Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)” (an abbreviated version): The newborn is in a state of complete self-reception without a hint of bestowal.

This was done on purpose so that by self-correction a person will learn to move from the incorrect actions to good deeds. This is how he becomes aware of the gap between the vessels and the Lights, between his state and the Creator’s, and between parts of creation. This is how he sees creation to its full depth.

With the revelation of the spiritual world, we gradually begin to discover how the air becomes “thick,” and the forces, relationships, and actions filled with the details of perception from the higher level, higher dimension, begin to show through it. We don’t feel them now, we don’t grasp them, but we are actually in them. In order to reveal the actions of the upper forces upon us, we have to make great efforts.

If a person wants to know his nature, it is revealed to him as the evil inclination. But if a person isn’t ready to correct himself yet, he doesn’t see his evil nature. Out of billions of people only a few millions can say that their nature is evil. All the others don’t understand what we are talking about: “Yes, of course, we should be kind to each other,” and that’s all.

Therefore, many will not agree with Baal HaSulam who says that that self-love is imprinted in us from the moment we are born. This is why people who observe the Torah and commandments the popular way have complaints to Kabbalists. They don’t feel that they sin at all. They don’t see that all their actions are for their own good. On the contrary, their actions lack any self-criticism or recognition of evil.

We must not awaken this evil. Until a person reaches it on his own as he develops, he should stay at the the still, vegetative, or animate level. The internal shattering reveals the human level, and then he begins to correct himself.

So if we merit the birth of the human within us, then signs of self-love appear from the moment of birth. It turns out that we do everything for ourselves alone and are ready to do everything at the expense of others.

Thereby man distances from the Creator, meaning from the power that controls the world with bestowal. The more he grows, the more he receives from his environment portions of “bestowal upon others”… That is, a person receives a feeling of the importance of bestowal. Although it is contrary to his nature, the environment can influence him. The structure of the spiritual world gives the group, the environment, great powers, even greater than one’s natural strength. At first we were connected as one vessel and the Light dominated us from Above. Therefore, when I discover the separation here below, but I don’t want to connect with others even a little, the environment can show me how it respects the connections and thinks highly of bestowal so I also want the same thing.

The environment influences me more strongly than my egoism. It will win. It can oblige me not to eat, not to drink, to behave in a certain way, and to wear certain clothes. If I could look at myself from the side, I would think: “What an idiot! What is he doing?” But a person simply carries out society’s orders and for him it isn’t nonsense, but very important and respectable things.

Ultimately, a person does everything only because society obliges him to. He even does the essential things in the acceptable way. No one has anything inside but society’s influence.

… he receives from his environment portions of “bestowal upon others” … for reward in this world and in the next world. In the first stage it will already give a person the power to advance.

The environment educates a person and teaches him the accepted norms and ideas. It is enough for an environment to use them, for them to become the truth for a person. After the right treatment, he is ready to obey unquestionably the principles it decided upon. If society wishes, it can do whatever it wants with each of us, and even send us to death. The connections which empower it belong to a higher spiritual level.

As one grows, he will be told how to come to the altruistic intention so as to bring contentment to his Maker. An environment is also needed for that. A person will not want that by himself. You can read endless numbers of books and articles and know all the wisdom of Kabbalah in depth, but without the influence of the environment nothing will change in a person. Nice words? Please, but there won’t be any real internal change behind them.

It’s necessary to work in a group, make efforts, study, build the intention while studying, and participate in common activities, and then a person attracts upon himself the Light. In other words, instead of the bad life, instead of the evil inclination, he receives the good inclination and moves from evil to good.

Then he loses all remnants of self-love and performs all his actions only to bestow, so even the necessity that he receives flows in the direction of bestowal…

This intention permeates one’s entire life.
[60156]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/8/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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On each phase of development I receive an “injection” and look for salvation out of helplessness. Hardships purify me, humble my egoistic desire, and bring me to goodness, meaning to the right decision, the right action. But all of it happens under the shower of painful blows, by the path of suffering.

On the other hand, I can use alternative remedies (forces and situations) that allow me to go through the process of correction without waiting for trouble. The difference is in my consciousness, awareness, and determination towards the Creator.

I can either crawl and take blows until they arouse a new desire within me at each given step, or I can generate a need to advance on my own. I keep searching for attractiveness and charm in my aspiration toward the Creator and bestowal.

Let this charm draw me forward with greater strength than the pinches that I get from behind. I will be the one who defines the speed of my development by moving faster than it is defined in the Thought of Creation which spurs me forward. It is said that in this case I am the one who “wakes the dawn, the dawn does not wake me.”

At this point we arrive at the only free choice that is available to us. It is about looking for additional powers to advance besides the Light and the vessel. Where do I get them?

It is clear that if I don’t use alternative powers, my authentic “I” would not even exist. I’ll remain a small beast that evolves only as a result of the blows nature sends its way.

We have all been progressing in this manner until now. Somehow, we think that only the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature develop in accordance with the laws of nature, but a human being advances independently of it. But why would it be the case? Isn’t evolution still in progress?

Is it really so that as soon as a monkey turned into a human being, it immediately got excluded from the laws of nature? Is it feasible that we are driven forward only by our own intelligence? No. We are intelligent, but we still comply with the laws of nature; we don’t oppose them. Our beloved intelligence comprises nature’s indispensable part.

Modern science discovers the miracles of developmental adaptability and explains interactions between various creatures: insects, birds, fish, and so on. However, we attribute all of it to instincts and at the same time continue to plume ourselves on our intellect. In reality, our brain only implements our instincts in an even more instinctive way. As a result, we destroy ourselves even more. Animals are defended by protective mechanisms, whereas we are deprived of a “safety device” and “go wild.”
[60058]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/7/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: How can we practically unite our sparks at the December convention?

Answer: You should arrive at the convention with the sparks already united. This is what is meant by preparation.

Why am I going to the convention? I am going there to evoke inner unity with others through various external actions, to be included in that spiritual vessel where we are all waiting for the revelation of the Creator. All our preparation is aimed at the unification of those sparks.

All my desires and thoughts are directed at the goal, at the revelation of the spiritual world, the upper degree, eternity and perfection, something great and boundless. I have to select all my hopes and bring them towards unity with others. Only by having united our yearning for the higher degree all together, will we feel the common vessel that is created from these individual impulses and the Light that fills it.

This is the preparation: to arrive at the convention with the desire that is already formed, clarified, and burning inside.
[60326]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”: There are two types of relationships: with the Creator and man. And both are destined to lead to the goal: adhesion. A person acting altruistically does not feel any difference in his action between love for his neighbor and love for the Creator since everything outside of his body seems to be unreal in his perception.

So, I exist in an imaginary reality surrounded by other people on planet Earth, in the Universe. Why do I imagine reality to be this specific way? Why am I made to perceive it in this specific form? This is because the falsehood of this “image” absolutely corresponds to the way I deform actual reality. The greater the lie, the further I am from the truth.

And then, being in the current state, I acquire a desire to reveal the essence of life, to understand the reason for living and the meaning of my existence. I want to rise above falsehood and see the truth behind it. If so, one day, my reality will need to change.

How do we achieve it? We want to imagine the true state with the desire that has awakened in us. One cannot manage without the advice of Kabbalists here. We are not able to do anything on our own without their help in evaluating our direction. After all, we are submerged in darkness and confusion, and we do not have even a bit of truth, but a spark of newborn desire. However, this new urge represents only a point, not a vector that could have showed us the path. For this reason, we must turn to the corresponding means in order to head in the right direction.

If I imagine the entire world as myself, as a unified whole, it is a proper image. However, I am not able to form this attitude within me on my own. I am not able to imagine that other people, forces, and phenomena of the still, vegetative, and animate nature are parts of my desire because in my perception, they are depicted as something isolated, separate, and sometimes distanced, opposite, and hateful to me.

For this reason, the method that leads to the truth is the group where I must work. Even though I see my friends as absolutely different and opposite, together, we strive toward a corrected, true state. Together, we must work to make the correction and truth into one.

This is where the need comes from for a proper attitude toward the ultimate, true state called the “Creator” or the group. I will attain the truth only on condition that instead of interacting with the so far imaginary Creator, I interact with a real group, and together, we imagine ourselves to be on the highest degree.

We can handle this work. We advance toward a common, true state through becoming closer to the desires of our friends where we can unite. Then our external actions of becoming closer will bring us to an inner closeness of a single desire.

Our world is a projection of spiritual forces. We perceive them as physical images and create conditions for the unification of our desires, which merge into one by uniting with common efforts on our common path into a single system. We can really begin with nothing, with corporeal, physical actions, even false ones, but productive. One can manage initially without the intention on a low degree. The first chord may be off-key, but it still counts. This is why no one can say that he was not given the reins to take himself to correction.

This way, the relationship between people is more important than the relationship with the Creator. On one hand, I have a small group that wishes to reveal the message, the method of correction. On the other, I have the vast humanity, subconsciously waiting for unity.

In the end, humanity must receive this method from us in a prepared form with strictly described relationship parameters. However, before the crisis and helplessness manifests the real need for unity between people, there is no reason to reveal the method. This is why Kabbalah is concealed.
[60247]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: What is the best way to connect to the technical study of Kabbalah? What is more important, the intention or the effort to understand?

Answer: The technical study of Kabbalah without its practical application does nothing. You will never be able to memorize anything. Even if you memorize some details, it will not help you in any way, it will not fill you, nor will it elevate you. Only spiritual work can elevate one upward.

We study the entire system of the Universe only so that we can attempt to understand it in some way and determine what is important for us. For us it is important to draw the upper Light, to become filled with the Light of Hassadim (Wisdom), and to rise from the worlds of BYA to the world of Atzilut. This can be done if we unite. As we unite, we rise to ZON of the world of Atzilut where we find ourselves under the influence of the reforming Light.

We need this system only for the purpose of convincing ourselves to do the necessary actions together. Then the correction will take place, and as a result, every one of us will see and sense himself inside of this whole system. He will see it for real and will be able to freely navigate within it. This system is the connection between us. However, if we don’t try to connect with one another, we will not reveal it because the worlds are something that exists between us.

In other words, when we aspire to one another in similarity of properties, in mutual guarantee, we reveal the worlds and the Light within the worlds. The general Light which becomes revealed is the Creator.
[59889]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/30/2011

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Question: There are a lot of things that I don’t understand. When will the overall picture of the whole system finally become a little bit clearer?

Answer: I have been studying this material for years. I am a person who is accustomed to studying, and for me all the diagrams, drawings, and systems are like bread for the hungry: I “swallow” them with great pleasure. I like systems analysis because my profession is biocybernetics. But when I started to learn this system, it was absolutely incomprehensible to me and raised a lot of questions.

All the questions are resolved only to the extent that you feel the material. If you study it without going into this material with your feelings, you will understand nothing. Moreover, even if you understand something today, it will evaporate tomorrow because you are constantly changing. What you remembered yesterday disappears from your memory today because your desires are changing.

The only way to understand this system is to attain it. And attainment is possible only when one’s qualities match those of the system. That is why you should think not about how to absorb this material in your mind, but how to feel it with your heart. The heart understands, not the mind.
[60129]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/30/2011

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We need to receive from Above the power of faith called “art.” Naturally, we ourselves do not have it. And on this path a person sees how weak he is. It is written that inner work “weakens a person” because he begins to feel that he does not have anything but egoistic desire.

And if he supposedly manages to overcome his egoism, it simply means that a larger egoistic desire has defeated a smaller one. This way, instead of advancing in the direction of spirituality, he is moving in the opposite direction, using an even greater egoism.

Sometimes people are very successful in their studies, they work and study a lot, and you would think that a great force of bestowal is driving them. But this is not the case. This simply is the great force of egoism because they see a greater benefit before them.

We always advance from “Lo Lishma” (for oneself) towards “Lishma” (for the sake of bestowal) and naturally act with the help of our ego. But still, our responsibility is to evaluate our true position and the intentions that drive us.

Gradually, as a person exerts effort in studying, dissemination, and mainly in group work, he reveals how incapable of anything he is. Man realizes his true state when he sees that no matter how much he tries to overcome his ego, putting all his effort into it, he is still incapable of doing anything with himself.

A person spent all his time working for the importance of the goal, but at the end, he lost his strength and realized his evil. He understood that he has nothing but the ego and that his every movement is driven by an egoistic purpose. As a result, he reaches a deep state of despair, described in the following way: “There is no happier moment in a person’s life than the moment when he becomes completely disappointed in his powers and feels absolute helplessness, and thus he becomes ready for a complete prayer.”

And a complete prayer is a request to acquire the power of faith. And then the power of greatness of faith, greatness of the Creator clothes him, and thus a person continues to work, but with another kind of “fuel.”
[60139]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/8/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can we connect the scheme of the universe that we have been studying in our lesson with making a decision about going to the convention in December?

Answer: Essentially, the structure of the universe holds the answer to all our questions.

When we unite our broken souls, we rise to the world of Atzilut. Our attempts to unite draw the upper Light of correction to shine upon us. It exists above the Parsa. It is impossible to receive the Light below the Parsa. Our only salvation is to rise to the world of Atzilut through common unity. Therefore, participation in the convention is an occasion to rise above the Parsa and sense the upper world.

You can invite all people to the convention, those who are distant or close to Kabbalah and mutual guarantee. The material at the convention will not be hard. We will study and realize the system of uniting. We will try to come closer to one another in order to reach such a potential, to reach such compression between us that will allow us reveal the upper Light. This is our task.

Therefore, any person who thinks that this is good for him has the opportunity and the right to come. I hope that we will succeed at this convention and will sense the beginning of the revelation of the upper Light within the mutual guarantee between us.
[60132]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/30/2011

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The Reshimot (informational genes) get activated, and desire, life, awakens in me. So, why do many students fall asleep during the lesson and lose interest? Where is their desire? After all, everything depends on our desire, and our desire depends on the Light.

The Light moves away, as it is written: “Hide not Thy face far from me.” And to the extent that the Light retreats, a person gradually falls asleep, until he finally dies. Everything depends on the extent of the distancing of the Light. We are only the result of the influence of the Light.

Therefore, there is just one action and means to influence us: the correct environment. Through it, we awaken the Light. Then, we will be ready for its influence, and our advancement will be faster, welcome, and pleasant.

We are drawing closer to bestowal all the time, to the point when we become similar to the Creator and merge with Him, with all His attributes. If we are within our egoism unconsciously and, without any preliminary preparation, need to receive the influence of the Light that advances us to bestowal, all stages of our development occur through suffering.

Our life is sweetened a bit just seldom, in childhood, when our advancement comes without blows on the way. In this way, nature helps us and lets us advance through the Light of Hassadim (Mercy). However, usually, we are pushed from behind toward advancement through blows and suffering.

If you prepare yourself to receive the future forms of development as desirable (since each new form is greater bestowal), then these future forms won’t appear to you as great darkness. This is similar to that same darkness and uncertainty that you feel now when you are in a descent.

However, even in the darkness, you won’t consider it a descent. The night (“Orta” in Aramaic) is the opposite side of the Light (Ohr), from which I now move to the right side, as it is written: “The night shineth as the day.” Everything depends on your preparation. Then, you relate to the same stages with understanding, awareness, and desire, and we can go through them faster.

You grasp these stages quickly. You need to stay at each state until you process it and feel that you must pass to the next one. Reshimot from the next level will begin to awaken in you. This is how we advance.

Let us hope that thanks to the preparation for the convention and during the convention itself, we will attain the great Light, process a lot of Reshimot, and build the Kli (vessel) on a spiritual level. This is really in our hands.
[59989]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/6/2011, TES

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Question: To what extent can the convention awaken the dormant informational genes (Reshimot) in a person?

Answer: We can only awaken our informational genes (Reshimot) due to the influence of the environment. Without the influence of the environment, the Reshimot awaken according to the driving force of natural development, which pushes us from behind through suffering, according to nature’s evolution. Everything arrives, as they say, “in its time (Beito).”

However, if instead of evolving at a natural pace we want to accelerate time (Achishena) and hasten our development through our efforts, then we need to draw the Light upon us. The stronger the Light, the faster our Reshimot awaken. And thus we advance faster.

The Light illuminates us from Above, and the Reshimot react to it and awaken from below. We can influence the Light by arousing it, and then it also awakens our Reshimot faster. This is our entire work; we are unable to do anything else.

From this we can understand that the convention can be a very effective means to awaken the Surrounding Light that reforms. If all of us want to reach our future state, the state of mutual guarantee and bestowal, then the great Light that is attracted by this desire will awaken the Reshimot in us. In this way we will accelerate our development.
[59996]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/6/2011, TES

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