https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/lessons/cu/Hugdlpbl
The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Afternoon) December 21, 2024
Part 1: Baal HaSulam. Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator-2
Reader: Hello, we're reading in the writings of Baal HaSulam, in Hebrews it’s page 768, Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator-2. You can find the study materials in our website, in Sviva Tova, and in the Arvut system. You can also send questions live through our websites.
Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator-2
Depiction of Concealment of the Face
Reading: (00:28) 1) Suffering torments such as deficient income, poor health, degradations, failing to accomplish plans, and emotional dissatisfaction.
2) Praying without being answered. Declining when bettering one’s ways, such as avoiding deceiving his friends, and succeeding when worsening one’s ways. One’s sustenance does not come in proper ways, but only by deception, stealing, or desecrating the Shabbat [Sabbath].
3) All of one’s acquaintances who walk on the straight path suffer poverty, ill health, and degradations of all kinds, and one’s wicked acquaintances mock him each day. They are successful, healthy, wealthy, tranquil, and carefree.
4) All of his righteous acquaintances who observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] seem to him cruel, egotistical, odd, or innately stupid and impolite, as well as hypocritical. He finds it repulsive to be with them, even in the Garden of Eden, and he cannot bear to be with them even a moment.
Depiction of Disclosure of the Face
1) Reception of abundance and tranquility, obtainment of one’s livelihood with ease and to the fullest. One never feels scarcity or ill health; he is respected wherever he turns, and successfully and easily accomplishes every plan that comes to his mind.
2) When one prays, he is immediately answered. When he betters his ways, he is very successful, and when he worsens his ways, he loses his success.
3) All of one’s acquaintances who walk on the straight path are wealthy, healthy, know no illness, are highly respected by people, and dwell in peace and tranquility. Conversely, acquaintances who do not follow the straight path are of poor income, filled with burdens and sorrow, ill, and contemptible in the eyes of people.
One regards all the righteous acquaintances as clever, reasonable, well-mannered with people, truthful, and so comely that it is most pleasurable to be among them.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (06:19) Why in this article does he tie so clearly the revelation and concealment of the Creator in the eyes of the created beings, who seemingly the corporeal material reality, livelihood, illnesses, the way the world or people relate to him.
M. Laitman: It is very clear to us. We are also in that same picture. and according to the way we see, we perceive this picture. We can choose what to do, how to do, where we are.
Student: Seemingly, this is one of the depictions through which we examine our relation to the Creator. Seemingly, it's the most immediate, first form of connection we have before us, because we also learn in the wisdom of Kabbalah, sources like the study of the Ten Sefirot, or the preface in there, the connection or disclosure is depicted in completely different vessels or means.
M.Laitman: Yes, so what is the question?
Student: What is the place of this form of connection that you say is true, that we also see in our way, it's always there in the beginning, or is it a very advanced stage? How do we understand these things that are so direct by Baal HaSulam?
M. Laitman: There's no need to understand. We need to only see to what extent we are in it, and to what extent are we able to be above it.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (08:28) According to what is written, kabbalists should have had a good life, but it is well known that they had a tough life. So how do these things reconcile?
M. Laitman: Because they receive such an attitude from the Creator which aims them more and more precisely toward the goal.
Student: Suffering?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How does it jive with what he says, that if you walk on the straight path, you feel good and everything?
M. Laitman: Those who go, those who walk.
Student: And what about the kabbalists?
M. Laitman: The kabbalists try to walk on the path of truth, and what they receive, they understand why they receive it one way or another. Even though they aren't able to see the path themselves as good, they still keep going.
Student: The result of what we have here is only at the very end, or is it always like that, but we just don't see it?
M. Laitman: It's like this, but it's also not. Those who walk on the straight path, receive from above, on the way, all kinds of disturbances, pleasant or less than pleasant, and in that way he strives.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (10:52) Baal HaSulam, for example, a huge kabbalist, we see that he had a life full of suffering. It's only in our eyes, and he actually felt the disclosure of the faith and all the good.
M. Laitman: He felt his state, the opposite of what it appears to us, but different than what we think.
Student: So, seemingly it's not clear, why are these things written? What's the connection even to whether he'll feel good, or will be respected, or his livelihood? How are these things even related to spirituality?
M. Laitman: Out of this, he must determine that his path is following the providence of the good who does good.
Student: But if he feels so good, certainly he will say the Creator is good and does good.
M. Laitman: I'm not going to argue with you. You need to read it many times, while going through all kinds of different inner states, and see then how much you understand it or not. That's it.
Student: I never understood how the disclosure of the face, when he gives such a positive depiction towards the person, how this does not serve his will to receive? What is spiritual here? What is the spiritual work with this thing?
M. Laitman: A person must, if he follows a straight path towards adhesion with the Creator, then he enjoys his path, and he understands that he advances on the right path.
Student: But should he stomp on this corporeality?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: So, how does he not get dirtied by it?
M. Laitman: What do you mean corporeality?
Student: The depiction here sounds very corporeal. He feels good, he's doing well. His whole corporeality is arranged well. It sounds very corporeal. Maybe it's only in my ears, but this is how it is depicted. How does he not get dirtied by the will to receive? Doesn't it just swallow up everything? You know, it sounds like the religious people describe it. If you pray, the Creator will help you, you'll do well. It sounds like that. You'll feel your will to receive. So, I don't understand what the spiritual addition is of our way in this depiction.
M. Laitman: Our spiritual addition is that we discover, we see that the more we advance, day in, day out, we get closer to the Creator.
Student: Doesn't the abundance he receives blind the person?
M. Laitman: No. He accepts these signs correctly and all kinds of discernments along the way. Doesn't it grow and give him a complete interpretation on the path he's on?
Student: How does he open up this pipeline to the Creator? What does he ask for in that state when his vessels are full? What is his connection with the Creator?
M. Laitman: He has nothing to ask then. If his vessels are full, he's got only to give thanks for what he's receiving from the Creator.
Student: So, in the disclosure of the face, the person is only in gratitude?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So how does he advance?
M. Laitman: He advances by searching and finding in every step such states that appear as incomplete.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (16:16) How does a person advance from the state of the concealment of the face? Because it says that he prays and he's not answered, he betters his way, but he feels he's regressing. So how from that state where he tries to do the right thing, and he's actually regressing, how can he advance from there?
M. Laitman: Everything changes. A person changes, states change, conditions change, and because they also change relative to one another, he sees everything he has to correct in all those states.
Student: How does he understand what he needs to correct when he tries to better his ways, and he gets the opposite response?
M. Laitman: It doesn't matter. Even if the response is opposite, that positions him correctly relative to the Creator.
Student: That what? That he's lacking forces; he's helpless?
M. Laitman: Yes, but he receives that from the Creator as well.
Student: So, how does he advance another step from there? He doesn't have anything that he can give from himself.
M. Laitman: He's got nothing to give of himself, but nevertheless, he connects to the state that advances over him, and he thanks the Creator for what he received, even if the state is not that pleasant. Even in the state he's in, he can see signs of advancement.
Student: This requires a lot of faith, that he doesn't understand it, but he trusts the Creator.
M. Laitman: It doesn't require a lot of faith, but it requires many discernments to understand them and to connect them together.
Student: So, what helps him in that state, nevertheless, not to fall?
M. Laitman: What helps him not to fall is when he sees in every state, even the worst, that it comes to him from above.
Student: In one of the clips we heard in an afternoon lesson, we heard you say that in every state, even the emptiest, we can always do something, add, advance. So, where do we find this advancement in the empty state, where seemingly there's no connection with the Creator, there's no contact?
M. Laitman: In the empty states, a person needs to come closer to the friends, and together with them, in the connection with them, to look for ways to take one step forward.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (20:14) Concealment within concealment is the lack of feeling of the connection with the Creator. For someone who is walking on a spiritual path, it should be a simple, single concealment, with which it is already possible to work in the Ten through prayer?
M. Laitman: To work in a Ten through prayer is something that's available to everyone, to anyone. And each and every person is capable of it. It's not simple, but it's possible, he's capable, and the Creator expects such requests.
Student: This concealment within concealment we accept as the upper good, so that this lack of connection with the Creator should not exist.
M. Laitman: I understand.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (22:04) Can it be that kabbalists who reached the disclosure of the face can also receive concealment of the face? For example, Rabbi Shimon comes to mind, that he truly reached degree number 124, and he failed to be Shimon from the marketplace. Is that what it means, that they can also receive concealment of the face in the work, in order to advance?
M. Laitman: It's possible.
Student: So, this is the explanation of how great kabbalists, even until they reach at least their personal end of correction, they also go through the same process of concealment of the face, and disclosure of the face, and this is how they advance. They correct themselves, and they correct everyone. So, it's possible to say that every person also goes through this process. One time it's the revelation, one time I see it as good, one time I see it as bad. All of these processes transpire also on every person who studies the wisdom of Kabbalah?
M. Laitman: Generally speaking, yes.
Question (Women Turkiye 5): (23:27) In general, to understand Baal HaSulam's articles, it takes great effort. These articles are hidden, but this article is actually very clear. So, what is the purpose of this clarity of this article that seems so clear to our mind?
M. Laitman: What's the benefit of studying articles? We learn their interpretation, as well. Why did Baal HaSulam write them in this way and not another way? What does a kabbalist get from it? He discovers all these states relative to the Creator, relative to himself.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (24:33) When we read the part of the depiction of the concealment of the face, first of all, I understand this also relates to the person's perception, the degree that he's in. Does it also depend on the place? Because, for example, when I was living in the United States, what I saw around me was the depiction of the concealment of the face. I could truly see the world around me this way when I was living there. When I moved to Israel, I saw my perception changed. Is there a connection between place and the way I see the world, or is it...?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, he writes that as well.
Student: So, when I move myself, I relocate to another place, I can see some change.
M. Laitman: Change your place, change your luck.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (25:37) The concealment that the Creator places on the created being is according to the perception of the created being? This is how he sees reality, or is that reality itself?
M. Laitman: The Creator places it on the created being according to his calculation with the created being.
Student: And what is written here in the article is the way that the created being sees what is happening to him, or is it seemingly on behalf of the Creator?
M. Laitman: The created being gets to know his state in the world in the state he's in.
Student: This means that seemingly concealment and disclosure are according to how the created being relates to them, how the created being is even connected to the Creator. The depictions that the Kabbalists portray to us is how I perceive, how I grasp what the Creator gives me, and it's not actually the thing itself. I have a livelihood or I don't have a livelihood. All of the examples that he gives here are about how I relate to it?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Kyiv): (27:11) The article is quite clear. Can we use the article for dissemination to students or new people to describe to them what benefit we can get from getting closer to the Creator, or shouldn't we use that?
M. Laitman: Why not? You can use it.
Student: Because it's very attractive, appealing the way it's described here. If you reach the revelation of the face, you'll have good livelihood and tranquility. It can draw many people.
M. Laitman: Correct.
Question (Women MAK): (28:13) By the revelation of the face, he sees lack of correction with his acquaintances that are full of suffering, doing things that are wrong. Will he see that until the end of correction?
M. Laitman: It doesn't depend on him; it depends on the Creator, the way the Creator organizes for him his perception of the world.
Question (Women Kavkaz): (28:55) Can we deduce from this article that everything depends on the observer. I suffer, or I see the righteous as suffering, or I see those who are walking on the way to the Creator as receiving pleasure. Do we want these states to change with high frequency, or do these states exist simultaneously?
M. Laitman: Your work is to reach such a state where the Creator will replace for you your image of reality, the image of the world, and with that you'll keep advancing, truly at the same pace.
Student: Can this pace be created by ourselves or is it impossible to do so?
M. Laitman: It depends on you.
Question (MAK 39): (30:06) There is a good inclination, and there is an evil inclination. This is the disclosure of the face of the Creator. It's built in within the system of Adam. These are two qualities. Can it be in one's awareness or not? Or simply according to a person’s deeds and his thoughts, everything can change for the better or for the worse. In the life of a Kabbalist, there are such difficulties, of course not always, but can we say that it is the same vessel in the hands of the Creator where there is the struggle over the correction of the person himself from being a sinner to being righteous?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes.
Question (Hadera 1): (31:09) This means, if we summarize what we read in the morning also, that a kabbalist has problems that are no less than others, maybe even more, much more, but at the same time he feels a connection with the Creator. This is such a strong and good feeling that he simply can't solve the problems he has in corporeality, but he accepts them with the great faith that he has, and because of that he becomes mute. This is why he doesn't open his mouth and doesn't seemingly blame the Creator. And this is the great difference.
M. Laitman: Okay, it's clear.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (32:15) To you, according to what I understood, the article describes two states that a person goes through. He understands what state he is in, but how does it contribute to him for the continuation of the spiritual path? Because seemingly he has nothing that he can do with it. He can't change himself, can't shift to a different state. So, I know that now I'm in disclosure or concealment, but what do I do about it?
M. Laitman: Accordingly, you can change your attitude.
Student: In any case, I am tied to the Creator in both states. So, how do I change it? I know, according to my understanding, it's only a matter of inner feeling. In one state I feel good, in the state of disclosure, in the state of concealment I feel bad, but in both states I am tied to the Creator. I understand it doesn't have anything to do with me because He placed me in that situation, and I have nothing to do with it. So, how does that contribute to the rest of the path?
M. Laitman: It is written later, the depiction of disclosure of the face. Please read it again.
Re-Reading Article: (33:42) Depiction of Disclosure of the Face
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:13) If I work and I want to be in adhesion, the concealment of the face is the ideal state for me because it's clear I have what to work on, what to ask for, on top of what to work, and the disclosure of the face is a terrible state. Because I have nothing, everything is perfect. I have no place for work. I'm running on neutral.
M. Laitman: We will see.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (36:45) Can you work with it in the Tens in both states? Instead of disclosure and exaltedness and importance, I'm trying to pass it on to the Ten, and during the state of concealment, I turn to the Ten and ask for help to come out of that state?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (37:11) If every degree or spiritual state begins with concealment, and when I add the correct attitude, it concludes with the disclosure of the face?
M. Laitman: Not necessarily.
Student: And can all of that be also in the Ten where I'm in concealment. I see them all as black and opposite, and if I put in the right attitude, I ask, I pray, I see them in wholeness?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, in my external life, not necessarily, but in the Ten, it does work in this way?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (38:06) I heard that Baal HaSulam said that he accepts the signs in all the sermons and the path, and they give him the right interpretation on the path. What does it mean that he accepts the signs, he sees the signs? How can he be certain of them?
M. Laitman: He receives signs from above, and that he's certain of them, as he is certain that he receives them from the Creator.
Student: How does he see it as a sign from the Creator, and not something he imagines?
M. Laitman: Because there is some connection between him and the Creator.
Student: What does it mean to follow the straight path?
M. Laitman: That he simply walks straight to the Creator.
Student: Do you have a definition?
M. Laitman: The straight path means that I do not change my foundations, but I only intensify them, and this is how I advance.
Student: Is there a difference between a descent and a concealment?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course.
Student: What is the difference?
M. Laitman: The descent causes concealment.
Question (Italy): (40:35) If the person advancing on the path towards an ever-growing revelation, is constantly going through obstacles, challenges that help him reveal the face of the Creator. Is the revelation of the Creator on top of the challenges and the obstacles?
M. Laitman: The revelation of the Creator is certainly what is revealed upon all the obstacles. He's right about that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:11) What's the importance of being in agreement when we are in concealment relative to our spiritual advancement?
M. Laitman: As much as you are connected.
Student: Do you mean when we are connected we have the ability to be in agreement with the state? Is that the meaning of that?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Is revelation an inner feeling only, or do you have external signs that assist you on your path?
M. Laitman: Certainly, there are also external signs, which is a greater nearing, especially for women. There are signs.
Student: Can we learn from the article that one who sees sinners in concealment later appear to be as righteous, during the disclosure?
M. Laitman: It doesn't have to be that way. Not necessarily.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (42:38) If someone has a disclosure of the face, can you pass it to someone else in the Ten, whom you think is lacking?
M. Laitman: No, this is very personal, and it's only to this person, and to that state.
Student: Can you ask for a revelation of the face, for someone in the Ten, or for the whole Ten?
M. Laitman: Try, pray.
Student: Another question. We heard lately, you said that the men are sleepy, they're not alert, and we had a discussion in our Ten about this, and we had many questions from the women's side. How can we, women, help? Does it depend on us? Maybe we are to blame for this state, if the desire of the woman moves and motivates the man. Is it correct relative to the state that we are seeing right now?
M. Laitman: Yes, the desire of a woman moves the man.
Student: What can we do to awaken the men, so they will be alert every lesson, and be in the preparation for the light?
M. Laitman: Think about it. How can we make it so that the men will wake up?
Student: So, we are guilty of the men's state?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:58) You said more than once, that if we will be connected in the Ten, if we connect in Israel, if people will be more connected, and change their attitude toward one another, they will feel they have everything, all the abundance. What's so special about our work in the Ten, that changes a person's perception of reality, that he can see it in practice?
M. Laitman: In the work, in a complete Ten, we bestow directly from the Ten to the Creator, who is in the center of the Ten.
Student: So, our work is, ultimately, to connect more and more in the Ten. And how do we help a friend, who now got an understanding, that I have to go out, take care of a few corporeal matters, and then come back to the connection, which is the opposite of how we understand it. How can we help this friend as a Ten?
M. Laitman: Try to influence him so that he will stay. He needs to understand that, now, in his work in the Ten, he can perform the right actions, those that are required, in such a way.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (46:49) Is there a connection between the disclosure and concealment of the face of the Creator, and the reward for the righteous, or for the wicked?
M. Laitman: There is a connection this way, and also that way.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (47:46) I know there is a concealment from the Creator, and a concealment from the created being. How can you tie that to the understanding of these articles? I saw in Shamati 174, when they speak about concealment, they say that concealment is correction. The question is, when does it come from me, and when does it come from the Creator?
M. Laitman: We need to scrutinize this. Usually, it's along the way. When we read an article, or a letter, or something, we should demand it from there. Not more.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (49:04) In a sense, it feels like a menu.
That's how I felt it in my vessels. This is my perception of reality, and I'm looking at the menu, and I see where I'm at. I'm sorry for lowering Baal HaSulam's great work, but that's what I'm seeing in my vessels. And the whole work is to shift my gaze, to look.
For example, they spoke about a problem of a friend who wants to take care of his necessity, and from my point of view, I need to look at it as something I'd have to pray on, so he will see the revelation in that state, in his concealment. Does that depend on me?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, the gaze is internal, and the work is external. So, not for me, but for those around me.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (50:24) I'm looking at item four of the concealment of the face, and it scares me, because typically the friends are the closest place. And here, a person can't be with them, and they repulse him so much. How can we protect ourselves in such states?
M. Laitman: As much as a person is capable of. When he prays for his friend, it is considered that he helps him.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (51:20) In the article, it speaks about corporeal matters, but does the article speak of a spiritual degree, spiritual sustenance, etc.? Does it actually give spiritual depictions, and not actually corporeal depictions?
M. Laitman: Yes. We talked about it in a previous lesson, that that is the right relation, the correct attitude.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (52:05) The feeling from the article is that the Creator is taking a person by the hand, and He shows him each time where he is wrong, where he is right, and He leads him along the path. How not to let go of the Creator's hand, when you feel that He is giving you a hand?
M. Laitman: Usually, if there is a Ten that stretches out its hand, then the Creator holds it.
Student: It has to be a sort of a common hand. So, what should the Ten do if we feel that the Creator is helping us now?
M. Laitman: Embrace between you and connect with the Creator.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (53:13) One of the questions that we scrutinized in detail was the following. We hear that there is no difference in the spiritual work between men and women. And when we look at nature, we see that men, by nature, wish to impress the women, I'm not talking about the couple, in general. There is something that the male wants to attain, wants to impress the female. There is a strong force that motivates him. If a group of people, works to attain spirituality, has its power, its Tens, it's seemingly an independent body. Each Ten can attain the Creator; everything is okay. On the other hand, we are in charge of the sleepiness of the men, as we heard this week. How do we make the men feel that we expect something of them, something great, to give them a motivational force that will push them.
M. Laitman: Pray that the Creator will give understanding and forces, and then you will succeed.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (54:56) If the state of the men depends on us, what are women doing wrong, and how can we make it better?
M. Laitman: In my eyes, the women are doing more or less what they are capable of. Certainly, we can add in that, both for the women and the men. To add more than that, I'm afraid. I am afraid, because any time that I pass criticism, I then receive a response.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (56:15) We used to pray consistently for the men in the Tens. I feel like that's what we have to do. Simply pray.
M. Laitman: Why did you stop?
Student: I don't know. It was mentioned less in the lessons. We used to talk about it a lot in the lessons. The women are standing behind the men and support them and push them. They are there for them.
M. Laitman: So, go back to praying in the Tens. So, let's agree that you are going to go back to that same track.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (57:22) Does Baal HaSulam want to tell us, if I heard correctly, that we need to think less about whether I am okay or not, to be less harsh with myself, but to acquire the confidence, the connection the Creator is giving us with Him, and simply project it onto the world, confidently, out of our connection in the Ten. And this is what He means, that there is endless abundance, and simply make the connection that we have with the Creator in the group, and with confidence we observe the world from there.
M. Laitman: Yes, the force of the women is a very strong force, and the Creator is close to that. So, it's worthwhile for you, for the women of Bnei Baruch, to connect between you and as much as possible with the men, and this will bring success.
Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (58:54) Is the goal of the women and the connection between them to support the men and to push them?
M. Laitman: At least in some part, yes.
Student: Why not everything?
M. Laitman: Sometimes I'm concerned in everything, but there are always questions. Why isn’t it 1000%, just not a little bit?
Student: Isn't our goal to empower each other, so each of us personally and all of us collectively will have the necessity and the power to push the men to the revelation of the Creator?
M. Laitman: Yes, in the end, this is the goal.
All right, so we will stop here today, and we will meet next week. Good luck.
Announcements: (59:57)
Song: (01:00:38)