The Creator purposefully divided our perception into external and internal in order to give us the ability to recognize the opposition between reception and bestowal. If we felt everything only inside ourselves, we would not be able to understand it. We would be going around in circles like a dog chasing its own tail, while staying in the same place.

For example, each of us has numerous negative qualities that we may dislike, such as a weakness for lying, dominating over others, arrogance, and theft once in a while. I may hate all of these qualities, but they are all mine. Therefore, I acquit myself. But if I see someone else doing the same thing, then I am ready to kill him. If I always perceived everything inside of me, then I wouldn’t be able to get out of myself or my ego, and shift to the side of bestowal.

“Every person judges others to the extent of his own deficiencies.” This means that by perceiving these qualities as external to me, I see their true form. If they were in me, I wouldn’t relate to them objectively, since they are mine. For example, see if you can convince a mother that her child is not intelligent or beautiful. You can’t; she will always think that he is the most beautiful, intelligent and kind child in the world.

But since I relate to the external qualities as foreign, I view them with animosity and hatred, and therefore I am able to see these qualities (which are actually my own) in their true form. I am able to look at them without prejudice; I can criticize them wisely and correctly, and my ego helps me with this analysis, like a strict judge that pays attention to the minute details, revealing the true corrupted qualities.

However, later on I reveal that all of this was mine; it exists inside me, but because of my extreme hate for all other people, I see everything to the extent of my own corruption. Yet, others are not guilty of anything! It only seemed to me that one person was a thief, another was a liar, and I was right to hate all of them. Now, however, I see that my egoistic desire was really at fault. Yet, the external vision had opened my eyes and allowed me to recognize the deficiencies, in order to then learn that they are inside of me.

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A question I received: During lessons on Talmud Eser Sefirot or Ptiha (the article, “Introduction to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”), do I have to imagine that everything we read is within me in the same way as when we read The Zohar?

My Answer: It’s good to identify with the text and to want to sense it from within yourself. However, while reading The Book of Zohar, the approach and the system that are built into this text embed themselves into us and show us the shapes, pictures, and sequences through which we enter spirituality. On the other hand, Talmud Eser Sefirot works in a different way. Nevertheless, if while reading Talmud Eser Sefirot, a person is able to begin imagining internal actions that are harmonious with his desires or opposed to them, if he starts sensing that the things described in Talmud Eser Sefirot are talking about him, then it will impact him no less than The Zohar.

We have to understand how all of this works and to imagine that the will to enjoy was created, then it wanted to “receive for the sake of bestowal,” and then it broke. What happened to this desire after it lost its screen, and how do all five components of this desire now behave? How does it empty itself of the Light? It doesn’t want to lose the Light, but the Light goes away because the forces of concealment act from Above. The desire’s evil egoistic powers repel the Light.

All of this is talking about me. For example, inside of my corrected Galgalta ve Eynaim, I refuse the Light and place a screen (concealment) between myself and the Light. Thus I remain face to face with the Creator; I connect only with Him, but I don’t receive from Him since I refuse the Light. Thus, I stay with Him since I possess the power to resist my will to enjoy. However, my connection with the Creator (the Light of Hassadim) is very weak.

While I study, I have to imagine all these processes: how my screen disappears, how the Light goes away from me, how I want to resist my egoism and retain the power of bestowal, yet it disappears because my egoistic desire is bigger than my altruistic desire. I cannot cope with my desire because the connection between the desire and the pleasure is bigger than my power of resistance. I have to place resistance between two poles (plus and minus), but my resistance is so small that it burns out. A short circuit occurs and as a result of it, I burn. So, what can I do if I am no longer suitable for receiving the Light?

If a person imagines spiritual states in this way, he will want to read the text over and over again. Instead of perceiving the text as dry technical details about something that happens up above, he will see it as occurrences happening within him here and now.

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The greatest question facing us is how to obtain a desire for spiritual development, a desire to become similar to the Creator? How can we desire to become “givers”? Kabbalists answer that the best way to develop spiritually is through a means called “the group.”

Natural relationships with people in our environment (including feelings of envy, hatred, love, rejection, and the aspiration for power) can help us to acquire a greater desire for spiritual development. We can simply absorb the desire for spirituality from our friends. In fact, we will desire this despite the fact that it contradicts our own desire, because envy and other “negative” feelings toward others will make us desire this even more.

We are all part of a spiritual system where we are connected as one whole. Therefore, even if the society that surrounds me desires something unnatural and even harmful to me, I will also desire this involuntarily, in spite of my own nature. This happens because we were once connected, and this connection between us still remains. Therefore, I am influenced by others because at some time in the past I received my spiritual life from others, or through them.

This net of connection between us still exists now. I am connected to all other people, but I just don’t feel this connection and therefore there is no flow of life and Light in this net. However, if all of the other people begin to extol spirituality, then even though it is repulsive to me, even though I hate the thought of it and could think of nothing worse than to give to others and love them, I will still be influenced by them against my will. As a result, I will desire this state, which seems unnatural and contrary to my own nature, because there is an inner connection between us that has existed since the beginning of creation.

This desire that I receive from the right environment will, in fact, be the aspiration which I need in order to activate the system which controls and develops me. Therefore, if our friends feel that they do not feel The Book of Zohar, that they are unable to connect to this means of spiritual development, this is a sign that they lack the desire for it. Even though it seems to them that they have a desire for spirituality, it is just another type of egoistic desire.

And the reason they lack a desire to develop spiritually is that they cannot unite. This is what prevents them from receiving the strength and the desire for spiritual development from the group. Thus, the whole group and every person in particular have to work on this.

Initially, no one has a desire for spiritual development, for the quality of bestowal and love. Only the right environment can impose this on us. Our only freedom of will is to receive this desire from the group; this is our only chance to become human. The group should work on providing all the friends in the whole world an awakening for spiritual development, for bestowal and love.

On the other hand, we have to understand that this depends on every person, on every person’s ability to annul himself in order to receive this common desire for spirituality. This desire is present only in the group and can be received only from it.

This brings us to the most important point: that we have The Book of Zohar before us, as well as a ready-made system comprised of the group, the books, the teacher, as well as translations to other languages, television, and the internet. All we have to do is put our inner effort into one point, which is called “freedom of will.” In other words, we have to make efforts to unite with the group in order to receive the force of development from it.

Rabbi Yose ben Kisma said that if a person doesn’t have this force of development, then none of the forces of The Book of Zohar will affect him.

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A question I received: How can I find the inner qualities that The Zohar describes if I don’t understand any of it and can’t connect to it?

My Answer: We are like babies who don’t know what kind of world they exist in, but are in the loving hands of their mother and relatives who provide them with everything necessary for their growth. A baby just has to desire to grow up, and nature helps by providing him with this desire.

In our world, meaning on the animate level, this desire exists in babies naturally. Even on the still and vegetative levels, as well as the animate level, which includes a person’s physical development in this world, there is a natural desire to grow. However, if we want to grow on the human level – in spirituality, then the desire has to come from us.

Development happens naturally on the still, vegetative and animate levels of nature. Thus far, we – the people in this world – have developed on all these levels, and our desire has also developed on the same levels throughout all of history. But now we have to ascend to the “speaking” or “human” level. The human level means that we have to develop and attain the goal on our own. Based on all our bodily desires (for food, sex and family) and our social desires (for wealth, fame, power and knowledge), we have to develop our own aspiration to spirituality. We start with a point in the heart, but then we have to continuously push it to develop using the help of our environment.

To do this, we need the group because only it can give us the desire to develop the point in the heart. Armed with this desire, we begin to read The Book of Zohar together with the group. While we read, we have to desire to develop, where “development” means finding our future state or sensation in The Book of Zohar. This is the only thing we are looking for now.

Besides this, all we have to do is wait. Therefore, just desire to grow, like a baby who naturally wants to become an adult. See if you can calm him down, convince him not to grow, or not to desire and demand it. You’ll find that it is impossible to stop him because nature pushes him to develop with an insurmountable force. That is how tirelessly we must work in spirituality. We must always be searching within ourselves, and we must never calm down and never stop changing. Then we will indeed grow up. This is the only condition and the only thing required of us.

The system exists, but we have to set it in motion with our desire, our inner aspiration. Without this inner pressure coming from us, that system will not influence us. That is to say, it will influence us through suffering, in order to awaken us, but we won’t advance an inch this way, by means of suffering sent to us from Above. We can only advance by means of our own desire, which comes from below, from us.

We may be receiving perpetual difficulties and problems, yet be stuck in the same place because these problems are insufficient for us to desire to unite with the correct group and to acquire a desire to develop. Despite the difficulties, we will be standing in the same place. By themselves, the difficulties are not a sign of development, but on the contrary, a sign that we have not made a single step forward yet.

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If I look at myself from the side, as an unbiased psychologist, I begin to see how the Creator controls me. From this perspective I can respond to things more correctly, assume control over myself, set a goal, and make use of all my resources to achieve it.

I must always try to see what is controlling me and how I am being controlled. Sometimes I am dominated by overwhelming desires, and I simply lose my head and surrender. I forget that these desires have taken over me and that they are not me.

Still, I must remain my own judge and struggle for an opportunity to continue to push spiritually. But if I am to succeed, I must find an additional force, one that lies beyond the plane of corporeal desires; this force can only be received from the right environment.

Here is me with my physical desires, and there’s the environment with human desires for money, fame, power and knowledge. In order to advance spiritually I have to get out of this circle and connect to another kind of force – one of spiritual origin.

I have a point in the heart, but that is not enough. I need the group, the study, the books, and the teacher because they will give me that great force that I need in order to lift me out of all these corporeal desires and push me into the spiritual world.

It is not my plan to neglect these desires. I have to use them as a basis, and then, together with the help coming from this new force, I will be able to set the right course. This is how my point in the heart, which awakened within the rest of my desires, helps me to find a new environment – a new world. Therefore, without this environment, I would be left with nothing.

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You know you are studying The Zohar correctly when you keep reading it over and over, yet you don’t understanding anything. You shouldn’t be afraid of this or try to lie to yourself. On the contrary, you must accept the fact that it’s unknown like a baby, and then it will indeed begin gaining clarity.

Studying The Zohar brings a Déjà vu sensation, where something you have ready before suddenly surfaces in your memory while reading a different part of the text. When you read it the first time, you didn’t understand a thing, but now it suddenly all comes together, similar to how something in our world becomes revealed to a baby.

If it seems that the material is clear to you, then this is a grave error on your part that hinders your progress. You must clearly realize that you are reading about phenomena that presently do not exist inside you.

If your soul becomes corrected, then you will perceive them properly. But for now you are merely hearing the words without knowing what they really mean. For example, you read the word “darkness” and think that you understand its meaning, but actually it means something else entirely; it refers to the inability to perceive something. After all, the book talks about bestowal, whereas you only know how to receive.

Your opposition to the Light, to this exalted state of bestowal, is called darkness. Similarly, your likeness to the Light and ability to connect to a more advanced desire is called Light. In this regard, it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand and cannot imagine these notions. What is important is your desire. This is what draws the Light – the force that develops you.

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A question I received: In my daily life I try to imagine that everything I come across is a part of my desire. Is this outlook correct, or will it just confuse me?

My Answer: Everything depends on the results of this outlook. The world behaves according to invariable laws. Until you come out of this world into the spiritual world and begin to feel it in a clear and sensory manner, it is forbidden for you to comprehend the spiritual world as though it already exists in a ready-made form for you.

I can only exist in the spiritual world if I am on a spiritual degree, whereas in this world I always exist on the corporeal level. Both of these levels exist until I reach the end of correction, at which point this world will vanish from my imagination. However, until this state of my complete correction, I will always live and exist in this world according to its laws, without fantasizing that I supposedly need to follow the laws of the spiritual nature in this world.

I do not need to pull the spiritual world into this world, and I shouldn’t raise this world into the spiritual world. This corporeal level obliges me to follow all the existing laws in it, as evidenced by the rules, “A doctor has the right to treat,” “A judge has no more than what his eyes can see,” and “If not I for me, then who will be for me?”

Meanwhile, the rule, “There is none else besides Him” pertains to the spiritual world. And there is no connection between the laws of this world and the laws of the spiritual world. This connection is hidden from us and hence “it doesn’t exist.” We have to live in a realistic manner, only within the boundaries of what we really perceive.

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A question I received: How will The Zohar affect our unification in anticipation of the worldwide virtual Congress and other such meetings?

My Answer: The Zohar will do everything. We just need to add our intention and desire to see ourselves in a more advanced state. The Zohar will perform this work, but only according to our desire.

You can’t just sit there and read this book, even though the fact is that it will affect you by just reading it as well. If you come to a lesson and see that you have no desire – that your heart and mind are deaf, then you will still receive this influence, since you are sitting among everyone else and are connected to them. Even if you are unable to connect to the friends now, you still have a connection with them from past days, like a sick person in an unconscious state who is cared for by other people since he is human.

However, in any case, we have to try our hardest to place ourselves under the influence of The Zohar.

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The Zohar: “Who is that rising from the desert like pillars of smoke?” (Song of Songs), at the time when Israel walked across the desert.

A person on the spiritual path goes through states of darkness, emptiness and various problems, and he must constantly rise above all of this by acquiring the quality of bestowal.

The Shechina walked ahead of them, and they followed it.

If a person asks for help so he will have something to follow, and if he chooses to follow the Creator instead of his egoistic nature, then he sees a “pillar of fire” and “clouds of greatness” – signs that help him ascend up the spiritual ladder.

“The Shechina walked ahead of them” means that their only thought was about how to unite together into one gathering of souls, called Schechina.

The Shechina walked accompanied by all the clouds of greatness. And when the Shechina ascended, so did Israel, as it is written, “When the cloud rose above Sinai.”

When the Shechina ascended, the cloud rose to the highest peak. And all those inhabiting the world saw and wondered, “Who is that rising from the desert, like pillars of smoke?”

The desires that are able to follow the Shechina do so. And those that aren’t yet able to follow her are called “the nations of the world.” However, they also receive a revelation, and when everyone ascends, these desires also advance with them.

This is how a person advances by clarifying which desires within him are called “Israel” (straight to the Creator), “the nations of the world” (the desires that he is unable to correct for now), “Klipot” (desires that are completely unfit for correction until the end of all corrections). A person continuously sorts his desires and sacrifices them, causing the sacrificial smoke to rise, which means that he changes their use from “for my own sake” to “for the Creator’s sake.” Smoke (“Ashan” in Hebrew, also translates as “world, year, soul”) is the Reflected Light.

If a person works on himself in this manner, sorting his desires and attaching them to the Creator, then He attains similarity to Him. Thus, he raises the Reflected Light and opens the way to his next degree. In other words, he constantly reveals a new world, a new year, and a new soul.

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The Zohar: All the ways of the Creator are right, and His ways are true. Hence, “the just do walk in them,” since they know the ways of the Creator and engage in Torah, and anyone who engages in the corrections of the Torah knows the ways of the Torah and walks in them, and does not stray right or left. But transgressors do stumble therein.

This is not speaking about the material world, but only about a person’s soul if he uses all the possible means and his entire strength to try to attract the Light of Correction in order to merge with the Creator. A person wants to walk the right path, but along the way he sometimes experiences night and sometimes day.

That is why all of the “transgressors” described in the Torah (Esau, Bilam, Balak, Ahasuerus, the primal Serpent, the Pharaoh), as well as the “righteous” (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David) emerge in a person. He falls into a state of darkness, fear, war, troubles, and then he awakens, succeeds and advances forward. Then he goes through the same cycle again and again. He “sins” numerous times on the spiritual path because he has to reveal his entire uncorrected desire and feel how opposite it is to the spiritual goal. Only after that can he learn what kind of Light he needs in order to correct his desire and turn it into a bestowing one.

We don’t have any other matter through which to study what the Creator made and how He is acting inside us; we can only do so through the desire to enjoy, through empty, evil shells that are revealed in us. We can then convert the evil to goodness with the help of the Light to the degree that we gain knowledge about how to do this. A person has to sin first in order to understand that he uses his desire to enjoy for the sake of evil – against everyone and against the Creator. He then sees that he is full of egoism and it rules over him. While going though these states he is called a “transgressor,” and by correcting them he becomes “righteous.” So let us hope that we will become the transgressors about which the Torah is telling us, since these are elevated spiritual states.

These states come to a person who is ready to see his evil, provided that he does not submit to it but rather feels and discerns it. A special Light shines upon him, allowing him to discern the darkness inside himself. Similar to how we check Chometz with a candle light before the holiday of Pesach, a person should descend into the dark cellar within and, aided by the light of a candle, begin checking where is Chometz and where is food that is fit for Pesach.

Only the bestowing Kelim are good for Pesach, while all the rest is forbidden. We need at least a tiny candle light in order to go down to the cellar and begin checking it. That is how we prepare ourselves to exit from our inner Egypt. By revealing and checking the evil within, a person takes a step forward and comes out of the exile from the Upper World.

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