Question: During group dynamics and the interaction of people, apart from a kind atmosphere, various forms of emotional tension also arise: hatred and different sorts of conflicts…

Answer: I think that all this will be revealed more and more since in order to bring us to agreement and balance with nature and each other, we will need a continuously increasing egoism—to the extent that we will penetrate into deeper layers of our interconnection with nature. By rising above it and uniting above such great resistance, we can achieve greater pressure, greater emission of energy, and greater revelation of the inner parts of nature.

In our interaction with each other, egoism plays a part of a resistor, electric resistance that stands between us. And the greater this resistance, the more energy is produced there.

Therefore, the revelation of egoism should become greater every time, and the opposition should become higher and more vivid. As we rise above them, we will penetrate into greater depths of nature. This is our instrument with the help of which we will feel the underlying nature due to the emergence of continuously greater hatred, incongruence, and misunderstanding between us, which tear us apart on all the levels and at every occasion.

If we unite in spite of this, our unification above the resistance will become that very instrument through which we will be in harmony with nature. That is, our harmony will be built on our integral connection with nature, whereas the depth of our unification with it, our penetration into it, will depend on the force of resistance that we overcome between us. 
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” 12/12/11

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Question: What is the “stop on the way” that Chanukah symbolizes?

Answer: In the spiritual world there are no “stops” as we know it. It isn’t that you are free from the spiritual work and can go home. The meaning of “a stop” is that we acquire the attribute of Bina and now we have to make a shift. We’ve raised Malchut to Bina and here comes Hanukkah.

Now we begin to make a shift, to lower Bina to Malchut, to work with the vessels of receiving (AHP). Thus we work with a growing desire to receive until we descend to its deepest levels. The ascent of Malchut to Bina is called the Maccabean Revolt, “to bestow in order to bestow,” and the descent of Bina to Malchut is already Purim, “to receive in order to bestow.”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: In the article “The Peace,” Baal HaSulam wrote that nature punishes man if he doesn’t implement its laws. But man is born egoistic and is not able to implement them!

Answer: There are many ways to word this question. First all of, what kind of Creator is there if he created us with so many defects and still punishes us for them? How can such a thing be? Isn’t it like beating a baby who was just born with some defect? Did He do this on purpose so that He would have an opportunity to punish us? Is the meaning of this to enjoy our despicableness and sufferings?

It is here we need to understand that the Creator doesn’t correspond with our present logic. The Creator gives us the possibility to complete ourselves. He created us at the level of beast. I am called, “man,” a name from my future state, and not a name from my present state.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah everything is named according to “future achievements.” For example, we are called, “Kabbalists” even though we have not yet received the upper Light with the intention for bestowal and we still are not in the spiritual worlds. But we are attracted to this, and work for this, and already now call ourselves with this future “title.”

This being so, why do we suffer from lack of self-completeness? It is because otherwise we wouldn’t complete it.

The Creator created us at the low, animal level, and we need to add to this the level of man, similar to the Creator. We need to do this by ourselves, through achieving, recognizing the quality, and valuing this status. This has been imposed specifically on us. Since if from the beginning, the Creator created everything by Himself, then there wouldn’t be any benefit from this creation. What reason is there to create a world where He controls everything and His creatures have no free choice in anything? That would be like doing nothing.

The Creator intentionally created us as we are: We are not complete; we need to feel that, to deeply sense that. Afterwards, we need to understand by what means we can complete ourselves, what we are really missing in order to add the Creator’s nature to ours? And then the animal in us is not taken into account and remains only as a basis that can be turned to. Afterwards, with the acquisition of the form of man, it disappears, and man detaches from it. The benefit is found within this entanglement in order to grow, and then afterwards to exit it and no longer be in need of it. Thus we are in need of the physical world, for this “bubble,” as long as we grow. And when we have grown, the physical world will disappear.

But we need to acquire the attribute of the Creator by ourselves. For this we need feelings; thus, gradually the level of the evil inclination is strengthened in me, the recognition of evil. I feel sufferings, aspirations, and pressures. All of this is in order to awaken me to the spiritual work. Together with this, the Creator does not punish me, but gradually, bit by bit, He shows me that I still haven’t received His form.

Let’s suppose, now, according to my plan of development, I should have already gotten 10% of the attribute of bestowal from the Creator, meaning exiting from the Egypt in me, detaching from egoism, rising above it in restriction, and beginning to process 10% of my desires for bestowal. But since I have not done that, these unexecuted assignments of mine press on me and I feel them as suffering.

It is not the Creator who puts pressure on me, but those forces that are found between the “I” of now and the desired “I,” the person I should already be. The gap between these two, gives me the feeling of the crisis, the feeling of suffering. The Creator only provides the creature with the initial push, from the beginning to the end. And I understand this process as a temporary space where I move from one end to the other in the process of my receiving the form of the Creator.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/11, “The Peace”

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Question: When you want to connect to others but are afraid of losing yourself, how is it possible to overcome the fear?

Answer: It is really that way. Baal HaSulam wrote that man is frightened since it seems to him that he disappears from this world and leaves his family and his friends. This is the difficulty in the work of the Creator.

That is exactly the feeling that we must experience, and we must receive the point of detachment from self-worry with joy. It is especially from these points that we build our identity. Each man’s identity is composed from those same points of detachment. This is a physiological example of total devotion.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What are the signs of the Creator’s work on me?

Answer: It is a feeling of pressure, as if you are a piece of dough or clay and a sculptor is working with it and constantly putting pressure on it from all directions. As a result of this, you feel that you need to act, to think, and to want in a way different than you do now. He is working on you as if truly with His hands, and you feel pressure on your thoughts, desires, ways of thinking and attitudes.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What more can I do if I feel I’m unable to ask for correction or to inspire my friends?

Answer: Every morning you wake up to go to work in order to sustain your living. You don’t question whether to go or not because you understand that without working you can’t survive.

Why do you question the spiritual work or think that you can get by without it?

The state where you think that you can live without working for spirituality and feel too lazy to put in any effort, thinking that you’ll advance anyway, is given to you purposefully because therein lies your freedom of will.

In your corporeal life, you can’t be lazy because no one will give you free bread. You are forced to earn a living and put in the effort. Don’t you think that the same principle applies to your spiritual life?

You work eight hours a day in order to sustain your corporeal body, but how many hours did you spend working for your soul in order to fulfill it and provide it with spiritual food?

If you don’t do this, then you’ll remain on the level of your corporeal body. If you don’t know what to do, it is said: “Do all that’s in your power!”
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/12, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: What should I cling to during the reading of The Book of Zohar, to the group, the Creator, or Rabbi Shimon?

Answer: There is no Rabbi Shimon, no Creator, no group, no Light—nothing. There is an inner impression of a person who is divided into such terms.

I do not know what exists outside of me. I just know that there is something called “I,” and I do not know what it is. And this “I” is impressed by something. I do not know what impresses it either.

Thus, I am in a certain state called “my reality.” I need to investigate this reality now: Who I am and what do I feel? The science of Kabbalah talks about this: how to reveal this state.

We begin from here. This is called to “grasp the meaning of life.” We are talking not about our life on earth for several decades, but about attaining the very essence of reality in which I and what I feel are namely this presence in my first realization: “I” and “feel.”

The entire science of Kabbalah is intended for a person to reveal the true reality—what happens to you when you get a sense of what it is, what this imaginary world that you see presents, and in general, the entire reality, life and death, good and bad impressions.

Why do they come? In order for you to begin to form yourself: who you are, what you feel, how and so on—until you begin to discover the point of stability from which you will be able to watch and start to organize the whole reality. This is what the science of Kabbalah is.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, The Zohar

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If we want to build a place for the revelation of the Creator, then each of us and we altogether have to awaken love between us. However, we should be careful that this does not erase all other sensations. Everyone should critically evaluate his attitude so that “love covers all transgressions.”

This inner work is called the awakening of love in the hearts of friends. It could be manifested outside in some ways, but the main work is going on within a person. And then, as it is written: “Through the love of creatures to the love of the Creator.”

From this world, we get a corrupted impression about love and misunderstand what it is. Love means that I want to help the other reach the best possible state, desire to give him all good; this is the sign of love.

Whatever this love is—love for the Creator, creatures, or friends—its greatest aspiration is to reveal the Creator, which fills all the desires and hopes. This applies to all people.

And if we are engaged in dissemination and wholeheartedly try to offer everyone, in a form suitable for them, the opportunity to discover the power of good, which rules the world, this is an expression of our love—even if we do not sense this love in our hearts, and just act and try to connect our intention to this action seeking to reveal to everyone the method of the revelation of the Creator, and we oblige ourselves to add to that warm, sincere attitude, the thought about the benefit of man. It does not matter what kind of people they are, the worst or the best, because the revelation of the Creator cures all evils.

This will mean that I aspire to love them although I feel no love towards them.

Even from our world we know how love is shown; if parents love their children, it is obvious from their attitude because they want only good for their children, and their successes make the parents happy all the time. Love is manifested in the desire to bring the loved ones to the best condition—the revelation of the Creator. And it is trying to do it with all the warmth, and the sign of the correct action is joy. [Read more →]

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Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”: In this article I would like to resolve three issues:
A. What is the essence of religion?
B. Is its essence attained in this world or in the next world?
C. Is its purpose to benefit the Creator or the creatures?”

Evidently, these three issues cover the entire, immense topic of religion. So, what is religion?

A person living in this world has these three questions about his life. He wants to know: “Who am I? Where do I come from? Who governs me? How do I exist? Where am I going?”

Animals are not concerned with this. They are born naturally, live under the rule of their instincts, and die without asking themselves any questions. The questions awaken only in the human race, and then not in everyone. Ninety percent of people do not think about this at all. They accept birth, life, and death as given. What happens is obvious and clear for them.

However, what if a person thinks about something greater, about the reason? This reason comes from the Creator.

As we know, each stage is divided into four levels of Aviut, that is, the depth or coarseness of desire. If a person already has reached a deeper, more corrupt level, he has more questions. He experiences various fears, wants to earn money, seeks the truth, and digs deeper. Thus, people become scientists and philosophers, and in general, develop a particular attitude toward life.

At the last step of this ladder, a person begins to relate to what is happening objectively, independently of himself. It is not just a scientific approach; he wants to discover the secret of life in spite of great personal interest while remaining as independent in his judgment as possible.

A traditional scientist obtains data, ignoring himself, without revealing his own relationship to the subject. He studies only material nature in which there are no answers to questions about the meaning. That is why scientists and philosophers cannot discover the dimension that lies above this life, unfolding in the five bodily sense organs.

However, if a person realizes that he must reveal the essence of life above his nature, apart from himself, then he should disconnect from this life, rise above it, and become a real scientist. He cannot remain a prisoner of his own nature that dictates to him his world view and behavior.

So, in search for the meaning of life, we must reach such a level where we are really independent of our nature, that which is the most objective and completely separated from everything that exists within us. How can this be? It is a big problem, and the wisdom of Kabbalah deals with this above all.

Our progress in life is divided into two stages. In the first stage, we must rise to the level of independence, armed with all necessary facilities, tools, and details of perception to occupy the “no-man’s land” where we owe nothing to anyone: neither to this world, nor the future world, nor egoism, nor bestowal, nor the good inclination, nor the evil inclination, nor the Creator, or the creature. We must stand in the middle, in the place called Klipat  Noga or the middle third of Tifferet.

We do not understand how this could be. After all, there is nothing but the Creator and the creature, nothing except the Light and the vessel. And since we are talking about ourselves, about the creature, then by definition, we are in the vessel of the created desire. How can we be brought to such a state where we will depend neither on ourselves nor the Light? How can we walk the razor’s edge? Who actually makes decisions in this situation, and what side may we choose if we are neutral?

Here, we have to understand that making an impartial analysis of our life is possible only if we rise above ourselves, above our own properties. Thus hanging in the air, we become independent of ourselves in the first place. Then we, possibly, will find that we are under the authority of the Creator and will have to get rid of that as well. How could it be otherwise?

So, to answer the question about the essence of religion, it is necessary to understand the origin of my life, who controls me, and where I am going. After all, I am carried by the flow, but will this knowledge help me? Could I change my fate to the better? Revealing the meaning of life, could I improve it, or to the contrary, is my ignorance bliss?

In the end, what will be will be. So, the question about the essence of religion is very complex, and approaching it, we have to solve a few preliminary tasks.
[61648]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Before starting to read or hear text that carries spiritual information, one must first attune himself to the place spirituality is revealed. It is written, “From love for the creatures (meaning from love for friends) one comes to love for the Creator.” Therefore, from the beginning we must imagine the group, the right connection between us, within which we await revelation.

All of the science of Kabbalah is devoted to the revelation of the Creator to the creatures. And success depends on how correctly I imagine the place of this revelation, meaning its conditions: the aspiration to it, a high evaluation, gratitude, and at the same time—suffering. Good impressions and bad, meaning great inspiration and great despair. All of it together.

But in the end, I focus on a reality in which I await the Creator’s revelation—the quality of bestowal, which rules over the whole universe from concealment. “There is none else besides Him”—the force of love and bestowal.

Once I attune myself this way in order to cling to this quality as much as I can imagine it with my entire heart and soul, in my heart and mind, aiming all of my thoughts, desires, and forces at it, I can then read the text. It might be talking in technical terms, such as Talmud Eser Sefirot, or be a legendary tale—that doesn’t matter. Behind all of that, I try to see how it describes the relationships between me and the upper force of bestowal, meaning how much I correspond to it.

This is what the book or the reader’s voice tells me about. No matter what the form in which I receive information about the Creator’s revelation, I will be ready to perceive it.

When we look at our life, in it we must also try to see how to reveal the attitude of the Creator, who “clothes” into the world. And first of all, obviously—in a group. He awakens all of us together, “day and night” (meaning in different states—ascents and descents) so we would finally reveal Him in the connection among us.

All of us together are like a musical instrument that must be tuned well and correctly by establishing the appropriate qualities, mutual connections, and harmony between us so the instrument would play correctly. When that wind blows, which played on David’s violin, then like that violin, we will play together.

In general, a person should try to see the expression of the upper force in all events of his life, even though he does not understand why and how things happen. On one hand, in regular life we must try to act normally and be the same as everyone. But at the same time, internally, we should relate to everything as if it is the revelation of the Creator to us.

For the time being this is like a game—it is not real because you still don’t know exactly how to decipher the picture that appears to you, but still, you have to search.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/12, Writings of Rabash

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