Ultimately, we paint a picture of reality for ourselves when the Light comes in contact with the will to receive, similar to how in our world the light projects a movie upon a screen. Yet, unlike with the cinema, the Upper Light paints the image not on a screen outside, but inside of us, thereby creating a picture of reality on our matter, the will to receive pleasure.

This is why we see a live world and living creatures “in front of us” (this is how we perceive what we sense inside of us), and not the images on a flat surface. Imagine for a moment that you are drawing a little puppy that is running around you. You are creating it; it isn’t a picture, but a creature made of flesh, blood, and bones which has a mind and feelings because it is within your matter (desire). Essentially, this is all we are doing since there is nothing but desire and the Light.

If your desire awakens, rises, and reaches at least a minimal measure of bestowal, it creates new images, new creatures, together with the Light. You see for yourself, as if from aside, how your various desires change on the contact with the Light and create various forms of life. Can you imagine what reality you are living in? Before your eyes, the worlds are changing with their entire content, all of which is created by you.

Surely, you are fully aware that previously, you had also existed in a world being created in your matter. So, a question arises: Am I creating these forms, making them anew, or had they existed before and are just now unfolding in this form, along the growth of my desire and ascent on the ladder of spiritual rungs?

At each spiritual degree, I encounter new forms, a new world. Did I make this new world that I am discovering, or had it existed before me, and I am only now discovering it? The answer is that I only uncover it. But for myself, I am indeed creating it since for me, it lives in my desires.
[26052]
From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Perception of Reality” 10/20/10

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When we are “pulled by the sleeve” to get acquainted with our egoism, we should rejoice since thereby we acquire spiritual degrees. When a person loses faith in this world and is burdened with questions about the meaning of life, these questions derive from the point in the heart. Then, one is given an opportunity to construct spiritual degrees, the levels of the Creator’s revelation, until the entire Light of NRNHY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida) is revealed.

Moreover, even the smallest degree gives him a sensation of eternity, of the life beyond the body, detached from the flesh. This is described as: “You will see your world in this life.” At these degrees, a person feels that he resides not in the receiving Kli (desire), but rather above it. Thus, he experiences his life as connected to the Creator; he feels that he has entered eternity.

This is why the Torah is regarded as the means of ascent to freedom from the “angel of death.” We abandon the desire to enjoy for self-gratification, which, in essence, is the “angel of death,” thereby arriving at authentic, endless life.
[32096]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: When I watch how humanity lives, I don’t see any kind of free will. Someone established the initial and final conditions for us, and we just keep running from this starting point to the finish line. Where is our freedom then?

Answer: You are absolutely correct. We can choose neither the states of creation: one-two-three (start-change-finish) nor the stages of our advancement from state one to state three. Everything is predetermined already.

I was born with pre-set characteristics and must actualize the program installed in me; I am corrupted and must come to final correction (Gmar Tikkun). It is clear to what extent I am corrupted and what I will be like once repaired. Furthermore, my entire path to correction has been written out, step by step.

If I become aware of this path, I begin to understand how strictly connected everything is, as if in an engine where each part moves after the other in a certain sequence. The “Torah” derives from the Hebrew word for “manual” (Oraa) which means that you are given precise instructions that don’t leave room for any degree of free will except one! Do you wish to achieve it through your free will, through your personal choice, or do you prefer to be forced into it? Now choose whether you will do it by exercising your free will or by getting beaten until you do it willingly.

And this choice doesn’t imply avoiding suffering. When you choose to evolve with your own will, you walk the path of attainment, development, and you experience the greatness of spirituality, feeling it as something infinitely exalted.

The point you have within that wishes to know the spiritual world, having risen above your material, egoistic desire, is called your “Self.” You can’t avoid this state but it is up to you how you will enter it.
[32117]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, “The Freedom”

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Where is our free will, after all? It wasn’t my will to come into this world, nor did I pick my life setting: family, country, and ethnicity. I am made of my parent’s genes which define absolutely all my qualities. I was raised by the environment where I found myself: my home, the kindergarten, and school, none of which was up to me. Nothing in me is my own!

By the time I grow up, I am completely formed, a finished product, like a pie from the oven. But this isn’t all! In fact, as the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us, we are all interconnected cogwheels; we are parts of one integral soul that was broken into pieces. It is as if we became a “puzzle” printed as one whole image to later be cut into small fragments.

So, each of us is assigned a very specific place in which we fit with all our properties and attributes, 613 desires, that make us depend on one person, the second and third, in order to link with them. Everyone depends on all for this puzzle to be complete. And it isn’t just a one dimensional puzzle since we don’t connect by mere contours: Each of us has “613” facets by which one is adjacent to all. Imagine such a 613 dimensional space.

Then what is the freedom that we are talking about if I am merely a tiny piece in the puzzle forced to totally match all the others in my properties? Hence, when free will is being discussed, it doesn’t pertain to a person per se and his personal, independent choice. This is one freedom shared by all; it is determined by all of us together!

Even if a person can make some move, it has to correspond with all the other parts, all the other souls and their properties. If I move in some direction, the movement must occur in the entire system. Now we need to find out: What constitutes my free will after all?
[32126]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, “The Freedom”

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The purpose of creation is to do good to the created beings. To achieve this, the creature has to be outside the Creator, the bestowing desire, meaning that it has to be in the will to receive. On the other hand, in order to reach perfection, the creature must become similar to the Creator. Therefore, it has to consist of two opposite forces: the desire to receive pleasure and intention to bestow.

It is surprising that the two opposite forces can co-exist inside one person. In truth, however, they are merely seeds. If a person wants them to grow from the smallest level, he has to arrange a correct connection between them. Otherwise, he won’t mature and will remain with a black point of desire that he received from Malchut and a tiny spark of the property of bestowal from Bina.

Growth begins when a person compares these two forces and sorts them out. Thereby he gives the Creator an opportunity to raise him while he combines them on his own: a mutual inclusion of Bina and Malchut so that Bina always stays above Malchut.

It is written: “Man will always turn his good inclination against the evil one.” This means that he himself has to forge this war: to identify the opposites within, force them into battle, and use them to build himself instead of covering them up.

This presents a problem because we avoid self-analysis and try to cover up internal conflicts instead of finding strength with the Creator, the source, so as to defeat the force of reception with the force of bestowal. But if a person understands that everything is sent by the Creator and evokes confrontations within himself, he finds a way to put things in order. He understands that all of his problems and experiences consist of two opposite forces that he must discern and align.

This is possible only if a person employs them in a real action inside the group. In the end, everything he feels must direct him towards love of others.

If it isn’t the case, then it means that a person hasn’t transformed or established a correct connection between the desire for pleasure and the spark of bestowal yet. Only by filling this connection with love of others will he become similar to the Creator in his properties.
[31961]
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: What is Segula (a miraculous remedy or force)?

Answer: Segula is when the outcome is not evoked by my direct actions, but rather happens indirectly. I don’t know exactly how this works; I was simply told that this is so and based on that I act.

I view the connection between my actions and their outcome as a fact because I rely on the upper one’s mind. In other words, I don’t work based on the principle: “A judge has only what his eyes can see.” On the contrary, I follow the principle: “They have eyes but cannot see.” I can only use the mind (Rosh) of the upper one who told me: “Do it this way.” And when I do, Segula occurs.

It is a law since nature works only through laws, but this law isn’t fully discerned in my attributes, my intelligence, yet; it isn’t evident to me and this is why it is called Segula with regard to me. It affects me, but I don’t feel it in my egoistic desires, not in what is revealed to me. Hence, it is called Segula, a miracle, an unexplained natural phenomenon.

We witness such phenomena in our world. Suppose one person suggests to another person to do something in order to obtain a desired result. But the latter refuses since he doesn’t see how one thing results from another. But if, despite his own desire, he followed the first person’s advice, meaning that he had understood that the other person could see the cause, effect, and the action necessary to achieve the desired result, it would mean that he would use the other person’s mind or the miraculous force, Segula.
[32208]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/31/10, Shamati #4

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Question: What do we have to do so The Zohar will find its way into the deepest recesses of the heart, into our desires and thoughts?

Answer: Open your heart. Nothing else is needed. The most important thing is not to despair and not to relax, and to make efforts precisely when the going gets rough. The article “Donkey Driver” in the Introduction of The Zohar is exactly the place where it explains that when you are walking along and your “donkey” (in Hebrew “donkey” is “Hamor,” originating from the word “Homer,” matter, the will to enjoy) can no longer carry its burden, you are sent a “donkey driver” that helps your “donkey” to ascend.

This driver stings the “donkey” with a sharp stick and it’s unpleasant. However, it makes you move forward. Therefore, if you agree to have a driver like that, you will receive him. But you have to ask for these “stings.”

Question: I know how to ask for good things, but how can I ask for the “stings” of the donkey driver?

Answer: If I don’t identify myself with my ego and want to be liberated from it, then I think the opposite: The more “stings” it receives, the more able I am to distance myself from it, to run away from it and ascend above it.

These “stings” do not wound me, but my ego. If I separate and detach from it, then we are separated by a distance and I therefore do not feel the “sting” that passes over it. The sting comes only in order for me to part with my ego. Then I don’t perceive these blows as happening to me, but to my “Pharaoh,” and in the meantime I ascend.
[32291]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/11, The Zohar

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Question: How do we achieve “a plea from the depth of the heart”?

Answer: Depth is when from our present state, we dive into more internal, exalted states, where our interconnection gets enhanced, until “one heart” is formed. This is what the “depth of the heart” is since in spirituality, each more inner degree is the more exalted one.

If in our work we strive to get to the “depth of the heart,” we have to find oneness there. And it isn’t just some desirable supplement, but rather a Kli (vessel), our correction. Nothing else is up to us since fulfillment, according to the law of equivalence of form, will unfold in the Kli to the degree that the Kli corresponds to it.

Therefore, we should think solely about unity. It depends on mutual agreement of the group and provides a positive effect even if it lasts for just a little while. Since habit becomes a second nature, it is worth making a deal that everyone will think about unity for a certain period of time during the day.

In our world, any phenomenon eventually declines and expires because the notion of time affects it. Since we haven’t yet reached a state where time doesn’t influence us, it is advisable to make an effort to hold an unbroken thought of unity for a few hours a day, to the extent that everybody will feel how everything is up to him since all the others are already connected.

As a result, he will unveil new phenomena which will be approaching the Light; it is quite possible. It is very likely that while at it, a person will discover resentment, reluctance, and inability to bond. At the same time, a person can feel that with the help of some external force, he is able to rise above himself and unite, as if rising above matter. If this force comes to surface, he will feel it for sure.

Inside the matter (desire to receive), he can do nothing. But since he desperately wants to ascend and unify with the others, he feels that there has to be a certain force which can help him. Passing through the chain of revelations and sensations, a person feels where and what has to happen. He understands the causes of the events and uncovers them step by step.

Our nature, Pharaoh, sits in us not allowing us to unite. In order to rise above it, we need strength, and we have to ask for it all the time. As a result of these revelations, we will want to turn to the Creator to build a connection in us. The first degree of such network is called exodus from Egypt.
[32205]
From the Talk “Questions about Unity” 12/31/2010

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Question: What were the final efforts you made before the Creator answered you? What did you do before passing the Machsom?

Answer: The question is incorrect because this happens unexpectedly. What works is the sum of all the different efforts, some of which you do not even suspect are there. Only later, when you sort out the “accumulated collection” do you start to understand that everything you went through was necessary for you to attain what you just attained.

However, as long as the end result of all the efforts is not revealed to you, you do not know how much is left. That is why it is impossible to say that some specific effort brought you to completion.

Question: What was special about your efforts?

Answer: I think nothing besides patience, persistence, and consistency (of course, with the background of worries and everything related to them). Baal HaSulam writes about this in the famous example in Item 133 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“: “And only the heroes among them, whose patience endured, defeated the guards and opened the gate. And they were instantly awarded seeing the King’s face….”

Who is a hero? It’s a person who had enough patience, who did everything possible not to veer off the path.
[32263]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: On one hand, you say that the Torah is not a historic narrative, but on the other, you refer to our forefather Abraham as a real person who started disseminating Kabbalah at a certain point in life. So, is Abraham an actual person from history or some special force?

Answer: The Torah describes to us the path of spiritual development of a soul, any soul. Moreover, everything described in it also manifests at the level of our world once, according to the principle: “The spiritual root must manifest in corporeal consequence.” For this reason, all these spiritual degrees have also manifested in our world in specific people and events.

This is why our approach to the study of the Torah has to be based on two aspects: On one hand, we study our history. All these people, such as Adam HaRishon, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on, really lived at different times. But on the other, the fact that all these historic events really took place does not matter to us. More important is the fact that this refers to the inner properties of our souls. When we begin correcting ourselves, we reveal these properties, forces, and states called “Abraham,” “Egypt,” “Isaac,” and so on within us.

Question cont.: Are these forces present in every person?

Answer: Absolutely in everyone.

Question cont.: So what is “Abraham?”

Answer: It is the property of bestowal, Hesed, the right line. The property of “Hesed” in man is called “Abraham,” while the property of “Gevura” “Isaac.” “Tifferet” is “Jacob”; “Yesod” is “Joseph” in the state of Katnut (the small state) or “Israel” in the state of Gadlut (adulthood), and so on.

Question cont.: Does this mean that I suddenly begin to feel Abraham within me during the process of my spiritual development?

Answer: You feel the property called “Abraham” within you. You stop connecting the text of the Torah with actual people and events. Instead, you begin to feel these actions happening within you, you reveal your inner properties and changes behind all the historic characters. This is how you read The Zohar, the Torah, and all the other holy books.

Looking at the words: “First God created heaven and earth,” you understand that this refers to Bina and Malchut, and God or Elokim is the general force. You feel all these properties!

Question cont.: What does this feeling give me?

Answer: You experience the entire Torah internally. You correct yourself in such a way that you begin to perceive the tale you are reading as happening within you. And this goes on until you “finish the entire Torah,” that is, attain your individual final correction by completely correcting your soul.
[32198]
From a TV Program “Ask the Kabbalist” No. 186, 7/7/2010

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