The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Morning Lesson: September 18, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson - Dec 4, 2021

Baal HaSulam. Shamati The Most Important Are the Mind and the Heart

Reader: Hello friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 4th of December 2021, Baal HaSulam, Shamati, “The Most Important Are the Mind and the Heart”, Shamati 49. 

Reader: We're reading Shamati, article number 49, “The Most Important Are the Mind and the Heart.” 

M. Laitman: Yes, let's read and see what we can add. These things are not simple. They're very deep. We can easily get confused about them, so let's scrutinize them together. 

Reading: (01:05) 49. The Most Important Are the Mind and the Heart - Twice

I heard on Thursday, Vayera, November 6, 1952

There should be a preparation on the discernment of “mind,” in that same work which refers to the quality of faith. This means that if one is negligent in the work of faith, he falls to a state of wanting only knowledge, which is a Klipa [shell], which is against the Shechina [Divinity]. Hence, one’s work is to strengthen the discernment of “mind” every time.

Similarly, if one feels negligence in the work of the heart, he must strengthen the work that relates to the quality of “heart,” and perform opposite operations, meaning affliction of the body, which is the opposite of the will to receive. The difference between negligence in the work of the mind and the work of the heart is that there is an evil Klipa [shell] against the mind that can prompt a state of “pondering the beginning.”

Hence, one must perform opposite actions, meaning in every renewal of the discernment of “mind” he will take upon himself remorse for the past and acceptance of the future. One can receive the source that causes it from the discernment of “still.” And the matter of the clothing of faith is a perpetual and eternal thing. Hence, one will always have it as a measurement if one’s work is clean or not, since the clothing of Shechina departs only due to a flaw, either in the mind or in the heart.

M. Laitman: Okay, what can I add? A short article but, in truth, it speaks about everything. Mocha [brains], what we have in the brain and the heart is Liba [the heart]. In the brain we have the faith that we should go above reason, and the heart is the desire. To work against the desire means that we are trying to be in the work of the heart and to criticize ourselves, to analyze ourselves, if we are in the faith above reason that is the work of the brain. You have to think. I recommend repeating this article many times. I remember myself going over it maybe ten or twenty times when I first found it. That's what I recommend. Then, we'll be able to settle those things: Mocha or brain, faith, and Liba, heart, is the act that is opposite the desire, and that's how we shall advance.

Question (PT 4): (07:52) He's talking about the difference between mind and heart, that there is a Klipa, that if it's opposite Mocha, could bring him to pondering the beginning, and if it's in relation to the Liba, to the heart, it can’t throw him off track, only Mocha?

M. Laitman: Of course, but the heart is a desire and the brain is the thought. Our work is in the thought and in the desire. The more we're able to be in faith above reason, this is called the work of the brain, Mocha. The more we're able to perform opposite actions relative to our desire, this is work in Liba, in the heart. 

Student: Is it possible to perform actions that are opposite to the desire, against it? 

M. Laitman: Actions that are opposite to the desire are possible to make if, first of all, if there's no choice, then we pray and we ask. The other thing is that when we scrutinize what we want, then we lower ourselves to a state of still. He writes about it in the article, the discernment of still and then we can do. Simply, I don't want it but I do it. Why? Because; meaning, I have no justification for it but I do it. It is the most correct answer because the Creator created desires. Where did He take them from? What did He make them of? How do I discover them? This is all given. There's no justification, no rationality, no calculation. It's a desire to receive. Against this desire to receive, I must act. My action should be on the degree of the still. What does it mean? The lowest. I have nothing for it. I demand nothing from it. I simply want to do the opposite.

Student: What does it mean to act or work in above reason in mind and Mocha, if so? 

M. Laitman: The struggle to be in faith, in the force of bestowal, in your thoughts, this is the work in Mocha, in the brain, in the mind where I want to do everything with faith, faith above reason. I have reason, and I try to do the opposite. I have the matter of knowing, clear knowledge and I wish to be in faith above knowing, above my reason, each time to renew this work in the discernment of mind or brain. Whereas in the heart, I need to perform actions, not in my brain, my mind, my thoughts, rather opposite actions, opposite actions, opposite of what I have in my heart. The heart wants something. I have to try and perform the opposite act. This is called the mortification of the body, the afflictions of the body. I give my body a hard time, my desire a hard time.

Question (USA SF): (12:19) I didn't understand what is the advice to take upon oneself remorse for the past. What is this work and when do we need to work in such a way? 

M. Laitman: Look, here is a problem since we lack experience in the spiritual work and that's why we don't have remorse, we don't feel what is an opposite action? What's the difference between reason and faith? How do we go against the mind and the heart and what's the connection between the two? We still lack enough information for each and every one. Therefore it's a problem. I understand your questions but they stem from a lack of experience. 

Question (Kyiv 1): (13:44) He writes that the clothing of the Shechina does not disappear unless there's a flaw in mind or in heart. 

M. Laitman: This is in the mind and in the heart, as he explains it. In the mind we have the problem of knowledge or reason, then we trust the reason and not the faith. In the heart, we are drawn to use the will to receive and not the opposite of it. That's the only thing a person has, nothing more, simple things but you have to think about them and you have to see how they are settled with us, or maybe their divided; this is what we have to somehow arrange inside of us. 

Student: It is just that you said that we need to thoroughly think about it. But he writes, and you said that the flaw in the brain is when we rely on our brain, it is not clear, it is as if the flaw in the mind is in that we need to reject the mind.

M. Laitman: To rise above it into faith and not what I have in my mind. My mind, my brain demands that I do according to my logic; and in order to rise to spirituality, in order to rise, I have to use the logic of the higher degree. The higher degree compared to my lower degree is called faith, and it's called above relative to my degree, relative to my reason. There are always two degrees: the degree where I'm at is called my reason, and the degree where I wish to climb is called above my reason, or faith. That's how I need to work each time. In order to perform spiritual actions, I need to try and cleave to the higher degree compared to my own from my current state and, in this way, to make efforts, to resemble a higher state. Why do we have to perform acts of bestowal? Because we wish to rise to the next degree and not remain in this state called the degree of reception, because what's clear to me now, what I'm doing now is called the will to receive. Although the will to receive that I'm in right now could have been, for me, a desire to bestow, a degree of faith. It might have been this way but I've climbed into it. I've acquired this degree and now this degree has become for me a degree of reception, of knowing, of reason. This is my degree. I acquired it. I'm already structured accordingly. That's how it works. 

Question (PT 33): (17:28) Mortifications on the will to receive, does it mean over the intention we're to receive or the actions themselves? 

M. Laitman: Both, except the work is different. The affliction on faith, we have to rise above reason, forcefully. An affliction on the heart is to do, as he advises, opposite actions, the opposing actions, forcefully, the afflictions of the body. 

Student: Are these inner or external actions?

M. Laitman: For this to come true, we also have to be in external actions. That's what we do in the group. Why do we need a group? Tell me, what's the benefit of having a group? Why did the Creator create an entire ladder of degrees down to this corporeal world? Why? What for? Meaning, there is a spiritual degree that comes to a state where we feel in it that we are working in it, we are born in it, we live in it. Why do we need it? What for? Simple action, a simple question. We need it in order to realize it correctly, thoroughly, by disconnecting from corporeality and rising to spirituality. That's what we're trying to do. 

Student: Can we say that the still level or the still degree, it is a framework for our intention? 

M. Laitman: Yes, we fall in each and every degree, we fall to the still degree and we have to rise from it again and again. And again we fall to it, and we disconnect between the two degrees that we fall from; and when we rise, we rise to a higher degree. That's how it works. Otherwise, you won't rise to a new state and when you fall, you fall lower. You're more confused, more frustrated but when you overcome, and you overcome in faith above reason that's on a higher degree, and you look down at reason and you respect faith and you're trying to do actions that are opposite to what you have in the desire of the heart, in the work of the Liba, that's how you overcome. Each and every time that you find yourself between the degrees, you fall from the degree. We call that “pondering the beginning.” Why do I need it? What for? What do I get out of it? All kinds of things like that, these little things, they'll become greater and more full of despair. 

Question (PT 29): (21:04) What does it mean to take upon oneself regret or remorse for the past? 

M. Laitman: Well, it’s according to what a person feels, the extent to which he disregarded the opportunities of the past to consider the friends and through them to adhere to the Creator. In this work, when he wants to adhere to the Creator through the adhesion with the friends, you have both mind and heart; the entire work fits into that.

Question (Holland 1): (21:46) What I understand is that the thought is like an upshot of our desire and if we look at our egoistic program like our intention for ourself, is this related to the discernment of mind or related to the discernment of heart? 

M. Laitman: The thought that is a result of a desire is called Liba. And Mocha [mind] belongs to the degree of faith, when you develop bestowal above reception, faith above reason, above your knowledge, that's the work in Mocha, in the mind. If you then go to criticize your heart, your desires, that's work in Liba, in heart. And all the actions you do then, plus you do it also with your brain or your mind, but it's the mind that belongs to the heart. We don't say, consider it, a work of the mind. Rather it's work of the heart.

Student: What I understand is that we don't change our desire. We only change our intention? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: The intention, I guide with my mind, right? 

M. Laitman: You change the intention by awakening the reforming light and it changes your intention. You can't make those changes—only the upper light can. 

Student: Yes, correctly but the measurement is in the mind, of the intention. Is this correct? 

M. Laitman: The measurement, let me tell you, the desire that belongs to the heart, if you process the desire of the heart and you wish to be something although you're doing it with your mind—you're thinking, you're dividing, you're organizing. It's nevertheless called work of the heart because the landlord here or the host is the heart and you're using the brain. That's why we ascribe it to the heart. Now, if you're talking about faith, how to rise from knowledge, from reason to faith, this work, although you're doing it also with your brain, this is the pure work of the brain or the mind because you're dealing with faith. Although you're making calculations in your desires and your thoughts, your own calculations, but it's called the work of faith. 

Student: I'm asking because if you think about that the thought is like an upshot of a desire, you could say that the measurement is in the thought because the thought gives me, like, information about my desire but to be able to go in faith above reason… 

M. Laitman: Sorry, we spoke about it. We are not talking about the thought that is an upshot of the desire. That thought that is an upshot of the desire belongs to the desire. It's not disconnected from the desire. Rather, our work is to disconnect these two things and to feel them not belonging to one another. There's work in the heart and there's work in the brain but when you work in the heart, you also work in the brain or the mind that belongs to the heart and when you work with the brain, you also have a brain that belongs to the brain and you also have the heart that belongs to the brain because, typically, everything is scrutinized within the desire. The vessel is the desire and even the mind, the brain of the mind - is the mind of the desire. 

Question (W Moscow 18): (27:32) How to study, how to learn practically? We're lacking understanding, how practically to understand this proportions between the work in the mind and in the heart, the proportions, the correct relation between the work in the heart and in the mind?

M. Laitman: When we work in spirituality, there's no conflict between the mind and the heart since both are aimed at the goal, at adhesion, adhesion with the group and with the Creator. When we do corporeal work, in order to receive, then, similarly, I mean, here, rather, there can be a conflict between the mind and the heart. What I think about in my brain, I don't feel it in my heart and the other way around. In spirituality, the more we come to the work in order to bestow, we need to actually connect the mind and the heart so the work in faith and the work in the desire will be as one. I recommend all of us not to delve too deep into this short article. We'll try to add to it a few more articles by Baal HaSulam and Rabash and then we'll understand more what he's talking about here because right now, it'll only create confusion for us. We've gone over it. We understood it a little bit, and it's enough. I think we won't get a deeper, correct scrutiny today because this article is a few definitions and no more than that and other than that, we don't have enough feeling about it, not enough discernments, not enough experience. Let's let it go and we'll go to the next article and we'll ask the team that's preparing the articles to prepare additional articles about the mind and the heart, such scrutinies, the relationship between them, these two forms of work and we'll study them and then we'll return again, even to this short article.