FAQ On Kabbalah – Becoming God
Posted on July 4th, 2011
Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.
The Subject of the Purpose of Creation Is Man
The value of one person from the speaking level equalizes with the value of all the forces in the still, vegetative, and animate levels.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 3
Man is the center of Creation. And all other creatures do not have any value of their own but to the extent that they help man achieve his perfection. Hence, they rise and fall with him without any consideration of themselves.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 18
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We are created with the desire to receive pleasure, and in order to correct this desire, our intention must be “for the sake of bestowal.” By doing so we correct ourselves and attain the purpose of creation: total adhesion with the Creator. But to attain correction, we must unite with the force of bestowal.
The force of bestowal is called Bina, and the force of reception is referred to as Malchut. These two forces of bestowal and reception have to enter one another. When they unite, then according to the combinational analysis of these two forces, it creates four outcomes: Malchut in Malchut, Malchut in Bina, Bina in Bina, and Bina in Malchut.
If Bina enters Malchut, it creates an evil force because Bina falls under the reign of Malchut. Malchut rules over it and dominates it, making Bina its slave. This state created all evil forces in the world.
Sometimes these forces pretend to be good in order to lure and bribe a person and then draw him into evil. This is a special sly, egoistic force (Klipa), contained within Malchut. With the help of this force Malchut conquers Bina and begins to use it. It is written that no evil can exist in the world unless it initially pretended to be good. This is how the evil forces operate, and for this reason they exist.
If it is simply Malchut, then it is a simple desire to receive such as the still, vegetative, animate world and human, in whom only the forces of the still, vegetative and animate levels are at work. That is, it is a simple human who’s living a primitive corporeal life.
When Bina is present in a person’s desire to receive pleasure, that person becomes very smart and cunning. He knows how to help you and give to you, and then exploits you to the fullest. These are very evil forces caused by the inclusion of Bina into Malchut: the forces of bestowal that have fallen under the rule of egoism.
Opposite inclusion occurs when a person uses his own efforts to elevate Malchut into Bina. Then he connects to Bina because he wants to enter it and become a slave, an inseparable part of the force of bestowal, like a fetus in the mother’s womb. Bina is called Ima Ilaa (the upper mother). That is, he wants to develop only through connecting and being guided and protected by the force of bestowal, the Creator. Then, good forces are created, which choose parts of the egoistic desire and gradually correct them from within.
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From the Lesson on Weekly Torah Portion 6/27/2011
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We represent the desire to receive pleasure which feels that it exists by receiving small “injections,” blows of Light. These small blows create the perception of reality within us by painting an internal image of reality in which we perceive the people that surround us, the air, the world, and ourselves.
All of this arises from the small blows experienced by our desire to receive pleasure. And then it receives an impression as if it exists together with the surrounding reality. If the desire did not receive these small “injections” hitting it, it would neither perceive itself, its reality, nor its environment. This is the way it exists. And there is nothing else beside it: the will to enjoy that receives small blows from the Light.
The Light imposes the tiniest blows inside the desire to receive pleasure without a single conscious reaction on the desire’s behalf; this is the state we are in. When the desire becomes capable of developing a reaction to the upper Light, that is, becomes more sensitive to these blows and raises its sensitivity towards them, it wishes to no longer receive them, resists them, and intends to push the Light back one way or another, hit it back. This is called a “screen.”
And then by virtue of my resistance, opposition, and clashes I begin to attain Who is doing this to me, what for, what He wants from me, and what I can attain through this. This is our entire work: the desire to receive pleasure and the blows, clashes with the Light.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/24/2011, Writings of Rabash
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Question: It’s unclear why creation makes a restriction and pushes the pleasure away? Why can’t it be close to the Creator and receive from Him?
Answer: I don’t push away pleasure, but an unpleasant sensation. At that moment I no longer feel pleasure. If you give me some kind of exquisite dish, but it causes me to feel ashamed, then I stop feeling pleasure from that dish. This infinite fulfillment doesn’t make me feel good any longer!
Afterwards I will have to awaken my taste for this pleasure all over again. When I acquire the quality of Bina and start acting for the sake of bestowal, and then I start to receive for the sake of bestowal, I must once again reawaken the taste for pleasures within myself.
However, these are no longer the same tastes I felt before, but a completely different kind of pleasure which I offer to the Creator. First of all, I take His desire and fulfill it. I check with what kind of love He gave me this piece of pleasure and I want to fill the empty place in Him. It’s empty because I did not accept this fulfillment from Him.
I think about His enjoyment, about what kind of pleasure He will receive when He fulfills me. And because I feel what kind of pleasure I give Him, I now understand what kind of fulfillment I have to take from Him and in what form I should enjoy Him.
When I begin to experience pleasure from bestowal, I no longer feel the old taste of pleasures inside of me because I approach them with a new intention. Just like shame ruins all of the pleasures from reception for me, so the intention of bestowal revokes the simple taste in me. That is why it is called the acquisition of new vessels or desires.
Both the bestowing and the receiving desires in me are completely new, which is called “613” times more than what I had before. This multifold multiplication comes precisely from the shame that enables us to increase our desires and pleasures by 613 times.
This is the shame from the difference between myself and the Creator, the difference between our situations. This is not just some kind of sensation, but a precise measurement of how much He is entirely bestowing and above me, since I am a receiver. It’s precisely equal to the height of that shame.
And the difference does not arise due to any material reception, but it’s a difference in our intentions. Therefore, if we work on this shame in order to turn it into respect and honor, then we attain this “613-fold’ increase.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/11, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah
Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 1, “Table of Questions and Answers for the Meaning of the Words,” Question 43: What is separation?
Two degrees without any Hishtavut Tzura [equivalence of form] on any side are regarded as completely separated from one another.
Our desires are like two circles: They can coincide completely, superimposing on each other and thus becoming one circle. Or they can overlap and be partially one inside the other. Or they can come in contact with one another with one point, their common desire.
Total separation means that we don’t have a single common quality or desire. That is to say, the first is not similar to the second in any way and we do not attain any form of bestowal with one another that would allow us to be one inside the other.
If I don’t take a single desire from you in order to bestow to you, and you don’t take a single desire from me in order to bestow to me, then we do not touch each other and are completely separated.
If at least one desire to bestow to one another appears between us, then there is already contact between us. And if there are several desires like that, then we are already partially one inside the other: I am inside your desires and you are inside mine.
That is how we advance until you take my desires and I take all of yours, and through them we bestow to one another: I give everything to you and you – to me. This is called adhesion.
These definitions from Talmud Eser Sefirot are unusually important. Memorize them mechanically, because that is useful as well. Later, by perceiving them on the level of feelings and intellect, try to gradually unite the mind and the feeling.
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot
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Question: What should we think about all together, the entire world group, when we hold a Unity Day? How can we unite?
Answer: Every person has to delve into himself and there to feel the chain that connects him with others, the inner net that exists between us. Moreover, a person can be in this world or he might no longer be in it because this is a network between desires, between the souls and not the physical bodies.
Baal HaSulam and all the great Kabbalists of the past millennia are here, in this connection. They are all together with us, embedded in our common net. There are millions of us today, but in reality, there are many more because all of these souls throughout all of human history are together with us, amounting to hundreds of millions of souls. And all together they are a tremendous spiritual force.
If we wish to unite together in this net, then naturally not only will we influence each other and become part of this net so every person will acquire it for his own spiritual ascent, but we will simultaneously influence all the people in the world, who are tuned into this net involuntarily, without sensing it. We will start to awaken them.
Therefore, let’s start by reaching an agreement among us that we desire to clearly feel our common connection.
From the lecture on Unity Day, 6/26/11
In the news (from CNBC.com): “Demonstrators clash with riot police in front of the Greek Parliament on June 29, 2011 in Athens as lawmakers moved towards a vote on a massive austerity package demanded by international creditors.” The package calls for pay and benefit cuts and sharp tax increases.
My comment: Unfortunately, the reason for the situation in all the countries and the protests of the people is one and the same: It is a global crisis of the disparity between the society and an integral matrix which we are all “moving into.” And it does not depend on our desire—we must correspond to it.
We sense our lack of correspondence to nature as a crisis. Neither budgetary cuts nor tax increases will help us. These temporary measures are good only if in the meanwhile we educate the entire population about the global, integral world which we are now entering.
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In Kabbalistic books people see the upper system that controls the world. However, by using the wisdom of Kabbalah as well as religions, people have “sculpted” all sorts of misconceptions according to their personal taste: mystical teachings, philosophies, and other theories studied in universities. Papers on demonology and wizardry are submitted in philosophy courses.
By borrowing Kabbalistic names and terms but not the essence, people only confused themselves, thinking that they understand what was being discussed. This includes anti-Semites who formed an entire structure using an unsound foundation. People from Hitler’s faction studied these questions closely, trying to prove that by destroying Jews they can destroy all evil in the world. This is why Baal HaSulam writes in his article “Messiah’s Horn” that premature disclosure of Kabbalah caused disasters for Israel.
Let’s look at the bigger picture. All culture in the world is based on religion. Some 200 years ago there were no “regular” books, music, or art; everything revolved around faith. If the wisdom of Kabbalah hadn’t revealed itself to the world in different forms, humanity would still be at that stage. And really, where else can development come from? Man can’t develop by himself.
But leaking Kabbalistic knowledge caused humanity to “flourish” and develop a rash of faulty beliefs. This brought a lot of disaster to Israel.
Question: But Baal HaSulam also writes that Kabbalah was revealed according to the Creator’s will. So how does one combine these things?
Answer: Certainly, everything happens according to His will. He established an absolute law to which you have to conform or else you are heading down a bad path. And the difference between these two paths is in you, not the Creator. There are no changes on His part whatsoever. You feel His attitude as bad only because you are bad.
The revelation of Kabbalah to the world did a lot of damage to the nation of Israel. But if they had acted differently, better, Kabbalah wouldn’t have been revealed to the nations of the world, and they wouldn’t be treating Israel this way. After all, the hearts of the rulers are in the hands of the Creator.
Everything in the world happens in relation to those who have a point of choice. But if a person doesn’t have this point, he cannot do anything, and he is pushed forward by collective suffering.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/17/2011, “Messiah’s Horn”
Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Inner Reflection,” Item 32: The thing is that the Otiot (letters) of the four-letter Name (Yod-Key-Vav-Key) do not imply and indicate the amount of Ohr (Light) in Ein Sof (Infinity). Instead, they indicate measurement of the impact on the Kli (vessel). The white in the parchment of the scroll of Torah implies the Ohr, and the black, being the Otiot in the scroll of Torah, indicates the quality of the Kelim (vessels).
When Baal HaSulam talks about white and black colors in the book, he does not mean physical paper and ink, or parchment made of animal skin. He talks about how and where we reveal the fourth phase “Dalet” (the last phase, corresponding to the external Kli, “skin”).
I take the “animal skin,” meaning my animate nature, its final fourth stage, and divide it, slice it into two parts, tearing the inner from the outer layer. Then, from the inner layer of the skin, “parchment” is made, on which I can write letters.
This is my final stage, which I still can correct. The outermost layer of desire remaining after this separation is impossible for me to correct. Thus, light and darkness within the creature are revealed at the most perfect degree. Nothing more is possible!
The big revelation of the Light will take place only at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun) where we discover that there are no letters and no parchment, and it is possible to correct all the “skin”: the whole Malchut is included in correction. Then, the letters disappear, and it turns out that “He and His name are One.”
Malchut and Bina are fully connected and reach the degree of Keter, as it is said: “And they both will go together.” That is why the letters, originating from the Sefirot ZAT de Bina (the lower half of Bina) and below it, disappear. There is no more difference between white and black.
The Torah is given to us only until the end of correction. After that, this method is no longer needed. If we finish the correction, we do not need the Torah (the Light that Reforms). We will be in another, new state.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot
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