Question: How can we correctly picture the need for the Creator’s presence in the void that was formed between us?

Answer: It is essential that He should control that void. Keep on exploring the empty space and enter it more deeply. If the Creator doesn’t control this void, we will undoubtedly escape any connection with the friends, any form of bestowal.

This is the whole difference between the ten Sefirot of the lower level and the upper level. What used to be the cause on the lower level becomes the means on the upper level. In the previous state we felt connection and unity with the friends, but now we don’t feel that, and so we need the Creator to connect us. On the next upper level, the opposite will happen: Here I need the Creator in order to remain connected so that He will keep the state of the convention for me, and later all the convention and the whole empty state that was created will only be designated for revealing the Creator.

This is a qualitative difference between the levels, when Malchut of the upper becomes Keter of the lower. It is a change of the cause and the effect, which means that the reason that I do it changes. It is like a child who uses his parents when he is young and when he grows, he uses himself in order to help them. Another example is the guest and the host, when the host tries to do everything for me and serves me different refreshments, and if I, the guest, rise to an upper level, I repay the host for all his kindness. The cause and the effect change places.

This is why we feel empty now after the pleasant state we felt during the convention. There we felt the connection with the friends and it was nice and pleasant. Now this feeling is gone and we want to return to the same feeling. But what can help us here when we cannot bring it back and this feeling cools down and disappears. Only the Creator can preserve it, but where is He? We must feel His presence.

Then we begin to understand that it isn’t about drawing the Creator into our state so that He can correct it, but rather about using this state of the revelation of the Creator in order to bring Him contentment. We don’t wait for Him to bring us contentment anymore but rather use this emptiness in order to ask the Creator to reveal Himself so that we will be able to bring Him contentment.
[112711]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/13

Related Material:
In The Center Of The Void
What Especially Is Missing Is The Creator!
The Important Link In The Chain

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

Here are some pictures from the Convention in St. Petersburg, July 12-14, 2013.

[Show slideshow]

1 2 ►

[112451]

Filed under: Conventions - 1 Comment →

Question: How can women feel the collective descent and unity? I don’t feel any descents; I come to the group with great happiness and devote myself to it. So where is my spiritual development?

Answer: There is something unique among women in comparison to men. It is not required of them to overcome their natural barrier between them. But in the spiritual work, they must be like the men.

Nobody requires them to, nobody demands of them the same method of connection as it is with the men. But inwardly, they are ready for this and must work on it especially between them.

And afterwards, both a particular detachment, ascent is created, and the sensation that you are a woman and this is a man disappears, when this outer envelope disappears, and becomes unimportant, then on one hand, what will remain is the physical world, and on the other hand, the spiritual world; both of them will be precisely differentiated: this being our beastly nature and that the soul, then they will be able to work like the men.

But until that moment there is a difference between men and women and therefore, we need to rise and desire spiritual attainment separately. Certainly we need to help each other in everything, but if we begin to work together, then we only become confused. We confuse images from the physical world and spiritual work and the outcome is very bad.

Therefore, in no way must we intersect in a serious way. Mutual help, supporting the center, dissemination, everything else is done together, except for spiritual work. Sometimes even the workshops can be jointly arranged. But in general, connection needs to be differentiated according to gender.

You understand and feel this yourselves that you can easily become confused. Moreover the women get more confused than the men. A man understands what he needs whereas a woman confuses spirituality with materialism, for her it is as if it is the same thing. And this is not at all so. She is simply lying to herself without understanding and feeling this.

When you pass through the Machsom and really begin to feel the upper world, you will then understand how much this would have been a mistake. But until then, no. And therefore with us everything is strictly divided into masculine and feminine parts.

Don’t interfere with the men, this is the first condition. Second, learn among yourselves. Nobody calls upon you to hug. Do everything that is beneficial for your connection.
[112631]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day One” 7/12/13, Lesson 2

Related Material:
One Root – One Force For Everyone
Don’t Confuse The Spiritual With The Physical
In Spirituality Everyone Is Equal

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Work, Women's Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: The emptiness that we must find within us and fill, is this work with the ego?

Answer: Certainly. Emptiness is an egoistic desire that appears in me which I want to fill. These could be simple physical desires and they could be spiritual desires. With the spiritual desires this is slightly more complicated since I can never fulfill them by myself. And even the physical desires, basically, are only relatively fulfilled.

The idea is that I need to realize the spiritual desires that appear in me in someone else, to fulfill him, which is to say to transform “minus” into “plus.” A Kli is a very great negative desire or minus. I make a Tzimtzum (restriction) on it, the Masach (Screen), then the Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light), and in spite of this inner negative desire, I place someone else’s fulfillment above my desire. It follows that I transform the place where I feel emptiness into a mechanism for the fulfillment of the other or of the Creator, which in fact is the same thing.
[112625]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day One” 7/12/13, Lesson 2

Related Material:
Special Desires Of A Special Group
The Key To Unity
How To Fulfill The Desires Of Others?

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

Question: Should we look for deficiencies and emptiness in the group?

Answer: Don’t you know what the friends want? They don’t need to say anything because it is clear to you that they want the revelation of the attribute of bestowal, the attribute of love among them. Thus, they will begin to feel everything else, all of creation, and the Creator that fills everything. This is why you are their friend.

You only correct and adapt your intentions, your desires, and your yearnings so they will be more similar to the Light. Then everything will work out and you will succeed in everything.

Question: But if the friends don’t speak about their desires, there is a kind of emptiness, a silence…

Answer: This happens because you don’t feel them, you don’t feel how much they want spirituality.

We have just heard some comments from the women. It is indeed different from what the men say. They all feel how much they long for spirituality, how much they want and yearn for it. Perhaps they didn’t speak very accurately, but this inaccuracy will be corrected until the end of correction, until the world of Ein Sof (Infinity). On the whole it was amazing!

What don’t you understand? No one in this world has the desires that I feel here in each of you. Everyone else in this world, except for the desires of our global group, is on the animate level.
[112622]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day One” 7/12/13, Lesson 2

Related Material:
A Mechanism For Fulfilling The Friend
The Common Desire Makes Us Friends
Connecting The First Spiritual Circle

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

We must equally yearn for Israel, the Torah, and the Creator, so they will emerge into one whole. It is as if there is an equilateral triangle: Israel, the Torah, and the Creator and you yearn to be in the center of this triangle.

Israel is a person who yearns for the Creator. The Torah is the means by which we reach connection, the unity in the group. The Creator is revealed in the group. If these three components are equally important to us and are connected into one concept, we can advance.

These three components will constantly draw further apart and we have to try and connect them into one concept again, and to work in this way. If we don’t want the state that was attained in the convention to ever come to an end, we have to connect these three components and bring the upper force into this connection that will hold the whole convention together.

Of course, we will feel how this feeling cools down and fades a moment later. We will have to make sure that we connect and feel warmth, and repeat this time after time. It is the feeling of detachment and of cooling that is a sign of the expansion of the vessels and of our advancement.

Everything is measured according to the importance of the Creator, we can learn about His importance only realizing without Him, we cannot connect. Without our connection we cannot even come close to a spiritual state. We must understand that the descent and the detachment that we feel now is a space, a place that the Creator gives us into which we must bring Him. Then all our hopes and expectations will be filled.
[112620]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/13

Related Material:
A Man Of Feelings And A Man Of Faith
Expecting The End Of Correction At Any Moment
Gladness Is The Parameter For The Right Way

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - 1 Comment →

Question: We have completed the campus courses and have begun the work in the group. I see the deficiency of my friends, but there is still no feeling of resistance. Why? Is it because we aren’t trying enough to connect?

Answer: Very true! You have answered your question. If you don’t long for unity, then you won’t feel the rejection. What reason is there to reveal to you the negative broken attributes in you if you don’t have any preparation for this?

First of all, the group is not cohesive in the correct way. Secondly, it seems that there is still no understanding of how important this unity is. Thus, what is happening to you now are still not those attributes that need correction, even though there might be some weakness and rejection.

Question: How is it possible to enhance this work in order to really feel the rejection through which we can work in a more intense way?

Answer: Execute our instructions. There is nothing else.

It can be that you carry out all the activities, take part in the workshops, study, gather together, but do it in a formal way, without yearning for a connection with each other. This means that subconsciously you are guarding yourselves from cooperation that is more internal and close knit.

Here at the convention there are people who are not able to overcome this obstacle, are not able to “expose” their hearts. Expose it, remove the outer covering and discover it. Don’t be afraid of this!

You are afraid they will stab it and cause something very sensitive and unpleasant. Don’t be afraid! Cautiously, with fear, try to expose it. It can’t be any other way if we want to become one heart. We need to remove and pull off this outer covering from each of the hearts.
[112507]
From the Convention in St. Petersburg 7/12/13, Lesson 2

Related Material:
We Need A New Start
Go For Love
Commandment To Love

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

During the convention we had the feeling that we were in a general vessel and all the differences between us disappeared, all the differences between people were simply erased. Everyone had certain personal feelings but only on the corporeal, physical level, a feeling of sickness or hunger, but above that there was one general feeling of connection.

But this feeling of connection was not clarified. We simply felt that we were together. Now, when the convention is over we have to assimilate this feeling of togetherness in order to expand this feeling and to add the mind, the understanding, and the discernments to it. This is called Sefirot, which we have to start “to count” – “Lispor” (from the same root in Hebrew) and to examine with accurate detail. Then we will see how we can actually work with the new vessels correctly.

This is possible only by adding to the previous level and ascending to the next level. From the next level we will be able to “count” the previous level. This is the only way to do it, from the state a person is in. In the current state, a person cannot attain such a Sefira (counting) since he needs the ten measures that are ready and enable him to count from Malchut to Keter and back.

This level is now being formed, and we cannot digest or count it yet or explain it in detail. The main thing now is to try to hold on to what we have attained and not to be satisfied with that, so that the descent will be from the desire to attain more!

The descent should not be in our feeling, not as a result of losing the pleasant feeling we had during the convention which is gone now. We have attained the feeling of the attribute of bestowal and now we want to hold on to it above the daily routine that will pull us away from it day after day.

We can use the vessels that we have now discovered as a standard, as a parameter, and can start establishing clear measures in us, which are called Din (judgement), mercy, the middle line, ten Sefirot from Keter to Malchut and back through the Returning Light, and different levels of Aviut (thickness). We can begin to compare which vessel is developed, where the apple is red and ripe and where the apple is small and green. In the meantime it’s not a conscious choice, just like a small child’s, but we will understand what and why we choose.
[112470]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/13, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
We Are Already In The Spiritual World
The Light Of Confidence
Life Goes On In The Orbit Of The Convention

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

Question: After the convention, why was there no feeling that it had ended and we quietly went home?

Answer: Indeed, there was no feeling that the convention was over, and that’s why it’s very important to hold yourself in this state. We need to recall the state that was there, to strive for it. But not because we felt good in it, rather because we don’t want to lose the sensation of bestowal in relation to others that we achieved there.

We want to remain in the same feeling. We need to distinguish clearly: a pleasant feeling or the feeling of belonging to a unified whole. This is a huge difference! I don’t care whether I feel pleasant or not. I don’t want to depend upon my feelings, but to stay only in bestowal, giving, and belonging; to swim in this single current wherever it takes me, as in the current of life.

Nothing else is required! Just keep this feeling of belonging to the unified world group, to the common vessel. This feeling of belonging must be felt within us so no disturbances can separate us. This will be keeping the covenant. If these concepts are imprinted in you, the “letters of work,” we will be able to reveal this theme more deeply, at a more inner level.

And it doesn’t matter here in what group a person is, in what place, in what city. Correction should be done here as well, so there is no feeling of difference.

I suggest opening a page on the Internet called “The Convention that Never Ends,” where everyone will be able to briefly share his impressions and support others, post excerpts from articles and clips. Everyone can visit it once or twice a day for five minutes and check whether he is in the same feeling of unity. Thus, we will support each other to feel belonging to that common desire, the state of unity, in which we were able to stay for a long time.

We have caught it well, and that is why we have no feeling that we are parting. We left without goodbyes and tears, and it’s very good. The separation on the physical level is not relevant to that spiritual connection that everyone has achieved, and thus he does not feel inside that he is parting. This is very important.
[112464]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/13, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Life Goes On In The Orbit Of The Convention
The Light Of Confidence
We Are Already In The Spiritual World

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

All our work is inner concentration because the external reality does not change no matter how much we expect it to do. The reality is defined only by its perception within us and entirely depends on a person’s properties. A person changes, and through that reality which he felt in his five sense organs before, he sees other connections in our world, a new reality, the presence of the upper force. Gradually, this force becomes huge, controlling everything and supporting the entire reality.

But now we neither see nor notice it. This is the only thing that changes to the extent that this earthly reality disappears completely with the death of the body and only the spiritual reality remains. Everything depends on how we change from a “feeling” person to a “believing” person.

The difference between the two is determined by the instruments with which we work. If we perceive the reality in the desire to enjoy, this is called a person of feeling, and if in the desire to bestow, then this is called a person of faith. But they both imply sensations. Faith is also a sensation only in the Reflected Light, in the desire aimed at bestowal instead of reception.

The feeling of his distance from the Creator means that a person has received more sensitive instruments (Kli) for measuring his attitude to the Creator. Just a few days ago at the convention we felt more connected with each other to such an extent that a person disappeared within the feeling of our community. The general force and inspiration held him, allowing him to stop feeling himself.

But this can happen with any joyous enthusiasm when many people, united by one idea, one opinion, thought, purpose, and reason, get together and thus they feel their unity. How is our state different from others? It is in order to make it different from them that we are now given the sensation of descent, distancing from the light state. We feel that we miss something in this state so that it could remain.

We ourselves are not able to keep it; it requires the presence of some new force, a new reality, that is above us. This sense of alienation means the expansion of our desires, the tools of perception, to a new depth and width, an increase of their inner sensitivity, as well as the obtaining of a more powerful external force.

And thus we see that we cannot cope with this. We are seemingly immersed in a vast sea of feelings left from the convention, which is gradually cooling down and soon will freeze completely. We cannot stop this. The trend is clear, but it is not clear how to resist this.

First of all, you need to understand that this trend is natural and you should try to protect yourself from it, to stop, to fight with this cooling as much as possible, but only in order to sharpen your sensation of this distancing, trying to retain the previous warm feeling as much as possible!

And in spite of all our efforts, we can see that we are not capable of this. We will check our state, comparing how it is changing from day to day, and will understand that our inspiration is gradually fading. Sometimes the thoughts of unity come but immediately disappear. And today’s state is even further from what is was yesterday.

But feeling our separation from the great King, one must understand that it is not real alienation, but simply the Creator increasing one’s degree of sensitivity to the state, increases one’s desire quantitatively and qualitatively. And then a person feels that he lacks something in the same state.

In fact, we are still in the same state because nothing disappears in spirituality. But in every successive state, we lack our unity and the presence of the Creator to a greater extent.
[112637]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/13

Related Material:
In The Center Of An Equilateral Triangle
Adhering Face To Face
Seeing The Creator And Getting Acquainted With Him

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