Question: Why is it that we prefer to stay within the suffering and don’t want to escape it, as if we even enjoy it?

Answer: We enjoy our suffering. The whole world enjoys suffering because there is a very simple way to escape it and attain a wonderful state of goodness, which is even impossible to describe. But people prefer to suffer.

Our desire to receive is responsible for this; it likes to suffer. All of our pleasure comes from overcoming the suffering. It is really masochism. All of our pleasures, from the smallest to the greatest, of all kinds, come only from suffering. We enjoy having been able to avoid suffering a little bit, rising above it, but in any case, it is all rooted in suffering. This is the nature of the desire to receive.

In order to enjoy, we need a deficiency and then after, to fulfill it. In our case, the deficiency is the lack of fulfillment, death. And a little above death is already considered pleasure, but nonetheless, it is still associated with death. Pleasure, is when there is a little more than the state of death.

However, spiritual pleasure is different, there is pleasure from bestowal there. Thus, even the lowest, basic level already gives strength and symbolizes life, since I don’t feel deficiency in anything. I don’t personally need anything for myself. I am in the state of Bina, “Hafetz Hesed (Desire for Bestowal),” like a monk who lives in the forest and doesn’t even feel the need for a shirt.

And above this state, I feel even more life, even more bestowal, even more freedom. While at the same time, in our desire to receive, we feel only death and suffering and can’t escape it. Without this, the ego can’t feel pleasure. We must always add a little “salt and pepper” to the food to spice it up.
[81744]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash “According to What Is Explained About Love Thy Friend as Thyself” 

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 132

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 2, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 64, Lesson 22

“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 20, Lesson 8

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Question: Yesterday in the workshop I felt inspired by the hopes of all the friends about the coming convention that will take place in a few days in the northern part of Israel. In the next few days, we will try to keep the motto “knocking with repentance!” Today, however, I feel that I am in a completely opposite state, and that I don’t have the demand I had yesterday. I feel as if the carpet has been pulled from under my feet.

Answer: I think that such changes shouldn’t occur from one day to the next but from one moment to the next. A moment ago I was so adhered to the goal, and I yearned for it with such intensity and energy and a moment later it is totally the opposite, as if it had never happened.

What is going on? What is this wonder? To what extent do our desires change? There is no problem here; this is the creation. We are like a TV screen on which we are shown what we see and we don’t see what we are not shown. I am not the one who projects the film, and whatever is projected is not up to me.

The question is how can I become the one who projects the film if I want to see and not the one I am being shown? I don’t want to be in the life I am being shown in this movie. I want another movie!

Question: But can I project this movie, how can I prepare myself correctly from this moment onwards?

Answer: The problem is that I can change my feeling towards the movie that I am being shown only if I reach its real form. I am constantly being sent new Reshimot (reminiscences), signals, new pictures, which constantly come to me from Ein Sof (Infinity). It is a very long way, and in the meantime, I respond to them like an animal yearning for good feelings and escaping the bad ones.

If I don’t want to advance like an animal, like the pictures and the feelings that come to me in which I am in this three-dimensional space that determines my life, if I want to advance quickly and smoothly, I have to identify with the One who projects the movie to me. I have to connect to Him, to His plan, to agree with the process, to agree with what He sends me, and to understand that what he sends me and what I see are two opposites.

There is, for example, a picture that you can see in black and white or in white and black, negative and positive. Here too, I have to change my perception, but for us it isn’t just black and white, but forms that are opposite in many different properties of perception. I have to want to perceive the picture in the way the One who sends it sees it. The picture comes to the three-dimensional screen I am in, and I can’t feel it the way He depicts it, the way He sends it to me. He sends me a picture that is filled with goodness and delight, since He is good and benevolent, while I see it as the absolute opposite in my perception, my desires, and my thoughts.

In order to see it in its real form, I have to change my perception, my attributes, and my desires to the opposite. This is possible. I have another connection with Him besides this picture, and through the picture, I can connect with Him.

If I take this picture, as a whole, the whole world, everything that is before me, and want to connect it all and to attribute it to the One who projects this movie, I connect with Him and can demand that He changes my attributes.

Thus, with the help of the world, by arranging it correctly according to this method, I connect with the Creator, and He performs this change in me. Then I see that the picture changes, and I understand what I have to do. The main thing is to accept this change for the first time. From now on you already know how to proceed, you have a way; you have the right approach. Let’s hope that we will be able to fulfill this first action.
[81813]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/01/12, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” item 15: When you examine the above three states, you will find that one completely necessitates the other in a way that, if one were to be cancelled, the others would be cancelled, too.

If, for example, the third state—the conversion of the form of reception to the form of bestowal—had not materialized, it is certain that the first state in Ein Sof would never have been able to emerge.

It is because the perfection materialized there only because the future third state was already there, as though it is in the present. And all the perfection that was pictured there in that state is like a reflection from the future into the present. But if the future could be cancelled, there would not be any present. Thus, the third state necessitates the existence of the first.

The whole plan, including the initial part, the middle part, and the final part couldn’t exist without the future form. It is said: “The end of the action in is the initial thought,” which is true according to every plan and every action—the future form is mandatory and in itself determines all the details.

The beginning is only the point of the created being, which is separate from the Creator. In the future form, the created being should be like the Creator, when he rises to the level of Adam, the “human” level, stemming from the word Domeh (similar.) This determines the process: to get from the beginning to the end, we must start our development from the end to the beginning. That means that “the end result of an action lies in the initial thought.” An “action” is already the end, the final and complete form, from which we know how to approach things. It is the only way the spiritual work takes place.

In our world we assume that we operate differently, but it isn’t so. It simply seems that way since half of our actions and thoughts are concealed. It seems that something new is going on, that I am doing something, but in fact I don’t see what is going on behind the scenes where everything is arranged for me, where the future form determines the current form from which it is supposed to stem.

It seems as if I go through some process of development and that I can affect it according to my desire and my plan and to obey the desire of those around me. In the meantime, I simply don’t see that everything is predetermined and programmed.

The future form determines everything there is and everything that there will be, and only our attitude affects the feeling, the manner according to which we accept what is happening.

So we don’t need to think about the actions themselves at all. Our intention is the action. Our attitude towards what is going on is the one new element we can add on our part according to the principle of “Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before.” The Creator holds everything in His hands and all the created being has to do is to change his perception of reality as he accepts it as good, in equivalence of form, or in the form of suffering.

Question: How can it be that although the final phase already exists we still have to make our own independent efforts?

Answer: Our independent efforts are necessary only so that we will want to format new internal values for the new perception. If you waste your energy in order to change the world, it only means that you are foolish. You don’t need to change the world in the present but to contact the future. Animals do it instinctively, and man developed this ability when he climbed down from the tree.

After all, it is impossible to advance without knowing the future. Ancient pagan beliefs were intended only to connect to the future. Today we simply don’t understand them and that actually the customs, the dances, the rituals, and even the martial arts were designed not in order to harm someone but only to “lock” the future upon ourselves.

Man has always faced the problem of contacting the future and of feeling it. If I shoot an arrow from a bow, for example, I only have to capture the moment in which I actually hit the target, feel the future moment in which the arrow already reaches the target. That’s enough. This is called “living the future,” being in contact with it. Then by that feeling I can arrange my actions on my way to it.

But we have not been developing in this direction for quite a while since the growing ego has deprived us of the natural perception that was in our basis and we lost contact with it.

If I don’t know the future form and don’t connect to it, I don’t act; it is a sign that my desire isn’t clarified yet. So there is nothing to cry about—I have to aim all my actions towards the connection with the future.

Our future is the attribute of bestowal and I have to express it by different means. When it is clear to me how I have determined my future form, I ask for its correction and then I discover it.

Accordingly, now too, if I imagine the group correctly, it shows me the future in which I am totally connected to it in all my attributes. This is my first spiritual level. On the next level I will be given a greater egoistic desire, I will draw away from the friends again, I will begin to disrespect and hate them even more in order to reunite with them after I overcome these interruptions. This process continues until we become like Rabbi Shimon’s students, united above the burning furnace of hatred.
[81819]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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The desire to receive cannot be spurred without the “bridle and the reins” of its rider. It must be under someone’s control, like donkey that is given a sack of grain, blindfolded, and directed in one direction. Only then can the desire to receive work.

Our advancement and our correction occur only by the Light. The Light manages us by sometimes increasing its pressure and sometimes letting us feel some freedom. But we have to feel and understand where exactly this freedom is given to us. It’s possible that where we think that we are free, we are not free at all. If we understand where we can react and in what way exactly, then we fulfill our participation in our independent development.

But before we can do that, we have to discover how the Light constantly creates and revives our desire to receive by directly managing it and keeping it on a short leash. All its actions are meant so that the desire will be impressed by the Light’s actions upon it, and instead of just feeling good or bad, it will begin to find out: “Why do I feel good and why do I feel bad, why does one feeling change into the other feeling, what is required of me, and how can I avoid the bad feeling and draw the good feeling?”

This means that I have to know what’s good or bad for me, and what the plan is of the One who changes my feelings from one extreme to the other. How can I find and perceive Him, how can I discover His plan and understand His intention? On the whole, all these egoistic questions stem from the fact that I feel bad in this life since otherwise the desire to receive wouldn’t be evoked. The bad feeling is a feeling of deficiency that requires a filling.

At first I just don’t feel as good as I did before. Then it becomes less and less pleasant, until finally the level of pleasantness comes down to zero. Then it becomes worse and worse, until it becomes unbearable. This means that the states I am in can be very different ranging from very bad to very good.

Thus the Light plays with my desire to receive and brings about changes all the time, so that the desire will learn about itself and about the different fillings. After having perceived enough internal discernments, a person can stabilize his attitude towards the One who summons them and want to discover Him. This is because He is the source of all the good and evil in the life of the desire to receive. Thus we advance.
[81337]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/18/12, Shamati #8

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When we begin to feel something regarding the source of the Light and the Light itself it is an advanced level. We want to discover it, to perceive it, to manage it. It’s a high level in the development of the ego called “Pharaoh,” who asks: “Who is the Lord that I should listen to Him? I want to manage my own life by myself!”

I agree that the Creator exists and that He manages the world, but I want to manage it in His place! After many blows, when I see that I can’t do it, I begin to figure out what’s going on, the true goal of that manager, what he wants, and for what purpose.

Then I feel that the concealment of the Manager is because of my desire to reveal Him in order to manage Him. These is why the manager conceals himself until I begin to feel that there’s no choice and give up—I decide to get to know Him. Thus, a special attitude towards the Creator is born in the created being who wants to take his place. Now he changes his attitude to such an extent that he wants to resemble the Creator. He then begins to discover the Creator’s plan. Until then he hoped that he’d have a chance to manage the world, to know its laws, and to turn it as the desire to receive pleases.

But then he begins to understand that it’s impossible and that it’s better to contact the Creator in order to know His plan and to try to follow Him, which is called “to keep the laws of nature.” Now he understands that there are rules to the entire way he has experienced. Everything is subject to a special formula and it’s by the concealment that a person gets a chance to participate in his own growth.

Despite the emptiness that he feels in his vessels of reception, he can rise above them and identify with the upper plan, with the Manager. Then his desire to receive doesn’t stand in his way, but rather the opposite, the bad feeling pushes a person to exit himself, to exit his ego, since he only feels pain in it. In this case it’s easier for a person to rise above this pain, above his desire to receive, and adhere to the upper plan in order to advance consciously, by knowing the Manager.

Then he sees that the shadow that hid the pleasures and the Creator from him actually acted in his favor. It says, “I delight to sit in His shade and His fruit is sweet to my palate,” which means that he already receives pleasure from the concealment since he sees that he is born anew from it. This is because the Creator never wanted to cause him pain; the Creator is good and benevolent. A mother’s womb (Rechem in Hebrew) comes from the Hebrew word Rachman (merciful), and although a person’s birth is under great pressure and with labor pains, it comes from the love and mercy that the Creator shows a person.

A person must constantly check himself and see under what shadow he is, whether he’s under the “shadow of Holiness” or the “Shadow of the Sitra Achra” (the other side). This is determined by the way a person comes out of every situation, and where this shadow takes him, to which actions it leads him, and to how he determines his state. Whether he feels that it helps him comes closer to the Manager, which means that the Manager seems to playing with him, drawing his attention and calling him to get to know Him. Then he sees that the shadow was not on the Manager, not on the Creator, but rather on his own ego.

But a person may not understand all this and demand only one thing: that the shadow will disappear from the world. Here the main question is solved—can a person attribute all the shadows to his desire to receive and understand that this is how the Creator helps him restrict his desire and create a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light and get closer to the Creator?
[81335]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/18/12, Shamati #8

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Igrot, “Letter 13”

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 131

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 2, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 64, Lesson 21

“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 17, Lesson 7

Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in North of Israel

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Question: Can we say that only my attitude separates my current state from the next state?

Answer: Attitude determines everything, or in other words, the intention. When you change your intention, you change the worlds in your perception. The difference between this world and the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) is in the intention. All the states differ only according to your attitude, to your intention. In fact there is nothing but the state of Ein Sof. Everything else is a picture that we depict by our intention.

Question: Today I hate and I don’t like the people I come in contact with during the day. On the other hand, if I respected them, any contact with them could bring me pleasure and I would gladly help them all day long. Is it a good connection that I need or is the force that will be revealed the important factor here?

Answer: It is the main thing. The point is not to be “nice,” or “sweet.” You have to unite with others because in the unity you discover the Creator. In Kabbalah, this is called a Mitzva (commandment): You are fulfilling a commandment.

On the whole, the purpose of all our actions is so that we will become equal to Him, like a guest who becomes equal to the host. In other words, to bring the Creator contentment, just like He brings us. So the right attitude towards others should be aimed at attaining a good attitude towards the Creator. Without it, why do I need to be in good relations with those around me? For my own good? This is absolutely contrary to what is expected of me.

So it says: “The end of the action is in the initial thought,” and “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one”; it is on this principle that we should establish everything.

A Kabbalist uses any contact with others only in order to advance. He performs necessary physical actions in order to make a living, but he always calculates what energy, what attention is required of him in order to perform spiritual actions and thus bring the Creator contentment. Thus a Kabbalist uses the world in order to please the Creator.

Question: Does he enjoy doing this?

Answer: Yes, not in order to enjoy, but in order to perform the necessary actions. The pleasure is not the reason for his actions anymore.

Such an attitude changes everything and thanks to it you see the spiritual world. After all, your relations with others and with the Creator become clearer and you discover the network of forces, the network of relations, the network of thoughts, the network of intentions, and the network of operations. This is what actually exists. Then our world gradually becomes less important for us and so does its form, as it “evaporates” into this network, since it becomes meaningless.
[81816]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/01/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: What is the evidence that we are making a real effort in work?

Answer: A person makes a true effort when he works together with others as much as possible in order to understand with his heart. All the understanding comes to the heart when the Light of Hochma, called understanding, is revealed in the heart, in Bina, the vessel of bestowal, as it is written: “It is the heart that understands.”

A person, in the beginning of his spiritual work with the purpose of correcting himself and becoming a detector of the revelation of the Creator, the Light of Hochma, needs to attain an inner conviction that all these notions: the Light of Hochma and its vessel, the Light of Hassadim, reception and bestowal, must manifest in him, in his desire, his sensations.

He needs to try to free the space from different opinions, feelings, and impressions that are now perceived closest to his body in order to fill this space with spiritual impressions. He needs to strive to feel the real taste of all these notions: Hochma, Hassadim, reception, bestowal, connection, closeness, and distance.
[81756]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/28/12, Shamati #145

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Question: When we speak about different lights and about how they work together, do we refer to the direction of the vessel that determines the shades of the Light that is in a state of absolute rest?

Answer: The Light is the level of bestowal that is revealed in the created being, the level of bestowal that is revealed during the restriction of the desire to receive is called the Light of Hassadim. The level of bestowal that is revealed while the desire to receive participates in the process is called the Light of Hochma.

There is nothing new here, we always draw three levels: the preparation time, the level of Bina and the level of Hochma or Keter, and they all work on top of the correction of the desire to receive.

This means that there is nothing but bestowal instead of receiving. When you restrict your desires, it means that you bestow, although you do not actually bestow, but by that you only want to resemble the attribute of bestowal in some way. Therefore, the more you can allow the attribute of bestowal to be dressed in you, the more you are on the level of Hassadim, the level of Bina.

If you can bestow while you reveal the vessel for the Light of Hochma with your desire to receive, it means that you attain the level of Hochma.
[81599]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/28/12, The Zohar

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