At the recent Convention I revealed that I cannot unite with others or cancel myself, and I am not even able to come close to anyone! So what should I do if that is my nature?

That is why there is a means called the Upper Light. This Light is contained inside the group, but it is concealed from us and we don’t see it. It is also the place where the Creator, the quality of bestowal, is found. So how can we evoke its influence on us?

If you start studying the true primary sources in the group: The Book of Zohar or Talmud Eser Sefirot, then this enables you to attract the Light and to awaken it from inside. Why? It is because when reading these books you read about inner states, and you thereby bring them closer, awaken them, and attract them to yourself.

You awaken the influence of this concealed, inner world upon yourself, and it shines for you. Gradually this corrects you, allowing you to connect with others, and then hatred, repulsion, and separation go away. You begin to understand the importance of this unity and you desire for it to come true. And suddenly, there is a certain “click” – your first connection with others.

If you imagine the levels of this unity in the form of a scale (from 0 to 125 levels) then it means that you have moved from point zero to one. And that is a foundation!

At the Convention, we felt this point of zero, the fact that we are unable to enter unity with one another. Now we have a goal in front of us – to demand the Light that Reforms with the help of the study and the right intention.

The moment you attain the first level of unity, you become “the son of the world to come” (Ben Olam HaBa). You understand and feel what this is. You start to slightly make your way around it and you already receive the first impression of the spiritual world.

After that, things will get easier. The most important thing is the first revolution! All the other levels will simply become greater and greater. Of course, the differences between them are great and colossal in might. But nothing can compare to entering the first degree. That is because when it happens you literally shift from our world to the spiritual world. And that is a fundamental breakthrough.
[26938]
From the “Kabbalah For Beginners” Program on 11/17/10

Related Material:
Choosing The Sweet Bitterness Of Truth
The Compass Pointing To The Creator

Filed under: Spirituality - 4 Comments →

Baal HaSulam, "The Foundations Of Intention," Item 59: …Malchut of the First Restriction is concealed in the "unattainable head" (RADLA) by the secret of the "foundation stone," which the builders neglected. And therein lies the secret of the three heads of which The Book of Zohar speaks, since the first head, RADLA, is corrected as "one above the other," while the head of Arich Anpin is corrected as "one inside the other."

There is a head of a spiritual Partzuf (Rosh) that repels the Light and is therefore called "one above the other," and there is also a head that accepts the Light and sends it downwards as "one inside the other." These two heads stand at the head of the World of Atzilut and constantly balance each other out with their work. This determines the root of the Upper Governance, which comes to us from there.

It says about Malchut, "One above the other"; Malchut is separated from the World of Atzilut and we no longer know what happens there. We don’t understand the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) since it is at a completely different range.

It’s similar to my ear, which is able to pick up sounds only up to the frequency of 20 kilohertz; I cannot hear anything higher than that. The First Restriction works on "gigahertz" so great, a range so distant that I don’t even suspect its existence. It is unknown and unclear to me.

Such fine qualities of the desire to enjoy and the desire to bestow exist there, and such fine discernments that we don’t even touch it. We aren’t refined and sensitive enough for it. This is called "one above the other."

There is a reverse order of Lights and Kelim, meaning that the desire of Malchut lacks the Light of Keter, Yechida. It turns out that the Light of Hochma ascends into the vessel of Keter, the Light of Bina, into the vessel of Hochma, and so on, until the Light intended for Malchut enters the vessel of Yesod. This is the beginning of the lack of correspondence of the Lights to the desires where all the Lights are not located in their places.

And Arich Anpin is corrected as "one inside the other," meaning that the Light of Hochma fills the desire of Keter. That is why the desire of Keter experiences a lack, a feeling that it is not filled by its Light, since this Light is on a lower level, the Light of Hochma.

However, we have to understand that the only Light that can enter the desire of Keter is the one intended for it. I cannot hear with my eyes or see with my ears! We are talking only about the degree of the Light that fills the desire, and the degree of Light in the desire of Keter is now felt as if it is the Light of Hochma instead of Keter.

From the 3d part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, “Beit Shaar Ha-Kavanot”

Related Material:
The Zohar About The Law Of The Integral System

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spirituality - No Comments →

The Zohar, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 39: …since Malchut was taken from ZA and was built into a complete Partzuf. It follows that ZA is lacking the Sefira of Malchut, and as it is generally lacking from the Malchut, it is lacking from her in each of his elements, since each particular Sefira consists only of nine Sefirot, and not of ten. Hence, when the Malchut rises and joins ZA, she complements each of his elements into ten Sefirot, complementing each of his organs.

This is the law of the integral system. By completing any small part of the system, we complete all of its parts. All the particular Sefirot of Malchut are interconnected just as all the Sefirot of Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Hochma are. That is because all the Sefirot come from the general structure of Infinity: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, or the point of the letter Yod, Yod, the upper Hey, Vav, and the lower Hey. There is nothing besides this structure.

All the levels and worlds, which seem to have expanded from Infinity downwards until this world, are just the same structure of Infinity that we cannot approach correctly in its 100% authentic form. Therefore we have been given the opportunity to correct the same structure in a lessened form, to a smaller degree.

Therefore, we always complete the same Sefirot. All the Malchut in all the worlds come from one Malchut of Infinity in all of its particular Sefirot, which in turn also divide into its particular Sefirot and so on. All of their Malchut belong to the same Malchut of Infinity. All of the Zeir Anpin belong to Zeir Anpin of Infinity. The same thing is true for Bina – all the Binas belong to the Bina of Infinity, and likewise all the Hochmas belong to Hochma of Infinity.

In any place, any Sefira and any quality is connected to its source. And even though all the Sefirot are interconnected into ten Sefirot, there is always a connection between the parts with the same name.

So the Lights expand from Above downwards through ten Sefirot, from Keter to Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin and Malchut, or in the reverse direction, ascending from below upwards through the Reflected Light. But as the Light passes through this passageway, it always attains the Sefira intended for it, entering it and filling it with the necessary Light from the same place in Infinity that it came from.

If I want to fill a specific quality, I have to relate to it with the same quality, desire, and Light, and that is how I fulfill it. There is an aspect of the Light’s passage, according to screens, the dissemination of Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey from Above downwards or from below upwards, and there is an aspect of the character of the Sefirot. Therefore, an “ear,” for example, cannot receive Light intended for the “eye” or carry out its function. A screen over a specific desire can perform a special function that precisely corresponds to that desire.

It turns out that in any case there is a very precise division into HaVaYaH and three lines, according to their source in Infinity: the four-letter HaVaYaH (Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey).

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Working With The Light

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spirituality, Zohar - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “VaYishlach,” Selected Excerpts
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

The good and bad states are not defined according to the pleasure we feel from them. States can be good or bad either according to sensations or from the perspective of truth and falsehood. Every person who begins to develop his spiritual gene (the spark, Reshimo) perceives every state both ways.

According to his desire, a person perceives the state either as “sweet” or “bitter” because the desire is an “animal,” a simple matter. However, according to the spiritual spark, he perceives his state as true or false.

Further, everything depends on how important truth or bitterness is to us; it is more important to one person, less important to another. Our advancement depends on our ability to tolerate bitterness for the sake of the truth.

Let’s say that today, I can take ten pounds of bitterness and still I will hold to the truth. This means that I am ready to go forward. Tomorrow, I will be ready to take even fifteen pounds of bitterness. Bitterness means that it is against my nature, the desire to receive pleasure, as it happened during the last convention when we tried to connect and got scared, “Anything but this!”

However, when we know that the truth is in this connection and we want to rise over our bitterness, then we will be able to do it next time. We will be able to make a calculation according to truth and falsehood.

Even though I am not ready to connect, and it hurts and scares me to break my ego and rise over it, I still see that it is false, and I hate it. I can no longer remain in it.

So far, we do not have this hatred, but it will appear. Then we will break the impure shell, Klipa, and we will go on. We just need time to do this.
[26837]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

Related Material:
The Taste Of Truth

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

The Zohar, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 18: Happy are the righteous in this world and in the next world, who know the ways of Torah, and who follow it on the path of truth. It is written about them, “The Lord, by them they live.” “By them” are the ways of Torah. “Live” means that they will exist in this world and in the next world.

Each one of us is part righteous and part sinner. Perhaps one’s percentage of righteous is still zero, while the sinner in him comprises 100%. Or it may be that he is in the process of transforming the sinner’s part, his desire which is 100% intention to receive for oneself, into the intention for the sake of bestowal. Then that part is called the righteous within us.

Every time, we go through the following process:

1. We pass to the state where we feel ourselves as sinners.
2. We take part of our desires from there and correct them.
3. That very moment we become the righteous.
4. Then, we become sinners again by going back to another uncorrected desire to receive pleasure.
5. Once again, we transfer part of our desires into the intention for the sake of bestowal.

This way, our corrections accumulate piece by piece into one general correction.
[26817]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
The War Against Amalek

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Zohar - No Comments →

Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Opposition to the Study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Woe unto people from the affront of the Torah. For undoubtedly, when they engage only in the literal and in its stories, it wears its widow-garments, and is covered with a bag. And all the nations shall say unto Israel: “What is thy Beloved more than another beloved? Why is your law more than our law? After all, your law, too, is stories of the mundane.” There is no greater affront to the Torah than that.

Hence, woe unto the people from the affront of the Torah. They do not engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah, which honors the Torah, for they prolong the exile and all the afflictions that are about to come to the world.
– Rav Chaim Vital, The Writings of the Ari, The Tree of Life, Part One, “Rav Chaim Vital’s Introduction,” 11-12
[25259]

Filed under: Kabbalistic Sources - No Comments →

Question: You say that the information that comes into our eyes is reflected on a “screen” located in the hind part of the brain, correct?

Answer: No, it isn’t. Nothing comes into our eyes. There are no eyes, just as there isn’t a “hind part of the brain.”

There is nothing but an egoistic desire to fill itself with pleasure, which is projecting to me that I am “constructed” this way, meaning that I have eyes, a head, arms, and legs. Yet, this is how my will to receive pleasure is painting it for me. Additionally, it paints other objects that seem to exist outside of my body.

Question: So, does it mean that we perceive the Creator as concealment? Is that how our reality is?

Answer: What we see or, rather, feel (we say “see” because sight is our most powerful sensory organ) is the difference between us and the Creator. It is the shadow of our egoistic desire cast on the Upper Light, the white screen.

Therefore, I see only various individual desires, different attributes contained in my egoistic will to receive. In other words, the still nature, plants, animals, and man are the four levels of my desire to feel pleasure (Shoresh [root], Aleph [first], Bet [second], Gimel [third], and Dalet [fourth]), which are presented to me in this fashion on the background of the white Light.

I feel only my desire to fill myself with pleasure. What about the Light? The Light is the background on which I see my will to receive. When this desire becomes like the Light, it will not block the Light from me and I will fully feel the Creator.

In the meantime, instead of Him, I perceive only my egoistic desire. In other words, everything I am surrounded by are parts of my ego.

[26523]
From Lesson 6, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/10/10

Related Material:
Change Your Glasses

Filed under: Conventions, Inner Work, Perception, Q&A - No Comments →

What is the end of correction? Let us say that I need to fix my car to go somewhere. I take it to a shop, and the mechanic fixes it. Once the car is fixed, this means that I have completed the correction. Now, in a fixed car (or, if it is us we are correcting, then with a corrected common soul) we begin our trip upwards.

However, we do not speak about this. We only speak about the way to attain correction. Kabbalists do not say what happens to the corrected soul. They only hint about the things that await us there, but this is an even higher reality, above all the worlds, above the World of Infinity.
[26538]
From Lesson 8, World Kabbalah Congress 2010, 11/11/10

Related Material:
When The Hidden Becomes Revealed

Filed under: Conventions, Inner Work, Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: If I engage in inner work and ask for help, how do I recognize the answer?

Answer: In order to give us clear answers and, in general, to talk with us and maintain a constant communication which can be verified, identified, and felt, the Creator has given us a group and resides in it. If you unite with the group, you will find Him there. When you meet Him one day, you will see that He can be found only in very heart of the bond with the group.

The Creator is hiding behind them all and seems to be telling you: “All right, now you’ve united with everyone, and that means that you’ve united with Me.” He broke the Kli (vessel) so that by reuniting the pieces we would finally find Him. By bringing together the broken vessel, we reconstruct and compose the image of the Creator before us.
[26550]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/10, Shamati #26

Related Material:
The Form Of Matter Created By Me

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →