The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 96: Three Degrees NRN. The most hidden is given to the wise at heart. Three degrees cling to one another—Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama.

All of The Book of Zohar and the entire wisdom of Kabbalah speak about spiritual degrees. However, what is a spiritual degree? What is ascension? What do we ascend in? In the corporeal world, a greater fulfillment of the desire to receive pleasure (in terms of food, sex, family, wealth, recognition, and knowledge) is considered to be an ascent. This is material “ascension” since it is dictated by the aspiration to receive egoistic pleasure.

In contrast, spiritual ascension is greater bestowal to others. A spiritual force is the force of bestowal, whereas a material force is the force of reception. This shows that the science of Kabbalah speaks about ascensions in bestowal.

Where can I actualize, verify, experience, and perceive this ascension and be certain that it is real? I can do this in the group. This is why the Creator broke the connections between the souls. He gave us a perception of this reality called “this world” and a diversity of numerous similar creatures that we call “people.” However, in essence, they are all souls who have lost the sensation of spirituality and live solely in the corporeal world. Thus, instead of experiencing our spiritual vessel, which is the will to bestow, we feel the material desire that paints a reality for us where we live in our bodies in this world.

What are we left to do? In our present state, we must start yearning for bestowal and mutual guarantee. Then, we will become equivalent to the nature of the spiritual degrees that the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about, and we will be able to ascend the steps of bestowal.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/10, The Zohar

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Question: During the Congress, how can we keep from forgetting that the Light influences us if we work correctly, that darkness is an integral part of the work, and the group is what holds us up during a period of darkness?

Answer: Before such a big Congress as we are to experience in a few days, as well as during and after it, a person goes through various states: ascents and descents. One should be happy that changes are occurring in him. And the more rapid and intense these changes are, the better it is.

Our only concern should be uniting with others instead of searching within ourselves and analyzing our feelings. We should constantly try to merge with the common field, and place ourselves under the influence of the group without any extra reasoning.

Set aside all the clever discernments for now. The Congress is not the time to sit alone in a corner and check what this or that state means. Otherwise there will be “more talk than action.” At a time like this, actions are of the greatest importance, as it is written, “We shall do and we shall hear!”

Everything at the Congress will depend on how much you include yourself in the group like a little child who is among adults. He doesn’t think with his head; he just wants to imitate them. As they laugh, I laugh. As they cry, I cry. As they listen, I listen. And I do this because I want to receive inspiration from them! Then it will not matter who is a beginner and who is knowledgeable and experienced; who is small and who is big. Just try to tune into the environment and you will feel how you receive the power of bestowal above your reason.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/10, “And There Was Evening And There Was Morning”

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It is written about an embryo: “A mother gives it the red part, the father gives the white part, and the Creator gives it the soul.” A common problem in spiritual work is that we forget about the “third component,” the Creator who needs to finish the work for us. A person exerts a great amount of effort and then he is perplexed: where is the desired result? One doesn’t understand that he does not complete this action; he forgets that all his actions should begin and end with the Creator, the Upper Force, while he stays in the middle.

Likewise, we come out of Infinity and return to Infinity. And “on the way” we develop and become corrected either through the path of suffering or through the path of the Light. But in both cases the Light works, and we merely add our desire. We do not correct ourselves; we only hasten our development.

However, one usually forgets that he is merely one of the components of his development. He intensifies slightly and thus feels the action changing from a negative to a positive one. But the action itself occurs due to the forces that already exist in nature. The most important component is the force of the Creator. If a person does not bring the Creator to help him so that He would complete the action, if he does not summon this third component that is not present in his picture of nature, then not a single action is finalized and a person remains the way he was!

This is a common mistake, which often remains unnoticed. And there is only one solution here: to turn to the group for help. If there is a common opinion in the group that the Creator is the most important force that determines the end of the action, then none of the members included in the group will forget about this. One will not be forced to experience bitter disappointment resulting from him working so hard and still not achieving anything.

Look for the Creator (as it is written in the Song of Songs: “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth”) and remember that one does not have the strength to win this battle alone; he also has a Partner. And without Him a person has only an empty desire, which gradually dies out like a small fire.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/10, Article, “On My Bed At Night”

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A question I received: What does the group do? Does it help me see my egoism or correct it?

My Answer: Both. None of us can live without a system, without a spiritual environment. My exercising free will as well as my work completely depend on it. A seed pulled from the soil and left without the necessary environment dies! What will come out of it if you drop it on the ground, uncovered by the soil that provides water, nourishment, minerals, and energy?

For a person, the difference lies in whether he works in the group or not. Suppose you have a sack of seeds and you can plant them in order to grow something. If not, what else are they good for? Only to eat….

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/10, The Zohar

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A person grows in such a way that at first he receives new desires and fulfillments, which are necessary for his development and which work for his benefit. This is the direction given to him by nature, which desires to raise him and make him self-sufficient, the way children in our world grow.

This is not considered forbidden pleasure, since I have to go through this natural path of development until I become an “adult.” Indeed, we see how children are usually full of different desires and take pleasure in this life.

However, the moment I become an adult, I have to start growing and developing consciously, rather than by the power of nature. Suddenly, all the pleasures I receive start being detrimental to me because I do not aim them for the sake of bestowal.

Previously all the responsibility rested on nature. The Creator determined my path and led me along until the age of 15-20 years. Everything I took from this life was beneficial for my development. But as soon as I completed this period of “childhood,” I have to start determining my own direction. I now have to add the intention of bestowal of my own accord. Otherwise any pleasure I receive will no longer raise me and advance me forward, but will kill me! It will lead me backwards in order to make me feel that it is impossible to keep going this way and that instead of developing by way of my egoism and pleasures, I have to develop through the intention to bestow.

Therefore, all the pleasures that a person receives after the age of adulthood are detrimental to him, like a person who is picking at his wound. How deeply do we have to become immersed in this evil in order to understand that we cannot continue this way, like children who have grown up and whom nature no longer permits to enjoy life recklessly, but instead demands bestowal from them?

How deeply will we have to “pick at our wound” is something that depends on us. We are given all the means and explanations, and we are brought to the study, the books, and the group, which is the place where we have to get serious and think about what we need to add to our lives in order to develop correctly.

What we are adding is the “true vs. false” discernment, in addition to “sweet vs. bitter,” unlike children who only understand “bitter and sweet.” In order not to remain children for the rest of our lives, as it says, “What to do with children who have grown old?”, we have to start acting according to the principle of “true vs. false.” Yet, we should not erase “sweet vs. bitter,” but rather build a new attitude to life above it. This is possible only be evoking the Upper Light upon ourselves through the study of Kabbalah.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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What device can help me connect to the carrier wave that comes from the Creator? Should I sensitize my “antenna” to His transmitter?

Connecting to the Creator’s frequency can be done only through the group. Without the group, I will have no contact with His wavelength of bestowal. I have to place myself within the correct range of frequencies. This can only be found among friends in the group where this carrier wave is transmitted. As soon as I step out of the range of the group, I stop receiving any waves; the same occurs in the corporeal world when I step out of the zone of my cell phone’s signal reception.

What is the Creator transmitting to me at this frequency? He sends me fulfillment of my soul. There is a main carrier wave (the frequency of bestowal) which is necessary solely for me to attain similarity to the Creator. Attached to the main wave length is a minor wave which carries the fulfillment of my soul; it is a signal that brings me intelligence and perception, an understanding of His plan, as well as the skill and the strength to carry out His intention.

I need two frequencies in order to attain bestowal followed by fulfillment, a pipe within a pipe, both the Light of Hassadim and the Light of Hochma. If only one Light came in, it would annul my will to receive. But if I yearn solely for bestowal, the Creator can fill me without limitation. Only under this condition can a spiritual vessel open for infinite reception of Light.

The carrier wave is the Light of Hassadim; the accompanying wave (the “valid signal”) is the Light of Hochma. The transmission range is provided by the group. If I step out of it, I will stop receiving spiritual frequencies because I alone cannot tune into bestowal, try as I might. I must enter the place where such bestowal resides.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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A question I received: Why did you say that at first we notice only that which differs in its qualities from us; that is, we would not notice someone who is equal to us, but only one who is either above or below us? And then you said that equivalence of qualities is a necessary condition to catch the spiritual wave with your “receiver.”

My Answer: Our egoism does not notice ones that are equal to it. And if we want to perceive equality, we need to rise above our ego.

I need the group in order to reach equivalence with the Creator in the quality of bestowal. By attuning myself to equivalence with the friends, I thereby align myself with the Creator. Otherwise, I will not be able to be equal to Him. Instead, I will bend down before Him expecting a profit or wishing to adhere to Him like a child in order to have Him govern over me. In other words, I will place Him above or below me, but not equal to me.

I can become equal only through the group. The group is that transformer. Only with the help of the group can I achieve equivalence and similarity of qualities to the Giver. The group actually exists only in my imagination in order for me to reach equivalence with the Creator, the kind of equivalence that does not exist in nature!

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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When we read The Book of Zohar, we need to remember that we exist in two states simultaneously:

1. the true state which we do not feel, and

2. our imaginary world, where we exist in imaginary pictures without any awareness of the true world.

As we read The Book of Zohar, we exert effort in order to rouse the influence of forces from the perfect state. These forces influence us to the extent that we exert the effort to become similar to this state in the relationships between us.

Therefore, the relationship that we need to create in the group should be of “one man with one heart,” like in the perfect state. This is possible only by drawing the same forces.

As we return from the “foggy” state to the corrected one, we do not lose our present state; the contrast between them reveals to us the perfection of the state created by the Creator 620 times greater than when we were situated there prior to descending to our world.

We return to this state of a human being who is equal to the Creator. Therefore, we need to feel the World of Infinity from our world in particular, as it is written: “We will eat what has long been laid in store for us” and “Darkness will shine like Light.”

We need to reach complete correction in this world to attain the same kind of relationship between us here as in the World of Infinity, which is filled with love. Therefore, we must perform exercises of “love your neighbor as yourself,” “as one man with one heart,” in the connection between us. Then, the Light of Infinity, the Creator, will be revealed in us here, as it is written: “His desire is to be revealed in the lower ones."

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/10, The Zohar

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The Creator fills the connection among our souls with Himself. Being closer to the other souls means being closer to the Creator and having an ability to begin perceiving Him filling our interconnection as Light, bestowal, and love. Instead of being momentary, this desire to unite with the other souls should be constant and always growing. If it lights up only occasionally and immediately subsides, it isn’t sufficient. We must strive to sustain and accumulate such states continuously.

Granted, a person cannot achieve this through his own efforts. Man is not able to control his desires and this is why he is given a group. The desires get renewed in a person in two ways simultaneously: according to a chain of informational records (Reshimot) and due to the influence of the environment. A person does not determine anything by himself.

Our error lies in the fact that we listen to our ego that tempts us to affect it by force, thereby pushing us in the wrong direction. The right direction is to induce ourselves but solely through the group. Only through the group can I impact my soul, while on my own, I have no means to reach it directly. My soul resides in my connection with the others, and only through this connection, in this indirect manner, am I able to affect myself.

Can I affect my genes or chromosomes and change something in myself with my own hands? Of course not! But there is a device – the group – with the help of which I can do it. So, I manipulate this device by my leverage: I apply simple corporeal actions and thereby affect my environment. In its turn, the environment can affect me on the spiritual level. The essence of this miracle is an opportunity to keep transforming myself till I become equivalent to the Creator.

Through my physical actions in this world, I influence the other bodies. Others, through these bodies, are able to affect me, my spiritual properties, that is, my soul. I myself cannot impact my soul no matter how much I’d like to. It is a very simple mechanism whose principle is that only connection among us leads to the revelation of the Creator.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/10, Article, “And the Lord Appeared Unto Him by the Oaks of Mamre”

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We are inside a system of souls that are interconnected and exist in a corrected state, which was initially created by the Creator. It is written, “The end of the action is in the initial plan.” The Creator does everything with His Thought. He had a plan, and it all came true.

We have to attain the same state through our own work. Why? It is in order to be able to differentiate all the nuances, qualities, and components of that state. We have to feel that we own, sense, and attain it.

That is why we are in the same state, but totally unconscious. What should we do? We should ask for consciousness. I want to see, discover, and feel where I am! Which state in the world I feel is similar to the spiritual state that the Creator made? That state is the connection among people who aspire toward Him.

Right now the corrupted connection among us gives me a sensation I call “this world.” I experience our connection this way because I feel only myself. I am entirely immersed in myself. However, if my senses start to work in the opposite fashion, from within to the outside, then I will feel the true reality where I exist.

This change of the sensation “from within to outside” takes place gradually, along 125 levels, by virtue of our work, our efforts, and our request for it to happen. Where do I implement this entire process in order to avoid living inside illusions, getting confused, and making mistakes? I do it in the group and in my current state. That is where I have to implement it in practice.

This is exactly what I ask for. Everything is very tangible and simple: There is a group in which everyone aspires to attain a connection among them. This is what we ask for while reading The Zohar. Why? Because by reading this Book, we awaken our true connection with the force that rules us, the force called “the Creator.” Then our expectations have a chance of coming true, even if they are inauthentic and artificial. Concerning this it is written, “We will do and we will hear.”

This attitude to our state, to the studies, and to what should happen is called “intention,” and our work is man’s inner work, the work of the Creator. The use of this system through a book and through the force that rules inside us is called the science of Kabbalah.

These are all phases of revealing the Creator to the creation. What is the meaning of “the revelation of the Creator?” It is the revelation of the force of bestowal inside us. That is why the Creator (Bo-reh) means “Come (Bo), See (Reh).” At the end of the day, we are doing the Creator’s work, and that is the entire science of Kabbalah.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/10, The Zohar

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