Our advancement along the spiritual path is divided into two phases. During the first phase, a person cannot and is unable to connect himself to the Creator, and the Light doesn’t have much influence on him. In the second phase, he begins to feel that there is a certain connection, a certain relation to the Creator, thanks to the influence of the Light.

He doesn’t really understand where it comes from, but he begins to notice it. It is just like in ordinary life when you don’t notice a certain person and all of a suddenly he becomes important to you and you begin to think about him and take him into account. The same thing happens with the Creator. A person begins to assess the states he is in, to check and examine whether there is any connection with the Creator, if it will delight Him, if He will enjoy it, and if He will respond to it.

Just like in any other process of development, the change is the result of the influence of the Light that Reforms. A person begins to pay attention to whether he relates to the Creator in any way in his actions and thoughts, how the Creator relates to him, and whether He is happy and enjoys it.

Here the image that he has of the Creator is important: Does he identify the Creator with the attribute of love and bestowal that is revealed in the public, in the people?

Baal HaSulam, Shamati #19: Also, one needs to conduct oneself with the will to receive and say to it, “I have already decided that I do not want to receive any pleasure because you want to enjoy. This is because with your desire I am forced to be separated from the Creator, since disparity of form causes separation and distance from the Creator.”

This determines what side a person is on. The more important it is to him that the Creator receives benefit, the less he notices his own benefit and the more personal pleasure he receives by delighting the Creator. This becomes the most important benefit for him.
[147439]
From 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/14, Shamati #19

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 15 

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Introduction,” “The Eleventh Commandment,” Item 244

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 49 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 70

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Preparation for the Lesson

Writings of Rabash “Dargot HaSulam,“ Article 557

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Introduction,” “The Tenth Commandment,” Item 241

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69

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Question: In Israel Arabs are rioting. Are all of our efforts around the world don’t help?

Answer: I know only one thing; everything that happens is a result of our efforts. If the efforts are successful, one thing will happen; if they are less successful, something else will happen.

We are the only ones who determine what will happen to the nations of the world abroad and with our neighbors here. Everything is determined by the efforts that the people of Israel must make. Are they investing them? This is the problem. According to what is happening, we really haven’t been ready to direct events in the right way so that it will be good both for us and our neighbors.

One way or another, we determine this and nobody else. It isn’t Nasrallah, Ahmadinejad, Rohani, or Abu-Mazen. Why do we ascribe any actions to them? There isn’t and there won’t be anything from their side. Everything depends on you, you are the only one in the world who has freedom of choice. You determine everything that Israel encounters internally or externally. It is as if you are sitting in some machine and are running it. And nothing more.

We are always drawn to hear the news: what is happening in our country and abroad, what are the world leaders doing. But everything depends on you, so why should you know about them?

You need the news about which groups connected, which events happened, where we distributed materials, how many threads we have passed between Jews through television and the Internet so that they also will understand that everything depends upon them. This is what you need to know. This is the real news. After all, they don’t determine what will happen either today and tomorrow, nothing.

And so, when you are horrified about the Arab riots, know that you have a part in them.

Comment: The problems of Israel are not only the Arab riots. There is also corruption.

Answer: I am not talking only about security, but also about the economy, politics, health, and more. You alone determine everything, including all the phenomena of nature: the still, vegetative, animate, and human. Who are you? You are the people of Israel.

And who else are you? You are the Bnei Baruch group, which is the main culprit in what is happening. After all, the spiritual center of action is found here. Imagine that the whole world will get up and point at us, will discover who we are and say, “They are to blame for what is happening.”

Regarding corruption, you haven’t only involved in it, but have also awakened it. You have implemented the model of corruption in its root, and after that, someone realized it by traditional means.

Question: What must I do today to remove all the faults that I see in front of me?

Answer: Everything depends on you. You can build a wonderful life that will bring the Light that Reforms to the world. Do you want a good world that will return you to the good? This is what the Light does. So, attract the Light that will turn everything towards the good. Only you can do this, together with your friends.

Organize a strong event and connect, consolidate a shared idea, reach a common decision, do something. You are ready. Otherwise, neither you nor we will discover the power of evil that we feel today. If we feel its influence, it is designed to arouse us. And this testifies to our lack of work and our lack of precise correspondence to this force.

In other words, everything is simple. If there are riots in Israel, this means that we are constantly deteriorating backward. We have not completed our part, but instead, the opposite. The process demands much greater advancement, agility, and acceleration from us, and, on the contrary, we have slowed down. Otherwise, would we have discovered the problems as they are today?
[147525]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How can we avoid problems even before they come, by relating ourselves to the upper governance, which apart from that there is nothing else?

Answer: Without waiting for problems to appear, we should transform them into the attainments of greatness, mercy, and revelation of the upper governance. Unhappiness is the result of the same Upper Light that I take into myself for the sake of bestowal that brings me suffering by its effect on me.

After all, if I do not receive it in the correct form, for the sake of bestowal, when it enters my egoistic desire, it causes a breakage. That is what is felt as misfortunes, death, problems, hunger, and disease. It is all the same Light, as there is nothing but the Light and desire.

The Light is coming towards us because it is compelled to do so according to the program of creation, the plan of natural development on the time axis. Its time to be manifested inside the desire has arrived and we must be ready to accept this Light for the sake of bestowal.

But our desire is not ready! Are you not ready? Nonetheless, the Light enters the desire and causes a feeling of darkness. We are not able to take in the Light for the sake of bestowal; we have neither restriction on our ego nor the screen. This darkness will be manifested as catastrophe, wars, problems, and epidemics. Terrible misfortune will be revealed if we are not able to stop them, and all this because of a lack of correction of desires.

Everything is done by the Upper Light, and it can be both the elixir of life or fatal poison for us. We choose what it can be! Therefore, the people of Israel have no one to blame. We ourselves were the cause of everything that happened to us, especially in the 20^th century, no matter how painful it is to talk about that. I grew up in a family that suffered greatly from the Holocaust.

But nothing can be done if it is a law of nature. And now, according to the general program of development, which is realized on the time axis in a natural way, we come to a similar situation that existed before the Holocaust. If we do not prepare ourselves, then the Light will come closer to us and an uncorrected vessel will be found again. Terrible darkness will be revealed in this vessel, this desire, which will cause terrible problems in the world.

This will affect every person, every nation, and every part of the world and all civilizations, which now according to various estimates, there are six or eight. Everyone will be hit to the extent to which each of us have already developed, and it is our fault that we still lack the screen and the reflected Light, that is readiness for connection. In normal earthly language, it is called a lack of good communication between people. This is the example of unity that the nation of Israel must show the world.
[147271]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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Question: Why is it so important not to condemn the Creator, but to constantly justify Him?

Answer: If it hurts you that you curse the Creator and you wish to correct the situation, it isn’t because you are afraid to speak evil of Him, since everyone justifies Him in words, everyone.

The difference between those who have revealed the Creator and those who haven’t is that if a person hasn’t revealed the Creator, it means that he curses Him. If a person has revealed the Creator, it means that he blesses Him.

This is the way it is revealed in the vessels, in a person’s feeling, according to equivalence of form. If I understand the Creator, feel Him, thank Him, and bless Him, feeling that I am like Him, it is to this extent that I reveal Him. Once I reveal the Creator, I bless Him.

But if I am in a state of concealment, it means that I curse the Creator. There are different levels of concealment just as there are different levels of revelation. There are levels of deep concealment in which I am like a baby who is forgiven, no matter what he does at the moment, as long as he grows and is healthy. He can make a mess and break things, but he is still forgiven since he is a baby! This is the form of concealment.

There can also be a form of concealment in which I begin to realize that I should behave properly, but in the meantime I cannot. Thus I keep on developing. The concealment or revelation of the Creator, however, are always a sign of what I say about Him, whether I bless or curse Him.
[147210]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Shlavei HaSulam,“ Article 19

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Introduction,” “The Tenth Commandment,” Item 238

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 49 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #72, “Confidence is the Clothing for the Light”: The Kli where the Light of life is clothed is usually called “confidence.” It means that he sees that he can do every difficult thing. Thus, the Light is felt and recognized in the Kli of confidence.

Confidence refers to how high I can rise above my desire, my ego, to what extent I can stop thinking about myself and no longer remain trapped, chained, to my desire to receive which causes me tremendous anxiety. The moment I am free from the corporeal fear for my existence, then I can think about actions of bestowal.

Thus I can really be free since when my desire to receive is filled with the Light of Hassadim, it is free from its role of constantly thinking, worrying about itself, and is considered dead as “the dead are free.”

Because of that, one’s life is measured by the confidence that is perceived inside him.

We can also add that the vessel, the soul, is measured not simply by the Light that goes through it, but by the amount of Light that can pass through it to others. This means that the measure is not in the actual vessel but in the vessels that a person can attach and connect himself to others by providing them with correction and filling.

We know there are electrical limitations as well. If we have to plug in a certain device, we should first check how much voltage it can carry. There is a limit to the voltage that every device can carry, and this is an important parameter for determining its intensity.

If we talk about the way a person bestows to others, the number of souls, meaning the same number of people that he can connect to himself and provide with the spirit of life; this is an important parameter in his work.

But this is on condition that the Light of confidence shines on a person. He isn’t such a hero that he can overcome his desire. A person cannot overcome even one gram of his desire to receive by himself. It is possible only according to the amount of filling that he receives from the Upper Light.

When the Light fills the desire, it neutralizes its intention of in order to receive, gives it the power to restrict its ego, think about others, connect to others, feel others as himself, and even more. Then we can say that everything is being corrected.
[147410]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/7/14, Shamati #72

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Everything depends on the Light that fills the vessel. The level of confidence or the level of life and vitality it feels is determined by this filling.

Baal HaSulam, Shamati, #72, “Confidence is the Clothing for the Light”: This is because the Light of life, which is a force from Above, shines on him and he can work with superhuman powers since the Upper Light is not limited like corporeal forces.

If it didn’t shine on me, I would have no chance of feeling even the minimal signs of spiritual life inside me. This means that without the Upper Light that fills me, I cannot attain or be rewarded with spiritual life.

However, I don’t have any corporeal powers of my own either. But to the extent that the desire to receive in me demands a filling, making me feel that I lack something, it pushes me and forces me to attain the desired filling. Thus, I receive the powers to attain this corporeal life.

It is the same when the desire to bestow shines on me and awakens the desire to attain spiritual life in me. This means that we need to understand and to try to feel that we carry out and fulfill both corporeal life, in order to receive, and spiritual life, in order to bestow, by the Light that operates on us and shines in the desire to receive: either for the desire to receive or against it.

The ego doesn’t appear in us naturally and is also intentionally directed from Above, and we have to see it as a special action on the Creator’s part. This means that a person should see himself neutrally, not belonging to the desire to receive or the desire to bestow.

The fact that we are in a desire to receive now is intentionally directed from Above, but it doesn’t mean that it is natural. The Creator manages us now by the egoistic force, in order to receive, on purpose so that we would want to ask and to demand the opposite force from this state, the force of bestowal. We need it in order to balance these two forces inside us and thus to acquire our freewill. The more I try to think that the force of receiving, the ego, isn’t just a natural force and not my natural attribute but that it was intentionally forced on me from Above, the easier it will be for me to ask for the power of bestowal that will balance the force of receiving.
[147407]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/7/14, Shamati #72

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Workshop

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