Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 86

How Can We Subjugate Ourselves to the Group’s Decision?

Unlike other groups in society, in Kabbalah, subjugating to the group is not achieved through self-limitation, which leads to foolishness. In a regular society, the more a person complies with society’s demands, the more they are considered a good citizen or a pious individual. Nothing beyond that is required.

People who wish to live their lives quietly, without any excess turmoil, need to diminish and hide their inner intensity. They should pretend to be slightly less than they truly are. By doing so, they accept society’s influence and rules, and in return, receive its support. This is how people grind on in life peacefully, finishing it as if they had never been born.

In a group engaged in Kabbalah, the opposite is true. We need to harness the full extent of our desire, personality, and everything within us to work on uniting the group, not to stand out against everyone, but to bring everyone together. How is this different from regular society? In the external society, i.e., outside of the group that advances to the spiritual goal, we do not achieve unity through strengthening our desire, but rather through diminishing and concealing ourselves.

In Kabbalah, the more we work on social cohesion, then the stronger our sense of self-worth and the greater our abilities, and the more we contribute to uniting the group. The two kinds of societies use opposite approaches. In Kabbalah, we form a group where each member dedicates their full strength and power to unify the collective. Accordingly, unity is a result of effort, not of prior submission, self-concealment, or dissolving into the collective.

In Kabbalah, everyone stands out and connects together. The unity we achieve in such a setting is on a very high level.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 85

How Can We Subjugate Ourselves to a Different Opinion?

There are concepts of “following the majority” and “following the individual.” In spirituality, it is stated that we must “follow the individual.” This means following an individual who is truly unique, singular, and exceptional among humanity, or within a large group of people, someone whose opinion and knowledge we respect. In such a case, we disregard the majority and only regard that individual. We become indifferent to millions of other people and what they might say or think, and focus solely on what this unique and exceptional person says.

For example, millions of people once believed in certain laws that were once widely accepted. Then someone like Albert Einstein came along and said, “No, the laws are different.” Those millions of people could not comprehend the strange things he was saying about the warping, stretching, or even resetting of time, and the distortion of space. The familiar foundation beneath their feet was swept away, leaving them suspended in midair. While the masses could not understand, this unique and exceptional individual stood firm in his perspective, a perspective that was indeed innovative, solid, and advanced, although not yet widely accepted, even if it was true. Then, I choose to follow him. How? Above reason, because I too am part of the crowd. If I were like that unique and exceptional individual, the question of whom to follow would not even arise. I would not need to follow anyone. But if I am pursuing a spiritual path, I must follow the unique and exceptional individual, even though he stands alone, because he is great.

We can understand this idea intellectually. However, we need to find the strength to translate this understanding from the intellect into action. We might know that a certain singular and exceptional individual who stands firm in his perspective is correct. Where, then, can we draw the strength to join him? After all, the masses, driven by their reasoning, oppose him. How can we join him against public opinion? It is said that this is possible by the principle of “One who adheres to the great becomes great.” However, we still wonder how to achieve this and begin, step by step, to seek the way to adhere to that great one.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 84

What Is the Importance of Subjugation to the Friends?

Baal HaSulam writes that awareness of the force of the Creator’s greatness and the goal’s importance propels us to spirituality. We acquire such a force from society. However, we can only receive it if we feel in our heart that we are small compared to our friends.

If we feel no subjugation in our heart, then we can perform actions as though we feel it. However, true subjugation must be a feeling in the heart. If we can feel subjugation before the society, we can receive something from it and become inspired by our friends. From this state of subjugation, we can gain the strength to spiritually progress.

Therefore, we need to start untangling the chain from its end: to progress in spirituality, there should be an attraction to the Creator in addition to the spark we receive from above. We can obtain this additional force from the society. To receive it from society, we need to see ourselves as smaller compared to the society, according to the principle that only the small can receive from the great. To feel smaller than the society, we must conduct specific actions to feel in our heart, even before we intellectually understand, that we are indeed small.

Even if everyone praises us and says how great we are, we should nevertheless feel small. Yet, even then, we might become haughty to conceal our smallness. The more we feel ourselves as small, the more we will receive strength from the society, which is the only way we can spiritually progress.

We need to be forceful in this matter, strive for the time when we will genuinely feel small, and wonder how to bring about our smallness. We must demand from the society, above all, to provide us with reasons for this, time and again. By nature, we lack this sense of smallness. It is the role of the society to help us feel small. Friends should approach one another and speak of each other’s virtues, saying, for instance, “I heard that this or that friend acted or said such and such, and what they did or said was truly remarkable. They are so wise and wonderful,” and so on. As it is written, “Counters’ envy increases wisdom.”

We need to use the forces at our disposal, including envy. Envy is the main force. It is written that three things bring a person out of this world. What are they? Envy, lust, and honor. We can aim lust at the Creator, which in itself is a great feat. We can also honor the Creator. But envy is of lesser value, a feeling that we primarily direct at friends. We should thus use, cultivate, and tie these traits to the goal so they work to benefit our spiritual progress.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 83

Why Can Progress Be Seen Only Through Subjugation to Society?

Progress can only be seen through subjugation, as otherwise, the work remains unseen. Subjugation lets us receive strength from above and enables us to act more in bestowal. But what does “bestowal” mean? It is confusing. We might gain strength to become stronger, more successful, or more influential and think that we have attained bestowal. But that is false. Such sensitivity requires the utmost subtlety.

We need to maintain Lo Lishma for a while and receive various enticements to help us grow. It is similar to promising a child a bicycle if they study hard and achieve good grades. The child works hard all year, excels, and gets the bicycle. We likewise need to linger accordingly in the stage of Lo Lishma.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 82

Chapter 8. The Power of Desire

When does the evil inclination begin to rise in us and slander our work, seemingly interfering with it? It is when we start our spiritual work. Beforehand, the evil inclination does nothing. Why? It is because before we start the work, we do not act against the evil inclination.

The work of serving the Creator is to correct the evil inclination, and this correction is necessary. Without this correction, we will lack the “letters” of the work, the flavors and sensations needed to feel the end of correction, which we are already in but lack awareness of. Otherwise, we remain in our current state. If we do not walk the path and gather impressions of the differences between light and darkness, bitter and sweet, and truth and falsehood, we cannot perceive where we are.

Only when we start distinguishing between these two extremes, the Creator and the created being, do we gradually gain awareness and truly feel our current state. Nothing changes within us except for this clarity.

The nature of the evil inclination is such that when we work through its many details, we gain knowledge, flavors, and the ability to feel the perfect state called “the end of correction.” If we work hand-in-hand with the evil inclination, as do all inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human beings in this world, the evil inclination shows no resistance. On the contrary, it provides strength proportional to our desire to satisfy it. But if we work to correct the evil inclination through which we acquire spirituality, which we cannot acquire with our natural desire but only through “reflected light” (Ohr Hozer), i.e., a desire to bestow, then nature certainly resists.

The evil inclination begins to burn within us and prevents any thought, intention, or action. We become weaker on all levels: thought, desire, and action. We lose our motivation and feel drained of energy until we can no longer move forward. This is a good sign. Although at this stage, we feel very bad about ourselves, if we have faith in the sages and understand that we must acquire strength and enlivenment from outside of us, then we seek and find that fuel, gain strength, and continue forward. But if we do not receive strength from outside of us, we have nothing to continue with.

Here also lies a problem. We might think that we are growing, influencing others, doing good deeds, and succeeding in all aspects of Kabbalah, but in truth, the evil inclination deceives us. It introduces a kind of selfish substitute instead of real corrections, which once again blinds us until we might reveal our true state.

We can test this by trying to annul ourselves to our friends, as only from them can we receive the energy to progress. If we can annul ourselves to our friends, it shows that we indeed progress.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 81

If Our Relationship with the Creator Is Personal, How Can We Draw Strength from the Group?

The rules of group behavior are a complete methodology, a technique. Kabbalists always studied in groups, for instance, those of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the ARI, Maimonides, the Baal Shem Tov, and many others. They passed on a complete methodology and several examples of the rules of group behavior.

RABASH’s articles on society explain how to behave in a group, how to help build it correctly, how to draw strength from it, and how it should provide strength. Without a group, we cannot achieve anything.

Why is organizing a group necessary? A group is a spiritual matter. Building a group is essential for receiving the strength needed for spiritual progress.
From a Talk on the Article “What Does It Mean that One Should Bear a Son and a Daughter, in the Work?,” 5/31/2002

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How Is Our Free Choice Expressed?

In “The Freedom,” Baal HaSulam writes, “Therefore, he who strives to continually choose a better environment is worthy of praise and reward.” We have only one choice: to constantly choose a better environment. This includes “books and authors,” the study and a group that inspires positive thoughts, guides us toward the goal, and gives us the strength to continue—“fuel.”

There is no other choice because, in State 1 and State 3, we are all connected “as one man with one heart,” in one soul. This soul is currently divided into 600,000 parts, but in the perfect state, we are all united. From this unity, from above, we can draw additional desires and strength. Only society can guide us on how to do so.

Why society? What does society have that we as individuals lack in the world? We are inherently interconnected in our root as souls, dwelling in those around us. In this world, we can receive strength from connecting with friends, drawing additional desires and forces. When we are in a state of descent, we have the opportunity to draw strength from the collective forces of the group.

Therefore, the only true choice we have is the choice of society. Baal HaSulam writes that a person fulfills their free choice only by continually striving to find a better and more suitable environment. There is nothing to do in life other than to constantly flee from the company that is called “the seat of the scornful” and seek the company of the wise.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 79

Should We Ask for a Descent to Progress?

There is no need to ask for descents. We should only yearn for the goal. Whether a descent or ascent takes place is outside of our control. Such states arrive according to our soul’s structure, which we do not know.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 78

Can We Also Derive “Fuel” from Within Ourselves?

We can never derive strength from within ourselves. Since we are in a lower state, where would we draw strength from? To ascend to a higher level, we must receive additional desires and screens, which are corrections.

What is the difference between a small and a great one? The small one lacks additional flesh (desires) and intellect. Why are children not given much strength? It is because they lack the intellect to handle it responsibly. As they grow up, they are given more and more strength and intellect. Without a balance between the two, the system would be dysfunctional. The same applies here. The lower one receives additional negative forces and uncorrected desires from the upper one, which hides itself. Then, the lower one must also receive light from the upper one to correct these empty vessels, and align itself with the upper one.

However, if we do nothing and wait for the situation to improve on its own, nothing will change, and the correction will not happen. In moments of emptiness, we must turn to the group and to the study, and carry out any actions that might help. These actions are called “good deeds,” actions that lead us to goodness. There is no alternative. We cannot find the necessary strength within ourselves.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 77

What Comes After the Correction of “Delighting in Mercy”?

“If a person overcomes and says that the bitter taste he finds in these nourishments are only because he does not have the proper Kelim to receive the abundance because his Kelim are to receive and not to bestow, and he is sorry that the upper had to hide himself, for which the lower one can slander, this is regarded as MAN that the lower one raises.” We work as is written, and receive strength.

“By this, the upper raises his AHP. ‘Raising’ means that the upper one can show the lower one the merit and the pleasure that exists in the Kelim of AHP that the upper one can reveal. Thus, from the perspective of the lower one, it follows that he raises the Galgalta Eynaim of the lower one, and by this itself, the lower one sees the merit of the upper one. It follows that the lower one ascends together with the AHP of the upper one.”

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