A question in spirituality is a desire (Hisaron, need) that triggers the Upper Light. The Light descends and fills that desire. This is called a real question or prayer.

However, until such a real question is formed, one goes through an array of preliminary questions that are called “a prayer before a prayer.” In other words, before one really reaches the prayer, request, one undergoes numerous small, private, inaccurate questions until a correct question finally emerges.

In general, all questions boil down to one thing: “What is the meaning of life? Is it worth living? If yes, for what?” This is the only question that really exists. A man asks billions of different variations, and accordingly only gets a partial response. But at the end of correction, all will transform into one huge question that will be answered by one gigantic response—complete adhesion (Zivug a Shalem).

Question: What kinds of questions should we bring to you and which ones have to be clarified in the group?

Answer: It’s better if you come to me with a collective question. If you have a question that involves the entire group, please refer it to me.

Comment: So far, when I find answers to my questions in the group, I feel that they are correct.

Answer: Indeed “so far.” It is this way for every level, for me and for all. Answers that were right at this degree become incorrect when we reach a new level because the Keter of the lower Partzuf appeals to Malchut of the Upper.
[127475]
From a Lesson in Russian 2/10/14

Related Material:
Platform For Discoveries
The Light Is The Answer
Talking To The Deaf

Filed under: Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The entire system of creation is experiencing negative shocks because its parts are not functioning together in harmony. There is a part that is called Aba (father) and a part called Ima (mother).

Ima is the characteristic of complete bestowal, Hafetz Hesed (absolute mercy). The characteristic of Aba is the higher intelligence, Ohr Hochma, the source of life. These two parts must exist in harmony between them.

There is also Keter or the Creator, the thought, idea, program, prior to some kind of realization below.

Ima must make the infrastructure, a place for receiving the Light of the Creator. But this is only possible to the degree that we, the souls, ask her for this since she is found in a state of absolute Hafetz Hesed and doesn’t want anything for herself.

Both Aba and Ima suffer with overflowing love for the children, but they are unable to do anything because the children are not asking for this. Instead they ask for something else entirely opposite to the parents, something against them.

Just as in our world, if children asked to taste alcoholic beverages, drugs, and cigarettes, a mother and father, by not allowing them to do this, would suffer both because they cannot give a child something good and also because he is asking for something bad.

In order not to cause such double suffering to  AVI (Aba ve Ima) in our spiritual advancement, we must specifically ask for what we really need: love and bestowal.
[128200]
From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Workshop 5

Related Material:
Turn On The Faucet To The Pipe Of Light
To Grow From A Capricious Request To A Valid Demand
I Want To Be Like The Upper!

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Inner Work, Prayer and Intention - No Comments →

Question: How do we connect the two expressions: “commandments that don’t need an intention” and a “commandment without an intention” is like a body without a soul?

Answer: “Implementation of the commandments does not require an intention” refers to the fact that even when we don’t have an intention of in order to bestow yet, we still try to connect with the friends and that brings us to the right intention of love and bestowal.

An intention of in order to bestow means that I focus on you and I want to fill you. A person in this world has no such intention. We are born without it, live our lives, and then reach the group. This means that the commandment doesn’t need an intention, so start the way you are.

Even if you have an intention, it is only for yourself and not for anything else (this is how you were brought to the wisdom of Kabbalah). So, study and you will succeed.

Suppose we have two levels of energy. The lower level is the intention of in order to receive that lacks the intention to bestow. There is a phase of preparation (Achan) for the intention of in order to bestow between this level and the next one, and then there is a Machsom (barrier that separates us from the upper world).

Above the Machsom, we discover the intention that is external to me, or to bestow, the attribute of Bina, the Light of Hassadim (charity). Then, there is the intention of to receive in order to bestow, or the Light of Hochma, and there is the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

First, we are on the lowest level on which we have a normal healthy desire to receive in order to enjoy.

Gradually, we come to the recognition that we have no intention to bestow.

A person decides, “I must start changing myself,” and so he reaches the phase of the very serious preparation for the intention of in order to bestow called the time of preparation (Zman Achan).

This very hard work may take months and even years. Gradually, under the influence of the Upper Light, a person reaches the intention of bestowal outside of himself.

At the same time, he doesn’t give anything but simply exists as an embryo (Ubar). He adheres to the upper and annuls himself like an embryo, or like a small child with regard to a grownup, without interfering with his growth as he allows the upper to do whatever is necessary with him: “Do whatever you want with me; I agree to everything,” and this is aimed against his growing ego.

When he completes the correction of all his desires, he ascends to the last level where he can receive pleasure in order to bestow for the sake of the Creator.

This is a very high level, and we want to attain it by performing and completing all the corrections.
[127820]

Related Material:
The Main Thing Is To Be Inside The Circle Of Light
The Hearts Are Drawn After The Actions
An Action Without An Intention

Filed under: Commandments, Conventions, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

If the lower wants to adhere to the Upper, he perceives the darkness that he sees in the Upper as perfection. Otherwise, he holds onto the Upper for his own egoistic benefit. So, he must see the opposite, that the Upper has nothing and he still desires the Upper’s form!

We are talking about the levels of bestowal that are revealed on top of our ego and that are opposite to it. Therefore, I see that the Upper is increasingly more abhorrent for my ego, but I must overcome this feeling and perceive that it is nice.

This means that I must try and see the group in the state of the end of correction, although I find flaws in it according to my flaws. However, I approach it in faith above reason and ask that all my repulsions and rejections will be turned into love and appreciation.

Faith above reason is my spiritual vessel, and there is no other vessel. I must accept this contempt,hatred, the fear that I feel toward the Upper’s form as the greatest feeling of awe since this is the way the attribute of bestowal is perceived in my feelings.

I am not aware that this is the attribute of bestowal. I feel that it is something hateful and intolerable. Then, it is time for a prayer since the only way I can adhere to AHP of the Upper is against my own will. The taste of the Upper disgusts me and I don’t want to connect and cannot since it repulses every fiber of my soul, and I feel that I would rather die than that.

However, the Upper Light enables me to perform actions that are against my will. I change by the influence of the Light, and I begin to see that the Upper is nice. It isn’t because my taste has changed, like fashion changes and what previously seemed ugly suddenly becomes fashionable and desired. It turns out that I simply change my ego.

Therefore, faith above reason is necessary here. I adhere to the Upper not because my reason has changed, and I suddenly see it as wonderful and beloved. The inner hatred I feel for it remains, and above it I feel love and appreciation now. These two opposite feelings are burning inside me.

I understand that the Upper is opposite to me and that I am far from His attributes, which repulse me. At the same time, I establish a new attitude toward Him with the help of the Light that Reforms.

Faith above reason means that I establish a new vessel in my state, adhesion with the group, in which I receive the new level. My feelings become 620 times stronger in this new vessel than in my own reason. Then, when I attain the next level with this vessel of faith, my reason suddenly grows by 620 times, too! Thus, I constantly swing from side to side more strongly each time by expanding the distance between the right and the left lines like a cone.
[127764]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
What Is Darkness For The Ego Is Light For Me
The Point Of Choice Between Two Abysses
The Spiritual Elevator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The drawing force and the delaying force must operate on the spiritual embryo together. With regard to the drawing force, I must check to what extent I can keep in contact with everyone and in what way. I must add the delaying force to any form that is against my ego, against my will, so as not to let it fall, to be aborted, or to let an accident in birth to occur. Unfortunately, this happens often to everyone and it leaves little hope that we will ever grow.

We must support one another by the drawing force and especially by the delaying force; as it is said, “Every man shall help his friend,” to keep the friends focused on the greatness of the goal, the greatness of the attribute of bestowal which we attain above reason. Even if this form is unpleasant for our egoistic nature, if I value the greatness of the goal, the greatness of the Creator, and I suffer in my desire to receive, I enjoy my closeness to the Creator more. If I see that the Creator is great, I can value His benefit over my own benefit. Thus, I gradually attribute myself to Him, to the upper force, until I begin to identify the movements and the actions that I do with Him, according to Him, and begin to feel the upper more and more during these months of pregnancy as I develop as an embryo.

During the first forty days of the creation of the embryo up to the level of Bina, we don’t really feel it. However, later, when the level of Bina begins to operate, the embryo already takes on a human form and studies the upper from its vessels and feelings.

The strongest and closest connection between the upper and the lower is actually during conception. Then, a person is inside the Creator, and later it is as if he draws further away. Although it seems that way externally, in fact, it is a deeper penetration into the upper, until he reaches full adhesion.

We should understand that we can be an embryo only if we are inside the upper. Imagine what it means when all our senses, all our desires, all our thoughts, everything, is dissolved in Him. We must examine the delaying force and the drawing force with regard to this feeling of totally dissolving in the Creator. First, there is the drawing force, which means to what extent I can penetrate deeper into the Creator and adhere to Him with all my senses.

Although these feelings are unpleasant, since I must adhere to bestowal, which means to something that is external to the interests of my ego, the delaying force guards me. This is the prayer I should be in all the time, in a request for correction, for the Light that Reforms.
[127679]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/14

Related Material:
Labor On Writing The Letters Of The Work
Conception Is The First Level Of The Spiritual Reality
Integrating In The Work Up To The Point Of Self-Cancellation

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

When a person begs for mercy for himself, he is in a desire to receive and thinks only about himself. And the more that he prays for himself and tries to influence the Creator to improve his personal situation, not only does he not come close to the Creator, but also he moves away from Him, through awakening greater and greater egoism.

All of our thoughts in every circumstance go to the Creator, for we are found in a single system; we are embedded in it. It’s impossible to think about something, to decide something, and to do something without influencing the entire system, for from the start we are found in it with every cell in our body and with our heart, with all our thoughts and desires. Before we even begin to understand what we are thinking about and what we want, this has already gone into the system! We are already within it! And that is how it is for every person, all people in the world, all the still, vegetative, and animate nature, everything!

It’s only with the human that a completely different account is made, for we have been given the possibility of influencing the system through choice. Therefore, when a person’s thoughts are directed towards himself, then the system is influenced negatively. And if he continues to pray for himself, with this he invites a terrible negative awakening from the entire creation. The clearest discovery of ego is in this, when a person wants the Creator to do something for him according to his personal understanding and desire without realizing that the Creator gives him the best possibilities for correction at every moment.

So it’s not just that he has an effect on the entire system, rather he arouses immense upheavals in it, causing it to move backwards against the tendency towards the goal of creation that was activated in the form of the evolution of all of humanity. The moment that a person revives and begins to think: “Me, world, creature, Creator, my condition,” he must direct himself first towards a connection with the Creator through the group. Otherwise, all of his influence on the system of creation will be negative, and first and foremost, he will cause his personal movement to be backward.

So the best starting point for everyone is the constant transmission of bestowal through the group on all that is around us. This is called the “prayer of the many” because we are asking on behalf of the many. Such a prayer doesn’t indicate that many must be gathered together, there is no importance in this. One person is enough, only he should ask for many in such a way that he can ask for them as he would for himself. And “many” is at least ten. And then the influence of the person on the system will be positive and with it the Creator will be revealed. This is a very simple general rule.
[127257]
From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Workshop 5

Related Material:
Private And Common Salvation
I Cannot Pray For Myself
A Prayer Just For Oneself Harms

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work, Unity - No Comments →

Question: You have said that this will be a very special year in dissemination. How can we strengthen one another and the connections with the groups? How can we make people who have no experience in disseminating feel confident?

Answer: It seems that we are doing so many different things: studying, disseminating, and many other things, but most of these actions are in our intention and only dissemination actually requires practical actions. When we study, the main thing is our intention. In the workshops, the main thing is our intention. Everything is fulfilled through the intentions. Even the major part of dissemination, its inner part, is in creating the right intention.

The fulfillment itself will later seem very simple. We reach a certain group of people, explain to them what a certain type of connection is, and hold a workshop on this topic. It’s very much like the workshops we have between us, but not according to our tough rules, but just letting people express themselves and showing them some clips. After all, we teach them about the simple popular integral connection between people, integral education.

We don’t need to pressure and overload them with serious stuff. Most of the time people simply speak between them and we constantly hold on to the intention and perform inner clarifications. So we don’t need to feel pressured and to worry about the work of dissemination. We only need to get used to being in continuous clarifications and to keep building a structure inside us, brick by brick, the form of the upper world, of the spiritual world. Then we will feel how we stabilize ourselves, the group, the Creator, and the public day by day. A person should engage in this internal work 24 hours a day.

If I feel tired and I have some free time, I watch National Geographic, there are some very good programs there about animals. I see it and translate it to the language of Kabbalah, to my levels. It’s because all of reality is identical. It’s a replica of the upper worlds dressed on our world in which the same processes take place. Everything comes from Above and the difference is in the way it’s expressed. So I dress it on my expression. Sometimes it’s very interesting to see the parallels and to interpret these films.
[127345]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Actual Task
An External Ring Made Of Several Million
The Engine Shuts Down When Idling

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

How can we free ourselves of the impulse to pray for our own selves, asking for things egoistically, being unhappy with our past selves, and blaming ourselves for things in the past? After all, when we do this, we blame the Creator.

All the things that have happened to us in the past had to happen, the Creator made it happen. And this is why when we are unhappy with our past, we blame Him for putting us in those situations.

When we only concentrate on the group, this concentration helps us free ourselves of our incorrect attitude towards the past, the present, praying for ourselves, in our name, for our sake. This is the only way we can bring ourselves to have the right intention. And in this way, when we are inside this net, we stay close to the system and do not pull it in the opposite direction. When we concentrate on the prayer of many and constantly remain in this state, it saves us personally and helps the entire system move forward due to us.

How can we always have this aspiration, be in it as soon as we open our eyes in the morning? Just this! Otherwise, any thoughts of ours, any movements in our desires and mind will be negative and will distance us from the goal.

If we advance this way, we will certainly have descents and negative impulses, but only so we could fill them with a greater movement forward. In other words, if I will constantly advance by praying for others, by advancing them, then all the negative impulses will only be directed towards my further advancement and understanding of the direction in which I need to go and how I am to move.

This will determine the style and form of my movement. Then the Creator will be helping me: a little to the left, a little to the right, think about another, wish this and that, etc. If I am advancing correctly, I will definitely begin to feel His instructions.
[127253]
From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Workshop 5

Related Material:
The Correct Calculation – Social Reliance
Asking For Others
I Cannot Pray For Myself

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The Torah, “Exodus (Ki Tissa),” 30:16: You shall take the silver of the atonements from the children of Israel and use it for the work of the Tent of Meeting; it shall be a remembrance for the children of Israel before the Lord, to atone for your souls.

The work in order to bestow should be done not because we want to acquire our soul but to bring contentment to the Creator.

The desire to acquire the soul is our general desire that the Creator, the property of bestowal and love, will be revealed with it. And we yearn for this not because it will be good for us afterwards from this because in such a case this would be an egoistic acquisition. We want to discover the upper power only to bring Him contentment.

This is precisely as the example of the guest and the host when the host wants to please the guest and the guest agrees to accept, but only on condition that through this he will give pleasure to the host, rising to his level. Therefore, the intention to give pleasure to the Creator raises us to the level of absolute bestowal.
[126415]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/9/13

Related Material:
The Formula For Bringing The Creator Contentment
To Grow From A Capricious Request To A Valid Demand
Living In Intention Instead Of Desire

Filed under: Inner Work, Prayer and Intention, Torah - No Comments →

Rabash, “What is the Advantage in the Work that is more than the Reward”: And the main preparation that is called exertion, that one has to annul himself, which means his self-ness…which means that he annuls the opinion of the landlords and yearns for the opinion of the Torah…as the sages said “the Torah exists only in those who kill themselves for it,” which means in self annulment, and there is no self domination here but the domination of the Creator. Then the Creator can say “every place that I shall mention.” Why can I mention My name? Since a person has annulled the domination of this place for the Creator, then “I shall come and bless you” can be fulfilled…which is the reception of the Shechina.”

We already know this formula. A place is the desire to receive and also the Creator who fills this place, which means who fills the desire. We regard the vessel as a place and also call the Light, which fills it, a place. Everything depends on the phase to which we refer, whether it’s the desire or the one who created it and fills it.

It says, “Every place that I shall mention My name,” where the vessel is arranged according to the Creator’s name, HaVaYaH, with all its discernments, “I shall come and bless you.” The Light will come and correct the vessel, and will clear the right place for the Creator to be dressed.

It’s important to constantly measure to what extent we get closer or draw further away from the Light so that “there shall not be a strange god among you.” To what extent the concept of the Creator, the upper force, all the images that are depicted in our imagination, become the attribute of bestowal that is dressed in me. I can measure my state according to the attribute that is received and according to my attraction to it.

Of course, there are also opposite states like for and against, but it’s between these two directions, from these two inclinations that we advance. We have to check to what extent the concept of the Creator, which means the attribute of bestowal that is dressed in us, is more desirable each time and to what extent we hope for it, expect it, and are attracted to it. Until “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one” in the same place.

Now we perform exercises, trying to annul ourselves and to reach connection only between us, for the time being. As is says “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” But if we also remember that we do it so that we will become one vessel in which we will be able to reveal the Creator one day, the upper Light influences us and connects and organizes us. Thus we will gradually feel the place that we are preparing for the revelation of the Creator, and will check whether it’s ready for the Upper Light, for the attribute of bestowal to be dressed in.

Then we will begin to identify movements in that place, and whether we are receiving the Creator or not, whether He enters us or whether He exits us. We will understand how we can draw Him closer or drive Him away from us if we want to ascend to a higher level in order to be more adapted to Him. After all, we have to draw away from Him between the levels.

When all these actions become familiar and are under our control, we gradually reach a greater equivalence of form with the Creator and He is gradually revealed to us. Thus we establish the place, and the connection between us begins. After the connection, a distance is created, which teaches us to return to connection despite the distance. Thus we learn to control these processes as much as we can and to monitor them.

This is only possible with God’s help, of course, with the help of the upper force. We mustn’t forget that He is the one who organizes and who manages everything, but with our active participation. We decide that we want to reach “make your desire His desire,” and thus establish the place.

We are already in the process of establishing the place, although we don’t really understand how to do it, which phases we go through, and what else we have to do. Actually, nothing is clear. It isn’t a formula with one unknown, but rather a formula with many unknowns that we have to solve. It’s an integral system in which everything is incorporated in everything and depends on everything.

But when this picture clears up, we see that it includes many details that are interconnected into one system, although in the meantime it’s very foggy and unclear. It’s impossible to hold on to this with our coarse, egoistic, primitive hands.

But by working in this world, we gradually begin to raise its components to the spiritual level and to insert into every attribute, every force, every event, into everything that happens, the Creator’s spirit, our spiritual yearning. Then we begin to see another picture behind the picture of this world. Behind this picture we discover a system of forces of the upper world. This is how we establish the place for the revelation of the Creator.
[126211]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/23/14

 Related Material:
A Real Place For A Person
The Place Where The Creator Is Revealed
We Have To Dive Into The Environment Head First

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →