Morning Lesson August 16, 2021, Transcription
Annulling Before the Upper One - Selected Excerpts from the Sources
1.Rav’s Introduction: In order for us to exist, that is existing outside of the Creator, He is actually the only force that exists but in order for us to also be something next to Him, the Creator created the will to receive which is the opposite of himself. He is only the form of bestowal and to the extent that this will to receive grows the Creator wants and is able, is capable of bringing Himself, expressing Himself as the will to bestow because He is good and doing good to all the different forms of the will to receive that He developed. The peak of the development of the will to receive is man. He is the greatest will to receive, the opposite of the Creator, standing opposite Him. Then this creature that the Creator created, which is called an evil man, the Creator can then start to work on him and to bring man to the right form to make of him something that is like himself, like the Creator. Then this creature will be called Adam, similar to The Creator, this is how we learn the development of the matter from above, downward. Later on, from below upward. That from below upward, these are already the degrees of attainment, understanding, correction; whereas before that there was development from above downward, these are the degrees of the distancing from the Creator that cascades the creation of the will to receive.
In all of its different manners and of course, man, this creature, can only correct what is within it so all of the things that we later on need to correct and to bring them to identification with the Creator, they must be revealed in the opposite form, in our cascading from above downward. This is why our entire process is as we learn in the cascading from above downward, is the will to receive that intensifies and the Masach, the screen that disappears and bit by bit by bit we come down from above downwards down to such degrees where the entire connection between us and to the Creator is lost. Then begins the revelation of the corporeal will to receive, in which there is no connection to the Creator on this part, on this part of the will to receive. Bit by bit gradually through the reforming light that shines on all of the parts of creation, on all of the desires, the will to receive starts to feel that certain changes occur within it, and it begins to then develop. From the form of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, this is how the will to receive develops each time. Of course, this development is development not through understanding and awareness of the upper one, it is not through forms that it understands that it's worthwhile to go through them in order to come closer to the goal back to its source but rather through the forces of nature that compel it to do so.
Until we reach the degree of Adam, the degree of Adam does not exist in those degrees of nature still, vegetative and animate, it exists above them To the extent we emerge above the animate level we need to take upon us this special rule of Torah, telling us how to behave as the human species because the degrees of the still, vegetative, and animate, they have enough and it's enough for them to have the method of existence that they have naturally. They don't need the Torah, they have an inner Torah, their nature and they know how to exist in this is enough for them. The way that each one exists on its own and with its environment and with those that are opposite it, it is all balanced in such a way in the forces of nature. Whereas man is not like that because he changes each time in contrast to the still, vegetative and animate. From day-to-day and from generation to generation it undergoes development, the human species, a very special kind of development of his mind and his emotions such that he as it says, “his hand is in everything and every one's hand is in him.” Then it turns out that man needs certain instructions, guidelines how to advance so there is a time in the development of man where he develops through his own nature and he discovers that his nature is evil, is bad because it is constantly pushing him to collisions, wars, destroying nature and himself and his family in the whole world.
He cannot do anything about it. Until he reaches a state where he starts to get from above somehow some guidelines. In this way, through it, through the guidelines, he starts to correct himself and this is how we also reach our corrections. What we are now, what we need to realize is that everything that exists within us, if it doesn't come directly from the Creator and we feel it in such a way, all of it is called the evil inclination, our ego. All of that is in contradiction to our true form that needs to be opposite to the Creator. Therefore, we build an environment, a system that will help us to somehow resist the commandments of our ego, so that we will truly become established between two systems, one system that will come to us directly from the Creator, the other system that comes to us, also comes from the Creator, but in a concealed manner. The system that comes to us in a concealed manner is our evil inclination, it operates and it directs us and everything. The system that we have to acquire, we demand it from the Creator and only from the extent that we demand it from him we will be able to get it. Then we will be able to position these two systems one opposite the other, and in this way by working with both of them we will advance. It is impossible to work with only the good system, the system of bestowal that we get from the Creator, but rather what will we work on?
Therefore, our work is nevertheless to advance in the bad system, the system of the evil inclination, the system that works from drawing, acquiring and not considering anything, that is, it is the opposite system from the integral form of all of nature. This is why we have to, through our own forces, create a balance between the system that draws and the system that gives, so that the two of them will be in balance. Then and only then do we reach the right correction. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is considered that the entire will to receive will work, will operate on a level with the intention of in order to bestow. This is what we have to reach. This is our study we need to learn this on ourselves and to understand that each and every day each and every moment we have opportunities to study these two systems in such a way to what extent they are operating in us and advance in that way. The end of correction is when these entire two systems come together with all of their forces will exist in us and will be balanced inside of us and darkness will shine as light and in this way the world will advance through the desirable correction. So let us continue these excerpts, we need to realize that all in all, as we have been talking recently, the most important is that each and every moment we connect with the upper one.
Each and every moment to our will to receive disconnects us from the upper one and once again we need to connect and once again it disconnects us and in this way through such incursions, we will understand that it is the Creator who is giving us these exercises so that we will correct and we will tie to Him all of the points of our corporeal nature so that they will all be connected to Him to the spiritual nature. Each and every portion, even the smallest one of our will to receive will be connected to the Creator's will to bestow. Through many such actions, through such work, we will start to feel how much we already have connections that have been established within there fixed in all kinds of different forms and in this way, we will advance more and more until our entire will to receive we will be able to tie it to the will to bestow. This is considered that upon the will to receive the intention of an order to bestow will rule. Then we will be corrected and connected to the Creator.
This is why don't be afraid and don't regret and don't be ashamed that we have a great will to receive. Some people have a great difficulty in elevating themselves and thinking about the connection with the Creator, for others it is easier and it all depends on the depth, on the size of the soul. Big, heavy souls actually have a great will to receive and it is difficult for them to awaken, it takes them time to connect with the vessels the right way. But later on, when they reach the corrected states, they are doing work that is much more beneficial than the others. Therefore, we truly have here, justice in each and every one and no one should be envious and think about the others but rather how does he himself perform the corrections in order to be correctly connected with the others help and everyone.
Excerpt 8 (15:33) Twice “Annulling Before the Upper One…”
2. R. (16:17) The fact that we begin to work above our will to receive and connect with the Creator it is considered that we are “putting it to death”. Actually, we don't really, it doesn't disappear but rather we in such a way start using it correctly in order to bestow. As we see this with technology and different forms in our life, that one force cannot be revealed unless it is opposite another force, we can never discover a single force, it is always one upon another. Therefore, even though we are fighting against the will to receive, by this we are also awakening it so that it will grow. The more we develop the good force, the intention to bestow, by that we are also awakening the will to receive so it will grow and it will be also great in its form of “in order to receive.” Also, our work is to tie these two together so that the will to receive will be great as possible but up on it but we'll ride the will to bestow
3. S. (17:45) How can we recognize and work on these two systems which are working on us?
R. Those same two systems, we have them also in the group and we have them in each and every element in our life because one force cannot be revealed without the other force, it is always like that in our life. However, in the spiritual form, in the spiritual world, spiritual actions, we need to be concerned that the positive force will be revealed as the negative form. This is called “love covers all crimes.” Then I am not running away from the crimes, I actually relate to them in a rational form. That if there would be no crimes then there would be no one who is pushing me towards the good force. The negative forces actually reveal to us states and abilities by which to reach the positive forces and therefore we need to as it says the man should bless the bad as the good. This bad actually brings us to the good. Therefore, the Creator who is entirely the good force to begin with, He says “I created the evil inclination.” That He created the evil inclination, meaning creation outside of Himself. Then it is possible to say that from that moment onward creation starts. This is why as it says there was no joy before Him as a day in which He created the heavens and the Earth. Meaning two opposite forces, because then there is room for the created beings in which to exist and to grow and develop from that, from the connection between the good and the bad, the Heaven and the earth. When they will get closer between them more and more until they will reach the degree, the level of the Creator. Therefore, there is no bad in nature but rather the bad, the evil is only a man who does not yet know how to correctly use all of the forces that He has before Him. The balance of these forces he attains the good and he cannot attain the good without emerging, coming out of the bad. There are many verses about that.
4. S. (21:16) You said that every little portion of the will to receive must be connected to the Creator. How do I connect the will to receive to this portion?
R. The Creator is awakening you, everything that you have in your each and every moment comes from Him and what is upon you is used to try to respond to it, according to how you should feel.
S. And how do I respond correctly?
R. That through whatever you feel you want to reach, that whatever you feel you're getting it from the Creator, so from whatever you feel you need to reach adhesion with the Creator, to adhere to him as the good and doing good. As much as you're feeling it is the opposite and it is confused from being adhered to the Creator as the good and doing good then more and more you need to work on it and to be happy that in that you have great and sublime work.
5. S. (22:40) Does the desire grow or does the recognition of its intensity grow? When we try to do good the bad opens up to us. Does the will to receive grow or does the recognition of its measure of intensity grow, when we try to do good the bad opens up too?
R. Of course, this is how it is, the more we succeed in working correctly with the evil inclination, we rise above it and in using it for the good that it grows even more. This is called “one who is greater than his friend, his evil inclination is greater.” The friend means what you were before that is also called a friend relative to your current state.
6. S. (23:59) What does restricting the ego mean, the will to receive, in relation to balancing the system of the ego with the system of bestowal. You said there is no bad, there is no good so what does this restricting of the ego mean?
R. Yes, say that a person truly doesn't feel anything bad and he nevertheless needs to try to aim his desires that they will all be directed for the benefit of the society and through them for the benefit of the Creator, yes. That is, I have intermittently, forces of rejection and forces of hatred and all kinds of such forces that bring us to a state where we are not in balance with each other so much so that as with the students of Rabbi Shimon, that they hated each other so much so that they wanted to kill one another. Later on, they reached love and embraced all kinds of different states that we go through and it is one opposite the other. As much as we will want to reach love, we will discover between us states of hatred.
7. S. (25:37) The excerpt says that the will to receive is removed from office. Is it our work or is it coming from above?
R. No, the Creator does everything however it is according to the precedence of our request, all the corrections are of course from above, we have no possibility and no forces or even the understanding of how to carry out the corrections. However, the most important is that we ask, even without words, there are many states in which we cannot express it with words. We cannot come clearly to its request for correction, not even half a quarter as much as possible. The Creator is like a mother who hears the baby and she discovers according to the small pips that he brings out what is it that he wants, this is how it is.
8. S. (27:08) In the preparation you talk about a great soul, those has our time to face the Creator but what does it mean ‘heavy’? What happened to this soul?
R. Heavy souls means that they have in them a great egoistic will to receive. So much so that they cannot feel the others. Rather, they only feel themselves as it says, ‘a man lives inside of himself.’ It is difficult for one to understand that there is someone else and he has thoughts of his own, desires of his own, qualities of his own, and fate of his own. Rather, he perceives himself like a baby. Like children, they don't feel that there is someone else and they also have desires. Like we say, give this toy, he'll give him his toy, and it will be good for everyone. The child doesn't get it. He understands what he has is his and what the other one has should also be his. This is how it is with people and especially the great souls. Great souls mean a great big ego. They belong to important parts in the system of Adam HaRishon. However, for the time being they are corrupted. Therefore, it is difficult to correct them. It is difficult to correct them and this is how we should understand it and relate to it. We have among us such friends. That is, it is difficult for them to connect with the group, with the ten. It is hard for them. They don't feel others. The maximum they can feel others is in a way that the others should serve them. But that they owe something to the other, that's impossible.
Rather, it could be in special cases where they immediately feel that they will have an instant gain from it. It’s like a baby who is willing to give you something in order to receive from you, out of a lack of choice. That is, the great desires are actually desires with such a great and corrupted desire that it blocks its entire field of vision. Usually these are not smart people. They cannot be great scientists because the will to receive is directing them so much to be enclosed inside of themselves. They have no inclination to open themselves up to certain external forces and external qualities. Even though they have such an inclination but with no ability to achieve it. That is, the truly great desires, well, it's a desire only, a desire I can't even describe it. We will talk more about it another time. Therefore, it says ‘it's not the wise one who learns.’ However, what can we see in such great desires, great souls? That they are stubborn on the path. They cannot leave the path and run away from it because they feel like a baby that is holding on to his toy. His beloved toy and doesn't let it out of its hands. It is the same with those people. They come to the wisdom of Kabbalah and then until the end of their life they cannot leave it. In all kinds of different forms. It seems to us that they are confused and what are they even doing. However, they are advancing in their forms and their heart nevertheless wants the Torah.
9. S. (32.27) How can we use the egoistic desires in order to bestow in practice? How do we take the power and egoistic desires in order to draw reforming light and promote the ten?
R. We cannot directly use the desires to receive in order to receive so that they will be in order to bestow. Rather, we need to connect with the friends. We need to draw the reforming light through the study and through our participation in the lessons. Then gradually it will work. gradually it will work. It takes a lot of time. However, it will work.
S. Can't we take this force, this absolute force and change its direction?
R. Which force?
S. The egoistic force that suddenly awakened.
R. What will you do with it?
S. As it says that you bring it into Holiness, into the ten.
R. How will you admit it into holiness?
S. What does it mean to admit it, to bring it into holiness?
R. Ah, that you should ask. You're saying ‘you’ should admit it and bring it in. Only through prayer. Only through a request that the Creator will help you so that this egoistic force will come to correction.
S. Is this the change of the intention?
R. This is by being willing, by asking to be connected with the friends. To be connected with society. You invest in them as much as possible. You study. You help them. You engage in dissemination. That is, everything that is in your power to do in this direction you should do it.
S. That basically changes the intention?
R. Then the intention will change.
10. S. (34:40) Concerning the heavy coarse souls, how does one know if he has a coarse soul and his behavior doesn't stem from indifference and laziness?
R. It doesn't matter. A person doesn't know it and he doesn't need to know that. He needs to know one thing only: I need to aim myself with whatever I have, with all of my force, towards connection with the 10, and through it with the Creator. This is the right way. All of the other ways I will just walk around in them and I will not reach the goal even though you're being connected with the ten. It is the worst possible thing for me, I am a great and individualistic person. However, I have to do that, because this way, and only this way, I will keep the correction in the system of Adam HaRishon. We must all be connected. So, I was given some part of Adam HaRishon and I have to carry out my connection there. As much as I carry out my connection there, to the extent that I connect with the ten, to that extent I am incorporated in the whole system of Adam HaRishon through this 10, I eventually will feel my connection with the entire System of Adam. In it I will begin to feel the Creator, the force that is holding and connecting and reviving this whole system. This way, through the connection, which is my vessel that comes from me, comes from my part, I will reach a connection with the Creator. Eventually I discovered the Creator inside of the ten.
S. Concerning the necessity, we say that necessity is neither praised nor condemned. You once gave an example about it. You said that if I could avoid it, I would avoid it. hen we do what is necessary, do we also advance?
R. If it is necessary and I know that I have to have it in order to live then of course. I need to be married. I have to have a family and keep a family. I have to work. I have to come to the lessons. I have to. My life nevertheless includes two parts. This world and the spiritual world. Whatever pertains to my corporeal existence, I have to keep it. And whatever has to do with my spiritual existence, I also have to keep it. Then I choose for myself in which relations, which proportions I can have between the corporeal part and the spiritual part. But I need to have both this and that.
S. When I do it because I have to, is it a type of annulment?
R. Yes, you get these two discernments from above and this is how you exist.
Excerpt 9 (38:24) Twice Rabash writes, Ani, “I” is our desire….
11. R (39:53) In other words, we will know that by canceling our desire, the “I”, as if I do not want to exist in reality. There is no I. I turn the “I”, Ani, into Ein, nothing. So that nothing also exists, it's also my desire, but it exists in the opposite way. I use it for the other, for giving. But I use that desire. Meaning, the desire does not become refined. It does not disappear. It does not become something that does not exist. But only the direction of using it changes. And that's something that is very important for us to know. That the main point is to turn the ‘I’ into ‘none.’ The ‘I’ when it is connected to that desire and the ‘none’ is when I attach my desire to others and I bestow upon them from within that desire and that's it. So, turning the ‘I’ into nothing, to ‘none, that's our work.
12. S. (41:18) What is the connection between the force of desire and the force which is in an intention?
R. The desire is the basis of creation which the Creator created. The intention comes to us out of being in an encounter with the upper force. If we're talking about the still, vegetative, and animate, they have no intention. You look at how they behave. They have a desire. That desire has nothing to do with it. It just operates in those created beings and this way, this is what happens in them. Whereas man, every person, the most primitive, never mind whoever. He has both a desire and intention because he is still part of the system of Adam HaRishon. So it turns out that in each and every desire that he carries out, besides its purpose to realize the desire, there is also an intention. He can't just relate to something just like that. He also needs to add to it an intention. A good one or a bad one, but one must be there. This is how we are built from the very beginning. So what distinguishes human beings from the still, vegetative, and animate is the addition of intention. Even the smallest, for someone's detriment, for my own sake. It has to be in every single one. Even in a baby that is just beginning to grow. It is still not aware of it, we’re not aware that it has it. But it already has an intention, the beginning of an intention, that I want. An animal doesn't have this thing that ‘I want.’ It is just a want, there is no ‘I want it.’ It's hard to express and verbalize it. An animal does not separate itself and does not distinguish itself from what it wants from what it does. A person feels that there is ‘I’ and ‘I want.’ This is why we develop in this desire and we can therefore correct it into the opposite.
13. S. (44:35) Should I annul before the Creator even if He wants to take me away from this world or should I pray for mercy to stay alive in order to continue to receive corrections?
R. You need not think about it. You need to think only about one thing: where is my free choice? It is only in being connected to the spiritual system which is the ten. It will turn itself into a spiritual system, a spiritual Partzuf and through it you connect to the Creator. He will fill the ten with His presence, which is called the Inner Light. That's it. And whatever happens to you in your life, more or less, when how - I don't think there's anything to say about it. It is all in the hands of the upper one and basically, we need to relinquish it to begin with. If there is none else besides Him, then why should I even think about it? In this world or in the upper world, I will always be connected to the upper force and I just need to see that I come as close as possible to Him.
14. S. (46:31) When hateful and irritating will to receive comes to me, what should I do so that the act of connecting with my friends can be joyful?
R. Precisely then, you can connect to the friends with joy because through connecting with the friends you can reject and repel your hateful will to receive.
15. S. (47:11) Why are we talking about the death of the will to receive but we need it to be active in order to exist to advance?
R. We talked about the death of the will to receive in order to receive. The will to receive, itself, you cannot do anything with it. It is what the Creator created and with this creation you cannot change it one bit. But through the operations that the Creator did on the will to receive, connecting it with the will to bestow and then the will to receive broke so that the desire to receive would permeate it enter it and living it as sparks of light, so then the will to receive is called broken and what we need to do is when we yearn for the broken will to receive we exist in it. But we need to correct it through those sparks, broken sparks that are in it, and it is called lights and sparks and vessels so that through the influence of the upper light on us when the Creator influence us, it helps us precisely in the will to receive end in the broken sparks to connect everything together through the upper light, and everything will return to the corrected state. If prior to the breaking all of the pieces were connected through the control of the upper force now after the breaking we asked for them to connect through the control of the upper force. Meaning, first we raise MAN, we raise a deficiency that we want that system, that circular system, that round system that the Creator created, for that system to exist and then it turns out that with our prior desires, prior efforts, that system becomes as it was before. Then we add to it our own forces of hatred, of separation which were revealed at the time of the breaking and now too, they participate. Above them we demand connection above all the broken pieces and therefore the system is resurrected 620 times stronger than it was prior to the breaking.
16. S. (51:04) Do I understand correctly that my action, my whole operation that I do for the 10 before that I need to ask myself why am I doing it?
R. Of course, you can ask, all the questions are legitimate. We mustn't avoid asking what we feel is a question that comes from within us and I cannot not resolve it. I have to resolve all the questions.
S. Then it changes my intention. I ask the Creator if my intention will be correct?
R. I don't know it depends what questions: when, how, there might be questions that are still you would like to ask but you can't even ask much less hear the answer.
17. S. (52:04) What does it mean to attach my desire to the friends?
R. To try together with them in all the desires that they have, to direct them to connection between you and with the Creator.
18. S. (52:29) How can we feel our mutual work on an annulment? The individual work is felt but how do we work through the common work more strongly?
R. We need to feel that all of us together each one from his own place from his own internality but all of us are trying to come to the center of the 10, where we are connected together and from there we will be able to connect to the Creator according to the rule ‘Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one’ Orr ‘from the love of man to the love of people to the love of the Creator’, this is how it works.
19. S. (53:25) You talked about balancing the two forces. Can you explain the balance of these forces a little bit more should love cover our transgressions?
R. We need to try to cover all of the negative forces with love. We don't know them to the full depth. All the forces of hatred, rejection, contradiction that awaken us who knows what is happening in there. But we want to cover them with love. Cover, meaning that the force, that the power of the Creator will come and cover them and correct them. Only at the end of correction, we will see all of our desires and intentions to their true fullest depth to the center down to the center of the 10 to the core of the 10. But for now, we can't but we want them to be corrected even now to the extent that we need to know the meaning ‘to cover.’ Love will cover all crimes. Afterwards we will discover the depth of the crimes and the depth of the love and how they are connected together, because they emerge from the same source from the Creator. This is what is important. When we come to a state when there is none else besides Him, the Lord Our God the Lord is one, it will be clear to us that this is how it happens in to the fullest depth of the will to receive of the evil inclination and the good inclination they will be connected and the light will shine the darkness will shine as light to the fullest.
Excerpt 10 (55:56 - 57:11) Twice Rabash writes, “Raising the hands is regarded as…”
20. R. (57:23) It's a very important phrase, that a person has to come in every single state to a simple solution. I can't change anything but only the Creator can. It doesn't matter what thing, it is great, small, unpleasant, pleasant. All the changes come from the Creator, only. Only from the Creator and I myself can only ask of Him. Understand that all the changes come only from the Creator and I must only ask for those changes to happen. If I want anything to change, I turn to the Creator. It doesn't matter what, from the smallest thing to the greatest thing. Until a person feels in the end that he is just a piece of desire even without any hands or legs or anything, just a piece of desire which is which doesn't even move it is totally immobile and the only thing it can do is ask for changes for the better.
21. S. (58:59) It's very difficult to feel and understand what is this “I” who is “I”?
R. It is the “I” in a person.
22. S. (59:21) Regarding what you said that a person should only ask, where is the effort that he needs to do?
R. Before he asks there must be an effort, a search and exertion.
23. S. (59:44) You always say that the spiritual work this work the person himself cannot do, however 'you exerted and you found’ is a state where one has already done his part and the other part needs to be finished by the Creator for him, right? Is this what we're talking about right now?
R. We say that we have to ask of the Creator and the Creator does all of the operations.