In the article “Lishma and Lo Lishma,” Rabash wants to clarify the fundamental difference between these concepts. The difference lies in the kind of fuel that drives a person to act.

First of all, we must understand what our actions are in general, and whether we are their masters. If we act based on the desire to receive, then every time we see some pleasure, some fulfillment of desire, immediately, without any calculations, we want to obtain it. Desire precedes calculation; first the desire is created, then reason. The mind is an addition to the desire in order to achieve what is desired.

Therefore, the moment the desire to receive sees some fulfillment, it wants it, and only then does it begin to calculate how to achieve it and if it is possible, simply to fill itself. If the desire were not hindered by any limitation, it would be fulfilled, and would not require any planning or calculation.

But since there are conditions for filling oneself with pleasure, the desire to receive must undergo a process of calculation to achieve fulfillment. Then it develops a system that we call “reason,” “calculation,” “the Rosh of a Partzuf,” alongside itself. These categories arise because it is impossible to satisfy the desire to receive directly.

It turns out that, to the extent obstacles arise in fulfilling the desire for pleasure, there are more opportunities for mental development and for personal involvement of the desire in this process.

Thus, in order to give this desire independence, it is necessary to place obstacles before it 100% in every state and in various variations of its manifestation, on all paths leading to self–fulfillment.

Only these obstacles will give the desire to receive an opportunity to analyze what I want, why, how I come to fulfillment, whether it is what I want, whether it truly fulfills me, and what is preferable.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Question: The fact that I am holding on to the group is not my choice. The fact that I sit here, listen, read, and discuss are also not my choice. So where then is freedom of choice?

Answer: You did not come here of your own will. Each of us now already sees that we did not appear here by chance; meaning that the Creator brought us. In general, the thought to come, listen, and sit, does not come from me. Everything happened somehow, suddenly, almost unconsciously. It is clear that for the first few months I came and sat here, operating on the fuel received from the Creator.

The efforts begin with descents. Just as the Creator gave me an impulse and brought me to this place, luring me with “candy” to make me feel as if I could sweeten my life here, so now He is taking it away. In order to remain, hold on, and strengthen even more, I need to make great efforts.

The unchangeable spiritual law says: “You have borrowed from Me, and I am collecting.” The Creator gives you strength, gives you direction, and provides an opportunity, but later you will have to pay for it.

Otherwise, it is impossible. How will I be able to rise to a higher degree if I am not familiar with it, if I do not have enough strength for it, and if I have no connection with it?

We think that in spirituality everything is like in this world: I have strength, I have desires, I can see what I am going to acquire, I make calculations, analyze, clarify, check, inquire. Not at all; everything is different in spirituality. Here, the higher degree is detached from you, not felt by you, incomprehensible to you. And even if you reveal something in it, you discover that it is absolutely opposite to you and repels you.

Thus, the law is simple: “You have borrowed from Me, and I am collecting.” That is, you are given the opportunity, everything is given to you from above, and later you will have to return it. Therefore, the efforts consist in strengthening in the direction that the Creator indicates.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 32, “What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?” (1988) (4.29.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 5, Item 34

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3rd part of the Lesson — Preparation for the Congress “Connecting in the Ten, Adhering to the Creator,” Lesson 6: Making a Covenant in the Ten

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State 1 (our present state) is “bestowal to oneself” in which our pleasure and desired fulfillment reside.

State 2 (the state we want to reach) is bestowal to the Creator, which will be our pleasure, and here there is a contradiction.

In bestowal to oneself, both the action itself, the work, and the reward are all in one direction, in one line. Therefore, this is called the direct light, and everything here is clear to us; the beginning and the end, and the attainment of this final goal all stream in one direction, toward myself.

But if I want bestowal to the Creator to be my pleasure, then there is a problem of the opposition between intention and result because I need a correction of intention, which is against my desire!

Bestowal to the Creator must turn into receiving pleasure for me! And I am obliged to enjoy it because that is the purpose of creation, but the enjoyment must come from bestowal, and this is completely opposite to me!

The goal of creation is enjoyment, and the correction of creation is bestowal. But these two conditions contradict each other. This is the main obstacle and difficulty in our perception that always blocks our path and deprives us of the opportunity to realize what we intend.

On the one hand, we must apply great efforts and do a tremendous amount of work, and on the other hand, its result does not depend on us; it is given from above. We only reveal the desire in ourselves the desire with our work; we do not obtain the goal itself; we attain the Kli, the vessel that can contain it.

Therefore, these two opposites—bestowal to the Creator and enjoyment from this—can be united only through our adhesion with Him. And only the upper light, which changes our nature, can bring us to this adhesion.

From a state in which the heart rules over a person, and therefore, in the terms of Kabbalah he is called a “sinner,” we must pass to a state in which the person within us rules over his heart, and therefore, is called a “righteous one.” There is only one solution for attaining this goal: a Kabbalistic group, which serves an example for us, a framework, a template in which we can check ourselves and see to what extent we correspond to this goal or not.

The group is able to instill in me that nothing is more precious to me than bestowal to the Creator! But, on the other hand, I reveal that I am capable of nothing and only the Creator can help me. In this way I come to the necessary desire, to a prayer.

But presently, these two polar opposites do not exist in us: Keter and Malchut, direct light and reflected light, the inverse correspondence of light and desire, all exist only in the corrected Kli where the intention is opposite to the desire.

This is the model we need to build within ourselves for the first time, the first ten Sefirot, and then we will acquire an inner structure, like the first cell of a new organism from which the embryo of the soul will further develop.
[20357]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10, Rabash, “What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?”

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There are four states people go through when performing Torah and Mitzvot.

What does it mean to perform Torah and Mitzvot? For religious people, it is what they were taught at a young age: to perform certain actions and they perform them. If they had been taught other actions, they would performed those.

In this case, as Rabash writes, the reason and motivation for fulfilling the Torah and Mitzvot is external influence. This does not mean that I perform commandments because I am afraid of these people or that I want to be considered great among them, good and righteous, a respected person, etc. It doesn’t matter what other reasons there may be, the main thing is that I do what I was taught, nothing more. In general, I fulfill other people’s desires.

For someone who has been used to doing this since childhood, it becomes second nature; otherwise, he feels bad, and by doing his usual actions, he feels good. Whether a person was brought up this way or converted to faith at a later age, he looks at his environment, which obliges him to perform certain actions.

And indeed, the environment has wonderful laws. You must attend the synagogue. It is not right to  not go there to pray. You are obliged to celebrate holidays according to certain rules and to dress in a certain way. You are obliged. Society sets thousands of laws for you. And this means that you fulfill the Torah and the commandments under the influence of external people, and not of your own freewill.

Whereas we are talking about correcting one’s desire. In this case, you set your desire aside, as if you remove it from yourself, place someone else’s desire into yourself, and fulfilled it. This is called a “good soldier,” who uses his body, and, by placing the commander’s desire in it, obeys his orders. For the religious masses, this form of observing the commandments is acceptable, which is very good. Otherwise it would be a mess, chaos.

The second type of motivation for fulfilling the Torah and Mitzvot is the Creator in combination with external people, who promote and compel the observance of the Torah and Mitzvot. That is, a person begins to incorporate a certain admixture into his previous calculations, as if “contaminating” them. He is already beginning to consider not only the environment, but also the Creator.

What does it mean to be with the Creator? This means that a kind of conflict arises inside a person, an internal contradiction. This is not yet a clash of two opposing sides; it is not yet two poles.

Two opposing authorities cannot exist in me at the same time, or I would be torn apart by not knowing whom to listen to, or whom to give preference to. I cannot be aimed in both directions. I have only one desire. I cannot tune in to two, so a problem arises. This is the beginning of the path.

The third condition is when “only the Creator obliges him to fulfill the Torah and commandments; not external people, but the person himself is also the reason for fulfilling the Torah and commandments.” This is the third type of motivation, when the Creator obliges a person to fulfill the Torah and the commandments, and the person himself, as Rabash writes, “is the reason.” I would say that he contributes to this.

And the fourth type of motivation is that the reason for fulfilling the Torah and the commandments is only the Creator, and there is no one contributing to this. This is called “the introduction of the mixed-multitude into Kedusha.” In this case, there is absolutely no other contributing or even supporting factor, where we say that a person strengthens himself along the way and supposedly does something on his own. No, everything is done exclusively by the Creator. But this is the level of complete adhesion with the Creator.

As a result, it is revealed to a person that all these are the ways of the Creator’s governance. It is not that I act one way or another as I advance, but as I work hard, I reveal various factors that compel me to act.

At first these factors seem to be external people, then external people and the Creator, then me and the Creator, and in the end, only the Creator. It is just that in the process of his development, a person begins to reveal what the reason is for his existence, and who is the source of his existence.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 15, “What Does It Mean that Before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered, in the Work?” (1990) (4.19.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 5, Item 32

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3rd part of the Lesson — Preparation for the Congress “Connecting in the Ten, Adhering to the Creator,” Lesson 6: Making a Covenant in the Ten

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Question: Is the revelation of the Creator, in fact, the revelation of a new form in oneself?

Answer: The revelation of the Creator’s face is called the manifestation of His importance because, in fact, this is what I seek. This is not the revelation of pleasure, but the revelation of His superiority, His properties, and His perfection. It helps me to respect the Creator more than my desire to receive.

This desire constantly grows in a person. More and more Reshimot (spiritual records) surface. In other words, more and more of the left line is added to a person. Then he needs to reveal the face of the Creator as a greater, more exalted one who affects him more so that he can resist the desire to receive, and respect the Creator more than his selfish desire. This means that a person has the strength to work for the sake of giving.

It follows that the desire to receive was originally created in the size of the Creator; both are equal in magnitude. However, a person feels the magnitude of the desire to receive only in accordance with how much he is able to overcome it, and at the same time, to reveal the Creator as important and great.

Each time it is like a game. At first, the desire to receive is hidden from us; we feel only a small part of it in the form of reality of this world. In fact, this is the same general reality, only it is called “this world” because we perceive it without taking the Creator into account.

All else, apart from this level, we already perceive in accordance with the reality of the Creator, meaning, we actually feel the Creator, which is called the upper world. “All else” means that we already consider the importance of the Creator relative to the importance of the desire to receive.

This desire gradually grows, starting from the lowest, smallest state, until it reaches the level of the Creator. It helps us to ask the Creator time and again to show us more and more of His importance, greatness, and superiority. And when we reveal the Creator and prefer to bring Him pleasure rather than serve our ego, then we adhere to the Creator’s form, absorb it, adopt it, and it truly becomes our form.
[352381]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29 “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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However, we were given one place on which we can work without any reward. That is, even when we still do not have a taste for Torah and Mitzvot due to the Tzimtzum, there is one advice, which is to work in greatness of the Creator, how privileged we are to be serving the King (RABASH, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma“).

Question: Do these words apply to us who are in this world?

Answer: I want to enjoy. This is how I am. My desire to receive perceives nothing in any other way. There is something before me; I receive it and enjoy it. How can I work differently? I am able to work in another form only if I nevertheless receive some pleasure.

Without pleasure it is impossible to live, impossible to move. I can enjoy only from what I receive. We are confused about this because this is our foundation, which has not yet been clarified. Clarifying it takes years of persistent, serious work.

The question is this: can I move from the place where I am now in any direction by even one meter? My answer is: yes, I can, but only on the condition that you fill me with, say, a liter of fuel, or a hundred calories. Then I will be able to move from one place to another. Where will I get the hundred calories from? In various ways, but I must receive them.

Thus, I have two possibilities. Either I receive the hundred calories from all kinds of pleasures that supposedly exist around me or from seeing how great the Creator is. I have two fueling stations with which to set my desire to receive into motion at my disposal, and that is all.

If I am able to work due to the greatness of the Creator, then I become a perpetual motion machine, and I depend on nothing. In that case, my machine can operate without stopping; it no longer depends on any external, insignificant factors. This is our entire goal!
[352419]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Before the invention of road-signs as a means to put order in traffic, police officers would stand and streamline traffic. At that time, many people were angry and had grievances against the officers for not doing their job right, and that they were not noticing the line of cars.

But today, the streamliner of traffic has become inanimate, mindless. So, now each one accepts the verdict of the road-sign (traffic light), and no one gets angry with it or asks it for favors (RABASH, Article 28, “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?“).

On the one hand, the Creator places a traffic light before us, and these laws of nature are absolute. You can curse the traffic light, but it will not help, except perhaps only in the case that you turn to the cause, to the one who operates it. In our days, sometimes when traffic is heavy, you can see a police officer directing traffic. Then you have someone you can shout at.

But if this cause is unknown, you do not see the police officer, the traffic light works according to an internal mechanism, and you do not yell. You have no one to turn to because the governance is concealed. Nature! From this example it is clear how much understanding the cause raises you to a different level in relation to the situation.

If I know that it is the Creator who arranges everything for me, then I immediately turn to Him. I do not look at the traffic light; I look at the police officer. If I see both the police officer and the traffic light, I look at the one who directs the traffic because salvation will come from there. Then all the laws of nature lose their importance.

That is why the Creator does not reveal Himself. Because if He were revealed, I would cling to Him because of my will to receive, and I would never be able to come out from under its control. This is what originally happened with Malchut of the world of infinity. In order to free oneself from this, there must be a restriction, a distancing, and the desire to receive must be corrected into a desire to bestow.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/26, Rabash, Article 28, “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?”

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Question: What does awe before the Creator mean? How can one attune oneself to this sensation?

Answer: It is said in The Book of Zohar that awe before the Creator consists of three parts. If we seriously move forward, we begin to feel our egoism, how it leads us forward and pushes us toward certain attainments and achievements. It forces us to worry constantly: Will it be better for us in this life, will we become smarter, stronger, more knowledgeable, more understanding, more advanced; will we receive something in this world or in the future world?

Gradually, we begin to attain that the spiritual world is not beyond the boundary of death, and the death of our body has no influence on anything whatsoever. Spiritual death means that we simply remain in our Reshimo. And everything that happens to us depends only on how much we realize our Reshimot and create a spiritual Partzuf from them, that is, a corrected part of our soul, and try to develop it to a complete level where the soul includes all the rest of creation: the still, vegetative, animate, and human parts of the soul.

Therefore, awe speaks of what I fear. It is a natural protective function of egoism, which constantly trembles: Will I be able to receive or not, now or later, am I sure of this or not, have I lost what I acquired, did I earn more today than yesterday, and so on? The state of awe is the most essential thing in egoism: It constantly trembles lest it lack fulfillment. This is its fundamental property.

Our task is to transfer material awe into spiritual awe: Will I be able to bestow? Will I come to such a state where I think less about myself and more about the external Kli (vessel)? Do I include myself in this way, do I awaken to the quality of bestowal? Do I cross the psychological barrier where I am not within myself, but outside, where my soul actually is? Within me there is only my egoism, and my soul is outside of me. I must make a Tzimtzum (restriction) on my egoism, impose a prohibition on it, and develop my attitude toward others. Can I do this?

It is precisely here that a new awe appears: Will I be able to bestow, will I be able to be independent of my egoism, will I be able to create the Rosh (head) of the Partzuf?

Suppose we have a desire over which we build a screen (Masach) and work with the light above it.

What we create above is called Rosh (head), and below is the Guf (body).

We strive to reduce the awe, the anxiety for ourselves, that we feel in our desire. This is what we perform the first restriction, Tzimtzum Aleph (TA), upon, then we build a screen and work above it.

As is known, the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection; therefore, to the extent that we correctly perceive the upper light, to that same extent we can work with it.

By transferring awe from “concern for myself” to awe as “concern for others,” I include myself in their desires, which is called “love your neighbor.” Thus, I build the Rosh of the Partzuf, and this becomes the connecting link between me and the others. In the Rosh I define my soul, which is built above the body, above the screen. In it, I can include the entire world and the Creator. This is how it works.

Therefore, as we study in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” concern can be within oneself and outside oneself.

Concern for oneself usually turns into anxiety about what will happen to me in this world and in the future world. This concern is absolutely incorrect, because there is neither “this world” nor “the next world”—such a concept does not exist at all.

There is a world, a spiritual state, that I can enter even today. It is called Olam Haba, that is, the coming world, the world that is coming. The next minute, my next state, is called the “future world.”

Therefore, we must rise to concern for others, including the Creator, which is realized above the screen. It is this concern that determines the power of the soul.
[119478]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/20/13, on the topic “Group and Dissemination”

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