Question: It isn’t enough just to know that everything comes to me from the Creator. After all, in such a case, I may be enjoying this “picture,” without asking any questions. On the other hand, if I have a question, I overcome all the obstacles since I look for an answer.

Answer: That’s right. A person must check himself constantly.

Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article, “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator”: One prays and gives charity for one’s troubles, but is not answered whatsoever…

A person checks himself and sees that he doesn’t succeed in anything. However, he is still connected to the Creator since otherwise he wouldn’t pray to Him and give charity.

And precisely when one stops praying for one’s troubles, one is answered. Whenever he overcomes, believes in Providence, and betters his deeds, luck turns away from him and he mercilessly falls back.

A person can make serious inquiries, try to do everything the right way, and see the opposite results. This state is called “double concealment.”

And when he denies and begins to worsen his deeds, he becomes very successful and is greatly relieved. One does not find one’s sustenance in proper manners.

A person can advance in devious ways and be around successful criminals. Then, the good environment seems like a poor, stupid, deprived environment.

When Providence arranges things in this manner for a person, it is called “concealment within concealment.”

However, he understands this and is aware of what is going on. So, after all the inquiries and the attempts, a person, himself, determines clearly and accurately which concealment he is in with regard to the Creator: whether it is a single concealment or a double concealment.

We must do that every minute and in every situation. It is possible. Baal HaSulam gives us clear instructions as to how to arrive to the real state, to the real connection with the Creator.

When Providence arranges things in this manner for a person, it is called “concealment within concealment.” This is because then one collapses under one’s weight and cannot continue to strengthen the belief that one’s pains come from the Creator for some hidden reason. Finally, one fails, becomes heretic, and says that the Creator is not watching over His creations whatsoever.

This isn’t even double concealment since the Creator is totally absent from the picture of the world.

And all that transpires, transpires by fate and by blind nature. This is not seeing even the back.

Therefore, the moment I wake up, I immediately begin to check myself and the state I am in. Clearly, one can say a couple of blessings automatically or sing a song, but, on the whole, the scale should not be the tunes or the blessings other people have composed, but my own.

Thus, I gradually understand that, eventually, everything depends on the influence of the environment. Then, I discover that I must submit myself to the environment because this is what pulls me forward through the double concealment and the single concealment toward the revelation of the Creator. Only self-submission before the group brings me the Light that Reforms.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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No matter what happens in my life, I must understand that it all comes from the upper force that undoubtedly controls everything. But so far it isn’t revealed to me that way, but in concealment, and so I suffer.
The Creator is good and benevolent, but He is revealed to me after going through a “filter” that turns all the good into something bad and unpleasant. I call the thickness of this “filter” “single concealment.” In addition, the Creator can place another “filter” and send me to a “double concealment,” which is much worse.

So how can I get rid of the veil that turns the goodness of the Creator into evil? To do this I ask: “Correct me! But not so that I will get rid of the unpleasant feelings, on the contrary, they help me, and spur me. Without them I wouldn’t even think about something else. They focus me on You, on the source of something that seems bad. Therefore, I am asking for help in order not to feel that something bad stems from You.

I don’t want to be behind the “filter,” but in front of it, in direct contact with you. Not in order to feel good, but in order to know you better. I want to bless you, but now because I have no choice, I curse you. My body screams because of that; “I feel bad and I curse the source of evil. But You gave me the feeling that the evil stems from You. You are playing with me by using hints, half revealed and half concealed. But I don’t want to curse You anymore.”

Question: Where is the group here? I can also ask for all that without the group.

Answer: Try. If you start, you will be confused and you will discover that the true plea is only possible in the group. There you are protected from making mistakes; there you really turn to the Creator for correction despite your good and evil desires. Eventually the group allows you to see clearly what to ask for, what it is that you actually want and whom it is that you actually turn to. That’s the whole idea.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator”: In this manner, of course one does not see the good face of the Creator; that is, if he believes that the Creator is the one who does these things to him, either as punishment for transgressions or to reward him in the end. This follows the verse, “whom the Lord loves, He corrects,” and also, “the righteous begin with suffering, since the Creator wishes to eventually impart them great peace.”

Yet, one does not fail in saying that all this came to him by blind fate and by nature without any reason and consideration. Rather, one strengthens in believing that the Creator, with His Guidance, caused him all that. This is nonetheless considered seeing the Creator’s back.

This is the single concealment, the state a person who is in the process of spiritual advancement is found. He has not reached revelation yet, but he feels a certain process and attributes his problems to the Creator.

The problem is that he cannot justify the Creator and the feeling of suffering is the indication for that. On the one hand, if a person could justify the Creator, he wouldn’t feel suffering. On the other hand, it is impossible to feel suffering and to be grateful for it. If you suffer, it means that you feel bad. In our world it is possible to feel one thing and to say something else, but in spirituality there is no such thing: What you feel is what you “say.” If you suffer internally then no theatrical gestures and external smiles will help you.

This is why I feel bad and this state is called single concealment. So what ties me to the Creator? An unclear feeling that it is Him operating behind all this. It isn’t clear, because that would negate the bad feeling. If the Creator is revealed, I receive pleasure, and if he is concealed, I receive suffering. But in this case, the suffering isn’t so great that it can detach me from the Creator and I can justify it.

Our vessel is divided into two parts: GE and AHP. As a consequence, we are affected by two types of Lights: Hassadim and Hochma. So it turns out that I can still justify the Creator although I feel that He doesn’t treat me well. I attribute this feeling to the account of previous sins or to the account of the future reward, and so for the time being I accept the suffering.

There is a whole set of mutual relations concealed here. The good seems bad and I suppose that I deserve it because of my previous sins, or that I will receive a future reward for these sufferings. In my mind I justify the Creator as much as I can, and although I feel suffering, I still acknowledge that they come from Him and not from some external factors. No matter who trips me, I depict the Creator behind it.

This is quite a high level and if a person holds on to it, it becomes a springboard to something much greater. I wish we could permanently be in this state by perceiving that everything, both the good and the evil, come from the Creator, and that there is none else besides Him; that no foreign force controls us and neither does blind faith. His Providence may seem bad, but I justify it by my previous sins or the future reward. The Creator is like a good father who teaches and raises me correctly.

On the other hand, the concealment here is also since I expect some reward for my suffering: that they will either detach me from my previous sins or that they will help me acquire the future pleasure. The Creator doesn’t actually need these sufferings, not as a way to atone for my sins and not as a reward for my good deeds.

Still, in this state a person wants to reach bestowal, appreciates it, and holds on to the right direction towards it. At the same time two forces operate on him: The concealment that stems from his uncorrected desires and some illumination from adhering to the back side of the Light.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Why don’t I keep the Creator in mind at all times?

Answer: You don’t remember the Creator because you don’t need Him. When you need someone, you keep thinking about them. Our ego easily does this.

Question: To what extent should it break me to make me actually remember Him? No matter what I do, nothing at all helps.

Answer: That’s not true. There is always a chance to add efforts to unite or to take care of friends in the group. I am talking about internal exertions here, the ones that do not depend on how busy one is or how much physical energy one has. Here is a sensitivity: We need to constantly try not to distance ourselves from the friends, keeping them in mind and disclosing our own future through them.

Question: At the congress we had an environment conducive to our internal work. We were given a taste from Above and now all that is left is for us to imprint it in our minds.

Answer: Isn’t it enough to wake you up?

Question: No, not at all, since we succumb to our desires.

Answer: Really? Now, you still remember the state you were in and feel a little sorry that it is gone. So, can you make yourself take certain actions? Can’t you obligate each other to enter into a union and begin mutual guarantee?

What will happen if you don’t? You should try. Then, you’ll see that you are helpless and will realize that you need the Creator to be your partner.

Demand Him! It was only after Moses reached the bottom that the Creator told him, “Let’s go to Pharaoh.”

Moses grew up in the Pharaoh’s house, was brought up there, he was a beloved prince; he was very successful through his strong egoism.

Now, he wants something opposite to it. He acts as if he doesn’t even know his grandfather and approaches him as if they were complete strangers, “We have nothing in common. You are the Pharaoh, and I relate to you as the Pharaoh, not as my grandfather.”

Question: But, the desire rejects such an approach. Even if we realize that we require a third factor, the desire won’t let us appeal to it.

Answer: Make a few more efforts, and you’ll discover that you really need the Creator. At this point, you don’t feel a necessity for Him; you don’t believe that He is capable of helping you, that He exists and has governance over everything there is, that He arranges everything in your life, that He hardened the heart of Pharaoh. You don’t connect one with the other.

Question: How can we fill this gap when our mind understands, but our desire still strives for a completely different thing?

Answer: Only your experience with this work with persistency and consistency will help you. If you are desperate, it is ready to go; if you can afford to sit and do nothing—primarily in your mind and heart—turn to your friends for help. Find someone who is still alive and hot, those who are ready to come to the rescue. Seek your guiding point, Moses, who is connected to the Creator.

Nothing can be done; it’s impossible to go against desires. However, we have to mobilize such a force and means which seem to support the desire, but in the way of turning into its opposite.

Question: How do we do that? Theoretically, it is very clear, but in reality?

Answer: There is not enough clarity. We must continue to work to destroy our desire, to break the desire. Why would we even want to break a wall? When bashing against the wall, you will suddenly become smarter, and you will understand how to approach the Creator and ask Him to help you.

Rest assured that He will destroy the resistance, although, at this point, you are not referring to Him, nor do you understand how important it is, even though you apply certain efforts to unite with your friends. So far, your losses are not big enough to make you scream to Him.

Instead, you step aside as if you have poorly invested a hundred dollars, and even though you are not happy about your loss, you still are ready to lose this much money. What would you feel if you had invested everything you have, all your property? Then, you wouldn’t be able to step back and would do everything in your power to regain success.

It’s not about quantity, but quality. Suddenly, after you knocked on your friends’ hearts and made every possible effort to connect with them, you find out that you cannot continue your exertions any longer. And yet you go on more and more, and when it’s really unnerving, in this very point, you reveal the Creator: “Now I demand for Him to connect us. I already feel the overall system and the evil inclination, mutual hatred. And there I want to reveal the Creator. I can see Him; he arranges it all, it is He who deliberately hardened the heart of Pharaoh. And now I will oblige Him to act.”

Even if you understand what I’ve just said, you still won’t be able to oblige Him right away. It’s essential that you line up your desires and intentions in a more or less correct order. The Creator wishes you good, doesn’t He? However, He needs a complete vessel full of corrected desires.

Question: Does it mean that I just have to keep hitting the same point over and over again?

Answer: It’s not that simple, the point that you are pursuing constantly varies. Each time it’s a little bit different, more profound, more interconnected with all the other points. After all, you are constantly advancing.

Question: What do I do with the harm that I bring to my friends while I pursue my path?

Answer: You only bring good to them since you try adding something that is above your desires to the unity. So, why do you call it harm?

Question: It’s because, in my thoughts, I don’t take care of my friends continuously throughout the day.

Answer: It happens this way because the Creator intentionally brings up all sorts of obstacles on your way. It’s He who hardens your heart, the Pharaoh’s heart, although you still apply effort on top of it, like Moses who disagrees with the Pharaoh. It’s your effort, whereas the hardening of the group’s heart comes from the Creator. So, why are you upset? Everything is fine!

Question: I know that I must give my friends much more, but I can’t.

Answer: Everything—including the Pharaoh (the evil inclination), hatred among friends, and the group with the potential to love in the future—is the Creator. He presents Himself in various shapes to attract you and make you connect with Him.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 298

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt “Aharei-Mot,” Item 230, Lesson 17

Shamati #3, “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment” 

Preface to The Book of Zohar, Item 37, Lesson 14

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The Writings of Rabash, Volume II, Letter 40: And when one begins to feel the love of his friend, joy and pleasure immediately begin to awaken in him, for the rule is that a novelty entertains. His friend’s love for him is a new thing for him because he always knew that he was the only one who cared for his own wellbeing. But the minute he discovers that his friend cares for him, it evokes within him immeasurable joy, and he can no longer care for himself, since man can toil only where he feels pleasure. And since he is beginning to feel pleasure in caring for his friend, he naturally cannot think of himself.

We see that in nature, there is love until the yearning becomes unbearable…

There are Reshimot (reminiscences) in us, memories from the general vessel of the soul. All the reality that we feel and even the parts that we don’t feel are in us and are part of the vessel, just as it was before the shattering of the vessels. So the moment a person feels the love someone feels towards him, not the egoistic love we know in our world, but a love that comes from the height of the corrected general soul, from the corrected source, the Reshimo of the general vessel, which is perceived as external at the moment, is immediately evoked in him.

Thus a person immediately feels that this force comes from another world, from an upper state, and his self-love is annulled. He cannot remain in the state of self-love and is ready to give his soul to the new inclination, to the connection that is external to him. It takes place this way, because it is the external vessel that is the real, general, upper vessel compared to the individual egoistic self-love that dominates him now.

A person annuls himself before this power. If a person feels that he is loved and that the inclination to spiritually love someone who is external to him is suddenly evoked, then the corporeal animal self-love disappears. It is because a person feels that the large, general vessel is much higher than the small individual vessel, and so he annuls himself before this love.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/12

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Question: We are talking about a person who is connected with the group. And what is the same person on the street who sees, feels, reacts, and chooses? Is this a superposition of all the desires, the collective result of the whole person, the whole world desire?

Answer: It depends on where the observer is located.

If the observer is me, then I can say that everything that I see around me now is a manifestation of the Creator. It is He who plays with me in this way, on the one hand. On the other hand, all that I feel outside of me is parts of my soul. What I feel in myself is my Galgalta ve Eynaim, and everything that I feel outside of myself is my parts that I cannot connect to myself yet because between me personally, my inner part, and those parts outside of me there is egoism that does not let me perceive them correctly.

That is, my general soul was broken in two parts, and one of the parts I perceive as my own, and the other part I do not. I do not feel that it is mine. On the contrary, I feel it as the opposite of me, I hate it, I do not like it, I do not want to feel it like my own.

This sight was created in me artificially. However, I need to find the way to feel it as my own. It is actually mine, but I perceive it as so foreign that I cause harm to those who are around me, all sorts of still, vegetative, animate, and human objects, and enjoy that I harm them. How can it be? The higher I am, the more I submit and use them (my external part for my inner part), the more comfortable, better, and happier I feel; I enjoy this.

This is a terrible self-deception. Then, a person begins to reveal that by causing everyone harm and thus disturbing the balance in the world, he hurts the elements closest to him, those who are much closer to him more than his children, than he himself. In reality, these are the Kelim (vessels) that are dearest to us. It is a horrible condition called torments of hell. But its redemption then gives a person new opportunities.

So, it all depends on how do I look at what is outside of myself, either according to the principle “There is none else besides Him,” or like parts of my soul, which in principle is the same thing.

When a person connects to the Kabbalistic method, when he comes to the Creator and unites with everyone else, that is, with the entire universe and the Creator, then naturally, everything becomes one: It was the Creator in front of me and He me showed that all were my parts.
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From “A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 09/23/12

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Our whole path is aimed at exiting our ego, the only collective attribute in which we exist and that locks us within this tiny ball of feeling the reality of this world. In order to start managing ourselves, we need another force in addition to our desire to enjoy: a desire to bestow. With these two forces we can already begin to operate.

This means that we lack the force of bestowal that comes from the general force, from the Creator, from the attribute of bestowal, which is the real nature. This is why the word “Creator” in Gematria is “nature” (in Hebrew). And our desire to enjoy does not exist in nature, but is external to it.

All our work and our goal is to achieve the desire to bestow. Thanks to this we are incorporated in the Creator, acquire freewill between these two forces, and can become similar to Him, which is called the human level: the level of Adam.

We can only reach the power of bestowal by the connection in the group, which is a model of how we should fulfill it. In the group we feel how much we need bestowal, or the opposite, how unnecessary it is to us and how hateful it is, since it is opposite from our nature.

Thus we begin to work artificially and cry out like children who demand things they do not deserve. But children use our parental love and we still concede and do what they want although we know it is just childish whining.

It is exactly the same with us. If we also ask for bestowal egoistically, although no one needs it, and “nag” the upper one with our crying: “Give it to us, give us!” like nagging children, we will eventually get it bit by bit and will gradually be impressed by it. In addition to that, we are impressed by our actions and by our acting that we want bestowal, and so eventually we really begin to want it.

Thus we are impressed by one another about the greatness of bestowal and spirituality, although we don’t really see anything good, great and valuable in the desire to bestow, but rather the opposite. This means that we are acting like in a theater, and by this acting we develop; we are in an intentional lie and it is clear to us that all our prayers are false and our attitude isn’t real either.

We are aware of that, we know it and we declare it openly because it is the only opportunity we have to get ourselves out of the state we are in now. By this acting, we build ourselves under the conditions of the current state in order to reach bestowal from the desire to enjoy.

The lever by which we can do that is based on a spiritual spark, the point in the heart, with which we can start acting. It is a tiny point in the heart, which we perceive and start developing. If we perceive it like an end of a rope that was thrown to us, we can raise ourselves above our egoistic desire to the desire to bestow, like rising above the floor and penetrating the second floor through a tiny hole in the ceiling. Then with the help of this rope, we can pull our whole desire to enjoy, which fills all of the lower floor and gradually transfer it to the upper floor—rising from Malchut to Bina.

The spark that was inserted into us is a spark from Bina that fell upon us from the second floor through a hole in the ceiling. Through that hole we can move to the second floor and then pull our whole Malchut from there.

It should be clear to us that we are working with egoistic attributes. We are only playing with bestowal and don’t imagine that we are already righteous. If we still don’t know who we really are, we will undoubtedly know: The main thing is not to fear the truth.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/12

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Preparation to the Lesson

Shamati #21 “When One Feels Oneself In a State of Ascent“

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt “Aharei-Mot,” Item 211, Lesson 16

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 3, Part 8, “Ohr Pnimi,” (Starting with: “Know, that the name MA”), Item 20, Lesson 10 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator,” “Depiction of Disclosure of the Face,” Lesson 3

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Question: During the convention I feel that the group is a small part of something big. How can we keep this fire going in dissemination too? How can we not forget that there is a group and that there is something huge behind it and that it is the unity of the friends that fills our work with meaning?

Answer: During the convention we feel a great force; we look at the screens and see the friends from all over the world. With us there are hundreds of groups and thousands of people sitting alone who we don’t even know. Of course, it enables us to feel something, but we have to try to receive the fuel from something else—from advancing humanity towards the revelation.

You are actually asking how we can receive fuel. Of course, it is the impression from a big group that first fuels us; here everyone knows me and encourages me; everyone sees what I do, and together we want to change the world. In short, it is the power of egoism that is active here.

But later the scale of values changes in us. You exerted yourself, you acted, even egoistically, by wanting to bring your beliefs and outlook to the whole world and suddenly you discover that you have run out of fuel.

This is how the Reshimot (reminiscences) change. It is because there is nothing but that which can change. Our Reshimo is the only changeable parameter, the only factor that changes. And here it changes in order to allow you to work in a non egoistic manner, not wanting to impose your opinion on the world, to prove that you are right, and to take the helm.

The next Reshimo enables you to think more altruistically: “The head of the angle is not we and not me. Let no one know, not even myself, whether I achieve any results.” This approach is already closer to spirituality and that is the way you are advanced forward from Above.

More intensive support from the group is needed here. If you connect more strongly with the friends, you will feel that you have purer powers than before, “I really don’t care whether my work is fruitful. Just like sportsmen, I don’t need to see the result. I want to close my eyes and to act only in one direction, without checking the ‘inbox.’ I don’t care whom I have influenced and to what extent he has changed. I feel that I can bring something to the world, I tighten my connection with the friends and move outward, and there is nothing in response.”

So where can you get the energy from? After all, in a situation like this a person remains like an engine without fuel. He doesn’t have the driving force; he needs some response. Here he begins to demand internally: “I have to see myself in the force of bestowal!” It is like changing a conventional engine with an electric engine, switching from gasoline to electricity, to another form of energy. This is what you demand, “The desire to bestow must be revealed to me! If I cannot work within my desire to receive, I need the desire to bestow!”

Then you will get it.
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From the Convention in Italy, Day Three 9/30/12, Lesson 2

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