Having the Upper One’s Head on Your Shoulders

Writings of Rabash, "He Who Has Not Made An Effort On Shabbat Eve...": The main efforts are made in the work against knowledge, when a person does not know for what sake he must work. This is very difficult.

Question: Why is it so difficult?

Dr. Laitman's Answer: Because it completely contradicts everything that I am. In reality, this is not just very difficult, but impossible. I won't reach success here with my own forces because I don't have any means to make any action in my mind or feelings that is above knowledge.

I always act based on my own thoughts and desires. Can it be otherwise? What else does a person have?

Nevertheless, in order to make the right action, one must be equipped with the mind of the Creator rather than creation. That means I need His head instead of my own. But how can I achieve that?

That is why Kabbalists give us advice. When a person wants to serve someone great, the group, or the friends, he tries to turn off his mind and his feelings, accepting the mind and feeling of the neighbor instead. With the help of these exercises, we then build the same attitude to the Creator.

A small person always lacks a "mind" or understanding. He does not know how to become similar to the Upper One and does not understand Him. That is why he has to receive or accept a part of the Upper One's mind. Working with the mind of the Upper One instead of your own is faith above reason.

Why "faith"? Couldn't it just say, "the mind of the Upper One"? The matter is that the lower one acquires the head of the Upper One, rejecting his own mind in the quality of Hafetz Hesed, the quality of bestowal. Otherwise he cannot do this. He cannot see the action of the Upper One and become similar to Him.

The most effective means enabling one to acquire wisdom and greatness of a new level is to try and neutralize one's mind and feeling in order to accept the mind and feeling of the neighbor, who is higher than me. Otherwise I grow only in the animate part of me, growing quantitatively rather than qualitatively.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 01/03/11, Writings of Rabash

Seven Billion Shimmering Sparks

Question: Can the reading of The Book of Zohar help us acquire a general, universal perception? Would it not cancel out the uniqueness of each human being?

Dr. Laitman's Answer: What uniqueness can there be at the moment? What human being?.. We are talking about your "beast" which we have to turn into a Human Being.

You have a "donkey" ("donkey" in Hebrew is "Hamor," from the word "Homer"-"matter"), and there is only one spiritual spark in it. We want to help you extract this spark from the "donkey" and connect it with the rest of the sparks shimmering above the herd of "donkeys."

Imagine seven billion "donkeys" and a twinkling spark above each of them. We want to unite these sparks together and then build from them Man similar to the Creator. Only then will they acquire a general perception of the collective soul of Adam HaRishon.

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 01/03/11, Introduction of The Book of Zohar