Laitman.com » Spirituality

Leave Your “I” At Home

bb_admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:50:13 +0000

Question: I want us to carry out the work at the Convention in the Arava desert in the best possible way. How should we act on the inside to attain success?

Answer: This is difficult. I must constantly conduct an analysis, ask questions and look for answers to them, fall and rise. And I must solve all problems only by uniting with the friends. In this way, I want to show an example for everyone.

Success is impossible for one person. It must be achieved for everyone together. And that means I only care about the common desire. What’s important is not what I feel, but what we feel. It’s not me who rises above something and reveals something, but we rise and reveal it. It’s always we, while I do not exist at all. I want to live in this “soup.” The word “I” and the sensation of oneself must be left behind at home.

Moreover, we is not just a gathering of friends or a “special forces unit.” All of that are toys, while in reality, “we” is a soul. It does not have any parts that join with one another; everyone in it are fused together into one. And this bears no relation to what we are today. This is a new creation that has just been created.

After all, the spiritual essence that we want to form did not exist before. Previously there was only a broken Reshimo leading to it. And today, with our efforts we are trying to form a soul from the world of Nikudim, which was supposed to be corrected at this phase, but was deliberately broken for our sake.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/12, “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot”

Questions And Answers About Spirituality

admin_bb — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:09:22 +0000

Question: Would it benefit a person in his spiritual work to incorporate the process of correction and his work as a hobby (in his spare time)? Say for instance, if this man was a computer programmer and he applied the diagrams of the wisdom to a biomimicry program, which would build a need for a certain aspect of reality and then apply the process of correction to that need through this program design, would this help him better sense the spiritual aim?

Answer: No, you should relate to correction as to the main thing in life, while to computer programming as to a necessity. You lack the importance of the goal.

Question: Can we meet or have contact with those who are already in spiritual world?

Answer: You can meet all those who are there, regardless of whether or not they exist in this world, provided you are at their level.

Question: Is this an error: Yod-Key-Vav-Key? I have only heard of Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey.

Answer: This is to keep the commandment of “do not take the name of the Lord in vain.” It’s just as we do not call our parents by name.
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Introductory Lecture “To Be A Man, Human Role In A New Reality” – 02.07.12

bb_editor — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:00:41 +0000

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “To Be A Man, Human Role in a New Reality”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

The Whole Kingdom Is For Unity With The Creator!

bb_admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:57:51 +0000

We are in a state where precisely the “prayer of the pauper” can save us. This means that a person has nothing and he does not need anything, besides one thing – to revive his soul. He does not ask for anything beyond this.

We are going out to the desert, which reflects our inner state, because the desert is poverty. And we don’t desire anything, other than to acquire the point of contact with the Creator, to revive our soul.
In return we can receive all the benefits of our current level, instead of the drop of unity with the higher level, which is always called the Creator for the lower level, creation.

We lack desire for the higher level, a desire just to unite with the upper one, to feel that we are inside of Him like a drop of semen that begins to develop.

This should be our intention while reading The Book of Zohar.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/12, The Zohar

Indifference Is Worse Than Hate

admin.bb — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:49:59 +0000

Hate is inseparable from love. This principle should be engrained in me so that it becomes my program in relation to the world, through which I look at everything. In this form, I always will be in the middle line, in the middle third of Tifferet, Klipat Noga, in the point of my free choice.

Otherwise, I cannot orient myself and do not know where I am: in the area of bestowal or reception, or in a complete fog. Until I form two opposite lines, I am not in the world, which can be a reality.

So we go through so many ups and downs until we begin to understand the weakness of being only in the right or only in the left line. To be just in the right or just in the left is an egoistic state, Klipah Ishmael or Esau.

And if I am in the right and in the left line in order to connect them and rise above them so that the right line is always a bit higher than the left one (as there is always an inclination to the right), then I build the middle line.

But they both are present and support each other. Through this system of two lines, it is possible to see the importance of bestowal, in comparison to reception. And if there is no reception, how can we check?

Therefore, hatred and rejection must exist. A person, who is not in close contact with his friends, does not want to connect, and stays on the sidelines, might have excellent relations with others, might be a good friend, quiet, and calm, but not be involved in the work.

On the other hand, someone, who is argumentative and volatile and who cannot get along with anyone, may be able to establish inner contact with friends. Not only do we need to consider this criterion check judged by such outward appearances, but everyone needs to examine oneself inside.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/31/12, Writings of Rabash

That Sweet Feeling Of Love…

bb_admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:09:37 +0000

Question: You said that instead of aspiring for fulfillment, we should aspire to desire, necessity. What does it mean to aspire to a desire? What does it mean to get fulfillment from a desire?

Answer: A young man is walking down the street and glowing with happiness. Why? He loves a girl.

Tell me, what does he get from this love? Why does this feeling fill him so much? What does he receive? He doesn’t receive, but is ready to bestow. He wants to unite with her, to love. I am not talking about love between adults, about sexual relations, but about a higher feeling, even though it is also based upon reception.

You love a person and want to do something pleasant for him. You want him to be happy and aspire to unite with him.

Besides hormonal attraction, which even animals experience, we received such an exalted feeling so that we would learn something from it. After all, nothing was created in vain. That is why in our biological organism, in this protein body, there is a certain inspiration from this kind of feeling for the neighbor, called love of one person for another.

Why does this fulfill me? Feelings fill us. Love is filled by the fact that I exist in bestowal rather than reception. And if I receive something from someone who loves me, then it’s only to awaken me to respond to the Light. But in essence, if love lives inside of me, then I enjoy by bestowing to the person I love, without receiving from him.

This is a law of nature and nothing can be done about it.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/12, The Book of Zohar

Cool Water For A Soul Tormented By Thirst

bb_admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:06:29 +0000

Question: Is one’s proximity to spirituality measured by the love that is felt in one’s heart? And if we don’t feel love, does that mean we are not in spirituality?

Answer: Spirituality begins when a person feels that it is inside of his mutual connection with the friends whom he sets apart from the entire rest of the world for this reason. There he feels his new, different existence, which is different from the previous—inside of this connection, in which there are no calculations besides connection and mutuality, where they all embrace the Creator together.

They embrace the very quality of bestowal that reigns in them, which they desire to reveal. They want to feel such joy from it as if they are immersing in cool water on a grueling, hot day. In the same way, we want to feel the quality of bestowal filling us.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/29/12, Writings of Rabash

Everybody Has Their Own Toy

admin.bb — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:37:01 +0000

Question: What makes us create “idols” and assign spiritual properties to material things and actions?

Answer: We are like infants: each of us carries around a baby’s pacifier, a doll, or a toy. Those who haven’t grown up yet need something that they can hold onto. They require something that they are used to, that is intertwined with their parents’ house, something familiar and comforting.

Nobody knows how to behave, what to say, and what to expect when they get to a new and unknown place. One feels discomfort, can’t relax, and gets nervous. It’s quite different at home where everything is familiar, clear, and easy. We speak one language with our friends and family.

We are built similarly to the spiritual realm, which is the origin of such order of things. How can we abide with the situation that is opposite to us in phase? In order to familiarize oneself with the surroundings, a person needs some kind of foundation that is usually made of simple symbols. The farther people are from spirituality, the weaker they are and the more they depend on external objects. The general public is in more need of relying on them, whereas individuals depend on them less.

All external traditions of Judaism started at the time of the destruction of the temple. Prior to that period of time, material symbols were not necessary since people lived in spirituality.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

A Request That Does Not Need An Answer

bb_admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:36:03 +0000

Question: It’s difficult to put all of one’s energy into the request for correction and to come out “empty-handed” again and again. How can we keep from getting disillusioned in the path?

Answer: What are you asking for? To have the true request, or for something else? You don’t need anything besides this. If I turn to Him with a request, I must constantly check to make sure that my request is the best, most correct and precise one, that it hits the goal right on target and I don’t demand anything from it. Why would I need anything else? After all, any answer to it would already be a payment, and I don’t desire payment.

What do we aspire to?
- I aspire to unity, togetherness, bestowal, to give pleasure to the Creator!
- Please, go ahead, you’re doing it.
- I just want to know whether He likes it or not…
But if you find out that you are doing something pleasant for the Creator, that will be the greatest pleasure for you, and you will receive it for your own sake.

By going through all these states, where you don’t receive anything and keep going, and you do it over and over again, you thereby build a screen with which you receive a reaction from the Creator that you give Him pleasure, and this won’t enter your receiving desires, but will be above them.

But for now, if you received a reaction in return right now, this would give you enormous satisfaction. Say you wrote a letter to someone very great, and that person received it and responded to you, saying, “I got your letter.” That would be enough, you would already be happy.

Therefore, as long as you aren’t protected from this kind of pleasure, you won’t receive any reaction in return.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/12, The Zohar

Introductory Lecture “To Be A Man, Social Psychology” – 01.24.12

bb_editor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:00:51 +0000

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “To Be A Man, Social Psychology”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Get Well Soon!

bb_admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:31:36 +0000

Question: Sometimes we go through very unusual, powerful states. It’s good if you’re in the group, next to the teacher and friends, but what should a person do in this case if he studies alone at home, virtually?

Answer: It is written that “The Creator heals all broken hearts.” I am not the master of your states. Rather, the Light that comes to a person precisely considers his level, state, personality, the root of his soul, and all parameters. We are unable to calculate all of this and to say how this should all be in every case.

But if we do everything that is necessary, then our progress will always be optimal. A person is influenced from above in a way that was precisely calculated according to millions of parameters in order to elevate him from the current state to the next one.

It is not your concern to assess and check all of this. You cannot understand it – all of this is seen only from attaining the general system from above downwards. When you rise to the World of Atzilut, to its uppermost part (GAR) and connect with Partzufim Aba ve Ima (the upper Father and Mother), which are very high levels, then you begin to see how the plan of creation works. This is the greatest pleasure of all possible ones.

This is called the illumination of the Shechina – the sensation of how the goal of creation, the upper mind, the upper force, the plan of creation, which is all Love, fills all of Malchut of the world of Infinity and brings it to correction in all of its details. This is a person’s absolutely perfect state.

But don’t be afraid that the states a person goes through in the meantime can bring him any harm. They are, in fact, phases of the soul’s healing. It’s like a person who was sick for a long time and suddenly feels a sudden improvement and becomes healthier. Suddenly his sensations sharpen, his eyes open, and he gains forces inside, and thus the illness gradually passes. That is how we gradually get better…
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/23/12, Shamati

Do I Want The Revelation Of The Creator?

admin.bb — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:45:34 +0000

A person goes through phases of concealment and revelation on his spiritual path. Yet concealment is not an easy thing. Who is actually concealed? Where did He disappear to and where is He? After all, concealment is part of the revelation.

If I feel that someone is concealed, it means that I know him, I know who he is and how he should be revealed. In this case we already have something to talk about regarding concealment: After all, I already have an understanding, an attainment, a certain feeling, but they are the opposite of revelation.

So how can it be attained? First, I have to understand that at the moment I am detached in a state of unconsciousness. Then I probably have to feel that something is concealed from me. This is already a step forward. Then I go through a double concealment and a single concealment, followed by partial revelation and complete revelation.

So how do I go through all these phases? It all depends on the how the Creator is revealed to me. The question is: How can I hasten His appearance?

He wants to be revealed before the created being, and we too, at the moment, seem to want to reveal Him. But then it turns out that we actually don’t want that at all, because to reveal the Creator is to reveal the attribute of bestowal that rules the world, and to become one who totally bestows. This means that I become restricted; I lose myself, and totally forget about myself. My “self” ceases to exist. I can’t even think about this. So do I want the revelation of the Creator?

Here we begin to understand that it isn’t that simple, it involves very serious things, and they are all concealed inside a person. According to our nature, we hate the revelation of the Creator. After all, it is in contrast to the egoistic pleasures that we want. His gradual revelation is depicted as something awful to me: It is as if I rule the whole world and suddenly some monster begins to cut off pieces from it, one piece after another, until there is nothing left and it also swallows me. What’s more, I have to agree to that, to want it, to look for it, to beg for it.

So we see that the chain of these events isn’t revealed to us directly; we have to go through a preparation process that is not simple. First I enjoy the revelations, which may be pleasant or unpleasant for my egoism. Then I have to acquire a feeling that is above egoism, and then I see the opposite picture, that I am no longer being guided by the feelings of bitter and sweet, but by the criteria of truth and false.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/19/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Rejoice At Working Twice As Hard

admin.bb — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:19:07 +0000

There is a rule: “if you leave Me one day I shall leave you for two.” This is similar to the rule of “to reveal a portion and conceal two”… it is a preliminary condition for the creation of the vessel.

A person is intentionally given the option to fail, which is called “if you leave Me one day,” and then he has to work to correct himself for two days. This means that he leaves the level he was on, falls, and sins. But he falls to an even lower level: not to the egoistic level that is the inverse of the level of bestowal he had reached, but to an even lower level. Not to minus one (-1), but to minus two (-2), and then he has to ascend to the second level, to plus two (+2).

When he finally arrives to +2, he falls to -3, and then he has to rise to +3. We progress in this way; all these actions benefit our advancement. When we fall, we have to work twice as hard.

The main thing is not to lose the persistence, not to stand still because you see that you are not getting any reward. Each time we need to find greater reward that is more and more detached from corporeal life. We should learn to measure the reward in relation to the common good: to what extent can I work and the others receive.

I have to make efforts that the reforming Light will bring me closer to this attitude in which I will receive more and more fuel to work for the benefit of all the others and not my own. This is how my advancement is measured.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/18/12, Shamati #108

Introductory Lecture “Mutual Guarantee – Our Future” – 01.19.12

bb_editor — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:00:33 +0000

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Mutual Guarantee — Our Future”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Inseparable Pair: Desire and Intellect

admin.bb — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:59:18 +0000

The work we do is called the work of the Creator because the Light is the only thing that ever does anything: It originates, changes, corrects and fulfills desires. The Light does everything: It is the only creative force.

Beside Light, there is desire. Desire wishes for something, but when the Light doesn’t fulfill it, it starts to sense affliction. Next, the Light begins to play with desire: It fills it a little bit, then leaves it unsatisfied; then again fills it up and again vacates and leaves it empty; it allows the desire to go through various stages of fulfillment and deficiency.

Because of such elaborate work of the Light, desire gets smarter. It begins to detect what kind of fulfillment it lacked previously and which one it has currently; it also begins to recognize various forms of the Light. This is how desire develops an intellect, which is arranged very simply and wants to know only one thing: how to get maximal fulfillment.

In other words, instead of letting desire simply wish for something, the intellect begins to work with it. It directs desire and teaches it to rise above its transient demand. Intellect prompts desire to suffer a little at this time in order to get much more later on. This applies to a worker who gets paid at the end of the day, to a businessman who invests millions in the stock market intending to gain more in the future, and to a patient who is ready to undergo surgery for the sake of the future recovery, etc.

Plain desire is not capable of such things! However, intellect that grows next to desire is able to contribute to it, thus bringing the future form of fulfillment closer and making desire ready to suffer.

This is how the Light acts: by developing desire and growing intellect next to each other. This “pair,” desire and intellect, unite and start working against the Light. By complementing each other, both of them become more sensitive and smart and work jointly in relation to the Creator.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/12, The Zohar

Do I Check Myself?

admin.bb — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:25:41 +0000

The goal: We have no idea what it is and no desire for it. We want something totally different, and it isn’t even the opposite because we don’t have anything to compare it to. Kabbalistic books speak about one thing, but we think in a totally different way and don’t take it in at all.

A certain urge simply appears in us: We aren’t happy with life and we try to find fulfillment. At the same time we are confused and we deceive ourselves that we are attracted to some wonderful sublime goal. This only increases our pride and nothing more.

In fact, the only thing we want is to satisfy our ego. Here too, we don’t know exactly what it is: We don’t see its limits, we can’t measure our yearning, and we don’t see to what extent egoism controls us and how addicted we are to it. All our life passes in foggy blindness and ignorance.

So the question is: If we did catch the end of a thread and we do have a chance, how do we make the best of it? Of course, we distance ourselves from different false methods in which we determine that there is no true filling. They are meant for people who cannot make a thorough examination and are happy with the “truth” that satisfies them.

But it could also be that we are caught in the illusion of a certain method, and that if we look at it from above we will see that it is also false. Just like many mystical methods that seem true to their followers.

Who can check that? What can we count on with regard to that? Can I, at my present level of development, examine what is happening outside my level?

After all, everyone judges according to his present “self,” and of course reaches positive conclusions: “Everything is fine; I am in the right environment and the right method.” Everyone examines the situation according to his level and his height, according to the depth of his criticism and ego and so he justifies himself.

So perhaps I have also been “tricked” that way? Perhaps I am also satisfied with what I have, swimming with the current, just like yesterday?

How can I still assess the situation not as part of the routine? How can I rise to a more qualitative approach? Let’s stop here for now, with the question that we have to ask ourselves on the spiritual path.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/16/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Introductory Lecture “Course To Be A Man, Human Development” – 01.17.12

bb_editor — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:00:38 +0000

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Course to Be A Man, Human Development”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Evening Lesson – 01.12.12

bb_editor — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:30:14 +0000

Evening Lesson, Topic: ”Silence”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Silent Pledge

bb_admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:18:09 +0000

In order to figure anything out, one must either start from the very beginning or the end – from the beginning of creation or from its final goal. After all, what’s in the middle belongs to our work, free choice. By analyzing the beginning and the end, we have to understand what we have to do in the middle.

The difference between the beginning and end of the path lies in acquiring the intention of bestowal. Nothing but this changes in reality. By changing the intention, we attain our difference from the Creator and correct it. Therefore, it is clear that our task lies only in attaining this proper intention.

Every action consists of thought, speech, and action. Thought is the plan preceding everything, which initially includes the result of the action. And in the middle, between the plan and the execution, there is speech, meaning discernment.

And in order to make the proper discernment, there must be concentration. This is why Kabbalists have a custom of being silent, which is also done in this world. When a person is about to undergo an important event and he wants to understand how to do it, he focuses on it, requiring silence, and trying to close himself off so he won’t be bothered by external conversations. He intensely prepares to carry out the action correctly.

That is why we want to spend the weekend in silence, in quiet, and think about how we can attain the right action. Instead of talking, we will make discernments in silence.
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From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12

Awaken Care For The World Within You

bb_admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:05:58 +0000

Question: How can we awaken care for the whole world inside our hearts?

Answer: We all exist in one spiritual vessel, in one desire. The Creator created one soul and it is impossible to selectively care for just one part of it, but only for the entire, full vessel. Nothing exists “partially” in spirituality.

If we are talking about bestowal, then we have to be concerned with becoming a candle for the Creator, which means correcting the full vessel. Since the Creator made one, single desire, bestowal can only awaken in all of it entirely. And as Baal HaSulam explains in the article “Mutual Guarantee,” we exist only for this sake.

Therefore, a person who does not care for the common vessel does not care for himself. We just have to open our eyes and see that this is the exact same thing. The world is an imprint of what we have inside; it only seems to exist on the outside.

Therefore, the aim isn’t for “me to care for the world,” but to open my eyes, to see the truth and understand that care for the world and care for yourself is the exact same care. We have to dispel this fog and clearly see that this is one soul!

Instead of “awakening care for the world” inside myself, I have to take care of myself—of why I don’t see that the whole world is my spiritual vessel, my soul.

From this it is clear that I cannot stop caring for the world under any circumstances because this is the main part of me. Everything I feel inside of me now is just my body, and this sensation called “the body” will die one day and will disappear from my consciousness. And only the care that I will acquire for my external “body” will become revealed to me as my soul and will remain with me forever. In it I will acquire my true, eternal life.

This is the inner revolution we have to go through. Essentially, this is the meaning of passing the Machsom (the boundary separating us from the upper world). When a person begins connecting and identifying himself with what is outside instead of the ego that he previously perceived as being himself, this is called passing the Machsom.

Baal HaSulam says that this requires only a psychological revolution. This blindness and deception holds the reason for all of the evil we feel now.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12

Like Water Seeping Through Sand

admin.bb — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:49:17 +0000

It is common knowledge that before one begins to study the wisdom of Kabblah, he must first study all the books of the Torah, Talmud, and Mishna as if to enter the “Pardess” gradually: to start from the simple explanation—Pshat, then to go on to the hint—Remez, then to allegory—Drush, and finally to the secret—Sod.

Actually, however, the order is the opposite: It means that a person goes from Sod, from the first level in which he still doesn’t understand anything, to Pshat in which everything is revealed to him clearly and simply in the world of Atzilut.

We need to go through the worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, and Atzilut to change from secret (Sod)—the world of Assiya, to allegory (Drush)—the world of Yetzira, to hint (Remez)—the world of Beria, and to simple interpretation (Pshat)—the world of Atzilut. It turns out that the Kabbalistic books are a simple interpretation (Pshat) because they reveal to us what is really going on and are closer to the truth, to the source, because they speak directly about the Light and the desires.

In all the other forms such as the Bible, the Mishna, and the Talmud, this revelation was concealed. Therefore in our days it is possible to start studying Kabbalah directly.

Furthermore, in the past there were additional levels on the way to spiritual revelation because it was impossible to start studying the wisdom of Kabbalah without acquiring all the corporeal sciences, the “seven wisdoms of the world.” The wisdoms weren’t just physics or chemistry, but also music, dancing, art, etc., the ways of man expressing himself in our world.

It was impossible to start studying the relationships between the desire and the Light, the internal mechanism, without knowing how the desire receives and is impressed by the Light and expresses itself in our world. It is only from such a distant external form that a person would gradually approach the internal revelation.

So until today we see many customs and external rituals in all the religions and beliefs. They are the external expressions of the internal experiences of man.

After all, how can a person in this world blindly approach spirituality? First he needs to make an acquaintance with what is going on here, and with the help of the external forms, to try to penetrate the material more deeply, like water seeping through sand. This is how people reached spiritual attainment in the past.

We don’t understand how a person perceived reality in the past and in what a time we are privileged to live. After all the previous generations and the development of the Reshimot (the informational genes), we are at such an advanced phase today in which anyone can come straight from the street and start studying books like “The Study of the Ten Sefirot” or “Shamati“!
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/12, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

It’s Hard Being Human…

admin.bb — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:11:44 +0000

The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” Item 119: The lights of David’s Malchut depict the depiction to the degrees from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, where there is no face of a man. That is, the degrees from Chazeh and below rise and become included in David’s Malchut, which is the face of a man from Chazeh and above.

A depiction means a level of some degree. Depicting is like mating because in a Zivug, the degrees come out in the proper depiction according to the quality of that Zivug, to correct the depiction of all those who are included in the face of a man, in an inner depiction.

Within creation there are four types of desire: still, vegetative, animate, and human. They develop step by step because the Creator’s intention is to bring this creature through the still, vegetative, and animate levels to such a developmental degree that it desires to become human. After all, the creature doesn’t become human naturally, as Nature or the Creator would make it happen. No, the human depiction is revealed in this creature only as a result of preliminary understanding, comprehension, desire, efforts, and pleas—everything that stems from itself. That’s the only way it happens!

That is why this development is gradual. Little by little, over the course of tens of thousands of years’ worth of our development throughout history, on all our preceding and very distant degrees, we essentially “sow” within the inner qualities of perception, so that today in our generation, they would awaken and help us to realize our purpose. Indeed, at the human level we must resolve for ourselves the form and manner in which we must grow, why it must be this way and not that—to truly mold “from a piece of marble” something that didn’t exist before, something that has never been mentioned anywhere and lacks any kind of example.

I need to come to know the Creator, and then fashion out of myself, out of this “piece of marble,” the same form accordingly. And the Creator doesn’t reveal Himself in this process, for if He would reveal himself, I would only take from Him something superficial. Whereas I need to study Him, dig down to reveal the inner essence, from my very innermost desires and across the depths of all my degrees—still, vegetative, animate, and human. And then I am to decide whether or not to become similar to the Creator, for this is completely opposite to what I desire initially. Building a human is very hard and meticulous work that takes tremendous attention to every detail. This is precisely the work we study in the Book of Zohar, in the Chapter “Two Great Luminaries.”
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, The Zohar

At The Peak Of Intention

bb_admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:12:45 +0000

Everything we do in this world for the sake of living in it, and all our discernments, which eventually bring us to the question of life’s meaning, gradually narrow down, like a cone, until we reach the very peak, meaning the intention: What do we want from all of this? Intention is the most important thing there is.

In the material world the intention arises naturally and is determined by a person’s nature, his desire. Therefore, we don’t pay attention to it. Only if we suspect that someone is lying to us do we begin to ask about his intention. That is, the behavior we see might differ from the concealed intention.

But if we act simply, without deception in the material world, then the act and the intention always go together. However, in the spiritual world it is always opposite. First of all, it only seems to us that we are doing something in spirituality. In the material world, the world of actions, we are simply used to the fact that the more we do, the more we advance, such as when we build or create something. We can end up with good results or bad, but the results are achieved through actions.

It is written about the spiritual world, “The end of the action lies in the initial plan.” This can be explained in the following way: that only after the actions do you begin to think and understand what happened. Actions eventually bring us to the understanding that they do not produce anything, that the only operating and creative force in the spiritual world is the Light, while all we have to do is ask it to act instead of doing something ourselves.

A person thinks that through his spiritual work, with his own efforts, he can do good deeds, that by virtue of inner pressure and concentration, he can find bestowing intentions within himself, attain a good attitude and love for the neighbor, spiritual aspirations. He thinks that if he pressures himself more, then there, inside he will find the spiritual forces and will reveal the spiritual world.

But the work is actually opposite: It lies in demanding an action from above, the Creator’s work, as it is written, “Call upon those who search for You!”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/12, Shamati

Man Does Not Give Up

admin_bb — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:40:38 +0000

Kabbalah answers the question about the meaning of life. In reality, this question is very important. It is because in my search for an answer to this question, I primarily examine myself. Do I have the right attitude toward life in everything that I do?

I have the desire for pleasure that obligates me to create a family, have children, and care for them, my work, my future, my parents, my close environment, my city, my country, and maybe even the entire world. All this is only so that I suffer less.

In this way, in the end, I am only driven by different degrees of suffering. In the best case scenario, I am driven by how I can benefit from it. However, what if I should rise above all this? What if I stopped depending on suffering or pleasure and became objective, like Man with capital “M”? Perhaps I would then become free of all these bonds. After all, nothing but animal instincts impel me to start a family, and social instincts make me follow social laws. What would I do if I were not driven by suffering and pleasure?

Today, I resemble an animal that is being directed every step of the way, spurred and forced to slow down with the two reins of pain and sweetness. I am like a doll, a puppet, a fragile mechanism that lacks any opportunity to do anything on its own, even a tiny fragment of its way.

So, can I take over these reins? If not, can I at least analyze the situation, understand why it is happening and for what purpose? On the other hand, should I even strive upward? Perhaps it would be best to close my eyes and submerge myself in religious and other practices. Maybe it would give me peace for the rest of my life if I disconnected from the essence.

This is where a person who does not give up and reject what matters most manifests himself. Regardless of the pleasure, suffering, shame, pride, and other methods that drive and control him in life, he still searches for independence. “Whatever happens, will happen, but I must find the essence. This is where I feel like a person. There is no other way.” Abraham searched for people like this in ancient Babylon, and he found several thousand.

This is the criterion for humanity that helps determine the level its animal element reaches and the level to which it is ready to become Man.

Are we able to accelerate human development through dissemination and education so that he would come more quickly to these fundamental questions? Essentially, in our days, this is what “social” work is.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

An Appetite For Spirituality

bb_admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:09:28 +0000

The main thing we lack is desire, similar to how a sick person who lost his appetite needs to regain it in order to start eating and get well. Or, it’s similar to how we want a child to study and he doesn’t want it, and we don’t know how to transmit our desire to him so he would attain a good result. There are many similar examples.

A sick, flawed place first of all needs a desire for correction. Our problem is that we do not feel that we need it. Nothing besides desire is required of us, whereas we are thinking about fulfillment, the total opposite.

All of my worries, searches, efforts, and thoughts—everything must be aimed only at finding the right desire. And if I am thinking about fulfillment, then it’s egoism and it is opposite to the right intention.

The entire problem amounts to the right environment, which will imbue me with this idea so I will constantly remember that I lack nothing but the desire. This is called “asking for rain”—if a person asks for it, then the rain will come, the Light will pour from above. The only thing missing is our request.

And this is a problem because we lack the desire, the passion, questions, pressure, and aspiration precisely for the spiritual goal. We don’t need anything else but the right desire. But for that, a person must always be under society’s pressure so he will feel how he lacks the right desires.

Everyone needs a “program of work”: What do I aspire to, what have I attained—which desire, how did I gain a better understanding of what I lack, did I come closer to it? Do I have the willingness to endure, because desire means suffering due to the lack of the desired thing? Am I happy that I lack spirituality, that I feel a yearning and aspiration for it—the suffering of love?

For that we need social pressure from every person upon every person in order to collect our common desires and attain revelation. The aspiration has to be logical, mutual, common, and total. Then our unification will be called “an assembly of souls aspiring to the Creator” (Knesset Israel).

What do people do in that assembly (Beit Knesset)? They ask, pray. Then it’s called Malchut, from which a request rises and to which fulfillment comes.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/11, Writings of Rabash