If during the lesson you make an effort to concentrate as much as possible on what I am saying, you will feel how through these words I am opening a path for you to develop your soul.

We have texts that we study and discuss in a group. At the same time, we are influenced by the laws of nature, the laws of ten, the laws that bind us at a higher level, and the laws that bind us at a lower level, and we must constantly be in this cycle.

And when I get inside the book, it becomes my rightful ruler, like a mother to an infant who changes his diapers, bathes him, and changes his clothes over and over again. We must strive to reach a state where the Creator would want to care for us just like a mother cares for a baby.

Nothing limits us in our work, and everyone has the opportunity to make even greater efforts. But it happens that despite investing a lot, we get minimal results.

And this is a consequence of the fact that in our work there are forces acting on a person’s desires, and there are forces acting on a person’s connection with reality. And we must strive to achieve the greatest success in both of these areas.

We need to choose words and passages from The Book of Zohar that will draw the maximum illumination to us and so move forward.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/25, Continuing the Convention With an Ascent

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Question: How should one act practically when bad thoughts come, and how does one elevate them to holiness? What are these actions within the ten?

Answer: Everything depends on how connected you are with the ten, how much they lift you up, or whether you bring them down.

It is a similar calculation to school assignments, where you are given several conditions and need to find something common between them.

Question: So if I take the right actions toward my friends, can I essentially prepare myself for this state and go through it quickly?

Answer: Relatively quickly.

Question: You said that a person can bring the ten down. Does that mean that when he acts mechanically without opening his heart, he is essentially not fulfilling his task? Is that what it means to “bring the ten down”?

Answer: Yes.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/25, “Continuing the Convention With an Ascent”

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Question: You said that a person is born with a Kli, but then wastes it. It feels like we are constantly talking about purifying desires. But I have a need to develop desire in my friend. Should a person strive to develop additional vessels? After all, then we will be able to give more to the Creator.

Answer: If you think this way, if you strive to reveal your friend to the Creator, then do so. But in this case, you must act strictly consistently and not be afraid. If something is unclear, ask the Creator, and speak with your friends. But this should be clear and revealed to everyone.

The science of Kabbalah is called a secret not because we are afraid to talk among ourselves. It is called the science of the secret that is in the heart of a person, because the heart is hidden behind many seals.

And we must gradually uncover them and approach the inner heart as close as possible. This is what we must strive for; it very much depends on the connection between us.

All that I fear is that you do not spoil it for each other, that you help one another. This is the most important thing.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/25, “Great is Repentance, for it Reaches unto the Throne”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 100

Does Inspiration From the Society Not Contradict Inner Work?

No, there is no contradiction between inspiration from the group and inner work because when we are inspired by the group, whether we want it or not, we will regard the greatness of our friends and this will serve as a kind of power source for us. We should never disregard this. If someone openly shows disregard, they should be immediately expelled from the group, and this applies also to those who do not appear regularly for various fixed arrangements within the group. Such behavior must not be tolerated as it greatly weakens the collective. This kind of behavior immediately disconnects the group from the goal.
From a Talk on the Article “What Is the Main Deficiency for which One Should Pray?,” 6/4/2002

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati 58, “Joy Is A ‘Reflection’ of Good Deeds”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 369, “Joy While Learning Torah”

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3rd part of the Lesson — “The Conditions for Studying with Friends”

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The Creator stands behind your hater, the enemy stands behind him. If you want to turn to the Creator, you must somehow break through the heart of your enemy with your attitude.

Comment: But this is an unbearable condition.

My Response: This is an unbearable condition, which means, we will die, from century to century.

Question: Do you think this is the main condition?

Answer: Yes! It should become something that I must see in everyone, my beloved people. Moreover, there are particles of the Creator, His messengers, representatives.

If I treat everything around me in this way, I will suddenly see that the Creator is clothed in them. He is in them, fills them, and in general, it is all Him. Everything!

Question: The person hears you, and everything turns inside out. He says: “It is not just impossible!” What should he do, the way he is?

Answer: Turn over. Roll over!

Question: And here too, should I ask the Creator: “Give me the opportunity to turn over”?

Answer: Of course! And who am I? Some kind of selfish little part that is not capable of anything.

Question: So I am able only if I turn to the Creator, that I want to turn over and approach my enemy, and embrace him, and raise a prayer with him?

Answer: I ask the Creator to allow me to do this, to show me, to teach, to push, and that my opponent would also want the same thing, would agree with me. Because I see both myself and my opponent as an act of the Creator. That the Creator is pointing us at each other like this, pushing horns against each other, inciting us.

And that is why I ask the Creator to bring us closer, to open arms instead of fists, so that we gradually show our love for each other. Right down to love.

Comment: If the world could hear you…

My Response: If people want to, that is the problem. And the Creator is ready for it if people want to. If they want to, it depends on the suffering they feel.
[340890]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/3/22

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Comment: According to Dr. Robert Lustig, professor emeritus at University of California, San Francisco, happiness and pleasure are not really the same.

He asserts that pleasure is short-lived and visceral and happiness is long-lived and ethereal. Pleasure is taking, while happiness is giving. Pleasure is usually experienced alone, while happiness is usually social. 

My Response: Indeed pleasure is an animate state in which my body enjoys. Happiness, on the other hand, is eternal and complete. It requires stepping out of oneself and rising above oneself. It is connected with a higher purpose, eternity, and true achievement.

Can both be combined? Yes, if I elevate all my pleasures to the level of happiness. Then by rising above my body, I will bring all the best to others, and in this I will find true pleasure and true happiness for myself.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/12/24

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Question: Often when we prepare material for dissemination, we try to include either your text or that of Baal HaSulam or Rabash in it. Does this actually work?

Answer: I do not think this is always justified because anyone who studies Kabbalah may be beyond all the original texts. After all, they are complex, intricate, and intended for a certain level. I would not do it.

Perhaps by including quotes, people are trying to shield themselves by saying, “Well, that is how it is written,” or they assume that what moves them will also move the consumer who is not familiar with Kabbalah. I doubt it.

I would not say I find it necessary. On the contrary, in all my early books, I rewrote everything into modern, somewhat scientific language to steer the reader away from thinking about Kabbalah and instead to allow them to feel or understand the information directly on the platform they are used to perceiving it.

I do not think it is necessary to introduce them to archaisms or other Kabbalistic “isms.” Why? The text should be presented in a way that makes it easier for a person to understand. As it is said: “Teach a child according to his way.”

Comment: But you did slightly modify Shamati, for example. That is, you wrote a book based on it.

My Response: In Hebrew, I did not modify Shamati at all. I only added punctuation marks, as they were quite chaotic. But in Russian, I made it a bit more fluid because otherwise the reader would not be able to absorb it; it would be a hindrance for them.

Comment: But in Russian, you wrote Attaining the Worlds Beyond, in which you included some elements from Shamati and presented them in a very pleasant, not dry form.

My Response: That is how it turned out because I processed it through myself. First, it is a translation, and second, a retelling. So I allowed myself that freedom. Moreover, Attaining the Worlds Beyond is not just from Shamati, it is from everything. It wrote this book in just ten days. It just poured out of me.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Kabbalistic Texts” 6/18/10

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 99

How Should We Behave in a Kabbalistic Group: To Act According to Our Truth or to Pretend?

There are two types of behavior in a Kabbalistic society and group:

1) Behavior characteristic of the greatest Kabbalists who have burning hearts within yet who exhibit disdainful behavior on the outside. This is like the behavior of the Hasidim of Kotzk (as described in the book Sneh Boer B’Kotzk). These were people who, inwardly, had reached high levels of understanding, yearning, true work, and constant inner effort, while outwardly they displayed open contempt. They did so to such an extent that people were even convinced that they were non-Jews. They entered the synagogue on Yom Kippur with crumbs of bread in their beards and did other things deliberately and defiantly so that outsiders would have no hold on their inner work, and they did this with utmost seriousness.

2) Behavior characteristic of our generation, where it is forbidden to show disdain, and instead it is required to express inspiration for the group. This is because we all need spiritual inspiration from the group, otherwise we will be spiritually lost. How? In our current state, we are only impressed by externality because we cannot see into our friends’ hearts. If everyone were to show disdain, we would also become disdainful.

It might be that all of our friends are completely righteous, but their external behavior will be exactly as the sages’ recommend in order to prevent any hold by outsiders. However, if they behave this way in front of us, we will not perceive this truth, but we will instead focus on their outward, false behavior, and we will thus become confused and abandon the whole matter.

Therefore, it is necessary to behave the opposite way. We should adopt a behavior that seems as if we truly desire spirituality, as if we love each other, as if we are willing to do everything for one another. Although this is an outward act and we all know it is a pretense, our body understands what it sees and hears, it believes only what it sees, and it is impressed by this outward behavior as though it were real.

Psychologists who study the body’s reactions also recommend that people tell their spouses every day, “I love you,” even when they are angry or feel a lack of love. If they repeat this sentence to their spouse, that is what the spouse hears, and the love reaches their heart with that sentence. This is how we need to act with the body in spiritual work. We should say: “The Creator is great, I love my friends, the goal is important,” and so on. Accordingly, the body will absorb that these things are important and significant.

This is how it works in our world. Fashion and tastes change and fluctuate. They have no real significance, no hold in reality; they are just illusions. But when importance is suddenly attributed to something and people worship it, even if it is empty of content, it becomes important to us as well because everyone says so. This is how it works also in spiritual work. Therefore, we need to openly demonstrate and discuss the importance of the spiritual goal and the Creator.

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