A human being is built of the will to receive and is essentially nothing more than a sensing cell; all intellect, knowledge, and decisions stem from what he feels.

Therefore, one can bring oneself closer to the goal only by means of ascents and descents. That is, drawing closer to the Creator happens through descents, through distancing oneself from Him.

A person is distanced from spirituality, pushed back, and shown how opposite he is to the goal; his own evil is revealed to him. We call this the recognition of evil. A person sees that he cannot do anything on his own, and is unfit for holiness. From all these sensations, a state eventually matures within him where he realizes that he has no choice, he must go above his own reason.

How does he reach such a state? Only after numerous falls, one following another, similar to the example in the Study of the Ten Sefirot of the man who strives to reach the King’s palace with all his strength while guards and sentries push him back, bar his way, and he tumbles down the mountain on which the Creator’s palace stands.

But each time that he is thrown down, he nevertheless rises and returns. He is pushed back even more forcefully, and he rises again and moves forward with patience and persistence. Ultimately through all these clashes and periods of distancing from spirituality, he builds a real desire to attain the goal within himself.

His passionate striving toward the goal is what subsequently triggers a sense of rejection. It always works this way—through opposites. From being rejected, he develops an understanding of the importance of the goal. Each thing gives birth to its opposite.

Therefore, if he does not have deep, sharp, crushing falls that bring disappointment and despair, he would not be able to truly value the goal. On the other hand, if he does not apply enough effort to come to it, even when it seems to him that just a bit more and he will attain the goal, only to fall again and again, he will not find out how far in fact he is from it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”

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If you see that something in the group does not align with the goal, or does not lead to adhesion with the Creator, you should carefully analyze this situation point by point, find quotes, talk to your friends, and bring the matter before the group. If the group sees that this can lead to improvement, it will accept the suggestion.

We must clearly and logically show everyone what needs to be improved and why, and invariably link it to the need to achieve adhesion to the Creator, but in a plain, practical way.

What does practical mean? Rabash writes that abstractions can destroy the whole world. Abstraction is a form not clothed in matter. You cannot say, “You must be altruistic; whoever is not altruistic should be kicked out of the group! There is no place here for the biggest egoist!”

We must follow the path of form clothed in matter and act only in accordance with a reality that can be realized and embodied, and which defines everything for us.

It is written that just as a donkey is blindfolded and walks forward, so must you close your eyes and walk. How can you close your eyes and go? Only if the group pulls you along. Clearly, you cannot walk that way on your own. You still do not know what spiritual forces influence a person.

I know this from my own experience. There were times when I would sit at home, and Rabash would call and shout: “Come over!” But I sat there and sobbed into the phone: “I cannot come! I feel a force stopping me.”

Therefore we must determine in advance how to proceed. A person does not join a group on the condition that he accepts some of the group’s laws but not others, and signs under this condition. He enters the group and signs everything; among the points is one that authorizes him to act according to the group’s rules regarding modifying any points.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/26, Rabash, “These Are the Generations of Noah”

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Don’t look at others! Not at all. You have a different soul; you cannot be Like them and they cannot be like you. So pay less attention to everyone else. Would Einstein have achieved anything if he had kept looking at others? It is impossible! You should only listen to yourself. Even if I make a mistake, this is me.

Question: What if we apply it to an ordinary, everyday person?

Answer: What does ordinary mean? Everyone can be extraordinary. Let them listen to themselves, heed their own inner voice. This is what I can do, this is what I want, and this is what I believe. It is not contrary to others, but it is coming from inside of me.

I have to pull my “me” out of myself. Then you will feel very comfortable with it, even in mistakes.

Comment: I am trying to apply this to myself now, but this is not so easy!

My Response: Just close your eyes, and you are alone! But you are with yourself; you are still not running away from yourself. This is all.

Question: And should I live this way?

Answer: Yes

Question: Is this your advice?

Answer: This is my advice. Then in order to realize it you will have to create a special environment for yourself, and so on. But this is still you alone.

Comment: I am thinking about my own experience. If I feel that “this is mine,” you say I have to grasp it and that is all. Now I have felt once: “this is mine,” for sure I have felt…

My Response: This is what I am realizing.

Comment: And do I go this way? That is it! And on the way there will be squalls and waves…

My Response: It does not matter; it will make me even closer to myself.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 4/24/26

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The rules of the group change according to the group’s advancement. If a group establishes artificial laws and rules for itself, then either it delays its development for some time, or sooner or later it discovers that it cannot keep them. The rule may remain written somewhere, but who actually follows it?

Suppose we define something, write it down, and everything looks wonderful, but no one really needs it. I constantly say that examining our internal laws is the most important thing, because through this a person examines himself. He must relate to the group’s rules as to his own inner rules, be in harmony with them, and advance together with them.

This does not determine my relationship to the members of the group; rather, it determines the relationship among all my inner forces, feelings, and desires. Therefore, first of all, I must see it as a model of how I want to see myself internally. We are not talking about my relationships with the friends; we naturally adjust to one another in any case. The charter must first and foremost be internal. There should be no difference between the external charter and the internal one.

In our world, after a country establishes its laws, it also establishes penalties for violating them. What is the purpose of these penalties? To compel a person to obey the laws.

In our case, it is what happens to a person if he fails to fulfill something in his personal account with the Creator. We cannot even imagine to what extent the rules that we establish within the group are accepted “Above.”

Baal HaSulam writes about this in “The Giving of the Torah”: The governance established by the people and the governance of the Creator naturally correspond to one another. What a large group of people determines becomes, in a certain sense, a law of the upper governance for them.

Do not take this too literally, we will speak about it more. I only want to say that by trying to fulfill some of your rules, even if they may seem foolish or unimportant, you will clarify the charter more quickly. You will discover what is relevant to us and what is not, what is more important and what is less important.

Ultimately, whether working with the internal or the external charter, your goal is to analyze it and thereby advance. How does a person advance? He examines the degree on which he stands: whether it is good or bad, useful or harmful, whether it is for his own sake or for the sake of bestowal. Through this examination, he acquires a clearer understanding of his state and of the direction in which he must move forward.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/26, Rabash, “These Are the Generations of Noah”

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Question: Is Aviut the maximum degree of pleasure that I can receive?

Answer: Aviut is the degree of sensation of pleasure within the desire to receive. If I am sitting next to food but do not want it, then my Aviut is zero. But if I suddenly desire it, then I have a certain measure of Aviut according to how hungry I am.

How can this be measured? You can either measure it by the amount of food you are capable of consuming or, if possible, by the magnitude of the pleasure you receive. But all of this pertains to desires. We are not speaking about the physical size of the stomach.

Question: Why does Aviut change? Why can it decrease?

Answer: Aviut, meaning the measure of the sensation of pleasure, can change constantly, and indeed it changes all the time according to the types of connection with the host that I am able to reveal through this Aviut. Everything is arranged in order to bring me to a connection with the host.

Therefore, I should not pay attention to what is being revealed to me at any given moment: whether I want to eat more or less or whether I wish to enjoy this or that in one way or another. I should not concern myself with these things; they are not my problem.

They are revealed to me according to a higher calculation, while my task is to continuously orient myself in the correct direction. But why am I now given a descent, then a brief ascent, or some other state through one desire or another? That I, of course, cannot know. As long as I remain on a given degree, I can never know its causes, because those causes can only be revealed from a higher degree.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/26, Rabash, “Why Is the Torah Called ‘Middle Line’ in the Work? – 1”

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Question: You say: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But I do not hear you, for example. How do I come to the conclusion that these are exactly the gates that I must enter?

Answer: You will bump your nose against these gates and understand that there cannot be any other gates! And besides these gates there is nothing, just emptiness.

Question: Is this what is written by the great Kabbalists, that you walk along the wall and there are no gates? And suddenly at some point, when you are already walking exhausted, you suddenly see—gates. And it turns out they were always there.

Answer: Yes.

Question: And I did not see them?

Answer: No.

Question: And what did I need to see them? They were always there, they were!

Answer: You lack disappointment.

Question: So I must be disappointed in everything?

Answer: Absolutely. In everything! So that only one thing remains: Dvekut (spiritual adhesion) and brotherhood! We do not know what that is. We keep using substitutes and surrogates. But then we will feel it.

Question: Can you at least give a hint? It is clear that if we do not feel, then we might not be able to hear you. But what do you mean by “brotherhood”?

Answer: Brotherhood is when we all find ourselves in one desire, one intention, in complete fusion, in the connection of everyone with everyone. And we return again to the system that is called “Adam,” like a single person in one body, in one heart. This is the correct future.

This must stand before us! This is how this future must stand before me as an obvious, achievable, necessary state.

Question: You just painted what we must come to after all our wanderings and disappointments?

Answer: Precisely why they are needed—to arrive at this state.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 4/15/26

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As a person develops, he gradually begins to feel emptiness within the animalistic vessels because the point in the heart shows him the absence of fulfillment. He may fill himself with food, bodily pleasures, money, honor, or knowledge, yet beside all of these there is a higher vessel that shows him that he is empty.

A person feels that whatever he has filled himself with is not enough. This happens even before he begins studying Kabbalah.

When he does begin to study, however, different difficulties arise. New conditions are arranged for him internally. Suddenly he once again starts receiving pleasure from food, relationships, work, and other worldly pursuits. This comes as “help against him.” Before he began studying Kabbalah, the process was natural and came from Above. But according to the amount of effort he invests in study, an inner imbalance begins to awaken within him, each time in a different form.

Suddenly, instead of a longing for spirituality, a person receives a longing for corporeal things, usually sexual desire, because according to its spiritual root, it is the foundation of all pleasures. Or a desire for money, honor, or knowledge may reappear, although this happens less often, since those pleasures are connected to society.

A person advancing spiritually is gradually detached from society and becomes preoccupied with his inner work. Therefore, he generally does not struggle as much with money, honor, or knowledge; rather, animalistic desires arise within him. But this is already a completely different process. These disturbances are awakened in him from Above according to the effort he invests in his studies.

How does one cope with such disturbances? A person decides intellectually that he must “erase” his own reasoning and harness himself like “an ox to the burden.” He says: “I do what I am told. Why? Because they apparently know, while I am confused and know nothing.” Or: “I must not listen to my own thoughts.”

If only I had listened to what Rabash told me! Only now can I understand how many months and years I would have saved. But it was impossible. It is easy to say, “If only I had listened!” But I could not hear it at the time.

Additional disturbances bring additional Aviut (thickness of desire) if a person accepts them and truly works with them. By using them correctly, he increases his Aviut and eventually rises to the next degree: He falls deeper, and then ascends even higher.

But if you do not want these disturbances and try from the outset to shield yourself from them, you descend to a lower degree and become more “subtle” or weaker. This is called being left aside. They may return to you from Above at some later time, but no one knows when.

Therefore, when difficult states come to a person, it is preferable to use them as opportunities for advancement.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/26, Rabash, “These Are the Generations of Noah”

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A person must use all the forces that exist within him, especially fear, to attain the desired state. We do not possess a single inclination, even the worst one, that was not created for the purpose of reaching the goal, not even those tendencies that we are ashamed to admit to ourselves. Inclinations, may be misused but nothing was created without a purpose.

We tend to think that the problem lies with the Creator, who seemingly created everything in such an imperfect form: the mentally ill, autistic people, homosexuals, people with a multitude of problems, not to mention ordinary illnesses. We think there is some sort of “distortion” here.

It is not a distortion, but a form of governance that operates with immense wisdom and comprehensiveness. Only later will it become clear why correction is specifically contained in the fact that you have a cold or that someone was born with psychological disorders.

One must not look at a person and evaluate whether he “suits us” or not.” Rather, one should evaluate only the degree of his willingness to be with us.

The group should not behave like an overly indulgent mother who pities her child excessively and thereby harms him. In the end, the child only suffers more. The group should make use of the means of influence at its disposal.

You should not relate to all the friends as though they were equal in every respect. Greater appreciation and respect should be shown to those who invest themselves wholeheartedly in the group. As for someone who is not striving to invest himself, on one hand, he should be helped, but on the other hand, he should be made to understand that there is no necessity for close connection under such conditions.

One should not abandon him, yet neither should one be overly warm or sentimental toward him. On the contrary, one should demonstrate that he is regarded as distant.

The group must utilize all available forces. Exclusion from the group is the strongest influence of all. Use shame and envy; they are among the most effective means of influence. You will see how a friend begins to feel what the group truly is and what he stands to lose. Use these means, but with care.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/26, Rabash, “These Are the Generations of Noah”

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Initially, our soul is “wrapped” in an animalistic desire to receive, a craving for animalistic pleasures: money, honor, and knowledge. This is how we reincarnate over the course of many cycles of life until this outer shell, the husk of this world and of this desire, becomes pure and refined through the suffering a person undergoes from generation to generation, driven by the development of humanity as a whole.

This desire grows and becomes immense: for animalistic pleasures, money, honor, and knowledge. Just look at the variety in our world! Five thousand years ago, there weren’t so many people striving for power. People were content to remain slaves as long as they were fed.

How many people craved money back then? If you just let him live in peace, sitting under a tree, and that is enough for him. Throughout the generations, how many people thirsted for knowledge and wisdom? The situation improved from generation to generation, but it cannot be said that in our generation the desire for animalistic pleasures, food, and sex is fading. These desires increase along with a growing desire for power and knowledge.

Humanity is coming to a state where it wants everything! Yet amidst all these desires, a “point” is revealed in a person’s heart, and the poor soul suddenly realizes that he cannot fill this vast desire for all these pleasures! The point in the heart nullifies the sense of fulfillment, no matter how much he receives.

A person can have a huge desire and every possible advantage, wealth like Rothschild’s, power like a president’s, and knowledge like Einstein’s. But if the point in the heart is present, no amount of worldly fulfillment will prevent a feeling of profound emptiness.  The point in the heart gives a person the sensation that they possess nothing spiritual. They do not yet know what spirituality is, but suddenly they feel a sense of total lack. They feel deficient in every respect; this is the conclusion people gradually reach.

Never in thousands of years have people been as desperate as they are than in our generation. Consider the sheer number of psychological and emotional issues that exist now! The whole world is depressed. A mere century ago, people were content with what they had, but today contentment has become a problem.

Did drugs exist a thousand years ago? They did, yet almost no one needed them. Even a hundred years ago, there use was rare. It was only in the 60s that this trend began, triggered by the emergence of the point in the heart alongside all other desires, even those desires that were already being fulfilled!

Typically such phenomena originate in developed countries. Where is drug use most prevalent? In Europe, America, and Russia, places where people have the opportunity to more or less fulfill themselves with something, but are unable to. Learn, do whatever you want! But a person does not want anything, he does not feel fulfilled.

In other countries that are at a preliminary stage of development where the point in the heart is not yet shining enough for them to see their emptiness, they produce drugs and sell them. They find fulfillment in money, food, and everything that precedes European development. They do not need drugs themselves. They sell them to get food. In the developed world, they do not want food, they want drugs.

This situation arose for a reason: the point in the heart was revealed, exposing emptiness in all other desires. The rest of the desires are strong but hollow; they offer no tangible sense of fulfillment.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/26, Rabash, “These Are the Generations of Noah”

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On the spiritual path, I am constantly clarifying, not with my intellect, but through an inner sense, where I am: on the battlefield facing danger where my life is hanging by a thread or am I free to drift through life, waste my time, and think: “It’s no big deal; I’m not the only one; everything will work itself out”?

But time and again, it all comes down to a single point: the importance of the goal. Only by increasing its significance can save ourselves from the obstacles that entangle us, and that bring us feelings of weariness. In reality, there is no fatigue; everything depends on necessity.

Ultimately, all our feelings are determined by the desire to receive. We are not speaking about physical matters, but spiritual ones. We know from our own experience that if the body, even a very tired one, felt that there was a worthwhile goal that justified the effort, it would immediately set itself to the task.

Therefore everything depends on how much we increase the importance of what we can attain in our own eyes. Our work consists solely of strengthening the importance of the goal. The awareness of its importance stands against every disturbance on the path, and nullifies them.

No obstacle can withstand the pressure of the importance of the goal. They simply disappear; we no longer feel them. Then we see that they stood in our way only in order to confuse us. We increase the importance of the goal, and things that once seemed significant—“Oh, this is not working, and that is not working out!”—vanish instantly.

This happens because all these disturbances are artificial, not real. They exist only as a counterweight to the importance of the goal. But as soon as I acquire an awareness of the importance of spirituality, the need for these disturbances disappears. They simply vanish and are cancelled.

This is the only thing we must work on: constantly increasing our awareness of the importance of the Creator, and the importance of attaining Him. In this lies the solution to every problem that arises on our path.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/26, Rabash, “The Difference between Charity and Gift”

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