We have no other means of advancement, no other lever by which I can move forward, except the influence of the environment. If all of me, completely and entirely, is concentrated within myself, what force can direct me the other way, from inside outward? I have no such forces within me.

All my forces act “for me,” “for my own sake.” How can I create the opposite action “for the sake of others (the neighbor)”? Where can such a force of nature be obtained?

For this purpose, the soul has been created in a divided state, in two parts: myself and the surrounding world. We are given a single freedom—to choose what is more important. If you want to attain spirituality, organize your environment so that it becomes more important to you than yourself.

In truth, this is not an external environment, but my own soul, my AHP, the “garments” and “palaces” of my soul’s Kli. It only appears to me as being outside.

Envy and the desire for honor draw you to the environment, to the parts of your soul. Organize them artificially so that they influence you.

From our level, we are given a psychological approach that is inwardly spiritual. By connecting with these desires (Kelim) that supposedly surround me, and by seemingly using my envy and desire for honor, I am essentially drawing these desires back to myself, so that they are connected with me and define my system of values.

So where do envy and the desire for honor come from? From the breaking of the soul into two parts—myself and the world.

Wishing to use the “help against him” (against my ego,) I activate these external desires of mine so that they, in turn, influence me. Later we will reveal that we are working only with ourselves, with our desires, with our qualities, and that everything was arranged this way from the beginning.

But without organizing the environment, there is no (and never will be) another force capable of “taking me by the ear” and directing me toward my true desires, toward the soul. There is no other force in the world.

Suffering can only make me more sensitive so that I will want to seek a solution. But the solution will be the same—to place myself under the influence of the environment.
[12059]
From Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/10

Related Material:
Prank
The Great Illusion on the Scale of the Entire Universe
Make the Secret Obvious

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Perception, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why are so many worlds needed?

Answer: The spiritual worlds are needed in order to rise to the level of the Creator. The fact is that the light of the Creator began to influence the desire that He created, and this desire developed continuously under its influence until it reached the 125^th degree called our world. At that point, the general desire shattered and broke.

Now, by gradually gathering and reassembling it, we must ascend from our world back through 125 degrees to the level of the Creator.

Question: In our corporeal world, everything is divided into many small objects, like a honeycomb. We see the world divided into inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature. But in spirituality, all phenomena take place within one body. How should we understand this?

Answer: In spirituality, everything takes place within a single common desire. There, many opposite inclinations, directions, and qualities are united by one common screen. I collect all the pluses and minuses as if into one bag, tie it up, and want to use it to bring contentment to the Creator. As a result, in bringing contentment to Him, I receive contentment for myself.
[229601]
From Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/25/18

Related Material:
Circles Of Spiritual Worlds
The Reality Of The Upper Worlds
Ascend the Degrees of the Worlds

Filed under: Spiritual Work, Structure of the Universe - No Comments →

Question: Why do you constantly speak about faith when Kabbalah is a science and attainment, and faith is a philosophical, religious concept?

Answer: Faith is the property of bestowal. In our world, this quality does not exist, because even if I give something, I do it with the aim of subsequent receiving. I cannot give simply for the sake of giving.

The property of the spiritual world, however, is the quality of bestowal. It is called faith. Do not confuse it with what we understand by faith in our world.

In our world, a believing person closes his eyes and does something completely thoughtlessly. This is a completely unrealistic, illogical, and baseless action.

In Kabbalah, faith is the force of bestowal that we receive from the upper light.
[193775]
From Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 5/15/16

Related Material:
The Three Parameters Of Faith
To Believe Means To Feel
Faith Is Bestowal

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: There is a concept of karma that promotes that there is some kind of burden that prevents me from being happy, but that if I do positive actions or have suffered innocently, then I reduce my karma.

Answer: This is how religious consciousness is structured, as if suffering somehow improves us. Absolutely not!

I welcome any influences on myself, both negative and positive. My problem lies in only preparing myself to perceive both of them as a motivation from above to advance toward unification. And it turns out that, in principle, it does not matter to me what kind of influences these are, negative or positive.

I look at myself objectively. If my egoism is more affected by negative influences, then it is beneficial. This effect is negative relative to my egoism, not relative to me, because I want to elevate my “I,” I therefore have no problems with this.

I do not call for sufferings; I do not pray for them so that I can get some kind of reward for it later, no! They simply serve as the positive reason for me to move forward. But, in principle, I do not welcome them in themselves, and I do not strive for them; that is impossible. Only a masochist could believe that suffering supposedly purifies, that he will be rewarded with paradise or some kind of reward for suffering: suffer here and receive there. This is all wrong!

After all, in principle, nature itself provides for our good progress. And therefore, everything depends on how much we place ourselves above sensations, i.e., view them solely as the cause by means of which we advance.
[83603]
From a Conversation about Integral Education 5/30/12

Related Material:
A Priceless Sense Of Shame
Does Suffering Purify Us?
Unnecessary Sufferings

Filed under: Children, Education - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 18, “Who Causes the Prayer,” (1986) (12.31.2002)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4, “Table of Answers for Topics” Item 87

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

3rd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Question: You said that inspiration and transmission of information should be brief, clear, and to the point, not rambling statements that go on for five to ten minutes where one person speaks and everyone else is silent as if forcing themselves: “Yes, we must listen.” What should a truly inspiring speech be like?

Answer: That is a big problem, because our guys start quoting excerpts, using official jargon, and bringing in all sorts of explanations. Here, you just need to express your inner expression as simply as possible, from heart to heart, to convey the maximum feeling with the minimum number of words, and that is all.

Therefore, I am in favor of everything being very brief, without unnecessary intellectualization. A person should prepare in advance so that it would burst out from their heart, as they say, “without thinking.” But this is not easy; it comes gradually.

In addition, the listeners themselves are not yet attuned to understanding. We don’t yet communicate with each other internally, through feelings. Just as a mother feels her baby without words, and the baby feels the mother through subconscious sensations, so too should we feel one another. Much more so!

Then our external communication, words, gestures, facial expressions will become superfluous. Over time, all this will cease, and you will be able to transmit your sensations to others and receive them completely outside of physical contact, even if the person is no longer in our world but on some other levels.

That is, you no longer associate him with his body. Whether he is somewhere, a couple of thousand kilometers away from you in his body, or outside the body, in another dimension, what is the difference?
[351340]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Transfer of information” 1/23/11

Related Material:
Non-Verbal Communication
The Purpose Of Information Transfer
Sensory Transmission of Information

Filed under: Dissemination, Group Work, Q&A, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: If everything in the world depends on people engaged in spiritual development, does it mean we are responsible for all the suffering in the world?

Answer: We do not cause suffering in the world; on the contrary, by attracting the light, we move suffering from the material level to the level of spiritual suffering. Meaning, instead of suffering from wars, diseases, and all other problems, we suffer from a lack of spirituality. This is what the science of Kabbalah gives a person.

It brings him “suffering,” but it cannot even be called that; it is the suffering of love, as if I were invited to a meal in a couple of hours, so I do not eat right now to keep my appetite strong. This is called the suffering of love; it is when I realize that I should prepare spiritual Kelim.

And even now, in the empty Kelim, I feel the glow of the upcoming meeting with the people I love, and from the meal. This is what humanity needs to be brought to, to show them that there is a solution and to develop not as a result of the blows of nature.

Now we are entering a period of ecological problems that can cause the suffering and death of thousands of people. We see natural disasters occurring all over the world, in China, Europe, Russia, and America.

The only way to escape it is to transition to preparing spiritual Kelim, not in an earthly form, not waiting decades for suffering to pass until we finally realize that there is a reason and a goal and two paths to the goal: the path of light and the path of suffering.

Why should we suffer in vain? Let us draw the light now that will show us the difference between its state and ours, so we would suffer from the fact that we want a better state, rather than from feeling bad now.
This is what the science of Kabbalah offers man—the path of light instead of the path of suffering.
[20487]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot“

Related Material:
The Sufferings of Love Are Sweet
Sweet Suffering Of Love
The Beginning Of The Unity Of Humanity

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Globalization, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

I have nothing besides my desire, so how can I give it up? All my life, I have been following my rational logic; should I suddenly go against it, as if I have lost my mind and reason?

The science of Kabbalah does not call for working without mind or reason, but teaches us to rise above them. Knowledge and reason remain, we do not cross them out, but always rise above them and do the opposite.

Therefore, one who goes above knowledge stimulates his knowledge to grow ever more. The more his mind and knowledge grow, the higher a person rises to act above them, and therefore one becomes more and more intelligent in the material world, and further advances in the spiritual.

This is how he grows all the time, within knowledge and then above knowledge, and again within knowledge and above knowledge…

Therefore, we never annul our knowledge or go below it, as happens in religions, but always go by faith above reason. Faith gained above reason becomes knowledge, and again we must go above it. This is how we ascend the spiritual degrees.
[351259]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/20, “Work with Faith Above Reason”

Related Material:
In Faith above Reason
The Need for Faith above Reason
Ascend By Faith Above Reason

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 32, “Concerning the Reward of the Receivers,”(1985) (12.29.2002)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4, “Table of Answers for Topics” Item 87

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

3rd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →