Awakening from Below - Preparation for the Convention

We can really feel the beginning of the upcoming convention. We've been talking about awakening from below, integrate with one another and get strength from one another. Now we want to get more practical about what we want to get out of the convention. We want to build a desire and see how open we can be to being in awe of the friends. It's happening in just a few days all these gatherings - and the whole goal is to take part in this in the most beneficial way. This is why we want to come fully prepared - to get the most that we can out of the convention.

It's really incredible the way we have such a diverse group of people here. But above all these differences, we have something in common. Our yearning to discover the Creator. There is nothing similar to this in our world. Here we have a special connection being built above all our difference. We should remember to thank the Creator for bringing us here and exposing us to this wonderful thing called the wisdom of Kabbalah - the way to revealing the Creator.

The closer to we get to the convention the more the name of the convention is taking hold - Awakening from Below is taking on deeper meaning with each passing day. It's important to register because this is the beginning of the preparation. We're traveling to our friends in the US.

Here is the convention site.

There are five main themes of content throughout the convention - you can see all the details of the site.

Awakening from Below convention themes

Today we'll talking about the second one Greatness of the Creator and the Society. Why is it important? It doesn't really matter what the topic is - whatever is important to me I find the fuel to deal with it. The Greatness of the Creator is the most critical element for the advancement of every student. This is something we need to find for ourselves. The way humanity describes the Creator - that the Creator is X - is considered the standard in our world.

For those studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, the Creator is the attribute of love and bestowal. Since we're built opposite to this, we need to build our own society that will raise the importance of this attribute. I don't receive it in an egoistic way. With us it's a different story, which is why Rabash wrote the article - The Main Thing We Need

Rav explains how all this depends on my environment conveying this importance to me. We can't become in awe by ourselves. Only our environment can cause me to want this attribute. If the society doesn't look after this I wither. If the society does look after it I awaken like a plant after the rain.

When people say I was busy or caught in traffic ect. In the wisdom of Kabbalah there is no such thing. Everything comes down to one thing - whether or not it's important to us. Because someone watching right now could be thinking - why should I register for the convention? It's so far away and expensive. I don't really feel like going to meet these people, etc. We can come up with tons of reasons why we shouldn't attend. But the minute we raise the importance of the goal - all that changes.

24. The Main Thing We Need

The main thing we need, and for which we have no fuel for the work, is that we are lacking importance of the goal. That is, we do not know how to appreciate our service so as to know to whom we are bestowing. Also, we are lacking the awareness of the greatness of the Creator, to know how happy we are that we have the privilege of serving the King, since we have nothing with which to be able to understand His greatness.

In the words of The Zohar, this is called “Shechina [Divinity] in the dust,” meaning that bestowal upon Him is as important to us as dust. Naturally, we have no fuel to work, since without pleasure, there is no energy to work.

Where self-love shines, the body derives vitality from this. But in the work of bestowal, the body does not feel any pleasure in this and must naturally “collapse under its weight.”

Conversely, when one feels that he is serving an important King, to the extent of the importance of the King, so is his delight and pleasure from serving Him. Hence, at that time he has fuel that can give him the power to go forward each time, since he feels that he is serving an important King.

Then, when he knows and feels to whom he bestows, to the extent that he had the strength to work with the intention of self-love, now he has the strength to work in order to bestow, since one who bestows upon an important person is regarded as receiving from him. And since the body has the strength to work for reception, in order to receive reward, likewise, in bestowing upon an important King he derives pleasure in this.

By this we will understand what is written in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” concerning the matter that if she gives, and he is an important person, she is sanctified because of the pleasure of receiving from him. We are seeing something new: Bestowing upon an important person is tantamount to receiving, although there he references the essay about matrimony in the context of reception in order to bestow, at which time reception means bestowal.

From this we can understand the other side of the coin—that bestowal is called reception, and because of this he already has fuel, for if he bestows upon an important person, it is to him as though he is receiving. Therefore, he already has the power to work.

It follows that all we need is to believe in the greatness of the Creator, and then we will have the energy to work in bestowal.