How do I organize myself so that all of my thoughts, calculations, examinations, and clarifications will always be directed towards the Creator and not towards myself? This is the only and most essential question: How do I move my attention from myself to the Creator?

As long as the person has not begun to feel the Creator through the Light that Reforms, at least a little, even not clearly, but to some degree, he begins to feel how some kind of power pulls him, brings him closer to it, organizes his whole life, until then he has no ability to think about Him. With his powers he never can move his attention from himself to some strange object that doesn’t even exist for him.

He never thinks about what is around him, about the many strange objects, he doesn’t take others into account, except if he is dependent on them. Therefore the environment that tells us about the importance of the Creator, the power of bestowal, the field in which people are found and which organizes for us the entire process through which we pass all the time is so important to us.

Even though we still don’t perceive, don’t feel, or don’t identify this power, still the environment can awaken in us the feeling of its importance all the time. That is how we can return time after time to the thoughts and calculations that focus on the Creator, even if they are all for my own personal good, but in spite of it all they are linked to Him. This state is called Lo Lishma.

And if we seek the discovery of the Creator, in other words, some kind of thought about bestowal within my work, then it can come only from the point in the heart. There are people in whom a basis exists, a gene with information (Reshimo), a spark of the characteristic of bestowal that we had before the shattering of the soul of Adam HaRishon. It follows, that they have some kind of spark from that shattered “Screen” that attracts them towards spirituality.

Which is to say, the person himself doesn’t do anything in particular himself, and simply within him the spark is awakened. This doesn’t depend on him; it is simply that this is how he was born. And if he arrives within a group of Kabbalists, then the group and the study can ignite that spark in him. Thus, time after time he receives awakening: a little more and a little more, in that he overcomes himself, sometimes by himself, sometimes with the help of the teacher and the group. Thus he attracts the Light that strengthens his link with the Creator.

He no longer feels just a vague aspiration like before he reached the group, rather a little more. But this is still a very distant link; you see he is not ready to think about the Creator all the time, rather only at unique moments when he gets extra illumination. And then he is awakened and reminded with the higher power. But in general, he moves according to the desire to receive in an egoistic form, which is to say, to acquire additional knowledge and feeling, and not in order to be concerned about the Creator. This is an artificial turning towards the Creator, as if it is to get the characteristic of bestowal.

But that is how the time passes, and thanks to a person’s present efforts, the Light does its work time after time. He begins to understand that he remains empty and doesn’t reach any success. From the sensation of emptiness within the desire to receive and thanks to the illumination that he receives within his point in the heart, he begins to understand that without help from above he has no chance of getting out of this state. And in order to truly reach bestowal, it is necessary to go out of the ego, to rise from the world in which he is now found, and to leave all the previous values, all that was close and dear to him.

If he feels attractions like these to go outside of himself, then he must be careful that this will not be on his own account; that is, he must clarify more deeply what he is doing this for, what it means to bring joy to the Creator. This must transform into the entire goal for him, the most precious thing in life, more precious than everything that he has in his world. Everything that he had until today was absolutely nothing in comparison to the opportunity to give satisfaction to the Creator.

This is to say, he aspires to this not because he hopes that in this way he will organize all the rest of the things in his life, and not because he hopes to benefit from greater fulfillment when he uses the Light egoistically; rather, he strives to understand and to feel what the true meaning of Lishma is, the intention in order to bestow without any reference to himself. Therefore all the actions must be towards the other, and only when they are towards others can they bring bestowal for the sake of the Creator.

The person doesn’t feel any reason for these actions, he has no desire for this, rather he aspires to this artificially, really forcing himself to think about this. But thus, time after time, when he thinks about this and discusses this with the friends in workshops, clarifying all these concepts, with his efforts he attracts the Light that Reforms and begins to approach the truth. He must check in what place he wants to receive benefit from this advancement.

In this way, a person gradually exits himself—through the other to the Creator. The Light gradually will grant to him the characteristic of bestowal.

And it is impossible to forget that specifically these states, when the person is devoid of sensation, emotion, and excitement, is confused and foggy, these are most useful for giving effort, if he tries with all his power to bring himself to consciousness. Therefore in the work the descents are more important than the ascents. The ascents are designed only to give an impression, an example, of what must be attained during a descent.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/04/13

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