Question: Do we have to think about others even if we understand that deep down it’s a lie? Do we have to lie to ourselves while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: We lie about everything because we do not have a true connection with one another, but only “play” as if we do. I do not desire to connect with others, but I play at being a “good boy”: I read The Zohar, wishing to change under the influence of this reading, to understand the way in which I am uncorrected, and why I can’t attain the perfect state. I search! In short, while reading The Zohar, I wait for changes for the better. This is called “awaiting redemption.”

Question: I force myself to come back to the intention even though it truly is a war. Does this help our work in the group?

Answer: Precisely the inner war gives us a good result! Without this war a person does not advance because his desires are not renewed. Only on the condition that he wages a war with himself do new Reshimot awaken in him and he constantly feels opposition. That is how things should be!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/11, The Zohar

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We live in a unified reality that is called Elokim (God), the Upper One, bestowal. It is upper in the sense that is exceeds our force. This is a more powerful and more dominant force, which formed the reality in which we constitute one whole.

Imagine a huge drop of water in free fall. Because there is no force of gravity or mutual attraction of molecules, an entire bucket of water can be one drop there. That is how we are interconnected in a common “drop” without any of the differences that we imagine here.

This drop, one desire and one Light, begins to compulsively be permeated from above by the force of disunity. The Light exerts pressure on the desire and makes an imprint in it, its opposite. Then the common single desire suddenly feels that it crumbles, falls apart, and divides into many different parts.

This breaking is actualized by the force of the Light, which disperses the initial drop into billions of separate splashes. They separate from one another and a reverse imprint of the Creator emerges in them—Pharaoh, egoism, the evil inclination, impurity—instead of the force of unity called “holiness” that reigned between them.

Now our attitude to one another is opposite to our higher state, the Creator. The correction lies in understanding that we are disunited deliberately so we would desire to unite and reveal the initial state in which the quality of the Creator—bestowal, love, and unity—reigns among us.

Our work lies only in discerning the appropriate desire or necessity. By desiring to return, I come back to perfection, one level after another. That is why we are all dispersed and separated by hatred, meaning the opposite side of the Creator, darkness, the reverse side of the Light. From this darkness we have to reveal the desire that aspires to Light.

The way to reveal it is by means of various kinds of impulses that awaken me, coming to me from within and from outside. I need these “irritants.” However, afterward I have to put in my own efforts both in feeling and reason. As a result I discern that the state of unity that was created for us by the Creator as the only existing state is the best state.

Our current state, the reality on the opposite side which divides us, is undesirable because its force disconnects us from one another. And it disconnects us in a special way, cunningly and shrewdly, evoking all sorts of collisions between us, problems, and negative impulses in order to awaken us to search for goodness.

We begin with the material level and then shift to the spiritual search. In the end, we prefer one over the other. It’s as if the Creator tells us: “Take My opposite side. Stay separated and disunited, that doesn’t matter. Most importantly, enjoy it.” But we have to work on preferring His front side, His revelation over our own fulfillment. Our task is to make a special analysis in order to return to the state where we are together in His quality that reigns in us—the quality of unity.

In order to awaken us to ascend from the sensation of the current reality of this world, we are sent various negative impulses such as tsunamis, revolutions, wars, fires, the economic crisis, and so on. All of this is intended for us to feel uncomfortable on our material level, in our current desires (Kelim), and to feel how shaky our existence is.

This will push us to search for other states, and then besides feelings, we will also activate the mind, “What do we have? How can we get to a better state?” We will make the analysis: “What has already been tried? What should we try?” Maybe we will stop lying to one another and maybe we really will start searching for a solution without allowing various parties to get credit at our expense and immerse us into graver crises.

That is how all together we will discern the current situation and look for a better state.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/11

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Every person has to study Kabbalah according to their ability

We have to sit at the study table again [after the collapse of this project in Russia] in order to re-examine the socialistic idea [“from each according to his ability, to each according to his need”] in the light of facts and contradictions that manifest in our times.

And we shouldn’t be afraid of making a conceptual breakthrough since preserving life is above everything. [We shouldn’t be afraid to disclose that the source of correction of man and society is the upper Light. Facing the threat of destruction and having undergone a certain process of development, people will be able to apprehend this.]
– Baal HaSulam, Newspaper "The Nation"
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Today, in light of the earthquake that has befallen Japan, we see how nature threatens our existence. After all, we are, in fact, living on top of a giant volcano that is boiling deep underground, while we exist on the thin layer of the earth’s crust.

From the depths of the earth we mine oil, water, and minerals, and we use plants and animals which exist on its surface for food, and breathe the atmospheric air. We are entirely dependent on the processes happening in the earth’s crust.

Besides, we are influenced by many other factors: magnetic fields, the force of attraction, all sorts of radiation, the speed of the Earth’s rotation, and so on. But we don’t even imagine that the smallest change in any of these parameters can fundamentally change our lives!

All of the natural cataclysms are caused by the imbalance of forces, which is happening as a result of our incorrect actions. The entire universe is a single system which includes the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature as well as man. The greater part of the universe belongs to the still level of nature: This is the entire universe, including the Earth. Plants cover only its surface, and the animate kingdom comprises even a smaller part of it, and compared to all that, just a tiny fraction belongs to man.

However, in the spiritual dimension what is taken into account is not quantity or mass, but the quality of forces. Therefore, man, who is on a higher qualitative level of development, can change the entire universe with just one thought. Baal HaSulam writes that all of the still nature is equal to one plant, all plants to one animal, and all animals to one person.

In other words, if a person makes any tiny change for the good or for the bad, this changes the entire animal kingdom. The vegetative world undergoes even greater changes as a result, not to mention what happens with the still nature. That is because all of it is a single system!

Therefore, we have to change ourselves and attain balance among one another. Only then will all of these forces of nature that are below the human level—the entire animate and vegetative world, and all of the still nature—will also reach balance.

Question: How can we convince everyone that the world is controlled by our thoughts?

Answer: It is impossible to achieve this through words. We have to bring the world to the inner sensation that thought is the most powerful force in the entire universe. But we have to prove the same thing to ourselves! If I realized that my thoughts influence the whole world, would I allow them to “go with the flow” free and uncontrolled? No, at every moment in time I would check what I am thinking about, where am I directing my thoughts, and what I am influencing. I would constantly control myself!

We just can’t explain this to ourselves or to the world. We cannot measure the power of thoughts, and especially the degree of their influence on specific events. We will never be able to give the world proof of this connection’s presence. So how will we bring the world to balance?

There is just one solution: We, those who understand this and study Kabbalah, have to attract the Upper Light through ourselves so it will give people the awareness “from within” of the fact that everything in nature is interconnected and precisely our desires (hearts) and thoughts (minds) determine the state of the world.

Precisely the Surrounding Light, which intangibly influences everyone, will evoke the inner understanding in people that their thoughts and intentions influence the state of the system of nature, where the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature as well as man with his intention, are united into one.
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From the lesson on Shamati on 3/11/11

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Question: While reading The Zohar, I feel fulfillment that later on is gone. I try to find the force that is working on me, and the sensation returns, only to leave again. Is this how it should work?

Answer: Yes, exactly so! Every time when a person continues, forgets, escapes in his thoughts, and returns, it all begins anew. It’s very good! Nothing disappears, but “penny to penny, it turns into a great sum” and then revelation occurs.

Question: What indicates that my intentions are working correctly?

Answer: It is the extent in which I start feeling more that I depend on the group and together with the friends achieve correction.

Question: What should I do if I don’t understand what’s written in The Zohar and am constantly bombarded by numberless irrelevant thoughts?

Answer: First of all, a lack of understanding is not an issue. You shouldn’t worry about it. A person must feel rather than understand.

When the time comes and one’s desires are reformed to the level of what is described in The Zohar, he will understand, but from sensation. First, he will feel, and later understand more and more. Thus a baby experiences the world without a clue about what is going on, while gradually obtaining a mind.

Hence, a person should be concerned with how to develop desire to the degree described in The Zohar. And what we read about are the forms of bestowal between spiritual Partzufim: Malchut, Bina, Zeir Anpin, Aba ve Ima, and Yeshsut. Let a person make sure that his desire is being worked on by the forces that we receive while reading about the unknown to us spiritual processes.

Therefore, during the studies, I should think about how I must change and where the force that reforms me is. It is as though I am receiving an intravenous infusion and waiting for when the medicine will finally start to work, as it is said: “When my actions reach the acts of the Creator.”

Question: How can I anticipate correction by The Zohar if I don’t feel “ill”?

Answer: This is also necessary on the path. But what do you mean that you “don’t feel ill”? Do you really find yourself in the movie of the spiritual world that The Zohar talks about?

You should feel that these actions wash through you, that you live in that world, know the difference between the spiritual objects (Partzufim) and their descents and ascents. Do you find yourself in these ascents and descents, in all types of transformations? Do you experience them or not? If not, you have something to think about.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/2011, The Book of Zohar

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Starting with the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet) and on, spiritual objects (Partzufim) are born not as they were in the world of Adam Kadmon, one beneath the other. Since each of them now contains a lower part that cannot be utilized, the AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh), this part descends to the lower spiritual degree.

In other words, the Partzuf works with its Galgalta ve Eynaim (the upper part), while its AHP falls into the GE of the lower Partzuf. Consequently, the AHP of the latter falls into the GE of an even lower Partzuf, and so on.

It follows that the upper part of each Partzuf gets clothed into the lower part of the upper Partzuf above, whereas its lower part descends into the upper part of the lower Partzuf. So, where is the Partzuf itself independent from the upper or lower ones? It doesn’t have anything of its own!

That is how the souls get linked like cogwheels; it’s the very same principle. You are not free from any connection with anyone. You are initially created inside such a construction, such inner structure of Malchut of the integral soul, where there is no part that would not be connected with all the others.

Any desire at all levels of Aviut (coarseness) is linked with the rest; everyone is connected with everybody else, and no one has any free part, not even one degree of freedom. The upper one always tells me what to do, while the lower one determines how I am supposed to serve it. Hence, each of us is bound as if tied with a rope on both sides, and it is impossible to make a single independent move.

Then how can we break free and have freedom of choice?! If instead of all these chained cuffs, you start experiencing the chains of love, the ropes of reciprocal participation, you will get healed from this “claustrophobia,” the feeling that you are tightly tied up and buried alive in a system where you have no independent thought or desire, no individual “Self.”

As to the freedom, it can be bought only with love: For the sake of love, I myself will desire to serve them all and welcome this connection. This bond will be desirable for me! And this is how I will obtain freedom, the clean air, and the whole system will be mine: I will be the Creator in relation to it.

This miraculous property enters us after Tzimtzum Bet, when Malchut receives the spark of Bina, thanks to which it gains an opportunity to relate to the others with bestowal.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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We exist in a system of laws at work. There is the upper force that influences us and desires to bestow good. Hence, it created the will to enjoy, which it can fill with pleasure.

The created being receives pleasure particularly by becoming identical to the upper force: perfect and eternal. To achieve this, one must attain the same sensations, level, depth, power, and status as pertains to this upper force.

The primary force is regarded as the Creator, whereas the secondary one is the created being. This secondary force must undergo transformations while accumulating various impressions until it ascends all 125 spiritual degrees. It has to experience them on its own, through an independent quest, understanding, awareness, perception, and effort to attain all of it while aspiring to reach a state prepared for it by the upper force.

Hence, the creature’s evolution implies an element of personal participation, one’s own feelings and thoughts, an awareness of my own existence and attainment. But the creature doesn’t have the opportunity to do anything on its own except for one thing: desire to change. In fact, the force of transformations, their program and order come solely from the original giving force, the Creator.

One’s success in the work is determined by learning to divide one’s entire advancement into two parts: the work assigned to the creature and the work carried out by the upper one. They are partners, but their integral work is distributed according to what pertains to man and what to the Creator.

The key is not to try to do the Creator’s job, attempting to reform oneself and the world. A person’s job is to desire change. And these changes must occur above my nature, which is regarded as “above my reason.” This means that the direction of my transformation, as well as the properties and internal sensations that are being formed in me are totally incomprehensible to me since I receive a new nature.

Having no idea where one is or what he is moving toward is a sure sign of a new nature appearing in a person. After all, if man knew and felt everything in advance, all of the changes would occur in agreement with his egoism, his nature.

When a person grows within his own nature, he is somewhat aware of what is expected and makes choices to benefit his present egoism. But in spirituality, when we wish to obtain a different nature and become equal to the Creator, we always move towards something unknown and unpredictable. We only draw the developing forces upon ourselves.

However, essentially, there is only one force which is divided into several components according to its use: our individual, initial desire, “the point in the heart,” the power of the group, the force of the study, and finally the force that actually acts upon and reforms us called the Surrounding Light.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/2011, The Importance of the Study

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Question: To what extent do our thoughts, intentions, and ability to focus during the lesson depend on everyone who studies with us around the world? Is there such a global interconnection?

Answer: What does interdependence entail? If I view the entire reality as parts of my soul, then I am totally independent. These parts of mine awaken solely to the extent of my attitude toward them, my desire to awaken them.

I don’t focus on their external behavior, but rather awaken them from within, and at the same very level of inner connection, with that they awaken me in response. Everything is determined by my outlook on the world: Either I view it as a material reality with lots of corporeal bodies, or as the earthly desires of men, or as the body of my soul, its Partzuf (structure).

In the latter case, I see not the external images which seemingly exist in the corporeal world, but rather the parts of my soul, which I must transform. “I” is the focal point of my thought, intention. “I” is the intention which I must add to these desires and properties to aim them correctly.

What does it mean that I depend on and get awakened by the others? As I awaken them, I awaken myself in response. This awakening seemingly passes through the external system, while the system is mine nonetheless.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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It is said that “all the gates are locked” for man’s prayer “except for the gate of tears.” But what should we pray and ask for, what decision, if we receive two forces and discern their opposition? The upper one provides the force of the Surrounding Light, egoism awakens against it, and we stand between the two forces: the right and the left.

But the property that we need to attain pertains to the Thought of Creation to delight the creature. It is above all outcomes, actions, and forces. This mind, the head of the upper one, is precisely what the lower one, the creature, strives to attain!

It does not have the slightest chance to achieve this alone through its own effort, since there is a difference between the upper thought, the decisions, and their outcomes and actions. And we, ourselves, are the Creator’s acts.

Hence, when man exhausts all of his resources, having done everything he could, he discovers a special property that he has no connection with. It is a decision, a plan, to create the creature, an entire program conceived long before its creation. Man gets to know who the Creator is Himself, who conceived all this, and why He conceived it as it is: the root of the root of the very point from which the creature was born.

This desire is hidden in the tiniest action, and it leads us on from the very start! But we arrive at it only after a very lengthy search, after many actions. And when we reach it, we discover what is said: “All the gates are locked except the gate of tears.”

It is regarded as the “gate of tears” because all the “hair” strands of the Light (Partzufim Searot, the “hair”) that stretch to us from Above downward, from the upper one who is “storming” (Soer) and suffering while anticipating our arrival, are revealed only now as do the “drops of fortune” (in Hebrew, “Mazal,” from “Nosel” “to trickle”), the droplets of Light that trickle down to us. And one can attain their cause, why and how such effects descend to us, solely by getting to know Rosh de Atzilut (the head of the world of Atzilut).

And this can be reached only through the gate of tears or a state when a person gets to know the difference between the “body” (Guf) of the Partzuf and its “head” (Rosh). He cannot attain and comprehend the head of the upper one itself, its mind, but thanks to this prayer, he attains it.

In fact, by studying all of the Creator’s actions, we receive some idea about His mind. As when we look at a table, we can guess what the maker had in mind, so do we, while studying ourselves and revealing within the Creator’s actions, constantly accumulate this burning desire to understand Him and gradually arrive at the gate of tears.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/11 on Prayer

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