A person has to understand that his attitude to the group is a mirror in which he sees himself, and this mirror doesn’t lie. While working on Kabbalah circulation, we may even yell at each other from time to time. However, the essence of the matter lies in one’s personal attitude to the friends, which demonstrates one’s more or less correct or totally incorrect approach.

Therefore, work with external group externally, and with the inner group internally. This is the order of things.

[30917]

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, “What is A Big or Small Sin in the Work”

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Question: How do I channel my thoughts through the group?

Answer: In order for us to glorify the Creator in our eyes, value Him as a Giver in whom everything is contained, and to ask Him to replace our tendency, our intention, from receiving to bestowal, He has to withdraw, to hide. Otherwise, we will always be egoistically enslaved by His magnificence, His eternal nature, and all that it promises us therewith.

Thus, the Creator is concealed, as if He has nothing. This way, you don’t depend on Him while remaining in the separation. Instead, you can receive His bestowal through the group. He intentionally broke the will to receive (desire) into parts, in order to demonstrate to it what hate, envy, lust, and ambition are, that is, how diverse a desire may be. Thereby, the desire is able to comprehend itself by looking at others.

In truth, the desire wants to simply receive, without being aware of multiple properties and the shades that it possesses. Tell a regular person that he is made of pride, envy, hate, and he will not believe you. Why should he? He doesn’t see them within.

This requires a very long, special development, not in terms of human evolution, but rather in terms of effort aimed at obtaining contact with the Light. Only then does a person begin to understand these notions correctly: not in terms of human psychology but in the exalted [spiritual] terms, in reference to the Light.

In such case, a person finds himself in a special group. He measures himself not against the “people from the street” but against a unique society that yearns for the Creator and is already beginning to absorb spiritual values. He measures envy, lust, ambition, and the degree of his egoism relative to them. This is how a person starts studying himself: who and what he is.

The Creator is concealed and can’t appear to a person since in this case, a person would want to be “pretty” in His eyes, in order to be part of such Greatness. He holds my life in His hands, so can I ever ignore Him if He were revealed?

Hence, the Creator replaces Himself with the group. I stand against the friends, in opposition to them, which gives me an ability to relate to them according to spiritual values. After all, these spiritual values are contrary to me since they belong to the friends whom I hate and reject.

This gives me an opportunity to gain an awareness of evil and to start getting to know myself while standing before the spiritual reality. The group, the environment, reveals spiritual details of perception to me, its properties and values. By rejecting the group, I reject them too. Thereby, I discover the truth.

If I continue on the path, study with the friends, and participate in their actions aimed against my egoistic desire, in order to unify internally, then gradually, I begin to value the states we are undergoing together as well the values we are talking about. In the degree of my demand, I receive the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) through the group and start bonding with the friends more and more. While doing so, I discover that it is they among whom I reveal the Light, the Creator.

And everything links into one whole; everything becomes one: the Kli (vessel), the Light, and all of the unifying Kelim. In the end, everything comes into one concept, one attainment.
[30932]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, “What is A Big or Small Sin in the Work”

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My task is to transform my nature. It means that I have to change all my inclinations completely.

I won’t take anything of what I have now with me into spirituality: neither reason nor feelings, nor views, criteria, or calculations. This poses huge, almost insurmountable obstacles in front of intelligent people, and they often fail. One needs to be truly wise in order to abandon one’s own mind.

A smart person believes in his or her logic that works perfectly well in our world, and it’s difficult for him to imagine that it’s powerless on the spiritual path. “Mind, energy, and perseverance are my strong suit. Isn’t that enough?”

Actually, such a person has nothing more than keen intelligence and sensitivity, but here’s the catch: That’s not the currency that buys you a ticket into the spiritual world. There, you need faith. What is it?

Faith is a power that you receive from Above, from the Light. You don’t have it inside you; it’s above your mind and feelings, above who you currently are. An upper influence comes, and you feel like something penetrates inside, awakens in you a consideration which is opposite to everything that you are.

Then, you begin to relate to reality in an inverted way. You used to look at everything through the prism of personal profit. Now, however, you take into account not yourself, but the unity. It’s so strange that it’s indescribable, but, nevertheless, a new consideration forms in you, and you now can’t return to the old one.

Certainly, there are intermediate states, but after a person “exits Egypt,” he comes to a higher consideration, completely abandoning his previous priorities. After all, his intelligence and wealth of feelings, experiences, and reflections just cease to work.

That’s why it is said, “It’s not a wise one who learns.” Typically, success does not favor the brightest minds. Actually, they in particular need a great deal of perseverance and luck to break through into the upper world.
[30784]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/10, “What is the Extent of Repentance”

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Success in achieving the goal doesn’t depend on any special abilities of a person. We are yet to be surprised to discover that nothing of what currently exists in each of us gets to cross into spirituality.

One enters the spiritual world through a thin filter that doesn’t let you carry anything you now possess through it. It all remains inside your egoistic desire, your corporeal mind; all assets of the past disappear and nothing is preserved.

Success is determined solely by the effort exerted to offset all difficulties, problems, and disappointments. If, despite it all, a person still advances and doesn’t back away, only then does he enter the spiritual world’ and this is the only thing he gets to keep. This determination is what gives him the right to come in. There is nothing else.

When we exit Egypt bringing Egyptian vessels (Kelim) with us, they must be absolutely empty: our bare desires filled with nothing. This means that we throw away all egoistic assets accumulated in Egypt and don’t want to take anything from it with us. We bring only the most basic bread (Matza) and empty vessels (desires) or it will be impossible to leave Egypt.

Therefore, there is only one suggestion: In spite of all the problems and burdens, disappointments, and lack of strength, to still push yourselves ahead. This works only when a person truly values his time and tries to fill it with as much as possible, to simply compress each moment.

It is very important how much he writes down during the lesson and how much he circulates during the day, that is, what he is filling his time with.
[30879]
From the Talk During the Meal 12/24/10

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What does it mean “to dissolve among the nations of the world?” Your egoistic desires tear apart your aspiration toward spirituality and break into your inner desire, “Isra-El.” All of them are your own desires, GE (the desire to bestow) and AHP (the desire to receive), which are intermixed to such an extent that it is impossible to separate them.

The bestowing desire (Israel) “soaks up” the egoistic intention (nations of the world) and learns how to bestow for its own sake, its own profit. And it succeeds in doing so much better than other nations! Intellect and emotions (all those exclusive properties of GE that are granted to Israel for attaining the spiritual world) are used to pursue egoistic success in this world.

Jews are proud of their achievements on this material level, but what are they proud of? We were given a tiny portion of spiritual potential, one minuscule spark to help us rise to spirituality. We keep investing it in minor material values which lead us to double uselessness, to “reverse success.” That is, we draw the whole world into worthless progress until everybody understands that they are facing a dead end.

Who did that? It was done by the “sparks of bestowal,” GE, that were received at the time of Babylon. They were used for reception, not their true purpose: to raise AHP (the desire to receive), the nations of the world, upward.
[25711]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/2/10, “Exile and Redemption”

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Writings of Rabash, “What is the Flood Water in the Work”: Faith above reason is the territory belonging to holiness….

Question: How can we reach this territory?

Answer: “Faith above reason” means that I arm myself with the force of bestowal above the egoistic desire, which awakens in me time and time again. This is not just a desire to sleep, eat, or have a good time, but a desire that obstructs me from uniting with others.

We are talking about the single criterion: for unity or against it. All the other desires belong to the animate degree. The true desire for pleasure, belonging to the human level, originates only from the breaking of the souls. Everything else belongs to the lower levels in me: still, vegetative, and animate. I don’t deal with them at all.

Thus, the criterion of my analysis is my attitude to unity. The advice is to check myself in the group because in the wide world confusion is inevitable and there is no one to work with there. If we get together in order to unite and I discover that I am unable to do this and don’t want it, that I hate and reject the very idea, it means I reveal the evil inclination inside myself.

I make efforts, trying to to ascend above them, but discover that I am unable. Then, due to lack of any choice and by feeling how important and necessary it is to attain unity, I cry out, “Save me!” And from Above I receive the force of bestowal which helps me to think about unity, to connect to others at least slightly.

Meanwhile, others do not and should not feel it. We are talking about the inner work of a person who starts to feel the common force of unity inside this aspiration to unity. This force is called “the Creator.”

That is how a person moves forward from one phase to the next. His desire constantly grows, opposing unity more and more. He makes all the efforts, trying to manage with everything alone. But he fails, despairs, and calls out for the force of bestowal. In this force of bestowal, aimed at the heart of the group, he reveals the Creator.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If our world is the lowest of the worlds and if we can start climbing the ladder of spiritual steps with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, why then are millions of people walking about this lowest degree never reaching even the starting point of spiritual ascent?

Answer: There are five spiritual worlds: Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, and Adam Kadmon. We are at the lowest degree, in the corporeal world. All of the 125 degrees that are above us are levels of transformation of reality.

Do you wish to change reality? If yes, you need a screen. A screen is defined as the measure of connection between me and the Light, the Creator. I must connect myself with the Light, the Creator, with the help of the screen.

Then, by means of various actions I perform with the screen, I will be able to create various forms of reality. Besides, these forms are alive, just like people whom I see right now. Yet, at the moment, I am not the one who is creating this reality; such perception is given to me by nature.

However, when I start ascending in spirituality, I act as the Creator does. I create each degree, all its still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels. I create this reality; I form and support it instead of the Creator. However, who is this “I?” The “I” is the one who possesses a screen.
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Perception of Reality” 10/20/10

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Love covers all transgressions. It envelops them from the outside; it doesn’t annihilate them but creates a covering. The degree of transgression determines the degree of love. Otherwise, love has no form; its form is determined by hate.

What can we tell about happiness? Not much. On the other hand, in the drama of misfortune, we discover a numberless multitude of states and shades. There are novels, films, and music inspired by it.

This demonstrates that everything begins with the creation of the evil inclination: hate, misfortune, grief, and problems. We have to discover assorted forms of these states of existence so that, later, we may clothe them in love. And that will be the form of the Creator.
[26009]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, “Come onto Pharaoh-2”

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When reading The Zohar, we have to think about the fact that the only thing we lack is the Light of Hassadim. If I look at the same reality that we are in, but in the Light of Hassadim, which emanates from my intention to bestow, then instead of the current reality I will see the spiritual reality.

In order to start feeling the Upper World, I lack only the Light of Hassadim which emanates from me to everything around me. Usually we waste a lot of time, energy, and life itself on completely useless actions that do not depend on us. But the only thing we can do is bring ourselves to the Light of Hassadim so it will manifest inside us, being the quality of bestowal in which the Light of Hochma becomes clothed, the knowledge and attainment of the Creator.

All the actions we make besides attaining the Light of Hassadim, the attitude of bestowal to the environment, evoke only a negative reaction from Above. It corrects us, but through the lengthy path of suffering, eventually returning us to the aspiration of bestowal, albeit by the path of suffering.

Therefore, if a person constantly discerns what is necessary in order to attain this single action that can come from him, the quality of bestowal, it means that he is waiting for salvation. That is exactly what we should feel while reading The Book of Zohar.

Kabbalists have revealed this spiritual reality. So what do I lack to reveal the same thing and see what they are talking about? The only thing I lack is the Light of Hassadim.
[31027]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/10, The Zohar

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Question: In order to receive strength from the friends, I have to value them. But how can I value them if I’m an egoist?

Answer: You value the unity of people, or in other words, of souls. Externally the only thing there can be between people is hatred, envy, and the like. However, behind the external facade, every person contains the inner him – the force of bestowal that is concealed inside him.

It’s like there are two screens in front of you: external and internal. On the external screen you see this world, whereas on the internal screen everyone is united by the forces of mutual bestowal. After all, the soul is the force of bestowal that’s concealed inside us. This is the picture you turn to, wishing to reveal it, to be included in it, and to dissolve in it. You do not deal with the external forms.

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? When you turn to the inner picture, you will see that there is no breaking there, but all the friends are united with each other. This is the Shechina. It contains mutuality, unity, mutual guarantee, and in a word, everything besides you. You want to become part of it, demanding it, asking, and pleading for it.

That is the meaning of building the right environment. Otherwise you look at the friends on the outside and do not find anything there. The Creator deliberately drew this picture in front of us so that by tearing down the veil and looking deep into our unity, you will discover the exact environment that Baal HaSulam talks about in “The Freedom.”

This is the environment you have to turn to and from which you have to demand everything. There, everyone is corrected; by becoming included in the friends, you will discover the Creator among them, meaning the common, all-inclusive force of bestowal.

In Kabbalah, besides the simple sum there is a notion of all-inclusion (Koalel), which is the integral force of everyone. For example, the common force of 100 people equals 100. But inside their unity the Creator is present, being an additional force that is deeper, spiritual, and all-inclusive.

That is why the friends are capable of anything due to having rejected their egoism in order to reveal the Creator, to reveal the root and unite with Him. They do not attain the four degrees of still, vegetative, animate, and human, but the Creator. They do not attain Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, and Haya, but the addition, the Light of Yechida that was not there previously; Keter, the point of the letter Yod.

If a person desires to work with the environment, then the environment is ready for him. Then he sees all the friends as the greatest people of the generation. And in truth, inside each of them there is a giant. After all, if they have an inner spiritual aspiration, then inside they are already united. In principle, on the inside all of humanity is united, but you have to turn to those who also externally express the spiritual desire at least slightly. Then you have an environment.

After that, to the extent you lower yourself before the environment and value it, you will receive strength from the friends until finally reaching the gate of tears. Spirituality will become the most vital thing in your life, but at the same time you won’t have any possibility of obtaining it. That is when you will cry out.

You will then be crying out to the reality that you reveal as mutual bestowal, to the common force that lies there called “mutual guarantee.” It is from there that you will receive what you need, the desire or need to become a part of the friends. Having discerned many details of unification, you will enter the inner picture.
[31003]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/10, Writings of Rabash

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