Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: Who is the Almighty, all His deeds are to bestow and to benefit the other, and not at all for His own benefit because He, the blessed, has no lack that needs to be fulfilled, and also he has no one from whom to receive, also you, all your deeds will be to bestow and benefit the other.

Question: What does it mean “to bestow and to benefit the other”?

Answer: It means that I need to feel exactly what you want. And for that I need to be in love towards you, in an inclination toward you. Meaning, I need to do a “Tzimtzum (restriction)” upon myself and to assemble on all my desires a “Masach (screen)” and “Ohr Hozer (Returning Light).” Then in my qualities, that will be directed outward and not inward to myself, I might be able to understand and to feel you and reveal precisely what you want.

I need to receive all your “tastes” from you even though I don’t recognize them. And for me, you are some kind of alien that came from another planet. Still, I take upon myself your vessels in such a form I even receive what your mother fed you in your childhood.

How is it possible to feel this in my vessels, my desires, if I have no idea what you are made from and what inner reaction you feel toward anything? Here I really need to come closer to you, to love you. In the wisdom of Kabbalah we call it “nearing,” embracing,” “kissing,” “coupling,” and “adhesion”; these are concepts that symbolize measurement of connection through equivalence of desires and mutual fulfillments.

Question: I mean, what seems to me now that the other is lacking something, is it only how it seems to me?

Answer: You cannot interpret your needs in your current vessels. Yes it is true that in our world the means of communication and the influence of the environment make it possible somehow to bring the desire into a common denominator, but to really feel what is in the heart of the friend is the same as to feel the Creator. You need to make a Tzimtzum, Masach, and Ohr Hozer. Only in this way will you feel him as yourself and only in this way will you be able to exit toward the other.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/31/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How can I annul myself correctly before the teacher? As it is written, “The left rejects, and the right adducts.” I must build my middle line from these two systems, but how exactly: receiving something in parts or everything as a whole?

Answer: The middle line is the adaptation to the upper. It symbolizes that I receive everything that comes from my teacher as much as I can. In general, a “teacher” is called a guide on the spiritual path. I must receive what I hear from him spiritually, instead of rationally. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be a teacher.

On his part, he wants to prepare you with his explanations about leading an independent life.

However, in order to receive from him all the discernments, all the preparations, all the instructions, and the guidance, I must annul myself before his teaching, before his path, before all that relates to the system. In order to realize the system, I need a group. The “head”—which means the idea, the teacher’s plan—resides in the group, and I enter it and am “swallowed” in it. Then, when I am in the group, we all advance according to the teacher’s guidance as he leads us and “pulls” us, the group and me in it, after him.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“: Rather, we understand Dvekut as equivalence of form between two spiritual objects, and we understand separation as disparity of form between two spiritual objects.

Question: What is “equivalence of form?”

Answer: There are two categories: internal and external. For example, I see different statues. One is made of marble, another of plaster, a third one of clay, and yet another of granite, plastic, and so on. They all have the same external form, but the material is different.

In the same way, we also are required to reach an equivalence of form. First, your material—which means who you are and what you are—is revealed in the form of cotton, wool or clay, and from this material, you sculpt an upper image. Your “material” is your attributes—your desires, thoughts, everything that you are internally.

Then, you create the image of the upper from a harder material, and, although it is less pliable, you can create more accurate forms. Each time, the material gets increasingly harder, until you reach the hardest material, and, accordingly, you reach a much more accurate resemblance to the upper. It will be total accuracy, a complete equivalence of form, adhesion.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How can I know where to go in advance? How can I aspire for the next level of adhesion in advance if it is revealed to me after the fact?

Answer: Indeed, we don’t know anything along the way and we cannot find any landmarks except for the shattered Reshimot (spiritual genes). In order to implement it correctly, I need a certain environment, a certain reality, which means that I need a group. The fulfillment of the Reshimot is done by the Light.

On the whole, there are several components here: Reshimot, my general desire with all its features, the group in which I am incorporated, and the Light that operates on us. If I want to be a faithful, active part in the system in these components, I must annul myself to adhere to the friends and see them as the greatest in our generation.

I must need the Light that Reforms, the Creator’s influence, thanks to which we connect among us, but what is the reason that we connect? It is in order to support Him or to be the place wherein He is revealed. What for? It is in order to bring Him contentment.

So, I must do my best to build all the details within me and start working.

Initially, there is nothing spiritual in me, but only an “animal” desire. It is in this desire that the point awakens, the upper level, the “human” level, or the Creator. This is the shattered Reshimo that I cannot fulfill until I am brought to the group, to the books, to the teacher, and, in general, to the Light that Reforms. Then, I annul my desire to receive and see within me only the Reshimot, which I want to incorporate in the group.

I take this point out of my heart and bring it to the group so that it will live there and receive bestowal from everyone. Thus, through the friends, I receive the Light that Reforms. Together with them, I study and perform different actions and gradually change.

I leave only the necessary minimum in my desire to receive, which “is neither condemned nor praised.” This is my “animal,” the “animate” level, while I develop the “human” level in the group.

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Question: How does my integral sense of perception, the new layer of my psyche combine or resist my subjective “I,” my individuality?

Answer: Your individuality is beneath your “we.” Never pressure your “I.”

The thing is that your “I” always keeps growing in the sense that you can realize yourself through the “we.” As you include yourself in the common organ of humanity’s entire desire and thought, you begin to “swell,” expand.

Your expanding sensations and consciousness seem to cover all of mankind. Like a pregnant woman with a fetus inside her, you will feel like you contain all of humanity inside you. This is the actual realization of your “I.”

Your inclusion in everyone else is your individuality. For example, a woman’s individuality in her family is expressed through the fact that she holds everyone, serves everyone, takes care of everyone, for the family she is—everything.

Otherwise, your individuality will be expressed through your egoism, individualism, and separation from everyone. There is no longer a place for this in our world, we are going to a new level.
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From KabTV’s “Integral World” 11/27/12

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Question: How can individuality be retained in an integral world?

Answer: Egoism does not die, it constantly fuels the “we,” and your “we” always keeps growing. Then you will discover that your egoism keeps constantly growing.

As a result of common egoistic development over thousands of years, we have come to a certain level of fulfillment and have become round. And now we are a society which does not wish to think about anything, a society where drugs and entertainment rule, and we do not need anything else.

As soon as you begin to perceive the integral society and include yourself in it, a new kind of egoism appears, “round” egoism, which grows when your individual egoism pushes it up towards the next level.

Today, many people feel like they are losing their individuality because nature nullifies it, and people find that they are lost; they do not know who they are, what they are, and what their purpose is. Today they can no longer realize themselves as they did in the past before egoism became round; today there is nothing they can realize themselves with.

This is why the generation of the last 40-50 years is considered to be the lost generation. It is called that way because egoism has stopped growing; people do not feel the need to make a family, to have children. Why should I strive towards anything, make plans, discover new planets, as if there were anything out there. Desire has disappeared, egoism has stopped growing; it has become round.

Begin to adapt yourselves within this new form of egoism and you will see how it will begin to grow within you, but in a round way, the circle will either begin to expand or rise. This is our next stage. In other words, the form of egoism has changed, it has become global and integral; further growth will continue and it will be beautiful.

We will begin to see absolutely new forces and new interconnections in nature, we will be attaining nature, and we will suddenly discover fields, laws, and forms Einstein could only have dreamt of.

The new mechanism of feelings and mind will enable a person to feel all of nature holistically, see its entire diversity, and perceive in it the forces that govern everything, the network of forces, which he will discover himself. He will create an analog of the common nature inside himself; he will begin to delve into all of its layers. This is a completely new science, about which little is written, the next inner stage of development.

Humanity will discover this stage of development. And once it begins to develop altruistically, increasingly strengthening the inner connection between them where gradual unification, mutual feelings, and understanding take place, which will continue until this common network of interconnection turns into a completely analog connection, then we will lose the perception of time.

This is the entrance into the field of forces where mind and feelings exist and matter does not. Now we only perceive it in our egoistic senses. As soon as egoism fully transitions to altruism, a full interconnection between us, the perception of the existence of matter will disappear.
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From KabTV’s “Integral World” 11/27/12

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Question: We say that I see myself in the friend, but which part of him exactly is my reflection?

Answer: If I consider a person my friend, then he really does become my mirror. If I see something negative in him regarding my spiritual advancement, then I should understand that this negativity is within me and that my perception is simply distorted.

As for other people, it is a different story. It is clear that I should remember that they represent the Creator, but, in that case, they don’t represent the external reality as a replica of my internal attributes. We need a serious study in order to treat people on the outside who are not members of the group correctly. To the extent that the first part of the system is revealed as GE, we will learn to treat the AHP correctly.

So, it is only in a friend that I should see my reflection. It is as if the Creator puts a mirror before me at a certain angle and each time shows me a certain part and says that I should look at myself, at my flaws. He reflects my attributes outwardly, dresses them in different figures, and presents them to me.

At the same time, when I look at the friend, I don’t attribute everything to me, but only what belongs to the spiritual path. However, this already depends on the level of connection. If I love someone, I don’t see any flaws in him; I simply love him. People say that it is a habit, but it isn’t. On the corporeal level, my desire to receive doesn’t want to suffer and so it guards itself. I get used to the flaws of others, and it is as if I don’t pay attention to them so as not to suffer all the time. However, in spirituality, as it is written, “Love covers all transgressions.” Love covers all the sins, and it isn’t a habit, but the work of correction.

On the current level, it happens that I envy a friend since I see in him something better, attributes that I would like to have myself. It is painful. Do I thank the Creator for this pain? After all, He shows me that I am inferior to the others. I begin to regret and search, and this brings me to the question: Why don’t I actually love the friend if I see that he is better than me?

Thus, in the example the Creator presents to me, He shows me an opportunity for advancement. Otherwise, I would have remained “dead” on the level of the still nature, but now, thanks to the envy, lust, ambition, and even hatred, I have “fuel,” a “fuse,” and I cannot sit still.

Sure, I can calm myself and say, “Nonsense, it only seems this way.” But, I can do the opposite, hold onto the feeling, and plan how to exit the negative attributes that were revealed, to make a real plan of how to rise.

Question: But still, do I have to attribute all of the friend’s negative qualities to myself automatically?

Answer: You are right; the animal attributes are irrelevant. If, for example, he is too hasty or a bit lazy, it is nature that has given him these attributes. Someone may be slow and another may be too loud; everyone has a collection of innate, corporeal attributes.

We are speaking about an inclination to change, about the fire that burns in a person. This is what you need: reasons to feel envy. Do you envy his innate attributes or his sensitivity and his yearning for the goal?

Question: Suppose I see that the friend is sleeping during the lesson, and I understand that it is actually I who is sleeping. How can I make use of that? After all, I don’t find any flaw in myself.

Answer: It is very simple. If you are not sleeping, then he isn’t sleeping either. Include him within you, and try to wake up his image inside you. Even if he continues to sleep during the lesson, he will receive everything through you.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/29/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“

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Rabash, Letter No. 29:“We should not deposit exterior waste inside ourselves as does the tree. One has to take his filth out of the state of concealment and reveal it through one’s sensations.”

Question: I consider myself perfect, but Rabash offers me to look for filth inside me?

Answer: Indeed, how do we take the waste that we can fertilize ourselves for growth?

We receive it from the higher level. It’s the waste of the upper. Similarly as in this world, plants are fertilized by animal waste. This is a natural process, but in the modern era, we resort to using various technologies for it.

Returning to spirituality, if we compare ourselves to trees, then the waste of the next animate level serves as food for us.

Consequently, in order to find a suitable fertilizer, we should seek connection with the upper and accept something that looks like “waste” to us. This is a condition of our advancement. The upper actually is bestowal, love, self-annulment, and concessions. Even though we regard these things as “garbage,” we have to accept them as food.

Question: How can I possibly strive for it if I see myself as perfect?

Answer: Sit with us and you’ll see that you are very far away from being ideal.

In any case, you should not be embarrassed to receive “waste.” Something that our egoism regards as “garbage” has to be consumed by us as food; we should try to feed our souls with it.

The upper is giving, “brilliant,” and clean, but you look at this and don’t want it. So, now we have to change our attitude, work in the group, study, and strive to feel a little “charm of the upper” in seeing its bestowal. And even if you don’t want it, are already tired of it and have other things in life that are important, that is all clear; but we’re talking about changing values. You should increase the importance of the upper, and although at first His properties seem insignificant to you, “debris” under your feet, you have to give them value until they really turn into the food that we like, like trees enjoy cow manure.

By the way, if you could see what waste you enjoy now, you would not be averse to the upper’s waste.

Question: I am driven by my egoism. How can I possibly slow down this “engine” with garbage? How can I admit that my egoism has downsides if I live only in it and for it?

Answer: In the soil of your desire there appeared a new seed, a spiritual spark that was ignited in you by the Creator. By doing this, He gave you an opportunity to grow. However, it’s hard work; it has to break through the shell for the seed to sprout. If you really want it to grow, you need to apply an external power. In his article “The Freedom of Will,” Baal HaSulam explains that in order to grow, a seed needs to be placed in favorable external conditions: temperature, humidity, fertilizers, minerals, everything that helps to implement its potential to grow.

That’s why if you continue to be full of the pride about your “perfection,” you simply will bury yourself and the seed will rot in vain. A long time will pass before there will be another chance to “wake it up.” So, change your values and continue to move forward by using the same old egoistic “engine.”

To this end, the group keeps “poisoning” you:

“You will be really great in our eyes,” your friends say, “if you clean the bathroom. We think that it is the most respectable job. Those who do it demonstrate their love to others and thus others love and value them back. If you do not do it you won’t be worthy in our eyes.”

Their request initiates an internal struggle: “Who, me clean the toilet? Never! But, if I don’t do this, they won’t respect me….” Eventually, if your egoism is big enough and your friends work with you correctly, you will gladly fulfill their request since it will make them respect you even more, thus you will secure a legitimate place in the group for yourself.

Consequently, you “sell” yourself to your friends with the help of your egoism. It means that your ego worked as “help against you” since without it your friends wouldn’t even have a chance to play with you or bring you closer to them. So, it is your resistance that made it possible for you to get closer to the Light.

By the way, the egoism per se plays a very mean and disgusting game with you: It makes you do “junk” work and then leaves you without any compensation, but your friends pay you well for your efforts…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You have said that when we study the integral method, we begin to perceive the negative qualities of other people as positive. What does this mean?

Answer: This means that until I rise above my egoism, I do not see others, I only see myself. But when I rise above myself, I suddenly begin to appreciate another person the way he appreciates himself. In other words, I see that his actions are good and proper. I was wrong to appraise him the way I did from my prior egoistic point of view.

Comment: Then we have not only the collapse of the subjective “I,” but also the crumbling of all the ethics.

Answer: There are no ethics in our egoism, nothing but trying to take as much as possible and pushing everyone as far away as possible. I am speaking about our nature.

When we look at another person, we try to find faults in him, feel that he is beneath us, and that we are better than him. This is a natural defense response of our egoism. This is the way we regard the entire world.

I look at my child and somebody else’s child. My child is always at least better somehow in my opinion.

I always put myself in a more beneficial position; otherwise, there is no reason for me to exist. The egoism’s defensive reaction is directed towards providing me with support that I have the right to exist, and I exist.

But when I rise above me, I see others through completely different eyes.
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From KabTV’s “Integral World” 11/27/12

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Question: I don’t understand how a person can despair of his own powers and cry out if I simply feel tired of everything and throw it all aside when things get tough? Where should I stop and feel despair?

Answer: We don’t know in advance where we should stop. If the outcry is planned, then it isn’t a cry of despair. A cry of despair has to come from inside you without any prior planning as one sees that he has no other choice. If you feel confused and are too tired and don’t know which way to go, it is an indication that you don’t feel that the goal is important.

Now the goal doesn’t seem important to you, and you don’t understand why you are making such efforts. Once you were full of energy and chased different pleasures and wasted your powers. What nonsense does a person do during his lifetime and all just to feel some fleeting pleasure? Sometimes you lie on the couch and don’t want to get up since there is nothing to get up for, and sometimes you get up and run, losing your head, ready to do anything.

It all depends on how important you feel the goal is, which is the main thing we should attain. The importance of the goal is the importance of bestowal, the importance of actions that are far from self-interest, which I cannot perform since I am not motivated to and have no fuel to perform them. How can I do something in which there is nothing for me? My body cannot move in such a case. Our whole world works only on the energy of the desire to receive, that receives a filling, pleasure, reward. But if I don’t see a reward, I cannot do anything.

Thus the Creator gets close to me and takes away my last powers to do anything. The attribute of bestowal comes close to me, and I don’t feel that I am motivated to do something, I actually cannot move.

Fortunately the attribute of bestowal doesn’t dress in the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature; otherwise, all the electrons, all the molecules, all the protein matter would stop and my body would freeze and become motionless; it would die, and disappear. Luckily the attribute of bestowal gradually comes closer and is dressed only in the “speaking” level in me.

But the moment it gets close to my shattered egoistic desire, I immediately feel that I am losing my energy, the fuel, the power, the motivation. So what can I do? The Creator’s getting closer at this point is meant to deprive me of the egoistic motivation and to force me, having no choice, to turn to the group. From it I will receive the impression as to the importance of connection, advancement, the greatness and the importance of the goal. I will be able to work by using the group’s fuel.

All this is necessary in order to help me adhere to the group and start bestowing upon it. By such actions I am incorporated in the group and I receive its values. I want to be with everyone because I respect them and see them as my group. They help me and they seem great and important. A person submits to the environment and has to make special efforts to be incorporated in it.

To the extent that I am incorporated in the environment, I receive a unique quality. It is a special chance that doesn’t exist in any method except the wisdom of Kabbalah. A miracle happens, a special power that influences me as a result of my preparation, and it corrects the shattered vessels in me.

These shattered vessels symbolize my readiness for correction. The Light that operates and influences them corrects them. This is called a healing action, like it says: “a remedy for one’s flesh.” Then I really begin to respect and to value bestowal, I suddenly discover in me respect and appreciation for this attribute and want it to be dressed in me. I want to annul myself and to connect with others. Suddenly I have such thoughts and desires that are not typical of my nature at all. But now I suddenly feel such an unnatural yearning and I understand that it is a result of the influence of the Light on me. So we advance.

Without a group, there is no way to receive the Light that Reforms, since it comes from the upper system, through the teacher, through the group, through the books until it reaches a person. There has to be a chain.

The group is not in the spiritual world yet or may be partly in it. The teacher is in contact with the souls of the Kabbalists that preceded him, with his teachers, and a person connects to the group through the books, dissemination, and working together, and thus connects to the goal by ensuring himself a connection with the source of the Light.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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