Morning Lesson January 29, 2022, Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Faith Above Reason - Selected Excerpts from the Sources. #50
1.Rav’s Introduction: Yes, we are continuing with this topic, we will advance in it less than ordinary, what did in recent times, so we try to spend less than an hour, maybe 45 minutes on it and in this way, we try to connect with good pace with other parts that we have from Baal HaSulam and Rabash.
Excerpt 50 - twice (00:48)
2. S. (4:53) How can we practically separate ourselves from receiving in order to receive and bow ourselves before thoughts of bestowal?
R. You simply have to sort all your thoughts and desires and see with which thoughts and desires you can be with the Creator and which ones are against him opposite him and with which ones are still not clarified not sorted how and what and then you need to arrange them such that everything that can be in the direction of the Creator you and emphasize it you connect those and you continue with them towards the Creator. It is very simple; it is only through sorting.
S. How do we correctly distinguish the thoughts that are toward the Creator?
R. It can be through the environment, through the ten, through the study, when you are in an inner scrutiny you are sorting yourself of how much and to what extent to what you are drawn. This is how you understand better and better who you are compared to the force of bestowal and love the force of connection which is the Creator.
S. It is written that his help we come to the exaltedness to the Creator. How?
R. Because you see how each time when you are able to sort and scrutinize your thoughts and desires and your actions you begin to see that the Creator is truly separated and his pure, he’s high above you in all the different discernments and qualities and examinations and then you want to enter you try to enter that degree and when you reach it you see this is not the Creator this is actually you however on a degree that is more correct than the previous one. But in it you already discover according to the precisions that open up in that degree that in it you have a greater light that works on you and it scrutinizes for you greater precisions in terms of how far or close you are to the Creator, and then you see that you have higher up that you can advance and in this way one who is greater than his friend his inclination is greater. You'll see how much more and the more you have to work and actually those people who advance in the right way towards the Creator they feel themselves that they are becoming worse weaker and they haven’t even started their work more work as much as they have advanced and this is why the person should walk not on a single line but in two lines right and left in parallel so that on the one hand his ego constantly grows and this gives him the possibility to work and on the other hand his scrutinies become more sharp more clear and this is how is he shifts moves from state to state on the two lines on both legs.
3. S. (9:31) At the end of the excerpt he talks about the exaltedness of the Creator and attainment of the exaltedness of the Lord our God so should we first of all be created beings in order to discover the Creator, in order to attain him?
R. They do it in parallel. The more the person advances the more he discovers what does it mean to be the created being the will to receive qualities that are the opposite of the Creator. That is from the side of the created being, but he attains that opposite to what he attains from the qualities of the Creator that he also receives, and then he advances with two tracks two lines right and left. On the right he becomes more similar to the Creator to some extent and on the left he becomes more opposite to the Creator and this is how one advances, and the more one advances the more the greater the gap he has between the right and left and then comes the middle line that brings him to state whereas they say love covers all crimes. All in all, it is called the exaltedness of the Lord our God that the Creator is above these two discernments, and this is how one attains him.
4. S. (11:29) Is it possible to somehow divide the learning, can a person understand when he is working on the left line or when on the right line?
R. No, during the study we cannot determine anything. The right or left, we can determine it when we relate to the study to the path to the states, we have between us the right and the left, which is already when the person participates and is involved in whatever he gets from above.
5. S. (12:07) In relation to his holy mountain to those thoughts, should that be with love?
R. Without a desire for connection for love you do not reach any proximity so here some desire for connection for love has to be involved at least for compromise for all kinds of things. In short, it is connection all in all that you want to be connected to higher discernments to your root which is about the friends because the root is attained only when you connect to the group.
S. Bowing in this bowing should there be absolute love or types of love?
R. Well maybe not yet types of love. Love is a very high degree we do not understand it. This is why it seems to us that it is so close to us but love means that we can rise above the crimes, above problems, and ascribe them to the Creator and then receive from him the light of love that connects between opposite forms within us and then through the combination of these opposite forms we can reach the knowledge of love.
6. S. (14:08) In relation to the last sentence when he says by this, we can achieve the attainment of the exaltedness of the Creator, what is the difference between the exaltedness of the Creator and attaining the exaltedness of the Creator?
R. It is the difference between a general providence and private providence there are states where the general is greater than the private providence and there are states where the private is greater than the general providence and this is why exalt the Lord our God is that we truly already ascribe everything to the attitude of the upper force towards us and we are acting towards that.
7. S. (15:04) Is subjugation before the Creator the same as subjugating before the friends?
R. That depends on the person's degree. Yes, if they are able to subjugate themselves before the Creator to some extent but towards the friends not yet or maybe it’s the other way around but this is how it is intermittently because we are still in the time of preparation we are not in the time when we determine for ourselves that we determine our state for ourselves but usually certainly it has to be that the love of friends should be greater than the love of the Creator. The love of friends should be greater than the love of the Creator because with the help of the love of friends and according to the magnitude of love of friends this is how we reach the love of the Creator and not the other way around.
8. S. (16:20) It is written that mountains mean reflections, thoughts. What does it mean to bow before his holy mountain in the ten?
R. I subjugate myself towards all of my thoughts, all of my questions and problems that awaken. I truly do not resolve them but rather I accept them as a condition that through them I am coming closer to the Creator and this is why all these thoughts, I collect them. What are all these thoughts these reflections that the Upper light when it starts to shine it shines on my will to receive in all different states of lack of my connection with the ten and then I see where else I need to add in all of those states in between us in order to reach the wholeness of the Kli and according to that I will discover the Creator.
9. S. (17:48) What desires do we have to submit in order to achieve Holiness? What does it mean to submit the body?
R. To submit the body means to subjugate our desires that hinder us from coming closer to each other.
10. S. (18:04) How do we correctly combine the subjugation that it talks about in overcoming on the path?
R. Subjugation has to be there in this is a part of the overcoming because I overcome my egoistic desires by subjugating myself forcefully.
11. S. (18:27) What can disrupt us from rising above reason doing the scrutiny?
R. What hinders us is our own reason, our ego that does not allow us to bow ourselves.
12. S. (19:50) When the scrutiny becomes sharper does the deficiency also grow stronger?
R. Yes certainly one depends on the other. Yes.
13. S. (19:07) What does it mean that the distance between right and left grows? How does a person feel it?
R. The distance between the right and the left grows more and more because this is the difference between the eternal providence versus reward and punishment. In short these are all the gaps, the differences, all the disturbances we have which are not arranged according to our intellect and emotion so that we cannot accept it in a usual ordinary manner. These are all of the disturbances.
14. S. (20:03) What does it mean to submit yourself before the thoughts of Holiness?
R. To submit oneself before the thoughts of Holiness means that I see how much I disagree with all of the conditions that come to me from the Creator, certainly there is None Else Besides Him, and I nevertheless subjugate myself and I say that everything that I get whatever it is as much as I am able to see it maybe it is partially I nevertheless accept it as something that is good in above reason because it comes to me from the Creator and therefore I have to subjugate myself towards this whole state, we're talking only about spiritual states not about corporeal states, we do not ascribe this to my work in my workplace or family or to anything but only in my relation to the world to the Creator so it turns out by that I begin to arrange my relation to the Creator to the higher reality. That is it. So, this is our ongoing work so that we should have what to bow before.
15. S. (21:44) Should one walk all day with scrutinies about his separation from the friends or about how he wants to come closer to the friends?
R. I need to try all of the time to be inside the friends to feel them as closely as possible around me or to feel them in a different way that I am willing to hold them inside of me inside my heart and this actually should be my permanent state. This just depicts to us our true state of connection in the vessel of Adam HaRishon.
16. S. (22:39) What helps the ten to come to feel this emptiness so that afterwards they can fill it with the greatness of the Creator?
R. What is hindering us? Our pride that we are not sufficiently lowering ourselves we do not want to lower ourselves to a state where we will be able to connect between us without any conditions. There is only one condition that all of us have come together because the Creator wants to join us together to put everyone together and he brought us here and he says to each of us to take that. You have to reach a state where the group is your spiritual vessel so then you have to subjugate yourself in that as much as possible.
Excerpt 51 (24:03)
17. S. (26:42) I wanted to ask about acts of subjugation because I do not really understand how I can subjugate myself. The minute I am subjugated by force I surrender, or I get some benefit from something and some trade off with the ego so I can surrender. How to subjugate the ego? It does not let me. What does it mean to truly perform an act of subjugation, surrendering?
R. The act of subjugation is with respect through the friends to the Creator because when we do it through the friends, we have conditions that the Creator has put before us. It is not what the friends decide what they determine. Rather it is us who want to subjugate ourselves before the upper force because we have to connect around Him. This is what we want to reach.
What is your question again? We have to take on the qualities of the Creator if you knew everything, everything would be wide open before us then we would take the qualities of the Creator. We would elaborate them into the conditions that are closest to us and up to the conditions that are the furthest from us. We would be doing that gradually. Gradually we would be performing and realizing these conditions, these qualities within us, in our connection until we reach conditions when we would be as one like the Creator. This is actually what we would like to happen. We do not know this ladder of degrees. Here we have to go in faith above reason. This is how we achieve all the degrees of connection between us and making ourselves similar to the Creator.
S. Is subjugation identifying the ego and requesting correction? What is this act, is it in thought and desire, is it a prayer, what is this?
R. It is everything. Subjugation includes all of those things because I myself is made of matter that has nothing in it that pertains to spirituality, to spirit. I belong to the degree of Malchut to the degree of desire to receive only which cannot move and if I have a point that wakes up and it does move it is only because the Creator has selected, has chosen my will to receive and he wants to revive it with the point of life, the point in the heart. The point that receives an awakening from above from the upper light. It has a certain Reshimo, a record that awakens in such a way, this will to receive.
18. S. (30:12) How do we rise and keep love of friends on top if you feel you are pushed away from it?
R. What is important is to constantly not to forget that you are dealing with the Creator and whatever you have, all the ups and downs, all the changes and all different manners that you feel toward the friends. It is all what the Creator is arranging everything. The friends are not arranging anything. That you suddenly see them better and closer or the opposite. This is all the Creator's doing in order to shake you up so you would start to feel changes and upon those changes you determine that actually what you are lacking is only a connection with the source.
19. S. (31:31) From the excerpt I hear that in my desire I do not need to want to receive the greatness and exaltedness of the Creator only as a feeling to receive faith. What does it mean if the exaltedness of the Creator appears in me? I can follow but what does it mean to receive faith in exaltedness of the Creator?
R. Right now you want to receive a certain force from above. This force that you want to receive is understanding, a feeling that you have a connection with the higher force. This is not the right approach. It is a natural approach from the will to receive however instead of this we would like to have a different force. The force of bestowal, the force of love so that on top of all these desires to attain, to understand, to feel that Creator. We want to reach a state where we feel close to Him according to our actions in our intention and this is the truth nearing.
20. S. (33:24) I wanted to continue the previous question, what is the difference between subjugation before the Creator, surrendering before the Creator between surrendering and the subjugation? What is the difference?
R. The difference is in how much you involve yourself in it your will to receive and you are able along with it to connect and to take part with the Creator as a partner.
21. S. (34:09) If I understand correctly, subjugation before the upper force is developed as a result of the person not being able to bestow.
R. No, subjugation towards the Creator comes from the recognition of His greatness in each and everything that we exist in. He is the first and He is the last. There is no other force that is operating besides or opposite to Him. Within the person when the person discovers that all the forces that are operating in Him, these all of the forces of the Creator. The person himself is just a will to receive, an empty will to receive that has no qualities, no intentions, or thoughts. Rather the Creator fulfills this will to receive in the person He had created.
Instead of that He shakes the person, building inside of him all kinds of different impressions contrasting impressions and out of that the person has to try to understand what happens to him. He should try to connect to this higher force who is performing these actions on him to agree with Him to subjugate himself, and to connect to Him in such a way that he is operating together with the Creator, with all of his forces, with his heart, and soul. This actually is man's adhesion to the Creator, there are many degrees and conditions in it but for the time being this is how it is.
S. From this state of emptiness can I ask for the strength of bestowal for the friends?
R. Certainly in each and every state you can do that. You may understand that you are empty, and you have no way to help them except to be a vessel into the hands of the Creator. In order to create a connection, a pipeline between the Creator and the friends. This is your highest and most exalted and best role and only in order to keep this function you are ready to do any spiritual work simply to be a vessel that passes the light onto the friends.
22. S. (37:33) When the person works above reason, he receives all desires that appear. You talked about some process of sorting which desires we should work with and continue, and which we cannot, and this process is very confusing to me, so can you explain this?
R. I cannot explain more to you because these things are revealed individually specifically for each person according to his degree, according to his state. It is written, ''there is none as wise as the experienced."
S. If I have desires that I cannot overcome, what should I do with them? How do I relate to those desires that I see that I cannot correct them?
R. What can I do? To turn to the Creator, ask him, and understand that this is the most correct and the best result you can have because previously you thought that you could do that and this. If you come to a state that you feel that you send all these questions to the Creator and all that is left is to pray to him this is the most correct solution.
23. S. (39:10) If faith is bestowal, and it is said to believe in the greatness of the Creator means to us for us to go in faith above reason?
R. Yes.
24. S. (39:56) How to reach a feeling that we are full of Mitzvot, commandments?
R. I understand that this seems something beautiful and good to feel ourselves full of commandments, good deeds like the pomegranate but we have to understand what a commandment is. A commandment means that I discover that I discovered my qualities and I saw how corrupt they all are and as a result I asked for the power of correction, the power of scrutiny and I correct those desires and then I come to a state where precisely in all those qualities where I found myself far from the friends and far from the Creator later I discover the gaps between us, the recognition of evil and after this recognition of evil I perform the act of doing good; turning away from evil and doing good.
I came to connect with the friends. Why am I coming to them to connect, I to them and they to me so all of us would be able to connect among us in such a network of connection that this can reveal to us the created the common force that connects us and, in this way, the try to locate to detect the Creator, there he is among us. What is his form? The form of the Creator is, come and see. It is the sum total of the result of our efforts to be together to the extent that we united like this and with the help of this we try to become more and more similar to the Creator not each of us individually but all of us together or at least however many of us can be together, it could be two three or four but two is the least plural, meaning you need to have at least two.
We build between us the right spiritual relationships and when we build the correct spiritual relationship every start to feel in it some response from above and this response from above that is revealed between us is from above as a mutual force of bestowal that we put together between us. That mutual force of bestowal where I am toward the friend and the friend toward me in order to reveal the Creator by this rebuild between us a state where the Creator is actually revealed. Basically, we are building him, you have made me as he says. How? By being drawn to him by special predilection, inclination to him and he to me and then we try to put together between us a common state where the Creator is revealed. This common force between us that connects and fulfills us, and this is how we make him build him reveal him and we basically are those operators’ active parts the forces that arranged the conditions for the revelation of the Creator between us. Start to think about this more and try to feel this more and you will see how it helps your progress.
25. S. (44:57) To nullify before sanctity, before the holiness, sounds like a state where the person is in the state of silliness where I do not understand anything, I just operate and continue and in order not to feel suffering we can always do this but how to do this out of truthful working and not to run away from blows and problems?
R.
I
tell
you,
in
most
cases
we
try
to
run
away
from
problems,
from
blows,
from
difficult
situations.
This
is
obvious
nevertheless
at
the
same
time
we
should
calculate
for
ourselves
that
it
is
not
worthwhile
for
us
to
continue
this
way
to
run
away
from
the
work
of
connection
because
in
any
case
we
will
have
to
do
this
if
not
now
than
in
the
future
and
we
have
no
choice.
The
problem
is
that
here
the
person
feels
that
he
is
alone
but
if
the
person
feels
that
he
is
connected
with
the
friends
and
that
we
are
working
together
then
they
help
each
other
and
with
mutual
support
we
can
come
to
a
state
where
we
are
happy,
that
we
are
happy
about
our
work,
more
and
more.
26.
S.
(46:39)
What
does
it
mean
to
feel
the
emptiness
that
he
speaks
about
in
the
excerpt
and
how
to
really
feel
this?
R. The emptiness, we can feel it as a place where we want to be connected with all of us and we want the Creator to feel the connection between us where I can imagine such a state where we are connected and in the connection between us, we feel the common force of connection. The connection, the love, the mutuality, the support, and this is the feeling of the Creator it is called “from the love of people to the love of Creator.”
27. S. (47:32) The fact that we constantly have emptiness that is fulfilled, the greatness of the Creator this is what gives us the power of progress and force of life, why does it work this way?
R. Emptiness is precisely when the Creator awakens in us, wanting to show us such states to show us where we have to make him, to establish him. This is what the Creator awakens in us. This is a great help from above when he does this to us.
28. S. (48:07) If the person asked for the greatness of the Creator to be able to keep on working is this asking for reward?
R. But you said yourself in order to keep working because without the greatness of the Creator, without some moving force that pushes me from behind and from before to more connection, I cannot progress.
29. S. (48:36) Precisely where is that empty place we have to ask for?
R. It is where we feel that we are making efforts. If we are making an effort to come closer to each other, if we try to become close to each other as much as possible we feel that it is not reading as it is not in our nature we want to quit and reject this but if we overcome just a little bit been received and discover where we should be able to see the help of the Creator, the help of the Creator so he could create the connections within us.
30. S. (49:34) The effort in the work sometimes brings us to emptiness so is the Creator showing us the new direction in which way we need to progress?
R. Yes. It is written about it: a thousand times the righteous falls and rises and we lose the power in the desire to work when we fall into despair, we cannot answer the question why we even need it. That is why we are in desperate need of many different things but again however we try to hang on to the daily schedule to the connection between us, listen to songs, to our talks so accordingly we nevertheless return to our work. You cannot help this; this is how life is arranged from above that we awaken again and again. It is written about a thousand times the righteous falls and rises. I see that this is how it works but what is surprising me each time is how it works on women as well and even more powerful than on men. The women really do get up and continue the path with all of their difficulties in life.
31. S. (51:27) How is it possible to work with the emptiness if you are constantly searching for fulfillment?
R. Through the fulfillment we do discover the greater emptiness this is how it works, through fulfillment rebuild greater emptiness, these are the periods, the emptiness and fulfillment, emptiness and fulfillment and every fulfillment reviews even greater emptiness. Even in our world it is like this, the more the person learns the more he can then discover how much he understands less and there is more for him to learn, more to achieve, it is all natural, both there and here the upper lights operates, it is not the same light, it is a different degree. In physical life and in spirituality but the progress, the advancement is the same.
32. S. (52:39) Can we say that the thoughts that are not of holiness are also emptiness?
R. The thoughts that are not of holiness, if the person experiences them and the person is usually in the right direction, then they too belong to the spiritual work. You cannot help it this is how we are built we have to go through all those states but through connection between us, when we connect, we can go through these things even not I myself but the friends will do my work and I will do their work and then we will have a different connection between us, different work, complimenting each other, different deficiencies.
33. S. (53:33) Many times we reach a desire when we truly want to devote ourselves to the friends but with life experiences from this world shows that there are calculations that maybe the friends will betray you. What can we do with this fear and how to overcome it?
R. I have to fight those thoughts that the friends that might betray me, with what? I have to be certain that the Creator is guarding us, both myself and the friends, for example, for now we cannot guarantee our correct advancement in every moment, but that Creator will take care of it, the Creator will finish for me, also in dressing in my friends and directing us together to each other. This is how I have to be certain, and then we'll see that I and the friend see ourselves as partners in the hand of the Creator and we have to perform such operations that both my part and the friends part will be as raising a deficiency to the Creator, that we pray together, this is called, “the prayer in public or the prayer of many.”
34. S. (54:57) If everything comes from the Creator then how can we differentiate between physical and spiritual states? Can we say that spiritual states are only those that are related to the group?
R. The truth is that afterwards we will see that there is no spiritual or physical, that everything is spiritual except to the person that engages in spirituality he sees spirituality, and a person that is in the physical life sees physical things but in truth there is only a single reality. Just like us and babies for example, as the baby sees only a small part of reality and it understands it according to his own way and we are great and likewise each according to his own degree.
35. S. (55:45) How should we use physical disturbances in family and work, in order to progress spiritually?
R. First of all, we have to remember that we are directed to the end of correction toward the connection between us, to the upper force, this is first. Then we can assist, help, and participate in this, in our mind and heart, in a way that we participate in it and understand where we are, and it is all in our hands so thank you very much for the women. I really enjoy seeing you. I did not stop you halfway through because I enjoy your questions. They are truly pertinent and good questions. I am sure that men feel the same way as I do.