Question: Baal HaSulam writes that when a person acquires spiritual attainment, he “travels around an enormous world.” What does it mean to travel around the Creator’s world?

Answer: The world is Malchut of Infinity, while all other worlds are separate, particular states in it that reveal its specific qualities in relation to us in order to help us become fully part of it.

“Traveling around the Creator’s world” means attaining Malchut of the World of Infinity and revealing the entire might and wealth of the connections among its parts, which connect and supplement one another.

I don’t have anything else to say because words cannot describe what happens Above once good and evil, truth and falsehood unite. They unite and complement each other, and we reveal this inside us, in the common desire of all the souls, called Malchut of the World of Infinity.

This is called “traveling around the Creator’s world.” It’s when we can use all the forces and all the desires of Malchut of Infinity, attaining each of its details and all of them together.

The most important pleasure is “when doubts are resolved,” meaning when things that seem opposite and hateful to one another suddenly unite. That is when love flares up among them, forming a place to be filled by the Light.

That is how a person “travels” around the Creator’s world, checking all of the harmony in which Malchut of the World of Infinity resides.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Our unification has to take place at a quantitatively new level. We need to unite in a way where everyone internally engages inside all the others, leaving his egoistic desire outside. He must only bring his yearning for spirituality, called the spark of Light.

With this spark, he dives into the group, disconnecting from his emotions and everything else that doesn’t belong. As a result, all the sparks of all people merge together.

This detachment allows me to get to know the collective will to receive pleasure that resides outside of my ego, and in it I discover the ability to perceive the Upper World and the Creator.
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From the lesson on Rabash’s article on 11/05/10

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Work in the group takes place in two planes: 1. the greatness of the group, the friends, or the Creator (which is the same thing), and 2. your own insignificance compared to the group and the Creator. If I orient myself in this manner, then I receive the right desire, which enables me to cancel myself and become part of the group.

The moment I really become part of it as just one point, I begin to feel that I am a spiritual embryo immersed in the Light that fills the group.
The faces of the friends that we see around us are not called a “group.” The group is the common desire of souls united with each other and given to me as the place where I meet the Creator. I have to work in relation to this “place” because I am a desire or vessel, and this place is the desire or vessel that I work with in order to become part of it, to adhere to it and expand myself. I can work with it because we have the same nature!

However, I cannot work with the Creator because He is Light. He is the quality I reveal inside of our common vessel (the “place”) to the degree I enter it and participate in it. Right now this place appears to me as filled by separate particles (souls). But if I saw the true state inside, I would see all of them as special souls and spiritual Partzufim united by one connecting net, one desire.

I have to correct my attitude to them in order to seem them as connected, and that constitutes my correction! The group is Malchut of the World of Infinity. There is not a person in the world who isn’t connected with others and is not at the End of Correction.

However, right now I see a different world due to my uncorrected vision, as it is written, “Every person judges to the extent of his own flaws.” When I demand greater inspiration and energy to advance from them, I am turning to my own reflection in the mirror!

The Creator has arranged the whole world we see in front of us in this way. It is a copy of me with which I work. To the degree I demand that the group work and unite, it influences me in response in the same way. In essence I work with myself, as if standing before a mirror and making different faces at myself!

It was in order to accomplish this that the Creator divided my perception of the world into me and everything outside of me so I would have the opportunity to work and attain the inner sensation. Otherwise I would never be able to feel Him. I wouldn’t even understand that something else can exist besides me.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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Question: How can a person check if he is going by the path of the Light or the path of suffering? Is there some indicator?

Answer: You are advancing by the path of the Light if you are always choosing a better environment, meaning one that is more goal-oriented.

In this world I am surrounded by society, various groups, friends, and pleasures, and I have to choose: Which path will I take? At the end of the path there is a goal — the Creator, and whether I want it or not, I have to understand that this is nature which will win no matter what.

If I understand this, if I have “a part of divinity from Above” that is similar to the Creator, then instead of other social circles and pleasures, I must always choose the society that is connected to the spiritual goal.

It will enable me to reveal a desire for the Creator, which will be expressed in my connection with the environment. Then it will become the place where I reveal the Creator.

However, everything depends on what I want to reach at the end of the path. There are people who do not see the goal at the end of the path and therefore wander around life as if carried by the wind.

You have to check yourself to the degree of your understanding: What do you call the Creator, the right environment, and the goal? And you have to stay in the place where you think there is truth. If you have a spiritual spark, a point in the heart, then you will find the right environment for it and will not be able to calm down in any other place.

If you don’t have a point in the heart, then you will join this society thinking that you can receive something there, and later on you will leave. In this regard everything depends on luck rather than reason. Luck (Mazal) is Light which seeps (Nozel) from Above and pours into the point in the heart. If it comes, then you will advance.
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From the 4th part of the daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Question: How can I keep being joyful when I am in a descent?

Answer: Everything depends on what your goal is. I remember how when I was a kid in winter we used to climb up a hill and then slide down on a sled. We weren’t happy on the way going up, but only on the way down. Therefore, everything depends on the goal. If you know that the descent reveals new matter to you which you can use to build your next level, then doesn’t it make you happy?

When mess and confusion come to me, when everything becomes “smeared” before my very eyes, I am happy. That’s because I will acquire new knowledge, new feeling, new closeness, and new revelation after the darkness. Inside the darkness that falls upon me, inside the clouded feelings, inside the fog in my consciousness, I look at myself from aside, detaching from the confusion and sadness, and using them to assess the upcoming ascent.

That is how Rabbi Shimon understood that he was standing before the ascent to the final correction when he felt that he was “Shimon from the market.” Even though we haven’t reached such high levels yet, nevertheless when you are overcome by weakness, when the sun is veiled away, you have to see that this is preparation. That is how the material of the following degree is revealed when it is not yet realized, when it still hasn’t taken on the necessary form.

When this happens, you shouldn’t sit there and wait for whatever comes; don’t stay in the same place, gathering up your strength, but on the contrary, start working. Try to immediately overcome the obstacle and pull yourself out of the darkness, even if it is very slight. Thanks to this, all of the matter that has to join the process will start to participate more quickly.

You have the opportunity to carry out systematic preparation on a daily basis with the help of the studies and the group. Stay connected all throughout the day and don’t let go of the spiritual thread even if it comes to you through the headphones of an mp3. And let others remind you about the goal since you disconnect from it when you are in a descent.

If you constantly stay under the influence of the right environment, then even when the negative side gets stronger, you will be able to see your state from aside and analyze it. This will enable you to relate to what is happening in a different way. Joy comes when you build the next state.

The only thing that can deprive you of the ability to work is a total break with the spiritual connection, caused by insufficient preparation. You should prepare for every moment of your life in such a way that you will never come out of the right influence. If you really value the group, then joy will never abandon you.
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From the lesson on Rabash’s article on 11/19/10

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Only the group can give you the desire to change your nature, and only the Light can change it, and only then will you really understand what bestowal is!

Today it seems to me that bestowal is simply to bestow to others. But that is completely incorrect!

How is it possible to bestow to others if in spirituality we unite as one whole without any differences between us? To whom do I bestow in that case: to others or to myself?

Therefore, right now we have absolutely no understanding of what bestowal is. This spiritual notion seems to get lost somehow. If I ascend to some spiritual level and see that on it everyone unites together, then it would seem like I have no one to bestow to: I am the only one everywhere!

We cannot understand this until the Light comes and gives us this spiritual vision. We egoists think that bestowal is when we give to another person by overcoming our lack of desire.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, "The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose"

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At the recent Convention I revealed that I cannot unite with others or cancel myself, and I am not even able to come close to anyone! So what should I do if that is my nature?

That is why there is a means called the Upper Light. This Light is contained inside the group, but it is concealed from us and we don’t see it. It is also the place where the Creator, the quality of bestowal, is found. So how can we evoke its influence on us?

If you start studying the true primary sources in the group: The Book of Zohar or Talmud Eser Sefirot, then this enables you to attract the Light and to awaken it from inside. Why? It is because when reading these books you read about inner states, and you thereby bring them closer, awaken them, and attract them to yourself.

You awaken the influence of this concealed, inner world upon yourself, and it shines for you. Gradually this corrects you, allowing you to connect with others, and then hatred, repulsion, and separation go away. You begin to understand the importance of this unity and you desire for it to come true. And suddenly, there is a certain “click” – your first connection with others.

If you imagine the levels of this unity in the form of a scale (from 0 to 125 levels) then it means that you have moved from point zero to one. And that is a foundation!

At the Convention, we felt this point of zero, the fact that we are unable to enter unity with one another. Now we have a goal in front of us – to demand the Light that Reforms with the help of the study and the right intention.

The moment you attain the first level of unity, you become “the son of the world to come” (Ben Olam HaBa). You understand and feel what this is. You start to slightly make your way around it and you already receive the first impression of the spiritual world.

After that, things will get easier. The most important thing is the first revolution! All the other levels will simply become greater and greater. Of course, the differences between them are great and colossal in might. But nothing can compare to entering the first degree. That is because when it happens you literally shift from our world to the spiritual world. And that is a fundamental breakthrough.
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From the “Kabbalah For Beginners” Program on 11/17/10

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Baal HaSulam, "The Foundations Of Intention," Item 59: …Malchut of the First Restriction is concealed in the "unattainable head" (RADLA) by the secret of the "foundation stone," which the builders neglected. And therein lies the secret of the three heads of which The Book of Zohar speaks, since the first head, RADLA, is corrected as "one above the other," while the head of Arich Anpin is corrected as "one inside the other."

There is a head of a spiritual Partzuf (Rosh) that repels the Light and is therefore called "one above the other," and there is also a head that accepts the Light and sends it downwards as "one inside the other." These two heads stand at the head of the World of Atzilut and constantly balance each other out with their work. This determines the root of the Upper Governance, which comes to us from there.

It says about Malchut, "One above the other"; Malchut is separated from the World of Atzilut and we no longer know what happens there. We don’t understand the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) since it is at a completely different range.

It’s similar to my ear, which is able to pick up sounds only up to the frequency of 20 kilohertz; I cannot hear anything higher than that. The First Restriction works on "gigahertz" so great, a range so distant that I don’t even suspect its existence. It is unknown and unclear to me.

Such fine qualities of the desire to enjoy and the desire to bestow exist there, and such fine discernments that we don’t even touch it. We aren’t refined and sensitive enough for it. This is called "one above the other."

There is a reverse order of Lights and Kelim, meaning that the desire of Malchut lacks the Light of Keter, Yechida. It turns out that the Light of Hochma ascends into the vessel of Keter, the Light of Bina, into the vessel of Hochma, and so on, until the Light intended for Malchut enters the vessel of Yesod. This is the beginning of the lack of correspondence of the Lights to the desires where all the Lights are not located in their places.

And Arich Anpin is corrected as "one inside the other," meaning that the Light of Hochma fills the desire of Keter. That is why the desire of Keter experiences a lack, a feeling that it is not filled by its Light, since this Light is on a lower level, the Light of Hochma.

However, we have to understand that the only Light that can enter the desire of Keter is the one intended for it. I cannot hear with my eyes or see with my ears! We are talking only about the degree of the Light that fills the desire, and the degree of Light in the desire of Keter is now felt as if it is the Light of Hochma instead of Keter.

From the 3d part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, “Beit Shaar Ha-Kavanot”

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The Zohar, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 39: …since Malchut was taken from ZA and was built into a complete Partzuf. It follows that ZA is lacking the Sefira of Malchut, and as it is generally lacking from the Malchut, it is lacking from her in each of his elements, since each particular Sefira consists only of nine Sefirot, and not of ten. Hence, when the Malchut rises and joins ZA, she complements each of his elements into ten Sefirot, complementing each of his organs.

This is the law of the integral system. By completing any small part of the system, we complete all of its parts. All the particular Sefirot of Malchut are interconnected just as all the Sefirot of Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Hochma are. That is because all the Sefirot come from the general structure of Infinity: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, or the point of the letter Yod, Yod, the upper Hey, Vav, and the lower Hey. There is nothing besides this structure.

All the levels and worlds, which seem to have expanded from Infinity downwards until this world, are just the same structure of Infinity that we cannot approach correctly in its 100% authentic form. Therefore we have been given the opportunity to correct the same structure in a lessened form, to a smaller degree.

Therefore, we always complete the same Sefirot. All the Malchut in all the worlds come from one Malchut of Infinity in all of its particular Sefirot, which in turn also divide into its particular Sefirot and so on. All of their Malchut belong to the same Malchut of Infinity. All of the Zeir Anpin belong to Zeir Anpin of Infinity. The same thing is true for Bina – all the Binas belong to the Bina of Infinity, and likewise all the Hochmas belong to Hochma of Infinity.

In any place, any Sefira and any quality is connected to its source. And even though all the Sefirot are interconnected into ten Sefirot, there is always a connection between the parts with the same name.

So the Lights expand from Above downwards through ten Sefirot, from Keter to Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin and Malchut, or in the reverse direction, ascending from below upwards through the Reflected Light. But as the Light passes through this passageway, it always attains the Sefira intended for it, entering it and filling it with the necessary Light from the same place in Infinity that it came from.

If I want to fill a specific quality, I have to relate to it with the same quality, desire, and Light, and that is how I fulfill it. There is an aspect of the Light’s passage, according to screens, the dissemination of Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey from Above downwards or from below upwards, and there is an aspect of the character of the Sefirot. Therefore, an “ear,” for example, cannot receive Light intended for the “eye” or carry out its function. A screen over a specific desire can perform a special function that precisely corresponds to that desire.

It turns out that in any case there is a very precise division into HaVaYaH and three lines, according to their source in Infinity: the four-letter HaVaYaH (Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey).

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, The Zohar

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What is the end of correction? Let us say that I need to fix my car to go somewhere. I take it to a shop, and the mechanic fixes it. Once the car is fixed, this means that I have completed the correction. Now, in a fixed car (or, if it is us we are correcting, then with a corrected common soul) we begin our trip upwards.

However, we do not speak about this. We only speak about the way to attain correction. Kabbalists do not say what happens to the corrected soul. They only hint about the things that await us there, but this is an even higher reality, above all the worlds, above the World of Infinity.
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From Lesson 8, World Kabbalah Congress 2010, 11/11/10

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