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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Comment: A person stands not knowing where to go. He hears this deliberation of paths: at the end of one is hell, at the end of another is heaven. Still, he does not move anywhere. It is as if he is torn apart; he does not know which way to go!

My Response: This is our feeling every second.

Comment: So, these roads, it is not just that I stand and make a decision right now. I am always in this state.

My Response: You are always in it.

Question: Am I always at a crossroads?

Answer: Yes, every moment.

Question: So, how do I eventually decide which path to take?

Answer: You decide nothing. You decide nothing; everything is decided from above. You are led as you must be led. And this is already known and predetermined in advance. So the main thing is to agree with it, not worry, and connect with the Creator, who is arranging everything. He will take you by the hand to where you must go. You just obediently correct yourself, that is, be in agreement with Him at every moment.

Question: One way or another, do I stop at this fork for a moment, for some time, and then I need to agree with Him and go where He directs me?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this what it means “to go where the heart leads”?

Answer: That is how it is said. According to the definition of a straight line. A straight line is actually a curve in every point of which there is a turn.

Comment: I did not know that. For me, even from the first grades in school, it is two points and a straight line between them.

My Response: No. You cannot draw a straight line; you do not know the final point. But at each point, you make a turn, and that is why it becomes a straight line.

Comment: A person does not choose his path is what you say. The Creator chooses it for him. And you always emphasize that the line is to agree with the Creator.

My Response: Yes.

Question: Why do I agree? Is it out of exhaustion, out of wisdom? What is stronger here?

Answer: Because this is the only correct option. I am not tuning myself to something supernatural. I am not making any special decisions. I simply want to flow with the current of life in agreement with the Creator because it is above me from the beginning.

Question: How do we come to this wisdom? We keep choosing something all the time.

Answer: Then be a revolutionary. Go ahead!

Question: It is already clear that this is a lost cause. Is it a true revolution when I agree?

Answer: It is when you agree with the Creator because that is against your nature.

Question: Is that what it means to rise above my nature?

Answer: Yes, our life is a struggle with our own egoism, with what we would like for ourselves. Therefore, only such an approach is truly rational.

Question: So does “I decide” live inside us live? Is the real reversal: “You decide, not I”?

Answer: Yes, that is why we must jump up, hold on to the Creator, and in this way fly forward.

Question: I must hold on to the Creator, what is that?

Answer: It is the nature of the whole universe. A great force, the wisest force that revolves everything. And we are tiny particles within it.

Indeed, we are given the ability to realize that above us there is something that controls us. To agree that He governs, this is our wisdom if we can reveal it.

Comment: And this additional element, which you always say, that all is good, that is the hardest to accept.

My Response: If He governs and there is none else besides Him, then what remains for us? The most rational thing we must do is to submit to Him. To submit, not out of weakness, but out of understanding.

Question: Then do I automatically understand that I am moving toward good?

Answer: Yes, and then we will move toward good.
[350251]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/23/25

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Question: Can a Kabbalist predict what will happen in ten years?

Answer: A Kabbalist will never engage in prophecy. He can explain the trends of the development of society and humanity in order to demonstrate the course of the egoistic nature without the intervention of our correction.

And with the intervention of correction, no one will be able to clearly predict this, since everything depends only on the freedom of will of the people who study Kabbalah.

Therefore, Baal HaSulam, who printed his books, reproduced and distributed them with the purpose of disseminating Kabbalah, came to the conclusion that the generation was not yet ready for this.

He even wrote about the possibility of a third and fourth world war. But still, a Kabbalist does not know exactly when anything will happen because he does not have the right to use the freedom of will as a given reality. He leaves it for a person to realize.

Thus, a Kabbalist can predict the tendency of the natural development of humanity. However, considering a person’s freedom of will, he does not know how quickly humanity will enter this process. Therefore, he will not engage in speculation.

Question: Maybe Kabbalists can predict something good?

Answer: Kabbalists will predict something good only to the extent that you want it to be good.

Comment: By the way, I have never read good predictions. That is strange.

My Response: Because everything depends on the person! If you are corrected, you will see the future as good. If you are not corrected, you will see it as bad. And there is no future by itself. How well your senses are corrected or not, that is how you will feel it. You are the one who creates your own future! So, keep trying!
[231450]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 3/18/18

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Question: If a person is above their environment, can they influence and correct it?

Answer: A person cannot rise above one’s environment! They are completely dependent on it. Even if they are ordinary people, and he is a great Kabbalist, they will still influence him.

Imagine that you take a beautiful tree full of fruit, pull it out of the ground and plant it in the middle of the desert. What will happen to it? Will it turn the desert into a blooming garden?

Our soul depends on the environment in the same way.

The purpose of creation is both the group and my personal work, and the Creator within at this one point. Imagine that your whole life depends on this one point that you need to figure out. Right now whether you will live or not depends on it! And so it is every moment.

For example, you can’t breathe if you don’t press this point, and then oxygen comes to you from there. And if I didn’t press it, I didn’t join it, there is no oxygen.
[13206]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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In corporeal life, we have no freedom whatsoever. But in the spiritual development, we can choose our environment, the desire that this environment will pass on to us, and our attitude toward society.

Although I still act within the boundaries established by this system, I can nevertheless choose the form in which I will advance between the two points of the spiritual path—the starting and ending points.

I cannot change these points themselves because the final goal lies in the root of my soul, the place from which I once descended and to which I must now return. It is clear that I cannot take a different path.

However, I can choose the nature of my advancement, seek means and opportunities for development, and in doing so, I attain the mind of the Creator and become similar to Him. In this, I gain a certain measure of freewill regarding my present and future states.

Within me today exists a part of my future state called the AHP of the upper one; it is my next level, “I+1.” It already exists in the spiritual realm, and its lower part (AHP) is in me now.

I can reveal it and desire this next state; meaning, I am free to realize it or not. I already have a choice between “today” and “tomorrow.”

But if I live only in this world, I know nothing about tomorrow, that is, about the next moment. So what can I truly choose if the choice exists only with regard to the future?
[8194]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam “A Thought Is a Result of the Desire”

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