In reality, spiritual work is very short and easy if we rise above egoistic intention and want to check to what extent we exist inside of it. We need only to look from the outside because it’s impossible to explore and experience this while you are inside your ego, as it rules over you and bribes you, depriving you of the ability to study critically.

In order to be an objective researcher and impartial judge, you have to be completely independent of what you examine. And this is a very high degree. But you need to try and begin from small things, to evaluate yourself as critically as possible. This is called the realization of evil. You must constantly check what your intention is to any action, look, or movement. At this point, you can immediately proceed to request to change your nature because our nature is egoistic, but there is another form nature: bestowal.

We see in our history how many billions of years were required to develop the still level of nature, hundreds of thousand years each to develop the vegetative and animate levels. Then we see how fast human evolution was as the last stage of development of the animate level that goes beyond the normal animal. It took only 20-30 thousand years. But each degree has its set stages, called the Sefirot, and we see how much the 20th century has added to our final development in comparison with all the previous millennia.

The same will happen in our spiritual development, only much faster. Everything that unfolded in history for thousands, millions, and billions of years can happen to us in a few hours. There is no time in spirituality! These changes can be instant. And especially because we live in such a time when all of humanity (that is, the whole universe) begins to approach the realization of evil of its egoistic intention, its ego, it’s not a miracle that it will be revealed completely. Many people in the world already need this and more or less understand, but just don’t see the opportunity to do something. They all say nice words, but don’t go beyond them.

This means that our changes can be very fast, and everything depends on us. And that is why “we have gathered here to ascend to the degree of man,” who is the master of his intention whether it will be for its own sake or for the sake of bestowal. We just need to catch this intention “by its tail” and constantly analyze in what intention we are, doing only this all the time. No matter what actions we perform, the most important thing is intention.

The world that operates on the basis of action is called this world because there is only one intention. And the world that operates on the basis of intention is called the upper world. If a person reveals that his intention is egoistic, this is already called the spiritual or upper world, however only from the “left side,” from the side of the impure force, shell (Klipa). But this is already a spiritual level, so we should be interested even in discovering evil and rejoice that we have revealed it.

The main thing is that I approach studying in terms of intention. And whether it’s good or bad, for its own sake or for the sake of bestowal is not important; my task is to get deeper into it and live only in it. Thus, I move into a totally different dimension of my life, meaning I discover the relation to it only according to intention. And I worry about nothing else. If we fully concentrate on this, we will find a tiny, narrow opening into the spiritual world! It’s only in this.

The difficulty is to catch one’s intention each time and to stay in it constantly. Then, we begin to evolve at the speed of light! It will hardly take any time at all; this is already labor pains through which we are born into the world of intentions.
[71249]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #1 

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Question: It was said that it is impossible to attain the revelation of the Creator without joy. But I do not understand how can you feel joy when working against your desire, against egoism?

Answer: Maybe some feel joyful when dancing in a club. But here we are joyful about working for the spiritual goal. It is written: “Our heart will rejoice at Them.”

Maybe you would like to be joyful, but you do not feel this joy in your heart. There is one advice for this: Try to be joyful! You will see how this will affect the others who will look at you and then they will also start dancing and singing. And you will also feel joy by looking at them.

It does not matter if at first your joy is simulated. If you do not play and remain “sincere,” according to your egoism, you will remain as the rest of the world. The entire world behaves absolutely sincerely:They act as their egoism commands them to act.

But you want to come out of your egoism, and this can only be done by playing. We play as if we really want bestowal, as if we need the group, as if we need the Creator. All this we do “as if,” because what do I really need: to consume the world!

Play is a very serious thing. You see how seriously little children play, and their play helps them grow. No matter what you study, your understanding comes through the exercises. Exercise is also play; you are being instructed to do certain actions, which have no other purpose but to make you learn.

Spiritual work is also play. It is like in the case of a child who was given building blocks to build something. Does anyone really need whatever he will build? But he thinks that he is really building, that he is doing something important. And this is really important because this makes him grow.

And we must do the same now; we must play with the higher degree like children. As if we were already connected and happy, revealing the Creator. We need to play with it! And you will really achieve it by playing because you attract the Reforming Light by playing.

You have no connection with the upper Light, but you awaken it from afar by playing. When a child plays, he also awakens the same Reforming Light, only he plays corporeal games, and this is why the Light influences him on the same level. The same principle applies here.

This is very serious. You think I am just lecturing you, but this is the foundation of creation. We experiment with this world and learn that this is the way things work. Kabbalists do not give us any strange, illogical advice: We only need to make a little effort to try to understand it.

These are unchanging laws, like the laws of physics. And spiritual laws are even more strict and precise that the laws of our world, the laws of physics and chemistry. The conditions for awakening the force that will change and grow you are being explained to you. This refers to the actions which you do to awaken the forces of nature. And you have nothing to object here: The only thing left for you to do is to approach it as seriously as you can and play.
[71338]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #2

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When a person approaches the revelation of the Creator, he feels that he is standing at Mount Sinai. On one hand there is all of his evil desire, but on the other hand, he understands that in order to attain the goal and reveal the Creator, he needs to prepare his desire to receive the quality of bestowal, which is copied from Him. After all, “man” (Adam) means: “similar” (Domeh) to the Creator.

And so, together we prepare our desire to receive for different forms of bestowal so it could accept the imprint. This is the state of the giving of the Torah, about which it is written: “You all appear today…” Not one, but all: Because it is in our common unity that we will reveal the upper force.

Essentially a very simple thing is required to prepare the material of desire. It is true that this action no longer pertains to our world, and this is why it is difficult for us. It is called: mutual inclusion. We all must become mutually included in one another, connect to one another through our desires, and nothing else. Then, just like before the breaking, we will reach the “place,” where the upper Light can enter, and make its imprint.

And for this reason, it does not matter what we do if we just keep the direction to unite, to reveal the Creator; as it is written: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” “Israel” is man. “Torah” is the power of the Light that unites us to the point of loving our neighbor like ourselves. And the “Creator” is the Root, which gives us His imprint when we unite.

This way I stand on one side of the group, and the Creator stands on the other. And if He and I are able to meet in the group, then there the revelation takes place.

This is the way we advance. Essentially, all our work is preparing for it. This will happen to us if we all stand together.
[71356]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #2

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Question: If I start with revealing that I am the Pharaoh’s slave and with time I become the Creator’s slave, then where is my “I”?

Answer: You are still to find your “I.” We are not yet people; we only say that we supposedly already exist. The point in the heart is the beginning of man in me; it is the drop of semen from which I will grow. And I am still to reveal my “I.”

So far I am “nothing”: I do not exist. (When you change the order of the letters in the word “I” – “Ani” you get “nothing” – “Ain”, and the creature is called “created out of nothing” “existence from absence” (Yesh Mi Ain). This form of the Creator, which is being revealed in me to the extent to which I prepare my material to adopt this form of the Creator, will be called my “I” (Ani). In other words the imprint of the Creator in me will be my I, and everything else will remain “nothing.”

This is because the desire is not mine, it comes from Him, He does all the actions. I do not exist as an individual who makes decisions. If I prepare the material to perceive His qualities, which He imprints in me, inside my material, then I will be this imprint. This form is called the soul.

The form of the Creator, imprinted in my desire, is called the soul, and that is what I am.
[71353]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #2

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Question: My daughter is several months old, and in order to teach her to turn over, I place her on her belly and give her time to try to turn onto her back. But if she cannot manage to do it and keeps crying I turn her over on my own. Why doesn’t the Creator help us turn over when He sees how much we try and that we are failing?

Answer: The Creator is wiser than you. You or some smart doctor decides that a child needs to turn over at a certain age. And then everyone repents their mistakes and decides on something completely opposite: they themselves must turn over….

The problem is that we do not believe that there is something watching us with a lot of dedication from above. The upper Light is right across from the vessel, beginning with the actual world of Infinity. In Infinity, the Light and the vessel merge into one. But when the Light fills the vessel this way there is no creature, because nothing separates it from the Light.

This is the way the still, vegetative, and animate nature exists, the desire to enjoy, which automatically carries out the orders of the Light, which fulfills it, without question, like a car that obeys the driver without questioning him.

But to create a person, something independent needs to be built. And how can he be independent when “There is none else beside the Creator?” And this is why the Creator must disappear and leave an empty space. It is empty because there the creature does not reveal the Creator.

Everything remains as it was; we are in the World of Infinity. But we have lost the feeling of this state: The Light has left our desire and left it empty. And now this desire must take the form of the Light. And the Light will keep returning and entering the desire as the desire works on taking the form of the Light.

And then the creature will take the exact form as the Light. At the same time it will remain opposite to the Light in its matter, but it will become like it in its qualities. And this desire will be called creature, man: This will be us.

This entire circle, beginning with the world of Infinity until our world and back to the world of Infinity is only needed in order to reveal the Creator to the desire, which will be called man. We are in this process only to reveal the Creator in relation to us.
[71344]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #2

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Question: You are saying that we lack joy. How can we reveal it together with the broken heart, which we need to build the spiritual vessel?

Answer: Joy is revealed from the perception of the importance of the goal, the comprehension of the connection with the upper One. Even if I have not yet received what I desire, I am advancing towards it, I am in this process, I am working on the realization of the goal that is important to me. All of this must evoke joy in me.

Moreover, a person is the product of his environment, and when he does not feel joy, it means that the environment is not influencing him the right way. You need to take care of it.

It comes to me as a shock every time, is it really that difficult to be joyful? After all, we are given all the conditions for revealing the Creator. And we keep being unhappy about something, but what else do we have to demand? We do not realize that revelation can happen any moment.

Only our readiness is lacking. And joy is one of its conditions. It demonstrates our value of the importance of spirituality, and this is lacking. We think that we are more important than the Creator—and this is why He is not revealing Himself.

Stop setting your own conditions and demanding things, and you will see that revelation will happen immediately. But when you have certain demands of your own, how can you then be in the state of bestowal?

You are saying that you want to reveal the Creator? But He bestows, and you wish to reveal His bestowal, which means that you yourself wish to bestow. Then what is there for you to demand? One completely does not correspond to the other.
[71341]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #2

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Question: I once watched a movie where a microchip was installed into a monkey’s brain and as a result, it procured bananas using an artificial arm. That’s when I understood that my body does not exist because it can also be just as artificial. In this case, where is the desire to reveal the Creator located, which I now feel within me?

Answer: The desire for spirituality is not located inside of the material body. Desires aren’t inside the body at all. We confuse the biological, animate body, which operates according to natural instincts, personality, and inclinations that determine its natural desires and needs, with the desire that is disconnected from this body and belongs to the attainment of spirituality.

Our body is an animal, like that monkey with a banana. But when a new desire awakens in us, above our animate needs, it is on a completely different level and is not inside the body. The body may live or die, but nothing happens to the spiritual desire.

The animate body lives and dies, and all of its animate desires, aspirations, and goals die together with it. But there is also a desire called “the point in the heart,” which we have to develop. If we connect it with other desires like it, which are present in others, then we will build a common desire out of them in which it is possible to reveal spiritual life.

I have a drop of spiritual semen, called “the point in the heart.” I can grow it by adding more and more “meat” to it, just like a baby grows from a drop of semen in a mother’s womb.

So how can I attach the spiritual meat to my point, the drop of spiritual semen? For that I have to unite with others. That is how I will build the vessel of my soul and will begin living inside of it, inside of this new desire that I collected.

If I don’t build it, then I will remain that initial drop of semen, with the informational gene (Reshimo) alone, and will once again return and go through life cycles, one after another, receiving the opportunity to develop that drop.

My animate body only accompanies the drop of semen, the point in the heart. Therefore, stop focusing on your body and give it what it is supposed to get to lead a normal existence. And devote all of your attention to the point in the heart, to how to connect it to other points in order to build a general vessel out of them for revealing the spiritual world.

As for the microchips, leave them to the monkeys.
[71350]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/24/12, Lesson #2

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Question: You say that we need to catch the end of the rope that the Creator throws us. When I was a child I used to dangle a string in front of my dog’s nose and as he would jump to catch it, I would pull it up. So, now it turns out that I’m in a position like that dog.

Answer: It really is so. However, think about Who is playing with you. Isn’t this an honorable game?

If you take into account Who you’re playing with then you should be satisfied. What else do you need? Try to feel that you’re partners with the Owner, or His loyal servant.

You must jump after this string with the intention to bestow pleasure to the Owner. After all, the dog that you played with as a child played with you as well. It received pleasure from playing with you! Try to elevate at least to the level of that dog. I’m totally serious; this is quite difficult.

If you play this way in order to bestow pleasure to the Creator then you will become a human.

You will jump because you have a connection with Him. You will jump and play together with Him; you’ll understand and feel Him. What separates you from the rest of the people who jump after this string their whole lives is that they will remain animals and you will become a human.
[71262]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/24/12 Lesson #2, 

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We must keep the intention towards unity. This is because the whole benefit is concealed in this precise intention. What we hear at the lessons is not that important. What is important is that during the lessons we can continuously work on the unity of all our friends in the whole world. To the extent of our efforts to unite, we move forward, and this is where all of our benefit lies.

However, if we do not work during the lesson, it can give us a sort of an understanding, move us forward a little bit, but this will not be spiritual development.

This week we are watching the recordings of the lessons from the congress in the Arava. A question arises: During this, can we reach even stronger unity than what we attained there? If not, it would be better to return to the usual routine of the lesson. The answer remains up to you.

The most important thing here is to constantly work on unity. It is not about how much I understand (this is completely unimportant), but it is about how much effort I apply toward unity. Since it is precisely in unity that I will be able to feel what is being talked about.
[71201]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/12, “Questions and Answers”

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We had a special convention in the desert, which had a very strong impact on all of us and gave everyone a sensation of a certain new capacity of desire (Kli), and today it is very important for us to work with this vessel.

Every moment, every day, we will continue to see increasing consequences of this new desire. It will not be lost, forgotten, or disappear like everything else in this life, retreating under the pressure of a new day. On the contrary, what we experience today will help grow everything we have attained there. And we will see our present only from the focus and perspective of the convention, through the prism of the society and unity that we received there.

To realize this in practice, we need to return to the same material, and preferably study it together, with at least ten people. As we return to the same material, we will continue to rouse the memories (Reshimot) of it, and critically analyze them from the point of view of today.

And even though we will be present in the same conversation, it will not be like watching a Hollywood movie or a nostalgic memory. We do not return to the past state; now we want to attract the same deep impression from our past into the present, into our current desires, and experience it all over.

But I do not return into that old picture I had there. I am not concerned with when it happened, where it happened, and who was there: I do not look at any of it now, even though I cherish these memories as a wonderful part of my life. However, now I want to work with all of it and use it for my new state.

Some time has gone by, I have changed; I have left that place and seem to have returned to my old, regular routine. But I want to raise my regular life to that same level. And this is why I return to the same inspired feeling I experienced before, but to raise it to the height of the current burdening (Aviut) of harsher disturbances and concerns.
[71186]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/12, Shamati #25

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