Part 2 Baal HaSulam - Shamati 154
Reading 154 (00:12) There Cannot Be an Empty Space in the World
1.R. (02:50) In other words there are plenty of desires but our problem is to scrutinize which is harmful for us and which is good for us and that is the work we need to do. This is what he saying. We have to try to have a desire which is all the substance of creation and that desire should be scrutinized right? Nature is that an animal feels what is harmful to it. Look at animals and how they know what to eat, what not to eat or drink when and when not to. For them it's all directed by nature. They do not make mistakes. As it is written. 'An animal does not make mistakes' and people need to check in and come to a state where they know exactly what is bad and what is good and by this they elevate themselves to the animate level, from the animate level to the speaking level. Precisely by having no scrutiities, just like a baby. Look at the baby, he takes everything and puts it in his mouth he doesn't care what it is. An animal would not do that. We have to approach all our actions in the same way and scrutinize everything on the human level. On the human level. Read it again.
Reading 154 (04:25) There Cannot Be an Empty Space in the World
2. R. (05:45) In other words, scrutinize all of the desires and choose out of them those that direct us towards the human level.
3. S. (05:56) How can we synchronize our internality with a Creator since each one has his own desires or how can we synchronize all of this with the Creator?
R. If you work on the connection between you, you will have no problems. Also to achieve connection with a Creator you will understand through the efforts in the interconnection between you, how to achieve connection with the Creator. Scrutinize from the problem that appear between you to what extent you repeal, you criticize, you are in all kinds of states and you want to connect them and organize them and yes or no and as a result you'll begin to discover that you are not organizing the states between you but you're actually scrutinizing what is between you and the Creator.
S. Thank you, so the most important is the goal and the rest will be resolved along the way?
R. Yes. The main thing is the goal, through our connection to come to connection with the Creator. Imagine that you have some sort of instrument that you need to, to tune it, to direct it towards some direction but you can do it only on the condition that all the pieces work together and not each of them go in a different direction but each of them will join together through mutual work, mutual connection so the more they join together they become directed more towards what is called the Creator. The Creator doesn't exist. He is called Bo Re, come and see, to the extent that you connect among you, you'll discover that the Creator is before you or within you. This is what you will discover.
S. Can you say that it is like a sculptor that wants to build a certain sculpture? Is this the direction we are going?
R. Yes.
4. S. (08:45) Beforehand we talked about the fact that in spirituality no one has the desire so it turns out that we have to create the desire it is ours?
R. Yes, because the desire for spirituality is a desire to bestow, to love, to give, which we do not have. Yes?
5. S. (09:13) What does it mean what Baal HaSuluam says here but rather one should try to have the desire? What is the effort to have a desire?
R. Effort from within the point in the heart that each one of us has. We have to develop through the work between us so that all in all we will have a desire for mutual bestowal and from it bestowal upon the Creator.
S. If I may also, He writes here that we must take note to be meticulous with it that the desire will be for something. What is this effort?
R. To constantly want to do it, to uphold it.
6. S. (10:04) KI have two questions. First questions. What does it mean that we choose the desires which are on the degree of Adam, man and human desires?
R. Adam, man is one who wants to resemble their Creator and if you choose nearing the Creator it means we want to work with desires on the human level. If we work with desires that are less than on the level of man then we are on the level of the beast.
S. How can I choose my desires? You said that we need to develop the desires and choose the ones that are on the human level. How can I choose my desires?
R. We learned in today's article, a previous article, that we have no desires for spirituality. This is why we need to develop them from scratch. All of the desires that can be in you are desires for corporeality and therefore you have no choice but to, but only to go together with everyone and direct everyone together with you to mutual bestowal and out of this you will scrutinize the force that special force that will become clearer and clearer to you what is the force of besotwal and that will be the spiritual force that you will begin to build in this way through the connection between you.
7. S. (12:20) You just recommended for us to scrutinize out of the connection between us, out of the criticism that we have between us, what is between us and the Creator. The question comes from this, when you say what is between us and the Creator, we have our ego. Is there anything else?
R. We do not need to scrutinize anything besides the force of connection between us and what interrupts or disrupts our connection.
8. S. (12:57) When you speak about the human level, the level of bestowal in our ten, what does it mean to scrutinize this desire?
R. The desires that can be directed towards the Creator, we want to sort them, increase them and direct them together from all of us to the Creator. All of the other desires, we leave them, we drop them, this is waste. We sort out only those desires that we need in order to achieve connection between us and the Creator.
9. S. (13:55) I still do not understand the difference between corporeality and spirituality. If we say that we need to raise all of the desires to the human level to the degree of Adam, what is the animate degree in relation to that?
R. Animate is what you have now, still, vegetative, and animate are the desires in which you love now. In the desires for the speaking level, the human level, our desires from you to the Creator. They can come from you to the Creator only through the friends. When you connect with them you can direct yourselves together toward the Creator and it is not you from corporeality from your corporeal desire. Rather you,from your desires to connect to the spiritual desire which you build. You build the Creator out of the desires you create through the connection between you.
S. If I may continue I simply feel that even in the still, vegetative ,and animateI I also do not know how to conduct myself. I don't feel what is it?
R. Ok, but there everything is open before you.
S. I feel stuck in between so what should I do?
R. I do not know, if you are stuck then you need to to scrutinize which is more important and which is not. Some people are stuck in this world and this is not regarded as being in spirituality.
S. Sometimes we say that there is no corporeality and everything is spiritual so it is not clear yet what makes something spiritual?
R. The forcesis in order to bestow are spiritual. Forces in order to receive our corporeal. That is it.
S. What do you mean by forces ?
R. Forces, a force. If you act from yourself outwards to the benefit of others, this is called spiritual. If you act from anything that you can imagine towards yourself, to understand, to feel, to do, this is corporeal.
S. That is my question, so anything that I can do, I can actually do it in a spiritual way?
R. You don't want spirituality. First you need to connect with the friends and in the connection between you, scrutinize the relationships, scrutinize what it means to bestow upon the friends and from this it will be clear to you what is the desire to bestow and with it you can continue to the Creator. This is called the 'love of people to the love of the Creator'.
S. Then everything becomes bestowal and then there is no longer corporeality.?
R. There is corporeality but it is separate from spirituality.
S. How is it different? In that your desires to receive for yourself or the family for all kinds of things this is corporeality and desires but where you want to connect to others in order to, together with the others bestow upon the Creator, this is spirituality.
S. Those desires to receive for myself will always stay this way, they will not change, they will not be corrected?
R. We will see you later. This is not what it talks about. It talks first of all about how we relate to the Creator.
10 S. (17:46) Sometimes we are facing a state where we fall asleep. We can be in the morning last and we can be in the ten meetings but suddenly I feel that I lose my desire for spirituality. I am not only losing, I am forgetting. In this period of descent with zero consciousness, how can we build some sort of defense mechanisms to awaken us from the descent,from the sleep?
R. Only the group, it is written about it, either a society or death. That is it, because it all depends on your connection with the friends. If the friends want to keep you in whatever state, if they want to keep you in the group it will happen. If they do not want you, you will fall and die.
S. I want to continue to question from a question before, I want to ask something more specific. As much as I understand when I devote my whole life to spirituality. the only purpose of my life becomes spirituality and everything I do to stay alive is actually also for spirituality. I'm eating, I'm sleeping and I'm taking care of my family and everything automatically becomes spiritual because I live for spirituality. Can we say it in this way?
R. Let's put some order between us now, and talk about it. What is exactly spirituality and what is corporeality?
WORKSHOP- (20:16) What exactly is spirituality and corporeality?
11. S. (24:11) Is a person always in a spiritual desire or in a corporeal desire and never in both of them simultaneously?
R. It is impossible to be in both, if we scrutinize correctly you're always in one desire.
12. S. (24:32) How is it possible to choose desires for spirituality and throw away desires for corporeality?
R. It depends on the importance of the environment. Usually a person is very influenced by the environment, we studied it in several articles and therefore it all depends on the environment. Through the environment a person scrutinizes what he wants, corporeality, spirituality, and what exactly, what kind of spirituality, what kind of corporeality, it all comes from the environment. We also need to see in this world how we grow in whatever environment we grow it formats us.
13. S. (25:16) It is written that one who is devoid of these desires is considered dead. What is the state of dead that Baal HaSulam writes about, what is it intended for?
R. If a person has no desire for spirituality he is considered dead.
14. S. (25:41) Questions about the article. There is a difference between corporeality and spirituality. If the force of desire can only be attained by prayer how can we acquire such a force of prayer in order to achieve the required force of desire?
R. We have to determine between us and the groups and alone that I turn to the Creator even according to what is written in Psalms or perhaps some books or articles of Kabbalists, how to turn to the Creator and accordingly I turn to him and if I do not know what to do then I take any article and read it and and go over it and in this way I nevertheless with these things I turn to the Creator. It is already a prayer.
15. S. (26:33) Does this article say that in corporeality the Creator first determines the action in spirituality, He also first determines the action?
R. You can say that, yes.
16. S. (26:51) According to the article it turns out that spirituality always obligates us to perform an action above reason, because we do not have the strength before the action, is that correct?
R. You can say it. In spirituality we never have the strength to perform the act, we do not even, we cannot even know what is the act and what is the goal, for everything we need to ask.
17. S. (27:23) It is written that then we have to begin the work before we attain the strength, the power. Which power? Can we say this is the force of receiving in order to bestow?
R. Before we see the goal, before we receive the strength for it we have to begin, simply begin, and then as a result the strength will come, the direction, and everything but the person has to start.
18. S. (28:00) Should we be aware of the fact that we have to be a channel, a pipeline of the Creator desires, and because of that we first to operate, and only then our faith completes the desire?
R. We need to act with what we have and ask the Creator to complement what is missing, and then if we need the power of faith he will add it, and if we need the power deficiency he will add, He should add everything. As long as we constantly are dependent on him more and more all the time, both for making the vessel, and for making the correction on the vessel, and fulfilling it.
19. S. (28:50) When there is no power to disseminate is that corporeal or spiritual?
R. It is hard to say, in between.
20. S. (29:02) Are these states related to the prayer and which result of the prayer should we see in order to realize that the prayer was accepted?
R. We need to see that the prayer was accepted, very simple, to demand more and more like a little child who demands and demands and demand until he receives. So this is what we need. Until it is revealed.