Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 19
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter, “Mishpatim,” Item 80
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Item 3. Ohr Pnimi, Item 50, Start with: “This Behina Dalet Is Called ‘The Middle Point’,” Lesson 4
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“Peace in the World”
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Question: What are the main signs showing that a person has come close to exiting Egypt?
Answer: A great desire to unite with others is a sign of being close to escaping from Egypt because a person understands that only by uniting with others can he be saved. At the same time he sees that he’s unable to do so because there are no sparks of bestowal within him.
He also senses the existence of the upper force: “There is none else besides Him.” This force gives him the two aforementioned states and he is ready to rise with this force out of his state in order to reach connection.
My connection with others is called the “exodus from Egypt.” It means that I’m running away from my antagonism to others and from my own evil toward freedom and goodness. This is freedom from the angel of death, separation, which I perceive as death. And I obtain a connection with others, which for me represents life.
When I tune into the network where everyone is connected, this is called “entering a new land,” a new desire ruled by the Creator, the force of bestowal.
[40708]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/2011, Shamati No. 90
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Question: Why is the path to love so difficult and confusing?
Answer: It’s us who are confused.
I am ruled by the egoistic desire and everything I feel and think is only inside of it, for the sake of my own benefit. So how can I make a different calculation—not for my own sake?
Imagine that you “dress” into someone else and begin making a calculation from his perspective. It was a mere 100 years ago that people began to grasp such concepts. It’s not an accident that this period was epitomized by Freud and Einstein, who not only made seminal discoveries, but also had friendly connections with each other.
After hundreds of thousands of years of development, it was a mere century ago that the greatest minds of humanity finally invented psychoanalysis—or in other words, began to analyze man internally on the material level. Only then did they begin to research human perception, “Me and the surrounding world, me and the neighbor.”
This is not simple. It took a very long period of time to approach man’s animate soul, and that’s not even close to spirituality. The entire problem is that we cannot and do not want to dress into others. Society has to ensure that every person will do this, that every person will try to do it and start discerning how he appears in the eyes of the neighbor and what the neighbor wants.
This is very difficult even though it only involves psychological exercises in the plane of our world, which don’t even relate to spirituality yet. Do you want more? Go ahead. Organize an environment that will finally begin to influence you.
The path is long precisely because no one influences you. There is no progress without social influence. Where could a person get the spiritual details of perception? Only from the environment.
[40585]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Shamati
People view Passover as the holiday of the historical exodus from Egypt. “We used to be slaves and we built several cities and pyramids for Pharaoh, and then we came out to freedom.” However, in realty we are not celebrating a date in the historical calendar. After all, the situation today is much worse than back then. It’s enough to compare the situation of the nation of Israel in Ancient Egypt with the current situation and you would be running back to kiss Pharaoh’s hands, begging him to let you back.
The Jews lived in the land of Goshen, which was the most favorable part of Egypt with the most fertile soil and abundant herds. You could do whatever you want because Pharaoh doesn’t just rule there but he protects you as well. No one can touch a hair on your head, your vats are full of meat, your nets—full of fish, and your storehouses are full of produce. You are a slave only because you have to listen to Pharaoh. This means: Act by the orders of your egoism, and nothing more than that.
The Jews had a wonderful life, so it wasn’t incidental that they complained to Moses in the desert, “Where are the meat and fish, where is the onion and garlic that we ate in Egypt!? Our lives were great, and where have you brought us now?”
So what do we remind ourselves of on this holiday? Were we surrounded by enemies back then the way we are today? On the contrary, we had all the favors at our disposal and Pharaoh’s power protected us from enemies. In his country he allowed us to live however we wanted, even on separate territory and by our own laws. So what’s so bad about that compared to the current situation?
As Baal HaSulam writes, if the Jews today could disperse all over the countries of the Diaspora, then almost no one would be left in Israel. We have to understand: Egypt becomes a dungeon only when you start to think about spiritual exile, when you lack the Creator. If not for the need for spiritual redemption, Egypt by itself is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here you have everything besides the Creator, besides the answer to the question about the meaning of life. You have everything else in abundance. You are living the life of a king and you lack just one thing, “I want bestowal and love for the neighbor.”
When you desire precisely this, then Egypt will seem like exile to you. This is the only thing missing here—love for the neighbor. Thus, it turns out that we celebrate Passover to commemorate the good life in Egypt and not the redemption, which no one really needs. After all, coming out of Egypt means throwing away everything we have besides love.
Do we feel that we are in exile? On the contrary, people do not understand what this is talking about. But love for the neighbor has to become your only desire. Moses demands from Pharaoh, “Let my people go! I want to leave!” To which Pharaoh replies, “What do you lack, Moses? You grew up in my arms. Stay the Egyptian prince. Be a prince! Why are you making a revolution here? For the sake of love for the neighbor? You’ve gone crazy!”
Only at the end of the path does Egypt become a land of exile for us. But until that happens, we are satiated with everything besides bestowal.
It turns out that we celebrate this holiday to honor the fact that we once lacked love for the neighbor. If only it were possible to really explain this to the people and to show them the true situation today. Today are we willing to forgo anything in our rich lives for the sake of love for the Creator, for the neighbor, for friends, for the sake of mutual bestowal and mutual empathy? Are we close to this? Do we deserve to celebrate the holiday of redemption?
This is talking about freedom from egoism, when egoism has everything, yet I want to run away from this. I hate this abundance and I don’t desire it. I don’t need the filling food, nor the safety, nor the comfort, nor the health—nothing. I am ready to drown in the waters of the Marginal Sea or to dry up from thirst in the desert—anything to break out of the bonds.
So do we really want to get out to freedom?
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Writings of Rabash
Our egoism is “help from the opposite,” which we have to use in order to ascend to the Creator’s level. And it works in two areas. The first is a person’s connection with the group where his egoism works against “Israel” (the intention “straight to the Creator”). The second is when our ego comes forth against the only force that controls the world, meaning against the Creator. Our ego rises up against these two forces and resists them by every means possible and at every moment. That is why all of our work is aimed only at this.
The more we aspire to attain a connection among us in bestowal, love, and mutual guarantee, the faster we will reveal that we are incapable of this! And then we will have to turn to the Creator and deal with Pharaoh who stands against Him. We know from the story of Egyptian slavery that Moses, the leader of the nation of Israel who spoke with the Creator, did not appear right away. All of this occurs after many years of exile in Egypt when the nation of Israel already cried out from the difficult work and screamed out to the Creator. Only then did one Jewish woman give birth to a boy Moses, and then this entire story begins to unfold. This new force called Moses rises up in a person.
That is where the work against Pharaoh begins. We discern whether it is worth it for us to attract the upper force in order to create a connection in the group that will fuse us together as one nation with one heart, so much that we will reveal the Creator inside of that unity. That is to say, the work takes places in two areas. First of all, this is difficult work that made “the sons of Israel cry out,” which is when we want to build our spiritual vessel (desire) and are unable to. And then we scream, not knowing what to do.
That is when the second phase begins, where we discern: Whom do we yell at and how? We have to reveal the upper force. We want it to be present inside of our union, and not just in order to make our connection with each other come true. Our entire connection has to happen in order to reveal the force fo the Creator, the force of bestowal and love.
We work through these two phases, and as long as we don’t complete them fully, uniting all of Israel and attracting the Creator instead of Pharaoh inside of us, we will not be able to come out of Egypt. This exodus occurs as an escape in darkness, extremely rushed.
There are several steps that we have to make in the direction of this exodus. The Light that illuminates these steps leads us to realize that there is just one upper force, “There is none else besides Him.” Only He influences us and leads us through all of these steps and all of the states. All of our sensations, thoughts, and desires comes to us from above. What depends on us is only one single point of freedom: To relate everything that is happening to the Creator.
We realize this free choice in the group by uniting as one man in order to reveal Him, and He is present inside of the group. That is how we prepare for the exodus from Egypt in order to ascend above our ego and to shift to being ruled by the force of bestowal.
This is the greatest event in a person’s life. It’s not an accident that the whole Torah starts with the Exodus, and the month when it happens is called the beginning of all the months. The beginning is enumerated from the exodus from Egypt because all of the Torah and all spiritual life is built only on this foundation. This is the beginning of a “human being” who starts to grow up from the animate existence, the growing force of faith called the force of the Creator, which rises above the earthly, animate knowledge. All of this begins with the exodus from the egoistic Egypt.
[40225]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/11, Writings of Rabash
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Writings of Rabash, “Purpose of the Group”: In order to attain bestowal to the Creator, it is first necessary to bestow to man, which is called love for the neighbor.
Our nature is completely opposite to love for the neighbor. I only love myself. All of my calculations, whether conscious or unconscious, are built exclusively on personal benefit.
The way I sit, the way I look, the way I think, and what I see—all of this is funneled through the filter of my egoism, leaving me only with the things that can benefit me or pose a threat. Everything has to serve my personal well-being. That is my nature.
However, I have to achieve universal bestowal, universal love, the Creator’s eternal force, eternal life. And to do that, I need to do preliminary exercises in the group. That is why Rabash continues:
Love for the neighbor is possible only when you reject yourself.
One comes instead of the other. Bestowal and reception cannot live together with each other.
I have 613 desires and as a whole my desire acts only for its own sake. This is the situation at the beginning. Then I begin to cut away from it “piece by piece,” starting with the easiest desires and progressing to the most difficult ones.
That is how I correct myself, step by step, and instead of a part of the egoistic desire, I acquire the desire to bestow. In the meantime, in the rest of my desires I still remain in the intention "for my own sake." That is how I correct parts of me.
However, there is a condition: If I have corrected at least one of my desires for the sake of bestowal, then the rest can no longer remain in the egoistic intention. That is why they have to undergo restriction.
I have a large vessel and at first it is entirely aimed at self-benefit. First of all I make a restriction and only then am I able to transform the first, smallest desire to bestowal to others.
Thus, I have a great desire. I make a restriction on it and then I cut off the thinnest layer of myself. From that piece, I am able to perform bestowal. In the meantime, restriction reigns over all the other desires. Then I cut off the second layer, then the third, and that is how I correct them one after another.
Two desires cannot exist in one person: one aimed at himself and one aimed at bestowal. After all, they are opposite to one another. In order to be able to acquire even the smallest desire of bestowal, all the other desires have to be restricted.
[39945]
From the 5th lesson at the WE! Convention on 4/1/11
Question: Essentially, I don’t have any freedom of choice. Nature rules over me. So does everything really depend on me?
Answer: Creation begins with the still level, followed by the vegetative, animate, and human degrees. The human degree, too, begins to develop from the still level and undergoes the same stages. This was the course of evolution on Earth over millions of years.
Finally, we have reached the degree of “human within human” and become accountable. We used to live like animals under a stick, but now we have to meet certain demands. Whether we like it or not, today we must undertake certain actions.
A few thousand years after what happened in ancient Babylon, we are handed the method of correction once again. Free will, as well as responsibility that comes along with it, begins specifically with the “human within human,” with our current level. Hence, we are talking about absolute goodness, about the purpose of creation, and about how to stay on course, in order to advance without cataclysms.
Conscious development begins now, while until this time suffering spurred egoism on to develop. Without these “injections,” it wouldn’t have made a single move.
The still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature do not possess free will. Neither does a human being who exists at the still, vegetative, or animate level. The possibility of free choice appears only now. After all, now you have the “point in the heart” and you can use it to connect with the friends and find Infinity in your unity.
Choice is impossible without inner struggle. You choose with whom you want to be: your friends or yourself. It’s either we or me.
Absolute goodness is awaiting all of us at the end of the path, but you have received the opportunity to choose, and hence you can already aim at it. For this, you have to always hold onto the middle line, using your “Self” and the environment together.
[39546]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/2011, The Principles of Global Education
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On one hand, nature treats me lovingly. Even if I can’t see this with the naked eye, when penetrating a bit deeper, I can see its true attitude. People who are close to nature feel that it is entirely good.
At the same time, externally it is very harsh, similar to a loving but demanding father who scrupulously takes a child through the phases of development. That is how we must view what is happening. Otherwise we won’t understand good and evil and will only get confused.
If I want to feel nature this way, then I must reject the externality and immerse myself inwards. Precisely from nature’s external attitude, which seems negative to me, I must start to develop based on the realization of evil. In reality nature is showing me a negative of myself. By correcting it, I will enter inside and will feel its love.
All the negative external phenomena are intended to show me what I must correct in order to attain love. It’s exactly how parents raise a child: The father looks at him with a strict gaze and the mother is nervous. It’s very hard to recognize their love. But this is the discernment that I have to be very sensitive to while developing the inner feeling of the realization of evil.
Perhaps I don’t notice the negative. The parents are only giving me hints, but I don’t understand what they want from me or perhaps I don’t feel that they need something from me at all. Instead I continue fooling around. Then they tell it to me directly, but I still don’t listen. At the end, after all the persuasions and warnings, the troubles start, and that is something I understand very well. “Why didn’t you tell me that right away?” I wonder.
This is the problem of all of us and of each of us separately – a lack of sensitivity. If I now felt what I lack in order to discern nature’s love, then I would immediately correct myself. Therefore, we have to take care of just one thing – our receptivity to the realization of evil between us and to the love coming from the Creator.
We don’t lack examples. Open your eyes and you will see them. So what is standing in our way? The problem is that the world does not imbue us with a basic attitude to goodness. I need a society or environment in which I will reveal goodness and compare it to my own evil.
The realization of evil begins the moment a person feels that he is worse than those around him. He sees them all as interconnected and united by love for one another, but he cannot join them and feel that he shares that unity. This gap is the evil that a person has to reveal and correct.
By realizing the evil and by trying to correct it, a person discovers that he does not have the slightest shred to grab hold of or the slightest access. He clearly sees that the friends are united and he is separated from them, and he does not see any opportunity to join them, having no loophole into their unity. For that he needs the Light that reforms. Only the Creator’s help will save him.
That is where we finally come in contact with the unity of Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.
[39216]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11 on Global Education
You and I were not created by accident. The Creator wanted for creation to become the same as He, and everything happening to us is moving toward this goal. Therefore, on this path we have to go through the realization that we are divided, separated, and hate one another. However, we receive the force to unite above this hatred, which gradually increases more and more. That’s because we cannot overcome and rise above all of the hatred reigning in us all at once. But if we can overcome it gradually, step by step, then we will acquire the quality of bestowal, mutual attention, care, the quality of Bina that does not allow us to do to another what we hate. And after that we reach love for the neighbor “as for ourselves.”
That is why the entire science of Kabbalah, which is called the science of truth, talks only about unity. It’s because inside unity, we, people, attain the qualities of the Creator.
If people get together and unite in one desire in order to multiply every person’s forces and give each other the guarantee that through their common efforts they will attain the desired goal and will gain greater confidence, this is called “a society of clowns and liars.” That’s because they think that through their unity they will be able to gain greater egoistic benefit. Therefore, their common prayer acts destructively and separates them from the goal.
A person has to understand that he unites with others only in order to discern how to ascend above his nature. It’s not to receive greater force from the society or to satisfy the demands of his egoism, but to enter inside this society and start bestowing to it. This is the only force we should look for.
The force of bestowal to society comes form the Light, from the Creator, from what is concealed inside of a person’s relationship with the society, the group. That is to say, the group has to consist of people who unite precisely in order to attain the Creator, the common quality of bestowal.
The Creator does not exist separately from creation. The quality of common bestowal does not exist unless there is a person who reveals it. Therefore, if a person includes himself into the group that aspires to the quality of bestowal and there he desires to find this force, to attain this quality, he starts to understand from his unity with others that this care about society, inside of which the quality of bestowal exists, or care for the Creator, which is the same thing, is the prayer of the society.
[39184]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention
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