Connecting with a friend does not mean following his mind. When I subdue myself and hear what he says, it isn’t in order to later do what he says. I have to subdue my ego, but it doesn’t mean that I have to accept his advice.

I subdue myself before the inner connection among us. It is a totally different thing. I hear what he says, and I have to accept it as something that comes from the greatest in our generation before whom I subdue myself, discovering his inner level there, where he is in his spiritual height. Ein Sof is part of each of us; I actually subdue myself before this spiritual level in my relations with the friend, but not with regards to his corporeal opinions.

This is a very important subtlety. We don’t understand that all the worlds are in the relations among us, including the actual world of Ein Sof.
[89708]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/12, Preface to The Book of Zohar

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I have to attribute all the powers I get to one source so that by acting together with them, I will be able to analyze myself and the whole world and then start operating in the opposite direction towards the source on my own.

There is me and this upper source, and between us there is the whole world. But the whole world can be compressed to the dimensions of one group so that it is clearer to me how I should work with it most effectively. Then I don’t have to clarify my attitude towards the whole world, towards all of reality, but the group is enough for the time being. All of reality is focused for me in this group, like through a lens.

If I work with nine other friends with regard to the Creator, like through a magnifying glass, then in this lens, I focus the whole world, the entire view of the universe: from me to the Creator and back to me. This is how the law that says that the general and the particular are equal operates. This is why the infinite creation with the infinite number of Partzufim and worlds are concentrated in the ten Sefirot that I determine, through which I relate to it. All of reality is now concentrated in the one particular section that I have chosen.

This is a great help for us and it is possible thanks to the shattering. Before the shattering there were no general and particular, which only appear after the shattering. Thanks to this we can achieve better results by attaining the general through the particular.
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From a Talk about Inner Work 9/30/12

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash “Purpose of Society“

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt “Aharei-Mot,” Item 241, Lesson 18

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 3, Part 8, “Ohr Pnimi,” (Starting with: “Now we come to the essence of Rav’s words”), Item 20, Lesson 11

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Not everyone can go through the first stages of preparation for the spiritual path and hold on to it. Many leave the group, the spiritual path, and the process of changing oneself. They go back to the external world and return to the life of the landlords by stopping the development of the point in the heart, which makes them the guests of the Creator—the Host of the Universe.

As we know “the opinion of the Torah is opposite from the opinion of the landlords.” If a person holds the opinion of the Torah, he feels that he is a guest and the Creator is the host. Therefore he wants to change himself in order to resemble the host.

This is called having the opinion of the Torah, placing the goal before him in order to be in bestowal and accordingly determine his states.

The first states, the ascents and descents we go through, are disconnected from our ordinary mind and feelings. A person sees that he changes completely. For the first time he begins to feel that some foreign dominion manages him. This uniqueness is typical of the changes that we feel in the process of our inner spiritual development.

Suddenly a person feels that he is under the control of some strange force. Before, he never had this feeling in his ordinary life. He always saw clearly whoever wanted to dominate him, which means that they were external forces. Here, however, for the first time he feels that some force descends and takes him over, ties him from the inside and controls him.

It is a very special feeling. I remember the wonder I felt when I first felt this. It is a very unpleasant and incomprehensible feeling until a person begins to get used to it and to acknowledge this action as the Creator’s work on him. Then he is already prepared to determine that this is so and to agree to it. Then he begins to evoke this feeling by himself and to expect it as you expect a meeting and a connection with someone you love.

He begins to value the Creator’s work on him and to expect that it should happen any minute. He appreciates the actual actions of the Creator and not their quality and how they are felt in his egoistic desire, which is not corrected yet. This means that he doesn’t care which states he goes through; what’s important is that the Creator should operate on him as much as possible.

This is what he prays for. He asks to go through as many changes as possible according to the Creator’s desire, since everything that the Creator does is for the good. Thus, his self-sacrifice is measured to the extent that he identifies with the Creator’s actions and expects them, of his voluntary slavery to the Creator, and the power of his prayer.

For the time being these are only the first stages of the spiritual work. Then the more controlled mutual work with the Creator begins, in mutual bestowal. A person already knows how to receive the powers for that and how to later work with them, how to start a dialogue with the Creator. Then he begins to work even with his desire to receive, by feeling the same tastes as the host and by feeling how the Creator tastes the refreshments and how he tastes it himself.

This whole path begins from the initial ascents and descents in which a person gets used to the domination of a foreign force over him.
[89654]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/12, Shamati #21 

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We are inside a Force called the Creator (Boreh). Since we don’t attain it yet according to the principle of “come and see” (Bo–reh), we give it different names according to the current measure of its revelation to a person.

I am in this Force’s field along with everyone else. The question is how can I induce its influence? Indeed, this is man’s entire work: How can I awaken this force so that it can raise me?

We descended from the spiritual height to the “zero level” on purpose, and now it is up to me to ascend back to the same height. In order to do that, I have to awaken the Light that Reforms upon me. There is no other force that can raise me to spirituality. I only have the means that exist on my level. The Creator wakes me from the dream by the first “sting,” and then I have to process what awakened me internally by special means: the group, the study, and the teacher.

So I turn to the Light that awakened me initially. I ask that it will influence me, and I do it consciously and knowingly. The Light only stings me time after time and by that I have to establish my attitude to it: What do I ask from it, what kind of influence do I expect, what do I want to attain, and so on. On the whole I picture to myself how to be in accordance with the One who “stings” me. I have to look for His form, His image and to ask from Him:

– “I want to bestow!”
– “How do you want to become the one who bestows? Is it really the one who bestows? What will your bestowal be like?”
– “Don’t you see? I study, I work in a group and in dissemination, I do all sorts of actions, and based on that I ask.”

If a person doesn’t perform actions directed at unification, there is no basis for his request. These actions make up the infrastructure that he can use to raise MAN, a prayer. I build this infrastructure between me and the friends from which the MAN, “a prayer of the many,” rises. I will never be able to ask for connection by myself. A prayer for connection can only be collective, at least between two people.
[89508]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The method of Kabbalah is meant to change a person until he turns into a human being (Adam), meaning the one who is “similar” (Domeh) to the Creator. Every given moment, day after day one has to work to uplift the importance of this method and persistently keep referring to it. After all, we are perpetually being thrown back from spirituality as if the Creator distances Himself from us.

It seems to us that our states continually change: We get closer to the Creator and then further away from Him. But obviously, it happens only in our sensations. In fact, new informational genes awaken in us, and we have to correct them.

One has 613 desires concerning the Creator. We’re not talking about material desires of this world, but about the desires specifically for the Creator. Only these desires should be corrected until they become similar to the Creator’s attitude to us, that is, are completely directed at bestowal and bringing joy to the Creator.

The Creator’s original thought in the plan of creation was to delight the created beings. A person also has to reach the same state so that his goal becomes to bring contentment to the Creator. Similarity of properties with the Creator elevates a person to the Creator’s level and he merges, unites with Him completely, thus reaching the ultimate goal.

On the way to achieving the goal, there are many stages of advancement. In the first stage, during thousands of  years of human history and by going through numerous reincarnations, man develops his regular earthly desire to enjoy. Reincarnations replace each other because the desire constantly grows and wants more and more as new informational genes (Reshimot) perpetually reveal themselves in it.

It’s not worth paying attention to bodies that live and die, but rather to the informational genes that reveal themselves in the desire to enjoy, thus giving us an illusion that we exist in our body.

In the second developmental stage, an aspiration to reveal the Creator, to find the meaning of life, emerges in a part of the desire, meaning in certain people. The first person who ever received this kind of desire was Adam HaRishon. This is why he is considered the First Man, and many others followed him. Such people are called Kabbalists as they accepted the method of correction that lets them reveal the Creator to the extent of the similarity of their properties to His.

Kabbalists also go through numerous developmental stages and reincarnations, but these reincarnations are quite different because one is in the attainment of the Creator, the governing force that rules nature.

Having received the first awakening towards spirituality, we enter a so called preparatory period. At this stage, we again go through many states, but this time they happen in accordance with the method, to the degree of our understanding of it. Even though the method is available to us in the form of reading materials, it has not been disclosed in our souls yet.

This is how we advance: by building the group and trying to inspire each other. The main work is in enhancing the importance of the method and transforming ourselves. Nothing can be changed in this reality except man himself; a human being is the only one who can be changed.

Besides, we have to clarify what exactly can be changed: only the intention on one’s desire. Desires per se are not changeable; leave them alone. Man has 613 desires that are related to the Creator, and he has to change intentions on these desires from egoistic to bestowal.

In fact, a person doesn’t feel that he has 613 desires, or that they are of an egoistic nature, or that he wants to take advantage of the Creator. For the time being he has no relationship with the Creator whatsoever, no connection with Him. Gradually, the connection with the Creator begins to reveal itself, thus letting us discover our evil inclination. If a person is still immersed in his egoism, he needs correction called the Torah, “a spice to it.” With its help, a person can change his intention by redirecting it from his own sake to the benefit of the upper force, which means that he has fulfilled a commandment.

Thus, according to the order of the desires that reveal in a person, he carries out 613 corrections (613 commandments), until he corrects the entire vessel and receives the entire abundance that the Creator has prepared for him—but with the intention to return it back to the Source. This is how one reaches the goal.
[88447]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/12, Shamati #175

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Question: How should a new student who joins the group be awakened to do the right kind of work?

Answer: The group leads him to certain actions and gives him a chance. It isn’t by chance that we live here and not in a different reality. In the world of actions we can exist even on the “animal” level, detached from spirituality, which we build above us. Above my current attributes, I gradually create the image of a human being. I build it by the connection with the friends and by creating the force of the Creator among us. These are all internal spiritual actions that are above our current selves.

In the meantime we connect on the corporeal level without spiritual intentions, and thus we build the environment. We have the necessary infrastructure to do that, which is “this world” from which we begin our spiritual advancement. We have a rare opportunity here: On the one hand, this basis is adaptable in a way to the spiritual world, and on the other hand, it allows us to exist without any adaptation to it. The reality that I see and feel in my five corporeal senses is actually a precious gift: I am on the verge of a spiritual action here, a spiritual ascent, and at the same time I can influence spirituality.

Question: And what can I do if I am the opposite and I am inclined to detachment? For example, a convention is approaching, and I don’t want to go. Is this the shattering?

Answer: Of course. What is more, the lack of desire to go to the convention is not the strongest interruption yet.

If you were invited to a party that you liked, you would gladly join it, since the flavors that you like and the performances and everything that “blows up” your ego is waiting for you there, so you would run when you got the first call.

Here, however, you advance spiritually, and so you feel that the convention is a place to exert yourself. This is where the rejection stems from: Suddenly you become lazy, and you feel disrespect, and “something more important” comes up and there are other calculations…this is all a result of the Light that illuminates for you, so it is a good thing, but use it where you see a place to work.

The more we advance, the more we feel this way. Accordingly you will see that there are fewer and fewer people among us. Now we assume that the more we advance the more of us there will be, but in fact it isn’t so.

In 2007 I was on a tour in ten cities in America and there were about 600 people in every lecture that I gave, and 2,000 people in New York. Today, however, there are about 50-100 people.

Why is that so? Because we have advanced and so has the public. People are not that attracted to the word “Kabbalah” itself. They understand more and they know that it is about internal work. Thanks to the Lights that are closer now, people understand something new and on the whole they don’t want to come to the lectures or go to the conventions.

There is a small minority left and these are the people who will fulfill the correction. All the rest will join the “pioneers” in some way but only by the way of sufferings. Very few move forward by the Light while the rest move by sufferings…
[89505]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: When the Creator is revealed to a doctor, what will the doctor discover?

Answer: In other words, if a doctor wants to help people, will the science of Kabbalah help him to find causes of ailments, prevent diseases, and identify new possibilities for healing? No, the doctor will understand better the relationship of health issues and their complexity, but, in general, I cannot say that he will achieve any particular success. On the contrary, he will be the same as other doctors.

The Creator does not change the original action (Maase Beresheet). Many Kabbalists were involved in healing, at least partially or at the professional level, for example, the Rambam (Maimonides). This tendency can be explained by the fact that they knew the general order of things. Yet, they did not “see through” each patient and did not do “miracle cures.”

There is one problem: When a Kabbalist sees the world in which people suffer from ailments, is he able to heal them or should he ask the Creator? Should he, perhaps, encourage them to ask to be healed or to understand the root reason of the illness and pray for a correction that will cure, including the physical ailment?

You are looking for a special, spiritual medicine that will allow the curing of everyone and, thus, get around the Creator as if He sends evil and you bring good. However, more complex relationships are hidden here, and another work is revealed. In the end, a doctor will remain a doctor, and spiritual attainment will barely affect his profession.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Every time we begin to study from the books of Kabbalists and especially The Book of Zohar we must first of all be grateful for the state we were rewarded with. We are lucky to study about the attribute of bestowal, about the world of bestowal, and to connect to the source of power that can raise us above the animate level to the level of the speaking. Then we will be in bestowal and will love others and the Creator.

This means that we must value the “tool,” the means, that we have now—the special book, which by reading I determine my connection with the upper world. If I value it, if I am attracted upwards and feel awe, then by reading it I can perform different actions on myself. It isn’t just in order to change, but in order to become compatible to what is external to me.

It seems that there is a big world around me and as for now it is true, but later I discover that it is all built of vessels, of my desires. I will perceive them as parts of my body and by that will establish my attitude towards the upper force that created me and I will adhere to it.

The book should provide me with all that. So, I have to value the giant system that is around me. A Kabbalah book, just like a guide, helps me become familiar with the reality I am in, and tells me how to use it in order to get to know the upper force and to adhere to it.

First we have to value the new perspective that is revealed to us. Then accordingly we can turn to the upper force with a request, since the goal is so sublime, great and wonderful, that I surely want to attain it.

Then I begin to operate my desire, to receive or to bestow, according to how much I clarify it. In order to clarify the desire correctly several conditions must be filled:

1. I acknowledge the greatness of the source.
2. When I see that it is great, I want it to influence me correctly. After all, this force can be the “elixir of life” or the “potion of death”—it all depends on my attitude and on what I want from it. In order to establish the right attitude towards it, I was given a group. If I try to reach a “prayer of many” together with the friends, our demand will be right and we will be rewarded with the “elixir of life.” A person cannot know if he is asking for the right thing by himself, and so I was given a tool called “friends,” thanks to which I can undoubtedly turn to the upper force correctly and ask for the right things.

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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/12, The Zohar

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The correction of broken desires happens step by step, thanks to the actions of the Upper Mother (Ima Ilaa), Bina of the world of Atzilut. A very complicated system works there, and it allows the influence to eventually reach the souls. However, behind all of this there acts the Light of Hochma dressed in the Light of Bina, which corrects desires, the fragmented souls.

When we pray, reaching out to the Light of AB-SAG, meaning the Light of Hochma dressed in the Light of Bina, we glorify its beauty (“beauty” in Aramaic is “Shufrah”). This is why there is a tradition to blow a special horn called a Shofar at a New Year celebration.

By doing so, we praise and proclaim the Creator’s governance, that is, the supremacy of the force that controls and leads us, the Light of Hochma dressed in the Light of Bina, which is called beautiful. The Light of Hochma (wisdom, beauty) manifests itself in us to the degree of our aspiration to acquire the property of bestowal (Bina). It’s considered the beginning of man (Adam), the one who strives to become similar (Domeh) to the Creator.

This explains why a Shofar symbolizes a New Year: It glorifies the reign of the upper force; it is our request for the Light of AB–SAG to come, to correct us, to fill, and to raise us by the ladder of correction to the upper King. All corrections that we anticipate to happen in the New Year are gathered in one day called the “head of the Year” (Rosh Hashanah) since potentially it already contains the tendency that we would like to practically implement during the year to come.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/12, Writings of Rabash

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