A person who starts studying the science of Kabbalah discovers that his previous notions are far from reality. “Body,” “soul,” and other familiar notions acquire a completely different meaning.

The science of Kabbalah arranges everything very simply, practically not leaving you any chance to get confused. There is a desire for pleasure, inside of which different forms of bestowal can be perceived. And that is the only thing happening in our reality.

Depending on what level of bestowal you are on, that is the reality you feel. You can feel reality on level zero, in other words, you can live in our world where the degree of bestowal equals zero. We are at the very bottom, but even here there are four developmental levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human.

Then, as you ascend up 125 levels of the spiritual ladder, you will attain the degree of bestowal, or in other words, the Creator. At the end, at the 125th level you will reach 100% bestowal.

We are talking about equivalence of form or how creation acquires a form of bestowal above the desire for pleasure. You must constantly ascend in your receiving desire in order to acquire the form of the bestowing desire over it. The form of bestowal you clothe over the receiving desire brings you to the degree of bestowal because you have actualized this to a specific measure. That is how you make yourself similar and equal to the Creator, becoming human (Adam).

In essence this is very simple: You only need to combine two qualities correctly, ascending up a slanted ladder that is built of two forces or two lines: the right and the left. Thus, beginners receive clear explanations. In fact, Kabbalists do not draw a distinction between the worlds. everything depends on the person: Develop your capability for the form of bestowal and you will see more than you now do.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/11, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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In reality, there is nothing except forces. The forces that manifest in a certain way can thereby be in touch with our sensory organs. That’s how we are able to perceive, feel, and understand them somehow and start using them by having established that connection.

However, this force existed even before we started to perceive it. All the forms in which it manifests work solely relative to us and in order to reveal to us the first and only Force that doesn’t clothe into anything.

A soul is also a force that we cannot know if it doesn’t dress in some garment, some form that we are able to feel. To the extent that we correct ourselves, we see that all the previous forms in which we experienced these forces, such as crystalline matter, liquids, air, and even a vacuum were imaginary stages of our attainment that we have undergone. They exist solely in our imagination.

Since we lived in our egoistic desire, we were forced to experience this one Upper Force in specific forms, in these “garments” adjusted to fit our egoism’s perception. When our desire to receive pleasure is transformed and acquires its authentic form “to bestow,” we will see that all the previous forms were merely an illusion aimed to serve us in reaching the final correction.

This journey through all of the forms is really necessary for us because it teaches us how to get to know the Creator. Thanks to all the actions we have completed, we start comprehending His plan for us, His desire, and His love.

From all of these imaginary forms that we undertake while ascending on the 125 spiritual degrees through all the worlds or concealments, we get to know the Creator, as it is said: “From Your actions, we shall know You.” All of it is an illusion veiling the Creator, yet, it helps us to get to know Him.

Without taking into account all of the steps we have made and connecting them into one integral picture, it is impossible to assemble any image of the Creator. After all, we are the created beings, opposite to the Creator, and are unable to attain His essence.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: If we live in the holographic picture, does it change as we ascend the spiritual degrees?

Answer: This picture constantly changes since we define its form ourselves. There are two vectors or forces: the desire to receive and the desire to bestow, and we establish the relationship between them. Various combinations of these two forces beget thousands of different forms before us.

Any  instrument or any natural spiritual or corporeal phenomenon in all the worlds, everything, originates from the interplay between the Creator and the creature: the Light that begets desire. There are only two components: the Light and desire, and the screen between them. The screen ensures the correspondence between the Creator and the creature.

This correspondence becomes established in ten qualitative levels (10 Sefirot), which also are divided into 620 (Tarach) parts, and so on infinitely. No matter what you do: Analyze reality and divide it into its components or, on the contrary, synthesize and generalize, everywhere you reveal the same two acting forces: bestowal and reception.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Descents show me that I will never realize the importance of the Creator alone; I will never come out of my egoism and find forces inside myself. However, every descent teaches me differently, by illuminating different weaknesses, qualities, and phases in me. The descents are followed by ascents, but at the end, one way or another I always discover my powerlessness.

At first I want to satisfy my egoism, which is called “knowing how many angels there are in the sky.” Then I switch my focus to the Creator, wishing to “catch” Him, to see the spiritual world. It seems to me that the door to changes has to open up in front of me rather than inside of me.

And finally, I start to understand that the changes have to happen inside of me. I catch the thread of the answer to my question: The redemption has to come from outside because I am certainly unable to do it by myself.

This work is done with the help of descents and ascents until a person comes out to the threshold of truth, having understood that everything depends on him, on the change in his perception. The Light gives you the forces to do it; you will not find them inside of you.

One’s demand is still egoistic, but he already lowers his head before the Upper Force so it will change him. Then he gradually agrees with the fact that everything comes from Above.

At the next stage a person understands that he has to acquire the quality of bestowal instead of the quality of reception. His demand is egoistic, but it is already a step forward.

After that he works with the environment in order to elicit the Light that will raise him to the spiritual treasure. As he learns about the notion of the group, he makes himself dependent on it, still hoping to derive benefit for himself.

After that the Light really does bring a person back to the Source. That’s because he built everything correctly and only one parameter remains to be changed: the intention, the end result—whose benefit does he want to attain?

That is how we reduce the path: By turning to the Creator through the group with the right request.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: I understand that The Zohar talks only about the spiritual world. But at the same time, there is a law of root and branch. Besides, the material world is an imprint of spirituality. So what is the connection between them?

Answer: There are only two forces or qualities in nature: reception and bestowal. All the possible unifications and connections between them create their mutual, common form for us.

If this common form has a desire to receive for itself, this is the reverse imprint of the Creator, and if it has the desire to bestow, it is a direct copy of the Creator. Nothing else exists. That is why we say that there is none else besides Him and in general He is the only thing that exists.

So who are we? We are those who desire to discern these forms that are opposite or similar to the Creator. These forms build the image of the Creator inside us, showing it to us on our inner screen.

We cannot see a force by itself because a force is a form outside of matter, similar to electricity. I can tell that electricity is present only if it activates a device, meaning I can only identify it by certain results.

I do not know who the Creator is, but I can attain His form and according to that I can see and realize it. I too exist to the degree that I attain the form of the Creator.

The Zohar talks about which forms of the Creator I attain—good or bad, better or worse. Can it really be that I attain bad forms from the Creator?! Yes, because I am the one who attains and "Every person judges to the extent of his own lack of correction."

On my inner screen I attain the forms between how much I can be in the opposite quality and how able I am to become similar to the Creator. This is the contrast I attain and it creates the image of the Creator for me.

There are always two distinctions in this image—for and against, good and evil, Light and darkness. I attain the difference between them and without that difference I would have no sensation because I am creation.

Through all sorts of forms such as these, which remind us of earthly pictures, The Zohar shows us the combination of forces, Hassadim and Hochma, reception and bestowal, which create the image of the Creator for me. But they create this image inside of me because for now, it is in my desire and my sensation that the Creator appears to me in these uncorrected forms.

The question arises: But why does The Zohar depict this for me in this earthly form? It’s because the Creator initially brought us to this imaginary reality where we also imagine Him as our world with the inanimate nature, plants, animals, and people, and where we exist connected with each other.

This entire dream that we are now seeing is intended only in order for us to ascend from it to the true picture of reality. That is why The Zohar describes the spiritual reality for us in this earthly form that we now feel. Then we can at least start to talk about higher forms of reality based on something.

Otherwise we would not have any chance to do it because we need a scale by which to measure, a certain basis with which to start. There has to be some kind of initial state and that initial state is our world.
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From the lesson on 12/4/10, The Zohar

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Rabash, Shlavey HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article "Above Reason in Divine Service": I will only put my faith in the sages, who have told us that the Creator indeed hears our prayers. This is called faith above reason.

A person has to try to clearly reveal for himself that the Creator hears one’s prayers. Until it happens, he advances as though he has already revealed it.

Here, everything depends on the correction of one’s Kelim (vessels). If a person does not yet see something, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist in reality. The broken glasses are not an indication that the world has become depleted. I imagine to myself that the things I saw before still exist.

But what should I do if I’ve never seen them before and still don’t have the glasses? Then I have to follow the advice of the sages. Otherwise, how will I be able to discover anything?

I recall that when I was 11, all of a sudden they told me: "You need glasses." At first, I didn’t realize why and what for, especially because back then children wearing glasses wasn’t very common. With difficulty, my parents found a suitable pair for me; when I finally put them on, I was surprised to see things that escaped my sight before.

The same happens in spirituality: I have to trust the experts who tell me that I have to acquire a new instrument of perception, a spiritual Kli (vessel), and then I will recover my sight. This instrument is not obtained instantly, but by way of multiple actions. I perform them in order to see a new world; I act by using the force called "faith in the sages."

They said: "It’s worthwhile for you to get new glasses; you need them." I don’t feel it; I have never experienced the spiritual world to lack it now. Yet, I still follow their advice.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, " Above Reason in Divine Service"

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Question: If in the end the whole path we have gone through becomes canceled, then what’s the point of all the actions we make today?

Answer: How else could you reach absolute love? How else could you build it if every subsequent level is built based on the previous one?

The entire path you have gone through becomes canceled similar to how you reveal that this entire world is imaginary. When you attain the end of correction and become part of the original point of creation, then the first state (the beginning of creation) and the third state (the end of correction) merge as equals. And the second state (the process of correction) ceases to exist. It becomes part of the third state together with the first state, as if none of it ever happened and all of it just seemed so to us!

All the changes took place only in our sensations. It was necessary for us to go through all of these states in order to be able to understand the Creator and feel Him, become attached to Him, and merge with Him.

All the worlds (Olamot) mean concealments (Alamot), and these worlds or concealments disappear! They were necessary only in order to create this gradually increasing concealment; the problems and suffering awaken us in order for us to gradually start attaining, from below upwards, the one and only existing state in reality. Nothing exists besides it.

All the states we go through are necessary for making discernments. They are 125 levels of discerning the perfect state in which you always exist. You are simply unable to attain it fully all at once, and therefore you do it gradually, in parts, each time understanding and feeling more.

It’s as if you’re “eating this meal” in parts; that is how you ascend up the levels of the worlds. In reality, these worlds do not exist other than in your perception. As soon as you attain everything, there is no more need for them.

However, don’t they seem to exist in me because I ascended up through them until the end of correction, until the final unity? That’s right, but this is only your sensation, the path of attainment. However, in reality there is only one perfect state, existing before and after you: Malchut, filled by the Light of Infinity, both in the very beginning and at the very end.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/11, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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The Zohar, Introduction, Article “Yitro (Jethro)”: The Zohar explains the order of the emanation of the Partzufim of Atzilut: Atik, AA, AVI, and ZA, how the source of everything, the Masach of Malchut of Midat ha Din, uses Partzuf Atik, operates in AA to conceal the Hochma there… Afterwards, it explains VAK de ZA concerning six curtains, and the embroidered curtain, GAR de ZA.

The authors of The Book of Zohar revealed the order of relationships between them and inside the connection among each other they revealed Partzufim, worlds, qualities, and inner discernments. All of this is present between a person and others.

When a person sees others as connected together, it is called “the World of Infinity.” If he sees them as connected partially, it is called Partzufim that are above him. That is how they speak to each other, revealing every quality and calling it “Rabbi Yossi, Rabbi Hiya, Rabbi Elazar, Rabbi Shimon,” as well as various pictures of nature.

All of these are states that our souls go through in the process of their correction. I know from my personal experience how difficult it is for a person to depict a very simple picture in his imagination: that there is nothing besides the separated souls. Their total division is perceived by them as our world. Their partial unification, the inclusion of the desires into one another by the principle “Love your neighbor as yourself” creates the sensation of the Upper World in the souls.

Their total unity is perceived by the souls as the World of Infinity: unbounded, unlimited unity, and accordingly, total fulfillment by Light.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/11, The Zohar

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Question: What beacme of Adam HaRishon after his transgression?

Answer: We describe it as if there is Adam before and after the sin. Eve, the snake, the apple, the Tree of Life, the Garden of Eden: In truth, none of them exist.

A system descends from Above and it arranges spiritual degrees by diminishing the Lights in the vessels (Kelim). By employing free will, we acquire a new Kli, wherein various phenomena occur. Until then, there is nothing but the Creator, Elokim.

And indeed, who can perceive Adam in spirituality? If we don’t exist in the spiritual world, nothing does, except some abstract idea we can say nothing about. Everything exists solely in relation to a person.

How then do Kabbalists know about the system’s descent from Above downward? They can do so based on their authentic attainment from below upward. But can one talk about something which had existed before he did? A Kabbalist attains the events of the spiritual world and describes them; afterward, I, too, comprehend what he has written. For me, he is part of the very same system of Adam.

Any Kabbalist passing the knowledge of a spiritual reality to me is a system rather than a person. We should also view the friends and the whole world in this way. We are a system. By working in it correctly, we manifest the correct results. But if we act incorrectly, the results will be erroneous as well.

Kabbalists attain the roots within themselves, in their Kelim. Nothing can exist outside of my Kli. Having created a Kli, something immediately manifests in it within me. I realize that its roots are in the world of Infinity (Ein Sof) and it undergoes degrees of reduction while it travels down to me.

However, if I don’t have a string of connection with Infinity, then there are no worlds between us either. They exist only if I awaken them to life, if I want to tap into the Creator. Then, a connection is immediately established between us, and it, in fact, is the system of the worlds.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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Question: In order not to lose sight of the spiritual goal, a person has to hold on to something; he needs clues, “crumbs of bread” along the path. What should we cling to?

Answer: Here is an example: Each person feels as though he is a blown fuse in an electrical system. This is what his life represents. He thinks that he feels the others, but in reality he feels only his “burnt” still, vegetative, and animate properties and himself.

But when we begin correcting the system, a person starts experiencing the program, the force of creation, the currents that run in the corrected system. Now, its components are linked with each other and function perfectly, according to the plan of creation, which is, in fact, the Creator. A person starts experiencing his life in the system and all of it as one whole.

In truth, if I am not connected with the others, if I feel isolated from the system, and if I live only “within myself,” then my perception is limited to this world, which is the reality that is projected on the inner screen in the back of my brain as Baal HaSulam describes. It seems broken to me, corrupted, and dependent on my attitude towards it. And only I am able to make a connection between all the others.

If, however, I exit myself and see the external world, I move into the true reality. Then, I see the others not as bodies but as properties of bestowal. Each of them is essentially corrected; however, in order to bring them together, I need a connection, the property of bestowal, and then everything will start working properly.

In other words, the general system is already saturated with the corrected connections, and I am the source of power, a battery for it. Without my energy, the whole system is on hold. It is my duty to become the source of power, and then everything will start working again.

A person has to constantly hold these pictures within, as if everything is exactly this way. Everybody will gradually get accustomed to them, and then suddenly the contours of the system will protrude before us. In truth, the habit becomes second nature; it allows a person to experience even what didn’t speak to him before.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, “What is the Flood Water in the Work”

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