Question: If it is so important to know the exact meaning of Kabbalistic terms (so much so that we are supposed to write them down on the index cards and learn them by heart), why did you used to say that we study TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) not in order to understand it intellectually, but rather to draw the Surrounding Light that works as a “miraculous,” hidden force?

Answer: We study Kabbalistic terms not in order to grasp them intellectually, but to get closer to the authentic meaning of the text.

When I am reading about what is “higher” or “lower” in the spiritual world and compare it with what is considered “higher and lower” in the corporeal sense, it supplies me with an impression of how far I still am from the truth. It leads me to the recognition of my evil, of my mistake. And this feeling reforms my qualities, awakens my desire to change and to draw the upper force that will reform me.

After all, if with my external mind I understand that my definitions of what is described in the book are incorrect (for instance, “the Light,” “the Creator,” “the sun,” “a circle”), the bitterness caused by the gap between me and the truth grows. And this pain becomes a prayer. This kind of studying is not meant for the intellect.

We measure not by the mind, but by our properties. The correct learning of the definitions leads to the desire to be present in them, instead of understanding them in abstract terms!

This means that I myself desire to be transformed so that these terms would describe me, so that they would become my model and my language. I want to hear “higher-lower” and understand that it is higher or lower in terms of the importance with regards to bestowal, whereas the “right and left” refers to the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) or the Light of Hassadim (Mercy).
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: You said that in one’s internal analysis one gets an answer from within. How can I be sure that my egoism does not deceive me, and I receive the right answers instead of just imagining something?

Answer: If you are seeking how to move forward—by the books, the method, you receive the correct answer for a given moment. On the next step, you will receive a more correct answer.

Each successive step relative to the previous one is more correct, and the previous one seems to be erroneous. Thus, we advance. In this way, a child begins to understand that he played with toys, not something real.
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From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Whether we did the job right in “the King’s palace” and the degree to which we corrected our vessels (desires) will determine the “feast” that we will come to and the taste we will find in it: sweet or bitter. We enjoy our similarity to the Creator and delight in its taste, while in our uncorrected desires we experience bitterness.

However, it is not the treats that are bitter; it is our intention, the revelation of our evil, the sensation of the lack of intention to bestow due to which we are unable to reach the King. In other words, coming to the recognition of evil is an entire process.

In my work while I anticipate the royal feast, I need to achieve a state where the work itself will become the feast for me, the reward that makes me so happy that I don’t need anything else. If I am pleasing the King, I am willing to remain in the state regarded as “this world.” I don’t ask anything of Him except one thing: an opportunity to be grateful to Him. I don’t even need to feel that I am delighting Him since this sensation brings the greatest possible pleasure of all. Hence, I don’t wish to feel even that.

I desire to stay in the same place where I am at the moment, without adding to it any understanding, attainment, connection, or taste. If I need anything at all, it is to thank the Creator and nothing more. This is what constitutes my work and my entire reward.

It is all right if I don’t know to whom and if I bestow and what will happen next—nothing. I cut myself off from any egoistic comprehension, attainment, or sensation. Thereby, after all the corrections have been made, I begin to experience the true taste of the Torah.

I raise Shechina (Divinity) from the dust, albeit it is only in my eyes that it is so while Shechina herself does not change. It is written, “And you shall eat old store long kept.” I deceive myself that I seemingly live in this world. Nothing changes except for the value that I give it. If I gratefully accept from the Creator my current, worst possible state, there is no better state.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/2011, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The difficulty lies in the fact that we have to go through the recognition of evil, confusion, followed by disappointments and corrections. A person will always be tempted to justify himself and feel in the position to decide, as if he understands what to do.

He will find a thousand citations and build an entire theory to support himself. He will whine and act up. This is why it is so difficult for us to find the truth.

It is only if a person has an aspiration for the truth, rejects hypocrisy, and seeks the truth that he will realize with increasing clarity that he has been deceiving himself in each state. Hence, he will regret it and will reform himself.

In fact, it is very challenging to enjoy the work because of its bitter taste and pointlessness from the mind’s perspective. Most importantly, we can’t find any egoistic support for it and always treat it as something silly, like clowns. We are ready to pick anything but cleaving to the Creator, the pure property of bestowal that is beyond any concern for oneself.

The Torah is divided into two parts: “servitude to the creatures” and “servitude to the Creator.” This is another obstacle on our path since we get confused as to what is primary and what is secondary in it. Usually, a person makes a mistake and becomes a slave to the creatures, meaning that he doesn’t serve them in order to come to the servitude to the Creator thereby, but simply gains egoistic fulfillment from them.

These are really simple questions, but they are impossible to explain. A person has to feel on his own how many traps are awaiting us on the path. We may find a certain niche for ourselves, a safe haven, and freeze ourselves within it for the rest of this life.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/2011, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: On one hand, all our work lies in correcting the connection between a person and a fellow human being. On the other, the correction is done through The Book of Zohar. How can I tie it all together?

Answer: Correction results from the Light concealed in the texts written by Kabbalists. Yet it happens on the condition that we desire to perceive and comprehend the reality they describe so that all that is written in these texts would clothe in us and we would be in the same system of relationships between us.

It implies the connection between all souls to such an extent that we reach unity, become a unified system: Malchut of Infinity. If I strive to achieve unity as in “love your neighbor as yourself,” if I desire this, then The Book of Zohar starts talking about me.

As a result, I receive the force of correction from The Book of Zohar and gradually advance by reading it. In fact, the book itself contains nothing, but by reading it and wishing to be in this system, I draw the power of the force field that does reside in Malchut of Infinity—and thereby I reach this system.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/2011, The Zohar

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To be in a state of Lo Lishma (for oneself) means to know what Lishma (bestowal) is. We cannot make judgments about any quality if we have not attained its opposite. That is why we have to feel to some extent what Lo Lishma and Lishma are, in order to assess in which state, relative to these, we are.

All of the Lo Lishma steps begin with the moment a person imagines himself to be in the upper Light, in the absolute quality of bestowal, but he does not feel this quality because his own qualities are not yet corrected and they conceal the true perception from him, meaning that they conceal the Creator from him personally. Then, a person says that he is located in Lo Lishma, in egoism.

He can say which qualities in particular are concealing the Creator from him during each moment, at any given opportunity. He is like a child who is perceiving life on the level of a two-year-old or a ten-year-old.

In other words, we have to imagine what bestowal is. We may not perceive it yet in its true sense, but we already feel that we are located opposite to this quality, besides which there is nothing.

However, in our perception of reality, we see our own dark qualities, opposite to bestowal, that draw us such a picture, all kinds of forms against the white background of the quality of Bina, the property of bestowal. This picture, the level of concealment from us of the quality of bestowal, is called this world. On the other hand, this world “covers” (compensates for) my imperfections and conceals them from me, and I am able to exist behind this concealing screen.

The Creator simultaneously reveals and conceals Himself from us, and we need to take this example from Him and clarify both of His qualities: His revealing Himself to us and His concealing Himself. That is, there always exists some kind of revelation and concealment called the “screen,” “covering,” which conceals and at the same time adds and compensates.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/2011, Writings of Rabash

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

Egoism Is Embedded in the Nature of Every Person

The nature of each and every person is to exploit the lives of all other people in the world for his own benefit [without considering the profit of another at all]. And all that he gives to another [by using him or her] is only out of necessity; and even then there is exploitation of others in it, but it is done cunningly [by distributing prizes or rewards, privileges to disguise the exploitation], so that his friend will not notice it and concede willingly.
– Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”

Anything outside one’s own body is regarded as unreal and empty. And any movement that a person makes to love another is performed only…to receive a reward. Thus, such an act cannot be considered “love of another” because it is judged by its end. …But making any kind of movement only as a result of love for others, without…any hope for any kind of self-gratification in return, is completely impossible by nature.
– Baal HaSulam, Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah), Item 13
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Komsomolskaya Pravda (Komsomol Truth), a daily Russian newspaper, published an article on the World Kabbalah Convention that took place last week in Moscow. The article includes a clip with my interview to the special correspondent of the newspaper, a portion of a lesson, and photos from the convention.

An excerpt from the article: “On Friday, Kabbalah followers gathered at the convention titled “Unity—the Future of the World” that was held in Sokolniki, Moscow. Kabbalah followers from Russia as well as Canada, Germany, China, and other countries attended the event. The lectures were given by the founder of the International Kabbalah Study Center Dr. Michael Laitman who is originally from Russia, has lived in Israel for many years, and has thousands of supporters around the world.

Dr. Laitman thinks that humanity is immersed in depression and crises because it has separated from its nature, forgotten how to enjoy, and lost desires. His students are sure that they will find the key to understanding the world, become happy, and teach others.…

The first day of the Moscow Convention ended with the delegates singing “The Future is in the Unity of the World.” Holding each other’s shoulders, dozens of people swayed to the beat of the anthem with belief that namely they are called to bring the true Light into our dark world.”
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Question: Does the women’s desire contain the desire to acquire the intention to bestow?

Answer: This intention is absent from the desires of both men and women. How can it just appear inside us? All we want is to receive. How can we acquire the intention to bestow? The Light does this and not us.

I am an absolute egoist; I only think about myself and cannot leave this state. Neither the desires in my heart nor the thoughts in my mind can work differently. This is nature, this is how I was made. So what to do?

Only if we, together, wish correctly for the Light to descend upon us and correct us, will we acquire, apart from our egoism, an intention to work with it correctly. This will be the desire for the Light, for the will to bestow, to love.

Our egoism will stay. But working on it correctly, we increase and intensify the Light. This is the essence of our historical path.

From the world of Infinity, our first state, where we begin, we pass through our present, second state, and reach the world of Infinity, the third state, once again. This third state is said to be 620 times greater than the first state. 620 is just a name, in reality it is billions of billions of times greater. The key is that in the third state, we know where we are.

In the first state we were a drop of semen, and in the third state we become completely like the Creator, gaining his status. This is what we achieve thanks to this amplification, when our egoism stays, slowly developing in us as a huge ego, while we can use it to intensify the weak Light of Nefesh that filled us in the first state.

Nefesh is a very small Light, in which life barely exists. And in the third state we achieve a degree that’s called NRNHY, a huge Light that fills all the worlds.
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From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Question: What is closeness to the teacher and what is study “mouth to mouth”?

Answer: Closeness to the teacher does not mean that a person is physically close to him—this does not matter at all. A person is close to the teacher when he feels that the teacher can transfer everything he has to him and desires to do so, but to the extent that the person opens himself to it. This is because when it comes to contact and communication, the one who transfers and the one who receives have to connect.

So first of all, one should believe that the teacher constantly transfers and there are things that can be taken from him. This depends on the student. Second, the student needs to understand that he can receive whatever comes from the teacher only to the extent of his sensitivity to it.

Of course, in general everything depends on the student. Only on the student! Practically nothing depends on the teacher. On the other hand, the student must completely attune himself to receiving. What does it mean to receive? It means to connect. In other words, he needs to have thoughts, feelings, and directions somewhat like his teacher’s, even if it is only in one percent similarity. He must desire to perceive from him, he must be tuned to the same current. And then he will succeed.

The study consists of two levels:

1. “From mouth to ears,” which is verbal communication, when I speak with my mouth, and the student perceives with his ear.
2. “From mouth to mouth,” where the mouth refers to the common screen, which is in the mouth of the spiritual Partzuf.

So when we communicate in such a way that the student does not want or is not yet able to be on the same level as his teacher, then he listens. He can listen without a desire, without much effort; he can even be against his teacher and still hear him in a way.

This is not yet one screen, one aspiration, some kind of a mutual connection, when they are connected at least by one percent. When they are connected, the student will be able to receive information from mouth to mouth to the extent of this connection, that is, to the extent of this shared screen, shared aspiration. This is something to strive for. This is difficult work with one’s egoism, but it is possible, and then everything the teacher has flows into the student.

Question: Do you have the opportunity to choose who will be close to you?

Answer: Whoever will be close to the teacher does not depend on him. Whoever puts himself in the place of a student, will be a student. Sometimes the teacher really wants for certain people to be his students because these people have certain special attributes, and it might be easier to convey the ideas to humanity in a faster and more vivid way through them, but these people might be incapable of it, neglect the opportunity, and miss the chance.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson from Moscow 6/16/2011, Writings of Rabash

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