Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 269

What Is Intention?

If a friend comes to you and begins flattering you, telling you how beautiful and good you are, and says that he has never met anyone as wonderful as you, while secretly acting against you, this is called an intention to harm. There is an action and there is an intention. The action is that the friend comes and speaks to you with flattering words, while the intention is to harm you. Everything depends on the intention, not on the action. It does not matter how the action appears outwardly. Intention is key. A person who sticks a knife into another person’s back can be a surgeon or a murderer. What is the difference between them? The action appears to be the same action, that is, the surgeon and the murderer both thrust a knife into a body, but their intentions are different. One intends to give life, and the other intends to take life. Everything depends on the intention.

Action and intention coincide only in animals and beasts, the still, vegetative, and animate. The speaking degree has an intention and an action, even on the corporeal-animate degree in our lives. Although certain animals pretend to be asleep in order to catch prey, such an action comes from the force of nature and is not conscious or planned in advance. In human beings, intention and action are two completely separate things. Intention is the weapon of one who serves the Creator. There is nothing other than intention. We can begin working in the society, for instance in the kitchen or in dissemination, and excel at what we do while our intention is to become a manager. We might get what we want because we excelled in our work, but we will gain nothing from it in spirituality. We will be able to advance spiritually only when our intention changes, and it will change because we are incorporated in a society that will influence and change us. Advancement takes place only in the intention, and not in anything else. Intention is an inner attitude toward someone or something, from the innermost point in the heart. Intention is an attitude.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 268

How Should We Demand That the Friends Do What We Think Is Right?

Demanding is good. Everything should be examined in the group. We should demand that the friends do what we think is right and observe their response to the demand. It is better to “make noise” than to remain silent and inactive. It is better to make our voice heard than to be in a kind of death, in a general state of slumber. There is nothing worse than remaining silent. One who jumps up, shouts, declares their opinion out loud, and objects is the one who brings changes to the group.

A group characterized by a desire to show each of its members their place and make them bow their head is not a good group. There should be a general patience with the routine and an understanding that this is the way. Until all the discernments are acquired, we must maintain the routine and consistently sway from side to side, but at the same time there must be an outburst. We should not be afraid to examine everything in the group.

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To What Extent Should We Strengthen the Group?

We should strengthen the group to the extent that we want the group to influence us. The more we recognize its necessity, the more we will strengthen it.

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What Does It Mean to Be Prepared?

Everything depends on preparation. It is for a good reason that we are in a stage called the “time of preparation.” Afterward, there is no longer a problem. When we enter spirituality, spirituality acts on us. In spirituality, our nature and character do not matter. We do indeed remain with our nature and character, but only with regard to general corporeality and not with regard to spirituality.

When we are in a good state, we should concentrate on the study and reading as much as we can and also think about the bad states, so that if they come, we will not sink into them, but will plan in advance how much we want to attach every small descent that comes to our good state, to the ascent, and then we will rise even higher. Where do the ascents come from? From us attaching the descents to our permanent state if we prepared ourselves for this in advance.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 265

Chapter 23. Strengthening the Group

The thought of creation is to create a created being that will have the same perfection as the Creator. This is His desire to do good to His creations, in a complete, eternal, and absolute measure. In order to reach this state, the created being must go through the entire path from the extreme opposite of perfection, from lack of perfection to true perfection, which is the degree of the Creator. Therefore, the nature of the created being is evil, the “evil inclination,” the opposite of the Creator’s nature.

The means for passing from one extreme to the other is, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” which means that the Torah was given only in order to purify the created beings through it. That is, it was given to enable the created beings to see the evil within them, to correct it according to the measure of the revelation of the evil, and thus draw closer to the good. The Creator is called “The Good That Does Good,” and we can draw closer to the Creator only if we acquire the quality of good and the action of doing good, like the Creator.

Where will we get this desire from? The Creator gave us freedom of choice. What is choice? There is one action that we are free to perform, which is to choose what influences us, good or bad things. By doing so, we determine our independence and individuality. We can join a society whose entire concern is advancing to the Creator, or a society that advances toward all kinds of other goals. That is our sole choice.

It is written that from the beginning, the Creator does not simply leave us in bewilderment and confusion, but brings us to a good place, to a good society, and tells us: “Take this for yourself, be in it and strengthen yourself. Strengthen the society as you would want it to influence you, so that genuine mutual work will take place, and this will bring you to the goal.” In other words, no one can say that the Creator did not give us an opportunity to choose.

Therefore, the first point into which we are born is the opposite of perfection, and this is necessary. Later, we only discover more and more of its true form, how opposite it is from perfection, according to the extent by which we want to attain perfection. And the end is also clear, absolute, and prepared. The path, too, depends on the structure of the soul, which has already been predetermined by the general structure of Adam HaRishon. But the path itself depends on us, whether we take the Creator’s choosing us and the Creator’s choice to bring us to a group, and build a group increasingly directed at the goal. According to the extent of the flaws that become revealed in us, we will need to improve ourselves.

Indeed, all the work is work in the society, in the group. The actions we perform to organize the society, for dissemination, at meals, on Shabbat, and on holidays, are what advance us. It is not the actions themselves, but the action toward expanding and strengthening the society, both in breadth and in height. This is the only means in existence. There are several necessary conditions: a society, a group, inner work in the framework of the group, connection among the friends, acquiring a strong desire from them, which is called “buy yourself a friend,” and investing in the society. It is actually quite complex, and the results come slowly, but this is the only choice, and according to such a choice, the flaws become revealed, and likewise, the flaws become corrected.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 264

Is It Wrong to Feel Satisfaction from Spiritual Work and Progress?

On one hand, we need to feel satisfaction from the work we are engaged in, otherwise we will not thank the Creator, but curse Him.

On the other hand, we must understand where we are in order to prepare our vessels for further progress and correction. RABASH writes that every matter, every discernment, contains two polar opposite states within it, and we must become accustomed to this. Also, on the contrary, we must not become accustomed to it, but seek these two states. The more we scrutinize them one against the other, the more they grow and move further apart from each other, which is a sign that we have discerned these matters and are ready to advance.

Also, if we do not pay attention to this and feel no opposition between these discernments, it is a sign that we have not examined any point in the work. Therefore, there is no reason to be surprised when we discover that in every state there are always contradictions and confusions between the discernments, that they struggle and interfere with each other, and that things do not work out. This is normal. In fact, this is correct and good. An ordinary person escapes these states, while those who engage in inner work must not only agree with them, but wait for such states to reach us. “For out of Zion shall come forth the Torah.” That is, the extent to which we exit Kedusha (holiness), from this comes the Torah. This is called “a thing and its opposite,” and it continues until the end of correction.
From a Talk on the Article “The Difference between the Work of the General Public and the Work of the Individual” 6/18/2002.

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How Can One Sit Before the Book, Demand Correction from the Creator, and at the Same Time Be in Wholeness?

During the study, we should be in wholeness. The study of Torah is the study of light (Torah = light). If we want the surrounding light to shine upon us with intensity, we must aspire to the greatest possible equivalence of form with it. The light is perfect, whole, high, upper, and in order to bestow, without any concern for itself, absolute giving. We should seemingly detach from ourselves, not think about ourselves, direct ourselves as much as possible toward the light, and accordingly the light will draw closer to us. This is according to the purity of the vessels.

There is another matter as well. How can we attract the light and demand it if we do not think about ourselves, about our trouble, about what we want corrected, or about the state we are in? Here we are discussing the coarseness (Aviut) of the vessel. What should we choose: wholeness or deficiency? We should choose both. In Kabbalah, we learn that in every state there are both coarseness (Aviut) and purity (Zakut), two extremes, Malchut and Keter. Malchut draws the light and Keter receives the light.

Therefore, it is said that we must prepare for this even before we approach the study. We must prepare these two points. We need to know well and examine the question of why we need this at all for ourselves. “What is the meaning of our lives?” That is on one hand. On the other hand, we need to also know the answer to it, which is “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” that is, that the light we can attract through the study will solve all our problems and bring us to the summit.

In other words, before the study, we need to think both about ourselves and about the greatness of the Giver, and then approach the study. Gradually, these two points will become one during the connection between us and the Creator, even though they are opposites. Only when Malchut is used like Keter do they connect, and then there is no inner division, opposition, or polarity within us.

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What Determines the Pace of Progress During the Time of Preparation?

Only attention determines the pace of progress during the time of preparation. We can go through these states half asleep, or we can be very sensitive. The pace and depth of progress are determined by the sharpness, direction, and attitude toward the study. We need to view the study as a means. There is no need to know what is written on the page. We should want to know and to interpret what is written in depth so that it will give us more discernments and additions that we can incorporate into the search for spirituality and not search for knowledge.

Why does Baal HaSulam write that we should repeat definitions a thousand times and know them by heart? It is because he wants the student to gradually get it into his head that what he reads must be interpreted differently, in a spiritual manner. For example, if he reads about a “circle,” he should immediately imagine, instead of the word “circle,” the quality called a circle, not the shape itself. Therefore, he writes, “Know the definitions by heart,” so that the student will be pushed toward a more internal and profound interpretation.

Delving into the study in order to reach inner discernments, and demanding that the study brings us to Lishma, paves the way for us.

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Does the Study Material Change When We Cross the Barrier?

Beyond the barrier, the study material becomes reality itself. What does it mean that beyond the barrier we have a screen of a certain measure? Suppose we have a screen over all our vessels, and while we study and read, our screen works in us according to what we read because we are connected to the book, to the light from the same degree on which the book was written. This light comes to our screen and they operate together. They carry out what we read, and we are present in those very actions.

It is not that we ourselves know how to do this. It simply happens within us, as though we are watching a theatrical performance, or as though we are reading a magic book in which actors appear on the page we are reading and begin to perform in vivid color. We immediately live the reality we are reading about. We attain it immediately.

In our present state, if we intend correctly during the study, we attain surrounding light. We do not actually feel how it shines on us or to what extent it illuminates one particular sentence compared to another. We can go through an entire page of The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the surrounding light will change in all kinds of ways without us sensing it.

We are like a cat in a room of a musician who is composing a symphony. The cat lies in the corner of the room and does not care about anything, as though it hears nothing; whatever it hears is insignificant to the cat. It is simply on a different degree. The musician performs magnificently while the cat sleeps and feels nothing. That is, when the light comes to the screen no longer as surrounding light but as inner light, the light and the screen perform the action. There is a clear order to these actions: we are provided an example of how to perform, and we do so.

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Why Do We Study Kabbalah Before the Barrier?

Before the barrier, we study Kabbalah because through it we can acquire a screen, an intention of Lishma. This is the only reason for studying. Of utmost importance is that such study should bring us to Lishma. The means itself is unimportant. A means is required in order to reach Lishma, and Kabbalah is the single appropriate means.

Baal HaSulam explains that studying Kabbalah books, of all the holy books, awakens the greatest surrounding light. It is possible to awaken surrounding lights by reading any of the holy books because all these books were written from a spiritual degree, and those who connect to them with the intention of reaching Lishma, spirituality, receive surrounding light through them from that same place. Of all the holy books, including the Tanakh, Gemara, books of laws and Halachot, legends, Prophets, and so on, the language of Kabbalah and the books of Kabbalah awaken the greatest surrounding light, and therefore we use such means.

We need Kabbalah because we need a means for attracting the surrounding light. Why? This is because the surrounding light brings about a screen, or in other words, an intention of Lishma. While many understand that we need to reach Lishma, the problem is in the interpretation of Lishma and Lo Lishma.

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