Question: Why is spiritual work also called a “yoke” or “burden”?

Answer: It’s because a person has to accept it by faith above reason. Every time he is about to become corrected, he is inside an egoistic desire. Therefore, when taking this work upon himself, which is aimed at the intention for the sake of bestowal, he does not see any benefit in it and perceives it as a burden.

My correction cannot be based on profit. If something is profitable for me, then I am acting egoistically. And on the contrary, if I accept the quality of Bina into my desire for pleasure, with Bina being above Malchut, then Bina becomes a “yoke” for me—something that lies above reason, feeling, and all calculation.

How can I achieve this? I tune into the environment and it influences me, showing me that it’s worthwhile to do this. This way, there is a benefit, after all, but it is of a different sort: It is evoked by the environment instead of coming from my own considerations. Then, while being under the social influence, I receive the realization of the goal’s importance from it.

Without this importance I would not be able to work, but it is built on preferring bestowal over reception. I would not be able to do this by myself. Only the environment can obligate me and change my values so much that I will nevertheless desire this.

That’s what it means to accept “the yoke of heaven.” This is impossible to do without an environment that builds the appropriate value system inside of me. In addition, I work above reason, above the rational approach, above logic.

It would seem: Why should I bestow? What will this give me? I cannot explain to my egoistic desire that bestowal is worth a thing. How will I feel better? Fine, if I would see at least some kind of potential benefit, then I would agree to it, but here we are talking about a real “burden,” where I have no justification for this work in any way. However, the group helps me to realize its importance and then I nevertheless work.

Without this importance I would not be able to work. I would not be able to devote even a tiny bit of attention to bestowal. That is why the group as a means is as important to me as the goal.
[35822]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What does “the yoke of the heavenly kingdom” mean in the spiritual work?

Answer: It means that I take the “heavens,” Bina, the quality of bestowal upon myself so it will rule over Malchut, the quality of reception. Malchut is broken. It shattered into billions of parts, and my work lies in taking one part after another and attaching it to the others.

It can be stated differently: I am a part of Malchut and I have to attach all the other parts of it to myself. How do we do this? For now we connect these parts in our small group, which are the parts we have to correct according to the program of the spiritual work. For now I have to be with the friends as one man with one heart in this way in order to correct the breaking in a small segment of Malchut, in the group, in my environment.

Then I have to bestow to the world, meaning to all the other parts of Malchut, so they would also unite with the group. That is how I correct all of Malchut.

In essence, I have to correct the world, telling myself that all of it was created for me. That is how I incline myself and the whole world to justification. By correcting my part, I “inject” my ascent, my awakening, my Light into all the broken, disconnected souls. Then they also awaken and each of them in turn aspires to unity with others.

So it turns out that a person brings spiritual life to everyone, becoming “righteous’ or “the foundation of the world.” After all, he gives everyone the force of the Light.
[35825]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/11, Writings of Rabash

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It is written that “envy, lust, and ambition” lead a person out of this world, which means that we have to use these qualities in order to exit into the spiritual world. But the problem is that a person scatters himself in every direction and reaches for all the desires in the corporeal world.

If one employed all his strength to become a human, rise to the spiritual level, the human degree, he would succeed. But instead, he is chasing after money, fame, and power, and he lacks envy for spiritual properties that would allow him to become a human.

We need to analyze ourselves and connect to the environment which will mold us so that we focus on the most important desire of all: to become a human and fulfill the desires for power, money, and fame only as much as it is vitally necessary. All these properties must only sustain our aspiration to the right kind of envy: to envy the Creator and wish to be like Him! And if I fall and start envying somebody’s wealth, power, or honor, I will clearly not be tuned upward, to the goal.

But how can I envy the Creator if I don’t see or feel Him? This is why we are given the group: to instill the importance of spiritual qualities in us. You will never know who the Creator is until you reach His degree. And besides, His properties are opposite to yours and reject you. Hence, at this point, only the right environment where you can work can help. Only it can change your system of values.

But the problem is that even after a person completes his or her preliminary development at the still, vegetative, and animate degrees and arrives to Kabbalah, to the beginning of the human degree and free will, he may suddenly sway off the path and wander about in other directions for a few, long years, in search of wealth, power, and honor. And by the time he returns, his life is practically over….
[35622]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Man is naturally able to take only his own egoistic desire into consideration. Wherever it might throw him in, whatever it may give value to in his eyes, he considers only what is important to his ego. This is how a person evolves.

Advancement by the orders of the will to receive is conducted on the scale of “bitter or sweet.” Without being aware of it, a person always turns in the direction of unfolding egoism. He carries out internal orders of egoism unconsciously, having no idea where they come from. This is how we live our lives, without free will, obeying internal urges of our egoistic Reshimot (informational genes).

If a person is presented with an opportunity to establish connection with the Creator and undertake another type of analysis, on the scale of “true or false,” then in order to carry it out, he must immediately arrange support for this analysis for himself.

Support is the environment. Without it, a person will remain in “bitter or sweet” experiences forever and will surely continue to choose sweet over bitter, in various forms, according to the degree of the development of his egoism. And he will always have an illusion of advancement, although in reality, time after time, he just chooses a more refined sweet.

If a person really wants to grow toward independence, he can do so only if he counters the “bitter or sweet” sensations with the “true or false” analysis. This analysis has to be done according to the external criteria that lie outside of his egoism, which only the environment can provide.

In this case, it’s all in the hands of luck: Does a person hear what independence that he has a chance to form and implement involves? If he does, at least to a small degree, he nullifies himself before the teacher, Kabbalistic books, and the group (the environment).

He puts this in front of him, and then realizes that his advancement depends solely on the awareness of the importance of how high he elevates his view of the importance of this environment compared with the sweetness of egoistic desires.

This is the nature of our work. Is a person able to employ the power of our studies, prayer, and analysis in full and accept the view of the right environment? After all, it isn’t something external, not just the faces of the friends. He forms an internal image of the environment and is willing to lower his head before them. And then, by virtue of the environment, a person receives an awareness of the Creator’s greatness.

Initially, there are only two: a person and the Creator. And now, he starts actualizing this principle. If the environment (the means) is as important to him as much as the goal (the Creator) is, he starts working with this tool correctly.

A person’s job is to value the environment as highly as he values the Creator. And this requires constant work. If a person values the environment because it brings him to attainment of the Creator, then to that degree he advances.

Consequently, one can test himself in practice: What motivates him each moment? Is it internal urges, such as “bitter or sweet” sensations or values absorbed from the environment, such as “true or false”? And “truth” is the greatness of the Creator. That is what a person works for: the integral force of love and bestowal, which he wants to connect to until the point of total adhesion.

Therefore, the opinion of the environment has to be firm and consistent so that it may obligate each friend to remember about the goal (attainment of the greatness of the Creator) and about the means (attainment of the greatness of the group. If the environment thinks about it and places this analysis as mandatory before all of the friends every moment, thereby, it provides great support to everyone.

Here begins the mutual guarantee, and a person receives a chance to come to the revelation of the Creator.
[35286]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/2011, Writings of Rabash

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

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Question: Where does a person get the energy to do inner work while he isn’t corrected yet?

Answer: Even the smallest possible step made in desire, thought, or action is possible only by virtue of the importance of the goal. Only the importance of the goal gives us energy.

There is no other “energy source” that’s able to motivate us to make even the smallest movement in action, thought, or desire. Only the importance does it. There is nothing besides it.

Initially I have the importance of the egoistic desire, and I must continually acquire greater importance of the spiritual goal, the Creator, making Him higher in my eyes. The only way to work on this is by means of the environment. Who’s more important—me or the Creator? The environment is built in a way that if I desire it, it will help me place the Creator above myself.

Why is that? It’s because the environment is able to oblige me to do things I would never want on my own. Since I have received a point in the heart, the environment can do everything else, as long as I contribute my share.

Therefore, our entire work amounts to just this: Who’s more important? Me or Him? I must always check this and turn to the group in order to elevate the Creator, meaning the quality of bestowal and love, above myself, meaning above the quality of reception and repulsion from others. If I work correctly, then the environment is able to gradually provide me with the fuel for advancement so the important thing would become revealed to me as the Creator, the goal, the efforts, and the attainment of connection and adhesion.

Only the group is able to do this. If a person builds himself correctly, then he always has the fuel and has no problems advancing forward. But it happens only on the condition that he checks himself at every second: Who is more important to him?

We should look at everything in life from this perspective. First of all, arrange your priorities so the important thing is the goal, the Creator, adhesion, and bestowal. Then you can look at anything else—your children, work, family, friends, the world, and anything else. In that case you are on the right track in order to attain the goal through them.
[35580]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You touch upon very high matters when you speak about working with the environment.

Answer: I do not speak about any high matters at all. I speak about immediate realization, about what needs to happen between us. It’s not above us, but on our eye level, on the level of our hearts.

Question: But don’t I work with myself artificially?

Answer: Of course, artificially. We acknowledge and admit our hypocrisy. Yes, we play; we openly “lie.”

For example, right now, my grandson is occupied with a toy garbage truck. He looks for garbage around the house to put it in his truck. Is this a game? If he were able to explain it to you, you would understand that this is life. However, you, grownups, are playing with your toys. He sees it this way; we see it the opposite way. These are two levels, and there is nothing that you can do about it.

So, I know that I am submerged in egoistic desire, that I hate my neighbor, and I only think about myself. Nothing else interests me, and I came to the group to receive even more because I no longer receive satisfaction from any of the things I previously had.

My neighbors are satisfied with their position, and they look at me as if I were mad: “What does he want in life?” However, it is not enough for me, and this is why I am here.

Day after day, I keep discovering hatred of and disdain for everyone. I do not need anyone, and no one matters to me but my darling me. I am aware of all this, but at the same time, I know that rising to a higher degree means to come out from within myself, my desire, my thoughts, toward something completely different. I want to be born anew.

So, I play on my level in my egoism as if I were already on a higher degree. Naturally, all of this is pretend play. It is all a lie, but it is a useful lie. I do not have another possibility to develop, unless I play a game of something I want to attain.

This is what children, plants, and animals do. This is the condition that operates in all of nature. Every element that wants to develop in the consumption and emission of certain matter turns itself into a certain image, a model of whatever it is aspiring to. It must strive toward its future form.

Then, the upper Light comes. When the development is caused by nature, it passes automatically. Plants and animals do not know how they develop, and yet the Light also operates on the still, vegetative, and animate levels.

There is no other force, but we must evoke this Light with our strengths, our comprehension, our analysis, our estimations, our understanding, and our thoroughness. Not only do we need to be present in this creation, we must control it.

This really is a game. It is written that the Creator plays with the leviathan. He actually plays. Any changes that occur when something or someone goes from one degree to another are a game. After all, we evoke them by playing a game of something that we have not yet attained or acquired, something we have not yet turned into. This is a very serious thing.
[35395]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: I make efforts to make a connection with the friends in the group, but I see that they reject my efforts. If all of reality is me, then who rejects whom in reality?

Answer: You’re rejecting yourself. In the words of Baal HaSulam, however you see the group, that is how you see the Creator. That is because besides you, He is the only thing that exists. However, He is concealed and you cannot work in relation to Him. That is why you have been made to see your reflection—the environment. To the degree of your own corruption, you see others around you as corrupted, not united, and not wishing to connect to you.

Obviously, a person himself is expressed through everything. But at the same time, since a person exists inside of the forces of disunity, he has to work with the environment in a sophisticated manner in order to use it as a means to build himself.

That is exactly how I really can work on myself. That is why I have to find the right environment, “form” it correctly, relate to it properly, and from it receive the right influence. This will enable me to advance.
[35486]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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A person starts with the point in the heart, the drop of spiritual semen. He does not have anything else from the upper world.

He is placed in an environment while at the same time, he is separated and distanced from it by the feeling of repulsion and later, hatred. All the possible feelings that come down to the fact that “there is me and the environment” essentially comprise the place of the breaking.

All of the opposition, repulsion, collisions, friction, and disturbances are elicited by the revelation of the distance between the person and others, the revelation of the broken place between him and the environment. By correctly identifying this place, inside of it a person discovers the Creator, the Light that fills his corrected attitude to the neighbor.

This way, my corrupted desire lies between me and the environment. As soon as I correct it, inside of it I reveal the Creator. My “self” is just a point of ascent, the point of aspiration that I received in the midst of my life which is the start of my spiritual count off or spiritual development.

Everything becomes expressed on the condition that I correctly imagine the picture of reality in which I exist. Where is the environment that can support me? After all, I continually reveal a lack of acceptance of others, of the goal, and the Creator. At every moment I have to check myself: Is the upper force, the force of bestowal, the Creator important to me? Does it tower above everything?

Ascent, awakening, and care about making this constant analysis can come only under the influence of the right environment.
[35500]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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