Fundamentals of Kabbalah – 11.18.12
Posted on November 18th, 2012
A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah “Introduction to the TES”
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah “Introduction to the TES”
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Rabash, Letter 34: As it is said, “And the Lord shall be unto you an everlasting light.” When? When you are all one society, as it is written, “live every one of you this day.”
Usually, if someone takes a pile of branches, can he break them all at once? But if taken one at a time, even a baby can break them. Similarly, you find that Israel will not be redeemed until they are all one society, as it is said, “In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together.” Thus, when they are united, they receive the face of Divinity.
I presented the words of the Midrash so that you don’t think that the issue of a group, which is love of friends, relates to Hassidism. Rather, it is the teaching of our sages, who saw how necessary was the uniting of hearts into a single group for the reception of the face of Divinity.
We can only feel the connection with the Light from a whole and perfect vessel; a vessel in which all the desires in order to receive are covered by a Masach (screen), which turns them to in order to bestow. This is possible only when there is connection, since to whom can I express my intention to bestow? Only towards others! So by connection in our desires and intentions in the heart and mind, we reconstruct the shattered vessel and by that get closer to the Light, until eventually it can illuminate for us.
If in the meantime, we only try to get closer to one another, we summon upon ourselves an illumination from a distance, which is called the Surrounding Light. This is the law we know from the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the law of all of reality, the law of nature.
So the condition for receiving help from Above for the revelation of the Light is our connection. If we want to improve our condition, there are no other methods but that. There is no point in looking for anything else and just wasting our efforts. We must only yearn for connection by which we will evoke and draw the Light that Reforms us.
If we don’t act towards connection, then nothing good will come out of our efforts. So in the very difficult and tense situation the people of Israel find themselves in today, we should try to connect as hard as we can and to attain unity. It’s through this that we bring the Light closer to us, and bring it closer to everyone. Thus we advance to a better state in a better way, through the Light.
We should do that before the sufferings reach us and force us to connect by putting pressure on us. We should always have the inclination to connect out of our goodwill and not because we are forced to do it. This is the difference between the “path of the Light” (hastening time) and the “path of suffering,” the natural process of developing (in its time).
Let’s try to understand that the connection summons the influence of the good force upon us and explain this to everyone. The more people will join this connection and unity, by feeling this condition and understanding that the more we disseminate and publicize it by every available channel, by Internet and TV, the more people hear about it and incorporate in it, the closer we will be to the good Light. The Light is the only thing that operates. It’s a waste of energy to think that there are other actions that can improve our situation except for connection and unity.
[93194]
From the Preparation the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/12
Related Material:
Responding To The Call Of The Creator
A Call From The Epicenter Of Confrontation Between Forces
An Agreement With The Creator
Rabash, “Three Lines:” Before a person is granted to exit self love and to do everything in order to bestow, which is called Lishma (for Her name), even though a person studies different things the way they are, they are only names with no commentary, since he has no attainment of the matters that he studies, since he knows nothing about the upper roots that are called by the Holy names or Sefirot or Partzufim.
And we can learn the upper matters, called the wisdom of Kabbalah, only by way of merit, since they can bring a person a desire and passion to adhere to the Creator, since these are Holy matters referring to the Holy names…and when a person studies the upper matters in order to get closer to Holiness, it brings the closeness of the Lights, which he wants this study to bring him, so that he will be granted to aim all his actions in order to bestow, and this is called working in preparation, as a person prepares himself to be ready to enter the King’s palace and to adhere to Him.
There are several phases in the preparation work. In the first phase of the study a person listens, but he doesn’t hear, since he doesn’t know what it’s about. All the terms Kabbalah books speak about are hidden from a person—he doesn’t feel them and doesn’t see; he doesn’t discern himself or his environment. So he imagines what he hears as he desires.
He doesn’t work with these concepts and cannot discern them or respond to them, he thinks that Pharaoh is a person who rules Egypt, which is a distant country, that the Creator is very far, and that Israel is someone who is born to a Jewish family. He lacks the right spiritual concepts, so that he can immediately feel an inner reaction if he hears them.
If he hears about a pain in the heart, the head, the arm or the leg, he can immediately imagine it. He would feel a reaction to the word he hears, but the Kabbalistic terms don’t evoke any reaction in him, and so in the meantime he studies without attributing all this to himself. But the Surrounding Light operates on him and reforms him, and to the extent that a person does everything in his power, it brings him closer to the upper world.
The main thing is that at first a person doesn’t know that the only way to advance is by subduing himself to the group, the teacher and the books. After all, he is like a baby who has to adhere to the grown ups, to an upper level. By that he shortens or prolongs time. The preparation may take several years, until he comes close enough to the Light and begins to feel how the Light operates in him and begins to discern every attribute in him. This can take 20-30 years.
Everything depends on the extent to which a person can subdue himself before the teacher, the group, and the study with all the means that he has. It’s the study period of Yenika (infancy) when one must adhere and devote himself to the upper level, when you annul your mind and everything that you know as much as possible. Then there is the stage of greater awareness, when a person already begins to discern these attributes in him and to experience ascents and descents.
In the third phase he already understands that it’s the Creator who evokes these ascents and descents in him, as He calls him, “Come to Pharaoh!” The Creator is always on the right side, and Pharaoh is on the left side, and a person is left in the middle between these two forces. But until this is actually revealed within him, he can only guess that that’s the way it is according to his own reactions. Eventually he cries out since he cannot exit himself and break free of Pharaoh’s domination, and then is granted redemption.
Afterwards the road doesn’t get any easier. A person simply sees everything that happens along this road differently. Redemption becomes an opportunity to bestow for him, to ascend above himself and to work disregarding the unpleasant inner feelings.
Thus he advances and his advancement is determined by the re-evaluation of his values.
[93000]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/12
Related Material:
Anyone Who Reads This Letter Is Also Chosen
The Cry Of A Person Drowning In The Swamp
The Basics Of Working In Three Lines
The world won’t recognize the importance of the wisdom of Kabbalah until it has reached the need for correction. But this need is yet to be revealed, and this is what is happening today. We have reached a dead end; we are up against a wall, helpless, not knowing what to do.
Until now we have always managed to overcome problems as we improved our life, but today it’s the opposite. We are sinking into a crisis that doesn’t end but increases.
This indicates that people are already starting to discover the need for a real change.
Here we are faced with the question about the meaning of life, which we didn’t ask before. All the previous generations aspired for more: to understand more, to feel more, to fly to the moon, to dive into the ocean, to build. Eventually everything we build is destroyed, and things are getting so bad that sometimes it seems as if it’s better to die. “What do we need this life for?” Today it’s a general question and it will become increasingly sharper.
Here comes the need for correction, and it can be fulfilled only by the Light that created it.
The method that allows us to summon the Light that corrects the desire is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. It connects the Light that created the desire and which can correct and fill it with the desire itself. So because there’s no other choice, humanity will eventually have to discover this method and to use it according to its destiny.
In the meantime, in the period of transition, the world doesn’t know about it yet. We don’t know much, but we are at least trying to hear. We have to understand the essence of the wisdom of Kabbalah as fast as we can and present it as well and much as we can to everyone. Then the world will reach correction.
By definition, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created being, or a change of one’s desire thanks to which he will receive the Creator’s form and discover Him. The point is the aspect that we explain it from: either the aspect of the Lights or from the aspect of the vessels. We either speak about the revelation of the Light to the vessel or about a vessel to which the Light will be revealed only to the extent that they are equal in form. On the whole, it isn’t the Light that is revealed in the vessel, but the vessel that receives a form similar to the Light, called the “Creator.” Thus the Creator is revealed to the created being, and this is the goal.
[92922]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
Related Material:
The Keyboard Of The Commanding Computer
The Adapter Between Me And The New World
From Point A To Point B With The Science Of Kabbalah
It is needless to say that we all need to unite and especially in Georgia where a desire for unity, peace, and being good neighbors is considered the most exalted human desire. I think it is clear that we need to be together, study according to one methodology, and not look for anything else. Later, we will discover that all of that is one, indeed, but we shouldn’t dig into that or go away.
First of all, it is important to reach the level of attaining a spiritual world where we see its roots. Then, there will be no problems. I really want our friends who are in various searches just to put it aside until the time they can understand.
Then, it will be clear that all of us come from Babylon, and Kabbalah comes from there as well. Kabbalah embraces all the teachings. Then, there will be no more conflict and no searches.
When a person begins to study the science of Kabbalah—when he still hasn’t entered into it and doesn’t realize what a spiritual world is and begins to match words and various expressions—all of that is not serious. He is sorry for the time and, most importantly, for bringing discord, dissention, and separation into a group and the entire world Kli.
He doesn’t even understand that by doing so, he creates a point of sickness that spreads this disease across all of our enormous body. Thus, he will suffer, not to a small measure due to the violation that he did, but to the extent of dissonance that he caused in the entire group. I feel sorry for these people. They just don’t understand why they are getting carried away somewhere.
Trust me; it is not worth doing anything except working on unity. Any theory and any direction that causes separation do not lead to holiness.
Thus, we need to put all of these attempts aside and hold onto each other as if for dear life! As in the ocean, if there is anything that disconnects us, we will sink immediately, and, if we stick together, we will stay afloat. That is how we need to see this.
[92780]
From a Meal at the Georgia Convention 11/7/12
Related Material:
The Purifying Fire Of Love
Empty Philosophy Or Practical Science?
Joy With A Quiver
In Kabbalah, the historical aspect plays a minor role. It doesn’t matter when or in which generation a certain Kabbalist operated; what’s important is what he did and what he fulfilled in the general system of the worlds, which corrections he made, so that thanks to this, those who come after him would be able to advance in a better, easier way. I cannot assess the Kabbalists or compare them until I am in the upper system myself. I judge according to what I see today. Suppose someone has left wonderful writings that light my emotions and my mind and enable me to advance. Accordingly I see that Kabbalist as great.
On the other hand, Baal Shem Tov, for example, didn’t leave any books, but all the Kabbalists that followed him rose thanks to his study. The Ari didn’t write anything either, all his teachings were written by his disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital. There were also Kabbalists who shortened the way for the next generations. It all depends on the root of a person’s soul. Only in the network of the connections between the souls can we discern what each of them did in the general framework, and what corrections he made in it.
Rabash says that the Talmud sages made the greatest corrections. On the one hand, they had attained spirituality on a very high level, and on the other hand, they were already in exile. This allowed them to write and to describe the states on a corporeal level and at the same time to make great spiritual corrections. In the “Introduction to TES” Baal HaSulam speaks about the requirements of those times: “You shall eat bread and salt, drink water sparingly, sleep on the ground, and labor in the Torah.” But by their spiritual work, Kabbalists have annulled these extremely difficult conditions and left us only one means, the Light that Reforms. Since then, it is enough in order to fulfill the goal of creation.
They, of course, drew the Light before that too, as it says: “You shall labor in the Torah,” but this was in addition to asceticism. Later the authors of the Talmud developed the channels of abundance to such an extent that now we can lead an ordinary corporeal life, needing no luxuries and settling for the necessities. The Light creates such a reality that we don’t need to think or to worry about that.
[92700]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
Related Material:
Resting In The Hands Of The Great Kabbalists
Accept Us In Your Assembly
The Limits Of Clairvoyance
Kabbalah is science and the system and the realization of the attainment of the Creator. Our goal is to reveal Him, and that is why there is no science higher and more important. After all, any wisdom is evaluated by its goal. Kabbalah is complex: It is not only explains the procedure, but also accompanies us throughout the entire process of its realization.
In the article “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence,” Baal HaSulam writes: As a whole, the wisdom of Kabbalah concerns the revelation of Godliness, arranged on its path in all its aspects—those that have emerged in the worlds and those that are destined to be revealed, and in all the manners that can ever appear in the worlds, to the end of time. In addition, Ramchal writes in the book 138 Gates of Wisdom: The entire wisdom of Kabbalah is designed only to know the management of the higher will: on what He created all these creatures, what does He want from them, and the end result of everything in the world.
And here are the words of Baal HaSulam from the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah:” This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.”
From some highest Source that I do not know, a sequence of roots descends along which, as a creature, I can achieve the revelation of the Creator. Firstly, on the way from above to below, the Creator constrains Himself more, and my receiving desire is growing until all the roots disappear, leaving me with the last one—the point in the heart (•). And on the way upward, I reveal the Creator a little bit, time after time, getting to know Him, passing through 125 roots.
Thus, the system, as well the passage of the way, connects me to the Creator. The guide and the path from point A to point B is the science of Kabbalah. Ultimately, it is a means of revealing the Creator.
There is a ladder between the Creator and the creature. It leads from the properties of the creature to the properties of the Creator, and along the way their properties are combined with each other from zero to one hundred percent. This is what Kabbalah is: It tells not about the properties of the Creator as such and not about the properties of the creature as such because this essence is incomprehensible to me. I just study their relationship, the form dressed in matter. I can attain it, know it, feel it, understand it; I have access to it. I do not know what the Creator and the creature are separately—I study only their combination.
This happens on each degree. This is the realization of the “wicked,” that is the creature, ascending to the degree of the Creator; in other words, the revelation of the Creator to the created beings is the science of Kabbalah.
Hence, it is clear that we have nothing else to do in life but to satisfy our basic needs and to devote the rest to this science. Today, we are approaching the basic level. Life itself, the crisis will cleanse us from excesses within a few years, if not sooner. Then, in desperation, the world will discover that for a few thousand years it advanced along the wrong course and now it must change direction. Of course, it was not a mistake, but preparation, the realization of the previous degrees of development, still, vegetative and animate, to finally come to the science of Kabbalah.
[92703]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
A Science About The World
The Science That Studies The Self
The Path To Self-Attainment
Until the destruction of the Second Temple, the wisdom of Kabbalah was the Torah, the study of the Israeli nation, the group that Abraham brought out of Babel and made into a nation that lives according to the laws of the wisdom of Kabbalah. The destruction of the Temple means that they fell from love thy friend as thyself into unfounded hatred.
Since then the wisdom of Kabbalah ceased to exist among the people who we still call the people of Israel, although they were no longer connected to the law of love thy friend as thyself, and therefore have no right to be called “Israel” (Yashar – Kel), which means “straight to the Creator.” So the understanding of what we need the wisdom of Kabbalah for was lost. Baal HaSualm speaks about his fear, “and it is fearful that it will be forgotten, God forbid, in the people of Israel.”
He is afraid of that, but others don’t even think about it since they don’t know what the wisdom of Kabbalah is needed for. And to that end, Baal HaSulam wrote the “Introduction to TES,” in order to explain why it is obligatory to study the book “The Study of the Ten Sefirot“ (TES) and the wisdom of Kabbalah in general.
He didn’t see that people were interested in this wisdom or that they respond to his appeal, that they even listened to how important and essential this wisdom is. Everyone rejected it by finding different excuses. Religious people who studied the Torah didn’t understand why they needed something else. And a person who lived an ordinary corporeal life was afraid that the wisdom of Kabbalah would ruin his life. Who knew what forces were hidden in it, what he would summon upon himself by mentioning the Holy names, perhaps he would summon troubles by that…
Others justified themselves by saying that there were people who studied Kabbalah, who called themselves Kabbalists, but who didn’t recommend it to others. There are many reasons why the wisdom of Kabbalah was pushed aside, away from general attention, and it is a wonder that it has existed until now. After all there were many wisdoms that were forgotten and have disappeared throughout history.
People reject this study, but Baal HaSulam thought that this should stop. The time had come for mankind to change our attitude and to show people why the wisdom of Kabbalah is necessary and why it came into the world—in order to raise humanity to the level of unity with the Creator, which is the goal of our life, the goal of creation. It is time to fulfill this goal here and now.
For this reason Baal HaSulam wrote TES and “The Introduction to TES” in which he explains the importance of its study. In his time it was very hard to bring this idea to people. Today it is accepted in a totally different manner, and we can openly advertise the widespread study of the wisdom of Kabbalah. I remember what a buzz it made in Bnei Brak, an orthodox town, when people found out that I brought a group of nonreligious students from Tel Aviv to my teacher, Rabash. Rabash made a real revolution, but there was no other choice, the world is in such a state that the wisdom of Kabbalah has to be revealed.
[92590]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot
Related Material:
Knowledge Is Power
Time Of Ripening
Breaking The Iron Wall In The Heart
A human being (Adam) is a new action, new creation developing according to the internal program, inherent in the primary “drop of semen.” To this program, this form, given by the father, the mother’s material is added. Then the program begins to be realized, manifest itself, and the material takes the form of a human being.
A person is born from a mother like an animal. However, we talk about our inner structure, how we give birth to ourselves spiritually. And here is a special condition before us: We have to create our form ourselves.
Question: But is an animal not capable of this?
Answer: An animal remains an animal. It cannot become a human being. It is the foundation above which he is formed. In general, the still, vegetative, and animate nature is the platform above which we build the human form.
Question: Who can build it?
Answer: The “drop of semen” that lies above the animal degree. It contains everything, except the material. But when the material is added to it, the necessary form does not appear automatically like in the animal world; we have to find it ourselves. In the spiritual world, a person creates himself with the Creator’s help.
Initially, I do not know my future spiritual form. I should want it, look for it and try, going in faith above reason as much as I can. I act, striving for something that seems like bestowal to me, and these efforts suddenly bring me to a “discovery,” a new form. Yes, I was thinking about it all that time, but still could not imagine what it would be in reality. Now, when the form of bestowal is dressed in me, I attain it.
How did I get it, not knowing where to go exactly? That is why it is called a “discovery”—it is a surprise for me, not an expected result.
Question: So, what is my free choice?
Answer: Your free choice is to seek this form with the help of the environment, by all possible means. Namely the environment builds my future state, creating its form according to the principle of a matrix that puts pressure on a tin ingot from both sides, giving it the desired form. I am that ingot, the initial material, lying between the two parts of the press: The group is one side and the teacher and studies are the other.
Question: Where is freedom here?
Answer: It is impossible to be just free, if you are free, it means from something. In reality, you can be independent only from the evil inclination. That is why the Creator created the evil inclination first: pride, self-importance, and other egoistic qualities, relative to which we can check ourselves: How much you can cancel them, sacrifice them in order to take any form that the teacher, studies, and group require from you? If you accept their “pressure,” the Creator fills this new form with the spirit of life. And if not, then not.
When you would like to leave the group, but still decide to stay, then you go toward free choice. The choice means to rise above the evil inclination. Then, you will really feel free.
But now the time has not come yet: Is it possible to let a baby who barely learned to walk choose? He will break something. It is impossible to create a reality of freedom immediately when you have all the qualities opposed to the Creator and you have the opportunity to agree or disagree with Him.
However, today it is not required. Gradually, you realize that you do not have choice for the time being while you are under the dominion of the egoistic desire. Only it acts in you, and you have nothing else, no other force in resisting egoism in something and putting up with it in something else. You still need to go forward, study, and draw a lot of Reforming Light in order to acquire the second force.
In the end, finding yourself between two forces, you obtain the whole world, completely different values, a new understanding. Then, we will talk about free choice.
It is no coincidence that the right to vote is given at 18 and not before. Imagine if 10-year-old children could vote. Then candidates would state from the screen without any constraint: “I will give you candies! I will provide everyone under the age of 18 with the latest generation of smartphones!”
In general, we see that everyday life does not offer a person freedom. And there is no such desire. Today, you do not think that you need choice because you feel you are free. You do not feel that the Creator fully controls you.
And that is why He teaches you: First, He gives you the egoistic desire and then puts obstacles on the path to its realization, as if someone prevents you. You do not understand yet that everything comes from one source, and that is what you are taught.
Question: How can we accelerate this process?
Answer: Through playing with the correct environment, with the group. Replace a vague relationship with the Creator with a real relationship with the group. You can do this. If you want with the help of environment to change how the Creator treats you, you have the opportunity. Instead of the Creator, accept the group as a factor of influence and you can control your life freely.
We hear this, but do not yet feel it. No problem, awareness will come soon…
[92593]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
In Search Of Yourself
A System With One Degree Of Freedom
An Inverted Imprint
Daily Audio Version-MP3
Get the Weekly eNewsletter
Follow on Twitter
