Workshop

Shamati #138 “About Fear that Sometimes Comes Upon a Person”

Writings of Rabash “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 31

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Third Commandment,” Item 204

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 13

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” 

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You do not believe that it is possible to realize the correct formula of existence on the scale of mankind, so we realize it as an example in the group. And then we discover that there is a force of nature that we can use.

We exist as a small group in big the large nature, and we make ourselves similar to nature.

That is we are no longer clashing with it with a delta of lack of correspondence, and everything that exists in nature enters us in harmony and a good way. We feel its positive influence and good results.

The force of nature will begin to bring us closer to it through this good influence, and we will keep attaining a greater similarity to it.

And again it will increase its positive influence over us and we will keep becoming closer and closer to it. So we move towards one another!

And you do not have to refer to nature as the Creator, even though it is the same thing! The word does not change anything; people simply associate it with a religious stereotype.

It is the natural law of similarity of properties and the law of love, of connection in an integrated system. We did not come up with them! We are simply returning to our place in the system of nature as its inseparable part that is connected with everyone.
[24737]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/10, “Matan Torah” (The Giving of the Torah)

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The Zohar is the strongest spiritual force source from which we can draw Light, strength, anything man desires. But it is necessary to understand that we receive everything according to our desire.

When I desire to reach the purpose of creation and I direct myself straight at it, I receive from it one hundred percent help and strength.

But when I move in a different direction, the Light must influence me, my desire to receive pleasure, to the extent of my deviation in order to overpower it and return me to the proper path.

I perceive the difference between being precisely directed towards the goal and deviating from it as suffering. This suffering forces me to return.

This is like when a small child whose hand I am holding wants to pull me somewhere aside and I hold him and pull him back, so he pulls me in another direction, and I pull him back again.

It is the same with us. When we deviate from the path, the Light returns us by force. But we feel this force acting in opposition to our desire, we feel it as evil: illnesses, problems, suffering, wars, and death.

This is why, if we want to advance in the good way, like good children, so we will not suffer any more, we need to ask: How do we obey and advance down the correct path, straight, and without mistakes?

Baal HaSulam writes that there is a simple formula: “Israel (those who aspire towards the Creator: Yashar – straight and El – Creator), Torah (which comes from the words “Ohr” – Light and “Ora’a” – instruction) and the Creator are one.”

I am Israel. Torah is the Light that will influence me, advancing me down the good and the straight path. The Creator is bestowal.

How do I arrange to advance according to this formula? In “Freedom of Will,” Baal HaSulam explains that this can only be done with the help of the group.

When I connect the attainment of the goal with the group, in the group, I become part of it and I desire to reveal the Creator in the connection between us. I am definitely advancing in the right direction when I do this.

For this reason, when we read The Zohar, wishing to attract its Light towards us, we need to concern ourselves as much as possible with this Light becoming properly manifested.

This is because Torah can be both the elixir of life and deadly poison. And it can happen that we will go in a completely different direction, and then it is written: “Preferably, sit and do nothing.”

This is why we should arm ourselves with the correct intention and remember that we are all reading The Zohar so the Light will bring us unity.

And it does not matter what we read, how much of it we understand, whether we hear and understand the language. The intention is what matters.

This is because the “amazing” force (Segula) of The Zohar only affects man in accordance with his desire. For this reason once we want to connect, the Creator will become revealed in this connection.
[24541]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, The Zohar

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Preparation for the Lesson

Workshop

Writings of Rabash “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 31

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Second Commandment,” Item 202

Writings of Rabash, “Shlavei HaSulam,” “Love of Friends”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” Title: “Conscious Development and Unconscious Development”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: Indeed, if you take the body of a small animal, whose only task is to nourish itself so it may exist in this world for enough time to father and carry on its species, you will find in it a complex structure of millions of fibers and tendons, as physiologists and anatomists have discovered. And there is much there that humans have yet to find. From the above, you can conclude the vast variety of issues and channels that need to connect in order to achieve and to reveal that sublime goal.

Have we ever thought about the essence of the process called evolution? About how all of the matter of the universe with all its complexity and variety was created out of a tiny particle, out of a grain, the first unknown matter that was the foundation of creation? According to which plan did all this take place and according to which laws? What determines the still, vegetative, animate nature and the human body?

We seem to think that it all happens by itself, but is that possible? Is it possible to make one step forward without clearly knowing what we are doing it for? On the contrary, “drifting” leads us into trouble.

But we continue to believe that there are redundant parts in our body or in nature in the whole, in the vegetative and the animate, which nature has forgotten and left by chance. We attribute nature with such misses after which there were more attempts…but one judges according to his flaws. We attribute our qualities to nature.

It says first, think, then act. There is not one detail in evolution that is not predetermined, not aimed at the final goal, and not already in the state of the end of correction. Therefore, there is nothing new in the whole process except for what the created being has to develop by himself. Evolution leads the created being, prepares, and obliges him to establish the new additional component: the adhesion, the recognition, the understanding, and his own feeling of the Creator. All the other things develop in order to bring a person to the element he has to establish by himself. Therefore, everything is predetermined and nothing is coincidental or random as different philosophers and scientists think.

We have to try to somehow imagine this enormous mechanism that includes and encompasses the beginning and the end of creation, including all the processes, and everything possible, all the details separately and together, on all the levels that are still unknown and not understood. These are all a network of forces, a system that the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about a little, and we cannot even understand this explanation. But at the end of our evolution, this system will be ours internally, and then we will feel it, control it, and understand it.

We must understand that there isn’t a single detail in our world that is not connected to the rest of the system and that all the laws also relate to it. When an individual performs a certain action it is because he is forced to do so and he causes the reaction of the whole system that responds and advances accordingly.

Thus everyone advances together from the beginning to the end and from the end to the beginning. We think that we understand something in our world but it is merely a meaningless part in a system that we will have to discover; all this is called the wisdom of Kabbalah.
[141801]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Workshop

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” “Purpose of Society”

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Second Commandment,” Item 198

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9 “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 10

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” Title: “The Essence of Religion Is to Develop in Us the Sense of Recognition of Evil”

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Workshop

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 27

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya,” Item 58

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9 “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 6

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” Title: “The Essence of Religion Is to Develop in Us the Sense of Recognition of Evil”

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The student receives all of the Light (the Light that Reforms and the Light of the filling) through the teacher. The order of the levels never changes and so the student’s role is to yearn to adhere to the teacher.

We have such an example in The Book of Zohar about Rabbi Chiya who fasted for forty days in order to see Rabbi Shimon, his teacher, who had left them. When he didn’t manage to see him, he fasted for another forty days.

This of course, doesn’t refer to a physical fast, but to spiritual actions. Rabbi Chiya ascended to the level of the upper Bina of Bina and he corrected himself to such an extent in the Light of Hassadim that he was awarded the level of connection with his teacher on a very high level. This means that he saw Rabbi Shimon sitting in the upper assembly, and it is thanks to Rabbi Chiya that he revealed the upper wisdom, the Light of Hochma, and the concealed mind, Mocha Stima’a. 

Question: How can we attain such a revelation?

Answer: We should try to yearn for what the teacher says. Of course neither you nor I are on levels like Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Chiya, but we will undoubtedly reach these levels in the future. In that case this should serve as an example for us, not in the physical psychological connection, but in the real inner connection. Everything that we learn and receive through the external mind and the inner filling comes from the teacher.

Otherwise the teacher cannot do anything for us. He is in the position of a parent who can give his child only what the child asks for. If the child is full of energy and has the intelligence and desire, you can enroll him in different clubs, engage private tutors, and bring him books and educational games that can help him develop and advance to greater and higher levels. But if the child is autistic and behind in his mental development, the only thing a parent can do is worry about his physical existence, his physical needs, hoping that one day his mind will awaken.

Everything depends on the deficiency of the student and this is a one way connection in that only the deficiency of the student opens up the teacher and obliges the teacher to open up and not to close himself. This is called the sorrow of raising children, when the teacher is forced to close himself according to the distance that the students keep from him.

This happens with every student and I have been through this in a very dramatic manner myself. We have to study this state too, in order to understand that we are responsible for everything. The revelation of the teacher and then the revelation of the Creator occur according to the student’s vessels, and according to how he has prepared himself in the work with the friends.

It is only through the connection with the friends that one can yearn for the teacher and through him, for the Creator. We have to find the common passion in this connection and then we find the right direction. Otherwise we don’t and the concealment doesn’t help us.

The teacher teaches you where and how to open an opening through which you can enter the Creator. Imagine that you suddenly discover some concealment in the air somewhere, right here, and by the hints that the teacher gives you (he will never tell you directly and clearly, don’t expect that) you understand how to open a hole in the air and enter.
[142398]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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Question: In what way is the wisdom of Kabbalah different from the rest of the sciences?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah is involved with discovery of the Creator, the discovery of the force of bestowal in those Kelim (vessels) that are in equivalence of form with Him, in other words, Kelim of bestowal. This never can happen in other sciences because they are involved with phenomena that are discovered in receptive Kelim.

In Kelim of bestowal, I discover the higher power. These Kelim are detached from me because I must go out of myself and rise above my desire to receive. This makes it possible for me to comprehend this power objectively, investigate and study it.

In the other sciences, we only discover phenomena that happen within us. This is even though it seems to us that they are happening outside of us in the surrounding world. However, through the wisdom of Kabbalah, we develop new senses, Kelim, in which we discover the higher power that is outside of us.

So, the wisdom of Kabbalah is an objective wisdom about the Creator, about the higher power, about the only power that manages everything, including us, and this is the difference between the wisdom of Kabbalah and other sciences.

The same scientific approach is practiced in the wisdom of Kabbalah as in all the rest of the sciences. As it is written, “A judge has only what his eyes see” (Talmud, Baba Batra 131a), in other words, a factual basis, but they are received in other Kelim, in Kelim of bestowal.

Like every science, the wisdom of Kabbalah develops and discovers more and more. Only after the completion of correction and the discovery of the Light of the Mashiach (Messiah) will the wisdom of Kabbalah become an absolutely complete science.
[142353]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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The Zohar, Chapter “Bo” (Come Unto Pharaoh): See how people must follow the path of the Creator and keep the commandments of the Torah so that through it, they will be rewarded with the next world, and be saved from all the accusers above and below.

If the group has given man a five percent demand for bestowal, then the Light influences him accordingly.

The other ninety five percent of his desire is not yet connected with the group and are directed towards reception. This part is also influenced by the Light that Reforms, but it does it in the form of “help against him,” a correction of the course,  so man would see: his demands are directed the wrong way.

“Help against him” comes in the form of “the accusers,” who as though resist the path, the goal, the group: everything that relates to spirituality. Essentially, they are us at the given moment, because our demand is not yet pure.

In reality, a single Light comes from the above. It does not split like on the image, it simply influences my desires and properties in different ways; it varies the degree of the positive and the negative influence. Everything only comes in order to properly orient me on my path.

When I include myself in the group, it reminds me that I should not fight “the accusers.” The purpose of these “enemies” is to be of help to me and give me strength.

One should not fight the temptations of our world or the complaints about the spiritual path. Instead, one needs to ask the Creator for strength to rise above the “accusers,” instead of fighting them face to face.

Similarly, it is impossible to fight the Pharaoh, one only can run away from him. I only manifest evil, and once it reaches its full strength, I will acquire the strength to run away.

One needs to have a practical attitude towards the “accusers,” because they represent the forces that work on us. Their opposition is caused by my lack of proper contact with the Creator at this moment. This is the defect that I need to correct.

It is difficult for man to wade through all his complaints for the Creator, remembering that He was the one who sent them. Here it is necessary to have a common opinion, a common foundation, a common aspiration, and group agreement.

In the group we have a strong principle: Everything comes from the Creator, and one needs to turn to Him, instead of the “accusers.” Then we quickly and properly use them as intended.

In the end, man is grateful for the “evil” as well as for the good, and he unites with the single source, which only sends good towards him.
[24297]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/20/10, Writings of Rabash

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