Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 32: And when one is rewarded with being entirely in the will to bestow and not at all for oneself, he will be rewarded with obtaining equivalence of form with his Upper NRNHY, which extend from one’s origin in Ein Sof in the first state, through the pure ABYA, and will immediately extend and clothe him in a gradual manner.

We have a very big desire to receive that grows as we climb the levels of correction. This process begins from the moment we yearn for connection.

The desire is revealed gradually. First we correct it on the level of “to bestow in order to bestow,” which in Kabbalistic terms is called Hafetz Hesed, the level of Bina, Hassadim. Then we correct the desire on the level of “to receive in order to bestow,” which is already the level of Hochma.

On the level of Bina, all our evil inclination seems to be corrected, at least since it doesn’t have the intention of “in order to receive.” Then the mistakes turn into merits and the evils turn into mistakes. We attain a kind of neutrality, now our desire to receive is no longer evil.

Then we continue our work until all the evil inclination becomes good, which means that it receives in order to bestow. This is the reason that Kabbalists sometimes divide the process into two, the correction of the desire and its final reformation to bestowal.

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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: If a person has taken our courses, but is still against connection, can we call it the “evil inclination?”

Answer: No. If after taking a couple of courses I still don’t understand that the rejection I feel towards the group is evil, if I accept this rejection, I have not revealed the evil inclination inside me.

The whole point is seeing the evil inclination in this negative desire. I have to determine this by myself and not just hear about it from someone. I have to feel that this attribute harms me as it doesn’t allow me to enter spirituality and attain the goal. It is this attribute that stands in my way and if I don’t overcome it, if I don’t tie myself to the group, I have no chance.

I have to actually see that the evil inclination blocks my way. It seems to allow me to form a connection but the next moment it detaches me from my friends. Eventually, except for very short moments, I am constantly detached from the group.

Do I perceive that as evil the way I should? After all, it has to come to a level that I will not be able to stand my ego and will do everything in my power to get rid if it: “My death is better than my life. I have to kill it, since it is my enemy.” We must feel that it is the only enemy we have, hiding inside, like a cancerous tumor, like a snake that I must remove.

But if I don’t feel that, I haven’t revealed the evil inclination yet. So I don’t need the Torah as a “spice” yet, which means as a method of correction. It is only by revealing the tyranny of the evil that I look for a solution. I am totally contaminated, it is absorbed inside me and it is impossible to escape it. So what should I do?

By having no choice and feeling helpless, I begin to realize that there is a force that can help me, which is the Light. It is no longer an abstract concept. I feel that it exists and look for an opportunity to demand it; I look for the inner feeling that will enable me to draw it so that it will free me from the evil.

All this comes only when we begin the practical work of connection…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 28: …And then we embark on a new kind of labor—to insert all that exaggerated will to receive in the form of bestowal. Then it is healed, because now it obtained equivalence of form. … It is only that in the meantime it has been given to the Klipot for purification. But in the end, it must not be a different body.

There is a desire to receive that was created by the Creator. It isn’t the desire that we all have to sustain our animal body, but a desire that is outside this world that was given to us in order to correct it, to correct our attitude to others.

Everything that is outside the attitude to others doesn’t count at all. Our “animal” part is characterized by desires for food, sex, family, money, respect, and knowledge. It doesn’t matter what form they take; they don’t count at all.

Education, culture, ethics and other values are part of our world only because we think about correcting a person’s attitude to such things by attributing some significance to them. But we were initially given a clear instruction: “Love thy friend as thyself.” It is a comprehensive, universal principle. This is the only thing we have to correct and the only direction we should aim at, regardless of all the other desires. It is in the attitude towards others that the “shattering of the vessels” occurred, and it is there that we discover the upper Light, the adhesion, by the correction.

Kabbalists say that we have to discover the egoistic desire in the mutual relations with others and to acknowledge the fact that it is all for my own benefit instead of the benefit of others. Everything is measured in relation to others, and it is according to this criterion that we call the desire to receive an “evil inclination,” as Kabbalists define it.

If my power is aimed at my self-benefit and not at the good of others, it is called the “evil inclination.” Now I need to turn it into a good inclination so that the same power, the same desire, will not be for my own benefit but for the benefit of others. Why is that? Because by that, we bring contentment to the Creator.

If I work this way, I summon the Light that Reforms, the force that corrects me by ascents and descents. Now I consider my good attitude towards others as an “ascent,” while in a “descent” I see that I am still against bestowal upon others.

I continue these clarifications, until all my desire to receive is actually “dead” and is incapable of anything. Then from the state of death, I revive it and reach the “resurrection of the dead,” and thus reach Gmar Tikkun (the final correction).

So everything takes place within my desire to receive that is aimed at others—individually and towards the environment, and generally towards the Creator. We should be aware of this in a strong and clear manner.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: So far I receive pleasure from receiving, since I cannot be in contact with a higher level of receiving pleasure from bestowal, what can I do to change things?

Answer: You think that you should change the receiving with bestowal and to go on enjoying as if nothing has happened? It is impossible to simply switch from one to the other, after all, then you would bestow egoistically, in order to receive, in order to enjoy like before.

Comment: But I won’t be able to enjoy the receiving if I understand that the pleasure from bestowal itself is much more sublime and not because I gain something from it.

Answer: No, it is impossible to make a corporeal calculation and a spiritual calculation in the same vessels of receiving; when you compare between receiving and bestowal, you clarify what is more worthwhile.

In spirituality the account is totally different, I make it not based on what is in the desire, but in what is in the Creator—in order to bestow upon Him.

Comment: There have been many idealists throughout history, and we don’t see that they received any reward for their actions. Some even gave their lives for a sublime goal.

Answer: That’s the way it seems. However, our nature is totally egoistic, and it is all a desire to enjoy. We can see it in little children and even more in adults. If there is “matter” it cannot be anything but a desire to receive.

So the “idealists” as you see it do not exist. They are simply people whose desire is aimed differently; they enjoy giving to others and they feel good about it. Their intention is the same intention to enjoy, but externally it is expressed differently, it is expressed in giving.

How is an idealist different from a mother who takes care of her child? She also gives him everything. So why don’t we call her an “idealist”? It is because it is her child and we understand that nature obliges her to take care of him, just like animals do.

On the other hand, an idealist operates for the benefit of strangers, and we don’t see what motivates him. But the same concern is part of his nature too; he enjoys giving to others and so he acts accordingly. Eventually, there is no ideal here; it is nature that motivates such people. He doesn’t work against his ego, but rather in a way that is natural for him. If you forbid him to take care of others, he will be ready to kill you, since by that you will be depriving him of the possibility of enjoyment. So it is the same desire to receive that manages the idealist.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Each of us contains 613 different desires, relating to our connection with one another, which we have to correct. First of all, I have to see that they are all egoistic and that I want to use the neighbor and the Creator.

This direction, “Israel, Torah, and the Creator,” meaning from love for the creatures to love for the Creator, first works in the opposite form: for the sake of using the Creator and the creatures for one’s own benefit. First we have to discern precisely this fact, and it becomes revealed on the condition that both the creatures and the Creator are used correctly.

At the first stage, wishing to achieve the general connection with the entire universe, through the creatures to the Creator, we discover our transgressions and mistakes, and that is how we reveal the evil inclination. This does not happen all at once. As one advances, a small part of egoism is continually revealed. We demand its correction, and in the Light of correction we reveal a greater part of egoism, and then again ask for it to be corrected.

Light comes from the Creator through the group, illuminating and correcting the evil that we discover, and as a result we discover new, stronger, harsher waves of egoism within us. That is how we advance from small mistakes to more serious ones, and then from small transgressions to bigger ones, gradually revealing and correcting ourselves.

But we always aspire to love, unification, the unity of Israel, Torah, and the Creator into one whole. We wish for the Creator to become holy, “separate,” special, meaning for the quality of bestowal to always be the greatest value for us. That is how progress occurs.

And the most important aspect of this work is to understand that all corrections are concentrated outside of a person. His spiritual advancement occurs outside of him. And outside of him there is only the Shechina and the Creator that fills it.

A person imagines that there is an entire world around him: still, vegetative, animate, and human, but all of that is just his illusion, his imagination. In reality, none of this exists. When a person begins to reveal the true reality, he discovers that all of it is devoid of the spirit of life, and it is enlivened only by the upper force of the Creator, who is standing behind all of these images and shadows. By themselves they are just garments, wrappers, not having inner fulfillment.

Let us hope that we will reveal this truth quickly and will begin truly working with the Creator through these garments.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/12, Writings of Rabash

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If a person understands the nature of his work, he begins to treat his environment differently because he sees that he has no desire of his own and everything comes from the Creator, and that is why it does not allow him to be considered a creature.

He will be called a creature when he turns to the environment and receives the desire from it. Then these desires will be written on his account.

That is, he needs to bow his head and understand that only the desires that he receives from the environment are called Shechina, the place for the revelation of the Creator, who is called Shochen (Dweller). That is why inclusion in the group is absolutely obligatory for spiritual advancement.

It is said that it is necessary to love friends: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” After all, in this connection between everyone, which is called love, a person reveals the spiritual world, the Creator.

In fact, I don’t choose friends. My choice comes later. In the beginning, the Creator brings me to a group, and I don’t have any freedom here. My choice starts later when I really connect with them and must answer the question: Why do I need it and what I want to receive from them?

Thus, I advance, each time choosing friends because I have to see all of them as great, despite the fact that they appear to me more and more insignificant and empty. This means that I choose them because now I choose precisely these friends whom the Creator gave me for spiritual advancement.

In this way, I move forward and build on my own, a new desire. This very desire that I receive from the environment and in which I want to become similar to the Creator, to reveal the force of bestowal, is called a human being.

Everyone is obliged to show his love for the group because we must support each other, which is called mutual guarantee. Everyone becomes a guarantor for the rest that they all will have enough strength to reveal the force of bestowal and achieve similarity with the Creator. That is why, I am responsible for everyone, I signed their guarantee. Their spirituality is in my hands, as well as my spirituality is in their hands.

And if one of us drills a hole in the common boat, then we will all drown in our egoism, our self-serving intentions, and will not be able to reveal the Creator.

That is why, the further we advance towards revealing the Creator, the more stringent and demanding the conditions will become. We need to understand that we are facing the laws of nature of the Light and desire, and there can be no compromises and concessions. Everything is done according to the laws of the relationship between these two forces.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Before going skydiving, say, a person needs to prepare his mind for the jump, and there is an instructor who helps him with that. It is precisely the teachers who often push their students toward a decisive step. As far as I understand, coercion is forbidden in the integral method, and a teacher, a person who already exists within the integral sensation, doesn’t have a right to do such things.

Answer: How can I push a student? He must exert an effort by himself, close his eyes, and jump from the plane.

He needs to make an internal effort, to gather himself in such a way as to recognize the need for uniting with others. And only in this unity, when he jumps out of himself, not out of an airplane, into a commonality and integrality, beyond himself and into others, from reception to bestowal, when he makes this inversion, this leap, but at the same time turns himself inside out, only then can he experience it.

Moreover, there is a force in nature that doesn’t push, but helps us make this change, this phase transition. It works only on the condition that we demand its influence and help. This is the so-called MAN (prayer) that needs to be formed in a person, that is, an urgent need to change oneself from receiving, being egoistic like a cancer cell, to giving, being compassionate, emanating, and filling everyone else.

This force is able to change us and it exists in nature. But it doesn’t exist in each of us separately; it appears only when we gather together and in our circle create commonality between us, our common effort directed at change. And then each of us and all of us together undergo this change: We become one common whole. And then, after pulling away from it, we become egoists once gain.

So, this force builds us into one single whole, changing not each of us separately but precisely that entire group of people who support each other and elevate this goal, creating such a common demand that it truly draws to them the force of nature which changes them. But in order for it to influence us, we need to have accumulated a certain potential for it. And then the force holds us. This is the second, the giving force of nature.

Two forces exist in nature: receiving and bestowing. We’ve never used the force of bestowal. Desiring to fulfill ourselves, we’ve always used only the egoistic force and have dealt only with it. And now, we’re gradually losing the desire to work with it and in this manner we’re coming to the revelation of the next force.

In our method, this is known as the two lines, where the left line is the receiving one and the right, giving. Through the help of these two lines, we begin to work in mutual connection and to rise in the new dimension along the rungs of the ladder of attainment, feeling, and fulfillment.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” 5/25/12

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In the News (from Economy in Crisis): “It has been said that there are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One way is by using the sword, and the other is by using debt. Fortunately, America is not in danger of being conquered by the sword right now, but America is being conquered by debt. The borrower is the servant of the lender, and today we owe China more than a trillion dollars. By running a gigantic trade deficit with us, China has been able to become incredibly wealthy. We have begged them to lend us back some of the money that we have sent them and this has made them even wealthier. Now China is gobbling up U.S. real estate and U.S. assets at an astounding pace.  In fact, some cities are in danger of becoming completely dominated by Chinese ownership. …

“In addition to real estate, the Chinese are also buying up businesses and natural resources all over the United States.

“On top of all that, the Federal Reserve recently announced that it will now allow Chinese banks to start buying up American banks.

“According to a recent report in the New York Times, investors from China are “snapping up luxury apartments” and are planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on commercial and residential projects like Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. Chinese companies also have signed major leases at the Empire State Building and at 1 World Trade Center, the report said. …

“According to the Economic Policy Institute, since 2001 America has lost approximately 2.8 million jobs due to our trade deficit with China alone. There seems to be absolutely no concern with protecting American jobs these days. …

“The median net worth of families in the United States declined ‘from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010’ according to the Federal Reserve. … A decade ago, the United States was ranked number one in average wealth per adult. By 2010, the United States had fallen to seventh. …

“And when you factor in our debts, we are a complete and total mess. U.S. consumers are more than 11 trillion dollars in debt and the federal government is nearly 16 trillion dollars in debt.”

My Comment: The most powerful nation suddenly turned out to be a colossus with feet of clay, to what it once accused the former USSR. All this is because of the unrestrained greed of a handful of wealthy individuals who seized power and subjugated the whole country, and in the former USSR, it was because of the handful of those who craved power and world domination and subjugated the whole country. Wealth and power have ruined both countries. Egoism has won. But it is doomed to die: People will be forced to change it to a different quality: bestowal and love. No one can do this, but Kabbalah helps discover the “treasure,” to reveal the force of nature that can correct our egoism.
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Question: In classical education there is a transition from one grade to another, and then there’s a transition from one course to another in higher educational institutions. In other words, a person has a specific, precise structure. Once a person either goes to college or graduates from it, he understands that there are stages, certain steps ahead of him. But once we unite and transition to the level of “Man,” will there also be certain stages and steps, and will human development continue?

Answer: Human development begins there because only there begins the attainment of nature. Today we only think about getting more comfortable: I’ll take whatever there is. The laws that we have attained are very limited laws as the studies of Einstein, Hugh Everett, and other scientists show. They are limited, very small laws of nature that literally leak into our egoism and slightly illuminate in our egoistic consciousness; this is the only thing we feel, the only thing we examine. And the rest of nature is vastly concealed from us.

The worlds, the degrees we ascend after attaining the level of “Man,” are our states, strictly gauged degrees of attainment. Our egoism also operates there, not the animalistic type of egoism, but one directed towards the attainment of the concealed part of nature.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #33, 5/25/12

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The Writings of Rabash, Volume 3, “The Matter of Afflictions”: So, when a person studies the Torah and doesn’t find life in the Torah, he feels sorrow, and this is called “a life of suffering.” This means that he feels sorrow since he cannot find the Light of the Creator’s face. In any case, he doesn’t stop studying the Torah, as it is written, “by your labor in the Torah,” although you don’t find it. So, according to how much he studies the Torah and intends to find it, the afflictions soften to a certain extent called, “You have labored and found,” which is the matter of the Light of the King’s face in the Torah. So, through the afflictions, a true desire if formed in him to receive the Light of the King’s face, and this is called “pangs of love” in which there is no annulment of the Torah.

And the most important thing is that the afflictions will be pangs of love and will not annul the Torah, the Light, which means that, when a person feels that he is evil, he understands that the evil is in his ego, and if he worked above the ego, it wouldn’t happen. There are usually physical afflictions in all the religions and beliefs while according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, a person draws away from the body through afflictions that help him do that as he rises above them.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/12

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