Question: How do we work together in a group that surrenders itself to the upper?

Answer: For this, each one bows his head to each of the friends. With the help of the shattering of the Kelim you have been given the opportunity to work with the friends as with the Creator. You cannot see and attain this with your uncorrected desires; therefore, you work with the group.

The further you are from the upper Light, the further you are also from the friends. This builds the right state in you, a “shared field” where you can “play” and train with them. Your attitude to them is precisely your attitude to the Creator, but here you see results, you work together with them on changes of state, both in you and in the friends.

The Creator is absolute, and within the group there is reciprocity, the changes there prepare you much better for an encounter with Him. For you have two desires in you—a desire to receive and a desire to bestow—that appear before your ego and the ego of the friends; and through this you acquire a complete Kli ready to face the Creator.

The truth of the matter is that everything is prepared through divine wisdom, which supplies you with everything necessary in the form of the group for the entire path.

Suppose that you need to rise from level 120 to level 121. There, you find yourself in concealment also, and even further concealment, in absolute darkness, where there is no memory of the Creator, and inexplicable thoughts and feelings overwhelm you… so how do we rise from this terrible darkness to the next level? We do this only with the help of the group, as did the students of Rabbi Shimon. And you again discover that all the relationships between the friends are precisely adjusted for shaping this new level.

Question: So what can the group do to submit itself and to rise to the next level?

Answer: The group doesn’t need to submit itself; rather every member needs to submit himself to the concept of connection and unity. And then all of us together build a backing for revealing the Creator, a place for His residence, the Shechinah.

Question: But doesn’t there have to be a shared surrender when we pass through different states?

Answer: You feel what it is to be together, in one “sheaf” (omer). The main thing is to nullify, in other words, to submit yourself, with all your strength to build a connection between the friends. You humble your pride about the connection and are concerned only that everyone in the group, including the women and children, will be connected; that they will relate to each other with love, with understanding, without a single complaint against another. The Creator gives us a place for efforts, and we simply must build a connection among us. And if not, then there will be no continuation for this…
[104383]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/13, Writings of Rabash  

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Question: What is the difference between special people (composers, scientists, architects, artists, inventors, writers, etc.) and the masses? Why are some born talented and others not?

Answer: All of humanity is divided into levels, by the power of the “point in the heart,” the aspiration for the Light, Creator. Those in whom this tendency is clear become Kabbalists, and those in whom this tendency is less “become” talented because they subconsciously and intuitively sense the internal laws of Higher Nature and strive to present them in their creations or inventions. And the masses are called to carry out their instructions, learn from them, and adore them. In our time, “talented” people have disappeared and only Kabbalists are left…
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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 14: I once interpreted the saying of our sages, “He whose Torah is his trade.” The measure of his faith is apparent in his practice of Torah because the letters of the word, Umanuto (his trade), are the same (in Hebrew) as the letters of the word, Emunato (his faith).

It is like a person who trusts his friend and lends him money. He may trust him with a pound, and if he asks for two pounds he will refuse to lend to him. He might also trust him with one hundred pounds, but not more. Also, he might trust him enough to lend him half his property, but not all his property. Finally, he may trust him with all his property without a hint of fear. This last faith is considered “whole faith,” and the previous forms are considered “incomplete faith.” Rather it is partial faith, whether more or less.”

Question: If I trust someone with all my property, it must be someone I know very well who is reliable and someone I trust. Here, on the contrary, we are talking about the Creator who is completely concealed from me. How can I trust Him?

Answer: What is more, according to the example, it is the person who sees the Creator as the greatest deceiver. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any problems.

Question: Where does a person find the power to rise above his reason when the Creator is depicted to him as a great deceiver?

Answer: It is only from the Light that Reforms. It is because we have nothing, but a point of self-discernment that also was created by the Light. We still don’t understand that we have nothing. All our discernments are corporeal and it is impossible to clarify anything spiritual with them.

So, what’s left? It is a point in the heart, a small inclination to rise above the ego, and the external society, a picture of the external group that reflects the Creator’s image and with which I must cooperate, just like with the Creator. This is all that I have: a point in the heart and the group.

Additionally, there is some upper force to which I can turn if I try to be incorporated with the friends. By annulling myself, I want the force of bestowal that resides in them to reside in me too, but not because I want to be saved from the blows and the troubles. No, it is because, by these blows, I have something to give to the friends. Even if I suffer, I can add something; I can give them my devotion.

Question: How can I keep, and not annul, my inner resistance to the upper’s desire?

Answer: I cannot advise you here. The Light guides you, and its guidance focuses you on your inner development. On the way, a person begins to see and feel how the system is built and how its parts are connected. He discovers it internally.
[104224]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What are the perfect relationships between men and women in the group?

Answer: The perfect relationship is the mutual yearning to unite only our desires for the Creator and not any other desires. It is best if we don’t pay attention to the bodies. It doesn’t matter who I am dealing with, whether it is a man or a woman, but if it disturbs me, I should make it so that it doesn’t disturb me. In fact, in the spiritual world the male and the female desires exist in each of us.

There is a desire to receive, AHP and a desire to bestow, GE. This means that in the spiritual world things don’t take place the way they do in our world in the corporeal bodies. There only the desires connect, the desires for the Creator and no other desires; all the other desires are egoistic, and therefore they don’t exist in spirituality.

If a person wants to eat two meals for lunch, he should go ahead, since it doesn’t stand in the way of his spiritual advancement. If he likes a certain girl, then it doesn’t interrupt his spiritual advancement either. What’s important is what his main desire is focused on. If it is focused on the Creator everything else becomes part of that.

The relationships between men and women in the group should be regulated and organized so that they don’t interrupt the spiritual advancement in any way.

Question: Suppose that I can hug my friend as a man, but I cannot picture myself doing it correctly with women.

Answer: Your relationships with women should be established so that they don’t interfere with spiritual advancement, so that the spiritual and the physical are not confused. Spiritual is spiritual and physical is physical.
[104216]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 5

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“…His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural Law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.

Albert Einstein, “The World as I See It”

Question: Often times physicists are required to frame the results of their research in the language of formulas. However, the perfection and harmony of the phenomena they research cannot be confined to formulas. They manifest in sensations that come from Nature and are much more important than any dry numbers.

Answer: There is a physical law that can be defined as follows: “The tension of the field is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the objects.” This law covers various phenomena irrespective of what kinds of power fields to which they belong. Those who happen to understand this law also can feel it. Using our terminology, we would say that with each step we receive two times more Light.

Everything depends on the observer. Knowing (perceiving) is not a part of the formula, but rather, the formula unveils inside our sensations. We live through it and feel its impact on us. If we really know what this formula means, we sense the powers that act in accordance with it.

This also applies in spirituality. Thus, by adding the language of Kabbalah to the texts of The Book of Zohar, Baal HaSulam enhanced our sensations. We cannot see yet how this combination influences us exactly, but at the same time, we know that it allows the Light to impact us effectively and therefore lead us forward.
[103877]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/29/13, The Zohar

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Question: How will the force of unity in Europe help us reach our next level at the upcoming convention in America?

Answer: Europe and America have a strong influence on each other. But the fact is that the crisis in America is felt much less; there’s a possibility to gloss over it there. In America, there is one government, one power; there is no need to negotiate anything with anyone. They can do whatever they want and that’s it. They decided to print a hundred billion dollars more and printed them. The printing press is operating.

In Europe, it is much more difficult because it requires coordination between all the countries. That is why the crisis is felt much more there. If Europe had united, it could have dealt with the crisis easily. First, the crisis would have subsided quickly because the EU citizens had united above their egoism. In general, Europe is today’s Babylon.

But in addition, they would have begun to adopt a single solution and could do the same as the Americans. The whole crisis has spread only because Europe is divided. One part of Europe from Brussels dictates to the other part of Europe: And the other part doesn’t want this; in Nicosia, Cypress, the parliament refused to accept their decisions.

What kind of union is this? They will have to either truly unite or disintegrate.

In America, the condition is better from the point of view that they have simply decided, “We have no crisis.” They have determined this and live as if nothing has happened. But later of course, everything will “collapse.”
[104435]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/24/13, Lesson 6

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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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Question: I am very excited about your statement to women and I think that it is right, especially after the experience I gained as a result of the exercise that you suggested: try to get closer to unity and if you find that you criticize your girlfriends, attribute this to the Creator.

As a result of this exercise, I discovered that my attitude not only to my friends but toward absolutely everyone (except my kids) is criticism. It is like an instinct, like breathing, which you do not notice. And the more you do it, the more it persists. Despite the fact that I continue to attribute this to the Creator, it is growing, and I just don’t have strength up to the point of nausea. Sometimes there is a desire to have someone wipe me out.

What can I do with this if it is my nature? Men do not have it; they are much purer. How can we, women, help each other find and correct this quality?

Answer: Only when a person applies efforts to unite in the group according to the method of Kabbalah does one discover in herself or himself the forces that oppose this. These forces are called egoism. And all the other desires to “grab” more for oneself exist in everyone, even in animals, and from the point of view of Kabbalah are not considered egoism.

What to do: the same as the men do, who also have this but in a different form. The revelation of egoism (Pharaoh) is the highest gift of the Creator because this brings the need to turn to Him for help! And turning to Him leads to His revelation!
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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: If the created being was created in order to please it, then why must a person work in order to attain bestowal upon the Creator and cannot simply enjoy life, only goodness?

Answer: A person sometimes can enjoy the corporeal life, but not all his life and not all the time. Even very rich people who really have everything cannot feel pleasure every moment of their life since it wasn’t the goal of creation.

Looking closely, we will see that even a king’s life isn’t easy. The Creator arranges a role for everyone and forces a person to advance according to the goal of creation, in a good or a bad way. People usually advance by the path of suffering, which is called “in its time.” But if a person’s soul has a special root, he is given a chance to hasten his development, to “sanctify time,” which means that he actually can participate in the Creator’s work. In order to do so, he must hold onto two forces internally, not operate according to one force like ordinary people do.

It is impossible to advance only by pleasures in the corporeal world. We see that the world is sinking into greater suffering, despite the technological advancement that seemingly allows full prosperity. The Creator disrupts all our attempts to organize our corporeal life and doesn’t let us enjoy it. The evil inclination that He created constantly controls us, thus destroying all our good beginnings.

If our attempts didn’t contradict the goal of creation, then undoubtedly, everything  would work out somehow. We would live like animals according to our instincts and the plan of nature, and everyone would find his place in the general symbiosis. However, we cannot do that since we must reach a special state.

This refers especially to those in whom the point in the heart has awakened, but all people suffer since they feel the forces that compel them to develop. This happens “below reason,” unconsciously, without understanding where, why, and how they should develop, and what forces manage them and push them forward. A person instinctively tries to avoid an unpleasant, evil influence and is drawn to goodness. All his calculations are based only on where there is less suffering and more good.

However, for the special souls the Creator prepared a special of path of development by the good. They must summon the forces that develop them by themselves: the upper Surrounding Light that Reforms. These people are happy about the bad feeling just as they are about the good feeling, knowing and understanding that it all comes only from the Creator, that there is none else besides Him, and that He plays with us.

This entire life is a game since the upper one develops the lower one through a game, and we only need to accept the rules of this game, despite its complexity, the confusion, and its difficulty. We must exert ourselves greatly in order to identify the Creator’s game and to stay connected to the One who plays with us. In this case, we find ourselves between two forces, Pharaoh and the Creator, and are happy about the chance to advance. Then we really can advance only by the good way!

People who can hold onto these two forces and manage them by themselves like reins or who can become like a horse that advances by itself by guessing the desires of the rider, these people feel that they are happy. They have many problems. The entire world, for which they are responsible, is on their shoulders, but they are happy about their role, about the connection with the Creator whose commands they fulfill.
[104239]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/13, Writings of Rabash

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