Question: I live in Ecuador. How, during the lesson, can I connect with the prayer for the correction of the group?

Answer: A person has to try feeling as if he were here with us. There is no distance on the spiritual path. If one of us is sitting at the computer screen a few miles away from our center, another is somewhere in Ecuador, and still another is in our auditorium, it makes no difference.

It all depends on where a person’s heart is. All you have to do is try to remain connected with us. A person is where his desire is. That’s because there is nothing else except the desire; the outer “clothing” doesn’t count.
[22526]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/10, The Zohar

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived in the Land of Egypt),” Item 567
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 115
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings,” Lesson 5
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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 528: However, he did not disclose what he wished to disclose, since he wished to reveal the end to them. There is an end to the right and an end to the left. He wished to reveal to them the end of the right, to be kept and to be purified from the foreskin in the end of the left. And what he revealed to them was known and was revealed until they arrived at the holy land. However, he did not disclose other things, and they are hidden in the Torah, in those blessings.

We have to try to recognize the events described in The Zohar within “ourselves,” in our corrected desire. The more we aspire to sense them within the corrected desire, the stronger Light of correction we attract. It will gradually correct us, and we will be able to see the true picture.

It’s like I’m looking at something without glasses yet I know that I need and lack them. I want to see the true picture and hope to obtain the “glasses,” correct my vision, and see the true state. This is the essence of reading The Book of Zohar.
[22423]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/10, The Zohar

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What is the Help that One Should Ask of the Creator”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived in the Land of Egypt),” Item 543
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 114
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings,” Lesson 4
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Question: How can I tell whether I am reading The Zohar with the right intention?

Answer: You have to think about the conditions of revealing the Creator. The condition is equivalence of form, which means that inside of my desire to enjoy I will reveal the desire to bestow, the intention of bestowal, or an aspiration for bestowal.

I am waiting for my inner program to change from reception to bestowal so that I will start perceiving the different forms of bestowal that are coming to me. And this is the only thing I want.

Right now I am in an ocean of spiritual information, but I cannot perceive any of it. I lack the program to perceive it. However, if I aspire to it and desire to acquire it, then I advance and come closer to understanding it.

Everything I read in The Book of Zohar are actions of bestowal that take place in reality. This is the only existing reality, whereas our material reality exists only in our subconscious. It’s an illusion that we presently exist in.

The true reality is above this subconscious level, this imaginary reality, and it operates according to bestowal. Reception inside the desire does not even exist other than in our "dream."

Therefore, I desire to ascend above my sensations to the true reality.
[22421]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 451: On the third watch, the Cherubim strike their wings and sing, as it is written, “Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord … from the rising of the sun to its setting.” Then all the angels that stand on the third watch sing.

In The Study of the Ten Sefirot, we can study the spiritual actions by way of the three lines, the Lights, the Kelim (vessels), the screens, and the Reshimot (spiritual genes, reminiscences). However, The Zohar describes the same actions through the holy still, vegetative, and animate objects which are the forces in one’s work. In other words, the various parts of the soul are named after the various types of the still, vegetative, and animate objects of nature and man.

It is difficult for us to conceive of them as terms in spiritual physics, like those in TES. In the ARI’s The Tree of Life, we see how hard it is to depict the variability of spiritual actions in the language of Sefirot and Partzufim.

For this reason, there is another language in the spiritual world: the language of branches. Here, we take a particular branch of the spiritual world in this world, where each branch has its own particular name. Thus, in every case, even the smallest spiritual detail has a particular name intended specifically for this spiritual quality or action. We use these names and end up with a language that is more simple and precise.

If we were to rewrite in the language of Kabbalah all that Moses had written in the Torah, we would end up with a voluminous book. However, using the language of branches, everything is expressed very concisely. A person who senses spiritual reality has a much easier time perceiving the text which describes the Upper World with corporeal names. After all, the two worlds are parallel, and he who senses the Upper World sees their correspondence.

The other advantage of the language of branches is that the same names are applicable in all the worlds and degrees for every branch corresponds precisely to its root. Therefore, as we read The Zohar with the Sulam Commentary which combines the language of Kabbalah that clarifies the picture from this world described in the language of branches, we begin to see that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the ARI, and Baal HaSulam all write about exactly the same thing.
[22119]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/10, The Zohar

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Question: Reading The Book of Zohar with the right intention turns into the “potion of life.” What does “the potion of death” mean while reading The Zohar?

Answer: The Zohar can work like the “potion of life” or the “potion of death,” and using the Light of the Torah can be good or bad. All that adds strength to our nature can turn out to be useful or harmful, meaning to turn it into the “potion of life” or into the “potion of death.” This is the reason why we always refer to intention (rather than action) as the most vital thing.

We don’t even realize the extent to which we all live in the world of intentions. Sometimes I am repulsed by something, but my attitude changes dramatically when I begin to understand that it was done with a good intention. Has anything changed? Only my perception of the intention that lies behind the action.

Thus, the only difference lies in intention: What exactly do I anticipate from an action? The difference is in using the Light as the “potion of life” or as the “potion of death.” It’s the different between two worlds.

Our advancement happens only within intention to the degree of our ability to share, differentiate, and sense it in order to feel the tiniest fluctuations of our personal intention rather than the intention of our environment.
[22188]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 442: This is so because since the day the Temple was ruined below, the Creator swore that He would not enter Jerusalem above until Israel enter Jerusalem below. It is written about it, “A holy man among you who is holy, and I will not come into a city.” That is, even though there is a holy man among you, I will still not come into the city—Jerusalem above—until Israel enter Jerusalem below.

When we were children, adults used to tell us various things which we didn’t understand. However, time after time, they explained to us what we should do or think one way or the other. The same happens when we read The Book of Zohar. We are simply told about something concealed from us, something we don’t know or recognize, but, gradually, it enters us.

This is the most natural form of teaching for every person. It doesn’t matter what world he lives in and what he studies. After all, he doesn’t have any preliminary preparation for new knowledge and sensations. He doesn’t have the correct instruments or properties of perception (Kelim, vessels). A person needs to develop the mind and sensations. Then, he can sense a new phenomenon and later study what it means.

Therefore, the first stage is reading or listening about something unknown to us and feeling dumb; we should appreciate this. This is the natural process of treating our children, and it is clear to us that this its the way it should be done. We explain things to them again and again.

The problem is that a child has an aspiration to know, to learn, to see us as big people, and to follow our example. In our spiritual upbringing, we, adults, have to create such an inner aspiration by ourselves. This is possible only when using envy in the group.
[22053]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, The Zohar

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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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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Bereshit,” Selected Excerpts
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