Don’t Mix the Material with the Spiritual

962.7Comment: Our whole life, in essence, is a series of states through which we are being prepared to attain the goal.

My Response: If you find it difficult to connect your animal (material) life with the work of the Creator, do not connect them. Otherwise, you will become like those who see the hand of the Creator in everything around them: “I do this, and He answers me like that. My physical actions are spirituality itself. Angels are fluttering about right here.” By thinking like that, you will only confuse yourself. It is incorrect.

The spiritual realm means “above reason,” “for the sake of bestowal.” It is a nature that does not exist in our material world. If you want to reveal it, you can do so only by working within two distinct spheres that are completely detached from each other. The animal is the animal, and the spiritual is the spiritual.

Otherwise, you will get confused, much like those who merely “appear” to be engaged in spiritual work. They turn their gaze toward the stars, act according to horoscopes, card readings, and facial features, or tie a red string around your wrist. Show a cow a red string, perhaps it will give a little more milk… There are notions that one kind of matter exerts an influence on another.

The psychological aspect is a separate topic: indeed, a person feels some psychological support from this. However, this is not spiritual. Therefore, do not conflate the two by clothing one within the other.

There is no connection between the spiritual and the material. There is a complete disconnect. It is not without reason that I state that no material action can generate a spiritual result—unless you infuse that action with the specific intention to attain spirituality.

If you simply being cultivating love for the friends without any further intent, this may lead you to results opposite to your goal. For an action by itself yields nothing; on the contrary, it merely reveals how futile it is, a process that only serves to shatter you. Therefore, don’t bring the material into the spiritual nor conversely, the spiritual into the material. This is incorrect.

For you now, spirituality is how you imagine your connection with the Creator. That is all. “There is none else besides Him”; He is the good that does good in everything you think or could possibly think about Him.

I understand that this still gives rise to confusion because we cannot distinguish within ourselves our attitude toward our own lives from our attitude toward spirituality. But gradually this understanding will come. Later, when we actually reveal divinity, we will gradually notice how one seems to clothe itself in the other, but not in the way we might imagine it now.
[354180]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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Is There Holiness in Material Objects?

282.02Question: You said that the higher degree closest to us means that we see how the Shechina clothes itself in all our actions. What actions are we talking about?

Answer: The closest degree, and not only the closest, but in general the degree that a person must always see before him, is the revelation of the Shechina, of how it clothes itself in the whole world, in everything that is in it, in the friends; to see that this single and special force unites all actions in the world, and that he himself is under its power.

This is what the article “There is None Else Besides Him” teaches us. We must constantly keep it before our eyes.

But we must not confuse this with material things. This means that I will not interpret all actions in the material without having revealed the true state, that the Shechina is clothed in the whole world.

Without revealing this, I must not interpret each material action as if it occurs for some spiritual reason. I must not attribute spiritual forces to material objects and items as if I know that it is so.

What special force is there in a red string? I have not yet revealed it. Believe me, I really do not know.

This is spoken of in The Book of Zohar. Do we read the Zohar according to the branches, or according to the roots? If you take the red string in its root and begin to do with it what is written there, then it is clear that this is a spiritual action. But what relation does this have to taking a red string here and tying it on the hand, on the leg, on the ear? What will this give you?

This is used in order to strengthen a person, as the Hasidim did. Did our forefathers two thousand years ago walk around in fur hats, robes, high socks [items of the traditional clothing of some Hasidim]? No. I do not deny that this supports the people. But one must not turn this into some sort of sanctity. Yes, it keeps us within bounds, it distinguishes our actions and thoughts, directs a person, but we must not introduce forces of holiness into this.

We must say: “Yes, we are animals, and our psychology is such that in such and such a way the external part influences and strengthens us.” Correct, this is used in all kinds of movements and will always be used. Consider the many examples in the army, all the various insignia, flags, and so on, which exist only in order to bolster the human spirit. Go to psychologists; they have an entire science about how to influence a person. But do not introduce forces of holiness into this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 4/2/26

Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 13 “What Is ‘the People’s Shepherd Is the Whole People’ in the Work?” (1988) (5.2.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 15 (5.4.2016)

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3rd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 4/1/26

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Striving for the Revelation of Truth

294.2Question: Is it permissible to conduct experiments on myself, imagining as if I am already in the spiritual world?

Answer: No, we must not imagine these states. We must strive for them. Strive and not imagine how this actually takes place.

On the basis of imagination, according to your animate part, you begin to build up conceptions that this is already happening.

I am speaking about striving. People ask: “What should one strive for?” Baal HaSulam, in the article “There is None Else Besides Him,” writes that we should strive for the revelation of the Shechina, which is clothed in the whole world. Until you reveal this, you will not have a true picture of the world.

Question: Is it possible to search for this?

Answer: To search means to strive for it to be revealed and not to construct all sorts of fantasies as if you already imagine what it is.
[354245]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’” in the Work?”

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What Determines the Pace of Advancement?

527.03Question: Is it considered that I myself chose my past pace of advancement, or did I not have a choice then?

Answer: You had a choice, but you did not exercise it. Regarding the pace of advancement, you are free. We must believe that in the current state, our feeling of how we advance and our attitude to the Creator depend on our efforts.

If you apply efforts, then in the end, you will relate well to all these things. You will justify Him, you will attain love for Him; and if not, then you will go through the same states in a bad feeling.

Question: For example, if in the past I could choose two directions: to the right or to the left, then even if I made a mistake, by now, has the Creator arranged it so that everything turned out correctly?

Answer: Regarding the past, you did not make a mistake in anything.

Question: Is it worthwhile to recall previous good states in order to receive reinforcement for the present and the future?

Answer: Yes. That is what you are doing. It does not matter whether it is worthwhile or not, whether it is permitted or not. That is what people do. But when a person advances a bit further, he does not want to receive reinforcement from the past; he always seeks reinforcement in the Creator, in disconnecting himself from the past.

This is called “Every day will be as new in your eyes.” Everything is new. You do not want to receive support from what was before. You want to receive support from your search for a connection with the Creator each time. However, if for the time being the body demands this kind of reinforcement, that is also normal. Nothing can be done; such are the stages of the path.
[354253]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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Can One Get Rid of the Desire to Receive?

252Comment: I keep revealing the desire to receive, and there is no end to this.

My Response: We agree with you that your request to be rid of the desire to receive comes from the bottom of your heart. You suffer and want to get rid of it. However, there are still several factors here.

First of all, not all your “crimes” have been revealed to you yet. There are still many “cases” against you each of which must be revealed and shown to you, and then you will confess to each of them, and accordingly, each case will be closed.

In addition, seeing the depth of your desire to receive, seeing how much you are still an egoist although you previously thought that this was no longer so, at the same time you reveal that you did not ask in a pure form to be rid of the desire to receive. You asked to get rid of it because you felt bad from it, and not because, setting yourself aside, you desired to be rid of this quality.

You must hate it because it is against the Creator, and this is revealed gradually, together with the exposure of the desire. The greater the quantitative depth of your ego into which you descend, the more qualitatively you see that you did not at all ask to be detached from the desire to receive as from a distinct, isolated quality, apart from the fact that you feel bad because of it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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Everything Depends on One’s Attitude Toward the Group

232.05Question: Where is the boundary regarding clarifications carried out in the group?

Answer: There is no boundary! You might ask: “If I am on level number ten and the group is on level number two, can it awaken me to rise to the eleventh level? What does it mean that they ‘wash my brain’? Who are they compared to me that they could arouse me, given such a difference in our levels?”

This is not a question. They can awaken you and help your ascent regardless of who they are. That is why it is written: “From all my students I have learned.”

You can take a group of beginners who understand the spiritual idea only a little, and through them receive such an ascent and such a “brain-washing” that you will rise from the world of Yetzira to the world of Beria. I am speaking completely seriously. This has nothing to do with what a person represents, what he feels, or what he clarifies. It relates only to your effort in relation to the group.

If you were now to enter the group of the students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, you would receive from them exactly as much as you receive here in your own group. Everything depends on what you demand and what you invest. What matters here is the effort of each person.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/7/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘There Is Nothing that Has No Place,’ in the Work?”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 4/1/26

Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 13 “Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover” (1987) (3.15.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Conversations of a Kabbalist with His Students During the Day

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3rd part of the Lesson — “I Am He, and Not the Messenger”

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 3/31/26

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