A question I received: If the Creator is a closed system of nature with firm unchanging laws and man exists inside this system, then how can he change anything in it?

My Answer: This is an incorrect assumption. Man does not change anything in this system. Heaven forbid we were able to change the Upper system of nature! We would end up corrupting it just as we do our own lives. Therefore, we are given a very limited part of the total reality. This narrow scope is merely a black point known as our corporeal world, and look at what we’ve done with it! So how do you intend to govern the Upper system? We should be grateful that we’re not permitted to change it.

However, to the degree that we become similar to the Creator, we will exit our narrow, black enclave and become full-fledged participants in the Upper World. If we acquire the strength to follow the same laws and actions as the Creator, He then will hand the power over to us. There won’t be any division of power between us for His purpose is our adhesion with Him, meaning our complete equivalence to Him.

From the TV Program “Kabbalah for Beginners: The Creator” 7/5/10

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Correction begins with the realization of evil, as it said: “I created the evil inclination and Torah as a means for its correction.” If the evil that the Creator purposefully created was not revealed, who would want to correct himself? The sensation of evil and suffering pushes us to change. At first, we want to change everything on the outside; we want to change the entire world. Later, we do agree that we need to change ourselves. Every person, nation, and society, and our entire civilization as a whole needs to go through this change.

Correction cannot begin without the need for it. In other words, I need to feel that I’m miserable without correction. This is why we must develop and cultivate our egoism, experience in it various blows and problems such as emptiness, loss of hope and fulfillment, and be completely unable to change it. We search for ways to change the world until we discover that the evil in us is to blame for everything. Then, seemingly by accident, we discover Kabbalah.

However, someone had to prepare it for us in the form of books and websites because our nature, confined in the desire to receive and fill itself, is incapable of contact with the Upper World and directly feeling the Creator. In order to do this, we first need external methods: a teacher and books.

Usually this knowledge is passed from one person to another through people who have already acquired the connection to the spiritual world. This connection with the spiritual world has to be already present in our world. Otherwise, we, being complete egoists, would never be able to even think of the spiritual world. We would search for a way to free ourselves from suffering only on the level of this world.

This is why it is necessary to circulate the wisdom of Kabbalah. The people who feel empty in this world will discover it as the method of absolute fulfillment. Then, the following two conditions of the beginning of correction will be carried out: 1) people feel bad, and 2) it is revealed to them that there is a method which will make things well. Gradually, people will begin to correct themselves and realize the purpose of their creation.

Our generation is still revealing the first condition. People are looking at different methods and techniques in order to fulfill themselves. Sometimes they even turn to drugs and alcohol, but gradually, this passes. Soon, even the desire for drugs, violence, and fanaticism will disappear. People will feel and understand that they are not able to fill their inner emptiness this way.

The desire for pleasure changes. It rises to the next level, and it is impossible to continue as before. People can no longer find comfort in drugs. They begin to search for a deeper solution. But we need to develop until we reach the state when people will be left with no other solution but the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We can shorten their search by spreading this method so everyone will understand more quickly that we have to reveal the Upper Force that governs us. Only this can help us.

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. Commentaries in brackets are mine.

Why Did the Creator Place the Burden of Creation Upon Us?

The primary foundation upon which this entire construction stands is His Supreme desire for man to complete himself along with all that was created for him, and that itself [perfection that he himself attains] would be his merit and reward. Merit – since he engages and toils in order to reach this completion, and when it is attained he will enjoy the fruits of his own efforts and his part of his own work. Reward – since he will finally be complete and will sense pleasure in its goodness for all of eternity [reaches liberation from death].
– Ramchal, Da’at Tvunot (Knowledge of Wisdom), Item 14

“If the purpose of the creation of the worlds is to delight His creatures, then why did He create this corporeal, turbid and tormented world? Without it, He could certainly delight the souls as much as He wanted; why did He bring the soul into such a foul and filthy body [egoistic desires]?”

They explained it with the verse, “One who eats that which is not one’s own, is afraid to look upon one’s face.” It means there is a flaw of shame in any free gift. In order to spare the souls this blemish, He has created this world [such a state, sensation], where there is work. They will therefore enjoy their labor, for they take their pay from the Whole, in return for their work, and are thus spared the blemish of shame.
– Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 1, "Inner Reflection," Chapter 1, Item 6

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What is the Purpose of Creation?

Questions about the post
“Kabbalists On The Purpose Of Creation,” Part 8

Question: Quote: “To correct all of the deficiencies of creation.” What are these deficiencies of creation? Didn’t the Creator create everything in perfection? How can imperfections derive from the Perfect One?

My Answer: The concealment of the Creator gives us an opportunity to complete what is hidden. In other words, to become like Him, revealing Him solely to take an example of what we should be like.

Question: Quoting Baal HaSulam: "All the souls and worlds that were destined to be created, emerged filled with all the delight and pleasure and the gentleness He had planned for them, in the final perfection that the souls were intended to receive at the end of correction.” If everything is already perfect and exists in its corrected state, then where do we and the distorted picture of the world that we see come from?

My Answer: It is the result of the Creator’s concealment relative to us, which is given to us as an opportunity to complete ourselves.

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“Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 12: This is the meaning of the existence of time in this world. You find that first, these two above opposites were divided into two separate subjects, namely Kedusha and Sitra Achra, by way of, “even the one as well as the other.” They are still devoid of correction, for they must be in the same subject, which is man.

Therefore, the existence of an order of time is necessary for us, since then the two opposites will come in a person one-by-one…

It is impossible to directly connect the two opposites: the qualities of the Creator and the qualities of creation. That is why we have to move in a step by step manner, first delving into an empty desire, then making a correction and being filled by Light, then going into emptiness again, then correction and Light, and so on. As we descend and ascend in this way, we advance from below upwards, increasing our desire and then correcting it with our intention so it bestows.

Only these changes give us the sensation of time. If we did not have the inner changes of desire and intention, then we would not feel time. We would remain in an unchanging state. Therefore, there is no time in the World of Infinity because there, everything is corrected.

To be in spiritual space means to cleave to one state or one principle above all the changes. That is why we don’t feel time there. We are familiar with this even from our regular lives: If we are engrossed in a game or work, then we don’t feel time passing by. We might be going through many states, but above it all we cleave to one single point, and then we don’t feel time. In other words, time does not depend on how we advance through descents and ascents, small states and great states. It depends only on how committed we are to this direction, the single point of adhesion, despite all the changes. Then we don’t feel time.

That is why we ascend above time in the spiritual world. Passing the Machsom (the barrier between this world and the spiritual world) means holding on to this principle. Then you begin to feel what it means to be above time. There is no mysticism here. It is simply that we ascend, in our sensations, above the changes, and therefore time disappears.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot“

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To carry out the goal of creation means to become similar and equal to the Creator. That is His program in relation to us because this is the best, perfect state. However, in order to become equal to Him, we have to acquire a desire equal to His.

The Creator created a point of desire and then fulfills it with His attitude, Light, all the pleasures, and love for creation. He exhibits two ways of relating to creation: The Light of Hochma and the Light of Hassadim. This causes the desire to become enormous, the World of Infinity. Our task is to add our own attitude to this desire, where our attitude is opposite to the Creator. To help us to this, the Creator places a point of bestowal into the desire He created, in order for us to develop it with our efforts. Thus, we develop our attitude to Him until it reaches the size of His attitude to us. We increase it by 620 times.

It is impossible to make this change all at once. It can only be done gradually, step by step, by making small changes. The path is paved with descents and ascents because on one hand creation must remain empty and desire fulfillment, and on the other hand it must cleave to the Creator above the empty desire and become equal to Him. This is why there are always two opposite states combined inside creation.

There are two kinds of Light: Direct and Reflected. The Creator wants us to relate to Him in the Reflected Light the same way He relates to us in the Direct Light, and thus to become the same as Him. However, for Him bestowal is His desire and His nature, whereas for us, bestowal is the intention to bestow while desiring to receive for His sake.

Therefore, we can be opposite to Him by having opposite desires, but equal to Him by having the same intentions – the intention of bestowal and love. If I address Him with my desire, then I am opposite to Him. If I address Him with my intention, then I am the same as He. That is why I always fall in my relationship with Him due to the difference of our desires, and then I ascend due to the similarity of our intentions. When my desire increases, I become opposite to the Creator, but when I correct my desire to receive through the intention to bestow, I become equal to Him.

Thus, I always oscillate between these two axes, and the most important thing is for my "self" to remain in the middle, in the middle line. I have to acquire the greatest desire to receive, which is opposite to the Creator, and then accordingly attach the intention to bestow to it. That is how I create the middle line: to receive for the sake of bestowing to Him, or for His sake. Through equivalence to Him, I will cleave to Him.

If I don’t care about how I experience my state, good or bad, and the most important thing for me is to remain in the intention of attaining the greatest possible similarity to the Creator, then I am in the middle line.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/10, "Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot"

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “The Life of Sarah”
We achieve independence when we become one with the Upper One.
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 331
My “I” is my soul; a desire that builds a correct spiritual connection.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 15, Lesson 5
The breaking of the Kelim is a turning point in humanity’s development. Everything that happened prior to it constitutes the preparation period, and everything after it is the period of correction.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 12, Lesson 10
No matter what I’m going through, above all my states, I want to maintain a maximum connection with the quality of bestowal. This constitutes working in the middle line.
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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“
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In the beginning, Malchut is merely a point. Then the Upper Light comes and develops it. Malchut adopts the properties of Zeir Anpin, expands, and thinks that it is able to receive in order to bestow. It receives this Light and breaks. However, as the result of this breaking, the desires of Zeir Anpin penetrate Malchut, and now she contains the properties of bestowal that she hasn’t thought of before.

From that moment on, one can take two different directions. The bestowing desires can be used to try to receive as much Light as possible for one’s own pleasure, in other words, to bestow in order to receive. This is exactly how mankind develops until it begins to reveal that this is a bad way to go. When it comes to this egoistic reception everything is clear: It is bad and people frown upon it. But when I bestow, I need to check if this bestowal is not egoistic. Maybe I give to others only to benefit from it?

At the end, we discover that our entire “bestowal” is egoistic. This requires thousands of years of development. Only now do we begin to understand that the true bestowal is to bestow in order to bestow and receive in order to bestow.

However, the breaking was a necessary preparation for the entire, marvelous correction to unfold. Otherwise, we would never be able to understand that there is something higher than our nature, our egoistic matter. We would forever remain in it, like the entire still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature. But man begins with experiencing the breaking! It cannot be any other way.

At first, the bestowing desires fall into the receiving ones. Egoism can still rule over them for a period of time, which is exactly what happens in our world. We develop sciences, culture, and education, and all this is due to the desires to bestow that have fallen into us. We advance with their help until we begin to see that nothing good comes out of it.

We can use the bestowing desires to bestow, but as soon as we wish to receive pleasure through this, we discover that our desire to receive pleasure is not able to receive any pleasure within. So then why should I bestow? Then the entire development gradually begins to slow down, as we are now experiencing, and ultimately illuminates the truth: We can only operate for the sake of bestowal.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/10, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A question I received: It sounds strange to me that we are unable to change anything and that only the Upper Light can do it. Who else can I rely on except myself?

My Answer: You have a few years behind you and should know that it is hard to arrange life as you wish to or change anything in it. Life flows in accordance with its own laws and doesn’t “listen” to us. There is a force that controls our lives and transports us from one phase to another.

If we could only watch life unfold like a movie and see it from beginning to the very end. A regular person cannot do this, but there are people who possess special faculties and “see the movie.” In general, it is possible.

Today, you as though see a movie that I already saw yesterday. For you, the movie hasn’t started yet, for me it is already over and I know everything about it. If we saw this movie, we would understand that our development was completely predetermined. Nowadays, physicists, geneticists, and other scientists write a lot about a human being acting like a machine; it has been proven scientifically.

Our life is a sequence of frames in a movie, and all we do is transition from one frame to another. There is nothing we can do about it! This explains the existence of people who are able to predict the future. They don’t lie to us; they simply see the movie a little bit ahead of us. This faculty is developed in animals considerably more than in people since technologies have dulled our senses.

Currently, I’m at a certain “frame” of this film: My past is behind me, my future is ahead of me. The question is how can I influence my development? What is my freedom of choice? How can I really change something? I’m interested only in this for I prefer not to know about something that I’m unable to change. Tell me what does depend on me!

Kabbalists maintain that I can only attract the Upper Light called the Surrounding Light, which can Reform. I’ll live through the movie anyway, there is no chance I can avoid it. The beginning and the end of the movie are set, and it’s not in my power to change them. However, I can choose to live through that movie with pleasure and delight.

If I am already somewhere in the middle of it and see and understand the ultimate benevolent goal, I begin to anticipate its kindness already. It pleases me already and gives me fulfillment which might be even greater than what I will get later upon achieving the goal since at this point it is not limited by any boundaries! The pleasure I look forward to always seems bigger than its actual realization. So, it follows that I can attract goodness into my life right now and continue to advance in the rays of the Light.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/10, Shamati #38

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