Question: How can I be sure that I will eventually succeed? Are there any guarantees?

Answer: This is called “faith in the sages.” But the one thing you can really trust is the Light of confidence that shines for a person to the extent that he reaches the attribute of bestowal. He doesn’t have it yet because the only means to attain it is through the incorporation in the environment.

I have nothing but the environment; I can be part of an environment that prefers corporeal values, and I can be part of an environment that prefers spiritual development, through bestowal. There are two alternatives: the path of receiving or the path of bestowal. There are two forces operating in nature, and we can prefer one or the other: either to bestow in order to receive or to receive in order to bestow, either one. This is how this world operates. Everything is very simple and is determined by the environment that we choose.

But if I have already chosen an environment, that is a teacher and friends, a path, and a goal, I have to feel that it is what I want. I shouldn’t force myself. If I have a point in the heart and if I feel that this path is for me, I join the environment.

But after joining it I have to be incorporated in it with all my heart and soul. I cannot be in an environment that is totally plus (+) while I am totally minus (-). I will be thrown out of it. The Light that Reforms will influence me and I will be thrown out after a year, two years, or even five years; it makes no difference. We see how this happens. Then a person begins to hate us because he is not incorporated in the environment, in the group.

But just like you are influenced by the media in our world whether you like it or not, here too, when it comes to our spiritual development, you have to be under the influence of the environment. This is where we are given freewill, and so we have to make constant efforts. It has nothing to do with a person’s character but with the gentleness of the soul. If a person is lucky, he stays, and if he isn’t, he doesn’t stay, and is kicked out…

You are incorporated in the group and you are told: “Did you choose to be with us? Welcome, but you should know that there are certain conditions that you have to fulfill. If you agree you can stay, and if you don’t, then leave.” There are many such groups, parties, and movements; choose whatever you like, these are our conditions. We rely on the writings of Kabbalists and this is what they say. We don’t care what others have chosen and what values they prefer and accept. We accept and follow the advice of Kabbalists that have reached us through a chain of Kabbalists through the ages, starting from Abraham until today.

They implemented these conditions and reached spiritual attainment. According to their books, we see that they reached the inner essence of nature, the upper dimension. We want to attain the same things and so we listen to their advice.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/13, Shamati #64 “From Lo Lishma to Lishma”

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All our laws and actions: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” the 613 commandments, are included in the common law of the mutual guarantee. This is because this law is of a complex system which consists of a multitude of details where each detail needs to be its integral part and work for the good of the entire system. This is what its life will be. It only needs to base itself on how it benefits the entire system.

These systems, where the law of the mutual guarantee operates, also exist in our world.

There is not freedom of will in the still, vegetative, and animal nature. Man also does not have this freedom. But once we rise above our egoistic nature and look at these natural systems in a real way, independent from our ego, we will see that they operate according to the law of the mutual guarantee. Otherwise nature does not have the right to exist.

And only people whose point in the heart has been revealed acquire the opportunity to come out of this common and universal law of the mutual guarantee, which they observe unconsciously, and can attain the level where they begin to observe it of their own freewill, with their own efforts. Later, all of mankind will receive this opportunity.

Just like in a human organism, the most important life-supporting systems consciously exist in mutual guarantee while other organs and cells simply nullify themselves and observe the mutual guarantee as a law, agreeing with it; in the same way mankind will gradually begin to implement this law.

The entire creation observes the law of the mutual guarantee to its full extent. Only people gradually awaken individually, according to a specific process and order, in order to realize their participation in this common system, referred to as “the body of Adam,” with their free choice.

So, one should not think that the world lacks some kind of a law. Simply, in relation to us, this becomes revealed as an opportunity to take on the conscious observance of the law of the mutual guarantee.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: What does it mean to “see the spiritual world?”

Answer: We cannot see the spiritual world with our regular eyes. The spiritual world is perceived in inner sensations.

And even though in these senses we perceive it as something limitless and infinite, this is not determined by the geometrical measures of our world, but by our properties, our new senses, the inner vision.

And once we acquire these properties, everything becomes simpler and easier. We begin to see the forces that stand behind every action, every object.

Everything is very precise, clear, and specific. We understand that we are all controlled from above and that man only has one free action: to wish to see the spiritual world in order to identify himself with these actions.

He himself does not perform any actions; he only identifies himself with them. But he feels free by doing this because he rises above his egoistic nature, and instead of involuntarily carrying out all the laws as before, he begins to do it at his own will, he feels and sees them. And this is an entirely different case, this gives man a sensation of freedom.

Gradually, he begins to equate himself to the upper force to such extent that he no longer only justifies it, but he demands for it to perform all the actions that essentially are part of its program, even before it was planning on performing them. He is like a child who runs in front of the grown up demanding for him to do something.

And then the complete union of the Creator and the creation takes place.
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From Kab TV’s “Kabbalah for Beginners” 12/01/10

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The entire Torah, in other words, the whole method of correction, is intended to bring the human being to the degree of love, or in the language of Kabbalah, to bring him so that he corrects the breaking, and in social terms: to organize us into an integral society. Thus, we see the realization of the wisdom of Kabbalah in our world.

The purpose of creation is to bring us to an inner unity which also will be accompanied by an external unity between people. We all will become as one. As it is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples,” (Isaiah 56:7), and “I will yet gather others to him, together with his gathered ones” (Isaiah 56:8). Thus, we will come to a complete redemption.

According to the understanding of Kabbalists, we must realize this transition now, and everything that is happening indicates this.

So, the method is designed to accelerate us on the path to this correction. Otherwise, we face the path according to “in its time,” which is very long and full of suffering. On the other hand, by accelerating, we can make our path fast, easy, comfortable, and enjoyable. For this, we were given the wisdom of Kabbalah or the method of integral education as a means of revealing the Creator in this world.

The “Creator” is the essence of the property of the “Good That Does Good,” in other words, the property of love and bestowal that is revealed in a person and between people, in their relationship with each other. Due to this relationship, this love of the created beings, they reach the revelation of the Creator and love for Him. Thus, the method of correction is realized as it is written, “Love thy friend as thyself is the great rule of the Torah.” Starting with love for others, we reach the love for the closest One, for the Creator, and then we are in adhesion with Him, which is the ultimate goal.

As Baal HaSulam writes, everything that we create, striving to achieve adhesion, is built above the desire to receive, above our egoism, and that is why we need to learn to work with it, to learn how to handle it correctly, starting with the full spiritual incapacity at the present moment up to the state where this material of desire is ready to use in order to sculpt out of it the image of the human being (Adam), similar (Domeh) to the Creator, that is, the force of love and bestowal.

How is it done? It is with the help of the Light that Reforms in the group with the friends. It is here in the group that we have the freedom of choice, the only free action that we are capable of. Therefore, it is not worthwhile to make extra efforts in looking for other ways and means. We have power over this action while in everything else our independence is illusory, but in reality we just allow nature to involve us.

If I use my freewill correctly, I move forward by the path of hastening; that is, I set the pace of my advancement myself. Then, my states, consistent with my efforts, will be more effective as well as more convenient and fast. After all, I am preparing myself to adequately, correctly accept changes that always have an anti-egoistic character. I desire them.

However, this requires a well-organized group, studies, participation in dissemination, everything that we identify in our work.

So why do we need the force of the Light, the force of the Torah? What do the words, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice” mean? The fact is that my advancement depends on the recognition of evil. If I can identify it quickly and as clearly as possible recognize its negative effect on me, then, I am ready to get rid of it.

That is why I must focus all my efforts precisely on the recognition of evil. My egoism, my desire to receive, initially is ready to reject everything that is bad for it, depending on how bad it is in comparison with the possible pleasures and consequently with the right approach, my nature will serve me on the path.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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It is easy to work on one line, either the left line or the right line. It is most difficult to be in the middle and to connect these two lines into one authority and to remain there, in the middle, between the shell and Holiness. To be in between means to draw as much as one can from the shell and to add it to Holiness. Thus you constantly remain under one authority and advance; you fulfill your authority and look for a new place where you can be free in order to once again prefer Holiness. Thus a line is created by these points of unity of one’s freewill.

On the one hand, everything is done by the Creator, by private Providence (HaVaYaH), that descends from Above, which means that takes place inside. The private supervision is the most inner supervision (the supervision of HaVaYaH), that is closest to bestowal. On the other hand, a person says: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me,” which means that he compliments the two lines by adding all his efforts to the upper providence and adhering to it internally. The middle line expresses adhesion and mutual bestowal between a person and the Creator.

A person understands that everything comes from Above, but still annuls the domination of the Creator and says that he will do the same according to his freewill. He doesn’t do so because he is under the domination of the upper providence, but of his own free will, by wanting to identify with the Creator. Although it’s clear to him that no one has a chance to avoid the upper providence and to do anything by one’s self, he still tries to fulfill the thought that the Creator has given him, as if of his own freewill, being totally independent. This is how he advances.

It isn’t a game since the Creator agrees with his decision to perform a specific action and provides him with an illusion of life and death. It isn’t a joke but actually a question of life or death, which is a very serious matter for him. But a person receives this freewill and can change his fate from great sufferings along the path of “in its time” to great joy along the path of “I shall hasten it.” This means that he can totally change his whole life from the worst state to the best state.

It’s by creating a space where he can be independent that a person establishes the form of Adam (a human being), since if he doesn’t create a space where he can have freewill and believes that everything is managed from Above and says “thank God” about everything, as orthodox people honestly say, then there is nothing one can add. He places everything under the Creator’s domination.

If a person is not religious, he operates according to his natural instincts and the Creator totally manages him without revealing Himself. But if a person doesn’t accept either of these options and wants to fulfill his freewill, he makes room for his own authority, according to his freewill. Then in this independent authority he discovers both the good and evil sides, and these two authorities clash and struggle with each other. A person’s role is to arrange them on the middle line so that they will complement one another.

The connection between this space of freewill and the forces that operate in it is that a person attains by his clarifications, analysis, and synthesis, and turns into an image of a human being, Adam, which means in Hebrew “resembles the Creator.” This human form is established from the bottom up and is gradually revealed. By attaining this adhesion with the Creator, a person discovers that the middle line was also managed by the upper force, and he calls this revelation “the Angel Raziel.”
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/13

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Question: How does one recognize that he is at a point of choice?

Answer: If you see clearly what is better, this is not a choice—it’s knowledge. And if you don’t understand what’s better, this too is not a choice; it is lack of knowledge.

A choice is possible when you see two equal components in front of you, but it’s impossible to solve anything with them by preferring one over the other. You see that both the desire to receive and the desire to bestow are equally needed; you cannot get by without either of them. You are situated right in the middle between them and you are confident that you must use both of them.

After all, how can I bestow if I don’t use my egoism? I can carry out some actions only due to my desire to enjoy. Yet how can I bestow if I don’t use the desire to bestow? It is impossible to proceed without either one of these desires. So how do we use them together?

I need to first build the attitude of love toward the one to whom this action is directed. And to the extent of my love, I will feel his desire, accept it and make it my own, and then I will be able to use my two desires, two forces, in order to fill his desire in me, like a mother fills an embryo (Ubar) in her womb. And then I make it more external for me, and this is called “feeding” (Yenika) or a big state (Gadlut).

This is how these states are built due to a third force that elucidates them. Then where is this third force? It is the one to whom I wish to bestow.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Is there any connection between freewill and luck?

Answer: On one hand, luck seems to be predetermined from the moment a person is born. Everyone is born in different conditions and with different attributes, which means with his own fate. If I am born with certain attributes, then my destiny and my path to the end of correction have already been determined. It depends on one’s place of birth and on other factors that do not depend on me.

But let’s try to put aside the different conditions that are beyond our control and that vary for each individual, like cells in a body where each has its own purpose and destiny. If we look at what is left, the question is whether we can affect this in any way, whether with this freedom of choice with the option to correct myself, can I become totally equal to everyone?

One is born clever and another so smart, one is born to a rich family and another to an educated family, and still another may be the son of a shoemaker obliged to follow his father’s line of work, etc. Everyone is totally different, but if a person is awakened from above, which means that his point in the heart is awakened, he can equalize himself with all the others.

Those who have not received the point in the heart are very different: like a cat and a lion, like a mouse and a cat. On the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, everyone is different, but the level of the speaking equalizes all the human beings including the still, vegetative, and animate nature that are incorporated in a human being, and thus also reach equality.

All this is done by the freewill that is given to man, and by that he neutralizes his fate, which was predetermined by nature. From the perspective of this point of freewill, everyone has the same specific work, which is relatively equal. No one has an advantage over others in this sense.

It may seem that certain people have to make very little efforts to enter the spiritual world and there are those for whom there is not enough. But it all depends on conditions that are unknown to us. We cannot take our previous reincarnations into account or a person’s history, what happened to him and what will happen to him. All this is already in the corrected state in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), but we simply don’t know it. Therefore it is difficult for us to measure everyone’s work.

Thus it is said simply: “Do everything that is in your power!”
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/13, The Zohar

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We exist in this world in a unique state created by the expansion of the Light from above downward. The Light created all vessels, desires, and we are the only part of this entire reality that has the freewill to change this condition and all of the nature, the whole creation.

All of nature is given to us so that we may use it and lift ourselves to the exalted status of the Creator. Therefore, we shouldn’t expect something more from above, and if we are late in realizing the steps where we should have already changed, then we experience them as suffering.

Pressure from nature is constantly growing because included in it is a special engine of development; various Lights are constantly descending from above, manifesting with greater force, and awakening larger spiritual genes (Reshimot) in us. After all, correction starts with the easiest and progresses to the more difficult.

But if we are late and don’t correct the Reshimot that awaken in us today, then by tomorrow we have accumulated a debt with the delay, and increasing the difference to two Reshimot, today’s and tomorrow’s. And the next day, it will be tripled, and because of these multiplying Reshimot, we experience pain—the difference between me and the Light.

Instead of bridging this gap, equalizing with the Light, connecting with it, and becoming one integrated system in order to understand, feel, be filled with it, and participate all its actions, we act against it and keep increasing our oppositeness to it.

This oppositeness is the very thing that we feel as pain because our will to receive wants the Light! Even though we don’t even realize what we want, we are standing opposite something we need, but we are not getting it. And this is experienced as all kinds of suffering.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/18/10, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and its Essence”

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Because of our oppositeness to the Light, we live in the world of suffering and pain, and no matter how we might to escape, we only make it worse for ourselves since we tend to want to withdraw and hide from the truth, so much so that we have no idea about the correct path and corrections that we must perform.

Therefore, only after going through to the end of this painful exile, we finally receive the knowledge, the reminder, that there is a method called the wisdom of Kabbalah, which can connect us with the Light. And then, we will know how, by using it, we can correct our relation with it so that it would give us fulfillment, instead of acting against us and illuminating us from a distance, instilling pain in us!

Beyond this, we don’t have any freewill in this world except to draw the Light that Reforms, which will correct, reform, and unify us with the Light. There isn’t a greater wisdom or science than Kabbalah that helps to realize this action. There is no other means to affect our life and fate. We will not improve our lives with the help of science, culture, or education if we don’t practice them according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, in other words, without connecting ourselves with the source of our lives, the Light.

If you wish for success, it is possible only on one condition: if you draw the Light that will correct you and reform your entire world. And if you attempt to reform the world without the Light, you will only make it worse since you hide from the truth even more, forcing yourself to go through the recognition of evil instead of a good and pleasant path.

But right now we have a unique opportunity to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah and achieve correction. After all, in all of our long history, we still haven’t started to perform the correction and were only getting ready for it. From this very moment on, the reckoning with us takes full force.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/18/10, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and its Essence”

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Question: If man is simply a small part of nature, then where can he get the power to destroy it?

Answer: We have an additional part in us which is above the animate body and is regarded as “human.” The human can be good or evil because he possesses freewill unlike an animal. It is human, the ego, that exists above nature and that is where you have the right to choose.

All creation exists in perfection: the still, vegetative, and animate—everything except man. Each of us has an animate part, the body, and a “human” part, which is the only corrupted one. It is the part that stretches beyond the essential existence of the body; it makes me exploit nature and even destroy it if that’s what is necessary to make me feel good.

An animal deprived of freewill cannot ruin nature since it acts correctly by following its natural instincts. Therefore, our corporeal world exists only at the still, vegetative, and animate planes, which are in the state of perfection and balance. But man is above this world.

The animate part of man is also in harmony with nature. The problem lies in the “human in man,” a degree in which I started destroying the world. As long as we were undeveloped, we didn’t cause much harm to it since we were living merely as animals that consumed each other in order to survive. But when we reached the current level of evolution and received so much power, the problem immediately arose. Even Aristotle warned that science shouldn’t be revealed to evil people who may use it to destroy the world and mankind.

If they can’t use the human power correctly, then they must not be allowed to step outside the animate sphere—beyond this red line; they can do so only if they know how to use the human power correctly. To use it correctly means to make this red area similar to nature by employing one’s own consciousness and understanding by becoming equivalent to the Creator, the upper one. We must achieve the same balance with nature as all the other parts, but through our own effort, since we initially lack the balance.

 

It turns out that we have a nature where no freewill exists and we only need to use it correctly. The part above it relates to the Creator and human where freewill does exist, but we have no clue what do with it or how to use it. There we must reach balance in order to bestow.

In the past, the previous Kabbalists achieved attainment by placing restrictions on their body as described in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”: “Bread and salt you should eat, water in measure you should drink, on the ground you should sleep, a life of affliction you shall live, and in Torah you should labor,” then you shall reach spirituality. In truth, if the part of a person related to the animate, vegetative, and still levels lived only with bare essentials, like a beast, and on top of that he studied the Torah while thinking about how to become similar to the Creator, he did advance.

But 2000 years ago we reached a state where we started to exploit all of nature, to harm the still, vegetative, and animate parts, this whole “inner” circle. Hence, this is why we’ve come to such need for the Light that Reforms. It is the only way we can transform ourselves.

Previously, the Light of correction worked only at a highest rung. But today we need a much greater Light to work on all of nature since we have corrupted it too by making it entirely egoistic by engaging in it.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10 Writings of Baal HaSulam

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