Baal HaSulam, “Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 2 “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 96: It is a wonderful law in the Upper Worlds that in every Sefira that we choose to examine, we will find ten inner Sefirot. If we take a single Sefira from those Eser inner Sefirot, we find another ten inner Sefirot inside the first Sefira. Also, if we take one Sefira of the inner, inner Sefirot, we once more find Eser Sefirot in it, which are inside the previous inner inner, and so on and so forth incessantly.

Our mind can’t grasp these spiritual principles, the incorporation of the Sefirot in each other until Ein Sof, incessantly, since in each of the Sefirot there are another ten and in each of the ten there are ten more, etc. How can we understand what Ein Sof means? Where does it begin and where does it end? We can’t understand that because our mind isn’t built on qualitative assessment but on quantitative assessment. It seems that here too it’s about quantity: ten, ten and once again ten, like in a discrete, numerical system. But this is the wrong impression. All the changes and the divisions are based on quality in separate qualitative circles.

This is why it’s currently so difficult for us to grasp this principle and the concept of infinity. In our life the strongest and the most clever people, the greatest egoists, want to use this world for their own benefit, to bend it and to extract as much money as possible from it, to win the race, to gain control and knowledge, to show off before others, and to feel good about themselves, feeling secure in the present and about the future.

But today they see that they can’t manage anything and they don’t know what to do. The leaders feel helpless. They are trying to calculate how they can overcome this loss of control, which is the main problem of the current crisis. The problem is not the crisis itself, meaning the percentages shown by economic indicators. First, they worried only about these percentages and sums, but now they see that this isn’t the cause, but rather the lack of control of the situation.

It isn’t about the results that we wanted to achieve but didn’t; rather, it’s about the reason for our failures. They don’t know this reason! First, they were the cause of all the successes and the failures, by holding the reins of egoistic management. The world bent before them and obeyed their egoistic rules. But today we can’t cram the world into the egoistic system we’ve created and we can’t manage it. It doesn’t listen anymore; it’s as if it’s arranged differently, leaving us totally perplexed.

Thus the difference between the two systems is gradually revealed: the numerical and the analog; the system that operates on a quantitative basis and the system based on quality. Nature from its part reveals to us some of the systems that operate according to quality, an analog system, that tie everything together in order to achieve collective work. This is how the force of the Creator is revealed.

We, on the other hand, have always worked differently, using the egoistic force of the created being, which was the result of the shattering, each one on his own. This is why we’ve always acted on a quantitative basis, according to numbers. Our whole perception is based on this principle. This is why we feel so helpless when the spiritual world is revealed to us and is getting closer to us. It’s the revelation of the spiritual system, of the Creator, and this is what brings about the current crisis.

While in the spiritual world, the Sefirot are each divided into ten and so forth until Ein Sof, this world is based on the numerical principle. But since we are talking about infinity, it destroys the quantitative basis and turns it into a qualitative one. It’s like an integral and so the crisis is called integral and the modern world is integral.

An integral isn’t just a simple sum. In a sum there are a number of components. And the integral includes Ein Sof, infinity: It includes such components that can’t be included in a quantitative calculation. It’s like the problem of making a circle into a square, where it’s required to build a square that is identical in its area to a circle. This problem has no solution on our level.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 29: This is regarded as being under the Sitra Achra and the Klipot, whose role is to expand and enhance his will to receive and make it exaggerated and unrestrained in any way, to provide one with all the material he needs to work with and correct.

During the first phase of the correction when we are drawn to goodness, we discover evil. This revelation is necessary and so we have to prepare the environment and ourselves in advance in order to be able to bear it. We have to understand that this is the “matter” that we should correct and that its correction depends on the recognition of evil.

The point is not the suffering itself, but that we discover that the ego doesn’t let us bestow. I attribute the evil not to the unpleasant feeling that the desire brings about, but to the obstacles that it places on my way to unite with others and through them with the Creator.

This is the reason that the ego is called an “evil inclination.” On the whole, it can bring me pleasure and not troubles. Let’s take the seven years of satiety in Egypt for example, were they good or bad for the people of Israel? What if a person is detached from spirituality and under the domination of his ego? What if he knows that, is sure of that, and at the same time experiences pleasant feelings in his desire to receive, but feels bad in his soul?

Could it be that it is a sign of positive development? After all, despite the egoistic pleasures that I feel while I am in exile in Egypt under the domination of evil, the ego rules me and doesn’t allow me to advance towards spirituality, towards the Creator. Then comes another phase, when my ego begins to receive blows. Is this better? Is this easier?

On the one hand, yes, since the troubles of the ego enable me to escape it. On the other hand, it’s the ego that agrees to escape from Egypt because of the troubles and not in order to adhere to the Creator. In this case, my work is double: I have to rise above my egoistic feelings and use them as an accelerator for advancement.

Let’s draw this dilemma. Within my desire to receive I can experience either good feelings or unpleasant feelings (good and evil). If I feel good in Egypt and my intention is aimed at myself, then how do I assess the new state? If it’s according to the egoistic desire, then I feel good on the animal level. Then I do not intend to escape anywhere.

But what if I feel bad within my desire to receive? If I tie myself to this bad feeling, I’m in a general crisis, in a global crisis. If I understand that this bad feeling helps me aim my intention towards others, at bestowal, then I consider this state as good since it helps me advance just like Pharaoh brought the people of Israel closer to the Creator. No matter how bad it may be, there is a mitigating factor—the advancement towards the goal.

But at the same time, the desire I am in helps me assess the state I am in, and supports the decision. Let’s look at another option. I feel good, but I want to aim my intention towards others, at the Creator. Does this good feeling help me rise to Him? No. It turns out that this is a bad state (evil).

But I have grown stronger after “seven years of satiety” during which I felt good, and my intention was altruistic. Now comes a bad state, “seven years of hunger.” Do they help me on my way to the Creator?

On the whole the trouble of the egoistic desire can, on the one hand, raise me above it in an attempt to escape, when it’s easier for me to choose spirituality, and on the other hand, it can make my advancement more difficult. Why? The Torah tells us about a famine in the Land of Canaan that forced the sons of Jacob to go down to Egypt. They felt bad and they moved forward. In Egypt, they felt good at first, and then there were troubles again. So why did the evil that was revealed at the end of the exile help them leave it?

The answer is that when I feel bad, I have to treat it not as a bad feeling that pushes me in a certain direction and that’s it. No. I have to resist the evil and to check myself and what makes me escape. Do I escape because it hurts or because I want to reach bestowal?

Thus the evil requires double work. In a good state it’s hard for me to escape the goodness. But if after the goodness trouble comes, the level of difficulty rises. We escaped the troubles of Egypt in the past, and now I have to rise above the bad feelings and to feel the blows not from a bad life but from the domination of evil.

At first the domination of Pharaoh seemed good to the people of Israel, and now they feel bad because of it. And it isn’t because of despair; they are not hungry. Later they will complain when they remember the pots full of meat.

Today too, there are nations that are satisfied with a “full bowl,” and don’t care about their rulers, while others are so developed that they cannot put up with a hateful regime; even if it threatens them and despite all the material benefits, they feel a need to break free. Thus the desire to receive develops according to its four phases.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam, “Article 545” 

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 139

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 2, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 118, Lesson 29

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“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 41, Lesson 15

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Question: In describing our condition, Baal HaSulam cites the example of a worm living in a radish that eventually comes out into the light. Suppose two worms decided to come out, but on the way one of them despaired, why does that happen?

Answer: It happens because the Creator brings it the “hardening of the heart” and the worm does not agree: “How come? Why hasn’t anyone paved the road? Why is it all this way and not differently?” Pride is what humiliates a person and drives him off track.

Question: What should the other worm do in this situation?

Answer: Try to help as much as it can. But it is not in one’s power to do the work of another.

The main thing here is to lower your head, to lower your nose and to accept the rigid laws of nature. Today, you don’t understand them, and no matter how hard you shout, nothing will change. You can curse the law of gravity law in the same way, will it get “better” as a result, will it stop affecting you?

We must understand that we are in a world of absolute laws and only by keeping them can we advance. But if we resist, the laws will operate accordingly. This is the difference between the path of Torah and the path of suffering.

The same thing happens in our world, but here we live in a society with homemade artificial laws, and so it seems that it is all a matter of buying and selling, and that everything can be “bent,” and you only need to wait for the right opportunity.

On the other hand, by coming out towards the Creator, we discover that there is nothing more fixed and absolute. We either work with Him in a good way or in a bad way; there are no intermediate states.

So when the worm feels the “hardening of the heart,” it should understand that it has no choice. Our problem is the false hope that the bad state will go away by itself and the good one will come by itself. We remember the saying, “What the mind doesn’t do, time does.” But it will do it only if during that time I try to do everything possible despite the mind and despite the lack of understanding of what is going on.

During a storm there is no point in sitting and waiting for good weather. I have to act, even foolishly, without a mind, but to act, to exert myself. Then time will do what the mind doesn’t do.

In other words, by many activities, I do what the mind would probably do without any delay.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” p. 39: Now we have shown that the Creator’s desired goal for the Creation He had created is to bestow upon His creatures, so they would know His truthfulness and greatness, and receive all the delight and pleasure He had prepared for them, in the measure described in the verse: “Ephraim my darling son, is he joy of his parents?” (Jeremiah 31, 19). Thus, you clearly find that this purpose does not apply to the still and the great spheres, such as the earth, the moon, or the sun, however luminous they may be, and not to the vegetative or the animate, for they lack the sensation of others, even from among their own species. Therefore, how can the sensation of the Godly and His bestowal apply to them?

Humankind alone, having been prepared with the sensation of others of the same species, who are similar to them, after delving in Torah and Mitzvot, when they invert their will to receive to a will to bestow, and come to equivalence of form with their Maker, they receive all the degrees that have been prepared for them in the Upper Worlds, called NRNHY. By that they become qualified to receive the purpose of the Thought of Creation. After all, the purpose of the creation of all the worlds was for man alone.

Question: The sensation of others is inherent in us, by which, through love for created beings, we can obtain love for the Creator. It turns out that the attitude towards the other is the means that we just use?

Answer: In our world a “means” is what we use along the way and throw away when we reach the goal. If I found a more effective means, I give up the previous one because the main thing for me is the goal.

In spirituality, things are different: Here, the goal is revealed in the means itself, and the means becomes the goal because it is not the I who reaches to the Creator, it is the system that I reveal and put up together by my own effort, by identifying with it like one whole. If I had stayed the way I am, I would have used the means only on the way to the goal. However, the process is different; being included in the means, I obtain the willingness to adhere to the goal.

Thus, the means is sacred for me because I reach the goal not with its help, but within it. I become it. My soul is this, the entire collective system.

It turns out that who I am now is not the real me. The real me does not exist yet because my current “I” came from the Creator, it is His part from above, that does not exist on its own. It represents the force of breaking and is intended to feel itself “cut off,” separated.

This helps me to adhere to the group, and in it, one step higher, I find myself. And here, in this one whole, I find fulfillment: the Creator.

Thus, I cannot reach the Creator by bypassing the means, the group. And besides, I do not throw away the means when I reach the goal. On the contrary, by being cut off from it, I build in it the system in which I discover the life, called the Creator, the reviving inner Force, the “elixir of life.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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The point of truth is revealed today: The whole world is like a kindergarten without a teacher. It doesn’t know where to go and feels puzzled and lost. This is an excellent state. We’ve already spoken about that, although we assumed that it would happen much sooner. Now we must prevent the problems and riots that can result from all this mess.

We are facing a very painful crisis and a world war. We are sliding towards it according to the laws of creation. Today those who “rule” the world have lost their power and think: “Perhaps it’s better to resort to military actions in order to start from scratch.” There is undoubtedly an option to resolve the situation, to stop the war and to “sweeten” the way, and its success depends on us. Baal HaSulam says that if we don’t stop this deterioration, humanity will be heading towards a nuclear war. This is the natural course of events guided by the ego if we don’t bring the Light into it.

What is more, Baal HaSulam mentions a fourth world war, which means that there will be someone who will manage it after the third world war. Is this possible? Of course. And it may even be very soon.

So what can we do? It’s dissemination and the reinforcement of inner unity. We need these two powerful forces: the external and the internal. There is no other force in the world that can change the balance but us. Think about this seriously. We need as many teachers, as many educators, as many lecturers as possible and we are preparing them the best way we can to go to the general public.

The situation is really critical. All the current crises that are revealed are just a very small tip of the iceberg compared to what is concealed from us. The elite are spending lots of money to hide the real situation in the world. It’s only since they have no choice that they release drops of information through the media.

In addition to the economic problems, there are ecological problems: We are facing dire disasters compared to those we’ve just experienced are nothing. There is going to be shortage of water and food, and our actual existence on this planet is under threat. The point is not to cut off the “layer of fat,” to cut down on food and to move into one room with the whole family. No, it will be much worse.

Question: This means that I have to dedicate all my life, all my powers to connection and dissemination?

Answer: Yes. And as to everything else, make do with the basic necessities, to such an extent that I will also be happy to get rid of it, but I can’t because it’s necessary to sustain my body.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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A person must discover the whole corrupt vessel of the desire. But he discovers it only if he wants to reach bestowal, goodness. So if a person hasn’t started his spiritual work yet and doesn’t connect with the group hoping to reach bestowal upon the Creator, he doesn’t even approach the evil inclination.

So the evil inclination Kabbalists speak about doesn’t exist in our world. Our corporeal desires are aimed at food, sex, family and the human desires are aimed at money, respect, and knowledge. On the whole it is called the “animal” level.

As for the evil inclination, it starts on a higher level if a person is inclined to love, connection and mutual guarantee. If he acts in this direction, then to that extent he increasingly discovers the size of the evil inclination. At the same time the Light is revealed to him, which evokes in him the desire to correct himself. Eventually, a person comes to a state where he can’t bear the evil and from that certain point he begins to turn it into a good inclination.

There are two levels here: Bina, which means to bestow in order to bestow (the correction of 248 desires) and Keter, to receive in order to bestow (the correction of 365 desires). Eventually a person corrects all the evil inclination.

But evil is first revealed when a person makes the first attempts to bestow. So the evil inclination is not revealed in our world, which means not in a person who doesn’t draw the Light that Reforms in order to correct himself. All the discernments that are revealed in ordinary people don’t need correction since it’s their nature. Their desires and their attributes don’t stand in the way of true connection.

The truth is only being revealed these days. In the center of humanity there are Kabbalists (the forefathers) and we, Bnei Baruch, are around them. All the others do not yearn for bestowal, but they will receive an “illumination” from us and then they will understand that there is only one way—connection.

A person who tries to form a system of mutual connection is the one who discovers the evil inclination, the force of resistance, his reluctance, and the unpleasantness of this idea. So if a person doesn’t discover his connection with the environment, with the group, he doesn’t discover the evil inclination since it’s only discovered in what is against the shattering among us. So it’s a great thing to discover all the matter of creation, the whole evil inclination, and only the one who advances further and further until Gmar Tikkun (the end of correction) can do that.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, Igrot, “Letter 26”

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A person constantly cancels himself, constantly carries out the will of the Creator, constantly “sends himself into nothingness” on top of the desire, growing in him.

At the beginning, I nullify myself above the small desire of the still level, and then I am as if in the mother’s womb, in the “nine-month slumber.” Then, a group of desires, belonging to the vegetative level, awaken in me, and again, I have to nullify myself against them.

However, in order to nullify myself, to make myself nothing, I need to engage myself. Through the actions opposite to the Creator, I create what is called “help against Him” and cancel myself by bestowing to Him.

In the end, I discard nothing. All the desires are used, as it is said: “Everything is added to the general account.” I ask only to nullify myself, but this comes only through my understanding and feeling of myself and everyone, the whole world. Precisely this allows me to adhere to the Creator.

Question: Can I say that self-nullification is love?

Answer: Love is manifested not in self-nullification, but in greatness, when I use all my properties to give, to bestow. Love means that I bestow, establish connection, and in general am active.

And self-nullification is the quality of a fetus or baby, and not an expression of love.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/11/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 32: And when one is rewarded with being entirely in the will to bestow and not at all for oneself, he will be rewarded with obtaining equivalence of form with his Upper NRNHY, which extend from one’s origin in Ein Sof in the first state, through the pure ABYA, and will immediately extend and clothe him in a gradual manner.

We have a very big desire to receive that grows as we climb the levels of correction. This process begins from the moment we yearn for connection.

The desire is revealed gradually. First we correct it on the level of “to bestow in order to bestow,” which in Kabbalistic terms is called Hafetz Hesed, the level of Bina, Hassadim. Then we correct the desire on the level of “to receive in order to bestow,” which is already the level of Hochma.

On the level of Bina, all our evil inclination seems to be corrected, at least since it doesn’t have the intention of “in order to receive.” Then the mistakes turn into merits and the evils turn into mistakes. We attain a kind of neutrality, now our desire to receive is no longer evil.

Then we continue our work until all the evil inclination becomes good, which means that it receives in order to bestow. This is the reason that Kabbalists sometimes divide the process into two, the correction of the desire and its final reformation to bestowal.

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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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