Question: Why do we speak so little about good things and so much about problems and hardships that we encounter along the spiritual path?

Answer: I think that the problems we encounter are a good thing. In our case, we wouldn’t turn to find the Creator if it weren’t for these “troubles” as we call them.

I feel that such troubles are sweet since otherwise my “animal” would never turn in the Creator’s direction. They can indeed scare me and worry me and can even be a threat to my life, but it all comes in order to direct me to Him.

If so, what is wrong with that? Your corporeal body is what experiences the unpleasant feelings, so don’t identify with it, start forming the human being in you that “rides” the corporeal animal.

On the whole, the spiritual world is based on overcoming the evil inclination. It’s impossible to escape from it. Humanity has tried to do so throughout history with the help of various religions, beliefs, social structures, law codex, science and technology.

All this was actually an attempt to escape, a search for other means to improve our lives and abandon the path to the Creator. But these means bring about an even greater flaw, and eventually we will be left with nothing. For example, a few days ago the UN recommended using insects for food in order to fight hunger. Here it is—the future of the world….

In short, only by the revelation of evil can we be directed towards the goal since this is how we can choose what to consider as evil.  I may feel bad when my self love “complains” out of discomfort, or I may feel bad since I haven’t acquired my soul yet, the connection with others, and with the Creator as part of it. This is exactly where our free will lies.

It’s impossible to escape that, no matter what arguments you bring. The upper Providence operates without asking for my consent. Now I have to accept it and later I will understand it.

In any case spirituality is built on the corrupt desire for pleasure. So we cannot avoid speaking about it; after all, it is said: “I have created the evil inclination.”  “Torah,” meaning the method of correction, is needed exactly for this reason and this is precisely when a little bit of evil is revealed between us, when we already want to unite, but still don’t know: in what form, in what principle, that will “glue” us together, and how to fulfill this unity.

Thus we demand the Torah manifested in opposition to the evil that is revealed, but it is “sweet” evil. We begin to understand that we don’t have the power to face it by ourselves, that we need the help of the upper force, and that the evil is in the tear of the connection between us. We simply must; we want to strive to connect, “as one man in one heart.” We may call what is happening “evil,” but in fact it isn’t evil at all, it’s the oppositeness of the Creator, His “posterior.” It’s all Him.

This means that we don’t struggle between the grips of evil and the Creator at all, since I feel that the good and the bad are both Him and are the faces of His attitude. A father also sometimes smiles at his son and sometimes gives him a tough look thus evoking different reactions in the child as he forms his perception.

Question: Still, on the one hand, I am shown the negative side, and on the other hand, I am not shown what I will receive at the end….

Answer: You will pass the breaking point, the shattering, as a result of which you will suddenly feel pleasure in bestowal. The Light will come and awaken you to love others. Then you will bestow upon them and will feel infinite pleasure.

After all, it’s your ego that limits you and that is stopping you by saying: “This is as far as you can go and not further than that.” You struggle with it in order to expand the limits of bestowal. If there were no ego, you would engage in bestowal in the same manner that you engage in receiving now, simply because you find that bestowal is pleasant.

So to make sure that it is real love and that it’s not artificial, it’s built on the desire to receive, so that you can be neutral, free of receiving and of bestowal. Then you actually work, you actually control the filling of all of humanity and you perform the Creator’s mission, taking nothing for yourself, having no contact with the negativity that you have to escape from or the positivity that could bring you pleasure. This is the moment of eternity in a person, the midpoint on the scale of good and evil.

Question: What does it mean “to bring us pleasure?”

Answer: It’s a different meaning, a new one. I choose the pleasure so that it will not depend on me and I will not depend on it.

It’s impossible to explain, to illustrate, or to draw. It’s about a feeling, and if you try to touch it with your current mind, it’s the wrong approach. After all, you don’t allow your heart to open wide.

It isn’t by chance that we speak about a game as the major tool for our advancement. If you put yourself out of the game, then you are left only with complaints. You can diminish the value of everything in life by a disrespectful attitude, and what’s next?

We need to unite, and in order to do that we work in groups. Why groups? Because this is how we allow the Light to influence us at least a little. We may underestimate the connection between the friends and what it can draw. But by our mutual efforts, we give it importance and appeal, and again prompt drawing a bit of Light that Reforms by that.

Who actually needs bestowal? No one. But yet, we speak about it and the Surrounding Light responds to that, and is ready to accept our “lie.”

This is how we develop and there is no other way. It’s always from an egoistic state of Lo Lishma (not for its own sake) that we reach the altruistic intention of Lishma (for its own sake).  It’s impossible to form the created being in any other way.

As for the complaints, the ego always plays the role of the accuser, but the sufferings will eventually break it. You will not be able to dictate your conditions to the Creator. He aggravates you on purpose in order to spur you on and there is only one answer for that: to subdue yourself before the group.

You must understand that your ego is totally “square” and that you will achieve nothing by its help. As long as you look at reality through the prism of self-love you will see nothing. All the worlds are concealed from you; the upper Providence system is out of your sight. What can  be opened for you if your ego filters all His calls? Can you claim the demonstration of anything when in front of you is an impervious blindfold?

This is why Kabbalists give us advice about how to act in this state. If we don’t use their advice, the troubles will help us grow wise.

There is no point in feeling resentment that something is concealed from you. You have no means to see the truth; it’s only in unity that we can see the Creator’s leadership and to be aware of what is going on.

But it’s on condition that this understanding and this feeling will not throw you off track. After all, when you finally get this chance, you will actually not want to feel and understand in order to avoid a “bribe.”

You will say to the Creator, “Don’t reveal anything to me.” Otherwise I will lose my free will and will turn into an “angel” and descend to the “animal” level. I would rather be a human being that struggles and makes mistakes than a “holy animal” that has no free will at all. Only on the human level can I express my attitude and only there do I exist.

You will want to place Masachim (screens) over the Light, fearing that you will not resist its temptations. After all, the guards that don’t let you get into the King’s palace keep you away not by sufferings but by blows of abundance which are much stronger and are revealed to you as love that drives you crazy. It’s much more difficult to put a Masach over it than over the troubles of the evil inclination.

Today it actually helps you in contacting the Creator. The sufferings focus you on the goal. Therefore, it says, that Pharaoh brings the children of Israel closer to the Creator. Then there will be other obstacles and I will understand your complaints. After all, the blows of the Light are much harder. But no matter what happens, you will always want the struggle between these two opposite forces since only between them can you determine your independence.
[107732]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/13, The Zohar – Introduction

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Rabash, “What is the Preparation for the Receiving of the Torah”: As for the Lord, it says “and the Lord descended upon Mt. Sinai, at the top of the mountain.” And as for the people, it says “and they gathered at the bottom of the mountain.” And we should understand what a “mountain” means. A “mountain” (Har) originates from the word “doubts” (Hirurim), which is a person’s mind.

If we accept this message in our mind, it means that the Creator is at the top of the mountain, meaning that He operates that way and we feel and agree that we have no choice and that we must receive the Torah. It’s because after we understand that the evil inclination prepares us for burial, we must receive the Torah, to be saved from death, from this doomed life.

So where is our free will if we are naturally forced to receive the Torah? The evil inclination itself, which is our desire to enjoy this life, leaves us to this choice. But is this called receiving?

So when we gather at the foot of the mountain and discover our evil inclination, and opposite to it we reveal the Torah, it’s a start. We clearly understand that we begin to live under these conditions. Now as the evil inclination is revealed in every step we make, we have to decide: Why has it been revealed, why do I need it, and how can it be corrected by using the evil inclination and the Torah that was given for its correction correctly? Can we ascend to the Creator’s level, to the top of the mountain?

This is the preparation for the receiving of the Torah, but it’s only the preparation and not its fulfillment yet. Here we still act out of necessity: There is such a revelation that doesn’t leave us much choice. We see that we have an evil inclination and a means to correct it, the Torah, and if we refuse to accept it, this will be our burial place. Otherwise we have no chance of being saved from this life, which is worse than death, and so of course, a person accepts the condition he is given.

Free will appears later with every step a person makes along the way, when we begin to fulfill the Torah during the forty years in the desert. All these years of wandering are already the real levels of the receiving of the Torah, by which we rise higher and higher, until we reach the top of the mountain.
[107492]
From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/13

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Baal HaSulam says in the article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” that if the society cares about each of its members, it can neutralize a person’s egoistic desire. 

Suppose I go on a “everything’s included” pleasure cruise, feeling carefree since the service actually includes everything I can think of. I settle down in my cabin getting ready to spend two weeks of sheer pleasure. However, as we set off, I am told that this is going to be a eternal cruise. So, I live, and everything is prepared for me: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are  served right on schedule; my cabin is always made; there is a library, a cinema, the Internet, a swimming pool, and so on. Everything is at my service.

In addition to that, everyone treats me nicely and is very attentive, and there is nothing to worry about. The people around me are ready to help me at any time and in any way. These are the social principles on this boat, and they apply to everyone without exception.

So, how will my nature react to that? Is it possible for the ego to erupt under such conditions? The people around me teach me to annul myself by their attitude toward me, and I don’t look for ways to fill and satisfy myself anymore.

For example, I don’t wander in pubs and restaurants in search for delicacies that I haven’t tasted yet, but rather feel satisfied with simple healthy food. Luxuries don’t excite me like before. There, a buffet of desserts is open daily, and it quickly curbs my demands. After a couple of days, I already restrict my “daily consumption,” and after a week, I am satisfied with a cup of coffee and a biscuit. The atmosphere is full of Surrounding Lights that are constantly ready to restrain and calm my ego.

The main thing here is the example I take from others and the attitude they teach me. I am in the company of people who are satisfied with little. This is what is accepted among them, and that’s it. They actually don’t need more than that. They prefer to enjoy the good relationships that I now take in portions, instead of food. If I feel gloomy and take a portion of “our love,” I am immediately filled with love.

It is because I am in a network of social, human relationships whose message clearly is that I never will lack anything. The feeling itself actually is enough, and nothing else. Initially, by our nature, we depend on environment, and there are no compromises here. So, if the group radiates the right attitude toward me, imbued with tranquility, peace, and good will, then half a day later, I also will feel that everything is exactly as it should be. However, if I find myself in some gang, I also will absorb their principles.

There is a natural inclination within a person to adapt to the environment. I simply have no means and no way to fight this inclination. So, within a couple of hours, I become incorporated in the general atmosphere of mutual guarantee and stop worrying about myself. The people around me are my network of connections and are closest to me. I cannot resist their opinion since I am also part of the general network.

So, when it is my turn to reveal the Creator, the root of my soul, I am brought to a new type of connection, to a group. The same law operates here: The group tells me that there is nothing to worry about and that I will stop worrying about it. But besides that, it has to convey the message that I must connect with the friends and adhere to the Creator. It’s because self-annulment is not enough, I also need the right direction, And I also will receive this message.

My free will is not taken away from me in the group since that simply will suppress me. In spirituality, other people’s opinions are not conveyed automatically. This is another boat that I must choose by myself. The Creator brings me to the ladder, but each step up requires great effort and strengthening along the way. However, do I get stronger? Do I fulfill my free will? Without free will, I never will develop the human within me.

A “human being” (Adam) is only the one who pressures himself to enter the group and be incorporated with the friends. Then, I receive everything else from them automatically since I have no control over it anymore.

In short, we choose only one thing: the environment. The first and main condition is mutual guarantee. If we are connected in mutual guarantee and provide everyone with everything that they need for self-annulment, then there is nothing else that we need for a start.

The second condition is to make sure that everyone has the stimuli and incentives so that they surely will hold onto the friends. This ensures a person’s good fate.
[106511]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/30/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Rabbi Akiva depicts two kinds of people: the first are the “open store” type, which regard this world as an open store without a shopkeeper. He says about them, “The book is open and the hand writes.” Meaning, although they do not see that there is an account, all their actions are nonetheless written in the book, as explained above. 

We exist in a general system, and we influence it through all our actions. No matter what I think about or what I do, everything immediately influences the whole, of which I am an integral part.

This is done by the law of development imprinted in Creation against humanity’s will, where the deeds of the wicked themselves necessarily instigate the good deeds…

How is that possible? How can an evil deed correct me and generate good deeds? The path of suffering exists for this purpose. If I generate a series of troubles, if I don’t keep the direction of the goal of creation in order to judge myself and the whole world to the scale of merit, then my bad deeds and opposite goals bring the system to such distortions that as a result, it influences me like the source of evil and forces me to change my state and become a good and useful part.

This means that eventually, my bad deeds will surely come back to me twice as intensely as the harm I have caused to the system and will force me to change for the better.

The path of suffering is undesirable. It is prolonged and continuous since all my deeds go through the system until it responds. This takes time, but it surely will happen since the system doesn’t change.

So, my bad deeds surely will influence me eventually and correct me. However, they correct me only so that I will understand that I am a negative factor in the general system, and thus, I feel bad. It doesn’t change or correct me. It is said about this: “The Creator Himself puts one’s hand on the good fate and says to him, ‘Choose this for yourself.’” I am only brought to the place where I can choose, but the system doesn’t choose anything for me. It only brings me to the decision that I must do good deeds.

“The second type of people is called “those who want to borrow.” They take the shopkeeper into consideration, and when they take something from the store, they only take it as a loan.”

So, where do such good and clever people come from? Like the first type, they also have undergone suffering since no one receives any special treatment, and the same force of good and evil exists in everyone. If your evil inclination is big, then accordingly, you have enough brains, wisdom and persistence. So, at the end of correction, no one will feel that he is deprived as compared to others, but rather that everyone has his own special attributes and that they are compatible with each other, whereas in the ideal relation they are equal.

There are people who have been through great hardships in this or in a previous life and have become wiser—not in their minds, but in their internality. They already have the inner preparation that allows them to understand that they are in a general system and that they must be considerate of everyone since there is no other way. This is worthwhile since we will suffer less this way.

They want to heal the system or even to tie it to the Creator, depending on their current level which eventually is determined by the level of pain they have experienced. So, no wonder that relatively, the nation of Israel suffers much more than others. This is determined by the conditions of the general system.

“They promise to pay the shopkeeper the desired price, meaning attain the goal by it.”

This is the price. I ask, I demand, that the Creator give me a mind, feelings, and the power to do exactly what He demands of me. I will force myself, I will succeed in convincing myself, and then, I will see that it really is worthwhile to behave precisely this way. In the meantime, I advance under the pressure of the blows I receive, but later on, I gradually will change my perspective as I reconsider what is happening and will not advance “under pressure,” but for the uniqueness that is in bestowal, in love of others.

Thus, I ask for a loan. I ask for help, which is called raising MAN, a request for correction, as I want to fill the desire of the upper one. This always requires an ascent above reason. I make a decision that is not based on my egoistic desires, but on the desires that are above them.

The first type, whose debt is collected by the collectors of the development, pay their debt unknowingly, but stormy waves come upon them, through the strong wind of development, and push them from behind, forcing them to step forward.

Thus, their debt is collected against their will and with great pains by manifestations of the evil forces, which push them from behind. But the second type pay their debt, which is the attainment of the goal knowingly, of their own accord, by repeating the actions that hasten the development of the sense of recognition of evil.

It is clear that they receive the positive force that pulls them upward toward the goal, but they are the ones who awaken it as if they actually advance according to their own freewill.
[106648]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/13, “The Peace”

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 52, “Transgression does not Put Out a Mitzva“: One must know that one does not need to uproot the evil, as this thing is impossible. Rather, one must only hate the evil, as it is written, “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.”

It is about our choice. There is a plan that leads to the purpose of creation that must be fulfilled. We cannot change this plan because the contrast between the Light and the vessel has existed since the beginning of creation, and it must come to an end so that at the end of the process, they will not oppose one another, but will merge into one whole.

Therefore, this process should include the three following states: the initial state of the created being, the process of correction, and the state of the end of correction. The only thing we can do is to hasten time, to perceive all the states correctly—that is, to manage to justify them and want them in advance. Thanks to this, we acquire the understanding and the feeling of who the Creator is, and how we can connect to Him and become similar to Him.

We learn about the choice from different examples. However, the basis of the choice is in the following: If I want to get closer to the future states that are expected along the way, to hasten my development, I must get away from the past and come closer to the future according to the timeline of the plan of my development. This means that I draw further away from my egoistic desire and come closer to the desire to bestow.

This coming closer depends on my hate of reception and my attraction to bestowal. On nature’s part, the Creator pushes me to it by the force of the Light when it reveals to me more and more blows from my ego each time. Therefore, I feel suffering, evil, and thus I hate my ego. In contrast to this bad feeling, I begin to love the acts of bestowal, the connection in which I believe that I will feel better. Thus, nature, the Creator, the force of the Light, advances me.

This is where my freewill lies: to what extent I can increase my recognition of evil that is expressed in my hate of evil. I can do that with the help of the environment. If the environment begins telling me about evil more, which I have attained by my personal blows, I will draw away from my egoistic desire much faster and yearn for bestowal. Therefore, I have to receive endless examples from everything that surrounds me which prove to me how evil the ego is and how good bestowal is.

Those around me have to let me see and feel this, to brainwash me. Eventually, the hate of evil will burn in me and I will advance much faster to what is opposite to it, to the good. Therefore, as it is written, “O ye that love the Lord, hate evil.” By that, I will know what I must do: How I can turn my desires, which do not disappear, to their opposite form by using them in a new way.

I want to feel good! And if I have to bestow in order to feel that way, I am ready to do so. If I have to treat others more nicely, I have no choice and I agree to treat them more nicely so that we all will feel good. Just as in times of war or in other difficult times when people get closer to one another since they feel that it will be best for everyone, a person feels that, eventually, he will be better off.

So, from Lo Lishma (not for Her Name) we arrive at Lishma (for Her Name). First, a person acknowledges the advantage of a good attitude egoistically when he understands that we have no choice but to connect, to be compatible with nature, and to stop harming one another. Eventually, he begins to feel that there is a special power in connection, a special new state that he has never experienced before.

Just as when two people connect, trying not to harm one another at the beginning and to bring each other pleasure, and then they suddenly begin to feel that there is something greater between them—a feeling that they have never experienced before—so, from Lo Lishma we arrive at Lishma. It is all thanks to our increasing the hate for the egoistic desire to enjoy and to separation.
[106800]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/13 

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We are all connected by a “cobweb” of forces that penetrate all our relationships. On the whole, these are either the forces of reception or the forces of bestowal. If a person discovers neither of the forces, it is as if he is hanging in emptiness. Usually, however, either the positive or the negative forces are revealed to him, and together they weave the general network.

So the “cobweb” exists and it is up to a person to what extent he feels it, to what extent he is in it, and to what extent he wants these forces to be either corporeal or spiritual.

We may say that we are in a “fixed” position in this network, regardless of our physical location. And the saying “he who changes his place changes his luck” refers to spiritual “coordinates.” If I move from one country to another and see different people and a different environment around me, it doesn’t mean that I have changed my position in the system in any way.

I am in the same point, in the same network, but now it simply seems to be different. Even if my “luck” has changed, meaning the forces that act upon me, it doesn’t mean that I have changed my location in the spiritual network. Only the manifestations, the “garments,” the scene in the Creator’s theater, by which He manages me, have changed. But the director is the same, and the play is the same play, and behind the new set there are the same side scenes.…

Question: But what should I emphasize? Where should I make an effort?

Answer: The Creator tells me: “I have brought you to a point of choice, now realize it.” He has brought me to the group, but it is only the place of choice, while the choice itself is in my hands. It is like coming to the ballot box that has already been prepared for me, and now the choice is mine.
[106354]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/30/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Question: What is my free choice in relation to my thoughts?

Answer: All thoughts that are within me at the moment, all sensations and understandings, all data that I as if “scan” and then process, through synthesis and analysis, all these parameters are given from Above. What I feel, how I feel, what kinds of decisions I make, all this is already predetermined from Above, right up to this moment. One can ask now: What will be from this moment on? In this “from now on” there is a parameter called my free choice.

With regards to thoughts, free choice is in the external desire and the external mind that belong to the group. After the shattering I am divided into two parts. In my sensations, one part is outside of me, whereas I perceive the second part internally as myself. Thereby my inner heart and mind appear, meaning myself, as well as an external heart and mind, meaning the group. All that I need to do is to begin to connect these two parts together, into one Kli.

Here my struggle and problems begin, and this comprises the order of the work and all corrections. By trying to come to terms with the part that constantly demonstrates to me its confrontation and opposition, I feel that I need the Creator, the only one who can connect these two parts together. The stronger I need Him to reconcile these two opposing parts together, to that degree I agree with the Creator, with His nature, with His existence, and with His rule, I agree that this property would govern me.

The more that I try to annul myself before the group, the more obvious it becomes to me that I am not ready to subdue myself before the others. Ultimately, I will “beat myself black and blue” to finally clarify that I’m not ready to yield under any circumstances. I reach such hatred that it’s like Mount Sinai (“Sinah” means “hatred” in Hebrew). But because I’ve tried to annul myself so many times I realize that I must do this, and therefore I feel the need for the help of the upper force.
[105639]
From the 1^st part to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/13, Shamati #68

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All our work is in making the right choice, as it is written: “Choose life!” We constantly have to ascend the ladder to a more qualitative choice. The Creator wants to be revealed to the created beings. He wants them to reveal Him and to feel that He is the only force in the world, good and benevolent. However, we have to discover this by ourselves, in our desires, that is, we have to change ourselves so that we will see that the Creator is good and that is nothing else in the world but His goodness.

Our first choice is by trying to see the revelation of the one upper force in everything that happens in the world. A person should picture himself standing in the middle: On his left side, there is this lively, active world, and on his right side the Creator. A person stands in-between the two and chooses which one will win and who will conduct this entire orchestra: the world itself or the Creator, or perhaps alternately, the two of them together, or perhaps it is the Creator that operates through this world?

It takes quite a while until a person clarifies this. His first choice is that “there is none else besides Him.” And after he determines that there is nothing but the upper force, he then will clarify that it is good and benevolent.

This means that it isn’t enough to see the world under the rule of the single Creator. It’s also necessary to justify His governance of the world and be sure that it is absolutely thanks self-correction.

A person faces this double choice. Later, he begins to clarify even higher levels by “faith above reason,” but the main thing is to make this first decision. This is what the phase of preparation is about, when a person must change himself since nothing changes but the person himself. Thus, he attains the spiritual world.
[105880]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/13

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Question: What characterizes our free choice in the work?

Answer: True free choice, as opposed to all “false free” choices, is possible during preparation for, and not at the time of the deed itself. When the action is taking place, then it’s no longer possible to influence it. Some kind of state comes from Above and only in the beginning can we establish how we will accept it.

Nothing depends on us other than this. The plan of creation already exists and cannot be changed. We can only hasten our development. Besides this, we still don’t understand our connection within the entire great system. How could it be that I will advance faster than others if we are in a single system in which all components have to develop in harmony? It follows that all of us depend upon each other.

But if you want to know what our free choice is, it’s in the preparation. I have to isolate that single datum that I’m able to influence and work to change it. All of this change depends solely on how I raise the society so as to succeed in evaluating every state as given by the Creator, by “there’s none else besides Him,” and the “Good that does good.”

Only the environment that I organized for myself will determine how much I will succeed in rising above the forces of separation that deny the unity of the Divine Providence, “there’s none else besides Him,” and the darkness that opposes the “Good that does good.” Then I can see whether or not I can justify every state both personally, internally, and also in general, in the entire group.

Suppose that some general problem, a great trouble is discovered. Here we can check whether we are prepared to deal with it and overcome it all together. Have we prepared for it or not? So accordingly, everyone must check himself, how much is he joining with everyone and strengthening them all.

All this depends on preparation and on the recognition of our evil, the clarification of our egoism, and the aspiration to do good. Here we also examine the person: Is he really controlled by his ego or does he feel the importance of the environment, group, which is above all of his personal, egoistic evaluations? This is our entire preparation, meaning our free choice.
[105261]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/13, Writing of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 44: When he begins to delve in Torah and commandments, even without any intention, meaning without any love and fear, as is fitting when serving the king, even in Lo Lishma, the point in one’s heart begins to grow and disclose its action.

When the point in the heart awakens in a person, he comes to an environment in which he is provided with all the conditions for his inner spiritual development. It is said that “the Creator puts a person’s hand on the good fate and tells him: Choose it.” This is exactly where his free will is: to advance to the center of the group and through the group to the Creator.

Then a person begins to understand the system, the “kitchen” where everything is “cooking.” From that point on, if he looks for how to focus correctly on the goal by using the influence of the environment, subduing himself to the environment, and yearning for the Creator through it, then his point in the heart expands and grows.

Here his basic participation with the intention that is not yet aimed at pure bestowal is enough. Even if a person doesn’t feel sorry about that yet and can’t think about that seriously, it’s still a start. If he already has a “point in the heart” and, most importantly, is already incorporated in the right environment that influences him, that’s development.

Even acts without an aim can purify one’s will to receive, but only in the first degree called “still.”

A person doesn’t have the right intentions yet and he can’t see himself as one who bestows yet, but he can at least choose to “lower his head” with all his might, to annul himself, and thus advance. The greatness of the still level is its ability to subdue itself before the group and the study. This level ends when a person totally annuls himself before what has been revealed to him on the current level. This is the climax of the still level.

Afterwards, on the vegetative level everything changes: If before he only had to restrain himself while rising above his ego, now he has to open up as much as he can. Such a change is typical in each transition from one level to another.

Question: So, it turns out that the still level is not as “coarse” as one may think?

Answer: I may not understand or feel anything and may not be able to participate in real bestowal, but I need to acknowledge the lack of feeling, mind, and the right attitude, the lack of anything spiritual. I am 100% outside the dimension of bestowal. So how can I enter it?

To do that, I have to annul everything that awakens within me. I don’t delete and don’t cover up my attributes, but I know that I can’t enter spirituality with them. So, I cling to the dominion of the environment. They tell me to join something, and I do that without understanding what it means. They tell me to read, to study, and so I read and study. They tell me to do something, so I do it. I do it specifically because I am told to do so. In other words, I subdue myself before the group and the study with all my might. I accept this dominion as I relinquish myself thus advancing to the correction of my still level.

After all, my still level can’t move by itself, and so the only way to do that is to have the friends move me from the outside. In order to do that, I have to be in their hands.

In this nobody has any obstacles. Everyone is capable to perform these actions upon himself. A person just annuls himself before others and depends only on this. Self-annulment automatically puts him into their hands. Later he will be asked to perform actions that are based on interdependence and cooperation, but on the still level he only has to renounce himself. The desire grows, the interruptions increase, there is greater confusion along with disagreement, and the answer to all that is self-annulment. One needs to lower his head time and time again and thus advance. This is the first phase on our way.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/13, “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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