Each of us was given a point in the heart, Reshimo (spiritual gene) from the next level, and so we begin to fulfill it. But how can we fulfill it? After all, on the one hand, there is a desire that focuses on the Creator, but on the other hand, it seems that there are many forces and factors, and we are attracted to a certain place not knowing what to do and how to do it.

On every level we make choices not knowing to where we are attracted, what is happening to us, or where all the attributes and the new desires in me come from, etc.

The result is that I have a problem uniting with the upper force. The world around me, which means the different factors that influence me, people, animals, the vegetative and still nature, are not corporeal objects but forces that influence us. I have to attribute them to the Creator and to understand that He is the only one behind them, the chief manager, the director, and the operator. That’s the way it is on every level and in every state.

But there is one problem: How do I reach the revelation of the Creator? To reveal the Creator means to determine that only He manages the whole world.

He has created a Masach (screen) around me in the form of a sphere on which He projects a perpetual movie called “our world,” “my world.” I have to guess to know who is projecting this movie for me. It’s for this purpose that I am shown the movie on the screen that I am in. Each time different people, events, and feelings are projected and it’s all only so that I will reveal the manager above them, and that I will focus myself only on Him, through all the problems. There is none else besides Him.

 

But everything that influences me negates the unity with the Creator and provides me with feelings and information that are totally opposite from Him. Thus I feel split. On the one hand, I have the feeling of this world, of a multitude of causes and gods (no matter what you call it). On the other hand, there is only one force.

My goal is to exit the state of multiple causes, the state of feeling split, since I don’t understand why I encounter so many problems on all sides. What’s more, I suddenly find myself in a state of crisis. I didn’t feel so before, it wasn’t about the revelation of this system since there was no one for whom to reveal it.

The crisis pushes me to question the multiple causes. What is happening in this world? I am seized with animalistic fear of the future: how to live and what to do?

The problem increases. The questions that come up and the crisis complement one another and put me in a dilemma (Δ): “What should I do in this world? What is the reason for everything that happens?” I have to understand the reason for the crisis.

The moment I know what it is, I will be able to cope with it somehow. It pushes me to search; it may take years, and could even take going through a third and fourth world war. All these are historical processes and they can be very long and last for decades.

Finally after a long search, I realize that there is a Creator, the force that evokes all this, that manages and determines everything. A person begins to ask himself why the Creator does everything. But he asks himself like us, like people with a point in the heart. The moment a person feels that there is a certain cause that he must discover, it is already the point in the heart.

Then a person reaches a group of Kabbalists, and engages in studying and the integral education and gradually reaches correction. We are already in the state, when having achieved the right connection in the group (that is what integral education and upbringing is—for us as well), we realize the spiritual methodology (“the realization of the group”) and reach correction.

So the main goal is like Baal HaSulam says in the article “There is None Else Besides Him,” that although we feel a multitude of causes, we must determine that there is only one cause for everything that happens. This is our work, our clarification, and everything.

The Creator sends us many problems that tear us to pieces and we have to focus them only on one cause. It’s because the many problems that we see are actually all one problem, our lack of understanding, our oppositeness. Since we are made of different attributes, our oppositeness from Him is revealed in the form of many different contradictions.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

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Question: After the congress, we are constantly trying to hold on to the level we reached there despite the  additional egoism we discover in us now. How is the state that is revealed to us now related to the process we are going through?

Answer: We cannot ascend as we would like to since we don’t value our exertion, which is our reward. Now, after the convention, we have to be happy that we have lost the taste of unity and that we don’t feel any desire to connect. Our relations have become dull, tasteless and dark. But this is actually great since now we can try to fill the emptiness that is revealed by ourselves!

We have to see this opportunity as a present. It is indeed a real gift from above. We wanted to bestow and now we have an empty void that we can fill! When will we feel such a void again?

The state of unity in the convention was given to us as an example so that now we will be able to do the same thing by ourselves. In the convention we were given the “plus” so that now, when the “minus” appears we will do the same thing. The plus is the example that came from the Creator. Now we have a chance to repeat His actions and to reach the same result.

The plus stands for an ascent and the minus stands for a descent. The Creator has given us an example, He has revealed to us the feeling, the form, and now you should do the same. We, however, don’t value this exertion and don’t feel grateful for it, but rather curse the Creator and resent what He has done with us. We neglect the chance to become like Him.

It is during a descent that we can provoke and draw upon us the Surrounding Light. The whole problem is that we have to do it but we don’t.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: We have been working for many years on the direct responses of Aviut (thickness) by perceiving them as true, and there are struggles among the friends in the groups as to this truth when decisions are made about the way the group should advance, the priority of one’s personal advancement etc.

But we don’t examine and clarify things by that and don’t understand how important it is and to what extent it’s impossible to advance towards the goal without clarifying the state; the Reshimot (spiritual genes). Thus years are wasted on what we could do within months.

Answer: On one hand, you are right, of course. On the other hand, the thought that you could advance in months is unrealistic. The first steps take a very long time.

It’s like the evolution of nature: After our world was created by the force of the Big Bang, still nature evolved for 15 billion years, plant life evolved for a billion and half years, animals evolved less than a billion years, and man for about 200-300 thousand years.

According to the levels of natural evolution, we are now on the still level of spiritual evolution, and it is the longest. These phases go by very quickly and I would even call them “temporary.” A person quickly begins to feel and understand, and everything immediately becomes clear. Clarifications, examinations, merging different states and switching take place very fast.

In the past we used panel instruments and today we use computers that count billions of actions per second. I remember that when I was a student we put together computers and we took into account the distance between the wires. Even then we realized that the distance between the wires affects the speed. Today everything takes place in one body, one block, which means that everything speeds up.

So the role of the global group is to overcome our first level of consciousness! It is very important!
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption,” Lesson 1 

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The Book of Zohar — Introduction

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #8: “What Is the Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra“: It is written “Under its shadow I delighted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my palate.” In other words, one says that all the concealments and the afflictions one feels are because the Creator has sent him these situations so that one would have a place to work above reason.

When one has the strength to say that, that is, that the Creator causes him all that, it is to one’s benefit. This means that through that one can come to work in order to bestow and not for oneself. At that time one comes to realize, meaning believes that the Creator enjoys specifically this work, which is built entirely on above reason.

It follows that one does not pray to the Creator that the shadows will flee from the world. Rather, one says, “I see that the Creator wants me to serve Him in this manner, entirely above reason.” Thus, in everything that one does, one says, “Of course the Creator enjoys this work, so why should I care if I work in a state of concealment of the face?”

Because one wants to work in order to bestow, meaning that the Creator will enjoy, he has no abasement from this work, meaning a sensation that he is in a state of concealment of the Face, that the Creator does not enjoy this work. Instead, one agrees to the leadership of the Creator, meaning however the Creator wants one to feel the existence of the Creator during the work, one agrees wholeheartedly. This is so because one does not consider what can please him, but considers what can please the Creator. Thus, this shade brings him life.

Faith above reason means to perceive everything that happens to you as sent by the Creator, the one unified force, besides which there is nothing else, good that does good, in spite of the fact that you feel differently. All our work is to realize that we do not do anything ourselves, nor do we want to do anything, not externally or internally, not with our hands, legs, or the tools of this world, not with our inner desires or thoughts, but instead we agree with everything that we have at this moment. And then this moment will be called the end of the correction.

And until we have reached this sensations that we are in the best state, under the control of the good force that brings good both to the sinners and righteous ones, until then shadows will remain in the world. The Creator will bring us to such states that we will want to change them. First, we’ll want to change the world, then we’ll want to change ourselves. But in the end, we understand that our work is quite the opposite—to change our attitude towards the perception of the upper management, the Lord of the world, so that we long for his shadow.

Everything that we receive becomes desirable although it comes in an unpleasant form because this is a shadow, concealment. But we work on ourselves in faith above reason so that these fruits become sweet to us. This is our entire correction.

It all starts from perceiving everything that happens as coming from the Creator, and not just in words, but to feel like this inside. We need to ask the Creator not to be revealed, but just for the ability to realize that everything comes from Him. Then a person will be pleased to work in faith above reason and will accept all the bad states as the best ones, the unpleasant as pleasant, until the moment when they all become sweet to him.

This would mean that he has reached faith. And nothing changes in the world, only the perfect management of the Creator is revealed to a person. That alone makes this world a higher, perfect world.

It turns out that no external changes are necessary, no external work is required, not with hands and feet, not the way we imagine spiritual work. Everything eventually boils down to the same state—a person’s contact with the hidden management. He wants to keep this contact all the time and requires no changes in anything; he wants to remain in concealment.

First, he asked for revelation, but now he wants to remain in concealment. All his desire, all the energy with which we was seeking revelation, he turns to the contrary, to prevent this from happening. After all, revelation can erase all his selfless aspiration, his entire relationship with the Creator, and can deprive him from working above reason. That is why he wants to preserve this distance in which he felt sorrow, so that he’ll constantly be connected with the Creator above it.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/13

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Question: How can I move to the right line if the ego resists it?

Answer: The right line doesn’t exist without resistance. How can a person be on a spiritual line if it isn’t in resistance to the ego? A spiritual state is always against the ego, in resistance to it, and in constant inner tension, constant overcoming.

But if you convey this inner tension through the group, it turns into sweetness, lightness, and hovering instead of heaviness and darkness.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

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Question: Does the influence of the surrounding forces on us depend upon the code of the Reshimot?

Answer: The influence of the forces surrounding us is dependent upon many factors.

The most essential factor is that when you are already in the group it basically determines what happens to you.

Not one person in spiritual development is there on a personal path because all of us are like gears linked to each other, and therefore, there is no thought that I have some kind of unique path, or what happens to me depends only on me; this depends upon everyone.

From this we must understand what kind of power there is in a group, what kind of power exists in our unity, how much each one of us can influence the fate of the friends.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

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Question: How is the Torah that stands for the collective sum of all of us different from the Creator that stands for the general connection? These two concepts seem the same to me.

Answer: In one of his letters Baal HaSulam says that we have to advance according to the rule of “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.” What’s more, in every state, the first has to be equal to the second and to the third. It’s only under this condition that a person can advance correctly.

1=2=3, this is the condition for the spiritual advancement.

The first term “Israel,” Yashar -El (straight to the Creator) is every friend who yearns for the Creator. The second term is already the group, working in unity. The third term is the revelation of the Creator in our unity.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

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Question: How do we actually advance in “faith above reason?”

Answer: Although we got to know that we were advancing during the convention, we also received another great addition. Now we not only believe in the teacher and in our correct advancement, but we also understand that in addition to that now we have to advance in greater “faith above reason.” This means that thanks to the message we received, we can advance in greater faith now.

If we advance correctly we will encounter greater problems as the ego will pull us more strongly backward and we will still have to advance above it and against it. “Faith above reason” means faith against reason.

How can we advance against reason? When we advance in spirituality, every level annuls the previous level according to the spiritual law of “negating the negative.” Each time we grow, we become wiser and more clever and our knowledge on the next level is opposite from the knowledge on the previous level.

Every Partzuf is made of ten Sefirot, from Keter to Malchut. Malchut of the upper becomes Keter of the lower, which means that it changes its attributes to the opposite attributes. However, when we ascend, Keter of the lower becomes Malchut of the upper, and thus also becomes the opposite.

Malchut is the attribute of receiving and Keter is the attribute of bestowal. So each time we ascend, we need to turn the receiving into bestowal, to “faith above reason.” When you ascend to the next ten levels, since your Keter has become Malchut, it’s as if you negate all your previous knowledge and all the ten Sefirot you had on the previous level become the opposite and are incorrect in the next state.

It’s like speaking to a child who sees things from his level, while you see it totally differently. The reasons and the actions are different, although you see the same outcome.

“Faith above reason” is faith against reason. It always negates the previous reason and you should advance against it, which means above it. I have the previous knowledge and still I advance according to faith.

When Rabash explained to me what “faith above reason” is he gave me the following example: Suppose a friend has borrowed a thousand dollars from another friend and wants to give back the money. When he gives him back the money, it turns out that there is one dollar less in the envelope. He asks whether the friend has returned all the money and his friend tells him that he did. Does he begin to think who is right now? No. If the friend says that it’s a thousand dollars, I accept it as a thousand dollars. This means that I don’t believe what I see, since now I have my friend’s eyes instead of my own eyes. I don’t believe my feelings and what I know; I advance in “faith above reason.”

What my friend tells me means the external vessels, the external attributes are more important to me, and I accept it as more accurate information that is clearer and more correct than mine. So if the group decides something, I immediately accept it and although it’s clear to me that there is less than a thousand dollars here, I accept it as a thousand. It’s a substitute for me. On the whole this seems totally illogical and unrealistic, and it is indeed so.

Baal HaSulam says that certain people may seem wicked and others righteous according to their attributes and then we see them in the opposite manner, certain people seem rich and others poor and then we see them oppositely, certain people seem clever and others foolish and then the opposite. Everything depends on us. In the spiritual world we change the picture completely by changing our attributes. The bodies and the connections between them are revealed in a totally different manner.

So “faith above reason” is the means by which we advance and ascend the spiritual ladder. We cannot do it otherwise! ”Faith above reason” is faith opposite from what we knew previously. If we don’t have faith against what we knew before, we would never rise from one Partzuf (state) to the second, the third, and so on. This is how the transition takes place.

If we were given the message and felt that we are on the right track during the last convention and that our teacher guides us correctly, although we didn’t really believe that, we have a problem now. So where is our faith? How can we close our eyes and disregard what we know? If we don’t, we will advance egoistically. For the first time we are given a real chance to conquer our next level in an attack “above reason.”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: …when all the trouble and toil and anguish that befall us through time will seem like a host who greatly troubles himself to prepare a great feast for the invited guests. And he compares the anticipated goal that must finally be revealed to a feast, whose guests attend with great delight. This is why he says, “and the judgment is true, and all is ready for the feast.”

So, there is a meal and the guests should be invited. The guests should have a healthy appetite, which means they should be hungry and have a deficiency that is big enough to match the desire of the host. He has prepared everything for them, but the problem is that the guests cannot be indifferent to the meal but should really want this filling. Their desire should be revealed in them independently, according to their freewill.

We know how unpleasant it can be to be hungry if there is no meal in sight. However, we shouldn’t see it in advance since, if we see it, by that we diminish our appetite and we would reach the table without the appropriate preparation, without a real yearning, which is the most important thing.

Therefore, the lower must do something in order to prepare for the meal. It is about a very thorough and “cunning” preparation. It isn’t the host who awakens the guest, but rather the guest himself who prepares all the necessary deficiencies in order to taste with gusto all the delicacies that the host has prepared for him. What is more, he should eat only for the sake of the host and not for his own sake.

We mustn’t use our appetite naturally. We mustn’t be filled by pleasures that our ego is used to. We first must go through an entire series of gradual corrections, until the guest rises to the same level as the host. There, it isn’t about a meal anymore. It isn’t in first place anymore; it disappears. Their spirit is above the meal and independent of the food that is served.

The created being must go through a series of gradual changes in his deficiency. First, he yearned for minor material pleasures only for his own sake, totally detached from the host. During the first phase, there was a need for the simplest pattern of pleasure and suffering in order to get started and experience this feeling.

Later, however, the clarification is directed at a higher level and not just in order to receive the refreshments from the host who serves it. Our relationship becomes more personal and new questions come up above the account of give and take, and new layers are revealed.

It is only the guest who develops, of course, until he feels that he must simply return the host a favor since otherwise, he will burn with shame.

Later, it turns out that the problem is not to nullify the shame at all, but that it is rather very good that I feel it since, thanks to it, I can feel my bestowal upon the host and enjoy it much more that any of the food that is on the table. No matter how much there is, it is only on the level of Nefesh, and the chance to bring the host contentment is already on the level of Ruach.

Later, I receive the refreshments from him, but only for his sake, and this is already the level of Neshama.

However, I still feel the outcome in me, while true bestowal has to be unconditional, pure, and without any demand for a reward. I simply want to bestow, to rise above any outcome of the efforts I have made. I have been through the whole way, and now I don’t even want to know that my bestowal reaches the Creator. The main thing is that He will feel good, and it does not matter if He doesn’t know from whom He receives this goodness, whether it is from me or from others. This is the level of the Light of Haya.

Thus, we attain it independent of the accounts between the guest and the host at the table with the refreshments. This is the Light of Yechida.

By ascending the levels of bestowal, a person attains the Creator.

In this process only the guest changes and the deficiency that he acquires becomes his own genuine deficiency. He must be detached from the host in order to find himself with a new deficiency each time despite the revelation of the Creator.

Our problem is to keep the point of detachment, the “something from nothing.” The guest relies on it more and more, and emphasizes it more and more, since without this point, he has no right to exist.

The meal and all the Lights and the vessels that are related to Him remain only until the end of correction when we reveal the host and are in adhesion with Him.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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