Morning Lesson July 6, 2022, Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 2:
Baal HaSulam. One Commandment (Bringing Contentment to One’s Maker Inadvertently)
1. R. (00:25) Giving contentment can be directly or inadvertently, let’s say a baby, what does he understand but the fact that he's lying there before his mom he's already giving her this pleasure that he exists that he belongs to her, and she enjoys him, this is called inadvertently. Indirectly, consciously means that he begins to feel her and how he can give her pleasure and how he's doing these actions and overcoming himself. This is the difference between inadvertently and willfully, this is simply corporeally.
Reading (01:14) “It is hopeless to wait for a time when a solution is found . . .”
2. S. (04:20) The first resistance between us can we call it for her sake?
R. For her sake means in order to bestow, not for her sake is not in order to bestow. This relates to, describes a person's intention.
3. S. (05:02) From this excerpt I don't agree that the friends will die in the battlefield with no wisdom.
R. So you should work on it in your Ten, do good work in your Ten so you'll be able to pull them together and to the extent that you're making this singular form between you, the Creator can appear between you because he's single, he's unique. This is the meaning of one receives one. If you still did not reach the concept of oneness in the connection between you, similarly the Creator cannot be revealed, the vessel did not reach its form of one with all its parts and hence he is still concealed, so try to make your group in the form of one as much as possible. Quicker and more intense.
S. We learn that we advance in 125 degrees. If man tries to attain some feeling on a degree is that a yearning not for her sake?
R. For the time being, yes
4. S. (06:51) It’s written in the excerpt that if a person wants to reach for her sake it depends on the control of his heart. On the other hand we know that the heart is in the hands of the Creator. So what does it mean “man's control of his heart”?
R. The person can ask the Creator for the force of a bestowal to rule his heart.
5. S. (07:32) How can we feel, or practically feel, that we are in Lo Lishma?
R. Feel that we're in Lo Lishma? Even not for her sake is a degree, so you're right. How to feel we are in not for her sake meaning to some extent we need to sniff out what is not for her sake and accordingly feel that we are in not for her sake, and this is called not for her sake, and we still have to work on it. The degree of not for her sake is also a high degree. It’s recognition of evil as a recognition of the instability and imbalance in the Ten. it's a feeling of the lack of connection with the Creator. Even the first degree, Lo Lishma is a high degree. Rabash writes about it that as much as we respect the degree of Lishma, we still don’t understand that not for her sake is also a great thing, don’t think that to be in our ego in a simple way means that you're in not for her sake, that's incorrect. It's not like people on the street are in Lo Lishma. Lo Lishma is a recognition of evil when a person reveals it and he knows what he's lacking and he hasn't attained it yet and he wants to attain it and he's drawn to it, but in practice he still hasn’t attained it, you can say that this is Lo Lishma.
6. S. (09:24) Why is there such an explanation that we're giving contentment unconsciously, what does it help us if we can't appreciate it, what does Baal HaSulam want to explain?
R. Baal HaSulam explains, generally, everything we're going through. Sometimes he writes about it, sometimes he doesn't. You can't write about everything, so among everything else he wrote about this as well. Keep in mind that it's not an article, those are excerpts that he wanted to interpret more fully than in an article and that's what we have left from this and that's how it was published. We have an archive, and you can find it in the original there.
7. S. (10:51) It's written here that man can appreciate giving contentment to his maker. So what are we speaking about?
R. Of course we don't understand, we can't feel, we're not able to attain what's going on. but what little we’re able to attain, that's what the wisdom of Kabbalah is talking about. We also don't attain the upper force fully, but only to the extent that it wants to be revealed towards us, that part is what we attain, but what's happening in general beyond that. . . But we have a certain a bit of knowledge about the fact that it's not the end, meaning we have more work to do before we get to the end of correction.
8. S. (12:02) I wanted to ask how I can benefit the group if I'm completely in Lo Lishma. What could help me be beneficial to the friends?
R. As much as you want to come out from not for her sake to her sake, as much as you appreciate that you're in Lo Lishma and not like regular people, you need to publicize these things in the Ten, you have to awaken the friends and rise together with them. Again I'm telling you, not for her sake is also a great thing, how many people in our world are in not for her sake, meaning with desire for the Creator, not to just pray to somewhere, but rather a true desire to feel, to attain, to rise up the degrees towards the Creator. They haven't done anything. But only in this desire, how many people are like that? A few thousand, not more, so we have to appreciate this great gift that we receive and try to realize it.
9. S. (13:26) Is the place we call “inadvertently” a hole? if so, what are we feeling it with?
R. With the light of Mercy, with the light of Mercy we fill the entire space as much as possible, a thin line, we fill that space with the light of Hochma.
10. S. (14:09) As much as we appreciate this exalted state of Lo Lishma, why should he say that you can’t even hope to reach Lishma? I don’t understand that.
R. No, he says that it is hopeless to wait for a time when a solution is found that enables one to begin the work of the Creator in Lishma, that you just good jump to the degree of Lishma, that you are in contact with the Creator, that you know what to do, and you work from degree to degree and each time you cancel your ego and you step on it and you build the spiritual degree on top of it.
S. So not to be arrogant and say, I attain, I can rest?
R. It is not arrogant, it’s stupid. Arrogant means that he thinks he can do it. Stupid is he doesn’t even understand what he is talking about.
S. So, It is not that we don't believe that we can do it, we are just doing the work along the way?
R. Yes let's say yes.
11. S. (15:37) How can our weakness and lack of ability bring contentment to the Creator?
R. You can give contentment to the Creator by asking, by acknowledging your inability. We are grateful for it, and we thank the Creator for making us so weak in the will to bestow and strong in the will to receive that controls us, and we can ask nevertheless, from our will to receive from that tiny spark of the will to bestow, we can turn to the Creator and ask him to give us the power in the will to bestow so that we will be able to overcome the will to receive.
12. S. (16:51) It is written that in order to reach Lishma, it is not limited with time. What does it mean that it doesn't have anything to do with a person’s qualities?
R. Because after all it is not that important from where you are coming from which part of the system, but your time is coming, and you have to make it.
13. S. (18:00) To reach Lishma it says that is not limited with time but those who qualify for it. What does that mean?
R. Only as much as you connect, and you demand correction from the Creator that's how you will succeed. It is like a little kid who sits on the lap on the grown-up, he can ask for everything and the grown-ups will decide yes or no, when, and how to best give him and so forth. This is how we need to understand, with our demand and our request, we are like babies who can demand everything and what we receive is certainly to our benefit.
14. S. (18:58) If I'm a guest and I'm in front of his table and I understand the exercise that if I behave in a certain way he will feel good I feel good, and he feels good and he gives me more food and it tastes better?
R. The intention is to receive more than the host or to give him contentment by that.
S. First of all, it is him?
R. Okay, that is already a spiritual degree, it is not a hundred percent pure but it's already a spiritual degree. That's why when we work with the Partzuf the part that we receive the light of Hochma, Hassadim and another part we do not receive at all below the Tabur of the Partzuf. Why? There is no force of Masach or screen there, there is no intention to bestow so I need to divide myself into several parts, where I can I do something truly for the sake of the Creator, give up on myself completely or I can do it to the small extent, or I can’t do it at all. I will always be divided into these three parts, for the time being, later we'll see what is happening beyond that we will learn about these corrections.
S. With such an approach even with my deeds are egoistic the Creator aims me to ask blows?
R. That depends on the group, if I'm in the group I correct myself in the gentlest form possible and also the fastest.
S. Last question, you talked about the Partzuf, and you say how it can be that everyone in the ten will be all together in despair and also you said before that there is some revealed coarseness, some purity. How through all states each one can feel beneficial and there won’t be states that somebody feel in a descent?
R. It is okay you should think that he's in a descent and it is bad, each one should try to reach a higher state from the current state but in each and every moment on the axis of time, we are in the correct relationship between us and the only thing we lack is the intention from all the states to be drawn to the Creator. Of course it is like on a wheel and there are those who are down and those who are up and down, ascending and descending. It doesn’t matter. As long as we do it together. There are those who can aim towards it and those who cannot, that's not too bad, we advance together. Therefore a person cannot value himself correctly before he is included in the group because after all the Creator relates to us as a Partzuf, they intend that they are connected as one.
S. No matter what state I am in we are all shattered, but it is still to some extent, in thought we reach the thought of connection, bestowal, so a Partzuf is made of us?
R. Yes.
15. S. (23:37) We are talking about the three parts of the Partzuf, and we already have this fear of not receiving the light for myself. Is there some kind of truth in checking that I'm not receiving the light for myself?
R. The criteria for checking if I'm correct in the group, the Partzuf, is if I constantly think about the connection between us and to the Creator, that's it, that's the criteria, this is how you check it.
S. If I'm trying to advance in that direction do I have the confidence that I would not receive for myself?
R. The Creator will arrange everything, but we need to advance, on the way we will receive ascents, descents, a feeling of the screens and the shattering of the screens, all the states we will receive discernments from the shattering and later gradually we will correct it.
16. S. (24:56) How to convince the Creator not to die in Lo Lishma but to reach Lishma and give him contentment?
R. You can give contentment to the Creator to the extent that you are incorporated in the ten, forget about all other actions, there isn't anything. As much as you are incorporated in the ten, only in this way you can give contentment to the Creator because it is the least pleasant action, the most difficult, the one that goes against the individual ego but there's nothing you can do, on one hand. On the other hand, it is clear it is before you and you can see if you are working towards it or not.
17. S. (26:10) When you incorporate in the ten and adhesion with the friends, where do you start discerning between the three parts of the Partzuf?
R. You are not incorporated yet, if you try to incorporate yourself in the group and constantly look out for how you are incorporated in the group, you will begin to see that our thoughts and desires from which you will be incorporating the ten and there are those who can only agree and there are those who you are not with them. You can scrutinize and sort out your will to receive among these three parts. Agree, agree but cannot keep and cannot realize it or doesn't agree and cannot realize it, these are the three parts. You can divide this further but that's later but each one from his own practice will fill it.
S. To be more precise about it?
R. I want to do it, but I don't have the strength.
S. That means to connect more thoughts to the adhesion of the ten? Where is the Creator in this?
R. The Creator fills you, surrounds you, the Creator is not on the outside, what does he do with the connection between you? To the extent that you ask, he tries to give you the power you need, the forces you need.
18. S. (28:25) When you say that we need to divide our will to receive in the work in the ten you mean that part of my life and my desires are for living and surviving, that I can connect to the ten with them and the rest of the desires have to be devoted and aimed through the ten to the Creator?
R. I did not understand, ask again please.
S. When you say that we need to divide our will to receiving three parts, do you mean that the corporeal desires like eating, sleeping, home, family, those are desires that I cannot connect with the work in the ten spiritually, meaning I shouldn't mix them in the work and the rest of the decides I can use in order to connect through the ten to the Creator?
R. I don't know what you mean by the rest of the desires, everything that has to be with the connection in the group I can divide those into those that I can keep, actualized to connection between us and to the Creator and those I want to but I'm unable to and those that I don't even want, three parts for the time, Rosh, Toch, Sof. It is hard for me to do, then divide it into two. Those desires that I can be in the lesson and the connection and desires which I cannot be in connection, let it be too. Later we will see, we will see that it said divide Rosh, Toch, Sof, then you see that there is above Hazeh and below Hazeh, from Hazeh to Tabur and different parts of the body. These are all desires with which we are going to work, how to have everything related to the Creator, all of them.
19. S. (31:13) What is that part that I don't agree but I do it, because it happens a lot?
R. This is not spirituality, I don't know, it is like in corporeality, we do like this and do like that, and you do it because of shame or because of fear of punishment, that's it, these are corporeal matters.
S. in order to be together in the ten let's say I don't agree but I annul to the friend’s opinion?
R. Yet but you cannot say that this is spiritual yet because you disagree.
20. S. (32:06) He writes that the way to reach a degree isn’t limited in time but the qualifiers. Can you explain the connection between these things because it seems that there's a contradiction?
R. I didn’t get it, speak clearer.
S. I am asking here is the way to achieve this is not limited by time but by his qualifiers that control one's heart. But the qualifiers cannot be limited by time?
R. Yes but we ourselves, we accelerate the time but it's not all dependent on time but to the extent we work together. Let's say we don’t want to connect between us, so our path will be extended by a certain amount of time if we connect between us and we ask, we demand and we hasten the time as is written then we indeed accelerate time. Time is in our hands when we rise above the will to receive we discover that there's no time. Whereas time, the theory of Einstein and it is not present ,all those forces, we are above time, we are only in the desire.
S. So there is a limit in time because we see there are these states.
R. For the time being we are bound for these concepts of time.
S. So how do we overcome it?
R. You overcome above the restriction, if you rise above the restriction to the light of Hassadim or even more than that, to the light of Hochma, then you are above time.
S. How do you do it in the ten?
R. Above the will to receive, when you do the calculations and not according to the will to receive, but according to the will to bestow.
S. So that's the question because if I do it, we said that there are more friends in the ten and they are in different states.
R. You complement one another even if you don't understand how it's done and nevertheless you complement one another and not only in the ten but in all the tens. In all tens when I'm looking at you, I see how much 4 x 4 = 16 groups and all of us, we are in one process and we help one another, we complement one another, we are advancing very nicely.
21. S. (35:52) Giving contentment to the Creator in faith, is this the same thing?
R. No, faith in the force of bestowal and contentment to the Creator is what we bring to the Creator.
22. S. (36:18) Earlier you answered the friend that he said he doesn't want to connect but he's forcing himself to connect, and you said it is not spiritual because you don't agree, in what is the agreement expressed?
R. In what is this agreement expressed? Agreement with what?
S. Agreement to connect.
R. Agreement with the Creator, this when I do it according with my degree, when I do it according with his command, let’s say I connect with my friends in order to make room for receiving the light from him, the desire of the Creator is to dwell in the lower ones, so I prepare a place.
S. The place I agree but I feel that I can’t?
R. So I'm asking for him to give me the power to qualify the place, the place means our common desires to which I want to connect.
23. S. (37:35) If I don't agree but I do, is that annulment? An annulment is spiritual work?
R. If you disagree but you agree to, you asked to agree?
S. If the group took a decision I don't agree but I do it because I annul myself.
R. How do you annul yourself, in an action only?
S. I force myself.
R. In action. Inside you don't agree, you internality don't agree, but your externality agrees.
S. Right.
R. So why are you asking?
S. Is such a thing annulment?
R. It is annulment but I'm not saying it is not but what comes out of it, you are asking to be in complete agreement with it or not or you are expecting that at some point they will crack, and they will come to your point?
S. That also is in stages, but I hope I get there.
R. What is your intention?
S. My intention is not to cause separation but connection.
R. Good, so you are on the right path.
24. S. (39:14) As far as we understand we advance with close ties and don't look at the results, each time we rise above what we learned about faith? Is this correct?
R. For the time being, yes.