Rely on Friends

938.01When I experience a new desire for something, it is called a descent. In reality, there are no descents: “Holiness increases, not decreases.” However, when a new corrupted desire arises within us, we perceive it as a descent.

Each of us experiences the emergence of new egoistic desires. If we are correctly connected with one another, these desires automatically bind us together, and we instinctively respond to them.

This means that I perceive my friend’s desires as my own, and they perceive mine as theirs. In this way, we continuously pull each other up and rise together. It does not take a month or even a week for us to linger in a state of descent, to wait for the Creator’s mercy to lift us out of it. That does not happen.

If we are part of a group, each new descent, which is necessary for the revelation of the entire Kli (vessel), the entire desire, is felt by everyone as a tremendous advantage, as a great discovery. This is why it is said that an old man walks bent over as if searching for something he has lost. “Where are my desires? Where are the uncorrected intentions I can lift from the ground, elevate, and thereby elevate myself?”

But this is only possible if you are part of a group, if you rely on your friends and know with certainty that you are connected to them. In this way they support you and you support them.
[338710]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

Related Material:
Those Who Rely on the Creator Renew Their Strength
Who Will Help if not the Friends
The Group Absorbs Your Descent

The Ten Is an Atom of the Spiritual World

939.02Question: Many friends from all over the world are going to the big congress or to the mirror congresses. What should our intention be on the way to the congress?

Answer: It does not matter where the friends are: on the road, already at the congress, or staying in their places at home. The main thing is that they are all together in the same state.

Most important is for a person to be in a ten, where he can, together with his friends, implement a system of the common Kli. Therefore under no circumstances do I divide people into those who are far away, on the road, or even somewhere else in the world. The only difference is how much a person wants to be included in this common Kli.

When he comes here and participates in the congress, he works in tens, takes part in workshops, and unites with friends. We can also study at home. We see that people who come, both men and women  (women even to a greater extent) absorb the material correctly, ask excellent questions, and are aware of what we are studying.

We meet these people everywhere. Many, even without knowing about the congress, listen to us and understand us. Suddenly it becomes clear that a huge number of people in the world nourish themselves from us.

Why am I saying this? To emphasize that the most important reason we gather is not to acquire knowledge, but to get the impression that it is precisely in the ten that we can see the structure of the world, the ten Sefirot.

And when we perceive these ten Sefirot in the ten and their division into the upper, middle, and lower parts (Rosh, Toch, Sof), when we feel the right and left lines and the light of NRNHY that is clothed in them, we will begin to work practically with this construction. And there is nothing else beside it. It is an atom of the spiritual world.

We cannot talk about any quality, about anything, if it is less than ten. We can say, “This is a hydrogen atom; this is an oxygen atom, something else or something else,” but we cannot speak of anything smaller than that, because there are no qualities there.

There must be a collection of some elements—pluses, minuses, electrons, protons, neutrons, and so on—that make up this object, which can be called by a certain name based on the combination of pluses and minuses. All substances are made of them. And then interesting relationships occur between them, all kinds of dynamic connections. Then this substance is called either vegetative, animate, or human.

In other words, we must gather in such a combination that would start such a life among us! That is why we come to the congress, and not to see the faces of our friends there. No! The main thing is to feel the gathering of people who can reveal the Creator and manifest the world.
[339041]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

Related Material:
How to Get the Most out of the Convention
Ten Is the Cell of the Spiritual Organism
The Ten Is A Cell Of The Spiritual Body

For the Sake of Friends or the Creator?

165Question: There are commandments between me and my friends and between me and the Creator. In the state of Lishma, should my intention be directed at my friends or at the Creator?

Answer: Both at the friends and at the Creator.

Question: Let us say that I love everyone, but I cannot make others love me. Does Lishma depend only on everyone and not on me at all?

Answer: It depends on everyone and on you; you just have to keep working.
[339169]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/25, “Connecting to Lishma

Related Material:
Achieve Lishma
Not for One’s Own Sake
Motivated by Love

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 48


Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 48

Is It Possible to Grade Levels of Fear?

Each fear stands on its own, but in general, each level of fear reveals a higher, more spiritual fear. These levels progress from corporeal fears to human fears to spiritual fears. For example, at the lowest level, we fear physical pain. Next, we fear death, then shame. Eventually, we fear taking responsibility for selfish reception. Finally, we begin to fear matters related to the Creator.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 47
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 46
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 45

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 1/14/25

Preparation to the Lesson

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam,Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 9

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic “Obtaining Contact with the Creator”

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

Selected Highlights

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

Audio Version Of The Blog – 1/13/25

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio

Mutual Guarantee as the Law of Life

929The purpose of creation is to become like the Creator, which is achievable only by correcting the soul that was intentionally broken during Adam’s sin of the Tree of Knowledge. The parts of the common soul lost their connection with each other and even became contrary to each other.

We need to put them back together into one soul starting from the lightest to the heavier ones, that is, by requiring more and more precise connection.

We always gather ten Sefirot, at first approximately, and then more precisely and carefully, which are called the steps of the spiritual ladder. The same ten Sefirot are connected more closely and precisely until they become the ten original Sefirot of the original HaVaYaH.

The general law of the existence and the conduct of the ten Sefirot is called mutual guarantee, like in an ideal human body, where all cells and systems must be in complete harmony and interconnection. This is possible only if each part knows and understands its connection with all the others.

“Mutual Guarantee” is the law of the existence of an integral system. The connection between all the parts—from step to step along all 125 steps—becomes more complex and internal. But the work begins with our accepting this principle as the only correct one; we recognize that the original HaVaYaH, the soul, is divided into ten parts and we need to start connecting it on the condition that everyone guarantees for everyone.

This is not an egoistic guarantee but a completely different one. Therefore there are many different conditions in it: everyone must humble himself before others, at the same time grow themselves in a certain way, engage in everyone and pray for them, feel responsible for everyone, and see others as a reflection of their properties.

Mutual guarantee is the general law of the entire universe. If it were not for our corrupted, egoistic perception, we would see the system created by the Creator as a limitless, ideal HaVaYaH, all parts of which are connected to each other and working as one whole.

Therefore mutual guarantee is a prerequisite for receiving the Torah and entering the spiritual ladder. If we are ready to fulfill this condition, to accept a mutual guarantee and begin to implement it, to do so we are given the Torah with the light that returns to the source. The light will do everything—all that is required of us is to agree to the condition of mutual guarantee, that is, to include each other, to connect into one system as one man.

The whole Torah is an expression of the condition of mutual guarantee in all possible forms, with all possible conditions and requirements, ever more sublime and precise from step to step.

Therefore everything we have learned about mutual guarantee and have achieved at the previous stage disappears at the next one. We fall and lose the unity and guarantee we have achieved, as if starting all over again. After all, all the conditions and laws that were fulfilled at the previous stage and were obvious, now, with a higher and more precise resolution, appear in a completely new way and seem unknown.

We have to study everything all over again, as if there were no mutual guarantee between us. Indeed there was none, because every time it is a new step. The sign of advancement is that all past success is erased, and the work begins anew.

This is the difficulty of our work, which is, in this sense, the opposite of the material one. We are not used to such conditions, and therefore they confuse and weaken us a lot. We want to see material evidence of our spiritual advancement, but this does not happen.

Our job is to constantly renew our mutual guarantee in any state, and see in it all the laws of the Torah and the laws of spiritual reality. From it we will understand the rule of loving one’s neighbor as oneself and all the laws of unification. After all, the mutual guarantee condition is the basis of everything.

Loving one’s neighbor as oneself is a consequence of the highest and most complete guarantee. To this, more specific laws of connection are added between all parts of the broken soul, which need to be collected more and more.

After we manage to collect them at the first degree and make sure it works, the mutual guarantee disappears, and we begin to achieve it again at a higher level, which is now required of us as if we had done nothing.

This is similar to how development at the inanimate level suddenly turns into a vegetative one. The vegetative level is, as it were, a consequence of inanimate development, but at the same time, has no connection with it. Later there is a leap from the plant level to the animal level, which starts from scratch again. After all, this is a new life, a new form of existence. Spiritual development occurs in the same way.

Mutual guarantee is our goal and our work. All the laws we must implement are based on this one principle of mutual guarantee.
[225605]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/18, Preparation for the Convention “All As One” in New Jersey “Signing The Arvut In The Ten”

Related Material:
The Whole World Is Nourished By Me
What Is Mutual Guarantee?
Mutual Guarantee Is The Key To The New World

Love for the Creator Is Perfect Love for Created Beings

935Faith can only be found within a group. After all, the force of faith is based on the unification of at least two people. And therefore the loss of faith distances us from the group.

It is necessary to understand that we do not and cannot have any personal contact with the Creator. Contact is possible only from a common vessel, a spiritual Partzuf consisting of ten Sefirot. Only then will we begin to feel the upper force.

It is not necessary to gather exactly ten people to reach ten Sefirot; there may be fewer. But impressions from nine different properties must accumulate in me in addition to what I myself feel. And if I do not distinguish these nine additional properties, then I will not see the Creator.

It is like a sight that helps to focus on a target. My eye and all the points of sight must coincide. And if I tune myself to my friends, then I will see what is at the end of the sight, the final goal.

Thus, maintaining a connection with the Creator in faith and bestowal is possible only through the group. Otherwise we cannot feel Him. The Creator constantly disappears, and I have no way to feel Him unless I properly attune myself within the group.

I strive to connect more and more deeply with my nine friends, and when we finally achieve a perfect alignment with one another, a moment occurs, a “click,” where light manifests and I perceive the Creator. The Kelim, the desires of my friends, begin to shine, all nine in relation to me, Malchut.

There is no other way. All clarifications, adjustments of the spiritual vessel, and the formation of a relationship with the Creator occur only among us. As it is said, “From love of others, one comes to love of the Creator.”

No action directly leads to love of the Creator. It is possible only through love for others. When all actions aimed at loving others accumulate and this love becomes complete, it is then called love for the Creator.
[232555]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/18, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Study Of The Ten Sefirot

Related Material:
What Brings Contentment To The Creator?
How To Reach Love Of The Creator
Kabbalists On Love Of Others And Love Of The Creator, Part 5

An Archipelago of Egoism

937Question: How can I restore my connection with the Creator after a descent? Should I begin to think that it comes from Him and directly make such a calculation? But if you say it is impossible to do this without experience, then what should I do in this situation?

Answer: One person cannot do anything alone. One will ascend and descend for a long time, struggling until a person finally finds a group. A thought will arise within him that this is necessary, and he will be brought to the group.

We are all the result of a shattered soul. Each of us is a fragment, a shard, and we must gather these broken parts back together into one whole.

The shattering occurred when a great light acted upon the collective desire and caused it to break apart. This desire then filled the spaces between the fragments, between its broken pieces. In this way, the desire became multilayered, complex, and egoistic. Now, between all its fragments, egoism resides.

What should we do? Within this system are our individual desires, and between them, between all of us, lies egoism, and filling all the spaces between us is a force intentionally created by the Creator.

Now we are like an archipelago, small islands in a sea separated by egoism. We need the Creator to act upon this sea of egoism and transform our egoistic interactions into altruistic ones—into connection, bestowal, and love. This is the correction.

Therefore, without a group we cannot achieve anything. If I try to work alone, I will have no opportunity to achieve anything.

There was a period in human history, from Adam to Abraham, when it was not necessary to correct oneself through interaction in a group. At that time, egoism was not manifested in such a way that it required the attraction of the upper light within a group to transform intentions from reception to bestowal.

But now, I cannot imagine how this can be done without a group. A person, of course, may detach themselves slightly from the material world, but they cannot move forward and ascend the spiritual ladder because the implementation of the method of correction consists in reuniting into the one soul called Adam.
[339150]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

Related Material:
The Shattering of the Structure of Adam
Before and After the Shattering of Adam
A Time To Break Apart And A Time To Assemble Unity

What Does Love for the Neighbor Give Us?

A 938.02“neighbor” is not just any person; it is my friend who stands opposite me, and I gradually begin to achieve love for him in order to come to love for the Creator.

It is a strict formula: first I turn to the Creator, and in order to connect with Him, I unite with my friends, my “neighbors.”

I work on love for my neighbor because it is a prerequisite for reaching love for the Creator!

The neighbor and the Creator are interconnected because relative to my desire to receive, they hold an equal position. They are equidistant from me, and I feel the same way about both of them!

The Creator is entirely bestowing, and the neighbor seems to me just as hateful as the quality of bestowal. Therefore, I reject them both.

If I do not reach the point where I relate equally to the Creator and to the neighbor, I will not be able to work correctly. It is like aligning a sight, bringing my view, the front sight, and the target into one line.
If I am more inclined toward either the Creator or the neighbor, I am no longer aiming properly.

I must align myself precisely with the target so that the one striving for the Creator (Israel), the light of correction, and the Creator unite into a single whole.

A neighbor (a Kabbalistic group) is the spiritual vessel, the system of souls, while the Creator is what fills this system.

But then I realize that they are one and the same, because the vessel becomes like the light. There is no light without a vessel, without a Kli! And for me, everything merges into one.

The group becomes an example of the Creator for me. Through my attitude toward them, I learn how to relate to Him: whether to love or hate Him.

After all, the only possible attitude toward the Creator is one of bestowal. And here, the group is provided for me to test how much I am in a state of bestowal.

What creates the distance, the difference, between the Creator and the group? Only my own egoism! If it were not for my ego, there would be no distinction between them.

Why do I still feel a difference? Because I receive some pleasure from the Creator but none from the group. That is the entire difference!
[14715]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/10, Writings of Rabash “What Does the Rule “Love Thy Friend as Thyself” Give Us”

Related Material:
Love For Your Neighbor
Love For Your Neighbor In The Literal Sense
According To The “Love Thy Neighbor” Formula