As it is written, “The end of the action lies in the initial thought.” This is how it is determined by the Creator and this is how it should be on the part of the created beings who want to attain the goal of creation.

“The end of the action” is adhesion to the Creator. The adhesion is possible only according to the equivalence of form, the acquisition of the attribute of bestowal, when the vessel has the same attributes as the Light. The equivalence of form in the vessel is attained by reaching the love of others that is fulfilled in a group of friends. In the group, there are all the conditions necessary for discovering this love by mutual support, understanding and cooperation.

The main thing is to draw the Light that Reforms upon ourselves, which influences the group when it yearns to be adapted to the Light. This means that the group wants to be connected—unified, one, as one man in one heart, where everyone is aiming at one goal—and everyone is incorporated in everyone. Then, we are compatible with the Light.

The greater the force with which we connect, the more we overcome our ego—the indifference, the mutual repulsion and the conflicts—so, the Light influences us more strongly by revealing in us one unified system. Then, by connecting to one another, this general body, our desires and intentions, turns into the body of our soul. The Light that fills this general desire is called the Light of the soul. Thus, we discover our first spiritual Partzuf, our first spiritual level.

Let’s try to imagine this state and expect the Light to fulfill it, but just by reading one sentence we feel that we have left the right intention, and now we need to return to it once again. So, when reading every sentence, we must check the internal states we are in. Thus, we intentionally will create constant “entrances” and “exits” in us so that we won’t have to go through long descents and ascents, and we will constantly advance by such momentary ascents and descents.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/12, The Book of Zohar

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Baal HaSulam has an article titled “The Reason for the Difficulty of Annulling Oneself for the Creator.” Basically, this is most important. After all, what stands today between us is our ego, our “I.” If we were to nullify it, we would immediately feel the Creator to the extent of our nullification.

My egoism stretches from me to the world of Infinity. I gradually nullify it; in other words, I correct it in 125 steps, and the Creator keeps manifesting more and more in the corrected egoism.

Let us mark my point in the heart in red. It is I, and my egoism is before me. I rise as much as I am able to cut the “slices” of this egoism, until I correct all of it. And every time I correct it, the Creator becomes revealed in it.

This way, the “I” stands before us, between us and the Creator. This is why the article is called: “The Reason for the Difficulty of Annulling Oneself for the Creator.”

A person experiences difficulty when he wishes to nullify himself for the sake of the Creator, in other words, when he wishes to sacrifice his “I” for the quality of bestowal. After all, nullifying yourself means to completely stop caring for yourself. Moreover, this is just the first stage. And then, once I correct my entire past egoism to “stop caring” for myself, I begin to use it to work for the sake of others.

So, the entire reason it is difficult to nullify yourself is because the person feels like the entire world remains in its place, but he disappears. Then what is he left with? It seems like absolutely nothing. He leaves his family and friends in the name of nullifying himself for the sake of bestowal.

Then what am I, my friends, relatives, the world, everything that is in me and that I have? Other problems and questions arise as well. No matter how much I want to do it, I suddenly feel that something once again holds me from within, does not let me rise or invest myself fully.

Thus the ego, the only evil in the world, is multifaceted. And it keeps revealing itself more and more. I seem to have risen above it, I do not need anything for myself, I am ready to enter others and only exist in them, but as soon as I arrive at this moment, different thoughts that break me immediately appear in me, different desires, multidirectional intentions, and I once again lose the concrete, correct intention.

So, this entire problem, the reason for difficulty is simple, the problem is the lack of perception of the Creator. And the only thing that can help us with all our efforts is only feeling, revealing the Creator. There can be nothing else: Either you always feel yourself, always remain in yourself, and this egoism constantly “wobbles” you in it, taking your thoughts someplace else, or the Creator is revealed to you and only then will you be able to be in the power of the Creator, the power of bestowal, and not your egoism.

And, Baal HaSulam writes that as soon as the person feels the Creator, his soul, his inner desire immediately will want to connect with the root, to be a part of it, to nullify itself without a single thought just doing it naturally. We need to reach this state, in other words, we need to force the Creator to become revealed in us. And then all the problems disappear.

For this reason, the main thing that a person needs to reach is the perception of the Creator in order to feel that it is this quality, this force that fills the entire world and controls everything, and that there is none else beside Him. No emptiness of egoism will remain unfilled. All of it becomes filled with the Creator and becomes His absolutely obedient “operational device” doing everything according to the quality of bestowal, and connects to it without a single problem.

The upper Light created this desire, broke it, and shaped it into the form we perceive. The Light has specifically made the desire in this way and completely changes it by filling it. This is why the main thing a person needs to reach is the perception of the Creator, to feel that this quality fills the entire world and controls and governs absolutely everything.

This is also happening now, but it is concealed from us in order to obligate us to reveal Him, to desire His revelation. We must reach such degree of despair where we understand that only revelation of the Creator can save us. No other appeal will work: Coming together, giving us the right intentions, giving us strength, understanding what is happening, even uniting—all these things will be consequences of the revelation of the Creator.

And, Baal HaSulam writes that a person’s entire effort in his spiritual work must manifest in the attainment of this sensation, in other words, the realization of the fact that in reality, the only thing that he lacks and which solves absolutely all the problems is the perception of the Creator. He must not think about anything else but the main reward he would want to receive for all his efforts: to feel filled by the Creator.

There are no questions in this state. Everything is clear. But do we lose the freedom of will in this case? Do we become some “holy puppets?” The Creator rules in us and this obligates us to only operate through bestowal. Does this mean that we turn into “angels?”

It does not. This is because the quality of bestowal, which we receive from the perception of the Creator, does not nullify the egoism. It only fills it, and together they become like two categories, two forces, two qualities, which mutually complement one another. A person only acquires the true freedom of will when he has these two forces in equal proportion. The Creator does not suppress egoism and does not nullify it; He balances it in such a way that the person acquires the ability to be between these two qualities, these two forces of nature.

And then we begin to grow our point in the heart, connecting these two forces to it. It grows like a drop of semen in the mother’s womb.

Baal HaSulam continues that it is necessary to know that there is no difference between a big light and a small illumination, which a person attains. After all, there are no changes in the Light. All the changes only happen in perception.

In other words, we are always in the full, enormous volume of Light, but we feel it only to the extent of our correspondence, the similarity of our qualities to its qualities. And only our efforts in revealing the Creator create the higher qualities in us. If a person is able to increase his desires directed towards the quality to bestow, the right appeal, to the same extent he increases the quantity of Light that enters them.

What can he do to increase his desires, to expand them, and to prepare them for closeness with Light? Baal HaSulam’s response to this: by praising and exalting the Creator, the qualities of love and bestowal, the qualities of relating to your neighbor and others outside of yourself.

When a person acts this way, he feels grateful to the Creator for having brought him closer to Him, for giving him at least some foundation, some starting point, which allows him to begin to act this way, to rise above our world, our egoistic state. The person acquires the ability to at least slightly feel the Creator, the quality of bestowal, to somewhat understand what we speak about in the group, trying to find its center—the feeling that arises between us.

These are already certain preliminary flashes of Light, greater and greater radiance. Though, we feel like these are our desires, our thoughts, as if we are moved and found something in us. In reality, we are not able to find anything in us. When we develop certain feelings, all of them come only from the vibrations of Light, which is sometimes closer and sometimes further from us. When a feeling of warmth appears between us, when we express a greater connection, a wider net of relationships, it is only because the upper Light is beginning to gradually manifest.

And the main thing is that in addition to the importance of all this, I always need to be conscious and constantly try to verbalize inside myself how important the connection with the Creator is for me, this power to bestow, this universal force, which today is concealed from me; how the revelation of these two forces will give me the opportunity to act freely, to be like the Creator in relation to everyone else, in the same intention, love and bestowal.

This is no accident, it was the Creator who gave man the point in the heart, attracted him, and gave him the opportunity to advance spiritually. He is with us, with all the friends around the world. And the more importantly, the person deems this to be, the more he expands his Kelim, the place where Light, the Creator, will eventually manifest.

Gratitude to the Creator must always be greater than the request; the appeal must follow gratitude so that my attitude towards the quality to bestow would really come from my movement in its direction. And this only happens when I attune myself to gratitude, appreciation.

We need to express gratitude for everything, even the most unpleasant sensations. This way a person begins to understand the uniqueness of the Creator’s governance over him. He understands and realizes that all, even the most negative influences that he experiences in this world, are also designed for his sake, for his benefit. And the Creator Himself suffers from it a billion times more than him, just like we suffer in relation to our children.

This is why we must not blame Him for anything, be mad at Him, or be unhappy with something. When a person understands that he is under the influence of one, single, constant, eternal Force, then, of course, this state cannot exist. He always, first experiences the sensation of enormous gratitude as if he were melting in it, and then his appeal follows in the same direction.

But, Baal HaSulam writes that since a person only experiences everything inside his desires, he is never able to precisely evaluate the actual degree of connection between him and the Creator. This is because our egoistic desires, until corrected, always “deafen” the evaluation of our connection with the Creator. No matter how I perceive Him, even if it is in the best possible way, I still have a feeling about it, and I evaluate it. And my evaluation is always lower. This is because it is made in my egoistic, still-uncorrected desires, and this is why I always remain unhappy about something. Egoism removes an enormous amount of “overtones,” “higher harmonics,” from the perception of the Creator, and leaves only a poor light.

Imagine: Instead of my beloved appearing before me to embrace me and cover me in kisses, I was mailed a tiny package, and that is it. Similarly, my egoism in the end removes absolutely everything: I receive some package, which looks absolutely insignificant.

We must complete this on our own: these “harmonics,” “overtones,” the things filtered out by egoism, all the higher things it “cuts off,” the special attitude, pleasure, and sensation. We must add the things that were filtered out by egoism by using gratitude and exalting the Creator.

If I am able to do this, then I begin to perceive the manifestation of the Creator precisely in these additional “harmonics.” The filter removes Him and leaves me with nothing but a small, insignificant gift, a small glow, and I must restore it. And I restore it by addressing Him with admiration and being grateful. Then, in my address, the Creator reveals Himself.
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From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/19/12, Lesson 6

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The more strongly we are drawn to bestowal, the more our vessels of reception are enlarged for us. If our vessels of reception get bigger, we suddenly fall and find ourselves in darkness, needing to correct these desires. And that’s why we need the vessels of bestowal again.

So if we yearn for adhesion in bestowal, this is enough in order to constantly sway up and down, like on a swing: once in reception and once in bestowal. Each time you advance by enlarging both the vessels of reception and the vessels of bestowal.

But if you only think about your vessels of reception and about their corruption, constantly checking what is in them, it will lead to nothing. You will only discover their greater emptiness and nothing more than that.

The shattering occurred so that we won’t be left with our egoistic desires with no hope for correction, and as a result sparks of bestowal entered the receiving desires. Thanks to these sparks, the desires to receive can connect to the desires to bestow and disturb their peace. Thus they insert their ego into the desires to bestow, Galgalta ve Eynaim.

This way the desires to receive, AHP, also get a chance to be corrected. By that we can understand how important the broad dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah is.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/30/12, Shamati #45

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Question: In the process of studying, everything is changing: There are both physical and virtual workshops. At what point is the individual work with oneself, with a book, with the source?

Answer: What for? Where do I solve the problem of creating within me a sense of the spiritual world? It’s only in the group! What is the use if I sit down and study on my own?

Sometimes, it is necessary to better understand what happens to me in the end. In such cases, I must admit that I need to study on my own, reread at home, not only such serious materials as The Study of the Ten Sefirot diagrams, but also the articles, the letters of Rabash and Baal HaSulam.

If individual studies are needed to better understand correctly what you have to do for the group, then study and if not, then why do you need other studies? They may even discourage you.

You will begin to understand a lot, to think that you are a wise person and that you don’t need anything else. As a result, you get the poison of death instead of the elixir of life. There is a symbol in medicine, a bowl with snake venom that can be a poison and can be the basis for drugs. So here; you need to be very careful when it comes to studying. The main thing is intention!
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From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/19/12, Lesson 7

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Baal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”: And because they did that, the powers of the nation disintegrated: Some followed the kings and the selfish officers, and some followed the prophets. And that separation continued until the ruin.

They created communities of this corrupt kind and became a great sect called “Tzdokim,” who were the rich and the officers, pursuing selfish desires unlike the path of Torah. And they fought the Prushim and brought the Roman kingdom’s rule over Israel. They are the ones who would not make peace with the imperious, as our sages advised by the Torah, until the house was ruined and the glory of Israel was exiled.

A Kabbalist doesn’t study history at the university. His view encompasses the whole system by rising above the limitations of time. For him “time” is a sequence of events. He sees the spiritual causes of the corruption and their fulfillment in the branches of this world; he sees how the process flows.

According to our perception, history is a collection of assumptions and theories based on different resources and archeological findings. Kabbalists speak about the nation of Israel that was created by Abraham’s disciples who left ancient Babel and attained the Kabbalistic method, while a philosopher may claim: “No way, the wisdom of Kabbalah began in the Middle Ages.” What can we do? Everyone is limited by the depth of their world perspective.

We have to account for not knowing the process of the spiritual descent, long and painful. People tried to resist it; there were many problems. There were wars, and each war was in order to hold onto the altruistic intention. People understood what was at stake: You are either near the Creator, which means that you are a human being, or you are just an animal that exists for a certain predetermined number of years, just like the donkey that carries you.

The deterioration was difficult for everyone, including the rich and the high officers who left Kabbalah. They understood what was going on, but couldn’t overcome their ego; they couldn’t resist it. A person was drawn downwards, just like a rabbit that is hypnotized by the snake’s eyes, walking straight into its mouth.

When there is such a descent, you see how your ego operates on you. You understand that you are weak and powerless, you see yourself deteriorate, and you cannot do anything about it. Only the environment can help you, only the Light that goes through it.

So the time of the nation’s spiritual descent was not simple. The point here is not the complete evil who did not want to exert themselves.  It was a general deterioration that included the Kabbalists who also descended but still held on to the intention to bestow.

The purpose of this process was to define for ourselves exactly what the altruistic intention of Lishma means and to truly hold on to it. The whole point is that I study for my correction and not for any other reason. So accordingly, the “commandments” are a correction of my desire that is made of 613 parts. The Torah is essentially the Light that comes and fulfills these corrections. I only prepare myself for them, and the Creator completes them for me. Then by my corrected desires, I discover the Creator, the one unique force.

The essence of my attitude to the study, my correct intention, is the main thing. This is what the war between the two parties was about.

Today we need to rise from the collapse. This whole ascent is fulfilled only by the clarification, by checking what Lishma means, what a person’s role is, the goal of his life, its meaning. This is where the difference lies: I either study in order to know more and to pass exams, or I constantly exert myself in order to summon the Light that Reforms.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/12, “Exile and Redemption”

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Question: Do I act correctly by praying for everybody and wanting that each of us will also ask the Creator for the Light for all? I want that everyone will find themselves in this society, in this Light, and that the Creator will help each of us to acquire it.

Answer: Why for “each of us” and not all of us? Isn’t it better if it’s everybody together?

Why do we talk about unification, about aspiring towards unity? It’s because in spirituality there is no such state like “I,” “he,” “you,” and so on. It’s better to ask in the name of “we.”

Try and you will see that life will instantly become clearer, better for everybody. In this “we,” you will discover the only state that exists. And the current state will gradually move away from you and will indeed be felt as illusory—it’s just that we had been aimed like that before.
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From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/18/12, Lesson 5 

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To actually achieve the desired result in spiritual advancement, we need to use all of the allotted time.

This is not a couple of hours a week, a few hours of dissemination or any other activities. We have to continue the same work that we did during the workshops; it continues in everyone internally during the breaks, during the meals, while travelling—no matter what! This is the most important thing!

After all, a morning lesson or a meeting like a workshop is like recharging, like connecting to the power source. When you connect to the group, you attract the upper Light to yourself; you charged yourself and can go safely in your life for 20 hours. Then come back again.

This is required once a day! Otherwise the spiritual connection is cut off. At least an hour a day, but there must be a connection to a physical or virtual group, to the Light; you recharge yourself and continue the rest of the time to work on this charge.

Now, we are gradually switching to a different kind of work, which is much more difficult than sitting in circles with each other. In this work, there are thousands of various disturbances. But we understand that these are not a hindrance, that we are surrounded by the Creator Who wants us to be connected to Him all the time through these disturbances. And then we will see that these are not disturbances, but opportunities to connect, to amplify the signal. Let’s try!
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From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/19/12, Workshop 7

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When a person looks at his history, at the several decades that he has lived, he sees how the Creator has led him to his current state by gradually bringing the person closer to Him, by putting him through so many states that seemed unnecessary, ridiculous, and utterly pointless situations, periods of life that seemed absolutely unnecessary.

Actually when a person accepts everything, even if he doesn’t understand why he had to go through all that yet, the gratitude for the fact that the Creator has brought him to his current state along this path and for the fact that he is beginning to reveal the Creator now, in his gratitude by justifying the past, he comes to the right intention, to the correct state in the present.

“Article 26” in the book Shamati, “One’s Future Depends On and Is Tied to His Gratitude for the Past,” also speaks about how impossible it is to relate to the future correctly if you don’t justify your past states by totally accepting the fact that it all comes from “There is none else besides Him.” If this happens, it is a sign that everything had to happen the way it did until the present, and a person must not regret anything that happened one way or the other.

Only starting from the current state, when all the previous accounts are over, can a person be thankful in advance for the future and be in a state of free bestowal, free movement towards the Creator, when there is nothing negative in their past relations. By the correction of a person’s attitude regarding the past he prepares himself for the future.

The Creator puts us through all sorts of different twists and turns and metamorphoses intentionally, and retains a negative memory of these events in us. We actually don’t remember the positive moments; we only remember the negative ones because the ego remembers the moments when it didn’t receive, where it was cheated, where it could have won but lost, etc. If I justify the Creator’s Providence in the past, it doesn’t count as the past, but rather is transferred to the future. Thus I build a vessel, the correct attitude to the future, and so I am ready to move forward.

So it is impossible to start from the current moment simply by erasing the past. It was given to us so that now, at this moment, we will be able to look at the future correctly and to relate to the Creator correctly.

If I am totally reconciled and gratefully accept everything that I felt as negative with regard to myself, the world, my relatives, and more distant people, to the Creator and everything that He did to me, if I understand that by that I went through my path, and now thanks to rising above it, despite my ego, despite my egoistic criticism, I can transform all my previous feelings to gratitude, to adhesion to the Creator. It isn’t that I simply forgive Him, but rather understand, perceive, and feel that I am given the chance now to start a connection with Him, so I am ready to reveal Him.

Therefore, a person’s future depends and is tied to his gratitude for the past. If we correct our attitude regarding the past from criticism to gratitude, from sorrow and disappointment to joy, we create the correct vessel for the revelation of the Creator.
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From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/19/12, Workshop 7

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Question: If I don’t know who to appeal to before a prayer, then why do I experience a sense of trepidation before the Creator, a fear of appealing to the Creator?

Answer: I envy you. This means that you know Who you’re addressing.

It is a very exalted state when a person addresses the quality of bestowal, the Light, or something higher and feels a sense of trepidation. This means that he feels the extent to which his state, his life, each cell and each moment, all of his relationships and encounters, all depend only on the Light. That is, he feels that he is not the one in control of himself, that he isn’t in charge of the next moment, and that everything exist outside of him. He doesn’t yet sense whose hands he is in and because of that he feels a sense of trepidation. For the time being this is an animal trepidation, but it propels us forward.

Then at some point, an opposite sensation of confidence will come, making me feel good, as if I don’t depend on myself. Nothing could be worse than actually being in charge of myself and my destiny!

I’m glad that there is Light that determines everything, forms everything, and guides me. The only thing that remains for me to do is to feel and work in unison with the Light, which is the only way for me to realize all of this.
[86430]
From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/18/12, Lesson 5

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Baal HaSulam, “600,000 Souls”: It is said that there are 600,000 souls, and each soul divides into several sparks. We must understand how it is possible for the spiritual to divide, since initially, only one soul was created, the soul of Adam ha Rishon. In my opinion, there is indeed only one soul in the world, as it is written (Genesis, 2:7), “and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” The same soul exists in all the children of Israel, complete in each and every one, as in Adam ha Rishon, since the spiritual is indivisible and cannot be cut—which is rather a trait of corporeal things. Yet, saying that there are 600,000 souls and sparks of souls appears as though it is divided by the force of the egoism of each person.

At the beginning we feel that we exist outside of the common soul because our ego fences us off it. Ultimately, everybody attains completely this one common soul, the spiritual vessel, the corrected desire of the creature who is in adhesion with the Creator in the world of Infinity.

The Creator created only this one soul of Adam ha Rishon. But because of the force of shattering, which has entered us, each of us senses only himself. However, by virtue of actions called “the Torah and commandments,” a person has an opportunity to attract upon himself the Light from the common soul, if he wants to draw closer to it.

The soul is a collection of all souls merged into a single whole. The more a person aspires towards it by the means of the group, the friends, and the study, the greater is the illumination that he invokes from there. This illumination helps him to remove the partition that fences him off this soul and to reveal it.

That is, everyone discovers that they are inside this soul. But all parts, into which, as it seems to us, we are now divided by imagining different people, they differ from one another and stem from different roots. Some relate to 600,000 souls, and others to the sparks. But this determines only the differences on the path: who comes first, who at the end, and who in the middle in the process of correction; who belongs to the degrees of HBT–HGT–NHY, “fathers,” “sons,” or the entire world. And ultimately, everybody discovers the common soul in its entire fullness, without any difference between us.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/2012, “600,000 Souls”

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