Morning Lesson August 27, 2021 Transcription
Part 2:
Baal HaSulam, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, #18
https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/sources/kB3eD83I?language=en
R. 1. (00:25) We are learning here the fundamentals, technical fundamentals if you can call it this way for what’s happening to us because nevertheless the wisdom of Kabbalah it's a wisdom, because it speaks of the desire, the force and forces are the foundation of all of reality, of nature. We have the force of reception, the force of bestowal and everything that is happening between them. The force of bestowal is the first force, the force of reception is the second force that comes out as opposite to the force of bestowal, then between these two forces, somehow through the resistance and balance between them in their relationships, exists all of the forms that the will to receive and the will to bestow can construct between them, arranging them. Let's keep learning what is happening with all of reality As a result of these two forces.
Item 18 (01:37) “Now we shall explain the five Behinot in the Masach by….”
2. S. (07:00) The force of rejection becomes a vessel of reception how does this happen?
R. Because the created being, the guest rejects, declines the host’s offer and allows him to later receive because he can calm down his ego, his shame. Later it turns out that he comes to such a level, the host wants to do him a favor by presenting him with all of the food, he doesn't have anything to give back to the host, nothing tangible at least but he raises himself to such a level where he can do this favor to the host by receiving from Him. Meaning seemingly he refuses to eat, declines to eat but is willing to do it because there is a deficiency to give in the host and he after the restriction and refusing to receive the meal, he now opens himself up and he is willing to do this favor to the host. Who is doing a greater favor to the other, it is the guest who is doing the favor to the host, although in the beginning the host wanted to give to the guest and he has something to give as full of abundance and love for the guest and the guest has nothing. Just like people in this world they have nothing relative to the host in this world but because we feel there is a host that we feel it and He wants us to enter into a connection with Him.
He is doing all kinds of actions so we would relate and pay attention to Him and to do Him a favor and advance. It turns out as a result of his love to us we begin to derive forces from it and the ability to perform actions relative to Him. Whatever I receive from Him will not be like reception, it will be as bestowal. Look at a small baby, the mother wants to give him a spoonful of porridge, things like that and what kind of pleasure he receives and the more that he receives, the more kinds of pleasure she feels. She feels that he is receiving from her and she feels inside of her that he is actually giving to her pleasure, not the few grams of porridge that she is giving him but he is giving her emotional pleasure that fills her. This is what we see, although we are the ones who receive all sorts of things from the Creator even in this world, if I feel that I am receiving everything in this world from the Creator then I can raise myself to a degree where I am grateful to Him for that and that we are already in contact with Him. This is what we later discover on the spiritual path we will see that in truth, the whole world is performing acts of bestowal except they're not aware of it, not conscious of it. That is the difference between us and the whole world, we are conscious of the favor we are doing the Creator we enter a form of contact without their knowledge.
S. I discover that I get something bitter, but if you know it’s from the Creator it becomes sweet and then I want to ask, do we need to feel the initial taste in the Malchut or always in the reflected light?
R. You should keep up your experiments and tell us about it later. I don't want to ruin or spoil it for you the relation of all kinds of states.
3. S. (12:45) Does the quality of the restriction and the importance and all these things we go through while restricting, does it carry over as a foundation to there’s no vessels?
R. Yes only that.
4. S. (13:14) There are basically two actions here, there is a decision after the host implores the guests and then there is the reception itself?
R. Yes.
5. S. (13:42) The coarseness of the screen and the Kashiut are they in direct relationship?
R. There is a connection between them and they always work together if it is a correct vessel then the coarseness of the will to receive in the vessel has to be in equivalence and synchronized with the force of resistance to that desire and the coarseness and this is called the screen. Specifically, he who is greater than his friend his inclination is greater, besides his measure according to the screen and the reflected light and the desire is measured according to the coarseness and they are equivalent to one another.
6. S. (14:47) He writes that the hunger and appetite which are the regular vessels of reception were disqualified because of the shame of being a receiver of the gift from one’s friend, why is it called bestowal if it comes from a sense of shame?
R. Because he is building bestowal thanks to them, you can't build bestowal from the feeling of hunger and appetite but actually from the opposite forms to them.
S. Yes but why does it come from the sense of greatness of the Creator?
R. No, first of all there is hunger and appetite, corresponding to that he builds the form of resistance to the hunger and appetite because he wishes to create a form of bestowal towards the Creator and from this he carries out the action.
S. This is the same with us?
R. How can you do it otherwise?
S. In the first part I heard you say that we have to clarify whether I'm making actions of bestowal towards the friends because I'm ashamed or because of greatness to the Creator?
R. If it is shame it's because of the level of this world, if it's because of the greatness of the Creator then I'm using the friends as a means to reach the Creator.
S. How do you make the scrutiny?
R. It has to be clear to a person what motivates him. If I'm in the group then what do I want, either I want to arrange my relationship to the group only on that level in the same area or I wish to rise above it and use it as a means to rise toward the Creator.
S. The development of the greatness of the Creator in the person which is now the reason for which he makes action, before he did that because of shame and other corporeal reasons, how does this transition happen?
R. We spoke about this in the first part of the lesson, although I feel myself as wanting to perform a corporeal act, I can imagine to myself that I wish to give contentment to the Creator and consequently instead of giving pleasure to my ego, filling it somehow I will perform a different act. I will do something against my ego and action that pleases the Creator. Typically toward the 10 or to our general vessel, to the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah and by that we disseminate in the name of the Creator, a method for how to obtain Him, then I exchange one for the other. Although I would have loved in place of that, to lie down and not move, to just rest, so here I am picking myself up and I obligate myself to perform an act of bestowal.
S. If I force myself in an action of dissemination in the 10, I see this is because I feel unpleasant otherwise for whatever some egoistic corporeal calculation, how do I turn this to bestow?
R. If you know before you there is an egoistic action that you can exchange or rise above it, by thinking about the greatness of the Creator and aiming it to Him then let's say this is already a spiritual action.
S. So if I identify something in this because of shame or pride what do I do now?
R. Well what, because of shame and pride?
S. Because of shame I come to the lesson on time, because of pride I go to disseminate because of the egoistic calculations, how do I now redirect to bestow to the Creator because of his greatness?
R. That is not so simple, you need to raise the greatness of the Creator to be before you, to ascribe in you more than the greatness of the group and the friends and also not against it but actually for it, it's not simple. You took an incorrect example, not for implementing for the time being.
7. S. (20:33) It is said that the fourth phase was forbidden to be a receiving vessel for the 10 Sefirot after the restriction, can you explain?
R. Malchut of Ein Sof, when she receives all of the light of Ein Sof from the Keter of Ein Sof through the four phases, she received it, she felt that this light that came to her Keter from the root, fills her completely and she truly has nothing empty left, she can’t feel her previous desire where she wants to enjoy but rather she enjoys everything completely. However what was added here after she was filled with this infinite pleasure meaning without limit. What added to this pleasure was a new discernment whereby this is the feeling of the Giver, the Giver is the bestower, the Giver is complete and infinite compared to that she is completely opposite to Him and she is lowly and despicable, she’s in a form that is completely opposite from the Emanator, from the bestower. Though this feeling is full of pleasure in her will to receive, specifically because it is filled with infinite pleasure, it awakens in her just how despicable she is, deplorable compared to the root and the source and this is what she cannot stand. The restriction doesn't come because she is deficient of something, rather it comes because she feels, she can feel how opposite she is in her qualities to the Creator and this is the meaning of shame that is being born.
She is receiving entirely, she wants to receive only that she enjoys the reception, she’s got nothing, her root is the bestower, the lover and the giver, the one who is willing to do anything for her and that gap in between this feeling, this one nature and the other nature is infinite. It begets shame in her that did not exist before that, and this shame is a great and powerful force in all of creation. Even regular people are capable of doing anything in order to avoid the shame and you can say that all the actions that we are doing in our lives, after we grow up beyond the level of babies, to grow up in this age of 5 or 6, that we do everything as the result of shame in order to not blemish our will to receive so that it will not feel the shame. Not to use it in order to bestow but to use it to avoid harming it and this is a story for all people and of all humanity and the process that we are going through. Our entire civilization is built on tiny people who care about one thing not to reach shame on different levels and that is truly our existence, we are truly miserable. In this way we are keeping to ourselves, anything to avoid shame. Look how each and every one is behaving, in anything in life, first of all it is to rise above any potential shame and come closer to it, it is possible to control which is the opposite of shame. This is our miserable existence.
8. S. (26:20) The engine of the ability to transform reception to bestowal is the greatness and importance of the Creator that creates the shame and the ability to refuse in our work in the 10. We have to work beyond that greatness and importance of the Creator, is this where actions come from, do the discernments come on their own once we work on the greatness and importance?
R. No, that’s the main thing, to raise the greatness and importance of the Creator but for the time being since we can't feel Him then we have in His place the 10. Don't think that this is some reward that we got and is a real solution, but as the 10 becomes real like the Creator then we will come closer to detecting the Creator and appear correctly before Him. The second thing is the shame, the more that we can examine our actions according to the discernment of shame, we will be able to see what is shame relative to humanity and to the group, relative to all the people and the Creator and that is how we will advance. We will understand how much this force is helping us to arrange our ego, our will to receive in the correct spiritual form, where shame is extremely helpful for us.
S. Whether the shame is the result or are we in need to work on it in some way?
R. Shame is the result of the appearance of the gift of the Creator inside the egoistic desire the way that Malchut of Ein Sof, that is the origin of shame.
9. S. (29:08) In the example he talks about the friends as the fact that we have friends helping me to work on the shame to transform it to bestowal but with the friends who are not friends even though I discover His greatness, how can I overcome the shame?
R. You will later begin to feel that shame towards Him except gradually, now it is not, as if today you feel ashamed to the Creator you wouldn't be able to exist. It's like a baby, he doesn't feel any shame towards his mother or to the rest of the world and later as he grows up he becomes a small person and then a greater person and greater according to his feeling of self. He begins to distinguish between himself and the environment and accordingly to feel shame. There are those who wish to cover the shame with insolence and we get all kinds of behaviors and manifestations from people and there are those who wish to cover it with their business dealings to differentiate themselves and there are those who acquire philosophy and religion. Everything is to cover this feeling of shame, we will work with you on those things.
It is expansive and a vast thing, but eventually we have to be grateful to shame because it is helping us to reach a state where we can approach the Creator to locate Him and are able to cleave to Him. Shame is a great powerful force that comes to us from the Malchut of Ein Sof, and shame just as Baruch Rabash said, shame is a form of Creation in and of itself to that extent, you write it that shame is a separate creation in and of itself and we will talk about it in other context and the combination of shame and pride in the ability to overcome. Using screens, this builds in us various styles of combinations and then we come to how each and every one comes to his professions, skill and occupation, lifestyle and all of it is in order to cover up his shame. Because of that we build our families and our societies and our country and everything. Look at it now, it is becoming painfully clear what the Russians, Americans, Chinese, are doing, all this is all in order to cover up their shame. Look what the world is playing with as they don't care about anything even that they could die as long as they cover their shame. We will learn about this great thing.
10. S. (33:33) The shame comes from the guest not being able to feel the host as a source of pleasure or because of receiving the pleasure itself?
R. Specifically when the guest discovers the host as the source of all pleasure and the guest is the source of all of the deficiencies and from the gap between them, from their stature and more correctly, the origin of their desire towards one another. This is where the shame is coming from before a child identifies that his mother is giving him and he is only receiving, he doesn't make any calculations, he has no feeling of shame or anything only when he himself, when he grows up and even more when he begins to give to his own children especially then he begins to feel the nature of his mother and what she did for him. Accordingly he discovers his shame to her. It's not exactly a shame as it's covered with love, we will learn how these graphs come and cover each other and humanity but it is interesting how we exist. At one point when it will be revealed more clearly, humanity will learn a lot about itself.
11. S. (35:53) When I feel shame before my friends that I want to harm them, what is the correct way to work with the shame?
R. Replace it with love, ask the friends, ask the Creator to do all of the action so that in place of that shame you are feeling and how you wanted to harm them before, exploit them and now you just want love to be there. Then you will get what is written about in the articles of the group.
12. S. (36:44) The matter of shame is something that exists in each of us and very much felt in life, the question is why is there lack of desire and rejection when you receive a gift from a friend, why is it considered humiliation?
R. Why does it exist in the still, vegetative and animal?
S. I don’t have that level of development of the human.
R. What is that development in a human, maybe not every human, what prevents a person receiving freely from the other?
S. The shame is a disturbance but when a friend gives you a gift, it shouldn't be humiliating, the friend gives a gift out of love to another friend, why should it be a rejection, why should it not be accepting it with love?
R. You can't feel the love of the friend and perhaps you can't respond in kind so you reject it so you would not feel indebted to him, if you are truly friends there shouldn't be any problem.
S. If you receive a gift from a friend there is no disgrace or shame, shouldn't there be?
R. True, if it is a friend there shouldn't be any negative relationships as they are only a gift and disclosure of love.
S. What is a friend then?
R. A friend is an inseparable part of me in attaining the Creator.
S. What we read here, the restriction happens once or each time anew?
R. Each and every time before each and every action you have to arrange yourself in such a way that whatever you are doing is not in order to receive and you will find yourself placing yourself under the restriction.
13. S. (39:51) You said in the lessons recently that everything revolves around pride, can we say that pride is a quality that protects shame?
R. Yes.
14. S. (40:21) It always seems understood and close, but the host is an adult who understands and knows who he is working towards so we can use the example of the embryo here?
R. Yes of course.
15. S. (40:50) If all of the states come from the Creator then shame comes from there also so how do I participate with that shame and what to do to overcome it?
R. Perform actions as we discussed between the host and the guest so we will take care of it correctly and I need in some form to do an action against what is done to me. I am given a gift how do I cover the gift and I'm not covering it to avoid the shame but in order to strengthen the connection between us where one is now making an appearance and disclosing his love to me, how can I connect to Him in return and disclose my love for Him and for our connection to be mutual, this is what we need to do.
16. S. (42:11) After the rejection the guests received in the vessel of Malchut, why is it called new vessels?
R. A new intention because he goes back to receive from the host after the rejection and from that he is deriving new pleasures in relation to the host where now they are entering into mutual connection.
Item 19 (42:55) “We have already explained that the first three Behinot….”
17. S. (44:58) The topic of shame is very interesting, as today we are in a time where the lack of interest that people find in life it is as if throwing them out of society, how is it possible to awaken shame in them so humanity will basically follow us in this process of reviewing the upper force and not falling into drug abuse and alcoholism things that pushed them out of the circle of life?
R. I am not exactly in the same direction as you, trying to establish and humanity that they would advance out of shame and the recognition of evil because they are ashamed of something, I don't think humanity is ashamed of anything, they are really far from shame. Shame comes as is written, to high special souls in our world and not to humanity and regular people. What are they feeling shame about, they only feel prideful over one another, vain, they are only looking for additional sources of personal pride, shame would be the reason for the right corrections and behavior. To awaken shame is not good, a person doesn't want it, he escapes constantly, he is creating the process of his development and of society and his country and of the world so as not to feel the shame. Our motto, the goal of our development is to avoid shame, conceal the shame, in humanity look at the path it’s choosing, the path of wars and problems and lies and what nations are doing towards each other all of it only to feel prideful instead of feeling shame. That is actually the motivation, egoistic desire that obligates one to do so and to do something that is opposite it, is incorrect and impossible.
18. S. (48:24) Does shame have its root in the ego?
R. Yes, I said that shame was revealed for the first time in the fourth phase of the four phases of direct light when the vessel received the upper light and felt inside the upper light that the root for it meaning Keter the quality of Shoresh the root of the upper light, it's origin since the upper light comes from absolute love and infinite giving. He felt other than receiving and getting filled and enjoying himself inside his reception and pleasure, he felt where it was coming from, because in the fourth phase we also have the phases of root 123 and 4 and he felt the expansion of the pleasure from the root phase to the fourth phase in him, and he could feel just how opposite he is according to the discernment of giving and receiving in the fourth phase, of the fourth phase of direct light in Malchut of Ein Sof. How this opposition of him relative to the Creator between giving and reception according to his essence, this discernment is from one end to another and from that the feeling of shame is born. The gap between him and the Emanator. He could not stand this and this is the reason for the restriction since he had no way of doing anything in place of the great pleasure, instead of Malchut of Ein Sof to feel the light of Ein Sof without any limitations. The Emanator how he relates to him without any limitations, the shame that he felt brought him to restrict himself and to remain empty. That is why when I asked Rabash specifically about this point, he gave me a long explanation, but the summary is simple. Shame is a creation in and of itself which was given from the Creator to the creature, this quality to feel between the Emanator and the emanated being, to feel that unbearable sensation. Thanks to this shame we exist and are approaching the correction and we will come to it because it comes from such an exalted state that only on the way back we’ll be able to correct it and until then we won't relax.
19. S. (51:53) How can we awaken shame with every bite we take if it is not directed toward the Creator or the friends?
R. It will reveal itself gradually, to see how much we advance to correcting the shame in our world and how our world lacks the shame and is showing us all of these forms that are opposite to shame. How everyone is so proud and full of himself and countries and nations are so vain and prideful and have no shame and that each one is more powerful than the other with the force of the fist, this is what is happening. Gradually the true state will be revealed, it is the advantage of the light out of darkness, the more that we find ourselves in darkness the closer we are to the revelation of the light.
20. S. (53:18) In the 10 can we cause a friend to be ashamed?
R. How, explain to me?
S. To show him that he is not suitable to bestow?
R. Only through an example that is seemingly not directed at him where if he relates well towards one another he will see and understand that he is not like you. Not in a way where you tell him directly to his face unless of course he is really harming the 10 he has to be truly harmful to the 10 and then you can and probably not even you, but someone in a special role as there are all kinds of things that have to be discussed, how we can approach him and explain that this form is unacceptable. Also you should understand that it all depends on his coarseness, since in effect he still does not understand as he cannot grasp, he might have a higher soul and he who is greater than his friend his inclination is greater because he has greater coarseness he can't understand the principle of rising above the ego. He may not get it for years until the upper light drop by drop will influence him and then he will begin to understand it. It depends on the depth of the will to receive in the soul.
21. S. (55:32) How does Malchut of Ein Sof, which is absolute reception, can suddenly feel the Keter, the origin of the pleasure and then restrict itself because Malchut of Ein Sof is reception and Keter is pure bestowal?
R. Malchut of Ein Sof, we also have 4 phases like in each phase you have four phases, Shoresh 1, 2, 3, 4 in Malchut of Ein Sof and consequently it feels all of the discernments, all of the phases before her, Keter and Bina and she feels herself and she understands what is happening between them to what extent they are the bestowers and she is the receiver, how opposite she is and from that she gets a feeling of shame. This is the gap between how she feels herself Malchut of Malchut and how she feels Keter of Malchut and Bina of Malchut, all of this brings her the feeling which is opposite of them. The disparity of form is called shame.
22. S. (57:21) What did Behina Dalet feel in her first three phases before she felt the shame?
R. She could feel the qualities of the Creator without any relation to her, there is a bestower and He is bestowing and he relates to her as good, but she couldn’t feel her opposition to Him until the phase four of phase four.
S. Shame as a result that we are both inside and outside the Creator?
R. Yes.
23. S. (58:25) When we develop further and further we see everything depends on the Creator and less and less on the shame and then there is the friends?
R. Of course for the time being there is no mention of shame but rather the will to receive is becoming greater and greater and that's why there is no feeling of shame but on the contrary it is pride and insolence but don't worry with the passage of time, it could be a lot of time, you will feel what is shame, as it is truly a gift from the Creator because it is a special attitude from the Creator to you. The Creator lets you know that he is doing this for yourself and then you necessarily are going to respond to it that I also have to do it like this. With that we will part, now friends, I am asking you, to listen to the lesson from beginning to end at least one more time. Listen and take down questions, good questions and precise questions and then we will go over them. It doesn't matter the language, write them and I don't know if we'll have time tomorrow but you can send them to [email protected] in all languages and we will scrutinize them. We will have lessons and workshops on those topics and a bigger assembly. Let's hope that soon we will be able to have a Congress. What I'm asking is if you want to go over the lessons again it will be a great loss, a tremendous loss, you must listen to the lesson one more time.