Everything occurs within a person. On the spiritual path, he starts realizing that there are no forces outside of him. The forces of nature, the strength of the group, everything is within him, and he treats it all as relevant to himself. In this case, the group enters, the friends’ forces appear within, and the person sees more clearly that everything depends on the degree of his qualities.

For example, this weekly chapter of the Torah (“Mishpatim”) tells us about judicial precepts. It prohibits marrying under certain circumstances, laying with beasts, stealing, judging unfairly, and so forth. All of this refers to the internal “lawsuit”: A person must build correct relations with his “beast,” “thief,” and “another’s wife.” Everything is within.

While arranging the forces of my soul, I continue to see the external world, but at this point, I realize that the forces of all external objects reside within me. I come to such a conclusion, becoming more aware of how my attitude changes and draws the real picture within me. I start viewing the external world as a copy, a projection, of my inner properties. It is I and only I, within myself, who changes the picture of the world by altering combinations of forces, properties, and desires.

I become more and more aware that this picture is formed and painted solely by me. As a result, its entire image changes as well. There is no other; this is the only way I see it.

A person works within with his desires, intentions, thoughts, and attitudes. This is precisely how Kabbalists advise us to relate to everything we have within. A person breaks himself down into 613 parts, desires, and sees that his inner world, as well as the outer one, does change. As soon as an attitude changes, so does the world.

Everything is now inside a person, and he finally sees the authentic picture. Time after time, he asks for the new forces of bestowal in order to reach the true form to the best of his ability.

One always has only one instrument to ascend to the next rung, his environment: the teacher, Kabbalistic texts, and the group. He constructs a place out of them where he receives the forces to change and the form of change, advancing therewith.

Thus, gradually, thanks to this work, all the enormous desire for pleasures transitions to the area of the property of bestowal, in parts, piece by piece.
[33744]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
A Construction Plan “HaVaYaH”
Everything Depends On The Observer
Working In Sync

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Perception - No Comments →

We get together, listen to a lesson, and do something without much desire for it or even with an opposite desire. After all, I enter the group and perform various actions so that I may feel good.

However, these actions were suggested for me by Kabbalists. I read their books along with the others, and while I’m at it and despite the fact that I expect it to do me good, I nonetheless start wishing for the friends to feel good. It almost seems like I get “corrupted” because I turn away from what I want. This is how Kabbalistic material works on me in the beginning.

The changes occurring in me seem very odd. I neither desire nor comprehend them. In the beginning stages, I am totally confused and don’t know what is happening, but, eventually, I start agreeing with and even anticipating them.

I start wishing for such changes to visit me and begin “moving the hands” of my intention clock. Previously, I egoistically wished to be in the group, study, and participate in everything so that I may feel good. Now, however, I do it for the changes within me. I want to turn myself to desire aimed toward the others, their good, the thoughts about the others, and stepping outside of myself.

All of this is also permeated with calculation for personal benefit so far. After all, bestowal is closeness to the Creator, an opportunity to break free from our tiny world, and so forth. Still, we start seeing alterations in our intention and expectations. This is described as going from Lo Lishma (not for Her Name) to Lishma (for Her Name), meaning from egoistic intention to the altruistic one, making small steps as beginners do.

Afterwards, I tear even farther away from calculations for personal benefit. I want to fall into a trance, withdraw from myself, stop sensing myself, and soar above egoism and personal calculations to feel free.

Again, it is I who feels good being free. It is as if I am drugged, drunken, and unrestricted by my egoism. Still, at this point, I am already aware of the evil and understand that egoistic desire prevents and pulls me away from the goal.

Finally, a person starts putting effort into working against his Pharaoh, in spite of and above it, desiring to rise to bestowal.
[33747]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Make Us Desire!
The Intention That Provides Strength
The Tree Of Life

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

Question: How can we discuss love for the Creator if we don’t know what it is?

Answer: Love is an expression of desire. Frankly, no matter what we are talking about, we discuss only what occurs within the desire and the derivatives thereof.

True, we don’t know what love is. What should we do then? First, we receive a demonstration of what we have. All properties and forms are programmed within us as reception. Based on them, through mechanical efforts in the group and the study, the reforming essence of which we don’t comprehend, our natural properties gradually start transforming.

Why? By way of which force? What happens to us? We don’t know. We just “watch” the changes that are occurring in us. Today, I don’t think as I did yesterday, and I don’t desire what I did then.

But doesn’t any person change day to day? That’s right, but we are talking about qualitative alterations. Yesterday, I wasn’t attracted that much to bestowal, love of others, and connection with them, but today, it is a bit more appealing to me, a little clearer and more acceptable in my eyes.

How did this “supernatural” transformation happen to me? I honestly have no clue. This is why it is called a miraculous force, Segula (remedy).
[33751]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Make Us Desire!
How To Keep The Love From Cooling Down?
Freedom Is Only When You Love

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

Whom does the Creator, the Upper Force, the omnipotent property of bestowal, Nature, help? It helps those who desire to be like it.

It comes to people who “trust in her mercy,” meaning anticipate to receive correction and obtain the property that governs Nature: the property of bestowal. The property called “the upper grace” comes specifically to those who have reached such desire.

Essentially, everything is done according to a person’s desire. I have to work on mine so as to have it changed and improved until I truly wish to bestow. Then, I will acquire the property of bestowal. Therefore, we should constantly think only about desire.

Truth be told, I cannot really start wanting a new desire to bestow. If I did want it, I would already be in it. After all, besides desire, there is nothing else; hence, to want to bestow is to be the one who bestows. As to bestowal, a person immediately receives what he wishes for to the corresponding degree.

However, we keep moving from receiving desire to the bestowing one by wishing to bestow not seriously, but just for fun. Therefore, our work always comes down to a plea to make us desire to bestow. Then, we receive the desire to bestow followed by an opportunity to actualize this property.
[33754]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Supernatural Transformation
The Creating Thought
On The Way To Pharaoh

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work - No Comments →

Question: A person’s only job during the reading of The Book of Zohar is to draw the Light that Reforms. Why, then, does The Zohar describe the structure and mechanics of the spiritual worlds in such great detail?

Answer: We can’t connect to something we have no idea about. There has to be some connection. That’s first. Second, when we read, even without much understanding, and it seems to us that some part is described more clearly while the other less so, we still become permeated with intentions and discernments.

Nonetheless, there is a difference whether we read a text that we partly understand or study a totally unfamiliar text, possibly in a foreign language (although it is also useful since you still absorb the spiritual force hidden in it). In any case, it is desirable to read and try to understand as much as you can, not mentally, but rather being closer to it emotionally. I strive to feel it as I do and imagine how it might feel at a spiritual degree in reality.

The difference between these two concepts helps me yearn to advance. This advancement can be illusory, confusing, and tangled, which doesn’t matter. The key is our effort.

This is how a baby evolves. It exerts effort, and nature doesn’t expect him or her to do more than make the effort. As a result, a child gains intelligence. In other words, during the preparation, in the time of darkness, our Kelim (vessels) don’t require us to be completely adequate to that dose of the Light, that form of it that must unfold.

The Reshimot (informational genes) that unfold in us do not give us a clear, precise understanding of a spiritual state, and, hence, we don’t have to form it correctly. Moreover, we will never be able to do so since we always reside in the dark relative to the upper degree. The AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh) of the upper one is always dark, always more exalted, and always bestows more than we do.

Therefore, all we need to do is exert effort, and in return, we receive a force from Above which corrects us: the Light that Reforms. This occurs in exactly the same stages and in the same order as it does in our world. There is no difference in this.

As young children grow in our world, so do we grow in spirituality. The world our children develop in is confusing to them as well, but they act in it instinctively. As for us, we mature by making an effort.
[33764]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Who is This”

Related Material:
The Light Of Distant Degrees
Aspire To The Light Of Wisdom!
The Language Of Spiritual Forces

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

The created being is desire. The Creator or Light created the desire, the Kli (vessel), that matches Him. To the extent of His desire to please, fulfill, evoke the sensation of kindness, warmth, and overall good, He created a need directed towards Him, a need for His properties which He wants to be manifested in His creation.

But to make sure that this desire does not become automatic, that it operates, strives to be like the Light, and feels its existence, the mind develops next to it. The mind is an outcome, and this is why it is the main human characteristic: “What do you desire?” This does not refer to a natural desire; it is what I envision as a good state in my mind.

The difference between the desired and the actual is the vector of all our actions. People are judged according to this criterion: the direction of their actions, aspirations, and hopes. Our actions do not become realized on their own, but rather under the influence of the environment. The next optimal state can be unconditioned, and we select it under the influence of the environment. This way, the environment where we find ourselves forms us and our future.

And this is why man is given the mind and a sensation of lack. Now, he can use the environment to direct himself towards the next state which he himself chooses.

The vector of aspirations and its volume characterizes us. This is why we never judge a person according to his current state: It was evoked in him from Above. Instead, we evaluate a person according to the actions he performs in relation to his environment, with the purpose of evoking in him a certain direction of thoughts and desires for a new state.

And this is why we need to create an environment around us, which will precisely define our future state, the state that we aspire to. According to this future image that imagination paints to us, we evaluate ourselves and the group from a distance and ahead of time.

Just like the group, a person is only judged according to the vector: the direction of his aspiration and its strength. If a group wants to control itself, if a person wants to understand his direction, he always needs to see the next expected image before him. He needs to focus his attention solely on it, live only in it. Then our advancement will be quick, and the thoughts and Reshimot (informational data) arising in us will manifest immediately.

And this is why one’s primary task is to work on thought, imagine the next states as correctly and as vividly as possible. The thought creates and builds our future. It is the foundation of our action, and this way it brings it to reality.
[33133]
From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/17/2011, Shamati

Related Material:
What Is A Thought?
What Do We Need To Add To Creation?
A Soul Is Not What You Thought It Was

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - 1 Comment →

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Question: As long as we don’t actually attain every word that the science of Kabbalah talks about according to that word’s degree in spirituality, we won’t be able to understand it. Before that happens, we are simply playing around with the words, with abstract forms not clothed in matter. But if Kabbalah is being revealed as the method for correcting the world, then why does it come in a form that’s so abstract and unclear to a regular person?

Answer: Kabbalah is not an artificial or abstract method of correction, but the most natural one. If it is being revealed in this form, that means that this is precisely the form in which we have to receive it and it is the most suitable medicine for us.

That means I have to “take it” without resisting it or complaining that it is bitter, unclear, or that I don’t like the rules regarding how to take it. I must treat this means as absolutely perfect. This “garment” was tailored especially for me.

However, I am perplexed as to how it was intended for me since I can’t see where to insert my arm or head, and how to put on this garment! But I am told: Don’t worry, it’s tailored exactly to your size, no bigger and no smaller!

Therefore, I must only advance toward it, research and look for how I can dress into this garment. After all, it was tailored especially for me and has been laid out before me.

It is possible to slightly adapt the explanation, bringing it closer to people in order to make it easier for them to perceive this science. But in essence, it has already been presented to us in the most perfect form. We can complain that we don’t understand it since it contains many unsuccessful examples (as they appear to us), abstract names (as they seem to us), and The Book of Zohar is full of allegories that confuse us.

But despite this, if a person accepts all of this as salvational medicine sent to him from Above, then he has to take it as the perfect, most effective means that was selected especially for him.
[33781]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

Related Material:
Establishing A New Coordinate Axis
Light Instead Of Medicine
The Zohar Is The Remedy For Every Illness

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Dissemination, Kabbalah Study, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: I have been placed into a specific environment by the Creator. But at the same time my environment’s response seems to slow me down. I lower myself before my friends, but they seem to tighten the reins and make me walk instead of gallop. What should I do?

Answer: There are different situations. People who have attained high spiritual degrees can pretend to be indifferent so that you exert more effort, yet nevertheless see them in a positive light, even though they appear to you to be slobs, loafers, and so on.

If the group consists of beginners and has an egoistic intention Lo Lishma (not for Her Name) before the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality), then they must not pretend to be indifferent. They have to demonstrate ascent to one another; otherwise, they will not advance. They must be taught to awaken others, to make sure no one remains indifferent.

One needs to watch people. Some are unable to find a connection with those who dance, sing, laugh, and cry. They do not care about this. In this case, my friends need to notice that I don’t pay attention to their efforts and find a way to come up with tricks and games that will influence me.

This is the way to work with everyone. After all, the group consists of separate people, and this is why we must care for everyone’s ascent. But at the same time, after all the effort we have to be patient because everyone advances at their own speed.

Some are unable to grasp this principle for years; they are here, but they are not present. Others are drawn to the study process: Every page of Talmud Eser Sefirot that they have studied is spiritual attainment to them. Others are very good at teaching or other things, but they neglect everything else. So, we need to be patient.
[33633]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
A Soul Is Not What You Thought It Was
Who Is The Last In Line For The Light?
Let’s Inspire Each Other With Spirituality

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

The group must continuously work with every friend, and friends must work with the group. This is what is required of a person. When we arrange everything correctly, we accelerate time, and then we really feel the development.

But when we don’t, the development drags very slowly. We lose hold of the cause and the purpose, we are unable to distinguish the stages on the path, and everything happens without inner strength, an inner action, which needs to spur our advancement.

And this is why we must count the states, degrees, stages, and actions that we realize. We need to make sure our desire depends on us: not on the individual, but the environment.

Spirituality only exists in the Kelim (vessels, desires) that are “situated” between people. Suppose we have a special filter that helps us see the desires of people. Then we put another filter and instead of seeing their personal desires, we uncover their common desires which extend between them. These desires are the spiritual Kli.

The desires cannot exist separately in any individual person; they can only be awakened through a common action, a mutual guarantee, the principle of, “Do not do unto others what you don’t want others do unto you,”and “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Essentially, we build the Kli by moving these desires from one stage to another. This is the “half of the work” that is the responsibility of the creature.

Even this does not refer to actual desires. When we turn to the group, we see that nobody has a desire directed towards the spiritual goal. However, we can awaken ourselves towards an appeal, a common prayer, and this will evoke the Light which shapes our Kli.

And then, to the measure of its desire, the Kli begins to demand correction in a collective, group-like form and becomes a soul (Neshama). A “soul” is not one’s personal, individual inner sensation; it is a shared sensation that lives among all.

In the corporeal world, we think that each one of us is a Kli. But in spirituality, it is the other way around: A Kli is that which is common between us. Corporeality is the receiving Kli which absorbs everything, while spirituality is a bestowing Kli which emits bestowal outwardly.

Measurements are always done on the outside, and this is why we are unable to recognize the spiritual world; we are unable to explain, reveal, and perceive it. This is because there, everything is evaluated only according to collectivity, the mutual strength.
[33641]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Activating The Chain Of Corrections
One Love For All
Becoming Conscious

Filed under: Body and Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - 1 Comment →