Good Environment – 12.21.10
Posted on December 21st, 2010
Question: What does it mean that a person has to agree and desire for the upper one to act upon him?
Answer: We were created of the will to enjoy and all the actions of correcting this desire are done by the Light. The Light corrects the Kelim or desires, orders them, and gives them the sensation of the abyss between the desires and the Lights, the gap between the levels, the sensation of lack of fulfillment. The Light awakens and shakes up the Kli or desire.
It turns out that I must only cause the Light to come forth and work on me. This is my only action and means to accelerate my development.
One way or another the Lights works, influencing Reshimot (informational data) more and more. Then the Reshimot come out of concealment and are realized at a specific rate called “Beito” (in due time).
When I make special actions in the group, the study, my inner work, and my search, I thereby awaken the Lights, causing them to influence me with greater force and speed. But I don’t do anything more than that.
In any case everything comes from the Light. I can only speed up its influence on the Reshimot that are inside me. Then my development is called Ahishena (accelerating time). And doing this is our entire work.
However, this can only happen on the condition that instead of advancing by the lengthy and difficult path where the Light influences me by bringing me all kinds of suffering that I have to flee, gradually realizing the purpose of the suffering, instead of that, I can awaken the Light so it will influence me more strongly, provided that I agree with all the unpleasant and horrible things it brings me.
Let the Light bring me all of that; all I want is to ascend above it by the force of the environment. From the environment I receive the strength to be above the suffering. Then, if I prepare in this way, the Upper Light can influence me and cause me to advance and develop.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot
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The Zohar, Introduction, Article “Lock and Key,” Item 44: Within those gates there is one lock and one narrow place, in which to insert that key.
First of all we must find the key and the lock. What are they? Where are they? And how can we make them match one another? Inserting the “key in the lock” means establishing a connection between opposites by attaining equivalence of form.
And finally, how can we open the lock? How do we turn the key in it? Do we “turn” ourselves in the upper one in order to become similar to Him? Or is all of this none of our own acts, but only His? Should we just evoke or initiate them?
These are questions that a person discerns all the time. The lock and key represent a protective mechanism that adapts us to the system of the world of Atzilut, to Arich Anpin.
He divided himself into two parts: upper and lower. The upper part is concealed while the lower part becomes revealed to the lower ones. We do not have a direct connection with Him and thus we turn to Bina, who came to the outside, becoming a conductor of the upper governance.
The Zohar has a lot to say about this because we have to awaken Lights upon us that will project inside us the mechanism that corresponds to the lower part of Arich Anpin. Our task is to give the upper one an opportunity, again and again, to work on us and give us forms that are increasingly more perfect. At the end we must take on the laws of the system that is connected to us, lower ourselves before it, and become similar to it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, The Zohar
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Question: Is there any indication that the lower ones have correctly prepared for the actions of the upper one?
Answer: In spirituality there are two opposite qualities that unite together. However, we are unable to grasp this with our earthly mind. That’s because our mind is built so it perceives everything only from the point of view of this world. It works only inside the ego so I understand, feel, and act only with what I receive inside my ego.
For now I cannot work with two forms, two opinions, or two opposite forces. That is why I am always left without any understanding of what is happening. And that’s why we also don’t understand anything in our world.
Even though in our world we exist in one, small ego which desires to fill itself and nothing more; nevertheless, we are governed by upper forces of bestowal. That is why we also don’t understand how this world operates.
Why don’t I know this? It’s because I cannot take into account a different force that operates in the world. This force is concealed from me and its qualities are opposite to me. Yet it nevertheless influences me, evoking reactions in me and making me act in response to it.
I do not detect and am unaware of this second half of our reality, which is operated by the upper force, the force of bestowal. I do not understand it and cannot take it into consideration. That is why I always lack understanding, knowledge, and awareness. And that is why we do not understand the actions of the upper one upon the lower one and the reactions of the lower one to the upper one. What upper one, what lower one? Everything is concealed. And that’s the problem.
Thus, if we are talking about the upper system, it contains the force of the receiver and the force of the Bestower connected together, complementing each other and working together in one net, in one unity, in order to receive for the sake of bestowal. They depend on each other and need one another.
However, in our world we exist in just one force, which is egoistic. Even if we talk about the second force, it still does not connect with the force of reception and they cannot work together. Bestowal is opposite, and that is the entire problem of our world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.
Commandments
The Mitzva is the Kli (vessel) [the essence of attainment] where the Light is clothed, meaning a Holy Name [manifestation of the Creator] that belongs specifically to that Mitzva [correction]. This is the meaning of “The Mitzva is a candle [the Reflected Light, Ohr Hozer] and the Torah is Light [the Direct Light, Ohr Yashar].”
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the book, From the Mouth of a Sage”
There are 613 Mitzvot, and in each Mitzva a light of a unique degree is deposited, which corresponds to a unique organ in the 613 organs and tendons of the soul [the Light] and the body [desire]. It follows that while performing the Mitzva [correcting our desire], one extends to the corresponding organ [the corrected desire] in his soul and body, the degree of light that belongs to that organ and tendon [that desire], and this [fulfillment by the Light, the revelation of the Creator] is an inner aspect of Mitzva.
– Rabash, Rabash—the Social Writings, “The Importance of a Prayer of Many”
The 620 names, being the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah and the 7 Mitzvot de Rabanan, are in fact the five properties of the soul, meaning NRNHY. This is because the vessels of the NRNHY are from the above 620 Mitzvot, and the Lights of NRNHY are the very Light of the Torah in each and every Mitzvah. It follows, that the Torah and the soul are one.
– Baal HaSulam, Igrot (Letters), Letter 17, 63
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By now, humanity has created an entire industry to entertain itself, such as various world championships and contests, in order to forget how empty its life is. It’s all done in order to confuse and fill people’s lives with something to do. After all, egoism has grown and demands fulfillment.
One of government’s objectives is to brainwash, pacify, and occupy the public so that nobody starts asking questions. Frankly, do they have any answers in case people begin questioning what they are living for? They don’t, nor do they want their citizens, having lost faith in life itself as well as in their leaders, to come out in the streets seeking the purpose of life.
Hence, they promote popular “stars,” pop culture, and the mass media who supply us with all sorts of worthless information, anything to confuse us and reduce us to a level lower than the one we have already reached. After all, if the public is allowed to act according to their own un-drugged desire, it will begin asking some very serious, mature questions.
People will see that they have neither a system in which to raise a new generation nor a culture, fulfillment, or a healthy society—nothing! Mankind will discover that they live in a society ruled by total lawlessness. Then, they will ask: Are these our leaders? Is this our world? Is this how we are supposed to live?
That’s when revolutions and disorder will start. Therefore, the major task of leaders is to brainwash the public, no matter where, no matter what country, be it in Europe, America, or in Arab countries. Hence, when man’s desire outgrows what he can receive in this world, the wisdom of Kabbalah comes to life and reveals the true purpose to him.
However, then a problem arises: How do we bring this knowledge to the public? We can’t offer it to the mass media, celebrities, scientists, the system of education, or the government. Without even understanding why, they oppose it. Total opposition unfolds between the wisdom of Kabbalah and all lifestyles invented in the corporeal world.
It will be impossible to rely on any media channel. We will be able to address people only directly so that they may know that Kabbalah holds the answers to their innermost questions. All others will want to confuse them with the answers and shut them up with whatever means they have, but the public will continue to suffer if these questions remain unanswered.
This is why we speak directly to every individual. We won’t succeed in finding ourselves any other allies, and you are yet to see how radically our and their paths will split.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”
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Until man evolved and became fit for correction, the wisdom of Kabbalah could not be revealed because people wouldn’t have understood, but would have twisted it. We witness what philosophy and religion have done with the knowledge obtained from Kabbalah, distorting and turning it inside out, instead of using the method correctly.
Philosophy deals with abstract matter while religions deal with the “pseudo-spirituality” in order to satisfy their own interests (desires). It completely contradicts what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches: transformation of one’s own egoism.
Nowadays, the wisdom of Kabbalah may be revealed to the world because philosophy as well as religion and man’s general attitude to life itself has changed so much that mankind is not satisfied with its form of existence anymore. It is pushing it to seek a new form and the reason of its existence, the purpose of life. Without Kabbalah, all of this remains unanswered.
The time has come to restore the power of the “mistress” over the “handmaid” who has taken over. Incorrect use of the wisdom of Kabbalah “for personal benefit,” as is done in philosophy and religion, is regarded as “a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.” However, it’s correct use is “restoring the mistress to her rightful position.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”
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Question: When does evil become an obstacle on a person’s way?
Answer: It happens when a person identifies it as the “evil inclination.” At first, I don’t consider my egoism to be bad. On the contrary, I serve it as much as I can. It helps me and provides the sensations of life. Without it, I stop existing.
If a person loses his appetite because of some illness, we urge him to eat a little. If a person loses his sexual drive, he tries to cure himself by using various remedies. No one can survive without pleasures; one has to receive delight.
Food, sex, family, wealth, respect, and knowledge constitute all of my life, and I want to have a good bite of everything. If I lose the desire to receive pleasure, I become desperate and almost feel that I am dying. For this reason, when it’s time for a person to transcend this world, pleasure is taken away from him. He feels that he has nothing to live for. He simply cannot enjoy the desires that are at his disposal. Where can he find fulfillment?
At the same time, he is given a spark of a much higher spiritual desire, which by itself directs him to the wisdom of Kabbalah, a remedy that enables him to achieve a new kind of delight. A person is being lead to a group, and at first, he awaits much stronger egoistic pleasures. “Give me angels, reveal spiritual worlds, bring the Creator to me on a tray, and so on.”
As Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” before a person reaches a state called “thirteen years old,” he is ready to “swallow” all the material world. After reaching the degree of “thirteen years old,” he switches to pleasures of the world to come.
This is natural since we cannot enter spirituality without a full-grown desire that is eager to consume everything there is and preside. I demand that the Creator serve me, and I claim, “Why did He create this world ‘as is?’ Why doesn’t he fulfill me properly?” Later, a person begins to realize how opposite he is to the Creator. It is an immense egoistic desire that brings him to this understanding.
The same happens in this world: A small crook doesn’t consider himself to be a criminal. We, too, think of ourselves as being “innocent.” However, similarly to Pharaoh, a real, mature recidivist admits before robbing someone, “Yes, the Creator is righteous, but we are sinners.”
Thus, before the desire manifests itself to its fullest extent, a person has no way to realize that he is “bad.” It is not easy to comprehend that it is the Creator who made the evil inclination.
How many people in the world can admit that they are “bad?” On the contrary, all of them think that they are “righteous,” even “saints.” It needs much work and effort and lots of Light from Above to make a revealed ego manifest its wickedness.
It is important that we divulge our evilness only relative to the Creator, rather than to other people. I am bad only compared to the Creator, to the property of bestowal. I figure out that the desire to receive pleasure, the urge to receive instead of give, hatred toward others, the desire to take advantage of them, is, in fact, what we call “the evil inclination.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/17/10, “The Creator Created the Evil Inclination, and He Created the Torah as A Spice”
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It is written: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice.” This phrase contains the entire itinerary of my inner changes, corrections. I possess not a mere desire, but an evil one. How so? It is evil because it isn’t aimed to the Creator. I don’t see value in bestowal.
However, is it really bad in my eyes not to be in bestowal? Surely, it feels good to be receiving. As to bestowal, it makes me feel quite uneasy. What should I do? There is no need to change the world since I am the whole world. Hence, all I need to do is change my own values.
Presently, I value the opportunity to receive. This is the essence of my whole life, my credo, the instinctive and rational approach to everything I do. Yet, further on, I have to perform an inner transformation and replace the value of receiving with the value of bestowal.
Thereby, I identify with the Creator and aspire to come closer to Him. I contemplate how to bestow to Him and transform myself into the vessel that receives His good. As I do to Him, so does He to me.
For this reason, the Torah is given to us as a spice, the wisdom of Kabbalah, that will eventually allow us to change the order of priorities, having placed bestowal, not reception, on the top of the list. Naturally, we can’t even think about something like this; we resist it kicking and screaming. Even when we are presented with an opportunity to do so, we avoid it at all costs.
Therefore, we were given an environment. Out of poor little egoists, the Creator formed a society that keeps talking about bestowal and love of others. Why mere talking? It is because everything else is up to a person.
A person first has to start viewing his friends in a different light, not to force them to bestow, but to change his attitude toward them. On the outside, they will always remain only “speakers,” but everyone has a chance to see greatness, bestowal, love of others, and oneness of hearts in them.
Everyone is free to see in the group what they will. If a person understands that this is his chance, then the friends’ “talking” is viewed by him as the most important aspect in life, the most exalted value. Suddenly, the environment starts affecting him, filling him with awareness of the value of the Creator or bestowal.
Self-imposed motivation brings real results, and the person draws the corrective force of the Torah to himself. This entire process lies in his own hands; he doesn’t need anything. The Creator has provided him with the desire and led him to the group, but a person arranges everything else by his own effort, not forcing anyone to do anything.
Everything depends on attitude. Some relate to the group with their egoistic benefit in mind; others keep “earning” the value of bestowal through it. There are many variables between the two. Herein lies the free will of a person: Does he acknowledge the group as a means of elevating the Creator in his own eyes?
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/17/10, “The Creator Created the Evil Inclination, and He Created the Torah as A Spice”
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