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Baal HaSulam was once asked to write a Kabbalistic prayer book (by someone who did not follow the path of Kabbalah, but was interested in the prayer book the Kabbalist might write). Well, he wrote this introduction and never got to writing the prayer book itself. But it gives an impression of what a Kabbalistic prayer book might be like. It’s about the intentions, and for real intentions you need attainment of th spiritual world. So, all you can do in the meantime is simple prayers and actions to draw the Reforming Light, to draw closer to that.
Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah
Introduction to the Book of Zohar
Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot
Introduction to the Ladder Commentary
And I can already tell you that even a shallow proficiency in these requires a long time; not just in time, but in the Upper Light working on us so that we can understand. In other words, before the Zohar, we have our work cut out for us in the writings of Rabash and the other writings of Baal HaSulam. But you can study Zohar for All a bit, and we do it usually once a day in the broadcast from Petach Tikva.
I perceived that documentary differently than you did. A Kabbalist has a way in the work of going Above Reason, but you nevertheless have to go above reason on each new degree. And there is joy that you can go above reason.
Yes, we have to always be in joy, but it could be a serious joy and not giggling like a baby all the time. It also depends on the degree: I might be in great joy throwing some 100 pound weights up over my head, but I’m focused in that, and can’t quite giggle with you right now.
1) These are spiritual structures. But in our world you see the branches.
2) These are all desirable, spiritual states.
3) The spiritual world isn’t “like” our life and psychology; ours is the way it is because in accordance with spiritual roots, we feel good, and out of alignment with the root, we feel unpleasantness.
4) The Light to the lower ones is always through AB-SAG. Bina receives the correct deficiency from the lower ones, and with that, she can turn to Hochma, who turns to his Upper Partzuf, and so on.
Lishma translates literally to ‘for her name.’ We can say more generally, ‘for her sake.’ In the end, the important thing is the intention to bestow, to the Creator, through his vessel, which is the friends in the group. What Lishma really is, Baal HaSulam says, is not for the human mind to understand. It’s something wildly alien that it’s useless to try to imagine.
