Question: If we live in the holographic picture, does it change as we ascend the spiritual degrees?

Answer: This picture constantly changes since we define its form ourselves. There are two vectors or forces: the desire to receive and the desire to bestow, and we establish the relationship between them. Various combinations of these two forces beget thousands of different forms before us.

Any  instrument or any natural spiritual or corporeal phenomenon in all the worlds, everything, originates from the interplay between the Creator and the creature: the Light that begets desire. There are only two components: the Light and desire, and the screen between them. The screen ensures the correspondence between the Creator and the creature.

This correspondence becomes established in ten qualitative levels (10 Sefirot), which also are divided into 620 (Tarach) parts, and so on infinitely. No matter what you do: Analyze reality and divide it into its components or, on the contrary, synthesize and generalize, everywhere you reveal the same two acting forces: bestowal and reception.
[31877]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
The Place Where We Encounter The Creator
My Candle
Believe It: All Of This Only Seems To Us!

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Perception, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Why can’t a person adhere to the Upper One and see in Him the reason for all that happens and thereby advance?

Answer: This is called “being too smart for your own good.” There is a “block” in our head that greatly hinders our advancement, preventing us from doing anything. Everyone is certain that he understands and can accomplish everything with his mind. Man is not able to cancel his corporeal reason, his “I.”

The law of growth and ascending from degree to degree necessitates cancelling the previous degree so as to acquire the next one. Even plants develop from seeds the exact same way. Any cell that transitions from one state to another undergoes the same changes. The only difference is that we need to make these changes intentionally, consciously, with our own demand!

In nature it happens automatically, instinctively. This is how an embryo grows in the womb, as does any child. If I want to acquire a profession and learn something, I know that I need to cancel my mind before the instructor. I want him to tell me and show me what to do, and I repeat after him.

I do what he does again and again until I grasp the principle, the inner foundation. Having done the action myself enough times, I now understand why it works this way and not another. As long as my egoistic desire supports this, I have no problem cancelling my reason in order to learn.

But here the egoistic desire is against such a cancellation, which is why I cannot learn anything! I hold my ground like a stubborn donkey (“Hamor” [donkey] is similar to the word “Homer” [matter]), refusing to move, even under threat of death!

And the threat is far from empty! We conclude our lives without having achieved attainment. And truly, the smarter a person, the more problematic this is for them.

[31626]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
The Benefit Of Limitation
The Arrogant Do Not Learn
Choose The Well Of Living Water

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A, Spiritual Teacher - 1 Comment →

Question: When asking for the vessel of bestowal, I can always see that I still don’t have it. Where is the place for faith here?

Answer: Attaining faith is very difficult. After all, it means crossing the Machsom (barrier separating us from spirituality). Faith is the attribute of bestowal (Hafetz Hesed), the property of Bina, the Light of bestowal, Hassadim (Mercy). A complete faith is the Light of Hassadim with the illumination of Hochma (Wisdom).

We are talking here about an exalted degree. In order to achieve it, we have to rise above our egoism, come out of Egypt (Machsom), break away from Pharaoh (egoism in us), and achieve the force (property) of the Light or bestowal. This is the beginning of faith.

Then comes the period of “forty years in the desert,” when we are attaining faith, the attribute of bestowal, building it above our egoism. Having completed this period, I receive faith that soars above all of my desires, above the entire Egypt. Now I can enter into the complete faith, receive inside the Light of Hassadim the Light of Hochma, His sensation, revelation.

That’s the entry into the land of Israel: Egoism (Pharaoh), corrected by the Light to the degree of the attribute of bestowal (Hafetz Hesed), is now working to receive from the Creator for the sake of bestowal. In other words, your desire is now aspiring straight to the Creator (“Israel” is Yashar [straight] – Kel [the Creator]).
[31479]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Above Reason in Divine Service”

Related Material:
Rising Above Knowledge
Everything Depends On Definitions
Kabbalah Moments: Faith

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A - 2 Comments →

Question: I understand that The Zohar talks only about the spiritual world. But at the same time, there is a law of root and branch. Besides, the material world is an imprint of spirituality. So what is the connection between them?

Answer: There are only two forces or qualities in nature: reception and bestowal. All the possible unifications and connections between them create their mutual, common form for us.

If this common form has a desire to receive for itself, this is the reverse imprint of the Creator, and if it has the desire to bestow, it is a direct copy of the Creator. Nothing else exists. That is why we say that there is none else besides Him and in general He is the only thing that exists.

So who are we? We are those who desire to discern these forms that are opposite or similar to the Creator. These forms build the image of the Creator inside us, showing it to us on our inner screen.

We cannot see a force by itself because a force is a form outside of matter, similar to electricity. I can tell that electricity is present only if it activates a device, meaning I can only identify it by certain results.

I do not know who the Creator is, but I can attain His form and according to that I can see and realize it. I too exist to the degree that I attain the form of the Creator.

The Zohar talks about which forms of the Creator I attain—good or bad, better or worse. Can it really be that I attain bad forms from the Creator?! Yes, because I am the one who attains and "Every person judges to the extent of his own lack of correction."

On my inner screen I attain the forms between how much I can be in the opposite quality and how able I am to become similar to the Creator. This is the contrast I attain and it creates the image of the Creator for me.

There are always two distinctions in this image—for and against, good and evil, Light and darkness. I attain the difference between them and without that difference I would have no sensation because I am creation.

Through all sorts of forms such as these, which remind us of earthly pictures, The Zohar shows us the combination of forces, Hassadim and Hochma, reception and bestowal, which create the image of the Creator for me. But they create this image inside of me because for now, it is in my desire and my sensation that the Creator appears to me in these uncorrected forms.

The question arises: But why does The Zohar depict this for me in this earthly form? It’s because the Creator initially brought us to this imaginary reality where we also imagine Him as our world with the inanimate nature, plants, animals, and people, and where we exist connected with each other.

This entire dream that we are now seeing is intended only in order for us to ascend from it to the true picture of reality. That is why The Zohar describes the spiritual reality for us in this earthly form that we now feel. Then we can at least start to talk about higher forms of reality based on something.

Otherwise we would not have any chance to do it because we need a scale by which to measure, a certain basis with which to start. There has to be some kind of initial state and that initial state is our world.
[31731]
From the lesson on 12/4/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Evil Shows Us The Form Of Good
How Much do Your Eyes See?
Life Inside The Holographic Picture

Filed under: My Similarity to the Creator, Perception, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Do I have believe that everything Kabbalists say is true?

Answer: It is exactly what we call “faith in the sages.” You don’t really have a choice: You believe a Kabbalist like a youngster believes an adult in order to grow up.

In our world, a child also relies on adults; otherwise, how will he survive? Will he achieve anything if he doesn’t listen to, receive the necessary tools from, and learn what they do by imitating them like a monkey?

It isn’t an accident that apes are considered an intermediary link between the animate world and a human being. To learn “by aping” is the means to become human. A child watches adults and copies them over and over again.

If so, then where does a child display his own intelligence? He does so specifically by observing and copying external movements. Thanks to this he will later understand their inner essence.

It is described as: “From Your actions, I shall know You.” We don’t have a choice but to accept Kabbalists’ counsels above our reason since these recommendations descend from very exalted degrees. It means that we have to act as a child before an adult.

Sometimes, these counsels are even difficult to grasp since the words of a sage are always distorted in you. Nonetheless, inasmuch as you manage to decode and carry them out, you succeed. Some receive by “mouth to mouth” and advance very fast. Others receive by “mouth to ear” and grow more slowly. Yet, this is the way: A younger one learns from the older one.

The key is to accept the role of a “monkey” and learn from a human. After all, these are two [different] degrees of development.
[31483]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Above Reason in Divine Service”

Related Material:
Consult The Experts
Are Your Prepared For The Flood?
The Joy Of Faith In The Teacher

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A, Spiritual Teacher - No Comments →

Question: If a person doesn’t have an opportunity to check whether his experience of the Creator and love of others is true or not, how can he scrutinize this?

Answer: People who wish to attain authentic scrutiny with the assistance of the Light that Reforms must actualize this method on themselves. But since all souls are mutually connected, everything that has been clarified by them is automatically transferred onto all others. And those individuals who are still satisfied with their fantasies will eventually begin to realize that all of them are groundless.

Everyone has their own fantasies and faith: According to some research, there are about 3800 various religions and spiritual practices. (I have no way to check but am willing to take it on faith :-D.) Only a great, mature egoistic desire that becomes increasingly expressed in humanity does not wish to take things on faith.

Moreover, since we are tightening up our circle and connecting closer together and since opinions travel from one to the other, with a more exalted idea ruling over the lower one, we thereby “circulate” the knowledge of Kabbalah and inject doubt in the hearts of all the others.

However, don’t ever try to convince anyone of anything in the external form. If a book on Kabbalah happened to fall into a person’s hands and they decided to read it, it’s great. We should also take into consideration that everyone reads it from their own perspective and finds resonance with their own opinion.

Therefore, we have to work on ourselves, and as a result, the increasing egoistic desire unfolding in the integral system of souls will be receiving “electrical” impulses. The Light we draw will be reaching all others, and they will start thinking in a new way: They will want to have knowledge in addition to faith.

There is no need to erase religious faith completely. If we add knowledge to it, it will turn into cultural traditions, and that additional knowledge will be the knowledge of the Creator, His revelation to the created beings. In the end, philosophy will perish, religions will become national cultures and customs, whereas the wisdom of Kabbalah will reveal the upper, eternal reality to man.
[31516]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
How Bina Works With The Souls
How To Capture The Light Of Correction
One Wisdom For All

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A, Religion, Science - No Comments →

Question: What is money? And why are people so interested in it?

Answer: Money (Kesef) means a screen, which comes from the word “covering” (Kisufa). This is the Light of Hassadim that covers or conceals the egoistic desire, enabling one to receive the entire Light of Hochma.

That is why in the material world money has such great value and can buy anything. Any object has a monetary equivalent and everything is measured by money.

In spirituality everything is measured by the anti-egoistic screen, by what kind of covering you have from the Light of Hassadim. It determines a person’s size, height, and force because according to this garment, he is able to accept the Light of Hochma.

Thus, there is egoistic use of the notion of “money” as well as its use “for the sake of bestowal.” Accordingly, the ritual vessels in the Temple are divided into those that are “silver” (silver, Kesef, comes from the words covering, Kisufa), and those that are “golden” (gold, Zahav, comes from the words “give this,” Ze Av).

There is also a notion of “pocket money” that we sometimes give to a child. This is money that a person needs in order to feel protected against “poverty,” meaning to have the necessary covering for his will to enjoy.

A “pocket” is a receiving vessel, and pocket money is a covering that corresponds exactly to my receiving desires or vessels, enabling me to remain on the minimal level of bestowal, Nefesh, as Hafetz Hesed, one who does not need greater fulfillment.

Every person determines the degree of the concealment necessary to him according to his degree. However, if a child has a question about what he should spend the money he receives on, this is no longer called “pocket money” because it is beyond the boundaries of providing the vital necessities (buying breakfast at school or even candy or ice-cream, which is also considered necessary for a child to some degree).
[31757]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/11, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
A Tenured Professor In The World Of Atzilut
How To Receive In Order To Bestow
Adding “Money” To The Desire

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Q&A, Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: It is written that the head of the lower Partzuf gets clothed in the body of the upper Partzuf. What does it mean “to get clothed in the upper one”?

Answer: The “body” of the upper one is his actions, work above desires, while the “head” is decision making. The lower one cannot accomplish anything with his “head,” at his degree. It is written: “From your actions, I shall know You.” In other words, the lower one has to include itself into the “body” of the upper Partzuf.

And when he learns what the upper one does by example, while repeating his actions, only then does he start to understand what the upper one meant to tell him. Until you have done what the upper one told you to do, you won’t understand what he is saying.

It isn’t by any means some thoughtless, animate action when you are required to do what the upper one says; you have to do it so that you may learn! Look how children copy what grownups do: They imitate our behavior without understanding their meaning. When a child is given a plastic hammer and nails, he doesn’t know what to do with them. But he sees how you hammer the nails and does the same, from which he begins to comprehend what it means.

One can’t learn otherwise. We must keep this in mind while designing education programs: Teaching can be successful only if we teach by example. We see that the cause originates in the spiritual roots and is embedded into nature during the expansion of Partzufim (descending of the connection of souls) from Above downward.

The mind given to the lower one is necessary solely in order to be able to copy the actions of the upper one. The head of the lower Partzuf must work only in such form. If the lower one’s head looks up to model and perform his actions by those of the upper one, the lower one is destined to succeed. But if he thinks that he can use his own head to judge, make decisions, and do something, he is headed for failure.

He will think that he is at the degree when he can do something on his own. But all of the acts take place in the “body” of the upper one. If the lower one is smart enough to cancel his intelligence, reason, he ascends and receives wisdom, the mind of the upper one.
[31512]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Having The Upper One’s Head On Your Shoulders
The Wall Before You Is Your Next Spiritual Degree
The Rescue Mission

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A, Spiritual Teacher - 1 Comment →

Question: If I cannot reveal the place of the breaking, does it mean that there is nothing for me to correct?

Answer: A person has nothing to correct except the breaking between him and other people who have the same aspiration to the Creator. However, why is it particularly with the people who aspire to the Creator? Can’t I correct my relationship with other people such as at work, in the family, or at the market? There are plenty of people around, and everyone needs to reach complete correction.

Then, why can’t I work with them? This is because their desires are not aimed at the unification of souls. Each of them desires only to fill their ego with something, and this is the animate level of egoism, not the degree of the human being. I do not reveal the breaking there.

The breaking is on the human degree. Meanwhile, I have nothing to correct on the animate degree. There, people are polite, pleasant, and kind.

Therefore, correction pertains only to those who aspire to the Creator. We might ask then: “Why is the whole world suffering? Why are we all entering a global, integral, and broken world now?”

This is because all the other people also need to be corrected to the extent that they can join or adhere to those who aspire to the Creator. They will not correct the connections between them on the animate level since, then, they would be like the communists in Russia. However, in the end, they will be forced to unite due to adhering to us and through us to the Creator.

We only correct the connections between souls on the level of man who is similar to the Creator. Therefore, this correction pertains only to the group of Kabbalists or those who join them in various forms to the extent that they are able.

Thus, Baal HaSulam writes in the end of “Introduction to The Book Of Zohar” that everything depends on Israel. “Israel” are those who aspire to the Creator, those who feel hatred between them and need to correct it. The whole correction depends on them.
[31504]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

Related Material:
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 10
Don’t Get Distracted By The Sharp Turns
The World Depends On Me

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Israel, Q&A, Suffering, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: How can I actually turn the desire that awakens in me to bestowal?

Answer: Suppose I am relentlessly worried by something since the morning. This unsatisfied desire gives rise to a thought that I have to calm it down. I am tormented by this problem, immersed in it, and am looking for a way to solve it.

I received all of this from Above. If my problem relates to something that is vitally necessary, then I have to solve it without paying too much attention to working with the intention. First of all I have to provide myself with the vital necessities. It is written about this, "Without bread there is no Torah."

However, if it is not something that’s vitally necessary, if it isn’t something I need on the animate or bodily level, then I have to try to transfer this thought to the right format. I received it from the Creator and it was in order for me to build the right reaction to it. It is "help against the Creator." It is against the goal, yet at the same time it helps me to react correctly, and by pushing myself off of it I can aim at the goal.

My goal is adhesion with the Creator. The Creator is good and does good and there is none else besides Him. He sends me all the problems and worries in order to help me. Therefore, above my worry, as if making a mirror image of it, I turn back to Him, who is good and does good.

I have to reach the sensation that my problem is help to enable me to understand the Creator’s attitude to me, which is opposite to the sensations that awaken in me. That is how I build the Creator’s image. By having a careful and accurate attitude, I will be able to identify why a certain worry or problem is being sent to me precisely in this form. I will see a reverse mold of it, the form of the One who is good and does good, and who engraved it in me.

By virtue of this "inversion" I will ascend to the degree of a righteous man and will justify the Creator in some regard. And by doing so I will get on the right track. The most important thing is to keep going, without falling asleep during any state on the background of any negative forms that the Creator sends me.

I can react to them correctly at every second if only I equip myself with the support of the environment. Without it my efforts are episodic, but with it I am constantly "in the loop." The group entirely determines the speed of my advancement.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/11, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Why Should I Value The Upper One?
The Years I Spent To Reach You
Dreaming Of Adhesion With The Creator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Suffering - 1 Comment →