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.
[105267]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/13, “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: If all of my states are determined by the upper force, where is my responsibility for bad deeds?

Answer: I cannot change the state I’m already in. I prepared this state with the Creator like His partner. I had an opportunity to prepare myself so that the state approaching me now would have manifested in a better form, but I didn’t do that.

The present state itself cannot be changed already. It is the natural end result of all the previous conditions that I certainly could have influenced.

I could put an egg under a hen, I could put it in the sun, or I could put it in an incubator and accordingly, I will get results determining the speed of my development and my attitude. Everything will be different!

But when I find myself in some situation, it is already too late to do something about it. Having acted according to the principle of “if I am not for myself, then who is for me” and in the end, recognized that “there is none else besides Him,” I received this outcome. I make the most out of this and realize from the start I had to reach a state like this.

So, if everything is already established from the start, where is my free choice? But only having justified my present state as correct and already established from the start, since “there is none else besides Him,” can I decide what to do next and say: “If I am not for myself, then who is for me.”

“If I am not for myself, who is for me” is the period when I am acting and working as if the Creator is not next to me, since I don’t know where He is, this is hidden from me. But why do I need to act like this? If I make the right effort, then ideally I will accept the entire state revealed to me as coming from the upper force, from “there is none else besides Him.”

Working like this, I prepare my perception for the coming states. The Creator can reveal a state for me that today seems simply terrible. But after the preparation that I do now, working according to the principle of “if I am not for myself, then who is for me,” I will accept this state as the manifestation of absolute goodness of the Creator, which benefited me. This will be my reward at the conclusion of a “complete workday.”
[105435]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/13, Writing of Rabash

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Question: People in whom the point in the heart has been revealed have freewill, while 99% of people feel depressed. It turns out that we are one big family that has a goal in life, and therefore we are happy.

Answer: Of course we are one big family since only one vessel, one desire, was created initially. Then it was shattered to billions of individual desires. So there are seven billion people in the world today. Now we have to reconnect, but this time by our collective efforts. This, of course, happens under the influence of the upper Light, since we can’t do it by ourselves. The Light does everything, but we have to take this whole system through the integral connection, which means to become one unique whole again.

What’s going on here? First, we were one unique whole. Then under the influence of the upper Light, we began to feel egoistically repulsed by one another, and our vessel was shattered.

This means that the Light has inserted its opposite attribute into us, and now there are gaps between us, emotional distances: I can’t stand the other and he and I can’t live together, why? It’s because the Light has inserted an ego in us, the resistance between us, the darkness.

If we annul this opposite attribute now, by demanding that the Light influence us, then it will illuminate for us again, but according to our desire to rise above the ego now. So it turns out that if before the Light illuminated us on the level of the Light of Nefesh, which is a very faint Light, now it illuminates on the level of the Light of Yechida for us, which is a great eternal Light.

This is all our gain. In other words, the repulsion that we feel, all the gaps and the spaces between us, have to be filled with the Light.
[103561]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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In all of creation, from the world of Infinity and all the upper worlds, Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, and all the Partzufim and Sefirot until this world, which is the last and the lowest one and includes the whole universe, the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and people on earth, only man has free will. And of all the people it’s only those in whom the question of “what is the meaning of this life?” awakens.

If a person suddenly feels a need to know what he lives for, it means that together with this question the chance to correct his life and to fill it with meaning has appeared. The question itself indicates that there is a certain connection to the source of life. This means that he has a chance to correct his relationship with the source. Today this question awakens in many people, and so we see that depression is widespread.

If we could determine what the lack of communication between us is, what the failure in connection is, we could correct ourselves. We could incorporate the bad system and the good system in us, and we could see which connection is broken and which is intact. But we can’t do that because man was created only with the evil force. I don’t feel anything at all other than the desire to enjoy. I don’t understand anything and can’t think about anything else. This is my inner program.

Everything I look at, everything I see and feel, everything I relate to, all my conscious and subconscious behavior, every day of my life is focused only on one question: “How can I enjoy on the account of every moment and every opportunity.” This is how man is built, and he can’t break this circle.

If I want to do something good for someone else, the reason is my special relations with that person because of which I feel close to him. My good feeling depends on his good feeling. Not only man but also all of the still, vegetative, and animate nature operates according to this principle. We can see this principle everywhere: from the tiniest elementary particles and the waves to gigantic objects and whole galaxies. There is only one desire in everything—to grasp what is good for me and to reject what is harmful.

The egoistic desire to enjoy on the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature operates only in this way. But on the speaking level we also receive a special freedom of choice. Man develops from the animate level, from the monkey, and at a certain point he begins to ask: “What am I living for, what is the meaning of life, what is the source of life, does it have a purpose?”

Throughout his evolution, as a result of blows and everything he has been through, man gradually begins to see the general picture. Then the question about the meaning of life forces him to clarify his desire, he has to understand why he lives. Even if his life is fine, the question whether it has a goal and what he can achieve in this life rises.

Some turn to religion and it gives a person a certain hope since it promises that things will be better after his death. But this is not a solution since by that a person doesn’t actually attain the answer to his question. He only calms himself by other people’s stories.

The wisdom of Kabbalah gives a person a real chance to see reality beyond the boundaries of physical death. It says: “You will see your world in your lifetime.” This means that by changing his attitude to reality, a person begins to see the opposite reality that is outside of him. He exits himself to the external world, as if identifying himself with the external world, and thus leaves his body, the animate level, and acquires new senses and new attributes called the human attributes.

A person identifies with and connects to all of nature that is outside of him. Thus he acquires an out-of-body existence, the spiritual life. We have to do it here, in this world, in this life, and then we will transcend to the next reality. After all, we are on the animate level of reality now. In our world there are the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, and we belong to the animate level but are more developed than other animals.

We have to move on to the human level, the level of Adam, meaning “similar” (Domeh in Hebrew) to the upper force, the force of love and bestowal. When a person exits himself, he begins to see and feel this different reality. He begins to experience life outside the body, like in a collective matrix existing above matter.

Specifically this kind of existence is called the human level. We attain it by drawing the force of bestowal that exists in nature, adding it to the force of receiving, the force of the ego that we have, and then starting to correct it by changing it to bestowal. Thus we reach the spiritual level.

Today we are in the transition from one level to the other and in the near future we will see how the whole world will have to move on to the next phase of our evolution.
[103360]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/13, Writings of Rabash

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Everyone acts according to the root of his soul, and the Light that reforms acts on him according to the root of his soul. Therefore, when we look at each other in this world, we don’t understand the motives of our actions; we don’t see which informational genes and which corresponding Lights are transformed in us. We cannot properly judge each other, and therefore we say that it is always necessary to judge your friend favorably.

In relation to himself, the person is given free choice and must strive to construct an environment for himself that will awaken him maximally. He must be dedicated to this environment and submit himself to it and be integrated with it as much as possible, as it is written, “All that you find in your hands to do, in your power, do it.”

But together with this there also exists a general plan of development. We are found in a process like this, where the entire world is beginning to wake up. And therefore, our development depends upon the development of the entire world. This puzzle is awakened more and more, and in it each one needs to fill the place that is designated for him. Therefore, the more that the world advances in general, the further we, “Israel,” the people who seek the Creator, advance. And likewise, through our advancement we awaken the entire world.

Therefore, it is impossible to separate these two components in our present work. Everyone is connected and depends upon each other in a form that is impossible to separate: both the inner work, by means of our informational genes and our personal Light that Reforms, and also the group in the group and the general work on the people of Israel in the land of Israel and on the entire world. The time has arrived when we must awaken everyone. But the more internal the layer is, the more important its awakening is.

The person needs to understand that if he falls all the time and thereby feels his inferiority, this is done for his good, and thus he is shown his true state. It is necessary to be thankful for the bad as well as for the good, for the good and the bad are weighed together. The form in which the good and the bad will be revealed depends only on the Light that Reforms. And it is always necessary to examine ourselves according to our integration in a society: How much are you ready and strive, are concerned to see the entire group, and in general the entire world, as your soul?
[103364]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/13

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Today I comprehend the picture of reality in the will to receive, and as a result of this I feel tired all the time and don’t want to open the windows of my perception wider; and there are those who prefer to close them completely. I limit myself all the time because my desire is very small, very narrow.

We build all kinds of devices that expand our view of the world: telescopes, microscopes, radio receivers, and we discover a reality that is much richer than that reality that we feel on our own. But we try to contract and even limit this segment of reality found within the range of our vision.

In the end, I become tired and closed until I die. I die because I agree with death and want to contract my instruments of perception. The picture becomes repulsive to me and gradually I fade together with the fading of my life. This is what happens with the will to receive.

On the other hand, with the will to bestow, which I build above the will to receive, I open myself and discover a reality that is found outside of me, outside the will to receive. This is an eternal reality, and it begins to supply me with forces of vitality. Now, even though my body will die in a natural manner, I already live in another “region” that is found beyond time and space. And there I receive the Light that streams from everywhere.

In our world we move from place to place where we see a kind of reality in that. But if I were to move close to the speed of light, then as a result of a change in the perception of space, I would see the reality that surrounds me from all sides. And the problem here is not my vision; rather the light itself seemingly reaches me in a form like this. In accordance with this, I emerge from a “linear” comprehension and enter into a “circular” one in the Surrounding Light (OM).

We contract time precisely this way. For with this, distance and time are “zeroed,” and I don’t just receive the Light from all sides, rather I begin to perceive all of the reality existing in circles; I rise above time. Now it no longer exists for me; it simply cannot exist. There are no more spaces between “today” and “tomorrow,” no spaces between two moments. I receive everything equally from all directions, everything is balanced, mutually nullified, and I am found everywhere all the time in one integrated whole, in the unified reality of creation.
[103240]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: If there is no desire for spirituality, how can we awaken it?

Answer: We are in a state that we either awaken ourselves to the spiritual advancement or the advancement awakens us. Throughout history, from the Big Bang that began the universe until today, we have developed by the force of nature that pushed us forward by sufferings. This is called evolution. Every time, having no choice, we left the current state and moved on to the next state that seemed better. We developed in the better state until we began to feel that it wasn’t so good anymore and moved on to the next state that seemed even better.

Unless we feel that our current state is unbearable, we won’t leave it since our ego aspires for rest. Why should I change something if I feel good? If my arm feels comfortable now I will not move it, but if I feel that another position is better and here it is not so comfortable, then these forces move me.

This means that I never move of my own will, and there are always forces that influence and operate me. What are these forces? The arm as part of the animal body feels bad here and that it would feel better if it moves a little and so it moves.

It’s the same with everything in life. It isn’t any different from the way the wind blows: there is pressure in one place and a deficiency in another, a vacuum, and so the air masses move from place to place. There must always be two forces: one that pushes and one that pulls.

This is how it always been in the evolution of human society that has been through many transformations from one state to another: The negative force pushed it from behind and the positive force pulled it from the front, a hope for something good.

Now we are in a very special state. How is it different from all the other states?

It used to be that there was state one (1) and state two (2). In the second state I discovered a plus (+) and in the first state a minus (-). In the first state the rejecting force operated on me and in the second state the pulling force. I moved from one state to the other by these two forces. It’s natural evolution without freewill.

The state I am in now is different since I have freewill. In the current state I discover a very big minus (-), but I don’t discover the negative force, it hardly pushes me forward. Then a big question arises (?): What is the state of freewill? How can I be guided here, know which way to go, what to do, and what will become of me? It’s only with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

/center>Otherwise, it’s impossible to understand what we should do, since in all the previous states we went from one human evolutionary level to the next, but now we have to move from a human level to a divine, spiritual level. Therefore, we cannot grasp how to advance and are actually in the dark. This is the whole problem.

So on the one hand, it is freewill, since it isn’t the animal body that dictates where I should move. I feel helpless and the choice is actually above reason.

So there is nothing we can do without the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Here the nation of Israel has to fulfill its mission and this is why we are in such a special dangerous state. Now we come to the forefront of the stage of history and although we were always “watched closely,” now it’s more than ever before.
[103105]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: How can a person feel that he is not only part of his local group, but also part of the whole global group? What concentrated attention, efforts, and thoughts are needed for that?

Answer: Our egoistic nature doesn’t let us think about real values or to feel true reality. It doesn’t let us worry or think about those that we don’t feel naturally. Some distant group that I don’t quite even know the location of, I can’t feel it close to me and it can’t be the focus of my concerns. I don’t have the same deficiencies and needs that they have, so what can I do?

We have to work on this artificially according to the advice of Kabbalists about the work with the environment. We don’t feel any attraction to the environment either, and it’s only later that we begin to feel that we depend on it. If you don’t drown in the friends and don’t throw yourself into their arms, you will not be able to advance. All your spiritual development depends on them, and it’s only from them that you can receive spiritual bestowal. This understanding comes as a result of years of careful work with the environment.

We mustn’t wait for the feelings of all the groups to reach us on their own; we have to work on it artificially. This is why we were given this Mitzva (commandment): Go and start working, “Go and make a living from one another,” start connecting!

It is written, “Love thy friend as thyself,” a commandment. Is it possible to force someone to love? On the contrary, if you love, then it’s impossible to detach from this. Here, however, you are pushed and told, “Love!” How can that be?

It means that there are certain actions that we have to perform in order to attain the love of others. This commandment has nothing to do with your emotions; you are not obligated to love, but to perform an action by which you will attain this love. This action has to be performed against your will. If they were compatible with your will it wouldn’t be necessary to command a person to love.

Suppose, I serve you gefilte fish, which is a traditional Ashkenazi food, and I tell you “love it!” However, you are used to Sephardic food and you are disgusted by the cold tasteless fish. But if there is a commandment, then you have to start getting used to this against your will so that a habit will become second nature.

So you force yourself to eat this fish, although you feel like throwing up. But you try again and again together with a prayer. You curse the fish but you eat; you start from totally mechanical actions. In your emotions, you curse me for having given you the fish. Clearly you have no control over your heart, but you curse me and eat the gefilte fish again and again because you are obligated to love it.

The commandment of “love thy friend,” is worse than any disgusting fish. This commandment includes all the strange and hated dishes, but after you exert yourself enough, the Light that Reforms influences you and the unbelievable happens! You suddenly begin to get used to that fish. It seems that it has a different flavor and that it’s not as disgusting as it used to be. You are not repulsed by it as you were before and you begin to accept it.

This is thanks to the performance of physical actions above reason, against your will, by following the advice of Kabbalists. By having fulfilled their orders and in general the orders of the Creator that were passed on to you by Kabbalists, you receive the Light that Reforms through them. Thus, you receive new attributes and begin to love gefilte fish, the friends, others, and the Creator.

The commandment “to love” has nothing to do with emotion but with actions. Now we have a chance to perform such actions in the form of an attack! There is always an option for such actions, but especially now, when the European convention and Passover are approaching; it’s a special time that we can attack. In the next two weeks, starting today, we all rush to this attack.
[102954]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/13, Shamati #38

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