In every spiritual state on the spiritual levels, there is the Inner Light and the Surrounding Light. But in our state, as long as we do not attain restriction and a Masach (screen), we can be assisted only by the Surrounding Light.

The force of the Surrounding Light depends on how much we value it, on our appreciation of the upper, of the next level, which means the Creator. But we cannot value Him. We were only given a couple of means by which we can develop an inner feeling of the greatness of the upper. The upper for us is the group, the teacher, and the books, meaning the study that tells us about the spiritual world and the Creator hidden behind all these means.

We begin to value the upper who is external to us by using all these means: the group, the teacher, the books, and the intention of attaining equivalence of form with the Creator in order to bring Him contentment. Although we don’t feel it for the time being, even if we just talk about it trying to feel it from time to time, we raise the greatness of the upper in us by that. Then at a certain point He becomes so important that He allows us to feel His presence next to us.

It’s because everything that is external to a person is the Holy Shechina, the Godly presence. But everything depends on how much we value Him. All the other rules of behavior in the group as to how we should speak, what to demand of it, and how to treat it, stem from this condition, from the need to value the upper.

Accordingly, the Surrounding Light shines upon a person. It is the real upper Light, but in the meantime it operates on the lower as the Light that Reforms, which means that it brings about changes in us by gradually bringing us closer to bestowal. Then finally it will give us the “restriction” and the Masach, which means the ability to work spiritually.

Then we will begin to understand where we are and what is happening to us, but at the same time, we have to work in faith above reason and value the upper despite all the problems the upper sends us and all the reasons for an opposite attitude. This is our work that is based on our great appreciation of the upper until we adhere to the posterior of the upper as if it were His face. Then we will see that it was never His posterior, but that He has always turned His face full of light to us. Thus we leave exile and reach redemption.

At first it was as if you were unconscious, but then you begin to feel that you are in exile, so, step by step, you begin to get closer to redemption and finally you leave exile and come into the Light. These are the levels of ascent according to your appreciation of the upper, and later your adhesion to Him.

We have all the means, all the roads are open, and everything depends on us. There is nothing else that we need. The Creator has given us every possible opportunity and everything else is up to the person. We will not be forgiven and there are no concessions from Above if we don’t do our work, since otherwise we will not build our spiritual vessels.
[102235]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/13

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The problem is that we need an inner connection between the friends and the teacher so that the external forms of the interruptions that are purposefully sent to us will not weaken, but rather, will strengthen this connection. It is indeed very difficult, since our ego depicts everything in an ugly external way and forces us to blame one another.

We cannot rise above the obstacles and external conditions that the Creator places us in so that we would overcome them by ourselves. The external corporeal picture strongly influences us and we cannot leap over it and rise in different states of conflicts, disrespect, feeling distant from others or when it comes to different corporeal accounts.

All this draws a person further from the goal, and it doesn’t just repulse him, but also causes him such harm that he will need to work for a long time in order to repair his past mistakes.

Baal HaSulam tells us in his letter that as long as a student yearns to get closer to his teacher and climbs the hill, the desire burns in him. But the moment he gets physically close to the teacher, his yearning diminishes gradually, until it is totally lost. Therefore, it is much easier to be distant than to be near. We all know that important people try to keep the crowds distant in order to increase the people’s interest in them.

A person creates a kind of image of a friend, the teacher, and the Creator, and doesn’t want to know the truth. He feels good living in the fantasy that he has created for himself and it is hard for him to get away from it, to erase it, in order to accept something new. If this picture is closer to the real picture, then, on the whole, it is less pleasant and more obligating.

So a person who sometimes hears the voice of the Creator and receives an invitation to stroll in His garden for a while, eventually doesn’t attain anything. It is because he doesn’t try to rise above his nature, above the inclination to reject his friends and his teacher and to imagine them as he sees fit instead of seeing the real picture so that the physical closeness or distance will not make a difference and also so that the spiritual closeness or distance will not lead to any changes in his relations with the friends, the teacher, and the Creator.

We have to try to rise as much as we can above our corporeal attributes and to be more objective. This means to judge above reason and to enter the collective vessel, outside one’s self.
[102132]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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According to the Creator’s part, you are always in a corrected state. But according to how you see it and understand things, it appears very different and this is the flaw. Absolute good comes from the Creator, but He has to hide it and reduce His bestowal upon you so that it will not seem so bad. It is because you are opposite from Him and you receive everything in an opposite manner.

So the Creator cannot pour infinite bestowal upon you since you would feel an infinite minus and would not be able to bear this horrible state. Therefore, the Creator has to diminish Himself, by reducing Himself to practically zero level, leaving only a tiny spark to sustain life, a tiny drop of Light. And even this minimal Light is perceived by you as a cruel world full of evil and pain.

Gradually, through the study and the influence of the friends and the teacher, according to your efforts, the Light comes, reforms you, and changes begin to occur in you. Then you gradually find out that you are actually in a good state and that you feel it as bad because of your uncorrected attributes. Then you begin to work in order to change yourself by using all the means you have: the group, the study, dissemination, and the teacher.

If you work correctly and make efforts in order to see yourself in a state of bestowal, love, and connection, through the teacher, the study, and by yearning for the Creator, then it operates on you. It is not immediate of course, but gradually you discover that bestowal and love, the best attitude, surround you; finally you understand, feel, and interpret this correctly.

Thus you rise to your first spiritual level. You agree with the Creator and see that all the powers you have invested were for the correction of your perception, for the correction of your vessels. You didn’t have to pay anyone, but you corrected yourself. Thus you have corrected the vessel of perception and now you feel a whole state.

You have to feel the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), the perfection in the current state without changing anything in it, except for your inner attitude. If you don’t feel that, it is a sign that you are cursing the Creator instead of thanking Him and blessing Him.

We can say that about every state, no matter how terrible it is. Nothing changes in reality, except for our attitude, which is called the correction of the vessel of perception.
[102017]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 5: Therefore, common sense dictates that we grasp the opposite of what appears to be on the surface, and decide that we are truly noble and worthy creatures, of immeasurable importance, actually worthy of the Worker who had made us.

Question: How does this go along with what Rabash once said to you: “Now you are a rag like I am?”

Answer: There are many discernments and elements in the term “rag”: I am incapable of anything, I am dependent on the Creator, and I am happy about having discovered this fact. By that I see the beginning and the end of my actions, and in every action I have to make efforts in order to attain the concept of a “rag,” and then adhere to the Creator and by that obligate Him to do something.

So the state of a “rag” comes after all the exertion, according to the principle “I have exerted myself and I have found.” It’s the final stage and it’s a very important level in which I understand better that I have nothing, that I am totally “squeezed,” powerless, lacking energy and motivation which I must receive from the Light.

I can’t fulfill the correction, I can’t accumulate the necessary discernments, but I can attain the necessary desire to exert myself that I get from the environment. I could stay on the “animal” level forever, if the Creator did not let me rise to a higher level about which Baal HaSulam writes.
[101781]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/13,”Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: How can we reach an equivalence of form with the teacher, meaning to share his perspective and to acquire his values?

Answer: It all depends on how well you understand what is said by the teacher because you can’t understand his perspective in any case. It isn’t about an external equivalence of form, but about a person who annuls himself and acquires the vessel of the other, in this case of his teacher. To the extent that the student connects to the desires of the teacher, he can advance.

He uses the wholeness that the teacher has, since the teacher’s state is certainly more whole than the state of the student, and the teacher is on at least a level higher than the student. So the student can receive the Light of Hassadim by adhering to the teacher, which will help him rise higher above himself in faith above reason, to be incorporated in the group, and to see the study in the Light of bestowal. By adhering to the teacher, the student receives spiritual vessels by which he can already start feeling internal actions, spirituality.
[101767]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/1/13, Shamati #25

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Question: How can we prepare the right “vessels” internally so that we will be able to hear what the upper says?

Answer: In order to hear the upper you have to connect. Malchut of Atzilut is called Knesset Israel (the assembly of Israel) since it assembles all those who yearn “straight to the Creator”-Yashar-El (Israel).

Then they all connect in Malchut of Atzilut and then Malchut of Atzilut raises a prayer (MAN) up to Zeir Anpin, and together rises as with a big brother to father and mother (upper AA). This is what happens in all the levels until the world of Ein Sof (Infinity).

So the connection with the upper is only possible if I am connected with those who are equal to me. First we have to create an “assembly,” a connection, a gathering of friends. The main thing is to annul yourself at least before one person, and by that you are ready for the connection with the other.

The term “upper” exists only inside us. Who is a teacher—“rav” (great in Hebrew)? He exists only in the center of the group. If you think about a teacher outside the center of the group, he is not called “rav” but simply a teacher, a scientist, or a wise man. He doesn’t become a guide.

A guide is someone who shows you the way. It is someone who is in the center of the group and who says, “You all have to connect around this center.”
[101764]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/1/13, Shamati #25

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Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“: This environment will help him obtain the greatness of his rav through love of friends who appreciate the rav.

Question: How does the love of friends help attain the greatness of the rav?

Answer: The term “rav” includes the Creator, and in general everything that helps a person rise to the next level. The friends are those who help a person not in rising to the next level, but rather in the recognition of the greatness of that level. A person doesn’t see himself on the next level, but with the help of the group and thanks to the influence of the friends, he begins to imagine the greatness of the next level.

We use the “fuel” of the group, although no one has attained the highest level yet. The general spirit and general atmosphere are enough because it is our nature: A person appreciates what his environment values and considers it to be important. It’s according to this principle that we grow.

Question: So why should I love the friends, isn’t it enough to simply appreciate them?

Answer: Love of friends is already the fulfillment. And the first step I should take is accepting the path and the goal, and agree to accept the system and the idea of the upper force to which we connect and attain. Then how can I raise these values above myself? Through the support of the environment that will help me feel the greatness of the goal.

The “environment” is the Kabbalah books, the friends, and the teacher. Together they lead me to the Creator. This means that all these factors must constantly be important to me, above my self-importance. Only then will I be able to advance.

Question: But still, in ordinary life the environment influences us even if we don’t think positively about it…

Answer: True, whether we like it or not, the environment influences us by using our ego, our desire to receive which is always ready to enjoy. It is simply shown different types of pleasure; it perceives them like bait and swallows them.

On the other hand, I am not attracted to the goals that the group presents. On the contrary, because of them I have to give up things and to aspire to receive pleasure from bestowal, which I don’t really understand. I don’t understand it to such an extent that I even feel repulsed by it. The whole way is made of concessions, of self-annulment, of annulment before the group, although nothing in me is attracted to anything like that.

So it turns out that I don’t like the group and teacher’s message about the Creator. There has to be mutual work on the part of the individual and on the part of the group. The friends have to work together so that everyone will feel that these things are obligatory and desirable, so that every person will see how essential and important he or she is and that the general enthusiasm will flood his consciousness and his soul.

If we don’t create a kind of “brainwash” here, we will simply not be able to advance. External impressions will not help us here and neither will nice words or the friends’ actions. Internally, a person will still reject the idea of bestowal if it isn’t reinforced by the group’s serious attitude where everyone is ready to invest in it and to spur one another on.

People who hold on to their externality spin around the goal, around the system for decades. Some of them become Hassidim, some become involved in dry studying, and others deal with dissemination, but they don’t implement the method in the correct efficient way.

All this happens when the environment is not strong enough to sweep a person towards the goal. After all, by that we fight our nature, our desire to receive, which we have to neutralize and to even draw towards bestowal. This is extremely difficult, but this is the key. If we succeed, we will break through to the upper dimension, and if not, then as we say “we will retire”…
[101637]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” Go and ask a botanist how many phases the fruit undergoes from the time it becomes visible until it is completely ripe.

The problem is that I don’t see the purpose on my way to it; I don’t feel what the end of correction will be like. It isn’t by chance that it says, “Why don’t you show a fool a work that is half done?” In the middle of the way I cannot see the end.

It is clear to me that I am a fool since I don’t see the final wholeness, but what can I do about it? What can be demanded of me at this point? My life isn’t going well corporeally or spiritually, everything goes wrong in my life so why should I justify the Creator all of a sudden?

Wise people may know that the apple is destined to ripen, but I don’t see anything; it is bitter and that’s it.

This means that I need “the faith in sages,” the faith in those who have already been through this path; I have to adhere to a wise person, a teacher, to such an extent so that I can use his wholeness, only then will I be able to justify the creation and the Creator. But until then, I don’t hear what they say to me. Without the feeling of wholeness that is acquired from the upper, which means from the group and the teacher, I will always be a chip of wood floating in the sea, being thrown from side to side by the waves.

Question: But still, examples like the apple or the worm in the radish give us some clue?

Answer: They calm you down and help us quiet our conscience: “All this is not in vain; it cannot be that nature will not allow the apple to ripen. It means that all our sufferings will pay off…”

It is true, but this is already religion. People are fed these “conclusions” in order to calm them down: “Wait, soon you will reach Heaven…”

We see it differently: I want to attain wholeness now, and it is possible only by adhesion to the group and the teacher. I need the final result now since otherwise I will not make one step forward.

However, if I cannot use this means, I will not be able to advance. In Shamati, article 25, it says: Instead, there is only one counsel then, to cling to his teacher and to the books. This is called “From the mouth of books and from the mouth of authors.” Only by cleaving to them can he change his mind and will for the better. However, witty arguments will not help him change his mind, but only the remedy of Dvekut (adhesion), for this is a wondrous cure, as the Dvekut reforms him.

In other words, all the concepts upon which he builds his building, saying one must always follow in the path of the Creator, is founded in the Dvekut with his teacher. Thus, if he loses the foundation, then all the concepts are powerless, since they will now be lacking the foundation.

Hence, one must not rely on one’s own mind, but cleave once more to books and authors, for only that can help him, and no wit and intellect, as they are lifeless.
[101644]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/13,”Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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There is a system which in our perception of reality is depicted as the current reality of this world. In it a person has books that were written by Kabbalists in the past, a teacher who is a Kabbalist, friends, the whole world, and the Creator who is concealed, meaning the attribute of bestowal that is opposite from everything a person discovers in his five senses. Except for this attribute, everything is at his disposal.

So how can we use all the means we have correctly, in order to reach the general attribute of bestowal?

It is external to a person, outside his “vessel,” and he can acquire it with the help of three components: books, the group, and the teacher. With their help he fulfills the study, dissemination, and the connection.

The combination of all these things brings a person to turn his vessels, his desires, from receiving to bestowal. He discovers increasingly more egoistic vessels that he turns to “in order to bestow,” according to his efforts and exertion.

What are these efforts and exertion?

A person holds on to the right intention during the study, connects with the friends in the group, and follows the advice of the teacher without which he doesn’t know how to work with the books and the group. On the whole, these three components are called “Torah,” which means a study, a method, a means for attaining the attribute of bestowal.

From that we choose the right actions and the right relations by combining the books the group and the teacher in them. Thus a person reaches oppositeness, by rising “above his reason” above his mind and feelings, towards the next level…
[101113]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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If a student sees his teacher’s greatness like a Hassid who sees his rabbi, it’s not a good sign. After all, a student has to work in order to see that the teacher is great and to discover that he is important.

On the other hand, if the teacher seems great, does it give me “fuel” to fulfill his advice? This is the criterion according to which I examine my attitude towards him. The real work is in fulfilling what the teacher says in the group, in dissemination, in the study, in a person’s intentions. If I don’t have the power to do so, it’s because the teacher is not important enough for me. How can I see him as more important? After all this is what will ensure my path to the Creator.

For that, I need a group in which I receive the recognition of my teacher’s greatness from the friends, and then I can fulfill what he says. At the same time it is the teacher’s ideas I have to value and nothing but that. Everything else is already “idol worship.” The main thing is the study, the method he teaches and the actions he points out as important for the attainment of the Creator. This is actually what my friends value.

On the whole, the environment can increase the importance of everything, even if it’s a certain kind of tea, the teacher, or the Creator. The desire to receive doesn’t see anything special here; for the desire, there are simple different discernments of pleasures; it examines all the options through the perception of standard understanding, of inner emptiness and filling. The details make no difference, if people around me value tea, then I also value tea, and if people around me value the teacher or the Creator, then a person also sees that the teacher and the Creator are important.

The main thing is that the student would want to listen to what the teacher says and by that the inner partitions, the inner ears, will open. Through them, in the internality of the system, he will hear an inner voice.
[100998]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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