Chapter 5. The Desire for Pleasure: Discovery and Correction
Unlimited Desire
Q: Why do we need the principle, “to be filled for the Creator?”
A: This principle allows our desires to stay alert and not wither. After a meal, we are normally satiated and our desire disappears. Just imagine what it would be like if we could have a great meal, and only increase our appetite. The more we eat the more our will to receive increases.
That is why we need the principle, “not for myself, but for the Creator.” Only in that situation does our vessel become unlimited, and during the spiritual progress we experience feelings that are indescribable to ordinary senses. Because the pleasure we have in this world is, as Kabbalists describe, a minute Light, a spark that comes down to this world; it is not even a dim Light, not to mention an infinite one.
The desire for advancement does not go away with the evolution of spirituality. On the contrary, your desires keep growing and so do your abilities. That is why you begin to receive satisfaction, meaning the Light, in an increasing degree.
Pleasure – Life or Death
Q: You write: “Although it seems contradictory, the Light of life, the very source of our pleasure, can also bring death. The reason is that a pleasure that is ‘for me’ is felt only in part of the vessel, thus generating the opposite result – death. When the pleasure is ‘for the Creator,’ it is felt in the entire vessel.” My question is: how can a feeling that is felt only in part of the vessel bring death? Why can pleasure“for me” enter only a part of the vessel?
A: After the first restriction, the Light cannot enter the desire – the vessel - because the screen stands in the way. If the screen can withstand the desire to enjoy in the vessel, in other words, if it can build the intent“for the Creator,” then according to the measure of that intent, which constitutes the strength of the screen, the Light enters the vessel. This is the only possible way to fill up the vessel - the soul.
The purpose of creation is to fill up the vessel with Light through the screen. If the Light encounters a vessel that does not have a screen, it returns to its origin (because of the first restriction). When the Light touches a vessel that does not have a screen, that vessel immediately begins to want the Light for itself, regardless of the source. Then it is called a “shell,” “impurity,” and “death.”
Source of Desires
Q: Please tell me about material and spiritual desires. Does the environment determine all our desires? And what if there is no environment? Is it death?
A: Everything is determined by our inner Reshimot (spiritual recollections) or by the environment (education, advertising, friends, etc.). See the four factors of man’s development and freedom in Baal HaSulam’s, The Freedom.
Q: And what about the basic desires of humanity? Is this the only thing we have?
A: Each of us obediently plays a tiny role in this grandiose mechanical show, feeling“what passes on us” and finally becoming prepared to sense the end result.
Q: How did great Kabbalists sustain and develop their desire for the spiritual while being alienated from humanity? Or was it their way of distancing themselves from the desires obstructing the road to the goal (money, respect, power, etc.)? What was happening to the spiritual desires at the time of such estrangement?
A: The great Kabbalists felt humanity as no one else did, absorbing its suffering and aspirations, and were closer to it than anyone.
Q: How can one grow desires within? From inside? Is it possible?
A: This can be achieved only by studying and contributing efforts towards anything relating to Kabbalah and by being constantly connected to it.
Q: What is the reason for the lack of desires? I am referring not to the feeling of an empty vessel; instead, it is a feeling that there isn’t one.
A: If you are struggling with this and do not succeed, then you have to go through this feeling and it will pass. Bow your head, but don’t consent to it, just go on as if you do have desires.
The Award in Peace and Perfection
Q: Why is the reward in peace and perfection?
A: It is said that peace and tranquility is the ultimate state. Why? Because the work for the sake of giving is regarded as a reward. If giving is desired, then the award is there.
Take sexual intercourse or eating as the crudest examples. These processes require a great deal of effort. But since nature thought of an immediate reward, life and procreation became possible. We do not think of the effort, since the reward, the pleasure itself is so great.
Or take a mother who enjoys feeding her child. Even if she is a queen, she will not turn down the pleasure of the act. She doesn’t feel it as an effort. And if a person changes vessels from being aimed at reception to being aimed at bestowal, one naturally feels pleasure from giving, and experiences peace and tranquility from such an act.
Source of Spiritual Desire
Q: When I began studying only a year ago, I seemed to be very close to the spiritual. I could almost feel it. But now I have a question: where does my desire arise for something I can’t feel, know or see? Why do I want it? After all, everyone around me says it doesn’t exist…
A: The point in your heart is leading you and it will not let you stop. There are more and more people these days who feel these desires. What should you aspire for? You should return to your root in your emotions, to the place from which this point in the heart came to Adam, the collective soul. You should want to return to the state of unity with the Creator.
Desires after the End of Correction
Q: Suppose a Kabbalist has completed his personal correction. He then continues to climb from one level to the next. But in order to rise spiritually he will probably need to fall. So what desires does such a Kabbalist go down to?
What kinds of desires exist after the end of correction?
A: In the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Baal HaSulam describes all the levels that we must go through in our spiritual development. When we complete the correction of our personal vessel, meaning our soul, we continue to correct our connections with other souls in the collective soul of Adam.
Then, as they also complete their corrections, the souls rise to the level of the end of correction and even higher, to levels that have never been described, because they are called “the secrets of the Torah.” It is impossible to study these, or to disclose them to others.
Material and Spiritual Pleasures
Q: I teach Kabbalah in a small group I organized by myself. My students, beginners in Kabbalah, asked me about the difference between physical and spiritual pleasures. Please help me formulate a clear answer, since I myself feel a bit confused.
A: Spiritual pleasure is:
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Endless, since it created the vessel and, therefore, can fill it completely.
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Eternal, because it is perceived in the intention “for the sake of the Creator,” which is never lessened upon filling with pleasure, and hence is everlasting.
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Not concealed from the vessel behind all the worlds (the Hebrew word Olam derives from the word Haalama, concealment); hence it is not weakened to the level of Minute Light. The tiniest spiritual pleasure is billions of times greater than any physical one, meaning one that is received for oneself.
The result of receiving the Divine Pleasure consists not just of the pleasure itself, but of a feeling of unity with the Creator, sensing Him, which is an additional pleasure.
The result of feeling the Creator is grasping Him, becoming all knowing, encompassing the entire universe, which is an additional pleasure.
Circulation of Kabbalah and the Development of the Soul
Q: I would very much like you to clarify the meaning of “Kabbalah circulation.”
A: Man acquires any science about himself and his world by researching himself and his surroundings.
Anything he can’t understand, but wishes to, he compensates for with fantasy, based on analogy, speculation, and rational continuation of whatever is already known. But however hard one tries, it is impossible to speculate and imagine that part of the universe that one never felt within. Analogy will not help either, since one’s senses never experienced anything similar.
Kabbalah creates, or more accurately develops, a new sense. And only in the process of its development does a person begin to feel “that” world. Only then is it clear that no fantasy could possibly help one imagine it.
One cannot convey one’s feelings to others who do not have this sense. To those who do have it, one can pass it along only to the extent that this sense has been developed in them.
Hence, on the one hand, Kabbalah is a science because we develop a sense of the surrounding space, and research it using a strictly scientific method. On the other hand, Kabbalah differs from all other natural methods, as it is impossible to research that world without first acquiring the special sense for it. Only to the extent that one feels that world, does one begin to feel and perceive everything differently.
One who doesn’t feel it is unable to imagine it. The meaning and the goal of “circulating Kabbalah” is to cause man to feel the need to develop his soul.
“Circulating Kabbalah” gives us a method for such development and teaches us how to use the newfound sense. That is why Kabbalah is a special science and not a religion.
The Evil Force – the Force of the Creator
Q: I was surprised to read in the Haggada (tales for Passover night) that Pharaoh made Israel come nearer to the Creator. How is a negative force capable of working for the Creator and against itself?
A: Pharaoh is the force of the Creator. It is a good force that takes a negative appearance in us, as it says: “Two angels lead one to the goal - the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’.”
The whole experience of progress in Kabbalah pertains to the acquisition of new forces of bestowal. If man had only good inclinations, he would never be able to advance. For that reason Pharaoh, the evil force and man’s evil inclination, which allows man to take from it greater desires for pleasure, correct them and rise even higher.
Therefore, it is important to relate to Pharaoh as the Force of the Creator that was given to us for our assistance. Pharaoh promotes us by awakening in our egos a desire to advance and develop materially. From awakening that desire, we begin to understand that material progress doesn’t give us anything, and that true development is spiritual.
When, under the influence of Pharaoh, we begin to develop spiritually, we search in the spiritual world for a vessel to be filled with the desire for pleasure. Thus, our own egoism, Pharaoh, is the motivating force behind everything. This is because it is impossible to receive the Upper Light in our will to receive; it is impossible to sense the Creator, the infinite pleasure.
Instead, we can only enjoy the (very small) pleasures of our world that, once gone, leave us feeling emptier and even more dissatisfied than before.
Pharaoh must motivate us to spirituality, so that afterwards, when we receive the spiritual delight, he will take it for himself. In our world, Pharaoh motivates us to receive pleasure using our regular desire to please ourselves.
In the Haggada of Passover, he is called the “old Pharaoh.” Then it is said that a new king rose in Egypt, and this is the Pharaoh who takes us to spirituality, and then takes receives it himself.
In fact, contrary to the pleasures of this world, one can receive spiritual pleasures only in a vessel called “faith above reason,” meaning with the intent to enjoy in order to please the Creator. Pharaoh pushes man to receive spiritual pleasures for himself. But man cannot receive such pleasures directly, so Pharaoh takes man toward spirituality, study and labor.
When one finally receives the Upper Feeling, Pharaoh comes and takes man’s attainments through the alien thoughts that are sent him.
Q: How does it happen?
A: After the attainment, there suddenly appears a thought to use what one has attained for oneself, such as to enjoy the status of a“sage,” or a Kabbalist, draw people near or drive them away, gain respect, influence, etc. By so doing, Pharaoh takes for himself all the spirituality that one has worked so hard to attain, through the vessel of faith above reason, and into his own private vessel of joy.
What benefit does this offer us, then? It is through Pharaoh that the Creator motivates man to new efforts. But once man has attained a new spiritual sensation, he loses it again because Pharaoh puts in him yet another new desire for self, instead of the desire to bestow. In this way, man will enjoy the spiritual pleasures he has acquired.
Q: Why does Pharaoh succeed?
A: The will to receive that the Creator created is entirely in the hands of Pharaoh, who can always raise new desires to receive, greater than the small desires to bestow he had acquired in the previous degree.
This way, Pharaoh gives man an additional will to receive that is greater than the will he has corrected thus far. Pharaoh plants in man, through his desires, the desire for pleasure of the next degree in order for him to correct that, as well. That way, he enables man to continue with the process of correction.
All that man can see is how his work is wasted. Furthermore, man feels that each time he acquires a greater attainment, he falls from it and plunges deeper still in his own selfish desires, where he discovers an even greater desire for pleasure than before.
This process repeats itself time and again, and each time Pharaoh brings man to such desperation that he cries for the Creator to save him from the hands of Pharaoh. At this point, Pharaoh’s work is done, and he appears before man as an angel, an emissary of the Creator.
Shortened Exile
Q: Baal HaSulam writes about a premature spiritual birth. How does this happen and can it be prevented?
A: The exile in Egypt was supposed to last 400 years, to match the four degrees of the development of each desire. Instead, it lasted only 210 years. As a result, Israel had to experience three more exiles: Persia and Media, Babylon and the current and last exile.
An early exit from exile, from pregnancy, is called “abortion.” But this also happens in the collective development of the souls, through their evolution from Above downward, meaning even before they are born as creations. That is why we don’t ascribe it to the creation, but to the development of the creation within the Creator. This occurs before the creation has developed enough for an independent existence outside the Creator.
In other words, as creations, we do not feel ourselves equal, independent or free to choose our actions. We begin our existence as creations after the breaking of the “First Man,” and only through the process of the evolution from down upward.
We have to go through the degrees of our development according to the evolution of the soul. We must do it as it evolved from up downward, except that the return is in the opposite direction: from down upward – meaning toward the Creator.
Was the Exit from Egypt Premature?
Q: The books of Kabbalah maintain that the exit from Egypt was made prematurely, and that there are farfetched historical consequences to it. Did the premature liberation prevent a possibility to attain spiritual attributes in due time. If so, is it like a child who was supposed to be born, where preparations were made for labor, but then everything was ruined because the child was born prematurely and died at birth?
A: Theoretically, that situation exists during the creation of the worlds from up downward. Baal HaSulam describes it as a “dead infant” because the liberation (the process of birth) happened not in due time, but prematurely.
This means that, one is not quite ready to assume the spiritual attributes of giving and bestowal. Althoughgiven forces of bestowal from Above, the “infant” was still not in a state to accept them. The “dead infant” could not acquire spiritual attributes, although everything was ready for him. That is why there had to be three more exiles. But when the souls rise, there is only evolution toward a greater correction, from below upward, to the degree of the Creator.
Egoism as a Spiritual Desire
Q: Why are Jews such egotistical people?
A: Jews, Israel in the spiritual sense, are those who aspire for the Creator. Naturally, they need a special desire for that. The desire for spirituality is the greatest of the desires in this world. Therefore, the smallest spiritual pleasure is greater than all the pleasures of this world. Hence, in order to want spirituality, you must be the greatest egoist.
Q: I face an inner contradiction. On the one hand, spirituality is about loving your fellow man, altruism and bestowal. On the other hand, in order to develop in spirituality, we must acquire greater desires to please ourselves than the ones we have right now.
A: Our reality in this world is that the desire for pleasure is limited to minute pleasures, whereas the sensation of the Creator, which is the spiritual world, is about immense pleasures. Therefore, people who aspire to spirituality must possess immense desires.
But these desires must be identical to the pleasures that stem from the Creator, meaning that we will not want to please ourselves, but to render pleasure. The wants of man and those of the Creator must be identical.
If we want to give as much as the Creator, to that extent we can sense the Creator and enjoy Him. Man’s soul is made of small desires to give, called “Israel,” and great desires to receive, called “Gentiles.”
In the first stage, Katnut (infancy), man discovers within only the small desires to give. He corrects and fills them. Then, in the stage of Gadlut (adulthood), the greater desires to receive join in.
In our world, this process happens on a worldwide scale: Israel, meaning the Jews, must first reach spirituality, and all other nations must follow. But in this pyramid, too, are exceptions.
There are also incarnations, association and dissociation of souls. Therefore, it would be unwise to draw general conclusions from the above. (I recommend reading the Introduction to The Book of Zohar in that context, from item 66 on).
Desire for Pleasure – with a Screen
Q: Can you say that man is farthest from the Creator because his will to receive is greater than that of a stone, a tree, or a cat?
A: By nature, the greater the desire for pleasure, the farther man is from the Creator. The smaller the desire, the nearer man is to the Creator. But if a person corrects himself, he begins with the absolute nullification of his desire to enjoy and uses it only in accordance with the measure of the screen, which he acquired.
Therefore, in a corrected state, the greater the will to enjoy, the more a person can resemble the Creator; and the smaller the will to receive that is used (with a screen), the farther one is from the Creator. During the study of Kabbalah, when the will to receive grows, the measure of the screen grows with it, which is the aim to please the Creator, rather than yourself.
Thus, a great man, a Kabbalist, has a great desire to enjoy, but a corrected one.
Past Pains
Q: Why do we get pleasure when reflecting upon past pains? In fact, they even seem to bring us more pleasure than the pleasures of the past, especially when shared with someone.
A: Because the events of the past have been corrected (mitigated), we feel sweetness in those old pains. It is a bit like our path: it isn’t sweet, because we want and suffer. But when we attain our goals, we take pleasure in the love for the Creator and our encounters with Him in past pains and disappointments.
It is like a person in love who yearns to meet his loved one and finally does. The intensity of the pleasure is a measure of the intensity of the yearning, the ability to aim the yearning at the desired object, and its duration.
In general, if one shares one’s feelings with another person, the two create a common vessel, a larger vessel for sensations. There is an additional feeling in that vessel: that of the other person. That is why it is more pleasant to share an experience than to experience something alone.
From Material Pleasure to the Spiritual
Q: I feel that there are a great many pleasures and that people around me are having fun. Are these pleasures considered small or great, compared to the spiritual pleasures you speak of?
A: Man is born to our world with very small desires that gradually grow: soon there is a desire for a family, power, respect, and knowledge. Yet, these are only experiences of this world. The desires demand of the brain their necessary amount of development. In other words, the mind evolves to the degree that is necessary to satisfy one’s desires.
But if we should desire spirituality, if we suddenly feel that we want something not available in this world, then we begin to search for it.
We are directed to Kabbalah from Above. (Quite often we are directed elsewhere, toward other“spiritual techniques” which means that we must go through still other phases of development. It might take several more lifetimes before we arrive at Kabbalah).
Finally, when we begin to study Kabbalah, our every desire begins to grow within us. We become more egoistic, and therefore smarter. Greater worldly desires are born, especially sexual ones.
As the sages of the Talmud say: “After the ruin of the Temple, the taste of intercourse was left for the workers of the Lord alone.” This means that the true taste of sexual pleasures remains only among those who grow spiritually.
To a person who is not proficient in the structure of the worlds and who does not know the Upper Guidance, it sounds like the complete opposite, but to disciples of Kabbalah it is clear that in our world, the pleasures and desires are tiny. In fact, the higher we rise toward the Creator, the greater our desires and pleasures become.
Yearning
Q: If a person badly wants love from the Creator, is that an egoistic desire?
A: Of course it is, but what’s wrong with that? Look at yourself reasonably, appreciate yourself according to the degree you’re actually in, don’t demand too much of yourself and don’t take on yourself impractical tasks, or those that are beyond your ability. If you can’t perform them, it’s a sign you still don’t know their true meaning.
In the first period of the development of the soul, below the barrier, man gets to know his egoistic attributes. He realizes that he is distanced from the Creator and develops a desire to be with Him, for his own pleasure, as it says: “…for I am love-sick” (Song of Songs 2, 5).
If that degree is completed, it leads to a passage through the barrier to the spiritual world. The passage through the barrier is the response to the immense egoistical desire to enjoy the Creator that evolved in man.
The Birth of a Will
Q: You said on one occasion: “The spiritual ascent is a long and rough road. You need to be born anew at every single degree, until you resemble the Creator in your every trait.”
As I understand it, to be born is to feel a new attribute of the Creator. If the soul feels a new attribute and situation, does the old one still count?
A: Every new degree is born on the basis of the past. You might say that on the basis of negating a past situation, the need for a new situation is born, because the old one has exhausted itself.
There is a passage from the Keter (will to bestow) of the lower Partzuf to the Malchut (will to receive) of the upper Partzuf. That passage means birth: the appearance of a new attribute of reception that has now been acquired again. Thus, the birth we speak of is a birth of a new desire.
The life expectancy of that desire is the time it takes to correct it. Immediately after that, a new (higher) situation (desire) is born.
A Complete Will
Q: Once I tried to picture a situation where I lost everything: my job, my home, my health, etc. but I took it as something good, as something necessary for progress and suddenly felt a great relief. Can such self-persuasion help, and should it be done consciously on a regular basis? Is it, from the perspective of the Kabbalah, the right thing to do? After all, the will to improve one’s health is an egoistic desire.
A: Many people have these feelings and thoughts. But to those who seek a way to the Creator, such feelings are intentionally given in larger amounts to make them feel that they need the Creator and want His Revelation. This is true even if this evolution comes as a result of an escape to save one’s own skin, such as escaping a threat to one’s life, financial bankruptcy, public disgrace, etc.
The Creator initially uses the ordinary means that He created for man in order to bring him closer. The purpose of everything we have is to bring us closer to the Creator. Redemption depends solely on our beginning to feel the Creator, and the expectation that the Creator will be revealed before us. But man’s will does not tend to accept the termination of its being “the owner,” nor the necessity to give up control over man.
This condition was also made by the Creator so that man would hate his receiving nature. Why? Because it contradicts the giving nature of the Creator so much, that man would want to eradicate it.
It is only because of man’s recognition that everything opposite the Creator is negative that we finally surrender and plead before the Creator. The Creator did this initially so that our desire for Him would be complete.
Changing the Intent
Q: You write about the deletion of surplus desires, but on the other hand, you say that there are no surplus desires, that no desire should be eradicated, but that man’s egoistic nature should be mended to match that of the Creator (altruistic).
A: The term “deletion” refers to the change of the intent from LoLishma (not for Her name) to Lishma (for Her name). Through the change of the intent, the will to receive acquires a completely different outer shape. If, for example, a person wants to kill, that desire could be used positively, such as by working in a slaughterhouse.
Q: I can’t ascribe spiritual intents to several of my aspirations. Is it right to delete a corporeal desire that cannot be joined with a spiritual intent, the aim“for the Creator?”
A: You should never dig into your uncorrected desires. “One is where one’s thoughts are.” Think of the Creator, of His Thought, and His Greatness. Only the surrounding Light, which comes through your study, can change you; you cannot do so by yourself. Therefore, don’t even try; it is not the right approach.
Unfortunately, not all people know about Kabbalah and therefore think that bad thoughts and desires can be deleted. Kabbalah teaches that only prayer to the Creator and the response from Him will give you the strength to rid yourself of all the deficits.
Changing the Corporeal Desire
Q: I find it hard to see myself, after so many years, changing my corporeal nature to a spiritual one. How does it happen?
A: Man begins his journey toward the Creator out of personal interest – in a state called, “LoLishma.” Then, through the effect of the Upper Light, he suddenly acquires a new intent: “for the Creator” (also called, “ Lishma”). The change in man’s intent is not possible any other way but through the effect of the Light. The effect of the Light can be awakened only through a systematic effort in the study of the Kabbalah in a group.
Ultimately, man indeed receives a possibility to fill himself up without limitation with the pleasure he yearns for, but he doesn’t have the ability to receive it, due to the limitation of his own nature. Only when he exits his self does he acquire the ability of infinitely receiving. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah is a science that teaches how to receive from the Creator.
The change in the attributes complies with the principle, “You have labored and found, believe.”
I made efforts and found means, I made efforts in the group, connecting with it truly with an aim for myself, but ultimately the Light came and corrected me. I regard it as finding, because I couldn’t have exited my nature previously, while I was still captivated by it.
Crossing the Red Sea
Q: It is very hard to apply the first restriction over all my desires, so I wanted to ask if it is possible to work with each desire separately, one by one, without restricting all of them at once?
A: We are all born with a certain quota of corporeal desires: desires to enjoy for ourselves. These desires can be satisfied with a greater amount of corporeal pleasure or with a lesser amount, by limiting the desire. But all that has nothing to do with the type of will to receive that is necessary for entering spirituality.
When we enter spirituality, our will to receive grows in quality; we want to take pleasure in the Creator and not in pleasures of this world, which are mere costumes over the pleasure that comes from the Creator.
In each spiritual degree, we are given a greater portion of will to enjoy, which we must overcome. Each additional desire should be used in our search for a connection with the Creator. As we are gradually granted new, greater desires, we should first gather our strength in order to refrain from using those desires for ourselves. That is called “making the first restriction” on the given desire. Thus, we acquire a screen and can already use that will for the Creator and not for ourselves.
From this we learn that in each degree, we should gather strength to perform the first restriction over the desire of that degree by ourselves.
Only once, when man first exits the sensation of this world and enters the Upper World, does he receive a screen over his corporeal will to enjoy. In other words, the first time we cross the barrier between the physical and the spiritual world, we acquire the intent not to use the corporeal desires for ourselves. It is a special moment, called “the crossing of the Red Sea,” that comes after the exodus from Egypt, meaning after one has been freed from one’s nature.
Through that passage, man crosses over to the spiritual realm, where he senses the Creator. The sensing of the Creator is the attaining of the Upper World.
Character, Attributes and Habits
Q: Is it risky to allow yourself to be moved by a film or a book that does not contain even a shred of spirituality, and use them for relaxation? And what about my less positive habits? How will I deal with those?
A: There is nothing you can do with yourself. Your reactions and what you are today will also remain later. You will begin to change inwardly as you delve deeper into Kabbalah, but your character will remain the same.
The Book of Zohar says that your character has nothing to do with your natural desire to enjoy. Your character is expressed as your responses to stimuli. Once you change your goal, you will perceive a different reality. So step out of it and begin relating to things differently.
Today, you can only say to yourself that everything comes from the Creator. Later, you will sense it very clearly. Then you will not have to say anything to yourself, your new attributes will determine that.
You must think only of rising to the degree of the Creator. If you think about your own negative characteristics, by doing so, you are accusing the Creator, because the thoughts of an uncorrected person are also uncorrected, since “one is where one’s thoughts are.”
Therefore, it is best not to think of yourself, but of the Creator. This way you are already in Him.
Envy and Lust
Q: What do I do with my jealousy, with my lust? Does the Kabbalah correct such attributes and the relationships between people?
A: During the study of Kabbalah, you are gradually influenced by the surrounding Light that changes you. It first happens in small portions, and later on it becomes a perpetual process. Over time you might appear to be more egotistical, because you react differently to external stimulus, relationships and pain, and people tend to interpret it as carelessness toward them. In fact, you have simply begun to understand the meaning of what is going on. You do not cry anymore like others do, and you do not panic. On the contrary, you want to give everyone more and more, but you do it in a special way, through the correction of the universe through yourself.
This love for mankind, the greatest there is, can seem like pure egotism. Even though you relate to people around you like a loving father who will not give his child a knife to play with, others will not understand you. In general, Kabbalah can be understood only by personal experience. Unfortunately only people with spiritual attainment can enjoy this type of experience .
Lying to the Receiving Nature
Q: What do I do if my will to receive doesn’t let me do what I intend to do? Can you lie to it, or use some trick?
A: If you’re trying to make your will to receive (your nature of enjoyment, satisfaction, simply living) accept your position, it means that you have come up with some“bait” through which you promise it pleasure. This will allow you to do as you intended.
It’s as though it is happening not within one person but between two people who lie to one another, just as the Torah and other holy books seem to speak of many people, when in fact they refer to various attributes of the same person and the connections between them.
The questions that are resolved there are very similar to yours: what to do, can man lie to his own nature, and, in general, which is the best way? Therefore it is recommended to read a lot. Remember, “Whatsoever thy hand attaineth to do by thy strength, that do” (Ecclesiastes 9, 10).
Man must try everything even before the receiving nature discovers that it takes no pleasure in it, and only then will it agree to ask things of the Creator…
Q: Does it matter what makes you stop being an egoist?
A: At first, the aim is for me, LoLishma. Man confuses working for the Creator with working for himself. But it is precisely that situation, which allows him to make an effort. As a result of the effort comes the Light that corrects from Above, and man begins to understand what it means to be “outside myself, to work ‘not for me’, but ‘for the Creator’.”
Those questions should be asked, but the answers are feelings that go along with the corrected vessels. The question is a vessel; the answer is a Light. In the meantime, the answers are only good for calming yourself down and encouraging you to make an effort.
In general, man grows like a baby, which unconsciously imitates adults. Actors learn the same way. In fact, any study is based on repetition; you learn that which you still don’t know, the degree you have not yet reached. That process is called, from LoLishma to Lishma; from “for me” to “for the Creator” - from the sensation of this world to the sensation of the spiritual world.
The “Good Will” and the “Evil Will”
Q: How can you tell what causes each ascent, and does it have any meaning in the spiritual work?
A: Two angels take one by the hand to the purpose of creation: on the right-hand side – the “good will,” the desire of the Creator to bestow; on the left-hand side – the “evil will,” one’s own will to receive. They both come from the Creator, Who is the source of everything, but the difference is in the way His bestowal descends upon us: either directly and openly, or indirectly and secretly.
Is the reason that important? Can one always understand it? Perhaps it is better to consider that from this minute on we will “charge ahead” and not be so absorbed in the past, in search of the reasons for the current situation. Such a search indicates that we live at the expense of our past attainments, in debt, and afraid of the task we have been assigned to do, afraid to stay alone with ourselves.
Discovering the Real Me
Q: Can other people see that I’ve become more egoistic, even though the changes are within me?
A: Everyone is born perfect, meaning we all initially have everything we need for correction and development. We are like a seed of wheat, containing all the information that is destined to develop. All that is left is to nourish the seed so that it reaches its potential.
That principle also drives man’s character, his worldly traits, and his spiritual traits. Man’s soul first appears as a tiny spot, a “point in the heart.” After the study of the Kabbalah, it swells to the proportions that have been set for it in advance, and becomes a whole Partzuf.
All the evil that is now apparent in man was there before, only concealed, because he didn’t have the necessary readiness, the strength and the need for correction. Because of that, the evil begins to show during the study of the Kabbalah.
Within everyone around us is also that evil, but we are so blind to it that not only can we not feel it, but some of us even regard ourselves as righteous. When the time of correction comes, we will all discover our true natures, and only through our corrections will it be possible to attain the Creator.
When we discover our evil traits, we get irritable and dissatisfied because we don’t want to feel that way about ourselves. But other people don’t understand what is going on with us, and will never link it with the revelation of evil because they have never experienced that process themselves.
Hidden from Others
Q: Everything that was in me before is now coming out in the open. Do others see this as well?
A: What lies hidden inside us, in the point in the heart, at the seed of the soul, is our uncorrected nature. It first appears in small portions and then gradually reveals itself to the senses to a greater extent. But we must correct our traits bit by bit. Therefore, those of us who study more diligently discover our nature more quickly and in greater portions. We recognize our nature as bad, and we are repelled by its presence.
Kabbalah is an applied, experimental science. Everything we now know about the spiritual world and the Creator we learned from Kabbalists, people who enter the spiritual world by self-correction, and feel it within themselves the way we feel our world. They tell us of their discoveries in their books, where we can read about the spiritual world.
Kabbalah, as we’ve said above, is an applied science. If we do not learn from our own experiences and do not work on correcting ourselves, we cannot understand what we read in books. Thus, because they speak of things that have no expression in this world, we will know nothing about Kabbalah.
For this reason, Kabbalah is called “The Wisdom of the Hidden” because we cannot see the hidden, only the revealed. Being scientists of Kabbalah does not mean reading many books, but rather attaining the upper degrees of revelation. The extent of the revelation of the Upper One reflects the degree of the Kabbalist.
Although the will to receive becomes revealed further and further until it reaches its true limitless measure, it is invisible to others. It is impossible to see various kinds of pressures in behavior, impatience toward empty, meaningless things, the rejection of ordinary pleasures, which appear childish, etc.
These changes are mainly displayed outwardly in one’s impatience, as Kabbalah does not tolerate empty philosophizing or discussions about theoretical and intangible concepts.
Egoism in Society
Q: When we begin to study Kabbalah and advance toward spirituality, we discover within us hidden egotistical traits that hadn’t been apparent before. Will those traits affect ours whole behavior, increasing our selfishness towards others?
If that is true, how can groups of people that advance together exist? How can people maintain relationships if they become so“evil” during the study?
A: You are right. When a disciple advances, the will to take for oneself grows, otherwise how can there be any advancement? Each degree exposes another layer of uncorrected desires with the intent“for myself” and one rises by correcting the intent from“for me” to“for the Creator.” The newly corrected desires consist of the new degree to which the person has now risen.
But then, Kabbalists would always feel themselves “bad” compared to the people around them. And that would have been true, if that were an addition of desires to take pleasure in material things. Indeed, one discovers such desires, too, but they are neither the most important nor the biggest of man’s problems; they are not the ones he should wrestle with.
If you want to eat, drink or sleep more, don’t worry about it; it is a temporary phenomenon during a spiritual descent, when there are no other pleasures.
The situation is that man is given more egoistic desires to enjoy the spiritual world, and we should wrestle with what rebels against the Creator, or as Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice” (Exodus 5, 2).
The most important thing is to confront thoughts against faith and doubts about Providence or the uniqueness of the Creator.
It is true that the physical desires grow as well, but that is done on purpose, in order to divert us from the correct battle against that which really distances us from the Creator.
The most important thing is not to change the object against which we are fighting. We must fight not the desires of this world, the desires of the animate nature, but rather the disturbances that keep us away from the Creator.
A shell is an impure thought, an impure aim against the Creator. It exists only in the spiritual world, along with—and against--purity (sanctity), not against physical temptations. Therefore, in a study group, although the egoism increases, it is expressed in personal interferences in the aim toward the Creator, not as ambitions to become a leader, for example. It is simply that, out of the awakening yearning for the Creator, each person wants to contribute more to the group.
Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag writes that the group must form the basis for the future society. Today such societies can be established on a small scale and the Creator rewards such a society with great help and personal care.
“One is where one’s thoughts are.”
Q: I read in an article written by Rabbi Baruch Ashlag that the only way to escape situations of spiritual decline and unawareness is to examine the current situation while still in a state of ascent, and understand that nothing is lower or more distanced from the Creator than one’s existence as a beast. In this state, we lack the ability to evaluate our situation under the dictatorship of worldly desires. What does it mean to inquire, to purposely decline to a lower degree?
A: One must never search for lower situations because “one is where one’s thoughts are.” The lower we decline, the more distanced we become from the Creator. Always try to feel the contact with the Creator and leave the rest to Him.
If, for the purpose of progress, we should be dropped low, then the Creator will create that situation, but man himself, wherever he is, should want only to remain close to Him.
Only the Other Side pushes man to agonize and torture himself from within. The reply to it should be prompt: always try to be happy, to reach adhesion, high spirits and enthusiasm in the search.
The thoughts and conditions that affect man, whether positively or negatively, are brought to him from Above. They are spiritual forces, which we call “angels.” With regard to spirituality, our bodies are considered dead.
Much like a vehicle, the body can only respond to spiritual forces. The angels can point the body (one’s desire to receive) in the “wrong” direction, away from the aim toward the Creator; they break our contact with the Creator by afflicting the body with dead-end thoughts, lack of purpose, emptiness or fatigue.
The holy Zohar writes that the angels that control us do not have souls and can be fooled. It is our goal and our responsibility to maintain contact with the Creator despite the disturbances; therefore, the angels that bring us “bad” thoughts can be fooled. Since the body understands only mechanical movements, start dancing, even by yourself (as Rabbi Baruch Ashlag used to do with tears in his eyes). You will see how easily the body comes out of its negative state.
Self Awareness
Q: When I face a certain situation, my self wants to react. If I think that my response is not real, can I change my response?
A: Beyond all the calculations, now and in any situation, you will ultimately act the way you will because you are who you are--and you cannot act any other way. Only in the next degree of development will you understand why you acted the way you did.
Therefore, in these situations I simply advise plenty of reading of the recommended texts to direct you, consciously or unconsciously, to understand what is going on. Generally speaking, people don’t think about such questions as: “What is actually leading me?” They’re only bothered with “How do I get what I want?” On the other hand, you are already at the beginning of a process of understanding and self-recognition.
Spiritual Diagnosis
Q: You once wrote that man couldn’t assess his own mental state. You said that to diagnose it correctly, he should exit his current situation, change it and only then be able to see what kind of mood he was in.
I think there are two problems here: The first is that in his new situation, he will have to go back to the past, meaning he cannot live in the present. The second is that if he cannot evaluate his situation, he is in fact captivated in that situation, a slave to his own state.
A: It is obvious that man cannot objectively diagnose the current spiritual state he is in, because he always diagnoses it out from whatever desire currently affects him. So how does one evaluate one’s mental state?
We cannot evaluate our own situations correctly, but at the same time we cannot believe other people because they, too, are controlled by their desires.
Q: Practically speaking, man should see what he must do at any given moment. But sometimes he doesn’t know how to react to what happens to him. Should he remain passive and wait for a situation to go away, or should he try to react, to mend at all costs?
A: Only the Creator knows and only He can give the answer. We must turn to Him with this request and demand an answer. In Kabbalah it is called going “above reason,” meaning above our knowledge and understanding.
Every step we make, if it is genuine, should make us rise to the next degree. But the thoughts and desires in the next degree are not just opposite to the ones in the current degree; they are completely different!
Q: But still, how do you attain the next spiritual state?
A: This is what happens during the search for an answer from the Creator: there is a certain act in the spiritual world, whereby the lower part of the Upper Partzuf (spiritual entity) descends to the upper part of the lower Partzuf. The Higher Partzuf is called “Creator,” and the lower Partzuf is called “Creature,” man’s current degree.
In other words, man should try to feel with all his might that part of the Upper Partzuf, which is in him, and hold on to it. He should ignore all other thoughts, or go against his thoughts and desires and accept those of the Upper One. Then, the Superior Degree raises man to its level.
From that, we learn that our entire inner content, our thoughts and desires are given to us in order for us to rise upward through them.
Aspiring to the Truth
Q: Sometimes it happens that a certain situation makes me so angry that for days I am infuriated. I try to analyze the situation, seemingly objectively, and understand that it is my primitive egoism speaking and not the inspiration for the truth, for spirituality.
How can I learn to interpret those feelings? After all, in order for me to turn to the Creator and ask for His help in correction, I need to see that my egoism is completely at fault.
A: When we read the books of Kabbalah, we accumulate its wisdom only in theory. We believe that this way we accumulate knowledge and experience. After all, that is what usually happens in our lives when it comes to learning anything-- there is the study; there are exercises, experiments and training.
However, none of these things exist in spirituality. If a person does not physically and emotionally experience a situation, no knowledge, preparation or exercise will help.
Even people who do not study Kabbalah and have never even heard about the purpose of creation, advance toward that purpose during their lives. But they advance slowly, over millennia, unaware of the process. During the study of Kabbalah, everything we feel as something from above is perceived in our senses, just as we feel the corporeal things.
The Upper Senses take the form of regular, corporeal sensations; sensed not only in the soul, but also in the entire body. So when examined from the outside, we might appear to be in a good or bad mood, nervous or calm.
If, before the Kabbalah, you could share your thoughts and feelings with others, today you must not speak of your internal situations with anyone, because they all stem from your personal spiritual journey. You can ask your rabbi about them, in special situations, when a certain state might cause problems, such as wanting to leave Kabbalah, break away from the group, or leave your spouse, etc.
Any situation that is sent to you lasts just long enough for you to recognize it as such. That length of time is not for you to decide. It passes and is replaced by another necessary situation, which is sent to you from Above. Even as I answer, everything is already changing within you…
The power, the rhythm, the speed of your motion toward spirituality depends on you, but you cannot measure it. I remember that I once told my rabbi, “I’m making such great efforts and nothing changes!”
At that time, I did not understand his answer--that within us are many quick changes, which for ordinary people who do not study Kabbalah would takes years, perhaps hundreds of years of ordinary life, to occur. So have a little patience and try to have more fun.
A Side View
Q: What do I do if my ego does not allow me to do things for the Creator? I terribly regret it, but there is nothing I can do about it. Does this mean that as far as internal work is concerned, all that remains for me to do is to watch it from the side?
A: Over the course of our spiritual development, the Creator shows us our essence, our nature, and the difference and distance between the Creator and us. As we advance, we feel our inferiority with growing intensity.
We see our traits as negative and relate to them differently than other people relate to their traits (if they ever do). We examine ourselves and compare ourselves to the Creator. The Upper Light already reaches us, but not - as yet - very strongly, not openly. It appears just enough to make us feel the difference between the Light and ourselves.
Read more of the material that you feel close to and it will help you through this time. You will still encounter various situations in the future, and for this reason our sages have said, “Much knowledge increases pain.”
Victory over the Egoism
Q: Through a continuous spiritual quest, I have comprised a new theory about Kabbalah. It is The Theory of Shapes. It has an immense spiritual impact; it is full of mystery and secrets and with it one can triumph over one’s egoism.
A: Man cannot defeat his egoism or his desire to enjoy for himself, because that desire is imprinted in him. The aim“for himself” permeates his every cell, starting from the still part of man, through the vegetative, animate and even the speaking, which is the intelligent part of man, the soul (or desire). Man simply cannot correct the intent from“for me” to“for the Creator” by himself.
Only when we understand our inability to correct our aim by ourselves and badly want to correct ourselves can we begin to ask the Creator for that miracle. When He sees that our only desire is to rid ourselves of the intent“for myself,” He reveals Himself to us.
When we see the eternal power of the supreme and almighty Creator, we become permeated with the desire and the strength to change our intent from“for me” to “for the Creator.”
This operation is called “The Light in it (the Kabbalah) Reforms.” The Light is the Force of correction, which comes down to man from the Creator. The desire to correct your own nature, to know yourself and understand your ”I,” can only be satisfied through Kabbalah.
With any other way, you will indeed try to change something within you, but it will not be the true desire to change your nature of self-indulgence, although you might think that that is exactly what you are seeking to change.
There is no other theory and no other practical method! But if you want to explain your theory to me, I am willing to read it and together we will interpret it. If one has put a lot of effort into ridding self of one’s nature, the theory, even if incorrect, is worthy of attention. Perhaps I can still show you the right way.
Reward and Punishment
Q: I have several questions: Is man neither rewarded nor punished for his actions in this world, since he has no free choice over his actions? Aren’t the Creator’s decisions and actions in the spiritual world influenced by man’s desires? Are our desires the only ones that influence our world? Are man’s desires his essence?
A: The essence of man is his will.
1.Man’s desires do not influence the Creator.
2.Only the Creator decides what to do with man.
a) Man is neither rewarded nor punished for his actions in our world, because he is not free to do or not to do them.
b) Everything that happens in our world happens according to the Will of the Creator.
At first, man must act as if the Creator does not exist, and everything depends on him alone, meaning that he alone determines the outcome of things and not the Creator. But when the act is done and the result has been determined, he must then attribute everything to the Creator, as “There is none else beside Him.”
Influencing the Creator
Q: Do our decisions affect the Creator?
A: No.
Q: Does only the Creator decide what we must do?
A: Yes. Ordinary people do not influence the Creator, because they have no means to do so. They have no screen. But he who becomes a “man” in the Kabbalistic sense of the word -- a person with a screen-can influence the Creator and the entire creation. He becomes the leader of creation in place of the Creator; an equal partner to the Creator.
As long as you have not become a “man”- a person with a spiritual degree- and are still captivated by your corporeal nature, you are incapable of making any decisions because all you can see is this world.
What do you see before you that would enable you to decide what to do? In this world, you are given the illusion of freedom, and are taught to behave like a blind kitten. When that truth is revealed to you, you’ll see how wrong you were.
The Creator is almighty precisely because He gives man everything: freedom of choice and the strength to act, understanding and attainment of the laws of reality. Upon choosing spirituality, man wishes to cleave to the Creator. This desire stands far above his self-benefit; it pertains to the attribute of being “for the Creator.”
In other words, man sees the Creator as the ultimate good and wishes to serve Him.
Freedom of Choice
Q: Where and how is the freedom of choice expressed? During one’s life, when exactly does one choose, and what should one choose?
A: The choices that we have in the course of our lives are narrowed down to the discovery of the causes that compel us to study Kabbalah. Besides the study of the Kabbalah, all other occupations that we pursue are considered animate because they are transitory and expire when the physical body does. As human beings, we have freedom of choice only in our decision to study Kabbalah. There are three reasons that compel us to study Kabbalah:
1.Reward and punishment in this world;
2.Reward and punishment in the next world;
3.For the Creator -- when we are driven by the desire to resemble the Creator in His ability to give (to attain the attribute of bestowal). For that purpose, we study Kabbalah as a means to attain the altruistic goal: the will and the desire to bestow upon the Creator.
Because of the above, spirituality is higher than us; it is above the boundaries of time and space. We cannot convince our bodies to give to the Creator because our bodies immediately retaliate with the question, “What will I get out of it?” By their very nature, they cannot understand any better.
Thus, we have no choice but to ask the Creator to give us the desire and the will to bestow; to act and to think regardless of considerations of self-gratification. If we focus all our thoughts and desires on attaining that trait, the Creator will replace our corporeal nature with a spiritual one.
Then, in contrast to when we could not understand the possibility of working for others, now we cannot understand not working for the Creator.
The Laws of Nature
Q: What has the correction of the 613 desires to do with the unchanging laws of nature?
A: Everything that appears to be happening around us is but a reaction of our senses to the Upper Light of the Creator, or better put, to His Attributes. We cannot feel our surroundings in and of themselves, only our reactions to things outside of us. That external “something,” the Light, or the Creator, does not change. We ourselves change constantly, and so do our responses to the Outer Light. This makes us think that something is happening all around us.
In fact, we change only in order to satisfy our sensation of deficit. Yet, when we attain the Attributes of the Creator, they no longer form a hindrance on our way to the Light; instead, we become like the Creator—unchanging and at complete rest.
Of course, the physical and spiritual laws of nature do not change; they only develop and add to the collective, simple law, which is the Attribute of the Creator: benevolence. All other laws express physical, spiritual, biological and chemical aspirations that accompany the substance and the desire that yearns for self-gratification.
These laws, which do not change until the end of correction, will then be felt as something completely different, each by our own stature, just as today we interpret situations differently from one another.
Preparing for a Brighter Tomorrow
Q: What if a person is jealous of someone else because they are regarded as being at a higher spiritual level?
A: There is a good reason for the verse, “When writers vie, wisdom mounts.”
Jealousy is one of the most important means of spiritual development. Baal HaSulam speaks of it in a preface to the book “ Panim Meirot UMasbirot.” It is most important to use it correctly, meaning not to desire that others have nothing, but to desire that you will have what others have.
The pleasure is in the self-recognition, in the attainment of the entire universe within you. Even today, the things you discover about your external surroundings are perceived in your current vessels. However, you are, as yet, incapable of feeling the full power and magnitude of our world, and still cannot discover the huge world that is concealed from us: the feelings, the communication between people on a spiritual level, the laws of nature, and the collective force, which we call “Creator.”
If we could feel these things, it would mean that we are at the state of the end of correction ( Gmar Tikun). That would mean that we are all prepared spiritually, have corrected our aims for the current situation, and are now ready and willing to discover and comprehend the Light of the Creator. The end of correction means that each and every person has corrected his tools, his sensations; that each has a screen, and that now each person is ready to start living.
As we understand it, this means the end of correction, because there is nothing more to aspire to or to live for. Can we refer to our present situation as life? No. This isn’t life in the true sense of the word. It is only a process of correction, a preparation for the work ahead. The wisdom of Kabbalah unveils true life before our very eyes.
The Best Situation
Q: How does Baal HaSulam relate to human life?
A: There are prisoners who have food and water and are content with life. They need nothing more. They don’t even want to leave their prison. But then there are others who are free to walk the earth, yet feel as though they live their whole lives in prison. They would give anything to break free.
The difference between these two approaches to life results from variations in our spiritual development, the development of our souls.
Baal HaSulam writes that there are people who think only of themselves, or the well- being of their families, or even that of their city or town. Others think of the wellbeing of the whole nation, and yet others of the whole world.
Yet, how can one picture that the whole world is imprisoned while being free to do whatever one wishes, without feeling that in fact, there is no freedom of choice, that one is limited in every way, as is the entire world?
As a student of Kabbalah, my primary goal is to perceive that I am imprisoned, that the cage limits my freedom, and that I should do anything to get out of that cage. I begin by seeing that outside the cage there is another life, fuller and more beautiful than I could ever imagine. I realize that without that beauty, my world until that moment has been dreadful in its emptiness. The soul cannot evolve in such a world.
If you try to see yourself living outside of that cage, try to feel the spiritual freedom; it will be easier for you to understand the means of getting out of your current situation.
The wisdom of Kabbalah is not opium for the masses, because opium means deception. Why was the use of drugs prohibited all over the world? Because drugs create an illusion of freedom, with severe consequences. Man feels that he is in a completely different situation; he purposely misleads his own senses.
Kabbalah accomplishes exactly the opposite. The first phase in the study is the opening of the eyes, making one see the world for what it really is.
In fact, man is always in the best possible situation, yet he feels the complete opposite, because he can only understand his own reactions, his own corporeal attributes, which are self-centered and limited in scope and abilities. These are attributes that have not been corrected through Kabbalah. The system taught by the wisdom of Kabbalah is a process of gradual spiritual evolution, the discovery of the Creator through the screen.