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The work is always divided into two parts: the period of concealment and in disclosure. Even before the state of disclosure, there are periods when concealment gets stronger and then weaker, and we begin to understand and feel a bit more.
In periods of disclosure, we received illumination in the heart and the mind and then are drawn to unity, studies, the spiritual path, praise the Creator and the goal. And during concealment, we, on the contrary, do not want to advance, are not happy about the working conditions, and neglect the goal. It is possible to move forward here only in faith above reason, due to the dedication of the soul and individual efforts, above one’s own desire and human strength.
These conditions will never change; it is a person who has to change. Just as he sought knowledge and pleasant feelings, filling them during an ascent, so now he must seek devotion of the soul during a descent.
But from where can we get these forces, because the desire to enjoy works only on the fuel called “pleasure”? Pleasure determines the goal and supplies energy for the work that enables us to reach this goal. But if the darkness and concealment thickens, and any desire to go forward disappears, what can we do then?
To a certain point, you need to advance and apply efforts as much as you can. There is a set limit, until which a person can do this, getting fuel from the group, environment, teacher, studies, the Creator, that is, the external sources. But one day he reaches this limit even if all the available means are arranged ideally.
This means that he overflows his measure and a prayer is born above it. He wants to work without any reward, without fulfillment, like a “perpetual motion machine”: to become a machine running without any fuel that is not demanding anything, not the greatness of the goal, not feeling the significance of his action, not any compensation.
He works only because the King needs his work. Moreover, he does not understand that King and does not feel Him in order not to receive from his consciousness any reward and motivation that could be used as fuel. He cares only about not having egoistic fuel! His efforts to do actions without any motivation are called devotion of the soul, self-sacrifice, superhuman efforts, or faith above reason.
That is his goal because it allows a very precise measure whether he really strives to present the upper force, the Creator. If he truly wishes nothing for himself in order to perform the work without any conditions and limitations, infinitely, above any compensations, this is the point through which he begins to touch spirituality at every degree.
This point is called the point above reason. It forms the head (Rosh) of the Partzuf relative to the body (Guf). This is already a higher degree in relation to the current one or adhesion with the AHP of the upper like an embryo. These states are very accurate; a person can measure them and thus advance.
Therefore, devotion of the soul is not a vague concept, but it is measured clearly relative to the human desire to enjoy. If he restricts his desire from all sides and wants to work so that he does not receive any fuel and any compensation for his egoism in anything, either now or in the future, then he rises to the state of faith above reason or devotion of the soul.
[122464]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/8/13, Shamati #219 “Devotion”
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Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”: Moreover, even the things we imagine we attain by their essence, such as rocks and trees, after honest examination we are left with zero attainment in their essence, since we only attain their actions, which occur in conjunction with the encounter of our senses with them.
I perceive everything and feel only as an impression, created in my sense organs, not in the original form. The truth is outside of me and unknown to me. Only by perceiving something within myself, distinguishing what was “depicted” in my vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, can I consider something. All names and symbols, all phenomena, and responses, all kinds of matter, everything that happens is due to the perception in my sense organs. The essence remains “behind the scenes,” eludes material sensations, lies outside of the picture of the world that they “draw” for us.
Question: How, then, can we communicate with each other and understand each other?
Answer: We can understand each other because each one has a similar program with a similar template inherent in our sense organs. Their correspondence allows a person to pass his emotions to others because they are in the same illusion as he is. We are all at a certain level of perception and this situation allows us to discuss it among ourselves.
Based on the current “picture,” we admit the existence of our world, in which there are the still, vegetative, and animate natures, as well as people who perceive reality. What it is in reality, we don’t know. Perhaps, it’s just waves as physicists say, or almost primordial emptiness because the distance between subatomic particles is incomparably greater than their size.
How do we perceive the world? How does this affect us? How do we imagine what is happening? Why does reality specifically take these forms in our perception? How do we process the received data? How do we compare them with past results? How and with the help of what code do we pass information to each other? How do we store it to use the accumulated experience later to find something, to draw an analogy? All these are derivatives.
And the most important thing is that people in this material world perceive only a subjective picture. If they are given other sense organs, they will see a different world. If their program of perception is changed, the picture will change. Today we have already invented devices that enable us to modify and augment the perceived reality, to create illusions and false images.
Moreover, animals, compared to us, perceive the world completely differently. A dog orients himself by “spotting” odors; he does not look at a person, but smells him and by this means builds a human image. He recognizes a cat that runs by not so much by the eyes, but in the field of smell. A snake determines the temperature of objects to fractions of degrees, and this gives it a clear picture.
In general, it’s clear that everything in the world is relative. It’s relative even between people, although by nature, there is not such a big difference between us.
Question: In this case, how can Kabbalists, discussing the spiritual world, understand each other?
Answer: A Kabbalist is a person who resides in a body, like you, and who perceives the world through the bodily senses, as you do. Besides that, he has additional perception, in which he distinguishes the forces controlling the world and his connection with them. There is a network of forces before him, that’s all. But it is really everything.
[122425]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/8/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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We walk on two legs: left, right, left, right. We should always seek the right, but we always start on the left foot, from the growing desire to receive. It is impossible to do anything without a desire, without a deficiency, without any interest.
The action itself is performed by the Light that Reforms. On the whole, it is a very simple process, but because we experience it by these feelings it throws us into different states. When we are on the left side we cannot see the right, and from the right side we cannot believe that there is also a left side. And so we are like kids that either cry or laugh.
The desire to enjoy, the desire to receive, is all of our matter, which totally determines our state: all our feelings, our mind, and our perspective. We all depend on it until we reach the middle line. There we can already be above our desire, both on the left line and the right line, and manage ourselves, which is called above reason, above pleasant impressions or unpleasant ones in our desire to receive. We can already use all these states for our advancement from our own freewill.
But we will be thrown from side to side: to the left and to the right, until we attain the control of the middle line. When we are on the left, we need to somehow control our state so that we will not lose our heads and despair of the fact that everything is bad, that everything is dark, and that we don’t see anything. We have to use the left line effectively and constructively by trying to make something out of it and to not just having a bad feeling, drowning in despair, helplessness, and hopelessness.
It is clear that if a person is totally made of a desire to receive and it totally under the influence of the Light, then nothing will help him but the environment. If he doesn’t lose connection with the environment but invests in it, then the environment will always provide him and influence him with a certain measure of Light. If a person puts his exertion into the “warehouse” of the environment, his connection, his submission to the environment, the more support he will receive in this warehouse during a descent, and then he will be able to rise faster.
It is the same the other way around, when everything is nice and good. Then he shouldn’t lose his head, but rather try to use this situation in order to advance. We will also need the support of the environment that should balance us in such an ascent. The main thing is never to forget and to be aware of the fact that we need to reach a real deficiency. The only way to reach a real deficiency is by the support of the environment, since a person will always escape from the work in such states when he is by himself. The main thing is to go through as many pleasant states as possible and not to think about how beneficial they are for one’s advancement.
[122250]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/13
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In the News (from The Voice of Russia): “The US police have begun a round-up of participants in the popular teenage game ‘Knockout.’ Its task is to ‘cold cock’ a passer-by in one blow. The main condition is that the victim must be a white person. But it is exclusively African Americans and immigrants from Latin America who are carrying out these attacks. More and more teenagers are becoming involved in the game thanks in no small part to the Internet and social networks.
“Similar incidents occur in different cities and states across America: St. Louis, Syracuse, Washington DC, and the state of New Jersey. Policemen say that the dangerous game is spreading throughout the United States like a virus. And social networks are only warming up public interest. Such behavior of adolescents is a consequence of the position the majority of African Americans have in American society, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vilen Ivanov believes.
“’Such outbursts of violence, including with the use of weapons, became frequent, and often this violence is wanton. And we cannot say that these facts are inspired by someone. It is a spontaneous expression of discontent at the teenage level.’
“However, there is another explanation, expert of the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis Vladimir Fainzilberg believes. In his opinion, the main reason for the increasing aggression of adolescents lies in imposing strict limits and norms of behavior on them, as well as in restriction of freedom for security purposes.
“’Of course, this creates a negative impact on the psyche of young people. It makes them nervous and provokes the use of weapons. Moreover, nowadays there are numerous computer games also based on the use of arms and exaltation of the identity of those who possess it. This forms a certain world outlook among the American youth.’
“According to the expert, mass media and cinematography also exert enormous influence on formation of opinions and behavior of adolescents.”
My Comment: So far, our egoism dominates us so much that we cannot contradict it, even against common sense. If even at home we cannot prevent our children from viewing violence and base programs, if the society and the state allow the media to be as they are, then the problem is not the youth, but the adult population; so maybe fear that you could be “cold cocked” will affect and bring to the correct decision: to ban harmful media.
I think that destructive consequences of egoistic development of society will accumulate until it no longer can exist and only at the last moment before its self-destruction, will it see the light and accept the method of integral education and upbringing. To prevent this from happening in such a tragic way, a broad explanatory work is required.
[121988]
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The Torah, “Exodus,” 26:32 – 26:35: “And you shall place it on four pillars of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, their hooks [shall be gold], on four silver sockets. And you shall place the dividing curtain beneath the clasps. You shall bring there on the inner side of the dividing curtain the Ark of the Testimony, and the dividing curtain shall separate for you between the Holy and Holy of the Holies. And you shall place the ark cover over the Ark of the Testimony in the Holy of Holies. And thou shall place the table on the outer side of the dividing curtain and the Menorah opposite the table on the southern side of the Mishkan, and you shall place the table on the northern side.”
All the elements of the Tabernacle are the embodiment of our ego that is made of four levels. By being prepared to be burnt, which means: to totally resemble the Light as if you place a table, a Menorah, in a certain direction on a certain side.
We may say that the Tabernacle, the tent with all its features, is the complete resemblance to the corrected world but on a small scale. If we study only about it, it is enough in order to understand what the corrected state of our soul should be, in the same state, in our relations, in everything.
This means that all the elements of the Tabernacle tell us about the end of correction that we have to attain.
The Torah, “Exodus,” 27:1, 27:9: “And you shall make the altar of acacia-wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height [shall be] three cubits. And you shall make the courtyard of the Mishkan on the southern [there shall be] hangings for the court of twisted fine linen, one hundred cubits long on one side.”
It is about discovering the full egoistic essence of our soul above which we eventually put up the tent, which means that we build a Masach (screen) and the intention of in order to bestow.
The whole spiritual work begins from the first commandment of the Torah, which spreads to all the components of creation, to the whole mass of the desire that was created by the Creator.
[121946]
From Kab TV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/12/13
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I’m acutely aware of people’s attitude towards me. When I visit different cities in Europe I feel the local internal antagonistic opposition, I try not to justify the Creator in order not to blur this feeling of exile that gives me the opportunity for spiritual work, and I even enjoy it.
After all, I came from a country with a society that was taught to sharply feel anti-Semitism. Of course, it was all planned this way on purpose.
Interestingly, it is more evident and revealed more simply in Eastern Europe than in France, for example, where it is subtle and elegant. When negative feelings are revealed more simply, you can talk about it, discuss it, and directly object to the hatred people feel towards you, and can analyze such states, even together with your enemies. While in Western Europe everything is veiled.
It is intriguing. I am always glad to feel this and often try to summon such crooked stares so as to feel the negative attitude towards me. It is essential.
Question: What do you get from this as a Kabbalist?
Answer: We know that Rav Zosha and other Kabbalists in Eastern Europe, in Russia, use to go out to exile on purpose. They used to leave their village behind them and go to places where only gentiles lived: Russians, Ukrainians, etc., in order to experience repulsion and hatred, the negative attitude others have towards you as a person.
The feeling of exile is essential in order to need the Creator, specifically from the oppositeness of this attribute. It isn’t an inclination for sufferings but rather the recognition of the state you are really in, but which you may be hiding from yourself.
We mustn’t blur such states. You have to live with everyone and feel them deeply; what they really are.
[121909]
From Kab TV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/12/13
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Question: Suppose we have an integral education class with a group of managers who have a certain problem they want to discuss. They are not interested in the connection with each other; they are only interested in financial performance.
Answer: They will not be able to solve the problem if they are not connected because this is what ties them to nature’s general system. They will reach a dead end.
Question: Will they understand the reason and the outcome and that one depends on the other?
Answer: They will begin to feel it. I think people will soon understand what our “ace” is; our method is very simple. What cannot be solved by a frontal attack, we can solve can by embracing one another. This can be much more effective than going to court, arguing, and placing obstacles for one another as a last resort: Love is better.
There is nothing supernatural here. It is simply our trainings and the special games we play that help a person relax and bring him to a state where he is ready to be with others and feels that he cannot do anything without them because one can advise the other and they can both profit by that. They should understand this, and then adapt it to their work.
People who are blinded and trapped will see and feel that they are being offered a new way to solve problems here.
When they understand that our method comes down to reaching unity and connection and that all problems can be solved from this level, we will ask: “How do you propose to introduce our method to solve problems at work?” At the same time, we don’t care what they say about work. What we care about is their mutual incorporation in one another in the correct mutual connection.
Question: When will they be able to pass it on to their workers?
Answer: They will not be able to do that by themselves because in order to start integrally organizing their workers, they need to give up their positions as managers.
So we are the ones who have to come out to the workers and teach them. Only after we train them can there be some understanding and mutual connection between the workers and their managers. They will no longer work due to feeling pressured but to feel inspired.
After four or five sessions, they will begin to feel the connection and fulfillment. They will feel comfortable and pleasant being in this state. They will not want to remain as they were before. People on the outside will seem like strangers, but they won’t be afraid to contact them. After all, when you relate to people like to your own children, it disarms everyone.
Don’t fear that you will be taken advantage of in a state like this. On the contrary, when you relate to others this way they cannot harm you. Even when someone wishes to hit you, he will only hit a vacuum.
So, they will always be able to reach an agreement, to reach the right mutual relations from within the raspberry sphere that is created between them, and to solve problems from that point.
[121924]
From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/23/13
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