Question: Why do I see the Creator as divided into so many different forces? Is it so I could relate Him to my different desires and qualities and perceive Him?

Answer: This is correct. When my ego, the desire to receive pleasure, imagines itself to be above the Creator, it begins to imagine idols instead of Him. Basically, it imagines some other forces, not the Creator exactly.

I see the imprint of my uncorrected egoistic desire as “other gods.” When I am not in the state of bestowal regarding a certain desire, when I fail to act in a corrected form, then the form in which my desire paints the Creator to me is called “idols.”

This is the difference between the ten impure Sefirot (Klipa) and the ten Sefirot of sanctity (bestowal). When I, looking through them from my corrupted Malchut, imagine Keter to be corrupted, this is called “other gods,” idols. And the way I see Keter when I look at it from the corrected Malchut is called the Creator.

The Creator corresponds to the spiritual degree at which I am able to connect with Him and reveal Him. But it is that same upper force, albeit relative to my degree. This is why “idols” are corrupted forms in which I imagine the single upper force, according to the way my ego paints it within my faults.

For this reason, if a person relates to the forms of these “idols” correctly, they will turn into road signs for him. He will understand that nothing is created in vain, and he will be able to advance specifically due to these forms. As it is written, Pharaoh brings us closer to the Creator.

I draw closer to the truth specifically by moving from one fake idol to another! Regardless of how unpleasant and opposite to the true state it is, we can work specifically with this oppositeness. This is because we do not yet have a connection with bestowal, “sanctity.”
[47436]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/2011, Shamati #15

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Question: Spirituality is based on bestowal. On what basis do we build our work while we are in “the period of preparation” for entry into the spiritual world?

Answer: There is an instruction: “Hear, O Israel!” That is, a person should direct himself at “The Creator is the only force above us, the Creator is One” (“the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”— the words of the prayer).

Suppose, I tell myself: “Hear, the Creator is the upper force above you, He is one.” This determines my direction that will take me to the Source, to revelation, adhesion, and unity. This is the foundation upon which our work is built, the axis along which I have to move. Now, I need to attach to this axis all the available means that I have to realize this principle.

The Creator and I are at the opposite ends of one line. And I get closer to Him by the means available to me: connecting “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator” into one whole.

The Torah is all that you can imagine; all that exists except the initial desire of the creature, as it is said: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice.” And I have to connect all this in one direction.

I lack closeness to the Creator; my goal is adhesion with Him. I do not know exactly what it means in terms of desires, thoughts, decisions, and the conclusion of this entire path. But I, the goal, and the means for achieving it exist, and I have to organize and use all that correctly. As to the destination, the result, it is one! Everything is included in this concept of the single One.

Along the path, we obtain different forms of the mind, thought, decision making, and action—absolutely everything is changed within a person. The Light makes a revolution in him or her and creates a new human being.

Now we cannot imagine what it is. But in each state, at each stage, you should strive to do what you are able to and must do now, at this level. And then it will turn out that everything acts in one direction. This includes your search and especially your struggle with the obstacles, when you try hard to discern them and see that your egoism works here, knocking you off your path, from the thought that “There is none else besides Him.”

You have to check all the time with special attention: Whether I am in peace and agreement with the one upper force in everything I do? Is the entire universe divided now in my thoughts and feelings in two or even three parts, as if there are the Creator, the rest of creation along with various reasons, and me?

Somebody annoys me, puts all sorts of obstacles, and causes problems—this means that I do not connect this whole world with the Creator and I recognize idols, “other gods.” Indeed, how could there be any other reasons for my states if there is one force acting in the universe?

I need to verify how I react to all these reasons, to each person, enemy or friend, and to each problem: Do I perceive them as existing separately or do I combine all of them and see behind them the Creator who performs all this farce, so that by connecting all this together and attributing all to Him, I reach the principle of  “there is none else besides Him”?

This is a serious work, and if a person is sensitive and analyzes his states carefully, he advances correctly and rapidly.
[47448]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/2011, Shamati #15

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question: So which part of this depends on me?

Answer: Work with the intention. We don’t change the desires, but the intention. And only it. I don’t care which protrusions and indentations are present in the hole that I fill with water. They will remain the way they are, while my task is to fill it.
[47687]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/11, Matan Torah

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A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

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Question: The idea of the interaction of two opposites rarely went beyond the limits of purely philosophical exploration and cultural discourse. You revive it again, although humanity is tired of the attempts to implement it.

Answer: The person asking this question is probably a philosopher, so here is an excerpt from my new book: “The very idea that the course of evolution is defined by the interaction of two opposites emerged a long time ago. Suffice it to recall a dual opposition of yin and yang in Chinese mythology and philosophy, the Love and Strife philosophy of Empedocles, a conflict between Good and Evil in the Abrahamic religions, and the Hegelian Dialectic.

In scientific evolutionism of the second half of the 19th century, Herbert Spencer based his theory on the opposition of differentiation and integration. Throughout each era, this universal idea received new additions, a new meaning, depending on the level of human spiritual development.

Therefore, it is important that in modern evolutionism, a new theory of coevolution emerged. According to this theory, the development of the inanimate and animate natures is determined by the interaction of two principles: “cooperation” (coevolution) and “competition,” and what is more, the focus is placed on the first, but not the second principle.

It should be noted that coevolutionary processes—the reciprocal development of systems (or elements inside a system) with mutual selective demands—had long been detected in biology. However, they were considered “peripheral,” minor, and were limited only to various types of symbiotic relationships (parasitism, protocooperation, commensalism, mutualism, and so on).

In recent decades, the term “coevolution” went far beyond biology, acquired a much wider, essentially, philosophical meaning, and provided a basis for the formation of a new scientific cognitive model that has a significant impact not only on natural sciences, but also on humanitarian thought and is included in the study of processes occurring at all the levels of the animate and inanimate natures, from the sub-atomic and molecular-genetic to social life and the coevolution of ideas.

This idea has considerably undermined the established stereotypes of competition as the main driving force of evolution: The coevolutionary approach destroys the old image of Nature as “the war of all against all” and a ruthless struggle for existence.

In fairness, it should be noted: Charles Darwin warned that he used the concept of “the struggle for existence” “in a large and metaphorical sense, including dependence of one being on another.”

This principle extended to social life. “A tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each other and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over other tribes; and this would be natural selection.”

Nonetheless, for a long time, the words “the struggle for existence” were taken literally and found its extreme expression in Social Darwinism, insisting that the strongest wins. And the fact that the role of coevolutionary processes and cooperation is realized nowadays is significant.

This is an indicator of important transformations in the consciousness of a modern person, in his system of values. Even if competition is not giving way to the ideals of cooperation, mutual help, and solidarity, it is visibly losing ground and is no longer perceived as the fundamental law of Nature, justifying ego-centrism in all its manifestations.

It is no accident that proponents of the coevolution theory believe that its dissemination will help to rebuild the relationships between humans and nature and even create a new type of civilization based on cooperation, nonviolence, and dialogue.”
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Question: If I am the desire to enjoy and remain it forever, how can I give?

Answer: I give by receiving everything from the Master! By doing so, I bring Him contentment. In order to bring Him endless pleasure, the same as He gives me, I cannot remain a petty, egoistic receiver; I need to receive “for the sake of bestowal.”

The desire to receive is limited as it is impossible to receive more than this corporeal world. Even now, we are in the world of Infinity, surrounded by the Creator’s love. However, we are only able to feel it to the smallest degree in which we sense this world; it’s the maximum that is possible.

If all the generations of humanity throughout time were given all the pleasures of this world, it would be called a “thin candle” (Ner Dakik), a tiny spark of Light. More Light cannot be revealed inside the receiving desires. All the remaining Light can only be revealed in the desires to bestow.

Why is there such a strict condition? The fact is that the spark is the only thing that stands opposite to the desire to enjoy created by this spark. This world is a manifestation of the spark that created the desire to enjoy.

The subsequent development of the desire occurs thanks to its sensing the Giver. That is, everything beyond our world, all the infinite, big, spiritual Light which we later feel becomes revealed by virtue of feeling the Giver.

But I cannot feel the Giver if I do not have the same quality: bestowal. It turns out that I must acquire altruistic desires, and to the extent of my bestowal, I will feel the bestowal of the Creator. And this will be called the upper Light.

The Creator’s bestowal, His love for me, I can only feel to the degree of how much I give Him—if our desires are similar. Otherwise, I will not be able to feel it. The Creator is revealed to me fully even now, but can I feel it? No, I can’t. I lack the tools, the desires.

To the extent that I develop my desires, I will feel Him. This will be my Light NRNHY, the revelation of the Creator’s attitude towards me, His love. Bestowal is revealed first and then love.
[47313]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/2011, Shamati #38

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

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

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

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

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

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Question: What does it mean to become “ready for correction”?

Answer: A person ready for correction is the one who has reached this state and, according to his properties and the law of the equivalence of form, is able to sense some new, special phenomenon. It’s when he sees that it could not come naturally, but only as a result of the relationship between the two, the upper one and the lower one.

We need to understand that there are the Creator and the creature, and an abyss separates them! There is no connection between them. And only to the extent to which the creature shows its readiness to become like the Creator, to that extent will it sense the Creator within itself.

This readiness is given as special good luck, good fortune, to the extent of one’s willingness to cancel oneself and bow, if he is willing to continue on this path no matter what might happen. He can check whether he is still on the correct path, whether he fits this group (although, how much the group fits him depends on him as well), and if he does not abandon his efforts and continues, he will attain spiritual revelation.

But a person does not know from where it will be revealed. Our earthly minds and hearts can never know about the next states. They are always revealed so suddenly and in such an unpredictable form that it is impossible to expect them in advance. After all, we acquire a new nature. That is why if one continues faithfully and with perseverance, if he goes, bowing his head and valuing the greatness of spirituality, he will reach the goal.

Now, you have neither the feeling nor the mind to understand what was said, but you will acquire the feeling and the mind by virtue of going like “an ox under the yoke and a donkey carrying the load.” Nothing more is required from us! We will receive everything else, the whole vessel, from Above.

The whole difficulty of our work is that we have to work as if in one place, and revelation is received in the other. I will not get the next stage in my egoistic desires of today, or my earthly feelings and mind, or even in my spiritual attainment with which I am already at some step of the spiritual ladder.

I reach it only because I cleave to it and nullify myself so that big and strong as I am, I turn into a tiny drop of semen and become included in the upper degree. That is why, if you ask how you can reach spiritual revelation, the answer is: “By turning yourself into a point….”

“Good fortune” does not mean winning it like  with the lottery, but what is called: “I have labored and I found!” It happens in every moment; I put effort and “find” something in a totally different place. It really falls on me from Above like a gift. This is called “good fortune” that you do not expect in advance. You may wait for something, but not in the form that you will receive it.
[47340]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: Could you describe all the states that we have to go through from our present condition to the true request for bestowal?

Answer: These are not some kind of clear, sequential steps that we can understand. These states are changing: coming and going.

But it is clear that at the very beginning, when a person comes, it seems to him that he can achieve everything himself, alone, and that he is not dependent on anything, neither on the teacher nor the group. He thinks that books are enough for him to advance.

Then, he has a revelation, and the only question is how much time it would take. Sometimes, egoism plugs his eyes and ears so much that he sees and hears nothing, and thus, it may take years. Sometimes, this happens sooner.

However, all theses stages that we have to experience are the levels of our awareness of our inability to reach the goal and of our dependence on the teacher, the books, the group, and applied efforts of one kind or another. Thus, we rise step after step until we come to the understanding that we depend only on the Creator, the notion that incorporates all previous factors: when I couldn’t manage without the teacher, the books, and the group.

Now, I reveal that everything is included in Him, in the concept I call the “Creator.” And then I really see that everything around me, except me, is He alone, and there is no one else. I understand that I am not able to and cannot, but nevertheless have to persuade myself  to seek Him all the time.
[47212]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/2011, Shamati #5

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The Zohar, Chapter “Truma (Donation),” Item 432: …all the people in the world know that they will die and return to dust, and therefore many repent and return to their Master because of this fear. They fear sinning before Him.

Question: What is the meaning of “to die”?

Answer: “To die” or “to live” talks about the desire. According to The Zohar, “alive” means bestowing and “dead” means receiving.

In spirituality there is no life or death. We talk about life and death in our world because we perceive only one form of existence and we see that this form seems to disappear from us. We think that life is the body when it’s breathing, and death is when it stops breathing.

But to a person who starts to feel spirituality, this distinction becomes very strange: How is it possible that this is the indication by which we tell the difference between what exists and what doesn’t exist, what is alive and what is dead? That’s because this person shifts to perceiving a different form of existence, and the earthly notions of life and death disappear for him.

If a person shifts to a more important perception where bestowal is considered life and reception death, then he rises above the level of an animal to the level of a human, and then life to him means existence on the human level and death on the animate level. He does not connect life and death to the existence of the animate body.

Then this animate body disappears from his sensation, losing its significance for defining his state, life and death. Even if the body dies, a person is already on a different degree of desire in the sensation of life and death in relation to spirituality, and he is united with them.

Therefore, this world no longer causes him to experience breaks in the process of the soul’s development.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/11, The Zohar

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