Question: What is a name?

Answer: A name is what we call a certain phenomenon in the most appropriate way. There is the Light and a vessel, two factors that are revealed by each other, and their common appearance leads to the expression called “name.” We don’t know what the Light is; we don’t understand or feel it. We only feel the action of the vessel which is opposite to its nature: The vessel, the desire to receive is suddenly revealed in the form of a desire to bestow, and thus we see bestowal on top of receiving.

These two opposite forces create a certain form by connecting in a certain manner, which is called a name. The form itself is the name, although in our world, in my mind, in my computer, the name is already written in a different form according to my software, according to my codes. The form itself is actually the name of the state that is created by the mutual cooperation between the Light and the vessel.

The name is with regard to those who receive, which means that I have to adapt to a certain phenomenon in a certain way and then according to the form that is adapted to the phenomenon I call the phenomenon by name. I don’t know the name of the general phenomenon, but I can thus call part of it according to my vessel, according to my name. So when I say something about someone, it is not talking about me or him but about the extent of my attainment of it.

We should take this into account. We never learn the actual phenomenon itself but only with regard to the person who attains it. So when I attain something, I don’t say that it is something specific but that I attain the phenomenon because my attainment is always according to my vessels, according to the equivalence of form with some part of the general phenomenon that isn’t familiar to me.

We exist in a universe, but now we begin to attain that there are infinite other universes. We, however, attain only part of it and we call it a universe. So the name is never the actual phenomenon but only the part which I attain.
[130029]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Need For The Creator
The Names That We Give
The Holy Names Of Bestowal

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

Question: Does love awaken automatically when we attain the fear of God?

Answer: We should constantly work on love. The levels by which we approach the goal of creation are called the four phases of love. It says, “love thy friend as thyself.” It doesn’t say that you should fear your friend first and then feel that you love him.

“Love thy friend” means that we always advance towards unity, whereas fear doesn’t lead to unity. We are always attracted to connection and love, and so we are in the process of attaining its four phases.

We speak about the proper attitude towards the Creator, towards the upper system, which responds to us thus helping us start our mutual work with the Creator, and not about corporeal fear that the Creator should give us health, money, success, and a happy life in this world and in the next world. It is only about acquiring the force of love and bestowal. Fear constantly leads to that; it is the fear of not attaining love.

If I already attain a certain level of love, I fear that I might lose it and not advance and not reach an even greater love. We must always yearn for love on the part of mercy and not on the part of Din (judgment).
[129937]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/14

Related Material:
“Fear Must Adhere To Love”
There Are No Two Loves That Are Alike
How Can We Be Afraid Of Someone We Love?

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

Question: Why is the human level called the speaking level?

Answer: Animals don’t feel any need for language like we have since they possess natural connections between them and they are completely satisfied.

The human language that we have developed in order to communicate has two forms. The first is the holy form of bestowal that is used in order to convey the relations in the system of bestowal that is above the system of receiving. It is a system of faith above reason. There is also the language of the posterior that was developed after the destruction of the tower of Babel, and it is the language of receiving in which a person doesn’t understand others.

Our level is called the level of the speaking because we speak and don’t understand one another! But there is a small group of people who do try to understand one another by using a language called the holy language, which is conveyed from heart to heart, thanks to the connection of the hearts.

First there was one major language in ancient Babel—Aramaic. The Hebrew language has been in use since the time of Adam HaRishon (first man). We don’t know who preceded him. So the written and spoken language stem from the attainment Kabbalists reached. People spoke different languages in their daily life; they simply agreed to use certain sounds in order to indicate certain objects and phenomena, like animals that groan. But the real language began to develop from the time of Adam HaRishon, and it was Hebrew. Later, Aramaic was developed as an opposite form of Hebrew, like two sides of the same phenomenon. These languages, which Kabbalists spoke, were a result of the upper attainment, while ordinary people spoke in order to express their needs.

When the children of Israel left Babel they took Hebrew and Aramaic with them. All the other peoples dispersed all over the world and developed their own languages according to the place they settled in.

After all, it isn’t just a language. The desire to enjoy, the Masach (screen) and the Returning Light, the desire to bestow, the corrupt and the corrected states all make up the language of the inner communication between us. When some people reached England, some reached Germany, some reached France, as Josephus Flavius tells us in a picturesque manner about the dispersion of the Babylonians all over the world, they felt that they should speak in a specific manner according to their group and their location since it was an expression of a specific desire, of a specific state. So every group developed its own language

The words were not created by chance. It was a way for a person who wanted something to express his attitude towards others, and so he used certain words in order to refer to his property and his feelings. This is how different languages were created.

Question: Will there be one language once again at the end of correction?

Answer: Without a doubt! It will be the language of bestowal.

Question: How will we speak this language?

Answer: We will not speak, we will feel. Why do we need words if we are one body? Does my hand talk to my leg? The information simply flows between them. This is also how we will convey information to each other. Mutual bestowal doesn’t require a language or any form of communication.

Question: How will we delight the Creator by this mutual bestowal?

Answer: The Creator dwells among us in our attributes of bestowal.

Question: We will simply stand and do nothing and He will feel good as a result?

Answer: I don’t know what sitting or standing mean if we have no bodies. The bodies will disappear; now too they only exist in our imagination. So there will be no language but the language of bestowal that flows through this whole system. The language returns to one HaVaYaH.

A language is created only because of the lack of a real inner connection between us. This is why we need words. The better the inner connection between us, the less we need words. When you live peacefully with your wife you don’t need to speak to her much. When you argue, there is a whole cascade of words that flow between you.

Question: But I don’t fight with all of humanity!

Answer: You simply don’t know it yet, and you have to discover this.
[129336]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/6/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Holy Names Of Bestowal
The Language Of The Revelation Of The Creator
Why Do We Need The Language Of Branches?

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

Preparation for the Lesson

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Torah and Prayer,” Item 184 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 22   

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 9

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 6: “You were not created to follow the act of the grain and the potato, you and your asses in one trough.” And as the purpose of the ass is not to serve all its contemporary asses, man’s purpose is not to serve all the bodies of the people of his time, the contemporaries of his physical body. Rather, the purpose of the ass is to serve and be of use to man, who is superior to it, and the purpose of man is to serve the Creator and complete His aim.

Question: How can a person be sure that he serves the Creator?

Answer: To serve the Creator means to serve the thought of creation, to do good to His created beings. There is nothing else you can give the Creator except for discovering that He loves you, which is possible only by the equivalence of form. This is called “to serve.” Parents don’t expect anything from their children except for the children’s recognition of how much they love them.

Kabbalists teach us how to do it. If I don’t feel anything but this world, it means that I don’t know anything about the Creator. Kabbalists give us advice as to what we should do in order to reach the goal and there are teachers who teach me.

We can learn from the example of the animal world that a mother has to take care of her cubs otherwise they will not survive. She has to feed them and to teach them how to obtain food so that they can survive. The same applies in the spiritual world that a person knows nothing about. He has to be totally devoted to the teacher, like a little cub who follows his mother because without her he will die. But a person thinks that he is smart and that he already knows everything.
[129931]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
What Can We Give The Creator?
Checking The Purity Of Intentions
How Can We Please The Creator?

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

All of creation is in a fixed, unchanging state, but we perceive and discover creation according to the attributes that are revealed in us, just as a person can look at the same thing without glasses, with glasses, with binoculars, or with a microscope. That is, it all depends on the vessels of our perception through which we look at creation.

Everything is assessed only with regard to a person. We are actually in the world of Infinity. I remember hearing a lecture of a local Rabbi in Rehovot in the 70’s who amazed me when he spread out his arms and said: “Here is the next world, here is the spiritual world.” I didn’t understand what he was talking about and what he was looking at. He was a Kabbalist who had attained spirituality.

I couldn’t understand what he meant then; how can the next world be right here? He hardly explained anything more than that, but it really impressed me.

So we are in the world of Infinity, in the only state that was created, and we have to discover these vessels of perception. This is all our work.
[129858]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Measuring The Perfect World With Crooked Rulers
Looking At The World Of Ein Sof (Infinity) With And Without Glasses
A Veil Over The Face Of Infinity

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

As a result of the shattering of the vessels we understand that we have to return to the state that preceded the shattering. By raising MAN from the shattered state, we exert ourselves and expand our vessels 620 times. Then we reach the corrected state equipped with such intensity, as a result of our exertion, that we can reveal the Light in all its NRNHY, which is the goal of creation.

The Creator wants us to reveal His attribute of love and bestowal, and not just that we will taste only a drop of His filling. It’s like a baby who receives 100 grams of porridge from his mother and at the same time actually also receives all the love and care his mother feels for him.

Since we were created with a desire to receive, we cannot taste anything more than a tiny spark, “a thin candle,” of all the Light. This is actually enough in order to be in contact and somehow connected to the Creator. But all the rest is the Light of love, the Light of bestowal, our attitude towards one another. According to the law of equivalence of form, we have to reach the same attitude towards the Creator in order to reveal His attitude towards us.

For this reason we were given the shattering of the vessels so that we will discover and reveal this shattered state and from it discover the corrected state. Then we will be able to understand the Creator’s attitude towards us. So all our work is focused on the connection between us, and so that, above the shattering, we will discover the right relations of love and bestowal instead of separation and hate.

The Creator is the attribute of love and bestowal that is revealed inside the vessel, in the desire. This attribute is revealed between us because love cannot exist in one person but has to be directed to someone. We engage in the revelation of this attribute and have to establish the same relations between us.

At first we don’t feel anything between us, neither good relations nor bad ones, but we begin to work on them by evoking one another. We understand that a person will never awaken to love, bestowal, and connection by himself. He has to be awakened; shown an example; envy , lust, and honor must be kindled; he must openly respect those who relate well to the friends and show their love, giving and concern for all.

We should really envy those who behave that way in the group, should want to be like them, and should respect this behavior. It turns out that a person begins to awaken, and from Lo Lishma (not for His sake) and different actions with the right intention, he should simply learn from others and reach Lishma (for His sake). Despite the hardening of the heart, he should always be above any disagreements, different problems, and conflicts between the friends by showing everyone how strongly he yearns for love and connection. All we attain by the Light that Reforms are the levels of connections, states that existed before the shattering.
[129854]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/14

Related Material:
The Train Won’t Wait!
An Intentional Mistake Arranged From Above
Shattering For The Sake Of Life

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

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 3: It is known that the beneficial force and the detrimental force go hand in hand. In other words, as much as something can benefit, so it can harm. Hence, since the force of one person is greater than all the beasts and the animals of all times, one’s harmful force supersedes them all, as well.

Thus, as long as one does not merit one’s degree in a way that one uses one’s force only to do good, one needs a careful watch so he will not acquire great amounts of the human level, which is wisdom and science.

For this reason, the first sages hid the wisdom from the masses for fear of taking indecent disciples who would use the force of the wisdom to harm and damage. These would break and destroy the entire population with their lust and beastly savageness, using man’s great powers.

If humanity were given too much power that compared to its mind, it becomes dangerous. It’s like a child who grows to be two meters tall and weighs 200 kilos but remains mentally undeveloped and therefore he could perform dangerous actions.

It’s the same with humanity who has received nuclear bombs and is armed with immense quantities of the most modern weaponry. Weapons are the most common, most popular, and profitable commodity today.

However, unfortunately, the human brain lags behind technological advancement. Our leaders are becoming shallower and hardly know anything about this world and where it’s headed. The problem is that we have used advanced technology to develop tools that only empower our ego, the egoistic desire to receive, instead of weakening it. So we have brought ourselves to a position that we have armed our ego to such an extent that we don’t know how to get rid of it now, and this is a real problem.

This is why our sages warned that the wisdom mustn’t be revealed to just anyone because people can use it to harm others. Therefore, they concealed the wisdom from the masses. However, today things have changed and anyone can go to a university and study anything and then use it according to his egoistic desire. Today you can surf the Internet and find instructions for building a nuclear bomb by yourself. You can learn how to do anything.

But it was different when it came to the wisdom of Kabbalah. Kabbalists didn’t allow themselves to open the wisdom of Kabbalah and waited until people began to despair from the egoistic progress in this world. Only then, did it become possible to convey this wisdom to them and only so it could help them fulfill correction. Otherwise it’s impossible to use it.

It’s impossible to use it to harm yourself and to harm others. There is a condition to the wisdom according to which you cannot use its powers unless you acquire a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light, vessels of bestowal, love of others, and connection to others. You don’t have these features, but if you have them and use them wrongly, these powers will immediately disappear.
[129529]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
When Science Turns Into Bargaining
Why Was There A Prohibition On Kabbalah Before?
Only A Sage Can Recognize A Sage

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Science - 1 Comment →

There are no weak or strong when it comes to the spiritual work because we all are absolute zeros. We must understand what an integral system means. None of its components have any meaning by themselves. Instead, they all totally depend on all the others.

Question: However, it is said that only the strong and the heroes will reach the King’s palace.

Answer: They are strong because they constantly work on building the system between them in order to discover the source of the upper force in the network between them. They must “hunt” for the Creator!

Question: How can you stick to the spiritual work if there are thoughts that distract you all the time?

Answer: I don’t need to account for what happens to me since I don’t know the upper plan, how it shakes me, and what obstacles it may send me at any given moment or, conversely, what different forms of advancement. My mission is to accept all of this and grow stronger.

I climb the mountain to the King’s palace. However, suddenly, the guards appear and push me down and I roll to the bottom again. Should I calculate how they pushed me and why? These are desires that have been revealed from the next higher level that I can’t clarify. It is only later that I discover that it all stems from the mercy of the Creator who is benevolent. In the meantime, I simply accept what I have, which means that I justify every state above reason, above my heart and mind, and believe that it advances me in the right direction.

This is how I regard everything up to the current moment. From now on, everything depends on me, although nothing depended on me until now. So, how I can I be sure that from now on everything depends on me? If I adhere to the Creator, I can determine the manner and the speed of my advancement. However, the actual levels and the states I go through depend on the Upper Light and on my shattered Reshimot (spiritual genes).

My place on the spiritual ladder, the states and the levels I must go through are predetermined already. The only thing that is unclear is the manner by which I go through them and my ability to want to actually advance in order to bestow upon the Creator, which is the only independent factor that I have. We stop each step of the way until we establish the intention to delight the Creator in every state and on every level.

The levels themselves are predetermined already, but the extent of their revelation depends on my preparation. How I fulfill them and the pace of my advancement depend on my work in the group. This determines how I accept the next level when it is revealed, how I accept the Surrounding Light, whether I will want it or not. It may illuminate and reveal my terrible egoistic desires, but I will accept it gladly.

However, it also can be the opposite: that I will not want this revelation when afflictions suddenly hit me. It is easy to talk about that, but when the full ten Sefirot approach you and you find yourself in a dark world surrounded by different problems and troubles, everything already depends on your preparation.

This preparation enables you to change your attitude to problems and see them in the exact opposite manner. On one hand, the world is simply terrible, and this is actually what is revealed on the next level, which adds more and more new Aviut (thickness) to my desire. Then, I discover the world of “the good and the whole,” and I realize that all the afflictions were given to me only so that I would ascend.

When some difficult state is over, we realize how much we have gained, although it seems very unpleasant at first. It is impossible to “awaken the dawn” if we don’t reach a state in which Light and darkness are equal. I don’t care which states come along, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. I agree to stop half-way and not attain anything as long as I delight the Creator and perhaps, without even being aware of it.

Even this is too much! It is enough just to think that I care about Him a little. This is the thin line between this world and the next world.
[129441]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/14

Related Material:
Willingness For The Obscurity Of The New Level
Measuring The Perfect World With Crooked Rulers
If There Is No Joy It Means There Is No Faith

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - 1 Comment →

Preparation for the Lesson

Workshop 

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts 

Talmud Eser Sefirot, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 200   

Writings of Rabash, “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 913

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →