Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” “Lishma Ve She Lo Lishma“
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Lesson on the Topic: “European Convention,” Lesson 6
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Question: Why is it necessary to connect with friends and it is not enough simply to be involved with dissemination to the public?
Answer: Our dissemination to the wider public is an action that comes from above to below. It is necessary to come to people and to guide them, to become their head. But in order to be their head I must be the bestower. How can I acquire the characteristic of bestowal if I am not connected with another ten, or a hundred, or a few thousand people like me, in conditions of absolute equality?
I need the group to acquire the characteristic of bestowal with which I will go out to the wider public. So together with the group, I need to be connected to the Light that Reforms. Alone, I am not able to be connected to the Light. The Light doesn’t bestow to each one separately, there must be ten people according to the spiritual structure of the Kli. If there aren’t ten people, the Light will have nothing in which to be clothed, in which to be grasped; it will have nothing to fill. It is as if a Kli had only walls but not the tenth Sefira, the Malchut, meaning there is no bottom of the Kli. So it is called a Tsinor (pipe).
Without the group it is impossible to attract the Light, the power that will correct you. What can you bring to the public if you are not connected to a Kli and the Light that fills it? How can you disseminate if you don’t have any connection with the origin of the power? You can just sell books or work on the Internet in dissemination of articles and there won’t be any problem in replacing you with some paid worker who just works for a salary. For if you don’t have Light, what can you bestow other than papers?
[129420]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/14
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Question: If everything is done by the Light, what exactly depends on a person in attaining the love of others?
Answer: A person has to try to perform certain actions. Not everything is determined by the Light, it also depends on the person. He tries, sees, and understands that he is incapable of performing them, and so he asks for help, cries out, and disagrees. This is where he participates in the process: in the work of the group on a person and in a person’s work on the group.
It is true that the Lights move the vessels, but the person and the group are combined and also the group with the teacher, and there is still the personal effort that a person makes in this combination.
If I begin to perform different actions in the group, for example, if I take kitchen duties although I don’t want to at all, but I do it because I am ashamed of others, because I want to be loved and respected, it means that my motives are egoistic.
Otherwise, I feel regret because I did it as a result of my ego and didn’t act by myself with the intention of love and bestowal. The feeling of regret comes later when I don’t work in the kitchen anymore, but during the study. These actions accumulate: my regret because I operated egoistically and also the actions themselves in which my ego helps me. This means that the evil inclination helps a person, “Pharaoh brings the children of Israel closer to our father in heaven.”
The fact that we see a great profit in spiritual actions and rush to perform them in expectation of a reward is actually thanks to the evil inclination. Without it we could not attain anything. But later I regret the fact that I did everything for my own sake and this sorrow draws the Light that Reforms. These two forces operate in us in complete harmony, as it says: “the Creator has created them one opposite the other.” And so we arrive from Lo Lishma, which means for my own sake, to Lishma, in order to bestow. The actions are the same actions and only the intention changes.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/14
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Question: Why does Baal HaSulam write in the article, ”Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” that in our generation we will no longer fear an indecent student, who will take the wisdom of the Kabbalah and sell the materials in the market to many people, but they won’t find buyers for this merchandise, as in their eyes, they have already had enough of it?
Answer: After all, you see how difficult it is to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah. Do people snatch up books of Kabbalah from our hands? Even for free it is difficult to distribute them. If we were to distribute colorful pamphlets, they would willingly take them and would even pay for them. People are willing to travel distances in order to pray on the graves of the holy ones, but they aren’t able to invest a little time to study in order to understand the internality of what those holy ones wrote.
To sell the wisdom of Kabbalah in the market is called searching for ways to profit from what belongs to holiness. Selling blessings, red strings, etc., means behaving according to the desires of the market and not according to truth, for example, instead of giving morning lessons according to authentic texts, giving evening lectures for the public to talk about mysticism, about reincarnation, about the influence of the moon and magical powers of man.
Question: But we also disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah and make it compatible for the public?
Answer: When we go out to the public, we must adjust ourselves to their desires, otherwise there won’t be contact between us. But this is not to say that we cheat people and sell them lies. We are speaking here of lowering the level, like for a child. After all, you don’t lie to a child, you only want to teach him. Therefore you lower yourself and begin to teach him bit by bit. That is something else. It is called, “educating according to the way of the youth.”
By disseminating are we telling them something that is not true? It is true that we choose interesting things in order to attract people, but in our explanations, there is nothing that is not correct. We teach spiritual subjects that have no connection to corporeality. And if it isn’t connected to corporeal life, then no one is interested in it!
The material of creation is desire, and if a person has no need for spirituality, then it is impossible to interest him. He has no Kli (vessel, desire), thus there is no place for the revelation of the Creator. A place is a deficiency. One must clarify what a person’s real deficiency is, what his needs are, and with that reach out to him. People want money, security, and education. One must reach out to them according to these subjects.
It doesn’t matter in what way the Creator presents our problem. I must work according to the conditions that He gave me. For me, these are the best and most optimal conditions to attain the goal. That is the main point. I accept, as given, that the Creator created these conditions for me. If I begin to work in the factory, I don’t complain to the boss about why he didn’t set up work conditions for me according to the way I want them and why the factory wasn’t built on the beach. I come to work and accept all the conditions and agree to the salary.
Thus, it is not important if the dissemination progresses with more difficulty or ease. I only need to accept the field of work in a more correct manner. I need to clarify the deficiencies in a more correct manner, find a better system in order to turn to people, to correct, to adjust, and to change myself in order to approach this task in a better way. This is the only thing I need to worry about: to accept all the data and to adjust myself to them.
The moment I succeed in adjusting myself to people, a connection is immediately created between us, like between a plug and socket. Suddenly I discover that I am exactly suitable for the task before me. The only problem is with me, in that I don’t adjust myself to the world, to the nation, or to the conditions. There are no stupid, hopeless students, but only teachers who are not trained enough.
[129844]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Question: Should we be afraid of demanding Light so we won’t use it for personal enjoyment and ask for darkness instead?
Answer: We are advancing towards a state where what now seems to us as darkness will become Light and we will want to adhere to this Light that we feel as darkness at the moment.
Comment: But this act is very difficult, exhausting, and leads to a feeling of powerlessness!
Answer: If you don’t nullify yourself, it really does seem like very difficult work.
Question: I am trying to nullify myself with all my might! What else must I do?
Answer: I can give you an example. Many years ago I was in a very severe accident. After it I suffered serious breathing difficulties due to the accumulation of blood in my lungs. I was not able to even take a few steps; I couldn’t get enough air and immediately began to breathe heavily. And when they finally told me that they were ready to operate on me, I ran into the operating room by myself without waiting for them to move me there and I lay down on the operating table, just so they would begin to operate on me as soon as possible.
Such a situation showed that I was ready to give myself over to the influence of the Upper Light. Understandably, this is an example of physical behavior for egoistic reasons, the desire to live and enjoy life. But we must nullify ourselves in regard to spiritual correction in the same way.
Question: It seems to me that the only place from which it is possible to get oxygen is the group. What can you do when you are separated from it and you lack air?
Answer: Oxygen is not just found in the group, rather, it is because of the presence of the Creator within it. It is necessary to grasp this very clearly; otherwise, we lose our direction.
In the meantime it is very difficult for us to hold onto the thought that our ultimate goal is to give contentment to the Creator. This is like a small child who is taught that it is necessary to obey his mother, to love her. And he obeys! He has no questions: Whether he loves his mother or not, he sticks to her naturally like every child does to his mother because of a simple egoistic animal instinct.
But when we grow up, we move away from our mother, and only after that, at a mature age we begin to understand and appreciate how much our parents did for us. We are ready to comprehend this. What this means is that a particular period of time must go by for a person to begin to get a taste for the words “giving contentment to the Creator.”
This period of development happens thanks to the Light, just as everything in our lives changes only due to the influence of the Light. It seems to us that years go by, we mature, and age does its work, but that is not so. We don’t understand that, in fact, there are no years at all, there is only the influence of the Light that causes us to feel the flow of time and change.
So now when we are talking about the necessity of being concerned about the Creator, it sounds to us like convincing a little child that he must love his mother. You simply have to make it possible for the Light to influence you more and more; try to increase its influence and raise your sensitivity to it through work in a group and dissemination.
And then you will see how a particular type of attitude will awaken in you towards words that were previously empty: “contentment to the Creator.” Who is this Creator? Where is He? And suddenly you begin to feel Him closer and closer to you. You don’t feel Him, but when they mention Him, particular feelings and a particular attitude are awakened in you. This sensation continues to expand; it touches your heart and moves you.
This sensation begins to grow: At one point, the mention of the Creator will evoke different sensations and emotions. This point expands, and within it appear different forms of relationships. That is how a new Kli, a new sense, is built in you.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/14
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Question: What will happen when we succeed in publicizing the Integral Education method in the world? Will there be abundance in the world, will everyone have food, a comfortable life, and no need to work more than two hours per day?
Answer: We will get more than this: we will correct and refine ourselves in such a way that we won’t need to work at all. It’s not that machines will work for us, but in general, this physical world will evaporate, we will move on to a world of forces instead of a world of imaginary objects.
We will begin to use all of our knowledge, all of science and strength for the benefit of humanity, according to a mutual agreement that is accepted in society. A transition like this will happen gradually to the degree of the readiness of society.
Question: Which is to say, even the crisis in medicine and the incorrect usage of medicines will also be corrected and transformed into a good use?
Answer: There will be a good use of drugs, until their use disappears entirely. We won’t need the drugs themselves. But in the intermediate stages we certainly use only beneficial drugs. You will not be able to give harmful drugs and poison people whom you feel are like relatives.
Question: I don’t understand, how could the climate crisis disappear, the threatening and frightening phenomena that are liable to happen? Is nature also connected to our success in disseminating Integral Education?
Answer: If you establish balance on the “speaking” level, it will influence the level of forces on all levels under it. The whole problem is that we don’t feel these forces. If 150 years ago I had shown you an electric battery, you would not believe or understand that some kind of power can be found in it. In those times you would have understood the power of fire, a rod, dynamic energy, potential energy, but not electrical energy.
Today, you understand that electricity is powerful and you believe that a battery can operate a large machine. But if I had shown you a small box then and and told you that this is an atomic bomb that contains the power to incinerate all of Manhattan, you would not believe me. You would certainly laugh, because you know the size of Manhattan.
But today you already believe if some regular car arrives on Fifth Avenue containing a small box that explodes, all of Manhattan could turn back into a Native American village. A hundred years ago this would seem impossible, but today we have gotten smarter and a situation like this seems absolutely realistic.
Also, the same thing is relevant regarding more hidden forces; these are spiritual forces that also operate in the world. They are much more hidden and billions of times stronger than atomic energy. These forces don’t just “operate” on this world, they run it!
Question: Can they stop the glaciers from melting?
Answer: If we bring ourselves back into balance with nature, then all the levels found below us will also be in balance.
Question: And everyone will be able to see these forces?
Answer: Those who attain, those who are prepared for this internally, will see these forces. For this it is necessary to construct an internal device inside of you.
[129517]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam
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Question: Why doesn’t nature protect us from the abuse of external sciences the way the wisdom of Kabbalah is protected, so that it cannot be abused?
Answer: It is because the wisdom of Kabbalah is beyond the Machsom (Barrier), beyond the border to the spiritual world. If you transcend the Machsom, you can come near this wisdom and use it, but only to the extent that you acquire a Masach (Screen). But you don’t need a Masach in order to use all the external sciences. So why isn’t it forbidden to use all the external sciences the way it is forbidden to use the wisdom of Kabbalah?
Our sages restricted themselves and prohibited the dissemination of the wisdom among the people. Why wasn’t there such a natural restriction to begin with? Why can’t a person use the forces of nature according to his spiritual and mental development? If there were such a prohibition, we could never reach the recognition of evil, which is the purpose of the existence of our world. We have to allow the ego certain freedom so that people who are immersed in it will discover the evil in their existence and wish to ascend above it.
If the ego were limited, a person would have no choice and could not reach the recognition of evil. There would be nothing we could do in such a world. Imagine that we couldn’t do anything bad; in that case, it would be impossible to reach the recognition of evil. We would live like animals; like all the other levels of nature.
A person in our world is different from all the rest of nature because he uses his evil force in order to reach scientific achievements. The force of evil is in his heart, which means in his egoism, and by developing science he uses it for the sake of his ego because the desire to receive comes before the mind and controls the mind. This is the reason that if a person has an evil will; his mind becomes evil as well and he thinks about how he can use science for his own personal benefit, as if for his own sake, but in fact it is in order to harm others.
The purpose of the development of external sciences is to reach the recognition of evil. This is precisely what we exist for: in order to realize that we will never reach a good life through science or by excelling in anything. This is the meaning of the recognition of evil, when we discover that every phenomenon actually harms us because we use it egoistically and cannot do so any other way.
Science has always been the pride of mankind because we have developed it by ourselves and it is the fruit of our intelligence, of our internal development, both spiritual and mental. This distinguishes man from animals. But suddenly it turns out that science actually turns us into poor miserable creatures, below the animal level. This is called the recognition of evil, an outcome we cannot believe. After all the great efforts we have made for ages in the hope of being able to control ourselves and nature, we find ourselves humiliated by the evil in us.
I feel that a donkey sits on my neck and that I carry it on top of me. This is the reason that we don’t want to develop anymore and feel disappointed. We don’t regard scientists and philosophers with the same respect we had for them in the past. There is nothing sacred and no authorities for modern man any more, and we intentionally ignore anything that belongs to the human level, even if it is musicians and writers. We don’t care about anything because we are disappointed by everything and so we don’t expect anything of our development but harm.
This is the feeling that is now spreading in humanity. No one is impressed by different academic degrees such as doctorates in science, professors, or titles like president anymore. There is no respect for any position anymore and this is actually a good thing because it is a sign that we have finally reached the right discernment and have realized that we have used all the good tools at our disposal in order to bring ourselves to the lowest possible level.
Young people today don’t want to study, to work, or to take any responsibility. Ninety-nine percent of them prefer not to get up from the sofa as long as someone turns on the TV for them and feeds them. This is a good and natural thing because this is how we reach the recognition of evil.
There are two periods in the development of science: the first period in which our sages concealed the wisdom; a period which lasted until the 16-17th centuries, until the era of enlightenment. Then the wisdom of Kabbalah came out of its hiding and after the Ari the whole world began to wake up. Time began to advance increasingly faster until we have reached the current crisis.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/09/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam
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Question: What is the mechanism of making the switch from the love of friends to the love of the Creator?
Answer: You have to undergo a series of states in advancing along this path. The previous state doesn’t disappear in the transition from one state to another. Each time the new state is built on the basis of intensifying the previous state. This is how it is in spirituality; it is as if we build a pyramid: the higher we ascend, the more we have to enlarge its basis below.
If the pyramid is low, a narrow base is enough, but if we want to reach great heights, we have to build a very large base for the pyramid.
This is the reason that first we adhere to the Kabbalistic books and their authors, which is called being in adhesion with the study and the teacher. This gives a person the right direction.
Once there is a direction, its fulfillment begins: through the connection and adhesion with the teacher we reach a connection and adhesion with the friends and we build a society, an environment. When we fulfill the building of the society, we begin to discover the need for the Creator’s bestowal in this circle. All this is described in great detail in Rabash’s articles, but a person doesn’t always see that. A person can see what the books say only according to his need for it.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/14
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