The Four Corners Of The World

mutual.jpg The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 201: “And the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to the God who gave it.” When the Creator created Adam, He took his dust from the place of the Temple and built his body from the four directions of the world. And each of them gave him strength. Afterwards, He poured over him the spirit of life, as it is written, “And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Then he rose and knew that he consisted of above and below, and then he adhered to the Creator and knew the upper wisdom [Hochma].

The four spirits of the world are Hochma, Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut. They are called the four corners of the world, and they are also divided into the right and the left lines: Hochma and Bina; Tifferet is the middle line with Yesod at the end of it, followed by the place of adhesion with Malchut. This is how everything is divided into the right side, left side, and the middle, and the top and the bottom. Such is the structure of our soul, within which we reveal reality.

Even now we reveal our reality within our soul, but we call it our body only because this soul is small, uncorrected, and acts egoistically for the sake of receiving pleasure for itself. But in reality it is the same structure, the same desire, since the Creator only created one desire and not several. However, it is merely revealed to us to a very small extent, in a very uncorrected, tiny form. What we perceive within it is called “this world.” We must reveal this desire, make it bigger, change it slightly, and make it similar to the Light. Then, in it, we will perceive the soul or life in the future world.

We Have Everything But…

time 2 The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 155: …Every Guf [body] fell under the authority of Sam, Esau’s minister, during the sin of the tree of knowledge, from which the Guf was sentenced to death. This dominion is the filth of the serpent, which is not removed from the Guf before it decays in the grave….

The desire to receive pleasure called “body” is my ego, the enormous desire for pleasures for my own benefit. It has to die before my eyes, be buried, and decay. In my life I have to come to such a state when “death is better than such a life,” when I know for sure that I have nothing and never will have anything from this earthly life. I have everything, but I don’t have any purpose in my life or any goal for which it would make sense to live.

This is exactly what is happening now. People have everything compared to those who lived a thousand years ago. They have a place to live, food, and prosperity. Who lived in such conditions in the past? Perhaps, just kings.

Today we have everything, yet we have to take antidepressants and visit our personal therapists twice a week. This is telling us that people are revealing the inability to fulfill themselves. Apparently our body is satisfied at the material or animal level while at the same time, the human being within us is revealing himself, and he is empty. This is indicative of “the body decaying in the grave.”

Evening Zohar Lesson – 03.13.10

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 248
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Selling The Birthright

cheat The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 155: …Hence, the righteous purify their bodies, which come from the force of the left, until they are worthy of receiving the Mochin from the middle line.” This is already the Light of Hassadim, with a little Light of Hochma clothed within it. “And upon the reception of the Mochin, the Guf that despises its authority is like Esau. And an impression of that degradation remains in the body after its passing, too, until it causes it to decay, meaning to completely annul its power of reception until no remnant is left of it….

Esau is my inner decision. It is when I begin to understand that I can no longer work with my desire to receive pleasure the way I previously worked with it, meaning for the sake of receiving egoistically. Moreover, this decision is final and irreversible.

“Selling the birthright” means that I do not use my desire to receive pleasure in its primal form, for the sake of receiving. What I “sell” is not the egoistic desires (Kelim) themselves, but the system of their use. With this my previous attitude towards life disappears.

Why Did We Begin To Study The Zohar Today?

explain Lately I received many questions and complaints regarding why we have begun to study The Zohar if we don’t understand anything in it! Others, on the other hand, write, “If The Zohar brings the Surrounding Light, why didn’t we begin to study it earlier? Why have we lost so many years?”

Those who have been studying for many years and recently began to study The Book of Zohar feel that they could not have approached this earlier. First, preparation and a mature desire are necessary. This includes an understanding that there is no choice and that without The Zohar we will not be able to achieve anything. The preparation involves understanding that there is a special, wonderful power in The Zohar and only it can help us. Ultimately, it is not in my power to ascend this mountain on my own; the only choice that remains is to await salvation from above.

In order for a person to begin to search for the Light that Reforms, one first needs to lose faith in his own strength and see that on his own he will not achieve anything. As it is written about Egyptian slavery: “And the sons of Israel cried out from this work.” In other words, you raise your arms up in despair, realizing that there is nothing else left to do – you have tried everything and you see that nothing helps.

To reach this point, a person needs to be “old” and experienced; this maturation occurs through studying Kabbalah for several years. This feeling is not given to a person without a reason, and the years spent are not wasted! There is a huge benefit in them, and this benefit will be revealed to us.

Evening Zohar Lesson – 03.12.10

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 230
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Reassembling The Common Soul

reminds A question I received: What is the advantage of the breaking of the common soul?

My Answer: We can use a television set at home to illustrate this. Although it is a complicated device, anyone knows how to press buttons and use it; its operation does not pose any problem whatsoever for children. But let’s suppose that the TV completely breaks into all its tiny pieces, and with no other option, I need to fix it. Just think how smart I will become after I reassemble it! I will need to know its whole structure: all its plastic and metal parts, all the wires and components, their circuitry and connections, and all the laws governing how the components interact. We are talking about a complete and total breaking, so I need to know everything about it in order to repair it.

Accordingly, with respect to the breaking in spirituality, I come to understand how it is arranged and Who created it. He put all of Himself into His creation, and so I come to understand and comprehend the Creator Himself. In other words, before the breaking, the common soul of Adam HaRishon is completely different than after the breaking and the correction. Due to the breaking and reuniting, instead of instinctive knowledge about how to “press buttons” and make actions on the level of an animal, which nature compels me to perform, I collect the whole creation on my own, achieve the End of Correction, whereby the whole creation becomes mine, and by that I acquire the mind of the Creator.

Allow The Light To Complete Its Work

Love is Providing Others With the Means to Fulfill Their Point in the Heart We could not begin studying The Book of Zohar any earlier. Students simply would not have been able to tolerate it. Although new students see that now people who have been studying for a few years can open The Zohar and feel that redemption truly comes from it, these new students don’t yet have that same need. They perceive this book as being completely incomprehensible, dry, and unfit for a beginner. They want something that is more directed at logic and feelings.

However, we need to take into consideration the following condition: The majority of the group that has been on the path for many years is on such levels of development that they need this book. The moment this group achieves a state where it can finally comprehend The Book of Zohar, the Surrounding Light completes its work on them and will bring all of them across the Machsom.

So what will happen to the newcomers? We will always have newcomers. Until the very End of Correction, there will always be people who have been on their path of correction for many years already, and those who are just beginning. So what do we do?

The instant the main bulk of the students, who are now leading, began to study The Book of Zohar, this shortened the time for all the others! If new students join the others, these newcomers can perform a leap in their development.

We see this through the example of a child in our world. A child is born into this world and already he is benefitting from all the preparations and efforts the world of adults has made for him. Completely unaware of these arrangements made for him, a baby is born in a maternity unit of a hospital equipped with specialized instruments and machines to care for him. Ready for the baby are: diapers, special foods, and a multitude of products and services. Nearly half the world is devoted to providing children with everything they need.

A child is included in the whole world and grows with his generation. He doesn’t start from the beginning, from the primordial state of 20,000 years ago. He joins his modern generation at their level of development with all their advancements. He immediately falls into our contemporary degree, surrounded by computers, cell phones, and mp3 players. We give him all the best things that we were able to create.

In spirituality it works exactly the same way. When “children” come, when they have just been “born” and don’t have anything, we must provide them with everything that befits our generation of mature students.

They will assimilate it all quickly and grow even higher than us.