Dear Friends, I will begin posting selected quotes of great Kabbalists on various subjects. Please ask questions about these passages. I promise to answer them.

The Creator Is the Absolute Good

And because we realize that the Creator is, in and of Himself, complete and needs no one to help Him to completion, since He precedes everything, it is therefore clear that He does not have any will to receive. And because He has no will to receive, He is fundamentally devoid of a desire to harm anyone; it is as simple as that.

Furthermore, it is completely agreeable to our mind as the first concept, that He possesses a desire to bestow goodness upon others, meaning to His creatures. And that is evidently shown by the great Creation that He has created and set before our eyes. For in this world there are beings that necessarily experience either a good feeling or a bad one, and that feeling necessarily comes to them from the Creator. And once it is absolutely clear that there is no aim to harm in the nature of the Creator, it necessitates that the creatures receive only goodness from Him, for He has created them only to bestow upon them.

Thus we learn that He has only a desire to bestow goodness, and it is utterly impossible that any harmfulness might be in His domain, which could emit from Him. Hence we have defined Him as “The Absolute Good.”
– Baal HaSulam, Article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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A question I received: Why did Kabbalists prohibit others from studying Kabbalah until very recently?

My Answer: There were several reasons for the prior prohibition of the study of Kabbalah for the general public:

1. The souls of Israel, which used to be in spiritual attainment, separated for the purpose of intermixing with the other souls that remained unchanged from the times of Babylon. The souls of Israel descended to the level of this world and have become equal to the other souls. That is, the souls of Israel had to descend to the level of this world since the intermixing gives the other souls an opportunity to become corrected.

2. Humanity had to go through all the stages until it reached complete disappointment from its egoistic development and saw itself empty, worthless, and situated on the threshold of the destruction of all its systems through which it hoped to achieve happiness.

3. Meanwhile, human beings developed internally, intellectually in their egoism, and this gave us the ability to grasp abstract forms that exist beyond time, motion, and space. We have only begun to speak about such things in the 20th century. Although it was written in The Book of Zohar almost two millennia ago that the Earth is a round sphere (The Zohar, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 142), people were burned in bonfires for such words even five hundred years ago.

Time was required for humanity to develop its mind and feelings, to come closer to understanding what the science of Kabbalah tells us about: an Upper dimension. Even now this is not easy to comprehend, but the next generation will enter a new vision of the world if we prepare the foundation for it. And the next generation is us in our new reincarnation. An ability to perceive in this way is already emerging in us. The current development has brought everyone to the same level, and it is possible to reveal the science of Kabbalah to everyone at the same time. People of all nationalities are coming to study it.

However, in order to truly understand it, we need to unite. First we can understand and feel what Kabbalah is talking about through our egoistic minds and feelings. But then attainment begins, and it is perceived only in the unification of souls. Unification gives birth to a new organ of perception: the soul. If we unite, the mutual inclusion will give each person his soul for perceiving the Upper World.

If Baal HaSulam had not received guidance from Above, he would not have disclosed the science of Kabbalah. A Kabbalist exists in contact with the Creator and carries out His orders, serving as a binding link between the Creator and humanity. Therefore, the decisions of Kabbalists to conceal or to reveal the science of Kabbalah comes out of necessity, from the obvious (to them) connection between the Upper Light and the readiness of people’s desires for correction and perception.

Today also there are certain limitations. There is an opportunity Above to open wider the flow of the Upper wisdom. However, people are not yet ready for this. I feel the opposition to new information. This is because it is opposite to egoism and we do not desire it. For this reason, there is a law in Kabbalah: “The desire should precede fulfillment.” Our primary task is to create a spiritual vessel. Meanwhile, the Upper Light is already ready to be revealed in it.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A question I received: Will my soul remember everything I learned in this life? Will I continue to learn Kabbalah and come to the group again in my next life?

My Answer: The only thing that a person takes with him from this life is the spiritual path that he went through; this does not vanish. After all, in regard to spirituality, we are, and continue to be in the same reality, but it is slightly hidden from us.

I am constantly situated in my soul, in spite of the fact that I don’t feel it, I continue to work with it and go through different states. All this occurs in my eternal soul. The fact that I now see physical bodies and this world around me is a “mirage” of my spiritual state.

If I work internally now, then I will begin my next reincarnation from a higher spiritual state, and I will come to a Kabbalah group faster and will be more successful in my studies. The entire previous path will remain within me in the form of spiritual genes (Reshimot); it doesn’t vanish. In the spiritual world nothing vanishes at all; things disappear only in our world because this whole world will eventually vanish. In the meantime, nothing that I have acquired through my egoistic desire remains, since the desire itself vanishes, only the external clothing remains.

Every time the soul goes through a new reincarnation, it builds an environment for itself according to its ability and the necessity to correct itself. Why do I exist in this environment and not a different one? It is because my soul requires this. No calculation is performed in regard to the bodies; they exist in connection with each other, in this world, in all of the situations that are necessary for the soul’s correction.

Meanwhile, the body is not taken into account. Actually, it doesn’t exist at all; it is a virtual illusion that presents itself to us in this form. In actuality, only the soul exists, but we are unable to feel it. And its development clearly determines what happens to the bodies.

Therefore, in the end of “Preface to The Book of Zohar” Baal HaSulam writes that only the correction of the souls will help us correct our world and perceive this corporeal life as more kind. All the offenses that occur in this world are a consequence of the necessity for the soul to be corrected. At the same time, there are no actions or corrections in this world: changes are only possible through the soul.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, Article “Which Degree Should One Acheive?”

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Baal HaSulam explains that the study of the Torah (Kabbalah) differs from all other activities in this world. No special qualities of this world can help a person study the Torah, be it intelligence, wisdom, creativity, a sharp mind, erudition, or knowledge. Only the Light, by acting upon a person, can help him advance. This advancement is in correction and not the accumulation of knowledge.

Therefore, the study of the Torah can be likened to a medical procedure that we undergo. Our coming to a Kabbalah lesson is similar to a person who comes to a doctor for a treatment. If a person desires it and prepares himself each time, expecting that it will make him better, then after many procedures (many Kabbalah lessons), the correction occurs.

Thus, we also need to check ourselves and determine if we approach the studies with the correct intention. Our intention is particularly important while studying The Book of Zohar since this is the most powerful and effective means for working against our nature. It is also necessary to check and evaluate ourselves after the lesson, after this “medical procedure.” “Have I advanced in some way toward the goal, toward love and bestowal, and toward the willingness to unite with the group? Do I feel an increased greatness of the goal?” If so, I feel the importance of the goal, the significance of spirituality, and the Creator to a greater extent, and this gives me energy and the desire to advance.

How much we understand The Book of Zohar is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if a person doesn’t know the original language of The Zohar or if everything it tells us about seems very distant and unfamiliar. Even people who have studied the Torah in its simple interpretation their whole lives, also don’t know what is written in The Book of Zohar. They are even more confused than those who have never studied the Torah.

Thus, we should open our hearts (rather than our ears and minds) to receive the medicine. It’s needed so that our egoistic heart can be transformed into an altruistic one, under the influence of “the wonderful quality” (Segula) contained in The Book of Zohar. We should accept every word that we read in The Zohar as a drop by drop infusion. Indeed, the Light comes to us drop by drop, and thus, they are called “drops of fortune” (“Mazalot,” from the word “Nozel” – dribble). For this reason, we should wait patiently for this medicine to affect us, drop by drop, until we reach “complete success.”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, The Zohar

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Our entire work amounts to making the shift from perceiving reality inside egoistic senses to perceiving reality inside altruistic senses. This is the whole difference between perceiving this world and perceiving the Upper World. It is the difference between our current perception of reality (where we are living a lie, far away from the Creator, without knowing where we exist) and the understanding, perception, and knowledge of where we exist, or rather, inside Whom and with Whom we exist.

The switch in perception happens by virtue of a person’s effort. There must first be a desire to change one’s perception; this will occur only if we desire it. That is why we have to strive to imagine a higher reality and to create its image in ourselves according to how Kabbalah Books tell us to, as well as to build such relationships between us in the group.

Then when we read about this higher reality during our studies, we will demand for a force to come from Above and open these senses, to unlock the locks on our perception, to allow us to reveal where we truly exist, instead of remaining in this deceptive, imaginary, made-up picture, which is presented to us today in our clouded senses. Therefore, our whole work lies in finding the right definitions, which are called the true reality.

Each of us should use all his strength, to the extent that it is possible, to try to imagine and depict a higher image where we are all united in our desires together with the Creator, and there is no difference between us. There, the Creator (the quality of bestowal and mutual love) dwells among us, within us.

In reality there is nothing except this state. There are no imaginary pictures. We should ask this reality to affect us and to be embodied in us. This should be the result of our efforts. This is what a person should aspire to constantly while reading The Zohar and other Kabbalistic books. This is also the reason why these books tell us about the true reality. Otherwise, we could read other books, written in a different style, or there would be no sense reading them at all.

Thus, when we read about the Upper Reality in these books, we should try to attain it. As Baal HaSulam writes in Item 155 of “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“: “…through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the Lights that surround their souls.” The Lights come to us from the single state that exists, and in this manner we correct ourselves.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/10, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam writes in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot that if a person is engaged in the Torah (and Kabbalah) for the sake of some reward for his egoism, then it is like “a maid who inherits the mistress.” What does this mean?

There is an opportunity to draw the Surrounding Light upon oneself through engaging in the Torah. But its impact could be two-fold, depending on my intention. Instead of correction, it can make me even worse—“a handmaid who inherits her mistress.” Instead of ascending and becoming similar to the Creator, the quality of bestowal, I submerge myself deeper and deeper in egoism and love for myself.

Why are we given these opportunities? Isn’t it enough to simply study Kabbalah or the Torah? It isn’t enough to simply study; the intention defines what will become of a person. And it is the most important. It is here where the freedom of choice lies—where to switch myself under the influence of the Upper Force: downward, to the reception, toward my egoism, or upward, toward bestowal, toward the Creator?

The Torah itself (the Upper Light) is neutral—it can be either the elixir of life or the potion of death (a person doesn’t perceive that he is spiritually dead). As you decide and choose—so it will be!

It all depends on my attitude to the Upper Force—as with, for instance, the force of electricity: It can heat, and it can cool. The choice is mine. You can study Kabbalah (the Torah in general) only if from the very beginning you establish an objective to attain bestowal (Lishma). Otherwise, you should not even open the book. Naturally, everybody starts this studying egoistically (Lo Lishma), but we don’t have another choice; we were born in this egoism. Yet, we must be clear that we desire to attain bestowal. The Torah is given to us solely for this purpose: “I created the evil inclination and handed down the Torah for its correction.”

This is what we must teach first of all. This is the prime directive in the upbringing of a person: in kindergarten, school, and society. He has to understand that he is growing up in order to unite with all the others as equals, in absolutely mutual bestowal. And when, gradually, his desires become disclosed, he has to start learning Kabbalah in order for him to learn how to correct his egoistical intentions into altruistic ones. This is called to come from Lo Lishma to Lishma.

This concerns adults and children alike. Primarily, we must explain to a person that Kabbalah and the Torah are handed to us solely to change our nature. There isn’t any other purpose! Otherwise, a person will only increase his egoism with its help, wishing to receive this world and the future one for himself.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The Zohar, Chapter “Tetzaveh” (Command), Item 18:  And when the light of Butzina illuminated in the letter Yod, from the part of illumination of the Yod, the three points of the Yod—Holam, Shuruk, Hirik—expanded, became two lines, and the middle line connected to them in Hirik. …Then these four points expanded and became one Heichal…. hence there are only four points in each of the two letters Hey, and not all nine, as in the Yod. This is because each has only one Behina of the Yod—one has Toch and the other Sof.

Baal HaSulam explains that the tip of the letter “Yod” which was made by the Creator “out of nothing” includes everything within it. The Light and the point “made out of nothing” constitute complete opposites; the Light is round and so is the darkness which stands opposite to it.

How does the Light, by acting within desire, generate various forms of desire? If the Light and desire stand against each other, why doesn’t the Light influence desire evenly? The secret is that the Light influences desire not as good influences evil or the Light darkness. That being the case, a small black point “Yesh Mi Ain” (existence from absence) would simply expand. Rather, the Light carries the “Thought of Creation” to please the creature; it bears the Creator’s desire to not only fulfill the creature, but to also transfer the Creator’s inner essence to it, thus making the creature similar to the Light.

In other words, the Light carries within itself two qualities that impact the “dark point.” This is why the dark point not only expands, but also develops in different directions. This gives rise to the forms which we call “letters.”
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From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/31/10

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A question I received: What does it mean to “engage in the authentic Torah”?

My Answer: As Baal HaSulam writes, to practice Kabbalah means to realize it in oneself, to experience it. The Light that corrects us is called the Torah. It is opposite to me and shines from afar onto my Reshimo (my spiritual, informational gene). I evolved in the previous generations according to the chain of Reshimot and arrived to a Reshimo called the “point in the heart.” It awakened under the influence of the Light, and gives me a feeling that there’s something higher than the life I’ve been leading in this body.

All the work is done by the Light that Reforms. It’s the Light that awakens me. Initially, the Light developed me at the animate level. However, now the time has come for me to become human.

I, myself, am not able to act, so I appeal to the system of souls (a Kabbalistic group) and from it receive additional will and additional importance of the Creator, that is, I start feeling His importance and my own insignificance. The difference between one and the other creates additional desire called MAN (prayer). I raise this MAN upward. Basically, my work lies mainly in this. When I raise MAN, the desire to attain the Creator, to a magnitude 10 times greater than it was initially as my point in the heart, I have done my work.

However, this is not yet “studying the Torah”  or “engaging in the Torah.” So far, all this has been preparation. But now, the Light begins to illuminate me with greater power. This is now Surrounding Light – 2. It shines on me differently, in a straight line, and to the measure of my yearning.

The perception of the importance of the Creator is called Keter and one’s own insignificance is Malchut. This means I’m now acting in accordance with the goal of attaining the Creator by arranging my desires into one line. Its two outermost points are Keter and Malchut. The Creator and bestowal are above, and I and reception are below.

Now, the Light comes to me in another, direct form, and begins to collate my properties. It shows me what is more and less important within me by putting everything in order. That is, the Surrounding Light – 2 is well-ordered, and according to this order, it begins reforming me. This means that I’m now “studying Torah” since I’m studying what modifications the Surrounding Light is making within me.
[14941]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A question I received: Why does Baal HaSulam write that the transition to bestowal is nothing more than a psychological problem? Then what is so difficult about it?

My Answer: The psychological problem consists of beginning to relate to everything that happens to an intentional external influence on you. Afterward, all the worlds will connect together for us. However, for the time being it poses a psychological problem for us.

We need to try to detach slightly from ourselves, as though we are looking at and evaluating ourselves from the side (drunk people sometimes experience a similar sensation of a double vision). We should continuously analyze ourselves and to say that everything that happens in our heart, mind, and life in general is the Creator fulfilling, controlling, and playing with us. "I" is not I, but His game, and I am watching this myself.

I have no other choice. I am completely driven by the inner fulfillment, which He gives me. However, He gave me an additional point from which I could look at myself and say, “Everything you think and everything you feel comes from Him.”

Question (continued): How does one rise above this state?

My Answer: You need to demand from Him to change your nature. The Creator gives you special, external circumstances all the time, and you need to ask Him to change the circumstances within you (your properties) and to bring them into agreement with the external ones (the Creator’s properties).

Suppose we enter a place with particular external circumstances, which we are unable to stand. Usually, in this case we wish to change the environment to suit us. A “psychological change,” however, is understanding that instead of changing external circumstances, we need to change ourselves to match the external circumstances since the externality cannot be changed. We can transform ourselves to resemble the new environment, and then we will feel comfortable in it. This is a psychological change, a new approach to the changes that humanity is going through today.

Even now, like during all times, we wish to change the nature that surrounds us and to arrange the world according to how we understand it. However, we have begun a different program, and this world (the Creator who arranges all this) now demands that we ourselves begin to change in the direction of the Creator.

New circumstances emerge around me: Darkness comes into the world, everything contracts, becomes more confusing, unclear, and scary. But rather than asking to change the world around me, I need to ask to change me.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/10, Shamati #16

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Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 2:  “…that there is one famous and painful question which is asked by everyone on earth: “What is the meaning of our life?” The question pushes aside all other questions and doubts regarding the study of Kabbalah since the years of our lives are so costly to us and bring about so much pain and suffering. Will our lives just come to an inevitable end? Who enjoys them, or to whom do I bring enjoyment?

We see that our life ends without any benefit or result. The more humanity develops, the clearer we understand this. Therefore, disappointment and depression are the foremost problems in the world today.

Many people throughout the generations have tried to answer this eternal question, but it still stands before us in all its strength and bitterness, catching us off-guard, burning in our minds, and shaming us to dust. After all, this question cancels out our very “I,” and man cannot consent to this since it touches upon the root of his soul.

If this did not concern our eternal essence, we could escape this question by turning off our minds with drugs or antidepressants. However, the question about the meaning of life does not pertain to the years of our corporeal existence.

The question, “For what was I created?” comes from my core and directs me to my initial root from which I can learn the reason for my existence. However, for the time being, we manage to be subdued, without thought, by falling into the well-known trap of giving into the flow of life.

We try to fool ourselves in every possible way, but it is becoming more and more difficult to exist according to the scheme: birth, school, university, job, children, old age, and death. We have no choice, in order to solve this question, I need to substitute the environment which helps me forget and hide the question concerning the meaning of life, with an environment that will help me expose it and answer it as quickly as possible.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/10, Article “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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