Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 08.25.13
Posted on August 25th, 2013
Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman
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Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman
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Question: Is it possible to reach the right desire for spirituality without having to encounter any problems in the corporeal world?
Answer: There are no corporeal problems. The corporeal world doesn’t exist separately from the spiritual world. Everything belongs to the spiritual world. The corporeal form that we feel now only seems corporeal since we perceive it without the right intention; this should be established by our own efforts. We were simply born this way with shattered desires.
The feeling in the shattered vessel, without any independent intention and only according to the vessel’s development plan, is called the corporeal world. This means that corporeality is what I feel without making any efforts. In order to feel spirituality, I have to focus myself in a certain manner, and only then will I be able to feel it. These actions are called corrections.
Our world is actually the base of the whole system of the spiritual world. The system of the upper worlds is revealed in the form of additional connections between all the elements of reality. This network is called the upper worlds.
[114963]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Question: If the group of ten is not sufficiently connected, how is it possible to add more connection to it?
Answer: There will be more connection in a group of ten if I use it in order to nullify myself.
In general I need to use the entire world for this. For the world was created for me: the friends, the group of ten, all of humanity, all that is happening, the entire picture that is comprehended in my consciousness, which is divided into still, vegetative, animate, and human. All of my comprehension of reality is designed for me so that I will transform my comprehension of reality into one force, into the Creator, into there is none else besides Him.
Now all of my comprehension of reality is divided in my eyes into four phases of still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, and into billions of parts, only because my desire to receive was shattered. Specifically, this shattering disintegrated the world into separate parts and thereby conceals the single force. The most useful means that makes it possible for me to comprehend this force is the group.
The group should unite and make certain steps to provide everyone the opportunity to feel such a unity, what connection is. The more that people connect, we rise from level to level. Each one of the levels we first comprehend is a scattered, fragmented, broken form, and after this we bring it to the concept of a single whole.
That is how I finish the current level and can rise to the next level in which I again receive additional ego, additional desire to receive. And then I again see a confused picture of the world, which is chaotic and shattered from one end of the world to the other and again; I need to collect and gather its parts, attributing them to one force according to the principles of “Israel, Torah, and the Creator are one,” “There is none else besides Him,” “The Good who does good.”
And this is how we always advance, step after step. And in order to make this entire process easier on myself, I am found in a small group, in a group of ten. For in our group there are several hundred people and it is impossible to be connected in it with everyone; it is as if you want to be connected to the whole world. The person doesn’t comprehend more than ten real “images”; that is how we are constructed. It is no accident that in several primitive languages there is a count to ten and after that comes the comprehensive definition of “many.”
But essentially this is not primitive, but rather the result of our understanding. In fact, all that is more than ten, even if it is fifteen and even if it is a million, it makes no difference to me, because this is beyond the limits of my comprehension. For example, if we pour into a cup more than it can contain, it doesn’t matter how much more. Even if we spill a few drops or a few cubic meters, it is the same thing.
Therefore we divide our society into group of ten in which it will be easy for a person to be included in its environment, to devote himself to the friends, to prepare himself for a state where he will be devoted to the entire world, which is to say, to be devoted to the higher power, to the Creator. About this it is said, “I sit among my people”; that is how we prepare our Kelim; this is how it is expressed from their side.
But this doesn’t say at all that I intend to be closed within my group of ten, to be isolated within it and to ignore the rest. An approach like this is already Klipa – a shell. For if I was a simple egoist before, now I want to derive benefit with my desire to receive from connection with the others, from my devotion to them. Specifically in this way do the forces “suck” juices from bestowal. In this case it is said, “The dispersion of the wicked, this is good for them and good for the world. It is good for them so that they will not be in Klipa and it is good for the world because they will not come to the whole world with their method.”
[115063]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/20/13, Talk About the Groups of Ten
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Creation is basically a desire to receive, a created being, “something from nothing,” which means zero, nothing, absolutely naught. The only case an action can be attributed to the desire to receive is if the desire operates thanks to the force of the Light, the force of bestowal that it receives from the Creator.
Until then it remains “from nothing,” which means that nothing comes from it. But if it receives power from the Light and operates thanks to this power it becomes “something.” Therefore, it is called “something from nothing.” But it’s only this kind of work that turns the desire into “something” and without which it is “nothing.”
It’s a concept. Not only doesn’t the desire exist, but there is nothing we can speak about since it cannot respond or act in any way on its own. Something can be conveyed through it, but in itself it is “nothing.”
So “something from nothing” is “something” in the “nothing.” If something of the Creator is revealed in the matter of the zero desire, then it’s already “something from nothing.” From this point a human being can already develop. Its origin from “nothing” is the most important addition, since in itself, out of its personal choice, with the help of the power it received from the Creator, from the spark of the point in the heart, it received something from the mind and the heart and has turned the “nothing” into “something.”
So how does the created being, which is “nothing,” receive the point of “something” from the Creator? We don’t know that. Later when we ascend the spiritual levels, we attain it.
There are people who feel the beginning of “something” in their “nothing” and want to fulfill this spark. It’s fulfilled through the connection with the other sparks, which is possible only by overcoming the ego that separates them. The matter of the egoistic desire to enjoy is between them, meaning rejection, and by overcoming it, they connect into one big spark that has to reach a certain size in order to resemble the Light, resemble the “something.”
This means that there is also “something” in us and that it’s in exile, in the captivity of the power of the shells (Klipot). Our freewill, the action that can free the spark to work, is helping one another’s desire to rise above the envy, above the gap between us. It doesn’t happen by itself, but by studying, by a guide and by the work in the group. We don’t understand the mechanism of the events, but we go through them and this already creates a slight illumination. It stems from the corporeal actions, since we have no intentions yet, but we still act together in different areas, and this connection draws the Surrounding Light on the level of Nefesh.
So we begin to fulfill our spark, the point in the heart, by simple mechanical work. Later, however, when we end this work, we begin a more clarified type of work since we already perform a certain role with regard to the group, are incorporated in the connection more consciously, and understand why and for what reason.
Now I have to make a decision as to how to continue, what steps to take and which to avoid. First I simply merged and now there are serious actions that I have to account for: How and for what purpose do I connect with the friends? Why should I overcome my ego? What should I pay for the connection and what should I do with the connection?
If I acquire the power of the connection, the force of bestowal, I don’t use it for my own benefit. I connect with the group in order to melt into them to receive the force of bestowal from the friends above my annulment, and now I am like an ant, carrying this force for others. Later I return to the group and take a new load from the friends, a new load of bestowal, and once more pass it on to others.
This means being a link, and this is where my free will is. This is the only thing I can choose; I remain an ant and don’t demand anything else. Just give me the power to carry out this work, to annul myself before the group and before the external public.
Why do I do that? I do it because I bring the Creator contentment this way, because I bring the message and the method of getting close to Him to the group and to people on the outside. I take their deficiencies, am incorporated in the group, and with it I raise a “prayer of many,” for the people on the outside.
There is nothing we can pray for in the group since we are in a state of Hafetz Hesed. The Creator wants them and not us. He has inserted a spark into us and now we can pray in a group so that He will give us the power to work with the wider public in order to bring Him contentment.
I return to the group over and over again with the external desires, raise a prayer, receive the force of bestowal, and pass it on to the public. This is my work, and while I perform it, I clarify the vessels or raise them above the Parsa, form the worlds of BYA to the world of Atzilut. Thus time and time again, I fulfill my free will with regard to every new discernment.
So at the unity evening in Gaash we feel the need for the connection between us; we build up the intention to have the power to go out to the wider public in order to take care of them and to serve them. By that we bring them a little of what brings the Creator contentment. In order to do that we need the power and this is why we connect.
[114904]
From the Preparation of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/13
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The practical realization of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is to say the revelation of the Creator to the creatures in this world, begins from our generation and on. Now we together with all of humanity discover a Kli, a desire, for the completion of correction thanks to the global crisis and our dissemination work in Israel and in the entire world. Even if we receive the smallest shortcomings from people, thanks to the connection between their shortcomings and our shortcomings, we can elevate all this together to the spiritual world.
People want material, simple things, but their desires are arranged such that it is impossible to correct them without the help of the Light that Reforms. This is the form of the present crisis; every deficiency, regardless of its kind, is revealed to be shattered, egoistic, and without solution on the plane of this world.
It requires Light for its correction because it is derived from the mutual inclusion between everyone and requires the right connections in various directions among people and with the still, vegetative, animate nature. All this must be connected together and be mutually completed with each other, and only then will correction take place.
Therefore it is clear that the crisis cannot be corrected through human efforts. Rather, when we accept the deficiencies from people and elevate them, we carry out Divine work, serving as a conduit between the Creator and the creatures and become what is called a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In this form for the first time in history we have the opportunity to build a complete collective Kli, a pinhole, a Kli for containing the Light, through taking the deficiencies from the AHP, connecting them with the desires to bestow of GE and in combination with prayer (MAN), raising them to the Light of Ein Sof (Ohr Ein Sof).
It is said that “all who sorrow with the public merit to the consolation of the public.” Which is to say, someone who takes the sorrow and the needs of the public and elevates them, he is the first to merit to the Light that Reforms, which passes through him to those people for whom he is concerned.
[114808]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/13
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Baal HaSulam Article, “A Handmaid That Is Heir to Her Mistress”: “Opposite them are illuminations that can only act instantaneously. Hence, when they appear here in their worldly branches and are given control, not only do they not correct, they ruin. Our sages call it “unripe,” as it is written concerning the Tree of Knowledge and Adam HaRishon, that they ate unripe fruit. This means that it is truly a dainty delight, destined to delight man, but in the future, not at present, as it is still growing and developing. This is why they compared it to an unripe fruit…”
The correction of the Kelim (vessels) is carried out according to particular stages and we don’t define them but our behavior in the states through which we pass.
The entire world was created for the good of the person who works, which is to say, who grows spiritually. In other words, if a person wants to attain spirituality, he accepts all stages of his life with thanks, blesses the bad and the good to the same degree, in that the bad is like the good.
Everything comes from the Creator and I only need to realize all of my states in the most useful way. If I act correctly, then the next state will seem easier to me, that is, closer to realization from my side and more understandable because I have prepared myself.
A question can be asked here: Is the next state truly revealed as easier or do I become wiser by following my right action today so that this next stage will seem easier in my eyes? Does the Creator present an easier challenge for me or has my preparation done its work? What exactly has changed?
The truth is that one depends on the other and we have no possibility of establishing the advantage of one of the factors in regard to the other. Indeed, no matter how much the person rises, in spite of it, all the evil inclination will always remain suspended above him. And as much as he hasn’t prepared himself, apparently it will be necessary to undergo greater corrections.
That is how we advance, and in truth in most circumstances not much intelligence is required of us. We only need to accept the action that appears before us as correct and combine with it the necessary intention.
We don’t have the ability to make an exact determination of what the reason is that this state or another happens at this moment. It is also linked to future development and many details that are found within the general system. And therefore, “simplicity” is the best approach here, the right relationship in regard to every action.
Therefore, every time this state or another appears before me, I must accept it as being the best for me. It comes from the Creator who is good and does good and there is none else besides Him, and in this state I must act so that specifically within it, as a result of my effort, I will discover the Creator as the good who does good and that there is none else besides Him.
If I begin to correct my relationship and through the present state change it to an opposite relationship and bestowal, then I discover “There is none else besides Him” and the “Good who does good.” As much as a state may at first be bad and harmful, in the end it is said to be expressed in a form in which the Creator can enter.
We must always remember that the beginning and the end can be opposite each other, as Baal HaSulam explains in his article, “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator.”
Suppose that in my eyes today everyone is a thief and a criminal, everyone hates me and fights with me, everything is black and terrible, I live in a nightmare and only lose in everything in addition to my previous losses, errors, and all the opportunities that I missed in life. I simply eat myself up about His sending me a state like this. And as long as I have not corrected it, it will continue to devour me.
Everything is such that I will correct myself and will see “There is none else besides Him” and that He is “the Good who does good.” Consequently all the bad transforms to being most useful and the best so much so that the “angel of death,” the Pharaoh, the worst enemy, becomes a “holy angel,” the highest good.
Imagine the worst people and the most terrible states in your life. So if you have not yet discovered the opposite in them, this says that you have not yet succeeded in correcting the past and you have not at least transformed the unintentional transgressions to merits, not to mention the intentional transgressions.
[114744]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/15/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Question: How do we create the right atmosphere today for the Unity Evening at Kibbutz Gaash?
Answer: It is not enough that we speak, we must act. So which physical actions will arouse us so that we will want to serve the external public and turn for its sake from the group to the Creator?
In a group I must nullify myself in spite of rejection, tiredness, and hatred towards the friends, and also in dissemination work I again nullify myself in spite of rejection, hatred, scorn, and ridicule from the public. I have the opportunity to nullify myself everywhere; there are no lack of problems. It is not enough that they “reject” me from two directions; rather, I ask only one thing from the Creator, that He will give me the strength to continue this work. That is how I “scrub” all the dirt of the ego from myself, layer after layer, until I am cleansed, will be pure, and rise to the level of “bestowal in order to bestow.”
During this work I am thrown in all directions, I make various calculations, until finally I truly reach “bestowal in order to bestow” and really work like an ant that doesn’t need anything for itself and has no life of its own.
Let’s go back to the Unity Evening. Which actions can be “imprinted” to demonstrate the work with the group with the general public that is directed towards the Creator? The main thing is to convey some kind of understanding of this work to people, and on the other hand to exercise free choice. I nullify myself towards the public, towards the group and the Creator, transfer the center of gravity within this range of self-nullification to the intention of the actions.
It is up to us to express and to convey this in our Unity Evening. We connect the points in the hearts. Without this we don’t advance. Specifically the successful events of this type open opportunities for acts of spiritual bestowal before us.
The most serious situations have been offered to us for practical work that never before were given to Kabbalists for practical achievement. No generation before us was given the opportunity to connect the general public in a variety of places to the spiritual concept of connection between everyone, according to the principle “and you shall love your friend as yourself.”
It is clear that we act as much as we can, but this power needs to be drawn from the group. This power is derived from the connection between us. We are united in the face of all the tension, the rejection, the tiredness, and the unpleasant states and convey to people the sum of the individual forces, the collective intensity, of the connection between us.
It will be more and more difficult for us to connect, and through the overcoming that we do we can measure the power that we convey to others. The greater this power is, the greater the resistance, until we reach the state of the students of Rabbi Shimon that initially hated each other intensely, and after that received power from the connection to rise above the hatred. Before such potential, the entire world will be calmed and will accept this help.
Therefore, I don’t bring my power and my excitement from the group to people, but rather the connection between all the points, the collective power that I have acquired among the friends. And only from this will they be excited.
[114900]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/13, Preparation to Unity Evenings
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The desire to receive can be changed in size (in its density), beginning from the root level to the fourth level. And each one of them is divided further and further into sub-levels, and therefore ends with 125 degrees or levels. And everything in our world is also measured according to size, according to quantity, and the quantity influences the quality.
If we take some substance for example, its characteristics are established by the number of electrons, protons, and neutrons within the atom. The quality of the substance depends upon their quantity. If we add electrons, we get a new substance.
That is what happens with the still substance and the same thing can be related to plants, animals, and humans. For us it is more difficult to identify this in regard to our sensations, but this is so. Everything depends on how much effort we make, on the number of details that we gather from them. Therefore it is said, “There is none as wise as the experienced,” because he adds details all the time, until he attains a new quality, a new comprehension and feeling.
Everything depends on the simplest actions. Nothing exists in reality besides reception and bestowal. And in fact even bestowal doesn’t exist; rather, there is reception that transforms into bestowal thanks to intention. Everything is built on “plus” and “minus.”
Therefore all of the work is to constantly add quantity. And the quantity that is gathered begins to demand a new quality, an understanding of why and for what am I doing this. Questions begin to be awakened that bring us to more qualitative actions on a new level already. But also to them we need to add more and more quantity until we reach a new quality.
Through our actions we attract the Light that Reforms that acts all the time and adds a further drop of change all the time. At the end of the matter, “many pennies accumulate into a large sum ” until we reach the ability to carry out intentional actions that are measured not according to the actions themselves but according to the intention.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/13
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Question: What does inclusion in the deficiencies of others mean? How does this happen?
Answer: When you are concerned for others, you are included in all of their deficiencies. They say that by way of five people you are connected with the entire world. It’s logical that if our groups work with dissemination, for example in South America, as of today close to half a billion people live there, so by way of connection with a few thousand people, by way of the general network, they receive the deficiencies of tens, and even hundreds of millions of people.
Our groups disseminate integral education to all corners of the world and in a form like this they awaken this connection. It’s logical that all the deficiencies caught in one “fish net” reach our center, and from here the method of correction is derived. And we absorb the deficiencies of the entire world and continue to raise them upwards to the Creator, to the “Malchut de Ein Sof,” wanting to be “as one man with one heart.”
When we work in the form of a pyramid like this, we correct the entire world and carry out work that is called the “work of the Kohanim – priests,” the work entrusted to Israel. All human deficiencies belong to the material world, the need for nourishment, sex, family, money, respect, and knowledge. But we have reached such a crisis that we are not prepared even to fulfill the earthly desires without the right connection between us. And this shattering is discovered more and more every day.
Formerly we endured various private problems, divisiveness in the family, problems at work, and problems in the education of children. These problems did not threaten our existence directly. But today the problems have already risen to the level of the general ecology, health, the breakdown of the concept of the family, and mass unemployment. These are simple daily problems that our existence depends upon in this world.
[114804]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/13
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