The Zohar, Introduction, Article “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 100: The seed of David, the sights of the colors change in him, and this is why Samuel erred, as it is written, “Do not look at his appearance,” since the other side was in Eliav. This was not so with David, since David’s forms are covered because the forms of the other side were included in his forms, and the form of the other side appeared in him first, passing over the eyes for a time, and the heart is alarmed and fears.

We are mistaken in that we work very hard to understand what The Zohar talks about, and much less on the intention, the thought that we have to unite and reveal The Zohar inside of the connection between us. Only to the degree we unite, the image of the Creator will become revealed inside our unity, and it will be nothing like what we are able to imagine before we unite.

Our unity is the entrance ticket enabling us to see and feel spiritual images and qualities that The Zohar talks about. Their sum total gives us the image of the Creator. However, if we desire to discern what we study without searching for a connection between us, this is called external study, Klipa, a deadly poison.

If during the study I try to search for the image that I study, it is Klipa. On the other hand, if I first want to reveal that image through the prism of unification with the group, the environment, and only after the unification I try to find that spiritual image that The Zohar talks about, then it is holiness, bestowal, spirituality. At the end of the day I search for the forms of unity and bestowal, and that is the most important thing, whereas in the first case I look for the image or form of reception.

Therefore, we must first of all worry about how we pass through that prism, the intention, the unification with the group, the environment. This is very important! Without this we shouldn’t even open The Book of Zohar because it can either become a deadly poison or the elixir of life.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/11, The Zohar

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If the Creator wishes to bring us to similarity to Him, then how can He arouse in us the feeling of His greatness, the value of the property of bestowal, so that we would want to trade our state of existence for His? He does not have much choice, and we are forced to ascend in small steps while always making attempts to choose a more exalted degree over our present state.

Because of this, the Creator cannot reveal His love to us! In fact, if love were revealed, it would immediately ruin the entire ladder of spiritual degrees and everything that differentiates them.

A child is the head of a family and constantly demands from the parents, assuming they live for him. He is taking advantage of their love. If, however, he is in somebody else’s house, he acts totally differently: He won’t make demands as he would at home; he will be shy and afraid. But at home, he has no shame or fear.

Therefore, if the Creator disclosed His love to us, we, like spoiled children, would never be able to appreciate His greatness and ascend to Him. In this world, we are driven by the natural instinct that pushes us to grow and evolve. But in the spiritual world, this animate instinct doesn’t exist. We have to develop such desire on our own.

Moreover, if the Creator did reveal Himself as a Loving one, we would disregarded Him in everything. Hence, He must hide in order to give us an opportunity to evolve and appreciate His magnificence in the darkness. In the light, we wouldn’t be able to do so.

This is precisely what the impure forces (Klipot) complain about: They would like to discover the Creator before receiving the screen. In such case, we would have no chance to reach bestowal at all.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Descents show me that I will never realize the importance of the Creator alone; I will never come out of my egoism and find forces inside myself. However, every descent teaches me differently, by illuminating different weaknesses, qualities, and phases in me. The descents are followed by ascents, but at the end, one way or another I always discover my powerlessness.

At first I want to satisfy my egoism, which is called “knowing how many angels there are in the sky.” Then I switch my focus to the Creator, wishing to “catch” Him, to see the spiritual world. It seems to me that the door to changes has to open up in front of me rather than inside of me.

And finally, I start to understand that the changes have to happen inside of me. I catch the thread of the answer to my question: The redemption has to come from outside because I am certainly unable to do it by myself.

This work is done with the help of descents and ascents until a person comes out to the threshold of truth, having understood that everything depends on him, on the change in his perception. The Light gives you the forces to do it; you will not find them inside of you.

One’s demand is still egoistic, but he already lowers his head before the Upper Force so it will change him. Then he gradually agrees with the fact that everything comes from Above.

At the next stage a person understands that he has to acquire the quality of bestowal instead of the quality of reception. His demand is egoistic, but it is already a step forward.

After that he works with the environment in order to elicit the Light that will raise him to the spiritual treasure. As he learns about the notion of the group, he makes himself dependent on it, still hoping to derive benefit for himself.

After that the Light really does bring a person back to the Source. That’s because he built everything correctly and only one parameter remains to be changed: the intention, the end result—whose benefit does he want to attain?

That is how we reduce the path: By turning to the Creator through the group with the right request.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: When asking for the vessel of bestowal, I can always see that I still don’t have it. Where is the place for faith here?

Answer: Attaining faith is very difficult. After all, it means crossing the Machsom (barrier separating us from spirituality). Faith is the attribute of bestowal (Hafetz Hesed), the property of Bina, the Light of bestowal, Hassadim (Mercy). A complete faith is the Light of Hassadim with the illumination of Hochma (Wisdom).

We are talking here about an exalted degree. In order to achieve it, we have to rise above our egoism, come out of Egypt (Machsom), break away from Pharaoh (egoism in us), and achieve the force (property) of the Light or bestowal. This is the beginning of faith.

Then comes the period of “forty years in the desert,” when we are attaining faith, the attribute of bestowal, building it above our egoism. Having completed this period, I receive faith that soars above all of my desires, above the entire Egypt. Now I can enter into the complete faith, receive inside the Light of Hassadim the Light of Hochma, His sensation, revelation.

That’s the entry into the land of Israel: Egoism (Pharaoh), corrected by the Light to the degree of the attribute of bestowal (Hafetz Hesed), is now working to receive from the Creator for the sake of bestowal. In other words, your desire is now aspiring straight to the Creator (“Israel” is Yashar [straight] – Kel [the Creator]).
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Above Reason in Divine Service”

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Question: I understand that The Zohar talks only about the spiritual world. But at the same time, there is a law of root and branch. Besides, the material world is an imprint of spirituality. So what is the connection between them?

Answer: There are only two forces or qualities in nature: reception and bestowal. All the possible unifications and connections between them create their mutual, common form for us.

If this common form has a desire to receive for itself, this is the reverse imprint of the Creator, and if it has the desire to bestow, it is a direct copy of the Creator. Nothing else exists. That is why we say that there is none else besides Him and in general He is the only thing that exists.

So who are we? We are those who desire to discern these forms that are opposite or similar to the Creator. These forms build the image of the Creator inside us, showing it to us on our inner screen.

We cannot see a force by itself because a force is a form outside of matter, similar to electricity. I can tell that electricity is present only if it activates a device, meaning I can only identify it by certain results.

I do not know who the Creator is, but I can attain His form and according to that I can see and realize it. I too exist to the degree that I attain the form of the Creator.

The Zohar talks about which forms of the Creator I attain—good or bad, better or worse. Can it really be that I attain bad forms from the Creator?! Yes, because I am the one who attains and "Every person judges to the extent of his own lack of correction."

On my inner screen I attain the forms between how much I can be in the opposite quality and how able I am to become similar to the Creator. This is the contrast I attain and it creates the image of the Creator for me.

There are always two distinctions in this image—for and against, good and evil, Light and darkness. I attain the difference between them and without that difference I would have no sensation because I am creation.

Through all sorts of forms such as these, which remind us of earthly pictures, The Zohar shows us the combination of forces, Hassadim and Hochma, reception and bestowal, which create the image of the Creator for me. But they create this image inside of me because for now, it is in my desire and my sensation that the Creator appears to me in these uncorrected forms.

The question arises: But why does The Zohar depict this for me in this earthly form? It’s because the Creator initially brought us to this imaginary reality where we also imagine Him as our world with the inanimate nature, plants, animals, and people, and where we exist connected with each other.

This entire dream that we are now seeing is intended only in order for us to ascend from it to the true picture of reality. That is why The Zohar describes the spiritual reality for us in this earthly form that we now feel. Then we can at least start to talk about higher forms of reality based on something.

Otherwise we would not have any chance to do it because we need a scale by which to measure, a certain basis with which to start. There has to be some kind of initial state and that initial state is our world.
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From the lesson on 12/4/10, The Zohar

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We are talking about the Creator based on our Kelim (vessels), provided we are able to correct them. We can know Him only from our corrected Kelim.

The corrected Kelim operate according to the principle: "From Your actions, we shall know You." By performing the same actions as the Creator, I begin to learn who He is.

The Creator’s actions are bestowal, and that’s why I, too, have to come to bestowal in order to know Him. The actions that are identical to His will let me understand Him: who and what He is, His program and purpose in relation to me, His intentions and commands. I will know all of that when I resemble Him in actions, and not before.

So how can I come to the actions of the Creator? To this end, I have to attain the attribute of bestowal. We attain it above the attribute of reception, above the receiving Kelim, which is called: "Faith above reason." It is the essence of our work.

"Knowledge" is what I know, feel, and am able to see in the sensations of the desire to receive. And "faith" is another, more exalted attribute. I attain it above knowledge: I first need to discover and test my knowledge, and then I receive a force from Above that will allow me to go above it, in exactly the same form but higher. It means that I advance by faith above reason.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Above Reason in Divine Service”

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Question: Do I have believe that everything Kabbalists say is true?

Answer: It is exactly what we call “faith in the sages.” You don’t really have a choice: You believe a Kabbalist like a youngster believes an adult in order to grow up.

In our world, a child also relies on adults; otherwise, how will he survive? Will he achieve anything if he doesn’t listen to, receive the necessary tools from, and learn what they do by imitating them like a monkey?

It isn’t an accident that apes are considered an intermediary link between the animate world and a human being. To learn “by aping” is the means to become human. A child watches adults and copies them over and over again.

If so, then where does a child display his own intelligence? He does so specifically by observing and copying external movements. Thanks to this he will later understand their inner essence.

It is described as: “From Your actions, I shall know You.” We don’t have a choice but to accept Kabbalists’ counsels above our reason since these recommendations descend from very exalted degrees. It means that we have to act as a child before an adult.

Sometimes, these counsels are even difficult to grasp since the words of a sage are always distorted in you. Nonetheless, inasmuch as you manage to decode and carry them out, you succeed. Some receive by “mouth to mouth” and advance very fast. Others receive by “mouth to ear” and grow more slowly. Yet, this is the way: A younger one learns from the older one.

The key is to accept the role of a “monkey” and learn from a human. After all, these are two [different] degrees of development.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Above Reason in Divine Service”

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Since eons ago, all Kabbalistic books have described spiritual attainment, the spiritual world. However, their content was distorted by the public to fit corporeal definitions. Consequently, the principle of faith turned into blind faith.

“I believe that somewhere ‘in the void, a suitcase (substitute anything, including the Creator) is spinning around.”
“Have you seen it?”
“No, I haven’t; but I believe it.”

This is what the public calls faith: Somebody told me about something I have never seen, and I faithfully repeat after them.

One of the essential parts of our spiritual work is to discard the erroneous ideas of the masses about faith and religion and return to the authentic meanings of these terms: the wisdom of Kabbalah and attainment of the Creator. In his article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose,” Baal HaSulam regards the wisdom of Kabbalah as religion, the method to get to know the Creator. Yet, in our world, it has been used to create various confessions and spiritual practices.

When we encounter a false idea, we have to perform a correction within, constantly returning to the correct definitions. “Religion” is the wisdom of Kabbalah, “faith” is knowing the Creator, the property of bestowal, the Light of Hassadim (Mercy). “Absolute faith” is living in full awareness of the Creator, the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), dressed in the Light of Hassadim.

“Faith above reason” is the path of bestowal above reception. I seem to be sailing in the waves of egoistic desires under the sail of bestowal that is cut out precisely for them while being opposite to them at the same time.

“Israel” are those who aspire directly for the Creator. All the rest are regarded as “the nations of the world.” Each of us, until we have completely transformed ourselves, lives in both of these states. “The King of Israel” is when a person is in the state of “Israel” and feels that the Creator rules within them. “The king of the nations” is when the Creator still rules in a person but not by the latter’s consent or with his awareness.

Everything depends on definitions, and we must know them by heart so that while reading the text, the terms automatically pop up in our consciousness.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Above Reason in Divine Service”

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Question: If a person doesn’t have an opportunity to check whether his experience of the Creator and love of others is true or not, how can he scrutinize this?

Answer: People who wish to attain authentic scrutiny with the assistance of the Light that Reforms must actualize this method on themselves. But since all souls are mutually connected, everything that has been clarified by them is automatically transferred onto all others. And those individuals who are still satisfied with their fantasies will eventually begin to realize that all of them are groundless.

Everyone has their own fantasies and faith: According to some research, there are about 3800 various religions and spiritual practices. (I have no way to check but am willing to take it on faith :-D.) Only a great, mature egoistic desire that becomes increasingly expressed in humanity does not wish to take things on faith.

Moreover, since we are tightening up our circle and connecting closer together and since opinions travel from one to the other, with a more exalted idea ruling over the lower one, we thereby “circulate” the knowledge of Kabbalah and inject doubt in the hearts of all the others.

However, don’t ever try to convince anyone of anything in the external form. If a book on Kabbalah happened to fall into a person’s hands and they decided to read it, it’s great. We should also take into consideration that everyone reads it from their own perspective and finds resonance with their own opinion.

Therefore, we have to work on ourselves, and as a result, the increasing egoistic desire unfolding in the integral system of souls will be receiving “electrical” impulses. The Light we draw will be reaching all others, and they will start thinking in a new way: They will want to have knowledge in addition to faith.

There is no need to erase religious faith completely. If we add knowledge to it, it will turn into cultural traditions, and that additional knowledge will be the knowledge of the Creator, His revelation to the created beings. In the end, philosophy will perish, religions will become national cultures and customs, whereas the wisdom of Kabbalah will reveal the upper, eternal reality to man.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What Are the Misfortunes that Come to the Wicked Which Start From the Righteous in Work”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “Yitro (Jethro), “And You Behold the Secret of the Eyes,” Item 88, Lesson 5
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 46, Lesson 27
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy,” Lesson 8
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