Question: We have discussed how a person must come to a state of complete disappointment regarding one’s own powers. How, can this be reconciled with the need to say: “If I am not for myself, who is for me?”

Answer: In every state, a person must say: “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” If I have completely despaired of my own strength, then what? Does that mean everything is over for me?

Does this mean I am saying: “That is it! The Creator must help me!”? But how do I know when that should happen? Perhaps it is now or perhaps only ten years from now? Should I constantly wish to reach a state of despair?

On the contrary, I know that it is precisely from such a state that the leap into spirituality takes place. As Baal HaSulam writes in one of his letters in A Sage’s Fruit:

There is no happier state in man’s world than when he finds himself despaired with his own strength, that is, he has already labored and done all that he could possibly imagine he could do, but found no remedy. It is then that he is fit for a wholehearted prayer for the Creator’s help. And the Creator hears such a prayer.

So now am I supposed to strive to become disappointed with my own abilities? No! If I did that, I would never reach that state. I must constantly press forward with the thought: “If I am not for myself, who is for me?”

And if, at times, it is revealed to me that I am incapable of it, so be it. Then I am incapable, but I still continue moving forward, toward a new state, toward new attempts. As Baal HaSulam explains: “If you fail in one endeavor, then begin another. And if that also fails, start yet another.”

You are living, you continue working and continue making attempts. When will complete disappointment in one’s own powers finally be revealed? We do not know.

It reaches a point that Nachshon (the brave one) jumps into the sea, wanting to cross it by his own strength, and only then does the sea part. He jumps. He does not wait around thinking, “Well, the Creator ought to arrange everything now. My enemies are behind me, the sea is before me. Since I have been placed in such a situation, I will just cry out and throw up my hands.”

No. We do not raise our hands and surrender. We jump into the sea. There has to be a leap. Your task is to jump.

Question: And what about “There is none else besides Him”?

Answer: “There is none else besides Him” is not referring to that at all. It means that behind every situation and every state stands the Creator.

But I accept this only as the result of what has already happened, only as the outcome.

Question: When Nachshon jumps into the sea, is he trying to end his life, or is he hoping for a miracle?

Answer: When one jumps into the sea, one does not count on a miracle.

Likewise, we do not jump because we want to end our lives,  we jump because we want to live. We want to cross this sea.

A person simply has no other choice, and therefore does everything within one’s power. They believe that they can cross the Final Sea (Yam Suf) through their own efforts. It is not so much a matter of belief; rather, they have no alternative, and on the other hand, this is simply the only correct course of action.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 160

If We Know That Everything Is the Creator’s Work, How Can We Feel That the Work Itself Is the Reward?

If we are in the sensation of Godliness, then we understand that the work itself is the reward and that there is nothing higher than it.

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Question: Can you give an example of a request just off the top of your head?

Answer: Let’s say I have a habit of stealing. I have been caught many times, beaten for it, imprisoned, and so on. Eventually, I come to the conclusion that stealing only harms me.

I begin asking the Creator for help. But I see that it does not help much. Then I start thinking: “Why is it not helping?” It turns out that doesn’t help much because I am asking Him only because I want my life to be better; it is not because I want to become a better person, but because I want things to be better for me. In that case, He does really help.

But if I ask Him to truly make me a better person, then He will help me. Everything depends on the purity of the request, on how much it is directed toward others, and how far removed it is from my own egoism.

Comment: When I ask for things to be better for me, there is no answer. But when I ask to become better, we have changed only one word here.

My Response: Yes, then there is an answer. Why? Because when I ask for things to be better for me,  even if t not through stealing, that is, it is practically a form of stealing. He doesn’t really help with that. But when I ask for things to be better for others, then yes.

Question: So that I become better in my relationship with others? And in that way I myself become better?

Answer: Yes. When it pains me that I am taking from others, then, if I ask Him for help, it will work.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/16/26

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 24 “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work?” (1990)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: What does it mean to reveal the Creator?

Answer: Revealing the Creator means revealing the cause of one’s state.

Question: Is it necessary to remember that the Creator is the cause?

Answer: It is impossible to remember. A person, according to his preparation and his environment, can reach a state when he immediately feels the root of what is happening.

In every state, he will feel the Creator hiding behind the reality surrounding him. And instead of thinking and fearing “How should I act, what should I do? The judges want to put me in jail. There, they want to beat me, here, everyone is angry with me, and there is something else going on…,” he immediately sees the root of the problem.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 159

Chapter 16. Preparing the Sensation

During the period of preparation and upon entering spirituality, there are many actions we need to undergo. These include passing through special spiritual states called “birth,” “conception” (Ibur), “nurturing” (Yenika), and “mind” (Mochin), or “smallness, infancy” (Katnut), and “greatness, adulthood” (Gadlut).

When we are already in spirituality, in the sensation of Godliness, we go through various stages called 24 hours of the spiritual day. In The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 12, we learn how prayer is continuously divided into these 24 hours. Even sleep (the departure of the Mochin) is not rest. Instead, it is a special preparation for the next stage, and within it too there is much inner work in every single state.

That is, spirituality speaks of states in which we need to seemingly exert great effort in order to perform certain corrections and connections.

However, here it is written differently: “There is none as holy as the Lord, for there is no one besides You.” Meaning, everything is the Creator’s work. The Creator performs all the work. It is His work. The person has nothing to do but reach the sensation that indeed “there is none as holy as the Lord,” that “there is no one besides the Creator” who performs all actions. The Creator is responsible for both the planning and the execution, and in whom the result also resides. Our entire work and efforts are only to feel what is truly happening to us, and to feel it as correctly as possible.

Therefore, we learn in the wisdom of Kabbalah that all the degrees and states, from the present state to the future, even to what is called “the future to come” (which means after the final correction), are states that we exist in now. The states exist, we only need to experience them, one after another.

We can pass through them only by the force of movement, which is the light that corrects and fills us at every stage. That is advancement. This light acts upon us without any intervention on our part. Even the request for the light to come and correct us is a special request that we cannot generate by ourselves since we do not know what the light is, what we should be drawn to, what we should yearn for, or what we should attain.

We only need to pay attention to what is happening to us, what the Creator wants from us, and what the Creator is operating upon us at this very moment. In other words, we need to be sensitive to our contact with Godliness.

The moment we fully feel a state, it changes. When we have felt, absorbed, and accepted it, the state becomes ours. Afterward, we must once again sharpen our senses in order to equalize our form and feel the next state. In this too, of course, the Creator acts upon us, but we must make some effort to intensify our yearning. That is, we must actualize the yearning that the Creator gives us, or become aware of the yearning that we receive from above, and in such a way we advance.

Therefore, we learn in Kabbalah that all these states—birth, conception, nurturing, and Mochin—are carried out by the upper one. The preparation that we make is only to sharpen our sensitivity. We must be ready for the actions the Creator performs.

This means that opposite the holiness (Kedusha) from above, we must prepare our holiness from below.

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Comment: When you suggest something new (for example, a “spiritual stimulant,” people say: “Here goes Laitman with another new scheme. Later, there will be something different.”

My Response: Of course there will be!

We are looking for a way to create something that constantly unites us, helps us adjust to each other, keeps us together, and compels us to return to the same fundamental question. This is a pressing issue for us, and it is not going away. It can be in this form, or in a different form, or in a third. We shall see!

Comment: There are people who take a passive, waiting stance, andothers who are active. As a rule, newcomers tend to be more active.

My Response: Those who wait around lose! Spirituality is not like our world where you can dodge responsibility and do nothing. Here, you work for yourself and not for a boss! So, if people want to pass us by, let them. I am not driving anyone with a stick.

Question: What is the importance of a “spiritual stimulant?” Is it dictated by forces from above?

Answer: No, we have advanced to a state where we have to work on unity. The “stimulant” is a means for uniting. Come up with something different, more productive, and we will be happy to switch to it. Why not, if there is something more effective?
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Laitman’s bullying” 10/13/10

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Question: What does nature want from us?

Answer: Nature wants us to want to be good and kind.

Question: Is that all?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Stop being evil and become good? What do you mean by “good and kind”?

Answer: Good and kind means that absolutely everyone is truly pleased with you. Not in this world. This cannot happen in our world. Those egoists around us… .

Question: So, I am not just playing along with those who want… ?

Answer: No. When I speak about humanity and about nature in general, I mean
a completely different level of existence.

Question: When will they be pleased with me? What is the goodness they expect
from me?

Answer: When I correct them, and they become absolutely good,
perfect, and corrected.

Question: Correct whom?

Answer: All people.

Question: I have to correct all people?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Me?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this my job? Correcting things is the Creator’s job!

Answer: It is your duty.

Question: Perhaps I need to correct myself rather than all the others around me?

Answer: This is how you correct yourself.

Question: By correcting all people, I correct myself?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: This is something new. By correcting myself, I correct people.

My Response: It is the same thing.

Question: Is it really the same thing?

Answer: Of course. You see yourself in people.

Question: So, if I help with their correction, I am thereby correcting myself?

Answer: It is one and the same! You see a reflection of yourself. In this way, you correct the Creator.

Question: Every sentence is a revolution. The Creator needs to be corrected?

Answer: Of course. We have to create Him!

Question: Is He imperfect? Is He not constant?

Answer: He does not exist at all; you have to create Him! Constantly strive to make Him better and better.

Comment: We will never unravel this riddle.

My Response: No. Nor do we need to!

Question: So we should just leave it at that? Create the Creator?

Answer: Yes. That is exactly what is written in the Torah: “You have made Me.”
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/20/26

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