We shouldn’t criticize the states we experience every moment. After all, we don’t know what they are given for and where they come from.

All we need to do is try to understand how to use the state we received right now. We should acknowledge it with the understanding that there is no better state for our advancement, for the correction of our soul, than the one we are presently in. We should thank the Creator for the bad just as we would for the good.

After all, I measure my state according to my flaws. If I were reformed, I would feel infinity in each state. However, if I experience an opposite feeling somewhere, it means there is a certain flaw that I need to feel, work through, and to correct this sensation until I feel perfect.

Hence, it follows that it is the Creator who causes a person’s prayer. He is the very cause. However, between His calling and a person’s action, there lies free will of the person himself, which consists of the way he responds and clarifies the following:

• from whom he received this condition,
• what he is supposed to do with it,
• what will help him reform himself,
• what state he should come to next.

All of this is up to a person himself. He discerns the difference between the state he is going through and the one in which he would like to see himself. Indeed, the sensation of deficiency will determine his subsequent state.

As for us, we are not expected to provide anything else except the correct desire, until it is aimed directly at reaching the final goal: bestowal, the degree and might of which equals that of the upper force as in the root of our soul from where we all came.

Thus we work together: The Creator awakens us, while we, at each moment of our life, first have to understand that everything is supplied by Him. We must aim ourselves at the right work: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” Thereby, we develop a prayer that expresses our personal desire.

That is, both of us, the Creator and I, are working on desire. As for the Light, it’s not our concern. I worry solely about desire. He gives it to me, and I start working with it, having done so and exerted sufficient effort to bring the desire received from Him to another desire which is now called a prayer. To the degree of my desire being correct or corrupt, the Creator reforms me and provides me with a new desire. With its help I have to correct myself again, defining my desire more accurately and precisely, which will become my new prayer.

Thus, the Creator and I keep working on my desire together, until it acquires the right shape in value, power, character, and form, thereby reaching Malchut of Infinity which includes the desires of all souls. Then, to the extent of my attained caliber of bestowal and my own lowliness, I formulate my prayer, my authentic will to receive, in the proper manner, and, there, reveal the purpose of creation.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Importance of the Intention during the Study

During the practice of  the Torah, every person must..set his mind and heart to reveal the Creator [the property of bestowal and love]. And any person is fit for it, as it is written: “You labored and did not find, do not believe.” …Thus, one needs nothing in this matter except the labor alone.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 97

There is a wonderful remedy to those who engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Although they do not understand what they are learning, through the great desire to understand, they awaken upon themselves the Lights that surround their souls.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 155
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Before reading The Book of Zohar, we have to prepare ourselves so that this reading benefits us. The Zohar talks about the correction of the soul, that is, about the correction of the connection between us. Thus, while reading The Zohar, we should strive to realize in us the corrected states described in the text. This means that we desire to reveal what The Zohar talks about.

Revelation isn’t understanding in the mind. How can I understand what I have never seen? It’s possible to see only on the condition that new models of sensation form within me because vision is a sensation in our desires, the vessels of reception. A sensation may occur only when my specific internal state matches that described in The Zohar.

This can be achieved only if I ascend to the degree of the giver as The Zohar requires. How is this possible? It’s possible if I connect with the environment, in relation to which I can express the extent of my bestowal. Thus, even before we open The Book of Zohar, we have to strive to join together in such a state, on such a level, with such a force that is suitable for the revelation of The Zohar in the connection between us.

To the extent one cancels himself and we connect together in mutual bestowal and guarantee, to the same extent we can achieve the condition in which we’ll feel what The Zohar talks about, at least to the smallest degree. All this depends on the force of unity between us that has to be at the level of the first spiritual degree. Then, we will feel what The Zohar relates to us.

Baal HaSulam writes about this in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 155: A person striving to know what he studies draws upon himself the Light that Reforms. In essence, all our work is to aspire to be in this state, to sense it. Thus, we are required only to have the desire to feel the need for revelation.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/2011, The Book of Zohar

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We ask, “Why did the Creator make us so dark and egoistic, and not otherwise?” As if we understood how anything is possible otherwise…. Nevertheless, if this question arises in us, that means it has a place. Every question that arises in a person, even one that seems like the most stupid or accidental one, means that there is an inner reason for it. That is how a person is built: He asks this question and has to receive an answer or fulfillment to it.

But as long as we aren’t able to feel the answer inside of us, we will have to accept it as a hypothesis that “The advantage of the Light is attained only from darkness.” That is, the sensation of pleasure, the “taste” by which the Creator wanted to give pleasure to creation, can only be felt in us to the degree we have a desire or lack.

And it is impossible to hear about this lack from somewhere on the side. It has to be felt inside of you, as your own need for fulfillment. Then the pleasure will also be yours! You will feel it and enjoy it.

Therefore, this requires a special development of desires, the need to feel the Light in creation, and then the pleasure will dress inside of these desires. To the extent there was a desire, that is how the pleasure will be felt.

If the Creator exists, if He is good and carries goodness, filling everything with infinite Light, and His desire is to delight us boundlessly, it turns out that the only thing missing is our desire to receive all of that! All of the Creator’s abundance is already spilled all around us, but we are unable to feel it or to ask it to enter us.

We shout to Him, “Give it to me already! When will I receive it?” But we have to understand once and for all that we have nothing to ask for besides the desire. The Light is already there—as much as you want! The problem is only the desire, which has to be big and suitable for feeling that Light.

We have to somehow acquire, buy, or steal that desire, manage to receive it in some way, directly or in a roundabout way. It doesn’t matter how; we are obligated to attain it in any case! Without this desire, we won’t feel the Light!

It’s like there is an open book lying in front of me but I don’t have glasses, and therefore I can’t read it! Will I pray for someone to give me the book? No—I will ask for glasses! We only lack the “instrument of perception” (the Kli), meaning the “vessel” or desire.

Therefore, all the actions we are led through are not necessary in order to attract the Light. They are actions forming the desire for this Light in us.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/11, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: Does the network of connection between the great Kabbalists of the past also work on the souls that have not yet awakened spiritually?

Answer: No, these people don’t turn to them for help. You can study the Torah, read thousands of books, and this will not change anything in you. Moreover, even if you read the texts of Kabbalists with the intention to advance, the question is whether you are in the group, whether you desire to create together with others the same form of connection that exists between these Kabbalists.

Do we desire to create in the bond between us the same network of connection that exists between these Kabbalists? Do we want to move from the connection between the broken souls that think only about how to enjoy all sorts of earthly pleasures to the connection which unites our holy forefathers, the great Kabbalists of all generations? Do we wish to move from the broken system of connection between souls to the corrected one? We ask them to help us become similar to them so that they accept us in their assembly.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/2011, The Book of Zohar

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A constant dialogue or requests to the Creator are good because it’s impossible to address Him artificially as in the words of prayers read from books. A person begins to understand that if he doesn’t feel these words, it’s not considered an address. The Creator will not hear it in this way; it’s necessary to turn to Him deciphering the words in relation to oneself, closer to one’s heart.

Then, instead of reading a prayer from a prayer book full of words that mean nothing to him: “for oneself,” “for bestowal,” “above reason,” “the Torah and precepts,” “good deeds,” “the Holy and Blessed One” (the same terms and quotes that Kabbalists use), a person starts to interpret them into a more sensory language. He does this even without words, in one’s inner sensations, and thereby really approaches the prayer, the request.

What help should one ask from the Creator? It’s to help us turn to Him with a request! This request will become a spiritual vessel, the “place” of the revelation of the Creator.

At each stage, one should check himself as to whether he addresses the Creator in his own words rather than repeating standard expressions from a book. Otherwise, it means that one doesn’t understand to whom he turns, how, for what, and that one is still detached from the address itself.

The ability to make a request is a great help that allows the person to change and correct himself. A request to the Creator should be viewed as a device which can change a person. The search for an answer to one’s request is not important; what counts is the requests themselves because they build a person.

Then, the person starts to understand that he is in front of the unchanging, constant upper Light. And his request is what is changing him all the time, creating his increasingly closer similarity to the simple, abstract upper Light. The person will be revealing his own image inside his requests. The image will correspond more and more to the upper Light, the level of the Creator. That is, a person attains the forms of the Creator inside of his request to Him and thereby advances.

Hence, it’s written: “God grant that he prayed all day long!” All the work is based upon the request and prayer.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Frankly, it doesn’t really matter what assistance a person is asking the Creator for. The key is to keep asking every instant. May one never forget that there is none else besides Him, the good who does good. May one tie every little thing that happens to him with the Creator.

In fact, a person usually thinks that it’s not the right time to be asking for help, that he is supposed to do something first, succeed in something on his own, carry out some act, and only after that turn to the Creator. But that is all wrong! No actions are necessary. The entire method is intended solely for revealing the Creator.

Hence, the more frequently you turn to Him, the more dependent you feel on Him, the more you bother Him, transferring to Him all the responsibility for everything that is happening to you, the less you need to worry.

According to His program, He will push you away, hide, and place all kinds of obstacles and concealments before you. Regardless, make it a habit to constantly seek and appeal to Him. It is the shortest and most reliable way.

It doesn’t require intelligence, only perseverance. If a person takes such a position and doesn’t lose track of it (with the help of the group’s reminding), then by constantly turning to the Creator, the upper force, nature, he definitely discovers how to appeal, why, and for what. One learns the Creator’s character, which prayers He answers and which He does not. Thanks to his firm desire to enter this communication, the dialogue with the Creator, a person can start clarifying who He is.

This is described as “Do anything that is in your power, but just don’t leave.” That is, we must ask for everything, even without thinking, just a like a child who grabs whatever he may and keeps nagging at his mother: “Give me, give me, give me!” These appeals will give way to the clarification of what really is worth asking for, where the “commandments” and the “transgressions” are in all this, where one is given free will, and what the responses are to his actions. That’s how a person learns.

It’s good that this won’t let you get confused, and you won’t think that everything depends on you or the environment. You will connect all these three “dots” together: yourself, the group, and the Creator, and direct it all in the right direction, to the upper force, to being dependent on Him.

Later on, you will start assessing how you are asking. Are you appealing for your own sake, for the benefit of the others, or for the Creator’s sake? This is how you learn about it on the way.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/2011, Writings of Rabash

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In order to receive the Light that reforms, the force that will make us similar to the upper force, the Creator, and that will return us to the source of goodness and abundance so we would become just as good, bestowing, and loving, we have to place ourselves in the right conditions.

How can I prove to myself and prepare myself to make the right request from the upper Light so it would influence me? Only through the environment. I don’t have any opportunity in our world to prove that I want to become bestowing and good unless I organize the right connection with the environment to the best of my ability.

That is why before and during the lesson, especially while reading The Book of Zohar, every one of us must constantly feel that he has an unceasing connection with others, that he is in a net of connection where he loses himself and only feels everyone together. He must try to feel with all his might that he does not have his own “I,” but there is only “WE.” This is called the assembly of the souls of Israel (Knesset Israel)—the unification of all those who aspire to reveal the Creator.

If they unite together in order to reveal Him, that means the broken souls desire to unite together and ascend through their request for unification to Malchut of the world of Atzilut. Malchut of the world of Atzilut takes these desires, which aspire to unite and make mutual efforts to unite, and raises this request to Zeir Anpin. He, in turn, works on this request, corrects them, and then all who participate in it acquire the force of mutual bestowal and begin to feel closer, more connected together. Thus, gradually, step by step, very slowly they reveal the net of connection between them. When this net attains its first realization, we begin to feel that we are on the first degree of the spiritual ladder.

Therefore, while reading The Book of Zohar we must constantly aspire only toward unity among us so inside of it we would reveal the form of our connection called “the Creator.” After all, the Creator is the form of connection among us.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/11, The Zohar

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The upper Light remains at absolute rest, and nothing prevents the created being from feeling that it is controlled by one unique and unified force that fills the entire creation. It’s only the properties of the creature itself that won’t allow it to experience that force due to their being opposite to the Creator, the Light.

In fact, according to the condition of the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph), the creature’s properties have to correspond to the properties of the Light, bestowal. This condition is laid down by the Creator who wishes to bring the created being to the most comfortable state, just the same as His own.

Thus, the desire of the created being which doesn’t possess the intention to bestow is the one that fences it off from the Creator, not letting it feel Him, the Light, fulfillment. The correction that we must undergo in order to feel ourselves being inside the upper Light is regarded as the “screen” (Masach) or the intention to bestow.

Therefore, there is a concealment system, the concealment of the worlds that screens the Light away from the created being (a “world” in Hebrew is Olam and “concealment” is Alama), behind which it cultivates its egoistic desire. Then, a spark of the screen and the Reflected Light awakens in it, and it is the “point in the heart.”

If the creature fosters it, it is in a process where it’s constantly shown a new depth of desire by the system of worlds, to a greater and greater degree, beginning at zero. The former responds by showing a willingness to acquire the intention to bestow for this very desire.

In that case, the concealment system will grant correction to it, an anti-egoistic screen, the intention to bestow. The created being demands that the entire thickness (Aviut) of desire that the system of the worlds reveals to it from the left side be corrected by the screen, the intention to bestow from the right side. By tying these two forces together, desire and intention, the creature assembles itself in likeness to the upper Light.

As it grows, the creature experiences different feelings under the impact of the upper Light. It may think it’s free to do as it pleases. Moreover, it may ponder or not about it. It may strive to be free to a greater or lesser extent, or it may be clueless about this issue altogether, meaning it may be closer or further away from the animate or human degrees.

When the point in the heart, the spark of the broken screen and the Reflected Light, starts unfolding in a person, he or she gets an opportunity to expand it and demand the Light that Reforms for it. Previously, this spark, the broken screen, compelled him to want spirituality egoistically and to enjoy the Creator and the spiritual world selfishly. Whereas now he wants to turn it all into bestowal.

Thus, a person enters a Kabbalistic group and starts practicing bestowal in it. Whether it is successful or not, these are all necessary components of reaching a prayer, a plea. If the right type of need ripens in a person, the upper Light, which today brings him a feeling of being distant, will give him a feeling of being close.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/2011, Shamati #8

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