Audio Version Of The Blog – 12/1/24
Posted on December 1st, 2024
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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 13
How Do We Suddenly Realize that We Have an Evil Inclination?
The phrase “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” means that from the outset we have only one nature: the desire to receive for the sake of receiving. The desire to receive is not nature. It is matter. That is, it is neither good nor evil but merely a desire to enjoy. Divisions into good and evil depend on what exactly we want to enjoy.
The intention to enjoy for oneself is called “evil.” Why should a desire to enjoy be considered evil? It is because the Creator designed a system where the desire to receive for the sake of receiving causes suffering. It takes several years, however, to learn that the desire to receive for its own sake leads to suffering. Generally, it takes thousands of years for the soul to become consciously aware that the desire to receive for oneself is harmful.
In the incarnation where we receive the point in the heart, we start fearing our own thoughts, which constantly act out of self-interest. We sense that such thoughts bring trouble, yet we are clueless as to how we can escape them. How can we stop a thought that naturally operates beyond our control? We see this desire within us and try to uproot it, and in such a way, we realize that “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” In the wisdom of Kabbalah, this is referred to as a person’s encounter with the serpent.
Only after we observe ourselves from the perspective of the point in the heart, question who we are, and realize that we cannot confront our own desire to receive for the sake of receiving (since our entire being is absorbed in this desire, i.e., we were born to suffer and have only the thought that critiques and analyzes ourselves as support—do we turn to the Creator to release us from this affliction.
This is the correction. We can then understand how complex the situation is. A long time passes before we discover that “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” However, when we reach this realization, we become willing to impose a restriction on ourselves, the result of which is called “prayer.” The feeling in our heart of wanting to free ourselves from ourselves, which we cannot achieve, leads to this restriction. After the restriction, we live a different life.
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Question: It is said that a person has both a good inclination and an evil one, and he must test whether his body agrees to fulfill a certain commandment. On the spiritual path, the body (our evil inclination) always disagrees with the good inclination. What does it mean to gain its agreement?
Answer: You must make some effort as if you genuinely wish to fulfill the commandment, and feel how much it contradicts the nature of creation. Then step back from this and find the strength to ask the Creator to help you perform the same action.
Question: And if I performed the action and made a mistake?
Answer: Then you made a mistake. This means you can ask the Creator to explain to you that you were wrong, that you performed a bad action, perhaps even a terrible, awful one, against the Creator, but now you’ve realized this and deeply regret it. In such a case, the action is erased, as if it never happened.
Question: In the work of the ten it often happens that some friends agree to take a certain action toward unity while others believe it is incorrect. How can we be guided by the fact that it’s better to act and see if the action was right or not?
Answer: You must carry out everything you believe is necessary in practice. Even if the action was wrong, unproductive, or against the Creator’s will, you will still learn a great deal from it. Therefore, under no circumstances should you hold yourself back; do everything you can.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/24, Writings of Rabash “The Act Is What Decides”
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How can we strengthen the tens? I believe this can only be achieved through mutual study and mutual work.
Mutual study means connecting to the lesson, discussing it among yourselves, and creating a common field in which everyone works together.
But the most important thing is collective dissemination. When you write, process, and translate materials, and post them in various sources, you create a connection among you. In this way, the Creator relates to you as one organism.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”
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Question: Does the Creator send us sometimes unnecessary desires to confuse us so we can accurately choose the true ones?
Answer: If He does so, then this is also help.
Question: How can we emerge from this confusion correctly and use it to come closer to Him?
Answer: It will pass. You will go through many such states, and eventually, it will all clear up.
Are you confused? Write down your tangled thoughts and send them to us, and our friends will analyze them and respond to you.
Question: Why does the Creator allow us to make mistakes?
Answer: So that we have something to correct.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/24, Writings of Rabash “The Act Is What Decides”
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The world must not be corrected in religious matters before economic correction is guaranteed for the entire world (Baal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation).
A state that decides to adopt an altruistic system must understand what to do and how to influence its citizens, i.e., how to adjust itself in one direction or another in order to demonstrate the desired path to everyone through this variation.
Baal Sulam emphasizes that this economic component is so important that it will become the foundation without which it is impossible to move forward in ethical principles.
As a result, until a person reaches a certain economic condition, he will not be able to think about spiritual matters, as his material needs will occupy his concerns.
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From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 8/8/24
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Question: When we strive to reveal love, hatred is also uncovered. This leads us to fear or a sense of paralysis. What should we do next?
Answer: If you imagine that the Creator is before you, and He is presenting this to you, then why should you feel fear? It is said that one must love hatred just as one loves love. This is called “kissing the stick that strikes you.”
The fact is, there can be no light without darkness. Therefore we can advance toward spiritual revelation only by accumulating various negative impressions. And when we gather them and sufficiently enrich ourselves with negative impressions, we will then be able to reveal positive impressions, which are called the “Creator” or “light.”
At this point, we need a group to support us, so that we do not fall into despair or a sense of powerlessness from the small negative influences we encounter. We must understand that all of this is revealed to us by the Creator. He adds darkness to us so that later He can reveal the light, as the revelation of light requires very great darkness. As it is said: “The advantage of light is revealed through darkness.”
Thus, a very deep darkness is necessary, where a person realizes that in all their feelings, desires, and impulses, they are egoists. They see themselves as a thief, as brazen, as someone who does everything “for their own sake,” and not just for their own sake, but to ensure that nothing benefits others.
Essentially they see themselves in all their flaws, in their egoistic miasma, and they feel repulsed by it. Yet even so, much more darkness is needed for the light to manifest within it.
Therefore we must be prepared for this. And here the main thing is the group, because without it, it is impossible to endure.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”
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Question: What does patience transform into in the state of Lishma?
Answer: Into humility.
Question: Every day, we write a prayer in the ten. Is there value in sharing these prayers in the general chat to form a collective prayer for the world Kli?
Answer: Yes, it is beneficial because it fosters mutual integration of one group’s prayer into another group’s prayer.
Question: While we are not yet in Lishma, does every act of bestowal have a bitter taste?
Answer: As long as you are in Lo Lishma, any act of bestowal has either a bitter taste or no taste at all.
Question: As we progress, should we sort out good and bad desires, meaning come closer to the good ones and distance ourselves from the bad ones? What is the force that enables this?
Answer: It is our desire to ascend, unite, and feel something good, kind, and upper. That is what we must strive for.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam Shamati 20 “Lishma (for Her sake”
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Question: Does the black point, my “I,” nullify itself before the Creator? Will it disappear or will it remain a black point?
Answer: Why should it disappear? If it disappears, I would cease to exist. This black point must always remain because it separates me from the Creator, without it, the “I” would vanish.
Therefore it remains, but around this “I,” I create a complete equivalence of form to the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”
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Question: We feel that we have reached a certain level of mutual inclusion. But if the connection needs to be stronger, fear arises, a fear of commitment. What is the connection between this fear and our commitments?
Answer: Fear is a very useful feeling. It keeps us from many problems, prevents us from making mistakes, from running away from difficulties, and instead encourages us to ask for strength to rise above them and move forward. One must realize that neither the fear nor the problems ahead matter to me anymore. I am not afraid of dying, and I no longer wish to live the way I do.
I set a condition: I want spiritual ascent, to detach from the egoism in which I exist. I desire to rise above it and act independently of it. This feeling will come; it is near to you. We will master it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”
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