Question: In the article “Understanding What Is Discussed in the Shulchan Aruch,” Baal HaSulam speaks about a transitional stage where as soon as something is revealed to a person, he rebels against it and begins to regret it. What does it mean that his mouth and heart are one?

Answer: Is it possible for a person not to feel regret, not to run away, but to move toward the goal? He himself has no strength at all. He can influence himself only through the group. There is only one answer here. Of the four factors that Baal HaSulam speaks of (the foundation, the development of the foundation, the environment, and the development of the environment), we are not capable of changing anything except the influence of the environment upon us.

If I want to change something in me, I must find the place that will influence me. If I want to change something else, I need to find another place that will influence me. I must choose whether I should speak with you or not, whether I should ask another person or not, whether I should listen to this or not. I must constantly choose what will influence me. This means that I perform a restriction upon myself and then choose the means through which I will develop.

In other words, I choose the goal, I choose the means, and I understand that I can I influence myself only in this way. I effectively act upon myself in the same manner that the Creator acts on me; I possess a vessel akin to that of the Creator; I look at myself from the side as a doctor looks at a patient; I treat myself as a third party, as something external. This grants me the opportunity to do something with this “I,” called, for example, Michael.

I know that I encompass certain desires, aspirations, and thoughts. How can I organize each parameter so that it is closer to the truth, to what I now understand as bestowal, the purpose of creation, and equivalence to the Creator? How can I myself change these properties and values?

For this, I must examine by what means I can do this. Certainly, these are external means, specifically through the group and the influence it exerts upon me from the outside. There is no other possibility. But if I know what I must become and what I am now, then I can more or less imagine what the external factor must be in order to move me from point A to point B.

Then I seek such a factor, such an environment, such a force that will change my direction and give importance to something else. Thus, I can more or less imagine what the group must be like, whether I need precisely these people or somewhat different ones, what inspires me in this group, and so on. It is as if I choose before entering the group, and upon entering, these calculations cease.

Thus, I am able to make a certain restriction, draw a boundary, and say: now I decide what will influence me. Then I make a decision and truly fix this influence. In this way, I as if choose my future form; that is, I create and shape myself. Then my work truly consists in using the forces of creation. It is similar to the work of the Creator, and on the basis of this, I study Him.

I have all the data; I need only to internalize, within both my mind and heart the understanding that I cannot influence myself by some frantic, inner exertion. No inner effort alone will help me; rather, only the effort made through the group will help. Why? Because through this, I acquire the property of bestowal. I do not simply want to change myself and become someone else. That other into whom I transform myself, by way of the group, will certainly exist in a state of bestowal.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/26, Rabash, “Rosh Hashanah”

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