The entire evil has been prepared for us from Above during the breaking of the vessels. So how can we say that the creature sins if this is the Creator’s making, the result of His actions? Anything man does will always be the consequence of the Creator’s actions. We can always point at the source from which everything comes. Even He acknowledges creating evil and nothing but evil: “I created the evil inclination” (“Barati Yetzer Ara“).

The only freedom of will that allows us to choose between good and evil and demand the correction of evil within us is realized with the help of the environment. As a person turns to the group, he discovers an “empty space,” Klipat Noga, which belongs neither to the Creator nor to the creature. Good or evil there is determined only by one’s free choice.

As you work with the group you begin to see that the Creator has left you something where you can make a decision. This is a special point of your independence. If you begin to create the Creator’s image from this “white,” free point, and decide that you want to become like Him, you will be referred to as “human.”

However, you still need to reveal this point. So far the Reshimo(recollection) of the breaking is being revealed in you. This point is a rudiment of a screen, which you need to build from the Reshimo. It is revealed through our work with the group.

We clear away the accumulation of the shell (Klipot) and different habits with our inner efforts to suddenly discover something that does not belong to the Creator beneath them. This really is a miracle. In this point a person has to say: “The entire world depends on me. Every moment I direct it either toward good or toward evil with my decision.” Then a person spends his entire time like a tightrope walker on a tight wire; every moment he has make a new decision in the direction of good to make sure he does not fall off the tight wire. This means that every moment he chooses to walk the path of truth.

This is why Baal HaSulam says that the path towards the Creator is a very thin thread, and the person walking it must be very careful to make sure he does not bear right or left. Yet all of this happens under the condition that a person discovers the point where the rope starts: his freedom of will in his work with the environment. All of the following points on which he walks are the points of his proper connection with the environment, which he chooses as he realizes his freedom of will.

A person constructs his own rope with the points that he discovers. He himself walks through them, as every time he directs himself and the entire world towards good. Actually, nothing exists before him, neither the point that he discovers nor the rope made with these points, the path straight to the Creator.

The path does not stretch out from the Creator toward us. We only receive the Reshimot, which remain on every degree from the above-downward descent. The rope does not exist, but we build it ourselves from below-upward. At the end, this is precisely what we call “human.”

All the Partzufim that we reconstruct from below-upward are not the same Partzufim that exist during the descent from above-downward. This is because when we climb the degrees, we reveal every degree 620 times greater than it was during the descent. This is a completely different degree, which we build ourselves.
[14473]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: How is it possible to annul myself before my friend when I am only able to see his corporeal form?

My Answer: Don’t pay attention to the corporeal form; this world is an illusion (Olam Amedumeh). You need to notice only a person’s point in the heart. This is what you want to unite with. His personality may be unpleasant and he may not be someone that you like, but that belongs to the “animate” level, to his and your “donkeys” (egos).

When you focus on the spiritual goal and his point in the heart, you see a pure desire burning inside of him without any connection to his corporeal properties. The body has no significance at all. In the end, it is just dragged to the cemetery, as it is totally unnecessary.

But the point in the heart is the Creator in each of us. The Creator exists within every person in the world. However, He manifests openly among the friends of a Kabbalah group since He is the One who brought these spiritual points together so they will unite and come to Him. Therefore, you have to be grateful that this means was given to you.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/10, Article “Purpose of Society”

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The Zohar was revealed only during our times since we have now gone through the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of our development and reached the human level (human, "Adam" – from the word "Edame," which means "similar" to the Creator). Therefore, presently we feel a crisis, helplessness, despair, and disappointment in our lives. This is precisely why The Zohar is being revealed: so that we could realize our connection, reach the same system of connection between us as exists in Malchut of Infinity where we are all connected as one whole.

The first stage of correction is called "don’t do to another what you hate." This is the level of Hafetz Hesed (not wanting anything for yourself), the "return from fear (trepidation)." The second stage of correction is even higher; it is the level of "love your neighbor as yourself," the "return from love," receiving for the sake of bestowal. We have yet to perform these two corrections, and they both are realized in the relationships between people.

Then the Creator is revealed in our corrected relationships to the extent that we love and bestow to the neighbor, as it is written: "From love for the neighbor to love for the Creator." Not a single correction can be carried out in any other way except by realizing it in a group of Kabbalists (i.e., those who desire to reach the level of a human being).

In the relationship between them, they build a system of Malchut of Infinity as they wish to feel the Light of Infinity, the Creator, in it. The Zohar needs to provide us with the strength for this, this desire and the inner attainments. Therefore, while we read The Zohar we need to try to be in the intention that we are all one whole that our points in the heart, the desires for the spiritual, unite as one. From these common desires, we build our spiritual vessel, the Shechina, Malchut of Infinity, in which we will feel the Creator.

We need to feel that we are together, like the authors of The Zohar, the group of Rabbi Shimon, and within this system of connection between us, we should try to imagine what this Book is telling us about. After all, the only thing written about in The Zohar is the connection between us. Although this is described in various forms and images that seem to be from this world, it is only the forces of our soul that are described in The Zohar.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/10, The Zohar

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A Kabbalistic group unites around one goal: reaching love for one’s neighbor and through it, love for the Creator. This means loving the property of love and bestowal. Every person, who agrees with this goal, adds his small force to the group, the point in the heart that was given to him from Above.

None of us is able to enter the spiritual using only his own strength; we can only do it through combining our strength, in other words, joining with a group and canceling ourselves, our egoism. Joining a group and canceling our egoism with the purpose of receiving the force of bestowal from it is the first step towards spirituality. Work in a group is the work on transitioning from corporeality into spirituality through the opening created by the group.

The group is the means. It is not the group that fixes you like a screwdriver or a wrench, but you yourself must use the group for work. The group is the spiritual model before you. It is given to you in a corporeal form, but we turn it into a spiritual form by relating to it as to a collection of souls and not a group of bodies.

We build a spiritual space inside our group. We build a spiritual vessel, the Kli, by canceling ourselves and connecting our points in the heart to the collection of all the other points. I only add my single small force to the group, but I receive "620" times more from it. Spirituality becomes revealed to me as a more inner degree in the exact place where I find this connection and our common force.

We cancel our material nature, our animate egoism. All our "donkeys" (donkey, Hamor, which comes from the word Homer – matter) stay beneath, but we rise above them and unite. So we acquire a single, big force, which is "620" times greater than the previous one, and this force will definitely let every person defeat the animal within. In this way we create a new spiritual vessel, which did not exist before the breaking of the souls. Inside this vessel, among us, we reveal the common property of bestowal within which we reveal the Creator.

I add my single force and receive 620 times more by rising to the first spiritual degree. And now I add this big force to the group and receive 620 times more as I rise to the new degree. It turns out that my initial point of the soul swells 620 times its initial size, and this way then it grows bigger and bigger as it ascends step by step. The group becomes Malchut, Shechina.

This is why the group needs to be united with a single opinion: a desire to reach bestowal, adhesion with the Creator. This creates the "head" (Rosh) of the spiritual Partzuf. Our common spiritual vessel is the spiritual world, but every person experiences it in their own way, according to their essential, primary point of the soul; the soul does not disappear, instead it grows 620х620х620… times. This is how we build the spiritual world within, where the Creator becomes revealed. There is no other place.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/10, Article “The Purpose of Society”

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Arvut (mutual guarantee) takes force when I swear that from now on my part in all others will always be fulfilled. It seems rather simple, but for me to achieve this I need to spiritually adhere to everyone and sense their desires. Since we are connected in our souls, I have to discover where my part lies inside the desire of the other and he certainly must receive something through my soul, like it works in a common physical body.

Where then is that hollow area which I have to fill according to the system that exists in the World of Infinity? I have to take care of it, and so must each of us with regard to the others. There is no soul where I don’t have a part and need to fill the space. Nobody can fill it except me; it’s a special space, a unique range, which only I can fill. And I assume responsibility for it, just let me do it!

I don’t need anything but that. Like a mother who takes care of her baby who desires one thing only: an opportunity to provide care. Try telling a mother to pass her child to someone else. Even if she is a queen and has numerous attendants who would be happy to assist her, she still enjoys feeding her offspring. She receives pleasure from doing it herself. We too have to perceive our bestowal onto others as pleasure.

Thanks to our bonding with each other, within each soul there is a space that I must fill. My soul contains 7 billion parts; outside of it, there are an additional 7 billion souls, and in each one of them I have to fill my space (as do each of us). From my point in the heart, I fill in my parts in all other souls, and each of them has to fill his part within me.

This is called the mutual penetration of souls. Each has a root from which one acts. And all other desires in me except the root are foreign. They are present in me only because I contain them all.

Originally, I am just a point. I need the others to give me fulfillment in all these desires and only then will I live! As for me, I have to use these desires to understand the others and repair the hole in them that only I can fill. When I plug these other desires into me, I see their needs and fill them from my point in the heart. You feel me through my desire plugged into you, and you fill in your space within me from your point in the heart. This is called Arvut. There isn’t any other opportunity for all of us to be fulfilled. It is the only way.

From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/10, Article “Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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When the souls unite together, a person discovers a new reality. Currently we experience ourselves as living in this world, which is at the level of individual existence; each part is disconnected from the entire organism. Yet, despite the fact that all these parts are alive and

aware of their individual existence, there is a difference between a body that is whole and a body whose parts are disconnected.

Right now, each disconnected individual is receiving a lifeline and life support, like an organ extracted from the body for transplant into another organism. Consequently, they are like “ready-for-transplant organs” on life support, which ensures they don’t descend below the animalistic existence. These organs perceive themselves as living in this reality. That’s who we are.

If we, a group of such organs, desire to unite and we ask for it, then our collective desire (the prayer called MAN) draws from Above (from a higher level) the force that unites us. Subsequently, in our unity we perceive the spiritual reality, as a body whose organs begin to connect with each other.

Thus, the entire organism experiences a different life, not the existence each of them once lived separately by striving to survive on its animalistic level. We ascend from the animalistic level of existence to a new level called human.

The sensation of this collective life of all “bodily organs” (the collective soul) is called the spiritual world. We will no longer even be able to perceive the previous existence as life because we’ll no longer live to survive, but instead will support each others’ lifeline. The Light gives us a completely new and different reality.

Our previous life on the animalistic level will look extremely low and undesirable. We’ll need it solely in order to absorb the desires of others who are still living in our world as animals; these are the desires that haven’t joined our connection yet. Gradually they will also begin to ascend. However, once having attained our spiritual life, this lower level will be unnecessary since we will all have ascended to a higher dimension.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/10, The Zohar

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In the article “The Purpose of Society,” Rabash writes that man is born as loving only himself, and hence he can’t make the tiniest move without serving himself. Yet without renouncing egoistical love in us, it is impossible to reach the adhesion with the Creator, the equivalence of His properties.

Therefore, the group is necessary for in it the desires and strengths of each add to one another. Everyone is then able to use this immense common force in order to renounce the egoistical desire that prevents him from fulfilling the purpose he is born for. This group must consist of people who have a common purpose. Then together, they will comprise one huge force that enables each of them to struggle with himself.

In order to receive the collective power from the group, everyone must contribute his strength to it and renounce himself, that is, only see his friends’ strengths instead of their weaknesses. If he considers himself just a little higher than them, he cannot unite with them, bring in his force, and receive the collective one.

Plan

1. Human nature – love of self.
2. The purpose of creation – adhesion with the Creator through the equivalence of properties with Him.
3. It is impossible to fulfill the purpose of the creation on one’s own, but only within the group and through its power.
4. In the group, all must be equal in the purpose, means, and one’s own annulment. Annulment is only possible by exalting the friends.
5. The greatness of the environment is reached in words and actions.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/10, Article “The Purpose of Society”

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Man is born loving only himself. This is our nature, and we can’t do anything about it. We always live inside it and cannot step out of it. All our actions are only for our own sake; otherwise, it is impossible to move forward. Therefore, I need a foreign force which would act against my nature and change it.

All my thinking and energy keep working for the purpose of filling and comforting myself. But there is one point in me that is pushing me to step outside of my nature, rise from the animate level, and reach the Creator, that is, to attain the human level. Only this point in me belongs to the human level, the level of the Creator since “man” is similar to the Creator.

I belong to the material world entirely, but this one point in me belongs to the spiritual one. If it doesn’t awaken, a human being lives solely in this world and doesn’t suspect anything more; he is satisfied with this materialistic life. If, however, this point is awakened in his heart, he feels uncomfortable in this world and strives to rise from it. He is influenced by two forces: One pushes him from behind out of the material world, and the other pulls him from the front, from the spiritual world.

Without renouncing oneself (one’s egoism) and rising above one’s nature, it is impossible to reach adhesion with the Creator. I have to decide which nature I wish to be related to: to the nature of the Creator or that of the creature, that is, to choose bestowal or reception.

Since giving is opposite to our nature, there is only one means to move from the material to the spiritual: a Kabbalistic group. The group has immense power because we work together and everyone annuls the egoistical desire that prevents him from fulfilling the purpose for which man is born. The purpose is to become similar to the Creator. The Creator is the force of bestowal, love, and annulment of self. This is why I need the group as an external foreign force that works as a lever which allows me to turn my nature around.

In order for this force to be great and invigorating, the group must be united and strong within itself and burn with the desire to fulfill the spiritual purpose. Then, everyone in it can use this power and step out of the enslavement of egoistic love.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/10, Article “The Purpose of the Association –2”

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Moving into a new unexplored state that we have yet to discover, create, and select the correct actions, is called a game. Playing, nonetheless, is a serious activity, which carries the element of the unknown. While playing, we study our capacities, inclinations, and goals, along with their outcomes. With each iteration, a person moves forward to an unknown state.

How does one advance into the unknown? If we know the beginning and the final states, it means that the program is already within us and we are merely implementing it as we move from state to state. However, in this way we are not growing. Moving toward a known state doesn’t translate into acquiring a new one, but is only an accumulation of experience. If a person knows what the next state should be, then it is within him, he is already in it.

“Growth” on the other hand, means that one acquires a totally new state and becomes the person they are not yet today. How can we accomplish this in the most rational, mature, and correct way if not with the help of a game, a simulation? Nature itself pushes us relentlessly to learn by playing.

The same process can be observed at the still, vegetative, and animate levels. In order to continuously advance, a plant employs similar processes within itself, just like a game. If we study the plant during its growth, it appears identical to ours on the animate and human levels.

A person has to imagine correctly the next state within oneself, so much so as to receive the force of growth from within it. Therefore, the Creator’s presence in each creature is mandatory. One can make a step forward only if it already exists in him. A person must consciously and purposefully draw the Creator’s Light, which comes from his hidden higher “half.”

Therefore, a person constructs a model of a more advanced state using the group, which is a simulator of the World of Infinity, spiritual states, and mutual bestowal. When a person performs various actions, one expects the Light to act upon him and to let him know that the most correct possible state has been found. When does it occur? When the Light clothes in it.

The Light remains in absolute rest. We only need to find our similarity to it. Out of all possible forms, as soon as we pick the form similar to the Creator, He immediately fills us and we become united with one another. This is called the next state. In this way, we advance.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Why do we constantly talk only about the connection among us, and say nothing about the connection with the Creator?

My Answer: Right now we are talking about realizing our goal at hand, and this is why we devote so much attention to the connection among us. The final goal is adhesion with the Creator according to the law of equivalence of form, which means that we need to become “Human,” Adam (“similar” to the Creator).

First, we need to prepare our spiritual vessel (Kli) by making it similar to the Upper One. This is one vessel  for everyone; all of its parts should unite as one man with one heart. All our hatred, envy, ambition, pride, and thirst for power become included within it; we need to rise above it all and unite in order to become similar to the Creator, and thereby attain adhesion with Him.

It seems to us as though the Creator is somewhere outside of us, but in fact, He is revealed inside that common spiritual vessel which we build among us. Therefore, to have a correct perspective, we need to perceive everything as if it exists in one place. We build this space for the revelation of the Creator!

It is precisely there where we unite with each other above our egoism. Our egoism remains below, and above it, we build the connections among us. And if our connection is solid, based upon the force of the Light that Reforms, then in the connection, we will reveal the Creator (Boreh), which means “come and see” (Bo-Re).

This is different than picturing that He is somewhere high in the clouds and I am doing something here, below, in order to reveal Him in the sky. I reveal Him precisely in the connection between souls, between the organs of the spiritual body, as the inner Light that fills it.

Meanwhile, people think that when we speak only about uniting with each other that the Creator is separate from this. This is because internally they are not willing to agree that there is a connection between our work – the studies, dissemination, and unification with each other – and the Creator.

Each person perceives the Creator as something elevated and is willing to unite with Him, but we are unwilling to unite with another person. They don’t understand that this is the same thing. A more inner connection among people is called the “Creator,” the quality of bestowal, but the nature of man does not permit one to agree with this.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/10, Article “Arvut (The Bond)”

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