…there is only one counsel then: to cling to his teacher and to the books. This is called “From the mouth of books and from the mouth of authors.” Only by clinging to them can he change his mind and will for the better. However, witty arguments will not help him change his mind…

In other words, all the concepts upon which he builds his building, saying one must always follow in the path of the Creator, is founded in Dvekut with his teacher. Thus, if he loses the foundation, all the concepts are powerless since they will now be lacking the foundation. (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 25, “Things that come from the Heart“)

When after many hardships, searches for the meaning of life, or attempts to suppress the inner questioning with antidepressants a path is finally revealed to a person, and he is brought to a Kabbalistic group and a teacher, he faces the task of changing how he sees himself and the world, transforming his perception.

To do this, he must follow the advice of the Kabbalists: “Make for yourself a Rav and buy yourself a friend.” In other words, he must attach to something outside of himself. If he replaces his own desire with the desire of another—of the teacher, the group, the friends, those close to him in spirit—he acquires a spiritual vessel through this.

He then moves from an egoistic approach where he perceives nothing more than this so-called world, to a perception through the group where he begins to feel the spiritual world.

Here, unity with the teacher is of great importance, because someone must bring the person into the group where he will acquire his spiritual vessel. Just as in life, there are childhood years before one grows up, and during this time one is guided and supported by parents, society, and an entire system.

When a person matures and enters life, he finds his place in this system and can exist independently. But first, someone must give birth to him, guide him through childhood, and help him stand on his own two feet. This guide, this educator, is the teacher—or as he is called in Kabbalah, Rav (great one). This is a spiritual concept and not a physical body.

Rav is the higher part of the general system, who cares for the students just as the spiritual Partzufim Aba ve-Ima care for ZON in order to raise them upward. Why are we given the sensation of this higher part of the system in the form of a physical person living in our world? So that we can be awakened in some way through events of this material life and feel that we have support.

The measure of a person’s spiritual advancement is how closely he follows the teacher’s advice regarding spiritual actions, how much he acts with faith above reason, that is, replacing his own opinion with the teacher’s, his own values with the values of the upper one. Along this path, there are many ups and downs: from love for the teacher to hatred toward him, many doubts, questions, and clarifications.

A person goes through many states and must experience them all. But the key is to hasten the process and realize that he has been given the opportunity to rise above himself and cling to the upper one even in a material way: through a physical person, through that person’s desires, thoughts, teachings, help, and submission to his advice, which is often contrary to one’s own opinion, calculations, and pragmatic logic.

Ultimately, he realizes that he cannot pass the exam of devotion and union with spirituality if he does not first pass it in relation to his teacher.

As Baal HaSulam says in his Speech for the Completion of The Zohar:

“Serving one’s teacher with body and soul leads to unity with him—that is, to similarity of form. In this way, the student receives the thoughts and knowledge of the teacher ‘mouth to mouth,’ through the merging of souls. By this, he attains the greatness of the Creator to such a degree that bestowal becomes reception, turning into the energy sufficient to place his entire soul and being into achieving adhesion with the Creator.”

Thus, merging with the teacher is a means for spiritual advancement. Through it, one transitions from learning “mouth to ear” to the spiritual transmission of information “mouth to mouth,” through an internal channel that arises between the student, the teacher, and the upper system.

Of course, this is merely a means for attaining adhesion with the Creator. Just as a father and mother are the means through which a person is born, grows, and becomes ready for independent life, so too are these systems—the teacher, the group, and the books—absolutely essential. One cannot do without them.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/1/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Things that Come from the Heart”

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