Morning Lesson August 29, 2021 Transcription
Part 1:
Lowliness and Subjugation - Selected Excerpts from the Sources, #7
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LfZIz0IZflkqvcU6LFwtTkXoBf-8WV_ZJMMz0NOhVlk/edit#
1. Rav’s Introduction: The lowliness and subjugation, it is the entrance to come closer to Him to get in contact with Him to rise from the degree of the created being to the degree of the Creator, to replace our nature which is reception and to reach the understanding, feeling, recognition of the force of bestowal and accordingly will understand Him. We will feel Him and attach ourselves to Him more and more according to the force of lowliness and subjugation and we need to find their relative to what we are lowly and subjugate ourselves. So lowly we do not want to agree to what our desire to receive dictates to us, that the Creator created this on the purpose for the would rise above this and each time with the ego that is revealed we rise above it and have new examination in it and also on the degree rising above it we have something in our hands, certain examinations in our feelings, in our intellect. Also from assembling those degrees as the rungs of the ladder more and more will be able to daily meaning each and every state rise above and build ourselves, those are the stages, the rungs we have to climb. Each and every rung we climb above our desire to receive we have to behave according to the desire to bestow, the desire of the Creator and by that we begin to attain Him, to feel Him, we attain Him, we feel Him, we come closer to Him to a certain extent. So let us read the next writing and then he speaks about this.
Excerpt 7 (03:35)
2. R. (04:39) This means that the first condition is not to accept what the ego makes us do. This is the first stage and the second stage is even when the person does not understand what is the greatness of the Creator, he is willing to come close to it and acquire it as much as possible, meaning that nullifies himself relative to the quality of bestowal.
Reader continues: (05:18)
3. R. (05:59) In this way we gradually how from one line from King David painted the way to enter spirituality when we start to feel the Creator and we start to enter into some contact with the Creator. Meaning before which discernments I subjugate myself before, what examination I subjugate myself before. The holy mountain which is reflections, thoughts and Holy means that I separate myself from myself and attach myself to the desires of bestowal of the Creator. I bow before His holy mountain. That means that I subjugate the body which does not agree, so I take on myself only thoughts of holiness. This is very interesting because we see head-to-head, one against the other, that there are things which I disagree with and I do not want. Specifically if I subjugate myself and I take on myself against my desire what the Creator wants then I acquire thoughts of bestowal on top of thoughts of reception. Should one subjugate himself to thoughts of holiness meaning to retire from the feeling of the desire to receive. I must do this because the Lord our God is Holy, the Creator only bestows and for this reason we have to be in equivalence of form with Him we have to become like the Creator and by this we can obtain the exaltedness of the Creator and we later, we can achieve the attainment of the exaltedness of the Lord our God.
4. S. (08:33) What does this formula of King David say?
R. It shows as in one line the entire way we have to go through, exalt the Lord our God and we bow before His holy mountain, because the Lord our God is Holy. So the matter of subjugation, nullification, incorporation, climbing to him through nullification of the self and we taking His exaltedness, his greatness above reason or we do not discover, or we do not attain it yet. But after we subjugate ourselves we come to a state when it is revealed and it is revealed in vessels that first we acquire vessels of bestowal and then we discover the greatness of the Creator in them.
S. So what does it mean to subjugate ourselves?
R. We do not know what subjugating ourselves means yet which means bending our desire, the egoistic desire we have to bend and try to demonstrate it to ourselves in our hearts, each one. We have to bend it and we have to take upon ourselves the authority of the Creator and we exist in this way that the Creator determines everything. That I exchange the control of my ego to the Creator's control and this is how I exist and I relate to everybody. I wish to see the whole of reality this way. The Creator who determines everything and He is in my heart and not through the evil inclination, this is a great work, it is a lengthy work from here to the end of correction. It is a miracle really, it is a miracle, it is a true wonder how King David composed it in a single sentence, that's why He is the one who arranges the Malchut, kingship for us.
5. S. (11:37) How to receive the Creator's greatness when my body is against it?
R. It is correct what you hear about, we are talking about what we have to do right now, so let's distinguish these things. One thing is separate from the other, on one hand I have to recognize that I am entirely made of the desire to receive, the egoistic desire to receive which works in me without my permission. I do not even feel that I carry out its commands all the time. On the other hand the first stage is for me to peel myself, to disconnect myself from this egoistic desire, to put it aside meaning this is the “I” and this is my desire to receive, two things, it is not one, it's not the same and to which one do I want to belong to. Either to my desire to receive which is given to me from the day I was born or I want to belong and I want to attach to the Creator. I do not know who He is, what it is but I want to feel this, at least not to be under this blind authority of my desire to receive because it brings me to various problems. Even now I see if I listen to his advice then we come to all kinds of evil states. Even in our normal education, my mother is teaching me for example and the society is showing me, then school and everybody else, it is that for me to be a little bit about my desire to receive, to control it to some extent and if we go further I need to recognize how being a slave to the ego is not good.
If I can use it whenever I want, whenever I decide that sometimes I do not use it, this might be good at least. But we have to imagine a person who doesn't think of the question, who is running him, who is pushing him, who is pulling him to different actions and events and activities. Then in his actions that he is performing, he can enter very evil states including your prison, death and everything. Because our ego knows how to cheat us, he is unable to do this because he is just one force, I wish to enjoy. That's all, like animals have an instinctive defense mechanism and they know how far they can go with the desire to receive. Man does not have it, man goes all the way, his pride ruins him and he wants to be above everybody and it does not matter what will happen later. So if we are making truthful calculations then for sure we have to rise above ourselves and we are our own masters not even to go to the other side, to the Creator to the desire to bestow. Let's leave this aside but we have to rise above the ego most people would tell you that, ok you are man to do it. We discover how weak we are, specifically those who are destined to be the workers of the Creator, they are very weak. I have seen such heroes who come to us there from the military service or from other methods which are about self fulfilment but when we come to this wisdom of Kabbalah we get stuck on how to rise above the ego according to Rabash says how difficult it is, hard, practically impossible that is. That we need the help of the Creator and this is done in the purpose because there is other methods which that you can get help from different supporters here you can't, you come to a state where you if you want to nullify your ego, to the same extent before that you have to think about the greatness of the Creator and from that you will get the strength, the capacity to nullify your ego and replace the greatness of the Creator above the greatness of the egoistic view, our nullifying.
6. S. (18:03) If the Creator created a negative, evil external force that arose as how we should focus as the 10 in order to bend our egoistic desires?
R. As much as we can connect in the 10 between us, to the extent we can rise above the individual ego of each and every friend and attack our ego and succeed. This explains, specifically in the article about Arvut and I see more and more needs to return to that article and this is how we progress.
7. S. (19:11) If I have thoughts of holiness does it mean that I think about the friends?
R. You are thinking first of all about the Creator typically, because He is the goal towards which we try to annul ourselves, to connect to, to attach to. When you are thinking about this and you see how incapable you are, how disconnected you are from this, then you remember that the Creator arranges it or the friends remind you that everything comes between you in the connection between you. Then you try to connect and through the connection between you, you will be successful. Here we have another barrier, obstacle on the way, which is that the person thinks that he can do this on his own, okay I will annul my ego, I subjugate, I bow down to the Creator. This is how I can reach Him but it is not correct, what you are coming to Him with, where is your vessel in which you want to reveal the Creator, to understand Him, to feel Him. Instead you have to come only with a new vessel with the vessel of bestowal in order to know the Creator, to reveal Him, you do not have vessels of bestowal. Only when you connect with the friends above your ego you assemble between you this web of connection above the forces of separation reception you get the forces of bestowal and you bring this to the Creator as a basket and then you receive the quality of bestowal, the Creator's quality of bestowal, the revelation of the Creator inside the created being. The created being is all of you together with the whole 10 and the Creator that dresses into this 10, arranges this 10, establishing it and then He is revealed in it and this is called the revelation of the Creator in the created being.
8. S. (22:03) Ok, so everything comes from the Creator all the states both the lowest and the loftiest one, in the writing it says that we have to surrender, we have to subjugate ourselves and to annul so I do not need to aspire to be lowly, so what is the purpose of this lowly state?
R. It is the subjugation of my egoistic desires, my egoistic thoughts for the time being so I could receive, also new discernments opposite to my desire to receive that I would be able to walk on two feet and see reality also from the side of the force of bestowal. Here, how the Creator sees it, not only from the force of a reception as I used to see it accepting it as the certain complete reality I want to see reality as it appears to the Creator what is good, what is bad, what it is for, why does he think it needs to be this way and that way when I have both these opinions. When I arrange the relationships between them as it says that man will always anger, vex, the good inclination over the evil inclination and this way we can do something because we have two lines. We are not leaving the selfish nature, the Creator created this in order to help us enter the Creator's nature, it is to walk on two feet and this way we attain the Creator, we discover Him, we attach to Him and we never let go of our nature. The desire to receive is never cancelled, only the intention to receive is nullified but the desire to receive is our nature and we remain in it forever until the end of connection. We will remain in it and we don't know what happens after and this is how we progress.
9. S. (25:10) How should we implement the formula of King David in the 10?
R. Just do this, you have to understand first of all that everybody wants to reach the goal and in order to reach the goal you must connect and connection to the goal is, the connection for the sake of the goal is not less important than the goal itself. The means have to be on the same level as the goal itself and then you will be able to begin to perform the correct actions. For the time being, we forget that we have to first of all be connected and then turn to the Creator and then do any action. Each and every thought has to come out of the connection between us, this is not working correctly and still we forget about this which is natural and this is how we are moving for the time being but it is good. It's just like we come to this topic today in the lesson we are able to talk about it to understand what is going on with us, this is a good state in the good state, good progress.
10. S. (27:07) There are states when we identify where there is a point of choice to listen to the Creator or to the desire to receive, but there are also times when we are unaware of this point of choice. How to develop the ability to see this point of choice in every state?
R. Only with the connection with the friends can we relocate and detect each and every point in which it is worthwhile to progress, you have to speak between you and reach a state of being one man with one heart as much as possible. You can discover what are the obstacles, what are the helping forces and how to progress forward but you will see that this is possible. We are getting very good guidance from above. We don't understand how but it enters, it penetrates the brain and the heart of each and every friend with each passing day. We are receiving this influence from above, taking care of us like a mother of the baby, we just need to extend this and be grateful for this and then we can progress even more.
11. S. (28:32) We mentioned King David and the Psalms. Is there room for talking about the Psalms anymore?
R. I am asking you not to put anything that we did not discuss, I see it on you more than once so do not ask such things.
Excerpt 8 (29:13)
12. R. (30:54) This is a difficult to understand why they demand this from us because there has to be such that if I have a question I get an answer and not that the questions arise in me so I rise above them without getting an answer for them. Instead the questions are from me to seemingly disregard them and want to get the force to rise above it in faith. So I am not using the essence of the question itself but our path is only about subjugation, to subjugate myself more and more or it is possible that through this subjugation I will receive something when I raise myself I get to know the Creator better I connect to Him more.
Reader continues: (32:00)
13. R. (32:36) Number one that he does not know the greatness of somebody but nevertheless he bows before him and number two, then he knows the greatness of the other and bows before him. First instance is to do it out of faith, out of a force that he acquires from outside and then he will be able to bow himself, subjugate himself to the other because he does not know exactly what is the other, why it is great, nothing, but simply he received the force to do so. The second is that he does know the greatness and the merit of the other and makes a calculation and subjugates himself. Of course the first instance is when he gets the force of faith and the second one is within reason. There are two discernments in this subjugation two examinations to details in this subjugation, one out of faith, the other is out of reason.
Reader continues: (33:59)
14. S. (34:57) In the beginning we said that we subjugate to the upper because we can see the greatness of the upper force or we subjugate to the upper one not because we can see it, but I want to believe that the upper force is truly great so we don't do it out of knowledge without of faith now we are talking about this faith, we subjugate because we believe in the greatness of the upper force and we don't want to see the greatness of the upper one. I want to go on in faith and here there are two examinations again, one that he does not want it that he has a choice to see the greatness of the higher but he prefers not to and he prefer to go on the path of faith to carry out of the commandments of the higher without seeing or he does it because he received the force of knowing and then he does it. Meaning one he believes that he is great because he has no other choice or council. The second is that he has that choice but he does not want to reveal the greatness of the upper force, but wants to go on in faith. Two examinations in relation to the greatness of the upper then he has a choice and he does not have a choice. He has no choice and he goes with eyes closed in faith and the second degree, the greater degree is that he has a choice, he has a way of discovering the greatness of the upper but he does not want it, he wants to go with what he has and he wants to reach faith through that.
15. S. (37:01) How is it possible to feel the burden of the kingdom of heaven as something easy despite the disturbances that we receive?
R. When we are reading these writings, various examinations in these writings that appear to us are not so clear. We can get confused because they are not written, they're not inscribed in our brain and heart but from all that, from all the confusions and then we try to work with these confusions. It is nevertheless like with little children who do not know what they are doing but because they are trying each time something else they receive, they acquire a new intellect and feelings and they can start working with these examinations and we are the same. We come to a state where these things like subjugation, faith, knowing, they are beginning to become, they become more similar, we can get accustomed to them and we understand what they are talking about, we get accustomed to them so we can work with these discernments. We have better scrutinies and these scrutinies will come as a result of working with these examinations internally, with these lines, when we read the source is we invite the reforming light and the light influences and arranges everything like a mother towards her babies, helping them to get things stabilized and organized and arranged between us, in the relationship between us. Then we begin to discover connections between this and that and the other and then it becomes a web or a network in our brain and links and this is how we construct ourselves.
16. S. (39:49) What is the difference if the person chooses the path of faith without knowing the greatness of the Creator?
R. When he discovers the greatness and importance of the Creator according to his vessels and then of course he can never tell the greatness and the importance of the Creator in truth, but what he received for the time being it is also part of the greatness and importance of the Creator from his uniqueness, the single for that works in reality and there is nothing besides it. The fact that we can get even a little bit from there, it gives us some form of connection to Him and the revelation of the only force working in reality in the whole world, in the whole universe and this is why we need to appreciate the opportunity to get to come to know this force that is working.
17. S. (41:11) When does it help us in our progress the need for faith, how does it help us, how does it give us the need?
R. Faith is not what you hear about in the outside world, there are many belief systems and faith is the force of bestowal that appears in us the influence of the Creator on us. Meaning as much as we can receive the forces of bestowal this means that we received the force of faith and this force of giving allows us to perform actions that go against our mind and habits, think about it and ask later.
18. S. (42:27) Why should we see the greatness of the Creator above reason?
R. It is preferable to see the greatness of the friend above reason as well but in the Creator we do not have any other opportunity besides to attain it through faith above reason. We will see these things and I'm afraid that you'll get confused so we will discuss it later.
19. S. (43:18) Is there any contradiction between men's desire to see things clearly in our method?
R. I do not know what you are talking about, keep going and you will understand.
20. S. (43:35) According to what we read, how should I get the greatness of the Creator from others and from the friends?
R. How can I receive the greatness of the Creator from the friends from them influencing me talking about what they think and feel and I accept it from them and I get an impression from them, even if I do not want it so much it still influences me. Because of my selfish ego, I am with them so when I hear them talking about the greatness of the Creator about their connection I feel jealousy and as a result, I start to have an impression that they recognized something which I did not and this helps me to progress so my negative, seemingly negative qualities, jealousy, desire for respect when I am in the group, these qualities help me progress in spirituality
21. S. (44:57) What does the revelation of the greatness of the Creator obligate a person?
R. As the Creator is revealed as the ruler of everything and everybody as the Giver and then a person necessarily also wants to resemble Him.
S. Why does the Creator reveal His greatness to the person, what is the purpose?
R. He does not reveal that but to the extent the person needs the help and also in unique circumstances. Without the recognition of the greatness of the Creator that the person depicts to himself, not that the Creator truly reveals Himself, but how the person depicts to himself, how he shapes the image of the Creator in front of him, to that extent he has the strength to bestow.
22. S. (46:15) Is there an element of self-security in perceiving the greatness of the Creator in the excerpt? It is like the Creator or the Kabbalists tell us to reveal too much greatness of the Creator there because if we perceive it, it can be too much for the person?
R. We want to receive the greatness of the Creator because it will help us reach actions of bestowal. We have to establish a group through which we can, as if, be impressed by the greatness of the Creator, which is really the influence of the friends. The Creator does not become revealed as great because otherwise we would have no free choice. We won’t freely choose anything so according to the extent that we ourselves can influence each other in depicting the Creator as great above us, to that extent we can rise above our ego. So again we actually just rise through faith above reason, we can never discover the force of the Creator opposite the force of our ego, for the Creator to win against our ego and then we’ll just cling to Him and advance. No, it does not work that way as just a struggle between two forces. We have to advance towards the Creator only with a force of bestowal and subjugation. That’s something we need to learn how to do. We never reveal the Creator in the vessels you are asking from right now, the vessels of reception, but only to the extent that we can depict Him by making this force of bestowal from ourselves, what we think about becoming, and to that extent we rise towards Him and advance.
23. S (49:19) Sometimes it is very difficult to see how the Creator benefits one so how can we see His greatness in such cases?
R. This is by non-stop exercises, each and every moment, as it is said good and mercy shall chase me for all the days of my life. Meaning if I want, if I try with my efforts to see this intensive care of the Creator towards me, like a mother taking care of her baby, then opposite that good and mercy shall chase me for all the days of my life. On that King David says for I have sat in the King's palace for all the days of my life. Meaning accordingly I rise towards the Creator more and more.
24. S. (50:46) Most of the day I don't feel that I have the opportunity to work on subjugation, I can only do it during special times or if there is special friction with the friends. When is the time of subjugation?
R. First of all it’s when you have some contact with your 10, when you are in the lesson with the world 10 and other times during the day, when you are meeting, then this is the kind of preparation you need to have. That I prepare myself to subjugate myself towards the 10. These are the main things. Besides that if I need to do some action of Mitzvah, commandment which has to do with connection with the people, bestowal for Bnei Baruch, dissemination, I first need to prepare myself in the intention. Why am I doing that, who obligates me to do that, what do I want to achieve by doing that, and thus advance.
25. S. (52:40) It is still not clear why His concealment is considered a glory. Can you explain this a bit more precisely?
R. If the person with his strength doesn't want to reveal the Creator, but rather to work for the Creator with the power of faith which means the power of bestowal, being like the Creator, by this he actually attains the Creator. So it’s a desire for the Creator to be revealed, but in the appropriate vessels for revelation. That’s why it is written in this way, as if we don’t want to attain Him. We do attain Him but in the form of bestowal, and then He becomes revealed. So there is something we don’t grasp here. How can we grasp and attain the Creator? It is like a little child. He’s looking at us with a wide open mouth, he doesn't understand what we’re talking or saying. We’re talking to him but a small child cannot understand, doesn’t grasp it yet because his vessels are not yet calibrated, not attuned to perceive our message, our communication. These are the kinds of states that we are in all the time and so all in all we have to be patient, and then day by day we have to calibrate ourselves to hear, listen and try to do the actions that will draw the light that reforms, and so advance. Then it will come I promise you. On one hand we now have a great risk that a lot of people who don't immediately grasp what we are talking about might want to leave the wisdom of Kabbalah, but this is the point that’s critical I would say. Because here we are transitioning from our egoistic development, how we’ve developed so far, from that to our spiritual development. We go into the next phase of development.
26. S. (55:41) What's to add to our faith above reason so the faith in the Creator will affect us more?
R. We just need to increase and raise faith above reason. Reason meaning my thoughts and desires which are based on in order to receive. What I see, what I feel, in my mind, in my heart, that is how I live, that’s me, that’s who I am. And I am not stupid and I am educated and so on. And now I need to determine a higher perception of reality that will unfold in me and for that higher perception, I need new vessels, and these vessels are opposite to the corporeal vessels as it is written about the higher world, I saw a reversed world. So we are now learning how in parallel to the vessels that we have that can perceive the current reality, how can we develop the vessels to perceive the higher reality which is an opposite reality, and not to try to enter with our vessels into the upper vessels, that they work in opposite principles. So be cautious, be aware, that we have to as if clean ourselves from the kind of perception of this world that we have. And here we have to build a new attitude towards the upper world and start discovering it this way.
27. S. (58:00) Typically subjugation is in the context of a war or battle, surrender so I wage war on the Creator and then I surrender?
R. You are fighting your ego that always wants to aim, direct you in a certain way, to look at reality in a certain way and then against that you want to determine your attitude in a new and different way. That you relate to reality through the force of bestowal and not the force of reception, this is all.
28. S. (58:52) It is not clear, what advice do we have for knowing the greatness of the Creator in any given scrutiny?
R. What advice? It is like we just said. In our subjugation towards the force of bestowal and to the extent that I increase the force of faith in me I advance towards detecting the Creator in the right way. What is that force of bestowal?
S. He seemingly writes that there is a way to clearly tell the greatness of the Creator but you don't want it but on the contrary.
R. We don't want to because we don't want to receive this in vessels of reception.
S. What is the path that I can tell I'm clearly going above it?
R. That I establish such vessels in me where I make the same actions as the Creator does, and so from your actions we know you. Ultimately I will operate myself as the Creator does and as a result of shaping Him in me this way, I will study Him and know Him.
S. I build the force of faith above it?
R. In order to shape the Creator in me I need the force of faith in me, meaning that I think and feel and decide and act out of the force of faith, out of the force of bestowal. Meaning the Creator dresses in me and I begin to feel how He operates in me and I am like the Creator, and this is called “and the name of the Lord will be upon you.” This is called adhesion of the created being and the Creator. We will speak about this much more but for now as a beginning, to hear the concept.
29. S. (01:01:30) What does it mean that we have the possibility of revealing the greatness of the upper but not wanting it and going in faith above reason.?
R. Just like it seems from the text when a person is given the opportunity to recognize the Creator in his vessels which are vessels of reception, but he prefers not to discover in this way but to go above it in vessels of bestowal. I can’t convey this feeling. The vessels of bestowal are unlimited; they are the same vessels as the Creator. They are such that you feel the meaning and quality of the Creator. In vessels of reception you can only imagine it as some sort of a replica from corporeality to spirituality and there is no more here than really philosophy or science, it is not more than that. We need vessels of bestowal and then the Creator will appear in them in a true form. This is called “and the name of the Lord will be upon you”.
S. It's just that there is a contradiction here.
R. Because there is an opportunity. You are given opportunities only in order to clarify the vessels of bestowal and that you have to be in them, that is what you are given. It is not that you can be in them in advance.
Excerpt 9 (01:03:41) Twice
Excerpt 10 (01:07:20)
30. R. (01:09:30) A person has the feeling that he is always connected to the Creator even though he has no proof of that in his mind and heart but he doesn't want this proof because otherwise he will have no faith, he will have just reason and connecting to the upper world is possible only when he rises above his reason to faith above reason. So if he makes that transition, if he receives the force from above, then he already opens his eyes in the next world and he begins to feel the upper reality which truly exists and holds him and then he belongs to the upper world. This is only on the condition that time after time, again and again as much as he can, he goes and tries to be in the force of bestowal, of faith above that of reception. Because all of the vessels with which he works in this world of course he keeps them with his family and the workplace, all of the ordinary engagements of this world. In addition to that whatever has to do with the group and the Creator, the upper world he always tries to maintain forces of bestowal, forces of faith above reason. Only in that way can he relate to the upper world until he begins to feel it and then the vessels of bestowal begin to form in him. It is only through persistence.
31. S. (01:11:53) You said earlier we are at a critical junction meaning dropping off the path. Why specifically now as there's nowhere to go and it's not our choice to be here?
R. It doesn't matter where someone goes, a person might just fall to corporeality. I will just keep living the way everyone else lives as long as I have. I will just care about fulfilling myself as easily as possible with whatever fulfillment that I can and that’s it, to live like a pensioner. A person might decide that. People who come to this point where they have to rise above reason then that is where they fall. Those that keep going, that continue, they truly enter a new state, a new nature, the upper world, the upper nature according to the law of equivalence of form. They begin to sense the Creator and thus advance.
32. S. (01:13:29) After the lesson when we are no longer together how do we hold our actions in relation to the Creator to be directed?
R. How after the lesson you can connect in the 10 and keep bestowing, above that you will keep advancing here below, it all depends upon you. Today about 10 or 15 minutes ago we were speaking as we need to connect between us and by being connected to the 10 I can establish myself in faith above reason in the easiest way. Why was the vessel Kli shattered in Adam HaRishon? Because the force of bestowal entered the force of reception and the vessel broke. Why? Because we have that necessity that the vessels will have some kind of connection between them but they will be mixed, and even though we are in the vessels of reception, we need to disconnect from them and rise to the vessels of bestowal. Even though this seems not normal and supposedly not realistic, but we can, because from above we have the light that reforms and if I want to work according to the force of bestowal and not according to my egoistic desire, not according to my brain, then I am able to do something, I am able to get the force of Bina from above. Except for the force of Malchut which I already have that as a feeling and in my mind I will get a new feeling and mind that comes from the source of bestowal and not the source of reception, from Bina. When I start demanding this, when I make the effort I can draw and receive the force of bestowal from above and the force of bestowal that I receive is called faith, Bina, above reason, above Malchut. Here I start establishing the vessels in the opposite way. I always had the will to receive that determined everything and fills and controls everything, according to that I measure everything. Now no, now I am saying no. For me the force of bestowal, the force of Bina is the most important and I weigh everything according to that force to the greatness of bestowal, the greatness of faith and by that I can establish and stabilize myself, and we get used to it and we start entering it more and more. We start feeling the reality, a certain reality through it and discernment and forces, inner qualities and talents. From this way we start establishing from the shattering the connections of bestowal between us, and between us to the Creator, and enter an upper reality. Afterwards we feel all of reality is working according to that law of bestowal not the law of reception. This is why right now we are in such a state that humanity needs to discover that existing in the force of bestowal has to come and exist in the force of reception which we existed in till now is over. It has completely used itself up and we can't exist anymore. This is what we also discover in this world. That’s how we advance. We will have a lot of forces in help also from the external world that according to its own forces won't be able to exist anymore. It will fall and fall just like a ball that you take all of the air out of, it will go and shrink, until a state that everything will work only for necessities and except for that nobody will find forces.
S. What does it mean that when I want to connect with the Creator, I forgot about the group?
R. We can't naturally be aimed to the Creator and to the group, but if in force I want to connect to the Creator in the form of bestowal, I have to understand that only through the group I can connect to him and connect correctly. Otherwise I don't have a chance to connect to the Creator. In my hands there won't be a vessel that I can connect to Him. Here we still need to work on it so that each one can convince himself first to connect to the group and then to the Creator. From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.
33. S. (01:20:34) What is the vessel for correct spiritual sight in our work?
R. The vessels of bestowal.
S. How to reach this?
R. Ask for it and perform the actions that suit it, and when you see that you can't then you ask for it and you will receive it. Only in the case that you really want it and can't. Like with the baby, we want him to do all kinds of things, putting the blocks together, and we don't need to help him the moment he is working and trying, but once he has despaired and starts crying then we come and we help and explain how it should be. We need to reach such actions in our attempts to work in order to bestow.
34. S. (01:22:00) Baal HaSulam says to fulfill the Torah in simplicity?
R. It is like without psychological calculations but just to perform actions of bestowal above my will to receive, very simple. That is called simple, above my will to receive.
35. S. (01:22:58) What is the intention to subjugate oneself to thoughts of holiness?
R. To perform actions in order to bestowal for the benefit of the group or the benefit of the Creator.
S. I sit in the lesson and I feel like I'm drowning in thoughts about corporeality and beastliness. What if I don't have the strength to subjugate myself?
R. Ask Him, pray, connect to the friends.
36. S. (01:23:44) How can we work in bestowal when we are in the state of faith above reason?
R. Above our thoughts and knowledge if we perform actions of bestowal that is specifically what helps us and you start getting knowledge of what bestowing means, how we work according to the laws of the upper world.
37. S. (01:24:24) If you can please advise us what to do in a state where we see from the side that the Creator is bringing you to the same spot that you can't overcome and you forget to ask at this moment?
R. You must have support from the group here and if you feel you can't, that is specifically help from the Creator, that you have discovered it. Because you discover as much as you don't have the force of bestowal and that is specifically what you need. So here we need support from society and a plea to the Creator that He will help you because you can't, you can never perform actions of bestowal. You aren't the source of the force of bestowal, you don't have it. Only to the extent that you ask the Creator and to the extent that the Creator will help you.
S. What if you forget to ask?
R. So you don’t have a connection with the group. This is called a man, will help his friend, this is the mutual guarantee. That's why it is written either friendship or death, either you have a society that holds you or you are dead, meaning that you fall from bestowing from the upper world to the lower world.
38. S. (01:26:05) There is an interesting contradiction here that one can be in a state of simple work and mind and how can he also lower himself so much that the reason demands?
R. As much as I can subjugate my will to receive, to beg before the Creator that instead of that you will give me the will to bestow. That I will be incorporated in everybody and think through the will to bestow and decide through the will to bestow. As much as I asked for that, it is called that I subjugate myself, that I am the small one, I am the lowly one, I am the simplest of everybody. To that extent I am closer to spirituality, to the will to bestow and then I can enter the forces of bestowal and in those forces of bestowal I can advance in a way that I will feel and understand the whole system of bestowal which is opposite of our system. This is why it is not the wise who studies as it is written but those who subdue themselves. As it’s written he who wants to live shall bring himself to death. It’s written that the work in faith above reason, the work in the revelation of the spiritual world is the opposite of the work we have in this world. And we think we have to be ready for this. This is the breaking point that I am not falling into reason but going opposite, through the group to the Creator and that is it, I have no more, we only have two points. Me through the group to the Creator. This is why if we don't forget this and we have the mutual guarantee between us, by this we will succeed.
39. S. (01:28:47) We have learned that we always need to accelerate in our work. How does subjugation help us to attain this and accelerate all the time?
R. As much as we subjugate towards the conditions that the Creator is giving us, and He usually gives us conditions of coarseness that come against the upper world, the force of bestowal. And we want to overcome, above it, not erase this but to overcome it. To that extent we can advance. Specifically the evil force that is revealed in us, the force of rejection that is revealed that is what helps us advance. We only need help: I have created the evil inclination and the Torah as a spice, the upper light that comes and covers our ego, and then we can build ourselves in raising above this mountain of the ego that every time becomes higher, and we rise above it.
40. S. (01:30:18) In talking about subjugation, why does the ego not succeed to subjugate itself? What force is in the ego that it can't subjugate itself?
R. The ego was created exactly like the Creator but in an opposite way. The Creator is Keter and the ego is Malchut, and in the four phases of direct light we learned Malchut was born from Keter and is completely opposite. In the four phases of direct light Malchut also feels the light that fills it and then it feels as much as it is opposite of the light, of the upper force of the Creator. That they actually meet and incorporate, that is above nature. Nature starts below that. Malchut decides that it restricts itself and never receives reception from the Creator but only wants to reach identification with Him, resemblance. And from then we already learned how she does it, how the will to receive wants to reach equivalence of form, bestowal to the Creator.
41. S. (01:32:23) In the matter of subjugation there's an avoidance of pleasure. So what comes first the avoidance or the subjugation?
R. First subjugation, because avoiding pleasure I understand that it is an action, and before the action you need a decision. That after the action takes place, there are a lot of stages on the way, it's not just that it comes and decides or comes and does. We need to discover from where and why. There are a lot of actions and also for us in the body when we decide we might not be aware as much, as many actions and discernments take place in us, until it becomes clear to us what we want to do. Even in our will to receive.