Each progresses at his or her own speed and own style and passes through one’s own specific stages. There is no need to worry about it, one does not know why one’s soul is being corrected in such a way, rising from the opposite state. The higher the soul was before the shattering, the worse it is in the broken state and the higher it rises after the correction, returning to its place.

This is what a person is given. The Creator created him or her with a soul of a certain height, and He organizes appropriate conditions for the person: thoughts, feelings, and an environment. All conditions originate from the shattering of the soul. The Creator does not consider anyone personally, but looks at the general broken soul that needs to be corrected. The shattering should go down to the lowest limit in order to start the ascent.

Each one begins to climb up, like in the parable of the king who called upon his subjects to transfer his treasury to another place and gave each of them one coin. Each carries its part, with his or her internal properties, health conditions, environment, and various obstacles along the way. He either gets sick, goes to prison, gets a promotion, or wins a million dollars in a lottery. Everyone overcomes their own obstacles, everything is arranged in advance.¹

There is no need to worry about the states we go through, as if I myself am responsible for them. I am only responsible for drawing the Light in this moment. All that was and will be, was and will be arranged by the Creator. All my steps are already known. It is only the quality of the steps that is unknown. I have to move from point A to point B, but I can ride in a horse-drawn carriage, in a train, walk, or barely crawl.

The speed depends on me, but I have to go through all the states that are already predefined. There are people who anticipate future events. So what? I do not ask them for predictions because I do not want to think about what will happen to me. All that matters to me is to what extent I adhere to the Creator at every given moment. Apart from this, nothing matters: I either rise or fall, or I am thrown in all directions; the Creator will take care of me.

All the obstacles have already been built into my path according to my soul, and I have to go through them; otherwise, I will not correct my soul and will not rise from them. Therefore, they should not be taken as misfortunes. These disturbances will be revealed, and above each disturbance I will have to adhere to the Creator. The only disturbance is separation from the Creator. In each state, I worry only about how to adhere to Him more strongly, attributing all the states and all the salvations to the Creator.

It is not the states themselves that are important to me, but my attitude toward them: to what extent I justify the Creator in them and am in solidarity with Him. The Creator scares me only so that I will cling to Him and justify Him even more.

Therefore, I do not fear the future, no matter what might happen. I fear only one thing: whether I will have the power to unite with the Creator and adhere to Him, like a baby who clings to his mother as if he wants to hide back in her belly.

I have to strengthen my faith, that is, to attribute everything happening in my world to the Creator. There is no other source. Everything happens only so that I can connect it with the Creator in my heart and mind. The evil inclination, Pharaoh, this is what wants to separate me from the Creator, from the sole cause of everything that happens.²

If it were obvious to me that everything comes from the Creator, then faith would be unnecessary because there would be clear knowledge. I have to be in touch with the Creator who pulls me by the strings like a puppet. This is how I become an angel, completely controlled, like a horse or any other animal. Therefore, on one hand, I want to remain separate from the Creator, and at the same time connect with Him by my own effort above the restriction, above the concealment, as if there is no concealment or restriction. This, I “as if” arouse by myself, and it is called the “reforming Light.”

If the king wants to check to what extent the slave is devoted to him, he pretends that his life is in danger. This is how it is possible to check whether the slave is ready to sacrifice his life in order to save the king. Therefore, first of all, we need to acquire the Light of faith in which adhesion with the Creator, the Light of Hochma, the Light of knowledge, is reached.

Knowledge cannot be above faith because it is not the faith that is known to us in our world. Faith above knowledge is the willingness to bestow everything without any reason. What is required of us is devotion, in exchange for what? In exchange for nothing. First, we reach the Light of faith, of devotion, and only then can we connect with the Creator.³

Adhesion with the Creator lasts one moment, but a person wants to adhere to this moment forever as if nothing else exists. He attributes all the past, present, and future to the Creator, seeing in Him the cause and effect of all his actions and achievements. And he himself remains only one point that states all this.

The Creator created the evil inclination, and He also created the good inclination. A person only decides that “There is no one else but the Creator.”⁴
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/26/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, item 17
1 Minute 0:8:40
2 Minute 0:14:11
3 Minute 0:24:30
4 Minute 0:32:20

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Question: I have repeatedly asked what spiritual bestowal is and never received a clear answer. You give an example of a mother and child, which is not spiritual, but material bestowal. So what is spiritual bestowal?

Answer: Spiritual bestowal is bestowal above my egoism, when, relying on and starting from it, I produce altruistic actions inverse to my desire.

I can only do them if I rely on a group that supports me in this, and through it, I receive the upper light—the light of bestowal. Then I can act.

This is an absolutely real action that ultimately turns out to be the opposite of my egoistic desire.
[241034]
From the Kabbalah lesson in Russian, 11/11/18

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Question: If I see that my friend is in a bad corporeal situation does it mean that I want him to be in this state?

Answer: No, all bad states are the result of the shattering of the soul of Adam. Therefore, we do nothing bad.

You are not the creator of the bad states. However, when you don’t ask for their correction, you let these states manifest. The degree to which these bad states improve depends on us.
[240391]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 11/4/19

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Question: Are there any examples in our world that illustrate reception for the sake of bestowal?

Answer: Suppose someone wants to give me a gift and brings a box of chocolates. I have high blood sugar and do not eat sweets. But I accept this gift because the person gives it to me with all his heart. But in principle, I receive it in order to bestow my good attitude to him.

In our world there is no example of true receiving for the sake of bestowal. There is not even such a state as bestowal for the sake of bestowal. Here, everything is selfish, egoistic, and performed only for one’s own sake. Otherwise, we cannot make any movement: not in thoughts, desires, or physically. We would have no energy for it. We are destined to receive. This is how we are created.

In order to begin to bestow, to live in bestowal, we need completely new energy—the energy of bestowal. We begin to receive it only by studying in a group. And then we gain the opportunity to gradually reach the properties of selfless bestowal without consuming any egoistic energy. After all, we will receive energy from the Creator.

I approach the Creator as I approach the sun: I receive energy from Him, and therefore, I can bestow. Only in this way can we act in spirituality.

This is what we need to learn, and it is ahead of us.
[240375]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/14/18

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Question: Does it make sense not to ask the Creator, but simply to thank Him? Or is just the request needed?

Answer: Our appeal to the Creator consists of two parts: from a request and from gratitude. It is best to begin with gratitude because it prepares us for the right attitude with the higher power. And then comes the request.

Question: How do we give thanks correctly?

Answer: Do it from the heart. Give thanks the way you feel it. There are no canons or rules. The desire is in the heart.
[240787]
From the Kabbalah lesson in Russian, 11/4/18

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Question: Why does it seem that when we start studying Kabbalah we no longer have common interests with our former friends, and our social life fades away?

Answer: When a person begins to practice Kabbalah, it is as if he breaks away from his ordinary earthly affairs. He unwittingly works, unwillingly lives in the family, and unwillingly exists because he is captivated by this science , which talks about the eternal, perfection, and the soul, and this makes a much more profound impression than one’s material life.

But gradually this sensation disappears, and he balances his perception of ordinary life with his impressions of spiritual life. This must be experienced.

Naturally, you will not have much in common with your former friends because their interests are at the level of our world, and yours are at the level of the upper world. Therefore, the group that you organize to study Kabbalah will represent the most important society for you.
[240810]
From the Lesson in Russian, 11/11/18

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Question: How can we be in touch with all the tens when some of the friends participate in the convention physically and some virtually?

Answer: What is the difference? At the convention there will be random tens. I don’t care where my friends are.

The convention is designed to absorb all the tens, the entire world Kli, to absorb opinions, feelings—everything that is in all our friends, and not that I come along with my ten, sit down at the table with a sign: “This is the Italian group, here is its table.”

What difference does it make if I sit here or at my home in Rome or elsewhere. I have to mix with everyone, to feel their spirit and life as much as possible, and in this measure I will advance.

Our progress depends on how we mutually intermingle with each other; this is our strength—not each of us separately, but jointly!

So, let one part come here and another part remain there, there is no difference; the main thing is that I constantly try to absorb the impressions of all the friends, their love, their feelings, and their aspirations to the goal. I need these forces.
[241226]
From the Kabbalah lesson in Russian, 2/5/19

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Question: Can a created being at the level of the Creator set new laws for itself?

Answer: Neither the created being nor the Creator can establish new laws.

Spiritual laws originated from the fact that in the upper Light, which is the nature of the Creator, a small black point appeared—a property opposite to the Light, and this point began to develop.

The development of this point under the influence of the Light has built all the worlds and everything in them including the soul of Adam and its shattering, and further on to our state. Everything comes from this point, which develops and builds all its changes, metamorphoses, and parts, under the influence of the upper Light.

There is nothing artificial here and nothing can change. Everything can change only in the opposite direction if we, connecting with each other, begin to influence this black point and bring it to the state where it is equivalent to the Light.
[240275]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/4/2018

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Question: Where do Kabbalists get energy for spiritual exertion?

Answer: Only from the Creator!

You want to have energy, to be healthy, to work in spiritually, no problem! You will get everything! As much energy as you want!

Just let the energy flow from above so that you can perform the right spiritual actions of drawing closer to others and advancing toward the property of love and bestowal. Then you will have an infinite amount of energy.

This is not the kind of energy required by our brain or body to perform some kind of movement. It is a completely different kind of energy. It is all around us, endlessly spreading through the spiritual universe in unlimited ways.
[240388]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/14/18

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Question: What should one do if the question about the meaning of life loses its sharpness after several years of study and studying becomes a habit, a hobby, a way of life? One feels that there is no advancement.

Answer: The fact that studying turns into a lifestyle is very good.

I began to study Kabbalah independently in 1976. In 1979 I found my teacher, and in 1982 I moved in with him. 40 – 45 years of studying Kabbalah is quite a lifetime.

I have no regrets. Looking at people of my age who are still alive, I see that I have not lost anything. On the contrary, I understand life no less than they do, if not more. I am glad I have students and I see the future in them.

I cannot imagine that Kabbalah could disappoint anyone. Even if a person came to it for some time and then returned to his former life, nevertheless, he gained something, he added great upper Light to his soul.

Although this Light is now in a frozen “stand by” state, nevertheless, spirituality does not disappear. It is an eternal state; only, now it is asleep. And then, at some point, it will awaken again in a person, and he will continue the spiritual path.
[240834]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/11/18

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