We are discussing the topic of perception of reality in order to gradually orient ourselves in the right direction. After all, everything depends on intention. There are many people who study Kabbalah, and in particular, there are currents that have nothing in common with it.

The science of Kabbalah is intended for the correction of our nature, and the more we correct ourselves, the more we feel the upper force, reveal the upper world, become included in it, enter it, and rise above our material life. This is called “liberation from the angel of death” because we stop feeling completely dependent on our body! We rise above our animal, biological body to the degree of general nature.

I do not feel pain from cutting my nails or hair, because my body belongs to the animate level, while nails and hair belong to the vegetative level, one degree lower. And from the height of the animate level, I do not feel any loss from the loss at the vegetative level. In the same way it will happen when I rise from the animate degree to a higher degree, to the degree of Man.

“Man” is not us today. “Man” (Adam) comes from the word “similar” (Edomeh) to nature, the Creator, light. And when I become such a “man,” I will stop feeling loss from what is happening in this material life. Therefore, the science of Kabbalah is called “a remedy against death.”

Let us hope that we will attain such a degree and begin to experience spiritual life today. It all depends only on our inner efforts. Let us try to connect our inner points and appreciate this special state.
[40042]
From the International Kabbalah Congress 4/1/11, “We!” Lesson 2

Related Material:
Strengthen Connection with the Group
Build the Right Connection
Maturing To The Title Of “Human”

Filed under: Body and Soul, Conventions, Events, Group Work, Kabbalah Study, Perception, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

A proper prayer must consist of two parts:

1. Gratitude—praising the Creator for bringing us into the group, uniting us, forming us into a single whole, for responding to our intermediate silly and not-silly requests and whims. Otherwise, to whom are we addressing ourselves?

2. An urgent request for one another, not for oneself. After all, if we all unite correctly, then this request for one another no longer even makes sense, because it immediately turns into a request for the Creator, i.e., we desire to turn to Him.

A mandatory condition must be the understanding that only the Creator can answer our request. He is the only One who exists, the only One who responds and acts in the entire system of creation.

Moreover, we must suffer from the fact that we have a great desire, yet we have not yet received an answer to it. And later, when I receive an answer to my request, I feel joy, delight, and fulfillment. The difference between the magnitude of suffering during the prayer (not animal suffering, not for oneself, but for the benefit of the created beings and the Creator) and my delight upon receiving the answer constitutes the amount and quality of the joy that fills me, that is, the group.

Therefore, the more effort we invest in properly shaping the desire for the light, the closer we will come to it and the faster we will pass the path of forming the correct desire to which the light will respond by entering it. Thus, we will be granted the revelation of the Creator.

And it does not matter how beautifully this desire is formulated or whether it is clothed in lofty words. Only one thing matters—the sincerity of the heart in the request for the friends, for the group, for the world, for the Creator. Then my desire will truly become a desire to bestow, to which the light will instantly respond according to the law of equivalence of form.
[187817]
From the International Kabbalah Congress, Moscow, 5/2/16, Lesson 3

Related Material:
What Prayer Will the Creator Answer?
The Components Of A Correct Prayer
What Does Prayer Begin From?

Filed under: Conventions, Events, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The desire for spirituality given to us originally is a point in a person’s heart. Therefore, a person in whom it awakens has to begin to work with this desire and shape it so that it becomes similar to the desire for the light.

Light descends to us through 125 degrees of the worlds: 5 worlds with 5 Partzufim (large steps), each of which has 5 Sefirot, a total of 125.

In our world, we receive it in the form of a very small light Nefesh. “Nefesh” comes from the word “Nefesha,” which means inactive, passively existing, enlivening at the most minimal level and nothing more.

Before beginning to work on ourselves, to reveal our desire, to form it (like, say, we make pastries out of dough) and give desire a specific form and direction, it is necessary to understand what we should strive for. It is said: “Make your desire like that of the upper degree (the Creator), so that it can remake you in its likeness.”

The problem is that we do not know how to achieve this. For this purpose, we have been given our world, in which we can correctly shape ourselves with the help of working with our friends in united prayer, in the united, correctly-tuned, mutual desire.

In striving to unite among ourselves, we talk about coming closer, mutual balance, mutual fulfillment of each other, and mutual support in order to come together to one common desire, a common intention, a common goal.

By this, we form one single correct desire out of everyone, which fully corresponds to the aspirations of each of us, and which is accepted by all at the degree on which we are. Only then will it receive a response from above.

And if the Creator does not answer our prayers, that is, if the upper light does not begin to be felt in our desire, this means that it is not yet unified. The light reacts only to the common desire and the request of ten people united together. Then their desire is directed not at themselves, but at mutual bestowal for one another, for everyone together, and from everyone together to the Creator.

Such a desire is immediately followed by a response from the upper light, which is immediately felt in the group that begins to discover for itself the correct prayer.
[187812]
From the 3^rd Lesson of the Moscow Kabbalah Congress, 5/2/16

Related Material:
Prayer As A Manifestation Of Human Desires
A Prayer That Reaches Heaven
How Do We Oblige The Creator To Help Us?

Filed under: Conventions, Events, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Indeed, you should know that the reason for our great distance from the Creator, and that we are so prone to transgress His will, is for but one reason which became the source of all the torment and suffering we suffer, and for all the sins and the mistakes that we fail in. Clearly, by removing that reason, we will instantly be rid of any sorrow or pain. We will immediately be granted adhesion with Him in heart, soul, and might. And I tell you that preliminary reason is none other than “our lack of understanding of His guidance over His creations,” that we do not understand Him properly (Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“).

We have a big problem with correct definitions. The style of Kabbalistic texts sometimes seems so religious that it pulls us far from reality and from the proper perspective from which we should relate to ourselves and the world as a certain order of forces and systems with their characteristic interrelations, vectors, numerical indicators, and measurement data.

We are used to such a specific approach; therefore, centuries-old terms need modern, clear definitions so we do not make mistakes or get confused by our assumptions.

That is why Baal HaSulam writes that the reason for our distance from the Creator is that we do not understand Him. This misunderstanding primarily relates to the definition of terms.

“The Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” is the most important of all introductions by Baal HaSulam. It precedes his main work, showing us what kind of system of interrelation we are in, what happens between us, and how we connect with each other and with the whole of reality. We step out of ourselves into the space between us, where a force pushes people apart. By beginning to overcome this force, we form a different field, not a field of rejection, but a field of convergence – distance.

Now there is negativity, rejection (“–”) between us; it is a field in which we all reject each other. Everyone is ready to feel only themselves, and this state is called “this world.” If we step outside ourselves and begin to feel what is between us, this state is called the “upper world.”

Rejection between us is a “crime”: as Baal HaSulam writes, we transgress the Creator’s will. The desire for unity between us is called a “commandment” (+). The transition from transgression to commandment is a “correction.” The effort that I make to move from crime to commandment, from my egoism, from receiving to giving, is called an “effort.”

I can measure all these forces: how much I wanted to receive, how much I overcame, how much I turned myself from receiving to giving, how much strength I exerted, how much effort I invested, to what extent I previously felt my egoistic desire and in it this world, to what extent I now come out of myself and begin to feel the upper, spiritual world in the outer direction, and with what strength, at what level. All this can be measured.

This is what the science of Kabbalah deals with, the physics of human desires. Of course, you and I cannot yet conduct such measurements in practice, as we have not yet mastered the relevant forces. But in general, you can work with all these parameters in a real way, actually verifying our relationship: how much I give you and how much I receive from you. To do this, we need to rise above our nature and take an objective position outside it (beyond receiving, beyond bestowing, beyond everything), check from the outside, and observe and measure what is happening.

The ability to do so is called “restriction,” which lets us simply disconnect from our nature. We may not be able to fully break out of it, but we can ensure it does not rule over us. This is called “breaking free” from it. After that, we can truly measure all the parameters.
[54851]
From Kabbalah Lesson before the Toronto Congress, 9/16/11

Related Material:
Physics And Lyricism
Turn All Of The Evil Potential Into Good
Defining The Terms Is Key To The Study Of Kabbalah

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Events, Language of Branches, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Humanity is facing serious questions about the meaning of life and the essence of the governance of reality: Who are we, in what kind of world do we live, what is prepared for us, and can we influence our destiny?

Those who ask these questions fall into two categories: those who ask it from suffering and various troubles because they wish to escape them, and that is enough for them; and those in whom the question of the meaning of life remains and gnaws at them even after the suffering has subsided.

This question is called “a point in the heart” of the animate level from which grows what is later called “human.” The longing to attain the meaning of existence begins to be realized in people when they come to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.

But those who ask about the meaning of life only to satisfy their earthly needs, they eventually leave.
And those whose point in the heart, an informational hunger that demands to understand, to feel, to enter this system of governance, to know why, for what purpose, and how the entire reality exists, they remain because this point stems from the upper world, from the higher degree. They can no longer leave it and simply continue to exist in this world; no worldly pleasures can suppress it.

People see that studying Kabbalah elevates a person to the next level and requires one’s personal involvement in the governance of creation. It is not about miracles that allow one to spin the world or rule society, but about how to govern oneself, to bring oneself to a state in which one corresponds to all the categories and conditions of the upper world.

The system of governance, the upper world, is built on the quality of bestowal and love. These are not just words, because the system of all nature, all of creation, is one and completely closed; it exists in absolute integral interconnection of everything with everything. Every particle is strictly bound to all others, both the smallest and the greatest. The structure of this system is astonishing.

In our world, we cannot build such systems. Even in biology, living organisms resemble it in some aspects, but overall, they are very far from the perfection revealed in the governing system of the upper world at its highest degree.

Therefore, with our qualities called heart and mind, we must rise to this degree; that is, we must transform ourselves and absorb the integral qualities of the upper degree: the qualities of universal unity that are built precisely above our egoism, above that which separates, repels, and opposes us to one another. And first of all, we must study our egoistic nature, because we do not understand it at all.

It is revealed to us only slightly, on the small earthly level, while before us lies the revelation of what is called “49 impure gates,” 49 degrees of egoism.

In other words, now we reveal only the weakest, most superficial layer of egoism that we exist in. All the rest, the deeper, heavier egoistic qualities, lie beneath and will gradually be revealed over the course of study, but only to the extent that we advance toward integral unity.

If we try to resemble the upper degree, we will see how different we are from it. And then we will attempt to rise above this discrepancy, above the newly revealed layer of egoism toward similarity to the upper degree, toward mutual connection, unity, and mutual help. This is done in a group, so that the connection can be realized in practice and not merely declared verbally.

Using the method of connection within a group, we begin to feel how impossible it is to realize it not only in society at large, or within a nation, or all the more within the world, but even within a group. I increasingly feel how many calculations I have toward my friends, how I am annoyed by them, how I see various flaws in them, and how I try to keep my distance.

The closer we draw to each other, the more we reveal our true nature, and each time we feel ourselves as small, flawed beings unable to rise above ourselves and come closer together.

Even for such a reward as revealing the upper governance system, the upper world, understanding everything that happens to us, and sensing reality beyond earthly limitations beyond time, space, and movement, we still cannot do anything. No matter how much we persuade ourselves, we feel how our egoism does its dirty work and constantly throws us into petty calculations.

Nevertheless, being in a group gives us what a single person does not have: mutual help, which we must provide each other. We are obligated to do this even against our own desire.

Being in a state called “this world,” we are able to perform actions absolutely opposite to our inner desire. A person may be unpleasant to me, yet I smile at him. I may have no feelings toward a friend, yet I still make efforts to draw closer, to perform if not an inner emotional action, then at least some shared mechanical action, and so on.

That is, our world is wonderful because in it we can perform mechanical actions without feelings or intentions, and these actions will influence the upper system. This is our salvation!

Therefore, our world is separated from the system of the upper worlds and allows us to govern the upper world through physical actions. I may serve someone and thereby earn spiritual merits even if I have no particular inner feeling toward that person, toward a friend, for example.

But I want to attain such a feeling, and so I perform various gestures of attention, work in the group, prepare meals, participate in different activities without applying any internal effort.

I may not have strength or desire for inner work, but I can force myself to perform physical actions even though that too is difficult, and in this way, I advance.

The group is the only tool in our world that allows one, while working within it, to perform purely mechanical actions that are considered spiritual. Therefore, our ascent begins with joining the work of the group.

Kabbalists who attained the upper system discovered that it is structured as tens that further subdivide into tens, and so on to infinity. These tens are included in one another. Thus, the upper system is broken down into ten fundamental Sefirot (Sefira, from the word “Sapir”—radiating), ten sources of radiance of the upper light, the emanation of goodness in its various forms.

The first ten Sefirot are called “the Names of the Creator,” because this is how we reveal the general upper force that fills all of creation in Its first, highest revelation to us.

We do not feel the force itself; we can detect it only through the ten Sefirot, just as we detect electricity or a magnetic field or any physical force only by its effect on some physical object. Without such manifestation, we do not know whether it exists or not. We need an indicator that can perceive it.

All the Sefirot are so interconnected that we cannot imagine this perfectly complete integral picture. We cannot grasp it in our current state. Only if we change our inner qualities will we be able to enter the sensation of the integral idea, the integral influence, the integral phenomenon. This is the system of the upper degree—the spiritual world.
[183437]
From the World Kabbalah Convention in Moscow 5/2/16, Lesson 1

Related Material:
Practical Kabbalah: How Does One Feel The Upper World? – In The Unity Circle
A Spiritual World? It’s Simple!
The Formula For Entering The Upper World

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

The condition for connection in the upper world is the condition of “not for one’s own sake,” but “for others.” This is a principle that we are simply unable to understand.

In our world, we build systems of healthcare, education, fire safety, and so on, but all of it is done for ourselves. Otherwise, we would not take part in it. That is our world. That is our nature. We should not delude ourselves into thinking we are different.

But spiritual unity is built on the exact opposite principle: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

If I wish to attain that, I connect with others, not because I feel good with them, not because together we will achieve something better like confidence, safety, and successful development, but because I accept their desires and realize them with my own strength. That is all!

In other words, it is as if I myself do not exist. There exists only a mechanism that works to fulfill the desires of others. This is the fulfillment of the principle: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
[183443]
From the International Kabbalah Congress in Moscow 5/2/16, Lesson 1

Related Material:
The Difference Between An Egoistic And Altruistic Union
The Group As A Spiritual Entity
Finding The Force That Balances The Ego

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

All the preventions and delays that appear before our eyes are but a form of nearing—the Creator wants to bring us closer, and all these preventions bring us only nearing, since without them we would have no possibility of approaching Him [the Creator]. This is so because, by nature, there is no greater distance [than us from the Creator], as we are made of pure matter while the Creator is higher than high. Only when one begins to approach does he begin to feel the distance between us [between him and the Creator. And let him not think that this abyss has only appeared now. Absolutely not! It was there, and only now is it revealing itself to him.] And any prevention one overcomes, [it – only in connection] brings the way closer for that person.

(This is so because one grows accustomed to moving on a line of growing farther. Hence, whenever one feels that he is distant, it does not induce any change in the process, since he knew in advance that he is moving on a line of growing farther, since this is the truth, that there are not enough words to describe the distance between us and the Creator) (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 172, “The Matter of Preventions and Delays“).

Initially, we need to accept the condition that we are extremely, polarly, maximally distant from the Creator, and that every new state of ours—whatever it may be, according to a module, in absolute value—is always closer to the Creator, although it seems to us to be further away. After all, I reveal my true state and then correct it—left step, right step, and so on.

We see that only the environment can help a person to hold on and not to stray away from this path. How, when feeling worse, can he convince himself that in reality he is now closer to the Creator? Everything  inside them tells them they are further away and worse. They curse and condemns themselves.

But in fact, what has been revealed to him is simply what was there before, only he saw it now in order to correct it and thereby draw closer to the group and unite with them despite other calculations.

Therefore we need the habit of walking at an increasing distance. After all, if we become great specialists on our path, then every little twist and every small obstacle will appear as big to us.

When we are small, we do not see these obstacles, we do not notice them, and it seems to us that they do not exist at all. And then every small deviation, every minimal change, will be felt as a huge barrier. This is the difference between a specialist and an ordinary person.

Therefore as we approach the Creator, we will repel each other more, and hate each other more, like the students of Rabbi Shimon.

We will not want to get closer; we will begin to condemn the ten, to believe what we feel and see: “How can I be around these people?! They used to be different! I need to get away from them!” And so on. Only mutual help, mutual support, mutual guarantee can save us.

How many friends we have had along the way who fell off our “wagon”! Is it a pity? Of course, they will come back. But we need to think about how every time, with each step, to create such a ten, such a Kli (vessel), that no one would fall from it.
[255013]
From the Congress in Moldova 9/8/19, Lesson 7 “The Matter of Preventions and Delays”

Related Material:
Approach the Creator
Reaction to Signs of the Creator’s Closeness
Close to the Ideal of Bestowal

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

Praying does not mean gathering together at a certain time, weeping, kneeling, and crying out.

Prayer is a collective, huge, purposeful, correct desire that arises in us under the influence of the upper light, Ohr Makif (surrounding light). Such a desire can manifest itself at any moment, and we will feel it as one common whole, in which the Creator will reveal Himself immediately without any intermediate actions.

The spiritual world is not like ours where people gather in one place and mechanically pray. We work together, attract the upper light, and it tightens the final screw in our common system, “seizing” us as we desired.

Somewhere we acted on it correctly, locked ourselves together, and the upper light manifested in us, which is the quality of bestowal and love. In principle, we achieved this ourselves, and the light appeared because we developed a similarity of form with it.

Therefore, this is not an ordinary, conventional prayer, but a joint action of Kabbalists to create one unified desire, which must be connected, woven, and glued together from their individual desires.
[188414]
From the 3rd Lesson of the Moscow Congress, 5/2/16

Related Material:
Prayer As A Manifestation Of Human Desires
A Simple General Rule
A Prayer That Reaches Heaven

Filed under: Conventions, Events, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The ascent of the soul and its completion are primarily when all the souls merge and become one, since then they rise to the Kedusha[holiness], since the Kedusha[bestowal] is one. Hence, the prayer [appeal to the Creator for correction], which is the soul, depends primarily on the unity of souls (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Likutey Halachot, “Synagogue Rules,” 1).

A prayer is mainly in public [must be in the group, in the ten] and not alone…(Likutey Halachot [Assorted Rules], “Synagogue Rules”).

Of course, we cannot compare all our requests with one another; we are not yet oriented enough to see our efforts—how our vectors are shaped, what they are directed, how we correct each other, how we support each other, and how we form them all into a single flavor.

Therefore it is said that:

A prayer is mainly in public and not alone, so that one will not be separated and alone, as this is the opposite of Kedusha. [bestowal to the Creator]…we must unite the holy congregation together and become one (Likutey Halachot [Assorted Rules], “Synagogue Rules,” Rule One).

This ascent of a common desire precisely from one’s own attempts is complete prayer.

How can we achieve this? This is our primary question, because only through turning to the Creator, “raising MAN, that is, the desire to receive the quality of bestowal that will gather us and reveal the Creator in our unity, can we solve all our problems. And through us, the entire world will feel this revelation.

People will suddenly begin to understand that there is a quality of bestowal in the world, and it is greater than the quality of reception. The quality of reception, that is, our egoism, only conceals the vast, higher, infinite, perfect world from us.
[252976]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

Related Material:
The Crystallization Of A Prayer
The Prayer Of Many
Pray For The Internal Power Of Bestowal

Filed under: Conventions, Events, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: How or in what way is the quality of bestowal manifested and revealed in the group? Is it in thoughts, actions, joint work, or sensations? Could you describe the feeling of a person who is in a corrected group where the quality of bestowal has been revealed?

Answer: A group is in the right state if, at every moment, it finds the strength within itself to straighten itself toward the direction of the quality of bestowal. That is, there are always descents and ascents occurring in it, in different people at different times, but there is always an opportunity to grab onto one of the friends, to pull oneself up, and in this way two or three of them pull up the rest.

Your boat was wrecked? But even in this half-broken boat if one person remains, he saves all the others. That is called the right group.

If you act in this way, you are clearly moving toward the goal, and then everything will be fine with you.
[86054]
From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting To Ascend” 8/17/12, Lesson 3

Related Material:
A Tuning Fork For David’s Violin
The Team Of Stage Builders
The Rectifier Of The Path

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