After the Tzimtzum (Restriction), when Malchut (the 4th phase, Behina Dalet) decides that it must reach similarity with the Creator, it starts checking itself to see which parts and levels it consists of. That’s how it divides itself into the worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot, until it fully realizes itself as a vessel that descends into this world.

Every time it gets to know itself more, it hides itself by the same amount. That’s how we get to this world, the lowest and the darkest of the worlds, meaning the most hidden from us. And from here, from this darkness, we start to reveal desires and the Light in order to ascend back.

Malchut has two desires: to become similar and adhere to the root, but at the same time to stay independent and self-reliant. And independence is only possible when there is resistance. That’s why this action is called “mating while striking” (Zivug de Haka’a).

The desire to reach the root means mating (Zivug). And the strike (Haka’a) results from the desire to preserve one’s independence, not to fill oneself with the Light for one’s own sake, but only in order to bestow. Then, it is considered to be bestowal rather than reception.

We need to identify ourselves with Malchut of Infinity as we are its parts. This means that we need to want to act just like it, to give pleasure to the Host just like He wants to bestow pleasure upon us. We should never forget about Malchut of Infinity because we are included in this point and exist in it permanently.

No matter where I am (alone, in the group, or during dissemination), I’m always in the point of Malchut of Infinity, which has decided to be a giver, like the guest in relation to the Host. That’s why no matter what we do, we have to adhere to this point. And all of our actions are in order to please Him, just like He pleases us.

But how do I know that He’s giving me pleasure? There, in this point, Malchut has revealed this. And as I aspire towards it, I will include myself in it and reveal this too.
[48596]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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

The Influence of the Environment on a Person

"Make for yourself a teacher and buy for yourself a friend" means that to reach the goal, one has to make a new environment for oneself: the Teacher and and the friends who will help him obtain the greatness of his Teacher. And then bestowal to the Teacher would turn into reception from him so much so that it would give rise to actions for the Creator’s sake. And since the greatness of the Teacher completely depends on the environment, a person alone cannot reach the goal: revelation of the Creator.
– Baal HaSulam, "A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar"

And since one does not have the basis for obtaining His greatness, he will obviously not be able to bestow, but only to receive for oneself since bringing contentment upon the Creator will not bring pleasure for him.
– Baal HaSulam, "A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar"
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Shamati #187 “Choosing Labor″
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter “Truma (Donation) 2,” Item 738, Lesson 31
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 1 “Table of Questions and Answers for Topics,” Item 97, Lesson 45
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 37, Lesson 24
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“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Item 24, Lesson 8
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When a person attains the revelation of the true nature and reveals an inner vision, he starts to see one more reality inside of him in addition to the one he felt before. He perceives this new reality more intensely than our current one, and feels that it determines what happens in our reality.

Therefore, he calls this new reality that he has revealed, “the upper world.” This is a world of forces that becomes revealed to him. These forces, which act inside of his desire, bring him all kinds of experiences and impressions, depicting different forms and pictures inside of him. But he does not know what to call these forces, how to describe them, and how to talk about them.

After all, if he experiences a new sensation that has no connection with his entire past, then it’s unclear what to call it. But then he reveals the connection between these new sensations and the pictures that they project on the lowest screen that depicts this world to us.

He discovers that every force he reveals, every sensation in the upper world has its own result on the picture we see here, in the lower world. It’s as if every object or action of this world has its own force standing behind it, which supports him, manipulates him, and drives him.

He is left with just one way to explain the upper world—by taking names from this lower world for this purpose. This language is called “the language of branches.” Now, a person who is in the sensation of the upper world can talk about what he feels! He has names for every force, every spiritual action, every spiritual essence according to the results of these forces, which they depict and create for us in this world.
[48983]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How do we build concealment in the period of preparation, and how do we conceal the Creator if we don’t even sense Him?

Answer: I’ll answer briefly: This entire work is done only with the friends, in the group. Friends are also concealed from us, and none of us knows the true degree of another. The group, in its true form, is also concealed from us, as is the teacher.

Our task is to build the concealment, that is, to finally begin to clarify that I perceive everything to the extent of my lack of correction. Therefore, I need to make corrections to my ego and picture everyone as the greatest of their generation, existing in a state that’s beyond me. I must attain a state where I have tremendous respect for concealment, wishing for it to turn into my attitude toward everyone else.

It is on this screen of concealment that I must build a new picture of the world, and this whole picture will be drawn or molded from the importance that I impart to each phenomenon. If I do this, then gradually, I’ll begin to work against my ego and learn to perceive the spiritual world, that is, to draw the picture of the spiritual world. After all, it doesn’t exist outside of me, but only within.
[48820]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, Shamati #174

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Question: If I try to direct the world toward the goal of creation, could you say that I give the guarantee for the people? Is there a unilateral guarantee?

Answer: Yes, you move people forward. They cannot show reciprocity in return yet. Nevertheless, this is progress, and it is very important.

We should understand that our mission is to advance the world, and our progress depends on its steps. Of course, this dependency is not direct, but moving the world forward requires serious effort. We don’t do this at the expense of our inner efforts; however, we will not be able to develop internally without making a contribution to the development of the world.

Everything is arranged in the form of an integral system. I, the group, the world, and the Creator have to be a single complex. This is why now we need to take care of everybody. As Baal HaSulam writes, the entire world is one family and nothing can be done. Focusing on a narrow range, remaining in one niche, we will not achieve the desired result.

On the other hand, in going out into the world, we have to be cautious because we can lose our principles and slide into a purely psychological approach of “Let’s be close to each other, let’s be friends.” No, it will not work. As in Russia or in Israeli Kibbutzim (communities), it will be a connection devoid of internal force.

A connection requires the force that unites us, the upper Light. You have to address the world with Baal HaSulam’s materials, not necessarily with the texts, but with these messages, with these principles. Gradually, little by little, you have to explain to people that this comes from the science of Kabbalah.

The path is long, but you should be clear on this by now. You have to be immersed in the method, saturated with it. If you do not constantly study Kabbalistic materials, if you do not absorb it, digging deeper and deeper, you will feed people only nice words, New Age or mysticism. You, yourself, won’t notice how you will slide down.

If a person does not dedicate a few hours a day to serious studies in a serious group, if he does not work on this in the morning and in the evening, he loses his path. Religions, beliefs, mystical traditions, and the like stem from this. Everything came from Kabbalah.

Moreover, our egoism, our world call for concessions, saying: “It does not cost you anything. Add a little here. Change a little there. You may miss something, but you will reach people.” No, you will not reach people. You will come to them without your strengths and without a spiritual force, already corrupted.

This is a very big problem. That is why when a teacher leaves, good, strong groups lose their way, lose strength and wither.
[48812]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: We are now in something like an interim period, idle time, between conventions. How can we strengthen the mutual guarantee to move forward?

Answer: You need constant work. What is the difference whether we hold a convention now or not? A person does not know when he gains the required measure of effort. He has to yearn every new day in his life in anticipation of the moment when he will able to perform bestowal to friends, and through them, to the entire world, and through it, to the Creator.

I have to analyze my inner states, what my thoughts and intentions are, to what extent during the day I try to reveal the goal, whether my heart is imbued with this aspiration, whether it wakes up, whether I can commit myself to this, and whether I can hold this thought against the background of all other actions, whatever I do. From this, I can see how much I have moved forward.

We have only one possibility to reach the spiritual world: by constantly working on our desires and increasingly bringing them closer to the feeling and our understanding of bestowal. Changes should happen within us, in our desires. Therefore, every moment that is dedicated to this advances us along the path.

Then, everything depends on the person. In his opinion, what kind of movement forward should it be: individual or worldwide? If he wants to reach the goal of creation, this movement is possible only on a global scale. Everything below this benchmark does not work nowadays.

In the past, the group or the teacher was enough, but today, we are tied into the whole world. The one whose actions, day after day, move our world group and the entire world toward correction at least in some way can see that this stimulates him and his own progress. In essence, individual progress is an investment into others.

Besides, you should try every day to add some quality to what you give to others in your correspondence, blogs, and internet projects. We can bestow to friends only when we merge with them, when we understand them, rather than try to foist onto them something that we like. In addressing people, we should hand out, disseminate, that which is as close to them as possible. We should “clothe” in them.

Love is when I take the other person’s desire and fill it according to what he or she wants. Otherwise, we will not be able to approach anybody.
[48817]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The group operates the same way as any other person by using the “miraculous force” of the Light (Segula). To do this, it needs to listen to the directions of the mentor and carry them out within itself. However, the main thing is unity and connection, the “circle” the group members create between themselves. There, they are all equal. No one is big or small, neither in relation to any particular quality nor in terms of one’s advantage over the other.

The small and the big, the beginner and the veteran, are equal. The group must be completely even and homogeneous. It must strive toward unity and mutual guarantee.

When they overcome all the problems and difficulties and desire to build themselves in such a form so as to really feel the quality of bestowal that is being restored between them, this connection is called Shechina (Divinity), the common desire that arises from foreign, separated parts that wish to connect. They attract the Light that Reforms to the extent of their desire and need to connect.

Then, the Light of AB-SAG comes to them and clarifies and corrects their desires. Thus, they advance until they see that they are basically beginning to build a spiritual vessel within the group. Malchut of the world of Atzilut is between them in this common desire that they are building through mutual bestowal to one another. This vessel becomes filled with the quality of bestowal and its fulfillment, referred to as the upper Light or the Creator, that dwells between them.

This work is personal for every individual as well as common for the entire group. It also applies to the entire humanity that is now entering this state against its will. Humanity simply lacks the initial spark that awakens in the heart and attracts one to itself: A person is simply pushed forward by suffering.

We need to become this enticing spark for them. Moreover, public opinion will figure out very quickly the main principles of this path and will make progress. Our objective is to provide humanity with the method of correction before they are ready to take a step forward. So far, the problem has been that they are advancing faster than we are providing them with this method.

We think that we are advancing while everyone else remains somewhere far behind, but this is not true. They actually are advancing very fast, and they are ready to accept the method of correction from us. We are late to address them. This is a big problem, and we really need to hurry.
[48445]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/2011, Shamati #122

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

The Influence of the Environment on a Person

A person has qualities that his parents bequeathed to him, and he has qualities that he acquired from the society through the envy that he feels toward the friends when he sees that they have better qualities than his own. Through the society, he gains new powers that he adopts by seeing that they are at a higher degree than his, and he is envious of them.
– Rabash, Rabash—the Social Writings, “Concerning Above Reason”

If one does not have any desire for spirituality, if he is among people who have a desire for spirituality, if he likes these people, he, too, will be imbued with their aspirations.
– Baal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard), Article No. 99, “He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous”

One cannot raise oneself above one’s circle. However, if one chooses for oneself a good environment, one saves time and efforts, since one is drawn according to one’s environment.
– Baal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard), Article No. 225, “Raising Oneself”
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Today a completely new paradigm, a new worldview, and a new approach is arising before us that has never existed before. In the past we changed the world, but now the world is invariant and we have to change ourselves.

These inner changes in a person can come only by his choice, by his desire, by a conscious decision that he makes with every step. And Kabbalah is essentially the method, the action plan on this path.

By definition, the science of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to creation. By changing, a person reaches similarity with nature. And being similar to nature means being similar to the Creator. A person (Adam) is one who is similar (Domeh) to the upper one. This is what we must constantly discover in the process that is sweeping the world forward.

By having a Kabbalistic method and being its representatives in our world, we have to help all of humanity by disclosing this method in all sorts of ways. Obviously, it has to be done with the understanding that people resist changes, don’t want them, and look down on them. That’s true, but nevertheless, this is how everything should be. And on our part, we have to improve the presentation in order to bring the method to the people in a comfortable and pleasant form.

Otherwise, the world will of course suffer more and more from one day to the next, becoming immersed in confusion, helplessness, and bewilderment. People can become so confused that matters will escalate to a war. After all, when you are confused and disoriented under a hail of blows, your nerves can give way.

And then you will be willing to do anything just to stop the chaos. Even war will seem like salvation because it seems to put everything in their place. Just like a person can go into a rage, so can humanity, and in our days, we understand that this means a world war.

It’s up to us: How quickly will we assimilate the science of Kabbalah and place it on the runway in a clear, correct presentation for the whole world? All of us together have to become an enlightening, educational organization that helps and explains to people how to change in order to establish the right interconnection and thereby reach equivalence with nature or with the Creator, which is the same thing.

If we don’t attain balance and harmony with nature, then besides social failures, we will feel its devastating blows, which will finish us off. After all, even in human society today, we are incapable of anything until we change ourselves. Egoism is evoking an enormous amount of social problems, but we cannot stop.

The consumer society is depleting the earth, 200 years of the industrial era have exhausted all of its resources and soon they will dry up completely. Drinking water, oil, and other resources are all nearing their end. Eventually we won’t even be able to lead a normal life, not to mention the excesses. And still, we are incapable of holding ourselves back, of limiting production and pollution.

And we won’t be able to do that until we change man’s nature. No artificial solutions will help us. We still put our hopes on the old methods, but nature no longer accepts “payment by credit” from us. It will accept only one thing from us: harmony with it, homeostasis with this global system.

The need to change man is forcing us, Kabbalists, to come out of the previous boundaries and start making actions on the scale of the whole world. And we don’t have any other choice. As Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Science of Kabbalah and its Essence”: As a whole, Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator. Where? In a person. According to what? His equivalence of form. A person acquires similarity to the Creator, the all-enveloping, global nature, becoming a single whole with it.
[48926]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and its Essence”

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