Our work lies in attaining the perfect desire. The first desire is given to a person from above, from the Creator, as it is written, “I am the first.” This is the spark called “the point in the heart,” the aspiration to something higher, a yearning or attraction. By virtue of some seemingly chance occurrence, a person receives his first desire for spirituality and begins to advance.

And then, his entire work lies in asking for this desire to be slightly increased: by a fourth, then by a third, and thus, slightly adding more and more to his advancement. He discerns what is called progress with increasing clarity until he understands that it is the aspiration to bestowal, an exit out of himself toward the neighbor, self-cancellation.

That is how he asks time after time, completely egoistically for now, without understanding exactly what to ask for. Then he begins to understand it better, but conceals it from himself, until finally, he agrees and is willing to give in a little, to bend down and unite with others, to come out of himself to the outside and begin to live inside of them.

He already has a slightly better understanding of the right request, which must come from the very bottom of the heart in order to rise above oneself and give up everything, to cleave to the upper one and be inside of Him like an embryo in the mother’s waters. That is how he senses himself within the group, all of humanity, within the Creator. This is a constant process, “From love to the creatures to love to the Creator,” until a person aims himself correctly and attains the right prayer.

The heavens do not respond to a fourth, a third or any part of a prayer, but only to a full prayer. However, a person is continuously aided in advancing toward this perfect prayer, and when he really does attain the full request, the cry, then it becomes revealed to him. And this is called, “I am the last.” The Creator begins and ends everything. In the end, through many actions, a person attains an answer to his prayer.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/12

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Question: What are the signs that you are moving to the King’s palace correctly?

Answer: The King’s palace is not somewhere out there on a mountaintop. This is not the silhouette of a castle, luring us from a distance, or the shape of magical Disneyland.

The palace of the Creator is inside in the human heart, and this is not the picture that a person would want to imagine. It is not pleasant for him to think about how to turn his heart into the palace of the Creator. It immediately requires a person to do something; it forces him to undergo unpleasant states, to take on the laws of bestowal, to change oneself in order to transform himself, his desire, into the temple of the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/10/12, Writings of Rabash 

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Question: Our dissemination is like a medication for a disease. But pills are usually bitter, and if a person doesn’t feel that he is ill, he won’t take them. Can we disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah like a sweet liquid medicine?

Answer: If people don’t suffer at all, you have to give them something sweet for egoism, and this is impossible. It’s because then they will perceive your message in the religious light: “Add a little and you will earn for yourself the world to come. Everything is good with you even now, but if you exert a bit, it will simply be terrific…..” Such promises have been developed by religions and they are suitable for addressing everybody—such a pleasant, sweet additive.

However, we talk about corrections, and they are possible only out of the recognition of evil. After all, their meaning is that I’m corrupted and have to correct myself. How can we make it clear for people? Actually, we don’t realize that today only the smallest flaws are being revealed in humanity. In comparison to spirituality, they are simply meager. It’s because we are at the lowest, most filthy step of the ladder, in this world. There are 125 such steps in total, and they lead us to the world of Infinity (∞).

The particularity of our degree is that suffering here is imaginary, like the entire world. In truth, this is not suffering, but little “bites,” although they seem to us like tremendous problems that often determine our life and death. All of them are tiny in comparison to what happens in the five spiritual worlds. Big desires and great suffering lie there in particular. The negativity (-) is huge there as is pain related to it. An now we are receiving “injections,” which make up all the suffering of this world.

The aim is for us to acquire a screen and enter the spiritual world where we will be able to endure spiritual deficiencies and problems that are a million times greater than what is happening here. There we will be able to evaluate them in the Reflected Light, in the restriction, in rejection, feeling them in front of us and not inside.

The spiritual vessels and unfilled desires are hideously big, and it’s impossible to endure them. And for this reason, I hold them before me, feel them in “rejection,” evaluate them in my mind and feeling from a distance. Then I’m able to recognize the greatness of this suffering brought about by my irresponsibility, helplessness, and guilt before the entire world. And this allows me to transition from the left line to the right one.

Possibly, this will help you understand why we need the vessels of bestowal at all. The fact is that it’s simply impossible to go through such degrees, such fluctuations of negativity and positivity in the vessels of reception. It’s far beyond our ideas about life and death. This is darkness that can be managed only if I learn to distance myself from it and acquire a screen, bestowal, love. Only then will I be able to endure it and to transform it from evil into goodness.

Each of us has to feel responsibility much greater than that at home or in general, in one’s personal life. Only then will a person advance along the spiritual path. A person has to realize correctly his current state in particular. Bestowal begins now: Although in his egoistic desire, a person feels no harm to oneself, nevertheless, he must feel it in the bestowing desire. Let him work on it, let him care about it, let him implement it artificially, putting in all the effort. Whoever doesn’t do it creates a problem for themselves and also for all of us.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/2012, “A Handmaid that Is Heir to Her Mistress” 

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Baal HaSulam, “Messiah’s Shofar”: And because of that, Rashbi permitted himself and disclosed the wisdom of the hidden in his books, The Zohar and the Tikkunim. However, it was with great care, since he only permitted Rabbi Abba, who could disclose with intimation, so only the sages of the children of Israel would understand, and the sages of the nations would not understand.

A Kabbalist who attains the spiritual world is like a scientist who discovers something great. If you ask him to explain his discovery, he’ll not find the words for it and not be able to find a clear coherent definition. In order to do that, we need methodologists who pave the way for people to the summit of knowledge.

So if we are talking about the first convergence, Rabbi Abba could rewrite the words of Rabbi Shimon so that they illuminate even for beginners, for those who are at the foot of the wisdom of Kabbalah, and help those who advance in the spiritual levels to ascend. He arranged the material in such a coherent way so that there can be a smooth transition from “grade to grade,” from one level to another. Even if an ordinary person wants something, like a baby who opens his mouth instinctively, that’s enough. After all, he already has a digestive system, which means that the food he receives from the great ones will help him grow.

This is what Rabbi Abba knew how to do: to disclose with intimation, thus allowing even a beginner to approach the secrets. Rabbi Shimon attained the whole world, and Rabbi Abba knew how to bring his words down and to arrange them for our ascent. This is why The Book of Zohar is like a spiritual ladder for us.

Baal HaSulam adapted The Book of Zohar even more for modern times through his Commentary on The Book of Zohar. We think that he added Kabbalistic terms, but it isn’t so, it’s something else. The additional explanations do not add anything by themselves. On the contrary, they can distance a person who wants to learn this book from the inner essence. This is because then a person simply fills himself with knowledge.

No, Baal HaSulam eased our way even more so that we will hold on to it and advance by both the mind and our emotions. Kabbalists were worried and made sure to pave this path, the ladder, and to provide us access to it.

Question: We too would like to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah in a clear envelop and at the same time with a “filling” that will advance people. How do we do that?

Answer: It’s imprinted in us on the instinctive level because we study by the method Kabbalists passed on to us. A person who studies here and is dedicated to the path has it, thanks to the connection between Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Abba.

After all, everything stems from The Book of Zohar and only that spiritual root operated for all the generations: the upper attainment (Rabbi Shimon) and the path, the access to it (Rabbi Abba). All the other friends from Rabbi Shimon’s group, including his son Rabbi Elazar who speak about the end of correction, are incorporated in this system.

So this is the meaning of “disclosing with intimation”: Even during the concealment, everything that a person needs is revealed on the way.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/12, “Messiah’s Shofar”

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Disregard for the teacher in our world is a small reflection of how we ignore the Creator because of His concealment. This disregard is the disclosure of the true ego that does not recognize the upper one and says: “I myself will rule!”

This attitude appears in us towards the friends, teacher, and towards the Creator. But regarding the Creator, it’s hidden as long as you do not prepare yourself by working with what was given to you, that is, until you begin to see the friends and the teacher as great and big, and perceive those who are below as small, in need of your care. You find yourself in the middle, obliged to everyone!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/12, Lesson About the Greatness of the Rav

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Baal HaSulam, “A Handmaid that Is Heir to Her Mistress”: Know that a branch that extends from the internality is the people of Israel, which has been chosen as an operator of the general purpose and correction. It contains the preparation required for growing and developing until it moves the nations of the worlds, too, to achieve the common goal.

The branch that extends from the externality is the nations of the world. They have not been imparted the qualities that allow them to advance towards the purpose one at a time. Rather, they are fit to receive the correction at once and to the fullest, according to their Higher Root.

Question: What does that have to do with us?

Answer: When you, as Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), by your gradual corrections, acquire the spiritual readiness, the AHP will join all at once. In contrast to the negativity that is revealed, the nations of the world will perceive your method “all at once.” It will be revealed suddenly: “Oh! That’s right!” without any accounts, calculations, or investigations. It’s amazing how the truth is revealed within the desire to receive.

We are confused because we also have the desire to bestow. On the whole, we are between the two desires and our systems are revealed very weakly. On the other hand, in the desire to receive that hardly has any traces of GE, the decision is taken very simply: “If the Light comes, I am with it, and if it doesn’t come, I am against it.”

Accordingly, the external attitude towards us will also take on extreme forms, either positive or negative ones.

Question: How is this reflected in our internal work?

Answer: We have to go over the sequence of our actions, of our internal states, as quickly as possible in order to be ready to connect with AHP and to save it. As Baal HaSulam says in the article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” this is our goal. Actually it’s the goal of all of creation. It’s like the metaphor that the Creator turned to the nations of the world first and offered them the method of correction, but then He gave it to the people of Israel because it’s only in this way, through this link, that they can receive it.

Question: Are you saying that we are lagging behind in carrying out this mission? That we are not revealing it enough?

Answer: We are not concerned enough about bringing this information of the method of correction to people, first in the form of mutual guarantee. We have to carry out a campaign for this method and for its revelation. Now we are intensifying our work on the Internet and I am asking everyone to join the department of virtual dissemination and to take part in the work. It’s very important. We are behind and we must hurry.

Question: But we are very anxious about what is happening in the world….

Answer: We should be anxious about not carrying out our mission. This should be our only concern. You should be anxious about the mission that you haven’t fulfilled and not about something else. Leave all your worries about the future so that it won’t weaken your dissemination work. Transfer all your anxieties and worries to the current dissemination campaign on the Net.

What’s more, the outcome should be one: to bring contentment to the Creator. If you want to stop the wars and the other problems in the world, you remain on the level of “local” calculations that don’t solve anything. On the corporeal level there will always be death and darkness. In order to pull the whole world upwards after us, you need a spiritual calculation, a yearning for the Creator, since there is none else besides Him.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/12, “A Handmaid That Is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Baal HaSulam, “Letter 24”: You already know that prayer and confidence go hand in hand. And we should believe in complete faith that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth. And by this faith we acquire confidence in the Creator’s help, and then our prayer becomes complete, in confidence that we will be saved. And then we are awarded confidence and joy all day long, as if we have already been saved.

Baal HaSulam says that prayer and confidence stem from the same branch, and this is a very important principle. In our ordinary life it’s the exact opposite: The prayer appears when a person has no confidence and is confused. He prays when he feels total helplessness, fear, and worry and needs help from Above; he feels lost in life and doesn’t know where to turn to and what to do. In this state of despair and anxiety a prayer is evoked in a person since he feels no hope for the future and has nothing to rely on.

But a spiritual prayer is the opposite: It’s evoked when a person feels that there is a Host who manages the world, his whole life, and who will fix everything. He understands that the Creator has already prepared everything in advance and that he only needs to keep in contact with Him. This means that he has confidence in the upper force, in the Creator, besides Whom there is none else, and with this confidence he turns to Him asking and demanding that the Creator will open his heart and mind and advance him.

It’s absolutely the opposite of what is expected in our world, as it says: “The opinion of the Torah is opposite from the opinion of the landlords.”

So the time of prayer is only after the preparation, after a prayer before a prayer. By a prayer before a prayer I have to spur myself towards the source. When one feels confidence and a connection with the source, he can raise a request for help to Him.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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In reality, “there is none else besides Him,” and the Creator would like to be revealed to the created being. However, if He revealed Himself, the created being would never be able to become independent. It would always “sell” itself to the Light and would not be able to separate itself from it.

That is why it is impossible to cancel oneself before the Creator, before the Light, because I am an absolute slave to pleasure. People know that themselves, and in this life, we are constantly controlled by the Light.

It is for this reason the Creator is hidden, but the group is open. So, we can begin to communicate with it and even rise above our egoism, which would be impossible with the Creator. And in everything else, it is all the same.

Except a human being, only the Creator exists: “There is none else besides Him.” Then, a person discovers that he does not exist either. There is only one upper force that fills everything. But this is after a person arrives at this on his own.
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From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/17/12, Workshop 2

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If you don’t have the desire for bestowal, you don’t exist with regards to the spiritual world. Our world exists only thanks to our instinctive desires, but you have to generate the spiritual desire by yourself. You have to reveal it by yourself, to yearn for it.

You exist to the extent that you evoke the desire to bestow within you with the help of envy, ambition, and the influence of the environment. The moment you lose that desire, you immediately disappear and cease to exist. You are simply gone.

We can only get such a desire from the group. This is our collective desire that does not exist in any of us.

By our prayer the Light that Reforms influences these desires and they acquire the right spiritual form of true bestowal. In the meantime, I ask for it in a false manner, even though I am part of a group. I shout that I want to love the friends, to connect with them, but I have to understand that it is all a lie. But it is a genuine lie of a kid who wants to be a grown up! He simply cannot imagine something greater than that.

But thanks to the fact that you seemingly want to bestow, you draw upon you the upper Light that corrects your desire. This is why it is called: “You labored and you found.” You exert yourself to reach the goal but then the Light operates on you and you find something else—a true desire for spirituality.

You begin to weigh how to fulfill the desire that you received and to what extent. You already become wise and work with that desire. You examine it and try it one way or another, by raising a prayer again so that the upper one will teach you and give you an example.

Previously you didn’t want true bestowal, but now that you want it; you ask that the upper one will give you an example of how to do it. Then He reveals itself a bit for you and shows you how to act, and you try to imitate His actions.

After you performed your first action, seemingly successfully, suddenly everything breaks down and falls. It is as if a small kid has inaccurately placed one cube on top of another, and the whole building he has built collapses. Then you cry a little since you didn’t succeed, but thanks to your stubbornness, to the support of the environment, to mutual guarantee, you start all over again!
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: On the question of prayer: First, I have to ask; second, I have to ask precisely; third, I have to ask for the friends; and fourth, I have to ask with gratitude to the Creator. I feel at a complete loss, as if some heavy weight was put upon me. I don’t know what to do.…

Answer: It will all come back to normal. Connect together, and you will see that this is just one feeling, not divided into parts. Think it over. You’ll see how it connects together.

Any spiritual attainment consists of two opposite properties, and so we are always at a loss, a lack of understanding: “Is it so or not?” You cannot compare them within yourself until a connection between the desire to bestow and the desire to receive is formed within you. The screen is always the solution! Think about this contradiction all the time, and it will connect.

Question: But where should I move now?

Answer: Just towards unity with friends. Thinking about this contradiction, work on unity with the friends, only within. If we had continued these workshops, you would have quickly resolved these problems. You can solve them together with the friends, but within them. The center of the group is the place where all the problems of the world are solved.
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From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/19/12, Lesson 7

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