Baal HaSulam, “The Mystery of Letter Kaf in the Word Anochi (I)”: Malchut, clothed in the worlds, is called “I” and distributed to the world of Assiya. Precisely it is the division which every man feels himself existing as he is.

Developing, a man wants to conquer the whole world for his own sake and pleasure. This is the force of breaking in the world of Assiya, as it is said (Prophets, Melachim (Kings), I, 1:5): “I will be king”—because of the spiritual sparks that have not yet been revealed.

We must understand that the receiving desire, detached from the Creator, which feels itself as opposite to Him and seeks to dominate over everything is artificial in its essence. It does not exist in reality, it is created as something imaginary to be in polar opposition to the Creator.

It exists only as part of perception, in order to create a sense of oppositeness to the Creator. And only in this it should be given importance: It is important only because it enables us to feel oppositeness to bestowal and for no other reason. Based on it we can build a relationship with the Creator.

Now we do not touch Malchut, as such, the end of the line of Infinity, in the center of the circle. We will touch it only if we present ourselves before the Creator. The receiving desire does not exist until we place it opposite the Creator. Only then there is me and there is the Creator, and some line is stretched between us, the link, from which it is possible to begin the path.

This point is opposite to Him in all its properties and is hidden, and it begins to be revealed to the extent of my ability to imagine the Creator as its opposite. Otherwise, it shows me nothing but troubles, meaning not itself, but its external manifestations. But gradually, unlike the entire world, I approach its internal essence, distinguish it in front of the Creator, and then I start my own line.

Thus, it is important to remember: We do not eliminate this point; we understand that we need it. However, we must constantly go into it deeper and deeper. If I want to know materiality, then we have to contrast it with spirituality, to place the point Malchut before the Creator. One cannot exist without the other in this set.

If I imagine a certain reality without the Creator, opposite to it, then I live in an imaginary world.

This is the difference between the lowest state that precedes the first spiritual degree, the state in which I oppose the Creator and the imaginary world, which I do not connect with the Creator in our understanding.

The real “I” appears only when the property completely opposite to me, the Creator, is before me. And then, confronting Him I “lay claim to the throne,” which is manifested in various forms. For example, I can admit that He is eternal and powerful, that He determines and provides everything, and nonetheless, as a small child, I want everything the other way; I want to take His place. This is also included in the scope of claims, “I will be king.”

Thus, what is important is not power itself, but the desire. If I want to take power in my hands at least in something, this is already my real I. After all, the thing is, who is the head, who decides? And if it is clear to me that it is either me or the Creator, then I already enter into relationship with Him, even if not yet in a spiritual way.

How can I come to this? It is very simple: I begin to realize that the Creator rules in me I completely. Even my opposition to Him He creates on purpose to advance me on the path of development. As a result, I include both opposites and start building a correct relationship between them.

Baal HaSulam illustrates this by the example: Going to work in the morning, a person is guided by the principle, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” And at the end of the day, he admits that there is none else but the Creator.

At the first stage of the process, I become aware that there is no one but  Him. I realize this relative to myself in all my desires and thoughts, in feelings, and the mind (and I have nothing else); the Creator has absolute power.

Who am I then? A deeper detail of perception, a higher spiritual degree. Since He reigns in me fully, then I state this on the basis of some new point. Thus, every time I reveal a deeper “I” until the fourth stage where the force of breaking occurs.
[111533]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/13, “From Hatred to Love by the Light that Reforms

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Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 3, Chapter 8, “Histaklut Pnimit“, Item 88: All we have to do is to clarify once more and raise all the souls that fell from Adam HaRishon (first man) into the Klipot (shells) and bring them back to their root just as they were before the sin of the tree of knowledge.

And where is the shattering point, the point where my “self” is revealed? Where does it stem from? It is a result of the shattering, since everything other than the shattering is the upper Light and is unity and connection. It is because of the shattering that a “short circuit” between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow is created.

Then this point of the “self” is revealed and only by our efforts to connect can we discover this point and do the work we have to do in contrast to it: to change from “I” to “nothing” to the Creator, and “nothing” doesn’t mean that He does not exist, it means that He actually does exist and fills everything and that “There is none else besides Him.”

This means that our goal is to constantly connect so we will all “shrink” as much as possible. By that we discover two things together, both the “self” and the “nothing,” the Creator. Between them I will discover the whole spiritual ladder around which there is the whole circle, all of Ein Sof (Infinity).

If we begin to ascend this ladder from the bottom up, if we ascend from one level to the next, we connect everything that we have to correct, the whole circle, except for the part that we cannot come near, called “stoney heart.” When I ascend up a line it means that I correct not only that line but the whole area that is not revealed yet; I correct the ten Sefirot on the line, and everything else is the Surrounding Light. But it is already a Surrounding Light that is made of different couplings that I have made. I have received the Inner Light in the coupling and in contrast to it the Surrounding Light. Then I ascend to the next level. This is actually the whole corrected vessel. The Surrounding Light is in the “stoney heart” that will be corrected at the end of correction by “Rav pealim mekabtziel.”

By having created a whole corrected vessel I ascend to the next line, to the next level. Then I continue my line and acquire a greater Inner Light and accordingly, also a greater Surrounding Light. Thus I clarify both each time.
[111530]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/04/13, “From Hatred to Love by the Light that Reforms”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”: …the Creator is, in and of Himself, complete and needs no one to help Him to completion, since He precedes everything, it is therefore clear that He does not have any will to receive. And because He has no will to receive, He is fundamentally devoid of a desire to harm anyone; it is as simple as that.

Furthermore, it is completely agreeable to our mind as the first concept, that He possesses a desire to bestow goodness upon others, meaning to His creatures. And that is evidently shown by the great Creation that He has created and set before our eyes. For in this world there are beings that necessarily experience either a good feeling or a bad one, and that feeling necessarily comes to them from the Creator. And once it is absolutely clear that there is no aim to harm in the nature of the Creator, it necessitates that the creatures receive only goodness from Him, for He has created them only to bestow upon them.

Thus we learn that He has only a desire to bestow goodness, and it is utterly impossible that any harmfulness might be in His domain, which could emit from Him. Hence we have defined Him as “The Absolute Good.” And after we have learned that, let us take a look at the actual reality that is guided by Him, and how He bestows only goodness upon them.”

We don’t see it this way. For us, it looks like everything is upside down in this world. Compared to inanimate, vegetative and animate nature, the speaking level suffers much more than others. The more advanced a person is, the bigger his distresses are. So, where do we see the “Absolute Good” here?

It applies to another level of existence, to a different plane of life. Here, there are no traces of the Absolute Good, nor can we expect that, at some point, things will become better. On the contrary, throughout all of history, we advance solely toward evil. The truth is that we develop in order to realize our evil inclination that is built into our nature, our properties. It doesn’t matter where exactly since everything is the same. That’s why it is useless to hope or wait for positive things in this world.

As to the Absolute Good (the Creator) and our connection with Him, we are unable to even fantasize about it since we are restricted by our present boundaries. It doesn’t have anything in common with this world at all. There is no link between this realm and the upper force whatsoever. All we have here is the will to receive that continues to change. However, there is no “Good that does Good,” no “Absolute Benevolence,” no Creator!

The purpose of this world is to reveal the fact that we cannot tolerate this realm any longer. The trick is that we should reveal this fact and disclose the reasons that cause this state. Not only am I in pain and scream about it, this pain must explain why I go through it and how to rid myself of it.

Otherwise, I will control my pain to reach a better state. This doesn’t mean that there will be no pain in my life, although I will reach a different, higher level of attainment, understanding and realization that will allow me to control myself by using my aspiration to the delight and the affliction as the reins for self-control. At this stage, I don’t want to rid myself of suffering or enjoy myself. I begin to understand and clarify exactly to what I should aspire. Regardless of my aversion to affliction and my desire to be delighted, I still want to behave correctly. Gradually, while pursuing this path, I substantiate what “correctly” means.

This type of analysis begins in our current state and continues from one stage to another. Gradually, we begin recognizing potential features of the Absolute Good. It takes a lot of time and lots of clarification. It is a process that makes it possible for us to define what’s good and what’s bad.

Then, we regard these concepts not just based on what we feel, but purposefully. Thus, we move forward. We rise above the “animal” analysis of what’s good and what’s bad, which is based on our positive or negative sensations. Rather, we switch to a human-type analysis that relates everything to the upper goal. We place the upper goal ahead of everything. Only through the upper goal can we distinguish between good and evil.
[111380]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/13, “There is None Else Besides Him”

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 19

The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “On the Night of the Bride,” Item 125, Lesson 43

Preparation to St. Petersburg Convention, “They Shall All Know Me – From the Least of Them to the Greatest of Them,” Lesson 5

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 42: Indeed, you should know the reason for our great distance from the Creator, and that we are so prone to transgress His will is for but one reason, which became the source of all the torment and the suffering that we suffer, and for all the sins and the mistakes that we fail in. Clearly, by removing that reason, we will instantly be rid of any sorrow and pain. We will immediately be granted adhesion with Him in heart, soul, and might. And I tell you that, that preliminary reason is none other than the lack of our understanding in His Providence over His creations, that we do not understand Him properly.

We don’t understand the Creator at all. We are simply in the dark imagining whatever we feel like, creating different beliefs and methods in our imaginings of the soul and the next world, etc.

We cannot even imagine the corporeal world properly, since this whole reality is also concealed from us. We are in a state of absolute numbness, and it’s as if we are dreaming totally detached not only from the upper world but also from the current reality.

The problem is that we don’t know the Creator, which means the upper Light that operates on all of reality. We don’t see that He is good and benevolent. What’s more, we don’t perceive, understand, feel, or identify His actions and their essence in any way.

This is why we need the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to get to know these actions and to fulfill the principle of “we will know You from Your actions.” Then we get to know the Creator and His nature and that He is good and benevolent. We also get to know the goal of creation which is to do good to His created beings. We are also included in this by the Light that Reforms.

The revelation of the Creator to the created being is vital so we will justify Him and adhere to Him, which means to do whatever we have to do. Thus the wisdom of Kabbalah is the only tool that can help a person rise from the imaginary, fictitious reality to the only true reality there is.
[111463]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/13, “There Is None Else Besides Him”

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Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah,” (The Giving of the Torah), Item 11: “This exaltedness and Dvekut, which is guaranteed to come to us through our work in Torah and Mitzvot, is no more and no less than the equivalence of the branches with their root.”

• All the gentleness, pleasure, and sublimity become a natural extension here, as we have said above, pleasure is only the equivalence of form with one’s Maker. And when we equalize in every conduct with our root, we sense delight.
• Also, everything we encounter that is not in our root becomes intolerable, disgusting, or considerably painful to us, as is necessitated by that concept. And we naturally find that our very hope depends on the extent of our equivalence of form with our root.

Thus we advance by pleasures and sufferings. On the whole we should establish the equivalence of form from both parts. I have to create of myself a form that is similar to the Light.

But the upper Light has no form; it is total bestowal and absolute love. So how can I create the form of the Light in my desire to receive that has a form?

I “undress” from all the egoistic relationships that I have and establish connections of love above them. So internally I am totally made of a desire to receive and its external expression becomes a desire to bestow.

As a result I find myself in front of the Surrounding Light, in front of the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity), and I make the image of the Creator for myself, by myself. This is why this level is called Adam (a human being) which means to resemble the Creator (Domeh in Hebrew).

The Creator himself has no form, but we discover Him by getting closer to Him and by that we “create” Him.

Baal HaSulam, “The Secret of Gestation and Birth”: It is similar to a Rav and his student, when the Rav’s only inclination is to empower his student to be like him and to teach other students like himself. In the same manner the Creator is content when the created beings create and renew His image. Our force of renewal and development is not really new, but a kind of imitation. And our level of development is measured according to the level that the imitation matches the work of nature.

We fulfill all that in the mutual connection between us. We were given a chance to overcome the ego between us if we use the means that we have correctly: the lessons, the workshops, the conventions, etc. The most important thing should be to reach connection, so that the connection will resemble the Light and mutual bestowal to some extent.
[111460]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/13, “There Is None Else Besides Him”

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Question: You said that we shouldn’t pin our hopes on the convention, that we shouldn’t expect any pleasure, but that we should only work above it and set an example for others.

Answer: The goal of creation is to do good to the created beings! Therefore, we should expect to receive pleasure but pleasure from bestowing upon the friends and through them upon the Creator.

Pleasure is the goal of creation, I should enjoy. If I don’t enjoy but cry, I am opposite from the goal of creation and far from the Creator.

The closer we get to the Creator, the more we enjoy. All the levels of the spiritual ladder are the ascent to the feeling of increasingly greater and more wonderful pleasures! It seems that you have reached the top and then such sensations are suddenly felt that you can simply go mad. But you cannot go mad since you have a Masach (screen). If you didn’t have a Masach, the smallest spiritual pleasure would burn all your fuses.

The pleasure you feel is the pleasure of bestowal, the pleasure of loving and filling your beloved friend.

I see that you have a sad face. Can’t you imagine that you fill someone that you love? Do you love anyone in this world, your son at least? Can you imagine enjoying giving him a present and that it brings you pleasure when you see his pleasure, as you actually feel the joy inside him? Do you feel the pleasure that he feels when he tastes something good or enjoys a certain game, as if you are right there inside him?

We have such corporeal examples that you can also use in spirituality. But in spirituality this love doesn’t appear naturally, since you have to ask for help, to build it up inside you by the Light that Reforms. But you should already understand that you can enjoy the fact that the one you love enjoys.

This means that all you need is love of the Creator! When He enjoys your actions, you will enjoy His pleasure from you to the same extent. By bringing the Creator your minor good mood, you multiply it by 620 times because the Creator is a bit greater than you and includes everything there is.

You multiply your efforts and your pleasure by transferring them to Him, since He enjoys you 620 times more and you receive from Him a pleasure that is 620 times greater. Thus we advance up the spiritual ladder and this is all our work: to fill the Light with 613 desires and 7 additional ones, Malchut itself, and on the whole 620 desires.
[111446]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/03/13, Writings of Rabash

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Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 17, “The Order of the Assembly”: In the multitude of people is the king’s glory, it follows that the greater the number of the collective, the more effective is the power of the collective. In other words, they produce a stronger atmosphere of the greatness and importance of the Creator. At that time, each person’s body feels that he regards anything that he wishes to do for holiness—meaning to bestow upon the Creator—as a great fortune, that he has been privileged with being among people who have been rewarded with serving the king. At that time, every little thing he does fills him with joy and pleasure that now he has something with which to serve the king.

This should be the atmosphere of the convention in St. Petersburg. And we need to prepare for it. No “mechanism” will work for us. It is the people who gather at the convention that must form, generate the desired state, “warm up the air,” and feel that it is “charged” with our intentions. The realization of the greatness and importance of the work, the focus of joint efforts depend on us.

We are special; we are doing a special action of establishing contact, even the smallest with the upper force. It structures us, helps us, brings us closer by obstacles, and eventually propels us to the goal.
[111457]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/13, “There Is None Else Besides Him”

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 38: ..hurry up and spend the majority of your time preparing your body to muster strength and courage “as an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load.” Do not lose a minute, “for the way is long and supplies are scarce. (…) But the most important is the labor, meaning to crave how to labor in His work, since the ordinary work does not count at all, only the bits that are more than the ordinary, which is called “labor.” It is like a person who needs to eat a pound of bread a day to be full. All his eating does not merit the title, “satisfying meal,” but only the last bit from the pound. That bit, for all its smallness, is what defines the meal as satisfying. Similarly, out of every service, the Creator draws out only the bits beyond the ordinary, and they will be the letters and the Kelim (vessels) in which to receive the Light of His face.

The problem is where to get the strength to constantly multiply efforts. How can we imagine the importance of the spiritual goal, that is, bestowal, every time so that it outweighs all the burdening of the heart? The heart becomes hardened; the egoistic desire of all kinds is growing, so that we can hardly see that it comes as “help against.” But every time we think that these are real obstacles, and even not obstacles—but this is our life and we need to deal with these difficulties, focusing all our attention and effort on them.

Common sense suggests that you need to behave; it’s not some philosophical debate like in Kabbalah; it’s not the hidden spiritual world, but the real earthly life. We are not able to accept these problems as obstacles on the spiritual path and to rise above all of them without exception and attach them to spiritual advancement.

We are overcome by the burdening of the heart, confused by all sorts of life problems. It seems that our life is in them, and first of all we need to deal with them and only after that engage in spiritual advancement. And even having entered the spiritual world, we find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the goal, to aim ourselves at the true goal, that is, bestowal and love for the other and through it to love for the Creator. It is getting harder to turn to the environment and ask for support.

Obstacles come from two sides—besides this world, as well as from the Creator, the group, the teacher—from all the material and spiritual factors. In earthly life, we are overwhelmed by common concerns about: food, family, money, power, knowledge. And the teacher, the group, the Creator act in the spiritual life. But we do not want to see in all them the means for advancement, sent to us from above. We forget that we are only against the upper Light and begin to make various material calculations, slowing ourselves on the path.

Only the total effort of the group is able to create the general force that at least will keep us in the right understanding from which we can begin to start correcting our individual states. Only then will we be able to make an effort that is above human power, with the help of the environment and the Light that Reforms.
[111305]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash “Igrot,” Letter 14

The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “Two Points,” Item 122, Lesson 42

Preparation to St. Petersburg Convention, “Principles for Building a Better Environment,” Lesson 4

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