Question: When do we reach the maximum capacity of our intention to be one?

Answer: Right now, I am sitting at the lesson and trying to think about our unity so that the Light hidden in The Book of Zohar would come and unify us, allowing me to feel that we are all bound together. As soon as I feel connected with all the others and sense the network holding us all in it, I immediately reveal the spiritual world.

Once I feel the bond between us, I experience spirituality in this oneness. This is called “the exodus from Egypt.” We don’t need anything else! And it is so close.

However, I am unable to remain in this intention and inspiration longer than an instant. Why? It is because the others are not thinking about it. I need the support of my environment. But the environment thinks about whatever they want: one about his grandmother he will be seeing soon, another about problems at work, a third wants to sleep, and so on. Each is with their problems and nobody thinks about the connection.

Therefore, I can only decide at this very moment to think about our oneness, care for it, and demand the “miraculous remedy” (Segula) so that I will be able to see that we are all bound together and reside in the property of bestowal. I wish that the common quality of bestowal would rule over me. However, beyond making this decision, there is nothing I can do since I don’t receive support from the environment. What else can I do?

What is missing here is the common effort and responsibility of the friends before each other, with each person trying their best to stay in this intention. This mutual obligation is regarded as “the guarantee.” And if we think solely about how to find oneness between us, the Light will descend and do it.

We are unable to unite on our own. But we can think in order to make it happen. Yet, if we are unable to think about it, then we do not influence one another with the greatness and importance of the goal.

This point is all we need to be working on and nothing else. We don’t have anything except it. Everything is right here before us, so very close… And then we will discover eternity, perfection, and the entire spiritual world, but only on the condition that we decide to care for each other and not forget about this intention.

We only need to unite! Let the Light connect us, and the Creator will be revealed in our oneness! We will bestow to Him, and He to us.

Everything takes place in our connection. There we will experience the spiritual world, the Creator, and Infinity.
[27027]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, The Zohar

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Question: People often ask me what is Kabbalah and I try to explain its essence and purpose. In response many people admit, “Yeah, I also feel that way. Yeah, I know what you’re talking about.” So does this mean they have a point in the heart? How do the people who have this point differ from other people who are also looking for something?

Answer: The point in the heart is a part of the Creator. When it becomes revealed in you, you hear a “call sign” calling you to Him.

We recognize the point in the heart when it brings a person to the science of Kabbalah, to the place or the net where all our points come from. Kabbalah is not the books, but the wisdom and the program of the common system. Kabbalah books bring you the force of this program and you use it to enact the first spiritual impulse.

In reality you have never left this “system of governance.” You are always inside it, connected to others, and your common body is alive. It is Malchut of the World of Infinity, which really exists, although you do not feel how you belong to it.

Instead of feeling its main window, you feel yourself as being in a completely different “window.” You are in the same place, but you perceive a different world, devoid of the common interconnection. There are two windows: one is the natural, correct, true, and deep one, and the other is virtual. Right now my screen is occupied by our illusory world, but alongside it there is also an inner screen where we are all in the state of Infinity. This is what the Kabbalists talk about.

I aspire to it with my point in the heart, wanting to go from the virtual screen to the real one, to the place where I am connected to everyone. If my point really has awakened, I find myself in the group. I open up books that talk about this inner screen, and while reading them I evoke Light from there that begins to advance me.

However, if a person does not care about Kabbalistic books and unity in the group, if he does not feel the inner need for this, then he does not have a point in the heart. He imagines all sorts of things and looks for spirituality in India, or in different religions and faiths, in meditation, in New Age, and so on. In contrast to this, a person with a point in the heart is unable to leave the path any longer. He can “take a break” due to various problems, but he will never exchange his point for anything else.
[27430]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Question: After the Convention, I felt blocked; I couldn’t unify with the others and advance. Is this how the Creator’s revelation gets manifested, and is this evil His reverse side?

Answer: Yes, Pharaoh is the reverse side of the Creator, which is regarded as a “help against him.” This is His way to help you, and we mustn’t forget that.

When you feel drowsy, depressed, and immovable, you have to remember that all unfolding problems are purposeful and are designed to propel you toward the goal. You only need to grit your teeth and go against them. It is the Creator who trips you. It is written, “Come unto Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart.”

He, Himself, hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and, with each plague, the Creator will make him more resentful. You come to Pharaoh like Moses holding onto the Creator’s hand and watch from aside how they argue. What can you do when these two giants clash, the good and the evil, while you are in the middle between the two forces of nature, the left and the right lines?

Yet, at the end of each plague, Pharaoh yields and agrees to release you from bondage (exile) to freedom. That is, the path into the spiritual world is now open for you. You wish to leave and witness how Pharaoh claims power over you again, with ever greater resistance to let you go, and loads you with heavier work and difficulties.

At this point, we forget how this process develops. It isn’t worth fighting with our Pharaoh and arguing with the friends. Turn to the Creator. After all, He admits that it was He who hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He initially created egoism and the Torah as a spice, a means for its correction. If you wish to have it corrected, turn to the Creator, and He will give you a weapon to fight this battle.

Until you defeat your Pharaoh, you won’t exit your Egypt, and this is exactly what many groups forget when they start arguing and bargaining among themselves. This Pharaoh cuts in between us so that we rise above the egoism unfolding in our relationships with each other.

In the beginning, when a group is being formed, everything is so wonderful in it that you simply marvel at it as when we watch a newborn. However, then the baby starts growing and shows willfulness.

Yet, we have to understand that it is all correct. This is how our nature gets revealed, and huge problems will come along with hard hits. This is precisely what is regarded as revealing the Pharaoh.

However, the stronger we unify to stand against it, against our collective egoism, the greater our success will be. In this, we must call in all the means that we have: the Creator, the other groups, and the studies. This is the only way for us to advance.

[27034]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “The Freedom”

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Question: If I read The Book of Zohar together with you over the Internet, not being present in the group physically, does it influence me?

Answer: Do you really think that you will extract greater benefit by sitting next to me in an embrace? Everything depends on the unity of hearts and not on distance. A person who is far away may be more anxious and worried, and that means he should stay exactly where he is.

The important thing is how responsible a person feels toward others when making his actions. We still have to improve many things, adding new depth and dimension to our intention every day. I don’t want to just restore a connection with others, but to be responsible for them. If I don’t think about and aspire to the goal, then they will also lose spiritual aspiration. This is bad even in the egoistic sense: When I am idle, this affects them and comes back to me as a negative response.

Besides, I am doing this for the sake of our mutual guarantee. Why do we need it? It’s in order to give pleasure to the Creator. By restoring our interconnection, we reveal the general quality of bestowal, the Creator inside it, and by so doing we give Him pleasure.

The quality of bestowal is not just love of friends; it is not limited by the relationships between us. It also contains the One who gave us that quality or desire. Inside our unity we discover one more layer – the basis or cause of the unity. This is the Creator, the primary cause of everything we think and perceive. That is why our intentions have to become more and more complex as they transform into a single aggregate that incorporates Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.

The first step toward this is to imagine the path toward the friends through five worlds. Once I reach them, I will attain Infinity. This is the picture we will gradually complete and color with new shades and strokes.
[27403]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/10, The Zohar

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Question: I feel that we managed to create a new Kli (vessel) at the convention. But soon I will return to my usual egoistic world and will once again be in contact with people who are not on the spiritual path…

Answer: A person cannot advance without creating his own circle. Everyone needs a group – whether virtual or physical – but it has to be an environment that has a stronger influence on him than the external, egoistic society.

He should form an environment that will determine his thoughts, desires, and values. Otherwise he will be lost because he will follow the general egoistic environment. This is our only choice, and if we do not make it, we will be unable to advance.

So now I am coming back home after the convention. Where are my thoughts now? What’s troubling me? I’m afraid of the moment I run away from a connection with the spiritual environment and delve into the material one.

Will I prevent this “click,” after which all my thoughts and desires will be on the other side, in the common swamp? How can I not miss the quick moment of transition?

This is what I should worry about. This has been our mistake that cost us so many years and efforts. The rest is not a problem; the only problem is that I come home and calm down: “Great, the convention is over, now I can get back to normal life.” And then that’s it: Everything you had became Klipot (impure shells).

The only action that depends on me is to attach myself to a spiritual environment, stick to the group so that it is always close and influences me stronger than the material environment. Just like a child, when scared, stays close to his parent hoping that this will save him from all the trouble. Holding on to his parent, he’s sure that now everything will be okay. This is how we should cling to a spiritual environment.

When you leave, don’t avert your eyes from the group, listen to it as if you’ve still got the headphones on, and remind yourself of spirituality with our songs. It doesn’t matter where we are and what we do: There always has to be something dear in the background, something you received from the group. A faint sound of the lesson coming from a minimized window still gets into the unconscious.

And please be sure to visit my blog. I say the most important things there. Even the photos that are posted there I choose with great care. Make sure to read it daily because the following day the materials lose their strength. We’re all uniting around the blog and the morning lesson.

We’re not asked to produce more than the effort. This is what choosing a better environment is. And the Light does its job. Everyone should take care to connect to a strong spiritual environment in order to keep the spirit that you’re taking with you when leaving the convention.
[26553]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/10, Shamati #26

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Question: What is the Light of correction? Where is it, and can we associate with it?

Answer: We exist in a perfect reality that was created by the Creator, but it appears to be different in relation to us. There is everything we want in the true reality: Infinity, Light, perfection, eternity, and the Creator. Here, in this world, we see a completely different reality: darkness, evil, and egoism.

One reality is separated from the other by the ladder of 125 steps where I am to change my nature. The difference is that here, we all only perceive this world and exist in darkness, suffering, and egoism. However, in order to exist in the true reality, I need to attain the intention “for the sake of bestowal,” love instead of hatred.

As long as I exist in the nature of this world, I do not have a chance of escaping into the spiritual world. It is a completely different dimension that I cannot leap to. However, there is a “wonderful force” (Segula) that can help me.

Everyone is connected in the spiritual world, while in this world, everyone is separated. Love is there, hatred is here. Bestowal, Light, and good is there; egoism, darkness, and evil is here. In other words, everything is reversed, as it is written, “I saw a reverse world.”

We would be completely hopeless if not for one detail which, thankfully, is not opposite. It is given to us as the end of a rope to grab onto and draw closer to it. Each one of us, separated in this world, is given a spiritual spark, “the point in the heart.” This is the end of the rope that descends from the spiritual world. It stretches to every one of us from that perfect state where I exist in harmony and absolute comfort.

However, this is merely a point, and I do not know what I am to do with it. I just feel that I belong to something higher. Besides, I was given a book called The Zohar. The actual book is in this world, but there is also a “book” in the spiritual space, which stands for revelation, Light. The title itself, The Zohar, stands for the Upper radiance.

This means that you want to return to the Upper World, to your root, while being in your physical world together with a book that was printed somewhere in China. This point is pulling you!

Now you need to try to unite with others like you, separated from one another. As you read The Zohar together, strive toward the Light so it would influence all of you and make you like it.

That is it. The rest does not depend on you. These properties, both evil and hatred, are given. On your own, you will not be able to do anything with them. You only have two means in relation to the spiritual world: the group and the book.

When you use them, you attract an enormous Light from the spiritual world, which influences you. It is that Light that is called The Zohar (radiance) or the Surrounding Light that Reforms. This is what changes you. The Light works on you and moves you back toward your root.
[26947]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Question: A thousand times I have chosen the attribute of mercy to rule in me, yet I keep falling back into the property of judgment. I am sick and tired of it. What is the problem?

Answer: The problem is that you are not working by way of the group, but wish to deal with it by yourself. In other words, you wish to exercise your own power in the place of your free will. However, it is impossible to do so because you yourself are subject to one of the two forces: Bina or Malchut, and most of the time it is Malchut.

The middle third of Tifferet is the place of our free will but not our power. Here, I decide who will rule over me. In any case, it won’t be me, myself, but something external. And on the outside, I have only one choice: the environment.

I can be surrounded by the “gathering of scorners” (as it is described in the Psalms) or the assembly of Kabbalists, that is, people who are aimed directly to the Creator. That is what my choice is about. Becoming rooted in the correct environment, I draw strength from it in order to go forth.

This is the limited platform that we have: to choose one of the two possible environments. And this is the place where decisions are made not once, but all the time.
[27018]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, Rabash’s articles

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Question: Why do we need the external mind if all perception of reality is occurring within us?

Answer: The true perception of reality is built externally, in the mind of the environment, that is, in the Upper One, the Creator, and not in my current mind.

Advancing in spirituality, I engage in this environment as in Malchut of the World of Infinity. It is the place of my root from which my soul was born and descended to this corporeal world in a long journey through all the worlds. In this world, I am cut off from my root and keep only a spark of it called the “point in the heart.” And thanks to this environment, which is my system of the World of Infinity for now, I progress back to the initial state of Infinity.

When my environment, the group, gradually joins on its path the entire humanity, we discover that everyone comes to the same World of Infinity. This is why I begin to see with more clarity that my engagement in the environment, looking so artificial, undesirable, unnecessary, and unreal today, is actually “me” entering my own root. I return myself precisely to this initial point I stepped out of in order to come to this world.

Then, I discover that I reside in the system of the World of Infinity filled with the Light of Hochma together with the group. I gradually receive this Light even while being on the way, which is regarded as the “Light of Wisdom” (“Hochma” means “wisdom” in Hebrew). And I use this Light, the wisdom of Hochma, with all the others.

It is our collective wisdom, one for all! This common wisdom, the Upper thought, the Light, is called the Creator (Bo-Reh,“come and see”).
[27037]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “The Freedom”

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Question: Baal HaSulam writes that when a person acquires spiritual attainment, he “travels around an enormous world.” What does it mean to travel around the Creator’s world?

Answer: The world is Malchut of Infinity, while all other worlds are separate, particular states in it that reveal its specific qualities in relation to us in order to help us become fully part of it.

“Traveling around the Creator’s world” means attaining Malchut of the World of Infinity and revealing the entire might and wealth of the connections among its parts, which connect and supplement one another.

I don’t have anything else to say because words cannot describe what happens Above once good and evil, truth and falsehood unite. They unite and complement each other, and we reveal this inside us, in the common desire of all the souls, called Malchut of the World of Infinity.

This is called “traveling around the Creator’s world.” It’s when we can use all the forces and all the desires of Malchut of Infinity, attaining each of its details and all of them together.

The most important pleasure is “when doubts are resolved,” meaning when things that seem opposite and hateful to one another suddenly unite. That is when love flares up among them, forming a place to be filled by the Light.

That is how a person “travels” around the Creator’s world, checking all of the harmony in which Malchut of the World of Infinity resides.
[27323]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Question: What is meant by “prohibitory commandments” and “positive commandments” which are described in The Zohar, and what is the difference in their correction?

Answer: “Prohibitory commandments” means “do not do,” meaning that you need to refrain from using your specific desire to receive pleasure. We are talking about an egoistic desire which a person strives to use in order to receive the pleasure that stands opposite to this desire. And if there is no pleasure against the desire, I do not feel this desire although it exists in me.

However, we are talking about the desires that awaken in us, against which there are Lights that bring pleasures. We need to somehow refrain from using these desires, separate or “freeze” them. This is called “prohibitory commandments.”

I need to activate many forces for this. But what forces? Not using a desire does not mean that I hold myself back. In the material world I wish to use a desire, but I slap my own hands so that I don’t touch it. However, I cannot do this in the spiritual world. In order not to use my desire, I need to place a higher value and significance against it.

After all, in the spiritual world, a transgression is determined based upon whether I wish to use the desire or not. I need to reach a state where I have a desire, and according to the desire I would like to use it. However, according to the significance and to the system of values, I don’t want it since I don’t bring pleasure to the Creator through it; on the contrary, I become more distant from Him.

It turns out that I have a desire, and against it the correction. I need to work on this correction instead of just holding myself back and not using a desire, like in this world. I need to work on the desire itself so that there will be a screen over it, meaning the significance of the fact that I do not work with it on the level of the desire.

Therefore, our whole work on the desires consists of the system of values: how important the Creator and the goal are in my eyes, how important it is to be similar to Him in qualities. Then I can refrain from using the desires, and this is “prohibitory commandments.”

This is great work on each desire: to develop significance against it in order not to use it. Then the importance of the Creator in my eyes exceeds the use of the desire and withstands it. This is called “prohibitory commandments.”

Then there is a more advanced stage when I can use the desires in order to bring pleasure to the Creator. I take these desires and reveal them. I already have several screens on them as well as a restriction not to work with them. I have a screen of bestowal for the sake of bestowal and a screen of receiving for the sake of bestowal.

Then I work with these desires in order to bring pleasure to the Creator. This is called “positive commandments.”
[26952]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, The Zohar

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