From Mind To Heart – Laitman Unplugged
Posted on January 25th, 2011
Question: Can we build the collective intention before the lesson begins? If so, how?
Answer: The collective intention has to be founded on the common goal. Our ultimate purpose is to delight the Creator, whereby we equalize ourselves with Him. In order to accomplish this, we must get to know Him since He wishes that we see His love and kindness. It isn’t our personal need; the Creator wishes for us to know Him.
Getting to know something means to become equivalent in form. Hence, we do our best to aim all our efforts at bestowal. I exert effort not to gratify my egoism, but yearn to step out of myself and desire to find the Creator namely to delight Him therewith.
To accomplish this, I need to possess the Kelim (properties, vessels) of bestowal, and I turn to the aid of the Light concealed in the Kabbalistic texts, especially in The Book of Zohar. The Light can reform me, walk me across the abyss that lies between my properties of reception (receiving Kelim) and bestowal (bestowing Kelim).
However, if I think about it alone, there isn’t sufficient force. It doesn’t even sustain my ability to hold the intention to bestow. On the other hand, if I work with the others as a link in the chain, in one desire where everyone nullifies himself before all the others, then our common spirit gains great power. Kabbalists, who had already passed these stages, promise us that this is the way to success.
Hence, I am happy to be among the friends and to be able to build the intention with them by withdrawing from myself as far as possible in order to finally bring pleasure to the Creator. In this way, we become similar to the Creator in qualities and get to know Him in the same degree; moreover, we achieve adhesion with Him.
Therefore, we must start preparing before the lesson and arrive to it with a fully formed desire. By thinking about it, a person “heats” himself up more and more until he finally succeeds. It is written: “Mitzva (commandment) without intention is like a body without a soul.” You are given a commandment to study the Torah, a Kabbalistic method that is designated to reform the evil inclination. With its help, you will attain bestowal, feel love for all others and, ultimately, for the Creator. The Torah derives from the Hebrew word “Ohr” (light) and from the word “Oraa” (instruction).
But if you haven’t equipped yourself with the necessary intention, you are sitting at the lesson dead and performing mechanical actions deprived of spirit and the Light of life. So it is up to you to decide what you are getting up for at night and what you are doing.
Even if a person is unable to keep the intention, let him at least feel how strongly he lacks it. The heartache caused by the empty, bitter heart is just as important.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/2010, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Buds”
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Question: In the beginning of the lesson, you usually set a common direction for all of us; you help us focus on a common intention. How important is this directive?
Answer: We need to come to the lesson already prepared, with a particular desire (intention): What do I wish to receive from the lesson? I need to think a lot about this prior to the lesson.
Sometimes I organize an intention for everyone without relying on your preparation, but rather setting an example myself. However, in general, each of us should prepare for the lesson on his own, in his own intention. One’s success in revealing the Creator depends precisely on the intention.
A mother gives to her little child what she thinks is necessary. However, as he gets older, a person chooses things according to his taste, using his own experience and comprehension.
We have come in contact with The Book of Zohar many times already; we have tried many exercises with the intention. Over the course of the day, a person needs to prepare for the lesson and for attuning himself to the studies. We need to give people an opportunity to build an intention on their own rather than gathering them like a nursery school teacher: “Take each other’s hands, and everyone follow me!”
One has to prepare for the lesson on his own based on his present sensations and understanding, based on his current state. After all, the lesson is a time for the realization of desires. Here, being on a date with the Light, a person can receive what his point in the heart aspires for.
Maybe we should sit in silence for 15 minutes before the lesson so that every person could search within. However, I depend on you in this regard: Between waking up and coming to the lesson, you have time to think, attune yourself, and build your intention.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/2010, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Buds”
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Rabash’s articles start gradually becoming clear to a person to the degree he actualizes them. At first it seems like they are written gracelessly and incorrectly, that their separate parts are unconnected, and they lack order. In these articles we do not see the precise movement of the forces of the soul which develops precisely this way, and that’s because we do not know our soul.
If a person carries out his actions on his own and at the same time studies these articles, then he sees that they are written absolutely precisely and could not be written otherwise. That is because Kabbalists wrote their texts based on what they felt, and all of the souls go through the same path and the same states. Therefore, these articles become closer and clearer to a person with time; they are the “manuscript” of his soul.
At first a person who studies tries to memorize the material. He remembers separate phrases, understands some of them, while some of them still remain unclear. He repeats them like a child repeating the words of adults without understanding their meaning. Gradually, to the degree he realizes these articles, he begins to see that these lines express his states with absolute accuracy and it is impossible to write them differently. That is exactly why Kabbalists use quotes from the Psalms, Talmud, Prophets, and other sources.
These articles are absolutely special. I grew up with them; they were written by my side. Later on, as I read them over the course of many years, I saw that they become closer and more real for a person so that eventually you no longer read them in a book, but from inside, from your soul, which becomes revealed to you together with these words. This will happen to everyone precisely for the reason that these articles were written based on the full attainment of the soul.
Rabash was great no matter how much he concealed himself. Yet he did succeed in concealing himself from everyone! However, a person who attains Rabash’s articles sees that this was a great person. In the entire lineage of Kabbalists preceding him, starting from Adam, there was no one who laid out the system of spiritual work so sequentially and in such detail while keeping the connection with the root, using the language of branches, and with the entire Pentateuch (Tanach). Moreover, he explained the system of spiritual work openly, making it accessible to all.
Rabash takes you by the hand and leads you through all the phases of the articles in such a way that you cannot make a mistake. He underlines every detail that you should pay attention to. In fact, we don’t have a teacher who’s closer for developing the soul. Baal HaSulam is very high, academic, and universal. He comes down to us from a high mountain, while Rabash is a close and tender mentor who gently gives us the method of correction with love and care.
From the lesson on 1/7/11, Writings of Rabash
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Question: Is there a difference between a student studying Kabbalah one on one with a Kabbalist teacher and the way we study in a group?
Answer: You also study together with me at the lesson. Of course, it’s different from having a one on one lesson, but I don’t think that today it is possible to pass this science on to anyone individually. In our time this is possible only by studying in a group or through the Internet in the widest possible form, and it makes no difference where a student is. The student will advance, whereas the previous individual method no longer works.
You shouldn’t regret the impossible, but should use everything you have. Every person has a governance from above and the Creator controls the entire process. Any place where you have freedom of choice, you should realize it and that’s all.
I don’t have any students that are closer to or farther from me. The student himself continuously determines how close he is, and that is how much he advances. Whether a student is close to me or far is determined only by how much he desires to accept my inner message, absorb it, and realize it.
This does not depend on whether a person is located right here in the classroom or lives far away and studies over the Internet, or whether it’s a man or a woman. Everything depends on the student and how he uses the means that are given to everyone.
Besides, it’s very important to not forget that it is impossible for the student to respect the teacher while neglecting the group. That’s because a teacher is the innermost part of the group, the message that is inside it. Therefore, it’s impossible for a person to scorn the group while respecting the teacher, the group’s inner charge.
The group is our mutual place with the teacher, the place where we meet. This did not exist in previous times, when the student worked with his teacher face to face. When we meet inside of the group, every student determines for himself whether he unites with the teacher “Peh el Peh” (through a common screen) or “Peh el Awzen” (from the mouth into the ear, like when studying regular science).
At the end of it all, we meet the Creator, because everything is united until the world of Infinity.
From the lesson on 1/7/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot
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There is a very big problem in Kabbalah: this science is described using an allegoric language. It is written in a very difficult manner. Using strange examples, expressions, Kabbalists address us, people in this world, trying to tell us about how to make attempts to enter the Upper World. They are trying to tell us something about the upper world, about the qualities we should aspire to.
This language is extremely not simple. We must always try to translate it to the language of feelings until every word comes to resonate with the right feeling in a person. Every word must “pull” on some string inside of me, giving rise to an inner response.
Until that happens, the text is unclear to us. It is absolutely external, does not touch us, and we do not perceive it or adapt it inside of us, and do not act in accordance with it. We have to find how to feel what the author wants to convey to us. This is the most important thing. Reading a Kabbalistic text is like tuning a musical instrument. If we attune ourselves correctly, then this instrument will begin to play by itself.
It is written that King David had a harp hanging on the wall, and at midnight, when the north wind swept through the room, the harp played. We are the same. If we attune ourselves correctly to the external force, we will begin to feel its influence and desire, and will match it by qualities, reaching a resonance with it and “vibrating” like it. That is what we have to attain.
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From the lesson in Moscow on 1/16/11, Writings of Rabash
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We have to understand that our daily study is not for acquiring knowledge, but for development. Every lesson you attended, whether today, yesterday, or the day before yesterday, are phases of your development.
This is not a study of some article or a part of Talmud Eser Sefirot. By studying this material, you discern which levels you should develop through. Therefore, later on, over the course of the day, it is very important to remain inside of what you studied at the lesson.
You have to spend the whole day revolving around the hours when we meet at the lesson. It is necessary to work on the lesson and to process it, trying not to lose it, and by reading my blog. You have to process this material as much as possible. By doing so we already unite in our thoughts and find ourselves in our common, specific phase of development. This is very important since through it we already produce one common thought.
I saw that even Rabash did the same work: Over the course of the day he returned to the material that we studied in the morning. He also talked about it using the same words, recalling the article we read. This is good since it means that a person lives it, transferring it from his head to his heart.
Every day Rabash and I would go out for a stroll, and if I came a bit early I would find him sitting and reading or writing something that dealt with the morning lesson. Afterward, when we rode in a car, we only talked about the article or the part of Talmud Eser Sefirot that we studied at the lesson.
If he had to go to a doctor’s appointment, he took articles or a volume of Talmud Eser Sefirot with him, and while sitting in the waiting room we talked about it and studied it. Usually it was the same material that we had just studied in the morning.
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From the lesson on Talmud Eser Sefirot on 1/7/11
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Question: How can a person follow the advice of “being joyful” if he feels “the taste of waste” in his spiritual work?
Answer: This is a phase where you still do not understand the importance of waste. Yet, can anything grow without waste, manure, or fertilizer? There is nothing useless in the world; everything depends only on your attitude. We have to go through all of the states and feel each of them. In these states death seems sweeter than life, but you aren’t able to avoid them because you have to understand what the “will to enjoy” is.
I am speaking frankly, without exaggerating: Unless you experience this, you won’t be able to come out of the power of the will to enjoy, even though this also doesn’t help a great deal. This is the revelation of the “angel of death.” Without the group’s support, without a strict daily routine, and without taking on obligations, it is impossible to cope with this feeling.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to take on obligations that compel you to carry out a certain task today. It has to put pressure on you like a yoke on a bull. There is nothing worse than feeling free. Despite the fact that you do not see, feel, understand, or remember anything, you start to work because you have to, and gradually you come out of the state of descent and continue your path.
We are controlled by two forces, and the only opportunity we are given is to shift from the rule of one force to the influence of the other. Besides the rule of two forces, there is an intermediate state where you choose what influence to be under. You have to try to control these two forces from the intermediate state, the middle line, as if these are two reins that you hold in your hands.
That is why you have to stick to the daily routine: Go to the lesson, go over the lesson, sing, dance in your room when no one can see you, laugh—do anything you can to come out of a bad state! You have to disagree with and oppose the control of this force! The worst thing you can do is despair.
From the lesson on Rabash’s article on 11/7/11
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First and foremost I have to be grateful and “bless” the fact that I have a connection, that I am not shut off from the upper governance, no matter what it seems like to me now: good or bad. The most important thing is that I have a point of unity: I know about the existence of the Upper Force, Nature. It is Good and Does Good. It has a mind and feeling as we understand it. It creates us and desires for us to develop. Out of all humanity, right now it evoked a desire inside of me to come to it, and I have to be grateful for this aspiration even though it brings me discomfort.
I treat my new aspiration the same way as all my other desires: I want to fill it as fast as possible for the sake of reception. However, this emptiness will only be filled if I operate in the mode of bestowal. This is a different kind of desire: It enjoys only when abundance comes from it, when it does good for someone else.
I have to treat the spiritual desire that awakened in me as a new creation. It is impossible to continue regular life with it; I just won’t be able to. That is why I am brought to the group, the teacher, and the studies; I am introduced to the Kabbalistic method so I would understand that the time has come to work on a new creation.
This new Reshimo or new inclination in me does not yet have a vector and a form. I must now immerse myself in the environment like a grain in soil in order to receive nutritional substances from the group. Only then will the embryo of my spiritual desire begin to develop.
Moreover, it will develop in a completely different direction because this desire belongs to a dimension that is completely new for me. That means I must treat it differently from the onset and not demand the same thing I am used to demanding from my usual desires.
I still live in my previous desires the way I used to live, but now I devote all of my attention and energy to raising the new sprout. I study the science of Kabbalah in order to find the opportunity to realize this desire, to express it, and reveal fulfillment inside it. This is the gist of the entire wisdom.
I don’t act instinctively, the way I did until now. The new desire demands a new “style of work” from me. That is why I must first learn a new method, develop a new approach.
However, if I don’t want to study and keep acting the old way, not rising from the animate level to the human level, then I receive blows. That’s because my new aspiration is completely not intended or adapted for my egoistic reception. Is it possible to raise a human child by the laws of the jungle among wild beasts? He wouldn’t grow up as a person and wouldn’t rise from the animate level.
In the same way, I have to study in order to properly nourish this seed and create the right environment for it. I have to provide it with moisture, minerals, warmth, and light—all the things that are necessary for its development.
This is the meaning of studying the science of Kabbalah: I study how to correctly and optimally raise my spiritual desire.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/13/11, Writings of Rabash
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Question: What’s the use of my growing egoistic desires?
Answer: Their task is to bring you to failure, to let you feel that you are worthless, that your life is awful, your desires despicable, and generally speaking, nothing around you is worth a thing.
Therefore, the only thing you now need is for the Light to awaken you. It will awaken you to the same desires, showing you that they are worse than they seemed before. Then you really will desire to ascend above them and will start revealing the opposite side of reality above these desires. However, before that, you have to start studying in the group because lectures and live communication cannot be substituted by anything else.
From the lecture in “Kabbalah L’Am” Hall on 1/4/11
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