Question: How do we know if we have received the gift of thinking in faith above reason or if it is being activated through our work from below upward?

Answer: There comes a time when we begin to hear that we must go with faith above reason.

And although this is not practiced at all in our world, we must act this way because this is the only way to develop the property of bestowal in ourselves, in which we will begin to feel the higher world, the Creator and ourselves, our soul, on a completely different level.

To reveal the Creator between us means to treat each other as He does, benevolently and doing good. And then in the similarity of properties, we will reveal the Creator who fills everything.
[292739]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Going with Faith above Reason” Lesson 5

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic: “Faith Above Reason” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Matter and Form in the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 115

Selected Highlights 

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Question: What makes this lesson part of the convention? How is it different from any other morning lesson?

Answer: The lessons at the convention are one single connected chain that is aimed at a specific intention and at a specific purpose. In this respect, the convention is a serious moving organism.

Yesterday we were studying how to annul ourselves. We are studying it today as well, but according to a completely different principle. How I connect with the group in order to change myself? Meaning, I begin to relate to the group as a means through which I can change myself.

You can say, “But this is an egoistic use of the group.” Of course I am using the group. But I would not call it egoistic, because with the help of the group I want to get rid of my egoism, to suppress it. This is a completely different condition.

I have no other option if I want to change myself. I just cannot do anything else. What should I do if I want to come closer to the Creator, to become like Him, to reveal the Creator, to feel Him, and to enter the quality of eternity, infinity, and perfection? I want to know all this. It sits within me. This desire is given from above to each of us.

In order to actualize it, I have to do an action that is opposite to my nature, and only the group can do that. If I try to become gradually incorporated in it, even though I cannot and do not want to, then some kind of illumination descends upon me, this is what Kabbalists say. I begin to receive the upper force and it changes me. This is how I come closer to the Creator.

Therefore, the group stands between me and the Creator. It is necessary in order to rise to Him, to become more similar to Him. How do I become like Him? Through the fact that I form myself within the group by annulling myself before it.

Then I begin to see that the Creator is within the group. This is called “I dwell within My people.”

The people are the group that aims to become closer to the Creator. That is how we advance.
[292808]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Question: It often turns out that everyone understands the material in their own way. Should we consider these differences?

Answer: I do not think we need to pay attention to how everyone acquires the material. We need to talk only about the right actions between us, which nature, the Creator, requires from us. And then we will really rise.

But to check each one himself and convey it to others, no. We need to show each other inspiration, the right actions.

I do not think we should be the same. On the contrary, we should be different, but should all strive to set the right example for others. Only the right example on the part of my friends can raise me up. This is how we act.
[292774]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/6/22, “Approaching the Creator Through the Network of Connections Between Us” Lesson 1

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Our virtual lessons affect us well, if not even better, than the physical ones. They help us feel that we can indeed be close to each other despite physical distances. We can feel how much we are coming closer virtually and spiritually. And the physical distance we simply do not take into account.

But, on the other hand, we need to reach a point where we connect together and are what we call in adhesion with each other, glued together.

Therefore, we constantly have to measure the distance between us and try to fill it, not just annulling, but filling it so that the desire to attract friends to ourselves fills the huge hollow spaces between us, which will be appearing constantly.

So, the result of our development is feeling the distance between us all the way to the point of the abyss and understand how we can fill it so that it does not separate us, but unites us. Precisely because of the fact that we feel the differences and the distance between us, we develop the sense of attraction between us, as it is written: “Love will cover all crimes.”

This is the most important advantage, the most important result of all our efforts: discovering the distances, the differences, between us and filling them with love.

Moreover, these differences will be huge and we will see more and more of them between us. This is not like in our world when children practically do not differ from each other, but as they grow, they show their own character, their habits, and natural inclinations, and we see in each of them not only their parents, but maybe even their distant ancestors.

We must reveal all this and through connecting above it, create a perfect Kli (vessel) in which we will be connected in good connection despite all our differences and despite the fact that we initially reject and even hate each other.

Then we will feel glued to each other so much that if at some moment I do not feel an inner drawing, connection, or adhesion with my friends, I will feel lost and will fall from the degree of the spiritual world into our world. This is a disaster.

Therefore, our entire work is to ask the Creator to fill the space between us. According to this, we will begin to feel how the distance between us is shrinking. This sensation of coming closer will be called movement in the spiritual world.
[292699]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Asking the Creator to Fill the Place Between Us” Lesson 7

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Question: You said that if each friend is included in the system of the ten, then at some point it becomes the system of ten Sefirot. How can we do it?

Answer: If each one of you starts canceling yourselves before the others, you will reach the state where the system of your interconnection will take some definite form. This will be perceived by you as a system of ten Sefirot.

You will begin to feel and sense in the properties of bestowal between you that a completely different form of interaction is being organized, interaction through bestowal, not through receiving, which you have always had and are accustomed to.

This form will be called the spiritual form of your state or your soul, and what you will begin to discover among yourself is your spiritual world, the upper light, in which its source, the Creator, will gradually manifest itself.
[292579]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4

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Question: If a friend understands what is the result of his environment, he sees that there are complex conditions and therefore moves away from the work, then what should be the attitude toward him? How can we help him?

Answer: We must do everything to help him, but by normal means: show how much we want him to be with us and to not leave, display how connected we are with each other and how much we realize that without our unification we cannot comprehend and reveal the Creator since He is revealed precisely within our unification as the central point where everything came from and where everything must return to.

We must find out all this together with him and influence him with our thoughts, prayers, and conversations, including with him so that he remains in the group. All the same, he will not go far even if he floats away somewhere for several years.

I told you how the students of Rabash returned, after having left him for 10 to 15 years, and suddenly by coincidence returned one Saturday morning. The door opened and the man entered as if he had just stepped out to pour himself a cup of coffee. He does not feel like he had been away for ten years! How can this be in human society? But in the Kabbalistic group it can. Just like that, I fell back into place. Therefore, we do not need to worry, everyone will come and undergo their corrections. But it is desirable that we help each other.
[292513]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic: “Faith Above Reason” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 112

Selected Highlights 

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Question: What factors can harm us in advancing in the ten?

Answer: Absolutely everything. The only factor that can benefit you is rising above everything harmful to the connection between you. That is all.

Everything that appears in you is against connection, against the ten, against the Creator. And all this is in order for you to rise above in mutual connection with each other.
[292684]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4

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Question: How can we enhance our aspiration for connection with the Creator?

Answer: Only if we learn this from the friends; I must see them above myself.

If I do not see them that way, then I am not in a good state. This means that I must exert more and more in my studies and in the connection between us until I detect that I see them above myself. And then by yearning to connect with them, I begin to feel the essence of this connection, that is, the Creator.

Within my desires and my aspirations for the friends, I will begin to feel the property of bestowal and to some extent the property of love, and this will be the Creator.
[292618]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/6/22, “Approaching the Creator Through the Network of Connections Between Us” Lesson 1

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