Baal Hasulam, Shamati, #3, “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”: In order for us to attain what He had wanted us to attain and understand it as “His desire to do good to His creations,” He created and imparted us with these senses, and these senses attain their impressions of the Upper Light. Accordingly, we have been given many discernments… .

In the end we attain what has been given to us to attain. Why is everything arranged specifically like this? This is unknown to us.

The Creator created something which is called a “desire for pleasure”; it receives some kind of “fulfillment” and is stimulated emotionally by what it “enjoys.” And the reaction of this desire that the Creator created is what we are talking about. This is our entire life. This is us.

The true essence of this desire is unknown to us. What exactly did the Creator create as “something from nothing”? What is its essence? Why does it awaken some kind of reaction, an emotion, stimulation, whenever it needs fulfillment? We have no answers. We are speaking only about the observations that we already perceive, but we are not ready to compare them with “from nothing.”

And who knows what will happen in the future? There, in the depths of the inaccessible, is found the essence of the things that came as something from something and something from nothing; something from something is fulfillment, and something from nothing is the lack.

We discern all kinds of phenomena within our desire to receive. And here Kabbalah, which studies and investigates the desire to receive, the “substance of creation,” and the stimulation of the desire to receive called fulfillment comes to our aid.

Fulfillment can be either positive or negative: From positive fulfillment the desire enjoys, from negative fulfillment or a lack of fulfillment, the desire suffers. That is how its reaction is established.

These things are individual; they belong to this desire, while other desires feel and establish them in another manner. All of the measurements and definitions are established only according to the way in which particular phenomena are revealed.

In a manner like this, we don’t know what constitutes the desire to receive in itself. We only know about the emotion that we feel with it. We call this emotion “life,” “vital energy.” And the desire in itself remains a secret. What the desire wants is one thing, and what the desire truly is, is another thing.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/13, Shamati #3 “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment“

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Question: Why do you insist that the development of science is detrimental to mankind. We would not be able to study Kabbalah today without the modern means of communication?

Answer: We cannot imagine what the world would be like if we were to develop according to the spiritual path instead of the path of scientific and technological advancement, egoistically.

Everything we are trying to do through science and high technology is merely pathetic compensation for the things we would be able to achieve in our spiritual vessels.

This is like breaking a leg and instead of treating and healing it, I make crutches for myself. It is the same when it comes to hands, and all the other parts of the body.

And in the end, instead of having a normal, healthy body, which I could have had corrected and enjoyed, I become burdened by a thousand prosthetics all over the place, and I feel proud about it: Look at the wooden legs I can make!

This is what all of our science and its attainments are like…

We kept evolving it to its egoistic, corporeal height because we did not want to ascend and make the proper correction.

As soon as we transition towards the proper inner correction, we stop feeling that we need all these achievements of modern science.

Why would we need the Internet to communicate if we could transfer information and sensations directly from heart to heart, brain to brain, like through a wide unlimited pipe.

We simply do not want to connect like one man with one heart! Otherwise, we would not need all these wires to send messages to communicate.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/10, “The Wisdom of Israel in Comparison to Science”

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I have to rise above my egoistic desire to accept the importance of the Creator and the created beings. They are on the two ends of the pipe that I will become, and I have to see them as more important than me. I only have to form the pipe that will connect the two. I exert myself by annulling myself before the Creator’s desire and before the desire of the people, and I become a matchmaker between the two.

My nature is to hate everyone except for myself. So when I rise above my ego by restricting it, I become a point. So how can I turn it into a pipe?

I form the pipe according to the extent of the availability of  the Light of Hassadim, which determines the diameter of my pipe. The diameter is determined by how much I am connected to the Creator and the created beings above the Hassadim, and I turn this pipe into a link, the connecting line.

There is a whole system working here. If the Creator and the created beings were equal, then there would be no need for a pipe. But on the other hand, they eventually have to be equal and connected in every possible sense.

So does that mean that the pipe will disappear? No the pipe won’t disappear but will become infinite, and thanks to them, it will be me. I take the desire to bestow from the Creator and the desire to receive from the created beings and become incorporated in both.

Then I begin to understand that both the Creator and the created beings exist for me, although I do this work for them.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/13, Shamati #3 “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”

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Preparation to the Lesson

Shamati #64 “From Lo Lishma to Lishma“

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, Parashat, “Beresheet (Genesis)

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 2

A Talk About the American Convention

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #3: “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”: When we pray to the Creator and ask of Him to help us and to give us what we want, we relate to the discernment of Infinity (Ein Sof). There is the root of the creatures, which wants to impart them delight and pleasure, called “His desire to do good to His creations.”

We must go to Infinity, to absolute love. But why? It would appear that it could be enough to imagine the nearest spiritual state?

No.

First of all, because the nearest state is already Infinity. The adjacent, higher degree is called “Infinity” in relation to the previous one. Today, I cannot attain it, limit it, “bound” it in my vessels, desires; I can somehow imagine it in myself. It is higher than any of my fantasies, all impulses.

So, it is infinite for me, i.e., incomprehensible. It is beyond my perception; it operates at such frequencies, in such properties, which I am not able to discern at all. It does not fit in my current desires. I am deprived of the means of its perception. The most I can imagine is some imaginary similarity of the next degree.

And yet, if I do not seek Infinity, to the best of my understanding, according to the correct definitions, then I do not build the unity of Israel, the Torah, and the Creator. We need to remember that His desire to delight the creature is infinite, that He fully desires to bring us good, and thus I must give the same full response and find Him through the group.

Well, in the group, I begin to understand that I need to nullify myself completely, to absorb the friends’ desires, to give them myself, to dissolve among them so that there is no memory of me. I have to work with the desire of the group by all means to fulfill the desire of the Creator. I can express myself only in this way.

This is the preparation that will enable us to become a connecting channel between the created beings and the Creator.

However in the group, we seek not these two ends of connection, but one point—from oneself to the center of the group and the Creator, Who is hidden there, inside. Here, we do not adapt ourselves to the two different directions, this stage will come later. First, we organize a group, establish connection with the Creator, and then build communication, create a “modem” for switching between the Creator and created beings.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/13, Shamati #3 “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”

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The problem is how quickly a person, having come to the wisdom of Kabbalah, is included in the real work. He could be there for a long time, listen to what is said, but not apply real effort, which is connection with others.

Perhaps, only after a long time, he finally begins to understand that the spiritual path is in connection in the group, and it is necessary to find the central point of this unity. After all, only there will he be worthy of contact with the Creator.

It will take a long time until he develops an idea about the concept of the Creator. After all, the Creator has no image, no form, not the slightest clue for us. The Creator is called the force of bestowal that is revealed in a person under certain conditions, which he has to reach by his own efforts. He needs to be suitable for the disclosure of this property. Only when it is manifested in a person can it be called the Creator, but not outside the person.

In essence, a person is impressed by the form which he himself will take in the future. He is drawn to the fact that it is revealed in him, that is, to him in the future. He must be very clear that nothing will change, except himself. He strives to his future form, addresses it with a prayer.

Therefore, it is said about this path, “I labored and found.” This does not mean that I remain the way I was and everything around me changes. The entire world, the entire reality is within a person, and only he changes. That is why, “I labored and found, believe.” It is impossible to come to this find without changing oneself. I “find” because I bring myself to the correct form due to the Light that Reforms and within myself reveal the common property of bestowal and love that is called the Creator.

It is impossible to achieve this without effort. And having applied efforts, I find because I make out of myself the basis on which the image of bestowal, the property of the Creator, can be discovered. This is the only way to advance. That is why efforts should be beyond human power; that is, I have to create a foundation, apply my efforts, but always wait for the Light that Reforms to change me, to prepare for the revelation of the property of bestowal and love. Then, it will be established in me and will begin to rule, changing myself in such a way that my entire mind and heart work in connection with my other parts that now seem to me foreign and separate from me.

That is, we need a proper definition of effort. That is why so much time passes from the moment a person comes to the group and begins to study until he begins to understand and feel that all the changes that must happen are in him, not on the outside. This change in approach, in perception of reality, in feeling that everything is inside him because the whole world is the imprint of his properties, and his spiritual vessel has to include in itself everything, that is, to be “integral.” Only then he will achieve his realization, when the entire creation is in him as his inseparable part. The entire still, vegetative, animate nature, and people are parts of his soul, and there is nothing else besides it.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/13

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Question: How can we demand the filling of the Light for people who seem to be suffering and at the same time justify the Creator?

Answer: First you have to go through corrections. I pray differently to the Creator: “Just as You are revealed to me as the good and the benevolent and there is nothing evil in what You do, it is by all the evil that you reveal that you direct me to the good and you reveal it to me in suffering and much greater pain than the pain I feel. Although I understand that it is for the best, I ask You to reveal Yourself to them a little in order to show them all Your goodness.”

Let’s ask this differently: How can we justify the Creator if we suffer? We gradually acquire the understanding that everything is for the best by the experience we acquire. All the bad things, the flaws, the darkness, “and there was evening and there was morning,” are revealed as the matter of the next level. We need this and so we don’t only justify this, but we also bless for the evil like for the good.

So when it comes to others, we feel that the world is suffering now and that we have to come to the Creator with this, but we have to turn to Him knowing that people actually need only one thing – the revelation of the Creator. Only His revelation will solve all their problems. It is because the abundance comes from the Light. So only then will they feel that they are rich, healthy, and successful.

So I turn to the Creator and say: “Please do them a favor so that the goodness will be revealed in them.” It hurts me when they curse Him.

A person who suffers curses the Creator automatically, wordlessly. This means that every state that is lower than the circle, than Ein Sof (Infinity) forces me to curse the Creator to that extent. It isn’t about logical conclusions, but the feeling itself is an indication of that.

Question: So how can I depict the revelation of the Creator in them and me correctly?

Answer: I don’t ask for the revelation of the Creator for myself. I only ask for the chance to serve Him and them, or more accurately, to serve Him by them. This is the work I have to do as the link.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/13, Shamati #3 “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #26, “One’s Future Depends and is Tied to Gratitude for the Past”: It is written, “The Lord is high and the low will see,” that only the low can see the greatness. The letters Yakar (precious) are the letters Yakir (will know). It means that one knows the greatness of a thing to the extent that it is precious to one.

One is impressed according to the importance of the thing. The impression brings one to a sensation in the heart, and according to the measure of one’s recognition of the importance, to that extent joy is born in him.

Our basis is opposite from the Creator. There are two desires: a desire to receive and a desire to bestow, which are opposite to one another because one stems from something from something and the other stems from something from nothing. So the more humble a person is, the more he acknowledges the Creator’s greatness.

It is very easy to see what the desire to receive appreciates. We are ready to bow before an important person, to admire an important phenomenon, only if our ego feels that they are important. A person spends his whole life searching for the feeling of stability, confidence, support…

However, if something is external to the desire to receive, it isn’t felt as an important factor that can bring desired pleasure or as a threat to what one already has; if it is not in contact with the desire to receive, then I need to create the awareness of its importance, a new awareness. How do I do that?

The condition, “The Lord is high and the low will see,” tells us that we must change.

After all, at least we have a desire to receive. So when we work persistently in order to identify its lowliness, we will be able to identify the greatness of the force of love and bestowal to the same extent. We see that one stems from the other, according to the principle of “the advantage of the Light from the darkness.”

We can do that only in the relations between the friends. The relations with the external world are not suitable for that because there are other standards there. In the group a person can make efforts in order to annul himself in a simple way, as much as he can, even without the right intention.

Then he sees that he isn’t any better than the others. On the contrary, it turns out that he is even worse than them in his attributes. The Light that Reforms influences him through the group and although a person doesn’t understand, he sees that the friends are more successful, have greater strength in annulling themselves, and more force for participating in the lessons, in connection, and in adhesion for the goal. At the same time, he sees that he can also do it. This is where the feeling of importance stems from, since it turns out that the Creator relates to him personally.

Thus, time after time, only when he measures himself in relation to the friends, can a person understand that on the one hand he is low and on the other hand he is worthy of something that he doesn’t deserve at all. He sees that all the other people are detached from the upper force, while he was rewarded with a special attitude from Him. This evokes the development of the vessels in him. He becomes more responsible for what he has received and feels that he is already responsible for others. It’s because he didn’t receive it thanks to his efforts or his personal achievements. No, the Creator has invited him to perform this special work and from now on he is responsible for the correction of the world.

This is how everyone should see himself because the correction of the world depends on him. No one else can correct what he will correct.

So a person feels that he is low and at the same time he understands that he has received a very important mission. The Creator, of course, only expects a person to be able to fulfill the mission and He is ready to help him in any way possible. A person needs only to prepare a prayer so that the Creator will complete what he has started (“The Lord will complete it for me”).

Thus he advances. When a person looks at the past, he understands that the Creator has prepared the whole way for him. He cannot do anything by himself, or expect anything in advance, since he doesn’t know how to advance. On the contrary, everything was prepared for him in advance from above.

Then a person feels gratitude for being in a group, for the fact that he has support from above, for the guidance that he has received up until now. It’s on this basis that he can be sure that if he advances and each time recognizes the lowliness of his nature, then he will feel the “Lord’s greatness” instead and that will fill him. Instead of empty pride “he elevated his heart in the ways of the Creator,” and thus advances.

This is why Baal HaSulam says that “one’s future depends and is tied to gratitude for the past” for his nature, of the progress he has made and of his current state. He sees that he hasn’t chosen his nature, his fate, and that he hasn’t planned his path, and didn’t design himself the way he is. Everything actually comes from Above, and so if he continues to advance he will subdue his ego and from that point onwards there will be a wonderful path to the future spread before him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/6/13, Shamati #26 “One’s Future Depends and Is Tied to Gratitude for the Past”

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Preparation to the Lesson

Shamati #56 “Torah Is Called Indication“

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, Parashat, “Beresheet (Genesis),” Item 289

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 2, Item 5

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 57: I haven’t revealed this truth to you so you would not weaken and give up on the mercy. And although you don’t see anything, for even when the measure of labor is complete, it is the time of prayer. But until then, believe in our sages: “I did not labor and found, do not believe.”

When the measure is full, your prayer will be complete, and the Creator will grant generously, as our sages instructed us, “I labored and found, believe,” for one is unfit for a prayer prior to it, and the Creator hears a prayer.

Our desire is able to achieve everything it desires. The only question is whether it wants this. This is the state that we should bring it to, having developed it to a complete perfect desire, because only this desire works in spirituality.

In the material world, it is possible to pretend, to play some games as if we want to because this world is false. In this world, everything happens within the desire itself, instead of being clarified in the confrontation between the two desires: the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. And if everything is taking place within the same desire, then we are free to fantasize anything we want. After all, in essence, it does not change anything.

All the creation is evaluated only in the area of the interaction between the two desires: receiving and bestowal, the created being and the Creator. And there, in any moment, in any state, in every part of the desires, only one true desire acts, that is, the desire that has reached its fourth and final stage “Behina Dalet.”

So, if you have not been rewarded the correction of your desire to enjoy bestowal this means that you have not reached the last, fourth stage of the desire and you should work more. It is all determined by whether you ask with the true prayer, that is, have reached the fourth state or not.

And this depends on your efforts; you are obliged to “All that is in your power, that do.” That is why we need to check whether we carry out all the advices of Kabbalists and work according to this. And if not, of course you will get nothing. Strict laws act here. In the spiritual world, there is a full HaVaYaH (complete desire). If you have not reached the full HaVaYaH, the fourth stage of desire, then this trigger does not work; you do not attract the Light that Reforms that will change you from egoism to bestowal. It is possible to rise to the next level and achieve revelation only with the help of the Light.

The revelation of the Creator is the revelation of the desire to enjoy in a person that turns into bestowal. This is what is called the revelation of the Creator, because the Creator is the property of bestowal that is manifested in the person when he wants to bestow.

But do you truly want that? It cannot be that you have made every effort imposed on you and it did not happen. According to the law, it has to happen! Therefore, even if you cry out, you need to check whom you are addressing. It is as if the Creator does not hear your cry because it is a law that cannot be transgressed. All these cries are only to awaken yourself, force you to work, to make efforts, and eventually to complete the measure assigned to you.

Baal HaSulam says that you need to know about it in advance so as not to despair and to not give up. Until the very last moment, even the moment before you complete the entire measure of your efforts, you will not know that you have come to the finish. That is why it is called a find; you will obtain the force of bestowal, which you did not know about. Even then, on each next degree, you find something completely new.

Therefore, it is said, “I labored and found!” But this find is a result of all the labors is revealed according to the strict law, which cannot be transgressed.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/13

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