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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All our actions in this world are carried out by command from above, except for those in which we are free. My freedom of will lies only in rising upward, that is, in correcting the soul to resemble the Creator.

Everything else in me and around me is dictated from Above by the laws of the higher world. If I have no freewill in anything earthly, if everything is dictated from above, then there is neither punishment nor reward for any earthly deeds! After all, I didn’t do any of it, it was done through me from above.

Therefore, it is said that we are all like animals, until we become similar to the Creator. To the extent that we resemble Him, we are called “Adam” — “similar” (Domeh in Hebrew).

Similarity to the Creator begins with a tiny desire, a yearning toward Him, called “the point in the heart.” If it exists, if it has revealed itself, a person will inevitably come to Kabbalah; it will lead him there.

The point in the heart is like a drop of semen from which you develop. But the spiritual body, the soul, can be developed only through one’s own efforts. In this lies our only freedom of will (see Baal HaSulam’s article “Freedom of Will”).

Push the whole world into the background and begin to develop it, raise yourself into the higher system. Be ready to give up everything just to remain there.

This is the only choice, the only action that can be recorded to your credit. The reward is life within the soul!
[5628]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/09, Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book From the Mouth of a Sage“

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By way of suffering, by moving only by means of blows, we cannot get anywhere. We will still have to develop ourselves on the path of light, while the blows only prolong the time. We only prolong our suffering and slow down our awareness of its source. Ultimately, one way or another, we will have to discover it and begin to work with it.

Whereas, if we heed the advice of Kabbalists, we can immediately use the upper system and demand from the source of the light that it influence us.

If we begin to organize ourselves into circles in the likeness of the corrected soul, if we build correct connections and strive to rise above our egoism, the upper light will respond to our efforts, realize our connection, and shine within it. This is called the revelation of the Creator to the created beings in this world.

This is exactly what the science of Kabbalah deals with; it is a method of revealing the Creator to creatures in this world. By doing so, we greatly reduce our time and suffering because we immediately go to the source of the light that created our egoism and demand that the light remedy everything. Therefore, we need to awaken ourselves rather than suffer.

On the path of suffering, we are gradually moving toward the path of light, but extremely slowly. The prophets describe the path of suffering because it is clearly defined; it is an existing program. The prophets, who were Kabbalists, saw the upper system and the opposition of right and left forces in it, and therefore they understood what suffering our desires must go through in order to achieve the final correction.

They write that merciful mothers would cook and eat their own children. These would be horrific times. We are shown what will happen if we do not go by the path of light, by the acceleration of time, what terrible physical suffering would be required to move us toward building a vessel at the level of the natural course of evolution.

The prophets can describe this scenario because it follows from a general formula: the amount of suffering multiplied by its quality. This is the natural way because it is entirely in the hands of heaven. But the prophets do not know how much of our own efforts we will add to this process. No one can know this in advance because we are given freewill in this.
[190154]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 7/15/16, Rabash, Article 16, “But the More They Afflicted Them”

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Question: What if you make a wrong choice? I checked everything, did everything, and made a wrong decision.

Answer: How do you know it is wrong?

Comment: As a result, I did not reach my goal.

My Response: But that will be evident after you make the decision.

Comment: After that, when I had already jumped.

My Response: After implementation?

Question: Yes, that is right. I realized I had made the wrong decision. What should I do about it?

Answer: Do nothing.

Question: I eat myself up on the inside after that! I double-checked everything, jumped, and everything is wrong!

Answer: You cannot do anything. There is nothing more to do, nothing to blame.

Question: Not to blame yourself?

Answer: No, absolutely not!

Question: How do I stop myself?

Answer: Relate it to the Creator.

Question: So before I was the one who measured everything? But after it happened…

Answer: The Creator did it. For sure it was the Creator.

Comment: That is, we have now come to the golden rule. I check everything.…

My Response: I decide, I act, and the Creator does the rest.

Question: No regrets, nothing?

Answer: Nothing. That is how it was intended from the beginning.

Comment: If it were possible to live like this, you would have no regrets at all.

My Response: So live like that.

Comment: “Live like that!” I wish I could learn to live like that.

My Response: You should have no regrets about anything! Everything is orchestrated from above.
[350789]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 12/11/25

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