Question: If I bring children up according to the method of Kabbalah, could it be that I am taking away their free will?

Answer: What does it mean to bring children up according to the method of Kabbalah? It implies that you strive to introduce them into the environment, to prepare them for Kabbalistic texts, to lead them to the point of free choice so that they realize that man is brought up by the Light that Reforms. It is precisely what they have to evoke.

Initially, “man” (Adam) is the root of the soul, and he is supposed to draw everything else to himself with the Light that develops him. This is what our free will is about. We are either led by Nature, or we evoke a special force that lies above it. It isn’t easy. This requires a person to overcome, to struggle against the impact of the ordinary environment, and toil in order to attract the influence of the Light. If I lead my children to this, do I take their free will away? No, I don’t.

First of all, they may ignore not only traditional “baby food,” but also what you are teaching them yourself. There is no difference between them.

A person receives free will only when a point of a new desire emerges in him which craves personal development that will allow him (and not you with your notions of "education") to make his decisions. So, by teaching him what you, yourself, adhere to, you still don’t go beyond tradition, although this tradition is closer to the point that has to unfold.

We see that this is how it happens in the world today. But previously, humanity had to develop by way of religion. It is written about Abraham that he sent out to the world the sons of his concubines and ordered them to enforce various religions.

Judaism was also founded after the wisdom of Kabbalah disappeared from the people’s view during the fall of the Temple when we fell from the degree of bestowal and love into hatred and egoism. Since then, the Jewish people act only on the external, corporeal level. Instead of working internally on transforming the soul, purifying desire with the Light that Reforms, we are carrying out physical actions mechanically, without correcting the heart.

This is what religion is about, unlike the wisdom of Kabbalah; it is externality instead of internality. For this reason, Kabbalah is regarded as the inner essence of the Torah.

However, exile is coming to an end since it was allotted a certain time. Changes have begun, and the point of free will is hatching in human hearts. They wish to get out of the enforced education and test themselves: “Whom do I wish to be? How can I be my own guide?”

Then, a person makes a choice: He needs a new type of upbringing. It’s not the kind that society is providing for him—he wants to receive it directly from the Creator. Let the Creator give it to him so that he may be called “man” (Adam) who is similar (Domeh) to the Supreme.

Usually, our upbringing is based on us receiving examples from those who surround us and becoming similar to them. Now, I wish to receive an example from the Creator so I may become like Him.
[35070]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What stages does a person go through when attaining the science of Kabbalah?

Answer: When a person begins to study, he first learns to perceive this world correctly, even though he studies a higher level, the following dimension where we are all united together, meaning an integral world. Yet, by studying it, we actually begin to understand how separated we are from one another here in this world, and how each one of us eats up the entire system instead of working to complement it together with everyone.

Every person exists like a cancerous cell inside the common body. This sensation and understanding comes precisely by studying the global state of the system. Then the difference between these two levels: the upper one that’s united in harmony, and our level, which is completely divided into individualists and egoists, begins to be felt very acutely.

By studying together with other friends from the whole world, he begins to attract the force of development to himself, which gradually influences him. This force is present inside nature and it begins changing him and making him more connected to others. As a result, he begins to perceive this world as a single, common system.

This happens naturally, from within, but not artificially, the way we forcefully connect one thing with another today. Then a person’s attitude to the world, to life, and to himself changes, as well as his plans for life. And because he begins feeling the world better, more correctly, and more globally, the world becomes transparent for him.

He sees the connections operating behind the external picture of the world, among all the parts of reality. It is like embroidery: on the front side you see flowers, while on the reverse you see the connecting threads that tie all the parts together.

A person sees all of this and is no longer in the dark. He feels how everything is connected together. Thus, he becomes wise and no longer acts foolishly. This is the first phase of attaining the science of Kabbalah.

Next, when a person penetrates deeper, he begins to reveal the levels of connection between all parts of reality. He begins working with all of these connecting forces. Then it becomes clear to him that everyone in this world acts like puppets on strings.
He sees how everything is controlled by these strings, which extend from the reverse side of the “embroidery.” We, who live in this world, have no freedom of choice. Our behavior is determined by genes, hormones, and the forces governing us. But this person attains the level where decisions are made and can determine on his own how to behave and what kind of future he wants to see.

That’s because he sees the general system correctly and becomes included in it, becoming of one opinion with it. His desire begins acting together with the desire of this system. This is the second phase of attainment. After that there are more phases—all together there are five.
[35043]
From my lecture in Paris on 2/1/11

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When Zeir Anpin becomes revealed before Malchut, we can accelerate the speed of our development. Up until now, having advanced in the course of history on the still, vegetative, and the animate levels, we were not able to accelerate time. We didn’t know at all about what state we were in and which process we were going through.

But now, having entered the period of corrections, we possess the freedom of will. We can speed up the course of events without having to wait for the end of the sixth millennium. Everything depends on us.

With our efforts, we can include the qualities of Zeir Anpin into ourselves in less than six thousand years. After all, we are referring to spiritual degrees, not a date on a calendar. And that is why we are able to hasten the ascent to the level of the seventh millennium.

Baal HaSulam writes about further development in “Introduction to the Book, From the Mouth of a Sage.” These are also spiritual levels since Shabbat (Saturday), the seventh millennium, is the Sefirot HGT–NHY–M. Besides this, there are three more levels called the “head.” We enter into them after seven thousand years, and this is beyond our current attainment since it involves receiving into the Kli which has already completed its corrections and become similar to the Creator in its qualities.

It is not written anywhere about this. Kabbalistic books contain only faint hints at these stages. Let’s hope that we will reach them quickly as well.
[34593]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, Writings of Rabash

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We have finally matured to the human level and have become free. That is why our perception of reality will transform from a purely material one to an increasingly more spiritual one.

All of our machinery, workstations, and factories will become less material and more “transparent.” Even today half of the people are already working at a computer keyboard. But what could they possibly be producing there?

It’s clear what can be produced by working in the field, at a conveyor-belt, or by mining oil and coal. But what can you create by striking the computer keys? Soon the whole world will sit by computer screens. So will we be able to change the world through them?

In reality, this is how we create new matter, one that’s more spiritual. We will no longer need cars or planes because everything will shift to this virtual form. In reality it doesn’t matter one bit in what form we imagine everything. The most important thing is our effort, the Reflected Light we produce.

The Creator continuously moves upward, farther and farther away to give us the opportunity to expand our intervention into the upper realm with our Reflected Light. This is the kind of movement upwards we have begun from today onwards.

In reality, the entire difference is only man’s perception, his sensation of himself. In the past he was forced to work by the egoistic desire to enjoy, but now his effort lies in preferring the Reflected Light and bestowal over reception. This is called the human level.

In any case, one way or another, every person will work. The only question is: Will he do it unwillingly or by his own desire? All of human history until today was also spiritual work, albeit unconscious. That is how the Creator or nature had obligated us to work.

But now He no longer desires our slave labor. He wants us to become the same as He by ascending above our nature and playing with it ourselves the way He once played with us. You have to look at yourself from above and do the same thing to yourself that the Creator used to do. That is how you become equal to Him.
[34824]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Every person experiences his or her individual desires that they try to fulfill. There are people who oppose and resist them, but they, too, are governed by the Creator. He moves us all around like figures on a chessboard.

We don’t have any free will, so there is no point in labeling a person as good or bad. And he shouldn’t expect any consequences or feedback regarding his actions: neither heaven, nor hell, nor anything else. It is written in The Book of Zohar: “We are all like animals.”

Indeed, where is your free will? Even if you have an illusion of it, it is because you don’t clearly realize what you want. The Creator intentionally injects you with such instructions, such specific control signals that create an illusion of free actions, and nothing more. Therefore, to realize that “there is none else besides Him” is to realize that we are, first of all, cogwheels in an enormous mechanism.

Where then does a human begin? A human starts with free will. And in order to achieve it, he must evolve to it. That is why first, over the course of millennia, man is developing in his egoism controlled from Above by the Creator, and then he feels how the “point in the heart” emerges within. In other words, another desire comes to life: an additional one, opposite to all the others. It breaks a person in pieces, taunts, and twists him.

Naturally, this desire also comes from the Creator. There is no other place where it may originate from since it doesn’t appear out of thin air. After all, man is a created being. Therefore, even the formation of the point in the heart doesn’t make us autonomous, independent from the Creator, yet.

What else can one be “free” from? If there is only one singular force that governs everything from Above, then my freedom may lie only in my ability to neutralize it.

How can I accomplish that? Moreover, if I do neutralize it, what will be left for me? What forces will I possess, what mind? How will I choose? What will be governing me? It is totally unclear. If there were two forces, I would be choosing between them. But if there is only one, then there is no free will is there? Why then does everything exist, what for? To control these “insects”?

No, there is a purpose to it. The created being, man, has to master both opposing forces and by maneuvering between them, learn by the Creator’s example, imitate His characteristics, and copy Him in himself. Sequentially, step by step, property by property, he gradually transfers greater and greater amounts of information from the Creator onto himself and, as a result, can completely equalize himself with Him.

In that case, in the degree of his equivalence to the Creator, a person starts autonomously regulating himself, in the same manner as the Creator would, and even much better. A person discovers a desire intentionally created in him: He wishes to be opposite to the Creator. But instead, man learns the program, the management techniques from the Creator, and despite his egoism, starts to govern himself in the correct manner.

It turns out that the Creator created man evil. And so it is written: “I created the evil inclination. And at the same time, I gave you a method to transform this evil into good. Then, you become similar to Me and free; you can work on yourself independently.

You hold two reins in your hands: your evil egoistic nature and your good altruistic one. Imitate, copy Me, and apply it to yourself. Then, you will be named Adam, from the word “Domeh,” similar to the Creator.

Thus, we do have an opportunity to graduate from the upper management, to cease being puppets, and stop saying “there is none else besides Him.” There is one more force beside Him: It is the force of that human who copies the Creator and does everything instead of Him. And that’s where free will lies because then we work with two opposite properties of the creature: egoism and the property of bestowal.
[34273]
From Lesson 4 Berlin Convention 1/28/2011

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Question: Baal HaSulam provides a detailed explaination of the influence that SAG (Bina) exerts on NHY de Galgalta (Malchut), just like a group influences a person who has nullified himself before it. But how was NHY de Galgalta able to reach that kind of self-nullification and restriction?

Answer: The same restriction from the world of Infinity operates in NHY de Galgalta. All of Galgalta is the same world of Infinity. It is a restriction by the force of the Light that rules inside of the desire to enjoy and can do anything it wishes to it because the Light created the desire.

The Light wishes to bring the desire to equivalence with itself, but on the condition that on every step the desire will retain the freedom of will. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a creation. The Light would simply make an inanimate imprint or copy of itself, like with a copy machine, and then there wouldn’t be a living creation, a person.

That is why the Light carries out all the actions, but leaves “spaces” between them for you to add your own participation. For example, you come to the lesson and are given an enormous desire to sleep. That is when you must express your own participation, working against this desire. The states that come to you will be such that you won’t be able to overcome them yourself. But you have to organize an environment for yourself that will influence you and help you cope with these disturbances—not with your own forces, but by the power of social influence.

Things are arranged this way on purpose so I would feel the need to cancel myself before the group because that is the only way I can come closer to bestowal and come out of my petty egoism. Just as you wait for the Light to influence you, so the Light waits for you to use the group as a lever and to start doing something with yourself. The group is like an instrument, such as a screwdriver or wrench: Take it into your hands and start working with it! You don’t have any other instruments.
[34183]
From the lesson on Talmud Eser Sefirot on 1/27/10

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Excerpt from the talk at the 3rd World Spirit Forum “Cooperation in the Field of Consciousness,” Arosa (Switzerland), January 23, 2006:

All of nature’s forces except for human ego are in balance. All of them form a single system of nature’s forces and only man disturbs their harmony. Everything in nature is interconnected and aspires to equilibrium within itself and with the surrounding reality. The violation of similarity leads to the violation of equilibrium, beyond the limits of which the organism starts disintegrating. The possibility of restoring equilibrium is the condition of life.

Today mass media speaks about this a lot. Everything is based on the balance of forces. This is clear to us, but still we lack the full understanding of the greatness of our participation in this process. All of nature on all levels of development is in a very fragile state of balance. And man needs to realize that he is in breach of this balance. The unstable nature around us completely depends on us, and we are the only element in creation which is out of balance.

Man is in the middle of natural balance, and his fluctuations reflect on the whole of nature. Everything is automatically and instinctively balanced on the still, vegetative, and animate levels; this is how all of nature operates. And only man is under question. He is given freedom of will, and regrettably it is exercised egoistically; frightfully we are constantly “tilting” into the negative.

These faults accumulate over the course of thousands of years and we gradually take nature out of balance. Everyone speaks about this today: We are past the point of no return, and at this point there is nothing we can do with ecology, the contamination of the oceans of the world, the greenhouse effect, and so on. Briefly speaking, “relax, you do not have a choice.”

In reality this is not how things are. On the contrary, Kabbalah says that it is in our power. The current tilt was only caused by man. The problem is in realizing this. Even today there are many “intellectuals” who say that: “None of it matters; there are cyclical, recurring processes in nature.”

Obviously, we are not at an ecology conference, and we are not fighting for the protection of the environment. We must understand that all of this operates in a completely different manner. This way nature specifically teaches us to overcome the imbalance and turn the tendency in the opposite direction.

What for? To exist in a clean world? To be in our families with children? To have a calm and a long life? Absolutely not. We need to make the change for an entirely different reason. It is in order to begin to control ourselves, our influence on nature and thereby acquire the external perception of it, rise to the world of man: the spiritual, perfect, and eternal world.
[34012]
From Lesson 2 Berlin Convention 1/28/2011

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Question: How can an attribute that is totally opposite to the will to enjoy and seems to be killing it nonetheless unfold in it?

Answer: If it were two types of matter, matter and antimatter, then it would be impossible to unify them indeed. But if it is matter and an opposite intention to it, then it is possible. Besides, it gets revealed to me on condition that I will manage to unify them in the middle line.

Therefore, my natural desire to enjoy and the intention to bestow work in two different areas: one in desire, the other in intention. And all my calculations and struggle are aimed at how to bring them together.

Suppose I have the desire to enjoy that I live in. In addition to it, I receive the intention to bestow, which could be either below the will to enjoy, or at the same level as the will to enjoy, or above it.

Now I need to somehow connect them together. Pertaining to intention, I acquire it only by way of the “Light that Reforms,” the Surrounding Light. I draw it if there is an aspiration for bestowal within me, the “point in the heart” that I cultivate by being in the group.

All of this resides within my desire and unifies as one: I, the group, and my will to receive. If my desire remains below, in the degree of its importance, but the group and the point in the heart are above, and from within them I desire to bestow, then I raise a plea (MAN). And in response, I receive the Surrounding Light that supplies the intention to bestow to me.

Now, having received the intention, I can choose between three options:

1. to place it below my will to receive (desire), that is, to use it for my desire to receive pleasure, my personal benefit, what is regarded as impurity (Klipa),
2. to place the intention at the level of the desire and bring them together which is a state of ambivalence, or
3. to place the intention above the desire, which is “holiness,” bestowal.

That is what constitutes my work: In which of the three states I am able to reside. If a person starts paying attention and feeling what is really happening within him, he will realize that he constantly faces a choice, as if standing between the weighing pans of a scale. On one hand, there is reception; on the other, bestowal. And in the middle, there I am with a dilemma: What should I choose?!
[33350]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: Where does our desire to bestow come from?

Answer: The desire to bestow awakens in us under the influence of the Upper Light, the “Light that Reforms.” We don’t know what desire to bestow is; bestowal lies outside of us.

We exist in our nature to receive. Suddenly some external force comes in and affects us, and we don’t know what this force is. We recognize it solely by how it manifests and acts. By observing the actions of this force in me, I start recognizing the Creator.

He is those effects that He causes in me. But I don’t know Him for what He really is. In essence, I don’t really know what phenomena of this world are: what electricity is, what bread is, what I myself am! I cannot attain the essence of things since only derivatives of the manifestation of this essence are revealed to me.

Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah (like any other science) studies solely what can be known: matter and form clothed in matter. And when this unique, foreign, outer force comes in, we don’t know where it comes from and Who it is. It is even evoked by me in some unique, odd way regarded as a “miracle” (Segula).

After all, I have no chance to know how exactly I affect it, how it is set in motion and starts working on me in response. I judge solely by how it appears in me, how I feel in my matter, in desire. Within myself, I experience changes as the results of this external act. This effect, a new form in me, is what is called the desire to bestow.

It is a very strange and special property which is totally unclear and unknown to me. When it suddenly emerges, I realize that I have never felt it before. But if you talk to regular folks, everyone will say that they are perfectly aware of what the will to bestow is and that he gives unto others. They don’t realize that all their giving is merely another form of receiving.

One can comprehend the difference between reception and bestowal only having received both of these desires. One comes to us from outside, while the other is hidden in our nature. In this specific case, a person is able to discern one from the other and starts to understand who he really is.

At present, we don’t even understand that in this world there rules just one law: the law of egoistic reception. We will comprehend it only when we acquire the desire to bestow. Only having exited Egypt can one realize what the Egyptian bondage really was compared to life in freedom! Everything is known and evaluated only from its opposite.
[33345]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: When we are in the common system of souls and attain the Creator’s level, do we still remain cogwheels in this system?

Answer: Yes, when we are in this system and similar to the Creator, we still remain cogwheels. However, each one of us gains absolute freedom because when spinning together with everyone according to the desires of all the others, precisely through this one feels total freedom.

If I love them and spin only for their sake, with all of their qualities, then I am absolutely free. Of course, from the egoistic point of view this appears opposite. But if I treat them altruistically and with love, then this is precisely so. That’s because I don’t have any other desires besides spinning for their sake. If I have this opportunity, then I am free.
[33120]
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/14/11, The Zohar

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