What kind of mechanism can be built that would force me to remain constantly focused on changing my inner states? Certainly, it is the group. How can I wake up? How can I build a mechanism within me that will constantly awaken me? I cannot. It is impossible for me to do this.
In essence my body is a desire to receive, a desire to enjoy. If it is in a state of relative satisfaction and it appears that remaining in that state is advantageous to it, then it will simply sit or lie there. This is its nature.
In order to change it I have to build some outer states that I do not sense yet, they do not exist in the body, but they would force it to change.
Now I am nothing but a desire to receive. However, I have to cultivate a specific attitude within myself toward the goal, one that exerts sufficient pressure on the desire to receive that will make it feel uncomfortable and restless unless it is actively moving in the direction of the goal.
Only then will it begin to stir: “I feel bad, what should I do, where can I find something good?” What constitutes “good”? It is going to a bar, a soccer game, a nightclub, or watching a movie. But what is truly good? In every state that my desire encounters, it does not find sufficient fulfillment. Everything is shrouded in darkness until suddenly a light begins to shine somewhere in the distance!
A person has to go through these internal discernments so the desire to receive becomes awakened only toward the search for true pleasure. For that it has to receive sufficient fuel, meaning pressure and the sensation of suffering that will force it to break free from its current state. This pressure forces it to seek the truth, a truth that, once found, becomes a source of profound sweetness.
Furthermore, it requires a supportive environment, a group, to encourage it, to make the path easier, and to carry him along. All of this is not easy. When you begin to build this mechanism and see what you depend on, when you begin to analyze all these states, you reach the realization that Baal HaSulam wrote about in the article “The Freedom of Will.” In summary, it is that there is me and my properties that constantly change; there is the environment whose properties are also changing, and there is nothing else.
I have no power over my “I” and my properties. However, I can potentially change my environment and its properties. I will exert influence on the group and in turn it will influence me. The only force that can influence me is the group. It can bring about my transformation by evoking a sense of shame when it delivers me blows with the realization of how much I need it. I agree to receive blows and the fine-tuning from them, what it takes, provided they steer me in the correct direction.
If a person agrees to it, he is entitled to be placed in the correct group. He chooses a group that will transform him and will apply pressure on him, and he is ready to pay for it with his efforts by serving them in every possible way. Everything comes from the recognition that his only free choice is to choose a group that will put pressure on him and force him to move in the correct direction.
There is no alarm inside of you that will suddenly wake you up so you would change a state. The sensation of deficiency (Hisaron) will not arise from within. It will eventually come, but at such a slow natural pace that your progress will be driven only by means of suffering. Only the group, your immediate environment, can pull you forward. If you have already begun to grasp it, then you can speed up the change of your states.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/26, Rabash, “What Are Day and Night in the Work?”
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To build a place for the revelation of the Creator means that a person must not only correct himself, but also receive the “bricks” for the construction from everyone else, which means to attach the desires of others.
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