The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: February 10, 2026
Part 1: A lesson based on the articles of Rabash
Rabash. Article No. 32, (1988). What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?
Original lesson date: 04/29/2003
Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson we will study from the Rav’s lesson from April 29, 2003. It is based on Rabash’s article “What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?” in the writings of Rabash first volume in Hebrew it’s on page 759. We will read it together in the Tens. Tens that finish ahead of time are welcome to start a workshop on the main points of the article.
Reading: (00:51) What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?
Article No. 32, 1988
Our sages wrote in Hulin (p 7b), “Rabbi Hanina said, ‘A person does not lift his finger from below unless he is called upon from above, as it was said, ‘Man's steps are from the Lord, and how can man understand his way?’” We should understand what our sages tell us by this in the work, so we will know that a person does not lift his finger below unless he is called upon from above.
To explain this, we must always remember the purpose of creation and the correction of creation, which are two contradictory things. The purpose of creation is for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure from the Creator, as was said, that His desire is to do good to His creations. The correction of creation is the complete opposite—to do good to the Creator. This means that the purpose of creation is for the sake of the creatures, while the correction of creation is that the creatures will always think only about the benefit of the Creator. As long as the creatures have not achieved this degree—when they do not need anything for themselves and the only reason they want to live is to benefit the Creator through their actions—and they want to live for their own benefit, the creatures cannot receive the delight and pleasure that the Creator contemplated giving them.
In the work Lishma [for Her sake], reward and punishment are measured by the extent to which they want to bestow upon the Creator. That is, when they want to bestow upon the Creator, they consider it “reward.” And when they see that all they want is their own benefit, and they are utterly unable to crave to work for the sake of the Creator, they regard this as a punishment.
It follows that when a person feels that he is in a state of descent, when he has no yearning or desire whatsoever to bestow upon the Creator, there are two manners in this: 1) He does not feel any suffering or pain from this state—from coming to a state of lowliness. Rather, he accepts the situation and begins to seek satisfaction in things that he had already determined were trash, unfit for human consumption. But now he sees that he cannot derive vitality from spiritual matters because the taste of spirituality has been flawed in him, so in the meantime he wants to live and derive satisfaction from corporeality. He says, “I’m waiting for a time when I can work without overcoming. That is, when I am given an awakening from above, I will return to work. In the meantime, I want to remain in the state I am in.”
2) When he feels he is in a state of descent, he feels pain and deficiency at having fallen from a state where he thought he was rewarded with being like a man. That is, the nourishments that sustained him and from which he derived all his vitality were only from things that are not related to animals. He thought that soon he would be granted admission into the King’s palace and would be rewarded with the flavors of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds]. But without awareness or preparation, he sees that he is in a bottomless pit, which he never thought existed.
That is, after he has come to clear knowledge that he knows his purpose in life, now he sees himself in the company of cats, standing by garbage bins and eating the trash that people threw, since people cannot enjoy this, as it is unfit for human consumption. But now he himself is enjoying this trash, which he himself, when he was in a state of “man,” said that such a life is trash. But now he himself is eating the waste that he threw. Hence, when he looks at his lowliness, it invokes in him pain and suffering at the state he has come to.
However, sometimes a person adds insult to injury. That is, not only has he come to a state of lowliness, but at that time he falls into despair and says that he cannot believe that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth. Instead, at that time he says, “Since I’ve already been at the highest level several times, and since I have fallen into this state several times, I must conclude that this work is not for me. As I see it, this matter is endless and could continue for the rest of my life. Therefore, why should I afflict myself in vain thinking that perhaps the Creator will finally hear me? After all, every person learns from the past, from what has been registered in him and from what he has been through.” This despair pushes him from the work and he wants to escape the campaign.
However, a person must believe two things, for only by this can he progress in the work: 1) All the descents that foreign thoughts he has in the work did not come from himself. Rather, they all come from the Creator. That is, the Creator sent him these states, and there is no other force in the world. It is as Baal HaSulam said, that a person must believe that there is no other force in the world, and everything comes from the Creator (see Shamati, No. 1, “There Is None Else Besides Him”).
Indeed, we should understand why the Creator sends these states, since this is very unusual, for our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.” But here we see the opposite: Where he should have been given help and to see that each day he is progressing, he sees that he is regressing. That is, each time, he sees how immersed he is in self-love. Instead of coming closer each day toward the desire to bestow, he sees each day that he is nearing self-love.
In other words, before he began the work of bestowal, he did not taste such flavors and pleasures in self-love. He thought that whenever he wanted, he could immediately revoke his will to receive for himself, and he could work without any reward for himself. But now, he sees that he cannot make even a single step without the permission of his receiver. He has come to a state that our sages describe as “A wicked is under the authority of his heart.” Conversely, “a righteous, his heart is under his authority.” “Heart” means desire. That is, he is in exile, the will to receive for himself has absolute control over him, and he is utterly powerless to go against his heart, which is called “will to receive.” This is the meaning of the words, “A wicked is under the authority of his heart.”
Yet, the question is, Who is considered “wicked,” that we can say that he is under the authority of his heart? It is precisely when a person has come to a state where he sees that he condemns his Maker, when he cannot observe Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow, and sees that he is immersed in self-love. When his heart tells him, “Do what I tell you,” he mindlessly follows, and does not even have time to contemplate what he is doing. Our sages call this: “A person does not sin unless a spirit of folly has entered him.” Only after the fact, he looks at himself and sees what folly he has done. Only then, in that state, he sees what our sages said, “A wicked is under the authority of his heart.”
The answer to the question, Why did the Creator send him the states of lowliness? is so that a person will see the truth, meaning what the will to receive is willing to do in order to increase self-love, that it has no regard for anything, and whatever can bring it pleasure, it is willing to do.
It follows that the Creator helps him each time to see his real state. That is, it was concealed in his heart and he did not see his illness. Hence, the help of the Creator came and revealed to him the severity of the illness. In other words, we need not believe that the will to receive is a bad thing. Instead, now he sees it for himself. This is similar to a person seeing that something is wrong with him, and he goes to the hospital for tests and X-rays. The tests show him that he suffers from certain illnesses, such as a heart disease, and also in the lungs. The family members come to the hospital management with complaints saying, “We brought a person with a little fever, and not dangerous illnesses, and you, meaning your doctors and the X-ray, inflicted fatal diseases on our son.”
It is likewise with us. Our will to receive was not so bad as to be dangerous. When we came to work here, we were told that pretty soon we would achieve the wholeness that we thought about the evil in us. But suddenly, after tests and examinations that you do, we see that the evil in us is very dangerous, that it can kill you and cause you to lose your spiritual life.
As it is in corporeality, we should thank the hospital for diagnosing the illnesses, meaning the evil in the body. Likewise, we should thank the Creator for revealing to us the danger of the evil in us, which is really mortal danger that could cost us our spiritual life. And certainly, we should thank the Creator for assisting us in discovering the illness we are suffering from, since previously, we thought that we were only slightly unwell, but the Creator revealed to us the truth. It follows that we did progress toward seeing the truth, meaning the real form of the evil in us.
By this we can interpret what we asked, What is the meaning of “A person does not lift his finger from below unless he is called upon from above,” in the work? A “finger” means that a person sees within reason, as it is written, “Each and every one shows with his finger,” or from the words, “pointing with the finger.” “Lifting” means a lack from below. That is, a person who feels deficient, that his importance is low, meaning that he is far from the Creator, does not feel this awareness unless he is called upon from above.
There are two interpretations to “above”: 1) “He is called upon from above” means that it came to him from private Providence. That is, it cannot be said that since he did not guard himself from “lifting” [the finger], meaning that he was not careful with guarding the body, we were given laws by which man should guard himself from harm, so the body will not suffer some damage, but he was not careful so his body received a flaw, which is called “lifting.”
Yet, even if he did watch himself with a hundred types of care, it would not help at all because so it was sentenced about him “from above.” It is as RASHI interpreted, “‘called upon,’ he is sentenced.” That is, it is a sentence from above and it is not the person’s fault. Yet, we could ask, Why was he sentenced to this from above?
2) “From above” means that it is of high importance. That is, the person received a flaw in his work that he did within reason, which is called “lifting his finger from below.” In other words, now he sees that he is in a state of lowliness, meaning he sees that he is bare and destitute in matters of work on the path of truth.
This brings up the question, Did seeing his lowliness come to him for not observing Torah and Mitzvot, or is it the other way around—because he began work more enthusiastically, which brought him to a state of descent, called “lifting his finger from below”? We should say that it came because he put more effort into the work. According to the rule, a Mitzva [commandment/good deed] induces a Mitzva, he should have seen that he was in a state of “above,” so why is he in a state of “below”?
The answer is that he is “called upon from above.” That is, he has been sentenced from above to be admitted into a place of high importance. For this reason, he has been shown the real state of the evil in him, so he would know what to pray for. There is certainly a difference when we see in corporeality that a person comes to ask someone for a loan, to lend him money, or when someone comes to another to ask for a favor and speak on his behalf so he will not be thrown in prison, or when someone is sentenced to death, and he asks the one person who can save him from death. There are big differences among the pleas.
In spirituality, we understand these matters with regard to the Kli [vessel]. In spirituality, a prayer is regarded as a Kli. According to the rule, “There is no light without a Kli,” there is a difference between a person praying to the Creator to help him so he can receive wholeness, meaning that in truth, he observes Torah and Mitzvot and engages in charity, but he understands from rumors he had heard that there is more wholeness than his observing of Torah and Mitzvot, both in quantity and quality. He believes in the verse, “There is not a righteous man on Earth who does good and did not sin,” therefore he asks of the Creator to help him. It follows that he needs only one small thing.
For example, when someone comes to get a loan from someone, he is told that he can get it elsewhere, too. That is, we do not pay much attention when it comes to the lending. Therefore, normally, when a person refuses to lend, he leaves him.
This is not so when a person is sentenced to death, and there is one person who can save his life. If that person refuses to do him the favor of saving him, he will not leave him and say that he will go to another person to save him from death, since only the king himself can pardon him. For this reason, we do not leave the king, and we seek out every possibility for the king to give him the absolution.
Similarly, in spirituality, we need a real Kli, meaning a real need for the Creator to give us the filling. For this reason, when we are shown from above our true state, that we are truly bare and destitute, we can place the filling in that Kli, since a person has realized that he is lacking spiritual life, called “complete faith,” and he has no grip on spirituality. In other words, he cannot say that he is doing something for the Creator, but it is all for his own benefit. This means that the entire structure of Kedusha [holiness/sanctity] is ruined in him, and everything he does is only lip-service. This is called a “real prayer,” since he has no one to turn to, and only the Creator Himself can help him, as was said in the exodus from Egypt, that it was done by the Creator Himself, as it is written, “I the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt.”
This is similar to a person who was sentenced to death, and only the king can pardon him. It follows that when a person feels that he is in a state of “wicked,” and “wicked in their lives are called ‘dead,’” this is considered that he has been sentenced to death. However, when a person asks the Creator to give him his life as a present, this is considered that he has a Kli that can receive the filling, since the person is not asking the Creator for luxuries, but simply for his spiritual life.
Thus, on one hand, a person should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” That is, he should choose by himself. This means that anything he thinks that he can do, anything he thinks will help him emerge from self-love, he should do. On the other hand, a person should say that everything comes from above, as was said, “A person does not lift his finger from below unless he is called upon from above.” Once a person has come to the recognition of the evil in him, which is risking his life, this is called an “act.” But he should attribute this act to the Creator, too.
Afterward, he should pray for the action. That is, a person must attribute both the lack and the filling to the Creator. That is, once a person has begun the work of bestowal and worked devotedly to achieve the truth, the Creator sends him a sensation of his lack. A person can feel this only after he has made great efforts to achieve the quality of bestowal. At that time, he is notified that he is remote from Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is called “life.” It is written about it, “And you who cling to the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.”
At that time, when he prays, it is regarded as a prayer for lack of life, and not as praying for things that one can live without. Instead, he simply asks for life, called “complete faith in the Creator.”
Reader: Now let's enter a lesson with the Rav from April 29, 2003.
M. Laitman: (30:48) During an ascent and also during the descent, a person should find out in the end that the Creator holds all of his actions, all of his prayers, all of his states, and He determines them. And it is upon the person only to see himself how he is willing to accept every state that comes to him through equivalence of form with the Creator. To the extent that he makes an effort to see every state that comes from the Creator, then he tries to agree with every state that comes from Him. To that extent he begins to understand the thoughts and intentions of the Creator, what we call "From Your actions, we know You," this is how he reaches adhesion. The adhesion is according to how he doesn't just make himself similar through his actions, but rather that he takes on the same Rosh- the same head, as we call it. What does it mean, the same Rosh? Just as the Upper light comes to him from above, so he builds his response to it from below.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:48) What does it mean that a person makes himself similar to the actions of the Creator?
M. Laitman: What is it that a person makes himself similar to the actions of the Creator? He tries to perform the same actions, meaning the same actions of bestowal, when he discovers the Creator's action towards him, and in that revelation of the Creator's action, and usually the action seems as a negative action against the will to receive, right? Because the Creator is revealed first in that He adds a will to receive to the person so the person should first discover the evil inclination. Meaning, discover his desire, and inside of his desire that becomes revealed, he feels how far he is from the Creator, and as much as he's far away from Him, he should understand that this desire came from the Creator, and he needs to see this desire as bad. On the one hand, because it distances him from the Creator in its form, which is in order to receive, but in and of itself this state is positive, because it is a clarion from the Creator to come close to Him on the height of this desire if you correct it in order to bestow. Meaning in whatever state, whatever action, whatever it is, he must not lose his connection with the Creator.
Otherwise, immediately he starts engaging with his state, meaning with the desire that exists in him in a way that is not purposeful. And afterwards, after he goes through all of these stages, and he tries with this desire to do the same thing which was within the intention of the Creator to do, because the Creator wants to bestow inside of this desire. So then he corrects it to be in order to bestow, and he also wants to bestow to the Creator inside this desire. So this desire seemingly becomes common to both of them, and in a corrected state it is called the Toch- the inside of the Partzuf where the Creator and the created being meet, and they are in adhesion. That is I need to see the desires as a means as something that is not mine. Rather, I have a Rosh- a head where I want to be together with the Creator in the intentions. And I have a Guf- a body.
We're talking about the Rosh of the soul and the Guf of the soul, of the Partzuf. So I have a Guf where the Creator is, and I'm also there, so our actions are similarly, seemingly in adhesion. I need to see the soul truly as a godly part from above where He and I are in adhesion. This is the place of adhesion in actions, and later on in thoughts. There is also- well first, I see the Creator's action in me, inside this desire, and accordingly I begin to build the Rosh. After I build my Rosh and I relate to the Creator inside of this desire as He relates to me through this desire it turns out that I performed an action in the Guf, just like Him. And from that, I begin to recognize how shall I put it, from this I begin to recognize the Rosh of the Creator meaning His intentions and His thoughts towards me. You can liken it to two Roshim- two heads that a Partzuf has.
The first Rosh is the Rosh of Hitlabshut [clothing], this is seemingly a part of the previous Partzuf, and the second Rosh is the Rosh of Aviut [coarseness], this is the actual Rosh of the present Partzuf. So by me relating to the Creator - and I want to be adhered with Him in the same desire, inside the Partzuf that He now establishes for me. First it is in an uncorrected desire, and when I ask for it, and then the desire becomes corrected - so we build our rendezvous inside of the Partzuf. From that we also build a mutual relationship in the Rosh of Aviut [coarseness]. From that I also reach the Rosh of Hitlabshut [clothing]. There I recognize His actions that precede all of my actions, His previous actions towards me, and in this way we climb from below upward. This is called "From Your actions we know You."
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:10) And after revealing evil in some action, a certain desire, from what does the correction start? How does that happen?
M. Laitman: I didn't understand. After I discovered the bad, I discovered the bad by using the desire that I want to use the desire that was now revealed in order to receive. Why was it revealed in such a way- this desire to enjoy, and the intention to enjoy for itself, for myself that I get from above, as given? Now, I need to see what is the reason that is inside this desire? What is this desire that I received? It could be a desire where I feel great pleasures or I feel in it the ability to enjoy-meaning to reach some goal, and the goal for me when I get this desire is to enjoy.
Now begins the labor by which I need to discover that what is important for me is not the feeling in the desire, but the intention above it, so the intention in order to receive, even if I will enjoy inside the desire, just as now the desire itself depicts to me that it is possible to enjoy. And now I feel a deficiency because it is not full. So the intention I receive, my in order to receive- this is actually the evil. And because the Creator becomes greater in my eyes than the feeling that I can imagine in the desire- that is I need to appreciate the greatness of the Creator as greater than the magnitude of the pleasure that can be received in the desire.
When I reach that it is considered that I have reached the recognition of evil, and this is only by us truly working in a group and trying to be impressed from everyone so that the goal, which is what I usually call the greatness of the Creator- once we reach that then there is a necessity, an urgency that indeed it will be this way through my own forces.
So then I pray to the Creator that He must open Himself up to me as greater than the desire He previously gave me. This means that in the Creator's actions towards me, it happens like that - He gives me a will, a desire to receive in order to receive, and I do discover through the society, through the books, that this desire is bad, because the desire itself is greater in my eyes than the greatness of the Creator. So then I will ask of the Creator that He will be revealed to me as great, not that He will be revealed to me as the source of the pleasure so that His greatness will help me to use my desire with the opposite intention in order to bestow to Him. This is a prayer for the correction of the vessels. When I reach this, then afterwards, it already begins to be a prayer for giving- for the filling of the vessel. So, I'm not praying for the filling of the vessel. I'm praying for the possibility to work in order to bestow.
Student: I asked if in this process you just described, also the matter of burial later, then where do we get later the resurrection of the dead? Is there…
M. Laitman: In this whole process there's first a matter of distancing, then death, then burial, then rotting, and afterwards the revival of the dead- not rejection, but revival of the dead. There is a difference in Hebrew between rejection, or repelling, and revival.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:32) What conceals from a person that he's coming to- as if to bury himself? Is it a Klipa [shell] or holiness? What does it mean, what conceals it?
M. Laitman: He wants to bury a person who reaches a degree of state where he wants to bury his desire. It's not a desire, but rather his intention. He doesn't bury the desire, he needs to know that the desire itself you can't bury it unless you know exactly what you are burying. What does burial mean? Burial means that something that dies within me, I make an additional correction over it. Burial is a correction that I don't want to use this intention in order to receive that I have within me, and I am simply going to- I don't use this desire as it exists in me now, but rather for me it is now as dead. As dead means that it cannot be alive in me, I cannot use it.
And later on, bit by bit I begin to discover that the fact that it is now not being used by me- it could be used by me if it was the opposite. I begin to discover the rotting in it, how much it is inside, internally, in its foundation it is the opposite of the Creator. And along with me discovering that it is the opposite of the Creator, I also ultimately discover in that, that if it were truly the opposite of what it is then I would be able to use it in a different way. Meaning by the fact that it rots, I also see how much the opposite could be good.
So it turns out that when it reaches the end of the rotting then it creates within me some preparation so that I can ask for the revival. And immediately when it reaches the end of the rotting it is ready to be revived. This means that the intention in order to receive- it is already after the burial. The burial is like death. Or it is like when I make a restriction. I don't want to use it. For me, it is dead from usage. Afterwards, the burial and rotting- besides the fact that it is dead for usage, I begin to check to what extent this thing is the opposite of the Creator. I seemingly continue to examine it. Nevertheless, I live in it. I discover its oppositeness, and by discovering its oppositeness that this form of in order to receive rots in me. And each time as it rots more and more I feel how much if it were in order to bestow instead of in order to receive I would be able to use it. That is, I already discover in this rotting the measures of the life that it could be. So when it reaches the end of the rotting, I certainly see that it is possible to invert it. I'm ready to invert it already- to be in order to bestow. And I ask for it. Then comes the revival of the dead. The same desire remains and the intention, I'm ready for it to start rising for the revival of the dead. And this process also is gradual. It's not immediately in the entire level, it's not from all of its oppositeness. Just like we come from a double restriction, a concealment, to an ordinary concealment, revelation, to eternal love, it is the same with these processes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:10) I want to ask, what does it happen by me that demands to go through the ascents and descents, to go through this entire process?
M. Laitman: Why all of our corrections, each and every correction of ours is done gradually and not meeting through many ascents and descents and not at once? There are quite a few reasons. One reason, which is seemingly simple and easy to understand, but actually it's not really the reason - it's that it is difficult to immediately perform a great correction. It's better to do small corrections.
We see that in all of the states in this world we reach something perfect, something good, bit by bit, until we study, until we build something, until we have for it the mind and the ability, and the action itself is built. But, you could say that all in all these are results of what is happening from above. And why does it happen in this way from above?
It happens from above because the whole structure of reality is four phases. And to begin with, to reach phase four- the will to receive that knows itself, that it is receiving, and there is a Giver who bestows to it. And he receives from the Giver, and the Giver is great- both in that He's above and He's whole and giving, and the desire to receive is small, and it is dependent on the Giver and so on. That is we see that the light in a gradual manner operates in the will to receive in order to build from it a vessel that is worthy of its role. Later, when the will to receive begins to disclose its actions it must each time, according to these four phases in it- to reveal the need for the action, the ability to act, and the action itself.
Each time, in Yod Hey Vav Hey, he must develop in this order, both in analysis and recognition, critique, the scrutiny, both in determining his reality: where is it, who is it, what is it, also the development of the prayer. The request until it develops into a complete prayer that is rewarded with the force from above. Also in the action which he later acts upon with the force that he receives. Everything develops according to these four phases. And these four phases, in general, are the general process of the state, but just like we have five worlds, AK and BYA, but later each and every degree also has an infinite number of details of its own. This is besides the point, this is not really the reason for which we need to perform so many actions.
M. Laitman: (52:03) The more important reason is that we must reveal everything from its opposite state, the advantage of light from darkness. Meaning we have to come to a discernment here that the Creator is not giving us, rather we ourselves must reveal it. With that, we undergo the shattering, and in the shattering we take into ourselves many parts that are together, but in opposition to one another. And spiritually speaking, after the shattering we receive parts that are together even though their nature is different- it's opposite, and we need to determine, we need to reveal their nature, just how opposite they are. And out of this oppositeness, this inversion between the qualities of the Creator and the qualities of the created being, and the shattered parts, the point in the heart, and the heart, light and vessel, in order to receive and in order to bestow - that are all together after the shattering, and everyone is together in a single subject.
And from these discernments we need to reveal what will be later called Adam- a man, human, and we want to check and compare the qualities of the Creator and the created being, between the let's say, the right line and the left line. We have to reach something that does not exist in reality - a new desire, a middle line. This thing is not- does not exist from the beginning it doesn't cascade from above down we have to build it from below up. In order to build it- after the shattering we need to build it after the shattering from the broken pieces in each and every stage. In every state we are using every manner of broken vessel that we have. Therefore, each and every detail when those broken vessels are divided, isolated, spread out, distanced from one another we need to approach each and every vessel, make these discernments, build from these discernments the opposite attitude toward the Creator, which is that middle line.
This is man. This is the new thing that was created- that we create, really. We raise it, revive it. And here, because we have so many different parts spread out after the shattering, they're not glued to one another by the general screen into a single intention. It turns out that we have many actions for each and every broken part, and in each part we begin from the shattering, the recognition of the shattering. Meaning, from the descent as we call it relative to the previous state we had from the approach, the correction of each and every part. Then it starts from, "And it was evening, and it will be morning," from the descent and from the ascent. Meaning, these two causes, two reasons, this gradual action along the stages of Yod Hey Vav Hey, on the one hand, and the parts of the shattering that we have to correct, each and every part, each and every piece, it creates such a reality for us where we have to correct everything gradually through many actions of descents and ascents.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:39) The process is that a person receives a Rosh, a head, and according to this Rosh, he needs to continue working. So what does it mean that a person needs to receive a Rosh, to build a Rosh, so that according to this Rosh, he later works? Did I understand it correctly?
M. Laitman: It's written, you ask, how can a person build a Rosh? What kind of Rosh should he build? It says, "From Your actions we shall know You," simply. So by making myself similar to the Creator- from this action, by this action I begin to know His thoughts. It's similar to the opposite action that we learn from above down. First there's a Rosh, then there's a Guf. So, by trying to resemble the Creator in the action of the Guf, what is in the Guf of the Partzuf we are rewarded with understanding, beginning to understand to acquire His thoughts, the Rosh of the Partzuf. Look, how do we learn in this world? A baby or a small child they look at their dad doing all kinds of actions, or the teacher, it doesn't matter who, he's doing his action. He doesn't understand why, but if he follows these actions, he begins to understand later how and what is there and what need is there for it. Why did the Upper One think to do this way? He first saw only the external form, the action, what the Upper One does relative to him, how the Upper One reveals Himself toward him. But by equating his form to the Upper One, the way the Upper One shows Himself, from that he comes to the intention of the Upper One. Why is He revealed in this way? What is He trying to attain relative to the lower one? And it's awarded with a Rosh, "From Your actions we shall know You," that's what it's called. This is the only action by which we can climb from the lower degree to the upper degree. And this is the case in each and every degree. The action in each and every degree is called Ta'amim- tastes of Torah, flavors of Torah.
When I come to the flavors of Torah- the tastes of Torah, I discover the actions of the Creator in me and I equate myself to Him. I taste the taste of Torah, as we call it, Ta'amim, tastes, and the light, what that is, spread out in the body, in the Guf of the Partzuf, by that, by equating my intention to in order to bestow, and I have a Guf, I have a Partzuf, from that I reach the Rosh of the degree called the secrets of Torah, the intention of the Creator.
So, just as I need to reveal the taste of Torah, the way the Creator reveals Himself toward me in this action, when He brings me those desires, I later come to, from the tastes of Torah to the secrets of Torah, "From your actions we shall know You," to the Rosh of the Partzuf. The Rosh of the Partzuf are the intentions of the Creator. Those I'm not allowed to reveal, I need to keep, what does it mean, I'm not allowed to reveal, forbidden. Who can I reveal it to? What's the prohibition here? No, you cannot disclose it. Forbidden in spirituality means impossible. These Roshim, plural of Rosh, they keep accumulating in me. They're all, they're from below up, through rejection. I truly cannot disclose it, how to explain it. But it will come. You cannot really explain it, you cannot demonstrate it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:47) You say, "From your actions we know You." How to make it tangible? From what do I recognize Him?
M. Laitman: "From your actions you shall know Him." It's very simple, I see someone doing a certain work without knowing why. I don't know what is His purpose. I come, and simply using my own intellect I have nothing, I don't have His head all I can see is His action. I begin to resemble Him with my desire, with my abilities, with my head, in action, only in action. I want to do the action together with Him. So, what do I do? He does something to me, let's say the Creator. It works also in our work, in our world, the way we see it in education, how children gradually adjust and adapt themselves to us when they want to resemble us. But in this spiritual action, the Creator is bestowing to me. I wish to resemble Him, I wish to bestow to Him, to resemble Him in this action. Meaning, by asking Him for the forces, certainly, and I make myself similar to Him in this action, He bestows in such and such a manner, and I bestow to Him these same bestowals, and then we come to a state where I acquire His intentions, His head. I don't know how to say it. What am I doing from that same action where I try to do it like Him? I learn the matter or the substance on which He works; the attitude, how He relates to it, the form, the form that is revealed in the matter. I come from below up, truly, that's how I call it, from the outcome to the cause.
Student: I have this question that uh ...
M. Laitman: It's written, "You have no blade of grass from below that doesn't have an angel from above that strikes him and tells him to grow." By getting to know Him, the blade of gras- it's the substance, the matter how it grows, how the angel works on him to grow, by that I begin to get to know the angel what processes He's using. I glue myself to His processes, I want to be exactly like that. From this, that same Rosh, same head is created in me, because we become equal- equals- in that same subject on which He's working. I relate to my matter, my substance, my desire, and the action that he's doing. I also will be like this angel, like two partners, in between us. What's common to us is the matter that He created and the desire where He's working on, meaning I relate to it like the angel, to my matter, my desires, like some subject, study subject in a lab. I begin to distinguish my “I” from my body and relate to it like the place where we can resemble each other and be in adhesion.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:02) A person is sent disruptions. The state changes from one disruption to another. What do I learn about the Creator's actions from some disruption that is sent to me? That's my question.
M. Laitman: The action of the Creator that’s sent to me sends me a desire with the intention to receive. I learn if I recognize the state, I learn about His love to me. He gives me this matter, the desire itself, and He gives me the opportunity to resemble Him, to be like Him, to reach that same feeling that He has. So, it turns out, this is the best attitude from Him to me. You cannot create a higher state of love than that, of this integrity, of this direct attitude that's better than this, because by that, He created someone and gave him the possibility for becoming like Him.
Student: This can be done in a moment when I distinguish in the disruption that it has a source, but if only the disruption exists, then I simply cannot get rid of it.
M. Laitman: It's true that as soon as the disruption or obstruction comes it means that the obstruction is here, that I'm buried underneath it, and I can sense only that. There are moments like that, and later, gradually, they give a person from above the ability to see himself not inside the disturbance but slightly next to it. Meaning, they begin to shine a light to him, a little bit of light, so from that light he can see darkness. If you are in this total, absolute darkness, there's no hint of light, you can't feel that it's darkness. It's clear. The darkness is something you feel from the deficiency for the light, and from the deficiency for the light, that deficiency the light gives us from a distance, just like the point in the heart that shines. So certainly, from each and every state, the Creator saves a person by sending him each time His illumination in the changing states. Let's put it this way. The illumination shifts, changes, and by that, a person begins to see his state each time differently. But different relative to what? Relative to this illumination. And then he begins to criticize and analyze his state and check it, and from that, you begin to have awareness, criticism, oversight. Maybe you're asking how can a person be certain that he'll come out of the state of falling when he's entirely in it without an ability to see that it's a state that comes from the Creator. Meaning, he's at the bottom of the double concealment. Does he have some possibility? Has he come out of it by himself? It's impossible. Rather, based on the person's previous efforts, based on the records that have to appear in him, based on this general engine that moves and brings all of creation to correction, these things change. If it changes only from the side of the Creator, it can change according to the general state very slowly. If a person has preparations, he builds a group for himself. The times, right? This framework within which these things change it, meaning first in the form of inanimate, nevertheless, he places himself under the influence of something besides the Creator, the influence of the society or the books, right, or together, it's really both. By that he accelerates his process, right? The illumination that changes, shines on him. But one way or another, it's not important. They consider the actions of a person, what he does, how, what he prepares for himself during the times of ascent, not during the times of descent.
When the light shines to you, what do you want from that state? Either you wish to enjoy it, or you wish to be adhered to the Creator as much as possible. Meaning, you don't think about the pleasures, rather you only think about who you are in adhesion with, because He is great, the upper one, and you determine it, and not because you can enjoy the adhesion to Him in vessels of reception. If you grow stronger during the ascent, if only in them you wish to be connected to Him, then you somehow prepare for yourself vessels, means by which you can come out of the descent faster in the future. Everything we are being evaluated only according to the state of ascent. You received something, now let's see how you can resist the temptations, disconnect from the Giver and be inside the plate, or in spite of being in the plate, specifically using it to be connected to the Giver. Here, a person is in constant struggle between his desire and his intention.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:14) "From your actions we know You" happens during the ascent? During the disturbance there is no such state?
M. Laitman: "From your actions we know You" is where a person gradually, each time with his efforts in all states, also states of descent and ascent, he recognizes the actions of the Creator. "From your actions we know You" is where I want in each and every state to be connected with the Creator. And from trying to be connected with Him, these states change; from their changes, specifically even in the bad changes, or the bad states, I recognize how He's turning me, how He's changing me, playing with me, and confusing me. From this, I start to see it and gradually begin to feel that it's not Him confusing me or moving me this way or that way. It's not me; it's the will to receive by which He's doing it. I start to relate to the will to receive like a vessel. I and the vessel, and at this moment a Rosh and Guf begins, a head and a body.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:38) On the one hand, you say that the change of state and exiting from the descent depends on preparation. Why do they say that at the end a person needs to reach a state where only the Creator can help? How does it coincide? That it depends specifically on the Creator and not the environment, the books, the society?
M. Laitman: Why in every action do I also need to need the Creator, and also need the light by which I will see the recognition of evil, of what's good and what's evil? Also to correct, to keep myself away from the evil, distance myself from it, make it into good, to understand each thing. Meaning also in actions, also in thoughts, and in intention, and preparation in each and every state, every grain of discernment should be also that by it I see the Creator in this- also the discernment where by the Creator I decide in the right way what decision I have about that discernment, and also by the Creator how I carry out what I decided. Why do I specifically need this by Him? Meaning, it works out that by this I become like Him. It works out just like it's written, "Come unto Pharaoh." There cannot be some action of mine that would be correct if it's not by us being adhered together like two, let's say, pages of paper that are stuck to each other like that. If I'm not together with Him all the time in relation to what's happening to me, everything that happens to me, because everything that happens to me by each and every state, every discernment, in action, in thought, in intention, and it doesn't matter in what- no matter what, I have to relate to Him through this. By this I learn Him. By this I equalize myself to Him. So actually, the entire effort is in remaining always with Him, no matter what we go through together. "There's none else besides Him." This is what this means.
Reader: Let's share impressions from the lesson. What are we taking for implementing in the Ten.
Reader: We'll move to the next part of the lesson, but let's first sing a song.
Song: (01:23:49)