A Kabbalistic group is the AHP of the Upper One, Malchut that incorporates many other souls in it. I’m the lower one, and my task is to connect my point in the heart to those other souls even though they are foreign to me. If I annul my point in the heart relative to the Upper One, it turns into my GE (Galgalta ve-Eynaim) and, thanks to the Upper One, acquires a form. The Upper One gives it everything that it needs for growth, providing it with the structure, meaning with all the souls, the entire World of Infinity, the whole vessel of the common soul.

If you want to become a spiritual object (Partzuf), adhere to the Upper One, and its AHP will become your newly revealed world. To the measure that you cling to the AHP of the Upper One, your point in the heart expands, thanks to the AHP’s parts.

To adhere means to accept its rule over me, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Freedom.” The AHP of the Upper One is my environment. By clinging to it, I receive from it everything I need much like an embryo receives blood, oxygen, and nutrients from its mother. I do so in order for my point in the heart to grow into a spiritual organism.

This organism will resemble whatever I received from the AHP of the Upper One, the group. Yet, it will be its manifestation in my point in the heart, my spiritual gene. In other words, it will be shared by them both, the group and my own point in the heart. This is similar to how a child looks a little like his mother and his father, yet receives his essence from the Creator.

I pass myself into the “hands” of the Upper One; I introduce my desire into it, my demand to become the part in which the right and the left lines unite and realize the act of bestowal. To the extent that I accomplish it, that is, to the extent to which the semen annuls itself before the mother and obliges her to develop it, the mother starts taking care of it in return.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/14/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Learn To See The Light In Bestowal
Laitman.com Post: Upbringing In The Spiritual World
Kabbalah Moments: "Transforming Myself"

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

A question I received: How do I combine the following dual attitude: On one hand, I have to view every one of the friends as greater than me, as the greatest of the generation. But on the other, I need to see them as smaller than me, as though in need of my constant care?

My Answer: I can easily relate this way as I do to my child: He is more important than I am since his desires determine my actions. If he needs anything, I drop everything and do as he asks. Yet, when I tend to him, I relate to him as someone who is smaller than me and cannot do without me. It follows that we can have this dual attitude simultaneously.

It is understood that the common desire is more important than my own. It is the miniature model of the common soul and already contains everything like a holograph.

If I relate to this small group with the law of mutual guarantee (let’s say the group is ten members large), those ten members are the same as ten billion. There is no difference here. Indeed, I need to exit my egoism, so it doesn’t matter whether I do it relative to ten or ten billion people. If in them, I reveal the spiritual world, then who is more important: me or them?

By myself I cannot reveal anything besides this earthly, corporeal life. Whereas in the right connection with the others, I reveal spirituality. Naturally, with respect to the goal, the group becomes more important to me than myself.

I must accept their desire as my own most sacred wish, as a law! This is what allows us to unite. On the other hand, I need to perceive them as smaller than me so as to feel that they need my help and give to them all that I have.

Whenever we’re talking about love and unity, I can regard another both as a small individual and as a great one. There is no contradiction here. It’s much like a baby with respect to an adult, where the baby becomes more important than everybody else. A small child is like the head of the family since the whole family revolves around him.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, Article, “Purpose of Society”

Related  Material:
Laitman.com Post: Being Impressed And Dependent At The Same Time
Laitman.com post: One Can Not Walk Alone
Baal HaSulam Article: "The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)"

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

Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 58: With this we understand the words of our sages: that one who repents from fear is rewarded with his sins becoming mistakes. …the sins one makes extend to him from the reception of Providence through double concealment, namely concealment within concealment….
One concealment means that he believes in the Providence of reward and punishment. Yet, because of the accumulation of suffering, he sometimes comes to thoughts of transgression.

Why did a person make a mistake? It’s because he didn’t see that he was at fault. Yet he wasn’t even supposed to see it, was he? Our entire work amounts to acquiring a new vision by faith above reason. Thus, at the beginning, we do not perceive spirituality so that later we could see it in the light of bestowal. Spirituality cannot be seen in the egoistic light.

Nobody concealed spirituality or fenced it off from us. We hide it from ourselves by our egoistic desire. That’s why we start perceiving spirituality only by rising above our egoism. It’s similar to me facing a wall, a barrier. By rising above it, I can have a glimpse of what lies beyond it.

This is how we can picture to ourselves what faith above reason is. While I’m “within reason,” below the barrier, I cannot see the spiritual world. My organs of perception are different; meanwhile, I have to start perceiving the reality in the desires to bestow. When the Reflected Light shines upon me, it reveals to me the spiritual reality, which I can see in this Light.

That’s why naturally I erred and committed crimes while not seeing spirituality. How could I not have erred? However, why aren’t they called “transgressions”? That’s because thanks to revealing and correcting my mistakes, I corrected myself. In this way, I reached the degree of “repentance from fear,” that is, I built the screen for bestowing in order to bestow.

I learned from my mistakes for it’s impossible to correct anything until one reveals the entire evil of egoistic desire. This is called identifying a mistake. By correcting a certain measure of the mistake that has been revealed to me, I perform a commandment.

Hence, upon completing one’s repentance, one corrects all of his mistakes. It’s precisely because of them and thanks to them that he reaches bestowal. All of these errors were the result of concealment.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Is Concealment Hiding Within Me?
Moments From The Daily Kabbalah Lesson: “Mistakes”
Kabbalah Moments: “Faith Above Reason”

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

A question I received: How do I know that I am advancing by the path of Light and not the path of suffering?

My Answer: The sign of following the path of Light is joy. It is written that “joy is the outcome of good deeds.” If I am connected with the others, I am always a part of a healthy common body and receive from it strength and inspiration. They are constantly circulating in our collective organism, flowing from one to the other; hence, I never fall or get disappointed. I don’t even feel tired! Granted, I can sometimes feel sore in my corporeal body, but I never feel tired mentally.

I keep receiving new desires and their fulfillment from the others, which flow from them to me and vice versa non-stop. So, in this condition a person ceases to feel ups and downs. For him, everything is one whole.

In fact, the day begins in the evening, but I don’t perceive it as a dark night. I feel that this is my preparation for the next spiritual step. I now need to gain more of an appetite and get hungry in order to become more receptive to perceiving spirituality.

This night is not the darkness we imagine. This is the darkness within egoism. It is the time of the construction of the vessel (Kli). In our earthly life we go to bed at night; however, in the spiritual one, we labor diligently in the night. We are making, creating, and building ourselves. It is as if at night we are assembling our car, and in the morning we drive it. Don’t think that in spirituality “night” is a dream separated from reality. We break off the previous reality in order to attain a new one. And we build it with faith above reason.

At “midnight,” the merging (Zivug) of Abba ve Ima takes place to create new desires (Kelim). I need to work in the dark because darkness conceals the old desires from me (since I don’t need them any more and must ascend to a new spiritual step). It also hides from me the new desires so that I can find them, connect them to myself, and understand where they are and why.

It’s similar as to how we play with our children. We first prepare a game for them, but later, they have to play by themselves. We pick a toy that consists of different parts (for example, cubes), not a toy with a single piece because we want the child to put it together by himself. Our spiritual work at “night” is the same.

Therefore, a person who is closely knitted into the environment doesn’t feel separation from the spiritual path when he falls. On the contrary, he sees that he is given an opportunity to work and experience a new adventure, like a child, whom nature pushes to grow. So, he loves such games of building and putting together.

Additionally, if the environment pushes us to this game, like nature does a child, we will feel as if we are on a wondrous journey. But if the environment doesn’t provide such inspiration, we don’t want to play as if we are a sick child who didn’t receive such a desire from nature and lags behind in his development.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/11/10, Shamati #50

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Work Together With Your Environment Like A Sophisticated Device
Laitman.com Post: And There Was Evening And There Was Morning, One Day
Laitman.com Post: The Spiritual Meaning Of Light And Darkness

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - 2 Comments →

A question I received: Is it possible to ask the Creator to give points in the heart to those in whom they haven’t yet awakened?

My Answer: We need to pray for the whole of humanity to quickly reach a true spiritual need for the goal of creation. However, to pray means for you to aspire for inner unification with such tension and force that it will be felt by everyone else like a fire that is blazing within.

Imagine that humanity today is almost a lifeless body; maybe not completely dead yet, but in a state of unconsciousness. And we are its organs trying to revive ourselves and bring back life to this common organism. Gradually the whole body begins to awaken. This constitutes our work.

The most important work in dissemination is not in external efforts (the amount of books we release or materials on the internet); it is in the unification between us through which we rouse love, connection, and warmth in our whole worldwide unification of people who study Kabbalah. It is precisely this work that influences everyone else, and they suddenly begin to feel that there is something unique in all this! But what it is exactly, they don’t know. Nonetheless, they suddenly find us.

After all, every person’s heart somehow led him to Kabbalah though he himself didn’t understand how. It’s simply that once this need arose in him, he began to search, and suddenly he felt with his heart that his place is here. This is because his desire was already aimed in the same direction.

It was a very small desire for spirituality, a point in the heart was hiding deep within, but we ignited such a powerful fire that people felt it from afar. Therefore, everything depends on our inner unification. This is the most effective dissemination.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/11/10, Shamati #50

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post : The Holographic Picture Of The Soul
Laitman.com Post: Building The New Stairway To Heaven
Baal HaSulam Article: “Unity of Friends”

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

Concealment and revelation are in us. These are the only things we can influence. After all, we exist in a constant and eternal universe, which has no beginning and which will never have an end. Although we talk about and imagine within the bounds of time that creation emerged and about reaching correction and executing the plan of creation by becoming fully included in the Creator, this is incorrect.

We are situated within a unique system, which is called “Nature” or the “Creator,” where no changes occur. Only we change in our sensations! So how can we begin to change ourselves consciously and according to our own choice in a controlled manner so that we would not experience any unpleasant and undesired changes?

There are certain changes in my inner desires, which alter my view of reality in such a way that I perceive them as problems, wars, and suffering. On the other hand, there are changes that are kind, but who knows how to control them?

This is taught to us by the science of Kabbalah. It is clear that if reality is invariable, then only by controlling our own qualities can we affect our picture of the world and decide which “soap opera” we wish to watch under the title of “My Life.” However, this does not mean that I am free to watch any movie` of any genre that I wish.

A program is already put together, and it advances me to revelation of the true picture, where all the concealments will fade and I will reveal the eternal and perfect state in its true form. Then I will see that reality is constant and invariable. If I understand all this, I can advance by the kind path. And if I don’t understand it, then I will be forced to move ahead by the path of suffering.

However, we are only talking about changes inside of a person that exists in some environment that is still unknown to him. This environment is called the Creator or Infinity. It is not in our power to change the order of our degrees; this order is already implanted in us. Who are we to know what this order should be?

However, we can hasten the process of going through it by tuning into it according to our own desire and by exerting effort. And the speed of the advancement will give us a different sensation. After all, it is one thing to advance toward a fatal event without agreeing with it but being unable to avoid it. And it is another thing to aspire to a desired goal! Then I will like the path, and I will advance toward it in joy.

In other words, everything depends on our preparation to the next states, which inevitably will come. However, my readiness determines my perception and the speed of my advancement. This is why we need the science of Kabbalah so much. By studying Kabbalah, we will be able to go through our development via a positive, pleasant, and short path instead of a long path through suffering.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Will I Take With Me?
Laitman.com Post: A New Desire Comes Along With A New Light
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Eradicating Egoism”

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

“The Creator is good and does good.” We need to accept this as the only axiom in spirituality. Nothing bad ever comes from Above. On the contrary, the Light remains in a state of complete rest, and only absolute good is revealed.

The only problem lies in the vessel, the creature’s desire. In other words, everything depends on the person, on his efforts and preparation. The action itself may be reception or bestowal, and the intention may be for oneself or for another.

We begin our development from “reception for oneself,” which is the double concealment or Lo Lishma. The action is reception, the intention is for oneself. But then, our efforts bring us to the degree of “bestowal for oneself.” The transition from “reception for oneself” to “bestowal for oneself” implies changing only the mechanical action. This we are able to do!

We have no control over the intention which can only be corrected by the Light. However, we are capable of changing our actions from reception to bestowal, as long as it is done for ourselves. We bestow in order to better our own state. This work is called “buy yourself a friend.”

But in order to shift from “bestowing in order to receive” to “bestowing in order to bestow,” we have to change the intention and for this we need the influence of the Light that Reforms. We exert efforts and do whatever is necessary in the group and in the study, but the change in intention is done only by the power of the Light.

And when we come to “bestowing in order to bestow” (the degree of faith, Lo Lishma, reward and punishment, and the first revelation), we then go on to consciously elevate ourselves to the degree of “receiving in order to bestow” both via our actions and the Light’s influence.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/10, Article, “Could Anything Negative Come Down from the Sky?”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: From A Lie To The Light
Kabbalah Moments: “Seeing Goodness”
5 Minutes Of Light: “The Creator’s Revelation & Concealment”

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

A question I received: What kind of game is it?  Is it to perceive the friends as the greatest?

My Answer: It is not a game; it is breaking through the concealment. My egoism conceals me from the others and the others from me: It doesn’t allow me to see the entire World of Infinity. Right now I am in the World of Infinity, but what I see is quite a gloomy picture. My egoism paints a picture of ugly, stupid, lazy, lying people. But in reality, it is all wrong; this picture resides in me within my egoism. If my own children, whom I love dearly, were next to me right now, how would I view them? They would look perfect to me because “love redeems all sins.” I would still love them with all their flaws.

Only my ego is to blame; I see nothing beyond it. In the back of my brain, I have a screen. I seem to view the world through my eyes, but it enters through the prism of my egoism and is projected on the screen in my brain. Everything depends on my attitude, and how I attune myself to see it. So, I have to attune myself to the group in such a way that I see them all as the greatest people of this generation, completely corrected.

Is it a game? No, it is simply annulling the deception of the ego. It is a rational act. Beyond me, there is the World of Infinity, and I already reside in it, right now. If you peel off all the shells (Klipot), which distort the World of Infinity to this mediocre, inverted state, you will perceive Infinity.

First, try to pretend. Let’s make an effort. Try to see us as fully corrected, big, and united. Through this action, we will draw a very strong Surrounding Light, and it will correct our nature. Instead of egoism, we will attain bestowal. This is a very simple principle, and it is absolutely real; there is no mysticism here. We are trying, through our own effort, to see ourselves in the corrected state, and in that degree, we will receive an inner strength, which is contained in this corrected system. Our desire pushes it to act. These are the practical actions toward correction.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, “The Importance of the Association

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Infinity Is Boundless Unification
Kabbalah Moments: “Through The Ego”
Song: “The Greatest in the World”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Perception - 2 Comments →

A question I received: Is the purpose of reading The Zohar to develop our sensitivity to what we feel in our five organs of perception? Does it develop our consciousness of the vision of this world?

My Answer: Absolutely not! While reading The Zohar, I forget about this world; I don’t see or feel it. I am entering the system of Upper Governance and Supervision, reading about, studying, and trying to perceive it, meaning to connect to it in my sensations and mind.

I am trying, to the best of my ability, to use all the names and appellations written in The Zohar. Essentially, the entire Zohar talks about Yeshsut, Zeir Anpin, Malchut, and the souls. Everything takes place between Zeir Anpin and Malchut, but The Zohar expresses it in thousands of names and situations.

Therefore, while reading The Zohar, I am trying to enter these spiritual states, but not draw them into our material world. Why do I need it? I must find myself in the spiritual one, sense how I clothe in ZON of the World Atzilut, identify myself, and merge with it in all my desires and thoughts.

I need to try to always see all that is happening in a singular body of the common soul, because it is all my qualities: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph, Aaron, David, and all actions that the Zohar is talking about, Klipa and holiness, the steps of ZON of the World Atzilut.

But this world doesn’t exist for me, as it were. I don’t understand or feel it; I don’t need this imaginary world. It is written that we must rise to the level of the Upper World, and from it, after getting some understanding of the spiritual roots, we are able to study their lower branches in our world.

There is no need to be in the branches “just because.” In fact, it is prohibited to attach the Upper roots to the lower ones. It is called idolatry when you take the names and actions from the Upper World and try to see their effects in this world in the precise congruence of one to the other. It is banned because it is wrong. What does it mean “prohibited”? It doesn’t exist. It means to “make an idol for oneself.”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Malchut Of The World Of Atzilut Is, In Fact, You
Laitman.com Post: The Book Of Zohar Was Written Only For Creating A Connection Among Us
Laitman.com Post: Advancing From The Branches To The Spiritual Roots

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

“Preface to the Sulam Commentary,” Item.61. “A Great Rule in Time and Place,” Know that everything in the wisdom of Kabbalah that expresses time and place do not refer to the imaginary time and place in corporeality, since everything in spirituality is above time and above space. Rather, “before” and “after” refer to cause and consequence. We refer to the cause as “before” and to the consequence as “after,” since every cause precedes its consequence…Аlso “above and below” and “ascent and descent” are measures of coarseness and purity of the desire because “ascent” means purification of the desire, and “descent” means the coarsening.

And when we say that a lower degree rose, it means that the lower one has been purified and became as pure as the Higher Degree. Hence, it is considered to have clung to it because equivalence of form attaches the spirituals to one another…Study them in this manner, that is, in spiritual meanings, according to the issue.“

Kabbalah uses the language of roots and branches, which uses words from our world to describe what takes place in the spiritual one, the Upper World. In the spiritual world, meanings of our world such as time, motion, space, distance, and direction don’t exist. But the very same names that we use to identify some objects and actions in our world signify, in the spiritual world, forces, qualities, and their actions.

Therefore, we need to do our best to try to imagine spiritual actions behind these words. Such efforts are very useful because they create a request (MAN), the desire, the need to understand and perceive the Upper world, and begin living in it. Through such actions we help ourselves to enter it.

Thus, in Baal HaSulam’s article “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 155, it is written that even though we don’t understand what we are studying, due to our strong desire and will to understand the studied material, we draw the light that surrounds our souls. As a result, it brings to us qualities that we need in order to perceive the spiritual world.

It doesn’t mean that some new external picture is revealed to us. But our desire brings about a change in our perception, in our inner qualities, in which we begin to see what we are reading.

It’s all right if you don’t know what purification and coarsening of the desire means or what the ascent and descent of the screen is, but you must try to imagine this in the form of desires and intentions. This is all there is: a desire, its intention, and the Light which works on them. This is how I should connect these words with what I know and how I should be impressed by what is written.

This is already enough to connect with this system. Let it be incorrect; it doesn’t matter! What matters is my effort, my desire to enter this system however artificial it is. Granted, I don’t feel a sensory connection, but it’s natural, and Above, nothing more is expected of me.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah: The Innermost Science
Laitman.com Post: How To Use The Opportunity Presented By The Zohar
Laitman.com Post: Draw The Upper World For Yourself

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