1) The intention needs to precede the action, just as the Rosh of the Partzuf has to precede the action – then it is called “The end of the action.” In order for the action to be implemented in actuality, in the Guf (body) the action has to be “with a preceding intention.” Meaning that there has to be an intention first.
2) "The end of any action lies in its initial thought", meaning that if the action is correct, that is, a person prepares for it with a right intention, then, consequently, what a person plans in his or her intention is revealed at the end of the action.
3) Fear of a wrong intention is possible only in the context of society; for, if it is important to society, it will be important for every member of society as well.
4) If you desired to attain adhesion to the Creator through the intention – you perform the action and attain adhesion. While adhesion is performed in the desire, the act of adhesion is performed in the intention.
5) When one formulates an intention during study, that formulation is an action. Since the intention to bestow comes from above, the aim of study is the desire that, from one's study, he will have the intention to bestow to the Creator. In his whole reality, only the intention is missing. The vessel lacks the intention, i.e., the power that was lost during the breaking of the vessels.
6) Baal HaSulam tells us simply: always try to see these three factors, one's self, society, and the Creator, all connected as one. Everyone must aim for that state.
7) In the group's every action during study, during the clarification of some issue, a person has to be very careful; one must ask why this or that is being done. If this action is to reach its goal, it must be consecrated “for the purpose of unifying the Creator and the Shechinah.” The sages determined this saying, but it is not a proverb. It means aiming one's self so that actions such as studying or acting in a group, no matter what, will result in another step towards the goal.
(Lesson of February 25, 05: Steps of the Ladder, Part One, Article 210, “On the Subject of the Study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”)
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)
15) In the end, preparation for the lesson has to be as follows. Although you come to hear from your Rav, you have no choice: you come to hear from someone Higher. Here you encounter the Creator, through the book, through the group, through the guidance and assistance of an instructor, through everything. You have to make yourself see that the state of affairs is terrifying and difficult, as if the world is about to collapse. It's hard to come to study prepared with that mindset every morning. But the more we try, accordingly, the Upper Light acts from above and changes us.
(New Month Meal, December 12, 2004)
16) I must come to the lesson as if it were a life-and-death medical procedure - as a person with kidney disease who needs dialysis; as a diabetic, losing consciousness without a shot of insulin; as someone suffering from oxygen deficiency… In short, imagine any need of your body that is necessary for its existence.
This is what my inner feeling has to be before coming to the morning lesson. Then it does not matter how I study, when I study. I may not even hear the lesson, I may hardly listen to it, because I'm constantly pre-occupied with a single question: do I benefit from the lesson, is it filling my pressing need or not, and am I getting better thanks to it? This is when the effectiveness of the lesson is maximized.
We can work on this desire only indirectly, because we cannot change our desires, man is not the owner of his own heart. As Baal HaSulam writes, we can realize our freedom of choice only through the environment. The environment is the books and the group, and only with their help can I make my heart feel a need for that to which the books and the group are leading me.
It follows that during the 21 hours besides the three hours of the morning lesson, I have to be concerned with the question “Do I realize that I’m terminally ill?” In other words, I start from the end: if I do not have that kind of demand during the morning lesson, then it is not considered studying Torah. It is said: “I've created the evil inclination and I've created Torah as a spice, where the light in it corrects.” This is why our entire work has to be focused only on the need with which we come to the morning lesson. Nothing else depends on me, except cultivating the need.
One has to come here with the determination of a sick person with one last hope who comes here with absolute confidence. He has been told that his days are numbered, and today he hears on the radio that, here, there is a cure for his illness. Can you imagine? This is how we have to relate to the means we have at our disposal. Other than that, nothing matters.
Rabash used to say all the time: “Where is that pharmacy where I can buy a need for a medicine before I buy the medicine itself?” In the pharmacy they don't sell you a need, just a medicine. Yes, we have the source of the correcting light, but it operates on us according to our desire. I can’t just sit in front of a book! Of course, I’m not corrected; I was born as “a wild ass”, with “evil inclination”, etc. But I don’t have any evil inclination inside me, I’m not “a wild ass” if I don't realize that I am! If I don't determine what my illness is, what is the diagnosis? The diagnosis has to match exactly with what is being treated with this medicine, i.e. Torah.
This is why our entire work is only to prepare the need for correction. This is what we say: the light is perfect, it is in eternal rest, and the Kelim in their desire to change invoke its influence upon them. That's it.
So, what shall we do during these 21 hours besides the three hours of the morning lesson? During this time we have to work on two opposing factors.Firstly, we focus on the Greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the goal, the effectiveness of the correcting light. Spirituality has to look great in my eyes in all of its manifestations, not just great in some abstract sense, but rather, as it is directed towards me. I need to be sure that there is a cure for me. And secondly, from the other side, I work with my own situation: how terminally ill I am, how I suffer because of my ego, etc.
We cannot tell ourselves these things and be inspired by them. We can be inspired either by the books, or by far the most powerful, the group. Both books and group are, in essence, the only means by which a person can impact his own desire, to evoke the correcting light of the Torah. In other words, this is the only means by which a person is capable of accelerating his development from the state “in his time” (Be-itah”) to “will speed it up” (Achishena). (Isaiah, 60:22). This is the only choice man can make.
For this reason a person has to come up with a daily schedule: listen a bit, read a bit, spend time with friends. During the entire time besides the three hours of study, a person has to find himself within a system of self-preparation. This is not just free time! You cannot be together just during the time of study. You need to make sure that you prepare yourself for a lesson. That’s why you need to have gatherings, common meals, to communicate, do something together... It does not matter what. Everyone needs to bring his own tip to the common Kli, to the group, which, in his opinion, has the best effect on him. This is how we will find a way. Even if we don’t, it doesn’t matter. We will be engaged in the single most important thing: in the search for the need for the Creator. And the result is that suddenly we feel this desire, thanks to what, we don’t know: we can feel it at absolutely any place and time. The light affects the Kelim and “rocks” them. Meanwhile, what we have to focus on is this: We have to determine which actions can be the most effective for us during the day so that we come alert to the lesson, impatiently waiting for the treatment – the correction.
The most important thing is the time before going to sleep. Half an hour or fifteen minutes, it does not matter how long, for five minutes, at least, before bed, before you go to sleep, I cannot tell you how long it should be. Sometimes two sentences or two words are enough. This is what one falls asleep with, and he passes through the entire night and wakes up with them in the morning. Sometimes one reads for 20 minutes or listens to music. It does not matter exactly what, however, before going to sleep, one must find something inspiring, to which he will wake up in the morning. We know from the TES about the necessity of “Kriat-Shma” before sleep, since without it, one will not wake up – will not pass by the “night guards”. Without this a person does not have the strength to go through the darkness of the night. After getting up he is ready to continue this awakening.
In other words, one is forbidden to get up in the morning ("forbidden" means that one can not agree to it, and "morning" means before the lesson) with an empty head and an empty heart. If he feels the emptiness this only means that he did not get ready before sleep – this is absolutely so; there is no other reason.
One can watch the evening news. Rabash, by the way, also listened to the news, after which he read Shamati, and then went to sleep. But it did not happen often that he fell asleep (and we used to fall asleep next to one another on the trains, in the hospitals) without opening his Shamati notebook. During the day he used to always carry the Psalms in his pocket (I also always had them in my car), or the letters of Baal HaSulam. He opened the source and read a quote. It was enough for him to sustain his thought and work for some time. His thought and his work differed from ours.
At work: I think that in our world there is no such job where one is unable to look in the book every hour for the duration of one minute. Even if one applies his mind to his work, which has to do with programming or computers, and cannot hold on to the thought, it does not matter. If this is what one wants, there is no other way, and these are the conditions. One minute is enough, the rest does not depend on him. One knows, for instance, that once an hour he has to arrange the “connection” with the Source for himself.
Mid-day article and communication: Preparation for the lesson must define your communication over the phone, the time when you listen to the article, your work in the evenings. Everything must come out of one goal: to come to the lesson with great desire. It is not necessary to talk about it aloud. It is enough for this goal to be present in some form within us. The most important thing is for you to receive an impression from this. We know that it is possible to listen to some lecture for ten hours and not to hear it; it will go in one ear and out the other without registering. Or it is possible to listen for twenty minutes or an hour when suddenly one word may “turn us on” and affect us. Therefore it is necessary to search…"I've labored and I have found". You are not obligated to come up with great results. The “labor” (Igati) is entrusted to the person, but the “result” (Matzati) to the Creator. This is all.
During the day you should have some kind of meeting and read something together. However, each person is also required to prepare himself for the meeting in a special way, just like he prepares for a lesson. He tells himself that during that meeting he will receive an impression from the entire Kli; that each person in the Kli also desires to receive an impression and awaken these two types of Reshimot: Reshimot De-Aviut and Reshimot De-Hitlabshut. This is your group activity that you perform now in order to prepare yourselves for the upcoming morning lesson.
The meeting can last for five minutes; you do not need more than that. However, you must be in a special state during these five minutes. Prior to that, you have to think for a couple of minutes and be aware that this is really a special time. In an essence, except for those five minutes, when you are connected with the group, you do not have more time for that during the day.It is absolutely necessary to do that – either during the day, or, perhaps, in the evening, before sleep, because there is no other opportunity for daily group work.
Everything else is done in accordance with how much free time you have – you come here, do some work, engage yourself in some dissemination projects in the evening, or do something else. Ultimately, this Reshimo has to generate the demand for the greatness of the Creator, for the realization of evil and for the light, which brings us back to the Source. It does not matter what your group responsibility entails. If you are able to unfold this chain to its final point, it means that you have succeeded.
(Lesson on November 18, 2004)
17) During the lesson, we should feel the lack, meaning our lack for the attainment of the Creator, the property of bestowal.
On the one hand, there should be a need. On the other hand, if we do not act out of joy, it means that we do not have any connection with the Torah – there is no equivalence of form. In other words, the necessity and the joy must go hand-in-hand. We should not be depressed. When we spoke about a terminally ill person, I probably did not stress enough that the person was rejoicing over a remedy that he had found. It is an unprecedented joy. It is a need and a revelation of its fulfillment: the need is to be healthy, and health as the fulfillment. Thus, we must be joyful.
..Everything has to come from the spiritual inspiration: Look, what means we possess! The means for the attainment of the Creator; nobody has anything like that. We just have to demonstrate at least a tiny necessity in the means, and the means will whirl us like a flying carpet. However, before you step upon it, you are asked: do you want it or not? If you absolutely want it – come on in and then we take off.
...We do not lack anything except the necessity. There is a King’s feast right in front of me, but I do not have an appetite. This is what we have to feel, otherwise our action does not originate in perfection and it is not connected to the Creator – to the Torah. We must value the means, the goal and the group, which can bring us to the right necessity. Our entire path - including the feeling of lack, everything that we pass through - goes along with uplifted spirits, joy, singing and dancing. This is like a musical. Then the necessity that you uncover comes out of joy that there is medicine that you can use.
...We need the greatness of the goal, of the Creator, of Torah, and all the means at our disposal, so that, as a result, we would uncover in us a demand. The demand must come out of perfection. Remember that, this is extremely important. Otherwise you will be sitting here for years without making any progress, immersed in despair and eat yourself alive, as it is said: “A fool sits doing nothing and eats himself” (see Koelet 4:5). Moreover, this is arrogance: “Look at me, how much I suffer. I suffer for myself and for all of mankind”. This is Klipa at work – as they say, "doing its dance" – and it is not good. You have to be constantly overflowing, constantly on fire. When the necessity uncovers itself – you rejoice over it even more, for the sweetening is prepared for it in advance.
...Everything must start from the fact that we are connected with the Creator, we just need to realize it. Being part of the process is actually a great adventure – to such an extent that by advancing, we start to prefer the process to the final state. Bestowal on its own, the search for it, the realization of it, becomes the reward.
There is no place in man’s life where he cannot rejoice. Even in the worst place, if in his tiniest thought there is glimmer of the connection with the Creator, if he is not detached from it, then he is in the process. Our prayer should be directed only towards maintaining this awareness and not falling into an unconscious state. As Baal HaSulam writes, the greatest punishment in the Universe is the disconnection of man from the Creator, even if it is just for a second.
... The need is revealed only from the perfection that you see in the Creator and the method; otherwise, it will not be the right need. You will be miserable and won't be able to move.
Work is done in the right line. First and foremost, this is work in realizing the goal and its greatness. The goal is bestowal. The greatness of bestowal goes before everything. Then I start using my left line and examine this, little by little, when it is possible. Let's say for half an hour daily: whether I am involved in it or not, what am I lacking to be truly inside? In the right line, I examine bestowal and realization of its importance without relating it to me; I just examine what bestowal is as such. In contrast, the left line always has to be revealed only in relation to the right line. Otherwise, I cannot say that I want to turn it into bestowal. You have to understand that if you adhere to the right line, which is bestowal, then everything you reveal is directed towards the Creator. Everything flows into one process, one purpose. If your starting point is not perfection, then it is the desire to receive. It cannot be any other way.
...What kind of need should I evoke during the lesson? The need has to be such that would allow me to remain in the "womb" of the Higher degree, and also, it has to be as strong as possible, so that I desire to grow without losing the recognition that I exist inside of Him. That is why Baal HaSulam wrote TES in this kind of form. He explains a system to you and you stay in its thoughts all the time: “I'm inside this system, it functions and acts on me now. I want to be an active element of this process; I want to act together with it. No matter what Baal HaSulam says about ascents, descents or connections, I want to participate in it”. The moment you enter the Higher degree it becomes your mechanism. Baal HaSulam does not speak about Partzuf Abba Ve Ima as if it existed outside of you and operated in a particular way. No, you discover that this mechanism exists inside of you, because ultimately, you attain the entire Infinity. Besides this, there is only simple Light. That's why you need to reveal the need during the lesson from within your existence in the Light, in the greatness of the Creator.
You have to be confident that this will happen at the end of the present moment. Not the next moment, for moments are separated by intervals and an interval can last for a long time. This will happen exactly at the end of the present moment.
(Lesson of November 19, 2004)
18) When the intention precedes the action, it is the real action. The study is not called an action, because you study with your eyes and your bestial intellect, therefore it is not called an action, but a deed of a beast. Where is there a spiritual action in the fact that you sit in front of a book, the fact that you read? Where is the spiritual action?
What I want as the result of my study is called my action. That is what I activate, that is what I can somehow think about, and therefore it is called “action”. About the intention it is said: “The hidden (intentions) are to the Creator” meaning that He gives them as a gift – as a reward for your effort in the action.
From here we see that the action is not just study. In return for the study we do not receive intention from above, but an “action” is the demand to receive the intention. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the Introduction to TES (Item 18), that there is effort in quantity and effort in quality. Quantity of effort has value as well, but not for effort without any intention in it, but he is discussing the extent to which my study includes hours of effort and strain, demanding the intention. Overall this is what gives the power, the intensity – the time, multiplied by the demand for the reward, meaning the extent of my longing to receive.
If I study for two hours, and during the two hours I have a hundred percent desire to receive intention in order to bestow, and that the light of correction will come and correct, then it is considered that I have made a hundred percent effort. But if I studied for two hours, and out of them only during two minutes I thought about the intention, then I made a quantity effort of an hour and fifty-eight minutes, and a quality effort of two minutes. The quantity effort is also important, since eventually a person wants to reach quality effort, but he or she forgets. This forgetfulness brings the person to suffering, and to a request and prayer itself, that his or her efforts and ability of quality effort will increase. That occurs until the person reaches quality effort. But without quality effort, a person does not receive from above an action of the surrounding light such that it would give him or her intention in order to bestow. Over the desire that is revealed, we must place an intention in order to bestow, and that is called crossing the barrier.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, Steps of the Ladder, Part 2, Article 586, “One Who Comes to be Purified”)
19) Preparation for the morning lesson is as follows: in the evening before the lesson, a person is already thinking how to make sure that the lesson helps him. He is thinking that during the lesson he will ask in such a way that the Creator will answer him. This entire preparation is the key to success, and besides this, there is nothing else.
At the beginning of the lesson, the air should be condensed from the tension of each individual – an inner tension that each individual came with, demanding and undergoing this preparation deep inside. Hence, it clearly follows, that everything has to be prepared in advance; the table is set up, books are laid out. Do not say a word to anybody, do not disturb a friend, silently enter keeping inner focus, sit, concentrate even more, and start a lesson. This is called the intention. The rest lies inside, but this is the beginning.
(Daily Article, October 11, 2004)
20) Studying resembles the connecting line that is being offered to us.
In the past, when there weren’t telephones everywhere, it was impossible to connect to another country from home. Therefore, I would go to the post office and order an international phone call. After I made the order, it was then announced: “The line has been received, please come into the booth to talk”. Then I would go into the booth, take the receiver and begin the conversation.
This is very similar to what we experience during study. Right now you are being offered a line, and someone is announcing: “Speak! You have only a few minutes to express what you think, what it is that you want, and for what you are asking”. In essence, this is what the time of studying is; you should relate to it specifically in this way. In other words, a person must silently say to himself what it is that he wants from his studies, and to thread this through the studying itself as a leitmotiv. The study is words, and a person has to insert his intention and his thought into them. Kabbalists are required to make the external words seem simple and trivial, but inside of them they hide great strength and a powerful yearning for the goal.
A person’s entire action is focused on this. After all, the action consists in the intention during study. It is our thought and our intention that influences reality. In addition, this happens only during the time of the lesson. In comparison to the process of studying, all the other periods of our activity are truly secondary and they help very little. It is only during study that we acquire the opportunity to send our pleas upwards, to have an influence, and to demand that which you consider the most important thing to you. If the thoughts and desires are united, if they come from the group, from the meeting and from the unification; then they have an influence above to the corresponding degree.
The unification or community is greater than the individual, as a dime is ten times greater than a penny. In addition, since people desire a connection, they are therefore willing to reject themselves in order to unify with the Creator. This is in essence a completely different action. Attaching yourself to the group – this is already a vessel for receiving the light. On the other hand, an individual is not a Kli.
The Creator is harbored in between – at the junction between the two broken parts. This is equivalent to what was said: “The Shechinah is between a husband and wife”. Therefore, if the prayer or the plea during the lesson encompasses the entire group, then its action is really directed at the goal. On the other hand, the prayer of a single person has almost no effect.
If a person is not able to combine the studies with the goal, then he has to simply divide every thought into two halves by saying to himself half of a sentence about the goal, and half of a sentence about the material being studied, until they combine into a single whole for him. By doing this he will be able to “package” one thing into the other. This happens the same way as waves become covered by modulation; we send our demands up on the background of the lesson.
I once asked Rabash: “What should I do if I am only able to think about one thing?” “Think about the goal”, he answered. This is okay even if you are not able to hear the words of the lesson. If there’s an opportunity to turn to Him, then you are capable of doing this. Give a few percent to the study, and let the prayer be the other 95 percent. This is what we lack.
Right now I look at our group and at the groups around the whole world.What keeps the people at the lessons? We see people from the overseas groups. What keeps them here? Suffering!
Suffering is what brought people to the lesson, and they are holding their breath as they look at us: what if something will suddenly come from there? Suffering keeps them there and keeps them from going home; only suffering evokes everything. And there is no doubt that nothing will come from this kind of scheme. The connection with the Upper Force cannot emerge by way of my evil – that is, when I feel bad. It is possible only through the path of goodness – that is, when I ask for goodness, await it, yearn for it, and feel myself standing not under a hail of blows, but rather on the threshold of something good.
A person has to await the Creator’s greatness in his own eyes, and the arrival of the light that will give him the opportunity to ascend. This does not mean that he will ascend with regard to his egoistic perception, as when he feels good because he received something. Rather, it will be from the evaluation of bestowal as something that lies above our world, and it is worthwhile to become equivalent to it. To sit and wait, the way hundreds of people around the whole world are sitting and waiting right now – this is not what is called “the path of the Torah”. This is the path of suffering.
Specifically because there are many of us and we are together, we are therefore obligated to give each other the greatness of the spiritual. I cannot dance around in front of you; you yourselves have to do this with regard to one another. Otherwise, whatwill happen – a one-man show? The groups and friends have to influence each other.
Groups in other countries: right now you are looking at the screen and you see Bnei Baruch. What are you thinking about? I see that people barely understand the material that we are studying. This is completely normal; we are not required to have knowledge. However, the intention during study is necessary. You should not wait for something to come from above or from the central group – Bnei Baruch; rather you should create a support mechanism with your intention. What do I want from the lesson? What kind of unification? What kind of a common Kli, which is filled by the revelation of the Creator to His creations? This is what is called “the Science of Kabbalah”; this is what it means to study Kabbalah. We are studying the way in which the Creator becomes revealed in the vessels or in the souls. The Science of Kabbalah is the study of the revelation of the Creator in creation and to the creatures.
It is important how capable a person is to grasp the material with the mind and work with sensations – in any case, a person has to work on intention, rather than simply sit and wait: maybe another wise thing will suddenly come from there. We have to think more and more about what the intention is during the lesson and what is the demand. We are losing only with regard to this aspect; that is, we are not able to make quality efforts.
In the Introduction to TES (Item 18), Baal HaSulam writes about the "amount of effort" and the "quality of effort". The "amount of effort" is determined by the amount of our available time that we spend studying – at home, together, etc. However, the "quality of effort" is determined by the demand we put forward during study. I demand for the power to come and correct me, to focus my thoughts in the right direction, so that I desire nothing else but the goal.
A great number of groups with dozens of people are sitting at the lesson. They are here, but where is the quality of effort? In other words, where is the demand for the revelation of the Creator to His creations in this world? If we don’t expect and demand this during the study, we are not studying Kabbalah.
When we see each other on the screen, start focusing on this intention: we demand the revelation of the Creator to His creations in this world; we want this to be more important than anything else. That's all. Another, deeper understanding of the quality of effort will come later, however, this comes first.
This approach, as I already mentioned, is consistent with the definition of the Science of Kabbalah: it is the method for revealing the Divinity of the Creator to His creatures.
Keeping our intentions, we nevertheless must feel that the line that we open during the study is a certain "pipe" connecting us with the spiritual world, and that through this "pipe" we can affect the spiritual with our intention. We progress only by sending the Creator as much intention as possible at the time of study. The more solid and generalized the intentions of the group, the closer they are in relation to the goal, the more they are charged with the feeling – a genuine prayer – the more effective is our plea. Nothing but this will help us.
With the exception of one hour set aside for the study of TES, all of our actions during the day or night – no matter what we are doing – are needed only to ensure that we approach this hour in joy. It is joy for finally having an opportunity to infuse into the study, literally by force, all the revelations that we have acquired earlier, outside of study.
One can compare this with having a one-minute audience with the King. A person is given only one minute to tell the King about his problem, and during this time the King is ready to listen. Such should be the preparation and feeling at the time of study. If we do not work on this together, we won't take advantage of the only means at our disposal. Everything else is the path of suffering. Only this action is called the path of the Torah: we attract upon ourselves the light, bringing us back to the Source.
Some people in our overseas groups are not that familiar with the study material; however, they attend the lessons regularly. Praise and honor to them. There are others who study, yet, do it without passion. I see their thoughts as they observe us through the screen: "Maybe, there will be some explanation?" Some even think: "When will this boring TES lecture end?" I understand everything and this is why I'm telling you; one must work on building the demand. It's necessary to discern and "whiten" the intention of each member of the group, each group, and all the groups together. One should also remember to Whom we’re addressing our demand. This and nothing else should be the subject of our discussions and correspondence, for nothing else can help to attain the goal.
Nothing can help us to keep the intention and not lose it. One can scribble the reminders all over his hands; one can surround himself with excerpts and quotations from all sides. Try it; I'm not saying you shouldn't. I can surround myself with all sorts of signs, set an alarm clock – what not. However, if the goal is not important, the intention slips away and disappears. Under what circumstances does the goal become important? When one gets the impression from the group, he sees that everyone is doing this, that this is important. Then one also starts feeling that this is important, for we are dealing with a genuine opportunity to communicate with the Creator, meaning, to effect our own development.
This is what our work is all about. One shouldn't expect that one would soon start thinking about the most important [matter] without any obstacles.
There will always be obstacles in this regard, because this is our only field of action. There is no other work. This is the expression of our attitude toward the Creator as well as our desire that He help us.
During the day, realizing the greatness of the Creator and the importance of the attainment of the goal, one has to prepare himself and reach the condition so that one can express, during the study, all the accumulated inner tension. Read Item 19 from the Introduction to TES one more time, where Baal HaSulam talks about the intention.
We have to understand that there is the spiritual world, and that we can affect it only through our intention during the study. For this reason we are given the Torah, and the light contained in it brings us back to the Source. If not for this, we would advance only through the path of suffering. Thus, we advance either by the path of suffering, or the path of the Torah. You choose. If you choose the path of suffering – stay at home, and that's it. We gather here in order to follow the path of Torah, which means: to evoke the light, bringing us back to the Source. And this is possible only during the study.
We have gone over this material a thousand times. If you want to refresh your memory, we can do it. However, our work is only this. It is only this, the intention during the study. I hope that this will become the topic of our Spring Congress. We already are in the process of constant joint study.
The groups throughout the world, thank G-d, are relatively stable. Now, we have to build them and to unite them with each other correctly. I see that people on the screen are looking at me with anticipation that I will tell them something. However, I have nothing to say but this: guys, let's start working. And it does not matter how much you know. He who is wise does not study.
(Talk on February 8, 2005)
21) Intention determines everything. It is not even worth opening a book without the intention. If, in order to establish the right intention, you need one hour to prepare for the lesson, it is better that you come one hour later, or, come on time and prepare yourself for the intention here. This is an important and serious aspect, and it applies to everyone who studies at the morning lessons without an exception. Analysis of what should be the intention at the time of study is mandatory and more important than everything else.
Engage in the study only if you do not lose the intention. This is where the difficulty lies. Experiencing difficulty in keeping the intention, you call obstacles upon yourself. Then you start "playing" with the material and with the intention for it. This resembles the real analysis of what measure of a desire for delight can we utilize in order to create the intention for bestowal above it; how deep shall we delve into the study and engage our reason, so that we keep the intention directed towards adhesion with the Creator? By keeping the intention and focusing on the study at the same time, we "implant" the intention to the study material. In the future, we will be able to "implant" the intention for the sake of bestowal to the material of our desire for delight in the same exact manner.
Question: What should be the right intention during the study, if every moment of the lesson different unrelated thoughts and states race through your head?
Different states and thoughts sent to you during the lesson are so called "obstacles". Overcoming them, we define our relation to the study. We act only from the basis of our need. Until we feel the need, we cannot artificially retain a single thought, or follow anybody's advice. If a need is absent in a person, there is nothing else to tell him but to get connected to the group, and absorb the needs of the fellow men. However, if the connection between us is such that the group does not give a person a "rebirth" every single moment, that is, does not renew his desires, you will not advance correctly. You, as well as your fellow men, must have the need that you received from the society, and the intention on which you work individually during the lesson. Remember: it is not worth taking more from the study than the intention permits you. Make sure that the intention does not abandon you.
(Talk on December 11, 2004)
22) We study how the Upper responds to the request of the lower; and you ask how it is possible to study this dry material and realize that it discusses you, the way you are related to it. Well, you study exactly about what you want to happen. If you want to feel but you do not, then that sensation also is added to your request.
But even if we do not talk about sensation, but according to logic: the upper system is organized in such a way that Keter and Abba ve Ima, GAR, the whole system belonging to the Creator is in a state of stand-by towards you, just waiting for your desire to be ready to receive from it. It is a tube of infinite diameter, which opens up according to your request. That is how it happens.
So during the study you must ask to have a request, as written in TES, since “the request opens the gates”. What can be closer to a person than what he or she studies? You become included in that request, in that desire as it is described. That is how the request goes through:
The Keter is entirely ready. There are in it Hasadim (Mercy) as well as Gevurot (Judgments), Hochma de Abba, Hasadim de Ima – everything is ready, but they are in a state of Panim ve Achor (face to back), awaiting your request. So during the study you must ask to be included in that system. Not necessarily in Nekudim, because anywhere is the same, these are the same ten Sefirot that are organized in this way.
During the study you must ask that your request would be MAN. MAN means Mayin Nukvin (Female Water), meaning a true lack. “Nukvah” (female) is a name for Malchut, and “Water” is Bina. Meaning that “Mayin Nukvin” is Malchut that wants bestowal just like Bina. That is why it is called MAN, and therefore, the lack rises from Malchut to Bina. It is the lack of Malchut who desires to rise to the height of Bina, and that is your request.
In part seven of TES we read exactly about these issues. If you would ask about a different part of TES that is not so related to our state it would be different, but there is nothing closer to the description of our state than the description of the raising of the lack in part seven – that is exactly the request we pray about.
There is no doubt that if this is forgotten the study immediately turns into meaningless passing of time. It is not entirely meaningless, because a person later considers what he or she gained from the study, and the person is also included with the others, who are in the correct intention more or less. But there is no doubt that the intention is most important, meaning the demand that something of the processes you read about will occur within you. Later on, when the situation will become clear to you, you will see that you are in it and that you were in it. Eventually, the concealment is only on your sensation. You are present raising MAN and as a result you receive the lights that pass through you. Everything is already in the form of bestowal, only you are lacking consciousness. It is concealed from you although you are actually in it now. Therefore, you simply request that your true desire and state will be revealed to you.
(From morning lesson of January 11, 2005)
23) In TES it is written about the intention, not about the desire itself. Matter and desire go through actions because the intention constantly changes. The lights act on the desire from above and the desire moves from there to here to the extent of the intention that overrules it, no more. The desire itself does not change; it is the intention that determines what occurs.
It can be imagined as a metal worker, who bends a sheet of steel and forms it into something. The shape that the sheet metal will attain is like the intention of the person as he or she expresses it in the matter. That is how we study about the actions in the study of TES.
All of the actions described in TES are intention only. Without intention the Partzufim would not have descended from infinity to our world, nor rise back up to infinity. The entire path is intentions over matter.
Say, if you have fifty grams of intention to perform some action, then you take fifty grams of matter and you execute. You do not touch all the rest. The rest is under restriction and is not revealed to you at all. It is always a part of the left line that is revealed, which you can hold and use with the right intention, as well as a part that you do not use, even with correct intention. These are the Toch and the Sof of the Partzuf, and that is how you build a Rosh.
Overall, what we attain from state A in infinity and up to state C at the end of correction is the Rosh. In actuality, the same infinite is filled both at the beginning and at the end, but the difference is in the Rosh – the Rosh is the intention. Thanks to the Rosh, the person receives NRNHY instead of Nefesh, because the person knows the host, relates to Him, and receives the entire NRNHY in bestowing to Him. In relating to Him, a person receives an additional impression, additional recognition, and awareness. All of these additions are intentions. Within the intentions is revealed the realization of the Host, the thoughts of the Host. Meaning that in the intending to act like the Host, the person gets to know Him and receive His degree.
The Creator created all of the actions upon the desire, and man has nothing to add to them. The Light that built the desire divided it into pieces, filled it and emptied it, and to all of these actions from above to below, man only needs to add the intention. The descent from above to below is in order to enable man to build his intention gradually from below to above. In the actions that you will have to undergo with the desire, at each level more desire is added portion by portion, however, you do not determine anything. These gradations, the division into a hundred and twenty five steps already exists, and you just add your intention. That is why there is nothing in the entire creation except the addition of intention. We have nothing to worry about, the actions will continue to come forth as they do now, we are not owners of that, and we have no control over it. The actions will come at the same rate in which we attain the correct intention, and we determine the rate according to the speed in which we find the correct intention.
After all explanations, whichever path you will choose, and from whatever side you will go, you have nothing but intention. Kabbalists discuss only intention.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
24) We lack the realization of evil in life. If I worried about something right now, I would not be able to sleep, right? As Rabash says, if you yell out to a person in the middle of the night “Your house is on fire!”; he will get up instantaneously; he will not stay in bed. Therefore, the problem is in our understanding that we are on fire, and only the surrounding light can save us. In turn, I can receive the surrounding light only now, when I study TES, according to my intention, my desire, and my demand. I have nothing else to receive here, but the surrounding light. Greater or smaller number of Reshimot, seven kinds of screens, twenty more of some other categories – this is completely unimportant. I must extract the surrounding light from here, which will save me. However, the problem is that I do not feel that I am on fire. To understand this, I have to plead now against my own will: let this surrounding light show me that I am in danger.
... I must get accustomed to what I am reading, as if it is happening inside of me. I am making an inner action of bestowal to the Creator, which is being described in this book. And if I imagine that I want to be inside of it and I am in it - it’s already a prayer. I don’t have to say, “Now I want You to send me the surrounding light”. It is not necessary. It’s enough that I want to take part in that action, in order for it to occur in me. This is what calls upon the surrounding light.
For instance, a child is playing with his toys as if they are not toys but his father’s tools. A child has a little wooden hammer, and other things that are like that, and he thinks that this makes him be like the adults. The same holds for us. We do not have to get mixed up in such definitions as “the group”, “the World Kli”, and ”intentions”. No. It is enough if I want to connect to what is being discussed. Therefore, we, as a rule, do not study negative things.
For instance, we usually talk about the breaking of the vessels only on certain occasions, say, on the mourning day of the ninth of Av. But in general, we do not study the breaking. Why? - Because we try to study clean actions. You get involved in it; you want to stay in it like a child.
– I want this.
– Why?
– Just do.
– What will it give you?
– I don’t know.
– What does it mean to be on such levels?
– I don’t know.
And this is enough, in order to awaken the surrounding light. Only from within such sensation, being already inside, can you tie the entire group to it. You want to bring the entire world into it; you want to feel how everybody is bonded by one action. You are already somewhat inside of it; you are flowing along with the text, feeling the desire for this to happen in you. You will be able extend this condition, only if this is taking place. The entire humanity, all the souls in the common state of bestowal will be turned to the Creator along with you. Then the thoughts, corresponding to this condition will come to you.
… It doesn’t matter how much I understood. What matters is whether I kept the intention for as long as I was reading the text. The degree of my understanding has to be put not even on the second, but on the third place. First, I have to keep the intention, flowing along with the text and willing to actually participate in it. Second, later I have to make sure that I understand the words correctly, interpret every word spiritually. This means that the right interpretation makes my adhesion with this particular action stronger. If I interpret correctly what "the screen" is, it means that I engage in action, with a desire or against it, Or, for instance, "the upper light" has to be interpreted correctly. Everything, understood according to Baal HaSulam’s interpretation strengthens your intention to participate, feel, and live in the action, which you are reading about using a correct approach.
That is why Baal HaSulam cares so much about the interpretation of words and says that we have to know them by heart. Through this, you strengthen your intention during the study. The interpretation of words is not meant for knowing everything in theory, passing the exam and becoming a clever guy.
25) We have to try to somehow feel what the spiritual systems are. They are located within me and they determine my life, but I do not perceive them, in the same way that I do not perceive my liver and kidneys. There are many organs in my body that I do not feel. I also do not feel the spiritual systems, and they are concealed from me even more. If one of the systems in my body gets sick then I immediately feel that something is not right. In contrast to this, even if my spiritual systems are completely defective, I do not feel it.
During the entire time of a person’s studies, he must try to think that everything that he is being told about his body is inside of him. I am referring to the body of the soul, rather than the animal organism; this is where all of these processes become realized. If a person wants to learn to apprehend his soul in order to pass into it and to live in it, then he must apprehend this system.
A person is able to live in this world without knowing its structure. However, in the spiritual nothing becomes revealed to a person until he apprehends it. Otherwise he can harm himself. Therefore, we have to try to find what we are studying inside of ourselves. We aspire towards this by making efforts, and then the lights exert their influence. In Item 155 of the “Introduction to TES” Baal HaSulam writes: “…Although they do not understand what they study, nevertheless, because of their strong desire and aspiration to understand the material that they study, they evoke the surrounding lights on themselves…”
We have to imagine ourselves as if we apprehend the entire volume of the world of Infinity. Everything that happened in the Malchut of Infinity and in the first nine Sefirot, is located inside of us. This entire area is the sphere of the souls of creation. The First and Second Restriction happened inside of me, as well as the expansion of all the worlds. The immersion into my material, its creation and reconstruction by way of various processes – all of this takes place inside of the desire to feel pleasure. The desire to feel pleasure – this is who I am. Based on the desire for pleasure, I then pinpoint that my “I” exists as well as something else: the worlds, other souls, angels, “demons”, “spirits”; and all of this is there because I am not corrected.
When I correct myself then I will see that I, meaning my desire for pleasure, am filled by the light of Infinity. Therefore, everything that we study took place inside of me and inside of each one of us. This is what every person should say to himself. This took place inside of me, within states that I do not perceive until I begin to think about them. Then, I have to return up into the world of Infinity, along the same states and events, and in the same order. All of the past, present and future events, which are produced by my efforts as I ascend into the world Infinity, take place inside of me. The Light of Infinity, which I reveal, is also inside of me. We must only reveal what is concealed inside.
A person should concentrate on the fact that everything is located inside of him. You should not look for some kind of a star that is far away or near. All of this is inside of me. Then, a person begins to think that the notions of “close” and “far” are determined by his attributes, or by how much a thing is spiritually close to or far from him. If, from the very beginning, a person will think that everything is located inside of him, then everything will look different and will have a different meaning to him.
(The lesson of November 19, 2004)
26) We should not be concerned with the amount of knowledge that we have acquired or that we lack. Very different kinds of people are present here. They understand and do not understand the material; they know or do not know the “Teachings of the Ten Sefirot” - this does not make any difference.
The most important thing is that, right now, as we read the book, they know that it is referring to them and to everyone. In other words, each person knows that the book is talking about him, that he is in these states and on these levels, and that everything is inside him. Although a person does not yet feel that this is happening inside of him, nevertheless, by cleansing himself of various trivialities and thoughts of this world, he will immediately discover that the inner events are his life, his perception and the state in which he exists.
Therefore, when we aspire for the internal rather than the external, we aspire to understand and to perceive precisely where this process is happening inside of ‘me’. Then, accordingly, the study exerts its influence on us. After all, Infinity is our innermost point, and right now we exist in the most outer form relative to it. So let’s begin learning that which is called “the inner part of the Torah”. All of these systems are located inside of me, and through my efforts I will reveal them and feel my inner spiritual reality. The Klipa (the clothing) of this body will disappear, and I will live only inside of the spiritual perceptions, or in the spiritual world.
(Lesson of November 19, 2004)
27) In order to attain the Goal, we need only one thing: unconditional faith. That is all.“Unconditional faith” means the following: I believe that there exists only one thing that can save me, the light that brings me to the Source during the lesson. I need a certainty, a realization that there is nothing else, that without this I am dead, and only if the deliverance comes, will I live. It is similar to a terminally ill person who cannot think about anything else except for what can save him.
Imagine yourself in the place of a terminally ill person. You know that if you receive the light, you will instantly obtain a long and beautiful life, free of suffering. If you do not, you will deteriorate even more and die. If such a sensation is present in a person then he has unconditional faith in the method.
Your faith must be directed in the following manner: “Now, I'm approaching bestowal, similarity of form to the Creator, and it will make me feel good”. I cannot take myself out of my calculations and do not want to feel good. However, I want to come to the Creator, to bestowal.
We must reach unconditional (correct) faith, established and tested. Then we can say that we are OK.
Question: how can we attain it? Baal HaSulam only says that everything depends solely on it.
If you do not have faith, then demand it through your efforts in the Torah and various acts of preparation. As Baal HaSulam says: “The student must pledge before the study”. In other words, he wants it to be so. He just wants it, and that's all; moreover, he does from the furthest point. Gradually, it is formed. However, it happens exclusively based on the desire of a student, who, in turn, does everything in order to consolidate his efforts, his work, his dissemination, and his group – only to demand faith during the study. If he has it, then to that degree of faith, the light will come, correcting the Kelim, and returning him back to the Source. Then, certainly, from Lo-Lishma he will attain the state of Lishma.
Progress is measured by the degree of our realization of the necessity to attain Lishma.
And it does not matter if I envisage that it will make me feel good – this is always present in our subconscious. The degree of realization of the necessity is evaluated by the use of our free time, by exerted efforts, our inner craving and striving. Sometimes the opposite happens: we suddenly discover that we have many other goals, that there are other important things in life. Nothing can be done about it. It is said: “Live it, but do not die in it”. It is called lack of faith. Thus, “to believe” means to discern that the attainment of Lishma is the goal of life, and we have nothing else to do in this world. We were created for that and also to understand that it can be attained only using the correct approach to the study.
This is called faith. If you believe that by doing this, you are saving your life, you will pay even a million dollars. If you don't have them, go to the bank and get a loan. Please. Then, work your entire life. Or, alternatively, work for ten years, and then you'll acquire life. Faith is a vessel for spiritual attainment. It is not just a condition with which we, so to speak, can open the gates to the spiritual world. This is the Kli, confidence, your focus, access to the Creator, the desire to attain bestowal. All of it, as a whole, is called faith.
Faith – this is the Kli for the attainment of bestowal, being absolutely convinced that this is going to happen if I think and concern myself only about it.
(Lesson of October 29, 2004)
28) The calculation is performed with us only to the extent that we demand it, and to the extent of how connected the entire group is during the study, that is, during the time when we work on our intentions. However, I see that thirty percent of people are sleeping at the lessons, and they do so without feeling that they are letting everyone else down. I am not saying that each person has to demand a “burning heart” from himself. Sometimes there are states when this is impossible, and I too have been through them. However, it is unacceptable when a person agrees to sleep at the lesson with such a light attitude. This is one of many examples. You know that sometimes I fall asleep as well. However, our obligation is to exert efforts.
(Daily Article, December 7, 2004)
29) There are people who can study, and there are people who cannot because of distracting thoughts, fatigue, and other factors. Those who can study have a corresponding urge, desire, and mood. And those who can’t are currently in the state of “desert” and have to apply efforts: to concentrate as much as possible on study and appeal to nothing else but the light that brings them back to the Source. They should plead for developing some interest, for establishing a certain connection within which revelation could happen. They should plead for pouring light to grant them an ability to stay in the state of “desert” in relation to their own ego. As for bestowal, on the contrary, they should demand to develop an urge for it. However, people who stay in their internal desert are not capable of this, unless they receive help from those who are in a good state, who study by their own will and desire. They have to help the others.
We are like one man divided into many pieces. Instead of passing through state after state individually, we can pass through these states together. By doing so, we save time; we help each other and become connected one into the other. This is why during the study, in particular, each of us has to apply maximum efforts, keeping one common intention.
Here, I now see people who don’t have a desire for study. They can’t, they are not able; the material is dry, incomprehensible. The answer to “Why do I need this?” is in order to attract the light that brings us back to the Source. You are given a lack of interest on purpose, so that you would ask for correction. When you are interested, you are not asking for correction. You are already fulfilled by knowledge as such and you find food for your mind. That is why the state in which one has no interest and connection can be a blessed state if we react to it correctly. However, in such a state one is not able to act solo. He needs the help of the surrounding society. That is why study always takes place in a group, and those of us who have the will power and desire have to support those elements of perception and the colleagues who now are in the state of “desert”.
Baal HaSulam says that if one object passes through various states in the spiritual, then in our world, there are many objects that find themselves in various states. In the spiritual, man and woman constitute one Partzuf. The same applies to children and all the rest. Various states are sensed inside a person. Still, vegetative, animated, and human levels exist inside a person. Night, day, earth, and heavens, all exist inside a Partzuf.
Things are different in our case. Everything is divided into internal and external parts, into a great number of people, each of who has something specific. Adam HaRishon includes all the souls. All the nations of the world and, in general, everything is in one Partzuf, while here, in our world, everything is broken into a multitude of pieces. If we unite into a single entity and each does his own thing and also partly connects to the other, then the other does not have to occupy himself with that particular part. This is how we help each other. If we reached this unification among us and performed a united act, we would finish the correction. Multiplicity of actions is due to the fact that we are not connected to each other.
So, whatever applies to one person who goes through a series of states in the spiritual, in the material, it spreads out to a great number of people who can unite into one single entity, unite their individual little actions with which each is burdened and can finish them all. This opportunity should be utilized particularly in the society.
That is why it makes no difference who wants to learn and who doesn’t. What matters is our relation to the passing states. Furthermore, it shouldn’t matter to a person at all in what state he is currently. States come from above. Don’t tell me that Sitra Achra contrives it; everything comes from the Creator. Each state is blessed and necessary, and you just have to realize it according to what is sent to you from above.
You have no desire for study? Wonderful! It’s excellent that I have no desire for study. It means that now I have to try to overcome this. Where are the powers of the society? Where are yesterday and the day before yesterday? After collecting all of this into a single picture, I nevertheless have to demand the light that brings me back to the Source. The Creator has to give me powers, but not to fill my ego in a false way, so that I may cheerfully move forward and study with enthusiasm. No. It’s okay if I don’t feel fulfilled doing this. It’s okay if I don’t have a desire for such a study, and it’s okay if I carry on without a desire. Now I want to draw the light that brings me back to the Source. Now I want to acquire the strength to go above the knowledge. Let me connect to the study not through my reason, but above it, above the knowledge.
In this case who will benefit more? A person for whom the material seems dry benefits more. He just has to realize the situation correctly. On the other hand, he who is in an uplifted state, who uses reason, works during the lesson, writes things down, makes drawings - he, possibly, is not utilizing his current state correctly. Possibly, he just studies with his external reason, how PartzufimAbba and Ima turn to each other either face-to-face or back-to-back - and forgets about himself. It’s a different matter if we study in a group. Even if someone forgets about himself, even if he studies with enthusiasm, in an uplifted state and experiences positive sensations, while the other, on the contrary, rejoices the lack of desire for study (because this creates preconditions for praying, allows him to apply efforts and, possibly, be honored with something above the knowledge) - nevertheless, in a group everyone makes up for each other.
With what do they do this? It is done through efforts. Applying efforts, you want to study, while I don’t. Then you supplement me, and I supplement you. We are like one man. In the spiritual, there is only one man, although here we are divided into many. If now we can constitute one man, we make up for each other. For example, your ascent complements my dryness.
This is the manner in which we have to work here, as if it is a lab. Together, we work on a state sent to us from above. We deal with something, with the material called “our condition”. Everyone, as if working with chemical substances, conducts tests that he is assigned, and as a result, together, we work on common material, which is given to the group from above. From above the group is treated as a single body. If someone is working on something, exactly as if in a chemical lab - then in general, we are engaged in a common action here and begin to ascend.
Each of us has to pay attention to his state at the time of study and keep in mind that all of us work together.We need these two factors: everyone works on his inner state, and together we work in relation to the Creator. That is all. We do not need anything else. It is so simple.
(Daily Article, December 7, 2004)
30) The most important for me is to flow in that stream, to feel that I am inside. And it does not matter, what remains in my mind after the study. Actually, this later helps me to go deeper into the intention, into the emotional unification with the text, though this is secondary. This way, everything develops correctly. A person stops demanding just knowledge and begins to care about living in it, like a child, as if actually performing actions. Or even if he doesn’t perform them, the accomplishment goes along with him. We have to reach a point in our study, when we forcefully enter this state in our sensations and don't give ourselves a break. Then we will succeed.
This has nothing to do with the studies in a university or school; this is something completely different. Start to understand what is being asked of us. It is said: “Believe in the wisdom among the people but do not believe in the Torah among the people". Because right now you are demanding the Torah, the light (Ohr) that brings you back to the Source, not the wisdom. This is a very-very fine relation, which is very different from our usual approach to studying any science.
It is necessary only to acquire this approach. Nothing else is needed. Compared to this, everything else simply does not exist. And then we will feel the power, hidden in the book, in this tool passed to us by Him. Frankly, except for this text, we do not have any other connection with the spiritual. To benefit from this key factor is the only thing that is important; not more and not less.
(Lesson on TES, October 26, 2004)
31) We read many articles together. This should not get in our way. A person can pass into a new state during each new second. We have to leave the previous state and try not to hold on to it inside of ourselves. The moment any state, no matter how high it is, remains in a person for longer than an instant, it turns into a Klipa. A new state should stand before a person during each new instant. If a person is not trying to hold on to his states, this means that, first of all, he does not correlate them with himself, since the desire to remain in any state comes exclusively from his benefit. If a person does not attribute the states to himself, then he will come to correction or the End of Correction. Therefore, whatever state a person goes through is not important to him. The important thing is for him to go through them faster. We may read thousands of articles a day, and this will not get in our way, because it is really possible to go through a thousand states during the course of a day.
You should not try to activate your memory and try to remember various things. Do not use your perception and do not hold on to it; do not try to feel the same thing in the next instant as what you feel right now. No. If you felt something for an instant then you have already apprehended it. You should not concern yourself with more than this; you have experienced this perception in your life, and that’s the end of it. The next time everything will be different, bigger and better, and it will have a different inner definition. There is nothing to cause worry. The most important thing is to go through all of the perceptions in your thoughts.
This is why it was said that during each new moment the Malchut of Infinity is empty once again, and a virgin once again. We should do the same thing. A person should be new during each instant, as if he is reborn. In this case, we erase everything that came before, and once again we become empty and ready for work.
(Daily Article, January 17, 2005)
32) Nothing related to the study will help you, except the lights that act on Reshimot. All clever things that you learn here are not worth more than other sciences that you have studied from other books. You can convince yourself that you are studying spiritual events and Sefirot that ascend along the levels, as well as the lights; nevertheless, all of this is secondary in comparison to the influence of the surrounding light. If it does not act upon you, you will not understand the genuine meaning of anything that is written in TES. In you current state, you do not understand the laws described by Baal HaSulam. When that which you have been studying for ten years will finally become revealed to you, then, you will see the entire picture in a totally different way, and in a totally different dimension and comprehension. Therefore, you should aspire for the study to bring you bestowal, rather than knowledge.
(January 24, 2005)
33) If a person wants to attain that which is happening to him, then he is yearning for attainment and this exerts an influence on him. Everything else is merely accompanying perceptions: you are close, far, or somewhere in the middle, but in any case it is mainly a person’s desire that works. Right now you do not have to think about the fact that the surrounding light, which shines in the inner part, will pour on you from the outside and will cleanse your vessels; and about the fact that the light that comes, cleanses the Kli and therefore the Kli becomes finer; - all of this is just knowledge. You are simply yearning for that very state. The desire that pulls you is truly the fuel, like a missile that takes you there. The desire acts, the desire works, and there is nothing that exists other than the desire, whether it is the desire to bestow or the desire to receive pleasure. Desire is the force, and everything else is the material that does not possess any actions. Therefore, the work is done specifically by a person’s desire.
When we together want the same thing, then we build the common desire. If, in addition to this, each person also thinks about everyone else and about the fact that it is not only himself who wants to reach the goal but also everyone else; if everyone comprises a single Kli, then this desire becomes much greater and greater. The only thing that is necessary is the desire.
…You should ask questions at the lesson about the Teaching of the Ten Sefirot, and Baal HaSulam gives a basis for this in the Introduction to TES. There are several reasons for this.
First of all, a person studies by the way of reasoning; he cannot study without utilizing the mind. This is the nature of our Kli. The Creator did not create the mind in order for us to neglect it and depreciate it. We have to work with our Kelim; we really have to understand the material that we study and construct it in our heads. You see how Kabbalists tried to write all of this in an orderly way, even though they were not writing especially for us, but rather for those who are already present in the events described. They specifically want to correct those people.
Imagine how many Kabbalists throughout history have made mistakes. You may think: “They made mistakes – so, what’s the big deal about that? This means that they did not really know the scholastics”. However, this is not scholastic to them. If a Kabbalist is present in genuinely spiritual events, then he performs corrections by reading about them and doing them. A book with instructions is a good teacher for him, and he corrects the soul by using it. Obviously, he himself will ultimately be able to reveal that which he is reading. It is said, “Man's soul will teach him”. However, this will take a lot of time. Therefore, a person is able to do the same thing easier by way of working in the inter-inclusion with other souls. A great benefit is hidden in the use of others’ attainments. This is the first reason.
The second reason: Take, for instance, a person who has reached the spiritual and has to use this book as the authority for his actions, just like a gymnastics manual that shows how and describes how many times you should move your arms and legs in order to become healthier. Reading TES is the same thing. While working on this, a person activates his inner Kelim and performs corrections by doing this. In addition, he performs these corrections in accordance with the common system that Baal HaSulam has already revealed, and in this way a person becomes included in this system. Whatever the level of his understanding may be, even if he only annuls himself, a person follows in the footsteps of a great Kabbalist and goes on the path that the latter has marked.
We are not present in the spiritual attainment yet, and we receive the surrounding light from the study. The most important sign, which is the quality of the effort, is measured by the demand or by the perceived lack: how will this benefit my correction? This benefit depends on the pain that you experience while you demand correction, and on how much your pain is goal-oriented. You are not worried about how your day will go, but rather about how clearly you have clarified the goal to yourself, or specifically that which you desire. The volume of the Teachings of the Ten Sefirot is lying in front of you, and this will help you to enter the spiritual. What for? What will this give you? What are you living for? What do you expect from your studies? If you are going to arrive somewhere, then what will this mean? What exactly do you have to achieve? What is the nature of the point towards which you aspire right now? All of these questions are part of clarifying the quality of the effort.
A person, who concurrently studies and also works in attainment, gradually comes to the correct relationship between the studying and the inner work. He becomes aware of the fact that it is precisely the inner work that will bring him to the goal. At the same time, the quantitative signs of studying, such as how much the person knows, how deeply he understands, how deeply he answers or asks questions; are determined by his animal attributes. Therefore it is said: “It is not the smart person who studies”. One person was given a sharp, clear and penetrating mind, while another was not. This is completely unrelated to spiritual attributes. This attribute is inherent to a person who likes to study and comprehend.
Some people by their nature do not activate their mind and they seem to work on intentions more. However, it is possible that their work on intentions is not strong enough. Others put a lot into studying and later they see that studying does not bring them towards the goal, although they were hoping that it would. After all, as a rule they succeeded in life specifically with the help of knowledge, information and perceptiveness. Then they become disillusioned with their mind and, just as they were diligent in the studies before, they now use all of their strength to work on intentions.
We can identify other reasons, but we should understand that a person has to work with what he has been given. We cannot compel him and tell him what he should and should not use. Everything must become revealed to a person naturally, until he finally comes to the realization of good and evil. We are only talking about how we can go through these stages more quickly, but it is necessary to go through them, and nothing can be done about that.
You have to ask questions and try to understand the material. However, the truth is that, with time, a person still becomes immersed in the theme that is painful to him. If he feels pain from the thought “Why am I not advancing?” then he ceases to connect this to knowledge, such as: how and where did each of the Partzuf's Melachim fall? A person naturally no longer worries so much about acquiring facts, because he understands that it is not this knowledge that will help him to become the one who bestows. This happens naturally.
(From the lesson on TES, January 2, 2005)
34) I think that a disciple, who really wants to comprehend the material, has to work hard and a lot during a lesson. Maybe not necessarily to write everything down, but one has to do work. Every disciple must create a strict, unchanging system for writing things down, drawing. In either case, it defines limits, establishes a clear framework for our three-hour morning lesson.
... I think that if one wants to learn something, to comprehend, to establish a connection with something, he has to read it at least a hundred times, even two hundred times. Only afterwards can he see if he has something inside of this or not. But first, read the material at least dozens of times. Without memorizing, it won't work. This is both deliberation and perception; there are many things to it.
It is necessary to know the articles of "Shamati" practically by heart. After that, continue with "Shlavei HaSulam" – a soft interpretation, which you don't necessarily have to know by heart.But as far as "Shamati" goes, I think that one has to really know it pretty much by heart.
It seems to us that if we change a word, or switch places, this is not so terrible. But why did Rabash write it in this particular way? He wrote in line with Baal HaSulam's thinking and according to the way he re-approached it internally. Who knows how his thought, his brain used to work at that time? But if you repeat the same words, you, in a way, will program your mind to follow exactly the same path. Your current brain in an animal-like state does not follow it. It seems that the words you are reading are compiled incorrectly; however, they are recorded according to Baal HaSulam's frame of mind and the speed of his thought. Hence, it is worthwhile to copy the precise order of the words in your brain, and then the entrance of the words in your mind will arrange your mind correctly.
... There are virtually no commas or periods in the "Shamati" articles. The whole book of "Shamati" is one long article. This is not a collection of articles, but one block. You must put into your mind and start thinking according to these patterns at least at the corporeal level, although they really refer to the spiritual order of words and passages. This is how we embark on study; this is how we learn. This is what I did myself.
(New Month Meal, December 12, 2004)
35) I tell you to write things down because we have to be connected to the study material. As far as the Study of Ten Sefirot goes, it is not important how much you understand; however, there must be some order. You must strive to find yourself in this entire system: the worlds, circles, lines, how does it relate to the Upper Governance; how do you ascend in this system, how does the light come down on you, what is the place where you exist. This is how I feel. I don't know, maybe someone else feels something different. I have to find myself there, to understand the path I have to follow, to understand what influences me, what can I govern and influence. In other words, the study has to be like a prayer. You have to find yourself in this whole system. For this we have to write things down. Turn your study into a prayer – that is, when you learn abstract things, draw conclusions, suppositions and use them for your personal progress.
(New Month Meal, December 12, 2004)
36) From the very beginning, I perform actions by making efforts during the study and attracting the light of correction. This is called an “action” or “my intention during study”, which is the same thing. In return I receive the light AB-SAG from above, the force of correction, or the correcting light; it is not important what name we use for it. Now I have an intention for the sake of bestowal on that whole desire for pleasure that is revealed in me. A desire that relates to this world has become revealed in me. The spiritual desire has not yet become revealed. Then, I clothe the intention “for the sake of bestowal” on this world. That is, I am ready to reject this entire world, for the sake of bestowing to the Creator. This means that I have already attached myself to Him, as a seed in the mother’s womb.
I have attached myself and I begin my nine-month phase of development as a fetus. How do I develop? I have already received the intention “for bestowal” on the desires of this world, but now the desire for the spiritual becomes added to me, and I begin to work on this additional desire, which increases with each passing day. This is called “day by day”. Ultimately I have to go through all of the days of the intra-uterus development, to go through three "sections”, through a number of qualitative changes, etc.
But what am I doing in essence? I am growing my intention, on the background of the increased desire for pleasure. When the egoistic desire becomes increased in me, then I still perform the same action, but I already see much more when I study. I have a different connection and a different character of my relationship with the Host; I already begin to perceive Him. However, since I perceive Him, my work also consists in neutralizing this perception. This work is even more difficult.
Now, when I can see the Host, I have to conceal Him; otherwise I will not have the intention for bestowal. I hide His revelation in the form of pleasure for my egoistic desire to feel pleasure. If I do not conceal Him, if I do not place a barrier between us, or the Machsom, then the Creator will place this barrier automatically. Each time, I myself have to create this barrier; otherwise I will not be able to carry out the condition of the First Restriction. Each time, the work becomes more and more difficult. I have to create the concealments myself, as it is said: “Moshe concealed his face, because he feared seeing the Creator”. This is how a person advances.
In short, action is the name for the search for the means that will bring me to the correct intention. In the spiritual, these means are contained not only in the study; but various other opportunities become revealed. These are the opportunity of working with the group, with the teacher and with other means. In any case, “action” is the name of what I desire and of what I am doing to achieve the intention. If I do not simultaneously do anything to achieve the intention, then this means that I am not performing any action. If I am only studying then this is not called “performing an action” that can give me the intention.
(The lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Volume 2, article 586, “For the one who comes to be Purified…”)
37) It is necessary to read on a regular basis articles or letters written by Baal HaSulam or Rabash that discuss the work. The entire matter of work is how to attain the vessel of faith. So a person should connect to this source, to this provider as much as possible during the day, at every opportunity, in the hope that the awakening to faith and bestowal that is in these writings of the great ones will affect him or her. This is also the case when coming to study. Before study one needs to rejoice in the fact that he or she has arrived, and is now with friends and in a study routine. It is good, day after day, during one’s entire life, to acknowledge, “this is what I was created for and therefore I study. I am happy that I have a different destiny than all other people in the world. I have arrived for the meeting with the Creator, and even if He will not act on me in any way, I have much to be thankful for. Even though I will not be able to do anything, being present is already a major gain.” In this way, gradually, one becomes used to the framework on one hand, but also gets out of the framework on the other hand. Such an attitude is helpful in finding points to hold on to while progressing deeper. With the continuing influence of the connection with the Creator, providence is revealed to him more and more, and in such a way, through the study, he enters into the knowledge of the material.
(Daily Article, December 13, 2004)
38) It is written, "one learns only what one's heart desires". We have to find the places to which our heart leads us. You scan through the book and suddenly get this reaction to something that you read, these places are very important and you have to mark them. In a different situation, at another time, I will see something else, but each time, in this way, I will see how I change, advance. Paragraphs, expressions that were completely incomprehensible before, that had me wondering why anyone bothered to write this, as it is just taking up space, suddenly are seen to have such inner depth and light within. That light takes me to such depth, such a realm that I didn't even think existed in reality. Suddenly, it turns me like a screw and screws me in.
We always start from places that we feel closer to, that we understand. We should not look for hardships. As far as the regular study of the Teaching of Ten Sephirot is concerned, we act as usual. Whether it's hard or easy, we keep on studying, because here we don't have to study in order to understand. However, when you talk about inner work, you have to feel your response, and choose places that are close to you, to your heart.
(New Month Meal, December 12, 2004)
39) It is not within man’s power to overcome one’s will. Only through demanding this correction during the lesson does the power, the surrounding light that illuminates the person to the degree that he or she has faith and demand for it, correct him or her, and the desire changes into the vessel for the reception of bounty.
It is done this way on purpose, to give man the possibility of turning to the Creator, and not to think that one can perform the corrections directly on one’s own will by oneself. One should not think that he is above his nature, like the Creator who can control His nature, because in that one’s pride will only grow. But in having to turn to the Creator for correction, in having to recognize the evil within oneself and the greatness of the Creator, one begins to relate correctly to the entire system of creation. The Creator does not desire that one be forcefully subdued by the upper power, because in general, one’s appeal to the upper power is intended for receiving the intention of bestowal from it. In this, to the extent that the person requests it, the person receives the attributes of the Creator and becomes equal to Him. It means that the Creator does not leave the person at his previous level, but elevates him, according to his demand toward His own level.
In this way we gain twice: 1. We don’t fall into the ego, the desire to receive, into thinking that we can correct ourselves. 2. We turn to the Creator, we begin to be dependent on Him, meaning that we rise to a higher level. Initially we are included in its AHP and later on we request correction. “Correction” means to be like the Galgalta VeEyinaim, like the level itself.
We need to remember that nothing can be achieved except by the power of the prayer during the study. It is only this action that brings a person change, progress, and salvation. All other things we have in life, whether we would want to use them or not, whether we are conscious or unconscious about the manner in which it acts upon us, everything is meant eventually to push us to this point, of arriving at the book with the correct intention. The right books are in front of us, but it is the desire we need to accumulate. During the study there is not much we can do, but before the study, in between study times, at any other time, is the time of preparation.
(Daily Article, November 11, 2004)
40) We are vessels, experiencing sensations. A “vessel”, " Kli" is that which "senses" and sensation cannot be dictated by the intellect. These are two different and opposing systems. You are asking me to tell you about examples or actions that will help you improve the sensation. I can give you a thousand and one tips, but you will forget them in a second, because you want to come to a desired sensation through the intellect. What can we do? A very simple act: we gather together and we begin reading books that discuss our corrected state, desiring that it exist in us. That is all, just reading. But in order to gather and read and think, a few preliminary actions are needed in order to awaken in us the understanding of and the desire for the necessity and imperativeness of shared study, since there is no choice. The bottom line is that this is the action, nothing else. Why are we reading all these books? We read them because they describe for us our corrected state. To the extent that we desire that it happen, it will happen. The surrounding light acts.
(Daily Article, January 5, 2005)
41) If you sort through your desires, you can use your first nine Sefirot for bestowal; Malchut, the Stony Heart, cannot be used for bestowal.
What does this mean and bestowal upon what? It means bestowal to the connection with the rest of the souls. Only in the connection between you and the rest of the souls is the Kli discovered in which the Creator is revealed . The vessel for the inspiration of the Shechinah is the connection between the souls. We need to think this way during study.
We are now learning about the correction of the 288 desires as opposed to the 320 parts, meaning that each one has to examine all the vessels within, all of the possibilities of connecting with others. This is actually the correction. The person freezes, closes, and conceals the desires that do not help him to connect with others. That is how the person’s actual form of bestowal is revealed. In that, the person reveals the vessel in which the Creator will appear.
We are now studying about things in which the intention and the study are one and the same, and this is actually true everywhere in the wisdom of Kabbalah. We have to awaken and examine this issue constantly. If we do, the intentions and the study will be connected as one. The person and the study, with the intention to reach the correct state while studying, will be as one. If we study in a group, where everyone desires to connect, it turns out that we are in a laboratory and we are performing the experiment on ourselves. Whoever notices this will sense how much it advances him, and whoever does not is drilling a hole in the envelope of the Kli.
(Daily Article, February 15, 2005)
42) We have to realize the following: on the one hand, the Kabbalist can clothe the words of wisdom in the best way for us, and in doing so hold us in the correct intention, not letting us lose the direction, path, or comprehension of that which we can attain by reading and discussing the material. On the other hand, the effort nevertheless comes from us doing our part. Our efforts are turned precisely towards this, while thoughts and obstructions arise from our nature, each individual being built differently. We have to work on overcoming these obstacles and must purify the intention.
We should not think about our desires and thoughts, or about what happens to us in this world. Also, we shouldn't think about the spiritual as such, the way it is investigated in the Kabbalistic books, meaning, about the world of Atzilut, about the world of Adam Kadmon and restrictions, about ascents and descents, and about all the other things, scrutinized in TES. In other words, we should not think either about the spiritual or ourselves.
We have to think about one thing: how during the study we can remember that it is precisely this which brings me to the goal, like a carriage, train, or plane, - something that I board and set the course to the destination. A person has to think only about this; his efforts have to be directed only towards this. This is our opportunity for free will. Nothing else can help a person to reach what he wants, the thought of creation.
(Daily Article, February 24, 2005)
43) At the time of reading TES, one should think about the fact that our entire correction is conditional upon adhesion to the Upper.
We are not allowed to utilize ourselves, our personal attributes. Our desires and thoughts in their current form are not intended for spiritual work. However, after we adhere to the Upper degree, and to the level of our adhesion, we, thanks to this cohesion, will see that we are changing. We can engage ourselves correctly in bestowal only by the means of such incorporation. This means that Malchut connects to the first nine Sefirot, to Yesod.
Thanks to this incorporation, to the degree that Malchut is connected to Yesod and entrusts itself to it, taking upon itself all the work in the properties of the first nine Sefirot, to the degree that the properties of Malchut become equivalent to the properties of the first nine Sefirot, removing differences in the outer manifestations, that is, [to the degree the properties of Malchut become equivalent to] bestowal, Malchut can work. This must be the intention during the study.
Work in the spiritual is possible only to the degree of the adhesion with the Upper, when we take upon ourselves everything that characterizes it – above reason, above everything, purely because of the adhesion and dedication to it. This takes place, first of all, in the group. This is where we check: are we really ready, wanting, yearning to take upon ourselves – only theoretically – that which characterizes the Upper. This is why we need to think about the common Kli, where we unite with one purpose only – to bond with the Creator.
(From the lesson of February 16, 2005)
44)During the morning lesson we talked about the intention at the time of study. Intentions are one's desires, what one wants to achieve or one's life program and aspires to in his mind and heart his entire life; it is also one's disappointments and hopes. All of this is expressed during the lesson. Why? Because at the time of study one establishes the connection with the Source, from which comes all the powers acting upon this world and every person in it. It follows that during the lesson one can address, plead, ask, demand, and bring changes. This is almost impossible at other times.
The exception is a festive meal. In comparison to a lesson, a festive meal is even more special, and in this sense, it differs from the studies. During the lesson the connection with the Upper Force is established, thanks to the book and the Kabbalist who builds that connection for the student. A Kabbalist gives a student a book that describes the place of the Upper Governance. On the other hand, the situation during a festive meal is different. The people sitting around the table are not at the level of a Kabbalist who tells them about the world of Atzilut, from where the powers are descending upon us. On the contrary, we, the little ones, existing at this level, build a vessel, and, without any connection established and attuned beforehand, address the Upper Force ourselves.
A festive meal is where we form something common; it is a connection between people. In the book of Zohar and in general with all the sources, one can read about the righteous who set up a table, and sit together eating. What is the essence of all these festive meals? They are the expression of the connection between the people who unite this way. Each builds his connection with the others and wants to unite with them, for he desires to attain a particularly high [spiritual] degree. And then there is no need for words. This is really what was happening at the abode of my teacher. The last Kabbalist of our generation, Rav Baruch Ashlag, conducted festive meals in a special way. He insisted that everything happen in silence. Nobody talks to each other; everybody sits, eating silently, hardly breathing, keeping the inner focus – each by himself.
One would think that, on the contrary, a festive meal is exactly the time when one can exchange a few words with a neighbor, or friend, or stand up and say something - but no. It is interesting to note that in spite of commonly accepted norms, a festive meal means something completely different. Let one think about why he is sitting together with the others, what he will receive from this, what he is drawn to, what he should be thinking about together with the others, and what he wants to receive as a result of this action. Particularly during the time of a shared meal, it is very important that one delves deeply into the inner work, the inner focus, and question: "What do I demand of my life?"
And the truth is that the Kli is totally ours. Nobody is establishing a connection for us. We, and only we, are doing it by organizing a shared meal and connecting with each other now. We, in particular, are looking for the goal. Nobody else is opening the connecting line for us with the world of Atzilut. Based on the connection between us, we, ourselves, are trying to raise a request, so that we can follow it with our sensations and rise to the eternal, perfect, and illuminated world. All of this happens thanks to us. This is why concentration during the meal, attention to what one wants to say to himself and to convey to the others in his silent cry – all of it has to be much stronger. The inner cry has to be much louder than during the lesson.
I hope that we will reach a point when our festive meals will be the same as the meals of the great righteous men, who, according to the book of the Zohar, reached the connection with each other and the Upper Force only due to such festive meals.(Festive Meal at the Gathering of Friends, February 8, 2005)
45) Is there such a thing as the intention of the group? There is no group if the group is not united in the intention and solely in the intention. The group cannot unite in anything else. Unification in desire is called "gathering of scorners". Unification in intention, striving for the Creator is called "the sacred society"; this is what the group of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is called. Unification is carried out only in the common intention, turned only towards the Creator. We are talking about the intention, not the desire. We are not capable of examining the desires. Truth be told, the same goes for the intentions; however, following our desires, our actions can divert us in many directions. In contrast, if the intention is the same and directed towards the Creator – everything else welds accordingly.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
46) How can I acquire the strength to have the intention 24 hours a day? The group can obligate me, doing so not by force but rather by its ability to influence me in such a way that I will want it. I will be “stuck” on this day and night. In other words, this perception will simply always be with me.
It is necessary to begin living in the intention, rather than performing actions. This is a different dimension. In other words, I do not live in actions and relationships, but rather in the intention. “He and I; how do I relate to Him” – we have to constantly be present in this intention. If you are immersed in this during the entire 24 hours, this means that you have passed the Machsom and have entered the spiritual world. The spiritual world is my relation to the Creator. This is a relation that corresponds to my intention, which is directed at Him. That’s all. Of course, in this case you become filled by something else, you have a different concern, and this is how you live. Do not be afraid, because in this case it does not matter what animal aspect you are dealing with, whether it is studying, eating, drinking, or entertainment; you nevertheless preserve the intention. This means to ascend from the animal level to the spiritual level, and to live according to the intention and according to your relation to the Supreme Force. In this case you reveal it, perceive it, live in it and you exist in the perception of eternal life. We are talking about the dimension that gives you a totally different relationship towards everything. If you are always goal-oriented towards the Creator over the course of all 24 hours during your entire life, then you are living in the same realm as He. Obviously, this is a different form of existence.
How should one address the plea to the group? Demand; do not ask. Demand! Bring this necessity into the group. Press on the group, and it will come back to you in the form of a conviction.
(Daily Article, February 14, 2005)
47) “The end of the action is contained in the original thought”. We cannot begin any action if we have not placed the final goal as the most important thing. The final goal must be present in the beginning. We have to place in the beginning that which will exist in the end; otherwise, the action, intention or thought will be simply animalistic. A person is called “crazy” if he does not know why he acts, nor has a clear goal. He is called a fool, a child, or a crazy person.
You should imagine the final goal to yourself, to the extent that you have analyzed it. It is not important whether this is little or a lot; the most important thing is that you at least catch it by its tail and say “I am working for its sake. Now I have to carry out certain actions, in order to ultimately reach the goal”.
A question arises: if I better clarify the goal for myself, will I acquire more strength, perceive the necessity to enter a mutual-guarantee in undertaking the work in the group, and put my efforts into it? This is built on a mutual basis. No matter how captivated you are by the final goal, you will not be able to receive much from it without first receiving the realization of the importance of your final goal from the group.
Do you understand? You do not have the strength, and you do not have a connection with the Creator that would shine for you and show you who He is and what He is. However, you do have friends who can tell you that the Creator is great.(Daily Article, February 10, 2005)
48) What the Creator has given to you is, very simply, a priceless gift: conditions that have never existed in the world, both internal and external. You have support from other countries, people join us from all over the world, you are given a teacher who explains to you how you should act; you have everything.
Rabash told me that when he would leave to go to his father’s lesson, his wife would remind him that there is not even a piece of bread for the kids at home. His youngest daughter would come to him and say: “Daddy, I want to eat”. “What would you like?” he would ask. “Anything” she answered. This is the way he would leave his family when he went to study with Baal HaSulam. Those were the conditions at that time.
You do not value your state. Your families agree; even the world agrees. This is some kind of a heaven or a madhouse. I don’t know what to call it; this is something abnormal. I am afraid to say or not to say “Thank you”.
However, this weakens us at the same time. You fall into being carefree. There are no obstacles on the path, there is nothing that would obligate you, prick you, irritate, scare and threaten you. The conditions are such that I simply don’t know what to say.
So what is left for you to do? You are only to sit and connect with each other. You are left only with the net spiritual work! Imagine to yourself that, God forbid, right now none of you had a piece of bread at home. Now begin to think about the spiritual and about the unification of friends. Not to mention even greater misfortunes.
You are required to direct our necessity towards the Creator, do this not on the material background, but on the spiritual. You should ascend from good to better on the spiritual background and above various pleasures. Therefore, you should imagine that your state is bad and horrible because there is nothing Divine in it; and then ascend up from this. The only thing left for you to do, is to do something inside of yourself.
(Daily Article, March 13, 2005)
49) We will have to work together a lot. If we will act jointly, if we direct the intention for the good of the whole Kli and will unite together thanks to this, if people will have these kinds of intentions, then we will extract benefit. However, if not, then just the opposite will happen. It is said: “It is better to sit and not do anything”. In other words, if you do not have the right intention, don’t begin to do anything.
Let’s suppose that right now someone will create a lot of activity in different areas in the group. If this person does not have the right intentions while doing this, then he, and we together with him, will suffer a loss. That is why it is said: “It is better to sit and not do anything”.
…We do not understand the extent to which we have no control over the situation. By ourselves we practically do not promote the correct advancement. The disproportion is huge: 99% or even more. At the same time, however, we are allowed to do so much from above. It is simply scary to look at what is happening. If we were just sitting and studying by ourselves, like everyone else, then this would not go anywhere. However, we are in more potential danger than they. There are many groups: they are sitting on their own and studying or praying. However, in reality nothing is happening there, they are not working on unification and therefore are not performing any actions. We are in a more dangerous situation.
…Does it turn out that it really is better to sit and not do anything? What should we do in reality? We have to continue our activity, since these actions will ultimately evoke the realization of evil in us. Various problems and disappointments are possible on the way. It is necessary to continue, even if we will not see the results of our work after several years. The results may not be what we wanted, but they will follow the natural laws.
There is no way out of this. If we also restrict the actions then nothing will be left of us. Our group arrives at the intention through actions. We cannot study, as it is customary to say, “for the heavens”, that is, by looking into emptiness. If we will not work and perform actions, then by this we will finish off Bnei Baruch.
However, we nevertheless have to understand the importance of the intention. Everything that we will do has to turn into a group action with a group intention, directed at the Creator.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
50) Each member of the group has to build the intention during every action. When a person does this, then his existence, activity and every second of his presence in the group increase the group’s ability to unify with the Creator more and more. If the intentions are such, then everyone is under the umbrella of the Upper light. Ultimately, all of reality is built with correspondence to the Upper law. It is necessary to reach the goal, and if the society as a whole as well as each person individually aspires towards this, then the Upper law works together with them. In this case, the group obviously cannot fail in any way. There is no force that is able to do anything against it.
However, if the members of the group have in any way forgotten about the goal, then the Upper Force that pulls everything towards the goal, collides with the irrelevant thoughts that do not aspire towards the goal of unifying with the Creator. Thoughts that do not aspire towards the goal lead to the failures of the group and become perceived one way or another. As these kinds of deviations multiply, a crisis occurs.
We have to understand that, in reality, there exists only one force; this is the force that pulls everything towards the goal and towards unification with the Creator. This has to become the law and the upper debt for every person in particular as well as for the group as a whole. We have to think only about the desire for the goal, and determine all of our actions based on this.
(Excerpt for Reading, February 21, 2005)
51)The Surrounding Light that comes from the study and the group results in my acquisition of a certain desire.I study and exert all kinds of effort in the group, simply by participating in its life, because I’m told that I’m obliged to do so. Personally, I have no urge for such actions, but gradually, thanks to them, I start realizing that I have to go beyond my nature. In order to achieve this, I commit to establishing a connection with the others.
The group, in essence, emerges at the moment when a few people come together and decide among themselves that each of them wants to elevate above his nature. It’s possible to achieve this only if they cultivate love, love for the others, which is the expression of coming out of oneself. And this is why they make an agreement between each other about their readiness to perform actions that would help them to acquire a property of love - coming out from the desire for delight into the spiritual, the desire to bestow.
If people like this come together ready to help each other, they realize that, thanks to this mutual help, each of them acquires a joint power that is the result of their combined endeavors – they are called a group. If, say, ten people come together, and each of them wants to come outside of himself, then each receives a power that is ten times greater than his individual power, and it helps him to attract the Surrounding Light. During the study, when they gather and study with the right intention, to attract light - that helps them. The light acts upon each of them, say ten times stronger than the light an individual would be attracting by himself. And this is enough to develop a point in the heart, transforming it into the spiritual world.
But if an individual or a society does not perform such an action, then it is impossible to reach the spiritual. There is no other chance. You will never have the power to individually attract the Surrounding Light in the quantity and quality sufficient for correction. This is possible only through the help of a group. Why? Because through this you not only express your love for the others, but also show that you really want to attract the Surrounding Light, so that it corrects you. It all comes together: I want to come outside of myself and I express this desire by trying to love my fellow man. And if we study together in order to express in reality my desire to come outside of myself, then, obviously, the Surrounding Light acts upon me and helps me. Both factors form this action of mine, this tendency. If, on the contrary, I think about how to extract benefit here and there, asking for the spiritual, asking for the Surrounding Light – what will come in response? After all, my state is opposite to it.
So it follows that you have to aspire to bestowal, to aspire clearly and unambiguously, in confidence that you are aspiring specifically to it, and not to something else. You can display this for your fellow man before you. If you demonstrate your desire for bestowal and really want this force to come and grant you this property – the light appears and provides this. This is what is called action, performed in a group. In essence, this is the system. There is nothing else but this up to the Final Correction. May you be blessed later with being part of a group like that of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, however, the same work will be performed there. Until the Final Correction, until the last interaction in the world of Infinity, an individual is engaged in the same kind of work in relation to the other souls, until he gathers them all together into the Infinite Kli called Adam HaRishon.
In essence, all of the 125 degrees that we ascend on our way upwards represent the acquisition of love directed from an individual towards a fellow man, towards the others. There is nothing else beside this. Through this we acquire the nature of the Creator, Who emanates exactly the same attitude to the creation. You become equivalent with the Creator in your properties, and, as a result, you really attain His level, His form. He wants to give you what He has – and you really come to the point when you receive what the Creator has, that which exists in the degree called "the Creator". This is what the purpose of the creation is – to bring good to His creatures. And, of course, the fulfillment that a created being ultimately receives and senses has absolutely no connection to his original desire for delight. A created being acquires something that lies beyond his desire for delight.
(From the lesson of December 12, 2004)
52) Without work in the group it is impossible to determine what it means to "receive" and what it means to "bestow". People come together and start working among themselves, because this work allows them to clarify their position in relation to the goal, which is invisible to them.
Now we exist inside of a ball, a sphere, in an enclosed space. We have to direct ourselves outward, to some far-away star, setting our course precisely for it. Kabbalists tell us that if we work on love for each other, if each thinks about the others then the target, that is, our inner inclination, will be directed exactly towards this star, the goal, the Creator. You do not have to see the star that shines for you – just start building such a relationship inside your nature. We have ten, twenty or thirty people. The Creator arranges it so that we have a group of friends who also aspire to discover the right direction.
In the state when you do not see this direction, build the right attitude inside your sphere, your closed space. Direct yourself. You have all the conditions needed to set a course in the right direction.
(Daily Article, December 29, 2004)
53) A million actions will bring you to the right thought, if you perform them specifically for this purpose. It is impossible to miss. However, alone you are unable to know unable to analyze yourself. But if this is done by the surrounding people, you will definitely start thinking and acting the way they do.
Our problem is that each person feels free and does not become a "slave" of group interests. The group does not influence a person and does not transform him into its integral element; it does not imply that this is necessary in relation to each member of the group. Our intention does not involve building a common Kli. Otherwise, each person would be chained to the group as if with handcuffs; sturdy shackles would hold him inside, and he wouldn’t be able to leave, wouldn’t be able to think differently. Such a state would become mandatory for a person, if such were the thoughts of the group. After all, these thoughts would certainly subdue the thoughts of the rest of the world.
Look at the examples in history: communists, Nazis, socialists in Israel, Kibbutz adepts of the past – how strongly the thought united them. Was anyone able to escape this? If the thought is strong, it is very hard to escape from such a society. And where to go? You would immediately fall into the abyss. If the group has a desire, it is able to create such conditions for everybody.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
54) We are charged with a collective mission, and we will be worthy only in regards to it. No one is on a personal mission. Not a single person here deserves anything on his own account. Forget this; I warn all of you. It is a pity if any of you think that he has some personal business with the Creator. No! Only all of you together. I simply point your attention to this and lead you as a group. By himself, no one will be worthy of it.
We have no one to turn to in this world, no one to lean on, but the Creator. This is how it has to be. I also teach you not to rely on me, but only on Him. We simply have to unite together. Then we will see what we become worthy of, by doing this. If we work hard now, focusing on the forthcoming Congress, trying to unite the World Kli and ourselves, if we attempt to leave our "womb", - this narrow, cramped place in which we exist, if we exit through this narrow passageway and enter the illuminated world, aspire to cross over into it and live there in adhesion with the Creator, having lost ourselves – then we would really become worthy of exit from Egypt.
I really hope that this will actually happen to us in the near future. Believe me, I want to accompany you to the very opening, lead you to this crossing and bring you through, to welcome you on the other side and show you what this is – show you all the light and abundance, all this order that exists beyond the limits of that narrow passageway, which a human being passes through, as if experiencing death in this world. This is very hard. I even heard, from those who were close to Rabash, how he used to scream. They said that there was a period when Rabash screamed a lot and was very tense. Observing from outside, they did not understand what was really happening with him. This is a very hard thing, but I hope that I will be worthy of leading you to the other side. And when you are actually on the other side, then, I feel, my mission will have been accomplished.
(New Month Meal, October 14, 2004)
55) Only bestowal to the group is unconditional. If, through a group, a person "contacts" that which he calls "The Creator" – it is not the Creator. It is a certain source of filling for his ego. A person has to constantly augment his receptivity in regard to the group, checking what he is doing in order to receive. He has to relate to the group as to the force that bestows to him. When a person constantly reduces the limits within which he allows himself to think about issues that do not relate to the adhesion with the group – he is approaching the state called "love sick". If a person can imagine the Creator as the One Who Bestows and is ready to advance through the group, if advancement through the group is, in his eyes, the real advancement towards the properties of the One Who Bestows, then he reaches the state called "love sick". Based on the equivalency of form, he loves the Creator, desires Him. This is still an "artificial" state, still mixed with Lo-Lishma, however, in some respect this state is directed towards the correct goal. Then the Creator moves away the slumber, takes it out, and a person starts coming home.
(Daily Article, January 10, 2005)
56) Whatever gets revealed to us is revealed in relation to the Creator. The environment can only provide me with a place to exert efforts and accelerate my development. However, the intentions have to be linked to the Creator. There are four levels: still, vegetative, animated, and speaking. The speaking level possesses an affiliation to the Creator, and for it, this affiliation is the means, the place where the Creator gets revealed; this is the condition for His revelation. The Creator is revealed in the inter-connections among the souls, outside of oneself, not in me, but in the connection between us. The environment itself is not a separate topic for discussion. There is no holiness in it unless it becomes the place for the dwelling of Shechinah, for the revelation of the Creator. Only then it relates to the Holiness and is called "the Holy Society", but only under this condition.
If a person prescribes the society a bigger value than the means of attaining the adhesion with the Creator would deserve, then it becomes the Klipa, similar to Sodom and other negative examples in the Torah. The same goes for the adepts of the Kibbutz movement, communists, and the like. However, if the Creator is on top of everything, and the group serves as the means, then it becomes the only, indispensable, and compulsory condition.
It follows that, obviously, everything should go through the group. However, any thought about the group that is not linked to the Creator is absolutely of no use. This applies to everything, no matter what we do, and especially to people who occupy the leading positions in the group in terms of decision-making process and implementation. In the "Holy society" these have to be great people, in a spiritual sense. Their actions in the group can have a tremendous effect – such have to be their intentions as well.
For this reason, Baal HaSulam never wrote some special external specialists should lead the society. The enterprise can play a role of a consultant – but only to up to a certain point and in the areas where the actions are still separated from the intentions. This is feasible in intermediate stages when our society comes into contact with other layers of the population. However, in the corrected society the intentions define even the simplest actions of a human being, working on a farm or in a factory. A human being cannot be appointed a director due only to professional considerations. He must incorporate intentions into his professionalism. If the intentions are not adequate for a given position, his professional qualities can destroy the entire society. This is the so called case when "actions exceed intentions".
This is why Baal HaSulam writes everywhere that society's leadership, including professionals, must consist of the most prominent figures of the generation. Obviously, it does not apply to us yet, however, the corrected society can be governed only in this way. Then, all actions of a human being will be directed towards Holiness, towards establishing a connection with the Divine revelation of the Creator in the creating beings. How can we entrust the important actions and decisions to someone whose intentions are directed towards self-love, lust for power or are not directed towards anything at all? Even if a human being is simply devoted to his profession and needs nothing else - for instance, computer programmers, who are totally immersed in their computer world – he becomes a real burden to a group, although he seemingly performs great deeds. Until our society is on the path, and while it and the entire world are not corrected, you can hire such a person as a contractor, pay him the amount he is asking for, and get done what you need. Since the entire world is still divided into our society and the rest of the world, you can maintain a buying–selling relationship with it that does not involve intentions. Doing so, you take people's desires and raise them to the level of your intentions, illuminating the world.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
57) Every time that you gather with your friends, to be involved in various activities together over a few days, if it is a prolonged event – like in Sitrin – or over a span of a few moments, when we are singing and dancing together at a feast, you become inspired about how good it would be to exit the self. You feel the melting into boundlessness and sense the entry into the immensity of an alternative life. Such impressions gradually accumulate in you and you begin to understand that it is worth your while to live for this. This understanding is still egotistical; however, it is a type of Lo Lishma that leads to Lishma. It is already a certain perception of what it means to be outside of oneself. The perception is still evaluation using vessels of reception; however, you have already realized that it is worth it. Consequently, if you put your head into it and with the group working as it should, you gradually receive more and more of such impressions. Eventually, you attain a state that is called “better death than such a life.”
The Creator for you is that particular exit out of yourself. That is precisely the state for which you are heart-broken. The Creator is not a means, but a state that you draw yourself into – a picture of what it means to be the Creator. We use such a concept to imagine everything and this situation is no different.
You strive for the pleasure that is hidden in that state when you are on the outside of yourself. We weigh only the pleasure. A greater or a smaller state, submission and bestowal – we measure everything according to whether there is more or less pleasure. There is nothing else for us to weigh – my “weights“ are only useful for this.
When we begin to feel a calling – a desire to be unbounded by our vessels; to have good thoughts about and to experience good feelings towards others; to love them, when we get the opportunity to go beyond our constrains, our suffering and everything that is bad; when we feel that there is a very special pleasure being concealed – that is what brings us to a state of Lo Lishma. Then, within this Lo Lishma emerges the sensation of Lishma. You begin to sense that even if this state is meant for you, you still do not attain perfection in it. It is a matter of a sensation that I am not capable of describing. Gradually, such a state takes hold and these types of perceptions are formed. Within this desire to exit the self arises a wish not be associate with exist with the slightest thought for oneself, and that it should result in a totally new Kli – not connected to the previous one in any way. This type of desire development is analogous to the four phases of the expansion of the direct light. This is how the process works.
However, it progresses slowly, step by step, by means of actions in a group. There are no other ways.
The Creator is concealed. Even the fact that He is a Giver of pleasure is concealed and also that which He gives. Yet, this is what gives you room to develop your vessels of bestowal – if you so wish. No other place can be found. You are given that particular structure of the shattered parzuf of Adam HaRishon – go ahead and work. By beginning to work here, you will reveal the surrounding light that will gradually show you the true picture. It is very simple: at first you existed at the level of souls, connected with each other in one Kli, whereas now you can feel only the body and not the soul. This situation is no different. It is for your benefit. Now act.
The Creator has not created anything but this structure. It is just that in your uncorrected state, the vessel of Adam HaRishon appears to you in the form of bodies of your friends. Such is the system through which you are connected to correction. Furthermore, there are many bodies in the world that are not connected to you directly. You are not required to carry out any work in relation to them. You only need to be concerned that they should not spoil the work for you, whereas you include them indirectly in your efforts, so that in the future they would also connect to correction. The group represents the whole vessel of the parzuf of Adam HaRishon – given for your work.
In your efforts to go beyond yourself towards your friends, into your friends, you gradually receive an inspiration about how good and worthwhile it is. Then you begin to comprehend the extent to which it was important to fully be aspiring to go beyond oneself, without any expectation of a self-benefit. If a particular number of people think this way and the force of their efforts is adequate, then this is in actuality the condition of mutual guarantee.
(From the Morning Lesson of January 11, 2005)
58) The system is simple: it is the sum of all souls. If a person becomes convinced that he has no choice and makes an effort, then first of all he has to be sure that it is time to begin acting in order to awaken help from above. A person exerts himself, experiences failures, stops and runs away; however, if it is important for him, he is then prepared to tolerate great torments. He begins to think: “What is happening to me? Why am I not thinking about that which is the most important? Why am I ignoring that which my life depends on, lest I end life empty-handed”? A person begins to worry and if he channels his worry through the group, which also faces the same problem, then he will receive help from above and the importance of bestowal will be revealed to him; the importance of the external Kli that exists beyond his ego. Actually, that is not a Kli, but rather the intent for bestowal. In this way, step-by-step, a person begins to value this new state, being the ability to exit his own shell – and gradually he does.
The order of actions is as follows: to exert effort together with a group, through books and study; to ask that it should happen – and then it will. Efforts should be aimed only to this end and not to worry about anything else. As soon as this happens, we will be granted the mutual guarantee. As it says in the article “Arvut”, upon the satisfaction of this condition, the Upper Power immediately revealed itself to Israel and they received the Torah. Every thing is ready and awaiting your action.(Daily Article, January 23, 2005)
59) Once during the holiday of Sukkot with Rabash, we sensed a certain unusual high. I asked him: “What are we missing?” The group felt as though we were all with one desire. Despite the fact that we did not have any special connection, nevertheless, this one desire arose. “So what is missing?” He replied: “An attack”. You have to decide that you will now go to the very end, and that it is not important that one second later you will change your mind. Even if you know that you are not capable, and yet in that particular instance you decide to go through with it, that is enough. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the book “Shamati”: “A person is judged according to where he is now”. In other words, when a person makes his decision, it becomes the truth according to which he is judged. To that end, I recommend that you stop all foolishness. You are all here; there is nothing else available except for only one means – friends and a united group. You have to disconnect from everything else, while internally you immerse yourself, as deeply as possible, into that which you are now attempting to do – to realize it and remain only in it. This is what an attack is. An attack is a greater and great internal focus. Let us hope that we will succeed. Everything depends on you. To that end, together we must all maintain our internal concentration and desire for one goal. We want it, and we want it immediately.
How to maintain one’s concentration in view of various external circumstances? If you concentrate and wish to become a sort of “dark hole” that does not let any light out; if all of you who are gathered internally, all together exert an effort in your concentration so that no one would be able to lose his thought on something else – it will have such an influence on each one, as it happens sometimes in Sitrin. There is simply nothing else besides this. This is what you have to do. This is what concentration is, the force of the blown up balloon. None of the work is carried out by the Creator; all is from the part of man. There is no dominion over this from above.(December 2, 2004)
60) When you step out into the external world, and lose sight of your friends and the group, it becomes very hard to remain focused on the goal. Life goes on in the world right in front of your eyes, introducing into you a different spirit. Since you are already used to that which takes place there, and by engaging in it and thinking of something else, you come to be in a different state. In contrast, while here you study with all your group friends and you are immersed in a particular format. While, there in the outside world, you fall into different boundaries.
Therefore, we must be more focused and feel each other. Then, even if you are not capable, the others will exert their influence on you, and you will be able to go through many states and maintain the proper inner analysis.
During the lesson, you obtain an inner sensation – try to maintain this sensation everywhere. I remember how I tried to do it when I was with my friends. Overall, in our sensations, we should attempt to be able to disregard any changes in location.
Try to distinguish, in your external actions, the inner part. That is not easy. Possibly, it restricts the external actions, by removing from them the free impulse for physical pleasure. Yet, if parallel with this action you internally continue to maintain the filling, while on the outside you show happiness, so that others would not feel your internal seriousness, then you will suddenly discover that you are made up of parts and layers. This is a very effective exercise that must be experienced.
Be very careful not to spoil the mood for others with your seriousness and “righteousness”. Suddenly an “intention” arises in you and then you require some special concentration – this is certainly forbidden. You should behave precisely as recommended by Rabash, at the time of the gathering of friends: a blazing fire internally, joy externally, even along with revitalization and playfulness – this is our obligation.
Begin to play this out correctly, so that by way of consolidation, in particular with new friends, we would achieve the unification of the group and the connection of the parts of the Kli. Just like in an explosion: the stronger the pressure being exerted on the material, the greater is the release of internal energy.
(December 1, 2004)
61) Even though we see our many friends on the monitor screens who live far away from us, we need to be concerned only with the unification of our hearts and souls, as opposed to the intersection of our material coordinates. If we could feel the unification effected by the Upper light, if the Upper light would indeed unify us – we will become so close to each other, that we will feel ourselves as one person with a single heart. We will experience common feelings and thoughts. We will have a sensation that we are not sitting besides each other, but actually exist one inside the other, absolutely together. This is the result that we must arrive at, and it has no relation whatsoever to distance.
Our goal is to cover the distances separating us with the spiritual, not physically, and to unify by means of the spiritual, so that our thoughts and desires would become one in a single spiritual space.
(From the talk of the Tuv BeShvat Meal, January 24, 2005)
62) The calculations are not dependent on the experience or the knowledge of TES. There is only a single simple condition and it is as follows: whether we will be able to accept, so to speak, this naïve decision to successfully carry out that which arises in front of us. That is all. No amount of wisdom can help. Experience does not give a person any advantage whatsoever and, in fact, only serves as a liability.
There is only one simple requirement: anywhere that you may find yourself – at every point of your path, in any state – you should surely demand a connection with the Creator and achieve it. It can be said that we are ready. There is no need to arm ourselves with anything else; we have nothing missing in terms of various special diversities – everything totally depends on desire. We need to carry out an attack, and we will succeed. It all depends on our decision.
I think we are capable and we can achieve this, seeing that here we have people gathered that truly desire this with their hearts and souls. If we inspire each other, if we achieve this desire even for a few intervals, it will bring a tremendous benefit, since such instances accumulate until we come to the reception of the Torah. There is really little that is demanded of us, to desire this with the whole heart. All that is required is to want that the heart of each would open up to his friends without waiting for a response. You need to simply melt your heart and to pour everything you have inside on others – everything that you were preparing for yourself, give it to your friend. This is what will make us succeed.
(Virtual Congress, January 20, 2005)
63) How should I show myself to my friends, so that in response I receive a desire for the spiritual? Maybe, in order for him to express his desire to me, I need to awaken in him a call to action, directed at me? Or maybe he should not even pay any attention to me – perhaps it is only my approach to him that determines the possibility of extracting from him the spiritual desire? Both are true. We represent creation that experiences a reaction to the environment. I find myself on a material level, and it is imperative for me that my friends should exert influence on me. A friend is obligated thus, he is simply obligated to project all possible external signals and thus influence me. Otherwise, he is not a friend. Yet, that which I take from him actually depends on me. RABASH talks about it repeatedly: the key is how many zeros I place after the one of my friend; the extent to which and why I nullify myself for this goal; what I want in return – all these form the vessel, and the form of the vessel then causes the form of the light that fills it. It is irrelevant what you will be doing in relation to your friends. You only need to know that you depend on them in your desire to receive something from them, and if you are prepared to nullify yourself before them for this goal – that is enough.
“To nullify yourself” before your friends means that you are constantly ready to agree that they are higher and more significant than you, that their requirements in any instance are more important than your personal ones. They are valuable to you. And again, why are they so valuable? It is because you have the same goal – one Creator.
I form my Kli by defining my relationship with my friends, by taking from them that which I need, and then developing an attitude towards myself and the Creator – precisely that form determines everything. There is nothing else besides this. Later you will discover that you actually exist in an ocean of upper light. Your form is what the intent is.
(Daily Article, January 3, 2005)
64) How should one use the ascents and the inspirations in order to quickly attain the spiritual world, without cooling down? Rabash said only one thing: it is a question of an attack.
By “attack” it means that each one is attacking his heart, aiming it at others without any considerations for himself and nullifying all thought-up considerations with others. That is all. An “attack” is when it makes no difference what your friends are doing, but you feel an obligation to complete your job. In your heart you inspire others. That is what an attack is, and thanks to this we will succeed. I truly hope that we will accept this upon ourselves, that in our hearts each one will be able to infect others with inspiration.
(Virtual Congress, January 20, 2005)
65) Each one must feel responsible for the whole group. If he lets go for even an instant, then the whole group lets go of him also. If he weakens, then everybody also weakens. One should not lose even an instant by paying attention to anything else and must take into consideration how his next step will reflect on the group. It is difficult, yet it must somehow be considered. I understand that it is possible to have much faltering. I went through it myself. Yet, each has an obligation to think about and consider all, and to maintain oneself in a state of high preparedness. Even if a person is not capable of doing anything with himself, it is important that he see to what extent he is not capable, the depth of the crisis. He will learn from this for the future.
(New Month Meal, October 14, 2004)
66) We need more of the kind of thoughts that allow us to become connected.
Each of us is thinking about achieving bestowal – the Creator or the spiritual. Each person interprets this in his own way. However, what we are missing is the “prayer of the society”, that is, the understanding that a person will not receive an answer to his prayer without friends and without being included into the desire of the entire group.
When we turn to the Creator during study or at another time, we must not forget that all of us together are thinking and desiring the same thing, with the understanding that the Creator can become revealed only in the common Kli, in the common question, in the common prayer and in the common plea that includes all of the desires of each of us. The perception of this singularity has to become the basic point. We begin from it and then we raise our plea. First, we become inter-included below, amongst ourselves and in our desires. Then, with the understanding that we are all connected with each other, by way of the mutual guarantee, we begin to raise our plea upwards.
It would also be worthwhile for us to look for phrases and sayings that will make it clear that we include the entire society in ourselves and, from within it, we raise our common prayer – “the prayer of the society”. Then we will see and perceive how much more effective this prayer is, in comparison with all of the individual pleas and each individual’s personal efforts.
(The lesson of January 20, 2005)
67) We have to conceive of the Creator as Great and as the group’s Rav. We demand from Him to give us the details of perception and the attributes, and to help us have the mutual perception of love and bestowal. Not more than this. Each person has to conceive of the Creator as inside of himself. You have to perceive yourself, the group and the Creator together as one piece, without any difference in the details. You, your friend and the Creator are all together. If a person maintains this state as his goal and demands from himself, from the group and from the Creator for everything to be specifically this way, then this becomes realized.
(Virtual Congress, January 20, 2005)
68) We should focus primarily on the work among us. The stronger we are, the better media forms we will be able to produce. The force that we will have will be like a burning fire within us, felt stronger anywhere. So first of all we should work on our own unification and quality of our work: our desire and intention has to be clear, sharp, and directed towards one goal as much as possible – as one man with one heart. Everyone on the outside will feel it subconsciously. People who belong to it - to the goal - will come to us, and not just those, who still have to sort things down.
The more oriented we are on the goal, the more united we are with each other, the more our group, with its attunement to a certain "frequency", will affect those, who somehow belong to this, feel close to this. Only they will come. Not those still interested in magic and looking for miracles.
(New Month Meal, December 12, 2004)
69) Starting from today onwards, every one of us must feel his or her responsibility; feel that the light above is open to him, and that each moment has to be devoted to the adhesion with the Creator. Let him stand on the opposite side – the side of the Creator. In general, let him go into the place where he does not exist, where he can exist only being bonded with the Creator in his thoughts, desires, existence, and actions – without any reference to himself. He, as such, does not exist. This is what every one of us must feel, building this direction of thoughts every second. Then we will succeed.
(New Month Meal, October 14, 2004)
70) We do not have that which we are asking for. The light has to come and give this to us; it has to teach us what bestowal is and how to make the calculation correctly, as well as how to acquire the strength and the desire to give – all of this is only in the light. Therefore, we have to ask for this to be given to us.
But a question still remains: where can we acquire the desire to turn to the Creator with the plea that He give us the desire to bestow? This problem is solved only with the help of the environment. However, the problem first has to be understood. If the environment forgets that it is nothing more than separated vessels and that the unification of friends can take place only by way of attracting the strength from above that will connect them for the sake of bestowal to the Creator; if this is forgotten, then the work will not even begin. The Creator must be at the head of everything – in the beginning of every thought and every action as the Source of the desire, as the fuel and as the goal that is achieved through action.
(Daily Article, February 9, 2005)
71) The group must help you to attribute everything to the Creator. If you build your relation to the Creator through the group and if you come to bestowal to Him through the group, this means that the group is fulfilling its function. After all, ultimately the group is the vessel of Adam HaRishon, and through it we reach the Creator. The goal consists in performing bestowal to the Creator just the same way that He performs bestowal to us. The group is not the goal, rather, the group is a means that allows us to get to the goal.
The group is obligated to help me. It is searching for oneness – for the Only One and the Unique One, and the possessions of the Only One – and this common search helps each person to maintain the willingness to attribute every desire and every thought to the Creator. At first glance, this work seems simple to us. However, we do not know the extent to which it helps a new internal Kli to emerge in us. We transform our internal origins and begin to acquire the feelings and concepts that do not relate to this world. By doing this, we awaken ourselves from the inside, from the depth of our creation. That is, we awaken the vessels that already belong to the spiritual world.
This does not mean that you are playing hide-and-seek with the Creator who is hiding, when He says: “This is not I”; and you answer: “No, this is You”. Here, you are constructing a unique mechanism for each desire, which then transforms into the vessel for the Upper light. We do not have several kinds of vessels. The Creator created only one desire. If this desire is turned towards oneself, what’s called “inside of the skin” or inside of one’s own body, then this is Klipa. If, however, the desire is directed towards the outside, then this is called Holiness (Kdusha). This is where you truly clarify and correct the desire.
(Daily Article, February 6, 2005)
72) A person should take care of himself and the group, in order to become an integral and, in essence, an equal part. One without the other is impossible. The guarantee is mutual.
The time of single Kabbalists has come to an end. This was an intermediate phase between destruction and full freedom. Now a new era has begun. As Baal HaSulam writes, it is the "time to act". We have concluded the exile and now everyone has to ascend to freedom or the reception of the Torah. This is possible only by way of the mutual guarantee. Therefore, the first articles of Baal HaSulam, that were written for a broad audience, are the “The Granting of the Torah” and “The Mutual Guarantee”. In opposition to motiveless hate, the correction according to the principle “love your neighbor as yourself” is necessary, or “as one person with one heart”. We have to become guarantors for each other. This is what is called: constructing the common intention.
…A Kli is being made from us, in order to advertise Kabbalah to the world and to raise a big commotion, which will keep increasing. However, this does not say anything about our spiritual level. We should not fall into illusions – one thing is not related to the other. It is possible that we really are an example to the world in some regard, although I am not sure about this. We are simply the Creator’s advertising agency. There will be no negotiations in his regard.
(The lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
73) There is no distinction between the manner in which a person relates to the group and how he relates to the Creator. A person's work in the group consists of developing love for his friends, and evoking his friends' love for himself. In other words, one has to be "easy-going in conversation", "pleasant" and so on. The same happens in relationship with the Creator. However, as we always say, we have to start with love for friends, because it is there that we can check ourselves: are we acting in this direction or not. Indeed, friends can demand from a person the desired treatment, in other words, to arrange their relationship in a manner that each one obliges the other, evokes in him a need for it and creates conditions that have to be fulfilled. Later, in accordance with his work, a person sees that his efforts awaken the Surrounding Light, and that his relationship with the Creator, or how the Creator relates back towards him, is revealed in this very relation with his friends.
Why are there two types of relationships: a person's relationship towards his friends or the Creator, and, conversely, his friends’ and the Creator’s towards him? Both of these types depend on a person. Outside of a person there is only the Upper Light of Infinity that fills all of reality, and is in complete rest, in its invariable relation towards a human being. If it seems to a person that he needs to relate to something and that there is something outside of him that relates to him, he himself conditions it all. In both directions the person determines the course of events. With regard to the group – it manifests in a person's work on his desires, in relation to the group, in bestowal to the group, in his desire to surrender his will to the group, and to receive the group's relationship towards him. To the extent that the person exhibits love for his friends in order to reach the goal, he becomes worthy of being accepted as a creditable part of the group. To the extent that he shows that he needs their love, a person demonstrates that he is an integral part of the group because he causes a lack in them by which they too can advance.
(Daily Article, March 16, 2005)
74) The truth is that other than carrying out Arvut in the group we have nothing else to do. There is nothing else with which to be occupied. From time to time we must open another phase, and the phase that we are now approaching is Arvut. It is up to us to come to a situation in which each of us would feel both being a part of the common Kli, and as an individual Kli. That is how it is perceived on a spiritual level. We lack only this feeling. If we perceive ourselves inside of this Kli, a spiritual revelation, the revelation of the Creator will happen there. The first spiritual level lies there.
…It is up to us only to enter that same perception, that same vessel. The light appears immediately after we start sensing the vessels. Essentially, sensing the vessels means that I feel everyone's desires, including my own, in their yearning for the Creator. And this bonds all. This means that we have to build the Kli. There are no other matters to operate in, no themes to develop. We will see in it the whole world, and how what we are learning is realized and implemented there. Whatever we do now, we transfer to our friends all over the world, instantly radiating our states onto them – and this is a great responsibility. If, through us, they get into a descent, this comes back to us in a very, very serious and awful way. Secondly, it is a lot harder to awaken them later on. We should feel a great responsibility towards our group and towards the world group. Basically, this is Arvut.
… If we start reading the material of Baal HaSulam that we have studied thus far through the prism of Arvut, we will see it in a completely different light, as if there is no connection whatsoever with all sorts of articles, letters, or even TES that we have covered. Working through the group, when you relate to our friends with Arvut and responsibility in order to support and advance them, you will see that by doing so, we acquire a new Kli - the future spiritual Kli. Then you will start to understand the meaning of the material that we study, and its relation to you. Overall, something new will be revealed.
…We don’t have to feel the desires of our friends towards the Creator. We should not inspect them, searching for their desire for the Creator. I first need to work on myself: how much do I do for them so that they will feel uplifted or inspired? How much effort do I put into saving or moving our whole ship forwards?
.. My relation towards others primarily consists of my efforts to do everything in order to help the group recuperate. Putting forth this effort, you will feel the sensation of a united Kli and understand that other than yourself everyone else is already corrected. Obviously, this makes it necessary to analyze people next to you. However, this is done only after you constantly check your own readiness to unite with the friends as "One man with one heart". …I only judge by the external appearance. Each person has to awaken and bestow to everybody; each - according to his nature, which you nevertheless understand on a human level. One is enthusiastic and runs as if crazy, while another is calmer, yet you know that his calmness does not come from indifference. He simply burns differently.
…Don't be so certain that we will keep advancing. The Creator does not waive the need for exertion; it is not possible because here we are dealing with a Kli. If we don't invest our efforts into building this Kli, nothing will happen. There have already been such groups and instances; also now, there are other groups besides us. If need be, another group will be made to advance very quickly, somewhere out there, and it will become what it has to become. The freedom of choice is not cancelled. And is it? Are you all standing here as one man with one heart? If you are ready – please, if no – no. Only this is asked before the granting of the Torah. Everything else has to do with subsequent realization at the spiritual levels. Standing at Mount Sinai is that very point, and Arvut is the Kli.
(From Rav's talks on Arvut, October 25, 2004)
75) …You cannot receive each one separately. You cannot turn to the Creator in an egotistical manner: “I accumulated the needs of all my friends, and now give me!” "Me" will not work. The prayer needs to be, what is called a public prayer, a prayer of many.
There is no point in turning to the Creator without an appropriately polished Kli. When you turn to the Creator from your ego, you simply sob about feeling bad. There are many others who do this, and they don’t receive anything from their lamentations. You need to turn to the Creator with the appropriate Kli: What am I asking: to reach adhesion with the Creator? This, the Creator hears. But how do you prove that you really came with this request? And how would you know that you came with the appropriate need to acquire the adhesion and bestowal? For this, the Creator asks that you prove to Him that you did something on your part.
Then the group is exactly the place of preparing the Kli to turn to the Creator. Otherwise, you will never know if you are turning to Him specifically. You can scream: "I have a desire! Can’t You see this!" This is out of the question. Quite the opposite, when you feel that you are beginning to understand, or that you have some taste for bestowal, this will turn you to the group. You will see that the path to the Creator is only through the group.
(Daily Article, February 3, 2005)
76) Our desire, our cry as a request to hold us, to do something with us – all of that can come only from the group. This is the only way we get uplifted and inspired for action. Why? This is so because, thanks to the group, we connect to the general system of Adam HaRishon. In other words, by performing actions in order to connect to this system and advance together with everyone, you are granted a possibility to make real progress together with everyone. Practically, this is the same thing. Then, you are ascending in the right direction. You won't have an opportunity to choose drawing closer towards the Creator, unless the environment, the rest of the souls condition this. How can you advance towards the Creator without connecting to them? You won't have the Kli! Therefore, to the degree you want to connect to such a group and form yourself in relation to your friends so that you get inspired by them and inspire them in return, to this degree you acquire an even greater ability and readiness to comprehend bestowal to the Creator. I repeat: this is the same. So it follows that whatever is natural to a newborn baby comes out as hard work among friends. A newly born baby has a natural urge for progress, development, to cry for help and support. Here, I acquire the same thanks to the group – forcefully, consciously, and sensibly, by working against my ego.
(Daily Article, March 15, 2005)
77) The truth is that we need to yearn for redemption from above. The problem is that we do not subject ourselves to the single, main, only, and special factor. This is the answer to all our problems and the correction of all the evil inside of us. Redemption will come only from there. We need to understand that whatever happens to us comes from Him, so that we will turn to Him. If we accomplished something in all our corrections, we would bring upon ourselves an awareness of this power from above. Otherwise these corrections will also not be corrections.
Why do these Corrections not occur in us? This is because we do not attract the main factor. We want things to work out, we think that if we write a statute, formulate various conditions and rules, they will be realized in the human mind, the human area of perception. However, this does not happen, and not because we cannot fulfill this, but because in these things the Creator does not reside. The Upper Power does not reside in these laws, and because of this the corrections do not occur. It is our duty not to forget this factor. All the conditions are only so that the Creator will come closer to us and reside in us. Only then do the Corrections take place.
(February 4, 2005)
78) The adhesion with the friends means that you become inter-connected with all the desires that are directed towards adhesion with the Creator. "Friend" is not someone who simply sits next to me: brunet, or redhead, with one personality or another. A friend is the power that exists in the other, the yearning, the power of the desire to reach adhesion with the Creator. This is called a friend.
Who is the "I"? From all that exists inside of you, you uncover only one thing: your desire for the Creator. This is called the "I"- the point in the heart. If so, who is the friend? Your friend is his point in the heart. His desire for adhesion with the Creator through the group, and your desire for adhesion with the Creator through the group, - these are precisely the desires that need to be connected. If we join them together, this will be the Kli in which the light will be revealed. This is how each friend needs to be considered, and to these points we need to connect. If you look at their points, you don’t care how they look or about their personality. Rather, you see these things as helpful obstacles that you need to get through and penetrate in order to reach the point in the heart in him. The things that disgust you in another person are given so that you will clarify the purity of your desire to connect to him.
This is why each one needs to see the personality and the negative qualities of his friend as problems that exist in himself, problems that it is his duty to overcome in order to reach the point in the heart of the friend. This is how it appears to you, and who is he himself, you don’t know. This is how you see him.
Question: So how is it possible to overcome this, what needs to be done?
We can overcome this only through the realization of the importance of the goal and the Creator, Whom we cannot reach without connecting with a friend. Then the friend becomes important as a means, and later, I see that he is important as the goal as well.
(Daily Article, March 14, 2005)
79) Is there an individual intention of a person without the group? Of course, but I would say that it is not for our times. I have an individual intention that is not tied to the group, so there is such a thing. However, I am sure that already in today's reality this cannot happen to a novice. As of today, we have entered a new dimension, a new period, when only in the group, only in connection with each other can we advance.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
80) The Torah describes the whole path, what happens with a man, what needs to happen with us. It tells us about the path of intention: how we rise above the material and check our relationship with the Creator, how we relate to Him.
…This is how you check your condition: whether you are in exile or in redemption. All the situations are checked only according to the intention. We need to pass the whole path in our intention, to build it from zero. The more we elevate above the zero level, the deeper we fall – our degree of non-involvement or involvement is revealed to us. We have to pass the whole spiritual path by building the intention towards the Creator. The corporeal path that humanity passes in all of its manifestations and its forms, advancing, going through scientific-technologic progress and so on, is the projection and extension of it. All this is a copy of all the situations that we need to pass in our intentions. All these processes and phenomena have no other justification. When something changes, it changes because the intention is projected into corporeality. If not for this, we would be like animals that do not change. The cow in its nature doesn’t change. The cow from 1000 years ago is no different than the cow today.
The process that humanity has passed through all of history, in its development in various channels, is also a copy of the intention that needs to develop. And if we fail to acquire the right intention to what is happening to us in reality, we deviate even more, and the development of intention falls behind the material development. The resulting difference between them brings us sorrow and suffering.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
81) You can build good or bad intentions in relation to Him after you declare His rule over you. Then you become capable of expressing your relation to Him in regards to his rule over you. Is this governance good or bad? Is it beneficial or harmful to you? Is it beneficial or harmful to Him? What does He want by this? Do you get angry with Him for upheavals in your life if He really rules over all of us?
But first, we start with determining that He rules over us. I placed the article "There is None Else Besides Him" as the first one in the book of “Shamati”, because without establishing this principle, all the rest is worthless. All the articles in “Shamati”, meaning all the deeds, actions, thoughts, all that happens to a person – if all this does not come from the Creator, then with what is a person to work ? Your work starts after you know and become a hundred percent sure that that everything comes from Him – even what I am saying about Him now. Either way you turn it, whatever you say for or against, it is also from Him. Where is the ""I"? This point still needs to be found. The "I" of a person is under all acquired understanding, thoughts, actions and occurrences. It is so called crude matter.
All of our studies, realization of the current condition and ways of working with it, defining the choice in aspiring for the goal in relation to myself or Him, - all of this starts after I establish His governance. And I must do this in the state of concealment.
(Lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
82) Effort can be in quantity or quality.
Amount of effort is when a person works in all areas that, as he has been told, can advance him towards the goal: bestowal to the group, physical work in the group. These efforts are measured if not by desire, then by the action. Here we refer to study, circulation work, all things that belong to the general correction of man and the world.
Quality of effort means only one thing - work in intention. In this too, there are of course many manifestations and types of analysis. Intention determines the main part of the result. We need actions in this world in particular; they belong specifically to this world, and their purpose is to return us to the correct desirable intention. We perform actions with our physical body. What we do in our studies is also called action . In other words, for now, during the time of preparation, all things, other than the inner work in the soul (the work with the screens) are called "the work in action". After we acquire a screen, we will move forward to the work of inner actions, to the inner work. Once we begin to work with the screens, intention and action will become one for us. But before we acquire a screen, all the work that we do, in our physical body, in study, in the brain and mind, - all of it is called "action". "Intention" is our ability to keep focused on the goal during the action or outside of it; when we clarify the goal exactly in accordance with the correct definitions. We always need to check if we can exert more effort in actions, particularly, with our efforts in intention. In essence intention is that which brings the desirable result.
(Daily Article, February 16, 2005)
83) If you, in any possible way, even without a desire (which is even more useful) remember the inner action that you need to accomplish; if to all your work, to each moment of your life you remember to connect to the final goal – reaching adhesion, entering eternity and perfection – it is good.
Although, the moment you realize that you do not want this, that you hate it, and that you are fed up with this – it does not matter. The most important thing is to maintain this connection and it too is called "a connection". However, if you are disconnected from the goal, it is a sign that your group isn’t working well enough in showing you such thoughts every single moment.
Before each action we need to first add the right intention, and later, in the process of executing the action, we need to refresh it each moment, because indeed the intention escapes us all the time. The difference between two seconds is in the change of intention. You will find that the intention changes the action, if you think only about your intention.
We need to revive the intention each time anew, or to be connected to it all the time. Only to this do we need to devote our attention. Then you will discover that you are changing reality in intention and not deeds. You will realize that you are in a world of intentions, that the field that you are in is a field of feelings, of good or bad, delight or suffering; a field of information and all sorts of relationships. You will find that it is a field of intentions, the field of your relationship with the Creator: starting from the opposite state and up to the equivalence of one-hundred percent.
(Daily Article, February 13, 2005)
84) From the moment a person feels the calling from the point in the heart, the essence of his work can be worded simply: his work is to connect all his states to the Creator. In all the corrections, the work, or the method there is nothing else but this connection. The work consists of connecting to the Creator all events and moments. As a result, the state of concealment comes to a person: single and double concealment, reward and punishment, and other instances. In one way or another, man's work and the direction in which he needs to focus all factors, brings him to a condition defined as "Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one". That is all.
Checking the connection with the Creator, we, first of all, are making sure that the Creator does not escape our attention. Afterwards, a deeper evaluation begins: what exactly binds me to Him? Love? Fear? Something else? This is already an internal element. But first we need to ensure that the Creator does not disappear from our view. This is like when in a tank or airplane, the target is identified and we "lock" our sight on it. Then we are able to move around in all directions but the gyrocompass constantly keeps the direction on the target.
Thus, you received the point in the heart, "locked" yourself, and now you need only to maintain the direction. Although the disturbances set up for you "throw" you off, it does not matter - you will connect all of them to the same direction.
(From the lesson of December 14, 2004)
85) All the hardships that we feel each minute in our lives come because we lose the thought that everything that takes place is connected to the Creator. We forget that all that we feel, or exist in, all that happens to us comes from Him. If I get a hold of this rope, this communication line with the Creator, and know that everything comes from Him to get me closer to the right intention, if I do not lose this connection even for a second – after this, nothing can be hard. Then, on the opposite, all that happens with a person becomes like a lever that advances him and strengthens the connection. In our common thought, in our intention, let us reach the condition where none of us lose this connection with the Creator, and always know that what happens to us comes from the Creator. In this way we will pass the obstacles and manage to reach the goal quickly.
(New Month Meal, November, 2004)
86) How can it be possible, that everything depends on our thoughts? A person has to analyze his thoughts and perceptions. This analysis can be conducted only according to the scheme in which a person attributes everything that happens to the Creator. If a person is inclined to attribute to the Creator everything that happens to him, as well as everything he contains and the sum of everything called “his world”; this tendency is called “a person’s work”. I am referring to working with thoughts, as it was said: “Everything will become clarified in the thought”. All of the clarifications are performed only by way of thoughts. After all, what is thought? The material actions of our physiological body do not influence the spiritual. This is clear. The physiological body does not even have a relation to the desires that are present in it. The desires for food, sex, honor, money and power do not belong to the body. Rather, they are merely clothed in it. Even though we perceive them through our bodies, nevertheless these desires are not attributed to the body. When we are talking about the analysis with regard to Divinity, the first phase consists in attributing everything to the Creator. In the second phase, this attribution to the Creator will lead a person to the intention for the sake of bestowal. When this happens, the entire work concludes. There is nothing more.
(Daily Article, January 13, 2005)
87) The thought is a program that regulates my actions with regard to my own desire. What do we need the mind for? The mind exists beside reason, in order to realize the desires in the optimal way with the help of the thought. Then what is the intention? After all of my initial thoughts about how to work with the material, I come to states where I see that I am unable to work with the material according to the natural program that the material originally had. I have some material, and next to it there is a computer that calculates the methods of working with it. Now I see that this does not benefit me. I come to the understanding that the program needs another component that I lack; this is the intention or the connection with the Creator. If I add this component to my program, that is, if I renew the system, then I will work with my material correctly and achieve fulfillment. That is all.
(The lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 1, Article 503)
88) A Reshimo becomes revealed, and I want to take pleasure in it. This is wonderful; I finally discover that I can still get pleasure out of life. Pleasures that were not there before are now glimmering before me, and my eyes catch on fire. What should I do now? I have to remain above my desires. In other words, the desires have awakened in me in order for me to rise above them. This is called “going against the desires”, or using the desires according to the scheme that is opposite to their demands, that is, to work in spite of them by rising above the inevitable. This does not mean that I destroy the desires, that I kill them or do not use them. “Going against the desires” means to work on the desires in such a way that will allow me to ultimately use them for the sake of bestowal while remaining above them. As a result, my use of the desires will be opposite to their original demands. The principle is the following: when the desire becomes revealed then I merely change its intention into bestowal, that is, instead of the intention “for myself” I activate the intention “for the Creator”. The only thing that changes is the intention, while the desire remains the same as it was before. After all, if I erase the desire itself, if I destroy it, then I will not have anything with which to work. Therefore, our work does not consist of suppressing the desire, but rather in changing its intention to the opposite one.
(January 14, 2005)
) It is not the actions themselves that change, but rather our attitude or relationship towards them. We are talking only about the level of the intentions on the actions; we are talking only about the intentions. In this case, how do we perceive the governance by way of reward and punishment? – Only relative to the intentions. And how do we perceive the eternal governance? – Also relative to the intentions. There is not even the slightest contact with the desires; they become revealed only to the degree that our ability to correctly work with the intentions increases. In addition, “reward and punishment” also refers to our relation to the intention “for the sake of reception” and to the intention “for the sake of bestowal”. By acquiring the “reward” I understand that previously I have performed a specific action with a false intention, but now I am able to be conscious as I perform the given action and at the same time to see that it wholly comes from the Creator. He gives the orders and I carry them out, since the Creator becomes clothed in me and causes this action in me.
(Daily Article, January 21, 2005)
90) A person begins to pay attention to what is happening inside of him. The Creator is working with him, both inside and outside, and a person begins to differentiate what exactly it is that the Creator wants from him. A person begins to feel the principle according to which the Creator acts. An interest in “working for the Creator” emerges in a person, that is, in the work that the Creator is performing on the person and in the forms of its realization. As a result, a person begins to apprehend himself and his reactions to the changes that the Creator uses to shine on him. The Creator shines on him using various changes, and a person changes in conformity to this. This is why it is said that a person is the Creator’s shadow, which vacillates in the changes of forms of the Creator’s influence on him. Then a person begins to understand that, possibly, he too is able to exert an influence in return and to determine the way the Creator will influence him. The reflected light, desire or prayer emerges, and then the work from the person’s side begins. He understands that the Creator is exerting His influence in order for the person to attain the knowledge of what it means to be kind. As a consequence, a person begins to ascend to the Creator by wanting to become kind, and this is called the “genuine prayer for correction”. If a person is constantly looking for the opportunity to ask for corrections, then he begins to determine the next steps, as if he is walking in front of the Creator and “dictates” to Him what needs to be done to his attitude. He “fixes the schedule”. Everything depends on a person’s inner investigation of himself.
(Daily Article, December 21, 2004)
91) A person is in a state where he has the opportunity to feel pleasure by filling his time and thoughts with something. If he nevertheless chooses efforts and additional work, positively knowing that this will not give him pleasure, and if he obligates himself, then by doing this he expresses his efforts and exerts them above reason. Obviously, this calculation is made within the boundaries of the desire to feel pleasure as well, that is, it also comes from the aspiration to achieve something good. There is no doubt about this. However, right now in this state, this nevertheless signifies a certain effort that is in some sense directed towards bestowal. If a person’s efforts are especially directed at the group and at the intention during study, then every time the person directs himself by concentrating on getting closer to the Creator, his effort becomes attached to the common fund, until he finally receives the intention Lishma as a gift. Then, in the new vessels and in the new nature (and only in it), pleasure as well as connection and unification with the Creator become revealed to the person.
(Daily Article, December 20, 2004)
92) We should not weigh the result inside the desire to feel pleasure, nor inside understanding and reason. We should weigh the result only according to the amount of efforts we have exerted. Even this is problematic, because it is not easy to evaluate the amount of the exerted efforts. It may seem to me that it is possible that I was burning on fire, while in reality there were no efforts. If, however, a person acts with joy together with the others, then each person inside of himself is downright weeping for the connection to the attribute of bestowal (I am not saying: “for the Creator” because it confuses people). If this cry is boiling inside of a person, if he is ready to step on the throat of his own ego for the sake of the most important thing and connect with others, if this is precisely what he is doing right now, then as a result he performs a good action. In addition, afterwards it is not necessary to conduct a subjective calculation about how successful we were.
In the beginning, during the process and at the end of the “thought, speech and action”, we must be disconnected from the desire to feel pleasure. We have to soar over it. This is the only way in which it is possible to do anything, and it is impossible to check it. This is why it is difficult.
(November 29, 2004)
93) A person has to create an atmosphere of a new beginning of renewal for himself, that is, an authentic renewal in his work. In other words, he gives his word that from now on he takes responsibility to advance forward onto the Creator’s territory with all of his desires and passion; he moves forward with direction and aspiration. A person has to join, unify and be there. A person has to escape through a narrow passage of this cramped “womb”, or from this world, and live only in the world that is filled with light. It does not matter how the person imagines it to himself; it is only important that he imagines himself as being under the governance of the Supreme Force, day and night. This is a new beginning.
(New Month Meal, October 14, 2004)
94) A person has to make decisions in such a way that all of the obstacles that he receives will enter him and become perceived by him as pleasures, since he will attribute them to the principle “there is no one besides Him”. There is a desire in which the pleasure becomes perceived, and there is the intention or the thought. I should check to see if I am in the Creator with my intention or thought, and if I'm at the point with my desire. If I identify myself with the Creator then this is called “to go above reason”, and then I am always joyful. Joy is a sign that I am attributing all problems to the Creator. By remaining at the point that makes this decision, I always experience joy. We have to perform this kind of analysis over the course of all the stages of our work. In essence, a person does not have anything else to do, but only to realize the article “There is no one besides Him”. In this article, Baal HaSulam has outlined a specific scheme for us. We have to build ourselves relative to the Creator in correspondence to this scheme by trying, as much as we can, to remain in this perception and direction, despite the obstacles. When the obstacles come, we will know how to relate to them from the inside, based on the aspiration for each of us to become the Shechinah and for the Creator to become clothed in man. That is, for the Inhabitant to enter the Dwelling-Place. A person is the vessel of the Shechinah. The easiest thing is to imagine the state when the Creator clothes in me. What does “in me” mean? It means: in the brain, the heart, the mind and all of the organs. You can even imagine that the Creator possesses people much like a “ghost”. He acts from within me and I just want to know that this is happening. Other than that which He activates within me, I do not have any other desires, thoughts or actions. If a person does not fall into illusions and, little-by-little, tries to work by training himself to search for the singularity of the Creator despite the obstacles, then we can say that this person is following the path that leads to the state “there is no one besides Him”.
(Daily Article, December 15, 2004)
95) “Give me the ability!”, this is a plea that is above reason and above everything. If the lower asks then the Upper gives him a new force, whose essence the lower did not know before. This is called: “He labored and found”. The Upper gives the force of bestowal to the lower. In this case, the AHP of the Upper begins to shine to the corresponding degree, and the lower begins to grow. This way, the first encounter with the Upper takes place when the person feels that he is living in darkness, but nevertheless he understands that this darkness is sent to him from above. This is where the work begins. If a person really aspires for the truth, rather than merely for a pleasant sensation, then he undertakes to work out the correct relationship to the Upper and begins to advance.
Practically, our work always consists in ascending above the darkness if we perceive it. However, the darkness itself can still remain, but you want to be unified with the Upper while you remain in the darkness.
“Give me the strength so that this darkness and this state of bestowal will seem to be the best possible thing to me, despite what sensation I may have in my vessels of reception”. This gradually becomes clear.
(March 2, 2005)
96) It is impossible to explain the difference between the efforts we are making today, which are called “intentions” or “actions” for us, and that which we receive from above as a result of the influence of the light that returns us to the Source. This light creates a supernatural attribute in me, and I begin to passionately aspire towards just one goal, which is the willingness to give to the Creator – to give, and that’s all. It is as if I exit out of myself and I lose all connection with myself, leaving behind any calculations for my own interests. The only thing I want is for Him to receive from me, and I feel good because of this. However, this pleasant sensation is separate from my action. In other words, giving to Him feels good to me, but I do not act for the sake of this pleasure.
This is the new Kli that becomes revealed to me. In the beginning it becomes revealed separately from the person himself and is called “Galgaltave-Einaim”. I simply want to give to Him, in order for Him to feel good. A pleasant sensation does not obligate me to do anything, rather, I only want to exit out of myself and begin to give. It is as if I feel how I exit out of myself and attach myself to the Creator with my heart and mind. The gradual acquisition of these attributes signifies the acquisition of the Galgaltave-Einaim and is divided into many levels. In the beginning we are talking only about the desire to bestow; this is the stage of the “fetus” (Ubar). Then it begins to become revealed over the desires for pleasure, and this is called the “small” and “large” states (Katnut and Gadlut). This is already work in which efforts are exerted. I do not merely disconnect from myself and attach to the Upper. No; now I have to be inside of myself and, together with all of my dirt, nevertheless attach myself to the Upper. This is already an analysis of the Galgaltave-Einaim on the background of the AHP in the process of attaining the “small state”.
(The lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 2, Article 586)
97) We cannot make ourselves aspire for a specific intention, we cannot understand it, and we cannot suppose what it will be like and how it will manifest. The intention comes as the Creator’s nature that is clothed in a person. Therefore, we have to only carry out the actions, as it is said: “The concealed is for the Creator, and the revealed is for us and our sons forever, in order to carry out all of the words of this Torah”. This way, we have to carry out all of the actions that have been prepared for us on all of the levels, and, together with this, to receive the correct intentions as a gift from above. About the intention it is said: “He labored and found”. As we study in TES, the effort becomes manifested when I try. During the period of concealment I try to reveal the Creator as the One Who obligates, determines, governs, looks after and controls. The effort consists of the fact that I desire to reveal this Supreme Force and to discover that I am located in its realm. Then, the result of this becomes the “field that is blessed by the Creator” (Torah, Bereshit, 27:27). By doing this I clarify the attributes called Jacob and Yosef, or the right and left lines, as well as the intention, which is the middle line.
(The lesson of February 25, 2005, The Steps of the Ladder, Part 2, Article 586)
98) Generations of Kabbalists are looking at us and observing us from above, and there really exists a huge world-wide hope. The world does not understand and it is waiting for who-knows-what, like a little child who simply wants to feel good, but does not know exactly how this has to manifest. We have undertaken a mission or a weight given from above, and we have no way out; we have to bring salvation to the world. Each person must think and understand that he does not have a way out; the finger that directs from above obligates us to act. Then this will really happen.
(New Month Meal, October 14, 2004)