Our entire soul is built of concealment—from the fact that we conceal our will to enjoy in all kinds of ways. The first concealment is a simple concealment. But then I begin to research what I restrict, in which desire I make myself modest, and what I want from myself.

My entire reception can only be for the sake of bestowal, meaning that I build four levels of concealment: concealment upon concealment upon concealment…. And that is how I attain greater importance of the Creator.

But we will never be able to understand His true height this way (or maybe in the new reality, after the end of correction). After all, for now it is entirely composed of what we are able to perceive inside of the concealments we have built.

We cannot value anything that becomes revealed to us clearly, but only by concealing it from ourselves. When a person becomes revealed to us and we start receiving from him openly, we stop respecting him because I now have everything he has. He became revealed to me and treats me simply, and I also treat him simply.

All value is born from concealment. But in spirituality, we do not play “political games,” but reveal ourselves. Precisely others have to make a concealment on themselves in order to attain us.

For example, a teacher in relation to a student opens himself up and comes closer to him. But the student has to make a concealment on him by himself because that is the only way he will be able to receive something from him. Otherwise the teacher will seem simple to him and he won’t be able to absorb his wisdom.

This is why Kabbalists have always carried themselves very simply, while the student’s responsibility is to make a concealment on that.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/11, Shamati

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Students usually have a hard time grasping the concept of the “reverse order of the Light entering the desire.” But in reality it is a very natural process.

If I am at degree zero (Shoresh), I understand and attain only the minimal Light of Nefesh. When my desire grows and attains Level 1 (Aleph), the Light of Nefesh passes into it, while the Light of the next degree (Ruach) enters degree zero.

When I was with the Light of Nefesh, meaning with little reason, little strength and calculations, that was the only way I could sense my relationship and connection with the Light. That was all I had.

Now I’ve reached a greater depth of the desire and attained a greater Light. But this Light doesn’t pertain to my current state. At this degree where I’ve ascended with my new, stronger desire, I receive the weakest Light, Nefesh, because I’m only beginning to learn about this new desire.

Yet now I also feel and understand my previous state better. I feel that it was the beginning, the springboard from which I ascended to my present degree. That is why I now attain in it a greater understanding, which is called the Light of Ruach, compared to the Light of Nefesh that I had before.

Suppose that I grew from one to two years of age. At the level of a two-year-old child I don’t yet know the world and myself and I possess a very basic perception and reason (the Light of Nefesh)—I simply exist. But my understanding of what it is to be a one-year-old, including all the previous forms and states, is already better. In them I already have a kind of attainment, the Light of Ruach.

It follows that the more I grow, the smarter I become, only not in my present state. It’s because in spirituality, we always advance by faith above reason, without fully understanding the process, but merely entering into a new state every time. And when I ascend onto this new state, in it I will acquire the Light of Nefesh.

But I have already attained the previous states and recognized their necessity and inevitability. I know why they actualized in me the way they did, why I underwent the entire string of these states. That is why in these state I sense NaRaNHaY (Nefesh-Ruach-Neshama-Haya-Yechida).
[48711]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/13/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: I think that I have already torn myself away from my ego. What do I do next?

Answer: You cannot tear yourself away from the ego. It is a great and lengthy work that continues through all the degrees of your spiritual ascent. This is because the higher you ascend along the degrees of the spiritual worlds, the more your ego grows.

You are presently in a state where, indeed, you barely feel the ego at your current degree. What can you do about that? I think that you don’t study enough. If you study more, together with us and more intensively, your ego will have no choice but to grow quickly.

The growth of the ego depends on whether or not you have the tools to work with it. If you’re connected to the group, to dissemination, to our lessons, and to my blog, then your ego will grow every second, and you won’t be able to escape it. You will discover that it’s terrorizing you, and then you will be able to work with it. However, if you’re weak, you will not be given this kind of ego, and you will sit there peacefully and think that you’re already an angel.

In reality, this cannot be. If you don’t feel the blows of the ego every second that arise in us so that we could correct them, all that it means is that you’re not yet sufficiently connected with the group and the study.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 7/17/2011

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If a person does not aspire to fulfill himself egoistically, if he does not wait for the Light to come and fulfill him without any preparation, but understands that the Light is a sensation within a desire, such a person wishes to change himself and is called a sage.

He understands that he was allowed only to experience an initial, small impression, and he will only experience all the other phenomena under the condition of developing his desire according to the four phases of the Direct Light. There, at the last phase of the development of desire, he will feel that he bestows, and in accordance with it, he will experience life in bestowal called the upper Light.

So, a sage is someone who sees a “newborn,” a new state that is being born. With his actions and the help of the Light influencing him, he reaches such profound changes in his desire that he transitions from reception, the desire to receive pleasure, to the desire to bestow and the sensation of love, which is life.

His desire changes, and he begins to feel himself coming closer to the action of bestowal which initially repulsed him. At first, he forced himself to act. However, by exerting effort and attracting upon himself the influence of the Light, he came to a point when he actually started to desire bestowal.

This is a miracle of the Light. It acts in response to our efforts, even without our initial desire, and changes it. This way, the desire goes through qualitative stages of development and becomes a new desire.

A person who is wise enough to see the “newborn,” the new desire being conceived in him, the need to bestow, exerts effort and understands that he is working against the constant Light, the “Good Who does Good.” He uses the Light that Reforms. This way, he goes through one state after another, stage after stage, and comes to the Light of life.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/2011, Shamati #122

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We are used to seeing clear, familiar phenomena of our world, which do not change. On the other hand, some phenomena do depend on the way we use them. For example, there is electricity which we can use to produce different and completely opposite actions such as to acquire cold and heat. Fire that can heat or burn is another example. Basically, everything depends on the way it is used. In other words, everything depends on the user, the desire (Kli) that this force clothes into.

It is the same regarding the upper Light. It contains everything, including the desire itself, all the phenomena that can happen in it, and all the impressions it will perceive from the Light.

A common beginner’s mistake is to think that the Light is something specific and constant that is always good. But this is not always so. There is even the notion of Pulsa de Nura (lashes of fire), a curse. Overall, all the best and all the worst things come from the Light. It is like electricity: Everything depends on the way it is used.

For this reason, the definition of the Creator as “Good Who does Dood” refers to the Light, a phenomenon that can be accepted and revealed only in the desires to bestow. It is impossible to receive and feel this goodness in an egoistic desire. It simply does not exist there.

Since the desire to bestow is not limited by anything, and the nature of the actual Light in its root of the “Good Who does Good” is unlimited, the phenomenon called Light and life can only be experienced in a desire that is fully directed toward bestowal. All the other, opposite forms are not called life and Light.

We would like to reach the sensation of the Good Who does Good, but we do not understand that this means nothing other than the sensation of bestowal and love. It is like when a drug addict thinks that good states only exist under the influence of drugs, not understanding that there is a way to receive pleasure from other things.

For this reason, our objective is to prepare the desire, the vessel, in order to perceive the quality of bestowal. As it is written: “Wisdom is given to sages.” This means that it is given to those who understand that they do not exist in the quality of bestowal, and that this is the only nature they need to reach to receive the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), the Light of life.
[48441]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/2011, Shamati #122

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Question: In his article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Baal HaSulam writes that we have to act without any payment, without any compensation, and without any admixture of self-love. How can we cleanse ourselves from the expectations of reward, of good results?

Answer: You have the tools: the Kabbalistic method called the Torah and the group. If you want to unite with the entire group and build a future world in it as a proper example for everyone, do this.

How can you unite? You can unite through the Torah. The Light in it reforms. Everyone should feel how much he is disconnected or connected with others. Each must try to check all the time whether he gives an impulse to connect.

Finally, our aspiration is necessary during studying. Where is the prayer during the lesson? Where is the prayer that motivates you to unite?

There is a common network; however, its threads are cut off, and we have to reconnect them. We come to the lesson to study the broken ties between us and to understand how to weave them back together. These are the results that we should expect from the lesson. Are we expecting them?
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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It is said that the general and the particular are equal, and that is why each group and each individual should ask themselves: Whether they have the highest goal in life, which is to rise from the level of an animal to the level of a human, Adam, “similar” to the Creator, that is, to acquire the property of bestowal in which they will feel life in bestowal, a higher life?

In the beginning, a person aspires to it because he does not want to die. He imagines a spiritual life as a material one, just a bit better and, most importantly, without death. This is the maximum at which we can imagine a spiritual life.

In other words, I study and think that I am receiving some medicine that will bring me an eternal life, fulfilled and perfect, without any of the problems that I experience now. This is why a person continues. Indeed, this is the only way that we can now imagine a life that is higher than our world.

But even if a person begins to advance in this form, he decides that he has to use the means at his disposal. That is, he turns to the teacher who explains how to implement his recommendations in the group and with the help of books.

The teacher just shows him what to do, and a person should carry it out because he has nothing else to rely on. The entire realization takes place through the group and studying. Thus, a person gradually discovers the aspiration for the property of bestowal, which becomes his goal expressed as unity, connection, and mutual guarantee, as being one man with one heart.

This means to reach faith, as it is written: “The righteous live by faith,” meaning the revelation of the property of bestowal in the human heart, in all his desires.
[48448]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/2011, Shamati #122

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Question: You said that if a person comes to the lesson without a request, he is neglecting the Torah. Usually, I come to the lesson without much desire, and I want to sleep—unless I get a very strong impression from the friends. What should I do?

Answer: Try to avoid such states at the lesson. First of all, it weakens the others. You are among them, but you do not contribute either to the external, material action, or to the internal, the spiritual force. Not only do you not participate with everybody else, but you rob everybody because in spirituality, a thief is one who does not contribute from himself. Friends should be evaluated according to this principle.

Of course, we are ready to accept you in any condition. Rather than staying at home, it’s better to come to the lesson and sleep. You know that I do not wake up anybody, even if I see that a person is sleeping. In any case, you should persevere. This is the effort. Have another cup of coffee or do something else to wake up.

I, too, experienced such states while studying with Rabash in the group. Then, I decided that I would record everything that Rabash said since from my days as a student, I was used to taking lecture notes at the university. Thus, I was always writing and organizing texts at the lessons. Besides that, I prepared coffee or tea for Rabash and recorded all his lessons on a tape recorder.

In short, I took care to stay alert all the time with the help of different actions. Otherwise, I too would have fallen asleep. And although I love science, one is not connected to the other. Therefore, you have to invent various tricks.

However, you should understand that your internal participation influences the group and that to the extent of your connection with it, you reveal what is written in The Zohar. After all, it tells what happens between us, only on different levels.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/2011, The Zohar

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Question: When will the Light unite us? How can we advance together while we exist in evil?

Answer: We work to overcome. We understand our state and examine it, and we must support one another in mutual guarantee. Then the Light will settle between us.

It also helps us now. If the Light did not fulfill us to the smallest degree, we would not feel the desires that are nevertheless being revealed in us.

After all, we, all the people, and the entire reality exist in a perfect system. Now, a little Light is appearing in some people, and they are beginning to feel where they are, why, and for what purpose. They are beginning to receive the Light in the form of a connection with the environment, in the form of a mentor. They are beginning to feel the Light in their vessels as if they were studying books in the group. All this is happening “as if” because the corporeality does not exist.

In reality, all of this is the revelation of the Light. There are no people, no group, no mentor, and no books. These are the forms in which you reveal the Light that presents itself to you as the means of spiritual advancement.
[48380]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: If a part of the nation does not want to keep the Arvut, but rather chooses to wallow in self-love, they cause the rest of the nation to remain immersed in their filth and lowliness without ever finding a way out of their filth.

Question: How can I correct my craving for filth and lowliness?

Answer: I act in relation to the friends, and the friends act in relation to me. Does this mean that they correct me? Yes, they do. And do I correct them? Yes, I do. How do I correct myself? I correct myself by means of correcting them.

This is what the mutual guarantee is. No one does this without others, and he depends on others in all his actions in the positive and negative sense, in joy and sorrow. He depends on their good and bad actions, and they depend on his good and bad actions.

Today, this is becoming a reality that will manifest itself in our world in a very unpleasant way. If something bad happens in one country, other countries will feel this right away. On the other hand, if something good takes place somewhere, others will change for the better as well.

This is a real breakdown for my egoism. I want others to feel bad and myself to feel good, to be a winner compared to them. I want what is worse for them rather than for me, and this warms my heart. But now, we see how the integrity of nature compels us to think differently. It teaches us that no one can benefit alone. If it is good for some, it will be also good for others. There is no such situation that it is good for some and bad for others.

Gradually, we are approaching this picture of the world. Look at what is happening in the developed countries. If there is a landslide in one, the rest do not know what to do, and they fall after it. We have reached such an economic order, meaning such egoism, that everyone depends on everyone else. This is mutual guarantee, and this is how it manifests.

I did not think that I would depend, let’s say, on France. What do I have to do with France? However, now I must take care that no default occurs there. If France goes bankrupt, then undoubtedly, it will affect my pocket two days later. Besides, it will affect it negatively. If I reaped benefits from it, I would let them go bankrupt. But it doesn’t work this way: It harms me as well.

Moreover, previously, the troubles of others brought benefits. Before the world connected into an integral system, everybody had acted in his own interests, not considering others. Each country cared only about its own gain. Every time, we made healthy, egoistic calculations to win at the expense of others. Even if this required starting a war against them and destroying the other side down to the ground, it was better for me.

Today, we would like to continue along the same lines, but we cannot. Soon, we will discover that a war cannot be started. We depend on each other to such an extent that I cannot provide anything for myself alone. I will lack everything that I destroy for others.

That is what we have come to. Wishing good for ourselves, our nation, our country with its structure and institutions, I must take care of everybody. Only then will it be good for me.

This mechanism works in bestowal between Partzufim, between people, and between a person and the Creator. I have to take the desire of my fellow human being with the goal of filling it and putting my desire to his service. Only under the condition that I fill and take care of it, will all the abundance flow through me and be revealed in me 620 times greater.

The world doesn’t yet understand what system we are entering. To make it do so, we need to tell people about this as soon as possible. Otherwise, their despair will bring them to war. They simply will have no choice.
[48384]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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