Question: You said we should have a serious, working, spiritual connection with each other. Can you explain every word: what does serious mean, what does working mean, and what does spiritual connection mean?

Answer: One should have a serious, spiritual, and working connection with the friends in his ten.

Serious—because he puts all his desires into it and believes this is the most critical and vital thing.
Working—because he is willing to work with these desires, deficiencies, and aspirations. And spiritual—because it is all about reaching the next level, the quality of bestowal.
[338611]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

Related Material:
Conscious Connections
How To Envision The Connection Between Us
Spiritual Connection

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work, The Tens - No Comments →

Question: The realization that “There is none else besides Him” has brought me to the state where I analyze any event in my life from this point of view and try to find out for what purpose it is happening to me. As a result, I exist in such analysis all the time. Is this normal?

Answer: The best analysis of our states is one where I recall that “There is none else besides Him” and I position myself only in relation to this state. This way, I chose my next step.

With regard to “There is none else besides Him” I have to constantly be in analysis. In addition, in all my thoughts, desires, in any state, I have to understand that the Creator inputs everything that I have in me. Now that I have established that the Creator has instilled everything in me, my reaction to what is happening—this will be me.

Of course, in the beginning, it triggers an automatic, animalistic reaction within me even if I have understood that all this comes from the Creator.

But then later on comes a spiritual reaction, but only in the case if I am connected with the group and together with them I work out my reaction for any states. This is already a conscious reaction at the level of human (Adam).
[338206]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is None Else Besides Him”

Related Material:
Where Does the Spiritual Stage Begin?
Develop a Sense of the Uniqueness of the Creator
The Creator Is Always at the Center of My Picture

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

In every beginning a person must start over the acceptance of the kingdom of heaven (Rabash, Article 6, 1991, What Is, “The Herdsmen of Abram’s Cattle and the Herdsmen of Lot’s Cattle,” in the Work?).

At every moment in time, even if we are connected to the Creator and feel that everything is directed by Him and originates from Him, whether it be inanimate, vegetative, animate, or human nature, I must remember that all four types of nature are perceived within my four-layered desire, known as HaVaYaH or Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey.

Ultimately, everything I perceive, I perceive as coming from the Creator.

In everything that happens to me, I must accept the “kingdom of heaven,” meaning that it comes directly from the Creator—how I perceive it, how it fills me and shapes my perception of the world into a specific image, and how I relate to it.

For this reason, every acceptance of the kingdom of heaven is considered a new discernment. That is, now he receives a part of the vacant space that was devoid of the kingdom of heaven, and admits that empty place and fills it with the kingdom of heaven, i.e., with his feelings, knowledge, strength, desires, and intentions. In doing so, he adds the source to his perception of the world.

It follows that now he sorted out a new thing, which did not exist before he took that empty place and filled it with the kingdom of heaven. He fills his world with His authority, as he realizes that the Creator is within the picture of this world and desires for him to perceive it and feel it this way. There is nothing that cannot be attributed to the Creator.

This is regarded as elevating a new spark into the Kedusha, meaning he took yet another aspect of his experience in the world and attributed it to the Creator. The essence of our work is to continually relate everything we feel, perceive, think, and understand to the Creator. From there, all progress continues within this framework.
[338461]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

Related Material:
Assume the Burden of the Upper Governance
The Burden of the Kingdom of Heaven
One Single Authority

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

When the evil inclination brings us foreign thoughts, this is the time to take these thoughts and raise them above reason. [Meaning to rise above them.]

This is something one can do with everything one’s soul desires. He should not say that now he has received rejection from the work. [Or that he has been led astray.] Rather, he should say that he was given thoughts and desires, [which have now come to him] from above so as to have room to admit them into Kedusha (holiness). [And, through them, we establish a connection with the Creator, who sends us these distracting thoughts and desires.] (Rabash, Article 22, “The Whole of the Torah Is One Holy Name”)

Therefore, it turns out that a person is brought closer to spirituality through foreign thoughts and various desires unrelated to spirituality: food, sex, family, work, studies, hobbies, anything and everything.

One must simply accept all of this as necessary for existence and reject nothing. We are prohibited from vows of celibacy, fasting, and the like—nothing of the sort.

Instead, we are to use all the pleasures and fulfillments of this world to sustain ourselves for the work with the Creator. This condition is called “neither too much nor too little” (Lo Igune VeLo Ishubach).

It was said about this: “The ways of the Lord are straight; righteous walk in it and transgressors fail in it.” That is, if he is rewarded, he receives an ascent by it. If he is not (rewarded), [meaning if he is unable to use the group, the study, and the resources given to him for the ascent] he receives by it a descent in spirituality.

All phenomena, desires, and thoughts that arise within us are given so that we can evaluate them correctly, understanding that they are sent by the Creator Himself, “There is none else besides Him,” and that we should choose only what is necessary for normal existence.

No one says we must sit in a corner eating grasshoppers. Instead, we must use what is rationally required for our existence while directing all other forces and capacities solely for advancing toward the Creator, drawing closer to Him through the qualities of bestowal, which we cultivate between us in the group.
[338192]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writings of Rabash “The Whole of the Torah Is One Holy Name”

Related Material:
Between Two Lines
“With A Mighty Hand And With Fury Poured Out”
To Tango With The Creator

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

Question: There is a concept of “necessary and excessive.” How can we determine what is necessary for us in life?

Answer: What is necessary differs for each person, so you must define it for yourself.

If your primary goal in this life is to achieve the spiritual world, then everything else will be used solely for what is essential to live normally and decently but without excess. This way, you will properly allocate your energy and efforts to attain the Creator.

However, this is a decision only you can make and no one else. It is your life, your soul.
[227718]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/17, “Kabbalistic Principles: Spiritual Meaning and Application”

Related Material:
Living Within Your Limits
Don’t Devote Any More To This World Than It Deserves
Provide The Basics Of Life And Take Care Of The Soul

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

A person should believe that all those thoughts that the will to receive brings him are sent to him from above because he wants to walk on the path of bestowal, and in the meantime he is idle in the work.

When it is apparent that the person is idle in the work [and does not send signals of a desire to move forward], he is sent the foreign thoughts that a person cannot agree to be under such a control (Rabash, Article, 44, “What Is an Optional War, in the work – 2?”).

A person begins to feel pushed backward, and this awakens a deeper understanding within him that he is no longer on the path to the goal. He realizes how low his state has become, something he could not imagine before. He sees himself as having abandoned the goal, no longer thinking about it, striving for it, or actively pursuing it.

However, he must come to understand that it is precisely at this moment that the Creator is working with him. Even though it seems as if he has been entirely abandoned, that he has nothing left, and that the Creator is unwilling to give him good desires, this is not the case.

The person must realize through study, the help of friends, and work on himself that this state is a way the Creator draws him closer. He awakens negative emotions by seemingly pushing him away as if “flirting” with him. This distance arouses in the person a longing for the Creator.

As it is written, “My beloved is like a gazelle,” which flees yet turns its head back. In the same way, the Creator seemingly hides, turns His “head” back to stir within us a sense of separation.

This is done intentionally to rekindle our yearning for Him. When a person feels the longing and strives to reunite with the Creator, this begets in him longing and craving to cling to the Creator. This longing gives rise to the qualities and desires that allow him to reveal the Creator.

It is similar to how, in our world, we move closer to each other or further apart, awakening various states in each other. The Creator uses this same principle to constantly draw us nearer to Him, awakening within us a sense of distance and waiting for us to ask for closeness.

Thus, our forward movement is built on the feeling that we seemingly are distanced from the Creator, but this occurs along the left line. Subsequently, in the right line, we feel we are coming closer to Him.

The left step brings the feeling of separation from the Creator, yet it is actually a step toward closeness. It simply manifests as a feeling of greater darkness and distance, which leads to greater closeness. This process is natural. As in our world, the greater the love, the deeper the yearning; one cannot exist without the other.
[338201]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writing of Rabash “What Is an Optional War, in the work – 2?”

Related Material:
When the Creator Moves Away
The Benefit Of The Rejections
The Creator’s Best Help

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

In each state we have two lines: the Creator and the created being, bestowing and receiving.

These two lines are opposite to each other; it is impossible to find any connection between them. And the more we advance, the further these lines diverge.

The middle line, which lies between them, is not exactly their connection. These two lines reach the very bottom, and the middle line begins above, in the upper one.

I will never be able to connect the two lines in my current state, only on condition that I include myself in the upper one, cancel myself before Him, and rise to the next level.

When I am already there, the two lines that I felt before, at the previous level, join into one, and no longer contradict each other, although before that they were absolutely opposite to each other.

The middle line is always above the other two, and it is reached by rising above reason, which means “at the next level.” And then the contradiction disappears.

We are given these contradictions on purpose so that we are not able to cope with them, and then they force us to rise higher.
[12001]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam Letter 13, 1925

Related Material:
The Middle Line Is The Straight Road To The Creator
What is Working In Three Lines?
The Middle Line Is Above Love And Hatred

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

Question: What does it mean to enter the quality of the Creator if I am opposite to this quality?

Answer: If you can nullify your egoism, then to that extent you can connect with a friend. To the extent that you can connect with a friend, you can connect with the Creator. That is all.
[338602]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

Related Material:
Constant Scrutinies
Against Your Nature
Creative Annulment Before The Friends

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

Question: Does the Creator treat us like an experienced trickster treats a simpleton?

Answer: You can think of it that way. You have to always be on guard, because otherwise He will twist you around His finger and manipulate you as He wants.

And no matter how much you want to dissociate yourself from this, you will not be able to, because even before He begins to twist you again (and He twists you nonstop), He instills such thoughts and desires in you to which He initially knows your reaction. After all, where do all your actions, desires, thoughts, and your very essence come from? It is all from Him!

So He does not have to wonder about what your reactions will be; He does not need them; in fact, He does not need your entire path. It is you who needs it for your development.

Only as a result of the consistent, progressive development of “darkness–light” and “left line–right line” will you accumulate a certain amount of sensations that will ultimately give you the opportunity to feel Him, the Creator Himself.

This will develop in you awareness, feelings, and understanding of one against the other: darkness–light, different colors, different sounds, all the nuances of shades that you must master in order to perceive Him.

In other words, it is a progressive, sequential movement in your development, but the Creator personally does not need it. He is interested in your development to His level. The upper light desires to see you equal to itself, and that is why it acts upon you in this way. So there is no point to play games with the Creator, although you may do so on our path, and it is necessary.

Whether you view Him as a trickster or benevolent is up to you. The main thing is that you develop. You can relate to Him as you wish; it does not matter to the Creator, as He is the Absolute. All your reactions are clear in advance. They are of no interest to anyone in the spiritual at all, except yourself.

When it is said that a person introduces certain corrections or does something in the upper worlds, it is only in relation to the person himself. And the Creator does not need anything, as we think in our world.

We are dealing with the absolute, and all our internal changes are necessary only in order to begin to feel Him, to become similar to Him. That is, we will become as absolute as He is.
[338236]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is None Else Besides Him”

Related Material:
Without Turning Away From The Path
Why Is The Creator Constantly Shaking Us?
A Conscious Movement Towards The Creator

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

If everything in the universe originates from the Creator, then what remains? What remains is a very intriguing component: my effort to sustain the perspective that everything comes from Him.

Let us suppose I have attuned myself to this perspective, but within a minute it disappears, slips away, or distorts. At one moment I might feel as if I exist independently, and the world around me revolves by the Creator’s hand. At another moment, it seems that all my parameters are shaped by the Creator within me, while the external world appears either stable or fluctuating, but somehow separate.

So if I want to reveal the Creator, I must continuously work within concealment. Concealment lies in recognizing that everything is conditioned by Him and that “There is none else besides Him.” My task is to properly perceive myself and the world, to separate what does not pertain to me from what constitutes my “self”—my efforts.

And even within these efforts, I must analyze what is truly mine in my efforts, and what has been created in me by the Creator. It may have seemed to me that something was my own doing.

Even if yesterday it seemed that I personally wanted to follow the Creator’s path, I must still correct myself and acknowledge that it was the Creator who granted me this opportunity and not my own doing.

Thus we see that the work within concealment begins to take shape as a clear delineation of where “I” ends and where the Creator begins. Does “I” even exist, and what is this “I”? It is evident that my physical body is temporary.

If my thoughts and feelings are not “me,” then it follows that only through correctly discerning our efforts to form a perception of “self and the surrounding world” might we find something that is truly ours.

Clearly, this “mine” will not encompass the fundamental parameters of the world or myself, as these were predetermined long before me. Therefore it is in my attempts to construct an internal view of the world that my “self” might be found, a result of my search for the Creator, for truth, and for the meaning of life. And this “self,” essentially, is what is called “my soul.” This is the essence of the work within concealment.
[338417]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

Related Material:
Where Do I Objectively Exist?
If There Is No One Else Besides The Creator, Then Who Am I?
If The Creator Is All, Where Am I?

Filed under: Children, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Spiritual Work - No Comments →