When the Creator sends us suffering, it is His way of giving us clues that we will be unable to receive pleasure directly. After all, the purpose of creation was to make man equal to the Creator, as perfect as Him, and not just be a simple receiver!

Only those who pertain to the still, vegetative, and the animate levels simply receive from Him nothing more than what they need “for life.” But man, Adam, means “similar to the Creator” (Dome). Hence, the still, vegetative, and animal levels simply live their lives, and all the suffering they sometimes experience is the fault of man who does not carry out his purpose.

As to man, he always suffers…. He is unable to fulfill himself, and his entire development is the constant growth of the desire to receive pleasure, which keeps becoming bigger and clearer, forcing man to constantly pursue new types of fulfillment.

He constantly hopes that he is about to receive fulfillment, but every time he is left with nothing. And at the end he becomes completely disappointed and suddenly understands that he is no longer able to continue the same way! He stops believing that he is able to achieve anything in this life with its egoistic approach and constant pursuit of pleasure.

All of this was arranged ahead of time, with the intention to have man turn around and, instead of searching for a way to fulfill his desire, to start looking for a way to acquire the form of the Light, the form of the Host, that is, instead of wanting to receive Light itself, for him to want to acquire its qualities—the qualities of the Creator.

But the form of the Host, the form of the giver, must clothe in the desire of the creature. And for this reason, the aspiration to bestow, this bestowing form which dresses itself in the desire to receive pleasure, is called the “screen” and the “Reflected Light.” This is the new, non-egoistic approach man must come to once he completely becomes disappointed in his ability to fulfill himself egoistically.

For this he needs to change his entire approach to life, and instead of pursuing pleasure, to start pursuing the Creator’s image, which would dress into him. In this case, the desire to receive pleasure, which has restricted its egoism and armed itself with a screen and the Reflected Light, will acquire the same form as the Creator, the desire to bestow. And then the upper Light will robe itself in the egoistic desire in the form of bestowal on man’s part, directed back to the Creator.

There, inside this desire to receive pleasure, inside man himself, their encounter will take place—the encounter of man and the Creator. And this is why the Creator is named “Boreh” (“come and see”). After all, you reveal Him within you and nowhere else.
[47545]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Suffering brings us to the question: What are we living for? I do not want to live in order to suffer while serving my egoism. It is better to die than live like this. Many people in the world are ready to die, and many actually commit suicide.

So how can I change the situation so that instead of me serving my desire, my desire would serve me? This is only possible if the Light that Reforms acts upon me. I need this hidden force, even though I do not know where it comes from. Only it will change the order of priorities in me, raising the importance of spiritual life, bestowal, exiting myself, and rising above egoistic concerns about my existence here and now.

At a certain stage, man realizes his enslavement and understands the meaning of the words: “I have created the evil inclination.” The ego takes you towards death—this is why you refer to it as “evil.” Life seems to be death to you because you work for a cruel master who does not pay you anything and leaves you without pleasure, until eventually you die. There is no harder slavery.

But for the time being, I do not yet see my evil inclination; it blinds me, appears to be me. But in reality it is as if someone has hypnotized me, programmed me, and I do what he wants. His power is so strong that he controls me in an unnoticeable and tyrannical manner.

We are born hypnotized, and we do not even understand that we are under someone else’s influence. It happens in life that we fall under someone’s influence, and only afterward are surprised to discover this. It is the same story regarding the evil inclination. The problem here is with the means: What will help us break free from its oppression?

The answer is suffering. Suffering is like Pharaoh who has brought the sons of Israel closer to the Creator. This angel of death constantly forces you to strain yourself for him, and finally you discover that you are suffering through his commands and your servitude. Then you begin to search for the cause of your suffering, and you discover that they actually help you reject evil. This way Pharaoh, who strained the sons of Israel with heavy work, brought them closer to their redemption.

So are we, together with the entire world, standing in the beginning of the same process. Purer souls awaken first, asking themselves about the meaning of what is happening: “Where is the villain who orders me around? I do not want to suffer.”

At first one tries to figure out his suffering egoistically. Then he raises his eyes and begins to examine the situation as a whole: “What is actually happening here?” This way we direct ourselves towards a different goal—essentially, a different authority. We go from one angel to another: from Pharaoh to the Creator. There are only two options, and no one else between them. Ultimately, you choose who will rule over you.

Purer souls are going through this now, and others will come after them.
[47551]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: How can I keep the constant intention that The Zohar talks only about the connection between us?

Answer: The main thing is intention. If you can listen to the text of The Zohar and keep the right intention, then listen. If you cannot listen since listening diverts you from the intention, then stay in the intention.

The same condition of keeping the constant intention to be corrected by the Light applies to the study of all other Kabbalistic materials, and in general, to each moment of life. If a person cannot stay in intention, it is a pity to waste effort and lose time.
[47597]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/2011, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Truma (Donation),” Item 431: Black is very dark. Its color is not seen out of the darkness. Where was this color black and darkness dyed? When this red melted into the azure and the colors red and azure mingled, the fusion of filth from Midat ha Din melted into the deeps, Malchut de Malchut, and mire and sludge were made from there, as it is written, “And its waters toss up mire and sludge.”

The Zohar explains which quality, which Sefira each color corresponds to. Naturally, everything originates from Malchut and is perceived in it: We observe all the qualities from within Malchut. There are 9 Sefirot before Malchut, which are the Creator’s qualities, the qualities of bestowal. But when Malchut receives them and begins to work with them, they take on various shades in her to the extent of her ability to be on the degree of bestowal, from Keter to Yesod.
[47600]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/2011, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Truma (Donation),” Item 443: The judgment of the punishments of Hell is to sentence the wicked there. Why are they sentenced in the judgment of Hell? Hell is a fire that burns days and nights, like the wicked, who warm themselves in the fire of the evil inclination to violate the words of Torah. With each warming that they warm themselves in the evil inclination, the fire of Hell burns in them.

Hell is the stages of the revelation of egoism as evil, when a person feels himself as a receiver, and the fire of shame burns him. This fire urges us to correct ourselves.

Moreover, in this state of Hell, a person has everything except the property of bestowal, and that is why he suffers. I have all the abundance, fulfillment for my egoism, but I do not wish them. I want to be in bestowal because this makes me close to the Creator. I do not want to be a receiver! This is what Hell is.
[47526]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/2011, The Zohar

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By restricting myself in order to take care of the neighbor, I won’t be secretly worrying about my own well-being in the slightest. I simply won’t think about myself. This is the correction that the Light performs in me. This is the meaning of rising above the desire, performing the First Restriction, and acquiring the quality of bestowal. All of this is the results of the Light’s influence.

My care for the neighbor is in no way connected to any material details. I continue eating, drinking, and providing all of my necessities. It’s all about my desire, my inner attitude to the action.

For example, say I really want to help a sick person, I want to feed him and give him drink, but the doctors don’t permit him anything besides a little piece of bread and a cup of tea. Thus, even though I would like to give him a rich, exquisite dish and I have the opportunity to do that, I am limited.

It turns out that everything is about the intention. We do not build relationships and mutual guarantee between us on an artificial basis. And that’s why it seems to us that it is impossible to attain bestowal and unity, that it is impossible to give up concern for oneself, not worrying even about one’s vital necessities, and think only about the neighbor. They are supplied for me by others so I would simply provide for myself. By their guarantee, they take care of my material needs, as well as taking total, 100% care of my spiritual success.

All of this has to be built correctly. Who are the friends? They are receiving desires that are corrected by the Light that reforms. Nothing here is done by our own efforts. Efforts have to be made in order to attract the Light, which will come and correct us. It’s funny to think that we would act for the sake of bestowal of our own accord. Can a person really jump above his own head?

Our problem is that we do not aim at the Light in all of our actions. We think that the action itself will bring the result: that we will hug and will start loving the neighbor. But that won’t happen. We have to hug with the intention that by virtue of this, the Light will come and fuse us together in the inner embrace. Everything is carried out by means of the Light that reforms. We forget about the most important component, about the only force that operates in reality.

It seems to us that it is very difficult and unrealistic to connect mutual guarantee, unity, adhesion, the neighbor, bestowal, and vital necessity into one so they would become a single vessel for revealing absolute bestowal, meaning the revelation of the Creator to creation. And the only reason for it is that we do not evoke the Force that will build this state for us. We mistakenly expect to create it ourselves.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/11/11, Matan Torah

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Question: Why do I see the Creator as divided into so many different forces? Is it so I could relate Him to my different desires and qualities and perceive Him?

Answer: This is correct. When my ego, the desire to receive pleasure, imagines itself to be above the Creator, it begins to imagine idols instead of Him. Basically, it imagines some other forces, not the Creator exactly.

I see the imprint of my uncorrected egoistic desire as “other gods.” When I am not in the state of bestowal regarding a certain desire, when I fail to act in a corrected form, then the form in which my desire paints the Creator to me is called “idols.”

This is the difference between the ten impure Sefirot (Klipa) and the ten Sefirot of sanctity (bestowal). When I, looking through them from my corrupted Malchut, imagine Keter to be corrupted, this is called “other gods,” idols. And the way I see Keter when I look at it from the corrected Malchut is called the Creator.

The Creator corresponds to the spiritual degree at which I am able to connect with Him and reveal Him. But it is that same upper force, albeit relative to my degree. This is why “idols” are corrupted forms in which I imagine the single upper force, according to the way my ego paints it within my faults.

For this reason, if a person relates to the forms of these “idols” correctly, they will turn into road signs for him. He will understand that nothing is created in vain, and he will be able to advance specifically due to these forms. As it is written, Pharaoh brings us closer to the Creator.

I draw closer to the truth specifically by moving from one fake idol to another! Regardless of how unpleasant and opposite to the true state it is, we can work specifically with this oppositeness. This is because we do not yet have a connection with bestowal, “sanctity.”
[47436]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/2011, Shamati #15

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A human being is created in such a condition that it seems to him as if other people exist and a huge world surrounds him. But all this is his inner desires which he has not yet been able to join together to see that there is only he alone, standing before the Creator.

One should attribute all the distortions, disturbances, extraneous thoughts and desires, and seemingly “random” incidents happening to him not to their numerous and imaginary sources and reasons, which still appear to him because of the imperfection of his work, but only to the Creator.

This is what the internal work consist of. After all, everything that a person does not attribute to the Creator, but rather ascribes to other forces, such as other people, all sorts of reasons, fate, and even to himself, all of this is called “idols” (foreign gods). Thus, it turns out that he considers himself dependent on something other than the Creator, as if there is some other force that can be a source of influence on him, either good or evil.

We must realize the principle of “there is none else besides Him” above all the obstacles intentionally leading us astray so that we learn to tune ourselves to the single force, one source. This work consists of several seemingly different types and stages:

• To clarify the uniqueness of the Source, whether other sources exist or it is the only one;
• To clarify the nature of the Source, whether it is kind or evil;
• To clarify our relationship with the Source: Is it “for oneself” or “for the sake of bestowal.”

A person performs the work related to the Source with his personal spiritual vessel, desire, by uniting with all the others, and then he feels himself as the only creature. He also unites all the forces acting on him, all the various sources into one Source. In other words, there are several types of work, depending on how those two, a human being and the Creator, connect.
[47443]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/2011, Shamati #15

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Question: Spirituality is based on bestowal. On what basis do we build our work while we are in “the period of preparation” for entry into the spiritual world?

Answer: There is an instruction: “Hear, O Israel!” That is, a person should direct himself at “The Creator is the only force above us, the Creator is One” (“the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”— the words of the prayer).

Suppose, I tell myself: “Hear, the Creator is the upper force above you, He is one.” This determines my direction that will take me to the Source, to revelation, adhesion, and unity. This is the foundation upon which our work is built, the axis along which I have to move. Now, I need to attach to this axis all the available means that I have to realize this principle.

The Creator and I are at the opposite ends of one line. And I get closer to Him by the means available to me: connecting “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator” into one whole.

The Torah is all that you can imagine; all that exists except the initial desire of the creature, as it is said: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice.” And I have to connect all this in one direction.

I lack closeness to the Creator; my goal is adhesion with Him. I do not know exactly what it means in terms of desires, thoughts, decisions, and the conclusion of this entire path. But I, the goal, and the means for achieving it exist, and I have to organize and use all that correctly. As to the destination, the result, it is one! Everything is included in this concept of the single One.

Along the path, we obtain different forms of the mind, thought, decision making, and action—absolutely everything is changed within a person. The Light makes a revolution in him or her and creates a new human being.

Now we cannot imagine what it is. But in each state, at each stage, you should strive to do what you are able to and must do now, at this level. And then it will turn out that everything acts in one direction. This includes your search and especially your struggle with the obstacles, when you try hard to discern them and see that your egoism works here, knocking you off your path, from the thought that “There is none else besides Him.”

You have to check all the time with special attention: Whether I am in peace and agreement with the one upper force in everything I do? Is the entire universe divided now in my thoughts and feelings in two or even three parts, as if there are the Creator, the rest of creation along with various reasons, and me?

Somebody annoys me, puts all sorts of obstacles, and causes problems—this means that I do not connect this whole world with the Creator and I recognize idols, “other gods.” Indeed, how could there be any other reasons for my states if there is one force acting in the universe?

I need to verify how I react to all these reasons, to each person, enemy or friend, and to each problem: Do I perceive them as existing separately or do I combine all of them and see behind them the Creator who performs all this farce, so that by connecting all this together and attributing all to Him, I reach the principle of  “there is none else besides Him”?

This is a serious work, and if a person is sensitive and analyzes his states carefully, he advances correctly and rapidly.
[47448]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/2011, Shamati #15

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Question: If I am the desire to enjoy and remain it forever, how can I give?

Answer: I give by receiving everything from the Master! By doing so, I bring Him contentment. In order to bring Him endless pleasure, the same as He gives me, I cannot remain a petty, egoistic receiver; I need to receive “for the sake of bestowal.”

The desire to receive is limited as it is impossible to receive more than this corporeal world. Even now, we are in the world of Infinity, surrounded by the Creator’s love. However, we are only able to feel it to the smallest degree in which we sense this world; it’s the maximum that is possible.

If all the generations of humanity throughout time were given all the pleasures of this world, it would be called a “thin candle” (Ner Dakik), a tiny spark of Light. More Light cannot be revealed inside the receiving desires. All the remaining Light can only be revealed in the desires to bestow.

Why is there such a strict condition? The fact is that the spark is the only thing that stands opposite to the desire to enjoy created by this spark. This world is a manifestation of the spark that created the desire to enjoy.

The subsequent development of the desire occurs thanks to its sensing the Giver. That is, everything beyond our world, all the infinite, big, spiritual Light which we later feel becomes revealed by virtue of feeling the Giver.

But I cannot feel the Giver if I do not have the same quality: bestowal. It turns out that I must acquire altruistic desires, and to the extent of my bestowal, I will feel the bestowal of the Creator. And this will be called the upper Light.

The Creator’s bestowal, His love for me, I can only feel to the degree of how much I give Him—if our desires are similar. Otherwise, I will not be able to feel it. The Creator is revealed to me fully even now, but can I feel it? No, I can’t. I lack the tools, the desires.

To the extent that I develop my desires, I will feel Him. This will be my Light NRNHY, the revelation of the Creator’s attitude towards me, His love. Bestowal is revealed first and then love.
[47313]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/2011, Shamati #38

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