No matter what we do, we always act for the sake of our egoism and we never go against it. It was in order to help us exit our egoism and enter the Upper World that we were given the Light of Correction. This Light influences us even when we strive for an egoistic goal, such as when we are afraid of ending our lives without achieving anything of greatness, when we desire to feel eternity and perfection, and to enter the eternal spiritual world.

A person sees that he gets nothing from his earthly life. It is short and empty, and nothing remains of it once it’s over. We, as humanity, had to go through thousands of years of egoistic development just in order to come to this realization. And the majority of people still don’t stop to think about this even today, being preoccupied by the mundane concerns of daily life.

For now, they are still not so concerned about the meaning of life, as they are about how to gain the most in life. Their inner desires haven’t yet ripened sufficiently to ask about the meaning of life.

But if the point in the heart awakens in a person, he begins being concerned about his life after death. And later on he comes to understand that he can attain the sensation of eternal life even while living in this world.

Thus, he begins to study Kabbalah books, even though his objectives are still egoistic: He wants to master the World of infinity, to feel, understand and control everything. But gradually, the Light inside these books changes him and instills new values in him. He learns how to lie to his own body and to force it to work for the spiritual goal. And eventually he comes to agree and accept the path that the Creator has set for him.

The Light then raises him above his ego and brings him to the quality of bestowal. He thereby acquires a new mind and an understanding of the entire system of reality; he reveals the Upper Worlds and the thought of creation.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A question I received: Why does the science of Kabbalah devote so much attention to the structure of the spiritual worlds?

My Answer: There are five worlds separating us from the World of Infinity – the world of complete perfection, where everything is revealed. The five worlds are like five concealments or filters, concealing the World of Infinity from us. The worlds are called Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira and Assiya. Our world exists below the World of Assiya and is entirely concealed from the Upper Worlds.

Each world is structured in exactly the same way as the World of Infinity, but each lower world is weaker, less clear and shines less than the one above it. Besides this, all the worlds are the same: they have all the same elements, the same number of elements and the same connections between them. So, everything that exists in each world, including our world, is similar.
Therefore, the still, vegetative, animate and human levels of nature that exist in our world are interconnected inside one common structure, and have the same interactions and relationships as the forces in the spiritual world. The only difference is that the qualities of the forces are different. Yet, the relationships between the elements are the same, and their order is the same as well.

We exist in total darkness and therefore we don’t see the equivalence between our world and the spiritual world. This is the reason why we perceive things in our world as flawed, entangled, messy, and unfair.

However, our world is a branch, and its root is the World of Assiya. The World of Assiya, in turn, is a branch, and its root is the World of Yetzira. This pattern continues until it reaches the root of everything – the World of Infinity. This is how everything is structured.

We exist in our world and we have no choice but to exist in a certain reality with our particular qualities. I have particular forces, qualities, mind and feelings that cause me to discern a picture called “this world.”

However, I can start changing my feelings and my mind through this picture. The Upper World is built by the same model, and it differs only by its qualities. It presents the same picture, but in a more vibrant manner. Therefore, while I in our world, right now, I can try to attain the higher perception, for the reason explained above: because the elements of the worlds and the relationships between them are the same. It’s just that the quality of the forces in the spiritual worlds is higher.

By studying the science of Kabbalah, I attract a force from above upon myself, as I try to attain the Upper World. This aspiration brings me the Light, which returns me to the Source. The Light is the force that changes my qualities, but It doesn’t have to change my inner elements or their structure.

The Light has to change only one thing: the quality of my most prominent attribute, egoism. Instead of my egoism, the Light gives me a little bit of the force of bestowal, which is a force higher than my own. That is how I “rise,” together with all that I see and feel, onto a higher level or dimension, and thus, I begin to perceive the spiritual world.

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Desire must be whole. Take for instance a politician whose goal is to become a prime minister. His whole life is focused on this. Having set this goal for himself, he is prepared to discard all his principles and drag himself through the mud in order to achieve his goal.

Everything besides the goal is secondary to him. The possibility of becoming a prime minister captures the whole spectrum of his interests, and reduces them all to whatever can help him achieve the goal. That is what we call a “whole” desire.

A person who aspires to draw the Light that returns him to the Source examines all the qualities of his own nature and of the world, along with all the obstacles on his path, as a means of achieving the goal.

This examination and whole desire guards me from going off track under the weight of my egoism. If  somebody gossips about me,  tries to scare me away or detains me, or if  I am confronted with health problems, family responsibilities and stress, then I accept all of this with gratitude, as assistance to me in breaking the new ground of spiritual growth.

If I am correctly and fully aimed at the goal, I suddenly discover that all the obstacles are helping me on my path. All disturbances become “help against myself” – against my egoism.

There is nothing in the world that couldn’t serve as a means to achieve the goal. After all, the Creator has created everything for man and for his mission. It’s only a matter of how we utilize the “arsenal” available to us.

If I truly aspire to the goal, everything pushes me towards it. If however, I let myself be distracted by “attendant circumstances,” if I address the disturbances themselves, instead of utilizing them as means to attain the goal, instead of being a help to me, they will simply remain disturbances.

Only my distinct aspiration toward the goal will transform obstacles into distinct points of support along my path. Something that I perceive to be such a strong “headwind” I suddenly discover is acting as life support for me time and again, lending a hand and guiding me forward. By this “apparent opposition” the Creator actually helps me to advance.

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It seems to us that egoism always defeats us and erases all the results of our efforts, forcing us to always start everything from the beginning, from the darkness, as it is written, “There was evening and there was morning…” However, we have to prepare for the night, in order to take from it everything that is useful for our advancement.

A person cannot go to sleep without reading a page from an article. If you don’t do this, then you will definitely see empty dreams and will wake up with the same thoughts in the morning. This will happen to anyone, regardless of one’s spiritual attainment and level.

This is why it is a must to read an excerpt before going to sleep in order to wake up with the right thoughts for the lesson. What you read will circle around in your head all night, together with your dreams. This has to become a habit.

I learned this from my teacher, Rabash. He always used to read an excerpt from Shamati before going to bed.
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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There is no such thing as a descent in spirituality. You always keep everything you have attained. However, you do receive additional, new egoistic desires, and this makes you feel as if you are in a descent.

Yet, you shouldn’t think that the force of bestowal has abandoned you. Rather, this force has helped you to attain a greater revelation of egoism, and you should be happy that you have received the opportunity to see yourself as more deformed, to reveal more desires you can correct, and thus to ascend higher than ever before.

You should see yourself as a trail breaker who makes his way deep inside the egoistic desire, taking little pieces from there that can be attached to bestowal. You should use all your natural qualities, such as a thief and a liar, to steal from and lie to your own egoism.

After all, our egoism is but an animal, and it cannot find out about a man’s intentions. It only understands straightforward, direct gain. We are living inside this egoism and we do everything for its sake. Meanwhile, we don’t realize that we are dealing with our inner animal, which always demands us to serve it.

On the upside, it does not understand the human mind and guile, and this is why the right relation to it enables us to make it do anything we – humans – need.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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We advance under the influence of two opposite forces: bestowal (the Creator’s force) and reception (man’s force). It’s impossible to have a situation where only one force is present, similar to how in our world you can’t have one pole without the other.

Thus, each of us is influenced by these two forces at every moment in life. In addition, these forces are balanced so as to create a condition of freedom for us – the freedom to advance toward spirituality, toward the quality of bestowal.

This is why we are always in a “fracture zone,” if you will. One moment you’re excited, full of energy and movement, and the next moment you fall so low that you have no energy to move. The system of governance conceals the things that impede our development and creates various inner states for us, which depict the surrounding world. But all of this is in order for each of us to realize his free choice.

A person’s task is to do everything that’s in his power in every situation. Even if he thinks, “I’m good for nothing, and I’m definitely not fit for doing spiritual work. It’s intended for great people who have a lot of energy and talent.” Well, that’s just not true! It’s not the strong people who merit to reveal the Upper World, but the people who keep treading the path toward it! The souls that end up reaching the greatest heights are those that start their ascent from the very depth of egoism.

If a person has any opportunity to advance, then even if it’s purely egoistic, and even if he’s imagining all kinds of enticing rewards for his egoism – this is still a good thing! This is similar to how a donkey does work with its eyes tied by a cloth and a sac of grain dangling in front of its nose. This makes him walk around in circles and turn the wheels that turn the grain (an animal’s food), into flour (a human’s food). This is how an animal grows into a human being.

So, don’t pay too much attention to the conditions you are given, whether external or internal. All the states that we go through, regardless of how silly or useless they seem to us, are always the most useful for our advancement. We only have to try and do everything we can, like a baby that never gives up and is always tireless and enthusiastic. If we remain just as persistent, then we will definitely succeed!
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A question I received: Why do we need so much time – 6,000 years – to reach the Final Correction?

My Answer: The whole world is structured like a pyramid that divides into the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels. The inanimate level is our entire universe, which was created about 15 billion years ago. The terrestrial globe with, vegetative life on it, was created 4 billion years ago. The first living organisms emerged about a half a billion years ago. The first human being emerged about 50,000 years ago (depending on who you consider to be a human being). Do you see the proportion of how all of these levels correlate?

The same applies to humans, who also develop through the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels within. On the inanimate level of development, human beings developed for several thousand years, and during that period, there was nothing differentiating humans from animals. Then the period of the “vegetative” level of human development began. And we have continued to exist on the animate level of development until this very day. Our entire inner development occurs due to our growing egoism.

Egoism that is individual or personal is a quality pertaining to the animate levels. In other words, on the inanimate level, everyone was the same. On the vegetative level, egoism began to flourish in people, but they developed as one integral mass, similar to plants that turn toward the sun together, or bend down together due to the wind, or open up together because of rain.

On the animate degree, individual egoistic desires begin to appear in a person, just as they are present in all animals. But when does a person reach the human degree? This is only starting to happen now, in the 21st century! So, just look at how many billions of years it took for the universe to develop, compared to the development of the human being.

You are asking: “We have been suffering for 5,000 years. How much longer do we need to suffer!?” But why don’t you ask about the past 15 billion years? Because you have a narrow, subjective view, which does not grasp the whole process.
(From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on Shamati #13)

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Two questions I received about earthly love and desires:

Question: What should I do when I realize that love I feel toward another person is the game that the Creator is playing with me? Should I pray for the Creator to give me strength to love only Him and forsake earthly love in order to focus only on the Creator? After all, my love is a force that I feel inside me. Changing one love for another is not as easy as changing currencies. Such prayer too, requires a lot of strength. Can I play with the Creator, through such love?

My Answer: Don’t philosophize. Continue to study and the Light will put everything in its place. Leave it to the light. Above all – don’t leave your studies. That is the only thing that you have the ability to control.

Question: I’ve been studying for six months and would like to ask a question that really bothers me.  If I separate myself from the desire to receive, then who am I? If I am the desire to receive and my individuality is a collection of my Reshimot, what desire should I separate myself from? Do I have to leave only the necessary desires, and if so, how do I define them?

My Answer: You shouldn’t separate yourself from egoism, but instead, just aspire to  connection with the Creator. These are different tendencies! Let your egoism be. To the measure of your aspiration towards the Creator, His Light will act upon you and the Ohr Makif will make all the necessary corrections and changes within you.

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Preparation to the Lesson
The science of Kabbalah begins from the point when a person understands that he is ruled by egoism and wants to be ruled by something else.
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Writings of Rabash
All of one’s actions should be focused on the intention one has when reading a Kabbalah book. One should expect it to give him the force that will correct him.
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“Preface to the Sulam Commentary”
The spiritual “me” is the unification with other souls. It is impossible to be alone in the spiritual world, because it is governed by bestowal.
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Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind And Before
New movies and books create new standards for a person, opening up the possibility of a different reality for him.
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The first stage on the spiritual path is recognition of evil and its purpose, which is to lead me to the understanding of my entire nature. The program which draws the picture of reality for me by giving me the sensation of this world and my part in it, is called ego, or the desire to receive pleasure only for myself.

It locks me inside, engulfs me and draws all of my attention, making me think only of myself. I act according to that program, unable to even imagine that there is another option, another reality. What can possibly be done to change this perception and behavior?

Our nature itself leads us to recognition of its evil, leaving us no chance to escape it. It has power over us, locks us inside and constantly coerces.

This is the worst kind of slavery, when a person reveals that he is a prisoner of his own nature and can only obey its orders. He knows in advance that he has no choice but to obey, even though each order he follows, will further harm him.

Kabbalists have a parable, where the angel of death comes to a person and extends a sword with a drop of poison on its tip. A man obediently opens his mouth, knowing that by taking it he will die, yet he licks it. He has no other choice.

It is a great inner drama. All of man’s work is in realization of his exile and bondage. When a man is completely in despair, the point in the heart awakens inside him and begins to shine for him, showing him that there’s another world and a blessed shore on which to land.

He can’t continue to sit inside a shell forever! He has the ability to hatch  and climb out as a worm that comes out of bitter radish and suddenly sees the sun and breathes the clean air.

A person can then hear that there is a method that allows escape from the servitude and terrible life where the pointless cycle repeats itself: birth is succeeded by death. He discovers that there’s a means to break that vicious cycle and rise.

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