Baal HaSulam, Shamati #8, “What Is the Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of the Sitra Achra”:  We must observe two discernments in this shade, meaning in this concealment:

1. When one still has the ability to overcome the darkness and the concealments that one feels, justify the Creator, and pray to the Creator that the Creator will open his eyes to see that all the concealments that one feels come from the Creator, meaning that the Creator does all that to a person so that one may find one’s prayer and yearn to cleave unto Him…. In that state, one still believes in His Providence.

2. When one comes to a state where he can no longer prevail and say that all the suffering and pain one feels is because the Creator sent it to him so as to have a reason to ascend in degree, one comes to a state of heresy. This is because one cannot believe in His Providence, and naturally one cannot pray.

Everything works according to the same principle: “There is none else besides Him, the Good and Benevolent.” All of our work is to attain this principle in each and every state that we go through. We need to evaluate our entire lives according to this principle, and this is impossible without the support of the environment. Otherwise a person cannot hold on.

All of the states are sent to us by the Creator, meaning that they are determined by the influence of the upper Light on the Reshimot (the informational genes) and their common state in regard to each other. But between the Light and the Reshimo an empty space remains for our free choice and effort. And a person must fill this space.

There is a lack of contact with each other which is called concealment. A person must make effort in this in order to remove this concealment and to complete this contact between himself and the Creator, between the Reshimo and the Light, and to bring fulfillment between them. The Reshimo gets revealed as shattered, and therefore it is always discovered as a discomfort, deficiency, rejection, and concealment. After all, this is a testimony to the breaking, and I need to accept this as a call for contact in all the conditions that are created.

This is called work above reason. It could be that there is an unpleasant feeling in my heart and mind, that I cannot integrate all of my problems with the Good and Benevolent, but in spite of it all, my work in mind and heart shouldn’t depend on my inner state. This is called that I am skipping over the Reshimo that is revealed, rising above the shattered Reshimo, as if this Reshimo were corrected. That is, I feel as if I have reached the revelation of the absolutely benevolent, single force and stand face to face with the Creator.

And then I thank the Creator for my shattered desires because I can only attain spirituality, the advantage of Light over darkness, this way. It is specifically in the contradiction between the Reshimo and the Light that I discover what the Light is every time.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/23/14

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