Question: Is our suffering in this world not enough that we have to feel more pain striving for the Upper World? It looks like a person doubles his suffering when he embarks on a spiritual journey, doesn’t he?

Answer: That is correct. Your suffering becomes greater so that you cover this spiritual distance faster! What else could possibly give you a start? However, we do not receive suffering from Above, but are expected to find this lovesickness on our own. The Light that Reforms evokes our heartfelt longing for it, and we start moving ahead motivated by the latter. This is not the same as the suffering of this world, where we are like animals who are being beaten and don’t understand why, and simply keep running from the blows.

It is up to us to start acting. But we think, “Oh well, let’s wait until the help from Above arrives and takes care of everything.” What kind of help do you think is going to come? Only the suffering in this world will force us to advance!

Alternatively, if you connect to the group, you will receive spiritual suffering and will start advancing sooner. It will be a sensation of a spiritual void, the longing of the heart, lovesickness. Then you won’t need to be driven by the corporeal pain. If you make an effort to advance at the speed that is assigned to you, according to your original spiritual genes (Reshimot), it won’t be necessary to drive you “toward happiness with a rod.”

It is true that when you ascend so high that you can connect with all the other souls, you start feeling pain for them like a mother suffers when seeing the pain of her children. This is why we think that Kabbalists also suffer in this world.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Love, Suffering - No Comments →

Question: The Zohar causes so much darkness and evil to be revealed. How can a person ask for love while seeing all the evil? How can I ask for good in spite of the evil?

Answer: We think that there is a great distance between hate and love, but this is not the case. First of all, they are the same thing because everything occurs in the same desire. When you go from one to the other, you do not move through space. Rather, the Light performs a change inside you causing you to move from one extreme to the other in one instant

When you look at things without the Light, you do not see anything and all is presented to you as darkness, negative feelings, and hate. However, as soon as there is Light, you reveal goodness, love, and sweetness. There are no prolonged actions here. You “turn on” the Light, and it immediately changes everything. The whole picture of reality instantly changes.

Right now we are in darkness, and that is why we cannot believe that the Light can emerge in one instant. However, when it emerges, it always happens very suddenly, like during the exodus from Egypt.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/19/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Love And Hate Are Just One Step Apart
Laitman.com Post: The Secret Of Genuine Love
Laitman.com Post: The Mathematics Of Love And Hate

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Love, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: How does our desire to unite together more become expressed: in thought or in sensation?

Answer: The desire for greater unity is expressed by my desire to be in the common sensation where there is no distinction between “me” and “others,” and instead there is something that’s shared. However, I don’t know what it is. I don’t want to feel my “self”; I want to feel “us” where there is no division into “self” and “other.” This is a new reality that we produce.

On that higher level which we produce through our efforts, the desire is not divided (compared to our current level). It’s as if many drops of water come together into one great drop. Then there is no way to tell apart our previous state where each of us was separate.

It is impossible to express this accurately with our language, but it’s as if I lose myself. My “I” disappears. On the next level it turns into “we.” However, in relation to a higher level yet, our division gradually becomes revealed again.

After we attain the higher level where we merge together into one drop, new desires or new layers of egoism start being revealed in us. Where do they become revealed from? From the AHP of the Upper Level, which illuminates them. Then I begin to reveal that I am actually not connected with others, that I am alone and they are as well. This happens in our regular lives when you want to unite with someone with your entire heart and soul, but a moment later you already start to experience different calculations that divide you.

The same thing happens in spirituality, but there it happens because the Upper One starts to illuminate your flaws in this state. You thought that you had attained unity, but now you are being shown that it’s not true. You are once again divided from others by egoistic calculations and hatred, even though you thought that only love reigns among you.

The same thing happens in our world: We think that we always replace love with hatred and hatred with love, but that’s not true. The fact is that these are different levels. A greater ego is constantly revealed to us and therefore on every level evil always turns to good, and then good turns into evil, and that is how we advance.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Love And Hate Are Just One Step Apart
Laitman.com Post: Welcome To The World Of Bestowal
Laitman.com Post: Learn To See The Light In Bestowal

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Love, Unity, Zohar - 1 Comment →

Filed under: Love - No Comments →

Dear Friends, please ask questions about passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy

Philosophy loves to pride itself on understanding all the negatives [does not state who He is, but rather who is not Him] about His essence. However, the sages of Kabbalah put their hand to their mouth at this point [when the Creator Himself rather than His manifestation with relation to us is being discussed], and do not give Him even a simple name, for we do not define by name or word that which we do not attain. That is because a word designates some degree of attainment [based on the perception of the attained object in our senses].

However, Kabbalists do speak a great deal [to the extent of the researcher being similar to the properties of the Light] about His illumination [His manifestation with relation to us] in reality, meaning all those illuminations they [researchers themselves] have actually [practically, in sensations] attained [within themselves], as validly as [our] tangible [world, meaning the reality which we sense from the beginning through our inherent qualities] attainment [of objects and properties].
- Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Are Existence From Absence
Laitman.com Post: The Stages Of The spiritual Path
Laitman.com Post: Tuning To The Creator’s Wavelength

Filed under: Kabbalistic Sources, Love - No Comments →

When we choose the quality of bestowal, "the ugly beauty" (as it appears to our egoism, a state called Tshuva Mi Iria), then after living with her for a while we start to experience the state of love (the 15^th of Av), reception for the sake of bestowal (Tshuva Mi Ahava). We have just completed the Mega Congress where by virtue of our efforts we revealed the "bride," who is beautiful for attaining the Creator yet ugly to our egoism.

However, just as it often happens in life, now that the “wedding” is over we are revealing problems since egoism is always growing and changing. It is becoming apparent that you married an ugly and quarrelsome woman who is not satisfied with anything you give her. However, in reality she is demanding bestowal; but since you are being influenced by egoism, you are losing inspiration and desire to fulfill your egoism.

You will have to work by "faith above reason" (in bestowal against egoism) in order to understand that in reality it is precisely the selfless desire to bestow that is beautiful, wealthy, and dignified. It possesses all the good qualities, only you don’t see that!

Let’s hope that we will go through this new phase of egoism’s growth and attain correction. Then, instead of seeing the "poor and ugly" Malchut, we will see all of her beauty, which will be revealed in the quality of bestowal. This state is called "the day of love" (the 15^th of Av).

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/10, "15^th of Av"

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Break Free From The Grip Of Deception
Article : "Eve – Just a Tool in the Creator’s Hands"
Unlocking The Zohar: "Exercises At Home"
Kabbalah Moments: "Faith Above Reason"

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Holidays, Love - No Comments →

A question I received: How can we maintain within ourselves the need to bestow?

My Answer: The need to bestow that stems from love never dies out. You’ll never be able to say “Enough!” On the contrary, the more you give, the greater your need to bestow will be. Otherwise it’s not love. If love is limited to a certain level beyond which you won’t go, if you feel that your love has boundaries, then it is not love.

Your wife can explain it very well to you. Women can feel these things naturally. A man tends to limit his love because his spiritual root is the force of the anti-egoistic screen that dictates to him: “Here is the limit and I am not ready to go any further.” In contrast, a woman who wants to experience a man’s love can’t understand how love can have boundaries. This is instilled in our nature.

Pleasure can never extinguish the desire to love; it only awakens an even bigger desire. When you give to your children, you don’t tell them: “Enough, I won’t give to you anymore.” Perhaps you can’t give more because of external circumstances, but you cannot voluntarily restrict giving to your own children.

Love revokes all boundaries. We don’t understand what true love is. We think that it is about filling up our own stomach, but love is fulfillment of somebody else’s desire. It’s an aspiration to satisfy another person. I sense that this is about another person (not me); I feel the distance between us. Yet, I want to fulfill this person.

We are talking here about a spiritual Kli and the science of Kabbalah rather than about hugs and kisses. All of nature acts in accordance with this principle of lack and its fulfillment; love rules over everything. Everything in nature unites, draws closer, or, on the contrary, moves further away from each other according to this principle. This single force acts in nature since the Creator is the power of love. That’s why there is nothing else besides love and hatred (that is, love with a negative sign.)

“Love your neighbor” is not just a beautiful slogan, but rather a law of nature. To fulfill another person’s desire means to sense ourselves beyond time, motion, or space, beyond all limitations of this world. It is to enter spirituality. By doing so, we attain eternal life. If not, we live like animals and are restricted by our material body in this world.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/10, Article “Matan Torah”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Is Love?
Laitman.com Post: Meeting The Creator On The Bridge Of Love
Video: Spiritual Love – Kabbalah Moments (1:28)

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Love - No Comments →

A question I received: In this world, we receive egoistic pleasure from giving. What is the advantage of being in the Upper World if we receive pleasure from bestowal there as well?

My Answer: If we were allowed to enjoy bestowal in this world, then we would be giving all the time. The question is why do we give in this world? It is in order to receive pleasure. This is the difference between this material world and the spiritual world.

In this world people are willing to give up everything just for a moment of pleasure. Enjoyment is everything and the action itself does not matter to us. When we love somebody else, we are ready to give him or her everything including our life. This is because there is a mechanism inside of us that secretes a love and pleasure “drug” inside us. But if we don’t feel love, then we are not willing to give because we won’t feel any pleasure from it.

Now, here is the question: Do we need love to give or to feel enjoyment? This is the difference between the two worlds.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/10, Article “Matan Torah”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Like A Loving Mother Giving To Her Child
Laitman.com Post: Rising To Infinity Along The Steps Of Love
Video: The Language Of Bestowal – 5 Minutes Of Light (5:14)

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Love - No Comments →

The Creator is a pure desire to bestow. He receives pleasure from bestowal. He creates the creature, the desire to receive, so as to bestow to it. Does the Creator feel pleasure from bestowal? He does! Does He bestow in order to feel pleasure? No! He receives pleasure from the very fact that He wants to bestow. We say that He suffers because of our reluctance to receive His pleasure, but it’s purely our limited perception whereby we perceive His “suffering” relative to ourselves.

We, on the other hand, are the desire to receive, and our joy lies solely in reception. This desire cannot be erased within us; it only needs to be corrected. The corrected desire will take pleasure in being fulfilled, but its fulfillment will come in fulfilling another.

How is it possible? Will I be fulfilling myself? Yes, but only on account of fulfilling somebody else, and in so doing I will feel as though I’m fulfilling myself. I’ll be like a mother that fulfills her child and takes pleasure in that very act. But a mother loves her child, and so it follows that I too need to acquire this love. If I manage to love the desire of another, then everything it receives will be my fulfillment as well. Love will unite our desire into one. Moreover, love will make the desire of another more important to me than my own, inherent desire.

Therefore, all that I need is the power of love. And this power can only be received from the Creator, for He is the one Who loves. Love is His inherent quality. Ask Him and He will share it with you. You will be able to love as well, as love will rise over all of your hatred.

Herein lies the giving of the Torah (Kabbalah): a power comes from Above, unites your desire with those of others, and you begin to love them like yourself. “Like yourself” means even more than yourself. Your love is so great that it obligates you to care for others before even caring for yourself. You become like a mother who’s prepared to give her child everything in the world.

On the animate level such behavior is compelled by nature (the Creator). But on the human level, we must reach this state on our own.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/10, Article “Matan Torah”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Animate World Versus The Human World
Laitman.com Post: Meeting The Creator On The Bridge Of Love
Video: Through The Other – Kabbalah Moments (00:59)

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Love - No Comments →

If we were to bestow to the Creator due to the desire that He had instilled in us, could there be love more superficial than that? Essentially, we would love Him because He made us love Him. Love is possible only if the desire originates in us.

That is why it wasn’t an option to create us with a ready desire to love Him, for that would have been disgusting. Love must be completely genuine in its root, it must blossom in an empty space, absolutely selflessly and independently of any received pleasures.

How can we attain such an absolute, pure, and eternal love, utterly selfless without demanding any reward? How can the creature attain the same attitude toward the Creator as He has for it? This desire, the need for bestowal, must be developed by us. Herein lies our entire development from this world and to the World of Infinity: to attain the need for love.

Because we develop it within ourselves, this need for love does not disappear. We hold on to this lack, thanks to which we can love and bestow. For this reason, the spiritual vessel can never be overfilled. It cannot be filled; we merely cover it from Above, as it is written: “Love will cover all sins.” The act of covering only increases the lack. We cover it, but it keeps growing, continuing to blaze brighter and brighter.

That is why the process we undergo cannot be any different, as it stems from the end goal. Indeed, if the Creator wishes to bring us to mutual love, the same love He has for us, then there is no other choice. The entire spiritual ladder has already stretched from the end point to us, to the beginning of the path, and we must continue our journey all the way to the end.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/10, Article “Matan Torah”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Reanimating The Universal Soul
Laitman.com Post: The World Around Us Is A Grand Illusion
Baal HaSulam Article: “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Love - No Comments →