Morning Lesson November 28, 2021, Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences from audio
Part 1:
Baal HaSulam - Shamati 208 Labor
1. Rav’s Introduction: Yes, we have before us two short articles to study from and another article, in short there is material to learn from. No problem which article we start with.
Shamati 208 (01:07) Twice: Labor
2. R. It means that the person needs to accept the degree as a new world as if there is nothing outside of it and that degree that is revealed relative to the person, is actually his entire world and it is as if he is replacing forms, images and worlds. It is only in the condition that he wants to receive this new thing by adhering himself to this new state with heart and soul and this is how he acquires each time new spiritual degrees. That is why the exertion has to be such that he can deliver himself with a greater adhesion, greater effort to see the new degree as something that comes to him, comes towards him and he has to accustom himself to be in this tendency toward the new degree so that he opens himself up to this new state this is called soul devotion. Every degree begins with the Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, Yechida so he delivers himself to a new Nefesh, a new soul that is revealed from a new degree on the ladder of degrees, this is our entire work. Each time we need to feel that we are coming to a new degree, a new degree of devotion and truly a new world and I try with my effort not to remain in my previous state even if everything is erased but only to be in a new degree and adhere to it with my heart and soul and this is how we acquire the new state. We come each time to a new degree. Rabash wrote this down as an article, these two sentences and it is indeed a great matter because this is how we need to feel ourselves, that we are willing to lose everything we’ve got and have a new start a new beginning and this is how we advance, meaning we have to have a preparation inside of us. Whereby we are drawn towards something new, we are willing to lose ourselves for the sake of the new degree, of the new state, a new kind of giving. I don't really care what was or what is, the main thing is we want to be in devotion to new things that are being revealed.
3. S. (05:45) Why do we need the preparations of efforts before devotion? Why can't we come to devotion right away?
R. Anything that works is working on top of my devotion where I have to rise above my ego and deliver myself to a new state in bestowal, to rise from reception to bestowal in everything that is revealed before me. To rise from the egoistic state to a state of bestowal, an altruistic state, this is considered devotion, when I devote myself to the new state. I do not want to remain in the previous state where each time it has to be new in your eyes, as it says. We need to understand that we need to get accustomed to and we need to walk this way and therefore whatever was, in any moment, I wish to be switching the states, as we learn how Kabbalists told us that the states change for them many times. Sometimes even during one minute, where is it coming from, from my work to accustom myself to be in devotion towards the new thing that is revealed and every time it is revealed, it is revealed in a state of a new degree, a new state, something that is against my ego. Therefore it is not so important to me that what I’m in, but most important is where I am headed and I am not looking at what was yesterday. I do not want to return to yesterday's state even though it could have been the most pleasant and highest state possible, I want a new state even though it appears as darkness, something that is not pleasant to my will to receive, for me it is important.
S. Is a sign for devotion that I feel that I pay a price in my desire to receive?
R. Of course I pay. There is no doubt I subjugate my will to receive, I do not want to be in it, I want to overcome it, I want to be in adhesion to the group, to the Creator. I want to disconnect from “I,” from myself, to peel myself off from my previous state and transfer myself to a new state and into this new state. I can transfer nothing except for this position towards devotion, to devote myself to this new tendency and this is the matter of labor, this is where the labor is. As much as I want to come out of the previous state, however pretty it was or how beautiful it was in my understanding or in my feeling, it does not matter. I wish to find my own line, meaning nothing matters to me except this new spiritual state, it needs to be more in bestowal, more coming out of my own self.
4. S. (09:49) How do I express my devotion in practice on the next spiritual step?
R. This is practically and devotion to the ten. Don’t look at the ten as a collection of your friends faces but look at what the Creator is presenting to you, as something you need to love, something with which you need to connect, the goal of the group, the devotion of the group. You need to devote yourself to them, to adhere to them, work with your will to receive so that the goal and the intention of the group would be what pulls you forward. Simply disconnect from yourself and enter into the group, by this you enter the state of Ibur conception as an embryo in his mother's womb. What does he do, he’s annulled because nature annuls him but we need to try and do this by ourselves and if we can’t, we should pray to the Creator to do it.
5. S. (11:35) I did not understand what it means to cancel the previous state, what do we actually need to do?
R. To cancel the previous state meaning that you are ready to not remain in the same form, the same picture, the same frame that you are in right now but you are willing to enter a new frame, new relationships, new revelation anything that will mean that you are more in bestowal. Even if you don’t have a natural inclination towards it. You want it to happen, to acquire a new nature and there’s before you from the breaking of the general vessel of Adam HaRishon, you have an example of society, so the more you cleave to them as we read the Rabash articles about the friends and to see the friend as standing on my way to the Creator and by cleaving to Him I reveal the Creator. All of those things we have to do practically, we already learned those things and that’s the case, we need to renew them. You have time here and there during the day, try to leaf through those articles and see what you already know about those articles and what you are already implementing.
6. S. (13:29) It looks from the article that it is all about achieving devotion and it looks that they do not achieve let's say higher goals, why is it so important this goal, this devotion? What is actually this devotion, how do we achieve this?
R. We need to be prepared to accept anything that comes from above to the group as the upper most thing and we wish to cleave to it meaning greater adhesion to the group in mutual bestowal between me and the friends to such an extent that from this labor of ours I discover the concept of the Creator, the essence of the force of bestowal which is the Creator. This is how I am trying to build Him, you have made me, in our tendency to connect ourselves to one heart as one man with one heart so we reach the state where we build in the group the image of the Creator. That's why they say that the Creator is what we discover in the center of the ten.
S. What does it come from this so-called force of devotion, who gives us this?
R. By looking at each other, the friends and by trying to see how each one is small relative to the group and he appreciates the friends more than himself, as much as possible on the one hand. On the other hand he is asking, he is constantly in a prayer to the Creator, to help him to practically connect with the friends, and this way the person gradually comes to a state where he tries to feel the upper force that’s working on him. It all depends on your persistence as much as we can apply this pressure, which is called knocking on the door of repentance, that we wish to enter this doorway into spirituality.
7. S. (16:40) How thanks to devotion can I go into a new state?
R. By striving to annul my ego, not to remain in my personal calculations relative to the group, to the Creator, and in general I do not want to live in them. Only to the extent that I am in this world making a living and all the rest I do not want to be connected in any way to this reality, the reality of this world. I am building for myself a new reality, an additional reality and later I can see how much they clothe upon one another, how much I am able to be in a higher relationship that appears to me. Soul devotion is that instrument that device by which we arise from one degree to another. When I have to rise to a higher degree in my understanding, in my awareness, in my knowledge, in my feeling, in everything. What do I do? I have to devote myself to this new degree which is beyond my feeling and be prepared to receive it as openly as possible. This is called soul devotion.
S. You made a clear boundary between being in this world and everything else that I have to give up for this next degree. And all of the work that is happening I need to sort out between these two sides or completely aspire toward connection with the friends?
R. On this it says that make your Torah permanent and your work temporary. Make your Torah permanent meaning that you constantly feel how to start to feel the new degree, the new state, a state of greater bestowal, greater connection adhesion with their friends and the Creator. This has to be permanent and the rest of the things connected to this world, this is called temporary, the world that is coming and going. In this way we have to gradually more and more highlight and emphasize our connection to the ten and in the feeling of bestowal and connection to the Creator, to the next world that is coming, and this is how we need to tie ourselves more and more. Which is why there is the matter of exertion, there is a matter of devotion. Although I am in a certain state at a certain level I wish to be devoted to the next degree and in this way, I am rewarded with it. And the attitude to this new state is called devotion. I wish to leave my entire attitude to the current state and go to the new feeling, which is a feeling of bestowal, giving, connection. And this is why it is called devotion.
8. S. (20:58) If a person is in a prayer and he receives a response the prayer itself changes the person?
R. Yes if a person is in a constant prayer seemingly talking to the Creator, that changes him, guides him, directs him.
9. S. (21:30) Can you explain to our ten how devotion in working in the ten is a practical way to overcome the ego?
R. It is like an embryo inside the mother because he is devoted to her without any criticism, only one single thing, to adhere to his mother, and although the upper force does all these things to us, we have to try, not to do it by ourselves but to be prepared. Of course the work the Creator does, this is why our work is called the work of the Creator. But we have to show our willingness towards it. To the extent we change ourselves to be prepared for this upper degree, the Creator will take us to this higher degree according to our willingness.
10. S. (22:58) Is there any difference between devotion to the ten, to the teacher and to the Creator or is it the same thing on different degrees?
R. Of course there is a difference but for me, for now it is not that important. The important thing is that before me there is the higher degree in my devotion to the group, to the teacher who sets the direction to the other conditions of connection and this is what I deliver myself to, this is what I devote myself to, I want to be in it. I simply play with it and indeed this is how they call this a game, but this game is very serious, it is what takes us to a higher degree since this game is an expression of our desire, raising the prayer.
11. S. (24:07) How can we express devotion in the ten in the state of a fall?
R. We express our devotion in the ten by doing everything in agreement with the friends for the sake of trying to be adhered to them, to have a general group decision relative to the Creator. That all of our actions, everything that we say or we study when we meet twice a day this way, we approach the next degree.
S. But what happens when we fall? How do we express it in the state of fall?
R. When you are down or the friends are down?
S. When I fall?
R. When you are down you have to nullify to the friends and pray and cry to them. This is it you have no forces, when you are down it means that you have no forces of bestowal, no desire, no strength, you are powerless, what can you do. I need to cry, seemingly, because falling into the state of Katnut, smallness, I want to turn that state into a new elevation, this is not only that I am small but when I fall, I don't actually ever fall, there is no going down in spirituality. It is just appearing to us in our feelings but the elevation to the next degrees starts like this so it looks that I do not have any strength and forces us to do it. There is a new degree before me and I do not know what to do with it and then I feel powerless, helpless without that means to conquer it and so on. The fall is not a fall, it is the beginning of a new degree, as we say that there was evening, there was morning one day. Everything starts with that night, the night is the preparation of the vessel and when we finish preparing the vessel then that light comes which is already the daytime.
12. S. (27:15) How can you describe the difference between devotion and working above reason?
R. It is the same that portion of working in faith above reason, is devotion.
S. So is the topic of devotion the work that is done by the vessels of reception in order to build a good environment to set an example for the friends?
R. When I am willing to nullify my ego to the friends I am working in devotion.
13. S. (28:09) In the Preface when the degrees go down there is a record from a previous state so what does it mean here in terms of getting accustomed to devotion, can I get used to something like this by impression from previous states, how does it work?
R. Yes, the person is constantly in this state of devotion, constantly ready to change his state with a higher state of bestowal.
S. But what is this that gives the person this opportunity to rise each time because he forgets each time?
R. That is according to the degree of devotion in the group that through this point of devotion in the group he absorbs the power from the study and everything that develops and he rises and rises.
S. So how can we keep this grip all the time?
R. It is constantly a feeling that the person is opening himself to a new thing, in bestowal, love and connection and the giving and everything that has to do with the spiritual inclination.
S. Including from the state when he does not feel like that?
R. When he does not feel like this then he makes himself an embryo, seemingly shuts himself into the womb of the group so he does not use his desire to receive and he is waiting, this is also devotion, that's why the lowest degree is called Nefesh.
S. So in this state what is he holding onto?
R. By keeping his state of restriction the main thing is to be as a drop of semen into the higher degree when the person closes his desire to receive, he restricts himself and he becomes a simple point like a drop.
S. And then the group raises him, this is what gives him the strength?
R. Yes, to the extent he is adhered to the group he raises himself with the group because the group does not have its own state but seemingly how much the person ascribes to it. To the extent he appreciates the group, the group can be bigger and stronger, raising him to a higher degree. There is no permanent depiction for the group but relative to each and every person according to his nature and the degree of nullification.
14. S. (31:33) What is the thing that prevents us most from achieving devotion?
R. Lack of attention to the connection between us and the tendency to a higher degree, a higher degree of connection at a more internal connection, this is what is holding us back.
S. How do we identify the opportunity to be in devotion?
R. This opportunity exists every moment before us, everything depends on the person, that is nothing in spirituality has to be constructed especially for you but it exists the ladder of degrees is already built from Ein Sof, from the end and of correction to us so we can rise up to the end of correction from here.
S. So how can I identify in the present state of the actions I have to do that takes me to devotion?
R. The Sages write about it to connect and appreciate the friends, appreciate the group, pray together, with the group to the Creator, do all those actions, what does Rabash write about the group, read it and implement it.
15. S. (33:05) What does the person feel in the state of devotion?
R. He nullifies to the ten, nullifies to the Creator, he is inside the ten and in his nullification to the ten and to the Creator that is in the ten, he feels himself as an embryo and that is exactly the correct picture of the upper degree he enters. We are already in this we just need more and more to persist in depicting this state as a living state.
16. S. (34:06) What is the difference between devotion and self-nullification?
R. The self-nullification is when I nullify myself in the correct state, soul devotion when I nullify myself to the state that I want to enter, that I want to have. Nullification is simply restriction, it does not say anything about my tendency or purpose or goal and when I nullify, I already begin to feel this new portrayal of myself.
17. S. (35:08) How to achieve devotion when friends in the ten are at different levels of the greatness of the Creator?
R. It does not matter, both the little ones and the great ones, just like in our world that there are billions of people who are in different forms of connection between them but together with that, they all live in a single world. There is no problem, we learn and we teach everybody the same method, the same wisdom of Kabbalah, the same articles, the same exertion. The only question is, can each one realize it in the way it was given to him, can he implement it in practice. The devotion of each and every person is within his reach and it does not depend on the group it is within his reach, like Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma was great but his students were small but to the extent nullifies to the friends he can rise higher and higher in the degrees although he was completely in spirituality and his students were tiny, they just started to learn the wisdom of Kabbalah, it does not matter. The important thing is the person's effort, the internality attained by connecting the people they attain internality. The friends can be big or small, it does not matter, if we have more or less a single direction, one trajectory of development it is ok. The Creator brings into one group and here we can develop to the end of correction everything depends on us.
18. S. (37:16) Does every new degree require a new treatment, does this mean that new level of emptiness?
R. Of course, in each degree there is a new degree of devotion, new exertion, the difference is quantitative and qualitative.
19. S. (37:42) To whom do I devote my soul myself to the ten or to the Creator?
R. Through the group to the Creator who resides in the ten.
20. S. (37:56) Do I need to know what is the new degree in order to rise to it?
R. I cannot recognize the new degree before I rise and climb to it, but in order to do this I need my devotion. I need to devote myself to it, not to penetrate it with my desire to receive because it's not going to give me anything only when I deliver my soul, I devote my soul, I nullify myself and I'm willing to accept the conditions of the new degree. I need to connect with their friends, I adhere to what the Kabbalists are saying as much as I am capable, that all brings me to the spiritual degree.
21. S. (38:52) Does every person have the ability to nullify?
R. Each and everybody each and everybody. Of course there is a difference between people, how much they are drawn to something, how much they want it and they are capable of it. There is a difference between the amount of the strength they have, one has more power, there are those with less power, it doesn’t mean that they are closer and more distant. It is possible the Creator doesn’t give a person power because it is good for him to keep the person next to him in request. There are those who receive their forces to progress but it does not mean that they are any closer to the Creator, there are all kinds and we do not understand about our degrees yet. What is good to the person the best thing for the person is not to pay attention but to do what depends on him, what is required from him.
22. S. (40:13) Is this the skill of self-annulment, when we go from one degree to the next degree?
R. There are such degrees between the degrees that are such states when everything disappears when the person has to go through from one degree to the next by jumping through, over an abyss and true cessation. We do this because in it there is the group, the study, dissemination, the world at large, this is why we never fully disconnect but instead through all these alternative forms we can nevertheless connect to the next degree. Although we ourselves, we are not capable of being there so it could be in this case that the embryo, it is the mother that develops him or the group that develops him, we will learn these things.
23. S. (41:25) How can I identify, what is the new degree to which I devote myself?
R. You cannot yet and you should not even try to work on this, it only will confuse the person. We want to be in only one thing in greater adhesion with the group and depicting the Creator in the group and by that we reach adhesion and from this we rise to the next degree.
24. S. (42:02) What are the expressions of devotion in the ten?
R. When I can cling to each state with my eyes shut as long as I am connected with the friends and the Creator that is in the friends and how I imagine this.
25. S. (42:27) Why after the person makes all the efforts in devotion and reaches a new degree it is feeling like a remedy, something that he was given that he was not worthy of it?
R. We always feel this way then it is gradually replaced by a feeling of impediment that we deserve more. It is always like that we either feel up or down in a degree, I feel I do not deserve it and later I feel I do deserve it and why didn't I get more. These are all stages we have to go through because the desire to receive is divided into degrees and sub degrees and then each and every degree we have to do our work. Then we have pros and cons for each degree but we go through all of it. We are already in it but we have to pay attention more and the main thing is the connection with the friends, because without connection we have nothing, no possibility of leaving the current state and reaching the new state.