Afternoon Lesson June 19, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
I See the Lord Before Me Always- Selected Excerpts from the Sources
1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:25) This is truly an important and great thing that a person needs to feel himself as if he's in front of the Creator and that he's not separated from Him, not disconnecting from Him, for even a moment of his life and as much as he tries to be in this full force, this brings him closer to a correction, to the revelation of the Creator. Until he reveals the Creator, that He's in front of him and this way we will continue with Him more and more, and more, until the full Dvekut, [adhesion].
So, ‘I see the Lord before me, always,’ and each and every moment a person must try to hold on to it. In truth not to forget about this and to do this as a constant habit. Let's read and see what happens afterward. I'm ready to talk about this because in this condition I see the Lord before me always, this is the main thing that a person always feels himself, positions himself, and strengthens himself, that he is in front of the Creator.
Reading Excerpt #2. (02:35) RABASH, Article No. 17 (1989), "What Is the Prohibition to Greet Before Blessing the Creator, in the Work?"
Rav: (03:27) Meaning it's not important what he himself feels, but that he tries to see the Creator in front of him. This is already a great invitation from the side of the Creator towards a person, and a person needs to be grateful for that and try more and more to hold on to this full force, full of strength. Like a small child that is on mum's body and he's holding himself in order to not separate from her. This is how we need to try, always holding on to the Creator, and all the time until we try to adhere to Him with a heart and soul, with all the desires and thoughts, and all of our aspirations; this must be a constant tendency for us.
2. S. (04:41) So I need to see the Creator all the time even without a response from Him?
R. Of course, I myself need to develop this tendency, like instead I see the Lord before me always, it's talking about a person, that I see that a person is doing this, he's trying, and the Creator, even if he gives him just the tip of the thought, and desire, and the tendency for that, already this causes him great mercy.
S. So then how, without a response from Him, do I know that I'm in a state- of a state that I see?
R. By having a thought, this is already something you received from Him.
S. If I don't have such a thought, then?
R. Then you know that He, too, is doing this to you.
S. Even if I don't get a response, I still need to act in this way?
R. It all comes from His desire, because if you can think in that desire this already comes from Him.
3. S. (06:00) What does it mean to touch holiness?
R. Try to feel that with my whole heart and soul that I am in the direction and this tendency towards the Creator, and that I can truly hold on to Him as much as possible.
4. S. (06:30) What helps you to always see the Creator in front of you?
R. I try in each and every moment, as much as I'm capable, to depict this to myself and not to come out of this feeling. That's it, and besides that whatever I'm engaged in, I’m engaged in, things that are closer and touching the Creator. It's not always possible because a person is working, engaged in something, but he also has, in the states that he can't quite hold himself, and his mind, and his thought, and desire he disconnects, but nonetheless try to arrange yourself such that you return to this as much as possible. This is why it's called Shiviti, I see, but also I return, I see, the Lord before me always.
S. But I always hold on to the Creator being in front of me. How do we make a habit out of this?
R. Simply all the time to return one to this, to such an extent that it becomes second nature.
5. S. (08:26) How can I never forget that I need to be attached to this and always in this direction?
R. It's through exercises all the time to be in exercises, exercises, exercises. This is why it's called Shiviti, that I returned to the connection with the Creator. It's a constant thing, without this I don't exist, I'm not alive for even a moment.
6. S. (09:15) We say that a person needs to believe, it is written that a person needs to believe, does that mean we need to accept things without any criticism?
R. A person needs to depict to himself that the Creator is always in front of him and basically on the side of the Creator there is no difference between what's happening, so the Creator is always ready for a connection with a person, so then everything depends on a person. On the side of the Creator, there is always an invitation for connection.
7. S. (10:19) Everything you say I really feel, but in the ten it seems like we're constantly lowering the Creator, and to feel the greatness there, it's this trepidation or this fear that something's not okay and today I really felt that maybe I need to come out of there. That every single workshop we simply talk about how difficult it is with the Creator, how bad it is, how hard it is, what do I do with such a state? Is it enough for me to feel the importance?
R. I don't know what's happening and I also don't know what's happening with the connection. I don't know what's happening with you and your ten, I'll just tell you one thing, what we are reading now, we must realize in full force that each and every person in the ten is in this tendency to feel the Creator in front of him each and every moment of his life.
8. S. (11:57) ‘The Lord is before me always,’ so you Rav, the friends, and the World Kil, this is the question: How do we always realize this?
R. Not to forget, don't forget. All the time depict to yourself that you are together with us and the Creator and that we all are in this tendency to Him, are holding Him with all of our senses for Him to not run away from this field of our senses. And all the time for Him not to get distance from us, to feel Him more and more, that's it, that's everything. And by you revealing in the group that your friends are not quite concerned about that, then it's the Creator also doing that, for you to be concerned about it more, and justify all your friends and the Creator and what you feel because it's all for your benefit. For you to amplify the connection between the Creator and you.
9. S. (13:55) If in the ten there's a certain emotion, there's a certain new relation between us. How in that do we depict correctly the Creator's participation?
R. That everything that's happening in the ten, all in all, which you reveal it's all the Creator or the Creator wants for you to feel from the ten.
S. So for what? Is it for our benefit, for our development?
R. Of course, for us to connect, so that over all of the disturbances you'll feel a greater connection.
10. S. (14:55) Do we understand correctly that our strength is in our connection and the more we have a connection with the friends that are directed toward the Creator, then we have more strength?
R. Of course.
S. Is this the strength of the environment?
R. Yes.
S. Does the strength of our connection with the Creator depend on the importance of the group?
R. Of course.
S. What is that strength, that's in the strength of the overcoming?
R. It's your strength that you develop in order to overcome all the disturbances on the path to the Creator.
S. So this is the force of prayer?
R. This is the force of that aspiration, that if you make a prayer out of this it's even better.
Reading Excerpt 3. (16:09) RABASH, Article No. 12 (1989), “What Is a Groom’s Meal?”
Rav: (17:45) Meaning basically always receiving and getting from the Creator only good. The question is if we can depict it as such and to think that this is how it's happening to us, but in truth what we receive, we receive only good things. It does not matter what state we’re in, even the worst cases a person is in if nonetheless, you were to see what he's receiving from the Creator and for what need, and what happens to him as a result of the Creator sending this to him and this all comes only from the Creator. So he needs to accept it as the best possible things, there is nothing a person receives, there's no bad that a person receives from the Creator, never, and not for any moment, and if one feels bad it's a sign that he's not able to overcome these disturbances and to reveal in it only good.
11. S. (19:14) What exactly is the bad, good?
R. That this bad awakens a person to work against his senses, against his thoughts, desires, and his ego and try to accept the Creator as only good.
S. But nonetheless in the desire you feel something bad. In what is that, although the Creator only does Good, His Goodness, in what is that good?
R. A person cannot feel what is good according to his senses, but according to his assumption that he's getting this only from the Creator. By that he needs to say that it is good, it cannot be that a person, a certain second of his life, his existence, that he gets something bad from the Creator.
S. So each moment of our lives we receive good from the Creator?
R. Yes.
S. So the purpose without thinking about it in your desire, but what does he want from you?
R. He wants you, and that you will overcome all these disturbances and that you'll feel Him, that He is close to you.
S. This is the goal in every moment, to feel Him as close?
R. Yes.
S. The ability to feel Him as close, what does it depend on?
R. As much as a person overcomes disturbances.
12. S. (21:32) Sometimes faith above reason, it's like a slippery fish that slips out of your hands. How can we know that it's the Creator without losing one's reason, how can we always be aware that it's Him?
R. The desires, thoughts, and actions of the environment. They need to strengthen each and every person to think only in that direction, that we're always in front of the Creator, and that there's nothing besides that. That what we feel we feel from Him, with what we receive, we receive from Him, and we don't have anything that we can receive outside of the Creator.
13. S. (22:54) In this article, Rabash tries to explain to us how to behave during the descent, but at the end, he writes that they have eyes and see not, but this is only during the ascent. What does it mean that it's only during the ascent, what does that mean?
R. We need to try to accept what we received from the Creator and to say that it's The Good Who Does Good, to the good and to the bad, and always that it's all an ascent.
14. S. (23:50) What do we need to overcome for the disturbances to be only good? If I collaborate myself towards the ten and towards the environment, it tells me that the Creator is in front of me, but I have disturbances. How do I connect, not just intellect but also the heart, what to do in order to feel that He's The Good Who Does Good over these disturbances?
R. This is called above reason, that I need to overcome what I feel and say that what I feel is not good, that is truly incorrect. That the Creator is only sending me good, and I, my ego, and my qualities, that they are opposite to bestowal and then I feel bad.
S. To ask the Creator to invert my form and my qualities to be like Him?
R. Yes.
15. S. (25:01) To what extent is it important in this work to see to what extent I'm not in agreement with the Creator, and that I don't see His Goodness, or do I need to go away from the thought and try to see the goodness, or is it more important to turn to the Creator for help?
R. Firstly turning to the Creator for help, this is not a violation of any laws. If you cannot orient yourself to feeling that everything that you feel from the Creator is from His Goodness and His desire to draw you into the path of correction from your ego to the goal of creation. Then you need to ask for everything from Him and this means that you realize your work in the current moment, that you come closer to the Creator and you hold on to Him like a child holding on to the mother. So there's nothing to be sorry about, or the opposite, we need to hold on to the Creator through the group. However it works for you, and to try to hold on to Him.
S. Meaning if I catch myself that I don't see everything correctly to see everything as good, so then it's as if I convince myself that this is how I see you? Do I nonetheless try to be more earnest with my feelings and to clarify this point, and then I'll have the opportunity to turn to the Creator?
R. Yeah, yeah, try all the time to hold on to Him.
16. S. (27:23) I want to clarify nonetheless disturbance in essence: it's my reaction to what the Creator is giving me?
R. It's much more complex than that. What's the difference? I need to feel myself that I am adhered to the Creator with all of my feelings, thoughts, desires, and intentions, all of it, and if not then I need to ask Him for that.
S. It's just not clear, it's felt as something very personal and that the ten does not exist here and it's not clear why the ten is here, if there are such relations to the Creator?
R. Through the ten you need to pass all of this. Try and then we will talk about this, right now there is still nothing to talk about with you.
17. S. (28:24) Well I always see the bad first, then inverted to good, or is it just a final goal when we reach a state where I entirely see that everything is good?
R. No. I must and what I feel now, right away feel, almost right away, feel that it's good. Try to feel that everything that I feel, I feel from the Creator and this is good.
18. S. (29:35) What is the next step after I justify the Creator?
R. The next step after I justify the Creator, if I truly justify the Creator above all of the disturbances that come in front of me, meaning that they're all built out of my ego, then that in this way I raise myself more, and more, and more until the final correction.
19. S. (30:37) In my desire to receive, do I feel that if everything that the Creator sends me is bad, but if I had the intention to bestow, If I just had the intention to bestow, I would feel only His Goodness, how does it work?
R. Of course that's how it is, that's how it works. In desires to receive we will feel bad and the desires to bestow we will feel good.
S. The role of the ten, it serves this role that we will always be in this line towards bestowal, that alone it's impossible to attain this?
R. Yes.
20. S. (31:42) There's a feeling that without this connection to the Creator holding onto Him like a child holds a mother, then nothing works out, that everything falls apart, in many aspects of life, but at the same time to hold on to this, it's a strange situation.
R. I didn't understand the question.
S. How do we strengthen this connection to make it deeper to really connect all the aspects that are falling apart without it?
R. This is what the Creator is bringing us to. He's giving us all kinds of disturbances for us to strengthen and that the Creator is good in every direction and in this way we’ll come to a state that's called The Good Who Does Good.
S. By this we need to reach a certain level of exertion on our end?
R. Yes, this is how it needs to be.
21. S. (33:11) How do you pass this, how do we guard this deficiency even outside the lesson?
R. All the time to think that I'm in front of the Creator, like it is written and the beginning of our lesson, ‘I see the Lord before me always.’ That all the time I've returned myself to the Creator who is in front of me.
22. S. (34:00) When we reach a state like Him, then basically we are free from his influence?
R. Free from the Creator?
S. Yes.
R. Why?
S. In order to be partners and to feel, I don't know how to say this, even that I'm not a puppet, that I'm not just living from the Creators’ influence and that he passes me from here to there, but that I turn into partners that we turned into partners. I'm not just talking about myself but the connection between us.
R. We need to feel ourselves that we are holding each other in the ten and that each ten is holding on to the Creator and that they don't separate the structure. That we are all an entire ten holding on to the Creator. It needs to be constant for us, constant. And if one or a few of my friends are separating from this connection then the others are holding the connection and in this way, the ten is built in such a way that if we are more or less directed towards the Creator. Then we're always holding on to him, together between us, and also together with him.
S. How do we justify the Creator when he sends these resistors in the work of dissemination?
R. It's not important what He's sending us. We always need to invert this into a good connection from Him, everything that comes, comes from the Creator. Everything that comes from the Creator, only good comes without any bad and this is how we need to relate to everything in this world, even including death, because from the Creator there cannot be any bad that comes out of Him, and besides the Creator there's nothing, There's None Else Besides Him. Which is why we're learning how to relate to all of nature, meaning the Creator, and the right way, and therefore it's forbidden for us to say that the world is bad and people's behavior is bad but it's all the Creator arranging for us in this way, that we will actually resist our evil inclination which depicts us these bad images, and will reach good, only good, only. ‘Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.’
23. S. (37:53) How can we raise the importance of a method that we cannot yet perceive?
R. We need to carry out what the Kabbalists recommend for us because we learn from them, and what form we can be directed correctly to the Creator in order to identify Him as dwelling as all of Nature and feeling the entire world. Therefore, it's not important which problems come to us and what we feel, we must accept these things as coming from the Creator; The Good Who Does Good.
24. S. (39:05) A person studying Kabbalah has different states inside, maybe falls, gets up, there are different states. When one falls he doesn't even want to look. When one falls do we need to stop and wait for time to pass, or do we need to try again?
R. When you fall you need to get up and try to justify everything and see the world as good and correct.
25. S. (40:06) If we can accept everything coming from the Creator as The Good Who Does Good, our big disturbances such as a death or certain illnesses of loved ones, are there bigger corrections for us, or is it not important whether the disturbances are big or small? Are they all the same?
R. No these are not disturbances. It's not the same thing, but we need to try to see all of these disturbances that they come from the Creator and that There's None Else Besides Him, and that they're only for our benefit, as The Good Who Does Good.
26. S. (41:11) If I see that the friends get distant from me and that they're engaging in material things and maybe someone completely abandons the group, does it mean that such thoughts and desires are in my own head?
R. Yes and no, we need to check.
27. S. (41:43) The Creator does not make a personal calculation with me, he makes a calculation with the body that I'm a part of Him and I don’t feel this yet. Is this correct?
R. Yes.
S. Meaning that he's pushing me towards this body to connect with it, although I don't feel that body yet, and because of that I feel bad?
R. Yes.
28. S. (42:17) How can we help a friend if she feels these disturbances through pain? How do we help her justify the Creator?
R. Show her how you justify the Creator in everything, that's it.
29. S. (42:46) Right now Congress is coming and I have a personal question. What are we using this concept of the Creator as if this personification, and it's hard for me to get free from and to take it out of my head, and we're not talking about someone specific, and it really prevents me from advancing. It seems to me that sometimes I'm capable of getting free from that and seeing everything coming from the Creator and sometimes not. I really want to believe, and get freed, but the mind it's ruling over me. What can you recommend?
R. Read our materials more, the ones of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. Read more, but only them, Baal Hasulam and Rabash.
S. Then we'll feel with these articles it's possible to feel a certain release?
R. Yes.
30. S. (44:28) How would it influence us towards the Creator?
R. You'll feel it after.
31. S. (44:49) It turns out that we look at the one next to us through us?
R. Yes.
S. We also need to see the Creator through us?
R. Yes.
S. What does it mean that a person that becomes like the Creator becomes holy? What does he do that's holy?
R. What does he do when he is similar to the Creator, then he becomes holy.
32. S. (45:19) The Creator is doing actions when we direct it to him, otherwise we are acting out of our ego?
R. Yes.
S. So how do you [missing translation] from the benefit to the Creator from out of your ego?
R. Simply always think about the Creator.
Reading Excerpt 3. (46:15) RABASH, Article No. 12 (1989), “What Is a Groom’s Meal?”
Reading Excerpt 4. (48:01) Degel Machaneh Ephraim
33. S. (49:46) How out of the feeling of the dependence in The Good Who Does Good we reached that stage where we want to be similar to Him? What is the connection to feeling None Else Besides Him to the desire to bestow?
R. All of these tendencies toward the Creator, they are close to one another even if they seem distant.
34. S. (50:23) When a bad state comes, how can we accept that it comes from The Good Who Does Good? How can we invert this thing and reach the recognition that it is good?
R. Only through the correct connection between the friends in the group. We are like a musical instrument and we need to collaborate the tune before we play it. This is how we need to tune the group for there to be a good connection between us, in love, and connection, and then with that tool, we can feel how the Creator is playing us. This is what we need to do.
35. S. (51:41) What is the image of the Creator, how do we depict his image in the ten?
R. As a benevolent force which directs everyone and allows us to come closer to it and to discover it to the extent of similarity to it.
S. Is it always individual and in the person in the ten?
R. The choice is individual, but the attainment of the Creator is a group one.
36. S. (52:46) I see bad come out of me when I try to do good and I feel that I cannot change the bad and that reason is always above everything and my behavior causes harm in the ten, and I don't want to be responsible for all the disturbances even if the friends think that it's helping in the advancement I cannot tolerate to see the ten suffering. We need to advance in spirituality instead of this joy and I feel that I want to leave. What do I need to do?
R. You need to continue to read what we are reading and to learn what we are learning and to be in all the lessons and to try to talk about it with your friends, but only in the direction of connection in the good direction and soon you will see how much everything is truly, the world is wonderful, as much as it seems opposite to us, it's because we want to see it in our corrupted vessels, but in truth, we will see the world opposite as much as it is all good and as much as the Creator is good and that each one of us is good, soon this will be revealed to us and all of us.
37. S. (55:28) How do I connect with a person who never participates in any morning lessons or any exercise or any action in the ten?
R. Don't connect with him, so don't connect with him, erase him from the group until he comes to the lessons, to the talks, until he participates with us; we don't want to be connected with him.
38. S. (56:17) When a person attends lessons for two years, three years, four years and they suddenly leave, it's like you lost a child. As like a mum can never forget about her child, we could never forget about our friend because he's been with us for two years, 3 years. Is this egoistic? What to do?
R. There's nothing to do. Whoever leaves, leaves. We cannot keep a connection with those that are against us and who have left us, but whatever happens, happens, that is life.
39 S. (57:06) You said that we need to always hold on to the connection with the Creator and if some friends are getting distanced from the connection, but the other friends, they are nonetheless holding this connection. If I see some friends getting distanced then of course it's bad in my eyes, but I nonetheless try to hold the connection even when my ego sees that it's a bad connection, but nonetheless I pray for the friends and I try to hold that connection even without those missing friends. So how when I see that the connection is bad and I try to support it?
R. I don't act in such a way that whoever wants to get distanced from me, let him get distanced. I relate to him at the same distance, I relate passively to people that want to get distanced from the group, that's his choice. He gets distance, let him. I cannot force him, to drag him, and you know glue him. I can't do it in such a way. I simply give him a free choice, if you want to leave, leave.
40. S. (59:00) Practically, Rabash – when you had your group that you had, like a schedule of attendance. On one hand, you say you don't want to come, okay, but on the other hand, you say not to bend the friends. Is this like a certain motivation or is it a certain pressure like from previous times when we used to have a schedule? Is it necessary and spiritual work?
R. It's necessary because when you enter into a group then you obligate yourself to be together with everyone and every single lesson to take part in all group actions, lessons, meals, otherwise what does it mean that he came into a group.
S. I mean that once a week, have a certain list of what we achieved and who came and who didn't, is it necessary, would it lower us?
R. I don't know it depends on the group, with Rabash it was quite strict.
41. S. (01:00:20) If I didn't succeed in getting up for the morning lesson, how do I clarify this? Does it come from the Creator, ‘but if I am not for me who is for me,’ where is my responsibility?
R. This is a problem because you didn't think about it beforehand, but before you need to get up, you already must from the evening think about how you're going to get up in the morning.
42. S. (01:01:00) Why am I unsuccessful in feeling a balance between the personal life, the spiritual life, and the family life?
R. Because you haven't tried yet, you're still young, a beginner, but soon this will work out, it'll soon work out. You will have all the best, don't worry.
S. I'm not sure I understood everything, but thank you. This was for a different friend anyway who has a husband and kids.
R. You, too, will have.
43. S. (01:02:14) According to the text, what is the meaning of that, ‘I have set the Lord always before me?’
R. All the time each and every moment I need to draw the Creator. That I am in front of Him and that He is in front of me. That all the time, I am in the Creator's presence, clear? This must be a condition without concessions, without any concessions.
44. S. (01:03:33) When you're in an ascent it's easy to depict the Creator and everything. How do we help the Creator when a certain wave of hatred comes?
R. We need to reorient ourselves and try to be in one wave with the friends.
45. S. (01:04:19) What does it mean to turn away from the Creator?
R. To reject the Creator. It's that I forget about Him, that's it.
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