Entries in the 'Spiritual Work' Category

Not Thinking About Yourself Is Possible

938.02Question: Besides spiritual work, which cannot be verified, what should we do: think about mutual guarantee, talk about it?

Answer: Talk about it, check and measure to what extent each one is advancing in understanding that under the influence of the group and the upper force, along with the ascents and descents, the feeling awakens more and more in a person: not thinking about oneself is possible. A person will become free to think about others.

Question: If we talk about this all the time, won’t it become devalued?

Answer: It will not become devalued because it is before us. Moreover, it is not some distant goal (final correction or our adhesion with the Creator, but a break from the desire to receive called the exit from Egypt. This is the first action; by carrying it out, we enter spirituality.

It is said that it is neither an angel nor a messenger but the Creator Himself who leads the people of Israel out of Egypt. We must unite, find the force of Moses within us, who will be able to speak with our Pharaoh, convince us, feel that we are in slavery, in darkness, and wish for the upper force to influence us and for the Creator to lead us out of Egypt. All of this is the process through which we achieve mutual guarantee.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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A Small Candle in a Dark Space

276.02Question: What is the “inner voice,” the “guiding hand of the Creator“?

Answer: The source of correct thoughts in a person—let us call it “the representative of the Creator within the person”—is the point in the heart. It is called “a part of the Creator from above,” a spark that fell into the vessel as a result of the shattering of the soul.

Before the shattering of the global soul, the light, sparks, and vessels existed in a corrected state: the desire to receive with a screen and the light filling it. But when they shattered, they became mixed; the lights rose upward to the source, to where the soul resides, while the vessels and sparks fell downward.

Therefore, a person is tasked with revealing the spark that exists within him. When it begins to manifest in a person, they must proceed with that spark as if taking a small candle into a dark, empty, vast space of the desire to receive and begin to discover who and what they are, to examine themselves, but only with this candle, with this spark.

And then gradually, the person finds a way to hold on with the help of this candle amid all 620 shattered desires, which make up the dark space of the soul, until they are able to connect them to the candle like oil to a lamp, so that from the candle, a flame may spread through the entire soul.

This is called “the darkness shall shine like light.”

Baal HaSulam gives the example of a wick and oil that produce light. When the Aviut (coarseness of desire) joins this spark, a true fire ignites because it turns into an intention for the sake of bestowal, giving it the same nature as the light, transforming Aviut (thickness) into Zakut (purity).
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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At the Central Point of the Group

938.03In The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, item 17, it is said: “Hence, the student pledges, prior to the study, to strengthen himself in faith in the Creator…”

I open the book in order to receive the power of faith, the power of bestowal, the power that allows me to be above my desire to receive. That is, to come to a connection with other souls and fulfill the condition of the mutual guarantee.

If we think that we will ever be able to fulfill the principle “love your neighbor as yourself” in a small group even if it is just me and someone else, this certainly seems unrealistic. It is impossible that someone has accomplished this. And that is indeed so.

But we can make a decision that we want this to happen, and we want to reach such a demand that, as Baal HaSulam writes, we revolve around it day and night. And that is enough.

Every second we must check to what extent we are in the force pulling us toward the center of the group so that everything external remains behind us, and everything internal unites in the center of the group.

Each one discerns this within himself. How can I check myself and how can the group check itself? Only in accordance with how much in quantity and quality a person cares to see himself and others connected at the central point of the group.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/10/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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A Connection that Exists but Is Not Active

151If our common Kli were perfect, then ideally, everyone would be one hundred percent devoted to one another. And if someone ignores this, he harms his part in each and every one.

Every broken, i.e., corrupted, quality entered into all the other qualities. This means that within each and every one, all others are included.

Through the shattering, the Kli (vessel) gained a truly wondrous condition—a universal interconnection.

Right now, this connection is not active, but it exists! This is the state of shattering.

In other words, even now, we are all connected to each other and there is no separation between us; there is not a single soul that is not included within all other souls. All that is needed is to restore the proper connection.

Baal HaSulam writes that there can be no general correction without the personal correction of each individual. This is an absolute law that must be realized by everyone, and then it will be realized in everyone else as well.

And if even one person does not realize it, then everyone remains uncorrected to the extent that he is included in them all.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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How Can Israel Attain Mutual Guarantee?

939.02Question: Are the people of Israel the smallest, most narrow part that must be corrected first?

Answer: Israel, in correcting itself, is indeed the most narrow part of reality. A question arises: why is it the most narrow? After all, we see that the sons of Israel appear coarser than all others.

The reason is that, for the sake of correction, egoism is currently being revealed in them, while it is not yet revealed in the nations of the world. But when the time comes for the nations to begin their correction, their egoism, Aviut, will also become increasingly apparent.

So how does Israel reach mutual guarantee? By suppressing the forces of the nations of the world within it and awakening its own narrow part, it draws on what is called the “merit of the forefathers.” However, the merit of the forefathers is something general. One must take action within the narrow part in order to reach the state of mutual guarantee.

This is the inner preparation of the narrow parts in the souls. If one uses only them correctly, meaning brings them to a correction called guarantee, then a connection between these narrow parts will form the first Kli in which the upper light can dwell. In other words, they will then receive the Torah.

Only in this way can we come to receive the Torah. If someone believes he already has it, that we once received it already, then I have nothing to say to him. What did he receive? A book that sits on a shelf in his room?

We are talking about the upper light that resides in a person’s soul and brings spiritual life into his existence.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The Inner Picture of Reality

570Question: Should we try to recognize the desires called Abraham, Moses, the people of Israel, and the nations of the world in ourselves, or does it come by itself?

Answer: We work on correcting and bringing ourselves closer to the Creator, to the single force, and we are therefore obliged to relate all discrepancies, all events, and everything that happens at every moment to the single source, to the single cause, to the single thought, to the single goal. A person who, in some way, even with mixed success tries to do this, reaches a state in which he begins to see such a picture.

It turns out that all of history is not really history, but is ultimately a balance of the forces that exist within a person. He reveals desires called Adam HaRishon, Noah, Terach, Abraham, Moses, and so on.

He sees that he is composed of them, and therefore, when he begins to read all of reality from within his soul, he sees that the structure of the general soul and the individual soul is identical. He discovers that only this exists, and above it is a single force. This becomes clear even before the Machsom (barrier).

More precisely, it does not yet reveal itself, but it becomes evident that this is how it is.

Therefore, it is worthwhile to search for this picture within oneself and in the general reality outside.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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With the Help of the Upper Light

258Question: Once a person understands the necessity of mutual guarantee (Arvut), what are the stages of achieving it?

Answer: We study about them in many articles. Everything you wish to achieve can only be realized with the help of the upper light.

When it shines a bit more, you understand a bit more; it shines still more, you begin to feel more.

You begin to analyze with both your mind and heart. By comparing them, you understand what governs you, whether you are guided by the criterion of bitter–sweet or by truth–falsehood.

Thus, all our work is aimed at attracting the surrounding lights, and with their help we see in which state we are regarding Arvut and the correction of the general Kli.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Calm the Desire to Receive

514.02We must understand that the law of mutual guarantee, which is the foundation of love for one’s neighbor, is not yet love for Him.

It is only a law according to which we will relate to each other in such a way as to give everyone the feeling that they lack nothing.

We perform corrections on their desire to receive, we provide such compensation that this desire is in restriction. It does not break out in a person and does not demand fulfillment. A person is content that he has everything he vitally needs because he receives a certain correction and corresponding influence from other souls: “Do not worry, we take care of you, you will not lack anything.”

And then each person becomes free to develop his Kelim of bestowal, that is, the Kelim of love for one’s neighbor.

Mutual guarantee is only half of the state. It is necessary in order to calm the desire to receive and gradually turn it toward serving one’s neighbor, toward loving him. But this is the work that comes after mutual guarantee. And when we begin to engage in love for one’s neighbor, then through this we achieve equivalence of qualities with the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/12/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Analysis and Correction

281.01How can we bring everyone to think about one goal? This is what we must seek because there are no ready-made solutions for every moment of our lives.

We need to search for what kind of connection and in what form, I must have at each moment, so that I may draw upon myself the surrounding light, and that it may give me some elevation toward the spiritual, that is, toward fulfilling the law of mutual guarantee, love for one’s neighbor, and adhesion with the Creator.

All the data is already within us, and according to it, the surrounding light shines upon me. I only need to be sensitive to the difference between me and it, and with its help I need to adjust myself to reach correction. I need to come to a state where the surrounding light affects precisely the uncorrected vessels, my uncorrected intentions.

And each time, I must analyze my states, and clarify them. But I can only be ready for this when the group gives me the sense of importance: “Look, you are sick! A terrible disease is consuming you, and if you do not detect it, you will die! Look at what is inside you!”

Nevertheless, we see that a person does not really listen to this. He is not in a hurry to go to the doctor. ”Maybe in a week… It is not scary yet.” But if he is told this from all sides, and terrifying stories are shared about those who did not go to the doctor, then he will run to the doctor, even if he does not feel anything yet. That is exactly what we need.

All the components are already within us: the light shines, and the vessel is uncorrected. Necessity compels us to begin the work of analysis and correction.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Mutual Guarantee—Caring for Others

944Question: We have talked about the need for a group constitution. What is the best way to formulate it?

Answer: It must be clear to us that no efforts, no money, and nothing else will lead to the emergence of the common feeling within our group that will move it forward.

This common feeling is called mutual guarantee (Arvut), for it is simply a feeling in which each person is confident that they will lack nothing because everyone loves them.

Just as a child is certain that their parents will undoubtedly take care of them and give them everything whether the child is good or bad. This is a matter of psychology, a matter of feeling, not of actual implementation.

Of course, the group cannot provide this by itself because it is the result of the influence of the upper light. But we must desire for this to happen, and we must take care that it does.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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