Question: At some moment the development of the worlds seems to branch out in two directions. After the breaking of the Kelim, the world of Atzilut is born from them by the conditions of the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet), but Partzufim of the world of Adam Kadmon continue to come out one after the other above Tabur Galgalta by the conditions of the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph). It’s unclear; how are these processes synchronized with each other?

Answer: Following Partzufim Galgalta, AB, and SAG (Keter, Hochma, Bina) above Tabur Galgalta, Partuzifm ZA and Malchut (MA and BON) have to come out. All five Partzufim have to be born because the degree has to be complete. That’s because there is a screen and Reshimot, and they have to be realized. If there is a desire, Light, and a screen between them, then it’s impossible to stop halfway.

If you’re worried about how this is synchronized, then be assured that everything happens simultaneously and one thing does not interfere with the other. Think of how the air is permeated by millions of radio waves of all ranges—some for radio, some for television, Internet or mobile phones. Do they interfere with one another?

Every country conducts a registration of all the radio signals. There is an enormous and extremely sensitive locator that picks up all of the ranges of waves together and records this entire radio noise. If people later wish to find out whether you talked on the phone on some specific day at some specific time, then they can take that recording of millions of wave ranges and place a filter there to extract just your voice. No range interferes with any other.

That’s how Partzufim of the world of Adam Kadmon do not get in the way of the birth of the world of Atzilut. When Baal HaSulam describes this in Talmud Eser Sefirot, he does not specify that there are billions of other parallel actions taking place. But all of this comes together. In the spiritual world there is no time. It is built as an analog system where everything happens simultaneously and isn’t divided by the notion of time. There is no need to wait for one degree to develop after another. All of these states come out automatically and the system exists in this specific form.

The system that operates by bestowal does not have any limitations because the only calculation you have to do is with yourself—with your inner resistance. You don’t have to consider the external factors. There are no restrictions from outside. If you want to bestow, then go ahead and bestow to this entire system! That is why you are not limited by anything, you do not bother anyone, and no one bothers you. You make a calculation only with your own nature.

Therefore, the spiritual system works above time and does not have any restrictions by virtue of its “permeability.”
[34187]
From the lesson on Talmud Eser Sefirot on 12/27/10

Related Material:
A Living Creation On An Inanimate Mold
Time=Motion=Place
Up And Down The Spiritual Ladder

Filed under: Q&A, Spirituality - No Comments →

Rabash, Shlavey HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article “What Is the Prohibition to Greet Before One Greets the Creator in the Work”: One must serve the Creator and always look for the ways to bring Him contentment so that the Creator would be pleased by his deeds.

It is written: “The Creator will rejoice at His deeds.” This is because the Creator’s deeds are the created beings who will bring Him joy.

We must work above the desire for pleasure. Everything that happens in it pertains to the still, vegetative, and animate levels of this world, to the materialistic psychology. Here, we determine what we perceive as sweet and bitter, and even if we want to rise higher, we don’t have the strength for it. We are not even aware that something higher exists.

A person becomes aware of his inner struggle with his egoism only after prolonged work. He develops a dilemma: the Creator or an egoistic calculation, and he is torn between them. Then, from the “seesaw” that has manifested in his will to receive pleasure a person rises to a higher “seesaw,” the state of choice referred to as “Klipat Noga (the Noga shell).”

This is when the constant calculations of darkness and Light which take place in his egoistic desire end. Now, “Light” is when regardless of his desire, a person feels that the Creator changes him, “operates” him, frees his attitude from his own nature, and helps rise above his egoism.

The Creator takes man out of calculations of personal benefit, and He enjoys His deeds. We are the Creator’s deeds, His work. The Creator rejoices at changing us.

This is why man must be ready to “sacrifice” himself, in other words, bring himself closer, “enter the operating room,” and entrust himself to the work that the Creator does on him. In this way, man comes to truth.
[33469]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/23/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
How To Keep The Love From Cooling Down
Moments Of Truth
The Ten Plagues Of Egypt Redefined

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

Question: What role does asceticism play in human development?

Answer: Kabbalah has a very negative opinion of various restrictions. It does not demand anything from a person with regard to his earthly life. In principle, you can do anything you want.

It’s a different matter when you become engrossed in all sorts of fetishes in this earthly life by introducing some kind of special customs, habits, and exercises to it. Live normally. If you like doing yoga, then do it. If you like running in the morning, then run. If there’s a certain diet that is healthier for you and another that’s less healthy, then eat accordingly. None of this matters. The most important thing is not to turn anything into a cult.

Kabbalah treats every person absolutely normally. It doesn’t care about how a person lives, what habits he has, and what his customs, religious convictions, and inclinations are. Who he is in the earthly life doesn’t matter one bit.

We are once again returning to the essence: Egoism rises in us in order for us to compensate for it above ourselves. That is why it doesn’t matter one bit what I am like. Limiting yourself in food or applying any kind of methods—none of this will help. Nothing will help.

On the contrary, a person who does some kind of physical exercises or keeps some kind of strict boundaries thinks that he has already advanced forward, has achieved some kind of level, that he is righteous and so on.

This can only confuse people. Therefore, live normally, calmly, eat well, and think about your health and profession. Take part in all the things that your surrounding society does.

And together with this, study Kabbalah. This balance or normal state is the most preferable one. Fate has placed you in this environment so go with its flow. Then you will see that in reality, everything around you is in the ideal state, besides yourself.

A minus is compensated by the right plus.
[34198]
From the 2nd lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

Related Material:
I’d Rather Jump Into The Water
Like A Dog On A Leash
The Worse The Better

Filed under: Body and Soul, Conventions, Egoism, Health, Kabbalah Study, Q&A, Society, Spirituality - No Comments →

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

What Is a Prayer?

When concealment [of spirituality, the thought about bestowal and love of others] overpowers one and he comes to a state where the work [attainment of the property of bestowal and love of others] becomes tasteless, and he cannot picture and feel any love [of the Creator, the single property of love] and fear [that he won’t be able to respond to Him with the same love that he receives from Him], and he cannot do anything in holiness [reach it by his own strength], then his only counsel [this is how it becomes revealed to him] is to cry to the Creator to take pity on him [since he can no longer further it in any way himself] and remove the screen [the shield of his egoism] from his eyes and heart.

The issue of crying is a very important one. It is as our sages write: “All the gates were locked except for the gate of tears.” The world asks about that: If the gate of tears is not locked, what is the need for all other gates at all? [Why can’t one enter the upper world right through the gate of tears?] He said that it is like a person who asks his friend for some necessary object. This object touches his heart, and he asks and begs of him in every manner of prayer and plea. Yet, his friend pays no heed to all that. And when one sees that there is no longer reason for prayers and pleas [and sees no other solution], he then raises his voice in weeping [out of hopelessness and despair, despair because he desperately wants to reach the desired and hopelessness because he became convinced that it is beyond his power].

It is said about that: “All the gates were locked except for the gate of tears.” Thus, when was the gate of tears not locked? Precisely when all the gates [that one has tried in the attempts to enter the upper world] were locked [he became personally convinced of their uselessness]. It is then [he personally sees] that there is room for the gate of tears and then one sees that it was not locked [for him and only then is he able to use them, meaning to truly plea for redemption from egoism and acquiring the property of bestowal].

However, when the gate of prayer is open, the gate of tears and weeping is irrelevant. This is the meaning of the gate of tears being locked. Thus, when is the gate of tears not locked? Precisely when all the gates are locked, the gate of tears is open. This is because one still has the counsel of prayer and plea.

This is the meaning of “My soul shall weep in secret,” meaning when one comes to a state of concealment, then “My soul shall weep” because one has no other option.
– Baal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard), Article No. 18, “What Is My Soul Shall Weep In Secret”
[33492]

Related Material:
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 30
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 29
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 28

Filed under: Kabbalistic Sources, Prayer and Intention - No Comments →

Question: We see that man is a predator. The entire meaning of his existence is to devour his neighbor and reach his own goal. If we attain mutual guarantee and the earth’s population will increase to 20 or 25 billion, how will all of this actually take place?

Answer: What’s the problem with having twenty billion people? Imagine that they are all your relatives and you feel like one whole with them. It completely doesn’t bother you that they are together with you. On the contrary, you change your attitude to them: You feel good when all of them are as close to you as possible.

Question cont’d: But what will happen if there are no limits?

Answer: Every person makes a limit on himself. Imagine a mother who has twenty billion children. Does this number bother her if she has everything they need? She exists in the world of Infinity, meaning in the world of absolute Light, satisfaction, fulfillment, and abundance.

Of course, it’s difficult to imagine how a person changes. But if you are next to your beloved and you really love him without any calculation, then you want to be with him all the time. You always want to be next to him and as close as possible.

Then what would be the problem with having twenty billion beloved? You won’t feel that there are twenty billion people. You will feel that they are all together with you. This state is the most desirable and comfortable one.

In reality you do not split them up into twenty billion, but there is just one you. This is called inclusion.

Our obstacle is a psychological problem. We cannot imagine how this will happen. We imagine that we exist in bodies, but when we reach mutual guarantee, then instead of the bodies, we will feel every person’s inner potential.
From the 2nd lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

Related Material:
Receiving To Bestow
This World Will Evaporate Like Smoke
How Will You Color Your World?

Filed under: Body and Soul, Collective Soul, Conventions, Love, Mutual Guarantee, Perception, Q&A, Spirituality, Unity, World - No Comments →

Rabash, Shlavey HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article “A Prayer of Many”: It is written in the holy Zohar (Beshalach (When Pharaoh Let) and in the Sulam Commentary, Item 11), “And she said, ‘I dwell among my own people.’ He asks, ‘What does that mean?’ He replies, ‘When Din is present in the world, one should not part from the collective and be alone because when the Din is present in the world, those who are noticed and are noted alone are caught first, even if they are righteous.

We tune into the upper force through The Zohar. We are told how to tune ourselves to comprehending this force, which leads to its perception, its revelation. “Din” is one of its manifestations in the form of justice. A transgression of one or all evokes a corresponding reciprocal action. Under no circumstances should man separate from the society around him.

How does this happen? Different actions and sensations are evoked in us. This gives me the opportunity to keep myself in the society above and in spite these difficulties and sensations, even if by separating from this society I would immediately feel comfortable and avoid problems. Everyone is getting punished, but I can step aside. They even tell me: “You can step aside, this does not concern you.”

And still, even though the righteous did not sin together with the rest, they are judged first when they separate from them. In other words, man is being tested this way on whether he wants to enter the egoism of this world and remain in his comfortable “bourgeois” state, or if he is willing to remain together with everyone in one bundle, even if  this makes him uncomfortable, for the sake of attaining the upper world.

Hence, one should never retire from the people because the mercy of the Creator is always on the whole people together. This is why she said, ‘I dwell among my own people, and I do not wish to part from them.’

The attitude of the upper force always manifests towards everyone together and never towards private individuals. “Among my people” means among those who want to come together.

We need to take this into consideration. When we are in the group, and we begin to feel different frictions, egoistic actions, we need to understand that we are being “played” on purpose. If we still were to join together regardless of these "games" (every time, every moment), we would be raised upward.

But if we were to yield and step away from the problems, refusing to solve them instead of rising above them in unity, naturally we would once again become submerged in our daily life and stop understanding what Kabbalah tells us.
[33401]
From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/16/2011, “A Prayer of Many”

Related Material:
Praying In Order To Change
Unity Always Prevails
All That Is Bad In You Is Your “Self”

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