The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Morning Lesson: December 10, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson – Nov 13, 2020

Excerpts from the sources: “Work with Faith Above Reason”. #12

Reader: Hello, dear friends, in the first part of the lesson we will learn a lesson from the Date of November 13, 2020 on the subject of work in faith above reason. We will continue from section twelve, please.

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Reader: Hello, we will be reading excerpts from the sources on the subject of work in Faith Above Reason. You can find all of our texts on kabbalahmedia.info or in the Galaxy platform itself. You can click the study materials icon on the top menu. You can send us questions live on kab.tv also. 

M. Laitman: (00:45) As usual every day begins with the evening. We must not forget about it. We have to get used to it. In that evening, that spiritual evening, the Creator prepares it for us; And there was evening and there was morning one day. In spirituality, there are no sun, no moon—all those things. They are states in a person where he feels evening and night, darkness. He doesn't see. He doesn't feel the presence of the Creator in his internal world. And precisely from there begins a new day; from a feeling that I don't understand, don't feel. I have doubts, I feel darkness, I also don't have a direction of where I should go and I have to get used to this exactly. That's exactly the correct preparation that I get from above, from the Creator, who sets it up for me on purpose. 

That's why I don't accept it as something bad. I don't get angry over it. I'm happy that I have such a beginning. I'm happy that I know what to do with it. That there is, after all, some illumination from above besides the illumination of the darkness that gives me a feeling of what I have to do with it. This is the beginning of the correct feeling, the correct degree, and that this degree has to be a revelation above the darkness. This darkness, I need it so it will remain in my vessels of reception, except I need to start revealing my relation to spirituality and build a spiritual degree above it — above it. Therefore, that degree, the feeling of darkness, lack of desire, lack of direction, disorientation, the Creator prepared it for me. This is His language and here has to be my answer — what am I answering to Him? That I agree, to what He did and I accept it with understanding and with the right feeling that this is what I need in order to build, on top of it, a new degree, a new relation to Him. Therefore, I'm happy that I don't have high spirits in my egoistic desire. I don't have a special feeling. When I get up, I'm happy and then when I wake up, I'm happy and I'm filled with spirit, with—not! All that the Creator has prepared for me is a feeling of emptiness. From it, I have to start rising to faith above reason. If we begin the day in this way, we begin from the darkness, we receive from the Creator and accept it correctly. This is regarded as beginning a new spiritual degree. Let's read what it tells us in excerpt twelve, right, please. 

Reader: So, the work above reason, Excerpt 12, it is written, 

Reading: (05:31) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

“Woe unto you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you need the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light.” 

M. Laitman: Because people think that the day of the Lord means everything shines from the end of the world to its other end, everything is clear and there—no, the day begins from the night, yeah? 

Reading: (05:50) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

The thing is that those who await the day of the Lord, it means that they are waiting to be imparted faith above reason, 

M. Laitman: A day means that faith above reason shines and that's the feeling of darkness.

Reading: (06:17) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

That faith will be so strong, as if they see with their eyes, with certainty, that it is so, that the Creator watches over the world in a manner of good and doing good. 

M. Laitman: By giving us a chance to develop the power of faith, power of bestowal, the light of Hassadim. And in the light of Hassadim, we will discover Him according to the equivalence of form. 

Reading: (06:44) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

In other words, they do not want to see how the Creator leads the world as The Good Who Does Good, since seeing is contradictory to faith. In other words, faith is precisely where it is against reason. 

M. Laitman: Where, we don't see, where we feel that we are in darkness, in helplessness, in disorientation that we. Just like at night, specifically there, we have to understand that we are getting the right conditions to approach faith, approach bestowal. To rise above the doubts and the darkness and let them stay. Without them, we won't be able to build a spiritual degree, which is always built, we always build it on top of darkness, lack of understanding, lack of feeling, no orientation. On top of that, we build a degree of faith, the spiritual degree, yes. 

Reading: (07:58) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

And when one does what is against one’s reason, this is called “faith above reason.”

This means that they believe that the guidance of the Creator over the creatures is in a manner of good and doing good. While they do not see it with absolute certainty, they do not say to the Creator, “We want to see the quality of good and doing good as seeing within reason.” Rather, they want it to remain in them as faith above reason, 

M. Laitman: In other words, he's not certain in a person's mind, reason, in his ordinary Kelim, vessels, like in our world, not to see, not to feel but, on the contrary, darkness, doubts, concealment. And above it, we build a relation to the Creator, to the good who does good and build a power of faith. Otherwise, we won't be able to come to the quality of the Creator, which is faith.

Reading: (09:18) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

but they ask of the Creator to give them such strength that this faith will be so strong, as if they see it within reason, 

M. Laitman: To such a degree of faith, we have to come to be for us completely instead of reason in every way.

Reading: (09:41) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

That there will be no difference between faith and knowledge in the mind. This is what they, those who want to adhere to the Creator, refer to as “the day of the Lord.” 

M. Laitman: If we come to feel that the power of faith, it's written, The earth hangs on nothing. O top, over darkness, over uncertainty in our ordinary, in our regular Kelim, in our reason, in our knowledge, in our feelings. If we build our relation above the feeling of lack, doubt, we don't know, we don't understand. If we build above it the relation to the Creator as if He is right in front of us, then we begin to discover, on our part, the power of bestowal. In the power of bestowal, we discover the spiritual world. It is very, very different from what we're used to in our world, to work with our vessels of reception. This is why this work is work that we have to put into it, mind and heart and time and effort. Please read it again.

Reader: Excerpt 12, again from Shamati. “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?” It is written, quote, 

Reading: (11:24) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

“Woe unto you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you need the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light.” The thing is that those who await the day of the Lord, it means that they are waiting to be imparted faith above reason, that faith will be so strong, as if they see with their eyes, with certainty, that it is so, that the Creator watches over the world in a manner of good and doing good. 

M. Laitman: This is called the vessels of reception being under the Tzimtzum, under the restriction and I don't feel anything in them. They remain in the dark. Above it, I build, above the Tzimtzum, I build a Masach, the screen, and the reflected light, the Ohr Hozer and I give back to the Creator. I want to be connected to Him specifically in this way where I have darkness in my regular Kelim, in my will to receive. And above it, I turn to Him so that what I receive as darkness is from Him because There’s None Else Besides Him. I turn to Him in this way and then I begin to feel that I am in light but it's not light of knowing, it's light of faith. These are the first degrees of our entry into the spiritual world, the upper world. 

Reading: (13:07) 12. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

In other words, they do not want to see how the Creator leads the world as The Good Who Does Good, since seeing is contradictory to faith. In other words, faith is precisely where it is against reason. And when one does what is against one’s reason, this is called “faith above reason.”

This means that they believe that the guidance of the Creator over the creatures is in a manner of good and doing good. While they do not see it with absolute certainty, they do not say to the Creator, “We want to see the quality of good and doing good as seeing within reason.” Rather, they want it to remain in them as faith above reason, but they ask of the Creator to give them such strength that this faith will be so strong, as if they see it within reason, that there will be no difference between faith and knowledge in the mind. This is what they, those who want to adhere to the Creator, refer to as “the day of the Lord.” 

M. Laitman: This is how a person begins to feel, to discover what is spirituality; with what perception, what vision, what relation, attitude to the world, to nature—nature being the Creator, really. So, how he has to direct himself, to relate himself.”, and then he begins to discover the Creator and this is called revealing the upper world. I hope you will read it, this excerpt, a few more times and these excerpts in general until they penetrate your feeling. Your intellect, your feelings, your mind, your habits. That way, you'll begin to relate to every darkness that you feel as an invitation to come to the light but the upper light, spiritual light. That, precisely by feeling the darkness in our lives, we get an invitation to light, to the spiritual day.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:53) What is that attitude you build above the feeling of darkness? How do you even begin building it? 

M. Laitman: The darkness, the matter, it's as if the Creator is present and revealed before you and you want to do all the activities toward Him, acts of bestowal, acts of connection, acts of love. 

Student: But what’s within that sensation of darkness enables you to?

M. Laitman: Darkness is in your Kelim, in your feeling and understanding. That according to the regular Kelim that you have in this world, you feel you have nothing. You don't have high spirits. You don't have any awakening because it doesn't shine for you in your regular vessels of reception. On the other hand, you get some sort of awakening, a small illumination. That precisely from that state you can begin your spiritual degree, why? By opening these excerpts and beginning to read, they arrange for you that relation to life. 

Student: The actions don't obfuscate that feeling in the darkness.

M. Laitman: What actions? 

Student: Like you say, with respect to connection, building some kind of attitude, the fact that I'm acting out from that feeling of darkness?

M. Laitman: What actions do you do out of feeling darkness? 

Student: Like you said, connection with the friends.

M. Laitman: So, you do it above the feeling of darkness. Even though I feel darkness and I don't feel like doing anything. I do perform acts of bestowal — well, ostensibly, acts of bestowal — and they lead me to the first spiritual degree, above reason. 

Student: How do these actions build an attitude towards the Creator, relation with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Because I do it because I want to resemble Him.

Student: Where in this whole thing do I have the ability to grasp what it means to resemble Him? 

M. Laitman: This is why you do what Kabbalists do, Make your will like His will, etc. I connect with the friends and by connecting with the friends, I begin to, out of that, I begin to turn to Him. I begin to ask, to pray that He will give us the power of bestowal too. First of all, between ourselves, to have the power of bestowal because without it, we won't be able to turn to Him. Then, we ask, give us connection, give us the power of mutual bestowal among us so that out of that we'll be able to turn to You. We want only one thing: to bestow upon You. This is called faith, the power of bestowal above reason, above the will to receive. 

Student: The bestowal of the Ten to the Creator, that necessitates each one bestowing upon the friends first or wanting to bestow to the friends? 

M. Laitman: It's not like I want to bestow upon the friends but I learn and understand that without obtaining the power of bestowal, I can't have any contact with the Creator. He does treat me, tend to me from above but I can't make contact with Him without the power of bestowal, without developing the power of bestowal. Then, I understand that I need the friends and only together with them can I develop the power of bestowal between us and out of that we'll be able to turn to the Creator.

Student: Why, after already having the power of bestowal between us, do we need to turn to the Creator, again? It's not clear. The moment He gives you the power of bestowal then?

M. Laitman: It's not enough to establish some sort of a power of bestowal among ourselves because we also need to direct it to the Source, to the Creator. 

Student: What is that lack that develops, where, when we already have the power of bestowal in the Ten? What kind of lack do we bring the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Precisely, toward the Ten I have no power, no desire that I want to develop. I have a desire to discover the Creator from the point in the heart but, toward the friends I have no such desire. Rather, I engage in connection with the friends in order to come to such a relation toward the Creator. 

Student: Okay, so I don't understand. If I pray to the Creator to give us the power of bestowal in the Ten, that's actually bestowal upon the Creator — the very request? 

M. Laitman: I don't really understand you. I have to come to connection with the friends. Through the power of connection with the friends, when we begin to develop it, we begin to feel what is bestowal between us. And that force, power of bestowal, we direct it toward the Creator. We want to bestow upon Him. 

Student: That's not clear. 

M. Laitman: What? 

Student: There is the power of bestowal between us. We asked for this of the Creator and now you say that over this we also turn to Him. 

M. Laitman: The special power of bestowal that we built together, out of that we can turn to the Creator. 

Student: Because what, what is the addition? It sounds like everything is already closed, done, if we bestow to each other.

M. Laitman: No, when we bestow upon each other, we're asking for help to have connection among us. But we still don't have the power of bestowal; once we established the power of bestowal between us and out of that, from within it, altogether, within—inclusive, out of that we can turn to the Creator, only together by prayer in public. When the whole Ten asks as one man with one heart, well, to some extent, and turns to the Creator.

Student: To do what? 

M. Laitman: So, it will have the ability, the Ten, the ability to bestow upon Him. 

Question (Moscow 4): (23:03) Do I understand correctly? A person concedes the revelation of the Creator in his five corporeal senses because he understands, also, that it's impossible. But with that, he does not give up on the revelation of the Creator as the good who does good through the environment, through equivalence of form, right?

M. Laitman: Right, yes.

Question (Moscow 1): (23:45) How can I make sure that in turning to Him from that state of darkness and emptiness. How to check, to make sure that I'm not just turning to a more hidden, darker side of myself? How can I make sure that I'm actually turning to the power of bestowal and not to my concealed will to receive? 

M. Laitman: Bit by bit, I begin to attain that the darkness I feel is to my benefit so I won't go into the Klipot, into the shells. So, I will want to discover the Creator in the darkness. I want to go above the darkness so the darkness will remain in my vessels and above my vessels of reception, above this darkness, I build my relation to the Creator, which is then built entirely from the desire to bestow and not to receive. 

Student: Can it be said that my complete agreement with the state. That I do not want to change inside of my will to receive, I agree with it, and that's the examination by which I see if I agree with the quality of bestowal?

M. Laitman: Correct, that's correct. I don't want to change my state — I want to build above my state a new relation to the Creator. 

Question (Kyiv 1): (25:35) When I, above every state, above the darkness, build a connection to the Creator with the friends and appeal to the Creator, we feel pleasure in this contentment, fulfillment. So how to help that into bestowal upon the Creator also, not just to feel pleasant in it? 

M. Laitman: First of all, the fact that we feel good about our correct advancement, our correct move. It's not a transgression, so it'll be good, what's the problem? But we have to direct ourselves exactly correctly toward these discernments, a discernment that I'm receiving in my vessel of reception, and a discernment that I want to obtain above my vessels of reception, a new relation from the vessels of bestowal that I now want to develop in me, or let the Creator develop in me, it doesn't matter. 

So, I am going to relate myself to the friends and to the Creator above my feeling in the vessels of reception. It doesn't matter if I feel darkness in them, helplessness, insecurity, it doesn't matter. Precisely on top of that, I want to relate myself to the friends and to the Creator. That, in my vessels of reception, I have no basis, no foundation for it.

Question (Turkiye 3): (27:26) What is common prayer? How can we be sure that we are doing it? 

M. Laitman: We do a workshop, scrutinize our situation, talk about it among us, and check: Can we come to an agreement, to some common ground, to a common perception of reality in terms of what is happening in us? And how do we, together, how can we connect out of that and turn to the Creator? It all comes from the workshop, from within the workshop. 

Question (Kyiv 3): (28:28) It is written that one does not seek to reveal that the Creator leads the world as The Good Who Does Good, because that is within reason, within the mind, and faith goes against above reason. So, you can go to the group and play there, work there, but if a person needs, he needs?

M. Laitman: It's got nothing to do with dissemination; I don't want to listen. It's unrelated with dissemination, I relate to the lower ones, how to explain to them, as I spoke to you for maybe several years, and you had no idea where you were. I have to relate to them in the same way, like a newborn baby. What does it know, nothing. What's required of it, nothing, just to live, to grow, nothing else. Another kilo of flesh, and another kilo of flesh, and a little bit of intellect to move itself around — nothing more than that. If you disseminate, you have to understand to whom you're going and how you're going, otherwise, don't go out!

Besides, why are we speaking about the spiritual degree that we now have to get into; and you are speaking about dissemination, which is the complete opposite. How can those two things be together in you? What kind of confusion do you have, think about it. I'm not just saying it for you but to many other people too and I'm deliberately answering it in this aggressive way so you will understand that these things totally don't go together. We disseminate to regular people where we don't talk about faith above reason, we talk about how to come out of all the problems we have in this world. That the cure for it is connection between us and we will learn about it some more, especially what we're learning now in the article, Peace in the World. What we're going to acquire among us is from our situation and up, not from our situation and down. 

Question (Spain 2): (31:15) Could you please explain a bit more the matter of not having a difference between faith and knowledge within reason? 

M. Laitman: No, right now, I can't explain it. It's not like there will be no difference; it is that there will be no difference in the power. That faith too has to be no less than knowledge but in truth it is far more than knowledge because the power of faith, the power of bestowal, is an unlimited power. The power of knowledge, reason, the corporeal knowledge, is bounded, limited by our intellect which is very small.

Question (Volga): (32:19) Often we say that we never want to, we shouldn't want to change our situation but only to exploit it, to use it in order to build a degree of faith above reason. But here it's not clear how to not change it but, nevertheless, make use of it. 

M. Laitman: I don't want what I feel now, which, and I know that this is what I'm receiving from the Creator, I don't ask to change that situation but, rather, build on top of it the spiritual state. So that every state I am in, in my life, if I could, I would build above every single corporeal moment a spiritual state. Because this is what it will be like in the future because this world, all this situation — this theater that we are seemingly in and it is unfolding before us, this stage of our lives — was all given to us only so as to build above it, above each scene, each feeling, the right relation to the Creator. 

Question (Africa): (34:17) What is the best way of realizing each darkness as an invitation to the light in the group? 

M. Laitman: With every feeling that I have, I, first of all, want to attach myself to the Ten and arrange the right connection between us. That, we are altogether annulling ourselves. By that alone, we rise to the degree of Bina. I have to annul myself before everyone. I have to connect myself to everyone, bestow upon everyone. In the group, inside the Ten, I already elevate myself. I prepare to rise above reason and then, out of the group, once I did it together with the group, I try to do it toward the Creator, that’s it. This is how we work.

Question (Latin 7): (35:39) Usually, we feel the invitations of the darkness through external problems and such like. But will we start feeling the invitation from the darkness as an inner lack, rather than some external thing?

M. Laitman: Yes, when we come to a state where our direction is spiritual toward faith above reason. Then our states of darkness will also be far worse, far more real, far darker, disconnection from spirituality more and more-so. Because we will be able to sustain ourselves even though we are in contact with the Creator, that He is the one who brings them to us. 

Question (Hadera 1): (36:45) I would like to return to the stages you described that you explained: When we've gotten to a certain kind of bestowal in the Ten, after that, we come to a collective prayer, joint prayer. So, as assistance from above, the feeling of darkness is given to us collectively before we reach the collective prayer in that state?

M. Laitman: It depends on our state. 

Student: But the help from above, does it always need to be darkness, the feeling of darkness?

M. Laitman: The beginning of the degree is darkness and from there we begin. 

Student: Can it be said that when we've achieved common bestowal, joint bestowal, it's the entrance into Ibur, conception. And when we pray together from the next feeling of darkness, that's the process of spiritual birth? 

M. Laitman: It is far from Ibur, even, from the impregnation. You always want to jump ahead and give definitions from the wisdom of Kabbalah to states that are not even in spirituality yet. This is why I'm very strongly against it; it’ll create confusion. It's not spiritual yet, it’s an entry to spirituality but it's still not determining spiritual forces, establishing spiritual forces within a person. 

Question (Moscow 7): (38:31) You've spoken of how we need to ask not to change the state but, rather, to ask the Creator to be above the state. Now, on the other hand,  before the lesson we raise a prayer for all of our sick friends to get healthy and you said, you talked about how when you were sick, He told you to raise MAN to try to be above the state of pain and the question is, when we're supposed to be above a state, what state are we talking about, my corporeal state or maybe some inner impressions related to the Ten or the Creator? 

M. Laitman: It's all the same in us for now. We can't really distinguish. We have to try to determine in general about all of our states, the states we feel. Feel, I'm not talking about spiritual or corporeal, that we feel. We should try to build above them through the connection between us and relation to the Creator that He gave us a state, that’s it. We shouldn't… the important thing is not to be confused, to be as simple as possible.

Question (Heb 10): (40:00) In the feeling of darkness, is there room for working with criticism?

M. Laitman: From where will you have criticism? About the darkness? About the Creator? About yourself? 

Student: Friends. 

M. Laitman: About the friends. Fine, that's on a corporeal level. It's written, you have to connect among yourselves and together read, learn, talk about what you have to do in the current state. Now a new degree is beginning, a new generation is beginning. This is called wanting to achieve a state of mutual bestowal between you and bestowal from you to the Creator, right? This is called a new day, not generation, new day, Rav said. And the darkness remains. On top of the darkness, you build the state of day, and it becomes degrees. Darkness, light, darkness, light, et cetera. Days, nights, years. 

Question (ITA 4): (41:23) When I find myself more, to be more in darkness then I can be more in bestowal, giving to the friends. 

M. Laitman: Darkness doesn't mean that you can be in bestowal already. But the more you have darkness or concealment, it's a sign you have in front of you an opportunity to build a bigger degree of above reason. Correct.

Question (Zafon 2): (41:57) How to correctly connect in our spiritual work, to our spiritual work, the theater of our corporeal world? 

M. Laitman: That, on top of it, you have to build a spiritual theater. 

Question (PT 20): (42:13) If I see that the friends are speaking incorrectly, I feel some lack in them, a deficiency. Would it be right to ask the Creator to change my vision, to see them as correct, as great? Meaning that I ask for Him to change my vision? Yes, is it correct to ask? 

M. Laitman: Of course, this is what you should ask all the time. You have to accept the world around you as a perfect world, All who fault, fault in his own faults, in his own defect. Is there anything to ask about? 

Student: I'm saying we always speak about the prayer of many. So, is there room for this prayer, which is my own personal prayer, not to feel their lacks but only their virtues? I ask Him to change this perspective for me. 

M. Laitman: So, ask the Creator, what do you want from me? What are you asking if you feel this way? And friends that you see in them deficiency, turn to the Creator and ask from Him to change your relation.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:24) It's not clear if the beginning of the degree, the evening, the darkness is only a personal feeling for the person, or a collective sensation in the Ten?

M. Laitman: We are in all kinds of different states. Perhaps everyone feels this way, perhaps not. It's all determined from above.

Student: But I need to bring my own personal sensation of darkness and see how it combines into the Ten? 

M. Laitman: I don't need to bestow upon them my darkness. No, we have to give each other strength. And what we are receiving, whatever each one is receiving, we're receiving it from the Creator in order to connect among us in all of our various states. Because we are like different Sefirot inside the Partzuf, to connect among us in such a way that all in all, our desire is aimed toward the Creator to give us the power of bestowal. So, the power of bestowal will fill up the relationships between us and what we receive from Him, in the state when I come to the society, I ask for only one thing. Let us connect, let us ask of You for the power of faith, power of bestowal, power of connection. And then, in this way, we turn to Him. 

Student: I'm asking with respect to, well, let's say I'm reading an excerpt from Rabash now, which explains how to work with a friend. I'm trying to see how to take that excerpt and check how me, an individual, perform this action towards the Ten? Or is Rabash writing only about what I need to do from the moment we've become a Ten? 

M. Laitman: I didn't understand.

Student: I got up in the morning, I'm a bit foggy, I don't have any direction, I have nothing. Automatically, I reach a physical situation with the Ten. Right, so now I have to take what Rabash or Baal HaSulam write, and see how I work with this excerpt, and make first contact with the Ten? Or maybe only after I achieve some connection with the Ten, some feeling. From there, Baal HaSulam and Rabash write to us what to do.

M. Laitman: No, those are things that you cannot speak of them in such a, so decisively. You'll see, you have these states, those states. 

Student: In other words, in every situation, you can use what they write? 

M. Laitman: In every situation, we need to try to achieve connection. Connection doesn't mean that we're all in the same state or a similar state. Because each one has his own role, his own root of the soul. And despite all that, Love covers all crimes. We want connection to reign over all the differences, the mutual power of bestowal, and that we ascribe to the Creator.

Question (UK): (47:01) If a person feels a darkness and emptiness toward the group, that the group is lowly, is this correct?

M. Laitman: I don't understand what you mean by the group being below that?

Student: That there are more important things, that the relation toward the Ten becomes less important than the emptiness and what the Creator shows? 

M. Laitman: No, that's wrong, that’s not good. I need to understand that my advancement, the engine, the leverage, the instrument by which I advance, that's the group —it’s the group. If I don't connect them together and don't advance with them to the next state, there is no next state. And it could be a plea to the Creator, it could be each and everything, where I want to change something, do something, find some orientation. It's all through connection in the group. Connection in the group, that's the beginning of each and every spiritual action. And each time we must make sure, we must tend to the connection, first of all. And from that connection in the group, to begin the spiritual action. How else do you imagine a spiritual action if there is no Partzuf, how? 

Student: The Creator reveals the darkness and emptiness, and I take it and include it in the Ten?

M. Laitman: That's correct. You with your emptiness enter the group, fine. It may be that the group needs this emptiness, but first of all you integrate in the group, and then from the group you reach the Creator. Otherwise, you have nothing with which to reach Him. That's our problem, we want individually, each one to connect to the upper force, without establishing a connection between us. Meaning the power of bestowal between us to a minimal degree that we want to build. And from that, we gain some equivalence of form with the Creator from which we can turn to the Creator.

Question (Holland 1): (49:37) When we gather as a Ten at the end of the day, and we do the preparation before sleep together, and we pray to the Creator, then we can pray from gratitude. Should we here already evoke a deficiency, should we already invite the darkness? How should we do it? 

M. Laitman: No, no, no, no! We don't invite the darkness, that’s not natural for me to invite the darkness. I can awaken the darkness, but by yearning for the light! By me exploiting the situation I have now in which I have contact with the Creator, being together with the friends, with the society, the Ten, and with the Creator as much as possible. I need to extract from it some benefit, some scrutiny, mutual bestowal. And when I'm done with that, then the degree of darkness comes to me of its own. The Creator takes care of it.

Student: So, because we are looking what's for us the best way to go into our rest, to come to awake with a big possible deficiency for the lesson. So, we should end our day together with asking for the next degree of connection? 

M. Laitman: If you're in such states already where you are capable of doing that, all of you, well, it doesn't have to relate to our night and darkness. Where, we end the day, we end the spiritual degree, we complete it, and then we go to sleep — no, that's also spiritual sleep. And rising, that also refers to spiritual morning. It doesn't have to relate, coincide exactly. In a single day, you can go through several years, many days and nights. It's written, And they shall be new to you. 

So, don't think necessarily that this is how it happens. But with that, appropriate to our situation, with respect to our situation, people who are at the beginning of the spiritual ladder, climbing towards faith above reason. These people do actually feel that when they wake up — and we talked about this in previous lessons — that when they wake up, they have to examine themselves. How do I get up? Why have I risen in this way or that? Where do I get this feeling, that feeling from? And how do I need to relate to it? And so on, yes, but it's not necessarily that you say that the astronomical day and the spiritual day are the same thing, or night being the same night. All right? So, read another excerpt, please. 

Reader: Excerpt Number 13 from Shamati by Baal HaSulam. 

Reading: (53:30) 13. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 42, “What Is the Acronym Elul1 in the Work?”

It is impossible to obtain disclosure before one receives the discernment of Achoraim [posterior], discerned as concealment of the Face, and to say that it is as important to him as the disclosure of the Face. It means that one should be as glad as though he has already acquired the disclosure of the Face.

However, one cannot persist and appreciate the concealment like the disclosure, except when one works in bestowal. At that time, one can say, “I do not care what I feel during the work because what is important to me is that I want to bestow upon the Creator. If the Creator understands that He will have more contentment if I work in a form of Achoraim, I agree.” 

M. Laitman: It's called unconditional surrender, meaning that we accept each and every state that comes to me, I accept it gladly. I must bring myself to a state where it's not important to me what feeling I receive each and every moment. Because if it comes from the Creator, it is good. It is good not only because it's for my benefit, that's true, but it's good because it comes from the Creator. And you don't need anything else, anything more. And so, I'm always glad, and each and every state I accept and receive with joy and gladness. And I don't conduct any criticism over it, because I'm always under the rule and governance of the Creator. 

The difference between me being in a feeling that I'm receiving it from the Creator, and what the common person feels when he's connected to the Creator is that I feel concealment; I feel that the Creator is concealed. And with that with that, I do not want Him to be revealed, actually, to the contrary, I have to maintain His concealment myself, to make a Tzimtzum, restriction, a Masach, a screen. Not to allow him to spread through me openly. I don't want the Creator to be revealed. I only want to ask of Him to be above all the disruptions, to have the power of faith so as to be above all the disruptions that the Creator generates. I will try repeating this. Maybe you should read first. 

Reader: Excerpt Number 13, again, Baal HaSulam. Shamati 42.

Reading: (57:13) 13. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 42, “What Is the Acronym Elul1 in the Work?”

It is impossible to obtain disclosure before one receives the discernment of Achoraim [posterior], discerned as concealment of the Face, and to say that it is as important to him as the disclosure of the Face. It means that one should be as glad as though he has already acquired the disclosure of the Face.

However, one cannot persist and appreciate the concealment like the disclosure, except when one works in bestowal. At that time, one can say, “I do not care what I feel during the work because what is important to me is that I want to bestow upon the Creator. If the Creator understands that He will have more contentment if I work in a form of Achoraim, I agree.” 

M. Laitman: Meaning, that if I know that every single moment I'm receiving from the Creator. I am receiving my life, my status, my situation, my feeling. He establishes all of that in me — He, Himself — then it doesn't matter to me what I have. Just the fact that I'm receiving this from Him should bring me a feeling of joy and correct orientation in life.

And so, that's how I shape my attitude towards the Creator. Where the main thing for me is to never separate from faith, from faith. And the fact that I'm not receiving knowledge, the knowledge that indeed this comes to me from the Creator, the Creator is doing it. I don't want that as a known fact, I want it to remain in me on the degree of faith, where this is what I think. I don't ask the Creator to be revealed because when He will be revealed, I will lose the power of faith. Whereupon I will remain on the degree of a beast, an animal. Where, in the inanimate, vegetative, and animate degrees, the upper force is revealed, guiding them every moment of their existence. Whereas I want only the power of faith. 

So, it's not clear to me — it's not factual, I don't see the facts of it. Rather, I want an opportunity to tie myself to the Creator. And so, I begin to acquire that force of bestowal, which is called, the spiritual force, the upper force, the upper power. And in such a way, I gradually begin to climb from this world up to the upper world. Meaning to live in the power of bestowal, not in the power of knowing, as it is in our world. That's the difference between the two worlds. I'm trying to explain it somehow, though it's difficult, it's impossible to explain. Perhaps to orient you all more correctly, better. And again, again, it's not such a problem for you to be confused with this. But if you read all the verses we have here on the subject of work in faith about reason, you will see there will be verses that will speak about you, those which don't exactly speak about you. But there's lots of materials here we can use to establish our proper grasp and orientation with respect to spirituality. 

Question (Tel Aviv 1): (01:01:54) The feeling is that the willingness to completely relinquish knowledge, control. This is what gives us the highest knowledge and control. Is this correct? 

M. Laitman: It may be. 

Question (PT 6): (01:02:15) How can I keep my vessels of reception so the Creator will not be revealed there? How can I even maintain that? 

M. Laitman: He is not revealed. You maintain them in order to not demand revelation from the Creator. You want to reach Him to bestow upon the group, and that He won't bestow upon you anything but for the power of bestowal, the power to bestow.

Question (MAK 2): (01:02:59) This state where it's not important to you what you're going through, darkness, fear. A person hasn't entered the spiritual world. Is this a transitional phase? How can you explain it or feel what you just talked about?

M. Laitman: We don't fear revealing the Creator — let's say, for the time being. Beyond that, well, it's not now. We don't feel any fear, we don't fear discovering the Creator. That is, we have to understand, to begin with, that it's revealed only in the Ten. And if a person individually wants to discover it, that's a Klipa, a shell, it’s his will to receive. The revelation of the Creator can only be in the quality of bestowal, and the quality of bestowal cannot exist unless we turn to the Creator through the Ten, from the Ten. Otherwise, we're not in equivalence of form with Him, He's not revealed. The situation is kept under guard, let's say.

We'll reach a connection between us, we’ll feel bestowal between us, and then we will be able to turn to the Creator correctly. Don't you worry. Of course, on the way, we'll have further scrutiny, ascents, descents, doubts, but it's taking form. That's how it takes form. Regardless, we have to understand that we have to receive qualities from the upper world, which is unrelated to our world and to this whole reality in general. To everything we have in the whole universe, in the whole universe, we don't have such qualities. We need to establish them gradually by ourselves, and mainly we do that through the connection between us. 

Question (Toronto 1): (01:05:32) Does it mean that we don't yearn to know, and even if it does, it comes, we rise above it? 

M. Laitman: We don't yearn for knowledge like in our world; rather, we yearn for the power of bestowal and connection. 

Question (PT 20): (01:06:04) Why do I need to be in gladness when a situation is revealed? I don't see that it came to do good to me right away, but only in retrospect. So, what's to be happy about in the beginning? 

M. Laitman: I'm walking with the friends towards the Creator, towards equivalence of form with Him, spiritual closeness, and that needs to fill me with joy. Alright? Let's check out 14.

Reading: (01:06:49) 14. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 42. “What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work?” Twice 

When one comes to a state where one has no support, one’s state becomes black, which is the lowest quality in the upper world, and that becomes the Keter to the lower one, as the Kli of Keter is a vessel of bestowal. The lowest quality in the upper one is Malchut, which has nothing of its own, meaning that she does not have anything. Only in this manner is it called Malchut. It means that if one takes upon himself the kingdom of heaven—which is in a state of not having anything—gladly, afterward, it becomes Keter, which is a vessel of bestowal. 

M. Laitman: That's what usually takes place for us, in us. I reach a state of desperation, I don't know. I don't understand, I don't feel anything. And later, I tell myself, well, so what if I don't have any of it? So, I don't have it, I won't have it, and I don't need it.

I need to reach spirituality, not selfish fulfillment. And so, from the state of darkness, I reach the light, but it's not the same light that I yearned for during the darkness. Rather, a new light, a light of bestowal. Then, I yearned for the light of Hochma. Now, I yearn for the light of Hassadim. All right? Read it again. 

Reading: (01:08:36) 14. Baal HaSulam. Shamati 42. “What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work?”

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Reader: We will summarize the lesson.

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Reader: We will move to the next part of the lesson. Before that, we'll sing a song. 

Song: (01:15:38)