If a person ascends above himself and begins to feel that unification with others is more important to him than what is happening in him, then to this extent he comes closer and closer to the Upper Force. In this manner he reaches the quality of bestowal, Lishma. In this quality of bestowal he begins to feel the Upper reality. It is as though a light turns on before him and in this light, he begins to see what is ahead.

It is like he was roaming around a dark field, without seeing or understanding anything, and suddenly he acquires the quality of bestowal, which turns on the Light, and he begins to see in what reality and in what world he exists! All this is due to the fact that he had properly implemented all the exercises that the Creator had given him. In these exercises he preferred to come out of himself in order to connect internally and spiritually to his environment, instead of closing up inside himself.

In this manner, a person acquires the quality of bestowal instead of the quality of reception, and in this quality, in the Light of Love (Hassadim), he turns on the Light and sees the true reality. However, now we see only ourselves. It is written in The Zohar that our eyes are turned inward and we do not see what is happening on the outside. This is how all our senses work. Therefore, we do not see the true reality.

The whole Torah is meant to reveal this external, spiritual world to us and to lead us into it to live actively in it! This is called the Torah Lishma, which is studied in order to reach the quality of bestowal, faith above reason (knowledge). Faith is Bina, and “above knowledge” means above Malchut. When Bina reigns above Malchut (faith above reason), and Malchut adjoins it, then, in this form, we can reveal the Upper reality.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/10, Shamati 22

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I am trapped in my skin which cuts me off from the Creator who is situated “outside.” I am a slave and I cannot break out. At every given instant, a force influences me and automatically returns me to my own self, to the egoistic center.

How do I force myself to pay attention to what is happening on the outside in order to understand that it is also me? My true reality is “outside”; there, I am together with the Creator; there, I am outside of my animal; there, my soul is outside of the egoistic “I,” which I currently imagine myself to be.

These are two forces that act in nature. I need to arrange them in such a way that the second force (centrifugal) would influence me in the same natural manner, instinctively and inevitably, as the first force (centripetal). Let it occupy my mind and heart and drag me out by force. Let it force me to think about others and worry about them. I need this since this is the only way for me to find my soul.

In this regard, the force of a Kabbalistic group helps me; only the group can convince me to come out of my circle and turn my attention to what is “outside of it.” When I change my attitude from the “intra” (within) to the “extra” (outside). I stop worrying about the body and begin to be concerned with the soul.

I understand that the external reality, which seemed foreign to me and which I was completely indifferent to, contains the real me. This external circle is actually much more valuable to me than the inner one since it contains my soul which is eternal. Meanwhile, the inner circle is merely an animal, which is allotted some 70 years.

However, the concealment does not allow me to see all this. When I begin to realize this, I am amazed to what extent the Creator plays a joke on me.

From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 4/1/10

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Shamati, Article 86: There is a great rule we must know. Our work, which was given to us so as to be a basis for faith above reason, is not because we are unworthy of a high degree. Hence, this was given to us so as to take it all in a vessel of faith.

We exist in the world that we perceive through our senses and evaluate in our brain (“heart and brain”). This type of perception is called “reason.” “Reason” means that we recognize and feel something that “enters” our senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch) and constitutes “our world.” We perceive the whole through our five sensors.

Anything we feel is called “within our reason” (Be Toch Da’at) and corresponds to our sensations and observations. The spiritual world is something “above reason” since we are unable to sense it and thus cannot perceive it (neither in the heart and brain nor in our organs of perception). In order to start perceiving spirituality, we have to obtain new properties (desires) that correspond to its level: a “spiritual heart” and “spiritual brain.”

According to the type of perception, reality is split into two parts: the inner sphere (“I”) and the outer sphere (the world outside of me). Driven by the desire to receive pleasure, we perceive inner and outer influences selectively. This selective perception builds a picture that is called “my world.”

The division of reality into two parts stems from the separation of the soul into two parts: Keter, Hochma (GE) and Bina, Zeir Anpin, Malchut (AHP). Before the separation occurred, all of them constituted five desires of the soul, five Sefirot. As a result of the separation, our perception of the world was divided into two parts: GE (Galgalta Eynaim – skull, eyes) formed our inner desires through which we sense our world and ourselves, whereas we feel AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh – ears, nose, mouth) as something “outside of us.”

Things are arranged this way on purpose. It is in order to give us a chance to work in GE “within reason.” However if we choose to work with AHP, treating it as our own desires, we reach the state called “above reason.” Our “reason” is something that exists within us, whereas “above reason” means something outside of us.

If we want to attain spirituality, we have to connect the AHP desires to us; when we do so, it is called “work above reason.”  In fact, these terms are simply the words that we use to describe our attitude towards our desires, inner or outer.
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From the lesson on 4/1/10, Shamati 86

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We need to understand that someone from Above is playing with us. Now I perceive myself as something that is most precious. However, I am simply programmed to perceive in this way. There is nothing special or unique about me. I was just created to care most about myself. A program was instilled in my internal apparatus that makes me fixated on myself; thus all the time, just like a robot, I care only about myself.

Yet really this program is really more alien to me than something I perceive to be outside of myself. It is important to discern that this internal program is operating me and to understand that it’s completely opposite to the truth. We have to try to move to the outer program. We have to build the outer program ourselves. Building this means that we return to the act of creation.

We, instead of the Creator, begin to act. We use His power of Light to program ourselves in relation to our outer desires (Kelim), in the same way the Creator programmed us regarding our current desires. We perform the same work. In so doing, we study what the Creator has done; we obtain power over reality, and become as wise as the Creator. We acquire the same perception.

Although this work is called “above reason,” it doesn’t mean that we perform it without any mind. On the contrary, I constantly check what the Creator has done in me, and now I have to transfer it outside of myself. However, I have to learn about my ego gradually because, on the inside, I work “above reason.” The Creator programmed me to constantly take care of myself, but through this work, I check and see that it is so artificial, unjustified. I see that on top of being useless, it harms me. Hence, I use this to learn how to switch the program to the opposite direction – from inside to outside.

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYaera (And the Lord Appeared),” Item 126: …In the beginning, Rabbi Aha thought that there was Dever in the city, for which a prayer is required to bring the Nukva back to the quality of Rachamim. This is why he told them to pray. But when he heard that there were multiple deaths, when he was told that so and so have died and so and so were about to die, he saw that it was a plague, and a prayer does not help with a plague. This is because this does not require the mitigation in the quality of Rachamim. Rather, the incense is required, to reveal the middle line in it and to incorporate the lines in one another.

The inner sensations of a person who recognizes his numerous properties and acknowledges how far away he is from the state of correction are called “infection,” “epidemic,” “occurrences of multiple deaths” or “near-death conditions.”

The “plague” (Dever) is counteracted by a “sage” that lives within each of us; this unique quality is called “Rabbi Aha.” The authors of The Zohar are, in fact, the source of superior qualities, all of which are present in every soul – you have them too!

This is because we dwell in a holographic system where each of us is included in all of its other parts. Hence, Rabbi Aha is also present inside of my soul; he fights the “plague” and cures multiple “sick people” who sometimes die and at other times manage to survive.

My task is to imagine and sense exactly where they are positioned within me. Where are all those qualities? I strive to sense them. If I am “a small world” then I have to locate those qualities within myself. I am eager to reveal them.

As soon as I reveal the reality that is described in The Zohar, I begin to live in it. I want to identify myself with the righteous men and even with the sinners. I want to unite with everyone. Anything and everything in this world is mine and manifests itself within my soul, which is hidden from me. Unless I manage to reveal at least a little part of it, I won’t sense what is described in The Book of Zohar.

Even a partial revelation makes it possible for me to “read” and sense myself better; my self-awareness emerges and I become able to explain who I am. But so far, The Zohar is completely concealed from us. We are waiting for the Light to impact us and begin the process of revelation of a new reality within each of us.

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Who is He, the Creator? The Creator is my internal sensation of my next exalted state to the extent that I am able to imagine it. Every time I change, I picture the Creator in the new way. This is why He is called    Bo-reh (come and see).

We have to understand that there is nothing absolute and unchangeable here. Everything depends on a person’s understanding, perception, and attainment. In reality there is no eternal or unchangeable truth. We need to be ready for these changing perceptions. Something that was black will become white and vice versa. The entire attitude, evaluation, and view of things will change.

It seems to us that this is a somewhat precarious system that doesn’t have a firm base. On the other hand, it does give us a new, completely unique foundation, which is called faith above reason. In other words, in the egoistic desires, it is impossible to receive any concrete knowledge that could be set in stone and would never change.

This fluctuating truth actually pushes a person forward to search for solid ground. And the search leads one to find that the only unwavering truth is revealed in the spiritual world. The solid ground is found to be in faith, in the force of bestowal, rather than in the force of receiving. It is revealed in facts that are above my mind and sensation – at the level of bestowal, Bina.

Suddenly it becomes clear there that there are no things which negate each other, no things which are in opposition to each other. Rather, it is revealed that by connecting and complementing one another, all become parts of the single, perfect wholeness. One sees that Pharaoh, the Creator, the person himself, and the serpent are all part of a singular whole. This perfection becomes revealed to a person as a rigid and unchanging basis for all his actions.

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Isaac is a force that grows opposite to Abraham and serves as "help against him." We begin discovering that spirituality is not a singular force as we once thought. We are unable to understand how two opposite opinions can coexist and both can be true. It isn’t understood yet that precisely in this collision and contention, the truth is revealed. We think everything should be straightforward and clearly defined.

However, we start realizing things aren’t as clear cut as we originally perceived. When we begin working with our quality of “Isaac” and correcting it, we start realizing things aren’t as straightforward as we had formerly perceived exclusively through our egoism. In other words, all that we saw through our egoism was the desire to enjoy and the pleasure opposite the desire, but now we see that there is a left line and a right line. Moreover, both may be true and correct, which helps us advance. On the other hand, both may contradict one another, but nevertheless both have a place in creation because they’re both tied to the Creator.

Indeed, both the qualities of “Isaac” and “Abraham” are included within us: one’s own quality of reception, whereby a person remains a creature existing separately from the Creator; and above it a quality of bestowal, which one acquires from the Creator. It follows that there will always be an inner conflict between these two forces within a person. Thus, only by raising Isaac, Abraham comes to understand his true position with respect to the Creator. That is why the word "son" (Ben) means "understanding" (Leavin), which is Bina, a new degree.

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The science of Kabbalah is the order of descent of the Upper Forces directed to the revelation of the Upper Governing Force (the Creator) to a person.

The law of the particular: Even before the common revelation of the Upper Force to the whole of humanity, there are a few chosen individuals who are able to reach this state.

The law of the general: At the end of its development, the whole of humanity must come to the revelation of the Upper Governing Force, and completely attain it. Studying a path of attaining the Creator, Kabbalah explores “the order of descent of the worlds” from above downwards, that is, from the World of Infinity to this world, as well as “attainment of the Upper Force” from below upwards, by climbing the steps that were formed by the descent of the worlds.

Attainment of the Governing Force is gradual and sensed in our feelings, depending on correction of egoism. The Upper Force has to be gradually attained according to the laws established by its descent from above downward.

Kabbalah studies the world we can’t feel. A Kabbalist first senses this world, and then takes on the cognition of it. Those who don’t feel the Upper World think that Kabbalah studies something abstract and detached from reality. But it’s the opposite: Kabbalah describes only a real, attainable reality.

Everything is revealed from above downwards in the parallel worlds, and these worlds differ only in their material, a quality of desire. However, the objects and forms are the same as an imprint of a seal. All the details of the Upper World (roots) are reflected in our world (branches). A root controls its branch in everything.

The language of branches: The language of branches was created by Kabbalists based on the connection of each branch in our world with its root in the Upper World. However, this language can be understood only by those who feel the root. Aspiration to attain the Upper Force causes the Light to shine from the root to the branch, thus correcting the branch to the degree of the root.

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Before creation reaches a state of fulfillment, there is a prerequisite process of obtaining a desire to get fulfilled. Everyday examples of this preparation for the anticipation of fulfillment are animals’ mating rituals or our “saving our appetite” for a special meal. The preparatory stage that creates a desire to get fulfilled is always more important that the fulfillment itself because it defines the measure and kind of pleasure we eventually experience.

In spirituality, everything depends on the desire since the Light (Pleasure) is everlastingly unlimited and absolutely tranquil. It completely fills the space around us at each given moment. What we lack is a desire to receive It and the tools to perceive It.

However, a desire to get the Light is being built in us gradually by adding “spices”: “pepper,” “salt,” “mustard,” and other “seasonings” that stimulate our appetite. It’s similar to a game of “flirting,” that the Creator plays with us by repeatedly letting us taste the pleasure and then taking it away from us. This “game” builds and refines our right attitude towards our future fulfillment.

The Torah is called “a spice” (Torah Tavlin) because it reveals to us the desire, teaches us how to grow it, and then how to correctly fulfill it. Specifically, it leads us toward the right pleasures and fulfillments that await us in the future. At present, we are trying to shape the correct desire with the help of the Torah; without it we won’t be able to sense the Light even though it is all around us.

We don’t have desires that target and help us to reveal the Light yet. It is like a radio that needs to tune into a certain frequency (wavelength) in order to receive the transmitted signal. The radio has to create a wavelength that sufficiently matches the one that exists outside of it, in order to attract the outside wave.

Due to our studies, we receive a small “taste of spiritual flavors” and attract the Light that elevates us, and then it lets us fall. Sometimes it feels good and other times not so good. However, this is how we build a vessel for the Light, a tool for its perception. In other words, we create “a wave” that is similar to the Light that exists outside of us; it is only then that we become able to attain It.

As soon as the “instrument” is ready, it starts to receive the Light. There is no secret to this. It seems a mystery to us only because we don’t see it and our desire is not ready for it yet. This is our only problem. There is nothing that is hidden outside of us; the concealment is within us.

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The breaking of the common soul really was a great thing. Through the breaking, the Creator gave us an opportunity to exist and express ourselves. After all, if the parts of the common soul weren’t distanced from one another, we wouldn’t be able to build the Creator’s image and perceive ourselves in relation to others. We would simply dissolve within the Light as it is impossible to distinguish anything within one unified object.

The creation can’t exist within one whole; we can only exist when there is us and something else. Our perception results from the distance between us. We can’t attain anything in absolute light or in complete darkness.

For this reason, the breaking gives us the opportunity to attain and experience existence. Otherwise, if we were to find ourselves in absolute and total darkness, we wouldn’t sense anything and we wouldn’t be able to feel that we exist. This is because all of our senses are based on perception between two opposites, such as sound versus silence or scented versus unscented. If there were “silence” in all of our senses, we couldn’t perceive ourselves.

So, the breaking happened precisely to give the creation the opportunity to exist and perceive itself. This really is a divine patent. We fill the space where the breaking took place. We fill the empty space between the parts that seemingly appear to be distanced from one another with the Light. In reality, however, it was the Creator who disappeared from the single whole in order to give us the opportunity to reach that same unity independently.

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