Rabash, “What is that A Man Must Give Birth to a Son and a Daughter in the Work”: But when a person, after his great efforts, sees that he cannot exit the domination of the desire to receive for himself, yet he sees that he is working within reason and that only the Creator can help him.

As the sages said “a person’s inclination grows daily, and if the Creator didn’t help him, he wouldn’t be able to overcome it,” he doesn’t have to believe in “above reason,” as ordinary worshippers who observe the Torah and Mitzvot, who believe “above reason” that the Creator does indeed help them, do. But rather as people who want to work in order to bestow, for whom it is within reason, to such an extent that they have to believe above reason that the Creator can indeed help them exit the domination of the desire to receive.

It says that, “there is none wiser than the experienced.” We need real vessels of perception and not imaginary ones. First we need to attain everything that we need within reason, and only then work above reason. We have to do everything that we possibly can to build and to attain our vessels of perception.

So it is impossible for a person to say in advance that he believes in everything that is written in the book and only waits for it to be fulfilled. He must first exert himself as much as he can.

There is a law that “Nature abhors a vacuum.” So we have to understand that there cannot be a vacuum. It is an undesirable state and whoever creates a void means that he desecrates (from the same root in Hebrew), that he brings about corruption. So we must do our best by our exertion to collect all the necessary data and reach a certain decision.

If we complete our part and see that only the Creator can operate from there onwards, then we have to continue our work in faith above reason so that He will fill the void that is left. Otherwise we will not be able to carry out this mission.

A religious person says in advance that everything depends on the Creator who does everything, and there is nothing a person can do but pray. He believes that everything is in the hands of the Creator and everything is for the better. But if he determines this in advance, he cannot do the first part of the work and will not reach the recognition within reason and so he will not be able to later continue his work above reason so that the prayer will be above him.

We, however, have to fulfill “you should do whatever is in your power,” and only then can a prayer burst from inside. It is because we discover a new void that the Creator can fill by our exertion, and this will already be “above reason,” in vessels of bestowal, in the head of the spiritual Partzuf.

This is the big difference between people who work below reason and those who work above reason. The difference is that those who want to work above reason must first reach reason and to know from their clarifications and experience that it isn’t in their power to perform any spiritual act. I strongly advise that you hurry with this clarification.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/13

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There are two types of work: in feeling a deficiency and in feeling complete wellbeing. After all, we were created of matter that is always in a state of emptiness. So we aspire for a connection with the Creator who created us and who has everything that we lack.

If we include these two forces inside us—the natural force of receiving, our matter, and the force of bestowal, the small “spark” that is in us and which we want to develop so that it will dominate all our matter—we will have to clarify two things: On the one hand, with regard to the matter, we have to clarify the spark of bestowal, and on the other hand, with regard to the spark, we have to clarify and examine the matter. In other words, on the part of the created being, we have to study the Creator and also our own desire.

So we do one type of work with our desire to receive, which is a work of requests, prayers and the sorrow of Shechina (Divinity), the destruction of the Temple. If we don’t feel all the hardships of this state to their full severity, we will not be able to reach the right prayer, which means to reach such an intense request that will summon a response of bestowal from the Light.

This is because the Light only bestows upon a whole desire. The levels of the whole desire are called “spiritual levels,” and we have to attain at least the lowest level.

The other type of work is when we are before the Creator who created us, manages us, takes care of us, corrects us, and raises us to His height of perfection. Then our work is in gratitude and praise.

These are two opposite forms, and in both cases a person has to make sure that one will not annul and cover up the other. Both forms are essential for a whole true measure. The clash between them, the tension between them, creates a point that will draw the Light so strongly upon itself that it will raise a person and turn one end of his work to Keter and the other end to Malchut. So the first level of a person’s spirituality made of ten Sefirot is within the desire to receive, from requests, begging, a broken heart, and also from gratitude and blessing the Creator, which means from the point of Keter. This is how we should advance.

A person constantly forgets these things and is confused. He thinks that the confusion is coincidental and stems from the daily hardships of life. He supposes that if he lived by himself somewhere on a desert island in the middle of the ocean far away from the daily interruptions, he would advance quickly and successfully along the spiritual path. He, however, has to worry about endless things and go through life dealing with different problems, both internally and externally.

But this is a wrong attitude since everything belongs to one system. There is no justification to move or to change the external conditions. A person should try to make efforts to constantly remain in the spiritual work without changing anything externally so that through the environment that he has now he will be able to bring the Creator contentment.

We should understand that this is the environment that the Creator has prepared for him. Later a person will understand to what extent these conditions were the most suitable for his advancement.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How can we become similar to the Creator if we sometimes think that His actions are wrong?

Answer: Not sometimes, but constantly! What good is there in this world? Even the most evil villains can’t bear what’s happening in it. And yet, this world is created by Him.

The fact of the matter is that we regard this world as being a 100% opposite to the Creator. Why? It’s because we are opposite to Him. The Creator shines within us and His Light is absolute goodness. But when the Light falls on our “light-sensitive film,” it makes a negative that is opposite to the original. So, the more Light we receive the greater the darkness becomes, and vice versa. This is the way we see the world.

The Light draws various shapes on the screen of our desire to receive, and all of them are drawn on the negative. They are opposite to the Light. This is how the world is outlined within us.

How can we achieve similarity with the Creator? How out of our oppositeness can we see Him and not an imaginary picture? For that, we have to transform the “frame” and to reverse its contrast range. And if we do it with the first “frame,” we attain the first spiritual degree. Then, we will work with the second, the third, and all subsequent “frames.”

So, the entire Torah correlates with a person and lives within him. Every person is a small world.

This way, it all has to do with the “technology”: how to work internally so as to transform the imaginary darkness into light and the imaginary light into darkness. For this, I need to turn my own properties into their opposite: to transform a negative into a positive. This inner transition is the Torah, the Light that Reforms. This is what I need.

I feel the Creator within me. Even now I perceive Him in the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature and in people. Everything around me is the Creator who “translates” Himself for me and copies Himself within me. I only have to decode this picture.

I work not with the world, the friends, or the Creator, but rather with myself, within myself. While doing so, I’m allowed to use the shapes, seemingly external ones, so as to decode the original image.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/31/13, “A Speech on the Completion of The Zohar”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Igrot,” Letter 26

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Balak,” Lesson 1

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol 3, Part 10, Item 1, Lesson 2

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“A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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Question: Does the order of my internal actions in relation to the Creator coincide in the case when I feel bad and in the case when I feel good?

Answer: On the spiritual path, bad feelings are not suffering in the usual sense, but the sufferings of love.

Imagine that you place an order in a restaurant. Why isn’t it brought right away even if everything is ready? They give you time to talk with your companion or just to sit, and this is no accident. Once, my friend was choosing a coffee maker for his office and wanted a machine that would take 15 minutes to prepare one serving. He needed time for a quiet conversation with clients.

This is what is called preparing desires, which we usually ignore. We want to “swallow” everything as quickly as possible, but this approach is incorrect. Because of it, we do not feel the taste in life, the meaning in life. Spiritual concealment is needed to cause a strong, firm desire in us.

Question: What should fill this time of delay before meeting the Creator?

Answer: I make a preparation, yearn for Him in the right way, and, then, I can discern the relationship and find contact. It is said, “I will eat what has been prepared in advance.” I do not discover anything new; my revelation is a direct result of this completed preparation.

Even now, I am in the world of Infinity, but I do not see it, do not notice the connection between people, do not distinguish the actions of the Creator, and do not feel the waves of this force, which changes everything. My eyes can see only separate, small phenomena. Thus, everything depends on preparation.

The problem is that I choose for myself a coffee machine with this or that “time of preparation,” but the preparation period is not set by me, and I do not know when it is over. So, you should hurry. It is very important how we cope with the preparatory stage. It is already underway and the fate of the entire world is here at this point.

Question: How can we apply every effort so as not to lose time?

Answer: First of all, are you trying to bestow to the Creator, or do you just want to get your “coffee” sooner? For whom is the pleasure of your efforts intended? After all, you have a chance to bring Him pleasure. What is it for you: a burden or an honorable right? If it is a right, then you want to finish the job quickly and prepare all the best for Him, and if it is a burden, then you evade it to the last moment. “It is a deadline, and there is nothing I can do; I must act.” The approach determines everything.

You can speed up the “coffee” cooking time without having to wait 15 minutes. Since The Book of Zohar was revealed and the science of Kabbalah came into the world, you can quickly complete the process and reach the end of correction. Don’t wait until 6,000 years pass; do it today! If you were given the means, time is not a function. If you wait, you advance in “due time,” according to the program of Nature, without adding your efforts in order to show your results to the Creator. So, accelerate, unite with friends, keep the intention all the time, strive for the goal, and understand that all the disturbances on your path are good for you. They help you connect with the friends, studies, and intention. Since you were given the opportunity, you must realize it.

Question: But all the friends already are doing this. So, where is the problem?

Answer: You do not ask. You are given an opportunity to ask. So, ask!

Question: But we are thinking about and asking this all the time.

Answer: If you had asked as you are supposed to, wouldn’t you have received a response? So, your request is not the right one yet. It is lacking either quantity or quality of effort, and the most important thing here is quality. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the 18^th paragraph of The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot: and, if one practices Torah and fails to remove the evil inclination from himself, it is either that he has been negligent in giving the necessary labor and exertion in the practice of Torah—as it is written, “I have not labored but found, do not believe”—or, perhaps, one did put in the necessary amount of labor, but has been negligent in the quality.

I received an awakening from the Creator. He lit a spark in me and now I must wake myself further, adding quantity and working on quality, to check why and for what do I do this, to what do I aspire. In whole, I need a vessel, a desire, a need for the right amount and quality. If I gather the necessary measure for the revelation of the upper Light, It will be manifested immediately. It is here; it is ready.

In physics, there is a concept of “quantum,” a minimal “portion” of light. So, when I have a need for a quantum of Light, I will reveal it on the first level of Nefesh. Then, I will form an even greater need, I will want “quantum squared,” and will reveal the Light of Ruach. At the same time, the vessel grows both quantitatively and qualitatively.

What we need is the desire. For that, we are always talking about self-annulment and restriction and we organize workshops in order to reveal, to “whiten” the desire.

So, why, after the lesson, don’t I feel a concern about the friends, to want the fire of desire to propel them forward? Why don’t I feel the same concern on their part and why don’t I flare up from their flashes? There is no care, no shared responsibility for us, for the world, and especially for the Creator who gave us a chance. In essence, our concern for us and for the world is shallow and egoistic, but we need to start somewhere. In fact, we have a chance to bestow to the Creator, but we do not want to turn toward this direction at all.

In short, we still have much to do. Don’t wait until the coffee is ready.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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Question: What is a harmonious business?

Answer: We can only imagine purely theoretical analog and discrete systems that many of us have learned about in college. But when we find ourselves in the analog system, we feel helpless because we don’t correspond to it on the inside, because in this system one needs to consider the desires, intentions, feelings, and attitudes of everyone around.

We are used to operating like in the army, following orders. This is the way our enterprises, businesses, the education system in schools, and other organizations and systems operate. But today we see that this doesn’t work because apparently a person needs to change in order to suit the integral system.

A person doesn’t change automatically. The external system that he is entering is round, and the person is linear, and in the end, he isn’t able to operate in this new system. He doesn’t understand how to operate within it.

In order to correspond to the integral system, the person must become integral. He must feel like he is a part of the group, meaning at least part of the group where he works. Moreover, he must feel this part internally; in other words, he constantly needs to be changing and be connected with everyone.

He must feel satisfaction from work, which he is not getting now. And he can’t be forced to feel it simply because the past systems suddenly stop working and no longer affect him. The only way to influence him is through the feeling of integration in the team, the common movement, the feeling of community. No matter where he is, no matter the team, he must feel the foundation, the wholesomeness of this system, and his dependence on it and its dependence on him.
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From KabTV’s “Professional Secrets” 2/3/13

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 47: Therefore, turn away from all the fictitious dealings, and pay attention to think and to come up with the right inventions to connect your hearts as one heart… and start connecting lovingly to the right extent, and then you will find a taste in it.

Question: What are “fictitious dealings”?

Answer: Fictitious dealings are all sorts of efforts that are not aimed at attaining the spiritual goal. This includes any effort that is above the effort to provide the body with the basic necessities and dedicating everything else to attaining the goal.

Any effort that is even a little bit off this track is fictitious, which means that it only seems to you that you will gain from it, but in fact, it immediately pushes you to the path of “in its time,” the path of suffering.

It seems that there is a spiritual goal before me (!), and if I work for it, I will gain something. I exert myself and gain from it. If it is a real goal, which means that it is on the path to the Creator, then I work correctly.

But this goal may not be directed towards the Creator (!), and I don’t know the right direction, and it seems that this goal is real. If I invest my powers in it, then, in return, I receive sufferings that push me from behind instead of a gain. These are called “fictitious dealings.”

It seems that I profit from them and that I yearn for the real goal. Even material profit: physical profit, money, respect, knowledge, all these eventually lead me, after many efforts along the way, to a void, to sufferings.

This fictitious goal, the fictitious dealings, can be very complex and complicated. It may take 30 to 40 years for me to finally realize that the goal was fictitious. It isn’t just one business and may very well be many dealings. Everything that you do beyond the basic necessities of the body belongs to these fictitious dealings.

Dealing with the basic necessities is a must, since you have no choice. All your attention, 100% of it, must be focused in one direction—on the Creator. Then, to the extent that you have to exert yourself for your family, it is already a necessity because all your thought will be focused on the Creator.

It is not clear that this goal is fictitious. It is a big question for you. Even if you are aware of it rationally, you disagree with it emotionally. Then you find yourself in an inner struggle, not knowing what to do. You make different concessions, forgive different minor weaknesses, thinking, “Well, never mind, I was a bit distracted.” Fictitious dealings appear in many different manners.

So, how can we clarify which dealings are fictitious? Everything that does not relate to the group, to the teacher, to the study, to dissemination, to the inclination to unity with the Creator—are all fictitious dealings! If you focus all your efforts on the goal, then the family worries are also included in it. Then you discover that the Creator has arranged all these things for you in the most perfect way, but only if your family doesn’t object to your path and allows you to study.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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No one can tell me what I should do. I need to clarify this and to decide by myself which goal is fictitious and which goal is real. I have to take the responsibility for the steps I take. Otherwise, why was I given this life?

My life is like being in a middle of a swamp in which there are only a few places I can step on to cross it and not sink in. It has to be my decision. No one else can move my feet and put them in the right place.

If I slip, I will drown in the swamp of life for several decades. If this happens, I have to understand that it had to happen. I should do whatever is in my power to clarify everything in advance. If later I still make a mistake and drown for several decades, it is a sign that it had to have happened. I don’t know why and for what reason now, but I will find that out later. It is like it says about the direct and the indirect Providence, “Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before”.

Question: How can I make my own decision if I am totally under the influence of the environment, in a spiritual society or an external one?

Answer: This is all your freewill—to be impressed by the spiritual society as much as you can and not to go around with “your nose up high,” considering yourself superior to everyone else. Otherwise you will not be able to be positively impressed by them.

But this doesn’t mean that you can come to the friends and ask them what you should do: whether to go abroad to make money or not. You mustn’t let others decide for you. Your decision has to be the result of you inner clarifications, the result of your efforts to subdue yourself before the society, which means before the spiritual idea, before the yearning for connection and unity, for advancement towards adhesion with the Creator above reason. This is what the society, the collective force, means to me. To the extent that you subdue yourself before the spiritual idea, you will decide what is important for you in life.

Then I look back and don’t see my body! It already disappears somewhere in my previous life, long since eliminated from my path. I have to provide it with some basic food and I do that. Basic necessities mean that I do something since I must, since I have to take care of the body. I force myself to think about my animal body, which is called a basic necessity. But in all my other thoughts I am in the group, in the connection, and then I make the right decision.

This connection sustains me and doesn’t let me leave. I am so strongly adhered to it that I can worry about some basic necessity only by forcing myself. We can test this by how happy I might feel if I didn’t have to take care of my body but could only worry about the group and the Creator 100%, not leaving even 1% for myself.

But when I begin to worry only about the basic necessities of my animal body, I suddenly realize that it isn’t mine! Then dealing with my body and my family become spiritual work. I felt that they were mine as long as I received some egoistic profit from them, but if I don’t receive any profit from these necessary dealings, it is simply a game that I was given, a means for spiritual clarification.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Does an awakening from Above occur every minute, and what is the correct response to it on our part?

Answer: It isn’t only the awakening from Above, but it is actually all our existence that is possible thanks to the upper Light, which constantly sustains us, like a magnet holding a piece of iron in the air, and performs all sorts of actions on us.

There is no doubt about it, the matter of creation wouldn’t be able to exist, wouldn’t change, and wouldn’t feel itself without the upper Light. The Light does everything.

The right response on our part is to try to increase our sensitivity and our refined understanding towards what the upper force does with us, to understand how we should respond in order to be exactly like it, and to adhere to its attributes, to the changes that it makes and to its influence on us.

This means that in every bulge or indentation that the Creator makes in me, I immediately join His action and dress in it, like the desire of Nukva on the desire of the male. It turns out that we constantly cooperate in the general action, like partners. Thusly I should try to operate throughout my life, and then I attain the state of wholeness called adhesion.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 11: And I am asking you to do your greatest efforts in intensifying the love of friends and to think of ways to increase the love among friends, and to annul the passion for bodily pleasures, since this is the cause of hate. And among those who bring contentment to their Creator there can be no hate but rather greater compassion and love among them, and it is very simple.

And you should listen to my words from now on, since your life depends on this.

Question: How should we correct our attitude towards the friends that arouse hatred in us?

Answer: You should love the friends that you hate now, and that’s it. You have to reach a state that they become important for you, dearest, closest and most desired. But at the same time, the hate towards them should be kept.

The hate remains below, and you have to constantly worry about correcting it and building the love above it. This is how the spiritual tension is determined. You discover spirituality in the point between hate and love, between these two forces!

There is not just love or hate. Both love and hate come from the Light that illuminates one way or another, but you find and discover yourself in adhesion to the Creator, between these two feelings.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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