Question: A person goes through various states where he is literally consumed by desires. Can this be controlled?

Answer: Who talks about controlling anything? How many times have I reiterated that you have no control over anything except one thing: accelerating your development, following the principle of “do whatever is in your power to do!”

Do you see what the Kabbalists advise? “You are foolish; you do not see or understand anything, so do everything faster.” That is all. The great, rich science of Kabbalah and the wise Kabbalists who see from one end of the world to the other, what do they advise you to do?

Question: How is this acceleration expressed? In my attitude or in my physical actions?

Answer: No, this is the wrong question. Perhaps it is more correct to ask: “What am I achieving through my thoughtless actions, with no understanding or awareness? Who can really rely on their own reason? What does it mean to ‘Do everything in your power?’”

At every moment, as far as your current awareness and understanding of what needs to be done for your development based on the Kabbalists’ advice, act accordingly. That is all. That is how it works.

Question: Let us say I am sitting at a set table; I want to make a restriction not to receive for myself, but to give to the Creator. But to calm myself down, I use an even greater egoism. So how can I find peace?

Answer: You are saying the following: “I am sitting at the table, I want to eat and I am suffering. To avoid suffering, I am already using egoism not for the sake of getting pleasure, but a stronger egoism: the desire to stop suffering. That is, I use greater egoism.” That is correct. Stage Bet (2) is more egoistic than stage Aleph (1), with greater Aviut. You are right.

So, you have calmed yourself down from the perspective of the desire to receive by feeling the Creator. If you had another opportunity to calm yourself down, you would never have reached stage Dalet.

All development comes from the development of the desire to receive. Naturally, out of a desire to calm down, it discovers that the Creator is there within itself. I do not have enough words. This is a rather subtle question. How do the light and Kli interact? How do they become really close partners?
[361406]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/26, Rabash, “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?”

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Question: I do not have a button I can press to start this process. I must go through all the stages you described. When I examine myself and see that everything I do is not for bestowal but for my own sake, what comes next? Awareness of evil does not arise through the intellect.

Answer: The practical awareness of evil, that is, awareness of whether one’s intention is aimed at receiving or at bestowal—arises mainly through efforts in the group, study, and dissemination. The more a person invests in these activities while simultaneously wanting to perceive his intention, the more clearly one begins to see it thanks to those efforts. Without such an investment, one would have no way to recognize one’s intention.

After the shattering of the Kelim, fragments of the shattered screens remained within us. We need to feel them. How is this possible?

Once there was a screen opposite the light, and the screen and the light were equal. Now the screen and the light are opposites. I must feel this opposition so that it will push me to replace the shattered screen with a corrected one.

How can this be done? I must perform actions that I would carry out using with corrected screens. These actions are study, work in the group, and dissemination. We have no other actions at our disposal that are connected with the screen. I am not speaking about eating more, drinking more, or receiving more pleasures. We still have many stages to pass before reaching those matters; those are actions of reception.

The actions of bestowal that can be connected with screens of bestowal are study, interaction in the group, and dissemination. If, while performing these actions, I think about my attitude toward myself, my friends, or the Creator, I immediately see how far I am from bestowal.

With other actions, I quickly fall into an illusion and can somehow justify myself. But with these actions, I cannot. That is why the sages advise us to act. Otherwise, I too might sit in a corner like some great Kabbalist, going nowhere and doing nothing (although, in reality, they all worked, but let’s suppose otherwise) and perform the Yihudim (“unifications”) associated with Kabbalists.

Yihudim means that, through the screen, a person connects himself with the upper light. Therefore, in this world, only these actions remain for us to perform. I must make sure that every day includes study, dissemination, and work in the group, while simultaneously focusing on the intention, the purpose, behind everything I do.

It is said that even if my desire to draw closer to the Creator through this actions stems from wanting my own well-being, yet I still remember the Creator and recognize that I do not think about Him very much, this constitutes the state known as  Lo Li­shma. From this state, I grow and draw closer to the goal.
[361681]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 9/8/26, Rabash, Article 40, 1989 “What Is, “Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,” in the Work?”

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Comment: When a person reaches the awareness of evil at a certain degree, they do not want the next degree. They want to correct the one.

My Response: At first, a person simply does not want to remain where they are. They see that their state is very bad and want only one thing: to get out of it. Therefore, they ask the Creator, “Do something, anything; it does not matter what!”

He does not need the Torah or a reward, nothing. For the moment, he feels only that he is suffering. He curses Kabbalah, Bnei Baruch, and the day he arrived here; but this is a brief stage that passes in an instant.

Then he nevertheless begins comparing his state with a higher degree and understands that it is worthwhile to strive for something better. His egoism begins working again: “All right, this is evil now, but something better exists. Let’s acquire that.” Egoism continually grows, and this helps a person move from one degree to the next. Thus, the more egoism grows, the more it digs its own grave.

The receiving desire in a seed is smaller than in a sprout. There are two opposing forces here. What helps you escape evil when you feel that egoism is evil? Stronger egoism.

All these processes are above our reason. It is no coincidence that it is written “The Creator places a person’s hand on the good fate and says: ‘Choose good.’” Just make a little effort. The answers to the remaining questions will become clear along the way. I promise you.
[361710]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/30/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘He Who Is Without Sons,’ in the Work?”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 246

What Is the Difference Between Feeling Evil and Recognizing Evil?

It has already been mentioned here how to escape evil, from a bad feeling to a good feeling. We should ask the Creator not to give us evil, but the recognition of evil. What is the difference between the two? They are completely different. In one case, we feel that the Creator is striking us for no reason, and we feel bad due to that. In the other case, we understand intellectually, through reason and understanding, that these blows are not directed at us, because we already identify with a different point. Instead, they are directed at those qualities within us that are opposite to the Creator’s qualities.

When we feel bad because of the blows we have received, we are like a child who has experienced something unpleasant, for example, we did not receive a piece of candy (a blow is not necessarily a physical blow), and we identify with that feeling of evil. We are inside the evil. In Kabbalah, it is said that if we feel evil, we should escape that feeling. We should emerge from that evil and observe it from the outside, from a distant point, which is called “performing a restriction.” That is, the “I” that feels and the “evil” that is felt are two separate and opposing things. And from whom do we receive the evil? From the Creator.

In other words, we place our “I” outside both the Creator and the body that feels evil, and this is called “recognition of evil.” Otherwise, we do not recognize the evil, we merely feel it. Kabbalists emphasize strongly that this is called “recognition of evil,” not the feeling of evil. Also, when we look at that evil from the outside, we already understand why we feel that way, for what purpose it came to us, and what we must do with it. Then the recognition of evil truly brings us to correction. Therefore, when we are in the recognition of evil, we seemingly ask to recognize it even more deeply in order to receive the strength to emerge from it and to ask for corrections. We do not ask to feel more evil. We ask to recognize more of the evil.

It is possible that evil brings with it a pleasant sensation. A person who enjoys smoking, for example, continues to smoke and enjoy it, yet at the same time would like to develop a hatred for smoking. How does one come to recognize the evil in smoking, which gives him pleasure? Gradually, he begins to feel that smoking is bad for him. He coughs, and his health deteriorates. He gains a deeper and deeper view on how harmful it is, until smoking becomes so bad that he fears it, becomes fed up with it, and is ready to escape from it. The recognition of evil is not the feeling of evil. They are two completely different things.

“The feeling of evil” is what an animal feels. “The recognition of evil” is already spiritual work performed by a human being. We begin to discern that something is evil and understand in relation to what it is evil, in relation to advancement, to drawing closer to the Creator. It is not for nothing that we feel the blow but do not know who is giving it to us. We realize that through this blow, the Creator shows us the quality that prevents us from connecting with Him and adhering to Him. It is not evil because we feel pain, but because the quality in which we feel the pain distances us from the Creator. The recognition of evil is the recognition of our distance from the Creator, not the sensation of suffering in a particular bodily organ.

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1st part of the Lesson — Sukkot 2003, Lesson 10 (10.15.2003)

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Question: How can I prepare myself for the next degree?

Answer: You can prepare yourself for the next degree only through complete agreement to be raised from above. You say, “I must become that way.” But how can you arrive at such a desire? How can you want it?

For this, you must reach the awareness of evil and understand that your present state is the worst possible in comparison with the next degree. The next degree is goodness, while you are entirely evil. Otherwise, you will not want to get rid of your present state. Turn your thoughts in the opposite direction, and you will see where you must begin now.

Comment: But I do not feel that the next degree is good.

My Response: You will sense the next degree through the surrounding light that will shine upon you. You will experience something like vibrations coming from it, and that will be enough to become aware of the evil. I am speaking about our state in the material world, that is, below the Machsom (barrier).

Above the Machsom, everything happens differently. There, the upper one lowers His NHY toward you, gives you various examples, and shows you how to act. You are told in advance what to do and are prepared for it.

In any case, you will still have to make a great effort. But don’t worry; you are never abandoned, and there is always a desire to help you in any good intention. And if your desire is not yet sufficiently good, it is corrected so that it becomes better.
[361706]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/30/26, Rabash, “What Is, “He Who Is Without Sons,” in the Work?”

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Prayer is a desire, Hisaron, that is already present in a person. This desire has already been analyzed, it is ready to receive fulfillment, an answer. And the effort is in attaining such a desire. The desire itself, the prayer itself, is secondary. The whole essence is in the work beforehand.

Question: Is prayer my deepest intention? Is it about what I am looking for?

Answer: You do not know what you are looking for. You have what we call a “spiritual gene”: a chain of Reshimot (reminiscences or spiritual records) that resides in you because your soul has descended from above to its present low, corrupted state. All the degrees that it passes through are now present within it, but only in the form of Reshimot, in the form of information about each degree.

You can acquire this degree if to this information you add the strength for the conquest of the degree. The force with which the attainment of the degree takes place is called a screen or an intention for the sake of bestowal.

Our work consists of using various actions to reveal the next Reshimo. If I have realized it and continue onward, then the next Reshimo is revealed, a higher one, then an even higher one, and another. And in this way I return to the place from where the soul descended.

I cannot foresee the next desire that will arise when I reveal the next Reshimo: what I will look then, what my thoughts, my desires will be, who I will become. It is simply foolish to imagine now the state I am not in yet. On what basis would I do so?

We see that all the states we go through are such that it is impossible to even guess what the next one will be like. Therefore, I should not think about future desires, future thoughts. It is not without reason that it is written regarding spiritual work: “As an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.” It is exactly in this most primitive form that I want to come to something greater. But what is something greater? If I begin to imagine something myself, it is already wrong.
[360829]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/24/26, Rabash, “Who Testifies to a Person”

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Question: What does preparation for sensing the difference between the Creator and me entail?

Answer: The preparation consists only in acquiring the desire to know Him. When a person wants to get to know the Creator and begins to do so, one sees that the Creator is the opposite to them.

A person cannot prepare themselves to know the Creator on their own, since they do not know exactly what constitutes opposite and what does not. They want to reveal the point in the heart (something higher) and so they begin to strive to understand, know, and reveal Him or the higher reality.

It does not matter what we call or define this higher entity. We are still confused, and it seems to us that everything we talk about are different concepts. We think that the spiritual world, the Creator, the worlds, and the higher reality are different concepts and not the same thing.

In fact, it is not like that. Everything that a person reveals is the Creator. The connection of a person with the Creator is called worlds or levels. It is like between people: today we are close to each other; tomorrow the opposite is true. Today one asks, the other answers; tomorrow everything changes. The connection is what is called worlds.

The sensation of the Creator within creation is constantly changing. Left line, right line, middle line, influences, Reshimot, awakening from above, there are many reasons for the change of sensations.

Our sensations are constantly rocking us. If it were not for the internal Reshimot, which are influenced by the external light, setting everything in motion, we would not change.

We cannot change by ourselves. The Kli cannot move by itself. The lights, that is, the Reshimot, set the Kelim in motion.
[361676]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,’ in the Work?”

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Question: Must I personally experience that there is evil in me? Is it mandatory? Is it impossible to skip this stage?

Answer: No, it is impossible to slip past this. Nature will rake us over and tear our living flesh. There is nothing we can do about this. It won’t help us to simply agree, as if we agree are trained dogs ready to sit up and beg.

Because here we must realize the entire depth of our nature, our terrible, egoistic nature, and acknowledge it, and even voluntarily, without pressure from nature, want to change ourselves.

In other words, it must be a transformation. Even though it will occur under the influence of external suffering, we must realize this inwardly, within our minds, in our inner qualities. We must ask nature to change us.

Question: But is it still possible to avoid reaching that point? You started very harshly: “Man must go through this.”

Answer: The more I get to know people, the more I love animals.

Question: So, you see, man is so stiff-necked, right?

Answer: Worse than all.

Question: Man is the worst of all. He won’t do it on his own?

Answer: No, he won’t do it on his own, he cannot do it. The system is designed that way… The only question is why does nature drive us into such a trap? It is because one can realize the deficiency of one’s nature relatively easily and draw conclusions from it.

And practically everyone will agree with this: from terrible villains, murderers, and so on, to normal people. Everyone will agree that our nature is cruel, that we cannot in any way get along with each other.

What, then, can we do? “Let us be good!”

No, we cannot! Systematic Kabbalistic education is needed that will explain how to draw the good forces of nature upon us. And these good forces will gradually change us over many years.

Question: So your conclusion is this: we cannot change ourselves; we can only draw the positive forces of nature upon ourselves, and they will change us. Is this unequivocal?

Answer: By ourselves we certainly cannot. Nature can, but depending on how much we are able to attract it to ourselves, to implore it to change us.

Comment: I would like to end this topic a little more optimistically.

My Response: There is a happy ending, but one cannot skip straight to it.

But what can we do? We can view what is happening realistically and try, nevertheless, again and again, through small increments, small injections, try to add to human consciousness with a level of suprahuman awareness.

Comment: This is your constant nudging in this direction, in the good sense. You are nudging, nudging.

My Response: There is nothing else.

Question: Do you want to drip this message into humanity so that it understands that there is no other path?

Answer: Yes. This will take root. But it requires a great deal of time and effort.
[361269]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 9/3/26

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