Question: How can we know that our actions are in favor of the Creator?

Answer: If the Creator is a certain form that I put together inside me, then I have to know what is in His favor and what is not. If the form I am putting together is a total form of bestowal, then it is in its favor to bestow.

The Creator is inside me. A person doesn’t know anything about what is outside him; the world that seems to surround me is an illusion. It is a lie that was created so that by my attitude towards it, as if towards an external world, I will be able to learn it in greater details, by bringing things out of myself.

If I could take out my feelings and my thoughts and see that I spread all over the world, then it would be the world of Ein Sof (Infinity). Then I would discover that our world doesn’t exist, that it is all parts of my vessels. In fact, there is nothing, not all the images and people around me. All this is me, called “Adam” (man) who is standing before the Creator’s force. Now I don’t see Him, but I was given a chance to start feeling Him.

We will never be able to know about anything outside ourselves since everything is only “from Your actions we shall know You,” and in order to do that we have to acquire spiritual attributes by ourselves. It is in that the spiritual world is different from the corporeal world.

There is a region in us that is like a white spot, in which we don’t feel anything now. This region is gradually being revealed and it is called “the upper world.”

There is also a region that I feel as “this world,” and then I begin to feel bad in it, as if it is crowded and too narrow in this circle. I begin to search; perhaps there is something outside it.

Some of my senses tell me that there is something beyond my boundaries because this part of my senses is concealed: I feel that I live in them and die. There are also different discernments in me: still nature, the vegetative, the animate, and the “speaking,” which I also feel as “this world.” They also appear and disappear, are born and die. I see their life and death, and by that I begin to think that everything is temporary and expendable; everything changes and then I feel a kind of emptiness. So I begin to search and to investigate what is beyond the bounds of this corporeal life.

If I don’t break out of my boundaries, how will I be able to discover what happens there? This is how we enter the upper world that is beyond the bounds of this world, but both this world and the upper world are all a desire to receive, and if we unite them, the outcome is the world of Ein Sof.
[98027]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: It says: “I awaken the dawn and it isn’t the dawn that awakens me.” Is there a certain sequence of internal events that allow me to awaken the dawn as quickly as possible without any delays and to establish the connection with the group and with the Creator?

Answer: We can only hasten time and the desire to become Adam (human).

According to scientific data, the universe is 15 billion years old. Humankind has developed for hundreds of thousands of years, and it is only in the last 30,000 years that we have begun to approach the true level of Adam. This evolutionary process takes time.

As people grow older they suddenly feel that everything is so temporary, “Life has gone by and I haven’t even noticed…” This is our corporeal existence: it goes on and suddenly you feel that you are old and that you are about to “leave the scene.”

In spirituality it is different. In spirituality you know and feel how many discernments you have been through, how the world has advanced and what people have learned by approaching spirituality.

There were long periods of “delays” in history. The last exile lasted for 2000 years, and the great sorrow is that the process seemed to be halted from Above. People suffered simply because there were not allowed to advance towards the goal, they burned and yearned for it, but there was only darkness in response.

Now, however, the opposite is true: I am given everything from Above, even more than I can absorb, but the trouble is that I don’t need it; I actually want other things and suffer because I don’t have them.

We find ourselves in the middle, in the “section” between exile and redemption, as the attitude from Above has changed. Today things have been “opened” for us from Above, all the doors are open and the food is actually brought to our mouth, and all we have to do is to open our mouth like nestlings, but we don’t want to…

In order to awaken the dawn, we have to start by “mechanical” actions. It is because during the spiritual descent a person is “dead,” still. So start moving, organize a clear and accurate daily schedule and make sure that you follow it carefully. Look for different things to hold onto, take upon yourself different tasks that cannot be avoided…

There are many hours of powerlessness ahead. In such case, I for example, begin to work on articles by Baal HaSulam and Rabash. It is a kind of “hobby.” I correct them, delete commas, change words and phrases, and put them in a simpler language, etc. By this mechanical work we try to get back on track. It is because in the current descent we have nothing internal left, and we can only make external efforts. We need mutual guarantee, support from the friends, and a rigid schedule is necessary.

In any case, the exit from the descent depends on our efforts. Therefore it says that Israel hasten time. The Light comes from Above, of course, but we awaken it.

On the whole, we are advancing at an extraordinary speed these days, and I really have great hopes regarding the Arava convention that will be held this weekend. You will see. It will be much more qualitative than the previous conventions and we will feel discernments that we can organize and compare with each other.

An inclination, tension, readiness and the ability to stay “fit” and navigate ourselves internally is building up in each of us, as if we are holding a steering wheel in our hands. A person actually has to feel, to discover this “steering wheel” inside him: The road is opening before us and internally a person constantly stabilizes himself on the road and stays off the shoulders of the road.

We are so close to that, so close to this mutual control when I know how to behave with the Creator, and then I can actually “drive” by myself…
[97935]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13, Writings of Rabash 

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: We can all plainly see that the human species must lead a social life, meaning it cannot exist and sustain itself without the help of others. Therefore, imagine an event where one retires from society to a desolate location and lives a life of misery and great pain there due to his inability to provide for his needs. That person would have no right to complain about Providence or his fate. And if that person were to do that, meaning complain and curse his bitter fate, he would only be displaying his stupidity.

This is because while Providence has prepared for him a comfortable, desirable place in society, he has no justification to retire from it to a desolate place. Such a person must not be pitied, since he is going against the nature of Creation. And since he has the option to live as Providence has ordered him, he should not be pitied. That sentence is agreed upon by all of humanity without dispute.

A person who retires from society will certainly suffer. This is the way we are built; we need society. It’s because no one can provide everything that he needs for his existence by himself. It’s the same with animals, and all the more so with humans.

Question: But why does Baal HaSulam use such a blunt language?

Answer: He wants to show that there are clear cut truths in nature: If you want to remain human, you have to live among human beings. If you want to be an animal, go and live among animals. A child who is born in a herd of cows takes an example from what he sees and becomes the same up to his physiological limits and possibly even beyond these limits.

The environment determines everything, no one promises you anything. By choosing the environment you determine your own future. So choose who you want to be; which society you want to join. There is a need to be accurate here: First you decide who you want to be, and then you enter the right environment that will turn you into who you want to be. Ideally, if a person advances correctly by adding his feeling, by checking himself, by listening to his attributes, then he will always find the right place, the right environment that will advance him gently and lovingly.

Unfortunately, we don’t know how to calculate things correctly in order for all of that to happen. The right environment is right at your side, but you don’t choose it. You keep on returning to different external circles, external societies, and are impressed by them. Eventually, you receive even the good impression through the prism of the external distortions and are left with nothing…

If you entered one of the environments “head on,” no matter which, you would find that environment very beneficial. But today you are mixing them and confusing them and you don’t know where you feel good and where you feel bad. It’s because there is no accurate discernment of any of them, only the mixed and blurry contours.

So it turns out that the real problem is actually not about entering a bad environment. On the contrary, get in and check it out. But this mixture of environments leaves us confused: we don’t know what we have received anymore and from where and cannot decide…
[98014]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/13, “The Peace”

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Question: How should we prepare for the Arava convention in the days we have left?

Answer: First, the desire is not corporeal so you don’t need a cable to connect to with the friends in order to exchange impressions or to build a network of pipes through which our desires could flow from one to another. The mutual connection already exists in reality, and although the men don’t feel it yet, they are all filled with the female desire and feel the results of the female convention that took place yesterday.

Desires know no barriers, and so all our successes are passed on to a collective vessel without any delay. After all, we are all one desire, one soul. If we unite, if we attain a certain equality, then it spreads not only among us but everywhere. It isn’t by chance that Rabash kept abreast of the news. We will see how the spiritual events are reflected in our world; by our aspiration upward, we activate spirituality and from there activate corporeality, and as a result new conditions are formed in this world.

Today, before the Arava convention, we have to feel as if we are approaching Mt. Sinai. During these three days a person cleans himself and should cut himself off, as much as possible, from all the daily interruptions. Then, of course, new interruptions will come his way, but they will already be according to the connection for which he prepares himself.

Here we must limit ourselves and draw a line, a real cut between the worries of this world and the worries about the convention. We have to be clean of all the corporeal accounts with the world, which can be very simple if we go there and turn off our cell phones. But it can be more complicated with the group. Eventually you should be left with only the spiritual accounts with the friends, and we already start preparing for that, or more accurately, it is not the preparation but already the fulfillment.
[97932]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Why do we connect during the convention? Is it in order to prepare a vessel for the revelation of the attribute of bestowal or only in order to support the men?

Answer: First, there is no separate male vessel and female vessel. Malchut of the world of Atzilut includes all the souls in it and if the men and women don’t connect in it, we don’t evoke Zeir Anpin and Malchut to connect in order to draw the Light from Above to correct us.

Today, we, the men and the women, which means the shattered souls, have to raise MAN (a request for correction) to Malchut of the world of Atzilut. It should be incorporated of the collective desire of the men and the women and in contact with its upper, Zeir Anpin (ZA). Then they activate an even upper couple called “father and mother.”

Thus, there are three couples operating here, which are similar stages of development or regression. By our “initiative” we evoke the second couple, and it evokes the third couple, and the fourth couple already belongs to Arich Anpin, to Ein Sof (Infinity).

This means that we have to stabilize ourselves correctly with regard to the spiritual levels Kabbalists tell us about. There are two “halves” here, male and female that perform a spiritual action, totally complementing one another in order to bestow. If we operate in the exact same way, we will be adapted to the upper and then we will discover ourselves in ascent towards Him.
[97917]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/13/13, Shamati #7

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Question: How can the right intention be achieved?

Answer: For the right intention, first of all you have to tie yourself to the whole world, which is an outcome of the Creator’s actions. Through this world, the Creator shows you His actions, so that through the right relation to the world you will be able to draw near Him.

Suppose, I am the owner of a big farm where I own land and horses. And I take you to work on this farm because I see that you treat me well and will be a loyal worker or even a loyal slave. It turns out that I check you not according to your attitude towards me, but towards my property, according to how you treat my house, fields, and gardens, meaning “my world.”

In the same way we also come, and thanks to the desire given to us from Above, we want to become the Creator’s workers. As long as this desire hasn’t awakened in us, we live like the horses on this farm. And those whom the Creator gives this desire become workers on the farm. And there are different workers: There are loyal workers who are totally devoted to the Creator like slaves, and there are workers that are not so loyal.

The Creator finds the person in whom the point in the heart was awakened that wants to adhere to the Creator, but he cannot be raised instantly to a minister’s position. Therefore, He gives the person all sorts of opportunities, smaller jobs, through which he very slowly ascends. Precisely such an opportunity is given to us now: By the actions that we perform on ourselves, we can show the Creator how much we want to draw near Him, to adhere to, and live with Him in one thought and intention, in one action.
[97845]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, The Zohar 

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Question: Baal HaSulam writes that while in the state of concealment we remain in the world of Assiya. How is it different from our material world?

Answer: In corporeality, none of us ever can tell the difference between giving and receiving. We never associate ourselves with either Lo Lishma (for one’s own sake) or Lishma (for the sake of others), nor do we feel the difference between good and evil.

It is said that the world of Assiya basically consists of evil, the world of Yetzira is half good and half evil, and the world of Beria is mostly good. When one is present in any of these worlds, one is able to differentiate between the giving and the receiving, whereas in our realm, we cannot see any dissimilarity between them.

At this time, we are at the lowest level of the world of Assiya that doesn’t have anything in common with the spiritual world of Assiya. We try to place our world on a general scale of spiritual worlds, since there is nothing except spirituality. However, our realm doesn’t have a place on the spiritual worlds’ ladder; it is an illusionary reality that is placed at the lowest level possible, at the very bottom of the world of Assiya; it is an illusion that produces the erroneous impression that it is possible to exist within the rigid boundaries of the desire to receive, in the pure egoism.

By no means is it possible. Although, the upper force maintains life in this corporeality to give us a chance to stay alive until a spiritual spark breaks out of us into spirituality.

In this world, there is a drop of spiritual semen, although it is “imprisoned” in this material realm and has no freedom to get out of it. Due to exertions applied by this drop of semen to free itself, it eventually breaks out of this world into spirituality. When it gets there, this spiritual spark begins to develop further in a new realm.
[97859]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Question: What do we correct: actions or intentions?

Answer: By correcting the intention, we alter the action. It is similar to a situation when it is enough to apply a good intention to a car that is broken and all of a sudden it starts to work fine.

In this world, we are “given the freedom” to do whatever we want until we completely destroy it. In spirituality, one’s actions are allowed solely to the extent of the correctness of one’s intention.

All depends on the screen: If you happen to correct it, you can use it.

In this world, we are given a chance to play as children and do whatever we want in order to educate ourselves. We won’t be allowed to enter spirituality until we learn how to use this world correctly. That’s why it is said, “This world is similar to an entrance-hall to spirituality.”

There is no action without intention. Only in this realm can one act without a good intention. By acting so, we lower ourselves more and more until we finally realize that we really need to bring up correct intentions. In spirituality, no actions are possible without good intentions. Besides intentions, there is nothing there at all.

For example, before I go to see a doctor, I need a correct intention. Only in this case will I cure myself completely: I will correct my soul and body. However, if I don’t have a good intention, I only treat my corporeal body.

So, it means that we haven’t taken advantage of the possibility that was granted to us. The reason we fell sick was to rise due to the illness we got, rather than just cure our physical bodies. If we continue acting this way, we won’t achieve correction, and the Creator will have to “shoot” us in some other places and cause new disturbances for us.

If our actions are accompanied by incorrect intentions, we harm everybody around us. It is all about the mutual guarantee. If we fail to have a correct point of view and develop a positive attitude, we will continue making mistakes.

Anything that happens to us has to be regarded through the prism of the group, through the unity. I see the world as either corrected or corrupt to the extent of my connectedness with others. Any deficiency that I come across depends solely on the level of my detachment or my unity with friends. It is the only thing that I observe and that is revealed to me in this world.
[97848]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, The Zohar

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Question: How can we explain to people that there is actually only one soul of Adam HaRishon (first man)?

Answer: There is a desire to receive and it is full of Light. This state is called Ein Sof (Infinity). There are no bounds, no limits; no matter what size the desire is, the Light fills it to the fullest. This is why in spirituality everything is measured not by qualitative parameters but by qualitative ones. If there is “one gram” of desire, there is “one gram” of pleasure to match it, and this is already Ein Sof, no limits—the Light and the desire are equal.

At the same time, when the desire to receive gets to know itself more deeply, it discovers in it a greater qualitative intensity until it reaches the central circle called the soul of Adam HaRishon. Inside my desire to receive, in my Malchut, I attain where I came from and for what reason. Then I really want to unite with the Light, and to receive the soul of Adam HaRishon.

Baal HaSulam brings the example of the guest who tells the host he wants to be like him.

– Well, says the host, I will do that for you.

Then the guest eliminates the Light, but, in fact, he acts against the host and begins to draw away from him in search for a state in which he can prove to himself and to the host that he can be like him in order to show the host his true bestowal.

In the same way, Adam HaRishon wanted to taste from the “tree of knowledge” using every means possible, which means to receive the Light in his vessels of receiving with the intention to bestow. This was the “sin of the tree of knowledge,” which is similar to the “shattering of the vessels” in the world of Nekudim, but in a more revealed manner. There are already details here like: “snake,” “Eve,” “the Garden of Eden,” and “Hell,” which means there are whole parts of the desire to receive whose essence and goal you already understand. Thus you penetrate into the depth of the desire that was created by the Creator. It becomes more detailed, more clear, more ripe, just like a fruit that ripens on a tree.

This fruit promises wonderful flavors and evokes great passion in you. The first taste was really in order to bestow: Adam and Eve received the whole Light of Ein Sof, but they didn’t have a whole desire yet with Reshimot (spiritual genes) aimed at this pleasure. But later, when the new Reshimot, the new tastes, penetrate the desire, it cannot relinquish the egoistic intention in the second attempt, or more accurately, it couldn’t avoid being tempted. After all, there are no “restrictive circumstances,” in spirituality. There everything is solved within the desire, and if I want to steal, I steal.

Now we have to correct these desires, the vessels. When we correct them, we return to the corrected soul of Adam HaRishon.

Why is it one for everyone? It is because everyone attains unity with everyone else. After all, the correction is actually the connection with everyone, thanks to which I attain the united vessel and in it receive the only Light of the soul. You cannot correct yourself separately and let them remain “evil.” There is no such thing. I will not correct myself if I don’t connect with everyone and correct everyone.

This is why eventually I come to a state in which everyone is corrected, and then I am called a “complete righteous,” which means that I justify and judge myself and the world to the scale of merit.

Imagine that someone next to you, speaking from his pure heart, says that the whole world is good and the Creator is good and benevolent and that there simply can be no evil. You look at him and you don’t understand where he is coming from: “Perhaps we should call an ambulance? Doesn’t he see what is happening in the world?” You don’t understand him, but he understands you; since he has already climbed the ladder of the spiritual attainment, he attains the whole soul of Adam HaRishon and sees everyone in Ein Sof. Although you feel our cruel world in your corrupt vessels, you are actually there too.

What should we do in order to feel this? Just one thing—correct ourselves. The world doesn’t change, you change, and then you see it differently. It is only your inner personal perception. Today you are looking at everything through the prism of your flaws so you don’t see the actual reality, but you see yourself the way you are today…
[97730]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13, “600,000 Souls”

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Question: How do the gradual changes happen that eventually lead us to a state where my neighbor becomes more important to me than I am to myself? What do I feel at each stage?

Answer: This kind of change happens in a person only with the help of the Reforming Light. Roughly, it can be divided into four stages:

1. We don’t sense anybody outside us; they seem so “lifeless” to us. They live some place near us, but we have nothing in common with them. We communicate with them, hug them, sing songs with them, but we still regard them as “puppets” that exist next to us.

2. Later, to the extent of the level of the affliction we go through, which is triggered by our concern that we are not advancing well enough, we start worrying: “What will happen to me?” At this time, we continue suffering and applying efforts, but we still don’t understand the ways to connect with others. This doesn’t “penetrate” our ears; they are only beautiful words, I have heard a lot of times…

The reality, the learning process, and everything we do become more and more important to us; although, our concerns about the relationships with our friends are still not quite clear to us. We don’t yet feel that our connection leads us anywhere. It seems to us to be just a sort of “morality” and even reminds us of the religious commandments.

3. Then, we begin neglecting everything that our friends do in the group: connections, dancing, singing. We are not capable of behaving this way. In our eyes, it seems very frivolous; we agree to act this way only because it creates a good and pleasant atmosphere and we know that we have to inspire our friends and stay together. So, we meet at joint meals in order to connect a little and maybe even attract new people to us. This is what we think.

4. At this point, we acknowledge that no matter what we do, it doesn’t work for us. We start noticing that at this time other people look much smarter in our eyes. We start thinking: “How do they do that?” We begin to re-evaluate our attitude and come to a conclusion that the unity is important.

No doubt, it is the result of the Light’s impact rather than a consequence of the mutual activities among friends. Although, since we still continue to participate in joint activities, the Surrounding Light descends to us. We start considering our activities oriented towards unity as useful, but still think that they are purely theoretical. We keep talking about them and continue reading and listening about group work more intently than before; previously we didn’t even pay any attention to the articles that describe these things. We thought that “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” etc. were worth reading, but the article “The Last Generation” reminded us of communist ideas.

Gradually, under the influence of the Surrounding Light, we start realizing that we have to work against our egos and overcome them. Then, we notice that overcoming our egoism and connecting with our friends are actually the same things; it’s impossible to achieve it differently. It’s feasible only while being in the group and exclusively through connecting with the friends.

Before, we never valued external actions and neglected them to the extent that we wished they would never exist. “Why do we have to unite with others? “Love thy friend sounds repulsive…Have you ever seen it happening? What are you talking about? I am embarrassed that Kabbalah books talk about things like that…”

All of a sudden, we notice that the internal content of our actions is totally oriented towards unity, the merger of our internal particles, rather than corporeal bodies. We keep neglecting our physical connections. If it doesn’t lead us to joining the points in the heart, we continue to despise the “tricks” and “slogans” like: “Let’s unite! Let’s sit together at meals and talk!”

We start changing our attitude to unity. All of a sudden we realize that it’s about connecting “the points in the hearts” with the help of the Reforming Light. That’s why we have to stay in the group. It’s different from spending time in the bar where people hug each other, sing, and feel good. Here, we also sit together, we can have a drink and hug although our intention is not to unite our bodies or some earthly egoistic ideals, but rather to try to bring our points in the heart closer and to ask the Light to impact us and connect them together. The Light influences us sufficiently to the degree of our mutual efforts and to the extent of our desire to unite.

This is the way we advance. Going through these stages is essential. As a result, we become confident that our presence in the group and the group activities are necessary to connect the points in the heart with the help of the Light. From this point on, we stop neglecting unity. We already know that spiritual realization is all about unity and our further advancement becomes more obvious to us. At the same time, we discover a new difficulty on our way: We have to figure out the way to detach our “self” from the point that we contribute to unity; we have to be concerned about giving “externality” more weight than to our own “self.” For that, we also need the Light. However, it’s the next stage and it also consists of four sub-phases.
[97565]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/13, The Zohar

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