Advancement is only possible through the gap between the inner Light and the Surrounding Light. The inner Light symbolizes the present and the Surrounding Light symbolizes the future. The more we can elevate the future in regard to the present, the stronger the force that pulls us forward, our yearning for the future will be greater. And according to the force of this absence, we attract the Light which penetrates the present state from the future.

For in the spiritual world all states already exist; everything only depends on our yearning to attain the future. If we want it, we feel it as good. But if we don’t yearn for the future, then its Light comes to us according to the developmental program “in its time,” and this causes us to suffer.

Everything depends on the manner by which we increase our yearning for the future and awaken ourselves towards it. This must become our main concern. For this, we need to describe it to ourselves, to draw its picture in front of us, and to play in it as if we already live in this future. We need to behave like children who play at being adults awakening excitement about this within them, helping themselves to grow.

A person can’t grow through trouble and suffering. Suffering, on the contrary, obliges him to gather into himself, to go into a corner, to hide in some shelter. In contrast, happiness opens the heart to grace, to mercy, to bestowal, to love and carries one forward, as if on wings.

Therefore if we describe a good and beautiful future to ourselves, we cause the whole group to be elevated by this, giving all the friends a feeling of hope, confidence and joy about the prospects for the future, from its greatness, the greatness of the Creator, the teacher, the learning, and the group; this will give everyone energy and desire, and will expand their perception. Thanks to this, we attract even more influence from the Surrounding Light to our expanded desires, receive even more power and illumination, and are drawn forward.

So through constantly turning toward the future and receiving illumination from there, a person advances himself. It’s as if I had a rope and were pulling myself upward with its help. Or as if I am sitting in a boat and with a rope, I throw the rope to someone on the shore, and then use the rope to pull myself toward the shore.

In this way, a person works with the Surrounding Light, awakening in himself a yearning for the future, praising the Creator and the future state and thereby gathering deficiencies for himself. With the deficiency that develops, he again thinks about the future and together with this learns that through this he attracts the Surrounding Light from the future. This works on his external vessels that are meant for the future. For they are not internal vessels yet; they have not yet attained correction and fulfillment.

In this way a person arouses his future desire; this attracts him to it so that he advances. He receives that awakening from the future, that fulfillment and power intermittently. With the help of the environment and the study, he creates a connection with the future, with the Surrounding Light that influences his desires that are not yet corrected, and finally he attains the goal.
[104903]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/13

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Spiritual advancement is according to the formula of “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” “Israel” is he who exerts himself in order to build a deficiency inside himself and to fulfill the Creator’s desire and allow Him to be revealed. In order to do that, the created beings’ vessel has to be whole. Whoever yearns to discover the whole vessel is called “Israel.” After all, the Creator, the upper Light, is in absolute rest and needs only the vessels.

The Torah is actually what we need to exert ourselves for to discover the love for the created beings and from the love of the created to reach the love of the Creator. We exert ourselves by yearning to love the created beings, to rise above ourselves, and to be incorporated in the environment by organizing it according to all the necessary conditions so that it will impress us and will evoke us correctly. It is impossible to reach the right awakening without an environment; it is only possible by external influence.

When we exert ourselves enough, we discover that we cannot do anything. Time and time again we discover that we cannot reach the love of the created beings and eventually we understand that we need the Creator’s help. Then a prayer bursts out by itself and it brings us to the love of the Creator.

It turns out that the three conditions: Israel, then the Torah, and then the Creator bring us to the goal; as it is said: “I have labored and I have found, believe.” It is impossible to immediately jump ahead without first exerting one’s self, that is, without the Torah, without a prayer, without a request, it is impossible to attain the Creator. It would be an egoistic request for which you will not get an answer. You will not have the letters of the prayer since they are created only by a person’s exertion. Only when their measure is filled will you know how to turn to the Creator with a request.

Before, you don’t even have a deficiency for what the Creator wants to give you, so you don’t turn to the Creator with the same request, and this is clearly why you don’t get anything!

If you want to save time and energy and to reach the goal quickly, you should act in the direction of “Israel the Torah and the Creator are one” so that eventually they will unite into one whole. It turns out that the right direction is the exertion on connection in the group in order to discover the Creator and to bring Him contentment. As it is written: “From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” All the sages’ sayings refer only to these three stages: Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.
[104673]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/13

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Question: What does the effort beyond human power mean?

Answer: The effort beyond human power is what is not directed in the natural human direction, at personal benefit. It’s revealed within the group, in dedication to their environment, and this is beyond human, personal efforts. In addition to that when a person reveals this, he finds himself unable to do such things. That’s why he turns to the Creator with a request to help him make such an effort.

It’s said, “For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, ‘Peace be within you!’” It’s impossible to turn to the Creator with a request that is not aimed at the benefit of the Creator Himself but below Him. But the human being is allowed to turn to the Creator for help in building his vessel. This is the only justifiable prayer.
[104604]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/13, Writings of Rabash

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

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

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

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

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

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Question: I know that I cannot ask for myself even if I want to please the Creator myself. Instead, one can ask only for the friends. So, how can I ask for help from the Creator to give me the strength?

Answer: You need to ask for help to be included in the group and to bestow to the friends in order to bestow to the Creator through them. Specifically this is the right request that attracts the Light that Reforms to us. Here, a closed circle, a ring, is created. I ask the Creator for the ability to bestow to Him.

And it would seem that everything depends on Him—how much I receive so that I can bestow to Him? But it is not so because all the preparations that occur in this cycle depends on me. It is impossible to go through this without feeling the anguish, the evil, and the pressure that ultimately require me to turn to the Creator.

All my efforts are not to be rid of the bad physical sensations, the beastly anguish, but rather, what I invest is not in order to be released from the bad physical emotions, from the beastly troubles, but to give to the group and add to it for the good. I can advance only like this, not like a beast that flees from the blows.

If we suddenly find ourselves pressured, frightened, and confused, we cannot want just to flee from this state because it is unpleasant. Rather, we should want this condition to advance us toward the Creator who arranged this for us. If all of us feel like this, then we will advance.

I don’t ask the Creator to take all the unpleasantness, all the evil, from me, but I ask for the evil to be transformed to good. So, the person needs to pray: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.”
[104228]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/13, Writings of Rabash

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Rabash, Shlavei Hasulam, 1984/1985, Essay 19, “Come to Pharaoh – A”: The Secret of the Pursuit of the Evil Inclination and the Other Side Is to Cause the Tzadikim to Err and to Adhere to the Sacred.

The evil inclination is an “angel” that rightly carries out its work. It constantly shows us how weak we are and not ready for anything and thus obliges us to turn to the Light that Reforms. And then we receive a power from above that carries out what is necessary. So, if the ego were not to show us our complete failure, we would agree with what is and would never turn to the Light.

The evil inclination is not the sum of evil tendencies; it awakens in me not despair from failure in these or other things because I am an egoist. The evil inclination is a unique force that stands against the Light and points at It by its opposition: “Here this is what you need.” So, darkness awakens us to search for Light, to awaken the dawn. This is not just the ego with its constant lusts and desires: jealousy, lust, honor, control, and so forth. No, instead, the evil inclination is the “bad” tendencies thanks to which we feel the need for help from Above. So this is saying that it is essentially also good.

Question: But you sometimes talk as if we have the power to advance…

Answer: Without wasting these powers, you would not realize that you need to ask for help. It is not enough here to know only that you are powerless—you must also have the experience. Look at a toddler: No matter how many times you explain something to him, he needs to try everything himself, and not just once. He doesn’t believe your words: “What do you need to do this for if you don’t ever succeed?” No, he must go through everything on his own.

Question: But in spite of all this, isn’t it terrible that we have to waste all that time?

Answer: This is exactly why we need it. You see, by trying to act independently you are correcting the Kelim, your desires. From time to time, when you reach despair, you are gradually purifying and arranging them. Understandably, you want to jump immediately to the final correction, but you must learn a little first.

All the Lights and all the Kelim, vessels, descended from the perfect world of Infinity to an absolutely imperfect and shattered state. Thus a system was created—from opposition between the Light and the vessel—you cannot improve upon the already established sequence. After all, there is nothing superfluous or peripheral here. The Light bestows in an absolute form and the vessel receives in an absolute form, and we build the appropriate connection between them. This is not something arbitrary or someone’s whim; this is the inevitable consequence of conditions that were originally set.

Between the two desires—bestowal and reception—another system of relationships cannot be created different from what is in the worlds of Adam Kadmon and ABYA. There simply cannot be. Absolute laws are at work here; so there is no reason to be sorry about “wasting time.” You cannot skip to Infinity in one leap. You need to pass through all the stages; otherwise, the will to receive will not succeed in acquiring the intention to bestow.

On the way to final correction, you require the Creator, the Light, more and more. Call Him whatever you want, but there is only one force that acts in reality. And within your great will to receive there is a small point. It needs to understand where it is found, to identify its desire and turn to the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif – OM) with a request that all parts of this desire will be corrected. There is nothing other than this. All of our work relies on this: that from this point in our desire we turn to the Light.

Yet for this many tests and attempts are required. You see you are working with the ego, a force that wants to establish its dominance and won’t allow turning to the Creator. On the contrary, the Creator is concealed to the degree that you establish yourself; we must decide: “It’s either me or Him.”

And therefore, (1) we first need to make the first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph – TA) on our ego. This doesn’t say that we destroy it; we only recognize that with its help one is not allowed to reach bestowal. You don’t want to use the ego, even if you want to. So you cause it to “atrophy.”

After that, (2) you turn to Bina; you want the force of bestowal to rule in you. This brings you to a particular discovery (3). It is true that you only discover the Light of Hassadim, but this is already something. Thus gradually you remove the coverings, the concealment, from yourself…

Imagine this from an example. There are two people in front of you: me and a young man who is energetic, smart, handsome, and whose accomplishments are obvious. Next to him it is as if I dissipate, fade from your field of vision. So, all of your work now is to move the focus from one to the other. He conceals, covers, and hides me. This means that you need to “nullify” him from your eyes. So you “restrict” him and then start replacing him with me. It turns out that I am worth something; I am important to you, and so you are ready to enter under my authority instead of his authority….

Thus, many actions are required, steps on the way to bring you to revelation. Nothing is done by itself. From the start, you are under the authority of the egoistic desire and need to pass to the authority of the altruistic desire. You see, your desire cannot remain “not associated with anything”; either the intention to receive or the intention to bestow must dominate it. And this transition requires some time.
[103986]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What is prayer?

Answer: Prayer is a request to the Creator to give me the power of bestowal. The general power of bestowal, upon which the world is based, dwells within the world; it is the foundation of the world. This power is called the Creator, the Emanator, and it is the foundation of all of reality. If I turn to it, I can only ask for the power of bestowal. What else could it give me?

I ask this power to approach me, which is to say, to influence me more with its power of bestowal. But when the Creator begins to affect me with His bestowal, I can hold onto this in various ways. If I am ready for it and have similar characteristics, I feel His approach as good, good for me. But if I have opposing characteristics, then I perceive His approach as something bad.

So, there are two forms of grasping the Light: like a “rooster” or like a “bat.” Why does the bat ask for light, that it will be like the darkness?

A prayer is called the raising of MAN, “Mei Nukvin.” The feminine desire, Nukva, my will to receive, wants to rise to the level of Bina; it is asking to be given the characteristic of bestowal.

What is called prayer is when we turn to the Creator, to the Light, to the characteristic of bestowal, asking this bestowal to dwell in us and become our own characteristic. I cannot be like the Creator, “a part of the divine above,” but I want His characteristic to begin to dominate in me.

As long as the Creator illuminates me through His bestowal, this characteristic is found in me and to that degree I have that characteristic. But if the Creator takes His bestowal from me, I fall immediately. It is as if a magnetic force is holding me in the air like a piece of metal. It acts on me all the time, and so I am suspended in the air. The moment that this influence stops, the moment that the magnet stops streaming its flow, the force that holds the piece of metal, and its field disappears, then immediately this piece falls.

So we also receive the force of bestowal. We don’t receive it directly within our nature; instead we always remain with the nature of the will to receive, like the piece of metal suspended in the air. It can be suspended in the air only due to the influence of the Light. Therefore, prayer must never stop; we depend on the Creator all the time.
[103929]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/13

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, Article 19: “Come Unto Pharaoh – 1”: And about that it says, “Come unto Pharaoh,” which means that we shall go together, that I will also go with you, so that I will change nature and I want you to ask only for Me, so that I will help you change your nature and turn it from the desire to receive to the desire to bestow.

This is a very important moment, when we cannot do anything by ourselves. First we ask for something global and rely on ourselves in every other aspect, hoping to manage by ourselves and to leave the Creator only “His part.” But the more we advance up the ladder or towards the exodus from Egypt, before the ascent to the first level, we see more clearly that we are weak and that we cannot do anything right, not even one action, not a thought or an intention. I actually grow weaker along the way, and so it says: “And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out.”

But then it says, “and their cry rose up to G-d.” It’s then that we have an opportunity to pray, to ask, to demand. This is to what we are led.

According to my advancement, I grow weaker and my prayer, my request for help, grows until I reach a state in which I cannot do anything, the darkness and powerlessness take hold of me and at the same time I reach a whole request. Until then, things don’t move.

So it’s clear that I cannot manage without the support of the group, without the friends’ mutual guarantee. I feel that I’m falling down further: I lose my powers, the goal grows pale and doesn’t attract me forward, my motivation disappears and the evil inclination grows before my very eyes while the point in the heart descends further downward and there is nothing left. The good Pharaoh gradually becomes evil and vicious to such an extent that it seems that there is no way I can be free of his domination. So where can I find the urge, the attraction, to carry on if not from the group?

Generally speaking, I reach a state of hopelessness and maximum separation (∆) between the current state and the desired one. Still I refuse to withdraw; I have to come out to the Light…
[103991]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How is it possible to check whose servant you are: a servant of Pharaoh or a servant of the Creator? How is this examination realized, intellectually or emotionally?

Answer: We check with the mind what we feel in our heart. A heart is all the desires of a person, and I need to check who controls my desires: the will to receive with an intention in order to receive or with an intention in order to bestow. The will to receive is always there; it is the substance of creation, but I must examine for what I am working.

This examination is done only through the group. In our physical world we cannot measure anything without a scale of measurement. We require some unit of measurement: a meter, a kilogram, Hertz, a measurement scale with which I will be able to measure and weigh some phenomenon.

How can I weigh a desire and my intention that controls it? This is only possible depending on how I adhere to the group and associate myself with the whole. Through this I can measure myself and change something within me. Otherwise, I will always be mistaken.

Therefore, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” is called the fundamental rule in the Torah for it controls everything. If I do not place myself correctly relative to society, I will not be able to see where I am at all. With my measurements, I will not be able to discern any error, neither the smallest nor the largest.
[103981]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/13

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Question: What is the meaning of adhering to the group?

Answer: To adhere to the group is to be with the friends in the entire process through which they are passing, to perform the tasks, to participate in all the events: in studies, dissemination, duties, gatherings of friends, workshops, and paying maaser. I need to try to be a useful and active participant in all this. These are mechanical actions of joining a group, which are visible.

Besides this, within myself, I wholeheartedly try to be included in this image called a “group,” to disappear, to melt there. I want to be absorbed within this concept of the “group,” the “society,” so that nothing of me remains.

If I try to do this according to my egoistic motives, to the extent of my efforts, I become closer to the Light, and It brings me thoughts about this and shows how appropriate I am to it or not. So, I begin to demand that the Light correct me more. I begin to relate to my inclusion in a group in a more practical way, connecting this inclusion with the Light that influences me and helps me to enter a group.

It follows that the more I am included in it, the more states I begin to discern: greater or smaller inclusion, how much I forget about myself, how much more I belong to the friends, how much more or less I love them. Only according to this do I evaluate my ascents and descents, since no other ascents and descents exist.

And so together with everyone, I turn to the upper Light that makes of us one whole. And here the work begins. All measurements and evaluations take place only in regard to the group because without this there is no correct measuring scale, there is no correction with which I would be able to examine myself.

I have no indication and evaluation of my emotions, not in relation to the Creator and not in relation to myself, if we don’t do this within the group. The group is the place where I feel, measure, and carry out all spiritual actions.

There is no other place outside of it! There, in the group, I need to discover hatred and my ego, all of my characteristics. All that is discovered outside the group doesn’t require any correction. Only what is discovered in the relationships between the friends, this is the only thing that we need to correct. Pharaoh, the ego is the force of mutual rejection and of hatred that is discovered in a group. And outside the group, this is all the physical life of the animal body.
[103976]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/13

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