new. Treat this process constructively and creatively for you are building new worlds while you are uncovering and reconstructing them from the broken parts!
Do you wish to quickly earn a little money and retire?! Such folks don’t get to know spirituality for it is not meant for this sort. We have to be persistent as true heroes are. A hero isn’t the one who beats another to a pulp but the one who breaks his own ego. It happens specifically by overcoming all unpleasant states thereby finding an opportunity to spiritually evolve and become a human.
I understand that it is frightening for it is written that Moses feared Pharaoh greatly. He fled from Egypt and was afraid to return there until he reached the degree of Bina when the Creator revealed Himself to Moses in the “burning bush.”
Clearly, we have the same fear. But if you are in the group, there is no evil that may rise in front of you and be worth fearing longer than an instant. At first, I get scared when I unfold something unpleasant that I didn’t expect to find in myself.
But if I am connected with the environment, then in an instant, I realize that it is a spring board which helps me to leap forth toward the goal. Alternatively, if you don’t view the evil as purposeful and instead start digging into it and “eat” yourself, it means that you don’t have a connection with the external force, the group.
You see this journey as a lengthy tiring marathon? But that’s what your life is given to you for! You are in this world to begin and finish your correction.
Don’t think that you can get everything done in a year or two, after which you will rest in your spiritual retirement and enjoy the illumination of Shechina. Indeed, it is written that the righteous live in the joyous presence of Shechina, but they are able to do so because they are constantly engaged in spiritual work, raising such powerful Reflected Light, the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), that Shechina can tirelessly shine on their “heads,” their intentions.
They work restlessly, as it is written that “the righteous don’t rest in this world or the next one.” What rest can there be if you desire to bestow? There is no greater punishment than being unable to bestow, which is similar to the pain of the mother who cannot feed her child.
Bestowal is the greatest reward. So, do not seek rest.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.
The Opposition of the Study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah
As long as orthodoxy insists on saying, “No! Only Gemarah and Mishnah, no legends, no ethics, no Kabbalah, and no research,” it dwindles itself. All the means it uses to protect itself, without taking the true potion of life, the Light of the Torah in its internals, beyond the tangible and obvious—the revealed in the Torah and Mitzvot—are utterly incapable of leading to its goal in all the generations, and especially in our generation, unless accompanied by expanding the many spiritual roots [in order to achieve the goal].
– Rav Kook, Igrot (Letters), Vol. 2, 232-233
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