Morning Lesson October 28, 2021, Transcription
Part 1:
Baal HaSulam - Shamati, 38. The Fear of God Is His Treasure
https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/sources/CjOoVMfG?language=en
1.Rav’s Introduction: Yes, it's a very interesting topic. How we can through fear, check, learn, measure the Creator, His relation to us. How much light we receive, how we relate to it. It all goes through fear. What is fear? We cannot feel the light itself, we cannot measure the light, but only according to the vessel. Just as we see in our world, too, we can't measure electricity. If we have an instrument, then we can measure it. In other words, we measure electricity or we weigh something, on a weight, according to the impression on the instrument, to the extent that it is impressed, a dial moves or this plate on the weight comes down, etc. In other words, we don't measure the phenomenon itself but its impact on our instrument. The same happens in me, in you, and everyone. The Creator impacts something and we measure the changes in us. Accordingly, we say, this I got from the Creator, good things, or God forbid I feel the opposite, depending on the individual how he accepts it. Although, we always receive good things. Perhaps we interpret it as something else. So only according to the instrument, do we check what we received and how much we received also. That instrument is called fear, spiritual fear. Now, we have to measure, to see, know, to understand what fear is. Then, according to the fear we will feel if we are receiving something from the Creator or not, and what we are receiving. This is why he says that ‘’The fear of the Lord is His treasure.’’ Meaning, according to the amount of fear we have, to that extent we can measure the Creator.
Reader reads (03:52) Shamati 38. “The Fear of God Is His Treasure”
2. R. (05:43) What are we getting here? We say that the Creator feels everything. He is present in everything, we are in an ocean of the upper force, the upper light, which is good and does good, and fills everything. But feeling it is possible only to the extent that we have a suitable instrument for it. Here he's giving us an example. If you come with a sack which is good for holding flour but not for holding water, then what is the vessel, the receptacle suitable for the Creator so we can feel Him and even measure Him? He says, that Kli [vessel] is fear, which is what we have to establish, we have to understand it, what is this vessel, how we establish it, how we fill it. How that vessel becomes filled, and how we feel it, how we measure it, how we advance, meaning how we increase it. But it's clear that we need a suitable vessel for the revelation of the Creator. We may bring a vessel that is completely irrelevant for revealing the Creator, for feeling the Creator, and that's why we are in the dark. Our problem is with our vessel because the Creator fills the whole of reality, there is nothing besides the Creator. It is the common force of nature that fills everything.
Reader continues (07:55) “Thus, there is a question… “
3. R. (09:43) In other words, it seems as though it's as if as much as a person hides himself from the Creator, not that the Creator is hidden from us, but we conceal. What is the person's ego, the will to receive. The more a person hides his will to receive from the Creator, by this he comes to a state where he does feel that he is filled with the upper force.
Reader continues: (10:08) “Fear refers to one’s fear of the great pleasure...”
4. S. (10:35) What does it mean to be fearful about the upper abundance from the Creator, to be afraid to receive it?
R. That I won't be able to hold myself and receive the abundance in order to receive, and become a Klipa [shell], I'll go to the other side, to the Sitra Achra. In other words, instead of working in order to bestow, and being an equivalence of form with the Creator, and accordingly in adhesion with the Creator, I will be opposite from Him. Then accordingly, I will move away from Him to the point of actual separation.
S. It turns out that I am afraid to lose connection with the Creator because of that or what?
R. No, no. We will continue reading and you will see. The fact that I am afraid of losing connection with the Creator, this is one thing, and being opposite from Him is another thing. There are many more discernments, so let's continue for now.
Reader continues (12:10) “This is man’s work, and besides that…. “
5. R. (19:40) Yes, this is the article. I see that it is a little difficult. Maybe it is confusing, so let's take it slowly. But it is important as all the articles of Shamati.
6. S. (20:12) There's the famous line we just read, you protect yourself a little from below and I will keep you a lot from above. This ‘keep’ is this fear? What should I keep myself from?
R. What should we keep ourselves from? From slighting the Creator because otherwise he moves away from Him. To the extent that it is important for you, precious for you, you get closer to Him. To the extent that it is not important, you move away from Him.
S. But this ‘keep,’ what should I keep myself from? From whom, from what?
R. You have to constantly check your intentions and desires, are they directed correctly. First of all, in general towards the Creator and not towards something else. Because if it's something else, the minute you're not thinking about the Creator but about anything else, you descend from the level of man to the level of beast. So first of all, keep your desires and intentions on Him, on the Creator, this is number one. Number two, what is the quality of these desires and intentions?
S. Then, I will be kept from above?
R. Of course. In this, you work together with the Creator because you can ask Him to help you be directed to Him in certain desires and intentions, so you will constantly move closer to Him according to the equivalence of form. It is called, “I to my Beloved and my Beloved to me.”
S. What I see is that he does not say that you together have to keep?
R. Yes, that's besides, that's in addition.
7. S. (22:26) In the article it mentions that the Sitra Achra [other side] shall take the abundance from us. So as an example, when we see something pleasurable it is immediately felt in the will to receive. So, is our freedom expressed in constantly being in the intention to bestow? Will this ever become automatic?
R. It never becomes automatic, we always have to make efforts, to labor, toil, exert. Both to connect among us and to direct ourselves towards the Creator. Also, to check the quality of our aiming towards Him. This is always the work. Why? Again, to build the right instrument or the right vessel to reveal Him. For the Creator to reveal himself to the created beings this is all of His pleasure, by this He gives. All the work He does before it, which is concealed from the lower ones who don't enjoy Him, it does not give Him pleasure. His pleasure is to be revealed in the lower ones, to fill them and that they will enjoy His filling, meaning to the extent of the adhesion with Him. The lower ones who receive the Creator and want to receive Him, want to be filled by Him, because by this they can please Him in return. Their intention is not to receive the upper light within them, but to give the Creator an opportunity, a chance to fill them, to express their love. The created beings’ love for the Creator so that the Creator will be able to express His love for the created beings. It all happens in the mutual force of bestowal, in reflected light from the created beings and in direct light from the Creator. Because to begin with, He is in order to bestow, He is entirely a desire to bestow and they when they work above their will to receive. What can we do? We have to build a vessel for the revelation of the Creator and that vessel will be called, ’the fear of the Lord,’’ fear. Why fear? Because we are afraid that we might not be able to bestow upon the Creator, the condition by which He can fill us when we bring ourselves to the Creator so He will fill us, so He will enjoy us, so He will do with us whatever He wants. So first of all, we have to make the restriction on our ego, on the will to receive for ourselves, then we give Him ourselves, very simple, we give ourselves to Him above reason. Then, the Creator will be able to that extent correct our vessel and to fill it. He knows how and to what extent He has to bestow in order to turn us into a vessel. Here, there is the matter of our adhesion, our annulment before the Creator, the level of our willingness to receive from Him everything He wants, because He wants only one thing, to build from us a suitable vessel for His light. By the way, a suitable vessel for the light is not simple. In the lights there are many discernments. Then, it turns out that it is like water and flour, and seeds, and other things, so each thing has its own suitable vessel, receptacle, and the Creator does them all. We don't know what to do, He does it, but He does it to the extent that we can annul ourselves.
8. S. (27:25) It says the fear of the Creator, the Creator’s treasure is no more than a treasure of the fear of the Creator, and it says below that everything's in the hands of heavens except for the fear of Heaven. So, it seems like everything he has to give is fear and later it says everything but fear?
R. What we need to make of ourselves the Creator does not have, and that is the fear. We have to come to a state where our egoistic desire becomes fear, awe. We have to come to a state where we understand that if the Creator does not build the vessel, then we will not achieve anything, we won't be able to achieve the form of bestowal if we are at all understanding that we have to achieve bestowal that we have to come to it. In other words, our work is entirely to annul ourselves before the Creator, so He will make of us, all of the operations in the right order, in the right intensity that He needs to do in order to build out of us a vessel.
9. S. (29:07) He writes in the article that fear is specifically when a person understands and knows his lowliness, what does it mean that out of fear a person knows his lowliness?
R. Yes, if a person recognizes that he cannot develop the vessel by himself, and it's in the hands of the Creator, then he begins to see how much he is in the hands of the Upper One and accordingly he comes to annulment. It takes years for a person to recognize how much he is in the hands of the creator. He thinks he can position himself in some state that he can demand and the Creator will do, that he can cry and the Creator will answer. No. Here you can only pay with labor. Before a person fills up the quota of labor the Creator does not help him; well, He does help him but not in a final manner. But only in order to build the vessel.
10. S. (30:41) According to the article we understand that the most important thing is to have the fear of Heaven. How do we cleave to being in fear and don't run away from it? I understand the importance of it right now but I believe that once I come out of the lesson and come out of the connection to the society it eludes me, I hold other things valuable. How do we hold onto the fear?
R. My neighbor in the building where I live, he's afraid of the bank, he's got a huge debt and the bank might stop paying what my neighbor has to pay, so he's afraid of the bank. Another neighbor is afraid of the police because several times already he did all kinds of things, maybe he was caught drinking or maybe he smoked in a place where he was forbidden to smoke or other petty things, but he's afraid that the police might come, maybe even come to his office and that will cause him problems. We are afraid of what people will say about us, everyone takes this into consideration, our children, everything. We are in this network even if we're not aware of it every moment, but we are in a network which positions us, establishes us in our lives. That's how we exist. In other words, I would say even more, out of this network where I feel myself towards the steel, vegetative, animate and people; how I behaved, how they behave towards me, I feel myself, I feel that I am alive. If I didn't get reactions, responses from them I wouldn't feel this world. In other words, on the one hand to the extent that I am pressured by all those in my environment, in my surroundings: the still, vegetative, animate and people. On the other hand, without them pressuring me I wouldn't feel my existence in a certain place. In other words, there are two things here: we want to feel the Creator, so we need to feel how much He presses us and how much we in return can pressure him so to speak. To be in this kind of mutual communication or connection with Him. So, this is what it is about. My neighbors, who are afraid of, well afraid of everything; I'm afraid of the school where my son goes to, I'm afraid of the police, social security, and health insurance. Suddenly at work I'm afraid of my bosses and what will happen tomorrow with this virus and a thousand other things that might fall over me. I'm afraid of everything and anything. That fear, we are not aware of it, of how much we, the desire to receive, to enjoy, which is what we are; we are these tiny insects that want only to enjoy and nothing else, only to enjoy. Then we feel how it presses us, how the environment constantly pressures us, and designs us by this so that we feel that we are in the world. Now if we want to be in a different world, a higher one, then we have to try to develop ourselves, our vessels for it, the senses for it. In our world I'm afraid of the still, vegetative, animate and people; The still might be natural for us, it's climate, hurricanes, you name it. The vegetative are what is happening with crops and things we live on. The animate are anything from the smallest to the biggest, and the speaking are people. In the end, I live out of fear, out of pressure of all of those things that are still, vegetative, animate and speaking that are around me. I'm not even aware of it, but let's feel how it fashions, designs the picture of our lives, the picture of the world, how we exist; If it disappears and I won't feel that I need them, that I'm afraid of them and that they are pressuring then I will not feel reality. Just as we don't feel the Creator. So here Baal HaSulam asks in this article, the fear of God is his treasure: How do we develop our feeling of the Creator? Right? and our feeling towards this world is also fear. We are constantly in scrutinies, in measurements, what is happening to me with this world, how is it pressuring me, how am I pressuring it? This is our mutual interaction, connection with this world. So, if we want to feel, and we are a will to receive and we will remain a will to receive, each of us. So, if I want to feel a different environment which is called the upper world: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, the world of Adam Kadmon, the world of Ein Sof as we learn that we have them.
I have to constantly change myself, I have to constantly ask in what desires, in what thoughts, in what fears and trepidation and anxieties and checks I have to be with respect to this external influence? Here comes Kabbalists and say: don't worry, the Creator is good and does good. It's not as you're thinking now that you are in concealment and that you have a problem, you have no problem, you need only one thing: To the extent that you want to feel that He is doing good to you, to that extent to build a vessel of wanting to do good to Him. To do good to the Creator, and according to this according to the equivalence between the two of you, you will feel Him and you will see that there is no better state than this; It will give you confidence, pleasure, satisfaction, everything, just relate to Him nicely, kindly, that's it, this is what he's talking about. Because what is this about? What is the treasure? A treasure is where we went to receive the filling of the upper world, the Creator, what is that treasure? He says this treasure is the fear of the Creator, what is the fear of the creator? I have no reason to be afraid of Him, He will not do anything bad to me rather I, myself cause myself all the damages. In me, there is the evil inclination and there might be a good inclination and I choose between them, so the light that comes from the Creator can be as light for me or as darkness. It all depends on me. This is what we now learn. So how do we enter the King's palace, the King's treasury and receive there with our vessel that is suitable for us to receive there; that I take this vessel, this receptacle and I go into the treasury of the Creator and I receive there a part of the light, and I bring it out, and it then spills over and disappears like everything else in our world, everything is incarnating, and it goes to Eternity so only in the end we get it. I go in again and receive more light, and it comes back to me and it spills out again, but each time I reach a higher light, each time I bring a greater quantity and quality of light. This is how we begin to know this work. The Creator wants us to come to a stage where we shift all of His light, all the light of Infinity, that we bring into us, or in other words that we rise on the ladder, the steps of the ladder to Ein Sof (Infinity). This is what is ahead of us. So, let’s advance.
11. S. (42:42) in the article it says that fear of heaven is a Segula (remedy) which comes in engaging with Torah and Mitzvot. So, in a practicable manner how can we absorb this remedy, this fear of Heaven from morning lessons, ten meetings, dissemination, etc.?
R. This is a simple thing, if you constantly think what pleasure you can give to the Creator? that's it. This is an expression of the fear of Heaven. This is the meaning of being in faith above reason and in order to bestow, to have the fear of Heaven; it's all the same, meaning how do I bring pleasure to the Creator the way He wants to bring pleasure to us from the very beginning.
12. S. (43:55) Please explain how we shift, how to understand this fear correctly: Does that mean that the possibility to delight the Giver as much as He gives me, as much as I can receive from him? And I do this only through the Torah and Commandments, can we understand it this way?
R. Torah and Mitzvot (commandments) means all kinds of actions. All kinds of actions that we do in order to cause, to bring good to the upper force, the Creator, by which He can work and give us the same in return. Torah means the upper light that influences our actions if we wish to correct ourselves. Mitzvot (commandments) mean each and every action in order to bestow that I do through everything and everyone: through the group, through the world, with the ultimate goal to the Creator, to bring everyone closer to the Creator and this is called Torah and Mitzvot (Commandments); That through certain actions that I do by myself, through the 10, the general vessel of Bnei Baruch and the entire world, as much as we publicize ourselves. This is the meaning of working in Torah and Mitzvot, to make sure as many vessels as possible are aimed to receive the upper light, that’s it. That means that each individual vessel understands what it has to do, and for them to be ready to be connected between them in love and in order to bestow through ‘love your friend as yourself’ and this way they'll be able to make themselves into a big vessel for the reception of the upper light, that’s it. This is the meaning of keeping Torah and Mitzvot.
13. S. (46:28) There is a quote at the end of the article ‘one who does not receive wisdom from the Creator then he remains a fool’, can you explain it to us?
R. so he remains a fool, he remains in darkness. A fool meaning in darkness, he does not feel the Creator as a result of his incorrect actions. That's all I can say about it.
14. S. (48:18) I'm kind of the low one here and I'm in fear of the Creator, so is it correct for me to fear if I'm not good enough for the work with the friends, in order to come to the fear of the creator?
R. Fear, trepidation, means that you are searching for ways to give contentment to the Creator. This is the meaning of fear. Not that he's demanding that from you, rather you wish to be in it and if you don't want to be in it, you should be fearful that you are still not in it. Because only according to this feeling of fear, just like a mother towards her baby, when she constantly cares and worries about doing good to him; In this way we need to relate through the friends, if possible, to the Creator. It's much more difficult through friends, on one hand. On the other hand, it is the safest route.
15. S. (50:01) Reality presses us to become Incorporated in the 10 in order to attribute it to the Creator, in order to understand that it is actually a calling to change my relation to Him, so i will feel Him as good that is doing good. At the same time there is still a demand there for reality to change. If it changes for the better then I forget the Creator in that moment, and if it doesn't change for the better then I condemn him?
R. Are you telling us about your states?
S. I'm telling you about the work. It's as if it’s a place we can't break, we can't make a change, the change has to be in me.
R. Correct, and?
S. How do we come to such a demand that we are not dependent on reality, but we will be consistent so that no matter what happens in terms of the states, this demand remains?
R. It's only on the condition that you truly want to bestow but how can you truly want to bestow if you don't have yet, the force of bestowal? By incorporating yourself with other friends it helps you find the friend's shoulder. Then with this common force that you develop, you can reach a state where you have confidence from within, even though it's egoistic confidence, nevertheless you have a ten that is connected and want to reach bestowal, that is their goal; that is your comment action and in this way you advance.
S. Does this demand sometimes become disconnected from the external states?
R. Try to do it at least once, not sometime.
16. S. (52:18) Why is the vessel for the revelation of the Creator the fear of the Creator, and not love of the Creator? If we're talking about equivalence of form, it should be love of the Creator?
R. We can't reach love of the Creator, except through fear of the Creator, without fear there is no love. Without fear there is egoistic love, the way we have it in our world, and this love can depart the next day, because it depends only on how much pleasure I feel from something outside of me that according to that, I love it. That is according to our primitive egoistic straightforward nature, our egoistic nature. If we're talking about love, which is not because I receive pleasure from that source, but rather I discover my attitude, a special attitude towards the source, where it's not good for me on one hand, and on the other hand I appreciate it highly. From that I build the vessel whose foundation is the will to receive, with restriction, with the screen, with reflected light. Then, I will be suitable for that fulfillment. That's how I build my sack in order to receive the treasure of the Creator. He fills it Himself, He appears and fills it. If it will only be in the will to receive, it will have no value. It's like a baby in our world, like a small child, each time he jumps from one place to another, from one pleasure to another, he doesn't know what to choose. Only on the condition that we have two things. One goes against the method of fulfillment, it's my will to receive, it doesn't want to be in order to bestow. Then, the second one is where I want to receive the fulfillment in this way so by that I prepare my sack, my vessel, in which I can truly feel the upper value, the upper force, godliness. Otherwise, I cannot discover godliness, I will discover some pleasure that could quickly disappear tomorrow. It all depends on my will to receive. That's how, in this way, I develop a desire to bestow towards Him, love outside of me, I appreciate Him and not the pleasure He gives me. Accordingly, I disconnect from the Klipa (shell), from the egoistic desire, and I ascribe myself to the Creator. That's it. I'm lacking words here, but it's clear that the place here is tough to articulate.
17. S. (55:58) How can I know my lowliness and the importance of the Creator when I don't see Him, I can't see Him I can't hear? Should I pray that the Creator will be revealed?
R. We don't need for the Creator to be revealed. It won't do you any good. Many people are trying to do it and nothing works. You need to ask the Creator to help you build the correct attitude to Him, to respect Him, to appreciate Him. Then, from that you will build the correct vessel for the revelation of the Creator. This is called the fear of the Creator. Fear includes several discernments. On the one hand, I don't want to receive Him directly, I don't want Him to feel me. It is like a baby, you give him, it is finished, he is full over his head. He's playing with it, he's happy with it, he laughs, he rejoices. I don't want to be in this way with my attitude towards the Creator, no. I would like to be in this business with Him equally, as equals. I to Him, and Him to me, equally. Otherwise, I will lose my human form. I want to grow up in such a way where I understand that while I can give Him, how to grow my vessels, and how to receive from Him, and how He is giving me, in such a mutual way that will sustain us both. This mutuality, this adhesion is what I want to build with Him. That's why the work is not so clear, because we are forming a connection between man and the upper force, the Creator. Man is the lower force, the Creator is the upper force. Between these two forces, we want that a mutual connection will be formed, a beautiful connection so that each one will discover the other and will appear fully. This is called complete adhesion with Creator and a person. Then, everything that is outside the person and the Creator will cease, not exist simply, it will all enter into the connection.
18. S. (59:44) In the work I see that there are two energies. My personal energy and there's the energy that we call the greatness of the Creator. How do I through fear constantly shift from using my own strength to using the greatness of the Creator?
R. It is all up to you. How much through the environment, the study, all the means that you have, you are able to concentrate and focus your intention on Him, on the Creator. If He will be as the most important thing before you that dictates and determines everything in your life, everything that is against Him and what is for Him, even when you don't want to be connected to Him. Right now, you think about it and when you do want it actually, in all kinds of states. If you arrange it so everything you feel in your heart and you think in your brain, is coming from Him. Then after, the understanding that it is all coming from Him, how do you build or construct your attitude towards Him, what do you do in return, what is your reaction. You want to talk to Him or erase Him from your field of vision, of feeling, meaning from your brain, from your heart. If you want to ask something, what do you want to ask, and so on and so forth, what do you want to get out of it?
But first of all, it has to be clear what you are feeling as existing, in what environment do you exist, in what world, what is in your head, what is in your heart, it is all arranged by the upper force. If He would not do it for you, you would not be, exist, and the world would not exist, and nothing. Everything is held in place by the Creator, so what do you want from that? What do you want to get out of this feeling that you're feeling now? Think about it and start to talk to Him, because He invoked this feeling of the world in you, He brought you to a state where you are now hearing that this is something He is doing, the Creator. So, you'll have only one thing, turn to Him. If He is the source for everything that is happening with you, your feeling, your understanding, then turn to Him. That's it.
19. S. (01:03:05) He writes in the article that fear is precisely when one knows one's lowliness. Afterwards, he says that the more a person feels his lowliness, the more he appreciates the greatness of the Creator. What is the lowliness that a person has to feel?
R. It's not lowliness as we imagined it from this world. The lowliness a person feels in spirituality is a form of attainment where everything in his praying, in his heart, everything that's happening to him, anything and everything he can think about, and say and feel, it all comes from the Creator. The Creator is truly the whole world, the whole word. Then, a person needs to determine what should be his attitude towards that world, according to how he feels in his will to receive, or according to how he needs to go above his will to receive, and to demand of everything possible the Creator. Of course, that there is none else besides Him, that the Creator will arrange him differently so he will not be so weak, so he will be able to respond, will be able to perform a restriction on these receptions that appear so sweet for him right now. He wants to be above it and abstained from it and reach a state where he will be independent both from the bad and from the good, and he will be able to according to a clear decision, an independent decision, he will be able to decide that he wants only to be adhered to the upper force, where there is truly none else besides Him. But in order to cleave to this supper force, he needs to annul himself. How can he do it? Well, he begins to attain how much he is a zero, nothing, no forces, inability to do anything. So again, he has a need for the Creator and again, he can ask for additional strength and feeling, and understanding, but not in order to feel himself better. Rather, in order to approach the truth, in order to bestow, where there it's the coming out of this world, and so on and so forth. You need to have such thoughts as much as possible, that each and every thought creates an action and each action is added to a great sum, a great account, until the full portion is met, and a person comes to the light.
20. S. (01:06:52) Sometimes when I think about spirituality I have this fear, I don't know when I go into this unfamiliar place, how do you deal with such a state?
R. The group, the friends, that's it.
21. S. (01:07:16) You describe the situation when a person is afraid of all kinds of things in this world, the police, the neighbors, the bank. Do we, should we in the tens pressure one another in order to feel this pressure because without it there is no life?
R. No, we need to help the friends open up so everything that they're afraid of and they may not even be aware of, all these fears will come out and disappear and all of them will aim us at the fear of the Creator. The Creator is arranging these things for us except we don't solve these problems. As religious people say that God willing everything will work itself out. Rather for us we're talking about a different essence, where above all these disturbances we need to truly turn to the Creator to help us be higher above in faith above reason.
22. S. (01:08:41) What should we discover, taste every time that we should be afraid of, careful of?
R. We have to discover that there's none else besides Him. That He's doing all those things so that we will turn to Him and discover that it is only Him, both in making the darkness and in arranging the light.
S. But what did we discover? What did we taste from which we should now be careful, be afraid of it?
R. Fear is according to how much I can or cannot give contentment to the Creator. That's the fear I should have, not a fear of the police or of the doctor, or anyone else for that matter. My fear should be, will I be able to give contentment to the Creator. That's it, write it down before you. You should always be in that state and then you will advance quickly.
23. S. (01:10:08) Out of all the actions we do today, what really brings contentment to the Creator?
R. When we are searching for it. We make mistakes, we want it, we don't want it. He is doing everything to us, He is confusing us and throwing us off. There's no other force that obstructs us but the Creator Himself. He doesn't let us cross over into the spiritual state. Why? Because this is the end of the vessels before the end of correction. These actions are very important, they touch on the coarseness of Adam HaRishon, the general vessel, and that's why our work is very important. The more we try, nevertheless, to connect everyone together, this is beneficial, this is what works. No other generation before us had it, even in our time, look what is happening. The Creator is bringing to our group people from all over the world. It's a sign that we are in the last generation, we are approaching the end of correction. So, a bit, a tiny more, and we will feel that we are truly doing the most important work.
S. You often mentioned the relation between a mother and a child. The child certainly pleases the mother just by crying and asking for something, food or whatever. But it's not aware of it that it is bringing contentment to its mother. Is this okay, this relation that we have to the Creator? That we are aiming for Him but we're not aware of the contentment we bring Him?
R. If we're doing what Kabbalists recommend that we do, we surely give contentment to the Creator, although we still cannot know it and measure it. Time will come and we will be able to truly deal with it. Then, we'll be able to see in the past how much contentment we gave to the Creator, even in the darkness. We will be able to measure it also according to what we will do. Then, we'll have a restriction, a screen, reflected light. We will be able to look after ourselves, whether or not we are giving contentment to the Creator, meaning that is not done to give ourselves pleasure. That's a problem with pride and there are other great obstacles before us. The chief of which is pride, it's higher from the path of the Creator and on the other hand, ‘’He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.’’ We will learn about it in these articles.
S. So because of our pride, the contentment we bring to the Creator is concealed from us?
R. Yes, correct. You understand correctly.
24. S. (01:13:50) Concerning the fear, it is written in the article that Moses hid his face and he was afraid to not look at the Creator. What does this exactly mean that he hid his face and he was afraid to look? Does it have something to do with shame or not being worthy? Maybe you can explain some more.
R. In general, he is afraid to open up his vessels of reception as not to receive in order to receive. That is why, he is in concealment, he closes himself off. Then, accordingly, he receives the permission to enter into sanctity, meaning the Creator is revealed to him. That is the meaning of Moses entering sanctity. The Creator simply appears and even more meticulous in guarding. He can open his eyes and see things in the reflected light, above the restriction. Then, he has this mutual connection with the Creator.
25. S. (01:15:27) What are the conditions to reach awe or fear?
R. The conditions for reaching fear are when I connect with my friends. Let me tell you, this is the test, this is the vessel that we discussed in this article. What is the vessel in which we receive the revelation of the Creator, the ten, the group. If we connect, we come to a state where we can feel the Creator, we can present Him with this vessel and He will pour Himself into it, as much as possible, according to the measure of the vessel. In other words, the fear of the Creator is expressed by me annulling myself before the friends. By that, we annul ourselves before the Creator and he becomes a suitable vessel for the revelation of the Creator.
26. S. (01:17:06) Is fear a thought, are they the same thing?
R. Fear is fear. I'm afraid whether I will be able to give contentment to the Creator. I remember a few times a day and then I forget, because the impression from the world is greater than the impression from the Creator. How can I make it that the Creator will be more prominent, more important, effective on me compared to the world. Sometimes, we reach such states that the Creator affects us, but the Creator is prominent and usually we don't. Usually, what is important to me is what my friend will say, what the world will say. That is why there is a problem here. We need to connect ourselves to the ten Sefirot to the spiritual Partzuf, then the Creator can appear in it. That is called a vessel to reveal the Creator. If between us there is no connection, then the Creator will not be revealed.
27. S. (01:18:55) Can we ask for fear before the friends? Will it lead us to fear of the Creator?
R. Same thing because we should all be aimed at the Creator. If we are in the group or in the ten, we should be aimed at the Creator. In order to be aimed at Him, we need to be connected between us. The more we can connect ourselves between us with the intention to be a vessel for His fulfilment, it will work. It is like weaving threads together and you make a bag out of them. In this bag we can receive the revelation of the Creator. We should all be connected this way.
28. S. (01:20:03) How can we help one another not to get confused between fear or corporeal fear?
R. I think this depends on the group, as well, on the ten, because we should help each other to the extent that we are ready for it, we are in it or not. This should be a discussion in the group. I'm asking everyone, man and woman, stop looking at each other in a corporeal manner. Stop seeing that you are in a body at all. Look at how even what relates to human beings are beastly things, we are all wrapped in different kinds of egos. Start looking at each other as partners in the revelation of the Creator. There is no choice, you have to be connected this way, we are in the last generation. We are inviting in the lack of connection between us more trouble, more problems of all kinds, of different kinds. Look how many we have from water and the sky, and from the air, and from the heat, the cold and the earthquakes, volcanoes erupting, everything. Do you want this to be in a bigger intensity? It is something that no one wants. What stops this whole spreading? By connecting. The more we connect, the more we combine together with each other, by that we are inviting more and more good forces of nature, the good force of the Creator, the good that does good. Let's do that, and you will see how everything will calm down. It all depends on us.
29. S. (01:22:42) How could everything be in the hands of the heavens except for the fear of the heavens?
R. Actually, I do not understand this question, for me it's an axiom. The Creator is one for us, it is ‘the good that does good. He created the beings so that they will reach His degree, being in adhesion with Him. If this is so, what are the created beings lacking to reach the degree of the Creator. There's a verse, ‘’Return, O Israel, to the Creator,’’ meaning, the children of Israel are the ones aimed at Yashar El, Israel, to the Creator. Until the Creator, that is what we need. This is why the Creator created nothing except for the will to receive which is its opposite, giving us excitement, discernments, a feeling of what we are and what He is, and we are between the two. We have to decide how to advance, so let's advance. This is what we have, choosing the Creator being the force of bestowal, the good, the upper force that bestows. So let us resemble Him a bit.
30. S. (01:24:37) Am I building a vessel that is separate from me, or am I building myself to be a new vessel?
R. No. I'm building myself to be a Kli [vessel]. But I, myself, am made up of emotion and intellect, the egoistic will to receive and ability to build upon it a screen, a restriction, and reflected light to make myself a vessel of bestowal and connection. That is what we are trying to do.
31. S. (01:25:19) How not to disregard the Creator?
R. That all depends on the environment, that is one thing. Another thing is that it all depends, there is an article, Yakir and Yakar, I do not remember the article, it is from Shamati, to the extent that it is dear to you, you can appreciate it.
32. S. (01:26:13) In the end of the article, it says that even though he has no fear so that he can’t receive the Hochma [ wisdom] from the Creator?
R. He has no vessel. Fear is the vessel to reveal the Creator. It is only that we have to establish this fear, the spiritual fear. Here, this is by the friends, specifically, until we build this vessel of ten Sefirot. If someone does not want to, and I'm talking specifically to the women, if someone doesn't want to connect to others, there is nothing to do. You just simply stay in your same place and you will leave in descent more and more.
33. S. (01:27:05) It is written that the cause that the reward and punishment are not revealed, but we have to believe in it. What does it mean that reward and punishment is not revealed?
R. Reward and punishment are not revealed, means that a person is in this world and he builds for himself what reward means and what is punishment. Food, sex, family, money, honor, knowledge, that is the reward, and the punishment is the opposite.
S. So how to relate to that in our work?
R. You have to come out of it, as fast as possible, to move on to the connection between us. By the connection between us, by connection with the Creator, we will determine our spiritual states,
33. S. (01:27:58) Should we have fear, everyone in the ten, in order to be able to build a vessel?
R. We have to try to be connected between us as much as possible, and to try to realize the article during the day. Let's say we read the article today even though it is not considered reading, because this subject is very broad and deep. It is very good that we have seen that, we can’t jump on it all at once. But during the day, let's read it a few times. We will have all kinds of corrections with it. Read it from your paper, not from the computer, and correct it with your pencil, erase and rewrite something by its sides, work with it. The way we should work with the text, that is how you work with the text. Then, according to that, you will feel, you will understand, you will discover what is in these words. This way, you will come closer to the Creator. You will see how it works.
34. S. (01:29:25) It is written that if we add vessels, we will be able to sustain the abundance there. What are those extra vessels, and that extra abundance?
R. The vessels are the ones that we rise above the vessels of reception, and every time we relate with fear to what is appearing before us. This way, we start discovering the upper force working with us. It is really working with respect to us. We should feel that we are with it in a mutual manner in a dialogue, in a very intimate connection, direct link. This is what we should be drawn to.
35. S. (01:30:46) Is my fear not being able to bestow contentment to the Creator, is it the expression of my ego?
R. Yes. But it is good. You have to understand that without the fear, without the ego, how can we advance, how will we know, where we should go, what to do? I don’t have, I will not have. The ego that the Creator created is essential, it is an essential thing. Without it, I would not feel the light, because there is no darkness that corresponds to this light. The ego includes all the opposite things from the Creator that give me the measurement, the feeling, some kind of scale. Without it, let us say, I will not have an ego. I would be floating in the air, this feeling, I will not have what to measure myself with respect to nothing. You understand. Our ego, if we use it in the right way, gives us an opportunity to advance more and more, and to relate to the Creator, and to discover what I am in favor of, what I am against, and to establish the will to receive corresponding to the will to bestow. The desire does not refine itself, it only gets the shape in order to bestow. Inside, it stays the same. It is not that it is cancelled, then it is gone. No, God forbid, it is the opposite. It grows more and more, as much as we can work with it and rise on the ladder. That is why we have to relate to it in a practical, concrete manner.
36. S. (01:32:56) The fear from the lack of ability to bestow to the Creator is that only on the level of the ten, or all degrees of nature?
R. In all degrees of nature. I do not know what you mean. It is not in the degree of the still, vegetative, and animate. It is only with respect to humans. We only are talking on the degree we call ‘Adam.’ We are not taking care of plants or animals, that is irrelevant. Meaning, when we take care of the humans, we are also taking care of all the still, vegetative, and animate, inside man, because man includes all these forms inside them.
37. S. (01:33:48) Is the true fear, the feeling of the existence of the Creator?
R. No. Fear is not a feeling. As a result of it, we reach the feeling of the Creator, as a result of the fear.
38. S. (01:34:05) Does the quality of the intention on a certain action determine by me the result to the Creator?
R. Yes. First of all, relate everything to Him, ‘’There is none else beside Him.” After, theoretically, this comes from the Creator. Now, what of it should I bring out some moral, some summary, some things in order to establish them in my life, in the group, and in my connection with the Creator. This, I need to try to realize this way, and to carry it out.
S. Do I do it before or after the action?
R. If I do it before the action, I am like a madman doing something without thinking about it.
39. S. (01:35:03) Preparing the vessels does it happen once, or are they always in preparation?
R. The vessels are all in preparation and they all changed according to what I am doing now. I am preparing my vessels for the future, now. Also, what I am going to do in the next moment, I'm also preparing my future vessels. Meaning, I work on all my vessels all the time, both for the past. But now, we are not talking about that, suppose it is only for the future. But for the past, they also change a lot. We will learn in the future how we can correct the past, and how we reach a state that all the vessels are corrected in full, as the verse goes, ‘’There is no wicked person in the King’s palace.’’ It was always this way. We say to a child, ‘be aware, be careful, and fear that place,’ because we scare him so that he will be careful. But, if we have fear of the Creator, we do not need any other fear, just to be afraid of how much contentment I can give.
40. S. (01:36:30) How do I make sure that I'm working enough for the friends in the ten for self-love or self-hate?
R. That is a hard question. How can I turn for the sake of the friends, not for my own sake. First of all, I have to act, as much as I understand, for the sake of the friends. This way, bit by bit, bit by bit, I come to a state that I really start feeling how much in each and every action of mine there is a thought about myself or about them, about the Creator. This will come from making a lot of actions. That is why I am asking, try to bestow to each other as much as possible in the ten, connect as much as you can, more of these actions together, these results together, and you will see how much it raises you.
We have a group, especially a women’s group which is so strong, but still relatively separated. If they pay attention, they will put their heart to it and connect, it will be a tremendous force. Truly, this will be the force that will take us, pull us, all the men to spirituality. As the verse goes, ‘’Thanks to the righteous women, we come out of Egypt.’’ How do we come out of Egypt, our ego, to the will to bestow, to the spiritual world? Thanks to the righteous women. The women are the ones who are attracted to connection and correction, because they see that there is no choice, we have to do it. The men are a bit lazy or playing, which is something that is not serious. That is why the women are the ones who take upon themselves this task. They are the ones that are helping all of us, including the men, to come out of Egypt, to come out of our ego. So please, it is not for no reason that I'm letting you ask every day during the lesson, to get organized, and to be with us as much as possible. It is because you have a very strong force and it is desirable for all of us to aim it correctly. So good luck, the women.
Reader reads (01:40:01) Shamati 26. ‘’One’s Future Depends and Is Tied to Gratitude for the Past’’
R. (01:43:56) What I am asking is the previous article, The Fear of God Is His Treasure. Please, please try to read it throughout the day, each one and all of us together if you can. Then, we will advance to understand it more, to bring it closer to us, that is what we are lacking. To bring it closer to us so that the text will be clear. By this, a bit or even not, it has to be more or less clear in a simple way what is written there.