Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”: “I am glad that I have been born in such a generation when it is permitted to disclose the wisdom of truth. And should you ask, “How do I know that it is permitted?” I will reply that I have been given permission to disclose. Until now, the ways by which it is possible to publicly engage and to fully explain each word have not been revealed to any sage…

And this is what the Creator has given me to the fullest extent. We deem it as dependent not on the greatness of the sage, but on the state of the generation, as our sages said, “Little Samuel was worthy, etc., but his generation was unworthy.” This is why I said that my being rewarded with the manner of disclosing the wisdom is because of my generation.”

Thus we can understand the historical events in which we were sometimes allowed to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah as in the case of Moses, the prophets, the Great Assembly, Rabbi Shimon, and a chain of individual Kabbalists during the time of the exile until the days of the Ari, who was given permission to reveal it and accordingly reached the spiritual height he did. Besides, there were many Kabbalists who were not given such permission since the time they lived in was not right for the revelation. They performed corrections by themselves because they were in the upper system of bestowal, but they couldn’t publicize what they did.

In the meantime, the process advanced until the time of the Baal Shem Tov who publicized Kabbalistic messages by his actions and not by writing books. The point isn’t whether he wanted to or not, it has nothing to do with the desires of the Kabbalist. Each one performs the mission he was given.

Finally in the last century, Baal HaSulam also received permission to reveal the wisdom. We already live in a generation in which everyone is allowed to study the wisdom of Kabbalah; it is allowed to publicize it and to teach it to others. All the limitations have been removed, as Baal HaSulam tells us in the beginning of The Study of the Ten Sefirot. It is said that thanks to this wisdom the “children of Israel” will come out of exile.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/27/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”: The names, appellations, and Gematrias belong entirely to the wisdom of Kabbalah. The reason they are found in the other languages, too, is that all the languages are included in the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is so because these are all particular cases that the other languages must be assisted with.

The language of Kabbalah is the main language of revealing the Creator. In principle, all four languages of attainment are intended for this. However, the other three languages (Tanakh , Halachah and Haggadah) are “accompanying,” they are included in the language of Kabbalah but exist by themselves to add different touches by their presentation.

Thus there is one language for the revelation of the Creator, containing four facets; the most important one is the language of Kabbalah. It includes everything, it is higher than the rest, and it is included in everything. All the symbols, all the forms of presentation, everything we read in the books of Kabbalists are written by the language that they had created to explain the revelation of the Creator to the human being. Everything is intended only for this.

Therefore, as Baal HaSulam writes in “The Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” the one who opens books written by Kabbalists of different generations, i.e., by people who are in spiritual attainment, and use it not for this purpose, he brings adverse consequences upon himself. Instead of praising the approaching dawn like a rooster, he becomes like a bat, living only in the darkness and strongly resisting the light of day, which is already approaching for us.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”: Clearly, when one ponders and contemplates words of the Torah that pertain to the revelation of the Creator to our fathers, they bring the examiner more Light than when examining practical matters.

This is how Baal HaSulam recommends we read books that tell us about the relationship between a human being and the revelation. The articles, letters, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the Sulam commentary to The Book of Zohar, in fact everything we received from Baal HaSulam and Rabash are books that are especially for us about the revelation of the Creator to the created being. They are written in different styles but they are all about this.

Some of them explain things directly and describe the spiritual work psychologically, so to speak, like the letters and the articles. In other articles we read about the connection between the wisdom of Kabbalah and other sciences, but they are also about the revelation of the Creator to a person. We see this especially in works talking about The Book of Zohar and in The Study of the Ten Sefirot.

All these books and texts were written during the drawing of the Light. Kabbalists discovered the Light in different states and levels and wrote accordingly. There isn’t one word or one letter that was written before the writer had attained the specific state that he described in the text.

So when we read these texts, we can receive the power in them. It is by these texts that we connect to the writers, and then we can draw and enjoy the Light that Reforms, but this is only if we yearn to resemble them in their simple faith and receive everything that they have. While reading his writings, I want to be like the Kabbalist, to annul myself, to belong to him, and by that I turn on the Light that he has prepared for me.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence“

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There are two paths: the path of the Torah and the path of suffering. However, these are actually not two options because along the path of suffering, we receive blows that put us back on the path of the Torah.

So, we must realize as quickly as possible that there is actually only one path and that we need to advance by the Light that Reforms since the sufferings don’t correct us. Only a prayer, a request for correction, draws the Light, and then after going through several corrections, we reach the goal of creation.

The Creator is the absolute goodness that illuminates on us, and we have no choice but to advance toward the goal that has been prepared for us in advance. The goal is to do good to His created beings, so adhering to Him is the real benefit. This is what we should reach.

The good and benevolent Creator is revealed according to the law of equivalence of form to the extent that we are equal to Him. He is in absolute bestowal and love, and we must reach the same attributes, too. However, we approach this state gradually, discovering, time after time, the evil in us, trying to draw the Light that Reforms that is called the Torah. It corrects us and these portions of correction that are called “keeping the Mitzvot (commandments)” push us forward, one by one, until we become like ripe fruit that is ready for the “complete coupling” (Zivug).

This is how the Creator’s attitude toward us is revealed according to the purposeful providence. It operates that way in order to spur in us its different forms time after time. Thus, we know Him according to the principle of the advantage of the Light from the darkness.

So, he who is greater than his friend, his desire is also greater. When we ascend toward the Creator in the attributes of bestowal and love, we can better clarify how opposite we are from Him, and can clarify things more deeply as the picture becomes clearer and finer. Thus, we get closer to the Creator all the way to the last level of the clarification of the connection between us.

Baal HaSulam asserts that religion is a means, a tool for attaining the Creator, the goal of life. The means are given to those who work on themselves, and all the others are confused by their own ideas about religion. Instead of establishing the right order and the correct system, they are building an “idol and an image,” false images, as long as they have something to engage in without correcting themselves for the sake of love and bestowal, without yearning to reach the level of “from the love of the creatures to the love of the  Creator.”

According to this sign, we can differentiate between the wisdom of Kabbalah and all the other methods because none of them enables a person to change his nature from hatred to love. Therefore, they are all unacceptable.

This is why we study, disseminate, and work on the connection in the group, and by that we reach the recognition of evil. It turns out that the evil is our nature and we must get rid of it and change it to a different nature.

It doesn’t mean that I must destroy myself or hate my nature, although it is evil. No, I see what the Creator has given me in it, and I only must correct it gently and with great care. I have no other engagement in life, except for the correction of my nature. I mustn’t disrespect it, but I must study it deeply, accurately, and in great detail and then, from these corruptions, I understand what the correct form should be.

Therefore, the Creator is called “Boreh” (come and see). I turn my ego to “in order to bestow” and establish a restriction above it, a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light, and gradually form the Creator’s image from the corrected parts. I build Him in me.

Otherwise, He remains an invisible force that cannot be revealed in our senses. It is because He is revealed only according to our adaptability to Him, according to the law of equivalence of form.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/8/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Science of our world is constantly changing, we have to keep correcting and improving it without interrupting the search.

Whatever seems to be absolutely obvious today, ceases to be indisputable tomorrow, and it is even possible that whatever was considered beneficial today, tomorrow will become harmful. Our desire constantly keeps changing and we discover a new science in it.

And since the desire to receive pleasure can change into its opposite on a daily basis, then useful things can become harmful.

Moreover, by operating only through our egoistic desire, we use all of the discoveries that were made in nature for the sake of self-benefit, and therefore the outcomes of the evolution of science harm us.

In other words, we always use it for evil. And we see that science mainly develops because we need it for wars and mutual destruction. If not for this, we would not keep evolving at all.

All the wonderful scientific discoveries are used to serve our egoism.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/10, “The Wisdom of Israel in Comparison to Science”

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Question: When is a person considered a student of his teacher?

Answer: A student is called someone who adheres to his teacher (meaning in the inner way) and tries to “suck” everything possible out of him. Like a baby who is sucking milk out of his mother, a student is trying to suck out of his teacher everything he has and to grow, meaning develop what he receives.

He is not capable of receiving all the knowledge, attainment, and sensation instantly, but he can obtain the tools in order to develop everything within himself. After all, a child receiving his mother’s milk does not digest it inside of him, but rather he turns it into meat, muscles, and bones. He is building his organism and developing himself. The same thing happens here.

We have to understand that from a teacher we receive something that we wish to receive and only in the form and to the extent that we put forth our efforts toward it. We do not hear what the teacher says; we only hear what we wish to hear. The work of a student is to annul his psychological obstacles and begin to listen to the teacher. In other words, the work of a student is the annulling of his ego.
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From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/20/13

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What is the essence of religion? Is it given for the benefit of the created beings or for the benefit of the Creator? Where is the reward that it promises, in this world or in the next world?

As Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose,” no one knows the right answers to these questions. In their delusions, people do not understand what is called “religion.”

Religion is the human attitude to the upper force that controls all of nature. It would appear that since it controls everything and I am here against my will, that there is nothing we can do about it. However, apparently our relationship with it is such that I can do something myself: to escape the evil or to seek good. In short, if I develop the correct attitude to its influence on me, then I can change something in my life.

So a certain connection extended by the human being to the upper force, and accordingly, by the upper force to the human, is called “religion.” Thus, “religion” is a system of bilateral relations between the Creator and created beings.

The problem is that no one is familiar with this system; everyone is mystified about it. Some take one wrong direction, some take another. Some assert that the Creator is one thing, and some another. Everyone is confused in his own way, and no one knows where the truth lies, where a reward is, and what kind of reward. On the contrary, we do not see in our world that someone has a good life, and in the end, everyone suffers. And the future world is hidden in the fog; this is what they “sell” us…

As a result, we have one big mess with religion. The fact is that this confusion has encompassed all the modern generation. If religion had given us answers to the questions that affects our existence, if it had explained how to live in the world, earning and achieving success in this world and the future world, how to get along with each other, of course we would have observed religious canons. But since religion does not give answers, people leave it. A person becomes weaker and leaves its framework, even if he continues to follow it as a formality.

This is an internal disagreement; a departure from religion is called the “fall of generations” and it is given, and you cannot argue with it. The reason is that we have not received correct answers to the age-old questions from religion and do not know what it represents in reality.

Of course, no one is to blame, and no one can be reproached. This is the process; the program of creation should be realized in us in this way, bringing us to the moment when we finally ask ourselves the three questions listed above. If we answer them correctly, we will know what “religion” is; in other words, how we can build the right relationship with the upper force. And as a result, we may be able to get pleasures in this world and in the future world, for our own benefit and for the benefit of the Creator.

Either way, we should clarify, resolve, this problem. In any case, we are under some higher power, and we need to find out what the proper relationship with it is. This promises benefits, and that is why we need to achieve this in a simple and practical way.

This is the way we offer to a wide audience, “Let’s find out what nature is in this world we live in.” In  Gematria, the meaning of nature (הטבע) is the same as the word “God” (אלה – ים). We all live in this “bubble,” and day by day it threatens us more and more: on the level of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, as well as in human relationships. It is enough that scientists today predict all kinds of natural disasters. Who knows what lies ahead? In general, we see that nature, that is, the Creator, shows us not the friendliest attitude. There is something to improve upon. Let’s see whether we are able to do it. Obviously, it is in our hands.

This check is certainly worthwhile. We need to find out what our attitude toward God, or toward nature,  should be . It will definitely benefit us.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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