Joy is a very important indicator of whether we are on the right track. I am happy to be in the group and I treat my friends with an open heart and love. I feel our connection and unity, and I come closer to the Creator sometimes in the right line and sometimes in the left.

This is the joy of doing good deeds in which I participate, the joy of fulfilling the commandment, that is, the decree of the Creator to come closer and cling to Him.

Joy testifies that I am going in the right direction, toward the right goal to bestow, to meet the Creator, my Creator. But there can be an opposite joy, egoistic, from feeling yourself at the center of creation and not the group and the Creator in it. Joy is built from those two poles: the good and the evil principles, the desire to enjoy and the desire to bestow, from the two forces operating in creation.

Therefore, in our progress, we need to check whether we are in joy and where does this joy come from. After all, this is an extremely important indicator, and if we pay attention to it, it will help us very quickly evaluate each state and determine what we need to come to. The goal is to always be happy that I am drawing closer to the Creator through the ten.

Joy should overflow the heart with good deeds and connection with the true goal. There may be a completely different joy, not from the desire to bestow and unite but just the opposite, from the filling of egoism.

Therefore, it is necessary to check what causes my joy: is it the fact that I am in a group together with my friends, that I strive for the Creator, and want to merge with Him through the actions of bestowal, through the group? If this is my goal, as is said, “The Torah, the Creator, and Israel are one” and I rejoice in it every moment, then this is a sacred joy.

If I do not feel joy, then I am not directed to the right goal, not directed to the Creator, to the ten, and all my efforts are wasted. Joy is a result of good deeds, of striving for the right goal, for the Creator.

Joy is a test criterion as if I am tuning in to a radio wave, twisting the dial to hear everything better, or adjusting the focus for more sharpness. I focus my vision or hearing, and if I am focused on the target, I perceive everything with joy.

If the connection with the group makes me happy, then I am really connected to the ten. The more I connect with my friends and with the Creator, the more I am filled with joy. Joy is a result of good deeds and an indicator of the right direction.

If I am not happy, then I am not yet moving in the right direction, but I am in my own egoism and the group does not seem to me to be a spiritual area. It is important to focus on the spiritual goal in such a way that it evokes the joy of the commandment in me, that is, to achieve this goal, I need to acquire the quality of bestowal.

I am glad I have risen a little more above myself. I want to connect with my friends so that I can get lost there and not feel myself but feel that I am inside them as if there is nothing but my friends. If I am happy, then I am on the right track.

As I join the group, I gradually give up my desire to enjoy and begin to feel the Creator in it. I do not yet realize that this is the Creator, but it already fills me with joy. This is a spiritual law. Therefore, joy is a compass that clearly determines the direction of the goal: egoistic or altruistic, for the sake of oneself or for the sake of bestowal.

As a thief rejoices that he has picked up the key to the safe to rob it, so I rejoice that I have found the key to open my heart and let in all humanity, the whole world.
[276559]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/21, “Simcha”

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