During the period of preparation, a person ascends the degrees in order to cross the Machsom, and enter the king’s palace. Each time one goes through states of receiving, a great illumination from above supports, fills, and awakens them.

Then the person falls, and instead of an even greater light, they receive darkness. In the state of darkness, a person is “tested” because no matter how high one has risen, if they haven’t crossed the Machsom yet, as soon as the light stops shining upon them, they immediately fall into an animalistic state. They know nothing, and nothing is important to them except simple animate existence.

They feel they have made no progress. The animalistic nature present during the descents they experienced one or two years ago remain unchanged. Indeed, when the divine spirit departs from him, only the animal soul remains.

In such states, it is possible to measure whether a person is advancing spiritually in the direction of bestowal or not. If they are capable of reading even a few lines, or simply reflect on them without necessarily penetrating deeply, and if they realize the extent to which the state of darkness is becoming increasingly deeper, then it can be said that the rudiments of vessels of bestowal have appeared in them.

They see that they have nothing, no sense of fulfillment. But despite this, they live by the conviction that this state is somehow connected with the spiritual path. Then they are not confused by the pleasures that shine upon them, nor are they confused by the pleasant sensation of receiving fulfillment that might otherwise cause them to “swell.” On the contrary, in such a state they have no calculations for themselves. They cannot justify the Creator since they receives nothing from Him and live only by faith.

What is faith in this case? Faith after crossing the Machsom is the light of Hasadim, and complete faith is the light of Hasadim with the illumination of Hochma. But during the period of preparation, when there is neither one nor the other, faith is the illumination that comes to a person from above, the light that sustains them.

Alternatively, in a state of descent, specifically when this illumination disappears, what remains is only the importance of the goal in its pure form, which is something a person receives from the group, not from above.

That is, they hear or heard in the past from the friends about the importance of the goal, and now this sustains and serves them. Now in a state of darkness, one is sustained by the importance of the goal that they acquired in the past when they were able to hear and were working in the group.

They drew inspiration from what they read, what they were told, and by what they heard from the teacher, that is, by the three sources: the group, the books, and the teacher.

In other words, the greatness of the goal now comes to them not from above, but from the environment. The importance that they feel in the state of darkness, they perceive as an illumination coming from the outside, and this is called the faith that sustains a person.
[358452]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/29/26, Rabash, “One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future”

Related Material:
Faith—Feeling The Creator
Faith Is A Vessel Of Bestowal
Accept Support from Faith

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

Question: Must the importance of the goal and the realization of one’s own lack of strength always advance in parallel? Doesn’t the importance of the goal increase during an ascent, given that it is felt just during an ascent?

Answer: The highest point in recognizing the importance of the goal, and the lowest point in evaluating one’s own strength, are revealed through two processes: ascent and descent.

It cannot be said that only an ascent increases the importance of the goal for me, and a descent brings only disappointment in my own abilities. In reality, the difference between these states generates both. In other words, it is the direction in which you are moving that gives rise both to the importance of the goal and to disappointment in your own strength.

Of course, the feeling of the goal’s importance comes during an ascent. But it never happens that something is born without its opposite appearing alongside it. There is always a contrast between black and white; otherwise, no definition would be possible. Every definition is based on two opposites, just as black letters are perceived only against a white background.
[357883]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”

Related Material:
Prepare The Bricks For The Building
Three States on the Spiritual Path
Don’t Let Your Mouth Cause the Arrival of an Evil Thought

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

A person acts out of habit, and feels and accepts only what they are accustomed to. Everything unfamiliar passes by us and remains elusive.

We unconsciously disregard everything new before we sense or, become aware of it. That is why it is so difficult for us to encounter spirituality!

We live in a world we select from the world of infinity; we choose the familiar and habitual.

To expand our world with the world of bestowal, we must not push it away, but accept the states of bestowal through “faith above reason,” accept the properties, desires, thoughts, and actions of the “anti-world.”

To do this, you need to combine two opposing levels within yourself: realize your current egoistic state, the lower degree, and from the perspective of the property of bestowal, the highest degree.

One must exist between these levels, rejoice in the sensation of the lower level’s emptiness of the lower and in the opportunity to find the strength to rise above it.

This strength comes to me from the upper light through the group; it holds me above the “earth” as if by a magnet.

Truth and faith (bestowal) should pull me upward more strongly than the sensation of animalistic egoism pulls me down toward the “earth.”

The true state lies in sensing both degrees simultaneously while each one in isolation is a lie. Even if I am entirely in spirituality, that alone is a lie.

The true state is always found between two degrees that simultaneously bring a sense of both perfection and lack, gratitude and prayer.

I must rejoice that I experience both sensations at once and constantly remain in a transitional state sensing obstacles yet holding myself above them by force of will, like a climber scaling a mountain who feels that if they were to relax their tension for even a moment they would immediately fall.

This is the only true state; we need to train ourselves to remain in it all the time, and to find joy in it.

This is how we can test ourselves. Are we capable, despite all our discontent, eternal struggle, and constantly vacillation between inspiration and utter despair, of remaining in joyful nevertheless?
[18432]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/10, Rabash, “The Meaning of Truth and Faith”

Related Material:
We Exist Out of Nothing
Multiplying Efforts
Connection In The Face Of Evil

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

Comment: In 2019 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to scientists for their work in lithium-ion batteries and were recognized for “laying the foundation of a wireless, fossil-fuel free society” (New York Times, 10/9/2019).

Until now, humanity was always tied to an electrical outlet and lived from the outlet. And here they have created a line of such batteries with which a person can move freely around the world.

My Response: In our time, of course, it means a lot if a person becomes freer from the outlet. But what comes next?

I do not think this discovery will free humanity. It will simply enslave it in another way. Everything is moving toward showing a person that happiness is not in the battery.

We see that humanity is not becoming happier. On the contrary, the more toys, technology, and all sorts of things it has, the more it becomes confused in its life.

Question: You often emphasize that no invention on our earthly level means anything to you?

Answer: It will give nothing. Absolutely nothing! But these inventions will lead humanity to the recognition of evil. Everything we invent, supposedly for the benefit of our egoism, ultimately leads us to evil and to the recognition of this evil.

Comment: So if humanity were to stop and invent nothing at all..

My Response: We cannot stop, because the same egoism drives us toward progress so that we will understand that we have no choice but to correct the ego itself.

Question: Why does humanity constantly invent more and more things?

Answer: It wants to achieve a calm, good life. But the result is the opposite.

Comment: Indeed: nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and immediately nuclear energy that wipes everything out.

My Response: Yes, and it is the same with everything. People cannot invent anything good or benevolent. Nothing at all!

Question: What invention would you call eternal, beneficial to humanity, and capable of leading it to happiness?

Answer: The correction of man’s evil nature—that alone. There is nothing else.

Comment: But first people must realize that they live with an evil nature.

My Response: That is precisely what drives them toward that realization. The world is in a state where it no longer knows what to do with itself.

At one time we thought that socialism, communism, or capitalism would save us, or something else, some form of freedom, liberalism, and so on. But everything very quickly leads to the realization of evil.

Comment: You used to say that humanity’s development was once a linear progression of egoism with the thinking things would get better and then communism would eventually arrive. But now egoism seems to have closed in on itself.

In other words, we have become interconnected, like a single village, yet the same old pursuits continue, and humanity still fails to grasp the evil nature within itself.

My Response: I think we will reach a point where humanity will say: “It would have been better if we had not invented this!” As for the atom, it can already say this today. And they will say the same about everything else.

And what was wrong with living in caves? What exactly?! Absolutely nothing. When people know what they have, they realize that it is enough for them.

Question: So huddled together around a fire, people were happier than those who today run around with electric batteries?

Answer: Of course! Without a doubt. There were more opportunities to be happy there.

Well, what can you do? It is written about this: “One who increases knowledge increases sorrow,” or “One who increases wealth increases suffering.”

Question: Do you think these sayings are still relevant today?

Answer: More than ever!

Question: We cannot help but increase our knowledge, can we? Egoism drives us.

Answer: We cannot. We cannot help but increase both wealth and knowledge. Egoism will constantly push us to do so.

The goal is to bring us to the recognition of evil, specifically that the evil lies in our very nature and evil lies in the fact that we believe the world we live in is what needs improving. But it cannot be improved; we must rise above it.

Question: In other words, we must change ourselves. Will we reach that point within our lifetime? I would love to see the truth of your words come to pass.

Answer: I do not believe that this will happen that quickly. But personally, that does not concern me. What difference does it make when it happens? Regardless of the state we are, it will happen to all of us eventually.
[256885]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 10/15/19

Related Material:
Has Humanity Being Become Happier?
What Prevents Happiness?
Where Does The Program Of Development Lead Us? Part 1

Filed under: Crisis, Egoism, Globalization, Happiness, News - No Comments →

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 161

What Should We Do in the Next Moment?

In the next moment, we must unite more deeply with our sensations, further sharpen our senses, and develop greater inner acuity in our contact with the Creator. This search, this connection, this discovery of contact, is given to us by increasing the illumination upon us. That is the reward.

We need to understand that advancement toward the final correction, even though it includes various states of alternating light and darkness, is itself the reward. When we are given a deficiency and the ability to realize that deficiency, that is our reward. How could it be anything other than reward?

Punishment is when we feel abandoned, when we feel as though we are not being attended to, as if we are in suspension. There is no greater punishment. “Why have You forsaken me?” That feeling itself is the punishment.

Kabbalists are people who yearn for Godliness, and who are indeed, as it is written, “Jews,” meaning from the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How was Abraham different from the other nations? It is that he was a Kabbalist. In that he recognized his Creator and wished to unite with Him, he differed from his Persian neighbors.

To clarify, the Israeli nation is not unique by biological genes, but because it is a group of Kabbalists that separated from the Persian people. Therefore they called themselves “Jews” (Yehudim) or “Hebrews” (Ivrim). “Jews” because they seek unification (Yichud), and “Hebrews” because they cross over (Laavor) the barrier (Machsom) between our world and the spiritual world. That is our nation. When we fall from the degree of Kabbalists, we become called “gentiles.”

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 160
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 159
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 158

Filed under: Talks about the Steps of the Ladder - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 6 “When Should One Use Pride in the Work?” (1990) (5.17.2001)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (5.17.2001)

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 →

Right and left, mercy and judgment. Israel are to the right and the idol worshipping nations are to the left.

Israel, even when they are wicked and yielding, they are on the right; they do not cling to the left, and never mingle with it.

This is why it is written, “Save with Your right hand, and answer me,” for when the right ascends, Israel—who cling to it—rise and are crowned in it.

Then the left side and all who come with it surrender, as it is written, “Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy” (The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Shmini,” Item 25).

We do not need to concentrate on the left line, because if you begin delving into those desires, it will seem to you as though you are clarifying something and rebelling against your evil qualities. But in the meantime, you become connected to them, and that is not good.

We should try not to notice them, as though they do not exist. We do not want to deal with them. Instead, we should constantly strive toward the right side! And when you aspire toward the spiritual goal, toward adhesion with the Creator, toward the upper degree, toward bestowal, its light will correct you and your egoistic desires (the left side).

You yourself will never be able to fight against them, and it is better not to engage with them at all. The left line awakens within you only so that you will cling even more strongly to the right line. This is our path.

But a person turns to the left line and imagines himself a hero, capable of working with these desires and defeating them. No! The Creator will defeat them for you! The Creator fights this battle, not you.

We do not have the strength for it. One who aspires to the Creator is small and weak; he is incapable of fighting on his own. The Creator arranges everything for us. All we need is to want it to happen—to ask!

Therefore, all our work is called the Creator’s work, because the upper force, the upper degree, the Creator, performs all the actions, while we only express our desire for them to take place.

Our entire work is to desire this in advance. This is called: “I awaken the dawn,” like a horse that obediently moves forward, sensing the rider’s desire even before the rider gives the command.
[8381]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 11/1/10, The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Shemini”

Related Material:
Let’s Go to Pharaoh—Together!
The Work of the Creator
The Wall Inside

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

It is said about the embryo: “The mother gives him the red part, the father the white part, and the Creator the soul.”

A frequent problem in the work is that we forget about the third component, about the Creator, who must finish all the work for us.

A person makes tremendous efforts and then wonders: where is the desired result?

They fail to realize that they are not bringing this action to completion, because they forget that all their actions must begin and end with the Creator, with the upper force. The person stands in the middle.

In the same way, we ascend from the initial state (one) to the final state (three); we emerge from infinity and return to infinity.

Along the way we develop and correct ourselves, either by the path of suffering or by the path of light. In any case, it is the light that works, and we only add our desire. We do not correct ourselves; we only accelerate our development.

Yet, a person usually forgets that he is only one of the components of his development, one that slightly intensifies it, and because of this feeling how the action changes from bad to good.

But the action itself takes place by virtue of forces that already exist in nature. The main thing here is the force of the Creator.

If a person does not draw the Creator to his aid so that He will complete the action, this third component, absent from his picture of nature, then not a single action is brought to completion, and therefore the person remains as he was!

This is a well-known mistake that often remains unnoticed. And there is only one solution: to turn to the group for help.

If there is a common opinion in the group that the Creator is the main force that determines the outcome of the action, then each one included in the group will not forget about this. Then he will not have to experience the bitter disappointment of having worked so much and having achieved nothing.

Seek the Creator (as it is said: “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves,” Song of Songs) and remember that a person is not able to win this battle by himself, there is also a partner.

And without Him, a person has only an empty desire, which gradually dies out like a small flame.
[17693]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/10, Rabash, 1985 “On My Bed at Night”

Related Material:
The Creator Will Finish Our Work For Us
Steps Toward The Unknown
Finally, We Are Ready For Correction

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

Question: Are you saying that the entire path of technological progress, technological revolutions, and even the Nobel Prizes awarded for them have ultimately brought harm to humanity?

Answer: Everything! All of it exists only so that we may recognize the evil within it. Can you imagine how I must sound saying this?

Question: Do you realize what you are challenging? Everything!

Answer: Everything! Absolutely everything!

Comment: Scholarships, scientific research, universities, factories, industries, everything.

My Response: Until a person understands what all of it is truly for, nothing should be placed in his hands, not even a small gadget, let alone an atomic bomb. Otherwise, this is exactly what happens. Our entire life is spent neutralizing the negative effects that this progress has on us.

Question: So our present condition is, in a way, the consequence of this progress? All these downfalls, all these viruses?

Answer: Yes. We do nothing but neutralize its negative consequences.

Question: Then would you stop all technological progress?

Answer: All of our progress has been aimed solely at allowing us to act egoistically, however we please. to behave selfishly without suffering the consequences.

Question: Under what condition is technological progress beneficial and necessary?

Answer: Only to the extent that it helps us become more closely connected with one another.

Question: Only if that is its purpose?

Answer: Yes. We do not realize where egoism leads us when it is the only thing we develop. Everything that comes from it ultimately becomes harmful, and in the end, it will have to be stopped. I am not advocating that people suddenly reject everything, as some do today. I am speaking about the overall course of humanity.

Comment: So we should not give up medicine, of course.

My Response: We should not give up anything. We simply need to behave correctly toward nature. Wherever you can act according to the law of connection, goodness, love, and so on, act! Everything else should be set aside. Then you will see how everything begins to form a completely different picture.

Comment: You realize that you will receive a flood of letters and comments saying that you are against progress, against the development of humanity.

My Response: I am in favor of reasonable progress, which consists of combining the egoistic and altruistic forces of nature so that they work together. Both the left line and the right line are necessary, but there must also be the middle line that guides them forward.

Question: On that basis, will the process that follows be correct? Precisely because of this combination?

Answer: Yes. But at some point, we departed from this correct relationship with nature and began developing in only one direction—for the sake of egoism alone.

Question: Is that why we have wrecked the environment?

Answer: Yes, everything! Not only the environment; we have ruined the human being!
[358203]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/21/26

Related Material:
I Forgot How to Talk to Real People
The Path Chosen by Humanity
When Technological Progress Overtakes Moral Progress

Filed under: Crisis, Egoism, Globalization, News - No Comments →