It is written that “envy, lust, and ambition” lead a person out of this world, which means that we have to use these qualities in order to exit into the spiritual world. But the problem is that a person scatters himself in every direction and reaches for all the desires in the corporeal world.

If one employed all his strength to become a human, rise to the spiritual level, the human degree, he would succeed. But instead, he is chasing after money, fame, and power, and he lacks envy for spiritual properties that would allow him to become a human.

We need to analyze ourselves and connect to the environment which will mold us so that we focus on the most important desire of all: to become a human and fulfill the desires for power, money, and fame only as much as it is vitally necessary. All these properties must only sustain our aspiration to the right kind of envy: to envy the Creator and wish to be like Him! And if I fall and start envying somebody’s wealth, power, or honor, I will clearly not be tuned upward, to the goal.

But how can I envy the Creator if I don’t see or feel Him? This is why we are given the group: to instill the importance of spiritual qualities in us. You will never know who the Creator is until you reach His degree. And besides, His properties are opposite to yours and reject you. Hence, at this point, only the right environment where you can work can help. Only it can change your system of values.

But the problem is that even after a person completes his or her preliminary development at the still, vegetative, and animate degrees and arrives to Kabbalah, to the beginning of the human degree and free will, he may suddenly sway off the path and wander about in other directions for a few, long years, in search of wealth, power, and honor. And by the time he returns, his life is practically over….
[35622]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Writings of Rabash, Article 29, “Marrying a Virgin”: Every time a person receives a wife, he will receive a virgin who has never had a husband. In other words, he has never used this Malchut and she must always be a new wife. In spiritual work Malchut is called “the kingdom of heaven” which a person must take upon himself every day anew. He has to imagine that he is now starting spiritual work and does not care about anything that came before.

The Creator created creation and exists in adhesion and unity with it. We call this the first state or the world of Infinity. However, creation does not perceive itself in this state. It was simply created this way, but it is not permeated by any details of perception besides one sensation. Therefore, it is like the still degree, a drop of semen which does not have any self-perception.

The Creator’s desire is to bring creation to the realization of who He is so it would become similar and equal to Him. Therefore the true state is concealed from creation and it instead begins to perceive itself in the opposite state. This phase, in turn, divides into several: creation perceives itself as existing at the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels.

You and I feel our existence on the human degree of this world. Yet we don’t feel that we developed from the still level. We do not feel our past life cycles on the human level, but simply experience ourselves as existing here and now.

The matter is that every analysis has to happen by itself. A person in this world discerns adhesion, connection with the Creator, and develops to a level where he begins to express his part in creation, his attitude to the Creator.

The Creator brings him to this, giving him the sensation of emptiness in life, but on the other hand motivating him to connect to Him and become similar to Him. Thereby the Creator awakens a person’s desire in the first spiritual point. If a person properly realizes this desire by means of the method of correction, meaning the science of Kabbalah, if he increases his small desire with the help of the group, raising the importance of becoming similar to the Creator and uniting with Him, if he eventually makes his desire similar to the Creator, then he acquires a new degree. The initial point in him grows to become Malchut.

In Hebrew Malchut means kingdom. It is also called “the kingdom of heaven” because a person makes it similar to Bina, the heavens. That is how the first connection between Malchut and Bina, between creation and the Creator, is made.

Then, in order to give a person the opportunity to develop further, everything he had before becomes erased and he receives the next part of the egoistic desire that has to be corrected and made similar to the Creator. This part has to be brought to adhesion so he would become a person on a higher degree. Then no trace of the previous state is left.

Thus, if a person works correctly, then he continuously receives “a virgin for a wife.” Then he once against corrects his desire for the sake of bestowal, making it similar to the Creator and acquiring greater equivalence and closeness with Him. When he completes this phase, the adhesion once again disappears in him and a person again receives a new, corrupted desire that he once again has to work with by means of the group, raising the importance of the goal, increasing his desire, and uniting it with other souls. That is how a person advances.

He continuously receives a new part of Malchut, a “new wife.” If he works for the sake of bestowal, wishing to become similar to the Creator, then in the new state everything that occurred before becomes erased completely and he does not have anything to rely on from past experience. This is indeed a new degree, “virginity.”
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/11, Writings of Rabash

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There is nothing in the universe besides two forces: the Creator and creation. The force of bestowal is the Creator, while the force of reception is creation. These two forces are combined together inside of creation in order to enable creation to attain the Creator’s degree.

In other words, creation has a desire to egoistically fulfill itself and an altruistic desire to bestow. The only question is: What is primary, the desire to bestow in order to receive fulfillment for itself, or the desire to receive pleasure for the sake of bestowal? Everything depends on what we use reception or bestowal for.

When a person is at the beginning of the path of his correction, he is unable to hear about anything other than how to earn something for himself. Until he passes the Machsom, until he performs a restriction (Tzimtzum) on his desires, he sees everything only as an opportunity to extract benefit for himself. He simply cannot operate in any other way.

Therefore, all of his advancement takes place by the principle of “bestowal for the sake of reception.” He works in the group, comes to lessons, works on dissemination, and he is sure that he will be able to receive the whole world in reward. That is how a person advances, and this is called that he uses the force of the “woman” in him.

Gradually, if a person carries out the teacher’s advice, then inner changes take place inside him under the influence of the Light that Reforms. His progress is accompanied by alternating ascents and descents, states of uncertainty and confusion.

That is how he gradually comes to understand the value of the quality of bestowal in and of itself, rather than in order to extract benefit from it. Yet for now this only happens from time to time. The Upper Light brings him the sensation that bestowal is a great quality by itself.

Then he starts thinking less about himself when making all his actions and attributes greater importance to the group and the Creator. He thinks more about the state of the world and shifts from caring for himself to caring for the common good. This is called that the “man” in him, the force of overcoming (in Hebrew “man,” “Gever,” comes from the word “Hitgabrut,” overcoming) rises above the “woman” in him.

That is how a person gradually goes from Lo Lishma (actions for his own sake) to Lishma (for the sake of bestowal). This revolution happens drastically and suddenly, but the path to it is very slow and gradual.

When a person completely replaces the “woman” in him with a “man,” which now determines the path of his spiritual development, advancement towards bestowal for the sake of bestowal and then to reception for the sake of bestowal, then he is already working with the male force.

In the meantime, the “woman” is inside of him. She can either be his helper or help against him. Everything depends on his state. Then the right combination of the male and female forces occurs within him.
[35755]
From the lesson on 2/11/11 on Writings of Rabash

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Question: In the “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 3, Baal HaSulam writes: “We distinguish four divisions in the Speaking species, arranged in gradations one atop the other. Those are the Masses, the Strong, the Wealthy, and the Sagacious. They are equal to the four degrees in the whole of reality, called “Still,” “Vegetative,” “Animate,” and “Speaking [human]…. It follows that the value of one person from the Speaking equalizes with the value of all the forces in the Vegetative and the Animate in the whole of reality at that time, and in all the past generations.”

Is it correct to assume that it is enough to have one person who, by having made his free choice, can open the path of further development to all other levels of nature, which cannot evolve further without it?

Answer: Certainly, by using his free will, one person can open the path to and ensure further development of all the still, vegetative, and animate levels of the human pyramid if all of them unify with each other and join this human degree. This is how Rashbi, the ARI, and Baal HaSulam opened it for us. One person can draw and lead all the others if he is at the “speaking” level of development, whereas they are at the still, vegetative, and animate ones.

We see this in practice. How would humanity evolve if not for certain outstanding individuals who open the door to a new world for the others?

But after such a person makes a breakthrough, reaching balance is up to all others who follow him. The former has done his job, as for instance, Baal HaSulam who revealed to us the entire method of the wisdom of Kabbalah; now it is up to us to actualize it. Until our work is complete, we won’t achieve equilibrium.

He merely explains to us that the problem lies in our imbalance with nature and it’s necessary to come to balance. Nature in its integral form is the Creator. It is with Him that we must harmonize ourselves, meaning to reach equivalence of form, oneness. This is what we must implement. It is necessary to engage the whole world into it, which will require a lot of work.

You may ask who is this person that makes all the difference and must use his free will? You are this person! It is every person who received spiritual awakening within and heard about the method of its realization from the outside.

Only the initial awakening occurs within, and because of it, a person hears a call to him or her from the outside. As a result, one comes to a place where it is indeed possible to realize one’s free will.
[35626]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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History shows that ultimately not a single dictator brought his nation anything good, but only suffering. Thereby they pushed the world toward development. Today, however, our state is completely different: We live in a global world.

Previously, the world existed due to the very top of the pyramid, the individual personalities endowed with unlimited sovereign power, and everything run according to their word. A few hundred years ago, such rulers were still able to make beneficial decisions. But today, in a global world, if someone tries to put into practice his personal opinion, he will only acknowledge his own ignorance.

It’s because in a global world, decisions cannot be made by a single ruler or government, or even by governments gathering together. Nothing will come out of it! One has to be familiar with the general system, while a president is not; he is a bigger egoist than anyone else (this is why he became a president in the first place).

Hence, not a single ruler or government will be successful: They will come to power, keep hold of it for a few years, and fall. This will happen throughout the world. We will see that governments will degenerate more and more. One day millions will come out onto the streets, as it is happening in Egypt now, and the government will collapse.

Why can’t the government defend itself, where is the army? Its glory days are over, it doesn’t work this way anymore because the world manifests as an integral, global system, and the people below no longer obediently accept everything that the ruler says from above.

Today the world operates based on different principles, while we do not acknowledge this yet. No rulers will help us, no matter who comes into power. In previous times, the rulers advanced the world through suffering, yet they nevertheless advanced it. For instance, Alexander the Great wanted to introduce Greek culture into the entire world and had scientists and advisers assist him. He had an entire program of what he wanted to do with the world. But today, advancement due to a ruler is no longer possible.
[35084]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/2011, “The Freedom”

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What Is A High Priest Who Takes A Virgin Wife in the Work”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Seventh Commandment,” Item 228 , Lesson 3, “The Eighth Commandment”
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 82, Lesson 48
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Lesson 4
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We never reveal true reality; everything happens in our desires. The Creator created the desire which essentially is the entire material of creation. We feel whatever is happening within it.

Sensations in the desire divide into internal and external, in other words, perception of oneself and the environment. In turn, these segments of perception also divide into a multitude of layers, degrees, parts, and forms.

However, all of this is inside the desire that was created by the Creator. We are not able to imagine anything that exists outside of this desire even hypothetically. There is no other “place” that exists somewhere outside; the entire “space” is confined within the desire.

And this is why everything we perceive depends upon the changes in the desire. All of Kabbalah speaks about the nature of the created desire, the changes it can acquire, and the things it will feel in accordance with these changes. The formula is simple: You enter certain changes into the initial desire and receive a certain sensation in it as a consequence.

The general spectrum consists of a multitude of shades. Different impulses can be revealed at the same time in one desire; we perceive different events, actions in every private desire. Man’s desire divides into 613 parts where he experiences all the different impressions and reactions. And all of them add up to form his image of the world.

The parts of the receiving desire that pertain to the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels shape the contours of reality for us. We can keep opening the desire wider and wider as we keep revealing new parts in it, and then our common world expands.
[35587]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What does the following mean (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Sixth Commandment,” Item 221): “…for none other has permission to pardon him [man] except Him”? How can a law either be or not be merciful?

Answer: In Kabbalah, mercy is the quality of bestowal (Hassadim); it is not the forgiveness of sins like in our world. There is no forgiveness in the spiritual system. This is a system of very precise laws.

And when I do something sinful, I primarily need to know what I did, why I did it, and how. I must understand that the Creator has fixed this sin up for me for it to become revealed, and now it helps me to see how I can ascend.

Essentially, there are no sins; there is only the revelation of evil which was previously concealed and now becomes revealed. This is why mercy in The Zohar usually refers to an attainment of the force of bestowal.
[35594]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Seventh Commandment,” Item 225: In the Merkava [chariot/structure] of the throne, the face of a lion is on the right and the face of the ox is on the left. The ox is called “a whole [Tam] ox” since in the Merkava of the throne there is an inscription of the covenant.

Question: Is it possible to create a dictionary of spiritual terms appropriate for our level, which would explain the different words from The Zohar, like “ox,” “structure” “(Merkava),” “lion,” “serpent,” and so on? This would help to replace the words that remind us of physical images with spiritual forces according to their definition while reading. Is this a correct approach to studying The Zohar?

Answer: Everything depends upon the way we agree to speak between us. When we have a common perception, we speak according to this sensation. When we do not perceive the events in the same way but understand them (a lower level than perception), we, let us say, speak using scientific terms and formulas.

This excerpt of The Zohar uses words like “ox,” “donkey,” “throne,” and so on. If we were to replace them with forces, we would need to specify the kind of force it is, from which Sefira or property it comes. While here, one word is used to refer to the same force, for example, “ox” or “whole ox.” This language is more concise because it relies on your understanding to what it refers.

This only refers to the Lights and Kelim (desires) because we have nothing else about which to speak. How can I convey to you the connection of the Lights and Kelim in a specific form? Should I draw it for you in a graph? Play a tune? Give you a formula? Describe the image of this world that results from their connection? How can I explain to you the exact spiritual state, the combination of the Light and the Kli, about which I am speaking?

This is why Kabbalists have found four languages to describe the upper system of governance of our world: the language of Tanach, Hagaddot (Legends), Kabbalah, and Halachot (Talmud), and they use them to convey their attainments to us. These languages are mixed in The Zohar.

The Zohar itself is mainly written with the language of the Talmud (Midrash), even though it also uses a little of the language of the Tanach or the Legends, and Baal HaSulam adds the language of Kabbalah to it. And when they are parallel, you can more or less keep the correct direction of thought.

But how can languages help you if you do not have spiritual attainment and you do not perceive to what the text is referring? Nothing can help you! You only need to think about receiving more influence in order to begin to perceive.

It works the same way in our world: You can tell me anything you want, but if I have never experienced it, whatever you are telling me is dead to me, or in the best case scenario, I might be able to imagine it through an analogy to something with which I am already familiar.

But if I do not know anything about the spiritual world, there are no tales that can help me. For this reason, our entire study comes down to striving to perceive these spiritual notions, to want our eyes to open.
[35591]

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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Question: Why did Kabbalists keep the wisdom of Kabbalah secret for so many years if someone who isn’t ready for it can’t use it?

Answer: The science of Kabbalah was open to anyone who wanted to study it until the ruin of the Temple. The destruction of the Temple was the destruction of the spiritual sensation in the people of Israel.

Just as it is dangerous to reveal regular science to egoists who lack the correct vision of the world and its purpose since disclosing the knowledge would arm them with weapons that can hurt them and others, similarly, people who fell from the spiritual degree of brotherly love into the unfounded hatred were banned from studying the science of Kabbalah. After all, they could have used it incorrectly and become confused.

They were unable to use it once they fell into the egoistic desire which was beginning to develop. They first had to become entangled in the desires of this world, to plunge into the darkness, to mingle with the desires of all the peoples; in fact, this was the purpose of the nation of Israel going into exile.

How would it have been possible to give people the wisdom of Kabbalah at that time; it would have been contrary to the purpose. The people fell from the spiritual degree and lost that knowledge precisely in order to live on the same level as all the other nations. Up until the end of the Middle Ages, the people of Israel and all other nations led a very simple and primitive life. It was a time for their mutual inclusion.

But despite the fact that the people of Israel lost their spiritual degree, the high, inner spirit persisted in them, and there were many sages (Kabbalists) and people who understood the purpose of creation.  It wasn’t like today’s state of complete lack of understanding of the purpose of existence.

This decline happened in the past 100-150 years, but before that, there wasn’t a person among the people of Israel who didn’t know what he was living for. That allowed them to endure all the years of exile and preserve themselves despite all the persecution, inquisition, and pogroms. After all, it wasn’t just blind faith: They felt and knew that there was a purpose.

However, the wisdom of Kabbalah had to be kept secret from the people of Israel precisely because they had to mix with the desires of other nations and to complete the period of exile. That was the reason why Kabbalists concealed it, alienated the people from it, and intimidated them so as not to confuse them and to give them time to correct what needed to be corrected.

This was the form in which they were performing the correction at that time. After all, we can’t see the inner development that was going on inside. For billions of years, all matter has been evolving unconsciously, but we can’t grasp the process in its entirety with our limited mind. If we maintain this view of reality, we can’t justify anything in it. If we want to understand anything, we first need to reveal the entire picture.
[35537]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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