Since all changes are made solely by the Light, every time we act, our actions must show us how inadequate we are compared to it. In other words, I must act as He does to be able to see how different I am from Him at my present degree.

It is similar to a little child who is trying to copy adult behavior. After having done so, he realizes how correct or incorrect his actions really are. It’s as if he is doing exercises by assembling tiny little toy structures from construction blocks or by doing his homework for school.

All of this is done so as to test ourselves and compare our results with the correct ones. Our advancement is based on the differences revealed between the “desired and actual,” between what I am capable of and what I am supposed to be by now.

This means that we constantly must try to perform acts of bestowal and use them to examine and assess what I haven’t achieved yet. I should not despair every time I fail, but love this state of illumination. After all, that’s what is teaching us how to move forward.

It doesn’t really signify that I did something wrong and now should feel guilty. To the contrary, I succeeded, and hence I am being shown what else I can advance in. The Light keeps showing me changes to take the next step. If I were unable to do it, the Light wouldn’t reveal it to me, and I would step into some kind of fog, an unconscious state. I would be numb, and I would feel good. The Light wouldn’t illuminate my flaws to me and wouldn’t show me what to do.

I won’t have anyone to talk to if I haven’t prepared myself by working in the group, serious studying, and doing other things. Therefore, the Light couldn’t allow me to take further action which had no foundation underlying it. In that case, it would look like I were alright and nothing needed to be done. I would enter a sort of illusion that might last a very long time, even years.

In fact, everything depends on preparation, while preparation depends on the environment. Thus, we are supposed to perform a few material acts, such as arrange the studies, the group, connection with the friends, and all discernments which we strive to do together.

If I am eager to unite with the others and reveal the property of bestowal there, I will have to eventually form my attitude toward the inner concept of the “group” or the “place” of the spiritual space, the integral desire where the property of mutual bestowal among all is revealed.

It is the Light that reveals bestowal to us, and when this revelation reaches a certain, full measure at the minimal level, it will fulfill us. We will experience bestowal itself and its very origin, meaning the presence of the upper force which sustains this property. We will reveal not only the Light, but its very source.

Rabash concludes his letter: “May the Creator help us accept the upper governance above time and space and cleave to Him always.”
[43068]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How should one perform his clarifications in relation to the group: talk to them, act together, or be in one place physically?

Answer: “Everything is clarified in the thought,” and nothing can be seen from the outside. A person can appear indifferent, even rude, impatient, not expressing his good attitude towards others. Perhaps, he has such a character, or he pretends on purpose, so not to weaken his great internal efforts.

One has to look for the inner image of the group, the place where all our desires, thoughts, goals, common hopes exist, and to cling to it. Judging by its external manifestation, it may be difficult for you to accept the group. It will come later, when you stop paying attention to externality because “love covers all sins.”

You came to this place because the people who gathered there have the points in the heart, so get closer to these inner points.
[43065]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What is the meaning of “necessity” which we must always care about?

Answer: A necessity for me is to always feel my connection with the Light which guides me like an adult guides a child by the hand. This is the way I wish to be connected with the Light in order to constantly feel it guiding me forward.

Do you remember being dragged by the hand by your mother? Let the Light lead us in the same manner!
[43062]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article “What Is the Foundation on which Kedusha [Holiness] Is Built”: When building a building in corporeality, we see that anyone who wants to build a building must first dig the foundations, and on the foundation he builds the building. In digging the foundation, we see that we should discern between having to build a one-story building—that is, only the ground floor—or a multi-story building. Thus, the digging of the foundation into the ground should be according to the height of the building. The foundation is not dug at once. Rather, each day the foundation is built so that it will be deeper, and then one can build a higher building.

The same order applies in spirituality.… And what is digging in spirituality? It is a deficiency, when a deficiency is dug in the heart, since the heart is called “desire,” a heart is called Malchut, and a heart is called “earth” or “ground.”…In other words, before we go and build a building, we must first dig in the ground, that is, take out whatever there is in the digging site.

For the creature to learn the conditions that would allow it to become similar to the Creator and to realize the purpose of creation, it has to include in itself all the properties of the Creator, one by one. That is why all the properties of the Creator and all the properties of the creature are included into each other and intertwined in such a way that the creature is left with a “record” (impression) of what it means to be similar to the Creator. This is achieved by the breaking that extends from above down to the depth of desire, from the zero to the fourth level.

This is how a complete mutual inclusion of the properties of the Creator and those of the creature in the form opposite to the goal occurs. This form contains all the details that are absolutely opposite to the final, fully corrected state. Here, the real creature, “man,” appears, and he is called to become similar to the Creator in the future. From this state, he begins to ascend by himself and to attain the Creator, the true property of bestowal. In this way, man advances from the beginning of creation to its completion, the end of correction.

Everything is built on the desire to enjoy, on the matter of creation. The more we use it, the more we can build, meaning that primarily, we have to delve into the desire to enjoy and feel how much it’s opposite to the Creator. This means that we dig into it at a great depth and aren’t afraid to reveal its oppositeness. This is an unpleasant feeling and usually brings suffering. After all, we reveal the property opposite to goodness.

Next, we come to the necessity of correction and begin to ask the Light, the property of the Creator, to correct the property of the creature. This is called “to build a building.” However, people are not capable of building it themselves—the Light builds. We have to provide the vessel, the desire, and express our request precisely. If we understand and ask precisely for what is necessary in order to ascend one more step, one more “story,” the Light comes and builds it. Thus, we advance further.

The foundation which is used for building the spiritual structure is the desire to enjoy, the sensation of its oppositeness to the Creator. The deeper we dig, the higher we can ascend.
[42996]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2011, Writings of Rabash

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When we begin to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, we think that it will be easy and will continue to provide extraordinary inspiration one usually feels in the beginning. But with time, we have to start digging deeper, inside our own egoism, and then the experience becomes unpleasant.

The body doesn’t really want to get up for the morning lesson, go study, neglect rest, think and feel that I’m distant from spirituality and unwilling to connect with others, or worry about bestowal and knowing only how to receive.

Thus we begin to experience the “foundation pit” being dug in our hearts. And later on everything is determined by how far we can reach into our ego. It can be done with the help of the environment since a person cannot do it alone. No matter how unpleasant it is and how much egoism hurts, the person will be willing to find out how opposite he or she is to bestowal, having none of its properties. And from one’s despair, from all the descents and lack of inspiration, he will advance.

This means that the foundation upon which we build the spiritual structure is not that pleasant. It is an empty “abyss” dug in the heart; it is our digging into the “earth,” our own desire, the darkness, the realization of our egoism and opposition to bestowal. And only someone who is able to bear it and is willing to work so methodically, by having built the supportive environment around oneself, will have the required strength and won’t fear digging deeper into himself and moving forth.

Thereby, he will establish a foundation upon which he will be able to erect his building, meaning that through the group, he will demand the Light that Reforms that will construct it for him. The deeper he will be digging within, the taller the house he will be able to erect. After all, it is written that “the Creator made one against the other.”

We start with the state regarded as “zero” and first, we take one step down, in order to later rise one step up. We take two steps down and ascend them again. Thus, we go through them all: 0-1-2-3-4, until, finally, we arrive at the end of correction having undergone four “exiles” and four “redemptions.”

We have reached the last state of exile now; therefore, what lies ahead of us is the last, total redemption.

[42993]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Writings of Rabash, “What Is the Help in Work Which He Asks From the Creator”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter, “Mishpatim,” Lesson 18
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 1, Part 1 “Histaklut Pnimit,” Lesson 16
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “Peace in the World,” “Using the Nature of Singularity as a Subject of Evolution in the Collective and in the Individual”
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Question: Why did we need all these thousands of years of development, incarnations, and suffering if the major change is occurring only today?

Answer: The will to receive pleasure is supposed to undergo all these stages and at each of them, no matter how small, to make a conscious conclusion that its current state is bad and it needs to continue the journey, add another gram of desire, and ascend one millimeter higher toward a new quality.

At each new degree, everything seems just fine, but a few moments later you lack something again, and something is wrong. Another evil unfolds, to such an extent that you can’t bear it anymore. First, everything was so great, and now it is killing me, and I have to ascend to the next step.

Thus, we climb a whole lot of steps, delighted in the beginning of each and squirming in pain in the end. Without these impressions, I don’t experience the contrast between the Light and the darkness and don’t acquire a vessel built from these opposite aspects of perception. Without the vessel, I will have nothing to turn to the Light of Infinity with.

Hence, I have to walk this entire path, climb thousands of steps, having absorbed the delight and horror of each of them. Thus we arrive at the last step on the ladder, and even now, in the state of love and bestowal, we still fall, just as Rabbi Shimon did, who turned into a “market merchant” before reaching the final correction.

What kind of state is that? Where did he fall to? At the 124th rung that precedes the last one, he discovered that it is the worst step of all, where he felt like “Shimon from the market.” And then, once he had experienced the difference with the next rung, he ascended to the final perfection.

The higher you have ascended, the worse your current degree makes you feel since it becomes a stepping stone for the next. This current degree feels so bad that you can’t bear it any longer. In the end, having gathered all your positive and negative impressions, you raise them upward. The negative makes the depth of your vessel, while the positive becomes your response to bestowal, and thereby you acquire a complete vessel.

We hope for a certain “leap,” while there aren’t any. A one-year-old child cannot make a leap and become a five-year-old. Can he really skip a slow, gradual process of growth? He would lack those lost years all his life. His perception in all areas of life would be distorted. Preparation of the vessel is necessary, and it cannot be avoided.
[42961]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: How can the “evil inclination” exist if there is only the Creator and none else besides Him?

Answer: And who created this “evil inclination” if there is nothing else besides the Creator? The Creator made this evil. And it lives under the Creator’s thumb. The Creator controls it; He begot it; it is His son, as it is written: “I created the evil inclination.”

Question: But the Creator is good that does good, so how can evil derive from Him?

Answer: The good who does good created this “evil inclination,” as it is said: “The end result is in its initial thought.” In fact, if you decided to create someone else besides you, so that your creation could reach your level, and if you wanted to assist it with all your heart and soul, with all that you have, then you wouldn’t have a choice: You must create a vessel in it, a desire that will be exactly as your own in quantity, quality, understanding, attainment, and everything else, but with a reverse imprint. And that is exactly what the Creator did.

Therefore, the “evil inclination” is the entire creation; nothing else is required. We don’t understand it. We think that there are material objects, for example, a pencil. Why not? After all, you see that it exists. It has color, shape, and weight. But in spirituality it doesn’t exist. In spirituality, one exists only if he has an individual essence, something of his own, instead of existing only because someone created him or her.

Let’s say a pencil doesn’t exist in spirituality since there is no action coming from it, no desire to be similar to the Creator. Therefore, it doesn’t exist in the spiritual dimension. All that we see in our world doesn’t exist in spirituality. This world doesn’t exist because this world is a reality which doesn’t have any personal motion toward equivalence to the Creator, in any object or any desire.

For this reason, if we are to create a being, we must program in it an ability to move autonomously, independently. What kind of creature did the Creator create? It was the “evil inclination.” But does this “evil inclination” have its own ability to move? Is it really that independent and respectable? Yes, it is.

The evil inclination is the left line in spirituality, where it counters the Creator, understands Him, and desires to be opposite. That’s where it all begins. The evil inclination doesn’t start with my wanting to gobble up food or sleep.

After we undergo preparation in this world and cross the Machsom, then from one side, we receive the “evil inclination,” the left line, reception, and from the other, “the good inclination,” the right line, bestowal. And it’s our job to restore the middle line in between.

On the left side, there is the “evil inclination,” Pharaoh, who claims: “I rule!” and it is only after the Machsom. And right against it, there is the upper force, bestowal. As to us, we are in the middle line.

This is the very “evil inclination” created by the Creator, while all we have during our preparation in this world is a mere animate existence, neither good nor bad. It’s not what we are talking about. And hence, this world doesn’t exist; it is imaginary and has neither good nor bad in it.

The “good” and “evil” inclinations exist only in spirituality. They are the two angels, two forces, two servants. Whom do they serve? They serve man who is building himself, meaning his own desire, his “Self,” from both of them. That is what the Creator desires.

Hence, how can my “Self” be realized if I don’t have these two forces from which I will construct myself in the middle, between “pro” and “con,” by making my own choice? Therefore, the Creator intentionally created the “evil inclination” as a force that opposes Him. After all, bestowal, the “good inclination,” is the Creator Himself. Then, between these two forces, in the middle part of Tifferet, between its upper and lower thirds, there is space for man.

This is the only way you can build a free space or the point of free will. Freedom lies only between two strictly defined states that press on you from both directions, and you must choose between them.

The point of freedom, the point of choice, free choice, is the choice you make in the narrow, contracting space between the blades of the scissors. Imagine this: Two walls suddenly start moving and squeezing us in between them… This is what freedom is. And the higher you rise on the steps of the spiritual ladder, the narrower the space in between them gets and the harder they press on you. But it is from this very pressure, from the horrible tension between them, you find your expression of Self.
[42860]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/12/2011, The Zohar

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Question: What should we expect from the upcoming conventions? What intention should we build?

Answer: We are approaching very powerful changes due to our unification and I hope that the upcoming chain of conventions will help us to keep the intention together for a whole month without leaving it. Work, family, children, personal problems—despite all of this, unconsciously, in some corner of my mind, I leave a place for the most important thing and constantly worry about our unity, about how we advance from one convention to the next, from one day to the next, in our intentions and our inner solidarity—until there, inside, we will reveal the Creator.

We have been studying this theoretically for a long time already. So let’s truly wish for Him to be revealed. We have heard about this thousands of times—so let’s make the effort.

We cannot fall into doubts, “Again? How many times have we been through this?” We are at the threshold of a breakthrough. And the world is also demanding this. After all, it doesn’t have the slightest chance of finding any solution. In the Internet we see what kind of “solutions” are being offered in response to the modern crises, how people are trying to conceal and silence them because they don’t see any way out.

In a form that’s comfortable, clear, and close to the people, we must inform the world that there is a solution, and the faster we start realizing it, the less suffering this will cost us.

Therefore, our intention at the conventions is to start “permanently living” in the group that is bringing the whole world the solution to the crisis. There is nothing more important that we could possibly prepare or do for the world.

Right now we are at a very important point: There is a sick patient lying in front of us and his illness is almost fatal, but we can create a medicine and cure him. Then he won’t just be healthy, but will rise to the Creator’s level, to a new, eternal dimension.

Therefore, we must attribute the greatest possible importance to our efforts and our status—the ascent we are starting during these days. We have to hold ourselves accountable for what kind of task we are carrying out. Who are we to receive such a great mission—to actually participate in correcting not only the world, but all of reality?

We need to be a little bit prouder; that will help us to feel our responsibility.
[43215]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/11, “Peace in the World”

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