Question: Can an egoist that is not in spiritual attainment relate adequately to his egoism? Can he clearly see the manifestations of egoism, not fall under its influence, and regulate the process?

Answer: Yes and no. He experiences ascents and descents and even at the highest levels, the ego can suddenly take over. “Do not trust yourself until the complete death of egoism” is our motto.

Question: Can those who study Kabbalah at least somehow determine where egoism played out and where some other part is? Or is it all sheer egoism?

Answer: It doesn’t matter. But at high levels he knows, understands, and is aware of it. And still, knowing and being aware, you see how the ego plays with you. This is a study of nature, of what the Creator has made. Essentially, a Kabbalist is like a walking laboratory testing everything on himself.

Comment: This is a very interesting process.

My Response: Yes, because you include the whole world within yourself!
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. A Kabbalist Is a Walking Laboratory” 9/5/10

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Comment: Baal HaSulam writes that if even one person does not fulfill the condition of mutual guarantee, no one else will not be able to come to the tenet of “love your neighbor as yourself.”

My Response: No, Baal HaSulam is writing about the ideal, because if we are talking about the common soul of Adam HaRishon, which is built from six hundred thousand souls—it does not matter if it is several billion; everyone has a soul, they should all connect.

There is no problem to do it from above: a small change in the light and the whole world will start going crazy and rush to where it illuminates. There is nothing complicated here. The difficulty is how to spur the world to come to the realization of evil, to the understanding that it is actually in a state that requires change.

Question: Baal HaSulam’s article says that even if a single person does not agree with the condition of mutual guarantee, no one will be able to fulfill it. What is meant by this “single person” who is immersed in self-love?

Answer: Are you asking if this single person is to blame for thinking that way? Can the others influence him to think differently? Could it be that everyone is in an effort to fulfill the mutual guarantee, but this one is not? After all, there are 599,999 more corrected parts in this single person! Can only one part be uncorrected?

Baal HaSulam offers this simply as an example, as a theoretical situation; yes, everything and everyone should be corrected and united by mutual guarantee, down to the last detail, in all properties. This is the condition of a perfect common Kli, when it is fulfilled, the Creator reveals himself in it, and the Kli becomes equal to the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/7/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)“

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Question: What force preserves mutual guarantee from the moment we begin to desire it until the moment it is revealed?

Answer: You preserve it. The group itself preserves it. What does it mean to preserve? It is the feeling of necessity! Other than that, there is nothing.

Then the question arises: what helps maintain the feeling of the necessity for mutual guarantee so that it always stays before my eyes as the most essential thing? It is the group! And how can the group avoid falling and avoid forgetting about this a quarter of an hour later, a minute after we finish speaking about it? The prayer! And what is a prayer? A common desire!

Such questions arise because a person thinks he is in a world where there is no law. What does it mean to pray? When I cry out to the Creator, does that help? The Creator is called the general law of reality that acts upon all of existence from the highest level at which I am in adhesion with Him. From there, He expresses His attitude toward us.

I do something and it corresponds to His attitude toward me; I do more, His attitude changes; I do less, it changes again. That is, the general law is a law, just like the fulfillment of other laws of nature! “Elokim” in gematria means nature!

What does it mean to pray? If I change my desire and acquire an aspiration, then I am already in a different internal state. It seems to me as if the Creator has changed. He is unchanging! I change! And in accordance with my change, a different light, a different state is revealed to me.

So I am as if projecting my changes onto the Creator. “I cried to Him, I wept, and He helped me!” How did He help, what did He do? I came to such a state! I reached it through my internal change as a result of which the situation changed for the better. Therefore, it is said that “He helped.”

We ourselves change the states. But He, in His attitude, is unchanging. “For I, the Lord (HaVaYaH), do not change.” Both before and now He relates to you as good who does good, not only to the good, but to the bad as well, always!

“No,” we say, “Before He was bad, and now He is a little better.” “I corrected the Creator, and now He has become kinder.” Is that how it seems?

But it is a law. And if we want to follow it properly, in a healthy form, then the Kabbalists tell us what the corrected state is and how we should appear in it. And now think about how to be in this. By what means: what to give, what to invest, what to build.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/8/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: How does spiritual seclusion differ from physical seclusion? What results can be achieved through one and the other?

Answer: If I remain alone physically, any thoughts can come to me, in any direction, completely unrelated to truth and the true purpose. But if I am in a group, we have a common goal.

We seclude ourselves for a special work in which each one annuls themselves before the group, and then instead of separate individuals, we turn into a new unified organism, a new personality called “the group.”

This makes us similar to the nature of the desert or the sky because we become zeroes and join together in order to attain the goal of life, but essentially, we have nothing of our own. In this state, we prepare a desire from ourselves, not of one person, but of the entire ten. Each one relates to the others as if considering themselves to be a zero.

Question: Why is it important that it be the desire of the ten and not of one person?

Answer: A single person cannot be a zero, relative to whom would one consider oneself that way? If I seclude myself alone, I remain with myself. To be secluded means to escape from oneself, beyond one’s own limits. How can a person do that alone?

It is as if I leave myself and join others. This is my only opportunity to exit my egoism and perceive something outside of myself. When ten people together make such efforts, they become a spiritual vessel, a shared desire capable of perceiving the essence of the desert or the essence of the sky.

They exit themselves, annul their egoism, and unite with each other. The center of their unity becomes a new entity, a quality of bestowal capable of perceiving the essence of life. This was the purpose of seclusion: to find the meaning of life.

But if a person secludes themselves alone, they will not reveal the meaning of life; at most, they will write some book and think about something material. There will be no spiritual attainments because they have not exited themselves.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 925 – Inner Solitude,” 11/28/2017

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Question: What happens to a person when they isolate themselves and are left alone with their thoughts?

Answer: It depends on the person and on the purpose for which they seek solitude. If one is striving toward a special spiritual goal, then it makes little difference whether they isolate themselves in the middle of Manhattan or in a true desert.

Question: If a person goes into the desert with the intention of clearing their thoughts and listening to their inner voice, is there a chance for them to understand who they really are?

Answer: If a group of people goes into the desert, far from the rest of the world, in order to attain an inner, shared spiritual goal, then such solitude certainly makes sense. Undoubtedly, the desert is a more suitable place for this than a forest, because it is silent, empty.

The desert leaves a person with no illusions, it makes it absolutely clear that nothing good can come out of life in it, just as nothing good comes from ordinary human life. That is why in the desert we feel in tune with nature.

I love the desert because there you have nothing but earth and sky, especially at night. It gives a person a special mood, impression, and feeling, especially when many people are together there, searching for the meaning of life. Then the desert and the heavens begin to speak to them, showing: “This is all there is, and you are here alone in this empty vacuum. So seek the hidden source of life!”

Question: You are talking about a group of Kabbalists going into the desert with a special purpose. But if an ordinary person isolates themselves in the desert, is there a chance for them to discover their inner essence?

Answer: On their own, it is impossible. I believe that even the Torah, when telling about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, is referring to whole groups. Because a single person cannot be spiritual; one does not exist in relation to spirituality as a separate element, but only in connection with others, ideally no fewer than ten.

Question: Isn’t it a contradiction: “solitude in a group”? Isn’t it either solitude or a group, one or the other?

Answer: Solitude is only possible within a group! Because the solitude of the individual is just an animalistic act, physical isolation of the body. But solitude within a group is spiritual solitude.

Being connected with one another, we begin to reveal how much we lack the meaning of life and the force that sustains it.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 925 – Inner Solitude.” 11/28/2017

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Question: If a person is divided in two, between egoism and the point in the heart, how can they build a mechanism that would constantly give them the strength to be on the right side and not on the side of the evil inclination?

Answer: How can one build a mechanism that helps us attain the feeling of mutual guarantee (Arvut)? That is precisely what we are building. It is the group.

From all my internal qualities and all the external conditions surrounding me, the only thing in which I can act freely is in choosing my environment. Because my character and all my qualities are predetermined for me. And society, if I do not choose it, acts upon me however it wants. I am in its power, and whether I like it or not, I absorb everything from it.

It turns out that I am capable of making a choice when I am given such an opportunity from above, and I make efforts in that. Only that is called free choice.

Either I choose a good environment that advances me toward mutual guarantee and final correction (Gmar Tikkun), or I am a puppet, a marionette, completely devoid of freewill, and in that case, there is no reward, no punishment, no one to ask, and no one to complain to. Everything flows according to nature.

So who then is a sinner? The one who wants to become righteous. Who has free choice? Only the Kabbalists. And the rest? The rest are like animals. As it is written: “He is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalms 49:13). There is nothing to demand from them; they have no choice because that is how the laws are set: either you choose mutual guarantee or you do not.

Remember how elections used to be held in the Soviet Union?
– “We are choosing the city’s mayor!” – “How many candidates are there?” – “One!”

It is the same with the Creator. If it is the truth, it has to be one. Not ten! What does it mean, ten candidates? It means nine liars and one honest one. But the idea itself is right.

You are not choosing one out of ten. The idea is different: there is one true One, and you decide whether you are really choosing Him. Essentially, through your choice, you examine yourself, do you truly intend to “cast your ballot” as confirmation that you agree with the corrected state. That is called a choice.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/7/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: In the article “The Arvut,” it is said that each individual among the people was asked whether they agreed to accept the Torah, and further, it is written that if even one person does not agree, then no one can fulfill the condition of Arvut [mutual guarantee].

Answer: The point is that even in final correction (Gmar Tikkun), there will remain a certain layer of people who simply will not feel what is being asked of them. They will say: “Fine, I am ready. If I need to, I will go along with you.”

It is not that within them arises any awareness or sense of necessity, for by their nature, they are incapable of that. That is simply their level.

Yet, they too will feel perfection and eternity. Only their level of participation in the general Arvut will be something like: “Alright, I will sign. What I sign does not matter.” There are such types of people who are that close to the inanimate level.

In other words, the correction happens gradually, both in quantity and in quality. If we are now speaking about the correction of the Kelim with Aviut of Shoresh, then let’s consider who belongs to this level. How many are there in the world? Then comes Aviut Alef. Aviut Alef may include, say, half a billion people. Aviut Bet, two billion. And so on.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/7/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: Why was The Book of Zohar, a commentary on the Torah, written? Was the Torah that Moses wrote not enough?

Answer: No, The Book of Zohar was written after the fall of the Second Temple from the level that the authors of The Book of Zohar were at, so they could attain the ultimate highest state. It says so in The Book of Zohar.

It was the last generation after which darkness set in.

The Book of Zohar is intended for us in our current state, to begin to rise to the ultimate correction with its help.

Question: Literally at the same time, the Mishnah was written, which is studied to this day, and it was not hidden. After a few hundred years, the writing of the Talmud was completed, and everyone studies it too. But The Book of Zohar was hidden. How are they different?

Answer: The fact is, The Book of Zohar is written in a special language. It describes the system of the upper world, how we can approach it, and what to do.

Like the science of Kabbalah, it was not supposed to be revealed for 2,000 years from the fall of the Second Temple to our time.

This state of “2000 years” is called “exile from spirituality,” when there was a rejection  in the breaking of the Temple and a descent to the level of our world, i.e., into the darkest state, from which we must begin to attain the highest state.

For this, we need guidance, which is The Book of Zohar. All Kabbalists grew with it.

Question: If anyone starts reading The Book of Zohar, the Talmud, or the Mishnah today, they would not understand a word of it. Why was The Book of Zohar hidden, but the rest were not?

Answer: The Book of Zohar is written in the language of Kabbalah. This is why it was hidden.

In addition, it was written in a state of spiritual elevation. Its authors were ten disciples of Rabbi Shimon, the great Kabbalist, who brought them together, united them, and explained how to attain the upper world. Whatever was revealed in their connections, they wrote down. This became The Book of Zohar.

The Mishnah and the Talmud tell about the upper degrees, but in a more obscure, allegorical way. Therefore those who study them think they are talking about our world. This is first of all.

Secondly, the people who wrote the Mishnah and the Talmud were not at the same level of attainment as the authors of The Book of Zohar. There is a big difference.

As Baal HaSulam notes, those who wrote The Book of Zohar were at the level of the Third Temple, that is, at the highest level of attainment.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/2017, “The Chain of Knowledge 57 Centuries Long. History of the Kabbalah Methodology”

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When the sons of Israel agree not to use their big and burning ego, and through actions performed on egoism in order to neutralize its hindrances they begin to unite and reach the state of mutual guarantee (Arvut), this guarantee comes after actions, and is called “we will do and we will hear.”

This is when they receive a connecting and filling force from above called the Torah. With the help of this force, they begin to gradually correct the vessel itself with the Aviut degree of one.

This is called going out into the Sinai desert and raising Malchut to Bina for 40 years, correcting it, until 40 years later, they come to the land of Israel, that is, to Malchut united with Bina.

This is the land of Israel (Eretz Israel), the desire straight to the Creator (Yashar El, Israel). This is when they get awarded with the state where they build the Temple.

This means that they have a Kli that can truly contain the upper light within itself, that is, a vessel where the Creator is revealed.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/2025, Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The state we are currently in, the corrupted state, appears that way only to us. In truth, we are still in the very same corrected state. Nothing has changed, as it is said: “I, the Lord, do not change” (Malachi 3:6).

Kabbalists, who reveal advanced spiritual degrees and ascend from one level to another, say that nothing changes. Everything is concealed only in relation to us and it is we who must uncover it.

This revelation is possible only through our own efforts when we truly want to return to the original state.

As Baal HaSulam explains in a letter in the book Pri Chacham, Letters, a person who ascends from the beginning of the path to his final correction (Gmar Tikkun) only attains that very same state in which he was already adhered to the Creator as a point in the root through his own effort.

By his efforts, he adds awareness, expands his perception of reality, and feels it 613 times more intensely than before.

Because previously, he was like a drop of semen, a point adhered to the Creator. But when he returns to that state through his own work, he arrives at the fullness of that level of Dvekut (adhesion) with the Creator. He becomes equal to the Creator.

This is what is meant by “ZON of the world of Atzilut are in constant coupling (Zivug) at the same level.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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