There is only one law in the entire universe. It is called “absolute bestowal.”
In order to be able to fulfill this law we are given our life and our world, which is created in absolute accordance with the goal.
Nothing in our world is purposeless. On the contrary, only if a person uses everything at his disposal, will he be able to correct himself and become equal to the Creator. We have to look upon society and ourselves with all of our properties as something indispensable to the attainment of complete correction, perfection and eternity.
The Creator deliberately split the common soul into fragments (hence, the great number of bodies) to let us interact in this world for the sake of merging with the Creator.
If we analyze our feelings profoundly enough, we will realize that every one of us is an egoist, who does not love his neighbor; and even if he does, only because he can gain something from him. However, if, regardless of this, we begin working with each other correctly, according to the method that Kabbalists formulated for us, we will see that the entire world and society were created to help me, an absolute egoist, to attain the altruistic property.
In reality, however, these two properties are so opposite to each other that it seems an utterly impossible task. Still, if I work in a group and in some way try to act for the sake of attaining the Creator, it becomes possible.
My mechanical altruistic actions in society, with my friends, will draw upon me the Ohr Makif, which will show me all the time that I am unable to attain the Goal. On the one hand, my friends will inspire me with the greatness of the Goal; on the other hand, I will feel my own insignificance and inability to achieve that Goal. This contradiction will eventually compel me to appeal to the Creator for help.
Why should we turn to the Creator and not acquire this property by ourselves?
The fact is that we cannot simply pass from the will to receive to the will to bestow because it will still remain egoistical. Here we need special transition, a phase leap that will provide us with namely this condition – an appeal to the Creator. If we succeed, He will give us this property.
There is an absolute gap between man’s existence in his egoistical properties, when he passionately desires to cross the Machsom, while at the same time realizing that it is impossible, and what happens above the Machsom.
The so-called “ Kriyat Yam Suf” – parting of the Red Sea (literally translated from Hebrew as “the Final Sea”) lies between these two states, meaning the two properties are completely separated from each other.
Therefore, our main goal is to create a small society and to begin working in it as in a laboratory, while artificially trying to observe the laws of the Upper world. These laws (conditions) will show us how detached we are from them, and this way we will be able to turn to the Creator for help. Only by means of society can we enter the spiritual world.
Two Advantages of Fulfillment of the Law of Bestowal in Society
1. Everyone understands that he fulfills the law because society, or indeed humanity, encourages him to do so.
A person has egoistical motives to work in society because he feels everyone’s support. I choose the society which cultivates bestowal in order to attain the Creator. Every society encourages bestowal because everyone wants me to give. However, we wish to form a small society, in which every one of its members will clearly understand that bestowal is exclusively the means for attaining the Creator.
2. The fulfillment of the law of bestowal for the sake of humanity prepares one to carry out the law of giving for the purpose of merging with the Upper Force.
Society not only encourages me and gives me the sensation of importance of bestowal, but it also convinces me that with the help of this property I will attain the Creator. However, since I cannot see the Creator, when the society tells me how great He is and how wonderful it will be if I attain Him by means of bestowal, society undertakes a mission with regard to me, which no one else in the world can fulfill.
Only then does a person have the energy to fulfill the act of bestowal. The society, by praising his deeds, provides him with the altruistic ability to bestow, at the beginning for the sake of reward, such as honor and admiration of the society. Nevertheless, the habit slowly becomes second nature, and a person starts wishing it from habit.
He begins to realize that bestowal is the most desirable property and state that can be. From whatever side we may approach this idea, we see that meeting the condition of man’s bestowal to his neighbor in our world is a preliminary training for developing the same attitude towards the Creator. There is no other way to work on this system. A person will never achieve the Creator’s level without first correcting his attitude towards the group by using all the existing opportunities that the group can provide.
Baal HaSulam explains in the Introduction to “The Study of Ten Sefirot” that the worlds Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, and Atzilut, which we gradually attain, are the states in which we more and more attach to ourselves the desires and sufferings of others. We start correcting and using other people’s egoism as if it were our own. If a person can absorb the needs of others, serve and fulfill them, then he is considered to be ascending the spiritual levels.
For example, to rise to the world of Beria means to receive all the Kelim of all the souls and to correct them into Galgalta VeEynaim ( GE, the Kelim of bestowal). To rise to the world of Atzilut and to reach GAR de Atzilut means to receive the egoistical desires ( AHP) of all the other souls, to correct and fulfill them. That is the true meaning of the ascent in the spiritual world.
Therefore, the correction of one’s desire to receive fulfillment (of one’s egoistical properties) into fulfillment of others and observing the law, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” are equivalent to the spiritual ascent. One notion is simply expressed by different words: nearness to the Creator, similarity to Him, and altruistic attitude towards others are the same.
All 613 commandments are 613 levels of the ascent, when egoism works for the sake of others all the time; hence, Kabbalah can be practically realized only in the group or society. There are numerous ways to explain it theoretically, but this can be practically implemented only within a small society, which will gradually grow in size.
Question: The Kabbalist accepts someone’s desire as his own and turns with it to the Creator. Why is this called the fulfillment of someone’s soul, if it feels and receives nothing?
Does someone’s soul feel anything if the Kabbalist corrects and fulfills it? And what does “soul feels” mean?
I am included in a single organism with all the other souls, and, as a part of this organism, I have to fulfill my mission with regard to all of its cells and organs. Every living organism is designed this way. If each organ exists only to serve other organs, then the entire organism functions correctly: for the sake of an idea, of something that is above it. By itself, an organism never has its own inner purpose.
What does it mean that I correct and serve other organs? I correct my part within them, provide them with sustenance – and do everything I have to do for them. I do not do their work for them, I, rather, do my own part with regard to them.
All the souls are combined within the First Man’s ( Adam Rishon) common soul in such a way that every person has to correct his attitude towards others and transform it into bestowal. He has to provide them with everything necessary as in an organism, where cells and organs interact closely with one another. With regard to me, all the rest of cells of this organism, all the other souls of this common soul are my clients. I do not correct them – I correct my own attitude towards them and fulfill them.
One may ask a different question: “When I fulfill the souls, don’t they receive for themselves because they are still imperfect and require correction?” Such a question is completely irrelevant because in reality all the souls are corrected with regard to me and only I am uncorrected. I feel my imperfection within this common organism, in which I have to include myself and work as a normal cell or organ. All the other parts of this organism are perfectly corrected.
As far as the other souls are concerned, they will reveal their own perfection or imperfection and will work on it because the common organism is absolutely corrected and nothing happens to it.
The only change that took place was that each soul fell, moved away from its true state. As a result, the soul begins to feel how imperfect it is.
What has the Creator done in practice? He has created a perfect system. There is only one thing He wishes to add to this system: every soul, every part of this organism has to realize its independence and act consciously and entirely for bestowal. Thus, each part and the whole system will be equal to the Creator and the soul will merge with Him in perfect Zivug (union).
This way, each soul reveals its own imperfection. When the Kabbalist attains the entire system, he sees that others are perfect and he has to correct his attitude towards the souls and fulfill them with all that his Aviut allows him.
To correct oneself with regard to others means to correct one’s Galgalta VeEynaim, and to fulfill them means to correct one’s AHP and bestow by receiving for them. One can bestow only if one has the Kelim of AHP.
Every Kabbalist has to master these two levels. Up to the world of Atzilut is the level of correction of GE – the attainment of an altruistic attitude towards all. The second level is the work with the Kelim of AHP: first one’s own AHP are corrected, and then (through it) all the other souls.
Question: What does “to fulfill” mean?
This means that in each of these souls there is a desire or uncorrected egoism, which I have to fulfill. In other words, egoism exists beyond me, and I have to correct it and through it bestow upon all the others.
What I bestow upon them is as corrected as the Creator, meaning that all the souls manifest with regard to me as the Creator.
Question: To fulfill with what?
I have to fulfill this uncorrected egoism with my attitude towards other souls, with what they would like to receive, i.e., to give them joy and satisfaction.
With what can one fulfill the Creator? One can fulfill Him with one’s attitude towards Him. The same goes for the souls. If I relate to them through Galgalta VeEynaim, then I am an altruist, although I do not give them anything yet. If I relate to them through my AHP, this means that I fulfill them, bestow upon them. What do I bestow? By receiving with my AHP for the sake of bestowal I become a giver. However, why do I bestow upon them? This is because they are included in my first nine Sefirot (Tet Sefirot) and we form one common organism.
This preparation is one of the components of the goal, since, by accustoming himself to work for others and for their good, a person gradually grows eager to fulfill the laws of the Creator, following the intended rule “for the sake of the Creator,” and not “for the sake of one’s self.” Man’s intention should become “for the sake of the Creator” according to the plan of creation.
It is clear that our world, all worlds, society, humanity, and a group are created only to achieve the altruistic property of similarity to the Creator and to merge with Him. However, this is not just a preparation: as we acquire these properties and interact with other souls, the Creator manifests in this process as the third constituent – man with regard to the rest of creation and the Creator, who manifests within him.
Question: What mechanism in the system of Adam Rishon protects the entire system and regulates it so that bestowal does not exceed the organism’s capacity?
How can one bestow or receive more than one wants? Every one of us has a certain desire, according to which he has to bestow upon all the others while receiving nothing for himself in return. Therefore, excessive reception or bestowal is impossible.
There is a misconception about the breaking of the soul of Adam Rishon. This breaking takes place with regard to us, individual souls, and does not affect the common soul. There exists a standard, a law, which is known in Kabbalah as “ Ein HeEder BeRuchaniut” (nothing disappears or, more precisely, nothing changes in the spiritual). Every new emerging form complements the previous one. Hence, if there was a state once, when one single soul existed in absolute unity with the Creator and was broken, this means that this breaking is perceived by the souls and not by the Creator.
In accordance with this standard the soul constantly exists filled with Light in the state of infinity, perfection, and eternity. We just need to return to that state. We merely correct our perception.
In general, all nature and the entire process of evolution are intended only to correct our sensations, our participation in the existing reality. Although we do not feel it, but right now we automatically carry out all actions and exist in the world of Infinity in complete perfection and eternity.
All restrictions and the gradual receding from this state took place with regard to us and our sensation, consciousness, and understanding. By means of special training we begin returning to that state: we extend our understanding, deepen our sensations, and approach other qualities – our own and real.
Like a convalescent person, we sort of go through the process of post-discharge adjustment. He gradually recovers and after being in an unconscious state regains consciousness. We are called “spiritually dead existing below the level of life” (such terms are usually used in Kabbalah to describe our states).
All in all, what do we do? We only correct our sense organ that perceives the true state in which we exist and which we never left. Everything happened only with regard to us and our sensations and only to enable us to put this organ back into operation.
If we do this by ourselves, we will begin to feel in it not only what we originally felt, but we will feel what the Creator feels and become equal to Him. When we move forward by ourselves, we generate additional sensations within us. The most important thing is that when we were primarily in the state of perfection and eternity created by the Creator, we had no Rosh (head), but only the inner part, the desire that received everything.
Now that we wish to attain the same state by our own efforts, the Rosh grows above our desire. It is the same as the Rosh, Toch, and Sof in a Partzuf later on turns into the Rosh and the Toch (with no Sof because we correct it all).
The Rosh that grows above our desire (the Toch) is exactly what we acquire. In this we become similar, equal to the Creator, reach His level, and understand the Thought of creation: its beginning, end, and purpose. We see and feel the Creator and His level (this category). We were below Him before. Hence, this transformation takes place: the restriction, breaking of the Kli, our hard work, and return to the original state – all is intended to let us acquire the Rosh of the Partzuf.
Question: Wherein lies the work in the laboratory called a group? What instruments should we use to verify our attitude towards it?
We need to see our work in society as the only opportunity to achieve correction and this laboratory as the only condition for attaining the Goal. We need to focus only on that because there is nothing else. We have to accept what Kabbalists say because those who refuse to meet this condition take only one part of Kabbalah. They analyze man’s perception of the world and the existence of the Upper worlds purely theoretically (as if they exist separately by themselves and not within us). They abstractly study various objects and actions that allegedly exist and occur within them. It is possible to study Kabbalah without correlating it with a person, but in that case it will be a purely theoretical and useless teaching.
There are people who come to Kabbalah because their desire compels them to accept this method. Willingly or not, they adopt it correctly, i.e., they remember that they are here in order to attain the Goal, whereas the study and all the other things are only the means.
Other people begin to study Kabbalah without having the true desire for it. It may or may not appear during their being here. If their desire is immature (i.e., if they have not come to its realization with the help of the Kabbalistic method), they simply begin studying it as an abstract science for many other purposes: to know, tell others, give lectures, etc.
Everything depends on the person’s attitude. If he comes to the group that studies Kabbalah with a mature desire, then the desire itself and the instruction give him the necessary direction.
Question: What instrument do I have for defining my attitude towards my neighbor while I still lack the screen (i.e., I cannot see what happens and have no standard that I can rely on)?
If I try to oblige the group to bring me up as a person who loves and respects the Creator and friends, then I play the good instructor’s role in the group. I can do that because my demands to the group being egoistical; I know that I will receive spiritual benefit from it. Later on, the group makes its own demands to me, puts me within a certain framework, imposes its Takanon (statute) on me, etc.
By acting correctly and, at the same time, wishing to carry out spiritual actions in the group, we draw upon ourselves the Ohr Makif (surrounding Light).
The same goes for our world. We would like to perform a spiritual act, bestow upon one another (there is no other definition of a spiritual act), but are still unable to do that. However, this is not important because namely our desire attracts the Ohr Makif upon us.
Baal HaSulam writes: “It [the Light] gradually purifies us until it turns us into the inner Kelim and enters them.” This means that what we do is correct. We only lack qualitative and quantitative efforts (especially qualitative) because we need to realize why we do it all. The most important thing is the thought: why do I make every action? The action itself is not as important as the thought. Hence, I often say: “Stop getting together and fussing. On the contrary, a person has to be alone and think for a while because it is the thought that matters.”
Question: Why would an egoist rush to the group?
He will have no other alternative. If the person who starts learning Kabbalah has the desire that demands correction after all of his previous incarnations, and if this desire is mature enough, then he will subconsciously search for a group, in which the Creator reveals Himself, because that is what he needs. Although in the beginning he is reluctant to hear about a group and friends, he gradually comes to a state of readiness because he wants to attain the Goal.
If he does not aspire to the Goal, if he is still immature, then, possibly he is very close. In other words, he is an egoist and this prevents him from realizing the importance of the group. Yet his egoism is final, hence he stays in the group for one, two or five years – as long as it takes. As time goes by, he begins to understand that he needs the group. He exists in it, and although he is unwilling to do anything, he does everything the group tells him to do. He knows that otherwise they will expel him and he will not achieve the Goal.
The person feels that the Goal is here, but fails to recognize that the group is the means for its attainment. This realization comes gradually. Possibly, his desire is not sufficiently developed. At this stage, the Creator’s revelation is important for him, hence he stays and thinks: “Do with me whatever you want, just let me stay.” Later on, he either cries out, “I need the group!” or little by little prepares for leaving. If the group sees that his state impedes their advance, they expel him. He may return year or two later, having matured elsewhere.
Otherwise, the person chooses a totally different Kabbalah. He has one of these two choices: either to delve into mysticism or engage in dry science. Hence, there is nothing else to do but wait till he reaches maturity.
Question: In the first part of the lesson we said that coarse people, who are unable to feel another, come to Kabbalah. On the other hand, it is said that a person goes through a number incarnations and then starts looking for a society. There is a contradiction, isn’t there?
No, there is no contradiction. Kabbalah attracts the people whose desire to attain the Goal is so huge that they cannot feel very intensely, their sensitivity to this world is rather low. They have already exhausted their sensitivity on various things: business, money, power, honor, and so on. They had to know society well and function in it in order to use it for their own sake.
They engaged in scientific research, i.e., tried to understand the inner laws of nature and finally came to a state when their advancement reached a deeper level that is closer to nature. In this state they lose sensitivity. Their desire has outgrown the desires for wealth, fame, and honor. Now it is already directed not to society as the means for egoistically satisfying these desires, but rather to the search for the inner force, the Creator. Hence, these people feel so detached from society. There are many of them today, yet they are still in intermediate states, when they try to assuage their pain with drugs or something else.
Question: Have those people, who reached the last level of egoism, rid themselves from the desire for recognition in society?
No. Every desire (even the greatest one – for spirituality) contains all the other small desires: for food, sex, family, money, honor, fame, power, and knowledge. Even if the person on top of all them aspires to attain the meaning of life, the Creator, all the same he retains them all. When he begins to study Kabbalah, he may fall back into some of these inferior desires for a while. He has to satisfy them and return to his advancement to the Goal.
However, while advancing towards the Creator, he retains a certain combinations of all of these desires. In other words, prior to crossing the Machsom, other desires appear from time to time and lead him away from the Goal.
After crossing the Machsom, he continues functioning normally in our world and has to take proper care of everything. Nevertheless, here an absolutely precise proportion is established, when the bodily desires no longer interfere with his intention of the spiritual correction.
Part of the method, responsible for the relationship of an individual with his friend
The method of convergence with the Upper Power has two parts:
The attitude of the person towards the Creator,
The attitude of the person towards his friend.
The most effective and useful thing to do is first of all to focus on the relationship between friends, since by doing so, one acquires the right habits, in order to apply them later in his relationship with the Creator.
Ball HaSulam writes in his article “On Completion of the Book of Zohar” that such relationship should be established between a Teacher and his disciple. Basically, in this world we need a group in which we can work on our relations with the Creator.
At the same time, a person should constantly remember that the extent of his ability to transcend his ego and bestow upon the group will precisely determine his relations with the Creator. This is because it does not matter upon whom a person bestows as long as the action exceeds the limits of his body.
The relations with friends are much more effective in this case. Why is that so? Because friends can reciprocate my feelings, encourage, guide, and shake me, whereas the Creator is concealed from me. He conceals Himself deliberately because if he were revealed I would definitely want to use Him selfishly to receive greater fulfillment.
As it is, I can egoistically use my friends to attain the Goal. In return, they inspire me with the importance of the Creator’s greatness and help me realize my inability to attain it because I see myself more and more imperfect and I have no other alternative than to ask the Creator for correction.
Thus, the group is not just a means for the Creator’s revelation: in it the person realizes evil and the Creator’s greatness. When these two realizations combine in a person and reach their maximal intensity, they stimulate him to raise his prayer, appeal, and demand to the Creator ( Aliyat MAN). It is said in the Torah: “And the sons of Israel wailed to the Lord complaining about hard work.” That is when the waters of the Final (Red) Sea (“Final” because that is where this world ends and the spiritual world begins) part and man crosses the Machsom.
Therefore, a person needs a group with all of its components, so that he can develop an urgent request for different properties and would feel obliged “to jump headlong into the sea.” Hence, the most effective way for a person to reach the Goal is to work on the establishment of correct relations with his group mates.
Question: The meaning of “relations” is not quite clear. Can you explain it?
First of all, this means that we gathered here to establish such relations among us that would lead us to the Creator. Now let’s analyze what that means. The Creator is the property of absolute bestowal. This means that we have to acquire the property of absolute bestowal for the desire that every one of us has. Do we want it now? Not at all. Therefore, we should compel the group to inculcate it into everyone’s consciousness that the most important thing is to attain the property of bestowal. This, no doubt, sounds incredible, but Kabbalah asserts that the group can do it. If the group is capable of motivating a person to sacrifice his life (there are plenty examples of that in our world), then it will surely be able to inure man to bestowal.
This way, the group attunes me to the most important thing. Furthermore, the group has to show me that I will not be able to achieve the goal by myself, that I am powerless to turn myself into an altruist because I am immersed in egoism. To that end I have to attract the Upper Light.
The group should create these two conditions for me, and based on that, we build our group. Let’s assume that half the time my friends should be telling me about the greatness of the Creator, the Goal, and bestowal. The rest of the time they should show me that I am nothing and that I make no headway towards the Goal.
At the same time, they have to do it in a balanced manner not to scare me away. I may start thinking: “Who knows if this Goal can be attained at all…. This work is so hard and I am so bad in my egoistical qualities…. After all, the Creator will help me anyway. He cannot possibly wait for my actions all the time and will surely do something Himself….” With these thoughts the person leaves. However, the group work should be based on keeping each of its members under constant pressure and this pressure should be steadily increased.
By this we imply that the pressure between the sensations of the Goal’s importance and one’s own insignificance should be constantly rising. This pressure grows to form two separate states: the importance of the Goal as the right line and one’s insignificance as the left line. When these states reach the level that is characteristic of every individual (different in you, him and me), this immense gap will make each of us let out a cry that will break through the Machsom. All group work is necessary only for that purpose. You cry out – you cross the Machsom.
Once that happens, the person who has crossed the barrier establishes different relations within the group. He continues working with the group, but in a different way. In The Introduction to “The Study of Ten Sefirot” Baal HaSulam explains that when I begin to correct my altruistic desires with regard to society (souls), the group becomes for me as the representative of Adam Rishon. I already work with it on the correction of GE and later correction of AHP up to the Gmar Tikkun (Final Correction).
Of course, there are many different levels, but this is the work that depends less on the group and more on the person because he sees the group in its corrected state. However, before the person has crossed the Machsom, he is under society’s power. The group continues playing a very important role after crossing of the Machsom. Remember the example of the great Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma. He put it very simply: “If I get into the society without Kabbalists, I will become like everybody else.” There is no other guarantee save for the group because it creates the field that supports a person. The matter concerns the great Kabbalist who was afraid to leave for the place where no Kabbalistic group existed.
Question: Does the fear with which the group affects a person bind a person, or on the contrary, does it give him more energy for advancement?
Fear is the most useful thing. Man is an egoist, and egoism can be urged to move forward only by fear. I am afraid of not achieving anything, of letting everything pass, of being idle and wasting every precious second. Such fear is useful.