Local Meeting

"The Freedom"

---

This week we continue reading from Baal HaSulam's clarifications around the freedom of choice.

As we've mentioned before, Baal HaSulam wrote extensively in order to assist students attain the purpose of creation - reaching equivalence of form with the qualities of the Creator (love and bestowal). This week we read about the laws of nature, as well as on the perception of reality.

In the local meeting, we will read some excerpts from the article and then try to understand what is going on in the text, followed by another reading and discussions on the topics together.

We also have extra clips from Rav Dr. Michael Laitman as important clarifications of the article.

First, a quick recap of last week.

---

Humanity’s Quest for Freedom

• Humanity has struggled for thousands of years over the idea of freedom.

• Both humans and nature resist enslavement.

• The tendency toward freedom is natural and internal.

• But the concept remains vague — everyone defines it differently.

The Concept of Freedom in the Wisdom of Kabbalah

• In Kabbalah, freedom means rising above the will to receive and becoming free from it.
• The freedom from the will to receive in order to receive is the gateway to the spiritual world.

Freedom from the Angel of Death

• In Kabbalah, the "Angel of Death" refers to the will to receive in order to receive.
• Freedom from the Angel of Death means reaching a state of intention to bestow.

The Point in the Heart

• Developing the "point in the heart" is the beginning of building the free vessel.
• Through it, a person reaches the revelation of the truth.

Pleasure and Pain

• Providence has bound life with two reins: pleasure and pain.
• A person is drawn to pleasure and flees from pain; through these two reins, Providence guides him to all the desirable places.
• A person is like a puppet on a string and naturally carries out the commands of Providence.
• According to Baal HaSulam a person is not free. He is dependent on society and those around him and is compelled to act according to what is respected and valued in the eyes of others.
• A person’s pride and pursuit of honor cause him to behave according to what is accepted by society.
• In the article, the person is described as a stew cooking on a stove, meaning he has no choice and is being cooked by the flame.
• There is no essential difference between man and animal, because man also has no conscious free choice.

---

"The Freedom"

Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Baal HaSulam

The Law of Causality

It is worthwhile taking some time to grasp such an important thing, meaning how we exist in the world as beings with a “self,” where each of us regards himself as a unique entity, acting on its own, independent of external, alien, and unknown forces, and in what this being—the self—becomes revealed to us.

It is true that there is a general connection among all the elements of reality before us, which abides by the law of causality, by way of cause and effect, moving forward. And as the whole, so is each item for itself, meaning that each and every creature in the world from the four types—still, vegetative, animate, and speaking—abides by the law of causality by way of cause and effect.

Moreover, each particular form of a particular conduct, which a creature follows while in this world, is pushed by ancient causes, compelling it to accept that change in that conduct and not another whatsoever. This is apparent to all who examine the ways of nature from a pure scientific point of view and without a mixture of bias. Indeed, we must analyze this matter to allow ourselves to examine it from all sides.

---

Open Discussion

The question arises, if man did not develop, would he feel devoid of choice and freedom?

---

Four Factors

Bear in mind that every emergence occurring in the beings of the world must be perceived not as extending existence from absence, but as existence from existence, through an actual entity that has shed its previous form and has robed its current one.

Therefore, we must understand that in every emergence in the world there are four factors where from the four of them together arises that emergence. They are called by the names:

1. The source.

2. The unchanging conduct of cause and effect related to the source’s own attribute.

3. Its internal conducts of cause and effect which change by contact with alien forces.

4. The conducts of cause and effect of alien things which affect it from the outside.

I will clarify them one at a time.

---

Open Discussion

In your understanding, what is the reason for our development?

---

The First Reason: the Source, the First Matter

A) The “source” is the first matter, related to that being. For “there is nothing new under the sun,” and anything that happens in our world is not existence from absence, but existence from existence. It is an entity that has stripped off its former shape and taken on another form, different from the first. And that entity, which shed its previous form, is defined as “the source.” In it lies the potential destined to be revealed and determined at the end of the formation of that emergence. Therefore, it is clearly considered its primary cause.

---

Clips

---

Workshop questions
(chosen based on flow of the meeting)

Where does this week's portion of the article lead you?

Why do we have an interest in the causes behind what happens in this world?

How do we begin analyzing these important matters?

---

See You Next Week