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Without Restriction, there is no Created Being that is distinct from the Upper Force. Instead, the Upper Force is doing absolutely everything, activating every move one makes. Moreover, one remains as a Desire to Receive that is the polar opposite of the Upper Force, which is a bestowing force.
Of course I understand, Tracey. I can barely stand the presence of my own blood relatives, let alone anyone else, not to mention anyone across the internet with whom I have no apparent reason to connect. I practically don’t value any human interactions, and don’t even get me started on small talk. For me, to have lunch with someone else requires serious preparation to imitate the kinds of expressions and actions that make people think you like being in their company. In truth, if you put me in a private jail cell, but with books, I’d be ok for the rest of my life. I don’t think you’re that antisocial.
Needless to say, when I came to the wisdom of Kabbalah I did not come to connect. In fact, I disregarded any mention of it as some sort of extraneous relic of some, perhaps, Jewish moral code that was irrelevant to the core of the wisdom. In short, it’s nearly impossible for anyone to be as introverted, anitsocial, arrogant and dense as I was.
It is natural, by the way, for a person with great spiritual potential to be anti-connection. It doesn’t matter if it manifests in arrogance or shyness or angst. The Will To Receive, the more pronounced it’s opposite will turn out to be – that is, the more potential it has for the quality of the Creator, bestowal – the more aimed inward it will be. Meaning, it’s a heavier will to receive. If I have a small will to receive, I can flutter about like a butterfly, I can go out to others easily and practically without even a clear reason to. But if I have a big desire to receive for self, I will be decisively aimed inward, not out towards others. And that’s why, in a (seeming contradiction) spiritual work can be – I don’t want to say easier but…it will be sharper. Because my ego doesn’t allow me to go towards others without a clear purpose. Nothing short of the goal of Creation, that through this action I’ll reveal the Upper Worlds, will suffice. This also means that before I do an action of connection, I will have to line up all the reasons I’m doing so and what I want from this action. This is very important.
All that said, you’ll find that the group work is not like any interaction you’ve had with others. It’s purposeful, very directed. We know exactly what we’re doing – it’s a kind of a game that we all know we’re playing. I or another instructor will be there with you. There’s really nothing to fear.
Nobody sees it that way, that the Creator constantly bestows good upon the world. I think the world is enough of a fishbowl now, and if we don’t see or feel it, there are enough reality shows to make it clear that even the very rich are also not enjoying this world. The enjoyment that is left for people is that if you have it worse than me, that in itself is pleasure for me. And besides that, there’s nothing. This is what we’d conclude if we checked each and everyone in the world. The fact that the Creator constantly bestows – well, what He bestows actually causes us to feel even greater darkness. Because He bestows that He brings us closer to His quality, and if we don’t prepare the proper vessels for that, then this feels the opposite of good. That’s why the world isn’t getting better, it’s feeling worse and worse the more we try to remain in ancient forms of enjoyment. Now the time has come to develop vessels of bestowal, and then we will feel the Creator’s goodness.
That doesn’t refer to our world. It doesn’t mean that the universe was dark with only cosmic dust and then the sun came out, or something like that. This refers to the development of the Desire to Receive, without which there is nothing in which the pleasure (the Light) can be felt. So, the beginning is the creation of the desire that is essentially one with the Light. That is, the instant it wants, the fulfillment is already inside, such that the Light and the Vessel are indistinguishable, like a mother with her newborn. It’s not even considered receiving when the baby breastfeeds. In fact, the mom gets all the delight by the fact that her baby is eating and the baby has no identity separate from his mother. Now, we’re many degrees after that state. We have our own Desire to Receive and the Upper Force does not automatically fulfill it. Now we need to develop an Intention for why we receive. That sounds simple however it’s the entire wisdom of Kabbalah that is needed just for this.
If we go according to the mechanisms of pleasure and pain that constantly activate in us, then everything is predetermined. I will be led to do all the things that I’m destined for on the “path of suffering”. If however I build an environment that consists of authentic Kabbalah materials and others on the same path, I can create different values so that instead of in every moment being directed towards pleasure and away from pain I can be directed at the purpose of life. This aim changes everything. And then I’m working in a field in which room was left for free choice. For now it’s philosophy but one starts to feel these things.
Those desires remain and we satisfy them in the ordinary way that we would have. Now, if you mean, “How do I practice Kabbalah with my friends and family? Meaning how do I realize the Kabbalistic practices of connection in the Kabbalistic group, but with my family members, etc.?” So, if that we’re possible, Kabbalists would not recommend the group but just tell students to work with those around them. First a person has to measure progress against a neutral background, one with which I have no preexisting reasons for association, as I do with anyone who is already in my life. The main thing stopping me from attaining spirituality is that I don’t fully feel myself as opposite to spirituality – and that is because I’ve never been in an environment in which accurate measurement can be taken. Until I – not just hear and believe – but feel how opposite I am, and hone in on exactly what I’m missing in order to reach the quality of the Creator, I won’t have a deficiency for it and thus won’t receive it. You have to have a group, and there are several more reasons why it can’t just be one’s family and friends.
