A question I received: What forces assist in the “rotting” of the desire to receive pleasure, called “body”?

My Answer: The despair is due to the inability to be filled, rather than despair from the desire for pleasure. One reaches a point where he no longer believes that it is possible to be happy in this life. The unsatisfied desires bring us to depression. This, of course, is for a purpose. It is so that all of humanity will reach this stage in order to discover a need to search for a solution and a need to rise to a higher level. Egoism will help us reach this point and will force us to make a decision. This is called “help against you.”

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Soon, the science of Kabbalah will be in high demand because without it a person will not be able to survive in the completely global world. It will become increasingly apparent that we have no desires or qualities that match or are appropriate for the world that is currently being revealed to us.

The Light from The Book of Zohar creates a sensation and understanding in us of global oneness. From that, we receive an opportunity to understand this world, to see it correctly through the matrix, which the Light creates in us. Then further, we want the force of nature, which established the global world that is being revealed to us now, to affect us in the same manner and make us suitable for it. We want our inner system to be similar to the system of nature that surrounds us.

Previously, it always seemed to me that I was above nature and that I controlled it. However, now I understand that this is not so, and I want to unite with nature, which is global, integral, huge, whole, and perfect. I want to use its integral force, its oneness. Now, I see that I am the only corrupted element, its only part that is not integral. Only my ego separates me from nature.

So let the force of nature abolish my egoism and allow me to be together with everyone! I see my redemption in this!

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A question I received: How can I be sure that my request is correct and that it is directed at correction?

My Answer: If a person studies together with us, his intentions are constantly corrected, one after another, and they unite. It’s as if a “viral” correction occurs between friends. We give each other the opportunity to be corrected since we are connected into one system of souls. This is the greatest correction of all possible corrections.

On his own, a person is not capable of anything, but if he has a desire and tries to unite with others, this will work as much as his ego (also called Pharaoh and the heaviness of the heart) will allow. Therefore, a person doesn’t need to perform a calculation for himself alone as to whether his efforts were successful. On his own, a person will never correct himself and he cannot even correctly evaluate his intention.

We need to learn jointly, to feel our unification before the studies, and to aspire to learn like one man with one heart in order to draw the Surrounding Light onto us.

Every lesson presents the opportunity to unify and draw the Light that Reforms, and so each lesson is like the reception of the Torah under Mount Sinai. After all, we need to receive the Torah which is the Light that Reforms. As it is written, “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a means to correct it.” Therefore, we are standing under Mount Sinai at every given moment. Receiving the Torah, the Light that Reforms, is on the condition that we become like one man with one heart.

Individual calculations aren’t applicable; success depends on everyone together, each one according to his ability, uniting in the conditions that are assigned from Above. Success depends on the united effort that comes from us below. Therefore, we need to continuously, tirelessly press on. As a result, our efforts will accumulate into one large account and, finally, revelation will occur.

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A question I received: We live our lives in hopes and never achieve pleasure. What will happen when we acquire the desire to bestow? Will we be able to feel pleasure then?

My Answer: When we transform the egoistic intention into the bestowing one, time ceases to exist. The very notion of time disappears because there is no past, present, or future in spirituality. Being in the attribute of bestowal, we don’t inquire about cause and effect. We delight in the act of bestowal that we find ourselves in, needing nothing else. Having the opportunity to bestow is our reward.

But don’t we care about the results of our actions? An opportunity to bestow is the result. For this reason, the concept of time disappears and everything is at absolute rest.

Egoism promises us the future, while in spirituality, there is no future; everything happens in the present. The future is felt only if I reveal the lack of bestowal in my current state, only if I want to bestow more and aspire to it. It’s as if I desire to go from the small World of Infinity to the big one.

This, too, is possible only through “magic,” through egoistic desires that are helping me. They reveal to me the deficiencies of my state, the impurity of my bestowal.
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A question I received: In our material lives we are in a dead-end situation where it’s impossible to attain pleasure. But what does the science of Kabbalah promise us?

My Answer: When I sit and study The Book of Zohar, it is called Lo Lishma – an egoistic action. I deceive myself because I plan on fulfilling my egoism through this action, but in return I receive the quality of bestowal.

Why does this action end up bringing us success, unlike any other? It’s because by making these actions, I desire to do everything I can to attain bestowal. I look for signs of bestowal along the path, consciously deceiving myself, and I use the Light that brings me correction and draws me closer to itself.

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A question I received: What is the difference between the states called “seven fat years” and “seven years of famine”? How do they apply to our world?

My Answer: “The seven fat years” (seven good years) is the time humanity strove to reach prosperity. We wanted to accomplish a good life through the technical, scientific, social, and political revolutions. Just a few years ago, Americans claimed that they were the most successful in achieving prosperity since they were a consumer nation. The more people consume the greater the overall affluence. Now we discover that a consumer culture is not sustainable; we are destroying ourselves and our planet. We cannot continue on the path of consumerism because there are limits to everything.

Forecasts for the future when I was a child painted a much different picture of our current state of affairs. I was told that when I grew up I would work only four hours a day instead of eight, I would use the rest of my time for cultural pursuits, I would have a two month vacation, and children of the future would be well educated and more culturally developed.

However, people today work a twelve hour day and barely take vacation. Education and culture are in dire crises. Families break apart. The majority of humanity exists in desperation and depression dependent on antidepressants and “recreational drugs.” We have come to the state where “the seven fat years” have ended and “the seven years of famine” (the seven bad years) have begun. The “seven years of famine” occur in order to bring humanity to the decision that it no longer wants to continue such an existence.

So now what should we do? The people in ancient Babylon faced the same dilemma when their egoism exploded, as ours has now. And the advice given by Abraham at that time is applicable today.

“There are two possible solutions here. Do you want to spread out around the entire world, while the purpose of creation is to bring us to similarity with the Creator?” “Do not escape your mission,” Abraham warned, “It is inevitable that you will come back to it in four and a half thousand years.” And of course, Abraham was speaking about our time.

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We exist inside our egoism, where we imagine the material world. If we want to ascend from matter to forces and reveal the true picture of reality, then Kabbalists have given us a special opportunity, made possible by the language of branches which they chose for their books. As a result, we have the opportunity to make efforts trying to imagine spiritual qualities behind every word of The Book of Zohar.

By attempting to see spirituality in this way, you express your desire to change, your desire for a certain force called the Upper Light to influence and change you. When it does, you will feel your inner qualities becoming corrected and overpowering corporeality. You then begin to live inside your inner world – the world of forces and qualities of your soul, despite the fact that they are described using words of this world, making it seem like they’re talking about regular matter.

All five worlds from the World of Infinity to our world are similar in structure. They differ only by the material of each world, but not the particular details and connections between them. Essentially there is just one system – the World of Infinity; all the other worlds are the same World of Infinity, but with flawed connections between its parts.

Each world consists of the same parts, which are connected by the same connecting threads. It’s just that these threads grow weaker as they descend from a higher world to a lower one. Therefore, when we read a narration that uses words of this world, we have to aspire to transpose this story onto a higher world.

Even if I don’t receive any real knowledge, but simply desire to make out something higher behind all of these words, it is sufficient to attract Light from that higher world. In the higher world, that Light is Inner Light, whereas for me it is Surrounding Light. This Light will begin gradually correcting me and will help me to ascend (in my understanding and feelings) to the world that the Light comes from. This is how it works.

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The Creator does not send me suffering. The desire that is not similar to the Upper Light awakens within me and I feel this dissimilarity as suffering with respect to health, money, honor, power, security, spouse, children, and the whole world. I feel pressure, hardship, and various problems.

Who or what is at fault? My desire that is opposite to the Light. It arouses the sensation of suffering within me. This sensation does not come from the Light. The Light is at absolute rest; it is good and brings goodness both to the wicked and to the righteous. It is me that is not similar to the Light, my qualities that are different from the Light.

For example, if a desire of 10kg awakens in me,  I have to become equivalent to the Light in those 10kg. That is, I have to build the “intention for the sake of bestowal” upon that desire and then I will find myself in my “little” World of Infinity. Afterwards, the desire will increase to 12kg, and I will have to correct my intention for bestowal for the additional 2kg, and then I will feel myself in a greater World of Infinity, and so on.

My egoistic desire increases day after day. However, if I only want to use the increased desire more  by exploiting others for my own benefit instead of connecting with them and bestowing to the Creator with other parts of the common soul,  then I feel suffering in that desire. Egoism suffers from its own opposition to the Light that surrounds it. We create suffering for ourselves; it is not the Creator. He is perfect, so how can He change?

I’m immersed in the sea of Light now. Yet if I don’t try to become similar to Him, to the degree of the thoughts and desires revealed to me now, I will feel bad, and tomorrow, I will feel even worse than today.

Try to become similar to the Light every single moment. The Light is bestowal and love for the other; it is universal unification. All private desires, individual souls, will unite and this single big desire will become similar to the Light.

How can I accomplish it? How can I help in this process? Start thinking about it and you will see that your suffering will cease. Suddenly you will realize that your desire that is aspiring toward the Light is actually similar to it. In this part, you will feel yourself as the Light, as the Creator. You have the method and all the means for it.

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A question I received: Why is it so difficult to admit that I am egoist and to find the evil within me?

My Answer: Because a person is a living being, he possesses a protective force. He has to protect himself, his life, his nature, and his “I” similar to how the peel (Klipa) protects an apple as long as it grows. If there is a defect in the peel, then the apple rots without ever reaching the state of ripeness. Therefore, the peel must always be there to protect it.

The ego is Klipa and must be protected as long as the desire within it grows. When the desire contained within becomes full, then the Klipa can be removed and the desire (the fruit contained within) used. Therefore, as long as we grow, our egoism constantly protects us by not allowing us to realize the evil because that evil is still insufficient. If there were no Klipa, we would cry and scream to the Creator like a small child who cries and calls out to his mother over every little occurrence that happens to him.

Our ego locks us up from within, making us a “stony heart” and preventing us from asking the Creator for correction. A person says, “I am a man and I won’t ask You for anything. Moreover, You will do whatever I want.” Thus, we oppose the Creator and wage a power struggle with Him. This is why Pharaoh said, “Who is the Creator that I should listen to His voice?” We want the Creator to do everything that we desire. We don’t turn to Him with a request, but with a demand.

Indeed, the demand has to be present, but it has to come from the full, ripe ego, the “evil inclination.” Reaching this takes time because it’s very difficult for a person to come to accept the fact that he is an egoist. Nevertheless, eventually, under the Light’s influence, one reaches the breaking point, a state called “the gate of tears” where a person feels that he has nothing.

At that point, a person is ready for anything. He says to the Creator, “Do what you will. I don’t care if I don’t receive anything. I don’t care if I have nothing. Just let me stop being who I am! Take away everything, but please take me out of this state! I cannot stand it any longer because I am opposite to bestowal.” This is the internal crisis point that has to become revealed in a person.

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Our egoistic desire filters reality to suit its purpose. In effect, there is a filter before us through which we see the world. In other words, we don’t see the world, nature, society, and people objectively the way they really are; rather, we merely see what is profitable for our ego in every object, namely by what is either beneficial or harmful to it. Thus, out of an infinite reality, we sense only its minuscule part called “this world” because our ego cannot perceive anything more than that.

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