In essence, we represent souls rather than physical bodies even now. The Creator created the desire to enjoy, and there is nothing else besides this desire. If we sense certain corporeal matter, it is not because another separate reality exists. There is only desire which feels itself in a physical body. It is the same soul which feels only itself and only within itself. It does not perceive anything outside.

For this reason the soul feels itself as existing in its corporeal body, seemingly surrounded by other, similar bodies. This is how I perceive myself and the surrounding reality since I am enclosed inside myself with my ego. As soon as I begin to acquire new desires and perceive properties outside of myself, I begin to see reality in a different way.

The reality which I see outside of myself is called the “Upper World.” How do I exit out of myself (from my ego) and see the existence outside of myself? I have to connect with other souls, with my friends. Within this connection between us, in greater unity, we reveal common sensations and manifestations called “the spiritual world.”

Therefore, when we read The Zohar, we have to remember that we all desire to reveal the Upper Light, to reveal everything described in The Zohar. It conveys to us the states and pictures which talk only about the connection between us and its various forms. That is the entire reality.
[23719]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, The Zohar

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The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 15, Item 139: When Mochin of Aba ve Ima enter ZA, Aba has Hochma-Bina and Hesed-Gevura, and opposite them Ima has the same. When falling to ZA, Hochma and Hesed de Aba attach to Hochma and Hesed de Ima and clothe in his NHY. And Bina and Gevura de Aba attach to Bina and Gevura de Ima in her NHY. Thus AVI regroup to MA and BON.

Initially, the Partzuf Aba has Hochma and Hesed, Bina and Gevura. The same is true for Ima. After that the process resembles genetics: Hochma and Hesed de Aba and Hochma and Hesed de Ima unite together and form MA de AVI. Bina and Gevura de Aba and Bina and Gevura de Ima unite together and form BON de AVI.

The resulting formations relate to one another like ZA and Malchut. As a result of these spiritual forces, we observe this process in our world in virtually everything: Some parts stem from the male organism, others from the female, they unite together, and make a new body.

The consequence of this process manifests in myriad phenomena and all sorts of connections on all levels: the still, vegetative, and animate. Meanwhile, The Study of the Ten Sefirot explains this process on the “human” level, the level of souls.

Moreover, ZA himself has parts of MA and BON, just as Nukva has MA and BON since there cannot exist a Partzuf that doesn’t contain both parts, MA and BON. Accordingly, there cannot be an organism which consists of only the male part (MA) or the female part (BON), but everyone must include both the male and the female components, for the Light cannot exist without the vessel (desire), nor can the vessel (desire) exist without the Light.
[23308]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: What is the request to unite?

Answer: The only request (MAN) that will be heard and answered Above is the request to unite. No other plea will receive a response! A request must be raised to the place of the breaking which only lacks correction of the breaking: unity. That’s why a call for unity will be immediately fulfilled under the condition that it is right.

The correction occurs depending on how and for what you ask. Suddenly you will take part in it, and then you will understand what is going on. The rest of our requests are simply “screams into the wilderness” that are meant to bring us to the understanding that they are wrong and useless. This is called, “All gates are locked except the gate of tears” which open only to let us unite.

What else can the Upper Force react to if you are supposed to ascend on your own by the middle line and connect the right and the left lines together? Previously, they were connected into one line by the power of the descending Upper Light which “reconciled” the left and right lines, but now the Light has disappeared and the left and right lines have become disconnected. A person has to connect them back together into this point by ascending from below upward because by doing so, he instigates activity from Above.

In the beginning, both lines originated from the Creator and were kept together by His power (this is called Adam HaRishon, the First Man), but as a result of the breaking they separated into the left and right lines. You are in the middle, between them, with a spark that remains from the time of their connection.

If you reveal the need to return back to the same place and raise MAN for that purpose, then you once again summon the action of both forces or, more precisely, compel the Upper Force to influence the same point of connection (Ohr Makif [OM], the Surrounding Light that Reforms).

So, when you raise a request to the point of connection, the point in which the left and the right forces appear, then the power of unity, the Surrounding Light, the Creator that once existed in this point descends to the same place from Above, and all of them come together to reach unity. There is nothing else but this action, and that’s why it is said: “All gates are locked except the gate of tears.”
[22640]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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For seven days, we have been drawing the Surrounding Light, constructing the canopy of the shed. The Light expands from Aba ve Ima (AVI) of the World of Atzilut through Zeir Anpin (ZA). Zeir Anpin is represented by the branch of the palm tree.

Further on, the Light passes through HGT, the Sefirot of Hesed, Gevura, and Tifferet, symbolized by three branches of the myrtle tree, and through the Sefirot of Netzah-Hod, represented by two branches of the willow tree. After that, from Yesod of Partzuf Zeir Anpin, the Light enters Malchut, represented by the Etrog fruit. And this unification of all channels of Light from AVI to Malchut occurs under the canopy of a shed or under the screen that conceals the soul from the Light.

Having received all seven Surrounding Lights of correction during the seven days of the celebration is called “Great Supplication” (Hoshana Rabbah). I verify what I have attained, which screen or the property of bestowal. In fact, the effect of the Surrounding Light in our work is namely the screen. As soon as I acquire it, I, to the degree of the power of my screen, instantly begin to feel the Creator and to define our relationship.

This is why we honor this moment in our development as a special event, the beginning of work with the screen. This work builds me as a character in the spiritual world. That’s because without the screen I simply don’t exist. The screen’s degree, size, type, and form make me what I am. I do not determine the will to receive pleasure nor the will to bestow, the Light. What am I then? I am only the screen.
[22230]
From the Hoshana Rabbah Night Lesson 9/29/10, Shamati #8

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Question: Why should I support a friend? Why can’t we just turn to the Creator and ascend with the assistance of the Surrounding Light?

Answer: None of us can turn to the Surrounding Light, the Upper Force, the Creator, unless it’s done from the place of the breaking, a discernment of the connection to the group. A person cannot contact the Light directly due to a lack of similar properties, even the opposite ones. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out one’s request together with others, either in unity or the lack thereof.

The Creator created one will to receive and that hasn’t changed. It’s what we call the World of Infinity where we all exist together. Below the World of Infinity, we exist in a state of separation; we are unconscious and unaware, totally disconnected from spirituality. These states are included in each other and manifest solely within our sensations. In order to attain Infinity, I have to do the following: 1) come to the state of separation, 2) discover that we are broken, and 3) finally ascend to the place where we are all together.

I cannot turn to the Creator directly since the Creator is the force that exists in the corrected Kli. I either ask for the strength to be corrected along with everyone else, or if I have already gained connection with the others, then I turn to the Creator. There is no Creator without the created being, and there is no Upper Force that I can find without the Kli.
[21960]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/26/10, “They Helped Everyone His Friend”

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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 462: Happy are the righteous who are rewarded with that upper light, the illuminating mirror that shines to all sides, to the right and to the left. Each of those righteous receives in his share what he should, meaning receives according to his actions in this world. And there are some who are ashamed by that light of which their friend received more to illuminate.

We want to know all of these details, to understand where they are situated, where the root and the branch of every word and its spiritual quality is. We look for all these gradations of qualities that The Zohar speaks of within ourselves.

Obviously, they are all found only within us, at the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of our desires. We perceive only the reality that exists inside our soul. Even now, we remain inside our soul, inside this Kli (desire); all the phenomena occur in it.

However, alongside this inner search, we must always remain hopeful that the Surrounding Light will influence us and open our eyes. It is not with our reason that we wish to reveal the Upper World, to find all the gradations of its qualities, and to get our bearings in the common soul. Rather, what we want is for the Light of correction to shine upon us. This is referred to as “awaiting salvation.”

It is said that after death the soul “in the heavens” is asked only two questions. “Did you study the Torah (did you draw upon yourself the Light that Reforms)? Were you awaiting salvation (for when this Light will correct you)?” We must always remain in this intention.
[22115]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, The Zohar

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Question: Is it possible to prepare for the revelation of the broken connection between us?

Answer: This is done during the time of preparation. It is the first stage of advancement in the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the method of the revelation of the Upper World and the Upper Force to everyone in our world.

A person comes to Kabbalah, but no matter how much he has read or been told about it, he does not grasp what it is all about. What is required are not efforts to remember or the ability to understand, but the influence of the Light that comes as a result of attempts at uniting rather than efforts in study. Then, he gradually begins hearing, that is, feeling his internal reactions to what he hears and reads. Certain internal sensations arise in him.

Try reading a book to a cat. Why doesn’t it listen? It’s because it lacks the senses that would react to your information. The cat doesn’t have a “place” (desire) to receive, feel, and conceive the information. Similarly, a person that comes to the science of Kabbalah can’t perceive our information. It’s not because he does not know the words, but because he doesn’t yet have the internal models of sensations and thoughts which enable him to react to The Book of Zohar.

This is why the “time of preparation” is required. During this period, we construct different models of sensations, relations, and reactions to spiritual definitions in our desire (matter). Construction of these new sensory cells of spiritual definitions in us occurs only through studying Kabbalah in a group which evokes influence of the Upper Light. It’s this Light that creates in us models, cells of new and previously incomprehensible sensations of the Light, bestowal, and connection and other spiritual discernments.

It takes a lot of time before a person acquires a set of sensory reactions to the main spiritual definitions. This is the essence of upbringing in our world. If you were to place a child in a senior class, you’d see that he does not understand what’s required from him and can’t comprehend anything.

Baal HaSulam writes that there is a time of giving and a time of receiving. Giving initiates the process that leads to receiving. However, giving and receiving can’t happen together. That’s because a “place” needs to be created inside a person to feel the lack of what is being given to you.

All of our advancement on the spiritual path comes down to creating an inner ability to feel the Upper World. It is around us right now, but we do not feel it. The Creator is already giving it to us, but we don’t have a desire for it yet. We don’t feel the need for bestowal and love although that’s precisely the spiritual world.

So, how do we reveal spirituality? There is Light in the Creator’s giving, and it influences and awakens us according to the rule, “Light develops Kelim” (vessels). The Light “plows” desires, and more and more, they understand and want the Light, the quality of bestowal. The time of giving ends, and the time of receiving begins.
[21947]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/26/10, The Zohar

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After studying in a Kabbalistic group for a number of years, a person arrives at a realization that in order to advance further, he needs a “foreign” force. It takes a person several years to reach the feeling that alone he is incapable of attaining the revelation of the spiritual world, the Creator. At the beginning one wants to advance through learning the knowledge of the wisdom of Kabbalah and therefore he strives to study more. Later he wants to advance by participating in dissemination, thinking that he will attain what he desires through force and power.

A person associates his spiritual advancement with everything else except acquiring the desire to bestow. Nevertheless, he goes through a process of spiritual development while studying in the group and the Light influences him, causing questions to arise: “What will happen to me? Will I ever acquire the quality of bestowal?” Gradually bestowal gains more importance in his eyes.

He gradually begins to feel that bestowal is very valuable and cannot be attained through anything in this world. He sees that those who have attained bestowal have something so precious that nothing can exceed its value. And all of these realizations result from the influence of the Light. Once a person feels this, he comes to agree with all of the group’s conditions so they will become his guarantors in acquiring the quality of bestowal. That is when a person is ready to form an alliance with them.
[21450]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, “A Transgression Does Not Put Out A Mitzva”

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Question: What does the speed of spiritual advancement depend on?

Answer: The speed of the spiritual advancement depends on how often a person asks the Creator (The Upper Light, the universal property of bestowal and love) to correct him. As soon as he sees his egoistic attitude toward the world, reproaches himself for the past, hates others, starts performing calculations with himself and others, he has to draw the Light of the Creator because there is no other acting force in nature.

After all, everything that a person senses is what the Upper Light is purposely depicting for him in order to attract his attention to itself.
[21084]

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We need to strive to always be in faith above reason. If the Creator were to reveal Himself, I would lose my independent “I” and become a “parasite” (one who receives) in the upper system.

It is similar to the way a person who lies in bed attached to tubes with artificial support doesn’t need to get out of bed. If the Creator were to reveal Himself, I would be unable and unwilling to make a single move because He would fill the entire world with Himself. This is why I always need to be independent from Him and conceal Him.

Now, we understand why Malchut, once she experienced this state in the World of Infinity, was unable to handle it: This cancels the “I” which is the essence of creation. The Creator awakens the “I” in us, and we become ready to refuse the entire fulfillment, the entire knowledge. This is the feeling of shame when it seems to us as if we have ceased to exist.

This is why our entire work is in constantly preserving ourselves as the creature that is distinct from the Creator, but, on the other hand, similar to Him. This is possible only when we keep a divider between us. However, this divider does not really separate us. We connect above it through similarity, meaning the connection that we have built between us to the extent of our similarity.

I do not let my desire to enjoy receive the Light directly. We unite with the Creator and are inseparable from one another in the Reflected Light where I build the similarity to Him. Knowledge and reason are below, while faith and bestowal are above them. It is in this faith and bestowal where I connect with the Creator.

The Creator never reveals Himself in such a way as to do all of my work for me and cancel my “I.” The Upper One only shows me examples by lowering His lower part, AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh), to me, while I take these examples and make myself similar to Him.

This is what is referred to as “the Creator’s work.” He does not do the correction for me, but teaches me how to correct myself. And the pleasure comes from our adhesion or connection.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/10, “What is the Advantage that There is in Work Which is More than the  Reward”

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