In essence, we represent souls rather than physical bodies even now. The Creator created the desire to enjoy, and there is nothing else besides this desire. If we sense certain corporeal matter, it is not because another separate reality exists. There is only desire which feels itself in a physical body. It is the same soul which feels only itself and only within itself. It does not perceive anything outside.

For this reason the soul feels itself as existing in its corporeal body, seemingly surrounded by other, similar bodies. This is how I perceive myself and the surrounding reality since I am enclosed inside myself with my ego. As soon as I begin to acquire new desires and perceive properties outside of myself, I begin to see reality in a different way.

The reality which I see outside of myself is called the “Upper World.” How do I exit out of myself (from my ego) and see the existence outside of myself? I have to connect with other souls, with my friends. Within this connection between us, in greater unity, we reveal common sensations and manifestations called “the spiritual world.”

Therefore, when we read The Zohar, we have to remember that we all desire to reveal the Upper Light, to reveal everything described in The Zohar. It conveys to us the states and pictures which talk only about the connection between us and its various forms. That is the entire reality.
[23719]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, The Zohar

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Question: Why is it written in The Book of Zohar that “only jealousy completes the love?”

Answer: Love cannot be complete if it’s not underlain by jealousy. It is written: “Envy (jealousy) of the wise multiplies wisdom.” There are different types of jealousy, but ultimately, jealousy is the revelation of the empty desire that must be filled specifically with love.

We discover empty desires in various states. If the will to receive (Kli) is so strong that there is love being revealed against it, then this desire is the Kli of jealousy. If I desire something, then everything depends on the degree of Aviut (thickness, coarseness) of my desire or attraction. With Aviut Shoresh (0), my desire is weak; with Aviut Aleph (1), it is stronger, and so on, up to the Aviut Dalet (4), when my desire is infinite.

Therefore, every level of desire has a corresponding degree of jealousy, meaning to what extent a person is “burning” with the desire for the lacking fulfillment. And hence, against the love that has to become revealed, there is the empty desire for its revelation: jealousy, a true “hell fire (the fire of netherworld).”
[23315]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 733: “Jealousy is as harsh as the netherworld.” Any person who loves, and jealousy is not tied to it, his love is not love, since jealousy completes the love.

In the Kabbalisitic group, jealousy is expressed in my constant thinking about the others: Are they holding the correct intention? During the reading of The Book of Zohar, my only concern is Arvut (mutual guarantee).

I am very worried whether my friends remain in the same thoughts and intentions as I do and whether we nourish our Arvut together. If not, my efforts will be fruitless since everything gets revealed to me due to the collective effort of the group, in the connection between us. This connection is built by our common concern about each other.

Therefore, right now I am taking care of the network that connects us so that it wouldn’t break but will grow and mature. It is my chief concern. The Book of Zohar will bring me the desired revelation only if we establish the connection between us, and it is there that The Zohar will become revealed. We lack only a connecting network and nothing but that.

This network is what we concern ourselves with while reading The Book of Zohar, and it is regarded as nurturing Arvut (mutual guarantee).
[23318]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, The Zohar

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “The Matter of the Slanders”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 30
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Lesson 4
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence,” Lesson 6
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The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Items 28-29: Pharaoh rose in the land of Egypt and killed and avenged his rulers, ministers, officers, and every kind of minister…

Afterwards he called unto Moses and Aaron at night, “Since everything was through you, and bless me, too,” meaning do not kill me. Afterwards, he himself escorted them out of the land…

We don’t understand the extent to which this horrible, evil force called Pharaoh is mighty and opposite to the Creator. It is the imprint of the Creator and acts as His loyal messenger. As Pharaoh becomes revealed more and more, this revelation of evil pushes a person to come out of his ego.

This is what we are now observing in the world: On one hand we are becoming greater egoists, acting only for the sake of our own benefit without taking anyone into consideration, and on the other hand the growing egoism increasingly reveals to us that we are obligated to part with it, that this form of existence is impossible and we are approaching universal destruction.

This is the meaning of the phrase, “Pharaoh brought the sons of Israel closer to the Creator.” In this way the negative force is carrying out its function in order to push us closer to spirituality.
[24178]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/10, The Zohar

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Spirituality is perfection; it knows no change. But I see changes in it. The Creator seems to me distant, near, and different. If I discern everything correctly, then I don’t just study the external side of the events, but rather, I recognize in everything the “Good Who does good,” realizing that “There is none else beside Him” and everything is occurring solely within me.

However, if everything changes in me, I have to perceive these modifications as beneficial to me and understand that in spite of and based specifically on them, I have to be able to hold on to my unfailing attitude to the Creator. Then, it turns out that all my inner changes build within me the image of the Creator and do so inversively, from opposition to myself.

Reshimot (spiritual genes, records) will be constantly changing in me, but above them, by faith above reason, I wish to make a decision that “the Creator is good, does good for the bad and for the good” and that “there is none else beside Him.” It follows that all the changes occurring in me, on the background of my conviction that “there is none else beside Him, the Good Who does good,” paint in me the image of the Creator. In this case, my attitude to this reality is correct. If I recognize the unchanging attitude of the Creator (the Good Who does good) in my every inner change, I thereby correct these changes, completing them.

Yet, unlike the “common people,” I do not annul these transformations as if they don’t exist. Quite the opposite: By accepting and working with them, from all these contradictory forms and changes absent in the Creator, I get to know and understand Him.
[23924]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Peace” that the society punishes man for taking something he is not entitled to, but there is no punishment for failing to give the society something he has to give. It is the same on the spiritual path: Every person receives his conditions from Above. Hereafter, if you fail to use the received conditions fully, by one hundred percent, it is like stealing from the group.

This is also referred to as “drilling a hole in the common boat.” For this reason, every person should ask himself whether he is doing everything he can.
[23248]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/10, The Zohar

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There are no events in the Torah that already happened or will happen in the future. They must only become revealed to us, while the states themselves exist each on their own spiritual degree.

We feel good when we strive to reveal them, but when life pushes us, we suffer. This is why we want to reveal these states now, and we attract the Light that discloses them.

For this reason, we should not care how The Zohar describes the events, whether it uses Kabbalistic terminology or regular words to tell about the Israeli tribes and journeys. I should always discern only one aspect in the story: the connection between souls, not the bodies, the connection between friends, meaning between our spiritual sparks, our desires to unite.

And all the other desires “drop”; they, as though, become irrelevant to us by our having secured the mutual guarantee, and they do not impede our unity. We unite above the corporeal desires and reveal that which is written in The Zohar in our connection.

The Zohar tells us how the connection between us will be revealed to the extent of the gradual attainment of the mutual guarantee. This connection will manifest step by step through images described in The Zohar. The Book speaks of reality that exists within us. We only need to gradually reveal it, like opening one window sash at a time.
[23252]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/10, The Zohar

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During our reading of The Zohar, we should constantly exert effort to see the connecting system of souls or the spiritual “network” behind each word. Behind the names of Shimon, Reuben, or Gad, the “right hip” and the “left hip” of Israel’s camp, certain actions, or “snakes” there stands not a bad or good desire, but its motion and its aspiration relative to the action of the moment.

Therefore, it is desirable to perceive The Zohar as a story of our connection, a story about the picture or pattern that is expected to unfold between us. There is no doubt that we always reside in this state and only have to uncover it. For this very reason we read The Zohar: to aspire for the revelation of its narrative.

And now, we need to do our best to connect this story with ourselves and not to be tangled in it thinking that The Zohar is talking about some distant places and events. All of this is occurring right now between us: within our connection, mutual guarantee, and our collective movement.
[23256]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/10, The Zohar

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “He Who Strengthens His Heart”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 1
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Lesson 3
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence,” Lesson 5
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