Question: Today we will be holding a convention to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. But when I imagine what will happen there, I don’t want to go. Does that mean I have to rise above reason?

Answer: People will dance there, but you don’t like to dance. There will be delicious food there, but you won’t like it. There will be many children there, and you are not too excited about that. It turns out that there really is no reason for you to go.

Or you can imagine the situation differently: What do I care about the food, the movements people make with their bodies, the songs, the screaming children, and all the people who are there? All of this is the external form of the desire that is being awakened by the Creator. He puts people together who wish to come closer to Him. Out of the entire Malchut of the world of Infinity, He has gathered a group of separate desires in order to unite them in the future. That is why He now gives them this necessity. They don’t even know why things turned out that way. Every person has his own reasons for coming and every person imagines why he is there differently. But I came there in order to join the Creator’s desire, which is hidden inside of them.

You can sit quietly in the corner and constantly try to keep an intention of being connected with their desire. I don’t look for their inner urges, but precisely for the desire that the Creator awakens in them. This is what I need. This need is my soul. After all, I have just the point in the heart and I have to attach these desires to myself, which will give me the volume of the spiritual vessel. Then I will be able to advance.

However, if I don’t make a connection with them, then where will I get the desire, where will I find my soul? Into what will I receive the revelation of the Creator? By myself I don’t and won’t have anything besides the initial point. So should I not go to the convention? Should I let the opportunity go by?

Question: Can’t I watch the broadcast on TV and join in people’s desire that way? Is it really necessary to be physically present?

Answer: This depends on what makes it easier for me to be permeated by their desire and its outburst, and on how many efforts I will make for it. Maybe if I watch it from home, I will receive 50 pounds of desire from them, but if I go there, then even while sitting in the corner, I will experience such great repulsion that I will barely acquire 2 pounds. However, if I prepare ahead of time, and if I start dancing together with them even though I absolutely hate doing anything like that, if I hold the intention inside—why am I doing this?—then it will be very beneficial.

We all work above the desire even though we don’t talk about this all the time. All spiritual work is done above the desire, so the mind will rule over the heart.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/11, Writings of Rabash

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Holidays, Inner Work, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Television | Add Comment →