Morning Lesson November 15, 2022 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Faith Above Reason - Selected Excerpts from the Sources. #12
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i3dp30RInQ_LD6VE6XZ8OCSh-IfNcczZVZeudiFv8yA/edit
1. Rav’s Introduction (00:27): Yes, we actually entered this process, this path of faith above reason. We are coming closer to this we already heard not once that the path is how to move from Lo Lishma to Lishma, for her sake, from the the desire to receive which we receive from the beginning, we're born with, and from it onwards we need to come closer to the desire to bestow in which we do not think about ourselves but rather each, the way each one thinks about himself there is nothing we can do about it, this is how we came to this world but together with that we need with our work and our recognition in us wanting and knowing and preparing ourselves for another stage, to a different desire: the love of others, connection with others through which there is a connection to the Creator until we reach His degree, His state in feeling what can be felt in the desire to bestow which is the desire of the Creator.
How we can invert as it is written and flip it over and this way gradually day after day in all the cases and states we go through we try to depict to ourselves how it is to think not for my own benefit but rather for the benefits of the group, for the benefit of the Creator. Sometimes it is easier for us to think of the benefit for the Creator but we need to check if it is truly for the benefit of the Creater or if we are lying to ourselves and then we need to depict these things so that they will be for the benefit of the group where the examination will be assured because it is through the system, through the group, this way where if we think for sure of the benefit of the group, of the friends, which I feel in my heart and I relate to them in such a way this is the most principal closest part to me then this way I truly come closer to the Creator and although I do not yet feel Him, I do not reveal Him but He is about to be revealed because all together the accumulation of all the thoughts and desires and states that I have towards the ten.
That is what we will be progressing towards. If there are questions please we need to talk about them in order to understand and to make it clear to ourselves what the question is and what the answer is that we need to give ourselves to our friends and to the Creator. Where besides that there's nothing in the world where only the person, the group which expands later to the dimensions of the vessel of Adam HaRishon and the Creator who implements, sustains, establishes and fills this vessel. So let's read and penetrate deeper inwards into this each day more and newer and in more depth.
Reading excerpt #12 (05:07): “It is written, woe unto you who desire the day of the Lord..” twice
2. R. (09:54) What is the difference between seeing the quality of the good that does good within reason and seeing the good that does good above reason in faith?
R. These are two levels of perception of reality, the perception in the mind and intellect in the corporeal feeling which we are born with in our mind and feelings, in those mind and feelings and that is how we grasp reality and besides that we need to acquire the ability to see it not with a force of reception which the Creator created as with but rather in the force of bestowal that we want to be in which is different, opposite, as it is written I have seen an opposite world and this gradually comes to us from the reforming light and that is how we can see the two with our corporeal eyes the way everyone sees and with our spiritual eyes the way the Creator sees, the way we need to see. The difference is opposite, I have seen an opposite world, that is the difference.
What other change is there in the relation? It is a change between the degrees, the degree of this world and the degree of the next world where as in this world we see only according to the five corporeal senses and in faith above reason we see in the qualities of bestowal, in qualities that are opposite that which we live and are feeling here in this world; therefore, we need both this and that. Just as it is written the Creator made this relative to that and when we see these two forms of sight, two forms of perception of reality, then we can truly understand and feel the Creator and all his created beings and how he arranged them this way. We need to try as much as possible to come closer to this. We can perform all kinds of exercises, let's say, what I'm doing now, how do I do it so that it will be not for my benefit but on the contrary for the benefit of the group, the opposite, for the benefit of the Creator? When I make such efforts and I'm constantly depicting to myself that I'm doing this for the benefit of others, meaning for the group and the Creator then slowly, slowly I start to advance myself to a state of faith above reason, the force of bestowal which is above the force of reception.
S. This exercise that you just mentioned is it something we have to do relative to all the thoughts and desires?
R. Well, establish yourself at least a few times a day this way until it enters into a habit where you constantly depict yourself and how you look at yourself within your ego, within reason and then above it, in an opposite way, above reason.
S. So it is important to have this contrast, this inversion
R. Yes, I think at least for a beginner you need to stabilize yourself for this and for that.
3. S. (14:30) Why was it given to us in waiting and not in doing, why do we need to wait, what are we waiting for and why?
R. What do you mean to wait?
S. In the text it says those who yearn for the day of the Lord.
R. They are expecting the relation of bestowal, love and connection will clothe in every person. That is their expectation. Okay?
S. I do not understand why we are not using the word to do, to carry out?
R. Because we receive it from the Creator, we receive these qualities, this feeling, this revelation from above, from the Creator; therefore, it is called waiting, expecting, praying.
4. S. (16:07) Can we say that faith above reason is when we want the influence of the group or the Creator on our current existing perception?
R. Yes, you can say it that way, correct.
5. S. (16:42) According to what is written here what should be the demand from the Creator?
R. We need to demand from the Creator to help us feel what the force of faith is, the force of bestowal, the force of connection above the forces of rejection of our ego, that is what we need to ask the creator for that needs to be our prayer.
6. S. (17:26) Following the earlier question it seems that faith above reason is a major leap in perception of reality or does the perception of reality and faith above reason come by degrees, comes by smaller steps?
R. (to the reader) Let's do a workshop: what is faith above reason and how do we acquire it?
Workshop: What is faith above reason and how do we acquire it?
7. S. (24:37) I feel sometimes that He is good that does good, at least I think I do. I came to Bnei Baruch, I come to the ten, I come to the lessons because I feel that this is where everything exists, this is the answer to life. What is the difference between a corporeal feeling and the feeling above reason, a spiritual feeling?
R. I would say this way, in the corporeal feeling we feel these things mostly in our will to receive and we feel this world and the people of this world etc whereas in the spiritual sensation we feel everything with forces of bestowal, the connection between all the created beings, all the creature are forces of bestowal and that we all, mostly, and this is important, that we are all aimed to the extent to which each is capable for the benefit of the created beings and for the benefit of the Creator and then in that inclination, in that tendency towards the created being and the Creator we feel the perception of reality which is spiritual and it is completely opposite, very different to the corporeal grasp or perception. It is me replacing my vessels of reception from corporeality to spirituality.
S. Will I be able to know because I feel like a pleasure of being with my ten knowing that I am going towards the goal, when will I know the difference, is there something that happens where…?
R. Exert, exert at what we are talking about that we need to think that all of our actions and thoughts and results of our lives will all be felt in the group and in the Creator and not in me, that is what I want to be, for me to feel the extent to which I'm aimed towards the benefit of the group and the benefit to the Creator and then with that tendency I awaken the upper force which will show me the form of the upper world.
8. S. (28:20) Is faith above reason the result of our perfected connection between us in the ten?
R. Yes, that is the foundation, the corrected connections between us, to a certain extent are the foundation for the spiritual perception. As we build a network there for spiritual perception, from birth we have a corporeal, egoistic network where we see everyone that way, each sees everyone and the world outside of them that way, in an egoistic way how everything is connected and dependent on one another and in the spiritual form we need to replace that net itself so that everyone will be in order to bestow as much as possible.
9. S. (29:40) The elimination of faith above reason, is it permanent after the Creator gives it or does it change from degree to degree?
R. It changes.
10. S. (30:04) What does it mean that the action is opposite of faith?
R. Because I am in the desire to receive and upon the desire to receive and upon the desire to receive I want to place myself upon the perception of reality of being in the force of bestowal, in order to bestow. So there is a group before me and the Creator and I aim myself towards the benefits of the Creator and the group and not for my own benefit I want to differentiate between this and that and to raise this one above the other one, this is called faith above reason.
11. S. (31:52) He writes here woe unto you, I'm asking about the Perils you have to be aware of in our work towards faith above reason.
R. We simply need to try to come closer between us and between us, together, to the Creator and to constantly be concerned with that so this closing will be as tight as possible.
12. S. (32:33) According to the text, in order to acquire faith above reason the key word is as if, meaning as if we are within reason. So the question is as if, I'm asking if it is the key word because according to the text it is as if we go above reason but we are within reason because our nature is within reason so to rise above we need to act as if.
R. Yes, that is correct, these exercises actually awaken the reforming light and it raises us to the degree of above reason and then we begin to see reality above reason and ourselves and the Creator and the group, everything we start to see as it is written I have seen an opposite world.
13. S. (34:02) To follow the question of the friends, waiting the day of the Lord, it sounds like we are passive, that we do not awaken the dawn.
R. We awaken the dawn but we do not spin the Sun in the sky, you just awaken, so that's what you called passive work? It is not passive, we are inviting, we are weakening, we are rushing but it's nevertheless not that we are doing it with our own hands.
S. I said passive because of the wording those who wait.
R. Waiting, yes, yes, expecting.
S. Also expecting, anticipating is not an action.
R. Right, so what do you want? The action is that we are awakening within us the force of desire and this desire of us will be adapted to the revelation of the upper light so this upper light will be revealed inside the desire. We cannot influence the light, we can only influence our own desire so that it will come closer to the light.
S. So it's all inside of us, it’s all inner work?
R. Yes, of course.
14. S. (35:42) What is the work or action necessary so the friends can acquire the faith above reason quickly and joyfully?
R. I need to yearn for all that is demanded of me everything that I need in order to reach faith above reason and altogether what I am doing in order to achieve faith above reason, meaning to connect with them which is what Rabash writes how a person needs to behave towards the group to diminish one's self to show that he is connected etc. And that is what we need, besides that a few exercises of the public prayer where we as a 10, called Minyan, where we connect between us and turn to the Creator for him to perform such exercises for us.
15. S. (37:19) Our ascent in faith above reason always happens through turning to the Creator the prayer?
R. Yes, the prayer expresses the power of our deficiency that is why everything is attained with the power of the prayer, our deficiencies allows the Creator to awaken the Creator to give us what he wants, clear.
16. S. (38:08) Before we reach faith above reason and Lishma is there a place for pride and honour?
R. Look, there are all kinds of phenomena that awaken in a person pride and honor. Yes, but the more he advances towards faith above reason in order to enter the level of faith above reason, all of his qualities that belong to pride, vanity, they disappear. He begins to see how he depends, relies, depends on the upper force and he only needs subjugation.
17. S. (39:29) When we exert at doing exercises in faith above reason and we seemingly feel within reason this work when we come to the 10 what do we need to do to bring as if that we feel above reason or for me to bring our reason?
R. We need to see according to the state of the group as much as we can see the truth. We need to see what do they actually need, what is the best thing that I can bestow to them to help their advancement.
18. S. (40:20) What is my role in my friends' ascent to do faith above reason internally, how can I help them advance?
R. To be as close as possible to them and to go through these ascents together each will help his friend.
S. It is not clear, so should I only concern about my ascent to the faith above reason and through me they will also get affected or do I also have demand for specific vessels to help them to ascend those?
R. You need to try in help them rise above any state they are in.
19. S. (41:32) What is the difference between faith above reason and prayer?
R. Prayer is the disclosure of the deficiency and faith above reason is when we discovered the deficiency.
20. S. (42:13) Faith above reason is that what leads us to Arvut ?
R. Yes faith above reason requires Arvut Mutual guarantee.
21. S. (42:50) With what example can faith be contradicted to reason?
R. Faith contradictory to reason that’s typically how it is before we begin to work on faith, it is contradictory to reason.
22. S. (43:25) In what state and what way should we implement faith above reason?
R. In any state we are in, we have to arrange the data in such a way that they will all be aimed at coming closer to faith above to establishing faith above.
23. S. (43:53) What is the power in faith above reason?
R. Power depends on your state on the available information you have.
24. S. (44:10) In excerpt 12, is that actually an example of how emptiness needs to be filled with sublimity with exaltedness?
R. Yes, that is how we should work. Whatever person feels emptiness there he tries to fill it with exaltedness.
25. S. (44:33) Why is the day of the Lord called darkness and what is the day of the Lord?
R. The Creator does not shine to a person then a person says it's not day but rather night, he must understand that day or night depends on what he described himself as day or night he needs to try to detect the presence of the Creator even in darkness which comes from the Creator for the benefit of the person.
26. S. (45:22) What is the inner sensation of faith above reason?
S. The inner sensation is when I begin to work for the sake of the 10 and through it for the sake of the Creator, I begin to feel it as the most important thing the highest thing in all of reality.
27. S. (46:12) When I ask for the good of the friends I asked for the good that does good within reason otherwise I am blemishing love, how to correct the request?
R. Collective effort between you common effort between you where you connect together to a prayer to the Creator to help you connect, to help you to be together and then you will be able to turn to the Creator and ask him.
28. S. (46:56) What is the action for the benefit of the Creator and the benefits of the friends?
R. It’s the way I think about my personal benefit. Similarly, I think of the benefits of the friends, what is for the benefit of the group and what is for the benefit of the creator.
29. S. (47:28) Our whole life we heard the word faith from the perception from religion, it is hard to get the kabbalistic concept of faith, how could we know my faith is religious or Kabbalistic?
R. According to the definitions given by Baal HaSulam and all the examples that he sets out.
30. S. (47:49) What is emptiness?
R. Emptiness means you don’t feel any fulfillment in your important desires.
31. S. (48:05) In excerpt 12, it is written that those who are wait a day of Lord means that they are waiting to acquire the faith above reason meaning they see it with their eyes the Creator guides them this way, how does a person assure that he does not have an egoistic sensation and he is appreciating his state in the correct way?
R. He has to work inside the group to hear about it from the friends and try it for himself and they will see the differences. You cannot explain it with the words you have to try to feel it, that is the language of feeling.
32. S. (48:50) What are the differences between faith and knowledge and the reason and the faith above reason?
R. Faith within reason and knowledge is faith of this world we are in our egoistic desires and faith above reason is when we wish to raise ourselves above the force of the desire into the force of bestow, where we wish to feel reality through the force of bestowal with love.
33. S. (49:40) Through the actions that are for the benefit of the group or connections built between us like a human body?
R. Let's say that yes, you have to come to it and start to realize and implement then we will understand what it is.
Reading excerpt #13 (00:50:20) “It is impossible to obtain disclosure before one receives the discernment of..” twice
34. S. (52:55) The work in the posterior (achoraim), is that Lishma (for her sake)?
R. Closer to Lishma (for her sake).
S. The work from the opposite state or from the opposite states is that where we expose the face of the creator?
R. Well we can say that, yes.
S. As long as the face of the Creator is not revealed, is that called an individual or private correction in the posterior (achoraim).
R. It's not a personal correction, it is called concealment.
S. From the work in concealment we come to the revelation of the face of the Creator? Is the face of the Creator face to face of the next degree?
R. No, there are all kinds of degrees in it.
S. If we can go back to the previous question. Why? What is the personal correction
and if so?
R. A personal correction is everything I do in order to correct the whole world, for the sake of correcting the whole world. I have nothing else to correct, I cannot even correct myself. I can only correct my attitude towards everything.
35. S. (54:38) To realize this state towards the 10 does it mean that first of all I need to see all the lacks and all the things that need to be corrected within the 10 and then start from that to correct?
R. No. We do not need to look for corruption in the 10. When we wish to connect them, I discover along the way all of these corruptions and then I need to address them to correct them.
36. S. (55:19) Is Faith Above Reason something I need to build with my 10?
R. Of course! Each one of us and all of us together.
37. S (55:37) The state that we are talking about here in which a person wants to bestow to the Creator with joy and it doesn't matter what he feels, is that the inner desire of a person or is that his exertion?
R. It is a result of his exertion.
38. S (56:05) What is reason?
R. Reason is when a person feels that this is the inner rational intellectual quality of his.
S. So it is the desire to receive that resists? It is not corporal thoughts or something like that, right.
R. Also, it depends on the degree that we are talking about. Also in life according to my opinion, reasonably or not reasonably.
S. Here what they mean in Above Reason, so what is reason?
R. Reason that a person feels in all his senses: all his rational senses -logical, egoistic and he goes above it.
S. How does he go above it?
R. How does it go above it? He goes in spite of it.
39. S. (57:26) What does it mean to receive the concealment of the face like the revelation of the face?
R. Of course there is a difference between concealment and revelation but he gladly accepts both because both of them bring him closer to the Creator.
S. But what is special that concealment is strengthening the revelation of the face, specifically in concealment?
R. Because there's an opportunity in the concealment, that he feels the concealment, he can work in concealment in the same way that he works in revelation. Concealment does not hide the work from him, it only hides the revelation so let it be without the revelation.
S. It depends on the yearning.
R. Yes. To what exactly does he yearn for.
40. S. (58:39) In the excerpt it says, that a person does not care what he feels, why is it important what I feel? But from experience it is important what you feel but kind of we continued as if it does not matter how i feel. But in practice does it really happen like in the article that it's not important to me what i feel?
R. No. It is always important what I am feeling but the question is how I am using my feelings? It is possible that I'm happy because I'm suffering.
S. So when we read about faith above reason we stumble upon this word ‘as if’ and here we don't have this word, here it says that the Creator does not care what he feels, without the ‘as if’, so I do not understand why is like that, is it truly a state which he really enjoy what he feel?
R. Because you have something more important before you and that is why you cannot feel what is less important. That is how it is in our life as well.
41. S. (01:00:14) It is written that you will be in the state of joy as if he is already earned the revelation of the face, Joy is something that comes from within, how can you be in joy when the person is in the posterior, in true Joy, how do you come to that?
R. When the goal is more important than the path; when the action itself can be less important than what you attain by it. That’s why a person is happy although he is in a narrow place but he knows that through that he is reaching a great reward.
S. But there are states that a person does not know if he will get there or not, where does he get the confidence that he will reach it?
R. So, he needs to acquire confidence. He needs to acquire joy, perception and faith. I told you how I ran to the operation room and I laid down on the operating table and I asked them to operate on me and when they started to operate on me I felt so happy, because I could not breathe, I had a problem with my lung. And, that is how a person is.
S. So how does a person acquire such confidence in the work, from where, that he will get there?
R. He has a group, he has a teacher, and he has a path. Then, with all of these things and with the work of connection with them and with a prayer; he needs to acquire the power of confidence, he needs to relate himself to faith above reason. Then, he comes to a state where he is confident about what he is about to acquire, he is confident about the future. There is a book about “Faith and Trust”, he writes about it there.
42. S. (01:03:41) He can't sustain until he has concealment before revelation that only when he works in order to bestow he can say what is important to me, so what is this transition between the posterior and concealment and being in the state of already in bestow?
R. That it is not important to him if it shines or does not shine.
S. He said that even beforehand, and then he writes that he cannot hold up with that, so how do you make that transition in the stage where he can hold on to that state?
R. Then he has to change the vessel, he does not have a vessel of bestowal yet, he needs to connect with the friends, and then he will feel that there is a light shining on him.
43. S. (01:04:49) We say that we see an upside down world, and if i don't see an upside down world, how important is it to see an upside down world?
R. An upside down world is instead of believing in his will to receive he has faith in the Creator. Instead of thinking what will be good for his good-will, he is thinking about how to make it good for the Creator. This is called “I have seen an upside down world”.
S. Let's say I'm seeing an upside down world, what do you do in that case?
R. When you see it it is good. Then he begins to see reality through the forces of bestowal. it is excellent; it is the beginning of true spiritual work.
44. S. (01:06:18) What is the connection between faith above reason and Lishma, for her sake?
R. Faith above reason and Lishma, for her sake; these are the same thing. Except that you can distinguish between them in that faith above reason is a quality within a person that arranges it, where there is knowledge and there is faith above knowledge, above reason, that’s what it is all about. You can't quite distinguish between the two; one is according to the action and one is a definition. This is how it is I would say.
45. S (01:07:46) I would like to scrutinize a little bit more about this excerpt, from what is written here it turns out that as much as the concealment concealed it is necessary for my work. So if I can continue to work in concealment then that which the concealment conceals is not necessary, if so it is not clear what the concealment conceals and what are my purpose and the intention in the work?
R. I am not sure what you are saying. You are too clever. Think how to phrase things simply.
46. S. (01:08:47) In the excerpt it describes a very close state to spirituality, that a person says that if the Creator enjoys it so I agree. How do you come to a state where I want the Creator to enjoy?
R. Process it in the group. Instead of the Creator imagine the group, and this will be a hundred percent correct. After you process your actions in the ten; try them on the ten and then you will be able to get to the feeling and the attitude towards the Creator. Okay?
47. S. (01:09:47) You just talked about exercises that we can do together as a world group, we listen to every friend and with all our might we try to continue his one desire so that he will succeed, so that the Creator will hear him. If we do it that way all of us with all of our hearts and our force to continue the friend?
R. What is the question?
S. The question is whether we can use it as an exercise to continue the desire of the friend?
R. Of course.
S. If we do it all together?
R. Certainly you will be able to connect between yourselves and the Creator.
48. S (01:11:07) For the ten, what is the best way to use the posterior to bring containment to the Creator?
R. When we relate to the state of the posterior like we relate to the states of the face.
49. S. (01:12:00) How to play in the group in faith above reason?
R. Connect amongst yourselves as much as possible.
50. S. (01:12:06) Are my actions in advancing the friends in faith need to be the actions of the Creator through me?
R. If I will do it this way the Creator will do it this way.
51. S. (01:12:22) Why does the Creator offer his posterior first before the face, why do we need to be first in the posterior part?
R. Because, “it was evening and it was morning, one day”, the advantage of light is out of darkness; first there is darkness and then upon the darkness we can distinguish the light.
52. S. (01:12:54) I am confused, do we need to have an extreme desire in our heart and our heart is on fire to obtain faith above reason and disclose the Creator, or should we just continue and say He will reveal when He will and I don't care what I receive anyway?
R. Both, this and that need to be in our heart.
53. S (01:13:26) Is it okay to pretend that we are in the state of faith above reason when we really know deep inside that we are suffering and we are not feeling any joy in the work?
R. We need to exert because only in our inner effort we can enter faith above reason.
54. S (01:14:06) To receive the posterior as the face means that the moment I do not feel faith I need to work as though I have faith?
R. Of course. Of course, in that you attract that you will truly have this force of faith; you always need to imagine that you have faith in the Creator and you want everything for his benefit and for the benefit of the friends, and you truly want to be in it and that is how you will advance.