The main thing that we lack in order to succeed in our work is focusing our attention on the inner spiritual success, which means on the revelation of the Creator, rather than on external corporeal success. The revelation of the Creator should be our only goal, and all our work, dissemination, study and efforts at any given moment should become the means for attaining this goal.

It shouldn’t be the opposite! We don’t pray to the Creator that we should succeed in our dissemination or in our life. This is how all the religions operate when they turn to the Creator so that He will help a person in his corporeal life and fix things for him. We do the opposite: All we need in life is to succeed in one thing: in the revelation of the Creator, to connect to Him, and to feel that we bring Him contentment by doing so.

In the meantime, we lack this pure intention in all our actions. Even if it is artificial and doesn’t suit our mood and our feelings, still from Lo Lishma (not for its sake) we arrive at Lishma (for its sake). So in the meantime we express this desire only externally and look for the right words to express our intentions.

Although these intentions are not real yet and don’t come from inside, we want them to come from the bottom of our heart. We operate like small children who repeat the actions of the group without understanding anything. This penetrates us gradually until it becomes second nature and then we begin to feel the meaning of the words.

We can draw the Light that Reforms that will turn from the Surrounding Light into Inner Light even with desires that are not real at the moment. The structure of the spiritual ladder and the relationships between the spiritual Partzufim enable us to do that. Everything is intentionally ready so that we can evoke the action of the Light upon ourselves although we are not in the spiritual world yet.

So let’s first of all add the right intention to the great efforts that we make in our external actions. As it says “a Mitzvah without an intention is like a body without a soul.” If we want to perform a Mitzvah, which means a commandment from the Creator to adhere to Him, then we have to turn every action that we perform into a “sacrifice” – Korban (same root as “getting closer” – mitkarev in Hebrew).

The voice of the Creator will be revealed to us between the two angels, which are the two forces, the left and the right, receiving and bestowal, we will hear Him between the angels (as Moses did). We can do that if we work with our powers correctly: focusing on the intention of revealing the Creator in order to bring Him contentment in every action that we make, like a beloved person.
[114473]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/09/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You say that we can and are ready to exit Egypt. Help us get rid of everything and take us across this narrow bridge so that we will follow you like a guide.

Answer: Every teacher of the spiritual work is like Moses (the name stems from the root limshoch – “to draw out” in Hebrew), and the whole Torah—starting from Adam until Egypt and especially from the giving of the Torah until the stage of entering the Land of Israel—describes the wanderings in the desert.

The wanderings in the desert represent a state when no one sees anything, when no one knows or understands anything, but everyone follows the leader. The leader is sure of himself, but he has problems with the Creator. Sometimes he carries out His orders and sometimes not. Sometimes he understands them correctly and sometimes not. The people also don’t always listen to their leader, and sometimes believe him and sometimes not. Sometimes they shout at Moses and sometimes at the Creator, and sometimes at both, and so we see how they carry on these interesting mutual relationships for forty years.

I must say that the leader shouldn’t be envied. What can he do? Nothing. Whatever he does, he tries to perform as loyally as he can, in bestowal, and tries to do everything in his power. Sometimes he is ready to pray for everyone and ask the Creator to have mercy on them.

However, there is nowhere to run. They must go through all the forty levels (forty years of wanderings in the desert), since forty levels is the distance from Malchut to Bina. This lasts until the entire generation that came out of Egypt dies, and only the next generation, their descendants, enter the land of Israel.

This means that all the desires that once were under the domination of the ego must die, and new desires that already are adapted to working in order to bestow must replace them. Until this happens, there is nowhere to run. Theoretically, we can go through this in two weeks, although they went through it in forty years.

I told you before the convention that you are preparing yourselves and that you are coming to the convention to continue the preparation, not to look at me. This means that everything depends on the preparation and the connection between you. I only teach you and cannot do anything—nothing!

Everything depends on the connection and the unity between you, the internal heart connection that is aimed correctly so you are also waiting for the bestowal of the Light like manna from Heaven. The Light will correct, change, and connect you to one another. That is the main thing! It is your yearning for one another and the yearning of all of you together upward.

You must exert yourselves a bit more, but it is with this intention: We, all of us together, are waiting for the Creator Who will correct us and rejoice at that.
[114343]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Question: How can a person who has despaired of life know that the wisdom of Kabbalah exists somewhere and that there are people who can help him?

Answer: The Light will bring him and arranges this opportunity for him, just as it brought you to the lesson. Each one receives such an opportunity, but then he has to make his own efforts. Only then will he continue to advance.

The difference between advancing along the path of suffering and advancing along the path of the Light is speed and comfort. When a person adheres to a group, he begins to receive much more Light than when he is by himself.

I have to go through certain states and I can go through them with the help of a great Light or with the help of a small ray of Light. The difference is that in the first case I am part of a group and so the Light that comes to the group also shines on me through it. Thus I receive the general desire, the huge vessel. My Reshimo (spiritual gene) is the general Reshimo, since I advance together with everyone else. Imagine what a speedy advancement this can be.

On the other hand, I can remain in my private desire and have nothing but one point. The Light that shines upon an individual is the Light of suffering and not the Light that helps him advance. After all, a person doesn’t yearn for connection with others, which means that he doesn’t intend to annul his ego.

I can be in either one of these states: a state in which the Light pressures me from below by sufferings or in a state in which I am drawn forward by the group to connection and I make efforts to connect. My effort is the first factor, and then as a result, the Light that I have drawn shines on me. “I awaken the dawn,” meaning that I am the first. Whereas, in the first case, the Light forced me, and so it was felt as sufferings since it operated against my will.

This is the whole difference. We either run forward by ourselves or are pushed from behind by blows. The difference is in the pace and the comfort or discomfort along the way.
[113975]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/02/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: There is an image in our world of “wedding preparations,” and when everything is ready, the table is set, the musicians are ready, and now we can sit cross-legged and watch the main event.

How can one not freeze within this picture that essentially, preparation to convention has brought us great confidence? How can one feel a need to enter into the next level called “adjustment” and open a second wind?

Answer: Everything is done only with the help of the Light. All changes directed at the goal are done with the help of the Light. I have nothing else to add.

We know that all of our work is built from two opposites. On the one hand, I need to be completely sure that my efforts build the next level and everything depends only on this. On the other hand, it is up to me to understand that all efforts are designed only to awaken the Light and create a prayer within me because I, myself, produce only a desire for the Light to influence and carry out this action, which will reveal me for its sake, for the sake of the Light.

This opposition within us is relaxed only when we are connected with the Creator, and until then, it is the opposite. It grows all the time, tearing us to shreds, and we don’t understand to where we are advancing at all.

The gap between these two opposites continues to grow: We fall into one of them and then into the opposite, and when they are connected, we find ourselves in an internal state that we are not prepared to endure. This is done intentionally because ultimately the need for the Creator to be clothed in us is created, and then we feel great happiness because through this, we give Him contentment.

It is up to us to fulfill these three conditions: to be in one extreme state where everything depends on me, to be in another extreme state where everything depends on the Light, and in a third state where we hope that the Light, the Creator, will fill us and connect these two opposites into a single whole. Then we will feel happiness because this brings joy to the Creator, and until then, until everything is connected within us into a single whole, we are not yet ready since there is no complete desire yet. It is still in preparation.

I fully share your commitment and desire to finish everything immediately, because the moment that the intention is correct, then there is a realization that we may only have this moment to implement it.

We had a very deep, powerful, and dynamic convention where everything that was prepared from the start was destroyed. We made giant strides.

I hear people who were recently in connection with us, with the method, suddenly developed such internal definitions, inner clarifications, and really amazing things awakened in them! Young friends express themselves not through vague words. Rather, I see and feel where they come from, with such depth. This is absolutely a different generation.
[114257]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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It is written in Divrei Hayamim I (Chronicles 1) 28:9: Know the God of your fathers and serve Him. To know means being conscious because the Nefesh, that is, the desire in itself, cannot exist without consciousness, without a sensation that there is something clear, something definite within it. Desire must feel and define its sensations and compare them.

Together with understanding the sensations, a fulfillment appears; you see the person strives and longs for true service to the Creator. This is what is in us, this is what pushes us. Our lives are so confused, concealing from us what we are truly doing.

We are also now carrying out all that we are required to do, only the true state, the true world in which we are found, is concealed from us. We feel ourselves as a shadow of our true state, and all that we do is directed towards returning to awareness of this subconscious state. But along with this, neither our world nor the actions that we do within it will change; rather, we will see it in another form.

The person doesn’t understand that his longing, his aspiration, all that he does for the sake of egoistic development (it makes no difference how he acts in our world), all our actions are contingent on only one thing and are directed towards it: the desire to perceive the Creator. And until we perceive the Creator, the origin which illuminates us and gives us life, we will not rest and we will always feel unwell. In other words, the origin for all of our negative feelings is the concealment of the Creator, while His discovery gives us fulfillment, ecstasy, which is the goal of creation.

The person aspires to perceive the Creator in all his actions, both consciously and unconsciously. You see, it’s as if we desire and are ready to even agree to nullify our ego somehow to connect together: “Put before us all the conditions given for existence that we can fulfill, then we will be ready to discover You.”

But even though we have urges like these, not even drives, but permanent desires, this is still not enough. Even if we gather together, connect, sing, cry, dance, learn, work on connection, it makes no difference what we do and how much we strive, our efforts will not yield fruit if the Light of the Creator will not illuminate them.

Therefore our efforts should not to be either spontaneous or temporary. They must be crystallized in the right form with intensity, with direction, with character in order to attract the Light of the Creator onto us. Without the influence of the Light on us, our nature would remain the same egoistic nature, and we will “stew” within ourselves, no qualitative changes will take place within us.
[114253]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Question: How is it possible not to flee from the spiritual work when you feel emptiness? On the one hand, the feeling is unpleasant, and on the other hand, it is understood that this is the right direction.

Answer: The only action that the person can do is to strengthen himself in the right environment. This is what is given to us. I do this in whatever way I can through all kinds of activities, be it in a physical, mechanical, intellectual, moral, or emotional form. It doesn’t make a difference how. And if not, then scream to the Creator; this is good.

Now, they will show you that you can be found among friends, to sit among them, to sing together with them. Then comes disappointment. After that, you will begin to carry out some other activities, perhaps not to sing, but to study together with them or not, but to disseminate together. You will be disappointed all the time. All the time, you will feel that this is not enough in order to be mixed with them, and so it is until you have apparently done everything and, in spite of it all, you feel empty. Then, you will begin to cry and scream, and with this as well, you gradually will reach a need to mix with them, but you are not ready to do this by yourself, for only the Creator does this. This is to say, there is you, them, and the Creator between you. That’s it, a marriage. That is how this works, but gradually.

You see that in every distinction there is the gradual gathering of negative potential, until it explodes, and every time that it explodes, then the last state is the feeling of absolute exhaustion when nothing can help except turning to the Creator. If you already have prior experience, then according to states of this type, you already can determine that these are moments appropriate for realization.
[114429]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Question: What is that blind alley from which a true desire is born?

Answer: This is the egoistic “blind alley” that we pass through all the time when our powers are completely disappointed and suddenly the discovery comes that there is help from the Creator here. This is a small transition.

This is not yet a crossing of the egoistic “barrier” but the understanding that only the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) must act here. Nothing else can be here. You are passing through cycles like these where you are disappointed completely and find yourself understanding that the Creator must be here and then get disappointed again and again.

These cycles gradually accumulate in every form of disappointment, reaching a general state where you pass over all the required possibilities, and their summation takes place.

When this integral develops, there comes one general disappointment in all of its capabilities, and a true demand is created that only the Creator can tear through all of this, and this happens. Then, apparently, He has no choice because you already have understood that only He must be present here, and in truth you have a precise and clear demand for this, which is to say: the Kli is ready!

Until then, these disappointments and recognitions that the Creator must act here must repeat themselves as much as possible.

If a person sits with his hands folded and eats himself up, this means that he is not found under the influence of the teacher, the group, and the method, and therefore, cannot quickly realize that all this is intentionally arranged for him from above so he will be disappointed in his possibilities and will understand that the higher power is required here.

In our world, this is not happening because people have no yearning for connection and unity, and therefore, there is no exit toward the higher power. For them, the connection is considered to be a physical gathering, “Ah, connection! So, we gathered and dispersed,” whereas for us, when we desire unity, this awareness takes place because, without the higher power, we cannot attain unity.
[114426]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Question: Must we yearn for the joy that we speak about all the time or will it come naturally?

Answer: We constantly should feel joy. This means that I am filled with the spirit of life that comes through the group that constantly keeps me focused on the importance of the goal, that we are special, that we were chosen for this mission, for this great work in order to serve others.

Since it pleases the Creator when we serve others, it is the greatest and most important work for us, and it must be done with joy. Otherwise, you probably are headed in the wrong direction and are not connected to the Light, to the Creator.

You cannot weep and perform the spiritual work simultaneously. You need to focus yourself.

See what King David says in the book of Psalms. He describes great problems that one encounters along the spiritual path, but it all is done with joy. Therefore, these are not just prayers, but a song!
[114417]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Question: You said that our desire is not fully formatted yet and that there is still another component or a step we have to take that is missing. How can we attack and in what direction exactly?

Answer: In what direction should we advance in order to draw a greater Light upon ourselves? In the direction of connection, so that it will bring the Creator contentment.

Forget about all the nice words and start using emotional human language and then you will feel what you lack. This will be your attack.

What should this attack be? Who are we attacking? We are attacking only ourselves in order to systematically shatter and soften our internality.

I don’t want to calm you down, but you have been through many states during this convention. Today is the third day of the convention and at this point we usually end everything and everything gradually fades and people begin to think about leaving. It isn’t the case now and it shouldn’t be; no one is thinking about that; everything is focused only on the last blow, the last effort that will be revealed as the place where the Creator is revealed.

The place where the Creator is revealed is when a person joins the general connection. After all, each of us envies the fact that the others are more strongly connected than I am: I hear one friend, a second, and a third one and I feel how connected they are and think to myself, “Dear God, how can that be? What about me?” I don’t feel that way; I am really not there yet.

Should the strong desire to join the friends and to lose myself among them be the main desire and should I think about what I am doing this for only later?

We can, of course, clarify our intention before we act, but here and now we must first act.
[114299]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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We invest great efforts in dissemination sincerely aching for success, but unfortunately, we cannot make bring connection with the upper force into this work. And most importantly, we can’t attract the Creator to our external actions to use Him to succeed in the external mission in our area or in the entire world, that is, to transfer our goal from Him outside.

On the contrary, the whole world and all the work must be a means of connection with the Creator! We seemingly use Him in the opposite direction, to succeed in this world. Whereas, the whole world is needed in order to achieve connection with the Creator. That needs to be changed in order to constantly specify the right direction, turning our intention from ourselves to the Creator.

This has to be in absolutely everything: I knock on the door, talk to someone, but inside I constantly have to keep in mind that by every word and every action I strengthen my relationship with the Creator. I bring these external desires to the Creator to approach Him, to Divinity, and thus, I build the basis for His revelation in the entire world.

This is a constant work until the end of correction. New vessels will be revealed for us every moment, new disturbances, egoistic desires that try to tear us away from the Creator. The Creator does this on purpose, wanting to strengthen our connection. This is a kind of “flirting:” He seems to distance Himself from us, to push us away so that we hold onto Him more strongly.

This is the work, all the 125 degrees. It is revealed in various forms that appear like pictures of this world. This world is the outer wrapping in which we must use every detail, every action, every scene of this play, in order to attach everything to the Creator and unite with Him.

Only the environment will help, which is described by Rabash. We are in this big and strong group. While on a trip, far from the central group, I see how the distance helps. On the one hand, physical distance makes a person further from the Creator and separates from Him, and at the same time, every moment gives the opportunity to return to the center of the group and draw more and more strength from there.

Therefore, only through our connection, where everyone tries to constantly keep in the same thought, will we succeed. You will later become convinced that the entire Torah speaks only of how to neutralize the picture of this world in order to feel inside it the upper force to such an extent that we will begin to see Its actions: the way this force moves, controls, and manages all atoms, all people. We will see that they themselves are just obedient shadows, following that higher force. All these images are presented to us not to look at them—people or nature—but to reveal the force of nature through them.

Only the friends, only the group, in which everyone apply efforts, will be able to support us and return the correct intention to those who have lost it. We need to talk about this constantly and make this connection more and more clear, so that on the basis of this connection we reach out to the external public. Then you will see how strong you have become. It is most important for us to gain strength. Going to the streets for external dissemination is needed not to express ourselves to the people and integrate with them, but to bring them closer to us and to the Creator. That is, the trend should be opposite to our physical actions.

On the physical level, we go out to the public; we want to influence it and build a better life for everyone, for all of humanity, to use the crisis to unite. But at the same time, we need to see behind all these actions that their connection will be linked to us and through us to the upper force. That is, everything must pursue one goal: to return to Divinity all its parts that were lost in the breaking.
[114470]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/9/13, Writings of Rabash 

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