Question: Can I use my imagination to picture the future corrected state?

Answer: That depends on what we imagine to ourselves at the future degree. To portray it mechanically, we make drawings.

It is possible to put all the conditions of the future degree into some table, to list all the technical particulars of these states: desires, screens, levels of Aviut, entrance and exit of Lights, the Surrounding and Inner Lights, the degree’s division into a multitude of internal and external systems in the Second Restriction.

But, ultimately, we come to the same spiritual discernments recorded by Kabbalists so as to describe to one another the technical details that need to be carried out in order to feel what they wish to convey. Suppose I give you a sheet of musical notes; that is, I convey to you some sort of data. Can you do anything with it? No. You must first perceive it as external information and then carry out the internal counterpart. If you read music, you’ll be able to sing it, and then you will know what I intended to convey by it.

Kabbalists do exactly the same by passing to you technical data. Carry them out in your soul and you will receive all they had intended. That is how you will know what they’re talking about.

The transfer of information through the Internet works the same way. I draw a picture on the computer screen or import photos from a camera, save the images in a particular format, and send you this information via a communication channel. You receive these technical data and use a decoder to once more transfer them into an image on your screen.

That is also how Kabbalists keep in contact with one another. They have attained a spiritual picture, recorded it, and passed it to us, except we’re missing the “decoder” to turn this information into that same picture. We read about it but don’t have any way to imagine what they’re talking about. To us it all seems like fantasy.

We are unable to decipher and extract the meaning of any of the four languages used by Kabbalists to describe to us the spiritual world (the languages of Tanach, Halacha, Hagaddah, and Kabbalah). But what is it that Kabbalists tell us? Use these texts as a “miraculous remedy” (Segula). What is Segula? If you want to attain revelation and somehow understand that the revelation is only possible in the quality of bestowal, you will see yourself and the whole world in love and bestowal to one another, in mutual guarantee, like one man with one heart.

If you aspire to this picture, you’ll begin to draw closer to the correct decoding of these texts. It will influence you, and, ultimately, the same spiritual “decoder” will be revealed in you. That is why we read The Book of Zohar.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar, Article “You Are Partners with Me”

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Question: If we have to view the group only as its inner, corrected state, how then does it differ from the rest of the world that also seems only to be uncorrected?

Answer: There is no difference in the inner meaning. But when you look at the group, you can’t help but notice that their aspiration to spirituality manifests externally, that they come to the lesson every day. This means they strive to reach spirituality but haven’t yet.

You have an external screen where you see how they yearn for bestowal while currently remaining in the egoistic system that intends to consume everything for self gratification. However, they already know, somewhat understand, and even feel that there is a chance to come to a different attitude to the world: to replace consumption with bestowal.

They know that there are two forms of experiencing life in the universe:

1. A life where I instinctively try to gobble up everything because I was born this way, which is regarded as “the evil inclination” we are born with.
2. And there is another attitude to life: bestowal, stepping outside oneself, when my “self” per se doesn’t exist unless it is included into all others. And this second approach is the one we wish to achieve.

It turns out that we already have two approaches. Everybody is living according to the 1st principle so far by consuming everything into oneself. This is what we are presently perceiving, “this world.” But we dream to reach another outlook on life and see the spiritual reality which exists in bestowal.

What will happen with the corporeal reality then? Will it disappear? No, it won’t. It will remain for as long as you need it, to the extent it needs to be employed as a necessary component.

So, now you should be able to understand what your material body is: It is a necessary measure that you have to preserve in order to keep consuming for your own benefit and not to bestow. But in reality, there is no body. Yet, to the extent that you need to be present in the egoistic consumption, you continue to exist in this material reality. And to the extent that you step outside of yourself, you enter the spiritual world.
[31024]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar, Article “You Are Partners with Me”

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Question: I sit in the lesson reading The Zohar and exert effort along with the others. Can it be regarded as “sacrificing desire”?

Answer: No, it can’t. How do I know what you are reading? Perhaps you are simply enjoying what The Zohar explains in such easy, attractive, and exciting language.

Why does it excite us, and what does it wish to explain? The Zohar explains that if I wish to be connected with you, I will undergo the states it describes. It’s that simple! What do the author’s of The Zohar say? “We gather while feeling hate for each other; we are separated by a total abyss. And then we start trying to unite.”

At that time, there was no Book of Zohar in front of them; they were just about to write it themselves. What do they write then? They begin mutual work and start searching: “How do we get closer to one another? What can we do to experience any closeness at all?

How can we find connection between us, the network tying us together, which already exists? What relations define this connection and what are its stages? Which internal forces within us are at work: envy, lust, hate, strife for recognition, the right, left, and middle lines? If we correct it, make a restriction, then a screen, and if we rise above our will to receive pleasure (desire), how do we achieve anything? I reject this and that, act this way or the other….”

And so, they started writing The Book of Zohar based on what they underwent in their mutual connection, until they reached such exalted spiritual degrees that each degree was ten times higher than the previous one: from ones to tens, followed by hundreds, then by thousands, and tens of thousands (Ribo). Do you see what levels they reach?! This is the power of their unification. And that is what they wrote about.

Therefore, if you wish to imagine yourself in the same state, then everything they have described will affect you so that you, too, get closer with the others and in your connection with them undergo the same states, until you reach the state where the perfect Kli (desire) is filled with the infinite Light.
[30913]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “You Are Partners with Me”

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Rabash, “What Is A Big or Small Sin in the Work”: The value of bestowal is determined by whom we bestow to. If a person bestows to a small king, it is a small work. But if a person bestows to a great king, his bestowal acquires value and brings him great pleasure.

Question: While trying to imagine that I bestow to a great King, I feel that I am deceiving myself. What should I do?

Answer: It is correct. First of all, value depends solely on you. The Creator exists, and either you do or do not reveal Him. It is up to you. Do you have a “sensor” to detect Him? That’s the problem.

Generally speaking, what does it mean, “to value the Creator”? Rabash cites Rambam when explaining how at the start of his path a person undergoes a process regarded as Lo Lishma (not for Her Name). In other words, I value the King if by being closer to Him, I will gain more. As in our world, I measure His value against the pleasure that I can receive from Him.

What then makes me change my values? It’s the Light that Reforms. If, by way of the group, I keep thinking about the change that must occur in me, looking forward to the Light’s arrival like a rooster anticipating dawn rather than fearing it like a bat does, then changes do come, and I start appreciating the Upper One because He is a Giver, not because I can gain what He will give.

Now I value Him because He gives; I value bestowal, yet not bestowal to me, but the very property of bestowal. I wish to be similar to it. This new range of values changes a person greatly. The Upper One becomes truly Higher for him: exalted by nature, the King, whose value lies in the fact that He is a Giver.

In that case, I look up to the Upper One not because I receive from him but because I can become like him. I want Him to give me His attribute, allow me to become similar, closer to Him since closeness is determined namely by similarities of qualities, not by how much I can gain from Him.

The entire difference between corporeality and spirituality lies is our attitude toward the Upper One. Do we ask Him to reform us?

The Creator is at absolute rest, and everything is up to us now: If we wish to change in His Light, we will. If we wish to become like Him in our properties, we will, to the point of complete adhesion, absolute love.
[30935]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, “What is A Big or Small Sin in the Work”

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Question: How can the Upper Light reform me if it is at absolute rest?

Answer: Speaking about the Light coming in and out, I refer to changes within myself. The Light is the phenomena within the vessel (desire). There is no Light without the vessel. Some of these phenomena I call “the Light” and I attribute various changes to them.

Everything is within. Some inner experiences I ascribe to an outside, external cause, while others I attribute to my inner causes, myself. After experiencing changes within, I relate them to either personal actions or the Light that seems to have brought them about without my awareness. These are our definitions.

A child says: “It broke by itself,” as if it weren’t he who broke it. So do we, due to the lack of spiritual awareness and revelation, take responsibility for some events upon ourselves and attribute the other part to some hidden factor.

Question: Is this hidden factor what we call “a miraculous force” (Segula)?

Answer: Segula means that I perform actions but cannot see direct connection between them and their outcomes. For instance, I am told: “If you hit the wall ten times, water will start running from the faucet in the backyard.” I don’t see any logic here; but meanwhile, there is a hidden mechanism in the wall, which responds to my hitting the wall and it turns the water on.

It is really very simple, but I am not aware of this mechanism. So I was told: “This is Segula. If you do this, you will get that.” Hence, I connect one with the other albeit I do understand the cause and effect logic underlying the events. Therefore, Segula is a law, but it’s concealed from me for now. There is nothing supernatural here: I just don’t know how this works.

I enter the group and hear: “Jump so many times, hug the friends so many times, sing this many songs, take part in this many conventions, and you will see the effect.” I have no idea how this is all connected, but Kabbalists gave us recommendations which do work. How they work, we will see later on; and for now, at our level, it is called “Segula,” a hidden law.
[30922]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, “What is A Big or Small Sin in the Work”

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Rabash, “Which Degree Should One Achieve so He Will Not Have to Reincarnate?”: This is the perfection that Adam HaRishon had prior to the sin. Only after the sin did he decline from his degree and his soul was divided into 600,000 souls.

Question: How does a sin appear?

Answer: A sin appears as a result of the influence of the Upper Light. For example, I want you to find your own mistake, but I want you to do it after you’ve understood its essence and only then corrected it.

My participation in this process is inconspicuous; I remain “behind the scenes.” How unnoticeable can I be? I only serve as an eliciting factor that is not even felt in the matter of your desire, similar to Sefira Keter.

A person experiences sudden weakness or becomes immersed in bizarre thoughts that are given to him from Above, although he thinks that he is the one who produces them. This is his first sin.

Then, he starts to struggle with himself instead of asking the Creator to correct him. This is his second sin. The Creator gives a person choice and balances out his perception by enlightening him; He gives a person “a hint” that there is something else behind it.

However, spiritual systems are built in a way that we are unable to address the Creator directly since our properties are opposite to His, and the law of the equivalence of form doesn’t allow us to do so. That’s why we observe an external system of objects and bodies (this world) which gives us a chance to take the first steps toward the correction.

If I take these steps, apply correct intentions to them, and plead to the Light for help, I manage to connect both worlds and instigate the influence of high souls upon me. Through them, I get help. The souls of the righteous bring me the illumination from Above, start working on me, and raise me up. This is what is called “sin and its correction.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/2/10, “Which Degree Should One Achieve so He Will Not Have to Reincarnate?”

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Question: How do I channel my thoughts through the group?

Answer: In order for us to glorify the Creator in our eyes, value Him as a Giver in whom everything is contained, and to ask Him to replace our tendency, our intention, from receiving to bestowal, He has to withdraw, to hide. Otherwise, we will always be egoistically enslaved by His magnificence, His eternal nature, and all that it promises us therewith.

Thus, the Creator is concealed, as if He has nothing. This way, you don’t depend on Him while remaining in the separation. Instead, you can receive His bestowal through the group. He intentionally broke the will to receive (desire) into parts, in order to demonstrate to it what hate, envy, lust, and ambition are, that is, how diverse a desire may be. Thereby, the desire is able to comprehend itself by looking at others.

In truth, the desire wants to simply receive, without being aware of multiple properties and the shades that it possesses. Tell a regular person that he is made of pride, envy, hate, and he will not believe you. Why should he? He doesn’t see them within.

This requires a very long, special development, not in terms of human evolution, but rather in terms of effort aimed at obtaining contact with the Light. Only then does a person begin to understand these notions correctly: not in terms of human psychology but in the exalted [spiritual] terms, in reference to the Light.

In such case, a person finds himself in a special group. He measures himself not against the “people from the street” but against a unique society that yearns for the Creator and is already beginning to absorb spiritual values. He measures envy, lust, ambition, and the degree of his egoism relative to them. This is how a person starts studying himself: who and what he is.

The Creator is concealed and can’t appear to a person since in this case, a person would want to be “pretty” in His eyes, in order to be part of such Greatness. He holds my life in His hands, so can I ever ignore Him if He were revealed?

Hence, the Creator replaces Himself with the group. I stand against the friends, in opposition to them, which gives me an ability to relate to them according to spiritual values. After all, these spiritual values are contrary to me since they belong to the friends whom I hate and reject.

This gives me an opportunity to gain an awareness of evil and to start getting to know myself while standing before the spiritual reality. The group, the environment, reveals spiritual details of perception to me, its properties and values. By rejecting the group, I reject them too. Thereby, I discover the truth.

If I continue on the path, study with the friends, and participate in their actions aimed against my egoistic desire, in order to unify internally, then gradually, I begin to value the states we are undergoing together as well the values we are talking about. In the degree of my demand, I receive the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) through the group and start bonding with the friends more and more. While doing so, I discover that it is they among whom I reveal the Light, the Creator.

And everything links into one whole; everything becomes one: the Kli (vessel), the Light, and all of the unifying Kelim. In the end, everything comes into one concept, one attainment.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, “What is A Big or Small Sin in the Work”

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Question: What is a “flood” for the group?

Answer: If the group as a whole is unable to overcome its increasing desire, if the friends reach hatred and cannot overcome it, it means they are drowning in the waters of the flood.

When they sense the approaching flood and the forces that overcome them (Gevurot), they must put forth mutual efforts to build an Ark, meaning to express mutual bestowal in order to be saved from every person’s individual egoism and the common hatred. That is exactly how the authors of The Book of Zohar sat down to study, feeling hatred for one another, and then revealed love.

Everything depends on whether or not the friends use the Torah as it was intended, whether they build the Ark, the common Kli of mutual bestowal, unity, and mutual guarantee in which they will be saved from the flood.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If I am always thinking about how to unite with friends while reading The Book of Zohar, then at a specific stage this turns into a “mantra” that repeats by itself and I do not feel the true intention inside me. Should I continue in this manner anyway?

Answer: The fact that your intention isn’t true is natural. After all, we live inside the will to enjoy; that is our nature. We do not have to lie to ourselves, thinking that we are already angels floating up in the sky.

However, from our current state I am trying to do everything in my power to attain something called the quality of bestowal, as it is written, “We shall do and we shall hear.” You should imagine this quality as much as you can. By making efforts you grow like a child who wants to learn from adults and tries with everything he’s got. That is how we always learn and grow.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, The Zohar

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Question: You say that we have to develop our sensitivity. Can you explain why this is necessary and how to do it?

Answer: The path of spiritual attainment lies in raising our sensitivity. Habit becomes second nature. We develop such qualities and abilities in us that we did not use previously and did not even understand the possibilities were present in us to feel phenomena that we did not perceive until now. They are present in nature around us because the upper world is here. But where is it? It exists at a different frequency, in a different quality that does not exist inside me, which is why I do not recognize it.

Therefore, everything depends on how much we will increase our sensitivity to the quality of bestowal. According to that, instead of perceiving the net of absorbing inside me that operates between the creatures on the still, vegetative, and animate levels, I will perceive the net of bestowal operating between the souls on the human or “speaking” level. This is what we have to attain. Therefore, everything depends on our sensitivity.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, The Zohar

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