The Creator initially creates a perfect being. However, in order for it to realize and feel where it is, it first needs to live through various sensations and impressions in order to learn, sense, and examine the state created by the Creator and see that it is perfect for itself.

Hence, the state itself doesn’t change. The Creator is good and does only good, but in this perfect condition, we undergo multiple tests and assessments that aid us in understanding and feeling more correctly the depth of all the good that the Creator prepared for us.

This defines the entire process we undergo, all our experiences at the intermediate stages of this path to awareness. It is not our state itself which changes, but rather our perception, the revelation of this perfection. We start to understand more and more where we are and what is happening to us, until we learn what our authentic state is.

When our real state becomes revealed to us, it is regarded as spiritual birth. Later on, we go through 125 rungs of becoming conscious of it. When the impressions of this path accumulate and gather in us mentally and emotionally, we will finally realize the state we were in from the beginning, with only one difference: We have transformed ourselves, our perceptions, and have become able to feel this perfection.

On this path, we undergo two stages. First of all, we attain that we are unable to experience this benevolent state, and that is why we call it evil. In reality, there is no evil, no egoism, and nothing which would be against the Creator. The only problem is my inability to recognize and sense the Creator, the Light, so I call it evil.

My egoism involves the same very properties in my feelings and mind which do not allow me to perceive goodness present in my state. I constantly want to come to adherence with the Creator, but I can’t due to my undeveloped feelings and thoughts which are precisely what I call evil, the ego.

This first stage, where I get to know my evil and rise above it, is regarded as the transformation “to bestow in order to bestow,” the degree of Bina. It is my evil that aids me in ascending.

When I finally rise above it, I begin to transform evil into good, that is, to “receive in order to bestow,” at which point I employ my ego in its reverse form, relative to the one that had previously unfolded in me. This means that I have risen over the “angel of death,” freed myself from it, and am now learning absolute love, the degree of Keter (Crown).

Thus, the stages of my development are the levels of revelation. First, I reveal my evil, or the properties that don’t let me feel love, and then I use it correctly. Hence, I am always grateful for the fact that it’s not evil, but a mere revelation of lack of feelings and understanding in my mind and heart, which does not allow me to attain good in its perfection.

Evil just helps me see where I lack receptivity, oneness, and similarity to the Light. Therefore, I always view the unfolding of evil as discovering an ailment, a symptom, which shows where I need to be reformed in order to ascend along all the 125 rungs and reach the state of perfection.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/2011 on Evil

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There is a rule: “For social life, take after the collective, in spiritual life, take after the individual.” For example, I enter a group. Does this group represent the majority for me? Do I have to listen to my friends? I see three hundred men before me—this is a force.

If they demand something from me on the corporeal level, that’s one thing, but what if they are dictating their terms on the spiritual level? Do they understand more than I do? Are they, taken together, smarter than I am? How should I behave in regard to them? Do I have the right to influence the group? After all, if they are the majority, then I have to lower my head and accept their opinion.

On the other hand, we are talking about spiritual life and therefore, one must follow an individual as opposed to the majority. Am I that individual?

These aren’t simple questions and they are relevant to every group. In the corporeal sense, everything is pretty clear when it comes to the majority. However, even there we see many movements, parties, governments, and mafia. There is no common opinion in the world.

It’s actually quite simple for us. I establish a separation between the spiritual and the corporeal life, and then my corporeal existence is narrowed down to the vital necessities. I should be content with that.

I ensure a normal life for myself: home, work, family, bank, social security, health insurance, vacation, pension, and so on. This is where I follow the majority and do what’s considered the norm. Here my obligations toward society end. In our world I’m set. This is how I realize the concept of “follow the majority,” which refers to obligatory social conditions.

Besides this, all of my attention and strength are directed at my spiritual development. In my spiritual life, I work with the group. Rabash writes that one must lower himself completely before the group. I lower myself before a spiritual society as I do with the majority.

Where is my freedom then? After all, I have to follow my own opinion when it comes to spirituality.

In reality that’s exactly what I do because I determine the degree of my connection to the group. No one is taking this freedom away from me. This is the meaning of the law of “follow the individual.” Each one of us is an individual and decides freely to be a part of the  group. There are no laws obliging us to do this and no external pressure. We apply the same principal in our dissemination of Kabbalah: Whoever wants it takes it, and who ever doesn’t is free to say no.

And so your freedom consists of you lowering yourself before the society without there being any pressure to do so. In the corporeal world, the society obligates you, but in the spiritual one, no one does, including the Creator. You must mature and come to this decision on your own.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: I cannot aspire to bestowal since I don’t have the slightest idea what it is. What is bestowal?

Answer: Any spiritual property such as bestowal and love is revealed from the state opposite to it since we don’t know what it is. Actually, if I knew what bestowal is, I would already possess this property.

But I do not possess it. So how can I acquire it? I can do it only by performing mechanical actions: I influence the group, while the group acts upon me. And all these actions have no relation to spirituality, which is the reason we perceive ourselves as presently living in this world.

It is an imaginary reality that contains some desires and even corporeal bodies in it, meaning that they are not, in fact, desires, but rather something that doesn’t possess free will. The spiritual world, however, is full of desires, aspirations, and forces, such as love, hate, and lust, which are manifestations of man’s will. And without this manifestation of will, there isn’t a world; it doesn’t exit.

It is similar to a laser image: I turn on the laser, and the picture appears in the air. If I don’t turn it on, there won’t be one. This is how we perceive the spiritual world as well. As to the material world, it exists even without my expression of will. In this reality, I pass through life cycles, and it transforms me without my being aware of it; it asks for no participation on my part.

Therefore, this reality seems to me so “material.” All changes in it occur without my conscious participation, my strive for bestowal; they simply unfold naturally under the impact of the upper force that pushes everything to evolve.

But when in this corporeal world I reach a state when I want to take an active part in my development, the question about the meaning of life arises in me. And from this moment on, I start seeking the answer.

Yet, it is all so that I start activating the spiritual reality. At the instant I become ready for it, I will discover the part of reality that was activated by me. It is what you can regard as your first spiritual degree.

Hence, all our actions must begin with corporeality, with the idea that I force myself to influence the environment and the environment influences me in all possible forms by using all available forces and capacities, as it is written: “All that you can do, do!”, meaning grab any opportunity, no matter what it may be.

After all, if you perform all these actions in the material form, that is, without the correct conscious participation, you still awaken this reality. This is the way it is built.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/11 on Prayer

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When the created being starts to clarify what free will is, he sees that if the property of bestowal in him is above the property of receiving, then the former leads him to the truth and freedom! Thereby, the created being chooses bestowal since he understands that only bestowal carries completeness and independence from one’s desires, meaning the absolute truth that is above the Creator as well as the creature.

Man achieves such an exalted state. After all, both the Creator and the creature reside in their corresponding properties: those of the Creator and the creature. But man has to make a choice that is independent of both these properties.

It looks like the force of the Creator and the force of Creation stand against each other, whereas man performs a unique act regarded as a “prayer.” He makes a choice that lies above both of these forces. Thereby, his new desire (Kli) is produced in which the property of receiving and the property of bestowal, or the attribute of the Creator and the attribute of the creature, unify as one above these properties.

This is how man receives a unique result: He finds the Creator’s Keter. It is not the Creator’s acts by which man himself is made, but rather His thoughts, the plan that precedes creation. This is an outcome of the middle line that rises above the first two: the right and the left, the properties of the Creator and those of the created being, which reach man in action. But in the middle line, man rises above the beginning of Creation.

Herein unfolds a new opportunity given to the created being: to rise above all existing forces and properties. Indeed, all forces, properties, desires, information genes, everything that exists in the universe and is revealed to us—the matter of reception, the force of bestowal—are only the instruments to bring the creature to more exalted notions preceding the act of Creation.

Hence, in every state where the creature needs to make a correct choice, it feels totally helpless relative to the point that precedes its entire birth. It needs to discern the vessels and the Lights, the desire to receive pleasure that it possesses and the desire to bestow, while the choice lies above both of them.

The prayer is born when the created being realizes that in the state that he has reached as a result of all of his discernments, he does not and cannot have any chance to rise above these equally valuable options and make a decision. Here the Creator has the final say!

We think we need the Creator only to defeat the force of egoism with our own force of bestowal, to dethrone Pharaoh. But there is more to this than a simple confrontation of desires when man stands between the two forces: the Creator and Pharaoh. The essence is not in clarifying who is more powerful and thus will win, but rather in unifying both of these forces as one in the middle line and ascending over them.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/11 on Prayer

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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam, “The Matter of Incorporation of the Quality of Judgment with the Quality of Mercy”
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “Ekev (Because),” “Ten Things to Do in a Meal,” Item 53, Lesson 5
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “Yitro (Jethro),” “You Will Behold the Secret of Secrets,” Item 176, Lesson 1
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 9, Item 8, Lesson 8
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Topic: Globalization — We Live in an Integral World, Lesson 2
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Question: What is a prayer?

Answer: The Creator created only the desire to receive pleasure. Desires can unfold automatically, triggered by the inner engine that activates in me one desire after another, by actualizing the sequence of the Reshimot (informational genes). A prayer is methodical work on a desire that unfolds in a person.

Every desire or Reshimo consists of 613 (Taryag) desires. These 613 desires, by surfacing up, paint the picture of the world for me: Each instant in new desires, I discover a new frame of reality, a new world.

But I, myself, can wish to work on my constantly unfolding desires, speed up the development of new Reshimot in me, control how they unfold, and not allow my evolution to take a random course. I can look forward to the emerging of new desires so as to work on them, justify the Creator every moment, advance in adhesion with Him, and see the necessity and purposefulness of each state.

Such work with desires is regarded as a prayer. A prayer is work in the heart, and the heart is a collection of all the desires of a person. Hence, the work with our desires is regarded as a prayer. This is why it is written: “May one pray all day long!” which means let a person constantly work with his or her desires, motivating themselves to corrections.

It radically differs from the opinion of the masses who think that by reading prayers from a prayer book, they perform spiritual actions or anything at all. Our entire history demonstrates to us how pointless and worthless this interpretation of “prayer” is. They are mere external actions that are carried out during preparation for the true spiritual work on ourselves during Kabbalah studies. Only then is the work aimed at the correction of one’s self regarded as the “work of the Creator” since it is done by His Light, Ohr Makif.

Authentic work lies in accelerating desires. I want them to unfold in me as quickly as possible so I could work on them, having prepared myself and the environment: the teacher, the Kabbalistic texts, and the group; so I would always be ready and trigger my own development, “bring on the dawn” myself. It is dawn because each desire unfolds in me as the dark void, while I immediately bring it to the Light.

Hence, a prayer is all our work, and there is nothing but work with desires.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/2011, The Book of Zohar

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Question: Do we have to think about others even if we understand that deep down it’s a lie? Do we have to lie to ourselves while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: We lie about everything because we do not have a true connection with one another, but only “play” as if we do. I do not desire to connect with others, but I play at being a “good boy”: I read The Zohar, wishing to change under the influence of this reading, to understand the way in which I am uncorrected, and why I can’t attain the perfect state. I search! In short, while reading The Zohar, I wait for changes for the better. This is called “awaiting redemption.”

Question: I force myself to come back to the intention even though it truly is a war. Does this help our work in the group?

Answer: Precisely the inner war gives us a good result! Without this war a person does not advance because his desires are not renewed. Only on the condition that he wages a war with himself do new Reshimot awaken in him and he constantly feels opposition. That is how things should be!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/11, The Zohar

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We live in a unified reality that is called Elokim (God), the Upper One, bestowal. It is upper in the sense that is exceeds our force. This is a more powerful and more dominant force, which formed the reality in which we constitute one whole.

Imagine a huge drop of water in free fall. Because there is no force of gravity or mutual attraction of molecules, an entire bucket of water can be one drop there. That is how we are interconnected in a common “drop” without any of the differences that we imagine here.

This drop, one desire and one Light, begins to compulsively be permeated from above by the force of disunity. The Light exerts pressure on the desire and makes an imprint in it, its opposite. Then the common single desire suddenly feels that it crumbles, falls apart, and divides into many different parts.

This breaking is actualized by the force of the Light, which disperses the initial drop into billions of separate splashes. They separate from one another and a reverse imprint of the Creator emerges in them—Pharaoh, egoism, the evil inclination, impurity—instead of the force of unity called “holiness” that reigned between them.

Now our attitude to one another is opposite to our higher state, the Creator. The correction lies in understanding that we are disunited deliberately so we would desire to unite and reveal the initial state in which the quality of the Creator—bestowal, love, and unity—reigns among us.

Our work lies only in discerning the appropriate desire or necessity. By desiring to return, I come back to perfection, one level after another. That is why we are all dispersed and separated by hatred, meaning the opposite side of the Creator, darkness, the reverse side of the Light. From this darkness we have to reveal the desire that aspires to Light.

The way to reveal it is by means of various kinds of impulses that awaken me, coming to me from within and from outside. I need these “irritants.” However, afterward I have to put in my own efforts both in feeling and reason. As a result I discern that the state of unity that was created for us by the Creator as the only existing state is the best state.

Our current state, the reality on the opposite side which divides us, is undesirable because its force disconnects us from one another. And it disconnects us in a special way, cunningly and shrewdly, evoking all sorts of collisions between us, problems, and negative impulses in order to awaken us to search for goodness.

We begin with the material level and then shift to the spiritual search. In the end, we prefer one over the other. It’s as if the Creator tells us: “Take My opposite side. Stay separated and disunited, that doesn’t matter. Most importantly, enjoy it.” But we have to work on preferring His front side, His revelation over our own fulfillment. Our task is to make a special analysis in order to return to the state where we are together in His quality that reigns in us—the quality of unity.

In order to awaken us to ascend from the sensation of the current reality of this world, we are sent various negative impulses such as tsunamis, revolutions, wars, fires, the economic crisis, and so on. All of this is intended for us to feel uncomfortable on our material level, in our current desires (Kelim), and to feel how shaky our existence is.

This will push us to search for other states, and then besides feelings, we will also activate the mind, “What do we have? How can we get to a better state?” We will make the analysis: “What has already been tried? What should we try?” Maybe we will stop lying to one another and maybe we really will start searching for a solution without allowing various parties to get credit at our expense and immerse us into graver crises.

That is how all together we will discern the current situation and look for a better state.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/11

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Question: While reading The Zohar, I feel fulfillment that later on is gone. I try to find the force that is working on me, and the sensation returns, only to leave again. Is this how it should work?

Answer: Yes, exactly so! Every time when a person continues, forgets, escapes in his thoughts, and returns, it all begins anew. It’s very good! Nothing disappears, but “penny to penny, it turns into a great sum” and then revelation occurs.

Question: What indicates that my intentions are working correctly?

Answer: It is the extent in which I start feeling more that I depend on the group and together with the friends achieve correction.

Question: What should I do if I don’t understand what’s written in The Zohar and am constantly bombarded by numberless irrelevant thoughts?

Answer: First of all, a lack of understanding is not an issue. You shouldn’t worry about it. A person must feel rather than understand.

When the time comes and one’s desires are reformed to the level of what is described in The Zohar, he will understand, but from sensation. First, he will feel, and later understand more and more. Thus a baby experiences the world without a clue about what is going on, while gradually obtaining a mind.

Hence, a person should be concerned with how to develop desire to the degree described in The Zohar. And what we read about are the forms of bestowal between spiritual Partzufim: Malchut, Bina, Zeir Anpin, Aba ve Ima, and Yeshsut. Let a person make sure that his desire is being worked on by the forces that we receive while reading about the unknown to us spiritual processes.

Therefore, during the studies, I should think about how I must change and where the force that reforms me is. It is as though I am receiving an intravenous infusion and waiting for when the medicine will finally start to work, as it is said: “When my actions reach the acts of the Creator.”

Question: How can I anticipate correction by The Zohar if I don’t feel “ill”?

Answer: This is also necessary on the path. But what do you mean that you “don’t feel ill”? Do you really find yourself in the movie of the spiritual world that The Zohar talks about?

You should feel that these actions wash through you, that you live in that world, know the difference between the spiritual objects (Partzufim) and their descents and ascents. Do you find yourself in these ascents and descents, in all types of transformations? Do you experience them or not? If not, you have something to think about.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/2011, The Book of Zohar

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Starting with the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet) and on, spiritual objects (Partzufim) are born not as they were in the world of Adam Kadmon, one beneath the other. Since each of them now contains a lower part that cannot be utilized, the AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh), this part descends to the lower spiritual degree.

In other words, the Partzuf works with its Galgalta ve Eynaim (the upper part), while its AHP falls into the GE of the lower Partzuf. Consequently, the AHP of the latter falls into the GE of an even lower Partzuf, and so on.

It follows that the upper part of each Partzuf gets clothed into the lower part of the upper Partzuf above, whereas its lower part descends into the upper part of the lower Partzuf. So, where is the Partzuf itself independent from the upper or lower ones? It doesn’t have anything of its own!

That is how the souls get linked like cogwheels; it’s the very same principle. You are not free from any connection with anyone. You are initially created inside such a construction, such inner structure of Malchut of the integral soul, where there is no part that would not be connected with all the others.

Any desire at all levels of Aviut (coarseness) is linked with the rest; everyone is connected with everybody else, and no one has any free part, not even one degree of freedom. The upper one always tells me what to do, while the lower one determines how I am supposed to serve it. Hence, each of us is bound as if tied with a rope on both sides, and it is impossible to make a single independent move.

Then how can we break free and have freedom of choice?! If instead of all these chained cuffs, you start experiencing the chains of love, the ropes of reciprocal participation, you will get healed from this “claustrophobia,” the feeling that you are tightly tied up and buried alive in a system where you have no independent thought or desire, no individual “Self.”

As to the freedom, it can be bought only with love: For the sake of love, I myself will desire to serve them all and welcome this connection. This bond will be desirable for me! And this is how I will obtain freedom, the clean air, and the whole system will be mine: I will be the Creator in relation to it.

This miraculous property enters us after Tzimtzum Bet, when Malchut receives the spark of Bina, thanks to which it gains an opportunity to relate to the others with bestowal.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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