Question: How can I see attributes, Sefirot, around me, and not people?

Answer: Why do you see people in the material sense of the word? Why do you need faces? Does the body say something to you? It doesn’t say anything about the person.

In fact, soon, we will stop relating to character traits also. A person gets them when he is born or acquires them from the environment. This is not him.

His parents brought him into the world; he was educated in these institutions or others that he didn’t choose, and all his life, he is found in some environment. As a result of this, we see in him a particular form that is molded according to particular parameters. That is how they “made” him, and that is how he lives his life from beginning to end.

This is not truly him. Don’t attribute anything to that. He doesn’t even have a grain of anything original of his own, not in the characteristics of his body and not in his character traits. Everything is a result of what he apparently receives from others.

The man (Adam) in me begins from what I receive from above. If I enter a group and invest effort in it, then they are also a result of a particular education. If I begin to receive an illumination from above, thanks to which new characteristics are born in me that are opposed to the previous characteristics, this is the beginning of a new creature that is not linked to my body or character. Therefore, the soul is called,  “a divine portion of God from above.”

So, it follows that the external appearance of the person and his behavior have no meaning. What matters is his investment in a group and his efforts. For this, he may receive a response from above and acquire what is called man.

Until then, he is not a man. He has nothing truly of his own. If, during his life, he doesn’t correct even one of his desires with the help of the Light that Reforms, it is as if he is not alive. You see, his spiritual account is empty and he participates in the process of historical evolution like everyone. There is nothing here to measure, to evaluate, and to weigh on the spiritual “scales.”

There is one additional caveat: Even if the person doesn’t correct himself, he doesn’t live his life in vain if he helps in the correction of others, if he brings them closer to the truth. In any case, it is worthwhile to work on this as much as possible. As Baal HaSulam writes in the “The Last Generation,” the goal of life is to merit adherence with the Creator, to maintain strictly the general rule to act only for His good, or to help many to reach adherence with Him.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard) # 3, “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”: This is considered Ein Sof, and it is the connection existing between Atzmuto and the souls. We perceive this connection in the form of “desire to delight the creatures.”

Ein Sof is the beginning.

This connection is called Ein Sof. When we pray to the Creator and ask of Him to help us and to give us what we want, we relate to the discernment of Ein Sof. There is the root of the creatures, which wants to impart them delight and pleasure, called “His desire to do good to His creations.”

Everything descends to us from Infinity. There is a “pantry” of all delights the Creator wishes to give to the souls, the “treasure trove” of His attitude to creation, the “repository” of all forces, all the Lights and vessels. Our prayers, requests, and demands also rise to Infinity. All our aspirations are headed there.

“Infinity” stands for His endlessly kind attitude to the good and the bad. Like the owner of the house, He grants everything to his guests except for the cancellation of the guests’ sense of shame.

Creatures respond to Him; they ask and demand from Him anything they want. However, the system is set in a way that in order to get a fulfillment, one first has to be corrected.

After the shattering of vessels took place, any fulfillment that precedes correction turns into poison and hurts us. Why doesn’t the Creator give anything to us for free? The fact is that if we are still immersed in egoistic desires, the Light becomes “poison” to us. This explains why the Creator is “unable” to give us the Light, since He just doesn’t want to torture us, even though He suffers because of this situation much more than we do. As a result, all we receive is just a tiny glow; anything more than that would be damaging for us.

Question: How can I know anything at all about Infinity if it is the “Light without a vessel”?

Answer: Actually, there is no such thing as the Light without a vessel. We are talking about a concept that states that the vessel doesn’t restrict the Light. In the world of Infinity, the Light is not constrained by a vessel. This is why it is called “Infinity – without end (Ein Sof)” There, the vessel is endless and so is the Light in it.

And in addition, in Kabbalah we are exploring a new kind of vessels. The specificity of this science is that we must always “be attached to the ground,” because otherwise we cannot understand the “coordinates of the worlds.”

Until the first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) occurred, the vessels were “round” and had no boundaries; they only contained points of perception that were distributed over four levels. Later, new types of vessels were created. They varied from the previous ones by the quantity of restriction they contained, by the measure of the screen (Masach) that rose above the restriction and by the amount of the reflected Light that rose above the screen in order to work in the same way as the Creator.

The Creator wishes to give to His creation, but to what extent is the creation ready to accept for the sake of pleasing Him?

It means that we should be delighted, thus giving the opportunity for the Creator to be pleased. We should be ready to receive anything from Him. We should be eager to “swallow” and “absorb” all His presents in the “round” vessel; however, we have to receive only according to a line rather than a circle.

Actually, it is an extremely difficult limitation for us: It’s as if the Creator puts in front of us an endless table with all kinds of imaginable dishes. And our appetite is quite sufficient to eat all of them; there is no problem to swallow them all. But instead, I cut a slice of bread, sprinkle it with a pinch of salt, and drink half a glass of water.

This is what the “thin line” is about: I am incapable of anything else. After all, I want to please Him and therefore cannot taste delicious dishes for my own pleasure. If I go over the “limit,” I’ll start enjoying.

Does the Creator really enjoy our abstinence? Does it mean that we please neither Him nor ourselves? Maybe, it’s better not to touch anything at all? It would be okay if we could take a decent portion, but if we only take a tiny amount…

It’s impossible to “shape” our minds to the extent that we reach a “correct condition”… What can we do? How can we be satisfied with bread and water from such a lush table? Won’t we just disappoint ourselves and the Creator more? How can we restrict ourselves by declaring our own weakness?

In fact, this is exactly how we should work with screens. This is the work that we should be doing. How can we justify it?

Comment: In fact, by doing so, we are doing something on our own…

Answer: So from our side we should keep the basic promise: “The end of an act is in the preliminary thought.” We should remain confident that we will reach complete correction after many small actions.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/13, Shamati #3

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We have to remember that spirituality is different from corporeality. In corporeality, we always want to see the results right away. Sometimes it’s the product we made: Suppose I made shoes; sold them, and received money for them. I see the shoes I made; I see the results of my efforts, the fruits of my labors. I can evaluate, improve, adjust, correct, and make them better only if we actually see them.

It is said: “There is none wiser than the experienced,” and the experienced is earned with one’s own hands. We apply effort somewhere, and there we see the results of our work. So over time, through trial and error, I correct myself and become a professional, skilled craftsman.

But the difficulty is that in spiritual work, we cannot see the results. Just imagine a musician who would strike the piano keys and couldn’t hear any sound. How could he play? When a child is taught how to write, he is given a notebook to enter letters strictly between the lines. But in spirituality, I have no “lines,” and even the letters I write are invisible!

How can I adjust myself if I can’t see any response? I invest efforts, but they disappear like water seeping into sand. Well, let’s say, I’m willing to sacrifice any results for self-benefit. But I still have to somehow adjust, check, improve my work, and gain experience. How is it possible?

It doesn’t work this way in spirituality. We don’t get any response, and this weakens us. I can’t make an effort that doesn’t cause any visible reaction. It’s like talking to a wall. All my energy vanishes.

But the reaction does exist, only it doesn’t take place within the same desire; in other words, it occurs in a different place. If at least a tiny part of our efforts are correct, that is, if we have an intention to exit ourselves and connect with others, to get closer to the Creator and give Him the opportunity to disclose Himself to us, to bring Him joy without demanding or anticipating to get anything in return, the reaction accumulates. It turns out that the place of our work and the results we get are completely separate from each other.

Should we ask to see the results of our work? If we see that we did something correctly, it will fulfill us and bring us satisfaction. It can stop me and hinder advancement because I start working for that gratification. But then how can I analyze the work I do and check that I am not driven by our self-interest?

How can I see the reaction without enjoying it egoistically? How can I manage to accept the information only, without the sensation, without the desire to receive pleasure? This is called demanding a desire to bestow. In other words, I don’t even want to know if I am bestowing to the Creator because in my current state, I would inevitably enjoy it and be comforted. I just want to make actions, detached from enjoyment and fulfillment, not to bring calm to my desires, feelings, and thoughts. This takes work.

The result of our spiritual work is called “a find.” The results show up as if at exactly the wrong time and in a place we didn’t expect it. And the result itself is separate from the desire; therefore, it is totally unexpected.

This happens on all spiritual levels, because every time it is a new world. Our sensations open to a new level, a new depth and quality, in a completely new range that never existed before. Our sensations and evaluation criteria undergo revolutionary changes; they are “upgraded.” That’s why it is called “a discovery,” “a find.”
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah lesson 11/7/13

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Question: While preparing for a dissemination project, I felt a very strong attraction and sympathy for the poor, but my ego tells me to work with rich and more influential people. I was confused and don’t know what the truth is.

Answer: You should not work with the rich or poor but with those who want to hear more about what we are saying. As a rule, the poor want this more. Therefore, I recommend beginning to work among common people.

In the meantime, I don’t see any possibility of working with those who are well-off and thriving. Only a few of them are ready to listen to us because wealth blinds and dulls a person. The ego doesn’t allow them to be detached from the good life. This fulfills and anesthetizes people.

I suppose that the lower strata of the population who now are beginning to feel the crisis with great intensity are becoming that ground upon which we can develop integral education and the wisdom of Kabbalah among the people. We must specifically turn to them because we have a solution to the problem of the crisis.

What is there to solve for the rich? Will he make a profit of ten million or five million dollars? Certainly he is sad and concerned if he has less profit, but these are not those concerns about which it is possible to give an answer, for our method subconsciously says that the person should be satisfied with a reasonable need and no more than this.

For rich people, there is a very great need for large profits above the necessities. Our method speaks about this from the start: that a person doesn’t require anything besides connection in which he will feel the higher source of pleasure, the discovery of the Creator. The rich person immediately will ask, “And what about my millions,” and someone who has nothing to give up and lose will yearn only for the upper source without looking back.
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From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/23/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash, “Shlavei HaSulam,” “What Placing the Hanukkah Candle On the Left Means In the Work”

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, Parashat, “Beresheet” 

Talmud Eser Sefirot, “Histaklut Pnimit, “Vol. 1, Part 2, Chapter 2, Item 9

Writings of Rabash, “Shlavei HaSulam, “Mighty Rock of My Salvation“

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Question: Have countless reincarnations of humanity for millennia not produced any spiritual effect?

Answer: Everything is accounted for; everything has its own account; however, our generation is definitely more important than the previous ones. Indeed, they were preparation for today. Nothing happened for a reason until now; people had no independence in the true spiritual sense.

In fact, it is not about bodies but about the same souls. The point in the heart went through cycles of life, becoming more obvious, and today we are finally able to bring it to light.

And besides that, the influence that brings people to this state, so that they will become independent sooner, passes through us to the external audience. It is said, “All shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.” In other words, everyone has to grow spiritually, to identify the root of his soul, and to connect his “cell” with the common “body” consciously, with awareness, efficiently and effectively.

So, everyone has a place in the community and differences arise only in the order of entering it. And this order is determined by the system’s parameters.

Question: But not everyone will come to the group?

Answer: In the end, of course, everyone. Indeed, our final state is unity, the same as before the breaking. We just return to it gradually, if desired, according to one’s efforts.

On this path, you will feel what is above you and what is below. Above you, you will find the Kabbalists of all generations: the active part of the system. And below are those who have not come to the correct realization and whom you have to help.

As a result, each of us is like a communication channel, like a capillary that transfers vitalizing forces to other cells.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How is it possible to identify evil and develop hatred towards it?

Answer: It is impossible to identify evil if you are not found in a group, in the point of connection, in some form of connection. We need to constantly adhere to this form of connection and to go deeper into it, clarify, investigate, learn about, test, and to try to penetrate into its inner essence.

Within our connection I discover the inner spiritual system. When the separated parts begin to connect correctly, then within them is discovered the spiritual structure that is constructed from two forces that are opposed but complementary. So I am already building the connection within myself, and with this I assemble my soul, sticking the Kli together. All of its parts are a desire to receive, but they are connected between them in order to complete each other, that is, for the purpose of bestowal.

To the degree that I enter and deepen this clarification, both in the analysis and in the synthesis of this structure, which is composed of opposing parts, with this I clarify everything there and find all the answers. Therefore, we need to be aimed constantly towards connection in the interior of each and every person, to try to see them connected together; this is called my yearning to discover the spiritual world. For all of humanity are connected within it, only we don’t identify this.

This yearning to identify this connection, to be found in it, live within it, and to feel it is called my yearning for the Creator. For the force that connects all the parts inside is the higher power.

Within our connection I discover that “There is none else besides Him.” I don’t just connect all of our parts together by assembling the puzzle of the collective soul; rather, I try to discover the Creator in it. He is the one who scatters all of creation into parts so that I will assemble them again back into one picture and will see it. Within the puzzle that I assemble, I build the image of the Creator.

In conventional puzzles trees, grass, and the sun are pictured, and in this puzzle, the Creator. If I reach the Light of Hassadim, then with its help I am ready to connect and assemble this puzzle. Its parts will no longer be opposed and will not reject each other. And when I begin to work with reception in order to bestow, then these parts will be ready to adhere to each other like the pieces of a magnet.

And from the mutual cooperation of these parts, their relationships “for” and “against” connection, I construct the form of the Creator. It is possible to construct it only in this way. It is impossible to discover Him only through one positive force of bestowal that nothing is acting against. Therefore, only through the shattering are we able to reveal the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/13, Question and Answer with Dr. Laitman

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Question: Where is it possible to find the power to bless the evil like the good?

Answer: Of course we don’t have such powers; like these; we only  have a desire to receive for ourselves. We require “support,” the “support of the Torah,” and Light. It is necessary to try to be illuminated all the time; this will hold you and give you spirit, elevation, a solid base, as if you are on a cushion of air.

A man himself doesn’t have such means. But to the degree that he humbles himself to the group and values the friends, values and praises the Creator, from this he has the ability to accept all the bad events which have been sent to him intentionally as a means for advancing him towards the good. He no longer blames the Creator for sending him the evil and various problems all the time. On the contrary, he can thank the Creator for taking care of a person like this in that he gives him more and more exercises in order to advance, to grow.

Not living within the belly of his desire to receive, but within reason, in the “control system,” that accepts objective decisions, this is a great accomplishment that is possible only through the support of the environment. Even in our world everything is arranged in an identical manner. If a person doesn’t support the environment, then the person quickly falls to a half-savage state.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/13, Question and Answer with Dr. Laitman

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Question: Why isn’t the connection with the friends mentioned in Rabash’s article “Come to Pharaoh?”

Answer: Nowhere in the articles of Shamati, in other articles, or in the whole Torah, Talmud, the Mishna, etc. is there any explanation about how the group should operate. The only place in the Torah which speaks about that is the gathering at Mt. Sinai. There is no other place where this is mentioned because it is obvious that it is an essential condition. There is no other place where the Creator can be revealed.

We are in this world in which we can come closer on a physical level by gathering in one geographical location and performing certain collective tasks. Thus, we can create the conditions necessary for the recognition of the need to be connected, to be united, to study together, and to disseminate. The purpose of all these activities is to reach the connection in which the adhesion with the Creator will be revealed.

These things are so well understood in advance that we don’t even need to speak about them. If you don’t join a group, then you don’t have the conditions in which you can begin to read any Kabbalistic text. You won’t even understand what you are reading, about whom, what for and how to fulfill it; you won’t understand anything.

Only Rabash described and explained in his systematic and coherent way the whole method of group work in his first twenty articles that are about the society. He didn’t speak or discuss this in his lessons, but only wrote about it in his articles. He didn’t speak with us about love of friends and about connection, but only about Pharaoh, Moses, etc., in the same manner that all his articles are written. The articles about the society are totally different from all the Kabbalah books starting from Adam HaRishon until now, and are very special.

There aren’t any such accurate explanations about what we have to do and the regulations of the group anywhere. It is because it was clear that these regulations were well known and understood and without it there is no point to even start studying. First, you have to arrange the place that you can work in, and only then draw the Light that Reforms. Otherwise, where will you draw it to?

Question: But it says that the Creator says to Moses: “Come to Pharaoh!” Who is going? Do I go by myself or with the friends?

Answer: Moses is a sum; it is the sum of all your friends. It isn’t a person but rather the center of the group in which you contact the Creator. It is never about a certain person. One doesn’t exist in the spiritual world; one is only a shattered part of a vessel which contains nothing. The Creator brings the shattered part to the right place and says: “Take it!”

It is here that you can find the power by which you can put yourself back into this giant puzzle, into the general mosaic, into the place that is meant for you, and thus complete the vessel. By inserting yourself into your place, you are helping the other parts find their place and complete the puzzle.

But if you are just sitting somewhere by yourself studying without any connection to others and without even a virtual connection, then you have no chance of succeeding. You will study all the texts theoretically and that’s all. You won’t have a chance to discover the good and the evil. You will lack the necessary conditions.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11.25.13, Writings of Rabash

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The Creator says to Moses, (“Exodus” 7:26): “Come to Pharaoh” (together). I will also come with you in order to change your nature and transform it from reception to bestowal. It is only up to you to ask Me for this. But He doesn’t add, “Go, join a group, for without this I will not be revealed,” for this is self-evident.

If the person is not included in the center of a group and is not connected with the friends, then he cannot turn to the Creator. The Creator is found in the center of the group. We never turn to the Creator alone, rather only through connection with the others.

Moses is the general image of the group. Therefore he is called the leader of the people, symbolizing the general agreement, the oneness of the group. Therefore he has a link with the Creator and he can pray and ask and do everything for all the people.

In order to begin the process of correction of the soul, I must imagine that I am linked with everyone together into one image. Everything begins with our trying to connect and discovering that we are not ready to do this, as it is said, “I created the evil inclination; I created the Torah as a spice.” The entry into Egypt begins with the discovery that we are not ready to connect, we don’t want it under any condition, and we are ready to sell our dear brother Joseph; the main thing is not to connect.

Thus, the true egoistic nature begins to be discovered within a person, that “my death would be better” than bestowal, loving the other, and being concerned for him. And this is only the beginning, only the entry into Egypt. After this there are another four hundred years of Egyptian bondage, this is, passage through the entire thickness of the desire for pleasure. It is up to us to work on all the layers of our ego in order to decide in the end that, in spite of it all, we want to connect.

Then come the seven years of famine pass and the plagues of Egypt because we want to connect and don’t succeed; we try again and again without success. Until ultimately we despair and scream to the Creator, “Help!” We feel an immense demand for help from the Creator.

But this is always about connection and never about an isolated person. If we talk about some individual personality, this is only from the aspect of its connection with the whole in its unique and particular form. Therefore images appear as in The Book of Zohar: Rabbi Yossi, Rabbi Abba, Rabbi Elazar, and Rabbi Shimon. It makes no matter who this is, for this is speaking only about the quality of his connection with the others.

That is how it is also with the story about Moses and Jethro, about the burning bush. This is talking only about the collective and not about the man who fled into the wilderness. Where could he escape from his ego? This is talking about the person found within the group. The Torah talks only about relationships between us, everything “remains in the family,” within the group.

This is like a soap opera where all the events happen in one room. About this “room” it is said, everything is happening here: The wilderness, wars, the splitting of the Red Sea, everything appears within that room, in relationships between the people.

After this we discover that nothing is truly happening besides this! All of the reality that we see now is imaginary, false, and illusory. Rather, we are in fact seeing a unity that has been smashed, shattered, divided into fragments, distanced from each other. This is the picture of our world; instead of one person, there are a multitude of people, plants, animals, innumerable forms of different existence. That is how the four aspects of a single desire, a single entity, appear to us.

But if the person wants to grasp the situation correctly, it is up to him to know that only within the group does he have the opportunity to see the truth. The group is like a microscope, an instrument, which if we look through it, we can see what is happening. We have no other instrument in all of reality. Through greater and greater consolidation among the friends, which is to say, through the choice of a better and better environment, the person aims the instrument better and better and comes closer to the truth.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11.25.13, Writings of Rabash

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