Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article “There Is No Blessing Upon That Which Is Counted in the Work”: For example, a person brings a jacket to the laundry to have the spots removed from it. He says to the laundry owner: “I have counted for you how many corrections you have to perform so that I know how much to pay you.”

We exist in a perfect state, and we have to reveal it. All the stages that we undergo are the stages of the revelation of the existing state, if only not for us. It is disclosed to us step by step.

It all depends on the receiver: to what extent a person prepares and rushes himself. How much the environment is willing to help and support him is also completely up to him. The Creator brings a person to the right environment and says: “This is for you, take it!” Now it is solely up to the person whether he will accept what is offered and in what way.

Hence, “counting the corrections” is also completely in our hands. Everything is determined by the attitude: We must comply with the stages that make our path, each of which is necessary.

From Above, from the world of Infinity, there comes abundance of vessels and Lights by way of the descending of the worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot. As the means of preparation, the breakings and other various processes occur as well. And as soon as this preparation is complete, we must ascend in the same way, only now from below upward, passing through the same stages, living through the same Reshimot (informational genes), yet moving ahead of them with our desire. That is the only difference.

The Creator broke the integral picture into parts, and now, among these parts, we have to seek out desires, aspirations, and goals, to make preferences and establish values. It is as if we are assembling a construction kit, parts of which have different form, properties, are painted in different colors, and get locked in a different manner.

And all of this is preceded by our desire that we can arrange solely with the help of the group. In the meantime, we don’t really feel our dependence on it that much since, basically, we don’t feel how we advance and can’t calculate the speed, count spiritual degrees, or measure the pace of advancement. Hence, we are not really in a hurry to find the ways to expedite our development.

In each state, we are passive: “If I am already here, I will wait for it to pass.” And it does pass thanks to various actions, even if they are not exactly aimed at our development. But the process is slow and requires many supplementary moves.

When we do reach the correct analysis, however, we discover that every state is mandatory, and no state can be ignored. Everything is for the best; everything clarifies the truth, but the energy, the desire, or impulse is up to us.
[33644]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can we tell whether we are working correctly? After all, sometimes the reward seems pleasant and sometimes unpleasant. So how can we tell?

Answer: You shouldn’t judge it by a sweet or bitter taste, but by the scale of “true versus false.” Only then can a person understand whether or not he advances.

You might suggest: “Then let’s make bitterness a criterion. The more bitter it is, the closer I am to spirituality.”

But where is this written? Why does it have to be precisely this way? On the contrary, it’s only in order to make an analysis that you should ascend above the bitter and sweet taste to truth and falsehood in order to discern them and merge with the truth. However, when merging with it, you have to attain the state where truth and sweetness will be one. You have to raise sweetness to truth so that “the darkness will shine as Light,” so the bitter will become sweet.

Then everything will unite in the truth. It is written that truth will be cast onto the ground and will grow through from the ground. In other words, the truth will grow through inside of you and it will already contain all the other details of perception: bitterness, sweetness, and falsehood.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Can we say that now, after the convention in Berlin, we are united?

Answer: We have reached a new state in our unity. I am happy about what took place in Berlin and after that in Paris. We have reached unity, cohesion. For the first time we discovered many friends in Europe who already understand the path and feel the development. I was really pleasantly surprised by some events.

Ahead of us we have an April convention in New Jersey. Let’s hope that we will come to a new degree of unity in the United States as well. Thus, by uniting during the conventions we will accumulate the necessary force for the revelation of the Creator to the creature.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/2011, “When the Creator Loves Man”

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On the path, we frequently err. We think that there are some other forces besides the Creator, which can help us. We suddenly immerse ourselves in our occupation or hobbies again. Having lost faith in spiritual advancement, we start relying on ourselves and the others in our circle.

We are surrounded by many obstacles that carry us away: a little religiousness, a little mysticism, and some other ways to jazz up our existence. But all of this is temporary. In the end of such quests (which could be quite lengthy), a person still finds himself in the same place. He realizes that he is faced with a wall here and that he definitely must reveal the Creator no matter what. And the problem is not in the fact that he doesn’t want it.

The upper state a person has to be brought to is a special one. I must rise above egoism not so that I may feel good. In that case, I simply choose from two states the better one, which means that I act based on the old egoistic principle. A person is expected to wish for something else.

Baal HaSulam describes it in the article “There Is None Else Besides Him”: If a person has committed a sin, he must certainly regret it and be sorry for having committed it. But here, too, we should place the pain and sorrow in the right order: Where does he place the cause of the sin for that is the point that should be regretted.

Then, one should be remorseful and say: “I committed that sin because the Creator hurled me down from holiness to a place of filth….”

The same is true for the state of ascent: A person should clearly realize that it occurs solely because the Light is elevating him at the moment.

Spiritual ascent occurs in two stages. At the first stage, a person feels completely dependent on the upper governing force. The second stage is when he realizes that everything that governs him both on the outside and on the inside is the very same force. Both good and bad are still it. There is neither reward nor punishment. And naturally, there is nothing ahead since everything is programmed and he is a mere implementing instrument in the hands of the Light.

Later on, the point in the heart awakens in a person, with the help of which he is brought to the environment. The correct environment is comprised of the teacher, the Kabbalistic texts, and the group. By making an effort to work with them based on the old rules, a person still cannot receive anything spiritual since he connects with them through his egoism.

Why do we need all these stages? And there are many more inner, much more sublime degrees on top of that. All of them are designated to demonstrate to a person that there has to be another solution: to act not so that you may feel good in your egoism, but so that you bond with the environment foreign to you, with the force that seems as external to you: the Creator.
[34354]
From Lesson 4 Berlin Convention 1/29/2011

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The program of creation gets carried out in us under the influence of two opposite forces. On one hand, we have been advancing by way of egoistic development so far. On the other, at a certain moment, an additional force unfolds within us: the “point in the heart,” a desire to aim at equivalence with the Creator. This desire, albeit unconscious and confusing for now (why, what for, how?), begins to push us forth.

With time, it will emerge in all people. Based on what is happening in the world today, the process will go very quickly. After all, we don’t have that much time left: 229 years until six thousand years expire. It isn’t a long time when history is concerned.

The wisdom of Kabbalah states that there is no need for these centuries either. When the point in the heart begins to emerge in humanity, even in small part of it, literally a few years is enough to correct and complete everything, to reach the final stage of integral correction.

In that case, our whole world will rise to the next level in terms of its internal fulfillment. Nothing will happen to it; we will simply ascend in our sensations, perceptions, and in what will get revealed to us. In our life, we will rise to the higher dimension where we will feel truly infinite and complete.

Nowadays, the points in people’s hearts are “hatching” progressively fast. A person gets more familiar with this new sensation and aspiration and feels as if being drawn to or rejected from something. In beginners, this manifests as good or bad sensations: I feel good or I feel bad.

One falls into depression, after which something gets better in life, some purpose surfaces, and some light glimmers ahead. And then everything is crushed again, followed by the re-appearance of the Light, step by step.

Baal HaSulam describes this in the article "There Is None Else Besides Him": And the benefit from the rejections is that through them a person receives a need and a complete desire for the Creator to help him since he sees that otherwise he is lost.

In other words, the Creator is wearing us down. He, step by step, over a long period of time, for as long as necessary, keeps “terrorizing” us: a little better, a little worse, and so over and over again. Sometimes, we think that it can’t be better, and another time that it can’t be worse. Then we start getting used to one and the other and begin to realize that it is all transient. But is there an end to it, or is it an endless process? Frequencies change, so what?

And this is where free will steps in, the freedom to move forth. I cannot force my own advancement. I will be going in circles, shifting from foot to foot, state to state, better to worse, worse to better, and so on. I will be able to move on only if I increase my desires and impressions thanks to the environment. My point remains a point. I will never be able to enhance it myself. It will not “expand” and turn into a vessel comprised of the ten Sefirot, in which I will feel the spiritual world.

It will remain a point until I start connecting with others, with those around me. I must keep doing it. Therefore, when a point in a person’s heart gets formed, after a while, he or she is brought into a group. But even in the group, a person does not immediately comprehend what is happening with him and what he should do. What he must do, however, is build a connection with others.
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From Lesson 4 Berlin Convention 1/29/2011

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Every person experiences his or her individual desires that they try to fulfill. There are people who oppose and resist them, but they, too, are governed by the Creator. He moves us all around like figures on a chessboard.

We don’t have any free will, so there is no point in labeling a person as good or bad. And he shouldn’t expect any consequences or feedback regarding his actions: neither heaven, nor hell, nor anything else. It is written in The Book of Zohar: “We are all like animals.”

Indeed, where is your free will? Even if you have an illusion of it, it is because you don’t clearly realize what you want. The Creator intentionally injects you with such instructions, such specific control signals that create an illusion of free actions, and nothing more. Therefore, to realize that “there is none else besides Him” is to realize that we are, first of all, cogwheels in an enormous mechanism.

Where then does a human begin? A human starts with free will. And in order to achieve it, he must evolve to it. That is why first, over the course of millennia, man is developing in his egoism controlled from Above by the Creator, and then he feels how the “point in the heart” emerges within. In other words, another desire comes to life: an additional one, opposite to all the others. It breaks a person in pieces, taunts, and twists him.

Naturally, this desire also comes from the Creator. There is no other place where it may originate from since it doesn’t appear out of thin air. After all, man is a created being. Therefore, even the formation of the point in the heart doesn’t make us autonomous, independent from the Creator, yet.

What else can one be “free” from? If there is only one singular force that governs everything from Above, then my freedom may lie only in my ability to neutralize it.

How can I accomplish that? Moreover, if I do neutralize it, what will be left for me? What forces will I possess, what mind? How will I choose? What will be governing me? It is totally unclear. If there were two forces, I would be choosing between them. But if there is only one, then there is no free will is there? Why then does everything exist, what for? To control these “insects”?

No, there is a purpose to it. The created being, man, has to master both opposing forces and by maneuvering between them, learn by the Creator’s example, imitate His characteristics, and copy Him in himself. Sequentially, step by step, property by property, he gradually transfers greater and greater amounts of information from the Creator onto himself and, as a result, can completely equalize himself with Him.

In that case, in the degree of his equivalence to the Creator, a person starts autonomously regulating himself, in the same manner as the Creator would, and even much better. A person discovers a desire intentionally created in him: He wishes to be opposite to the Creator. But instead, man learns the program, the management techniques from the Creator, and despite his egoism, starts to govern himself in the correct manner.

It turns out that the Creator created man evil. And so it is written: “I created the evil inclination. And at the same time, I gave you a method to transform this evil into good. Then, you become similar to Me and free; you can work on yourself independently.

You hold two reins in your hands: your evil egoistic nature and your good altruistic one. Imitate, copy Me, and apply it to yourself. Then, you will be named Adam, from the word “Domeh,” similar to the Creator.

Thus, we do have an opportunity to graduate from the upper management, to cease being puppets, and stop saying “there is none else besides Him.” There is one more force beside Him: It is the force of that human who copies the Creator and does everything instead of Him. And that’s where free will lies because then we work with two opposite properties of the creature: egoism and the property of bestowal.
[34273]
From Lesson 4 Berlin Convention 1/28/2011

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Spiritual attainment comes very slowly because it is the manifestation of a new structure within a person. We cannot even imagine what it means to acquire a second nature. This does not exist and has never existed in our world, in the entire Universe; it has never happened over the entire course of history.

The nature that we acquire is built very gradually on the basis of many individual details and states, which appear inside us. This is the upper Light’s rigorous, slow, and incessant work upon us.

There is a latency period in the process of spiritual attainment whereby much work on the preparation of spiritual properties takes place within man. This literally represents a new birth.

But we are not just to be born additionally in the spiritual world; we need to go through changes on all the levels of our desire: 0 (Shoresh, root), 1 (Aleph), 2 (Bet), 3 (Gimel), and 4 (Dalet). Only then will we feel that something is happening to us. Until this last level 4 (Dalet), everything happens in an unclear manner that is concealed from us.

It is as if we were going from the zero point of creation to the state when our desire for the spiritual slightly begins to awaken. This is not even the actual desire; it is a certain understanding of this desire, a separation from whatever now exists in us. At first this happens in one’s sensations and then in the mind. This is how the upper Light influences us.

This is why it is unrealistic to expect for everything to happen in a second, even though one must wish for it with all his might. In other words, every moment must be the last one, and if he did not succeed, then let it be the beginning of the next moment.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/2010, Baal HaSulam, Letter 52

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Question: Throughout our lives we often suffer. How can we work with it? Why do we feel suffering? What should we do with it?

Answer: It’s impossible to advance without suffering. Until we reach our final goal, we keep advancing by the force of suffering.

Suffering is when I feel that something is lacking. Actual suffering isn’t necessary; I can derive pleasure from suffering. If I know that a special meal is awaiting me and I’m getting closer to it, if I know that I’m about to meet someone I love, a friend, and something good is about to happen, then it isn’t suffering any more. The feeling of hunger and emptiness stirs in me the anticipation of future enjoyment and fulfillment.

Therefore, our entire problem is not in sensing a lack at the present moment, but whether that lack has fulfillment, an answer in the future. If it does, then for me it’s as sweet as a feeling of hunger before a good meal. I can feel that satisfaction is coming. Suppose, you have a date with a loved one tonight, and you look forward to the meeting. Is there a chance that you will be miserable?!

In other words, the problem is not in my condition, but rather in if there is a pleasure that beckons me ahead or not. The problem is that people can’t see a proper, good future ahead of them and, therefore, feel suffering. If we felt that all the problems we have today would be successfully resolved tomorrow, we wouldn’t feel the hardships as suffering. Rather, it will be like an overture, a necessary preparation that precedes fulfillment.

Hence, our entire problem is in revealing the future in our current state, the one where everything will be fine. But it has to “shine” to us like a pleasant date.

This will be the answer to all our afflictions. We will agree to pass through all the unpleasant states—ascents and descents, all sorts of confusions in feelings and in mind—as necessary for our spiritual correction.

If, however, through support from our environment, we know that a bright future lies ahead, then any of our current states would not appear as suffering. We would perceive them as a necessary sensation, a wholesome hunger before cherished satisfaction from the meal.
[34144]
From the 1st lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: Mentally, everyone believes that he is ready and willing to unite with all, but when the time comes to actualize this desire, we fail.

Answer: You fail in only one thing: Each of you separately is ready for it, but together, you are not. Egyptian exile is unlike all others. Why was it through Joseph that they entered Egypt? It was Joseph (from the Hebrew word “Osef,” “gathers”) because he is the sum of all forces and foundations.

Evil is impossible to expose, even if everyone is willing. In order to achieve this, one condition has to be met: There has to be willingness to unite. Joseph’s brothers were righteous, and each of them wanted to serve the Creator, but they were unwilling to unite. They didn’t agree to link together in Joseph who is the ground for it.

But when they were forced to enter Egypt with Joseph’s help, they started to see how much they hated and resented the idea of oneness. And the exile itself was the revelation of hatred toward unification. Only when this hate reaches its full force and one starts feeling its reign over himself (meaning that on one hand, he is subordinate to Pharaoh, but on the other, deeply suffers from it and is unable to accomplish anything), the breakthrough occurs.

But all of this takes place thanks to the effort to unite, having risen above one’s own desire to do so. Thereby, they overcome exile. As to us, we are standing at the Egyptian border, hanging about. The aspiration to be one manifests in mutual inner concern, when everyone is thinking and worrying about our internal unification.

As a result, we feel that there is something between us that connects us, and we all will become as one heart. At this point, we are a spiritual heart, a spiritual desire, where we are connected with the Creator and need the Light that will link us so that from our mutual desire we will be performing acts of bestowal to the Creator.
[34319]
From the Talk on Spiritual Work 12/17/2010

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Question: Sometimes during the lesson we ask questions that demonstrate our weakness that we are not advancing and succeeding as expected. I see that you do not reject such questions, but rather keep trying to answer them over and over again.

Answer: We study that the more a person advances, the more he feels worthless, powerless, and small. Do not feel ashamed because we do not measure ourselves against roosters in the coop but against the Creator.

If I am in a chicken coop, then I definitely feel like a hero. But if the Creator reveals Himself to me, it is only natural to submit myself. There is no shame in it. Neither do I judge such things and ignore a person if he tells me that he is weak. I am well familiar with such states. Weakness isn’t a problem at this point. On the contrary, weakness is the attainment of self in its authentic form on the background of the Upper Light.

But a question arises: Is any desire to reach the goal still left in a person at the moment when he has lost faith in his strength, and does he still passionately wish to achieve it? That’s when he cries out for help correctly.

Obviously, everyone has to experience it individually as well as to explain to all our friends around the world that the attainment of personal lowliness and the awareness of the value of the goal, both of these conditions are mandatory in order to break through the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality).
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From the Talk on Spiritual Work 12/17/2010

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