Morning Lesson January 18, 2021 Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves possibility for error
Devotion - Selected Excerpts from the Sources
1. Rav’s Introduction:
Yes, we took a few steps in our study, we went through many topics and finally we are reaching a new important stage which is more practical. We have already grown. We developed into a state where we realize that we must practically, throughout the day, realize whatever we learn in the morning lesson we have to implement it throughout the day, otherwise, whatever we study will simply stay for a while and later on it will leave us. Devotion or soul devotion is the foundation of man’s spiritual work because we, accordingly, to our nature, are animals, the still, vegetative and animate, those three degrees exist in nature before us. We also belong to the animate that we have some superiority to animals, that is something we have to check as animals also have such some that are wise, sensitive and they have an inner form so that they can detect things in advance, they have their own wisdom. Man is actually different from the animate level in that he can develop himself above the animate level and it's not that to begin with he has some excellence, as it says they all seemed as beasts, if we only want to rise above the animate level, for that we all have possibilities.
First of all there has to be an inner point that doesn't let man remain where he is but rather it pushes him forward and without developing it, he cannot just remain as he is in his life. This is why the degrees of the still, vegetative and animate exist in nature and the people who exist on the levels of also still, animate also in nature and they have no drive for an inner development. It's unrelated to psychology and philosophies, rather something that is a degree of man which is impossible to explain to someone who doesn't have that inner demand. Only the degree of Adam, those who have it among human beings, those few people that have that kind of necessity and drive, they wish to rise above the still, vegetative and animate inside of them. One doesn't wish to be included only in that but if so one has to go against his own ego and build himself above his own nature and to build himself in the connection between the two opposite forces. From the Creator he gets the force of reception, what we call the bad force, it's simply a relative term and he can also receive from the Creator the good force and in the combination between these two forces one opposite the other he builds himself.
That both the bad and the good he gets from above, as the Creator says I created the evil inclination and if a person turns to him, he gets the good force then he can complete them inside so that they will be one against the other and that person will be the middle line. It turns out that he is made of the bad matter, his nature, the still, vegetative and animate and also the great ego the Creator created on the level of speaking that's the negative force and the person gives these things a form that he's Adam, similar to the Creator. Adam, human, is always comprised of two forces, the force of reception inside in the force of bestowal on the outside then ends up having the force inside and the intention on the outside where he uses the force of reception, this is how he builds of himself, the form of Adam.
Specifically on this middle line when he comprises these two forces he becomes similar to the Creator and according to the magnitude of these two forces one who is greater is greater than his friend his inclination is greater. That's on the left line and he puts on this the form of the Creator, the form of the bestowal, on the right line and combines the two of them and in the middle line he is called Adam, similar to the Creator. In that we need to see that we don't have either the left line or the right line, the positive force or the negative force, we don't have them, we get all of this from above. This is why we have to constantly be connected to the upper force and whatever happens comes from Him and I constantly, constantly have to arrange myself on the middle line. That is, each and every day, a few times during the day to day, as many times as we remember, we need to enter devotion. Devotion means that I do wrong to the upper force in everything because I get from him these two forces and I also get from him all of the directions, the guidelines, the wisdom, the advice for how I can combine these two forces and begin to establish in me the form of Adam.
This is what it says, shaping a form within a form, this is how we enter devotion, by us receiving from Him, from the Creator, both the force of reception and also the intention to bestow and also the method for how to clothe one over the other. How to build out of ourselves the image of the Creator called Adam and the most important thing is that with all of the forces, these two forces that when we want to draw them from the Creator, we need to annul ourselves, to know how to annul ourselves in order to receive forces and guidelines from this Upper force, the Creator. So that we will always be able to combine these two, the matter, our will to receive, and also the intention, or the form on top of that matter which is the will to bestow, so that we will merge them in such a way that the force of reception and the force of bestowal, that we will be on the middle line to receive in order to bestow. Inside we will be made of the force of reception which the Creator created and each time he adds to us the force of reception more and more and we need to determine on top of that the form of bestowal on top of that which we get from the Creator and the correct form of our work is that we asked from Him the force of reception the force of bestowal. Such that we accelerate the time, this is called sanctifying the times and then we advance on the middle line in order to sanctify them, those times to sanctify ourselves and then all the time we are joined, drawn to the Creator more and more even before he turns to us. It is in this way, we later discover that in all of our appeals and all of our turns, nevertheless it says I am the first and I am the last.
Nevertheless, the Creator, He is the first even though we want to be first and it's good. When we build an image of Adam in us similar to the Creator, then we truly want to be the first. In that ‘I to my beloved and my beloved to Me,” so that I will discover myself, the image of the Creator and then I see according to what the Creator dresses in me how successful I was. And if I wasn't successful I can detect in what I wasn't successful and where he was correcting me, then in that way we reach devotion. That we deliberately annul ourselves in order to receive from the source of everything, from the Creator both the force of reception and the force of bestowal, and also wisdom of how to combine them together and become similar to Him.
All of this we acquire from our annulment receiving forces and receiving the method of how to combine the forces and reaching the state where we are similar and we are successful in that. The right combination between these contradictory forces, the force of bestowal and the force of reception, so that none of them will be greater than the other. Rather that we will combine them optimally together on the middle line by this we establish ourselves. We sculpt ourselves you might say with the quality of bestowal and then according to that image that we made out of ourselves we feel how much by that we are getting closer and closer to the Creator. Then truly according to the inner qualities that we acquire receiving in order to bestow how much we identify with him and are included in him and we reached a touch, a contact and embrace, a kissing and unity and this is limitless, until all of our qualities as it says all my bones shall exclaim and by that we will be adhered to Him. This is how we discover these things, all of them, the qualities, that by which we reach resemblance to the Creator, connecting to Him, embracing. All of this is out of devotion, that each time we feel that we have nothing that is personal, that is free of the Creator’s control. Rather we ourselves want to determine that we are, in everything that we have that is revealed, entirely that we are under His control.
Because that is the truth, however it is hidden from us so we want to discover until each and every degree, complete degree that we discovered that for the time being that the Creator is controlling everything that is revealed in me. This is through my own force, as if. Of course, it is His, but through my own force I reach a state where He is filling me up and I have nothing that remains free, as if. It all comes through devotion. This is why a person who, Adam, resembles the Creator, is considered that way according to the devotion he displays to the Creator, by that He makes himself Adam. So, we received two forces from above, the force of reception, the force of bestowal and the force of reception also does not exist in each and every person only in those who are willing to go on the ladder of the degrees and make something of ourselves.
We want to be creatures, within which devotion grows each and every moment, and this is how we build it out of ourselves, the image of the Creator, called Adam. Well on that we can understand what work we have in the 10, in the group which is according to the practical work where we are not yet reaching true spiritual work. It's like a student, let's say you are studying some profession, they study it theoretically and in different laboratories where they teach us certain things. That is as if we are ready in our life, in factories, we are probing something, it's as if and then according to reach the correct relations with the Creator, which all-in-all you might define them as devotion. We have to perform those same exercises in the 10 and this is why all of our corrections that we wish to attain through devotion towards the Creator we first have to attain them to achieve them towards my 10. That's how I have to do it, towards my friends. I need to calculate, to consider only myself, because one who is disqualifying is disqualifying through his own flaws. This is why here I have before me truly a place of work and the Creator arranged this for us in such a comfortable beautiful, good way.
It's so realistic that we in practice can feel and understand and get support from the friends and criticism and see how we are advancing in this manner of devotion where we cannot be mistaken. Because the friends into us and we can criticize them and help his friend and we can build a system, a mechanism between us such that each time we are able to show each other what else are we missing in devotion to the 10. Out of that to realize what are we lacking, what are we missing towards the Creator because He is the totality and if we reach a certain understanding a certain attainment in devotion meaning as much as we have zero will to receive for ourselves not zero but a great will to receive because of the restriction, screen and the reflected light.
That at least with zero will to receive for oneself which is also the degree of Bina and light of Hassadim then we can reach bestowal in practice, meaning to receive in order to bestow also towards the friends. We will learn that this is very different, even the opposite of our nature but we will learn about that. So what am I trying to say here that there are degrees in devotion and all the degrees are the same ladder of degrees. However, on our side towards the group and towards the Creator is called work in devotion and what we receive as a response is the attainment of the Creator according to the devotion we were able to display towards Him. This topic is very subtle, very internal. It takes a lot of time, even years until a person starts to open up this whole matter, what it is about, so let's try to help each other and this is why well let's start it, let's begin.
2. S. (21.07) You said that we need to practice this during the day, what do you mean for us to fulfill practicing the soul devotion?
R. I recommend repeating this; a few times a day this matter of devotion or soul devotion, it's actually that action that if we get closer to implementing it even if we don't really implement it, we get closer to implementing it, it calibrates us directly towards the Creator. It's like the North Star it's like on a compass the direction of North, truly so this is where we should move and towards that we should measure ourselves.
S. What does it mean that I remain in devotion towards everyone?
R. Well this is what we need is that you have nothing of yourself, the force of the left, the will to receive you also get that from the Creator when it awakens in you, you need to realize that to feel, to be aware that you received it from the Creator. That force the force of the left, because I created the evil inclination. The Creator awakens in each and every one of us and all of us together and also the force of the right, which is well if you want it, if you ask for it, if you will give yourself to the correction of the upper one, to the influence of the Upper one then you will receive that too from the Creator. That is to reach a state where these two forces you get them from above and what depends on you is only that point of the north, the direction. So that you want to receive the two of them as great as possible so they will be balanced in you so that all of them, both of them will be balanced correctly so as to build it out of you the form of Adam similar to the Creator.
3. S. (23.40) Does our efforts determine the sense of devotion or the Creator gives it to us?
R. No, devotion the Creator does not give, devotion depends only on the created being as much as you want to take all the forces and thoughts and desires everything that is inside of you and build from the resemblance to the Creator as much as possible. What things do you need to restrict, what things do you need to increase, to magnify, what things do you need to connect these with those. How do you imagine to yourself that you collect all of the things inside of you, the bad things and the good things together in order to build out of that image of the Creator with all of your forces. This is called devotion because you're not taking yourself into account, you're only calculating how much you resemble the Creator and in that first of all of course you have to check it, to measure it, to establish a towards the 10.
3A. S. (25:16) It's very nice what you said about the North Star and that we have some sort of direction there's something I fail to understand you say that devotion we need to be in that towards the Creator even when we succeed and when we don't rather but when we don't do I need to pray to ask for help from the 10 to try to rise above this lack of success?
R. From morning till evening all day long you need to be walking with the thought, the inner effort to resemble the Creator, to be the Adam in short, then all of your forces the bad ones, the good ones, you want to combine them together so that all in all you will be similar to him as much as you're capable of depicting this to yourself that is all. It's a simple thing in words but how do you arrange it towards the ten because otherwise you are working with your imagination and it can do such things to you that you won't be able to find yourself. So only a small group in which you can establish yourself towards the friends so they all of them along with you are searching for that form of devotion to the Creator. The Creator is the middle point inside of the group, where you annul each one and himself and there you want to connect to annul oneself on the one hand and then develop the will to bestow on the other hand and these two inclination then connect and you'll be building the foundation for the middle line, in the middle line that is revealed, this is the Creator you are building him and if you build him correctly, a correct construction that you are building, you discover the upper force.
4. S. (27:57) What do you mean activating both the force and the force of good and evil, what is that action I feel the fear?
R. No, you have to combine them together according to what you understand, what you feel, first of all make a restriction, I don't know anything, let me start to see what do I have, what do I not have and then you will resemble yourself to the Creator with respect to the friends. In what good things and what egoistic desires of yours you can combine, without the egoistic desires you'll have no strength and no force to work with. The direction and how to use the desire you need to get that through the Creator, through the society. On one hand I take my engine, my ego and I will do something in life, I want to reach something in life, but the form for it I get it from the society so that the society will shape me will make out of my ego, that form that it wants and then annul before the friends Rabash writes in that way we build the combination of right and left, the middle line.
S. So it is enough for me to just imagine that I am doing these actions with the friends?
R. Yes of course without the group you're not in spirituality, without the group there's no possibility to perform any spiritual action. All the more so devotion, towards what are you performing devotions, towards what are you annulling. You need to see it before you, which form to which image, which force, by which requirements.
S. ....
R. Before the bad force can take you in all kinds of directions, this is what the philosophies are saying.
S. How do I support the group?
R. When you do everything that you're capable of and beyond that with all of your forces in order to bring to the society the good force of connection only that and by that you want to make your image similar to the Creator if you use your force and you build out of the group, on your behalf the good connection, you'll start to feel that by that you're building the image of the Creator this is how he begins to be revealed try and then start asking towards the point.
5. S. (31:09) Concerning soul devotion on the path if I see my job is taking much more of my time it's not allowing me need to devote more in the spiritual work, would it be more appropriate to arrange myself towards something that will take less of my time and the rest?
R. Yes maybe yes but be careful so that you won't lose your job and then you'll have problems looking for a job and who knows what you will find. We should leave time nevertheless for the spiritual work throughout the day so that we will be able to speak to the 10 and also for me to have another hour or two hours a day where I can read the materials. I can go over the morning lesson again. These things do require time as much as each one is capable of but we need to go over previous lessons because we've been a few months already in scrutinizing the foundations of the spiritual work. Each and every day I am giving you a small package, a new package and it needs to bring you more and more into the spiritual scrutiny this is why I'm counting on you doing it, that later on throughout the day you're working on it, you're trying to be in it as much as you have time for it. I don't know, but there has to be time for that as well there's nothing you can do about it. This is our profession, it's like you're acquiring a new profession so then you take some course and you study in the evening and hear it's the same thing even more than that.
6. S. (33:40) What is there to devotion, that without it we cannot advance spirituality?
R. We get two forces from the Creator we have nothing, both the evil inclination and also the good inclination. These two forces we get them from the Creator without forces we are on the level of the beast, the animal only. However, the fact that the evil inclination awakens in a person I created the evil inclination, from that a human starts. Man's inclination is evil from birth then later on when the Creator goes to correct him, he brings him to a group and he says take that and then the person starts to get guidance and a place to work with that guidance in the 10. That is all because you get these two forces both the left and the right from the Creator so then one who engages in that, one who does it, he builds up himself the form of Adam otherwise he remains as it says they all seemed as beasts.
7. S. (35:15) Described it very nicely devoting your time to advancing in the middle line.
R. Yes of course all of our work has to be in the 10, if it's not in the 10, it's not a spiritual action and there's no spiritual result. We must see how all of our thoughts and desires will clothe in the ten and will change it. We will change it in the direction of connection and in this connection to the Creator, to the force of bestowal which is common between us, this is what we need to do. That is out of the 10 each one according to his ability should try to make something shared between us which has more and more the form of the Creator. Inside we are in our evil inclination and all of these desires there is truly like a pit of snakes and on the outside above them, specifically we make a restriction, screen, reflected light from all the evil we have inside, we turn it to a good force. That's why one who is greater than his friend his inclination is greater and that way the way we grow inside more and more were holding that evil force that the Creator created and only in the contrast of the two forces between us we can understand him, detect him and make ourselves the form of Adam. Its only in the 10 no one can depict it inside of him and do it, he will always lie to himself, he will always follow his own ego.
8. S. (37:42) Is there the matter of venting in the wisdom of Kabbalah, meaning you have a lot of anger and you have to kind of say it, you have to speak to kind of get it out of you?
R. What for, why, why bring it out well of course it does come out and I also remember myself that I used to be this way in the beginning of my path, but what's why bring anger here, I'm talking towards the friends why bring it out anger in the ten?
S. Sometimes when you talk about it with someone else help you understand but if it stays in the head it is not as clear but talk to the friend and understand that the Creator arranged it and to kind of release the pressure.
R. I don't think it's worthwhile to vent it, look whatever happens, it happens. Everything happens to beginners in the beginning and a beginner for us is someone who's been on the path for a few good years already. We already need to realize that the true path is through balance when I balance the right and the left on the middle line then therefore if I'm under the influence of the environment, I constantly want to be balanced with them. Then such a thing will hardly happen that suddenly I lose control over the qualities that awaken in me, it is the Creator that is awakening them according to how much I try to build the place in the group for the correct processing of these data. Let's continue and it will work out in short the words will only confuse us.
9. S. (40:05) Something that confuses me, if these two forces of evil and reception serve me in building the form of man, then do I not need to annul the force of reception in the 10 how to use the force of reception?
R. No, our will to receive we cannot cancel it and then even the will to bestow when we get it we cannot cancel it, we cannot cancel anything. These are forces that exist in reality because we need to take them, to receive them and to shape them, establish them correctly so that the force of the left and the force of the right will join the middle line, will sustain it, will build it because it does not exist and that middle line will give us the form of the Creator. From him come these two forces the good and the bad and we're at such excerpts that's the bad is not canceled, it remains as the foundation degree and it exists in all of us to be able to establish upon it to rule over the good force, that there cannot be good that is greater than the bad that is revealed rather in the connection between these two forces, this is how we constantly grow. Therefore there is no bad, in the end I don't look at this evil inclination that is so terrible, meaning I don't look at it as something that is bad, it is help made against him, this is what you call it.
10. S. (42:14) When I look at the connection of the friends in the lesson I see that there are the friends and there is me. How can the quality of devotion help me give myself over to the ten?
R. You should try with all of your force you want to bring the 10 to connections, into balance, into the revelation of the Creator in the center of the 10. So then you discover that nothing in the ten is redundant. all our friends are very different and the differences between them are determined by the upper light that goes down through them and it's not that they were just constructed this way or they just came here for no reason and I have no idea what is happening to me, why do I need them and so forth. Rather I understand that there is none else besides Him, the Creator is arranging these things in me so that I have to incorporate everything into one.
This is what I have before me if I combine all of them together, the entire 10 and here I don't have one who is more and one who was less, one who is closer to me, one who is farther away from me. I look at each and every one of them specifically as much as each and every one may appear to be as further away from me, I can't stand him, can’t get along with him, it is actually the opposite. I can see that here I can do better work on self annulment on self devotion in order to gain here, to gain spiritual advancement, to build from the two opposite forces, me and the friends to build such a place in the middle so it will be closer to the Creator. Because the Creator includes all of the light and all of the darkness existed in Him. He is the source of the darkness and the source of the light, this is why I must not hate anything in the world. I must not say anything in the world is something that is truly bad at it's foundation. Rather everything always stems from the lack of order in the broken vessel.
11. S. (45:13) Can the 10 build devotion in a person?
R. We need to develop devotion each one within himself and when we come to connect with the 10 in order to build this structure, through our devotion we connect to the general collective devotion and that is the essence of the spiritual vessel that we attain, it's according to how we are rewarded with the revelation to the Creator according to devotion.
S. What is the purpose of devotion until it merges with the collected devotion?
R. It’s when I understand that my spiritual vessel, my soul is in others and if I annul myself then I am connected to my spiritual vessel.
S. How does the person actually get this ability to give his soul?
R. He annuls his Malchut and is included in the first nine.
S. How does a person get the understanding and the mind to act correctly?
R. He has no more than what Rabash writes to do with respect to the ten only to annul to receive soul devotion and direction from the Creator.
S. How can the 10 help me to devote my soul?
R. The 10 gives me an example of forces to support in order to achieve soul devotion.
S. What is considered a good result of this daily practice? Throughout the day we have to exhaust a daily portion you give us until the next day. So let's today, at the end of the day, what does it mean I did good work with this topic of devotion, whatever happened?
R. That's at the end of the day I can say that I made several efforts. I made efforts to be in soul devotion and if I understood, I didn't understand, I didn't attain, regardless I went through many states where I tried to establish myself with soul.
12. S. (48:05) We speak about the fact that you cannot call something bad in this world. Are we talking about the spiritual world?
R. It's only in the spiritual world that we need to say that there is nothing that is bad, everything comes from the force of good and that's how it influences us. In the corporeal world we cannot live that way or to feel that or to respond. It will come, but for the time being no we mustn't look at this whole world that we can see with our 5 beastly senses and say that we are in the world of truth and soul devotion and so on. This is the world of lies, it all exists works according to the little egos. We don't regard this world as part of the spiritual world. It's still a far away connection to the spiritual world. We behave like everyone else just like everyone else. I don't take examples from them and I'm not drawn to them so much I just exist next to them. Like, forgive me for saying like a cat, it exists next to you, it gets its food, he has its corner and that's how it exists on the degree of the animal. I also want to exist in this world, on the degree of animate, because my correction, my intention, the essence of my life, is to turn myself into Adam, a man. So I don't need anything else from this world, if I exist on the degrees of inanimate, vegetative and animate with in this world and I develop from myself the degree of the speaking in order to see the world through it, the true reality not the imaginary false one and that's how I succeed and so I shouldn't mingle with this world too much only to the extent that we can publish something of our own but I exist in this world only on the degree of animate. I received from this world food, sex, family and money, respect and knowledge I tried to you using those in order to rise to a higher degree.
13. S. (51:15) How should we scrutinize the qualities that can help us understand that everything goes through the Creator how do we pass everything?
R. I don't take from our world from our day today anything to spirituality, nothing. I take it only from our life, our connection, the distance between us, all the disturbances, interruptions between us only that I take to my spiritual act. What do I have to take from this world? How they all behave on the news and all those things, I don't need that for my spiritual ascension. I take into account only my relationship with the ten and the extent to which we are connected together more and more. Why should I be included in this world? What do I get from it? Tell me do you know what's happening in the world? What you read on the internet, what you hear in the news according to that you want to set your spiritual gears then you'll be poor and nothing will fix it for you.
14. S. (52:53) Although the difficult conditions occur in the 10, what should be our demand to the Creator to maintain some devotion in a good mood?
R. If we annul ourselves towards the friends in the 10 if we do so then we feel no difficulty in the life of the 10 and advancing towards the Creator, the whole difficulty that appears is for us to engage in soul devotion together to feel that the Creator is closer to us and so on the main thing not to disperse or scatter in two different false directions.
15. S. (53:58) Is everything in the 10? When the friends in the ten, including me, are presenting all the advances and the disadvantages of this world in their qualities ?
R. I don't know what you mean by this world, you say that so we have spoken so much about the ten I have nothing more to add, you just need to integrate in the 10 and to think of how to connect with them, together into a single formation and that's it. You don't need it because it's false, we need to start sensing spiritual forces which govern everything and they also for us image of the false world and we also understand what's happening here and how to correctly relate to all the things that we feel in our 5 beastly senses or bodily senses.
16. S. (55:18) By what kind of deficiency will we come to this devotion? How will I discover this deficiency?
R. By you thinking, because you are under the control of the upper force from which you receive the power of the bestowal, the power of reception and the more you annul your ego which hinders you from receiving these two forces correctly then you'll be able to merge these two forces together and by them to advance through connection with the 10, establishing the 10 together with you and aiming for the Creator. Everything takes place within the 10 and soul devotion is for us to feel and understand to the extent to which we need to be in annulment, restriction so that there's nothing coming from us. Soul devotion is the foundation of the structure of the spiritual Partzuf, the more annul myself according to that I can connect more with the friends and through them to the Creator and that from the forces of reception that I add to that when I joined them we can feel the forces of bestowal and they will develop in me there's nothing here that we haven’t learned.
17. S. (57:37) How do you interpret what I get from the world when it causes me problems?
R. We haven't spoken about this today but I'll answer. If I get problems in this world, I try to take care of them on the side. There is the group, the society, Bnei Baruch, the Creator, that's how I go through life. On the side I have my family, my work and things of this world for the time being I need to sort it all out to the extent that this world requires of me, that I can demand things of it but don't connect these two things together. This is my spiritual business where I have the 10 the Bnei Baruch group, the teacher, the Creator and so on. That's my spiritual life then it's absolutely completely away from my profession, my family and those things. I don't mix these things together. It's forbidden to do that and so check how you behave in the group so that there's no mixture between the corporeal life and the spiritual life.
18. (59:48) S. The 10 should rise on the degrees of the ladder and reach spirituality. What I'm confused about are the many tasks and goals and annulment, conception, devotion receiving the Kingdom of Heaven. Is there some uniform direction that will make it easier for us to focus on to achieve the goal?
R. The connection.
19. S. (01:00:25) According to what I heard from you the moment we annul in the 10 we get guidelines, direction. That's what I heard. What is required of me in order to discern and act correctly?
R. If you read what Rabash writes you will understand what you need to do in order to integrate in the 10.
S. After I incorporate in the 10 you said we get guidelines.
R. From that point of annulment in the 10 you begin to receive higher guidance from the Creator. Yes, then you will feel it, if you have this annulment towards the 10 then you are integrated in the center of the 10, you are in contact with the Creator even such contact that you don't recognize but through it you begin to receive further discernments.
20. S. (01:01:39) We have to connect through annulment in the center of the ten, can you please repeat this.
R. Yes, we need to connect towards the center of the 10 to annul ourselves towards the center of the 10, to imagine the Creator's there as it is written I dwell with my people.
21. S. (01:02:20) All of life and unity is in the 10 is this what it gives us the picture of this world?
R. We're not talking about this world, what we reveal and feel in it, let us engage, let's make the spiritual ascent and from the height of the world we will then discuss how this world looks to us.
22. S. (01:02:58) In practice, can I act during the world in this imaginary world, that is drawing for me a lot of forces, a lot of thoughts and still be in devotion?
R. Nice, from here from you and onwards we begin to read what the Kabbalists write about soul devotion.
Excerpt #1 Reader (01:03:29 - 01:04:32) reads twice
23. R. So first of all it's impossible to even climb to the first degree without soul devotion and on every degree that we want to climb, all the spiritual degrees, for each degree we will need to prepare the appropriate devotions for that degree. So it's a matter of devotion, has to be felt in us as a lack which we have to establish, to implement and then each time we will have a spiritual ascent in front of us according to the degree of devotion we have attained.
24. S. (01:05:23) He writes here that we have to prepare myself for complete devotion and a permanent one?
R. We need to be in whole devotion, according to my state I don't know what is whole is. I'll never know what everything is, my everything this is the Creator which I also don’t know what that is, according to my states, to states that I discovered in myself then from there I can say what devotion means from my part. Yes, where all my forces all my thoughts are aimed through connection towards bestowal for the Creator, to as much as I can imagine that I have this example, this form through which I can align myself towards the upper Force. I need to annul myself towards the friends, I need to connect with the friends I need to be in soul devotion towards the friends and so in that I reach the right attitude with respect to the Creator so that's all we have pretty clear-cut work, the problem is that we're not doing it together and that's the reason for our lack of success.
S. But what does it mean that the Creator and the friends in the ten are hiding from me?
R. It means that besides for them I don't see any other form in front of me, any other system that I need to connect to, that I need to integrate with and through it, I want to achieve the force, the inner force that establishes me, that binds me with them. It's not friends, it's the Creator that stands behind all of them, each of them and shows me this image and so I see these friends but the moment I'm ready to accept them meaning to annul and accept them and justify each and every friend, judging to the scale of merit then by that I calibrate myself correctly so that through them I can discover the Creator.
S. How can I create such an atmosphere in the 10 so that everyone will feel this tension throughout the day so this will be the only thing that I feel?
R. I don't demand the friends do things, I understand that what I feel from them it's anyone who disqualifies this is judging through his own flaws so first of all I need to see them as perfect and that it's only me who is lacking in adhesion, in intention towards them that's first of all, then later on I can ask them to help me by showing be we are truly in a perfect ten, that is the work Baal HaSulam writes about.
25. S. (01:09:07) Baal HaSulam writes here that a person should accustom himself to devotion. It turns out that throughout the day I have to constantly force myself to choose the direction of the ten instead of my direction?
R. Of course what is the will of the 10, their desire is to be connected as one and you need to take upon yourself the same task.
26. S. (01:09:46) I'm trying to understand what devotion is? When I did not betray something, when I have the possibility to choose to change something when you say that the Creator is hiding the horizon from me, what does that mean?
R. You come to the point where he is in front of you, feeling the whole world, you caused it, you did it, do you understand it's not that he does it for you, you by your own actions in the 10 with the support of the friends have come to a state where you see his glory fills the world that there's no place devoid of him, that the upper light fills everything and is in complete rest.
S. Do I have a choice in spiritual work so that I can change if I cannot be in it?
R. I don't want to go into all your philosophy, there's also an issue of language as you are getting translation into Russian and there those words have a different context to it, it carries a certain different kind of charge, a different meaning than in Hebrew. Soul devotion means that I devote myself, I give myself over to the control of the authority of the upper force which is the group because the group presents to me the upper force and through it if I connect to them then I connect to the upper force, in such a way where I truly devote myself to the group and through it to the Creator I don't know what to add.
27. S. (01:12:21) Practically our work is clear, the problem is we are not doing it together, what is the indication that we are doing it together throughout the day?
R. I don't know, if you do it together you will discover the Creator immediately.
S. What does it mean to do it together?
R. Together means to the extent you are capable in the state to be connected together and being connected together you're connected to the single upper force.
S. In what sense is this together, now when we're together there's a certain feeling that we are together even if it is because of this physicality, well I know it's virtual but we do feel that we're together. When each one is throughout the day in his corner, how can we feel this together?
R. Your desires, intentions, aims are not yet aimed towards connection, soul devotion means you disconnect from yourself and you adhere to the group, that's the simple interpretation. Later within the group you begin to identify other more inner goals, more inner forms that you advance towards devotion, towards them you disconnect from yourself and you and you join a more external form.
S. So this together then happens within the feeling of the individual person or is there a collective form?
R. You don't have vessels which aren't your own personal sensation yet, you don't have it.
28. S. (01:14:47) I realize that annulment is the basis for devotion, how can I check that the ego is not leading me astray.?
R. You feel the friends instead of yourself, that is how you check. I, the self is annulled and instead of it you feel the friends and then the friends are annulled seemingly and you feel the Creator.
29. S. (01:15:45) Is there a way to amplify devotion in the 10?
R. Establishing devotion in the 10 is possible, Rabash writes how each one annulled himself towards the 10, of course there are inner and external conditions, why and what for, there is much data involved, internal matters but this comes later. The pattern is such that I have a 10, the life of the 10 is greater and more important to me than my own life.
Excerpt 2 Reader (1:16:53 - 01:17:41)
30. R. I don't need anything but to annul myself entirely above all the conditions, the thoughts, the qualities and desires that I receive from the Creator of course in the left or in the right or the force of reception that he establishes in me or in the force of bestowal that I ask him for. All of these things but left in the right if I annul myself then I am in the middle line where I discover him. He is the source of the left and the right and through my annulment, annulment towards which, two things both the left and the right elicit me then I am aiming correctly and directly towards the Creator, with the Creator. Soul devotion is the means as well as the goal, there is nothing beyond that. That is a vessel in which I discovered that there is none else besides Him.
Excerpt 3 Reader (01:18:56 - 01:20:35)
31. R. Devotion is the vessel, is the condition in which one receives the connection to the Creator and feels how he is with the Creator, not in receiving or bestowing but rather in unity with him. There is no measurement here of receiving or bestowing, screens, degrees and so on it is just devotion. It is the cleanest and purest thing that there can be. Where everything that is within the person, everything that he gets and receives he wants to be above that with no conditions. That is why you have that term, soul devotion so that everything he has including his soul, he is willing to devote and to give over his upper force.
Excerpt 3 reads again (01:21:45 - 01:23:23)
32. R. Can you suggest an exercise for us to aim our emotions towards the center of the 10 so we can actualize this devotion?
R. I can, please do what Rabash tells you, each one needs to cancel himself towards the friends, it's the same condition. Soul devotion is on every degree and it is complex, upgraded on every degree.
S. Thank you, it is clear that we are trying to do what Rabash is telling us in the 10 but can you give us an example, maybe a specific article that we can do during the day that we may think precisely about this, to yearn about this.
R. Ask them to find some article that we can delve deeper into the subject of soul devotion.
33. S. (01:25:06) In relation to devotion what goal should we put before us in the 10 to go above reason or is it to go in the direction of a certain emotion?
R. Soul devotion includes all of these conditions that you mentioned and several more that you don't know, all of the things that we can annul and connect and again to annul, everything that awakens in us other than soul devotion, other than the annulment of the self. It is also included in soul devotion. Meaning the annulment of the “is”, not just passively but actively where we ask to bring about the soul devotion in the 10 because if the 10 doesn't reach soul devotion together it doesn't become a vessel. That is the thing and we are people with a very big, ruthless, will to receive and it is difficult for us to achieve soul devotion as we are the souls of the last generation. It is not as it was before where people who have studied for a few months and already can feel and sense spiritual discernment. No today takes a long time.
34. S. (01:27:09) What does it mean to give your soul to the Creator, the soul is in the friends not in me?
R. The soul is the first degree, Nefesh, which we are headed towards and I also concede that for the purpose of giving to the Creator, that I don't want anything but only to be, to return to the Creator so to speak, what I received from him. We will learn from the verses, from the text it is a pretty complex subject, simple words of soul devotion, but ....
35. S. (01:28:13) What relation is there between devotion and MAN?
R. I don't know, we haven't learned that yet, MAN is a request soul devotion is not a request?
36. S. (01:28:34) Devotion is made of importance but also coarseness?
R. Of course.
S. If it is coarseness, then the coarseness is usually on the importance so what is the state where the importance is higher than the coarseness?
R. I want to achieve soul devotion with all of the conditions that are revealed in me, that is all, I'm not going to specify now.
37. S. (01:29:17) Request that all of us will read an article, the friends recommend Shamati 219 it is also in the writings of Baal HaSulam it is all on the matter of devotion.
38. S. (01:29:45) You always say that we need to wait for everyone in order to advance but in the conditions like you're speaking of at the moment we feel some limitation. How can we divide our work such that on one hand we will be connected to everything that you are telling us to do as the world Kli and on the other hand that we can act in love towards those who are limping, who have a need for a lot of attention, how to advance together?
R. No problem, you start working and you see that there is no problem and what you're saying it just seems to you that you can't combine these things because the goal is one, our path is one, don't bring us to a state where each one has his own path, that is incorrect.
Shamati 219 Devotion (01:30:55 - 01:34:31)
39. R. It is not really sufficient or clear, maybe we will go over this article again after we scrutinize the devotion.
Excerpt 4 Reader (01:34:52 - 01:35:47)
Excerpt 6 Reader (01:35:48 - 01:37:17)
40. S. How do I incorporate in the Creator such that all the results of the work you have to pass onto him?
R. You are in him and you can't come out of him because he feels the whole world, the whole Earth is filled with his glory, the whole world is in him, however here to discover this state of truth, Kabbalists that have attained this true state give you advice on what to do. So the main advice is for you to discover that you are within nature, within the upper force and that he controls everything so what is required of you is devotion by you removing your ego from your senses, you will discover how the Creator feels the world and carries out all actions. You attain the truth that the Creator created the ego of yours intentionally. Because it conceals the Creator, it hides the Creator to such an extent that you can't identify him at all. You are required to do all of these actions in the 10 so that you can demand of him to remove this concealment. That is all. That is called devotion.
S. What does it mean even the result of my spiritual work I am passing on to him what I am feeling?
R. To who? You don't do anything, all you want to do is remove the concealment from yourself no more than that, the meaning of this verse is that you aimed something and it's actually very old, that you are discovering the truth that exists in the entire reality it is concealed from you. You discover that the whole world is already revealed and it is just you that only now reveals this state of truth. Until the final correction.
S. So what am I giving him?
R. You don't have to give the Creator anything, you just need to annul what is hindering you from discovering the state that is called devotion that even what you have, your corporeal soul, you had it back to him, you don't want it, you just want to discover the truth in order to give him contentment. Don't go into the words because you are also getting the translations that are not exactly the essence of these words. Learn the verses about it in general, all that it says about here is a simple thing, if we cancel our ego in a practical way to the 10 we will discover that the Creator is the only force that acts in the entire reality feeling everything.
Excerpt 7 Reader (01:41:09 - 01:47:32) reads twice
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