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I listened to “Isaac and Jacob” with Yerganat, and towards the end there wasn’t much time for some of the slides. This is the quote from Slide #7:
Regarding how to include fear in love from the side of judgment, he cites the saying: “But he who hardens his heart will fall into trouble,” which means that one must not harden one’s heart during judgment, no matter what happens in the world. For then he will fall into the sitra achra, which is called “trouble.” But one must then awaken fear as strongly as possible, experiencing fear before the Creator, and connect fear with His perfect love at that time. But both the first and the second fear are not for his own benefit, but solely out of fear: lest the pleasure he gives to his Creator be diminished.
First, I want to know if I understand what the first and second fears are. I have heard this described as the two yods. One is the fear of missing out on getting something for your ego. And the other is the fear of missing out on giving something to the Creator; and always you choose from these two. Is that right?
Second, they were not able to cover the last part of this quote. What does it mean to have both fears, but not for your own benefit? And how does failure at this diminish the pleasure of the Creator?
If the thing that inspires and motivates you is the constant drip of epiphanies and new concepts of the technical studies, then the last few weeks are a bit devoid of that. I also felt that. But all you need to do is keep delving into the other materials while you go along.
I personally like to use the YouTube channel. If you start at the beginning of Kabbalah Explained Simply, Basic Concepts in Kabbalah, and Spiritual States with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman than you can stay on a path that gives your intellect things to chew on. And being on it draws you into the group, even if normally the group doesn’t seem to offer anything because of your personal characteristics.
This is my experience. I hope you find what you are looking for in the technical studies, and that it leads you to unexpectedly good places.
Ok, so, functionally… try your best to be good and do good, but don’t look back if you make a mistake?
I’ve learned that everything that I love or care about in the world is a facet of Kabbalah, and the more I understand it and get closer to the group, the more I get to perceive these things as potent and whole, instead of just inklings of meaning.
In the past week I saw some things that made me question if I have the right attitude about the Left Line.
In one of Julian’s videos he described it as something that we should strive to avoid because we will always be given it by the Creator, as we are ready to deal with it. In last week’s “Kabbalah Explained Simply” on YouTube, they talked about the futility of self criticism. And in the final link to the Rav’s blog he talks about not losing your head in the left or the right.
Previously, my perception was that the Right is faith above reason, where no matter what happens we trust that it is exactly what is supposed to happen according to the Creator’s plan. And when we are in that we feel no need for anything. It’s easy to pay attention to the needs of others because that sensation of faith kind of nullifies any feeling of lack we would be feeling if we were not studying.
And my understanding was that the Left line is a relatively tiny portion of the time where we acknowledge our fears and feelings about the specter of the corporeal world, and that in doing this we acknowledge that these are our own qualities, our own coarseness, our own helplessness to keep these issues from spilling out onto the rest of the collective soul.
I thought the point of the Left line was this discernment… a criticism of the current state of the self in order to obtain the desire to rise, and that would then trigger the upper to give us faith, and the faith carries us back to the Right.
My objective was to spend only a tiny time in the Left, and most time in the Right, but to basically be content to dwell in either one while I am in it, because it’s doing its work.
That has been my experience of it. But between these three sources from this week… especially the Self Criticism episode of Kabbalah Explained Simply, I am not sure that I am approaching the Left with the correct attitude. If it really is ok to try to avoid and ignore self criticism and negative discernments about corporeal reality… I would love to give myself permission to do that. But it doesn’t seem right.
Can you explain what your intention is when you are in either state?
I am also wondering, in the Graduate environment, if I will have access to groups and events on weekdays. It’s rare for me to have an opportunity to be alone on the weekend. And will I be able to ask questions about The Zohar in there? Thanks!
Everyone would naturally reorganize to distribute things according to need. With each person self managing to reallocate their surpluses to areas of need it would almost be like an osmosis effect within the collective. Hierarchical structures for profit would either be repurposed to serve society, or dissolved. All communication would be about who needs what, and where and how to get it to them, not what is available to be purchased or won.
