Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot” Item 7: Now you will understand their words that Divinity in the lower ones is a high need…It is like a great king who had a son when he was already old, and he was very fond of him. Hence, from the day of his birth he thought favorable thoughts about him, collected all the books and the finest scholars in the land, and built schools for him.

He gathered the finest builders in the land and built palaces of pleasure for him, collected all the musicians and the singers and built him concert halls. He assembled the best chefs and bakers in the land and served him every delicacy in the world, and so on and so forth.

Alas, the boy grew up to be a fool with no wish for knowledge. He was also blind and could not see or feel the beauty of the buildings, and he was deaf and could not hear the singers. Sadly, he was diabetic, and was permitted to eat only coarse-flour bread, arising contempt and wrath.

Now you can understand their words about the verse, “I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.” The Sanhedrin (98) interpreted, “Not rewarded—in its time; rewarded—I will hasten it.”

Thus, there are two ways to attain the above-mentioned goal: through their own attention, which is called a “Path of Repentance.” If they are awarded that, then “I will hasten it” will be applied to them. This means that there is no set time for it, but when they are awarded, the correction ends, of course.

If they are not awarded the attention, there is another way, called “Path of Suffering.” As the Sanhedrin said (97), “I place upon them a king such as Haman, and they will repent against their will,” meaning in its time, for in that there is a set time.

In our case the King controls every state. The son is born with certain attributes and abilities in certain internal and external conditions, according to the initial thought of the upper that is meant to bring him to the ultimate goal. He has to attain the right vessel according to his emotional and mental development and to get to know his Father in order to be like Him according to the plan that the King has prepared with absolute love and care for his beloved only son.

There is no doubt that we will attain this goal but in order to attain it we have to develop our vessels and it has to be voluntary. We will surely want it since the goal obligates us to acquire a desire and a yearning for it. The only question is how we attain the desire and whether it will be by blows, having no choice and being driven by pleasures or pain, or by trying to establish an environment and to attain the right deficiency by ourselves despite the fact that we feel pleasures or sufferings.

It’s a deficiency without a deficiency and so our work is done “above reason,” above the mind and the emotions that control us now. We have to constantly yearn for this supernatural state which is above our nature. We can do that only with the support of the environment and the group that should impress us with more sublime values that are closer to the spiritual goal. Thus we approach the goal step by step.

Everything depends only on the right environment, and so a person who chooses a better environment each time is praised, which means that he advances by the path of “I will hasten it,” by himself, of his own will, and thus hastens time and spares himself the blows, and this is good in his eyes and in the eyes of the Creator. If he doesn’t, then the opposite happens and his whole development is only by hastening the blows. We have to advance in either case but it will be without a feeling of delight not on part of the Creator and not on the part of the created being, but by prolonging time.
[111006]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/25/13

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