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From Rabbi Kook’s Notebooks

Here are some translations I made from the mystical Notebooks of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook (1865-1935).  The Titles in italics are mine:

Notebook 1 entry 312:

Negating One's Self

The higher joy strengthens, explicitly, through the complete nullification of one’s self, because the soul starts to recognize the complete mistake (of thinking) that there is a separate self.   And one’s desire strengthens to become 'absorbed in the body of the King' (God), in the Infinite Perfection of Supernal Pleasantness.

And this perfect humility and deep lowliness, where a separate sense of self is 'a thing of the past’ - an incomplete aspect that was not yet included in the Supernal Perfection - where one makes one’s self 'a thing of the past’. This feeling is a feeling that is particularly associated with Israel who humble themselves with every greatness that is given to them.
 



Notebook 1 entry 65:

YHWH is Elohim

There are two ways of thinking about Godliness:  One way is where we speak about ‘a Creator’ and ‘the Creation’, as if each was its own separate thing, nevertheless they are joined together in that the Creator animates the Creation and the Creation receives Life from the Creator.

The other way is where there is no existence of ‘Creation’ whatsoever, and the name ‘Creation’ is only borrowed from our side, i.e. we create our (separate) selves because of the constriction of our perception, but in truth, everything is ‘Creator’ - God - and thus everything is a different content that has no relation to (the first perspective of) partial revelation, because God is explicitly the Whole thing, not one part relating to other parts.

These two ways of thinking about God have a particular effect on the ‘spirit of man’. Logic and accounting come from the way of relating to the world, the Creation, as something other than God; but poetry and song and the soul’s longing come from the second way of thinking, where nothing exists except God, and God’s Glory fills all.

Mussar (being a moral ethical person) is a path that combines logic/accounting and poetry/song in the proper blend. If one power is lacking, it (Mussar) cannot stand. Therefore when we think according to the first way and differentiate between God and the world, we see a vision of God’s Righteousness, of the greatness of the Mussar that is revealed to us when we think about God, and the laws of this Mussar are filled with logic and accounting.

Then when the second way of thinking comes, and God’s Righteousness and full splendorous Mussar has already been established properly in the soul, poetry/song is strengthened by this higher, ecstatic perspective of ‘there is nothing else besides God’, and this adds fruits of blessing to the Mussar.

But, if the beginning of thought is only imprinted from the one side of ‘there is nothing else besides God’, we wouldn’t have a depiction of Mussar - in relation to Godliness - for this higher thought to act upon and bless, because we do not recognize moral values in the relation of one thing to itself, rather in its relation to others.

Even though the exalted height of the second thought is higher than the entire vision of the value of Mussar at all - as it is higher than all thoughts and limitations - in any event, a person cannot grasp a thought that is higher than his limited comprehension in its full majesty.  And values of Mussar always have to be found where they are awakened and then 'returned and awakened' in all the Paths of Life - that is why terrible danger can spread from having the second thought overpower the first.

However, if the first thought - whose wings are clipped - overpowers the second, that could cause the spirit of man to sink, and by sinking, he could lose many delightful things. Therefore there is no other remedy except to think about (Godliness) in such a way that the first thought is always revealed as a ‘garment’ for the second thought which is higher than the first - Zeir Anpin (the small face of God) - is a 'garment' for Arich Anpin (the large face of God) - and YHWH is Elohim.
 


Notebook 1 entry 669

The Inside of the World Sweetens and Shines its Outside

Sometimes there is a great leader but the generation is not rectified; and other times the opposite is true, the leader is less great but the generation is rectified. The generation of Shlomo was greater that Moshe’s, but this higher level was not because of the generation itself, but rather because of the general Order of the Universe, and according to the Order of the Universe, everything then was rectified - ‘the Moon was Full in the days of Shlomo’.

However, there is a sweetening of the Universe from the perspective of the inside; and a sweeting of the Universe from the perspective of the outside. In general, from the perspective of the outside, since the Destruction (of the Temple), each day is more cursed than the day before it; but from the perspective of the inside, the world continues to become more and more sweetened.

And the Heels of the Messiah is a state of a fallen outside, and a sweetened inside.  That is why it brings about the Light of Messiah with which everything will be completed - even the sweetening of the outside - because when the inside is sweetened, it is very easy to sweeten the outside.

The Masters of the Secrets have to let the world know that its descent is only external, because on the inside, everything is ascending and is being greatly illuminated.  The crux of souls is that they are great - and even in 'chutzpah' there is greatness and holiness - ‘and when affliction comes like a river, the spirit of God lifts it high (Isaiah 59:19).

Teshuva (repentence) in this time (the Heels of the Messiah, when chutzpah increases exponentially) is always a higher teshuva - a teshuva from Love - where intentional sins become complete merits. Sins are unable to harm as much as in the earlier generations, because there has been so much sweetening of the Universe, and because of the abundance of mercies and kindnesses that radiate in it.

And the tzadikim in that generation can draw down an influx of such great Chesed that it can completely erase all the sins of the generation and transform them to actual merits, even without a revealed teshuva from the side of the generation, but rather through the teshuva that is in the minds of the tzadikim alone. Because they do teshuva for the entire generation, and in their thoughts they connect themselves to all the souls of the generation, so that all the souls are connected to them, and all become complete and refined.

The external shine they were lacking is attained immediately - from the radiance of the Light that is in the souls of the tzadikim - an achievement that was impossible when the inner sweetening was lacking.