We don’t have any freedom of will in this world. It is a world of results, and this is what makes it so different from the spiritual world because when a person rises there, having achieved a spiritual level, he gains freedom of will in thought, decision, and action. That’s because it contains all the forces, while our world contains only their results.

Here we already receive the ready-made pictures and cannot change anything about them. If we want to act on our own, we have to rise to the spiritual level, the level of free choice, the level of forces. When we reveal these forces inside of us and feel them (considering that everything becomes revealed only inside a person), then we gain the ability to act by our own free choice and decide for ourselves which forces to activate—these or others.

This work is called the Creator’s work. After all, by gaining the ability to make the right choice in all of his actions, he gradually replaces the Creator in controlling the forces of nature. That is how he gradually reaches a point when all of reality comes under his power.

He constantly reveals new forces, as if it’s happening in a free form. After all, there are only two authorities: that of bestowal and that of reception. Both of these forces come from the Creator, but where is man here?

Man stands between these two forces, which act upon him in perfect balance. He finds himself in the neutral zone, which does not depend on the force of bestowal or the force of reception. The force of bestowal is called “holiness” and the force of reception, “impurity,” because it is egoistic. And the neutral part does not belong to either and is called Klipat Noga.

In this state, where a person does not know exactly “whose side” the truth is on: On the side of the egoistic force (Klipa) or on the side of holiness (bestowal), he finds himself exactly in the middle between them, and gains freedom of choice.

But a question arises: How is it possible to choose if you are exactly at the middle of the scale and you have absolutely equal chances on both sides: 50/50, and this is an exact, correct calculation? After all, a person does not feel that he is being bribed in some way or that he is lying to himself. So how can he choose which path to take, by virtue of what to advance in life: to try to receive more and more for himself or to nevertheless attain some spiritual form, bestowal?

This choice is what we discern by working on our environment. After all, a person does not know what to choose and he is left with this question. But if he really wants to make the right choice, then he has to place himself in the right environment. And then the environment helps him to see where the truth is.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, Writings of Rabash

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Influence of the Environment on a Person

"Make for yourself a teacher and buy for yourself a friend" means that to reach the goal, one has to make a new environment for oneself: the Teacher and and the friends who will help him obtain the greatness of his Teacher. And then bestowal to the Teacher would turn into reception from him so much so that it would give rise to actions for the Creator’s sake. And since the greatness of the Teacher completely depends on the environment, a person alone cannot reach the goal: revelation of the Creator.
– Baal HaSulam, "A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar"

And since one does not have the basis for obtaining His greatness, he will obviously not be able to bestow, but only to receive for oneself since bringing contentment upon the Creator will not bring pleasure for him.
– Baal HaSulam, "A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar"
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Today a completely new paradigm, a new worldview, and a new approach is arising before us that has never existed before. In the past we changed the world, but now the world is invariant and we have to change ourselves.

These inner changes in a person can come only by his choice, by his desire, by a conscious decision that he makes with every step. And Kabbalah is essentially the method, the action plan on this path.

By definition, the science of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to creation. By changing, a person reaches similarity with nature. And being similar to nature means being similar to the Creator. A person (Adam) is one who is similar (Domeh) to the upper one. This is what we must constantly discover in the process that is sweeping the world forward.

By having a Kabbalistic method and being its representatives in our world, we have to help all of humanity by disclosing this method in all sorts of ways. Obviously, it has to be done with the understanding that people resist changes, don’t want them, and look down on them. That’s true, but nevertheless, this is how everything should be. And on our part, we have to improve the presentation in order to bring the method to the people in a comfortable and pleasant form.

Otherwise, the world will of course suffer more and more from one day to the next, becoming immersed in confusion, helplessness, and bewilderment. People can become so confused that matters will escalate to a war. After all, when you are confused and disoriented under a hail of blows, your nerves can give way.

And then you will be willing to do anything just to stop the chaos. Even war will seem like salvation because it seems to put everything in their place. Just like a person can go into a rage, so can humanity, and in our days, we understand that this means a world war.

It’s up to us: How quickly will we assimilate the science of Kabbalah and place it on the runway in a clear, correct presentation for the whole world? All of us together have to become an enlightening, educational organization that helps and explains to people how to change in order to establish the right interconnection and thereby reach equivalence with nature or with the Creator, which is the same thing.

If we don’t attain balance and harmony with nature, then besides social failures, we will feel its devastating blows, which will finish us off. After all, even in human society today, we are incapable of anything until we change ourselves. Egoism is evoking an enormous amount of social problems, but we cannot stop.

The consumer society is depleting the earth, 200 years of the industrial era have exhausted all of its resources and soon they will dry up completely. Drinking water, oil, and other resources are all nearing their end. Eventually we won’t even be able to lead a normal life, not to mention the excesses. And still, we are incapable of holding ourselves back, of limiting production and pollution.

And we won’t be able to do that until we change man’s nature. No artificial solutions will help us. We still put our hopes on the old methods, but nature no longer accepts “payment by credit” from us. It will accept only one thing from us: harmony with it, homeostasis with this global system.

The need to change man is forcing us, Kabbalists, to come out of the previous boundaries and start making actions on the scale of the whole world. And we don’t have any other choice. As Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Science of Kabbalah and its Essence”: As a whole, Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator. Where? In a person. According to what? His equivalence of form. A person acquires similarity to the Creator, the all-enveloping, global nature, becoming a single whole with it.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and its Essence”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Influence of the Environment on a Person

Everyone has his own spiritual root, but its forces are revealed only through the environment one is in. This is similar to the wheat sown in the ground, whose forces become apparent only through its environment. Thus, only in the matter of the choice of environment is man’s reign over himself measured, and for this he should receive either reward or punishment.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

The measure of the greatness of the Creator and the goal does not depend on the individual, but on the environment. And even if one is filled with virtues but the environment does not favor their development, one will be unable to develop them.
– Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
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We have to gradually bring our explanations to every person, in his language and on his level of understanding. The explanation has to come gradually, until people start being able to feel that precisely the connection between us gives us the sensation of a different life, as if we are on a different planet, in a different dimension.

It is impossible to talk about this right away. We always have to address separate individuals and groups of people on different levels of development, according to the desire that they are experiencing right now. Therefore, at first the explanation must be presented in a language that they understand: “You will feel good. There won’t be wars, terrorism, or drugs. Your children will be more successful, there will be fewer divorces,” and so on.

Different layers of the population have to be addressed in a form that’s suitable for them: some are more inclined to watching movies, others listening to music, others yet, reading books, and others can be approached through science, the economy, and anything else.

The environment has to be similar to a sphere that radiates many opportunities upon every person to understand what is “the global world” in which we exist. Just as the world is global, so the system of upbringing has to be global, meaning it must include all forms of influence, on every level, in all forms, and in every language—from the side of everything that surrounds a person.

This is the system of upbringing that we have to build. Without it humanity won’t advance. It will be affected by all kinds of problems and disasters, and it will be forced to build itself in this manner in any case. After all, by that it realizes its independence because by building an environment for itself in order to change and become corrected, it realizes its freedom of choice. And therefore, it builds itself on the Human level.

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Influence of the Environment on a Person

From the very beginning of one’s life, one has freedom to choose such an environment, such books, and such guides that impart to him good thoughts. If one does not do that, he is bound to fall into a bad environment, which is abundant and attractive and which will induce him to a misdeed. He will certainly be punished, not because of his evil thoughts or deeds, in which he has no choice, but because he did not choose to be in a good environment, for in that there is definitely a choice.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

He who strives to continually choose a better environment is worthy of reward. But here, too, it is not because of his good thoughts and deeds, which come to him without his choice, but because of his effort to acquire a good environment, which brings him these good thoughts and deeds.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Does a Person Have Freedom of Choice?

We are all like machines, operating and creating through external forces, pleasure and pain, which push and pull us to their will, to where it sees fit. It turns out that no one here is free or stands on his own two feet.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

When we examine the acts of an individual, we find them compulsory. He is compelled to do them and has no freedom of choice. It’s because the upper governance has placed him between pleasure and pain. And there is no difference here between man and animal. And if that is the case, there is no free choice whatsoever, but rather the upper governance leads everyone wherever it wants, without asking their opinion in the matter.

Moreover, even the type of pleasure (what to eat and how to dress) is entirely out of one’s own free choice, but follows the will of society. Furthermore, in most cases, I do all of it against my will, which is to behave simply and dress comfortably. So you tell me, where is my freedom of will?
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”
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A person who begins studying Kabbalah and uses all of its tools eventually reaches a critical point when he must stop to develop by force, unconsciously. The first stage is intended to get him acquainted with his state, and this stage is necessary.

However, then he reaches a bifurcation point, a sudden change of a previously stable state, a breaking point when he must evaluate and reexamine his entire attitude toward development, life, his desire, the Light, and all the tools at his disposal. He completely changes his entire previous paradigm, his entire life philosophy, and his perception of the system where he exists.

Previously, this system controlled him because he fully operated within nature, and he only imagined himself to be above it from his lack of understanding. Now, he understands his full dependence on nature, its forces and laws, and he must take its governance into his own hands, as it is written: “My sons have defeated me.” Then, the person understands the special breaking point where he is.

Before, he only thought that he changed something in his life, but in reality, he obediently followed nature’s orders without any freedom of choice. Now, he is given freedom. He begins to see the world as something chaotic, without any order. He is given this sensation on purpose so that he, himself, would want to bring everything into order, connect everything, and control the world.

Here, he receives an opportunity to ask the Creator for strength, understanding, and advancement through faith above reason because he desires to be related to higher states. He wants to receive a new mind and new qualities from there and thus bring his world into balance. This is because the world is the reflection of the inner order in man, according to his inner perception of reality, and not the external perception.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/13/2011, Shamati #21

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In the News (Weizmann Institute of Science): (June 30, 2011) — “How easy is it to falsify memory? New research at the Weizmann Institute, Israel, shows that a bit of social pressure may be all that is needed. The study, which appears in the journal Science, reveals a unique pattern of brain activity when false memories are formed – one that hints at a surprising connection between our social selves and memory.”

“The experiment…took place in four stages. In the first, volunteers watched a documentary film in small groups. Three days later, they returned to the lab individually to take a memory test, answering questions about the film. They were also asked how confident they were in their answers.

They were later invited back to the lab to retake the test while being scanned in a functional MRI (fMRI) that revealed their brain activity. This time, the subjects were also given a ‘lifeline’: the supposed answers of the others in their film viewing group (along with social-media-style photos). Planted among these were false answers to questions the volunteers had previously answered correctly and confidently.”

Study results showed that under the influence of “public opinion,” the participants changed their initial answers and “conformed to the group on these ‘planted’ responses, giving incorrect answers nearly 70% of the time.”

“But were they simply conforming to perceived social demands, or had their memory of the film actually undergone a change?

To find out, the researchers invited the subjects back to the lab to take the memory test once again, telling them that the answers they had previously been fed were not those of their fellow film watchers, but random computer generations.

Some of the responses reverted back to the original, correct ones, but close to half remained erroneous, implying that the subjects were relying on false memories implanted in the earlier session.”

Comment: This experiment proves once again how much people depend on the surrounding society. According to Kabbalah, only by choosing the environment can we correct ourselves by becoming like it. Thus, through the choice of the environment, we can change ourselves to the point of similarity to the Creator. Please refer to Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom.”
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In essence, what we study in Kabbalah is the process that we have to go through. The science of Kabbalah explains to us what is the world, why and for what  it exists, and how we exist in it and realize the goal of creation.

Kabbalah points to the part we have to realize ourselves by setting it apart from everything else, which does not depend on us. We have to concentrate all of our forces precisely in the area that depends on us, making this victorious breakthrough and attaining success on the path to the goal.

Therein lies the entire Kabbalistic method: to show man this point, the tiny button among thousands of various buttons and switches that are not connected to anything. It’s like you are standing in front of a huge control panel to the world, but in reality it’s a dummy.

Only one button is connected to the system, and that button is lost among huge switches, bulbs, and color coded panels. Your whole life you press on buttons, click tumblers, tug at levers, shift sliders, spin wheels, and tune dials, but there are no results and you die as if you did not spin anything.

And moreover, all of your efforts accumulate into one tremendous negative charge, which you will still have to correct in the future. After all, egoism grows in every generation.

Therefore, at the end of the day, the science of Kabbalah explains to us where this secret button is found, which cannot be distinguished or recognized among thousands of others. This is precisely the button we must constantly press in order to advance.

Thanks to it, we begin to understand the system, to guess what is happening behind the panel, to surmise how the other buttons are confusing us and why only one of them works. In short, we reach the understanding of who we are, who is on the other side of the mechanism, and how this mechanism operates to connect the Creator with creation and creation with the Creator.

From everything there is in this world, we have to press one button called “love for the neighbor.” Only by means of this button will we be able to activate the system. All other buttons are a bluff, a lie. Together with billions of your contemporaries, you can press, spin, click, and nudge at these counterfeits, just like the past generations did just to pay their last debt in futile attempts.

Therefore, we have to understand how to find this special button and how to press it, how to use our free choice to act correctly, without letting anything go by us. We have to explain this to ourselves and to others so it will become clear to all of us: other actions, which are not connected to pressing this button that commutates (reverses the direction) love for the creatures with love for the Creator, are futile and useless. Moreover, they just increase the minus in our accounts and we will still have to return to them.

If your actions lead toward the goal, they get recorded in your account. Thanks to them, you advance forward, understanding and feeling more. However, if your actions are false, then you will have to become aware of this lie, of your mistake, and the harm you caused in order to correct it and then to keep moving further.

Thus, it turns out that we accumulate a highly undesirable addition, and therefore, we have to be cautious of actions that are inherent to the “correctors of the world.”
All the corrections that we have to carry out, meaning presses on the right button, are called “using the Torah and commandments.” I consist of 613 desires and by pressing on the button, I evoke a certain force that corrects me with its influence, turning my 613 desires into actions of bestowal.

If I restrict the desire, creating a screen and reflected Light above it by correctly interacting for the sake of bestowal, then this desire transforms from a transgression to a commandment. That is how I have to correct all of my desires on all five levels of Aviut of each of them. This is my work, which we have to perform by pressing the right button, meaning by establishing the right connection with the neighbor.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/11, Matan Torah

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