Understand that you did not fall, but rose to the next degree and received a new desire, specifically because you did such a good job! Now, we simply need to join forces in order to turn this darkness, this apparent barrier (Machsom) into Light. And then you will receive an even stronger inspiration than at the convention.

We received some initial impression there, and now we need to realize it in a clear and practical form. Now, we need to methodically break that wall, the Machsom between us, which we have felt slightly. We need to keep hitting it in one place, and it will collapse after several blows.

This happens suddenly, “in a blink of an eye,” as it is written about the coming of the Creator’s redemption. Revelation occurs suddenly: Efforts keep accumulating and, all of a sudden, the escape route opens for us to run in extreme haste.

We need to do all of this now, but instead we keep remembering how nice it was at the convention, unlike here, where I am now. However, this is the actual time for work. We did not work during the convention. It was the result of everything we had accumulated in the past, which combined all the efforts, hopes, money, and nerves.

The time to work has come again. The work is always the same. Our ego, the desire to receive pleasure, constantly keeps growing and shows itself in different ways. You need to recognize it and understand that this is “help against us,” that this is sent to you for a specific purpose, out of great love.

The Creator is playing with you like with a small child who is given small obstacles on purpose in order for him to learn to overcome them and grow up. This is how we advance.

However, a child has a natural instinct that pushes him to develop, and he never sits in place, as he is constantly trying to overcome something, do, understand, feel, or break something. Meanwhile, you need to work on your desire yourself.

Imagine the fate of an indifferent and bored child who is too lazy to play with toys, and he sits in class like you, all sleepy with his eyes closed. Will he develop and grow up? This is exactly what is happening to you now.

However, the Creator will not deviate from His program. He must raise you to His level until you become equal to Him. So, what is there to do when you sit with your eyes closed? He will have to beat you until you wake up.

Yet, if you want to do the walking instead of going down the path of suffering, there is one simple law: “He who chooses the best environment every time, advances.”
[27444]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/10, “Body and Soul”

Related Material:
Living In The Stream Of Endless Light
Face-to-Face With The Creator

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - 1 Comment →

Question: Since I started my spiritual development, I have been experiencing various desires related to the corporeal world. I am constantly trying to shield myself from them, from the desire for power and knowledge, but it is pointless. Does it hinder my advancement?

Answer: Don’t work against your natural impulses and desires. There is no coercion in spirituality. We mustn’t annihilate our desires, violently suppressing and halting them within ourselves. Exist as you always have, as usual, but put all your effort in drawing the Light that Reforms.

Until now, you have been evolving led by your natural instincts given to you at birth as well as by what you received from your upbringing and the impact of the environment that has planted all the values and calculations in you. All this is derived from material nature.

However, now you are given an opportunity to receive a second nature, so let it develop. Don’t try to do something with it forcefully; it’s forbidden. Don’t interfere in the Creator’s work! Just put all your effort into helping yourself grow spiritually and touch none of your material desires and qualities. Don’t try to defeat them. The power of resistance comes from the Light which makes a restriction in you and hands you a screen.

Being a hero doesn’t mean the external suppression of desire in myself as if it doesn’t matter what is happening inside me and how I look on the outside. This is called the approach of Musar (religious ethics) which is unacceptable from Kabbalah’s perspective.

We need to let the Light that Reforms work, and all our Kabbalistic method is aimed at it. We only have to create the conditions for our point in the heart to grow the entire new world. That is what we are doing, and nothing more.

In the meantime, let us not worry about what is happening with our first nature in the corporeal world. Live, do whatever is necessary for your normal existence, and don’t fight your desires. However, all your attention should be focused on the second part of reality.

What will occur as a result of this second nature and how your first nature will change can’t be known in advance. Perhaps, at some point of your spiritual development you will feel great cruelty or stronger material urges for food, sex, family, power, and wealth.

Don’t try to correct them; just keep drawing the Light. Otherwise, you will only harm yourself. This is a very important warning. It hurts to see how many people get hurt while battling their desires.
[27578]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/10, “Body and Soul”

Related Material:
Who Doesn’t Wish To Be Eternal and Happy?
Take The Creator’s Hand

Filed under: Body and Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A - 2 Comments →

Question: What does it mean to be above disturbances?

Answer: Above disturbances means that I take them, process them, keep them, and stay above them as if I am atop the waves.

I don’t erase them. They remain inside me and by ascending above them I come in touch with the Light, the Creator, the One who bestows to me. He gives me these disturbances so that above them I would come closer to Him.

The disturbances are a language. The Creator awakens my inner qualities that are opposite to Him. If I ascend above these opposite qualities, then I come in touch with Him.

For now this contact is not felt very much, yet nevertheless through it I begin to feel His attitude. I begin to value these disturbances because precisely they bring me contact with the Creator. Without them I would never come in touch with Him.

The disturbances show me what separates us, what prevents us from coming in touch with each other. If I ascend above them, then I overcome the obstacle and acquire a certain connection with the Creator.

Therefore, we have to be grateful for all the disturbances; we have to process them correctly and treat them as an obstacle that we have to ascend over in order to attain a connection with the Creator.

The quality that separates me from the Creator becomes the quality that connects us if I ascend above it. In spite of the thing that seems like a disturbance to me, I perceive it not as a disturbance, but as a means to create a connection with the Creator.

If I cancel myself and desire to be above the disturbances, then I “swim” above them as a wooden chip on waves, constantly being in touch with the air. Therefore, I don’t erase the disturbances, but am above them. I need them in order to ascend above them.
[28064]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Between Slumber And Awakening
You Will See A Reverse World….

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Q&A, Zohar - 2 Comments →

Question: How many people must hold the intention simultaneously in order for the spiritual connection to get revealed?

Answer: Only I. If I uncover my desire to unify with the others, I discover that they are already united. It seems to me that they are not unified in order for me to work on them and them on me. Yet, all of this is in relation to me.

As long as I am not corrected, I see my corruption in them and work on them so that they influence and strengthen me. Thanks to their support, I correct myself and then see that they are becoming more corrected as well. After all, “every person judges according to their own flaws.”

It turns out that I must worry only about my own correction. What about the others then? If I see that the world is broken, I have to correct it. This means that I correct myself. In this case, if I treat the others with the intention to bestow, I don’t see them in the broken state. Rather, I see the Shechina (divinity) in them, the revelation of the Creator Who fills the entire world.
[27298]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
A Human Is Defined By His Intention

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: The Creator is concealed, but instead of Him I have the group. How can I see pure bestowal in it?

Answer: There are always disturbances in the group, and it is precisely with their help that we can do wonderful exercises, practicing to become similar to the Creator. Any negative must be used precisely as it was intended in order to turn it into a positive.

Everything is for the best; we only have to act correctly, without backing down from what is happening and by building the right attitude to it. “Everything is for the best” does not mean that we accept the inevitable ahead of time, as people commonly do. Rather, above the disturbance or example we received, we must first of all discern the final point, the corrected state. Then I will find the way to turn the incorrect into the correct, to unite myself in the present, the disturbance (which may be related to the friends, the Creator, or even my personal circumstances), and the goal of creation.

I will find out how to correct any aspect, be it a desire, intention, thought, or event. Not only will I be able to justify it and attribute it to the Creator, but I will also attach it to a connection with Him. I will understand to what extent I have to reconstruct my desire and way of thinking in relation to the given event, and how much I have to change my perception of the event in order to see that the Creator has brought me goodness.

The sign of this will be joy: I am happy because the Creator has given me the opportunity to come that much closer to Him. That is how our efforts gradually accumulate into a great possession.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
The World Depends On Me
How Do You Become A Spiritual Superman?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, My Similarity to the Creator, Perception, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Instead of gaining superpowers, I feel weaker from one day to the next. How can I become a spiritual superman that ascends above his ego?

Answer: First of all you should base everything on the facts. There’s no reason to get scared of the facts because everything comes to us from the Creator, who presents a process to us as a way to learn something.

The Upper Light influences our inner Reshimot, creating inside them the pictures that appear before us. He takes informational data (Reshimot) from us, projects them on our inner screen, and thus we perceive ourselves as being in a specific state.

All of these states have to happen to us on the path. So what’s the problem? Is it the fact that sometimes I feel bad and sometimes I feel good, having completely no power over myself? After all, I am governed by the Light.

Now I am receiving an explanation of how the Light influences me. But who am I? I only observe this work. That is why it is called the Creator’s work. We are looking at it from aside and should use it to learn about what is happening.

Is it unpleasant to know He is operating me? What if I looked at my friend who suddenly cries or feels happy, sometimes he sleeps and sometimes he is rushing off to some place; that would be normal because I would see the Light’s actions operating someone else. But I am not glad to observe how all of this is happening to myself.

On one hand, this is correct. On the other hand, if you start to identify with these actions, with the Creator, and if you desire to justify Him, then you won’t care what passes over you. You identify with the One who operates you and perceive yourself as the material for Him to work on.

Can you detach from this material? Can you say, “This is not me at all. If I am moving, doing something, thinking or desiring something, none of it is me. I identify with the Creator who is doing anything He wishes to this material.” That’s when you can already see yourself from aside.

Now a question arises: Can I ask the Creator to carry out other goal-oriented actions? It’s possible that this will happen, so let’s try. What actions will they be? And for what? What will He hear? What will He want to carry out? I don’t want to ask Him for something vain. If I have already reached a state where I act together with Him against my body, as Moses did with the Creator against Pharaoh, then let me ask for something real. That’s when a person begins this entire process.
[#27650]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
The Art Of Winning

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, My Similarity to the Creator, Q&A, Zohar - 1 Comment →

I must “force” myself to unify with the friends and constantly keep in mind that success lies solely in unity. This is what our common, collective aim should be: unified desires turned to the Creator. Unified, they become one shared desire aimed at the Creator, the property of bestowal, so that it would unfold and dwell within us.

We have to act as if that is what we yearn and beg for. This “as if,” bubbling all around me, saturates me with true desire. This is the rule of how the environment affects an individual.

As a result, having gotten inspired by the environment, everyone begins to cry out. It may not be an authentic action yet, but it is enough to draw the Light that Reforms. We cannot cry naturally. If we could, we would already be in the spiritual world and have the correct desire. Hence, our crying is insincere, but the Surrounding Light still illuminates us and brings us what we pretend to be asking for.

That’s the kind of game we are voluntarily playing, “If you plead as if you desire it, I will do as you ask.” Yet, I have to try to the best of my ability to imagine our corrected state as close to reality as I can. Thus, from Lo Lishma (not for Her Name) I transition to Lishma (for Her Name).

On the spiritual degrees, the Light responds even to an insincere plea. It is called the plea for correction. I am corrupted, and I ask the Creator to fix me. I ask reluctantly, specifically because I am flawed.

Herein lies the bridge from the corporeal to the spiritual world. While below the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality), I am unable to beg naturally, but I am willing to exert effort to unite with the others.

Thereby, I carry out the agreement: I perform an action in response to which the Light comes in. In the corporeal world, I arrange a situation, a link, which allows me to trigger a reciprocal action in the spiritual world.

The same rule applies when we ascend a ladder in the corporeal world. However, the key lies in the qualitative transformation of my nature when the property of bestowal descends and starts governing me.
[27148]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/10, “All Who Suffer for the Public”

Related Material:
The Goal Is Not Half Of The Way

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

The Light corrects the Kli (vessel) very simply: It comes and settles in it. And the Kli immediately gets “tamed.”

We are managed by the Lights as we speak. We can be clever or foolish, kind or cruel, and all of this is done by the Light. It affects everyone each instant in accordance with its program. We all reside in the ocean of Light; its waves lift us up and throw us down, mixing us together.

Therefore, getting to know the Creator, the Light, the property of bestowal, our mutual connection, is all one and the same. The arrival of the Light is our correction. When it comes, you become “sentenced” to it and are unable to (and don’t wish to) act otherwise. You realize that you are ruled by the Light that dictates all your actions.

This is what your connection with the Creator is. It is in you, and you feel how He works in all your desires, governing you. So, you comply with Him.

Then, beside the points that have joined your Partzuf, you will discover new points and will start asking the Light to help you unify with them. In this manner, a series of corrections continues, always at your request.
[27145]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “All Who Suffer for the Public”

Related Material:
True Lie

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work - No Comments →

Contact with the teacher and the group provides an opportunity to discern my relationship with the Creator each time. With the group, you work directly, but when it comes to the teacher, you must exalt the importance of his words and his message in your eyes. Otherwise, you won’t be able to stay on course. What matters here is not only theoretical analysis, but also practical realization, which, so far, has been “lagging behind.”

Besides, a student must be cautioned against despising the group and the teacher. In fact, it undoubtedly prevents him from an opportunity to advance and throws him years back. I feel very sad when I witness such cases.

Despising others is natural in itself, but when a person doesn’t resist it, it is a big problem. Herein lies an opportunity for self-analysis since the measure of contempt for the teacher and the group is the degree of one’s contempt for the Creator. The only difference is that in the case of the Creator, it is concealed.

If a person doesn’t fight his contemptuous attitude and doesn’t overcome it, he is “bounced” back to such an extent that it is sad to see him here at all. In truth, he thinks that he is advancing, although without the group, he would realize sooner that he has strayed off the path. Then, he would be able to recognize what is happening and recover the course.

Contempt is the worst that may occur. I feel sorry for those who are taken off course by it.

We are interconnected in such way that all the abundance reaches you only through me. This is the structure of the spiritual world: I receive from my teacher, and you receive from me.

We must not allow ourselves to despise the source. On the contrary, we should cling to it tighter with all our heart and soul. I am saying this solely because we will not reach what we desire otherwise. In this, mutual work and growing unity are needed.

This will become increasingly evident. In the past years, we were not knitted together so strongly and didn’t realize that we have to bond in souls. However, our present conditions force us to do it more. As expected, issues, hardships, coldness, and arrogance will arise. We have to work on and rise above this “matter.”

[27142]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “All Who Suffer for the Public”

Related Material:
Hear The Teacher

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Spiritual Teacher - 2 Comments →

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that when a person acquires spiritual attainment, he “travels around an enormous world.” What does it mean to travel around the Creator’s world?

Answer: The world is Malchut of Infinity, while all other worlds are separate, particular states in it that reveal its specific qualities in relation to us in order to help us become fully part of it.

“Traveling around the Creator’s world” means attaining Malchut of the World of Infinity and revealing the entire might and wealth of the connections among its parts, which connect and supplement one another.

I don’t have anything else to say because words cannot describe what happens Above once good and evil, truth and falsehood unite. They unite and complement each other, and we reveal this inside us, in the common desire of all the souls, called Malchut of the World of Infinity.

This is called “traveling around the Creator’s world.” It’s when we can use all the forces and all the desires of Malchut of Infinity, attaining each of its details and all of them together.

The most important pleasure is “when doubts are resolved,” meaning when things that seem opposite and hateful to one another suddenly unite. That is when love flares up among them, forming a place to be filled by the Light.

That is how a person “travels” around the Creator’s world, checking all of the harmony in which Malchut of the World of Infinity resides.
[27323]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

Related Material:
Change Your Glasses
Returning To Malchut Of Infinity

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Q&A, Spirituality - 1 Comment →