The Creator created only one state called the “World of Infinity.” All the changes taking place occur solely within us, and although we exist in the World of Infinity, we perceive only ourselves.

Once, in my perception, I was unified with all the souls and perceived the World of Infinity as boundlessness, eternity, and perfection. Then, my condition and perception changed, and I started to feel that I exist in a dark, defected world full of pain, problems, disorder, pressure, and restrictions. I felt worse and worse until I reached the lowest degree where I found myself in this world, the surrounding reality, together with other people similar to me.

All of this happened exclusively within me, in my subjective perception of reality. Outside of me nothing changed. It is as if by removing my glasses, I see nothing outside of me, but as soon as I put them back on, I begin to perceive another world. This is how our properties changed from the degree of the World of Infinity to the degree where we perceive only our world that has nothing of the World of Infinity.

However, we can return to the state called “the World of Infinity” where all exists in the ultimate harmony, eternity, and perfection, and where the Light, that is, “Good that Does Good,” dwells. How can we achieve it? We have to attain the perception of this state by awakening it in ourselves. The World of Infinity is hidden within us behind numerous layers of concealment. Gradually, by moving from a greater to a lesser concealment, we discover the World of Infinity.

The stages we undergo while coming back to awareness of Infinity are called the worlds or concealments ("world" — "Olam" comes from concealment — "Olama").  Eventually, the concealment disappears and we rise above it. This is what it means to ascend the degrees of the spiritual ladder, the degrees of the worlds, and to rise above the concealment to perceiving increasingly more.

How do we do that? We evoke a state called the “World of Infinity” by reading The Zohar together. This Book describes our connection with the World of Infinity, and it arouses that desire within us.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Wherein lies my freedom? I always choose what’s best for me anyway. And if I don’t want to, suffering will force me back to the path of Light, correct?

My Answer: We exist below the dividing line called the Machsom; this is the border separating us from the spiritual world. This corporeal world is located beneath it, and above it, there is the spiritual world. Here, in our world, we live like animals, meaning that we are motivated by our instincts one hundred percent. Biologists, physiologists, geneticists, and physicians confirm this, concluding that a human being is totally programmed and controlled by internal and external systems.

So where does the desire come from? Does it come from emptiness accidentally? It only seems to us that life is governed by the rule of chance because we don’t see the source of and the reason for what happens in life.

Yet, we discover that nature is a closed system. The more we explore it, the more we become convinced that nature is global, and that we are its integral part. Nothing can escape the power of this common law called “nature.” In its Gematria (a numerical value of a word), the word “nature” is equivalent to the word “Creator.” Nature is the law, and by exploring it, we see that all laws are interconnected, precise, and invariable, which leaves us no freedom of choice.

If we look at the complete picture of nature, its whole sphere, we will see that it is governed by a singular law. We constantly make mistakes because we think we are above nature. So instead of studying its laws and following them, we keep trying to reform nature to fit our desires. Hence, our life is a strand of failures. The human ego is the only defect in the entire reality, and it is the cause of corruption to everything else.

However, along with our world, there awakens within us a tiny desire for spirituality called the point in the heart. If we follow this point and go beyond the parameters of this world, we enter the world governed by the Upper laws. All laws, in this and the Upper Worlds, are called the Creator or nature.

In other words, we are governed by the laws, as Above, so below. However, by ascending from one type of laws to the other, we perform the act of free will. We are not free to be above nature’s laws, but we choose in what nature we wish to exist, meaning that we can switch from the path of suffering to the path of Light. We are not free to refuse, yet we do have a choice to agree and see life as good or disagree and suffer.

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

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 252: But Jethro was not so toward Moses, since Laban was a sorcerer, and he did all his deeds against Jacob with witchcraft. And because now Jacob did not wish to be detained there, since the Creator told him, “Return unto the land of your fathers,” he did not wish to be detained and forsake the commandment of his Master. This is why he did not ask his permission.

There are two kinds of forces. On one hand, there are the forces that prevent us from uniting, called “help against,” which appear to oppose our unification. On the other hand, there are the forces that promote unification. We need them both. We have to recognize the seemingly negative forces, all these “wicked” within us (Laban, Esau, and others) as well as the seemingly positive forces (Jacob, Isaac, and others) against them.

All of these forces work either “for” or “against” our unification. And it is up to us to decide who will win and how. It is then that we discover that all must be as it is described in the Torah, and thus reveal its whole narrative. Where? It’s revealed in the connection among us, as we work with the forces of disunity and those of connection.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/10, The Zohar

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The purpose of Kabbalah is specifically to help us attract the Light that Reforms and feel the world as good. We only need to become similar to the Light.

I and other people around me currently exist in a certain frame of the motion picture called life. When I draw the Light upon myself, I transform this picture into a good one, filling it with light, goodness, confidence, and eternity. Accordingly, I develop in a pleasant way.

One can certainly say that wanting to change our fate for the better is an even greater form of egoism than that of an ordinary life. And that is correct: we aspire for a good life since the purpose of creation was to delight the created beings. Yet, the means to achieve this is to rise above our egoism.

Therefore, our first and foremost task is to clarify how Kabbalah defines our freedom of will. Let it explain what depends on us in particular. Everything else we can investigate out of curiosity as a nice addition, but it is essential to clarify what we can really influence to change. Otherwise, when we look back on our lives, we see that we were unable to change a thing. Did we make our life that way, or did someone else?

We don’t do anything but draw that Light that Reforms everything. All the actions performed by a person are not in his control whatsoever. The only power one has is how he will see them, from what angle: egoistically or for the sake of bestowal. This alters the entire picture for a person.

This is the only freedom we have! There is a force in the world which is waiting for us to desire its influence in order to change our nature, our qualities. It is in our power to draw it and make it change us. Then we’ll see the whole world as good; at that moment the world will change. Everything will turn upside down!

Right here and now we will see the spiritual world instead of this material one. As if through a transparent reality, we will see the spiritual world through all these manifestations of desire, all these people, and everything that surrounds us. We then will understand what is really going on and why everything is spinning around us this way. We will be able to justify this state and recognize it as good. We will see the connection of all that is happening right now with a sublime and beautiful purpose.

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

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The Attainment of the Purpose of Creation Rests Upon the Whole of Mankind
Questions about the post “Kabbalists On The Purpose Of Creation,” Part 7

Question: Kabbalah maintains that the spiritual laws are rigid and unchangeable as the laws of nature are in our world. Yet it also states that, contrary to these laws, a spark called “Ner Dakik” (fine and small illumination) descended under the Machsom (barrier separating us from spirituality) and begot the entire material reality. How could it be that the spiritual law was violated?

My Answer: There are two natures, two worlds; the upper one controls the lower one.

Question: Quote: “When it comes to the correction of the soul, no corporeal abilities or talents determine success.” Some of your students are very talented and participate in almost every dissemination project. Also, there are those who have a hard time working even an hour per day. Often  this makes me depressed and even fearful because it’s impossible to attain the goal even with such efforts. How can I use this state and not fall into despair?

My Answer: The spiritual success depends on the effort put forth to create the desire for the property of love and bestowal. It has nothing to do with one’s corporeal faculties given by nature at birth.

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A question I received: When I take medicine, I don’t need to have a special intention. If the study of Kabbalah is supposed to be the medicine for our egoism, why do I have to observe so many different conditions in its study in order for it to work?

My Answer: When you take regular medicine there are also many restrictions and conditions, such as to take it before  food, in the morning or the afternoon, to take it with a glass of water, and so on.

Medicine is not just the pill that you swallow. The entire sum of conditions surrounding it is also part of the medicine. The medicine won’t work unless you observe these conditions.

When you take the medicine, you influence your body in order to make it healthy and to restore the complete operation of all its systems within the right connection with one another. We correct our soul in the same way. We have to give it medicine, the Light that Reforms and brings us to goodness, to the proper, good way of functioning. “Good health” for the soul means that it is completely connected with the other souls. Through their unity, as one, they become similar to the Creator.

It works the same way as in a body where a disease means that one of the body’s systems loses the proper connection with the others. The cure is when the right connection is restored.

In the same way, our souls return to being together. Just like you have to observe certain conditions when taking a chemical medicine, in Kabbalah it works the same way. You need the right books, the group, and the teacher, and all the inner conditions (your intentions), which the Kabbalists described in their books. Otherwise the medicine for curing the soul, your correction, won’t work.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/10, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 250: But he did not go on his way immediately. Rather, he was detained and worked six years in Laban’s flock, since as long as Rachel was not conceived with Benjamin, he was detained there. When the time came that she was impregnated with Benjamin, he fled and did not ask Laban for permission so he would not be detained there, and so that Jacob would unite with all the tribes in the required place, in the land of holiness.

The science of Kabbalah utilizes a special language called “the language of branches.” If in all our feelings, thoughts, and properties our intention remains “for our own sake,” we sense only the reality of this world. Even the words of the Torah signify to us something that is happening in this material world.

But if we keep the intention “for the sake of bestowal,” each word of the Torah naturally transforms within us into descriptions of spiritual roots and forces. It becomes clear to us that the Torah isn’t saying a word about material objects (like herd, Leah, Rachel, Jacob, and so on) or their physical actions. Rather, it is all about the forces (desires and the Light) with which we sense and interact.

We feel this very clearly without any doubts since the upper sensations and thoughts are much stronger than lower ones. That is why when we read the Torah it never occurs to us that it describes this material world. We perceive everything to the degree of our inner level of correction.

At this point in time, we sense only the lower material world. That is why everything we read or hear about triggers images of this world like sheep, a well, women, men, and various actions that we are familiar with and that are part of this world.

Our efforts while reading The Zohar have to include the following thoughts:

1. The Zohar talks exclusively about the measures of connection among us;
2. We aspire to differentiate between the spiritual forces (desires to bestow) within ourselves, which are named using the words of this world.

We have to imagine them and try to search for them as a little child who tries to grasp the rules of a new game that allows him to grow. By doing so, we rise from the branches of this reality to the roots of the Upper World. Step by step, we try to distinguish the Upper roots; these efforts develop us like children.

That’s why we don’t merely listen to the sound of the words while reading The Zohar. Rather, as Baal HaSulam writes in Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 155, “Although they do not understand what they are learning, through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the Lights that surround their souls.”

The effort we make brings us understanding and attracts the Light that Reforms which corrects us. Within our corrected desires we begin to understand and sense what The Zohar is telling us.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: If I raise my children on the principles of Kabbalah, through teaching them about love and bestowal, how will they survive in this egoistical world?

My Answer: Don’t fret over it. A child who grows up in an environment that provides only positive examples and motivates kind attitudes toward it does not become weaker than all other children. On the contrary, he discovers a multitude of good forces that assist and work for him, protecting him from the forces of evil.

Even in everyday life, we instinctively shield children from anything we consider bad and teach them to be kind to others, to compromise, and to be courteous. We act so because we innately understand that good relations with the environment – and not fighting with it or gaining something by force – imply security and peace.

It is evident that violence doesn’t solve any problems for an individual or a country. Those who use force always lose in the end, though they are hoping to succeed. This is how the corporeal world is built, where the only power that rules is that of the Creator. And even when it seems that someone is winning from using violence, we will surely see him fall. This refers to one person, a nation, and the world in equal measure.

We can succeed on one condition: having the equivalence of form with the Creator. This similarity is the key to success. Therefore, don’t be afraid that a child will receive a “soft” upbringing. Our task is to raise a person so that he becomes as close as possible to the Creator, and then, he will definitely succeed in life. Any other model of behavior will only harm him.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/10, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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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 first rule of what we know regarding the intention of the Emanated is that He desires to do good, He desired and created those who would receive His goodness. In order for the goodness to be complete, it has to be merited, not as charity, so shame would not taint it, as one who eats that which is not his.

In order for them to be able to merit [instead of created beings, to become independent, to become similar to Him], He created [especially for them] a single reality [corrupted by Him] through which they may be corrected, which He does not need, rather by their correction [which they perform themselves] – they will merit [to become independent like He].
– Ramchal, Klalei Pitchei Chochma ve Da’at (The Rules of Gates of Wisdom and Knowledge)

This is the rule, The Lord limited himself, meaning that He limited His ability [perfection], not to create them to the extent of His force [make creation perfect], but rather in accordance with what He desired and His direction. By creating them [purposefully, by restricting Himself, His perfection, His revelation by effort] lacking, in order for them [have an opportunity] to complete themselves by themselves [until reaching perfection, His level, similarity to Him], their completion [attained by themselves] would be their [merited] reward, resulting from their efforts to attain Him. And all that [evil created by the Creator and an opportunity to turn it into good] only serving His desire to do complete goodness [to the creatures].
– Ramchal, Da’at Tevunot (Knowledge of Wisdom), Item 28

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