We need to prepare for the convention in November 2010 ahead of time. Both long-time and new students need to think about how to use the strength that we will receive from the preparation for the convention and the convention itself. After all, the real work begins particularly after such meetings when, in response to the force that we receive, we uncover new empty spaces for work.

They are like waves. The preparation for the meeting proceeds on an ascent, and the convention itself is a steep flight upward. However, after the convention we begin to descend. We then need to come out of it into a new and more meaningful ascent than the one we experienced previously. That is, our task is to turn the descent into an ascent.

Therefore, we should start to think about the preparation for the convention, the convention itself, the descent after it, and how we will properly use that descent to begin the preparation for the next meeting. In this manner, this process will continue like breathing in our body: expansion and then compression, expansion and compression, and so on. It is exactly the way all our organs, such as the lungs, the heart, the kidneys, and so on, work. After all, every living organism lives by absorbing and excreting (see Baal HaSulam’s “Contraction and Expansion” [Hitkabtsut ve Hitrachvut]).

Thus, we need to prepare ourselves right now for the few days of the Congress, taking into account this whole process and looking at it as continuous waves, one after another, that are becoming bigger and bigger. This will continue until they sweep over the whole world, and the world will come together to a great meeting: unification.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/10, A Lesson On Current Events

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Any spiritual occurrence in us requires time and development since our egoism is constantly growing in magnitude and quality. Hence, we should think and talk about the emptiness we felt after the recent Mega-Congress.

It is essential to understand why this feeling was given to us! We don’t need to sit and dread our empty existence and lack of strength and desire. This state wasn’t given to us in vain. It is a revelation of new, empty space in us where we have to build the property of Bina. It is a new quality being revealed in us, emerging as a new stage in the four stages of Direct Light.

Spiritual bestowal that used to exist between us has now gone and triggered a new spiritual state. Now we have to discern: What is this new space that emerged within us? We must not let it dissipate; we ought to keep it and start working with it! There isn’t a way to attain bestowal other than to base it on the newly born, empty desire.

An empty space revealed within us and between us is the place where the Creator is revealed (under Zeir Anpin). Now we can fill this space with our intention for bestowal (Hassadim, the property of Bina) and find Him there!

If we fill this empty space with the Light of Hassadim, the Creator will reveal Himself in it like in a photograph dipped into a tub filled with film developer. He is there, in this space; we just need to find Him. If we keep striving to feel Him all together, then we will eventually uncover him. However, we cannot do anything alone. The Creator doesn’t reveal Himself individually, but only through mutual efforts.

We have discovered this empty space together and it belongs to us all even though we may feel that we undergo this state individually. However, it emerged from a collective action, and now we have to work on it together as well. This is what is called “practical Kabbalah.”

These waves that wash over all of us at the same time are a sign of tremendous spiritual progress. It means that the World Kli has come to life like one body that takes collective actions. In this body, new empty spaces are revealed wherein the collective soul will emerge. The time for this is so close!

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabblah Lesson 8/17/10, “The Matter of Fear and Happiness”

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Don’t blame the Creator if your spiritual progress is very slow and unnoticeable! We must first and foremost reveal the desire inside ourselves. Without it we will not be able to feel a change in our states.

If I don’t feel the spiritual world yet, it means I still don’t want it! It is here, right next to me, but I don’t want to see it and that is why I don’t reveal it. There are no presents from Above. How I reveal the spiritual world depends only on me and my desire. As soon as my desire grows and reaches the level of the next, higher spiritual world, I immediately reveal it. But if I don’t feel a need for it, then I can’t reveal it.

Everything is up to a person. Our only task is to influence each other in order to discern our desire correctly. We may be yelling and burning with desire, but it’s a desire for the wrong thing, both in quantity and quality.

What we need is a clearly discerned desire where the most important thing is the quality of the desire: What exactly do I want, rather than how much I want it. In spirituality the quantity is not important, only the quality is. We call the quality of a spiritual desire, “force.“ The force of a desire in spirituality is defined by how sharp and precise it is and what exactly it is aimed at. This requires constant worry to make sure that your desire has the right direction.

If you ask people how they imagine spirituality and what they desire, you will get a different answer from every person. This can only be discerned by working in the group and using help from the Light which we all attract together during the study because we understand that for now we don’t have the right desire for bestowal and faith. Therefore, we want the Light to come and explain it to us, to show us examples and create a desire in us! This is called a necessity without a necessity, the prayer before the prayer.

However, once a person is brought to the group, from then on everything is up to him.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/10, “You Should Always Discern Between Torah and Work”

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What is “faith above reason?” “Faith” is bestowal, and "above reason" means that it is more important than reception. In our state, this property only manifests through my attitude toward the group because only in a group can I clearly see that I prefer the group’s well-being to my own, both in my actions and thoughts.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/10, “The Importance of Faith that Always Takes Place”

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From Rabash’s article “These are the Generations of Noah”: A person in a state of negative desires and thoughts has to make big efforts to overcome arguments of the evil inclination that nag him with well-known questions of “who?” and “what?” (“Who is the Creator that I should obey His voice?” and “What does this work give you?”) And there is no other way for a person to overcome them but by the power of faith above reason.

In other words, a person does not work according to his egoistic reason defined by his current desires. Rather, he acts according to the reason of a higher degree, which is greater bestowal.

Indeed, if I obey my desire and reason that services it, then I am called an animal that has its head (reason) and body (desires) on the same level or height. If I want to be “man,” then my head has to be above my body, that is, above my desire. This means that my reason must service a higher desire, meaning bestowal that is outside me rather than the desire currently inside me.

Today the desire of bestowal is outside of me (“today” denotes my current degree), but tomorrow (at the next degree), it will already be inside me. This is why I try to serve my neighbor with my head all the time. It is how I work for the next degree, and thanks to this I am called “man” whose head is above the body.

This is the structure of spiritual objects: GE (the upper part) of the lower Partzuf clothes AHP (the lower part) of the Upper One and makes a calculation according to the Upper One by connecting to it and trying to be similar to it. That is, I connect to the group that serves as AHP of the Upper One for me, and use my reason to serve it instead of serving my egoistic desires (AHP) that are on a lower degree.

The upper spiritual object divides into two parts: its desire and the Light in it. The desire of the Upper One is the group and the spiritual environment. In other words, it is all parts of the common soul that I have not yet connected to myself, and because of this they are external to me.

Later on, everything will unite into one desire and the Light within it, as it is written: “He and His name are one.”
[18493]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/3/10, Article, “These are the Generations of Noah”

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First of all, let’s thank our ego for bringing up such questions as “Who” and “What.” In fact, they indicate that the Creator, Moshe, and the Pharaoh have met. The Pharaoh dares Moshe: “Who is the Creator for me to listen to His voice?” This is a revelation of the point of “Moshe” in you, the point that comes from the Creator to the “Pharaoh” and evokes these questions in you. Such questions belong on the spiritual dimension, not the corporeal one. Now, you have to move on and cultivate them further.

Do you recall how the Torah describes what happened as a result of these questions? Moshe is scared but has no choice. Time after time, he comes to the Pharaoh with the Creator, and the “Pharaoh” (our egoistic desire) is stricken over and over again. This is how a person evolves.

The Creator admits that He deliberately coarsens Pharaoh’s heart, our ego. Thus, we are suddenly pressed by various egoistic calculations. Our earthly fascinations get renewed, and we feel that this world is full of potential. We think that we can attain great success in it and don’t understand why we had left it behind. Besides, where are recognition, wealth, power, and a chance to establish ourselves in it as the others do?

More such questions will arise, and your advancement will depend solely on the environment. We see that, until all these “Egyptian plagues” have passed, the “nation of Israel” doesn’t become one in us. It takes place only before the very exodus. In the meantime, we must remain strong. We can receive all of the Creator’s Light, the Upper assistance, solely through the environment. It will come from nowhere else.

The Light comes from the Kabbalistic texts. However, if you are not connected with the spiritual environment, they won’t affect you. In order to find the Creator and go to the Pharaoh with Him, you need the environment and the authentic sources.

This is how we should answer these questions even before they surface in us. Don’t wait until the clock strikes and the Egyptian executions begin. Start right now. Plug into the group and build a solid foundation for yourself. If the group gives you the force, you will advance undisturbed by downfalls, and your vehicle will keep leaping forth fueled by this force.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/3/10, Article, “These are the Generations of Noah”

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Question: What is the unity between us that we demand from the Creator when we read The Zohar?

Answer: In truth, we don’t know what unity is. What does it mean to unite? Is it to be friends like in our world, where we connect through common interests, desires, and pursuits, and where we enjoy spending free time together playing soccer, fishing, drinking beer, or working out in the gym? Or, should we be like a solid submarine crew where everyone has gone through hard psychological training and is prepared to die for the others?

Unity in spirituality means something completely different. The spiritual life that you find in such unity is collective. It is similar to that of Siamese twins where, when one dies, so does the other. They can live only as one. There is no division into “mine” and “yours,” or “half for one and half for the other.”

This common life is called spiritual unity since everything that you gain is through the bond with the others. You share one “body.” It is a spiritual vessel called the body of the soul. Inside this spiritual vessel is the Light of the soul; it is one soul. If this oneness disintegrates, the body disappears and the Light with it. As a result, there is no soul or spiritual life.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/10, The Zohar

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A person’s actions are based on his habits; he perceives and accepts solely that to which he is accustomed. Anything beyond the ordinary passes by him unrecognized. In our state of unawareness, we ignore everything new before we can even sense or perceive it. This is why it is so difficult to come face to face with spirituality.

We live in the world that we choose by picking only that which we are familiar with and accustomed to from the World of Infinity that surrounds us. In order to expand our world into and through the world of bestowal, we need to use “faith above reason” and accept the states of bestowal, the attributes, desires, thoughts, and actions of the “opposite world.”

To achieve this, we have to reconcile two opposing spiritual states within; we have to recognize our current egoistic existence (the lower degree) is opposite from the property of bestowal (the higher degree). Moreover, we need to live between these states and rejoice in the sensation of emptiness of the lower state because it gives us an opportunity to rise above it, to the higher degree.

Such forces descend on me through the group from the Upper Light and hold me “above the ground” like a magnet. The magnetism of truth and faith (bestowal) that lifts me upward should be stronger than the sensation of beastly egoism that pulls me downward, to the “ground.”

The truth, however, lies in existing in both states simultaneously. Living in each of them separately is a lie. Even if I am entirely in spirituality, it is a lie. True existence is always between two states at the same time: the sensation of perfection and lack, gratitude and prayer.

I should rejoice in the fact that I can experience both of these states at once and am in constant transition. Yet, I am aware of the obstacles and hold myself above them by will, like a mountain climber who knows that as soon as he gives into weakness, he will immediately fall to his demise. This is the only true state of existence, and we must train ourselves to make it our “lifestyle” and rejoice in it.

Accordingly, there is a test: Are we able to live in a state of joy despite all the struggle and dissatisfaction, always persevering between inspiration and desperation?

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/10, Article, “The Matter of Truth and Faith”

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Question: Is it possible to transition to bestowal without any pain and suffering?

Answer: Yes. It is possible to make this transition without suffering if you do it under the influence of the environment.

The environment is able to imbue me with an aspiration to any goal, even the most unrealistic one. If everyone around me thinks about it, I will also start to aspire to it. Then it won’t be at all difficult for me to value the quality of bestowal. I will see it as a great reward instead of my current egoistic reception. However, the condition for this is that others around me also think and act this way.

A person is much like a computer whose old program can be erased by society and a new, more advanced program with new data can be installed. I advance to the degree this happens.

The only reason I need a mind is to follow those who show me the spiritual path. However, following them is not that simple because you don’t do it by turning into a robot, but on the contrary, you grow!

You constantly receive interferences on all levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human, which impede you from following the spiritual path. You have to lower yourself and come down from the height of your enormous egoism in order to be able to follow the spiritual teacher. That is why you have to have a great mind in order to decipher all of the shrewd tricks of your egoism. Then you will avoid following your egoism and will advance by faith above reason, by following your teacher.

We receive states that are so confusing that we start to look down on the teacher and even to hate him. However, if you are able to ascend above this and turn yourself into “nothing,” to “dust under the feet of the righteous,” it means you are following a righteous person on the spiritual path. This causes you to be great like that person because you receive everything that is in his mind. You receive this through him from the Creator.

When it says that the nation followed Moses like a flock follows a shepherd, it doesn’t mean that they walked like animals. Rather, it is talking about a special form of advancement where you nullify yourself before the teacher, Moses, and through him you nullify yourself relative to the Creator. In the same exact way we go from love for the people to love for the Creator. Otherwise, we cannot change.

You change your previous form and acquire a new one, which is similar to the Creator. This does not belittle you in any way. If you nullify yourself in the spiritual world against the Klipot at the height of the Worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, and Atzilut, and you follow your teacher, then you rise to the height of those worlds. We are talking only about the height of your opposition to the interferences that are sent to you (that emerge).

This is called “walking by faith above reason.” I don’t have the knowledge that my spiritual teacher does, and thus I nullify myself in relation to him. I cancel my mind and receive new knowledge from him. It is knowledge of the Upper Level, “faith.” The lower part of his spiritual Partzuf, AHP, becomes immersed in me and I accept darkness as Light even though it appears dark inside my egoistic desire. That is how I can advance along the spiritual path.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 237: When the Creator, Bina, wished to create the world, which is ZA, He elicited one flame of the harsh spark and blew wind into wind, and the flame was darkened, as well as burned. He elicited a single drop from the sides of the deep and put them together—the drop and the flame—and created the world with them, ZA.

The Upper Governance descends to us from the system called GAR of the World of Atzilut. Below it, resides Zeir Anpin whom we call the Creator because he is the Upper One in relation to Malchut of the World of Atzilut, the place of the gathering of all souls.

At present, however, our souls are broken and they reside below Malchut. When the broken souls desire correction, they raise their prayer to her. Yet, how do they know what this correction entails? They wish to stick together! They say: “We are willing to pledge for each other and unite!” Malchut means assembly of all souls that yearn for the Creator (Isra-El). Only he who wants to be with the others without any exception will be able to enter Malchut; and the one who doesn’t will not.

The condition is very clear and simple, and everyone is welcome. The door is open, come in! But at the entrance, you will have to meet the condition, and if you do, you will enter; if you don’t you will not. If you wish to come in, prepare yourself.

All souls who enter Malchut come together and raise a prayer to the Creator (Zeir Anpin). This prayer is a request to become similar to Him. In the beginning, with the help of the group, we raise our first prayer to Malchut. From Malchut, we raise the prayer (MAN) further, to Zeir Anpin. Zeir Anpin collects our prayer and raises it to Bina (Ima Ilaa), and there, he receives the force, Light, and anti-egoistic screens on our behalf. Then, he descends and passes this force down to Malchut, who passes it on to the souls included in her. In this way, everyone who has entered Malchut is granted the entire Light promised to him from Above.

This is what all of The Zohar is talking about. And this is the only system that exists in Universe.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/10, The Zohar

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