"Hevruta" - following Lesson 19
"Hevruta" - following Lesson 19
"Hevruta" - following Lesson 19
We talked in the past of the freedom of choice - but how is this freedom express itself in our development - how can we really impact the way we grow?
"As we have clarified above, there are two ways for Providence to make certain that man achieves the good, final goal: The path of suffering and the path of Torah. All the clarity in the path of Torah stems from this. For these clear conceptions that were revealed and recognized after a long chain of events in the lives of the prophets and the men of God, there comes a man who fully utilizes them and benefits from them, as though these concepts were events of his own life. Thus, you see that one is exempted from all the ordeals one must experience before he can develop that clear mind by himself. Thus, one saves both time and pain.
It can be compared to a sick man who does not wish to obey the doctor’s orders before he understands by himself how that advice would cure him, and therefore begins to study medicine by himself. He could die of his illness before he learns medicine.
So is the path of suffering compared to the path of Torah. One who does not believe the concepts that the Torah and prophecy advise him to accept without self-understanding must come to these concepts by himself by following the chain of cause and effect from life’s events. These are experiences that greatly rush and can develop the sense of recognition of evil in them, as we have seen, without one’s choice, but because of one’s efforts to acquire a good environment, which leads to these thoughts and actions."
- Baal HaSulam “The Freedom”
The basis of my entire commentary is the will to receive imprinted in every creature, and which is disparity of form to the Creator. Thus, the soul has separated from Him as an organ is separated from the body, since disparity of form in spirituality is like a separating axe in corporeality. It is therefore clear that what the Creator wants from us is equivalence of form, at which time we adhere to Him once more, as before we were created.
I have already said that there are two ways to discover the completeness: the path of Torah or the path of suffering.
Hence, the Creator has given humanity technology, until they have invented the atom and the hydrogen bombs. If the total ruin that they are destined to bring upon the world is still not evident to the world, they can wait for a third world war, or a fourth one.
"The bombs will do their thing, and the relics who remain after the ruin will have no other choice but to take upon themselves this work where both individuals and nations will not work for themselves more than is necessary for their sustenance, while everything else they do will be for the good of others. If all the nations of the world agree to it, there will no longer be wars in the world, for no person will be concerned with his own good whatsoever, but only with the good of others.
If you take the path of Torah and receive the spice, very well. And if you do not, you will tread the path of suffering…"
- Baal HaSulam “The Last Generation”
We are desire to receive pleasure
Initially, a person perceives himself, feels himself, as an emotional being who seeks and attains only the best possible state according to his feelings through the five senses. Everything that he receives through the five senses is felt within him as pleasure. The intellect, and everything that exists in a person, is aimed at activating the senses to the extent and in the direction that whatever is felt in them is sensed only as maximal pleasure at every moment of a person’s existence. This is according to nature.
(From lesson of Rav Laitman)
Developing according to the goal of Creation
But the purpose of the Creator in creation is to develop within the person vessels (kelim) that are completely different, above his senses, which are called “spiritual vessels”. The special quality of spiritual kelim is that they are above the corporeal senses, and they constitute the acquisition of the Creator’s desire to bestow, so that it serves as a kli for the person. And the person, after he acquires the desire to bestow of the Creator as his own desire, which is called “Galgalta veEynaim,” from within that he begins to use also his natural vessels, which are called “AHP” (Ozen, Hotem, Peh). He activates them for the benefit of a greater impression of the desire to bestow, of Galgalta veEynaim.
The development of a person is to take on the form of the Creator, His image, which is called “Galgalta veEynaim,” and to implement this form, to realize it, in the vessels of AHP. This action is called “receiving in order to bestow” to use the nature of man, but in the form of bestowal, the form of the Creator. Therefore, it is never possible to advance toward the goal by means of the mechanism of pleasure or suffering, because the goal itself is to attain, over the desire to receive, the form of bestowal.
(From lesson of Rav Laitman)
Path of Suffering an running away - Path of Torah is running toward a goal
And if one exists only in the sensation of pleasure or suffering, then, similar to animals, one flees to what is more comfortable, to what is better, to what is felt as a greater pleasure, compared to lesser pleasure or suffering. The difference, the gap, between the current state and the anticipated future state—the greater it is, the more it evokes in a person greater forces of movement and attainment, and with greater speed and desire, one passes from state to state. But in this, one remains at the animal degree.
Whereas development is acquiring spiritual Kelim (vessels). That is, one does not react to what is happening, to what is felt as good or bad, but rather to what is felt as a greater form of bestowal, compared to a lesser form. At every moment, a person abstains and distances himself from determining his state as good or bad, rises above that determination and diagnosis, and judges and determines his state only in relation to greater bestowal or not, compared to his previous state. And until a person passes from his corporeal senses to spiritual senses, it is not considered that he has taken even a single step toward the purpose of creation.
Therefore, there is no path called “the path of suffering.” Rather, if a person is in suffering or in pleasures, he does not advance. He simply remains in place, until he absorbs enough blows, which accumulate in him and obligate him to ask: “What is the meaning of our life?”—“Why am I suffering?” His Chomer (matter, substance; the word חמור—donkey—is sometimes used to hint at חומר—matter) begins to ask why he receives blows. He begins to understand that there is a reason for the blows, and that reason is above the blows. The blows are only a means so that he will rise above them, that he will lower his head a bit and see that through the blows, he is being compelled to develop, above the sensation of pleasure or suffering.
And after a person is given the opportunity to think about the reason, the rest is left to his free choice. From Above, only enough blows are given. But from the moment a person begins to think and understand that there is causality and purposefulness in the blows, he must continue to advance on his own. Because in acquiring the sixth sense, the form of the Mashpia (bestower), a person must express a personal desire, and not that this desire will come by compulsion from Above. From Above, only suffering is brought to him. And if a person stands in his place and suffers, it is not considered that he is advancing.
In suffering and pain, there is no advancement. Advancement does not begin on the same plane, but rises upward, to height. From the moment a person understands that he must accept upon himself the form of bestowal, every step he makes toward it, every movement, every action, is considered that he is rising from the plane upward. And this advancement can only be from free choice, in a free action. And in this, a person passes from the path of suffering to the path of Torah. From running away to running toward its next state.
(From lesson of Rav Laitman)
Refusal to grow is the cause of suffering
The forces are drawn down to us, to each and every one. There is no person who is not advancing; even a single individual is advancing. The difference is in the manner of advancement for each person, and whether he is at a stage where he is standing in place and the ego is being raised within him, so that he will feel the difference between the ego intensifying within him and the Ohr (Light) that surrounds him from the outside, and thus the blows intensify.
In fact, there are no blows; rather, the person is within the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), which is an Ohr Pnimi (Inner Light) that is revealed to him at this stage as Ohr Makif.
What a person describes as “I” is in the center, and the world is around him, and nothing else changes. The person determines his “I” and his world, and since each time his ego increases, he feels, in relation to this Ohr Makif, the increasing difference, and this is what is felt as suffering.
Equivalence between one and another is called “pleasure,” and the difference between one and another is called “suffering,” and they are felt according to the magnitude of the gap between them.
No one sends suffering to a person; rather, his ego is constantly growing, and the more it grows, the more he is in opposition to the Ohr (Light). The person is not to blame that his ego grows and that he does not correct it, because it grows according to the plan, according to the timeline, and according to the qualities of each and every one; everything is calculated. At every moment that the ego is present in a person, he has the ability to correct it.
One could ask why, two hundred years ago, or two thousand years ago, when the ego was smaller, it was not corrected, so that over time we could correct it from easy to difficult.
This is similar to a child who says that today he is a bad child, and he has bad friends, he wants bad things and is ready to get into drugs, because it is hard for him to get rid of all these things. But if he could go back to the previous year, when his parents told him to stop with it and he did not listen to their voice, with the mind he has today, he would have been able to go in the right way.
A person must not think in this way. Even in his current state, with a desire and an ego that is advancing and still not corrected, and according to the size of the ego and according to the timeline, he feels it now as suffering; he must not say that before he could have done something, because before he could not have done anything. Things were arranged for him so that he would do nothing. And today he is in accordance with the state of the world, and according to his inner qualities, with the ability to correct himself in the ideal state, so that everything is ready for correction.
(From lesson of Rav Laitman)
Suffering is not progress in itself
A person absorbs and absorbs blows, until at a certain moment he begins to understand that these blows are purposeful and are meant to bring him to rise to a higher degree. And before that, he did not rise to a higher degree. Therefore, it is impossible to call this a “path,” even though it is referred to as the “path of suffering”. And this illusion that a person has - that the more one suffers, the more one advances, its source is from the klipot (uncorrected forces), and it is completely opposite to the truth.
The purpose of creation is to delight the created beings. And this purpose must be fulfilled at every moment. Thus, in the ideal state, a person should not feel even a single gram of suffering at any moment in his life. For it is not the intention of the Creator, nor His desire, that a person should suffer, in any form whatsoever. And if a person were to move from corporeal suffering to spiritual suffering—to suffering from lack of bestowal—he would always be in spiritual development and would not feel corporeal suffering. And a person would develop continuously, only upwards, without interruption.
Therefore, one must relate to the “path of Torah” or the “path of suffering” according to their essence, and not as two separate paths. There is only one path for development, and it is called “the Light that reforms” What is called “the path of suffering” is only meant, at every moment that one is lazy, to bring a person to correct decisions through suffering. The suffering forces the “chamor” (donkey—meaning the chomer, the matter or substance of a person) to think and to move. But to think and move on the spiritual level.
And if, instead of the suffering that comes from within, a person would be pushed to move his chomer (matter) toward a spiritual decision and action, to attain the form of the bestower, by another factor, by an external force instead of an internal one, his life would be more successful. And the only source for advancement without suffering is the society (chevra). A person has no other source at his disposal, which he can activate upon himself, be impressed by, control, or direct him to where to develop, except only the force of the group.
And in the ideal state, if a person were to use the group correctly, he would prevent himself from corporeal and psychological suffering, and all those troubles that a person has who has not yet acquired spiritual qualities. He would develop quickly and in the most beneficial way. But even through suffering, nevertheless, a person will reach (the goal). The question is only how much he hastens himself, and by himself understands that only through the society, only through the correct use of the forces that the Creator places at his disposal, and to the extent that he can activate them.
(From lesson of Rav Laitman)
Society as a catalyser to our next step
Therefore, to move from the path of suffering (Derech Yissurim) to the path of Torah (Derech Torah) belongs to the person who wants to hasten his development. And if not, he will go through the path, but by the steamroller of development, by way of suffering. But if a person wants to accelerate his development, he replaces corporeal suffering with spiritual suffering, which he can acquire only from the society that surrounds him. A society that provides him with the importance of spirituality, the importance of the goal. And then the person begins to suffer from not having the goal, and this suffering extinguishes all his other sufferings.
(From lesson of Rav Laitman)
A person has a desire for spirituality within him, which comes from himself. In other words, even when he is alone and there are no people around him to affect him, or from whom to absorb some desire, he receives an awakening and craves to be a servant of the Creator. But his own desire is certainly not big enough for him not to need to enhance it so he can work with it to obtain the spiritual goal. Therefore, there is a way—just like in corporeality—to enhance that desire through people on the outside who will compel him to follow their views and their spirit.
This is done by bonding with people whom he sees that also have a need for spirituality. And the desire that those people on the outside have begets a desire in him, and thus he receives a great desire for spirituality. In other words, in addition to the desire that he has from within, he receives a desire for spirituality that they beget in him, and then he acquires a great desire with which he can reach the goal."
- RABASH, article N.13. 1985
Workshop
How can we use our current group to increase the desire to progress?
Q&A