“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Donkey Driver,” Item 88: They said to him, “But you have not told us your name, and where is your dwelling place?”

He replied to them, “My dwelling place is good and of great value to me. It is a tower floating in the air, great and honorable. And those who dwell in that tower are the Creator and one poor man. This is my dwelling place."

It is a problem when during the reading of The Zohar we begin to enjoy the narration because the pleasure muffles our inner search.

Question: But what do I need to look for here?

Answer: Let us say that I am taking a walk with my friend, and we receive pleasure from it on the spot. We are walking and enjoying every step of the way: The birds are singing, the grass is green, there is a nice breeze, the sun is shining. This is called a stroll because we enjoy the actual walk.

But there is another way to walk. We walk covered in sweat, it’s hard for us, and we curse the entire journey. But why do we continue walking? It’s because we want to reach the goal, and it is impossible to make it there in a nice and pleasant way. The path is so unpleasant that we would gladly give it up if we were able to reach the goal in one jump.

Basically, there are different ways to treat the journey: as a walk or as a means to reach the goal. The walk is not a means; it is a goal in its own, which we immediately attain. Now you need to decide for yourself the process that you are in: Are you even moving? Are you taking a walk? Or are you walking towards the goal?

If you read The Zohar and enjoy the actual reading, you are taking a walk. You feel good and you are not thinking about the distant goal. “What a beautiful narration! I am enjoying every word!” This is a walk.

You lack the intention, the inner search, the aspiration of unity with friends. You will see it as soon as you think about connecting. And then this will no longer be a walk, but a journey toward the goal.
[32504]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Donkey Driver”

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Question: How do I turn to the group internally?

Answer: Turning to the group is a search: In what way can I picture the whole of reality as existing inside of me, and not outside? Perception of reality is not a brain-twister with which you can interest and confuse others. We are talking about a state which we must reach in practice. I have to reveal that all the things that are seemingly outside of me are my internal parts.

For example, the Torah describes all kinds of different occasions from the lives of various characters, which have occurred in different places. It’s a real theater. I must apply all of this onto my desires, onto the details of my perception. There is no external world, so where is it inside of me? In which parts of me do these characters live and are these actions performed?

This approach builds the right relationship toward my own Kli (vessel), to the actions which the Creator performs within me, and to the states which I need to go through. That is why I must try to find the “external” images within me every waking moment.

I live inside my soul, and all of the "external" images are its parts: forces, actions, and elements of perception. Nothing else exists. Everything is in this Kli. This is the way I try to picture the entire reality.

So, who is setting all of this up for me? Who separates, deletes, draws closer, and connects all of the parts of my desires: the “men” and “women,” “animals” and “vegetation,” and so on? This is when I perceive Keter which builds the still, vegetative, animate, and human degrees within me: Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut.

I live inside of my soul, besides (outside of) which there is nothing. That is why first of all, I need to see the group as my integral part. This is what turning to the group internally is.
[31248]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/10, “What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World was in Donation”

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Initially, I have a mere material desire for “self-gratification” and a point in the heart, a seed of the property of bestowal, that yearns for the upper world. I raise this point above desire by increasing its importance relative to corporeal desires and then turn with it to the environment: the group, the Kabbalistic texts, and the teacher.

In response, I receive an increased and refined desire from them. It is increased in terms of its might and modified in the sense that I acquire the importance of the goal (to achieve the property of bestowal) and realize my inability to reach it on my own.

With this desire, I turn “upward,” raise MAN (a plea for correction). As a result, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif, OM) descends from “Above” and reforms me, brings me back to the property of bestowal.

The following are the mandatory stages:

1. Appeal to the group;
2. Receive a spiritual aspiration from it;
3. Appeal to the Creator;
4. Receive correction.

Consequently, there emerges a Kli, a vessel of bestowal, the sum of all factors.

Question: How do I know that my aspiration came from the group?

Answer: You examine the degree to which you wish to unite with the friends, but are unable to do so. If you have put a great deal of quality effort into this need, you raise MAN with it. In other words, the sum of your desires aimed at unification creates a plea for help.

Question: What are the signs that I’m appealing to the group correctly?

Answer: If I do it correctly, I see how unified the friends are and how separated I am from them, how small I am and how great they are, how magnificent the purpose of creation is that they are seeking and to what extent I am unable to appreciate it. To me, the group is an ideal, a criterion by which I measure my flaws. I can’t take these flaws anywhere else except to appeal to the Creator.

When I address the group correctly, I discover such flaws in myself, such a lack, such unfulfilled desires that they immediately evoke the Light that Reforms. This Light doesn’t come from another galaxy; it lives in me, in my heart. I only need a deeper desire to experience it.

Note: The term “group” implies not corporeal faces and characteristics, but rather a network of the friends’ “points in the heart” connected into one system.
[31251]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/10, “What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World was in Donation”

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Question: If we advance only by virtue of the environment, then when will our choice come from our own altruistic intention, Lishma?

Answer: We have to attain perfection, and it contains two parameters:

1. On one hand, I am independent and equal to the Creator in every way,
2. On the other hand, I am similar to Him in every way.
In that case, I am independent and perfect.

It turns out that independence and perfection have to unite and bring me to the final state. But how can independence and equivalence exist together? How can I reach perfection by elevating both of these qualities, which are opposite to each other?

To enable this, the Creator had to add a third factor to the two already existing ones (Him and me). This third factor will be the place of our meeting, the place of revelation. It is where I will reveal my independent self and the Creator opposite from me.

It is necessary to create a “territory” where we will be able to be partners, opposite but equal and united. This territory is called the sum of the souls, the Shechina, Malchut. After the breaking, we as well as the Creator are outside of the boundaries of the sum of the souls, and now we must meet there. We do this to the degree we are able to participate in this process and reveal one another.

That is why creation was broken. It broke into many disparate parts, which are the degree of creation’s independence, meaning its separation and detachment from the Creator.

We have to use this situation, which is why Baal HaSulam writes that we have to keep every person’s uniqueness. After all, it will never be duplicated in anyone else. Every person must be independent and special.

But on the other hand, we must give every person the opportunity and help him reach equivalence of form with the Creator. By means of one’s uniqueness, by having an inimitable combination of qualities and desires, a person develops them in order to direct them toward bestowal. That is how he reaches equivalence with the Creator.

This similarity is actualized by way of uniting with others. Why isn’t it done through uniting with the Creator? It is in order to preserve independence. When working before the Creator, a person nullifies himself, whereas in relation to the group, he can play the decisive role, similar to the Creator.

The place of our meeting is the territory of the group, which was artificially created and divided into parts. We come there in the middle line and unite. There we actualize the Zivug of HaVaYaH and Elokim, the unity of judgment and mercy.

However, if a person does not think about these three elements: him and the Creator, uniting in the group, then he incorrectly imagines the realization of the goal of creation which awaits him.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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Love for the Creator is like love for the most unattractive woman in the world because I love the very property of bestowal which is enclosed in Him. This is not because it brings pleasure to my desire to enjoy, but because this property is above my egoistic properties, and I respect and value it more than anything else.

Relative to what else can I measure absolute, unconditional love? In our world, we love something that gives us pleasure. However, this is not love. We love the pleasure, but not the one who gives it to us. Although I connect this pleasure with you and as long as you keep bringing me treats, I love you, all my love will end as soon as you stop doing that. This means you were not the one whom I loved.

Independent love can appear only in opposition to something. Therefore, the entire universe is built on this principle: There is pleasure from which we have to disconnect and above which we have to build our attitude to the One who gives this pleasure.

For this purpose, the point in the heart is given to us. It is opposite to egoistic desire. We have to grow it with the help of a group, meaning with the same points in the heart. Then, the Light corrects our point, and we begin to sense love through it in opposition to the hatred which we feel in our desire.

However, in the middle between them, there should be a dividing line: detachment from the desire to receive pleasure and the ascent above it. This means that you cling to the Creator; you identify yourself with Him, rather than with your ego. You build from the matter of desire something different, sublime, and opposite.
[31282]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/10, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: How can we calibrate our attitude so as to aim it towards the goal?

Answer: You have to do it according to the principle, “Israel, Torah, and the Creator are one.” “The Creator” is the root to which we strive. The “Torah” is all of the means that help us along the way, including the teacher, books, group, and study. And “Israel” is the point in the heart, the initial spiritual desire.

Question: In order for me to solve this equation, what needs to be concealed and what needs to be revealed to me?

Answer: You need to imagine the corrected state where we are all connected and every person perceives the whole instead of himself. It is written: “The general and the particular are equal.”

The common force of love and bestowal reigns inside our oneness and fills everyone in equal measure. This force is called “the Creator” or “Nature.” This is what you have to see as the final goal. At the end we must arrive at this image.

This is why we are working on discerning the notion of "the group." The group is essentially the same system in which we awaken the same force. That force is already present inside the system; we just don’t perceive it yet. We must reveal this force which fills the group, strengthens it, manifests in it, and corrects it. This is the force called “the Creator” or the concealed Light that hides in our unity.

When we strive to grow in our world, we essentially reveal the same force. This is because we have the same direction, although on a corporeal level. “The Creator” is the common force that unites all the parts of creation.

Question: Still, there are too many unknowns in this equation.…

Answer: You have to keep searching and trying, over and over again. That is how you will awaken new sensations. There is no other possibility for doing it.
[32484]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How does the revelation of truth relate to the revelation of the interconnected system of souls?

Answer: It is one and the same. Mutual connection is the truth. The network of our ties is called “the vessel” (Kli). The Creator imprinted Himself on the matter of the will to enjoy and placed His stamp onto its entire thickness. Now, inside me, there is a hollow space with a carved image.

This image is comprised of the connections between desires that the Creator fills in if they are corrected. In this case, their network becomes Him. The integral network of these points is called “Malchut of the world of Infinity.”

Gradually, the Creator conceals Himself and abandons the system of souls, which triggers the descent of the worlds. As He is disappearing, the souls feel more and more opposite to each other, transitioning to the reverse side (Sitra Achra) where the connection is corrupted, depleted, and takes on an egoistic nature. As a result, we find ourselves in the corporeal world, and instead of mutual connection, instead of the Creator who fills us, we experience void and detachment from each other.

In truth, I constantly feel the Creator. After all, there is nothing else for me to feel since there are only He and I. However, in the present reality, I perceive Him according to my current egoistic state of existence.

The purpose of the process is to find the truth, the authentic state, after having stripped ourselves of all the covers. Finding the connection between us anew, at some point, I will see that it ties not the people, but the souls or desires. It is in the nature of this connection, its essence, and might that the Creator is revealed to us. There is no other reality but integral, mutual connection. It permeates everything, and we are made so that we can feel nothing but it. We are inside it.
[25763]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/3/2010, “The Creator and Israel Went Into Exile”

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The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 332: It is a Mitzva [commandment] to build the Temple below like the Temple above, as it is written, “The place that You have made for Your dwelling, O Lord.” This is so because the Temple must be built below, and to pray a prayer within it everyday, to serve the Creator, since prayer is called “Work” [service].

The Temple below means Malchut where we have to create a corrected desire (Kli – vessel). A prayer means to raise an appeal (MAN) for correction.

The connection of the lower one with the upper one was due to Malchut’s ascent to Bina, and then Bina’s descent into Malchut. As a result, there are two Temples: Malchut and Bina below are the Temple below, while Malchut and Bina above are the Temple Above.

“The Temple must be built below, and to pray a prayer within it everyday” means to connect Bina and Malchut together when we try to create such a state in the group, in our desires. After all, where else can I express my attitude toward bestowal? It is possible only in connection between us.

Then, when I realize that I am totally unable to do anything, I raise my prayer, and for that reason, the Temple Above is being built. We need to do this “everyday,” that is, in the states of ascent when we have some strength, we have to try to perform this work with all our energy.
[25785]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/3/2010, The Zohar

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Our entire work comes down to a very thin line. We must advance only along this line since otherwise the smallest deviation will eventually lead us very far away from the goal.

This line is described by the formula, “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” The goal, meaning the Creator, must be our aim initially, from the first step. But what is the Creator as a goal?

This is pleasure from bestowing to Him. The more energy and efforts we have to make in order to please our beloved, the more we enjoy it. Pleasure from bestowal is evaluated by the efforts that you made in order to acquire the necessary pleasure and pass it on to your beloved.

This goal is called “bread of mercy” or “perfect faith.” In relation to it, we can asses the “Egyptians” in us and “Israel” in us. We discern our desire to reveal the Creator more and more accurately in order to give Him pleasure and to enjoy from that. That means we must acquire love for Him because without love it is impossible to enjoy giving to someone.

Therefore, I must discern the goal from the beginning, as well as its reason and the means to realize it according to the vessels and the Lights. How can I make it come true already now without making a mistake? What device can help me to aim?

What weapon should I use to shoot my bullet so it will precisely hit the goal, which I do not see? What kind of barrel does this cannon have? And what is the bullet like? Who am I, and what desire do I use to actualize this?

Thus, in the current state we necessarily end up with a certain device that can serve us as an exercise machine, an experimental stand, a set-up we can use to conduct full blown experiments. We won’t just be practicing to aim, but will know for sure that our efforts do reach the goal, even though it is inaccessible to our eyes.

This device is the group. A person places the final goal into the initial plan and relates to the friends, the group, and work in it as to the Creator. Placing the group in the Creator’s place, he calibrates himself on it, puts efforts into it, and has it before his eyes.

Then he can be sure that behind this set-up, behind this “firearm,” there is the goal, the Creator. This tendency, the intention, the attitude to the goal is what brings a person’s work to the Creator.

Therefore, we have all the opportunities for building a small or great human society so that by uniting through love for the neighbor as for ourselves, we will acquire love for the Creator.
[32491]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What is goal-oriented pleasure?

Answer: Goal-oriented pleasure is pleasure from bestowal, and the only way it is possible to enjoy bestowal is when you love the person you are giving to.

So how can I achieve love? By virtue of correction, by replacing hatred with love. Who or what makes this correction happen? The Upper Light.

When does it happen? When I ask for it. So when will I ask for it? When the group obligates me to do so.

When will it obligate me to do so? When I lower myself before the group and in it find the force that obligates me.

So when will I finally lower myself before the group? It will happen when we work on this together with the friends.

And that is where we stumble….
[32502]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/11, The Zohar

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