The goal of creation, if we establish it according to the appropriate activity, is adherence with the Creator. And according to the result, it is in order to bestow all the good to the creatures according to His name, which is “the Good that does good.” And from the side of the creatures, the goal is attained through a correction from their side, in order to bestow satisfaction to the Creator.

Eventually, all three of these conditions are discovered in the point of unification. This point of unification is cumulative, it is “drawn” through the connection of the various, opposing, opposite parts that repel each other. These parts, that is, humans, in spite of it all, make an effort and work, and with this they want to connect their hearts together through a unique power called the Light that Reforms. And that is how we implement the goal of creation.

Today we are found on the level of “this world,” which is found under the ladder of the spiritual levels. And the idea is that all the levels are discovered here in the level of this world. This is to say, the Kabbalist attains all the levels while he is also found in attainment of the level of this world. This ladder “is positioned on the ground and its top reaches the heavens.” And even though its height reaches and grows to the heavens, its foundation is nevertheless found on the earth.

And therefore every ascent on the ladder of the spiritual levels is expressed in the relationship between people, in the relationship of the still, vegetative, animate and speaking in this world. It is easy for us to explain it in this manner according to the interconnection between the branch and the root. And that is essentially what needs to be revealed.

The Kabbalists discovered this in “potential” not through deeds in this world, in small amounts, in a small connection, in a small group. And we need to discover this ladder actively, on a larger scale.

But in any case, according to the conditions, our bestowal to the Creator is carried out through love of the other. And from this we can draw conclusions about it as to which forces and which efforts we need to invest in love of the other so that in this way we can reach love of the Creator.
[118568]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/18/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Please explain how you establish internal contact with people?

Answer: I try to search for and immerse myself in the place where spirituality is revealed, and each time to re-enter there from our external world. Through the external group, I go inside it in a way where faces and material characters disappear and only the points in the hearts are exposed; I delve into the relationship between them, their connection in one place, and through it, I penetrate more and more deeply into their spiritual properties.

This work has to be done over and over again, and this place constantly expands while acquiring more components, supplying the spirit of life. At this point, when you walk in and experience that connection, tangible forms of connection begin to manifest: the spiritual Partzuf with the occurrence and Histaklut of Light, the complete TANTA (Taamim–Nekudot–Tagin–Otiyot, the taste of the filling and the gradual departure of the Light leaving memories, letters, the tools for further work)

And this place is the internal oneness that expands to the entire creation so that you feel it is all around, that there is nothing but it. And conversely, the entire material world that was all of your reality and which left one tiny point for spirituality, contracts, and this spiritual point grows and fills the entire universe!

And finally, the corporeal world fades away from the foreground, as if the still, vegetative and animate levels are not the most important things for a person. In truth, you start feeling that those people are completely controlled from Above and don’t have any freewill or independent identity. Hence, this world vanishes from your perception. And what is left is only the place where all these spiritual relationships exist. You recognize the upper and the lower ones there, all the Partzufim and how they work with each other and are starting to better understand all of it. And it all depends on how much effort a person exerts in order to have it revealed.

We have to return to it anew each time since we are constantly thrown out from spirituality, pushed down to this world, and we return to the external picture, suddenly seeing the same faces and this entire world that cover the internal picture from us.

And a person starts making more effort striving to penetrate it so that the inner world will grow and expand onto the whole world. In this way, spirituality constantly either contracts and returns to a point or expands again—as if it is breathing.
[30031]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/10, Letter #13

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We are not familiar with our own nature and therefore we err all the time in one direction or another in our self-evaluation, blaming or justifying ourselves unjustly. We must understand that we have no possibility of seeing the truth and the only way out is to rely on the Light that Reforms.

Our self-image, our characteristics that now seem to us beautiful or not, all this is still far from a true understanding ourselves that will be discovered in the Light of the Creator when we see our true nature. Only then can we decide what is bad and what is good in us, for even pride is not a useless characteristic.

As it is written, “And his heart was uplifted in the ways of the Lord…” (II Chronicles 17:6), which is to say, we need to be proud, to overcome difficulties, to stand firmly on the way of truth, and not allow anyone to divert us from the way or humiliate us. In this case, humility is not appropriate.

In our view of ourselves and about others, there is much confusion; therefore, the only solution is attracting the Light that Reforms. As it is written, only “…in Your light we will see light” (Psalms 36:10), and, until then, it is necessary only to perform the advice of the Kabbalists precisely in order to advance as much as possible toward true observation of all of our nature and ourselves.

Hillel explained the correct approach, “anything you hate, do not do to others ” (that is what Hillel answered to that convert who asked him to teach him the entire Torah while “standing on one leg”). In the meantime, this is the only examination that we are prepared to make.

If you stand with them on this one foundation, “on one leg,” then this is enough. Even though your condition is very unsure and shaky when you are standing on one leg, if you hold to this one foundation and nothing more—by maintaining this foundation all the time, “anything you hate, do not do to others”—then you can move forward.

We don’t need anything else; this one thing is enough. This is a necessary and sufficient condition. Nothing else is required except connection and we need to work only by means of this all the time. The nature of the action is examined according only to how much the connection between us will be stronger. We don’t take into account anything that is happening around us at all. This already would be a “second leg,” a “third,” which can bring us only great confusion in the work. Therefore, you only should be concerned about your connection.
[118511]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/13

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MAN is a prayer, an act, that comes from desire not from the mind. It is born by the desire of Bina and Malchut acting together. We need to raise this prayer, that is, decide that this is the most important for us. This is called “raising.”

After all, the entire scale of measurement is inside me. Plenty of various demands—desires, which I somehow sort by priorities, considering some more important and some less important—live within me. However, above all, there should the force of unity within which I want to reveal the Creator to bring Him joy.

If I arrange all my actions, desires, and impulses so that this unity has become the most important, this means that I raise MAN. That is, I put the need for unity, correction, and revelation of the Creator (for His pleasure) as the most important, above all. This is called an “ascent.”

I do not send this requirement by mail or via SMS to a distant star. All the worlds are inside a person. There, everything starts, is realized, and ends in his consciousness. That is why I need to organize myself so as to arrange all my desires along one line, according to the clear scale of priorities, strictly material: food, sex, family, wealth, honor, and knowledge, and those that are slightly disconnected from this world. At the very top of this ladder of priorities, there must be my desire to bring pleasure to the Creator through our connection by giving Him the opportunity to be revealed in us now.

MAN is “Mei Nukvin” (female waters). Water is Bina and the woman, Nukva is Malchut. Thus, I join Bina and Malchut in a prayer; in other words, I glue the desires together, parts of Malchut, with the water, mercy (Hesed), the property of Bina. I want it to exist in this form together. I raise this request and want to become connected with others through the property of mercy, Bina, the property of bestowal.

That is why my request is called female waters, MAN. I raise it. That is, I consider it above all in importance, and, if I try to keep this desire in my heart by all means to awaken it in its very depth, then it is called a prayer, raising MAN.

To the extent of my efforts to accomplish this, the Light that Reforms affects me and awakens various states in me: thoughts and feelings in favor of connection and against it, in favor of bestowal and against it. In this way, they try to shake me and navigate me through various states so that I understand, feel more, gain experience. Thus, I gradually become aware what the true prayer, MAN, is.

On this path, I must go through frustration, impatience, fear of not succeeding, and failure to understand what kind of success I am waiting for: for myself or to please the Creator. Here it helps to imagine, the entire universe—all of still, vegetative, and animal nature, and people—as my own desires that broke away from me due to the shattering and have fallen from my consciousness.

Now, they appear in front of me and I must attach them to myself through my own efforts although it seems to me as if they are outside. I must try to relate to them as if they exist within me. Then, my efforts also will be called the prayer, MAN.

Thus, working on my correct perception of reality and connecting all its parts together by means of the property of mercy, I increasingly return the common vessel to its original form, in other words, to the corrected state as a whole.
[118505]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/13, The Zohar

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The created being must become equal to the Creator in properties and ascend to His level, so that both of them stand at the level of eternity and perfection. To achieve this, the Creator gives the creature a broken state, similar to how we give a child an unassembled construction set, like LEGOs, so that while assembling them, the child reaches the level of the creator of the game.

Our story begins in the world of Infinity, where the Creator created us as one soul, one desire. Then, He broke it, and we have to bring this broken will to receive, which egoistically pushes away from its own parts, to the common desire, the equivalence to the Creator.

The Creator Himself is Bestowal. On the one hand, He created the will to receive opposite to Himself; but on the other, He allows it an opportunity to attain the quality of bestowal. Then, it will become a desire to receive in order to bestow, and the creature, thereby, will become exactly similar to the Creator.

The creature has to attain this correction, the intention for bestowal, itself, and then it will understand the entire creation. For this reason, from the world of Infinity, from the state of perfection and equivalence to the Creator, we have descended into our world. This can be compared with a picture that has been divided into individual pieces of a puzzle that are mixed up and totally displaced, which is opposite to the original state. That’s how we find ourselves in the lowest point, our world.

In Infinity, the desire was common for all, consistent in all its parts, and acted as one whole. Now, the system is broken into myriad fragments that are all entangled, immersed in darkness, don’t understand what is going on, and reject each other. This is the description of us in this world.

From this state, we must rise again and attain the perfection of Infinity, assemble our “construction set” so that all souls are reunified into one. This work is called “the work for the Creator”; after all, by doing so, we become equal to Him—-a global, integral force of nature.

We undergo step-by-step egoistic evolution in our world until we reach the stage of the development of the human within us. At that point, nature begins pressuring us to get us to start uniting and assembling the “puzzle.” There comes the time of conscious participation in the process of preparing our ascent back to Infinity.
[27094]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/10, Shamati #161

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Question: If I don’t have the strength to work for dissemination, how can I connect with the friends in order to get strength from them?

Answer: From your point of view, it is an unnatural action that goes beyond our nature. On your own, you would never have a thought about the friends, seeing no egoistic gain in this. If you could gain at their expense, make money or if your health or income had depended on them, then of course, you would have started thinking about the friends right away. But since we are talking about some kind of an unnatural act, you have to draw a perfect system.

Spiritual qualities can come to you only from above, that is, from the force of bestowal. You need the upper force that will change you, and it can be obtained only from the center of the group. According to the nature of the force of Light, the only form that matches it, as a detector or radar able to catch it, is the unity of people as equals that desire to reveal this force.

You will find this unity in the center of the group if you become integrated into it with all your mind and heart, with all your power and concentration. Try to imagine how all the friends, all the hearts, are united in this imaginary center. You still cannot imagine it “virtually” because you have no tools for perceiving the spiritual reality yet. So, just imagine that they are getting together in one intention to draw the Light that will unite us and reveal the upper force for us.

And inside of this revelation, you will already subconsciously imagine this world, the upper world, the ascent above death to eternal life, to unlimited knowledge, mind, and feelings. It is all correct. You already visualize the true reality in which everyone is united. You also want to join them to be affected by the illumination that comes through our connection from that invisible infinite spiritual space.

Our unity is like a focusing lens that creates a tiny opening, like a needle’s eye, through which the higher energy breaks into our world and changes us.

You need to constantly imagine this picture, and thus you will connect with the group. You will already want to feel the friends, to hear them, to communicate; you will be looking where they are to connect to them in some form, to get closer. The main thing is to achieve the feeling that you must both physically and in your soul be as close as possible to them.
[118565]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/13

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Question: Why is it that it is precisely through involvement with dissemination that we begin to see the greatness of the friends and our own lowness in comparison to them?

Answer: Through involvement with dissemination, you are connected. You feel your dependence upon each other. You hang the success of the dissemination on the degree of your success in attaining connection and unity, mutual support. All this brings you higher illumination.

Everything depends upon the illumination. The desire to receive, our entire world, cannot move from its spot without this energy. Scientists say that all the energy through which the entire universe lives and develops was revealed at the time of the Big Bang, and, from then, it acts in the entire universe, making all the particles go around, giving them the ability to connect and create the multitude of types of creatures that we see on the face of the earth: still, vegetative, animate and human.

However, all of this energy comes from the Upper Light, from the power of bestowal. Otherwise, matter would remain dead; it would not move. It couldn’t even exist without the Light and, all the more so, be in motion and development, and even in spiritual development. A completely unique Light is required to be able to maintain the existence of matter, giving it the possibility of developing to the level of the animate and the speaking, and, after that, also to the level of divinity.

What is required for this is not just Light, energy. Rather, it’s energy of another, higher quality. Therefore, we attract this illumination through our actions.

When we merely act on the level of the “beast,” we are serving our ego. So, this also takes place with the help of the illumination for we see that the world evolves but by a long and indirect way that is called the “path of suffering.”

Whereas, through dissemination, we attract the illumination in the right form, for we need it in order to heal this world so that it will heal matter and correct the shattering. Therefore, through our dissemination, we do rehabilitation. We convey through a pipeline to the world an infusion with the remedy, and then we begin to think, to feel, and to understand that we require friends. You are personally empty, but completely filled together with everyone.

So, the Light, according to its nature, shows you a truer picture of reality, closer to the truth. You suddenly feel that you are attracted to friends, feel your dependence on them, and feel yourself obligated to them. They radiate a vital energy, a feeling of security to you. The Light acts and carries out in you changes like these that are possible only through the Light. You feel the results directly from the area of your work in dissemination.
[118508]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/13

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Question: Why do I keep forgetting and lose the line of thought that we have to be as “one man in one heart?”

Answer: It is because you don’t feel it as a critical need; that’s the whole problem. When a person is sick he constantly thinks only about the medicine that can heal him. It is said that the Light is a remedy for all ills, but we don’t feel it.

We don’t regard the wisdom of Kabbalah as a means for personal and general advancement, since we feel good this way. We cannot spur ourselves so that the goal will attract us so strongly that we will be ready to do whatever is necessary.

So what happens in this situation? It says: “I am placing upon them a king like Haman…” and then having no choice we will have to do what has to be done, which means by the path of suffering. The sufferings are necessary, but we can replace them by inner sufferings, to shake ourselves and to ignite our desire for the goal. If the goal is important and I am far from it, I feel pain. I don’t ignore the pain, but rather, I make an effort to overcome the gap between me and the goal. This means that the pain pushes me forward.

But instead, we relax each time and think that it isn’t so bad and that we can wait. Baal HaSulam, however, warns us in his book The Sages’ Fruit, “Letter 13”: …and the truth will show him the way, and the one who feels sorrow makes his sorrow known and he cannot hide it or restrain himself. Indeed this is how I will feel all of you together when today will become tomorrow and instead of now you will say later. And there is no remedy for that, except to make an effort and to understand this mistake and this distortion that the one who is saved by the Creator is saved if he needs the salvation today, while he who can wait for tomorrow will become wise only when his life is over. You feel this because you have neglected my request to exert yourself in the love of friends, which I have explained to you every way I can that this merit is enough to provide everything that you lack.

Everything that happens to us is only in order to strengthen love of friends because to the same extent, we draw the Light that Reforms that corrects everything. If we perform a certain action, we have to first check if it leads to a stronger connection or whether it leads to separation. Then we will immediately understand what should be done and what shouldn’t be done, what we should get closer to and what we should run from. It is because we draw the Light by the connection between us. When we connect, we draw another portion of Light, and so on and so on. This is the whole secret, and there is nothing but that.
[118299]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/13, The Zohar

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Question: How do we overcome the desire to postpone everything till tomorrow, till the next lesson, till the next convention? There is a feeling that there is still enough time and that we can wait.

Answer: It is the illusion of the ego that a person cannot overcome by himself. If you are alone at home you will surely deal with different foolish matters and it will lead to nothing. It will just be a waste of time today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and also in a year and two years from now. You will never be able to use the time efficiently as long as you are by yourself. It is “either a group or death.”

Everyone must make a certain commitment that cannot be postponed or that he cannot escape. These commitments should tie you to the friends and you should work on something together.

You have to constantly tie yourself to the need to advance in different ways:

1. work committments
2. friends
3. shame of not finishing, that everyone would know and see what you haven’t completed.

The feeling of shame should be as strong as the fear of death. Being among the friends is the only thing that will push you to make good use of the time. If you are alone and you can use the time as you wish, you can be sure that it will fool you. Time is a shell (Klipa) and a very strong egoistic force. It will draw you to different silly dealings.

But when we work together, we suddenly work easily, gladly, and pleasantly!
[118296]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/13, The Zohar

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What is called “faith in the sages” is when I follow everything that is arranged for me from above. In every Partzuf, in every situation that I see before me, I see the Creator.

I see the whole wide world before me and I need to understand that all of these things are pictures that the Creator draws for me. I don’t know what I truly see. However, if I take the entire world as a picture within me from the Creator, then I am moving in the right direction in the right degree of truth and falsehood.

This direction is true, and so I see before me conditions that must exist: Israel (my yearning directly to the Creator – Yashar El), Torah (all of the shattered Kelim with the Light that must bring them to unity), and the Creator. All three of these conditions gradually transform into one, for I try to identify the Creator that acts within the world and presents this world to me in a new form all the time.

I accept this world as a picture of the Creator for He wanted me to feel this, understand this, taste the bitterness and sweetness, the truth and the falsehood, and unite this together with Him in a single point. Ultimately, these three components must reach unity, which is called the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

All of our work with truth and falsehood and bitter and sweet are essentially clarifications that we must make. To do this, we need to be in a group to clarify our relationships between us,  to learn to draw the Light that Reforms. As a result, we must connect all of reality, on one hand, attributing it to the Creator and on the other hand, to myself accepting it as a display that the Creator shows me so that I will be able to connect all parts of reality to it.

That is how we reach the common point of everything called the end of correction. In our world now everything is bitter and false, whereas at the end of correction only sweetness and truth are left.
[113452]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/13, Shamati #148 “The Scrutiny of Bitter and Sweet, True and False”

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