Everyone has their own path toward the Creator

Question: Throughout history some Kabbalists have reached spiritual attainment without teachers. There were those who attained the Creator without the sources and even those who have done it without the group. How can one reach the goal without these factors?

Answer: It depends on the goal, the state, and the point in time.

Remark: The goal of those who study Kabbalah is to reveal the Creator.

My Comment: Even that can be quite different. Just like in our world one can be educated on different levels, in various aspects: in depth or in width, etc.

The fact is that all the souls are different, from various parts, meaning different parts of the common soul. Thus, throughout 20 generations from Adam to Abraham there were such souls that did not have the need for Kabbalah because they had a natural inner inclination toward attainment.

Question: Just like today there are people who are naturally embedded with the ability to heal people?

Answer: Exactly. They don’t know where they get it from. There are people who, on the contrary, attain it with knowledge and understanding, through teachers, through small groups of people. Everyone has their own path toward the Creator; there’s nothing that can be said about that.
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From the KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/6/19

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When a Friend Is Always Before Your Eyes

Baal HaSulam, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”: After all one certainly loves oneself with all one’s heart and soul and might, but with regards to the Creator, one may deceive oneself; and with one’s friend it is always spread out before his eyes.

The law of correction of relating to a friend is even more important than relating to the Creator because this is how one can draw closer to Him. I cannot imagine the Creator, but a friend is constantly in front of me and I can clearly check how I relate to him.

Remark: Baal HaSulam writes that the method of correction of the egocentric perception of the world, with one’s concerns about self-gratification and fulfillment, has been given to the whole nation, which was a collection of representatives from the different nations in Babylon.

My Comment: They were given a condition that everyone had to accept the principle of “loving your neighbor as yourself” as a means of achieving adhesion with the Creator.

At that time, ancient Babylon was experiencing decline, which is called the “Babylonian tower.” Egoism had suddenly soared, hatred toward each other broke out, and people became unable to coexist peacefully with each other, which lead to the destruction of the Babylonian empire. The same thing happened during the time of Rabbi Akiva at the time of the destruction of the Temple.

Question: Have we been given self-love so that we would realize to what end we should love a friend, take care of him?

Answer: Of course. Only through the opposite can you understand it.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

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What does correction entail?

Question: What is unique about the quality of bestowal?

Answer: We cannot understand the quality of bestowal in the sense in which it exists, outside of us. Within us, we can understand it only above the quality of reception. Only in this way can we attain anything based upon the comparison of one to the other. Thus, by creating purely negative qualities within us, the Creator gives us an opportunity to gain completely opposite positive qualities by rising above the negative ones.

Question: If one places fulfilling the friend’s needs above one’s own, is that a degree of bestowal?

Answer: Of course! The more one fulfills the needs of the friends, the greater is one’s degree of bestowal.

Question: With what can we fulfill a friend?

Answer: It doesn’t matter. What’s most important is what your thoughts are aimed at, your intent: to fulfill the other or yourself? What are you thinking of, where is your heart? Do you want to bring joy to the Creator by fulfilling a friend, or do you want to fulfill yourself while the Creator or a friend are not on your radar?

Question: Are you trying to say that the correction consists of the fact that instead of, as a regular person who’s constantly calculating, consciously or not, how to get pleasure at each moment, one would make calculations putting the needs of others above one’s own?

Answer: Yes.

Remark: This is utopian! It is unclear how to even approach this.

My Comment: This is what we have the group and the methodology for, to begin working on it.

Question: The group is a tool. What about the goal? How can I know that this is what the Creator wants of me?

Answer: Firstly, the Creator wants only one thing of us, for us to become like Him. Secondly, in order for us to become like Him, the Creator put us in this world and brought us to the group saying: “Take it. Start working according to the method: from the love of friends to the love of the Creator. Only in this way can you become like Me.” Note that love of a friend must be greater and must precede love of the Creator. All the sources write about this. It is exactly how we must act if we wish to reach the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

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For the Sake of the Neighbor or for the Sake of the Creator?

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that the method of Kabbalah involves two parts. The first part is the correction of a person’s relationship with the Creator; the second part is the correction of a person’s relationship with his friend. The second part is preferable. In the early stages of development it is more important.

Baal HaSulam then emphasizes a very interesting thing: there is no difference whether a person works for the sake of his friend or for the sake of the Creator since everything outside of him he feels nonexistent.

Why is there no difference between working for the Creator and for another person?

Answer: It is because it goes beyond the limits of my egoism, and it doesn’t matter to me who I work for. If you choose with whom to deal, from whom to receive, then, of course, the Creator is more preferable than some other person. But if you give to someone outside of yourself, outside of your egoism, then it doesn’t matter whom it goes to. If I have nothing from this, it goes somewhere into infinity.

Question: Is there any difference in if it is the Creator or just some other person, even a very important one?

Answer: What difference does it make if there is nothing there for me? It is emptiness.

Question: What if there’s something?

Answer: Then this is no longer bestowal. Bestowal itself must be important, but it does not matter if to the neighbor or the Creator. Precisely bestowal is the property of the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

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Why Didn’t the Creator Bring Us to Existence Corrected?

Question: In the article “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings,” Baal HaSulam writes that a person needs to perform only one practical action, a correction with respect to those around him, which will lead him to merge with a higher power.

Then the question arises: Couldn’t the Creator or nature create us already corrected without bothering with all these actions from the beginning?

Answer: Then we would not feel where we are. We as created beings feel ourselves in two opposed states only: darkness – light, good – bad, sweet – bitter, etc. We can’t feel just one of them. This doesn’t exist in nature. Therefore, we are obliged, on one hand, to absorb all the negative properties, on the other hand, all the positive ones, and to solve this systemic problem between them.

Question: That is, the Creator couldn’t create us already corrected. Does this mean there is something that He can’t do?

Answer: We will accept this for now, and then we will understand the reason why He did it. Perhaps it’s unclear now why He couldn’t create us differently, not because He wasn’t able to, but because otherwise we would be insensitive. To feel only one state means to feel nothing. Everything is perceived only in contrast, only in comparison.
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From KabTV’s “The Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

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How to Fulfill the Law of Nature

Question: “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the ultimate goal of nature. But there are still preliminary laws, one of which is “Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself.” What does that mean?

Answer: This is not about love but about not doing evil. This is our first law.

Remark: Man cannot do this either. If I am an egoist, then by taking care of myself I still cause harm to someone else. It turns out that we are given laws that we cannot comply with from the start.

On one hand, it says you must do this, and on the other, you cannot do this because it is against your nature.

My Comment: If you have any inclinations, aspirations, and desires for this, if from studying Kabbalah you realize that you need it and that this is truly a universal goal, that you cannot get away from it, and you also understand how the entire world has to reach this, then you must seek a way to realize it.

However, it can only be done with the help of the upper force, which will give us the ability to act above our nature.

Suppose we have a piece of iron in front of us. Earth’s gravity pulls it down. If I put a magnet over it, the iron will rise and hang in the air. That is, both forces will be balanced and the piece of iron will be between them.

Similarly, if my egoism is placed below and an opposite force is used over it, then I will “hang” in the air and the egoism will not have power over me, I will be independent of it, somewhere in the middle. If the upper force is so strong that I cleave to it and all my egoism remains below, then I will become a totally righteous person.

So, we need to discover this force in order for it to affect us. That is all there is.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

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Question: Have you personally reached the understanding of the laws of the spiritual world? Has it helped you reach a personal relationship with the Creator?

Answer: I cannot talk about this; none of the Kabbalists will answer these questions for you. This is the personal secret of the Kabbalist.

What good would it do to you if I said “yes” or “no”? It will give you nothing. So it is better to try to achieve everything yourself and see how it happens.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 10/27/19

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Two opposites in one subject—this is the main point that determines the entrance to the upper world, to the spiritual dimension, that is, to the space where the Creator is the source of two forces. With respect to us, they are revealed as the force of evil and the force of good, Klipa and holiness, bestowal and reception, two opposite forces. However, the Creator has no contradiction and everything is connected into one.

It is only with respect to us, our sense and understanding, that this manifests itself as two forces that contradict each other. The more we begin to learn about creation, the greater the distance and conflict we see between them. Therefore, we cannot perceive spirituality, as it is written, “For in Isaac shall a seed be called to you, and offer him there for a burnt-offering.” One thing contradicts the other: on the one hand, you are ordered to kill him, and on the other hand, he must be the continuation of your path.

How is this possible? We do not understand this with our mind, and we must acquire the mind of the upper. If we exert in keeping these principles, we attract the reforming light, which builds a new reality for us. In this new space that we are revealing, which is called the middle line, these two opposite lines can coexist together, as one whole, completing each other.

It is very difficult, almost impossible to perceive. There must be a society and the reforming light from above that will connect the two lines together to the middle line. The middle line is the Creator. The revelation of the Creator, or the connection of two opposite lines, gradually leads us to the purpose of creation, to the end of correction. Step by step these opposites grow and connect more and more. This is our entire work.

We have already made enough preparation over many years and have gathered many people that are capable of making this step. The rest will become capable of it by clinging to those who have already gone through the correct preparation. It is like in our world, children born today in the 21st century join all the progress achieved before and go ahead of all past generations because they clung to their parents and received from them all that they have.

It is so also in a Kabbalistic group, no matter who is more or less advanced. If everyone tries to achieve the goal according to all one’s strength and preparation, he or she will achieve it.

I hope you have a serious attitude to this topic, because in the wisdom of Kabbalah, in spiritual work, in the attainment of the Creator, the upper reality and the perfection of nature, there is nothing more important than this principle of the connection of two lines. This combination of opposites is the spiritual space that is revealed to a person. When he enters it, he begins to feel the next world. There is no doubt that by working together we can advance and achieve all this, drawing everyone to this degree, that is, to the beginning of the true spiritual ladder.

From this moment onward, we always continue in three lines, in faith above reason. Then the entire Torah and the entire world become clear to us. All of reality begins to gain perspective, dividing into three lines and revealing their interaction. After all, now we do not know where the plus and minus come from and where they lead us. Yet, if we know how to correctly tie the opposites above our world and our earthly mind with the spiritual senses and mind, we achieve unlimited revelation, understand how the Creator is operating, what He does, and what we need to do to become like Him, becoming “like God, knowing good and evil.”¹
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah lesson 12/23/19, “Two Opposites in One Subject”

¹ Minute 0:20

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We keep coming back to reading the same articles, but we must see them in a new way every time, as if reading them for the first time. If I embrace the material as new, it is a sign that I am advancing. The article is old, as it is written “And you shall eat old store long kept,” but every time I find a new taste in it.¹

Cascading from above down, the upper worlds pave the way for us from below up so that we eventually discover that we are standing at the bottom, at the foot of the ladder, which we should climb. Everything is already determined, every degree. The only choice is whether we go through this path in due time (Beito) for each stop, that is, according to a predetermined process moving from one degree to the next, or through hastening time (Achishena), accelerating our ascent in accordance with our efforts and thus changing its character.

All states are already predetermined, but we can enter them through our own will, requesting and making efforts to advance. If we move with the natural course of time, we stand before each degree until the conditions in the old degree force us to change. Therefore, it is a slow and unpleasant journey.²

The internal part of the worlds is the upper light clothed in desires. The external part is the effort that we need to make in order to enter the internality and ascend. We are always in externality in order to achieve internality through our exertion.

At each degree, we pass from externality to internality. Externality represents the conditions given to us in which we need to reveal the intensity of our exertion, desire, willingness, and then we will be rewarded with the internality. This is like the left and right lines from which the middle line is built. The stages of spiritual attainment always go from externality to internality.

Every person first belongs to the nations of the world, which belong to the externality of the worlds. When he understands that it is necessary to reach bestowal, which is possible only through our connection and mutual guarantee, then he reaches the internality and becomes Israel. At each degree we receive new conditions and implement them, moving from the left to the right line.³

We cannot artificially disconnect ourselves from expecting an egoistic reward, it all depends on the extent of our connection. The more we connect, the more we feel that we are dependent on the one. And when I depend on the one—one principle, one source—then everything else disappears from my field of vision because I cease to take it into account, relating everything to the single upper force beside which there is nothing. It all depends on our connection.⁴

Externality rules over us so that we can overcome this external control within us. Every person consists of an external and an internal part and with the help of the group, environment, and study, he must overcome the externality in order to scrutinize the internality and connect this internal part with the internal points of the friends. This is how we will reach the center of the ten where the Creator is certainly waiting for us.

Imagine how we, that is, our internal point, come to a heavy iron-bound gate, and if we are all connected, the gate opens and the Creator meets us on the threshold saying: “Well, where have you been! Come in already! The table is already set and everything is ready for the feast.”⁵
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/17/19, “A Handmaid Who Is Heir to Her Mistress”

¹ Minute 0:20
² Minute 4:25
³ Minute 6:30
⁴ Minute 39:30
⁵ Minute 1:19:30

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Question: Baal HaSulam wrote, “Open for me one cleft in repentance, as the tip of a needle, and I will open for you gates for wagons and carts to enter.” Is this tip of a needle what we must open for the Creator in our heart?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Who can open the opening?

Answer: The friends.

Question: What should I do in order for them to do that?

Answer: Just to want that.
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From Lesson 5, World Kabbalah Convention in Moldova 9/7/19, Turning to the Creator

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