Most people understand that only one force acts in the world; let’s call it the force of Nature. They give it different names: one force or one God. However, it isn’t some person but the law, the universal equation of all of nature that Einstein was looking for in order to connect all other laws and equations acting on all levels of existence into one.

Kabbalah found such universal equation eons ago: On one side of it, there is the Light (Y), on the other, the will to receive (X), and in the middle, function (F) that mutually connects, equalizes them: an anti-egoistic screen. This is the formula, and it is very simple!

Our desire is “multiplied” by the screen and gets equalized with the Light that we, to the extent of our following this formula, are able to accept. There is nothing else, except these three components!

But the Light is a constant value; it doesn’t change. Meanwhile, desire constantly changes; however, it happens irrespective of us. Our job is to keep maintaining the screen: the balance between the Light and desire.

It is the only equation that exists in nature. All other laws derive from it: the laws of chemistry, physics (at the still level of desire), botany and biology (at the vegetative level), zoology and medicine (at the animate level), psychology (at the level of human perception), and, finally, the laws of the speaking level (at the level of upper worlds).

Everything is governed by one and the same simple equation. It’s a shame Einstein is not here today; he would finally put his mind to rest. But, truth be told, he was moving in the right direction by trying to connect light (life) with mass (matter, desire).
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Question: I believe when you say that all problems are mere effects of my distorted perception. But what should I do if for now, all of this is just philosophizing to me, whereas the problems are real?

Answer: If you connected to the group and became able to receive a sense of security, a guarantee, from them, you would feel as safe as in a mother’s arms. What would you worry about if you knew that you were surrounded by 600,000 souls that will take care of you? Nothing bad can happen with you since Shechina (divinity), the Creator, dwells among them. Therefore, you can worry about only one thing: how to learn to treat others as you treat yourself, and get to see that, in reality, they are you.

We need to stop believing our eyes and egoistic senses, which tell us that outside of us there are other people. It will free you from all your problems! Gradually, by using this method, you will uncover the correct perception of reality; the world will become transparent and behind each object, you will see the force that moves it.

You will suddenly see how everything falls together and will marvel at how blind you used to be! What awfully distorted lenses you were wearing! Truth be told, it all depends on your vision and perception. Nothing changes; I only attune my sight a bit, align the axes of vision, and a whole new picture suddenly emerges.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, ““A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Question: Lately I feel very tired and fall asleep at the lesson. Does this mean that my desire for the goal is not strong enough?

Answer: First of all we must accept every state as coming from Above, from the Creator because “There is none else besides Him.” If I relate to every state as being constructive and coming from the Creator, and therefore advancing me toward the goal, then it is already a useful state that really does build me. In this regard everything depends not on the state itself, but on my attitude to it: Who is it from?

It doesn’t matter what state I am in – good, bad, intermediate, or one that lacks any motion, even if I remain in it for several months. If I always relate to it as the right state for making discernments, corrections, and advancement, then I do not worry about what is actually happening.

I always raise MAN, remain in the intention, and in response, from Above I receive MAD, the state that comes to me. The intention comes from me, while the state comes from the Upper One.

Therefore, we must look at everything that comes to us from the Upper One as a blessing. Whatever came to us is what came because it undoubtedly comes from the One who is Good and Does Good, and there is none else besides Him. I have to treat every state as being necessary on the path.

If I constantly change and delve deeper into the study, the group, and the intention, then I am not worried by what I receive from Him. On the contrary, it’s possible that each time I will receive a harsh treatment (Gevurot) from Him, but I understand that precisely this treatment is what advances me. After all, that is how a serious person is treated, one who is expected to make progress, in contrast to a baby who is treated tenderly and nothing is expected of him. Thus, everything depends on whether or not you’re a hero….

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, The Zohar

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Question: I feel threatened when we read these texts. I don’t understand them. How can I properly work with this feeling?

Answer: Maybe it’s a good feeling. We exist in a reality which is unfolding only within us. Right now, I am speaking with “you,” a part of my soul, and with other people all over the world, but all of them reside within me. And beside me, there is only the upper force split into multiple parts.

I should arrange all of my desires in order to mutually connect them with each other, incorporate all those who seem alien within myself, and love them as myself. I must merge with all of reality and become one whole with it. Then, I will see that all of it is mine, and there is only one Light that fills one desire.

And until then, I naturally get confused and undergo very obscure states. But it doesn’t threaten me. I must perceive the reality correctly, meaning that I have to begin feeling that all of this is happening within me. It is my “I,” and it is only due to my inner division that I mistakenly perceive my own parts as being outside of me.

For example, I had a surgery under local anesthesia. I didn’t feel anything, but in the mirror I saw what the surgeons were doing: inserting a needle and cutting a part of the flesh that didn’t seem to belong to me. I didn’t feel it as mine because of the anesthesia. However, since I was still aware that it was my part, despite the fact that I didn’t feel it under a local anesthetic, it was interesting for me to watch what was being done to it.

In essence, we are precisely in such a reality. But as soon as this “anesthesia,” the fog, dissipates, you start to experience and feel reality as your own, and everything looks different! Then, you see that you are dealing only with the Creator, the “Good Who does good.”

It turns out that your ability to feel the “Good Who does good” instead of a threat, to sense eternity, perfection, and harmony instead of your current state, depends on how you attach all of these seemingly alien desires to yourself.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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Question: What are Reshimot?

Answer: A Reshimo (informational record) is an impression that remains in the Kli (desire) after the Light that filled it departs. Hence, Reshimot are the Lights contained in the Kelim (desires).

What does “the Light departs from the Kli” mean? It means that it does not illuminate the Kli as before because there is no screen, no contact between the Kli and the Light. Hence, the Light shines only from afar, and it is therefore said that Kli contains a little bit of Light.

Reshimot are similar to reminiscences of my past. The Light fills my will to receive (desire) when I, with the help of the screen, acquire the connection with the Light and we merge together because the screen binds the two opposites with one another. But when there is no screen, the Light is not connected with the Kli. It stays in the Kli and doesn’t depart, yet the Kli cannot feel it or cause it to shine. The Light within it is barely perceived, and we call it a “Reshimo.”

We simply express it by saying that the Light departed and left a Reshimo in its place. Yet in truth, it isn’t the case. The Light remained in place and did not depart, but because we don’t feel it, the Light and the Kli are seemingly disconnected.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: What is a strong desire that enables a person to enter the upper world?

Answer: A strong desire is the desire when a person does not need a lot of time to return to the spiritual thoughts. See Baal HaSulam, Shamati No. 19, “What Is the Creator Hates the Bodies, in the Work.”

It is essential to try to acquire a strong desire to overcome one’s egoism and reach the property of bestowal. The strength of the desire is measured by the amount of delays and stops, meaning the amount of time that passes between having acute desires or, in other words, the length of a descent, falling out of spiritual efforts: a split second, an hour, a day, or a month.

Then one again resumes his work on overcoming his egoism and tries to reach bestowal. A strong desire is the desire when the interruption of efforts does not take a lot of time for a person, and he immediately awakens for the work. In this case, his efforts accumulate, as if into a single blow.
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Why did the Light create us opposite to it, like a shadow on its background? This is because it is impossible to attain the Light itself; we can only attain it from its oppositeness, as it is written, “The advantage of the Light is revealed from within darkness.”

As creation, we do not feel the phenomenon itself, but are able to perceive something against its opposite, such as sour and sweet, cold and hot, etc. It’s precisely the polarity of experiences that creates a sensation in us.

This is why the Light had to create us in the form of darkness, opposite to it, and then help us to get to know it from this darkness. This way, it becomes clear how the Light acts upon us.

Its action is expressed in two ways. On one side, it increases my desire, and on the other, it creates a sensation of the One who affects it. In the first case, the Light acts through pleasure, and in the second, it is like it introduces itself.

This is the way my desire develops. It grows to a certain degree and begins to recognize Who develops it. Then, it grows even more, and I already begin thinking about what will happen with me further, how I can become similar to Him and acquire His properties.

In other words, my desire not only becomes bigger, but it also grows in quality. In the end, it turns into a very big desire. Its magnitude becomes equal to the pleasure that acts on it, while the quality which I desire is what the Light wants.
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Light” 12/8/10

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The act of annulment characterizes the entire path of spiritual evolution. At each stage, the creature cancels its desire created as existence from absence and uses it to become equivalent to the Creator.

In the beginning, it nullifies itself as a point in order to obtain an enormous need. What for? It’s in order to have a Kli (vessel) adequate to the Creator. At the second stage, it cancels this need and rises above it.

Renouncement of the desire signifies crossing over the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality). Having ascended, the creature breaks free from desire, and consequently transitions to the next stage.

There, the created being renews the desire and even starts receiving pleasure in it not for self-gratification, but in order to delight the Creator who loves it, thereby demonstrating its love to Him. In other words, during its entire ascent on the rungs of the ladder leading to Gmar Tikkun (the end of correction), the creature renounces itself.

It turns out that self-annulment is a means, act, and outcome all at the same time. With its help we advance on the ladder of values until we reach the ultimate value when self-annulment reaches such a high degree that it results in becoming equivalent to the Creator.

Paradoxically, it is through the act of renouncement, when I nullify my point of existence from absence, that I reach the status of the Creator. Using it as a foundation, I constantly grow, affected by the Light’s impact on it.

In our corporeal life, we don’t feel the Creator, nor do we perceive spiritual forces or understand the purpose of creation. Before whom, then, can we nullify ourselves? I nullify myself before the group, meaning the teacher, Kabbalistic texts, and people who aspire to the same purpose as I do. I cancel myself in relation to them, not in relation to the desires of this world that are not connected with spiritual development.

I dissolve in the group as if I don’t exist. I keep only the second part (Ain, absence) of my point of “existence from absence” (Yesh mi Ain) and copy their thoughts and feelings, disregarding my own. By doing so, I enter the spiritual system and start receiving the Surrounding Lights that promote me to the spiritual world.
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Self Annulment” 12/6/10

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In order to reach the Light, I must strongly demand it. However, since I am an egoist, this demand has to be rough, on the verge of hate. I, literally, can’t stand this Light, don’t want it, and blame on it everything that happens to me. Indeed, everything is caused by it.

Then, I feel my complete inadequacy to the Light, realizing that it is the Light which made me opposite to it and, now, instills bad feelings in me. From all of this, I get to know the dark void.

Only after I have experienced complete darkness as an advantage (Itaron), I begin to perceive something greater (Yoter) than darkness; I get to know the Light. In other words, I must be rough, coarse, “a great sinner,” in order to reach the state opposite to the Light. Then, I will be able to attain all of its might.

If darkness is felt to a small degree, it is impossible to attain all that the Light carries in itself. It has to truly be an “Egyptian night,” my authentic egoistic desire.

However, in order to experience such a dark void, I need the Light. A person who doesn’t study, doesn’t enter the dark. It is quite opposite! Thanks to the fact that a person draws the Upper Light during the studies, he will find out to what extent he is in the dark. After all, our entire evolution unfolds under the influence of the Light, and it makes us undergo all these phases. A person experiences the Light and darkness in turns, and, thereby, advances.

The experience of darkness is good. Darkness is a transition period between the spiritual states in the process of my development, like day and night.
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Light” 12/8/10

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The Light is a certain occurrence in the vessels (Kelim), their reaction. The Light, per se, does not exist, as Baal Hasulam explains to us in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.” We experience only the Kli’s (vessel’s) reaction to something. The vessel’s reaction to the stimulating factor is called the “Light.” It’s namely a reaction.

We do not attain the Light itself. Its essence is out of reach. We get to know only the forms acquired by the Kli after the Light’s impact. We perceive each other in the same manner. Are you truly familiar with and understand me? Do you know who I am? Actually, I am not familiar even with myself; it’s impossible.

Only the following is possible: Everyone perceives another in their own way, putting his image together from their own inner reactions. Therefore, as it is written, “Everyone judges according to his flaws.” Based on this, we can understand that the best we can do is come “to the place.” But what is this place?

Our uncorrected desires face an example, a visual illustration of the corrected Kli. It is called Elokim (God) or ZAT de Bina (seven lower Sefirot of Bina). We are speaking of the desire to enjoy that has emerged in the second phase, Bina, and wishes to bestow, to become similar to Keter.

This is what we call the beginning of the creature, “the Creator’s presentation” which demonstrates what it means to be in bestowal, to receive in order to bestow. This is what the lower part of Bina does by generating bestowal in relation to the others. We wish to reach it, learn from it how to receive pleasure from the Creator, and pass it on.

We can bestow only what we receive from the Creator. To whom do we bestow? We bestow to the others. Thereby, from love of others, we gain love for the Creator by way of that very “place,” ZAT de Bina.

All our actions on the way to it present Mitzvot (commandments) which define the relationship between man and the Creator (“Makom” in Hebrew, lit. the “place”). This is the place of revelation, bestowal, unity, and guarantee.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/10, “Introduction from The Book of Zohar,” Article “Mother Lends Her Clothes to Her Daughter”

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