In The Study of The Ten Sefirot, it is written that there is a difference between Atzmuto and light. Atzmuto is something unattainable—the root of creation. And light is what emanates from this root, spreads, and continues to generate many different kinds of creation.

Baal HaSulam writes that the light differs from Atzmuto precisely in its form because the property of creation, the desire to receive, is already inherent in the light. And Atzmuto does not have that.

Question: Can we say that Atzmuto is the essence of the Creator? There is no thought in the Creator at all to receive something for himself?

Answer: The Creator is the source of everything that exists. Everything is in it. But we cannot talk much about Him because we do not know anything about Him.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of The Ten Sefirot (TES)” 1/1/23

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By this we can learn why the light of Ein Sof departed from His self, in which we cannot utter any word, and became defined by the name “light of Ein Sof” (Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Restriction and Line,” “Inner Observation,” Chapter 1, Item 12).

Atzmuto is directly the inner part of the Creator that relates only to Him and that we are unable to attain. This is the essence of the Creator.

But for us, the Creator is what is manifested in relation to us. Therefore, in Hebrew, the Creator is called Boreh, from the two words “Bo uReh,” come, reveal, and see.

It turns out that there is Atzmuto, which we do not attain; it refers to the essence of the Creator, and there is Boreh, the Creator, i.e., His thought in relation to us, which we attain.

The purpose of the Creator in relation to the created beings is to bring them pleasure. But they can receive this pleasure only according to the equivalence of qualities with Him. The Creator is bestowal, love, and emanation, and we must acquire the same qualities. The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks only about this.

Question: Is that why so many people have been created upon whom we can practice to bestow?

Answer: It is for us to try to reach the qualities of the Creator together.

Question: If this is so important, why is this information concealed?

Answer: It is not concealed; no one wants to know it because we need to bestow, to develop the quality of bestowal and love for the other.

Question: Why did the Creator make it so that no one wants it? He could have done it differently.

Answer: This is not possible to explain at the beginning of the study of Kabbalah, but we will come to this.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 10/30/22

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“One” indicates a single evenness… “Unified” shows that although He performs the multiple operations, one force performs all these (Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Inner Observation, Chapter 1, Item 1).

The Creator is one. There is no other force in the universe.

He is unified because everything that we perceive as completely different, even opposite qualities, comes from Him. Despite the fact that in our senses this force is manifested as many opposing forces, the Creator is unified.

Question: Does all this separation happen in our perception?

Answer: Only in our perception! Everything that we see as opposite to each other, we see in such a way only because this is how we separate everything that happens.

Question: Is it possible to explain the concepts of “One,” “Unique,” “Unified” practically, by example? Let’s say I have just read this information. What does it give me? How can I use it for my development?

Answer: Everything that you feel is the Creator and only Him. All kinds of actions and qualities that are revealed to us as opposites come from Him.

One force, one thought, one unique, unified purpose covers absolutely all the opposite forces that are manifested in you precisely because of your qualities. It all merges, connects, and unites into one single whole inside the Creator.

You have to feel it all. We must try to see it within us and around us.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 10/16/22

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Know that there is not an essence of a single being in the world, both the ones perceived by our senses and the ones perceived by our mind’s eye, that is not included in the Creator  (Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Chapter 1, Inner Observation, Item 1).

The Creator is a general force that includes everything. Not only what we see, but in general everything that happens, is located, or exists anywhere, everything, is included in the Creator.

Question: If the Creator is a quality of bestowal and a quality of unity and our world is egoistic, why is our world still included in Him? How can we understand this?

Answer: It is because we perceive it incorrectly.

Question: Is the evil that we see in the world in the Creator, or do we perceive it this way?

Answer: This is our perception. In fact, there is no evil in the world at all.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 10/16/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is there a creator?“

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains our complete interconnection in the general system of reality. We are completely connected whether we like it or not throughout the still, vegetative, animate and speaking degrees of nature.

Even though we do not see the full extent of our interconnectedness, we are nonetheless connected in a way where we each determine each other’s states.

The system of our connection is hidden, and we can thus harm each other because we perceive other people as disconnected from us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, however, states that we share a deep essential connection, and the closer we come to discovering our deep and true connection, we likewise discover the force that dwells inside that connection, called “the Creator” or “the upper force.”

In other words, the more we discover the true connection we all share, then the more we discover the Creator that acts in this system, flowing through it like how blood flows through our bodies.

Based on the video “Where Is the Creator?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Comment: It is said that the Creator is good that does good. This is what Kabbalists have attained. They do not know who He is in relation to other created beings. His actions are determined in this way only in relation to us.

My Response: Kabbalists, who have already revealed the Creator, characterize Him as good that does good. But they are Kabbalists. There are people who begin to explore this, of course, and still do not feel anything; they gradually come to this state from the opposite side.

Comment: We can say that with regard to the ultimate purpose of bringing creation to the level of the Creator, He is good that does good. But there are different situations on the way.

My Response: Yes, there are different states on the way that are opposite and sometimes unpleasant. After all, creation must change in order to feel in its changes who the Creator is, on one hand, and on the other hand, to feel Him in all His changes and metamorphoses. So, all this is explored in Kabbalah and represents its main part.

Question: Can we say that the Creator is concealed and that is why we cannot feel Him as good that does good?

Answer: Yes. If we want to feel Him, no problem—change yourself from an evil being to a good one, and to the extent of similarity to the Creator when you become as good as He is, you will feel Him. Equivalence of form is the basic law of Kabbalah.

Comment: Of course, it is hard to justify all this when we look at the world.

My Response: It is impossible! You can justify it only to the extent that you acquire the quality of bestowal. Then in this form you will gradually see that the Creator is benevolent.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 9/4/22

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You should know that separation in spirituality occurs only by means of disparity of form. …

Just as corporeal entities connect and separate through proximity and remoteness, so spiritual entities connect and separate according to their difference and equivalence of form. The disparity of form separates them from one another, and the equivalence of form brings them together. Remember that for it is the key element to this wisdom (Baal HaSulam, Study of the Ten Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 1).

Question: What forms are we talking about?

Answer: We are talking about the qualities of the Creator. They are absolute bestowal, love, and closeness to His creations.

The qualities of creation are opposite to them. The creations are created as if in the imprint of the Creator within the quality of absolute egoism: self-love, caring only about oneself and about no one and nothing else, in no way and in nothing.

This oppositeness of the Creator and the creation, on the one hand, allows the creation to exist. Although this looks opposite, negative, and different from the Creator, it is precisely how creation exists.

In other words, if we can say so, the Creator had no other possibility to create the creation other than to make it the opposite of Himself.

The creation has no other opportunity to manifest itself in relation to the Creator, except in similarity to Him. It is because, based on the absolute oppositeness to the Creator, the only thing that remains for the creation and what it really needs is to come to similarity with the Creator. These are the true states of the Creator and creation.

The Creator is unchangeable, absolute in all His actions. His quality is only absolute bestowal and love. He has no egoistic desires, and therefore, it is impossible to influence Him in any way in order to change Him.

Whereas creation is absolutely egoistic, it exists only in the will to receive, to do everything with benefit only for itself. This is the only way it acts. This is how the Creator created it.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 9/4/22

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It is perplexing, for since there is neither Rosh nor Sof there, how is there middle? Moreover, are we dealing with a corporeal matter here? (Baal Hasulam, Study of the Ten Sefirot, Vol.1, Part 1, Chapter 1)

Naturally, we are not talking about anything corporeal. We are only talking about qualities.

The Creator has, as if, restricted Himself and created within Himself such an area where a creation opposite to Him can exist.

On the one hand, it is contained by the Creator, who nourishes, supports, and develops it, yet it is absolutely opposite to Him. Otherwise, it would not exist.

Creation must exist, as if, within the Creator, in His qualities, means, and forces; on the other hand, it is absolutely opposite to Him, otherwise it would not be a creation, something that is separated from the Creator. This is how it develops.

Question: Why did the restriction occur at the central point? It turns out to be some kind of geometry.

Answer: Here it means that all the intentions, all the actions of the Creator, all His thoughts and aspirations are directed to this central area, which He has designated in this way, and to the will to receive, which develops in this area.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 9/4/22

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Elokim [God] in the Bible. “In the beginning God created” is the Bina that emanates to the Nukva de ZA. He elicited thirteen words: THE, HEAVEN, AND-THE, EARTH, AND-THE EARTH, WAS, EMPTY, AND-CHAOTIC, AND-THE-DARKNESS, OVER, THE-FACE, OF-THE-ABYSS, AND-THE-SPIRIT…

These thirteen words imply to the same thirteen petals of the rose among the thorns, the sea that stands over the twelve oxen, which are preparation and qualification for the Assembly of Israel to receive the thirteen qualities of Rachamim (Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Zohar for All, Vol. 1, “The Rose“, Item 1).

There are upper systems that filter and restrict the light so the lower ones can receive it. Similarly, Malchut tries to ensure that only the lights that can be received for the benefit of the lower descend from the first nine Sefirot above it.

How does Malchut know exactly what it can receive for the benefit of the lower? Everything is determined by the need of the lower, the desire they raise to it. Therefore, according to the awakening from below (Itaruta de Letata), that is, a prayer (MAN) on our part, an answer (MAD) comes to us from above.

Therefore, a person cannot complain that he does not receive. If he doesn’t ask, he doesn’t receive. If he asks, he will receive. But the request must be such that it raises the right desire, a spiritual vessel, Kli. Then there will be no problems and of course, you will get light into it. The request itself, in essence, is a vessel. If it is correct, the light comes.

The right request means that you feel a genuine need, a desire, for something. In essence, you always get what you ask for. So if you say the Creator causes you suffering, you asked for it. And if you claim He brings you goodness, you asked for it. You always receive according to your request.

If so, how can it be that we are asking for something bad?! Yes, we are asking for bad things. If I want to receive fulfillment in my desire to enjoy, then receive it I shall! And why do I feel bad? This already depends on the whole system. But effectively, you got what you asked for.

We do not understand how unimpeachably the Good That Does Good works; “Please, receive!” is how parents raise their children: “Do you want this? Go ahead!” And then what? “Oh, no!” “But this is what you wanted.”

This is how the Creator acts toward us also.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/11, The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “The Rose”

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Question: In The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Baal HaSulam writes about the miraculous quality of the singularity of the Creator. What kind of singularity are we talking about?

Answer: The fact is that in all His actions the Creator is absolutely good. He only gives and bestows; He only thinks and intends to do everything for the absolute benefit of creation.

He does not have any thought with regard to Himself, but only for the creation that He created. He has no desires for Himself, and therefore, He cannot be a source of negative actions. After all, everything He does is only for the sake of the created beings.

Question: Does it mean that we too should come to a state where we do not think about ourselves at all?

Answer: Yes, we will have to come to the same state as a result of our correction. The “miraculous quality” is to not to think about myself, but to think about others.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 8/14/22

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