The Zohar, Chapter "VeYechi (And Jacob Lived)," Item 193: In regards to the rest of the wicked of the world, it does not say, “And the thing which he did was evil in the eyes of the Lord,” but here it is written, “And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was wicked.” What he did was wicked in the eyes of the Creator because it is written, “And he spilled it on the ground.”

The ladder of the spiritual degrees by which we ascend from our world to the World of Infinity consists of 125 degrees (states), which themselves are divided into a multitude of different states. Each state consists of a vessel and the Light in it.

Hence, based on what’s written in the Torah, if I am at the degree of "Er," I perform an action called "he spilled it on the ground." And if I’m at the degree of Jacob, then, according to this degree, I form the three lines.

Therefore, when we read The Zohar we need to realize that in a given state a person enacts an image called Moses or Aaron, Abraham or Pharaoh, Bilam or Balak and performs actions inherent in each of them. These images refer to a person’s inner states which he has to undergo, receiving an impression from his "evil inclination" and the Light that Reforms. The sum total of these images and acquired forms is later accumulated into a general image of similarity to the Creator.

All the righteous and the wicked unite in it with all the voids (vessels) coming from the states of the wicked and all the corrections and fillings with bestowal from the states of the righteous. And thereby a person rises in Infinity.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/10, The Zohar

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Spiritual Simulator: Questions of the Day

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There are two states in the advancement toward the spiritual goal. The first state is when a person has the sensation, the force, and the support of the group and the Creator. A person feels the importance of the property of bestowal, and this pushes him to draw closer to the Creator.

He has the sensation and the desire; the Creator shows him that it’s worthwhile to work on the spiritual goal. A person feels that there is a reward, meaning that he does not depend on faith: the property of bestowal within him. The sensation rouses love of friends and of the Creator.

In such a state, a person makes a covenant about love of friends and the Creator forever, for the future. What is this covenant with? It can’t be the Creator because in a state of descent, when one will distance himself from the Creator, he won’t feel His closeness, and the Creator won’t bind him.

That’s why the covenant has to be made with the group that can be felt in a state of descent as well. Through the group, we reach the agreement with the Creator: To always go by the path of bestowal to the Creator and the group. The group is a guarantee of the covenant. By making a covenant the entire group pledges to support each other and always hold the intention to bestow. They receive the Creator’s help to the extent of their connection.

The second state comes after some time, when the state of excitement and connection is replaced by indifference, inability to feel any importance of the goal, the Creator, or the reward for a good attitude toward the friends and the Creator. A person is unable to think about love, connection, and bestowal.

A) If a person does not receive support from the group, he falls, thinking that the Creator is unimportant and that there is no fulfillment or reward. He might leave the path altogether.

B) If the connection with the group awakens and attracts him, he is unable to drop everything and remembers the covenant that he has made. In a state of descent, the importance of bestowal vanishes since the reward disappears. And here a mutual guarantee, covenant, and connection with the group have to come to one’s aid.

In this way, a person returns to the covenant, to the state of goodness, love, and connection. He remembers that he has to go by faith above reason, above his current state of indifference as though the sensation that once gave him strength does exist and is even stronger!

In this way, a person wants to go by “faith above reason” (bestowal over reward). He then understands that he can receive strength from the Creator. And this brings him to a prayer.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/10, “What is the Matter of My Making A Pact in the Work”

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We are under the 125 degrees or worlds or concealments. This concealment is beneficial for us since it prevents us from seeing how insignificant we are compared to the perfect state of Infinity. Instead, we can only observe our inability to become similar to a higher spiritual degree.

Nonetheless, in order to advance in correcting ourselves we have to sense affliction. If we undergo correction while being in the group, then we disclose our suffering like a child playing a game. The child wants to accomplish something, he doesn’t succeed, but he nevertheless does his best and keeps trying to master a challenging toy.

Through your efforts, pain, and inability to act you discover your oppositeness to the Light one degree at a time. You must work against the Light since otherwise, you will not feel any difference between you and the Light; you won’t sense the Creator thanks to the sum total of these dissimilarities.

Suppose you are in a king’s palace, but you know nothing about it and therefore do not appreciate it. Then you start experiencing and researching it. You have to observe all the objects and states around and learn the entire range of connections and contradictions between them. By doing so, you achieve a state when you rule over the world, just as a king.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/10, Shamati #50

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: The Book Of Zohar

An exception is Rashbi and his generation, the authors of The Zohar, who were granted all 125 degrees in completeness, even though it was prior to the days of the Messiah [before our time]. It was said about him and his disciples: “A sage is preferable to a prophet.” Hence, we often find in The Zohar that there will be none like the generation of Rashbi until the generation of the Messiah King [our generation]. This is why his composition made such a great impact in the world, since the secrets of the Torah in it occupy the level of all 125 degrees. [This is not because the world understands it, but rather because the Upper Force is in it.]

Hence, it is said in The Zohar that The Book of Zohar will be revealed only at the End of Days, the days of the Messiah. This is so because we have already said that if the degrees of the students are not at the full measure of the degree of the author, they will not understand his intimations, since they do not have a common attainment. [The need for The Book of Zohar arises at the End of Days of egoism’s development, when humanity begins to realize that its path is corrupt and wants to correct itself. This is because one can draw the force, the Light of Correction only when he reads The Zohar with the correct intention: to correct oneself.]

And since the degree of the authors of The Zohar is at the full level of the 125 degrees, they cannot be attained prior to the days of the Messiah. It follows that there will be no common attainment with the authors of The Zohar in the generations preceding the days of the Messiah. Hence, The Zohar could not be revealed in the generations before the generation of the Messiah. [Egoism was not developed enough.]
– Baal HaSulam, A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar is being revealed now because it is a source of strength which can carry out all the corrections and advance us. Just as a train or a car cannot move without electricity or gas, we cannot advance without The Book of Zohar which gives us energy, “fuel” for advancement.

In addition, The Zohar reveals to us where we are situated, who we are, where we are advancing, and for what purpose. It reveals the whole path to us. In essence, it is the Light that illuminates the whole space that surrounds us in order for us to see where we are. The Zohar is the Light that gives us an opportunity to feel in our minds and hearts who we are and what we represent, how we are arranged, how we sense, think, and make decisions. It is the Light that illuminates the goal to us so that we understand to where we are advancing, with what speed, what is happening, and what to do.

The Zohar is the Light that gives strength, the Light that corrects us, and the Light that advances us on the path. It does everything. However, we need to rouse this Light and it’s not easy. After we rouse it, there’s nothing more to do because it knows how to arrange and carry out everything. We merely need to rouse it.

We think that the science of Kabbalah demands some impossible effort from us. However, the entire work is actually in our hands. After all, the Light needs to come and influence us. This Light is called Surrounding Light since it cannot clothe a person directly, clearly, and openly. It does this indirectly and we only feel the results of its actions but not it itself.

Under what condition is the Light drawn? It is drawn according to law of equivalence of form or the law of equality: The Light comes to the extent that I desire to become similar to it. How do I perform this action in order to become similar to it? Something that is called the group has been placed before me, and initially I hate it. In the same manner that I am opposite to the Light, I am also opposite to this Kli (the spiritual vessel) called a “group.”

To the extent that I try to unite with the group, to enter it, the Light affects me to the same exact degree. I am situated below, “under the group,” and it is on top, “above the group.” It turns out that I work on uniting with the friends, and to the extent that we unite the Light influences and corrects us. It unites us and the Light (the Creator) is revealed in our unification.

If this is the case, then everything is in my hands. The Light waits for me to perform this effort. I cannot unite with others; I merely need to desire this and to exert effort. Then it will happen.

Therefore, before we read The Book of Zohar, the strongest source of Surrounding Light, I need to think about the fact that I must unite with others, thereby preparing the vessel (Kli) for the Light that will glue it together and be revealed in it. After all, the Light is revealed only in the unification, in the place of the former breaking.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 170: Upon the departure of one’s soul, all his kin and friends in the world of truth walk his soul and show her the place of Eden and the place of the punishment.

Question: People who have undergone clinical death speak of visions they experience, which in many ways are similar to what The Book of Zohar describes. However, these people don’t know the first thing about Kabbalah.

Answer: Understanding Kabbalah does not help a person see the spiritual world. The Upper World can only be felt in a corrected soul. Whether or not a person studies Kabbalistic books is irrelevant. The important thing is whether one wishes to correct himself.

We can look at clinical death experiences in two ways. On one hand, when a person falls into a critical state, it is a heavy blow to the physiological body, which is nothing more than the desire to enjoy. Our body only appears to us as something corporeal that takes up space, but in reality it is only the desire to enjoy a particular type of fulfillment.

If this desire feels emptiness or suffering, it naturally doesn’t want to feel the place (desire) in which it feels pain. It wants to reduce and restrict this place, to live less, to disconnect its senses, take drugs, and so forth. Any person feeling emotional or material suffering wants to restrict it, that is, restrict his perception of the world even to the extent as the desire to stop living.

But by feeling suffering and wanting to ascend, to escape this place that is full of darkness, pain, blows, wars, and diseases, meaning, to rise from the terrible suffering above this world, a person is essentially making a spiritual action. You don’t do it for the sake of bestowal or because you are drawn by spirituality, but because the suffering is pressuring you so much that it forces you out, like a pit popping out of  a cherry when squeezed, and you are led upward.

This is the path of suffering, but it is not advancement because in this you do not draw closer to the goal. In fact, you don’t even know there is a goal; you’re simply running away like a beaten animal from the stick. But either way, you rise above your ego, the desire to enjoy. You want to nullify it, thinking: “I don’t want anything, just leave me alone!”

Suppose you stole a billion dollars and were caught and sentenced to life in prison. At that moment you desire only bread and water and to be back home. That’s it! Yet prior to that you wanted a billion dollars! The desire reduces itself, as though ascending by “faith above reason.” It is ready to be in bestowal, to reject and restrict itself so that it does not feel the suffering that punishment brings.

And that is when people begin to sense the truth; a connection with the Creator becomes revealed to them, at least to some degree. However, it passes very quickly, and people are unable to fully take in or retain this state because they lack their own permanent Kelim (spiritual vessels). And so the feeling passes.

In 99.9% of the cases, the sensation of something otherworldly relates only to people’s psychosomatic experiences. Since they live in suffering, confusion, emotional cloudiness, and faulty internal systems, it’s merely their imagination.

The purpose of creation is not for a person to feel the spiritual world in a state of clinical death. We have to feel spirituality in a state of total soundness and function in it like the researchers that have knowledge, understanding, sensation, and power. We have to come to be like the Creator.

From the 2ns part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/10, The Zohar

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A letter I received: We now witness the emergence of a new social structure of online communities. A virtual reality is being built which, for the time being, lacks any rules or ideology. I think that our method is most appropriate particularly for these online communities and not for the real world since the latter is terribly inertial and filled with a myriad of different ideologies. Meanwhile, in the virtual world, changes are taking place every few days rather than every few decades.

Surely, it is not a spiritual world, but it is no longer a material world either. It is a new playground for the human mind where it can play out different scenarios which could only be checked in the physical reality over decades or centuries.

In Israel, it is possible to work like in the old days, creating a physical infrastructure, and we see over the last few months that it works wonderfully. However, in all the other parts of the world, you won’t be allowed in anywhere. All spots have been taken both in the physical world as well as in its ideological structure. Changes will occur only under the influence of cataclysms.

While a “material” person will not even listen to you, a “spiritual” person will grasp the essence of Kabbalah immediately. A person that exists in these virtual worlds will tell you: “If your game is interesting, let’s play. Why not?” I see this as the only chance for us to change something in the external world.

My Comment: I agree with you about almost everything. We are trying to accomplish this with our Stimulator: to create a new social unification, the one and only State of Kabbalah in the world. The constitution is “love your neighbor” according to the law of the Upper Force of Nature. All the laws, rules of behavior, relationships, and decisions are based only on the laws of the nature of bestowal. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the article “The Last Generation.”

Teenagers perceive online communities as their family. They reject live communication in favor of virtual communication. Online communities are becoming strong psychological points of reference for users.

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