When the time comes to attain the Creator, He slightly opens Himself to us, showing us His kindness. Later on, He increases our egoism and it makes us feel like He is not good to us. In this way, the Creator invites us to raise above our egoism and acknowledge that “Everything is good; it is me who feels bad inside my egoism. If I manage to rise above it, I will see that everything is good.”

Afterward, the Creator reveals more of His kindness to us, which allows our egoism to grow even more, and then He hides behind it. We feel bad again, but have to rise higher beyond egoism by “faith above reason” and understand that we see evil only through our egoism. Meanwhile, His rule is always benevolent.

In other words, the higher we rise, the greater the concealment, but each time we possess more power to rise above our egoistic desires and realize that concealment exists only in respect to our egoism. When we transition to bestowal, the concealment disappears. To be more precise, the concealment doesn’t really disappear; rather, we rise above it.

All the stages (double concealment, single concealment, and revelation) are created by us against the simple, even Light. If we want to receive the Light, we have to raise above the ego and receive it over the screen, that is, into a desire to bestow. To reveal the desire to bestow within oneself amounts to revealing the Creator.

However, to be in concealment means to lack the revelation of the Creator or the property of bestowal. Do we suffer because we don’t have the property of bestowal? Such suffering indicates the degree of one’s concealment. So the question is does the concealment intensify or diminish as we advance?

We grow and concealment gradually disappears, which results in more revelation and less concealment. Yet in terms of its quality, concealment is stronger and we suffer from it more. I correct part of my desire and, by becoming similar to the Creator, attain revelation. But in other parts of my desire I remain in concealment. That’s where I feel how much I need Him and He hides from me because I am uncorrected.

The higher I rise, the greater the revelation and the more the concealment is diminished. If only 10% of the concealment is left, then I will suffer much more within that 10% than I suffered when I was at the bottom and 99% was concealed from me. With the strength of 90% revelation, my “dirt,” which is almost sterile, looks terrible to me because now I see what I am still lacking. So, the level of concealment decreases, but the sensation of its evil grows until we attain complete revelation.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A question I received: Is it possible to ask the Creator to give points in the heart to those in whom they haven’t yet awakened?

My Answer: We need to pray for the whole of humanity to quickly reach a true spiritual need for the goal of creation. However, to pray means for you to aspire for inner unification with such tension and force that it will be felt by everyone else like a fire that is blazing within.

Imagine that humanity today is almost a lifeless body; maybe not completely dead yet, but in a state of unconsciousness. And we are its organs trying to revive ourselves and bring back life to this common organism. Gradually the whole body begins to awaken. This constitutes our work.

The most important work in dissemination is not in external efforts (the amount of books we release or materials on the internet); it is in the unification between us through which we rouse love, connection, and warmth in our whole worldwide unification of people who study Kabbalah. It is precisely this work that influences everyone else, and they suddenly begin to feel that there is something unique in all this! But what it is exactly, they don’t know. Nonetheless, they suddenly find us.

After all, every person’s heart somehow led him to Kabbalah though he himself didn’t understand how. It’s simply that once this need arose in him, he began to search, and suddenly he felt with his heart that his place is here. This is because his desire was already aimed in the same direction.

It was a very small desire for spirituality, a point in the heart was hiding deep within, but we ignited such a powerful fire that people felt it from afar. Therefore, everything depends on our inner unification. This is the most effective dissemination.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/11/10, Shamati #50

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Concealment and revelation are in us. These are the only things we can influence. After all, we exist in a constant and eternal universe, which has no beginning and which will never have an end. Although we talk about and imagine within the bounds of time that creation emerged and about reaching correction and executing the plan of creation by becoming fully included in the Creator, this is incorrect.

We are situated within a unique system, which is called “Nature” or the “Creator,” where no changes occur. Only we change in our sensations! So how can we begin to change ourselves consciously and according to our own choice in a controlled manner so that we would not experience any unpleasant and undesired changes?

There are certain changes in my inner desires, which alter my view of reality in such a way that I perceive them as problems, wars, and suffering. On the other hand, there are changes that are kind, but who knows how to control them?

This is taught to us by the science of Kabbalah. It is clear that if reality is invariable, then only by controlling our own qualities can we affect our picture of the world and decide which “soap opera” we wish to watch under the title of “My Life.” However, this does not mean that I am free to watch any movie` of any genre that I wish.

A program is already put together, and it advances me to revelation of the true picture, where all the concealments will fade and I will reveal the eternal and perfect state in its true form. Then I will see that reality is constant and invariable. If I understand all this, I can advance by the kind path. And if I don’t understand it, then I will be forced to move ahead by the path of suffering.

However, we are only talking about changes inside of a person that exists in some environment that is still unknown to him. This environment is called the Creator or Infinity. It is not in our power to change the order of our degrees; this order is already implanted in us. Who are we to know what this order should be?

However, we can hasten the process of going through it by tuning into it according to our own desire and by exerting effort. And the speed of the advancement will give us a different sensation. After all, it is one thing to advance toward a fatal event without agreeing with it but being unable to avoid it. And it is another thing to aspire to a desired goal! Then I will like the path, and I will advance toward it in joy.

In other words, everything depends on our preparation to the next states, which inevitably will come. However, my readiness determines my perception and the speed of my advancement. This is why we need the science of Kabbalah so much. By studying Kabbalah, we will be able to go through our development via a positive, pleasant, and short path instead of a long path through suffering.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Korach,” Selected Excerpts
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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYigash (And Judah Approached),” Item 126: “There is a firmament above the firmament, and this firmament controls them, meaning three firmaments where the right and left are one above the other,” meaning three firmaments, where the left and the right are above one another and the middle one “governs them, subdues them, and mingles them in one another”…"Under the firmament their wings were straight" since they all governed what they were appointed over, since the middle line establishes the illumination of both of them together, where the right shines from above downwards and the left from below upwards. This is why the right wing is equal to the left wing….

How is possible to measure whether the right and the left lines are equal? Can they be measured by quality, weight, and power? They have completely different qualities, and we don’t have any means to evaluate them according to an external system of measurement, like that of our world. “Equal” means they complement each other in such way that each of them provides all that is needed for the other. Hassadim from the right line fully supplements Hochma in the left line. By the same token, Hochma shines in Hassadim as much as it is able.

This means that they are equal. Thereby, they are partners, and each bestows all it has so that a mutual connection, called the middle line, exists in an optimal form. This is why they are considered equal. Perhaps, Hassadim supplies 90% and Hochma only 10%, and on the next level the ratio may be 70% and 30%, or 99% and 1%. It is called equal because one fills the other to the best of its ability. They are equal because they hold the same intention, thought, and calculation. The ratio between them doesn’t necessarily need to be 50/50. In spirituality, equality is when I fill you up with all that you desire from me, then we are equal.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 6/9/10

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“The Creator is good and does good.” We need to accept this as the only axiom in spirituality. Nothing bad ever comes from Above. On the contrary, the Light remains in a state of complete rest, and only absolute good is revealed.

The only problem lies in the vessel, the creature’s desire. In other words, everything depends on the person, on his efforts and preparation. The action itself may be reception or bestowal, and the intention may be for oneself or for another.

We begin our development from “reception for oneself,” which is the double concealment or Lo Lishma. The action is reception, the intention is for oneself. But then, our efforts bring us to the degree of “bestowal for oneself.” The transition from “reception for oneself” to “bestowal for oneself” implies changing only the mechanical action. This we are able to do!

We have no control over the intention which can only be corrected by the Light. However, we are capable of changing our actions from reception to bestowal, as long as it is done for ourselves. We bestow in order to better our own state. This work is called “buy yourself a friend.”

But in order to shift from “bestowing in order to receive” to “bestowing in order to bestow,” we have to change the intention and for this we need the influence of the Light that Reforms. We exert efforts and do whatever is necessary in the group and in the study, but the change in intention is done only by the power of the Light.

And when we come to “bestowing in order to bestow” (the degree of faith, Lo Lishma, reward and punishment, and the first revelation), we then go on to consciously elevate ourselves to the degree of “receiving in order to bestow” both via our actions and the Light’s influence.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/10, Article, “Could Anything Negative Come Down from the Sky?”

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A question I received: What kind of game is it?  Is it to perceive the friends as the greatest?

My Answer: It is not a game; it is breaking through the concealment. My egoism conceals me from the others and the others from me: It doesn’t allow me to see the entire World of Infinity. Right now I am in the World of Infinity, but what I see is quite a gloomy picture. My egoism paints a picture of ugly, stupid, lazy, lying people. But in reality, it is all wrong; this picture resides in me within my egoism. If my own children, whom I love dearly, were next to me right now, how would I view them? They would look perfect to me because “love redeems all sins.” I would still love them with all their flaws.

Only my ego is to blame; I see nothing beyond it. In the back of my brain, I have a screen. I seem to view the world through my eyes, but it enters through the prism of my egoism and is projected on the screen in my brain. Everything depends on my attitude, and how I attune myself to see it. So, I have to attune myself to the group in such a way that I see them all as the greatest people of this generation, completely corrected.

Is it a game? No, it is simply annulling the deception of the ego. It is a rational act. Beyond me, there is the World of Infinity, and I already reside in it, right now. If you peel off all the shells (Klipot), which distort the World of Infinity to this mediocre, inverted state, you will perceive Infinity.

First, try to pretend. Let’s make an effort. Try to see us as fully corrected, big, and united. Through this action, we will draw a very strong Surrounding Light, and it will correct our nature. Instead of egoism, we will attain bestowal. This is a very simple principle, and it is absolutely real; there is no mysticism here. We are trying, through our own effort, to see ourselves in the corrected state, and in that degree, we will receive an inner strength, which is contained in this corrected system. Our desire pushes it to act. These are the practical actions toward correction.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, “The Importance of the Association

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Shamati #50 “Two States”
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“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 60
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 30
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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, Article “The Importance of the Association,” Page 48
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 23
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