Entries in the 'Love' Category

Fear for the sake of Bestowal

255Exactly in the same way that the body is impressed, so should be the fear of heaven (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 138, “Concerning Fear that Sometimes Comes Upon a Person”).

Question: What is “before heaven”? What is this place?

Answer: Before the Creator.

Question: But everyone has their own Creator. And how does this happen through working in the ten? After all, there is a fear of losing connection with your friends or not giving them enough.

Answer: Right! You should slowly remove these fears and instead try to feel love, affection, and a sense of intimacy.

Question: And if you feel that you have a fear of the Creator, but not for the ten and only for yourself so as not to receive blows, how can this fear be transferred into the fear for the sake of bestowal?

Answer: Just ask, and you will see how much you advance toward it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/23/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Concerning Fear that Sometimes Comes Upon a Person”

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Sacrifice Everything that Prevents Connection with the Creator

938.07Question: Egoism is growing, and it is acutely felt. It seems that we do not see an opportunity to gain a foothold over it, but on the contrary, everyone is looking for a convenient place to hide from it.

How can we convey to the ten that we do not need comfort, but effort against egoism? It is getting very hard for us.

Answer: It becomes difficult for you because you are not working on connection with each other. But as soon as you reach it, you will immediately feel that your connection can only be based on the fact that everyone sacrifices everything that prevents your unity with your friends and with the Creator.

At the same time, you do not have to feel a lot of despair. Self-sacrifice can be joyful, because you are ready to annul those qualities that do not allow you to reach the Creator.

Moreover, by performing this action, you receive the energy of the light of Hassadim, which gives you strength.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Labor”

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The Path to Bestowal through a Play

938.02Question: How can we come to a state where Malchut rises to Bina or Bina affects our common Malchut by playing at connection among ourselves in the ten?

Answer: It depends on how much we play at it because the game ends when the upper light affects us; when it shines on us, we begin to gather together into one spiritual Kli.

This happens gradually. Do you want it to happen faster? Perform your actions more intensely; get closer to each other, and try to work together in one desire collected from your private desires so that you feel it all inside yourself.

The intensity of the action depends on the great internal effort of each friend.

Everyone must constantly imagine that they are a part of the other. That is why these efforts are called rapprochement.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/24, Writings of Rabash “Concerning Hesed [Mercy]”

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At the Moment of Impact

531.03Question: When something happens and you internally feel blows from the general system, could anything be changed in advance? And if you could not change it in advance, what could you add at the moment of impact?

Answer: At the moment of impact, nothing can be done. At that moment, it is only possible to be aware and hide because when a blow occurs, a negative force opens up in the system. The reverse side of it is bestowal. All that remains is to be aware of this as much as possible.

Any force consists of feeling and reason multiplied by each other. Feelings multiplied by reason equal the power of this force. If I engage my reason, then I should sense much less in my feeling. A small “ouch” is enough for my mind to turn it into a huge “ouch.”  And then I will not see massive destruction: “Got it! Enough. Thanks. No need. I am ready to improve. That’s it, I will be different.”

Nature forcefully teaches people. After all, we are just small sensory elements. Because a human is a desire, the most important thing in him is sensation. Sensations can be increased or decreased with the help of the recognition of evil.

Therefore, all of Kabbalah only gives us the opportunity to increase the recognition of evil so that we perceive a small evil as a big one, and immediately, like a smart child, react correctly and move forward.

Each time we increase our sensitivity in this way, again and again advance, and gradually reduce the correcting forces that affect us negatively.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What to do in the Moment of a Disaster?“ 1/2/12

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Increase the Desire to Bestow

562.02Question: What does it mean: “everyone who adds, worsens”? What can we worsen in spiritual work?

Answer: If the desire to receive increases, this worsens the state. We should only think about how to increase the desire to bestow.

To exit work within reason, we need to rise above it in faith above reason and let the desire to receive remain in the same place.

You are obliged to ask the Creator for the force of bestowing. To the extent that you begin to acquire it from Him, you are able to start using it.

Question: In our understanding, can we come to a clear sensation of the spiritual root of our achievements?

Answer: Of course we can. It depends only on us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “What Does It Mean that the Sitra Achra Is Called ‘Malchut without a Crown’?”

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“What Does ‘To Love’ Actually Mean?” (Times of Israel)

Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “What Does ‘To Love’ Actually Mean?

There is a saying about love: liking a flower means picking it, while loving a flower means watering it daily.

But what does it truly mean to love, to nourish a flower, so to speak? It means understanding the needs of your loved ones and fulfilling them, i.e., “watering” them. Love is about identifying what others need and providing it.

Imagine encountering a withering flower. We can revive it easily by giving it water, and then witness it perk up and come to life. Yet, what about love that seems to completely fade away, like a flower that dies? Do we lose hope, or do we continue to water it? In such a case, true love demands that we persist and continue to nurture it.

While many might argue that we need to leave the withering flowers alone, I hold that we should sustain hope and continue watering them. It is because nothing disappears in nature. Nature’s own cycles present examples of barren lands that suddenly sprout with life.

Therefore, even if we face death, a deflated existence, we can overcome such a state. How? It depends on expanding our inner feelings.

When we talk about something “coming to life,” we mean living at our level, restoring its vitalizing forces. It might sound far-fetched in our current understanding, but we can indeed reverse processes of decomposition and decay through our efforts.

Where can we find the patience for such endeavors? Nobody possesses infinite patience. We can, rather, reach an understanding of the process. If love has dwindled within us, we can revive it over a prolonged period by considering it an investment in that which we try to revive. In such cases, we should not think of the years it takes; they become inconsequential as we already live the outcome. Our efforts that we invest quickly dissolve in the face of the goal of what we try to revive. Our spirit will then penetrate this dead state, and it will sprout.

Moreover, we should never surrender in these efforts, as difficult as they become. It becomes a relentless pursuit, and it eventually turns into a true prayer. I once had a neighbor whose little son was ill with brain inflammation. I remember how, at about two or three in the morning, she knocked on my door and brought me this child, a little bundle, handed him over, and said helplessly: “Take him.” She gave up. We should never reach such a state. By never giving up, we eventually reach a genuine prayer. It is complicated, and there might be instances where it feels too late, but the message remains: never surrender in our love and care for others.
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“The Allegory of the Sage and the King” (Times of Israel)

Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “The Allegory of the Sage and the King

There is an allegory about a man having a dream where he saw a king in heaven and a sage in hell. He asked God, “What is the reason for this? I thought it would be the opposite, that the king would be in hell and the sage in heaven.” And he received the answer: “This king was accepted into heaven for his attachment to the sages. And the sage was sent to hell for his closeness to the kings.”

This raises the question: what qualities should a ruler possess in order to bring sages closer to himself, and not the usual politicians and the like?

A ruler should have great respect for sages. Rulers should primarily underatand the need to be surrounded by sages.

What I mean by a sage is a person who strives to understand the meaning of life. Therefore, a ruler who needs to take care of the people, the kingdom’s security, the economy, and so on, needs to be surrounded with those who think about and discuss the meaning of life. Then, everything will work out for the best.

There were certain monumental examples of “king-sages” in history, for instance, King David and King Solomon. They both embodied wisdom and surrounded themselves with sages. It is ridiculous to assume that today’s rulers would rise to such heights, but ultimately, such rulers would be ideal.

In the allegory, the sage was sent to hell due to his closeness to the rulers. There is seemingly a contradiction here: How could a sage not fold under the power of the rulers?

Sages must be completely independent. The rulers will then listen to the sages. In other words, the sages’ independence will attract the rulers. Therefore, in the allegory, the sage being sent to hell is a sign that he was in fact unwise, as he absorbed too much of the ruler’s influence.

We can conclude that a true sage is one who prefers wisdom to any other qualities, placing wisdom above everything else. A true ruler is then one who bows down to sages’ wisdom and prioritizes the sages’ importance over all other people. Of course, such a view contradicts the way the world currently runs, with professionals in the economy, security and politics holding most of today’s power positions. Such people pull humanity in a wrong direction.
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The Atmosphere in the Ten

938.03Question: When a person is satisfied with the work, it is impossible to give him a higher degree because he does not need the help of the Creator.

On the other hand, Rabash writes that it is in the descent that one must see the ascent, a commandment induces a commandment. It turns out that this state has a purpose: at every moment to have Hissaron (Lack) and at the same time to be in joy and confidence.

How can I help my friends to be in such a state?

Answer: First of all, the ten should take care that everyone has a feeling that he is inside his friends and with them determines your spiritual state and leads you to the future one.

In other words, the role of the ten is to give a general atmosphere, and everyone does the inner work himself.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/23, Writings of Rabash “What Is, ‘You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen,’ in the Work?“

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See the Merits of the Friends

528.03By this we have succeeded in understanding the answer of our sages that this world was created because “One who eats that which is not one’s own is afraid to look upon one’s face” (Baal HaSulam, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Chapter 4, Inner Observation, Item 20).

Question: How does shame awaken that you eat something that doesn’t belong to you, since we don’t have such a feeling?

Answer: Shame arises from the fact that we are only in reception and cannot change in any way. We are ashamed of our friends, we are ashamed of the Creator, we are ashamed of ourselves.

But we don’t have that in us yet. And then, when we gradually begin to feel that we are unable to do anything for the sake of bestowal, we will have a feeling that we cannot tolerate ourselves. And then we will have the opportunity to correct ourselves.

Question: It turns out that the desire to connect with the Creator gives you the feeling of someone else’s food, which you eat every time you receive?

Answer: No. The fact that you absorb the energy of the Creator, the qualities of the Creator, does not bother you yet. At the first stage, you feel ashamed that you are not changing. It seems to you that all the friends have changed, but you haven’t.

You look at your friends in the group and see that you are worse than them. You don’t understand what we study, you don’t understand the questions, you don’t understand the texts, you don’t understand the answers, you are not with your friends. You cannot interact with them because you think the others have been united for a long time. This is a problem.

Question: But every time it is unclear how to get to this degree. It appears that you are not putting enough effort because you don’t feel that way?

Answer: Firstly, there is not enough effort. Secondly, you may be hiding it too much from yourself so that you do not feel unpleasant.

Question: How can you reveal this in yourself? How can you notice the merits of friends?

Answer: Look at how they are connected, how they help each other, how you lag behind them, and how they participate in everything, understand texts, and ask questions. Look how much they are ahead of you in everything.

Question: But how can you see this in the friends in the ten who are currently absent? You want to see that they participate more in all events, and in the end you participate more. How can you distinguish this quality of advantage in them and put it above yourself?

Answer: It will come. First you think you are the best, and then you will see that it is the opposite. They will unite and show that they are above you.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)”

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