Morning Lesson August 25, 2022 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Growing Stronger in There Is None Else Besides Him - Selected Excerpts from the Sources. #13
1. Rav’s Introduction (00:27): Go ahead.
Reading excerpt 13 (00:32): “When one overcomes all the hardships and…”
2. R. (02:24) The Creator rejects us in all kinds of possibilities and opportunities that he arranges himself for each one and for all of us together and that is how He arranges for us this reality of the world. Such as we need to detect behind every disturbance, behind our entire lives really, that there is none else besides Him, only, and in this way we need to arrange ourselves.
Meaning everything that comes to a person in his life, small disturbances, big disturbances, from people, from nature, even the internality of his body, his health and so on and so forth, he needs to aim everything at the Creator. He is arranging it for him and there is none else besides Him. Only on this condition can he overcome all kinds of disturbances and from within these disturbances he sees that they are not disturbances, rather they arranged for him the image of the Creator. In this way he discovers the upper force, one unique and unified, there is none else besides Him and he comes to adhesion.
Hence all of our work is specifically in growing stronger each moment and holding on to the Creator and the more disturbances come to us the more we are holding on to Him. Without any conditions. Simply to hold on to the one source from which all the good things and bad things come to us and all the confusions that we feel they were written for us on our souls from the birth of Adam HaRishon. He needs to go through those states in order to reach, each and everyone, the correction of his personal soul. In these corrections where we arrange everything and relate everything to none else besides Him by that we return to the correction of the one Soul and the one Creator who are in adhesion. That is it I have nothing else to add.
3. S. (06:10) There's none else besides Him, is it at the beginning or the end of our path?
R. It is everything from beginning to end. We have nothing more to do but to determine from all the states that we are going through practically, that we discover that there is none else besides Him in each and every stage that the creator is the one who arranges that state and we should all connect in order to discover that He arranges that state and inside the state that He arranges.
S. Do I need to attempt to feel Him within my feelings and reason or do I need to relate only to the intention and all that is happening to relate everything to there is none else besides Him.
R. No, we need to discover Him in our minds and our feelings to such an extent that He will fill us completely. Open for Him all of our feeling, all of our mind, that He will fill our brain and our heart as we say, Mocha and Liba. Then we can say that we reached the complete adhesion. We are the vessel in our brain and our heart and He is the fulfillment of this vessel.
4. S. (08:10) What is the reaction of the ten in the state in which a person is being poured fury on?
R. When the Creator treats a person badly it is a sign that a person has a place to correct himself in order to reveal this bad as good. Against the bad he should feel good and then in this way he turns the darkness into light and the bitter into the sweet.
S. Does a person need to return the same favor or the same attitude we get from the Creator?
R. No, because we feel what we receive from the Creator in our ego, in our will to receive which is the opposite way and as much as the Creator is relating to us in good we will feel the opposite in our vessels, the opposite. Only to the extent that we correct our vessels of reception will we feel that we are actually close to the Creator. This requires lengthy study, continue and you will see.
5. S. (09:50) What is the correct attitude that I need to give to the challenge that I see a friend is going through? I see that he has disturbances with his family and his health. What do I need to do, what is the right prayer?
R. First of all a prayer is certain. Beyond that it is possible to support it somehow. In such a way that you wish to support him, to strengthen him.
S. The prayer needs to be that the disturbance that he's going through right now will pass, will disappear or that he keeps connection with the Creator or that we keep the connection with the Creator?
R. Can we take on ourselves his work? Let's say God forbid someone is sick so others who are healthy, they work and they provide everything for him, everything he needs in order to get well and in general in every state each will help his friend.
S. Is it okay for me to pray for the Creator to take…
R. You can do anything, as a friend, you can do anything. You understand that what the Creator is sending he is not sending it so that we would cancel his decrees directly but you can do it. Typically a person can do it in prayer if when he asks for himself as well that the Creator remove His decrees but there are other ways, more correct let's put it this way. We wish to correct ourselves until we can see with our own eyes that these decrees have become a means for strengthening the person, for correcting a person. It doesn't really matter what the person is going through, he sees that the Creator has sent him to this place from the get-go with the good and right intention in order to grow him, to nurture him, so to ask for these decrees to be canceled is not exactly correct.
I ask that he will correct the way I relate to it and then these decrees would turn from bad to good. There's a Hero that cancels the decree and there is a Hero of Heroes that turns the evil into good and so we have to see how to work with it but the main thing is not to disconnect from the knowledge and even the feeling, if possible, that it is coming from above and there's none else besides Him and that is how he needs to maintain himself more and more and more, together with that to take care of all of those problems through doctors, courthouses, but this is all because that is what is customary in our world, which is something that the Creator also arranged and set up but our work is to connect with Him above all the disturbances that He is sending
S. How to move from there is none else besides Him, when there's a feeling that we are kind of holding on to it to the good that does good? The disturbances that may appear to the friends are for his benefit, or for my benefit or for the benefit of the connection between us?
R. After we unite around all kinds of actions that the Creator has dropped on us and we come to a state where we truly unite and this unity of ours, our connection, needs to bring us closer to the Creator and then we necessity see that there is none else besides Him and that He is the good that does good and He did, He is doing and He will do all the deeds and so on and so forth. Okay?
6. S. (15:37) This is something I feel and I want to know if it is correct or not, I don't even know if it’s a question but I will try. Can I think of there's None Else Besides Him as the prayer and the good that does only good as my gratitude?
R. Yes, you can say that.
7. S. (16:17) what does it mean that the Creator in each state wants to strengthen us, what's the strengthening He wants to do?
R. Each moment in our lives we receive direct influence from the Creator which is the entire general force which we exist in. Sometimes we pay attention to it, sometimes we do not, because we are inside the ego that is opposite to the Creator. So, it turns off the influences of the Creator and through these two forces we develop. the greater the ego we need to awaken the Creator to influence us with greater force, and this is how we move between let's say the plus and minus, that is it. So our work is constantly not to forget that there's None Else Besides Him, The Good who does good, and that we can be near Him to the extent that we connect between us, unify our forces; that all of us are in the opposition but between us we try to be in connection. That is how we can approach Him unless you approach the ten, enter the ten, there is no way for you to do anything in relation to approaching the Creator.
That is why it says “either connection or death”, either you connect or you die. Until we hear it and we keep it a long time passes. There are many people who enter the Wisdom of Kabbalah they study and they wait for some conclusion, some result but the result cannot be from learning or hearing but from connecting with others, this is the crux of the matter, it takes many years before a person hear or does hear, despair, and he looks for other things until he is ready to run away. Nevertheless, he has help from above that keeps him here, he comes closer to the friends and he begins to feel that the Creator is specifically in the connection between people. You need many years and a great deal of patience for it.
8. S. (19:33) How does There's None Else Beside Him influence the screen?
R. By trying to come closer to one another in order to discover that There’s None Else Besides Him which is the force of bestowal and love to dwell among us, by that the screen is arranged between us. The force of the Creator Himself is the screen.
9. S. (20:40) You said that there's a hero of heroes that turns the bad into good, can you explain what the hero of heroes looks like?
R. I know such a strong guy, his name is Denise, from Moscow 7. I believe, who is capable of it. He is a regular guy like everyone else, but when he overcomes all the disturbances he stays on the path. He does not believe his ego that tells him: come let's go deal with something else, rather he understands that here, he is working on probably the most important thing in reality that bring him to the center of the Universe, let’s say, corporal and spiritual and that he has a chance, not merely a chance but a promise that if he continues he will come to eventually reveal the ‘central force’ that is operating in Nature. He persists and stays and eventually he makes it and whatever he does not finish in this lifetime he’ll continue in the next; this is called “the progression of the generation” and that is how he advances.
S. The second question is, you mentioned about patience that the Creator is in the connection between people but it takes many years and patience to understand it and feel it. On one hand we have to be patient and on the other hand the road is long and takes a lot of time and on the third hand “the Lord’s redemption is in a blink of an eye” so how to fit all this in ourselves that the patience will last for years and that the power of asking…?
R. Look, you do not come to University to learn a briefed course here. You came here to arrange your life: Where throughout your lifetime you are advancing towards the Upper Force. Therefore, this path is not that it’s long, it is never-ending, it is never-ending. We are obligated to continue on it until the end of life and afterwards as well. You will see how you’ll continue and in what way. So, a person needs to become accustomed, well in the beginning you should not say this to beginners, but in truth we enter into this business that will raise you to the top of the world, to the force that is managing the world and you need to connect and constantly come closer to Him.
10. S. (24:48) Is it possible to say today that the purpose of the ten is to reach the revelation of the Creator?
R. Yes. We've been saying this for a long time now.
11. S. (25:10) In each state a person wants to progress and cleave to the Creator and feels that he's being stopped or blocked; it means that the fury is poured on to him. Is it an obligatory sign before cleaving to the Creator?
R. Yes, in fact that the Creator rejects those whom the Creator loves, He will rebuke. In other words the closer the person gets the more rejections and obstacles he will feel.
S. Meaning the moment we feel blows and disturbances, corporeal and spiritual, we need to receive it with joy?
R. It says that we need but nevertheless we need to try to understand that it all comes from None Else Besides Him, there is no other source outside of the Creator in reality and it all comes from Him. Although, it is clothed by different people, different instances and so forth but through them we need to be aimed at the Creator and try to be in adhesion to Him in spite of everything that we feel.
12. S. (26:36) Why if i’m succeeding to relate everything to None Else Besides Him, why is it a correction, what is the correction here?
R. When you adhere to There’s None Else Besides Him you are aimed at There's None Else Besides Him, although all the forces that are working on you, wish to disconnect you from it. The forces that wish to disconnect you are egoistic and the force that you are exerting to stay connected to None Else Besides Him this is the altruistic force, bestowl and, that’s how you build your screen above the coarseness.
S. If I want to be an example to the friends, each friend wants to show an example that he is successful in None Else Besides Him, how do you show such an example?
R. We simply learn all kinds of articles by Baal HaSulam, including the verses that we read today, this is one thing. And the other thing is we give practical examples so that another person can see how this other person comes every morning to the lesson and he tries above all of his states. You have to show it, behaviorally.
13. S. (28:26) If you can explain the sentence: that the person does not want to move from his place and yet he wishes to break through and wants to get in and fury is poured on to him?
R. Even if a person receives many disturbances from all kinds of instances in his life, all kinds of thoughts and actions come seemingly against him trying to remove him from this one line in life; he does not budge, he continues. And by that he triumphs.
S. What is this desire to enter?
R. That despite the greatest disturbances he continues on the path.
S. He stands and does not want to move…?
R. …Yes he resists all the disturbances and nevertheless continues on the path.
S. And what does he want to break through and enter?
R. He wants to enter the Kedusha, holiness, in order to bestow and connect, in spite of all the conditions that he receives against it.
S. The inner direction of a person should be the progress or to stand against all the obstacles or is he fighting against them?
R. The person’s inner inclination has to be in order to continue on the path straight to the Creator and don't let the Creator leave the person's field of vision.
14. S. (30:20) I have one problem with what the friend asked and what you answered: There is a friend in the group that I am very jealous of, he doesn't miss anything, he does everything above and beyond, and I can get over my envy of him, it does it not allow me to?
R. Look in the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, mostly Rabash and see how to relate to these instances.
15. S. (31:35) It says in excerpt 13, that only through great effort the kingdom of heaven is revealed and he is allowed to enter the King’s palace. How do we reach such a level of effort?
R. As much as the Creator will show you that he is disturbing you, and he does not let you in, through these powerful and significant disturbances. And you do not accept them, it is something that contradicts the path, and instead you continue and you break in more and more. In order to continue you disagree with the disturbances, and then eventually you succeed.
16. S. (32:39) When difficulties arise I find myself being inpatient, how can I act actively?
R. To be patient does not mean that I stop struggling with something and continuing as before and I go back and I fall asleep. Patience means that even though all kinds of disturbances come to me, I continue, systematically, and I go towards that same goal. But I'm not letting go of my work, even for a minute
17. S. (33:38) What is the mighty hand in the work and how can one overcome it?
R. Only with the help of a group. Only with the help of the group. Don't think that alone he can truly break one of the many of the forces along the way. That is our problem, we're looking for the strength, for the forces to continue, to rise and to approach the goal in spirituality. We’re looking for those forces in us and they do not exist in us, they are broken. But when I wish to connect with someone out of no choice, I connect to him, I annul my ego to some extent, I lower my head because I want to receive some power and support from the friend, specifically when i do that in order to connect with him and I connected to him to some extent; this is the common force with which I enter spirituality.
18. S. (35:00) What is the uniqueness of the strength of None Else Besides Him' in the states of laziness? How to relate it as an obstacle?
R. Laziness and slumber are great disturbances and it is very difficult to work against them because they are passive disturbances. We don't recognize an enemy before us. It's true and it's tough. It's tough what to do. Accustom oneself to work at a pace, not too high of a pace because it is too tough and we won't have the energy for it, but continuous.
19. S. (35:55) Correct me if I don't understand correctly but if I see in front of me an obstacle, is this where I have the opportunity to clarify and to express None Else Besides Him in the process of Tzimtzum, Masach and returning light? Is the alternative in confusion? If I grasp onto `` None Else Besides through the screen, as you explained and you said a few times the opportunity to choose the light that returns, is that the point that gives me an opportunity to scrutinize?
R. Correct, correct, correct and next time try to speak shorter.
Excerpt 14 (37:26) “When a person introspects and feels his poor state….” (twice)
20. S. (41:09) What does it mean to seek the Lord while he is found?
R. How to explain it ? He says about it, demand of the Creator throughout all the states where you seemingly cannot see Him and you are not connected to Him and it is not so clear He is arranging everything for you.
S. But I also feel that there's some signs given from above and some chances are given to us but I also feel that I do not have enough inner forces to scrutinize the signs that are given to me from above, so how should I move?
R. The Creator's playing with you according to state and according to his generals plan. This is how he awakens you. That is it, but the main thing is to hold it. If the Creator is still within your field of vision, even to a small extent ,then grab hold of Him. That is what this verse is saying.
S. Basically you're saying that the Creator is giving the awakening to her heart and we grab on to this awakening and we turn on him in prayer.
R. Yes, and the Creator this is called concealed God or my beloved is like a deer or a gazelle that constantly plays with us in this game. He is revealed and concealed, revealed and concealed,for me to be awakened,sensitive enough, subtle enough in order to see these things did they exist in each and every moment. Then we will advance faster from one state to another.
21. S. (44:10) In this excerpt there are two parts for the connection with the Creator one is that does not feel connected and the other is that he feels connected. What is the difference between the two because I see in the first one he thinks on his own, is there another connection?
R. I feel belonging. It can cool me off. Once the Creator is moving away, I want to chase Him and hold on to Him. Try, it says "demand of the Creator when he is close', that is the main thing. "Seek the Lord while He is found". In each and every state we need to discover Him in which way is concealed.
22. S. (45:26) How do I, with the challenges and the obstacles, give my Ten the feeling that these are all of our challenges ? How do I allow Him to feel that this is also my obstacle?
R. Well for this you need to be closer to one another even discuss, study that the Creator influences us bestows to us with a mutual cloud. It is called the 'field that is blessed’, the Creator has blessed. This is how we progress, it all depends on the mutual connection between us. This is the most important connection. More important is the field that connects between us in the group than having in the group a person that is very high, sensitive and comes close to spirituality or is in spirituality The main thing is the collective force, it is the field .Especially since the day we are in the general correction of the last generation.
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23. S. (47:03) I feel that the passage of time between the number of longings keeps growing the more exertion grows, is this the measure of the quality exertion?
R. This we can not measure. That we begin to approach correction revelation,then we will understand. We can say one thing, as much as I hold on to the path without letting go despite the ups and downs, ascents and descents in the disturbances. That can give me a measure of the quality of my efforts.
24. S. (48:00) What is the result of adhesion in the Creator through the Ten?
R. Revelation of the Creator,revelation of the soul, correction of the Soul. That is it.
I didn't quite understand the question. How can there be corrections without the connection in the group? When we meet together with the Creator one on one we can correct anything. What do I give Him? I have to present before Him a vessel, a Kli. A Kli is not me, Its the connection between me and the friends. Against the separation between us, and iif still we want to overcome when we have coarseness and if we want to overcome, then we have purity. If we want to approach the Creator and resemble Him then we have a connection and then He fills our vessel.
25. S. (49:34) We have to search within the Ten, within the group and discover him between us?
R. Of course.
S. What is important is to reveal Him between us?
R. The Creator is revealed between the friends.
26. S. (50:28) In the middle of the excerpt it is written that if a person falls into despair because he did not turn to Him. Is this actually like a moment for a person to go above reason. To really implement above reason?
R. Is this an opportunity for a person to go faith above reason? No,here is the work of a person.
Here he erases his attitude towards creation. He wants the adhesion of everything,it is as if he does not come to come to the Creator.
27. S. (51:39) If the Creator precedes everything ,what does it mean an awakening from the below.
R. We raise it above for the Creator to correct it.
S. How do you do this? What do you mean by this search?
R. We try to connect more and more. We feel that there is a deficiency of connection and we ask the Creator to give us the connection. What is the problem? Try to approach him in a more practical way.
S. That is exactly the question. I at least feel that during the day I have these portions where I feel in the awakening and the rest of the day it's not an awakening. It's like it is not the same frequency.
R. You need to be with the excerpts in front of you and interpret them deeper and deeper and in this you will attract light that reforms and it will advance you
28. S. (53:13) The Creator is like a gazelle, a deer that is constantly running away from us and I'm trying to feed it and pet it, to tie him. I need to put the food out and I don't understand if he enjoys it. He is eating the food, what is the correct attitude? That I want him to be next to me or do I want him to be free?
R. You need to hear what the wise ones say. That's just like an antelope that runs and looks backwards and the Creator runs away and looks backwards to check if you are following him , if we are running after Him.
Don't build for yourself and other pictures. They specifically discuss this frame. They specifically discuss this frame and they want to give you an example, and if you try to fantasize about other things it will no longer fit. You wanted to hug it and feed it? The Creator does not need that. He does not need that. He needs the attitude that you are running after Him and you recognize in Him that He constantly shifts his head to the back to make sure that you are following according to that He relates to you. Nothing else.
29. S. (55:15) A question about the prayer, when do I feel gratitude to the Creator? Do I feel it when I feel myself good, a good feeling? Is that when I feel gratitude?
R. You need to be connected to the good and the bad such that there is no difference in His ego, He feels the differences. From good to bad and bad to good. Above that, He needs to be above how He feels and what He feels does not matter.
30. S. (56:34) Can we say that in each concealment the Creator prepares us for greater revelation, so we have to be grateful in concealment that he is preparing us for revelation?
R. First of all to overcome the concealment and to reach as much as possible connection and according to that you will be able to be grateful. You cannot be in concealment and in bad and to cry and along with that to be grateful.
S. I also read in some article that the righteous one calls to the Creator and the Creator asks him is this the place that you call me in and I can understand from this excerpt that we should prepare our hearts for the Creator. How can I go to the Creator and demand with a big vessel, with a big desire?
R. Continue along the path and do not disconnect and all of the states they have to eventually unite into one Kli, one vessel and this is how it will be.
31. S. (58:25) We tried to connect and I feel that the Creator awakens the will to receive and there's a possibility of making us leap together but each time, again and again, I do not understand what to do correctly in those states?
R. Speak to the friends.Try to connect and unite with them together and see that you arrived at certain decisions, more practical than you yourself can arrive at.
32. S. (59:17) How is the Creator's attitude like a gazelle that looks back, how is it expressed? How do we see it?
R. To that, a person feels that the Creator runs away, escapes and sees that the state that he is in now in, the darkness, that this too comes from the Creator.and this is what the Creator focuses him on. This is called that the Creator runs away. escapes but turns His head backwards.
Excerpt 15 (01:00:13) “ all the illnesses I placed on Egypt I will not place on you…” twice
33. R. (01:02:53) Precisely when the Creator sends a person suffering concerns confusion and so on in that He draws the person near Him and that’s how we get adhesion and there is no other way. Of course it’s talking about people that are in connection with the friends and the Creator and are able to receive all of these things and to be together with these excerpts and draw each closer to the Creator.
Reading excerpt #16 (01:03:52) “man shall not live on bread alone but on what precedes…” twice
34. S. (01:06:29) In excerpt fifteen it says but all the states that you feel if you relate them to Me they are all corrections, that by which you will approach me in adhesion. What does it mean to attribute everything to the Creator? And if at some point the person cannot attribute something to the Creator then what happens?
R. If he cannot then he can't and then there's no connection but if he’s able to, it takes effort to attribute everything to the Creator, this is the way that he advances. Every state that can bring him closer to the Creator to say that it is from Him and he draws near it then this is his path.
35. S. (01:07:28) The soul, is it something that you acquire or you meet that is revealed?
R. The soul is a corrected desire within a person that was the desire to receive and a person through his efforts and the light that reforms and this desire turned into in order to bestow. This is why it’s called a point of Godliness above or a soul. It is called a soul because there is Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida. Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, we can attain through our work the Creator is giving us, these lights Haya and Yechida are already above that. We’ll clarify later.
36. S. (01:08:49) The previous article when it talked about we don't know what illness really is or we’re mistaken, so my question is what’s illness according to Kabbalah?
R. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, disease is everything that interferes with the right connection with the Creator.
37. S. (01:09:42) It’s written and fury poured out on him. What is fury and how is it expressed?
R. Whatever disconnects a person from the Creator.
38. S. (01:10:000) How to interpret this fury positively or negatively?
S. Disconnects them, a person from the Creator.
39. S. (01:10:16) What efforts should we make in order to fight and resist the fury poured out on him?
R. Only to connect with the friends and to turn to the Creator to correct the connection between us.
40 S. (01:10:41) I understand the disturbances show me that I am inside my will to receive, but is there another specific thing that I can learn from the disturbances above the image of the Creator?
R. Only to invert every disturbance to connection that towards my ego this state is called disturbance and towards the will to bestow it will be called connection.
41 S. (01:11:16) What does the Creator give a person with a mighty hand and a fury? There’s a reason the Creator doesn’t let a person into the King’s palace after one or two attempts?
R. He can’t allow just by effort, there’s no try here. Here needs to be a vessel that is corrected in something to the very degree that he has corrected himself, that spiritual degree, and then he enters. There is no try here, yes and no, it doesn’t work like that. There is a law of equivalence of form, whatever I reach equivalence of form to, in that degree I can enter in spirituality.
42. S. (01:12:18) Where's the button so I can change my attitude toward reality? Can I force myself to enter the group?
R. Of course a group you can enter with strength to enter the ten and connect with the friends despite not wanting to otherwise I have no chance to reach spiritually, spirituality we reach in the group.
43 S. (01:12:44) Can it change my attitude to the Creator when I forcefully place myself to the group?
R. Yes we insert ourselves with great effort to the group and through this we get nearer to the Creator.
44 S. (01:13:06) In excerpt fourteen it says seek the Lord when He’s found, meaning when the Creator presents Himself to you for asking then you will necessarily seek Him, for it is man’s way to move first. Who is man here?
R. Usually it’s the Creator.
45. S. (01:13:32) Should the prayer for connection be in great effort, truly inner war or should we be flowing with whatever is happening?
R. Effort for connection needs to be higher than the regular flow and we need to actively search what new ways, more tight, precise, we are able to advance in.
46 S. (01:14:11) Why don't I feel with the heart and understand with the head when I’m in the lesson?
R. There are times here and there, sometimes we ascend, sometimes we descend. For each state there is its own reason. It is important for us in every state to progress onwards.
47. S. (01:14:42) What is the meaning that a person is worthy of permanent faith?
R. A person it means that he is in some level in bestowal with his friends and then it can be that between them rest the light of Hassidim.