In our spiritual work we cannot do anything ourselves because we don’t know how to identify the unified force and relate it to many situations in our life. What should we attune ourselves to? Simply saying that the Creator is everywhere doesn’t help.

This is why we are given the group, and if we unite together, we discover this unified force called “there is none else besides Him” between us. The Creator deliberately split the creature He had made into a multitude of parts so that they would reassemble once more into a single thought, a single desire. Then, in this common desire, they will reveal the unified force that exists only in the connection they have formed, in unity and adhesion with them.

By uniting together into one desire, we don’t attain this force outside of us, but reveal ourselves and this force together as one whole. Indeed, there is no Light without a vessel (Kli), there is no Creator without the creature. The closer we bond together, the more we reveal the Creator within our unity.

In other words, our unification is the Creator. That is what it was at the start of creation, after which we dispersed and descended to this world in the form of small egoistic creatures.

Therefore, by uniting together we are building the Creator. We are creating Him independently, which is why He is called the Creator (in Hebrew Bo-Reh or “come and see”). There is no other place where we can build Him, discern Him, unite and achieve adhesion with Him, but only within our unification in the group. And all of humanity will need to connect together in the same way.
[42427]
From Lesson 8, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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Question: What does “There is none else besides Him” mean? And how do people with the point in the heart, without the point in the heart, and the religious masses attain Him?

Answer: People existing in our world can relate to the whole of reality just as to the environment in which they live, similar to all living beings. Besides that, people can have an additional relationship to their life that animals do not have. If a person was taught to believe in the upper force, this relationship can be either good or evil. If you are good, the upper force will be good to you, and if you are bad, it will be evil to you. This force wants you to be good and thus sends challenges to you. It treats you with kindness if you behave well. So, it is worth being good.

What does it mean to be “good” in the eyes of the upper force? Here, people have invented various systems to the point of sacrificing their own children and annihilating infidels in religious wars. Coming from their ego, people created for themselves all kinds of relations to this upper force.

Baal HaSulam explains the origin of religions and beliefs in his article “The Peace.” In essence, religions are a system for the development of humans, advancing them to spirituality. Those layers of desires to enjoy which are not able to aspire to the Creator move ahead with the help of religions. People know one thing only: There is the upper force, and we are in a certain system of relationship with it: If I am good, it is kind; if I am bad, it is evil.

Then, the sole problem is to define the desires of this upper force. Every religion has its own view on this matter, and each considers itself the right one. And here is all the difference between the religions: how to worship this upper force, how to fulfill its desires so we can live comfortably in this world and in the future world. They seem to work in front of this upper force like in front of the lord, the king: “How can we fulfill Him so He is pleased with us?”

Thus, there are three types of people:

1. Entirely secular with an animal’s attitude towards reality
2. Religious who worship the upper force, trying to find the ways to please it
3. Kabbalists

Kabbalists say that this upper force, the Creator, has no relations with you personally. Even if you say that there is none else besides Him, the good who does good, it is an all-embracing power.

Everything depends on me, and He has no personal relationship with me. Everything is determined by the measure of my transformation in simple, constant, unchangeable existing Light, as it is said: “I did not change my HaVaYaH,” “the Law was given and cannot be transgressed.”

This means that the Creator has no personal relationship with me, has no calculations with respect to me, nothing! I simply feel that He does. But I perceive a computer just the same way. Let’s say, I was working on the computer yesterday and got angry with it in earnest, was ready to smash it with a hammer. Was it its fault? It is a gadget made of steel and plastic.

However, since I work with it, I transfer my personal qualities onto it, think of its behavior as good or bad, and fume at it: “Look what it has done to me!” Similarly, I get angry with a car if something happens to it.

These are fundamental things inherent in our nature. This is not funny at all. Our belief in the power of nature, which treats me kindly or unkindly, stems from here. What do we tell a child when he hits himself on a table? “Hit it back; it has hurt you!” And if it is not a table, but something more abstract, large and all-encompassing, we speak in a different way: “Treat Him well, and He will do you good.” Faith starts from here.

We don’t understand yet that if we are not at the point of truth, we don’t work with anything. We merely work against the law of nature, as “the law was given and cannot be transgressed.” The Creator doesn’t change. Thus, whether I am good or bad, it affects only me. I don’t do to the Creator either good or bad; I don’t touch Him.

When I say that He is happy for me or I make Him sad, it is I who says this. I just perceive this in my senses. If so, what or who makes me change? My ego? It means that I do this only with the purpose of feeling good. Nothing else obliges me! Or maybe the environment, threatening me with punishment, forces me to change?

If this is our attitude towards the entire, perfect reality, no one can force me to change. It can happen only by faith above reason! Why do I exist in this broken, false reality? I want to build from it an independent attitude towards this force, “the good who does good,” the only existing one. What does “an independent attitude” mean? It means that I relate to this force without any personal goal, and it doesn’t know, understand, or sense anything from me. What do I base my work on? “He hangs the Earth upon nothing,” which is called “ten Sefirot Blima (concealing).”

Gradually, I come to such perception of reality that I don’t make any personal calculations, like I make today. I just want to learn from this force its property, become similar to Him. This is my reward. I need no result, neither for the force, nor for myself; I desire only to become like Him, as it is said: “The reward for a commandment is to know the One who commands.”

These are very subtle concepts that are impossible to explain. A person who has no point in the heart will never be impressed by this or understand what is hidden behind. “For whom do I work then? If there is nobody but me who would receive my work and, as a result, treat me differently, it means that I work against the wall, against the void. Then, what do these words mean: “The book is open, and the hand is writing,” “sentences himself and the world to a scale of merit?”

All these words are intended to bring us closer to the ideal, which is called “faith above reason.” There, you don’t have any calculations that you can imagine. You have no one to address. You can make calculations only with the one who has desire, strength, and action. “There is none else besides Him” and “the good who does good” implies that He doesn’t act from the other side. We talk about our actions: changes of states, reactions, but He doesn’t have anything. If so, it’s as if He doesn’t act. He doesn’t seem live if He doesn’t change. This is how it appears to us.
[42107]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/2011, Shamati No. 1

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Only a person that can rise above his egoistic desire attains the sensation of fear. He sees that he is unable to ascend, yet he definitely has to because the spiritual space, the realm of the Creator, perfection, is located precisely above his will to enjoy. Then he is seized by fear: Will he be able to receive help in order to ascend above himself?

This fear can be egoistic, when I am worried about whether or not I will receive the spiritual fulfillment. This kind of fear is also useful: Even though I am thinking about myself (which is called Lo Lishma), at least I am thinking about the spiritual goal, the quality of bestowal (Lishma). It’s just that for the time being I interpret it as something that will provide me with personal benefit.

However, later on we reach “perfect fear,” when we understand that the results of acquiring the quality of bestowal must also be beneficial to everyone, and through benefiting the society, they will be beneficial to the Creator. All of this is done to a person by the upper Light, and therefore this entire process is called “Torah.”

On this path we always meet “an ugly man” who lives inside of us and doesn’t want anything besides personal benefit. He always tries to twist everything in a way that makes him be above others so he can assert his own power and pride. But if I am able to stand up to this freak, even though I fear this quality inside of me, and if I can avoid killing him, and even be able to recognize him and thank him for revealing my own evil to me, then I will develop the right kind of fear that will help me acquire the desire, vessel, or Kli for revealing the Creator.

Gradually all of the concepts will take on the right definitions and I will start to realize that spirituality is above my egoistic desire. I will understand that I will be able to reveal the Creator, perfection, bestowal, love for the neighbor, and the spiritual world only once I can rise above my “self.”

Therefore, everything is based on the force of fear and worry: Am I inside of my egoism without even noticing it, or did I really ascend above it already? And once we do ascend, there are many degrees of ascending above one’s desire, which we gradually discern.

At every level I think that I have already ascended above my egoism, in which case I rejoice and thank the Creator for what He has done to me. After that, I see that that’s not so: This was also my egoism, but it was just hiding from me. And then I have to rise above it as well.

At the beginning of the next level I rejoice immensely once again because I have finally succeeded in rising above my ego and now I am entirely aimed at bestowal. But then I again gradually reveal that this is still not the end and there are still egoistic calculations left inside of me. And then I hate my state all over again and demand a greater ascent, and this process continues until the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

It is written, “What is garbage for the upper one is food for the lower one.” That is how we continuously ascend up the levels by virtue of the Light that reforms. This Light is called Torah. It reveals fear (Iraa) in a person. And inside of that Light a person can see (Ireh) the Creator, the quality of bestowal that rules above everything, as well as the creation’s all-enveloping will to enjoy.
[42246]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/5/11, Shamati

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Question: I feel that when I started studying Kabbalah, I could hear the Creator’s voice more clearly. And now, I feel my receptivity has decreased.

Answer: That is because the Creator wants to tune you to Himself even better and demonstrates to you that you are not attuned to Him well enough. And you should search so that the most exalted feeling that you have experienced so far would constantly be alive in you. You must, regardless of the obstacles, constantly tune to that previous feeling, while it will be new nonetheless.

In the beginning of creation, in our first state of existence (1), we felt only the Light of “Nefesh,” the smallest Light. And then, we descended into our world, into the broken state (2), and are now ascending from our world back to the third state (3).

The third state is the same as the first one, although we feel the Light of “Yechida” in it, which is 620 times greater than the initial one that we used to have in the first state. It is the Light of NRNHY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida).

Why is it so? It is due to the fact that we have attuned ourselves in spite of the obstacles! On the way from the first state to the third one, we were given numerous obstacles of all sorts, but regardless of them, we have attuned ourselves to the same Light of “Nefesh” that was in the beginning. The Light doesn’t change.

I have raised my receptivity and become a vibrating string instead of a thick metal pipe that I used to be at the start. I have become more subtle, sensitive, sensuous, and receptive.

As a result, in the first state that I used to exist in, I experience, not the Light of “Nefesh” that used to fill me at the still level when I didn’t feel anything, but rather I discover myself as equal to the Creator, that is, I reveal the great Light of “Yechida.” Why is it so? Just because I tuned myself to it. This is the process we undergo.
[41981]
From the Virtual Lesson in Russian, Fundamentals of Kabbalah 4/21/2011

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When a person already understands that he has to ask the Light to make the changes, the entire difficulty lies in imagining what changes to ask for. That is why he is led through various states in order to understand what “his own good” means according to his egoistic desire, for the sake of a pleasant mood and fulfillment.

But precisely above all of these calculations, he has to desire to act in the opposite way, preferring for egoism to suffer for the sake of rising above it, and there to build a relationship with the Light, the Creator, “for the sake of bestowal.” All the situations he had to go through were necessary in order to help him establish this relationship with the Light. Then he understands that even though everything comes from the Light and the desire does not awaken, does not change, and overall does not exist without its influence and support, still the desire has an ability to awaken the Light. This action is called “awakening from below.”

It is possible only on the condition that the desire precisely understands itself and its entire egoistic nature. It has to ask for its opposite transformation so the Light would give it a new force, enabling him to rise above himself, to step on his own desire, to squash it and freeze it, and to build the act of bestowal above it. If we will be able to ask for this, this will be called “an awakening from below.

When we receive an addition from the Light, called “awakening from below’ (Itaruta de Leila), then according to our request the Light will give us the ability to rise above our ego and act contrary to our egoistic desire. That is how a person begins building his spiritual vessel (Kli).

A new desire is continually awakened in him, burning within and not letting him rest, demanding to be fulfilled egoistically on account of the neighbor. Nevertheless, he begins to recognize the true attitude to his desire, that he has to lock it up and not let it break through in order to build a screen and the intention for the sake of bestowal above it, enabling him to use the same desire in the opposite form.

When he sees that he is completely incapable of this and only the Creator can help him, he reaches a request called “an awakening from below, “ a MAN. And if he asks correctly then he receives an answer from above—a MAD, and then he unites in a mutual action with the Light.

From then on a person already has experience in building a relationships between himself and the Creator.
[42113]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/11, Shamati

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Question: Are we supposed to start our correction with the animate degree, meaning to reduce our consumption to only the level of necessity?

Answer: No, we shouldn’t. The issue is not about merely reducing the exploitation of nature. Besides, we really don’t know how to limit ourselves.

It must occur naturally, on its own. If my head is “in the clouds,” in spiritual aspiration, I instinctively consume only as much as I need to sustain myself. It is absolutely not necessary to issue a minimal ration card and an inflatable mattress to everybody. This isn’t what we are talking about.

We work in a reciprocal manner on the interconnection between us in order to build an integral system similar to nature on all of its levels. The speaking level is given to us so that we will arrange this system ourselves. And if we are building it, we will surely have the right attitude toward all natural wealth, using our resources as this exalted necessity dictates.

Austerity, “the green movement,” or a vegetarian life style, none of this will ever bring success. On the contrary, we must think solely about our internal structure, the correct connection between us at the human degree, and then all the rest of our relationships with the still, vegetative, and animate levels will come into balance.
[41895]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, “Peace in the World”

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The Creator reaches us every time we give Him a chance. This is the secret to success. If we give the Creator such opportunities, we will be waking up quickly, at a higher frequency, and be able to come to a greater desire sooner, to a certain degree of longing and yearning regarded as “world, year, soul” (Olam, Shanah, Nefesh). That is, we will reach adhesion with the Light “in the same place, at the same time, with the same woman,” as the unification of man and the Creator is described.

After all, to reach adhesion (Zivug), we have to meet several conditions. First of all, we need the correct desire, meaning not some corporeal desire, but a need to come to similarity with the Creator, the first spiritual degree, the first connection with Him. To achieve this, I am supposed to provide the desire in the appropriate amount, quality, intensity, and form.

Besides that, I am not supposed to want anything else so that it would become my only desire, reward, and fulfillment. Nothing else is required, but desiring it. After all, the rest is the reward I am working for. All my passionate desire, longing, tension, and aspiration to keep the connection with the Creator, to hang on to this point despite all the difficulty, is, in fact, the reward.

If one comes to this state, rises above his egoistic desire, and wishes to pass all of his yearning to the Creator, to demonstrate one’s longing for Him, and doesn’t seek anything beyond this, he merits exalted adhesion.

Here, one can find help in the environment that will support, awaken, remind, and arrange all the necessary conditions for such adhesion for him; it will clarify them and raise their importance. After all, the Creator reaches a person every time the latter presents Him with such an opportunity. This is the point most important to us.

This means that the goal is to give the Creator more opportunities to wake us up by any means, no matter how. It may be that more often than not, it is through unpleasant sensations, but we are not scared by problems, fears, and longing since we don’t view them as bad states.

What is bad for us is only when we disconnect from the thought and relationship with the Creator, from longing and desire. All our other yearnings for Him we consider as desirable and important, regardless of whether we like or dislike experiencing them.

Before anything else, we value the truth rather than feeling good or bad, sweet or bitter. Thus, we gradually and correctly prepare ourselves for the first adhesion and finally come to it.
[41886]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 19

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