When I feel that I lack the right desire, I need to ask for it. This is called the “prayer before prayer”: I pray in order to awaken a request in me for the Creator, the right desire that I don’t have at the moment.

Now on the contrary, I would rather eat and take a nap, but I ask to be awakened; I want to feel the emptiness of my current thoughts and above them awaken to bestowal, to love, and to feel fulfillment from this. The request itself, the turning towards the Creator, is my “nourishment,” filling me with vitality. You see, in this way I am linked to the Creator, and I don’t need anything more. So how could I sleep now?

Question: But if I don’t want to sleep anymore, so haven’t I nullified this desire within me, and not gone above it?

Answer: Now I am in need of other fulfillment. I love the other and want to bestow to him. My previous desire doesn’t disappear; it burns within me as before, but at this moment I am involved with bestowal.

There is nothing I can do about it; in spirituality I always have two desires, two feelings. On the one hand I feel my inner emptiness that I don’t want to fill as usual, and on the other hand, I want to stay above it with a desire to bestow. I must have this emptiness as my “body,” which is what I have restrained. Without it, I would not be able to advance.

The question is how is it possible to feel these two desires simultaneously? The Tzimtzum (restriction) was designed for this: I take control over the desire, in spite of its power and above it, build a Masach with an intention to bestow and a burning aspiration for it.

This is the duality that is discovered in spirituality, and we must get used to it. One of its most prominent examples is told in the Torah: (Genesis 21:12) in Isaac shall your seed be called, the Creator says to Abraham; and after that He ordered him to sacrifice Isaac in the land of Moriah, (Genesis 22:2) and offer him there for a burnt-offering. How do we integrate these two contradictory stipulations?

Baal HaSulam writes in Letter 51: a person cannot scrutinize the body and the soul as two subjects. Rather, he is composed by the Creator as one, meaning as one subject, and therefore spiritual perception is difficult for him, really like two opposites that are impossible to clothe in one subject. And in spite of it all, we must internalize this principle, to comprehend it somewhat, otherwise we simply will not survive.

And if it’s bad for me today, if I am tired of my futile efforts, lose direction and prefer to take a nap, if emptiness dominates me, the despair, the powerlessness, and life begins to surprise me with unpleasant surprises, on the one hand I must rise above the problems that are sent to me and see them not as obstacles but as salvation. You see, without them I would not feel a need for the Creator, for the help of the Creator.

And therefore it’s necessary to hold these two points together, to be in Bina and Malchut simultaneously, and go forward like this. The person must be “divided” into two: into a body (desire to receive) and a soul (an intention to bestow). He requires this split. However, the desire doesn’t disappear; it’s not nullified, and I will need to work above it all the time. Within it dwells emptiness, and above it shines the goal that I want to attain. So the “head of the Partzuf” makes the right calculation in spite of the “rumblings of the stomach.”

However, both must be perceived by the receiver, as they are for the joy of the festival, continues Baal HaSulam. It is precisely between these two poles where happiness is found. Through our discussion today about the perpetual contrast between them, we build the foundation for the future Masach.
[126765]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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From Rabash’s Article “A Prayer of Many”: …We can interpret the words of the holy Zohar, which advises those people with an inner demand, who cannot accept the state they are in because they do not see any progress in the work of God, and believe what is written… The advice is to ask for the whole collective.

In other words, everything that one feels that he is lacking and asks fulfillment for, he should not say that he is an exception, meaning that he deserves more than what the collective has. Rather, “I dwell among my own people,” meaning I am asking for the entire collective because I wish to come to a state where I will have no care for myself whatsoever, but only for the Creator to have contentment. Therefore, it makes no difference to me if the Creator takes pleasure in me or can receive the pleasure from others.

The fact that we only perceive a small fragment of reality is not essential. Authentic reality is integral, closed, single, and unified; this one vessel was created, organized by, and fulfilled with one Light called “The Lord and His Name are One” where the Creator is the Light and His Name a vessel, desire.

If we want to eventually start perceiving the true reality, responding to it correctly, and becoming its conscious participants, being worthy of a human developmental level rather than just behaving at inanimate, vegetative, or animate levels that are completely subordinate to the Light, we should start thinking solely about our society. In fact, all of us already act accordingly. We never make mistakes, nor do we ever commit “bad” deeds since we are just following the orders of nature without even acknowledging this fact.

That’s why only those who study Kabbalah can be considered “sinners” or “righteous” since they understand that reality is global, integral, general, unified, and that the Light fulfills it and acts inside it. If it is so, then how can we make personal, individual plans or rely on ourselves? How can anything of an individual nature exist if the entire system is completely intertwined?

There is no such thing as individuality. Each element is an inseparable part of a whole. It is included in all other elements of the system and the entire structure is a part of them.

There are just 10 Sefirot; each of which is divided into 10 parts and so on to infinity. That’s why it is impossible to state that we have something that belongs exclusively to us. Everything is collective! There is nothing outside us since we are present in each particle of the entire structure.

Thus, correct calculations are always of a social nature. There is nothing private. “Individuality” apart from a commonality is just a point in which we agree that we completely belong to the entirety and that nothing but wholeness exists.

We should think, feel, receive, and bestow solely through our sense of commonality—only through unity!
[126371]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/14

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There is nothing besides the Torah and prayer, that is, the discovery of the shortcomings that I must clarify, sort through. I must connect with the friends in order to create the right deficiency that is imperative for the correction that will take place through our closeness, our integration with each other, the connection and adhesion of all the shattered parts.

As a result, we reach the inability to connect, and we clarify that there exists some kind of obstacle among us that disturbs us. It could be that the Creator won’t allow us to do this or it is our egoistic nature itself, which was also created by the Creator.

In other words, we discover disturbances on the way towards connection, correction, and restoration of the whole vessel, the one collective soul in which we can discover the Creator as a single power, and in this manner we realize the goal of creation, this being our personal goal as well.

If we work on all of this, then we reach our true shortcoming: our inability to attain connection. And about this it is said: “The One who makes peace on high will make peace for us,” will complete our unification, and will connect us. A prayer like this will be accepted immediately and we will merit an answer to the prayer.

The answer to the prayer arrives in the form of the Light that Reforms that connects us. This Light is called Torah. Therefore it is said, “I created the evil inclination,” the desire that separates us and doesn’t allow us to connect. At the moment that we want to connect, to be included with each other, to melt into one another, we discover the evil inclination that is awakened in us. And before that it doesn’t show itself.

It is concealed inside like a snake and we don’t feel it. But the moment that we begin to approach each other with the intention to connect, then the snake shows its head and doesn’t allow it. It secretes its poison, and then we understand, feel, and discover what that “evil inclination” is.

But against this evil inclination, the Light that Reform comes and transforms it into the good inclination. That is, without this ego we would not succeed in reaching connection; it is specifically the evil inclination that becomes the good inclination. It is like snake venom, which on the one hand is poisonous but on the other hand is used as a remedy. Every remedy is a poison, but a poison taken in a very small dose that can be used to treat the disease.

Poison is at the foundation of every remedy, but not every poison is a remedy. If we match the poison of the snake to the poison within us, then the Light of correction is revealed within. That is how we reach the Torah; that is, we already have Torah (the Light that Reforms) and prayer.
[126149]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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“Introduction toThe Book of Zohar,” “The Torah and a Prayer,” Item 184: And only after he is included in all three corrections of our holy fathers will he begin to correct Divinity, from the place Jacob the patriarch had left for us: to elevate fear to the quality of exaltedness because He is great and rules over everything. Afterwards, he will enter the house of assembly and will pray his prayer. That is, he should pray and extend the upper lights in her, with the fear of exaltedness, to bring her into the end of correction. Then it is written, “And He said to Me, ‘You are My Servant, Israel, in Whom I will show My glory.’”

We begin our corrections from Abraham, from the property of Hesed, Isaac, the property of Gevura, and Jacob, the property of Tifferet. These stages are called the forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then we reach the level of the sons: Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. It’s impossible to reach the corrections of the sons without correcting the levels of the forefathers first, from which we reach a prayer that fills us with the powers to take care of the sons. Thus we convey all the attributes of bestowal from HGT to NHY.

This is the work on our connection. Therefore, it is said that a person reaches a place called the house of assembly (synagogue), where he tries to be incorporated in everyone’s desires and sees to what extent he cannot do it. Then he raises a prayer.

A prayer is correct if it comes from the desire to connect. All our desires, our deficiencies, and our requests for connection come together and demand connection. This is called a prayer of many, in reply to which comes the Light that Reforms from Above and connects us. Such a connection among everyone becomes a vessel that is called a house of assembly and from it we receive a response to our prayer.

A house of assembly (congress) is not a corporeal building or a place but rather the group in which our connection and unity is fulfilled. Jacob is the middle line, the central pillar. If we reach the middle line, it means that we pray in front of the pillar, which means that we ask for the correction from our connection. This is called being a prayer leader (the phase of Jacob) that is incorporated in everyone and prays that our connection be fulfilled and that we will be incorporated in one another, dissolve into one another and be as one.

Then this place becomes a house of assembly. The connection between us is called Shechina, and we are filled by the corrections of the Light that Reforms, and the Creator is revealed in our corrected desires. We shouldn’t try to escape anywhere, instead we only should clarify this state and fulfill it more and more.
[126205]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Article, “Torah and Prayer,” Section 183: Hence, one must not enter the house of assembly unless he has first consulted with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for our whole prayer is to complement what is still missing in Divinity, after the corrections that have been made in it thus far. Thus, first we must know and extend all the corrections that have already been corrected in the Holy Divinity, and then we will know what still needs to be added to them.

Typically, the question is raised: What is the difference between Malchut de Atzilut, Malchut de Ein Sof and Malchut of the Completion of Correction, which is called Shechina? In principle there is no difference between these terms. The mutual integration of the souls in one another actually transform into a single whole and stand one-on-one with the Creator, it is the same spiritual creature that is called Shechina, Malchut. If we are talking about connection, correction, then everything is summed up in one concept.

How must I “take counsel with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”? If I don’t arrange myself according to the “3 lines,” then I am not ready, to either raise my prayer or to receive an answer to it. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the “right line,” the “left line,” and the “middle line,” which I must arrange within me. This will mean I am “facing the pillar.”

There is a general rule that it is necessary to pray before the pillar. Certainly this doesn’t mean a marble pillar. A “pillar” symbolizes the “middle line.” We must bring ourselves to this state because without this there is nothing to do. Otherwise we cannot bestow to the higher system because we are not in the same frequency with it, meaning, we are not oriented in the direction in which it’s possible to bestow.
[126079]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/14, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar, “Two Points,” Item 121:  …Thus, the locks, the doors, and the halls are three forms that come upon our substance, the desire to receive in us. Before we turn it into reception in order to bestow upon our Maker, that substance turns the light to darkness and the sweet to bitter, according to our taste… .

It is actually our intention of in order to receive that turns the sweetness into bitterness and we feel bitterness. When we correct the intention, the bitterness becomes sweet. This means that everything depends on the equivalence of form between us and what comes from Above. To the extent that we have an intention of in order to bestow, everything can be felt as sweet and above this intention everything is felt as bitter since I have nothing to sweeten it with.

It is the intention that makes everything bitter or sweet. There is nothing but the intention, and we don’t need to work with anything but the intention. Leave your desires and your attributes alone, they don’t matter. We already know from our experience that a person remains with what he is born with. Nothing changes in him except for one thing. Therefore, we only worry about the intention, about our attitude towards the Creator.
[126043]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the The Book of Zohar“

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I must try to open my heart towards the friends and that all of their desires, thoughts, and expectations for spirituality will enter directly into my heart without any opposition and criticism from my side. For the right intention, we need the Creator in the center of the group all the time and to accept this state with an open heart. All of us must concentrate around this point and focus all of our efforts on it. Only in this is our free choice, which we must realize. This stance surrounding the Creator found within the group is similar to the stance around Mount Sinai. Exactly as there, Arvut (mutual guarantee) and mutual support is required of us; through them we can reach a constant intention.

In spirituality nothing is measured according to the quantity of power; rather, it’s according to the quality. A strong intention is an intention never stops. A weak intention can be stopped. But a strong intention cannot be stopped and is constant, and therefore it is said to be high. Certainly all kinds of disturbances will come, both general and particular, but in the face of all the disturbances we must be concerned about only one thing: such a strong intention that is never stopped. Precisely with this we must strengthen each other, and this is the mutual guarantee that is realized.

From a small and weak intention, we must come to a great and strong intention; that is, from regular breaks, from a loss of spiritual yearning, we must pass to one heart, to the center of the group, in which the Creator is discovered, so that all of us will connect together there in a single embrace with Him. We must help each other with mutual guarantee, that the intention will not be stopped in any of us. For with this he would be boring a hole in the hull of our common boat, in our common heart. If we approach the convention with efforts like these, then success is assured for us.
[125590]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/14, Workshop

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In the idea of the intention, the principle: “Each one will help his friend” is active. For “A prisoner cannot free himself from prison,” but only the friends can get him out. The support of the friends is called, “Arvut” and if it is found, then even for a moment, I will not forget about the intention and my heart will always be open in the right direction.

I am not prepared to do this by myself but only with the friends. My heart is found in the hands of the friends, and only they can direct it towards the Creator who is found in the center of the group. Therefore, I depend on them completely. How must I compensate them in exchange for work like this? I compensate them with the same coin; that is, in an identical manner I think about them, I am concerned for their intentions. Not one of them is able to do this alone either, and he also requires the help of the friends.

If together we think and are concerned that the right intention will not cease in others, that their hearts will always remain open and ready for the discovery of the Creator in the center of the group, then with this we assure ourselves of that same concern and that same treatment from others. In the end, I will discover that everyone is already in the final corrected state and I did not see this with my corrupted eyes, as it is written: “Everyone who rejects something does so with his own flaws.” And if I direct myself correctly towards work with the friends, bestowing to them, then I will discover their bestowal towards me.

This is to say that all of the work that I do on myself I do through work on the others. In the meantime I do this for egoistic reasons (Lo Lishma), in that I am directed towards correcting myself in this way. But in spite of all this, it is already being done in the right direction: from myself outwards. From Lo Lishma like this, we come to Lishma, to bestowal.
[125588]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/14, Workshop

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Question: How can we reach the right prayer as quickly as possible?

Answer: Our effort, just like all the spiritual discernments, isn’t measured according to the number of actions but according to their quality. Sometimes we can see a person who tries very hard and does many things spinning like a humming fan. Everyone may admire his energy but the benefit of such actions can be minimal. As it says, “little with the right intention is better.”

The spiritual world is made of qualities: either in order to receive or in order to bestow. Everything depends on that, on how much either one weighs and not the actual number of actions. Therefore it says,” A person can attain his world in one hour!” But how is that possible if one spends a thousand hours or a million hours?! All of humanity wastes billions of hours and doesn’t reach the goal, and there are people who attain their world in one hour and reach revelation. Is this fair?

It’s possible due to the quality that is more important than the quantity. So if you want to reach the right prayer as quickly as possible, you should make an effort in quality and not in the quantity with regard to actions and intentions. Quality should come first.

A qualitative effort means constantly clarifying what receiving and bestowal mean, one with regard to the other. This is what we should look for in every aspect of life, in all our relations with others.

The qualitative effort is measured by how much my heart is involved. The heart should be the criterion and not the mind. There are very clever people and I actually used to envy them in the past when I saw how quickly they could grasp the material, understand things, and delve into details. But eventually I discovered that “it isn’t the wise who learns.” You can understand only through your feelings, and I didn’t really consider that as something serious but rather as something frivolous, some feminine sentiments.

I believed that one’s power is in the mind, but that isn’t true. First everything must go through the feelings and only then a person understands. The mind reads and perceives only what goes through the heart. So we have to try and expand our feelings as much as possible in the right direction, of course. The feelings expand only by the Light that Reforms.
[125502]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/14, The Zohar

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Question: On the one hand, we must reach a permanent and strong intention. But on the other hand, it is written: “For the Torah shall come out of Zion”; that is, specifically from the “exits” from spirituality and the returns. How is it possible to combine the two opposites?

Answer: We must continue always towards a permanent intention so that the Creator will be discovered in the center of the group, within our connected hearts, without any dividers between them. This picture must always be before me. And I must be concerned that my friends will be directed towards that thing and will not abandon this intention. That is how I assure myself automatically that I will also remain in that intention. By this means I summon upon myself the Light that Reforms which strengthens me in the right intention.

But together with this, new desires, new conditions, are discovered and awakened in me all the time since in the meantime my Kli is not fully corrected. Therefore I am found in exits all the time. Additional density is discovered and it throws me out, and I must again and again return to the center of the group. But these exits must come from Above. I am not weakened in my intention; rather, it’s as if I lost consciousness: Every new egoistic desire throws me to the boards from which I must rise.

It’s said that the Torah specifically emerges from such “exits.” After all, I must overcome them and specifically above them I will construct the new me.
[125572]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/14, Workshop

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