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Posted on June 29th, 2026
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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 154
How Can We Exert Effort If We Know We Cannot Attain the Creator?
In Kabbalah, we learn that we are entirely a will to receive, that we want only to enjoy. By our very structure, we already know from the outset what we want to enjoy. So how can we change our nature? We cannot change it. How can we desire something that does not exist in us? We cannot.
It follows that we have no power to change anything. We can only discern what we want, feel, and long for. This is the advantage of the human over the animal: We can examine our desires, but we cannot replace, change, or even want to change them.
We see how much effort and time it takes to change habits in this world. For example, a person with diabetes who needs to stop consuming sugar reads extensively on the subject, hears advice from others, and watches videos about the severe effects of diabetes until they convince themselves to stop consuming sugar and build a system against their craving for sweets.
This shows what people do, what an entire industry has been built for, and how much persuasion people must undergo just to see the evil on the animate level and understand that something is bad for them. In other words, we must restrain our desire and balance it with intellect and reason. The intellect tells us sugar is bad, but the desire signals that sweetness is good.
Sometimes an entire lifetime passes before we improve something in ourselves. This concerns improvement on the animate level where it is clear that it is for our own good, that is, where we are in the presence of examples and where we see the negative and positive outcomes with our own eyes, yet we still cannot change. This shows how strong desire is, since it is our nature. Despite the myriad intellectual systems we build and all the self-persuasion, it is hard to resist desire.
We only refrain after we see, before our very eyes, the bitterness and the punishment alongside the desire and the sweetness. In other words, we only refrain when intellect and desire stand face to face. Even then, we calculate according to the measure of suffering, just as we are willing to suffer working all day in order to have something to eat in the evening. However, in such a case, the calculation is revealed.
Therefore, Baal HaSulam says in the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot that if the Creator were revealed, and His entire system and His attitude toward us were revealed, the whole world would be completely righteous. Everyone would see what brings good and evil. There would be disclosure of reward and punishment, and we would have no choice but to choose the good. Even if we wanted to follow our desire, we would see the blow that we would receive and that it would not be worthwhile.
Even in our current state, we restrain many impulses so as not to suffer, be ashamed, imprisoned, or beaten. This tendency exists in everyone.
But how do we convince ourselves that spirituality is a necessity? We read in books that there is reward for certain actions, for various uses of desire, and punishment for the opposite, but since we do not immediately see reward and punishment, since they are not revealed, this does not help us become convinced.
How can we build an auxiliary system through which we relate to them as though they were revealed?
RABASH says that we must learn from our friends on the spiritual path, listen to their words, observe their actions, learn how they yearn, and thus receive strength to cope with natural desires, and present an image of correct effort and work and yearning for the correct result to those friends.
We cannot decide in advance that our strength is gone and that we must cry out to the Creator. Even in the face of visible punishment, we need to persuade the desire to let go so as not to activate it. Certainly, when we say that all of our desires are worthless, that everything we see in this world is of no importance, which includes the spirituality we long to attain through desires operating in that direction, from this alone we cannot arrive at a plea to the Creator.
We need to let go of all these desires, set aside their nature, and then turn to the Creator, precisely when we have no drive to do so, no connection with Him, since He is concealed.
Can we leap over the concealment and create an alternative channel through which to feel the Creator and then turn to Him? Can we relinquish all actions that will lead to disappointment, which in turn will lead to turning to the Creator? This could take many years. Is it possible to turn to the Creator even before becoming disappointed in working with our desires?
Where can we draw the disappointment destined to come in ten years and bring it into the present moment? Is it possible to accelerate the process?
We can try to mingle with depressed people or ask society to provide feelings of life’s insignificance, the worthlessness of our work and ourselves, and our lack of strength for anything. Perhaps people will gladly supply this, but will it impress us enough to ask the Creator for help?
Apparently not, because turning to the Creator is above nature. We turn to the Creator to change our nature, rather than simply crying out, “Help me profit!” or placing a note in the Western Wall. It is a request for an inversion within ourselves, for a change of one’s very nature.
Therefore, we need to act according to our nature and, time and again, see how our own nature obstructs us from reaching the true thing, so that we see that we cannot attain it, and only then can we ask for our nature to be changed.
Still, we must accelerate time. We need to shorten the duration of the process. What does “shortening the duration” mean? It means realizing all possible actions and desires one after another, and then quickly becoming disappointed. That is, the more vigorously we go through all the possibilities available in our egoistic nature, trying every action, desire, and approach that we think might bring us to the goal, the faster we see failure.
There are people who study slowly, act lazily, and say to themselves, “It’s all right, another ten or fifteen years.” There are also those who invest themselves completely, and after only a few months feel countless descents and disappointments, and already grasp something. The others, still happy and good-hearted, will wait a long time before they understand.
Indeed, we should rejoice in states of disappointment. Disappointment from what? From our own powers, that is, from realizing that we cannot attain the goal by our own strength. The point is not to rejoice in other kinds of things, unless we are connected to the goal.
Only disappointments carry us from one discernment to another until we determine that we are incapable. Only through this experience do more and more facts accumulate, proving our helplessness to us, until a true urge builds within us to turn to the Creator.
There is no choice. The more we become disappointed, the more we will exert at attaining the goal. The goal becomes increasingly important as we are disappointed in our own strength. In the end, we desire the goal so intensely and ascertain that we cannot attain it; this is called revolving all day around that pole “until it does not let one sleep.” This is like someone with an enormous craving who cannot fulfill it, until they cry out to the Creator.
Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 153
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 152
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 151
Question: Can intention be built solely based on its correspondence to desire?
Answer: An intention cannot exist without a desire; it is measured by the weight, by the magnitude of the desire. The upper light comes to Malchut, which has five types of Aviut (magnitude of desire).
Malchut makes contact with the upper light, and from this interaction, five types of reflected light emerge, each of which corresponds to the specific level of Aviut with which Malchut rejects the direct light. The direct light arrives as a single, undifferentiated whole, yet since Malchut has five levels of Aviut, it creates five types of reflected light.
In each of them, it examines how much it can receive for the sake of bestowal (handling a tomato in one way, a cucumber in another, rice in one way, meat in another), and accordingly it receives. Therefore, we say that there are five Sefirot in the Partzuf.
What are the Sefirot? They are five types of equivalence to the Creator. Since my nature is divided into five parts, we measure everything by means of Aviut; we have no other measuring instrument. I bestow through my Aviut, receive through it, and enjoy within it. I have no other tool for measurement besides Aviut.
Aviut represents the degree of pleasure contained in my desire to receive. Sometimes I am in a good mood and am ready to devour a large meal: a drink, chicken, everything. And sometimes I am in such a state that even if a wonderful dinner is set before me and I am hungry, I cannot bring myself to eat.
That is, we assess Aviut not by how hungry I am or by how many pleasures are before me, but by the extent to which I am drawn to them. This is the measure of assessment, because only in this way can I bring pleasure to the host.
Since I stand opposite the host, I feel such shame that instead of enjoying the delicacies, I begin to hate them. I feel pain from them, even hatred toward them. I reach a state of “extending” my Aviut for the sake of the host, because in order to have the opportunity to bestow to Him, I need an appetite. There are many variations here, many relationships between the lights and the vessels.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/26, Rabash, “Why Is the Torah Called “Middle Line” in the Work? – 1”
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Question: What is the connection between bestowal and faith above reason that we must acquire?
Answer: What is the connection between bestowal that I am supposed to acquire (without knowing why, other than being told it is necessary) and faith above reason (which I also need for some unknown purpose? I have no desire, no inner urge for bestowal or faith above reason. I have no idea what these things are.
Whenever I experience rejection, I move to a state where I must reveal the reason why this is happening to me, why I feel bad, and from there, to the question: “Who is doing this to me?” All these questions are essentially about the same thing: my source, the Creator.
Upon encountering this question, I begin to sense that I cannot directly discover the Creator in the events occurring around me. At the same time, I cannot remain at peace, because all these states compel me to reveal Him.
It turns out that I can discover Him not through my five senses, but through faith above reason. What does that mean? It demonstrates the extent of my readiness to proceed not according to my feelings, but above them. That is, I do not want to attain through my intellect who the Creator is or how He acts. I do not want to see exactly what He does. Because in that form, I will never receive any revelation other than an animalistic understanding that there is someone behind everything; I will not attain true awareness.
I must reach a state where I receive some sensation from Him but not within my ordinary senses. I attain something resembling knowledge, yet not through His direct revelation. This is called revealing the Creator in the sixth sense, in the force of faith above reason, which means acquiring the force of Bina, the intention to bestow. Before that, a person does not know what it is.
But if I acquire the quality of Bina, I gain the ability to establish a connection with the Creator through this extraordinary phenomenon called faith above reason. It is a kind of “something, I do not know what.” I have no understanding and no sensation in the vessels of reception, since sensation and understanding are what we receive within our Kelim (vessels).
I have something entirely different that exists above them, a completely different vessel of perception called the reflected light (Ohr Hozer), a spiritual Kli, a sixth sense. What it is, however, we do not know.
A different channel opens within us in relation to the Creator, and it functions in such a way that through it, we reveal Him. Through our ordinary feelings and our ordinary channels of perception, we can never do so.
To give this channel a name, we call it faith above reason. This term is merely an indication that it operates beyond our senses, beyond understanding, beyond everything to which we are accustomed—above all of that, in a different manner.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”
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Question: In order to cross the Machsom (barrier), must I use faith above reason?
Answer: Faith above reason is the spiritual Kli (vessel), the quality of the Creator embodied within me. When Malchut acquires the quality of Bina, this is called faith above reason. Reason is the quality of Malchut, faith is the quality of Bina, and thus Bina within Malchut is called faith above reason.
If a person uses faith above reason in order to fill Malchut, this is a property of Klipa (impurity, shell). But if he uses Malchut according to its proper purpose, this is the process of holiness. That is, either it is bestowal for the sake of receiving, bestowal for the sake of bestowal, or receiving for the sake of bestowal.
Question: In what forms is this faith used after the Machsom?
Answer: Faith above reason, the force of Bina, can be used in two forms. In our world, there is also a reflection of this: I can bestow to another person, yet by doing so receive for myself. In a concealed form we are always receiving; it only appears to us that we are bestowing.
If my intention is to use the Creator for my own sake, this is called Pharaoh or Klipa. But if I turn to the Creator for His sake alone, without the involvement of my own interests, this is called the pure form of faith above reason, holiness.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”
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Question: Is humanity actually lacking a tiny ray of light in this dark realm?
Answer: Yes. I think that we will gradually break through this foolishness.
Question: What would it take for the Creator to shine a little light? Just a tiny bit?
Answer: He cannot. He has no right! The Creator has no right! Otherwise, He would violate the fundamental law of nature: egoism is completely opposite to Him!
Question: What does this law of nature provide?
Answer: It allows a person to become equal to the Creator at the end of correction. Otherwise, they would not.
Question: So, if He did that, He would suppress the person? The person would simply run after that little ray and keep chasing it forever?
Answer: Yes. In a sense, they might reach something halfway there, but to become equal to the Creator, to be free in one’s actions, to choose (by free will) likeness to the Creator, and to attain this similarity despite all problems—and to achieve that likeness despite all problems—to become independent, that is, to create another image of the Creator from all the laws and properties of the universe, that is what a person must do.
If the Creator were to do this, there would be no point in it. He does not have the right to change anything in these conditions; not even by an iota.
Question: So, according to your words, can we say that after some time, a
complete darkness will come?
Answer: Yes, naturally! The greatest darkness will come before the final correction.
Question: Before the ascent?
Answer: Yes! We have not yet seen it.
Question: So, this is not the end yet?
Answer: No. There will be a universal descent into savagery. As it is written, the nations of the world will rise against the people of Israel, and so on. In general, these will be terrible things.
Comment: You speak of “terrible things” and a “universal descent into savagery,” yet, you still seem to have some inner joy.
My Response: I have joy because this is a necessary stage that we must go through, and we can navigate it successfully by countering the darkness with light. That would truly be a massive leap forward.
Question: What must humanity do if it suddenly faces complete chaos and total darkness?
Answer: We must first grow to that state. Complete chaos and darkness will not be revealed unless we also have the possibility of revealing the light.
Question: Does the Creator give us only what we can endure? Will we be able to bear it and rise to our feet?
Answer: Of course. But for now, it is still dragging on, and on, and on. The more we tell the world about who and what it is, the faster the problems will arise, and the faster we will solve them.
Question: Then why do you keep urging the world to come to its senses? If that is the case, why bother? Let it simply be driven to that state of complete darkness.
Answer: That is exactly how it will be brought there! The more we know, the faster we will be brought to it. But we are obliged to go through it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 5/25/26
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Question: How should an ordinary person live so as not to divide life into periods of unhappiness and happiness, unhappiness and happiness?
Answer: Treat each day as an entire lifetime. Start from zero and end with zero. Give yourself completely during that day.
Question: In other words, live that day as if it were a whole life?
Answer: Yes, that is all. Tomorrow, I will wake up, and it will be a new life.
Question: How can I motivate myself so that from morning until evening I live fully, as though I were living an entire lifetime of 120 years in one day?
Answer: My students obligate me. I feel a sense of fear in front of them. Fear. I am obligated, I owe them. I have no right to leave them as they are. I must push them forward, inspire them. I must constantly awaken them. All of this concerns me deeply.
As for myself, no. I try not to make any calculations concerning myself.
Question: So the task is to give yourself completely?
Answer: The task is that before the morning lesson begins, when I wake up, even before I start preparing for the day, I consider myself already dead. Yes, dead. I need nothing from life except to give everything I have today.
Question: By “dead,” do you mean that I no longer exist? That I have no concern for myself, and that is how I go out into the world?
Answer: Exactly.
Question: So this is how I should start the day and how I should spend it?
Answer: Of course. Then you have a very correct accounting with yourself, with life, and with your students. After that, whatever happens is already in the hands of the Creator.
Question: If we apply this to an ordinary person, can he have the same attitude toward his family and children?
Answer: Absolutely the same. He sets himself aside and gives himself to others, to the world.
Question: To family, to those close to him, and to those far away?
Answer: Yes. Live this way, give yourself. You cannot imagine how good, light, free, and most importantly, how correct it is. But you will constantly be in tension: are you truly giving yourself to them?
Question: Is that a good kind of tension? Is there an element of happiness in it?
Answer: That is happiness.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/3/26
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Preparation to the Lesson
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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 9 “One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future” (1987) (5.1.2002)
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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
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