Man only advances through the Light. We cannot advance in spirituality through our own efforts.

In our world a person progresses through his mind, feelings, society, books, teachers, different teachings, and learning by example. Although in reality, the Light that Reforms also operates within all this because a person puts effort into development, even if the reasons are egoistic. This way we advanced over thousands of years.

But if we want spiritual advancement, we must consciously awaken the influence of the Light over us. Otherwise, without this intention, we will be advancing in the same natural way as the entire world. This is why it is written that everything depends on the intention.

We need to organize ourselves, the goal, and the means to attain it step by step. On every stage of my advancement there needs to be a change made through the Light that I attract, which operates and changes my inner qualities, desires, and thoughts.

Thanks to being in this world, due to his detachment from the spiritual world and the concealment, man receives the opportunity to be free and to evoke the influence of the force of Light that Reforms through one’s own choice and desire.

This can be done through actions that do not require us to have a correct intention and be in the spiritual world. This is because even if I do not have much of a desire or understand this fully, I can do these actions and organize myself an environment that will influence me. It is specifically through love of one’s neighbor, following the same line, that we attain love for the Creator.

We awaken the Light and come closer to adhesion with the Creator through the strength of our unity. This is why there is no place more important where we can make an effort, but our environment. Even study, dissemination, and all other business are nothing more than auxiliary means, even though they are necessary on the path towards group unity, where the Light will be revealed according to the strength of the group’s connection.

We accelerate the revelation of the Light with our actions in our world so it would manifest sooner than it would if we develop naturally, which is called “at its own time” (Beito). We attract the Light with our connection in the group, and the more we strive to unite, the more it manifests. This development is called “hastening time” (Achishena), according to which we advance.
[59193]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The matter of creation is divided into several levels: the still, the vegetative, the animate, and the speaking. Within the level of the speaking there are also several levels. There are people who exist passively, similar to the beastly level. There are more advanced people, as well as those who are looking for a goal that is beyond ordinary corporeal life.

However, everyone eventually should reach the same goal of creation, and then every person will feel and understand his own special desire. One will yearn for a good corporeal life, while another will want to attain something beyond corporeality, and still others will want to transcend this life. The advancement towards the same goal will be varied since everything, including the human degree, is divided into four levels, which will exist until the end of correction.

Only when everyone is connected will the one perfect common desire be created. In the meantime, during the process of correction, there are great differences among all the parts. Most importantly, each kind and type will discover the goal of creation and will reach its end of correction.

One must connect with others on his level, as the prophets said: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” All of creation will receive such power of unity and bestowal, and there will be peace at all levels of creation. All this will be possible thanks to the correction of man.

This “the love of friends” is not just a nice slogan, but the main place of our work. A person should understand that his struggle, his attack, and the main point of his exertion to attain the goal is “the love of friends.” This is the vessel in which he will discover the upper force, the Creator, the essence of life.

We should focus our attention only on this. Everything else, the studying and the other activities, are only in order to attain this spiritual vessel: the love of friends.
[58910]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/27/2011, Writings of Rabash

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There are different parts in The Book of Zohar, and we do not know which ones are more effective, and which ones are less. But it is not for us to judge and understand it; this will be revealed only later. That is why The Book of Zohar was not written in one sentence, which could be repeated all the time like some mantra. On the contrary, the Book describes the whole relationship that exists between us from this world and to the world of Infinity, in various forms and manifestations for every soul.

This is called the “Torah” (from the word “Oraa” or “instruction”) because it reveals before us the entire network of connection between all the souls in its corrected form. It describes the desire (vessel) in which the Light is revealed. By revealing the Light, the vessel becomes similar to it in its properties, and that is why it is called the “Torah.” Therefore, when you evoke its actions through this vessel, you receive the Light that Reforms.

All that is written in all the “holy” books (“holy” means “the one who bestows”) is the forms of connection between us, which Kabbalists attained. But what they did not attain was not written, and we will discover this together. They attained this in their personal final correction.

Therefore, everyone updates and writes the Torah himself. And the Torah of one person is not like the Torah of the other because everyone’s desire (vessel) is different, and thus he reveals the form of connection from his angle, from his spiritual spark, the point in the heart, relative to the entire vessel of the collective soul. That is why everyone writes a new Torah for himself and does not reveal the same.

Moses described the general system. But when a person reaches this general system, the general network of connection, and activates it by his desire, his personal involvement, he sees that it sparkles and works the way he sees and reveals it. He does not reveal what happens the way that King Solomon, King David, Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Akiva, Baal HaSulam, the Ari, and so on did it. He discloses it from his desire (vessel), and he does not have the possibility to dress in somebody else’s vessel. No one can do this.

And what we attain later, we attain due to the unity between us. No one penetrates the spiritual spark of the other. But in unity, all our sparks are so connected that they all seem to reside in one spark.

This does not mean that someone is closer to me, and someone is further like in the field of network. On the contrary, we are so united with each other that this network loses its multidimensional form, and we become one point. If you are connected to everyone via the shortest path, directly, everything turns into one point, one drop. Let us hope that we will achieve such unity.
[59199]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/2011, The Zohar

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Starting back with the four phases of the Direct Light, Bina divides into two parts: the first part wants to bestow, and the second part decides that in order to bestow, it must receive. And then it creates Zeir Anpin, destined to receive for the sake of bestowal. The action of ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva), which come out of Bina, is essentially the realization of Bina’s bestowal.

This is why we, the creatures, are the Creator’s action. We pertain to ZON, and the Creator pertains to the upper one, Bina. In the worlds, this manifests in the Partzuf of Arich Anpin whose Keter and Hochma remain in its head, and Bina comes out of it and descends into the body. As a result, all spiritual degrees divide the same way into Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP, separated by a precise border.

When we connect AHP to us, we merit for Arich Anpin to begin working with us and to give us the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), the Light of spiritual life, in addition to the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), which comes in response to our desire to connect between us.

We only need to ask for connection. The problem is that we become lost in a multitude of made up desires. But from all these useless desires we only need to select one important and truly eternal demand that brings us to the eternal purpose, and not some temporary impulses that arise in us along the way and throw us in different directions we immediately forget about.

The only demand is the desire to connect. After all, initially we were united in our perfect state, but it broke, and we found ourselves separated. What else can we demand from this broken state to attain eternity? Only connection!

We are not able to connect independently, but only with the help of the Light of AB-SAG that will evaluate and correct our desires. But we must start this action on our own, in other words, try to connect and find out what we can do with our own powers and which part is left for the Light.

There is no other purpose in our world but connection. This is why nothing but unity will help with the crisis that is now being revealed. It is the result of the borderline that has appeared between us, our breaking.

And all other actions will indirectly bring us to the realization of the truth that the only thing we need is connection. But the dissemination of this knowledge will help us to shorten the path towards realization, to reveal the true need faster, and to suffer and wonder on this path less.
[59128]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/2011, TES

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Question: We mostly work in our local groups. How can we divide our exertion correctly between the work in the group and joint activities with other groups?

Answer: First, we have to try to be part of the general plan, according to which eventually all our groups throughout the world have to feel as one big group. The problem is that we don’t have enough people, specifically project managers. We have to organize the work so that every group should take part in the general process, according to the character of the country and region.

Now for example, the world experiences a period of uprisings, and we have to get all our groups to work in response to it. This, of course, has to be done considering the local conditions, gently, reasonably, and in an understanding way. It cannot be that one group wants to deal with it and another doesn’t. After all, it is the present need. If the world already feels that it’s mutually connected, we have to treat it as a group. It may not understand the situation yet, it may be confused, but it has already been formed.

The spiritual system is being revealed today, Malchut of the world of Assiya, and so everyone already acknowledges global unity. Once it was perceived differently, but now it’s exactly this way. Kabbalists used to say that the wisdom of Kabbalah will be revealed at the end of the 20th century because Malchut of the world of Assiya descends into our world. We can describe it differently: It is revealed from inside, like a net that rises from the bottom of the ocean and closes up on us, the small fish that are caught within it.

This is the situation in the world today. We are in this net, but we are in it willingly, unlike the others because it leads them to a crisis. This is why we have to do our best to explain to those caught in the net: “This isn’t the end of the world at all. We can’t escape this net anymore, don’t even dream about it. We can understand its laws and use them in our favor. If we understand the situation, we will attain pleasure, eternity, wholeness, and a wonderful new life. Things won’t be the same. So let’s see what it’s all about. After all, we have no other choice.”

We have to “advertise” the new reality. Today politicians, experts, and leading scientists already talk about it. This is our work with regards to the world and our groups.

Many of us are still worried about our own problems. A person wants to attain the spiritual world and doesn’t see it in connection to others. I remember how I personally found it hard to digest this idea. I heard and read about it a lot and still couldn’t connect it directly to myself. “What’s written there is one thing, and I am another thing.” A person can use nice words externally, but internally treat the world in a totally different way. So only the general force of the group that operates on all of us together can gradually lead us to the right understanding.

Today we rise to a new level. Previously, everyone made his personal calculations: “If everyone studies, I will join them too, in order to attain spirituality.” Then we began to speak a little about the connection in the group, that it’s the only way by which the spiritual world can be attained. This isn’t simple, and we haven’t totally agreed to that either.

Now we are facing a new and more advanced condition, and we can’t slow down the process of evolution. It doesn’t depend on us. We only agree that if the process is headed in this direction, we will go along with it because there is no other choice.

Today the same problem is revealed all over the world. But it manifests differently in the world and seems to turn it in our direction. People are beginning to suffer from being connected to each other. We want it in the group and at the same time can’t reach this mutual connection. It’s the opposite in the world. The connection ties everyone together against their will. If the group also went in this direction, things would be much easier.

But we don’t see that we are connected to each other. We are living like isolated islands in the ocean of humanity. It discovers a tightly growing connection from which there is no escape, whereas we, in the groups, seem to be totally disconnected.

This is how we are obliged to connect willingly and independently and to build the general network between us. I have to connect it myself. Within the huge network of souls, our groups are free of the strings of the general system. Thus, we are given the opportunity to connect to the network using our own powers and to create these connections. This is our work.

Let’s hope that we can explain this better to ourselves, including those who have “moved aside” because they can’t accept this situation. This is why I have great expectations for the December convention. After all, today the whole world is already mutually tied while we aren’t. This means that it is we who have to get ready for the connection and shout: “Let’s unite!”

We have to see that the world is more corrected than we are. Everyone is connected from Above without any preparation. They are simply “caught in the net.” We, however, have to discover this net and to build it by ourselves, and then our “islands” will draw the whole world to them and will teach it how to function correctly in the new spiritual mechanism.

Let’s hope we will succeed in making an important step in this direction in the coming convention.
[59060]
From Lesson 1 at Arava Convention 10/27/2011

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Question: At the December Convention, we want to celebrate the birth of a new world. What should we concentrate on?

Answer: We must unite for the sake of the values that we want to highlight at the convention. Day by day, we should put more and more effort to feel ourselves living in a new world. We need to play it, imagine it in the relationships between us, in all our thoughts and actions.

As Baal HaSulam writes, we must create a model of the new society, which will form the basis of the new world and will allow everyone to learn from our example. So, let us first discover this new world between us. Then we will see how opportunities that we have never dreamed of open up for us in communal life, industry, commerce, education, and so on.

We don’t really understand these stages, so leave them to the Light. If you do what you can, everything else will work out. Our job is to exert effort, and opportunities will open. All our efforts need to be directed at the new world, new relationships, new society. This work should take each moment of our lives, setting the tone and creating a mood in dissemination, in the preparation for the convention, and in the relationships between the groups so that we feel ourselves as one group more and more….

Every day we should see to the growing unity and bridge the gap between the desired and current reality. If we still see negative phenomena in the world, this means that we have not achieved the correction between us. And this is the only reason.

After all, humanity develops according to what has been prepared for it, while we have freedom of choice and the ability to attract the Light, which then pours onto the entire world and establishes order in it. Thus, the convention is nearing, and everything is very serious.
[59206]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/2011, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Kabbalists put a lot of emphasis on the group, and the entire question of spiritual attainment is related to this notion. This is because the group is a method, an instrument, for the attainment of the Light. It is the well, the source, of Light in our world.

The Light is the only thing that works. It does everything, awakening all the desires. Hence, if we wish to change reality, we need the Light that shines in its usual direction, but we can add our own efforts to it and accelerate our development, as well as make it desirable and good.

If we wish to be masters in the spiritual art, the Light must become the method, the instrument in our hands, and make these changes. We can only attract the Light that Reforms in the group. This is why the purpose of the group, the environment, is to reveal the Light contained in it and to let it act upon yourselves and the entire world. And the Light is revealed in our world through the group.

The direction of the Light’s influence depends on us. We cannot change its influence at all; we can only accelerate our development, make the Light shine more strongly than it naturally does. In other words, we can only increase the velocity.

However, changing the velocity means to agree with its actions and change our sensation from development. Then, development will stop being forced and undesirable; it will no longer happen under the steamroller of evolution. Instead, we will develop according to our desire and aspiration to advance.

This way, group work becomes the main work that the revelation of the Light, the Creator, and the speed of development depends on. It does not matter that we, of course, do not understand in which direction we are developing and what we need to demand. After all, once the Light becomes manifested, it will explain and illuminate everything to us, clarify our thoughts and desires, and turn us in the right direction.

We completely depend on the Light. This is why we depend on building an environment, a group. In reality, this is the only thing that we have the power to do.

In regular life, we develop the obligated way, and no one asks us where, how, and why they should turn us. We simply turn as we should, without even realizing it. The Light either turns us in a concealed way in our world or openly in the spiritual world. The only difference is whether we understand this.

In the spiritual world, we act because we agree to act, and we want the Light to operate and do all the work with us. Let it do whatever it wants with us. We are ready for it, and we cancel ourselves before its actions.

In our world, every person cancels themselves before the actions of the Light, even though they neither understand nor realize it, like a small child who plays and thinks that he is given all the freedom in this world.

I do not have freedom in the spiritual world, but I already know that I am not free, and I agree with it. However, we are given freedom of choice in the middle, between that world and this world, in the so called “middle third of Tifferet,” for us to consciously choose to want to be under the influence of the Light.

In other words, here, I always remain independent, although we do not think that this is the condition of our independence— making the decision to put ourselves under the influence of the Light that Reforms. We do not understand what the point of our freedom is—to the extent we do not feel and do not understand what it is to be free. We exist in absolute darkness and are controlled from Above.

In the spiritual world, we also exist in the Light that controls us, but here, in Klipat Noga, in the middle between the forces of sanctity and impurity, we build our path from all these states, the points of freedom that, one after the other, add up to make a line. We follow it to absolute independence and at the same time to absolute adhesion and similarity to the Creator, something that is hard for us to understand now.

All of this is analyzed and realized in the group, in society.
[59196]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: I’ve been studying Kabbalah for a few years, and it’s clear to me that what matters most is my internal work. However, it still seems to me that I don’t really understand what it is. Will you explain in greater detail what our internal work is?

Answer: My internal work is to try as hard as I can to join the collective internal work of creating the vessel for the reception of the Light. The end of an action is in its initial thought. First, I yearn for the state in which I reveal the Creator. What is that state? It’s the state in which several points in the heart join together. If I create the right unified system with these points in which the power of bestowal resides, I will discover the force called the “Creator” in it. I will discover Him according to the level of our unity.

So our internal work is about unity, mutual guarantee. It is said: “Love thy neighbor as thyself is the great rule of the Torah.” A rule (Klal) is the vessel (Kli) that contains all the Light. This is the only thing I need, and this is why I stay focused on it.

I try to do different things that will lead to the internal unity of the points in our hearts. I look for opportunities to unite and to awaken the friends towards it. I am concerned about all of us being in one intention, thought, about being inspired and connected so that the fire among us will burn. Then we will reveal the Creator there.

His revelation is the only thing we need. The essence of the entire wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created being in this world.
[59066]
From Lesson 2 at Arava Convention 10/28/2011

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A person should do whatever he can in order to connect with others and to reach bestowal. As a result of one’s corporeal, egotistic efforts, he feels how reluctant he is to connect, how opposed he is to unity, mutual guarantee, and being as one man with one heart. He finds it useless and only feels repelled by it.

Thus, he discovers the desires that need correction, the desires that the Creator has created in man as “the evil inclination.” After this revelation he begins to see the help he receives from Above, despite his reluctance.

The discovery of the evil inclination comes from Above as part of the correction process. The Creator makes a covenant with a person that He won’t leave him and will help him advance. Even if a person doesn’t want to connect and is repelled by it, he will still be inspired by the previous state in which he made efforts to advance, and this will support him.

Gradually, a person discovers, ever so slightly, what bestowal is, what the power of love is. He begins to understand that his goal is only to discover a need for that. Then he can consciously and unconsciously understand, feel, and cry out asking for the force of correction.

The right request (MAN) is added to the right desire, the demand to leave the present state and move on to a better one. This desire can still be egoistic, which is called “Lo Lishma,” but it is already in line with the right path.

And so gradually, step by step, a person clarifies his desires and intentions. Of course, he is not the one who determines the steps of his development. In fact, they are awakened according to the Reshimot (informational genes) in him. The upper force, the Light, determines the whole process. A person only needs to constantly yearn to advance and to perform even the slightest actions that will advance him in any way towards the goal.

Then he will achieve the desired goal: He will receive the Light that Reforms, will acquire the attribute of bestowal, and will be filled with the Reflected Light that provides the sensation of spiritual life—life in bestowal!
[58793]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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