We exist in a special state, in a unique world, in which we do not understand what is happening to us. We do not know what will happen to us now or in a minute; we do not see any clear system of reward or punishment or cause and effect of our actions, thoughts, or physical deeds. We live in relative darkness, in emptiness.

Something happens, but we hardly know how and why. We only see the immediate consequences of our mechanical actions in the present moment, and we do not see above this level.

We do not know the consequences of our desires, of good or evil thoughts. Do the thoughts and desires of others affect me? Do I feel it or not? I do not know, it is unclear. In essence, we find ourselves existing in a space of near total darkness. And this darkness does not even bother us; we have grown accustomed to it.

A small child, we see does not understand what he is doing or what is happening to him. He runs, plays, and tugs at things; a child explores the world through some minimal level of contact with it.

And us? Fundamentally, we are also at a minimal level of contact with the world. Even at the physical level, we do not clearly know whether we interact with the world correctly or not. Only in our time, in this century, are we beginning to realize how our interaction with the world impacts the environment, ecology, climate, etc. But how our thoughts affect the world, the strongest measure of impact, we do not know.

In principle, if we trace the hierarchy of our physical interaction with the world from the lowest level, the human level, which follows the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels, is, in essence, the level of thoughts, intentions, and a person’s inner attitude toward society or the world in which one exists.

And then it becomes completely unclear where reward, punishment, and consequences of our good or bad actions are to be found.

In general, this is a problem. We are like children running around a room, doing something without understanding its meaning or precise reaction. We say to the child: “Don’t do that!” but he does not understand why. We know, but he does not. And who can tell us what is allowed or not is also unclear.

Only now are we beginning to realize that there is one single higher force (call it nature, or the Creator) that governs everything because it is integrally connected to us, and we must take it into account. We see that everything in nature follows absolute laws that act upon us without asking us. And here arises a very serious system of relationships.

How can we behave toward the surrounding nature, the higher world, the upper force, if we exist within it yet remain utterly oblivious to its presence? Consequently, we, in our folly, inadvertently behave like small children; we imagine we are free to act as we please, only to find ourselves buffeted from all sides by a barrage of painful repercussions.

Yet we fail to give these consequences the attention they deserve, we do not recognize them as the outcome of our own shortcomings, nor do we perceive the direct causal link between our actions and  nature’s response. We simply do not understand the underlying formula governing the proper interaction between ourselves and the natural world.

If we were able to perceive and understand this, then our egoism, our innate desire for a comfortable existence, would unerringly steer us in the right direction. But because this system of management  remains concealed from us, we continue to behave like small children; whatever interests us at the moment, we immediately snatch to try, without paying attention to the consequences. And if there are consequences, we do not connect them with the cause. Here lies our ignorance of governance and all our life’s problems.

Of course, this is a miserable existence, but there is nothing to be done. The higher management and the clear connection between our actions and consequences is hidden from us to raise us to a level where we ourselves will perform the correct actions not by coercion, but because we will want to be in direct connection with the Creator and will want to be good and kind.

This is precisely what nature demands of us, the unreasoning beings that we are need to realize the reality we exist in and to act in accordance with this awareness.
[247697]
From a Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 3/17/19

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What is advancement? It is the attainment of the Creator’s degree, and it is not without reason is it called revelation. We must not merely receive an impression, not merely enjoy, but we must discover His degree, which we reveal gradually until we fully reach His state.

There is no path of suffering in advancement. The path of suffering consists of those states in which I still do not wish to advance, have not found the strength to move forward, and have not realized the group as the only place where I have free choice in order to advance correctly. Thus, I remain in suffering.

These sufferings gradually accumulate until they compel me to seek a way out of them. And when I search, I find this path. Then I agree to enter a group that will obligate me to advance, and I am even ready to pay for it, because otherwise I will again feel suffering.

This process continues until I begin to understand that the problem is not the suffering itself, until I desire to have my own inner aspiration, and that will become my suffering, rather than the animal suffering from blows received. Accordingly, I will work to transform the group so that it ensures my advancement, not from fear of blows, but because the goal is great.

In other words, I cannot advance by means of suffering. Each time, suffering is given only to compel me to change my state. If I am not capable of doing so on my own, then from that point onward I can begin to think, examine, and invest my efforts in the group so that it will awaken me. Then I replace the quality of suffering myself and rise from degree to degree. If I do not do this, suffering comes as though on its own. That is the only difference.

Therefore, free choice lies in choosing the group, in choosing the force that will come to me instead of blows and which will reveal to me how I must change.

Either blows will force me to change or the group will. Through the group, it happens faster, more successfully, and without suffering. Baal HaSulam explains that in this case we gain twice: I shorten the time, and by striving in every state to resemble the Creator, I already feel that I am in some connection with Him, similar to Him.

In every state, I am to some extent in final correction. But this is only if the group provides me with awareness of the necessity to advance toward attaining the Creator’s status. If it does not provide this, I remain in suffering and will never know on my own how to emerge from it or how to change myself.

Each time I wish to use the group for advancement, I will discover within it possibilities and forces, and readiness to receive bestowal from me and to give me the greatness of the Creator in return.  Then the state I feel will resemble final correction to some degree. The group will give me an “awakening from above,” an awakening that comes from outside me, which I lack.
[353580]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World Was by Largess?”

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Comment: It is written: “I have created the evil inclination.” It is clear that each of us has the same evil inclination.

My Response: No, each of us is different from the others. Baal HaSulam writes in the article “Freedom of Will” that we all came from different points of Adam HaRishon, and we are forbidden to suppress anyone, force them to do something, change them, interfere with the culture of other people, or forcibly bring progress to the so-called primitive peoples.

Everyone should develop in accordance with their personal qualities, because this is the only way they can realize their desire to receive. Everyone is an independent creation, and even if they want to, they cannot change their desire to receive, their starting point.

Baal HaSulam explains what a starting point is and the program by which it develops. There is a predetermined order of influence in society and in the laws of environmental development; a person cannot force their way in and change anything. The only change is in its external form under the group’s influence.

But the modification of the external form does not imply that a person acquires additional desires or properties not found in him from society. He acquires excitement, a desire for the source he must reach. This serves as additional fuel for him to accelerate his development and the correction process. But he does not acquire any new Kelim, new properties or new thoughts by doing so.

It only accelerates the emergence of these inherent qualities and determines the speed of their development. Therefore, it is crucial to relate to the group, to the opinions of our friends and to the very structure of the group with the understanding that everything we acquire from it serves solely as an accelerator, a catalyst, that provides us with the energy to act. But this accelerator has no inherent character of its own; it only provides an additional push in the direction in which I am already moving. I choose where to go, not it. I expect the same from the group. That is, I must come to the group and demand additional forces in the direction I have already chosen, rather than the group coming to me and attempting to brainwash me.

Any “brainwashing” by the group should only be in strengthening my chosen direction. Otherwise, it will not be a free choice. Otherwise, it will be a group that suppresses individuals.

It does not have to bring me new ideas. It should only help me solidify what I already have. Therefore, it is said that each of us should give to the group and receive back according to our investment, only many times more.
[353101]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/26, Rabash, “What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?-2”

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Let’s remind each other and be inspired by the greatness of our spiritual goal, by the environment that aspires to it, and by the unique opportunity of freedom of choice that has been given to us. How many people in the world truly have the possibility to act freely? If all people act according to the dictates of their nature, then there is no one who is truly “acting.”

If I am completely governed from above, then there is no “me.” It is said: “I came, and there was no man.”

There are many people, yet it is as though they do not exist, for not one of them is free in their actions. If there is no human being who possesses freewill, then there are no worlds, nothing at all except the world of infinity (Olam Ein Sof).

With respect to the Creator, nothing else exists. Only the one who performs a free action exists.

Imagine this picture of reality: complete emptiness! And within it, only a few desires are visible, which have risen and are capable of performing free actions.

And you have the opportunity to be just as free and to become Man (Adam)! Therefore, let us realize the greatness of this unique opportunity.
[15977]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/10, Baal HaSulam, Preface “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: How can one use the law “Love your neighbor as yourself” in order to choose the right environment?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes about this in the article “The Freedom.” A person must find an environment that exactly corresponds to the Hisaron (deficiency) he would like to acquire.

You see that in our lives society dictates what to do to us. Since we already have desires to enjoy, society can impose on me what to enjoy, for example, Coca-Cola. I don’t know what it is, but according to what society instills in me, I go and buy a bottle of Coca-Cola, in which there are a certain number of grams of pleasure.

In a Kabbalistic society, it is different. I must build an environment that will correspond to my expectations. If I want the spiritual world, something sublime, and society tells me that it is worth desiring, then it will thereby force me to constantly think about spirituality, and I will study the method for eight hours a day, but my request will still be in order to receive. I want spirituality, give it to me! Such a demand is not answered from above.

Of course, this is an intermediate stage, and it also exists. But the demand that is answered from above is a demand for the forces of bestowal.

Therefore, I must look for a society that will value this Hisaron. Even if I do not know what it is (I do not yet have this desire), when society begins to “brainwash me” with the message that this is very important and that this is exactly what I lack, I will receive this desire from them; there is bestowal, something that is above my nature, and that it is precisely this that I should demand.

I begin to study books that speak about spirituality, and through them I want to reveal what it is. I want it to make me feel good. When I receive this desire from the group, the surrounding light begins to shine on me and changes me.

Slowly and gradually, the group must show me what I should demand during the study, and then I will reach the desired result.
[352643]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 2/2/26, Rabash, “For Man Is the Tree of the Field – 1”

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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.
[352430]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Question: We study that freewill consists of choosing one’s society. Is this, essentially, our only choice?

Answer: We are not precise when we say that our only choice is the society we need. It is more correct to say not society, but environment, because it is a broader concept.

The environment includes the books, the sages who wrote those books, friends, the teacher, and everything except the Creator and me (if a person believes there is something in him).

Thus, I must say that the forces of the Creator and the force within me are the same Creator, only manifested from different sides. Therefore, if I decide something, or it seems to me that the Creator decides, it is, in fact, the same source.

If I want to acquire some force other than the Creator who, according to my perception, is outside of me, or other than the Creator that is in me, meaning apart from the nature He created and with which He endowed me, then I need something external, something outside. Everything outside is called the environment.

As Baal HaSulam writes about a wheat seed that is place it in the soil in the article “The Freedom.” What do you have besides that seed and the environment in which it is placed?

It is the same with us. If we want to arm ourselves with any additional forces—forces that, as Baal HaSulam explains, we choose—and our independent choice entirely constitutes our individuality, the expression of our own “I,” then it turns out that nothing else remains.

I should not turn to my own nature, because all of it is the Creator, and I should not turn to the Creator. Do you understand the paradox? I should not turn to Him! Because every turning to Him is planned by Him; He programs it.

So, what am I supposed to do?! If I have the power to turn to the Creator, then it turns out that He is turning to Himself?! Then who am I here?! A puppet?! By fulfilling what the Creator placed in me, I turn to Him.

The point is that I must turn to the Creator with what I acquire from the outside, through my own free choice. Outside of me, the Creator intentionally creates several sources of inspiration, and I am impressed by each of them in different ways. For me, the main inspiration is the one that directs me toward the Creator. In principle, the result of that inspiration does not matter; what matters is what I choose.

Now the question arises: “So what exactly am I choosing?” After all, the Creator placed all my inner nature within me, so where does choice begin? Again, from the very force that He placed in me.

As Baal HaSulam said: “The Creator places a person’s hand upon a good fate and says: Take it.’”

Meaning: choose this environment and not another. And a person must strengthen himself in that choice. Ultimately, the choice is not in the environment itself (the Creator also points me to the environment), but in strengthening and in holding on to what He has shown.

You must not have the slightest doubt about whether free choice exists! It does! However, you attain it not by your own power, and the discernments are also not yours. Free choice is not attained by searching for new continents. But the moment when you feel something that directs you toward the Creator, you must apply all the forces of your soul to strengthen yourself, to remain on the right path, and to hold on to the inspiration you already have.

The result, of course, does not depend on you; that is clear. How much you hold on to the group will be the result.
[352426]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Now you can understand their words about the verse, “I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.” The Sanhedrin (98) interpreted, “Not rewarded—in its time; rewarded—I will hasten it.”

Thus, there are two ways to attain the above-mentioned goal: through their own attention, which is called a “path of repentance.” If they are rewarded with it, “I will hasten it” will be applied to them. This means that there is no set time for it, but when they are rewarded, the correction ends, of course.

If they are not awarded the attention, there is another way, called “path of suffering,” as our sages said, Sanhedrin 97, “I place upon them a king such as Haman, and they will repent against their will,” meaning in its time, for in that there is a set time, and they will want it (Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” p.7).

Before us there are two paths for attaining the very same goal, and we stand at their crossroads. Every moment we must feel ourselves at this crossroads that determines our free choice. And the choice here is very simple: to go by the path of light or by the path of suffering.

There is no third path! We are obliged to advance by one of these two paths, and at every moment we must decide how to take the next step. The foot is already suspended in the air; choose where to place it: on the path of light or on the path of suffering?!

A moment will pass, and again you will have to make the same choice. From above, your foot is lifted, compelling you to take a step, and you must decide where to lower it, onto which of the roads. And according to this, you will receive the forces and means for advancement, because in any case you are obliged to move forward.

But if you advance by the path of Beito (natural development, in its time), then the forces of nature push you forward against your egoism, since you wish to walk in accordance with your ego. And therefore, forces act upon you that oppose your egoism and try to keep you in bestowal.

Through the path of Achishena (accelerating time), you yourself begin to persuade yourself, through the environment, that it is worthwhile to be in bestowal, and in this way, you draw the surrounding light, which returns you to the good, upon yourself.

On the path of Beito, you receive blows, and you learn from them, until in the end you also come to a request, a prayer for correction, and advance, just as when following the path of Achishena.

And if you immediately take the path of light, you save time on the first section of the path where you would have lost it by not wishing to listen and to apply your own efforts.

There is no time for deliberation over which path to place your foot on! Everything depends on the preparation of the environment.
[18560]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/10, Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: People constantly strive for new sensations; they try one thing, then another, then a third. For example, I did not understand what it meant to get a tattoo, and I decided to try. Obviously, it is a sign of a certain self-expression. But only after I got it did I understand what a tattoo really is.

It is the same with spiritual things. Until you try, you cannot explain. Many people who come to study Kabbalah begin to cultivate a principle of equality among themselves so that everyone becomes similar. To what extent can the environment influence a person positively or negatively in this sense?

Answer: You are speaking about a person who is like the wind in the field. Does he have a goal or not? First he has to find it for himself. What do I want to reach? What is my goal? Does it exist or not? If not, then what? Should I just look around? These people behave like this, those have such-and-such a goal, and others fool around in their own way. So I choose what is closer, better, and easier for me. I follow the masses or some groups, and thus I join them.

But if we are talking about individuality, then I must find my own personal goal. After I find it, I need to clarify how it can be realized: where, with whom, and by what means. Then I will look: if for its sake I need, say, to get the same tattoo, then I will do it; if I need to learn something, I will learn it.

In other words, the goal must justify the means. The final state must determine the path toward it. My present state is meaningless if I do not know the final one, and I am like the wind in the field: wherever it blows me, that is where I go. Meaning, I will act not with my own head, but someone else’s, whatever is advertised to me at the moment becomes important. And so a person spins around his whole life, until he weakens, agrees that “that is it,” and dies.
[351941]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Everyone Should Be the Same” 10/1/10

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If we place our “seed” into a good environment, it develops; but if we place even the very best seed into “bad soil” (environment), it will wither. Everything depends solely on the environment. That is, we need people around us who reveal the evil of egoism within themselves and want to correct it.

I must place myself in such an environment and strive to absorb everything possible from it to the maximum extent: moisture, minerals, warmth, everything that the soil can give to the seed.

For, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “Freedom of Will,” at the hour of death a person will not be able to take anything from this world with him except the attained quality of bestowal, which can be acquired only in this world, and through which one feels oneself living in the upper world. It is said: “See your world in your life.”

And if nothing has been attained, then one remains only like a seed, which will later be placed again into the earth and given a new chance.
[13208]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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