I use the word "Stimulator" to call the system that we must now build because it comes from the Greek word “Stimulus,” meaning a sharp, pointed stick used to poke donkeys in order to keep them moving. Our “donkey” (“Hamor” in Hebrew) is our egoistic desire (“Homer”) which only understands the language of a “stick.” Yet, instead of driving this “donkey” by painful poking, we want to awaken the human being in us who looks ahead and yearns for the future on his own. We need a stimulus, but a positive one. We need to be driven by “lovesickness,” the desire to attain this state. This should be the only force driving us ahead, instead of corporeal pain pushing us from behind.

We have to invoke just one kind of suffering inside us, the question, “Why haven’t I attained unity with the Creator yet? Why am I not in awe of Him?” The first stage in returning to the Creator is “repentance from fear,” which occurs when I put forth efforts to cultivate an inner sensation of awe regarding the spiritual goal, the Creator, and bestowal, instead of running ahead because I fear painful blows that come after me. That is how I change my motivation or Stimulus.

If I run ahead motivated by the strikes (fears about things in this world or punishment in the world to come) then I am not returning to the Creator. In fact, this is how humanity has advanced naturally for thousands of years, but it isn’t spiritual evolution. It is the evolution of desire where we replace an unpleasant state of existence with a new, hopefully better one.

Yet, returning to the Creator is described as “Tshuva (return of) Hey to Vav,” which means that I invoke my own inner fear of not having the quality of bestowal and love. But what can I do if in actuality I am not concerned about this and feel no fear? Where can I get it? The answer is only from the environment!

If the environment paints a picture for me that makes me realize how horrible my condition is and, at the same time, that there is something incredibly wonderful awaiting me, then I will strive toward it. This is the correct, spiritual stimulus that enables us to advance. This way of advancing is correct because it is voluntary, and we therefore make this entire process an “awakening from below.”

However, if I don’t arrange an environment that instills this yearning for advancement in me making me run because I fear that I haven’t attained this goal yet and terrible misfortunes are following me because of it, I will never move into the next moment! In fact, I won’t move one bit.

That is why we need a “stimulator” and a positive one!

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I have strong hopes that you will understand what the spiritual stimulator that we want to build is. The group is something extremely vague, unknown, and elusive; it’s as if it is hanging in the air somewhere. Meanwhile, the stimulator is a very tangible place on the Internet where questions, answers, aspirations, goals, and clarifications are concentrated. You can think of it as a third party. For the time being, this kind of attitude toward the group, the soul, the spiritual world, and the Creator is more understandable to us.

The spiritual world is revealed in our connection, in the network that connects us. This is why we have to build this space on the Internet so that it will connect us. Think that it’s a connection between us, and give more strength to it every time. Everyone can enjoy great impressions and inspiration by taking part in it because it is less obscure and a more tangible environment that one can actually “touch.”

Today people live on the Internet and reveal the whole world of senses and a new dimension there instead of in our material life. If we attain the state in which the group influences and awakens us through this stimulator, then we won’t miss a single moment in spiritual advancement.

It may be that a person’s entire life is just one moment which can remain unfinished. This is because a moment begins from Above and is finished by us below. The Creator awakens a person and he has to react. If he responds to the proposition of getting closer, then the moment is finished and the next one begins.

Life is composed of such moments; they make up our advancement and determine how much we will achieve during this life-cycle. However, if the person does not respond, a moment never finishes…Seize the moment!

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/10, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 18

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The group is the matter in which I work. It is the place or laboratory where I implement all of my actions. It is, in fact, an aiming device that helps me stay directed at the goal. Otherwise, I would not be able to see it.

Suppose you needed to shoot a target from a cannon. How would you hit it if you couldn’t see it? What would help you aim at the exact point? You would need an outside observer who sees everything from the side, like a third force that aims you.

What is this third force in our case? The Creator is hidden from me and I am far from Him. That is why an observation tower or an aiming device called “the group” is built for me. If I unite with it and aim at the goal from within it, I will definitely hit the target.

I have to consider many conditions, such as “distance,” “wind,” and so forth. I can find all of this in the group. It is hard enough to hit a target in the material world, but even more so in the spiritual world where there is an infinite number of conditions of which I am unaware.

This whole system is concealed from me. Later I will realize that I am actually engaging a very complex and gigantic system, like a baby whose crying makes everyone around him run and keeps entire factories working to provide diapers and baby food for him.

We engage the environment in the same manner, unaware that we are doing so. My connection with the Creator broke, but by building a connection with the environment, I will “hit” Him without a doubt since He becomes revealed within that connection.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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There are two steps along our ascent to the spiritual world, and the first one is to obtain a desire (Hissaron). In our corporeal world, we are born with a desire to reveal this world and to rule, take advantage of, and connect with it. But in the spiritual world, it is different since we need to earn this desire.

It is the Light that helps us with this. We use it to arrange our egoistic desire in an opposite, altruistic form that enables us to obtain the desire for bestowal, that is, a spiritual Kli (a spiritual vessel is a desire to bestow).

In our world, we are given the desire to receive, understand, and feel. Likewise, in the spiritual world, there is a desire to bestow, love, connect, and unite. How are we able to obtain it? Clearly, we can receive it only from the Light that Reforms and nothing else. And for this we need at least some initial desire to receive the Light’s impact. This tiny initial desire is called free will which is given to us in a very simple and distinct form: as one singular point that we can find and discern within our current state.

This can be achieved solely through the connection between us and our collective effort, provided that we have the desire to bond and depend on each other. If such relationships are found between the souls (or people that carry them), then according to our efforts, the Light reveals itself, begins to give us a new desire, and passes its own desire to us.

This is the only real work that a person has as Baal HaSulam explains it in his article “The Freedom”: We need to exert the minimum effort, in a selective, narrow, and clear-cut direction in relation to the environment, and as a result of the measure of this exertion, the Light descends upon us. It clarifies our desires (their opposite side), gives us the sensation of a lack, according to which we reveal all the holy names of the Creator until the full revelation of the Light (all the names of the Creator).

Thus, a person attains a spiritual state where “Israel (the soul yearning for the Creator), the Torah, and the Creator become one,” meaning all of man’s desires become equivalent to the Light that reformed them. Through these sacred names a person attains all the general Light called the Torah and the Creator (the purpose of creation “to delight the creatures”) which is revealed in this Light.

All this is revealed within a person’s desire. The Torah is the revelation of the spiritual world attained through a person’s individual, partial revelation of the Creator’s names.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/10, “You Should Always Discern Between Torah and Work”

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Baal HaSulam’s article “Preface to Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 7: Now you can understand their words about the verse, “I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.” The Sanhedrin (98) interpreted, “Not rewarded – in its time; rewarded – I will hasten it.”

Thus, there are two ways to attain the above-mentioned goal. Through their own attention is called a “Path of Repentance.” If they are awarded that, then “I will hasten it” will be applied to them. This means that there is no set time for it, but when they are awarded, the correction ends, of course.

If they are not awarded the attention, there is another way, called “Path of Suffering.” As the Sanhedrin said (97), “I place upon them a king such as Haman, and they will repent against their will,” meaning in its time, for in that there is a set time.

There are two paths before us that lead to the same goal, and we are at their intersection. At every given moment we should feel that we are at the crossroads that determines our freedom of will, and the choice here is very simple: to take the path of the Light or the path of suffering.

A third path does not exist. We must advance by one of these two paths and decide at every given moment what our next step will be. Your foot is already up in the air, and now you have to choose where to land it: on the path of Light or on the path of suffering.

The moment will pass, and you will once again have to make a choice. Your foot has been lifted from Above to force you to make a step, and it is up to you where to place it, on which of the two paths. In accordance with our choice, you will receive the strength and the means to advance since you have to keep moving ahead, one way or the other.

If you advance by the path of “Beito” (natural development, in due time), the forces of nature are pushing you onward against our egoism since you wish to advance led by your ego. Hence, you are impacted by the forces that oppose your egoism, trying to keep you in bestowal. But on the path of “Ahishena” (hastening time), you start to consciously convince yourself through the environment that being in bestowal is worthwhile. Thereby you draw the Surrounding Light, and it returns you to goodness.

On the path of “Beito,” you receive blows and learn through them. Sooner or later it will result in your request or prayer for correction and advancement like you would have by the path of “Ahishena.” Conversely, if you initially take the path of the Light, you will save time on the first segment of the path, where you would have otherwise wasted time through your lack of desire to listen and exert your own effort.

There is no time to think about where to land our foot! Everything depends on the preparation of the spiritual environment.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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First of all, let’s thank our ego for bringing up such questions as “Who” and “What.” In fact, they indicate that the Creator, Moshe, and the Pharaoh have met. The Pharaoh dares Moshe: “Who is the Creator for me to listen to His voice?” This is a revelation of the point of “Moshe” in you, the point that comes from the Creator to the “Pharaoh” and evokes these questions in you. Such questions belong on the spiritual dimension, not the corporeal one. Now, you have to move on and cultivate them further.

Do you recall how the Torah describes what happened as a result of these questions? Moshe is scared but has no choice. Time after time, he comes to the Pharaoh with the Creator, and the “Pharaoh” (our egoistic desire) is stricken over and over again. This is how a person evolves.

The Creator admits that He deliberately coarsens Pharaoh’s heart, our ego. Thus, we are suddenly pressed by various egoistic calculations. Our earthly fascinations get renewed, and we feel that this world is full of potential. We think that we can attain great success in it and don’t understand why we had left it behind. Besides, where are recognition, wealth, power, and a chance to establish ourselves in it as the others do?

More such questions will arise, and your advancement will depend solely on the environment. We see that, until all these “Egyptian plagues” have passed, the “nation of Israel” doesn’t become one in us. It takes place only before the very exodus. In the meantime, we must remain strong. We can receive all of the Creator’s Light, the Upper assistance, solely through the environment. It will come from nowhere else.

The Light comes from the Kabbalistic texts. However, if you are not connected with the spiritual environment, they won’t affect you. In order to find the Creator and go to the Pharaoh with Him, you need the environment and the authentic sources.

This is how we should answer these questions even before they surface in us. Don’t wait until the clock strikes and the Egyptian executions begin. Start right now. Plug into the group and build a solid foundation for yourself. If the group gives you the force, you will advance undisturbed by downfalls, and your vehicle will keep leaping forth fueled by this force.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/3/10, Article, “These are the Generations of Noah”

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Question: What should we tell ourselves when Pharaoh’s questions overcome us?

Answer: A religious person does not suffer from these questions, he is content by the fact that he receives knowledge by studying the Torah. However, a person who studies Kabbalah constantly checks: Why am I doing this, where am I, and when will I reach the purpose of creation? That is, one exists in a constant state of inner analysis.

The environment that surrounds him also exists within the same circumstances, the same scrutiny, and it influences him. In addition, the environment is not just comprised of people that directly surround him, but of thousands of people all over the world that study Kabbalah and think in one direction. They all move synchronously, as though they are swept up by a powerful wind or by waves of a tsunami that approach one after another.

Therefore, these questions emerge in every person: “Who is this Creator, and why should I listen to His voice? Who am I doing all this for? What does this work give me?” That is, why am I doing all of this? Is it in order to reach bestowal? But what will that do for me?

These questions come from Pharaoh, our ego, and they are very fair and correct. It is written in The Book of Zohar that Pharaoh was smarter than everyone, and the greatest wisdom was accumulated in Egypt. Pharaoh personifies the whole spiritual vessel, the whole desire that was created by the Creator. Therefore, when the Creator wishes to draw the person (Moses and the nation of Israel) closer to Himself, He says: “Let’s go to Pharaoh!” Where else would a person get the desire to reveal who he is? Only from Pharaoh. The Creator says: “I will go with you Myself.”

It is like they have no choice. They need to turn to Pharoah, to get the strength from the egoistic desire since without it advancement is impossible. Where else would they get this wisdom? Only from Pharaoh, from the Light of wisdom, the Light of Hochma that exists in these desires.

Therefore, it is good that Pharaoh’s questions emerge in us. We just need to work with them.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/3/10, Article, “These are the Generations of Noah”

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Question: It is difficult to tear ourselves away from our current state and bring ourselves into the hands of the environment in order to rise to the next degree. Is there some other way that this can this be done?

Answer: This is the only way to ascend the spiritual ladder! It seems to you that the spiritual world is something opposite to nature. However, this is not the case. We are part of nature, and by following the advice of Kabbalists, we act according to the laws that exist in it.

From a higher degree, which emanates Light and brings about darkness, the two opposites, the Light and desire, become revealed. They come and develop from there according to their nature: One is giving, while the other is receiving. In this manner, these two attributes of bestowal and reception spread out from Above downward, intertwined together, until they reach us. In turn, we study how we are arranged according to this two-fold nature (the double helix of spiritual DNA) and how we can ascend by these natural degrees.

So do not look for some other ways. Kabbalists describe indisputable facts that exist in nature. Whether we like it or not, we will be forced to accept them. After all, one who does not follow the laws of nature will be punished by suffering.

An animal, contrary to a human being, never makes mistakes since it is a part of nature and cannot act against it. Meanwhile, a human being is the only creature that has egoism. Yet, egoism raises us above nature. The inanimate, vegetative, and animate parts merge with nature. They cannot think, desire, or act otherwise. There is an additional level above them called “human.” This level is opposite to the Upper nature, meaning to the Creator.

And egoism is the source of all our mistakes and transgressions. It is created precisely for the purpose of showing us our opposition to the Creator. Our whole problem is: What do we do with the degree of “human” in us? The whole potential of our development above the natural level is instilled in it.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/10, Article, “The Matter of Truth and Faith”

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Question: Is it possible to transition to bestowal without any pain and suffering?

Answer: Yes. It is possible to make this transition without suffering if you do it under the influence of the environment.

The environment is able to imbue me with an aspiration to any goal, even the most unrealistic one. If everyone around me thinks about it, I will also start to aspire to it. Then it won’t be at all difficult for me to value the quality of bestowal. I will see it as a great reward instead of my current egoistic reception. However, the condition for this is that others around me also think and act this way.

A person is much like a computer whose old program can be erased by society and a new, more advanced program with new data can be installed. I advance to the degree this happens.

The only reason I need a mind is to follow those who show me the spiritual path. However, following them is not that simple because you don’t do it by turning into a robot, but on the contrary, you grow!

You constantly receive interferences on all levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human, which impede you from following the spiritual path. You have to lower yourself and come down from the height of your enormous egoism in order to be able to follow the spiritual teacher. That is why you have to have a great mind in order to decipher all of the shrewd tricks of your egoism. Then you will avoid following your egoism and will advance by faith above reason, by following your teacher.

We receive states that are so confusing that we start to look down on the teacher and even to hate him. However, if you are able to ascend above this and turn yourself into “nothing,” to “dust under the feet of the righteous,” it means you are following a righteous person on the spiritual path. This causes you to be great like that person because you receive everything that is in his mind. You receive this through him from the Creator.

When it says that the nation followed Moses like a flock follows a shepherd, it doesn’t mean that they walked like animals. Rather, it is talking about a special form of advancement where you nullify yourself before the teacher, Moses, and through him you nullify yourself relative to the Creator. In the same exact way we go from love for the people to love for the Creator. Otherwise, we cannot change.

You change your previous form and acquire a new one, which is similar to the Creator. This does not belittle you in any way. If you nullify yourself in the spiritual world against the Klipot at the height of the Worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, and Atzilut, and you follow your teacher, then you rise to the height of those worlds. We are talking only about the height of your opposition to the interferences that are sent to you (that emerge).

This is called “walking by faith above reason.” I don’t have the knowledge that my spiritual teacher does, and thus I nullify myself in relation to him. I cancel my mind and receive new knowledge from him. It is knowledge of the Upper Level, “faith.” The lower part of his spiritual Partzuf, AHP, becomes immersed in me and I accept darkness as Light even though it appears dark inside my egoistic desire. That is how I can advance along the spiritual path.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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We are created from the material of “the desire to enjoy.” Therefore, we need energy in the form of “pleasure” in order to perform any physical or mental action. In other words, nothing moves in our world without an egoistic stimulus. Consciously or unconsciously, we weigh everything in our “desire to enjoy,” and in the assessments of this desire each thing acquires “its own” qualities: color, weight, height, and distance.

In order to be successful in this world, we need to have the right scale of values, or in other words, the right set-up of “the desire to enjoy.” And this is what we teach our children: to strive for the good things and to avoid the harmful things. To distance oneself from evil means not to have the energy to work for it.

However, there is no motivation in our “desire to enjoy” for reaching the spiritual, “the desire to bestow”! After all, the spiritual world is opposite to me; it is the desire to bestow rather than to receive pleasure. This attribute doesn’t exist in me at all. Therefore, I do not feel the spiritual world. I can “see” only what I evaluate in “the desire to enjoy” as more or less valuable, determining it as something close and important to me or distant and insignificant.

In spirituality, “the quality to bestow,” all the criteria, thoughts, and actions are based only on bestowal. Yet my “desire to enjoy” does not understand what that is. Bestowal passes through me like an invisible illumination, which I do not sense in any way. Whole worlds and actions are performed beside me, and I do not notice them in my “desire to enjoy” just like an animal doesn’t understand the sensations of a human being.

What can I do if I am created this way? All the worlds and most importantly the One who controls me, the Creator Himself, remain unnoticed by me! In order to feel them, I need to begin to value “the quality of bestowal.”

This is why we are given the environment: the books, the teacher, and the friends so that they will instill the importance of bestowal into me. Although I personally don’t think so, they tell me this, and their opinion is important to me. I am created to absorb the influence of the environment, and what is important to the people that surround me becomes important to me.

Thus, even bestowal, which is of no value to me, begins to be important if everyone talks about it. It becomes important in my “desire to enjoy” as a good acquisition. I am willing to exert effort to attract the Upper Light which brings me “the desire to bestow” because this is important to my “desire to enjoy.” In Kabbalah this is called spiritual work for oneself, Lo Lishma.

However, the Upper Light that I draw changes me and replaces “the desire to enjoy” with “the desire to give enjoyment” (from Lo Lishma to Lishma). I then enter the perception of the Upper World.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/10, Shamati #15

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