After the Mega Kabbalah Congress, many complain about experiencing heaviness and “hardening of the heart.” This is the Pharaoh, our ego, awakening in us. If we now use the power that we have received during the Congress in order to correct the heaviness that descended upon us, we will benefit!

We need to relate to the entire reality as to a single whole. Both ascents and descents are the stages of the same path. Advancement is impossible without these two forces acting one upon the other. The state of excitement is not yet advancement. This is not yet a step forward but only the force received from Above. Afterward, we need to realize it “below.”

If you receive this force and do not wish to realize it, you resemble a clogged pipe that is being pressured from within but is unwilling to pass this pressure further. Next time, you won’t receive anything! You will be forced to leave this path, and someone else will be chosen for this mission from Above.

We should understand that we received a force, and by itself, it doesn’t self-realize. It is our duty to continue working with it by ourselves. If you don’t utilize whatever was given to you, you won’t receive any additional strength and will become increasingly passive.

And on the contrary, anybody who now will quickly invest all the received forces into circulation of Kabbalah will feel himself receiving more and more from Above. We need to open the pipe and let the energy flow freely through it!

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Kabbalah TV Channel 66’s Kabbalah for Beginners, “Jealousy, Lust, and Respect”
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A person’s actions are based on his habits; he perceives and accepts solely that to which he is accustomed. Anything beyond the ordinary passes by him unrecognized. In our state of unawareness, we ignore everything new before we can even sense or perceive it. This is why it is so difficult to come face to face with spirituality.

We live in the world that we choose by picking only that which we are familiar with and accustomed to from the World of Infinity that surrounds us. In order to expand our world into and through the world of bestowal, we need to use “faith above reason” and accept the states of bestowal, the attributes, desires, thoughts, and actions of the “opposite world.”

To achieve this, we have to reconcile two opposing spiritual states within; we have to recognize our current egoistic existence (the lower degree) is opposite from the property of bestowal (the higher degree). Moreover, we need to live between these states and rejoice in the sensation of emptiness of the lower state because it gives us an opportunity to rise above it, to the higher degree.

Such forces descend on me through the group from the Upper Light and hold me “above the ground” like a magnet. The magnetism of truth and faith (bestowal) that lifts me upward should be stronger than the sensation of beastly egoism that pulls me downward, to the “ground.”

The truth, however, lies in existing in both states simultaneously. Living in each of them separately is a lie. Even if I am entirely in spirituality, it is a lie. True existence is always between two states at the same time: the sensation of perfection and lack, gratitude and prayer.

I should rejoice in the fact that I can experience both of these states at once and am in constant transition. Yet, I am aware of the obstacles and hold myself above them by will, like a mountain climber who knows that as soon as he gives into weakness, he will immediately fall to his demise. This is the only true state of existence, and we must train ourselves to make it our “lifestyle” and rejoice in it.

Accordingly, there is a test: Are we able to live in a state of joy despite all the struggle and dissatisfaction, always persevering between inspiration and desperation?

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/10, Article, “The Matter of Truth and Faith”

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The Creator is a singular quality of bestowal and absolute good. The creature, however, is created by the Creator as a desire to receive pleasure, which makes it opposite to Him. Hence, in order to become similar to the Creator, the creature has to undergo numerous contradictory states. The creature could simply replace the desire to receive with the desire to bestow and merge with the Creator. But to avoid this and remain independent yet similar to the Creator, the creature incorporates two elements within itself: the will to enjoy and the sensation of the Giver.

Our sensation of the world and existence is comprised of these two opposites: Yesh (existence) and Mi Ain (from absence). Only then is the creature able to feel that it exists. We can’t exist in either Yesh (the reality of the Creator) or in Ain (the reality of the creature), and therefore, we undergo gradual transformations in order for the Light (Yesh) that created us from absence (Mi Ain) to mold the desire (Ain) into the form of Yesh (the form of the Creator).

This Light leads me along the chain of cause and effect, where each previous effect becomes the cause of the following state. This goes on until I begin to sense His relationship with me, an outside force that created and is guiding me. Beside the sensation of being filled “within reason,” there is another force of the Creator that educates me by setting a model and a goal to follow. This is where I must act by using “faith.”

In my present state, I exist in my animate form and act according to what I have. At the same time, however, I am aware of my higher state, a degree that I haven’t yet achieved. I take the existence of a higher degree on “faith” because it is opposite to my present state of being. The nature of spiritual degrees is such that each higher degree is opposite to the lower one since it contains a greater degree of bestowal than the one below it.

In order to attain a higher spiritual degree, I must accept its condition of “bestowal despite my egoism” or “faith above reason.” If I don’t, I will forever remain at the present, animate degree. This means that I will continue to receive in the “old” will to receive pleasure and will not climb the spiritual ladder to bestowal. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare ourselves so that we willingly accept a higher spiritual degree and not push it away.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/10, Article, “The Matter of Truth and Faith”

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Excerpts from my upcoming book, A Guide to The Book of Zohar

We exist in the reality which includes the Creator, the Creator’s communications system with the created beings, and the created beings themselves. Through this system the Creator governs us with the aim of bringing us to the goal of creation “to delight the creatures” and to make us similar to Himself. The Creator wishes to share everything He has with us.

Therefore, from the very beginning we need to view everything in reality as though it was created by a loving Father. However, He has to bring us to independent development so that we will grow and be independent. To do so He has to influence us from two sides: mercy and judgment. And even though they both stem from Him, from His kind and loving heart, they are divided into two opposite forces which we perceive as manifestations of good and evil, mercy and judgment, light and darkness.

When we perceive all the circumstances of our life “down in this world” we shouldn’t forget that we receive them from the kind Father, and even the worst and harshest of His methods of influence stem from His desire to delight us. As long as we don’t forget this and connect everything to Him, “There is none else beside Him, and He is Good that does good,” we combine these two lines back into one which is the same source. And because we combine them in our heart and mind, in so doing we merge with the Creator.

It follows that our entire work lies in constant attempts to relate everything that happens to Him.

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages of the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The comments within brackets are mine.

The Reality Contained in the Wisdom of Kabbalah

The lower is studied from the Higher. Thus, one must first (even if one desires just to understand what happens in our lower world] attain the Upper Roots, the way they are in spirituality, above any imagination [by correcting one’s egoism to their level in the quality of bestowal], but with pure attainment [that is, through equivalence with them, by becoming equal in spiritual level to them].

And once he has thoroughly attained [with his new qualities] the Upper Roots [from where the whole governance descends to the branches of our world] with his own mind, he may examine [from the roots above] the tangible branches in this world and know how each branch relates to its root in the Upper World.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Essence Of The Wisdom Of Kabbalah”

Every thing that we do not attain and that has no name and appellation, how can we define it by a name? Any name implies attainment.
– Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, Inner Reflection, Chapter 1, Item 5

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “And It Shall Be When the Lord Came to the Land, Which the Lord  Giveth Thee”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Lech-Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 330
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 13, Lesson 7
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 7, Lesson 7
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Question: It is written that a person who studies Kabbalah must free up a place in his heart. What is this referring to, a method of inner work?

Answer: While studying The Zohar we must be concerned with freeing up a place in our heart where the Light that Reforms will begin to work. I have to prepare the material on which the Light will do its work. What inside me is bad right now and needs to be returned to the source, to goodness?

I have to prepare an empty place for the Light, the area of the breaking, evil, so the Light will turn all of this to goodness. Therefore, I must first discern: Where is this area of evil inside me and what does it mean? And what does it mean that it will be turned to goodness? This state has to correspond to the action of the Light since otherwise the Light will not do it.

If my desires, intentions, and expectations do not correspond to what the Light does, then it will not influence me. It will only influence me in response to my true desire, the correct plea. Therefore, I have to feel in what regard I am bad (in my opinion) and change my notion of evil in order to make it the same as the Creator’s (the Light’s) notion of it. To the Creator, evil is an egoistic action where you think at the expense of your neighbor and hate others. You have to desire for the Light to correct you and make you bestow, feel love for your neighbor, and a connection with others.

If I define my current state as bad and discern which state I consider good, and the transition from one to the other precisely corresponds to whatever the Light has to do, then the Light will do it. However, if I still don’t have a very good understanding of what is evil and what is good, and what kind of change the Light has to perform in me, then it won’t do anything!

I have to obligate the Light to do this! I have to desire this transition so much that I will enact the verse, “My sons have defeated me!” I have to force Him to correct me. I have to tell Him, “You have to do this! You promised it to me!” My desire must hit the target exactly.

This is the clarification we must be making during the study and before it, during the preparation. Then the correction will happen very quickly.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/3/10, The Zohar

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Question: It often happens that I understand a lot during the lesson, but later I forget everything I thought about and understood. Is this the right way to advance?

Answer: Forgetfulness is actually the best quality a person has. Otherwise he would not be able to change his states. If one’s desire changes, then the mind serving the desire changes as well.

Memory acts mechanically and belongs only to the desire corresponding to it. Since our task is to change our desire from reception to bestowal, our memory must be cleansed in order to start serving the new qualities and desires.

Therefore, don’t worry about remembering the material you study! You should only worry about feeling it and increasing your desire to bestow. Is your desire becoming more sensitive and uniting with others? Do you understand that you do not want to unite with others? You should care only about the sensations!

Don’t worry, the mind will always develop alongside the sensation. The mind forms in order to serve the feelings. That is how we are built by nature. That is why it is written that “people do not study with the mind.” Kabbalah is not attained through the mind or by having more knowledge. There are no exams that will test who remembered or understood the most. It is the heart that understands.

If a person forgets what he heard at the lesson, does not understand it, and feels that the material disappears to the extent he advances (“I studied so much and heard about it a thousand times, and I still don’t understand it!”), then this is a sign that he is advancing correctly. It means he is demanding a change and correction of his desire, rather than trying to fulfill himself with knowledge in a purely mechanical fashion.

That is why a person must be very careful about what he demands from the study and which changes he wants to see happening within him. Perhaps he wants to become smarter and understand more, which is called “reasoning more than doing”? In that case he acquires more knowledge than correction (because action is correction), and that would be a grave mistake.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/3/10, The Zohar

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