5 Minutes Of Light From The Daily Lesson: Importance Of The Goal
Posted on September 25th, 2009
Preparation to the Lesson
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Part 1, on Shamati #58, “Joy Is A Reflection Of Good Deeds”
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Part 2, on “Introduction to the Book, From the Mouth of a sage”
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A question I received: What is the fundamental difference between humans and other creatures?
My Answer: Unlike animals, we humans have the opportunity to attain a connection higher than our bodies. There are two forces or desires at my disposal: I feel my “self” or my life, and I also feel the need to find the source of my life – the Creator.
In the physiological sense, humans do not differ from animals in any fundamental way. Man originated from the animate level. At some point in the past, we used to be apes, and we later developed into “modern apes.” Everything happened due to the development of the Reshimot in us. For more on this, see Part 3 of Talmud Eser Sefirot.
So, there is no difference between humans and animals, except for the spiritual desire that is instilled in us. This desire is a part of the Creator, and it is above and beyond our lives. If this desire awakens in me, then I become a human being. Meanwhile, in every other respect, I still remain an “ape.”
Granted, it’s an ”ape of the best sort” – one that’s more complex and more adapted to carrying out the human function: to attain the Creator through its desire. Our bodies are smarter and more sensitive than animals’. Yet, whatever a person in this world has that is above and beyond the animate level, he needs it for only one thing: to develop and understand what his soul desires.
You have received a point of spirituality that bears absolutely no relation to the body. It will remain even if you were to replace all parts of the body. It would still want to advance forward!
(From Part 2 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to the Book, ‘From the Mouth of a Sage’”)
October 15th will mark the start of the North American Congress in Buffalo, NY. We hope to see many new friends there. These “live” gatherings are very important.
The next Congress after the North American one will take place in Turkey on October 22nd. This Congress is intended for the European region.
These two events are incredible opportunities for unity. If you have never been to a Congress, then you just won’t receive the connections you need to correct in order to feel the spiritual world inside them.
If you have experienced something at least once, then you already know what it feels like and you can continue what you started. But without experiencing something for the first time, you just won’t have the right impression, and nothing to keep developing. You have to receive an impression that you will later develop through the studies.
Therefore, anyone who has an opportunity to come to a Congress, but turns it down and stays home, or spends that time at a friends’ gathering with a few friends in his home town, will be making a mistake! You can only do this when the circumstances leave you no other choice.
On my part, I promise to be ready to answer your questions throughout the entire duration of these Congresses.
(From Part 2 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to the Book, ‘From the Mouth of a Sage’”)
It is written: “No bread, no Torah.” This means that our life here, in this world, precedes everything. Before I do anything else, I have to secure my existence on the corporeal level.
Therefore, a person has to work and do everything that is necessary in this life, without turning away from it. The science of Kabbalah considers this condition mandatory for one’s correction on a higher level.
I have to take care of everything that is necessary for my normal existence. This is a very important condition in the science of Kabbalah, and it differentiates it from all other spiritual methods, which try to disconnect a person from this life.
The science of Kabbalah says the opposite: it is precisely while you are living this life, where you work, study, and give birth to children, that you must reach the general balance with Nature. And under no circumstances should you run away from this world.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)
A question I received: If everything we see in the world is merely a reflection of our inner state, does this mean that in order to see the world as corrected, we have to correct ourselves inside?
My Answer: All correction occurs within us. We do not have to correct the world. Unless you correct yourself, the world will not change for the better.
This fact will soon be revealed to us to the full extent. No matter how many good or bad things we do in the outside world – that is, within the bounds of only this world – our actions don’t affect anything, such as the ecology, for example. It’s just that one phenomenon becomes revealed instead of another. For instance, if we stop burning gasoline and switch to ecologically clean fuel, this will obviously entail certain changes in the atmosphere. But instead of the old problems, new problems will appear.
This happens because you have not corrected yourself through that. All of the balance in nature depends only on man’s correction. Therefore, the lack of balance on the human level, the lack of connection between people, is the single cause of all our problems.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)
What are the desires or the souls that were shattered? At one point, there was one screen that united us. But then the Light came and revealed to everyone how we are all different. Although we all strive towards the Creator, each of us bestows in their own way.
It’s like a bunch of family members all trying to feed one baby. The mom gives him the porridge, the grandma wants to give him milk, while the grandpa insists that only bread will make the baby healthy. Each one wants to give something to the same baby, but in the process they all argue with each other.
The desires become shattered because the connection between them breaks, and due to this breakage, they also lose the chance to bestow to the Creator!
We have to understand exactly what is shattered. Only then will we know what needs to be corrected. We will find that the only way to build a human being (the middle line) is by reuniting all the pieces of the soul which have lost their connection with each other and it will become clear that the only way to unite the pieces around them is centered around that very same baby that first connected them.
Imagine that the whole family starts hating each other. The mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and everyone else all wish the baby “well” according to their own criteria, while denying the opinions of the others. So, what will bring us back together? Only the love toward the baby. Each one of us will then be willing to rise above his own egoism and lower his head for the baby’s sake.
This is why unity between us is possible only if we wish to reach the state of bestowal towards the Creator. We will then unite all together with Him into one whole.
(From Part 2 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”)
No matter what we do, we always act for the sake of our egoism and we never go against it. It was in order to help us exit our egoism and enter the Upper World that we were given the Light of Correction. This Light influences us even when we strive for an egoistic goal, such as when we are afraid of ending our lives without achieving anything of greatness, when we desire to feel eternity and perfection, and to enter the eternal spiritual world.
A person sees that he gets nothing from his earthly life. It is short and empty, and nothing remains of it once it’s over. We, as humanity, had to go through thousands of years of egoistic development just in order to come to this realization. And the majority of people still don’t stop to think about this even today, being preoccupied by the mundane concerns of daily life.
For now, they are still not so concerned about the meaning of life, as they are about how to gain the most in life. Their inner desires haven’t yet ripened sufficiently to ask about the meaning of life.
But if the point in the heart awakens in a person, he begins being concerned about his life after death. And later on he comes to understand that he can attain the sensation of eternal life even while living in this world.
Thus, he begins to study Kabbalah books, even though his objectives are still egoistic: He wants to master the World of infinity, to feel, understand and control everything. But gradually, the Light inside these books changes him and instills new values in him. He learns how to lie to his own body and to force it to work for the spiritual goal. And eventually he comes to agree and accept the path that the Creator has set for him.
The Light then raises him above his ego and brings him to the quality of bestowal. He thereby acquires a new mind and an understanding of the entire system of reality; he reveals the Upper Worlds and the thought of creation.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)
Preparation to the Lesson
The Daily Kabbalah Lesson is the best opportunity to attract the force of correction. It’s a time when a multitude of desires unite into one great aspiration.
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Part 1, on Writings of Rabash
At every moment, you have to leave room for the Light to work inside your desire.
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Part 2, on “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”
I am influenced by two opposite forces: the right line and the left line. My task is to build the middle line: my independent aspiration toward the Creator.
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Part 3, on “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before”
This world is egoism. The spiritual world is bestowal.
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