At this time, we are at a certain level of egoism, and its value, relatively speaking, is approximately one gram. Spiritual ascent makes the level of our egoism rise. At the next stage, it will be worth ten grams, then one hundred grams, then it will expand to ten tons, ten million tons, and so on.

Thus, our receiving desires constantly grow, each time making a new spiritual vessel. This is the place where the Creator reveals Himself to us, when our desires are directed to bestowal and the well-being of others. We constantly use our desire, rising above it, while it charges upwards again and again. This is why it’s said: “No matter how much a person rises above others, his evil inclination will still rise above him.”

This begets the stages of spiritual growth during which the vessel, desire, increases within me, and in parallel to it I receive the Light, the property of bestowal.

As a result, by climbing the spiritual ladder, we create more challenging situations, up to hatred, felt by Rabbi Shimon’s disciples in the beginning of their studies. It’s impossible to grow without going through this stage. This explains why we have to be happy when we reveal the “wicked” within ourselves— after all, we can now correct them.

Question: While it happens to us, who acquires new vessels: the entire group or an individual?

Answer: Only those who experience internal leaps of egoism are able to acquire new vessels. We apply a group effort that each one of us benefits from to the extent of one’s individual contribution. Subsequently, if one’s participation in general work is not enough, he receives the least out of it since he doesn’t have a “place” to accommodate anything bigger.

Everything happens proportionately to the affliction we go through; there are no compromises. Our efforts are equal to our ability to absorb new portions of the Light. We can never “digest” more than we have contributed, never more than we give, since our bestowal, our straining, our desire, allows us to feel the results.
[106023]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can we say at any given moment, in spite of any problems, that “There is none else besides Him” and that “He is good and benevolent” if I feel the opposite at the moment? Do I have to combine the feelings with words?

Answer: We begin to work from a state of total uncertainty. We only hear and read that “There is none else besides Him.” This is how the first article in Shamati begins: “It is written: There is none else besides Him.” This is what Kabbalists say! But these are only words for me that have no meaning. So how do I develop them?

I try to turn these words into actions that will impress me. So I find a group in this world that claims that “There is none else besides Him,” and I am incorporated in it so that it will influence me and convince me that indeed there is nothing else but the upper force. At least they speak about what Kabbalists say.

I connect to that group and subdue myself before them, raising my friends above me, so that the principle of “There is none else beside Him” will be heard more loudly and so that I will feel how important it is. I try to be under the impression of this slogan, which in the meantime exists only on paper for me.

But if I work with my friends, I begin to receive the Light that Reforms through them. This Light is in their words, and to the extent that I exert myself in the group and subdue myself before it by serving my friends, the Light changes this slogan. The Light is dressed in these words and brings them to life. I begin to feel the life in the letters that make up the words “There is none else besides Him.”

I begin to feel the letters as live vessels that are full of Light, and then the vessels, my desires, begin to move together with these letters according to the Light that goes through them. It isn’t just a Light, but rather a “formatted” Light that has taken on the form of these letters. It turns out that I am impressed in different ways by the sentence “There is none else besides Him” and begin to see, to understand, and to feel how it’s expressed in different states and manners. I learn to work with it.

The sentence that used to be dead for me, just a written slogan, gradually begins to come to life. Accordingly I try to fulfill it in different states, the good and the bad. I hold on to it especially in the bad states, since in the meantime I am an egoist. If the uniqueness of the Creator, “There is none else besides Him” and “good and benevolent” is revealed to me in unpleasant ways, it means that I am acquiring vessels of bestowal and that I rise above this pain. I advance towards the state of: “Don’t do unto your friend what is hateful for you.” I hate this state and want to rise above it. I don’t think that the Creator has caused me all these troubles, but rather, I attribute them to my ego. Thus I acquire the attribute of Bina, “to bestow in order to bestow.”

Then, in very unpleasant states, I begin to receive pleasant states, which is much more difficult, since I have to rise above them. It’s already faith above reason on the second level, not only above the desire to bestow, but also above the desire to receive. I already work with AHP.

It’s as if I work against the good and the benevolent, which means that I receive both the good and the evil equally, as the same thing. Thus I reach love, about which it says: “Love thy friend as thyself,” and then “Love thy Lord,” the highest level of this state, Keter.

All this work is done in “faith above reason.” The moon stands for Malchut, which “sanctifies” itself in its darkest state, and by that begins to illuminate with the Returning Light. It has nothing of its own, and it doesn’t need anything of its own either. It says to the sun that it wants to be like it. The more the moon becomes like the sun, the more the earth determines all the appearances of the moon, to the extent that Malchut is adapted to Keter.
[106075]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/13, Writings of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam says in the article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” that if the society cares about each of its members, it can neutralize a person’s egoistic desire. 

Suppose I go on a “everything’s included” pleasure cruise, feeling carefree since the service actually includes everything I can think of. I settle down in my cabin getting ready to spend two weeks of sheer pleasure. However, as we set off, I am told that this is going to be a eternal cruise. So, I live, and everything is prepared for me: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are  served right on schedule; my cabin is always made; there is a library, a cinema, the Internet, a swimming pool, and so on. Everything is at my service.

In addition to that, everyone treats me nicely and is very attentive, and there is nothing to worry about. The people around me are ready to help me at any time and in any way. These are the social principles on this boat, and they apply to everyone without exception.

So, how will my nature react to that? Is it possible for the ego to erupt under such conditions? The people around me teach me to annul myself by their attitude toward me, and I don’t look for ways to fill and satisfy myself anymore.

For example, I don’t wander in pubs and restaurants in search for delicacies that I haven’t tasted yet, but rather feel satisfied with simple healthy food. Luxuries don’t excite me like before. There, a buffet of desserts is open daily, and it quickly curbs my demands. After a couple of days, I already restrict my “daily consumption,” and after a week, I am satisfied with a cup of coffee and a biscuit. The atmosphere is full of Surrounding Lights that are constantly ready to restrain and calm my ego.

The main thing here is the example I take from others and the attitude they teach me. I am in the company of people who are satisfied with little. This is what is accepted among them, and that’s it. They actually don’t need more than that. They prefer to enjoy the good relationships that I now take in portions, instead of food. If I feel gloomy and take a portion of “our love,” I am immediately filled with love.

It is because I am in a network of social, human relationships whose message clearly is that I never will lack anything. The feeling itself actually is enough, and nothing else. Initially, by our nature, we depend on environment, and there are no compromises here. So, if the group radiates the right attitude toward me, imbued with tranquility, peace, and good will, then half a day later, I also will feel that everything is exactly as it should be. However, if I find myself in some gang, I also will absorb their principles.

There is a natural inclination within a person to adapt to the environment. I simply have no means and no way to fight this inclination. So, within a couple of hours, I become incorporated in the general atmosphere of mutual guarantee and stop worrying about myself. The people around me are my network of connections and are closest to me. I cannot resist their opinion since I am also part of the general network.

So, when it is my turn to reveal the Creator, the root of my soul, I am brought to a new type of connection, to a group. The same law operates here: The group tells me that there is nothing to worry about and that I will stop worrying about it. But besides that, it has to convey the message that I must connect with the friends and adhere to the Creator. It’s because self-annulment is not enough, I also need the right direction, And I also will receive this message.

My free will is not taken away from me in the group since that simply will suppress me. In spirituality, other people’s opinions are not conveyed automatically. This is another boat that I must choose by myself. The Creator brings me to the ladder, but each step up requires great effort and strengthening along the way. However, do I get stronger? Do I fulfill my free will? Without free will, I never will develop the human within me.

A “human being” (Adam) is only the one who pressures himself to enter the group and be incorporated with the friends. Then, I receive everything else from them automatically since I have no control over it anymore.

In short, we choose only one thing: the environment. The first and main condition is mutual guarantee. If we are connected in mutual guarantee and provide everyone with everything that they need for self-annulment, then there is nothing else that we need for a start.

The second condition is to make sure that everyone has the stimuli and incentives so that they surely will hold onto the friends. This ensures a person’s good fate.
[106511]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/30/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” Item 17: The giving of the Torah had to be delayed until they came out of Egypt and became a nation of their own, so that all their needs were provided for by themselves, without dependence on others. This qualified them to receive the above Arvut, and then they were given the Torah.

The condition for the giving of the Torah, the method of correction, is readiness for mutual guarantee.

In general, the Torah is the Light that Reforms, which helps a person to the degree that he is ready to be a guarantor. In other words, the Torah works for a person if he is ready to unite with another, up to the point of loving the other.

If the person is not ready for this, the Torah doesn’t work for him, the Light is not shed. After all, the Light only comes as a reaction to a person’s effort to do something for another.

This principle resembles an electrical system with resistance (R). Depending on the amount of resistance between me and another, the Light that Reforms, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif –OM), will come.

There is no other possibility. Hatred can burn between us. Our relationship can be negative (-), neutral (0), or positive (+), it makes no difference. The main thing is that these relationships will be such that work will be done, that the friends will exert efforts.

To do this, we need to study so as to learn what we have to attain. We also need the group that establishes the order of activities.

So, the Light that Reforms also called the Torah influences us. And it acts upon us on the background of inner clarification discerned through the evil inclination, which is what provides the resistance.

[106447]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” Item 17: When the sons of Israel came out of Egypt and became a nation of their own all their needs were provided for by themselves, without dependence on others. This qualified them to receive the above Arvut, and then they were given the Torah.

By uniting among ourselves and building a mechanism of general interconnection out of many people, we create a perfect, whole system. We don’t need anyone in this mutual connection: Everything happens internally, among us.

So, these particular conditions were created in those times, and the external environment didn’t influence the sons of Israel. Thus, they became a nation that exists in a state of interconnection and attributes itself to the upper force.

In that case, the nations of the world cannot hurt the nation of Israel in any way. It is because it is on a different level, lives in a different range of frequencies, and simply doesn’t intersect with or touch others.

[106441]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Question: What does a person feel when he is receiving the Torah?

Answer: He feels that his attitude toward others is changing. He begins to understand that precisely in relationships with others, there, in the middle between them, is a place for the new world, new states, new development above at a higher level.

By establishing a mutual connection, we form between ourselves the third factor: the upper one. This is the soul; this is the Creator whom we reveal. This is the upper world, which lies not just anywhere but precisely between us in the form of the middle line.

[106444]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Our ego has grown for many years until a spark suddenly awakened in it, a glimmer, a starting point of the perception of the upper world. When such a spark is ignited in a person, he begins to feel discomfort and worry. He feels that this world is not enough for him and that he needs something else: There is something else in this life above the corporeal existence, a more sublime goal.

He cannot go on living like everyone else anymore, and he yearns to understand the meaning of life, its essence, its basis. What is the inner force that manages him and what is the purpose of his life?

This spark undoubtedly exists in each of those who have gathered here in this convention since otherwise you wouldn’t yearn to come here. Yet, there are many people who come to study and check themselves when the spark in them is ignited. We have to make great efforts in order to fulfill it, and this is something for which they are not ready yet. In the meantime, the gap between the force of the ego that pulls a person into his own body and the force of the spark that pulls him out of his body, calling him to transcend, is very big.

A person’s ego is very heavy and it keeps the spark inside it as if in a prison cell. Therefore, such people surrender to their ego and agree to remain in this prison. They find different excuses, according to which they eventually leave the spiritual path since they must justify themselves. And thus, they leave.

Rabash says that there are sparks of the love of others in each of the friends; that is, there are anti-egoistic forces. The ego hates the others, and the force that is opposite the ego is called love of others. But one spark cannot ignite the Light of love, meaning to make me feel someone else’s desire as mine and fill it, just as I fill myself. In other words, I cannot exit myself and be incorporated in the other, which is called “love of others.”

Therefore, we gather in a group and agree to work and empower one another in order to collect all our sparks and, in the connection between them, discover the upper world.
[107198]
From a Talk on The Importance of Gathering 5/10/2013

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A person can reach the general love for all of humanity, all of nature, and all of reality from the love of friends. Then, he sees that our world also takes on a form in which there are only attributes, where there is no matter, but only a force. This force is the only thing that operates in the world in its different variations.

There is no separate corporeal and spiritual world, but only one world. If a person looks at himself and at the entire world correctly, he understands that there is nothing that was created against him, that everything was created only for the benefit of the connection between us and the ascent to mutual bestowal, connection.

So from the love of friends we reach the love of the Creator, that is, the love of all of reality—the desire to bring the Creator contentment. To bestow upon the Creator means to bestow upon everyone. The term “together” stands for the Creator. A person serves all the created beings and the inner force that created them and enlivens them, and through them he bestows upon their Maker who exists in them.

Therefore, we see that the wisdom of Kabbalah is a very practical method. We can study it as a theory for many years and not advance at all. The main thing is the actual implementation, and it can be implemented only in the connection between us.

So, when we gather in these conventions, it allows us to connect and absorb the general spirit. The amount of people coming together helps us to reach a great intensity. They don’t necessarily have to be old students with great experience. The main thing is the general force when each one wants to exit himself and enter the other, to “pour” himself outward, and burst into their arms. Thus, he opens his perception to the world and begins to discover nature, regardless of his five physical senses.

There is a special quality in the connection between the friends: Since their thoughts and opinions are conveyed from one another thanks to their adhesion, everyone is incorporated in the forces of the other, in his attributes and his perspective. Thanks to the general incorporation, each one receives the power of the whole group.

Every individual is small and weak with limited powers. But everything is arranged so that if he is incorporated in the group, which wasn’t given to him by chance, he completes himself through it. This is enough in order to fully feel the whole spiritual world. None of us can feel spirituality, but through the connection, everyone can acquire it.

Of course, a person has a chance to acquire a great spiritual desire in a big group. It is easier to do so because it is easier to annul oneself before a big society when many people influence a person. We must pressure only a little, and it can happen. We will be able to transcend ourselves and attain the upper reality in the incorporation between us. I do hope that we will fulfill that and together discover the true reality in which we are living.

It isn’t mysticism but a science, a higher psychology. By revealing the upper world, we will discover the upper laws of nature that modern physics only now is getting close to. Modern physics is on the borderline of matter, where the corporeal laws disappear, and this is why physicists cannot discover what is above time, motion, and place. We, however, will reveal all of this since our senses will be ready for that. Then, we will discover how we should behave correctly in our world and how to control our fate. We will have the key to success, not at the expense of others, but for the benefit of everyone!
[107203]
From a Talk on The Importance of Gathering 5/10/2013

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Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”: Death is necessarily an absence and negation of the existence of a certain object. But only while there is a spark that wishes to exist for its own pleasure is it possible to say about it that that spark does not exist because it has become absent and died.

However, if there is no such spark in man, but all the sparks of his essence clothe in bestowal of contentment upon their Maker, then it is neither absent nor dead. For even when the body is annulled, it is only annulled with respect to self-gratification, in which the will to receive is dressed and can only exist in it.

However, when he achieves the aim of Creation and the Creator receives pleasure from him, since His will is done, man’s essence, which clothes in His contentment, is granted complete eternity, like Him. Thus, he has been rewarded with freedom from the angel of death.

We have to provide the deficiency, the vessel, the need to bring the Creator contentment. From our place, from our nature, there is only one way we can express such a desire: In an aspiration to connect to others, to be incorporated in the desires of others, and to help these desires to be filled with the Creator.

This is the level of Bina, the level of faith, of bestowal, which works this way with its upper and lower parts: GAR (the first three) and ZAT (the seven lower). The lower part, ZAT, is incorporated in the desires of the lower one, and the upper part, GAR, can reach the Creator. This is how we have to receive: Malchut must receive its form from Bina.

So, if we connect in groups of, let’s say, ten people, in which we are now working, each one loses his egoistic self and is incorporated in others, then through that, he exits himself and becomes part of our connection. Thus, he already has a new point of birth, freedom from his ego.

However, on what account can he be born? After all, he doesn’t have a deficiency of his own. Everyone thinks: “When will I finally reach the state of spiritual embryo and then that of suckling, when I will feed on the Light? How will I advance a bit more?” However, this is only possible if we receive deficiencies from others, from AHP.

By annulling myself before the group, I annul only my ego and become like GAR of Bina that doesn’t need anything. We are in mutual bestowal, but how can we bring the Creator contentment? We can discover His Light only in the vessels of reception, and these vessels must be foreign to us. It turns out that we have to turn to the external world and contact the general public, as it is written: “I dwell among my people.” This is how we discover the right vessel for the revelation of the Creator.

We have to accept this, live with this thought, and understand that we will reach a special state precisely in this way. It is special since we totally leave ourselves, when our desires to receive are completely empty of all the material acquisitions, and we merge with the Creator by our equivalence of form. Thus, there are no thoughts left about one’s own existence, but we have only the thought of bringing contentment to the Maker.
[107072]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/7/13

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We gather in order to unite and help one another overcome self-love. Everyone has to think about canceling their egoism, stop worrying about their own fulfillment, and strive only toward loving their neighbor when it is possible. In other words, throughout the entire convention, from this moment forward, we need to think about rising above ourselves and exiting our egoism. This is the only way for a person to feel the need and the desire to acquire the new quality called the desire to bestow.

When egoists like us connect and I look at others, I begin to realize that my egoism is very wisely made. Essentially, it is made in a way that helps me come out of it. In reality, nothing in my personal life interferes with spirituality. With the right attitude toward my nature, I will reveal qualities in it that help me attain the spiritual world.

The rejection I feel for others is given to me to show me how far I am from having spiritual qualities. Moreover, there is envy in me. When I see how others connect, and how every person tries to come out of himself and become closer to others, I envy them. Envy is a huge, egoistic force but essentially, it begins to work to my benefit, helping me to rise above my egoism.

Also, ambition—my desire to be higher and more successful than others—works to my benefit. I see the success of others and feel ashamed. I want to have what they have, at least not to fall behind, but to surpass them. It turns out that there is not a single quality in our egoism that we could not use to liberate ourselves from our egoism. This inner work is called “help against him.”

We need to delve into this work with our friends, but in reality we discover that there is nothing in our lives that we need to fight. Overcoming is spending every moment trying to be sensible toward heading in the right direction. Then, we will see how all our natural qualities help us attain the goal in a direct or an indirect manner.

There is no need to fight any of our inclinations. Instead, we need to study how nature plays us. If we use all our impulses wisely, we will be able to break through into the spiritual world.
[107207]
From a Talk on The Importance of Gathering 5/10/2013

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