The Soul Is The Light Of The Creator

All the Prophets Wrote About Us A question I received: Why is it written that Baal HaSulam merited to receive the Ari’s soul? Didn’t he have his own soul?

My Answer: The soul is a “part of the Creator from Above.” No person born in our world has it from birth. The only people who have a soul are those who have attained at least the minimal quality of bestowal, the quality of the Creator.

With the case you are asking about, a person corrected himself, attained the quality of bestowal, built his soul (vessel of perception – Kli), and suddenly this vessel acquired a specific form and was filled with the Light called “the soul of the Ari.” The soul is the corrected desire (this is “the body” of the soul), and the Light that fills it (the Light of the soul) is the revelation, the Creator, which clothes into you. That is why the soul is called a “part of the Creator from Above.”

Receiving the soul of the Ari means thinking like him, feeling like him, being instead of him, seeing through his eyes, and feeling with his senses just like him. Baal HaSulam received the soul of Ari, which is the same soul that was passed from Adam to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Rashbi, from Rashbi to the Ari, and from the Ari to Baal HaSulam. This is a special soul through which the Creator reveals the method of merging with Him during the generations when a special spiritual change has to occur. If the Creator sent us a teacher like Baal HaSulam, who had the soul of the Ari, this indicates that we are living in the generation of the last, general correction.

The soul constantly changes and reincarnates. Throughout the course of a Kabbalist’s lifetime, he always has a different Partzuf and a different degree. A person’s corrected qualities that have the intention of bestowal, in which the Light can be clothed, is called a soul. The Kli is called the body of the soul, and the Light is called the soul. This is the Light of NaRaNHY, but in general it is called “Neshama” (soul) because until we reach the complete correction, we can only correct this degree completely.

Our Only Chance To Ascend Is To Cling To The Upper Level

adjacent The only way our generation can achieve the goal of creation is by using the method created for us by Baal HaSulam. We have to study and absorb what he said without clinging to the content of his books, but instead striving to attain his “spirit” and sticking to it like a child wishes to stick to an adult.

The child does not understand the adult and does not know why the adult acts in a certain way. The child just “clings” to the adult and belongs to him, and that is how he succeeds. This is also how the Upper Level is connected to the lower level. You have to become one with everything the Upper Level gives you by raising its greatness in spite of your egoism.

You have to bring all your qualities into harmony with the Upper Level. This is called “serving the Upper One.” By so doing, you rise to and reveal His level. There is no way to rise from a lower degree to a higher one other than by merging with the AHP of the Upper One.

“Merging with the Upper One” means desiring to reveal His spirit, preferences and thoughts, as well as what is important to Him, how He perceives spirituality, how He thinks and what His attitude is. We can discern all of this through all the external signs which we reveal from the Upper Degree’s manifestation.

The Maidservant And Mistress Described In The Book Of Zohar Are Inside You

Annunaki and Kabbalah Have Nothing in Common Everything that The Book of Zohar speaks of takes place inside of you. All of its characters are various nuances of your relationship with the Upper Force, the Creator, other people and yourself. Later, however, you will begin to unify all of this into a single whole, the only existing reality.

When reading The Book of Zohar, you should always imagine yourself, meaning your qualities, since that is the only thing The Zohar is talking about. When it mentions an animal, for example, then it’s talking about you; a tree – also about you, a teenager – about you, a hill – about you, a maidservant – about you, a mistress – also about you. You are all of these things, which are qualities, not objects.

The qualities of your desire (Malchut) are divided into a maidservant (those that help you) and a mistress (those that control you). The mistress is your corrected state, whereas the part of you that isn’t yet corrected, but that can take part in correction, is called the maidservant.

You are split in two parts – the mistress and the maidservant – with respect to the master or husband, the Creator. That is how the soul feels its relationship with the Creator. Because we receive from Him, we are all His wives, or parts of Malchut.

If you aspire to correct your qualities, then they are defined as a “maidservant who is loyal to her mistress.” This means that even though your qualities are still egoistic, you are nonetheless willing to attain bestowal. This is the soul’s loyalty to its husband, the Creator. If, on the other hand, your qualities desire to work for themselves, they are called an “impure maidservant who is disloyal to her mistress.”

Our goal is to turn all of the maidservant’s uncorrected qualities into the mistress’s corrected qualities. We will then attain the state of “Mistress” – loved by and equal to its lover.

Laziness Can Be Useful Or Detrimental Depending On How You Use It

heaven A question I received: What should I do if laziness holds me back from advancing, not letting me enter the group and make efforts there?

My Answer: Laziness can be very useful if it is combined with the importance of the spiritual goal. I am lazy to make any movement until I discover the harm that can come to me. Then I have no choice but to overcome my laziness. In this case I don’t do anything extra, but only what is necessary for me in order to achieve the goal of my choice.

Laziness does not have to mean that you are lying down and doing nothing. You may be making tons of efforts, doing lots of unrelated things, but you are lazy to force yourself to do something that is useful for your spiritual progress. For example, say you are sitting at home and not going to sleep on time in order to wake up early for the lesson. This is also a form of laziness.

The root of laziness is that you don’t see a reward that would inspire you to change your present state. That is why you have to increase the value of the reward in your perception. Then you will be able to overcome your laziness. Otherwise, you feel good anyway. You don’t feel a sufficiently great punishment or reward, and that’s why you opt to remain as you are, without changing.

A person who works hard at a simple job and earns pennies can feel lazy to make efforts in order to find a different job. He works hard, but he is lazy to make a change. This example helps us to see that if we use laziness correctly, it will help us to do only the things we need to do, but if we don’t use it right, then it stops us and does not let us create the right conditions for reaching the goal.

Therefore, laziness is a very important quality. By directing it correctly and taking control over it, we can make great progress, as if pressing on the gas or the brakes in a car. This is another example that nothing was created in vain!

A Kabbalist’s Inner Work Takes Place In Three Lines

author A question I received: How does a Hassid differ from a Kabbalist?

My Answer: A Hassid wants to erase his egoistic qualities. He is fully immersed in the Light of Mercy (Hessed), which does not expand in height, but only in breadth.

In this situation, a person feels that everything is simple and good, the Creator is the only force present everywhere and in everything, there is nothing besides Him, I live in the Creator’s world, there is no egoism, I accept everything with joy, and I ignore all the doubts. This is a wonderful attitude to life for small people to have, because they immediately accept everything with gratitude to the Creator. This also provides enormous psychological help in dealing with all of life’s difficulties. However, when you have this attitude, you are not working with your egoism.

A Kabbalist, on the other hand, uses his egoistic desires (the left line) and adds them to the right line. The right line has to be present and you have to achieve it first and foremost. You have to start everything from it. But after that, once you have the power of the right line, you should immediately turn to the left line and select the egoistic desires (desires that oppose your spiritual progress) that you can correct.

By correctly combining both lines inside you, you build the middle line. This is done using the power of the left line – the desire, together with the intention of the right line, the intention “for the sake of bestowal.”

Spiritual growth takes place only in the middle line, by using egoism and rising above it. You then receive the Light of Hochma inside it and thus reveal and attain the Upper World, the Creator.

The Book Of Zohar Is Like A River Flowing Out Of The Garden Of Eden

clip_image001We have to open ourselves so the text of The Book of Zohar can flow through us easily, completely unobstructed. Then we will begin to feel new sensations of what is happening in that other world.

We have to expect to feel a picture that is made up of feelings, but without any fantasies or visual images. We should desire to feel the words of this book immediately and directly, as when reading something that we understand and are close to, and that we experience as we are immersed in reading the text.

The text of The Book of Zohar is a river flowing out of the Garden of Eden and through a person’s heart. Anyone who opens his heart will be washed by its waters, will be cleansed and will begin to see.

Don’t Miss Your Chance To Receive A Parcel From The Creator

marriage In the past, even as recently as a hundred years ago, there were many people who would readily give up all of their material possessions and would make every effort imaginable in order to reveal the concealed Upper World. However, since it still wasn’t the time for humanity to reveal it, and humanity still hadn’t reached a global connection, the Upper Governance did not push people in this direction.

In the 20th century, however, people’s individual and collective egoism has grown to such an extent that an individual mulls over every infinitesimal effort he has to make, debating whether to make it or not. If any thought about spirituality (good or bad) visits us, it’s a sign that the Creator, the Upper Degree, is descending to us and inviting us to connect with It. In response, a person has to seek a deeper connection and the way to unlock it.

The Upper Level sends us thoughts about It in order to awaken us, who are below, and It expects a response or reaction from us. We, the lower level, must only open up the message we are receiving and find out what is in it.

It’s like someone is knocking on our door, saying: “You’ve got a parcel!” That parcel is a thought about spirituality which suddenly comes to us. In response, we have to open the door, receive the parcel, and then open it up in order to find out who sent it and how we should respond to it.

However, instead, while we hear the knocking on the door, we’re simply sitting there and waiting to see – what will happen next? But nothing is happening, because the entire message is contained in the knocking; it’s inside our hearts. Thus, we are like a tenant who is reluctant to get up from his chair, and yells to the mailman: “Leave it next to the door, I will pick it up later!”

That is why the Upper Force leaves us alone and we lose the urge for spirituality until the next time we are awakened. But who knows when this urge will return again? That’s why the moment we receive any reminder, we must immediately realize it to the end, until we open up all the messages and parcels and find the sender’s address. Then we will be able to come to Him and knock on His door!

I sleep, but my heart waketh; it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, “Open to me, my sister, my love, my undefiled…

I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

…my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone…

(From Song of Songs by King Solomon, 9th century BCE)

Moments From The Daily Lesson – Soul

5 Minutes Of Light From The Daily Lesson – Wanting To Reveal The Higher Level

Only Your Eyes Will See

questions on soul Two questions I received on one’s inner spiritual development:

Question: Who forms the spiritual qualities in me? Do I do it myself or does the Creator do it for me?

My Answer: On the spiritual path, a person continuously reveals new layers of reality, and gradually a single system emerges before him. It is a great mechanism that controls every atom and molecule in all of creation. This mechanism also controls how they are interconnected and what changes take place within them.

We don’t know what we will reveal as a consequence of our spiritual search, but our task is to get to know the Creator through the examples of His actions.

Question: Is it possible to combine two points of view: “There is none else besides the Creator” and “There is none else besides me?”

My Answer: We can’t manage to combine these contradictions in our language, our feelings or our minds.

When you feel that you’ve ascended a bit higher than the level of this world and when your preconceptions of time and space vanish, a completely new perception will form in your mind. However, even in spiritual perception, we are limited by the descriptions of the Worlds of BYA.

A person is capable of rising even higher, but he is unable to describe what is revealed there since there are no letters, words, or sounds with which to describe it.  This is because our whole perception is built on contrasts, for example, light versus dark and good versus evil. Above the Worlds of BYA, however, good and evil blend together into one. But this is something we cannot describe.

Therefore, there is an answer to your question, but it is impossible to express it. So, how can you find out the answer? Ascend, and it will be revealed to you. It is written, “Only your eyes will see, but not the eyes of another.”

(From the lesson on “Introduction to the Book ‘The Mouth of a Sage,’” 11.06.2009)