Every person possesses all the attributes: “the nations of the world,” meaning his egoism and “Israel,” meaning the corrupt altruism that for the time being also works for the ego. So it says that every person is under the control of the ego and even our good motives and intentions are in egoistic attributes. This is called being in the “captivity of Egypt,” “in exile.”

A person has to imagine that all these attributes exist in him. He has to identify all of them within himself, arrange them, and start feeling through them. The same is true with regard to the world— then he will see that all this exists around him in the world.

This theoretical picture gradually becomes clearer. When you apply it to the entire world, you suddenly see how it operates. It really operates in a lively manner and is constantly fulfilled.

If a person tries to organize himself that way internally, then through his internal organization he begins to see that the world is organized that way. Then the picture of the world becomes clear, and he begins to understand everything that happens in the world: how it flows, what, and why.
[105423]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/18/13

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There are many “waves” of desires within us. Where does this separation into many parts, levels, sides, forms, and so forth come from? The fact is that the Light, which is pure bestowal, enters into desire, whose nature is reception.

The Light and darkness were connected together through opposing characteristics at the time of the shattering. As a result, all the Lights are incorporated into all the individual desires and form countless combinations. The differences and facets in understanding, perception, and analysis, the wide spectrum of colors, sounds, tastes, and smells are derived from this. Everything comes from the various combinations formed through the conjugation between the Lights and desires.

It is precisely thanks to this multiplicity that we discover the Creator. We would otherwise feel ourselves at the bottom of the still level in Malchut of the world of Infinity.

This variety makes it possible for us to peel away layer after layer, to clarify the essence, and to distinguish differences between possible combinations of the Lights and the vessels. So, we begin to discover the Creator in contrast to the creature: We transition from “existence from absence” to “existence from existence,” “format” the vessel and the Light, light and darkness. This is our work. So, in spirituality in every moment we carry out billions of corrections, reaching the smallest details.

This is similar to the classification and clarification of matter in our universe. It seemed an impossible task to perform at the time, but it wasn’t  Mutual integration enables us to work in all directions simultaneously so that even one small action produces billions of results in the entire Malchut.

Today, this picture is still concealed from us, yet as we continue, we will clarify and identify more subtle and deeper components. This will be possible for us when we begin to distinguish between bestowal and reception in every part.

I am able to comprehend in its spiritual form only a corrected desire, as one of the 613 desires, into which the Kli is divided. Until correction I face only an “egoistic monster,” Pharaoh, which can’t be separated into parts, in which nothing can be clarified. As long as the Light has not arrived, I will not be able to feel any desire and see how to activate it for the sake of bestowal above my ego, I will not be able to discern its separate facets. The only thing that I feel in Egypt is the ten plagues.…
[105460]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 42: As we have clarified with the corporeal still, vegetative, animate, and speaking in this world (Items 35-38): the three categories—still, vegetative, and animate—did not extend for themselves, but only so the fourth category, which is man, might develop and rise by them. Therefore, their role is only to serve man and be useful to him.

So it is in all the spiritual worlds. The three categories—still, vegetative, and animate—appeared there only to serve and be useful to the speaking category there, which is man’s soul. Therefore, it is considered that they all clothe over man’s soul, meaning to serve him.

Therefore we are at the center of all of reality. Everything is designated for the development of man’s soul, in order to bring him good, which means to bring him to wholeness by the most efficient means. This is why all of reality was created and this is what its software is for, and accordingly we have advance in the best possible inner way to the best state.

There is a problem, however, when it comes to our participation in the process, and so each of us and all of us together see ourselves in an imperfect bad state in all the phases of our development. In the whole state we could feel ourselves in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) every step of the way if we used the means we were given correctly. We could implement the current phase we are on and wouldn’t feel any limitations, just like in Ein Sof when the Creator is revealed in the whole desire. Later, additional layers are revealed, at the moment the desire is perfectly corrected by the whole Masach (screen) and the whole Light.

Thus, we don’t need to suffer the “whole way” by waiting for the end of the road, for the end of correction. If we fulfill ourselves correctly right now, then we will feel that no one can harm us and that there is no cruel one in the King’s palace but only the Creator who fills the whole world. That’s the way it is on each and every level. What is more, we will also perceive the descents as ascents then, about which it is said, “Darkness will illuminate like Light.”

However in reality, we do not reach maximum acceleration and we advance, as a rule, in the “middle” line getting some relatively weak blows and trying to get aligned with the middle line…
[104936]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/13, “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part One, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 12: Now you can see how Ohr Ein Sof departed from His Atzmut, in which we cannot utter any word, and became defined by the name Ohr Ein Sof. It is because of this above discernment, that in that Ohr there is the will to receive incorporated in it from His Atzmut.

The Light is “something from nothing.” The desire to receive was created in this Light. The desire that gradually is filled by the Light begins to feel the Light and is impressed by it. Although the Light is first and started the whole process and is the one who bestows, we speak about the developing desire and about how it changes under the influence of the Light. Time and time again, it feels the Light in different forms, and, on the whole, it is about how the Light is revealed in the desire. The two are incorporated in all the states they go through. Eventually, all of creation—all of reality, everything that we can even speak about—is only there in the connection between them. There is nothing other than these two elements.

This means that there is nothing to be confused about. We always should take into account a simple formation: a Light and a desire. The Light constantly operates on the desire in order to bestow upon it, and the desire develops gradually by going through different phases.

There are no regressions and no leaps on this path, only a sequence of states that are created within the desire by the constant influence of the Light that is good and benevolent. As a result, the desire develops toward an increasingly greater filling, and must feel and go through different phases, thus revealing the one who bestows.

The stages of this process are called degrees, worlds, Sefirot, and Partzufim, and they relate to the general development of the desire by the Light. Eventually, the desire begins to feel itself. It feels who fills it, who is taking care of it, and how it can respond to that.

This process is inevitable of course. The desire cannot determine how it will develop exactly and in what order, but at a certain point it can determine how to respond to this developmental process; how to receive the different manner of its development with love, which he first feels as pleasant, then as not so pleasant, and later as even terrible; and to identify with the Light.

Then, the desire leaves its own boundaries, transcends its nature initially created by the Light at the first point of existence, and reaches the opposite point. Instead of being a desire, it is as if it totally becomes the Light, acquiring from the Light all the intensity of its bestowal.

So, the two are opposite one another, and the Light constantly develops the desire. Later, at a certain point, the desire can determine its relationship with the Light by itself. This whole process is compulsory, but the desire can change its attitude to what is happening, to the force that operates inside it.
[104832]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/13, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: There are several levels of desire in a person. How do you sort them out?

Answer: Generally speaking, we measure things according to the Lights that enter the vessels when I overcome my ego. After all, I don’t want to be in contact with others at all. I don’t even want to see them, but I overcome myself and receive, “buy” the other’s desire, just like the upper does with the lower in order to draw MAN upon them (a request for correction) and to receive MAD (a response to this request) and to pass it on to them. Thus I develop, by playing the role of the upper for others.

Question: And how does that happen? In our world a cow doesn’t become a human being and leaves don’t grow out of rocks…

Answer: Imagine a person’s life: He graduates from school and goes to university, becomes an engineer, and then a scientist, and finally has everyone’s recognition. If we look at his body, however, the opposite happens, since he becomes exhausted with time: Once he had lots of hair and now he is bald; once he was potent and healthy and now he is ill.

We don’t see what was added on the human level since he has received that from others. In our world, it’s impossible to see that since here we are all the same in our physical form, and the human being in us is our inner level.

In order to rise to it you have to connect to others, to the friends, against your will, in resistance. In order to do that, I have to rise above my ego and to start acting for the benefit of others. Then I begin to feel the other and can receive his desires. Thus we establish the connection of the upper and the lower, and I can develop and pass him the Light, fulfillment.
[104755]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Secret of Gestation is Birth”: And this is the sign that a creature is worthy of the Light of life, since he has the power to at least perform a contraction for some reason, since then the Light of life appears and performs the expansion and the first movement of life is created. Therefore this movement does not stop and the creature becomes alive and moving.

This first movement is called a soul, which means the spirit of life one breathes, as it says: “And He will pass into his nostrils the breath of life.”

But the level of still nature, the vegetative and the animate do not have the power to perform an inner contraction in any way. Therefore, the Light of life cannot be dressed in them and lead to an expansion.

He gave a law that cannot be broken, that without the contractions and the expansion the vessel will not be able to expand beyond its limits. Therefore the still level of nature, the vegetative and the animate are doomed to eternal death.

The speaking is indeed totally capable of life, but he is born dead, since he needs a cause and a factor to operate on it, and to bring about the first contraction at least, which is caused by the cold air that comes from the Torah and good deeds.

Humanity is divided into levels: the still, the vegetative, the animate, and the speaking, according to the roots of the souls in Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity), according the four levels of the depth of their desire from the first phase to the fourth. Only if the fourth and last phase awakens in a person, is it a sign that he can engage in spiritual work actively and independently.

Other people who have a desire on the level of the still nature, the vegetative, and the animate, cannot be awakened to work independently. They are carried by the current according to their level.

The level of the speaking in a person is called the point in the heart. But even if a person is already born with a point in the heart and after his previous lives is already prepared for spiritual work, it doesn’t mean that he can be awakened by himself yet. He needs some external factor that will force him to contract as a result of pressures, despair, and different unpleasant events that make a person feel that he is under pressure and threats. These pressures force him to think about how he can transcend his nature.

So a group of Kabbalists goes through different unpleasant states. The people who have already been prepared are incorporated in the group and want to advance. They don’t run away from the problems and don’t just watch things from the side but actively participate in the group’s life. They feel a cold wind as a result of the unpleasant events and the fears that force them to contract.

Wind is not a still state. It takes a person out of the level of the still nature he is on, to the vegetative level. The wind itself is air, but its source is Bina, the soul that fills it. Thus a person tastes what air is for the first time, what the feeling on the level of Ruach is.

This unpleasant event forces the cold wind into a person, which makes him contract. But by overcoming the contraction he expands himself, which means that he performs the opposite action. He wants to receive the cold air without freezing and contracting with fear, but rather expanding in Hassadim and bestowal. In order to do that he has to rise above this state by the force of bestowal in adhesion with the Creator and then for the first time he can perform a spiritual breath. The wind has been put into him by force, and he already exhales it and is ready for the new action.

After several such actions that could be called the plagues of Egypt, a person begins to “breathe” independently. He may even be ready to “contract” by himself, which is called “I awaken the dawn and it isn’t the dawn that awakens me.” This means that he doesn’t wait for an external reason, but begins to breathe on his own. Thus he becomes a living soul (Nefesh Haya).
[104770]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/13

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The wisdom of Kabbalah considers the entire creation to be like a will to receive divided into four levels: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

Essentially, this is talking about the vital force that acts within them. On the basic level of the still, it only constitutes the compulsory need to maintain its structure. So everything begins from a simple polarity, from “plus” and “minus,” from an electron and a proton, to which are gathered other particles, forming a complete “galaxy” within the atom.

Then the atoms build all kinds of forms of inanimate matter: gases, liquids, solids, plasma. And on the next level they connect into molecules, and at a particular moment life is formed within matter.

We don’t understand how this happens. Because up until now the particles were connected with each other “mechanically,” then suddenly something new appears among them.

What is life? Is it simply the “leaping” of electrons? No. Basically, in what way is animate organic matter different from the inanimate matter of the still? Science doesn’t know this. But we see the vital force, metabolism, reproduction, all kinds of mutual connections, forming memory, forming reactions that produce the connections and the uniqueness of all kinds of different cells. The origin of all this evolution remains a mystery to us. Nobody has succeeded in creating the vegetative or animate level from the still level.

But in fact, this is talking about the vital force, the desire that acts within matter. It is derived from the spiritual interaction of Lights and vessels; this is the reason why its appearance cannot be explained in physical terms. We discover and investigate all kinds of phenomena but not the force that forms them.

In this manner, the will to receive is the basic force of creation and we can only witness its existence. It is worthwhile to accept this as a fact, to be able to discover and perceive all the rest later. For in sum we are creatures who perceive ourselves in some kind of reality, at a particular moment in our development. Certainly we ask questions, but in order to find answers about them, it is necessary to go either to the beginning of creation or to its end.

A person is a small and limited part of the immense creation, and if he wants to investigate it, he must first grow to its dimensions, to the required height. Only then will he be able to grasp, absorb, and investigate it through analysis and synthesis.

In general, life is Light. But we discover this within a desire that is born within our comprehension of the phenomena of the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human. In fact, it is singular, even though on the “screen” of our consciousness we see all kinds of images that are sketched by the Light; even though they compel us to experience all kinds of emotions, all this takes place within us and not in reality. In reality only desire and the Light that animates it exist, to a greater or lesser degree. If to a greater degree, then one is happy, and if to a smaller degree, then one cries. And that is how we develop…
[104680]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 

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Before the spiritual ascent humanity goes through a period of preparation without understanding the laws of evolution. There are several theories regarding that, but we see that the process is driven only by the evolution of our egoistic desire that operates only for our benefit. It is particular to each person and has determined our behavior throughout the eras of humanity’s evolution.

In mankind, there are several outstanding civilizations each of which has developed in their own way, at their own pace, and in their own direction. During the times of ancient Babylon and the tower of Babel, a certain part of humanity broke off from the rest and started to advance in a special way, since in addition to the desire to receive, a desire to attain the goal of reality was also evoked in them.

This desire needs a method in order to be fulfilled and this created a problem. It is because a person actually wants to know why and for what he is living, what the goal of his life is. But suddenly he discovers that the answer to this question is fulfilled according to the principle of “love thy friend as thyself.”

It is commonly believed that the meaning of life is to be revealed after the death of the body or in some mystical reality that is beyond the corporeal nature. But suddenly I am told about the love of others and that if I begin to love the other like I love myself and develop such relationships, I will discover the upper world, all of reality, the whole depth of creation and also the eternal, whole concealed force called the Creator.

I don’t understand this. Is it enough to love just anybody I see? Do I have to subdue and annul myself so that I will not see the difference between us? This is called “to bestow in order to bestow.” Then, I also acquire the other’s deficiency and care for him like for my dear baby, like for my own soul, which he is actually part of. I am told that thanks to this love I will find and fulfill the goal of my life. The main thing is to do good unto others.

But this is totally contrary to my view! What can be more repulsive than that?!

I exaggerate and emphasize this point on purpose, but it is really so. A person needs time in order to understand that this is his self-realization. It is in the relationships with others on the current level when we hate one another, disrespect and spit on one another, kill each other without thinking twice, and in addition also enjoy harming the environment; it is here that the infinite depth of the spiritual world is revealed to us, the true reality. At first it is simply incomprehensible.

Therefore, it is a long way. A small group started to fulfill the method back in ancient Babylon and had to go through many ups and downs, while everyone else continued to advance along the egoistic path.

Eventually, a small part of humanity reached the final ego through the shattering, through the destruction of the Temple, while most of humanity advanced linearly within the ego. On the way, the two parts are integrated and reached the current phase, which requires the final fulfillment of the correction.

So, the preparation begins to correct the distance. A small group called the “nation of Israel” goes through special states, falls from the spiritual levels, and then goes through gradual corrections that are deep and slow. It corrects its shattered vessels, desires, and this requires preparation; it requires the transition from the intention of “in order to receive” (Lo Lishma) to the intention of “in order to bestow” (Lishma) and from to bestow in order to bestow to, to receive in order to bestow. All the stages along the way are gradual and organized, and the nation of Israel corrects itself by the Light that Reforms, which is called the “Torah.”

On the other hand, the parts of the general vessel called “the nations of the world,” were not shattered, and so they do not need the gradual correction. In fact, they have nothing to correct. The nation of Israel has to raise all the shattered vessels back to spirituality from which they fell in order to put them back together into the ten Sefirot, each one separately and all of them together, to reconstruct the reality of the common soul. For all the others it is much simpler as they receive an illumination that provides them with a Masach (screen), which is their correction. They participate in the process and connect to Israel who correct themselves gradually through many hardships.

Eventually, the vessels of the nations of the world reach corrections on such a level that they take the children of Israel on their “shoulders” and bring them to the “Temple,” the nation of Israel cannot rise to these levels by itself, but the nations of the world can because they don’t have shattered vessels.

So, the last phase of correction is fulfilled, not simply with the nations of the world, but thanks to their help, and support “on their shoulders.”
[104610]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Rabash, Letter 59: The Zohar says, “Everyone is what his heart presumes, to that extent the Creator’s Light illuminates on him and this is called the phase of faith.”

We speak about the human level here, which values the Creator’s greatness in one’s heart. To that extent I acquire the level of equivalence to the Creator, and discover the upper Light in me.

First we are all in an egoistic desire, and for a long time we assume that we can attain something. This period is called “the seven years of satiety.” Then we begin to understand that the ego will not give us anything, and feeling disappointed in it we turn to the desire to bestow.

This is already a great revolution, “and a new king rose in Egypt.” In other words, the egoistic desire in which I saw everything that is good now showers blows upon me. What are these blows? If we look at the modern world, we see that it is full of plenty for all. In the exact same way the children of Israel didn’t lack anything, they had more than enough “meat.” So what was the problem? What was lacking? What is this new domination?

The point is that I begin to understand and to feel that my ego is not me. It becomes a new cruel king for me. I don’t identify with it anymore and look for something above it, but it holds on to me and doesn’t let me go…

Today, even the poor live much better than most people lived two centuries ago. A simple worker enjoys what used to be luxuries for a few in the past. But the problem is that I feel bad and cannot do anything about this feeling.

The moment we feel this new dominion we begin to look for a way out, since this kind of life is meaningless. But it turns out that we cannot escape. I hate my life, I feel helpless, in exile, imprisoned. I feel that I am “cornered” by my family, my work, my debts, and by consumerism. From birth to death I am a slave that imagines that he is free and at the same time discovers the yoke on his neck.

I want to escape this slavery but encounter an even more difficult question: “What am I living for?” The simple pleasures of this world and its “animal” existence do not satisfy me anymore, and so I look upward to see if there is something there.

Then, I get a chance to rise above this life. I begin to understand and feel that we are actually living in a different reality, and that the current perception is simply unreal. This is where the work begins, the search thanks to which we discover that the only way to open our eyes and our emotions widely, in order to open the door to the real life, is through unity.

There is the personal individual perspective and there is the general perspective that goes through the general connection. By connecting we discover a totally different picture, but it’s very difficult to discern this picture. After all, I have to annul myself, and to refocus my perception of the world and my attitude to life in order to see everything through the group, though a collection of people whose opinions and desires become a “magnifying glass,” a “lens,” through which I see reality.

It’s very difficult to lower one’s head before the friends and to acknowledge the fact that they are great and to allow them to form the picture of the world for me in my mind and heart. If we do these exercises often enough, according to the method that we have, we see the results, and it’s as if we “regain our sight,” which means that we begin to see the current system in which we live, a system that was previously out of my sight.

So, the initial correction during the phase of preparation begins when I “lower my head” before others. The first phase of the annulment is called the “exodus from Egypt.” If before the ego subdued me and prevented me from connecting, now I leave its domination and I can already connect. Thus I escape the ego, detach myself from it and leave it.

But in the meantime it’s only an escape. Later I make greater efforts to annul myself and in the time of “smallness,” during the “counting of the Omer:” I am small and only want to connect to the friends as much as I can with all my might.

This is what we are going through now. If we try we will reach the giving of the Torah, which means the Light that Reforms, even if we don’t see anything and if we don’t understand, but we make efforts, wanting to connect above Pharaoh, above everything that is in us, we attain connection in which the Creator is revealed. This is called the giving of the Torah. Then we continue our connection in practice.
[104388]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/13, Writings of Rabash 

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