Kabbalah answers the question about the meaning of life. In reality, this question is very important. It is because in my search for an answer to this question, I primarily examine myself. Do I have the right attitude toward life in everything that I do?

I have the desire for pleasure that obligates me to create a family, have children, and care for them, my work, my future, my parents, my close environment, my city, my country, and maybe even the entire world. All this is only so that I suffer less.

In this way, in the end, I am only driven by different degrees of suffering. In the best case scenario, I am driven by how I can benefit from it. However, what if I should rise above all this? What if I stopped depending on suffering or pleasure and became objective, like Man with capital “M”? Perhaps I would then become free of all these bonds. After all, nothing but animal instincts impel me to start a family, and social instincts make me follow social laws. What would I do if I were not driven by suffering and pleasure?

Today, I resemble an animal that is being directed every step of the way, spurred and forced to slow down with the two reins of pain and sweetness. I am like a doll, a puppet, a fragile mechanism that lacks any opportunity to do anything on its own, even a tiny fragment of its way.

So, can I take over these reins? If not, can I at least analyze the situation, understand why it is happening and for what purpose? On the other hand, should I even strive upward? Perhaps it would be best to close my eyes and submerge myself in religious and other practices. Maybe it would give me peace for the rest of my life if I disconnected from the essence.

This is where a person who does not give up and reject what matters most manifests himself. Regardless of the pleasure, suffering, shame, pride, and other methods that drive and control him in life, he still searches for independence. “Whatever happens, will happen, but I must find the essence. This is where I feel like a person. There is no other way.” Abraham searched for people like this in ancient Babylon, and he found several thousand.

This is the criterion for humanity that helps determine the level its animal element reaches and the level to which it is ready to become Man.

Are we able to accelerate human development through dissemination and education so that he would come more quickly to these fundamental questions? Essentially, in our days, this is what “social” work is.
[61645]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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The main thing we lack is desire, similar to how a sick person who lost his appetite needs to regain it in order to start eating and get well. Or, it’s similar to how we want a child to study and he doesn’t want it, and we don’t know how to transmit our desire to him so he would attain a good result. There are many similar examples.

A sick, flawed place first of all needs a desire for correction. Our problem is that we do not feel that we need it. Nothing besides desire is required of us, whereas we are thinking about fulfillment, the total opposite.

All of my worries, searches, efforts, and thoughts—everything must be aimed only at finding the right desire. And if I am thinking about fulfillment, then it’s egoism and it is opposite to the right intention.

The entire problem amounts to the right environment, which will imbue me with this idea so I will constantly remember that I lack nothing but the desire. This is called “asking for rain”—if a person asks for it, then the rain will come, the Light will pour from above. The only thing missing is our request.

And this is a problem because we lack the desire, the passion, questions, pressure, and aspiration precisely for the spiritual goal. We don’t need anything else but the right desire. But for that, a person must always be under society’s pressure so he will feel how he lacks the right desires.

Everyone needs a “program of work”: What do I aspire to, what have I attained—which desire, how did I gain a better understanding of what I lack, did I come closer to it? Do I have the willingness to endure, because desire means suffering due to the lack of the desired thing? Am I happy that I lack spirituality, that I feel a yearning and aspiration for it—the suffering of love?

For that we need social pressure from every person upon every person in order to collect our common desires and attain revelation. The aspiration has to be logical, mutual, common, and total. Then our unification will be called “an assembly of souls aspiring to the Creator” (Knesset Israel).

What do people do in that assembly (Beit Knesset)? They ask, pray. Then it’s called Malchut, from which a request rises and to which fulfillment comes.
[64945]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/11, Writings of Rabash

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It is possible to control your desire through action. That is why we need to force ourselves into action. The speed of our development depends on it. People are asking: “Well, where is the spiritual world? When will it be revealed? What else can I do to get closer to it?”

They do not understand that every day we aimlessly lose a lot of hours. It turns out that what could have been done throughout a day stretches out for the whole month and even more. We don’t care about shortening all of our opportunities in order for each moment to become focused on reaching the goal—at least in the material external action if it is not possible to do it in the desire and intention, not directly, but indirectly, through other actions, which I perform for the world, dissemination, the group.

Very often and for long periods of time we are in a state when we have no desire, but the time keeps passing by and we do not know what to do with it. We are simply waiting for when it will change on its own, but nothing will change on its own.

This dead time is given precisely so that we invest action into it, and by the means of the action to change our desires, to quickly wake up and begin to move forward towards the goal. Until I get to feel that the group, the world, and the whole of reality is, in essence, me, myself, and it depends on me, I need to use all of this in order to reach the realization of the goal.

I should not wait until the awakening will come from the outside. There is a quantity and quality of efforts, which a person must exert only in action without any intention and desire! And even though in our generation we are spoiled, weak, and not ready to suffer the way the previous generations did who were closer to the condition of the Kabbalists of antiquity: “Live on bread with salt and drink water….” However, we need to understand that without the feeling of the suffering for the whole world, we will not be able to become connected into it.

Here, the mind and the feeling must supplement each other so that I would not have to suffer like everyone in the world and humanity as a whole does. By the means of the mind, I can increase my participation in the suffering of the world and to connect to one big vessel-desire.

And to the extent of that, my actions for the benefit of the world will increase, and this way I will move from action to desire and thought, I will attain the perfect vessel, worthy for correction and fulfillment. So this will be the correction and fulfillment for the whole world.
[64671]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/11, Shamati #189

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Only the force that I develop in front of myself to attract me to bestowal is a sign of spiritual advancement. Sometimes, we do not understand what is going on; why there is no advancement if so much effort has been applied. We are on this path for so many years, but still cannot finish the period of preparation. What else is required of us?

And we do not understand that we have been waiting all that time for some kind of force to come and push us instead of using our own actions to create the force that would attract us forward rather than pushing from behind. We take this motivation from the environment in order to move forward due to the greatness of the goal, bestowal.

This is all our work, the freedom of choice, annulling ourselves and raising the environment. Everything is in order to become inspired by the goal and elevate it. It is not enough that I attach myself to it. I need a very powerful force of attraction that can outweigh my ego and make me revolve around this goal day and night, to lose sleep over it.

If I manage to create such a large attractive force, then I will move forward.

This is the human level, opposite to all the previous steps. This is not a natural development that comes from nature and happens by itself. Sufferings will not help there; they will not propel me forward. Only my own efforts and concentration of forces, using all the advices of Kabbalists and all the means that will influence me and inspire the greatness of the goal, will help me move forward so that I rush towards it.

And the goal is bestowal to which I am going without any other calculations, goals, or rewards, nothing, but pure bestowal.
[64517]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/11, Shamati

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Question: How can I feel that the whole world is on my shoulders?

Answer: We cannot attain what we dream of without a vessel or desire. In our world we can receive things even without having a very big desire, meaning by virtue of actions that we can make even without having a desire.

But in spirituality there are no means like in our world because there, the desire itself is the action. Therefore, we can shift to spirituality only on the condition that our actions will constantly become more advanced and evoke a growth of our desires.

It’s a known fact that if a person has to put efforts into something, such as take care of his child or pet, or do something just to earn money, then he gradually starts to value what he invested himself into. Then his thoughts and desires will be focused on this. This way, we can raise our desires and thoughts by virtue of actions which don’t even have the right intention at first, and train ourselves to have new thoughts and desires.

These special opportunities are provided by our world, our state, where besides the desire and the thought, there are also material actions that we can make due to indirect material reasons: for the sake of money, respect, knowledge, and power, and thus we can develop new desires through them.

This way, actions influence thoughts to such an extent that I can feel as if the whole world really is on my shoulders!

If I have to attain a perfect desire, then I have to experience fear and worry for the whole world. This is already called elevation in bestowal. That’s because I am not worried about this this world due to the fact that my well-being depends on it, but I want to attain the quality of bestowal and bestow to the Creator with it.

We can achieve this by virtue of actions, by continually putting in our efforts through our friends and together with them—into the big world. This work opens up our desire to be connected to the world because we invest ourselves in it. I begin to better understand and feel these external desires, and this gives me new forces and aspirations. That is how action governs desire.

And when I receive new desires, I only have to increase them, and that is already easier. I can do it with the help of friends, the environment.
[64674]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/11, Shamati

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Question: Why do we exert ourselves in one place and find the result in another place?

Answer: I exert myself everyway I can, I work with what I have: myself, the group, the teacher, and the books. I do all that egotistically.

I exert myself for myself, for Lo Lishma, (not for its sake) because of my desire to profit: to discover the upper world, the Creator, so that everything will be in my favor! Of course, there is no other way. I only think about myself, whether I realize that or not, that’s the way it is.

Although I demand: “Give me!” and want to fill myself, still because I deal with something that is so special, it does the opposite, it inverts and I receive something that I didn’t ask for!

After all I didn’t ask for true bestowal. I can’t ask for it, but I receive it. That’s the whole trick: It is as if we are cheated! But we don’t know that, and follow this lie.

This is how the Creator has created us, but you have to follow the conditions accurately, like in a recipe: Take 10 grams from here, 10 gram from there, mix it up and drink it—and this will be your medicine.

This is what Kabbalists say: You have a group, a teacher, and books. You have to organize all that in your work, with a special intention. Deal with it and eventually you will receive something!

But what will you receive? Even if you cannot ask for bestowal (after all, we know who you are and what you are), if you fill all these conditions accurately, it will work and you will receive it.

This is how it works, and this is why it is called Segula (a miraculous remedy)! Even the angels complained to the Creator that he gave people something that they didn’t ask for. But this is the way this system works.
[64413]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/11, Writings of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”: Thus, we are at the hands of these four factors, as clay in the hands of a potter.

We are surrounded by the influence from Above from all sides. The Creator rules over us in a very harsh and absolute manner as He controls all the channels, both internal and external, in our desires, thoughts, habits, and nature. We have nothing that is ours, and even the words I am saying now are arranged by Him.

So what is our free will? After all, we cannot attribute freedom to any object, action, thought, or the smallest particle of the desire to receive. The Creator created it, He influences it absolutely, so what can be free in it?

People have come up with theories about two authorities and polytheism, about which Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Peace.” It is hard to agree that there is only one authority that “covers” everything. If the Creator is unified, if there is none else besides Him, if everything depends on Him, then I am under His absolute control, and it is as if I don’t exist, but rather dissolve in Him. So it is preferable to have two authorities: a good one and a bad one. This is understandable; in between them there is room for me, and I can affect things.

Still, at some point I realize that behind everything that affects me there is one Source. It isn’t an image that we can picture, but a mind, a feeling, something unified. I only have to discover the reason why it affects me, what it wants from me? What I should become according to its influence?

By knowing what He wants from me, I will know Him. What for? Is it just to make an acquaintance or in order to fulfill His desire?

What was His intent in creating me? What does He want by managing me this way? If He only wants me to obey Him, then it’s better not to know anything, but to simply act according to the instructions I have received. But if He really wants me to attain, to reveal Him, then I have to do everything to attain this goal and not to act automatically.

So there is a lot of work a person has to do regarding the initial cause of everything. This is our only work: to constantly sharpen and “polish” our attitude to Him. Who is He? What does He want from me? Why did He make me react this way? I constantly climb the levels of my attitude and clarify what He wants to give me by putting demands to me. What He wants is that thanks to bestowal upon Him, I will understand Him.

I continue this chain and constantly raise the level of His demands to me. Thus I have to justify the evil just like the good since they both come from one source. I have to understand why He splits His bestowal into two—thanks to this I will be able to check myself, to adjust my course. For Him this duality doesn’t exist, but my reality is divided into bestowal and reception.

Eventually, we must constantly reveal the concept of Unified, and not more than that. If I paid attention to that, I would see that there is nothing else in my life. Even in the corporeal world everything comes down to this clarification that discovers unity and reveals the Creator.
[63986]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/2011, “The Freedom”

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A person is born with predetermined properties. He is not held responsible for them, whether they are good or bad—if there is anything good among them at all, apart from the point in the heart that is waiting to be awakened. It is said in the Torah: “Awakening of one’s heart is bad from the time of one’s youth.”

But in any event all the properties of a person are combined together and designed for his or her spiritual ascent. A person has only one thing to accomplish in this world: to rise from the animate degree to the speaking one. And thus, everything there is in him, including his internal spiritual point, as well as his external material qualities, all his parameters, everything that forms him is surely built this way to make him aspire toward the goal. Everything descends here from this goal, from this final point of the end of correction, and from this place everything rises back to the end of correction.

There definitely are no accidents. Everything is designed only for this lofty task. And for this reason, we should treat the evil the same way we treat the good, accepting all the things as the necessary components that connect together to form a perfect, internal state for us.

We inherit part of our properties from our father and mother, and we get another part of them through our upbringing. Then we add to all this the properties received from our environment, the habits that become our second nature, and so on. All these properties settle within us as if we were actually born with them.

Here we should realize that nothing happens by chance, as people in our world think. On the contrary, everything gets to us through the system that influences us gradually, according to the program that works in tune with the general scheme of systemic interactions.

Thus, it is not really important what particular factors formed me, whether they are my parents, fellow kindergarten and school students, my neighbors, radio and television, books, or something else. Essentially, the following thing happens to us: From the Creator we receive the point of desire created as existence from absence. Further on, this point is exposed to various influences of the Light, which Baal HaSulam divides by level into inherited properties, intrauterine factors, influence of the closest environment, the society’s influence, habits, and so on. All in all, they all come from the Creator, and this is how we should treat them.

This gives rise to a question: What has been placed upon me? I start understanding that everything in my life originates from a single and unique Source that clothes into various garments. In truth, these are not garments, I just see them as such. In reality, it is the same upper Light that has passed through various filters and is now drawing various images in my imagination. These images form the picture of the world for me, which includes the still, vegetative, and animate nature, as well as people. By means of this the Creator constantly “shakes” me, gives me no peace, pushing me further and further ahead.

So, when one gathers all these kinds of influences into one whole, while connecting them to the correct goal, then one deals with the Creator.
[63989]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/2011, “The Freedom”

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