The first stage is completely filled with Light, which comes out of the root, and it feels that it does not want to receive; this is how we get the second stage.

But then the second stage feels that this did not make it similar to the root. It may not be receiving anything, but it’s not bestowing either!

It only got worse because before I was attached to the Creator like an infant and I did everything that He wanted. I enjoyed infinitely, and even though I did it for my own sake, the Upper One was receiving pleasure from this!

Now, I supposedly got bigger and I do not want to receive from Him, but it turns out that I am not giving Him anything to enjoy, even the way an infant does, because He receives pleasure when I receive from Him.

So what have I done? I have gone even further away from Him! (And this is why the second stage is considered to be a stronger desire than the first stage, even though it does not receive anything.) It is as if I were neglecting Him…

An infant is closer to the mother than a grown child who feels independent and does not want to receive anything from her.

Then the second stage, Bina, decides that if it were to receive the Light from the Creator, He would really enjoy it; this is how we get ZAT de Bina.

The execution of this decision takes place in the third stage, in Zeir Anpin, who receives the Light for the sake of bestowal due to the strength of Bina. In other words, the upper determines this decision (Therefore it is considered that the head of Zeir Anpin is in Bina – ZAT de-Bina).

And then the fourth stage Malchut comes and sees how much pleasure there is… I am Zeir Anpin, who receives for the sake of bestowal, when I perceive the Creator and feel that I am just like Him!

I want to enjoy it both: the fulfillment that I am receiving and the equivalence with Him! I want to enjoy all the pleasures that exist in the Creator; this is called the fourth stage of development, Malchut.

A restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) is done over this fourth stage, and we no longer receive fulfillment egoistically.

And then second restriction (Tzimtzum Bet) takes place, from ZAT de Bina to Malchut. Malchut penetrates all these desires and says: “Do not even think about reception! It is impossible to receive anything, you will not be able to!”

The fourth stage of desire penetrates the third and the second stages, and now there is a sensation in both Zeir Anpin and ZAT de Bina that any contact with reception of Light will be egoistic.

Previously, there was no feeling that the desire to receive pleasure is so opposite to the Light! But now it is there. But still this prohibition only exists because of Malchut and not because of Zeir Anpin, and especially not because of Bina.

After all, Zeir Anpin is planning on bestowing, but the question is: in which desires is he planning on doing it? Is it in the desires that he had before the fourth stage appeared or is he now planning on receiving for the sake of bestowal in the fourth stage, in Malchut?

And this confusion consequently leads to the breaking, when they were not able to understand why this is impossible. After all, if we are planning on receiving the Light for the sake of bestowal, like in the third stage of Direct Light, then this is an altruistic action.

But it turns out that the fourth stage has already penetrated these desires, and once you get to feel what Malchut is—pleasure from being equal to the Creator—you no longer can refuse it, you desire the taste. You have the fourth stage within you, and you cannot receive for the sake of bestowal!
[24824]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Workshop

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Igrot,” Letter 5

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 105

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings,” “And to Cleave Onto Him”

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Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 108: This is similar to a well-known tale about a Jew who was a house trustee for a certain landlord. The landlord loved him dearly. Once, the landlord went away and left his business in the hands of his substitute, who was an anti-Semite.

What did he do? He took the Jew and struck him five times in front of everyone, to thoroughly humiliate him.

Upon the landlord’s return, the Jew went to him and told him all that had happened to him. His anger was kindled, and he called the substitute and commanded him to promptly give the Jew a thousand coins for every time he had struck him.

The Jew took them and went home. His wife found him crying. She asked him anxiously, “What happened to you with the landlord?” He told her. She asked, “Then why are you crying?” He answered, “I am crying because he only beat me five times. I wish he had beaten me at least ten times, since now I would have had ten thousand coins.

The Creator made an unpleasant “shell,” our world, in which we suffer. For the Creator, there is no concept of time and of course He knows about the imminent “compensation.” It brings Him contentment.

For each blow, for every bad sensation, for the smallest or biggest trouble, for anything that we experience in life we will get an adequate compensation to which we would have gladly consented had we known about it beforehand.

This is how the general system works: it is based on the principle of replenishment. Even though people suffer now, they will inevitably be rewarded in the future. It is only a matter of time. Compensations bring benefit to the system. The system has no flaws. On the contrary, each of us would gladly add more afflictions to our lives if we knew that we would be compensated for them.

It is an unavoidable process. Otherwise, it would be impossible to guarantee spiritual profits since empty vessels should be opened, corrected, and fulfilled. If not, the creation that possesses its own endless vessels, desires, that govern them by using and fulfilling them with perfection would never be possible.

Question: Is there a way for us to understand that the Creator is good and does good while we still are in this terrible world?

Answer: “The Creator” is a general, balanced system. It is absolute, an equilibrium in which the Light and the vessel dwell in each other. Everything is based on this principle.

So far, you don’t see that the Creator rewards you by giving you a thousand coins for each of your troubles. Later, when you understand it, you’ll say: “What a beautiful thought is hidden behind it!”

When you correct yourself, you detach from your egoistic desires and transition to the realm of intentions. Reception for your desires is no longer the essence of your existence, now your intentions are. And because you completely stop identifying yourself with your troubles, you don’t forget about them but sweeten the properties of your vessel by using different methods.

In this world, we see similar examples of people enjoying memories of their prior sufferings. For example, my mother, a very well-to-do woman, sometimes preferred to have a glass of boiling water and a piece of stale bread. It reminded her of her hungry, younger years during the war when as a student she received this ration once a day. Many years later when she had an abundance of food, she couldn’t experience the same level of pleasure from food because her desire was no longer as empty as it had been during the years when she went hungry. It did not matter that the bread then was mostly made of sawdust; it only depends on our vessels, desires.

We cannot ignore these things. We go through various situations, and thanks to them, when recalling the stages of our spiritual path that never disappear and that we never forget, we begin using them differently, not as my mother did. Rather, by going through our current states, when we receive the Lights that descend to us, we try using our old vessels, thus triggering the Lights of NRNHY to be revealed.

If you regard the world as a nightmare, it is your vision. It is said: “Everybody judges according to his own  flaws.” Now, your denial is in accord with the deficiencies of your vessels through which you see the world as a bad place. If you correct your vessels, you’ll see that there is nothing wrong with this world.

As we ascend the spiritual ladder, we tend to increasingly justify the Creator. That’s the main thing! The darkness turns into the light, and bitter becomes sweet. I see the world as more corrected, although for me it is not yet completely rectified because, as of now, I am not completely corrected.

And yet, to the degree of my correction, I justify this world, thus connecting the darkness with the Light. For me, it already shines as a bright day in unity, even though our unity is not as yet quite sufficient. By going through spiritual stages, I see that everything eventually ends up being good.

The only advice I have for you is to correct your vessels, desires. There is nothing else you can do. If you do so, wars, afflictions, and other disasters will dissappear from your picture of reality and never return. Baal HaSulam wrote: “There are no despots in the Kingdom of the Lord.”

In fact, there are no villains, as there is no evil. The entire reality is just a film that leads us from the evil inclination to a happy ending.
[142244]
From the 2_^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Workshop

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” “Lishma ve she LoLishma”

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “The Fourth Commandment,” Item 212

Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 3, Part 9, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 15

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings”

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The wisdom of Kabbalah says that the Creator is good that does good. In order to realize Himself, He created the desire to receive, which is called the “created being.” This desire should be developed according to the Creator’s plan, according to His program until the created being understands and feels Him as good that does good, as great.

This is the desire of the Creator. Kabbalists explain to us that it’s not because He wants us to recognize His greatness, His omnipotence, and our dependence on Him. We are talking about the highest so therefore it is clear that this is so. No, the Creator wishes to raise us to His level.

So, we have to go through a certain awareness of the higher force in our nature and to reveal how we can ascend to its height. The Creator enjoys that we experience Him, meaning reach His level. According to the law of equivalence of form, to achieve adhesion with Him means to acquire the same properties as His.

The period of our self-correction is the path, the ladder, the rungs of which lead us upward through the five worlds. The created being can realize this ascent only if it is sure and knows for sure it he must do this. Then it has the force to realize it.

From where does the created being get the power to take the actions leading upward from reception to bestowal contrary to its nature? The created being has to have an understanding, awareness, and sense that he is in the bad egoistic state of reception and has to come to a good state of bestowal that is completely opposite to his current one.

We are told that we can do this if we get help from the Creator. The Upper Light is shed on us, and then we begin to talk in a different way and understand that to receive is bad for us and to bestow is good.

Well then, simply let the Creator do this! He has created the desire to receive within us and now can “shine” on us to turn that desire into bestowal. But no, this cannot occur because we would then lose independence and become like “angels,” that is, forces that just perform certain actions. Instead, we must admit and accept for ourselves that to receive is bad and to bestow is good.

This internal statement is called the “recognition of evil,” and nothing else is required. We only need to recognize the evil of the desire to receive and the good that is inherent in the desire to bestow. Once this happens within us, we will definitely stop using the evil of the egoistic desire that is manifested at this moment, and begin to use the desire to bestow, manifested as good.

It would seem that this is not child’s play: If a doctor explained to me what is good and what is bad, what is harmful and what is healthy, I would appreciate and follow his advice. However, I have to recognize evil myself. Advisors who tell me what is good and what is bad will not help me. I have to very precisely figure out on my own that the desire to receive is evil and that the desire to bestow is good.

Here, such a thin “string” is stretched that it cannot be expressed in words. I need to remain neutral internally, rising above the created being, since the desire to receive is defined as evil and the desire to bestow as good, with the first quality belonging to the created being, and the second, to the Creator. However, I need to anticipate preceding the created being, to stand in front of it, and look at these two desires. Then, based on this completely independent point, I need to define the desire to receive as evil.

This will be the true realization of evil. It is not done “all to order” for me, not on the basis of pleasure and suffering that lead to my decision when time after time I play a “negotiation game,” choosing according to the criteria of my egoism. No, the “expert,” “judge,” and “tester” in me has to stand apart, neither on the side of the Creator nor on the side of the created being, but seemingly a step in front of it.

This is a prerequisite. It is impossible that the Creator is good in my eyes. Why is He good? Is it because He created my desire and is enjoying His presents? No, it is just a given, the creation in which we find ourselves. The Creator desires us to “anticipate” the created being, so that we agree with Him, that He made it in that way.

The benefit of this is great: We are no longer dependent on what and how He created us. We have to rise above good and evil, regardless of the intentions connected to them. We must reach another degree, rising above them to the beginning of the plan of creation that existed even before He created us, before He decided to be revealed to the created being as the giver and made the created being as receiving. We seem to find ourselves before that moment and even before its cause. And this is where we actually find ourselves.

Therefore, the realization of evil must go deeper, to within the qualitative depth. It is not about how terrible my endless egoism is and how beautiful bestowal is. It is about the quality and essence: Why do I define one as evil and one as good? This choice should be performed on my own feelings. It just measures the details of perception for me “for statistics,” and above it I reveal a higher principle, which is above the created being and before it. Thus, the recognition of evil encompasses the whole of reality and raises us above it.
[142785]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 54: When the Creator sees that one has completed one’s measure of exertion and finished everything he had to do in strengthening his choice in faith in the Creator, the Creator helps him. Then, one attains open Providence, meaning the revelation of the face. Then, he is rewarded with complete repentance, meaning he cleaves to the Creator once more with his heart, soul, and might….

There is no patronage here, there is no reason to wait for the Creator to get fed up and take pity on us like a merciful father. We should not expect the Creator to be touched by our tears and have mercy and intervene in our situation and forgive our lack of investing efforts.

This means that hope is meaningless, that instead of our effort it is possible to wait a bit, cry a bit, and everything will take care of itself. In general, in our world a person expects exactly this kind of attitude towards himself from other people and from the Creator. But this doesn’t happen here.

We are obliged to carry out and complete the amount of effort required from our side. And this should truly be effort, meaning effort in building our spiritual Kli for revelation. As it is said: He hath made a decree which shall not be transgressed (Psalms 148:6). If you have a desire of ten grams, which is, suppose, the first degree of adaptation to the first compulsory level for discovering the Creator, then you will feel His presence, meaning He will be revealed.

And as long as your desire is less than “ten grams,” you are below the threshold and don’t feel the Creator. This means the Creator is concealed. All of the senses work according to this principle, including the spiritual senses.

Perception in the spiritual senses is divided into 125 levels that are divided internally into many other sublevels. And no matter what, we must reach the level of sensitivity matching the first level. And this depends on the measure of effort by which we raise our sensitivity, meaning expanding our Kli.

This is our sensitivity to the degree of bestowal because the Creator is bestowal, love, and connection. He is revealed to us as such. So we must prepare accordingly: bestowal, love, and connection among us. And we don’t even have to attain these characteristics directly but only have a yearning to acquire them. And if we specifically direct our desire and yearning towards this and have enough force, then we begin to discover the Creator. That is everything.

This is like a visual examination with an optometrist: “Do you see these letters?” – “No!” “And do you see them now?” – “Yes!” There is a sensitivity threshold for each and every sense, and when it is attained, suddenly the discovery happens.
[142437]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: I really don’t understand how scientific progress can hurt humanity?

Answer: Science is a search for the Creator through our material minds. Scientists conduct numerous studies and experiments with the help of our five corporeal senses in order to find the upper force. All kinds of scientific research are aimed at discovering the Creator and solving the mystery of life.

We intend to attain the upper force, understand the structure of creation, find out its goal, and unveil the secret of our existence using our physical brain and bodily senses. It is not possible. This road leads to a dead end. After thousands of years of scientific development we have ended up in a crisis that no science is able to fix. Science is not capable of ensuring even our material well being.

Science is a method of disclosing human weaknesses and a means of discovering mistakes in our quest for solving the mystery of life and finding out the goal and essence of our existence through our earthly sensors and brainpower. Science chooses roundabout routes; however, it still leads us to the right conclusions. Our task is to realize the incongruity of our efforts and learn to completely rely on the Reforming Light.

The goal of world development is to make us disappointed in ourselves. It is said: “There is no happier moment in one’s life than when one becomes completely disillusioned in one’s abilities.” In fact, it is really a huge discovery! Imagine that all of humanity undergoes this process.

When it happens, we’ll realize that nothing but a prayer can help us; in other words, nothing but raising MAN and acquiring the upper force’s help will let us act correctly and attain our goal. There is nothing we can do except realize that out of the darkness it is the Light that determines everything. Light is faith.

Today, we can talk about these issues openly. About fifty years ago, nobody would agree with these ideas, including me. I was the most zealous advocate of scientific progress. I thought that science was everything!

Years passed. Humanity became disappointed in science. Nobody expects scientists to make discoveries that humanity can really benefit from. All discoveries are doomed to bring us harm because they contradict the goal of creation and the means of its attainment since they urge us to rely on our brainpower.

This explains why we cannot expect science to help us achieve positive results. Unless we stop relying on scientific progress and discontinue our “enchantment” with the magnitude of our intellect, nothing can really move us forward. We’ll simply continue along the road of scientific advancement.

On the other hand, we cannot neglect science since it is a path that nevertheless leads us to the goal, even though it does so indirectly. Any road to the Creator is sacred. At the end of our path, the angel of death will turn into the holy angel. “The angel of death” will absorb all our mistakes including scientific evolution.

The problem lies not in science per se, but in the fact that we rely on ourselves and count on our pride, on our belief that we can reach a good life without connecting with the Creator. This mistake is common for those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah but turn it into a theory. It is the most serious error that is called Klipa (shell, the evil force).

Our task is to accurately follow all instructions and study the Torah instead of playing tricks with our minds. There is a very thin line between these two processes. Studying the wisdom (Hochma) of the Torah means revealing the Light of Hochma with the help of the Light of correction that is embodied in the Torah. The wisdom of the Torah is the Light of Hochma dressed in the Light of Hassadim.
[142314]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation to Piter Convention

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “The Fourth Commandment,” Item 209

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings”

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Question: How is it possible to distinguish between fear and trembling?

Answer: In general, fear is a lower state, something relevant to our beastly body, our desire to receive. In contrast, trembling is felt according to the characteristic of bestowal, with regard to the Creator.

I work within my desire to receive. If I am afraid of phenomena within my desire to receive, this is called “fear.” If I suspect and am afraid about whether I will be able to bestow to the friends and through them to the Creator, this is called “awe.”

The difference between fear and awe is in this, that fear is a natural phenomenon that appears and takes place in me naturally as a result of the fear of the desire to receive if it will receive pleasure, and in this there is no difference between a person and a beast. And awe doesn’t depend on me, but in how will I receive the Light that Reforms? It brings me awe.

Fear is awakened in me naturally, by itself, whereas awe is the result of the influence of the Upper Light, the luminary, from awareness of the greatness of the Creator. That is, the main difference is that fear comes to me from nature and awe is above nature, under the influence of the Light that Reforms.
[142858]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/14, The Zohar

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Writings of Rabash, Letter 16

Shamati #23″ “You that Love the Lord, Hate Evil”

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “The Third Commandment,” Item 206

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” “Come Unto Pharaoh-2”

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings”

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