Descents show me that I will never realize the importance of the Creator alone; I will never come out of my egoism and find forces inside myself. However, every descent teaches me differently, by illuminating different weaknesses, qualities, and phases in me. The descents are followed by ascents, but at the end, one way or another I always discover my powerlessness.

At first I want to satisfy my egoism, which is called “knowing how many angels there are in the sky.” Then I switch my focus to the Creator, wishing to “catch” Him, to see the spiritual world. It seems to me that the door to changes has to open up in front of me rather than inside of me.

And finally, I start to understand that the changes have to happen inside of me. I catch the thread of the answer to my question: The redemption has to come from outside because I am certainly unable to do it by myself.

This work is done with the help of descents and ascents until a person comes out to the threshold of truth, having understood that everything depends on him, on the change in his perception. The Light gives you the forces to do it; you will not find them inside of you.

One’s demand is still egoistic, but he already lowers his head before the Upper Force so it will change him. Then he gradually agrees with the fact that everything comes from Above.

At the next stage a person understands that he has to acquire the quality of bestowal instead of the quality of reception. His demand is egoistic, but it is already a step forward.

After that he works with the environment in order to elicit the Light that will raise him to the spiritual treasure. As he learns about the notion of the group, he makes himself dependent on it, still hoping to derive benefit for himself.

After that the Light really does bring a person back to the Source. That’s because he built everything correctly and only one parameter remains to be changed: the intention, the end result—whose benefit does he want to attain?

That is how we reduce the path: By turning to the Creator through the group with the right request.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/11, Writings of Rabash

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When speaking of actualizing the wisdom of Kabbalah, we should take into consideration that our current Gilgul (life cycle) is far from being the first. We have gone through multiple cycles, and nobody knows exactly how many each of us has. It will be revealed to us farther down the road, but frankly, there isn’t much use in reviewing our past incarnations since all of them were at the still, vegetative, or animate levels of the evolution of the will to enjoy.

Based on this, our evolution went on. First, we existed at the still level of development, followed by the vegetative one when we experienced reality like plants do. Further on, each of us evolved at the animate level, perceiving reality similarly to animals.

Thus, we have gone through several lifetimes until, as written in the ARI’s The Tree of Life and Baal HaSulam’s The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 3, from the animate level, through the apes (an intermediate level between beast and man), we have finally come to the human level in this world. Humans are also an animate species, but much more advanced than beasts.

At the speaking level of this world, we, too, have undergone many lifetimes until we have reached our present condition. Now, in this incarnation, we are doing a special type of work in order to ascend to a completely new degree and experience a new, spiritual reality: the Creator’s reality.

During any transition from degree to degree and state to state, there are intermediate stages. As the ARI describes, between the still and vegetative levels, there are corals which combine both the still and vegetative characteristics. Between the vegetative and animate levels, there is an intermediate creature, a tiny animal called the “dog of the field” that lives in the ground and feeds off the land like a plant, but whose body acts as a beast. Between an animal and a human, there is the ape, a mammal with rudimentary human characteristics.

At present, we are in transition from a human of this world, who lives just like all the other seven billion people, and something spiritual. We don’t quite know yet what this “spiritual” means, but we are in between.

For the first time, in these transitions that we have undergone from the degrees of still to vegetative, from vegetative to animate, and from animate to speaking (human), unaware of what has been happening to us and living like all people in this world, we now have to make the transition consciously, fully participating in it. It is we who decide whether it will or will not take place, and in what manner. It is only our will that can make it happen.

This evolution is up to us. This transition is extremely unique and unlike any other because it is we who cultivate a human in us, a human identical to the Creator.

Therefore, for the first time in our history, in our entire evolution, the wisdom of Kabbalah is being revealed to us. It is destined to accompany us as an instructional manual, a prime directive, a code of laws, a science, with the help of which we will complete this transition. After all, if we don’t clarify it for ourselves, don’t wish for and don’t study it, we won’t be able to make it.

This is why we are named “Jews” (“Ivrim,” from the Hebrew word “Laavor,” to cross over) since we are crossing over from the state of human of this world to the level of a spiritual human, similar to Adam HaRishon, or the image of the First Man. Eons ago, he seemed to have broken into fragments, and now we have to re-assemble him anew, his male and female parts.

All of this has to be implemented in our collective work. We have all the necessary tools for it, but it is up to us to clarify it all, to learn what we lack in order to become this Human, and actualize it.
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From Lesson 2, Convention at the Arava Desert 12/31/10

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Question: How can one advance by faith above reason in the group?

Answer: Without the group it’s completely impossible to do this. Either you unite with a teacher the way it was done in the past, or you unite with the group. But it’s impossible to advance by yourself.

When talking about the relationship between a person and the Creator, we always mean the presence of the environment. Without it I don’t have anything to ascend above, nothing to correct. A plea to the Creator is a plea for correction. But the correction of what? The only thing I have to correct is my attitude to my neighbor. This is egoism, the evil inclination, unfounded hatred, broken Kelim, the broken Temple.

Therefore, it’s obvious that what we always mean by that is that a person is in the right environment, with his group. This principle originates from Mount Sinai where a condition was established: to unite as one man with one heart. Only then will you receive the Torah and be able to correct yourself.

If, however, you do not try to unite and reach mutual guarantee, then what will you correct? In that case, you will not receive the Torah. The condition for receiving the Torah is a need for it. But if you do not want to unite with others, then you do not need the Torah. It is intended only in order to correct the connection between people.

Therefore, in our times, when the world is being brought to a dead-end situation of universal interconnection, when it is becoming apparent that without the right connections between us civilization will reach its end, people will have to use the Torah. They will need the Upper Force, the force of the Light that will unite them.

This is the purpose for which the Torah, the Kabbalistic method, is being revealed. All the other methods cannot be called Torah because they do not oppose the evil inclination. People will gradually reveal the evil inclination in this world and will then need the real Torah.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/11, Writings of Rabash

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We talk about hatred that becomes revealed between us; however, it does not necessarily mean that we have to hate each other. There is no such commandment. We are going toward love.

But we start with the broken soul that split into billions of pieces. We have to try to re-unite them back together. A contemporary global world is an indication of a great responsibility that has been placed upon us since whether we want it or not, we discover that we are all interconnected.

After we try to unite, we reveal hatred between us. This is our nature. The Creator says: “I created the evil inclination.” When does it manifest? When we approach unification correctly. If you begin to unite incorrectly, you will not reveal hatred, but rather will get partial results, such as indifference and so on.

In order to expose hatred, you need the Light from Above. By attempting to unify with the others, you attract the Light, and it illuminates the breaking, the separation between us. Then you feel your opposition to the Light: This is hatred.

But as a result of it you also begin to feel that you are being pushed to, awakened to, the plea for unity. The same Light that showed you who you are can also help you. Then you ask: “Correct me!” and the Light does.

Hence, we do not intend to hate each other at all. A person runs from Egypt, his or her egoism, in order to rise above it and unite with the others. And then he suddenly discovers the true hatred, Mount Sinai.
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From Lesson 1, Convention at the Arava Desert 12/30/10

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Question: What is a “flood” for the group?

Answer: If the group as a whole is unable to overcome its increasing desire, if the friends reach hatred and cannot overcome it, it means they are drowning in the waters of the flood.

When they sense the approaching flood and the forces that overcome them (Gevurot), they must put forth mutual efforts to build an Ark, meaning to express mutual bestowal in order to be saved from every person’s individual egoism and the common hatred. That is exactly how the authors of The Book of Zohar sat down to study, feeling hatred for one another, and then revealed love.

Everything depends on whether or not the friends use the Torah as it was intended, whether they build the Ark, the common Kli of mutual bestowal, unity, and mutual guarantee in which they will be saved from the flood.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, Writings of Rabash

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The world is full of problems, and try as we might to correct our situation from generation to generation, we do not succeed. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains why we are haunted by all these problems and misfortunes: They are pushing us to the correct development so we may rise above our egoism and transition to another dimension, that is, to the property of bestowal, a different force, another perception of the world, the kingdom of bestowal rather than the kingdom of egoism.

Therefore, the aim of our entire evolution is to reveal the suffering and worthlessness hidden in the egoistic desire. The more we attempt to use it, the greater disappointment it brings in order to show us that we cannot use it for pleasure and fulfillment since the receiving desire is unable to receive anything.

We don’t understand this and keep repeating our mistake, but we finally have to realize that it is impossible to fill the desire egoistically because it is against the law of existence of desire and the Light. Starting with the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) and on, I can never receive something into my egoistic desire and become filled; it can never occur in history or reality.

When we feel that we are fulfilled and are enjoying ourselves, it is due to fact that we are stretching the pleasure we felt from the moment we encountered it to the moment when it is gone. For those brief instants while it is in us and we can feel it, we will have to pay in full with the pain that comes as the newly formed emptiness unfolds within.

This emptiness is comprised of the force of pleasure and the time of its presence within the desire. For example, in our world, power equals tension multiplied by the force of an electrical current. The same occurs with enjoyment. I can receive 10 grams of pleasure and feel it for an hour. Then, 10 grams multiplied by 1 hour equals the power of enjoyment. I can feel 1 kilogram of pleasure, but only for 1 second, which will also determine the power of enjoyment.

Therefore, eventually, no matter how much pleasure we sometimes manage to experience, all of it will turn into the suffering of the empty desire. We won’t be able to become fulfilled in our egoistic desires since it is against the nature of creation and its purpose.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/10, “Peace in the World”

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Question: Every person wants to be unique and realize the unique root of his soul. That’s why he is frightened by the explanation that he is a mere cogwheel in the common mechanism. He is afraid to lose his individuality in the society.

Answer: But why should you get lost in the society? On the contrary, you can become a righteous one who is regarded as the “salt of the earth”: to bestow to all and pull the entire world forward. Who is stopping you? There is no restriction on bestowal. Please, do bestow!

You are complaining that you are prevented or not permitted to use all the others. Obviously, nobody wants to let you take advantage of them. On the other hand, if you become great not at reception, but at bestowal, nobody will stand in your way.

One can be unique in the positive sense of the word, in bestowal. Why, then, do you insist on being different in the negative form, in egoism? Everybody wants to be special, so, please, do let them. Realize yourself in spirituality.

A person may be frightened by the very look of the linked cogwheels. He imagines being a robot or a screw, but it is a fact of reality, a picture that does exist in Nature. In Nature, nothing can be bad or good; it is simply a fact.

You may agree or disagree with it; it won’t change reality. You will only evoke blows upon yourself if you don’t comply with it. You may claim that you disagree with the law of gravity and deny its existence. Go ahead; we will see later how you will be falling off the roof.

It’s the same case here. We don’t understand how strictly we are connected with each other and we are still trying to do as we please. Everybody is pulling the blanket over their eyes. Later, we witness how everybody suffers, time after time, for thousands of years.

Now, we are entering such a state where our ego has grown to its maximum in all our earthly desires and tied us all to one another all over the globe. Nonetheless, we still don’t wish to admit it and we keep trying to deceive and use each other. However, we don’t understand that by doing so, everyone brings the very same pain onto himself that he brings to others.

We don’t see it, but if it were clearly revealed to me and I got an immediate, reciprocal blow at the moment when I harm someone, I would act like an animal that doesn’t have free will. I would keep swinging between blows and pleasures, working like a machine, if the law of mutual connection affected me openly.

Therefore, this law is concealed in order to give me an opportunity to add to it by using my free will. The law does exist, albeit  hidden, and I can make up for concealment myself as if it were revealed. After all, I wish it to work this way: I want bestowal to be enormous and powerful and prevail over receiving. It may be a law written out in every book, but I wish it to become revealed in practice. This is where my free will lies.

I was given one white spot which means that the Creator is concealed. I can bring Him out of concealment and fill this white spot with His presence. It will be my own presence since I will be exactly like Him. I will come to the place where He is hiding and replace Him. It will be as if He and I are partners, and I pledge that I will do His work for Him where He is hidden.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/10, “Peace in the World”

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Question: Is there a phase in spiritual work when a person can tell exactly whether or not he is similar to the Light through his qualities?

Answer: On various phases we feel closer or farther, but the most correct example is a person’s attitude to the group: How much does he feel that the group’s inner essence is the place where he wants to tune in, where he wants to “dissolve” like an embryo in a mother’s womb, like a child in his mother’s hands, to disappear and lose himself?

If a person still has something that hasn’t disappeared, that he hasn’t lost, it means his egoism is still alive. But as soon as a person dissolves in the group, from that moment on he begins to grow spiritually. Inside his sensation, desire, intentions, and effort a person can measure where he is: in which Reshimot, in which Sefirot, in what state, and how many Lights enter his Kelim.

He measures everything exclusively by his relationship with the right environment. After all, a person cannot measure anything in relation to the Light. The Light is a phenomenon inside the vessel, but not a notion in and of itself. According to Baal HaSulam’s definition, everything that enters the vessels is called “Light.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If I am entirely the will to enjoy, then can I really desire to do anything for the Creator selflessly?

Answer: No, I cannot. I am only ready to do something that will give pleasure to my desire. This is my nature and I cannot come out of it on my own. I act only if it is profitable for me. That is how the Creator made me and nothing can be done about that.

In the language of Kabbalah this state is called "this world." But there is also another state, "the world to come" or "the upper world" where I will exist if I don’t make my calculations based on the egoistic desire for pleasure, but on the altruistic desire of bestowal.

However, I don’t have that desire and I don’t even want it to appear! That’s true, but you are offered help:

1. Your point in the heart is awakened and you start to think about this.
2. You are brought to the group where you can be strengthened with the help of the friends.
3. You are given books and a teacher, who accompanies you on the spiritual path if you desire it.

This way, you are provided with all the necessary means and an explanation of the fact that besides your own nature, there also exists a higher nature, the Creator’s nature, which operates by the calculation of bestowal. The beginning is set: You have a spark, an environment, and books. This is the starting point, the "drop of semen" from which you can develop your future self.

All the other conditions depend on you. The ball is in your court. If you use the means you have correctly, then you will acquire a second nature. Meanwhile, you receive an explanation that this is beneficial for you, that you will feel much better "there," that you will have eternity, triumph, perfection, and so on. You receive an explanation that is clear to your egoism.

However, in reality the spiritual world will not be revealed in your current desire because it will be transformed in the process. It’s similar to how in our world kids grow up on "promises." "If you read this book you will get a soccer ball," I tell my son. He picks up the book hoping to get the ball, but as he reads it, he gradually changes and now he no longer needs a ball, but a bicycle.

After swallowing the initial "bait," a person unawarely enters the path of development and demands an increasingly "progressive" reward even though he does not yet see the final goal. We too should confuse our egoism in this way in order to participate in the life of the group and gradually be "permeated" by the higher state.

We have to become masters of "swindling" our egoism. A person in this world is an intelligent animal and we have to use the ego, throwing it bait so it helps us on the path, all the way until entering the spiritual world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/10, Writings of Rabash

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Question: There are movements that gather up to two thousand people in their meetings that also make appeals to love and unite, mentioning not one word of Kabbalah. Is such unification possible without employing the sources?

Answer: Don’t you see that they are not succeeding? Perhaps, two to three thousand can get together like that. A great disaster may also force people to unite. But true unification can occur only with the help of the Upper Light, the force we don’t possess. Or, we may do so if presented with enormous egoistic benefit, such as fear of invasion or tremendous reward.

Yet, such unity is temporary. As soon as the cause that created it dissolves, the connection immediately dissipates. Therefore, unity cannot be achieved.

There have always been various “altruistic” organizations. Baal HaSulam writes that there are 10% natural altruists in the world who wish to unite, but it is completely egoistic. If examined internally, behind all the talking about unity, you will see solid egoism. We have many examples of that: Communist Russia that is now approaching fascism and Israel’s Kibbutzim.

Any attempts to create unity without employing the Light that Reforms will fail. Left without a choice, they will be forced to employ dictatorship and violent force; otherwise, such a system won’t be able to endure.

We constantly face a dilemma: We either reform the nature of man or compel him to unify by force. And any forced compliance, a Nazi regime, will inevitably lead to war. Baal HaSulam wrote about this even when he was still alive. And Russia won’t have a choice but to continue developing according to the same script. Correction becomes possible only on one condition: if people employ the wisdom of Kabbalah.

If we don’t reform ourselves and unite by way of the Light, we will be unified in a different manner: The world will be overtaken by fascist regimes. After all, Nazism is another form of unification, though it is unity of one group against the other.

People will feel that they have to unite, that unity brings salvation and ascent, and that is right. But they won’t be able to ascend and save themselves without the outside force which will be hate of somebody else. Otherwise, they won’t have a reason to unite! To do so, they need a visible, hated foe who will unite them together against it.

This is how the ego works or it doesn’t feel the necessity to unite. Therefore, society starts leaning toward Nazism and fascism. If the world leaders do not accept the method of correction by the Light and reveal the source, putting their citizens “at the desks” to study it, then very quickly they will have to deal with a Nazi regime that will immediately lead to war.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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