The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning) March 7, 2025.
Part 1: Baal HaSulam. Shamati 8. What Is the Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra?
Reader: Hello, we are reading from Shamati 8, “What Is the Difference Between a Shade of Kedusha and A Shade of Sitra Achra”? The article is in the writings of Baal HaSulam. Also, you can find it in kabbalahmedia.info. You can find the link in the study materials tab in the Arvut system. You can also send questions, and if you ask a question in the study hall, please ask shortly and to the point. In the hall, make sure you stand up, hold the microphone close to your mouth, and ask loudly and clearly.
Shamati 8. What Is the Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra?
I heard on July 1944
Reading: (01:07) It is written (Song of Songs, 2), “Until the day breathes, and the shadows flee away.” We must understand what are shadows in the work and what are two shadows. The thing is that when one does not feel His guidance, that He leads the world in a manner of “The Good Who Does Good,” it is regarded as a shadow that hides the sun.
In other words, as the corporeal shadow that hides the sun does not change the sun in any way, and the sun shines in all its power, so one who does not feel the existence of His guidance does not induce any change above. Rather, there is no change above, as it is written, “I the Lord did not change.”
Instead, all the changes are in the receivers. We must observe two discernments in this shade, meaning in this concealment:
When one still has the ability to overcome the darkness and concealments that one feels, justify the Creator, and pray to the Creator that the Creator will open his eyes to see that all the concealments that he feels come from the Creator, meaning that the Creator does all this to him so he may find his prayer and yearn to adhere to Him.
This is so because only through the suffering that one receives from Him, wishing to break free from the trouble and flee from the torments, then he does everything he can. Hence, when receiving the concealments and afflictions, he is certain to take the known cure—to do much praying for the Creator to help him out of the state he is in. In that state, he still believes in His Providence.
When one comes to a state where he can no longer overcome and say that all the suffering and pains he feels are because the Creator sent them to him so as to have a reason to ascend in degree, he comes to a state of heresy, since he cannot believe in His guidance. Naturally, at that time, he cannot pray.
It follows that there are two kinds of shadows, and this is the meaning of “and the shadows flee away,” meaning that the shadows will pass away from the world.
The shade of Klipa [shell] is called “Another god is sterile and does not bear fruit.” In Kedusha [holiness], however, it is called “Under its shadow I coveted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my palate.” In other words, he says that all the concealments and afflictions he feels are because the Creator has sent him these states so he would have a place for work above reason.
When one has the strength to say this—that the Creator causes him all this—it is to one’s benefit. This means that through this he can come to work in order to bestow and not for his own sake. At that time, one realizes, meaning believes that the Creator enjoys specifically this work, which is built entirely on above reason.
It follows that at that time, one does not pray to the Creator that the shadows will flee from the world. Rather, he says, “I see that the Creator wants me to serve Him in this manner, entirely above reason.” Thus, in everything he does he says, “The Creator certainly enjoys this work, so why should I care if I am working in a state of concealment of the face?”
Because one wants to work in order to bestow, meaning that the Creator will enjoy, he feels no lowliness in this work, meaning a sensation that he is in a state of concealment of the face, that the Creator does not enjoy this work. Instead, one agrees to the leadership of the Creator, meaning however the Creator wants him to feel the existence of the Creator during the work, he agrees wholeheartedly. This is so because one does not consider what can please him, but what can please the Creator. Thus, this shade brings him life.
This is called “Under its shadow I coveted,” meaning one covets such a state where he can make some overcoming above reason. It follows that if one does not exert in a state of concealment, when there is still room to pray for the Creator to bring him closer, and he is negligent in this, for this reason, he is sent a second concealment in which one cannot even pray. This is because of the sin of not exerting with all one’s might to pray to the Creator. For this reason, one comes to a state of such lowliness.
However, after one comes to that state, he is pitied from above and is given another awakening from above. The same order begins anew until finally he strengthens in prayer, the Creator hears his prayer, brings him near, and reforms him.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (10:41) The question is what causes us to want to see the Creator enjoying?
M. Laitman: What causes this? This is how reality is arranged; if the Creator feels pleasure, then anyone who belongs to that same concept of the Creator, also, feels himself as receiving pleasure.
Student: But it's hidden from us. Why will we want, why will we have a desire to see that the Creator enjoys?
M. Laitman: On the one hand, it is concealed but, on the other hand, there is some revelation in it. We can imagine that such a thing actually exists.
Student: If we can imagine it, then why aren't we naturally in this?
M. Laitman: No, naturally, no. The Creator wants us to make these efforts and reveal Him from within the concealment.
Student: To reveal Him is to reveal that He enjoys, He's content?
M. Laitman: Everything, all that has to do with Him.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:29) Why is it important to maintain the single concealment? Why is it important to cling to the single concealment and always have the ability to pray to the Creator?
M. Laitman: Because, by that, we keep ourselves in adhesion with the Creator; we want to remain in it, we want to stay in it. Although there will be all kinds of reasons and actions from the Creator, from the created beings, that seemingly corrupt the upper household. We wish to hold on to it.
Student: How does it bring us closer, this constant adhesion in single concealment, to Lishma? What's the connection between this and that, if there is?
M. Laitman: The Creator is revealed, on the one hand, and there are states where He is revealed and there are states where He remains concealed. By revealing Himself, we hold onto Him more and more. And by remaining concealed, we see the place where we need to add this exaltedness, and that's how to continue.
Student: What's the key to remaining, we want to know what's the key to remaining in adhesion with the Creator all the time – day and night?
M. Laitman: Only if we hold onto it together then each one will be able to hold himself where it will hold up each and every one.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:17) How is it possible to both justify the Creator about the concealment, and ask Him to be revealed? That's the instruction in the article and there seems to be a contradiction.
M. Laitman: What's the problem?
Student: You're asking the Creator to become revealed? Or that's not the request?
M. Laitman: I'm asking the Creator to be revealed, it's not a request, it's not like I'm lacking it, or what?
Student: It's written in the article that the Creator gives everything and it all depends on the created being. And the created being has to justify the Creator for being concealed for him – something like that. But if you justify the Creator for being concealed, then you don't need Him to be revealed. Isn't the advice to ask the Creator to become revealed or the quality of bestowal?
M. Laitman: We want to feel Him. To feel in spirituality means to be on the same level, on the same equivalence of form, the same action. And then, whatever He feels, I feel until, this way, we approach one another, get closer.
Student: It's not that He already does, I have to be in that action as He does? Or I have to ask it from Him, that He will do it?
M. Laitman: Of course, the Creator does everything. But from our side, we just need to try to be in such states where it's clear to us and to know that we are in the field the Creator has created.
Student: I need to ask the Creator to reveal Himself to me because I have to tie everything to Him. There is even some heresy in that, regarding None Else Besides Him because I need to pray that He will do the action on me. On the other hand, I need to be in equivalence of form. Not to ask that He will become revealed but that I will become like Him and then He'll become revealed so these things seem contradictory. If there's a way for you to explain this to me, then?
M. Laitman: You can't resemble the Creator if you don't reveal Him, if you don't feel Him. He has to be revealed to you to some extent and when you reveal Him, to some extent. You ask the Creator for more and more revelations and that's how you approach Him. And you begin to ask and pray that the Creator will reveal everything to you, all of it, in all the states and all the actions. That's how we get closer to Him.
Question (Turkiye 1): (19:11) How can a person strengthen in prayer so that he can build a shield against the shades of the evil inclination?
M. Laitman: A man approaches the revelation of the Creator and he prepares himself as he's — by constructing concealment over the Creator. Then he understands that whenever he receives from the Creator, an opportunity to get to know the Creator, it's like receiving from the Creator an opportunity to discover Him under a certain condition that if a person is thinking about the revelation of the Creator that this will be good for the Creator and not good for the person. Then the Creator is revealed, he can reveal Him because, through the act of revelation, he doesn't corrupt the order. And if a person doesn't listen and he demands from the Creator to be revealed, the Creator is not revealed but rather becomes more concealed. Until the person learns that in this way, he cannot reveal Him, and there's no other choice but to change his ways.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:05) The Creator becomes revealed based on top of what?
M. Laitman: Based on a man's feeling.
Student: What kind of request?
M. Laitman: When a person asks the Creator to be revealed because he's missing that. Meaning the Creator did everything except for concealing, except that He concealed Himself. But, if a person is asking in such a way that he must reveal the Creator, the Creator is revealed.
Student: What characterizes the stage before the Creator is revealed?
M. Laitman: The Creator does not reveal Himself to the person but gives them all kinds of feelings of concealment of Himself, of the Creator. A person, gradually, approaches a state where he begins to demand from the Creator revelation in a decisive way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (23:58) I wanted to clarify: When I'm in concealment, first concealment is basically to be wicked, meaning I pray, but I pray to be better off, I'm in conditional love. And if I'm in double concealment, I'm complete wicked, that's what I wanted to clarify?
M. Laitman: In the first concealment, a person who wishes to bestow to the Creator has the ability to bestow. Except he’s unsure if he's doing it or not, meaning the concealment is on the goal, on the Creator, on the actions of a person—what he does in the state of concealment. Whereas with the Creator, He conceals Himself. A person doesn't understand where is he, what is he, how to behave, and what should he reveal? So, what we do need is what Baal HaSulam established: that There's None Else Besides Him and that we're always under the guidance of the Creator, and the Creator has no intention, no goal. His goal is not to hide from us and He's only expecting us to disclose all the deficiencies, all the vessels. All the vessels with which to reveal the Creator, we're able to reveal Him.
Question (Kyiv 1): (26:57) We work in the Ten in connection between us, we try to reach the revelation of the Creator. Then, some lights, something good that attracts us. How does the transition happen with the intention that we do it for Him, not so that we will enjoy that? We want to hide His pleasure, hide this pleasure from ourselves, we want to bestow it to Him?
M. Laitman: We want to reveal the Creator by illuminating everything around, He's doing that; and, besides that, we don't need anything. If the Creator is operating on the entire creation and He's happy from it. Then we also don't need more than that. We need to try to think and act.
Student: It said that He's happy with His actions on creation. What to do so that it's felt in the heart? That He's happy with us, that He'll be happy with our attitude to Him?
M. Laitman: So?
Student: How to make it so that we feel it in the heart? That He will be happy with us, that we don't just feel good?
M. Laitman: That has to do with the size of His revelation toward us. Then we'll be content with Him, or however to say it.
Question (Holland): (29:15) What is the benefit, actually, that the Creator brings us to the second concealment that we become, let's say, in a state that we cannot pray anymore? What does that do for our development?
M. Laitman: We feel that we have complete concealment over us and we're unable to penetrate, to penetrate it. Hence, we need only to turn to the Creator and to cry, to cry out. If the concealment — if it's a revealed concealment — we can see that we're unable to, we're unable to exist in it. Then it's to our benefit.
Question (Turkiye 2): (30:45) It's felt that the greatest joy for the Creator is when His created beings feel revelation and feel His greatness. Why is this important for Him?
M. Laitman: It's love. Then, He can disclose love to everyone. That's why it's important for him to know of it, to reveal it, and to return to Him in this way.
Student: We usually don't talk about His essence, so how does the Creator feel that we feel, that we feel Him? But in TES, there is a process in ZAT of Bina, right? Is that correct?
M. Laitman: That's not important to us. We can't work on it like that, yet ZAT of Bina, GAR of Bina, no, not yet. We have to reveal Him and see that He cares about us. And, as a result of His care and concern, we can turn back to Him and we can build our attitude toward Him. This is called the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.
Question (MAK 11): (32:58) It's written in the article, there is such an expression of Rabash. Therefore, when he perceives the concealment and suffering, he will surely employ the known cure to multiply the prayer that the Creator will help him out of the state he's in. I hear in this sentence some egoistic component because he's asking, because he's hurting. He's asking the Creator to take him out. Is it correct here?
M. Laitman: Why should our plea to the Creator be totally altruistic? What's wrong about it?
Student: We aspire to it.
M. Laitman: We begin our path from being complete egoists and, gradually, we cleanse ourselves of our ego and we aim ourselves to the Creator so that our requests will become more altruistic, for the others, for all people. We shouldn't think that the main thing for us is to stop worrying about the others, on the contrary.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:11) On the one hand, there is a lot of longing and sorrow from concealment and, on the other hand, there is praise and gratitude. In our state, where we always try to build the Kli, what in our work points to us being on the right track? How, as fuel, how to demand force to overcome and not to look for fulfillment because that's the main fulfillment?
M. Laitman: We have to constantly turn to the Creator and in turning to Him I bless Him. I'm asking Him never to stop taking care of me, I want to be more and more in order to bestow.
Student: What I discover is that I don't have the strength. That’s what the Creator waits for us — the prayer. But the force of the individual to overcome, it isn't enough.
M. Laitman: Look how many people you have in the world who, relatively, wish to attain the same thing? Several thousand people so it's not nothing!
Student: What's required of us is only to connect.
M. Laitman: Only to connect.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:07) We learn that the reason for the creation of the world is to actualize His names and appellations, meaning that He wants to become revealed. Is that a sufficient reason for us to ask for His revelation, to make our will as His will? Or there's another reason and it's not sufficient?
M. Laitman: There are several questions in this question: The concealment of the Creator, the concealment of the created being. Why should the created being be worried about the concealment of the Creator, and why should the Creator be concerned with being revealed in the created being in a concealed manner? There are a few other questions, here, as well. They're all related to the concealment and revelation of the created being and of the Creator. We'll work on it.
Question (W MAK): (38:33) What does it mean to feel the reality, the existence of the Creator during the work?
M. Laitman: It means that the person is working on revealing the Creator, on bringing Him closer to all of his senses. And he is working only for that, for the sake of that, and he constantly wants to renew his efforts. Each time his attitude toward the Creator, toward the revelation of the Creator and the concealment of the Creator. Each time this attitude is renewed and it's super important, so it doesn't get locked into his permanent state but will renew himself.
Student: How to further develop these vessels?
M. Laitman: No particular way, simply talk about it more. Express it so it will be clearer to everyone.
Question (W Latin 26): (40:12) When you wish to make an effort to bestow and to reveal the Creator in the Ten, you only reveal more of your infancy. So, we know that we have to bestow and it's the only way to bestow to the Creator and we can reveal Him but I can't find the way to reach prayer. I only discover more of my selfishness and it only drives me to more despair.
Student: What she says is the more she tries to connect with the Creator, she can't come to a prayer. Rather, the ego becomes more revealed and it leads to despair. What to do?
M. Laitman: Because she's not connected enough with her friends. Not picturing enough, the final state where they're all connected and they feel the Creator filling the gaps between them, the space between them and revealing Himself to everyone. She has to continue while checking why she isn't successful.
Question (W Heb 1): (41:49) He has written: “He has sent a concealment so that he can't even pray unless he comes to such lowliness”. What is that state of double concealment, why does the Creator send it to him?
M. Laitman: I did not get it?
Student: What is this state of double concealment? Why does the Creator send it to him?
M. Laitman: The first concealment is when the Creator is concealed; the second concealment is that the action of the Creator is concealed. In truth, we're all on a ladder of development, we are constantly in a double concealment. Then, through the connection with the friends, that each and every one can raise himself to a single concealment, that's what we need to do. When we reach a single concealment, we will then try, we will try to be connected between us and, as much as possible, and the Creator. And continue to be, we're going to continue to be connected to the Creator until we reveal Him in potential. Meaning we will reveal Him in all those states where He is connected to us and we will reveal a specific state. Like we're pointing to something and saying, “this is where You need to be, this is where You need to reveal Yourself”. And this is where we come to His revelation.
Student: So, it all depends on our prayer in the Ten?
M. Laitman: Of course.
Student: On the one hand, we read here that a person yearns for the shade, he's happy about the shade, it gives him room to rise above reason. On the other hand, he needs to demand revelation. Is that not a contradiction?
M. Laitman: No, no contradiction because we wish to reach concealment and revelation, revelation, and concealment – it doesn't matter how you call it. That's how we learn about this, also: We come to the revelation through concealment, from within the concealment, and that's how we advance.
Student: So, in the state of concealment, man receives it joyfully or he needs to demand that it will pass and become revealed, after all?
M. Laitman: No, he shouldn't feel sorrow. Concealment is a state we have to go through so that through it, specifically through the concealment, we'll feel the revelation.
Question (Moscow 1): (46:47) If I heard correctly, you said that the Creator becomes revealed thanks to the man's desire, when he really needs Him. Why does the person need the Creator?
M. Laitman: Man needs the Creator to feel that our whole world was created by the Creator, and only for man.
Student: How does a person come to that as a necessary need?
M. Laitman: This is the result of man's persistent efforts; we need to invest efforts. To exert efforts to appreciate and value the Creator and turn to Him like that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:40) Can we assume that the Ten is the Creator for me? Can I assume that the friends in the Ten, the connection, the state of connection between them is the Creator to me?
M. Laitman: No, the Creator is something else, the source of light, the source of all my actions that come to me. The Creator is everything, better than anything.
Student: How can I, through the connection with the friends, reach a state where all of my efforts, all of my yearning, is to bring contentment to the Creator? How do I discover it in connection? The Creator appears, becomes revealed to me through the Ten, the connection in the Ten?
M. Laitman: When we do something, we say a blessing before we do it. We bless the Creator for giving us the opportunity to do it.
Question (Hadera 1): (50:21) When a person justifies the Creator by…
M. Laitman: I didn't hear it too well, didn't have the sentence.
Student: When a person feels and accepts the leadership of the Creator while he maintains his holiness, is that called “revelation”?
M. Laitman: Well, first of all, it's not a revelation because in truth, there's no revelation here. After doing some actions in the group you receive an impulse to move forward; it's not a revelation.
Question (W Latin 24): (51:36) What causes the Creator to give us longing for His revelation?
M. Laitman: For the Creator to make us long for His revelation?
Student: Yes?
M. Laitman: We have to ask for it, no problem there, we simply have to ask. The Creator has nothing that He cannot give. Everything, including the end of Correction. He can give everything, as long as we ask for it, correctly, in the correct way.
Question (W PT 33): (52:32) You said that we'll discover a certain state where we as if point to the Creator and tell Him, this is where You should be. In what state can this happen?
M. Laitman: I didn't understand. Again?
Student: You said that we'll discover a certain state, where we as if point to the Creator and say, “this is where You should be”. What is that state that we can point to it like that?
M. Laitman: What kind of state is that? The way we want it to be revealed relative to the created beings. Again, the question?
Student: You said that we'll discover a certain state where we as if point and show the Creator, “this is where You need to be”. In what state can this happen?
M. Laitman: I think in each and every state. If the Creator wants to reveal Himself relative to another person or several people, already a group, then He will find how to do it. We don't need to look for such states where He can be revealed, the Creator will arrange for such states where we'll be prepared for His revelation.
Question (W MAK 43): (54:39) Is it correct to say that the expression of love to the Creator is building the Kli. And the actual correction is not the reception of the light of Hochma, but rather?
M. Laitman: You can say that.
Student: Can we say that the shade of Kedusha is not just concealment but the action of judgment on the Kli? That the concealment itself examines whether the Kli is able to justify the Creator without hope for revelation?
M. Laitman: You can say that, too, yes.
Question (Kyiv 3): (55:43) In what state does the Creator enjoy more: When a person prays in a single concealment or when there is a revelation?
M. Laitman: The Creator works with all states; everything was said relative to man. Double concealment, single concealment, it's all the Creator concealing Himself relative to the person. So, through this game, He will be able to cultivate in him the correct attitude toward the revelation, toward Himself, toward the world. And this way, everyone will come to the right relationships.
Student: Can there be such a state where, “I coveted His fruit,” and that’s better for the soul?
M. Laitman: Why? Then the Creator praises him in this state.
Student: How then, in that state, a person prays, “under its shadow, I coveted,” how a person prays for the Creator? So, how does he come out of this state of the shade?
M. Laitman: In such a state, he is asking the Creator to come out of the shade so he will be able to embrace the Creator.
Student: Is there such a prayer that the Creator will keep me in that state, where the fruit is sweet and I can always pray from the shade?
M. Laitman: We shouldn't be in such a state. So, mutually speaking, one state ruins the other, it ruins the fruit. You can be in the state of shade and also be impressed with the fruit. The shade is no longer the revelation of the Creator.
Question (Kyiv 3): (58:25) There is a friend in the world Kli who is no longer with us in her physical body. We always learn that connection doesn't stop. Could you give us advice on what kind of prayer the friend should raise for the friend who is no longer with us in corporeality?
M. Laitman: Did you understand anything?
Reader: The question was this: There is a friend who is no longer with us in her corporeal body. What advice can you give us so that we can be in contact with her?
M. Laitman: We need to have another friend with whom they can build a connection and she will help them. A person who falls from the Ten, from the group, from a certain connection they've had. He doesn't have any power; he wouldn't have any force to approach the Creator and find a common language with Him. It's not simple.
Student: Sorry, I meant a friend who passed away. How can we keep a prayer to the Creator for her? Because our connection with her didn't stop, although she passed away. Or this is different?
M. Laitman: You don't have to pray for her, it's enough that you think about it.
Question (Ashkelon): (01:01:12) I wanted to clarify something in the article. He writes here that, “when he has the strength to say this, meaning that the Creator causes him all those causes, it's for a person's benefit. Meaning that by this he can come to work in order to bestow, and not for his own sake. And then a person comes to recognize, meaning he believes that the Creator enjoys specifically this work, which is built entirely above reason. It turns out that then the person does not ask the Creator to remove the shades from the world, but I understand that the Creator wants me to work completely above reason.” So, the whole article, he talks about a condition that we have to meet. Like a place of work where we can be in faith above reason?
M. Laitman: Yes, sir, certainly.
Student: Here in the beginning, in Item One, he says, when we have the ability to overcome, what is this overcoming? Here, he says we have to work above reason, here we talk about some overcoming; that we have to see that everything comes from the Creator. So, what exactly is the work here in building this place?
M. Laitman: To organize the place means that we receive from the Creator all the conditions, and that's it. We connect against that, in front of that, together, in order to clothe it with restrictions, screen, and reflected light, as much as we have in us. And in this way, we manage to work in the connection with the Creator, even during states of descent, when we fall, when we disconnect.
Question (W PT8): (01:03:48) We learn that in every situation we have to turn to the Creator and ask. What happens when there are many prayers but no sharp, concise prayer? So, we don't know what to ask from the Creator. How do we relate to it?
M. Laitman: You have to beat yourself up!
Student: How?
M. Laitman: I don't know but there's no choice here. If we get such states from the Creator where we regret and we can't get up from it, it's not good.
Question (W Latin 26): (01:04:57) What physical actions can we do in order to prove to the Creator that we crave Him in the shade, as much as when He's revealed?
M. Laitman: By doing it, we need to make such connection between us, between women, let's say. For that connection to be so strong, so exalted, that we'll be able to glue it to the Creator. We'll be able to clothe, to clothe it on the Creator's attitude toward the created beings. We don't need anything else, only these things, to connect between us in such a strong way, that just like that, the Creator is clothed in us.
Question (W Almaty): (01:06:23) Children understand their parents only when they, too, become parents. We yearn for the light, egotistically; when it's revealed, for a moment, we become altruists and then the light leaves, and we're drawn to the light, egotistically, again. When do we begin to understand the Creator, like children begin to understand their parents?
M. Laitman: When we mature and grow up.
Student: How many such gifts from the Creator should we receive so we can begin to understand Him?
M. Laitman: This depends on us, depends on how close we'll be to one another. And to what extent we do these exercises between us in our gatherings. And how well we'll study Shamati articles and even better if we can include some Zohar with it. But if we study Shamati, together. And if we study Shamati in the group, and we really cover every side of every page, we'll advance very quickly.
Question (W PT 33): (01:08:12) When does the inversion happen in a person where he wants the benefit of the Creator and not his own benefit?
M. Laitman: When he really wants it because then he prays about wanting to get to such a state, and then all of his questions, his prayers, his actions will be aimed through - even through the entire world, through his group - to the Creator. And then the Creator, He receives, He accepts all of his efforts. He imbues them, and the Creator puts his power in it. And with the Creator's power, he can break through all the fences and be successful.
Student: And how do we come to really wanting it?
M. Laitman: If we want it, very much, we will get there.
Question (Novosibirsk): (01:09:33) It sounds to me like there are two directions: Serving the Creator above reason where it doesn't matter if He's revealed as long as He enjoys. And the other thing is that I am in concealment, I feel wicked, I feel bad about myself, so I curse the Creator. And I want to come to a state of being righteous, where I can justify the Creator. So, which do we want more?
M. Laitman: Ask yourself, ask yourself. Here, we also have the answer to that question, yes, what do you want? What are you looking for?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:40) He begins with the concept of shades, or shadows. And then says that there are two kinds of it, one and two, and then he moves from the shadows to having a shade of the shell, and the shell of holiness. In the shell of holiness, he says, “I am delighted in the shade, meaning if a person agrees to the presence of the Creator. Meaning what the Creator gives him during the work, a person agrees wholeheartedly, because he doesn't look at what he can enjoy, but what the Creator will be able to enjoy. It turns out that this shade brings him life, and that's called I delighted to sit by His shadow, or at His shadow”. So, moving from the shadows, is it a person's choice, to move to a shade of the shell or a shade of holiness? And if I can go above reason, that I move to a shade that I delight to sit in, and that gives me life?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (W Turkiye 8): (01:12:02) I see how my friends are changing all the time, and it makes me feel like we are really making progress. But is it what changing my friends or is it my perception of the Creator that changes?
M. Laitman: No, I don't think it's the friends who change but rather the friends, the men, the women, they all feel that Man, in its entirety, is changing because that's how we feel Him, we feel Him this way. Yesterday, or the day before, I couldn't stand you, and now it's a little better and tomorrow may be even better, until I begin to feel that I love you. This all has to do with the Creator, how He is bringing the souls closer to one another.
Song: (01:13:36)
The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning) March 7, 2025.
Part 2: Baal HaSulam. Shamati 7. What Is, “A Habit Becomes a Second Nature,” in the Work?
Reader: We are continuing into Shamati, Article Number Seven, Shamati, Number Seven, it's in The Writings of Baal HaSulam, and in the book, Shamati. The writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati – The Articles of Shamati, Number Seven, “What Is a Habit Becomes a Second Nature in the Work?.”
Reading: (01:17:05) 7. What Is, “A Habit Becomes a Second Nature,” in the Work?
I heard in 1943.
By accustoming oneself to something, that thing becomes a second nature for that person. Hence, there is nothing that one cannot feel its reality. This means that although one has no sensation of the thing, he still comes to feel it by becoming used to that thing.
We must know that there is a difference between the Creator and the creatures regarding sensations. In the creatures, there is the feeler and the felt, the attaining and the attained. This means that we have a feeler who is connected to some reality.
However, a reality without a feeler is only the Creator Himself. In Him, “there is no thought or perception whatsoever.” This is not so with a person; his whole existence is only through the sensation of reality. Even the validity of reality is evaluated as valid only with regard to the one who senses the reality.
In other words, what the feeler tastes is what he considers truth. If one tastes a bitter taste in reality, meaning he feels bad in the situation he is in, and suffers because of that state, that person is considered wicked in the work, since he condemns the Creator, as He is called “The Good Who Does Good,” for He only bestows goodness to the world. Yet, with respect to that person’s feeling, the person feels that he received the opposite from the Creator, meaning the situation he is in is bad.
We should therefore understand what our sages wrote (Berachot 61), “The world was created either for the complete wicked or for the complete righteous.” This means the following: Either one tastes and feels a good taste in the world and then he justifies the Creator and says that the Creator gives only good to the world. Or, if one feels and tastes a bitter taste in the world then one is wicked because he condemns the Creator.
It turns out that everything is measured according to one’s sensation. However, all these sensations have no relation to the Creator, as it is written in the “Poem of Unification,” “As she, so You will always be; shortage and surplus in You will not be.” Hence, all the worlds and all the changes are only with respect to the receivers, as one attains them.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:37) He's talking about the difference between the Creator and the created being. For the created being, there is the reality and the one who feels the reality, and with the Creator, there's no such thing, there's something else, there's only reality. And it's unclear: What is the created being? That's clear. How a person relates to reality, that's what he reveals. What is the reality from the perspective of the Creator?
M. Laitman: On behalf of the Creator? That, we can't understand.
Student: So, what is he telling us, here? Only that we cannot understand?
M. Laitman: The perception of reality of the Creator, there's no question.
Student: So, when we want to delight the Creator, we want to feel that He enjoys. What kind of reality is it to feel that we are pleasing something that we don't know how it feels reality?
M. Laitman: You can, by your efforts, emotionally, to reach a state, that you think you're sending the Creator some message, or you're receiving some message from Him.
Student: With respect to a person, if I look at a friend I can see if he enjoys or not. Yesterday, a friend in the Ten gave us a meal of fish, made fish for everyone, and everyone enjoys it, and it was very obvious. You can see that a person enjoys when he eats or when you talk to him, or he doesn't enjoy. How can we look and say, now we are giving pleasure to the Creator or now we're not giving him pleasure?
M. Laitman: The moment you reach a feeling of the Creator, you start feeling Him without any screens in between, in between Him and you. Then you can start seeing, in full, your relation to the Creator.
Student: And yet, I cannot say who He is or what He is?
M. Laitman: Not for now. Same thing about your friend.
Student: Well, with a friend I see something; I see him, give him something he enjoys.
M. Laitman: No, no, no, that's a mistake. The fact that it seems to me that I understand or feel the friends, it just seems to me that way. It's really a mistake.
Student: So, what is the truth?
M. Laitman: The truth is that we do not know where we are. And we're working on it in order to be ready, eventually, to receive the true reality. Then it'll be revealed to us what the group is, who the friends are, what I am, who I am? And altogether, it's all revealed, you don't have to wait thousands of years for it, it's very close.
Student: So, we need to ask to see the real reality?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (W Moscow 8): (01:25:55) The article is called, “Habit Becomes a Second Nature”. What should we become accustomed to, justifying the Creator? What should we change? What's the habit we need?
M. Laitman: We must do it in a way that what we feel in the Creator, well, not in the Creator, in our world. That we're receiving all of this as something that goes through our senses. That's why we don't see people, correctly, we don't see ourselves, correctly, everything's distorted under the egoistic light. It's like people speaking about something close to them, so they distort their point of view. And, also the opposite, if they don't love someone, they also distort reality to the other side. That's what we need to uplift above these problems, then we will see the world in its true reality, its true form.
Question (Karmiel): (01:27:27) The Creator has no desire but the thought of creation to do good to His creations. So, if I'm a partner, He has to feel it, He has to feel me.
M. Laitman: Yes?
Student: So, He has to have some feeling toward me, He feels something.
M. Laitman: Yes?
Student: He feels only in wanting to do good to His creations, He doesn't have another desire, so He doesn't feel something else. But He has a desire to do good to His creations, He has to feel something there?
M. Laitman: Correct, correct. You just need to keep going a bit more.
Question (Turkiye 1): (01:28:40) How do I come to a state where the feeling of the Creator, the sensation of the Creator, becomes my second nature?
M. Laitman: You need to be like the Creator, entirely bestowing and not receiving anything. Then what you will feel from all of this reality, as much as everyone bestows to one another only. And nobody receives, just everyone thinks of bestowal. It could be that they're all receiving but none of them thinks they're receiving because their thought, their observation on the creation, that everything should be for them, and pass it on.
Question (MAK 11): (01:30:00) This habit is that I'm accustomed, or used to justify the Creator in every state, even when I have no feeling toward it, I do something mechanical at every given moment? And that habit will lead me to revealing the Creator?
M. Laitman: Yes, that can be, too.
Question (W MAK): (01:30:35) In a state of being wicked, do we need to feel to the very depth, all the dark corners? Or only identify the situation and rise to the state of being righteous? And in a state of righteousness, we have to come to a state like the Creator, where we have no deficiencies?
M. Laitman: Yes, it's all right, just try and do it more frequently. Or even permanently.
Question (W Unity): (01:31:17) I'm looking for the place of the right deficiency, and to work against the desire. So, I ask to be concentrated in the lesson and then I test my concentration. The coarseness diminishes and then I feel like the skeleton of my desire. Where is the connection here with the field of the thinner coarseness so I'll know how to search for deficiencies.
M. Laitman: It's still not processed inside you; it hadn't rooted inside you. It's still growing but it didn't really grow, it's still covered all in ego. But soon you'll feel it.
Student: Can it be said that this habit to concentrate my attention on the intention, is this the work?
M. Laitman: The habit to pay attention to the intention, that's your freedom of choice. That's the work, and that's the freedom of choice that a person has. Correct.
Question (W Moscow 6): (01:32:46) When a person feels bad or when his friend feels bad, how can he connect to the Creator in the closest way?
M. Laitman: It only depends on the person. To the extent he has connection with the Creator through the connection with the friends. To that measure he can organize it all anew, reorganize it all. You'll see how, as much as it's possible.
Question (Almaty): (01:33:42) The concept of habit seems to me like it's after we attain a certain state and then we continue in it. But if I'm in a certain state, I don't advance; on the other hand, it's written that the habit helps. So, what's the benefit, and what's the drawback in this?
M. Laitman: That's right. You'll keep advancing, you'll research it, and you'll see how it all will work out for you. I don't have any specific issues with you all.
Question (W PT 8): (01:34:29) The article says that the difference between the Creator and the created being is in the feeling. And if a person feels bad, he suffers and condemns the Creator. In the previous article we read, it's written that if a person works above reason and the Creator enjoys, it doesn't matter if he enjoys. Question: Is there a gap between our feeling in our vessels of reception and the feeling a person gets when he is in faith above reason, meaning that then he justifies the Creator?
M. Laitman: If there is a gap, we have to organize it.
Student: How does he organize the gap?
M. Laitman: Prayer. In which way do we correct everything, only through prayer to the Creator. The Creator has no mistakes, the Creator has all the forces and He sees everything. And the only thing we need to do is ask and as correct as we can, as precise as we can. Ask, so we will receive the right response on the place.
Question (W Rehovot 1): (01:36:04) What should the Creator feel from a person so He will place the quality of bestowal in him, so the connection between them will be “I for my beloved and my beloved for me”?
M. Laitman: The Creator needs to demand from all the friends in the garden or in the group, that they will all accept everyone as the closest people that could possibly be in reality, the closest people. That's it, it will be revealed to you soon.
Question (H 10): (01:37:10) You answered the friend regarding prayer that a person can ask the Creator to reveal to him his role in the Ten, ways of Ten towards him, how he relates to them. So, is it not a contradiction because we should only ask the Creator to give us the strength to work and not to show us our role. So, there seems like a contradiction, here?
M. Laitman: We'll talk about it later. It's still too early.