Question: What is constant faith?

Answer: Faith is a force which I receive from the Creator. It illuminates me, keeping me above my desires, my nature, like a magnet that holds a piece of metal in the air, against gravity.

There are two forces: the force of gravity (the will to receive pleasure) and the force of bestowal (the power of faith, a magnet) that draws a “piece of metal” up. These two forces oppose each other. If the force of faith that the Creator radiates to me holds me up, above my desire to feel pleasure, I am “righteous.” If the Creator lets me go, I immediately fall into egoism, and then I am “wicked.”

What does constant faith mean? I reach the state when my connection with the group supplies constant aspiration toward bestowal, as if I make a covenant with the group about our mutual support, and the Creator becomes a witness to this by promising to always illuminate us, holding us in bestowal above the will to receive (faith above reason).
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From the Lesson on Rabash’s Article, 9/17/10

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Question: Why do I need a group and unification?

Answer: The Creator cannot be felt other than inside the desire He created which becomes similar to Him in spite of its initial quality. What we call the Creator is not Him (Atzmuto – His essence), but our perception of Him through our similarity to Him.

Question cont.: How do I know that my perception of Him and He are the same thing?

Answer: We can feel only 1) matter and 2) the form of matter, but not 3) form outside of matter and 4) essence. Therefore, we can only talk about what is clothed in us and felt by us according to the principle, “I will know You from Your actions [upon me].”
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Spiritual Simulator: Questions of the Day

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Sometimes the language of The Zohar appears to be very odd, but in fact the story behind it is extremely simple. There is my “neighbor” and “myself.” There is a distance between us that is divided into five parts. The most remote part is felt as “this world.” If I connect with my neighbor completely and attain total unity with him, I will sense the “World of Infinity.”

My drawing closer to my neighbor occurs in five steps: I ascend into the worlds of Assiya, then Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, and Adam Kadmon. Five worlds with 25 steps in each make up 125 steps of us drawing closer together. Before starting this process, while I am still in this world, I have to fully realize that I am separated from my neighbor (the realization of evil).

I perceive myself and the world around me in the connection between me and my "neighbor." The Zohar speaks exclusively about what is happening between us: The still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature described in The Zohar, in fact, represent my desires of the still vegetative, animate, and speaking levels in relation to my neighbor (other souls).

The entire Torah speaks only about the ways of building the connection between me and my “neighbor.” It is what is called the “method of correction.”

The Torah is the Light concealed in the text, and I can derive it to the measure that I desire to unite with the other. The moment I connect with the other, I reveal the Upper World within this connection and exist in spirituality to the extent of this connection.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, The Zohar

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In reality, all the worlds exist within one’s “neighbor.” The “neighbor” (or the group) is Malchut of Infinity. I exist outside of her.

At first, the earthly will to receive develops within me throughout multiple generations. Then, in our time (in the present reincarnation of the soul), a “point,” a spiritual desire, starts evolving within me. When I make attempts to become closer to the group, I begin to feel my nature as egoism and evil; that is, I become aware of my evil inclination.

When I study Kabbalah in the group, then to the extent that I realize my egoism as evil, I demand correction by the Light that Reforms that makes me similar to the Creator. All of this happens while I’m still not connected with the other (“neighbor”).

When I come to the decision that I am obliged to reach the connection with the other, it’s as if I come in contact with the group from the outside. Then I begin to connect with the group with the help of the Light that Reforms (Ohr Makif, the Surrounding Light), which shines upon me from inside, from the center of Malchut of Infinity.

All these stages of my connecting with the group and the measure of connection between us are the 125 spiritual degrees or the five worlds: Assiya (A), Yetzira (Y), Beria (B), Atzilut (A), and Adam Kadmon (AK). When my connection with the "other" is truly close and unbreakable by my being in the "center" of this "other" and completely merging with him, this state is called the “World of Infinity.”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, The Zohar

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If I don’t have support from my friends in the group, then I cannot advance spiritually. At the very least I must have passive support from the group to the extent every person is able to provide it.

That’s why the great Kabbalist Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma was able to be in a small group of students who, like babies, aspired to him, and this was sufficient for him to advance. If he aspired according to his level, and they aspired according to their level, this was enough for him to attract the Light of Infinity through them.

The Light is at absolute rest. It is the same everywhere and everything depends on the person using it. Therefore, there is no difference between a small group of beginners and a large group of advanced students. Everything depends on a person and how much he really aspires to the mutual guarantee. To the degree he puts efforts into the group, he receives what he needs from the Upper Light. Therefore, he advances and helps others to advance as well.
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From the Lesson on 9/17/10, "Mutual Guarantee"

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Question: Is it possible that some of the friends in the group disrupt each others’ work by saying that we lack unity now and that there are elements that prevent us from it? Could it be true, or is this person’s perception distorted? How long should it take for the accumulative system to operate before our unity is revealed?

Answer: It depends on those who have made efforts to reach this state. It is not the question of how long it takes. It can be done relatively quickly, through intense effort, or the process can be stretched by way of little effort. Ultimately, a certain level of desire (shared with other friends) must surface in a person, and this desire should be "willing" to "unplug itself" from each of them and become common for all of them. And in this collective whole, (called “one,” “united,” or “a point,"  "a drop of unity”) the Creator will be revealed.

This unification shouldn’t occur under some extreme circumstances, but in a normal setting.
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From talks with Vladek Zankovskiy

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Baal HaSulam says that only by uniting in the group is it possible to unite with the Light. Otherwise, the Light does not "perceive" us since we need to become similar to it. And when we unite together, we are like a plug that enters an outlet due to the exact opposite equivalence of form. The Light can already influence us in all the empty spaces within us and correct them by making them similar to it according to our desire during the studies.

In order to organize the right form of studying the articles of Baal HaSulam, his elder son, Rabash, created a method of connection to the writings of his father. If we use it, we can be sure that we will realize everything correctly.

We shouldn’t forget that all the Kabbalists talk about the need for a group in which we implement this method and make ourselves similar to the Light. A person is unable to do this alone. Even if one exists at a great spiritual height, he will be unable to rise further or even remain at the degree that he achieved without unification. Even if he has already reached the 124th degree, he will be unable to rise to the final, 125th degree if he works alone.

Remember the story of Rabbi Yosi Ben Kisma who said that if he were to leave his students, he would be unable to advance and would lose the level that he already possessed. The fact that they were small and he was their teacher was irrelevant; what was important is that they were together.

If there is unification, there is equivalence to the Light. Without unification, there is no equivalence. This is a completely mandatory condition.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Lesson for Commemoration of Baal HaSulam’s Passing Day

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Those who are called “Isra-El” (striving to the Creator) advance by their own individual work and separately from the rest of humanity. This is on account of the Reshimot that have awakened within them and the Creator wishing to bring them closer to Himself.

They enter a special process called the revelation of the soul (the Creator or spirituality which is one and the same). Step by step, they have to gradually uncover the continuous process that every person needs to go through in accordance with the speed with which their Reshimot are realized.

We can only accelerate this process, not change it. We can hasten our development if, by using all the means possible, we process our states faster and more correctly. We do not change the states themselves or the order in which they come. Our only freedom is to make use of the study and the connection between us in order to enhance our awareness and sensitivity so as to understand these states faster and justify them.

By being prepared for these states, we make them pass at a faster rate and thereby build a different attitude toward them. Then, we perceive every state positively and with understanding. Other than our attitude to what’s happening to us, we are absolutely powerless to change or influence anything.

Our attitude to all the states that we perceive and undergo (which, obviously, come from the Creator) constitutes our intention. The intention is my attitude to my sensations and to their Source for “there is none else beside Him.”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, “What is the Matter of Sufferings in the Work”

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We do not change anything on our spiritual path; states pass like they should, and all evil must be revealed. We have to feel all 613 (Taryag) of our desires in the form of mistakes (Shgagot) and unfavorable transgressions (Zdonot). It is written, “One cannot perform a commandment without breaking it first,” and “There is no righteous man who does good without having sinned.”

We have go through the feeling of Hell in all of its manifestations. The question is how do we enter these sensations, with what preparation? If we prepare ourselves with a mutual guarantee, the right intentions, and the support of friends (Kli) and the Light which we reveal in our connection, then we can pass the most difficult descents quickly and easily, coming into contact with them for only a moment.

Such a brief “encounter with the devil” is enough for a person to take the breaking from there and raise it to correction. However, we have to correct all the breakings in all 613 desires.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, “What is the Matter of Sufferings in the Work”

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