Entries in the 'bestowal' Category

Our Entire Work Is To Reveal The System Of The Universe

A question I received: If a person is happy and proud of the fact that he is controlled from Above, then where is the bestowal in this?

My Answer: The bestowal lies in the fact that the person reveals the Upper Governance. We don’t do anything except reveal this. Our whole work consists of revealing the system of the universe where the Creator governs. Each one of us has to reveal this on his own.

I exist in the concealment of the only state created by the Creator. I am already in it. As soon as the Creator desired to create it, it emerged immediately. I simply reveal this state, which is already prepared. I don’t do anything with the state itself – with the Light and Kli which exist in it. I only work in order to reveal it for myself.

We are talking about degrees, or states of our revelation. These are the degrees of the worlds. We don’t build anything new. We just develop an inner perception of the reality that exists from the start.

Therefore, everything is revealed in regard to me. New states arise in me from the existing Nature.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

The Science Of The New World

The true reality can only be seen through the quality of bestowal, which contradicts our egoistic knowledge. Our egoistic qualities depict an incorrect picture of the world to us, giving us false goals and facts opposite to the truth. People are yet to reveal how mistaken all the earthly sciences are. They will all end up “hanging in thin air,” having lost their foundation.

Right now people think that science is an indisputable truth that they can rely on. But this is only so as long as they exist inside the world’s egoistic quality.

However, as soon as one begins ascending above this world, one discovers that all the previous laws no longer apply. That’s because everything the human mind has discovered to this day are the laws of the egoistic desire. If one changes one’s desire to a desire for bestowal, then the laws will also change, as will science. One will suddenly see that the laws are no longer working: to his surprise, vinegar will start to burn the same way as alcohol. (This is an allusion to what is written in the Talmud: “He who told the oil to burn will tell the vinegar to burn.)

Of course, these changes won’t be critical, because our world will exist until the End of Correction. It’s just that in addition to this world, we will reveal new, spiritual desires, and inside them we will see new phenomena.

How did people create science? They did it inside their desire, inside themselves. People noticed that one egoistic desire is accompanied by one phenomenon, and another desire – by another. And it’s the same on every level of our world, be it still, vegetative, animate or human.

All of science is founded on such observations. For example, in mechanics I take an egoistic desire on the still level and measure which actions correspond to specific desires. In essence, this is still the Light and Kli interacting with one another.

We perform the same type of research on the still, vegetative and animate levels of nature. This is how all science arises – because man is the one researching it all!

So, as long as we exist inside one, egoistic nature, which is the still (lowest) level of desire, we will keep researching everything inside it. But if we add higher layers to it, those belonging to the desire to bestow, then our perception of the laws of nature will change.

We will reveal new phenomena in nature, and it will appear as if nature has changed. But in fact, the only thing that ever changes is our desire, and when it does, we feel other facts inside it.
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

How To Acquire Spiritual Vision


A question I received: There are three-dimensional images where at first you see the superficial image, but as you defocus your vision, you discover the depth of the image. How do we transfer our focus from this world onto the spiritual world?

My Answer: You have to try to acquire the quality of bestowal instead of the quality of reception. The world is a result of your vision, and is built within you by your qualities. Once you change these qualities, you will discover a different world.

The ascent up the degrees of the spiritual worlds happens by constantly changing your inner qualities.
(Excerpt from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Acting Mind”)

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 09.15.09

Preparation to the Lesson
A person’s advancement is concealed from him. While we exist inside our current nature, we cannot correctly assess the next state and the means to attain it.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 1, on Writings of the Rabash
Beauty is the quality of bestowal.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 2, on Item 16 of “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”
One learns to work with his desires of reception and to give them the form of bestowal that the Creator shows him.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 3, on Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Acting Mind”
The Creator speaks to us at every moment, but we let His words pass right beside our ears.
Watch >>
Listen >>

How To Develop Your Point In The Heart


A question I received: What is the unification of the points in the heart that we are trying to achieve?

My Answer: When a desire for bestowal, called a point in the heart, emerges in a person, at first it is controlled by the desire to receive pleasure. So for now, the desire to bestow is situated within our egoistic desire to receive, and this is why it is called a “point in the heart.”

The unification of the points in the heart that we are trying to achieve is the unification of our desires to bestow. You have to unite your point with other points in order for all of you to influence each other. Thus your desire to bestow will rise above the desire to receive.

If we come out of our desire to receive and create a net among us above it, then precisely this net will be called the soul. All the points that I have joined, will turn into my soul. In addition, the might of the soul is determined by how connected I am to others and how much I desire to bestow to them.

If we influence the desire to receive pleasure with the force of the Light, then this desire will not be able to interfere with our progress, since it has no contact with the Light. And then we can raise our point in the heart higher. This is called “the exodus from exile.”

The Quality Of Bestowal Is Like a Magnet Holding Up Our Ego


I am the desire to enjoy. This is the only quality I was created having, and so I exist in it. However, I also have the ability to attain bestowal by uniting with this quality.

My essence will always remain the desire to enjoy. I cannot change it; I can only control it through the force of bestowal that I receive from outside. If the Creator will become important enough for me, then I will then start using my nature for His sake.

The way to receive the quality of bestowal is from outside, with the help of the Light. We can do this because we have a memory of this quality, which we used to have before we fell into egoism. This is why the quality of bestowal can reawaken in us under the influence of the Light.

This is exactly why I am referred to as man (Adam), because eventually I can and must become like the Creator. (In Hebrew, Adam comes from the word “Dommeh” – similar.)

So, what I have to do is to consciously use the Light so it will bring the quality of bestowal back to me. At the same time, my desire to receive pleasure will remain the same. Yet, the quality of bestowal can grow inside me so much that it will become more important and will control the quality of receiving pleasure.

The two qualities – reception and bestowal – never change. The only thing that changes is their balance inside a person. The stronger of the two qualities controls him.

It’s like a magnet that holds up a piece of metal: While the magnet is working, it holds the piece of metal suspended in the air, as if it were “spiritual.” But as soon as the magnet lets go of the piece of metal, the latter immediately falls back into quality of absolute egoism.
(From Part 2 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”)

Open The Door To The Spiritual World


In the physical world, even if a door is closed, you can still see that there is a door there. In the spiritual world, however, you cannot see the door until it opens. The door itself is invisible: it’s a solid wall. A person can go through the door only when he corrects himself sufficiently.

The entrance into the spiritual world becomes revealed to a person as soon as he likens his qualities to those of the next degree. But he will not see the door or the opening even a second before that.

As soon as a person makes his qualities similar to the next degree by acquiring the quality of bestowal that is being demanded of him, then at that very instant he sees the door and it opens for him. Then the Kli and the Light unite.
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

Kabbalah Is A Science Where You Verify Things For Yourself


A question I received: If Kabbalah is a science, why is it written that the Surrounding Light influences only those who believe?

My Answer: In Kabbalah, “faith” means the force of bestowal. Kabbalah doesn’t tell you to believe in something that someone says. In this science, faith is the force of bestowal – Bina, rather than words that someone says and someone else accepts as a fact.

When you study a science, you don’t believe in anything. Likewise, the science of Kabbalah does not use the notion of faith. This is not religion!

When I study Kabbalah, I trust the Kabbalists’ advice in order to draw the Surrounding Light upon me. The Kabbalists tell me what I should do, and explain why. With their help, I study the spiritual system, trusting them like a child who trusts his teacher in school or his parents. A small child has to trust an adult in order to ascend to a higher level. He has to rely on the instructions that come to him from the upper level – but not more than this.

This differs from the religion of our world, where faith isn’t when you trust someone in order to then ascend and verify things for yourself; but fanatic loyalty with your eyes closed. In Kabbalah, however, you don’t accept the Kabbalists’ words for a fact. Rather, you implement and verify them for yourself. Then, once you acquire a set of knowledge and proofs, you can continue the research on your own.

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 9/11/9

Preparation to the Lesson
By uniting, we create a common desire, within which we can reveal the quality of bestowal.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 1, on Shamati #18, Shamati #18, “What Is, My Soul Shall Weep in Secret in the Work”
You should see yourself as a laboratory, where you perform experiments based on the Kabbalists’ instructions.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 2, on “Inner Observation” in Talmud Eser Sefirot
No matter what kind of changes are happening around us, they are all happening inside us.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 3, on “Introduction to the book From the Mouth of a Sage”
Everyone has to study the science of Kabbalah. After all, this is what man is born for: to correct himself.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Understanding The Three Lines Of Our Inner Work (Advanced)


We don’t understand how two opposite phenomena can exist at the same time, how it is possible to receive and enjoy, and at the same time to give delight to the one who gives you pleasure. These feelings are opposite. So how can they be combined, if they are aimed at opposite directions: one towards me, and the other towards Him? How is it possible to simultaneously feel pleasure from two desires?

There are no examples of this in our world, because it is based on one desire alone, which is the egoistic desire. But in the spiritual world, there is an additional desire, the desire to bestow, and both desires work together.

But first, these two desires must go through a collision with each other. The will to enjoy grows and contradicts the will to delight. The harmony between them takes place in virtue of the third line, which isn’t just a connection of the two desires; it isn’t a comprise. Rather, the two desires – “for myself” and “for Him” – become one. The only way for this to happen is through the revelation of the Upper Light, which gives you the ability to understand opposites and connect them together.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)