There are three states: the initial state after the creation of the created being, the process of the corrections, and the state of the end of correction. These states exist only with regard to the person who is attaining the spiritual world, but in fact we only exist in Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity), in the desire of the created being who attains the Creator.

The attainment is achieved as the created being changes gradually and reaches an equivalence of form with the Creator. According to the level of the equivalence of form, he attains the Creator more deeply each time until he becomes equal to Him in all his attributes and actions. By that he fulfills the thought of Creation, which is to do good to His created beings.

So, the moment the desire to receive develops to such a degree that it begins to understand and to feel its existence by asking: “Who created me and what do I exist for?” All one’s thoughts and actions have to be aimed only at attaining an equivalence of form and the revealing the One who gave birth to him. Thus, we reach the fulfillment of the goal of creation.

The main thing is to constantly think about how to accept the movements that the Creator is operating on me now. I need to accept everything as coming from there is none else besides Him, from the upper force, and that there is nothing else but Him, and to understand that everything is in the hands of the Creator, and to decide that “if I am not for myself, who is for me,” in order to reach an agreement and adhesion with the one root that does everything.

The indication for such an attitude is joy. Its fulfillment is only by connection, in yearning to bring all of creation to its one common root.
[104969]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/13

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“Israel are not saved unless they are all one bundle, and Zion was saved.”

The reflection of the goal of creation, of the shattering, is reflected throughout the history of the Israeli nation that conquers the land of Israel, and only afterward does it have the privilege to be called a “created being.” The desire to receive itself cannot be bad since everything is managed by the intention and it is the only thing that determines what happens with the creation.

The created being grows only by its intention and it can feel, understand, and expand the perception of its “vessels,” thus becoming an independent entity. The desire to receive and the Light are given to him infinitely.

When the created being begins to work and understand that it is part of the intention and not the desire, it is the beginning of Adam (a human being). This is the critical turning point in the development of all of creation. At that moment when a person begins to tie himself to the intention, he becomes a human being, which means that he transcends his desire and determines everything according to the intention: to whom and to what he wants to belong.

People who determine everything according to their intention, who develop it and ignore their desire are called Yashar -El (those who yearn for the Creator), Israel. By that they differ from people who want to develop and to determine the course of their life according to their desire and the size of its filling.

Desire (Ratzon) means earth, land, (Eretz), earthliness, which means connecting to the low corporeal desires. The loyalty to the intention, however, is considered upper. According to this criterion, the world is called upper or lower, apertures above and below.

If we develop according to our desire, it is a natural development according to the Reshimot (informational genes). The desire to develop is what forces us to change, which is called the natural development, but if we develop by the intention, then it is already up to us. It doesn’t happen naturally, in its time, as time goes by, according to nature’s plan. It is a development by the path of “I shall hasten it,” according to the pace that we determine ourselves.

Developing according to the desire is the usual animal development on the levels of the still nature, the vegetative, and the animate in which a person first develops in a state of unconsciousness. However, developing according to the intention is the real human development, and so he is called Adam since he corrects his intention and by that becomes similar (Domeh) to the Creator.

The intention that is aimed at the Creator is called Israel or the nation of Israel. The desire that is under the domination of this intention is called the land of Israel. The correction that we have to make is to bring our desire under the domination of the intention of in order to bestow. This means to conquer the “whole world” (the whole desire) of which the nations of the world are accusing Israel. It means placing all of the desire of the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) under the domination of the intention of bringing contentment to the Creator. This would mean that the land of Israel has spread all over the earth.

So, it is clear now that the land of Israel cannot be a ready made piece of land, like a geographic zone on the map, but everything depends on a person’s readiness to correct himself and accordingly to also conquer a place that is called the land of Israel, on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, which means to receive it, to inherit it in the corporeal sense.
[105072]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Inheritance of the Land”

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Our will to receive is divided into four levels: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. They are very different in their ability to analyze. At the bottom of the still level, a person still doesn’t understand what he is doing. After that, when he rises to higher planes of this level, he already understands, feels, and agrees that all of his work needs to be built upon nullification of the self. So, he tries somehow to perceive that the Creator is acting within him and to identify with Him with heart and soul.

This is not a simple level if we are speaking about a person who yearns to realize this state. Even though I have not yet reached a feeling, understanding, and perception of spirituality, still I want it. I want to feel how the Creator activates and controls me in every cell, in every desire, in every thought. I want to feel myself “clothed” in Him, and, of course, not to feel any resistance to this, only full agreement to this “servitude.”

This is what we attain in the “embryonic” state, and from here development continues.

On the other hand, on the level of the vegetative, I already actively reach the feeling of identification with the Creator. I go through a period of lack of desire, opposition, and dependence on time, movement, and location, the kind of fulfillment. I must bring myself to agreement, and this agreement is always against my nature. Thus, I build myself so that in the end I will be able to be human, and along the way I pass through the appropriate, small, immature stages.

The speaking level is completely different from the previous levels. Here, I am ready by myself to increase my desire through the others, not as before when I only acted personally. I was by myself within my nature and only developed this more and more. Now, I begin to grow beyond those levels that I received from nature. At all times, I have the possibilities of receiving, acquiring desires and deficiencies from the outside, and transforming them from an egoistic intention to an altruistic intention. This is the human level.

Therefore, we don’t see this level in our world because it is different than the previous animate level and is not found within the body. My body leads a beastly existence, but, if I work and acquire social desires from the environment and fulfill them through bestowal, then, thanks to them, I grow and thus become like the Creator. This ability to attract the deficiencies of the other, in fact, makes it possible for me to transform them into bestowal in the spiritual world, and in the physical world, we exchange our petty desires, which only bring problems, destruction, and crisis.
[104758]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” item 33: …any contentment of our Maker from bestowing upon His creatures depends on the extent that the creatures feel Him—that He is the giver, and that He is the one who delights them. For then He takes great pleasure in them, as a father playing with his beloved son, to the degree that the son feels and recognizes the greatness and exaltedness of his father, and his father shows him all the treasures he had prepared for him…

“Playing” means that I feel the Creator’s desire, His attitude, His need to create us because of His desire to do good to His created beings. I feel the unending love that flows from His level. He created us in order to allow us to feel His love, and we can enjoy this love only if we understand it, to the extent that we can value it.

We are together in this mutual love like two lovers, like a father and son. They play together, but the son perfectly understands his father and is adhered to him. They are incorporated in one another in their desires, and each one can fill the other. They are originally opposite from one another by nature, but thanks to the correction, they are united and have endless opportunities to develop. This inner contradiction is not an obstacle, but rather, allows them to reveal infinite love above the separation.

Question: Why do we talk about evil so much and so little about the good?

Answer: First, you should talk about the good with one another, about the goal of creation, and about the work and the group.

Second, we study and examine our vessels, our desires, and this is not more or less, but a lack of desires. Our study and raising a request for correction stem from the lack of fulfillment in the desire. We learn how to reach the right desire and to raise it in order to receive the forces, the Masachim (screens), and the correcting Lights in response. Only then do we reach fulfillment and eventually are rewarded with pleasures as a result of the adhesion, the unity, and equivalence of form with the Creator.

So, all our work is done under pressure, but if you value it, if you appreciate this pressure, if you remember that you are working for a reason and to serve the Creator, if your faith is strong enough—which means the forces of Bina, the forces of bestowal—then, even if it’s about overcoming unpleasant states, you still will enjoy it. After all, you have another force, the force of Bina that raises you above Malchut. Although you don’t feel comfortable in Malchut, Bina gives you the feeling of the ascent.

It is difficult to express this dualism in words, but this is our work. We make efforts, and then the question is whether we enjoy them or not. That depends on for whom are we making these efforts.

In any case, there aren’t so many words about excitement and pleasure in the story about this work. The work, itself, is most of the story.

Personally, I enjoy most of the states I go through. Sometimes, you are thrown into an unpleasant feeling and sometimes into indifference. Anything may happen, but you should try to hold on to the ascent and to enjoy every state. After all, if the Creator manages you, if you are constantly in His hands, even when He cuts you off and throws you out, eventually there isn’t a moment without pleasure.

Back to the playing of the father with his son: We actually feel it in a state in which you don’t receive anything. It is in contrast to our perception. There is nothing in your vessels. The Light of NRNHY is not the fulfillment that you receive from someone, but your attitude toward the Creator that is built on top of the emptiness inside you. It is this attitude that reveals to you a Light that is “in the air,” the attitude itself. It is the Light of bestowal and love that comes from you.

We say that the abundance of the Light comes from the Creator and is revealed in all the worlds, but, in fact, it doesn’t mean that you are egoistically filled with pleasure—no. It is because it happens above the first restriction, in the attribute of “to bestow in order to bestow,” and then, in “to receive in order to bestow.” It is in complete contrast to our current views, and it is impossible to explain this.

This is the reason we cannot describe the pleasure that we experience to others when we play with the Creator. It is all a result of self-annulment and devotion, above the Machsom (barrier), outside yourself, in your aspiration outward, above the pangs of love.
[104741]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/09/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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There are a large number people in the world who have wanted to discover the program of creation, its purpose, which is to say, its entire journey where it leads and its reason. Many have wanted to understand what is taking place in this world and to understand why everything happens specifically in the way that it does and how we should act correctly in this world.

For in this world now it is as if we are blind in a dark room, wandering in the dark, causing only harm to ourselves and to others and bumping into each other all the time. This is not useful for anyone, not even for someone who succeeds in winning over others, but for what does he win?

It is up to us at least to know what is happening and where are we found, why we are called humans! The nature of the silent, the vegetative, and the animate acts in an instinctive manner and never errs. An animal never errs because nature compels it to behave correctly according to the commands of nature.

The Creator controls every particle in creation including the still, the vegetative, and the animate parts in us, but the speaking part in us is given freedom of choice. The person develops according to a natural evolutionary process called “in its time,” in an instinctive form due to his ego. And on his way he constantly errs because he doesn’t invest effort in a development, which is called “I will hasten it.” And therefore, all of our lives are one great suffering.

So, what is the reason, where is the turning point found where I can change my fate? We must attain awareness, understanding, connection, and adherence with the higher supervision, become conscious of the Creator, and to be like Him. It is up to us to take the reins of control over all of reality from Him.

In order to carry out this task, first of all we need to want this wholeheartedly and to understand it intellectually. Through our mind and heart, we perceive new levels of the higher supervision from the Creator all the time as it pertains to us, and against our will we realize them in ourselves.

And when we advance in this way, step by step, we become like the Creator. Even though we don’t want to be like the Creator, which is to say to bestow and to love, with the help of the environment we must gradually acquire desires and abilities like these, drop by drop. It is up to us to submit ourselves and ask the Creator to give us a possibility of being like Him, which is to say, to transform ourselves and control our part, our portion, our spiritual body, which is the beginning of the spiritual Partzuf.

It is explained that on the animate level, there is a unique organism whose head (its thoughts and its desires, heart, and mind) is developed in opposition to the Creator, and it corrects itself to be like Him.
[104677]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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From Rabash’s Letter 5: … you should do more in love of friends. It is impossible to achieve lasting love, unless through Dvekut [adhesion], meaning that you will unite the two of you with a tight bond. And this can be only if you try to “undress” the clothing in which the inner soul is placed—the clothing called “self-love”…

And when you feel that you are at war, each of you will know and feel that he needs the help of his friend, and without him, his own strength will weaken, too. Then, when you understand that you must save your life, each of you will forget that he has a body he must keep, and you will both be tied by the thought of how to use the enemy.

Love of friends is attained by way of a war for its sake. It is impossible to attain adherence that indicates constant love without striving to leave the clothing of the evil inclination in which the soul is clothed. To leave this clothing of self-love is possible only if you exchange it for love of the other, for the screen and the Returning Light.

This, specifically, is what we must reach. When we begin to search for how to do this, we feel that everything essentially depends on our relationship to the other, things that are so contemptible in our world. All relationships in the world are established according to laws, protecting the rights of the individual, of democracy. However, when we see some of the truth through the influence of the Surrounding Light, we then understand that it is specifically through connection with the other that we realize the entire program of creation.

The other one, whether a friend or the Creator, is the same; there is no difference. If I want to rise above myself and reach the Creator, it is precisely then that I see that I require help from a friend. As long as all the friends have not come to my aid, according to how much I give myself over to them, I cannot do anything.

What we require is mutual cooperation where we depend upon each other. As much as I give myself over to others, to this extent they can help me, and when they come to help me, I stop thinking about myself. In spite of myself, I rise above myself.

However, the friends can come to help me only if I subdue myself with respect to them. With this, I oblige them to be concerned for me. This is saying that everything depends on the work of the individual regarding his environment. The more I subdue myself and am ready to adhere to the environment, to the teacher, to the books, to learning, to dissemination—which is to say, to all means for attaining the goal, trusting like an infant, surrendering myself to the lowest level—the closer I come to my spiritual realization.

I must begin my spiritual ascent from zero. The more I approach zero with my thoughts, desires, and deeds, the more I adhere to the group and oblige it to be concerned about me. I begin to receive the right influence from inside the group. Whatever level on which it is found at the moment is not even important. This influence makes it possible for me to nullify my self-love, departing from the egoistic shell (Klipa), from the evil inclination, and to start the spiritual work.
[104446]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/13

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A mature approach to problems is when you know that you can reach the goal only by overcoming the problem. You overcome the unpleasant feelings in your desire to receive, above the darkness, and there you ask for connection with the group, with the Creator. Even your prayer is false, and internally you only wait for the problem to go away, for the darkness to dissipate at least a little, so that you will be able to rest, to relax, and to feel secure to some extent.

But you hold yourself and look for a connection and adhesion with the group, with the books, and with the teacher. You are like a baby who wants them to hold you in their arms. You look for all the support you can get that allows you to ask not for the darkness to dissipate, but rather to rise above the darkness and to think about the Creator, and not about your own feelings. Your concern is to bring Him contentment and not yourself.

If you can think this way, then to that extent you already feel joy. When you can yearn for bringing the Creator even greater contentment through the group and all the other means, then you feel even greater joy. If you cannot, then you should ask for that so that you will feel life in the external vessels, in the foreign vessels, which means “outside your own skin,” where your soul is.

The symptoms of the “illness” will go away since you will stop thinking about them and will adhere to the Creator and not to the bodily symptoms. You will come out of your skin, as if you die, and adhere to the Creator, to the soul and not to the body. This is called living in faith above reason, coming out of yourself, the transition between life and death, at least to some extent.

Then you gradually add to this transition and thus beat death. We have to at least understand the pattern of this transition, and then everything will be according to the same principle, in the same manner.
[104528]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/13, Shamati #36

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Question: Each of us has already filled his personal measure of exertion, and if we only connect for the one small collective blow, we will breakthrough. What does this collective blow mean? Do I have to clarify the general state of the whole group instead of my personal clarifications?

Answer: A blow is not a mental clarification, but an effort in our heart in order to be incorporated in one another, in order to connect and to devote myself to society so that I can draw the Light that Reforms for the friends; this is what every individual should do for everyone.

We are in a circle, and if everyone annuls himself and adds his desire to that circle, then we can build a certain zone of general bestowal, of the general desire, inside the circle. Everyone annuls himself, restricts himself on the level of first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph –TA), a Masach (screen), and tries to be in a state of giving to everyone.

It turns out that we build one common heart and mind between us that is similar to the Creator. The force of bestowal, the Light, appears according to the equivalence of form. This whole collective zone that is full of Light is called the general soul because the Light that fills the vessel is called a soul or the revelation of the Creator.

This pattern continues the whole way. There are 125 degrees of my ego: from the 1^st to the 125^th degree; I discover them one by one, restrict each one on the level of the first restriction, then the Masach, a state of smallness, and then a state of greatness, while being incorporated in everyone. This is all our work.

Thus, by rising higher above my ego, I build 125 degrees of ascent, the entrance into the general collective heart, into everyone. Then it becomes the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) for me, that is, full of the Light of Ein Sof. Where do I discover it? In the connection with all the friends which all of humanity later joins. Behind each of us there are many other millions of people who join us and connect through us, who are incorporated in the general collective force that we have formed.
[103934]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 14: I once interpreted the saying of our sages, “He whose Torah is his trade.” The measure of his faith is apparent in his practice of Torah because the letters of the word, Umanuto (his trade), are the same (in Hebrew) as the letters of the word, Emunato (his faith).

It is like a person who trusts his friend and lends him money. He may trust him with a pound, and if he asks for two pounds he will refuse to lend to him. He might also trust him with one hundred pounds, but not more. Also, he might trust him enough to lend him half his property, but not all his property. Finally, he may trust him with all his property without a hint of fear. This last faith is considered “whole faith,” and the previous forms are considered “incomplete faith.” Rather it is partial faith, whether more or less.”

Question: If I trust someone with all my property, it must be someone I know very well who is reliable and someone I trust. Here, on the contrary, we are talking about the Creator who is completely concealed from me. How can I trust Him?

Answer: What is more, according to the example, it is the person who sees the Creator as the greatest deceiver. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any problems.

Question: Where does a person find the power to rise above his reason when the Creator is depicted to him as a great deceiver?

Answer: It is only from the Light that Reforms. It is because we have nothing, but a point of self-discernment that also was created by the Light. We still don’t understand that we have nothing. All our discernments are corporeal and it is impossible to clarify anything spiritual with them.

So, what’s left? It is a point in the heart, a small inclination to rise above the ego, and the external society, a picture of the external group that reflects the Creator’s image and with which I must cooperate, just like with the Creator. This is all that I have: a point in the heart and the group.

Additionally, there is some upper force to which I can turn if I try to be incorporated with the friends. By annulling myself, I want the force of bestowal that resides in them to reside in me too, but not because I want to be saved from the blows and the troubles. No, it is because, by these blows, I have something to give to the friends. Even if I suffer, I can add something; I can give them my devotion.

Question: How can I keep, and not annul, my inner resistance to the upper’s desire?

Answer: I cannot advise you here. The Light guides you, and its guidance focuses you on your inner development. On the way, a person begins to see and feel how the system is built and how its parts are connected. He discovers it internally.
[104224]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/13, Writings of Rabash

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Spiritual vessels are made of the desire to receive and its restriction, the Masach (screen), and the shame that is contained within it. The shame is for not being able to turn myself to bestowal and of being afraid to tie every state that I go through to the One who bestows.

When I rise after a descent from the sensation of evil and from that height examine the previous state, I see that it wasn’t bad. I understand that the descent was the preparation for the current ascent. I begin to love and to value the previous state and to be grateful for it since without that descent, I wouldn’t be able to ascend now.

This allows me to value my ascent even more since it comes to correct the previous flaws. So, I correct this ascent by my new attitude toward it and learn from this experience for the future. Now, I know that I must prepare myself for the next state, for the next descent, so that I will be able to control it as much as I can and to work above reason.

There are very few chances to work above reason in a state of ascent, but the descent helps us here. The descents are actually the most helpful states, not the ascents.

A person’s work is to be grateful for the past and thereby prepare for the future. We should always say that everything that has happened up until now, whether a conflict with the friends or whatever it may be, was done by the Creator and that there is none else besides Him. You must add all these states toward the revelation of the Creator to you whether it is in the form of His “posterior” if it is a descent or in the form of His “face” if it is an ascent.

In the future, we must be prepared for whatever happens. This is called total devotion. This is what we prepare ourselves for in the group through investing our efforts in it in mutual guarantee and mutual help, which eventually return to the person himself.

Everything depends on our preparation. If we sit idly and do nothing, we hardly will feel any descents and ascents, but only mild changes in our mood. However, if we prepare ourselves in the connection with the friends, then we will be able to manage the pace of our advancement and see all our advanced states positively: both the ascents and the descents.

It is harder to relate decisively to an ascent than to a descent. In fact, when we are in an ascent, we are under the influence of the pleasure that totally fills us and doesn’t allow us to clarify the state we are in and to control the desires.

During a descent, however, it is your desire that forces you to look for help and even for salvation. Therefore, as it is written, “Pharaoh has brought the sons of Israel closer to our Father in Heaven.” The desires that are revealed during a descent—in exile, in suffering and in feeling bad—are those that bring a person closer to the goal, while the ascents don’t really help us advance.
[104233]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/13, Writings of Rabash

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