World Kabbalah Convention, “Preparation to Lesson 5”
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World Kabbalah Convention, “A Prayer from Within the Ten,” Lesson 5
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World Kabbalah Convention, “Making a Covenant Within the Ten,” Lesson 6
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Thus, on the one hand, each person should feel lowly, and on the other hand, be proud that the Creator has given us the chance… (Rabash, “Purpose of Society – 1“).
From all of humanity, He chose a handful of people, and wished that they would draw closer to Him, reveal Him, and ascend to His degree while still living in this world. This life does not prevent us from living in the spiritual world, and we will feel it until the very end of correction.
…the Creator has given us the chance to be in a society where each of us has but a single goal: for The Shechina [Divinity] to be among us (ibid.).
In other words, to reveal the presence of the Creator between us.
From this follow several principles. First of all, we need a society that will allow each person to recognize the importance of spiritual life.
Of course, it sounds wonderful to talk about attaining eternity, perfection, and freedom; about not depending on anyone; about being able to achieve whatever we desire; about success, health, and prosperity accompanying us; about understanding all of reality and all of nature. It is easy to say, but a person does not yet feel it.
In a short article called “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 2,” Baal HaSulam describes to what extent a person changes his perception of reality upon feeling the spiritual world. His perception of the world is transformed into its opposite.
Problems, suffering, and everything bad in people and in the world that he previously saw suddenly appear in the opposite light. It turns out that everything is good and wonderful, and the whole world is filled with the presence of the Creator. A person feels himself in nirvana, in a great, eternal spiritual exaltation, and his entire world is filled with the force of spiritual energy.
This depends on how much we exalt the goal in our environment. We can resist our egoism, which always pulls us backward, only if society “washes” our mind and heart with the message of the importance of the goal.
Moreover, this must be done artificially. In the same way, the ordinary world captures our attention with supposedly important things that we must buy, discuss, and think about. Why? Because it is important and profitable for someone and so he fills my life with his preferences.
Therefore, let’s fill our lives with what is important to us. We have such an opportunity. As Rabash writes, we must thank the Creator for having brought us into an environment through which we can reveal the spiritual dimension.
Do what you can, and the salvation of the Lord is as the blink of an eye (Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 10).
We are not required to do anything beyond our strength. The problem is different, it is that we do not apply the efforts that we are capable of.
Baal HaSulam continues: The most important thing before you today, is the unity of friends. Exert in that more and more, for it can recompense for all the faults. In other words, there is nothing more important. To “recompense” means to fill in, to cover all flaws. As it is written: “Love will cover all transgressions.”
In truth, the transgressions are not ours, egoism is not ours, hatred is not ours; all of this was created by the Creator. As it is said: “I have created the evil inclination.” But in order to reveal the connection above all this, we, and specifically we, must make the effort.
By connecting above hatred, we attain a power that raises us through 125 degrees to the world of infinity. And therefore, in another of his letters, Baal HaSulam writes:
I order you to begin to love one another as yourselves with all your might, to ache with your friends’ pains, and rejoice in your friends’ joys as much as possible. I hope that you will keep these words of mine and execute this matter to the fullest (Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 49).
[39938]
From the Congress “We” in New Jersey, 4/2/11, Lesson 5
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World Kabbalah Convention, “Preparation to Lesson 3”
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World Kabbalah Convention, “What Stops Us from Truly Connecting,” Lesson 3
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World Kabbalah Convention, “Arvut in the Ten,” Lesson 4
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However, there is a natural law that there is none so wise as the experienced, and before one tries to actually do all he can do, he is utterly incapable of arriving at true lowliness, to the real extent, as said above.
This is why we must toil in Kedusha [holiness] and purity, as it is written, “Whatever you find that your hand can do by your strength, that do,” and understand this for it is true and deep (Baal HaSulam, Letter 57).
While working on unification in order to form a vessel for bestowal, a person falls into despair. Then a genuine request arises in him in response to which the vessel arrives. In other words, the correct need for unity also comes from above. We ourselves are unable to attain it.
No matter how much we try, no matter how much we desire it, we are only preparing ourselves for a cry, and the Creator gives us the desire. In this world, a person does not have and cannot have a need for unity, no matter how hard he tries. Efforts are needed only in order to ask.
I revealed this truth to you only so you would not weaken or give up on mercy. Although you do not see anything, for even when the measure of labor is complete, it is the time of prayer, but until then, believe in our sages: “I did not labor and found, do not believe.”
When the measure is full, your prayer will be complete and the Creator will grant generously, as our sages instructed us, “I labored and found, believe,” for one is unfit for a prayer prior to this, and the Creator hears a prayer (ibid.).
Overall, the result of our work is to reach the right request. And then the vessel arrives, the correct desire for unity.
As a rule, in this world we wait for fulfillment. But in spiritual work, fulfillment is the effort. If I can work for bestowal, make efforts, that itself is my fulfillment. And therefore there are no restrictions or limitations on it.
However, in my current state I am unable even to consider such a thing. After all, all my efforts are needed in order for me to want to perform bestowal to others, not even to begin bestowing, but to feel a need for it. Is this possible? And yet, this is precisely the spiritual vessel.
That is why in our work we go through several stages of preparation. Kabbalists have written about this more than once: in spirituality, what seems to us as a reward is in essence work, and what seems to us as work is actually the reward.
However, as a result of our efforts, that very vessel is revealed to us, the correct desire.
[71937]
From the Congress in the Arava, Lesson 6, 2/25/12
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World Kabbalah Convention, “Preparation to Lesson 1”
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World Kabbalah Convention, “The Ten as a Requisite for Adhesion,” Lesson 1
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World Kabbalah Convention, “You Have Made Me,” Lesson 2
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He [the Creator] wants me to feel my state as I do, [not good, deficient, bad, painful, and sick] and for myself, I do not care how I feel myself because I want to work in order to bestow.
Therefore, the main thing is that I need to work for the Creator (Rabash, “The Meaning of Truth and Faith”).
The main point is this: If I direct myself to what I receive from Him, then I must think and examine myself. Do I feel something unpleasant or even pain, or, on the contrary, joy? This depends only on the person.
Therefore, in our life, we can be in constant self-examination. Are we in faith, meaning in the feeling of the Creator, in some closeness, in intention toward Him, or are we merely falling into our egoism?
If I am directed toward the goal, toward the created beings, toward the ten, toward the Creator, then in any state I am in, whatever it may be, I cannot at the same time feel anything terrible, anything deficient.
I do not merely want to get through this state. I will not feel any pain in it; on the contrary, I will begin to reveal great pleasure in it. Because precisely above unpleasantness, pain, problems, fears, and darkness, I can reveal the light, my aspiration to it, and my connection with it.
Therefore, in any circumstances, I must be satisfied with my fate, my work, and my state, and regard this as my great merit that the Creator has given me an opportunity to draw closer to Him.
[254093]
From the International Kabbalah Convention 9/7/19, Moldova, Lesson 4
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“In the multitude of people is the King’s glory,” it follows that the greater the number of the collective, the more effective is the power of the collective. In other words, they produce a stronger atmosphere of greatness and importance of the Creator. At that time, each person’s body feels that he regards anything that he wishes to do for holiness, meaning to bestow upon the Creator, —as a great fortune (Rabash, “The Agenda of the Assembly – 2”).
Everything depends on how much we in the group express the importance of our goal, the importance of revealing the Creator, and the importance of creating the conditions for His revelation. The main thing is not to forget this and to constantly awaken in ourselves the fact that the Creator is the light that fills everything, and that He is revealed only to the extent of our similarity to Him. If we attain even 1% of similarity, to that extent we will reveal Him. And if there is 2%of similarity, that is how much we will reveal Him.
Therefore, on the one hand, each person must feel that he exists in the ten as one tenth of it. On the other hand, he must feel that he is the Malchut of this ten and is responsible for the desire of the entire ten.
Gradually, we will study all our roles in these ten parts, each of which will shape the common soul, that is, develop additional qualities within it, and then we will begin to feel the Creator more.
How much does an embryo, or even a small child, feel the world? It lacks the senses, the qualities, for this. In the same way, we must gradually acquire the quality of each Sefira, and thus feel the Creator more and more strongly. That is, each of us must position ourselves as each Sefira.
And so, in different combinations, in different configurations, we will assemble ourselves together and “turn” the Creator: in one state, in another, in a third, like a Rubik’s Cube. In this way, we will turn ourselves relative to one another and reveal the Creator in ever greater changes.
It would seem, what is a ten? In fact, it turns out to be an infinite possibility of combinations of all qualities and desires, both of the heart and of the mind.
[252848]
From the International Kabbalah Convention Moldova, 9/5/19, Lesson 0
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We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to follow the path and method of Baal HaSulam [who described to us this entire path], the way by which to climb the degrees of man and not remain as a beast (Rabash, “Purpose of Society – 1“).
In our world there are inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature. If we want to rise above the human level, we must unite with one another.
If, above all obstacles, rejections, hatred, and unwillingness to unite, we achieve connection between us, we do not need anything else. The science of Kabbalah does not teach us any actions other than mutual unification.
If in any group in any point in the world, people are able to rise above their mutual rejection and connect with one another, they will reveal the Creator, the upper force, the upper world, their eternal image, called the “soul,” because they will create the condition for the revelation of the upper force in the connection between them.
Therefore, the science of Kabbalah is universal; it has no limitations except one: above your egoism, connect with people like yourself who want to unite together in order to reveal the Creator. There are no other conditions beside that.
Baal HaSulam adds to this: There is no point in hoping that the time will come when we will be able to achieve the goal of our development in any other way. Undoubtedly, we achieve it only through connection between us. Then we will see that the upper force is pushing everyone toward connection: the inanimate, the vegetative, the animate, and the human levels.
We see how everyone is connecting more and more whether they want to or not under the pressure of all kinds of problems and sufferings. The world is becoming increasingly interconnected, technology and means of communication are developing in this direction. This is how the upper force, the only one operating in the universe, pushes the whole world toward unity through great pressures and sufferings.
However a new, different path has opened for us: we can advance toward unification ourselves, increase the speed of our unification, and work among other selves as in a laboratory, constantly connecting more and seeing what we achieve in the process.
Therefore, according to the advice of Kabbalists, we unite in tens, in small groups, so that it will be more convenient and easier for us and so that we can increasingly connect in a more flexible and manageable way, and see how we reveal the upper force in one form of connection or another. According to the type of our unity, we reveal it, since our vessel determines the revelation of the light in it.
Therefore, we do not have to advance unwillingly toward the ultimate goal where all parts of nature will unite together in an integral, global form as a single whole. We can accomplish this work not under the pressure of suffering, but with understanding, awareness, and self-control; we can choose the speed of advancement, see how we are doing it, and also draw all of humanity to follow us.
After all, if we bring them along, drawing after us, we become stronger, and then the upper force is revealed with greater power, because it is no longer thousands of people who unite, as in our world group, but millions and even more.
Accordingly, we reveal the power of the upper force in all its depth, in all its scope, in all its systems, we attain how it reigns over everything and governs everything, how this entire system operates. This is called the revelation of the Shechinah.
There is no greater pleasure than to see this harmony, how all parts of creation—different, scattered, hating one another, distant from one another—come to connect with each other and between them, not merely a connection is revealed, but mutual love. This fills us and gives us the sensation of eternal life.
[163417]
From the International Kabbalah Convention 7/17/15, Guadalajara, Lesson 1
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In many Kabbalistic sources it is said that the spiritual is attained only by the power of prayer. Most people in the world think they understand what prayer is, but in reality, this is far from the case.
In the science of Kabbalah, we study:
Behold that before the emanations were emanated and the creatures were created, The Upper Simple Light had filled the whole existence. And there was no vacancy (The Ari, The Tree of Life).
The upper light (the Creator in His unrevealed form) filled the desire that He created out of nothing. “Something from nothing” is precisely the act of creation.
Then the Creator began to modify and transform this desire into something from which an independent created being could later be formed. He performed various actions upon it until the desire shattered into many parts, which in Kabbalah is called the shattering of the common soul (Adam).
The fragments of the common soul divided more and more until each of them became a point, the point in the heart which ignites within us and through which we feel a longing for the Creator.
At first this sensation appears unconsciously. We do not know where it came from or why it gives us no rest, but it leads us to a Kabbalistic group. This is how our spiritual path begins.
While working in the group, we begin to understand that in the nature of creation there is no other material besides egoism, as it is said: “I created the evil inclination and gave the Torah for its correction.” Egoism was intentionally created by the Creator so that one could immerse oneself in it, take it along, and then, by correcting it, ascend to the Creator.
Therefore, our task is to reveal egoism within ourselves and bring it to its correct form, which is called “desire” (Hisaron).
The point is that when we are immersed in corporeal desires, we do not influence the spiritual system, we are not within it. But a properly formed desire, directed toward integration into the spiritual system of Adam, toward uniting with its parts, influences it is called “prayer,” i.e., a request to connect and function correctly within the general system of creation.
That is why it is said that everything is attained only through prayer, through the proper formation of one’s desire.
[187776]
From the International Kabbalah Convention 5/2/16, Lesson 3
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Question: How do you behave when you realize and feel yourself as worthless?
Answer: You must realize that it comes from the Creator, and thank Him for revealing it, that now, finally, you understand who you are.
From this state, you can advance correctly. It will not allow you to stay in place. Therefore our worst states are actually the most productive.
[255918]
From Lesson No.7 Congress in Moldova, 9/8/19
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