Raising The Point In The Heart Above The Heart

A person cannot tear out his point in the heart, withdraw it from the heart, meaning to increase its importance above the heart, on his own. Only if it is decided that this should be done together, in a mutual effort, like the Rabash writes in his article "They Helped Every One His Friend" - when each one gives strength to his friend with his desire and wants to become stronger through his friends - everyone receives strength from the group to raise the point in the heart above the heart. The constant dealing with these efforts gives importance.

In every one of us there is a "Godly part from above," and if we want to connect out of this common desire, against this desire operates the Light that reforms. In fact, it is the same Light as the Inner Light (Ohr Pnimi), except that toward us it is defined as Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), because we are still unable to reveal it. And that is, because our vessels are still broken, yet the Light shines and corrects us anyway.

Everything takes place according to clear and absolute laws which were determined by Kabbalists; nothing can be changed - we should make the effort to connect together, regardless of what is in our hearts. You don't need to add anything to the point in the heart that was given to you, except the correct effort. And since that same spark is identical in its nature to the Light that reforms, they connect together, and the Light influences us.

The Light that reforms is the general Light that fills the soul. It is revealed in the vessel that is made of different, foreign, opposite parts. Therefore only if we make the efforts to connect between our strange, opposite parts, we match ourselves to that Light that reforms, and it influences us to the degree of our effort. And then another effort and another effort, enables us to discover the vessel where the corrections of Lishma begin.

--Taken from the 1st Part of the Lesson

Building The Spiritual Vessel

People who want to advance to the truth need to understand as soon as possible that one can advance only by the "Light that reforms." And therefore everything that brings me to necessity of the Light has to be important for me - the group, the study, the teacher and so on. But in order for this to happen, I must feel that I am lacking the Light. For that I must find out where I cannot do without it. And then I discover that there is only one place like that in life - in the love of others. In that place, I am incapable of wanting and doing anything.

A person who begins performing certain actions which externally belong to connecting with others, with the points in the heart, discovers that he really has no connection to bestowal, to love for others, or love for the Creator, which are all the same. And according to the value he receives from the group, he begins to raise himself.

An immense influence of the Light is necessary in order to cause a person to understand the reversal that he needs to undergo within himself - the same bestowal that he decried in the past is soon to become the most important thing for him. We are not inventing anything anew; we are just switching the meaning of things that are already inside of us.

A person must check all the occurrences, qualities, shapes and modes existing within him toward himself and toward the Upper One or the friends, and discover that everything pertaining to him is his "food" and everything pertaining to the friends and the Creator is his "garbage," and to want for it to be corrected.

This is how one reaches the prayer of "He raises me up out of the dust." Out of that dust, out of that bestowal, his spiritual vessel is built. There is no new matter here. Reversing one's attitude toward others from an undesired thing to a desired thing through "the Light that reforms" is what constructs one's vessel. The transition to working with the discernments that are inside this new vessel is called "crossing the barrier."

--Taken from the Preparation to the Lesson

The Darkness Is The Lack Of Connection With The Others

The person needs to feel that within him opens up a certain emotional system, in which he can find reactions to the various discernments of which he hears and reads about in books. When he begins to discover this inner place inside of him, he begins to live it, to feel in it all sorts of consequences and phenomena. This is the place where he feels the concealment.

He should sense the levels of concealment as actual levels - I walk on the path, I cannot see what is on my right, on my left and ahead of me, many things are unclear to me, and I don't know how to take a step forward, but a feeling of some inner site already exists within me, where I experience different diagnoses.

And although it is darkness, the Light that somewhat shines upon the person makes him feel that the dark decreases, and he begins to grant that darkness correct definitions.

Then, all the rest of the things lose meaning for him and he operates on them automatically, in a completely animal-like manner, and yet his feeling begins to focus only on the connection with the others. That same connection becomes a place where he begins to identify the darkness - the darkness is the lack of connection with the others. And to the extent that we want to connect for real, there we switch on the light.

--Taken from the 1st Part of the Lesson