In the beginning of the spiritual path people aren’t yet able to distinguish what is happening to them. The current sensation is the truth for them. They are unable to look at themselves from aside and discern the external influence that comes from the Creator. They don’t yet see the walls of the “laboratory” they are in.

When a person is on the side of the will to enjoy, he automatically reacts to what is happening: He jumps from joy or vice versa, falls into melancholy. He is buried under the states of his egoism.

However, as he works on himself inside unity with the group, he grows estranged from his own desires and acquires the opportunity to analyze: What are the causes of his states, and how does he relate to the group, the study, and the Creator? Instead of feeling like a test animal, he shifts to the side of the Creator who shows him what He is doing to him.

This enables a person to become human, to rise above the animate degree of his desire to the human degree. Now he understands that the purpose of the unpleasant states where he is devoid of energy, Light, and inspiration is to attract his attention to the Source, the Creator.

Why does the Creator send him these states? It’s in order for him to draw closer to the Creator with a request. That is the only way He can awaken me. The pleasant sensations force me to forget about Him, while emptiness does the contrary: gives rise to questions. When I am treated badly, I want to know why, but when I am treated well I have no care in the world about why it is so.

That is why I am awakened through troubles, and at that time I have to understand that these are appeals from the Creator. It is His way of showing me that I depend on Him; He calls me to Him in order for us to come forward against Pharaoh together.

That is when I begin to realize that there is no evil and I am grateful for the “evil” just as for the good and even more so because precisely it helps me to advance, to come closer to the Upper One and to demand corrections from Him. If a person takes the right position for evaluating his state, if he uses the sensation as an object for analysis, then he acquires faith above reason, which always enables him to move forward.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/10, “Show Me Your Honor”

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Question: Do we need the screen that would enable us to rid ourselves of all the pleasures prepared by the Creator?

Answer: No. The purpose of creation is to reach the good and enjoy. However, we need to delight in the unlimited pleasures that do not exist in our world. We remain “animals” in this thin layer of reality, but our task is to rise to the human level, where the infinite pleasure originates. And then, after having opened the bestowing Kli, we will enjoy without boundaries.

Suffering is not man’s purpose. We need to understand that we experience suffering in our world only because it pushes us toward the real pleasure. Rabash gives an example of a father who arranges the firing of his son from a factory so he would not stay there for the rest of his life and would move on.

When we encounter unpleasant things, we do not feel that we are being educated in this way like little children. But there is no other path. You cannot always be enticed with sweets because they will become your only goal. Yet without the sweets, you become wiser, you begin to evaluate the situation, and learn to manage it.

Thanks to the environment and the method of correction you begin to always understand what is happening to you, you agree with the “education program,” and go through all of its steps with your own will.
[23278]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Matter of Mercy”

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Question: I have a problem that hasn’t been resolved for a number of years, nothing works, and this situation is an obstacle on my path toward a mutual guarantee. When will it disappear? Perhaps, I am doing something wrong?

Answer: You shouldn’t pray for making your problem disappear; rather, you should ask for the ability to rise above it in your search for spirituality, that is, to build a screen on all of your difficulties with the right intention. In this case, all your troubles will become indispensable for the purpose of obtaining a screen.

There are many unpleasant circumstances in our lives, but the more we grow, the better we understand that they are actually beneficial for us. Otherwise, we would do many silly things. Our fear, shame, and jealousy keep us within certain limits, within a special attitude toward the world. With their help, we advance. It balances us out.

All bad and good phenomena in our lives are necessary since they stabilize us on our path. I don’t even try to figure out what helps or harms me; all I ask for is to be above them and to adhere to a higher degree.

Question: How do I know what will happen to me at a higher degree if I am not there yet?

Answer: This is the reason it is called “faith above reason.” I am about to connect to a higher degree. Hence, I don’t want to know anything about it; all I need is the power to cling to it. It is insignificant to me whether I will experience difficulty or not. One gets fulfilled only when the desire to bestow is built on top of the desire to receive.
[23198]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/10, “The Love of the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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If I perceive all disorder taking place in the world and in my life in the light of bestowal and not reception, then everything works out and suddenly falls into places. However, if I view it all egoistically, I see multiple problems and a solid line of suffering. Start treating everything with love, and the whole picture will suddenly get pieced together and unify.

Imperfection lies not in the external world, but within me. The entire world is just my shadow (copy), and only my attitude toward it needs to be corrected so as to see the world as perfect. Everything I see in the world as negative is a sign of my own flaws, no matter what it is related to: the still, vegetative, or animate nature, and especially the relationships between the friends.

If I accept, by way of faith above reason, that the whole group, the friends, and the world are perfect and only I am not, then I begin thinking solely about my correction. I lack only connection with them, and therein lies my correction until we all become one whole. This is what is called the love of others.

In other words, I can start working! We were given an illusion that we exist in this world in order for us to start our journey toward unification. However, we are not ready yet to work with the entire world, so we have the group for this job. The group reflects my corrected state, according to the saying, “The group today is you tomorrow.”
[22646]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Question: What is the principle of attaining Light from darkness?

Answer: The attainment of the Light occurs from the darkness that arises. The Light is the quality of bestowal and darkness is realization of our egoistic nature. (Itron Ohr Mi Toch Hosheh – the Light is evaluated in relation to darkness.)

You know, there’s a joke about a modern Russian man, who shows his friend a lighter that he bought at a specialty shop for three thousand dollars. The other exclaims, “That’s nothing! I bought the same lighter around the corner for six thousand dollars!”

Pleasure is not evaluated according to the object, but according to the way you evaluate it. When you buy something at a special store or obtain it with great difficulty, you receive more pleasure. The more parents invest in their child, the more they love him. We know that the more difficult it was to achieve something in the past, the more pleasant it is to reminisce about it and the more valuable it is.

This is because we feel the desire (Kli – Vessel), rather than the Light, and we make assessments about the fulfillment based on the desire. The greater the desire and the suffering, the stronger we feel the fulfillment. Therefore, we should understand that, when enough suffering has been accumulated through our efforts, we will become worthy of feeling redemption from evil.
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Question: There seems to be a paradox: It is written that “There is none else besides Him,” which means that the Creator is the source of everything. But then how do I treat a person who is trying to hurt me?

Answer: It is also written: “The Creator sends you good through good people and punishes you through the bad.” Hence, those who commit evil acts should be punished not because they have done something bad but because they have deserved to become the conduit through which the Creator has channeled evil into our world. It turns out that punishment is not really punishment, but the correction of the person and the world.

Question: In one of the interviews you told  a journalist that you didn’t consider yourself a professor and are indifferent to what others say about you. Why did you do so? Ultimately, it casts a shadow on Kabbalah circulation.

Answer: Criticism is very healthy because it is a preventive remedy against pride. It is also written: “The Creator pressures a person whom He favors.” Moreover, He sends wreckers and accusers against that person in order to help him defeat his pride and egoism. Besides, as in the actions against Klipot such as “Maim Achronim,” “Seir le Azazel,” and others, there is an obligation to throw the “bones to the dogs.” True dissemination will benefit from it even more.
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Question: How can I remain directed at the goal if I have some physical problem that constantly demands my attention?

Answer: There are different cases. Every person sometimes has bodily or emotional problems, concerns, or fears. The Creator addresses a person and sends him the entirety of these problems in order to awaken him.

It’s irrelevant what situation a person is in. He receives this whole state in its totality from the Creator, and he should relate to Him from this state. One also needs to understand that if he has health problems, he should see a doctor; if he has problems with his income, he needs to look for a job, and so on.

However, as a whole, if the problems become resolved, this is only because he needs to be in a different state in order to advance. Each state is the correct state for further advancement. Yet, one should relate to it by correcting it as one whole on both the corporeal and the spiritual levels.

It is forbidden for us to separate the world into two parts, such as “this is for me, and this is for the Creator."  There is no such thing as, "Now, I’ll work on my business and engage in my corporeal affairs. Then, I will turn to Him, make a donation, and, thank God, I am clean now.” If we are talking about correcting the intentions, then there is not a single minute that is free. We need to raise an appeal to the Creator in all the states and situations that we are in with whatever problems they pose.

This appeal should not be about the physical, family, or some other problem. It should always be about the most elevated goal since it undoubtedly will include lower and lower levels of concerns, fears, illnesses, and misfortunes.

All together, as a whole, they are called “suffering” and are meant to attune a person to the right direction. If there should be an opportunity to take some suffering away from him (such as fears concerning money, health, or family), he would sway from the path. He would not proceed as the Creator is directing him.

Therefore, it is forbidden for us to directly interfere with this process. We should help a person deal with these problems, but he himself needs to know that such is the path. Everything is sent by the Creator who is “good and does good,” and “There is none else besides Him.” One needs to accept all the states and overcome them correctly: through all the possible means on the corporeal and the spiritual levels and with the help of the group.

However, as it is written, it is forbidden to ask for “my wicked” to die. We should only ask for them to return to the Creator. In other words, we need to correct every state using the seemingly negative obstacles correctly since they are the most useful for our spiritual progress.
[22056]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, The Zohar

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I join the group and with its help I start forming the image of the Creator in my mind. Meanwhile, I don’t wish to unite with the group, to listen to the friends, or to accept their opinion above my own mind. Yet, gradually I develop a clearer, more detailed understanding of the notion of “group,” where I must keep annulling myself. As a result of this opposition, I gradually discern the place of my free choice.

Baal HaSulam explains that free will implies choosing the group. At the current stage, the general understanding of this is: Join the group, realize yourself inside the unity, and everything will be fine. But in truth, all the worlds or all the 125 steps of spiritual ascension to the goal are located exactly between me and the group. When I adhere to the group inseparably and irreversibly, I will reach the full correction, the World of Infinity, where we are united together in one point.

All of the worlds are laid out along this path and they are all yours. Our entire work lies in unifying with each other. In our times all of mankind is standing at the threshold, as it were, in the form of a pyramid. We, the souls who are a little closer to starting this work, are the upper part of the pyramid. The remainder of the pyramid below is the rest of the world. The difference is that we at least are trying to unite, while the rest of the world isn’t even thinking about it. Yet, the world is experiencing extreme pressure through suffering and the global crisis.

Why is it global? It’s because mankind is being shown that it must come together, that this is imperative in our era, and that our aim is unity. Granted, this is a long and difficult process, but nonetheless, it has been set in motion. This point is being rubbed into every person’s face.

[21911]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/24/10, “Waste of Barn and Winery”

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Our entire work lies in finding the right attitude to the states we receive. While doing this work, we gradually begin to break ourselves up into two components:

1. My desire, in which I perceive various phenomena, such as good and evil,

2. The mind, in which I discern Who sends me my sensations and with what purpose.

To the degree I am able to analyze my states independently of the sensation "good or bad," I am able to understand these states and justify them in spite of my sensation. I can desire them for the sake of revealing the quality of bestowal, the Creator, even though the revelation of every new state means that I will first feel suffering due to the revelation of a new, empty desire.

My attitude to this empty desire can change my sensation of its emptiness. The sensation of the goal, a connection with the Creator, can put me in high spirits that will greatly exceed my sensation of suffering.

That is why we have the opportunity to ascend above the unpleasant sensations in our intentions, in our sensation of the connection with the Creator. We can justify all of creation so greatly that precisely this gap will help us ascend above the unpleasant sensations and even elicit their revelation in order to ascend even higher above them.

We cannot change any state in our development, but we can ask for the understanding of how goal-oriented and good they are, above our will to enjoy.

That is how we can accelerate our development and go through the states of descent in such a way that we won’t feel they are descents, but a reason to ascend. Everything depends on our attitude to what happens to us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/2010,  “What is the Matter of Sufferings in the Work”

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Question: If everything in the world depends on the people who engage in spiritual development, does this mean that we are responsible for all the suffering that occurs in the world?

Answer: No, we do not cause the suffering in the world. On the contrary, we draw Light and transfer the suffering from a corporeal level to a level of spiritual suffering. As a result, instead of suffering due to wars, illnesses, and all other problems, we suffer from the fact that we lack spirituality. This is what the science of Kabbalah gives to a person. A person “suffers,” but it is not true suffering since it is the suffering of love.

If I were invited for a meal in a few hours, then I would avoid eating now in order to save my appetite for the meal. Similarly, the understanding that I need to prepare my spiritual Kelim is called the suffering of love. However, even when our Kelim are empty, we are able to feel a slight illumination in anticipation of our next meeting with the people we love. This is what we need to bring to humanity: We need to show them that there is a solution to the blows developing in nature.

Right now we are entering a period of ecological problems which can cause suffering and death for thousands of people. We are witnesses of natural disasters that break out all over the world, including China, Europe, Russia, and America. The only way to save ourselves from these disasters is to prepare our spiritual Kelim. We don’t need to prepare our Kelim in a corporeal sense, waiting for decades of suffering before finally realizing that there is a reason and purpose to the suffering, and that we have a choice. There are two paths leading to the same goal, the path of Light and the path of suffering.

Why should we suffer in vain? If we draw the Light, then it reveals how opposite we are to it and we suffer due to seeing a better state compared to the one we are in now. This is what the science of Kabbalah offers to a person: the path of Light instead of the path of suffering.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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