The environment and the teacher are the only factors that determine a person’s future. At every moment, he must see his state as one in which he has received everything necessary from above, and all that remains for him is to connect himself with the right environment.

And such an environment is always near us; we only need to be able to choose it. This is our only free choice because everything else already follows from it.

That is why I don’t have to worry about anything except where I get my nourishment from, with whom I am connected, who influences me! That is, to always think not about myself, but about what external environment I am connected to. If a person wants to manage his development, his life and destiny, then he should think only about whom he is in contact with.

But it is completely unnatural for a person to think about this! After all, we constantly think about ourselves: who am I, why, what will happen to me? What is the meaning of my life?

All these questions of yours are directed inward, and they are correct! But how are you going to resolve them? With what do you connect their resolution?

Kabbalists explain that the solution depends only on the environment. And that is why I need to immediately turn my attention to the external forces that act upon me because their influence on me determines all my future.

And in essence, this is not external, but a single system of souls, an integral part of my spiritual body, there, where the shattering occurred and what needs to be corrected. And only there can I change something, because with all the other desires I can’t do anything.

It is as if to bury oneself into an archive and read the protocol of long predetermined events. I can only influence the environment somehow. And it is a pity to waste my attention on something other than that.
[13212]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Freedom”

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Every person is obliged to attain the root of his soul. This means that the aspired-for purpose of the created being is Dvekut [adhesion] with His qualities (Baal HaSulam, “The Acting Mind”).

It is written that “the outcast will not be cast out from the Creator.” All universal desire, including the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels, all of reality, must return to the source, to the root. The creation came out of the source only in its imagination, and now, by trying to overcome this illusion that separates it from the root, it must remove the veils and return in its sensations.

Overall, the reality of the universe is a desire, divided into the four levels listed above. The greatest desire related to the human degree can carry out this work. The previous levels have no free choice, they should not have to work, exert effort, or realize this goal, because they cannot attract light, they cannot oblige the Creator to change them, and remove the concealment. Only the human can bring himself and the whole reality to correction, in other words, back to the sensation of the source, or to the removal of concealment.

The human degree, in turn, is also divided into four levels; in fact, the “human in man” who carries out the plan. This means that some people perform the necessary actions, influence others, and pull them along. Others draw the remaining levels along with them, the animate, vegetative, and inanimate. This is how everyone returns to the single root.

Thus, all people must reach the root, adhesion, but they differ in the implementation of the work and the final form. Depending on the root of their soul and desire, everyone returns in their own way, adheres to their own extent, fulfills their function, and rises to their own level.

Of course, we are talking about the process of returning, when we remove the concealment and assemble a mosaic of the overall picture. And then, when everyone takes their place, we begin to understand there is no difference between big and small, between individual desires—all this is important during the work, on the way back to the source.

But after we return to our root, our differences disappear. Then, a single force appears, a single desire, a single light, a single reality—as it is written: “He and His name are one.”
[41718]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/11, “The Acting Mind”

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Praying does not mean gathering together at a certain time, weeping, kneeling, and crying out.

Prayer is a collective, huge, purposeful, correct desire that arises in us under the influence of the upper light, Ohr Makif (surrounding light). Such a desire can manifest itself at any moment, and we will feel it as one common whole, in which the Creator will reveal Himself immediately without any intermediate actions.

The spiritual world is not like ours where people gather in one place and mechanically pray. We work together, attract the upper light, and it tightens the final screw in our common system, “seizing” us as we desired.

Somewhere we acted on it correctly, locked ourselves together, and the upper light manifested in us, which is the quality of bestowal and love. In principle, we achieved this ourselves, and the light appeared because we developed a similarity of form with it.

Therefore, this is not an ordinary, conventional prayer, but a joint action of Kabbalists to create one unified desire, which must be connected, woven, and glued together from their individual desires.
[188414]
From the 3rd Lesson of the Moscow Congress, 5/2/16

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How can I forgive this to you while the ladder that is placed on the ground is empty? No one climbs it, and instead of today you say “tomorrow.”…

Therefore, let me remind you of the validity of love of friends in spite of everything at this time, for it is upon this that our right to exist depends, and upon this our near-to-come success is measured.

Hence, turn away from all the imaginary engagements and set your hearts on thinking thoughts and devising proper tactics to truly connect your hearts as one, so the words “Love your friend as yourself” will literally come true in you, for a verse does not reach beyond the literal, and you will be cleaned by the thought of love that will cover all crimes. Test me in that, and begin to truly connect in love, and then you will see, “the palate will taste…” (Baal HaSulam, Letter 47).

It is so difficult for us to work on the connection between us because it is precisely in this place that the spiritual shattering occurred. A person resists this action with all his might and by every means, thanks to one’s nature, their egoistic inclination.

One must pass through a vast number of states before they see that nothing helps them and ultimately return to the simple and closest principle that has been right next to them all along. Then, if there is still time left for the person in this cycle of life, he or she may yet succeed in properly connecting with one’s friends and understand that only through unity with them does one attain the spiritual world, correction, and everything in general.

Therefore, what is required here is a collective decision, a pressing need, and great joint work to constantly awaken the feeling of the importance of connection. Each one must show everyone, and all must show each one, that correction lies precisely in connection—it is within connection that the spiritual world is revealed.

All other occupations that we invent for ourselves instead of this are called artificial work and exile, exile from connection, from readiness for unity, exile from approaching contact with a friend, from love of one’s neighbor, which no longer stands as the goal behind every step and every deed in a person’s life.

The goal is precisely in connection, by which the measure of our success is determined—until it turns into a ladder of spiritual degrees, and the measures of connection become Partzufim, Sefirot, and worlds. In the end, we compress and unite to such an extent that we become as one man with one heart, which is already the degree of the world of infinity, for such connection is absolutely perfect and boundless.

And if we make this our primary, sole, and central aim, the only task we must engage in and nothing else, then we will succeed. Otherwise, our ego will gladly cast us far away from the true work, enticing us with all sorts of imaginary occupations.

As Baal HaSulam writes: Begin to truly connect in love, and the palate will taste, that is, it will taste the flavor of the inner light that is revealed to us.
[90682]
From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/12

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Even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself (Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning).

When a person stands before the absolute, before the realization that he cannot change anything, he understands the necessity of changing himself, that the only possible way to do something, to continue a correct existence in the world is to change himself, from this very moment, to the next, and the next, and the next. And so, step by step, live your life in such a way that in every moment you change yourself.

Question: So do you actually welcome dead ends?

Answer: Of course! How could it be otherwise? If a person does not feel a dead end…

Question: So is a hopeless situation the way out for you?

Answer: Yes, it is like a little toy car. It bumps into something and starts to turn. It bumps again, and turns again. And so it keeps trying until, out of all possibilities, it discovers that there is a way out.

Question: So will a person who moves from one dead end to another eventually find a way out?

Answer: Of course, everything is programmed.

Question: So in principle, as a person, should I sing a kind of hymn to the dead end?

Answer: Certainly! That is the very force of our formation.

Comment: But I always want to avoid dead ends. A person wants to avoid them.

My Response: Can you truly make the right decision without reaching a dead end?

Comment: It isn’t likely.

My Response: Not at all.

Question: What correct decision should humanity make today? It is an essential global question.

Answer: The answer is the same in all cases: to annul oneself.

Question: Is this “annul oneself” understandable to your students?

My Response: It must become understandable to everyone else as well.

Question: So what do you mean by “annul oneself”?

Answer: It means that I do not decide what to do, I do not determine the goal, and I do not imagine it for myself and then try to achieve it. I can do only one thing: annul myself before others in such a way that they can achieve their goal.

If I set any other goal for myself besides helping others, it means that I am standing in their way. If I annul myself, then I help them move toward their goal. And as a result, everyone should be busy in precisely this way—helping others achieve their goal.

Question: What then happens to my “I”?

Answer: That is when this “I” is revealed as a collective common self within which the upper force of nature, the only one existing and guiding force, is revealed.
[349173]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 10/15/25

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The “straight Sefirot” (Yosher) and the “round sefirot” (Igulim) obey opposite laws: among the straight Sefirot, the most inner is the most important, whereas among the round ones, the most outer is the most important. This opposition between the properties of the round Sefirot greatly confuses us.

We understand reception and bestowal when reception is opposite to bestowal, as in the straight Sefirot. But the round Sefirot do not belong to this calculation of reception and bestowal; they have no screen (Masach); these are desires that existed before the restriction (Tzimtzum) and before the screen. That is why we become so confused in this world, where we are influenced by two forces: one from the circles and the other from the straight line.

In the straight line, everything is clear and simple: there is an up and a down. Below is evil, reception; above is good, bestowal.

Wherever I stand on the line, I can measure how much strength I have (how many “kilograms,” what kind of screen), what kind of light (how many “liters” or “lumens”). Therefore, in the line, I have no questions; I have ascended to a certain height and measured it.

Here simple spiritual physics operate: all calculations are in my hands. There is a force, the screen (the covering), and a desire that is filled through it, and how much I paid is how much I am filled. Everything is clear.

But in the “circles,” I don’t know what to do, nothing is clear anymore. There is no up or down, no left or right, no distinctions by which I am used to evaluating my state. The “round spheres” are where I have not yet been born; it is before I began to understand anything.

It is like I am in my mother’s womb. That is where the “round” governance operates, and I completely annul myself.  Everything is given to me, all waste is taken away, I don’t decide anything on my own. But when pressure begins to be applied on me, demanding that I start fighting for my life myself, then “linear” governance begins.

And today, a second governance is being revealed in the world besides the linear one—the round. But we do not know what to do with it.

The world suddenly becomes global, integral; everyone is connected with everyone else, and I must take everyone into account, and I think: “Why should I?!” I must consider everyone as if they are included in my desire, in my vessel, which becomes round. This is a completely different kind of governance, and therefore we encounter a problem. It is opposite to everything that has happened before.

The whole matter is that “circular desires” are now being revealed, the desires of the world to come. And that is why today we are unable to arrange our lives in this world where a new higher governance is being revealed.
[52419]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 22/8/11, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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What is there in Aba ve Ima of the world of Nekudim that makes them the “head” of the world of Nekudim in relation to the body, ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva)? They contain illumination from the higher Partzuf, Keter, and this light is a protection from egoistic desires, the light of Hassadim, which guards them from the desire to receive pleasure. Even if such a desire suddenly arises, the light of bestowal protects them from egoistic reception. That is why Aba ve Ima can be considered the head.

After all, how does the head differ from the body? In the corporeal world they are made of different substances—brain and flesh.

What is the difference between the spiritual head and body (Rosh and Guf)? How does thought differ from desire? After all, is desire not the only thing that was created by the Creator? The principle of the head is a separation from the desire to enjoy that it allows one to perform an action above it. That is why desires, spiritual vessels (Kelim), become a “head” that receive illumination from Hassadim, the light of bestowal, which allows them to disconnect from the desire within them and make a calculation above it, as if looking from the outside, objectively, like an independent observer.

The part where an objective decision can be made is called the head. In this lies the difference between a human being and an animal, and in general, between man and the whole of nature (inanimate, vegetative, and animate).

In the spiritual world, all distinctions are found in the essential principle, and not in the substance itself, as is the case in our world.
[19780]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/10, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Question: Malchut rises to Zeir Anpin where reflected light is attracted and a Zivug occurs. The reflected light does not come from the previous Partzuf, but from the surrounding light (Ohr Makif) that was previously rejected.

What is the difference between the reflected light of Hochma of the previous level and the reflected light of Hochma of the current stage? Is it a new portion of the same light or are there differences in the light itself?

Answer: There is a huge difference between these lights. At the previous level it was Partzuf Keter, and now it is Partzuf Hochma, and various interactions take place between them.

I believe we should mechanically memorize what Baal HaSulam writes, and later, once we feel it on ourselves, it will gradually become clear how these lights enter and exit and alternate with each other.

Question: Will each of us who engage in correction merit attracting new light?

Answer: Yes, each of us will attract the light that is attracted by his soul, his Malchut.
[349484]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/25, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Question: When my friends and I discuss TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) lessons, it becomes clear that there are two approaches. The first approach is when a person tries to grasp each concept and apply it to himself. The second approach is when friends say that this is what smart people do, and my job is to be on duty, my task is to think about my friend, to follow RABASH’s recommendations, and everything else will come.

What does it mean to study The Study of Ten Sefirot in the spirit of Bnei Baruch?

Answer: We have to understand that mastering the upper world from our world is not an easy task. But we are able to do it.

Therefore, let’s just study. Whatever we don’t understand today, we will understand tomorrow. And perhaps over the next several lessons, everything will be more or less clear to us, and we will move forward in this way.

I know many students who are shy to ask questions and they stay back, but it will come.

Once we complete the first volume of The Study of Ten Sefirot it will become clear to us where we are, at what level we are, and how we can receive some force of the upper light.

Question: What is the correct intention when we study TES?

Answer: The correct intention is our aspiration to have a Kli at the same level and for it to be able to model the various possibilities that we read about in TES within itself.
[349430]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/25, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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The ascent of the soul and its completion are primarily when all the souls merge and become one, since then they rise to the Kedusha[holiness], since the Kedusha[bestowal] is one. Hence, the prayer [appeal to the Creator for correction], which is the soul, depends primarily on the unity of souls (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Likutey Halachot, “Synagogue Rules,” 1).

A prayer is mainly in public [must be in the group, in the ten] and not alone…(Likutey Halachot [Assorted Rules], “Synagogue Rules”).

Of course, we cannot compare all our requests with one another; we are not yet oriented enough to see our efforts—how our vectors are shaped, what they are directed, how we correct each other, how we support each other, and how we form them all into a single flavor.

Therefore it is said that:

A prayer is mainly in public and not alone, so that one will not be separated and alone, as this is the opposite of Kedusha. [bestowal to the Creator]…we must unite the holy congregation together and become one (Likutey Halachot [Assorted Rules], “Synagogue Rules,” Rule One).

This ascent of a common desire precisely from one’s own attempts is complete prayer.

How can we achieve this? This is our primary question, because only through turning to the Creator, “raising MAN, that is, the desire to receive the quality of bestowal that will gather us and reveal the Creator in our unity, can we solve all our problems. And through us, the entire world will feel this revelation.

People will suddenly begin to understand that there is a quality of bestowal in the world, and it is greater than the quality of reception. The quality of reception, that is, our egoism, only conceals the vast, higher, infinite, perfect world from us.
[252976]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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