Our entire world is made up of images of receiving because in our desire to enjoy, in our dark material, there is nothing. When a little light shines into it, and this desire is slightly impressed by the light, then various fluids, waves, and shifting currents arise within this desire.

These build within us, within our feelings and mind, the sensation of this world. After all, our world is not the true reality, but what we imagine in our feelings and minds from the light that faintly illuminates desire within in such a tiny, weak, unreal form, since there is no connection between desire and light.

When we unite and a desire is formed that has the power of unity from all its parts, then light manifests within the desire as it unites above the separation that exists between its parts. Accordingly, the light is revealed within it, and then within desire, within the heart and mind, the true forms of light, of bestowal, are revealed.

Whereas in our world, false forms of bestowal unfold within our desires and thoughts, like dark shadows that paint images on a wall. Therefore, we must strive to attain a true picture of reality.
[60010]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/7/11, “The Zohar”

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Question: We must raise MAN (prayer). Is this an action in desire?

Answer: MAN means that I am asking for the power of bestowal. From Malchut I turn to Bina and ask from Bina for the ability to bestow.

But I have to reach such a state that I am filled with this prayer (MAN), and this is enough for me. I feel joy that I am able to raise MAN.

How is this state described in the Torah? You go out into the light of day. Day for you is when you have nothing; you walk in the desert, and search for MAN, the desire for bestowal, and when you find it, it revives you, and it fills all your tastes. Everything you desire is in it.

But what is this taste? Where does it come from? What is this MAN? It comes to you from Bina, and then it is enough for you to have the very possibility of asking the Creator: “I have a connection with Him. I can ask Him. And I need nothing more.”

But do I not want to have a desire in which I will reveal the Creator? No. I am content even with the very aspiration toward Him. This, for me right now, is fulfillment. The connection with the Creator through the group fills me.

But what kind of connection is this? From where do you have anything? There is nothing. But can I turn to Him in this way? That is enough. This is called “walking in the desert,” acquiring the quality of “Hafetz Hesed” (desiring nothing for myself).

For in the desert you have nothing; you truly do not want anything for yourself. But this is the attainment of correction by the quality of bestowal, similarity to the Creator, and in this is your fulfillment.
[15237]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 06/06/2010, “The Book of Zohar“

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The source of the upper Light created a point of desire “from nothing,” began to develop it with His pressure, until it reached the state called the world of infinity. In this state the point is no longer a point but a sphere filled with the light that created it, and it performs a restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph), and expels the light from itself. We are under this restriction.

The condition of the first restriction is very simple: above there is light, pleasure, perfection, eternity— everything, and below there is desire, darkness, emptiness—nothing! And between them lies the boundary of the first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph), a condition that can never be revoked. If the desire (Kli) is not similar to the light, this gap remains between them.

That is, you will not feel anything except what you feel now. And this is called an unconscious spiritual state or “this world.” This is the smallest measure of life that we are today, below any awareness, in darkness, as if in an imagined reality and in the deepest sleep that could possibly exist.

Once I saw a science fiction film about how people were placed into some capsules with a special liquid to be sent into space over distances of thousands of light years. And they slept, each in his capsule, until they arrived at another planet and began to awaken there. It is in a similar state that we find ourselves in now, asleep, cut off from true reality!

The condition by which I can receive the light is the intention for the sake of bestowal. The desire to be filled, to enjoy, does not change, only the “for what,” the “why,” the “meaning” changes.

If I want to receive the light, the fulfillment, for myself with the intention for myself, egoistically, against the condition of Tzimtzum Aleph, this is called receiving “from above downward.”

If I want to receive the light (in both cases I only receive, since within me there is only the desire to receive, and only the intention, the condition of reception, changes), but with the intention to bring pleasure to the one who gives to me, then this is called receiving “from below upward.”

Only in such a case will the light, the revelation of the upper world, fill me. It is not clear to us how one can receive the upper light from below upward; what is meant is that you return pleasure to the giver. This condition opens the path for the light! Fulfill this condition and the entire world of infinity is yours!
[7324]
From the Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/09, The Book of Zohar

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Question: When a spiritual descent comes, can I immediately understand that
I need to go through it and immerse myself in it?

Answer: You strive for a corrected state, and only then you fall.

Otherwise, if you have not tried your best to achieve a good state, you would not be able to reveal your egoistic fall.

After all, a descent is not a mistake along the way, but a revelation of additional new egoism in you.
You took a barbell, pushed it up with all your might, lifted 100 kg, and suddenly the barbell fell! What happened? You suddenly discover there two more discs of 10 kg each were added.

This is why you broke and fell, you felt their weight, but now you know to ask for the force of correction! After all, you fell with these desires, with the extra 20 kg.

Now you have these desires (Kelim, spiritual vessels, tools), they were revealed against your will, you have felt all this heaviness.

If you ask for extra strength for them now, you can lift 120 kg.

That is, you cannot get the heaviness of the heart until you succeed! And only when you succeed do they add the weight of egoistic desire to you, and you fall!

This is a sign of your success! You managed to gain additional strength to use for correction now.

You can ask: how am I ever successful if every time I rise, I am immediately thrown back down again?

Let me stay at the top for a while, enjoy my achievements, get my medal! Then you can continue.

But no, that is impossible. This is done on purpose so you could learn to enjoy the work
itself, and your reward is the opportunity to give a little more.
[14779]
From Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/10, The Book of Zohar

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Question: You always warn us not to look back, like Lot’s wife who looked back at Sodom and turned into a pillar of salt. So when we are filled with great inspiration after a congress or a dissemination event, does it mean we should not recall it, but instead strive forward to the next degree?

Answer: Not looking back means not wanting to remain in a previous state. But it does not mean that a person should cut himself off from the past as if it does not exist. One must learn from yesterday in order to continue today in a better state.

A person should not want to be in the state of yesterday, but in the state of tomorrow. That is what it means, “to not look back.”

But this has nothing to do with Sodom. Sodom is when one truly wishes to return to a previous degree, which has already been revealed as a corrupt state. One cannot return to it anymore.

If I have decided that my previous state was corrupt and unsuitable for correction, for advancing toward the goal, toward bestowal, then I have no choice: I must finish with it and move forward.

There are people who look back, return, and wish to remain in past states, to be “small.” This contradicts development, and we are forbidden to do so.

The means for this is the group. If I try, even a little, to integrate into the group, then I will always receive my future state from it, regardless of the state of the group or of myself. Therefore, we always have the possibility to move forward and not backward.
[11701]
From Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/10 on The Book of Zohar

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When we open The Book of Zohar again and again and after some time the initial inspiration fades.

This inspiration is given to us from above, just like the point in the heart with which a person comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah. This awakening from above (Itaruta deLeila) is given to us by the upper force.

Naturally, with this “fuel,” with the desire of the upper one, a person rushes forward with shining eyes and wishes more and more to feel what lies hidden inside the book, what exactly is being said about him. After all, he is awakened from above to a connection between himself and the book.

And then this inspiration fades. It fades because new desires come to a person, desires for which there is no awakening from above, from the Creator.

He is obliged to add an awakening from below to them from himself, and thus advance each time through his own search for answers to the questions: “What do I need this work for? Why?”

The Creator wishes that a person would each time reveal by himself the importance of the upper one, the urgent necessity of connection with Him, and the significance of all the means of attaining this connection, The Book of Zohar, so that he would again and again search within himself for all these inner definitions.

And here the person comes to a state in which he must understand that he is engaged in the “work of Bezalel,” to build the spiritual vessel, the Temple, with all its contents, within himself. This is immense, gradual work that requires extensive preliminary preparation.

In truth, the person himself does not accomplish anything; all that is required of him is readiness, desire, and intention.

Everything was carried out by the power of Bina from above, but through awakening from below. This is precisely a person’s work. This is what it means that he performs it.

Therefore, our work, on one hand, consists of making efforts and carrying out clarifications at every step.
But on the other hand, this work is called “the work of the Creator” because it is performed by the Creator, and not by man.

A person must only reach a desire, a request, a prayer, “half a shekel,” and the rest is done by the Creator, “the Creator will complete it for me”).
[8145]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/10, The Book of Zohar

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It is known from the science of Kabbalah that as a result of all our development in this world within the framework of beliefs and religions, in the field of technology, public and social life, in the field of government and international relations, we must come to complete disappointment in this development, stop and admit: “We do not know what to do next.” We tried to achieve something, to fulfill our desires, and we did not achieve anything. This endless race has led to nothing.

Of course, when a person sums up such a result for himself, he is not happy about it. But it is precisely this anxious state that makes him stop and think about what to do next.

But it is precisely this anxious state that makes him stop and think about what to do next. Then, in hopelessness and impotence, he begins to discover that there is another form of development. But it cannot be revealed until a person has reached complete disillusionment with the present and hopelessness in the future in this whole life, given to us supposedly by chance on this globe where we live like animals, without understanding why and what for. And indeed, if you look at us from the outside, from anywhere in the universe, our whole life on this planet will seem very strange, because we consistently destroy ourselves. For what?

When pondering, “Why do I need this whole life,” a person begins to realize that he needs a guide who could guide him and direct him along the way. And then he comes to the true books, whose authors have already comprehended a new form of life, not on the thin, fragile layer of the Earth’s crust covering this planet where we exist in complete dependence on it in everything, but life in a completely different dimension. After all, besides our Earth, our universe, and other galaxies, there is a breakthrough into another, higher dimension.

Of course, this requires a guide who will guide us along the way. But it is as if all of humanity is in Noah’s Ark, which must now break away from this world and break into the next dimension.

This guide is a special force from above, which The Zohar calls the “donkey driver.” Donkeys, Hamorim, (this is us), from the word “Homer” (material, the desire to enjoy), which needs to be developed, that is, to lead forward, showing him how to achieve a different form of existence.

Therefore, “The Donkey Driver” is a special article in The Book of Zohar. As we read this article, we should try to connect with this force, our driver, who leads us forward, provided that we can grab onto him and want to follow him.

The Zohar allegorically tells of this force, the donkey driver, as a man who goes ahead of those people whose donkeys he leads, pricking them with a sharp stick to keep them moving forward. After all, the donkey understands only one thing: it hurts, it goes forward; it does not hurt, it stops. This is how our material behaves.

And that is why we need this external force that will “tingle” us, and then we will need to move forward; otherwise, we will stay in place. After all, we are created out of a desire to enjoy and are not able to “stab” ourselves or summon this force from the outside. How can I willingly bring suffering upon myself?

Therefore, according to The Zohar, this external force is sent to people who are already able to ascend to a higher dimension, and in addition to life in this world that they feel in their body, in their “donkey,” to acquire an additional life, in the spiritual dimension.

This is quite possible, but you need to listen to that donkey driver who is sent from above to every person. This driver awakens within us and moves us. We just need to be sensitive to his actions.
So let’s find it in ourselves and wish to rise up!
[38415]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/11, Introduction of The Book of Zohar “The Donkey Driver”

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We are in a state called “this world.” The reason for us being in this world is to rise, through our own efforts, to the level of similarity to the Creator, to reach His level, as it is said: “You will see your world during your lifetime.”

The science of Kabbalah is a method of revealing the Creator to creation in this world. How do we reveal Him? By becoming similar to Him. Only if I acquire a desire like the light, my spiritual vessel, will I be able to reveal the light, the Creator, in it.

How can I make myself into a vessel for revealing the light so it would fill me? We have been given two tools for this. The first is the material, the desire I acquire to the extent of absorbing outside desires, desires of other people.

There is only a point in me, which wants to move toward spirituality, although I do not know what it is. I just feel that something is missing. It is only a point of desire. I have no volume at this point, no top, bottom, right or left sides.

I cannot feel anything there, except an unquenchable desire–I want something, but I do not know exactly what. I can try to imagine spirituality, but no matter what I come up with, it is all fantasy from the realm of this world, not true reality.

How can I add volume to this point? I have to connect with a special, whole, perfect organism, with a great desire created by the Creator: Malchut of infinity. For me, it is a group, but in fact, it is the whole of humanity. But since I do not know what the whole of humanity is, a group is enough for me. This is the first component.

If I try to connect with a group and am able to connect with some part of it, as if cutting off a certain area from it, it becomes mine. It turns out that I am already gaining volume, and this volume is my desire. If I already have such a big desire, and not a point, I can start to feel something in it. What am I missing then? I am lacking this desire to be like the light. That is, the first stage is the acquisition of desire, the second is the correction of desire, and the third is the fulfillment of desire. That is it!

To obtain the desire, I have to annul myself before the group, before their unity, be connected to them like a drop of semen stuck to the wall of the uterus. This is the first stage.

The second stage is being with my friends, I must try to make my entry into the group, my connection with them, for the sake of giving so the desire I am now gaining is similar to the light.

I achieve this by using surrounding light (O”M), the light that returns to the source, what is called the “Light of Torah.”

After that, the desire becomes filled with the light of Hochma.

Therefore, when reading a source such as The Book of Zohar, which has great power, we must: feel ourselves in a common desire and want for our common desire to be corrected, to become as giving as the light.

In order to bring about such a correction, we must expect it while reading The Book of Zohar so that our desires, our union, would be for the sake of bestowal, so we would feel like a single whole and truly become a Shechina, a “place” where the upper light, the Creator, is revealed. If we correct this “place” for the sake of giving at least to some extent, to this extent the Creator will be revealed in it.

That is, I connect with the group as one whole, in mutual giving, mutual guarantee, unity, with the help of light that returns to the source, giving us all a sense of a common integral connection. Then, to the extent of unity between us, we reveal the quality of bestowal, the light of the Creator reigning in us.

Therefore, let us try not to forget about this task and realize that constantly remaining in these efforts to build such a picture for myself is my inner work, which I am now going to do as we read The Book of Zohar. After all, during the reading of The Zohar, a great light comes. Are we preparing the right desire for it so that it corrects and fills it?
[42950]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/11, The Book of The Zohar “Mishpatim”

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All of the Creator’s works are not as people’s works. When people build the Temple below, first they make the walls of the city and then the Temple.

First, the walls of the city, to protect them, and then the construction of the house. The Creator builds the Temple first, and finally, when He lowers it from the sky and places it in its place, it will build the walls of Jerusalem. This is why David said, “By Your favor do good to Zion” first, and then, “Build the walls of Jerusalem” (Rashbi, Zohar for All, “The Old Man [The Grandfather]”).

Question: What is the difference between building walls and building the Temple in spiritual work?

Answer: Our work lies in the fact that within the vast desire to receive pleasure that is revealed to us, we define a certain area where we are able to connect only with thoughts and desires aimed at bestowal, and we can relate them to others: friends, the group, the Creator.

All the rest of our desires we are not yet capable of using for the sake of bestowal. Therefore, our desire is divided into many parts, including the stony heart.

This is why we first build boundaries, screens, and only afterward, with the help of those screens, when we already know how to act correctly, we perform Zivug (coupling) and construct a Partzuf.

The building of the inner part of the Partzuf, from Peh to Tabur is called the construction of the Temple (in Hebrew, the word for Temple means House of Holiness). The Rosh (head) of the Partzuf is used for planning; this is called the “work of Bezalel.” The Sof (end) of the Partzuf is not yet properly engaged.

But in essence, it is with these parts of the Partzuf, which serve as boundaries, that the Temple is built, because we can construct something only from its opposite, good and evil, light and darkness; it is only by comparing opposites can we create boundaries and build a structure.

Whereas the Creator builds differently, not through limitations or calculations of “how much there is” and “how much is lacking.”

On the contrary, the upper light builds holiness, bestowal, the Temple itself within the desire, and the remaining part of the desire, which the upper light does not enter, is what forms the “walls of Jerusalem” erected afterward, in the final act.

This is the difference between constructing the Temple from below upward and constructing it from above downward.
[42258]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/11, The Book of Zohar, “Mishpatim”

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Question: What does it mean “to receive from the Creator in order to bring Him pleasure”?

Answer: Baal HaSulam explains this in the “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” using the example of a guest and a host.

A guest comes to the host. The host has laid a table full of food for him because he loves the guest with boundless love, without any calculation, and wants to give him pleasure very much.

The guest feels how the host loves him and wants to bring him pleasure. But suddenly the guest feels such shame that he cannot accept anything from the host.

The host loves him so much and so deeply desires to bring him pleasure; he already knows how much the guest wants to receive and what dishes he likes. He has prepared everything exactly according to the guest’s wishes, both in quantity and quality.

But the guest feels shame. What should he do? The guest refuses to accept the meal:

“I do not want to receive anything! I want to bestow like you do! You have shown me your love, and I feel it. How can I do the same to you?” The guest begins to think: “But if I do not accept anything, I will give it back to the host. Is this how I respond to his love?! What can I do?!”

And then he finds a solution: “I will receive only for the sake of the host. Since the host has the desire to bestow and wants me to receive, I must first enter into his desire so that it becomes my goal. I enter his desire and feel how he loves me, how much he wants me to receive, how he suffers from my refusal to accept his offering. I work with his desire and think only about how I can fulfill it.”

Through being inside his desire and striving only to fulfill it, I discover the ability to do so within myself by accepting the meal and enjoying it, because only through the pleasure that I feel can I bring pleasure to the host. I am obliged to receive and enjoy without limit because I feel how this fills him.

In this way, each one works with the other’s desire. The host thinks about how the guest will receive from him and enjoy. And the guest thinks about how he will receive and enjoy in order to fulfill the host’s desire to bring pleasure to him. Each uses their own desire to fulfill the other’s desire.

At the same time, each benefits doubly, or even more, because each exits themselves outward, and thereby experiences infinite, boundless pleasure.

This “patent” seems very simple at first glance. But when we begin to contemplate it, it appears difficult to implement.

However, ideally, if we understand it, this is the only way to fill ourselves with infinite pleasure, because I use the desire of the other, outside myself.

The Creator is an infinite desire, and I am merely a tiny point. But if I begin to attach myself to Him, I thereby acquire an infinite desire for myself that I can fulfill. And I begin to feel how I fill it and how that desire is enjoying itself.

It turns out that by treating Him with love, I receive infinite desires, infinite life, eternity, and perfection. I receive all of this if I relate to the Creator as the goal that I must fulfill.

Therefore the wisdom of Kabbalah is truly the science of reception (the word “Kabbalah” in Hebrew means “reception”), of how to receive and how to enjoy myself without any limitations.
[11490]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/10, The Book of The Zohar

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