Baal HaSulam, Shamati #8, “What Is the Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of the Sitra Achra”:  We must observe two discernments in this shade, meaning in this concealment:

1. When one still has the ability to overcome the darkness and the concealments that one feels, justify the Creator, and pray to the Creator that the Creator will open his eyes to see that all the concealments that one feels come from the Creator, meaning that the Creator does all that to a person so that one may find one’s prayer and yearn to cleave unto Him…. In that state, one still believes in His Providence.

2. When one comes to a state where he can no longer prevail and say that all the suffering and pain one feels is because the Creator sent it to him so as to have a reason to ascend in degree, one comes to a state of heresy. This is because one cannot believe in His Providence, and naturally one cannot pray.

Everything works according to the same principle: “There is none else besides Him, the Good and Benevolent.” All of our work is to attain this principle in each and every state that we go through. We need to evaluate our entire lives according to this principle, and this is impossible without the support of the environment. Otherwise a person cannot hold on.

All of the states are sent to us by the Creator, meaning that they are determined by the influence of the upper Light on the Reshimot (the informational genes) and their common state in regard to each other. But between the Light and the Reshimo an empty space remains for our free choice and effort. And a person must fill this space.

There is a lack of contact with each other which is called concealment. A person must make effort in this in order to remove this concealment and to complete this contact between himself and the Creator, between the Reshimo and the Light, and to bring fulfillment between them. The Reshimo gets revealed as shattered, and therefore it is always discovered as a discomfort, deficiency, rejection, and concealment. After all, this is a testimony to the breaking, and I need to accept this as a call for contact in all the conditions that are created.

This is called work above reason. It could be that there is an unpleasant feeling in my heart and mind, that I cannot integrate all of my problems with the Good and Benevolent, but in spite of it all, my work in mind and heart shouldn’t depend on my inner state. This is called that I am skipping over the Reshimo that is revealed, rising above the shattered Reshimo, as if this Reshimo were corrected. That is, I feel as if I have reached the revelation of the absolutely benevolent, single force and stand face to face with the Creator.

And then I thank the Creator for my shattered desires because I can only attain spirituality, the advantage of Light over darkness, this way. It is specifically in the contradiction between the Reshimo and the Light that I discover what the Light is every time.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/23/14

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Question: What is the spiritual root of indifference?

Answer: The spiritual root of indifference stems from the state of rest that our ego is attracted to. It is the lowest egoistic state. I lie, doing nothing, filling my sight with interesting pictures, my hearing with pleasant sounds, my mouth with tasty food, and my nose with pleasant odors. If I totally fill myself, I have no deficiencies left, and there is no motion. I can enjoy the quiet!

Question: So how can we overcome the indifference, especially during the workshop when I suddenly feel bored and indifferent?

Answer: I don’t understand how someone can be bored during the workshop if it provides a great opportunity to work. I listen to the friends and I feel that I am burning. First I have to be incorporated in each one. One of the friends speaks nonsense, but I annul myself and try to fathom his words, accepting them as if he were Elijah the prophet. I penetrate the friend and want to live in his words, which are the only reason to be incorporated in him.

Then another friend speaks and begins to philosophize, and I can hardly restrain myself, but I let him finish. Here I have another type of work: I am incorporated in him, suffer, and see to what extent what he says is right or wrong. It is not in order to criticize what he says, but in order to help me be incorporated in him even more. The more my ego criticizes the friends, the more deeply it helps me penetrate them.

When we end a round of debate, I am incorporated in each one and practically burst as a result of the experiences that fill me. I am not full of their words since I don’t even remember what they said, but I am full of my efforts to be incorporated in them.

We have to see the workshop as an opportunity to be incorporated in the friends, despite our criticism. First it seems that one friend speaks nonsense, another friend speaks too much, another didn’t hear the question at all, and another one doesn’t even understand how low he fell. But all this doesn’t matter! Even if I went to some other place to participate in a roundtable discussion, I would also be incorporated in my partners and would do the same work with them. I wouldn’t receive less from them than I receive here.

How can I feel bored if I constantly work? No matter what the friend says, I try to delve deeper into him and to feel his inner space. Each one is like a womb for me, and by the connection between the friends, I form the womb, enter it, and feel that I am inside some kind of space, inside a human being.

Every friend is my environment. When we complete a full round, I form a bubble of all the friends, a sack of amniotic fluid inside the womb. I feel like a baby. I penetrate the friend, discover an inner space, and try to get used to him, and by my thoughts, feelings of repulsion, I begin to identify with what is inside him.

Start working! This inner work is called a friends’ meeting and not debates on foreign affairs.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/14, Writings of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 18: Therefore, one has no choice but to direct all the present and future moments to be offered and presented to His great name. One who rejects a moment before Him, for it is difficult, displays his folly openly, for all the worlds and all the times are not worthwhile for him because the light of His countenance is not clothed in the changing times and occasions… .

Therefore, one who assumes the complete burden of the kingdom of heaven finds no labor in worshipping the Creator and can therefore be attached to the Creator day and night, in light and in darkness. The rain, which is created in coming and going, changes and exchanges; it will not stop him because the Keter, which is infinite, completely illuminates to all equally.

If a person wants to attain the goal, he must try to connect with the higher management that is concerned about him at every moment of his life. There is nothing besides this higher power, which is good and does good. And if the person is not included within this one good power, then he must nullify himself, and he will then be connected with Him correctly with all his heart and soul, like an embryo in his mother’s womb, feeling that the Creator envelops him on all sides, and it will not be difficult for him to be integrated into His management. This is called being found on the level of the “embryo.”

Only the group can instill the importance of the goal in a person, the need to engage in higher education, as an embryo in his mother’s womb, and the acceptance of the higher control as good and benevolent in all states: both in the good states and in those that seem bad. There is no good and there is no bad, for everything is derived from wholeness, from the world of Infinity. In the meantime we are not ready to see this, but we must work on this.

Therefore it is necessary to connect to the Creator at every moment. Certainly this is very difficult for us in the meantime and even impossible, but this must become our goal. At every moment it is necessary to be integrated into the higher management as if in water. The Creator surrounds me, and instead of wasting time on all kinds of imaginary tasks, I try to feel Him in every thought, desire, and position, in my every turn.

It is the Creator who turns me and arranges everything for me. But where is He, why don’t I feel Him as the director of my heart and mind? I want to feel that I am a puppet that moves by what is above pulling the strings. This is called adhesion with the Creator. First of all there is subjugation, then division, and after that mitigation. By way of these three levels we are included with and adhere to the higher power.

Subjugation is nullification of the self, without this it is impossible to adhere. After that, there is separation of light from darkness. This is to say, I begin to differentiate how much I am different from the Creator, and I try to correct myself with the help of the Light all the time. And after that there is mitigation; this is already work with bestowal.
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From the Talk at a meal 2/21/14

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Question: How can it be that at the end of correction there will still be some differences between us, but at the same time will we be totally equal?

Answer: It is like a philharmonic orchestra in which every musician is an outstanding, well known talent, but one plays the violin, another the viola, and another the bassoon, and so on. All the players differ from one another, but at the same time they are on the same level.

This is the equality that we want to reach among people. Although they are all different by nature, we still want them all to reach the same level. If everyone bestows upon the whole integral system, he is completely equal to the others. There are no great or small. These differences exist only until the end of correction, and then afterward, everyone complements one another and they become equal.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/17/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Many friends returning from the convention feel some kind of descent.

Answer: If they don’t search for continuation of the ascent, they will descend. This is natural and understandable.

There is nothing to do about it. We are found in a kind of forward movement like this. I suppose that descent is useful and always moves us forward, but you can avoid it and already use it from the start as some kind of new ascent. It depends upon you.
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Question: I was at a convention in Israel for the first time, and I cannot be freed from the feeling of fear of losing something great. I felt a very great difference between being in my group and being here, in the Bnei Baruch group. The thought haunts me all the time. Isn’t this ego, or is this a normal fear of losing that intensity that is felt in a congress?

Answer: This intensity doesn’t disappear anywhere. It exists on the spiritual plane. If you are connected to it, then you are in it. If you are detached, then you lose it, and after that, you can connect again. This is eternal.

That you feel fear is very good. What is the first Mitzva? It is the Mitzva of fear. I could be detached from the spiritual level, could lose it, I won’t be able to bestow, and so forth. This is the main thing. Therefore, you have a very good basis for staying in a good connection with us.
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Question: A couple of days ago you said that if we keep the same level of connection that we have attained the Messiah will come. Are we headed in the right direction? How can we provide the mutual support and how do we continue our work correctly?

Answer: We are heading in the right direction and I am really pleased with the outcome of the convention and with your conduct after the convention. However, we still lack the inner connection, which it isn’t up to us but up to the world around us since we have to draw it after us. Therefore, we will not receive the force of the Messiah until there are hundreds of thousands and even millions behind us since we need to receive the force of Messiah for them.

We have to build up a “layer of fat,” so that there will be a place around us in which people will understand, hear, and feel to some extent what the solution to the crisis is. Then our prayer will not be egoistic and not in order to receive. We don’t receive anything in spirituality for no reason, but only if we have whom to convey it to on the outside. Otherwise it will be a fall, a terrible shattering!

Only when we connect to millions will we gradually be able to convey the Light that Reforms to them and our spiritual attainment will be a billion times greater than what we convey to them. So we need a quantity of people on the outside to whom we will be connected more or less, which can be the result of a lecture that we give, giving someone a book, or telling someone about our ideas, etc. There is no need for any physical connection since it’s by these actions that they already connect to us to some extent through the virtual spiritual network.

We are on the right track and we try to fulfill everything. The main thing is to participate in the lessons and in dissemination: no matter whether the outcome seems good or not. We have to provide people with the minimal information that this is the only way to correct the world, and that’s enough. If we could attract two million people this way, we would really be rewarded with the Light that would raise us to the next level. It’s called Messiah, or the force that draws us through the Machsom (barrier) from the lowest state to the next higher state.

Question: When does an ordinary person connect to us? Suppose he reads something and says that he agrees, is that it, does he already become part of us?

Answer: He has to participate in the connection between us in some way, at least passively, like reading what is on our site or by reading the material that you send him. No matter how a person responds, as long as you nourish him a little with excerpts or articles or invite him to a meal without asking for anything in return but simply inviting him since we gather together. If he only reads something that we publicize, he is already part of us; don’t underestimate these small weak connections!
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Question: How does a person clarify that the Creator really helps him?

Answer: A person discovers that the Creator helps him in every state he finds himself in, both the good and the bad. Of course, he doesn’t understand this immediately. But what’s important is that he discovers that the Creator is also part of all his clarifications and his decisions, all his thoughts and of all his apparent mistakes. All this was prepared and arranged from Above.

There is one point of something from nothing which the Creator created. Nothing other than that was created, and now the Creator reveals Himself with regard to the point of something from nothing.

It turns out that the Creator must devote Himself to the point of something from nothing so that it will be like Him, that it will reach the same understanding, the same recognition, and the same feeling, which means that it will know Him fully. To the extent that this point reveals the Creator’s plan, it ascends all the 125 levels.

This work is fulfilled by a person’s incorporation in the group, and the main outcome of this work is the attainment of the uniqueness of the Upper Force that has prepared our whole way and what we feel along that way. These are all the phases of spiritual attainment, all the manners of attaining the depth of the thought of creation.

We reveal the thought of creation in every phase. This is the main point from which the Creator approaches us. A person may also reveal states that preceded his creation in the thought of creation.
[127845]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/14

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Question: In our small group there is a respectful attitude towards each other. How much should we maintain all of the conditions: paying Maaser, studying at the Education Center, and so forth?

Answer: Paying Maaser does not apply to groups.

If there is a solo student who is learning together with us, let’s say in Chukotka or Hawaii, it doesn’t matter where, we try to create an atmosphere for him in which he can develop like an embryo in his mother’s uterus. We try to create an incubator for him with all the technical methods, with all of our possible ways and means.

If he wants to come closer to us, he must consider us as his group. We organize a focus group for him, supply the broadcast of lessons and workshops, and translate them into all languages. At the time of a regular lesson, 50 people work with us for the sake of those who are scattered all over the world, including you.

If a person wants to advance, he must share in the life of the whole world group, support its existence, and help it. Paying Maaser goes to upkeep all aspects of the building, which costs a lot of money, and to provide a minimum salary to those who work full-time in dissemination (our salaries are much less than the average salary in the country).

Therefore everyone must invest their part in this work. We consider a person to be a friend of the group if a person participates seriously. This is someone who is present for the lessons, pays Maaser, and engages in dissemination; it makes no difference if this is a single person, a small group, or a large one.

Maaser is something very important, and this idea is not just financial. In the Torah it is written very simply: pay 10% because you cannot correct this part. The Upper Light will correct all the rest. And if you don’t give this 10% because it is very difficult to tear it from yourself, then you’ll waste it on all kinds of nonsense, which you are attracted to by your ego. This is referring to spiritual correction; that is why it is so difficult for us to pay Maaser.
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Question: How do we connect the two expressions: “commandments that don’t need an intention” and a “commandment without an intention” is like a body without a soul?

Answer: “Implementation of the commandments does not require an intention” refers to the fact that even when we don’t have an intention of in order to bestow yet, we still try to connect with the friends and that brings us to the right intention of love and bestowal.

An intention of in order to bestow means that I focus on you and I want to fill you. A person in this world has no such intention. We are born without it, live our lives, and then reach the group. This means that the commandment doesn’t need an intention, so start the way you are.

Even if you have an intention, it is only for yourself and not for anything else (this is how you were brought to the wisdom of Kabbalah). So, study and you will succeed.

Suppose we have two levels of energy. The lower level is the intention of in order to receive that lacks the intention to bestow. There is a phase of preparation (Achan) for the intention of in order to bestow between this level and the next one, and then there is a Machsom (barrier that separates us from the upper world).

Above the Machsom, we discover the intention that is external to me, or to bestow, the attribute of Bina, the Light of Hassadim (charity). Then, there is the intention of to receive in order to bestow, or the Light of Hochma, and there is the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

First, we are on the lowest level on which we have a normal healthy desire to receive in order to enjoy.

Gradually, we come to the recognition that we have no intention to bestow.

A person decides, “I must start changing myself,” and so he reaches the phase of the very serious preparation for the intention of in order to bestow called the time of preparation (Zman Achan).

This very hard work may take months and even years. Gradually, under the influence of the Upper Light, a person reaches the intention of bestowal outside of himself.

At the same time, he doesn’t give anything but simply exists as an embryo (Ubar). He adheres to the upper and annuls himself like an embryo, or like a small child with regard to a grownup, without interfering with his growth as he allows the upper to do whatever is necessary with him: “Do whatever you want with me; I agree to everything,” and this is aimed against his growing ego.

When he completes the correction of all his desires, he ascends to the last level where he can receive pleasure in order to bestow for the sake of the Creator.

This is a very high level, and we want to attain it by performing and completing all the corrections.
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