Question: How can the group compel me not to discontinue my inner efforts?

Answer: You have to completely immerse yourself into the group and reveal there an inner network of mutual inter-connection. Imagine that there exists a certain system called your environment where you are connected to as its inseperable, integral part. You depend on everybody, and they completely control you: your thoughts, desires, intentions, and actions.

However, it is your desire to be under the total, absolute authority of others, to completely lose yourself in this inner system by uniting with everybody as one man with one heart. You are ready to be hypnotized by them.

It’s similar to how a seed thrown into the soil submits to its rule and, by receiving nourishment from that environment, acquires strength to grow and develop.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can we increase the speed of our advancement? What does it depend on?

Answer: The right speed of advancement is set primarily by my ability to constantly feel the inner system in front of me, in which all of my friends in the group are connected into one. I’m the only one existing outside of this bond, and I have to decide that I must connect with them, find there the force of correction.

And then I have to examine all my desires and thoughts in order to understand whether I will be able, like a spider, to braid all of us with a thousand of threads so as to tie myself with my friends as strongly as possible.

Question cont.: And who sets the pace?

Answer: Your efforts determine the pace. Indeed, the moment a spiritual action ends, it becomes the beginning of the next action. There is no recess in spirituality.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/2011, Writings of Rabash

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On the path we reveal various flaws, and that is how it should be. However, it is a completely different matter when I am able to accept them with understanding by virtue of my preparation and the support I receive from the environment. Then I will see the flaws as a kind of exercise. And an exercise is no longer a bad thing.

When encountering a problem, I don’t panic, feeling weak and confused. On the contrary, I know that I have been given this problem in order to overcome it and receive a reward. It does not trip me so I fall down and does not cut me off from the path to goodness.

The entire matter lies in the preparation, which enables me to see everything as a chance for advancement, rather than an avalanche of troubles that we want to run away from or even to end our own lives.

The aim at the goal decides everything. If I am in a caring environment, then it “brainwashes me” and explains that all the defects are being revealed as exercises for a person who wishes to grow. Then I use them in order to advance. Moreover, I am happy about the flaws that become revealed.

And vice versa, without the appropriate upbringing, without the support and help of the environment, I cannot correct and turn every flaw into a trampoline for leaping forward. Instead of this, I am always immersed in evil.

In this regard humanity faces free choice: How to accept everything that becomes revealed on the path? If I recognize the problems in advance, if I prepare an environment for myself and desire to advance forward, then the flaws are revealed gently. I already understand them, am ready for them, and accept them as signs of advancement.

Question: What defects are you talking about? About the realization of evil inside of oneself, or about tsunamis and other natural disasters?

Answer: If you prepare, then you no longer need a tsunami. Then the flaws will not be troubles for you, but challenges. They won’t be unresolved problems, but tasks. Similarly, a diligent child does not need strict measures. Instead we let him gather a Lego or puzzle, and so on. He does not receive a difficult life from us, but exercises which he likes. Even if they make him sweat a bit, they also give him pleasure.
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Question: What does it mean to feel that you are already at the convention right now, while reading The Book of Zohar, so the convention would happen in the best possible way?

Answer: Prepare yourself. If you are about to attend a wonderful, pleasant, and joyful event, then you prepare for it in advance. You anticipate it and enjoy this beckoning illumination of the future. And you receive great inspiration from that.

Therefore, as we get closer to the worldwide convention that will be held in New Jersey, we have to prepare ourselves already now. Everything depends on preparing the desire, “What do I plan on correcting? What do I want? What will I get out of it? How do I want to appear there?” I have to imagine all of this in detail, as if I am already there. Therefore, we have to make all the songs available on the website, as well as everything that will happen at the cultural programs and the other events so people can become familiar with it, understand it, and already be able to imagine how it will happen.

A child grows by imagining the future, and then it comes true. If a person does not experience this reverent desire at all times, if he does not increase his desires, and even his worries and fears, then he does not gain anything. He must already now wait impatiently, wondering, “How will this happen? When? In what way? How will I be inspired? How will I participate?”

This is necessary in order to grow up. If children did not receive the aspiration toward the future from nature, then they would not be able to grow. But for us, this aspiration is given as freedom of choice. Do you want to grow up? Then find a way to receive the greatness of the goal from the environment, and then you will grow. There is no other method! If we don’t learn on the example of small children, if we don’t implement these actions in practice, then it would be a shame to let our lives go by wasted.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/11, The Zohar

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Question: I try to think about our unification, the connection between us all the time, especially during the reading of The Zohar. But how does the Light work on me when I attempt to exert these efforts? What changes does it perform in me?

Answer: The Light is at absolute rest, it does not do anything with you. You perform all the changes. Can you use the Light? Do it! If not, then don’t. It’s similar to electricity: Is it connected to an electric outlet? If so, use it! How? Any way you want! You can use it to run a refrigerator, a heater, anything you want.

How does the Light affect you? It doesn’t. You elicit this action from it.

It is said: "I did not change my HaVaYaH (the plan of creation)," which means that the Creator is at absolute rest. This is why the Light does not do anything! You perform everything with your own actions; you transfer yourself to the next state. And if we say: "Let the Light work" or "the Light does this or that," we simply ascribe our actions to it.

We activate the law, and it works. The law is in action; its formula is known. It exists beyond us and is called "the law of the similarity of properties of the Lights and desires (Kelim) or the "law of balance."

There are no actions from the side of the Light. The Light carried out the only action: It created the desire to receive pleasure, "existence from absence." And by the way, it’s not the Light we are talking about.

And the desire to enjoy, existing in that Light as created from "absence," changes all the time. All the transformations of properties, the development by the four phases, etc. that we discuss occur only relative to that desire, the creature. All of it is the changes of the desire to receive pleasure inside the constant Light.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/11, The Book of Zohar

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Question: What does it mean to penetrate into the integral system of souls that The Zohar talks about?

Answer: It can’t be explained in words. If we could get inside this system, we would experience spiritual phenomena behind The Zohar’s words and feel what every word signifies. We would be able to recognize all of these properties and desires. We would understand why they have such appellations and are defined by these kinds of relationships between them. Everything would become clear.

However, all of this unfolds from the inner vision of the system. The souls are connected with one another in a single organism, in mutual support, guarantee, partnership, and the annulment of each soul before all to a greater or lesser degree, at all possible levels, while every soul still functions above its ego.

In the system where we are connected with each other at the internal level, we unite over our egoism. In this case, you get to see the entire system. At the same time, you are also able to see this world as more external in relation to the internal system since this world remains in egoism and is controlled by it.

In the spiritual system, we are motivated by the aspiration toward oneness while in this world, we are ruled by the inclination toward separatism, withdrawal from each other, desire for personal power, and vain pride. They are two opposing forces.

In this world, I cancel others and exalt myself, whereas in the internal system, I annul myself and exalt the others. That’s the tendency, and this is why both of these systems seem to differ so much.

To the degree that a person gets involved in the internal system, he gets to see the connections between all souls. He feels how everything is completely harmonized and the life force, the mutual bestowal that forms billions of channels between the souls, circulates between them, while this multitude of luminous channels turns into the perfect Light that fills the relationships between all souls.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/2011, The Book of Zohar

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Question: If the matter of creation is the receiving desire, what does it mean to bestow in order to bestow? Where is the work with desire?

Answer: The truth of the matter is that the receiving desire itself works for the sake of bestowal. It supports a fellow human being, helps him, and performs various actions in relation to him.

In general, to understand bestowal for the sake of bestowal, it’s necessary to understand what reception for the sake of bestowal is. It means that I work with my receiving desires so as to use them to grow a fellow human being and perform the actions of bestowal upon him, similar to how Bina works in its AHP.

I include the receiving desires of the other into my own and fill him with everything he demands. And what he demands is Infinity. Then, with my help his desires reach an infinite magnitude, while the Lights coming to him through me grow to the infinite size of NRNHY. This is how I work, receiving in order to bestow: I make sure to give the other everything necessary, utilizing all of my abilities for this purpose and totally ignoring my own profit.

However, for this I need the upper force absent in my nature. My inborn nature lets me perform only the actions that promise me a personal benefit, whereas the actions of bestowal are totally selfless and do not benefit my receiving desires in any way. This is why I can’t perform them unless I receive the strength from the upper dimension, that of bestowal.

Hence, I incorporate the needs of the other into my desires and then through my desires I fulfill him. In general, we are talking about the desires which relate to our interconnection since the spiritual work is performed at the level of unification of the souls where we fill ourselves with the upper Lights.

So, there is an additional option: not to engage my receiving desires, but only pass all goodness from myself to the other, to participate in his fulfillment, but not with my own desires. This is pure bestowal. As a rule, these actions forestall mutual bestowal. They correct our unification. Thanks to them we annul our egoism in order to rise above it to unity. And unity itself is activated by the direct use of our receiving desires.

In this way, bestowal for the sake of bestowal is an intermediate, small, weak, “poor” state. But we have no choice: We need to undergo it since we thereby clean our desires and rise above our egoistic qualities. Without it, it’s impossible to start working with them. First of all, we have to “clean them up,” meaning to fill them with the Light of Hassadim (Mercy).
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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Question: Until we started studying the world of Atzilut in Part 9, Talmud Eser Sefirot (TES), it seemed to me that I understood the flow of the material. But in this part, I understand absolutely nothing. Can you tell in general terms what is happening there?

Answer: I can tell what is happening with you, why you don’t understand anything. It’s because you have no relation to it.

There are several levels of perceiving the study material: “I don’t know,” “I’m not familiar with,” “I don’t understand,” and “I’m unable to understand.” The latter is because your mind does not correspond to the mind of the book.

If this were written in Chinese and you didn’t understand the language, it would be one thing. If it depended on your education level and you didn’t comprehend certain formulas or basic definitions needed to master the material, you would still have something to study.

However, here you can study as much as you want, year after year, and you nevertheless won’t understand anything until your Kelim (vessels, desires)  become at least somewhat similar to the desires described in the book. When each word will echo with an inner change within you, you will start comprehending what is being described here.

You may ask: “But didn’t I understand something in the first three parts of TES?” No, you didn’t. The three parts in question describe the acts of absolute bestowal that are so distant from and opposite to you that this opposition gives you the illusion of understanding. In reality, you interpret them completely incorrectly.

It’s easy to draw a Kli (vessel), the Light, and the screen in the middle, the arrows pointing in different directions, the percentage of the Light received or given away. But it’s impossible to imagine this action for real. However, it is so inaccessible and opposite to us that it makes us think that we understand.

Meanwhile, the actions described in Part 9 of TES are very close to us. The moment you have at least one ounce of the desire to bestow, you will enter a similar act.

Hence you see that you don’t understand. Your mind has to become similar to the spiritual one—then the connection will appear and you will be able to comprehend. This is the only way!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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