A human must choose between truth and falsehood. There is nothing to choose between sweet and bitter; it is clear that I will always choose what is good and sweet for me and not what is evil and bitter. I am not capable of preferring a bad state to a good one.

However, if I see truth and falsehood in opposition to sweet and bitter, then it is possible that I will choose the bitter truth, a bad feeling, because truth is more important to me.

These represent two different levels: the animate level (analysis according to sweet and bitter) and the human level (analysis according to truth and falsehood) where a person works with faith above reason.

If you rise to the single calculation of truth, within which all other forces and possibilities are included, it means that you have attained adhesion with the Creator.

But if you evaluate only sweet and bitter, then this is an animalistic analysis (choice). And an animal never makes mistakes on its level; it always chooses what is good for it, but it does not advance to the level of human.

However, nature does not allow us to remain at the animate level; it compels us to develop.

At the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, the analysis of behavior is reduced only to the analysis of sweet and bitter, with a preference for the sweet. However, for the human, there is a difference between the animate level within him, with the analysis of sweet and bitter, and the human level within him, with the analysis of truth and falsehood.

Therefore, a human is in constant confusion between the animate and the human within him, searching for what to choose and looking for a compromise, he wants the sweet, yet sees that the benefit lies in the truth.
[19292]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/10, Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 22 “What Is ‘A Lily Among the Thorns,’ in the Work?” (1991) (5.23.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 10 (4.14.2016)

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Selected Highlights

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All the errors of our world across all its systems and religions lie in the fact that people bring the spiritual into the material, they drag spirituality down, and believe there is some part of holiness in certain forms, objects, artifacts, and bodies. They kiss a hand, kiss a tree, some picture, some doll. Therein lies all the confusion that has taken hold of humanity.

And no matter how much Judaism has fought against this (of course, not outwardly but within itself), it has not been very successful with the people either. People resort to amulets, red strings, “living water,” they change names and engage in all sorts of “miraculous” things.

They think that in this way they draw a benevolent radiance and abundance from above to themselves. By what means? By means of the fact that from today we will call you, say, not Misha but Grisha? So, what of it? “But just like that, it brings luck.” People use human psychology and forces of nature and think that it is spiritual.

Of course, within the realm of this world we can do a lot through the power of a person, even by the power of thought, the power of desire. Naturally, in our world there are still many laws. We do not understand why this or that happens and think that it comes from the spiritual. This is another problem. It is hard to reveal and distinguish.

Even those who engage in the Torah think that their study is something spiritual. What is spiritual in this? Since the destruction of the Temple, spirituality has remained above, detached from us. “No, we study, and this is called spiritual.” But life proves that there is nothing in this. Look at what is happening with the whole nation. Thus, the confusion is very deep.
[354185]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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Question: How can a person (who is “something from nothing”) attain the Creator’s plan if he did not exist at that stage?

Answer: It is said: “From Your actions we shall know You.”

What does the second stage of the development of the desire say? “I want to be like You,” that is, like Keter. When it reveals the action of Keter from within Hochma, it says: “I do not want to be like Hochma, I do not want to enjoy its light, but I want to be like the root, like Keter, who gives pleasure to Hochma.”

And then Bina wishes to attain the same action as Keter and carries out this action in Zeir Anpin, and by bestowing like Keter, comes to an understanding of what pleasures exist in Keter and wants to enjoy precisely them. Therefore, Malchut desires to enjoy the degree of the Creator, the degree of Keter, that He is the giver.

Let us put it this way: a child enjoys what the mother gives him. Now he thinks: “I want to give my pleasure to my mother so that she will feel good.” And he does something for his mother. Through this he comes to understand how much the mother enjoys giving to him.

The mother’s pleasure in giving the child some candy is not his pleasure from the candy and not the pleasure that he then passes on to the mother. He understands that in the mother this pleasure is measured as a million candies. And then he wants to enjoy exactly such pleasure.

This means that in Malchut, in the fourth stage, an additional desire arises that did not exist before. The created being has attained this desire. Therefore, the fourth stage is called “Malchut” (kingdom); it is a stage that does not proceed directly from the Creator and is the root of created beings. It is still connected to the Creator, still filled with light, not separated from it, but the desire that is in it did not come directly.

The child has realized: “Mother enjoys a million times more from that candy she gives me because she loves me, she wants to bestow, she has a colossal measure of bestowal. Then I want to enjoy as Mother does.”

Therefore, for this additional desire, which does not come directly from the root stage, the creation cannot place a screen. It cannot now say: “But I want to bestow, I want to be like Him.” It cannot, it is unable.

It now wants to enjoy bestowal just as the Creator enjoys it, but wants to experience this pleasure in its desire to receive. And therefore, the created being is only capable of making a restriction.

Here a serious question arises: from where can it take the strength for the restriction? In other words, here the gap between it and the Creator, called “shame,” is revealed, and then the created being makes the restriction.
[354327]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/26, Rabash, “Concerning Hesed [Mercy]”

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The Torah of the masses means that people engage in actions without demanding a result. The action itself constitutes the result: “Thank God, I am doing what has been placed upon us. And the reward, that belongs to the future world.”

Or one may not even demand a reward at all. One who demands no reward, neither here nor there, is called a complete righteous person. Thus, the actions themselves are considered to be all that is required.

Those of the second type perceive themselves to be growing ever worse. Their actions bring them nothing. A person exerts effort, studies, wants to attain something, and as a result feels himself in unfulfilled desires. Where is the perfection in this? And that which he wishes to attain does not reveal itself in his attainment. This is the Torah of the individual. As it is said: “The view of the Torah is opposite to the view of the masses.”

And yet, when it comes to the examination, it is made according to the result. Therefore, one must understand that all errors (Shgagot) and all transgressions (Zdonot) that a person goes through at the beginning of his path later become the true vessel (Kli), called commandments, merits.

When an error or a transgression is revealed in a person, it signifies that one’s Aviut (intensity of desire) is growing “thicker,” and it is revealed in the form of failures. A person wants to perform some act of bestowal that seems spiritual to him and discovers that he cannot, is unable, does not want to, that he is completely opposed to it.

When such qualities are revealed to him, and he truly sees how opposite he is to it, that he ibears the blame for everything, that he is the worst, and that because of him all have suffered and continue to suffer, then he truly comes to the recognition of errors and transgressions. Time after time, he stumbles, reveals his failures, and then, as he gathers himself, they turn into merits.

It is not upon a person to correct his nature. And if he points an accusing finger at the Creator, that is also incorrect. A person must understand that all errors and transgressions are signs revealing a fracture upon which he must build a correct prayer, a correct request, a correct demand.

Proceeding from this, he no longer wishes for these qualities to disappear. Now they appear opposite to the qualities of the Creator, but they must be transformed into similarity with the Creator. If a person rises above these qualities and sees them as useful, as perfect from the side of the Creator, then undoubtedly, his prayer will be correct, and he will come to the right need: to correct all his flaws into an intention for the sake of bestowal to the Creator.

At the same time, he does not regret that he harms himself and others, that he is inherently flawed. There is no evil; every revelation of evil is only in order to see one’s opposition to the Creator.

Thus, all our work from this point onward must be arranged according to how we build our appeal, the message I send to the Creator. One must formulate it correctly and express that I am ready to receive correction from Him.

If I build my appeal correctly, it means that I know myself, know what in me must be transformed, and am truly ready for it from the Creator’s perspective. Then He performs it.
[354164]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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During the preparation period, when we have not yet attained the revelation of our actions, how can we check the result? By the signs that our teachers give us. They say that if a person is in a group that constantly pressures him, guards him so that he does not run away, and he constantly feels that he needs additional forces in order to remain in the group in the desire and in the intention, this means that he is advancing. This is the first, external check.

The second, internal check is a person’s examination of himself; how quickly his inner states change, at what pace these changes occur. He must go through them during the day.

I remember how once I went with my teacher, Rabash, to Tel Aviv. We set out in the morning as usual, and that day, so many events happened to us! We had many different things to do, and on top of everything, I parked the car incorrectly, the police towed it to the impound lot, and we had to take a taxi to retrieve it.

We returned home in the evening, just before the lesson began. Five minutes after the lesson started, Rabash asked me: “Do you remember what happened to us today?” And my mind was completely empty, as if nothing had happened.

At that time, I had just begun to study Kabbalah, and for me. it was a real wonder; how could this be, so much had happened during the day, and I remember nothing, neither what happened, nor when, nor in what sequence! Erased, gone! It passed, and you constantly live in the present. I remember, the first sensation is always like that, it leaves a Reshimo.

The more a person feels the changes that have occurred with him during the day, the better. A million changes can take place, but you do not feel them, they fall and pass, fall and pass. They must pass through you, so let them pass! According to this, the pace is measured.

This happens because you are striving toward one goal. Then all the disturbances that come, you take into account for a moment, they replace one another, and you pass through them quickly.
[354169]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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Question: You gave someone a hand, helped an elderly woman get off the bus; in your opinion, these are not good deeds?

Answer: And you live with the feeling that you are accumulating good deeds for the future.

Question: Still, these are good deeds, are they not?

Answer: No, you do this only for yourself. Remove your personal benefit from it, and you will disregard it all and do nothing.

Question: Then how should I live? By what should I measure my steps?

Answer: If you do not overcome your egoism and do not perform actions against it, then you will not perform a good deed. It will be sold in advance.

Question: Does it mean that I am bribed all the time?

Answer: Yes. If a person imagines that he is performing the very best deeds from which he will later receive some benefit, then it is all a failure in advance.

Question: Then with what intention should I act?

Answer: Expect absolutely nothing in return.

Question: That I will receive nothing for it, no benefit?

Answer: No benefit at all. There will be benefits for the world and for people, but nothing for me. As if no one knows about it, and no one will ever know.

Comment: That is, my name is nowhere; it is not carved in stone, nor mentioned in captions. It is nowhere.

My Response: No.

Question: So, I did something, and that is all?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: Now people in the arts (and not only in the arts) will collapse when they hear this. Do you understand? The entire copyright system is built on “this is my music, this is my creation; if you use it, you must pay,” and so on. The whole world is built on this! And we are going against the world.

My Response: Yes. You may write it down in a notebook only for yourself and then burn it. But even in such actions, when a person thinks about what he will gain from it, as if saving up for a rainy day, it is still good if he acts this way.

In fact, it does not give him any real benefit, but it is still good. There will be less evil in the world because of it. And good deeds will begin from a higher threshold, from a higher degree.

Comment: And these deeds, when a person truly says to himself, “Did I do a good deed? No matter whether I will get to heaven because of it or not, I simply do a good deed”.

My Response: He raises himself to a higher level, and from there he must begin to work.

Question: You know, we have now saved the world. Because the world looked at this and said: “This is impossible to achieve—faith above reason.” But you have now added such a step: do these deeds anyway. They will not yet be good deeds, but will they be a step toward good deeds?

Answer: Yes. And then a person must get used to performing such actions not for himself, but for the world. And here his soul begins to reveal itself to the world.

Question: What is this space called “the soul”? You said “reveals itself.” What kind of space is that?

Answer: It is an absolutely empty space that a person must fill with his desire.

Question: Toward the world? From himself? And nothing for himself?

Answer: Nothing.

Question: Is this the degree to which humanity is heading?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And can it reach it?

Answer: Of course.
[353174]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 2/12/26

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Comment: It sometimes happens that a person at the initial stage of studying Kabbalah has questions for you, and even though he does not ask them, he feels that he is receiving answers from you.

My Response: Of course. In general, people who are near me say: “Our questions disappear.” This is natural. Because when they are near, they include themselves in me like a small one beside the great, and then they feel safe, as if in some kind of shelter, and no questions arise for them. Indeed, that is so.

Question: Do you fulfill the person?

Answer: I do not fulfill them. Rather, they fill themselves with the fact that they are attached to me and feel me. Thus, he slightly feels that inner balance, calmness, and fullness that exist in me.

And although I myself am in a certain internal restlessness, on his level and even a few levels above, I am in a completely resolved, calm state.

He does not perceive my higher level but the one at which he interacts with me, like a child with parents. Parents have problems and concerns, but next to them, the child feels calm. He does not feel the level of their restlessness, but feels on an animate level that they are guarantors of his balance and security.

Comment: And then he goes out into the world and is surprised that it is not at all as he thought.

My Response: Yes, naturally. But still, this is good for advancement. I remember my states next to my teacher when you are in a state of absolute perfection and utter tranquility, yet you are compelled to  cultivate needs and desires for spiritual development within yourself.
[353763]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Difficulties of Translation” 9/12/10

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 17 “What Is the Assistance that He who Comes to Purify Receives in the Work? (1990) (4.18.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Selected Highlights

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