Great Manuscripts Never Die

hebA question I received: Why did so many Kabbalists burn their manuscripts?

My Answer: To Kabbalists, it is sometimes enough for the revelation of the concealed to be written down or said out loud. It may even be enough for a Kabbalist to just think something, since he corrects creation with his thoughts and desires.

This is why they don’t feel bad about burning their texts after writing them. Kabbalists only keep their manuscripts if the generation is able to use them correctly. This is the reason why many Kabbalists, including Baal HaSulam, burned their books and manuscripts. And there were great Kabbalists, like Baal Shem Tov, who didn’t even write down a single word their whole lives.

In addition, a Kabbalist immediately sees the consequence of his correction in the souls. This is very different from how people in our material world do something “good” for their neighbor, and it later turns into evil. If a person doesn’t correct what he is supposed to on his own and we do it for him, it is as though we rob him. And we also go against the Creator.

If a person’s life is not going right, then this is purposefully done by the Creator in order to force him to correct his attitude to the people around him. But instead of correcting the problems by fixing the connection between us, we try to make up for it through charity in the material world. As a result, the world just rolls downhill and reaches even graver states than before.

Therefore, Kabbalists perform truly great corrections through their spiritual work, while all other actions only cause the opposite effect. We have yet to reveal this.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

We Are Waiting To Join The Other Parts Of Ourselves

manJealousy is a direct consequence of the breaking. Previously we were connected and gave of ourselves for the benefit of others. After all, the Light was among us, uniting us and not allowing us to feel that we were separate.

Suddenly this body broke into separate organs or parts, and it is as though each of the organs was being prepared for transplant by being preserved and placed into a nutritious solution. Each organ therefore maintains its livelihood and is not allowed to die until an opportunity arises to transplant it into another body, connecting all the organs again into one entity.

This is how we live today – like a body that has been split up into parts, and each of these parts is preserved with a small spark of life that keeps it from dying so that it will be able to join the other parts once again. This is the state of humanity today.

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How To Imagine The Spiritual World

Attaining Correction With Less BloodshedA question I received: What are the signs that my point in the heart is developing?

My Answer: If your point in the heart is developing, then with each passing day you gain a greater understanding of the fact that your connection with others is the vessel for revealing the Light. And you are always inside this vessel.

When someone says the word “spirituality,” you immediately envision a picture of your connection with the other souls, in which the Creator is revealed. This image of the Creator – a completely giving Kli – is always standing before your eyes. After all, Malchut is called an image of the Creator.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

Moments From The Daily Lesson: How To Develop The Point In The Heart

The Desire For The Goal Must Be Whole

Laitman_2009-02-03_6Desire must be whole. Take for instance a politician whose goal is to become a prime minister. His whole life is focused on this. Having set this goal for himself, he is prepared to discard all his principles and drag himself through the mud in order to achieve his goal.

Everything besides the goal is secondary to him. The possibility of becoming a prime minister captures the whole spectrum of his interests, and reduces them all to whatever can help him achieve the goal. That is what we call a “whole” desire.

A person who aspires to draw the Light that returns him to the Source examines all the qualities of his own nature and of the world, along with all the obstacles on his path, as a means of achieving the goal.

This examination and whole desire guards me from going off track under the weight of my egoism. If  somebody gossips about me,  tries to scare me away or detains me, or if  I am confronted with health problems, family responsibilities and stress, then I accept all of this with gratitude, as assistance to me in breaking the new ground of spiritual growth.

If I am correctly and fully aimed at the goal, I suddenly discover that all the obstacles are helping me on my path. All disturbances become “help against myself” – against my egoism.

There is nothing in the world that couldn’t serve as a means to achieve the goal. After all, the Creator has created everything for man and for his mission. It’s only a matter of how we utilize the “arsenal” available to us.

If I truly aspire to the goal, everything pushes me towards it. If however, I let myself be distracted by “attendant circumstances,” if I address the disturbances themselves, instead of utilizing them as means to attain the goal, instead of being a help to me, they will simply remain disturbances.

Only my distinct aspiration toward the goal will transform obstacles into distinct points of support along my path. Something that I perceive to be such a strong “headwind” I suddenly discover is acting as life support for me time and again, lending a hand and guiding me forward. By this “apparent opposition” the Creator actually helps me to advance.

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Spiritual And Physical Dissemination Of Kabbalah

kiteThe dissemination of Kabbalah means letting the world know the reason for its existence, what forces are causing it to develop, what its purpose and final state is, and how man can influence this process. But the revelation of Kabbalah to the world can only take place as much as the world is able to accept and realize the method.

The physical dissemination takes place through all the mass media channels. The spiritual dissemination is when we unite our points in our hearts and create a force of unity. Then, through the connection among all souls, our force of unity flows into the other souls, making them understand the need for unity and correction.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

Is Your Animal Controlling You, Or Your Soul?

freedomOne’s development begins from the “animate” level, where a person identifies himself with his desires for things in this world. This stage of egoism’s development is called “animate” because all of one’s attention and strength is aimed at taking care of one’s body – and the body is an animal!

On this stage, it is clear what a person is doing. Everyone supports his efforts to provide for himself, his family and relatives and to have a life of maximum comfort.

But how can we convince our bodies – the desires of this world, to step aside and let us also take care of our spiritual development, to strive for bestowal instead of reception? This can only happen if the “point in the heart” awakens in a person. Once it appears, a person has to identify himself with this point. He will then look at his corporeal or animate desires from its standpoint, and will treat those desires as animate.

You have to check who manages and determines your behavior: Is it your animal body, which pulls you down, or your soul, which aspires upwards? Are you driven by the greatness of the Creator (Keter) and the realization of your own insignificance (Malchut), or by your pride and desire for power and fame? You have to observe yourself from the body’s standpoint and from the soul’s standpoint, and keep track of which is making the decisions: your egoism or your soul.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

5 Minutes Of Light From The Daily Lesson: Elevate Your Point In The Heart

Wake Up With The Right Thoughts Every Morning

patentIt seems to us that egoism always defeats us and erases all the results of our efforts, forcing us to always start everything from the beginning, from the darkness, as it is written, “There was evening and there was morning…” However, we have to prepare for the night, in order to take from it everything that is useful for our advancement.

A person cannot go to sleep without reading a page from an article. If you don’t do this, then you will definitely see empty dreams and will wake up with the same thoughts in the morning. This will happen to anyone, regardless of one’s spiritual attainment and level.

This is why it is a must to read an excerpt before going to sleep in order to wake up with the right thoughts for the lesson. What you read will circle around in your head all night, together with your dreams. This has to become a habit.

I learned this from my teacher, Rabash. He always used to read an excerpt from Shamati before going to bed.
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

Be A Cunning Thief: Steal From Yourself

kabbalah2520leaves2520no2520room2520for2520simple2520fThere is no such thing as a descent in spirituality. You always keep everything you have attained. However, you do receive additional, new egoistic desires, and this makes you feel as if you are in a descent.

Yet, you shouldn’t think that the force of bestowal has abandoned you. Rather, this force has helped you to attain a greater revelation of egoism, and you should be happy that you have received the opportunity to see yourself as more deformed, to reveal more desires you can correct, and thus to ascend higher than ever before.

You should see yourself as a trail breaker who makes his way deep inside the egoistic desire, taking little pieces from there that can be attached to bestowal. You should use all your natural qualities, such as a thief and a liar, to steal from and lie to your own egoism.

After all, our egoism is but an animal, and it cannot find out about a man’s intentions. It only understands straightforward, direct gain. We are living inside this egoism and we do everything for its sake. Meanwhile, we don’t realize that we are dealing with our inner animal, which always demands us to serve it.

On the upside, it does not understand the human mind and guile, and this is why the right relation to it enables us to make it do anything we – humans – need.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)