Kabbalah Moments: Soul
Posted on December 16th, 2010
Question: As I advance, I should be more grateful for the fact that there is the Upper Force which advances me. But I don’t know how I can do it, how can I rely on the existence of the Upper Force?
Answer: Don’t rely on it! Don’t believe in the Upper Force until you activate your power from below. There is no Creator without the creature. We advance only according to our request, MAN, by influencing the forces of nature with it.
When Kabbalists describe the Partzufim, they tell us only about the actions of bestowal. Partzufim, per se, don’t exist. In exactly the same manner, they write about our effort and existence: There is no Creator and no worlds; there is nothing if a person does not activate his or her power of bestowal.
As soon as a person activates the force of bestowal, the worlds immediately appear, not relative to him, but in a general sense since they don’t exist otherwise. All of reality, including the spiritual world, does not exist outside of man. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah states in its section “The Perception of Reality.”
So, what can a person rely on? Outside of man there is nothing; everything is within him only. If we don’t put ourselves in motion, we don’t construct the system of worlds.
As soon as I’m willing to give, I immediately face the Light of Infinity. Then, between it and me, the worlds are born, a communication system between me and the world of Infinity. If I am not performing acts of bestowal, then nothing exists.
All of spiritual reality (we are not talking about the material world because it’s imaginary) exists within man to the extent that he has the power of bestowal. If he has no power of bestowal, then nothing exists. We can’t say that there is something outside of man unless he himself builds it, creates and implements it.
[29156]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/8/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot
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Question: What is the love of friends?
Answer: Love is unity in one common desire. Kabbalah gives us the following example: When Bina reaches the state of Hafetz Hesed (wanting nothing for oneself), it comes down to Malchut, unites with it, and absorbs its desire so as to fulfill it with all the force of Bina.
That’s called love: to absorb someone else’s desire and fill it with whatever you can. It is written that one has to give up his only pillow; it’s the manifestation of love which we need to achieve.
But how is it possible to achieve it? We have to make sure that in the material world each one would have all the basic necessities, and in the spiritual world each one would receive everything there is in our common desire (Kli, vessel).
It’s very important to view all of us as one desire and to do everything to keep it alive. Each one must feel that it depends on him and that it’s in his power to tip the scale for this world from the cup of guilt to the cup of mercy. This way, we create a place called Malchut in which the Upper Light, the Creator, is revealed, but we have to try not to forget that the ultimate goal is to give contentment to the Creator.
But it’s not easy to do it in regards to the Creator; we still lack a clear feeling of His Light. So we should, at least, think about how to bring pleasure to the place where He is hiding, the place all desires for Him have assembled. As it is written, "From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator." Love of the created beings actually is the most general, unified desire.
The relationship between our souls that we want to restore is called the love of friends. Friends are individuals coming together on the material level in order to reach the inner, spiritual connection. We already know all about it; now it’s the time to just implement it.
An infinite number of words have already been spoken about it, but, each time, they are perceived anew, according to the state a person is in. We only need to absorb them more deeply within ourselves, and the Light will come and develop in a person the entire picture without words. Then it will become clear to us.
Here, patience is needed. It’s not that I agree to wait and put everything away for later, for tomorrow. Have the patience to make every possible effort today, but if you don’t see any signs of success, have confidence that it will happen any moment.
[29711]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/2010, Baal HaSulam, Letter 13, 1925
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Question: What is the difference between the need to prepare for the lesson before the convention and now?
Answer: It has become clearer to us that we are under the rule of egoistic desire which will never let us reveal the Creator on our own without help from Above. We have revealed our helplessness a bit more, the inability to achieve it on our own, and as a counter to it, we have come to realize that there is an Upper Force that can do this if we really want it.
It’s become a little bit clearer, but that "little bit" is quite a lot indeed! It’s a revelation from Above. It actually is the "illumination of the day," an "illumination by the Light," and that Light makes egoism visible, something Baal HaSulam called the "revelation of the wicked." The convention did its job.
[29708]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/10, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”
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You can’t get into the final state at once since then you wouldn’t be independent. You have to re-create and build the bonds with other souls yourself. The connections disappear, the picture gets erased for you, and you have to restore it again and again. Thereby you build your independent personality.
The final corrected state is not important: It exists already! Your current state is unimportant either for it is imaginary. What matters is only your effort, your desire to envision this system and put it into motion, similar to when a child plays his adult life. By this game you build your "I."
The state into which you are constantly being thrown is called "this world." A corrected state depends only on what level of connection you rise to: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, or the world of Infinity.
Each time you enter and leave the spiritual world, even at the highest degrees where this entire system becomes clear to you and only some small, perhaps even unnoticeable details, are left unclear. Suddenly, you are being thrown out completely into the complete darkness, and you have to come back.
And the work becomes harder and harder, as it should be for big people. Indeed, who is considered to be a great expert? A person who is able to perform difficult tasks and solve the problems nobody else can handle.
So it follows that he works harder than the others, he earns more money ("Kesef" – covering, the screen), fame, and status than everybody else.
[29650]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”
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It’s a problem when a religious, orthodox person becomes stuck on carrying out the physical commandments and doesn’t wonder what is it for, what is the purpose of creation, and what does the Creator want from us? The Creator wants us to reveal and know Him!
By being satisfied with only physical actions, a person causes all of the world’s problems. He doesn’t understand how carrying out these physical commandments can be harmful. However, by doing so, he doesn’t correct anything because all correction takes place within the desire.
This is why we have to reveal all Reshimot (reminiscences, spiritual records), all of our inner breaking, starting with the source. That is, each one of us has to reach his root in the world of Infinity. There can’t be a correction unless the Creator becomes revealed within a person’s inner desires, Kelim (vessels). If he doesn’t study Kabbalah with the purpose of revealing the Creator, he won’t advance.
Everyone is ready for this to some extent since everyone has a desire. He is, after all, a human being, not an animal. This means he must bring his desire to similarity with the Creator. This is all that’s required of him or her. Start studying with your initially small desire, and see what a great and eternal desire will become revealed within you. After all, the root of each soul exists in the world of Infinity.
This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah can’t be hidden from people. On the contrary, people have to be provided with all that is necessary for them to study.
Right now, they are unable to understand it, but we will see how things suddenly will change and everything will become revealed. This wisdom isn’t perceived in the mind, but in the desire, and this desire is infinite in everyone.
A person can be undeveloped, living the most primitive life style in some remote place, but if a path to correction suddenly becomes revealed to him, then he’ll completely change because this is a matter of spiritual sensation. This is why Kabbalah can’t be hidden from anyone.
[29541]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba,” Item 32, Lesson 5
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 27, Lesson 13
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Item 81
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress,” Lesson 8
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It is written that a person who opens up a Kabbalistic book desires to save his life, his soul. He asks the question about the meaning of life and looks for this meaning, wishing to be saved from the emptiness that is worse than death itself. We see that all of humanity is gradually coming closer to this state.
When a person cries out for correction from the bottom of his heart, then what is correction for him? This is the entire problem: Does he correctly imagine the salvation for which he asks? Is the meaning of it for him to ascend above egoism, to unite with others and with all of reality into one whole? Does he understand that he can no longer use the receiving desires, Kelim? Does he ask himself: What is the point of living by reception, by absorbing inside?
If a person really wants something more, it is possible only in the bestowing desires, in the Kelim that are aimed toward the outside. Then his cry for help means, “Save me from the desire that pulls everything to itself and gives nothing!”
If a person’s heart is already aimed to the outside, if he desires to come out of himself, to establish his connection with everyone and to find the sensation of life there, then his intention is correct, and then the Light that comes to him returns him to the Source.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, The Zohar
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Question: What are “letters” in the spiritual sense?
Answer: Letters are forces, attributes of the upper influence on Malchut. Malchut, per se, is the assembly of all souls. Their unity has to absorb all the 22 letters and five of their final forms (MaNTzePaCh), including their multiple forms in the Torah: starting with the first word “in the beginning (Beresheet)” and ending with the last word “Israel.”
The question is: What is the basic letter, basic “signal,” upon reception of which a person will definitely reach correction? Even the properties integrated into the structure of Bina, which manages all corrections, and even the forms of communication with the Creator and connection with Him that are included in Bina, such as Samech (ס) and Mem (מ), do not guarantee us success.
The letter Samech signifies the upper part of Bina. At the first glance, what could be more exalted than that? It doesn’t wish anything for itself and needs only bestowal, wants only to be included in the Giver, exist above its desire, no matter its eruption within.
The letter Mem contains Samech in it; moreover, it is filled with the desires of others to be able to bestow to them. What more can there be if I already don’t wish anything and, above all, I take care of all the others like a mother?
The properties of Samech and Mem meet all demands of bestowal: They correspond to repentance from fear and repentance from love accordingly. Why then can’t we get reformed by them? What is missing here?
What is missing is the letter Bet (ב) symbolizing blessing, that is, the magic property, a special force from Above. It shows us that nothing matters: neither mind, nor heart, nor time you spent studying matters, nor, frankly speaking, anything that we may want to consider. None of this leads us out into the spiritual world.
This is the main idea of the article on letters from “Introduction from The Book of Zohar”: We need only a blessing.
[29723]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/10, “Introduction from The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba”
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Question: Sages said that Kabbalah cannot be taught to anyone who hasn’t abandoned “idolatry and superstitions.” What do they mean?
Answer: "Superstition" is to think that our life depends on chance rather than the singular upper force of “Good who does good,” beside which there is nothing else. Everything else is regarded as superstition: faith in government, one’s own power, forces of nature, luck, demons and spirits, or whatever that may be, except the one Creator who brings us only good.
Thus, superstition is any condition of man when he doesn’t see himself living in a mutually connected, closed world, one integral system, where the only governing power is the force of love and bestowal. If he doesn’t possess such clear perception, it means that he doesn’t have faith. Any other kind of perception and lack of desire to achieve faith is called superstition or believing in various, alien forces.
Yet, clearly, we set expectations of each person according to his development, just like we expect more and more from the child with each year according to its age. Therefore, don’t blame a layman for not being in the world of Infinity and sensing one Creator. However, everyone has to find a way to somehow envision it at his own level if he is a human being.
[29665]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”
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