TES:
Baal HaSulam. "Study of the Ten Sefirot" (TES). Vol. 1. Part 1. Histaklut Pnimit [Inward Scrutiny]. Chapter One, #6
Item 6 “To somewhat understand this sublime place ....”
27. R. Meaning that the Creator’s will that the created being will be independent that the creature will feel that he exists in an of himself, freely in his world and the world belongs to him and they created being is the boss of his world, the boss of himself and in such a way that he has these inclinations within he can research reality and understand reality and how he is independent and not subdued and not being emotionally orchestrated. Where certain actions and impressions are implanted in the mind and the heart but rather, he can look at himself from an independent point of view like the Creator’s and that will truly be called independent. This is what the Creator wants and so there is the matter of the commitment of the Creator to create a reality where the created being can develop gradually and see himself as independent comment not feeling dependent on the upper force even though he does depend 100% on the upper force because he emerges from it and that connection cannot be severed. These two things cannot be disconnected but the Creator builds such systems between Him and the created being so they created being will really feel independent and thus he can take on all the qualities of the Creator and the opposite to the Creator, to be incorporated with both the systems of Kedusha and Klipa to truly be an independent created being that the Creator can take pride in that he created from his level of greatness and righteousness that he can come to be as the Creator in every sense. How do we do that? We have to go a bit deeper and observe.
28. S. (05:54) How do you neutralize the shame to do this work?
R. Our intention is in order to bestow.
29. S. (06:17) With which vessel do we feel shame are these the same vessels or he builds us new vessels?
R. The shame can be felt and new vessels, vessels of bestowal in the ordinary vessels of reception you can't feel any shame as there's no shame on the levels of still vegetative and animate and there is no shame also on the still, vegetative and animate levels within the human. Meaning the same as you wrote is intended for very lofty souls, high souls.
30. S. (07:10) He's saying here that there's a reality of work here, what is so important about the labor, what is the matter of shame here?
R. Shame is an indication that he who feels the shame is independent because he feels himself opposite someone else and even according to the sense of shame, we can say that is no longer an animal, that is a human.
31. S. (08:13) It says that he brought the soul into a turbid body. Is this our own body or not yet?
R. The will to receive of each and every one that appears increasingly more until we see it is truly filthy and murky. We have nothing to do with it but make a restriction over it and gradually correct it bit by bit in order to bestow.
32. S. (09:03) The more I learn the wisdom of Kabbalah, the last game I feel as I feel there's nothing to be ashamed of and here it says we need to come to shame?
R. You probably haven't started engaging in the wisdom of Kabbalah and that's why you feel this.
S. So in this first part the Creator will finish it for me. He's giving me everything in corporeality and spirituality. What's to be ashamed of?
R. You have very great shame that from all of these situations, the circumstances that the Creator is giving you, that you can't arrange and use them correctly to give them back what He gives to you, you will see how much shame you will feel.
S. Shame if I'm not doing something or doing something incorrectly?
R. For not being able to give back to the Creator what He gives to you, wait it will be, it will happen, the fire of hell is shame which burns so much. The wicked who go to hell and burn in the fire of hell are basically burned from shame so the fact that you don't feel it yet doesn't mean you're righteous, it means that you have not yet gone through these corrections.
S. What are these corrections to do I have to be in the quality of the style of the Creator to feel it?
R. Only opposite the Creator do you feel who you are but it's not just to humiliate you it is to give you a direction towards correction.
Item 7 (11:47 - 13 :06) “These words of there's a perplexing through and through....”
33. R. In this whole life of ours if we are completely righteous and we do everything the Creator demands from dawn to dusk and do his will, that is the question is what His will is, but He gave us this whole life of 70 years of 80 or 90 today. It is limited to the opposite eternity. It's all nothing, how can it be through this work in our corporeal life that whatever we do here that we merit complete eternal pleasure, timeless, boundless, how can this be? And when we are rewarded with it how does it rid us of the shame, what was this world created for? To get rid of the shame so how do we get rid of the shame here? If we are willing to do everything the Creator demands from us throughout his life here, so what are we doing here?
34. S. (14:32) If only high souls can feel shame, by the time we reach this degree we will be aware that we are working in something that is not of our effort that we won't feel the shame?
R. Only the high lofty souls feel that they are connected to the corrections and that they have to discover the Creator and the beastly life of this world is already insufficient for them, this is all related to the high souls and we are those high souls.
Item 7 again (15:42 18:25)
35. S. (18:32) Those high souls are this a degree?
R. It is the desire and the person who yearns to understand the essence of creation.
36. S. (18:53) Can we be also in a restriction and in a feeling of shame, is it true that this world needs a restriction on my behalf for Adam to show?
R. Both are correct.
37. S. (19:19) This Independence that his promise in the purpose of creation is this a step on the path or is this an illusion, is the independence really the purpose?
R. It is the purpose of creation and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.
S. So what is the pleasure that's received in the purpose of creation?
R. Equivalence of form, that we feel like the Creator which is the highest level in reality.
S. How do we reach the feeling of Him if it is only to see that He's in control and He's giving us everything?
R. We come to this through the equivalence of form so we are also in the same state.
38. S. (20:20) When you asked Rabash he said shame is a creation on its own, so we know the Creator created the desire to receive so shame comes against this and why?
R. Shame seemingly wants to erase the desire to receive so the desire to receive and shame are in a collision with one another until a person begins to see that the solution is to work with the desire to receive in order to bestow and then the shame becomes honor.
S. So the one who causes it is the shame?
R. Correct, this is why it was created and revealed only in the high souls.
S. What does it mean high souls?
R. Those who demand contact with the Creator.
S. But we are learning how to do this, Bnei Baruch students?
R. In us are the high souls, the deficiency to attain the Creator.
S. Why did the Creator imprint in us the shame in an indirect way?
R. For now we don't feel shame, when we begin to feel it, we will understand why it happens.
39. S. (22:28) Is there a relation between the bread of shame and free choice?
R. Yes, of course there is a connection because only through free choice do, we rise to the level of shame and only does the level of shame lead us to free choice, they are both interdependent.
40. S. (23:08) Do we have to reach shame in the ten to reach the correct prayer?
R. That is correct, it is still not on our level but this is what will happen and how it will be. Correct.
41. S. (23:35) How do we in our small exertion enter the shame of all the worlds?
R. That is the question he wants you to ask, how did we by living in this world, let's say here 70 years, how can we by this attain eternal pleasure, how can it be, where is the shame? What does he say about this? He says something simple, I am telling you that Baal HaSulam didn't want to write about it openly, he says this, you have to yearn for the revelation of the Creator for adhesion with the Creator instead of all your activities that you invent in this world, which are worthless, but rather throughout this life as much as you were given to live in this world, you yearn to achieve connection between you and the revelation of the Creator. If you begin on this path and you enter it, this is what you need to do, meaning our world is built for us to begin this way and then we continue. What do we know about the next world, what is after their physical death? We also don't belong to our body anymore as this is on the animal level and all of us yearn to reach the speaking level, so what does this have to do with our physical life? When we get rid of it, we get rid of it. We are drawn to enter the human level to live in connection between us and with the Creator, so this corporeal life doesn't really influence or interfere or decide really anything for us, it is only an addition and entirely needless.
42. S. (26:24) What is the connection to eternal pleasures and between us building a relation to the Creator?
R. Start acquiring eternal pleasures, there is no shame in this because the spiritual pleasures you get them in a vessel of bestowal to bestow contentment upon the Creator and the shame becomes honor.
43. S. (27:02) Before shame is there a lot of pain as a sensation to advance?
R. Before shame there are all kinds of unpleasant feelings but in truth a person has to try to come to a straight heart, as much as he might feel shame it will push him to the right response.
Item 8 “Before we go about elucidating their words....”
44. R. (30:22) In other words, the Creator created everything in one place, one time, one moment, you could say in one operation, because his thoughts of wanting to see creation in its final complete form already does everything and besides this there is nothing. What we feel ourselves, that we are spoiled, that the Creator is hidden and all of these things, it is in order to give us room for work so that we ourselves will discover these things gradually. To the extent that we correct ourselves we will see ourselves approaching and enlightened, corrected world in adhesion among us and with the Creator. In truth that stage was created to begin with and it is already present in its completeness.
45. S. (31:32) Can I ask for the Creator to feel shame?
R. Yes.
46. S. (31:55) If the shame is felt in the vessels of bestowal and that becomes honor what is the feeling of honor and how is it felt in the ten?
R. By being able to bestow upon the Creator we have to feel in this honor, we have the possibility to do spiritual work.
47. S. (32:33) If the Creator is the operation and the reward and the operator, where is our independence? It seems that our participation is an automatic response to how he's working on us.
R. No, you are asking correctly but the answer is this, in concealment we are pressured by the Creator and then we scrutinize how we can resemble Him and our work is against our ego and therefore when we come to resemble Him, by this we also acquire independence. Because whatever operations of bestowal I have to do, I feel the resistance of my ego and this is what allows me to be independent, think about it.
48. S. (33:45) Can I be ashamed of the Creator without being ashamed of the friends?
R. Yes, now for the time being in our work we are ashamed of the friends, sometimes more from the Creator, sometimes more from the Creator but it is in the meantime, along the way. The feeling of shame puts a person in a place where in the end he has to remove the shame. To come to such places where bestowal where he overcomes the ego, overcomes the shame, self-reception and ego and it becomes honor.
49. S. (34:55) The sought-after reward, what does this mean?
R. Bestowal upon the Creator is the reward.
S. How is this the one thought that was emanated? This is the thought of creation?
R. Everything is included in the thought of creation including the hopeful results.
50. S. (35:29) What isn't clear, he's saying the only thought, can you understand the thought of creation now or only in the future and what is the thought of creation?
R. The more we try to perform acts of bestowal among us we learn what is the thought of creation because it is entirely bestowal and by exerting to perform these acts of bestowal among us, we can understand the Creator's connection to us as the thought of creation.
S. Equivalence of form is the thought of creation?
R. I'm asking you to speak less.
51. S. (36:32) How do we overcome the shame when we achieve connection with the ten?
R. Not on all shame but the main part we will overcome, the adhesion in the ten is a great part of advancement in overcoming.
52. S. (37:02) Is intensity of the light proportional to the feeling of the shame?
R. We are not talking about this right now so I don't want to start answering this.
53. S. (37:33) To feel shame do we have to get this as a gift from the Creator?
R. Yes, the feeling of shame is a present from the Creator, yes.
54. S. (37:52) Because of the shame, does the created being hide himself from the Creator so he can only know the extent he can bestow to Him?
R. Yes, but you understand that the created being hides himself from the Creator, how is this possible, this is double concealment.
55. S. (38:22) What does it mean that as a ten we awaken the shame in the work together between us and not individually?
R. It is that you as a ten still don't exist before the Creator and this is why you are ashamed, that you still can't up here before Him, you can't because you're not connected. The ego that separates you in the meantime also separates you from the Creator and this is something it is good for you to be ashamed of.
Item 9” The ARI elaborated on the matter of the Tzimtzum Aleph ....” (39:26)
56. R. (40:55) If everything comes from the Creator how can it be a restriction, the darkness and all kinds of bad things, the ego, the evil inclination, all kinds of horrors that are revealed in this world, how can it all come from the Creator because He's the source of everything there's None Else Besides Him this is what everyone pretty much asks. How can it be that from the good Creator, all of the corrections, corruptions are extended, all the bad things that we discover, where does it come from? How does this emerge from Him? So, He answers this, he's going very consistently.
Chapter 2 Item 10 “Now we shall come to clarify the thought ....” (41:54)
57. R. (44:23) In other words there is one source which is the Creator and we don't talk about this but the light expands from it and creates and does everything in creation in that light there is a plan of creation on each one and everyone together and this thought does not require time and place, movement, everything we have in this world. But the minute the Creator decides on creation He decides and it exists without any forms of distance or time or operations. But from the beginning of creation to the end of creation, everything is done at that same moment. He's telling us that in scrutinizing, in the thought of creation, that in one operation everything came out and we are not in this picture as we see it extending from cause and consequence. We are not in the same world as he explains to us, in the same reality so how that we are in a completely different reality. But with respect to the thought of creation he tells us everything is revealed immediately according to the Creator’s will and there are no consecutive operations, one following the other. It is all what we feel from our perspective, as it appears within us because we within us are spoiled in our perception, that we have to correct our perception. In fact, we are in the world of Ein Sof in a completely corrected state and there was never even a corrupted state. But rather everything immediately was done by the Creator and we just have to be incorporated in that state.
58. S. (47:29) We discover this?
R. Kabbalists attain this to the extent they are corrected they elevate themselves above time spacing motion which I revealed as a result of the Klipot. We need to rise above the Klipot so they don't control them anymore, they discover these things as they are without any distance, without any time or in order of operations. One operation zero time this is how it happens, this is spirituality.
S. What does it mean to rise above the Klipot?
R. Above our ego, above our will to receive is all only in our feeling, in our perception add.
S. We uplift above ourselves towards the ten, what does this mean that we stop feeling time?
R. To the extent that we connect among us, we are no longer in our will to receive in order to receive and that desire to receive in order to receive doesn't draw these operations on the axis of time, space and motion but that everything is focused on one point, this is how we accept reality.
59. S. (49:32) Can you elaborate on the explanation about all the corruption and murky things being incorporated in the light?
R. They're not included in the lights are included in the lack of light on the other included in the darkness, a desire with no light.
60. S. (50:18) The state that Baal HaSulam describes, is this at the end as a personal correction or every time a person rises above his ego and attains a higher state?
R. Your states are revealed gradually as much as a person moves towards his corrections, it's not that in the end of correction everything is revealed, it's also revealed in all kinds of degrees.
61. S. (50:58) The thought of creation and the action of creation when it comes from the Creator are these the same things?
R. For now let's say yes.
S. We know Him by His actions so why does the thought even get mentioned?
R. Because his thought is the deed, the Creator’s thought is the deed, this is what is revealed toward us.
62. S. (51:48) The pain of these physical despair, can this turn into shame? When a person cries out can he thank him, thank the Creator for the pain?
R. Yes when you continue in this same direction you will reach the correct things.
Item 11 “The Ari said that in the beginning....” (52:36)
63. R. (54:51) Everything depends upon the desire, the abundance is measured according to the desire, the advancement is according to the desire, everything according to the desire we only have work on the desire, what time and what intensity and what it is a shame to words this means the kind of desire. Meaning the direction and intensity, that is what is important for us to accept that there is no other information that we determine our reality with, not this one and not the spiritual world, afterwards we will see how these two worlds connect together, this one and the upper world this is not for today but eventually we will be able to speak about it.
Item 12 “Now you see how the light of Ein Sof departed ....” (55:54)
64. R. (58:09) To the extent that they thought of creation is revealed that comes from the Creator and appears towards the created being or beings, those who can see it, to absorb it then according to that it can be revealed and according to this gradually these created beings start knowing the Creator. The thought of creation is the connection between the created beings and the Creator.
Item 13 “In his Almightiness this new form would not ....” (59:01)
65. S. (01:00:52) At what moment does the created being become independent?
R. The moment that a created being discovers that he is entirely, completely dependent upon the upper light, the light of the Creator and he tries to be independent with this light in order to equalize himself with the light then he becomes independent. We will talk about it, now we can't because we still don't have the precise states, there has to be a restriction, screen and reflected light on each and every desire to receive that is revealed in the created being and from there his independence starts. When he expresses it in a way that he reveals his Partzuf, his attitude towards the Creator is the extent of his independence whether to bestow in order to bestow or receive in order to be still meeting in the form of a Partzuf.
66. S. (01:02:29) You say if we constantly think about the thought of creation, who is the Creator and what does He want from me, can this increase the greatness of the Creator and if so, how do we do it correctly?
R. We need by our work in the group to increase the greatness of the Creator in our eyes, it all depends on the group, it only depends upon the environment and to the extent that we have the greatness of the Creator from the environment, that each of us will be able to perform actions of bestowal toward Him and society.
67. S. (01:03:26) You just said that we're not in this world and initially I was a little sad, how can it be that we're not in this world even though we wanted so much so we remember everything we said and what our teachers talk about, how even if we're in the beginning it's a way that all of the correction happens here. When we remember to annul and ask for this light that it will work on us specifically here and now, to awaken it, to ask of it, to every time my ego does all kinds of provocations to act toward it requesting from the Creator to correct that he expects only this from us.
R. I completely identify with your words and we also have to understand that in spirituality the time of preparation is the main part, this is why it takes so much time and effort, but afterwards the spiritual actions themselves have no time, it just happens in one jump. This is why what we need to do is to try and finish the time of preparation as quickly as we can, then the actions will be very quick in each and every moment.
68. S. (01:05:29) The Creator is the will to bestow and in himself the will to receive is imprinted how can this be?
R. We will speak about it, think about it more. It's not in His essence, it is revealed it is Yesh mi Ayin, its revealed (existence from absence)
69. S. (01:06:05) It's in item 12 it says that the desire to receive is included in the thought of creation to get out of itself into the name Ein Sof and in item 13 before the restriction, no disparity of form was apparent. We don't have attainment in His essence but he creates this mechanism of the Creator in which there is the desire to receive where he gives us these two points of bestowal and reception?
R. Yes.
Item 14 “Regarding the Tzimtzum, the will to receive that is ....” (01:07:18)
70. S. (01:10:38) Where do Malchut of Ein Sof have the strength to restrict the light?
R. All of our forces only come from the light, the desire to receive His form, the light, the desire to bestow Him from the light, from the light of Ein Sof includes everything.
S. Is it if there is a new essence here in this restriction?
R. This also came from the light as the light gives the desire to receive that it created a feeling that it is less in the desire to receive and the desire to receive restricts itself, the light gives it a feeling that the light is from a higher degree and the desire to receive is in inferior degree. This is what we will learn even though here for now there's no difference between the light and vessel.
S. What is the restriction anyway?
R. No, the desire doesn't disappear and doesn't diminish it just feels itself inferior to the light, this is why it makes itself smaller, restricts itself, not that it is really inferior or low, we will talk about it as we need to understand they both come from the Creator these two discernments and we will scrutinize it, it's something very delicate here.
S. Can we say that the Malchut of Ein Sof is filled with light, it gives you the feeling she's smaller than the light?
R. No, first of all they both, the light and the desire of Ein Sof are equal as they both come from the upper force and specifically by the desire, the upper light is drawn and expands, feeling the desire if not for the desire of the upper light wouldn't even be revealed. We are scrutinizing things now. We are done with Chapter 2.
71. S. (01:14:02) It is written that the light depends upon the desire and the desire is the place of the life because there's no coercion in spirituality, meaning basically our part depends upon the yearning?
R. Yes, we will learn about it, there is a desire and a longing and these things are not the same.
72. S. (01:14:33) It is difficult to understand how the desire to receive can be built with the desire to bestow, what is the right way to attain these things?
R. Better if we try to feel it in our hearts, in our desire, in our minds there can be all kinds of states going on, but better if we locate them in our heart.
S. So what does Baal HaSulam say ...?
R. He usually means the heart feels, the heart decides, we work in, is in our desire and the desire is the heart, and the thought, which is the mind and is always so we can sort out our desires but actually all of these decisions and all of the actions are only in the desires.
73. S. (01:15:54) How do we absorb properly the thought of creation?
R. It is very simple, the thought of creation is to do good to His created beings, this is what the Creator wants and this is what he does in all of his actions, corporeal, spiritual, doesn't matter and all of these actions He wants to do good to His created being but the created being depends upon the state that he is in, sometimes he takes it in an opposite way, as problems, wars, murder, blows, this already depends upon the created being. The Creator brings the created being bestowing in a gradual way that has to help the created being advance from state-to-state, then according to the intensity of the preparation on behalf of the created being, he can receive the Creator. Whether on a degree, whether he justifies the Creator and he is called righteous or that he slanders on the Creator and he's called wicked. But the Creator gradually gives the created being more and more everyday portions of light, new portions of light and the surrounding light becomes from the shattering of the vessel of Adam HaRishon that it was in and then it went outside, the light comes closer, wanting to enter back in and if the vessel isn't somewhat prepared, so it is corrected and filled by the light a bit. That is the way that it works everyday degree after degree and if he's not ready so he feels darkness more and more. This is why we need to try to be ready for corrections and it is only by the connection between us, let us hope we will be ready for it.
S. How do we relate to physical suffering?
R. That also goes into the spiritual suffering even though the main thing is the spiritual sufferings, spiritual suffering is divided into a lot of degrees, that the main one is when will I be able to bestow to the Creator and this is what I'm suffering from. That I am not bestowing enough.