Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 12
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We lack only one thing, which is a need, in every state, to reveal that “There is none else besides the Creator.” At first, this statement is completely abstract because I only read about it in a book.
But later, it becomes closer and closer to me and I see that “There is none else besides Him” in everything that happens around me, in all the people I meet and in all events. The Creator is concealed behind all of that, Him and no one else.
“There is none else besides Him” in my thoughts means that it is He who put these thoughts into me, and I am only sensing them. And when it comes to how I perceive and react to these thoughts, here too “There is none else besides Him.”
Do I make the decision about how to react? Is there anything in my reaction that is from my own self, or is there only “None else besides Him?” By delving into these questions deeper and deeper, I come to adherence with Him.
If there is actually “None else besides Him” in any state, any place, any thought, or in any of my supposed decisions or actions, it means that everything is determined by the Creator. In essence, I am simply discovering that He decides everything, and I only have one point from which I can establish that everywhere, in everything, the Creator is the one operating. This is how I reveal that I am completely adhered to Him.
Striving to constantly hold on to “None Else Besides Him” and to discover the Creator in each of our thoughts and desires, in heart and mind, brings us to adhesion with the Creator. Nothing more is required of us, this is the most important. We simply need to train ourselves to this attitude in all of our daily life.
How should one work with concealment, with the fact that there is me, there is the upper force, and concealment between us? How should I relate to this concealment?
In essence, concealment stems from my own desires that are intended for revealing the Creator. If they were not meant for revealing the Creator, then I would not sense concealment within them. Generally, I would not even feel them as relating to the Creator.
There are a great many desires, which at the moment, lay dormant inside of me, without manifesting themselves in any way. But in those desires where I consciously feel the Creator’s concealment, I have the possibility of revealing Him first and foremost, on the condition of working with them correctly. This concealment is the state that precedes revelation.
It follows that the main concealment occurs on the very principle of “None else besides Him,” forcing me to attribute actions to myself or to others. Accordingly, I divide reality into my own self and the world around me.
However, if I attributed all the actions that are in my mind, reason, and the surrounding still, vegetative, animate, and human world to the Creator, then I would feel the corrected Shechina (divinity). Only the point from which I see that everything is done by the Creator is called the point of restriction, the point of my “I.”
Without this point, there is no creature, but everything else, except it, belongs to the Creator. And if inside of me I see “None else besides Him,” and all around me “None else besides Him,” then I reveal that indeed “There is none else besides Him.” It is not difficult at all. We simply need to strengthen each other in this intention. If you agree, then let’s sign the contract of mutual guarantee. There is no need for anything else.
This principle of “There is none else besides Him” is the only thing that you need to implement. We perform many actions in this world, but all of that is simply in order to help us hold on in this intention of “None else besides Him” through any activity. There is nothing else that we need to do besides that.
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From the Workshop on 10/6/2014
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Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 12
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Baal HaSulam speaks about the wisdom of Kabbalah as being about “scientific research on an experimental basis” (in the article, “The Peace”), for this is correct, this is truly so. The wisdom of Kabbalah has the same approach as every science in this world. What is different is the subject that I investigate and the tools that I use. But, the general rules and principles are identical, and the main one being: “A judge only has what his eyes see.” (Baba Batra 131a)
Someone could come and persuade me that red is black. But I see that this is red, and so I write in my research that it is red. This means that I believe only what I see. One researcher says one thing, a second says something else, and eventually this is compiled into some kind of knowledge that everyone accepts. In principle, all of science is based upon statistical data. This approach testifies to conclusions on an experimental basis making it possible to gather all of the data and come up with some kind of general rule.
But in the wisdom of Kabbalah, there are no statistical methods where one scientist does many experiments and eventually decides that this seems to be the result. If some data is discovered by a Kabbalist, this is already an absolute fact, according to his Kelim and his level.
This is even though the next Kelim and level will reveal this as having been a mistake and the truth will be revealed. And then in the next Kli and level, this will be revealed as a mistake and the next as truth. This is always what happens during the transition from level to level.
So there is no absolute truth, except for what you are investigating at present. You investigate the Creator as an absolute, until He is revealed.
Question: You say that the wisdom of Kabbalah is based upon personal experience. So what does “faith in the sages” mean in their attainment?
Answer: This is what is accepted in any regular science. If you are the student of a great scientist, then they respect you too. You already belong to his school. This means that it is clear who you are, meaning who formatted you, who made you a scientist. This is called a teacher.
And in the wisdom of Kabbalah this is even more important, for the student receives all of the Light, all of the power from above to below through the teacher, and that is always how this continues.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 46: The verse says (Deuteronomy 31:17-31:18), “And My fury will rage against them on that day, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will befall them, and they will say on that day, ‘Is it not because our God is no longer among us, that these evils have befallen us?’ And I will hide My face…”
The troubles conceal the Creator, the source, from a person, which means that the Creator is concealed from him. This is how the desire to receive is made. The more troubles he feels and the more he suffers, the less he feels the Creator, until He is no longer visible. After all, the Creator is the source of goodness, and the troubles conceal the Creator from a person.
When you regard these words, you will find that in the beginning it states, “Then My fury will rage… …and hide My face,” meaning one concealment. Afterwards, it states, “and many evils and troubles will befall them… …And I will hide My face…,” meaning double concealment. We must understand what “double concealment” is.
This is a very subtle remark: that a person first feels a single concealment and only afterward reaches the double concealment. If I have no recognition or feeling of the Creator in any way, I cannot say that He is concealed. So, first, there is a single concealment, and only then when more understandings and troubles accumulate, do I reach a double concealment.
However, the Creator doesn’t disappear in a double concealment either. The Creator disappears only when you live in feeling the corporeal body. However, if I am a human being, Adam, which means that I resemble the Creator in some way, I am always in a state of concealment, either single or double. The difference between them is the amount of evil that I feel when I develop my sensitivity to the Creator.
Thus, the level of evil that is revealed to me determines whether I am in a single or a double concealment. This refers to a person who understands who the Creator is, the good that does good.
The Creator’s goodness is not in filling my desires to receive with pleasure but in bringing me to the goal of creation and teaching me properly. Therefore, I am ready for the afflictions as long as I advance in the vessels of bestowal so that I will resemble Him and accept the whole process.
I am increasingly more closely adhered to the Creator, which means that He becomes the good and the benevolent. His goodness is revealed in the equivalence of my ideology to His: the idea, the goal, and the means of attaining it. I determine that He is good that does good as a result of what He teaches me at any given moment in every way.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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If a person has no connection with the Creator, it is not called concealment. Concealment means that I know the qualities and character of the Creator, perhaps not one hundred percent, but to a particular degree. And I know that this is now concealed from me.
Suppose I know that my friend is in the same room as me and I can recognize him by particular features; so I say he is concealed now. This means that concealment is a kind of revelation. This is because I know that it is specifically he who is concealed. It is not that I have a complete lack of knowledge and detachment.
Concealment is a kind of attainment. This is similar to an expert who checks all the components. Suddenly he discovers that there is a lack of information somewhere that still needs to be discovered. Some unique facet of the phenomenon remains concealed. But everything else is revealed to him.
There cannot be concealment without there being revelation. If you don’t recognize a friend, don’t recognize his face, his voice, how can you say that he is concealed? When you say that someone is concealed, this means you know who he is. This is very important. In other words, concealment is an inseparable part of revelation and something essential for discovery.
Through concealment I awaken myself to what I need to discover, through what means, exactly what is concealed from me and why. In other words I develop Kelim in me for a sudden discovery. When I design and accumulate within me the right deficiency, then the discovery comes.
So then I see that this concealment was in me; through feeling this concealment, the Creator arouses me to discover Him. I don’t need to light a lamp in a room to see the friend. I only need to discover my inner Kelim, and then I will sense him on a more internal and profound level than if I were to turn on a light and just see.
The Creator actually awakens me through the concealment. In this way He says to me: “Yearn for Me a little more strongly, discover an even greater yearning for Me, then you will feel Me! Discard the lamp and the light that comes from it, begin to feel Me inside, my desire, my heart. We don’t need the previous light, instead we will have a new Light of mutual feeling between us.”
Now do you understand what the Creator is trying to attain through concealment? He awakens a stratum of more internal feelings in you.
[144059]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Preparation for the Lesson
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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts “Sukkot”
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Sukkot
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Workshop
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace,” “Proof of His Work by Experience”
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