Question: States on the spiritual path are described, but how does one go from one state to another? What is the method of transition?

Answer: The method is very simple: Nothing changes in reality. There is only one unchangeable reality, and as my attitude towards it changes, reality changes in my sensations.

The Giver is unchangeable, nature is unchangeable. All of the changes happen by man changing his attitude towards the world. Even psychologists advise not to wait for the world to change, but to change oneself.

The Upper Light can give you a new attitude towards reality, and you will see for yourself that everything depends on you. Just do not take this situation as undesirable and difficult work, but on the contrary, treat it as your chance to control your life. After all, if everything depends on you, and you have the force through which you can implement actual changes at your disposal, then this is wonderful! Naturally, certain efforts are expected of you, but through them you become the center of the universe!

A small person, who thinks that he depends on nature and everyone else, himself begins to change and changes his perception of reality. Everything is in his hands.
[21605]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, “The Greatness of a Person Depends on His Faith in the Future”

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You are not aimed at the goal if you are not looking at it through the group. The group is like a lens that collects all beams of sight and aims them at the target. Without it, you won’t be able to focus your eyes on the goal. Only in the group, in the collective relationship of the friends, will you be able to uncover the work of the Creator.

If we do not build a common area between us, a “common space” where only bestowal and our unity exist, we won’t have the "place" where the Creator can be revealed. I need at least one other person as the minimal number in a group is two persons. I decide to unite with the group and now I constantly think about it. In our union that we ourselves create, in the “common place,” everything The Zohar and the Torah are talking about is occurring. But if I am not connected with the others, I don’t have a place to reveal what’s described in The Zohar.

If I unite with the others, all the stories in the Torah, The Zohar, the Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the Talmud are solely about the types of our connection and what is revealed in it. Through my own actions aimed at a greater connection, I evoke the revelation of the Creator. This is called “Israel (I), the Torah (Kabbalistic texts, studies, and the group), and the Creator are one,” and I unify them from the beginning of my correction to its end.

It isn’t difficult at all to get concentrated in one point. If not, the aim immediately disappears, and you must focus anew. There are obstacles, and the challenge lies in focusing on the goal by way of unity.

First of all, we need to create a common space between us. And The Zohar will tell us what takes place in it, how to annul oneself in order to bring our unity to compete correction, and to reveal the Creator within it in accordance with the law of equivalence of form.

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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The wisdom of Kabbalah is not learned by way of the mind. The Light affects us, and Kabbalah gradually creates within us the sensation of the picture of the Creator’s acts. From this picture, we gradually absorb the wisdom of Kabbalah and our spiritual, internal world.

We disclose within ourselves the new reality that cannot be understood by the earthly (corporeal) mind. In the beginning, the will to receive was created, followed by the development of the mind needed to attain what was desired. Therefore, if we don’t yet possess the vessels (desires) of bestowal, we don’t have the mind to comprehend Kabbalistic texts either.

All recommendations of the Kabbalists are designated solely to prepare and induce within oneself the switching of properties from reception to bestowal. Moreover, according to our desires, we will begin to feel. From feelings, we will begin to understand.

The entire wisdom of Kabbalah is aimed at getting to know the Creator. If I focus on the goal of simply understanding the text, I cut myself off from the ability to feel spiritual attainment. That is because I start working with the corporeal mind which becomes the most important for me.

This puts an obstacle in my path to the revelation of the Creator. My corporeal mind blocks my ability to break through the picture of spiritual properties. This is why Baal HaSulam felt very angry when he met with the “Kabbalists” of Jerusalem who mechanically memorized the text of The Zohar.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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After going through many life cycles, a person reaches a point when he experiences the initial spiritual awakening – the point in the heart (Reshimo). It is comprised of two forces:

– Emptiness due to the futility of his transient, perishable life, and from the despair of not being able to find fulfillment in this world

– An inner “spark” that pushes him to some unknown place that’s beyond this world.

On one hand, the despair pulls him down, and on the other hand, the spark pulls him upward. Eventually a person chooses his route. These two forces as a whole cause a Reshimo to form inside him or a new direction in his existence.

This Reshimo brings him to a teacher and a group of people studying Kabbalah. After that he gradually realizes that only by uniting with other Reshimot that are similar to him will he be able to build, together with them, the force of bestowal that’s similar to the Creator. Therein lies his only freedom of choice in life and his only free action.

His success depends on how much he will be able to increase his spark with the help of the group in spite of all personal problems. If he increases it, then he will feel the need for faith (bestowal) and for others (the means). Everything is determined by how well he can receive (or absorb) the influence of the spiritual environment (the advice of his teacher and the general opinion of the group).

The environment is not just the group or friends, but the Shechina. The connection with them that I acquire is my connection with the Shechina, Malchut of the World of Atzilut, the common soul of Adam.

When the friends unite in order to annul their egoism and to attain the quality of bestowal, their unity evokes a reaction from the Shechina and they receive the Light of Correction (Ohr Makif) from it. That is how a person starts to interact with the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), which brings him closer to revealing the quality of bestowal (faith) within, and the Inner Light (Ohr Pnimi) inside that quality.

All of our work comes down to increasing our desire for the quality of bestowal and increasing its importance; the way to do so is with the help of the right environment. It is impossible to learn to do this. It can only be done according to the verse, “We will do and we will hear.”

A person makes efforts to connect with the group even if he does not feel a need for it, and in response he receives support and a general necessity. It is a desire which the friends accumulate among each other – the need for faith or bestowal.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/21/10, “Who Testifies for Man”

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Question: What does it mean to “speak with the Creator?”

Answer: To “speak with the Creator” primarily means to do everything you can to try to reveal His image within you. Try to imagine: He is the reason for everything I feel. My thoughts, desires, and sensations are all Him, the One who has laid my foundation and forms me.

When I decide that my current reality is established by Him, then how do I treat everything that happens to me? There are two possibilities:

1. Directly structure my attitude towards my inner reality as my attitude towards Him. But this approach is inaccurate, incorrect, and unstable. There is no ability to test or verify it because I will surely be guided by my ego and err.

2. At first, I strengthen myself through my connection with others like me, and then I structure my attitude towards the inner reality by passing its image through this connection. In this case, I am definitely already in some quality of bestowal, and my qualities are adapted to the Creator’s image. Thus, instead of changing the image, I change my attitude towards it. This is what it means to “speak with the Creator.”
[21602]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, “The Greatness of a Person Depends on His Faith in the Future”

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Question: What do the “four species” of Sukkot (Arba’at HaMinim) mean?

Answer: The four symbols of the celebration of Sukkot are: 1. Lulav (one closed frond from a date palm tree, Yesod), 2. Hadassim (three boughs with leaves from the myrtle tree, HGT), 3. Aravot (two branches with leaves from the willow tree, NHY), 4. Etrog (a fruit from a citron tree, similar to a lemon or grapefruit, Malchut).

All corrections of the souls that are uniting in Malchut of the World of Atzilut (Shechina) occur under the Light of correction that descends from Zeir Anpin (ZA) into her since he is a higher Partzuf (system) in relation to Malchut.

Zeir Anpin, in order to correct the souls in Malchut, groups in three lines, unifying their Sefirot Hesed-Gevurah-Tifferet, and sends the Light of correction from them into Malchut, the souls. In order to evoke such an act from ZA to Malchut, we, the souls who are willing to be corrected (to unite in Malchut), rouse in her its collective desire for correction. Malchut passes this desire to ZA. This desire evokes in Zeir Anpin a desire to merge with Malchut in spiritual coupling (Zivug) and pour the Light of correction into her.

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We are born with an egoistic desire to receive pleasure, but suddenly some new desire (for spirituality) awakens within it. We can grow this new desire with the help of our environment and books so that it carries us away into its world. And the old desire will diminish, vanish, or, on the contrary, grow, but we will rise above it in the desire to bestow.

In this manner, a battle occurs in us between these two desires: the concern for ourselves (the desire of this world) and the desire for bestowal, which pertains to the Upper World, the Creator. We need to increase the desire for the Upper One, the desire for bestowal, in relation to its opposite desire to enjoy in this world. This constitutes our whole work and the freedom of choice.

The choice consists only of assessing the importance. What do I wish to consider to be more important: the desire that is directed upward, from which I presently have only a small point, or the desire that is directed down, to this world.

The holiday of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) and all the work in connection with it (building of a special construction, Sukkah) actually show us how we can augment this small desire for the Upper One. This desire is called “waste” because we perceive it as completely unnecessary: some bestowal, love of neighbor, friends, unification… No one takes these good words seriously.

The Sukkah, a temporary structure, symbolizes our raising the importance of this “waste” above our “I” and this world, elevating bestowal above reception. Even if you feel perfection constantly, come out into a temporary dwelling and change yourself.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/21/10, Shamati #96

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Before the holiday of the New Year (Rosh Hashanah), during the period of repentance (Selichot), we clarify all of our egoistic desire determined as evil. Then we cut it off from the past year and wish to rise to the next year, to new changes (Rosh Hashanah).

We also realize that we are unable to do anything with ourselves; this state is called the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). We decide that there is one solution: to increase the importance of the quality of bestowal, which is despised by us within our egoism. We decide to raise the importance of spirituality, to not engage in our egoistic desires, and to increase the desire for bestowal. This symbolizes the holiday of Sukkot.

Take the desire for bestowal, which seems unimportant, as "waste" to you today, and elevate it according to your assessment of its importance. Do not engage in your egoistic, receptive desires, but come out into a "temporary dwelling," into the desire to bestow.

You need to come out of your familiar egoistic "home" and build a new structure so that its most important detail, the roof, will be the quality of bestowal. This shows to what extent you can equalize to the Light that is situated above the roof of the Sukkah. It will shine for you to the extent that you will be able to accept it. This is the meaning of the holiday of Sukkot.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/21/10, Shamati #96

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Question: Why does one have to be joyous on Sukkot?

Answer: Joy is a sign of agreeing with the Creator to acquire His properties. I (the soul) obtain the properties of bestowal, the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), under the influence of Ohr Makif (the Surrouding Light) that “comes to me through the roofing of a tabernacle” thanks to the screen which I built from the “threshing-floor and winepress.”

On a threshing-floor, grain (the Light of Hassadim) is procured, and the husk remains. Wine is made in a winepress, and oil cake is left. Yet, from the waste that has no value to my egoism, I build the most precious thing in my life: the screen. That is, I raise the importance of the property of bestowal over reception particularly in these two Lights or forces of nature: Hassadim (Mercy) and Hochma (Wisdom).

I change the intention on the desire of these two Lights (fillings) from receiving to bestowing. I see value in “waste from the threshing-floor and winepress,” rise above my egoism, my evil, and prefer to exist in filling the desires of others instead of mine. I do so to subsequently reveal the Creator.

Joy signifies that I’m in the state of bestowal. It is the outcome of my completely merging with the Creator and justifying all of His actions.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/21/10, Shamati #96

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Everything comes as a result of effort. Don’t wait for something to change by itself. Only through our effort to unite do we draw the Light onto us. The greater the effort, the stronger the Light’s influence, and vice versa. The Light remains at absolute rest, and only when we aspire toward unity together do we compel Him to unify us.

We draw closer to one another, and in so doing draw closer to the Light. As we distance from each other, we distance from the Light. But our efforts are never wasted, and “penny by penny it accumulates into a big capital.” Every time we try to unite, the Light influences us, and even if we distance from one another right afterward, the correction done by the Light remains, nothing is wasted, and we move on to the next one.

These processes of “compressions” and “expansions” are like input-output or like the beating of the heart. We unite, the Light influences us, corrects our connection and immediately evokes the next uncorrected degree. Again we must exert efforts, giving the Light the opportunity to unite us once more, and again the correction brings about the next uncorrected state. And so on, until all 125 corrections are completed.

Each time I rise above my uncorrected desire and then bring it up for correction. The first step is when my point in the heart crosses the Machsom. Then it pulls a part of the desire over the Machsom, the part which it can be above (faith above reason, Bina above Malchut). And so on, until I gradually carry over the Machsom all of my desire, part by part, to be above it, having acquired the qualities of bestowal above reception. It is the degree of Hafetz Hesed or Bina, bestowal for the sake of bestowal. Now my errors have turned to merits and my sins to errors.

Then I move on to the next phase: Through a tiny hole in the next barrier I break through into the domain of love of others. My point in the heart is the first to do it, and then all the parts of my desire are carried over to this degree. To the extent that I can use them for the sake of love (fulfillment) of others, I transform the ego into the desire to receive for the Creator’s sake.

Every time we work with our ego toward greater unity by drawing the Light through our striving for equivalence of form. I desire, and the Creator responds to my desire, carrying out all the actions.
[21610 ]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, “600 000 Souls”

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