Awareness is the new category born out of the lack of equivalence of form. I begin to perceive who I am when I feel bad and try to clarify: What it is that I don’t like and why do I feel bad? Then I begin to search for the source of all this evil, from whom does it come?

All the 125 steps are based on the lack of equivalence of form, which constantly gives rise to the questions: What is this work and who is the Creator that I should listen to Him? Pharaoh is constantly asking us these questions and we are trying to find the answer. This is how the Creator plays with us on both sides, teaching us to be more sensitive to the intention of in order to bestow.

From one degree to the next, the Creator gives us a more qualitative sensation of the lack of equivalence of form. If at first I felt good and bad only with regards to corporeal criteria, by judging to what extent I succeeded in stealing from someone, now I judge the good and bad according to my intentions regarding the Creator or the person from whom I once stole.

At first I stole without anyone noticing and didn’t think about what I was doing. Then I continued to do the same thing, but I began to feel that I’m taking from someone. Later I began to feel ashamed of stealing, that I take something from a stranger for myself. Then my awareness grows so that I don’t need to take anything that is not mine, but when I look at it I feel like stealing it, and I don’t agree to that either.

Later I continue to correct myself; I don’t allow myself to steal or even to think about stealing, and this thought occurs to me only rarely. Different spiritual discernments are becoming more and more accurate inside me regarding this. Here the Creator confuses us and creates different interruptions, and all of it is being clarified only in thought.

Eventually I reach a point when even a single thought about using others makes me feel bad: If I suddenly think that another will be ill instead of me, or that he will feel bad instead of me. I am shocked by the thought that I may profit at another’s expense.

This thought remains but it becomes more tricky, fine, and internal. The evil towards others remains until the end of correction, but it becomes more qualitative because we are correcting the shattering. We rise from the simple, petty, and coarse exploitation of others to the cunning, sophisticated exploitation that harms the roots themselves. As it says, “he who is greater than his friend, his desire is greater than his friend’s,” which means that the ego is of a higher quality.

You have a slight egoistic intention, but it seems to be huge, not like “a hairsbreadth” but like “a cart’s ropes.” The correction is in rising above your ego, but the desire to use others is renewed on every degree and becomes more and more internal and cunning. This is what we should work on, and the main lab for that is the group, where you can quickly clarify your attitude to others.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/2012, “The Gate of Intentions”

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #52, “A Transgression Does Not Put Out a Mitzva”: I had heard another parable that he had told of two friends, one of which became a king and the other became very poor, and he had heard that his friend became a king. The poor went to his friend the king, and told him of his bad state.

The king gave him a letter to the minister of the treasury that for two hours he would receive as much money as he wanted. The poor came to the treasury with a small box and entered and filled that small box with money.

When he came out, the minister kicked the box and all the money fell to the floor. It continued similarly time and time again, and the poor man was crying, “Why are you doing this to me?” Finally, he said, all the money that you took throughout this whole time is yours and you will take it all. You did not have the receptacles to take enough money from the treasury, and this is why that trick was played on you.

We have to be ready for the situation that the moment we fill our “box,” it will immediately be emptied. However, it’s not so that we continue to mechanically fill it and to take more and more from the treasury.

The ego feels how the box is being emptied again and again, and it itself starts training us to perceive this as something normal. And then we begin to ask why it happens this way, what’s the meaning of it, and we don’t agree with this.

We go through the same states again and again, while the Light acts upon this uncompromising repetition, and we begin to understand that we don’t need to worry about the full box, but about the work itself. The opportunity to transfer the King’s treasure from place to place gives us fulfillment, and thus we attain bestowal, “Lishma.”

We shouldn’t aim at and focus on the fulfillment that is pleasant and important to us today, but constantly think about what will be important tomorrow. We need to do that immediately, and then we will be similar to that same old man who walks bent over and is searching, as if he has lost something. He is constantly afraid of losing the importance of the goal and tries to clarify what this goal is exactly.

The goal isn’t about pleasant sensations. Pleasant sensations are needed so that I can rise above them and demand a different filling—to feel the importance of the One I am working for and to remain in concealment. I demand the revelation of the greatness of the Creator only in order to supply to myself the fuel for the work. As it is said: “Wisdom (Hochma) is for the humble” and “The reward for a commandment is a commandment.” This is what a person has to aspire to so that he is allowed to rise above one deed to the next deed, which has no relation whatsoever to the pleasure that he received.

It is as if I prepared some action by myself, executed it by myself, and received good results. And now I need to thank the Creator for executing everything from beginning to end. After all, now I understand that everything happened because He gave me desire, fuel, direction, intellect, and all the rest. He is the One who arranged everything, and I did nothing at all.

Thus I need to make a sacrifice (Kurban), to bring another part of me closer (Karov) to bestowal. I have to sacrifice the pleasure that I received thanks to “someone else’s” work and the money (Kesef) that wasn’t mine either, meaning a screen, covering (Kisuf) in this world. The Creator gave me all of that and He also gave me fulfillment. And I want to rise above all of this and to work not for this fulfillment, but for the sake of His greatness.

In this way we don’t lose the level we obtained and don’t descend. Now we determine an even higher goal for ourselves, like that old man who searches in case he has lost something.

And we indeed have lost something. For a small moment we felt how good and pleasant it is to be in unity, and now we have to rise above this pleasant feeling to the importance of the goal. And this same pleasant feeling we want to pass on to the Creator so as to bring him contentment.

It follows that this entire process he went through, all the refreshments that the guest received from the host, he now wants to return them so as not to receive them for himself. This is already a state that in some way becomes pure bestowal, “Lishma.” And this is already the correct attitude.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/2012, Shamati #52

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Question: If everything that we see is actually within us, why do other people around us see the same thing?

Answer: It only seems that way, but actually it is all inside you. We cannot correct this distorted perception until we feel the spiritual world ourselves. Einstein also wanted to create a formula that would explain the order of creation, but he did not succeed. It is impossible to do that in our corporeal world.

Imagine a bug that crawls on the ground and feels the world in two dimensions: only by its length and width. You will never be able to explain to it what height means, it isn’t made for that since it is missing the third axis in its brain. We have three axes and time, and there is nothing other than that. This is why we cannot understand the world in the spiritual dimension.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/2012, “The Gate of Intentions”

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Question: If I study over the Internet, does the Light that Reforms affect me?

Answer: Even in our corporal world there are neutrino particles that pass freely through matter, hardly losing any speed.

The upper Light is at absolute rest everywhere. There are no barriers for this phenomenon in our world; it is above its nature. Therefore, if we want to summon the Light to operate on us, we have to change so that it can feel us, in other words, we have to be similar to it in our properties. This is the extent to which we get incorporated into the Light and receive the results of its action upon us. For this reason our work is directed at being more and more similar to the Light.

The Light itself is formless, while our vessel, our desire, has to take on the attribute that is similar to the Light. The desire to receive is made up of many layers and degrees, and hence advances towards similarity to the Light step by step. Our goal is to constantly, from degree to degree, become increasingly similar to the Light. After all, the purpose of creation is to attain full similarity to the Light. This is where the name “Kabbalah” comes from, meaning to receive (in Hebrew). It teaches us how to receive, to absorb all the attributes of the Light.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/2012, Shamati #190

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Question: How can I strengthen my connection with the friends in a virtual group?

Answer: It’s not easy. After all, a person responds to what he perceives in five senses. This is how we are built on the “animate” level: We react to those who are close to us, who are in the field of our vision and hearing, and whom we can reach for and touch.

There is a reason why business people spend so much time travelling. Can’t they reach agreement remotely? All necessary conditions exist for that. Why does it make a difference with whom you maintain business relationships? It could be someone from China, Taiwan, South America, or Europe—most important is nevertheless profit. Yet still, business people need full-fledged meetings, not only virtual contacts and correspondence. Thus, a natural need for real contact roots in man. He has to “feel on skin” whatever is important to him.

It’s not the case with us, but we too have to meet each other and get imbued with sensations, impressions from these meetings. This is why we hold conventions.

It’s like a scientist who can lock himself up in his laboratory and carry out experiments, forgetting about the external world. But once in a few months he has to fly out somewhere to meet other scientists and communicate with them. To have a full picture, he needs a physical sensation, no matter what research he is engaged in.

Similarly, we can be separated by a distance, but on the other hand, having an opportunity, we have to invest efforts into unification. This makes our path a lot easier. And for this reason, if a person hasn’t been at a convention yet, he simply must come. Otherwise he won’t receive the needed impressions for subsequent advancement.

Regarding those who were at conventions already, who have difficulties coming, who for whatever reason have no opportunity, these people, having previous impressions, can stay with a local group and participate in our gathering there.

But if a person cannot come either to the convention or to a local group, then he needs to organize for himself the best possible conditions at home and stay there, imagining to himself that he is wholly with us. This also works.

In any case, regardless of where a person is, it’s desirable to always aim at unity. After the shattering of the vessels we get corrected only through unification. Surely, we don’t really want it, we are not drawn to it at all since by nature we are a result of the shattering of that very property that unites us into one whole. However, if a person wants to reach the purpose of creation and reveal the truth, he needs to rise above his nature. He has to dwell above this life so as to come to the spiritual one.

I repeat, for those who have never attended a convention yet, it’s simply your duty to. I cannot advise you on how to make it happen, however, as it is said, do whatever is in your power to do. It’s necessary to come to a convention at least once, if such an opportunity actually exists.

And besides, it’s very important to prepare for the meeting. Visit our site www.kabbalah.info and press on the convention banner to get familiar with the preparation material.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/2012, Shamati #190

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Question: What are you expecting from your trip to South America and the upcoming convention in Brazil?

Answer: I look forward to this trip with excitement since it gives me an opportunity to achieve some results in the mission to which I have dedicated my life. But on the other hand, this result doesn’t depend on me, which is why I’m simultaneously inspired by this opportunity and cautious in my expectations.

And naturally, the outcome of the convention depends not only on those who’ll come to Brazil, but on all of our friends from around the world—you all understand this very well. And this is why I think that we need to conduct a very serious preparation, which is extremely important to each of us individually and to all of us together.

Let’s really prepare ourselves in a way Rabash describes in his articles “The Need for the Gathering of Friends” and “Preparation for the Gathering of Friends.” Preparation for a gathering includes clarifying why I need these friends, what they give to me and I to them. Even before I come to the meeting, I must clarify the purpose of creation and how it can be attained so that this convention, that is, the unification in which everyone is equal, becomes a means of achieving the desired goal.

I am glad that people understand this better and better, and I believe that through these conventions we will be able to leap to the next degree. All of it depends on our preparation. This is what we lacked before the European convention in Lithuania, where we didn’t have such joint preparation.

There was only participation of the whole world in the convention, the kind that I feel now as well. But it’s only participation; for now I don’t yet sense a real preparation, even though we know that it determines everything. Right now, we need to conduct a massive preparation, which is even more important than whatever will happen later at the convention.

At the time of the convention, all kinds of obstacles could come up, such as interruptions in the Internet broadcast or whatever else. But at that point it’s no longer important because the action itself doesn’t depend on us, we are charged only with its preparation. We should never forget about this!

Your preparation doesn’t depend on anyone other than yourself since it happens as if in concealment. It has not revealed itself yet, hasn’t been realized in action. It is said that the thoughts of a person are not accessible to the impure force, it knows only of his actions. And this is why we can freely prepare together, correspond, and share our plans. And it is very important. The action itself could even appear as entirely unsuccessful, but the result won’t depend on the action itself at all but on the preparation for it.

We are concerned with the way the action itself turns out because we’re still small in spirituality, and we use the impressions we receive to determine the “success” or “failure” of a convention. But in reality, everything is determined by the preparation, and this is why the main emphasis right now should be made specifically on it.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/2012, “Questions and Answers Regarding the Brazil Congress”

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The upper Light is at absolute rest, which means that I shouldn’t hope that there’ll be changes on its end and need to change only myself, my desires. And even though it is said that the Lights agitate the desires, there is only just one Light. The Light is divided into five beams in correspondence to the desire being divided into five parts, and thus the desire senses the single Light as if there are five different Lights. The vessel changes and therefore it feels as if the Light agitates it.

And if everything depends on the desire, it means that the entire success is determined by its preparation. Depending on how the desire prepares itself, meaning whether or not it will be ready for the action, for its meeting with the Light, so it will be! This is why preparation determines the entire outcome of an action.

And we don’t know what the action will be. Perhaps it will be an even deeper fall into Egypt or one of the Egyptian plagues?! Or perhaps it will be the crossing of the Red Sea, which is not a very pleasant adventure either, or the escape from the Pharaoh’s army, or even receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai. All these situations can hardly be called pleasant pastimes—they all pass in trepidation, fear, hate, and great strain. But preparation determines whether or not we will be able to overcome all this.

Therefore, right now we need not think about the way the convention itself will go, but only about how we can prepare ourselves for the action of unification. And the degree that will be revealed to us within this unity will show us where we are: Perhaps we are still in Egypt, or we are about to exit it, or maybe we are already beyond its borders.

Everything depends only on the preparation of our desires (vessels, instruments), while the Light is at constant rest. Depending on how we prepare ourselves to correspond to the Light, we will receive its influence accordingly, that is, we will sense how we are acquiring its form.

You will see that there are no obstacles to preparation; it is always blessed and leads to advancement. While the action itself is a meeting with the Light, and it can lead to completely opposite results from what we were expecting. The result will always be for our benefit, but it can appear to us as a blow, like, for example, the plagues of Egypt, which signified the stages of advancement towards a spiritual birth. And we can go through them in the blink of an eye, one after another, in the duration of a single convention….
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/2012, “Questions and Answers Regarding the Brazil Congress” 

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Question: If connection occurs on the spiritual level, why do we need to come to the convention and meet in person?

Answer: You don’t think that it’s possible to disconnect from the Internet entirely and instead of the lesson, to sit with your eyes closed and connect to us through internal channels, do you? Evidently, you’re not yet prepared for such internal connection and will begin to daydream and meditate.

We understand each other better when we meet. It’s necessary to meet at least once in order to feel what that is. We receive impressions from this world, from the five bodily senses of perception, and therefore we need to feel each other through the regular senses. We’re animals, not angels.

Our brain consists largely of cells that perceive smells, and they grow like seaweed covering the ocean floor. Despite all of our modern virtual networks, we act in this world according to our animal instincts. This is why we need the most direct contact; otherwise, on a subconscious level we’ll lack a great amount of data needed for a higher connection.

We are required to meet since we live in this world and from this world we begin our spiritual ascent along the rungs of the ladder! Thus, if we won’t lay the foundation for this ladder, we won’t be able to climb it.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/2012, “Questions and Answers Regarding the Brazil Congress”

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Question: What is an internal preparation for the convention?

Answer: Internal preparation is a reverence for the property of bestowal as the force, property, value, that is above everything. On the basis of such preparation, you can then continue and work out various individual states, actions, and goals in order to reach the common goal and realize this property of bestowal within our matter, the desire to enjoy.

I am asking everyone to send their suggestions on how to conduct the convention in Brazil. We will discuss them during the lessons, and in this way we will learn from our common action and prepare our common desire. In other words, the convention will be a realization of what we will prepare together.

Everybody must prepare themselves, wherever in the world they may be. It cannot be that a person returns from work, does all the household chores, and when there is a little free time left, suddenly remembers that there is a convention going on, turns on the broadcast, and begins to watch.

Nothing will come out of it. A person should prepare in advance, anticipate, and plan what he will be doing together with us and how he will advance due to these actions. The action itself is worth nothing; everything depends on the preparation.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/2012, “Questions and Answers Regarding the Brazil Congress”  

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If we are in our desire to receive yearning only to receive a filling, we don’t feel that there is something else outside our desire. We only understand that there is a void in us that must be filled and that feels that it is empty. As long as our desire doesn’t receive all the filling, it will not calm down. It is like a crying baby that doesn’t calm down until he receives everything that he needs.

How can we teach such a desire to receive another pleasure, pleasure from bestowal? It doesn’t even understand what it is, and cannot feel and do such a thing. But gradually we begin to teach it according to a plan.

The whole study is based on the readiness to suffer, because the desire needs to give up its filling, to give up the desire for the filling, to give up the feeling of the self, the self pride, the envy, the respect, and the control, which means its independence.

At first a person thinks that he can correct himself, until he sees that it is impossible, and that it can only be realized by the upper force. He learns from failing all the time. Thus he is taught that he should lower his head and ask, ask for the one thing that he doesn’t want. Then he receives help and changes, becoming his opposite, by beginning to enjoy what was hateful before.

We have to go through this whole process in understanding, in recognition, in agreement, in our feelings and in the mind, in our consciousness. Everything you were proud of before and considered respectable, now seems the opposite, and you discover your lowliness and your helplessness. Our desire to receive, which doesn’t know anything but to fill itself, feels all this when it learns about a totally new method.

This process takes place according to the three symbols: “Pesach” (Passover), “Matzah,” and “Maror” (bitter herb). It is called “Pesach” from the Hebrew root to skip, as a person constantly jumps from one side to its opposite, and so he turns his small measures of receiving into bestowal. He does that by Matzah, “the bread of affliction,” since he has no other food and he agrees to settle for what he receives from bestowal.

A person constantly raises the importance of bestowal, while his desire to receive only gets the “bitter herb.” Thus he raises the right line, the Matzah, over the left line, the bitter herb, like a hero who overcomes the bitter taste and wants to turn it to the sweetness of bestowal. Then he reaches Pesach, the changing of his consciousness.

By the new attitude towards the desire to receive, that doesn’t change, he builds the human in him. “Adam” (Man) is what is built above the desire. This is the system that begins to work according to the new principle with the same natural attributes, but by using them in order to bestow.

The mechanism, that is created by that is made of all the person’s actions and exertions as he overcomes his desire to receive, is what is called “Adam.” All this is done by the three special components that symbolize the holiday of freedom from the ego, Pesach, that are called Pesach, Matzah, and bitter herb.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/12, Writings of Rabash

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