This rule, familiar to all, includes the corrections of all of man’s desires (heart) and thoughts (mind). And on the contrary, only by correcting all of his desires and thoughts does man attain the quality of love for people, for all of mankind, and nature.

Every person’s love for the neighbor is very weak and is therefore not expressed explicitly. Thus, if several people unite together into a group and every one of them suppresses his egoism in relation to others, then every one of them will receive the forces of all the others. In that case, all of the separate forces of the group members will be amplified into one great force and they will gain the ability to carry out nature’s law of “love your neighbor.” A discrepancy arises here: Must one correct all of one’s egoistic qualities to attain love for the neighbor, or does one only need love for his friends in the group to attain it?

Usually people unite in a group to improve their situation in some respect, and every person makes a calculation as to how much he bestows to others and how much he receives since this kind of group is founded on egoism. If a member of such a group feels that he can receive more outside of the group than inside of it, he regrets being in the group. This kind of society distances a person from rising to the “human” level.

Indeed, reaching love is possible only by correcting all of one’s egoistic desires and thoughts. But by uniting each person’s small desires through love, in that union, together they create a new, common, great force, which every group member can use to attain love of friends and then to attain love for humanity and Nature.

But all of this can only happen on the condition that every person suppresses his egoism in relation to another. If a person is separated from the friend by his egoism, he cannot receive the force of love for the neighbor from him. Thus, one can receive the force of love from the friends only to the degree of one’s self-annulment before them.

This is similar to the inscription of numbers: If you first write a 1 and then a 0, you will get 10, meaning 10 times more. And if you write two zeros after a one, you will get 100, meaning 100 times more. This means that if one’s friend is a one and he is a zero, a person receives 10 times more from the friend. And if he says that he is two zeros in relation to his friend, he will receive 100 times more from him.

And vice versa, if he is a one and his friend is a zero, this equals 0.1, so he is 10 times less than his friend. And if he can say that he is a one and he has two friends who are two zeros in relation to him, then he is equal to 0.01 compared to them. Thus, the more zeros he places on the value of his friends, the smaller he is himself.

Yet even if you already have the forces to love the neighbor and you can really express that love, and you already feel that self-benefit only harms you, nevertheless, don’t believe yourself and be afraid that you might stop in the middle of the path and fall into egoism. You have to be afraid of receiving such egoistic pleasures that you won’t be able to resist them and will enjoy them instead of love for the neighbor. Precisely the fear of falling into egoism gives a person the forces to observe the law of nature, the law of bestowal and love.
[72525]
(Based on Rabash’s article “According to What Is Explained about Love Thy Friend as Thyself”)

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Question: What is the true standard of measuring the love for friends? What is the correct definition of a friend?

Answer: A person’s true check of the degree of love for friends is his understanding that he will not be able to reach the most important goal in his life without our uniting into one whole, and while within this whole, we also reveal the Creator.

It turns out that I, my friends, and the Creator obtain equal importance for me. They become one (1) with relation to everything else which I consider zero (0). The closer I approach such a form, the greater is the degree of my love.

A friend is my closest part of the soul together with which I am building a system in which the unity will be revealed. This is a cogwheel existing next to me. I have to grasp it in order to spin together according to the desire of the Upper One.

It turns out that we already create a system. I need just one friend with whom we spin together when we annul our ego, we enter into the clutch with our cogs, but this grip is realized according to the desire of the upper force.

We annul ourselves and as a result we enter into connection. We do this precisely to annul ourselves before the prior request from Above and allow the Upper One to spin us. We make an agreement with one another that we connect for the sake of sensing the order of the Creator who begins to spin us. Here all three factors are necessary.
[70072]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/12, Writings of Rabash

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We can talk about our advancement and ourselves as well as imagine the perspective from Above, from the source of reality. We reveal our work from below, while its cause from Above.

What was the purpose of creation? It is said that such is the desire of the upper one: to create a creature as perfect as He is. Thus in all our actions and intentions, while we scrutinize what happens with us, we should always remember that the end goal of it all is to reveal the Creator, to reveal precisely Him.

Whatever I feel, think, ponder, or aspire for is correct; such is the path of analysis. But what do I reveal on this path, my own self? No, I reveal myself opposite to the Creator. That is, in fact, I reveal Him.

We know from the wisdom of Kabbalah that in the world of Infinity there is no deficiency in anything but the realization of the Giver. The creature, called Malchut of the world of Infinity, must understand, feel, and attain Him.

That is why this round of creation is necessary: the descent into our world and the ascent back into Malchut of Infinity, which we have to carry out. This path from the bottom up is intended for the sole purpose of ascension in the attainment of the Giver.

We attain Him according to the equivalence of form: The more we resemble Him, the more we understand and feel Him, and the nearer we draw to Him. The end result is in its initial thought; hence, first and foremost, we have to establish the intention, that is, what do I want to achieve through all of my actions? What’s done is done, but why do I need it?

However, even before I clarify the intention, I need the initial thought of this intention’s primary origin since the idea is to reveal the Giver, the Creator. That is our goal.

I reveal in myself thoughts, intentions, desires, and attitudes, but essentially, through these actions I search for Him. “How do I go about doing it? What do I think? What do I want? How to I interact with someone or something?” Before each such discernment I prepare myself for the right attitude: Everything that I do is intended to reveal the Creator.

I need to draw some connections here:

• Whoever I am, He prepared it for me;
• Whatever I think every second, He gives me;
• Whatever happens with me right now during this analysis, it happens according to His will;
• However I react to what I feel, He, too, gives it to me.

There is only one thought, one statement that should always be mine: “Everything that is happening with me is coming from the Creator.” The first Shamati article talks about it: “There is None else Beside Him.”

Now, when I clarify my intentions—either for the sake of reception or for the sake of bestowal—they certainly come from the Creator. However, what is important to me in this analysis is that I reveal Him; I clarify who He is.

Out of all these discernments, the mosaic of reality takes shape inside of me. My friends, the world around me, its events and circumstances, everything should merge into one picture of the Creator. To the extent it appears internally, separate pieces come together: all creatures, this entire world, and all worlds together in one whole structure whose internal form is called the “Creator.” In its entirety, this structure represents Malchut of the world of Infinity or, in other words, the vessel, the desire. It is precisely His form, His structure, and interaction of all of His parts: desires, thoughts, and intentions that take on the form of the Giver.

The Creator Himself, Azmuto, does not have a form. However, we conduct a ceaseless analysis in ourselves and gradually create the form similar to His. As a result, He can be revealed. In the same manner, to detect waves that are unknown to us, we build a device in which they can be duplicated and reproduced. It allows us to discover them and study their nature.

The internal scrutiny helps us create a “place” to reveal the Creator; otherwise, He will remain concealed from us. That is why it is said that the Creator wants to dwell in the lower ones, meaning to reveal Himself to them. That is the reason He created the world of Infinity, and our work is comprised of revealing Him through our efforts.

Thus, the revelation of the Creator is the result of our internal scrutiny. He will not reveal Himself—our efforts and exertion are needed here. We exert our efforts, we want it and we don’t, the forces of reception and bestowal collide inside of us, and thereby we constantly prepare a place for His revelation.

Eventually, this place will become “pliable” enough so we could detect in it small “waves,” the Creator’s forms in the matter of desire. The more we soften our material, the more the Creator is revealed within it. He Himself is concealed; however, the matter begins to assume His form. This is what comprises all our clarifications: With their help we are preparing our desire to take on His imprint, His revelation.

Hence, with our every action it is necessary to remember that we, the world, and everything else in general exist only in order for us to reveal the Creator. It’s not a topic for discussion but the fact descending from the sources of creation. If I lay the foundation for any of my actions, thoughts, or intentions with that fact in mind, if I originally take this course, if I am directed toward the revelation of the Creator since such is His desire, then I am aimed at Infinity, at that very goal. And everything that I do later on will surely enter that depository of efforts that we must replenish.

Everything else will take place anyway. Only one thing depends on us: to direct our all our efforts toward the revelation of the Creator.

Later, the following questions arise: What does this revelation represent? How does one actualize it? What actions will prove most effective? Who does it depend on: myself, others, or our interaction? All in all, we are talking about the method that Kabbalists describe for us, explaining how to carry out actions that are most beneficial for the revelation of the Creator.

Today, the whole of humanity stands at the beginning of this revelation. Evolution came to the conclusion; the world has already realized the potential of materialistic progress. We have nothing to look for on other planets and nothing to extract from the earth; we have tried everything on its surface as well, and we saw that our life is limited and leads to a dead-end.

It is the beginning of the Creator’s revelation to all creatures. Because of this impediment people will start asking the question: “What for and why do we live? What is the purpose of life?”

From here on we learn that the purpose of our life is to reveal the Creator or, to be more precise, to prepare ourselves for His revelation. We achieve that through uniting, and thereby soften our desire to receive so it could become altruistic and begin to assume various sorts of bestowal. After all, the Creator is the quality of bestowal, and if we establish such a connection with each other, we help Him reveal Himself between us, we prepare the soil for it, the matter that will be able to assume His qualities, His projection.

Thus we develop ourselves in precise equivalence to His form.
[71271]
From the Arava Convention 2/23/12, Lesson #2

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Let’s imagine that there is a gate that opens and closes automatically when a person comes near. This gate checks a person’s deficiency, and if it isn’t enough, he is not allowed to enter.

Everything is ready for the meal and the host is waiting for the guests. But He is waiting for them according to their desire to unite, only if they want to unite with Him. This is checked according to their readiness to connect among each other, so that the connection will really be with the intention of in order to bestow.

If you have the true yearning and deficiency, you will be allowed to enter. Here there can be two levels. The first is when a person succeeds, but hasn’t developed enough appetite yet, enough desire for the meal, which means a desire and a yearning to enjoy bestowing upon the Creator.

The guest himself stops himself from receiving anything because he has restricted himself. First we have to reach the height of that guest who is ashamed to receive the meal for free from the host. He is ready to receive it if he can turn his shame into honor, and he will do that for the host. Then he uses all his desires and attributes happily, because he can bestow.

Thus, the guest happily discovers that he has a great appetite, together with the need to use it correctly: to enjoy the refreshments in order to cause the host pleasure.

If a person advances correctly and constantly looks for support for that, he needs the Reforming Light. He begins to think: How is it possible to evoke the Light? In what way? It is only by the prayer of many, together with the friends. This is how they advance.

But on every step of the way there are problems. The additional desire to receive that should be revealed at every new level requires correction. On every level there is a need for correction, because it isn’t some minor change of the desire, but an ascent to a new degree. Every minor change requires the transcendence of all the ten levels of development, ten whole Sefirot.

So a person should repeat all the actions that he performed on the previous level. If in the meantime he doesn’t feel any meaningful difference between the levels, then he thinks that he is repeating the same states. And how long can you? He is tired of repeating the same thing over and over again.

He wants to see some progress, even if there is some retreat. Like in a spinning wheel, he still wants to feel movement forward. If he doesn’t see it, it is a problem.

It may be that he doesn’t see the advancement inside him, but he sees it in others and should be happy about it. But his corrupt ego doesn’t let him rejoice for the success of others. He is not free of his self interest yet.

He is covered by a shadow, and he ceases to feel any advancement. Under such conditions, he loses his appetite for the meal. He suddenly loses his power and begins to criticize all his previous accounts, and to see them as not serious and unrealistic.

With regard to the reality he is in, the reality of this world, it all seems as not serious enough, and not solid enough. Other people deal with things that are understandable, that bring real profit that you can actually feel and deposit in the bank; you can bring the daily wages to the family in the evening and can take pride in the success.

But here there is nothing, everything disappears, like water seeping through the sand! And there is no one you can blame. This is called a shadow.

Therefore, many heroes fall in this battle. We often hear of such cases in different groups. On the one hand, we should feel sorry for these people, just as about someone who dies, because we feel sorry that they died. But on the other hand, in the future they will join the correction, because “the remote will not be rejected,” and “everything returns to its root.”

It doesn’t depend on us. The only thing we can do is to try and grow stronger, build the right supporters and the right “railing” that will support us, and post “policemen and guards.” If we understand that the shadow comes so that we will become stronger, because only in the concealment is it possible to discover the additional desire necessary for the revelation—then we understand that there is no choice and that we must go on.
[72997]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/12, Shamati #8

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From a lesson of Rabash: In a place where spirituality isn’t important enough, the shells have a hold. For example, if a person intended to get up for the lesson in the morning, but thoughts and calculations come to his mind: “Why should I get up? What will I learn? What is the point in that?”

The moment spirituality doesn’t seem important, such thoughts immediately come up and tie a person with thick ropes to the bed so that he won’t be able to get up…therefore, we need the accompanying force that will not allow us to fall.”

What all the groups and in fact every person in one way or another lack is the accompanying force. Otherwise we fall one by one, as it says: “A thousand walk into the classroom and one comes out a teacher.” This means that 999 fall.

It may well be that they don’t actually fall physically, but they are weakened internally and are ready to “carry on” this way without attaining the goal of creation, the goal of life. They don’t argue that it is necessary to find an answer to the question “what is the meaning of my life,” but they’ve grown old and they don’t feel they have the strength to do so. This is all because they have not built supporters for themselves, a “railing” that will support them and will help them rise and not let them fall. This is very important.

It’s like making a treaty of mutual help,  a commitment to the relationships between the friends, between the groups. Therefore, it is so important to know what is happening in every group and to help each other.

It is like it says: “There is no prophet in his own town,” and friends from other groups can sometimes help a person and influence him more than those who are next to him. He can suspect that his close friends have some self-interest and can find blame with their egoistic intentions. But he doesn’t feel that way about the other groups. He sees that people from other places begin to speak about him and show him how important he is to them, and on the other hand, he understands that he must correct something inside himself, like it says: “You should post judges and policemen at all your gates.”

It is very important. Usually after every collective ascent several people fall, because after an ascent there is always the hardening of the heart. We should be on guard!
[72991]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/12, Shamati #8

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“Love your neighbor as yourself” is the main law of the integral nature in human society. By observing it, we observe all laws of nature, or stated differently, all laws of nature are included in this law. Does that mean there is nothing else for us to do but this?

Nature’s goal is to bring all of its parts to total harmony and balance. This allows a person to achieve the most comfortable state. All of the occurrences that we must go through are carried out only in order for us to consciously attain this state.

We have to research and follow nature’s goal and the path to attaining it. This is a guarantee of a successful life for us. By constantly supporting this principle scientifically, we will gain confidence in the path and in the fact that we have support from the laws of nature. This awareness of success in cases when we carry out nature’s law, or of misfortunes in cases when we do not must be sensed by us as awe and fear. This guarantees us a good path.

For that we must be aware of nature’s laws as being objective and compelling us to execute them consciously. Precisely the conscious execution of these laws is the distinctive characteristic of the “human” level of development as opposed to the “animate” level. After all, we went through all of our previous levels of development unconsciously, driven by the development of egoism within us. But today, nature is compelling us to develop independently, consciously, above egoism, by acquiring the quality of bestowal and love that is opposite to egoism.

So how can a person acquire this new quality, the desire to bestow, while at the same time understanding that the desire to receive for himself is very harmful to him? After all, this is contradictory to man’s nature as he cannot do anything that does not bring him personal profit.

There is just one solution: for several people who have an aspiration to come out of egoism’s power to get together into one group, where every member levels himself in relation to the others. Since every member of this group has an aspiration to attain the quality of bestowal and love, and all they lack is the force to realize it, by uniting into a group and suppressing their egoism in relation to the friends, they create a new substance. For example, if there are ten group members, this substance will have a force ten times greater than each person had individually.

However, this will only happen if those who gather in the group think about how to suppress their egoism rather than how to fulfill it. And due to sensing love of friends, every person will be able to sense an aspiration to carry out nature’s law because he thereby brings all of nature to balance and harmony.
[72521] 
(Based on Rabash’s article “Love of Friends” (1984, #6))

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Question: Should every group member know exactly what every specific friend lacks and how he can help each friend, or is it enough to abide by the general notion of “love for the friend”?

Answer: In a regular society a person can help another only if there are rich and poor, smart and stupid, strong and weak, and so on. But if everyone are equal, then how can they help one another?

Yet there is one thing everyone lacks: the sensation of a good mood. If a person is in a bad mood, neither wealth nor wisdom can help him. Only another person can lift his spirits so the friend would feel an influx of vital energy again and sense that the goal of unity is near.

It turns out that every group member must pay attention to his friend’s mood and if necessary, lift it. That’s because one’s mood is precisely the area where every person can contribute to another.
[72516]
(On the basis of Rabash’s article “They Helped Everyone His Friend”)

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), “Concerning the Importance of Society”: Therefore, when it comes to the work on the path of truth, a person should seclude himself from other people. This is because the path of truth always requires strengthening as it is against the world. This means that a person should be absorbed only in thoughts about “single authority,” called “bestowal,” and not “public authority,” which is self-love. This is called “two authorities”—the Creator’s authority and one’s own authority.

This is all clear, but the problem is in implementing it. Each of us is under their own authority, and we don’t understand what it means to be under someone else’s authority: “So do I have to become a slave? For if there is an authority, there is also a master?”

Actually we should be under the authority of the altruistic desire instead of under the authority of the egoistic one. It is very hard to understand these things. We simply don’t see where and how all this takes place.

But eventually, thanks to the study and the participation in the life of the group, a person summons a slight illumination upon himself, and he begins to gradually wake up. Then he is ready to hear about “public authority” and “single authority,” about the authority of the Creator and the authority of the creature, about the attribute of bestowal and that of reception…. It  is very hard to clarify these details but when a person identifies them, he begins to understand what is happening to him.

The sages said that it is a long path, but we can shorten it if we listen to their advice. The advice is simple: Do you want to feel that you are on the higher degree, in the next dimension? Build it and form it. Connect with those who want the same thing, and then together summon the upper force so that it will build the network that will become your next degree.

Everything takes place in a person’s perception. The Creator Himself is inconceivable. We perceive Him only in the mutual relationship between all parts of reality, which we are able to perceive. If you change your attitude towards reality, this attitude will become your Creator (Boreh), from the words “come” (Bo) and “see” (Reh).

Now the “Creator” for you is the egoistic force that dwells in the entire reality you perceive. This is how you perceive and feel it. So change it by the Light that Reforms. There is this force that you can evoke, and it is your next level.

All the degrees already exist in that dimension, in that “channel” of information and power, from which you can receive everything. Join it and you will receive everything. Do you want to know what tomorrow will bring? You will know what tomorrow will bring. Do you want to know how to change things? You will know how to do that. Just connect. This, in fact, is the Light that Reforms.

On the whole, our approach is to connect to one another and to summon the Light that will perform this connection correctly. We should show our readiness according to the state we are in and ask for correction.

It is very easy to do that. Therefore, Rabash’s articles about the society are so simple and clear. They are not many, and all these materials can be printed on a few dozen pages. The whole method is in them. Everything else is additions that help us draw the Light, while in order to describe how to organize a group to which we draw it, ten pages will be enough.

As for today, our work is first of all to organize ourselves correctly and then to ask for correction.
[71523]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/2012

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If we are guarantors for one another, we are guarantors in everything, in happiness and sadness. This is because mutual guarantee is not just signing a document. We bind ourselves so that all the states come to us as to a single whole. This is the way a guarantee works in a bank: If a person doesn’t pay, then you pay, without any arguments.

And for us it is even more than that: You must love your friend more than yourself. After all, the commandment of loving thy neighbor demands that you put another in place of your precious self. That is mutual guarantee: a pledge that is impossible to withdraw from.

The upper Light knows how to arrange unity, but we must pave the way for ourselves. In the beginning we become partners and connect to each other. But all of that is still “we”: many and not one. And afterwards our desire will merge into one, and this complete whole will be above us, like a baby whom everyone worries about.

It is written: “The eye of the Creator is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His loving kindness” (Psalm 33). We constantly look at this baby and constantly support him with all our heart, hoping that he just grows up, that he is sound and healthy, that he is happy and feels good.

This is the way we look at our baby that is above us and belongs to all of us. We all, in our mind and soul, are there, in that one desire. We want to discover within him the spirit of life: the Creator.
[72761]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/2012

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Let us shed light on several questions related to the notion of “love of friends”:

1. What ground is there for the need to attain love of friends?
2. Should I choose the friends, and should they choose me?
3. Should each friend openly express his feelings toward the other group members, or is it enough for him to feel love for them in his heart, without expressing this feeling externally? Should he remain modest and not boast about his achievement?

Certainly, every person should openly express the love of friends that is in his heart because open expression of this feeling can awaken the friends’ hearts to the same. As a result, the friends’ feelings will unite into a common feeling, which will be much greater than their arithmetic sum.

Thus, every member of the group will receive a strong feeling of love of friends and will also sense a need to expand this feeling. On the other hand, if the group members do not express their feelings openly, they cannot be imbued with the common, collective force and overcome their personal egoism.

In this case, it is very difficult to view the friend in a positive light. Every person thinks that he is the only righteous one and that only he loves his friends, while they do not reciprocate his feelings.

It turns out that a person’s forces are too weak to be able to attain love for his friend and to express his feelings explicitly instead of hiding them.

One must constantly remind oneself of the purpose of the group’s existence since otherwise, one’s egoism will try to blur this goal because its sole concern at all times is its own benefit.

A person needs the group in order to attain the quality of being engrossed in the thought of delighting his friends without requiring anything in return, and not in order for the group to help fulfill his egoistic desires. After all, if every group member expects only to receive help from others, the group is founded on egoism and works only to increase it. In this case, a person sees the group only as a means to satisfy his egoistic needs.

Therefore, we must keep in mind that the group must be built upon love for the neighbor. What every group member must receive from the group is love for the neighbor and hatred for his own egoism. When a person sees that his friend tries to suppress his egoism, this gives him additional forces to fight his own egoism. Then all of the friends’ intentions merge into one whole. Thus, if the group consists of ten members, each of them will receive the forces of all ten friends who suppress their egoism and aspire toward love for the neighbor.

But if the group members do not express their feelings toward one another due to their feigned modesty, then their feelings do not grow stronger and each of them gradually loses the desire to progress towards love for the neighbor and regresses back to self-love.
(Based on Rabash’s article “Love of Friends (2))
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