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What does “extend” mean?
Rav clarified it a tiny bit in the morning lesson several days ago. In that case it sounded like he meant that the Upper one broadened its qualities somewhat in order to achieve some overlap with the lower one… like a ven diagram of spiritual contact points.
But this word is used in a lot of contexts. Here are three distinct examples from “Torah and Prayer” that seem different from each other:
“… he should take advice from the holy fathers, since the prayer that we pray is the correction of the holy Shechina, to extend abundance to her, to satisfy all her deficiencies,…” (This one seems like the standard colloquial meaning.)
” And all the extensions and bestowals that the whole of Israel extend and receive in all the generations are first received by the holy fathers. From them, the abundance reaches the whole of Israel in that generation that extended the abundance. It is so because this is the spiritual order, that no branch can receive anything, except through its root, the primary illumination remains in the root, and only a part of it extends to the branch.” (This one seems to mean what Rav said about overlapping qualities.)
“Hence, one must not enter the house of assembly unless he has first consulted with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for our whole prayer is to complement what is still missing in the Shechina, after the corrections that have been made in it thus far. Thus, first we must know and extend all the corrections that have already been corrected in the holy Shechina, and then we will know what still needs to be added to them.
For this reason, one must not enter the house of assembly before he seeks advice from the holy fathers, for one must consult the holy fathers to know what must still be corrected. And this is possible only after we extend in the holy Shechina everything that the holy fathers have already corrected in her, and then we will see what is still missing in her, since they have already established the prayer that is the holy Shechina.
The correction of Abraham is called ‘morning prayer,’ Isaac’s correction is called ‘afternoon prayer,’ and Jacob’s correction, ‘evening prayer.’ Therefore, we must first extend the full measure of correction that they have already corrected in the prayer, then we will know what we must still pray for and correct, what is still missing in her.”
This third usage seems to be indicating an action that the reader is meant to do, maybe a commandment. How do we interpret this?
That makes sense. Sometimes if I know a story is going to be scary or difficult I read the spoilers first. It’s hard to let myself invest in actually fully watching the story until I know what’s going to happen. A Kabbalist watching reality wouldn’t do that. They’d have faith in the outcome because the Creator is writing the story. I need to learn to do that because we know the outcome will be good, and that all the parts of the story are necessary, and we can’t get the full amplitude if we don’t let ourselves empathize and identify with the falls and the revelations of evil. Those are foreshadowing for revelations of greatness.
For two days in a row the morning lesson seems to be about one extremely simple concept that everyone has experience doing, but there are so many questions about it that I wonder if I’m completely missing the point.
Rav seems to be saying that we transition to a reality where we are our intention instead of our body, and in that reality we only want the friend to receive, and we have nothing of our own, and we are satisfied with that, and enjoy from the unfolding of bestowal between the Creator and the friends.
This sounds exactly like watching a movie. I forget myself completely. I don’t have a body. I don’t need anything. I’m not even there. There’s just a story unfolding, and all I care about is what I want to see happen for those characters, and what internality will be revealed in the meaning in that story. And the meaning there… the hochma… always feels incredible. They’re the most incredible feelings you can feel in this world, bigger and more complex than anything you can have in your own life.
Everyone has experienced that.
Am I missing something more complex, difficult, or paradoxical that I need to watch them again to understand why the students are so confounded by this?
“Two opposites, which compose a singular reality.”
I dig back through the forums sometimes for unsatisfying answers from the past and always find they are tremendous answers much later on. Thank you for assembling this tremendous ongoing archive personally for each of us. Each topic keeps becoming the present topic over and over.
From the morning lesson:
“Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:57) Where is the root of hatred?
M. Laitman: The root of hatred is the shattering of the screen. The screen was broken, and there was no unity. Everyone only feels their own will to receive, and the will to receive that is different from the person feels as foreign, and that’s the root of hatred. What does it mean? Well, there are many degrees to that. I love myself, and I only care about myself, because that’s my necessity”
Is this meant to imply that the only reason we can’t feel the others as ourselves, or their vessels as ours, is because we don’t want to?
If I obtain a screen I should begin to be able to sense the others as myself again?
I have read that the connection between us is the Creator and only He can form it. Does this mean the substance of the screen, the connection, what makes Kedusha… they are the Creator? Or they are us?
Or is this the overlapping quality that’s part both?
