Question: We are speaking about collective correction. But there are people with a lot of experience in the group who have already been studying Kabbalah for 10-15 years and also those who are just joining it now. How can new members compensate for this enormous distance created by years of studying in order to unite into one group with the advanced students?

Answer: Every person, when he comes to the group, receives from it as much as he invests into it. If we had here Rabbi Shimon with his students who have attained the final correction, you would also receive from them only to the extent of the efforts you apply.

This does not depend on the level of your friends in the group, but on your attitude. You cannot drink from the source of infinite heights since what you receive from it corresponds precisely to the similarity of your properties to it!

Infinity is always right in front of you, but how much do you receive from it? You receive one drop at a time through a tiny opening. Why is that so? It is because you are unable to make a bigger opening (Nekev), you lack the desire (Nekeyva) for it.

This is why the level of the group does not matter. Two hundred years from now, when the world will be closer to the end of correction, will it really be easier for a person joining the group? No, it will not. The Creator, the upper system of governance, cannot forgo even man’s smallest effort because he will lack this effort in the final corrected desire, and it will be incomplete.

Every person will have to complete all the corrections. His time of awakening depends on the order of the correction of souls in the common system. But everyone does the same work.

Subsequently, from the state of Infinity, you will perceive the perfection of calculations of every state for every soul, in absolute equality among everyone, regardless of the part of the common soul of Adam they belong to. This is because every soul attains the entire common soul of Adam.
[22736]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/6/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Being”

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I exist in the midst of the force of Light and the force of darkness. In other words, I am between the force of the desire to bestow and the force of the desire to receive. I was given them to correctly unify them. The correct unification of these forces is called the “soul” or “Adam.” I assemble him primarily by utilizing the right line, the line of the Light.

With this force, I turn to the broken egoistic desire that is opposite to the spiritual reality and give it the form of the Light. Hence, desire has to always remain restricted and neutralized: I am not using it with the purpose to receive. It is not mine; it is not I, but something totally alien to me. I rise above it with the power of Light. And then, to the extent of my understanding of bestowal, I give the desire its form.

Only the environment can help me with this. It will constantly guard me from the tricks and temptations of the will to receive that I am working with. The environment will hold me above them by any means possible.

To remain above my desire means to be in the desire of the environment and to be subject to its influence. Identifying myself with the friends and aspiring toward unity and love, I correct the distortion in my perception and anticipate that which seems to be outside of me, thereby beginning to perceive the entire reality within.

Here, every detail and rule exists solely to bring us closer to the correct perception of reality. While connecting together internality and externality, I annul my ego and bring the other person in. That is when the common corrected desire emerges, and I feel the Creator in it.

For as long as I am separated from another, the Creator is concealed; after all, He dwells in our oneness. The final correction will show me that I am the entire reality and the Creator is in it.
[22621]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends”

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Question: Why does everyone remember about 613 commandments, but forget that above all of them there is the singular commandment of love?

Answer: There is only one commandment: a directive to attain love of others since by doing so we prepare the vessel of our soul to be filled with the Light and to attain adhesion with the Creator. To “love others as I love myself” means to unify all of the desires that are opposite and hated by you into one and in doing so, attain the magnitude that would allow you to reveal the Creator and become one with Him. Thus, we overcome the entire abyss that separates us from Him.

This commandment of love is divided into two parts: “repentance from fear” which is the level of Bina and “repentance from love” which is the level of Keter. I have to apply these two gradual corrections to all of my thoughts and desires, one by one.

The first correction is to stop hating the other person. I hate him from the start, but when I correct hatred, I cover half of the distance from the negative state, hatred, to the neutral state, zero. This level is the property of GAR de Bina where I don’t wish anything for myself, having risen over my entire enormous egoistic will to receive. I don’t wish to harm anyone. Even though it is revealed to me that I can, without any consequence, take everything away from others and destroy them, I want none of it; I don’t wish to put a scratch on anyone.

Then, from this level (the spiritual degree of GAR de Bina), I ascend to the level of love and correct my desires to the level of bestowal (the spiritual degree of ZAT de Bina). ZAT de Bina is the womb of a spiritual Partzuf, so I desire to bestow to all and fulfill all desires. In this way, from hate, I attain love.

So it turns out that there is only one commandment of love which we attain in two steps. Initially, we are opposite to love, and before anything else, we have to attain the neutral state. Then we ascend to love.

613 commandments are corrections of one will to receive pleasure, which has many properties and, therefore, requires various corrections although all of them exist to attain love. I must constantly think about this final destination; otherwise, I will not draw the Light that Reforms. Hence, we have to constantly think about the final, corrected state where I, the Light that Reforms me, and the Creator (Israel, the Torah, and the Creator) are one.

It may seem to a person: “Why should I be thinking about the Creator right now? He is so distant from me, so let me fix my relations with the society first!” But we can’t correct anything in society until we draw the Light that Reforms. It is the Light in particular that has to perform corrections, and the Light of correction is, in fact, the Creator, so we can’t forget about Him.

Hence, in all of the “613” corrections, the thought of  love of others (the main commandment of love for the Creator) must always be present. Without it, we do not draw the Surrounding Light and neither correct nor connect anything.
[22637]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Question: What is the request to unite?

Answer: The only request (MAN) that will be heard and answered Above is the request to unite. No other plea will receive a response! A request must be raised to the place of the breaking which only lacks correction of the breaking: unity. That’s why a call for unity will be immediately fulfilled under the condition that it is right.

The correction occurs depending on how and for what you ask. Suddenly you will take part in it, and then you will understand what is going on. The rest of our requests are simply “screams into the wilderness” that are meant to bring us to the understanding that they are wrong and useless. This is called, “All gates are locked except the gate of tears” which open only to let us unite.

What else can the Upper Force react to if you are supposed to ascend on your own by the middle line and connect the right and the left lines together? Previously, they were connected into one line by the power of the descending Upper Light which “reconciled” the left and right lines, but now the Light has disappeared and the left and right lines have become disconnected. A person has to connect them back together into this point by ascending from below upward because by doing so, he instigates activity from Above.

In the beginning, both lines originated from the Creator and were kept together by His power (this is called Adam HaRishon, the First Man), but as a result of the breaking they separated into the left and right lines. You are in the middle, between them, with a spark that remains from the time of their connection.

If you reveal the need to return back to the same place and raise MAN for that purpose, then you once again summon the action of both forces or, more precisely, compel the Upper Force to influence the same point of connection (Ohr Makif [OM], the Surrounding Light that Reforms).

So, when you raise a request to the point of connection, the point in which the left and the right forces appear, then the power of unity, the Surrounding Light, the Creator that once existed in this point descends to the same place from Above, and all of them come together to reach unity. There is nothing else but this action, and that’s why it is said: “All gates are locked except the gate of tears.”
[22640]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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If I perceive all disorder taking place in the world and in my life in the light of bestowal and not reception, then everything works out and suddenly falls into places. However, if I view it all egoistically, I see multiple problems and a solid line of suffering. Start treating everything with love, and the whole picture will suddenly get pieced together and unify.

Imperfection lies not in the external world, but within me. The entire world is just my shadow (copy), and only my attitude toward it needs to be corrected so as to see the world as perfect. Everything I see in the world as negative is a sign of my own flaws, no matter what it is related to: the still, vegetative, or animate nature, and especially the relationships between the friends.

If I accept, by way of faith above reason, that the whole group, the friends, and the world are perfect and only I am not, then I begin thinking solely about my correction. I lack only connection with them, and therein lies my correction until we all become one whole. This is what is called the love of others.

In other words, I can start working! We were given an illusion that we exist in this world in order for us to start our journey toward unification. However, we are not ready yet to work with the entire world, so we have the group for this job. The group reflects my corrected state, according to the saying, “The group today is you tomorrow.”
[22646]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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In our work, every step is measured by our intention. Each new action demands a new, sharper intention. Actions themselves may take various forms, but the key is to know what outcome I wish to receive as a result of my efforts.

Here is where we have to measure ourselves: How much do I care for the reward and what kind of reward is it? We speak not about corporeal rewards, but of more exalted values of a spiritual nature although they may have different vectors: for the sake of reception or for the sake of bestowal.

If a person demands a reward for his work in his Kli, then his intention is aimed at reception. He wants to feel, understand, attain, ascend, and so on. In other words, it doesn’t matter what exactly my desire is. If the goal is related to me and examination is taking place in my desires, then my calculation, despite being spiritual, is still egoistic.

Even if I wish to attain brotherly love, love of others, and love for the Creator, I still need to dig deeper and examine how I define these terms: What is their content, impurity or sanctity? Thus, essentially, a person examines the results of his work: either in his own Kli or in the Creator.

One might think: “Can I really place a reading device in the Creator and verify whether I have pleased Him? And what’s after that? If the result is positive, will I myself feel good and warm in my soul? Or is my intention aimed solely at Him, without any contact with myself?”

All such verifications may be accomplished only if we are doing genuine work, meaning revealing the Creator in the group. The love of friends serves as some type of purifier for intentions and desires, with the help of which I get purified from egoistic calculation and don’t err in my examination of who I am, what the group is, and to what degree I am loyal to it and not to myself.

As a result, I realize that I am incapable of even the tiniest act of bestowal. It is beyond my capacity. So, I turn to the group because the friends gave me a sensation of Arvut (mutual guarantee) and they can provide me with the strength to bestow.

The greatness of the friends and the group supply the fuel to me, which continues up to a certain level, until I build my Kli. Having completed its correction, I wish to use it, and that’s when in the group I discover the Creator, to whom I had initially aspired. Only now, I turn to Him together with the friends, from our common desire, to ask for the force of faith. Thereby, we attain adhesion with Him.
[23192]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/10, “Who Testifies Upon the Person”

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From the will to receive, which was created as existence from absence, the Creator created the World of Infinity. There, the desire remains in adhesion with the Light in its final form that He had wished for and established. It is His influence that holds this entire perfection together.

After that, the Creator divided this structure into parts, the will to receive and the Light, and handed them to us to use. Now, we have to utilize the desire and the Light so as to reach the goal, meaning to equalize ourselves with the Creator. Everything is in our hands: Having understood what is required of us, we are able to do it.

So go ahead, you start building it. You have all the necessary settings to gradually re-create the state of the World of Infinity. Yet, it takes a while to comprehend and feel this work. What is the Light? What is the will to receive: a thought or an act? What is an act?

A person gets confused and becomes more ignorant than a little child in the beginning stage of his life journey. It takes years to understand even the basics: the essence of the matter which the created being is made of and the essence of the force that is needed to make changes.

Our current state has been given to us for the most intensive and effective advancement. The world that we find ourselves in isn’t comprised of some artificial conditions, but is a natural outcome of all stages of evolution. From it, we may begin constructing ourselves and forming something totally new with the help of the will to receive and the Light.

Existing at the animate level, I have an opportunity to build a created being that is related to the next, human level of existence and has a spiritual rather than corporeal form. I use the two forces, desire and Light, and combine them so as to give birth to some third element.

Specifically in me, just as I am, has been lain a capacity to accomplish this. How? It is possible by way of arranging an environment. “The environment” is my impression of a utopia that I desire to manifest. I need to visualize a corresponding image and desire with all my might for it to become true reality. By chiseling its details, sharpening its image, and discerning connections and contradictions in it, I eventually “reach the standard.” And then, it manifests in reality.

Therein lies the essence of my “game”: I exert effort, greater and greater, until it finally occurs. And thus every time, ascending higher and higher, penetrating deeper and deeper, I understand and feel more and more.
[22631]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends”

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Freedom of will is the most important topic because it poses the main question of our lives: Are we absolutely controlled from Above like any other part of nature? We see that everything operates under the governance from Above, meaning the governance of Nature (the Creator). There is nothing beyond Nature. We can discern the governing force in some actions, but in others, their governing force is concealed from us.

When we are young, we think we master our own lives, but as we mature and acquire life experience, we come to understand that it is life that controls us, and not the other way around. Indeed, where is the possibility for freedom of will when we discover strict and constant laws operating on all levels of nature: physical, chemical, and biological? And if there is a place where we do not see a law, it means that we haven’t yet revealed it as opposed to there being no law that operates with absolute certainty.

How can there remain an uncontrolled part of nature that wouldn’t be affected by any law? This is simply impossible! In all places where we reveal nature, we discover a strict regularity.

Then what is freedom of choice? Is it a possibility to do as I please without being subject to a deterministic law of nature? Where can freedom of choice come from? Can there be a white spot in nature that doesn’t comply?

It turns out that all of our apparent freedom is an illusion of a small child left to play in his room under strict supervision, yet thinking that he is free. That is, free will is explained only by our ignorance. And is this what we call freedom? Then what is man? Another part of nature completely controlled from Above without even being aware of it? If we are nothing but puppets, then we neither do good nor bad. What can be expected of me when everything I do follows the law?

All the things I suddenly wish to do are natural instincts that manipulate and control me from both inside and outside. There can neither be reward nor punishment if we are just ordinary “cogwheels” in creation. But what is the meaning of it all, if the entire existence is a prepackaged game?

It means first and foremost that we need to figure out whether we still have any freedom of will, and where it lies. After all, if there really is a choice here, then it is possible to either score very well or lose everything.

Therefore, freedom of will is the main theme in Kabbalah because it is the beginning of the next stage: whether we have freedom, and if so, how and where can I use it to the maximum benefit.
[23021]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, “The Freedom”

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The Torah is referred to as both “the elixir of life” and “a deadly poison.” A person who corrects himself, wishing to be equivalent to the Creator and to perceive the concealed part of reality, uses the method called the “Torah.” It is a special program found in nature.

When we use it correctly, we reveal nature in its fullness along with our true existence. We sense not just a useless existence in a temporary body, but the other part of reality, the spiritual world.

Ultimately, we correct our instruments of perception. We only perceive a minor part of reality in our five senses, but we can grasp another part of reality in a new sense which is built on bestowal outward, instead of consumption. The method of correction does not break anything, it only completes. It allows us to acquire the power of bestowal and experience the World of Infinity, that is, the unlimited reality.

However, there is danger here: an incorrect use of the method. We reveal a special force in nature that we did not previously know existed. This force is called the “Light.” Its influence can either be positive or negative.

When I aspire towards love of others (unity) from the beginning, this force’s influence is directed the same way. However, if I did not direct myself towards unity from the very beginning, then this force increases hatred in me. In this way, the Light helps me when used as intended, and if I do not use it as intended, then my egoism increases in order to display my hatred of others. Everything depends on the way I intend to use the force of the Torah.

This is why there is no coercion in spiritual development. After all, if a person  is not ready to aspire towards his correction, he can inflict harm upon himself. Regrettably, we see many examples of incorrect study of the Torah around us.
[23002]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, Shamati #161

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Question: What is the purpose of creation? Is it to become an independent Kli (vessel), which receives pleasure from the Creator? Or is there some other purpose?

Answer: The purpose of all corrections is to unite with the Creator into a single system. I am the Kli, He is the Light, and together we unite with each other. For the time being, this is our goal: the final correction.

At the moment of creation we were united by the Creator’s force, but then He broke the unity that He had created in order to give us the opportunity to put it together on our own. Once we complete the “mosaic” with His help, we will become like Him, we will understand the program, the purpose, and the Creator in regard to our creation: what He wants from us and what His attitude towards us is.

“Creator” (Boreh) means “come and see” (Bo – Reh). I come and I see, I reveal what He is and who He is. This is what the end of corrections is.

What happens after? We do not know. Kabbalists give us clues, but it is impossible to understand them since we cannot even imagine the final correction. What does it mean to be like the Creator, to be on the same level, beyond time, movement, and space and perceive the endless reality? I do not perceive the other part of reality to speculate about it.

From the moment of final correction, we will be ready for something higher since we will be a corrected mechanism. What is it that we will be ready for? That is unknown. A little patience and we will know once we get there.
[22996]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, Shamati #161

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