We assign the Lights the names of the vessels: NHY, HBT, or HGT. Why can’t we just refer to the Lights with their permanent names: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida? The fact of the matter is that there is no Light outside of the vessel! We cannot say anything about the Light on its own. The Light is an impression inside the vessel. I feel happiness or fear from it, and this happiness does not exist without me.

Therefore, the Creator is called “Bo-Re” (“come and see”); He is perceived only within the vessel (desire). We can only talk about matter and form clothed into matter, while abstract form is unattainable for us. Therefore, the vessels (desires) and the sensations in them are of the utmost importance.

Moreover, the sensation depends only on the perception of the Kli (vessel) itself. We don’t know what actually happens; rather, we learn only our reaction to the occurrences. However, we don’t know what phenomenon occurs outside of the vessel.

Some Light flows through my vessel, and my soul quivers. Then a different Light flows through me, and I am overfilled with delight. So what’s the difference? The difference is only in the vessel itself. I don’t know what kind of Light flows through, and I will never be able to say anything about it; I can only speak of my reaction.

Meanwhile, it is the same Light flowing through me all the time. Doesn’t it change?! I don’t know this; I cannot measure anything in Him. I only measure my vessel, its impressions and changes. Yet what suddenly causes my vessel to change? It changes under the influence of the spiritual genes (Reshimot) and on its own. I don’t even know for sure how or due to what it changes.

However, I always talk only about my vessel, and this is very important since it determines the whole principle of perceiving reality which is inside us rather than somewhere outside. Therefore, “one judges according to his flaws,” and all clarifications occur in the desires, while the Light is the sensation within the vessel.

Our whole work occurs only within our desire, and our sensitivity to the Light depends only on us. If I raise my sensitivity, I ascend through the spiritual degrees from this world to the World of Infinity. The whole difference between the degrees consists of my sensitivity to what happens. In fact, I am in the World of Infinity even now, so why do I perceive this horrible world instead?

The only reason is my lack of sensitivity. I need to get sharper glasses, then binoculars, then a telescope, and I will see a different world. The whole reality consists of sensations within me. Therefore, Kabbalah is called an inner science since it reveals only what is hidden inside us. “Come and see” (Bo-Re) your Creator inside you!

All the religions, methodologies, and belief systems insist that we need to correct ourselves in relation to the outside world. Yet in the science of Kabbalah we correct only ourselves: The group as well as the entire world, everything exists within me. It is unacceptable to think otherwise since the above principle forces me to correct myself exclusively. I will not waste my energy and time on making mistakes while trying to correct the world and other people.

This principle acts in regard to all of humanity in general as well as in regard to the group in particular. Consequently, we gradually reveal the truth: A person needs to correct only himself, and thereby the whole world will be corrected, from the innermost to the outermost circles. “A human being is a small world.”
[23446]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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You can impact the spiritual system only by entering it through the relationship of a mutual guarantee because then you will uncover your connection to the system. And if you exist in it simply as an observer, then you are there as a “beast” (angel).

Your actions aim at restoring your connection with this entire system, and it depends solely on you. And then, through this relationship, you will see how the system gets renewed. It is written: “You will eat what has long been laid in store for you.” There is nothing new! You only need to discover your connection to the system thanks to the mutual bestowal.

Only the group can help us accomplish this. If you can’t demand help from the people that you are familiar with and connected to, then how can you demand it from the Force that you don’t know or feel? We have to build between us a system of relationships that will constantly shake and push us.

The group must not accept indifference. Everyone has to feel that he depends on all the others, in happiness and grief, in corporeality and spirituality, in everything!
[23803]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, “From My Flesh Shall I Know God”

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The Creator cannot be known without the group. On the other hand, the group without the Creator is not a group but “a gathering of scoffers.” Therefore, I, the group, and the Creator are one whole. This is described as “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”

The Torah is the force that merges us into the group if we want to unite despite the resisting force. Hence, the giving of the Torah and Arvut (mutual guarantee) are connected. After all, Arvut per se is impossible. We don’t implement but rather demand its implementation. This is the “miracle of the exodus from Egypt.” We only participate in it, where the changes per se are not performed by our efforts, but are solely a result of our desire.

Our job is to wish for it as strongly as we can. Then, the Light comes. Meanwhile, we are already making “the golden calf” like in the times of the reception of the Torah. It happens, but we don’t forget to keep crying out loud either!

We must prepare and spill out the strongest demand that we possibly can. Just demand and don’t think about what will follow. What is needed is the collective, unified demand which will allow us to receive the force of unification. Then we let our egoism rise again in the next instant since this is the program of the system. It isn’t our concern.

Our concern is to demand correction of the egoism that is given to us right now, nothing more. A person is evaluated according to the current circumstances. We only need to fill ourselves to the utmost with the awareness of necessity and readiness to attack.
[24023]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, “The Arvut”

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When a person is awakened, he is led to the group where he starts to realize that his choice lies in unification with others, and that the Creator “has placed his hand on a good fate.” In other words, a person has to unite with the correct environment, and receive from it spiritual values in order to work in the best manner from the point of view of the friends. That is what is called “a good fate.”

If I act in accordance with my own mind and emotions, it harms me since it doesn’t aim me at the spiritual goal. However, if I act in accordance with the values of the environment, constantly examining myself in relation to my connection with the friends, then I gain the good fate offered to me by the Creator.

My choice, my self-analysis, with every step I make lies in to what extent I lower my head and accept the power of the group’s opinion over mine. Having accepted it once, I permanently accept the friends as my guides, feeling that I am last in line, following them.
[23913]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “And You Knew This Day and Return to Thy Heart”

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Question: What does it mean to act solely for the sake of the Creator? It greatly disturbs me since it feels as if I am forced to slave away for someone.

Answer: This “someone” is the absolute law of Nature, the unifying force that contains the entire creation and you in it. Beside this law, there is nothing else! And when you “bestow,” you do it not “for somebody’s sake,” but in order to establish this law over all creation so that it is revealed to all.

The Creator doesn’t need it, He doesn’t receive anything; He is the desire to bestow, which cannot receive. He Himself is not perceived within you; rather, what you perceive is your own impressions of Him. The law of bestowal is similar to a wall: It feels nothing, you may consider it to be still. This law of nature is the absolute law of bestowal, which you experience reactions to within yourself.

You don’t do Him favors! He doesn’t require that you cleave to Him and love Him; He doesn’t feel our work as we do. We can’t even discuss His essence for it is unknowable. Everything we discuss about Him is our personal impressions, our perceptions of Him in our broken or corrected desires. Therefore, I can’t say that I am working for Him. Expressions “cleave to the Creator” or “love your Creator” speak about me and my correction, after which I will attain love.

That is why we were given a group, in relation to which we have to work, instead of working with some abstract principle or a force that cannot be sensed or with the factor that everyone can turn as he pleases. Take, for instance, the science of Kabbalah. It is a program of how you should treat human society. Build your attitude to it according with this program and by doing so, you will reach your full correction.

Love for the created beings that you will experience with the help of the Light that Reforms will be your attitude to the Creator indeed. Instead of acting in relation to the Light that cannot be perceived, the soul broke apart, and its parts now interact with each other instead of interacting with the Light. Therefore, they have an opportunity to connect with each other, act, and examine things together, which they cannot accomplish if paired with the abstract force.
[22836]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, “The Love of the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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If I admit that the system of the universe that appears before me is actually more corrected than what I see, it means I relate to it by faith above reason or above my vision. I understand that I don’t see the true state of reality because right now my reality is what I feel in my desire, my broken vessel. And indeed, “A judge has nothing more than what his eyes see,” and what I see is a broken world. In order to advance I have to ascend above this “judge.” So who is my judge? It’s the group.

That is to say, besides me there is one more judge – the opinion of the environment. If after checking myself I accept the group’s opinion, that means I accept this position despite not really seeing it. What I really see is what my eyes see. And two opinions cannot exist simultaneously. There can only be one or the other. You cannot look with two eyes through different glasses and see the same thing. You see that the pictures are different! However, you understand that the view of the environment is more advanced because it goes against your egoistic nature.

Thus, you continuously advance by accepting the group’s opinion instead of your own. You ascend to that opinion and make it your own, and then you once again replace it with the environment’s opinion that is higher still. That is how you ascend higher and higher, as it is written, “The group today is you tomorrow!”
[23418]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The stage of preparation for the revelation of the Upper World stands for the attainment of the property of bestowal. This is because there is Light all around us, and receiving it depends only on the similarity of our desire to it.

Preparation is a complex process that requires the correct approach. First of all, one needs to understand that preparation is possible only in the group because all corrections result from the unification of souls into one common soul. Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Freedom” that love for one’s neighbor is a common principle, the collection of all the corrections. And its entire realization can only be done together.

Secondly, we assume that we can correct ourselves, and when a disturbance comes it  seems like I am supposed to resist it with my own strength. In reality, our work consists of uniting with the Creator, and not in conquering evil; only in this way will evil be defeated. Therefore, I do not run from evil like from the powerful Pharaoh; rather, I use this Pharaoh as a means of uniting with the Creator.

It is written that it was Pharaoh who brought the sons of Israel closer to the Creator. To me Pharaoh is like a reward because it means I have merited his force. Thanks to it, above it, I will unite with the Creator. It is impossible to do without it.

I operate in a system, a field of forces. These forces are neither good nor bad, the question is how I apply them while being between them. Everything depends on my ability to use them for advancement.

This way I never fight alone. At first, I do not have any other “weapon” but the force of analysis. When I correctly use my strength only for analysis, then I correctly identify the situation and am thus victorious using the Creator’s force.

All the situations come from the Creator in order to “train” us, like in an educational game. While “playing,” I only need to find the best means to lead me to another step towards unity and adhesion, towards love of others. In this case I see that all the forces have been summoned to serve me in this. There are no mistakes or malicious intents, only merit and good. I justify everything and I feel that everything is there to help me.

A person must constantly hold this attitude, and then the path is rolled out before him like a red carpet.
[22813]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, “The Righteous Feels Good and the Righteous Feels Bad”

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Question: We are speaking about collective correction. But there are people with a lot of experience in the group who have already been studying Kabbalah for 10-15 years and also those who are just joining it now. How can new members compensate for this enormous distance created by years of studying in order to unite into one group with the advanced students?

Answer: Every person, when he comes to the group, receives from it as much as he invests into it. If we had here Rabbi Shimon with his students who have attained the final correction, you would also receive from them only to the extent of the efforts you apply.

This does not depend on the level of your friends in the group, but on your attitude. You cannot drink from the source of infinite heights since what you receive from it corresponds precisely to the similarity of your properties to it!

Infinity is always right in front of you, but how much do you receive from it? You receive one drop at a time through a tiny opening. Why is that so? It is because you are unable to make a bigger opening (Nekev), you lack the desire (Nekeyva) for it.

This is why the level of the group does not matter. Two hundred years from now, when the world will be closer to the end of correction, will it really be easier for a person joining the group? No, it will not. The Creator, the upper system of governance, cannot forgo even man’s smallest effort because he will lack this effort in the final corrected desire, and it will be incomplete.

Every person will have to complete all the corrections. His time of awakening depends on the order of the correction of souls in the common system. But everyone does the same work.

Subsequently, from the state of Infinity, you will perceive the perfection of calculations of every state for every soul, in absolute equality among everyone, regardless of the part of the common soul of Adam they belong to. This is because every soul attains the entire common soul of Adam.
[22736]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/6/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Being”

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Before you enter the group, you have the freedom of choice to enter it. After you enter it, you have just one choice: to strengthen your connection with the group. You must decide for yourself that this is your free choice, and you must always continue doing this. Therein lies your freedom!

Freedom is not when I do something I want, but when I continuously add my efforts to this connection. We don’t have any freedom of will in any other regard; everything else will happen automatically.

This is a very important principle. I don’t have any freedom in my entire life. I am a complete puppet. There is freedom of choice only in one regard: After the Creator brings me to the group and gives me a spark in my heart, I have one single freedom: to include myself in the group, to grab onto it with my hands and teeth as much as possible.

Once you "latch on" to the group correctly, you depend on it, on the influence of the environment, and you don’t have freedom in this regard. So where are you free? You are free inasmuch as you add your own effort to strengthen your connection with the environment in spite of your egoism. You thereby increase your dependence on the environment and its influence on you. There is no other freedom but this!

This is the mutual guarantee and we must always add more and more principles to it including love for friends, love for the neighbor, and your justifying them by faith above reason. Everything is inside this freedom of will, this approach by which I attain the goal.

The rest of my life unfolds according to a specific "script." You can even go to a fortuneteller who will be able to tell your future. You can predict everything in advance besides the one thing that belongs to your freedom of will. Everything else is driven by "blind" faith.

It is forbidden to predict the future because then a person might think that he has freedom of will in his regular life. However, if you know that there are no free actions, then the future becomes revealed to you. Yet, you can never reveal the future that relates to your freedom of choice because it depends on you.
[23360]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Question: How far do I have to go in ascending above reason if the group seems flawed to me? It is written, “Do not sit at a gathering of fools.” What if the friends are harming my spiritual progress?

Answer: You’re right, yet a person has to understand that this state was sent to him from Above. He never sees the truth. If instead of constantly criticizing others, he accepts them above reason, then even a tiny spiritual spark from his friends will help him to advance.

We have to perceive reality the way it is. I was not placed in random, accidental conditions, but in a situation the Creator created for me. He is the one who determines what I see and feel. Therefore, one can and must always advance above reason. While I help build the group and employ constructive criticism, at the same time in the spiritual regard, I must always view the current state as the most effective and the best for my advancement.

Difficult confrontations and collisions in the process of the group’s formation and activity do not belong to spirituality. This is material work, but in the process we build, destroy, and build again.

At the same time, in a completely different dimension, each of us considers the friends great, bows his head before them, and sees them as “angels” sent by the Creator.

We are talking about two dimensions of perception and we have to learn to separate them from one another. On one hand, the group is a structure in this world. On the other hand, the group is a connection of souls that I must be included in. These dimensions of the group’s perception require different attitudes.

I may not agree with the forms of dissemination, with the friends that skip lessons and don’t fulfill their responsibilities to the general structure, but when I unite with them for the sake of my spiritual progress, I have to advance above my own opinion and knowledge and lower myself before them.
[#23064]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/10, “The Matter of Above Reason”

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