Morning Lesson April 28, 2021 Transcription
1. Rav’s Introduction: We are the result of the shattering of the soul, the shattering of the vessel of Adam HaRishon, and this system, when it is broken, the sign is that each and every part of it-- which is the desire of every person-- feels itself as disconnected from the others. It only wants to do things for himself, and this is what he feels as something that is necessary. This is how we all feel. This is what all of us are yearning for; to do something good, which our inner desire is requiring from us. In that, we feel ourselves in a good, correct state. This is how we live. This direction where each one is trying to do maximally whatever seems to him is good, in each and everything--in maintaining the body, in planning something for the future, in relating to the still, vegetative, animate and speaking around him. All of these inclinations are called the will to receive for oneself. In this, I feel that I am operating through my desire, through my ego, by fulfilling myself...Maybe at the expense of others. I am aware of it. Along with that, this is how we are all built, and therefore, there is no recognition of evil in it, really, it is just how we arrange between us, between people, between societies, between countries, between all kinds of groups that we have in humanity, so that each one, of course, wants to fulfill himself. We somehow manage to live in a single environment on the face of the Earth, and so we have to arrange between us certain laws so that we will not kill each other or eat each other up. But this is really our direction.
This direction of loving oneself and using the others in order to fulfill the desire of each and every one, it is called the evil inclination in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Why is it the evil inclination? Because by this, you are seemingly the opposite of the Creator, you are becoming distanced from the Creator, so eventually you are doing bad to yourself. However, what can you do? This is our nature. This is how we operate instinctively, naturally. This is how we operate, all people, and up to this day, this was really our direction. There is philosophy about it, and history, and psychology, and whatever you want. However, it doesn't matter, really. We exist in this nature. Even if we are aware of it, even if we admit it, that yes, this is really our nature, this is our direction, to enjoy life--meaning to do good, to fulfil the egoistic desires of each one, of groups, of nations, of the whole of humanity--this is the style of our existence. There is another possibility in which to exist, and that other possibility to exist is that we will try to reach a state where we do not love ourselves, but rather, we love someone outside of us. It is very problematic, very difficult, cannot be understood, and here we have to think really well, what does it mean love, love of others? When this other brings me pleasure, then I don't love him; I love the pleasure that I'm getting through him. So this is not called love of others, it is just a means for me to feel, and open up even more myself love.
So, how can I arise above myself and love others? Maybe it's possible to talk about it philosophically, but it's not realistic. What for? Why? What does that give us? Many philosophers talked about it, and psychologists throughout the generations, and eventually they discovered... from thousands of years ago, they discovered that the fact that we come out of our nature and we begin to relate to others, if we will succeed, and it's not simple, but if we will succeed, then by that, we acquire a different perception of reality. All of our five senses, sight, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching, all of our attitude to life, it all changes. Also the direction of our life in general changes. We rise above our own existence. if I, through certain exercises, I begin to connect with others, so that I begin to love them, so that I have an inclination to them, so that specifically my inclination towards him which is called love, is obligating me to create all kinds of pleasant states for him, according to my opinion, and then for me, this action, where I turn my attention to him and my actions towards him, this attitude is called love. And out of doing it, I get a special fulfillment...a special fulfillment. This fulfillment is not similar to the fulfillments that I get out of filling my ego as I'm used to, but rather, it is giving me an expansion of my perception, of my feeling of reality. I begin to come out of myself, to come out of my boundaries. Then this feeling, what I feel in this way, that I am coming out of myself towards love of others, that there is something that is pulling me there, this feeling is already considered the feeling of the next world.
This world is considered whatever I feel inside of my ego, in that, whatever I draw to me, the feeling of the next world is considered that I feel--and of course it is I--it is all a feeling, but it is a feeling that I get out of being in a direction, an inclination, towards the other. That I have towards him such a feeling that I want to cause him good, and contentment, and feeling good, etc. To shift from that feeling of doing good to myself and doing good to the Creator, usually it is the Creator, we call this transition the barrier, Machsom. This is how we can truly enter the feeling of the next world. It is unrelated to our egoistic desire, but rather, it exists above our egoistic desire. We don't feel ourselves then as the object but only as the one who is performing the action. The object that we are relating to is the Creator. It is him that we want to give contentment to, to do good to. With this inclination, we want to exist forever. This is how we shift from this world to the upper world, and we begin to feel that in general, and bit by bit we advance more and more towards that, we have ascents and descents in that, and through such a process, we advance. We need to get to know it and to get used to it. That any advancement we have is that when we go through times of darkness and times of light, because it is impossible in any other way to feel anything, but only with one at the expense of the other.
This is why the ascents and descents in those states are ordinary things in which we have to exist. We need to try to accustom ourselves to that and start to develop ourselves with such sensations; to see by what we can intensify, increase, expand these feelings of the inclination to do good to the Creator through the ascents, and to see how much we only want to do good to ourselves in the descents. With respect to these discernments, we need to determine our states, our life, really, to see that this is truly the entrance to spirituality. This is why the whole direction should be to invert whatever existed, whatever we had before. It was like a great effort, toil, an effort to work against the desire and to do something for the benefit of the other, for the benefit of the Creator, so the direction should be the opposite. I am doing, and doing, and doing something for the benefit of the other, for the benefit of the Creator, and by this I, as the Kabbalists say, awaken upon myself the reforming light, until I reach a state where, indeed, I want to give...when I want to give contentment to the Creator, I feel in this a special pleasure, a special state. This is how I advance. In the meantime, this is what we need to have as some state along the way. There are many other things to it, and of course the whole wisdom of Kabbalah is here. This is how it begins to be revealed, the wisdom of Kabbalah, meaning the wisdom relating to the revelation of the Creator in this world.
Then the Creator is revealed to the created being, to the extent that a person does shift to a state where he wants to give contentment to the Creator, to bestow to him. If he wants to bestow to the Creator, then the opportunity to bestow, this bestowal that earlier was as a toil, now he feels it as a reward. It also seems a reward when he gets an opportunity to overcome his own laziness or some disturbances; it is considered a reward because he does overcome and he already unites with the Creator to some extent. This is why this inclination, like a mother, let's say, who was drawn to her baby and she constantly wants to take care of him, this is how we need to try to always be drawn to the Creator in order to bestow to Him. The disturbances along the way, we can discover them by ourselves. It's very simple. How? Because in each and every moment we have an opportunity to add, add our relations...the good relations between us, and by that, we come closer to the Creator. This is already our practical work. In the meantime, we are talking even from that first point, that we want to discover that a thought about the Creator, an inclination towards the Creator, awakens in us a good feeling.
I feel in that some correct inner state; a new one; a pleasant one. This is how we will advance. Then, my spiritual work that earlier was as work, as a bother, a toil to perform certain actions towards connection, towards the friends, towards the Creator, it now becomes not work, but rather, it becomes a reward. It all depends on the degree of my connection, or the degree of love that we discover. Why is that? It's as if when you have a baby and you have a certain relation to him, let's say, by an unrelated woman who needs to take care of him, to do something for him, then you have to pay her for her efforts, versus the mother who does it without any reward and she puts her whole heart into. We cannot even appreciate it and pay the mother for what she's doing with the baby; rather, we can only give her an opportunity to take care of him. That is already her reward. This is how we need to understand it, that we have to reach it from engagements that are far away from bestowal up to the point where bestowal becomes the reward. There is a lot to it, because here we are opening up a new stage of our familiarity with the Creator, taking another step forward that we are not yet familiar with yet. Nevertheless, we are talking about a very important stage where a person, out of studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, how to receive the revelation of godliness, he is already performing actions that are directed towards this happening.
2. S. (20:15) You're speaking about a sensitivity, a quality that exists so that we can acquire it because everyone feels differently even you, can a person raise his sensitivity?
R. It come after many years to each one who takes part in the process who doesn't let go doesn't leave and allow himself to cool down from this work doesn't throw it away but rather he realizes that there is no choice as long as he lives he has to continue with this sometimes it takes 10 or 20 years and this is considered a short period of time. Sometimes it takes 30 or 40 years and this is considered a long period of time and sometimes it can take 50 or 60 years it all depends on the depth of the Soul. The greater the will to receive of the person is then eventually he has to reach very high degrees in his correction because one who is greater than his friend is inclination is greater so he needs to be a longer time on the past and it is more difficult for him what is required what is demanded of him what is happening here. Others listened but he doesn't hear it. Others can do something and get closer to each other and he cannot cancel one. The egoistic desire is very great and does not allow him to perform actions of coming closer and connecting and this is how we need to look at it and agree with it and understand that we can see it in the friends, we can see it in ourselves and we should give each and every one an opportunity. Unless one is harmful and here there is a question and we will talk about it also more and scrutinize what does it mean that one is harmful. Really we should leave everyone alone and give the Creator an opportunity to take care of him and not that we should get in there and do something about it. So the most important thing is the patience, there is nothing you can do about it more and more to simply continue on the path and we only add as much as possible attention from us towards the advancement.
S. Can you develop this sensitivity? Maybe certain exercises, something that we can do in the 10 because everyone is different, everyone has different levels of sensitivity. How can one help the others to be sensitive?
R. Only by whatever Rabash writes, don't get too much in the feelings of the others of don't disturb the other, we only externally give examples, there are all kinds of connections in the 10. It's not that we talked too much about let's say about the topic of today's lesson work is the reward meaning how do we revert the will to receive into a will to bestow through all kinds of actions that we perform, so that if these are actions do it invests if it's for the ego we have to bring for ourselves some kind of reward. If we begin to talk about love about a connection to someone then already the work in itself is the reward no one asked if I love someone that I do I want to do good to them so where is the labor then the labor is inverting the were to be the reward and the whole world will seem as full of upper light full of pleasures full of rewards.
3. S. (25:46) With which actions should my true love be expressed?
R. You think that through actions you can bring yourself to love? This is possible to do a little bit in the framework of this world, right!? A person who takes care of another person so he becomes tied to him and also on the animate level this is how we become attached to animals and they become attached to us. This is true but the truth is a gift from above. Love is a gift from above and we get it if we keep all kinds of conditions that Kabbalists tell us we have to keep. Why do we have to receive the wisdom of Kabbalah in an artificial way? Because it is impossible, we don't know what it is. We know how to connect through our ego. Where does it shine to me more to my ego? This is where I attach myself. end where it doesn't shine I am not attached to it even if something opposite shines to me that I run away from it I distance myself from it. So here it has to truly be a plan and a correct direction for how to get closer to things that are entirely not for us, natural for us.
4. S. (27:49) What is the compromise I have to do in my nature so it would allow me to come out of this new perception and I will remain in a constant state of wanting to give contentment to the other?
R. To sort whatever you are getting from the words of the Kabbalists and to try to actualize them to implement them each and every day gradually, and to see what results you get out of it, besides you're burning, being on fire, that I have many questions. Along with that you have to put these things in order in a more orderly manner or otherwise you won't be able to see the directions and you won't be able to advance. That is gradually we will go forward gradually and we will succeed. You see that the material is coming to you in a gradual manner following some plan. This is how it happens and also to the extent that you are capable of absorbing it, it is impossible to just jump to higher degrees because he won't be able to understand it. Can you go to first grade instead of talking about letters, they talk about mathematics, what is understood, nothing, it has to be in a very gradual manner. This is how a person should be elevated from one class to the other. Until we reach the state where we are capable of feeling that if I have an inclination towards the Creator this inverts my reality, this is the key, the trigger that inverts reality. From this moment on, if I feel that the inclination towards the Creator begins to satisfy me, to fulfill me, to draw me and this is what I want from that with my whole heart and soul from that already I'm in the opening of spirituality.
5. S. (31:10) You spoke about crossing the barrier, the will to receive the desire to change the feeling in order to bestow to come out of myself is this transition of crossing the barrier and the ability to combine the emotion and the will to receive that changes the state of our matter, because there is a state change and feeling from this corporeal state we are in now?
R. You are right it greatly changes our reality, our perception of reality or understanding and our response but I cannot explain it right now, take it slowly everything will follow the plan.
6. S. (32:10) We're talking about how within the love for the friend we discover the yearning for filling the Creator, on the other hand you see that on this path you seek deeper into yourself and the gap between feeling myself and yearning for the Creator is growing, how to use it for a leveraged this gap?
R. In spite of whatever is revealed in you need to try as much as possible mechanically as much as you can to nevertheless be above the desires those thoughts and desires that separate you from the upper force as much as you can and you are aware of it you are not in it however nevertheless try to always be coming closer to the Creator, Check you have a possibility not have a possibility, no, but keep trying always in the friends and the study those are the means. Don't aim yourself for it's too much understanding in the mind but rather implementing what the Kabbalists are saying as much as it is possible for you as occasion for you and that's it besides that it takes time.
S. We do everything to the max all the physical actions and I don't see anything else you can add within our given time frame so what is left for us to pray, that is the meaning of holding onto the Creator?
R. We need to try each and every time more and more to improve our appeal to the Creator that we want our connection with him to give us power, bestowal, the force of love, the force the force, to rise above ourselves in order to bestow to the whole of reality, to all of the created being because only if we want to reach a connection with the Creator it is through the love of people.
S. When you see that the connection between the friends in the ten cannot somehow occupy more than your ego then we require more connection and dissemination with the world vessel?
R. Not necessarily that you have to run away from the group and take care of another group for the whole world. You have to check it, but just look at how much your actions are truly not in order to move away from that place where maybe you feel uncomfortable.
S. But you discover simply this dependence on your friends in the 10 to such an extent that you cannot even leave the thought about them so it turns out that what is required here is some inner incorporation?
R. By incorporation with them you'll want to reach a connection with the Creator so that the connection with the Creator is achieved inside the connection with the friends. That is your connection with all of their friends reaches a certain place where it all comes together and in that place where it all comes together there you begin to discover the Creator. Then you begin to feel how each and every friend is necessary. You don't have any work closer or further away and this is how you discover the Creator. Why is that because then you'll rise above all kinds of your egoistic relations in which the ego is still involved. You disconnect from it and shift to the form of bestowal.
S. Everything is clear, every friend has great value in the 10 and you discover the depth of your ego and you can't overcome it, so how to turn to them in such a way that my connection with them will be stronger than what I discover inside myself?
R. You'll have this constant lack if you feel that there are certain states such relations and qualities that you cannot overcome them. It is excellent, it is the sign that you are given an opportunity to pray. Before corporeal desire seemingly were able to win, this is considered the big fish swallows up the smaller fish. However if you see you cannot only up to here and no more and that's it so here you already turn to the Creator and you continue this with him out of lack of choice. As it says first by coercion and later on willingly.
7. S. (38:45) At some point are accumulated experience tells that it's better to do good to the other but it turns out that you should never trust yourself until you die so in such moments when you get a thought like that that it seems that it is better to do good to the other we need to awaken the light as a proof to ourselves that we are doing maybe a correct work?
R. We need to advance in short you're saying something correct but we need to advance in this and then you'll see what kind of things we also have here we need to add, to explain.
8. S. (39:50) What is the significance, the meaning of love you like yourself? Love your friend more than you love yourself?
R. As yourself because you cannot measure more than that. And your ego will always grow and you will continue more and more, your work and it will always be as yourself because what can you compare it to. How can you connect your attitude to the others, only according to how much you love yourself? According to that you check your attitude towards others. Do you love them more or less, to what extent, with respect to you and in what form, in what actions? This is always how we measure things. I exist in my egoistic desire and towards this egoistic desire I check my attitude to each and everything. In general my perception is in my egoistic desire and scents, tastes and sounds, it's all in the egoistic desire there for yourself it just means that only with respect to my ego, with my will to receive which I'm positively measuring inside, this is how I measure how much I am in it or I already start to rise above it, disconnect from it and how much I succeed in peeling myself from it and switching myself a little bit, switching to the feeling of the other.
9. S. (42:00) With our inner sensations, my personal inner sensations, leave my work perhaps limit my work, I don't know what to do then. On the one hand the Creator awakens me this way, I don't know what to do with it because these states are very powerful. I always have the dilemma, I wish to come out of control so it seems like I am praying for myself and by that I am harming myself in the 10, so how to work here?
R. All of these things will gradually work out. I don't have any kind of advice that might be good for all cases as there is none.
10. S. (43:09) We talked a lot about the work in the 10 and like others I expect the Creator to show us what is incorrect or correct in the ten but he's showing us the outer world, that my attitude is incorrect there, so how can I shift from, take from ever is happening on the external world to what is happening on the 10 our relations to each other?
R. Don't invent anything we don't have to change anything in that, we just have to continue on the path and whatever the Creator is showing you, he is showing it to you, doesn’t mean that whatever you get from him you need to arrange in a new way. Whatever you get you then I have to add to it connection in the 10 and through that aim of the Creator only this. If correctly, each and every time then you will discover what the Creator wants for you, only connection in the 10 that is aimed towards the Creator that's it and it's not this world, that world, some great desire humanity and me and you want to take from this to that. Forget about your philosophy, you are not moving anything, you need to know what your work is, your work is to be as connected as possible to the 10 that's it. Don't try to change reality.
Excerpt 1 (48:13 - 51:28) Twice
11. R. (51:31) Meaning we need to make an inversion, the whole passage from this world to the upper world is changing our reality, our values from reception to bestowal. Meaning, what's more important who will rule me or the Creator my ego or the will to bestow? That's what we need to understand. As they say it's the opposite, ‘I have seen an upside down world,’ there is a lot written about it. These are the two sides of reality, the lower part that we discover with our ego and the other part we discover the opposite quality to our ego, the will to bestow. And this is how we advance. So all the actions that we do, it is recommended that before any action, thought, word, we will imagine that through this word, thought, this action, we want to feel how we begin to yearn as a result of this action, yearn to bestow to the Creator. Like, let's say, a mother who longs to give something good to her baby. Or how lovers yearn to do good to one another since by that, they feel that this is their direction, this is their life. Similarly we need to try, everywhere, in every state in our lives to be in such a feeling.
12. S. (53:52) If the Creator is important for me and I operate because he is important for me, it is considered that I'm bestowing?
R. Because you're working with the result of the importance of the Creator. You can say, “Now, I’m important and I’m working with the result of my own self-importance” so what’s the difference if I replace my self-importance with the importance of the Creator? What's happening here? The thing is that you rise above your egoistic will to receive and you enter into a desire to bestow. You can say in principle, “what difference does it make, a desire to receive, a desire to bestow -- I work according to some desires, so what’s the difference?” The difference is the desire to bestow, there is nothing special about it but that desire to bestow is above the desire to receive, meaning against the desire to receive. You have a desire to receive and on top of it, you have resistance, in this clash in your effort, your exertion with that you work with the will to bestow and the gap between these two desires, the extent to which one opposes the other, the gap between the two, gives you the feeling of the upper world, which exists completely in opposition against this world. When you enter the upper world and you feel it, you seemingly are unaware of how your perception, how on top of your egoistic will to receive, that at the heart of your nature it is not getting purified, your coarseness is not disappearing, Nevertheless you are not leaving the ground. You know where you're standing on your will to receive. Everything is extended from the will to receive and even when you reach the end of correction, what does it mean, “Correction?” The correction is of the will to receive and when you install intentions of the bestowal, its entire depth with the will to receive cannot exist detached from the will to receive, this is it this is our nature. The Creator created for us this to do. He created the will to receive and ‘to do,’ meaning to add the intention to bestow, is us. Meaning all we need to do is add the intention.
13. S. (57:17) Since everyone is different, does the extent to which each person's preference of the Creator depends on the strength of his or her connection with friends in the 10?
R. Yes, it all depends on the level, the intensity of the connection of each one of us with others in the 10. We might not be aware of it now but according to that we construct our spiritual instrument.
14. S. (58:27) How can we taste that the Creator is happy with our work?
R. According to how much you rejoice about your work from your inclination to the Creator and you wish to give Him contentment. Accordingly you will discover the Creator is happy as well.
Excerpt 2 (59:09 - 01:01:31)
Excerpt 3 (01:00:18 - 01:01:34)
15. R. That's also clear it depends on our appreciation of the reward.
16. S. (01:01:44) Seems to me there's no problem to serve the great Creator because it brings pleasure but there is a problem in serving the friends, working in dissemination. How can we use this towards advancement?
R. If you agree to work for the sake of the Creator and you don't agree to work for the sake of the friends, it means that you still don't understand that your attitude to the Creator is entirely made of your attitude to the friends. There is no Creator unless you connect with the friends before you are as one complex, this is called ‘I dwell among my people.’ The Creator is revealed and has to be properly depicted relative to a person only when he is in the friends, only then.
17. S. (01:02:59) To demand a reward from the Creator, even if it is a high goal, but it's for myself. Isn't that egoistic?
R. You don't understand what you're saying. To demand a reward from the Creator for yourself. Is it not egoistic? If it's for yourself, it is egoistic. However if you wish to receive the strength, the forces from the Creator to bestow to the other in order to reveal the Creator to the other, in order to advance, and do not think of yourself, then it's not egoistic. Then it's spiritual and then you can come to it.
18. S. (01:04:00) What does it mean faith in the greatness of the Creator and that receiving it is the greatest reward?
R. The feeling of the greatness of the Creator gives us an opportunity to perform acts of bestowal and enjoy acts of bestowal in such a way that we don't need anything more than that. Everything depends on the recognition of greatness because of my desire, my desire to receive, and accepts the Great One as a reward. See, if he's great I don't need anything else, only to belong to the Great One, to give to the Great One. It's not merely to belong to the Great One, it is seemingly to be greater than Him because I am giving to the Great One and the Great One is willing to receive from me. Therefore, also in our world, we wish to bring someone a gift, if he is a great person, the more we think about whether he will take the gift from me. Will he accept it? I wish to give a gift so much, I want him to enjoy it and so on and so forth. Meaning our gifts that we give him, it's not a gift, it's actually a reward, that's the reward. If you will accept it. This way we come to a state where the work itself is the reward. That's the headline of our lesson: The Work Is the Reward. It all depends on the appreciation of the object of our connection, to whom we relate, associate ourselves.
19. S. (01:06:20) When we make an effort to bestow, we see we don't succeed and we raise MAN to the Creator. But we don't get a response. So in that case, what are the important points we have to add to our work in faith above reason so that we can be successful?
R. I understand that I cannot bestow to the Creator and I do it only in order to bestow to the friends and through that, as much as I bestowed to them, I give contentment to the Creator. Just like doing something good to my friend’s baby, let’s say, I do something good to my friend. We cannot give anything to the Creator. He has no desire to receive. Rather all our giving to the Creator is expressed in bestowing to His created beings. By that I express my attitude towards Him, that's how we need to see it. We will discover it later and it will be so. And for us, there will be no difference between bestowing to the Creator and the created beings. On the contrary, we have an opportunity there. We will discover the correct form and relationship there.
20. S. (01:08:37) How should the 10 behave if it is serving the Creator due to His greatness and not for some reward? Is there an example of this?
R. I will not give an example for this. It's simply something a person feels, he has an inner urge to bestow to the 10 and through the 10 to the Creator, or maybe, for the time being, bestow to the Creator. This attraction that he feels to bestow to the Creator, he feels it brings him great pleasure, great fulfillment, great warmth, that's how he advances. We don't have too many words here, because we have to feel it, it's not simple, it takes time, but that's what will be eventually. We need to try and feel the taste in bestowing. This has to do with the degree to which we connect with love to bestow to the Creator. That's why we spoke with you in the past about how when I get up in the morning you have to see who am I thinking about? What am I thinking about? Together with going to wash my face, brush my teeth, together with that am I thinking of the Creator? Am I aiming myself to Him? Do I try to be connected to Him from the morning and for the whole day without stopping as much as possible? Accordingly we reach the goal but we have to go through these exercises.
21. S. (01:10:56) This lesson, it is truly a very detailed explanation. I want to say we are beginning to feel those things that we are talking about but because I wanted so much, at the same time I feel so far from it, it awakens in my feelings of sadness and disappointment. How do I work with these emotions that surface and somehow they disconnect you from it and we feel it's all very far from us, how do we bring it closer?
R. Ask the Creator to shine a light in us, to illuminate in us, everyone has to do it. To illuminate us so we will acquire an attraction towards Him, that's what we want. Because ‘my soul will yearn for you,’ that's how the verse goes. We need to feel that, to Him, all my longing is for Him. Then nothing will be difficult. I will have no more excuses, I wouldn't even want to use my mind, my reason because if I would, it might actually diminish my feeling. I just want to be with this inclination towards the Creator. And it happens when the Creator shines some of His light on my will to receive, then my will to receive simply begins to chase Him. That's how I'm built, I'm wired for it, I can't control it. If there's a ray of light somewhere that shines to me, I am willing to do anything, I care about nothing, I lose my head.
22. S. (01:13:35) It says in excerpt number one that we want to be rewarded with Torah and commandments, that we are serving a great and important King and by this there will be love of the creator within us from feeling his exaltedness. Should we want to feel tangibly that we are serving a great and important King?
R. Yes we need to feel it and this feeling gives us the possibility to bestow to him. I don't bestow to something I don't know or don't understand and can't attain. I wish to attain and bestow to it, this is called let Him not be as a foreign God. I want to know him and feel him. I want the Creator to stand in me, around me doesn't matter how you depict it, just like anything in the world, more than anything.
23. S. (01:14:44) We performed in an act of connection together in the 10 and we all felt some kind of warmth that we are coming closer. How can we know that we also cause contentment to the Creator, what are the indications?
R. Ask him to know just as you make this action you have a warm gathering of friends every week, try to connect it to your request.
S. Maybe it is something that we have to do before the action also to be concerned that somehow this action will serve the Creator?
R. Do everything you want, the most important thing is to try.
24. S. (01:15:50) When I try to hold onto the intention to bestow, I feel the Creator is not important enough for me, so is it nice to ask him to please be important in my eyes?
R. Of course and on everything that you feel first of all because the Creator, the general upper light is awakening within you, why don't you respond in kind?
S. I feel the importance of the Creator is something I have to work on, to fight the will to receive to get to this importance?
R. You work only on the importance of the Creator there is nothing else to work on.
S. What should I do?
R. Ask, do you know how to do anything by yourself?
S. I have a feeling that if I try to fight against my will to receive and try to bestow in spite of my desire pulling me downwards, from this I struggle and I will not get to the importance.
R. Rid yourself of all of these illusions and understand that only by turning to the Creator you will receive such forces by which you can improve yourself and rise further, you have no other way of changing your fate.
Excerpt 4 (01:17:33 - 01:18:48)
25. R. There are those who want to have a greater Creator because then they will receive greater pleasure from associating themselves with him and there are those who wish to have the Creator as great in their eyes because then they can bestow to him, otherwise they won't be able to bestow to Him because the will to receive surrenders before the greatness of the Creator and to the extent that the Creator appears greater, then the will to receive can bestow accordingly. This is why our entire work is to pray, to ask, to get to know the greatness of the Creator to that extent we will have the strength for the restriction, the screen and reflected light all of these spiritual actions only by recognizing the greatness of the creator. This is the only thing we should aim for in our prayer.
26. S. (01:19:49) How can we ask of the Creator who is the opposite of us and we cannot see him?
R. He is everywhere. I simply have to turn to this force to bestow and have it influence me, I don't understand what's going on here. If you would have a sculpture of some people of various methods it would be easy for you because you would at least connect to some piece of wood or chunk of stone and now you have nothing, it’s difficult. You have to try nevertheless to portray the Creator as a force that fills all of reality and that you relate to him in this way.
S. How not to be confused between fantasy and reality?
R. We will leave that for later, for now it exists all in your imagination but gradually and slowly the more you incorporate with us you will eventually find the true reality.
27. S. (01:21:27) How does the feeling of work or toil help us appreciate the reward in terms of the greatness of the Creator?
R. According to our labor as much as we try to reveal the Creator as great, according to this sensation we will have the ability to bestow to him. I can bestow to the Creator only to the extent he shines to me, meaning I begin to appreciate the force of bestowal more than the force of reception increasingly more.
28. S. (01:22:17) The more we see the friends in our eyes as great, we bring more contentment to the Creator. There is a place which is unclear in our work in the 10, although we still perform actions and we see the friends as great. It seems that we are replacing the cart with the donkey because from this we get pleasure, we receive, how do I put it in order?
R. This will work itself out, continue as much as you can in all of those things and they will be corrected by the reforming light. The fact that you are asking is good and that gives me great joy.
Excerpt 5 (01:23:25 - 01:25:12)
29. R. This is very severe what he writes here, even though we don't feel it yet. We heard it and we need to work on it.
Excerpt 6 (01:25:31 - 01:26:28)
30. S. (01:26:32) Now and every action that I do I am motivated by my egoistic desire and I can't get rid of it in any shape or form, my calculation is always about greater pleasure. When a person shifts to a higher pleasure of bestowal of resembling the Creator, in principle it still remains the Creator servants and can't work in any other way or is there free choice here?
R. Only there is our free choice, there you will see how you work, how you exist between the great pleasure of facing the Creator and your ability to bestow to him. Where you do not surrender before the pleasure, you are devoted to bestowal and not to this great force before you that is ruling. I lack the words here for the time being to help you understand it, but we will get to it and I am happy you are asking, it is a good healthy approach.
31. S. (01:28:21) How do we calculate correctly if the Creator is important for me?
R.
Both
in
the
heart
and
in
the
mind
when
the
importance
of
the
Creator
is
revealed
to
us,
the
calculation
is
simple.
First
of
all
I'm
happy
and
have
a
desire
to
bestow
to
the
Creator
that
he
is
revealed
before
me
in
an
attractive
force,
an
important
force
is
something
that
I
wish
you
love.
That
I
wish
to
bestow
to
him,
belong
to
him,
adhere
to
him.
This
gives
me
great
joy
because
I
have
never
felt
this
before.
It
was
not
necessary
for
me
and
now
I
can
see
it
and
I
wish
to
remain
in
it
forever
in
this
inclination
towards
the
Creator.
This
is
the
first
stage
and
the
second
stage
is
when
I
begin
to
criticize
and
analyze
it.
Why
am
I
doing
this
and
for
what?
What
is
the
motivation
here?
Am
I
addicted
to
some
illumination
from
above?
I
don't
want
to
be
a
slave,
a
servant
to
the
Creator
where
he
controls
me
and
I
have
no
ability
to
show
myself.
If
I
am
such
a
slave,
such
a
servant,
I
simply
do
not
exist
because
in
our
egoistic
world,
of
the
still,
vegetative,
animal
and
speaking
there
are
creatures
that
exist
in
and
of
themselves
in
the
force
of
nature
that
sustains
them,
it
still
leaves
them
with
some
free
movement,
individual
movement.
I
begin
to
want
to
be
not
completely
adhered
to
the
Creator,
to
belong
to
him
but
rather
I
wish
to
be
a
servant
of
the
Creator
in
a
way
that
allows
me
to
decide
how
and
to
what
and
How
much
in
such
a
way
that
I'm
not
a
servant
of
my
will
to
receive
but
a
servant
of
the
Creator
and
then
I
determine
to
what
extent
I
will
be
the
servant
and
to
what
extent
I
will
not
be
one
and
then
I
begin
to
understand
the
wisdom,
the
attitude
and
the
love
of
the
Creator
to
me,
who
created
me
in
such
a
way
that
it
allows
me
to
be
a
master
of
my
own
will
to
receive
in
order
to
be
a
servant
of
the
creator.
Here
I
truly
begin
to
feel
the
freedom
that
I
have
which
allows
me
to
build
an
image
of
the
creator
by
myself
to
be
Adam,
to
be
a
free
man.
We
will
come
to
it
but
it
all
starts
as
we
are
learning
about
now
from
the
state
where
we
begin
to
feel
an
attraction
towards
the
Creator,
an
attraction
and
this
attraction
is
now
attracting
me
egotistically
which
is
helping
me
to
perform
good
and
beautiful
actions.
Although,
I
understand
the
attraction.
I
still
don't
have
a
free
choice
and
free
actions
here.
The
Creator
shines
a
light
on
me
and
I
turn
like
a
plant
and
bloom,
blossoming
towards
the
sun.
The
Creator
turns
off
the
light
and
it
is
like
the
sun
that
sets
and
the
flower
withers,
this
is
how
it
happens,
but
for
the
time
being
I
begin
to
belong
to
the
appearance
of
the
Creator
before
me
more
or
less,
this
is
all
ready
to
beginning
of
spiritual
life
because
I
have
contact
with
the
Creator
although
this
contact
is
egoistic
but
nevertheless
it
directs
me
towards
him.
This
is
why
I
am
explaining
it
to
you
in
this
way
and
in
any
way
that
we
can
imagine
it,
that
we
have
something
to
yearn
for
and
we
will
soon
come
to
it
and
reveal
those
things
in
practice.
Each
shall
help
their
friend,
as
we
need
to
think
each
one
for
himself
and
about
others,
by
himself
and
for
others.
32. S. (01:34:24) What is the meaning of, the action is the reward?
R. The action is the reward because if you love someone then to work for him, for you is not work but rather a reward. In time of the action you feel you're doing this for him then you act in all of your desire and all of your force, with all of your tendency. Through the friends certainly and accordingly your work and the work is the reward and in this you feel yourself. The action itself is the reward and it all depends upon the extent of love, do you love yourself or the Creator. Through the friends certainly and accordingly you work and the work is the reward. If I do this for my beloved whom I love then I have no labor but rather the opposite, I feel the reward in this.
33. S. (01:35:56) The article says to think about the reward, why doesn't it say faith above reason?
R. It’s not the coincidence, you are correct, your question is clever but it is not the coincidence we are engaging in faith above reason, rather we feel the importance of the Creator and the importance of the Creator is such an illumination that comes to us and it draws us to him, to do good things for him because he becomes important more than us and I am drawn to him to do good things to him. Then there is no evil tendency but rather the opposite as evil tendency is subjugated and becomes as if a good tendency. I act as in bestowal and why do I act in bestowal? Because I act upon the illumination from above and then we, in such a way become slaves, not yet in the spiritual work, the true free work, but it is on the path that we must go upon.
Excerpt 7 (01:38:07 - 01:40:32) Twice
34. S. We heard not once about the example of the mother and her children. Even her concern for the children's egoistical concern. The excerpt, what is not for the sake of myself?
R. We haven't yet to distinguish, to scrutinize the state of course if the Creator illuminates now and I yearn for him as the source of pleasure and I am willing to do everything to reach that pleasure. What is the difference that I am yearning for all sorts of pleasures of this world or that I'm yearning for the Creator that illuminates upon me in his pleasure? Towards my will to receive there is no difference. I am also drawn to the Creator like I am drawn to the pleasures of this world and but I am being drawn to the Creator much stronger, in the meantime there is no difference, you are correct.
35. S. (01:42:08) When this state comes where the work itself is the reward and it is great pleasure as the result of what I do? Do I need to pray or add something to the prayers that it won't be for the sake of myself?
R. That is correct that when we begin to work to receive rewards from the Creator, for spiritual pleasure, we feel just how much we are dependent upon him. For the first time in my life I feel just how much everything by me is tied to the pleasure, that the reception of the pleasure directs me through all of the events of this world. That I am like when you play with a baby with something in trying to draw him forward or maybe a pet, this is how the Creator is playing with me that he is giving me pleasure in this or pleasure in that through this thing or that thing. And I run to all of these events because this is how he illuminates, this is how we must identify in our life. This is the general direction it must be.
36. S. (01:44:00) How to feel the work of bestowal as reward if the Creator is yet to be revealed and if he is revealed in the 10, how do we attain this connection in the 10 if we need unfounded love, who do we turn to if the Creator is not revealed?
R. Did you ask two questions or one question? You don’t know how to ask.
37. S. (01:45:16) The main advice from the lesson is to be drawn to the Creator?
R. We want to scrutinize if the Creator illuminates we are drawn after him and then all of our giving to him becomes a reward. The work becomes the reward, how can we reach such a state that each and every effort of ours will be for joy, for a reward.
S. That is the question. What if I feel it in an opposite way?
R. If you feel it is opposite you must make the effort and if not then pray about it on how to incorporate it in the 10. This is what is left for you.
S. In the prayer do I expect a response?
R. In the prayer you should expect a reaction of being drawn to the Creator, your will to receive cannot work but rather on the condition before you there is something sweet, candy otherwise you can't work. You are shown some candy and you are drawn to that and nothing is difficult for you because you see the reward, the reward can be the greatness of the Creator in that you receive it as new work because you saw the greatness of the Creator. It illuminates you. Now you can say what is new here? Once again I am running after the reward, after what is good for me, this is true but in the meantime, it is on the way. We have reached a state where the Creator illuminates and we yearn for this illumination, we yearn for him and we are willing for that to do all actions of bestowal. The bestowal turns to be not for hardship but rather the opposite, for the reward because I bring my work as a gift to whom I love. Why do I love? Because he illuminates to me not just like that, but that he illuminates to me and I feel that I love him and I am drawn to him in order to bring him all of the pleasures that are possible. You can say that I see some egoistic part, you are correct, but in the meantime like that.
S. So my evil will illuminate for me?
R. It is by this that he shall illuminate and that you can go forward, you will be able to bestow to him because he will appear to you as great. If you want to go a bit deeper here he will appear to you as great because he appears to you or he just even illuminates to you giving you the force to bestow, slowly, gradually, we won't go too far maybe.
S. About this point we say we're always giving one another the greatness of the Creator. We talked about this between us. Is this something that we give one another and create between us?
R. Of course everything comes from the Creator.
S. What does it mean to give one another the greatness of the Creator?
R. That's how it impressed in us.
S. In practice, are we engaged in the request or just growing in the quality of bestowal?
R. The most important for us is to enlarge the greatness of the Creator in our eyes. That is all, to enlarge the greatness of the Creator in our eyes.
S. In practice we receive it from him?
R. Of course.
38. S. (01:50:18) How do we discover the importance of the Creator through the transgressions?
R. The greatness of the Creator is revealed through the descents.
Excerpt 8 (01:51:00 - 01:52:23)
39. R. Meaning we must locate whom we are working for and to whom our work is for and to what effort are we directed. From whom we can expect a response?
Excerpt 9 (01:52:45 - 01:53:45) Twice
40. R. Meaning that the effort given is the reward.
Reader continues “to the extent of the labor so is the reward....”
41. R. Meaning ultimately what a person did the Creator gave a desire to make an effort, the work itself is the reward and the attainment of the reward and the attainment of the Creator, where is the work of man here? This we will have to scrutinize.
Excerpt 10 (01:54:07 - 01:56:43) twice
42. S. (01:56:53) Why is it considered a very harsh condition?
R. Because we must change things here, the forces, for what reason, for what purpose is the effort, do you understand?
Excerpt 10 Continue
43. S. (01:56:49) Why is it considered such a harsh condition?
R. It is very difficult to make an adornment out of it. That's the difficulty.
S. What does it mean to make an adornment?
R. That it should be very important, there is nothing more important that as much as I make more of an effort in giving it is important to me it shows my importance.
44. S. (01:57:26) All of the excerpts we read eventually they are all summed up with one thing, the importance and appreciation that the revelation won't be for ourselves but for the Creator
R. Yes.
S. Here too I am doing corporeal actions in order to connect more with the 10 and the friends and again with the intention for the Creator.
R. Correct. We still don't see how much in this work, even in this world, is related to the work in spirituality, if we will join our spiritual efforts, no detail, no part of our efforts is for nothing. All will accumulate and come together at the end of correction.
45. S. (01:58:53) How do we ask for the friends so that a desire and yearning for spirituality will awaken within them, not thanks to the external corporeal blows?
R. The main thing to explain each time is that our connection raises us above all disturbances and then we truly jump from degree to degree until we reach the sensation of the Creator. This sensation of the Creator becomes our reward and as such we begin more and more to come closer to the end of correction.
46. S. (01:59:56) Why is the work in bestowal demanding work in reward?
R. All work demands reward. It all depends on what the reward is. A mother who takes care of her baby doesn't demand a reward? She receives instant reward on the spot. Her reward is the greatest and the truest, secure, this because she takes care of the baby that is already the reward because we don't talk about the reward for nothing. We're talking about the correct reward. That in this reward we shall be like the bestower like the Creator but we on the other side are the will to receive so how can we truly bestow like the Creator? We must make such actions that these actions themselves do not come from the obligation to receive a reward but rather the obligation to bestow and the reward to receive is in order to give. Let's say we fuel up a car so for what we receive is that we turn it into an action of bestowal. That's called receive to receive in order to bestow and then we have no problem. We are all then like the Creator. The Creator is the force that does not need fueling up, and we demand filling up. We have no choice, we are creatures but after we are filled up we want to work without any reception to ourselves. Truly like that same creature who is inanimate, like the engine, the engine doesn't think for itself what it wants to do and that's how we want to be although we have a great egoistic will to receive, we rise above that. We will talk more about this.
S. How do we know who we're working for?
R. We have to reveal this on the path, it is not simple, it is like a woman who takes care of the baby. She takes care of it out of her love, not out of something global or great, that the Creator awakens her, no. If he would not awaken her that she would throw the baby away, they would truly be dead in many cases of life. But no, the Creator awakens in each mother on the level of still, vegetative, animal or speaking, awakens in them love for their babies, for their offspring that they shall take care of it and that that care shall be the reward. It is all artificial because there is no love in the matter, there is no woman who wants to love her babies but rather the Creator awakens in them such an attitude in order for it to have the correction on the levels of still, vegetative and animate but on the degree of speaking their we need to demand of him the force of correction and then we will be able to connect, and to love one another and to take care of one another. In our connection we will reach a state that we reveal him. We are speaking today in a different language than before. You will be able to connect these things together gradually and you will see that we have no choice. In such a manner we are actually reaching a deeper understanding.
Excerpt 11 (02:05:07 - 02:06:50)
47. R. We must in any case, all of the time, direct ourselves to the Creator. It doesn't matter how much we feel good, clear in our parts are in our mind or not, but to direct ourselves to do what we receive and that what we receive is from the Creator. That these feelings ultimately will connect together into a great pleasure that we shall receive it only as a fuel to perform the actions of mutual bestowal to the Creator.
48. S. (02:07:42) Is the insertion and indication of a person is in the preparation stage?
R. The exertion meaning a person exerts himself by force?
S. Yes, where he feels effort?
R. If he feels the efforts this means you are still in the time of preparation of course and afterwards we feel sorrow for this that you don't have that same exertion and then, there is more here. The Creator arranges for them, we will talk about these things, the path is full of surprises. There is no choice, this is how we advance.
49. S. (02:08:53) We talked about bringing contentment through longing, what is the difference between asking for help in the force of bestowal?
R. This is all up to the person how much he scrutinizes this state, talk about this in the10's these are things that need to be clarified by us, in the 10s and then we will be able to scrutinize them better.
S. In a state of asking and requesting help I feel I bring more content to the Creator?
R. Okay, that is what I'm saying precisely, try to scrutinize this within the 10s.
Excerpt 12 (02:10:10 - 02:12:39)
50. R. You see this is already a new condition that was not there before, that we must yearn, connect to the Creator, not that the Creator gives us a good sensation and we are ready to bestow because the importance of the Creator is revealed rather the importance of the Creator is not revealed and then what do we do? We wither? I must receive forces from the Creator even on the condition and the state that he does not awaken me. I want to have the force also and the time that he doesn't awaken me that I will be able to work properly with the intent to bestow, that I have no desire and no yearning, I just want to have the condition at least to awaken into work on the conditions that he doesn't normally awaken in me.
Reader continues: “We should understand on what the enthusiasm depends....” (02:12:39)
51. R. We need to read these excerpts many times, to repeat them over the days and we will gradually begin to feel what is in them, see how they need to direct us and gradually that we are advancing towards correction.
Excerpt 13 (02:13:08 - 02:14:22)
52. S. (02:14:30) In excerpt number 11 he writes that he needs to accustom himself to work in order to bestow, what does this mean?
R. As much as possible in our forces to advance towards actions that have no use or benefit in them that appears to us, rather the Kabbalists than tell us it is worthwhile to perform and then we by this reach awareness of our nature and then from this awareness and recognition of our nature we will have the ability to activate a prayer, to receive from the Creator the forces that we are lacking.
WSQ: Let us now have a workshop where we will talk about what we are lacking in order to reach an action of bestowal, that it shall truly be an action of bestowal enough that we shall be lying to ourselves.
Excerpt 14 (02:22:02 - 02:23:06)
53. S. (02:23:24) When you manage to rise above yourself when you have joy from bestowing to the friends to the Creator and you have the yearning. How do you aim that gladness so that not from that I get pleasure but that I am this bestowing?
R. In the meantime it is all within the ego, that you turn to the friends, you turn to the Creator that you want everything to bestow to them, that you have contentment from this. How can you now aim this contentment to the Creator? How do you think this is possible? Even if you talk with the friends, even if you decide that the Creator shall take everything you do and you will do it for him, he will receive this gift from you. How can you ask such that he will receive this gift? Let's say you brought him a gift and he doesn't want to accept it. What must you add to the gift so he will receive it?
S. I don't know his feelings or some connection with him?
R. With him there is no problem, he is in you, he is with you, it's not important. How can you convince him it is worthwhile for him to accept the gift from you? People in our world who are very important to you. They don't just accept any gift it already obligates and tie them, so what can you do?
S. I can only work for important people?
R. That is also a gift. You must show him that what he received from you is what you received from him and in this you absolve him of all calculations. This is what must be, now the question is how do you do this, that you request of him that he shall do this great favor to you if he received this gift from you, not that he gives you but you give him. How do you do this with the Creator? It is a big problem, in our world you can cheat people, you can tell them to take this from me, with the Creator? We must think about this more.
Friends, today we have touched upon lightly, upon a manner of entrance into spirituality which talks about how we receive importance manner of the Creator in our eyes and according to the degree of this importance of the intensity, the manner of this importance, then truly all of our life here can flip that we can see that in each action, in each state, each moment of ours the action of giving to the Creator. We want to wrap this action in love. Here is the question we will talk about this afterwards, how do we take this action of bestowal now that we are willing to do, how do we do this not from the reason that it draws us, is interesting to us it appeals to us, rather that we do this truly in contentment to him, meaning this action of bestowal, now that we are doing this in a reason of love that is revealed, how do we do this above This?
There is more to add here and we will work upon this. What I am asking of you is to let us in any case, read these things and listen to what we have spoken about over the course of the day. Tomorrow we will make an effort to continue as much as possible. There are a few matters here that we must realize and before us is the entrance to spirituality, that is on one hand.
On the other hand, that we here, are with you before learning TES, the study of the ten Sefirot also spiritually, and we shall make the effort in each and every action as Baal HaSulam explains to us. We will make the effort to understand how this action operates in us in our will to receive and operate on us practically and actually that we shall see in each step TES the study of the 10 Sefirot, how we realize the spiritual actions practically upon ourselves, that's one matter. The other is that it could be that we will need to go through a bit more introductions from Baal HaSulam, introduction to TES, and the introduction to the book of Zohar, something there briefly that shall give us the correct entrance to TES. In this we shall and here and let us make the effort to review this material over the course of the day. It is new and confusing. You can go with it anyway and turn it all around but let us begin with this and then out of habit, we shall reach understanding and from understanding we shall reach sensation and from sensation we will reach love, meaning the peak of connection. Wish you all the best.