Question: In his book Beit Shaar HaKavanot, Baal HaSulam describes that the upper soul (Neshama) is in the brain, the spirit (Ruach) in the heart, whereas the lowest soul (Nefesh) is in the liver! Could you explain this?!

Answer: Kabbalists use words of this world because everything there is in this reality descended from the spiritual world. That is why it is possible to describe the Upper Forces using earthly words.

We have no other choice since in spirituality there is no language, only forces. We can give them any names or even assign numbers to them. However, our definitions have to bear certain correspondences and be able “to speak to us.”

Kabbalists found an easy and wonderful solution: They use words that belong to this world to name phenomena Above. They perceive spirituality, sense its forces, phenomena, actions; they live there! They observe spirituality through this world as if it is translucent. They view powers that act behind each object of this world and behind the entire picture.

It is similar to looking through a transparent glass and seeing a spiritual force that is placed at the other end of my “visual axis.” I see a force that works behind each person and each action in this world, and, therefore, it is easy to find a connection between them. For me, they are the same!

Differences between them show up only relatively to an “observer,” a person who discloses them. He either divulges them through his five bodily senses or perceives them within five spiritual organs of perception.

Other than that, all phenomena are identical. After all, our world is imaginary, and we feel it the way we do only within our sensations. If we get additional organs of perception, we’ll see things as if they happen simultaneously on two parallel screens.

Then, everything gets clarified and we never get confused any more. We realize what “brain,” “heart,” “liver,” and “Ibur – Yenika – Mochin” (conception, drawing of sustenance, adulthood) stand for. We recognize the spiritual meaning of all earthly words, such as “ascend,” “downfall,” “embrace,” “mating,” “left,” or “right.” They only have one meaning and cannot signify anything else.

We attain spirituality through our material world and sense it as its root. It becomes lucid and “apparent” to us, but the language that describes it has to be “borrowed” from this material dimension as if we “lay” a transparent film over it.

You used to see certain material images, but now you retain only their names that are further transferred onto a parallel screen in spirituality where they cling to the right places. You start using them without any confusion; you don’t have to explain their meaning to others since they, ascending to the spiritual world through the corporeal one, see the same picture and know what an illusion it is!

“Soul in the brain” means that the Light called Neshama (soul) dresses into a spiritual Kli (vessel) called “brain.” Beside the Light and desire, there is nothing else.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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The four exiles described in The Zohar are our “inner philosophers” who force us to work “within reason,” in the desire to receive pleasure, and to follow all of its commands. To exit them means to rise above the mind, above the desire, with the help of the Light that Reforms.

So, if I feel that I am submerged in my mind and sensations and work only within them, am I in the exile or not? Do I agree with my state? Perhaps I even love my mind and feelings, have faith in them, study, understand, and accumulate more knowledge and sensations every day?

On one hand, it is good. However, if a person does not see that all of this is a means to reach spirituality, it is bad since he does not achieve anything by this. He only obtains the false confidence that some day this approach will bring him to spirituality. But it will never happen since one does not study by his mind. No matter how much you know, you will not become closer to spirituality even by an inch.

Then what should we do? We should make a calculation. This is called “and they cried from this work.” A person sees that by using all his strength during the “seven years of plenty,” by attaining within his mind and feelings, and understanding what was written in all articles, he has not achieved anything. The printed text on paper has become imprinted in his brain cells, but this is all he has now….

Then he makes another calculation: “I only need the Light that Reforms! Whatever I have inside me and I myself, all of it has nothing to do with spirituality.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, The Zohar, Introduction, “Among All the Sages of the Nations Of the World, There Are None Like You”

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Question: Why are we given the illusion of freedom in this world?

Answer: We consider ourselves free for as long as we do not think about it much and identify ourselves with our animate body. But if we rose above our body a little, we would see that it strictly obeys the laws and processes it is subject to.

I think it is up to me when to go to sleep and when to go to work. But who is it really up to? I am placed in certain conditions and given certain internal qualities. Meanwhile, our will to receive pleasure (desire) acts as an engine that works according to a simple principle: maximal pleasure at minimal effort, that is, maximal gain at minimal investment.

This is the calculation we perform at each moment of our lives, in every aspect, any direction, any place, and in relation to everything there is. This is how our nature works, taking into consideration various conditions: how tired and healthy I am, how big the danger and possible pleasure are, and so forth. Understandably, as such, we remain inside our ego, and there is no free will there.

We have to realize that free will is possible only if I control my desire and am above it. For as long as I remain in my egoistic nature, I will always be an obedient puppet, fully controlled by my egoism.

If, however, I wish to take control in my own hands, I have to manage my desire, rise above it. In other words, free will is possible, but only above desire. And the only question is: How do I rise above my nature, by what means?
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/10, “The Freedom”

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Question: If I once chose the path and rose above my egoism, am I free for good or must I keep choosing anew?

Answer: In order to reach the purpose of creation, we have to attain the state of “Israel (those who aspire to the Creator), the Torah (the Light of correction), and the Creator are one” and experience it in all our properties and desires.

Therefore, each moment of our evolution, we have to aim ourselves at oneness with the Creator, which constitutes our free choice. From all of these points of adhesion, we build one line and arrive at the final destination.

In other words, it isn’t enough to make a choice once so that later you may do whatever you want. You make a choice based on the conditions that are revealed to you at the moment. But next time, you will be completely different, a new creation, new world inside and out.

It’s because you keep uncovering new, stronger, desire to feel pleasure, which has different properties. And you have to discern yet again what conditions you are placed in, find the point of free will, decide what you are choosing, and move on with this new choice.

Conversely, at each point of the journey, you need to perform the work of clarification in order to “distance yourself from evil and choose the good” and realize that point of adhesion fully.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/10, “The Freedom”

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When we build ourselves in the middle line, we must connect the property of bestowal, Bina, the right line, and the property of reception, Malchut, the left line, correctly. Their unification forms a Kli (vessel) called a “cave,” and this cave is double (Machpelah). In the “earth,” Malchut, there is space suitable for living, while life is Bina.

But before Bina can enter Malchut, a reverse action has to take place: Malchut has to enter Bina for Bina to know how to accommodate Malchut and for Malchut to know how to demand Bina’s participation. As a result, mutual penetration of Malchut and Bina or a “double cave” gets formed, and it is the foundation of the general correction of the created being.

Since this is the place of correction, the forefathers, the desires corrected by the intention to bestow, reside in it. They had attained the correct connection of Bina and Malchut: They receive in Malchut and bestow to Bina, meaning that they work with reception and bestowal.

But what gets buried? We bury the intention to receive that envelops the desire like a shell (Klipa), thereby turning it into the evil inclination. Therefore, burial is regarded as the act of correction.

We don’t touch desires: The greater they are, the better. But at each degree, or in each generation, we bury the “intention to receive for self gratification” and get corrected by establishing balance between reception and bestowal.
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From the Lesson on Weekly Torah Portion 10/29/10

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Question: We talked about feeling joy from fulfillment, but what about feeling joy while exerting effort to achieve it?

Answer: I feel hate and resentment toward someone, and I have to build the attitude of love above it so as to fill him, thereby fulfilling myself. To achieve this, I exert certain effort for I must work above my egoism. If I channel the Light through me in order to fill the others, I transform my egoism into “help against it,” and instead of receiving, egoism works in bestowal. For me, this is a challenge, and I must convince myself that it makes sense.

On one hand, thanks to the fact that I channel the Upper Light through myself to someone else, my egoism gets pleased. On the other, I am attaching the desire that I am fulfilling to myself, and it becomes part of me, which also pleases me. I receive the Light from the Creator and the Light that returns to me in the form of spiritual feedback from fulfilling the other.

If I attached another’s desire to myself, it is called “love another as you love yourself.” This is described as “the righteous get rewarded twice.” Beside the fact that their own will to receive gets filled, they take pleasure in fulfilling the desire of another.
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Happiness” 10/28/10

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The point in the heart, which has no form or direction, is similar to my spiritual “stem” cell, from which I can freely build myself up. It is the end of the rope thrown to me from the final state that I must reach. Grounded in it, I can now build everything else around it by exercising my free will.

All reality is divided into me and the external world. And if I know how to use the external reality correctly, I can change myself, thereby realizing my free will. Freedom lies solely in the ability to change oneself and not the world! The world is just the imprint of my properties.

I only need to know how to correct my properties, how to change the combination of these initial, natural qualities in me. To do this, I am given a “Kli” (an instrument), a lever, a “crane” that I can use to turn myself upside down and lift myself up! Then, the entire reality will change. I see that everything is different now, as if I were born into a new world.

So, do I replace my view of reality or the reality itself? I change the reality! After all, reality is what resides within my perceptions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/10, “The Freedom”

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Question: How many people must hold the intention simultaneously in order for the spiritual connection to get revealed?

Answer: Only I. If I uncover my desire to unify with the others, I discover that they are already united. It seems to me that they are not unified in order for me to work on them and them on me. Yet, all of this is in relation to me.

As long as I am not corrected, I see my corruption in them and work on them so that they influence and strengthen me. Thanks to their support, I correct myself and then see that they are becoming more corrected as well. After all, “every person judges according to their own flaws.”

It turns out that I must worry only about my own correction. What about the others then? If I see that the world is broken, I have to correct it. This means that I correct myself. In this case, if I treat the others with the intention to bestow, I don’t see them in the broken state. Rather, I see the Shechina (divinity) in them, the revelation of the Creator Who fills the entire world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, The Zohar

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Question: What can be done if, during the reading of The Zohar, the intention weakens because the mind keeps trying to understand the content of the text?

Answer: We shouldn’t pay attention to it. Intention must become increasingly stronger during the lesson since the friends should think about it together. And if each of them holds the intention, it cannot be so that someone drops out of it.

Here we truly get connected in the spiritual communication network between us, not in the material one. If I hold the intention to bind myself to “Israel” (those who aim directly to the Creator), the Torah (the Light), and the Creator are one” so that I, the Creator, and the group became as one whole and reveal the Light that fills the entire reality; if all of us strive to experience this condition and, due to reading of The Book of Zohar, the Light has to reveal it to us, then this intention will “burn” in us more intensely. But if I feel that my intention has become weaker, in this, I depend on the all the others 100%.

In this respect, we are truly working inside the spiritual network. Thereby, we enter the spiritual world and act in it to the best of our ability to hold the intention and bind “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator” together.

We already act this way in the spiritual world and only have to uncover it for ourselves. Therefore, we demand the Light to reveal it to us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, The Zohar

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Keter and Bina possess such special properties that they can descend anywhere they wish to and work on the lowest desires. Bina is Hassadim (mercy), and Hassadim can dwell in any place, protected by their intention of bestowal in order to bestow. But how can Keter do the same if, beside Hassadim, it has Hochma (wisdom)?

The key is that Keter fills the desires and relates to everything from below upward. Hence, it is able to descend into any desires living in egoistic intentions, just as Bina, but for a completely different reason.

Keter is the property of the Creator who wishes to fill the entire creation, Malchut, to the fullest. It isn’t the Light of fulfillment, Hochma, but the plan of creation, its initial thought, its program. In a way, it determines what the Creator wishes for us in the very end: to elevate us to His status.

This is why the Sefira of Hochma is marked with the final point of the letter “Yod”: It is the program that begins to get realized, starting with the Sefira of Hochma and below. Hochma is the Light of the purpose of creation, and, below it, Bina is the Light of correction.

Thus, there is GAR, the three upper Sefirot related to the Creator: Keter is the program, Hochma is the purpose of creation, and Bina is the correction of the created being. Further on, the realization of the lower ones takes place. It is Zeir Anpin, the system which determines how the lower one should change and what sequence of acts is necessary for that. As to the lower one, which must change and undergo these modifications, it is Malchut. This is how the created being gets arranged from five parts.

And since Keter is the point of conception, the program of creation, the original idea, it is present in any place! After all, without this idea, nothing would exist, not even the tiniest of desires.

But in relation to the lower ones, Keter acts from below upward since it is aimed solely at elevating them to correction, even if it has to descend into the lowest Klipot (shells) and commit some transgressions on this journey. But after that, as The Book of Zohar describes, all of these problems and transgressions seem to have been correct actions to us, which we had to undergo because they helped us to see our final corrected state.

All of this is done by the Creator’s hand, and we ourselves haven’t made any mistakes, committed any crimes, or made any corrections. Hence, in all its behavior and treatment of the lower ones, Keter is above all limitations and restrictions. It is the thought contained in every particle of creation and its every action. Hence, it expands everywhere and works from below upward in order to connect all parts of creation and lead them to the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

Bina works in a different manner: It is the Light of Hassadim, the correction of the created being. Correction may take place in any condition and any place according to the desire of the lower one to be corrected and to receive the property of Bina, the attribute of bestowal. If you wish for it, you will get it, without a limit!

Therefore, Bina also can expand everywhere since it is Hafetz Hesed (pure bestowal). On the other hand, Hochma is the Light of the purpose of creation that fills the desires after their correction is done by Bina, which had been received beforehand. Zeir Anpin organizes the process that determines how such correction is carried out.

Bina, wishing to be similar to the Creator, gives birth to Zeir Anpin (ZA) and works within it in order to bring it to the level of Keter. But ZA cannot attain the level of Keter as Bina desires it to do since ZA can do so only with the help of Malchut!

It turns out that ZA is the concealed Creator, Keter, the highest quality, Atzmuto, the plan of creation. ZA and Malchut work in a pair because ZA cannot become as Keter unless Malchut joins ZA and passes all her desires to him.

Hence, Malchut can correct itself only by following ZA’s example. Watching Him, she learns what desires and correction she needs in order to merge with Him. Malchut is all the souls, ZA is the Creator, and their coupling is the merging of all the souls with the Creator.

But when they finally merge, they ascend to AB – SAG, Hochma and Bina. And when they merge there, they become part of Keter. That is where the program of creation ends!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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