The environment is not people’s faces or their material bodies, but the desire or force that I receive from them. Then this desire becomes my own, becoming added to my point in the heart.

If I am able to receive from them the impression about the greatness of bestowal, the Creator, the spiritual goal, the desire to bestow, then I have the opportunity together with them to awaken the force of the Light that is concealed there. Then, under the Light’s influence, this desire begins to be corrected – meaning instead of the opposite side to show me the face of spirituality, the quality of bestowal, in which I reveal my life in the Light of bestowal. This is the revelation of the spiritual world, the Creator to the creatures.

That is why the Creator is called Boreh – come and see, meaning everything I received in the desires which I collected from the environment. The environment is my own desire, but seen from its opposite side and therefore seemingly relating to other people.

I received this desire from them and understood that it is my own, and therefore I want to attach is back to myself. However, spirituality is structured so that my AHP (lower part) is inside Galgalta Eynaim (the upper part) of other people. That is why I cannot return my AHP without receiving Galgalta Eynaim of everyone else.

It turns out that my receiving desires return to me, but together with the bestowing desires of others, meaning corrected desires, and I attach them to me together with the Light of Hassadim that fills them. Thus, the greatness of bestowal that I tried to receive from the environment is ready-made spiritual Kelim, desires in which I attain spirituality.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/11

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Our entire difficulty is that when we begin the spiritual path, we desire to act the same way as we acted in our material lives until now where we counted on our own forces and fought for some kind of values. Consciously or unconsciously, all of our calculations were aimed at our own benefit.

The importance of the goal served as the means for attaining it, and it works that way in everything no matter what I search for: rest, money, power, respect, or knowledge. However, I received desires from the environment, become excited by what other people desire, and that is how I was always able to multiply my desires and develop. My own desires did not go beyond the animate body—meaning the desires for food, sex, and family, while my attraction to everything else—for money, power, and knowledge, was adopted only from the external environment, human society.

When a new desire awakens in a person, the desire for the spiritual world, it has to develop by the same paths. But a problem emerges here because when a person enters a society of people who study together with him and he must develop under their influence, then on the outside he only sees the material qualities, such as who is smarter and who learns the material better.

But his desire with which he has to advance, the egoistic “point in the heart,” is “the opposite side of the holy soul.” It has to be developed, and it develops only under the greatness of the goal, the greatness of the Creator.

However, all of these values—the greatness of the goal, the Creator, spirituality, the upper world—are based on the greatness of bestowal instead of reception. And that is where a halt occurs, as it is written, “In the place where the sinners will fall, the righteous will rise and walk forth,” with both the sinners and the righteous living inside one person.

In this regard everything depends on how a person treats his environment. It really begins being a spiritual environment for him only on the condition that he understands that he has to receive from them the impression of the greatness of bestowal, love for the neighbor, meaning a new desire for bestowal, the spiritual desire.

It turns out that a person begins the spiritual path with one single “point in the heart.” This is a very important point, the basis of a person, but it is the “opposite side of the holy soul” and he will never have anything else besides it himself. To this point he has to add all of his other spiritual Kelim until Malchut of the world of Infinity. And he receives all of these desires from the environment because nothing new will develop any longer inside of himself.

The spiritual Kli is received from the environment, and it is called the greatness of the goal, which serves as the spiritual vessel or desire, the place where the person will reveal the Creator, the connection and union with Him.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/11

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We have to know that besides the “point in the heart”—the opposite side of the holy soul, we won’t receive anything else from above. Not one additional spiritual desire will awaken in me.

I have to receive everything else from the environment, which is where my spiritual Kli is found, meaning all the desires in which I will reveal the upper world, the Creator, spiritual life. This desire is called “the greatness of the goal” because that is how it is expressed in my sensation.

It seems to me that importance does not belong to the goal and that the goal is something else, but in fact, the importance itself is the spiritual Kli. It’s not by virtue of this importance that I will attain the goal, as if it were a compass determining the direction in which I have to run. Rather, the goal is precisely inside of this desire which I receive from the environment.

Feel how the spiritual desire differs from the material one—it spreads out to everyone, like air. This is not egoistic fulfillment which one person receives and another one lacks as a result. Spirituality does not decrease due to being divided when I pass it on to someone else. There’s enough of it for everyone! It’s the same as how you can light thousands of candles from one candle and the first fire won’t get any smaller.

Therefore, once I begin my spiritual advancement with just the point in the heart, I soon find myself at a crossroads and don’t know where to go. I no longer find any forces inside of me or the aspiration to continue. At that moment, where can I get the motivation, stimulus, and direction to come to the group and demand the greatness of the goal from it?

If I had that inner desire, then I would already realize it in some way. But what should I do if I don’t have it? Does the group have to take care to ensure that I will have the impression of the greatness of the goal, bestowal, or do I have to continuously look for this myself?

That is when we come to the notion of the mutual guarantee. In general we have to take care of everything in order to become a “spiritual environment” which awakens every person who enters it. It gives an example and stimulates one’s desires, showing that others have something that I don’t have. It ignites envy of spiritual attainment just like in this world I see other people’s cars and houses and this increases my desire.

Society has to take on the right form through which it will come forth in relation to every one of its members, ensuring that he won’t have a moment of rest. But a person has to have a point in the heart, his own awakening, in order to be like a spiritual seed that is planted in the soil in order to come in contact with the soil for the very first time. And this “soil,” the environment, has to be ready to give him everything he needs according to his first demand.

In this regard, we have to understand that every person working on elevating the goal for others is not helping them by doing this, but he is building this building of greatness for himself. He builds the common environment for everyone. The environment cannot be good for one person while being bad for another and so-so for a third party. It is mutual guarantee for everyone. Therefore, either we are all together in one boat and we all attain the goal, or, if someone falls short of giving enough efforts according to what he should in order to ensure the common awakening, then no one will reach success.

That is to say, every person should not worry about himself or about how can he get inspired from the environment by the greatness of the goal. If I worry that every one of my friends will have the sensation of the greatness of the goal, that is how I build my own Kli.

I cannot take care of myself because this will turn out to be egoistic. But if I take care of others, then this spiritual necessity comes back to me as a ready, perfect Kli.

We all connect into a single system where my lower part (AHP) connects with the upper parts (Galgalta Eynaim) of everyone else. Therefore, when I take care of everyone else with my AHP, then in response, I receive from them the sensation of their Galgalta Eynaim—the sensations of the desires of bestowal which I so lack.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/11

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Question: I understand what you say in my mind, but in my heart I feel that I am completely not ready to cancel myself in order to unite with others. How can I desire this?

Answer: We will never desire to advance to higher spiritual states. And it’s good that we realize this ourselves! A person understands that he does not desire true spirituality on any condition, as opposed to some kind of fairy-tale world he invented where he will fly with angels and do anything he wants, where he will receive total power and see all the worlds from one end to the other.

If we begin to understand the meaning of real spiritual reality, which is above any egoistic benefit, we can only imagine, then obviously we do not want it. We have to understand that all the changes in us are made only by the upper Light that reforms. It has to elevate us and give us new qualities. Only by way of realizing these qualities, by understanding, feeling, and controlling them, will we be able to look at the world through them. That is how I will gradually become a new person.

I will begin to feel that above the animate body with which I identify myself today, a certain equivalence with the Upper One becomes built inside me —a new form or Kli called “the human” in me, meaning “one who is similar to the Creator.” ("Adam," "man," comes from the word "Domeh," "similar"). This person will be riding on top of my “donkey” ("donkey," "Hamor," comes from the word "Homer," "matter"), on top of my previous desires. Thus, a person who has straddled a donkey understands and feels the Creator. But the donkey doesn’t!

This formation of the human in us takes place by virtue of the Light that reforms. It’s not that we desire this on our own, of course not! Our donkey (meaning we today) does not want the human to come! After all, the human will begin to rule over the donkey.

Meanwhile, the donkey wants to receive what it wants. That is why, naturally, today we do not desire the true spiritual state. The more we advance, the more we gradually begin to understand that the spiritual world is completely not what we expected and we no longer want it.

Further advancement is possible only by virtue of the influence of the group, which will imbue us with the importance of spiritual attainment. Only to this degree will we be able to advance, but we will not find the forces to do this in ourselves.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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If I don’t take forces from the group, then I will inevitably reach the state of total emptiness where I won’t have any forces to advance (and in general, I have to reach this state). That is, I won’t want to advance an inch closer to spirituality the way it appears to my egoistic desire.

Then I won’t know what to do. Should I leave everything behind and go home? But what will happen to me next? Thus, I find myself in a position like a car in idle, unable to force myself to move forward. But I also can’t move in reverse or make a turn to the side because no matter where I look, 360 degrees all around, I don’t see any way out.

A person can remain in this state for years! It continues until he finally begins to understand that the group is the only means, the source from which he can receive the force to “endure” spirituality. And when he receives this force from the group to tolerate bestowal, as well as the understanding that it’s important to go out to attack and conquer this spiritual state, then he begins to advance.

From here it becomes clear that only the connection with the environment opens up the opportunity for us to take a step forward. It’s similar to a seed in the soil that has to absorb all the salts and minerals from the soil in order to grow. The growth of the soul in this person later on will take place under the influence of the forces he received from the environment.

By himself, he has only a Reshimo (spiritual gene). He lived like a “donkey,” existing on the animate level, and then he attained the “neutral” state (like idle mode) where he did not want to keep advancing anymore. This means that his material, animate Kli has exhausted itself like a grain that decomposed in the soil, and from then on there was nothing more he could do.

That is when it becomes clear whether or not he had a point in the heart because now it becomes the only point that separated from the entire egoistic desire! Now it remains alone and a person does not want to advance forward with it. However, if he now attaches to this point the desires and impressions from the environment, the inspiration from the greatness of the goal, then he will be able to advance with that point. There is no other means.

That is why our entire soul is outside of us; it is in all the forces, thoughts, and values that we receive from the environment. All that remains of us is a tiny point, the only thing we have. This point is the means of connecting between our “donkey” (egoistic matter, desire) and the human in us. It is called “the point in the heart,” the drop of the spiritual seed.

Just like there are intermediate, transitional levels between all the levels: corals between the still and vegetative, the mythological “Kelev Sadeh” which is half plant and half animal, and the monkey between the animate and human degrees, so the point in the heart is the means or trampoline for jumping upwards, from man to the Creator!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice and Principles for the Week

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Question: How can we build a model of the global, integral world inside of us?

Answer: Imagine yourself connected with the group. Thanks to that you will be able to form a small, compact Kli inside of you that is global, integral, and unified.

Then you will understand what the real world is. It isn’t seven billion miserable people who don’t know where to perch themselves, but their interconnection. You will discover that you clearly distinguish all parts of the world through your small Kli, like through glasses. You can measure the distances between them, compare their colors, and recognize faces….

How did this happen? It’s because your Kli, your instrument, is inside in front of your mind’s eye, but through it you see deep into the entire world. You build this small Kli into yourself, which is the group that you are connected with, and this is enough to see the true world and its inner interconnection.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/11

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All our work is not aimed at correcting our natural qualities and making the world a more comfortable place to live. All the evil unfolding within us must surface as quickly as possible to show us our true colors.

In others words, our task is to speed up our development, to transition more quickly “from one movie frame to the next,” from picture to picture. I have to work so that my inner states will change as fast as they can, that my thoughts and desires, mind and heart, will get renewed quickly, and I will transition to an increasingly more advanced, true state.

It all depends on how hard I push myself toward greater development of my receptivity, thereby nearing my perception of the Light. The chain of these changes is already written in the program I carry within, and I can only expedite them. Therein lies my only free will and the means to express myself, my acceptance of the final state, adhesion with the Creator, which I wish to reach.

Therefore, we need to receive additional forces from the environment and push ourselves toward inner development, toward awareness of evil. We have to realize that all these states unfolding within us are given to assess what we lack in order to reach adhesion. I regard these flaws as evil.

The force of advancement, acceleration, comes only from the environment, as it is written: “Envy, lust, and ambition bring a person out of this world.” After all, I don’t wish for these changes to occur; they are against my nature. I don’t want to change toward bestowal, but because the environment stimulates me and convinces me that it is very important and is worth doing, I dive into a state that I would never have chosen on my own.

The environment gives me the strength to resist my nature, and hence I am able to bear such changes toward bestowal and am willing to nullify myself, sacrificing my egoism. The desire to reach bestowal that the environment infuses in me is stronger than my natural instinct to seek self-gratification.

Thereby, I expedite my development and advance. Since I dig out all my evil methodically, it immediately turns into good, as it is said: “Just look at them, and they will crumble to dust.” Everything depends on our perception of the negative properties that become revealed to us.

If we perceive all evil in the world as our own flaws of perception, we can understand what needs to be corrected in order to unify both worlds into one. To do so, we need to keep our environment awake as much as we can so that with its help, we may reach a corrected state where we will no longer see any evil in the world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/2011 on Evil

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There is a rule: “For social life, take after the collective, in spiritual life, take after the individual.” For example, I enter a group. Does this group represent the majority for me? Do I have to listen to my friends? I see three hundred men before me—this is a force.

If they demand something from me on the corporeal level, that’s one thing, but what if they are dictating their terms on the spiritual level? Do they understand more than I do? Are they, taken together, smarter than I am? How should I behave in regard to them? Do I have the right to influence the group? After all, if they are the majority, then I have to lower my head and accept their opinion.

On the other hand, we are talking about spiritual life and therefore, one must follow an individual as opposed to the majority. Am I that individual?

These aren’t simple questions and they are relevant to every group. In the corporeal sense, everything is pretty clear when it comes to the majority. However, even there we see many movements, parties, governments, and mafia. There is no common opinion in the world.

It’s actually quite simple for us. I establish a separation between the spiritual and the corporeal life, and then my corporeal existence is narrowed down to the vital necessities. I should be content with that.

I ensure a normal life for myself: home, work, family, bank, social security, health insurance, vacation, pension, and so on. This is where I follow the majority and do what’s considered the norm. Here my obligations toward society end. In our world I’m set. This is how I realize the concept of “follow the majority,” which refers to obligatory social conditions.

Besides this, all of my attention and strength are directed at my spiritual development. In my spiritual life, I work with the group. Rabash writes that one must lower himself completely before the group. I lower myself before a spiritual society as I do with the majority.

Where is my freedom then? After all, I have to follow my own opinion when it comes to spirituality.

In reality that’s exactly what I do because I determine the degree of my connection to the group. No one is taking this freedom away from me. This is the meaning of the law of “follow the individual.” Each one of us is an individual and decides freely to be a part of the  group. There are no laws obliging us to do this and no external pressure. We apply the same principal in our dissemination of Kabbalah: Whoever wants it takes it, and who ever doesn’t is free to say no.

And so your freedom consists of you lowering yourself before the society without there being any pressure to do so. In the corporeal world, the society obligates you, but in the spiritual one, no one does, including the Creator. You must mature and come to this decision on your own.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: I cannot aspire to bestowal since I don’t have the slightest idea what it is. What is bestowal?

Answer: Any spiritual property such as bestowal and love is revealed from the state opposite to it since we don’t know what it is. Actually, if I knew what bestowal is, I would already possess this property.

But I do not possess it. So how can I acquire it? I can do it only by performing mechanical actions: I influence the group, while the group acts upon me. And all these actions have no relation to spirituality, which is the reason we perceive ourselves as presently living in this world.

It is an imaginary reality that contains some desires and even corporeal bodies in it, meaning that they are not, in fact, desires, but rather something that doesn’t possess free will. The spiritual world, however, is full of desires, aspirations, and forces, such as love, hate, and lust, which are manifestations of man’s will. And without this manifestation of will, there isn’t a world; it doesn’t exit.

It is similar to a laser image: I turn on the laser, and the picture appears in the air. If I don’t turn it on, there won’t be one. This is how we perceive the spiritual world as well. As to the material world, it exists even without my expression of will. In this reality, I pass through life cycles, and it transforms me without my being aware of it; it asks for no participation on my part.

Therefore, this reality seems to me so “material.” All changes in it occur without my conscious participation, my strive for bestowal; they simply unfold naturally under the impact of the upper force that pushes everything to evolve.

But when in this corporeal world I reach a state when I want to take an active part in my development, the question about the meaning of life arises in me. And from this moment on, I start seeking the answer.

Yet, it is all so that I start activating the spiritual reality. At the instant I become ready for it, I will discover the part of reality that was activated by me. It is what you can regard as your first spiritual degree.

Hence, all our actions must begin with corporeality, with the idea that I force myself to influence the environment and the environment influences me in all possible forms by using all available forces and capacities, as it is written: “All that you can do, do!”, meaning grab any opportunity, no matter what it may be.

After all, if you perform all these actions in the material form, that is, without the correct conscious participation, you still awaken this reality. This is the way it is built.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/11 on Prayer

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