Creation is an empty desire, while the Creator is Light. How can this emptiness be connected with the Light; they are two complete opposites? Otherwise, creation, whose very nature is an empty will to receive, would remain empty forever.

How can these two opposites be joined? After all, according to the law of equivalence of form that governs all of nature, they cannot draw near or unite, like polar opposites. Therefore, there is a need for to mix the will to receive and the will to bestow.

In the Rosh (head), the intention to receive for the sake of bestowal arises. But in the Guf (body) awakens the egoistic force, to receive for one’s own sake. Thus a shattering occurs between the head and the body, a loss of connection between them, the inability to think and act in unison.

One thought resides in the head, yet a completely different desire is in the body. The heart and the mind are no longer together.
[16738]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Due to the congress, we felt ourselves moving slightly away from our ten and closer again, like a pendulum swinging back and forth, changing the degree of our connection with each other or with the Creator and our attitude toward the study. Strength and desire diminish, weakness sets in, and then strength comes back. Each full period of the pendulum’s movement back and forth, rising and falling, does not pass unnoticed; it leaves an imprint on us.

It seems that a person of strong faith should always find the strength to overcome any state without losing connection with the Creator, either in sorrow or joy as if nothing could shake him or disconnect him from the eternal union.

But in reality, this is not the case. A person who aspires to the Creator experiences constant changes. They must feel greater and greater weakness, but at the same time know how to achieve more confidence and adhesion with the Creator. Thus one keeps advancing and growing.

If a person doesn’t feel such changes in himself, no powerlessness and uncertainty, no descents, and fear of straying from the right direction toward the Creator and the purpose of life, if they don’t worry about this, then this is precisely a serious cause for concern.

One needs to engage with the group as quickly as possible, with all one’s might, so that through it the person can begin to receive the surrounding light that will change him or her.

If it seems to us that everything is in order and nothing bothers us, then it is time to worry.

In this world, the one who advances without feeling a heavy burden is considered strong. They add another ten kilograms to his back and he keeps walking, another twenty and he keeps going as if nothing happened. This is a strong man, a hero!

But in spirituality, it is the opposite. A hero is someone who is very sensitive to every gram added to him along the way and immediately turns to the Creator with a request to correct the lack of confidence and strength to bestow.

Spiritual advancement is different; it is in increased sensitivity. The Creator adds to us in quality and quantity, and we always have the opportunity to ask Him for new strength through the environment, and so advance.

Advancing on the path depends only on the changes one feels, which the Creator awakens in him. Each time, I need to understand my weakness and how to strengthen myself in order to continue. Naturally, I lack faith and the force of bestowal. Therefore, I increasingly need the environment and the Creator to add to it, to turn to the Creator through it, and thus to continue on the path.

Everyone needs to check for the changes the congress induced in them. One feels rejection, another feels attraction, and a third one has fog in his mind and feelings. Some cannot find themselves in the ten; they look at the friends and do not feel them and see them in their heart as before. Involvement in the larger ten affected him in such a way that he lost the old connection he had with his friends.

There are many post-congress phenomena we cannot ignore while we wait to get back to our usual routine. I need to check what is happening to me and why, and how the congress has affected me. This is very important.

Everyone in the ten feels differently, and we need to check whether we can return to our previous state or whether our new state is much clearer, higher, and sharper.

After all, we began to appreciate the connection between us more, and understand why we return to our ten to be together. We not only follow the advice of the Kabbalists, but we already realize that without it we will not have the confidence or strength to advance; there will be nowhere to draw strength or to turn to the Creator from.

The ten turns into a spiritual source for us, a spring. We feel enabled to stabilize ourselves in it and return to correction. Each of us has a special property, like the ten Sefirot. Therefore we are very different. But we are connected by a common work and a common goal. Thus, from ten people, and no less, we can form a complete attitude toward the Creator.

The ten turns into a Kli, a tool, we can change something with, influence something with, and connect with a wider or higher level.

The center of the ten is a tiny needle’s eye through which I pass into the spiritual world. To do this, I have to restrict all my thoughts and desires and compress them into one point to lead me to the upper world through the center of the ten.
[255728]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/19, “Hardening of the Heart – An Invitation to Ascend”

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What is faith above reason? Within reason means according to our understanding, according to the mind of a person in this world that is based on egoism.

Accordingly, a person perceives, feels, makes decisions, and acts. That is called “according to my opinion.” But above my opinion is the opinion of the upper one, and therefore I must replace my opinion with His, with the opinion of the Creator.

But I do not know the Creator’s opinion; it reaches me through my ten. If I connect with them, then by gradually annulling myself and merging with my friends, I replace my opinion with theirs.

This is not a simple substitution of one for another, otherwise I would become an angel, a kind of spiritual animal. Rather, I perform this act above my reason; I retain my own opinion, and rise above it. Thus, I occupy two levels, and in the difference between them I discover the perception of a spiritual human being.

Nothing in a person’s sensation is destroyed or erased. In fact, one acquires an additional nature, the Creator’s nature, and thus attains “faith above reason.” He has his own knowledge, and above it, faith; and he exists between the two.

The Creator did not create our desire to enjoy in vain. It is the foundation that constantly accompanies us so that “darkness will shine as light.” The darkness of my egoism, my opinion, supports the higher opinion that stands above it. Precisely from the contradiction between them, I attain the greatness of the Creator against the insignificance of the creature.

We do not annul ourselves or lose anything within us. While standing firmly on both feet, we build the middle line, and only in this way do we establish ourselves as a human being, Adam, “similar to the Creator.” Everything that exists in this creation is received from the Creator, but by the person’s own decision.

The Creator gives me an adapter that connects me to Him: this is the ten. This adapter is very complex, but there is no choice. I must connect it and use it, however many years it takes. I must annul myself, otherwise I will not connect to the group, because my plug does not fit its socket.

Within my friends dwells the Creator, who helps me unite with them more and more until I begin to reveal Him within them. I begin to work with the Creator through my friends, for they are my soul, and the Creator is the light that fills that soul.

The main thing is to integrate into the environment, and then I begin to receive opinions, desires, and thoughts, not just from a higher degree, but of an entirely new quality. For within the group exists “faith above reason,” a new perception not inherent to a person of this world.

Therefore there is no other way. One must annul oneself, enter the group, and leave one’s prior experience behind for now. We are speaking of an adult person with much life experience and knowledge, yet relative to the group one makes oneself into an embryo, a zero. And when a person begins to receive knowledge from it and grow, one builds faith above reason on the basis of one’s former qualities, thoughts, desires, one’s previous “self.” One cannot exist without the other.
[349805]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/23/19, Writings of Rabash “Concerning Above Reason”

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Faith above reason is the topic we must constantly return to. In relation to it, we will experience ascents and descents, all of our work is focused around this point.

Faith above reason means that bestowal becomes higher than reception, that is, a person enters a state in which they live by the force of bestowal. Naturally, one rises and falls again, but gradually one begins to conquer this territory, “the field blessed by the Creator,” where one remains in understanding, awareness, and the aspiration to hold on to faith.

If I don’t check what I have received, it is called faith below reason. Because I have no reason, I haven’t verified what I received, I just believed it blindly. That kind of faith is actually lower than reason; there is no knowledge, only blind belief. In spirituality, this is not considered faith, it is only in religion.

For faith above reason, I must first have my own opinion and know, according to it, what is happening. I know that there are not $1,000 in the envelope, but $999, or even only $1, and yet I accept it as a $1,000. This difference determines my spiritual degree. I must have these two clear points: reason and faith, Malchut and Bina.

Faith above reason means that I accept those $999 as $1,000, wholeheartedly. Of course, you should not behave this way in a store; we are not talking about this world, but only about the spiritual one. In the spiritual realm, one must advance by faith above reason, for there we build our relationship with the Creator above our own understanding, more and more so each time. Spirituality is based not on the force of reason, but on the force of faith.

I advance based on what the Kabbalist says, because I do not wish to rely on the opinion of my own egoism. To the extent that I can nullify myself in relation to the upper, I acquire the force of faith with which I can progress together with the upper’s mind and heart.

In the corporeal world, this doesn’t work because there is only one dimension. But in the spiritual world, there are two degrees: me and the upper (AHP of the upper). I follow the opinion of the upper’s AHP. I include myself in the upper’s opinion, and since I adhere to it, I can ascend with it. This is possible only because I have accepted its opinion, which has become my faith.

This is the difference between the lower and the upper degrees. In the perception (Kelim) of the upper there are $1,000; in my perception, $999. I know, feel, and understand that I lack $1, that in my pocket there are $999 and not $1,000. But in the Kelim of the upper there are $1,000, and I fill that empty space within me with the force of the upper, I feel myself whole thanks to Him.

About faith above reason, it is said: “They have eyes but do not see; they have ears but do not hear.” I have eyes, ears, a heart, and a mind; I am an intelligent person; I understand and feel everything at my level, “judging only by what my eyes see,” standing firmly on the ground.

But the question is: How can I rise to a degree higher than myself? By what kind of elevator? Where is that lift, that means, by which I can exchange my feelings and intellect for those of an upper degree, to rise from the state of “I” to “I + 1”?

For that, I must go by faith above reason.

From above, they constantly reveal an empty space to me and I must fill it with faith. When I fill it with faith, I feel that it becomes filled with reason. Then again, darkness opens, an empty space that must be filled with faith.

And with this force of faith, I ascend to the next degree, which again becomes reason.

Thus, we grow: Ibur–Yenika–Mochin (embryo–nursing–maturity), each time ascending and perceiving the darkness and emptiness revealed to us as a part of the upper, next degree above us.
[256840]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/5/19, “Work with Faith Above Reason”

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I must not agree with everything that happens around me because everything I see is perceived through my egoistic sensations. Yet I want to use all of it correctly to direct myself in the right way.

I do not seek to change reality or to leave it as it is; I want to change my perception, my sensations, so that I may see the true picture in which one force, one energy, one intention, one source, is revealed.

I do not strive to reveal the Creator directly, but rather to acquire the instrument (Kli) for His revelation. For how can I see something that is ten kilometers away from me? I need binoculars, that is, an instrument. And the instrument for revealing the Creator is the connection between us. This is where we apply all our efforts.

To the extent that we unite and focus together, the clarity of our vision increases. Then, instead of a blurred picture, instead of billions of people, animals, and plants, I begin to see more and more clearly the one single force and the one source.

The upper light is at absolute rest; what we need is only the instrument (Kli) for its revelation, an instrument whose qualities resemble those of the light itself.

The ten and the world group protect the person who is within them, acting as a buffer, an absorber, that softens external tremors, like the ten concealed Sefirot.

How should one respond correctly to each situation? I don’t understand what is happening, nor do I know what to do. The main thing is to integrate into the group as much as possible and use this instrument, and constantly tune myself in relation to the others.

Although I am only one individual Sefira within the ten, I tune it relative to the entire structure, and then I understand what is required of me. Just like a guitar string is tuned by comparing its sound with the others, so too must I constantly tune myself relative to the group; otherwise, my state will not change.

And after my friends have helped me tune myself correctly in relation to them, I must lift them up. Here my true work begins. This is a living system in which a constant process of exchange and interaction takes place.
[270254]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/9/20, “Work with Faith Above Reason”

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Question: When does a person first establish connection with the Creator?

Answer: Do you think that you don’t have this connection right now? A newborn baby who knows nothing about it has the strongest bond with his mother. And later we will have to build screens above our desire to receive pleasure.

The younger we are spiritually, the smaller we are, the closer we are to the beginning of the path, the stronger our connection is with the Creator. After all, for now, we are not disturbed by the various wisdoms and unfolding egoistic desires that separate us from the Creator.

The point of adhesion is built by a person separates from the Creator the desire to enjoy that is revealed in him and merges with the Creator above this desire. But now we are merged with the Creator through our desires in a natural way.

In other words, a person is always in adhesion with the Creator; the only difference is what percentage of this adhesion is attributed to the Creator and how much is attributed to the person himself. Let us assume it is 40/60 now, that is what my spiritual degree is called. If 125 steps are taken as 100%, then I am currently at two-thirds of the height of the ladder.

The more desires that are revealed in me and I correct, the greater the adhesion that was achieved through the power of the upper, I can now take upon myself and sustain with my own strength.

But we never leave the adhesion with the Creator. Nothing changes except our understanding, awareness, and attainment of one single constant, unchanging state.
[96564]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Question: In the Introduction to TES, it is written: “You will see your world in your life.”

I perceive this as a reward for our unification; that is, we receive the light, and it corrects us. How can one avoid using this knowledge egoistically?

Answer: If I think only about spiritual closeness with the Creator, that is, with the quality of bestowal, then I will naturally advance correctly. This is what I must think about constantly.

Question: When we enter the work in the Torah, we still do not have a clear understanding of what Lishma is, or where our desires lie. Entering is easy, but it is very difficult to maintain precision and strength in turning to the Creator. How can we gain confidence that we possess that very faith that will lead us to this?

Answer: This is something we must work on.

Question: Do we have the ability to feel and direct the power of Torah toward the place of defect and corruption? Or would it be more correct to rely on the actions of the light upon us?

Answer: These are two completely different directions. We will study them later.
[349842]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Question: Do we need to go through suffering in order to reach high states?

Answer: Of course, it’s not necessary. We just need to understand which stages we must go through within our desire and try to do it as quickly as possible. The main thing is to overcome the current phase we’re going through now when we don’t quite understand where we are and get out of it as soon as possible. But we must get out of it correctly.

Question: So, in order to get out correctly, do we need to accelerate through connection between us?

Answer: Everything happens through connection.
[349853]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic “Work with Faith Above Reason” (9.5.2020)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4, Chapter 4

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3rd part of the Lesson — Conversations of a Kabbalist with His Students During the Day

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