Kabbalah Moments: The Ego Is Responsible
Posted on May 28th, 2011
There is a strict ban: You should never talk about the inner states in which you exist. After all, many of your friends still do not have the anti-egoistic screen, and they can harm you with their envy, hatred, and pride even without wishing to do so.
They seemingly do not want to harm you, but the lack of their inner correction forces them to do that if they see that you are above them and have more inspiration, if you achieved more connection and came closer to the goal. The one who has not yet reached correction cannot tolerate this and will harm you.
If you start sharing your personal sensations, you trigger the fire upon yourself. It is written that 99% of all failures happen due to the “evil eye.” This is not some mystical superstition that people believe in, but rather the normal envy of someone towards you.
As a matter of fact, we exist in the system of forces and connected desires. The one who envies you diminishes your power. Instead of love and connection, he passes a negative force to you.
If this just happens in the outside world, there is nothing we can do about it because the world is still uncorrected. However, if this happens with a friend within a group, and in addition, you are at fault for provoking such a reaction, it turns out that you harmed both him and yourself. You are the one who caused this “evil eye,” and it is not your friend’s fault because he still has not reached correction.
The system of laws force us to act this way. The forces of envy, hatred, pride, thirst for power and glory stand opposite to the positive forces of love and bestowal. In order to allow the positive forces to act within us, we have to be modest.
Kabbalists explain how we should use all these forces so that they facilitate good, effective, and fast advancement.
[44030]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, Writings of Rabash
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Question: You keep saying that you would like to see your students being more autonomous. How does this kind of independence tie with self-annulment before the teacher?
Answer: Independence is the ability to make correct decisions autonomously and to act correctly, feeling and knowing what I would do if you were me. As a matter of fact, it’s even easier to use this principle in a large society. After all, we need a huge system to manage it. And if everybody puts forth their best effort to see in the same direction as the spiritual leader does and starts seeking how they can contribute to the common cause, we can’t fail.
It’s impossible to manage each cell in the body from one brain center; it would be too complex. In an integral system, everybody manages everyone else. And each of us has to examine how his or her opinion matches the view of the rest, accept the society’s view above their own, and act accordingly. This is what it means “to love others as you love yourself.” I don’t do what seems best to me; instead, I do what is best for the other. I work to fulfill his or her desire. And that is the essence of adhesion, oneness.
There won’t be one man with one heart unless we accept the collective point of view above our own. And for most, it’s a huge problem, especially for those who are good organizers. They think that they know how to arrange and manage society, and they use only their brain.
And here there is a great danger in how they and the entire society will be progressing. In fact, it’s easy to switch to the direction opposite to the spiritual path. On the outside it will look like they succeeded on the material plane, but they will not advance spiritually.
[43939]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11, Shamati #25
It’s the student’s job to seek how to cleave to the teacher. And it’s definitely not about worshiping and honoring him, but rather about taking his point of view. This is something totally different and relates to spirituality.
Yet, it is somewhat dangerous since you may think that you follow the teacher while, in fact, you listen to your ego instead. Therefore, you need to do an internal assessment: What is your opinion and that of the teacher, and how do you set and evaluate one against the other?
Then you scrutinize what you do and do not agree with it. And in the area where you clearly can’t agree with the teacher’s view, you happily grab this disagreement and start implementing it in your life. That’s what it means to accept the teacher’s point of view.
If you didn’t have something that differed with your opinion and which you had to suppress, it isn’t a real choice. You must be aware of what you are not in agreement with and what you would do differently!
If there aren’t these two versions, when you want to do something one way but are forced to do absolutely the opposite, there is no faith above reason. Only when you know for sure how the teacher would like you to act, but still wish to do the opposite, you receive a chance to act above your own reason.
After all, in order to come to equivalence of form, you have to know its opposite. Only then will you know for sure what this equivalence is like. In fact, the equivalence is always opposite to my form and goes against my perception. As for me, it’s as if while standing on my own opinion, at the same time I am above it. I am resisting myself and cultivate a new, higher mind within me.
There’s nothing we can do about this: This is the law of nature. The upper one stays on his rung and the lower on his. In order to ascend to a higher degree, you must accept the thought of the upper one by faith above reason. And of course you may think he is acting strangely and doesn’t understand it all. But does it really matter for your spiritual progress how well you understand what he does?
You don’t have any other chance to rise to the next degree other than with the help of the teacher, the upper one, whom the Creator has placed against you. And there is no room for any compromises or backstairs in it.
[43942]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11, Shamati #25
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Question: What is the difference between the Thought of Creation and the Creator?
Answer: Everything we say is in reference to us. We do not know anything except for the things happening within our desire. And even when we reveal the existence of Light, “existence from existence,” which created desire, “existence from absence,” we also base this on desire which reveals to us what supposedly happened before us in this way. All our attainments come from the sensation of matter in our desire.
For this reason, when we speak of perception, a sensation within desire, we divide our entire perception into three components:
As I learn my ability to change the perception of the Creator whom I feel in terms of what He wants from a connection with me, I start having a connection with Him and change the relationship between us. How do I know what I am changing? It comes from my sensations. How do I know what He feels and how He reacts at the same time? This also comes from my sensations. Everything is based only on my sensations; I do not have any other qualities of perception. Everything exists only within desire.
This is why we say that HaVaYaH (the four letter name of the Creator, “Yod-Key-Vav-Key”) is the four stages of the development of desire. The revelation of the Creator within man (Creator or “Bo-Reh” refers to “come and see”) occurs only after that.
The worlds also exist only in our perception in the form of revelations or concealments (“world” or “Olam” comes from the word “Alama” or “concealment”). The ladder of spiritual degrees exists within man as well. The group, humanity, the entire reality, the world of Infinity, everything is within us.
But what do I attain through all of my efforts in wishing to learn who and what I am, who the Creator is, what He wants from me, and what my connection is with Him? As a result of all these efforts and the long journey, when we realize all the possibilities given to us, we attain a single perception, a single understanding, a single sensation, called “the Thought of Creation is to bring contentment to the created beings.” This plan includes everything: Who the One who pleases the creatures is, what kind of pleasure this is, who these creatures are, everything.
The state when we attain the Thought of Creation is called “the point of adhesion” or “a drop of adhesion” because in our perception everything centers on one point of the Thought of Creation. We attain it through our efforts as we desire to unite with the Creator, and this is why we call it “a drop of adhesion.”
[43964]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot
Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “Go Forth From Your Country”
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “General Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 1, Lesson 1
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Freedom,” Lesson 20
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Question: How will the changes happen in the education system—by the initiative of the government from above, or pressure from the masses from below?
Answer: Leaders are only afraid for their “seats” and nothing else. If the masses come out to the streets and start shaking those chairs, and they aren’t just setting cars on fire but starting to making more serious actions, then the leaders start listening to their demands. In the end, they will have to agree to them. The question is: Will we be able to offer them our explanation of the necessary measures? We have to try to do that as much as we can.
One way or another, we have to get through to the leaders, but from both sides: from below, through the masses that go out onto the street, and from above directly. After all, we are talking about a global study of the world, about changes in education, and about building a worldwide system of upbringing in which everyone will study while receiving a specific salary for it, the means for sustenance.
This learning will take place instead of work, but in reality it will become people’s work in the spiritual sense. Every person will attract Light to the extent of his forces and capabilities, and this will be his reward. After all, the Light holds all of the abundance there can possibly be.
How many people are required to provide the vital necessities for all of the earth’s inhabitants? Clothing, food, construction, service—everything that’s necessary within the framework of a normal existence? For example, people will work for half a day and will study for half a day. And this will be done by everyone.
However, this can only be achieved through the leaders, or more precisely, through the public opinion, through people who think, including scientists, sociologists, political scientists, and all those who rise above the mass, but not too high. After all, the very top is occupied by the “destroyers,” whereas we are talking primarily about the university circles.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/11, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
A person who opens The Book of Zohar, opens it in order to reveal the Creator. By definition, the science of Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator to creation in this world. Otherwise why would Kabbalah and all of Torah be given to us? The Creator becomes revealed in the desire to bestow and love in a person. This desire is equal to the Creator in qualities, and the Creator becomes revealed in it according to the law of equivalence of form.
Thus, the Creator is the quality of bestowing and loving, the force of bestowal and love, “the Good who does Good.” How, then, can we achieve the desire to bestow and love, the Good who does Good? By connecting with each other in spite of every person’s egoistic forces that mutually repel one another and by building a net of good connection between us above the net of hatred. By building a net in which every person is good and does good, bestows and loves in relation to others.
But how do we do this if each of us is just a small egoist? We read The Book of Zohar, which talks about our corrected states in which we are connected by a good connection between us, and we desire for this to come true inside of us. In that case we receive an impression of those good states, which already exist in infinity. This impression, the influence of forces from our corrected states upon our current state, is called “surrounding Light” or “the Light that returns us to the source of goodness.”
Then, according to the formula, “I created the evil inclination and I gave the Torah for its correction, because the Light in it returns to the source,” we return to the source—the Good who does Good. Thus, we reveal the Creator, the Good who does Good, our root.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/11, The Zohar
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It’s impossible to advance correctly if you are guided by your own opinion because you are entirely in this world. You will be able to grow only if you discover the existences of two distinct opinions: You will hear your own opinion and the teacher’s opinion, will understand the difference between them, and will compare them with each other so as to always go by faith above reason and accept the teacher’s view.
You need to choose and advance all the time, preferring the teacher’s opinion to your own in spite of your increasingly greater egoism and all your inner doubts and arguments, regardless of the supposedly obvious facts and common logic that tells you that you are not going by your reason, but below or above it.
If a person can cope with all these problems, he will be able to advance. If not, he has no chance of success. Thus, only a few reach the spiritual world.
In order to survive such inner struggle and go against our logic all the time, we need the support of the group which always strengthens the teacher’s authority. This means that it’s necessary to lower ourselves before the group to receive from it the strength to defeat our personal opinion and accept the teacher’s.
There are three participants in the work: the person, the teacher, and the group. All this is necessary to reach the revelation of the Creator (who can be revealed from the opposite side as well) so that the opinion of the teacher and that of the Creator unite into one. Then, a person will be able to advance, having understood that the group and the teacher are the representatives of the Creator in relation to him. Thus, the person has to figure out all his concepts, evaluations, and choice only relative to them.
If you are lucky, you will do this and move forward; if not, you will not even feel that you are not making the correct choice and are not moving in the right direction. You will not have any scale on which you could measure this.
When do “words that come from the heart enter the heart?” If you correctly establish your opinion in relation to the teacher’s, you will begin to hear what the teacher is telling.
[43945]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11, Shamati #25
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Question: If I need to nullify myself before the teacher’s opinion, is it correct that some friends say that they are only willing to do what the teacher, but not any other management, tells them?
Answer: A teacher shouldn’t be anyone’s personal manager. He shouldn’t be explaining to everyone what it is he wants from them. He can be almost as concealed as the Creator and not say anything at all. Whoever is willing can nullify himself on his own and reveal the teacher’s opinion.
This can be observed from the behavior of the Kabbalists of the past, the group in Kotzk or Baal HaSulam who only gave a lesson to his students once a week or even once a month. A teacher reveals his opinion ever so slightly, and the rest is the student’s work. If the student understands what to look for, how to reveal the teacher’s opinion to help aim himself toward the goal, he will be able to do it. Otherwise, he will not.
Spirituality cannot be expressed in words. How could you possibly explain how to direct your heart toward the goal?
[43952]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11, Shamati #25
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