Living in a world of intentions

Living in a world of intentions – Selected Excerpts from the Sources

1. RABASH, Article No. 577, “Concerning the Goal”

The purpose of man’s work is to achieve the intention to bestow, for there is nothing to correct in the external action, since the Kli [vessel] that was created by the Creator will not undergo any change. Rather, all the changes should be in the intention, meaning that since the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, He created a Kli for this purpose, called “desire and yearning to receive pleasure.”

However, in order not to have the bread of shame, but only through equivalence of form, a correction was made called Tzimtzum [restriction], so as not to receive unless it is in order to bestow. In other words, in the same Kli he had before, namely the will to receive, but with a different aim, meaning not to receive because he wants to satisfy his deficiency, but because of the Mitzvot [commandments] of the Creator, since He wants to do good to His creations.

2. RABASH, Article No. 577, “Concerning the Goal”

All the work is only on the aim to come to a person yearning to bestow. This is called “inner work,” which is something concealed, not apparent on the outside. It is man’s intention in the act that he performs.

However, in order to achieve the intention called “inner work,” we first need external work, which is actions, something visible, meaning that his work is apparent. Conversely, the intention is internal and concealed.

3. RABASH, Article No. 6 (1986), “Confidence”

Those who want to enter the path of truth, to achieve Dvekut, must accustom themselves to make every thought, word, and action have the aim to bring contentment to the Creator through the Mitzvot that they do and the Torah in which they engage. They must not consider what they can receive from the Creator for wanting to please Him. That is, they must not think, “What will the Creator give me?” meaning that they can extract from the Creator’s authority into their own. This would cause them to create two authorities: an authority of the Creator and an authority of the creatures, which is the opposite of Dvekut.

4. RABASH, Article No. 31 (1988), “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work, which Is Attributed to the Creator?”

If a person’s intention is only to bring contentment to the Creator and not for his own benefit, he does not mind the amount of pleasure. He only looks at the amount of passion with which he wants to delight the Creator, since through the yearning to delight the Creator, he causes equivalence of form at the root of his soul. This, in turn, causes more abundance to be drawn, since the upper one wants to give more than the lower one wants to receive, and only vessels of bestowal are missing. It follows that by overcoming in bestowal, great abundance is extended. For this reason, we need not ask to have great lights, only try to have big vessels, which are vessels of bestowal.

5. RABASH, Article No. 390, “Coercion and Inversion”

A person has nothing to give to the Creator, as it is written, “If you are right, what will you give Him?” All that one can give to the Creator is the intention, called “for My name.” There is nothing more that he can give Him because the Creator has no deficiencies so He can be given something. Thus, all that we give Him is the intention.

6. RABASH, Article No. 21 (1988), “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

All the actions He has given us to do are only in order to obtain this aim to bestow. Thus, how can we do the above, since there cannot be coercion of the heart and the desire?

Baal HaSulam interpreted “which God has created to do.” “Which God created” means that it is about this that man must “do,” on what He has created. We should interpret “Which God has created” to mean that creation is called “existence from absence,” referring to the will to receive. “To do” pertains to the creatures, who must place on it the aim to bestow. This means that all that the creatures must do is only to be able to aim to bestow. This is called “Which God has created to do.” This doing belongs to the creatures.

7. RABASH, Article No. 9 (1989), “What Is, ‘Calamity that Comes upon the Wicked Begins with the Righteous,’ in the Work?”

The meaning of correcting the actions in the work. It is that on each and every act we do we must place an intention. The intention is that with this act, we want to bring contentment to our Maker. By this we will achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. When doing the act, it must not have an aim to benefit himself, but all of his concerns should be how to please the Creator.

These people, who want to walk on the path of bestowal, are called “righteous.” That is, although they still have not achieved the degree where their whole intention is to bestow, they want to achieve it. They are regarded as “walking on the path of the righteous,” meaning to achieve the degree of “righteous.” They are named after its end.

8. RABASH, Article No. 472, “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord Our God”

“The concealed things belong to the Lord our God, and the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to do all the words of this Torah [law].”

By intimation, we should interpret that “revealed” means “practiced,” and “concealed” means “intention.” The intention—which is the reason that obligates a person to do the act—is concealed from people, for one does not know what is in one’s friend’s heart.

A person might even deceive himself with regard to the intention and think that the reason that obligates him to do the deed is the benefit of the Creator, when perhaps it is his own benefit that obligates him to do the deed. This is why “concealed” implies the intention.

9. RABASH, Article No. 46 (1991), “What Is the Son of the Beloved and the Son of the Hated in the Work?”

One who walks on one line, who is satisfied with practice, when he works for the sake of the Creator and does not consider the intention, that the intention will also be for the sake of the Creator, he cannot obtain the desire to bestow, called Dvekut [adhesion]. This is so because he has no lack. Hence, these people who have already shifted from one line to the right line, when they see their lowliness, that there is not a single organ in that person that wants to do anything for the sake of the Creator, they yearn for the Creator to deliver them from death, meaning from the governance of self-love. At that time, his way to be rewarded with the Creator being revealed to him, meaning to be rewarded with the desire to bestow, which is when one is adhered to the Creator, a person can be rewarded with it only thanks to the practice, when he wants the reward for observing Torah and Mitzvot to be Dvekut with the Creator. This is the meaning of “In return for the Mitzva [sing. of Mitzvot] that you are performing, I will have mercy on you.” That is, He has mercy on us and saves us from death, which is the governance of the will to receive.

10. RABASH, Article No. 1 (1989), “What Is the Measure of Repentance?”

We should know that when a person wants to emerge from merely performing actions, without the aim, and wants to begin the work of acting with the aim to bestow, there is much work in this, since when the body begins to hear about the aim to bestow, it immediately begins to resist and does not let one continue this work, showing him dark colors in this work.

In that state, a person should believe that only the Creator can help. Here is where a person can make a true prayer.

11. RABASH, Article No. 205, “Action and Intention”

An act simply means the things one does—whether he engages in reception, meaning to delight himself, or in bestowal, to bestow upon others.

But there is the matter of intention. That is, when one performs an act of bestowal, such as charity and almsgiving, but one’s intention is to receive in return, this is called “in order to receive.” Alternately, his intention is to bestow, when he does not want any reward for the act of bestowal. Likewise, when one performs acts of reception, to delight himself, because the aim is that the wants to enjoy, to satisfy the need, the passion that he has to enjoy, or he delights himself because of the desire of the Creator. That is, if the Creator did not want people to enjoy, as it is His desire to do good to His creations, he would not want to receive pleasure.

12. RABASH, Article No. 31 (1990), “What ‘There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted’ Means in the Work”

From the perspective of the aim, there is no difference whether the act is bestowal or the act is reception. Both actions need correction so the aim, too, will be in order to bestow.

This is so because the work is primarily in the heart. That is, a person should reach the degree of love of the Creator, as it is written, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Everything we do in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] is to correct the heart. It is written about it (“Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 10), “Come and see the words of the sage, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra … ‘Know that all the Mitzvot that are written in the Torah or the conventions that the fathers have established … are all in order to correct the heart, ‘For the Lord searches all hearts.’”

13. RABASH, Article No. 31 (1990), “What ‘There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted’ Means in the Work”

Before one places the aim to bestow on the will to receive, that desire caused him bitterness. Anything spiritual that he wanted to touch tasted bitter because there were Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment on the will to receive for himself, so it was impossible to taste a good flavor in spirituality. In other words, anything holy felt remote, inaccessible, and impossible for the will to receive to enjoy. This is called “bitter.”

However, if he places the aim to bestow over this desire, he sees and feels that there is sweetness in everything in holiness.

14. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 5, “Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below?

It is written, “Then shall you delight in the Lord.” The meaning of “Then” is that first, in the beginning of his work, he did not have pleasure. Instead, his work was coercive.

But afterward, when he has already accustomed himself to work in order to bestow and not examine himself—if he is feeling a good taste in the work—but believes that he is working to bring contentment to his Maker through his work, he should believe that the Creator accepts the work of the lower ones regardless of how and how much is the form of their work. In everything, the Creator examines the intention, and this brings contentment to the Creator. Then one is rewarded with “delight in the Lord.”

Even during the work of the Creator he will feel delight and pleasure since now he really does work for the Creator because the effort he made during the coercive work qualifies him to be able to truly work for the Creator. You find that then, too, the pleasure he receives relates to the Creator, meaning specifically for the Creator.