Question: What is the difference between the pleasure that a man experiences and a woman experiences in the state of the common integral mind, or is it the same?

Answer: Every person has his own pleasures because everyone has his own root and his bonding with others. They are strictly subjective. Therefore, it is impossible to say how men are different from women in their state of pleasure and fulfillment.

This difference can be explained in the image of what exists in our world. After all, there is a difference in how a man perceives our world and how a woman does. A man somehow is capable of feeling what another man experiences. However, he is unable to feel a woman’s experience. He cannot understand her because she has a completely different view of the world.

A man and a woman are two worlds. The same applies to spirituality. Being a male part in the spiritual world, it is impossible to imagine the experience of a woman’s part. You can attract and include her desires in yourself in order to fulfill them, however, not instead of her, but for her.

Question: However, shouldn’t it merge somewhere in the end?

Answer: In the end, it merges in complementing each other, in mutual bonding, but it is still a bonding of two opposites.
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From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 3/11/12

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 53, “The Matter of Limitation”: The matter of limitation is to limit the state one is in and not want Gadlut (Greatness). Instead, one wants to remain in one’s present state forever, and this is called eternal Dvekut (Adhesion). Regardless of the measure of Gadlut that one has, even if one has the smallest Katnut (Smallness), if it shines forever it is considered having been imparted eternal Dvekut.

However, one who wants more Gadlut, it is considered luxury. And this is the meaning of “any sorrow will be surplus” meaning that sadness comes to a person because he wants luxuries. This is what it means that when Israel came to receive the Torah, Moses brought forth the people to the bottom of the mountain, as it is written, “and they stood at the nether part of the mount.”

A mount (Hebrew: Har) means thoughts (Hebrew: Hirhurim)). Moses led them to the end of the thought and the understanding and the reason, the lowest degree there is. Only then, when they agreed to such a state, to walk in it without any wavering and motion, but to remain in that state as if they had the greatest Gadlut, and to be happy for it, this is the meaning of, “Serve the Lord with gladness.”

We have to constantly keep ourselves in a minimal state. It is the most desirable state; this is pure bestowal, Hafetz Hesed, the constant state. Then if I am thrown off in the negative direction, to the “minus,” by the addition of more ego, I have to add Gadlut (greatness) in the opposite direction, the importance of the Creator, “plus.” This is how I advance.

Thus, I fill every descent and feeling of lowliness, which I must feel with the recognition of the one who gives it to me, where it comes from, and whom I have to reach an equivalence of form with. In that case I will constantly return to the constant state and constantly advance along the shortest straight line, no more and no less. I don’t need any luxuries, not even a shirt, like the righteous (Hafetz Hesed) living in the forest. Thus, I advance, and nothing can throw me off track.

It is the same when I feel Gadlut and am thrown towards the “plus”; I don’t take this into account. The important thing is to constantly yearn for a constant state, and although it is constant, I still advance under the external influence and go up the ladder from level zero to the 125^th level. But I don’t ask for anything for myself, except for staying in a constant state.

I am ready to remain in the same state I am in and I don’t even need the revelation or anything above that. To the same extent that I give up the revelation and refuse to accept it, I discover the spiritual world in the same vessels, so there is the opposite outcome, as it always happens in our work since everything is built above the vessels of receiving.

Of course, everything is done by the Light that Reforms. Without the Light nothing will happen, and it is only the Light that performs all the changes and the corrections. We should never feel sorry that we don’t have them, but we should feel sorry only about “where is the Light that can correct us.” If we feel that we don’t have corrections, it is good; it is already the revelation of what we lack. In that case the Surrounding Light will come, the Light that Reforms, and correct us.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/16/13

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Question: How can we know that our actions are in favor of the Creator?

Answer: If the Creator is a certain form that I put together inside me, then I have to know what is in His favor and what is not. If the form I am putting together is a total form of bestowal, then it is in its favor to bestow.

The Creator is inside me. A person doesn’t know anything about what is outside him; the world that seems to surround me is an illusion. It is a lie that was created so that by my attitude towards it, as if towards an external world, I will be able to learn it in greater details, by bringing things out of myself.

If I could take out my feelings and my thoughts and see that I spread all over the world, then it would be the world of Ein Sof (Infinity). Then I would discover that our world doesn’t exist, that it is all parts of my vessels. In fact, there is nothing, not all the images and people around me. All this is me, called “Adam” (man) who is standing before the Creator’s force. Now I don’t see Him, but I was given a chance to start feeling Him.

We will never be able to know about anything outside ourselves since everything is only “from Your actions we shall know You,” and in order to do that we have to acquire spiritual attributes by ourselves. It is in that the spiritual world is different from the corporeal world.

There is a region in us that is like a white spot, in which we don’t feel anything now. This region is gradually being revealed and it is called “the upper world.”

There is also a region that I feel as “this world,” and then I begin to feel bad in it, as if it is crowded and too narrow in this circle. I begin to search; perhaps there is something outside it.

Some of my senses tell me that there is something beyond my boundaries because this part of my senses is concealed: I feel that I live in them and die. There are also different discernments in me: still nature, the vegetative, the animate, and the “speaking,” which I also feel as “this world.” They also appear and disappear, are born and die. I see their life and death, and by that I begin to think that everything is temporary and expendable; everything changes and then I feel a kind of emptiness. So I begin to search and to investigate what is beyond the bounds of this corporeal life.

If I don’t break out of my boundaries, how will I be able to discover what happens there? This is how we enter the upper world that is beyond the bounds of this world, but both this world and the upper world are all a desire to receive, and if we unite them, the outcome is the world of Ein Sof.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/13, Writings of Rabash

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The one problem in every state is that in this world we cannot connect two opposites into one. Modern quantum physics also deals with the fact that light is both a wave and particle. Although a wave and a particle are not perfect opposites, physicists cannot understand how they can be integrated into one phenomenon. They cannot see a phenomenon yet in which two total opposites connect simultaneously, as it happens in the spiritual world, but they already see the beginning of this phenomenon.

A person who studies Kabbalah faces a similar problem, not on the level of the still nature, not like in physics, but rather on the level of thoughts, intentions, and feelings—on the fourth level compared to the first level of the still nature. The first levels are the still nature, the vegetative, and the animate, and only afterward is there the human level that determines what’s in a person’s mind and heart, the feelings thoughts, the power and the insight.

This dualism brings about many problems. On one hand, I have to see the truth and I see it through my own eyes—this whole corporeal world is corrupt, it is in a crisis, and I am also in a crisis. On the other hand, if I correct myself, I will have nothing else to correct and then I will have nothing to do, since the whole world will seem corrected and it will indeed be so. I will see it this way since “one judges according to one’s own flaws.”

In the meantime there is no dualism in that, the dualism is in the fact that on one hand I have to bestow upon the whole world and to worry that I will be able to bestow upon everyone. On the other hand, I have to understand that I am doing all this for myself and that this world doesn’t need that. All the corruptions that I see in it only show me where I have to work, and they were made especially for me.

There is the same contradiction here as in the story of Abraham who was told that he had to sacrifice his son Isaac, but that through him he will multiply—these are two contradictory things. This is how we should see our path: On one hand we worry about correcting everything in the external world, on the other hand, there is nothing to worry about, since all of reality is already in a state of absolute rest and is corrected.

A person should be grateful to the Creator for the one moment in his life in which he was awarded some contact with the upper force. The question is how we can understand that. But if a person was in contact with the Creator for even one moment, it isn’t just any moment. After all, he could penetrate that moment and enter the upper world through it, the eternal world in which there is no time and so every moment is an eternity.

So if a person can really be grateful for that one moment, he is already at the end of correction or has at least corrected his current level.

This is the reason that it is hard for us to be in spiritual states and to accept them, and this is on purpose by the way. All our work is “above reason;” we have to accept the spiritual conditions as “an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.” And although we don’t understand them, a “habit becomes a second nature,” the Light will gradually influence us and build new desires in us. Thus we will reach a state in which all the opposites will connect into one. Then through them, we will be able to enter the spiritual world.

On the one hand, our ego increasingly separates us from others, since “he who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater.” The distance between the desires remains, but we work on it so that by the intentions we will connect into one whole. It turns out that everyone is infinitely separated from the others, but in our intentions, we are in one common point and the Creator is in it.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13

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When we move toward correcting ourselves, all our intentions must be oriented to unity, and none of them can be of a personal nature. Our points in the heart are the only personal thing we have. What can this point in the heart worry about except reaching unity with the rest of our collective body from which it will eventually receive spirituality?

That’s why our attempts to join our collective body reveal to us its various forms and characteristics that we read about in the Torah: Pharaoh, an angel, Moshe, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and many others. Who are they? They are the images that all of humankind, the group, and the world acquire to the degree of their attainment.

The picture described in the Torah is a form of the general soul that constantly changes and reveals itself in a new shape. However, it discloses only on condition that we continually aspire to unity. The Book of Zohar speaks about it. Each word and every line of The Book of Zohar represent an in-depth, gradual revelation that goes on until it fully discloses itself to “the eyes of all of Israel.” It’s not an accident that these words are the final phrase of the Torah.

We only reveal spiritual forms when we are connected.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, The Zohar

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Question: How can we explain to people that there is actually only one soul of Adam HaRishon (first man)?

Answer: There is a desire to receive and it is full of Light. This state is called Ein Sof (Infinity). There are no bounds, no limits; no matter what size the desire is, the Light fills it to the fullest. This is why in spirituality everything is measured not by qualitative parameters but by qualitative ones. If there is “one gram” of desire, there is “one gram” of pleasure to match it, and this is already Ein Sof, no limits—the Light and the desire are equal.

At the same time, when the desire to receive gets to know itself more deeply, it discovers in it a greater qualitative intensity until it reaches the central circle called the soul of Adam HaRishon. Inside my desire to receive, in my Malchut, I attain where I came from and for what reason. Then I really want to unite with the Light, and to receive the soul of Adam HaRishon.

Baal HaSulam brings the example of the guest who tells the host he wants to be like him.

– Well, says the host, I will do that for you.

Then the guest eliminates the Light, but, in fact, he acts against the host and begins to draw away from him in search for a state in which he can prove to himself and to the host that he can be like him in order to show the host his true bestowal.

In the same way, Adam HaRishon wanted to taste from the “tree of knowledge” using every means possible, which means to receive the Light in his vessels of receiving with the intention to bestow. This was the “sin of the tree of knowledge,” which is similar to the “shattering of the vessels” in the world of Nekudim, but in a more revealed manner. There are already details here like: “snake,” “Eve,” “the Garden of Eden,” and “Hell,” which means there are whole parts of the desire to receive whose essence and goal you already understand. Thus you penetrate into the depth of the desire that was created by the Creator. It becomes more detailed, more clear, more ripe, just like a fruit that ripens on a tree.

This fruit promises wonderful flavors and evokes great passion in you. The first taste was really in order to bestow: Adam and Eve received the whole Light of Ein Sof, but they didn’t have a whole desire yet with Reshimot (spiritual genes) aimed at this pleasure. But later, when the new Reshimot, the new tastes, penetrate the desire, it cannot relinquish the egoistic intention in the second attempt, or more accurately, it couldn’t avoid being tempted. After all, there are no “restrictive circumstances,” in spirituality. There everything is solved within the desire, and if I want to steal, I steal.

Now we have to correct these desires, the vessels. When we correct them, we return to the corrected soul of Adam HaRishon.

Why is it one for everyone? It is because everyone attains unity with everyone else. After all, the correction is actually the connection with everyone, thanks to which I attain the united vessel and in it receive the only Light of the soul. You cannot correct yourself separately and let them remain “evil.” There is no such thing. I will not correct myself if I don’t connect with everyone and correct everyone.

This is why eventually I come to a state in which everyone is corrected, and then I am called a “complete righteous,” which means that I justify and judge myself and the world to the scale of merit.

Imagine that someone next to you, speaking from his pure heart, says that the whole world is good and the Creator is good and benevolent and that there simply can be no evil. You look at him and you don’t understand where he is coming from: “Perhaps we should call an ambulance? Doesn’t he see what is happening in the world?” You don’t understand him, but he understands you; since he has already climbed the ladder of the spiritual attainment, he attains the whole soul of Adam HaRishon and sees everyone in Ein Sof. Although you feel our cruel world in your corrupt vessels, you are actually there too.

What should we do in order to feel this? Just one thing—correct ourselves. The world doesn’t change, you change, and then you see it differently. It is only your inner personal perception. Today you are looking at everything through the prism of your flaws so you don’t see the actual reality, but you see yourself the way you are today…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13, “600,000 Souls”

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In the News (from the Max Planck Society): “Many processes in the brain occur automatically and without involvement of our consciousness. This prevents our mind from being overloaded by simple routine tasks. But when it comes to decisions, we tend to assume they are made by our conscious mind. This is questioned by our current findings. …

“The researchers found that it was possible to predict from brain signals which option participants would take seven seconds before they consciously made their decision. …

“This suggests that the decision is unconsciously prepared ahead of time.”

My Comment: A decision is made outside of us, above, but not only in our case, but in the case of all the objects of the world according to the principle: glass begins to break before the bullet hits it. Everything in the world happens in a way opposite to what we think; our thoughts, decisions, and actions do not come from us to the world but in the reverse order, they come from “somewhere” to us… The Creator passes through us a series of sensations, and we have to learn to respond to them correctly, recognizing Him in each of them… and then our life will become conscious!
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Question: What does the perception of reality in the form of “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one” symbolize?

Answer: The perception of “Israel, the Torah and the Creator are one” is the only true reality there is. We, on the other hand, are in a state of imaginary concealment, in “worlds,” which means in concealments that exist only with regard to us so that we can be corrected.

The host who faces the guest accepts the guest’s desire and creates this concealment between them so that that guest will not feel the host and his good deeds. It is because this gift paralyzes the guest! The guest wants to be like the host, but he cannot do anything as long as the host fills him with everything that is good.

Under such conditions the guest cannot say to the host that he loves him and wants to bestow upon him. Even if he says these words, they will only be said in gratitude to the host for his kindness towards the guest. This is not how love and a relationship is tested. Love is tested when you are ready to give everything that you have! Then it is evident that you love and that you bestow.

So the host agrees with the guest that he should have the right conditions to express his attitude. Otherwise the guest has no point in receiving the goodness from the host, and will only experience sorrow. Instead of enjoying the refreshments the host has prepared, he will torture himself.

This brings about great sorrow to the guest, and so he is ready to restrict his desire (restriction I). Later a system develops that enables the guest to correct himself. It is as if he is thrown away from the host to the other end of the creation, of reality, as if he falls from a cliff into an abyss.

But he is happy about it since by falling further down, he begins to discover who he is. Before, he dissolved in the upper Light that took care of everything and covered everything. The Light filled the desire to receive and the desire didn’t even understand what it actually is. This is how a person who has an important and influential patron feels, that he cannot think about anything by himself, and so he begins to lose himself.

But the created being who is thrown away from the Creator to the other end of reality can now check whether his desire was real in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) and can do everything for the host, just as the host does for him. Can the guest really do this and does he want to? Here is where his work begins.

First there is a long period of preparation, thousands years of our history, which in the meantime we cannot even be considered as if we exist with regard to the spiritual world. For the time being it is only a process that takes place inside us, like a dream. Like in a dream, 50 years of our life go by in five minutes. It is the same with us, who by entering the spiritual reality, the spiritual ladder, look back and the whole way we’ve made in our lifetime as seeming like a short and meaningless episode of a couple of days at the most. The scale of the events totally changes.

After the guest restricts his desire, he can now start working and adapt himself to the host. He is ready to receive from the host to the extent that he can bestow upon him by that. He is ready to be in the dark and to receive the darkness as Light. This means that he doesn’t need to feel the taste and the fillings of the host for his own pleasure. He receives these fillings only in order to bestow and to bring contentment to the host.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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On one hand there are many souls and each of them is divided into more parts. But on the other hand, can spirituality be divided into parts? We know that there is one whole reality and nothing but that. Even when we are confused as we see its separate parts, it is actually one whole since only one state was created from the beginning, one soul.

It is called the soul of Adam HaRishon (first man), Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity). After the preparation, we discover this inner reality behind the Partzufim and the “worlds” much more clearly. It’s about a desire that is adhered to the Creator. On the root level of adhesion, it is called Malchut of Ein Sof, and on the fourth level of adhesion it is called the soul of Adam HaRishon. It’s all about how we see this desire at a certain point of our development.

So only the world of Ein Sof was created or the soul of Adam HaRishon and nothing else. This soul is in every person called “Israel,” which means Yashar—El (straight to the Creator), who has attained spirituality. What is more, it’s whole in everyone, since spirituality is not divided into sections and parts as we see in corporeality. Only the lack of correction prevents me from seeing the real picture, but I am in it nonetheless, in the initial state of one soul that was prepared for us to reveal.

But Kabbalists say that there are 600,000 souls that are divided into “sparks.” So what does this structure stand for, a “genealogical tree”? This is the distorted picture of reality that is divided by the force of the corrupt desire in each of us. First this desire separates and totally prevents the entrance of the Light, being totally opposite from it. Then, by the force of correction, the desire starts to receive the intention of in order to bestow, or in other words, it is refined. To the extent that it has this intention, the general soul illuminates in it. This means that the desire gradually discovers its real state. First it feels that it’s a small part of the general soul, and finally it discovers that it’s the same as the soul. Then it discovers that it is Adam HaRishon.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13, “600,000 Souls”

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Question: The convention “A Flame in the Desert” seems to be closing the circle that the first convention in the desert started about a year ago. We feel that the previous phase is ending and there are new opportunities before us for the emotional connection among us. What will our global group look like after its spiritual birth when we succeed in attaining connection?

Answer: I don’t think that our external form will change that much, and the inner connection cannot be described in words. There will be such a connection among us that you will constantly feel as if your child is away from you, the physical distance separates you, but you know and feel him so well that his image has become a part of you and is living in you; this is how we will all feel one another.

We won’t need to talk much since we will understand each other’s feelings internally by adhesion. There will be few words and the clarifications will be short and simpler. It is as if we are eating one salad, and I say that there isn’t enough salt and you already understand that when I say half of a word. After all, you are tasting the same dish, and feel the same reality.

We won’t need endless words and powerful media in order to create the connection between us like we do today when we don’t feel connected. We will correspond, but in a very short and to the point manner since we will understand what each one feels anyway. We will become “one man in one heart.”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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