There is nothing in the universe besides two forces: the Creator and creation. The force of bestowal is the Creator, while the force of reception is creation. These two forces are combined together inside of creation in order to enable creation to attain the Creator’s degree.

In other words, creation has a desire to egoistically fulfill itself and an altruistic desire to bestow. The only question is: What is primary, the desire to bestow in order to receive fulfillment for itself, or the desire to receive pleasure for the sake of bestowal? Everything depends on what we use reception or bestowal for.

When a person is at the beginning of the path of his correction, he is unable to hear about anything other than how to earn something for himself. Until he passes the Machsom, until he performs a restriction (Tzimtzum) on his desires, he sees everything only as an opportunity to extract benefit for himself. He simply cannot operate in any other way.

Therefore, all of his advancement takes place by the principle of “bestowal for the sake of reception.” He works in the group, comes to lessons, works on dissemination, and he is sure that he will be able to receive the whole world in reward. That is how a person advances, and this is called that he uses the force of the “woman” in him.

Gradually, if a person carries out the teacher’s advice, then inner changes take place inside him under the influence of the Light that Reforms. His progress is accompanied by alternating ascents and descents, states of uncertainty and confusion.

That is how he gradually comes to understand the value of the quality of bestowal in and of itself, rather than in order to extract benefit from it. Yet for now this only happens from time to time. The Upper Light brings him the sensation that bestowal is a great quality by itself.

Then he starts thinking less about himself when making all his actions and attributes greater importance to the group and the Creator. He thinks more about the state of the world and shifts from caring for himself to caring for the common good. This is called that the “man” in him, the force of overcoming (in Hebrew “man,” “Gever,” comes from the word “Hitgabrut,” overcoming) rises above the “woman” in him.

That is how a person gradually goes from Lo Lishma (actions for his own sake) to Lishma (for the sake of bestowal). This revolution happens drastically and suddenly, but the path to it is very slow and gradual.

When a person completely replaces the “woman” in him with a “man,” which now determines the path of his spiritual development, advancement towards bestowal for the sake of bestowal and then to reception for the sake of bestowal, then he is already working with the male force.

In the meantime, the “woman” is inside of him. She can either be his helper or help against him. Everything depends on his state. Then the right combination of the male and female forces occurs within him.
[35755]
From the lesson on 2/11/11 on Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
The Object Of Correction Is The Woman Within
The Victims Of Egoism
A Man And A Woman: To Be Or Not To Be Together?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Women - No Comments →

The Zohar, “Ki Tissa [When You Take],” Item 31: “As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” The Creator wished to make Israel similar to what is above, so there would be one lily in the earth [in Israel] that is like the lily above, Malchut. And the fragrant lily, better than all the lilies in the world is only one who has grown among the thorns. This one smells as it should.

Thorns become revealed to a person to the degree he is able to overcome them. If he correctly prepares all of the inclinations, all the forces present and operating between him and the environment, if he can continually awaken and raise the importance of the Creator, unity, and love for the neighbor as himself above everything that surfaces in his thoughts and desires, then he makes the right analysis and “blunts the teeth” of the evil inclination.

Rabash writes, “When you answer egoism, ‘blunt its teeth.’” This means that you shouldn’t argue with it, but should use force and overcome it. I reveal the environment, which lies between myself and others, egoistically, looking for a chance to use my connection with it, to get as much as I can out of them.

Looking at reality from a material perspective, I see everything outside of me, instead of inside myself. I do not think that I am the one responsible for the distance, the hatred, and the repulsion that become revealed. All of this appears external to me and not my own. I don’t think that these are my Kelim, my perception of realty, my vision, or the revelation of the upper reality inside of me.

Therefore, I must give myself “a blow to the teeth” over and over again in order to correct my attitude to the picture that is depicted before my eyes. In this picture I am separated from the neighbor by a distance that does not seem like my own corrupted desires (Kelim) to me. Instead if seems like something foreign, something I have to reject.

But I act on the contrary: I blunt the force of this illusion with my analysis since I understand that everything becoming revealed to me is myself. And I do not correct my soul unless I attribute to myself the whole world, all of reality, all of the people, all of the souls, and all the levels in general—the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking degrees. I have to treat them all as an inseparable part of me.

Then I see that the perception of reality, love for the creatures, and the revelation of the Creator lie in the same thoughts and desires that determine my attitude to the neighbor, to that which is outside. In reality there is nothing beyond desire. And when I feel that this desire comes out of me toward others, I have to “strike it in the teeth” the right way. That is how I turn it into a connecting link between myself and the other part of me. The neighbor will become a part of me and the Creator will become mine. That is how I will include all of reality inside of me, and thereby the breaking will be corrected.

Then, in that same place, in the same desires and thoughts that stood between myself and the neighbor, I will begin to feel the Light’s presence, the quality of bestowal and love.
[35497]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/11, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
The Right Perspective On Reality
Blunting The Illusion Of The Breaking
Correction In Front Of A Mirror

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Perception, Zohar - 2 Comments →

Question: Why do we have to study to attract the upper Light? Why can’t the Light influence us while working in the group the way it influences a child while he’s playing? Why isn’t it enough for us to play the game of “love for friends” in order to attain that love?

Answer: During the study we try to unite together and we definitely need the Light to develop us. This Light does not come by us just trying to unite together. It has to come to us from the upper world, from the higher state or level.

We do not grow like animals, meaning, we do not grow on the same level. A small child that wants to get older only grows inside his ego, without transforming it “for the sake of bestowal.” He just becomes a more grown-up animal.

But in our spiritual work, at every level we turn our ego to bestowal and that is why we need the Light that Reforms. Therefore, it’s not enough for us to “play” in the group in order to attain love for friends because this love is opposite to our nature. I play love, but by doing that I won’t reach it.

If people wish to unite in order to attain the egoistic goal that our ego understands, such as to win or earn, then they don’t have any problem uniting. But if we have to change our nature, then our ego doesn’t understand why it’s necessary to unite with others, and that’s why we are unable to do so. I hear many complaints. People come to us and perplexedly ask, “These are the relationships that you, Kabbalists have?! But there has to be infinite love here! And instead, look at what’s happening here!” People from outside don’t get it.

If you enter any external society that has a clear egoistic goal, you will see that they are united together because they understand that together they can attain the goal, such as succeeding at some business or building a house. But we cannot unite because unity between us is possible only by breaking the ego, while in the external society it happens by increasing the ego.

That is why we have to additionally evoke the Light that Reforms. Only the Light’s influence can unite us. We can only reveal hatred among us. In the external society, which is united by the egoistic goal, people reveal love among them, whereas we reveal hatred. This is called “Mount Sinai”—the mountain of hatred. Then we will need the Torah—the Light that Reforms because we can only unite with its help.

That is why only hatred becomes revealed in a real group of Kabbalists, and then they have to study in order to attract the Light that will unite them. But the Light unites them only for a moment, and then they reveal hatred once again in order for them to advance further by attracting the Light to them. And that is how they constantly have to attract the Light since otherwise they become immersed in hatred. Hatred is their ego, “help against them,” helping them to advance in this way.

That is why we need the group and we have to try to unite together even though it is clear to us that we won’t attain it on our own. Yet we must try not to hang our heads in the face of this game. And we have to study together in order to attract the Light that Reforms because it has to perform this revolution inside us, since we won’t unite without acquiring the quality of bestowal.

External societies unite egoistically, whereas we unite only by virtue of mutual spiritual bestowal. If the Light influences us and unites us with one another, then in the common Kli between us, we will immediately reveal the Creator. The common force that will become revealed among us is the Creator. Then our desire to enjoy will turn into the desire to bestow.
[35407]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Learning To Love
Steps Toward Uniting With The Creator
How To Keep The Love From Cooling Down

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Group Work, Kabbalah Study, Love, Q&A, Unity - 2 Comments →

Question: If it is impossible to attract the Light that Reforms without studying the science of Kabbalah, does that mean everyone is obligated to study?

Answer: Of course! That is why Baal HaSulam says that everyone has to “sit at the desks.” But what does it mean “to study”? Studying does not happen through the mind. You don’t have to know anything. You have to study only for the sake of the intention to attract the Light so it would influence you and transform your ego to love, unity.

What’s important isn’t the study, but the result. This is called “the Torah,” as it is written, “I created the ego and I gave the Torah for its correction because the Light contained in it returns one to the Source.” The Light transforms your ego, your hatred for the friends, into bestowal, love, and unity.

This is the entire essence of the Torah. You don’t have to understand anything, but only to change hatred to love.

Question: And the whole world has to do this?

Answer: That’s right. But what does “studying” mean for them? It can even mean watching our broadcasts absentmindedly for half an hour a day. That’s enough. They don’t have to understand anything. Of course, it is necessary to give them a general explanation about freedom of choice and unification since they can understand that. But they do not need real study.

Besides, since the souls are connected with one another, our study will influence them. But they will have to make efforts too.
[35404]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
It Won’t Help Us To Play Love
We Ruin Our Own Lives
Kabbalah Is The Science Of Love

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Kabbalah Study, Love, Q&A, Torah - No Comments →

Upbringing as we understand it has lost the meaning it had in previous generations when we used to raise children so they would be good, kind, cheerful, and pleasant, behave properly, and so on. Upbringing today is something altogether different and we are increasingly sensing that it is necessary to all. That’s because “receiving an upbringing” or “education” means knowing how to act with yourself, with the environment, with the country and the world, as well as in different situations that happen to us.

Stated differently, “upbringing” is a person who changes inside of me, while my parents and surroundings help me to build myself correctly so I would know how to live my life well, confidently, and securely. After all, everything we learn as children later becomes our nature, and then we can behave well effortlessly. This is also confirmed by the latest research which shows that children’s education from the ages two until six or seven is what serves as their foundation.

Our development throughout all of human history unfolded in the egoistic direction where every person thought only of himself: How can I succeed, how can I earn, and how can I swindle everyone without being harmed myself? This is the simple, egoistic formula by which a person was previously taught how to arrange his life. And this really was considered the right education.

Today this is starting to change as we feel that the world has become integral, meaning connected with all of its parts, on all levels, and in all elements. We are facing a very serious problem because we do not correspond to the new world that is now appearing and coming to us. A new governance is becoming apparent, a new method, and a new law of Nature.

Previously I didn’t care about anything. I could cut down forests over here, dry up lakes over there, and do anything I wanted in society. Each of us personally was able to do anything he wished without asking others.

However, now we have reached a world in which there is no freedom of the individual. Now you cannot do anything you like even in your own backyard unless it is for our good because whether you want it or not, through the common connection between us you evoke a blow upon everyone.

We do not know which of our actions bring harm and what the consequences are because we aren’t yet integrally connected with one another in our consciousness. And if I want to have some work done or make a deal with someone, then I have to take the whole world into consideration. But I am unable to do so. I cannot accept the fact that I influence the world and I don’t know whether the world will benefit from this or not.

Yet since all of us together make up a single organism, even a small tremor will later influence the whole system, just like in our animate bodies. If we don’t have the right attitude to the nature that is now being revealed, then what will happen to us? It means that I will not be able to succeed in business, nor at work, nor in upbringing, nor in my attitude to anyone.

Soon the connection between us will manifest to such a degree that unless I consider all of the consequences of calling the police or my landlord, for example, then I will definitely cause harm. In other words, as the science of Kabbalah explains to us, having reached the current level of development, we are already required to correct man’s nature. This correction is for all of us to unite “as one man with one heart” by the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.”
From my lecture in “Kabbalah L’Am” Hall on 2/8/11

Related Material:
Teenage Rebellion Is The Leap Into Spirituality
When Technology Is Futile
Tied By The Single Network

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Education, Egoism, Lectures, World - No Comments →

By descending to our world, the spiritual roots turn into their opposite forms, and egoism of our world carries out the upper commandment of love according to its understanding—it goes to kill. But decide what do you prefer: to remain in the corporeal branches or to ascend to the spiritual root?

If you want to rise, work in the group and participate in its game of mutual, brotherly love. Then you will discover that you are unable to love this way, that it is all a lie, and you will ask for correction. The force will come from Above and grant you love and the connection with others.

This connection does not exist at the level of our world, but only at the higher degree. Look at the souls, not the bodies! It is as though there is a computer screen before me on which I can see the corporeal or spiritual actions. If I see with the spiritual eyes, I see love, and if I use my material eyes, murder.

But if someone attacks and wants to kill me, it does not mean that he does it with love: He acts driven by his egoism. That’s why it is said that if someone comes to kill you, you should preempt him and kill him first. By this you correct him since he came to kill you, which means that his egoism is greater than yours. For this reason, by killing him you perform a correction, acting with a smaller egoism than the person who attacked you.

Here everything is logical and not based on blind faith. After all, I did not want to kill him; he attacked me first in order to murder me. And when it is totally evident, killing a bigger egoism with a smaller one will be a correction. This is my duty, an upper commandment: "Kill the one who comes to kill you."

There are nothing but corrections. Either they occur at the still, vegetative, and animate level while we are neither aware of nor understand them, or they are true corrections while we work with the group at the speaking level.

All murders in our world occur because egoism demands such sacrifices for its correction. But if we want, we can elevate this correction to the spiritual level. We can raise all these actions to a higher level, and then we won’t feel or see any evil in this world.

But this can occur only under the condition that we elevate the entire egoistic desire, which performs these heinous crimes, to a higher level. There, all of its actions will be beautiful, opposite to what we see today. People will suddenly begin to unite, embrace each other, and feel close.
[34911]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbbalah Lesson 2/9/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

Related Material:
How We Turn Love Into Hatred
We Ruin Our Own Lives
The Theatrical Mask Of The Upper World

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

Question: Do supernatural powers exist in our world?

Answer: The natural and the supernatural are measured in relation to man, according to his nature and the level of his development. For example, if a person living 500 years ago was shown a plane, he would be very scared at seeing this metal bird flying through the air without even moving its wings!

However, supernatural does not stand for anything more powerful than me. Right now there is something that controls me, but tomorrow I will control it. Supernatural stands for something “above my nature,” something that I will never attain naturally.

The nature of our world is completely egoistic. It is the desire to receive pleasure from everything possible, to come closer to beneficial things and farther from harmful things. The opposite nature, bestowal and love, is above this level.

The forces of bestowal and love are greater than our nature since they do not have the limitations that come from perceiving things only for the sake of one’s individual pleasure. These forces can only be activated on the condition that you acquire them by rising above your nature into the opposite nature. Then you will have a different perception of reality, as it is written: “I saw a reverse world.” This reality is not limited by time, space, and movement. It is infinite and harmonious, without collisions or boundaries. Once you attain it, you exist in it.

We do not feel that reality now because we possess opposite qualities. But those who have acquired qualities above their nature do perceive it. You could say that this kind of person, who is called a Kabbalist, has supernatural powers.
[35112]
From the program “Ask the Kabbalist” on 6/23/10

Related Material:
The World Of Our Intentions
The Victims Of Egoism
Inside The Ego’s Trap

Filed under: Egoism, Q&A, Spirituality - 1 Comment →

A person comes to Kabbalah after awakening to the need to learn the concealed upper force, the purpose and the reason for his existence, and the meaning of his life. As he goes through stages in his spiritual development, a person reaches a critical point and begins to think about the ways to attain the spiritual world. Previously he used to think that spirituality could be attained with what he has, meaning the five senses, the mind, and the regular perception of reality.

But at a certain stage, one begins to feel that the spiritual world cannot be revealed this way and that to do it, he needs to change himself. That’s when he remembers a famous saying: “I created the evil inclination and the Torah for its correction, because the Light contained in it returns one to the Source.”

Every person envisions the spiritual world in his own way. The wisdom of Kabbalah defines it as the property of love and bestowal where a person comes out of his egoistic properties and begins to reveal the higher reality in the properties of bestowal that are opposite to his.

Kabbalists explain that it is necessary for us to develop the property of bestowal, that is, to perform the correction of the heart (desire). This means that if right now our desire works to receive, we need to change it so as to perceive the desires of others like our own. The entire method consists of correcting our ego, which desires to consume everything, through developing a sense above it, which means to come out of our desire.

By the time I came to study Kabbalah, I already had over twenty years of education. I was a scientist and an entrepreneur, whereas all of the Kabbalists who I happened to study with were simple people. I remember having a conversation with Rabash when he told me that he began his employment as a blacksmith assistant, then was a shoemaker, and at the end of his career he worked at a tax collector’s office. Yet, I was convinced that I would be able to attain more with my mind. It took me time to understand that Kabbalah is a science of feelings and that we need to correct our heart.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that the mind awakens in us only to the extent of the heart employing it. The heart wishes to know what it is feeling and why, where feelings come from, and how they can be changed. And then the heart employs the mind.

It is a known fact that our mind works better when we are facing problems and misery. The need that arises develops the mind. Thus, the function of the system called “mind” is to help us fulfill our desire.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a science of developing the feeling of love. In other words, I need to attain an ability to connect with everyone else’s desires or needs and accept them as my own. My concern for the needs of another as my own is called my love for him. This bears no relation to receiving fulfillment or pleasure from someone else, but on the contrary, my pleasure will come from fulfilling others.

People who start studying Kabbalah acquire new feelings in the heart which enable them to gradually begin to understand that in reality there is infinite fulfillment and pleasure from being able to come out of one’s own self and fulfilling others. This gives a person an incessant and unlimited opportunity which suddenly reveals a new perception of reality, a new horizon to him.

This is because a person who comes out of himself and begins to feel the needs of others instead of his own ceases perceiving himself, and gradually comes to a state when he no longer needs to take care of himself. When we find the property of bestowal, we receive the fulfillment there and acquire the upper world through it, becoming like the Creator.
[35117]
From my lecture in “Kabbalah L’Am” Hall on 12/21/10

Related Material:
Bestow? What For?
We Ruin Our Own Lives
How To Keep The Love From Cooling Down

Filed under: Egoism, Love, Science - 1 Comment →

A person is faced with a big problem: How does he know what world he is living in? How is he supposed to view reality? What perspective should he choose? How does he detach from the inner deception and see not what he wishes to see in his egoism, but rather an objective view devoid of ego’s attributes, desires, and emotions?

We know that we judge according to how corrupted we are and look with subjective, biased eyes which fully distort our perspective of life. The world does the same. We witness how throughout history people were deceived in their perception of reality, their approach to life, unable to comprehend the world they were living in and why.

A person who studies Kabbalah has an opportunity to see the truth, but a person who is locked in the internal sphere of our world, bound by this small circle, cannot see anything that goes beyond its boundaries. Inside it, he sees everything according to his ego, based on his personal benefit, and is unable to think about anything else.

Either way, all his aspirations are aimed inward, solely toward his inner point. Hence, it can’t be that he can develop a desire or thought to see something outside of his own, innermost interest. He is made initially in such way so as to be unable to see or feel anything that does not correspond with his inner point. A person cannot even start thinking about it since it is completely outside the realm of his perception.

There may be another reality next to him that is billions of times greater and more powerful than the one he experiences in his inner egoistic point, but he has absolutely no interest in it and, therefore, can’t see it. His information genes (Reshimot) dictate that he should care solely about things that involve only himself, and that is exactly what he does.
[32427]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
Understanding On The First Try
A Conman In My Own Right
Where Am I In This Movie?

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Perception - No Comments →

From the world of Infinity, “State 1,” we develop (descend) down to this world, which is called reaching “State 2.” From this state we have to rise back to Infinity, into “State 3” which is identical to State 1. There is only one difference between them: We exist in State 3 being aware of this fact, consciously. Hence, it is considered to be 613 times greater than State 1.

We developed in State 2 over the course of billions of years in the still, vegetative, and animate forms. Until we descended down the worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya, time did not exist at all. Time appears when we reach this world and then develop over the course of approximately 15 billion years, finally arriving at the “human” degree.

The difference between the “human” and the still, vegetative, and animate states is that man does not exist in nature! From the beginning, a human being is essentially a beast, albeit a more complex one. He turns into man only at the degree at which he feels that he is a global, social being.

That is, he no longer lives in an individual, egoistic form as he did previously before reaching our current degree. Rather, he has to join in the spiritual development and climb the steps he once came down by. From the general, social development we have to transition to the spiritual development with full seriousness and responsibility. This is the essence of our work.

While we were developing egoistically, we did not encounter any problems because we evolved unconsciously, naturally. But since we have reached “the red line,” meaning the state whereby everything turned to be globally and integrally interconnected, it is a sign that we must assume another form of existence, in harmony with nature.
[34449]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/2011, “The Study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

Related Material:
Looking At The Same “Window” Together
Tied By The Single Network
Believe It: All Of This Only Seems To Us!

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Evolution - No Comments →