The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Part 1: Recorded Lesson
Rabash. Article No. 1, 1988. Why Life Is Divided into Two Discernments
Original lesson date: 01/02/2003
Reader: Hello dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will study from a Rav lesson from 2003. It's based on a lesson from the article from Rabash, “Why Life Is Divided into Two Discernments.” You'll find it in the first volume of Rabash writings or the social writings. It's article number one. Read it in the Ten, and Tens that finish before the time is up are invited to summarize what they learned from the article.
Reading: (01:22) Why Life Is Divided into Two Discernments
Article 1, 1988
Our sages said (Berachot 18), “For the living know that they will die. Those righteous, in their death, are called ‘living.’” RASHI interprets, “Those righteous, how do they know they will die? They pay attention to the day of death, and avoid transgression.” “And the dead know nothing. Those wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead.’” RASHI interprets, “The wicked know nothing,” meaning “they pretend not to know and sin.”
It therefore follows that there is life that is called “death.” In other words, to the wicked, their lives are called “death.” Also, there is death that is called “life,” which is among the righteous.
That is, there are two discernments to life: 1) the life of the wicked, 2) the life of the righteous.
It is not written what the life of the righteous is called. Rather, what is written is that the death of the righteous is called “life.” And we should certainly say that if the death of the righteous is called “life,” then the life of the righteous is certainly a higher degree.
According to RASHI’s interpretation, it seems that in their death, meaning when looking at when they are discerned as dead, therefore they do not sin. Yet, how does this pertain to life? Does one who does not sin already have life? Also, RASHI interprets that the wicked in their lives are called “dead.” Why? It is because the wicked know nothing, meaning they pretend not to know. We should interpret that they do not know about the day of death.
This, too, we should understand. Does one who does not remember the day of death must sin? After all, our sages said (Berachot 5), “One should always vex the good inclination over the evil inclination. If he defeats it, good. If not, he should engage in Torah. If he defeats it, good. If not, he should read the Shema reading. And if not, he should mention to it the day of death.” This means that even if he does not remember the day of death, he does not have to sin. Thus, what does it mean that RASHI interpreted that they pretend not to know about the day of death and therefore sin? Does this imply that one who does not want to sin must always remember the day of death?
In order to understand all the above, we should remember all that is ahead of us, meaning the purpose of creation, as well as the matter of the correction of creation, which is done later. We should also understand the rule that there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. It is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. It is also known that there is no light without a Kli. This means that there cannot be a filling without a lack. For this reason, the Creator created existence from absence a lack and craving to receive pleasures. This is called a “desire to receive delight.”
On this Kli, called “will to receive,” there was later a correction called Tzimtzum [restriction]. This means that since because of the reception of the abundance there was no equivalence between the giver and the receiver, and that Kli craved equivalence of form, called Dvekut [adhesion]. For this reason, she did not want to receive into her will to receive. Instead, on that discernment there was to be a Tzimtzum and she would receive only where she can aim to bestow. This is the correction of creation, so the creatures would not feel unpleasantness when receiving pleasures from the Creator.
Now we understand that the purpose of creation is for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure, and the correction of creation is for the creatures not to feel unpleasantness upon reception of the pleasures. A Kli is called a “lack,” and “light” is called the “filling.” It follows that the Kli in which life is clothed is called “desire,” and the life that is clothed in her is called “light.”
From this we learn that we have two kinds of Kelim [vessels]: 1) a Kli without the correction of creation, called “receiving in order to receive,” 2) a Kli with the correction of creation, called “receiving in order to bestow.”
According to the above, life is called “light.” It follows that we have life that is clothed in the Kelim of the will to receive, by which we receive disparity of form from the Creator, which causes us to part from the Life of Lives. For this reason, this life is called “death,” due to the separation that occurs there.
There is also life that is called “light,” which is clothed in Kelim on which there is the correction of creation, called “receiving in order to bestow.” By this, although they are called “receivers,” since the aim is to bestow, they remain in Dvekut even while receiving the pleasures. It follows that the light that he receives, meaning life, is called “life,” since the light remains attached to the Life of Lives.
By this we can interpret what was said, “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead,’” since they receive all that they receive in vessels of reception, which causes separation. This is why it was said, “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead.’” Also, this clarifies why “The righteous, in their lives, are called ‘living,’” since they receive the filling of the Kli, meaning the light and the pleasure, in vessels of bestowal, by which they adhere to the Life of Lives, although they become receivers.
However, according to this, how can we interpret what our sages said, “The righteous, in their death, are called ‘living’”? The thing is that in the order of the work, we begin in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and from Lo Lishma we come to Lishma [for Her sake]. Thus, when a person begins the work, the intention is for his own sake, called “reward and punishment.” Afterward, he is rewarded and is shown from above—by an awakening from above—that he should walk on the path of truth, which is to do everything for the sake of the Creator.
When he is shown from above what does it mean for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, the body escapes from this work and no longer wants to work, at that time a person thinks that he is in a state of descent.
That is, when he began to work he was in a state of ascent, meaning that he was finer and not so materialized. Hence, the body did not object to his work. But now the body has become materialized and therefore does not want to work. It says, “This work is not for me because I see that not only have I stopped progressing, I am even regressing. Therefore, it is a waste of my time and effort. Since I cannot acquire spiritual life, at least I will acquire corporeal life like the rest of the world, which does not think of spirituality, but only of corporeality.
“I will be like them and at least try to enjoy what I can in this world. Otherwise, I will be left empty handed in both ways.” At that time, it says, “I will do what our sages said (Yoma 72), “Raba said to the Sages: ‘I beseech you, do not inherit a double Hell!’” RASHI interprets “double Hell” as laboring and toiling in Torah in this world. “And you will not observe it and you will inherit Hell upon your death, and in your life, you did not enjoy in your world.”
By this we should interpret that when a person comes to a state of descent, called “death,” meaning when he feels the taste of death, if he follows the path of bestowal, meaning that everything he does will be only to thereby bring contentment to the Creator, and for himself he wants nothing, it is called “serving the Creator devotedly.” To a person, this feels like death.
Indeed, this brings up the question we asked, It is known that “A Mitzva [good deed/commandment] induces a Mitzva.” Thus, why does a person come from a state of feeling the taste of life while engaging in Torah and Mitzvot [plural of Mitzva] to a state where when he only begins to say that he is going to observe Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator, he feels in this a taste of death and not of life? Where is the rule that a Mitzva induces a Mitzva, as it is written (Avot, Chapter 4, 2), “Ben Azai says, ‘Run to a light Mitzva and flee from transgression, for a Mitzva induces a Mitzva and a transgression induces a transgression, for the reward for a Mitzva is a Mitzva, and the reward for a transgression is transgression.’”
The thing is that when he begins in work Lo Lishma and dedicates himself to the work wholeheartedly, and takes upon himself everything seriously, he is therefore endowed from above with the knowledge that there is work in order to bestow and not for his own sake. The reason he is awarded to feel that knowledge in his organs was because a Mitzva induces a Mitzva, for not just anyone is rewarded with feeling what it is that all his work is for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake. This pertains specifically to those who work with all their might in Lo Lishma. By this, they come to feel the Lishma, and to this, the body certainly does not agree.
However, now that he sees that in the work of bestowal, the body has nothing to receive, the person stands before a dilemma: He can say that now he is in a state of descent, called “transgression.” At that time, he falls into despair and says that now he sees that the most important is to bestow, but he cannot work in order to bestow, therefore he must escape the campaign and return to at least enjoy the corporeal life. Or, he can say that when he began this work, all the actions were with the aim Lo Lishma. At that time the work was not against the will to receive, so the body did not object. But now that he has been rewarded with knowing about the existence of Lishma, called “working for the sake of the Creator,” the body should certainly object because it is against nature. So, how can we work for the sake of the Creator? The answer is that it is inherent in nature that the small can serve the great without any reward, since it feels great pleasure in serving it.
This brings up the question, Why does the body not agree to work for the sake of the Creator? The answer is that the body does not believe in the greatness of the Creator, for where there is a need to believe, the body objects, since faith is something unimportant. This means that if His greatness is not revealed within reason, but we should believe, a person regards it as “lowly” and “inferior.” The body cannot stand this work.
Therefore, we should ask why the Creator created the concealment and the Tzimtzum [restriction] so His greatness will not be revealed. Rather, if a person wants to feel the greatness of the Creator, he can achieve this only by faith. The answer is known. When a person is still not cleansed of vessels of reception, he will take everything, meaning all the revelations of the Creator, into Kelim of self-love. This will separate him from spirituality and will be as “knowing one’s Master and aiming to rebel against Him.”
If a person is righteous, as our sages said, that “righteous is he who justifies his maker,” meaning says that his current feeling of a time of descent is certainly not because the Creator has rejected him from serving Him, but it is rather a great correction for him. That is, now he was given room to believe above reason in the greatness of the Creator, and was also given the need to ask the Creator to illuminate His greatness for him.
He does not want to feel the greatness of the Creator because of the pleasure in this revelation. His intention is not to delight his vessels of reception. On the contrary, since he wants to cancel all the self-love in him, and the body does not want to surrender, he is asking the Creator to illuminate for him, and remove the concealment from him so that the will to receive for himself will annul before the Creator.
By this we will understand what Ben Azai said, “Run to a light Mitzva.” That is, a person stands before a dilemma: He can say that the descent, his falling from his previous degree when he had desire and craving for the work into a state where he feels a taste of unpleasantness in the work, without any vitality, but everything is done by coercion, this came to him from above. It is because they want him to walk on the path of truth, meaning with faith above reason, which is a light Mitzva, which a person slights because it is unimportant to a person when he must go above reason.
Or, he can say the opposite: It is not because “a Mitzva induces a Mitzva,” but simply that he is a coarser person and with worse qualities than other people. Therefore, he commits transgression and is unworthy of the work of holiness. Instead, “a transgression induces a transgression.” Since what I do now in Torah and Mitzvot is compulsory, and I have no love for the holy work, hence, I will commit another transgression and leave the path of coercion. When I am in good spirits, I will engage in Torah and Mitzvot. In the meantime, I will return to my corporeal life and at least enjoy this world, as in the words of Raba.
For this reason, when a person faces a dilemma, Ben Azai says, “Run to a light Mitzva,” meaning run and choose a light Mitzva. This means that this state is regarded as a light Mitzva, and was given to you from above so that you would walk ahead on the path that leads to the truth. The reason is that “a Mitzva induces a Mitzva.” Since you began in Lo Lishma, and your intention was to devote yourself wholeheartedly to Torah and Mitzvot, hence, “a Mitzva induces a Mitzva.” For this reason, you were given from above the knowledge of the matter of Lishma, and you began to feel it. This is the time when a person has the need for the Creator to bring him closer, since then he sees what our sages said, “Man’s inclination overcomes him every day. Were it not for the help of the Creator, he would not overcome it.”
“…and escape from transgression.” That is, run from saying that the state you are in now is a transgression. Instead, say that a Mitzva induces a Mitzva and this cannot be a transgression. If you do not say so, but rather say it is a transgression, then know that “a transgression induces a transgression.” Hence, you will be forced to commit another transgression, meaning you will have to return to the corporeal life and leave the work you have begun because you will want to at least enjoy this world, as in the words of Raba, who said, “You will not inherit Hell upon your death, and in your life, you will not have enjoyed in your world.”
According to the above, we can understand what we asked about RASHI’s commentary, who said that it is written, “The living know that they will die; those righteous, in their death, are called ‘living.’” “How do they know that they will die?” They pay attention to the day of death and avoid transgression, while the dead know nothing. Those wicked, in their lives, are called “dead.” He says that they pretend not to know and sin.
According to RASHI, it seems that one who does not pay attention to the day of death is already a sinner. We asked, 1) about his interpretation that the righteous, in their death, are called “living,” since by knowing they will die they do not sin. It follows that one who does not sin already has life. What is the connection between one who does not sin and life? 2) It seems from the words of RASHI that he says about the righteous that “the living know that they will die,” that they pay attention to the day of death and avoid transgression. From his words, it seems they do not sin because they pay attention to the day of death, otherwise they, too, would sin. But our sages said that it is not necessarily the day of death that prevents sin (Berachot 5), as is said, “One should always vex the good inclination over the evil inclination. If he defeats it, good. And if not, he should engage in Torah. And if not, he should read the Shema reading. And if not, he should mention to it the day of death.”
Therefore, we see that it is not necessarily the day of death that prevents a person from sinning. Accordingly, we should understand, and this is why we should be precise about what he said, “the day of death,” meaning it is when a person comes into a state of descent, when he feels no taste in the Torah and in the prayer, and everything he does in Torah and Mitzvot is compulsory, and he has no vitality, which really feels like death.
The person asks himself, “What is the reason I have descended from my previous state? That is, before I began the work of bestowal, I was happy and confident that I would be a worker of the Creator. This always invoked me to exert, and I did not know any weakness or idleness. Rather, I was always alert to everything. But once I have begun to work on the path of bestowal, I have lost all the vitality in the work, and I do everything lazily. I feel the taste of death in this work. Our sages said that a Mitzva induces a Mitzva, but now I see the opposite.”
Indeed, a person should pay attention to the state of death that he feels now. This is why he says, “The living know that they will die; they pay attention to the day of death and avoid transgression.” The meaning of “pay attention to the day of death” is that according to the rule “a Mitzva induces a Mitzva,” it should have been day now. That is, when he begins to work Lishma, he should have been more alive because now he is marching on the path of truth. So, why does he feel death now, which is darkness and not life, but is regarded as night?
However, one who is righteous justifies his maker and says, “Certainly, the descent that the Creator has now given me is to my benefit. That is, now the Creator has let me know what it means when a person is working not for himself, but only for the Creator. Of course the body resists this, as it is against its nature. Conversely, before he began the work of Lishma and was a servant to self-benefit, therefore the body did not resist it.
It follows that this is a sign that he was notified, so he would know that he is walking on the right path, since the body is resisting. Otherwise, the body would not resist. Therefore, now he has a need, called Kli, that the Creator will help him, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided.” This is so because it takes the Creator’s help to go against nature, for anything that is natural, a person can do. But that which is against nature, this is called “a miracle from above,” meaning that only from above can he be given strength to be able to go against nature.
Thus, the meaning of “paying attention to understanding the day of death” is that this death that I feel is really a day and not a night. “The day of death” means that there is room for choice here, to say that it is “day,” called “life,” or say it is “death.” This came to me once I have labored honestly and extensively to achieve the goal for which I was born. And since I began in Lo Lishma, and Lo Lishma is not opposite from nature, the body did not resist.
But now, I have been rewarded from above with walking on the path of Lishma. This is why the body resists and does not want to give energy to work, as it is against nature. This is why now I feel the taste of death. Therefore, if I say that now is “day” and not “death,” I receive from that state confidence that I will succeed on the path on which I am now going.
I avoid saying that this state, where I feel death, is because I am in a state of transgression, called “a descent,” and because of it I have nothing more to do in the work, since I see that I am declining, so it is a waste of my time. Instead, I say that this state is not a descent, but an ascent in degree; I have embarked on the path of truth.
The words, “avoid transgression” mean that they avoid saying that this state is a transgression, and naturally, a transgression induces a transgression, meaning it is better for me to leave the whole campaign. Instead, I say that I have ascended in degree because a Mitzva induces a Mitzva.
It follows that we can interpret “a Mitzva induces a Mitzva” in relation to the past and in relation to the future. That is, if he says that this state is a Mitzva, then a Mitzva induces a Mitzva, meaning that now he has faith and confidence that he will be rewarded with ascending in the degrees of holiness and will be rewarded with achieving the goal.
By this we will understand why we say, “Remember us to life, O King who desires life, and write us in the book of the living, for Your sake, the living God.” We should understand the ending, when we say, “for Your sake, the living God.” We can see that there are two kinds of life: 1) of the wicked, 2) of the righteous. The life of the wicked is in vessels of reception, called “separation from the Creator.” The life of the righteous is in vessels of bestowal, which is Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. For this reason, when we say “Remember us to life,” which life? “For Your sake,” meaning to bestow. That is, we ask for life in vessels of bestowal.
Reader: Now, let's enter a lesson with Rav from January 2, 2003.
M. Laitman: (35:52) We read an article from the “Rungs of the Ladder,” Volume 5, from a part called “Babylonian Talmud,” “Blessings,” page 18, “Why Is Life Divided into Two Discernments?” In truth, we determine our reality, where we are. We exist, to begin with, in a state called the initial thought is in the final act. From the perspective of the Creator, nothing changes. He created the will to receive, and He filled it with all the good and pleasure, and that was even back in the initial phase that emerged from Him. And there is no change from that state. Following phase one, everything that came later, these are all phenomena that the vessel determines, the vessel feels, out of the fact that this is how all of its internal states go through it, meaning this is how it feels. He doesn't want to feel the Creator, he does want to feel Him as a giver, as a receiver, because this is how He is able to determine it. One time He can determine His attitude towards it, another time He can't, and so on. Meaning, all of the emotions of the vessel, all of its discernments are subjective discernments. And actually, the Creator remains inside the vessel. In the first state, phase one emerged from the root phase, and that state does not change. But rather, the way the vessel relates to the filling, this is actually what causes all kinds of impressions, changes in impressions, which in the vessels are called states. The states of the vessel depend entirely only in how the vessel relates to whatever fills it. How does it relate to what fills it? As to a simple pleasure, or to a pleasure that comes out of a certain source, or only to the source, in bestowing to the source, or in reception from the source, in reception of pleasure, or not wanting to feel the pleasure; all of these things are relations that the vessel determines towards a state, and the state itself does not change. So, if the vessel determines its relation only towards the pleasure, we call that corporeal life, according to the will to receive. If the vessel determines its relation to what fills it, according to who fills it, then its life is called spiritual life. That is, there are two kinds of life, both corporeal life and spiritual life. One does not cancel out the other. They can be one above the other, as we call it. How does a person reach that? From a state of complete lack of awareness, being unconscious completely about his state, he needs to reach a state where he is truly full of the light of Ein Sof, and the knowledge of who fills him, who is inside of him, who gives him the pleasure and the feeling of the pleasure. In short, how does a person reach full awareness, as he had to begin with, back in phase one of the four phases of direct light? How does he reach that?
M. Laitman: (40:47) It comes out of the fact that Baal HaSulam describes it with an allegory about someone who is in a cellar. He doesn't know where he is and what he is. He sees everything, he's in darkness, and he feels suffering, he doesn't even know from what. Later on, they begin to take him out a few minutes a day to the light. He walks around in a city, and he sees that other people are happy, having a good life. But they let him see it only a few minutes a day, and they put him back in a cellar. A few more minutes a day again, and they put him back in a cellar. From that, he gets even greater suffering than what he had before. Earlier, he was thinking that that's it, that's life, this is how he exists. Or maybe, he felt some calmness in sitting in the darkness, or maybe there was no calmness, but seemingly there is nothing more than that. The moment they start showing him that there is more spiritual life besides the life in the cellar, and they take him out of the cellar for a few minutes, and he sees that there is a different world altogether, then it starts to be a problem. Then he truly determines his state, that he exists only in the feeling of the life of darkness as a descent. This feeling, when he begins to feel the difference between the two kinds of life, it comes through the awakening of the point in the heart. The point in the heart awakens, and the person begins to feel that there is some kind of spiritual life, something different. There has to be something. And from this point onwards, he is given an opportunity to act and to add in his labor, to exert in order to get out of his state following the law that a Mitzva induces a Mitzva. A Mitzva, commandment, that is upon him is that he has to reach maximum yearning for spirituality, for the spiritual life, and each time to interpret more and more correctly what does spirituality mean. In the beginning, it seems to him that it is simply more pleasures, like the pleasures that he’s familiar with. Later on, through the exertion, according to the same law that a Mitzva induces a Mitzva, they start to show him just a little bit of what does it mean, in order to bestow. Then he sees how much he is not in that, and he falls down, corresponding to this feeling of what does it mean, in order to bestow. He feels who he is. This is called the recognition of evil. The moment that he is allowed to see, following his exertion, what does it mean in order to bestow, that through this feeling, he sees a good feeling, which he calls an ascent. Then he's given to see what state he's in, and this is how he feels himself in a descent. That recognition of evil between a spiritual state and his own state, this gap it is actually now the next, his next state, from which he needs to determine his free choice. Again, according to the law, a Mitzva induces a Mitzva, if he is going to increase the greatness of the Creator, and in such a way to rise onwards, because in nature there is this quality that a small one annuls before a great one. Or he’s not working on acquiring the greatness of the Creator, that this will serve him as a fuel. And then he is following the rule that a transgression induces a transgression. Possibly he needs to be inserted to a greater depth from that place where he is in, because apparently that state is not yet awakening him enough to demand the greatness of the Creator. He sees that seemingly he can still exist this way. He feels bad, but he can tolerate it.
M. Laitman: (46:01) When he is inserted even more into the bad, gradually, he sees that this life is not life. Then he starts searching, and he nevertheless rises to demand the greatness of the Creator. This means that advancement can be only by acquiring the greatness of the Creator. Meaning, here there has to be the help of the Creator. By feeling that his advancement depends on the Creator, he begins to connect to Him, to tie himself to Him. And from this, he starts having a change in his understanding of what is spirituality, and what is corporeality, what is a Mitzva, a commandment, and what is a transgression. What is the vessel that he needs to attain? Not just a greater vessel for pleasures, but rather the character of the vessel. Its quality, its content has to be different. And from that, he begins to gradually understand that in order to bestow, this is the force. It's not that it's something bad, despicable, seemingly there is weakness in it, but rather this is the greatest and strongest force. And then a change occurs in him. What does life mean? What does death mean? And the yearning for spiritual life, according to a more correct interpretation of what spiritual life is, again causes him to have this process where a Mitzva induces a Mitzva. So he exerts in Lo Lishma and bit by bit the Lo Lishma, again according to this process of exerting, recognizing the spiritual ascent relative to the descent, a demand for the greatness of the Creator. So bit by bit, all of these states that are replaced build within him such a quantity and quality of Lo Lishma that then he receives salvation and he emerges to true spiritual life, the real life.
To cut through it in a different way, like with every article, meaning we should not forget that all the states that we go through are altogether our inner and subjective feeling, which is determined only according to the quality of the vessel. We can establish the quality of the vessel bit by bit on our own. Meaning, how do I want to relate to where I am until I cleanse my vessel of sensation, my vessel of perception, such that I bring myself to a state of a soul that is filled with the Creator who exists within it, engulfing it? This is how it was to begin with. So, I corrected my feeling so that I can truly feel where I am.
Question (Internet): (50:35) Is every fall called “death?”
M. Laitman: Death means what I determined to be death. It could be that now I feel very good in my sensation, but I determined that this feeling is death, because it brings separation, and it is far away from the goal. So, either I determine my state according to what I feel in my organs, or bit by bit, I build a vessel above reason, above myself, and I live in it, in this spiritual vessel. And then I don't even, I detach myself from my beastly feeling in my bones, but rather I live inside the adhesion with the Creator, with the spiritual idea, and then I already determine what is life and what is death according to a different criteria. This means, is descent death? It depends on what I determined to be a descent or ascent. If a descent means that I disconnected from the Creator for one moment, I stopped thinking about Him, this is my descent, this is called death. And if my descent is in that I now feel bad, my mood is not so good, and I don't, I'm not in an intention, I'm not examining my connection with the Creator, but rather I'm immersed inside this feeling that I feel great, then accordingly I'll determine what is life and death. Meaning it all depends on where we are on this point of sensitivity of ours, either in the vessels that we feel, or in the vessels that we're aiming or intending. That is, vessels that we aim, meaning that are in connection with the Creator and accordingly are determined what the state is, or in the animalistic vessels, according to my beast, what I feel, bottom line is - I feel good, I feel bad, I'm full, I'm empty, good mood, bad mood, I have strength or not, like that - awakening, upliftment, yes, not. That meaning what is determined not on behalf of the connection with the Creator, but all the rest of the distinguishments and discernments, is called animalistic existence. Whereas only out of the connection with the Creator, where I first connect to Him, then look at my state, if it's from that, it's called spirituality, for the time being. Then spirituality and corporeality will take on a different appearance, different names, there will be different discernments, degrees. For the time being, it's like that, the connection with the Creator - spirituality without connection with Him - corporeality. If we look at it this way, then we ourselves can determine many things.
Question (Paris): (54:11) What is it considered that one has been rewarded with knowing the taste of death?
M. Laitman: What we go through, from our initial state till our final state, in the whole path of development, these are things we must go through. Out of the structure of each of our souls, each of us must go through all those states. And there must be wicked, and there must be righteous. And one does not perform a commandment unless he failed in it. That is, first one needs to fail, first one needs to enter all the feeling of evil and death, and also in our corporeal awareness of it, and also in our spiritual awareness of such things, where we determine things in vessels that we feel, in vessels that we determine that are towards the Creator. From the establishment of these states, he comes to the opposite. That is, you cannot reach the degree of Keter without feeling the point of Malchut, feel all of its bitterness and darkness and emptiness. From that you'll start laboring and ascending. You can't have one without the other. It all depends on our relation to it, the pace, the help on behalf of the group, etc. If we relate to all these states, like to creative states, then each of us goes through those states in joy and upliftment, and a person can go through them quickly. Also joy and upliftment is a relative thing. It can't be that a person doesn't fall and feel the actual death and despair and being powerless. But these things are only in order to feel the ascent, to need the ascent, and they go by him in a quick and, and let's say, efficient way, where he's not sitting and eating his own flesh. So, certainly he asks, why is it written that he was rewarded to taste the taste of death? It's true that you have to be rewarded to descend more, down, in order to ascend more upwards.
Question (Internet): (56:52) What does it mean to pray the Shema, the “Hear, O Israel,” in spiritual work?
M. Laitman: Well, Shema, “Hear, O Israel” in the spiritual work, is already an action of the final adhesion or Dvekut. But before that we have a request for help from the Creator, where a person comes to a state that without recognizing the greatness of the Creator, he cannot move from his animalistic feeling, where he feels his state and only accordingly lives like a beast, to wanting to bind himself to the Creator and live according to his connection with the Creator. So, to move from the feeling, the beastly feeling, to the spiritual feeling, he can only do if the Creator will be more important to him than his beastly life in his body. And this needs to be revealed as more important. And then, from the law that is already immersed in us, where the small one nullifies before the great one, I, from that corporeal feeling, move to the spiritual feeling. That is, I'll certainly connect myself with the Creator the moment I can depict Him as great, as necessary to me, as one who saves me, etc. So gradually, a person reaches the understanding that he must have the greatness of the Creator before his eyes, above all the rest of his values, and it's in order to save himself from these terrible states that appear to him, the corporeal states, yes? He needs, meaning he needs the Creator, even egoistically, certainly. And from this, he begins to make the habit in himself, gradually, simply life compels him to pray, as we call. That is to ask, to see himself dependent, to ask for the Creator to be revealed to him more and more as great. Because without that, he falls to his corporeal life and feels bad in them. Then, above that, where he asks the Creator to be great, to have it better, begins to feel above that, that it's worthwhile for him to pray to the Creator, not so that he will have it better, but rather for the connection with the Creator, being the connection which is above all the other measures, all the other values.
M. Laitman: (01:00:14) I remember how, when we were in Tiberias and other places, he used to wake up with Rabash at night, the both of us, so he would say, look, a great man, a person who's in spirituality, in godly awareness, now he awakens from the bed and he says, now the first thing, what I want, I now need to learn to study so that my head will begin to work. It was terrible with him, where he'd wake up, he'd wake up like, kind of, it was like he didn’t know where he was or what's happening to him whatsoever. Like that, at night, when we'd wake up there, at two at night, three at night, 3 a.m. And now he says, now I need the study and Kabbalah just in order to simply, just be a human being who's thinking about his corporeality, and for this I need this study, to sort my head. It's like to turn on the computer, to restart the computer, you understand? It's like to wake up, to recover. And then more, and then more, and more, like that. You could really feel it. How within a few minutes there, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, gradually, gradually, slowly, slowly, he starts to wake up from the beastliness, the corporeal level, and without any awareness whatsoever, where or what. You shouldn't think that a person who's in spirituality has a life, like that, just amongst the angels. Everything's blossoming up there, and that's it. Interesting. Where really, without starting to draw this matter, this material, even in a simple way somewhat, he cannot awaken, he cannot recover as a corporeal brain, even. It reminds us of Baal Shem Tov, where in his descents, he would even forget how to read, how the letters look. Well, that's it. That's actually, I think I answered their questions.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:47) Rabash repeats here this term, the day of death. What is this day of death?
M. Laitman: Exactly the same question, and I thought I had to answer just one question, but now I need to answer what you asked. What is the day of death? How can it be day and death, yes? Meaning that which appears to him as day, he feels it like a state of death. Meaning, changing the point of observation of the state. In a place where it seems to me as good, and it's day, and it's a nice, beautiful state, I see now that I look at it in a very beastly, needy way. And it's good for me, and it's just comfortable for me, and accordingly, I interpret what spirituality is. Suddenly, I have here another different point of view of looking at it, to see that it's simply beastliness, and I have no connection to the Creator, there's no breakthrough to spirituality. In fact, it's just a state that feels good, so I call it a day. So my definition of what is day is actually a day of death, and I need to start relating to my states with a new measurement device, a different measuring device, yes? What measuring device? My relationship to the Creator, my connection to Him, the measure of my connection with Him, and not the state of how I should relate to the states, not how I feel, but each state is a state not how I feel, but how in each state I'm connected to Him.
Student: What can I do in my state? Should I think about why did He bring me to such a state? These are just thoughts. There are hardly any feelings here.
M. Laitman: You're saying that your connection with Him, the measure, I'm sorry, you're saying that you begin to think about the Creator, and this brings you a new internal feeling. It's not really a state of distance from that feeling. It's the true, it's only a thought, you're right. It's a measure of concealment. But since you are going to labor in this and bringing back that thought to yourself each time, you will draw that thought upon you, and you will constantly want His presence to be in each and every state. Out of this, you'll begin to feel more and more. The light will bestow without crossing the barrier, I'm saying, just on the plane of this world. You'll start to feel His presence, nevertheless, as distant, certainly not in a clear way in your organs that you know then with what connection you're with Him, and the connection with Him is called the measure of your Partzuf, the measure of your degree. No, but you will have from this a manner of connection with Him, one that, it's not yet like digital that you can count, but it's kind of an emotional, kind of obscure feeling, but it will be. There's something, the person feels like, I feel in my intuition kind of. I can't say, I can't see, or I can't, but I kind of have that feeling. So, something like that, unclear, but it revives you and vitalizes you, and determines your life, and certainly we don't live according to facts. If we truly look at how we live, we live completely as if we have no intellect whatsoever. And in the cases where we do follow the intellect, we then get blows.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:50) So, according to this sequence of thinking about Him, we can reach what you are talking about when sometimes the states are sweetened, there is sweetening?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: When you begin to study, it's easier for you to say, there is none else besides Him. Into everything that you do, you try to bring in a thought about the Creator. The more this thing called Creator becomes more focused, you begin to understand what it is more and more, and still you're committed to live in this framework of work and family. There, it's much harder to find Him. It's much harder to link this essence, this law of bestowal to what happens truly in your life. How do you even manage to do that? Maybe earlier, this concept of the Creator was simpler. Now, when you try to connect to it, it becomes impossible.
M. Laitman: What you're saying is, when you go through such states that you can by no means connect to the Creator, He gives you those states on purpose so that you will try to connect those states with Him. And if you can't connect after all your efforts, then that's the result that needs to happen as well. After, “if not for myself, then who?” We need to say, “There's none else besides Him,” that He determined this in His desire. And even if you weren't to do this, you would nevertheless go through this, and you would receive this thing, and you have to go through it. You have to try. You have to exert forces. But what for are these forces? Our problem is that we disperse forces in the ways that are… We determine our forces completely in ways that we don't need. We don't need to improve the state itself. I'm feeling bad now, I'm going to go improve it, so I'll have it good. For it to be good for me, I need to improve it by me entering the Creator with force into the picture, into the state that I'm in. By that, the improvement needs to be, and not by me relating to the corporeal problems I have, like an animal, and I improve them in my labor towards them according to what I see. That's truly with no benefit. This brings me more problems because eventually I'll understand that He's bringing this to me and that I need to connect with Him. That all these states were only in order to define a connection with Him.
Student: To bring the calculation outside of myself?
M. Laitman: Not take the calculations outside of you, but enter Him inwards. Well, let it be like that, it doesn't matter to me how you say it. The bottom line, take Him into account. You understand? That's one more piece of information.
Student: How do you take Him into account?
M. Laitman: I take Him into account as causing factor of what’s happening to me now. Because He is correct, even though I don’t feel it that way, and I try. This knowledge that I have, it’s not real knowledge. I don’t know. It wasn’t opened up to me. It’s not a revelation. But that this knowledge will determine in truth my life above the feeling that all that I have is from the picture of the state that's around me. And then gradually, I begin to clothe spirituality upon corporeality. So we have to be careful that it doesn't become imaginary, so there won't be some kind of mistakes and all kinds of… But let's put it this way. Every single moment that the Creator and the goal of being connected with Him as much as possible, tight as possible, is not in you, you're not on the same line like he tells us in the letters.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:47) What force can you bring in the Creator? You mean take the calculation outside of me, that this force will be given to me?
M. Laitman: We have many such states. We live not according to the feeling but according to necessity, and according to what I must, what is placed upon me and determined for me, and so on. What does this mean? I had a toothache. I went to the dentist. He gave me a treatment. While he was giving me the treatment, it was even worse. Take some animals, some beasts, they also somewhat understand. But let's say, it's not like that. Take a baby, an undeveloped person who has a wound, go to the doctor with him. He doesn't want, he's afraid. I also don't want it, I'm afraid, but I compel myself to do so because I know that there's healing in this. Only according to the feeling is the life of still, vegetative, and animal. You want to rise above your feeling, above the vessels of reception of yours, as we call them, above your reason. So you have no choice. And a person in this world is also given these inclinations somewhat so that from them, he will begin his Lo Lishma and then be able to move to Lishma. Also what, people in this world are living only according to their feeling? There are people who are not quite like that. You can say, oh, they don't want to feel it. So, I go from morning to night. I get up in the morning and go to work. He knows it'll feel bad. But there are things that a person nevertheless is above this unrealistic existence with some idea, some special idea that is kind of like an example that we don't live only according to the… we can disconnect ourselves from it. Let’s say some artist, some painter. You know, we have some great ones. They were starving to death. It’s not important; you must do something. He is stuck on the idea; he is adhered to it. We, humanity, think it’s spirituality. Why do they think it’s spirituality? Because in truth, a person rises above his body for the sake of this abstract idea, actually. It doesn't matter that in the end, it's pride, and honor, and determining his “I” in this world. But it's nevertheless not connected to the animalistic existence. It's humanity already.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:41) But here, you're being allowed to have this as an idea. It was much easier for me to adhere to the Rav and then working.
M. Laitman: You are complaining that the Creator throws you into all kinds of directions that are not great for your progress, or what?
Student: I'm asking about my disconnection. I don’t want to be in disconnection, but I want to be like Him. How will I get this connection from Him?
M. Laitman: The connection is very simple. By the light that shines, it shines exactly to your state, and the light that is sent to you is exactly according to the record that awakens now, according to this light specifically. And now you have to realize this state. You have to build it. How do you build it? That's what He explains to you in the articles. The most succinct, and clearest, and close advice to you is, put the Creator into the picture, period. That's it. From here on begins development. What do I want from Him? Why do I need Him? Will that make me feel good or bad in the end? Will this determine anything? Or just to have Him present in my feeling and so forth? That's where development forward begins. But the main thing is, you put Him into the picture, and now your problem is just to feel Him as much as possible. To feel Him as much as possible as the One who determines everything, governs you, fills you. You as if forcefully try to return to the first state, where we come from and where we truly are. But only due to the vagueness over our senses, we don't sense where we are. It's like the king's son who's in a dark basement.
Student: And if I start in that same state…
M. Laitman: And all of your beastly life, look what it's for. Just to take Him out for a few minutes, to show him what life really is, so he'll be sorry that He's not in that. You understand? That's the whole purpose of this entire world that seems to kind of shine for you. So, if you accept it this way, you realize what a lever you have in your hand. Imagine that any second you enjoy this world, you'll start feeling that you were just taken out of the basement to show you this Klipa, to tease you, to specifically get you to know the basement.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:38) If I want to make a different calculation, not for myself. But for that, I demand greatness?
M. Laitman: What greatness do you demand? You demand His greatness to do what?
Student: To be like Him.
M. Laitman: But to feel good. So, forget about being like Him. Don't be detached from reality.
Student: No, but if I want to demand…
M. Laitman: Demand Him to feel good. That's sufficient.
Student: So, maybe now I'm demanding to feel good in a different way.
M. Laitman: Don't interpret it in a different way. Interpret it as you should, as you know. To feel good. Don't escape me, because otherwise I feel bad. If you're present, then I justify my whole state. Then even if I feel bad, it is actually good. It gives me hope. It gives me some justification for life or whatever happens to me. Let it be so. That is the beginning of Lo Lishma. But this will… when this will be carved in your bones, that this is what I always want.
Student: But I won't reach spirituality like that.
M. Laitman: Don't worry. Don’t worry, you will. In that way, you actually will. Listen. Trust me. I'm telling you. That's how you get there. You don't jump. Rather you see your true state, your true state in a very, very realistic, clear state, and you relate to it like that. Why do I need the Creator now? To feel good. That's it. So first of all, He's present. Good. Now, next. Perhaps you can move forward. But you start there. I didn't give the example for no reason that Rabash, when he would wake up from bed, he would be like, I don't know, I can't think of anything. My mind, nothing's working there, nothing's arranged there, I don't know, I'm, you know, you're looking at him, it's like, not half asleep, but just like… He would say, now we have to read something. And then I would start reading, half a page, you know, and the person begins to sort of, from a beast, he begins to recover, in stages. Don't jump.