The Light always brings me a sensation of the gap between the Light and the desires. It always gives me a bad sensation and it cannot bring me anything good. Firstly it always gives me a realization of evil, which is the truth. As much as I am able to ascend above the sensation of “bitter versus sweet” to the analysis of “true versus false” in order to clarify the truth in spite of the bitter taste, to that extent the Light is able to influence me.

But where will I get the strength to hold on to the truth so strongly even when I feel bad? I can only receive this additional force from the environment. Therefore it’s pointless for us to cry out to the Light. The Light influences us to the degree we are ready for it. It can wait a thousand years until we are prepared by way of very slow, gradual development, or it can drastically increase its influence at every second if we are ready for it.

There is no delay from the Light’s end. The delay depends only on how ready I am to tolerate the gap between the Kelim and the Lights, to be “above knowledge,” above the bodily suffering, when I am ready to be in the truth even if it’s bitter. Indeed, it really is bitter not to use the Kelim of reception, the desire for one’s own sake, while remaining in the intention of bestowal.

Therefore, we do not have any other means to speed up our development other than to connect with the environment. However, connection with the environment is also extremely painful. I cannot overcome myself. I can spend thousands of hours pleading with my friends to unite, but it will all be nothing but words. After that I stumble across my inner wall and am unable to do anything more than words.

However, if we at least try to do this together, then each person receives an impression from the others and thus reaches the point of truth: that he is unable to do this and must break precisely through this wall. Then he demands it from the Light that Reforms.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Kabbalists write about various states of the souls, which are states they have actually gone through. What matters is the extent to which we want to imagine these states and identify ourselves with them. They are all indications of how we give pleasure back to the Creator, and by virtue of this aspiration we reveal the same action from His end. That is how we enter unity with the Creator: He gives to a person and a person gives to Him.

These are the states that Kabbalists tell us about. The more we aspire to them, the more the force or Light from there influences us, bringing us closer to the states of unity and leading us into them.

This continues along the whole path. It doesn’t only happen now, when we are just getting ready for actually entering these states of interconnection, but also later on, when we will feel the spiritual actions better. One way or another, only our aspiration, only our raising MAN, a prayer for higher states of mutual bestowal and revelation of love, will help us ascend to newer levels each time.

This is the approach that the soul must follow until the end of correction. Only this kind of work will enable us to move forward.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Introduction, Chapter “Lock and Key,” Item 42: That carving that was engraved in Bina was engraved and hidden in her, as one who hides everything behind one key, and the whole of that one key is hidden in one palace. And even though everything is hidden in that palace, that key is the most important because that key closes and opens.

It is a great question and a great mystery: How is the spiritual system organized in order to correct the egoistic desire, which is opposite to the Creator in every way?

Two absolutely opposite forces, Bina and Malchut, united under the influence of a third factor, the intention. Thus, they built a system that really is able to facilitate correction with the help of the forces of reception and bestowal, producing an intention in the lower ones.

This mechanism is in the three upper Sefirot of the world of Atzilut, whereas the lower seven Sefirot are operated by the lock and key. The system is ready to be used: If we activate it, it will influence us. We do not feel how its Lights influence us, but in the meantime they descend, already organized in the right combination. They are what changes our desire so it reaches equivalence with the intention.

The Book of Zohar explains the secret of the upper system that connects the forces of the Creator and creation in order to make us similar to Him. We do not know how the process of change takes place in us, and thus we study its mechanism as a “miraculous quality” (Segula). More and more we come to understand that we do not understand anything. We grow more and more disillusioned with our own forces and not seeing any way out, we put our hopes in the upper system, and then on the contrary, we rejoice about this dependence.

Finally, we gradually begin to be included in the system. We are ready for it to make all the necessary changes in us in order to change us so we match it. If a person expresses willingness to do this, the system begins to influence him.

In this way, the first action from our end is to bow our heads. Then the upper system literally “engraves” its form in a person and he becomes similar to the Upper One.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, The Zohar

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Is it possible to attain peace in our world and the upper worlds? “Peace” means absolute fullness and perfection, which is not when I feel good but a moment later am already unsatisfied. If it’s perfection, then it’s forever.

Is it possible to attain this, and is it programmed in nature, or is it just some unrealistic dream I have while in fact, I won’t ever feel good? Furthermore, if peace in the world is possible, then how can we reach it?!

We see how the situation in the whole world is deteriorating. It would seem as if humanity has all the opportunities to develop toward goodness, but instead it slides down into an abyss, unable to locate the right path no matter what.

Man constantly entangles himself in greater and greater problems. Everyone knows how to reason beautifully and intelligently, but in actuality it turns out that we are unable to reach any good results, and that applies to the general and the individual cases.

So why is it that nature always places us into a situation that’s opposite to peace and perfection? And if we are meant to achieve this in the end, then how can we?

Baal HaSulam writes about all of this in his article “The Peace,” which we are now starting to read. There cannot be peace in the world as long as there are people left who are unsatisfied with something. That would already be a lack of perfection.

The world develops with each passing day, becoming an increasingly more integral system, all of whose parts are interconnected like cogwheels. No one has freedom to move one millimeter in any direction and in any sense, whether it is one’s desire, thought, or action, without influencing everyone else.

That is why there cannot be peace and perfection in the world as long as there is even one unsatisfied person left, who disagrees with the current state being perfect. This is the law of the integral system. We are all connected as organs of one body where the illness of even one organ is felt in the entire organism.

On the other hand, making progress toward peace is a gradual process both with regard to the whole world and any of its parts. The world today is like a sick person who is lying on the operating table waiting for open heart surgery. Of course, in this situation the doctor won’t pay attention if the patient complains about a small scratch on his leg. That is why the world’s correction will happen gradually.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/10, “Peace in the World”

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Question: According to the spiritual roots, which nation will have the most difficult time joining the process to attain peace in the world?

Answer: It is difficult to answer that question right now because the process is very complex. Yet it doesn’t have to be difficult because the operating force is the Light; it discerns the desires.

Precisely for this reason, the lowest desires can feel their lowliness and start ascending. Thus, it is possible for a connection to emerge between the desires where the first parts to awaken will be ones we did not even suspect.

For example, we suddenly found many people in South America aspiring to spiritual development and having the right sensation and understanding of this method to attain the Creator. On the other hand, Europe, a place that was always considered the world’s cultural capital, still remains deaf to Kabbalah. However, no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Everything can flip upside down!

That is why we disseminate the science of Kabbalah all over the world; whoever is due to awaken will awaken.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/10, "Peace in the World"

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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “Manula and Mifteha,” Item 42, Lesson 2
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 29, Lesson 16
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Item 88
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “Peace in the World,” Lesson 2
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The Creator wanted to create the creature identical to Him. And this is a true blessing. Why then didn’t the creature become like Creator in the first place? It’s because the creature must construct itself.

The relationship between the Creator and the creature is performed by way of reception and bestowal. The Creator readily bestows fulfillment to the creature and, in addition, gives the creature an opportunity to do the same in return. The more important the Creator is in the eyes of the creature, the more it can give Him. In the end, it will indeed become independent and equal to the Creator.

Thus, they establish total reciprocity. Man receives fulfillment ascending to the level of the Creator, but only if he wants to become identical to Him.

This additional desire that we need to find is called aspiration. It stems from realizing the importance of Creator. We observe the same in our world: If someone is important in my eyes, I strive to give something to that person. For instance, a child is important for parents, and they endeavor to give him gifts.

It turns out that I have to constantly work towards realizing the importance of this rung, the property called “Creator.” In this way, we achieve similarity with the Creator, naturally finding what is important to us: the property of bestowal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/17/10, “The Creator Created the Evil Inclination and the Torah as a Spice”

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We evaluate everything solely by how fulfilling it is for us, and there are two types of fulfillment: for our own sake and for the sake of bestowal. If I wish to please myself, I cannot receive more than our material world. I have an enormous vessel (desire), but all that I am able to receive in it is a tiny part called “this world.” And even that which I am able to receive is comprised of temporary pleasures that enter me and immediately depart. And this is my entire life.

Thus, in the course of history, I continued seeking pleasure at an increasingly higher level: still, vegetative, and animate. But in the end, I felt even greater emptiness. At first, my desire was small and gradually grew more and more until it reached its limits: the twenty-first century.

There are no greater egoistic fulfillments at this point because I have reached the limit at the degree where I consume, absorb. Hence, I ask: “What have I achieved in all of my history, in thousands of my incarnations (Gilgulim)? What is the purpose of my existence in this world for thousands of years?” The informational records (Reshimot) about the journeys made have been preserved in me, and therefore, I demand an answer.

And at this point, one special informational gene (Reshimo) unfolds in me by which I suddenly begin experiencing my outside part of the will to receive (desire) that pulls me forward, toward further development. But first, I approach this new external desire in an old fashion and check how I can receive into it, absorb something. I don’t understand that it needs a totally different approach, and the pleasure must come not from receiving, but from giving.

It takes time for me to get adjusted to this new thought, begin to comprehend it, and transition to the outside from inside. This is what we refer to as the time of preparation, when I gradually come to understand that pleasure lies in bestowal, not reception.

Baal HaSulam regards this as the “psychological barrier” (Machsom). I must agree that the act of mutual connection and bestowal, a thought about someone else, can bring pleasure. We start doing such exercises in the group, gradually absorbing the exalted nature of bestowal.

If we remained in this alone, we would repeat the communist experience in Russia. But we have one more component, the Light that Reforms, and it constantly affects us to the extent of our effort. It is this Light that reforms our nature! I suddenly begin to truly value bestowal and feel pleasure in it.

This is called a miracle. I suddenly discover that there are infinite hidden pleasures in bestowal, and the ability to bestow is limitless! But the most important and confusing component for us is the Light that Reforms. In the meantime, it still eludes us.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/17/10, “The Freedom”

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“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Letters of Rabbi Hamnuna Saba,” Item 26: He told her, “Tzadi, you are Tzadi, and you are Tzadik, but you must be hidden. You should not be so disclosed as to begin the creation of the world with you, to not give the world excuses.”

Question: If the letters of my name point to a Klipa (shell), do I have to change it?

Answer: We are not talking about someone’s name here, but about the names of spiritual actions, Partzufim. "Letters" are the properties awakened in the vessels by the Light. We do not discuss the Light itself; it is unattainable for our perception. We perceive only the reactions of the Kli (vessel) which, in conformity with the Light, enters a certain state.

At all degrees, the desire to enjoy finds positive aspects in 22 states of Malchut or, in other words, in 22 "letters." And it is indeed so: There is nothing superfluous in creation. Even a part of the Klipa, the force of impurity, can claim to be worthy of becoming the basis of the world’s creation if the spark of Light settles on it.

The Book of Zohar explains to us that not a single state of Malchut is perfect except the one created by the letter Bet. Yet even Bet is not perfect by itself, but only thanks to its dependence on Bina. This is why the letter Bet in particular is worthy of creating the world by it.

On the other side, the rest of the letters are not only included into Bina; they are also connected to Malchut, which prevents them from becoming the basis for correction of the world. In all other forms of connection beside "Bet," there is a deficiency which will necessarily hinder the path.

Hence, each letter is a symbol of the degree of Malchut‘s similarity to Bina. The words put together from the letters are the acts of the Lights, concrete corrections.

There is no connection with the names given by the parents to their children in our world. You may change or add a name; it will bear no change in spirituality. If we were able to influence the world with such tricks, we would have brought it to ruin long ago.

The hopes to change reality by simply re-arranging the letters of one’s name are futile. Reality will change only when we will change ourselves, when we draw closer to the Light in our properties. When you change yourself, you change the world. After all, only our Kelim are changing.

It is said: "Change of place, change of luck." "Place" is desire. Change your desire and you will truly experience transformations.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Letters of Rabbi Hamnuna Saba”

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The movie and television industries are transitioning to 3D imagery. So do we, too, have to part with the superficial two-dimensional perception and get to see the depth of spirituality in our reality.

In my perception, there are three dimensions: width, height, and depth. This is my screen. On this three- dimensional screen, I view people, animals, buildings, the sun, and the entire world that surrounds me.

I experience all of this in my will to receive (desire). Yet, it draws the picture of the world for me not on a flat surface, but in three dimensions within me. Since besides this picture there isn’t any other, I experience it as true and the only existing one.

This image assembled during the breaking of the souls (Kelim, vessels) when my parts detached from me: my “self” which is GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) and, outside of it, my AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh) which I don’t experience as mine.

Now, finally, instead of manifestations of my AHP, I start working with the group and interact with the friends. They gravitate toward me, and I toward them.

We are trying to work together as if we are in Arvut (mutual responsibility or guarantee), and this practice helps me understand that the group as well as everything else are mine indeed. Having amended my attitude to the “external” reality, I discover that it becomes closer to me and “spills out” from outward inward.

Hence, the group is a sort of laboratory where we attempt to correct within ourselves the corrupted desires (Kelim) so that they would return the forfeited depth to our reality.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/5/10, “The Matter of Shechina”

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