All our work comes down to revealing a deficiency within us. It is because even before we begin to do something, the Creator has already prepared everything and is in a state of absolute rest. On His part there is always the readiness. He is only waiting for every opportunity a person gives Him, which means when he reveals an additional deficiency that is attained by his own powers, and not that which the Creator has evoked in him.

Therefore, there must be some addition to our response that is our own. But where can this response come from if we exist in the Godly system that the Creator has arranged for us? Where can I add something of my own in response? How?

The only way I can add something of my own is to exert myself on my level—not on a level above me—by connecting and by somehow spurring one another. Only due to the fact that I can awaken the others by physical actions and they awaken me can we create an additional awakening towards the upper on our part. By that we are actually correcting the shattering, correcting the gaps between us, by influencing the spiritual level from the corporeal level.

On the spiritual level, the Creator performs the correction, but we only have to start the work of connection and then the Creator completes it. In the corrected, connected vessel, we begin to discover Him.

Thus we rise, each time requiring a stronger connection under conditions that become more special, more difficult, and toward a higher sense of unity. Therefore, it says that all our freewill is in choosing the environment. By such actions a person is evoked and evokes internally more qualitative passion and desire towards the attribute of bestowal. Each time he discovers a clarion from Above that comes from the Creator calling him and summoning him to connect and to ascend. Therefore, by building a collective vessel, a person is rewarded with the revelation of the attribute of bestowal in this vessel, which is called the revelation of the Creator that is dressed and revealed in the created being.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We always have to be connected and try to see the Torah in the connection between us and how we fulfill it. What does a certain connection stand for, where between us is Haman, where is Mordecai, where is Esther, who is Ahasuerus, what happened to the ten sons of Haman and his wife?

If we ignore the physical characters of ourselves and the friends and speak about forces, about attributes, about discernments and not about bodies that are perceived by the five senses, if we raise ourselves to the level of the network of the forces of creation, then it means that we are fulfilling the Torah in the relations between us. Then we already begin to see them and to learn this. This is called implementation, getting closer to correction, and building the image of Adam, man. Then you will see how necessary each of the friends is and that even all the negative forces have to exist so that you will not agree with such behavior, will keep away from them, and decide not to use them internally.

We don’t apply enough constant efforts to get closer and to connect on the level of the forces, intentions, and not on the level of the physical bodies. We have to penetrate a bit deeper and to begin to draw away from the usual corporeal picture in order to see the network that we are building between us, or more accurately, to discover it.

Everyone has to try to imagine that he is in the system of forces and not between physical bodies of this world and all its trash. We have to finally see and imagine this world correctly. It’s impossible to mention this all the time. A person has to change his thoughts. In order to do that, we have to support one another and we need mutual guarantee when everyone thinks in the same way.

Then you begin to notice and to identify that all the friends are in such inner relations, in such an intention, in such actions, that you realize that they are not performing external actions, but that everyone is trying to build and put this puzzle together to connect everyone. Everyone will feel that his efforts determine whether this puzzle will be put together, whether everyone will connect and how in the picture that is gradually being completed, that  reveals the general force of bestowal called the Creator with all its details and special features.

This is already a sign that the Torah is being revealed to us, that the upper Light is starting to illuminate and to explain its rules, its nature. Thus we begin to live on that level.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We must discover all the deficiencies since the good is revealed only in its opposite. So, we must rejoice when we discover the negative form; it is the first level of revelation after which there is already a correction and fulfillment.

So, we must understand that if a person follows the right path, then there is no room for despair and disappointment. A person who advances correctly always should be happy since he goes through all the phases along the way, justifying them as he understands that they are necessary for the revelation of wholeness.

Corruption is, above all, my disagreement with my state—feeling reluctant to justify it and to accept it as necessary—that must be revealed. All the states already are imprinted in the root of my soul in my nature.

The states are revealed from lighter to the more difficult: Ibur (gestation), Yenika (suckling) and Mochin (adulthood). First, I am only a tiny embryo who lacks all self-awareness. Then, I am born, which means that the awareness is born within me, the understanding. Before that I simply felt something without knowing where I was and what was going on. Then, I begin to feel pleasant and unpleasant feelings, different changes of states. Next, I begin to come to know the Upper a little, who He is, and how He manages and changes me.

I am connected to Him. He seems to be cunning since He hides from me while I look for Him and chase Him, not knowing where He is. I am told that I can discover Him through the environment, but I don’t want this environment. However, it turns out that this is to the same extent that I don’t want Him since it is the same thing.

This means that I must go through many states before I understand and reach the recognition, Mochin, which is the last level of our evolution that comes after Ibur and Yenika. It is natural since I cannot understand anything unless I have enough experience and attain the reasons for what is going on, the connection between them, and begin tying one with the other. Thus, the states begin to illuminate for me a little from within, and I understand what is derived from what. Through the connection between the events, I discover their source, which is actually external, outside the actions that I feel.

Therefore it is very difficult for a person to advance since one cannot justify the actions that one feels, which seem coincidental. One doesn’t even understand their order. He would like to see who is working on him, but he doesn’t. It is a hard way since we don’t attribute everything that happens to us to the One—that there is none else besides Him and we don’t acknowledge the fact that this One is good and benevolent.

Because we don’t try to trust this one, good force, we don’t discover anything on the way. There is even a phase during our development when a person fears any new discoveries and prefers that nothing new will happen. He simply feels the physical pain because the revelation is discovered so painfully that everything within him is an unpleasant feeling.

If a person were to expect more revelations, he could make efforts in order to attain them and not just for the sake of acting externally while lying to himself that he is working, but actually fearing to take a step forward.

Only if he has a good and strong environment—which means that he overcomes his ego and turns to the environment—he annuls his ego that comes between him and his independent vessels that seem to be external. Then, he retrieves these vessels and these means, and through them, he can discover the next states with joy and bring them near. It is possible only to the extent that he annuls his ego before the society, understanding that it is not the external society, but his internal attributes.
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From the 1^st part of Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/26/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Many studies show that rewards often ruin our pleasure. For example, children who were promised a prize when they painted, became used to that, and were unable to paint without receiving prizes.

The same thing applies to school grades, which has a deleterious effect on the thirst for learning and knowledge. But on the other hand, we, in any case, know that our material is the desire to receive. This means that a reward is, in any case, necessary. So what is the difference between the pleasure of playing and the pleasure from working?

Answer: Rewards can be different according to its worth. A game gives me higher ‘’abstract’’ pleasure. In a game, I connect and cooperate with others. It isn’t by chance that people have been attracted to games for generations; for example, the tradition of the Olympic games began in ancient Greece.

The game reverts man back to childhood, and he simply feels good from it. It is not because of money or superiority over others, and not because of honor that he receives, it is something else, something abstract. Our games are matched to the upper game where the Light enters the vessels. About this it is said, “the Creator plays with the leviathan.”

The whole issue here is my attitude. I can work hard from morning until night and see this pleasure, rest. The picture changes with the reward that I receive at the time of the effort, which is called, “on the spot.’’

With regular work the reward comes afterward, and in games and other similar situations, we receive the reward “on the spot.’’ For example, by lifting weights I feel that I become healthier and stronger. There the work itself becomes the reward.

So we need to bring ourselves to such a state where we enjoy the action itself, as it is. Now I am with friends, I work with them shoulder-to-shoulder, I connect with them, and that gives me joy. Why? Because in our connection, I want to discover the Creator, so that He delights in what we do.

The key to all of this is the society. Only in this way, can our values be changed to place the correct priority and in general to raise the scale of values above the level of the “beast’.’ From the moment we descended from the trees and began life in humanity, the society, and only the society, determined everything I do. Whether I want it or not, consciously or unconsciously, I carry out its wish.

Thus, if in the eyes of the society the Creator and bestowal are given the desired importance, then I willingly and happily will work together with the friends and enjoy it like once I enjoyed, for example, the process of playing soccer with friends, even apart from the result.

In each moment of our efforts in connection, we give delight to the Creator. He doesn’t enjoy afterward; He enjoys it now. And we also need now to receive enjoyment from this great and important act without a need for a greater reward. As soon as we reach this, the barriers will disappear and everything will open.

The result is that the Creator is revealed to you when you don’t even feel a desire for it, simply because you built the vessels of bestowal.

Question: So why is He revealed? What should I do?

Answer: There is no need to do anything. You are with Him, embracing each other…..
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/13, Writings of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam, “Shamati,” Article 144 “There Is a Certain People”: There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples.” Haman said that in his view, we will succeed in destroying the Jews because they are separated from one another; hence, our force against them will certainly prevail, as it causes separation between man and God. And the Creator will not help them anyway, since they are separated from Him. This is why Mordecai went to correct that flaw, as it is explained in the verse, “the Jews gathered,” etc., “to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life.”

There is no other means by which we can be saved from all the troubles, whether we are in physical exile or in a spiritual exile. It is the same thing; there is no other type. We are either under the domination of the evil forces that are foreign to Holiness, which means the force of separation and dispersion, or we unite despite all the evil forces and then we win by taking the opportunity we were given and rising to the level of connection.

In this connection we begin to discover the upper state, the upper world, the upper force. This is what we are about to do now. The world is advancing very quickly towards this clarification. We also have to clarify our status in order to become the force that takes this world from one world to another and be ready for this mission.

Very soon we will see how all these things are actually fulfilled and start to work. Everyone will be ready to connect, but whether we will be ready to connect them depends on if we can become one people. Our success depends on this.

Otherwise all the forces of evil in the world will rise against us and it will be justified because instinctively they feel that we are responsible for all of their problems. It will be impossible to blame them for the hatred they feel towards us because there is none else beside Him; there is a program, there is the upper force that operates and there is a system that works accordingly. We have to balance it, to bring the good force against the evil force and by that bring everything to the middle line.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/22/13

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Rabash, “And He Shall Cogitate in His Torah (Teachings)”: And so we read in the Megillah “and after all this the king raised Haman.” Literally it is hard to understand, after all, after what Mordecai did, which was good for the king, the king should raise Mordecai and not Haman, and this needs to be explained…

When a person cannot see the true face of his evil, which means the true form of Haman, then a person cannot pray to the Creator, so that He should save him from evil. Only when a person sees the greatness of Haman, who wants to kill and to destroy all the Jews, which means that Haman wanted to destroy everything that belonged to Judaism, which doesn’t let him do anything that is related to Holiness, then he can raise a true prayer. Then the verse “the Creator helps him” is fulfilled.

Only if we yearn for unity like Mordecai who evoked the yearning for unity by discovering the plot against the unity and killing it (two of the king’s courtiers who betrayed him), then Haman is evoked. The evil inclination faces the good inclination, the desire to receive rises facing the desire to bestow, and a struggle between them begins inside a person.

Only by raising and empowering the good force does the evil force grow, and then we raise the good again and evil also grows. This process continues until we reach a state in which we have to make a decision in this struggle. We cannot ask the good inclination, since it doesn’t need anything, it doesn’t want anything, but only to bestow every chance it gets. So we always ask the evil inclination, and then we do the opposite.

This is called working in faith above reason. We know how our desire to receive feels and follow faith above reason. Otherwise we have no way of imagining what the spiritual world is, what it means to be above myself, what it means to bestow. But we know that it is opposite from our egoistic desire to receive, which we know very well.

So when the desire to bestow grows, we have to raise the desire to receive and to ask it what it thinks should be done, and then do the opposite! That’s the way it works.

It is because we don’t see the image of the good; we don’t have an image by which we can resemble the Creator. The only way is to form it as an opposite image of the desire to receive. Therefore we were given an environment that should help us turn the desire to receive, which means the intention to receive into an intention to bestow. This is called “to repent,” to return to the Creator, the rising of Malchut to Bina.

We have no idea what the image of the good is but only that is it the opposite of evil.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/13

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Question: Is it true what people say that when we look at the letters of The Book of Zohar written in Aramaic it automatically connects us to the Light although we don’t understand the language?

Answer: Nothing happens automatically. It can be compared to a baby who is born and lives in this world and who grows because he is taken care of since he annuls himself before the grownups. It is an innate attribute, and, by that, he enables the parents to take care of him. They take care of him, and he grows.

If a person annuls himself during the study while reading The Book of Zohar, he is under the influence and the caretaking of the friends, even if he doesn’t understand and doesn’t feel anything but wants to place himself under the influence of the Lights, the friends, and the major society that deals with it. However, he needs to have that intention. Even if he forgets about it, he still needs to feel that he belongs.

Question: How can we follow the text while reading The Book of Zohar and keep the right intention at the same time?

Answer: The main thing is the intention, and the text is important to the extent that a person can attribute it to the right intention. Gradually, he begins to see the right meaning of the words in it: a “child,” “sages,” Sefirot, Malchut, and Bina. He will see it. Under the influence of the Light that Reforms that operates very slowly, gradually, bit by bit, a person will begin to feel different impressions. He will feel a connection to what he reads.

Question: What should our approach be while reading The Book of Zohar or what should change in it so that the Light will influence us and change us?

Answer: We must connect. A person should feel that he is in a united group like a commando squad, like in one whole that is made of separate parts. He needs to feel it naturally. Otherwise, his intentions are not the right intentions.

So, as he feels the whole reality connected in him, he wants to belong to the Creator together with it, to connect and to adhere to Him. He understands that it happens as a result of his inner change and looks forward to it.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/13, The Zohar

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There is a system which in our perception of reality is depicted as the current reality of this world. In it a person has books that were written by Kabbalists in the past, a teacher who is a Kabbalist, friends, the whole world, and the Creator who is concealed, meaning the attribute of bestowal that is opposite from everything a person discovers in his five senses. Except for this attribute, everything is at his disposal.

So how can we use all the means we have correctly, in order to reach the general attribute of bestowal?

It is external to a person, outside his “vessel,” and he can acquire it with the help of three components: books, the group, and the teacher. With their help he fulfills the study, dissemination, and the connection.

The combination of all these things brings a person to turn his vessels, his desires, from receiving to bestowal. He discovers increasingly more egoistic vessels that he turns to “in order to bestow,” according to his efforts and exertion.

What are these efforts and exertion?

A person holds on to the right intention during the study, connects with the friends in the group, and follows the advice of the teacher without which he doesn’t know how to work with the books and the group. On the whole, these three components are called “Torah,” which means a study, a method, a means for attaining the attribute of bestowal.

From that we choose the right actions and the right relations by combining the books the group and the teacher in them. Thus a person reaches oppositeness, by rising “above his reason” above his mind and feelings, towards the next level…
[101113]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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If a student sees his teacher’s greatness like a Hassid who sees his rabbi, it’s not a good sign. After all, a student has to work in order to see that the teacher is great and to discover that he is important.

On the other hand, if the teacher seems great, does it give me “fuel” to fulfill his advice? This is the criterion according to which I examine my attitude towards him. The real work is in fulfilling what the teacher says in the group, in dissemination, in the study, in a person’s intentions. If I don’t have the power to do so, it’s because the teacher is not important enough for me. How can I see him as more important? After all this is what will ensure my path to the Creator.

For that, I need a group in which I receive the recognition of my teacher’s greatness from the friends, and then I can fulfill what he says. At the same time it is the teacher’s ideas I have to value and nothing but that. Everything else is already “idol worship.” The main thing is the study, the method he teaches and the actions he points out as important for the attainment of the Creator. This is actually what my friends value.

On the whole, the environment can increase the importance of everything, even if it’s a certain kind of tea, the teacher, or the Creator. The desire to receive doesn’t see anything special here; for the desire, there are simple different discernments of pleasures; it examines all the options through the perception of standard understanding, of inner emptiness and filling. The details make no difference, if people around me value tea, then I also value tea, and if people around me value the teacher or the Creator, then a person also sees that the teacher and the Creator are important.

The main thing is that the student would want to listen to what the teacher says and by that the inner partitions, the inner ears, will open. Through them, in the internality of the system, he will hear an inner voice.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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Question: Why do you say that the importance of the teacher should not be taken for granted by his students?

Answer: Imagine that the president comes to us on a special visit to meet you. He asks us about you and says that he has been looking for a person like you for years until it became clear that you are here. He comes to you with his entourage, shakes your hand, and then you go into the conference room together for a talk after which you come out with illuminated faces, and he gets into his presidential car and departs to the president’s home.

After this visit you carry on as usual with your friends, but we already look at you differently. Whether we want to or not, but we have to be careful. Something new has been created among us and we don’t know how to relate to you, how to behave next to you. You say something and we listen to you skeptically, but we pay careful attention to every word you say. Our attention is focused on you, we already depend on you, our ego is “locked’ on you, and there is nothing we can do about that. This is the natural way of prostration, of reverence, that is a naturally innate part of us.

But this is not the real work. If I want to connect with the Creator and reach an equivalence of form with Him, I have to rise above my nature, to change it into something that is opposite and unknown in its oppositeness. Of course, it will be very difficult to fulfill this since it’s as if I am turning myself inside out, like a glove, going out of my skin, killing myself.

But it can be done easily. Kabbalists say that it isn’t a problem at all. If I have enough fuel, then the whole way can turn into a pleasant adventure, a stroll in the zoo. I will go from one cage to another, from one animal to the next, and correct my desires until I leave the “animal kingdom” as a human being, Adam.

It’s all about the fuel that comes to me in a chain: from the Creator, through the Kabbalists, the teacher, and the friends. So I have to be incorporated in the group in order to be impressed by the friends and to accept what is important to them. It’s the teacher who is important to them, a person whom I actually don’t like, by whom I am repulsed, and to whom I find myself antipathetic. I automatically despise him and don’t see anything in him that I value.

But I understand that all this is presented to me that way intentionally, and so I use these means to examine myself according to the simple criterion: Do I want to listen to what the teacher says and fulfill it? To fulfill what he says not out of an “animal” commitment, but in order to reach the Creator who is behind him.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar

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