All that the Creator created, all of matter, is a desire. By acting like the Creator, I am essentially researching myself. It seems to us that there are many things existing in the world. However, the world is actually a person’s inner perception: it’s his inner state.

The matter of which I am made, the desire to receive pleasure, is organized within me in such a way that I call it, “my world.” Within this matter, I discover everything at the inanimate, vegetative, animate and human levels of nature. My entire desire is the reality within which I exist. All I have left to do is to uncover it completely and see how it is structured, what are its constituent parts, what forms each of the parts takes, and what are the various connections between the forms and parts.

This is how the Creator teaches me to identify His actions, and I increasingly study Him within myself. In the end, He is the one who acts and manages everything, while I am the one who becomes His creation by uncovering it all. How do I complete an action? I do it by uncovering the Creator within that action.

The Creator and I are both working on the same thing – my desire. With the help of my point in the heart, I can come out of my matter and study it from the outside. I can relate to it like the Creator does. In this case, He and I are together above this matter, above creation, and I can acquire the Creator’s mind and the Thought of Creation.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on the article, “The Acting Mind”)

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Suffering is pushing man towards entering a higher dimension and to waking up from this sick, deformed dream where he feels himself as existing in a shattered reality.

He can look back and understand that by causing harm onto others he was only hurting himself. If he only knew then what he knows now!

He looks back and sees that those parts of reality that appeared foreign to him and which he only wanted to exploit, are in actuality, close to him and more importantly, are parts which he considers as himself.

He will see that the part which he sensed as his own “I,” in actuality, isn’t at all important. This is because the force of desire that is revealed in his external parts is many times more potent, and they become most important to him.

He sees that everything was deception and that by hating and exploiting all that surrounded him he was only harming himself. It was all a big mistake.

These revelations help him advance until he reaches full equilibrium with the entire universe being revealed and he begins to identify with it.

In coming to know that he belongs to this vast universe and that the universe belongs to him, he reveals the Upper force which fills everything.

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A question I received: What is the unification of the points in the heart that we are trying to achieve?

My Answer: When a desire for bestowal, called a point in the heart, emerges in a person, at first it is controlled by the desire to receive pleasure. So for now, the desire to bestow is situated within our egoistic desire to receive, and this is why it is called a “point in the heart.”

The unification of the points in the heart that we are trying to achieve is the unification of our desires to bestow. You have to unite your point with other points in order for all of you to influence each other. Thus your desire to bestow will rise above the desire to receive.

If we come out of our desire to receive and create a net among us above it, then precisely this net will be called the soul. All the points that I have joined, will turn into my soul. In addition, the might of the soul is determined by how connected I am to others and how much I desire to bestow to them.

If we influence the desire to receive pleasure with the force of the Light, then this desire will not be able to interfere with our progress, since it has no contact with the Light. And then we can raise our point in the heart higher. This is called “the exodus from exile.”

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I am the desire to enjoy. This is the only quality I was created having, and so I exist in it. However, I also have the ability to attain bestowal by uniting with this quality.

My essence will always remain the desire to enjoy. I cannot change it; I can only control it through the force of bestowal that I receive from outside. If the Creator will become important enough for me, then I will then start using my nature for His sake.

The way to receive the quality of bestowal is from outside, with the help of the Light. We can do this because we have a memory of this quality, which we used to have before we fell into egoism. This is why the quality of bestowal can reawaken in us under the influence of the Light.

This is exactly why I am referred to as man (Adam), because eventually I can and must become like the Creator. (In Hebrew, Adam comes from the word “Dommeh” – similar.)

So, what I have to do is to consciously use the Light so it will bring the quality of bestowal back to me. At the same time, my desire to receive pleasure will remain the same. Yet, the quality of bestowal can grow inside me so much that it will become more important and will control the quality of receiving pleasure.

The two qualities – reception and bestowal – never change. The only thing that changes is their balance inside a person. The stronger of the two qualities controls him.

It’s like a magnet that holds up a piece of metal: While the magnet is working, it holds the piece of metal suspended in the air, as if it were “spiritual.” But as soon as the magnet lets go of the piece of metal, the latter immediately falls back into quality of absolute egoism.
(From Part 2 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”)

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It is written, “There is not a blade of grass below that has not an angel above it that strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow,’” which means that everything comes from Above. And this general governance from Above is the shared path of the whole world’s development.

However, when we try to attain the goal of creation, we subject ourselves to the individual governance, which operates by a different rule: our desire, our prayer (MAN) from below precedes everything else. It is only afterwards that the Light (correction) descends from Above. That is why any new spiritual state that emerges within us is a result of our desire for it. However, we have no control over the actions that take place; we merely ask, demand and desire for something to happen, and then the Light from Above, from our next degree, performs this change within us and we ascend onto the next degree.

The entire skill of the spiritual work is to understand this, and then to begin to feel and act in this manner. All that is required of us is to investigate, scrutinize and ask for something, and as soon as our request is made correctly, it draws an instant response from the Light.

Therefore, all the changes begin with man, but are carried out by the Creator. The Light remains in the state of absolute rest, waiting for us to demand these changes.

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A question I received: You said more than once that everything occurs within a person. The whole picture of reality is projected on a screen in the  brain. Who is it projected to? Who sits on a chair, watching this picture?

My Answer: The desire! The desire to enjoy, which has 613 (TARYAG) Reshimot,  are connected to each other in a special form, called 10 Sefirot or five Partzufim.

The world consists of five Partzufim, with five Sefirot in each Partzuf, and five sub-Sefirot in each Sefira. Consequently, this is a huge structure, with many parts, which are connected to each other like pixels on a TV screen.

There is a whole layer of desires in the desire to enjoy. The Light enters the desire, fills it, and builds it according to four stages:

• In stage Alef, the desire begins to feel fulfilled.
• In stage Bet, it wants to become similar to the Light.
• In stage Gimel it desires to become just like the Light, and
• In stage Dalet it desires to become independent and to absorb all of the Light.

In this last stage, it already understands what is happening to it, and the desire evolves due to the Light. These are two opposite forces, one of which influences the other. Therefore, the Light develops the desire until it begins to feel and understand itself, as well as to feel the root and understand it. This is how matter develops.

From where do we come to enter into this world? We come from matter, which consequently represents electrons, protons, neutrons, and positrons, which begin to connect with each other in an ever more complex manner.

This connection forms matter, which suddenly begins to move and to feel on its own–what is good or bad for it,  what to draw closer to and what to distance itself from.

It begins to think what is to its benefit and what isn’t and it therefore begins to make plans. It has already gained a sensation of the past, present, and future. It remembers the past and foresees the future.

All this is formed from parts of matter due to the fact that they unite with each other, forming more complex parts. However, what does it mean to “unite?” In this unification, matter receives a quality of the Light, since otherwise it is incapable of uniting.

It turns out that there is a desire to receive pleasure in the form of enormous or microscopic masses of matter, right down to elementary particles, which are studied by quantum physics.

However, unification between them is possible only with the force of bestowal in addition to the force of reception. Then a quality of the Light enters the matter, and this matter begins to consist of itself and its opposite.

From these two opposite qualities being joined together, a sensation of “I” and “the Creator,” emerges, which is a sensation of the receiver and the giver, the past and the future, the good and the bad. This is how matter begins to perfect itself and perceive the reality that surrounds it.

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A question I received: What is universal ego, and how can one take care of seven billion people? What should I do for them and what should I feel while I’m doing it?

My Answer: We don’t have a better example than a family. Humanity is one family, but not the modern-day kind, where each member is ready to turn his back on the rest; rather, it is the traditional kind, where all are tied together with strong bonds. You watch out for all family members – their health, sustenance, well-being and success. If any member of the family is in dire straits, the whole family suffers. This is how we must take care of all seven billion people.

As a matter of fact, nothing could be easier. You only need to exit your egoistic desire, and then you will discover that there is no difference in relating to seven billion people, one person, the Creator or several friends. The difficult part is to free oneself of egoism. To achieve that, you need to witness how interconnected we are. Kabbalah helps “open your eyes” to this connection.

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Preparation to the Lesson
By uniting, we create a common desire, within which we can reveal the quality of bestowal.
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Part 1, on Shamati #18, Shamati #18, “What Is, My Soul Shall Weep in Secret in the Work”
You should see yourself as a laboratory, where you perform experiments based on the Kabbalists’ instructions.
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Part 2, on “Inner Observation” in Talmud Eser Sefirot
No matter what kind of changes are happening around us, they are all happening inside us.
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Listen >>

Part 3, on “Introduction to the book From the Mouth of a Sage”
Everyone has to study the science of Kabbalah. After all, this is what man is born for: to correct himself.
Watch >>
Listen >>

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If a person begins to work directly with his desire to enjoy, trying to suppress it or, vice versa, to increase it, then the process takes place within the boundaries of this world. There are many people who are willing to suppress their desires for the sake of something more important – for example, because they want to lose weight, keep a healthy lifestyle, or attain success in a sport.

In these cases, the bigger egoistic desire subjugates the smaller desires. Everything depends on one’s decision. What is more important for me?

The society and advertisements can imbue us with values that are so artificial that they will force us to act contrary to our natural, egoistic desires to enjoy life. That’s because man’s greatest desire is to merit society’s approval, as this is a desire that comes from the connection among the souls.

Many people cause their egoistic desire to grow on their own or under society’s influence: they struggle to win wealth, fame and power, without setting limits for themselves and trying to fulfill themselves directly. Both approaches are egoistic and common in our world. Even what we call “mercy” or “empathy” is also a form of reception in disguise.

If, however, a person wants to ascend to the level of true bestowal, then he has to find a way to be sure that he isn’t lying to himself, that he isn’t remaining inside the same egoism as usual. This is why he is brought to a society whose objective is to attain bestowal and unity with each other, but in addition, this is done for the sake of revealing and uniting with the Creator.

In order to do this, one needs the Upper Light, because an external force, the force of the Light, is needed to carry out the work against one’s egoism. In this case, I don’t choose which desire is more important to me, to eat well or to lose weight, but I simply decide that my egoism won’t receive anything at all. My only reward will be the quality of bestowal that I acquire.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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We don’t understand how two opposite phenomena can exist at the same time, how it is possible to receive and enjoy, and at the same time to give delight to the one who gives you pleasure. These feelings are opposite. So how can they be combined, if they are aimed at opposite directions: one towards me, and the other towards Him? How is it possible to simultaneously feel pleasure from two desires?

There are no examples of this in our world, because it is based on one desire alone, which is the egoistic desire. But in the spiritual world, there is an additional desire, the desire to bestow, and both desires work together.

But first, these two desires must go through a collision with each other. The will to enjoy grows and contradicts the will to delight. The harmony between them takes place in virtue of the third line, which isn’t just a connection of the two desires; it isn’t a comprise. Rather, the two desires – “for myself” and “for Him” – become one. The only way for this to happen is through the revelation of the Upper Light, which gives you the ability to understand opposites and connect them together.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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