The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: December 30, 2025
Part 1. Recorded lesson - Nov 26, 2020
Excerpts from the sources: “Work with Faith Above Reason”. #38
Reader: Hello, friends, in the first part of the lesson today we will study a lesson from November 26th, 2020, “The Work in Faith Above Reason,” select excerpts from the sources. We will continue with excerpt 38.
Reader: Hello, we are in a lesson on the topic of “Work in Faith Above Reason.” We are going to read selected excerpts from the sources. We will continue from excerpt number 38. The material is on the site for reading the study material in the Arvut. Click the icon of the book on top. Selected questions that are relevant to the topic will be asked during the lesson.
M. Laitman: (00:49) We will continue because we have no choice. We have only two forces in reality: the force of bestowal, the force of reception. We are all made of the force of reception, our whole world. What do you mean, the force of reception? Even though there is a force of bestowal in us, there is plus and minus. Our giving is also because at the end of the day we want to profit and succeed, and that is why it is also called reception. In spirituality everything is measured according to the intention, not according to the action itself. I might be giving, giving, giving to thousands of people, but at the end of the day it is reception and not bestowal.
Hence our world, although it is made of two forces, plus and minus, reception and bestowal in practice, but according to the intention, we are all in reception to receive, the will to receive, the intention to receive, the tendency to receive, the goal to receive. As it is written, everything they do, they do it for themselves. Everything we do to bestow, we bestow to ourselves. And there is yet another level of existence, which is the intention to bestow. There it does not matter what I do in practice, whether giving or receiving, everything is measured according to the intention. When I think of the other, how important the other is compared to me, then if that is the case, then I am bestowing to him. So my entire work is to increase, to raise the importance of the friends and the Creator in my eyes to such an extent that they come first, and later I come. It is like a mother relative to her baby - first him, then her. That is how we need to work. Everything depends on the importance. Is it about me, or about that which is outside of me? If it is I first, it is this world, and if it is he or them first, it is the Upper World. And the difference is huge, because specifically that intention, that inclination, becomes our perception of reality. We feel instead of this reality according to the intention to receive, we feel another reality according to the intention where the importance lies outside of me. To go from importance for myself to importance for that which is outside of me is called moving from this world to the next, crossing the barrier, going through the restriction. We need each and every moment to try and build this attitude between this world and the next, where everything depends on the intention, the importance. What is more important?
What is more important today? And if that is the case, let's go to our excerpts, as they write exactly how to aim ourselves towards, in order to bestow - faith above reason. The quality of the Creator, where we will see the second half of reality, under which we are activated, we work, we come from there, we go, we return to there.
Reader: We're going to read excerpt number 38 from Rabash, Assorted Notes, “The Striking of Thoughts upon Man.”
Reading: (05:18) 38. Rabash. Assorted Notes. Article 2. “The Striking of Thoughts upon Man”
“Because of the striking of upper light, which strikes that curtain, lights sparkled from them and went through that Masach [screen]” (The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 3, Chapter 4, Item 6).We can interpret that striking is the thoughts that strike a person, trouble him and tire him, and he has thoughts this way and that way. And all this is because he has a Masach.If he keeps the Masach and agrees to walk on the path of the Creator, which is regarded as “mind,” as “scrutiny,” when he comprehends that it is good for him to accept faith above reason, it is considered that he causes an addition of light in the upper degree, for the joy comes specifically through the scrutiny... This means that although he does not really feel the importance of the upper one, the scrutiny is through a Masach, called “an attempt,” regarded as “concealment.”But when he overcomes the Masach and sustains it, meaning he does not cancel the Masach, this causes joy above, and then the upper one also gives him joy. That is, to the extent that he received the importance of the upper one above reason, that same measure of greatness of the upper one extends to him within reason, not less and not more.
M. Laitman: What's going on here? Typically, when I work in the wisdom of Kabbalah with the friends and the study? Everywhere I feel I'm in concealment I wish to remove the concealment. I want everything to open up before me, for things to be clear. I'm not so aware of the fact that what I'm doing now, that I want things to be clear. To open up, means that I wish to receive spirituality inside of me, in my reason. And within reason, if I receive it there it would be a shell, Klipa. So they'll never let me receive it in this way. There's a Law from above - only according to how much I want to be in spirituality above the will to receive, there, I can discover to that extent I can discover spirituality. And so, instead of asking to cancel the boundaries and feel spirituality inside of me as I am, I need to ask to rise and be in spirituality, to bestow, to give. And then I will discover everything that's there.
Question (Kyiv 1): (08:55) He writes here about the thoughts that strike a person and trouble him. Should I ask to be above these thoughts and bestow in connection with the friends?
M. Laitman: The fact that I get some certain attitude to spirituality, and I want to receive it inside of me- in my will to receive, within reason - this is what the Creator gives me as a condition, as preparation for this kind of data. So, those parameters above which I need to yearn to the opposite- to be contrary to these inclinations of mine, to reveal them all in reason. To be above reason meaning that I want to be in bestowal, I want to rise above my ego. I don't want to know and receive and feel in the way I normally do in my vessels. Rather in giving, in connection, above my ego this then will be called spirituality, in order to bestow, and I will discover what truly exists above my egoistic desire. It will be the Creator and the attitude of the Creator to the created being, that's what I'll discover.
Student: In what vessels does the feeling above the screen happen?
M. Laitman: In the intention, the intention to bestow, not in the vessels of the will to receive, but in the intention to bestow. Just like yesterday, we learned in TES, “The Study of Ten Sefirot,” there's a desire and there's an intention. We'll learn about it today, we'll probably continue it.
Question (PT 2): (11:13) You said in the beginning that instead of asking for the feeling inside of me, I have to ask to be in spirituality, to give, to bestow, then I'll be there. But who is me? It won't be me anymore.
M. Laitman: From within me, from within my desire for the time being I'm not scrutinizing who am I. It's my desire- so I don't want to receive spirituality in my desire. I want to be first in bestowal, in giving, on the other side of spirituality, adhered to the Creator, to the friends, disconnect from my will to receive. That should be my inclination, for me to rise to a higher degree, above the level of this world. Otherwise, I'll stay on the animate level.
Student: There's this confusion, I want to disconnect from me, it's confusing.
M. Laitman: It's because we are, there's two of us, there's the point in the heart, and there's the desire. I wish to work from the point in the heart, and I wish to raise it above my egoistic desire. The point in the heart that I have, this is the reason I yearn for spirituality, it's a godly part from above. I want to glue it to the place from which it came from, and then when I try, I ask through the friends to disconnect from my ego and to cleave to the upper one, and I'll be able to start working there with the desire, in attaching the point in the heart to the desire.
Question (Africa): (13:22) It's written in the text that the Creator enjoys the striking. Why this is specifically what the Creator enjoys? He's not said that he's enjoying when the men overcome, but it's specifically the striking between the thoughts that He enjoys. Why?
M. Laitman: Because these blows are the kind of blows that don't come to a person, but to the will to receive the Creator created. We need to distinguish, we need to divide ourselves into at least two parts. There's the “I,” which is the divine part from above, this is called the Adam, man in me, and there's the will to receive, which belongs to the animal in me, and I want to be above my animal. I want to ride the Hamor [donkey], the Homer [matter], and advance in this way. That's why in many instances in the Zohar and Kabbalah, you'll hear the story about a person riding a donkey. The donkey, the one who leads the donkeys. We need to not describe ourselves, relate not to the body, but to the soul. Soul is a divine part from above, it's bestowal.
Question (ITA 4): (15:07) What is the meaning, what do you mean when you say, work above the vessels of reception?
M. Laitman: Let's say, a mother who cares for a baby- she does it because her desire, her nature obligates her to do it. And we see it. We don't need to say to a mother, tell a mother to love her baby, to care for it. Rather, her nature obligates her. We need to come to a state where we care for what is outside of us, felt as friends, as all of humanity, the Creator. We need to come to it without our feeling an inclination towards it. We have no inclination towards it, but we have to develop in us such love, such an attitude, like from a mother to her baby.
Where does it come from? From our attitude to the Creator, from the point of the heart, which draws us to him, pulls us, but it pulls us egoistically. And we need to turn it into an altruistic form. And this is the work. But we have preparations in us because we gather those people who have some connection with the Creator. But a point of connection, what does it mean? Only the point of connection that doesn't explain to us the kind of connection we need to have. Because this is something we receive from above, the Kabbalists give us, in order to receive free choice. You want to come to the Creator, you want to bestow, you want to resemble the Creator. Go ahead, you need to develop your will to bestow on top of your will to receive. And that's how we gradually educate ourselves towards an act of bestowal until we come to the Creator and we are called Adam.
Question (MAK 2): (18:02) It's written here that a person has a screen, and he also supports it. So the feeling of the screen is as real as our hands’ movement or breathing?
M. Laitman: It's very simple. What is a screen? What does it mean? A screen means that I have a screen by which I can bestow to you. What does that mean? Very simple. That in my eyes you become more important than myself. That means that I have a screen. That's it. Importance. If you are more important than me, like a mother who is obligated by nature. It's not only with the mother, a woman. It's also with animals, beasts. Why does everyone in their animate world cares for their offspring? Because nature obligates. With us, nature does not obligate. I have a point of interest in the Creator- only that I wish to discover Him, but not in order to bestow to Him, to love Him. This I don't have. With a suitable environment I can bring myself to such a degree of importance that the Creator is important, the friends are important. It's worthwhile to disconnect from the importance of this world and enter the importance of the spiritual world, enter importance to bestow more than reception. This is the purpose of establishing the restriction in me. I don't wish to receive because it's more important for me to be in bestowal. This is done with the help of the environment and the reforming light. This is our work.
Question (Beer Sheva): (20:27) From your experience, it's difficult for us to understand that split between coming out of ourselves. Do you have any recommendations that will make it easier on us and the new friends to get this point from which we have to rise above the will to receive and work above reason?
M. Laitman: First of all, at least one more time a day you need to really listen to the lesson, because from one time hearing the lesson, when you hear it right now, you can't really absorb it. So I recommend take a piece of paper, or those who are not used to writing at all, they can use a computer, those as well, and listen to the lesson and write down the important things. Then check and see what did you write. Do you see a certain connection between them, certain logic, cause and effect? Why is it so, and so on. And then it will become clear to you you made the lesson. In Hebrew, lesson is not a lesson. Shiur [lesson] in Hebrew is also a certain measure, a portion, a certain quota that you swallow, and it enters you and gets digested in you. So try to do it like that. If you're asking when will we have it, what will happen- you'll see according to the way you absorb the lessons, or what do you have and what are you still lacking. Then we'll be able to advance more tangibly from lesson to lesson.
Question (Tbilisi): (22:50) Until we get a Masach [screen], can we work from within the point in the heart toward the quality of bestowal?
M. Laitman: The point in the heart exists in each and every person, in all people. Those who developed or did not develop it doesn't matter. If they belong to the human species, not animals, donkeys, horses, birds, it doesn't matter. If he belongs to humans, even the most primitive who lives in the jungle somewhere, it doesn't matter - he's got a point in the heart. The question is to what extent it awakens in him, or not.
In our times today, it awakens in many people around the world, and gradually they'll discover it, and we'll look for ways to fill the point in the heart, to develop it, and then they'll come. For this, we need to publicize ourselves all over the world, in all languages. So, we're advancing; those who have more of a point, less than a point, everyone's advancing. This is the entire asset we've accumulated from this life here within the framework of this world.
Question (Heb 10): (24:33) Can you explain why it's so important for you to get, to listen to the morning lesson again, to get the portion in the morning lesson? Why it's so important?
M. Laitman: In the morning lesson, I need to be connected to the Ten and through the Ten, with the Ten I wish to draw the reforming light so it will connect us a bit more compared to yesterday, and throughout such actions, such deeds, will come to a state where we will be connected internally, between all the points in the heart, to one point. Then we'll begin to discover that we're connected with the Creator- we'll have one point with the Creator attached to it, this will be a drop of semen, spiritual semen, from which we'll begin to develop as an embryo, a spiritual embryo, all of us together, with our 248 organs and 365 tendons. And that's how we'll develop, and we'll begin to feel in it various changes, and through these changes, through these parts, we'll begin to organize between us, we'll begin to discover between us the Creator, Bo Reh [come and see] how the connection system between us- this field is revealed. The connection, the all-inclusive place - this is the Creator that's how the revelation of the Creator should come to you, to me, to us.
Question (Baltia 1): (26:34) It is written in the text that after building the screen, it's important to strengthen that screen, how do we do it?
M. Laitman: We constantly yearn for more and more connection between us in order to give the Creator a place to be revealed, in order to give Him contentment through that.
Question (Kyiv 2): (27:05) In this excerpt, Rabash calls the Masach, a screen, a trial. Why?
M. Laitman: Every spiritual attainment is a test they give a person because he needs to pass this test- you know to bestow. Not in order to receive. And each time the tendency grows further. And in spirituality you cannot stand in place, you cannot rest or sit down, rather you constantly move forward. That's why it's called a test. But there are many tests we'll learn about it also in the Torah. Wherever it's written about those tests that everyone received- all of the protagonists in the Torah.
Question (MAK 2): (28:07) Regarding these thoughts that strike the screen, how should I relate to them? Should I silence them, overcome them, and strengthen the screen?
M. Laitman: I need to overcome all those thoughts, because they are sent to me, like all other instances in life so that I would rise above them in connection to the friends and to the Creator. This is called, that I'm going above reason. My reason is my state, what I see, think, feel, and I need to constantly rise above reason. Meaning for the sake of the Creator, the society, and bestow on everyone outside of me. In short this is the correct reaction to everything the Creator is arranging in me, each and every moment.
Reader: Excerpt number 39, “The Hizdakchut of the Masach.”
Reading: (29:20) 39. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 200. “The Hizdakchut of the Masach”
The Hizdakchut [thinning/purification] of the Masach [screen], which occurs in the Partzuf, causes the departure of the light, too. And the reason is that after the Tzimtzum [restriction], the light is captured only in the Kli [vessel] of the Masach, which is the rejecting force. And this is the essence of the Kli.When that Kli departs, the light departs, too. This means that a Kli is considered faith above reason. And then the light appears. When the light appears, its nature is to thin out the Kli, to cancel the Kli of faith. Because this is so, meaning that it comes into a form of knowing in him, the light immediately departs from him. Thus, he should see to increasing the Kli of faith, meaning the Masach over the knowing, and then the abundance will not stop from him.This is the meaning of each Kli being deficient of light, that it is not filled by the light that it lacks. It follows that every place of lack becomes a place for faith. If it were filled, there would be no possibility for a Kli, a place for faith.
M. Laitman: The very interesting thing, what he tells us here, Baal HaSulam writes. First of all, he says a spiritual vessel is called faith above reason. It's not the will to receive. The desire cannot be a vessel. It's the foundation over which we build the vessel. To resemble the Creator is possible, only if we build a force of bestowal above the desire. Faith above reason. Reason is desire, and faith is the force of bestowal above the desire, above reason. That's what we need to do. Consequently, it's not simply meaning the side principle of faith above reason. It's the essence of the spiritual Kli - bestowal above reception. Now, what is he saying?
M. Laitman (Source Text /Commentary): (32:04) Hizdakchut [the thinning] or purification of the screen, which occurs in the Partzuf , causes the departure of the light. When the screen is purified, the light departs. And the reason is, after the restriction, the light is captured only in the vessel of the screen, which is the rejecting force. This is the essence of the vessel, meaning the rejecting force that comes from the screen towards the upper light. Nice, good. It's felt, it's understood. I reject it. I don't just receive it. When it arrives, like the guest who receives various things from the host, various tasty morsels from the host, he does not receive it. So when that vessel departs, the light departs too. This means that a vessel is considered faith above reason. And then the light appears. If there is a rejection, and in that rejection, when I reject it from receiving directly, I build the vessel from that, and then the light appears according to the measure of my rejection, meaning the reflected light that I make. In that, I can receive the direct light that is clothed in the reflected light. And when the light appears, then it's nature. The light's nature is to thin the vessel, thin out the vessel, meaning to cancel the vessel of faith. Why? How come? I worked so hard on being in the vessel of faith, not to receive, only to bestow, only to reject. And now the light comes, and clothes, and appears, and by that it cancels my force of faith, my force of rejection. And because this is so, meaning that it comes into a form of knowing in him, the light immediately departs from him. Thus we should see, he should see, to increase the vessel of faith, meaning the screen over the knowing. And then, when I start to receive something, I need to immediately think how can I more and more develop this reflected light, this vessel of faith in me, since I want to bestow more and more. Otherwise, the light that comes and clothes in me will cancel the force of the screen, the force of restriction, the force of bestowal. And then, just like I'm sitting in front of the host, and I'm starting to eat for the sake of the host later these flavors grab me and obligate me to eat for myself, for my own sake. Then the abundance will not stop from him, if I relate to it in this way, where I constantly think of the host, and I demand the reflected light. And that's the meaning of each vessel being deficient of light, that it is not filled by the light that it lacks. It follows that every place of lack becomes a place of faith. Meaning, if I have the feeling of emptiness, a place of emptiness, I need to raise it in the light of faith, the light of Hassadim. However, if it were filled, this place, meaning in the light of Hochma, there would be no possibility for a vessel and a place for faith, and everything departs.
Question (Heb 10): (36:34) He seems to direct us less to labor, more to faith.
M. Laitman: We constantly have to worry about faith, reflected light- bestowal.
Student: So what does it mean that it says, “Know the Lord your God?” You don't need to know anything?
M. Laitman: “Know the Lord your God,” you will get to know it specifically when you develop a vessel of faith, a vessel of bestowal. Since when you're doing the act of bestowal, you'll know what the Creator does towards you. Adhesion happens not according to how much you receive from the Creator, but according to how much you make yourself similar to the Creator. Resembling the Creator is in faith above reason.
Student: So if a person wants to understand how the Creator tends to him, he has to bestow all the time, and by bestowing, he learns His ways?
M. Laitman: He constantly needs to think only of bestowal. And if fulfillment comes his way, fine, he doesn't reject the fulfillment, but he thinks only of bestowal, and the tendency towards bestowal will accompany him, teach him how to correctly relate to the fulfillment, that the fulfillment will be clothed in the force of bestowal. This means that the direct light is clothed in reflected light.
Question (Merkaz 1): (38:08) From what is faith made? What does it consist of?
M. Laitman: Faith is made of the egoistic will to receive, over which there is restriction, screen, and reflected light. And to the extent that the reflected light comes, this is the height, the size of your faith.
Question (Kyiv 1): (38:45) When we're connected in the Ten, we want to build this reflected light. What does that mean? In what way?
M. Laitman: It's a light that comes from the Creator, direct light appears according to reflected light. To the extent the vessel has faith above reason, meaning it rises in bestowal to the Creator, in that tendency to bestow to the Creator, the upper light comes and clothes in it. The host understands that the guest rejects, keeps himself from receiving. Then he helps the guest to be in bestowal, let him receive only for me. He's asking the Creator, “Do me a favor, take it, look how good this is, give me pleasure. Give me pleasure in this, and this, and that. Eat a little bit, do it, it'll be very pleasant for me if you do it.” Then the guest does it for the sake of the host, he's certain he's doing it for the sake of the host, he has to check himself to the extent he's taking something to his mouth, oh I have something here. If I take it, I have something here from a few weeks old, if I take it- this chocolate, and I eat it then I know that I'm not tasting the taste of chocolate. No, I wish to taste the taste of my bestowal to the Creator. How much the Creator enjoys when I do it for His sake.
So first of all, it turns out that the inner light that enters the vessel after the reflected light, mating and striking and clothing of direct light inside reflected light, and you get the inner light, when the guest feels it, it is made of many parts, many components.
There's a rejection of the host above what the Creator wants to give him, the extent to which the rejection of the host rejects the Creator- let's say restriction, then how much it understands that it has to receive from the Creator in order to bestow to Him and not to himself otherwise it will seem like a Klipa, a shell, how he develops his attitude in order to bestow and to give and how they clothe one another, direct light, reflected light, before the reception. This is called the Rosh of the Parzuf, the head, the reflected light from the guest clothes direct light from the host. How much I will receive from the host in order to feel that I'm giving to the host, and by that I give Him contentment. And I also need to begin to enjoy from what I receive from Him, there's dual pleasure here. Pleasure from giving to the host, and the host receives pleasure from me, but the host can receive pleasure in the condition that I receive from him and I enjoy what he's giving. So after the restriction I open up my will to receive, to enjoy that which I receive from the host, let's say that piece of chocolate, I need to enjoy it, otherwise the host will not enjoy it, but I now enjoy it in this wrapper that I have around the taste of the chocolate, with the greatness and importance of the host. And it turns out that I taste not the taste of chocolate, but 620 times more than what's actually in it, I'm tasting the spiritual flavors in it, in it I feel the host, my attitude towards him, our adhesion is all done as a result of the correct action, the correct calculation between the guest and the host.
Student: You just said amazing things, but my question is how, when the pleasure comes, do you see to the importance of the host?
M. Laitman: A person is under the restriction that he creates, and he maintains it, and he develops the attitude to the Creator from within the restriction.
Question (USA Northeast): (44:26) If in the preliminary thought are we capable of holding on this attitude until the end of the result which is to give Creator pleasure or how can this affect or how does it relate if we hold on to it and how we hold on to it?
M. Laitman: We need to try and perform the action as we just discussed. We make mistakes or we don't, it's like a baby who's shown how to eat properly. You've seen what's happening, he spills everything on the table, starts to eat from the table, starts to put it back into the plate with his hands and eat from the plate. It's clear. We are the same in spirituality- worse, but it's nice because we wish to resemble the Creator. We wish to connect to Him through that, and that's why it's so pleasing to Him. This is called bestowing, bestowing contentment to Him. Although our actions are spiritual either way, nevertheless we yearn. This yearning, these actions, they're extremely pleasant and dear to the Creator. As we see the baby who is trying to eat, looking at us and he's trying to emulate us. So try to do it you will see just how much contentment you gave the Creator, how much good you gave Him.
Question (Nikolaev-Sochi): (46:30) From what we've heard, it turns out that an action without an intention is an incorrect action. It's truly happening on the egoistic level, it's not aimed at faith above reason. The question is when I perform an action against my reason, it's not an action above reason. So what is it, how to check the intention since it's always egoistic?
M. Laitman: Let's say, I want to do something and then I decide to do the opposite. What for, why, who compels me, who benefits from it? I have to answer this. I often, many times in life I do things I don't want to, but I have no choice. I have to go to work, I have to do all kinds of things at home, in life, toward people. It's not regarded as doing it in order to bestow, it's what everyone does. It's because we all have to exist. So we relinquish a small ego before a greater ego. When I act towards spirituality there is no benefit here to my ego. If I am calculating now, it means I'm still in what is called Lo Lishma, not for Her sake. But I'm still approaching a state of wanting to really do it in order to bestow without any connection to me. And then I have to imagine what it means that I work for someone, or something, or not at all, for no one. This will be called for the Creator. We learn how to do it through the group. This is how we will gradually approach and see.
Question (New York 3): (48:59) You said that if the place is filled with light, there will not be any place for faith. Does it mean that the guest has an incorrect intention for receiving the pleasure for the host?
M. Laitman: No. If I performed, if I were in the right action and I wanted to do it in order to bestow, and I made the restriction, and I only want to work for the sake of the Creator, and I really exerted that it won't be for my own sake. I checked it in the group that I want to do it through the group, with the group, together. Now the question is, let's say, I get some response from the Creator. So how should I continue? What exactly were you asking? Repeat the question.
Student: In the article it says that if the place will be filled with light, there will be no room for faith. I want to understand if it means that the absence is the correct intention.
M. Laitman: No, no, no. If I perform the right operation through the group, to the Creator, and I received from Him some light, that light that comes to me cancels my vessel, because I am already in knowing. Even though I received it with faith above reason, it compels me to develop higher faith above reason. And that way the light comes and cancels my vessel. This is called causing the refinement, the Hizdakchut of the vessel. There was Galgalta, it was refined. AB, it's refined. SAG, it's refined. What does it come from? From working in order to bestow correctly, receiving inner light. And the inner light cancels the screen, and it creates a lesser and lesser and lesser screen each time. This is what we learn about the cascading from above downwards in the building of the worlds. But in building the soul, we will learn how to rise from below upward. We will learn it. Good questions. Correct ones.
Question (Turkiye 3): (51:49) I understand that the guest is getting close to landlord through faith. So when is the role of Hassadim starting?
M. Laitman: Hassadim [mercy] and faith are one and the same. Hassadim and faith are one of the same. It's the same force of bestowal.
Question (Moscow 4): (52:35) The restriction is an action by men or a result of the work of men on the importance of the friends?
M. Laitman: The restriction is a result of work with the friends. The Creator is within them, and gradually it operates on me and compels me, explains to me, it shows me how important it is to me to restrict my desire to receive for myself. Meaning thoughts for myself, desires for myself. They are mainly thoughts for myself. So I will not think of me, but only of the group and the Creator. This is a result of the influence of the Creator on me through the group. And this is how I come to it. I come to it through many desperations, falls, helplessness, disorientation. I don't know where I am, why it's like that after a long time, a long time. That's the way it is.
It's as Rabash tells me, that Baal HaSulam was very happy that he found a book that talked about the spiritual world with his teacher. Where he went to his teacher's house, he saw that there was a book there. He picked it up, looked at it, and saw that it was The ARI’s “Tree of Life.”” He didn't even know such a thing existed. He wanted to know so much, and all of a sudden his teacher walks in and says, “No, no, no, no, put it back.” But he already knew what it was about. He quickly went to town. His teacher was living in the village. So he went to town, he went back to Warsaw, went into a store and bought this book and thought that that's it, now everything will open up to me. And Rabash says, when he told me this, he said he didn't know it would take him 20 years before he would see and feel and understand what he's reading. That's the way it is. It's building the construction of the soul. It's a very complicated structure and therefore it takes time.
Question (Toronto 1): (55:39) It's written here that for that they needed to increase the vessel of faith, meaning to place faith above reason. What does it mean, screen above reason?
M. Laitman: It means that above knowing we want to spread over it the force of faith, bestowal. We don't know what it is yet. It seems to us like labor or something, like knowing is something that we can keep, it certain. And faith is something that's blurry and kind of disappearing in the air, but it's not so. We have to feel once what faith is and how that force, it's the force of the Creator. It's a force that is higher than the force of knowing because it is unlimited. And then we will understand that our relation to the word “faith,” to the power of faith, stems from our beastliness in this world.
Question (MAK 6): (57:06) How in the Ten can we constantly worry about developing faith and remain in reason?
M. Laitman: Only through connection between you. There is nothing else. You have all the literature, everything is translated, recorded, arranged and organized. It all depends on you. Try in the group, mainly in the connection between you, to build the conditions for the revelation of godliness.
Question (Moscow 6): (57:46) How are we receiving this opportunity above from the Creator? Is it possible or is it personal work?
M. Laitman: It will become clarified bit by bit the more you connect among yourselves and feel that you can cancel, remove the partitions between you and the Creator, that are yearning for the Creator in the Ten. We want these yearnings, these inclinations, to connect them. We don't annul before each other. No, it's like a bouquet, like a bouquet. You have many kinds of plants there, and we only put them together. And that's why this is how we need to connect, to strengthen one another. And it will happen. But what's important is to cancel the partitions between us.
Question (PT 5): (59:22) On the one hand, we learn that the spiritual vessel is a reflected light. It's an intention to bestow, my tendency to bestow above my reception for myself. On the other hand, we learn that reflected light is not a true vessel, it's only the roots of the vessels.
M. Laitman: The reflected light still needs to connect to the will to receive. For now, it only rises above the will to receive, to the host. And the real vessel, when the reflected light returns and dresses in that vessel, in the desire of the vessel, and then the desire of the vessel with the reflected light that covers it from within, becomes the place of the revelation of the Creator, what is called inner light.
Question (Moscow 5): (01:00:32) What's the difference between experience and the vessel of knowing and how they work together?
M. Laitman: What is the difference between experience and knowledge? Through experience, when we want to increase it, intensify it, we come to know. But this experience is related to bestowal, to connection, to all kinds of states we go through until we get to the right vessel of knowing. The purpose of creation is to know, “Know the Lord your God and serve Him.” That's what it says. In other words, the vessel of faith is a condition for us by which we can resemble the Creator, reveal the Creator. But when He is revealed, we come to know. And Adam knew Eve, his wife. We come to Zivug De Hakaa, to coupling by striking with the Creator. It's a connection, a mutual connection. “I for my beloved and my beloved is for me.”
Reader: Excerpt number 40 from Rabash, “The Importance of Recognition of Evil.”
Reading: (01:02:07) 40. Rabash. Article 2 (1987), “The Importance of Recognition of Evil”
The work that is the preparation to enter true spirituality. That is, when he takes upon himself to believe in the importance of the Creator above reason, he must take upon himself that he wants to go specifically with faith above reason. Even though he was given the reason to see the greatness of the Creator within reason, he prefers faith above reason due to “because of the honor of the Creator, conceal the matter.”This is regarded as wanting to go above reason. Precisely then he becomes a Kli [vessel] that is fit to receive spirituality, since he has no concern at all for himself, but all his intentions are only to bestow upon the Creator. For this reason there is no longer fear that should he be given some illumination it will go into the vessels of reception, since he is always trying to exit self-love.
M. Laitman: Something very special happens here. It comes in order to elevate a person to a higher degree. He made the Kli of faith, bestowal above his ego. It's called above reason. He wants to bring bestowal, like the Creator, to Him, he to the Creator as well. And he discovers His relation to the Creator, and the Creator's relation to him. And here the question is, does he want to receive it in his vessels or not? If he receives it in his own vessels, it means he's lowering Himself from above reason to within reason, from faith to knowing. Not knowing in faith, but knowing in his own place, in his vessels of reception. And then, of course, a person must remain on the level of faith. That is to say, I am in bestowal upon the Creator, although the Creator gives me every possibility to be in vessels of knowing.
Say, with that example of the thousand dollars in an envelope. I received these thousand dollars in the envelope because the Creator wants me to receive it. I receive it, so either I don't check it completely, or I do check it. Or what do I do with it? If I check and see a thousand dollars, it's called faith within reason. Reason and faith are the same. If I don't check it, I remain in faith above reason. But by this, I didn't advance. If I open the envelope, and I see that instead of a thousand dollars, there's, for example, one dollar there, and I accept it as if it's a thousand dollars. And I raise myself to the level of “they have eyes and do not see.” And by that, I'm rewarded with a higher degree. Meaning, to the extent that I'm constantly between reason and faith above reason, I constantly rise higher to the form of bestowal and adhesion with the Creator. Right now, we don't understand it. I feel this on you. But really, this is the means, the lever that can elevate us to higher and higher degrees each time.
Question (PT 32): (01:06:55) Even a small illumination comes, there's a feeling that you simply fall into it, and that's it. You can't overcome it. How to do it? How to correctly realize this experience?
M. Laitman: I'm very happy to hear this from you, because you were always confident of your intellect. And now, you already experienced that you can't deal with it, cope with it. That's correct. Now, what you need is only to be included with the environment. The influence of the environment is still deficient. Try to come to the morning lesson in a way that you are uncertain, you don't know, you don't understand, you don't feel, and you don't know what to do. And start being included, mingle with the friends in the half hour of preparation that you have before the lesson. You will see how much power you get from it, how much understanding and feeling you get from it. Suddenly, something opens up to you to feel differently, to think differently. It's not some sedative or tranquilizer. It's something that opens your mind and your heart. What does it come from? From being included in a bigger vessel than your own. This is how we should advance. You'll see how it'll help you. You can do it.
Question (PT 25): (01:08:42) I want to clarify about the difference between the desire that is filled, to be filled before the restriction and the screen, and the desire that is filled later with the reflected, the inner light. What's the difference between these two vessels? Is it the same vessel or a different one?
M. Laitman: It's something completely different, completely different. A vessel in which I'm ready only to enjoy for myself, to receive something according to my desire, or a vessel in which I want to satisfy, to fill the Creator that's according to His level, to the extent that I expand my vessel in terms of height, to the extent that you respect Him, bless Him, exalt Him in your eyes, to that extent you fill Him, and to that extent you also become filled yourself. What does it mean to be greater by 620 times? It is when you prepare this Kli, that you prepare to fill the Creator, basically from zero.
Student: Is there any point when we need to overcome direct light? Is there any point in increasing the importance of the pleasure that could be received after the work, or simply grow the importance of the Creator and the friends?
M. Laitman: Right, you said it right, of the friends, the friends. Try it. You're sitting together with the friends, as you're sitting together with the friends, if you become a little bit annulled before them and feel their importance, they are important to you to attain the Creator, to feel the Creator, you will see that you have a bigger Kli. Only by this do you grow. From one to zero, from one to zero. That's how you rise each time.
Student: So, don't look at the difference in the pleasure that could be received between before and after, but to look and to work only on the greatness of the friends. The engine is not the difference in pleasure?
M. Laitman: Look at the difference in the pleasure and how the pleasure was corporeal, and with the friends, it's spiritual. You'll see each time. And it doesn't matter what degree we're in, the pleasure alone is always corporeal, and with the friends it’s spiritual.
Reader: So, let's connect with the friends. Six minutes of the workshop.
Song: (01:17:48)