By restricting myself in order to take care of the neighbor, I won’t be secretly worrying about my own well-being in the slightest. I simply won’t think about myself. This is the correction that the Light performs in me. This is the meaning of rising above the desire, performing the First Restriction, and acquiring the quality of bestowal. All of this is the results of the Light’s influence.

My care for the neighbor is in no way connected to any material details. I continue eating, drinking, and providing all of my necessities. It’s all about my desire, my inner attitude to the action.

For example, say I really want to help a sick person, I want to feed him and give him drink, but the doctors don’t permit him anything besides a little piece of bread and a cup of tea. Thus, even though I would like to give him a rich, exquisite dish and I have the opportunity to do that, I am limited.

It turns out that everything is about the intention. We do not build relationships and mutual guarantee between us on an artificial basis. And that’s why it seems to us that it is impossible to attain bestowal and unity, that it is impossible to give up concern for oneself, not worrying even about one’s vital necessities, and think only about the neighbor. They are supplied for me by others so I would simply provide for myself. By their guarantee, they take care of my material needs, as well as taking total, 100% care of my spiritual success.

All of this has to be built correctly. Who are the friends? They are receiving desires that are corrected by the Light that reforms. Nothing here is done by our own efforts. Efforts have to be made in order to attract the Light, which will come and correct us. It’s funny to think that we would act for the sake of bestowal of our own accord. Can a person really jump above his own head?

Our problem is that we do not aim at the Light in all of our actions. We think that the action itself will bring the result: that we will hug and will start loving the neighbor. But that won’t happen. We have to hug with the intention that by virtue of this, the Light will come and fuse us together in the inner embrace. Everything is carried out by means of the Light that reforms. We forget about the most important component, about the only force that operates in reality.

It seems to us that it is very difficult and unrealistic to connect mutual guarantee, unity, adhesion, the neighbor, bestowal, and vital necessity into one so they would become a single vessel for revealing absolute bestowal, meaning the revelation of the Creator to creation. And the only reason for it is that we do not evoke the Force that will build this state for us. We mistakenly expect to create it ourselves.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/11/11, Matan Torah

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Question: How will the Light solve the problems of seven billion people on earth if every person has his own problems and level of development? We live in a huge system. Is it really possible that every detail in it will be accounted for?

Answer: Imagine a depression in the earth that you fill with water. In the same way, every detail, element, protrusion, and dent in the world is filled with Light according to its qualities.

The Light does not have any calculations with the desire. It simply fills it and shines for it, awakening inside of it. And according to that, the desire feels how close it is to the Light or how far it is from the Light in certain details of perception.

For example, the Light that I receive increased by 10 watts. Accordingly, in every one of my qualities and in every desire, a new thought arises, a new analysis of the situation, and I make a new calculation.

Question: It turns out that the Light is not a function, but everything is determined only by the desire?

Answer: The Light is invariable. Everything depends on my desire and its forms. When it is filled with Light, I don’t feel the Light itself, but the reaction of the desire, all of its strings. This is Light for me.

Question: So which part of this depends on me?

Answer: Work with the intention. We don’t change the desires, but the intention. And only it. I don’t care which protrusions and indentations are present in the hole that I fill with water. They will remain the way they are, while my task is to fill it.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/11, Matan Torah

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Question: Is it possible to mix requests to the Creator, meaning to ask for one thing and another?

Answer: “One thing and another” means there is no desire. The desire has to be perfect.

The upper Light can fill thousands of desires. But how can it place several fillings in one desire? In that case it is not called a desire.

You are a desire. Does this desire want something? Yes. And it receives whatever it wants. It cannot want two fillings because it is one desire, one vessel. If you want several things, that means your desire did not take on the right form yet.

It’s impossible to love two people. After all, you want to unite with the person you love. It doesn’t matter what this desire is for exactly—for food, sex, family, wealth, honor, knowledge, or spirituality. Regardless, it has to be whole, “I want it!”
From the lesson on 7/8/11, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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We are unable to understand what the intention “for the sake of bestowal” (Lishma) is since we are always in the desire to enjoy, opposite to bestowal. And what seems to be bestowal to us in this world is just another form of egoism pretending to bestow so that when we give to someone, we indirectly receive even more from them.

And that is why we do not understand the meaning of “Lishma,” complete bestowal without any profit for oneself. Baal HaSulam says in Shamati No. 5 (“Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below”) that it is not for the human mind to grasp how such a thing can happen in the world.

Also when a person is really working to reach bestowal, he begins to understand how unrealistic this goal is. How is it possible to stop thinking about oneself, to receive a thought, action, or desire which is directed to the “outside,” without caring about one’s own benefit? This is because one is only able to understand that he will attain something by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot. There must be self-gratification there; otherwise one is unable to do anything.

Instead, this is an illumination that comes from Above, and only one who tastes it (receives from Above) can know and understand what he has received. And therefore there is nothing to go by before this, not a simple understanding or even a slight perception of what bestowal, “Lishma,” is.

It is written about it, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” This means that first one needs to “taste,” to receive a sensation, and then one can understand.

Why then should we invest our effort and work to implement the recommendations of Kabbalists if nothing will help until the Creator gives us the other nature? Isn’t it easier to wait until you receive it?

The answer is, as our sages said, “It is not for you to complete the work, and you are not free to idle away from it.” This means that one must give the awakening from below since this is discerned as a prayer. A prayer is considered a deficiency, and without deficiency there is no fulfillment. We need to obtain a desire suitable for filling with the quality of bestowal.

But how can I ask for something that I’ve never tried or needed, something I do not have, and I know absolutely nothing about? It follows, that one’s work is needed to receive the Lishma from the Creator only in the form of a lack and a Kli (vessel). Yet, one can never attain the fulfillment alone; it is rather a gift from God.

However, the prayer must be a whole prayer, that is, from the bottom of the heart. This means that a person knows one hundred percent that there is no one in the world who can help him but the Creator Himself. Meaning that a person needs to invest all of his efforts to not receive anything, to arrive at a broken heart. Only then will he finally hear the desperation inside from all the efforts that he invested and realize that only the Creator can help him. And then the Creator hears his prayer.

See how much effort and frustration is needed in order to move from state to state, to attain a deeper understanding that I cannot, I am unable to, I do not want to! And thus, I descend step by step, penetrating ever deeper into the heart, until I reach the true prayer.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/2011, Shamati #5

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Question: Lately it’s felt that the world Kli is working in a single desire. At one time Rabash advised you to make an attack from this state. What exactly are we attacking?

Answer: Ourselves, our heart, our laziness, our pride, our past habits. I have to ascend above all of these calculations.

The most important thing is to dissolve among the friends, to intentionally push yourself into the group. I want to be there all the time. I want to lose my personal mind and feeling and to acquire the mind and feeling of all the friends. It’s as if I lose myself in them by my own desire.

This means acquiring the vessel of the mutual guarantee.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/11, Matan Torah

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Question: Surveys show that 80 percent of humanity believes in the higher power that controls everything. Why don’t we explain to people what kind of power it is and what it wants? It is much more interesting than the calls for love.

Answer: We have nothing to explain. The upper force is Nature, the law, the force as unyielding as the force of gravity. It is Absolute who is Good, does Good, and does not change.

If this force is invariable, it is as if nonexistent. The absence of change seems to cancel it. It is like living under the sun, forever stuck at the zenith. There is no point of taking it into account if it is and will be there always. It just is, and that is all.

In our life, we make calculations based on what has to change, on advancements we depend on. It is another matter if we talk about something permanent and indestructible on which we depend constantly to such an extent that it cannot be called dependence.

This is what the “Creator” is. And that is why it is so difficult to explain this to people. In reality, we pray not to Him but to ourselves. We seek how to change, and He is always unchangeable. Of course, I will change if I desire it, and to do this, I do not need to take Him into account. He is Good and does Good, and next to Him, I am like a spoiled child whose parents give him absolute love, while he does whatever pleases him and gets out of control, knowing that nothing bad will happen to him.

Thus, our problem is how to explain to people that the Creator is like a solid wall and simply exists. You can jump in front of it, wave your arms; this is your business, and the wall still towers over you.

A person can barely imagine that: “Then, whom am I dealing with? It means that there is nobody to ask.” How can we explain to those who believe in the higher power that it does not make sense to pray to the “changeable” Creator who would do better today than yesterday. Does it mean that yesterday He caused me harm?

In reality, we deal with the One who is Good and does Good to the wicked and to the righteous. But for a person, this means that regardless of whether he is good or bad, the result will be the same.

An ordinary person is subject to changes constantly. All the time, he compares himself with the world, trying to calculate the results of internal and external changes. He does not understand what the universal, general, great, immutable Force is. This eludes our sense organs because they are “tuned” to changes rather than to the static condition. I just do not see what does not change, does not disappear from my view.

That is why we cannot explain to people what the “Creator” is. Sometimes, I say that the “Creator” is Nature, that He is unchangeable, and there is no one to pray to, that a prayer is self-judgment. In response, they are ready to tear me to pieces. This is the problem: We judge ourselves, whereas others ask the Creator to change: “I threw a little bit in Your piggy bank, now, save me from troubles.”

Talking of the Creator as of the unyielding law of nature, we deny a person the possibility to turn to Him. A person does not see that he has to change. A new strong “dose” of development is necessary so that a person begins to behave differently.

Whatever we talk about, including the crisis, we essentially explain to people the path of suffering: “Alternatively, it will be troubles, and it is not worth it. Let’s change.” It is not a lie, but not the truth either.

We should tell something else to a person who comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah desiring to reach the goal of creation: “You have to be above this. No matter whether it is good or bad, you have to rise by faith above reason. You should not make your actions conditional on suffering or pleasure. This is not bestowal. Faith above reason means that you rise above the reward. Or do you work to escape evil and achieve good in the future? Are you expecting compensation? Do you want to reach the purpose of creation for yourself instead of giving pleasure to the Creator?”

On the other hand, whom are we supposed to please if the Creator is the law? This is a delicate moment in our explanations.
[46848]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/17/2011, “Mesiah’s Horn”

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Question: How is it possible to remember the Creator all day long? How is it possible to bring Him into every moment?

Answer: We are in Malchut of the world of Infinity, which is entirely filled with Light. However, instead of this eternal, perfect state, we see and feel our own qualities which depict the material world to us. Therefore, if we want to aim ourselves at the goal, at feeling the world of Infinity, then we need mutual guarantee from our environment. The friends have to give us the forces, the desire, the persistence, the diligence, and the realization of the goal’s importance.

After all, I have just one goal—to obtain the right desire, and nothing else. Let me constantly feel that I’m not concerned enough about doing good for the Creator the way He does for me.

You might object, “But I don’t know what He gives me. Judging by my life, sometimes I could say that it would be better if He did not give me anything.” That’s true. Obviously, every person rejects things in accordance with his own defects. Therefore, my attitude to the Creator can be defined this way: I want to reach a state where I will desire to bestow to Him.

And the actual result will come thanks to the Light’s influence, thanks to the efforts that we make time after time. The Light pours upon us again and again, and suddenly these illuminations create a desire in a person.

We don’t know what Lishma, an awakening from Above, is. But when it comes, a person is able to say, “Now I know, now I understand.” One has to make efforts, like a little child, and from these efforts the sensation will emerge. But not before that.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/7/11, Shamati

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Question: Is it possible to explain the Kabbalistic method using terms of modern science?

Answer: Can you explain the mathematical Fourier transform to a cow? These are different degrees. A person who does not have a “sixth sense,” a point in the heart, cannot understand what you are talking about. He does not have a need for this, and therefore, it’s pointless to talk to him. Therefore, in our wide dissemination, we have to conform to the desires of the masses rather than of those who study Kabbalah.

Throughout all the generations, the world did not understand Kabbalists. And the world is right: From their degree people are not capable of this yet. It says in the Psalms, “You save humans and animals…”—but when? Today you cannot explain to people about the altruistic intention Lishma. It’s even difficult to talk to them about the topic of the perception of reality. This is intriguing and provocative, but they don’t understand or grasp the essence because they simply can’t.

In order for a person to really be able to hear words about the correction of his desires, he needs one more level of desire. But until then, we can only accelerate his development using external means. One way or another, as long as he doesn’t feel the sting in his heart, he won’t understand your explanations.

That is how the world is built. People are on different levels of development, and even at the end of correction the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels will remain. Yet it is written, “Everyone will know Me from the smallest of them to the greatest of them,” meaning each person according to his level.

The time will come when we will see how people will start grasping our words: some through scientific terms, others in the language of feeling, and others yet by virtue of simple actions, which are enough for a person to join the unity. Some need to attain and feel the adhesion, to actively participate in it, whereas for others this is unnecessary. Everything is determined by one’s desire.

We shouldn’t suppose that everyone will receive the same degree of desire for bestowal and the Creator’s revelation. However, every person will receive the full measure in accordance with his own vessels, and will be filled thanks to the common inter-inclusion.

That is why to this day Kabbalists concealed their knowledge. But now this knowledge can be revealed, although every person will hear just an insignificant part of it. Nevertheless, as a whole the Light is already starting to operate in a big mass of the common desire. This is the revolution that is happening in the world today. The modern crisis is essentially the inter-inclusion of desires.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/11, Shamati

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Question: It’s unclear why creation makes a restriction and pushes the pleasure away? Why can’t it be close to the Creator and receive from Him?

Answer: I don’t push away pleasure, but an unpleasant sensation. At that moment I no longer feel pleasure. If you give me some kind of exquisite dish, but it causes me to feel ashamed, then I stop feeling pleasure from that dish. This infinite fulfillment doesn’t make me feel good any longer!

Afterwards I will have to awaken my taste for this pleasure all over again. When I acquire the quality of Bina and start acting for the sake of bestowal, and then I start to receive for the sake of bestowal, I must once again reawaken the taste for pleasures within myself.

However, these are no longer the same tastes I felt before, but a completely different kind of pleasure which I offer to the Creator. First of all, I take His desire and fulfill it. I check with what kind of love He gave me this piece of pleasure and I want to fill the empty place in Him. It’s empty because I did not accept this fulfillment from Him.

I think about His enjoyment, about what kind of pleasure He will receive when He fulfills me. And because I feel what kind of pleasure I give Him, I now understand what kind of fulfillment I have to take from Him and in what form I should enjoy Him.

When I begin to experience pleasure from bestowal, I no longer feel the old taste of pleasures inside of me because I approach them with a new intention. Just like shame ruins all of the pleasures from reception for me, so the intention of bestowal revokes the simple taste in me. That is why it is called the acquisition of new vessels or desires.

Both the bestowing and the receiving desires in me are completely new, which is called “613” times more than what I had before. This multifold multiplication comes precisely from the shame that enables us to increase our desires and pleasures by 613 times.

This is the shame from the difference between myself and the Creator, the difference between our situations. This is not just some kind of sensation, but a precise measurement of how much He is entirely bestowing and above me, since I am a receiver. It’s precisely equal to the height of that shame.

And the difference does not arise due to any material reception, but it’s a difference in our intentions. Therefore, if we work on this shame in order to turn it into respect and honor, then we attain this “613-fold’ increase.
[47115]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/11, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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Question: How should the nation of Israel living on the material level of this world participate in the general correction?

Answer: Together with correcting the spiritual Israel, we have to correct its material “hypostasis.” It is the result of the reincarnation of the souls of Israel, whereas the spiritual Israel is all those who have a point in the heart, a spiritual aspiration by which they join the process.

The difference between them lies in what they are drawn to: a person with a point in the heart is drawn to spirituality, whereas a person who does not have this point is not. Still, if a person without a point in the heart belongs to the nation of Israel (Yashar Kel, meaning those aimed straight to the Creator), then he is obligated to work on correction.

True, there is a principle stating that there is no coercion on the spiritual path. But nevertheless, this obligation is incumbent on Israel. The Torah says, “You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for Me.” And the time has come.

Of course, the responsibility of those members of Israel who have a point in the heart is different from the responsibility of those who do not have this point, who have not been awakened yet. However, this obligation is incumbent on everyone, and the external pressure of AHP, the nations of the world, is aimed precisely at making Galgalta ve Eynaim correct themselves. This pressure will only keep growing. The more we fall behind, the more AHP wants because egoism constantly grows and becomes more and more empty. That is why the pressure on Galgalta ve Eynaim will become stronger. That is how the nations indirectly incite Israel to accelerate its correction.

Therefore, people with a point in the heart, meaning the spiritual Israel, and just the Jews, the material Israel, have to actualize the correction upon themselves and attract the Light for AHP. You can’t do anything to change this fact because we are talking about a single vessel whose parts are interconnected in this way.

Question: Does this mean that two processes have to occur simultaneously?

Answer: I don’t see two processes occurring here. At the end of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam writes about two parts of Israel: the internal and the external. The inner part are “the workers of the Creator,” those who desire to serve Him. They also divide into two parts: the inner part, those who wish to attain the intention for the sake of bestowal, and the external part, which makes material actions. Besides them, Israel also includes people who don’t know anything and aren’t interested in anything.

Similarly, the nations of the world also include two parts. The inner part wants to join us and belongs to Israel, even though it is called “Israel in the nations of the world.” And the external part is indifferent to this and feels only the troubles of this world. But we also have to awaken these people, so they will at least avoid making great mistakes in the future and will save themselves from annihilation and grave problems. That is how they join us.

In the end, correction is intended precisely for this external part—AHP. They are the goal of creation. The top priority is the will to enjoy, while Israel is not the goal of creation, but just its correction.

This is what our entire work has to be aimed at: correcting ourselves in order to bring correction to the world. This is the meaning of “a kingdom of priests.” We are servants, we serve the world.
From the lesson on 5/13/11, “A Discourse On Wisdom” by Ramchal

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