Our problem is that we don’t know how to imagine the Creator: Are we supposed to just imagine something to ourselves? And here we forget the principle of “I dwell among My people” and that “from love of the created beings” one comes “to the love of the Creator.”

Thus, if I want to bring pleasure to my Maker, I have no other choice to come closer to and imagine it correctly but to build a group, to connect with it, and to increase its importance so that it turns into the most important and appreciated thing in my eyes, something above all this reality, like godliness.

And then the connection between the friends will manifest within me like the upper force, by which I am impressed, to which I pray to, and from which I ask. And all my work will be only for this purpose.

Otherwise, only pretty words will remain: “To bring contentment to the Creator,” “with selfless intentions,” “not for the sake of receiving a reward,” “adhesion with the Creator,” and so on. With whom will I be in adhesion, to whom will I bestow?  All these concepts will remain completely unclear and vague for me, they will be something I can’t realize and will disappear from my sensation.

Thus, when we speak about the Creator and are constantly confused about how to relate to such an elusive concept that our senses can’t perceive, we need to remember that it is the general force that manifests within the group. This upper force is actually the Creator.

So why is it said that there is no one but man and the Creator and the relations between them? Where is the group here? And here one needs to remember that it is not a group of different people. Only one general soul exists, and man needs to make efforts in order to return to the correct perception of reality. And then he will see that all of this is his individual soul, and the general force that fills his soul is the Creator.

One needs to go slightly above corporeal vision that shows us physical bodies in our corporeal world, which are seemingly before us and have been given to us only for the purpose of the work. Try to imagine to yourself a higher dimension, all of reality as your one Kli (vessel), one desire, which is separated into multiple parts in your imagination called “evil inclination.” But thanks to your efforts to connect these parts together, you will discover the general force within that connection, and it will be called your Creator.
[60224]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Even while reading The Book of Zohar, my thoughts roam about in different directions. How can I always keep the goal in mind?

Answer: We are inside of a force field with forces deliberately drawing us in different directions. But this happens precisely in order for us to connect them in one direction, to bring them to a single reality with our own efforts.

Therefore, this is how we should view our states, which are often confused and unstable because they are all intended to awaken us to search for a force that’s higher than these opposite forces that awaken within us, so this one force would rule over them. It’s so we could unite them and bring them together as the proper combination of constituents to the spiritual reality.

If we find a higher force that forms the entire picture for us, this will already be a higher level than our state. Therefore, on one hand, I must favorably accept these different states, thoughts, desires, and this entire confusion while understanding that I am receiving all of this data to work with, like blocks that I have to put together correctly.

Now every person must find for himself what kind of force, principle, and attitude he can use to properly unite all of these disturbances so they will go from being disturbances to components of the same spiritual picture that he wishes to attain.

In reality there are no disturbances. They are all desires that are not properly connected into one desire and therefore seem superfluous to us. But that is not so. Each of them, with its aspiration to the opposite direction, deliberately points to the lack of our direction to the single force that includes everyone, the upper level, the force of the Creator.
[60236]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/11, The Zohar

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There are two ways by which nature advances us: without our knowing or consciously, meaning by the Light (the Torah) or by suffering. The way we advance without knowing is by pain. Because our nature is a desire to receive, we advance and develop gradually from one degree to another under the influence of a good sensation or a bad one. So what do we sense as good or bad?

We were created by the Light, which created us with a desire to be filled. Through our process of development, we gradually attain everything that is in the Light, in the Creator, as good and everything that is in contrast to it we perceive as bad.

This is a very long way, and for a long time, according to our nature, everything seems the opposite to us. But as the power of bestowal teaches us, we begin to understand that our egoism is bad and that it is responsible for all our failures, and how wonderful it could be if we were in the attribute of bestowal, which could raise us above all evil.

This awakening comes gradually to each of us and to all of humanity. It is through suffering that we learn from the blows that the force pushes us from behind.

At the same time, we are given the opportunity to hasten our development by ourselves and to advance towards attaining the good. The good is only bestowal, and we should do different exercises and use different tools in order to develop the sensation of the recognition of evil by ourselves, not as a result of the blows but rather through the environment.

In order to do that we have to be more sensitive to good and bad, to bestowal and receiving, to love of others and to hatred. I can prepare myself even before the blow comes, by working with the environment so that I can begin to understand that bestowal is good and receiving is bad.

After all, this is how nature is. The Creator determined the goal of Creation: adhesion to the Creator, to His qualities; that is,  “As He is merciful and you are merciful too.” So we have to resemble His attributes in all our attributes. This means that I have to transform myself and to understand that my nature is evil and that the Creator’s nature of bestowal is good.

The tricks and the means I use in order to see bestowal as good, are called “Mitzvot” (commandments), “God’s work.” Working with the environment enables us to see bestowal as good and egoism as bad.

This is why the soul was shattered into many private souls and we can, thanks to our mutual work, attain that connection and love of others, which is good. From the love of others we reach the love of the Creator. It is the particular and the general expression of the same phenomenon.

All the descent from the top down, meaning all the preparation that was made for us was necessary so that we will be able to use it and to develop independently and consciously, so that eventually we will reach the goal.
[59903]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/6/11, “What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends”

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It is an adult’s obligation to teach a child and to give him all of the necessary preparation for adult life during childhood. And the same thing happens in the spiritual world: The upper level gives the lower level all of the “keys,” all of the means for continuing to build itself.

The lower level just has to figure all of this out and make a free choice to keep going. There is nothing else to do but this. All the forces are already at our disposal.

Therefore, the small state (Katnut) is considered fundamental, while the great state (Gadlut) is an addition that sometimes appears and sometimes disappears, depending on the efforts of the lower one. But he always keeps the small state, which serves as a good, healthy foundation for creating the next great state, which is new every time.

Therefore, the small degree, called Hafetz Hesed (one who desires mercy), fear of the Creator, the level of Bina, “artistry,” or faith, is what has to be transmitted to the next state, from the fathers to the sons, from the upper level of the spiritual ladder to the lower level.
[60142]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/08/11, Writings of Rabash

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Hatred is that broken desire that will be revealed as love in the next moment. It is becoming revealed because the Light shines and influences the desire.

However, when there is no Light, a person appears to love everyone, just as many people say. They aren’t lying. They are in such darkness that it really seems to them that it is so, but apparently, we read about righteous people like Rabbi Shimon and his students who were burning with the fire of mutual hatred.

How do we understand that? A religious person would say that that is impossible. Aren’t such highly righteous people, pure, all in white garments, incapable of hatred?

It is written, “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the masses.” The opinion of the Torah is black and white stripes of rising and falling, and religion tries to keep a person in a state of equilibrium so that everything will be good from one day to another.

All my previous experiences won’t help, even though it is written that “There is none so as wise as the experienced.” All of the previous experience were received in more shallow desires with respect to the new desires that are becoming revealed and getting bigger and bigger each time.

If I’m under the influence of a stronger desire, experience that I received from a more shallow desire won’t help me. I will hit the wall with my head!

Nothing can be done until I determine the full depth of my desire. We only increase the speed of the unfolding and improve our approach to accept every desire as a desired one. It doesn’t matter if it is a good or a bad one; the most important thing is to move forward faster.

The number of rises and falls has already been recorded in each desire within each of us according to the root of his or her soul. If you had seen this inner ladder of yours, you would have learned how much you have left to go through at this degree, how much on the next one, and so forth.

You are not able to change these steps, only to speed them up. We are not allowed to see them because, in order to work and increase speed, you don’t need knowledge, and, if you knew what you were meant to go through in advance, you wouldn’t be able to overcome that hardship. From your state below, you don’t understand the speed with which you can rise above, which is, simply, the speed of light.
[59741]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/3/11, The Book of Zohar

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Question: You said that at the convention a person should not delve into himself, but should imagine that we are all connected already. But what should I do if I am overcome by critical thoughts? How can I get rid of them?

Answer: The convention is one big friends’ assembly, meaning an unceasing influence of the environment, the most powerful of all the possible ones that have ever taken place.

And if we see from Kabbalists’s articles that the most important thing is the influence of the environment, then we can assess the importance of such a great assembly that we are getting together at physically, while the whole world is joining us virtually, meaning people who are together with us.

We must only prepare for this gathering the right way. We have 30 days left, and that is a lot of time. If each of us prepares correctly during this time, as well as all of us together, then we will attain a very serious influence of the environment on every person. This happens to such an extent that the feeling of realization of evil can develop in a person to such great proportions that he will hate his receiving nature and will desire to come out of it, which is called the exodus from Egypt.

He will desire to attain bestowal, meaning he will raise his Malchut into Bina, will desire to join bestowal to the neighbor. Who are these neighbors? This is the most general level of Bina where we all dwell in bestowal. If a person aspires to this, then he can temporarily or even permanently enter the spiritual reality, bestowal in an initial measure. This will already be his first spiritual experience.

Everything depends on the might of the Light that reforms, which depends entirely on how a person adjusts himself in relation to the environment: How much he values this environment and its ability to influence him. Let him not come with scorn and criticism to all the others, but only with great hope that the Creator will now give him the opportunity to use the environment in order to rise above his nature. Then he will immediately feel spirituality!

Our task is to prepare for this event well as it might be the most important one in our lives, a turning point from our dark state to a state full of Light.
[59896]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/6/11, Writings of Rabash

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So many preparations were made by our breaking and so many opportunities were opened up by it for our benefit that it was nothing short of a divine act. This is such an ingenious invention that we are unable to even evaluate it duly.

This is expressed especially in the material garments, in which we are able to exist egoistically while advancing toward bestowal. It is impossible to even imagine how such a miracle is possible! I am in a minus, in evil, in hatred for the neighbor and the Creator, in total opposition to Him, and at the same time, I use them in order to profit off them (or at least that’s how it seems to me). And when I use them for my own benefit, as it seems to me, I actually advance in the reverse direction, meaning toward bestowal to them.

It turns out that by virtue of the breaking, two separate laws of creation emerge, which are connected in a way that enables us to use them even while we are in egoism.

After the breaking, all actions are performed upon us by the world of Atzilut. That is why such a difficult, complex, and perfect mechanism exists in it. After all, it has to work on us from the upper dimension, from the world of bestowal. It has to connect with us, egoists.

And even though we desire the opposite things, nevertheless the system of the world of Atzilut is by its nature built in such a way that it treats us correctly. Even if we are asking for ourselves, egoistically, yet by virtue of the fact that our external actions seem bestowing because we are trying to unite into a group and are working for the sake of dissemination, this is enough for the surrounding Light to shine upon us.

The Light can never become inner and enter these egoistic vessels, but it glows for us from afar, even in these desires that are opposite and unsuitable for it. We have absolutely opposite intentions, yet it shines for us.

This is a very complex mechanism.
[59305]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: It is written, “Do not do to another what you hate.” Who is “the neighbor”?

Answer: In principle, “the neighbor” is every person in the world. But for us that is too much. For now we do not yet know how to treat our enemies and opponents correctly. This has to be learned separately.

Therefore, for me the “neighbor” is my friend in the group, a person who wants to unite with me to attain the spiritual goal. This is the condition we have to carry out in the group. We might think badly of our friends and look at them critically, but if we nevertheless try to create the right network of interconnection among us in our spiritual work, if we don’t want to hold grudges against others in any of our thoughts, desires, aspirations, or intentions, by that we already extend threads toward each other.

Until then, this network will only bring us troubles and bad sensations. But as soon as we breathe life into it with our attitude, devoid of criticism and mutual blame, we will immediately feel the electricity flowing between us, will feel how the air in the group grows thicker and turns into “jelly,” connecting us all into one whole.

That is exactly the feeling one gets: The air gets denser around us, turning into a liquid and then into a viscous substance, becoming a gradually solidifying “dough” until we see that we are like raisins embedded into our common “pie.”
[59218]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/11, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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