A question I received: I’m amazed at the profound changes that are taking place these days. Numerous new Kabbalistic groups are surfacing like mushrooms after a rain. How did we manage to bring forth such results through our inner work?

My Answer: It doesn’t depend only on us. You see how many new, serious people are joining us. This means the time has really come and the Creator is drawing people to Kabbalah. After all the twists along the spiral of evolution, they’ve finally arrived at the spiritual gene (the point in the heart), and the Surrounding Light has started working on them. We only need to help them arrange their own environment, group, and entire support system. When we start demanding the Light that Reforms all together, they won’t need the three to five years of preparation that Baal HaSulam wrote about. The correction will come quickly and easily.

Imagine the difference between a person waking from an unconscious state with all of his systems still asleep and not functioning and one waking with many parts and body systems already functioning with only the need to complete the processes. Today, it’s not only one organ that wants to wake up in the non-animate body, but many parts are being revived. So, it is understandable that now there is a greater possibility to regain consciousness. I’m sure that in the near future, we’ll see tremendous changes in the entire world.

The world is in a very dangerous state as the crisis still looms. What a horrible oil catastrophe it is taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. We don’t even realize yet its potential consequences. It’s impossible to stop this geyser of oil. Can you imagine what could happen? Right now, a sea of oil is pouring from deep within the earth leading to catastrophic pollution. It will impact not only Florida and America, but the entire world. They’re now considering a nuclear explosion to interrupt the oil passage, but they’re afraid that it may open in other places. We have released evil forces into the world.

Therefore, I hope that, with the help of all our Kabbalistic groups that are forming around the world and the individuals who are joining us, we’ll be able to awaken the forces of good in order to counter the exposed evil. We have to act and correct ourselves. Then, we will definitely succeed. We’ve received the power of the Torah, the Light that Reforms; everything depends on us now.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The only effort we are able to make in our spiritual work is “to plug” ourselves into the group and allow it to influence us. The environment possesess such strength that its size isn’t significant. What is important is the extent to which I consider it as my own.

We already see that those who are close to us influence us more than strangers. There are seven billion people on earth, but I don’t feel their influence as much as the impact of my immediate family which may be limited to as few as seven people.

Hence, if a person organizes his life so that his environment inspires him, it influences him, and thereby annuls the “authority” of the rest of humanity over him. The rest of the world as if ceases to exist. As a result, a person acquires strength, spiritual discernments, and big desires. By this he has the means for advancement.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/10, Baal HaSulam, Letter 1 – 1920

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A question I received: How can I annul myself before the environment if I have no desire to do so?

My Answer: Understand that there is no choice; you are facing the wall. There is a group; annul yourself before it and you’ll receive from it the importance of the goal. It’s like filling up at a gas station. You refuel in the environment, and hence can drive a few more miles. If you refuel again, then you can drive a little further, and so on. You are saying: “I don’t want to get any fuel; it’s hard for me to drive to the gas station, what should I do?” You have no choice, strict laws are at work here.

Ask for your friends to help you, as it is said: “Help a fellow man.” But after you clarify all the conditions, there is nothing to ask for. You should act. Don’t expect to find a back door to spirituality for it does not exist!

There is only one principle: “We are under the influence of the environment which we choose.” The Creator created it this way because we are parts of a single soul, and everybody depends on everybody else. This dependency remains even after the breaking of the vessels. It’s either a good or bad influence, but in any case, a person is completely dependent on the environment.

You were presented with the opportunity to enter the society that aspires to spirituality. However, now it is you who decides how to get established in it. The Creator puts your hand on a good fortune and says: “Take it!” Now everything depends on you, whether you’ll take it or not. He can’t help you with anything else, for otherwise He will deprive you of free will. If He does your work instead of you, your individuality will cease to exist.

But if a person wants to stick to his old ways, meaning behave according to his nature as does the animal within him, it is his choice. How can he become “human”? He has to rise above the “animal” within and understand that he should overcome himself and annul himself before the group. From the first moment, any act consists only in feeling the importance of the others and uniting with them. You won’t be able to do anything alone.

Only together can we change and attain anything. If it’s not together, all that you do will be in vain. You won’t realize yourself as a human being and will remain an animal. A “human” is he who was born by annulling himself before this special environment. It sounds paradoxical, but it is so.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/10, Article, “According to What is Explained Concerning ‘Love Thy Friend’”

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A question I received: How does the Upper bring the lower one up the steps of the spiritual ladder?

My Answer: The Upper degree switches into his lesser state (Katnut) and descends to the lower presenting himself to the lower as smaller. We do the same thing when playing with children. We want the children to have success, so we lower ourselves and let them win the game. We lower ourselves to establish a connection with them.

This is like a mentor, who acts among children just as if he is like them; then gradually he begins to change, to model more desirable behavior, so that the children could see him as an example of a corrected child. First, the mentor displays an example as a child, not as an adult, so that the children can relate to him. We know that children learn more readily from other children than from adults.

This is because the environment impacts people only if the people in it are equal. Friends must be on equal terms; then they can serve as an example to each other. If I feel that a friend is greater than I am, he is not my friend anymore. I learn from the same level I am on.

It is the same way in the spiritual world. The Upper descends to the lower and becomes identical to the lower in everything, and by doing so, he unites with the lower. The lower doesn’t annul himself before the higher one since they are seemingly equal; hence, they unite on equal terms. After this, the Upper one can ascend and bring the lower one up with him.

In order to ascend with the Upper one, the lower one must annul his receiving desires (AHP), but remain united with the Upper one as an equal, in the bestowing desires (Galgalta ve-Eynaim). Thus, when the Upper one descends to me, I will not perceive him as higher because he has become the same as me. If a 7 foot tall adult plays with a child while matching the child’s emotions and behaviors, the child won’t perceive him as a tall adult. The child thinks that the adult is just like him. Without this similarity from the child’s perspective, there wouldn’t be any contact between them!

The truth is that I cannot unite with anyone if he isn’t on the same step with me, at the same level, in the same qualities, no more, no less. Then there can be a connection between us, but not before!

This is like in high frequency waves, if you step slightly beyond the limits of the frequency, the connection disappears. It is the same for the spiritual connection: We have to attain absolutely precise congruence, not more, not less, at the same level. Otherwise, there will be no contact; one will not penetrate the other.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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A person is led from Above to the place of his free choice. Our freedom of choice does not consist of choosing between pleasure and suffering. That is what has brought us to this place, this state. Now our choice is in something else, above pleasure and suffering, something in a higher dimension.

There is some plane of this world through which we have been led, brought from one bad place to another place that seemed good, better than the last one because the suffering in it was less. And soon enough, this place, too, seemed bad, and it was time to move on. But, we see no matter where we go from here, it will only be worse (greater evil will appear).

Therefore, within the bounds of this world, we remain in the same place. What I need is to come out of it, upward, into another dimension. I need to choose completely new and different values for what I call “good and evil” – to measure it with respect to “reception and bestowal” and “truth and falseness” – instead of choosing to  measure good and evil against  “pleasure or suffering” as I currently do. Pleasure and suffering were experienced by my animal body; truth and falseness are experienced by the human being in me.

In other words, my choice is in developing from the spiritual gene I’ve been given, to the real human level. This constitutes my freedom of choice: choosing new concerns, a new goal, and a completely different dimension.

Then I will perceive everything that remains below, in this world, only to the extent that it is necessary, and I choose to engage in the human being in me. I have a point in the heart, the first spiritual gene (Reshimo), from which I begin to develop the human being in me. How do I do this? I do this by choosing the environment, the Kabbalah books, and the teacher.

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Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 2:  “…that there is one famous and painful question which is asked by everyone on earth: “What is the meaning of our life?” The question pushes aside all other questions and doubts regarding the study of Kabbalah since the years of our lives are so costly to us and bring about so much pain and suffering. Will our lives just come to an inevitable end? Who enjoys them, or to whom do I bring enjoyment?

We see that our life ends without any benefit or result. The more humanity develops, the clearer we understand this. Therefore, disappointment and depression are the foremost problems in the world today.

Many people throughout the generations have tried to answer this eternal question, but it still stands before us in all its strength and bitterness, catching us off-guard, burning in our minds, and shaming us to dust. After all, this question cancels out our very “I,” and man cannot consent to this since it touches upon the root of his soul.

If this did not concern our eternal essence, we could escape this question by turning off our minds with drugs or antidepressants. However, the question about the meaning of life does not pertain to the years of our corporeal existence.

The question, “For what was I created?” comes from my core and directs me to my initial root from which I can learn the reason for my existence. However, for the time being, we manage to be subdued, without thought, by falling into the well-known trap of giving into the flow of life.

We try to fool ourselves in every possible way, but it is becoming more and more difficult to exist according to the scheme: birth, school, university, job, children, old age, and death. We have no choice, in order to solve this question, I need to substitute the environment which helps me forget and hide the question concerning the meaning of life, with an environment that will help me expose it and answer it as quickly as possible.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/10, Article “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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A question I received: How can I express my love of friends if I don’t yet exist in the spiritual world?

My Answer: You have to show everybody how keenly you perceive everything, how firm you are in your aspiration to attain spirituality, how willingly you participate in the work and Kabbalah dissemination, how ready you are to unite with the friends and love them, that is, how much effort you put into it.

You have you set an example openly, and this will awaken the others. This is how we behave with our children in this world: We constantly set an example for them, and it prompts them to act. If we want an infant to smile at us, we smile at him.

This is how we should act in relation to a friend as well. If I do something for him, the next moment I get inspired by his reaction. Even if I faked my inspiration by spirituality, it set him on fire, and he awakened. Meanwhile, his inspiration awakens me in truth.

I started with deception and through it became truly inspired. I build the environment for myself precisely in order to assume its desires as a law for myself. I influence the environment all the time, demonstrating my love of friends, the importance of the goal, and readiness to annul myself. In response, I receive from it all the components that help me achieve the Creator. I receive as many times more of these components as there are people in the group. The group supplies me with the corrected forces that I myself lack.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/10, Article “Concerning Love of Friends”

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The Surrounding Light influences a person only to the extent of his desire for spirituality. He receives this desire from a Kabbalistic group. The group is his environment which exists on the same level with him; from it he absorbs everything, like a seed planted in the ground.

The seed itself is dead. It comes alive only when the seed is introduced into suitable soil. The enlivening happens only as a result of the environment. Without a proper environment the seed is merely a lifeless informational gene. In the appropriate environment where it begins to be influenced by the sun and other forces of nature, the seed comes to life.

The seed must interact with the environment in order for the general Upper Force to operate on it. The same holds true for a person. A person is influenced by his or her environment, just like a seed will grow and thrive only when planted in the appropriate soil with favorable surrounding conditions.  If a person does not place himself in the right environment, he shouldn’t expect any spiritual advancement.

This is a fact that ought to be clear to everybody. Only to the degree that a person absorbs from his environment does he receive the "sun" and "oxygen," (the requisite forces) which begin to cultivate him into a "tree." Then this force will be felt inside him even by those who are unable to clearly see it with their physical eyes. Since we are all connected within a single general system, other people will feel that within us lives a true and clearly felt spiritual charge: the Light within the vessel.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/10, Article “Make Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend”

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When we read The Zohar, we should expect salvation. Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 155:  “Indeed, there is a great and marvelous quality concealed in Kabbalistic books, worthy of being publicized.” In other words, by studying The Zohar we can unite with the Source, the Creator, Who exists in other dimensions.

We exist in our dimension, in separation from Him, while The Zohar creates a connection between us and Him, the higher dimension. From there, to the extent of our aspiration, we receive the Light, the remedy that flows into us one drop at a time, like an infusion.

The Torah does not demand anything unrealistic. After all, the Upper One knows us better than we know ourselves; what is expected of us is measured according to the way we’re created. One is told: “Sit down with a book. You must connect with your environment because that is your spiritual form.”

Currently a person is on his or her own level. One is an egoist and doesn’t care for anyone, wanting nothing except egoistic pleasure. A person doesn’t even know what exactly is wanted, but the Upper One knows it well. It is He who creates these desires, even the most disgusting qualities in a person. And only occasionally do we slightly feel what He does.

Having created all of this in within us, the Creator expects just one thing: “Try to unite with Me just a little bit, based on all the things given to you from Above.” A person has to reveal the present state, and just wish to become like the Upper One.

However, in order to become like the Upper One, one needs to imagine the state when he and the group are together in a state of mutual bestowal, mutual guarantee. Imagining our self and them as one whole means we want to feel this state of the Light already operating between us in a single whole. We want to feel that we’re together and the Light is fulfilling us because we become like the Light to the extent of our unity. This is the state that we need to imagine.

It is clear that we are not together or connected with one another, but we are trying to connect, which means we want to grow spiritually and become like the Upper degree. Thus, to the extent of one’s aspiration, The Zohar creates a connection between that person and the Upper degree, injecting this infusion, which are drops of Light called “drops of luck” (Mazalot) that flow towards him.

There is no other difference between a person and the Upper degree, aside from the fact that one is better connected with others on the Upper degree. Try to imagine this upper state, the inner connection of mutual bestowal with everyone, which is called the “Upper Light.” This force, the Surrounding Light that rears a person like an infant, influences from that same state that one imagines, dreams of, and aspires to.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/13/10

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As a person rises from one level to the next and goes through various states, he mustn’t forget that there is just one force in reality. It’s not him or the environment, but only the Upper Force, the all-inclusive Nature, the Creator, who organizes all these states for him, and he exists in connection with Him.

It’s true that I have to lower myself before the environment and that I have to study the Kabbalah books that were written by wise people, Kabbalists, and that I must continuously build myself anew. But through all of these means, this wrapper, this entire theater, I am connected with the only Director who arranges everything by the rule, “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before.”

Then I don’t just go through levels and states or build a relationship with the group, but I am always connected to Him through all the means He has placed between us. They are like adapters that help me to reveal Him. Gradually, as I study them, I see that all these obstacles and degrees of concealment between me and Him are intended to help me change so I will become more and more similar to Him, to the Director who organizes everything for me.

Then I begin to perceive the surroundings, the atmosphere, the friends, studies, and teacher, as His representatives. I stop attributing any significance or existence to them in and of themselves, and they gradually disappear in my eyes. I no longer see them as having their own forces, power, and influence.

I relate them to the Creator more and more, and to this degree I justify them and the Creator, who acts this way with me. That is how I acquire a connection with Him. Then I love everyone, since they helped me attain adhesion with Him. And the whole world is then called “the holy Shechina” – one desire, inside of which the Light fills everything. And this desire is mine.

From the 8th lesson at the World Zohar Convention 5/9/10

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