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About the Intention

8) Intention is not a personal matter. It is written: “As one man in one heart.” The unification is the vessel; you must connect with others. Through that, you find your corrected vessel; you find that the Creator does not relate to you as an individual, but according to the extent to which you make of your self an adequate vessel through all of the other vessels.

Therefore, there can be no intention if you turn to the Creator while disconnecting yourself from others. You have nothing to turn to the Creator with, since it is only possible to address the Creator with the request: “Help me connect with the others, since through the connection with them I acquire a vessel for your inspiration, to become similar to you.”

What has the Creator done? What condition did He set for the reception of the Torah? Connection, “As one person with one heart.” The Creator did not tell the nation to think about Him, or to come to Him, but He said, “Here we stand you and me. If you desire us to have contact, connect together. If you will not connect together – then I am here, you are there, and between us there is a distance – a split.” If so, then how do you want to turn to Him?! The Creator has already set the condition, and we are not able to correct it with our own powers; we need to turn to Him and ask Him for power to correct us, and to such an appeal He responds.

9) Intention means that your action will be aimed at the Creator, to similarity, to His fulfillment, to executing His will. The intention only comes out of your own inner effort. You ask Him: “give me the intention, correct my intention,” and the Light comes and does it. But that is the only thing you need to ask for. Your desire remains the same desire, the Creator remains the same Creator, and you need the intention – that is what connects us. To what extent does it connect us? It is to the extent that you connect yourself with the system, with the rest of the souls.

10) If a person does not have an intention – then there is no person. He is as a screw that is being turned, and lives like a beast. We call a person a “beast” because he is not implementing his free will, free choice. Such a person is at the level of a beast. The expression “beast” is not meant to degrade; it is simply the determination of a level, nothing more. Anyone who does only what he desires – is called a beast; a beast lives that way. The difference between a beast and a person is that a person does not perform actions dictated to him by the awakening commands of the desire to receive that are constantly emerging in him. He instead places in front of himself the goal, and begins to direct himself according to it. That is the form of man – directing himself to the goal. “Kavanah” (intention) comes from Kivun (direction), to direct, an intention. The degree of a man's superiority over the beast inside each of us is measured by the extent of his intention, the extent to which his thoughts and actions are directed by an intention. “Intentional,” means that, after criticizing, recognizing the evil, after stabilizing oneself towards the goal – only then does he make the decision and execute the action.

11) Intention at the time of study is the main theme of the Spring Congress. Intention at the time of study is the only means for spiritual advancement. Baal HaSulam also says that qualitative efforts at the time of study are the only means for the spiritual ascent.

What do we need in order to achieve the right intention? Does it have to be the intention of the group or an individual? Why must it be during the study, in particular? What do we have to study, what sources, etc? What should be the study hours? What group should it be, what teacher?

Ultimately, everything has to be built around one issue: what is my heart asking for? If it does not ask for this intention, it means that I must plead for it to emerge in me. This is a prayer before prayer. Intention during the day – it means that one comes to the study as if to a "healing procedure". Then one would really 'cry out' and acquire the right intention, and by doing so, attract the healing, correcting light upon oneself. One has to build his relationship with friends, think about them and the Purpose of Creation according to this… Meaning, we have work to do. But the intention to correct oneself has to be present specifically at the time of study.

... Most important is it to attract the Ohr Makif. We start from the final point and see how it unfolds itself into our reality. Then accordingly, it becomes clear what the reality should be. Here is where the study, building of the group, and circulation come into the picture. All of it originates specifically from the intention.

The intention sets this entire structure into motion. General intention forced our world to emerge in the form that exists now, with all the obstacles, so that one might create the intention on top of them. Everything that is in our created world – our inner properties, everything around us – what does it exist for? All of this exists so that, during each moment, we might have the best conditions to create the right intention. Whether we take advantage of it or not – it does not matter. At every moment, the world is ready to affect us from outside and from inside in a way that if we take notice to the right intention, we might progress more quickly. Each second, one is given an opportunity from above. This opportunity is a chance to create the right intention.
(From the talk on Preparation for the Spring Congress, February 17, 2005)

12) When we elevate the power of bestowal so that it can govern us (meaning our actions and intentions), the power of bestowal starts acting inside of us and generates the third power, called "intention". The Giver, that is, the nature of the Creator, exists in us; however, we do not sense it as nature. The receiver rejects the Giver. The receiver and the Giver are naturally opposite to each other. If we demand higher knowledge, because we want the Giver to clothe us and become our nature, then as the result of such a plea, we receive the intention. The Giver carries the intention. After the intention emerges in us, it becomes a vessel. We don't need anything more than that, for the Upper Light is at an absolute, boundless, and endless rest.

We need only one thing: to acquire the intention. Everything else, all the calculations and the work that is done later in accordance with the intention, does not pose much of a problem. It does not involve any special analysis or innovation. The work is carried out naturally. Only our demand for the intention lies above our nature.
(Lesson of January 3, 2005)

13) The main factor of our work is intention. Nothing else exists in our world but the intention.

Infinity descended to this world giving ‘desire’, existing within it, the opportunity to be free and to live in the state of concealment, meaning, to be in the state of "the concealed – to the Creator, and revealed – to us and our sons".

Until we acquire the intention, the steps towards acquiring the right intention are called "action". If a person simply eats, drinks, lives and moves without any specific reason, he or she is at either the inanimate or animate level of nature. In contrast, action and intention belong to the speaking level of nature, where action is meant to generate the right intention. 

The truth is that actions come from above. The light builds the Kli and molds it. The desire is created by the light and will always be transformed by it alone. However, man is capable of special acts, ready to be applied and used by him. Specifically because the desire for light descended to the level of our world and exists there in the state of concealment, we, with the help of certain actions, can attract upon us the special light, which can form the intention. By doing so, from Lo Lishma ("for one's own sake") we attain Lishma (for the sake of the Creator).

Our entire work, life, and focus of attention have to be directed only towards acquiring the intention. In everything else we are puppets on a string. We cannot influence anything else – only the actions that attract the Upper Light to us, that is, actions with the help of which we build the intention.

What does "to build the intention,” mean? How is it possible to form the intention? Very simply: if we reveal the Host just a little bit, the intention is formed in us. This is enough. The Creator reveals Himself slightly, and we start feeling who and what we are. Then, we develop a reciprocal relationship, a response to the Creator.

However, how can the Creator reveal Himself? If He does, we will be forced to establish the intention, and won't exercise our free will. The only free choice is the choice of intention. In everything else, we remain at the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature. This is why it is necessary to apply a certain amount of effort performed specifically in the state of concealment. We want to treat the Creator "with respect" – without any connection with what we receive from Him. That is all. When we separate ourselves from abundance and want only to establish a correct attitude towards the One Who gives the abundance, even if He does not give anything – this is called the correction of Bina, Hassadim. By exerting enough effort to develop a desire for this, as if we really wanted it (the level of the desire that is revealed in us depends on the degree of concealment), we express our readiness for this to happen.

14) In the Science of Kabbalah the thought is the intention. In a regular life thought belongs to the considerations made by the desire to receive in order to receive. A thought is that which you want to do with your desire. The activation of the desire according to an egoistic or altruistic plan, no matter which, is called thought. A thought that is clarified regarding its source, meaning for whom is it intended – you or the Creator, is called intention. The intention we are studying cannot be like every other intention of our world. Intention is a thought analyzed in the spiritual work.

I hope that this will be clarified for us before and during the Spring Congress in Sitrin, so that we will finally begin to differentiate between all of the attributes of our life and the intention.

The hardest part is to maintain the intention. This is what requires the most effort. It is hidden and not felt, it doesn’t express itself in any way and great efforts are needed to hold on to it. It is always necessary to check and to find out that it is still there. The recognition of evil relates to focusing our intention, as expressed in “get away from evil and do good” (Psalms, 34:15) - all is in relation to the intention.

We have to constantly awaken the importance of the intention over all the other activities and inner processes. We have to identify with and connect to the intention, not the action, matter, or anything else. This shows that a person is in the spiritual in his or her work, and is on the path.

Since these are concealed issues, you can tell jokes or perform all sorts of strange actions, and no one will know what is really happening within you. On the contrary, this is a wonderful remedy: the more distant you are from the external action and speech, the better you will be able to keep the intention, stay more focused on it and thereby be charged with a high voltage. A wonderful remedy, a method for self-preservation, as well as other benefits, is hidden here. But this is hard work.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)

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