Baal HaSulam, “600,000 Souls“: There are three periods in a person’s spiritual growth:

1. The spark of the soul that alternately flares up and dwindles;

2. A particular soul, when a person perceives himself as part of 600,000 souls, the common soul;

3. Coming close to perfection, the common soul, because his egoistic desire has been fully corrected and no longer poses an obstacle. This enables him to become completely unified with the common soul of Adam.

There is a point here that is difficult to explain, similar to the principle of uncertainty in quantum physics. The fact is that there aren’t “many creatures,” but one single creation. Every person who perceives himself as creation is that creation, while everyone else in relation to him are not independent creatures, but parts of his own soul.

Therefore, even though it seems to us that there are billions of other creatures in existence, in spirituality, a person attaches all these parts to himself and in relation to his free choice, they are all at the end of correction. He is the only part that can be deemed as existent, from his perspective.

However, it is precisely in this separated form that he is considered non-existent and he has to attach himself to spirituality, to the common soul! He has to accept all the other parts which seem “foreign” to him as if they already are in the spiritual world.

He has to understand that “every person judges others to the degree of his own corruption,” and in fact they are already in the final, corrected state, while he is the only one who is not. So who is called creation, the only one that exists? It is precisely the one who isn’t yet “created” and still needs correction.

When we acquire the spiritual vision, we will see the world in this way. Baal HaSulam describes a very high state here. When it says that only one soul exists, it doesn’t mean that everyone just unites into one common soul, but that there are no separate souls in existence in all of reality.

This is a temporary illusion we have as a result of the three coordinate axes (time, motion, and space) through which our picture of the world is refracted. When these axes disappear and we stop being dependent on them, we will ascend above them and will see a reality where only one creation exists.

To achieve this we have to correct our egoistic desire, which is what evokes this illusion in us that there is a reality existing in time, motion, and space on the level of this world.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/10, “600,000 Souls”

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Question: Does a person who arrives at the final correction thereby conclude his corporeal incarnations (Gilgulim)? Does he feel satisfied or does he want to continue to incarnate?

Answer: I would word the question differently. You arrive in the spiritual world, cross the Machsom, and see to what extent you can bestow to others and how much you still need to do in this world, but then you suddenly hear: “No, you don’t; you are complete and eternal, and you will not go back to that low world!” But this is the time when you can truly act in bestowal and help the others on the path of correction. Would you miss it? Which world is better? Let’s live and see!
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From the Introductory Lecture 10/19/10, “We Shall Do and We Shall Hear”

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A group is not a union of individuals but a union with the Creator; otherwise, it is not a Kabbalistic group. I come to this group exactly because the Creator resides within it; if not, why do I need all these people? People always unite by interests, and what can a Kabbalistic group give us? It can give us the Creator! And this is the only reason I come here, in order to find Him in the connection between us.

This is regarded as: “Israel (I, who aspires to the Creator; Isra– directly, El– the Creator), the Light of correction (the Torah), and the Creator (the root of all) are one.” All three of these components must become one in order for me to achieve them. This is the reason I come here, and it defines all actions I perform in the group, as well as my attitude to the friends, and absolutely everything else!

It turns out that I relate to this very notion of the group as to the Creator because He resides there within it! But I am not able to focus my eyes on Him. He keeps getting blurry for me, and I don’t know where He is. I can’t catch him with my targeting device.

Yet, I am told that if I look at it through the group, it is aimed precisely at Him, with the result correctly targeted. Therefore, I value the friends as much as I value the Creator; after all, only through them am I able to reach Him. Besides, it is written: “From the love of created beings to the love for the Creator.” In other words, if I achieve love in the group, then as a final result, I will undoubtedly reach Him and attain love of the Creator.

I can’t work on love in relation to the Creator since I don’t see whom I must work with. Therefore at each stage, I attain love for the Creator by working on love for the group. Otherwise, I cannot study the Creator: I imagine Him according to my correct attitude to the unity with friends. I build and uncover this form myself. If not, why do I need to come in the group? I do so only because they are selected by the Creator so that through them I could approach Him. That is why I love them! They are my salvation!
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, “The Freedom”

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A person who is thrown into darkness loses all connection with the previous state of ascent. If the Creator then shows mercy on him and awakens him with Light, this does not mean that the person performed a correction. If, however, he awakens on his own with the help of the group, then he really does become corrected.

During an ascent a person prepared the right way: He put everything he possibly could into the group, using it as an “inspiration fund.” The efforts he made enable him to keep the connection during a descent. Now, by grabbing onto the end of this string, a person can awaken and through the group attract Light, energy, understanding, and faith above knowledge. Thus, he will start coming out of the descent towards a new ascent.

By means of the group a person always has the opportunity to renew the unity. Unlike the unity of the forefathers who were unable to receive the Torah yet, our unity directly connects a person to the group. This is where one’s free choice lies: to start working with the help of the group and equalize the descents with the ascents.

It turns out that at the end of the day, our entire freedom is realized in the group. A person actualizes unity only with the help of the group.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/10,  “600,000 Souls”

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The evolution of the will to receive pleasure is a lengthy process. The whole wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about changes in the will to receive (desire). Baal HaSulam explains that in this process, desire (absence) always precedes fulfillment (existence).

First I feel a lack of something, and then I acquire what is missing; thus, one follows the other. At the same time, the lack, or will to receive (desire), is more important than the fulfillment since desire determines fulfillment.

In spirituality, this law acts exactingly, without concessions and favors, and if the creature doesn’t wish to climb the next step, it will not ascend; it won’t even come close to it. Everything depends on the preparation, based on the feeling of lack and absence of fulfillment. This is why “absence precedes existence.”

According to this law, all levels of creation are developing: from still to vegetative, animate, and speaking. Man, too, is born at the animate level, and then evolves and ascends to its designated level. The same is observed in the development of our inner world. As diverse as humanity is, so are its desires, which are also classified by four degrees: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking (within the human).

What then does a speaking level in humanity look like? They are the people or desires aimed at equivalence with the Creator, at the ascension to and adhesion with Him. In order to gain a strong desire, aspiring to this exalted goal, we must exist on both sides: sometimes rejecting the spiritual world, not comprehending, feeling, or agreeing with it, and other times, yearning for it and seeing something profound, good, and vital in it.

So absence and existence give way to one another, Light and darkness, and only thanks to both of them, the correct, wholesome desire are formed. For this reason, we enter the group with the understanding that there is no other way but in unification. Only among the friends do I grow a new desire to become equivalent to the Creator, and not just appeal to Him egoistically. In the group I absorb the value of bestowal, and at the same time, I discover how intensely I hate it.

If I am not afraid, and am willing to bear the revelation of my own evil, then this is called absence which precedes existence, the preparation to liberation. Having found himself at the mountain of his own hatred, a person demands existence, equivalence to the Creator. And then the reforming Light comes to bring him back to the Source.
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From the lesson on 10/22/10, Rabash’s Articles

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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Israel and the Nations of the World”
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Question: Where does suffering come from? Am I causing it through my lack of equivalence to the Creator, or does He send it to us?

Answer: Definitely, all suffering is sent by the Creator since “there is none else but Him.” Humanity suffers on the path of its evolution, and the suffering is designated to develop the creatures on the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels so that they would come to need the correct fulfillment and well-being. In the end, one way or another, everyone feels a need due to the lack of a good, fulfilled state of existence.

All of this is necessary in order to complete the picture by correcting the breaking. After all, everything is caused by the lack of unity or absence of Light in the vessel. As soon as we begin correcting the Kli, the Creator becomes revealed to us, and then, following the speaking level, all of the other levels ascend, breaking free from misfortunes and problems.

We are being trained by the suffering sent from Above, until we start correcting ourselves. And there is no one to blame for this except the program of creation. Why then must we suffer on the path to love? Truth said, in the beginning the will to receive (desire) has to feel that it’s empty, and only then will it experience the fulfillment. Herein a question arises: If the Creator has prepared eternal pleasure for me, does it mean I must feel infinite suffering first? In that case, I’d rather remain a beast.

However, in reality, we start slowly and move forward in stages, time after time correcting and filling a new layer of our desire with Light. None of us would be able to bear the feeling of the dark infinite void. We are given the exact portion of what we can bear, going forth slowly and gently. This “feet dragging” is necessary precisely because we are unable to take a lot in at once. The breaking is being revealed to us drop by drop, according to our capacity.
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From the lesson on 10/22/10, Rabash’s Articles

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Question: If a person isn’t sufficiently ready for the convention and attends, he will say, “This is all very nice. People are uniting and that’s not a bad thing.” However, he won’t feel that this unity holds something higher, something that it is different from other kinds of unity. Is it OK for him to leave the convention feeling this way?

Answer: Every person has his own goal in life. The convention is a gathering of people who desire to attain the Creator and the Creator can be attained if you love your neighbor as yourself.

We are not opposed to having the most different kind of people come to us. Let them see who we are. Even if a person is opposed to Kabbalah or to us in particular, this will help him to find out exactly why he is against it.

In any case, when we come in contact with any person, no matter what his connection with us, we pass a portion of Light to him and thus the whole world advances toward correction. This is exactly why the breaking occurred, except that it happened in a more dramatic state. The breaking was necessary to pass sparks of Light into Kelim that cannot receive the Light otherwise. After the breaking, we can pass the Light to everyone using different forms of connection, even ones that aren’t very pleasant.

Therefore, even if our enemies and opponents have a connection with us, it’s a good thing. This is a form of connection that isn’t “Panim be Panim” (face to face), but “Panim be Ahor” (face to back) or even “Ahor be Ahor” (back to back). In any case, it’s a form of connection. That’s why people sometimes desire to fight in order to come into contact with each other.

From the lesson on 10/22/10, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 17

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The group is a chef and you are a burger in a frying pan. If you give yourself over into the hands of the group, it will bring you to the necessary state and you won’t get burned. The group constantly flips you over, putting different sides of you under the Light, and the Light influences you correctly, each time affecting the necessary part in the necessary direction.

From the lesson on 10/22/10, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 17

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Question: How should we feel when we rise to “attack“?

Answer: We have to feel that this is our “last and definitive battle.” We are going “va banque,” all out till the very end, not leaving anything behind “for later.”

A person has to become part of this with his entire heart and soul. It’s a shame if he leaves anything inside, not finding use for it because what we have is a real chance.

Baal HaSulam writes that we are living in the days of the coming of the Messiah, in the last generation. All that’s left is to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah because the generation is ready for it. The decisive action depends only on us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, “The Matter of the Will to Receive”

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