The problem is that we constantly forget about the Creator! It is clear that we work in the group. After all, it is written that everything depends upon it, and only there do we have freedom of will. Only in the group can I do what depends on me.

Dissemination is another way. We understand that if we disseminate widely, we will absorb the aspirations of everyone else and pass desires to one another. But behind all these actions of study, dissemination, and the group, we forget that we only do them to please the Creator. We lose this notion. We do not perceive Him and therefore, it’s as if He doesn’t exist for us.

Sometimes we remember Him and think: “Fine, I will get to this sometime later.” But this is not right as I am no longer aiming straight at the target like an arrow! Even the smallest personal effort must be accompanied by an intention, when “the end result is in its initial thought.” I do everything solely in order to please the Creator, even though I neither know who He is nor feel Him at first.

But as it is written in Psalms, I am always “by night on my bed,” which means that I lie flat in the state when the “head” and the “feet” (all the Sefirot) are on the same level, and there is nothing, neither mind nor sensations; I’m in absolute darkness. And still, I “seek him whom my soul loves.”

And even though I do not know where to look and what this is, I still artificially tune myself into this search over and over again, and I gradually begin to receive some kind of impressions. It begins to work.

We need to attract the Surrounding Light specifically by directing all the actions to giving contentment to the Creator. Otherwise it will be considered that you have started an action but have not completed it. It will not give you the necessary result.
[47208]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/2011, Shamati #5

Related Material:
My Objective Is To Desire
I Want To See Myself In Bestowal
Make The Creator Important

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

The Zohar describes a state at the level of 125 degrees, the world of Infinity, the world of adhesion, the world of our absolute correction, when we achieve similarity in qualities with the Creator. For this reason, regardless of how distant and opposite we are from this perfect state, lacking any point of contact with it even to the slightest degree, the strength of our pressure turns out to be the greatest specifically in this opposite state to the extent of our efforts to attain perfection. Here the distance actually works to our advantage.

I did not create this opposite state; the One I desire to attain did. For this reason, one gram of effort I exert in order to be with the Creator despite this greatest possible distance is multiplied by 125 degrees. In other words, these degrees benefit me in my efforts.

It’s the same way that everything is done for a baby when she cries. But when a two or three year old cries, the grownups no longer pay as much attention to her.

The maximum distance specifically works in such a way that it multiplies the strength of one’s effort on the other end of the ladder of the degrees. This is why we need to appreciate our state and wish to attain the final state as much as possible. Then our efforts will truly be great.
[47218]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/2011, The Zohar

Related Material:
Instruction For Spiritual Revival
A Mystical Force Or A Catalyst Of Progress?
A Wonderful Infusion

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Lately it’s felt that the world Kli is working in a single desire. At one time Rabash advised you to make an attack from this state. What exactly are we attacking?

Answer: Ourselves, our heart, our laziness, our pride, our past habits. I have to ascend above all of these calculations.

The most important thing is to dissolve among the friends, to intentionally push yourself into the group. I want to be there all the time. I want to lose my personal mind and feeling and to acquire the mind and feeling of all the friends. It’s as if I lose myself in them by my own desire.

This means acquiring the vessel of the mutual guarantee.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/11, Matan Torah

Related Material:
My Objective Is To Desire
An Electronic Circuit Of The Collective Soul
The Simple Law Of Mutual Guarantee

Filed under: Collective Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Mutual Guarantee, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Spiritual Teacher, Spirituality, Unity - No Comments →

In “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” Baal HaSulam presents his famous parable about the guest and the Host, the example that reflects a person’s relationship with the Creator. The Host greets His guest as His closest friend and, driven solely by the power of His love, wants to give him everything without any intention of receiving anything in return.

He gets pleasure from serving the guest, is happy about it, and expects no compensation because the law of love obliges Him to act in this way. On the contrary, if the guest refuses to receive, this will upset the Host very much because He has a great desire to fill the guest, His friend, completely with all the abundance.

If the guest feels some discomfort, this feeling does not come directly from the Host but surfaces involuntarily as he used to be empty and now somebody gave him fulfillment. And within this fulfillment, there is something shameful, undeserved; there is the lack of his own participation and effort, which raises a feeling of shame in the guest.

In this sense of shame, the guest discovers what he is missing. He thinks: “The Host gives, and I receive. As a receiver, I feel ashamed, but there is no shame in the giver. This is the difference between the giver and the receiver! He is not ashamed because He gives, but I am not capable of this action of bestowal. If I could give as He does, I would not feel shame; moreover, I would be honored!

The Host does not feel any honor in His bestowal to me because bestowal is natural for Him; He loves according to His nature. And thus, He is not proud that He gives; on the contrary, thus He fulfills His desire.

If I give, it will bring me honor instead of shame. That is why the shame that I am feeling now is useful; it will help me feel the opposite state: honor and self-respect in addition to the high position of the giver.”

The receiver obtains all this understanding as a result of shame: Why and how he should perform the necessary steps in order to not only extinguish shame, but also to reach the level of the giver. Here, it is not merely to achieve bestowal—one has to come to love! Let this shame rise hatred in me, which I will transform into love, and then I will actually attain the state of the Creator.

All the love that He has naturally will become a great acquisition for me that I myself attained and earned. And that is why now I begin to love and appreciate this shame! It is through it, through the depth of this shame that I am starting to feel hatred, and from this hatred, I come to love.

The creature comes to this conclusion as a result of a series of internal clarifications.
[47118]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

Related Material:
Shame Is The Opposite Of Perfection
Man Is The Only Animal That Blushes
Shame Turns An Ape Into A Human

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work - No Comments →

The problem lies in the fact that we don’t understand how far we are from the quality of bestowal. Each small action brings us a step closer to the goal. This is how we advance on this path, millimeter by millimeter, and not a single millimeter can be skipped over.

Today, the path is concealed from us. For example, during this meal, we’ll go through 20 to 30 millimeters of Reshimot (reminiscences). This is a lot, but no one is going to feel it. This is how it will be until we reach the entrance to the spiritual world. Only then will we feel it.

For now, it’s as though we’re going to Madrid via a highway with no signs, and we don’t know how much longer we have to go. This makes the first meter and the last meter on the road before I see Madrid exactly the same for me. All along the way, nothing seems to happen, just the same highway, trees, and fields.

We don’t realize how many small actions we make every second that, together, compose our advancement. It is no accident that there are no signs and mileage indicators along that path. It is done so that the person would learn to receive pleasure from the journey itself. If you’re advancing toward bestowal, then even in the darkness, you should experience joy. Otherwise, you are just demanding a reward.

For this reason, a person shouldn’t wait for the end of the path; there is no end. The path ends when you decide for yourself: “I don’t have a destination. I’m content with what I have. The only thing I want is to find pleasure from bestowal.” You receive the reward when you stop demanding it, and this means that you’ve attained the goal.
[47122]
From the Talk during the Meal in Madrin 6/3/2011

Related Material:
Don’t Skip The Steps, You Will Need Them Later
What Should You Spend Your Time On?
A Human Is Defined By His Intention

Filed under: Inner Work - 2 Comments →

Today we are completing what Abraham had started when he taught the sons of his concubines different spiritual practices which precede the actual spiritual work for the sake of bestowal. He instilled in them the foundations of belief systems and sent them off to eastern lands. Later, the same work of Abraham has materialized through the people of Israel who, after the destruction of the Temple, fell from the spiritual level and gave rise to religions thereby.

Thus the beliefs, which originated in the times of Abraham, and religions, which came about in the times of the destruction of the Temple, essentially represent stages of the inclusion of the method of Israel into the nations of the world. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam among others have been advancing humanity towards the understanding of Godliness. People would have remained complete barbarians without them.

In our time, after thousands of years of evolution, it is hard for us to imagine a person who does not ponder at all about this and the future worlds, the Creator, or good and evil. If there were no religions, we would not have culture, education, and a human society in its modern understanding.

We simply are not aware of the role that religions have played in advancing humanity. Universities have appeared due to religions. In the desire to spread religions, people have discovered new continents, settled new lands, and aspired towards something in the future.

This way, the spiritual message became part of the egoism of our world and it has reached people who had no connection with the Creator and no desire for Him for the lack of the point in the heart. However, now they have a certain impulse, belonging, and fear before the future world, a possible punishment, and something above this life.

They have a feeling of something greater and foresee certain things. And even though corporeal images appear in their imagination, even though this is idolatry, still, something close to a human is beginning to grow out of a “higher animal.” They already think about things that animals do not care for.

Previously, people did not think beyond a closed cycle of income, food, reproduction, and death. We simply are not aware of the contribution of religion into human culture and art.

However, today our development is coming to an end, and the global crisis, grasping the entire humanity, is the sign of it. Religion is not the problem: We simply can no longer keep sustaining an egoistic society that lives according to the laws of self-love.

Our egoism has brought us to its spiritual component. Money has become a “spiritual value” for people and forced them to blow unthinkable bubbles in the economy by selling air to one another in the form of virtual businesses.

This has brought us to the need for a change. We are facing real spiritual work for the sake of bestowal.
[47011]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2011, Ramchal’s “The Wisdom Article”

Related Material:
Religious Resistance To Kabbalah
Making Mistakes Before Finding The Truth
The Light Revolution

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Inner Work, Religion, Society - 2 Comments →

There are the giving vessels, Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), called “Israel,” which means “straight to the Creator.” Just these vessels can draw the Light because they are closer to it and contain only the force of bestowal.

There are also the receiving vessels, AHP, “the nations of the world.” In reality, namely they are important, and everything is done for them. However, they themselves are not able to receive the Light directly if the vessels of Israel do not conduct the Light to them.

This is the division of roles: Galgalta ve Eynaim must draw the Light for AHP, and AHP must supply its desire to Galgalta ve Eynaim so that they carry the Light for AHP. Only this mutual cooperation will let us achieve the final correction.

All the people in the world who have “the point in the heart,” meaning the inclination to attract the Light, are called “Isra-El” or “Yashar El,”in Hebrew – “straight to the Creator.”  And all those who lack this inclination cannot attract the Light directly and are called “the nations of the world,” AHP. Together, they use their nature to attract the Light and receive the revelation of the Creator in the collective vessel.

Thus, in order to establish a connection between them, Israel goes through the breaking. It rises to the end of correction, to the level of the Temple, and then the Temple is destroyed, that is, Israel falls from the spiritual height into the forces of filth, into the nations of the world, and intermixes with them so that AHP is included in Galgalta ve Eynaim, and Galgalta ve Eynaim is included in AHP. As a result, both of them are in the egoistic intention.

However, when the mixing or “exile” ends, they can attract the Light and realize correction. First, Galgalta ve Eynaim is corrected, which are purer vessels that still retain the Reshimot, records of the corrected state.

They have the ability to draw the Light, and through mutual inclusion with AHP, they have someone for whom they can attract this Light. Then, AHP receives illumination from Galgalta ve Eynaim, which is sufficient to extend the line of connection upwards. As a result, all of them complete the ten Sefirot and draw the great Light. Thus, in mutual interaction, we arrive to the end of correction.

Today, we are at the beginning of correction of Galgalta ve Eynaim, Israel. If they correct themselves, to that degree they will be able to bring correction to AHP, to the nations of the world.
[47017]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2011, Ramchal’s “The Wisdom Article”

Related Material:
It Is Our Job
A Demand For The Light
Serving The World

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Israel - 1 Comment →

Question: Is the revelation of evil enough for advancement?

Answer: The revelation of evil is a powerful method of advancement since it is a discovery of an uncorrected desire. If you correct it, you will advance. This is why it is impossible to do it without the revelation of evil.

For example, you get into a car and try to reach your destination with it. Suddenly you see that the key does not fit the ignition lock. You start fixing the key. You fix the key, put it in the ignition, but it doesn’t turn. You need to fix the lock.

You fix the lock, you turn the key—the car does not start. You discover that the wires are not connected to the ignition. You need to connect the wires. The wires are fixed. Why will it not start? The battery is missing.

And you go step by step until you fix the entire car. But every time you discover whatever is missing until you complete the renovations and high polish the last drop of paint. Then you sit and drive. The car will not move until then.

Question: What does it mean to correct every component?

Answer: To correct means that you understand why you need the component, how it connects to other parts, and what its ruined and corrected forms are. Every component is a part of your heart, your soul. “Ignition” and “key,” “wires” and “battery,” every last component, all these things are your inner desires, the “flesh” of your soul.
[47033]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/24/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Reveal, Correct, Fulfill
The Whole Truth About The Surrounding Light
What Is Light?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Surveys show that 80 percent of humanity believes in the higher power that controls everything. Why don’t we explain to people what kind of power it is and what it wants? It is much more interesting than the calls for love.

Answer: We have nothing to explain. The upper force is Nature, the law, the force as unyielding as the force of gravity. It is Absolute who is Good, does Good, and does not change.

If this force is invariable, it is as if nonexistent. The absence of change seems to cancel it. It is like living under the sun, forever stuck at the zenith. There is no point of taking it into account if it is and will be there always. It just is, and that is all.

In our life, we make calculations based on what has to change, on advancements we depend on. It is another matter if we talk about something permanent and indestructible on which we depend constantly to such an extent that it cannot be called dependence.

This is what the “Creator” is. And that is why it is so difficult to explain this to people. In reality, we pray not to Him but to ourselves. We seek how to change, and He is always unchangeable. Of course, I will change if I desire it, and to do this, I do not need to take Him into account. He is Good and does Good, and next to Him, I am like a spoiled child whose parents give him absolute love, while he does whatever pleases him and gets out of control, knowing that nothing bad will happen to him.

Thus, our problem is how to explain to people that the Creator is like a solid wall and simply exists. You can jump in front of it, wave your arms; this is your business, and the wall still towers over you.

A person can barely imagine that: “Then, whom am I dealing with? It means that there is nobody to ask.” How can we explain to those who believe in the higher power that it does not make sense to pray to the “changeable” Creator who would do better today than yesterday. Does it mean that yesterday He caused me harm?

In reality, we deal with the One who is Good and does Good to the wicked and to the righteous. But for a person, this means that regardless of whether he is good or bad, the result will be the same.

An ordinary person is subject to changes constantly. All the time, he compares himself with the world, trying to calculate the results of internal and external changes. He does not understand what the universal, general, great, immutable Force is. This eludes our sense organs because they are “tuned” to changes rather than to the static condition. I just do not see what does not change, does not disappear from my view.

That is why we cannot explain to people what the “Creator” is. Sometimes, I say that the “Creator” is Nature, that He is unchangeable, and there is no one to pray to, that a prayer is self-judgment. In response, they are ready to tear me to pieces. This is the problem: We judge ourselves, whereas others ask the Creator to change: “I threw a little bit in Your piggy bank, now, save me from troubles.”

Talking of the Creator as of the unyielding law of nature, we deny a person the possibility to turn to Him. A person does not see that he has to change. A new strong “dose” of development is necessary so that a person begins to behave differently.

Whatever we talk about, including the crisis, we essentially explain to people the path of suffering: “Alternatively, it will be troubles, and it is not worth it. Let’s change.” It is not a lie, but not the truth either.

We should tell something else to a person who comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah desiring to reach the goal of creation: “You have to be above this. No matter whether it is good or bad, you have to rise by faith above reason. You should not make your actions conditional on suffering or pleasure. This is not bestowal. Faith above reason means that you rise above the reward. Or do you work to escape evil and achieve good in the future? Are you expecting compensation? Do you want to reach the purpose of creation for yourself instead of giving pleasure to the Creator?”

On the other hand, whom are we supposed to please if the Creator is the law? This is a delicate moment in our explanations.
[46848]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/17/2011, “Mesiah’s Horn”

Related Material:
What To Ask From The Creator?
How Can We Tell The World About The Force Of Unity?
Education For The New World

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Spirituality - 1 Comment →

Question: Where is my freedom of choice? How can I decide between two choices?

Answer: Man does not face two choices, but only one. We are not standing at a crossroads, needing to decide whether to go right or left. There is no such thing! I am on a straight highway, and my only choice is whether or not to accelerate my advancement.

If I’m moving very slowly, then every moment I receive blows from every bump on this rough, broken highway that’s full of potholes, where wild beasts can attack me at every turn, and a host of other problems and even wars await me.

Or I can take a helicopter and fly over the highway. That depends on me.

However, the direction remains the same and the goal we achieve is the same. And although it says that we can fall off the path, that doesn’t refer to deviating from the highway itself, but to a refusal to travel at a high speed of our own accord.

In that case I advance in accordance with the engine of the program of creation, which is called “in its time” (Beito), and at every step I receive problems, blows, wars, hardships, diseases, and crises, everything that transpires in our lives, in all possible manifestations of the desire to enjoy.

Indeed, it has to demonstrate to me all of these problems so that the despair and problems compel me to “refine” it and cease to desire pleasure in such states. That is sufficient to correct the desire to enjoy at this first degree: the animate level.

Question: How can I check if I fell out of the helicopter onto the highway again?

Answer: First of all, I sense it in accordance with my degree of awakening, inspiration, and aspiration toward the goal. I must check whether I’m “burning” with the importance of the connection with the group, which is the only means of advancement. Am I working toward it, am I making use of all the means at my disposal? These means are the teacher, the group, and the books.
[47037]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/24/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Faster Than Time
Escaping The Developmental Press
Make Every Instant More Exalted
Blows In One Point

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - 1 Comment →