Question: Our mission is to hasten (bring to the state of “I shall hasten it”) the process of development. Are there any criteria according to which we can examine things?

Answer: We don’t accelerate the process. At best, we approach it.

Through our inner efforts, we have an impact on new relationships that reveal positive states in the nation of Israel and in the world. We sweeten and soften many states, but it isn’t hastening yet (the state of “I shall hasten it”).

The state of “I shall hasten it” is when the world begins to move by a new force that pulls it forward by going through us. This isn’t happening yet.

On the whole, we are a major part of the general system, the active part that influences what is happening and that brings goodness, but it isn’t enough to hasten the process.

I do hope that we will be able to become that missing part, the link between the upper and the lower, and that we will truly be Light unto the nations, the link to the world of Light,  and even if people will not feel this Light, it will not matter. Its force will draw them to the good and they will begin to make the right decisions, will start to come closer to us in thought, and will be able to hear our message, to understand, internalize, and accept it. “Even if we don’t fully understand it, we already see and feel that it is true.”

Then, we will attain the state of “I shall hasten it” and not just “I shall hasten it” but even what is called “The Messiah’s Shofar,” a level on which the message of unity spreads throughout the world.

The most important means to achieve this is integral education since the more we connect with the world, the stronger is our deficiency to turn upward for help.
[107756]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Question: What is special about a person’s work in preparing himself for a descent; what helps him to keep the covenant he has made prior to the descent?

Answer: I depend on the Light that Reforms that must take care of me. So I need to have an absolute whole desire for this Light to sustain my complete dependence on it.

I want to be above my discernments and my feelings, but at the same time keep my eyes open. There is a certain duplicity here, a paradox. On the one hand, I want to understand, to know, and to feel everything in my reality, in my state, all the discernments in that state, and on the other hand, no matter what happens in this state and no matter how much I clarify and connect all my discernments, I have to eventually adhere to the Creator on top of this data.

This means that I want to grow above my understanding, my feeling, and see everything through my ego: above it, below it, and in it, in three discernments. I only ask that all this will not break our covenant, that I will attain devotion for the Creator despite everything, and will be filled with gladness; gladness is the right sign of our solid covenant.

If I don’t burst with such gladness, then it means that I don’t have a covenant with the Creator.
[107679]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/13, Writings of Rabash

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The goal of the created being is to enjoy all the pleasures that the Creator wants to give him, but what pleasures are we talking about? The Creator cannot give the created being less than His own level since, otherwise, it isn’t considered bestowal and love. The Creator’s attitude toward the created being is determined by the law of “Love thy friend as thyself.” He demands this from you, but you have the right to ask Him, in response, whether He acts according to this law or not. If He does, then there must be such a law in nature.

This law does exist! It is the attitude of Keter to Malchut, to the created being, “Love thy friend as thyself.” Malchut must reach the same attitude of “Love thy friend as thyself” by the Returning Light. This is called mutual bestowal, mutual love. Everything is very simple.

The Creator is whole, He is total love and bestowal and thus, He gives creation all this. Therefore, His attitude is called the four phases of the Direct Light.

However, the created being cannot relate to the Creator in the same direct way and acquire the same form since he only receives from the Creator in the four phases of the Direct Light. In order to relate to the Creator in the same way, the created being must go through the entire process of development all the way to the end of correction.

After all, it is about attitude. The problem isn’t receiving pleasure from the Creator, but is about how I feel it and how I repay Him. There is no problem in receiving pleasure. Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity) received it and it also led to the “first restriction.” The Creator gave it a spark while it was still in phase one of the Direct Light, and it felt that it was obligated to bestow back. It doesn’t want to only receive.

Phase two stems from phase one since otherwise everything would end in phase one. It turns out that the problem is not to receive from the Creator, but the feeling that you must repay Him and you have nothing to give Him! How can you repay Him? You cannot give Him back the Light that you received from Him since it is as if you return to the host the refreshments that He prepared for you so that He will eat it. It is impossible since the Creator Himself stands before you.

He shows you His good attitude and it is revealed as the pleasure that fills all your desires, but what do you value about it? Is it His attitude toward you? Is it His love or the pleasure itself, regardless of the Creator? Suppose I bring you something that you really love and you reject it. Do you reject it because of the food itself or because I bring it to you with such love that you cannot accept it?

If a waiter in a restaurant brought you that dish, you would accept it without hesitation and would enjoy its taste. However, you refuse to accept it from me since you cannot repay my attitude, my love. You restrict yourself with regard to the love. You cannot bear it since it requires mutuality.

You must calculate the love since this is what causes you shame. You don’t feel any shame with regard to the food since you think that, because the Creator has created you, He must feed you and fill you. It is obvious. However, you cannot return His love! So, starting from the “first restriction” onward, you look for a way to cope with this love, examine what this love is, how it is revealed, where it comes from, what is the connection between this love and the pleasure you feel in your desire, and what is its part in all the Light of NRNHY that fills the vessels.

When you reach a state in which you think that you can receive in order to bestow in the world of Nekudim, you are shattered, and this entire shattering is actually because of the love, because you couldn’t take it into account. You still don’t understand its root since it belongs to the Creator. Its love comes to you from Him, and that is His feeling. It evokes in you certain reactions that you don’t understand.

You don’t understand what this feeling means and why you suddenly feel shame, discomfort, and cannot bear it to such an extent that you begin to fight with Him, mainly in order to destroy the feeling of unpleasantness that you feel because of His love toward you.

The shattering of the vessels allows us to establish the hatred against the love, so “Mt. Sinai” was the starting point of the nation. We wouldn’t be able to begin working on it without the preparation in the exile in Egypt and the wandering in the desert. Therefore, as it is written, “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart,” which is the whole essence of the connection.
[107736]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/13, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee,” Lesson 16

Talk About Tens

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The first and primary rule is that the upper Light is at absolute rest. The influence of the Creator on us is constant, as it is written, “There is none else besides Him”; His manifestation, HaVaYaH, is invariable. Therefore, the reactions and changes within us need to reach stability and cease changing as well so that from our side also, there will be a permanent relationship existing at absolute rest, meaning in perfection.

In addition, if we still feel constant changes within us, if we feel physical or spiritual time, movement, or place, this is a sign that the creature has not yet reached perfection. We must yearn for a state where everything will be invariant, where adherence will be permanent.

All of our work is to act on those outside of us and help friends reach this kind of state. We cannot influence ourselves. Nobody works on himself since a person is not master over himself. However, since we are in a closed integral system, it follows that all the action is done only outside of the person and directed toward others and from the others, on the person himself. The person cannot act on himself.

Therefore, all the activities are done within a group, in a group of ten. Together with this, I need to desire that the action of the group on me will hold me in a perfect and permanent state. If I behave like this toward the friends and they behave like this toward me, then from this, we learn how to behave toward the Creator. To the degree that we connect to Him correctly, we discover His relationship with us, until we reach permanent connection and adherence.

All the changes are intended to show to us where we still lack permanence so that we can reach absolute rest. Therefore, one of the main rules of behavior in the group determines that a person cannot influence himself. Instead, he is activated and influenced only by the environment. To the degree that he influences others, he discovers himself, developing within himself sensitivity to the similar, external influences of the friends.
[107831]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/13

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Question: How do we receive the Creator’s desire to bestow and become the ones who bestow ourselves?

Answer: The Light that shattered the vessels inserted its desire to bestow into them, into the desire to receive. So when the desire to receive discovers the shattering, it also discovers the Creator’s desire to bestow inside it. This is already concealed in my vessels.

The Creator inserted the desire to bestow into my shattered vessels during the shattering. He gave me His testimony as to how much He wants to give me. I am incorporated in His deficiency to give by the revelation of this testimony. This becomes my desire to give and my ability to bestow by the Light that Reforms. This is the preparation that was inserted into us during the shattering and that was imprinted in us.

Otherwise I wouldn’t be impressed by His desire to bestow and couldn’t respond to it. It can be revealed in me only thanks to the fact that my attitude towards the Creator has already been imprinted in me.
[107817]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/19/13, Writings of Rabash

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Many people in the world are connected to all kinds of groups, associations, alliances, and communities, and they are quite satisfied with these “hobby clubs.” In addition, people also cooperate in businesses in order to make a profit together.

There are the great and small, supervisors and subordinates, but, ultimately, there is a clear goal for everyone, and they understand that everyone needs to have his own place and contribute for the benefit of all. The picture is clear when the result is felt in the pocket or our desire for pleasure is delighted in some other way.

All the ways and forms of connection differ, including the religions. However, in general, people enjoy shared interaction that provides everyone with some benefit.

It seems to be different when a person asks the question about the meaning of life, “Why and for what am I here?” After all the searching, this question only grows, leaving a sensation of emptiness inside. So, finally, the person comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

However, in addition, he opens books and doesn’t find an answer. Essentially, the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t reveal anything. On the contrary, it is called the “concealed wisdom” because it removes the cover and only shows a person that something is hidden from him. What is this exactly?

What is concealed from us is the Creator. He is what we are missing. If we were to discover the higher power in nature that activates all of its forms—the still, the vegetative, the animate, and the speaking—then everything will become clear to us.

So, actually, in our world, in our life, there is no other question than the discovery of the Creator. In this way, we will solve all problems. We will understand what is happening to us, how we should act, what the consequences of our actions are, how they come back to us, and so forth. In brief, everything will be revealed to us. When we go beyond the limitations of this world, we feel not only the shortness of material life but also the entire way that stretches to Infinity. All this is provided that we discover the Creator and understand and feel reality in the same way that He does.

In addition, we don’t understand and feel. Here, the question arises, “What do I get out of this understanding and feeling?” The wisdom of Kabbalah answers like this, “You can understand and feel to the degree that you can become like the Creator.” In other words, the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t make it possible for us to recognize that particular phenomenon called the “Creator” but presents a condition that is not characteristic of our world.

Here, we look at things from the side. For example, I go to a ballet performance and see people dancing on the stage. I enjoy watching them, but I can’t perform like them myself. However, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, this would not be called attainment. True attainment requires that I carry out this activity myself. From this, I will understand and feel what is being said; I must be “on stage.”  [Read more →]

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Question: How can a person truly believe what the Kabbalists write if, in the meantime, he has no concept of what they are talking about?

Answer: No one can just believe like that. In the meantime, the upper Light is what holds us in the state in which we are found and doesn’t let us leave. Likewise, the person also needs to invest some effort in order to tie himself to a group in order to make it possible for his beastly body not to flee. However, at the end of the matter, we can expect and be supported only by the mercy of heaven.

Someone in whom the point in the heart is manifested needs little physical evidence, rather only to the degree of his link with this world. If we were not linked to this world, then, for us, we wouldn’t require any evidence at all. If the desire for spirituality is awakened in you, then it no longer concerns you that a crisis exists in the world. There exist good and bad events, and all kinds of predictions and their scientific explanations. No physical arguments are required for you.

However, if you are linked with the world and, in the meantime, share its opinion, then you need to answer for yourself all of these strange questions, and for this you need to receive explanations that all of these concerns of this world are just vanity. You need to place a protective barrier against the influence of the external world and against its values, and then you will be freed of this influence and your point in the heart will continue its movement toward the goal.

It is as if you bring yourself to a group but, essentially, everyone was dropped into it from above, as a drop of semen drops into the uterus. And, what can it know about this itself? It doesn’t choose anything; everything comes from above, from a father and a mother. The same thing happens with us. You have a higher Abba and Ima, a father and mother, who are responsible for you so that you will develop as a human being, and therefore, they bring you to a group.

However, when they bring you there, then this society needs to be ready to help you to neutralize all the external influences. If you love science and research, then they need to give you information that will neutralize this materialistic desire.

Therefore, our work within the group in absorbing the new friends is in order to free the point in the heart from the external influence of this world with all the temporary values and scientific authorities. In this it creates a neutral environment for you. The person needs to receive an explanation relevant to the circular integral system so that everything will be combined to that system within which we learn and work.

This spiritual drop of semen must be free in order to make a choice and be held within the new environment. Essentially, the person receives this drop and needs, himself, to insert it into the uterus, into the group. He, himself, is responsible for the absorption of his semen, how much he is absorbed within the group. They need to give him all the support possible in this in order to make something like this possible for him. Here, the influence of the environment and the family is very important.
[107819]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/19/13, Writings of Rabash

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” “Concerning the Importance of Friends”

The Book of Zohar – Introduction

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 10, “Ohr Pnimi,” Item 83, Lesson 46

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee,” Lesson 15

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Question: What does it mean to open oneself to the impact of the environment?

Answer: Can Malchut influence itself? It changes only under impact from outside. Every quality affects other external characteristics, forces, and properties, and thus, it changes its state. It is impossible for any Sefira to be changed without changing the entire system of ten Sefirot in general.

For some reason, we think that we ourselves can do something with ourselves. If, for example, I want to stay on a diet, I need an external influence that will help me maintain it. I remove all the temptations around me so that there are no sweets nearby. I create a new schedule, and so forth. That is, I should organize all the external factors—still, vegetative, animate, and human—so that they have the desired effect on me. I think only about the surrounding conditions.

I make a contract in the event that I will change in a moment, and then the terms of the contract keep me in the same state. To do this, I make an agreement with the person who will influence me or support me on the still, vegetative, and animate levels. It doesn’t matter what these forces are. The main thing is that they keep me in the desired state.

I have reached a certain state and want it to become permanent, and from it, I was able to advance even further. So, I must strengthen this state, fix it like a ship that drops anchor to avoid drifting from the shore or ties itself to a pier. I always need external support of all the four types: still, vegetative, animate, and human.
[107918]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/2013, Writings of Rabash

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