Question: If I understood correctly, we are corrected by first seeing something in “faith above reason” and then by the Light that Reforms which makes it part of our reason.

Answer: Attaining the real state in the corrected perception is called attainment “within reason.” First I see the level that is above and which I cannot reach and fulfill inside me, but I can adhere to it by a means called “faith above reason,” to receive it above my reason, above my attributes.

I am on a certain level and want to ascend to the next state to my future self, whichever way I want to imagine it, and so I pray for it and ask. But in this future, upper state, I need to imagine the group, the teacher, the goal, everyone on an upper level and myself here below.

When I adhere to them this way, I totally yearn to be there like a child who dreams of being a grownup. So from the upper level, the first illumination, called the Light that Reforms, comes to me. This is what happens since there are always two Reshimot (spiritual genes) in us: Reshimo of Hitlabshut (from the future Light) and Reshimo of Aviut (thickness) (from the current desire). The determination of the Light is always on a higher level, for example, four/three.

The Reshimo of Aviut is called “reason,” and the Reshimo of Hitlabshut is called “above reason.” This is how the levels of the ladder are arranged. We are in the system and its laws operate on us as we study the wisdom of Kabbalah. In the meantime we cannot feel their influence on us, but we live in it. From the moment a person begins to study, he already operates within the upper system and he needs to feel the meaning behind every word.

The ascent up the ladder is an ascent “above reason” and entering “within reason,” and then again ascending above reason, etc. We need two things in order to advance this way and to not get stuck on the way: self annulment and loyalty to the upper. There is nothing but that. These are the two major guiding signs; I can ascend if I want to annul myself and raise the upper.

But there is no rope that ties me to the upper. I create this connection by myself by annulling myself and adhering to Him. It seems to me that the upper operates in a totally unreasonable way and I seem to blame Him for many sins. Different states are presented to us from above since we are so opposite from spirituality and cannot see the truth, but I have to annul my opinion and adhere to the upper unconditionally.

This is very difficult and we can only count on luck and on our good fate here and not on our reason. The moment you decide that you have to follow your reason, you remain on your level and don’t move anymore. You have already broken the connection, fell off the rope that pulled you upwards, lost the direction and the ability to advance. Your reason immediately throws you off to the corporeal level and you are not a developing human being anymore but have fallen out of the system.
[109558]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/13, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
A Screen Against All Doubts
The Condition For The Unboundedness Of Reason
A Runway Instead Of A Winding Labyrinth

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

Question: How can a created being nullify his shame before the Creator?

Answer: These are the same corrections that we perform in the worlds of BYA when we raise them to Atzilut. Atzilut (from the Hebrew root meaning “with Him”- “Itzlo”) is the place of the love of the Creator and the worlds of BYA are the place where the created being exists.

All the clarifications of the outcomes of the shattering are only clarifications of love. Without the shattering we wouldn’t be able to understand this love. It became possible only because the shattering has revealed the hate, the shattered desires that prevent us from getting along with the Creator. We want to mutually respond to His love in “faith above reason.”

Imagine that I am willing to give everything that I have as long as I can express my love in response to your love. I don’t want any give and take accounts between us: “You are for me and I am for you,” but only mutual love that is above any gain; this is called a perfect pairing.

This is the reason for the spreading of the worlds from the top down and for our ascent from the bottom up. In fact there is no up or down in the upper worlds. “From the top down” means the mechanical preparation of pairings in which the Masach (screen) and the Returning Light participate in Zivug de Haka’a (coupling of striking). But from the “bottom up” it is only accounts of love and not about the quantity and quality of the Light, which means not about the filling but about its derivatives, what I receive beyond all the presents.

Our only work is to establish the feeling of love for the Creator in us. But we discover the total opposite of love in all our desires, which means hatred. But this is already a revelation of love since we discover its oppositeness, which is already a great achievement.

The shattering allows us to understand what love is! A person who has not experienced shattering doesn’t know how to love and doesn’t know how to hate and actually doesn’t feel anything. The shattering brings us to a very acute state; it forces us to clarify things very accurately with regard to love. We don’t measure the temperature, blood pressure, or the weight of the Light and the size of the vessel; we only measure the love that depends on certain conditions or doesn’t depend on anything.

This is the outcome of the shattering, which gives us such incredible opportunities. Thus, it becomes very clear why it was necessary for the descent of the worlds to be from the top down until this world.
[109336]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/13, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Love The Lord Your God With All Your Heart
Shame That Keeps Us From Going Back
Combining The Opposites

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

Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”: We must know that the above-mentioned law of development, which is spread over the whole of reality, is guaranteed to return all evil to good and useful acts through the power of the Government of Heaven Above, meaning without asking permission from the people who inhabit the earth. However, the Creator placed knowledge and authority in the hands of man and permitted him to accept the above-mentioned law of development under his own authority and government, and handed him the ability to hasten the process of development as he wishes, freely and completely independent of the boundaries of time.

Representatives of the still, vegetative, and animate nature are unable to change the law of development, but we can do this, we can “take it into our own hands,” i.e., use it for acceleration. We have the ability to slightly change its action, to get out from under the total control of nature with its indispensable imperatives to get involved with the management through our efforts. Due to this, our development will continue, firstly, faster and secondly, in a more pleasant way.

As a rule, the force that develops us is cruel. It is called the “press” or “roller” of development and it leads us forward only by suffering. Our desire is drawn to pleasure and ideally strives for bliss which requires no actions. Fulfilling the desire, pleasure “paralyzes” it, immobilizes it; we see this sometimes in young children. Filled to the top, I become still, freeze, feeling no need for any movement. That is why we need troubles and suffering that will spur us to move us from the spot and develop us further, to force us to move faster.

As a consequence, the force of development appears to us as bad, negative, and we run from it to where we can see the positive, the good. Moreover, we always run in the direction opposite from where we got the blow. Thus, we “automatically” pass the still, vegetative, and animate stages of development, as well as their equivalents on the human degree, not knowing and not feeling that we are driven by the law that can be used.

But in the end, we find the “human in ourselves” who wants and can effect what is happening. He looks for means of self-development, the advancement of self. He finds out what his purpose is, what he lives for; he asks questions about the meaning of life with the purpose to find the force of development, to learn the law of development and use it for his benefit, i.e., for the realization of the goal.

As for our relations with other people, as well as the still, vegetative, and animate nature, we must bring them benefit as well based on our development, meaning to include them in the good development that we will reach.

Not everyone is able to accelerate the process. The majority simply follow their nature. We are talking about development and development is always contrary to our nature, always goes with efforts, through force, under pressure, with pain. It is always opposed to the egoistic desire, which only wants to enjoy the current state.

Thus, if Israel are rewarded and take the law of development that their bad attributes must go through in order to invert them into good ones, they will bring it under their own government. In other words, they will set their minds and hearts to correct all the bad attributes in them and turn them into good ones by themselves. Then, “I will hasten it,” meaning they will be completely freed from the chains of time.

There is a point on the path from which the person receives an impulse, the realized need for development. He wants to know why and for what he lives on the Earth and then he comes to the means that is called the “wisdom of Kabbalah.” This means allows him to develop himself without being dependent on the limitations of time by the path of acceleration.

If a person, for whatever reason is lazy, shies away from this opportunity, then his path lies somewhere in the middle between time and acceleration.

That is why we must strengthen the group and always make calculations between them: to what extent is acceleration in our hands? Ideally, we should fully control it.
[110308]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World”

Related Material:
The Choice In How To Prepare For Action
Shedding Some Light On Creation
It’s Better On A Helicopter…

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Free Will, Group Work, Spiritual Work - 3 Comments →

The third principle in familial relationships is that when a person feels that they love him and are concerned for his welfare, this awakens great happiness in him and this obliges him to reciprocate with a similar relationship. In this way we give an example to each other.

We agree to work on a system of relationships between us and so we are acting consciously and understand what is happening. Nobody allows himself to “shoot from the hip” with what comes to him regarding a partner. We want to build a good family so we play at perfected relationships which don’t really exist at the moment but from a hope that we will reach this. We show each other that this is merely a game at the moment, but it is a game that advances, and all the time it becomes easier and easier and closer to the truth.

We are obliged to play since we agreed upon this!

Question: What if I try to build a good relationship with my wife but nothing helps because she is such a great egoist that she refuses to take any step towards me?

Answer: This says that I haven’t acted wisely, otherwise I would play with her ego and would surround her from all sides. She depends on me and if she is a great egoist this is a sign that she has great desires that I can fulfill. Therefore I control the situation.

The whole problem is that in general we don’t know how to play with this ego. The more the ego of the person grows, the more he becomes like a child, the more he becomes like a baby. It is very easy to get the right reaction from him if we act correctly with him since he is not his own master but depends completely on his ego.

Man (Gever) is one who is able to overcome himself and it is impossible to influence him directly. You cannot hurt him, you “fall” upon him and he stands his ground. He won’t react immediately but overcomes himself. If your partner is egoistic like this, unprepared to control herself, you can play with her as you would with a baby.

We must intentionally show each other a good relationship, even exaggeratedly, and check to see if we get a similar relationship in return. If there is no similar relationship, we must work on this. I try to give her a good relationship all the time, but if I don’t see a similar relationship in return, I refrain from doing this. I try to do something good again and if I get a good reaction, I give her an even warmer relationship. If not, I also distance myself. I present myself intentionally, showing her that I am ready to treat her well but only on condition that she will reciprocate.

So in this way we build our married couple: unity, communication, what is called a “family.” This is exactly the way I must relate to children with the help of the “carrot and the stick.” The entire method is built upon concession; I rise above my ego in a calculated and controlled manner according to a program that was specified from the start.

But this is not just absolutely unconditional love which will awaken contempt in the other person. I must show that I love, that I concede everything, that I nullify myself, but not so my partner will do whatever he wants. Even parents who have infinite love for their children must not show this. I must add “judgment to mercy” or “mercy to judgment,” controlling the situation with the help of these two reins depending upon the reaction.

I set for myself the goal of bringing us to connection and I inform my wife of this. But she must know that in this unification I have two reins in my possession: judgment and mercy, love and hate, and one doesn’t work without the other. As it is said, “Love covers over all iniquities.” Do we agree to reveal the iniquities and cover them with love or not? If so, let’s try.

This is like I’m driving in a car, I turn the steering wheel to the right and to the left to maintain the right direction. The problem is that we are not sensitive to the partner, the other. Therefore I turn to my wife with a request to be sensitive to her. What wife would refuse this? This is an eternal complaint of a woman regarding her husband, he doesn’t understand her, doesn’t look at her, and doesn’t want to share his experiences.

And on the contrary, I ask her to reveal herself before me so I can connect with her. It is up to me to understand how she understands, feels, and reacts regarding me. If I know all this, then I can manage our relationship in the family with the help of my steering wheel. And she will feel this and begin to control her steering wheel regarding me so that finally these two steering wheels will join into one steering wheel that we turn together.

This is an emotional process as if the two of us are found on opposite scales trying to maintain balance all the time. The ego of each is growing all the time and balances itself regarding the partner. So we are always balancing, renewing our relationship all the time. This assures us of having a deep and infinite development within which we discover a whole symphony of love.
[110205]
From KabTV’s “A New Life #46” 8/1/12

Related Material:
Learn To Make Each Other Happy
Concessions Are A Sign Of Strength Not Weakness
A New Era Of Family Relations

Filed under: Children, Education, Man and Woman, Marriage - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

[media 1]

[media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Igrot,” “Letter 56“

[media 3]

[media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “The Donkey Driver,” Item 112, Lesson 39

[media 5]

[media 6]

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7

[media 7]

[media 8]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy,” Lesson 2

[media 9]

[media 10]

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

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2013-07-01_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’1.7.13′]

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Question: If we do not know the next state, how can we prepare for it?

Answer: We will never know the next state even when we are already on spiritual degrees. Let’s say you are on the 80^th rung of the ladder. This is a wonderful degree, believe me. But before you get up to this degree with the previous one, you are in a state a million times worse than it is now.

You have no desire, no interest, you do not hear a single word of what we are talking about now during the lesson, you are sitting just like a piece of wood, even worse, like an impenetrable rock. You cannot think at all about spirituality, you cannot even remember when it happened to you, where and how. What is the spiritual world anyway? You cannot recall a single feeling, any word from there.

Instead of this, you are overcome by the most primitive thoughts: What is in my belly, in my bank account, in the fridge. You are turning into a real animal. How can you get out of this state to rise to the 81^st degree? Only through very gradual and difficult movements.

No one from above will give you energy, the importance of the goal, so your eyes will open wide and sparkle. On the contrary, you are totally deprived of the spirit of life. You will fall into egoism, will hate the friends. Now, you start getting out of this inner state if you even remember what it is about. They talk and you do not even hear. It is not that you are “for” or “against,” you just do not react, it’s as if you are made of stone.

It is written about this, “Everything in your power, that do.” The greater a person is, the more egoism he has. Therefore, he experiences a terrible burdening of the heart that leaves him no opportunity to do anything. Now, you do not depend on anyone: You have neither a good nor bad connection with the friends. And then you will fall together because of your connection and the fall will also be global, of the group.

What can you do? Take advantage of the mind? But there is no mind; you have turned into a stone. Playing artificially does not work either. Bow to the environment? But you have nowhere to bow; you have already fallen so low and you cannot fall from the floor. Turning to the group? But you do not see it in front of you. What can help you? Only a prior preparation! If you have approached a spiritual state without the necessary preparation, you have no chance to advance.

And if you still were not able to prepare, the only thing that helps you in this situation is a daily schedule. If you are accustomed to a particular routine, a habit becomes a second nature. You need to use it and make it a habit as much as possible because a habit enters your nature, and if you feel that you are even dead, habits revive you. You must get up for the lesson because your body is used to waking up at this hour. You must perform certain habitual actions. It does not refer to the soul, the body got used to the physical activities that you do at the same time and under the same conditions.

Therefore, it is very important for a person to accustom himself to a daily schedule. Nothing will help but habits. Since I have included in my nature habits related to spirituality, then now, when I am doing these physical habitual actions, they remind me of spirituality. I developed them in myself because of the spiritual goal, and now when I have to abide by them in the physical form, they bring me back to a spiritual state.
[111030]
From the Talk About the Preparation for the Convention in St. Petersburg 6/26/13

Related Material:
Before The Dawn
To The Congress With A Brick In A Suitcase
The Outlines Of Darkness And Light

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why do we need a timetable that we are accustomed to? After all, it isn’t so good when the work becomes a habit and doesn’t require any efforts.

Answer: Of course a habit frees us of making an effort, but it saves us when we fall and puts us back on track. Then we continue to make efforts in order to acquire the next level.

I move in a form of a minus and during a descent I reach the lowest point in which I lose everything, it’s the zero point, zero life. I cannot exit it by my own powers. In mechanics the movement continues thanks to the force of acceleration and in electronics we use capacitors, conduction coils, by which we accumulate energy that we can use later.

When I descend during the work, I charge a certain capacitor, and when it’s charged I can use it and ascend. There are such cars today that operate on both fuel and electricity. When I drive on fuel, I fill a battery, and then I can use it and drive without fuel.

So when I descend, I have to make sure in advance that I will be able to exit the lowest point. If I don’t prepare myself, I will be stuck there and that’s it. I will have no power to continue my advancement. We prepare ourselves in different ways in order to exit this state, we prepare in the group, but eventually we don’t see that anything helps since I am totally dead and don’t respond to anything and don’t see or hear anything.

In that case only the habit that has become a second nature helps me. I have prepared it in advance, like a capacitor that was charged. This habit is already imprinted in me and is part of my nature and by it I can rise from the descent and carry on.
[111025]
From the Talk About the Preparation for the Convention in St. Petersburg 6/26/13

Related Material:
Before The Dawn
Store Fuel For A Rainy Day
Don’t Stay In The Descent For More Than A Moment

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

Everything in the world is made of two attributes: receiving and bestowal. It’s like fire and water, plus and minus, the North pole and the South pole, etc. These two polar states are the two attributes of nature which operate on matter and there is nothing else but these two attributes.

Matter is a desire to enjoy, to receive, to be filled. It’s the natural basis of matter. Every atom, for example, wants to preserve its form: A big atom wants to keep its form and weight in the periodic table, with the number of particles in its nucleus, etc.

Since everything is made of plus and minus, the plus and the minus have to be separated by some adaptor, like an engine that they are connected to and make work. What’s more, it has to be a beneficial charge. If it’s a harmful charge, like in an atom bomb, it leads to a collision and mutual destruction, as we sometimes say, a short circuit. When the two opposite attributes meet a great amount of energy is released since it’s directed outwards and not towards mutuality.

Every level of power, every attribute a person has, has its level of adaptation, which means the right resistance that can be between the plus and the minus. If the plus and the minus are small, the resistance can be small, and if the plus and the minus are big, the resistance has to be big too since otherwise there will be a “short circuit.”

All of a person’s desires to receive are graded with regard to the attribute of bestowal: the root level, phase one, two, three, and four, which means the five levels of Aviut (thickness). Accordingly, there are five levels of tension or five levels of the upper Light (bestowal) and the resistance between them.

The Torah tells us how they are graded. If I am in this state when I am opposite the Creator, which means that the attribute of receiving is opposite the attribute of bestowal, then the attribute of “Moses” in me can be one level below the Creator, which means standing next to Him, “face to face.”

The more tangible, thick, coarse levels should accordingly be removed. Therefore it says that Moses is closest to the Creator, then Aaron, the Levites, the men, the women, the elderly and the children. Then there are different herds, etc. This means that they are in a form of pyramid, or in circles around Mt. Sinai, “around” is the contact point with the upper attribute.

Why does it say “around the mountain” and not in a straight line? Because they have not acquired a Masach (screen) yet; they don’t have the line, and everything is still managed in circles.
[111019]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/4/13

Related Material:
Covering The Gap Between The Opposites
Between Minus Infinity And Plus Infinity
Dissolving In The Group

Filed under: Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

The Torah, “Exodus, Jethro,” 20:17: And Moses said unto the people, “Fear not: For God is come to prove you and that His fear may be before you, that ye sin not.”

Fear is a very good attribute. A person understands that he cannot get closer to the Creator and is very careful of that. It’s like a person who has been released from prison and who knows that stealing is bad and thus makes sure he is two streets away from the bank. He knows what distance he has to keep in order to stay away from the temptation to steal. This is what it says here, since a person doesn’t have a Masach (screen), any protection yet.

So fear is essential and it’s the right thing. However in spirituality it’s called “awe.” Awe is the fear of disrupting the equivalence of form with the Creator. It’s not fear of punishment, there is no punishment! The disruption itself is the punishment without any implications. The only implication is the disruption. This means that a person has to be on such a moral level that being away from the Creator from the attribute of bestowal is the greatest punishment for him. So awe is the parameter for this feeling.

Question: You used to heal people’s fears. You have a table of about 800 different types of fears. Why do we think that fear is an illness?

Answer: I used to heal inner psychological states. On the spiritual level fear is a result of imbalance between the attribute of bestowal and the attribute of receiving. It’s the same root in every person but on a lower level. The study is in order to attain balance and then the fear disappears.

Unfortunately, conventional medicine simply represses fear by medicines. You see less and then you sleep better. Here, however, you don’t put a person to sleep but rather balance him.
[111013]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/4/13

Related Material:
In A World Of Fears That Have Been Realized
The Fear That Replaces All Fears
Fear Of Appealing To The Creator

Filed under: Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →