Question: Is it possible to transition to bestowal without any pain or suffering?

Answer: Yes, one can make such a transition without suffering if it occurs under the influence of the environment.

The environment is capable of instilling a longing for any goal in me, even the most unrealistic one. If everyone around thinks about it, I will also begin to aspire to it.

And then, it will not be difficult for me at all to value the quality of bestowal as a great reward instead of today’s egoistic reception, provided that those around me think and act this way.

A person is like a computer, and society can erase the old program in him and install a new, more advanced one, with new data, and as this happens, I advance.

I need intellect only in order to follow those who point me toward the spiritual path. It is not so simple to follow them because in doing so, you do not become a robot, but on the contrary, you grow!

You are constantly given disturbances on all levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human, which all interfere with your ability to follow the spiritual path.

And you must lower yourself from the height of your enormous egoism in order to be able to follow the spiritual guide. Therefore, one must have a great intellect in order to decipher all the schemes and cunning tricks of one’s egoism, and to not follow it, but to go above one’s reason and follow the guide.

We are sent such states, we are so confused that we begin to neglect them and even hate them. But if you are able to rise above this and make yourself into “nothing,” “dust beneath the feet of the righteous,” then you are following the righteous one along the spiritual path.

It turns out that you are great, that you are just like him. After all, you receive everything that is in his mind through him; you receive it from the Creator.

When it is said that the people followed Moses like a flock follows a shepherd, it does not mean they followed like animals. It is a special form of advancement where you annul yourself before the teacher, before Moses, and through him, you annul yourself before the Creator.

Just as through love for people we come to love for the Creator, so here as well, we cannot change ourselves in any other way. You transform your previous form and acquire a new one, similar to the Creator.

There is no disparagement in these words. If you annul yourself in the spiritual world against the Klipot at the height of the worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, and follow the teacher, you rise to the height of these worlds. It speaks only of the magnitude of your resistance to the disturbances that are sent (that arise).

This is called going by faith above reason because I do not possess the knowledge of the spiritual teacher, and I annul myself with respect to him, annul my reason, and receive from him new knowledge, knowledge of a higher degree—faith.

The lower part of his spiritual Partzuf, the AHP, descends into me, and I accept the darkness as the light for myself even though it appears as darkness in my egoistic desire. In this way, I can progress along the spiritual path.
[18392]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/10, Baal HaSulam, Preface “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot“

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 17-2, “The Agenda of the Assembly – 1,” (1984) (1.9.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4, “Table of Answers for Topics”

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3rd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

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We have no other means of advancement, no other lever by which I can move forward, except the influence of the environment. If all of me, completely and entirely, is concentrated within myself, what force can direct me the other way, from inside outward? I have no such forces within me.

All my forces act “for me,” “for my own sake.” How can I create the opposite action “for the sake of others (the neighbor)”? Where can such a force of nature be obtained?

For this purpose, the soul has been created in a divided state, in two parts: myself and the surrounding world. We are given a single freedom—to choose what is more important. If you want to attain spirituality, organize your environment so that it becomes more important to you than yourself.

In truth, this is not an external environment, but my own soul, my AHP, the “garments” and “palaces” of my soul’s Kli. It only appears to me as being outside.

Envy and the desire for honor draw you to the environment, to the parts of your soul. Organize them artificially so that they influence you.

From our level, we are given a psychological approach that is inwardly spiritual. By connecting with these desires (Kelim) that supposedly surround me, and by seemingly using my envy and desire for honor, I am essentially drawing these desires back to myself, so that they are connected with me and define my system of values.

So where do envy and the desire for honor come from? From the breaking of the soul into two parts—myself and the world.

Wishing to use the “help against him” (against my ego,) I activate these external desires of mine so that they, in turn, influence me. Later we will reveal that we are working only with ourselves, with our desires, with our qualities, and that everything was arranged this way from the beginning.

But without organizing the environment, there is no (and never will be) another force capable of “taking me by the ear” and directing me toward my true desires, toward the soul. There is no other force in the world.

Suffering can only make me more sensitive so that I will want to seek a solution. But the solution will be the same—to place myself under the influence of the environment.
[12059]
From Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/10

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 18, “Who Causes the Prayer,” (1986) (12.31.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4, “Table of Answers for Topics” Item 87

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3rd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

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Question: If everything in the world depends on people engaged in spiritual development, does it mean we are responsible for all the suffering in the world?

Answer: We do not cause suffering in the world; on the contrary, by attracting the light, we move suffering from the material level to the level of spiritual suffering. Meaning, instead of suffering from wars, diseases, and all other problems, we suffer from a lack of spirituality. This is what the science of Kabbalah gives a person.

It brings him “suffering,” but it cannot even be called that; it is the suffering of love, as if I were invited to a meal in a couple of hours, so I do not eat right now to keep my appetite strong. This is called the suffering of love; it is when I realize that I should prepare spiritual Kelim.

And even now, in the empty Kelim, I feel the glow of the upcoming meeting with the people I love, and from the meal. This is what humanity needs to be brought to, to show them that there is a solution and to develop not as a result of the blows of nature.

Now we are entering a period of ecological problems that can cause the suffering and death of thousands of people. We see natural disasters occurring all over the world, in China, Europe, Russia, and America.

The only way to escape it is to transition to preparing spiritual Kelim, not in an earthly form, not waiting decades for suffering to pass until we finally realize that there is a reason and a goal and two paths to the goal: the path of light and the path of suffering.

Why should we suffer in vain? Let us draw the light now that will show us the difference between its state and ours, so we would suffer from the fact that we want a better state, rather than from feeling bad now.
This is what the science of Kabbalah offers man—the path of light instead of the path of suffering.
[20487]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot“

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I have nothing besides my desire, so how can I give it up? All my life, I have been following my rational logic; should I suddenly go against it, as if I have lost my mind and reason?

The science of Kabbalah does not call for working without mind or reason, but teaches us to rise above them. Knowledge and reason remain, we do not cross them out, but always rise above them and do the opposite.

Therefore, one who goes above knowledge stimulates his knowledge to grow ever more. The more his mind and knowledge grow, the higher a person rises to act above them, and therefore one becomes more and more intelligent in the material world, and further advances in the spiritual.

This is how he grows all the time, within knowledge and then above knowledge, and again within knowledge and above knowledge…

Therefore, we never annul our knowledge or go below it, as happens in religions, but always go by faith above reason. Faith gained above reason becomes knowledge, and again we must go above it. This is how we ascend the spiritual degrees.
[351259]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/20, “Work with Faith Above Reason”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 32, “Concerning the Reward of the Receivers,”(1985) (12.29.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4, “Table of Answers for Topics” Item 87

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3rd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 23, “Concerning Fear and Joy,” (1986) (6.14.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4, “Table of Answers for Topics” Item 82

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3rd part of the Lesson — Responsibility

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We are all puppets, deprived of free choice. People circulate in this world, in material, “animal” life.

Meanwhile, their egoistic desire grows until it reaches special states of despair that are directed toward the revelation of the embryo of the soul, the point in the heart.

And perhaps not a point in the heart, simply suffering sends a person into search, and then he joins those in whom the soul has already “broken through.”

Within the common cauldron, desire continues to simmer, and at a certain stage a part of humanity acquires the possibility of free choice. This means that people act, so to speak, independently of the Creator. They are freed from their egoistic desire, and it is entirely and completely in His hands.

I acquire freedom from my egoism and become independent of it, that is, independent of the Creator who governs it. Together with others, we turn into independent acting beings; we want to understand and realize what is happening ourselves and to take part in the process ourselves.

I do not want the Creator to govern me—I want to act exactly as He does, but of my own freewill. Through this, I come to know His work, His actions, His goals. My “profit” lies in the fact that I become similar to Him, become a human (Adam), and perform exactly the same work that He performed over me.

In the end, all the benefit here is that I give pleasure to the Creator. There is nothing else besides this.
But there are also people who do not possess a soul of this type. Their souls can only join the development to one degree or another. As they become what is called “dust under the feet of the righteous,” they receive illumination and spiritualization through this, they understand the importance of the process, and they also acquire their soul.

Likewise, in our world there are leaders, “those who lead,” and “those who are led,” those who simply live their lives without questioning them. They constitute 99.9% of the population who earn their bread and do not feel a lack of anything more. However, in unity with everyone, each will reach his or her root in the common Malchut.

Through interconnection we all feel ourselves living in one world. Of course, great scientists, philosophers, and thinkers understand it far better than a street sweeper or a market trader who knows only how to sell watermelons and watch football on television. There is no need at all to despise him, he is not guilty of anything; it is simply that his desire has such a structure and acts in such a way. Another person, however, needs to attain the world from the height of Malchut of infinity, otherwise he feels unrealized.

All the difference between them lies in the desire that the Creator created and awakens to life. Everything comes from the Creator. And therefore the thinker must understand that in his realization he is in no way higher than the trader. For the circumstances do not depend on him at all. Thus it turns out that in this sense they are completely equal, because all their accounts are signed by the Creator.
[41714]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 4/28/11, Baal HaSulam, “The Acting Mind”

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Our world is a copy of infinity, only at the smallest level of sensation. We perceive and feel reality only to an insignificant degree; we are as far as possible from complete perception.

It is like a person with poor eyesight who sees almost nothing without glasses. He barely distinguishes those around him, even though they stand right next to him.

Drowsy, blurred sensations, a tiny fraction of clear awareness of infinity—this is what our world is. Yet we always reveal a complete picture, just as each fragment of a hologram contains the entire image.

Even at the lowest degree, I observe the full spectrum of reality to the extent that I can see it without “glasses.” The better these glasses are, the clearer the picture becomes.

We exist in an unchanging state; we simply feel it according to the clarity of our perception. The clearest, most unclouded perception is the world of infinity.

To approach it, we must first correct our tools of perception (Kelim), to reveal a bit more light within them. And in order for that to happen, they must become similar to the light.

The advice of Kabbalists helps us in this correction, and when the light is revealed, we discover a “treasure” or rather, a deposit, a new layer of reality that was originally “placed” into our account.
[5120]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 10/2/09, Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book From the Mouth of a Sage“

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