We all receive some initial sense of the importance of the bitter fruit of bestowal, but we cannot bear its terribly bitter taste. However, if we constantly tell each other how important it is, then everyone will be imbued with this importance. On the other hand, a person will feel more clearly how much this repels him and is against his whole nature. He will sense that this thing is extremely valuable, but is beyond him.

If a person is in the environment that tells him that there is no choice because this fruit is vital for him, and it is his entire life, then he agrees to change his nature. He begins do discover that there is a remedy for this and demands the force that would change him: the Light that Reforms.

Thus gradually, he discovers a new taste. He begins to find sweetness in this bitterness by adding even more bitterness!

The Talmud gives an example that it is forbidden to sprinkle lemon or grapefruit with salt because it softens the natural bitterness and turns it into sweetness. As it is said: “Salt sweetens meat.”

To the bitter fruit, we add an even more bitter component—the anti-egoistic screen—and then it turns sweet! Thus, a person gets a remedy called the force of bestowal.

And then the bitterness, which he felt before in his egoistic desires, becomes sweet due to the screen. That is, he obtains a connection with bestowal because bestowal turns into pleasure for him. And the Giver, that is, the Creator, becomes close to him to such an extent that a person feels the desire to bestow to the Creator.

He then develops this taste for bestowal, as in our life we develop a taste for new food, and it becomes pleasure for us. A child will not drink wine because it is sour or bitter, he would rather have sweet juice. He will refuse to eat very spicy and sour food that we eat. Our normal tastes also develop over  our lifetime, and we can develop a new attitude to the things that previously we could not tolerate.

The same happens in our inner work. Bestowal is a very bitter fruit. There is nothing attractive in it; just the opposite, everything in it repels. However, if a person cares about the importance of bestowal, this importance turns into the right line for him, and bitterness into the left line. And then he builds a new middle line, a means to taste the sweetness in bitterness.

It is completely like the Megillat Esther (Book of Esther), which means the disclosure (Megillah) of concealment (Esther). Sweetness is felt in bitterness, and “darkness will shine like the Light.” And so everything that we felt as bitter becomes sweet due to a new attitude.

But “the earth will not bear fruit until man is created.” The fruit already exist, and the earth is ready to bear them, just a person has to be born to feel that there is fertile soil, bearing fruit, and it is sweet; otherwise, it is not a fruit. That is, these are the fruits that are revealed as a result of man’s work, and without it, he will not reap the fruits.

To the extent that he built the middle line, a new attitude to what he felt bitter, he will reveal that this is a sweet fruit.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/1/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Imagine your state to be the same as when you wish to give your children something that tastes awful but is very good for them. They don’t understand it at all and are unwilling to accept it. Similarly, we must consume an extremely bitter fruit and enjoy it at the same time. But how can I enjoy such bitterness? It’s like a lemon that makes my mouth pucker just by looking at it.

There is food we eat just to accent sweetness: something very sour, salty, or bitter. We add ingredients to dilute the taste a little and then feel it through the contrast of opposites, like the “benefit of the Light from the darkness.” The Light is sweetness for our desire to receive pleasure.

But here we are talking about the transition towards unselfish love, the bitter fruit. I reject it by nature, and I am unable to feel in it any special ultimate greatness. I need to develop a desire for it so I will constantly increase and develop my aspiration towards this bitter and painfully unpleasant fruit, along with my desire for sweetness that will only keep growing. Is this really possible?

However, this is necessary to pull us out of the animate degree, where we develop under the influence of our ego, in pursuit of pleasure. In reality, animals do not really search for pleasure; they simply operate according to their instincts.

But man begins to rise above the animate degree and acquire human desires, so he invents additional pleasures. His desire to receive pleasure grows much more than the desire of a regular animal that lives its life without developing, as it is written: “A one-day-old calf is already considered to be a bull.”

But as we develop in this world, we search for greater pleasures. Our ego is always growing and keeps creating new sources of pleasure for itself. This way we grow out of the animate degree and turn into enormous beasts.

And then we transition to a completely different—human—degree. And the first thing that happens here is our loss of the drive for egoistic fulfillment. We begin to feel that this life is no longer fulfilling us: Everything becomes bland and flavorless. A person becomes depressed and starts thinking about the meaning of life.

Many people are already feeling this way today. The degree of egoistic development is coming to an end, and we no longer wish to imagine its more and more tasty and tempting fruit. We question the purpose! And this is the next degree.

And here we feel that the purpose is bitter. We discover that if we wish to see the purpose and really reveal it, we can only do this on the next degree, which is opposite to the one where I am now. I need to develop a desire for a very bitter fruit.

After all the sweets I have had: ice-cream, candy, and pastries, I must desire something that causes pain, weakness, bitterness, and soreness in my mouth. This fruit is so repulsive that my nature does not allow me to even come near it.

The only that can be done here is to raise its importance. Everyone needs to keep telling me about its benefits, even though I am repelled by it. This importance can be developed by the environment, which will convince me of the value of this bitter fruit that disgusts me so much that I cannot even look at it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/1/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You say that the desires are broken, but I perceive desire as something whole. What is a “broken” desire?

Answer: The desire to receive for one’s own sake is referred to as “broken.” And the desire directed towards “bestowal” to others is referred to as “corrected” or wholesome. Desire does not break—the screen does.

Desire is always wholesome. If my desire has a screen, and when the Light comes, I am able to pass it on to the others and only keep what I need for my existence, this means that the entire upper Light passes through me to the others. It never lingers in me; it constantly circulates from the world of Infinity to everyone else without exception. Then I feel absolutely fulfilled, and the force of life always circulates in me.

But if I do not have this quality, meaning I don’t possess the screen, the upper Light does not even reach me. It immediately returns back to its source, carrying out the condition of the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph or TA): the Light does not enter the desire to receive without a screen. This is why I feel that I exist “within myself” and not in the Light.

“The thing within myself,” which I am, is called “this world”—that which we perceive for now. “This world” is what I perceive within me.

The upper world is what I feel outside of me, when I connect to the rest. Then I perceive the life of the entire body, and all of the Creator’s Light passes through me to all the rest.

This is why the state when I have a screen, when I am connected with everyone else and pass the Light to them, is called “corrected.” And the state when I do not have a screen is called “broken.” The desire is not broken, the screen is, even though we frequently use the conventional term: “broken desires.”
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/23/2011

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The fact that our desires are broken and distanced from each other is a great help. Thanks to this, we are in a situation similar to the one described in the parable about the king who wanted to transfer his entire treasure from one place to another but was afraid to put it all in the hands of one person since all were thieves.

So he divided his treasure and gave each person one coin so that each one could stand up to such a small temptation and would not steal, but would bring the coin to the repository. In this way the king transferred his entire treasure to the new location.

This is exactly what happens to us. Our vessels (desires) are broken, so each person has his own small desire. However, if he connects to others, thanks to that, he doesn’t take the bad, broken desires from them, but takes the force to overcome his own desire.

This gives us a number of advantages. First, all that I need to restrict is my small desire. Second, around me there is a big society with huge forces, and it can influence me with its values.

After all, despite the fact that our desires are broken, they are connected to one system. That is, we are not connected to one another by our own desire, but against our will, not from our side, but from the side of nature. If I am under the influence of the desires that are so distant from me, I can use them like a foreign instrument, external help, instead of the Creator.

It turns out that thanks to the shattering, I receive “help against Him”: I can use part of my desire that was separated from me by my egoism. It seems to me that these desires are opposite to me, far away from me, and rejected and hated by me. Thus I can use them like assisting forces.

This means that we greatly gain from the breakage. On one hand, I am not required to correct, all at once, the entire great desire and resist all of the treasure of the king. It is enough to overcome the temptation of one coin placed in front of me.

On the other hand, I receive from everyone the forces that don’t allow me to steal. Everyone convinces me of the greatness of the king. If I can somehow connect to them with my broken desire, yield to them a bit, even in an egotistic way for the sake of my gain, which is called “Lo Lishma, then even that is good. And through them I receive the Light that Reforms.

After all, the Inner Light can’t shine within me, but the Surrounding Light can!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/2011, TES

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Question: How can we fulfill the first stage of the group’s goal in the upcoming convention?

Answer: First, we have to prepare so that we understand that only thanks to our connection, mutual guarantee (which is also the name of the convention), we awaken the Light. The Light operates on us because it is drawn by our desire. We want it to appear and to change us so we place ourselves under its influence and let it do whatever it wants with us.

After all, we are filled by the Light thanks to the desires we receive from the world, as if they were our own desire to receive, our AHP. So we receive the Light only to enable us to exist and to carry on and develop the method of correction. All the rest will flow onto the world.

Thus, the group will achieve a state of greatness (Gadlut) in spirituality. The group doesn’t have to be big. We don’t need millions for that. It isn’t one percent of humanity, but much less. I don’t know the exact number, but what is important is to awaken the Light. With regard to that, the quality of the group is more important.

So at the convention we have to focus on quality, on the connection between us, and thus we will advance.
[59295]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: In our group, a certain number of friends meet when they have free time. I feel that these meetings get in the way of deep unity between all the friends in the group.

There are more and more objections to such meetings. We think that we should meet not as separate groups but all together. How should we behave? If we continue in this way, then how can we explain this to the friends who are against such meetings?

Answer: It is desirable to meet at least once a week for my Sunday lesson, festive meal, and the gathering of friends. Come with your families and spend a few hours together so it becomes your tradition.

Question: You talk about love and filling the desires of others unconditionally. If one satisfies these desires, he boosts the ego, and that creates a sense of superiority. What desires are you talking about, and how can a person fulfill them, without thinking about himself?

Answer: To love the other means to fill his or her desire for spirituality because all the other desires (except for life’s necessities) are to a person’s detriment!
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Question: What should the music at the convention be like so it would really warm people’s hearts?

Answer: Joyful music is not mindless partying. Rather, it has to awaken a good feeling within me, sympathy for what is happening. At the convention, as well as every day, we must imagine our future state that we aspire to, from which we want to receive an illumination, a glow, an influence. Let the Light that reforms come from there and draw us there.

Looking at something beautiful, I am automatically drawn to it. But in this case I have to imagine the beauty myself, as an exercise before and during the convention. In December we will immerse ourselves in the world of the future for 72 hours. We have a single vessel in which a general bestowing force becomes revealed and we all dwell in mutual bestowal.

What do we discover by that other than a feeling of euphoria? What are our relationships? How do we interact in the family, among friends, at work (with our coworkers, employees, and employers), in the economy of the new generation, in ecology, in society? We are entering a new world and are starting to check its details: culture, upbringing, science, our attitude to all kinds of things…

And that’s where music can help us develop the right approach to life. And it doesn’t matter if it has words or not.

However, music should not draw me to any sad thoughts, to anything reminding me of a descent or despair. And this prohibition is effective in our day-to-day work as well. Sad music, the left line can only be used if I have built a strong right line ahead of time and am in it. As Baal HaSulam writes, only half an hour a day can be spent on critical self-analysis, on the condition that I worked in the right line for 23.5 hours.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/1/11, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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It doesn’t matter what item in or part of The Book of Zohar we study. Rabash used to do this: He would close his eyes, open the book at some page, and begin to read in the middle of the line. He read a few lines, and this was enough for him. And then he would continue to think.

It connects a person to the source that explains to him about the good and correct future state. After all, you don’t know what this source is in itself. You only know that in doing this, you open some faucet that brings you the force, and this force has to influence you. It is as if you open a faucet of water, and it flows on you.

This is the way we need to relate to The Book of Zohar. The “water” flows on condition that we “stand under the faucet.” “To stand under the faucet” means to be together, to yearn as much as possible for unity since this is the nature of the upper waters that pour from one unified vessel. Thus, according to the measure that we unite together, desire to connect, and strive to be as one man with one heart, to that measure the Light of the Torah comes to us, and we merit the reception of the Torah, the reception of the Light.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/2011, The Zohar

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When we unite and feel the general force, desire, plan, and the general intelligence that governs us and that we have to comply with, and when we are in unison, harmony, and conscious movement with it, then we will feel the mind of the Universe or “noosphere” that Vernadsky spoke of. In other words, we will feel the upper force of the universe, the thought of nature, its highest plan, its beginning, and its goal. We will rise to the level of man, who will become the peak of nature, will be equal to it, and will understand the Thought of Creation.

We are required to become aware of this state, to understand it, to grasp this mind, this desire, this plan. How can we discover it? When we begin to move in unison, in harmony, like a school of fish, perceiving the movement of the surrounding field, and do so by our own desire, not instinctively like birds and fish, then we will begin to recognize this field, this great thought of nature.

The whole problem is how to find this field, begin to connect to it, and to find a common rhythm in our movements. To do this, we must change ourselves.

A person can change only under the influence of the environment, as we see it in ourselves and in our children. Otherwise, nature will change us harshly, forcing us by blows, putting us under the “steamroller of development.”

To avoid this, we need to be active and to create, in advance, the surrounding environment for ourselves that would bring us to a greater similarity to this single force of nature. Thereby, we will change. We have to surround ourselves with a simulator that would raise us all the time, unite, and move us closer to the force of nature, which today compels us to be integrally connected.
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From a TV Program “The Integral World” 10/16/2011

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Question: What is the fear that needs to be felt before the large upcoming convention in December?

Answer: Uneasiness before the convention is the anxiety and fear that I will not carry out what I have to according to the program of creation, which defines who I am, the qualities with which I have been created, and how I can participate and invest the most of myself to accelerate the development of the entire spiritual vessel.

Every person must feel responsible for the development of the entire common vessel, and this is referred to as the measure of my bestowal to the Creator. We need to concern ourselves with this and understand that everything only depends on me.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/2011, Writings of Rabash

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