Question: Can our efforts be viewed as preparation for the spiritual life?

Answer: Yes, they can. Effort is a broad idea. However, note the following:

1. It isn’t that I run around for no reason like a child for whom running is reason enough in and of itself. Rather, my effort has to be purposeful. I exert it where the breaking occurred, in oneness with others, since from love of others, I will reach the degree of love for the Creator.

2. The effort must be motivated by the Light which, essentially, arranges the next step for me. There, I may have to face greater despair or higher attainment, deeper emptiness or greater fulfillment. It doesn’t matter what it is. This is the next stage of the journey since we move forward between the right line and the left line.

Hence, besides the right place to exert an effort, I need the right source of the Light, the books that connect me to it. Therefore, I have to be in the group that studies the sources.

3. Additionally, I need a mentor in order to learn the right way to work with the books and how to relate to the group.

If a person has all three of these tools and knows how to use them, he is all set. Now, everything is up to him. Time after time, he must evaluate these three components: the teacher, the books, and the group, and seek an opportunity to utilize them in the most effective way.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/2011, “What Are the Powers Which Are Needed for the Work”

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At all spiritual degrees, until the very final correction (Gmar Tikkun), a special force from the upper degree becomes revealed to us. This force accompanies a person while helping him to ascend from one spiritual degree to the next.

As a matter of fact, a person, while at a given degree, can never ascend to a higher one on his own since he has only the power of the current degree. If he had the force of the higher degree, he would be there already.

Yet, between the degrees, there is always some intermediary link, a mediator on the path. Between beast and man, such an intermediary is the ape; between plant and animal, it is a “dog of the field,” and so on.

In spirituality, such an intermediary is the “donkey driver.” There are other “angels” as well, meaning forces that assist us in various ways in ascension from one state to the next. Even now, when we wish to take some actions, an upper force comes and assists us. No matter whether we call it the Surrounding Light or an angel, this particular force leads us forward by helping us to rise from degree to degree.

The lower one supplies only a desire, a vital need. He has to strive to ascend along with his “donkey,” and be almost able to do so while being fully aware of his inability to accomplish this alone.

This is why two sages who embark on a journey take time to arrange a guide for it in advance, the “donkey driver.” They have the donkeys which are loaded with luggage; they know where they are going, and only a guide is needed to lead them on.

Usually this help from Above comes from Rav Hamnuna Saba (see “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article, “The Letters of Rav Hamnuna Saba”). It is a very exalted spiritual degree from which the Upper Light expands in order to assist us. It is regarded as the “donkey driver.”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), “What Does It Mean that the Ladder Stands Diagonally in the Work”: A ladder must always be at an angle even in the corporeal world. When a person’s head “reaches the heavens,” he must also “be walking on earth.” Even though these are two opposite forces, they are still not that far from one another. And this means that one must walk in two lines, which is called a “diagonal.”

No matter what awakens in a person, his job is to have a correct attitude towards the faults and correct them instead of hiding them. Through this he will realize the ascent up “the diagonal” of an inclined ladder, which refers to the proper combination of two desires whereby he establishes the desire to bestow above the desire to receive.

Negative impulses awaken in us: hatred, envy, lust, vanity, and rejection. They are the consequences of the breaking, and our nature consists solely of them. All of these properties have to be transformed into factors that increase the love of created beings in our hearts. We advance specifically with their help by correcting them.

Naturally, man must correctly combine the Bina and Malchut, justice and mercy, within him. Everything has to be balanced from both the right and left sides without deviating  in accordance with his own level and the level of others.

Thus, our work is examining the evil that becomes manifested without blurring it, putting it “to sleep,” and uncovering either the rejection or attraction towards those around us that it induces; otherwise, you are not doing spiritual work, you are not always trying to keep yourself in bestowal (love) over rejection (reception) of others (“neighbors”).

One must correctly combine the opposite properties within “at a diagonal,” without being afraid of them. A person is not able to do this on his own, but he demands correction, and he sees when the Creator makes this combination for him.
[31958]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/2011, “What Does It Mean that the Ladder Stands Diagonally in the Work”

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Question: At what point does the Creator decide: “That’s it, I am done. I’ve submerged you in total desperation”?

Answer: Is it worth worrying about it? The Creator is an unchanging force, an unbendable law, perfection, eternity, and consistence. There are no changes in Him; everything is up to me. Depending on which side I turn to Him with determines the kind of response I will receive, in perfect correspondence with the course aimed at the purpose of creation.

The Creator is the world of Infinity (Ein Sof) where I’ll find the perfect Kli (vessel), the perfect Light, a perfect screen (Masach), and where all efforts, disappointments, successes, and everything else are collected. That is where my Reshimot (informational data) are leading me to.

From this perfect state, from the perfect strokes of the final picture, I receive motivating forces, according to my personal state. I am guided forth by small doses of despair and strength, enlightenment and concealment, that is, by the multifaceted and intricate governance.

I, however, don’t know in what combination these or the other beginnings will come. It is determined by the design of the soul that I attain gradually by advancing further and further. It is the soul where we attain the bond with Infinity, and hence, start to realize how the whole links together with its part, until they become one.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/2011, “What Are the Powers Which Are Needed for the Work”

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Question: If only “desire” was created, then what is intention? Is it a type of desire as well?

Answer: No it isn’t. Intention comes to us from the Creator. Every person has a point in the heart, “the Creator’s part given from Above.”

The truth of the matter is that we resulted from the breaking. Before us, there was a system of Infinity (Ein Sof), where the entire desire and the Light were one. Then we experienced the system of the breaking of the Kelim (vessels).

What did it give us? Now that we are here in the corporeal world, we still have desire, but instead of the Light, there are only sparks. Our desire is broken and acts solely with an egoistic intention to receive. In the course of history, from generation to generation, from lifetime to lifetime, it has developed at the still, vegetative, and animate levels.

Finally, during one of its lifecycles, it reaches the final stage when a point, a spark of Light, the Creator’s part given from Above, emerges in a person. “What about me?” it asks as it wakes up to life, and that’s when man feels a conflict within.

At the animate level, such internal conflicts don’t arise because at that point we were developed by instinctive impulses and urges. We wanted to use others to the utmost and succeed in all that we did.

All people, young and old, strive to gain the most out of this world. They exist only in one desire: the will to receive pleasure. Thinking that it is worth living for, they don’t ask questions about something greater than that. After all, questions grow from within, from the fertile inner ground, and until then we are mere mammals. We view vital issues through the prism of our mind and various beliefs.

This goes on until man despairs of the desire, until his or her point in the heart unfolds, which characterizes our generation. Thus, the point in the heart is the beginning of the soul. This is what triggers human development.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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We go through numerous lifetimes, remaining only in egoistic desire. Within it, we live and develop. It is our reality in this world. Essentially, it is only the point in the heart of each of us that undergoes incarnations while the bodies belonging on the animate level simply are born and die.

Finally, after many lifetimes, the point in the heart starts doing its work. After all, the material desire has completed its development and has nothing else to do; it lost interest in trying to fill itself and doesn’t see an exciting future ahead. All of this helps the point in the heart to bring a person to the question of the purpose of life, of a more exalted existence than the material journey from birth to death. This is the beginning of the spiritual process.

In nature, there are two forces: the will to receive and the will to bestow. The spiritual world is the world of bestowal, whereas the corporeal world is the world of reception. How then do we unveil the world of bestowal? How do we enter it?

My point in the heart must face egoism which halts it. Yet, the upper force that expands from the integral network of mutual connection brings me to the group, the studies, and the teacher. Now, I have to work with the environment so that my will to bestow may rise above the will to receive. Having accomplished that, I will ascend to my first spiritual degree. It is grounded in egoism, but its essence is in bestowal.

The stages of ascension are as follows: 1) My egoism is increased to match the point in the heart, 2) I have to trust that even if these forces are equally strong, I can reconcile them by having elevated my point in the heart with the help of the group and having chosen the value of bestowal over the value of reception, and 3) This is regarded as faith above reason.

Later on, the process repeats: I receive greater egoism, which is confronted by the point in the heart that has also grown, thereby ascending to the degree number two. In this way, we climb the ladder of spiritual rungs, step by step.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You have said that when properly taught, the new generation will naturally transition into spirituality without sinking into egoism. How does this fit with the notion that man comes to Light from darkness as he reveals the evil within?

Answer: We exist in a very large system of souls that was created by the Creator. Now, instead of it, we feel our physical existence and broken interconnection. There is only one reason for this: our inadequate and faulty perception. And this is why we need to find out and learn how to transition to the correct perception.

If we were to come to Kabbalists at a young age, they would have given us the education that we as children should have received. To educate means to accompany a child as his desires grow and impulses take over due to the changing Reshimot which unfold in the process of his natural development, and provide him with the means to manage them, properly arrange them, and weave them into the correct attitude towards the world.

Today we teach our children to exploit the world, to enjoy it egoistically, and to use everything and everyone. Instead, we need to teach children an altruistic and friendly attitude towards the world, teach them love. This way a child simply receives a different education method from us and no more than that.

“How will his evil inclination manifest?” The evil inclination does not go anywhere; it keeps growing, while we provide children with the appropriate means to correct it. So why am I teaching adults, who are also transitioning from the animate to the human degree, when I can be working with children? Today, all of them are born with inescapable questions about life. There is no need to wait for them to grow up and become full of animate desires. I can immediately teach them to be human.

Parents must provide their children with education one way or another. And if my goal is bestowal and love of my neighbors, then would I really teach my son anything else? Of course, I will teach him the things I value.

Our duty is to provide our children with a method that will bring them to the human degree. We clearly see what is happening in the public education system. And this is why we naturally need to do everything we can to ensure our children receive spiritual education.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Today there are many new students present at the lesson. What advice would you give them to change their egoistic intention into an altruistic one?

Answer: In our world, we are approaching the moment of truth: We have nothing else to live for. Day by day, the world discovers that its life is empty. In reality, however, we haven’t reached the turning point just yet, and people still manage to confuse themselves and obscure the truth because they have no replacement for their present life.

We have to show them that the alternative does exist, and that we are undergoing a certain process managed from Above. We have to actualize it. It is a unique, benevolent process, a remarkable development, elevating us over life in the body which is approaching death every given second. This is what we should pass on to the newcomers.

We must rise to a new perception of reality. It doesn’t mean that I simply replace “my picture” I see from within the body. No, I don’t “switch the remote” on the external view, but rather I step out into a new reality, cross from one world to the other. I change my attitude in practice, by giving it a new vector: from within myself to outward toward others, or from within myself out to the Creator. In fact, “the other” is a remedy, an intermediary phase that helps me to aim to the Creator.

In general, I can exist in my small will to receive pleasure, perceiving this tiny, frail world. Alternatively, I can break free from it and experience eternal life, the perfect nature, where I live without restrictions in the world of Infinity. The wisdom of Kabbalah gives us this opportunity.

In the previous generations, only a few were able to experience such an internal revolution, the transition from one world to the other. But today, everyone whose point in the heart (or spiritual desire) unfolds can try to actualize it. Starting with our time and on, the entire human race will gradually, step by step, undergo this transition.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If I have an egoistic desire and a spark of bestowal, then who am I?

Answer: You are the middle, you stand between them as the deciding force which shifts the scale. If you cannot arbitrate bestowal and receiving within you, their conflict will force you to do it, if only by way of suffering, through internal and even external wars. On the other hand, you can use the wisdom of Kabbalah which explains to you how to go through this process quickly and consciously.

Question cont.: What determines my choice then if I am in the middle?

Answer: It is defined by the environment that you have been led to. The Creator, so to speak, “places a person’s hand on the good fate,” but later on, you yourself should become rooted in the group and begin working with it.

If you are sitting at the lesson right now, it doesn’t mean that you have found the right environment just yet. You haven’t found the essential tools yet: not the teacher, or the group, or the books. You received them from Above, but you haven’t shifted the scales yet.

To do so, you must literally dig your teeth into the means you were given and use them correctly. You need to employ them every second by checking how and what else can be done. That is what constitutes your choice.

Egoism constantly pushes you away from it, disconnecting you from the teacher, or the group, or the books, and distracting you with doubt and disdain. And if you overcome these difficulties, you advance.

Let’s see if you are a real man. After all, “man” in Hebrew (Gever, גבר) means "overcoming" (Hitgabrut, התגברות), which allows you to raise one’s spark over all obstacles.
[32089]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What is the Light of Hassadim and how is it brought about?

Answer: When with the help of the Surrounding Light that Reforms I cultivate my point in the heart, it becomes my setting to bestow to the Creator. I acquire this ability. The Light of Hassadim releases me from egoism, and I rise above it. It is as if I received a hot air balloon that lifts me off the ground and I can fly!

The Light of Hassadim is the Light of Bina, the Light of freedom. I break free from my egoistic desire, as if exiting Egyptian bondage and becoming free from the rule of my ego. I rise above it, and it no longer burdens me. I am no longer bound by any egoistic qualities that make me steal, lie, and hoard; I withdraw from it all and become free, as if watching the whole world and myself from above, soaring in the air. This is the kind of freedom given by the Light of Hassadim.

The Light of Hassadim expands horizontally rather than vertically because it doesn’t depend on the level of desire. It is similar to a “generous spirit”: “Here I am, ready to bestow to everybody, without being ruled by my will to receive. Take all that I have; I don’t mind! I am connected with the Creator; I am united with Him and don’t feel any restrictions on my egoism; it has no power over me anymore.”

If a person steps out of egoism to such a degree, while ascending in the Light of Hassadim, he frees himself from the angel of death, rising above it.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, “Explanation of the Article, ‘Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah’”

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