The difference between spirituality and corporeality is that in spirituality the intention is first and foremost and the action is only meant to implement the intention. Without an intention there is no action. Even an intention by itself is an action.

So every word we read in The Book of Zohar should be with an intention throughout the text. We should only think about the intention and be in it, while the text “flows” downwards, as if we are swimming in a river and need to constantly control and manage ourselves: How and in what direction are we swimming?

Without an intention we immediately lose the action. So, the intention should be above and the action below both in the way we see it and in priority.

We must constantly think about the intention: What do I want from it, how do I aim the forces that are evoked while reading The Zohar together with the friends, and what do I want as a result of their influence?

If we don’t focus their influence on us, there is no result.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/11, The Zohar

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Baal Hasulam, “The Freedom”: “All their wisdom did not help them find a bridge on which to cross that wide and deep crevice that spreads between the spiritual entity and the corporeal atom. Thus, science has gained nothing from all these metaphysical methods.”

A person inherits his attributes from his parents. These attributes cannot be changed, but society influences them and gives them different forms. Eventually a person doesn’t express himself but rather expresses the external society.

The attributes can differ but what matters is the form they are given: a person can be a great gangster or a great scientist, can slaughter animals or slaughter people. The distance between a policeman and a thief is very small, and they both understand each other.

So society does whatever it wants with a person. Although there is the preliminary kernel in a person, the influencing factors do whatever they want with him. This is the way things are on the corporeal level, and so we don’t decide anything here.

However, on the spiritual level we have to discover the root of a person’s soul, the point in the heart, and to place it in an environment that will provide it with the reforming Light. We have to build a spiritual environment that will provide a person with this spiritual Light that will influence the point in his heart and open it.

A person, on his part has to lower himself in front of the right environment and to neutralize his ego in order to remove the egotistic covers from the point in the heart. He has to bring his point out and to connect it with the other points, so that it will really look like yearning for bestowal. Although their intention is still egoistic, they are attracted to mutual bestowal, to the force that resembles, at least to some extent, the reforming Light. This is the only way to draw it. This Light influences the egoistic forces in us that are trying to keep in contact, despite the hatred we feel.

So there is the preliminary point in the heart, the root of a person’s soul, and there is the reforming Light, the force that develops the root of the soul. All the egoistic conditions in a person and in the environment, meaning the group, were meant to develop the force of bestowal, the intention to reach bestowal as much as possible. It is for this reason that we see ourselves dressed in an egoistic shell, and we also see the group as repulsive. This allows us to bring out our point and to place it against the reforming Light. Otherwise, we would simply not be able to do it.

So the shell is called “helpmate.” It enables me to place my point under the Light.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/11, Baal HaSulam “The Freedom”

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We already understand that free will isn’t a simple term. We are born with attributes we didn’t choose, to a family and conditions we didn’t choose, we get an education we didn’t choose…in short, we are raised and molded having no free will.

As a result, a person in this world is “cooked” by his parents, the environment, and society…so he has no freedom and we cannot demand anything from him; after all, he is a machine. It seems to him that he has his own thoughts, his own desires, his own deeds, but actually they are inevitable and he is compelled to act that way.

So, what is the point of creation? We are talking about a thought of nature, about the desire, the intention, the great wisdom. In fact, the Creator, or the Upper Force, by definition, has great wisdom, much more than all of the creation that is below Him.

When we study the world, we discover inconceivable wisdom in it. We only manage to “scratch” the surface and all our science is based on that. In fact, we haven’t started to discover the real forces, the real relationships, the real forms and connection that exist in this reality.

So why did the Creator create the world?—So that the created beings will follow a predetermined plan? After all, the beginning and end are already known, and everything is predetermined and we have no say and no free will. Our whole development is predetermined. And for the Creator the concept of time doesn’t exist.

So all this is useless. Can the created beings do anything independently, in some way or at some point?—Something for which it was worthwhile to create them, together with this whole reality?

The basic question is: Where is our free will for which the Creator created everything? The spiritual worlds, the innumerable forms and phenomena and the corporeal universe we live in—is all this only so that a person will perform some independent action at some brief moment in his life? The one moment that gives everything else a meaning.

At present this moment it is evasive, leaving us with a question we have no answer for. But if we find the point in which we can add one gram by ourselves, then all of reality will light up and you will discover its wonderful infinite filling….

So we have to find out where our free will is. If we check this logically, reality cannot exist without this option. After all, there would be no reason for the wise nature to create anything otherwise. In such a case, there would be no meaning for its actions.

We have to look for our freedom. Without it our life will remain programmed, planned, and we will continue to be managed like puppets on a string. We have to look for the point of free will and to realize it. This is man’s whole designation.

What is that freedom? Freedom from whom? From the Creator and His orders? Of course; as long as I am attached to Him, I am not me. He moves me. So I have to be free not from other people and not even from myself, but first and foremost from Him. The Creator has created a certain state in which I can be detached from Him, from His control. Then I will be free.

The question is: What do I do with this freedom? What new abilities do I acquire? With what thought, with what feeling, and with what action do I fill the void that is suddenly revealed for me?

We will talk about this some other time.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/11, Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam, “The Power of Thought”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “Let the Earth Put Forth Grass,” Item 89, Lesson 23
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Preface to The Book of Zohar, Item 27, Lesson 11
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace,” (Start with: “Because the purpose is undoubtedly built”), Lesson 6
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Question: How can I feel that the whole world is on my shoulders?

Answer: We cannot attain what we dream of without a vessel or desire. In our world we can receive things even without having a very big desire, meaning by virtue of actions that we can make even without having a desire.

But in spirituality there are no means like in our world because there, the desire itself is the action. Therefore, we can shift to spirituality only on the condition that our actions will constantly become more advanced and evoke a growth of our desires.

It’s a known fact that if a person has to put efforts into something, such as take care of his child or pet, or do something just to earn money, then he gradually starts to value what he invested himself into. Then his thoughts and desires will be focused on this. This way, we can raise our desires and thoughts by virtue of actions which don’t even have the right intention at first, and train ourselves to have new thoughts and desires.

These special opportunities are provided by our world, our state, where besides the desire and the thought, there are also material actions that we can make due to indirect material reasons: for the sake of money, respect, knowledge, and power, and thus we can develop new desires through them.

This way, actions influence thoughts to such an extent that I can feel as if the whole world really is on my shoulders!

If I have to attain a perfect desire, then I have to experience fear and worry for the whole world. This is already called elevation in bestowal. That’s because I am not worried about this this world due to the fact that my well-being depends on it, but I want to attain the quality of bestowal and bestow to the Creator with it.

We can achieve this by virtue of actions, by continually putting in our efforts through our friends and together with them—into the big world. This work opens up our desire to be connected to the world because we invest ourselves in it. I begin to better understand and feel these external desires, and this gives me new forces and aspirations. That is how action governs desire.

And when I receive new desires, I only have to increase them, and that is already easier. I can do it with the help of friends, the environment.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/11, Shamati

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If a person is brought up in the spirit of mutual guarantee and togetherness, he treats others like they are his own family, like an integral part of himself. Nowadays our world is called an integral system of interaction.

An integral system is a mutually dependent structure. How do we depend on our children? We cannot abide without them; we are instinctively tied to them through care and love. If we hurt them, we’ll eventually harm ourselves since we are concerned about them anyway.

I begin to feel the same way towards all the people of the world. A genuine picture of a complete egoistic interdependence emerges in front of my eyes; a lack of care towards others harms me by hitting me back in a negative way.

We still exist in accordance with egoistic laws that were established in the past when we were selfishly connected: You give to me – I give to you, steal more, gain more at the expense of others, use somebody for your own sake….

Today, the system of egoistic relations comes to an end; a totally new, altruistic, inter-dependent, global, integral system comes to life. If we want to succeed in this world, we have to match this system. But since we still fall short of this new system, we feel our current state to be a crisis. But this crisis is not in the sense we are accustomed to understanding it. “Crisis” is a Greek word that means new birth; that is, crisis is the solution, not the problem.

We have to realize that we are transitioning from one state to another. The sooner we recognize this fact and start acting in unison with the laws of evolution instead of resisting them, the easier and more pleasurable our transition through the changes will be.

We have to become one family. We have to treat others like our own children, parents, our beloved, or adored pets…we have to treat everybody like something that belongs to us. Nature leads us in this direction irrespective of our desires.

It is a sensual cognitive process. We have to create an environment that will explicitly demonstrate this to everybody and thus alter us.

To the extent we manage to change, it will change our family, social, political and industrial relations.  The connection among us will adjust to match our new developmental level.
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The Creator created desire with the help of the Light. Light impacts the desire and delivers His qualities to it in a way that everything that is good in the Light becomes negative in desire. Good portrays itself as lack, need, demand, and emptiness; whereas inside the Light, the same things manifest themselves as a desire to bestow.

In other words, things that in the Light are as abundance and salience turn into the opposite, a concavity, in the  desire.

Both parts are similar to each other and at the same time they have a contrary nature: Everything there is in the Creator’s desire to bestow exists in the creation in the shape of the desire to receive.

The goal of the creation is to transform the sensation of emptiness (the desire to receive) into similarity with the Creator.

How can this be achieved? If we simply fill desire it won’t become similar to the Creator (the Light); rather, fulfillment will downgrade desire since it becomes even more opposite to the Light because it actively receives. The Light is perfect; it constantly bestows, therefore, a plain fulfillment of the creation won’t solve the problem.

How can we make the desire to receive similar to the desire to bestow if we don’t employ the Creator’s mode of action, bestowal? All the Creator does is bestow and fulfill the creation; the creation is incapable of interacting with the Light in any other way except receiving from It.

The problem is to establish the right connection between them—not between the two actions but rather between the essence of the Creator and the essence of the creation.

This means that we have to compare them with each other, not from the point of view of their actions, but rather, from the angle of their attitude towards each other; it doesn’t matter that one is constantly receiving from the other, whereas the other is permanently bestowing. They complete each other, and as a result of this fulfillment, they sense internal connection between themselves; it is irrelevant who is the giving party and who is on the receiving end. This is similar to a mother and child: she gives him everything she can, but in return she gets back even more since she is connected with the child through love.

This is where a sensation of love happens and comes from. If we choose to consider these two compelling actions that happen between the Creator and the creation as indispensable, we have to build a superstructure above them.

How do we make them connect through these two actions and become similar with each other? How can we unite the goal, the essence of the Creator, with the essence of the creation?

Originally, the Creator desires to fulfill his creation and provide it with everything. He is filled with the property of love. That’s the reason why changes do not apply to the Creator whatsoever.

The Creator originated the creation, the universe, the worlds, and all conditions for our existence and activities. On His behalf there is only one thing—constant emanation of Light, positive energy, love, and absolute kindness.

The creation needs to change its attitude towards the world, towards itself, and at the end—towards the Creator because everything there is in this world, in me and around me—comes from the Creator. I have to change myself in a way that I start loving everything that is done by Him in this world and in all of nature. If I switch my attitude from hatred, greediness, and taking advantage of others, to bestowal and love, then through my new attitude towards the Creator’s actions, I will come to love Him.

At this point, I will be able to get for His sake everything that He emanates. So, it turns out to work this way: He fulfills me and gives me a chance to get pleased, whereas I receive from Him and give Him an opportunity to get delighted because I am “using” His love.

When we are close with our loved ones we receive from them, at the same time we do them a favor by allowing them to love us. The same pattern repeats: By receiving from the Creator, we express our love to Him because we are so close. At this point, it doesn’t matter who is the giver and who is a recipient as in the example with the mother and her child.

The main thing is that with the help of these actions they complete each other and bring each other delight.
From the Fundamentals of Kabbalah Lesson 11/6/11

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Question: We need a very specific method of upbringing. You have said that one of its parts is education. What should this knowledge kit include?

Answer: These are classes where people acquire knowledge about psychology, physiology, and social science, where a person learns about human society.

The most important chapter is the development of the human society over the course of history as the consequence of the development of egoism in every individual in general.

Next is the psychology of human behavior: a person’s interaction with himself, his family, and children, interaction between spouses, parenting, the education of children and interactions in society: how separate individuals form a society.

All of this must be presented in a form that is clear and accessible to the entire population.

We must speak about both the current society and the society of the future, which is where nature is leading us. The difference between them gives us the feeling of discomfort we are now experiencing. This is why we need to reveal the essence of both societies.

And then the person will see what else he needs to do in his life. In this way we will help the person advance towards the realization of the goal: the way he needs to change the society by changing himself and the social connections.

This way, instead of advancing through revolutions, we sort of obligate people to advance through the creation of a comfortable, integrated, and well-intentioned lines of communication, by creating new relationships between them. And this will influence everything else.

We must launch absolutely all the means of mass media, so they would work for this idea because this is the only way for us to prevent revolutions and even world wars.

Following are the topics of educational programs that must be included in the course of the future society: the realistic way to transition to it, the qualities that exist in it, and what it means to exist in it. Let us play “the future society” like children do, and this game will gradually shape us.

Imagine that you receive a certain amount of resources—your minimum livelihood, your apartment, maybe a family or maybe you are alone. This is currently allotted to you, based on what the society can provide for you, and at the same time you must take part in a certain social work, etc.

What do we get? How can we build this kind of society? Do we think in the right way from society’s integrated perspective? Can we force people? No, we cannot. What about education?

Here we must approach making of new decisions very seriously. A person will understand that when he behaves the right way, he receives encouragement from the society, from his inner state, and vice versa.

There are very serious, enormous egoistic layers, which we must correct in us and literally elevate man above us, above our egoism, so he would begin to understand that an integrated society only works when we connect our egoism between us with the quality of bestowal.

Every one of us sort of represents a tiny wheel, a cogwheel, and the connection between these cogwheels happens inside the desire to bestow, to connect, to be in harmony with others—then they lock into a single system. But if we do not wish to connect them, they will connect in a harsh way: They will rub, screech, and literally spark from all this rubbing.

People must be shown all this in practice. We will gain experience through our study as we try to feel it and realize it through practical activities. We will see why certain things come out in life and other things do not. Our level of sensitivity towards our own egoistic evil rises. And then we will begin to see it even in small manifestations and understand why I fail to achieve certain things that I want. It is because I use my egoism more than it should be used.

We will no longer be blind kittens moving by force, instead we will start trying to participate in this movement independently and consciously.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/11/2011

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Question: How can we avoid the danger of our egoism and turn the clarification of it into psychology?

Answer: There is nothing bad about psychology! In fact, Kabbalah is an internal spiritual psychology. Psychology of this world is egoistic by nature; it investigates the human ego.

But there is another type of psychology that concentrates on studying those who strive to develop properties of bestowal within them, those who learn how to work in bestowal and see reality through this quality rather than through the property of receiving. This kind of psychology is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. That’s the only difference between these two types of psychology.

Psychology of this world studies behavioral laws of the desire to be fulfilled for one’s own sake. The wisdom of Kabbalah explores behavioral laws of the desire to be fulfilled for the sake of bestowal.

Spiritual psychology leads us to self-study. The tools that allow us to achieve love of the Creator are as follows: our desire to be pleased, our intellect and heart, the group, the goal of creation, our connection with the group, and the mutual guarantee between us. According to the goal that was set by us, we study Kabbalah rather than plain psychology.

It can appear to be psychology, but in fact, it is a revision of ourselves. The material we study are our senses and the desire to be pleased. This is a subject of psychology, since its goal is to teach us how to feel better.

Other sciences such as physics and chemistry pursue other, more abstract goals. Actually, we develop them only to start feeling better. We are unable to make the slightest movement in this world that pursues an alternate goal.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/11, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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