Morning Lesson September 10, 2021, Transcription
Part 1:
Faith Above Reason - Selected Excerpts from the Sources, #14
1. Rav’s Introduction: Faith above reason, many times we talked about it. That we have two worlds, two forms of nature. The nature of reception which is outside of the Creator and the nature of bestowal that exist in the Creator. The Creator created the nature of reception on purpose so we would be able to reach the nature of bestowal and find in it all kinds of the discernments, degrees, Partzufim, Sefirot, and Olamot worlds. Everything that there is, that can be distinguished and examined. The Creator created the evil inclination and the fact that He created for us our state outside of Him. We can approach Him, we can see Him and check and diagnose all kinds of things, and we can always have discernments of something and the opposite. As it says ‘the Lord has made one opposite the other’ so that we can check and see these things and feel them and decide about them. This way we will be able to discern who we are, who the Creator is, what states we are in, what states we need to be in. Therefore, all our work is about how to see more and more, different states between these two states. To see different states where I am in my will to receive and in a state where I can be in the will to bestow. In Malchut and Bina, the two forms of nature which we have in general in the whole of reality, the nature of reception, the nature of bestowal. The nature of bestowal is the Creator and the nature of reception is that created being.
How can we reach the other nature, the nature of the Creator? By us processing through the treatment from above, by losing the feeling that we exist in our own nature, in the nature of the will to receive, the nature of the created being. Then we feel confused, disoriented. We do not understand what is happening to us. It is all in order to help us have a little bit of a grip on the other nature, the nature of bestowal, which is the higher nature and this is how we enter gradually through such leaps when a person loses his foundations, seemingly. Where am I, what am I founded on, what do I rely on and so on. This way, bit by bit the person starts to understand precisely the opposite. That he has an inclination to the Creator, this is the most important.
The fact that he is now losing his corporeal foundation is good. This is for the person's benefit actually, that he does not have it. But if he does not have it then what does he have? He has nothing.
He begins to search for what is the other foundation that can be. In each and every person it happens personally, individually. It is very personal. Eventually the person discovers that if I think about the Creator, if I aim at Him, if my inclination is to let Him bestow to Him and to do good to Him, then I do not need anything more. That is, it is good that I do not think about myself. Maybe I can do such exercise that I am not thinking about myself, but only about the Creator, that I do not want to bestow to myself, which is my whole life but I want to bestow to the Creator only. If a person loses the foundation that he always had and he truly feels in between heaven and earth, this is truly considered that he is being elevated to a new degree. If he agrees to these changes with his eyes shut, he most important is that whatever is happening to him the Creator is doing it because there is 'none else besides him'. In this way the person strengthens himself. Whatever is happening to him it is only the Creator and He is taking care of him and no one else has any power over him and no one else even exists in reality. When a person determines this, out of this determination of his state, the person rises. Therefore, he begins to understand that what he has lost is confidence in his will to receive and seemingly he is between heaven and earth. It is in order for the person to concede his will to receive and whatever he feels in it and for him to get used to it, a little bit, in the will to bestow, in the quality of Bina. Then he will discover the upper reality.
Excerpt 14 (08:18)
2. R. (09:16) That is, the fact that it seems to us that we are falling from our state and we feel darkness in our state. In truth, this is darkness relative to our senses because we are not capable of sensing or detecting, seeing, feeling with our senses - where we are, who we are. The darkness can be relative to our selfish sensors precisely because we are rising to a new higher degree. Then it can be full of light, but according to my previous sensors I do not have any control over it. To me it seems like darkness. This is why he says, I am reading once again, when one comes to a state when he has no support, no foundation to work or stand on. Then one’s state becomes black, not because of the state itself, but because of how the person relates to the state because he cannot discern anything in it. This is the lowest quality in the upper world. That is, the person is actually rising from his ordinary state where he was in control, he understood, he felt everything and now he understands his situation as darkness. But it is not darkness. The person feels that it is darkness. In truth, it is a new degree, it is a higher spiritual degree. It is just like it is for us, the day ends and we enter the night. Why should we have night after the day? There should be an even greater day. No. In order for us to rise to the next degree we need to begin from us being aware of it and this is specifically through darkness. So then one state becomes a black which is the lowest quality in the higher world so the person is actually rising to a new degree but the state that he feels is darkness it is black and this becomes the Keter to the lower one specifically from the previous state from attaining the darkness, the black of the higher degree it becomes the Keter towards the state he had before, the lower state.
What means is that the vessel of Keter it is a vessel of bestowal if he now concedes his reason and he goes and accepts this darkness, that it is a part of the next higher degree because the person is constantly rising and never falling we never fall one is always elevated in sanctity so it turns out that if I accept any next state as an elevation and I start to relate to it this way I discovered that it is truly a higher state and even though it seems to me like darkness it is just subjective it is just how it seems to me it is how I discover it but if I cross through this state then I discovered that it is actually an entirely a new state, it is all light but I was still without the vessels sensors to discovery this way as light so I feel darkness in it. Therefore, light and darkness in the wisdom of Kabbalah are the face and the posterior. Ohr is called light and Orta is darkness in Aramaic. It is the same light but there is no ability in the lower one, in the person, to attain that it is shining, that it is light.
The person does not have the vessels for it because everything is attained according to the equivalent of form and if the person doesn't have the vessels of bestowal he cannot feel this as a light so he actually feels it as darkness everything depends on the person in truth everything is light the light of infinity fills the whole reality, we exist inside this light and we discover it as light or darkness according to the development of our vessels, according to the equivalence of our qualities to the Creator’s qualities. What does he write here next? The lowest quality in the upper one is Malchut, which has nothing of its own. This is why he discovers darkness in it, that's why it is called Malchut. Meaning, if one takes on himself the kingdom of heaven, that everything has to be exactly this way, and the Creator does it on purpose and gradually, which is s state when he does not have anything gladly and he accepts this gladly. Because these are the stages to go through in order to rise. Afterward it becomes a Keter, which is the vessel of bestowal.
3. S. (15:13) Can you explain the first part of the text that he doesn’t feel that without help from the friends we cannot feel that there is no happiness and no support without them.
R. When the person comes to a state when he has no support. First of all, certainly the friends and the world and then he himself feels that he's hanging in the air. It is like a little child that was forgotten, he feels himself ‘where am I, what do I hold onto?’ This is a terrible feeling, being lost and this is the feeling of darkness. Then the person's state becomes black which is the lowest quality in the upper world. Specifically, when he is rising to the Malchut of the higher he feels darkness in that. So, what are you asking?
S. In that darkness, what is the meaning that he has no support, no help in such a place?
R. I need to search for it. It is not that I'm given it. I have to search for help and this help can be that I am leaving my earlier foundation, which was within reason and I am going with faith above reason. I do want to stay even in the darkness as long as I belong to the higher one, to the quality of bestowal. Then I recognize that this state is under a new control. It is the Malchut of the upper one. This is a new control that now rules. In this place is a greater force of bestowal and if I nullify myself and I connect to that greater force of bestowal Then I enter that upper one which is here before me, and I start to see that it is truly an estate that is full of light, connection, love and discernments. It all depends on me. So how was I brought into such a state of the upper one? By letting me feel that I am in darkness and I have nothing. Then I necessarily need to concede my situation because I truly have nothing and if I accept that state of darkness in faith above reason, meaning, I am willing to remain in darkness as long as from the darkness I have nothing. This is why it is easy for me then. Out of this darkness I want to give to the Creator in a state when I truly have nothing. So, what can I give?
Only my attitude. I want to give from this darkness, from the feeling that I have nothing, I want to give only one thing. Can I think about you, can I be in some disposition to you? Then from this darkness I start to see something shining before me because I'm already entering by this into an action of faith above reason. According to my reason I have nothing and according to the force of faith I do see myself that I can fulfill myself with the force of bestowal, with the intention of bestowing to the Creator. We need to try many times to depict this state because this is precisely the spiritual state we are about to acquire. It is impossible to convey it in such a way from one person to the other. This is how we enter spirituality with the vessels and discernments and we will truly begin by ourselves to rise on the degrees until we reach more and more forces of bestowal. They are the opposite of what we have today and this is why we need to be patient and put more and more effort in it. We will do this. But we are already in it. We are learning the most important thing there is, that the person who is in this world has no other work. Nothing else to do but to perform such actions that bring him to faith above reason, to the force of bestowal without any foundation.
4. S. (21:08) He writes that if the person receives this state with joy and makes his situation into a vessel of bestowal, what is this joy exactly?
R. The joy is out of the fact that first of all I can say that I am aiming myself to the Creator for the very first time. That I do not have in that state nothing that I can search within myself for myself because this state is completely empty. It turns out that I am aimed straight to the Creator. This is simply like a person who has nothing with his properties. What can you do to him? Nothing. His actions are such that it is not that his property determines what he needs to do. We are coming to a state where we exist in darkness, in helplessness, completely, entirely and totally. Then out of this, we begin to understand that it could be that the way out of this is only by us acquiring the vessels of bestowal. That we think entirely about the Creator instead of ourselves. It comes from the fact that the person becomes totally disappointed and disillusioned with all of his actions that he is performing, that he was only performing them in his desire to receive. Now he reaches a state of total darkness, that there is nothing. Then he thinks, what do I have left and from here I can aim myself to the Creator, and this is what remains for me.’ Then the person truly starts to work towards faith above reason, towards the force of Bina, which resides upon Malchut, on the desire to receive.
S. The correct result of this is that the person comes out with the right lack for bestowal? He just wants to come out with a deficiency.
R. Yes.
5. S (23:46) Can faith above reason create a disagreement between us?
R. Yes.
6. S (24:02) How in a state of black can you be in joy, when at the same I cannot manage practical work, to do anything for the friends, to do actions, but my heart is in joy. Is it something above understanding?
R. My heart is in joy because I finally begin in this state to find for myself what can be truly bestowal to the Creator because I have nothing. I do not feel that in this state I have anything and I was in this state many times but now I started to realize that in this state there is nothing to demand. I cannot receive anything. Then on the other side, because every state you have the face and the back, and in that state, I can see that if I cannot receive for myself then specifically for me it is a state where I can think about the Creator. Then I ask for it and I want this to happen. That for the very first time in my life I truly feel that I am thinking about the Creator, that I aim myself to Him and this is something new for me.
S. So joy is a gift from above and it is not some actions I have to do forcefully?
R. Yes. But right now, we are not talking about joy so much. Why did you latch onto this so much?
S. Because it is written about two conditions. One condition is to do it while in black. Second condition is to be simultaneously in joy. It is a question about this joy.
R. Joy is out of the fact that I aim at the Creator. That in this state I can aim at the Creator. This is what gives me joy. For the first time the joy comes not because I'm about to acquire something but because I am aiming at the Creator.
7. S. (26:29) Can we advance without suffering because no matter what, if it is this world or spiritual work we go through suffering, what is so special about suffering that helps us on the spiritual path?
R. We are directed by two forces. Let's say even though its one force, but let's say it is two forces pleasure and suffering by them it aims as either this way or that way in each and every place, just give different discernments to pleasure and suffering and you'll see that in between the plus and minus, between hot and cold, between black and white, doesn't matter what it is. In short, we always exist between two forces, this is how it is to begin with, the whole creation. The Creator created the opposite state to him which is the will to receive. I created the evil inclination and then we have states in between the two. This is why they cannot run away from them. Instead, we need to establish correctly our attitude to them. What is black, what is white, what is good, what is bad and to determine eventually ourselves between the two of them on the middle line and specifically, the feeling we have in both of them, leads us to the goal that we are adhered to the Creator because the good force and the bad force both emerge from the Creator and by that we reach the force of bestowal, the force of Bina. Soon this will be clearer, I can feel we are still not in these discernments yet
8. S. (29:15) The loss of the foundation, of the confidence I have in this current state, this current degree this is only towards my grip in the spiritual path or does it have to be accompanied with confusion and darkness in the corporeal level as well?
R. This depends on the kind of the soul, I would say. Sometimes it influences greatly our corporeal perception as well in this imaginary world we exist in and sometimes the person just flows along in this life, wherever it takes him, like some current and the person does not pay attention to it. He is completely mostly in making spiritual discernments so it is very specific it depends on the kind of the soul. But whatever you have you have. We need to accept it and work with whatever we have.
S. Then the Malchut of the upper I find only through the 10. Through the connection with them the picture of the upper has to be clarified.
R. I did not understand, ask again
S. The Malchut of the upper one, the darkness I have to find only through the connection in the 10?
R. No, no. It comes to a person seemingly individually, he is in the state of darkness so he also does not have, in that state, he does not feel that he is connected with the friends, he has nothing. He just feels himself personally, that he is in darkness and he does not know how to aim himself and where and what is happening to him. It's a black state and then he needs to think only about what in this state can I do? Specifically, because it is dark. That dark state maybe when I have nothing, no hope, no chance to receive anything, change anything for myself so maybe this is the point from which I can bestow to the Creator, maybe here I can change the direction of my efforts, my actions. So, if I have nothing for myself then let me do something for the Creator and this is a very important point as we hear now. That for the very first time in his life the person feels that he can be aimed towards the Creator because for himself, for sure, he cannot do anything. This is an important point.
9. S. (32:44) What you just described and what we are reading in the articles it truly has ramifications on the 10. When the person is in darkness without foundation under his feet, he loses his faith and he is kind of at the mercy of the heavens. It seems that in such a state where the person has no strength, no forces and we pray for such a person. We try to give him confidence. How else can we help such a friend because we see that it is truly a heavy and serious state.
R. We need to disconnect from the desire to receive. That is, the desire, which is for oneself, which is aimed at myself, to me. I need to disconnect from that. That connection is very much not simple. When can I do this? When I see that nothing can help me and I cannot benefit myself whatsoever. Therefore, the feeling of darkness that the person feels that the world has turned dark for him, this is a feeling by which the Creator helps us not to run away from the wisdom Kabbalah and to run from spirituality. But to the opposite, to enter spirituality, to enter the fact that it is not for me then what is left for me. It is only left for me to aim all my efforts to the Creator and then suddenly I feel myself that I am becoming free. That I stopped, to some extent, worrying about myself and I only became concerned about how I can do something in order to do something good and pleasant to the Creator, to give Him contentment. Then you can implement this in your actions to the friends, to the group, to the world. Then you can see to what extent we, all of us, truly exist in the correct form, advancing in the right, that the Creator methodically is extracting from each and every day some chance to enjoy. By that, He is aiming us so we could be able to be aimed, directly, only to Him. This is how we can truly walk through very clear degrees. Later you will see what you went through. It is like a little child, he doesn't know what he's doing, what he is going through but we can see on him how he is growing. We can even measure to what extent he is growing but he himself does not understand it about himself. This is how it is in all the degrees the person is in. When his soul is, there are degrees when he could measure himself and examine himself but this is already on the great degrees when the person can receive in order to give. There we can start to measure these things.
10. S. (37:00) What to do if one of us is in darkness and the other has light?
R. If you are together during the lesson and hear the explanation, you incorporate with each other in whatever state there is. You speak throughout the day, not about this but about other clearer states or you read some article from the writings of Baal HaSulam or Rabash and discuss it. What is happening gradually becomes clearer to you. There are people that are feeling down, they are in a fall, and there are some who are in ascent. It is natural; it has to be this way in each and every ten. We can say that the ten is in a state of balance by this. You have these and you have those and there is some connection between them, all in all they have a certain balance. It always has to be this way to be this way. You don’t need to be so occupied with wondering how it can be that some of the friends are not in good spirits or feeling support today, or that we don’t have time to read the Zohar. The group of Rabbi Shimon were here and there in all kinds of such states where these fall and those rise, didn’t talk to one another, and they yelled at each other. You have all kinds of states among Kabbalists. It is life and each time it is a new state so don’t be afraid. Nevertheless, try to keep the ten, the group, in all the states that we get from above.
11. S. (39:44) Does this mean that our contact with the quality of bestowal, with Keter, is only possible in darkness?
R. Yes because it is a higher degree. You rise to a higher degree that is felt as darkness, but it is felt as darkness towards your vessels where you are not corrected toward this upper degree. It is actually filled with light. You are not in the qualities of bestowal. You will feel it as light, in a true manner, in accordance with your equivalence of form to this degree. That's why it appears to you as darkness, as opposite, in its posterior, its Achoraim. You begin to seek out how to come out of it specifically from that darkness, through different efforts and actions, mostly through connection and through understanding the situation. We will talk about this. Our work is to rise from one degree to another. We are in a process of rising to the first spiritual degree, we will gain experience and feel how to deal with it.
S. We know that when a person feels darkness, the solution is in the next degree. How can we prevent searching for the solution on the corporeal plane?
R. You need to talk about this every day in the 10. We can only solve our problems through aiming ourselves to connection. There is nothing to do. Separation is revealed between us when the darkness is revealed. We instinctively run sideways because it seems that even in the greatest darkness, we are in the center of the 10 because this is where the Malchut of the upper one, the higher degree, could be revealed. This is the way it happens. Talk about this more and more, read, and repeat the morning lesson. We build the new degrees, the new steps, the new states, each time through this way. You will see and hear each time anew. Each of those states took me years, but with you it could take weeks. I am very happy that this is how it is happening today but, in my time, it took years. This is the difference between the wisdom of Kabbalah, which leads the person to the feeling of the upper world, the feeling of the Creator, and religion where people do all kinds of actions in this world and think that they have concluded their role. They are like marionettes, like puppets on strings.
12. S. (44:07) Can we say that each and every state of ascent starts from the state of the posterior, the Achoraim?
R. Yes, of course. You are rising to a state you are not holding on to, where you are not grasping yet. That’s why you define this as darkness where you don't feel, you don’t understand. It doesn’t shine or illuminate upon you. On one hand, you don’t feel anything and have no confidence. On the other hand, if you are in a group, you are in a process, and you start to be happy. I am saying this again, that this state needs to be a state of joy because at last I understand. I don’t deserve anything, I don’t receive anything, I have no possibility of understanding or feeling anything for myself. All of a sudden, I see that everything I have done is cut off and I have nothing to receive for myself. That’s how it is built.
Look at what happens in the world with all of humanity’s efforts, there is nothing left. There is only one thing left for me. I can’t attain anything to bestow in any way. I’m not talking about sustaining my life. That's a necessity, a necessary thing, but I want to aim myself towards something that will come out of my work, out of my actions. It turns out that if it is not for me then it is only towards the Creator. I begin to grasp that I am in a very special state, a very special point. It is the inversion point, in which instead of being aimed towards myself I can be aimed towards the Creator. I want to strengthen myself constantly in this. I want to do all the actions so that it would be good for Him. Then in this, I am already in a process that I understand and feel in this process, in a conscious aware way that I am entering spirituality. Prior to that I just talked about it, but now I am not aiming for something to come out of this for myself but only for the benefit of the Creator. This is considered that I have flipped, I have switched my vector, my direction of advancement, so that my advancement will only be to the extent that I can bestow to Him with all of my different actions. This is a very important inversion point, this is the beginning of the actual spiritual ascension.
13. S. (47:58) What does it mean to acquire vessels of bestowal?
R. That I now accustom myself to be aimed to the Creator. I do not know exactly where that is, but it is bestowal through the 10 where I connect more and more to the friends. We are together through this. This is the next stage where we want to be aimed toward connection between us and in that point of the center of connection between us, in the center of the ten, we aim toward the Creator. That is how we will build ourselves. More exalted feelings and higher discernments will come. You will see it soon and we will work in a revealed manner. The discernments will be emotional and we will connect the intellect to the feelings and begin to discern between one state and another. We will begin to enter the control of the upper world through that. The work of the Adam is truly ahead of us. You will see that the Creator prepared these things for us. There is no more than this. You will see that we need this world only in order to emerge towards spirituality.
14. S. (50:35) It seems as if the prayer gets a certain volume and significance.
R. It will be this way more and more.
S. How do we maintain this state of prayer instead of running away to other actions?
R. This depends on the connection with the friends. The Creator is called the ‘all inclusive’, inclusive of all the actions, inclinations, and goals of ours that we want to connect into one in place of the ten vectors we have. We realize that we are all together and, of course, each has their own thoughts in his own direction that is opposite the others. We can rise above those and connect ourselves to the Source, which is all, and in Him we can connect. We discover that to the extent we make efforts and do not come to the Creator and connect in Him we cannot connect between us either. One thing depends upon the other, for our hearts will rejoice in Him. This is how we will advance.
S. Do I need to ask for strength when I have no strength or should I start to do something and then ask for strength before I do anything?
R. If you have the force to try to do something to the Creator or to the group, do something. The fact that you have no forces is very nice because now you see that you do not have forces for that and you will see that you could already be in the point of despair which we talked about, where I am in despair because I didn’t get something for myself or I cannot be something. This is already clear to me. Rather, I want to aim myself to the Creator. The Creator did not leave me a choice in this, by not giving me anything, but He led me to the point of the shattering, the breaking, where I cannot receive something for myself either in the present or the future. I have nothing. You can read about this in all kinds of Kabbalistic sources and writings. We have the possibility to aim ourselves to Him and thus advance from here on.
S. The request also has to be there because I really don’t have the strength to perform the action. R. That is still a lack of despair from the fact that you won’t receive anything. This is how it will be in every spiritual degree. You will have the left line, the Klipot, and all kinds of dirty discernments about what to do and how to aim yourself. We can advance only in this way.
15. (55:08) Is this what we call the dark light of Malchut?
R. Yes, but we will talk about this on higher degrees. We will talk about it later.
16. S. (56:07) I feel I am empty, that I do not have any power to act or have any desire to aim myself to the Creator. I drag myself to lesson, I do not know how to relate to the ten or aim myself to the Creator in this state.
R. In such states we need to understand that we are not given filling in the will to receive. When we don’t want to advance from our ego but from the desire to bestow, this is already advancement. I need to say that I come to the lesson in order to support the friends, and to bring contentment to them and to the Creator. Try and see if this is beneficial or not. What can you do if you can’t move? In truth, the matter of habit becomes second nature here but nevertheless we need to try and see every day as an opportunity to come to bestowal. Each should try to do this delicately, as it can cause one to run away. That would be too bad, it would be too bad to miss out on this incarnation.
17. (58:42) What can we do when we become indifferent to the state of being in lack of control or indifferent to the darkness that is revealed?
R. We need to go through all kinds of states. I, myself, went through what I have been through with you in the last year, in maybe five years or more. Our pace is ten times faster than what was before in Kabbalistic groups or for individuals. We need to hold ourselves. We are truly before a forward leap.
S. Should we make efforts to agree with the Creator in darkness?
Not to agree but to say that all the states that come, they come one after the other for advancement and it is certainly all for my benefit. If I feel darkness, I feel the darkness in my egoistic will to receive. I need to lead myself to a state that this darkness will become light, that I will have vessels of bestowal, that I will think of bestowal. This state of darkness will then become light and an opportunity to bestow.
18. S (01:00:33) I understand that we have to reach a state of inversion, but I am afraid that my will to receive is taking me there.
R. Yes, for the time being, of course, it is the will to receive. Even when you decide that you will not work with the desire to receive any more you decided this in your desire to receive. The desire to receive feels itself sitting in the darkness, in lack, in the emptiness, and therefore you let it go because it has nothing. There is no profit and that is why you let go of it.
S. Is this on the way?
R. Yes, it's on its way. We talked about this today, that out of this darkness I at last decided that I have no chance for my ego to be rewarded with anything. It is an opportunity to invert myself to feel the Creator and to bestow to the Creator specifically because I don’t have any chance of filling my ego. Our desire to receive is called a ‘help against him’ because it specifically aims us to turn to the Creator. Right now, it seems to me that I will not see anything, and it aims to you to start thinking of the forces of bestowal.
19. S. (01:02:55) Can people close to me, like members of my family, go through the same states of darkness as if they are studying with us? Do they feel it? How can I help them?
R. I recommend that you do not enter such things even if it is your family in the privacy of your own home, and not to support or help anyone but the members of the group. It is better if they remain external to you even though they are very close to you and you hear things from them. Nevertheless, it is better if they remain in an external way to you and your ten. You will later see that it is not exactly the same ten that attained the Creator in spirituality and correction. If they want to hear, they can hear, but I wouldn't share with them. I learned this from Rabash. This is the best way to relate to our relatives. I do not have to take care of my wife and kids even if they are big already. Let them be in their own framework if they are interested in the spiritual path and you be in your framework. This is healthier.
20. S (01:05:21) If we are in a state of darkness and we do not feel any point of foundation can we say it's a descent?
R. No. We are never in a descent. We need to say that’s an ascent only to darkness, because of a lack of vessels on our behalf. But where we’re now going to arrange our vessels, that darkness in a form of bestowal from that state that we feel darkness, we will feel that that state is filled with light.
S. What is the difference between the Malchut of the upper one and Malchut of David?
R. The upper Malchut is that state to which I rise and the general Malchut, I don't know what that is. That’s the general Malchut that the Creator created, it’s the big will to receive that goes and receives corrections. We can’t yet talk about it; we have no connection to it.
21. S (01:06:47) To what extent a friend in the ten can feel himself as lonely and that he has to cope with the darkness without involving the ten or does he have to involve the ten?
R. No. He does not have to and it’s best to hold that within, all the personal states that each of us goes through. But nevertheless, be aided by then one can do that but it’s not that he is telling about his personal states and in such a way he’ll talk about the whole day long. No, that’s prohibited. No one puts his personal spiritual states into the other.
S. But if the ten feels that a friend has a problem, how is it supposed to help him, how is it supposed to support and help him in this?
R. We need to talk generally how we get stronger. There is a lot written about that and we can start again in every state that you can awaken. I'm not capable of doing that now.
S. I understand that we don't quite have to be, to interfere, to get involved with such a thing, we need to be passive.
R. We need to hold on to the ten and bring there an uplifted spirit and mood that will give support to each and everyone.
22. S. (01:08:37) The feeling of darkness, it’s the feeling of darkness when I see the way out to run away, is this help against me running away, that I should stay put and simply agree with that state?
R. Yes. The feeling of darkness is that point in which I will feel light later if I invert myself from reception to bestowal.
23. S (01:09:19) The revelation of the Creator in the 10is that manifested, is that the result of all of our efforts?
R. You can say so.
24. S. (01:09:42) How does our intention towards the work with the group, our daily work and the lesson, how does our intention affect the private property and the general?
R. Of course they influence, they sustain us in each and every state.
25. S. (01:10:18) What does it mean to attain vessels out of the darkness?
R. Where I decide that I feel the darkness in that place that I have the will to receive, where the control of the Malchut is. If I rise above my desire to receive then it won’t be darkness already, but rather I will feel the light. Reality is filled with light. Only, that relative to me, towards me, there is a condition that to the extent to which I identify with the desire to bestow of reality, I feel this light - this force that’s operating. But to the extent in which I'm not in that quality of bestowal, then in place of the light I feel the darkness. This darkness is actually good because it awakens me to rid myself of unpleasant feelings and to hurry up and reach the light.
S. But what precisely do you attain, what does it mean to attain vessels?
R. Which vessels?
S. Out of the darkness. You said a few times in the lesson, that’s what I heard, that the entire state of darkness is because one doesn’t have vessels.
R. Yes. There are no vessel means that there's no in order to bestow, intentions, actions, nothing, and accordingly that’s why I feel darkness.
S. So what all these vessels give me?
R. The vessels of darkness awaken in you, as you need to rid yourself of them and to raise yourself to the degree of light against them. Where if you add to the state of darkness the intention to bring contentment to the Creator, then you can use all these vessels when the reform light comes and all these vessels you change to in order to bestow.
S. How can I actualize this opportunity that from the darkness you remain dependent only on the Creator?
R. That’s excellent, you see. You feel that you're dependent only on the Creator. Now try to do all kinds of actions in the group, in the study, in dissemination. Everything that you do, it’s only in order to bring contentment.
S. The darkness is a vessel, a vessel for what, to be dependent on the Creator?
R. Darkness comes to awaken you to act of bestowal, and then you understand when act of bestowal, the light of Hassadim (mercy) to the darkness and ‘darkness will shine as light.’ It’s truly the method of reception in a practical matter.
26. S. (01:13:50) The state in which a person enters, that dark degree, it’s called Malchut of the upper one, right?
R. Yes.
S. So he enters it out of a state that is called Keter of the lower one?
R. Well, let’s say so.
S. What does this mean?
R. I don’t understand what you want in this, so you don't just get confused. The Keter of the lower one illuminates somewhat, but you weren’t before that in a spiritual degree. Therefore, towards us it’s not relevant. We are now in a state that we want to enter to the lowest spiritual degree, what is it, this is where I feel myself as being in the darkness and I have nothing for the future from all the acts that I am accustomed to do. Only what remains to me, inevitably, is that I should direct myself towards the Creator and then I start to work in this sometimes more, sometimes less, a day and another day, until I establish within me this possibility of aiming myself to the Creator, for the benefit of the Creator because for my benefit as it was before where I thought to fill myself, I can't, there is no chance and now, I feel this.
S. The state is very clear what you are depicting. It’s just towards who does the vessel of bestowal start formulating directly towards the Creator?
R. No. In practice it’s through the friends but I'm thinking about Him ‘the end of an act is in the initial thought’, I'm thinking about the Creator. Then from me wanting to change the direction of my exertion towards the Creator, then where do I do this, because what will you give Him? You can only give Him connection within the friends as He can be revealed there and by that you bring Him contentment. That’s the only thing that you can bring Him contentment which is to bring Him a vessel where He can be revealed, which will fill Him in other words.
S. The state of darkness is expressed by prayer so the prayer becomes the vessel of bestowal?
R. Not just prayer. We need to do all kinds of corporeal actions in the ten and this is how we will advance, so that we will feel that there is nothing more to do, that’s when we reach a prayer. The prayer is also not immediate, it starts from a state of helplessness in a person.
S. We learned that the state of darkness, that you should ask that it will be just quick along with that, that’s imprinted in my will to receive. How do you come out of it for the ten, how do you ask for the friends to go through it and advance?
R. I don’t know what to tell you, listen to the lesson again.
27. S. (01:17:50) If I hated the Creator as a result of darkness how can it be overcome?
R. These are states that are on the way. And every state that appears we have to bless it because there is no other choice, it has to appear. As we discussed today, I ultimately despair from having anything for myself, which means in those vessels of reception that I'm in, and I have no other choice. I do not aim anything for my own benefit, that is on one hand. On the other hand, I stay on the path. I have the strength to stay on the path even to change the direction of my work towards the benefit of the Creator. Now I can see that from this state specifically I can actually think in order to bestow. What does it mean to bestow contentment to the Creator? I have reached a point where I can feel it, understand it and maybe even perform it. You need to think about it more and more, get confused, try things and it will happen, it will happen.
28. S. (01:19:47) In the state of darkness I just lower my head, grab onto the group and wait for some emotion to come back? I have to aim myself at the Creator and be happy but I don’t have the strength for it. I can only hold onto the 10.
R. You are right, this state is understandable, and yet you have to advance as much as you can. Meaning grab hold of the 10, nullify towards them and work through the darkness this way. You still can't decide that I don't want anything, and I'm certain that I'm not going to receive anything, and all of spirituality is not that I receive something but that I actually give. So, you still don't have inside such forces that shape this state. I am where I am but we are talking about a more advanced state that after various attempts we come to a state where in the state of darkness I add to my feeling and understanding that nothing is going to come out of this for my own benefit. What do I have left, specifically from this state that doesn't happen for no reason, it happens in order for me to direct myself towards the benefit of the Creator. Because for my own good it’s done, it’s dead and for the benefit of the Creator it is possible. Then I try to do all the actions in such a way that I no longer aim for myself because basically it’s like my vessels of receptions are dead and I can now invest myself in the group so as to make room for the revelation of the Creator.
S. How should I aim myself toward the Creator correctly? None of us have it.
R. How to aim ourselves to the Creator? Specifically, from aiming ourselves to always to receive from him and try to follow what the Kabbalists say. Gradually the light that reforms work, so if not now then in a few months, but it will happen. It cannot be done artificially, that I go to a library, take a book, learn it and do it. It is like you follow some sports regiment or some other thing. No, it is impossible this way. This comes from daily work in the group and in lessons, that is how we advance. You will see how it will flow, how it will work very fast according to where the world is going as well, we are now beginning to receive an acceleration in our development.
29. S. (01:23:42) The state of emptiness has to be a mutual state in the 10 in order for the 10 to turn the Malchut correctly in order to receive the Keter?
R. Yes.
30. S (01:24:12) What can let us during the day when we are in the state of darkness to know it comes from the Creator? What direction should we go in?
R. The darkness that we are in sometimes, it appears for each one in a different style. Possibly the darkness is that I do not get what I think I deserve. It is possible that it is darkness because I can't grasp something in my mind and not in my emotion, even though all of our vessels are emotional in the desire. So, you can’t compare our inner states, what each one feels because we ourselves do not know how to weigh and detect them, it is impossible. There is no such device that can measure and then according to some discernments it can learn and measure and reveal that we are at a certain fall or ascent, for each and every one differently, that is impossible. Also, the vessels that we build, we cannot compare them with each other because there is an infinite difference between us. We rather connect through our intention by connecting in the 10 towards a single Creator. Similarly, we try to become one, that’s it.
31. S. (01:26:23) There are friends in the 10 who are in an ascent, there are friends in the 10 who are opposite. How do we turn the ball we are playing with into a ball that goes up and not down?
R. This is one shall help his friend. You have to look for the strength within you, among you. I cannot recommend more than what we learn from my teacher, Rabash. Only look for it there. I'm certain in our archive too there are perhaps such parts that speak specifically about the time of descent and how to emerge from it, and connections. It is written. There is so much written about it that I do not think we need to repeat it. But the fact that you are going through descents, that is an indication that you also need to go through ascents. And then the question is what is the frequency at which you replace the ascents and descents? People who are advanced, they go through dozens of ups and downs, so try.
32. S. (01:28:17) I aim myself at the Creator all the time, does that means to give Him the control
R. I do not know what to answer you because you are asking about things that you are shaping, and if I say yes or no then you go forward accordingly. So mostly you need to always through the connection, direct yourselves towards the center of the connection. That is where you need and must discover the Creator. Each one individually and of us collectively.
S. Is it something that we can scrutinize if we are in control or the Creator?
R. Yes
Except 15 (01:29:14) Twice
33. (01:32:00) 15. RABASH, Article No. 12 (1991), "These Candles Are Sacred"
Rav reading 3rd time
The most important is the prayer. That is, one must pray to the Creator to help him go above reason,
meaning that the work should be with gladness, as though he has already been rewarded with the reason of Kedusha, and what joy he would feel then. Likewise, he should ask the Creator to give him this power, so he can go above the reason of the body.
In other words, although the body does not agree to this work in order to bestow, he asks the Creator to be able to work with gladness, as is suitable for one who serves a great King. He does not ask the Creator to show the greatness of the Creator, and then he will work gladly. Rather, he wants the Creator to give him joy in the work of above reason, that it will be as important to a person as if he already has reason.
R. Meaning without any connection to what a person feels. He has to do the actions not because he wants to or doesn’t want to, he feels good or bad, it doesn’t matter what it is. This is called above reason, above his inner state.
Meaning that the work should be in gladness, specifically this kind of work that is detached from
the person himself. That needs to be in gladness as though he has already been rewarded with the reason of Kedusha.
R. Meaning what operates in him is the force of bestowal, seemingly the Creator that’s operating in him.
And what joy he would feel then. As it is written we should ask the Creator to give him this power so he can go above the reason of his body.
That’s what he needs to ask for. I have no strength to go against what I feel within. I would like to bestow. What it is exactly I don't know, I never felt exactly what it is. Bestowing in order to receive, that I know, but just bestowal I don't know. How is it possible? So, help me do such an action. Just like that without any connection to me. I cannot do it but you will help me, and then I will.
(1:34:13) “... so he can go above the reason of the body.”
Meaning I give and that makes me happy
Because then he will be working because he’s next to the great one. And by Nature, when the little one is next to the great one, he feels that it’s for his own benefit.
(1:35:10) That show “Rather you want to create it to give him joy in the work above reason”
It possible? It is not possible just like that. Only on the condition that we receive spiritual forces and that is called the force of bestowal and if that force will clothe us, the force of Bina, to that extent we will be able to actually make actions of bestowal. The words are simple here. We have to work towards the Creator so that He gives us, He plants in us, He fulfills us with some force of bestowal so that we can make actions of bestowing like the Creator without any hope or desire to receive anything in exchange. It’s just the other force of nature. We want to receive it and work with it. That is called the Creator dresses into the person.
34. S. (01:36:30) For four days we are scrutinizing in a serious way what faith above reason is. Do we understand correctly that we are in the nature of the ego, and everything I see is my ego, but there’s another world of love and bestowal? Faith above reason is on the same level as bestowing and it exists whether I know it or not? And I'm happy that the Creator’s there?
R. Yes, in the meantime that’s good too. That even though I do not feel it, and I'm not in it, but I know this thing exists, and even though it exists somewhere outside of me it gives me some sense of joy.
35. S (01:37:30) How to measure the states of smallness and the descents through our Reshimot?
R. This we are not learning right now. We will learn this soon in the PTICHA, Preface.
36. S (01:37:56) To ask to work in gladness, isn’t it like asking to work with greatness?
R. Well, gladness can come from various states. What’s important for us is to appreciate bestowal above reception. This is called working out of the greatness.
37. S (01:38:37) Maybe you can explain what can a person bestow to the Creator, what can I give the Creator?
R. My exertion. Instead of giving the results of it to my will to receive, I want to relate it to the Creator. In what? In connecting the broken vessels and making room for Him to be revealed, that is His pleasure. That is what we need to present to Him, to give Him.
38. S (01:39:31) I don't understand what it means to work from the greatness of the Creator and to feel that greatness. Does it mean acting?
R. Let's say, it is like playing but it is a very serious thing. If the Creator is depicted in me as great, then by the nature of things I can already work for Him because He is great.
39. S. (01:40:14) The last sentence says it will be important as if he has reason. Can you explain how it is possible from our feelings now to touch the above reason?
R. So imagine to yourself that you are now receiving some knowledge or feeling, and that gives you joy, right? So similarly, when you do that in order to bestow you have you also have the same joy.
40. S. (01:41:11) The state when a person sees that he will not get anything anymore, it is felt as if a gate opens that he has to go through and he has to choose. To go in there with faith above reason, or he can choose to go back into reason. That gate, does it open only for a limited time, and if he doesn't make the choice to go back, so in due time does that gate close, or is that gate open until he won’t choose whether to go in or come back?
R. I cannot answer this accurately, you describe it very beautifully and this is also written in the Zohar and other places. But a person mostly should not fall into despair and always try to knock on this gate so that it opens up. That is the main thing. But it is a beautiful description. The gates are locked, the gates are opened, the person is pulled inside or pushed outside, there are various states. They all ultimately connect towards the revelation of the general Kli and most importantly all the scrutiny and all the steps forward are only in the unity of the group, don't forget that. We think that we ourselves can each advance, no. We have to realize after all that the degrees are degrees of connection, of consolidation between us, as we become more connected together.
41. S. (01:43:48)
R. We are talking about this all the time. We talked about it from the beginning of the lesson, that a person despairs from receiving anything for himself and then he turns his direction so that I can now not bestow to myself but bestow to the Creator. He receives that kind of help.
Excerpt 16 (01:44:35)