| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Igrot,” Letter 8
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Balak,” Lesson 4
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol 3, Part 10, Lesson 4
| [media 7] | [media 8] |
“A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar,” Lesson 14
| [media 9] | [media 10] |
Question: How can the lower evoke the upper to help him?
Answer: To the extent that I annul myself, I give myself a chance to receive from the upper force, thoughts, attributes, and desires correctly instead of my self-powers, thoughts, attributes, and desires. In fact, I change my form. But the new form is so different from the old form that it is as if I totally change myself.
In fact, only my values and my perspective change, but it seems as if I become a totally different person.
The prayer, MAN, means that a void has been created in me, a deficiency for the attribute of bestowal, instead of old desires to receive I had before. I don’t know what bestowal is and what it should be like so that it can take the place of the desires I have restricted, but I want that a new heart will enter the void I have prepared for it, a new mind. This means that I raise MAN, a prayer, by making room inside my desire to receive for the new use.
Then in response, I receive MAD, the force of overcoming. So this answer from Above is called Mei Dechurin. In addition to the force, I receive a mind, since I begin to weigh to what extent I can work with this force of overcoming, in order to build the head of my spiritual Partzuf and to resemble the upper.
I already identify the upper and understand how I should work in order to act like Him. It is of course not much in the meantime, just like a small child who tries to resemble a grownup, but this is how we learn.
[100498]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
We Need The Right Balance In The Work
Learning From All The Pupils
Before An Open Gate
Question: How can a society help a person acquire its values and how can a person check whether the values of society are right for spiritual growth?
Answer:
So in that, all are equal, no one stands out, and everyone tries to be equal and to annul himself before the others. Then this is a society before which you can annul yourself with your eyes closed and be certain that they can undoubtedly change their corporeal vessel into a spiritual vessel. This is what I recommend that you all do!
[100492]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
The Group As A Spiritual Entity
What Is A “Group?”
Filter All That Is Redundant
Question: What criteria should guide the employer when hiring people?
Answer: For at least for half a century, there is technology, according to which not only technical skills are needed but also people skills, but not those of 20-30 years ago.
Today, it has to be a friendly group in which people clearly understand what they should achieve together. They relate to each other kindly and constantly maintain a positive atmosphere at work. Only in this way they can work effectively and realize the most unexpected solutions. Suddenly, everything becomes connected, integrated in a single kind, mutually complementing interaction, and they succeed in everything.
It turns out, that it is not professionalism that affects the quality and output of their product, but their relationships. They determine success more than professionalism.
That is why, when hiring a person, the employer must take into account not only his professionalism, but also many other factors.
If a professional, even if he is a high-level specialist, is an individualist, he will be in the way of others; if he tries to climb the ladder ruthlessly using people as “stepping stones,” then the whole enterprise will be doomed to failure, and vice versa.
Thus, when considering candidates, the employer should take into account the two main criteria: professionalism and a person’s capacity for interaction in a group.
[100538]
From KabTV’s “Professional Secrets” 2/5/13
Related Material:
Business On The Verge Of Sharp Changes
There Is No Harmony Without Integrality
How To Become Attractive To Everyone
Question: Who are a person’s enemies if his whole world is inside him?
Answer: All your desires and thoughts are your enemies.
Usually people around you, who don’t really worry or concern you, don’t mean much to you. But it’s the people who seem to be your enemies or those whom you hate, they are the greatest help for your advancement. We should only understand how to use this kind of help.
If they are your friends in the group, you have to turn them from your enemies to your beloved friends. It makes no difference whether someone hates you or whether you hate him. Usually you are the one responsible for bad relations, but you have to change things from hate to love.
It’s not simple at all. Start calculating things in this opposite direction internally and you will see what intense work it involves.
[100495]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
The Point Between Hate And Love
Allergic To Love
Go For Love
Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of the Zohar”: Moreover, there is no redemption of the body without redemption of the soul. And as long as the majority of the people are captive in the foreign cultures of the nations and are incapable of Israel’s religion and culture, the bodies, too, will be captive under the alien forces. In this respect, the land is still in the hands of foreigners.
Unless we all, meaning the Jewish nation, correct ourselves, which is only possible by the wisdom of Kabbalah, our existence in this land will only be temporary and unsafe. Besides, we will not be able to influence and to help the rest of the world from here and bring the clear and correct message about the desirable correction of the world.
We shouldn’t expect any changes for the better in the economy, politics, in the relations between people, in the family, in culture, in education, in anything if we don’t fulfill the correction that we have to bring about and do not raise the souls. First we have to correct the souls and this will lead to the correction of the body. This list of priorities should be clear to us.
So we have to leave all the fictitious dealings and deal only in the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Without it we will not succeed in anything.
Today everyone fears the economic threat, but there will also be a security threat and other threats. In any case, only the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah can help us since the soul is corrected by it and this leads to the correction of the body.
People don’t understand and don’t perceive this by themselves, but we have to know this. So there is nothing more important than the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah in ways that are acceptable and are suitable for the different sectors in the nation. It can be the wisdom of Kabbalah itself or its “applications” in education, economics, perhaps politics, and of course socially.
There is nothing else we can deal with but the dissemination of the method of the correction of man. In fact there is no need to correct the external expressions like society, the economy, and not even the education system but namely man. This is the message; this is the internality of our approach.
No one thinks about this; no one wants it or understands it, but we have to insist and to explain this principle in every way possible. We have to bring it to people’s knowledge that without man’s inner correction we will not be able to correct anything since all the other systems can function correctly only if a “corrected man” operates them. How can I operate a new economy or a new education system, if not by a new man?
[100407]
From the 4th Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
Related Material:
Responsible For Humanity
Carry The Light To All Of Its Consumers
A System That Devours Itself
Question: You said in a lesson that you lack words. Does this mean that we don’t work as we should and don’t extract spiritual information from you?
Answer: It works exactly this way. When the lower one asks, he passes his unfulfilled desire, to which I receive an answer.
It is said that one learns from all his pupils: “I learned a lot from my teachers, more from the friends, and more than that from my students.” This happens thanks to a student’s questions, his prayer, MAN. The student passes his desire to the teacher, and the teacher gets such a desire which for himself he would never ask. This is how the general system is revealed: With each new question from each student, one more layer of the system is revealed, and then one more, etc.
Each pupil raises his prayer. This gives the teacher vessels that didn’t exist in him and never would have if he hadn’t connected with the students. Therefore, up to the moment that the pupil asked, the teacher did not know the answer. But the moment the pupil asked a question of him, the teacher receives new attainment. And this is called “learning from the pupils.”
Every day I come out of the lesson with new attainments because I feel your lack. But the students have to prepare themselves for the lesson, and often a sufficient lack, meaning a necessity, is not felt from you. Certainly, even without words I also feel in my students the need for spiritual revelation, and this helps me in advancement. However, it’s desirable that everyone will utter their questions.
I am connected to my teacher, Rabash; he is my upper one. When I receive questions from the students, I connect them to one direct channel that comes from Above. This is a hierarchical, tree-like system that spreads from the top down. If I receive from the bottom a desire that I can raise, I process it inside me, get an answer to it from Above, process it again, and transfer the answer to the student. However, 99% of the information that was received stays inside me and only 1% passes to the student, in accordance with how much I have to scale myself down and descend to the student’s level so that he will receive this answer from me and understand it.
In a few cases, I myself awaken this connection because there is a general preparation. For example, people invested a lot of effort in order to come to the convention and prepare it. And then, even if questions are not asked, I can awaken the Light, thanks to the great amount of exertion that you invested, which can be worked with. But sometimes this is possible only thanks to the questions.
I will never accept the sleepiness. But a teacher is forbidden to arouse desire in the students because it does the opposite, it plugs the channels that come to them. The lack has to rise from the bottom up!
[100000]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/28/13, TES
Related Material:
Revelation Of The Mutual Connection
We Need The Right Balance In The Work
When The Words End
Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: But in our generation we have been rewarded with the Sulam (Ladder) commentary, which is a complete interpretation of all the words of The Zohar. Moreover, not only does it not leave an unclear matter in the whole of The Zohar without interpreting it, but the clarifications are based on a straightforward analysis, which any student can understand.
Of course, this is not referring to the “man on the street” opening The Book of Zohar and the Sulam Commentary and immediately understanding them. The Book of Zohar is written from a level of the final correction; this happened only once in history, in Rashbi’s group. Other Kabbalists did not have the opportunity to attain this level of revelation, and only about ten percent of them could somewhat understand what is said in the book.
The dissimilarity between the steps of attainment is comparable to the disparity between the vegetative and animate levels of nature, or between a dog and a human being, or between the “linear” or “round” world; in other words, it’s a difference between the prior world that lives in compliance with simple egoistic laws and a new world that currently starts to emerge and acts in accordance with the laws of unity. Previously, individualists succeeded, and now only those who are able to unite will prosper.
And yet, even though the world has already started to self-correct and aspire to the end of correction, it still happens in a linear manner; it doesn’t’ matter that the “line” includes various steps, screens, and levels of unity of its own, it isn’t yet the unity, the integral system, that will be achieved at the final correction. At that stage, the picture will be quite different and I cannot imagine it.
Today, we think about the relationship and mutual interests of “one man with one heart,” meaning about the unity of Israel, the Torah and the Creator, but what will result there, I don’t know. As we are approaching a truly integrated system of the end of correction, which differs from what Kabbalists attained throughout the past millenniums by our uniting with each other, we are beginning to understand that there are laws that are beyond the spiritual laws.
It’s not simply a channel of connection, not a “line” or a “width” of a desire that is covered by a screen and shielded by the reflected light, nor is it the lights of NRNHY or Sefirot KHBZON. At that stage, new forms of connection will emerge. Possibly, for example everybody would be able to use the screens of others.
One way or the other, we are talking about a qualitative leap that is yet totally unclear to us. So, we should at least be aware of this gap, this difference.
In this world, everybody is an egoist, but at this stage of our development we are all facing the condition of global unity. If we could see the real picture in which we are inseparably interconnected and linked together, it would be very clear that each of us is unable to do anything at all until we establish correct relationships with others. But who has the appropriate intellect and feeling? Who has the nerves to handle it? Who is able to grasp all the details and tolerate inevitable tension?
Eventually, each of us stays in his own “corner” without having any energy to act. If I depend on thousands of other people, my current world outlook would simply deprive me of any hope; I would remain motionless. The world would stop moving, freezing in immobility. This explains why each new state shows up in us progressively and gradually forces us to self-correct, so that we avoid hitting a deadlock.
So it is in spirituality, we advance in the spiritual world through screens and collaboration, like the Kabbalists of the past. However, at the end of correction, a totally different state will be awaiting us. On the way, we expand the integrated system we gradually gain, but today, it still does not commit us to a complete interdependence, which will arise as a result.. This is the level, from which The Book of Zohar was written, from the level of the end of correction.
Therefore, if Baal HaSulam was given a chance to create commentaries on this book, it means that he reached the same level as Rashbi. Moreover, I would say even more than that, because he was able to adapt the commentary to those who are beginning the path from the level of this world, not yet embarking on the spiritual ladder, not even close to the end of correction. Nevertheless, these people are still sensitive to the impact of a “round” system, even though it’s presented to them in its material form.
Baal HaSulam speaks of the necessity to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah to all. It means that our connection with this world has already created a connection with the “circles” through the material “circles” of the global world and through the higher spiritual circles that are a part to our path to correction. This is why we are allowed to reveal the Kabbalistic method to everybody, and the works that were written from the highest level.
Thus, except for the books of Baal HaSulam, we don’t have anything to disseminate. There are no other materials that are suitable for our generation, which is on the beginning of the road that leads to the final correction. “The circles” that belong to that level are already active and shine on all of us and onto the entire world.
[99820]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
Related Material:
The Breath Of The Next Level
Contact With The Future
A Messenger Between Two Poles
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Igrot,” Letter 27
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Balak,” Item 16, Lesson 3
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol 3, Part 10, Item 3, Lesson 3
| [media 7] | [media 8] |
“A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
| [media 9] | [media 10] |
A person comes to the very gate leading to the spiritual world and at the last moment retreats. It is because this gate opens only if you accept the conditions of the upper. As long as you only approach it, you can stand them to some extent, but you cannot totally cut yourself off from the past and agree to take a step into the future. It is because this gate is the border between the past and the future, and so you go back.
Question: What do we lack at that moment?
Answer: There is a lack of mutual support, the force of the support of the environment. We can only evoke the Creator and force Him to act by mutual support. You cannot go through the gate without the help of the environment, without being pushed from behind and without others asking for you.
Going through the gate to the spiritual world means to connect with other vessels in order to discover together among us the reality that exists beyond that gate. We open this door between us, so it is impossible to manage without the support of others!
This support depends on the extent to which I can evoke the friends. They exist and support me only to the extent that I evoke them since they are the parts of my own soul. It only seems that they have freewill and that someone acts against me. All this is given to me so that I will correct myself and attain their support for that. In order to do that I have to subdue my ego—these are the rules of this game.
It is a theater where together with me there are also different actors on the stage: some seem like my friends and others as enemies, some love me and some hate me. With their help and by different means, I have to bring my ego to correction.
But in fact they don’t exist; they come out only so that I will perform my actions with regard to them. At one time I treat them as my friends and once as my enemies. This means that I perceive them “within reason.” Another time I work “above reason” and accept this as the Creator’s game. The whole Torah stems from the combination of these two perspectives.
[100401]
From the 1st Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
Leave Your Ego On The Other Side Of The Machsom
The Desire That Burns The Stone
Through A Needle’s Eye And Into A New World
Daily Audio Version-MP3
Get the Weekly eNewsletter
Follow on Twitter
