Entries in the 'Spiritual Work' Category

Ask the Creator to Correct You

253Question: The light highlights a flaw in a friend that is in me because there is no other way I can see it. What are my actions?

Answer: If you see a negative quality in someone, you must ask the Creator to correct you until you stop seeing this negative quality in a friend.

Question: To keep repeating it as a constant prayer: “Correct me!”?

Answer: Sure.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/6/24, “The Conditions for Studying with Friends”

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The Equivalence of the Path and Goal

032.01Question: Is the path or the goal more important in spiritual work?

Answer: I would say they are equal. I must treat every step on the path with the same respect and value as the final goal.

Question: What is more critical: the effort in the ten or the correct way to learn?

Answer: No one can tell you about the correct way to learn. As for the effort, you should feel that you are making it against your egoism, against your desire.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”

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The Screen of the Ten

938.03Question: What is the screen of the ten, and how can it be increased?

Answer: The screen of the ten is the organ that Kabbalists wish to create among themselves to sense the Creator. Within it, they reveal the connection between themselves and the Creator, and in this way, they can advance.
[336714]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/3/24, for Graduates of MAK – the International Academy of Kabbalah in Russian, “We have gathered here”

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Weeding Desires

243.01When he came to Sulam Tzor and saw them engaged in weeding at the time of weeding, and in hoeing at the time of hoeing, he said, ‘I wish I had a part in this land.’ The Creator told him, ‘Unto your seed will I give this land’’ (Rabash, Assorted Notes 344, “Go Forth”).

Question: What does “weeding desires” mean in our work? Since we can’t destroy them.

Answer: We cannot destroy desires, nor should we. On the contrary, we need to cultivate them so that they resemble the Creator’s qualities, meaning we should rid ourselves of bad, egoistic desires by transforming them into altruistic qualities—into qualities of bestowal and love.

It is essential to engage in weeding, because when you plant certain crops, weeds inevitably grow around them, which must be pulled out and discarded. We need to do the same with our desires.

Question: Should the ten work together to identify what “weeds” exist in our desires and accordingly weed them out?

Answer: Yes, this can be done together.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/24, Writings of Rabash “Go Forth”

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Incorporate in Others

528.03Question: How does the transition from individual inner work to inner work with the ten happen?

Answer: A person begins to feel that they do not exist independently. They exist only as an elementary particle without the right to spiritual existence, which is above egoism.

To be above egoism means to include oneself in others who were specifically created as if they were outside of oneself, through the shattering of the single Kli, so that a person can cultivate within themselves the quality of moving from an egoistic self to altruistic qualities. This is the essence of our methodology.
[336792]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”

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Through Kindhearted Relationships

938.01Question: For the past two years, we have met daily in our group of ten, read primary sources, attended lessons, and attracted the light. Yet it does not feel like we have become closer. We continue working, everyone has the right attitude, but there is no sense of closeness.

Answer: What kind of closeness would you like?

Comment: I want to genuinely think about my friends all day, to care about their progress and participation.

My Response: So what is stopping you from thinking about them, caring for them, and focusing on them instead of yourself?

Comment: I am waiting for this feeling to arise naturally within me so that I start caring about my friends instead of myself.

My Response: Then start! Or do you want this feeling to come to you on its own? Do you expect a good inclination toward others to suddenly appear?

The thing is, through your kindhearted, collective work in your ten—when you strive to support each other, embrace one another, and do everything possible—only negative emotions will likely arise between you.

Question: So I should not wait for something to change, for me to start being drawn to my friends?

Answer: No! Do not wait to feel drawn to them. Why would you? Your egoism should start revealing itself. What are you waiting for? To suddenly become a good person? There is no angel within you—only a serpent.

Therefore, expect that good work with your friends will bring up utmost difficult feelings. But these feelings will ultimately compel you to unite with your friends, leading you to ask the Creator for the quality of connection between you. In that connection, you will reveal Him and finally begin to sense the upper world.
[336414]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”

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The Purpose of Development Is to Reach the Root of Creation

219.03Question: How can we maintain a constant desire with the intention of reaching the goal without burning out along the way?

Answer: If you work in a good connection with each other, in a calm environment, you won’t burn out or be thrown off track. You will move correctly toward the great purpose of creation—the revelation of the Creator in our world to anyone who desires it.

The Creator is revealed only to those who can correctly receive this revelation and, through it, come closer to Him.

Question: If we assume that we have all acquired the qualities of the Creator and connected into a common soul, then what next?

Answer: Nothing further. With this, we reach the root of creation, its foundation. What follows after this, we do not know, but this is the purpose of our development.
[336728]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/3/24, for Graduates of MAK – the International Academy of Kabbalah in Russian, “We have gathered here”

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How Can You Align Yourself with the Creator?

631.2Question: It is said that by setting myself up for equality with the friends, I align myself with the Creator. Now I am at the lowest degree of my development.

How can I equalize myself with Him, and why is this necessary in my current state?

Answer: We must try to get closer to the friends in one common desire and thereby get closer to the Creator and connect with Him.

As soon as we begin to connect with each other and try to bring this connection closer to the Creator, we will begin to feel how the Creator, for His part, is increasingly turning to us and purposefully raising us to Himself.

And so we will move toward each other: the group on the one hand and the Creator on the other.
[336669]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/3/24, for Graduates of MAK – the International Academy of Kabbalah in Russian, “We have gathered here”

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In the Light of the Creator

276.02Question: How can we grasp the line where we can still receive something for the sake of the Creator and where it becomes a descent for our own sake?

Answer: We can discern this only in the light of the Creator.

The Creator influences us with His light in which we clearly distinguish when we act for the sake of others and when for the sake of ourselves.

Question: Should we somehow capture this light in the connections between us, feel it, and prompt each other?

Answer: No, you can’t feel it together. Each person feels the light as a result of their individual efforts to bestow.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/24, Writings of Rabash “And the Lord Saw”

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Understand The Book of Zohar

65Question: It happened that during the lessons on The Book of Zohar, I was at home in front of the computer. Reading it together with everyone strongly influenced me. I do not have this opportunity now because I am at work or in transit at that time. What should I do when I am alone during the reading of The Zohar?

Answer: Listen in any state. Just listen.

Comment: But the images that come through The Zohar repel me, and I need some inner engagement, not just listening.

My Response: Try to understand what The Zohar says about the spiritual states of the group. After all, all of Kabbalah speaks only about the spiritual states of the ten, including, of course, The Book of Zohar.

Question: Do I need to engage and think of what The Zohar says and try not to picture physical images?

Answer: No. You have to resist and not picture physical imagery. On the contrary, everything should be translated into spiritual images, rightly or wrongly, but the very fact that you will resist the earthly depiction will be your great victory.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”

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