A man’s prayer is the work of the Ruach [spirit], work from Behina Bet, which depends on the speech.It is in high secrets and people do not know that a man’s prayer breaches airs and breaches firmaments, opens doors and rises up (Rashbi, Zohar for All, Vol. 5 “VaYakhel,” “The Ascent of the Prayer”).

It is written that prayer should be offered near a pillar. This does not mean, in fact, a pillar near which one should pray. The point is that all the Partzufim from the world of infinity to our world are arranged in the form of a pillar, where the AHP of the higher Partzuf is located inside the Galgalta ve Einaim (GE) of the lower Partzuf, and so they are all nested into each other.

There is not a single Partzuf that is arranged differently. Each Partzuf is positioned so that its upper part is inside the higher Partzuf, and its lower part is inside the lower Partzuf.

That is, the upper part of my Partzuf is together with the lower part of the higher one, and the lower part of my Partzuf is together with the upper part of the lower one. It turns out that in my upper part (GE) I form the ten Sefirot together with the AHP of the highest, and in my lower part (AHP) I am in the ten Sefirot with the GE of the lower.

It turns out that in the ten upper Sefirot, I am connected with the higher one, and in the ten lower Sefirot with the lower. But where am I? I myself am the part that divides me into two halves; it is called Klipat Noga. It divides the Partzuf in the middle.

Klipat Noga is all of our free choice. If I decide to connect with the higher in the ten upper Sefirot (1) now in order to lift the lowest up (2), and I am working only for this, it means that I am exercising my free choice in Klipat Noga that is in the middle.

The free choice is that I connect with the Creator, with a higher level, in order to correct the lower one. That is how we work.
[52431]
From the Kabbalah Lesson 8/24/11, The Book of Zohar

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A thought is a result of the desire (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 153, “A Thought Is a Result of the Desire”).

This is indeed true, because the most important thing in a person is desire. Thoughts appear only to fulfill these desires.

Desires arise in the heart, and we listen only to it. The mind is activated only when it is necessary to realize the desires that come from the heart. Therefore, the main thing is desire, while the intellect is merely an auxiliary tool, a means to achieve what is desired.

A person thinks of what he wants. He will not think of what he does not want.

In our world this is natural. You can look at any person and, by understanding his desires, guess what thoughts he has. All his thoughts are directed solely toward realizing what he desires. And to the extent that his desires have a hierarchy, you can tell which thoughts dominate and which are less important, what occupies him more or less. In other words, desires practically rule us.

For example, a person never thinks of his day of death. On the contrary, he will always contemplate his eternity, since this is what he wants. Thus, one always thinks of what is desirable for him.

Thought is secondary, auxiliary. It develops only because a person has desires. And therefore, one develops intellect in order to attain what is desired. As the saying goes: “One beaten man is worth two unbeaten ones.” For the one who is beaten, who is forced and compelled, becomes wiser because he searches for ways to realize himself.

Thus, the mind always grows when there are great desires. And conversely, if there are no desires, there is no great mind. Therefore, if you wish to develop your children, you must awaken in them great desires, not spoil them.

To spoil means to try to impose some kind of fulfillment on a child before he even wishes for it. On the contrary, let him desire, let him experience a bit of lack, let him seek how to realize what he wants. From this his intellect will develop. Only in this way, and no other.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/14/19

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Faith above reason means that I accept the view of the upper one even when it clashes with my own understanding, as it is written: “They have eyes but do not see; they have ears but do not hear.” This means that I can lift myself to a higher level each time, as though pulling myself upward to the next rung, by choosing the upper one’s opinion over my own, even when it contradicts everything I know.

If a friend hands me an envelope with $1,000 and I do not check the amount because I trust him—this is faith below reason. My trust does not contradict what I know, and therefore it does not demand faith.

Knowledge is the mind and perception I possess within this material world, like a judge who relies solely on what his eyes can see. Faith, however, is what stands above this knowledge, as Bina stands above Malchut. And to rise from the degree of Malchut to that of Bina, I must advance through faith above reason.

If I count the money and find that there are $999 instead of $1,000, then $999 is my knowledge, and the remaining “$1” is the measure of my faith. But if the envelope contains only $1, or is completely empty, and still I believe the higher one, considering his view to be true, then I elevate myself above my own reason and begin to see from the vantage point of the upper one.

The mind of the upper one is the opinion of the group or the teacher. If I strive each time to rise to faith above reason, this means I am ascending spiritual degrees. If I make no effort to accept the mind of the upper one, I neither enter nor approach the spiritual world.

Faith above reason is the only point of free choice granted to a person in this world.

If I accept the upper one’s view and agree that the envelope holds $1,000, although I counted only $999, then I rise to his degree. And then I myself witness how the envelope becomes filled to the full measure, not with money, but with the greatness of the Creator.

Faith above reason is a special mechanism, a unique method that lifts us from the material degree to the spiritual one, and from a lower spiritual degree to a higher one. This is the only way to ascend: by taking on the opinion of the higher one.

Each time I am as if born anew on the next degree, again and again. I enter the new state like a newborn who carries nothing from the previous one; I cling to the mind of the upper one and proceed with it.

With my own senses I see only $1 in the envelope. Yet above my senses I must accept that it is $1,000. I do not nullify my knowledge, I leave it as it is. I clearly see the gap between what I know and what stands above knowledge.

This gap defines the difference between Malchut and Bina. On one hand, “the judge has only what his eyes see”—this is Malchut. Yet I must go against this knowledge and prefer the knowledge of the higher one—Bina, faith.

And within this interval—this divergence between Malchut and Bina, between knowledge and faith above knowledge—the upper world and spiritual reality begin to reveal themselves.

All the work in the ten proceeds by faith above reason. I may see no love among the friends; on the contrary, we seem ready to devour one another. Yet we work to love each other. In the eyes of the upper one our ten is perfect and stands in complete unity; in our own eyes it appears entirely otherwise. This difference is what we must examine and rise above.

And this contradiction remains. I cannot reconcile one with the other, for this distance is the very gap between Bina and Malchut, it cannot close; in fact, it continues to widen.

This is the difference between the Creator and the created being as it awakens within me. And the more I follow faith, the more I cleave to the Creator instead of clinging to my own mind and animal body. This is how spiritual advancement unfolds.
[349942]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/20, “Work with Faith Above Reason”

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Question: How can we verify that we are bringing contentment to the Creator? What should we feel?

Answer: We should feel that we have an inner connection with the Creator, that is, feel His presence in my heart, His attitude toward me, and my attitude toward Him. In essence, this is the foundation of connection.

Question: I will feel it internally with my heart, but is there any external indication, relative to the environment, that I am correctly directed toward the Creator?

Answer: We constantly learn from the sources that it depends on love for friends, on connection with them, and on mutual help.

All of this relates to the connection within the group. Without it, we cannot advance.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Question: How can one learn to accept all the twists of fate? It says here: “Accept all the turns of fate. It is a playful picture” and so on and so forth. How can one learn that? Nowadays fate takes sharp turns.

Answer: You need to perceive all of this with a certain excitement, as a game. When your opponent makes a move on the chessboard or plays a new card on the table, you begin to see your next move. You should rejoice that you are in connection with such a “player.” And you wish, through this connection with him, to reveal the Creator.

Question: So then, each of my responding moves, that is the adventure? My inner one. And all my thoughts are “how and what?”

Answer: Yes.

Question: And then you said the phrase: “You find yourself in connection with the Creator.” Even if that thought does not actually exist within me, it is precisely that which leads to such a journey through life?

Answer: Yes, that is what you wish to attain.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/7/25

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It is impossible to directly measure our attitude toward one another or our attitude toward the Creator, it can be only relative to an outside standard that is not in Him, not in us, but in between. In this standard, which stands between us, we can find what connects us and what separates us.

This standard is the group. If I attach myself to the friends in the group, then to that same extent I discover myself in adhesion with the Creator. The group gives me the ability to measure concrete parameters, the “height” and “weight” of my love and hatred, through which I attain adhesion with the Creator.

According to the measure of my adhesion with the ten, I can determine the measure of my filling with the light. After all, I have no possibility whatsoever to measure the light itself, it is only indirectly, through the group. Through the shared desires in the group, I begin to feel the light that fills it.

I can only feel pleasure in my own desires, and this is not enough. I need to check how, through the pleasure in these desires, I connect with the one who fills them, and whom I, in turn, fill. Therefore, there is the condition that “From the love of the created beings one comes to the love of the Creator.”

We cannot judge the light itself, but only the desires that are filled by it, just as one does not speak of electricity itself, but only of electrical phenomena. It is telling that electricity does not pass inside the wire, but around it.

Therefore, the group is the perfect standard for my adhesion with the Creator, like a tuning fork by which one evaluates the sound of a string on a musical instrument. Until I touch the string and it begins to sound, nothing can be said about it. Only by the desires (Kelim) can one judge the light.

A similar example are musical notes by which one evaluates a melody. The notes indicate which strings must be plucked or which keys must be pressed. They are the score of desires with which we work in order to hear the sounds of the music within ourselves. A note does not indicate the sound itself, but the instrument that produces it. Therefore, by attaining the instruments of connection with the group, we attain adhesion with the Creator.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/18

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Question: You have said more than once that a person is given only what they can endure. What do you mean by this? We see that people are given things they cannot endure. Or can they still endure it?

Answer: They can. What is it that people cannot endure? It only seems to us that they cannot withstand something or cannot survive it. No, a person survives everything, bears everything, and can work on themselves to such an extent that no other creature could withstand such things.

Question: What does to endure mean? Does it mean to agree with this blow? What does it mean to come out of it?

Answer: Even to agree, even to understand, to realize, and to go through it is called coming out of a descent.

Question: What should a person’s guiding principle in life based on this be?

Answer: The principle of life must be very simple: instead of feeling myself, I must feel others; I must live not within myself, but within others. That is it. Essentially, this leads to the correct result.

Question: So, are you saying that if I close within myself, then a descent is inevitable? But if I am always open toward others and live for them, then I quickly come out of these states.

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why are descents given?

Answer: A descent is given in order to empty a person from the past, so that they will be ready to be filled with the future. Each descent and each ascent is an inner renewal of a person.

Question: Until when can a person be renewed? What peak must they reach?

Answer: It is until one completely renews oneself. This is a state where one returns to the root of one’s soul. And from that point on, one no longer needs to change internally, as it were.

Question: Do they return to their permanent place?

Answer: They return to their place, to their original point in the soul of Adam.

Question: “The soul of Adam,” do you mean that it is one single soul?

Answer: Yes, a person returns to their point in this soul. Every human being must go through this path of ascents and descents in order to return to that point. We cannot escape it.

Question: Do we know this point in advance? Do we know where we are heading?

Answer: We cannot know it because we cannot yet feel it.

Question: At what moment do I begin to feel it?

Answer: To the extent that you truly draw closer to it.

Question: Why is it given to us not to feel it?

Answer: Because we do not yet have the qualities of bestowal, love, and connection with others, with other souls, and so on.

Question: Am I moving toward that very connection that will unite us into a single whole? Is that where I’m going?

Answer: Yes, therefore, the commandment, the main condition, is: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/11/25

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The left line signifies going with knowledge and seeing the world uncorrected. That is, I see that the world suffers from a multitude of problems, my friends are full of shortcomings, and the Creator is no better. I criticize everything because my desire to enjoy has grown and has become revealed, and I speak out of it. This is called the left line.

But this is a line and not a simple dissatisfaction with material life, I am criticizing spiritual work, the group, our progress, and the perfection of our work. The left line pushes me away from spiritual work, but does not completely throw me into material things. Otherwise, it will no longer be the left line but plain egoism.

The left line in my work indicates that I want to move toward connection with the group and the Creator, but I am unable to do so. I can weigh and count exactly what I cannot accomplish and why. This is called the left line.

The greater the frequency with which we reach the middle line from any state, the greater the progress and acceleration in our work. From these points, we build a middle line that gains such force that the Creator is revealed inside it.

The middle line does not exist in nature; we build it, and therefore it is said: “You created Me.”

If we do not help ourselves, no one will. After all, we are already in the ten, and in it, everyone is responsible for all. The Creator brings me to the right place and says: “Take it for yourself.” And if I do not take it, then I do not; that is my free choice. The Creator will not do anything else. Later He will help me through suffering, but who knows when that will be?
[349872]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 9/6/2020, Work with Faith above Reason

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Creation is an empty desire, while the Creator is Light. How can this emptiness be connected with the Light; they are two complete opposites? Otherwise, creation, whose very nature is an empty will to receive, would remain empty forever.

How can these two opposites be joined? After all, according to the law of equivalence of form that governs all of nature, they cannot draw near or unite, like polar opposites. Therefore, there is a need for to mix the will to receive and the will to bestow.

In the Rosh (head), the intention to receive for the sake of bestowal arises. But in the Guf (body) awakens the egoistic force, to receive for one’s own sake. Thus a shattering occurs between the head and the body, a loss of connection between them, the inability to think and act in unison.

One thought resides in the head, yet a completely different desire is in the body. The heart and the mind are no longer together.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Due to the congress, we felt ourselves moving slightly away from our ten and closer again, like a pendulum swinging back and forth, changing the degree of our connection with each other or with the Creator and our attitude toward the study. Strength and desire diminish, weakness sets in, and then strength comes back. Each full period of the pendulum’s movement back and forth, rising and falling, does not pass unnoticed; it leaves an imprint on us.

It seems that a person of strong faith should always find the strength to overcome any state without losing connection with the Creator, either in sorrow or joy as if nothing could shake him or disconnect him from the eternal union.

But in reality, this is not the case. A person who aspires to the Creator experiences constant changes. They must feel greater and greater weakness, but at the same time know how to achieve more confidence and adhesion with the Creator. Thus one keeps advancing and growing.

If a person doesn’t feel such changes in himself, no powerlessness and uncertainty, no descents, and fear of straying from the right direction toward the Creator and the purpose of life, if they don’t worry about this, then this is precisely a serious cause for concern.

One needs to engage with the group as quickly as possible, with all one’s might, so that through it the person can begin to receive the surrounding light that will change him or her.

If it seems to us that everything is in order and nothing bothers us, then it is time to worry.

In this world, the one who advances without feeling a heavy burden is considered strong. They add another ten kilograms to his back and he keeps walking, another twenty and he keeps going as if nothing happened. This is a strong man, a hero!

But in spirituality, it is the opposite. A hero is someone who is very sensitive to every gram added to him along the way and immediately turns to the Creator with a request to correct the lack of confidence and strength to bestow.

Spiritual advancement is different; it is in increased sensitivity. The Creator adds to us in quality and quantity, and we always have the opportunity to ask Him for new strength through the environment, and so advance.

Advancing on the path depends only on the changes one feels, which the Creator awakens in him. Each time, I need to understand my weakness and how to strengthen myself in order to continue. Naturally, I lack faith and the force of bestowal. Therefore, I increasingly need the environment and the Creator to add to it, to turn to the Creator through it, and thus to continue on the path.

Everyone needs to check for the changes the congress induced in them. One feels rejection, another feels attraction, and a third one has fog in his mind and feelings. Some cannot find themselves in the ten; they look at the friends and do not feel them and see them in their heart as before. Involvement in the larger ten affected him in such a way that he lost the old connection he had with his friends.

There are many post-congress phenomena we cannot ignore while we wait to get back to our usual routine. I need to check what is happening to me and why, and how the congress has affected me. This is very important.

Everyone in the ten feels differently, and we need to check whether we can return to our previous state or whether our new state is much clearer, higher, and sharper.

After all, we began to appreciate the connection between us more, and understand why we return to our ten to be together. We not only follow the advice of the Kabbalists, but we already realize that without it we will not have the confidence or strength to advance; there will be nowhere to draw strength or to turn to the Creator from.

The ten turns into a spiritual source for us, a spring. We feel enabled to stabilize ourselves in it and return to correction. Each of us has a special property, like the ten Sefirot. Therefore we are very different. But we are connected by a common work and a common goal. Thus, from ten people, and no less, we can form a complete attitude toward the Creator.

The ten turns into a Kli, a tool, we can change something with, influence something with, and connect with a wider or higher level.

The center of the ten is a tiny needle’s eye through which I pass into the spiritual world. To do this, I have to restrict all my thoughts and desires and compress them into one point to lead me to the upper world through the center of the ten.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/19, “Hardening of the Heart – An Invitation to Ascend”

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