Kabbalah_2_class2_basic
0 (0 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
The Kabbalah Centre
worldwide classroom.
The Power of Kabbalah level 2, class 2
with Eitan Yardeni.
with Eitan Yardeni.
Hello everyone and welcome again to the
worldwide classroom, Power of Kabbalah 2,
the second session. Last week, we spoke about
the concept of tikkun in the deeper level.
We have learned that each
one of us has klipot,
shells within us,
negative forces within us.
That we carry for many lifetimes already
and those klipot
and shells that were created
this lifetime, those blockages.
And in order to truly transform ourselves,
it is not just to follow the proactive
behavior that is written in the book.
We have to truly face those areas of blockages
and negativity that exists within
each one of us and break through
them, which means going through a
major discomfort, we have learned.
Because those klipot, those shells, those
negative blockages existed within us, they are truly
ruling the way we feel, the way we think.
And if we truly would like to overcome them,
we need really to starve them to death.
It means not to give them energy, not to listen to them
and in spite of the pain that we are going through,
to realize, "I am not going through pain,
my limited, negative force is going
through pain, It is not the real me."
And we spoke about two types of pain.
Is the
pain that comes
in our life unexpectedly,
that we always need to look at this as
a force of cleansing, and instead of
running away from it, embracing it, of
course we do need to remove the pain.
But the first consciousness we need
to inject and the immediate reaction
should be: after the rejection that
our body will have, say "No!"
Embrace it, bring it on.
I want to bring it on. I want to eliminate this force
of shell, I am not going to listen to
it, it is Light that is cleansing me.
And the other type of pain we spoke about,
it is part of the homework that you had,
is to choose those areas in my life
that it is truly uncomfortable to go to.
And I know it is good for me to go
to, and I know it is beneficial
to choose those areas and to
jump into them, heads on,
for the purpose of eliminating those negative forces.
And the fact that it is
difficult for me to open up to other
people, and I have decided to do so anyway,
to break that klipah, the fact that I will do
it one time, two times, does not mean I will
break that negativity. It is the beginning
that I am drilling through this negativity.
And if I truly like to accomplish what Kabbalah is
saying, transforming my nature, to become a being of
sharing, I need to do it over and over
and over again until I will truly
free myself from the old,
illusionary, limited behavior.
In today's session, we will address in a
deeper level, the understanding of the ego.
Which is the space between us and God,
between us and the Light, is the ego.
And as we have learned last session, it is all about
how much do I truly identify the ego within?
In order to be able to learn how to identify
the ego within, we need to understand
what is that ego and in what different
way that ego manifests itself.
And we will speak today about the five extensions.
How the ego manifests
itself which is: anger, judgement,
control, pride and hate.
And every time I am letting
myself go there, it is
just an extension of
our branch of the ego.
So, that is what we are going to learn today.
So, first, let us try to define
and understand in a very simple way:
What is that ego? What ego really is?
And what is the problem about ego? You know we have learned
general words like desire to receive for one's self alone,
So, of course ego does make us into ourselves
and self absorbed, no question about it.
But, what is the difference
between a person with confidence
with ego versus a person
with confidence without ego?
Is every time I have confidence,
it means I have ego?
Or every time I appear weak and humble,
is it really lack of ego and humility?
Let us try to understand,
really, what ego is about.
So, if we go back to the basics, the
basics, we have learned that the
reality that we see life through,
the five senses, my conditionings,
my fears, my perception,
we called it the 1% reality.
Even though we are growing spiritually,
still that 1% exists within us.
That part that gives us the test in this world.
The 99% reality is the big picture.
It is where the answers come from,
where the Light comes from,
where the blessings come from, where the angels come from, where the cure comes
from, where the big picture comes from, where the cause and effect comes from.
That is the 99% reality.
So,
the ego is that force
that Satan is using
in order
to cause us to forget about
the existence of
the 99% reality.
The ego is the force that causes me
to believe that the only thing that
truly exists is my 1%.
The limited me is the only thing that exists.
That is the purpose of the ego, because
at the moment that I am operating
only from the 1%, without knowing
there is something bigger than that 1%,
so, I have no chance to access to the
source of all good, the Light force
of the Creator. So I will be in my ego
all day long, in my 1% all day long.
I will build my own towers and
imaginations and illusions.
But, I will not connect to the true source
where blessings are truly coming from.
So, the ego
is the part within us
that causes us to
think that the 1%
is the only reality.
To think, and to believe.
There is many people who
say, "I believe in God,
I believe there is something bigger
than my 1%", but the way that we act;
it does not demonstrate we truly believe
there is something bigger than me.
So, the fact that I say I believe
does not mean I truly believe.
So, a person can have philosophical,
amazing belief systems about
God and 99% but since the ego
is so big, when it comes to
moments of confrontation, the
only thing that I would see
is my way. In relationships, in business,
in I am right and you are wrong,
or I can not stand other people or
constantly judging other people.
So that is basically what the ego is about?
It is creating a fence
between my 1% and the 99%.
We all have 1%! The question is, are we able to
create windows between my 1% and the 99%?
To create windows is humility. Humility means:
knowing that without the 99%
I can do nothing, knowing that
there is a bigger picture than
what I see every given moment.
So, what is the goal?
What is saying I would like to reach a level
I am more and more ego less, and
as a result, closer to the Light?
Less and less fences between my 1% limitation and
the Light force of God, what does it really mean?
It really means: I would like to reach a level
that every positive thing that comes through me
I know it is from the help of the Light of the
Creator, I know I could not do it by myself alone,
I know there is no question about it, but
at the same time, I have strong confidence
that with the help of the Light, I can do it all.
And I can do amazing things and I create
miracles and wonders, and I can affect change in
people's lives and in projects that I am doing,
huge certainty, with the help of the Light.
The confidence that comes from ego
is the confidence that makes me
special and higher than other
people and better than other people
and putting down other people, and not
acknowledging that the Light of the Creator is
the source of everything, and not acknowledging
that in a second, I can lose it all
since I am not connecting with the Light.
It is I am the smart, I am the bright. I am the power.
I am the source, and it is all coming from
me, that is what the ego wants us to think.
Even though we would say I
believe in God and I believe in it,
but the way we behave does not show it.
One of the main indications,
that indicates we do have
ego and it is not clean
and it is not clean
confidence, is: entitlement.
Every time I am bothered, "how come
people do not treat me the way I deserve?
How come I did not get it?
How come the universe did not treat me right?"
"How come people did not treat me right?
I think I deserve this and this and that
and I am bothered and I am not in acceptance
in the reality that happened."
I am not swimming and flowing with
it to learn what is my lesson.
I am stuck into the entitlement,
"I should have got more.
I am upset. I am dwelling in it"
and we all have ego by the way.
It depends on what level of ego.
So, every time we have that entitlement,
That sense of entitlement that I
deserve more than what I get, and
it is unfair, it is indication that
we are stuck in the realm of ego,
in that 1%, we are believing what we hear and what
we feel and that is it. That is what the ego is about.
It causes me to think that my world is what I
see and what I feel. My ego can cause me to
walk around people and to cause me to think
the only one that is really important that I
have emotions, pains, issues, joys is
me, even though there is thousands of
people around me. And, the ego does not
let me sense other people's pain,
other people's issues, other people's
joy, other people's success.
The ego is the one that does not let me be happy for
somebody's joy or feel pain for somebody's difficulties.
That is the ego.
So, the ego is that part in
us which is stopping us from
feeling anything outside of
my limited me, my 1% me.
And it is related to last week's
lecture, my klipot me, my shells me,
my illusionary me. The ego is
considered to be, if you read the book
of Michael Berg "Becoming Like God",
the prison of our life. Major prison.
It is a prison. It is like, we will do
whatever my ego feels comfortable.
Somebody will tell me something I do not like about me.
I can stand it, who can stand it? My ego can not stand it.
My soul loves to grow, so the ego wants
me to stay confined to my comfort.
The ego wants me to stay
confined to what I like,
what I am good at, what my
perception will be in the eyes of
other people, it is nothing to
do with what the Light wants.
And it is discussion. Some people will say,
"What does the Light want me to do?
What is what my soul wants me? ", and some
people, all day long, "What is my ego wants me?"
How do I want people to like me or not like me?
And we all have these two aspects.
We have areas that we seek
true connection to the Light,
and to do what my soul wants which is grow, transformation in
spite of the discomfort, but we all have that ego part within us
which causes us to think only about
temporary fulfillment because that is what
the ego is all about. The ego is that
illusionary system of fulfillement
that comes from temporary
fulfillment and illusionary
fulfillment and not long term.
So, the ego is a force.
It is part of the klipot force, part of the
satan force that wants us to be fulfilled
with temporary pleasure that has to do
with me being better than somebody else,
with me being special, with me being
even below other people and the ego of
self pity, but the ego is not about
connecting to true and lasting fulfilment.
It is getting the fulfillment
from my limited prison.
That satan force gave a credit
line to the ego to give us energy.
So, you are getting energy by people saying, "Wow, you are amazing!"
And I am filled with energy for two days and it gets
me going and I am excited and I feel I am really happy?
Are we really happy? It can be happiness that
comes totally from the ego and not from the soul.
Or the ego can make me happy because somebody that
I know failed, and comparing to him, I am better
and I am excited and I am not even aware of why I am
excited and I am coming back home in a good mood.
But, because I am giving power to the ego
and I am listening to it, and I am
allowing myself to be excited based on
separation, and somebody else is down,
which is total ego fulfillment,
who is getting really the energy?
My klipot, my shells, so sooner or later
that excitement which is illusionary
would feed my negativity and would cause chaos in my
life and more separation between me and the Light.
So, it is so essential to identify the
ego and to develop dislike towards it,
because that is the only way we can remove illusionary
fulfillment and begin to have true and lasting fulfillment.
The ego will cause me to be devastated
when things do not go my way, because
I believe only if they will go my way, it is real!
And, if not, it is not!
So the ego will give us the illusionary ups and the
illusionary downs, and sooner or later, chaos.
This is the biggest factor that separates
us from God, from the Light of the Creator.
So, again, to summarize.
The ego is the illusionary perception
that my way and my emotions and
my thoughts is the only reality.
And, anything outside of it does not exist.
And, for sure the ego does not let
me seek help from something bigger than
me, a human being or the Light of God,
and the ego does not let me
become a true channel as
a result, and will not let
me have true security,
because confidence that comes from ego will be
followed by insecurity and a sense of emptiness.
I know some people that accomplished
a lot in their lives, in a
monetary level, in a fame level,
but when it comes to security,
they is still insecurity.
And the illusion is, "you know what, if I
accomplish more, that will bring
true security to me. Not at all."
True security comes from how much I am reducing my ego and
confidence in the power of the Light and with the help
of the Light I am accomplishing good things for the world and for me.
That is where security comes from. Not from me
accomplishing things with my ego. It is never enough.
Because something is lacking, I do not have the Light since
I do not believe the source of my blessings in the Light.
So, relationship with the Light and
trusting the Light and trusting
with the help of the Light I
can manifest unlimited things,
That is what a sense of security truly comes from,
not just from accomplishing things with my ego.
Actually bigger, the ego, bigger
the insecurity, bigger the hole,
even though people will appear as
very comfortable with themselves
and very powerful and very confident.
But ego causing that void and
emptiness and darkness within.
So, how do we deal with it?
That is general understanding of what the ego is, it is just believing
that the 1% is the only thing that exists and there is nothing beside it.
OK, so how do I begin to
identify where I have ego?
So, we will talk about five
extensions of the ego.
Five specific ways the ego will
manifest itself, and as I am saying
it, try to to relate it to you.
"Where do I have that issue?"
And If I have one of those issues, it means
I have ego and I need to work on it, so
at the end of the session, we learned what
do I need to do to begin to reduce my ego?
So, the five extensions as I said before
is: anger, number one, number two:
judgement, number three: control,
number four: pride, number five: hate.
So, let us go one by one and
try to see the connection
between each one of these
five extensions and the ego.
So, anger, let us start with anger.
Why is anger an extension of ego? And why, just by
saying, "OK, I will restrict anger!
And I am connected with the Light", it is not enough.
Maybe for Kabbalah 1 it was, but really for transforming,
it is not enough, why is it not enough?
Simply because
why am I angry?
If two partners face difficulty in
business, business deal that
worked for three months,
you know, financing a
project for three months,
and it fell through just
at the last minute.
After they expected such an amazing success to come from
it, and they put the last penny into that business deal,
and they were waiting and expecting, and then
one of the partners is devastated and angry
at those people that were involved
that were supposed to get the loan,
very angry and the other person, even though
he was upset, for an hour or two,
but then he moved on and tried to see what
he could have done differently
and we can do from now, things, better, in order to
manifest even bigger business without falling down.
So the other guy is angry for months.
He cannot let go: anger, anger, anger.
So, both of them experience the same
challenge, one is angry and one moved on.
What does the anger truly represent?
What is anger?
Anger is: I am angry that
things did not happen my way.
That is what the anger really is about.
I am angry that the past
because that is why I am angry, I am not dealing with the present.
I am truly dealing with the past.
I am angry that the past did not fulfill
what I think should have happened.
So, instead of moving
on to learn, what can
I learn, and what can I do differently?
Or maybe I can look at this as an opportunity to
move to the next level because kabbalistically,
everything in life is potentially supposed to move
us to the next level and next level and next level.
The fact that I am dwelling in anger,
I am ruled by my ego that tells
me only MY way is good.
If it did not happen my way, it is bad, period.
So, the fact, why am I stuck into the anger?
Because my belief system about my
way and my expectation and the way I wanted
it, I am STUCK in that belief system!
Anything outside of it means it is not good. We all have
expectations, we all would like certain things to go our way.
And there is nothing wrong about it. But when it does not
happen my way, we need to have the strength to say
"One second, the 99% wants to give me something bigger!"
I can learn from it, or I can not trust that
individual which teaches me a lot about life!
But, no matter what, there is a bigger picture
here when things do not happen my way.
And at times it will happen my way, which
is also great. I am not saying it is bad.
But, the key is not to be
addicted to my way, because if
I am addicted to my way
only and anything else no,
that is considered to be addiction to
my ego, to me, to my limitations,
to the way I see things, to the way
I, and if I am so addicted to it,
anger is an inevitable reaction
when things do not happen my
way, when the other person does not
do what I asked him to do,
when they surprised me and upset me that way.
Of course we will be initially reactive, but to dwell in anger,
it is an indication, it has nothing to do with the other person.
It is indication I am addicted to my ego.
I am too stuck to how things
should be my way. And the Zohar writes
that when the anger takes over,
it is considered to be idol
worshiping and considered to be
as if a different spirit entered
out essence, our being,
that is controlling us, because through the
power of anger, a person can be violent,
through the power of anger a person can be rude, and then you will say "I am
sorry" but it means nothing, he might repeat it again when he will be angry.
"I am sorry I said it, I was just angry", what does it mean?
It means I allowed the spirit of anger to take over.
He did. It says when a person is
angry, he can let go and lose
so many levels of spirituality
that he earned true hard work.
But what is causing the anger? The ego.
Causing the anger, the belief system that I am right,
that I see it, and my way is the right way.
And because it is painful to listen that maybe there is a bigger lesson, and
bigger blessings for it, I can not stand it. I do not want to go through that pain!
It has to be me! But it is the pain of the
ego that does not want to be open minded.
It is the pain of the ego that does not want to see
the unexpected miracle coming from that challenge.
The ego wants to be stuck to
one-dimensional thinking.
I want to see what I see, but we know
all the blessings come from the unseen.
Because we hardly see anything, so if I want just blessings will
come only when I see them and expect them, as smart as I will be.
I will never have true, blessed life.
True blessed life that I will have surprises,
good surprises called miracles.
It means I am constantly connecting that part of me.
The bigger picture of life, I do not see,
and I know the blessings come from that unseen
realm, so that is basic level of humility
knowing the blessings coming from the unseen.
The Light I do not see, that is where everything truly comes from.
If everything comes based on my expectation and
logic, that is my ego, I am hooked to my ego!
That is what the ego is all about and I will never be happy.
Because real blessings never come from that same level.
So, anger is one of the
manifestations of the ego of,
"it has to be my way, I am
so addicted to my way".
We all want my way, the question is how strong is my ego?
If I can let go of my way and say,"oh there is something better coming",
That is indication that I have less ego.
The other extension, and not all of them by the way, some of
us will have more control, some of us will have more anger.
But, each one of us has one of those is
more the dominant expression of the ego.
So the second one that I spoke is judgement. So, I am not talking
about making decisions; you have to make judgement, you have to say
"This is right for me, this is wrong for
me, I do not like this, I do not like that."
We all have judgments that have to make.
I am talking about non-useful judgments that
does not help anybody. The chances of coming to the room, and
somebody talks right away, I see what is wrong with him.
Right away, I see all their tikkuns and all
their issues, which is not useful, if you are
their instructor, they need your help, you
maybe need to see what is wrong with them
in order to help them.
But, the concept of judgement is being above.
Even though you might not think you are above,
you might think actually, "I am not so insecure"
but the fact that you have judgment, in that
moment, it is putting us in a place of above.
I can judge them. The purpose of life is
to identify what I need to change in me.
So the fact that I have to much time
to judge others means I am not doing
the job, and I am perceiving myself
as about them, but I do not! We are.
The fact that I am judging, it is indication we are.
The fact that I am judging is the indication my ego is taking over.
The ego is believing what I see, believing based
on the only thing that I am hearing and seeing.
So, part of the ego says, since I made
a mistake, I can never change it.
Since I was born with certain limitations,
I am limited, that is it, it is fixed.
The un-ego part of us, the soul part of us knows
always, in spite of the fact of their mistake
in spite of the fact that I have limitations, with the help of
the Light of the creator, I can manifest a lot of blessings.
So judging myself to death is part of what the ego wants
to tell me, "I am fixed, I am done, I am set, I am destroyed",
so the ego often will make us feel either amazing
and powerful, and above and great,
or the extreme of low and
down and zero and no hope!
That is often what the ego
will give us the sense,
and sometimes we will have
issues with insecurities.
Which we all have areas we are insecure.
And then we have thoughts of, "I am
not good enough, it was not good
enough, I am not sure I can fit
in, I am a zero, I am not strong."
So, my question to you and something that works
for me whenever these thoughts come to me,
ask yourself a simple question: If I truly
believe I am a zero and I am not strong enough,
why do I take so seriously these thoughts
of "I am a zero", or "I am nobody"?
So tell yourself if you are really zero, so
I will not take so seriously those thoughts
and that is the power of the ego. The ego takes so seriously every
thought that comes to me and every emotion that comes to me.
Instead of saying, "one second, those thoughts does not mean it comes
from the Light. It may be my ego giving me those limited thoughts."
Because look how crazy it is: sometimes you feel amazing
about projects and then you feel so lousy about it.
You feel amazing about what people feel of you and then
you feel lousy about it. Again, the insecurity comes.
Which is the ego playing games in our heads.
At least we are talking about how to identify the ego.
We did not learn yet how to break out of that prison.
But, we need to see how we have been played by the ego.
So, the second thing we
spoke about: judgement.
By judging other people, it is
separating myself from them.
Even though I do not feel great about me, the fact that
I am judging, I am separating, I am seeing myself above.
It is again my way. I see it through my perception.
It is my limited observation, I do not see the big picture.
And self judgement, when it is too extreme;
not for the purpose of growing, it is
also destructive and separates me from
the hope of connecting with the Light.
The Bal Shem Tov a kabbalists that lived two hundred and fifty
years ago spoke about judgement;
that people are judged,
people are judged,
only when they are judging others.
People are judged by the universe
by the negative forces only when they are
judging others. It means we might make
mistakes in life. We might be reactive in life.
We might be selfish here and there.
But the thing that will attract
judgement upon our negative actions that
we have done is not just the negative action
we have done on something, It is the one
type of negative action which is judging others.
Those are becoming the cables which, through
them, we will be judged. So, so powerful the concept
of judgement which is extension of the ego.
The other one is control, the
whole concept of control.
And again, you know, sometimes we
do need to express leadership.
We do need to take charge, but I am talking about
the lack of ability to work in a team work.
The lack of ability to work together.
I need to be controlling, it has to be my way.
If somebody else came up with a
solution or somebody else took charge
in that particular project or that particular scenario,
when I am involved. I can not stand it. I feel out of control!
I feel something was taken away from me.
And, of course there is a very
thin line between "I want what is
better for the project", "better for
the other person" versus "my ego is
irritated because I am out of control.
And, always, when you have a
control issue, the excuse will be
"because I just want the betterment of the business, the betterment of the
family, the betterment of the decision, the betterment of the relationship,
the betterment of the health", that is the reason why I am trying to control the situation.
But the mere fact mere fact I am
irritated by controlling people
is indication I have a control issue.
And when I have a
control issue, it brings a
lack of joy in our lives.
Being too controlling, again, brings me back to,
"only if things happen my way, I will be happy".
And when I am letting the control issue control me, my
way is becoming narrower and narrower and narrower
that is the nature of the ego, gradually the
prison becomes smaller and choking us.
So, I want things to be my way and I will fight things
to be my way, and I will manipulate things to be my way,
because part of control leads to manipulation
since I want everybody to listen to
me, I will manipulate other people to make
sure that that guy will listen to me.
So, our manipulation and lack of honesty
and lack of being direct and lack of being
just open and being so complicated comes
from the control issue, but sooner or later
it lets us have a lack of
joy in our life, since my
way becomes so small and
I am hardly getting my way.
So we do not know how to appreciate anything.
When I am able to appreciate and to
enjoy things that are outside of my control
even though it was not me that did it,
it was not my way, that is an enormous sense of joy
and happiness and appreciation that comes to us.
Which comes by reducing the ego.
The Control.
The fourth one is: pride.
What is the whole concept of the negative pride?
I am not talking about the positive pride.
Positive pride is self respect in a way, "I am
sure with the help of God, I can do things."
"Does not matter how many mistakes I have done in this world, does not
matter how people perceive me or the limitations I grew with,
I have the respect like God respects me.
I am still alive, I am in this world.
With the help of the Creator, I have unique gifts
to do amazing positive things into the world.
Now I am not going to be, with my ego, that is I am
sure I am good in it and it has to be the only way.
When I am humble enough, I will be open to realize, "you know
what, maybe it is not exactly what I think I am so powerful about."
But I am sure I have gifts and I have respect for myself,
and that is a big thing to learn: what is healthy respect.
Healthy respect is to respect
ourselves as channels, and to respect
that I can do it, no matter what
with the help of the Light.
I can do all the positive things that we need to accomplish
in this world, and we need to be in this world; I can do it!
And I have respect for myself, and
healthy respect is when I have an issue,
when I am allowing people to treat
me badly over and over and over,
it is an indication I do not have
healthy respect for the Light of God
and the soul that God gave me. Because I am allowing it to be
because I am too worried what they will think if I will be strong,
if I will be firm, if I will not
let them take over my life.
So, I apparently will attract tikkuns
of people treating me horribly.
So, there has to be some basic level of respect which God
created me and I have a soul and I have the force of God,
and there has to be basic human dignity to that soul, in the
same way I need to treat other people with human dignity,
I need to make sure I am treated with human dignity, because
if I am not respecting myself, how can I help other people?
And if I am not demanding, not
as a victim, as reality, as
consciousness, as my attitude that
other people treat me with respect
I will not respect myself, and I cannot give to others!
So, healthy respect is essential.
Now, the ego respect, the pride is the
need for honor, the need for people
to speak highly about me, the need
for being treated a certain way.
The need to get credit for
things that I have done, the need to mention,
you know what, "I have done this charity,
I did this, I did that. You know what
you should look at me, that is who I know. " or "that is how much I am worth."
It is the need to hold on to accomplishments
in the past. It is not even in the present, It is always in the past.
The ego always holds onto a bag from the past.
"That is who I am, that is what I have done, that is what I have achieved."
Instead of looking, "you know what today is a new day.
I am starting from scratch, from zero, let me accomplish, let me do!"
When I am holding onto my ego, I have less motivation,
less energy, less force, and always have fears
because ego attached to fears, pride attached to fears.
When I am so holding onto what I have done
I am so afraid that people will
destroy that image. It is such an
addiction; holding on to that pride,
that illusionary need for respect
for honor, for people to recognize me.
It is a major, major, major drug.
More than most of the drugs.
The need for people to give me energy... I want the Light of the Creator to give me
energy, I want the Light that I have done through my positive actions to give me energy.
I want my consciousness to access the Light and to give me energy, but the
energy I get from somebody thinking good about me for a second and then
forget about me or the energy from my
name is somewhere... It is energy, but
it is temporary energy and in Kabbalah,
we are saying we want much more than
just ego, temporary energy, I want it all, I want the Light.
The energy that I am getting from the ego is 1% energy
limited energy which is not enough for us!
So, the whole concept of removing the ego is not just
"I do not want to be respected", I want much more!
I want real respect from the right people when I do not expect it
not because I chase it! Chasing respect is ego,
addiction to respect. I cannot let go of it.
There is a saying that King David said:
"when you run away from honor and
respect, it will chase you.
When you run after it, it will run away from you."
So, there was a guy who came to King David and asked
him, "you know what, I have learned this sentence,
but I am running away from respect,
and it does not seem to chase me.
What do you think? " "You know what the problem is?
" he told him, "It's probably
because you are running away and looking if
the respect, the honor, is behind you."
So, as long as you are chasing and looking and
that is in your agenda, we will never get it.
Of course we need respect. We all would like to be respected by the
right people, but we need to trust the Light will give it to us.
The Light will give it to
us when it needs to come.
And sometimes I need to
go through moments of
rejection even though I am doing the right
thing, I am not getting any respect.
It has to be, because that is what destroys
our ego and allows us to be true channels.
Anybody that does real work in this world, and if you have
read the book of the Rav Berg, "Education of a Kabbalist".
One of the lessons he learned from his teacher: if you are involve
in the work in spreading the Light of Kabbalah, you need to know
your ego needs to be bashed and destroyed.
And part of it, you will be rejected, people will speak bad about you.
"How come? I am doing such an honorable work. How come the
Light does not send me respect? " Because we need to understand
the ego wants too much respect.
One of the ways
to reduced ego when I
do not get it at all,
so when I am not getting it at all and I am OK with it,
I can handle respect without getting it to my head.
Because it is not bad to get respect, but when respect is
controlling me, "wow, he respects me so I will treat him nice.
He respects me, so I am in a good mood".
I need to reach a gradual level that
I am getting to the point that I am not
addicted and hooked to respect and honor
that come from the outside. I am doing something truly for the sake of sharing.
I am getting the blessing, I do not
need people to charge me up.
So there is two banks of energy, the ego bank of energy and the Light
force of the Creator bank of energy. Where do you want the energy from?
If you run after, chase after respect,
ego, honor, people will mention
you, "Did they like me?
They did not like me", which we all have it!
We are all addicted to it on some level.
We are not going to get the big picture, Light.
And, of course, it is not black and white. Maybe we have
some ego, and we have the power of overcoming the ego.
And the fifth type is hate, because
hate really demonstrates
the ultimate disconnection
from the Light of the Creator.
Because hate is the ability to dislike somebody the
degree, "I see no spark of goodness in somebody!"
I am so disconnected, and to be so
disconnected from somebody else, It is
my ego that is causing me to realize
there is not Light outside of me.
Because if we truly realize
the Light of God, the
spark of the force of God,
exists in every soul.
And in every human being, we
would never hate somebody.
We might realize, " I do not
want to be their friend"
"I think our paths should not be
together at this time", but to hate
somebody in such a deep degree will not
get any benefits and is never right.
So, what I would like each one of
you to do, I would like you to
identify at least one or the most
dominant expression of the ego
anger, judgement, control,
pride, or hate, for you.
If you have two, it is ok to think about two. And the purpose
I am doing it is just: number one: in order to get rid of ego
or to reduce ego, we need to acknowledge we have ego.
I need to understand: it is not just a spiritual thing that we are doing,
it is removing the prison that causes
us to have chaos in our life.
And not connect to true joy in our life.
So, let us just
use twenty seconds to acknowledge
and identify: "I have ego".
What are we going to do?
Now that we have all acknowledged that we have ego
which causes the anger, which causes the lack
of tolerance, which causes the control issues,
which causes the judgement, which causes the
hate, which is causing us the need for pride.
Ok, now what do I do in order
to reduce the ego and as a
result I will see that I will be
less angry and less judgemental
and less controlling and less hateful
and less needy for pride and for honor.
What is some suggestion I would
like to give in order to reduce
my ego, and of course, going back
to the original mystical tools
of Kabbalah, the mystical technology.
Those of you who have learned about the
power of the Zohar, this, I always
recommend just by scanning the letters
of the Zohar with the intention of enlightening
myself and reducing my ego. Just by itself
demonstrating connection from a
force above my 1% because to
the 1% scanning letters, Light,
Zohar does not make sense.
So, when I am doing it with true passion,
I really would like to reduce my ego.
That is a tool that helps anyway,
but other tools that will help:
ask yourself how many times a day
you ask the Light to help you.
Besides the times of meditation
or prayer or the Zohar.
Because more times a day we are
asking for the Light to help us,
when I am driving I would like to be protected
by the Light, when I am talking I would like
to be guided with the Light, when I am helping
I would like to be guided with the Light,
when I am dealing with the challenge at work I would like to be guided with the Light,
when I am trying to strengthen relationships
I would like to be guided with the Light.
When I wake up in the morning I would like to be guided with the Light
for the whole day to be the right consciousness, the right channel.
How many times am I truly asking for help?Because the more times I am
asking for help, the more I am demonstrating the fact I am just a channel
and the source of our blessing is the Light which is
the whole idea of breaking the walls of 1%, remember.
Ego is the prison of the 1%, it does not
let me feel anything outside of it.
At a moment I am asking for help again and again
and again from the Light of the Creator.
Through the spiritual tools of the Zohar and just
simply asking through the course of the day!
I am breaking out of the prison.
And I am creating that reality there
is a bigger picture. As a result,
the bigger reality, the Light will
help me when I need it. If I do not ask for
help all day long, how do I expect that
I will be able to see beyond my ego when I am
going through challenges or difficulties?
Of course I will be angry! But, more I am
breaking out to ask help outside of my prison,
more when I am going through difficulties
I will get support from outside of my prison.
That is one suggestion: asking for help.
Another thing: appreciation.
Any time something good happens to me, right
away give credit to the Light of God.
People might tell you thank you, of course,
do not tell them, "it is OK, it is God".
You might need to tell them, "You are
welcome and I appreciate it", but deep
inside always, right away,
attribute the blessings and
the miracle of what you have
done to the Light of God.
And mean it! Another thing, being
able to appreciate daily, the regular
things you have in your life as if today
was the first time you have got it.
From health, to what you do, to the beauty,
to the blessings, to the family, to the
children, to the connection, to the wisdom,
to the talent, to anything that you have!
Because the rule is very
simple: the only thing that
belongs truly to us is
something that we can keep.
And tell me what you can keep for sure as a guarantee.
Nothing.
Our money, our wisdom, our health,
the people that we love, everything.
Everything is lent to us and at
the moment we do not appreciate it
that is part of the ego do not let us appreciate it, see it my way.
See things in a very limited illusionary way.
At a moment I do not appreciate it,
I, God forbid, might lose it.
So appreciation is infusing the Light
of the Creator into everything that I have.
And if I am not infusing it with the Light and I am
not appreciating it, only the 1% is temporary
cannot last. So, appreciating
is essential tool, daily.
And knowing I can lose it at any second,
that should be important consciousness.
I can lose everything that I have at any second.
Not to create negative fear, to create
appreciation for the blessings that I have.
So, the tool of reducing the ego we spoke
about: asking for help, using the Zohar,
asking for help all day long.
Every time I am manifesting something amazing
or in a gift through me. attribute it to the Light of the Creator,
and appreciating all the blessings that I have in my life.
As I am doing it more and more and
more, and as I am aware, during
the course of the day, that when
things do not happen my way,
great! My ego did not get what I want!
I am excited!
As I am doing these two things in the midst
of difficulties and the preparation of all
of what we said before, I will be able gradually
to reduce my ego but I have to tell you
without the test of rejection,
when things do not happen
my way, it is almost
impossible to reduce the ego.
Without a test of seeing things
unfair and being so upset,
"how come things are unfair?,
I have to go through this!"
Because unfair is just the
temporary ego that is complaining.
Every rejection, every
unfair, every not my
way gives me a chance
not to feed my ego.
I need to be able to be joyful
with the rejection, that is
a tough task, but with the
work and the gradual work
in creating this strong desire
and knowing that my ego is my
prison, we all can see gradually
the results of removing the ego.
Because the ego is the
cause of all of our pain.
How come it seems to be that as we are
doing this work, which we believe in
reducing the ego and going the right
direction, sometimes more challenges
are coming.? So, that is a very, very good question.
It does not seem like things are becoming better.
There is no question, personally,
doing this work for the
last twenty six years,
for sure things are getting better.
But not necessarily
on a temporary basis,
especially if you are just
doing it for a month.
But, there is no question
that for some people it
happens right away, for others
people happened later on.
In the process of growth
and transformation, as I am
working toward truly
eliminating the forces of ego,
of reactivity within.
I will be challenged, that is part of the ego.
Things do not seem to
right away become great.
Because that is another layer of satan.
To cause doubt
in me, "does it really work?
I have done my connection,
I have done my meditation, I have done my scanning, I have
done my helping, I have done my overcoming my reactivity,
and I do not see any change! How come?"
Because that is another layer of ego.
Even though I do not see the
immediate response, but it happened
and I am not going to let my ego
that look for giving me now!
Show me the money now!
I am not going to let that to ego control me.
The fact that I have done the work,
I need to inject the certainty.
In certainty, it is the opposite
of what the ego wants.
The ego says, "I will be sure only if I will see it!"
So, I can assure you, Brian,
just by you pushing and
continue especially because
it is against your comfort zone.
Hold on! Even push harder.
Do not allow the
exhaustion to control you.
I assure you results
and then things will be smooth until again they will be
difficult and we are all going through those stages.
We are pushing forward, we see results,
and then it feels like we are stuck.
And those are the real tests in
life: pushing forward when I do not
see the results, and the ego tells
me, "It does not seem to work!"
But that is an indication that big blessings and miracles are really
coming your way if you are truly pushing in the right direction.
So, Scott is asking where do you draw the line when
judging other people? Sometimes you do need to judge,
seem to be at work or discussing with a
wife, so the answer is: there is a rule
kabbalistically, for the sake of sharing.
Of course, if for the purpose of constructive
reasons to help a company, an organization,
a team, a charity, relationships,
you do need to pass judgement sometimes
if that is the real intention.
So, we are talking about whole intention.
Every behavior has two sides:
is my intention from ego or is my
intention from one's self alone?
If the reason I am judging is just make me
higher and better, it is negative judgement.
If the reason of judging is
truly helping some people or
helping the group, of course
it is the right thing to do.
So, what we are learning here is
not just the judgement that is a problem.
We are learning about to be sensitive to my ego.
Am I judging because it makes me now feel elevated?
And better, and energized? And I am using
the judgement just to be liked by others?
So, that is the question. It is not about never judge and being
righteous, because that can be the ego of being righteous as well
and never judge, do not like to say anything.
No, we like in this world and sometimes we do need to pass judgement.
And we do need to construct and we do need to confront people.
Often, we have to.
But the question, where does it come from?
Ego is the unseen force, it is not just what
I say, is it coming from ego? Me, me, me?
Being better? Separated? Manipulative?
Or, for the sake, for at least to my idea,
to my knowledge, for the sake of
benefiting the situation and the scenario?
Some people in their acting career would
think that they need to use the ego
in order to perform and without it they
will not have any sense of security.
So, as I said before, there
is confidence that comes from
humility and there is confident
that comes from ego.
There is nothing wrong about
expressing confidence, and by
doing so I am truly asking and
begging the Light to help me.
I am always reminding myself that it does not
make me special and better than other people.
And I am talented in that area. There is nothing
wrong with expressing confidence that way.
But when the confidence and the performance
make me feel special about myself to a degree
it is nothing to do with helping others, and
it is nothing to do it came from the Light,
From my experience, always it is going to separate me
from people, make me entitled, make me feel better than,
make me feel aggravated when things do not go
my way and becoming high maintenance person
in my surrounding.
So, we do need confidence, but confidence
comes from trust. Trusting that with the
help of the Light, I can perform.
And of course practice and making a lot of effort.
So, confidence does not
have to be ego based.
So, again, when people call it
good ego, maybe in this case,
in this lecture I just called
the ego as a negative force.
The good ego, we will call it in our language: the
confidence that comes from trusting the Light force.
So, thank you very much everybody.