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An interesting topic in the “A Sage Speaks” session today about the article of “The Freedom” by Baal HaSulam. kabbalahmedia.info/en/sources/4AtF9tGS
Pending question: Since we have two conditions namely the spiritual (individual) and the corporeal (society), how do they connect? I understand that the two is treated differently, as focusing wholly on the spiritual will harm the collective (“for the collective”), while wholly following the collective will dampen the spiritual. I came to assume that we should accept whatever happens in the corporeal, as they came from the upper root for the development of both individual and society. But I think it is more development in the individual, assuming that development in the society means that the whole of individuals included in it are developed, which is not the case. And the purpose in the spiritual path is to lose the individual ego, meaning serving the Creator through society (meaning how we are functioning in the society, how we behave, etc.), which is often used as measuring stick of how far on the spiritual path have we walked.
My questions:
1. Am I right to assume that ‘acceptance’ means to embrace whatever happens in the corporeal world, having faith that everything that happens come from the upper force for the benefit of the individual’s spiritual path? Thus acceptance become another name for faith above reason. (on the side, is this ‘acceptance’ considered bestowal to the Creator? — because we receive everything in order to fulfil what the upper force is providing)
2. Since the two (spiritual and collective) are considered separate, is it okay to put on masks on the society (given that our intention is to pray for the better of the society by developing our individual spirituality?
3. If the way I behave and act in and for the society is not the correct measuring stick for my own spiritual development, what is the best way to know that I am making progress?
4. Most of the time, or maybe because I am built into it, that my thinking is that if I do not conform to the society then I am an egoist, meaning I have not progressed in the path of surrendering the ego. Even writing this I feel that there is something amiss. What is the better way of thinking/feeling then?
Thank you.
Yes, agreement with all that comes from the Creator is the beginning thread of faith.
The second question I don’t understand. The connection between the society at large and the unique individuals – is that I need to never follow the collective when it comes to spiritual matters. They have no say in that. But in corporeal matters, such as what the doctor prescribes, or that I have to conduct business to make money to live – in these mundane matters, I need to follow the majority, and not think special exemptions apply to me. I have to thus divide myself in two, and work in two opposite ways, toward the world and toward the spiritual group. Toward the world the measure is to what extent on the inside I am with the Creator in agreement and wholeness, while appearing essentially like everyone else, a “good guy” but not overdoing it. Like the average. Toward spirituality you measure by all kinds of criteria we learn about, how much you can be in Equivalence of Form with the Creator.
Your last question I also don’t understand. I need to look like everyone on the outside but I can’t agree with their approach on the inside – because the masses will always think opposite to the way of the Kabbalists. Democratically it’s possible to arrive only to something that is opposite to the truth. They only know how to find the next touchstone on the path of suffering together. Surrendering the ego can only be in the spiritual society, to follow them in spite of my mind and heart.
From Shamati 45 I understand , the fulfillment of a deficiency is work, and it’s part of the left line, as we want to fill a lack, and thus it’s a matter of reception. When we do the work this way, trying to fill those deficiencies , are these corrections? And then, how do we have to relate to the work so as to come to a correction? How do we work correctly?
And how do we get from working with a deficiency to working in order to bestow contentment to the creator?
He defines 3 deficiencies: individual, public, and that of the Shechina. So it depends where the deficiency came from. Clearly that of the individual is ruled out. We have something to do in relation to the other two kinds. The public one, I need to check. If it’s the deficiency of the Shechina, of course it can be to bestow. But we can’t clarify this here. The practical work is searching for a deficiency that comes from the 10 and turning to the Creator with that.
Hi Gianni,
In Shamati 43, what does”reward” mean?Is it adherence to the creator, feeling oneness/unity? And punishment the opposite-detachment from the creator?
I understand , we have to labour, and we should not be afraid to ask for labor, but can we also ask for help along the way, to be able to do the work? What do we do when we feel not able to overcome the obstacles given to us or when we feel like we don’t know how to work correctly?
And then there is one last thing I… what does it mean that “these corporeal things extend from their upper roots”… ? How are we supposed to relate to this… for we are in a world of branches..
Reward? We need to take it together with Punishment. Together they are a reward, the reward of seeing His manners of bestowal upon the world. But what you said is also correct.
To the second question, we have no problem if we reach an obstacle we can’t overcome. Then we turn to the Creator with a true prayer and He answers. Our problem is not wanting to overcome – meaning if I can’t overcome it with my own strength, I don’t want to ask for help. Or worse, I don’t want help to come because that will bring me above my beastly state.
Third question: everything comes down from Upper roots, and that’s why we shouldn’t be too impressed by who has everything and who has nothing. They have nothing to do with it, rather the Creator decides all, for reasons that He understands. And one cannot affect their destiny whatsoever. If I want to, the only hope is to actually become close to the Creator.
Hi Gianni,
does real deficiency always have to come with pain, and how can we work with this? How can we grow beyond the pain, and turn it into connection? And how can we create deficiency in our friends, and pass it on, in a positive way, as yearning, and a WANT for connection, and revelation of the creator, while it feels like deficiency comes from a place of such lack and pain? How can we pray correctly, to grow with the deficiencies that are given to us?
What I mean is not so much the external challenges, because with them I feel I am being pushed, so it doesn’t feel like I had choice, it’s more like there is only one way… it is this internal lack… like feeling there is only one truth, that everything is connected, and feeling this IS true, and at the same time feeling so far away from ever getting there. Like being in a world where everyone is running around like a little turret, with thick walls, pushing his way through life… and one gets hurt and pushed along… and learns to push back, to stand one’s ground, but at the same point one realizes that this is so essentially wrong, in fact this is so untrue, because we ARE ONE,… which shows in the work of the ten, in congresses, while studying… like the fog is lifting for one moment, but then it’s back to the darkness of corporeality where all one needs are walls. I feel like it’s as one is standing at the shore, unable to swim, the beautiful, refreshing and all encompassing water is coming close and withdraws, again and again, and all one can do is acknowledge it is coming and going… I don’t feel like I am the acting force there… I feel more like I am being acted on, externally and internally, to get to this point, until there is no other path or excuse or distraction left… with all possible mains… and it’s ok, I can accept it, I just really don’t know what to do with it?
We always have deficiencies. But what do I do with them? Naturally, I try to fill each one. Is that what I was supposed to do? A shower of deficiencies are bestowed upon me by the Creator so that they can be turned into a deficiency for bestowal to the Creator. So it’s either I fill up the deficiency or I turn to the Creator with this empty vessel and He needs to fill it with the quality of bestowal. This all has to tie to my work in the ten of course.
Toward them, I want to seemingly replace the backside of the Creator. So instead of the regular deficiency that the Creator will send, that needs to be turned into a spiritual deficiency, I want to already instill in them a spiritual deficiency. Say, by showing them I’m investing extra, beyond “what I can do,” in the love of friends. This example creates a gap between the existing and the desirable. It’s very good to give each other such “problems”.
Thanks for getting back to me. How can I know when I just have to work harder, or when I have reached a limit…one that I cannot cross? One where I simply need the creator to help me?
And how can I ask the creator for help … not help to back away from the work… but help to understand and be able to live up to the deficiencies he is giving me?
I am willing to do my share…I just really don’t know how to handle this state of feeling that indeed we all ARE connected, we ARE one, and yet, most people cannot feel it or don’t have the desire to feel it. This world of disconnection feels so wrong. What is the work in this, given awareness that it’s a matter of perception, but equally given to have to be part of this shattered way of existence?
One who is awakened, it means that they are the nexus of the universe and others rely on them to do the work first. I need to only want to bestow, so that the result doesn’t matter to me. I want the result to end outside of me with nothing back to me, not even the awareness of my success or not. Then my work is correct and then there may be other degrees. But I’m not worried about that but to be in this forever – because in this I’m like the Creator.
Turn to the Creator right away always. Or, if there’s something you can still do, do it right away as much as possible. I don’t care if I’m giving, praying, the thing is to be in one of these always.
I have a question about “women’s work”. I came to this path from the path of suffering. It seems that people have wanted to “take” from me as soon as I became an adult. I have been in environments where I felt it was extremely hostile toward me at the unconscious level and on the surface. It’s like all men wanted was to find ways to steal from me. This made me protect myself. I eventually felt I had nothing more to give to these environments. As time went on, I found better environments, and my job fit with a natural inclination as a problem solver. It seems to me now that I would sense a need, and I would take it as my own and “fix it”. Although I grew as a person and developed more strength, I was still drained. Once I left that environment, I no longer felt that inclination (except with my children). Yet, as soon as I came to this environment, it came out of nowhere! I couldn’t even control it. I have been gradually coming to realize that I can cause harm to myself and my friends by doing this.
How do we separate ourselves from sharing our egos and only share spiritual desire? Is this just a process we go through of realization? Is what I am describing above “women’s work”? Because I feel what I am doing is without knowledge or intention.
Yes, it’s a process and it takes time for any person to hear deeply and accept the fences of discourse within the ten – while still maximally participating. As I said previously, the only currency between friends is greatness of the spiritual goal, conveyed through all kinds of tactics: you have to give them such importance of the goal that reality changes for them. One’s reality is a lie to begin with; we need to sell each other the truth, that we’re connected, filled with the Light of the Creator, receiving nothing for ourselves, only receiving all the goodness in our connection, thus giving them such importance Creator great contentment. We’re all there at the end of correction, in the Garden of Eden. So, I need to edge the friends closer each moment to feeling that, and I’ll come closer to it myself, in the process.
If one is holding the intention to elevate the friends to such a feeling of connection, then what we say to each other will be generally right and the Light will cover for our mistakes. But if we forget about this intention, we’re on a very slow path of mistakes and corrections, until we nevertheless come to this work with accompanying intentions.
Except for the fact that you are a woman and feel the work as such, it’s the same work for men and women, and a man too can be found in that which is called “women’s work”, without intentions; and a woman in what’s called “men’s work,” meaning with an intention.
We’ve had a friend leave the ten, and it feels like a part of us has been cut away. It’s painful. On top of that, there have been some accusations about inequality in the ten. I keep turning it over in my mind, maybe there’s truth in it, maybe not. We never had the chance to work through it with that friend, and now the “sterile lab environment” we try to maintain feels disrupted. I’m trying to sense what he was referring to and it’s influencing My perception of the friends.
How do we keep going? How do I keep going? Do we just move forward and annul ourselves to this possible, perhaps even imagined, inequality? It’s hard.
If a friend leaves, it’s natural that they would leave behind some accusations. Otherwise why leave? Every friend who does spiritual work has accusations against their friends. It’s not that these accusations have a shred of validity. I always need to judge myself, and never the friends; lower myself and raise the friends above me; give love of friends to the ten, and not wait for love to be shown to me, such that friends will behave in manners that suit my opinion of what love of friends looks like. In short, there’s no room for me to allow the image of the shattered reality to speak within me – let alone for it to escape past my lips and echo within the ten!
If there’s a specific problem that we think falls outside the boundaries of the regular tricks that each one’s ego plays to give us something to overcome, you can reach out to the Arvut Team. But we have to accept that, as in a body where cells are born and die all the time, there can be friends that come and go on the periphery of the ten. Our role is to love them and support them while they are with us, and the rest is up to the Creator.
Hi Gianna, I am sharing what you said with our 10 “lower myself and raise the friends above me; give love of friends to the ten, and not wait for love to be shown to me, such that friends will behave in manners that suit my opinion of what love of friends looks like”
my questions is: should we encourage each friend in our 10 to share with us how they’d like to be loved( and maybe it’s different from time to time) ? if not, how do we know what we do(as many actions can be the conduct of love) will really help this friend?
It’s possible. Generally I know I need to raise the importance of the goal for the friend, to such an extent that it changes their reality. How to do this though? As Rabash says, to a friend who likes sweets and not pickles, I can’t bestow pickles (though that might have been what I’d have liked to “bestow”). So I need to learn what to each friend can be called love of friends.
Thank you, this is very helpful, and we read this together as a 10 today. It’s hard for me to reconcile the idea that “there can be friends that come and go on the periphery of the ten” and that we are all equal, but I sense this as a truth in practice because we do have some members on the periphery. This friend was just so dedicated that it’s jarring. We spend a lot of energy trying to make everyone equal, but I understand there are many paradoxes we need to rise above, and that’s the nature of the work.
You’re right in everything. However, according to spirituality, while the friends are with us, they are all equal, because the Creator brings them here right now, and they are irreplaceably special, anc you’re privileged to be in their company, no matter their level of whatever looks to you like their dedication. They are previous. And if they make their free choice to leave, then they go back to beastly life, their Point in the Heart is buried, and they’re suddenly like anyone else.
But while they’re awakened, with us, overcoming their Will to Receive, you have to love their holy spark, respect each one as equal, and do all you can to help them make their free choice right free choice each time.
We still wait for them to be awakened and welcome them back. In the meantime, we continue the work.
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