Good Environment – 08.01.11
Posted on August 1st, 2011
The Creator created everything to give pleasure to man. But we need a vessel, desire, to receive the good that He wants to give. He wanted to give the pleasure that He enjoys Himself: bestowal. There is no other pleasure in the world!
However, to feel this pleasure, we need to have the opposite quality, the lack of fulfillment because the opposite of the desire to bestow is the desire to receive pleasure. That is why the Creator creates the desire to enjoy, an artificial creature that did not exist before, as a reverse imprint of Himself.
And now, the creature feels these opposites in itself. On one hand, it feels that it is possible to enjoy the fulfillment of its desire. But then, it makes a calculation and begins to desire bestowal. That is, it no longer seeks fulfillment.
Bestowal is not fulfillment, but a property, a desire to give. In bestowal, a person does not get pleased by what he receives in return, but the very action of bestowal becomes fulfillment for him. Whereas in reception, an action is separate from fulfillment. And when fulfillment enters me, I feel pleased. That is, my desire and fulfillment are two opposite things, and I need to toil hard to receive fulfillment since it is opposite to me.
However, in bestowal, I need only to feel somebody else’s desire and satisfy it. And this very action, relative to the other person whom I satisfy, becomes my fulfillment. I do not expect to receive any reward in return. My pleasure is in the action of giving.
Due to this difference, a person working with reception always has to check and evaluate: How much have I given, and how much they will pay me? It’s because the payment depends not on me, but on the other, on how much he would like to pay me. But if I work in bestowal and want only it, I do not depend on anyone and can decide myself where my boundary is!
Therefore, the one who walks the path of bestowal establishes himself to what extent he wants to be in it. And the Creator agrees with him! There is only one general law of bestowal and love, which envelopes and fills the entire creation. There was no restriction or ban on bestowal! That is why each creature can decide for himself at what level he wants to be in relation to this quality, thought, the intention to bestow.
Here can be no calculation of how much I have done and how much I will be paid. There is no need to fear that if I did less, I would receive less. I am in this general law of mutual bestowal, enveloping the whole universe and filling it, as “there is none else besides Him.” I myself establish at what degree I want to be. According to this degree, I experience the revelation or concealment of my ability to bestow, and to that extent I enjoy.
[49673]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/2011, Shamati #61
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The Book of Zohar talks about the connections between us because there is nothing else to talk about in all of reality. Reality is one. We are inside of the Light, the Creator, the Maker, and we have to reveal our true state.
To the extent that we make attempts to reveal it, we are given the sensation of internal darkness, which we can disperse, cast off, with the help of mutual efforts in the connection between us. With these mutual efforts, we help the Light to become revealed.
This is exactly what we have to do. There is nothing besides our efforts, desire, concern, request, and aspiration to the state of revelation. So what’s the problem? The problem is that desiring this revelation means desiring the state that’s opposite to us. We find ourselves between two aspirations: the natural pull toward ourselves, and the artificial aspiration outwards, outside of us.
Therefore, through different efforts, by any means possible, I have to be inspired by the environment and attain a state where the aspiration outwards will become more important to me than the natural pull toward myself.
If I am able to acquire this importance with the help of the efforts and the request for the Light, for it to become revealed and help me, that means I am able to reveal the connection between us. And to the degree I reveal this connection, I reveal the Light, the Creator. That’s because the Light becomes revealed inside of our connection, but I cannot reveal it—I lack the detector.
[49942]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/11, “The Zohar”
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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: People divided and separated each of the general actions for itself, meaning strength, wealth, domination, beauty, famine, death, disorder, and so on. They appointed each its own supervisor, and expanded the system as they wished.
I want to attain all kinds of things in life. To accomplish that, I weigh every quality that is good for me and look for nature’s support when trying to obtain it. I ascribe a specific force to nature that will help me. For example, I lack valor, so that means I need the god of war. In order to have a lot of money, I need a god responsible for wealth. That is how I “find” auxiliary forces in nature for myself.
If I don’t succeed in something, then apparently there are bad deities in nature that should be indulged and cajoled so they would respond the same way. The egoistic desire constantly grows and brings me more and more disappointments, while in response a person develops this type of “mythological” attitude to nature, ascribing independence to its different forces and calling them deities.
Humanity has already gone through this stage to some extent by means of religions; however, it is still immersed in superstitions. People believe in all sorts of forces, signs of fortune and misfortune. How does buying a red string differ from making a sacrifice to some god by a “sacred” tree? This is the same thing, the same level.
That is where humanity is in our “progressive” epoch. People began this practice thousands of years ago and they have not changed to this day. In the same way as before, they still believe in the help of special objects that are sold to them and in the effect of monetary contributions that will apparently go directly into the account of a certain god so he would pay back with miraculous help. All of the faiths and religions are built upon these schemes.
Without man’s inner correction, which will lead him to the level of connection with the upper force of nature, everything else is essentially “idol worship,” in the terminology of the science of Kabbalah. After all, I don’t want to change myself, but some external force, so it would become more gracious toward me.
That is how we have successively gone from materialism to faiths, which ascribe a thought, will, and plan to nature. And I seem to be able to change all of this by means of certain external actions. It turns out that a simple ceremony allows me to “modify” the goal and the program of creation.
So what is this god that can be changed? What kind of “almighty” is he if his kind attitude could be bought with “cash”? That is how low humanity’s current level is.
Only if a person obtains forces and uses an entire complex of means to change himself, rising to the level of God, the Almighty, the upper force, then this method is practical, authentic, and correct. Only it is truly realistic. There are simply no other paths besides it.
[49946]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/11, “The Peace”
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Question: If I study in a virtual group and do not experience serious obstacles, am I able to form a plea to the Creator based on regular daily corporeal problems at work and at home?
Answer: There is no need to look for disturbances neither in a virtual nor a physical group. Obstacles come by themselves from our desire to truly come closer and unite with one another. Then the problems begin! And if you do not have any problems, connect with the others and start figuring them out.
Disturbances come in accordance with the state. When people hold a distance, problems do not arise between them. We see our world moving closer to democracy. “Democracy” is the biggest deceit, when I become further from you, and you become further from me. And now we almost do not touch one another, and we say that everyone has freedom: “This is mine, this is yours; don’t touch what’s mine, and everything will be fine.”
But this is no order of relationships because essentially, we are not connected with one another in any way! Whatever little we are to receive from one another, we pass it on to each other through some kind of buffer. But in every other way, we do not touch one another at all. And when we don’t, there are no problems—our ego is ready to agree to this, and this is the most convenient option for it. This is why the modern world has come to democracy, the protection of individual rights, and so on.
But if we begin to act like this in a group, we will never attain unity. Democracy will not be able to lead to unity if everything is being done wearing gloves and keeping a distance.
We were able to do this until now. But now, no matter how much we resist, there is no choice: Nature is pressuring us, forcing us to unite and establish a connection. And even though we are still trying to keep a distance and the same democracy, nature is showing us that we are connected with one another. This is where the problems begin!
I cannot get any further! Greater distance is impossible according to the form that nature is showing me. It is showing me that I am connected with everyone else, and at the same time, I do not want to be connected to them. Basically, this is the essence of the modern crisis.
But in the group, we do need to work in the heart. It does not matter whether we are together in one room or behind computer screens in a virtual class. The key is to avoid misleading ourselves about having attained connection. This is a big problem since a person convinces himself, due to the egoism’s defense ability, that everything is fine and he has a sufficient connection with others. He forgets about it completely and experiences many disturbances.
But when we want to figure this out and we do it together, we begin to work with it and reveal the force of evil, which separates us, our hearts. This is no easy work.
[49532]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/2011, Shamati #218
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Question: We have the basis of correction: the question about the meaning of life. What basis do the masses have?
Answer: We attribute our question about the meaning of life directly to the lack of unity. The Light is manifested in unity, and therefore, we have to take care namely of our unity. It turns out that the meaning of life for us is to be connected with each other.
As for the others, the meaning of life for them is still in various egoistic goals. At the first stage, they should understand that a means of achieving these goals is unity. By becoming united, they will get what they want.
And then, on the way to this, they will gradually begin to understand, to realize: “Affordable housing is important, but unity is more important.” Then, they will come to correction.
Our explanations start from the point that unity should be used as a proper means to succeed in life. Hence, it becomes clear that we talk about the most important, the best tool that we have. In the language of Kabbalah, this intention is called “Lo Lishma”: We want to use the power of our unity for egoistic purposes.
Then, beginning to appreciate unity, we find in the connection between us an “added value,” which in itself provides a special, incomparable status, an unprecedented feeling. Thus, we reveal the “addition” in unity: We suddenly begin to like taking care of each other; we find a unique charm in mutual bestowal, in mutual guarantee.
This pleasure from mutual bestowal is that very pleasure that the Creator originally desired to give us at the Thought of Creation. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the book Ohr Bahir (The Bright Light) that the purpose of creation is to bring pleasure to His creatures by the Light of mutual bestowal between them and the Creator.
[49557]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/2011, “The Peace”
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Opinion: (Sergei Karaganov, Deputy Director, The Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences; Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy): “The global crisis is just beginning and will affect everyone. But it is not clear how and when countries will come together to jointly start overcoming it….
“This crisis and this new period in world history threaten to inflict inevitable hardships on billions of people… Coupled with rapid geopolitical changes… this period may bring a dramatic destabilization of the international situation and an increased risk of conflicts….
“The matter at hand is not just a deep financial and economic crisis. This is an overall crisis of the entire system of global governance; a crisis of ideas on which global development was based; and a crisis of international institutions….
“Overcoming this overall crisis will require a new round of reforms, the construction of international institutions and systems for governing the world economy and finance, and a new philosophy for global development….
“Some principles for building the future system:
– Free trade and a liberal economic order coupled with basically stricter international regulation.
– Joint elaboration and coordination of policies by the most powerful and responsible countries….
– Collective efforts to fill the security vacuum, rather than create new dividing lines and sources of conflict.
– Joint solution of energy problems….
– Russia and the European Union must strive… for a strategic alliance.
– The goal of development must be progress, not democracy. Democracy is a consequence and an instrument of progress.”
My Comment: To summarize, the crisis is just beginning, and the solution is unification. Otherwise, we are headed for deprivation!
[48622]
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In the News: “Newly elected head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde says that she ‘can’t imagine for a second’ that the United States would default on its debt obligations, saying it would be ‘a real shock’ to the global economy if no agreement is reached.” (abcnews.go.com)
“The Obama administration says if the debt ceiling is not raised by Aug. 2, the nation would default on its obligations, with potentially calamitous financial consequences worldwide.” (forbes.com)
“‘There is no alternative to enactment of an increase in the debt limit,’ [Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner ] wrote.” (Washingtonpost.com)
My Comment: What is next? “Be whatever it may be!” The main thing is to postpone the day of reckoning! Everyone in the world wants to keep on playing this game because they do not see and will not see any alternative until sufferings will force them to listen to the recommendations of Kabbalah on how to transition to a society of reasonable consumption and distribution.
[48625]
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.
The Freedom of the Collective and the Freedom of the Individual Are Equal
This seems to be completely unjust that when someone commits a crime, you are responsible for him, even if you are not acquainted with and are distant from that person!
But such is the law: The world is judged by its majority and the individual is judged by its majority. One who does good sentences the whole world to a scale of merit. And if he commits a sin, he sentences himself and the whole world to a scale of sin. This is why it is said, “one sinner destroyeth much good.”
Hence, the law of nature states that all the people in the world are responsible for one another, and each person brings merit or sin to the whole world with his deeds.
– Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 17
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “The Peace,” “Second Method: Two Authorities,” Lesson 4
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