Audio Version Of The Blog – 5/17/25
Posted on May 17th, 2025 at 10:55 pm
Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio
Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio
Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio
Question: What happens to a person when they isolate themselves and are left alone with their thoughts?
Answer: It depends on the person and on the purpose for which they seek solitude. If one is striving toward a special spiritual goal, then it makes little difference whether they isolate themselves in the middle of Manhattan or in a true desert.
Question: If a person goes into the desert with the intention of clearing their thoughts and listening to their inner voice, is there a chance for them to understand who they really are?
Answer: If a group of people goes into the desert, far from the rest of the world, in order to attain an inner, shared spiritual goal, then such solitude certainly makes sense. Undoubtedly, the desert is a more suitable place for this than a forest, because it is silent, empty.
The desert leaves a person with no illusions, it makes it absolutely clear that nothing good can come out of life in it, just as nothing good comes from ordinary human life. That is why in the desert we feel in tune with nature.
I love the desert because there you have nothing but earth and sky, especially at night. It gives a person a special mood, impression, and feeling, especially when many people are together there, searching for the meaning of life. Then the desert and the heavens begin to speak to them, showing: “This is all there is, and you are here alone in this empty vacuum. So seek the hidden source of life!”
Question: You are talking about a group of Kabbalists going into the desert with a special purpose. But if an ordinary person isolates themselves in the desert, is there a chance for them to discover their inner essence?
Answer: On their own, it is impossible. I believe that even the Torah, when telling about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, is referring to whole groups. Because a single person cannot be spiritual; one does not exist in relation to spirituality as a separate element, but only in connection with others, ideally no fewer than ten.
Question: Isn’t it a contradiction: “solitude in a group”? Isn’t it either solitude or a group, one or the other?
Answer: Solitude is only possible within a group! Because the solitude of the individual is just an animalistic act, physical isolation of the body. But solitude within a group is spiritual solitude.
Being connected with one another, we begin to reveal how much we lack the meaning of life and the force that sustains it.
[217820]
From KabTV’s “New Life 925 – Inner Solitude.” 11/28/2017
Related Material:
Alone with Oneself, Part 1
The Desert, Part 2
The Desert, Part 1
Question: If a person is divided in two, between egoism and the point in the heart, how can they build a mechanism that would constantly give them the strength to be on the right side and not on the side of the evil inclination?
Answer: How can one build a mechanism that helps us attain the feeling of mutual guarantee (Arvut)? That is precisely what we are building. It is the group.
From all my internal qualities and all the external conditions surrounding me, the only thing in which I can act freely is in choosing my environment. Because my character and all my qualities are predetermined for me. And society, if I do not choose it, acts upon me however it wants. I am in its power, and whether I like it or not, I absorb everything from it.
It turns out that I am capable of making a choice when I am given such an opportunity from above, and I make efforts in that. Only that is called free choice.
Either I choose a good environment that advances me toward mutual guarantee and final correction (Gmar Tikkun), or I am a puppet, a marionette, completely devoid of freewill, and in that case, there is no reward, no punishment, no one to ask, and no one to complain to. Everything flows according to nature.
So who then is a sinner? The one who wants to become righteous. Who has free choice? Only the Kabbalists. And the rest? The rest are like animals. As it is written: “He is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalms 49:13). There is nothing to demand from them; they have no choice because that is how the laws are set: either you choose mutual guarantee or you do not.
Remember how elections used to be held in the Soviet Union?
– “We are choosing the city’s mayor!” – “How many candidates are there?” – “One!”
It is the same with the Creator. If it is the truth, it has to be one. Not ten! What does it mean, ten candidates? It means nine liars and one honest one. But the idea itself is right.
You are not choosing one out of ten. The idea is different: there is one true One, and you decide whether you are really choosing Him. Essentially, through your choice, you examine yourself, do you truly intend to “cast your ballot” as confirmation that you agree with the corrected state. That is called a choice.
[343810]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/7/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
Related Material:
Strengthening One’s Choice
Mutual Guarantee: The Decision Is Ours
Mutual Guarantee as the Law of Life
Question: In the article “The Arvut,” it is said that each individual among the people was asked whether they agreed to accept the Torah, and further, it is written that if even one person does not agree, then no one can fulfill the condition of Arvut [mutual guarantee].
Answer: The point is that even in final correction (Gmar Tikkun), there will remain a certain layer of people who simply will not feel what is being asked of them. They will say: “Fine, I am ready. If I need to, I will go along with you.”
It is not that within them arises any awareness or sense of necessity, for by their nature, they are incapable of that. That is simply their level.
Yet, they too will feel perfection and eternity. Only their level of participation in the general Arvut will be something like: “Alright, I will sign. What I sign does not matter.” There are such types of people who are that close to the inanimate level.
In other words, the correction happens gradually, both in quantity and in quality. If we are now speaking about the correction of the Kelim with Aviut of Shoresh, then let’s consider who belongs to this level. How many are there in the world? Then comes Aviut Alef. Aviut Alef may include, say, half a billion people. Aviut Bet, two billion. And so on.
[343814]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/7/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
Related Material:
Everyone Depends on One Another
The Most Relevant Question
Mission Impossible?
Question: Why was The Book of Zohar, a commentary on the Torah, written? Was the Torah that Moses wrote not enough?
Answer: No, The Book of Zohar was written after the fall of the Second Temple from the level that the authors of The Book of Zohar were at, so they could attain the ultimate highest state. It says so in The Book of Zohar.
It was the last generation after which darkness set in.
The Book of Zohar is intended for us in our current state, to begin to rise to the ultimate correction with its help.
Question: Literally at the same time, the Mishnah was written, which is studied to this day, and it was not hidden. After a few hundred years, the writing of the Talmud was completed, and everyone studies it too. But The Book of Zohar was hidden. How are they different?
Answer: The fact is, The Book of Zohar is written in a special language. It describes the system of the upper world, how we can approach it, and what to do.
Like the science of Kabbalah, it was not supposed to be revealed for 2,000 years from the fall of the Second Temple to our time.
This state of “2000 years” is called “exile from spirituality,” when there was a rejection in the breaking of the Temple and a descent to the level of our world, i.e., into the darkest state, from which we must begin to attain the highest state.
For this, we need guidance, which is The Book of Zohar. All Kabbalists grew with it.
Question: If anyone starts reading The Book of Zohar, the Talmud, or the Mishnah today, they would not understand a word of it. Why was The Book of Zohar hidden, but the rest were not?
Answer: The Book of Zohar is written in the language of Kabbalah. This is why it was hidden.
In addition, it was written in a state of spiritual elevation. Its authors were ten disciples of Rabbi Shimon, the great Kabbalist, who brought them together, united them, and explained how to attain the upper world. Whatever was revealed in their connections, they wrote down. This became The Book of Zohar.
The Mishnah and the Talmud tell about the upper degrees, but in a more obscure, allegorical way. Therefore those who study them think they are talking about our world. This is first of all.
Secondly, the people who wrote the Mishnah and the Talmud were not at the same level of attainment as the authors of The Book of Zohar. There is a big difference.
As Baal HaSulam notes, those who wrote The Book of Zohar were at the level of the Third Temple, that is, at the highest level of attainment.
[216874]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/2017, “The Chain of Knowledge 57 Centuries Long. History of the Kabbalah Methodology”
Related Material:
The Special Feature Of The Book Of Zohar
The Magical Mechanism Of The Book Of Zohar
The Key To The Book Of Zohar
Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio
When the sons of Israel agree not to use their big and burning ego, and through actions performed on egoism in order to neutralize its hindrances they begin to unite and reach the state of mutual guarantee (Arvut), this guarantee comes after actions, and is called “we will do and we will hear.”
This is when they receive a connecting and filling force from above called the Torah. With the help of this force, they begin to gradually correct the vessel itself with the Aviut degree of one.
This is called going out into the Sinai desert and raising Malchut to Bina for 40 years, correcting it, until 40 years later, they come to the land of Israel, that is, to Malchut united with Bina.
This is the land of Israel (Eretz Israel), the desire straight to the Creator (Yashar El, Israel). This is when they get awarded with the state where they build the Temple.
This means that they have a Kli that can truly contain the upper light within itself, that is, a vessel where the Creator is revealed.
[343908]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/2025, Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
Related Material:
Torah—A Pressing Need
The Time Of Grandsons Is Here
Arvut Is Not For The Weak
The state we are currently in, the corrupted state, appears that way only to us. In truth, we are still in the very same corrected state. Nothing has changed, as it is said: “I, the Lord, do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
Kabbalists, who reveal advanced spiritual degrees and ascend from one level to another, say that nothing changes. Everything is concealed only in relation to us and it is we who must uncover it.
This revelation is possible only through our own efforts when we truly want to return to the original state.
As Baal HaSulam explains in a letter in the book Pri Chacham, Letters, a person who ascends from the beginning of the path to his final correction (Gmar Tikkun) only attains that very same state in which he was already adhered to the Creator as a point in the root through his own effort.
By his efforts, he adds awareness, expands his perception of reality, and feels it 613 times more intensely than before.
Because previously, he was like a drop of semen, a point adhered to the Creator. But when he returns to that state through his own work, he arrives at the fullness of that level of Dvekut (adhesion) with the Creator. He becomes equal to the Creator.
This is what is meant by “ZON of the world of Atzilut are in constant coupling (Zivug) at the same level.”
[343661]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
Related Material:
How Can You Align Yourself with the Creator?
Become Like the Creator
Become Like the Creator
Our spiritual work does not consist of simply acquiring knowledge, as in this world, in order to gather intelligence and achieve success with it. We do not ascend through this; we only develop our tools of perception, and that is where it ends. Especially now, in our time, when we are reaching the result of all our previous development. The still, vegetative, and animate levels within a person have completed their development, and there is no longer a possibility of being fulfilled egoistically. This is the main characteristic of the current crisis.
Now we must develop our desires ourselves—no longer only for reception, but also for bestowal. That is, the lower must become a giver like the upper, become similar to the upper, become human (Adam—from the word “Adameh,” which means “similar” to the upper). Now the human level is beginning to develop within us.
Equivalence of form to the upper means bestowal, which is the same quality as His. But how can the lower one do this if he does not know how? He has no possibility whatsoever because the upper revealed itself only as a source of wisdom, knowledge, intellect, and sensations that fulfilled the lower. But it did not develop the desires of the lower in the new quality of bestowal instead of or alongside reception.
In order to make this possible, the upper hides Himself and gives the lower one the feeling of concealment. This is exactly what we are beginning to feel in our world now, and this feeling will continue to intensify. A person who starts studying Kabbalah after some time begins to feel a bit of darkness and discomfort. It no longer draws him in as before, as if the source has closed off and everything became insipid.
At the same time, a feeling of helplessness arises, a lack of purpose, and a person loses the will to live and falls into despondency, and drags himself through life like a lifeless body. But this does not come to crush a person, but to give one the opportunity to add on their own what the upper has hidden.
The upper concealed a small part of His bestowal. This is called the concealment of the AHP of the upper. And that is why the lower one no longer feels that he receives any light from the upper. Before, he sensed some radiance from the upper, and now it is gone. As a result, a void is formed in the GE of the lower one, a lack of sensation, understanding, connection, purpose, mood, and confusion. He understands nothing, hears nothing, and moves with difficulty.
All this is done so that the lower one will fill in what he no longer receives from the upper. The upper one restricted His vessels, and the lower one must, so to speak, enter this space that has opened in the upper. The upper one has deliberately made room within Himself for him and says: “Come to Me!”
But to come to the upper one means to rise to the degree where you become a giver and not a receiver, to work in a form opposite to what you did before, to become like the Creator where it no longer matters what you feel in your egoistic desires, or how much knowledge, impressions, understanding, or emotions you receive.
Bestowal means complete giving solely for the sake of the other. And thank God, there is no shortage of others, you can always bestow to them. The whole world, the group, the study are all before you.
But right now, you cannot bestow because the upper one has taken His light away from you. So in that place add your own light of bestowal, the light of faith. You do not know how? Then ask the upper to give you this sensation of bestowal, the ability to bestow, to help you rise above your previous feelings and intellect, above the sensation that you are receiving, understanding, and advancing toward a goal in life.
Let go of all that and rise above it! None of it exists—it was all just an imagined world. Rise from it into a new state, which is beyond all egoistic calculations.
This is the state of our choice. And if a person understands and feels this—and not only one person, but the group—then we reach a true desire.
[67918]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/2012, Writings of Rabash Article 195
Related Material:
Seeking the Upper
What Is the Upper Light?
Roots And Branches—Causes And Consequences
Daily Audio Version-MP3
Get the Weekly eNewsletter
Follow on Twitter
