Once upon a time, people desiring to attain spirituality had to subject their bodies to restrictions and suffering in order to break their egoistic desire and acquire a new, bestowing nature. This was the way in the times of the patriarchs and the sages of the Mishnah.

But then came the era of the Talmud, and its sages, the Kabbalists of that time, through their spiritual work, changed the condition of transforming our nature from receiving to bestowing.

Each period contributed its corrected part to the common system of souls. As a result, the system became partially corrected, and all the others within it, the still uncorrected souls, can receive help from the corrected part. We no longer need to torment and limit our body, nor are we capable of it with our enormous egoism.

But the sages of the Talmud made our path easier, and that portion of egoistic desire, which otherwise would have to be broken through tormenting the body with a harsh life, we can now correct through the reforming light.

The patriarchs and the sages of the Mishnah corrected themselves with two actions: the suffering of the body and drawing the light of the Torah. But the sages of the Talmud corrected the system so that instead of bodily suffering, we can correct it with the same light of the Torah.

For our time this is very important, for who today could renounce all the achievements of modern civilization? The Kabbalists of the Talmud corrected themselves, their inclusion in the common system, and its corrected part became great.

Though I may be born uncorrected and wicked, I find myself within a system that includes many corrected parts which sustain it, and if I wish to be corrected, I have somewhere to turn for help and with whom to join!

Now it is only up to me!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/10, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Those who have a “why” to live can bear with almost any “how” (Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning).

“Why” is the goal. And “how” is already the attainment of the goal.

Question: But how can I escape the weight that has fallen upon me, the hopelessness? How?

Answer: Constantly clarify how to get closer to the goal. And that is what keeps you going. The goal attracts you; it shapes you; it establishes how you should go through life, and at every moment you know how to use it.

Question: Should these be some intermediate goals?

Answer: It is the ultimate goal that is achieved at every moment of time.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 9/30/25

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All people lie, but it’s not scary, no one listens to each other.

My Response: The scary thing is that they do not listen. That is true.

To listen means to realize, to understand. Not necessarily to agree but to understand what the other means, why he has such a worldview.

Comment: To let him a little bit inside you?

My Response: No, not even to let him in. Enter into him and understand how he acts, how he thinks. It may well be that his way of thinking, his approach to life is correct. Try to argue with him, to align with him somehow, and so on.

That is what it means to listen to another. Listening means, first of all, to understand.

Question: Do you think people listen to each other or not?

Answer: No. Egoists cannot listen to each other. They are initially tuned to clearly satisfy their egoism.

Question: Meaning, only to push through their own opinion?

Answer: Not only their opinion but to achieve whatever I desire. That is the foundation of all of my behavior, and no one can move me from it. Only under the impact of enormous suffering can I somewhat change my opinion; still egoistically, leaning one way or another, and again continue to move egoistically.

Comment: This, in principle, is the cause of absolutely all troubles—people do not listen to others.

My Response: That is how we were created. After all, we come from the shattering of the common soul, the common desire. Therefore, in each of us there is an egoistic desire that acts only within itself. Each of us lives inside himself.

Comment: If a person heard that this is the result of his egoistic nature, would that be the beginning of a small shift?

My Response: No, it will not help. To hear is not enough; that is the point.

Here, upper forces of nature are necessary, hidden forces within nature that could help us become different, the opposite of our present state. And that requires a whole method.

Question: Do you think Einstein understood that there are hidden forces of nature?

Answer: He did not understand the possibility of changing man.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

My Response: That is correct. Because we cannot imagine how simple, near, and opposite to us the upper world is, the world of bestowal, of love, when we perceive everything in connection and not in separation, in isolation from one another.

Comment: We say: “Love, it is so simple! Let’s unite, let’s love each other.” And you say: “It is not so simple!”

My Response: No. I say: “It is not so simple,” because we are not capable of doing it.

We should not keep falling into the same trap again. Besides, love is not what we define in our world as love—some hormonal, psychological, or sexual satisfactions. No.

What is meant is the connection of people among themselves in inner unity, when we feel that not our bodies (bodies as if disappear), but we ourselves are inwardly interconnected, that some kind of inner joining, merging takes place, and this creates a new community, an inner, spiritual one. In this inner, spiritual community, we begin to feel ourselves living as if in another bubble, in a new world.

Question: Is this love?

Answer: This is achieved by love. Such a connection is called love.

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

Question: You often speak about the perception of reality. An empty desk, what does that actually mean?

Answer: It is an allegory. In general, a person who has no inner thoughts, no struggle, no constant confusion, no constant searching, he does not move forward, does not develop. He must always doubt himself and constantly investigate.

Question: Is this what you call life?

Answer: Yes. But when we look at such a person, we think: “He probably does not know anything. He is probably unsure.” In reality, it is the opposite.

Animal-like peace kills everything. That, of course, is terrible! We hope that the Creator will watch over us and not let us have peace.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 9/24/24

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Question: How should one correctly study TES?

Answer: We study The Study of the Ten Sefirot from the first page to the last. Perhaps we skip certain things, but in principle, that is how it goes. It is a textbook about the entire spiritual world.

Question: What is the difference between Kav and Yosher?

Answer: There is no difference between them. Kav is Yosher.

Question: Does the screen have some spiritual form, or is it a point of analysis?

Answer: Of course the screen has a spiritual form, because it clothes the desire, and in accordance with this the desire acquires direction.

Question: And what is the inner intention in order for there to be a screen?

Answer: The intention must be to carry out all the desires of the Creator.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/29/2025, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Therefore, come and see how grateful we should be to our teachers, who impart us their sacred lights and dedicate their souls to do good to our souls. They stand in the middle between the path of harsh torments and the path of repentance. They save us from the netherworld, which is harder than death (Baal HaSulam, Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot).

On the memorial day of the great Kabbalist, our teacher RABASH, we do not indulge in memories and do not mourn his passing as is customary in the corporeal world, which is far from the truth.

We perceive this day as an opportunity to connect even more strongly, to cleave, to draw closer to our root. Because RABASH is the revelation of the Creator in relation to us in a certain form and with a certain force.

We wish to thank the Creator for having sent us such a messenger through whom He opened for us the possibility of drawing near to the upper force, of correcting ourselves, bringing us to resemblance with the Creator. Through RABASH we bind ourselves to the Creator because he is an intermediate degree between us and the Creator thanks to which we exist and receive all that is necessary for spiritual ascent through it.

RABASH is revealed to us as a system connecting us with the Creator, through which we can realize ourselves and draw nearer to the truth. Therefore, we recall, not the external image of the man and his earthly habits, but first and foremost consider him as a special revelation of the Creator toward us, manifesting Himself in such a form.

The more we revere RABASH, the more we draw near to the Creator, treasuring that special revelation which the Creator made through him. Thus, the upper force called “RABASH,” becomes important for us, links us to the Creator, and brings us closer to Him.

To some extent, this revelation of the Creator was manifested in an external form, and then it disappeared. We, however, must, despite this external disappearance, this dimming, likewise illuminate ourselves and attain connection with RABASH, with this spiritual root, as with our higher degree, in order through it to connect with the Creator.

There are special souls through which the Creator influences a certain number of lower souls. As though the brain gives a command to an important organ so that it may send signals to various cells of the body under its governance and direct their behavior. RABASH, who was the continuation of Baal HaSulam in our generation, became a turning point for us, the source of the modern, practical method of spiritual ascent.

Therefore, we must understand what a gift we have been granted by having been given the opportunity to connect with him, to absorb from him the method suited to our days, and to realize it.

How grateful we must be to our teacher, RABASH, whose soul, this part of reality, was so great that it could form and transmit the entire method of correction to us. Without him, it would have been extraordinarily difficult, perhaps even altogether impossible for us to attain the spiritual world.

The upper force spreads within the system of Adam HaRishon, reveals itself from above downward by enlivening more and more parts of the soul. And when the light must spread into the lower layers of the system, to enliven the next organs in the chain of the body of Adam HaRishon, the need for the higher, special parts of the system to enter this work arises.

Development proceeds from above downward, and therefore, when some lower degree develops, it induces changes in all the higher degrees. Every correction is intended only for awakening ever lower souls, called “the Last Generation,” to also bring them to resemblance with the Creator.

RABASH symbolizes a great, global force acting upon our entire generation. What remains for us is only to realize the method of Baal HaSulam, which was transmitted to us and explained by RABASH. Therefore, we study the articles of RABASH in order to perceive the world as a single system and to actualize it correctly, to which RABASH leads us in the most practical form.

Baal HaSulam is revealed to us not as a guide, but as a scientist who knows all of creation from end to end and even beyond its limits. And RABASH takes us by the hand, like an adult guiding a child, and leads us along this path until the very end of correction. He opens the path for us and walks beside us.

The heavy, coarse souls revealed in our generation would not be able to attain adhesion with the Creator without the method revealed to us by RABASH. Because he explains how to attain those states about which Baal HaSulam writes.

Baal HaSulam writes about the higher degrees and higher states as a scientific researcher. And RABASH speaks more, not about the degrees themselves, but about the inner work a person must perform to attain them; that is, about the means: the environment, unity, self-annulment.

Baal HaSulam describes the entire upper system in these books, but these are not textbooks by which one can ascend. He is like a composer who wrote a symphony. But we first need to learn musical notation and the technique of scales before we can read that score and play it. For this, we need another person, a teacher, and such a teacher for us became RABASH, who leads us through the entire path.

Without his explanations, we might have become confused in the teachings of Baal HaSulam and begun to interpret them incorrectly, according to our own imagination. But if we realize the instructions of RABASH, which enable us to attain such attainment, then we will begin to understand what Baal HaSulam writes about.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/2019, “Rabash Memorial Day (Yahrzeit),”

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Question: When we study “Preface to the Science of Kabbalah (Pticha)” or TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), I have the feeling as if someone is explaining something from another galaxy. I do not understand where this is inside me. I listen as friends ask questions, as if they are revealing all this within themselves. What can I do to begin to perceive it at least a little in this way?

Answer: Here, I can give only one piece of advice. We are speaking about the spreading of the light in the Kli, in the desire.

Imagine that the light is acting upon you—a desire to fill, to delight, to bestow everything. You reveal it with the intention to receive, and gradually the light enters you and builds within you the corresponding degrees.

In principle, this is the whole science of Kabbalah.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/21/2025, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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When we read Kabbalistic articles, we must be very careful not to attach them to concepts of time and space and create “idols” for ourselves. Everything written by Kabbalists relates only to our desire, not to any historical events that occurred in the past.

History also relates to our inner perception of reality. There is no geographical location in which all this occurs; “place” is our desire. And there is no time; “time” signifies a change of states.

And when we read such a special article as today’s: “And They Built the Cities of Affliction,” about slave labor for Pharaoh, we must relate everything described only to ourselves, to what happens to us on our spiritual path.

It speaks of what I must go through in my desire, in my relationship with myself, with the group, with the Creator; it speaks of all the means given to me to achieve union with the upper power. There is nothing else but me and Him. And everything else is merely a means to achieving fusion between us.

Everything written in the article must occur only within me, within my soul; that is how I must understand it. And then I will truly study the inner meaning of the material.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/11, Writings of Baal HaSulam “And They Built Arei Miskenot”

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Question: Can we feel the processes described in TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) through the questions we ask you, and you answer them?

Answer: You can.

There are people who are so immersed in their own question that they do not hear the questions of others.

I would advise such people to review the lesson again afterward and to focus specifically on the questions asked by others in order to include themselves in them.
[348395]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/2025, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: It often happens that a person brings in psychology into and thinks that he is engaged in inner work. How can one distinguish inner work from psychology?

Answer: Psychology is when you work with your egoism, and spiritual work is when you work on your egoism.

In spiritual work, you consider the desires of others and try to transcend yourself and exist within them. You accept the values of the Kabbalistic environment, which defines what is important to you, and you strive to realize the guidelines you receive from it. Spiritual work is above the ego because you work with the desires of the environment.

In psychology, you work within your ego, sorting out within yourself what is important and what is not, how you think, and how you influence.

Spiritual growth is based on constantly doubting yourself, jumping back and forth, and thus studying yourself. Spiritual development is self-knowledge, where you constantly go within and understand yourself more and more. After all, all perception is within you, the worlds are within you, the world of infinity is within you, the entire universe is within you, in you.

Question: But how can I attain a planet within myself?

Answer: Oh! You will see that it simply appears to you,  a certain spot on your screen, it turns out, is the Moon and another spot is the Sun. They are drawn within you by your inner forces, just as you see a picture on your computer screen.

There are 613 forces on your inner screen, the vectorial combination of which paints the overall picture for you. That is all, there is nothing else. Just as we are talking now, you see me on your computer screen, and I see you on mine. It is absolutely the same thing.

I’m sitting in my office right now, and I have a device here with which I can see a dozen other places outside. These are my eyes. I have become so accustomed to this device that I feel it as part of my body, as if I were outside the building, in a hallway, somewhere in another department, in a lecture hall. I live in these places. How is this device different from my eyes? Not at all.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Are You Above or Below Ego?” 10/5/10

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Question: What is an intention worthy of action?

Answer: Our world is a world of action. All our earthly deeds are based on action itself. It is only by action and not by intention that our deeds are counted. In our world, we cannot be certain whether we have recognized, reproduced, evaluated, and weighed the intention correctly, whereas actions can be seen, measured, and compared because they leave behind a clear material result.

Intentions are our inner motivations, which are incomprehensible both to others and to ourselves, and are forgotten within a minute. Nothing can be done with that.

The science of Kabbalah says that we are special beings that consist of both actions and intentions. The more developed a person is, the further removed from mere animal existence, the stronger his intention is, and it is the intention that determines the action. That is, the action itself may be insignificant, but the intention behind it is great. In such cases, the person carrying out the action pays attention precisely to the intention.

For example, if I give someone a small gift or perform some deed that was very difficult for me but into which I put my whole soul, then the person receiving the outcome of my action measures it not by the action itself but by the effort and the good intention.

How can we measure intention? That is a problem because the world is becoming increasingly global. We must build a single system of relationships between us. But we cannot evaluate this only through actions.

After all, I am not working like a machinist in a factory whose contribution is measured by a thousand units of production that determines his pay and how others treat him. In our time, more and more professions arise where intentions are measured. We try to measure the relationships between people: how I influence them, how they awaken because of me, how we exchange services, and so on. That is, intention is acquiring ever-greater significance.

And so, our world faces a great problem. The more we develop, the more we move away from an animate state, the greater becomes the need to measure intentions. Yet, we cannot measure them.

Thus, the attitude of a person defines the world. The world itself becomes a consequence of our intentions.

And here a problem arises: the world falls into crisis not because of overproduction nor because we cannot get along with one another, but because our intentions are incorrect. But how to make them correct, how to evaluate and weigh them, we do not know.

Suddenly, quite unexpectedly for us, we find ourselves in an immaterial world because countless emotional, spiritual, and soulful connections arise between us that we cannot measure or account for. Intentions turn out to be more important than actions, and the world becomes awkward and unfit for human life. It begins to “push us out of itself” because it was created only for the animate state of humans.

At present we are like animals. Animals are not embarrassed by each other: I want to eat you; if you manage to escape, you escape, if not, I will eat you. Everything is based not on intentions but on clear actions. And intentions are absolutely obvious because action and intention coincide.

But when we rise above the animate state to the human level, we are obliged to begin taking our intentions into account. And they can only be evaluated with the help of the science of Kabbalah.

Question: Can you give us an example of intention in its pure form? What is it?

Answer: Suppose I have a certain intention toward you. You neither see it nor know it. I must determine it within myself, recognize it, and test it. If I wish to harm you with my intention, then by that, I will harm myself.

On the other hand, the world of intentions is much simpler. When we enter it, we as if erase all actions, “delete” our entire world, and only points remain along with intentions of those points toward one another. This is the spiritual world.

Try to imagine 7 to 8 billion points each of which, at least in some radius around itself, relates to others with a certain intention: either evil or good, plus or minus. The intention is directed either toward making another feel good according to how he understands it, not you, or toward making another feel bad according to how you understand it, not him.

Question: Can there really be only two intentions?

Answer: Only two, nothing else. And each of them can be graded in magnitude. Our attitudes toward others determine our world and our passage into the upper world.

We sort all the possible intentions people may have and take into account only those that exist between them. If they are positive toward others, they are called spiritual; if negative, they are called earthly.

All intentions of our earthly level are only for oneself and to the detriment of others.
[228917]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 3/25/2018

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