Question: What does it mean that the Light discerns one’s state? Does the mind have a role in it as well?

Answer: No, it doesn’t. When the Light discerns my state, I don’t need the earthly mind because it does not add anything. I need spiritual discernments, which come from the sensations of my desires and the Upper Light. I have to feel them, or at least come closer to them, entering the neutral zone between the will to enjoy and the will to bestow.

I can be 1) inside my egoistic desire, 2) at the neutral territory, having come out of my desire and aspiring to attain spirituality, or 3) in the spiritual intention.

When I am at the neutral zone, I don’t understand what is happening to me yet, but still, I act only for the sake of the goal. Then the Light influences me and I go through various states without being aware of them. I cannot tell what is happening the way a baby cannot tell what is happening to him. He is entirely in the aspiration to grow, and with that aspiration he evokes the Light, the force of growth and development. We are the same.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/11, The Zohar

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Man’s nature is completely egoistic. Hence, he cannot transform it by himself and needs an external force that would change him. This force can be evoked only by studying Kabbalah in the group.

Indeed, I admit that… one cannot change the nature of one’s own creation, which is only to receive for oneself, much less invert one’s nature from one extreme to the other, meaning to not receive anything for oneself, but rather act only to bestow.

Yet, this is why the Creator gave us Torah [the wisdom of Kabbalah] and Mitzvot [actions in the group] which we were commanded to do… to bring contentment to the Creator with them and not to benefit ourselves… [and thereby] invert our nature.
– Baal HaSulam “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
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Torah, Bamidbar, 25: Behold, I give him My covenant of peace…because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.

In essence we are always looking for the covenant, the connection with the Creator in order to receive all of the means from Him, to arrange them correctly, and to accelerate our development. That is why the Creator endowed man with a mind: It’s only so we would be able to rise above our instincts to force our development, forestalling the speed of Nature, the Creator. That is how we “forestall” (Okvim) Him, similar to how Jacob bought Esau’s birthright.

This is what our path to the goal is like and we have to build it accordingly. Our entire activity is meant to eventually accelerate the phases of development, exceeding its natural speed. Of course, we thereby change our attitude to development and our sensations in the process. We work exactly on what is incumbent on man (Adam), filling our lives with “the Creator’s work” instead of the animate existence, which is completely devoid of the understanding of the process and the goal. Therein lies the entire difference between opposition and peace in the spiritual world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/11, Writings of Rabash

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“Light” by itself does not exist. A certain phenomenon occurs within the creature, and the creature calls it “the Light.”

As the creature awakens to sense this phenomenon, it means that the Light spreads within it. However, in reality nothing spreads, nor does it come from anywhere! A desire simply awakens within me and I call its character, form, shape, and color “the Light” which spreads within, enters, and exits me.  It exists in a process.

Yet, other than my inner desire there are no other processes that are occurring. I call part of these processes “the desire” and part “the Light.” In other words, my desire changes, and as a result, I call the phenomena that occur within it “the Light.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/31/2010, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: When I live in Israel I’m drawn abroad, but after leaving Israel I want to come back. What is so special about the land of Israel that causes such mixed feelings?

Answer: Every person with an inclination for spirituality is drawn to the land of Israel. It is especially strong among those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah. People having no relation to this region, its language, or its culture feel that they belong here because this is where they can be fulfilled. It is the law of equivalence manifested, in accordance with branch and root.

There is a spiritual “land of Israel,” the property of bestowal and love, and the corporeal land of Israel that is affected by a special upper force. From this place it spreads throughout the entire world, and this is why it is called the Holy Land.

This force of love and unity, the force of spiritual revelation, manifests only for those people living here who yearn for it. And those who do not, feel bad here: They don’t understand why they live in this place. The air of this land, the force working in this space, either brings a person closer to spirituality or pushes him out. A person finds himself under the influence of spiritual tension and either relates to it or not.

In many generations, those who wanted to conquer Israel couldn’t stay in it. Various peoples used to invade it only to later leave. But today there is new reality being built here. Those who do not belong to it flee, while those who haven’t clearly discerned wander. They leave and come back, again and again returning, checking themselves.

In truth, the entire nation of Israel was initially formed from the people of Babylon whose forefather Abraham gathered those around him according to the law of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Therefore, love is our only connection. If we are not bound by love, we are not a nation, but rather just separate, unrelated individuals held together by hatred of the whole world.

How long this wandering will continue depends on the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah which explains to people the reason for their actions. They don’t really know why they suddenly depart from this land and later return. But if they understand that it occurs in order to assess whether they belong with the people of Israel and to fulfill their function in the plan of creation, the only purpose of human existence in this world, then all the wandering will cease. With the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, they will strengthen the influence of the upper force on themselves, thereby hastening development, settling here, and realizing their destiny.
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From a TV Program “Ask the Kabbalist” 04/04/2010

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The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to transition from the material world to spirituality, from the current perception of reality to the authentic one. We need to explain to ourselves that the reality we perceive right now is illusory, transient, and accidental, depending on our internal qualities. Reality only seems stable to us, but in truth, it can be altered, corrected, and transformed.

Suppose you receive a computer and assume it doesn’t have any additional features besides those you are aware of. You look at the same picture all the time because you have no other. Suddenly, an expert comes to you and says: “Look at this keyboard I brought you; try it.” And you start pressing keys and suddenly discover a lot of new things.

You are shown pictures where you recognize yourself. And so you enter them and start programming the world you are living in. You give commands, and indeed, everything changes around you. At this point, you start to realize that the world functions according to a certain program called “the Creator.” But to the extent you become similar to Him, you gradually acquire His functions as a commander.

And later on, you arrive to the state when you overtake this keyboard with your own hands, with all its commands and programs available to you, with all that is taking place, and essentially, with your own fate. And thus, picture by picture, you start organizing all of those images that come to you and continually change. Now you can plan on your own what to be, as it is written: “Israel is above the stars and the signs of luck.”

Suddenly, you observe that the past life is left behind, and you have already moved far ahead from the first image. You realize that you are not in it. But where are you now? You discover that you are in a certain reality and are engaged in it, programming it. It is increasingly open to you, beyond time, motion, and space, outside of the previous perception of reality, and your animate body is no longer there.

You already feel that the entire world of matter has dissolved since it didn’t exist in the first place; it was simply a sensation accompanying that very first image. That’s why our world is called a “make-believe world.” And the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to view reality correctly, or how to reveal the Creator.
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From the Introductory Lecture Series 1/4/2011, “What does the Wisdom of Kabbalah Revolve Around”

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Ninety-nine point nine percent of all changes in us occur while we don’t see and are unaware of them although we do influence and expedite these acts by striving to be corrected. But they take place just like the physical processes in our bodies that we also don’t need to think about.

I am not the one to pump blood through my arteries and it’s not my job to make sure my lymphatic and nervous system, as well as all my organs, work well. If anything, I can “unplug” altogether and fall into a sleeping mode, worrying about nothing, and my body will continue to live and even grow.

In spiritual development it occurs in the same manner. There are many processes that we don’t need to be conscious of and determine their form and order. There is one very narrow interval where we make our own decisions and input our participation. And it is sufficient, it’s all we need to achieve everything!

We reveal “oneness.” And by way of this oneness, the adhesion to which we aspire, we acquire the knowledge of all the other elements of the system that we didn’t know. I am given free will so that I will work on achieving adhesion with the Creator. I am told that if I switch my intention to an altruistic one, I will get to understand the Creator. And if I understand the Creator, then this whole system opens for me and I comprehend everything!

Therefore, I don’t need to work on the entire system and examine it all in order to learn, explore, and understand all of its incredible diversity and vast multitude of phenomena. Since I acquire the desire to bestow, I understand everything that takes place within it.

We work within a tiny field while the whole big world is revealed to us. It is written: “Make an opening for me, the size of a needle’s eye, and I will open the gates of the upper world for you.” Otherwise, it would be impossible to learn about this boundless system of infinite complexity that has a countless number of parts connected by constantly changing, infinitely possible ties and everyone by his or her free choice defines the changes for all the others.

In mathematics, we know how to define one unknown factor by the other in an equation. If we have two unknown factors, then we need two equations. But in this case, we are dealing with an infinite number of unknown components, so we need an infinite number of equations connected into one system. Thus, it is a matrix with a countless number of conditions, each of which changes according to its own law.

We can’t solve such a problem since our corporeal mind is unable to accomplish it. We don’t possess mathematical instruments to approach it in the first place. But we can accomplish this in the spiritual world because we grow the Kelim of bestowal (acquire desires to bestow) and receive the power over everything therein.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: When we start experiencing pressure on our egoism through the blows it receives, what is the correct way to appeal to the group? What should I focus on?

Answer: If a person doesn’t have an inner demand to the group, what can he say to it? Whatever we do, we do it willingly. If a person doesn’t see why he should turn to the group, he won’t.

I appeal to the group if I feel helpless, if I see that there is nothing that can save me, that I am unable to reform myself and achieve something, if I realize that all my learned intelligence and potential will have no solution for me.

Only then am I willing to ask the friends for help. The demand surfaces in me when I search and desire to break away from this horrible state of being. That is when I discover that I can turn only to the group.

I appeal to it externally or internally. The friends may not even feel it, but I do wish to receive support and strength from them. And then I turn to them with a plea.

Otherwise, can I really listen to advice and ask the group for help? Lip service won’t help here; it’s just a waste of breath. Only when a true desire has ripened in me do I turn to the friends. It doesn’t matter whether they feel it or not. There is the force of desire in my plea, which makes it true.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/23/2011, Writings of Rabash

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From now on we can’t advance as we did before, blindfolded toward the unknown, without comprehension, wisdom, and precise knowledge, like animals running in an indefinite direction, fleeing to a place of safety to escape danger. This is how we have been advancing during the course of history, but today we must start evolving like the humans we are.

A human is someone who “has eyes” and sees the road ahead, knowing exactly where he is going. First, one attains the future state of existence in its “potential form,” and then he actualizes it in practice.

The forms we must now transition to are the forms of similarity to the Creator. Therefore, before anything else, we must manifest them in the connection between us, thanks to which we will acquire new properties. Then we will collectively realize our future state in practice: a stronger, tighter connection with one another, based on bestowal, wherein the Creator will be revealed.

In this manner, we will progress step by step, until we pass through all the 125 spiritual degrees. It will signify the exodus from exile to total freedom. Starting today and on, our advancement must be sighted and aware, without repeating the previous mistakes that we continually and methodically made time after time during all stages of human evolution.

Each time we tried to do something without knowing about the future, the leader who shouted loudest was given the opportunity to alter nature and human society. That person would carry out his ideas until either being overthrown or dying naturally, after which we discovered that everything he did was wrong. And the cycle would repeat all over again, from one error to the next.

Today, among all else, we are dealing with a predicament pertaining to the leadership of the world and this new trend. We are yet to see what an enormous obstacle it poses on our path and how worthless these leaders are. Eventually, they will be replaced by a worthy government, similar to the ancient “Sanhedrin” (assembly of Kabbalists), that is, an authentic spiritual council standing at the head of all of humanity.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/2010, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Writings of Rabash, Preparation for the Lesson, “What Is Torah in the Work of the Creator”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “General Explanations for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide Into the Seven Days of ‘Creation’,” Item 1
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 92, Lesson 54
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Lesson 10
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