Kabbalah Moments: There Is An Alternative
Posted on July 6th, 2010
A question I received: How can we relate everything we read in Talmud Eser Sefirot to love of friends?
My Answer: Everything described in Talmud Eser Sefirot takes place in the connections among the souls. The science of Kabbalah says nothing about what transpires in the material, which is the desire to receive. It speaks only of what transpires in the intentions, in the forces above the material, or in the connections between the souls.
There is a system of a general desire divided into a multitude of particular desires, levels, manifestations, variations, and thousands upon thousands of varied gradations of qualities. These qualities of different desires connect together.
The problem lies not in the desire itself. The desire is given to us on inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels because those levels are governed by calculations, thoughts, attitudes, and connections. For this reason, the science of Kabbalah speaks not of desires (material) but of the intentions (connections among the desires). These connections in particular are called souls and form the spiritual world, whereas the desires form our material world.
The connection should be comprised of a Rosh, the head of the spiritual Partzuf, which makes decisions and plans the connection, and a Guf, the body of the Partzuf, which actualizes the act of connection. In other words, both the Rosh and the Guf of the spiritual Partzuf are located in between the desires because the Guf of the spiritual Partzuf is the type of connection that has materialized in practice.
The desires themselves are beyond the scope of the discussion, they as though exist below the surface. It is a certain parameter created by the Creator, on the basis of which we build the connections. Hence the entire science of Kabbalah speaks only of the souls, the connections between the desires.
From the lesson on 7/2/10, The Study of the Ten Sefirot
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While reading The Book of Zohar, the most important thing is to think about the connection between us in order to become “as one man with one heart.” The Light that Reforms is nearby and everything depends on our efforts to unite with one another in the system of Adam HaRishon.
This Light influences precisely the broken connections among us. If we try to unite and are unable to, then the Light unites us. It says in Item 155 of the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” that a person is influenced by the Surrounding Light to the extent he aspires to know what he studies. What does it mean “to know what you study”? It does not mean to acquire knowledge, as in our world.
In spirituality everything is attained through connection. Therefore, “to know” means to connect, as it is written, “And Adam knew Eve.” Therefore, the more we aspire to connect with one another through the desire for bestowal and love, the more we awaken the Surrounding Light and then the Light of Wisdom (Ohr Hochma). This Light appears and operates only in the place where we desire to unite but are unable to.
Therefore, there is no sense trying to study The Book of Zohar as a science or wisdom since we don’t understand its language or what it is talking about. To understand it, we have to be in the same world.
Therefore, we have to try to unite with one another. Then the Surrounding Light will come precisely into the places where we lack a connection among us. The Light will unite us with each other, and through the restored connections we will feel the quality of bestowal, the Creator, the Light of Hassadim, and then inside it we will reveal the Light of Hochma.
Therefore, our entire study must be preceded by the desire to unite with each other, and we should not forget about this while studying The Zohar. Baal HaSulam writes the following in Item 17 of the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“: “Hence, the student pledges, prior to the study, to strengthen himself in faith,” meaning in the quality of bestowal, which he desires to attain as a result of the study, so it becomes his life.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/10, The Zohar
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Our inner work is revealed to us piecemeal, in parts that pertain to its execution. We aren’t given the ability to see the entire sum total of all the work we have accomplished, lest it pose an obstacle for us.
A person is constantly consumed by the desire that is revealed in him at the present moment. He forgets about everything he did in the past and constantly feels empty. The more he works, the more the things he has already done become concealed from him.
Even though he has performed many corrections and nothing disappears, he is given the feeling that he has not done anything. This happens so he always has the opportunity to do more, so a new desire can be revealed just like the first time. This continues until he carries out a certain volume of work. Then, in one final action called "Rav Paalim UMekabtziel" he will reveal the entire correction that he has accumulated.
However, along the path we are obligated to forget about all the states we have gone through in order to receive a desire for the next action. Otherwise we would stop and be unable to keep advancing. As long as a person hasn’t completed all the corrections, his entire previous work is concealed from him, as if he has not done anything. Yet, everything will become revealed at once, at the End of Correction!
Everything repeats over and over again, but since a new desire constantly comes to us, it seems like it’s a completely new state. "It is as if we begin everything anew every day." We reveal a new appetite and new tastes in the material world just like in the spiritual world.
Therefore, even if it seems like we have not done anything in spirituality and that we did not attain anything, we will reveal later that this is not so. But until the very End of Correction, we cannot ask or demand for anything that we deserve for the past. On the contrary, we have to be grateful for the fact that the past is concealed from us because this way it does not blind us and prevent us from moving forward. It allows us to begin all the work anew every time.
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot
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Questions about the post “Kabbalists On The Purpose Of Creation,” Part 7
Question: Will I be better off if everybody else is well?
My Answer: Yes, because you are part of everybody else, the only way you will truly be well is if all others are well.
Question: How can I stop wishing others well egoistically, and start wishing them well altruistically?
My Answer: Only the Upper Light can do it!
Question: Why is the Creator so selective toward the creations? Why are certain people or nations chosen? Why didn’t He create everybody equal?
My Answer: Precisely so we could help one another to attain Him.
Question: What is mutual bestowal to the Creator?
My Answer: From everyone according to his ability.
Question: I feel that the World Kli has long been trying to unite for the Creator’s work. If this is the purpose of creation, why doesn’t this infinite fulfillment for His sake take place?
My Answer: We are in the process of forming this unified desire.
Question: Quote: “According to Rambam, we see that everybody must come to the state of Lishma, the only difference being the time when it happens.” Why time, and not effort? Why are these types of “mistakes” not entirely uncommon in the Kabbalistic texts?
My Answer: Because effort refers to actions, whereas time refers to the realization of these actions, their result.
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. Commentaries in brackets are mine.
Why Did the Creator Place the Burden of Creation Upon Us?
It turns out that the purpose of the whole Creation is that the lowly [existing in egoism and thus restricted and transient] creatures will be able, by keeping Torah and Mitzvot [revealing their egoism as the only evil and correcting it by studying Kabbalah], to rise ever upward [by acquiring increasingly bigger properties of bestowal and love instead of reception and hatred], ever developing, until they are rewarded with Dvekut [equivalence of form] with their Creator.
But here come the Kabbalists and ask, why were we not created in this high stature of adhesion to begin with? What reason did He have to burden us with this labor of Creation and the Torah and the Mitzvot? And they replied: “He who eats that which is not his, is afraid to look at his face.” This means that one who eats and enjoys the labor of one’s friend is afraid to look at his face because by doing so [receiving free of charge] he becomes increasingly humiliated [feels as though he doesn’t exist in the world’] until he loses his human [similar to the Creator] form. And because that which extends from His wholeness cannot be deficient [otherwise the Creator cannot become revealed to the created beings as being imperfect], He gave us room to earn our exaltedness [become equal to Him] by ourselves, through our work in Torah and Mitzvot [discovering our egoism and correcting it].
– Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Items 6 and 7
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Each person will have to go through all the stages described in the Torah.
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 312
The Kabbalistic books do not talk about our current state. They talk about how we can prepare ourselves for receiving the Light that will correct us.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 9, Lesson 4
The Lights that continue to change within us creates a sense of time, when in reality time as such does not exist.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 10, Lesson 9
We are confused; we’re trying to put together the pieces of a broken puzzle. We don’t know whether to follow the laws of our nature or rise above them.
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One’s work must be as far from the body as possible. We can discern different stages in the work:
• First a person aspires only for fulfillment, whether in this world or in the world to come.
• Then, besides thinking about the fulfillment itself, he starts to think about “who is he dealing with,” who does this fulfillment depend on? He then begins to connect the fulfillment with the source of fulfillment, the Giver. He starts to have an attitude toward the Giver because the fulfillment depends on Him.
• At the next stage a person starts to respect the Giver for the fact that he is Giving, for His quality of being Giving, rather than for the pleasure that he receives from Him.
That is when he reaches an inner divide: On one hand he feels that fulfillment is important, but on the other he aspires to become similar to the Giver. Is the fulfillment important because it gives him energy for work, or because of the fulfillment itself? Where exactly does he get his energy and what is his goal: fulfillment or a connection with the Giver?
In this manner he gradually reaches a state of thinking only about equivalence of form between him and the Creator. However, this is also not so simple. Equivalence of form is not the same as the desire to give pleasure to the Giver. The aspiration to reach equivalence of form still involves a consideration for oneself. Even though I desire to give, to delight someone else, and to love, it is still something that I want; I am present in this consideration.
Yet, isn’t the same thing true for giving pleasure: Won’t I be giving it? Or perhaps there is someone who will do it better than me? How well can I do it without receiving anything in return?
We see that the work involves many levels. It encompasses five entire worlds where a person reassesses his entire motivation and principles: For what sake is he willing to make efforts? What fulfills him, and what is his attitude to the Giver? This is what causes his state to change and helps him rise from one world to the next.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/10, Writings of Rabash
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Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot, Item 3: This sensing force in the Animate is very limited in time and space, since the sensation does not operate at even the shortest distance outside its body. Also, it does not feel anything outside its own time, meaning in the past or in the future, but only at the present moment.
Atop them is the Speaking, consisting of an emotional force and an intellectual force together. For this reason, its power is unlimited by time and space… .
This is so because of its science, which is a spiritual matter, unlimited by time and place. One can teach others wherever they are in the whole of reality, and in the past and the future throughout the generations.
In reading these books, we are amazed by the immense wisdom of the Kabbalists who wrote them. They can write thousands of stories for us about the spiritual world since this world is open for them. They simply tell us what they see.
A Kabbalist sees the world from stem to stern; he sees all of its inner forces and connections. He takes some section of it and begins to explain it to us. Every one of his descriptions reflects unimaginable wisdom and is an amazing discovery for us. We are amazed at how he could know about these things. However, he doesn’t require special intelligence for this; he simply sees this picture in front of him because he has changed his nature.
Therefore, if we think that we will be able to attain what is written by using our brains, by systematically arranging everything in our minds, this is a big mistake. This will not help us. We need to rise to a spiritual level, and then what Kabbalists talk about will become a part of our lives. We will understand naturally that things are just as the Kabbalists described and they cannot be otherwise.
We read the articles and books in order to draw the Light that Reforms. And when we return to the Source, all these concepts will “enter” into us and become obvious for us. They will occur within our spiritual body.
Thus, we shouldn’t despair that we can’t grasp all this material with our minds. We need to desire inner change so that all this becomes our own nature and then no words will be required! Just like it is natural to me to see rocks, plants, animals, and people around me, I will see all of spiritual reality just as clearly. When the spiritual world will be revealed to me, it will cease to be a “science” for me; it will just become my life.
Don’t worry, no one will test us on this knowledge and demand us to memorize it. This will not help anyway. Let nothing remain in our heads from what we read; holding one intention is all that matters. The rest is not important, even if I forget what I had learned one second before. It is essential to never forget about the goal and the right attitude to the studies.
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/10, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot
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