Question: Lately it’s felt that the world Kli is working in a single desire. At one time Rabash advised you to make an attack from this state. What exactly are we attacking?

Answer: Ourselves, our heart, our laziness, our pride, our past habits. I have to ascend above all of these calculations.

The most important thing is to dissolve among the friends, to intentionally push yourself into the group. I want to be there all the time. I want to lose my personal mind and feeling and to acquire the mind and feeling of all the friends. It’s as if I lose myself in them by my own desire.

This means acquiring the vessel of the mutual guarantee.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/11, Matan Torah

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Question: Is it possible to go back in time? Can I return to the states where I have already been?

Answer: Certainly! After all, time is defined as a chain of the informational genes (Reshimot). You can travel along this chain from the beginning to the end and go wherever you want. If you possess the anti-egoistic screen, meaning the ability to exist in any state, you can choose any Reshimo and realize it.

Obviously, no one would want to descend back from an advanced state. This wouldn’t make any sense unless you had to descend for some period of time in order to help others, that is, to go back in order to establish a connection with them.

However, I would perform this “reversing” through the special Partzuf called “hair” (Searot). I myself stay in the advanced state, but I make a “smaller” copy of myself through which I communicate with those who are below me.

However, one cannot descend for no reason because it contradicts the purpose of creation. How is it possible for a spiritual individual to do such a thing?
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: What is closeness to the teacher and what is study “mouth to mouth”?

Answer: Closeness to the teacher does not mean that a person is physically close to him—this does not matter at all. A person is close to the teacher when he feels that the teacher can transfer everything he has to him and desires to do so, but to the extent that the person opens himself to it. This is because when it comes to contact and communication, the one who transfers and the one who receives have to connect.

So first of all, one should believe that the teacher constantly transfers and there are things that can be taken from him. This depends on the student. Second, the student needs to understand that he can receive whatever comes from the teacher only to the extent of his sensitivity to it.

Of course, in general everything depends on the student. Only on the student! Practically nothing depends on the teacher. On the other hand, the student must completely attune himself to receiving. What does it mean to receive? It means to connect. In other words, he needs to have thoughts, feelings, and directions somewhat like his teacher’s, even if it is only in one percent similarity. He must desire to perceive from him, he must be tuned to the same current. And then he will succeed.

The study consists of two levels:

1. “From mouth to ears,” which is verbal communication, when I speak with my mouth, and the student perceives with his ear.
2. “From mouth to mouth,” where the mouth refers to the common screen, which is in the mouth of the spiritual Partzuf.

So when we communicate in such a way that the student does not want or is not yet able to be on the same level as his teacher, then he listens. He can listen without a desire, without much effort; he can even be against his teacher and still hear him in a way.

This is not yet one screen, one aspiration, some kind of a mutual connection, when they are connected at least by one percent. When they are connected, the student will be able to receive information from mouth to mouth to the extent of this connection, that is, to the extent of this shared screen, shared aspiration. This is something to strive for. This is difficult work with one’s egoism, but it is possible, and then everything the teacher has flows into the student.

Question: Do you have the opportunity to choose who will be close to you?

Answer: Whoever will be close to the teacher does not depend on him. Whoever puts himself in the place of a student, will be a student. Sometimes the teacher really wants for certain people to be his students because these people have certain special attributes, and it might be easier to convey the ideas to humanity in a faster and more vivid way through them, but these people might be incapable of it, neglect the opportunity, and miss the chance.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson from Moscow 6/16/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Kabbalah talks about desire. There is no time, motion, or space, but only a state of being. Then how about the past and the future? And how about the spiritual worlds? I don’t feel them.

So are there other states in existence besides the current one, besides our world? I don’t know because I have not experienced them. I don’t have sensations or Reshimot from there. I cannot reach them now and confirm their authenticity.

A person judges everything by what he sees. This is not just an axiom, but the result of what the desire feels when it has developed to the level of being where it is aware of itself and understands what it feels. Otherwise we become detached from reality and go off into fantasies.

I don’t talk about the higher dimension myself. I am told about it by Kabbalists, whom I trust. I consider their words true when they tell me that it is possible to exist in different states. “Aspire to them, ascend to them,” the Kabbalists tell me. “They are better than what you now feel.” Then I move from one state to the next in my desire by correcting and improving it. By revealing it as giving, I reveal new states in it.

In our times all of humanity is crossing this vertical axis in order to move from below upwards. We have completed the horizontal axis of history and there is nowhere to keep moving on it. From here on, our path is upwards.

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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/21/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: You have mentioned many times that people who have been studying Kabbalah for many years look just like everyone else and cannot be told apart. At the same time, people whose desires have been corrected change the reality around them and possess a completely different power of attraction. Are there any external signs that distinguish a Kabbalist?

Answer: I have met and spent some time with several students of Baal HaSulam. I was 35 years old, and they were 75. I felt like an infant in their arms. I never saw them do any miracles nor did I hear any special conversations. They all tried to be very regular people, and they actually were.

A Kabbalist does not spread any waves around him. A person who begins to listen to a Kabbalist, to understand him, to correctly adapt his words and thoughts, and to realize his suggestions within him begins to perceive himself and the world in a different way. This is not because there is a Kabbalist influencing him. Kabbalists do not influence other people. It is not permitted! This would kill another person’s freedom of will.

How do we teach a child? We constantly provide him with exercises and tell him how things are done, but he must do it on his own. Otherwise, he will not grow. This is why Kabbalists never change and can never change anything around them. There are no tricks. Nothing can change if man does not change.

I have many relatives, friends, and beloved students, and there is no way I can help them besides explaining it to them one more time, telling it in some other way. There is no other way. And when a person turns away from me, there is no way for me to turn him around. I also leave him. That is it. There is nothing I can do, even though it hurts.

Do not think that a Kabbalist is capable of something supernatural that a regular person cannot do. No, he cannot. Of course, he reveals this world to a greater extent as his desire becomes corrected, but he only reveals it for himself.

Over the course of history, there were many Kabbalists who were unable to teach. They attained spirituality, performed corrections in the upper world in the network of souls between us, and prepared this entire system to be closer to humanity, but not more than that. It’s the same way that we prepare the current world for our children and grandchildren, and no other way.

Do not look for tricks in Kabbalah. There are no miracles. This is an enormous, difficult job for each one of us to correct ourselves against our nature. This is what all of humanity must realize in our time.
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From the 3rd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/11/11

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Question: What is so special about the Torah that even The Book of Zohar is just a commentary on it?

Answer: The records that Moses made on parchment are the earthly expression, through material symbols, of spiritual actions of Light on desire. Moses wrote down everything he taught his students in a book. Over the course of 40 years of wandering in the desert, they wrote down the whole Torah, going through the entire process in record, as well as in bodies, and in spirituality. This is the entire path from the Egyptian exile (earthly and spiritual), through the desert (earthly and spiritual), and into the land of Israel (earthly and spiritual). All of this came true in the connection between the root and the branch. Moses expressed this entire process in this concrete, symbolic form.

The Zohar expresses the same process on a different level, in a different form because the general desire to enjoy that the Creator created had by that time advanced several steps forward and was perfected by the influence of the Light. Therefore, this desire, which went through ascents and descents, the destruction of the First and Second Temple, the exile, and then reached the last breakage before the last exile, had to be given the method that is appropriate for the end of the exile, for our time.

That is why The Book of Zohar was written, whose authors were the successors of many generations of Kabbalists, starting from Abraham until the destruction of the Temple. Rabbi Shimon was the student of Rabbi Akiva, who revealed a great Light, and therefore he was able to express this in The Book of Zohar.

The Torah itself is divided into two parts: oral and written. This comes from the difference between Zeir Anpin and Malchut. Zeir Anpin of the world of Atzilut is the “oral Torah,” while Malchut of the world of Atzilut is the “written Torah.”

The Torah is the revelation of Light. The Light that comes to Malchut contains everything that is necessary for changing Malchut. But this Light still hasn’t come true in practice, and is therefore called “the oral Torah.” For now this is work with the screens.

Under the influence of the same Light in Malchut, inner changes take place and are impressed in Malchut, this is called “the written Torah.” This is talking only about actions of the Light in the desires from the beginning of creation and until its end. That’s because there is nothing in existence besides desires.

Among these desires some feel that they exist by themselves, separate from all the others. This is us. These desires contain qualities that can help them on the path of correction. And that is why we receive a sensation of lacking, our own lack of correction, the realization of evil. This is how we perceive ourselves.

These are exactly the desires that need to be given “the Torah”—the instructions explaining how they can participate in their own corrections out of their own free choice, how they can attract the Light by wishing to become corrected faster, instead of waiting for the Light to come and shake them up.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/11, Shamati
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Question: The Book of Zohar is full of stories and earthly images. Why are they so important if all they do is confuse and take us away from the correct intention?

Answer: Everything that a person existing in sanctity (the will to bestow) says proceeds from his attaining, sensing, and existing in the will to bestow, and does not simply come to his mind. Because his will to receive has become “sanctified,” meaning that it has acquired the property of bestowal and exists in it, this is the quality he feels.

That’s why he perceives a certain expression of the Creator within him and expresses it in such a form. He does not produce these images himself, nor do they simply appear in his mind. Rather, the form of the Creator that has revealed itself inside him arouses a certain image, the picture that he then describes to us.

That’s why we have to use these stories and connect with them. And if we do not understand them just yet, we will eventually. Take my word for it. Furthermore, you will reach the same degree of attainment, and the same story, pictures, images, and expressions will suddenly appear inside of you.

This is why Kabbalists understand each other. We don’t understand them, but the more you connect to what they are saying, the more you understand them.

It’s not a coincidence that in the Hasidic tradition, if a Rabbi’s note contains errors, you have to bless them because if he wrote it that way, to you it is a sign of holiness. This follows from the fact that a person who is in sanctity cannot make a mistake. It seems to you that he has made a mistake because you are uncorrected. And this is called faith above reason.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/2011, The Zohar

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Question: You keep saying that you would like to see your students being more autonomous. How does this kind of independence tie with self-annulment before the teacher?

Answer: Independence is the ability to make correct decisions autonomously and to act correctly, feeling and knowing what I would do if you were me. As a matter of fact, it’s even easier to use this principle in a large society. After all, we need a huge system to manage it. And if everybody puts forth their best effort to see in the same direction as the spiritual leader does and starts seeking how they can contribute to the common cause, we can’t fail.

It’s impossible to manage each cell in the body from one brain center; it would be too complex. In an integral system, everybody manages everyone else. And each of us has to examine how his or her opinion matches the view of the rest, accept the society’s view above their own, and act accordingly. This is what it means “to love others as you love yourself.” I don’t do what seems best to me; instead, I do what is best for the other. I work to fulfill his or her desire. And that is the essence of adhesion, oneness.

There won’t be one man with one heart unless we accept the collective point of view above our own. And for most, it’s a huge problem, especially for those who are good organizers. They think that they know how to arrange and manage society, and they use only their brain.

And here there is a great danger in how they and the entire society will be progressing. In fact, it’s easy to switch to the direction opposite to the spiritual path. On the outside it will look like they succeeded on the material plane, but they will not advance spiritually.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11, Shamati #25

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It’s the student’s job to seek how to cleave to the teacher. And it’s definitely not about worshiping and honoring him, but rather about taking his point of view. This is something totally different and relates to spirituality.

Yet, it is somewhat dangerous since you may think that you follow the teacher while, in fact, you listen to your ego instead. Therefore, you need to do an internal assessment: What is your opinion and that of the teacher, and how do you set and evaluate one against the other?

Then you scrutinize what you do and do not agree with it. And in the area where you clearly can’t agree with the teacher’s view, you happily grab this disagreement and start implementing it in your life. That’s what it means to accept the teacher’s point of view.

If you didn’t have something that differed with your opinion and which you had to suppress, it isn’t a real choice. You must be aware of what you are not in agreement with and what you would do differently!

If there aren’t these two versions, when you want to do something one way but are forced to do absolutely the opposite, there is no faith above reason. Only when you know for sure how the teacher would like you to act, but still wish to do the opposite, you receive a chance to act above your own reason.

After all, in order to come to equivalence of form, you have to know its opposite. Only then will you know for sure what this equivalence is like. In fact, the equivalence is always opposite to my form and goes against my perception. As for me, it’s as if while standing on my own opinion, at the same time I am above it. I am resisting myself and cultivate a new, higher mind within me.

There’s nothing we can do about this: This is the law of nature. The upper one stays on his rung and the lower on his. In order to ascend to a higher degree, you must accept the thought of the upper one by faith above reason. And of course you may think he is acting strangely and doesn’t understand it all. But does it really matter for your spiritual progress how well you understand what he does?

You don’t have any other chance to rise to the next degree other than with the help of the teacher, the upper one, whom the Creator has placed against you. And there is no room for any compromises or backstairs in it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11, Shamati #25

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It’s impossible to advance correctly if you are guided by your own opinion because you are entirely in this world. You will be able to grow only if you discover the existences of two distinct opinions: You will hear your own opinion and the teacher’s opinion, will understand the difference between them, and will compare them with each other so as to always go by faith above reason and accept the teacher’s view.

You need to choose and advance all the time, preferring the teacher’s opinion to your own in spite of your increasingly greater egoism and all your inner doubts and arguments, regardless of the supposedly obvious facts and common logic that tells you that you are not going by your reason, but below or above it.

If a person can cope with all these problems, he will be able to advance. If not, he has no chance of success. Thus, only a few reach the spiritual world.

In order to survive such inner struggle and go against our logic all the time, we need the support of the group which always strengthens the teacher’s authority. This means that it’s necessary to lower ourselves before the group to receive from it the strength to defeat our personal opinion and accept the teacher’s.

There are three participants in the work: the person, the teacher, and the group. All this is necessary to reach the revelation of the Creator (who can be revealed from the opposite side as well) so that the opinion of the teacher and that of the Creator unite into one. Then, a person will be able to advance, having understood that the group and the teacher are the representatives of the Creator in relation to him. Thus, the person has to figure out all his concepts, evaluations, and choice only relative to them.

If you are lucky, you will do this and move forward; if not, you will not even feel that you are not making the correct choice and are not moving in the right direction. You will not have any scale on which you could measure this.

When do “words that come from the heart enter the heart?” If you correctly establish your opinion in relation to the teacher’s, you will begin to hear what the teacher is telling.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11, Shamati #25

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