The World Arvut Convention “Opening Ceremony” – 12.06.11
Posted on December 6th, 2011
Shamati #72: Confidence is the clothing for the Light, called “life.” This is because there is a rule that there is no Light without a Kli (vessel). It follows that the Light, called “Light of life,” cannot clothe, but must dress in some Kli (desire). The Kli where the Light of life is clothed is usually called “confidence.” It means that he sees that he can do every difficult thing.
This means that if we don’t attain the state called confidence, we won’t be able to reveal the upper Light. That’s because the Light is attained and perceived in this vessel of confidence, meaning, we have to be sure that it is in our power to do this and it depends only on us. If this inner sensation arises in us, we will definitely be successful and reveal the Light.
The degree of life is defined by the degree of one’s confidence, and the stronger is the sensation of confidence, the more the Light becomes revealed inside of it. We are in an ocean of infinite Light even now, but due to the lack of confidence, the vessel for the Light’s revelation, we sense ourselves in this miniscule state – in a black central point, giving us the weakest possible sensation of life called “this world.”
If we want to acquire a greater sensation of life in ever-increasing spheres, until the last, infinite, unbounded sphere, this depends only on how sure we will be that we can attain it only inside of our unity.
There cannot be any doubts and lack of confidence, such as thoughts of this not being the right time to do it, that maybe we can do it tomorrow or the next day. The moment we attain this confidence all together, we will immediately break through the Machsom.
Even the sensation of our life here, in this world, also depends on the feeling of confidence. The greater the confidence, the greater the sensation of material life.
The Light and our ego are playing with one another, and we are in the middle, between them. Everything depends only on the level of our confidence: whether we will be able to rise above egoism at every moment and cleave to the Light, aspiring to be equal to it.
This war does not stop for a moment because as soon as we rise above a certain state, a greater egoistic desire is immediately revealed to give us the opportunity to rise above it to a higher level. This is why we need to be doing constant inner work: descents and ascents, alternating non-stop.
We have to understand that all the descents are given to us to overcome them and this way to attain unlimited confidence. And the only solution here is to separate from ourselves and cleave to the group. In it I must find the great force that can swallow me and bring me to the next level, like a mother’s womb, the AHP of the upper one.
To the extent I am able to cleave to this elevator, it will continuously elevate me to higher levels. I just need to cleave to it all the time above my egoism, which will get in my way less and less.
My task is only to rise above reception in bestowal, faith above reason, and this action is only possible in the group. I will continuously try to do this, while my ego will throw me to the side, distracting me with trivial matters, and then with matters that are larger and more serious, until I finally detach from it and will even stop feeling how far I have gotten.
Our entire work comes down to this. And if at every moment I don’t experience myself deeper inside the group, the society, and the common confidence that we acquire together, then I come out of my vessel, our common desire for revealing the spiritual world, and I don’t attain anything. That is how I lose confidence.
Our entire confidence is based on a person cleaving to the group and there finding the force that lets him continuously attain greater spiritual levels.
[62584]
From the preparatory lesson to the Arvut Convention, 12/4/11
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Convention Preparation
The goal of creation – to delight the creatures, lies in bringing creation, which exists in the quality that is opposite to the Creator, to equivalence or identity with Him because this is the best, perfect state. Therefore, the law of equivalence of form lies at the foundation of the whole process. On one hand, by our nature we are the will to receive, the will to enjoy, and we only analyze what we have inside of us – am I sufficiently fulfilled, do I desire anything more, can I enjoy something else and receive it inside of me? Essentially, this is my entire nature: at every moment I check how else I can improve my state. That is how I was created. I cannot free myself of this and I cannot come out of it since otherwise I won’t be creation.
On the other hand, we have to attain the state that is equal to the Creator. And the state that is similar to Him is opposite to us, meaning when I constantly check how I can benefit my neighbor, what I can take out of myself and give to him. The neighbor is everything that is outside of me. Essentially, only the Creator is outside of me. How can I get to the point where I will always think only about Him? I am incapable of that. My nature is initially such that I don’t feel this at all. Each of us understands that we are incapable of thinking about the good of someone else. In order to perform this revolution inside of us, meaning to make us similar to the Creator, He prepared two means.
First of all, the Creator placed the rudiment of the quality of bestowal inside of us, the “point in the heart,” the spiritual spark that is inside of us even though we do not feel it. We feel an unconscious desire, but we do not feel a real desire to bestow to the neighbor, to the friends, to the Creator, to become similar to Him. Yet this spark does exist.
In truth, it exists in all people in the world. But there are some in whom it is already awakening, and there are others in whom it is not awakening yet. People in whom this spark awakens are called “Isra-El” – “Straight to the Creator,” according to this spark which directs them to spirituality.
But this spark, which is inside of our will to enjoy, is not enough yet. Outside of us there is the upper force, which created us in the will to enjoy with a spiritual spark inside of it. This upper force is in the state of expectation: it is waiting for us to demand for it to influence us. This force is not one tiny spark, but one enormous Light, like billions of sparks.
But since we are in a dual state, like a dipole, combining both the will to enjoy and a spark of bestowal inside of us, we have to prepare to attract the Light to us, to obligate it to influence the spark, to increase it so the tiny spark would ignite into one enormous Light. This is our work.
In order to urge the Light to influence this spark, we have to become similar to the Light according to the same law of equivalence of form and attract it to us. How do I attract it? To the extent of our equivalence of form. How can I become similar to it? That is why besides me, there are many others like me, the group. If on one hand, I try to unite our sparks with them, and on the other – to cancel our desires as much as possible, then it turns out that we become more and more similar by that. We lower our egoistic desires down, while wishing to unite and elevate these sparks. Then, according to the law of equivalence of form, the upper Light becomes closer to us and illuminates more. And when it illuminates more, it raises these sparks, uniting them into one big spark. That is how we start growing closer to the Light, until we begin to reveal it. What does it mean to reveal it? It’s when it influences our sparks and we begin to feel it. Our sparks unite with one another and inside of them we begin to feel the Light, the common, mutual bestowal, the quality of Light, the Creator.
Then we begin to feel how besides our will to enjoy and our tiny spark inside of it, above it there is a quality of common, all-enveloping bestowal, the Creator. And in this sensation, we begin to feel the second force that exists in creation. In reality, this is the primary force that created us.
Each one of us and all of us together become included in this force, which becomes revealed to us. And in it, we already exist, or it exists inside of us, which is the same thing. Then we feel it, and that means we feel the upper world, the spiritual world, our life in the spiritual dimension. And our body exists on the side. It is not even connected to the same desire, like some animal existing next to it. That is how we exist.
Therefore, in all of our actions, it is very important for us to understand that “the Shechina dwells only in a perfect place.” That is, we have to unite, to become similar to the Light by our nature, and to that extent the Light influences us, comes closer to us, and becomes revealed inside of us.
That is why we get together, in as big as quantity and quality as possible, and prepare. It’s all to unite our sparks and inside of them to feel that we really do have a place for the Shechina, for the revelation of Light inside of us. The first revelation means that we pass the Machsom and already exist in the revelation of Light. Let us hope that we will have to actualize this and we really will reach this.
[62504]
From the lesson on 11/11/11 on “Joy”
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Convention Preparation
The only thing that will help us is unity. You depend on others and you know it. You know that the mind and the feeling won’t get you anywhere. They will keep changing, inclining in one direction or another, but with no result. You are like a dead body in a society of friends.
This society buries your egoism in the ground and raises your soul upward. So let it do that. Believe us, you really are dead. So give us the chance to take care of you, to bring you back to life.
Here is what Chaim Vital writes in the book, The Gates of Reincarnation: My teacher (the Ari) warned me and all the friends that were with us in the group that we should take upon us the commandment of love for the neighbor as oneself, and to aspire to love for every person from Israel as to oneself. By virtue of this, one’s prayer is accepted, which is gathered from all of Israel and able to perform a correction above. In our love of friends, every person can become included in the friends like an organ in a body. Our teacher warned us about this very much.
If a person understood that he has no other way to go, that he just has to give himself over to society, he would join the friends and would benefit from it. There is no Kabbalist who did not write about this or pass this on to his students. This is the foundation of our Kli.
We are beginning the practical preparation to the Convention. This is an unusual convention. Everyone sees how special it is, what inner and outer preparatory work we have already done. So let us try to spend the last days and hours before the opening in connection, in unity, in understanding that it’s impossible without this.
I advise you to print out all of the excerpts that we used at the Convention in the Arava desert. Let the friends read them and translate them for one another, let them discuss it in their free time so we won’t have a minute free of unity. These words of Kabbalists are wondrous messages of unity and they have great power. So let them be a basis, a foundation of everything we are doing.
I summon you to understand that no one here is exempt from mutual guarantee. Every person is responsible for everyone. Whether he wants it or not, he was brought to the group, he was appointed a messenger and a responsible person. Even if he is out there, in the external world physically, instead of here, this doesn’t matter, he is responsible for everyone.
Therefore, let’s constantly hold on to the unity, in which we attain the Creator. Let’s not leave this goal for a moment. Let’s wait every moment for the upper Light to come, to illuminate our small, flawed desires and unite us. Then it will enter and fill this unity it created, and we will attain the revelation of the Creator to the creation. I am sure that this is exactly where we are headed.
And once I have acquired this above-mentioned clothing, sparks of love promptly begin to shine within me. The heart begins to long to unite with my friends, and it seems to me that my eyes see my friends, my ears hear their voices, my mouth speaks to them, the hands embrace, the feet dance in a circle, in love and joy together with them, and I transcend my corporeal boundaries. I forget the vast distance between my friends and me, and the outstretched land for many miles will not stand between us.
It is as though my friends are standing right within my heart and see all that is happening there, and I become ashamed of my petty acts against my friends. Then, I simply exit the corporeal vessels and it seems to me that there is no reality in the world except my friends and I. After that, even the “I” is cancelled and is immersed, mingled in my friends, until I stand and declare that there is no reality in the world—only the friends. (Rabash, Letter #8)
[62519]
From the lesson on 12/2/11, Shamati
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Question: What does it mean to be inspired by the group?
Answer: To be inspired means to open your eyes, ears, all five of your senses, and most importantly, the inner sense—“the point in the heart” in order to feel the spirit that exists in the group.
When I come up to the roof where you are working now and preparing the equipment for the convention, I feel that there is a certain spirit, some common force that is engaged in preparing for a spiritual ascent.
The fact is that this is joint work, joint aspiration, anticipation of and preparation for a great, powerful gathering, for which there are no analogous equals in the world according to strength, power, and level of ascent. Approximately ten thousand people will go through enormous spiritual ascent over these three days; they will place themselves under the influence of the upper Light. We should try to feel that we are in the group using all the strings of our soul; we should try to be in that spirit, in that common force that is present there.
Actually, independent of us, our group already has its own, common component—an integral that includes us all. However, each of us needs to perform a slight effort and dissove in this. When a person is able to do this, he will feel this state.
For this purpose, a week ago we went to the desert and attempted to carry our our first unification there. As I felt, it was very successful. Many people who have been working on themselves, studying and implementing Kabbalah for many years, for the first time felt that there is some spiriutal component, which we can find among us, in our unity.
It has already been revealed between us, and now we need to try to find it. Now everything depends on how much we will try to constantly be in this state—in the single force of the group. Precisely by delving into it, we will feel the upper force, the Creator, and in unification with Him we will begin to feel the upper world. All this is the next stage, which is very close. In this regard, everything depends on the inner, emotional effort of a person.
[62363]
Fundamentals of Kabbalah Lesson 11/27/11
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We should all be thinking about nullifying ourselves and only caring about others because in this way we attain the Creator. Contrary to the assumption of many, we shouldn’t be concerned with caring for physical bodies. There are many methods and spiritual practices dedicated to this in our world. However, Kabbalah speaks of the type of love for one’s fellow that allows a person to rise above his egoism and obtain a connection that’s above it.
This shouldn’t be confused with “altruistic” societies that help the poor and the sick. They think that by doing so they are correcting the world that the Creator “ruined.” We see that such action only makes things worse. This is contradictory to human reasoning. But then again, we gradually begin to see that our mind doesn’t agree with anything.
We shouldn’t be concerned with fulfilling one’s egoistic desires, but think only of love toward our fellow man. It is only in this way that we’ll be able to sense the need for obtaining a new quality of love and bestowal through which we obtain love for the Creator.
It becomes clear now why we need so many different people around us that have nothing in common with one another, each one existing in his own egoistic desire and love for one’s self. All of this is given to us so that we can apply our own effort in revealing the Creator.
There is no distance between the Creator and me. This distance appears only as a result of the distance between me and another person. By erasing the distance between myself and others, I erase the distance between myself and the Creator. My first contact with a friend is my first contact with the Creator. The more that I begin to connect with others (not through the physical bodies, but only through the points in the heart which is above my egoistic desire), the more I begin to reveal the Creator and to unite with Him.
[62150]
From Lesson 2, Arvut Convention in the Arava Desert 11/18/2011
It is not accidental that we are spread across the Earth and separated by great distances. We are created so purposefully. This comes from the fall of the Tower of Babel.
We need to use these elements of separation correctly so that regardless of them, we increase the connection between us. Therefore, those who are located far away from us should not feel that they are distant from us.
Unity is above the framework of our world. A person who is located somewhere far away may experience unity with everyone else even more sharply than someone who is here physically. His urge, his bitterness about the fact that he is far away from everyone, his acute desire to feel everything that we are doing, intensifies his emotions to such an extent that he is with us completely.
He can absorb absolutely everything that is happening at the convention. The most important thing is tuning our hearts to the same frequency: unity.
[61698]
From Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 11/20/2011
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Unity does not imply difference and separation, nor the numerous opinions and forces, but the action of one force: the force of unity, one opinion, one idea. If a person suddenly jumps out of unity into his own egoistic calculations, recollections, or thoughts (let’s say thoughts about household worries), the force of unity quickly brings him back.
People feel the common force of unity. It slowly draws them in, corrects, and engulfs them in such a way that later, on the basis of this, they begin to build their lives differently.
We need to understand that the force of unity holds us. It makes us and all of nature alive, up to the egoistic nature of our world, which only feeds off of the quality of bestowal. Otherwise, it could not exist.
By connecting to this force, we basically make ourselves healthy. I know of a lot of cases where a person really received a strengthening force, restoring his health.
[61704]
From Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 11/20/2011
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