The desire to receive cannot be spurred without the “bridle and the reins” of its rider. It must be under someone’s control, like donkey that is given a sack of grain, blindfolded, and directed in one direction. Only then can the desire to receive work.

Our advancement and our correction occur only by the Light. The Light manages us by sometimes increasing its pressure and sometimes letting us feel some freedom. But we have to feel and understand where exactly this freedom is given to us. It’s possible that where we think that we are free, we are not free at all. If we understand where we can react and in what way exactly, then we fulfill our participation in our independent development.

But before we can do that, we have to discover how the Light constantly creates and revives our desire to receive by directly managing it and keeping it on a short leash. All its actions are meant so that the desire will be impressed by the Light’s actions upon it, and instead of just feeling good or bad, it will begin to find out: “Why do I feel good and why do I feel bad, why does one feeling change into the other feeling, what is required of me, and how can I avoid the bad feeling and draw the good feeling?”

This means that I have to know what’s good or bad for me, and what the plan is of the One who changes my feelings from one extreme to the other. How can I find and perceive Him, how can I discover His plan and understand His intention? On the whole, all these egoistic questions stem from the fact that I feel bad in this life since otherwise the desire to receive wouldn’t be evoked. The bad feeling is a feeling of deficiency that requires a filling.

At first I just don’t feel as good as I did before. Then it becomes less and less pleasant, until finally the level of pleasantness comes down to zero. Then it becomes worse and worse, until it becomes unbearable. This means that the states I am in can be very different ranging from very bad to very good.

Thus the Light plays with my desire to receive and brings about changes all the time, so that the desire will learn about itself and about the different fillings. After having perceived enough internal discernments, a person can stabilize his attitude towards the One who summons them and want to discover Him. This is because He is the source of all the good and evil in the life of the desire to receive. Thus we advance.
[81337]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/18/12, Shamati #8

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Question: What is the evidence that we are making a real effort in work?

Answer: A person makes a true effort when he works together with others as much as possible in order to understand with his heart. All the understanding comes to the heart when the Light of Hochma, called understanding, is revealed in the heart, in Bina, the vessel of bestowal, as it is written: “It is the heart that understands.”

A person, in the beginning of his spiritual work with the purpose of correcting himself and becoming a detector of the revelation of the Creator, the Light of Hochma, needs to attain an inner conviction that all these notions: the Light of Hochma and its vessel, the Light of Hassadim, reception and bestowal, must manifest in him, in his desire, his sensations.

He needs to try to free the space from different opinions, feelings, and impressions that are now perceived closest to his body in order to fill this space with spiritual impressions. He needs to strive to feel the real taste of all these notions: Hochma, Hassadim, reception, bestowal, connection, closeness, and distance.
[81756]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/28/12, Shamati #145

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Question: When I receive for the sake of bestowal, the abundance flows through me. May I enjoy it?

Answer: You do not enjoy the abundance that goes through you. It is a completely different kind of abundance, not like the egoistic fulfillment. You, like a guest, want to try a delicious cake in order to do the owner, who prepared it, a favor. It would seem that the cake should have the same taste, but it is not so.

Question: But, when I love someone wholeheartedly, forgetting about myself, this feeling emerges in me nevertheless. Love is directed towards another, but I am the one who feels it.

Answer: Yes, the feeling emerges inside of you; however, it consists of several parameters. After all, you receive the pleasure of wanting to bestow to the loved one.

Imagine this. There is the receiving desire of the Creator and the receiving desire of the creation, which is what you are. You must feel His receiving the desire, feel how He wants to bestow to you, to assimilate this receiving desire inside of yourself and to please Him.

Mainly, you are experiencing pleasure in the “head”, meaning in the desire you received from Him. So it turns out that there, inside of His desire, you make the calculation, “How can I fulfill him?—at least to the extent of how much you will involve your receiving the desire.” In other words, in your desire you feel the extent, to which you are fulfilling Him, and this is already the garment of the Light of Hassadim.

As a result, we are talking about pleasure of a very different kind.

Question: So how does separation emerge if everything is inside of me?

Answer: The intention lays out the difference between the one and the other. When the urge towards bestowing to the Creator reigns in your “head”, accordingly, pleasures become different as well.

Question: May we compare this with the love towards our own child? Do I give him a cake without even having tasted it?

Answer: No, pleasure passes through you, but now everything is defined by his desire, not yours.

Question: How do I carry out this differentiation inside between me and him?

Answer: In the first stage, we rise above our own desire and only at the second stage are we able to perceive something foreign, making it ours.

In order to please the Host, I must feel His pleasures, feel how much He enjoys the bestowal to me and what pleasure I must receive from Him. I must feel that this pleasure has arrived from Him and is gifted out of love, and not reason.

By the means of this love, He conveys to me the feeling of shame, which now helps me cope with the situation and to understand it in order to build a different relationship. I take His pleasures, I receive them for Him, but I do not make the calculation for the “cake”, but specifically for this bestowal. The “cake” is the lowest level, Nefesh de-Nefesh, and the pleasure, which I give to Him, it is the whole of the NRNHY.

Here is where one should beware not to consider oneself: “Since I am giving pleasure to the Creator, Himself! Just look at how He enjoys me!” It is here, where the main calculation is located, and not in the “cake” itself, which was given to you simply as a means, allowing you to build the connection with all of the worlds. The calculation in the head of Partzuf is directed at the relationships with the Creator.

And that is why you need to know who is the Creator, how He acts, and how to please Him, since His vessels, desires, are infinite. So how to protect oneself in such a situation? Compared to it, the direct pleasures are no more than a spark, which has created the desire, while everything else is conditioned by the greatness of the Giver.
[81523]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Let’s talk about shame, a very elevated concept, which is only characteristic of man. As much as you may try to induce shame in the representatives of the still, vegetative, and animate natures, there will be no reaction since this root is not instilled in them. The beginnings of shame are only manifested on the human level of our world, and not even within everyone.

It is because the human level is separated into five levels of development, and only on the last one of them, a desire of a sufficient “thickness” emerges, a large egoism, which allows one to feel great shame.

Regarding the previous levels, Baal HaSulam describes them as milestones on the way. Some are ready to cause others any kind of evil in the presence of everyone and they are not ashamed of it. Others are somewhat shy or are being careful, and that is why they prefer to cause harm secretly. Others are truly ashamed and not due to the fear of punishment. However, they reconcile their shame and justify what is happening by the retributions known to everyone: “He deserves it,” “I have the right to do it,” “Everyone does it,” and so on.

And only the people, who possess a large egoistic desire, who have experienced great shame, begin to work with this property. As their point in the heart awakens, they begin the spiritual work and arrive at a different kind of shame then, which does not lie on the plane of this world but on a higher level.

In our world, I am ashamed of receiving something that I have not earned, have not paid for. I cannot accept such an “acquisition” because, as a rule, it is not difficult to figure out from whom this good is coming and whether I deserve it or not.

However, I have a problem with the spiritual world. I do not see whom I am receiving the gifts from and that is why I am not ashamed. First, I need to reveal the Bestower, the Root, whom all of this is coming from, and this requires many more calculations. For example, “Must I earn the good from Him? If He created me, then surely He must also provide for me?” Another option is: “I did not deserve the help, but due to no other way out, I will pay for it later.” In other words, in the spiritual world, like in our world, we move by the steps of shame.

In reality, shame is the foundation of creation. Because of it, Malchut of Infinity carried out the restriction and has initiated all of the subsequent development in order to become equivalent with the Creator in the end. Shame is a source, the initial point, impelling us to arrive to the similarity of qualities with the Creator, to become even with Him, to pay off the debt to Him, and to stop receiving gifts as before.

Baal HaSulam gives the following example: A rich man meets his friend, a poor man, at the market and he brings him home and gives him all kinds of goods. The poor man feels that the rich man is helping him from the bottom of his heart without any calculations for himself, enjoying this bestowal. However, while receiving the abundance directly, the poor man simultaneously receives the feeling of impatience and shame, which burns him up from the inside and becomes unbearable. It’s all in the separation of personal receiving on the one hand, and the bestowal by the rich man on the other. Such is the law: When I feel that I am the one receiving, not like the one bestowing, this evokes the shame in me.

This feeling is so huge, that Malchut of Infinity restricted and decided that she will receive pleasure from the Creator only in the similarity of qualities, only for the sake of bestowal. Only in this case will she feel the expediency of receiving. While the point is not to neutralize one’s shame, on the contrary, she begins to value it. Since it is thanks to the suffering, which it brings up, can she now make a different calculation directed at reciprocal bestowal to the Creator.

Shame does not only prevent receiving, does not simply make one restrict one’s egoism and to receive for the sake of bestowal, avoiding suffering, but it allows me to arrive at true bestowal. And that is why I value shame. It is said that this feeling is prepared only for the high souls. In the spiritual world, it is good and beneficial to experience it because shame becomes a means for him, helping him realize the necessity of bestowal, to demand the revelation of the Creator. And then the point is not in the egoism anymore and not in the shame, as such, it’s just that by its means I can truly assimilate to the Creator and become a bestowing one. Let the previous factors remain inside of me, the desire to receive and the shame, but only as necessary conditions above which I can build the relationship towards the Creator and move towards merging with Him.

Shame develops together with the desires and expands them, enriching them with a multitude of details of perception. We see this even in our world, the Creator has only created the initial point of development and everything else has developed thanks to the gaping emptiness, the perception of the difference between the creation and the Creator.

The Torah tells us that Adam has experienced an explosion of egoistic desire, described as the emergence of Hava (Eve) beside him. He has merged with this desire, what is called, has tasted from the Tree of Knowledge, meaning, has received the fulfillment and then has perceived himself as nude, barren of his clothing, and has become ashamed of it.

The Creator is showing an example here. He has created the dressing for Adam and Hava and later, as a consequence, we enrobe ourselves into all of the dressing by ourselves. Their root is the Reflected Light. If we wish so, then we can follow its example and form our own personal dressings. And all of this is not simply done in order not to be ashamed, but in order to assimilate to the Creator and by means of this, to give Him pleasure.

We rarely mention the concept of shame. In our original sources, it is found occasionally. However, in reality, we are always guided by this feeling of separation between the Creator and the creation. Shame is the “trigger,” that point of beginning with which the creation is awakened towards assimilating, merging, like in the example with the poor man and the rich man.
[80772]
From the Workshop 6/17/12

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Our conventions are becoming more and more qualitative. It might be that they are not as presentable as in the past, but they are deeper. Of course, in them, we are talking about the realistic connection and unity, but now this unity, in addition to the external discoveries, is penetrating to the boundary of inner experiences and feelings.

We know that “advantage of the Light is from the darkness.”

The Light is revealed only in the vessel, and therefore, we have to prepare the vessels, the desires, to feel the exile from the spiritual world in order to reach redemption. And this is to say, that all of us must work on the necessity that is directed to this convention. We need to define the character of the convention to know what one wants, to what one wants to reach, and what should happen in our meeting. We need to build this convention by ourselves.

This is not about the technical or organizational component. I speak here about this, that we need to build from beginning to end the whole process that we need to go through in creating the connection between us, until the step in which we will reach qualitative unity and we will enable the Light to illuminate inside us. And for that, we need to work, to invest efforts, and to do preparation without any connection to the place where the person will be during the time of the convention.

We all need to see what necessity and deficiency we need to reach by our internal and external efforts, in study, in intention, and organization at the place.

I am waiting for your opinions and reactions, and according to them, we will hold our convention.

I will prepare myself according to what you will write. Then, truly there will be collaboration between us and we will progress forward maximally.

Otherwise, if I will do something people are not prepared for, it results in a one-man show. We don’t need a show here, rather unity, a mutual, common action.
[75214]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/12, Shamati #190

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 30, “The Most Important Is to Want Only to Bestow”: The most important is to want only to bestow because of His greatness, because any reception is flawed. It is impossible to exit reception, but only to take the other extreme, meaning bestowal.

We are present in a single state: in the field of information belonging to the property of bestowal. There is only this force field, and its force is the force of bestowal. This is how it is revealed to us.

Within this force lie its foundations, which we do not attain: abstract form and essence. What we attain, as the Kabbalists tell us, is the force field whose force is characterized by bestowal.

In order to exist independently within this field, we were created from the opposite force, the force of reception. If a person simply experiences whatever was determined by his or her nature and does not change himself, then within that unified field he feels the reality called “this world.” Each one can personally absorb this picture in oneself and live through it. This world is called imaginary because we don’t feel what really exists outside us and it is as if we are existing in an unconscious state and seeing a dream inspired by the vibes of imaginary perception.

Within this dream we are developing more and more towards awakening and awareness. Our entire evolution, our whole history fit into this process.

How can we feel the external, true reality in which we actually exist? How do we probe for this field of upper force that created us, sustains us, influences us, and constantly develops us in order to attach ourselves to it?

There are two paths:

1.      The first is called “the path of suffering”: Whether we want to or not under the influence of the field of bestowal, we will keep developing and still come to want to know the One who governs us, influences us, develops, and guides us. Suffering will compel us to get to the root of its cause and we will discover that we suffer because of Him, because this is how He affects us.

Then we will have to come to know Him, to draw closer to Him in attempts to change His governance. And, like the first Kabbalists, through suffering, we’ll discover that this field, this Force acting on us, wants us to become similar to it by uniting with each other. This is called the law of equivalence of properties.

Why is this necessary? The fact is that through this, we will be the same as Him: eternal, whole, and perfect, and at the same time will remain independent. After all, if we were within Him, under His complete governance, then it’s as if we don’t even exist. However, our development contains a polarity: Inside us, a force grows which is opposite to the field of bestowal, and at the same time, we need to work on ourselves in order to become similar to Him.

2.      If we do not want to go through the path of suffering but by the path of Light, through the good influence of the field of bestowal, then we reveal a simple law: In order to remain independent, we need to demand from this Light all the changes that accompany our growth. If I demand and the field executes it, then there is no problem with remaining independent while at the same time being similar to Him. After all, I myself, against my own desire, ask for it to change me.

In this way, during the course of development I include two forces in myself:

• The force opposed to this field: the field is wholly aimed at bestowal, while I’m wholly aimed at reception;
• The form of bestowal, which I clothe on my force of reception

Inside of me is a force of reception, the cruel egoistic desire yearning only for personal gain, while on top of it I clothe the opposite form, the force of bestowal and love. But how can I know how to ask for the force of bestowal? After all, I don’t know what that even is. Whatever I may be imagining, all of my speculations are based on the force of reception and won’t allow me to truly demand changes in myself. Anything that I ask based on my own nature will always be directed at reception, sometimes concealed or camouflaged, but reception nonetheless.

How can I ask this field to give me a true force of bestowal so that it would start to be revealed in me like the force of reception, so that I would have two forces opposite to each other?

For that we were given a special existence: We see ourselves as living in the world filled with people just like us. And if I want to obtain a desire aimed at bestowal, a request for bestowal, then I can unite with others, with at least one other person. After all, the minimum plurality is two. But Kabbalists say that it is better if there will be at least ten of us, since this is a whole quantity. I need to start uniting with them in order to reach the desire for bestowal.

How do we unite? The Kabbalists who discovered the method explain this also: I need to sit together with them, eat and drink, study among them, and most importantly, maintain the intention: What do I want to achieve through all these actions? It’s important not to forget that my intention is to obtain a desire to bestow. This is what Baal HaSulam writes about: “The most important is to want only to bestow.”

It turns out that I work with people who desire the same thing, we are together in one group, and someone teaches us. How all this came to be, we don’t know, as if by accident. But in reality, that very same field drives us in the same way that an electromagnetic field places iron filings along the lines of equilibrium. In the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Baal HaSulam writes that the Creator brings a person to a group and says: “This is for you, take it. Here is your free choice.” And the choice is only to be strengthened together with the friends on the path to the desire to bestow. We cannot achieve the desire itself, because that desire is the Creator. However, we are obliged to want this desire among ourselves, and then, feeling the need for it, I will feel in my heart that I am lacking bestowal and that I want to be a giver.

Why? I don’t even know. It happens on its own after a long time, five, maybe ten years. This is why we were given this life. Little by little, in the heart of a person, a desire and need for the property of bestowal appear.

Everything here is subject to simple “physics of forces”: The more acutely my heart experiences the need to come to bestowal, the more powerfully the field of bestowal affects me. This is how we come closer: I according to my need for it, and it according to the force of bestowal directed at me. As a result, we begin to feel each other, and I obtain internal changes: In addition to the natural force of reception, a force of bestowal appears in me.

This is how a correct form is developed: A receiving desire inside and a giving desire on the outside – a form of man (Adam), similar (domeh) to the Creator. His receiving desire, the “material” of creation, remains, while on the outside it’s covered with a garment, a “wrapper,” a desire to bestow.

So first and foremost, I need to want to bestow, and when this desire reaches a certain degree of tension in the heart, the field influences me by induction, introducing into me the force of bestowal.

Finally, it clothes in me and I become a sort of a sentient “probe” or “sensor” for this field. Suppose I received inside me ten grams of desire to bestow. First of all, through this, I was born; in other words, I begin to sense the field that surrounds me, I feel that I exist within it, I feel its properties, its attitude toward me, and my attitude toward it. In addition to the current material level, I enter into a connection with this field on a new level that is called the spiritual world, and this, in essence, is how we attain the Creator.

This field contains all the information about the past, present, and future, about everything that happens to me and to the whole world. A person who maintains connection to this field begins to understand how to make contact with it correctly, what to ask of it. Through this, we find ourselves in an enormous flow of information that fills all of reality. Here we learn who the Creator is, what this field is, how to establish contact with it, and how to operate the entire system. Thus man ascends higher and higher, more and more is included in the spiritual world. And all this only from the desire to bestow that he received in himself from this field.

Returning to the desire to bestow: A condition is embedded in it—one needs to want to become a giver. And who would want that? Special people with a point in the heart, that is, with a small charge that directs them for the field of bestowal of which they are a part.

And what of others? Others cannot strive for that. Like the first Kabbalists, they can reveal this field through the path of suffering and misfortunes, anguishing, not understanding the reason for what’s happening and in general, what they live for.

To the measure that this state is becoming formed, we are arriving to the present, singular point in history. The path of suffering of the world has more or less been revealed today. Many people, even if not all seven billion, are already asking the questions: “What do we live for? What is the meaning of life? What are we suffering for?” This question, coming from them, cannot receive an answer. Moreover, they don’t know where and how to direct their suffering. After all, they don’t understand and don’t feel anything except for this world.

Here comes the turn of the people with a point in the heart: We are obliged to become for others what the Creator is for creation. After all, it is we who are able to connect them to the field of bestowal, and this is our purpose, what Baal HaSulam describes in the article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee).” This is why we awaken en masse toward the upper force, while others receive this awakening from us. This is our work.

Thus, “the most important is to want only to bestow.” We are able to desire it with consciousness and awareness, because we were given a particle, a spark of its field, and with its help we can aim our course, and aspire towards this field in order to reveal it. By uniting our sparks, we will be able to demand from it the force of bestowal. While the others aren’t capable of this, they need our guidance.
[81119]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/21/12, Shamati #30

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To get a sense of the Light, we must practice, and exercises are possible only in the group. For example, a dance teacher begins to perform various movements with me: a step forward, a step backward, a spin, and so forth. The group is in front of me, and I can feel it, work with it, and thus advance.

Yes, this is very unpleasant to my egoism because, every time, I must give primacy to the group, not me, but it leads me in this “tango.” Friends express their desire, and I should follow it. As it is written, “Nullify your desire according to His desire.” I am learning how to bow my head, to accept the desire of the group as my lead partner, and come to cooperation, unity, with friends. I begin to feel their desire. It turns out that my dancing partner is reliable and close, devoted and faithful. I act for him, and he acts for me. Then, our unity turns into a real group.

The “group” means a single desire of friends to be united with each other. There is neither “me” nor “them” in this desire that is being born between us, but there is one whole, a new reality, not connection itself, but its result.

This is the spiritual fruit that came out of the mother’s womb. In it, we perceive the One and the Light; the Creator is revealed in it, in that desire to which we gave birth and created, which we have achieved by becoming one whole. There cannot be a divided multitude, but unity reigns in it.

Baal HaSulam writes about this in Letter 13: Besides the great power hidden in it, you should know that there are many sparks of sanctity in each of the friends. And as you collect all of these sparks into one place, as brothers in love and friendship, certainly you would have a very exalted degree of the level of sanctity at that hour.

A person can be included in the group in different ways, can come and go in waves, wholeheartedly or half-heartedly. Nonetheless, each of us has a unique particle of the Light that pulls him out of the bottom of this world, and that is why we must appreciate everyone. Moreover, this applies equally for men and women.

Our sparks are a true gift from above. A person is called a human (Adam) if he has this spark pulling him toward becoming similar (Adameh) to the Creator. If he does not have a spark, he still belongs to the “animate” level.

We are not speaking about some inadequacy. Some merely get a “dual” task to be born earlier than others and help everyone else to be born spiritually. They are similar to the head of humanity and must lead it forward.

That is why we need to understand that every friend has received a special attitude from above, from the Light that dressed into him. In his soul, in his spiritual root, there is something very special placed in him, so he is close to the light and receives this assignment.

Of course, he does not rise egoistically above humanity. We respect the friend because he was granted a special role to serve. We don’t treat others with disdain because this mission doesn’t depend on us.

That is why I must respect each friend. He was chosen from above, by the Light to become my partner. I cannot be born without him, and neither can humanity.
[81447]
From the Miami Convention 6/23/12, Lesson 1

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Question: How did the system of the pure worlds of ABYA come into being?

Answer: After the world of Infinity shattered, the correction was made, and as a result, the worlds of ABYA appeared from the broken state. This system was corrected by the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), in other words, by the Light that Reforms.

Then the four levels were corrected: from level zero up to the third one, but not the fourth phase, the “stony heart.” It is impossible to correct it, and it did become the reason for the breakage. So what can be done?

In order to fully reveal this phase, we need an additional special system called Adam. This is the forth level of the fourth phase, which will reveal and correct itself. As we build this system, it joins the pure worlds of ABYA. At that point Adam is starting to receive the Light through them. Its breakage divides the worlds into the pure and impure ones.

There are no worlds by themselves. Their two systems exist only in the perception of Adam who exists in between them. In other words, the systems of the worlds are formed between you and the Creator when you want to reach Him. They reflect your defects, your obstacles on the path. The purity and impurity are tied to you and don’t exist in and of themselves.
[81528]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 208, “Labor”: The efforts that one makes are but preparations for achieving devotion. Hence, one should grow accustomed in devotion, since no degree can be achieved without devotion, as this is the only tool that qualifies one to be rewarded with all the degrees.

In order to ascend a new step of the ladder, one must apply effort. Only after one applies effort does he attain a new level, but how does this happen?

At the present stage, one possesses a number of qualities, but the next step involves a higher level of qualities. How can we acquire them? We should plead for the Light that Reforms to affect us, to correct us, and thus leads us to rise.

All our efforts are meant to awaken the Light. How do we do that? We elicit the Light only by trying to simulate the higher step, although we are totally unable to do that since it is hidden from us. How can we become somewhat similar to it? For that, we have to follow several instructions defined by Kabbalists.

Our next step is in fact a greater effort to bestow as opposed to the current phase. It means that we have to invest determination into unity with friends, annul ourselves in relation to the group, and try to feel to the best of our abilities that there is none else besides Him in all our problems, issues, impediments, and hindrances. Everything is sent to me by the Creator, including the interferences that conceal His oneness and hide His unlimited power over the whole universe. We have to connect everything that happens to Him; our efforts should be directed to regard the group as a mechanism through which He reveals Himself to us.

Our determination has to reach a point where we feel that our efforts cannot grow any stronger; this is when we surrender ourselves to a higher state so that it can govern us. We still do not have the correct sensation, nor do we understand our next spiritual step; all we do is simply entrust ourselves to the next step by directing all efforts solely towards attaining it.

Due to this level of self-sacrifice and complete devotion, a person receives a soul from the higher level. Our efforts have to be directed to realizing that there is none besides Him; we have to strive to reveal Him and His oneness through bestowal and unity in the group. Let the upper govern our senses and intellect without any disparagement on our behalf.

This state comes to us gradually, step-by-step, to the degree that we elicit the Light that Reforms by attaining more similarity with the higher level. Similarly a fetus turns to its mother, allowing her to nurture it. Step by step, she augments his desires (in our realm it bears the form of supplementing its flesh), but his “job” is to refuse new desires by completely entrusting himself to her.

Over and over again, he merges with the upper one and admits that there is none else besides Him, the One who is good and does good, in spite of all the problems, difficulties, and obstacles that the new “flesh” (desires) awaken in him

The fetus “attaches” all of its parts as well as the whole world that surrounds him in his mother’s womb to the upper force, and eventually reaches the level of devotion and self-annihilation, which is called “nine months of conception” after which he is born into this world. The process of birth is excruciating; it is accompanied by tremendous labor pains (“birth contractions” – tzirim) under very constrained (tzar) conditions that cause incredible afflictions (tzarot). Through enormous pressure that originates both by the upper force and the fetus itself, the fetus transcends the narrow passage, and is born into the world of the Light. During the process of birth, the child has to completely “bow his head,” flip upside down. Then, when the process of birth is over, he lifts his head up again.

All of this is a result of our efforts. We have to realize that we will never attain the next step on our own; therefore, our task is to elicit the Light that Reforms so that it produces essential changes in us and, as a consequence, prepares us for the next step.

So, our work is to make actions that effectively elicit the Light that Reforms. Now, we are talking about our unity. By investing efforts into connection between us, we raise its importance with the help of the Light. At the same time, the Light demonstrates to us that we are not yet able to unite. The force that inspires us to bond conflicts with predicaments that prevent us from attaining unity, recognizing that there is none else besides Him. We still continue to think: “if not me, then who?”

This is how we approach the critical point that allows us “to be born anew” at each next level.
[77472]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/10/12 in America, Shamati #208

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Question: Can we advance in happiness?

Answer: If a person is immersed in his ego, in his desire to receive, then he certainly cannot be happy because it will only bring him pain. But if he rises above his ego so as not to worry about what goes on inside him, but to live on a higher level and to identify with the attribute of bestowal, with the world, with everything that surrounds him, he can be happy constantly.

It can be to such an extent that he won’t feel what is happening with his body at all. The body can die, but a person will not feel that he belongs to his body any more.

Now we totally identify ourselves with our body. But if we can develop so that we will gradually draw further from it, we will eventually stop feeling that we are tied to it at all. It is as if I float above this body, and it is indeed so, because I identify with the attribute of bestowal and I live in it, and this is the key to advancing in happiness.

I can attain this if I am incorporated in the environment and together with others form one general group force that is not egoistic, but that is formed from all our spiritual sparks that are connected above our ego. Our ego loses its value and we raise the sparks and see them as the top priority. As a result we begin to live in these sparks that are connected and create one harmonious group force.

Besides, by developing the force of mutual bestowal, which means that we can demand this force of bestowal from the upper force field, from the Creator, we will constantly feel happy. It all depends on how a person aims himself regarding the group, and how the group aims itself regarding the Creator, regarding the field of bestowal and love.

This is the only factor that determines everything. I have to detach myself from my “self” and to rise to the level of “we”; everything will be accepted happily! It isn’t simple, and there are ascents and descents, but this is how we advance. Each time we receive an additional ego, an additional desire to enjoy, so that we will grow stronger and connect more tightly to the field of bestowal. This is the only way to advance.

If a person identifies with the goal, he accepts everything that happens on the way happily because he understands that it is a means for reaching the goal.

But if a person thinks only about his stomach—absorbed in himself, unable to rise above himself, then he will certainly walk around with a sour face, will suffer in life, and will always have complaints about the environment, about the group, the friends, the Creator and the teacher—it all depends on how a person aims himself.
[81173]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/21/12, Shamati #30

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