Question: What is Reshimo (reminiscence)?

Answer: A Reshimo is what has already happened, a previous spiritual state, since nothing disappears in spirituality. The previous states that emerge in every detail but don’t manifest in life due to the lack of the screen which serves as the means of their realization are called “Reshimot.”

Suppose yesterday I was in some state, and today I am reliving it. In spirituality, this state emerges in me in its every minute detail, as if I am living it right now. It is totally, 100% clear to me what is occurring, and nothing is lost; I simply cannot realize it due to lack of the screen. This is called “Reshimo.”

It is not a recollection of the past as in the corporeal world when I remember something “vaguely.” A Reshimo is when I don’t doubt anything; everything is revealed as in the present except for its realization.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: There are movements that gather up to two thousand people in their meetings that also make appeals to love and unite, mentioning not one word of Kabbalah. Is such unification possible without employing the sources?

Answer: Don’t you see that they are not succeeding? Perhaps, two to three thousand can get together like that. A great disaster may also force people to unite. But true unification can occur only with the help of the Upper Light, the force we don’t possess. Or, we may do so if presented with enormous egoistic benefit, such as fear of invasion or tremendous reward.

Yet, such unity is temporary. As soon as the cause that created it dissolves, the connection immediately dissipates. Therefore, unity cannot be achieved.

There have always been various “altruistic” organizations. Baal HaSulam writes that there are 10% natural altruists in the world who wish to unite, but it is completely egoistic. If examined internally, behind all the talking about unity, you will see solid egoism. We have many examples of that: Communist Russia that is now approaching fascism and Israel’s Kibbutzim.

Any attempts to create unity without employing the Light that Reforms will fail. Left without a choice, they will be forced to employ dictatorship and violent force; otherwise, such a system won’t be able to endure.

We constantly face a dilemma: We either reform the nature of man or compel him to unify by force. And any forced compliance, a Nazi regime, will inevitably lead to war. Baal HaSulam wrote about this even when he was still alive. And Russia won’t have a choice but to continue developing according to the same script. Correction becomes possible only on one condition: if people employ the wisdom of Kabbalah.

If we don’t reform ourselves and unite by way of the Light, we will be unified in a different manner: The world will be overtaken by fascist regimes. After all, Nazism is another form of unification, though it is unity of one group against the other.

People will feel that they have to unite, that unity brings salvation and ascent, and that is right. But they won’t be able to ascend and save themselves without the outside force which will be hate of somebody else. Otherwise, they won’t have a reason to unite! To do so, they need a visible, hated foe who will unite them together against it.

This is how the ego works or it doesn’t feel the necessity to unite. Therefore, society starts leaning toward Nazism and fascism. If the world leaders do not accept the method of correction by the Light and reveal the source, putting their citizens “at the desks” to study it, then very quickly they will have to deal with a Nazi regime that will immediately lead to war.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Question: What is true love and is it really possible?

Answer: By design, we are so unique and complex that we cannot truly love a spouse, our parents and children, people around us, humanity, or the Creator unless it is all tied into a single whole!

We are developing in such fashion that our nature won’t let us love only one particular individual. A person thinks that he loves his children, wife, and maybe some other people, but in the end, he isn’t succeeding with any of them. He sees that something constantly breaks, crushes, and he runs into walls, with all of his desire to love. But why is it so?

The wisdom of Kabbalah reveals this secret to us by saying that love can be only absolutely perfect and general. If you don’t love all, you won’t be allowed to feel love for any individual. This means that you must love everything there is: the Creator, humanity, the world, those who are close and dear, and those who are distant, all as one whole. This is the only way to achieve love. Otherwise, it is impossible. I am sorry I have to tell you this, but it’s true.

Besides, we think that love is something very exalted, something heavenly. In truth, love is a beast; it is something very simple: the act of unification of “flesh with flesh.” But if we wish to raise this beast that lives among us and is called “love,” then we have to feed it with something called “mutual concessions.”

I yield to you, thereby feeding our love, and it gets “thicker.” Then you yield to me, and our love grows. Since we are all egoists, concessions are the only action that can help us cultivate love.

We have to learn to concede! There are only two principles to love: the first one is to build love on concessions, and the second is that love can be only all-inclusive, and then each individual love will also come true.
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From Talk with Arkadi Duchin 12/22/10

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Question: How can suffering suddenly bring a person to bestowal?

Answer: Indeed, from a corporeal, "commonsense" point of view it’s impossible to attain bestowal in this way. If a person feels bad, then he only thinks about how to improve his situation, to try to fix the problem directly, to fill the void.

That’s how human psychology works: If I feel bad or something is missing, I turn to a doctor for medicine, try to make more money, steal something, or do anything to fill the void. But after all these attempts and a number of blows, I begin to ask: "When will it end?"

A person falls into despair, depression, or starts using drugs, all that only to somehow numb his pain because he sees that nothing he does can help him. So how is it possible to make the transition to bestowal? To that end we have preparations on the corporeal level as well as spiritual genes.

On the corporeal level a person starts thinking about giving because he sees that there’s no other choice. He is ready to give to others so that they will give to him as well, so we will all feel good; otherwise, we would just devour each other like wild beasts.

That’s a simple selfish calculation at the level of our world, and it’s possible specifically because we are not at the animate degree; rather, we possess dangerous weapons that enable each of us to destroy everyone. It eventually brings us to an inevitable conclusion that our salvation lies only in bestowal. Many understand that by now, and only a madman would wish for the next war.

But aside from the corporeal reason that makes us understand that giving may be useful, our Reshimot (spiritual genes, records) from the breaking are awakening within us, from the easiest ones to the increasingly coarse ones. They make us feel that we are moving in the wrong direction and bring disappointment in our development.

Those who are progressing under the pressure of corporeal and spiritual Reshimot begin to come closer. It turns out that Kabbalists who engage their own spiritual development and people leading a normal, corporeal life but are beginning to ask about life’s meaning are coming closer to each other. Although the latter have no point in the heart, they are nevertheless asking very similar questions.

The opinion of the masses is gradually approaching the opinion of Kabbalists. There’s still a wall that separates them, but ordinary people are coming closer and closer in search of an answer, although they are not yet asking how to correct themselves. There will be a time when they will come and ask: "What should we do?" And then you’ll have to be prepared to show them how to achieve perfection.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/10, "The Peace"

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Question: If fruit needs time to ripen, then maybe man doesn’t need to do anything at the moment but wait until he matures, just like fruit?

Answer: Humanity has already finished its evolution at the still, vegetative, and animate levels. And in the last 5770 years we have been developing the “human” level in us, starting with Adam, the first “man.”

In these 5770 years, we have also been undergoing the still, vegetative, animate, and human degrees within man. Until then, we had lived as animals, but Adam was the first to start the evolution of the human part within us, in this beast we call a “human being.”

Adam HaRishon (the First Man) was a person who discovered spirituality, that is, the “human” within himself that is similar in properties to the Creator. Since that time, all of us have existed at the human degree of development, and that’s where all the “human” problems began. Therefore, it’s not worth waiting until everything gets worked out because it won’t, and we will only continue to fall lower and lower.

The human within us is everything that goes beyond the animate level of existence. A beast needs only food, sex, family, and shelter, and so does the animate body of man. But when a person starts using his ego, instead of his natural animate instincts, this refers to the human part within us, which we have to harmonize. And this is the only part that has free will.

Where is this human within us? Right now it is only a beast.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, "The Freedom"

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Question: What is the difference between the realization of evil that Kabbalists write about, meaning the unwillingness to unite with others, and the evil that a regular person feels in this world?

Answer: In order to reach the spiritual sensation of evil, you have to do a great deal of work because spiritual evil becomes revealed only after the Machsom. Below it there is no evil inclination. Right now there is no ego in you, just like in a small cockroach!

The evil inclination is the force that openly opposes the Creator; it’s the Pharaoh! It becomes revealed when you want to unite with the Creator and other souls with all your strength, but you discover that in reality this is hateful to you and repels you. Pharaoh stands against the Creator; the evil inclination against the good.

They are both inside you and are revealed only one against the other! There cannot be one without the other.

On the other hand, the fact that you are now experiencing bad sensations while wishing to advance spiritually is not a spiritual realization of evil. There are many people in the world who feel even worse. Maybe it seems to you that this is a spiritual worry because you do not feel the spiritual world and do not understand it, but in fact, all of this is still taking place inside egoism.

Of course, this is no longer the regular egoism of the consumer, but suffering due to your inability to unite with others, repulsion, and unwillingness to even think about this, the lack of desire to correct yourself. For now spirituality seems to you like something attractive for your egoism. This is already a time of preparation for entering the spiritual world, but for now you do not have the right spiritual notions. None of this is spirituality. Spirituality can only be “for” or “against” the Creator Himself, for His good or for my own. But I have to be against Him!

Spirituality is either Pharaoh or the Creator. I am in the middle between them in Klipat Noga where I choose: good or evil, “for” the Creator or “against” Him.

There is nothing more than that! The world we now see around us does not exist in spirituality. This reality is unreal; we live in an imaginary world. The still, vegetative, animate, and human levels in this world actually exist only inside of our egoistic desire.

Why is this world imaginary? It’s because it does not have any connection with the Creator! It lives by a small spark of Light that somehow enlivens it. That is why there is no good or evil here.

The sensation of evil that you feel is only due to a lack of animate, egoistic fulfillment. All of your high thoughts, desires, fantasies, and dreams are the whims of your developed, oversized ego that demands whatever it wants and forces you to suffer.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World”

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The Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya,” Item 52: “Happy is he who comes here without shame.” He also saw Rabbi Elazar and the rest of the pillars of the world that they were without shame. But Rabbi Hiya himself was ashamed….

Question: What is shame in spiritual work? And what is its function?

Answer: Real shame is revealed precisely in the spiritual world. It is made only for high souls that become equal to the Creator through having the same qualities.

In our world I am ashamed when I fear that others will find out about my egoism. I am afraid that I will be harmed, belittled, or rejected. On the other hand, spiritual shame is fear of whether I have done everything possible in order to give pleasure to the Creator. I fear that I have not fully realized all of the chances that were given to me. The Creator gives me pleasures and the forces to overcome them, and He arranges all the conditions for me. Did I create 100% Reflected Light in response? Did I miss anything? Was I weak in any way?

In our world shame can be a horrible sensation if a person is sufficiently developed. But in spirituality it is simply the truth, which is impossible to escape, which you cannot hide or conceal. Normally we justify ourselves, hiding behind excuses, “Everyone steals and so I do too.” Sometimes we can somehow smooth out a situation on the spot, and with time we forget the initial extremity of the event. In this sense our world is very “easy” compared to the spiritual world, where shame is the judgment of truth.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, The Zohar

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Question: Can Kabbalah conventions help shift the world to the path of the Light, the path of accelerating time (Ahishena)?

Answer: There is no doubt that by making actions such as attending Kabbalistic conventions we do cause corrections in the world. All attempts to connect with the goal and attain equivalence with the Creator or Upper Force, to reach bestowal and love for the neighbor, do correct us and the whole world together with us.

Therefore, we invite everyone to take part in the European convention in Berlin or the Learning Center retreat in California at the end of January, as well as the big gathering in the Arava that will take place this weekend! In particular, people who are in Europe should feel that the situation is becoming more and more serious from one day to the next. That is why we have to unite and pull the “One who is Good and does Good” closer into this world! As long as we are just learning, we are allowed to do so even egoistically….
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World”

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The Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya,” Item 54: …It is they who roam after Divinity, who sits alone, and who always awaits for the Creator to raise Divinity from the dust. And one who does not await that each day while he is in this world has no share here.

Question: How is it possible to await the restoration of the Shechina (Divinity) from the dust each day?

Answer: “Each day” means each moment. This is a rigid condition because the spiritual world is perfection. In other words, it’s when a perfect desire reigns inside you and you cannot leave it alone.

Now, when egoism reigns inside you around the clock, you do not challenge its power. That is how the desire of bestowal will reign in you day and night, making you tirelessly aspire to redemption.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, The Zohar

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“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Letters of Rabbi Amnon Saba,” Item 37: The letter Bet entered. She said to Him, “O Lord of the world, it is good for You to create the world with me, for in me are You blessed above and below, since Bet is Beracha [blessing].” The Creator told her, “I will indeed create the world with you, and you will be the beginning with which to create the world.”

Question: Why was the world created specifically by the letter Bet?

Answer: This is because the letter Bet symbolizes blessing (Brachá), the Light of Hassadim (Mercy). It is flawless. Besides it, there is no other law, no other quality, with which creation can be started.

How else can one draw the difference between the desires which serve the Creator and those which do not? How are corrections carried out if not by means of the Light of Hassadim since it immediately separates those who strive to bestow from those who strive to receive?

Then, it is clear for you how next to proceed. No other analysis is clearer and simpler, an analysis that lays down the basis of further building. Without Hassadim, without aspiration for the Creator, we will not be able to build anything from the Light of Hochma (Wisdom).

Besides, this quality is boundless. The Light of Hassadim, without differentiation, penetrates all of the worlds from Infinity to the end of the world of Assiya. There is no restriction on it. There are no restrictions on bestowal.

Question: Then, why don’t we feel the blessing in the world?

Answer: We are not talking about our world at all, but about spiritual reality. Desiring to reach it, I must stock up on the quality of mercy (Hesed). It is that very blessing, thanks to which I build my world.

The material world is just an imaginary picture in our perception evoked by spiritual unconsciousness. In the unconscious state, the brain creates an illusory perception of life. This is what our existence is.

In order to wake up, we have to arm ourselves with the force of Hassadim, the quality of the letter Bet, the blessing. This force can only come from Above. We do not have control over it; it is not incorporated in us. However, if we exert a lot of effort in order to obtain it, we receive what we desire.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Letters of Rabbi Amnon Saba”

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