The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning) January 4, 2025.
Part 2: Rabash. Record 223. Entry into the Work.
Reader: We are continuing our Congress preparation. We will now read the article from the writings of Rabash. This is Article 223.
So we are continuing Congress preparation, “Connecting to Lishma”. We'll read a Rabash article. Article 223, “Entry into the Work”.
223. Entry into the Work
Reading: (00:36) The entry into the work must be in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], meaning that by believing in the Creator he will have a life of pleasure. This means that if he does this action called “faith,” it will give him elation and superior mental forces than when he does not perform this action.
It follows that this is a Segula [remedy/quality/power] by which he can taste greater flavors in quantity and quality than what he tastes while he is doing other things in order to receive pleasure.
This means that there are many ways to obtain pleasure, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping, or impressive clothes, or by doing things that make people respect him. Such actions are means by which he obtains pleasure.
Yet, the pleasures that these actions yield for him are limited in quantity and quality. Conversely, the Segula of faith brings him greater pleasure in quantity and quality.
All this is called Lo Lishma because his intention is only to obtain a greater pleasure.
Only after he achieves this degree called Lo Lishma, he is rewarded with other phenomena, when he comes to a higher state. That is, at that time he has no consideration of himself, and all his calculations and thoughts are the truth.
In other words, his aim is only to annul himself before the true reality, where he feels that he must only serve the King because he feels the exaltedness and greatness and importance of the King. At that time, he forgets, meaning he has no need to worry about himself, as his own self is annulled as a candle before a torch before the existence of the Creator that he feels. Then he is in a state of Lishma [for Her sake], meaning contentment to the Creator, and his concerns and yearnings are only about how he can delight the Creator, while his own existence, meaning the will to receive, does not merit a name whatsoever. Then he is regarded as “bestowing in order to bestow.”
M. Laitman: Any questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (04:48) What is this action called faith?
M. Laitman: Faith is actually a force, not an action. It's a force that we use in order to help ourselves and others.
Student: I'm asking like this because he says it means that if he makes this action called faith, it brings him to elevation and greater mental forces.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, what does it mean to engage in faith, to use the power of faith? What is it?
M. Laitman: To enlarge this force.
Student: I will, just what is it?
M. Laitman: To enlarge the force called faith, by which a person can rise higher.
Student: I understand there is a force here that needs to be glorified. I'm asking what is faith? What is this force? How is it defined?
M. Laitman: The force of faith. I would say that it is a force that exists only in the Creator. And to the extent that a person becomes adhered to him, he also receives from this force a certain illumination.
Student: Can we say that this force called faith is what we call intention? Meaning the more I'm in the intention to bring him contentment, the more I am in faith, is it correct to say that?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, actually in order to increase faith, like you said, I have to be more correctly in the intention to bring Him contentment. How do I do that?
M. Laitman: Out of the fact that you constantly think about it. By this, you enlarge the force of faith within you.
Student: On the one hand, it's really felt, what you're saying; there was a change in the society, I don't know how to define it, but I feel it on myself. These actions, activities we do, we've been doing for many years - now the intention to bring contentment to the Creator accompanies what we do throughout the day. Is simply thinking about it enough? Because you said we need to think about it.
M. Laitman: If a person thinks about it all the time, he begins to feel what the force of faith adds to him. That is all.
Student: And then, when a person feels what the power of faith adds to him, what will happen then?
M. Laitman: Then he can use that force too.
Student: And then he'll have what, more strength, more power to do things in this world? What will happen when a person feels this special force called faith?
M. Laitman: This force of faith is a force of power that helps him become like the Creator. And by that, a person can receive, a person gets an ability to perform actions of bestowal, closeness to the others, unite with the others. And that is the main thing.
Student: Because in order to unite with the other, a person feels that there is some will to receive between him and the other, which is like this crust, this shell that doesn't let him connect to the other.
M. Laitman: Correct.
Student: So, the power of faith, what does it do to this will to receive? Does it revoke it, diminish it, wrap it? What does it do?
M. Laitman: Everything. Everything you said and more.
Student: Is it correct to say that toward the Congress, called entering Lishma or reaching Lishma, that toward it we should delve more and more into this matter of faith? And this is basically what we're lacking in our work today? Is it correct to say that, or is it not?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (11:40) Two questions about contentment to the Creator. What is regarded as the benefit to do good to the Creator?
M. Laitman: When the created beings reach adhesion with Him.
Student: What does it mean to adhere to Him?
M. Laitman: To try to be like Him in something.
Student: How do we do that?
M. Laitman: Through the action of equivalence of form.
Question (Revadim): (12:24) What causes a person to begin to work in Lishma?
M. Laitman: When a feeling awakens in his heart that he must reach closeness to the Creator, otherwise his whole life isn't so important. Then he changes.
Question (Women Rehovot 1): (13:14) Where within us does the act of giving contentment happen?
M. Laitman: Actually, everything happens inside the soul.
Question (Women Turkey): (13:39) Even if I forget the Creator for a moment, is it enough, in order to reach Lishma, if I do the things I do for the friends.
M. Laitman: To give contentment to your friends is a degree before giving contentment to the Creator.
Question (Woman PT 38): (14:24) How do we suddenly disconnect from the pleasure and want entirely to serve? How can we constantly be in this pleasure of working for the Creator?
M. Laitman: He starts losing the relation he had to the pleasure, and he searches for a different pleasure. And gradually, meaning through many actions, that could be, it brings him to a relation to the Creator. That is what he gets pleasure from.
Student: So, he doesn't disconnect from pleasure?
M. Laitman: He passes to a different type of pleasure.
Question (Woman Moscow 8): (15:18) Is faith a force that appears after a person's efforts with respect toward the Creator or toward the friend, or is it a gift from above?
M. Laitman: Again?
Student: Is faith a force that appears after a person's efforts, or is it a gift from above?
M. Laitman: Faith is always a gift from above. And there is a certain relation to the efforts of the friends.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:19) Can I ask a question from myself?
Student: Yes.
Student: First of all, there are friends here, who are sitting around me, that I suspect are already in Lishma. My question with regard to the Congress is, what specifically would we want? Because we can be in Lishma on all the desires. We can do it permanently, intermittently, individually, or as a whole world Kli. What specifically is the goal that we want? Because reaching Lishma is something very broad.
M. Laitman: I don't understand the question.
Student: What does it mean to reach Lishma, for the whole world Kli to reach Lishma? For everyone to constantly be there, permanently, or enter it just once at one time? What goal specifically are we aiming for toward the Congress?
M. Laitman: Again.
Student: There are many dimensions to reaching Lishma. Should it be all the desires, or just one desire? Should we constantly be there, permanently, that I have to do it with all my actions all the time, or do we reach it only once? Do we want one Ten to succeed, or must the whole world Kli feel it? How do we make this goal of reaching Lishma precise toward the Congress?
M. Laitman: I constantly want to be in connection with my friends. And that one force to turn to the Creator.
Student: What prevents me from being in that right now, today, now?
M. Laitman: That your thoughts are scattered.
Student: Can we do this now?
M. Laitman: Please, whenever you want, all the time. Not only for now, and not only... And later not. But you can constantly be in this.
Student: Scattered thoughts. Sounds like I simply need to concentrate, and that's it.
M. Laitman: Let's say, yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (19:09) So, what does it mean to reach thoughts of truth? He says here, I have to reach thoughts of truth. What does that mean? He just says, scattered thoughts. How do we come to thoughts of truth? What are thoughts of truth?
M. Laitman: It's to try and connect your pleasure… no. It's to try and connect your pleasure with the pleasures of the friends, and to glue it to the Creator.
Student: I have to annul before the actual reality. I have to feel some other real reality, which is not me. What is this reality?
M. Laitman: The Creator.
Student: And I can reach that only by feeling it through the friends?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: That feeling through the friends. What is the ascent in the degree there where I feel that it's a completely different reality? What exactly is that feeling, that reality?
M. Laitman: The Creator.
Student: I want to make it more palpable. When you tell me the Creator, is it a reality that I don't want anything for myself anymore? But everything I want is only - my pleasure is in giving pleasure to the friends?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: So, what is the reality of the Creator?
M. Laitman: The upper force, that is only concerned for us.
Student: So, in my thoughts, I need to constantly think, what can I do that pleases the Creator? In our reality, all the time, what pleases the Creator?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: In the connection between us in the Ten here, what brings contentment to the Creator, all the time? That's what I have to aim?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And I have to constantly aim higher, and that's the Upper reality.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:03) Rabash described here in the article beautifully how a person gradually, from the intention to receive, advances and ascends to the intention to bestow. Rabash thinks that we have the strength to make this transition, of course, with the influence of the light, to make this transition so that we can change our intention. Are we ready, as Rabash described here in the article, to make this transition through the influence of the light?
M. Laitman: Without any doubt.
Student: Because it's still not happening. It's still not happening. Perhaps, to some extent it is. But the question is, what are we lacking, so that we do this as a group, powerfully, so we really shift from Lo Lishma to Lishma, from not for her sake to for her sake?
M. Laitman: To engage in it in the group manner.
Student: Why are we not succeeding in this yet? What is missing? To come to that state permanently.
M. Laitman: To try and make it permanent.
Student: Is this advice?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (23:59) We constantly scrutinize the matter of Lo Lishma and how to reach from that to Lishma. Now, I want to ask, are there actions that push us back, things we should not do? Are we falling into that too, things that push us away or are we not?
M. Laitman: There are actions that, supposedly, pull us backward.
Student: So, maybe we should clarify what they are so we don't fall into them?
M. Laitman: No. That's something you need to think about and to try and attain on your own.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:51) Do you recommend that until the Congress we perform one group activity, a big one. To determine some group activity, it doesn't matter what. A few months ago I asked you if we are ready for the prayer of Ramchal and you told me not yet. But there is a feeling that it doesn't matter what we decide, but one. So, we focus all our attention, the whole world Kli, on one activity. Will that help us?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, I think we should determine what is the action and dispense it, divide it over the 24 hours and not let go of it until the Congress.
M. Laitman: You don't need to divide it, just hold on to it 24 hours a day.
Student: I know in advance, that I will not be able to hold on to it 24 hours. I need Arvut, I need mutual guarantee for this, so that's why I suggested dividing it.
M. Laitman: No. No. You need to be together with the friends and to constantly think on one action that will bring you to one goal.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:29) This whole part of the lesson I hear that we need to think more, add more in thought. In other words, we need to delve more in thought in order to increase faith.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What is this thought that we need to be in all the time and add in it? From where do I muster the strength to concentrate on that all the time?
M. Laitman: We have to try to attain the force of faith.
Student: When I sit here in the lesson, and I listen to you, and I read the sources; it seems to me like I must be thinking about it. Is this without us thinking about it, or should I do more?
M. Laitman: More.
Student: Okay, so what is the thought that I add on my own when you say think about it?
M. Laitman: You're searching for it.
Student: What am I searching for?
M. Laitman: You're searching for a thought that you want to adhere to all the time.
Student: Okay, you said before, you said to the friend, that we have to be in a daily struggle with our thoughts and desires that keep us in the same place as yesterday. Can you elaborate on that, on that struggle? How do you win this struggle, which keeps me in yesterday's place with the feeling that, okay, there's this routine of lessons of life. How do we add in that and not delude ourselves that we are in some safe zone?
M. Laitman: To try, and I don't have any other word.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:53) Everyone's desire to scrutinize: what is this Lishma and how to advance, what the Congress is really felt, not even for the Congress, but to really perform a spiritual action? We can see also a question mark in China and a beautiful gathering in Amaty. We also have a question mark, wanted to point that out as well. But I wanted to ask about Lishma. It seems like Lishma is a little distant from us, but we are on the way there. So, I want to go from the end to the beginning, as you once recommended. Lishma — is it "to bestow in order to bestow"? Is Lishma - to bestow in order to bestow? Or is it - to receive in order to bestow?
M. Laitman: To receive in order to bestow.
Student: And Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], at its end is it - to bestow in order to bestow?
M. Laitman: Let's say so.
Student: Before bestowing in order to bestow, there is bestowing in order to receive.
M. Laitman: Yes.
M. Laitman: Is that included in Lishma as well?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: No. So, Lishma… That's included in Lo Lishma, to bestow in order to receive, it's on the way to Lishma.
M. Laitman: Let's say so.
Student: Now, here, each one, when he prays for the friends. He can scrutinize if is he doing it in order to receive lights or pleasures, or is he doing it because he has the importance of the Creator, and he wants only for Him, without seeing any benefit, any reward, but as a gift that the Creator allows him to bestow without any self-benefit? So, that scrutiny — each one needs to do for himself? Can we share these scrutinies with each other? Here, this is something I did for honor, this is something I did for that…
M. Laitman: No, don’t confuse.
Student: Okay, but each one should do within himself, his prayers for the friends. For whom is he doing it? Who enjoys it? All this goodness — each one should do within himself.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:03) You said: “constantly wanting to be in connection with my friends and to turn to the Creator together". How do we turn to the Creator from connection? What does He want? What do we request? What does it mean to turn to the Creator not as an individual, but as a group?
M. Laitman: I don't know. You explain that to me.
Student: My feeling is, that it's only to ask for the next step from Him, what's suitable?
M. Laitman: So?
Student: And to commit.
M. Laitman: Well…
Student: How do you do that when you're not alone, when you have more people with you? Which is what we should do in the beginning: to connect among ourselves?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (China): (33:35) My question is on faith. With everything that's been mentioned about faith in the lesson so far this morning, is faith something that has to be awakened from below? Meaning, is this something that we have to pray to the Creator and ask for?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Asia): (34:23) This permanent thought, that we were talking about, so the Creator is there with us or no? Or did we not pay attention that He's with us?
M. Laitman: A person should ask himself that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:45) So, what is that permanency that we're demanded to do?
M. Laitman: We demand to constantly be in contact with the Creator. And how can one understand if you're in this or not.
Student: How can I understand if I'm in that or not?
M. Laitman: When are you in contact with the Creator.
Student: When I'm demanding for the friends?
M. Laitman: That's a school kind of test.