Question: What does it mean to try to connect while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: Reading The Zohar is the time when you shouldn’t use your mind but your soul. Now you have to think about how we should connect in order to be like a magnifying glass by which we draw the sun rays in order to light something that is under the glass.

How can we concentrate and focus on this point? If we do, we will feel the Light that influences us going through us, illuminating our desire to receive and changing it. Then the desire will restrict itself, acquire a Masach (screen) and will begin to work.

Our whole work is done by this magnifying glass that is becoming more powerful. Our work is in the growing concentration of the group in quantity and quality so that a stronger Light will come and bring us to a more substantial and more qualitative connection. Then we will discover the spiritual state in the connection between us. What we discover is called the spiritual world.

Question: Do I build this magnifying glass by my efforts or is it created by everyone’s efforts?

Answer: By all our efforts. The magnifying glass itself isn’t important. What’s important is the central point in the magnifying glass, in which all the rays of Light connect and descend through it.

Question: How do we know that all our efforts are successful?

Answer: According to the result: You you will receive the desired change, as it says: “I labored and I found.” The exertion is in the connection between us, in one heart and in mutual guarantee, and the finding is when we discover between us the first attribute of bestowal called the first spiritual level.

Question: What will change in me after this change?

Answer: You will not only want to bestow but will also be able to bestow.
[122430]
From the 2nd part of the the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/08/13, The Book of Zohar

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Can I pray for myself if I really want to advance in spirituality? Of course not. How can I be sure that I am asking for power, for a change of mood, for a change of the real state so it will be for bestowal, for the Creator?

Only by asking for the group can I be sure and check myself as in the words of the song: “for my brothers and friends I shall speak peace of you.” This means that I am asking for the group, for the friends, and by that I hope to reach the right request and to delight the Creator.

This is the right order: from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator. Through the love of the created beings I can see and be sure that I am aiming correctly and that I am not confused and or lying to myself. So through the love of the created beings, I have to focus myself on the love of the Creator. It is impossible to reach the Creator without the level of transition of the love of the created beings. This is why the shattering occurred and our shattered world was created.

Otherwise, we could never bestow upon the Creator since He is concealed from us. If He were revealed, we would run to Him like a thief who runs before the crowd, crying out “Catch the thief!” I would yearn for Him as the source of pleasures and I would want to connect to Him for my own benefit. But because He is concealed, I have nowhere to run and I don’t even know who the Creator is.

This is the reason for the shattering of the vessels, and from the whole shattered world I was given a small part called my group. If I practice correctly in the group, trying to connect to it like with the Creator, then I can always check myself and do what needs to be done. Eventually I reach the stage of implementation, the goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah and its practical addition, which is integral education.
[123760]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If everything depends on our desire and work, and not on the Creator, why do we ask Him to help us connect?

Answer: We try to attain additional desires for connection, we make an effort, we search. And when we turn to the Creator, this says that we activate yet one more deficiency, and then the Light acts on us with this additional deficiency. This is even though the Light itself is constant, like constant voltage in an outlet.

If I have a socket with a voltage of 220 volts, then I can connect devices of various resistances and intensity there; so accordingly a different current will flow in them, more or less: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida, according to the desire that I connect to it. It is as if I have an electric stove and I turn the knob, change the intensity of the heat: 1, 2, 3, and every time I activate a new spiral in which a new light is revealed: 1 – small, 2 – greater, 3 – even greater. The “voltage” of the light is constant, but the “intensity of the current,” this is to say, my “NRNHY” depends upon the strength of my resistance.

Outside, nothing changes; there is a power station full of infinite energy there. Connect to it anything you want! From the world of Infinity to our world, the voltage is graded according to the levels, like in our world, where there can be different voltages: 380 volts, 220 volts, 110 volts, 24 volts, 12 volts.

A scale of voltages goes out like this but at every level the voltage is constant, and everything depends on this, how you connect to it: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida. You finish this level, you have used all the divisions of the switch on your “stove,” and now you can move to a new “stove.” But there are no changes in the outlet; it gives you everything that you need.
[123675]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/13, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: I don’t understand how we can change the intention of corporeal desire. How can I eat for someone else? Should I change it in the first place? I often hear that we shouldn’t touch our corporeal desires…

Answer: You shouldn’t change your desires in any way, but you should change your intentions.

Why not? Because I dedicate my life to attaining the upper state and being immersed in our world is only in order to change our intentions.

The Reshimot (reminiscences) descend into our world so that we can operate in it. At the same time our intention is a minus while an action can only be a combination of a minus and a plus.

You are saying: “I love to eat, I love a girl, I love to sit with friends in a bar or to watch a football game, etc.” That’s true, you love all that. These are your desires, so why can’t you use them with the right intention in order to rise to the goal, to return to this world but not from the same level you fell into the Reshimot, but in order to rise until the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) on the spiritual ladder.

Why do you think you can’t do that? By ascending from one level of Reshimo to another level, you are already completing a good reincarnation and not living your life in vain. You may reach the end of correction in this life, and it is possible in our times.

But even if you go through another round, next time you will already be in a different state, on another level. In our time we are actually in such states that we can reach the end of correction. This is the goal!

So we shouldn’t think that “a thousand enter a room and only one comes to the Light.” This isn’t true anymore; you shouldn’t worry that you have certain negative urges, as it may seem to you. If you engage in correcting the intentions, at the same time you shouldn’t worry about a thing. Just keep on asking yourself whether you do whatever you do for yourself or for the one you perform the action with, is it in mutual cooperation with the friends, a woman, etc. If it is mutual, then it is good.
[123410]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12/13/13, Lesson 1

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Our entire problem is in the intention of our actions. A person’s actions are divided into physical and moral aspirations, inner desires that can be expressed in a particular form in his actions. We live in a world that is composed of two components: our inner aspirations and the outer actions. The most important thing is the inner aspirations to which, in general, we don’t attribute much importance.

It is clear that the world around us is directed toward a particular goal, and the form of our advancement doesn’t depend on us at all. We see that all our programs and projects lack value, and we cannot realize them. They disappear somewhere and in their place various other events arrive. You see that we don’t control anything. We make all kinds of revolutions, build something, aspire in a particular direction, but at the end, everything turns out differently and we cannot understand what is happening to us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that the world is under the influence of absolute laws that we must know and not just observe, and we must use them in the right way in order to reach the best state possible for us in the field of the application of these laws.

In any case the world will reach the goal. A person, whether he wants to or not, will reach a state that was planned from the start by nature and toward which it has led us for billions of years.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is possible to reach this final good state in two ways.

One of them is the way by the forces of nature. This way is unpleasant, bad, pushing us forward through suffering and influences our ego, our instinctive desire, which acts automatically to be in the most comfortable state that we can choose for ourselves, consciously or unconsciously, at each and every moment.

When nature develops us through suffering, it shows us the inferiority, baseness, and vulnerability of this state, and then through this state, we are forced to seek something else. However, the idea is that nature constantly leads us in this form so that we choose the next state according to its goal, and eventually we advance.

Thus we advance by the way of trial and error because we don’t know our next state and don’t understand what it must be in comparison to the previous state. We flee from the previous state without aiming for the next state; we move forward unconsciously: The main thing is to hide, to escape from the suffering just as every animal instinctively flees from danger.

This advancement, in any case, brings us to the goal, but by a long and difficult path.

As a result, we are invited to understand the whole chain of events we have been passing through over the course of thousands of years of our evolution.

In this way, we discover a very interesting truth: the need for the change in intention in all of our actions. In other words, our actions can remain as they are. The main thing is to work on changing our intentions, and this is, in fact, talking about a change in myself.

The most difficult thing for the person is to change himself. What do I want from what I am doing, from my life, from every state through which I am passing?

You see that the intention I am now maintaining, either consciously or unconsciously, is only for my own good or for the good of others. In this case, I must change in some way! How can I rise above my nature, change myself, my intention?

The Kabbalists say that this is the main thing, the most important thing for the person. There is no need to do anything else. We try to change our lives, our society, and the wisdom of Kabbalah says that everything changes through a change of intention. If we change our intention, we change everything. If we can control our intentions, we control the entire universe, all the worlds!

Therefore, if, today all of the intentions in all of my actions are only for my own good, I must transform them so that in every activity they will be only for the good of others.

Is this possible? In principle, no. If we look at the reality that surrounds us, we see that everything acts only egoistically. In other words, we and the nature around us—human society, all inanimate objects, plants, animals, and humans—only act for their own benefit, for themselves, and cannot change in any manner.

However, if we continue to act this way, we will cause even greater suffering. And now it is evident in our world at an increasing rate: All kinds of troubles are coming upon us that are becoming more and more threatening.

On the other hand, in each and every generation, there are a number of people (in our generation they are many) who are beginning to understand that they must reach something else, to go out to another level of existence, to another level of intention, to understand what is happening and rise from the level of the activated to the activator.

This desire acts in the subconscious of all of us. Among a part of us, it is revealed less, among another part, more. In other people, it is revealed in various, unique forms. We see the ways in which people come to us, how they find us. You see that we exist in the field of our intention, and they are attracted to it and join our groups.

Many of them disappear after this, returning to their world. Many of them certainly don’t understand why they came as it seems we didn’t explain this to them in a good way and in our lessons and workshops about Kabbalah. Therefore, we must advance and correct ourselves in this also.

However, in a general manner, in our time, there are already many people who aspire to change their intention so that, through the two intentions—for their own good and for the good of others—they can begin to manage their state and the state of the world that surrounds them.

Therefore, even though our first intention is absolute egoism, an intention for our own good, we can correct it. For this, intelligence and control were given to humanity.
[123133]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12/13/13, Lesson 1

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Question: If in my daily life a small desire to direct my intention to bestow to the Creator appears and then quickly disappears, what can I do in order to focus on it? How can I help myself, should I draw something on my hand, or do something else?

Answer: You remind me of those years when I was learning with Rabash. I also drew a symbol on my hand so that I would not forget the intention. When I was sitting behind the steering wheel in the car, the symbol on my hand was constantly flashing before my eyes, as if to remind me that I must think about the intention in order to bestow. This is so unnatural for us such that it cannot appear in a person’s head without some kind of external reminder.

So do everything possible: draw something on your hand, set an alarm clock, and activate some signal on the cell phone so that every five minutes it will remind you about the intention. It’s not important which actions you do, they could be very different. The main thing is not to interrupt them; rather, just simply go back to control the intention.

The moment that you prefer it you will feel a difference between our world and the spiritual world, because only the intention differentiates us from the spiritual world. The moment that some inclination appears within you, you will immediately feel that you are entering into a completely different matrix of sensations; you will begin to feel the world differently. It will suddenly begin to be like in a movie and then an absolutely different picture will appear.
[123125]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12.13.13, Lesson 1

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Question: What can a person do if he is constantly distracted by strange thoughts and cannot concentrate while reading The Zohar?

Answer: A person should try to live with the states we read about. This is called “wanting to know what one studies,” which means to connect to the material and to attain it. Knowledge means connection.

It doesn’t matter what we study, whether it’s “round and straight vessels (Igulim and Yosher) ” or “midnight when the violin of David plays,” when we read a certain article we should want to be in the same state the Kabbalists speak about. We should identify with what we read, and feel it. It’s as if a friend is telling you about his life and you really want to understand him and to share his feelings by absorbing his words in order to reach his feelings through them. Through the words you can reach the inner impression and share the same feelings.

This is what we need to feel when we read. So it turns out that we develop the habit that allows us to penetrate the Kabbalistic text the moment we hear it and we can immediately penetrate it, as if jumping into water. The Torah is water, Hassadim. Once we are in the water, we begin to activate all our senses by clarifying what is going on. It’s as if we are in a sea trying to look around, to feel the atmosphere, and to understand the situation.

It becomes a habit: The moment I hear the words of the Torah, I immediately enter the Light, the water, and try to understand what is going on there. It’s as if I enter a dark room or dark water in which I can see nothing. Then it’s very important for me to understand what is happening; it’s a habit that we should develop with regard to the Torah.

If I actually implement this approach, I will always be searching, expecting that this state will influence me now and be revealed to me. The state will be revealed because it did not exist and then it suddenly appears. It already exists, but I can’t see it or identify it yet. When I change internally, the state will be revealed. There is no revelation that is external to me but only internal. A new sense awakens in me and then I reveal it.

A person should constantly expect this, especially during the lesson. It says: “It would be good to pray the whole day,” but at least, it’s necessary to turn every lesson into a prayer.
[122137]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/13, The Zohar

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We have to remember that spirituality is different from corporeality. In corporeality, we always want to see the results right away. Sometimes it’s the product we made: Suppose I made shoes; sold them, and received money for them. I see the shoes I made; I see the results of my efforts, the fruits of my labors. I can evaluate, improve, adjust, correct, and make them better only if we actually see them.

It is said: “There is none wiser than the experienced,” and the experienced is earned with one’s own hands. We apply effort somewhere, and there we see the results of our work. So over time, through trial and error, I correct myself and become a professional, skilled craftsman.

But the difficulty is that in spiritual work, we cannot see the results. Just imagine a musician who would strike the piano keys and couldn’t hear any sound. How could he play? When a child is taught how to write, he is given a notebook to enter letters strictly between the lines. But in spirituality, I have no “lines,” and even the letters I write are invisible!

How can I adjust myself if I can’t see any response? I invest efforts, but they disappear like water seeping into sand. Well, let’s say, I’m willing to sacrifice any results for self-benefit. But I still have to somehow adjust, check, improve my work, and gain experience. How is it possible?

It doesn’t work this way in spirituality. We don’t get any response, and this weakens us. I can’t make an effort that doesn’t cause any visible reaction. It’s like talking to a wall. All my energy vanishes.

But the reaction does exist, only it doesn’t take place within the same desire; in other words, it occurs in a different place. If at least a tiny part of our efforts are correct, that is, if we have an intention to exit ourselves and connect with others, to get closer to the Creator and give Him the opportunity to disclose Himself to us, to bring Him joy without demanding or anticipating to get anything in return, the reaction accumulates. It turns out that the place of our work and the results we get are completely separate from each other.

Should we ask to see the results of our work? If we see that we did something correctly, it will fulfill us and bring us satisfaction. It can stop me and hinder advancement because I start working for that gratification. But then how can I analyze the work I do and check that I am not driven by our self-interest?

How can I see the reaction without enjoying it egoistically? How can I manage to accept the information only, without the sensation, without the desire to receive pleasure? This is called demanding a desire to bestow. In other words, I don’t even want to know if I am bestowing to the Creator because in my current state, I would inevitably enjoy it and be comforted. I just want to make actions, detached from enjoyment and fulfillment, not to bring calm to my desires, feelings, and thoughts. This takes work.

The result of our spiritual work is called “a find.” The results show up as if at exactly the wrong time and in a place we didn’t expect it. And the result itself is separate from the desire; therefore, it is totally unexpected.

This happens on all spiritual levels, because every time it is a new world. Our sensations open to a new level, a new depth and quality, in a completely new range that never existed before. Our sensations and evaluation criteria undergo revolutionary changes; they are “upgraded.” That’s why it is called “a discovery,” “a find.”
[119973]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah lesson 11/7/13

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Our prayer should be focused straight on the goal and not accompanied by any special conditions by which I can overcome the obstacles more easily, be stronger, and more focused. If I start bargaining this way, it means that my thoughts are not purely focused on the goal and that I impose certain conditions. On the whole, I need one thing only: to annul myself, to reach the initial level of conception, when the old “I” doesn’t exist anymore.

I become a drop of semen, just like the drop of semen that each of us developed from. This is the state that I want to attain so that there is nothing left of me but the Reshimo (reminiscence), the spiritual gene that descends from the upper level. This is the only point I want to develop from: from the point in the heart, from the root of my soul, that is not egoistic as it is now, that is not shattered.

Today, even my point in the heart is broken because I seek the Creator in order to attain, to win, to understand, to feel. But I wish my approach to be changed and that my point in the heart acquires the opposite character, working only on bestowal. This is what I ask.

This means that I don’t demand any definite form: I don’t demand more wisdom, strength, understanding, sensitivity, and the ability to feel. I ask for one thing only, minimal adhesion! I am grateful to the upper for having created me and for the inclination that I have, and I ask that the Reshimo, that point, that drop, would adhere to Him and start developing,

All other requests are already surplus and will always be wrong.
[121368]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/13

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Everything depends on the importance of the spiritual path, and this is exactly what we lack. How much time do we waste during the day on different things that are unimportant? We are unable to constantly concentrate on the right intention, to yearn to draw the Light that Reforms. After all it says: “I have not exerted, I have not found.” So how do we make the effort to exert ourselves?

People are willing to exert effort every day on things that seems to be important: hard work, travel, worries. So the only thing missing is spiritual importance. Rabash used to say that unfortunately it’s impossible to buy this prescription in a drugstore, a medication, which if swallowed, would immediately allow you to feel the importance of spirituality. There is no such medicine, so what can we do?

The only means is the influence of the environment. It says: “a group or death.” If we really organize a strong group that constantly inspires a person and evokes envy, lust, and honor in him, then he will envy others and see that they are stronger than he is, how special they are; it will press him, not let him relax, and then he will wake up. If not, there is no way he can succeed.

Everything is determined by the environment. Once you enter an environment, you become totally dependent on it. The environment can raise a person or lower him. A person advances according the intensity of the spirit of the environment with regard to the goal, no more, no less. This is, of course, if he doesn’t disrespect the environment and if he tries to adhere to it. His job is to invest in the environment, and the environment in response has to invest in him, in each of the friends.

We have to make sure of that and constantly check and see that everyone feels the importance and the greatness of the goal. Now, for example, we are sitting in the lesson while some of our friends are working on the construction of our new home, so we have to worry about these friends and not let them work day after day and miss the lessons. This is also forbidden. Even if a person is more extremely needed on the construction site, we still have to make sure that he comes to the lessons sometimes.

You mustn’t leave the lessons completely. A person must be in the lesson at least twice a week in order to keep the feeling of the importance of the spiritual goal, otherwise he will fall. It says: “Torah with the desired system of behavior is better,” which means that we need both.
[121031]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/13

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