Every degree consists of internal and external components, and the external part of the upper degree is connected to the inner part of the lower one. Thus, there is a connection between all the degrees, that is, one can ascend or descend from any level. Therefore, by preferring the internal to the external, that is, the maximum bestowal and the minimum reception, in both spirituality as well as in corporeality, a person expresses his desire to elevate the upper degree so it can rule over the lower. Every person in this top-down chain: Israel (those who serve the Creator and those who do not, the nations of the world within Israel) and the nations of the world can ascend the degrees because of their preference of the internal (upper) over the external (lower).

The inner part is the closest to spirituality because it refers to the upper degree, and if a person prefers it to the lower part, one ensures one’s ascent. Therefore, every person has the opportunity to choose the upper and by so doing, ascend above the current degree received from birth, from one’s natural properties. And there, once again, one chooses the internal and thus keeps ascending from the foot of the ladder where all the created beings exist to its very top.

No one is limited in anything: one begins according to the root of one’s soul and keeps working with it. Every person has an inner and outer part and is given free choice and equal opportunities to climb to the very top, to perform the greatest bestowal to the Creator.¹

To the measure of our rising above problems and concentrating on the Creator instead of focusing on them, we advance. Specifically, we have to decide what is more important: the upper part within us or the lower, the desire to enjoy or the intention to bestow. The importance of spiritual advancement, solidarity with the Creator and the purpose of creation, and involvement in the process of correction have to be so important to us that we simply stop feeling corporeal problems, we attribute no importance to them.

It all depends on what we prefer at every moment: our inner or our outer part, where do we want to be, what is more important for us? Our correct attitude toward the falling rockets [in Israel] will determine whether they will stop or not because they were designed to push us toward correct actions. We face the upper force, there is nothing else beside it, the good that does good. Right now, this force is sending us rockets, awakening us to change ourselves.

If we attain the right reaction with regard to the rockets, we will no longer think about the rockets but about our correction, and that is why the rockets will stop. But our goal was not to stop the rockets, but to reach adhesion with the upper force.²

Deciding that the external part is more important than the inner, we give power to the outer part to rise across the entire world. It turns out that the upper part considers the lower to be more important and neglects the upper. This is how the outer part of the world gains importance; that is, all the sinners of the world gain strength and opportunity to inflict damage on everyone else. Instead of calming them down and establishing order in the world, it pushes toward loving the other as yourself.

But if we chose the inner part within us over the outer, then by doing so, we establish that the inner part of the world, which concerns spirituality, influences the lower degrees and they begin to understand that spirituality is more important than corporeality. Everything is determined in the thought.

One must scrutinize on one’s own level so that one can choose the spiritual over the material. There is no other way to influence the world except by changing oneself on the inside, utterly raising the inner over the outer.³
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/19 Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“
1 Minute17:50
2 Minute 35:25
3 Minute 48:20

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Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 22 – 29

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Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 16 – 18

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Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 11 – 16

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Love of God and the Love of Man”

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It is said that man’s work is to raise the Shechina from the dust, to restore the common soul of Adam HaRishon, and to rebuild the fallen tent of King David. It is about restoring the connection between us, becoming as one man with one heart, as it was before Adam’s sin, before the shattering.

And although egoism prevents us from doing this, we do not destroy it, but we rise above it and build the connection between us. This is called “weaving a blanket of love,” which should cover all creatures as one body. Thus, we reach the end of correction, returning to the one soul in which one light is clothed, the Creator, enjoying the creations He created.¹

The Creator intentionally created the evil inclination so that we could overcome it and turn it to good. He purposely puts obstacles to our unification, and we have to look for a way to change them for the good. You should not berate your egoism, because it is an angel, the power of the Creator, sent to us as a hindrance.

The Creator seems to set a barrier in front of me that needs to be jumped over. This barrier is quite low, almost on the ground, but an impenetrable wall stands behind it. It is the same with the evil inclination: we do not need to destroy it but to rise above it. I cannot rise above it! Only if the Creator removes the wall, or rather, if He moves away, then to this extent I will be able to rise above my egoism.

It turns out that progress in spirituality depends on a person’s connection with the Creator. The evil inclination is help against me that helps in this. Therefore, we need to treat egoism with understanding and respect and realize that this barrier is help against us.

Our evil inclination depicts this whole world for us. We see ourselves, people, inanimate nature, plants, and animals. This whole egoistic world was created in order to rise above it and merge with the Creator.

We understand our evil inclination so much that we begin to love it. After all, both forces, the good and the evil, act to help us. Otherwise, it turns out that I try to hide from my egoism as an enemy, but I am also not capable of loving my neighbor. That is, either way, I am not successful and I don’t understand what to do with this life. But it has to lead me to the absolute good, when even darkness will shine as the Light and the angel of death will turn into a holy angel.

Therefore, weaving a blanket of love, you should treat all negative incidents as being sent by the upper force. The Creator purposely created the evil inclination, and therefore, there is no evil in the world; everything is intended to direct us toward the upper force and eternal life. If we attribute all these forces to the same source, then we weave the right basis for the blanket of love that will cover us.

In essence, the Creator is revealed this way: between the good and evil forces we reveal the thought of creation and the attitude of the Creator toward us.²
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/19, Weaving A Blanket of Love (Preparation for the Convention in North America Convention 2019)
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 3:35

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Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 1 – 11

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Love of God and the Love of Man”

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “Feast of Weeks”

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It is written: “Serve the Creator with joy.” If there is no joy, it is a sign that we are not in spirituality. Bestowal is impossible without joy. It is written in The Book of Zohar that “Shechina is only in the perfect place: not in the place of lack, not in the place of deficiency, not in the place of sorrow, but in the right place, in the place of joy.” Indeed, there is illumination from the presence of the Creator in the corrected place, and this brings joy to a person.

By this sign, it can always be determined whether a person is in spirituality or not. When beginning to study, for a long time a person does not feel the corrections taking place in himself or he perceives them in the opposite form; therefore, he may feel discouraged, irritated, or in disagreement with the changes taking place within.

Here joy is a very significant moment. If a person feels joyless, then his desires do not correspond to the Creator’s. They are opposite to Him. As the desire is being corrected, joy is revealed in it. The stronger and deeper the joy, the greater the upper light, the presence of the Creator, Shechina, is revealed.

If the upper force is ready to be revealed in a person, then joy appears in him first and then the Creator. Joy is an illumination from above, a special power of the light, which manifests itself in response to a prayer, a request to the Creator from below.

When we turn to the Creator with questions and requests, when we want to contact Him, then as a response we receive the light from above that corrects our desires and fills them.

This light first of all brings joy and then all other revelations. Therefore, the Shechina (the presence of the Creator) is revealed only in joy, which manifests itself first.

If I want to achieve bestowal, I must always be in joy. If it is not there, then I need to check myself: where else in me is there still uncorrected egoism that disallows me to reveal the Creator? We do not know whether we are approaching the revelation of the Creator, and therefore, the Kabbalists give us the criterion to test ourselves: am I getting closer to joy or, on the contrary, am I moving away from it every day?

From these movements to a greater or lesser degree of joy, one can judge to what extent one is approaching the revelation of the upper force or moving away from it. After all, joy is a consequence of good deeds, that is, corrections.

In every state one needs to stay in joy because “there is none else beside the Creator”—everything comes from Him. No one can secretly do something bad from the Creator to us. This does not happen—everything comes from above. The Creator stands behind every person and affects us through this theater. If I do not have an egoistic intention to receive, then I will always be in joy. I do not care what the Creator gives me: the main thing is that He continuously takes care of me. I do not weigh what is more pleasant and profitable for me in my egoism, and therefore, I accept everything with joy.

By this sign, one can check oneself: whether we are moving in our groups toward correction and revelation of the Creator, whether we set an example to our friends that we always have to be in joy in order to bring the revelation of the upper force closer.¹

Joy is the consequence of what I bestow to my friends, to the Creator, to humanity. Joy is the result of bestowal because by bestowing I become similar to the Creator. Because of my actions, I receive an illumination, which is called joy.

Spiritual joy comes from the fact that through my actions I help the Creator fulfill all of creation. Joy is a consequence of the fact that I, with the help of the Creator, fulfill all of creation and thus bestow pleasure to Him.²
From Lesson 5, Latin America Convention 2019 “Building A Future Society” 5/18/19, Day 2, Serve the Lord with Gladness
1 Minute 0:00 – 9:50
2 Minute 1:39:45

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Lesson Preparation

Writings of Rabash, Vol. 3,  Article “What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah” (1990)

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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How can a person decide to annul himself? From despair. Some kind of trouble comes, stress, an unsolvable problem when you do not know what to do. The Creator blocks exits for me from all sides, there is nowhere to escape, and life is worse than death. And then I see that the only way out is to annul myself in the face of this situation, to quench my desire to somehow resolve it, and do something. Let the Creator, who arranges all this, resolve everything by Himself. I just need to annul myself.

In such states, I learn how to annul myself. It is as if the whole world is collapsing on me, and there is no way to get out of this state or to somehow hide. Then the Creator sends me the thought: “I did everything to help you. Stop controlling reality! Your job is to annul yourself before the reality created by Me.” So, a person starts learning how to restrict himself.

These actions are still egoistic. I cannot help but think about myself, but I leave these thoughts because this is my only salvation. Meanwhile, it is only an escape from the blows, but this is how I learn how to get out of myself. The Creator has to teach me the way out through my helplessness. Then I understand that this is really the correct approach.

I decide that I do not control the world, but everything is arranged by the Creator, who is waiting for me to admit that He is the reason for everything because there is none else beside Him, who is good and does good. Therefore, all is for the better—not for my corporeal benefit, but for my spiritual advancement. Now, I want to thank the Creator for the grave condition that helped me, like labor in childbirth. Otherwise, we will be unable to exit our egoism.

As an alternative, we should start working in a group, imagining various difficult conditions in it that the desire to enjoy shows us when we want to achieve the desire for bestowal. In this way, we ourselves will awaken the dawn.¹
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/19, “The Absolute Zero”
1 Minute 32:20

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Annul Yourself Only Before The Friends Along The Spiritual Path
Humiliating Pride And High Self-Annulment
He Who Doesn’t Ask For Himself Receives Twice As Much

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