Before we read The Book of Zohar, we have to be aimed at the goal. All the previous life cycles we had gone through were developing us in the material plane, where we were closed off inside ourselves. We only aspired to increase our internal will to enjoy, trying to fulfill it as much as possible. We experienced a connection with others only in order to use them for self-gratification.

This developmental process eventually brought us to a point where we have exhausted all the possibilities of being fulfilled. This caused a feeling of disillusionment in our attempts to feel perfection or pleasure in this manner. We know we cannot attain a perfect, eternal life, even though our ever-developing desire hoped for this. We feel that there is nothing left for us to do with this aspiration for ceaseless self-gratification.

But suddenly, together with the disappointment from this life, we reveal the point in the heart – a desire to find the answer to the question of how it is possible to attain that sensation of a perfect, eternal life. This desire pulls us outward instead of inward, away from the place where we had always tried to find fulfillment and perfection in life.

“Outward” means changing your attitude to other people, although you will only realize this much later. You always aspired to use your neighbor in order to fulfill yourself, but now you have to understand that there are no other opportunities besides changing your attitude to your neighbor from reception to bestowal.

By bestowing to your neighbor, you acquire a new desire – the desire of others, who are actually inside of you. You will discover that their desires are actually yours; they are the desires of your soul. If you acquire the right connection with them, then all these desires will become yours. They will be your vessel of perception (your Kli).

But is this really possible? Indeed, it would never be possible if we tried to achieve this on our own. However, this is what we have to accomplish in order to acquire the sense to perceive the spiritual world.

The spiritual space lies beyond your body. It is your attitude to that which is “outside of you.” Right now it seems non-existent, unreal, and unattainable. You reject these desires, which are “outside of you.” You cannot imagine that they belong to you, and therefore you can’t imagine what the spiritual world is. You can’t even surmise that when you attain these desires, within them you will reveal a fulfillment called “the Creator.” In the meantime, however, they seem non-existent or empty to you.

This blindness keeps you from feeling that the spiritual world is comprised of those “foreign” desires which are outside of you. Right now you perceive your attitude of reception to them as “hell.” If your attitude to them changes to bestowal, then you will feel that you are in “heaven” because you will feel everything that fulfills them – and you will desire for all of it to fulfill them as well. In other words, you create hell or heaven yourself, “outside” of you.

Therefore, in the beginning of your spiritual development, the Creator brings you to a Kabbalistic group. However, you don’t see it as being great or spiritual. It is written, “Every person judges others to the extent of his own faults.” Baal HaSulam explains in the article “The Creator’s Concealment and Revelation” that your attitude to others determines what you will find in them: emptiness or fulfillment, this world or the spiritual world, and even the World of Infinity.

Therefore, you have to convince yourself that spirituality lies in your attitude to everything outside of you, which is beyond the limits of your corporeal desires. It is written, “The Shechina dwells outside of man” (beyond man’s skin or surface, which refers to one’s animate desire on the level of Aviut Dalet – the skin of an animal).

A person has to accomplish this inner change using help from outside – from the group, which will give him the right sensation, understanding, and confidence. The group will convince him of this because the environment is capable of convincing us of anything. This is our primary task. This is why we hold friends’ gatherings, meetings, congresses, and all sorts of events; it’s to enable every person to be influenced by the right environment, which will convince us that spirituality is attained precisely by changing our attitude to others.

The entire study of the science of Kabbalah is intended to help us understand this, to be convinced of it, and to reveal the right attitude of bestowal, even love, for our neighbor. Through this attitude we will also reveal our true selves – our soul, or more exactly, our common soul, Malchut of Infinity. We will reveal the Shechina and the Creator ruling over everything together, as it is written, “He and His Name are One.”

This is the intention we should have when reading The Book of Zohar.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” Item 57: And He planted that seed in one righteous man, which is Yesod de Zeir Anpin.

I have to imagine that I have this quality – Yesod of Zeir Anpin, which is called a righteous man, and this is where my seed is planted, being the point from which I grow.

He is the garden’s gardener. And the seed in the garden, which is Malchut, is the concealment and hiding of that Light. This means that the concealment is not absence, but on the contrary, it is a seed of blessing. The concealment itself will become Light once more, like a plant that buds from the seed.

In his article, “Freedom of Will,” Baal HaSulam gives this example: We have to try to plant ourselves in a Kabbalistic group like planting a seed in the soil, where we annul ourselves completely before the environment. Then we will become a seed that has to disintegrate completely and “rot” in the soil in order for a tree to grow out of it.

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A question I received: It sounds like all the efforts we make while attempting to figure out if we’re receiving for our own sake or giving to others do not really contribute to our spiritual advancement. Am I right?

My Answer: Kabbalists give us the following advice:

– Choose an environment that will make us value spiritual attainment;
– Love the friends, connect with them, and see them as pieces of your soul;
– Read The Book of Zohar together while aspiring to see qualities of bestowal inside ourselves; and
– Trust that these actions will attract the Light that Reforms (Ohr Makif).

The means to do this are:

– A teacher who consistently directs us at the right way to read;
– Friends who raise our aspiration for revealing spiritual forces within ourselves;
– Kabbalah books that we read and work with to find the Upper Reality that is inside of us; and
– Dissemination in order to attract more people that will strengthen the environment and everyone’s aspiration toward the Upper Goal.

The practical implementation of all this takes place during the study of The Book of Zohar. This is the only means of contact we have with the Light that Reforms because while reading it we are between two worlds: the Upper World and the lower world, and we are then able to find the link between them.

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Our entire nature is made of a desire to enjoy, and this desire will forever remain with us. However, the desire itself contains many contrasting parts which are different and disconnected from each other.

It is similar to how impossible it would be to compare certain functions of the human body such as the liver to the heart, or the brain to the kidneys, since each one has its own cells, distinct from the other. In fact, if we were to transplant part of one organ to another, it would poison and kill that organ; that is how different and alien they are to each other. But their common work together in harmony, for the same goal, unites them into a whole body.

That is why it is not unlike that which we read about in the spiritual systems within the soul’s body. The functions or qualities of Job, Pharaoh, Israel, Abraham, and so on, seem contradictory to us. However we must not destroy even a single quality. We only need to assemble them correctly so that they are ultimately included in one intention of love and bestowal, which is for the sake of the Creator.

Moreover, there is room for each and every desire, even the “negative” desires like Pharaoh, Job, Bilam, Balak, and even Amalek (the biggest desire for self reception). There is not a single desire that doesn’t connect to this one intention of bestowal. Our desires will remain different, but in the end, these differences will not be felt. Indeed, all parts of the system will work in harmony, interconnected and joined together with the aim of becoming like the Creator.

To become like the Creator means to replicate the system which is shown to us as an example through The Book of Zohar. It is similar to how we teach a child by example, such as how to behave in this world, while the child tries to emulate it. Likewise, we need to develop our desire to understand how to unite all of our desires, thoughts, and intentions into the system we read about in The Book of Zohar.

Right now very little of that system is understood to us, just as a baby barely understands his mother yet strives to know. While it is extremely difficult for the baby since he doesn’t yet grasp spoken language, body language, the world he lives in, or anything at all, he nevertheless exerts tremendous efforts to do so. Imagine that we are in this baby’s place; that is the exact same state described for us by The Book of Zohar.

We stand before big adults (the Kabbalists) who tell us about a world, which we neither know nor understand. But there is a critical difference between a baby in this world and us as babies in the spiritual world, and that’s the baby’s natural, inherent instinct to attain the world. It is a great desire to attain which defines an infant’s whole life, whereas we must create that same great desire to attain the spiritual world within ourselves, by absorbing this desire from our environment. Thus the environment functions as the organs of that same body, which are particles of our own soul that we unite together and attach to ourselves, so as to attain this whole system.

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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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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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A question I received: Is it worth it to try to correct past mistakes?

My Answer: You are now at some point in your life. Everything that happened to you until now was not done by you at all. You were simply led to where you are now through various twists and turns and different situations. So what can you possibly correct? After all, it wasn’t the present “you” who did all of that, regardless of whether it was good or bad actions.

Let bygones be bygones. However, from this moment on, everything depends on you. So don’t torment yourself for the past; in fact, don’t think about it at all. By so doing, you will only stop your progress forward, like Lot’s wife from the Bible who looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. The most important thing is to always keep moving ahead and holding on to the present moment. Our main objective in the present is to find the means to help us move forward along the path.

I exist, and around me I have an environment which can help me expose the importance of the spiritual goal. I can only reach this goal by attaching additional desires to myself, because that goal is revealed inside those desires. And the only way I can attach those desires to myself is through the Creator, the shared Upper Goal.

Consequently, I have to combine myself, the environment, and the Creator into one point, and do it in the present moment. This is my only task and responsibility. Everything else, including the past, has no relation to this.

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A question I received: What should I do if I’m not bothered by the fact that I hate everyone and wish to use everyone to satisfy my own desires?

My Answer: Keep going. Reaching this realization is a great accomplishment. But now ask yourself: Along with your hatred, do you understand that it is purposeless, useless, and harmful to you? Do you understand that the goal lies on the other side of creation? You have to reach a mental understanding that the goal of creation is not inside you, but it pertains to what is outside of you.

Our problem is that we tend to forget about one single element: the Upper Light, the Upper Force. Everything we do – including the studies, dissemination, and work in the group – is necessary only to draw the Upper Light, instead of to gain more knowledge or feelings. Only the Light changes us and takes us through the necessary thoughts and feelings.

This is how we advance toward the goal. We don’t need wisdom; we just need to attract the Light that Reforms. This is why we have to arrange an environment around us that will always give us the necessary support. Then we will be able to see that only the Light – a force outside of us – can save us.

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A question I received: What does it mean in Kabbalah to turn to the group?

My Answer: To turn to a Kabbalistic group means that a person is completely helpless, he is drowning in an ocean, he finds himself in a horrible situation, he is starving to death – and suddenly, he reveals that there are good people all around him who want to help him. He must only ask them and show them that he wants help from them!

He has to be sure that they will help him. He doesn’t even need to hear them say that they agree to this. Everything depends on the person, similar to his outlook on the Creator’s attitude to us. In reality, the Creator is always ready to help, and the group is the same thing as the Creator. If I nullify myself before the group and expect to receive help from it, then I will receive it! It will happen automatically. It does not depend on specific people in the group, since I turn to their inner, corrected state, which is in the World of Infinity and which even they may not feel yet.

In order to achieve this, I have to really need it. I have to despair from my own lack of power and believe that I will be able to do it only with their help, only if I receive their support, their mutual guarantee, their energy, and all the rest. If I nullify myself before them in this manner, then I will definitely succeed.

However, I have to nullify myself completely. In order for a seed that is planted into the ground to grow, it must first rot. Similarly, a person must first reject all that is his in order for the group to influence him to the full extent. He will then enter a new life; a new plant will sprout from the seed that rotted. But it won’t happen until the seed rots.

We think that we have joined others and are building something together, but that is not so. A seed has to nullify itself, and then the environment will influence it. A person has to understand what he needs to receive from the group – which minerals he needs, what kind of moisture, warmth, and oxygen. He has to disintegrate in order to be able to absorb the influence of the environment.

We, however, think that all of the moisture, minerals and oxygen are inside us. Yet, all that we contain is the Reshimo, and nothing else. The rest comes from the environment, since the entire spiritual system is built upon our connection.

If a new cell is transplanted to the body, then the whole body begins working on it. We, however, have to annul the protective forces of the ego, which reject a foreign body and don’t let them connect. This is something we have to do on our own.

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The Creator created the desire to enjoy, and nothing was created besides this desire. A greater desire for pleasure dominates over a smaller desire. Thought or the mind helps us go from one desire to another, from one state to another, from a particular type of desire to another type.

Desires are the matter of nature. Meanwhile, a thought is the means, the instrument that helps us use the desires, to shift around within the force field of these desires – from a greater force of desire to a smaller one, or the other way around, as though coming closer to a magnet or drawing further away from it. A thought is the force of movement between desires. It enables me to change my placement among different desires, shifting between them. However, no matter what desire I am in, it still dominates me.

Therefore, I need to use the power of thought to help me understand and convince myself that my desire, my state, and the circumstances I am in are bad. There are better circumstances, but to get there I have to change my desire with the help of the thoughts. I have to transfer myself from one wave of the force field of these desires (the intensity of the field) to another wave (intensity), like a charge in a magnetic field.

In the science of Kabbalah, the thought’s analysis of the desire, which I am in, is called a realization of evil. The development of the thought in me occurs under the influence of the environment or under the influence of the Upper Light. In this manner, we can “flow” through the field of desires, shifting between them, from a lower desire to a higher desire. The thought (realization of evil) helps us go from one state or desire to another.

Hence, the mind and the feelings work in us interchangeably. However, we always move according to one scheme: desire – thought – desire.

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