Afternoon Lesson June 14, 2023

Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio

There is None so Wise as the Experienced - Selected excerpts from the sources

1. Rav’s intro: (0:29) “There's none so wise as the experienced.” We read and hear a lot of times, in all sorts of different forms. It's because experience, in truth, is the most important thing for a person. Only out of experience do we receive life studies and what life is teaching us. It's all out of experience. Therefore, the wise ones, truly, not according to how much they are wise, but they know how to learn what passes over them in the right way.

Reading Excerpt: 4. RABASH, Article No. 8 (1991), "What Is, 'And Abraham Was Old…”Twice.

2. S. (03:49) How can a person perform an objective calculation to work out the difference between an ascent and a descent?

R. It's only the experienced one, only from a lot of ascents and descents can one not get impressed, not from the ascents or the descents, but understand that our whole work is in the ascents and descents. Our life takes place such and passes in this way. Therefore, our entire impression all in all, of where we are and what's happening to us, all in all, it's from ascents and descents, and between them, we need to stabilize for ourselves, our constant state, and towards this constant state, we can measure ourselves, ascents and descents.

3. S. (05:26) What's being said here is about emotions. If I'm working with a ten, I feel great and suddenly we have to feel, what are we supposed to feel as a descent?

R. To what extent I'm closer to the Creator in that state that I call an ascent, to what extent I'm ready to do everything that's necessary for Him.

4. S. (06:11) What is this state and spiritual work?

R. It happens in every state and every degree.

5. S. (06:35) The ascent he talks about, is it about us as well, or is it too early to speak of us?

R. It's not too early, we need to already relate to this, to understand.

S. What does it mean to be in an ascent?

R. I don't know if you're asking in the feeling and the feeling you feel that you are in an ascent. Think before you ask.

6. S. (07:12) When we're in a descent are we closer to the Creator than in an ascent?

R. Sometimes it happens this way as well.

Reading (07:35) 5. RABASH, Article No. 27 (1989), "What Is the Meaning of Suffering in the Work?" Twice.

Rav: (10:31) Meaning before he even enters the descent he is concerned he won't descend. He's searching like an old man that's always walking bent over as if he lost something. In the same way, the wise one is always walking in this way as if he lost something since he's afraid that he will lose certain intellect or wisdom, and is ready to rise to raise everything to Him and to learn from it.

7. S. (11:33) It seems like these excerpts symbolize the edge, the boundary of when you're in a descent you seek ascent and vice versa. We always restrict ourselves towards Lishma from both sides. Is that correct?

R. No.

S. After another ascent, another ascent, and another ascent we seek descent?

R. Why in the ascent to search for the descent?

S. But that's what he says, I'm looking at the ground and looking for a descent.

R. No, no he's looking as if he lost something. That's what he's searching.

S. What can be lost?

R. I don't know, but he's wise and he knows, but in such cases that when he's going as if things are okay, that specifically, you lose important things.

S. So if I'm in actions of bestowal I think I'm in bestowal and suddenly I understand that I'm in reception, and then I'm in bestowal for reception, is that what he seeks?

R. Yeah, yeah.

8. S. (13:07) Is it possible that this is a lament of the middle line?

R. No.

9. S. (13:34) We always should be looking for vessels, where should we seek them? Inside of ourselves so that we can address the Creator so that He fills them up?

R. Inside of ourselves, where else would we find these vessels? Just inside ourselves.

10. S. (14:08) I never tried this exercise. We really want to do this in our ten. How do we depict this correctly?

R. Depict it in that way and how it's depicted to each one of you.

11. S. (14:36) This article is hard to connect with starting every day as new, can you explain this?

R. Each day you need to search for your best usage of yourself every day, that’s it, try.

12. S. (15:14) You said before, if I heard correctly, that it's as if we're on a roller coaster with ascents and descents. We get used to it with experience and we don't get as much impressions from this. What does it mean that in a ten we don't get an impression from ascents and descents?

R. It's a problem. It could be from a good point of view or a bad point. From a good one that ascents and descents don't quite influence you, you continue to be in the middle line and then you're moving forward, it's not throwing you off. This changing type of road, if so, then everything's okay.

13. S. (16:18) A person goes through many things, all kinds of experiences and attempts. How to learn on these, on what the Kabbalist goes through and becomes more wise by going through these states. What does it mean that he has learned and become experienced?

R. First of all, from every new state, one ascribes it to the Creator and cancels oneself towards the new state. He wants to ascribe it just to the Good who does Good and that There Is None Else Besides Him.

S. How does the ten work? The ten that go through this experience and has a state like this, and now the same thing that the Kabbalist went through. The ten has to connect to the Creator.

R. That's correct, it's correct.

S. What happened before, is now, in the future, can we connect to the state that was before?

R. No, no, no.

14. S. (17:52) When I'm in an ascent, at this time I'm grateful to the Creator. Can I think that when I have a descent and I won’t have the forces, should I ask not for myself, so that I go up, but that the ten can unite?

R. Yes, specifically in that way we have to prepare ourselves. When you have a certain descent, physical, or even, moral level, or material level, from a different level, then you will hold on to the group and do what's only beneficial to the group, and this will quickly fix you up and move you forward.

15. S. (19:00) Why do I feel good in a descent?

R. I don't know, could be that then you don't have the fear and the fear of falling. Check.

16. S. (19:35) When a person is scared of losing an ascent, this faith above reason, and prayer in the ten, can they help to bring about an ascent?

R. Yes that's exactly it, you said it nicely.

S. In order to detect fear, can this be called wisdom?

R. Yes.

17. S. (21:09) When a person is in a descent he loses spiritual consciousness completely. How does this experience help him? Where is this, “there is none as wise as the experienced.” When a person is in a descent, what is the use of this experience, when he starts everything from zero?

R. It seems like it's from zero, but everything remains.

S. And when he feels this forgetfulness?

R. That's how it seems so he feels these states that he forgets.

S. What is this experience that a person goes through?

R. This is he does not feel it; it all comes together, and it accumulates in the soul.

S. How does this experience help him in his next state?

R. In general, he cannot feel it, but it accumulates, adds into a certain calculation.

S. Can you do something with this experience in this future state?

R. Yes, you take it into account, it doesn't matter, it's still in you.

18. S. (22:56) Continuing a friend's question: When a person is in a state when he feels completely disconnected, maybe something has left, but we work a lot on strengthening the group, what is the role of the friend, and the ten, when we realize that a friend is in a state like this? How can we help them to rise? How do we find more closeness between us in order to not miss these states?

R. The most important is through the society, since as much as a person will do it, it's called the “wise at night.” A person tries to overcome and do something, but in truth, it's important as if he joins the friends and then together they realize these next few stages.

19. S. (24:40) Why if a person seeks his own deficiency by himself, it's called a deficiency?

R. He doesn't need to search for a deficiency, he needs to search for how to rise and come closer to the Creator.

S. What's the difference between a request in this state from a state when a person receives a descent from above?

R. It's how a person acts, the Creator knows in advance how a person acts. He's not within time, but he depicts exactly in a precise way what this person's action will be. Which is why he does this, so a person will understand how he acts and each one of the Creator’s interactions with him.

20. S. (26:09) How do we transition from a state of descent to an ascent we understand? We have some kind of habit that if the state comes then this is the beginning of an ascent, we address the Creator, we unite no matter what, even if we don't have a desire. How from a state of descent do we come to a state of acquiring these empty vessels? How do we do this? It's hard to even imagine.

R. Move even higher, as much, as high as possible.

S. How?

R. Your friends, you have a group.

21. S. (27:09) How should we act in the group in order to elevate until this state of ascent disappears?

R. We need to unite, come closer, to rise, to the Creator, to thank Him, praise Him, and in this way, you'll have this clear ascent.

22. S. (27:55) The wise man seeks a descent in order to be in prayer and use these empty vessels for correction?

R. Yeah.

23. S. (28:16) It is said that a person shouldn't believe in himself until the day of his death, with regards to this excerpt, at the top of an ascent should we imagine that there's more bestowal even if I feel on an ascent?

R. Yes.

24. S. (29:01) What does it mean to praise the Creator?

R. To praise the Creator is to thank Him for revealing to us His qualities. Qualities of bestowal, love, and giving, etc..

S. This needs to be felt in the heart, right?

R. Yes.

S. How do we do this?

R. Open your heart and you will feel it.

S. How is the heart opened?

R. Ask for the Creator to open your heart and you'll feel within it the Creator.

S. What does it mean to us that He opens my heart, that I love Him and feel Him?

R. Yeah, basically, ask. You need to be orientated towards that, not be afraid that He will open up your heart for you.

25. S. (30:32) Do we need to share this experience of the ascents and descents in the ten?

R. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There is no answer that will be for any situation.

S. Meaning just to feel the heart, one yes and one no?

R. Yes.

26. S. (31:11) Question about identifying the fear when there's an ascent after a descent. I'm not so aware of it as suffering from the Creator, I just feel suffering. Are there degrees in the feeling, like in the ascent and in a descent, and then there is a certain awareness of the reason why there's suffering in the descent, and then so forth and so forth? Even before the descent, we can discern between the ascent and the descent?

R. There are levels. There is a process the person learns in ascents and descents and how the descent explains the ascent and how the ascent closes up a descent and many states like this.

27. S. (32:27) What do we, and what can we do as a ten, one towards the other in order to realize this state of this old man that's searching even before he even loses it?

R. This is only thanks to the wisdom in which we gain through our unity in the group. When as a result of this we have wisdom, not our wisdom, but the whole group has wisdom, and we use this general wisdom.

28. S. (33:10) When everything renews inside of a person every moment, so then what's the point of that experience that accumulates?

R. Because “there is none as wise as the experienced.” Our experience turns into our wisdom. When we live for this wisdom, we feel our power, and our feelings in the past, present, and future. All of this comes from experience, that's why it is said, “there is none as wise as the experienced.”

29. S. (34:33) We learned in the sources about the importance of the request of the prayer and it's written that a person's sin is that he didn't ask. The most active thing in the world is in the request and in the prayer. Here's the question: If we understand all this and we're learning from the sources, but still there's a difficulty to ask and to pray, what is this difficulty stemming from?

R. Where does this difficulty come from? Because we can't open up our hearts to the friends, this is what it's about.

30. S. (35:41) The egoistic ascent of one can cause the descent of another one. How do we, if I understand this question correctly, he's saying that the egoistic ascent of a friend can cause the descent of another friend. How do we prevent this?

R. I have to see to what extent this helps us to advance. To unite together and to advance. Then out of our respect, all of the actions in the group as if they are group actions, they all elevate us to the Creator.

S. How can we get an ascent in the ten together with the friends?

R. Thanks to connection between us.

31. S. (37:39) Why do we have this fear in us to open our hearts to the Creator, to the friends. What do we do here?

R. Why do we have fear?

S. To open our heart to the Creator or to the friend? Why do we have a fear to open our heart to the Creator or to the friend?

R. Open our heart to the Creator or the friend, so we can check ourselves once again, and know, and check whether we want this or not.

S. What do we do with that?

R. Correct ourselves. Not be afraid of open hearts, to become so close that the friends are open.

32. S. (38:52) When in the ascent there is a situation of euphoria, but in parallel to this there is a feeling of certain shame, that you merit this or not? I don't know, a lot to deal with. Is this faith?

R. All of this happens at some point. This will come back to the norm, all this needs to have its place.

33. S. (39:32) I'm still clarifying. We often hear that we don't search for this and we're not praying for something bad to happen. So what is the difference searching for descent or liken this excerpt that we are searching for these empty vessels?

R. We shouldn't look for a descent. We don't have a right to look for a descent because by this we will become more distant from the Creator. We only should seek closeness with the Creator between us. Do you hear me?

S. So then what is the work here when that old man is searching for the emptiness for the vessels?

R. That's what he does; he looks for ways to rise.

S. Without a decent?

R. With a descent or without a descent, it's another ascent, always.

34. S. (40:47) We're always searching for in states where we're always lost, so what is the Creator's purpose for us? To find the right state? How does He want to bring us to this right state?

R. The Creator always pushes us towards the correct state and if we can't detect it, if we can detect it and get closer to Him then, we feel ourselves getting closer to the Creator and that's how we advance until the end of correction.

35. S. (42:05) In the process of identifying a descent we get confused. The question is does the Creator help us in this, or that we need to give Him contentment? How does the process work? In us always bumping into these descents and this fear?

R. By this we give the Creator pleasure. This develops us a lot. It's like with small children the more they spin around and do different things, that's how they grow.

36. S. (43:12) When we are in a descent, in the business we need the help from above and we ask help from the Creator. How can we see our progress as an actual action toward the Creator?

R. The Creator will arrange everything.

37. S. (44:06) Can we advance without descents, or will we just be walking in place?

R. Absolutely correct.

38. S. (44:22) A spiritual descent is when we don't have the desire to unite spiritually with a ten in order to want to come closer even more with a ten?

R. Yes, we can say this.

Reading excerpt (44:54) 6. RABASH, Article No. 43 (1990), "What Is, 'You Shall…” Twice.

39. S. (47:43) What is a desire to receive for oneself in group work? What do I receive from myself in group work?

R. That you don't want to be connected with others or with the group, to get closer. Just to stand out by yourself, this is the main problem. You want to rise spiritually to feel the Creator and so on?

40. S. (48:37) Does it mean that over time when we learn to work and rise above the ego that there won't be such sufferings? Because if you recognize that they're in a time of descent then they won't really, necessarily, have suffering in the time of descent.

R. We will feel ascents and descents in a different way, we’ll perceive them as necessary for our advancement.

S. In the work in the group when we come to unite and one of the friends or I or one of the friends we tell each other a lot of certain experiences. In something that happened during, and all together we can use this state. Is it correct that we're praying for this? That this is effective in the time of descent?

R. Yes.

41. S. (50:10) This excerpt it's called, “You shall not find for yourself a share by the altar.” What is this a share of if we can ask?

R. No, we don't need this now.

S. The Malchut in a sense here there are all these Malchuiot that get exchanged as if the Creator gets inverted and this concealment is canceled and there's a new border which we don't yet feel, is this correct?

R. Yes, I recommend you to fantasize less.

42. S. (51:02) How do we manage these two forces that are working on us in the ten, these ascents and descents? How do ascents and descents take place in the ten, how do we identify them? How do I identify these forces between us, ascents and descents?

R. I wouldn't recommend being in ascents or descents, but to be together and then we'll feel how the Creator elevates us and brings us down. This is the main thing, even if He throws us out from state to state, from one place to another, we want to hold ourselves, hold together, otherwise, we fall and who knows when we'll be able to get up.

S. How do we differentiate between these two forces because a lot of times in the ten we don't know how to discern between these forces?

R. You feel this in the heart. When you're closer, when you're closer to one another, you should protect this closeness.

43. S. (53:35) When we start to disseminate and we come to connect and we read an excerpt, is this the search for the middle line in order to pass our unity onwards?

R. Yes.

44. S. (54:01) To the extent that we advance the descents are harder and we're learning the ascent is that in direct proportion to the descent?

R. Yes.

45. S. (54:39) When a friend has a certain difficulty and prefers to share it with, just with me and not with the whole ten, what do I need to do? What's the most correct thing to do?

R. You can't do this for a friend, if she wants to tell you what's happening with her you shouldn't talk about what's happening to her, you should respect your friend’s every desire.

S. You talk about that new wisdom. How do I recommend something?

R. You shouldn't recommend anything unless she wants to hear.

46. S. (55:44) Thank you for the opportunity to ask. I'm thinking a lot about the states that I'm in and how to correct them. Can we reach a state where I don't feel my own states anymore or just the states of the ten, or only at the very end do we feel the states this way? She's investing a lot of time into thinking about the states she's in, so she's asking, can she reach a state where she won't feel her own states anymore, but only the states of the friends and the ten, or until the very end she'll feel her own states?

R. Your states, your friends states we … feel anything. You're not stealing from yourself if you go up in your state, not in personal, not in general, not in terms of the whole world.

47. S. (57:21) In the excerpt it was written that during the time of the descent, a person is incapable of making any calculations. What does it mean he's incapable of making any calculations? This need to check himself and ask him to arrange for the Creator to make this arrangement for him, this is internality?

R. It means he's unable to judge himself and to make the right inclusion.

S. What is a person's attitude to everything that's happening to him? What does he do with all that content?

R. To clothe oneself, to clothe, to rise, and to wait till it passes. Read Psalms, that's it.

S. The entire engagement, I'm trying to understand this state, it's redundant, he does not need to know it?

R. He's unable to. In such states, he's unable to understand himself correctly.

S. When can he correctly do so?

R. Not in a descent.

48. S. (58:37) If both in a state of descent and ascent, this middle state, is the desire to receive that's mixed there? On one level or another so what is the experience here?

R. A person should put himself in such a way that he's not under the influence of the forces that are awakening right now that want to pull them away to some foreign state. In this way, he comes to the call of creation.

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