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Dear Gianni, thanks a lot for all the helpful answers in this forum . I read them, and I feel them to be very clarifying and a big help along the way:) There is one more thing… because I feel it to be really difficult to do in practice… how can I go through the day, and really stay in contact with the creator? I am trying to , and then life is happening… and there are so many impressions coming from corporeality… I remember you wrote to act like a responsible citizen, and internally stay focused on the creator… so I try to do that… But I also feel, how these impressions of corporeality absorb me just through their intensity… whether people, major incidents,… all these things. Is it right to think these are all reflections of my inner perception? Then, how am I supposed to relate to them or do I have to learn to not be impressed by all these things (but then, why are all these things happening if they dońt have any impact at all…is there anything to learn from these things, or is it just mere distractions?) And how am I supposed to relate to the people that have not been awakend yet? I understand from what you wrote, itś part of creation, that they are relying on us that we do our work properly… I also understand that as they have not been awakend yet, in a spiritual sense, they are not considered as part of the created being yet, because they are still walking blindly, guided from above. What does that mean for them, and for how I should relate to them? Is this a matter of dissemination? Or to rely on the fact that everyone is developed according to his own plan?
It all comes together. But what’s a realistic way of dealing with things, that won’t be based on some strange belief system? Meaning, can I gain something by taking a certain axiom and basing my actions on it? I think for now we have to work in two directions. There is None Else Besides Him – inside I think about this – while behaving as if there is no Creator in reality. And it doesn’t matter that I’m facing before me a world made up of the many kinds of intentions that exist in me. I still need to exist in it. And most of them do not belong to the part of humanity that can work together with me in trying to change the intention to bestowal.
Hi Gianni
I watched below 2 videos on workshop rules. I assume they apply to the zoom meeting of our 10. I found the instruction very very helpful, do we have those written down? it will be nice if we do as it takes times to really understand and apply those rules, it takes even longer for those rules to becoming our 2nd nature.
thanks to the friends who shared those videos and who asked the good questions about how to work together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7ie9D8Lx5U
Lesson 38 – How to participate at a workshop?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WPw04k2_qk
Lesson 39 – How to participate at a workshop? Part 2
I don’t think we have them written but they’re just a quick summary of maybe the first 20 articles of Rabash. Nullify myself so that I can actually hear the words of the friends and follow them back to the Creator that speaks from their throat. Saying the words is one thing but until they enter the heart…
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.
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