Question: Do I rob the group of the opportunity to unite around my problem and solve it if I have a certain problem and I feel ashamed to bring it to the group?

Answer: Shame is pride, ego, and perhaps even narcissism, but there is nothing we can do about it. It passes gradually.

Animals don’t feel shame. A cow standing in the field eating grass is not ashamed of anything. So why should a person feel ashamed of being a donkey standing in the field and doing what his body demands?

It isn’t by chance that it says: “Go to the craftsman who made me.” He gave me the desire to receive and I have to be ashamed that I had an opportunity to correct it and didn’t do so.

I am ashamed of the unfulfilled corrections, but I don’t need to be ashamed of the corrected and the corrupt natural forms since both belong to the Creator, while the human being in me is the middle part, the shell of Noga, the third middle part of Tifferet. This is the place where my freewill is. It’s there that I need to feel ashamed and to worry as to whether I have fulfilled myself correctly.

So I don’t understand people who cannot or who will not tell the friends in the group about what happens to them, especially when it can damage the whole group. We should be very careful here, since by delaying the advancement of the friends, by “saving” on their account, I delay myself much more.

It isn’t worth it. What have we got to hide? After all, everything comes from Above and we are not responsible for it. There is none else besides Him. We only have to unite more and to find the opportunity to correct the situation. There will be many more such states and they will end only at the end of correction.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Rabash, “The Matter of Suckling and Conception”: Therefore the first phase of God’s work is the phase of conception, Ibur, which means that a person annuls his self and enters the mother’s womb in a state of conception.

This means that he annuls the self love called Malchut, which is originally called the desire to receive in order to receive, and enters the phase of the vessels of bestowal that is called the phase of Bina.

A person restricts himself by the Light that Reforms and begins to work from a state of an embryo. All the fillings come as a result of our work against our ego. It is the effort of overcoming the troubles, the problems, and the confusions that we go through that is actually the filling of our spiritual vessel.

The Creator is good and benevolent. We have to work in order to become a human being, Adam, which means the one who resembles (Domeh – from the same root in Hebrew) the Creator. But we have to follow the Creator’s example in order to resemble Him, like a mother who tells her children: “You should be nice to one another; why do you keep quarrelling and fighting all the time?” This means that we have to follow mother and father’s example according to the way they treat us.

There is no one else we can take an example from but them. There are no good children to begin with and we can only follow the example of the grownups, of the parents. We have to treat one another in the same loving way they treat us. Then each of us will be called Adam, he who resembles the Creator. It’s very simple, and this is all we have to do.

If the Creator is good and benevolent to the wicked and to the good and treats everyone with absolute love, we should also reach the state in which we treat all the created beings with love. What about the attainment of the Creator, the attainment of the spiritual levels, the attainment of the upper worlds? All this is revealed among us.

We begin to work with the world, with people, starting from those who are close to us to those most distant, since the corrections is from the easiest to the most difficult. Then, the more we expand this circle, which means our vessel, and the more deeply we engage in these relations by overcoming an increasingly greater and crueler ego, we discover an increasingly more sublime work. Thus we advance through the phases of Aviut (thickness) of the root phase, phase one, two, three, and four and discover the Light of NRNHY.
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From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/14

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The Book of Zohar, Introduction, “The Second Commandment,” Item 198: It says, “Noah walked with God, as Noah had to be taken care of and supported, since he was supported by the great abundance that the Creator had bestowed upon him.”

Noah refers to conditional love. The more the Creator bestows upon him, the more dependent he feels on the Creator. Although Noah is aware of all the goodness that he receives from the Creator and feels grateful, it’s still a level of incomplete love.

It is already a spiritual attainment, since I receive from the Creator and I understand and know this. It says: “Noah walked with God,” which means that he understands and is aware of his state, but he cannot ascend above it and be free of the dependence of receiving it. He is aware of that, since the moment he receives something bad, his love diminishes.

A person cannot do anything by himself: The moment he receives a blow, he runs from the Creator, and when he receives something sweet, he comes near. But he cannot stop himself from making any other movement forward or backward. He is simply incapable of that since this is his body’s natural reaction. He cannot put his hand into the fire since he will immediately pull it back because of the pain. A person cannot make efforts that are beyond his nature.

Noah is the level of recognition of conditional love. A person who reaches this level reaches the level of Noah. We shouldn’t underestimate it since it’s a very high level. It says: “Noah walked with God.” Although Abraham did not need support, as it says, walk before me and be upright, since walk before me means without support, but before me, although you don’t know if I will follow you to support you. This is complete love, great love. Although I don’t give you anything, your love will still be complete, “to adhere to Me in your heart and soul.”

Abraham reached the level of Bina, faith, the force of bestowal. This means that he doesn’t depend on how much he receives or doesn’t receive. There is also the question of what will happen if he receives something negative? Will he continue to love the giver just as he did when he receives something good from Him? But at least his love doesn’t depend on the amount of goodness that he receives.

The Upper Light already affects a person in such a way that it sustains him on a level on which he values the Creator Himself, the attribute of love and bestowal, and not the benefit that he gets from it. This means that a person divides himself into two. The first part is the donkey in him (his matter) that enjoys more or less, or doesn’t enjoy at all. The other part is the human being in him, the level of his resemblance to the Creator that is determined by how much he values the sublime attributes, the Godliness, the love, the bestowal, something above his corporeal egoistic interests.

Abraham is already divided into these two parts and doesn’t depend on the amount of pleasure he receives. It doesn’t affect his appreciation of the Creator, his love of the attribute of love and bestowal, in any way.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Writings of Rabash, “What Is The Cup of Blessing Must Be Full in the Work”: There is a difference between speaking and mute in the work. Since speaking is the state of revelation, meaning that one has already attained the state of suckling in spirituality, and he already feels that he is suckling from Kedusha (Divinity). And the state of suckling points to Hassadim (Mercy), because Hesed is the state of bestowal, since when one merits the vessels of bestowal, meaning when all his actions are for the sake of Heaven and he no longer cares for himself, it is called that he merited the state of Hessed (bestowal).

However, gestation precedes it, meaning that the upper one corrects him. In the meantime a person doesn’t participate in his own correction. He only annuls himself and the upper one does all the work. But every time a person annuls himself differently with regards to new discernments. He encounters new problems, troubles, yet he annuls himself, lowers his head and accepts everything.

And this is when one is like an unborn in his mother’s womb, where the unborn annuls before his mother, and he has no opinion of his own. Rather, as the sages said, “The unborn within his mother eats what his mother eats” and he has no existence of his own, to ask any questions, or do anything on his own, and that means that he is mute and that he has no mouth to ask any questions.

A person makes himself mute, he as though doesn’t exist inside the upper one at all so as not to disturb the upper one and not to be a foreign force in it. If the embryo is a foreign body inside the mother, her body will immediately resist it and reject the embryo as something hostile. But this is the wonder of nature since the exact opposite happens and the mother’s whole body begins to work for the benefit of the embryo instead of rejecting him. This happens because in nature the corporeal embryo also annuls himself when it develops in the womb.

…and that means that he is mute and that he has no mouth to ask any questions. That is, he shuts his mouth and doesn’t argue, he annuls himself, accepting everything. He has many questions and feels resentment, but he concedes and doesn’t argue.

And this is the time for one to walk with his eyes shut, above reason, to believe in the wisdom of the sages and advance to the end. It is impossible to explain this in other words since in the meantime a person doesn’t understand anything in spirituality. Therefore, it is said simply that he has to annul himself all the way and believe in the faith of the sages, which means to count on them all the way. No matter what I feel inside my heart and what doubts go through my head, I annul myself before the upper Providence.

This is called gestation, meaning that he has no mouth to speak. It is the state of Malchut, which is the smallest and most restricted, and is called Ibur, which comes from the words transgression and judgments (Dinim), as implied in the words “The Creator judged me for your sake (because of you).”

And the matter of transgression and judgment (Din) must be explained. Because for the reason that one must walk with his eyes shut, above reason, the body opposes it, and for that reason one must continuously overcome it, and this is called transgression, wrath and trouble, because it is such a difficult work to always walk in a state of annulment before the upper one, and let the upper one do whatever He wills with him. 

A person is ready to annul himself in any way possible. He cannot help the upper one like on the levels of suckling and greatness. But he is ready to totally annul himself before the upper one and to give Him his body and soul to be corrected. And this is called Ibur (gestation), which is the smallest possible restriction, the very first degree of spiritual existence. We shouldn’t despair, together we will reach it!
[127216]
From Preparation to the Daily Morning Lesson 2/11/2014

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Preparation to the Lesson

Workshop

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts

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

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 

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Question: If we establish the group like a womb for our spiritual embryo, should certain friends stand out in it?

Answer: No, there cannot be anyone who stands out or who is different or unequal either in the embryo or in the group. Everyone has to be equal. It’s actually by our differences that we establish one general whole vessel: one embryo and one womb. By connecting with regard to the greatness of the attribute of bestowal, we establish one womb. It’s in the connection and the recognition of the lowliness of our nature that we establish one embryo.

No one can stand out among the others, although there are parts that stand out in the embryo, since it has a human form, and the womb also has its own form. But these forms are created as a result of the sum of the connection between all of us, where everything disappears and everyone takes on the form of bestowal.

Besides, the embryo is in the “waters of the womb,” which separates him from the walls of the womb. The womb is not adhered directly to the embryo, and doesn’t give its form to the embryo. The womb is Bina, which is a whole form and not a human form. But if the embryo totally wraps himself with Hassadim, he receives such bestowal from the womb that it turns him into a human being, and gives him the form of a human being, Adam, which resembles the Creator (Domeh, which has the same root in Hebrew).
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Sometimes you accent the importance of the group and sometimes the importance of dissemination. How do we understand this correctly to actually enter the “Light”?

Answer: Every person needs to receive nourishment from the upper, and together they must internalize this power they have received in order to grow. This is the next step after building a womb and an embryo; our further advancement takes place inside this internal and external system: the upper and the lower system.

In order to do this, we constantly need to look for the faults in us, our ability to add something else for the growth of our womb and our state of the embryo; in other words, we must lower ourselves. If we are ready for this and we want the Upper One to be as big as possible, if we look for ways to make Him grow, we awaken bad, corrupt desires in us, which awaken in the form of a protest. This way we advance by accelerating time, “by awakening the dawn.”

We turn into an old man who walks bent over and keeps making sure he has not dropped anything. And so we begin to advance our state by uncovering the faults, which we use to build and expand the higher degree. The womb becomes bigger, and now our embryo can grow bigger in it. The appeal comes from below, from the lower one, while the growth, the stages of development manifest from above, through the power of the Upper One. This is how we construct ourselves.

And once we complete the nine month of prenatal development, we are born into the spiritual world, we go through the stages of the small state, reach the big state, and become ready to birth others and be to them as the upper is to the lower. We need to be in this state in relation to the world and teach the world to be an embryo inside us.

Question: Is the Machsom the line where we compare our qualities to the womb and learn to feed the others?

Answer: A spiritual embryo is a state above the Machsom. If I am able to connect with others and create with them a single body with the help of the Upper Light, which influences us and unites us into a single whole, then I am already above the Machsom. At this point we are already able to bestow on the minimal level, and this can only be done in the spiritual world, above the Machsom. The Machsom is the borderline, which determines whether I am still in the state of egoistic reception or whether I already possess a certain degree of bestowal.

The Machsom is a kind of restriction where I cover myself to a minimal degree. And the stages of greater restriction and bestowal are built on top of this.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/14, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A lot has been said about The Book of Zohar lately but it is still like a drop in the ocean since how can the source of our spiritual life, the force that sustains all of reality, the expression and the revelation of the Creator to the created being, which is The Book of Zohar, be described in words? How can all the abundance, all the Upper Light that should be conveyed to all of creation through this book, all of Malchut of Infinity, the whole general soul, in order to correct and to fill it, be described in words?

The Book of Zohar is actually a system that ties the Creator to all the created beings, and so we have no words to express the praise and the respect we have for it. How can small human beings like us possibly speak about this immense system of worlds that takes care of us deeply in the depths this matter.

But it is precisely when we come in contact with this immense system called The Book of Zohar that we receive an awakening, feel anxiety about coming in contact with something that is very great, an exceptional source that is strong, powerful, and special. If we adapt ourselves to this system, this mechanism, this book, even a little, as much as we can, we will be rewarded with a certain level of contact with it, and through this contact, we will be rewarded with the Light that corrects us, with a medicine that will cure us, with the potion of life.

In order to conform to The Book of Zohar, we need to connect together into one person. This is the first condition, but only if we are focused on the Creator. Unless this is done, we will not be arranged as one since we need the Light to connect the many particles into one whole. This one has to be focused on the Creator, to be close to Him, which means close to the force of love and bestowal.

But The Book of Zohar helps us advance towards this condition even from very distant states since we actually start from zero. Just like a thermometer on the spiritual scale, there is a plus, which is above zero, and there is a minus, which is below zero. There are +125 degrees above zero and -125 degrees below zero. It is impossible to rise to plus if you don’t descend to minus of the same degree. It is actually the minus that turns into a plus.

The Book of Zohar includes all the levels, all our minuses. Everything that can happen is there. “He who is greater than his friend, his egoism is even greater,” which means that he descends lower and deeper than his friend if he ascends to a higher level. The Book of Zohar can certainly help us correct all our minor transgressions, all our silly mistakes, save us, and bring us to Holiness, which means to love and bestowal.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation to the Lesson

Workshop

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9, Item 81

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 

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Preparation for the Lesson

Workshop

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 31

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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