In the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar” Baal HaSualm explains that the part of our brain responsible for our perception of reality is built like a photographic machine through which I see the world divided. I feel myself as a kind of body and see everything else that exists as outside of me. So all of reality is divided into two parts.

This, of course, is a lie and there is no such division. But the point is that there is a Creator and a created being, and the created being should attain the Creator as a result of his development. Attaining the Creator is possible only by observing Him from the outside, and so the created being has to feel that he exists separately from the Creator, standing opposite to Him.

Then by comparing the two opposites, the created being checks and understands the inverse attributes, realizes that he is opposite to the Creator, realizes that he is evil and that he needs correction to become similar to the Creator and to reach adhesion with Him. Thus he raises the level of “human” in him.

In order to allow a person to assess all these attributes, understand, get to know, clarify, and correct his perception—reality is divided into two so that it seems to a person that he and the external world exist separately.

This, of course, isn’t even close to the truth. The assumption that a person exists and the Creator is outside Him, outside the world of Ein Sof, is also not true. But such a feeling is necessary so that we will add our exertion to building our vessel and attaining the understanding and revelation. Then it will be a “human” who built all this out of his free will.

It is like giving a child challenging games and puzzles so that he will work and thanks to that grow, understand, see, try, make efforts, and build himself. The same happens to us with the dual perception that makes us sense ourselves and outside of us, the world.

All our work is to make efforts to connect the two parts into one whole picture called “there is none else besides Him” and “Israel, the Torah and the Creator are one.” This means to sense myself and the external world as one, and to understand that first I have to care about the external world and only then care about myself. After all, I will have to provide only what is necessary for the existence of my beastly body, and I have to try and see all the rest, all the external world, as most precious, my soul.

Then I will reveal that the external world is also me. It is because I treated it as something opposite to me that I hated, rejected and tried to stay away from it, that enabled me to learn about myself, about my nature, and about the “evil inclination.” I had a chance to fight all its fine attributes, the unperceivable, the coarse, and cruel attributes and by that to attain the Creator.

After all, in every incidence of hate towards the external world, there is a need for the Creator’s help in some way. So my rejection of the external world and my decision to connect to it, the power I receive for that from the Creator, and the unity I attain, all bring me to adhesion with the Creator.

So it turns out that there are actions of connection with the external world and there is the acceptance of this world, the feeling of unity or the Creator. By the creation of this division of me and the external world and the “neutral zone” (“Klipat Noga“) between us, I get help from the Creator—a state that is already partially prepared to attain the connection with Him because of this false perception.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, Shamati #36

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The group is part of the external world for me, but I can’t work with the whole world at once to get a response from everyone and measure myself in relation to the world. The world cannot support me along my path because it doesn’t have the same goal I do. It has all kinds of different goals and doesn’t know where it is headed.

So I find a group, a part of this external world that I can connect and work with to clarify things. Indeed, on one hand it is foreign, a part that is external to me, but it is close to me according to its goal, perception, and studies. So it is worthwhile for me to connect to the group in order to get power and support from it. I see that with them it will be easier for me to advance.

Eventually I begin to understand that this isn’t a group of people, but they are the very parts of my soul that I need to collect and add to myself. Or perhaps to the contrary: I need to exit myself and to find myself within them rather than in my present “self.”

Then, together with the group, we want to expand our relationship with the whole world into a wider circle. This circle does not share the same goal; it has different aspirations. This is my more external part.

The parts of my soul called “root,” “soul,” “body,” “attire” and “hall.” “Root, soul and body” are the internal part, which I feel as myself, the “attire” is an external part but it is adhered to a person, and the “hall” is the more external part.

And so I play with the group as the external part that is closest to me, that is ready to join the same purpose. I don’t see it as a group of people but rather as my desires that are only dressed up in these masks that make faces at me. But I understand that I must connect to them because it is there that I attain the goal. If I exit my ego and become incorporated in them, there I will find the attribute of bestowal.

But we can’t just work among ourselves on our connection. We need to work together on something external. This external thing is the world. But here too, my desires seem to oppose me; these are my seven billion different desires that are showing me that they don’t belong to me. My ego separates me from them and blinds me, confuses me, and obliges me to perceive them as foreign and opposed to me.

I must work with the world, but it is much more difficult than working with the group. After all, at least I have something in common with the group: a goal, studies, and common processes. In the group it is as if I am in a kindergarten, in comfortable conditions that constantly help me exit myself.

But the external world has no conditions that help me: There everyone is against me. The only thing that ties us together is a collective problem, although it seems to us that we are headed towards different goals. The world by running away from pain eventually has no choice, it will reach the same goal that I see as good and desirable. So I should relate to all the circles around me—the group and the rest of the world—as to myself. They are only presented to me by the Creator in this opposite form so that each time I will learn to work with a more external circle. I perceive the inner circle, and together with it I begin to work on the more external circles.

We cannot worry only about one another. Like a young couple: How long can you look at one another before you get to know each other and become used to one another? Then they need to have a child so that they will both take care of him!
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, Shamati #36

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot“: Indeed, you should know that the reason for our great distance from the Creator…is for but one reason, which became the source of all the torment and the suffering that we suffer, and for all the sins and the mistakes that we fail in…. Clearly, by removing that reason, we will instantly be rid of any sorrow and pain…. And I tell you that, that preliminary reason is none other than the “lack of our understanding in His Providence over His creations,” that we do not understand Him properly.“

So our only problem is that we don’t understand the leadership, His Providence. So let’s understand!

But no, we don’t want that. Therefore, the most important thing for us is to discover His Providence, to discover the way He treats us, the connection with Him. After all, this connection has a form, a formula, and a format that enables us to locate Him.

It is about the line between us and the Light of Ein Sof. The “Light of Ein Sof” is the Creator’s attitude towards us, which is above all the circles. In other worlds, it is the line that passes through all the circles until the central point.

We can’t attain the Creator by ourselves, but through that line we can build, we discover His attitude towards us, and so we rise up the spiritual ladder. Eventually, when we go through all the levels and reach Gmar Tikkun (the end of correction), we fill all our desire with the Light in all the circles. This will be a sign that after having corrected our desires, we feel the Creator and understand Him. After all, we reveal only Him.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/16/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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The goal: We have no idea what it is and no desire for it. We want something totally different, and it isn’t even the opposite because we don’t have anything to compare it to. Kabbalistic books speak about one thing, but we think in a totally different way and don’t take it in at all.

A certain urge simply appears in us: We aren’t happy with life and we try to find fulfillment. At the same time we are confused and we deceive ourselves that we are attracted to some wonderful sublime goal. This only increases our pride and nothing more.

In fact, the only thing we want is to satisfy our ego. Here too, we don’t know exactly what it is: We don’t see its limits, we can’t measure our yearning, and we don’t see to what extent egoism controls us and how addicted we are to it. All our life passes in foggy blindness and ignorance.

So the question is: If we did catch the end of a thread and we do have a chance, how do we make the best of it? Of course, we distance ourselves from different false methods in which we determine that there is no true filling. They are meant for people who cannot make a thorough examination and are happy with the “truth” that satisfies them.

But it could also be that we are caught in the illusion of a certain method, and that if we look at it from above we will see that it is also false. Just like many mystical methods that seem true to their followers.

Who can check that? What can we count on with regard to that? Can I, at my present level of development, examine what is happening outside my level?

After all, everyone judges according to his present “self,” and of course reaches positive conclusions: “Everything is fine; I am in the right environment and the right method.” Everyone examines the situation according to his level and his height, according to the depth of his criticism and ego and so he justifies himself.

So perhaps I have also been “tricked” that way? Perhaps I am also satisfied with what I have, swimming with the current, just like yesterday?

How can I still assess the situation not as part of the routine? How can I rise to a more qualitative approach? Let’s stop here for now, with the question that we have to ask ourselves on the spiritual path.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/16/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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We do not understand what it means to enjoy bestowal. The goal of creation is to bring pleasure to the creatures. And they will really enjoy: The only question is how?

We do not understand that the desire that we feel today is foreign and distant from us. To enjoy bestowal is not the pleasure of what the other enjoys. That would just be an arrangement that is beneficial for both of us.

And if I enjoy the fact that he feels good even if I feel bad, but I overcome myself, as parents do sacrificing everything for their children, this is not bestowal either. We can hardly imagine the desires that emerge in the spiritual world. It is possible only to give some approximate examples, like physical branches in relation to the roots.

Therefore, we must try to imagine as much as possible how special this concept is, separate from the familiar and requiring a psychological revolution. The entire world inverts in our consciousness, and then we discover something entirely new.

This requires internal effort and detachment from the old environment, the willingness to: escape from the current state, jump in the Red Sea (Yam Sof – the Sea of the End),  loose one’s head, abandon everything that one has, and be left totally naked and defenseless, accepting everything no matter what it is, only if it comes from Above.

We need to prepare ourselves for the convention in Arava in this way, and if we are able to hold ourselves in this state, we will achieve a breakthrough—in this darkness, to the waters of the Red Sea, and we will overcome everything no matter what is revealed.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/16/12, Writings of Rabash

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It is written, “A thousand enter a room, but one comes out to the light.” So what can we do to make sure at least a dozen people succeed, or a hundred people? Indeed, our ideal result is nothing less than one hundred percent.

Take a regular person off the street. He lives a decent life, but suddenly he begins to get bombarded by all kinds of problems and misfortunes: conflicts with his wife, kids getting out of hand, health issues that the doctors can’t seem to fix…. Everywhere he turns, he discovers evil. Things keep deteriorating and there’s no solution in sight.

Admittedly, everybody else appears to be in just as dire straits and that makes it all more bearable. After all, man always checks himself in relation to others both in joy and in sorrow. When any given misfortune befalls everybody, it makes it easier to endure. We all come from the same soul and no one can judge himself in a vacuum, separate from others.

We all compare our state with the general prosperity or misery. I am incapable of sensing myself exclusively, for without the human environment, I fall back to the animate degree. And if there aren’t animals around, I’ll revert to the vegetative degree. If you abandon a human being in the woods without animals, he will invariably become like the vegetation that is his environment.

So then, today we exist at the very stage when the crisis is enveloping the whole world. Sure, the media mitigates the situation by showing us that people everywhere are hurting. This appeases us for a time so that the next blows will be harder and penetrate deeper until they become unbearable. But for the time being, I look at others and remain content with my own lot despite all the problems that are besetting me. Other people’s suffering allays my vigilance; the upshot is that the evil will break through into my consciousness only after it becomes too much to bear.

How can we remain in a state of helplessness when it becomes a matter of life and death? That’s when the suffering clues you in that its arrival is not accidental but purposeful. The chain of Reshimot (informational genes) leads you to this thought.

However, we don’t want to lead humanity down this path filled with pandemics, natural disasters, world wars, and so on. We want to bring humanity to the recognition of evil today while people are still finding comfort in the misery of others and empty hopes.

How do we do this? This brings up the issue of understanding the governance: You see that it is sweetenting your life, but at the same time you see the stick it’s preparing for you in the event you fail to recognize this governance in its true form in real time, through the prism of mitigated suffering.

Such is the path of the Torah, and such is the path of suffering for all of humanity. It’s all in your hands.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/16/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: How can we ask for the desire to bestow if our nature is the desire to receive that only wants to be filled?

Answer: This is exactly all of our work. We should understand that the filling is always there and it never changes. It doesn’t get transferred to us not because of some action on the Creator’s part. It’s all inside me already, and I only have to discover the suitable desires for the revelation of the filling.

That filling is bestowal. The Creator wants to give us the attribute of bestowal that would fill us just as it fills Him.

The Creator created the desire to receive “from absence,” but it’s only “one gram” of desire. Except for this one gram, there is no more desire to receive. Everything else develops inside it under the influence of the Light, the force of bestowal. So when the created being feels the filling on its last, fourth, phase of development, it is filled with the attitude of the Creator towards it. Then it restricts itself because it feels shame.…

The created being doesn’t get a filling of more than that one gram inside the desire to receive. This is because inside the desire to receive, there is nothing but that one gram. All the other things in it are added thanks to the attribute of bestowal.

The attribute of bestowal turns the desire to receive, which wants to fill itself, into a desire to fill others. This attribute of bestowal is the only addition to the “existence from absence.” So it all depends on and is measured relative to the attribute of bestowal, relative to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/2012, Writings of Rabash

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Question: There are those who see a threat in Baal HaSulam’s approach, who prefers internality over externality. How is it possible to reach people who “lean towards externality?”

Answer: The nation is not able to understand what relates to the inner essence. The external forms fascinate it, and it needs to hold onto something. You say: “Concentrate on internality, and there you will discover everything.” But for them, this is nonsense. No one works with his heart. It’s difficult and requires a certain level of development.

Only now we are entering a period when the new generation will need to develop the heart. Until now it was the “stony heart,” and now there will be a need to soften it, beginning from afar. We are speaking about a big job, large-scale processes that we need to go through.

We hope that our approach, imbued with love and unity, will help us in softening the hearts. Then, as people advance forward, we will be able to talk about deeper issues. After all, the message of unity gets a response only in the heart of man. Even if in the meantime, it is externally, the heart begins to work nevertheless.

This is the way. Also, if you open a place for the Light in many hearts, it operates very quickly. It is a matter of a few months. Just begin, and you will see.

Thus, I am very optimistic. If we create an education kit and begin to distribute it among the nation, we will be able to see a completely different picture already this year. The most important thing is to find correct and understandable ways to transfer the message, to upgrade them from month to month so that they are more internal. And then we will succeed.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/2012, “Introduction to TES”

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Writings of Rabash, Igrot, “Letter 34”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “Three Lights,” (Start with: “For this reason”), Lesson 38
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 6, ”The Eser Sefirot of ha Olam Nekudim,” Item 3, Lesson 3
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“Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot,” Item 46, Lesson 23
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Question: Why does Baal HaSulam write in “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” about the forbidden part in the wisdom of Kabbalah: that Kabbalists can reveal what belongs to “Flavors of the Torah,” but cannot disclose the part that belongs to the first three Sefirot or the “head of the Partzuf?”

Answer: Even if Kabbalists tell about something that is “forbidden,” we won’t understand anything. It is like talking about anything next to a baby without needing to be careful because the infant still will not hear or understand anything anyway. He doesn’t connect the words he hears to any meaning. Just like when we read The Book of Zohar, single words are understandable, but for us they add up to senseless sentences

“The secrets of the Torah” are not information that is carefully hidden from us. It is simply our brain, which at the moment is on an ordinary beastly level, cannot perceive them. So for us it remains a secret, as does all of reality. Please, it is all revealed to you, look! Do you see anything? Who is to blame that you don’t have the means to perceive? Develop them and you will see reality. It is the same when it comes to the “secrets of the Torah.”

We study in “The Study of the Ten Sefirot” about what belongs to the head of the world of Atzilut, the head of Arich Anpin, and we know that there are the parts of RADLA (Reish delo Eiyada), parts of its “brain” (Mocha de Avirah, Kruma de Avirah) that are concealed from us in the upper Light. But we study everything that belongs to the “flavors of the Torah” and not its “secrets” in this system. The difference is that the “flavors” relate to the thoughts of the created being and the “secrets of the Torah” relate to the Creator’s thoughts.

There would be no point mentioning all this, if there weren’t people who claim that it is forbidden to study the wisdom of Kabbalah because it is a secret. There are no secrets in it; on the contrary, the wisdom of Kabbalah reveals reality to us! It doesn’t reveal some “forbidden secrets”: In order to reveal the secrets you have to reach them yourself by preparing your vessels, your desires, your vessels of perception. If you prepare all the desires that belong to the seven lower Sefirot (ZAT) in the full height of the spiritual ladder, then you begin to discover their upper part (GAR). You will be ready for this revelation and will discover this secret yourself. [Read more →]

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