Letters in spirituality are a system of correction, a template that has to gradually clothe us, lending us its shape. Like in typography, they print their outlines onto us, in the right order and correct combination of all the necessary elements.

At the end we will assume the same shape as the upper Light in Infinity. The spiritual imprint of the letters lies on the matter of our desire, until it becomes similar to the Light.

The system of correction formed as a result of the breaking in the worlds, and that’s why it contains all types of combinations of Bina and Malchut, which we have to adopt. This system was deliberately built in order to adapt to the correction of souls.

And then the soul Adam HaRishon broke so that the letters, meaning our corrected forms, would become equivalent to our uncorrected matter. Now the Light can come through the letters and clothe in various forms that we are able to take.

This mechanism is the universal basis for all corrections in all the worlds, including ours. If we want to act properly, if we delve into the depth, seeking to find the right way, we will eventually come to this exact system which somewhat resembles the higher system of correction. This is the way we’re built, and we don’t have the opportunity to conceive something other than this.

This is a good indication of whether we are acting in the right direction, whether we understand the true flaw and the means of its correction. Even during the very first steps we can check ourselves against this system.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/2010, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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

Only the Light in the Torah Reforms the Person

How one can achieve complete equivalence of form, so all one’s actions are to give to others, while man’s very essence is only to receive for oneself? By nature, we are unable to do even the smallest thing to benefit others. Instead, when we give to others, we are compelled to expect that in the end, we will receive a worthwhile reward. If one as much as doubts the reward, one will refrain from acting [since the reward compels him to perform an act to benefit oneself]. Thus, how can one’s every action be only to bestow upon others and not at all for oneself?

Indeed, I admit that this is a very difficult thing. One cannot change the nature of one’s own creation, which is only to receive for oneself, much less invert one’s nature from one extreme to the other, meaning to not receive anything for oneself, but rather act only to bestow.

Yet, this is why the Creator gave us Torah [as the method of correction so that with its help we could learn] … to bestow contentment upon the Creator. Had it not been for the engagement in Torah [for His sake]… and not to benefit ourselves, there would have been no tactic in the world that could help us invert our nature.
– Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
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Even to study Einstein’s theory or quantum physics, we need a new approach with another kind of math and other phenomena. The principle applies all the more so to the spiritual world, where we need additional sensory organs and our standard five senses and our mind, which operates by the same scheme, are insufficient.

Our animate sensations are limited, but which way are we to expand them? We must develop the point in the heart into a new dimension. Then, next to the familiar human being of this world, a new creature will emerge.

We already have its root within us. Now we only need to draw the upper Light, a special energy which will cultivate this seed, this spiritual gene, into an additional human being whom we will call man. Kabbalists also call this a soul.

When we identify ourselves with it, from its qualities, continuously changing as a result of our work, we will begin to attain the world pertaining to this new creature, deliberately developed by us in order to investigate the upper one with its help. It will be called our soul existing in the spiritual world.

And this additional human being can continue developing gradually until it spans the entire universe. It possesses unlimited sensory organs, desires, and opportunities!

We are born animals, and the expansion of our sensory spectrum is limited to telescopes, eyeglasses, and the like because our mind does not change but works precisely according to its nature. That is why we still pertain to the animate level, whereas “man” is the spiritual entity that we will build beside ourselves. In it, our entire perception may change.

It will change so greatly that from state to state, from one spiritual degree to another, we won’t even recognize ourselves or our world which will suddenly be revealed to us! Each time we will suddenly become somebody else, not the same as even a moment ago, unable to recognize the world around us, for everything will be brand new!

Indeed, as opposed to this world, all my senses—the mind and the heart—will be changing. They won’t simply grow; rather, they will completely replace the system of coordinates, the entire perception, to the extent that whoever is at a lower degree cannot possibly understand the upper one.

Just as here we work with our senses so as to reveal nature, the same principle applies in spirituality, and it is also called a “natural science,” except here nature is lower, corporeal, whereas there it is higher, spiritual. But the scientific method remains the same.

Obviously, the scientists of this world won’t accept this because they work only in their five corporeal senses, and so they will not consider it a science. Naturally, if someone is limited by some tiny sphere of perception, only willing to accept that and nothing else, there’s no use in arguing.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/2010, “Body and Soul”

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Question: If I only see my desires, how can it be that I notice desires that I don’t want to detect whatsoever?

Answer: If we only saw the desires we want to see, we wouldn’t be able to reveal the truth. I develop only because our reality divides into good and evil, truth and falsehood, me and others, me and the group, enemies and friends. In essence, this division into opposite qualities stems from the Light and desire.

The Light is the quality of bestowal, the Creator, good that does good, and His complete oppositeness is the point of desire to receive for oneself, for one’s own pleasure. As these two opposite qualities, which are the only elements existing in nature, interact and exert influence over one another, the desire accumulates different impressions.

These impressions are called “worlds,” and all that exists in the spiritual forces and in our corporeal world originates from this tiny point created by the Light. This point received an impression from its oppositeness to the Light, and it is this point that we must return to its opposite state called a “drop of unity.”
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From the Introductory Lecture Series 11/23/2010, Perception of Reality

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We need to stay focused on one thought: unity between us. We are learning everything from nature since there is nothing artificial in Kabbalah. Kabbalists are research physicists of the upper world. They revealed its laws and tell us what’s happening to us.

They reveal that in the spiritual world we are all connected, only not through physical bodies but through inner connections. In this material world each one of us has a spark of this connection, a small desire for spirituality.

Each person’s desire for spirituality is placed within his ego, and for this reason it’s called “the point in the heart.” This point is surrounded by the dark egoistic heart, and hence I don’t feel that my spark wants to connect to any other sparks.

If we could see into the spiritual world, the spiritual degrees, we would discover that all of our sparks are connected together and become one general Kli or desire. On an even higher spiritual degree, these sparks are even more connected, and instead of the Light of Nefesh, the soul is filled with the Light of Ruach. On an even higher degree, they are connected even more, and therefore attain the Light of Neshama, and so on.

There is nothing but the connection of these sparks that already exist in us! This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah addresses them in particular. Our thoughts should be focused only on how to connect our desires for spirituality. If we succeed even to a small extent, we will reach the revelation of the Creator to His creatures.

You must understand that those escaping from Egypt were no better than us. This is an escape from egoism, from Pharaoh, in the darkness and uncertainty, together with women, children, the elderly, and the slaves. This is our state exactly, and there is no such person who isn’t right for this. This is possible achieve.

Everything depends only on our efforts. After all, the only free action we can make is to get inspired by the environment.

I’m responsible for my environment. Only I can awaken it, not the Creator. If we develop a desire to connect to everyone and receive the influence of the environment, it would do the job! “We shall do and we shall hear”!
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From Lesson 1, World Kabbalah Convention 11/09/10

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Question: If in the spiritual world the entire reality is within me, it means that I’m the only thing that exists. This is scary to me since no one wants to be alone in the world.

Answer: Don’t worry, we’re inside of you! In the spiritual world I discover that the entire creation is inside of me, but this doesn’t prevent others from feeling the same because every single person consists of everyone.

This is why I am called Adam (man), similar (Domeh) to the Creator, and that’s how you and all our friends feel. If you start receiving the forces of connection as your own, you start perceiving your friends as integral parts of you. This is much bigger than your present state because it is specifically now that you’re alone: You are surrounded by egoists who are absolutely indifferent to you.

And with our spiritual advancement and mutual inclusion into each other, everyone feels that the whole world filled by the Creator is with them. The Creator has to fill the gaps between us so that we become as one whole in our thoughts, desires, and intentions. Then you’re not alone!
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From the lesson on Weekly Torah Portion 11/12/2010

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The screen (Masach) cannot be owned individually. On what will my personal screen be built, on the impressions of the corporeal world? The key is a desire (or lack thereof) to unite with those similar to me.

The screen is built on unity; it covers the breaking between me and the others. The connecting screen forms over this abyss of rejection and hate.

When we discover the breaking, we must “patch” it. How do we do that? The Light descends and corrects the gap which is this hate between us. All spiritual egoism (at the degree of Adam, man) that resulted from the breaking of the collective soul exists solely between us. As to my individual egoism, it is egoism at the animate degree.

The screen is laid over our broken state: The hate remains beneath it, and the intention rules above it. At first, it is bestowal for the sake of bestowal, or our unwillingness to exercise hate based on the directive, “That which you hate, do not do to your friend.” Then, we construct the second screen, or love for others as for the self. All of this takes place between us.
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From the Talk on 7/24/2011

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We must achieve the state where we feel that we are standing between Egypt and freedom and realize that if we unite, then together we will ascend over our present nature and will be able to escape from any current state of existence. But as long as a person is unaware of his evil and desires to stay in “Egypt,” it is pointless to talk with him. It is necessary to experience the exile in all its turmoil, with all the problems and pains, in order to finally be able to make a decision to exit it.

Our point in the heart, “Moshe (Moses),” pulls (Moshech) us from our present condition onward. Then, it enables us to be willing to accept the “guarantee” (Arvut) but not before.

In this state, within one person, multiple desires are getting along together. Obviously, all his “Egyptians” and the “Pharaoh” are still in him, but “Moshe,” the Creator, and the “nation of Israel” are already revealed in him as well. These are all qualities of man: old, egoistic, and new, altruistic.

A person experiences doubts: Is he coming out of egoism, “Egypt”? And even long after he has exited it, he remains in doubt: Did I make the right decision, or should I go back? And so it remains until he corrects all of his egoism.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/2010, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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