Question: You said that we can evaluate evil either according to our sensations or the desire to reach the goal. Can evil with a purpose be regarded as an ascent?

Answer: If I evaluate the evil from the point of view of the goal, I say, “It’s okay that my desire to enjoy (the body) suffers” since the suffering that I feel in the “body” (my desire to enjoy) helps me rise above it, restrict it, establish a screen over it, and advance.

Concealment must exist between the Creator and me in any case as I cannot reveal my desire to enjoy to Him. Either the Creator conceals Himself from my desire, or I conceal my ego from His Light (pleasure). To the extent that I conceal my ego, the Creator reveals Himself to me above my desire to enjoy, and then I feel Him. This is how we advance.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, “What is the Matter of Sufferings in the Work”

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Had we been corrected in the World of Infinity, all the influences from Above (from the worst to the best of them as felt in our desire to receive pleasure or our matter) would not change our attitude toward the Creator in the least. This is because our desire would be under the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph), under the screen, in bestowal, or the Reflected Light.

Then, we would use all the states that we go through, from enormous fulfillment up to total emptiness, with the sole purpose of justifying the Creator, of glorifying, honoring, and thanking Him. This is because in these various states ranging from emptiness to fulfillment, He gives us an opportunity to determine our attitude toward Him as something that is independent from what we receive from Him, without any connection with our desire to receive pleasure or our sensation in it.

As a result, we would only thank Him for the opportunity to rise above our desire, our nature, in faith (bestowal) above reason (fulfillment), in “bestowing in order to bestow” (Galgalta ve Eynaim or GE) and in “receiving in order to bestow” (GE plus AHP – Awzen, Hotem, Peh). This way, we would accept all states for a single purpose: to use them in order to feel Infinity in each state.

That is, we would have a completely corrected intention regardless of the measure of fulfillment and sensation in the desire, from absolute void and tremendous suffering to complete fulfillment which shifts one’s entire attention from the Creator to one’s self. If we corrected ourselves to such a degree, we would be in the World of Infinity.

We determine our rung on the spiritual ladder in relation to complete correction, the World of Infinity. We do so according to our ability to justify the states He gives us, to exist above the sensation that we feel in our desire, to hold the intention, and be in connection with Him, the Giver, in order to become similar to Him based on any sensations.

The Creator gave us a point of adhesion with Him. However, to counterbalance it, He also created in us the desire to receive pleasure, and He is constantly increasing it. This desire annuls the point of adhesion. Yet, we have to use the desire that pushes us away from adhesion and to increase the connection with the Creator precisely with its help. This is how we advance.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/6/10, “And Jacob Went Out”

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Question: If spiritual Kelim have the form of bestowal, then how can “evil forces” cling to them?

Answer: There can be no shape without Klipot (evil forces). How can a shape exist if there is no restriction? It is impossible to draw a figure if it is not limited by boundaries. It has to extend to a specific point and no further.

But who or what is restricting us? It’s our desire for pleasure. If I go a little over the edge, it’s considered “for the sake of self-gratification,” and that’s where I stop. However, at this point I am still capable of giving, so I keep looking for the “direction” and the form of bestowal. This is how the shapes of the letters are formed.

You start with a point: “I have a desire to bestow.” What next? You can move up a little bit to the right or left and by using limitations you draw a letter (a spiritual vessel,) a Kli in which two forces of the Light connect – the Lights of Hassadim and Hochma. Only two components exist: the desire for pleasure and the intention “for the sake of bestowal.” A Kli is made of the desire for pleasure, but there is a screen above it with Reflected Light – the force of bestowal. That is how a figure emerges from a point.

From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbaah Lesson 7/21/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: What’s the middle line? Is it a screen?

Answer: The middle line is the correct combination of the receiving desires (Kelim) and the forces of bestowal. I first prepare these desires and only then request from Above the power of the screen specifically for these desires. When I receive this force, I acquire a spiritual vessel (Kli) which is called the middle line where I’m able to perform the deed of bestowal.

Before the middle line emerges, I clarify what the left and the right lines are, what drawing the Light from Above downward means, and how I halt it completely through restriction. I have to discern what it means to push the Light away from below upward, and to what degree I can manifest my desire in order to create the Reflected Light that part of the Direct Light will clothe in, and not just simply push the incoming pleasure away as I did during restriction (Tzimtzum).

After all these clarifications are completed and I arrange myself to the best of my ability, I ask the force from Above to create an authentic desire, a spiritual vessel (Kli) from all that I have prepared. If I have prepared myself correctly, I receive the Upper force which does answer my request and unifies the desire to bestow and the desire to receive pleasure from both directions, left and right. It tests and sorts the Kli. I ask the Creator to participate in this for I don’t know how to work with it.

As soon as the Kli is ready, it gets “stamped” by the “seal” from Above which is a warranty that it won’t break once I begin using it. Further on, I continue to work in the middle line and receive in order to bestow, in faith above reason, while my forces of bestowal are working from below upward, and I’m certain that it will continue to be so.

To be in the middle line is a complete sequence of actions. There is a middle line in the states of Katnut (smallness), Ibur (conception), Yenika (nurturing), and Mochin (maturity). In each phase and without exception, in order to attain the middle line, I need assistance from Above in assessing, aligning, and merging with the Creator.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 211: Seven firmaments did the Creator make above, which are the ZAT (seven Sefirot) de Atzilut, HGT NHYM. All of them are in order to know the glory of the Creator and all of them are poised to announce the meaning of the high faith.

Why are the Sefirot called firmaments? A firmament is a screen, and there are many types of screens. A screen that partitions spiritual levels is called a firmament.

We are talking only about desire, and above it there is a screen and Reflected Light. The desire is under restriction. It has Aviut (thickness or size of desire) and to the degree it overcomes it, a screen.

These are all technical terms. However, when we work with desires and the opposition to them, we reveal feelings and impressions. There is a will to enjoy, and inside it various phenomena become revealed. We are talking precisely about the phenomenon and not the actual desire that evokes the phenomenon.

Suppose I am able to give a detailed explanation about a violin, its structure and material, and exactly how I slide the bow across the strings, with what pressure, speed, and so on. Alternatively, I can verbally convey my feelings and impressions of a melody. In both cases I am describing a phenomenon, but I do it in different languages. One is a technical language that is understood by the mind, whereas the second is a language of feelings, understood by the heart.

The Book of Zohar speaks in a language of feelings, and therefore it is clear to those who feel these phenomena. Baal HaSulam added the language of Kabbalah to The Zohar‘s text, which is a description of The Zohar using technical terms (Sefirot, Partzufim, Aviut, and screen). Thus, we have a parallel description in two languages, which helps us to connect these two languages and come closer to revealing and uniting with the actual phenomena.

In order to reveal the text, I must unite with the environment, the group. That is exactly how the authors of this book, the group of Rabbi Shimon, revealed it. It was precisely through the connection between them that they attained all 125 levels of Upper Light and called it “Radiance” (Zohar).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/10, The Zohar

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Question: In his article “Finding the Creator Within,” Baal HaSulam writes that a person keeps reincarnating until he completely attains the wisdom of Kabbalah. What does that mean?

Answer: To completely attain the wisdom of Kabbalah means to comprehend the structure of my soul in general and in particular, to attain all inner differences and actions that can occur within me with all their fulfillments, causes, and affects. That is, one attains the soul’s structure, the actions that take place in it, and from this, a perfect state. This is what thorough, complete knowledge is.

In other words, complete knowledge is attainment of the Creator which happens as a result of our adhesion with Him. The soul (one soul or all souls together) or the Creator are the same. Each soul attains all the souls because all of them are its parts. The Creator is the force that connects the souls together and encompasses them.

Who was shattered? The Creator was. We assume that the breaking occurred in our Kli (the general desire, the unified soul). But in fact, the breaking occurred in the Creator within us; the screen (Masach), the force that binds us all together broke. The Creator was broken within us to such a degree that we stopped recognizing and sensing Him.

What are we actually achieving by bringing the shattered splinters of the broken soul together? As we connect our impressions, inspirations, and sensations into one, these “constituents” eventually will bring us to perceive the Creator. The same Creator, the same Upper Force previously filled us when we were in a state of “love of others,” but with the shattering it turned into “unfounded hatred.”

Now, we have to reverse and return this force into its correct state. It doesn’t mean that it will alter itself; the relationships among us will. Therefore, from the state of hating the Creator we rise to loving Him, which happens to the extent of our efforts to transform unfounded hatred into brotherly love.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/10, Article, “From Within My Flesh I will See the Creator”

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The spiritual world is a world of qualities, forces, desires, and intentions. There are just two forces or two desires: reception and bestowal. Everything else comes from their interaction and inclusion inside each other. When the desire to bestow joins the desire to receive pleasure, it evokes the force of opposition in it, a screen, Aviut (thickness, coarseness of desire), Zakut (purity, fineness of desire), and so on.

Yet, there are only two forces operating in the entire universe and they are mutually incorporated inside one another. This is what we learn in the four phases of the expansion of the Direct Light. Nothing else exists. “Existence from existence” (Yesh Mi Yesh) is the force of bestowal, and “existence from absence” (Yesh Mi Ein) is the force of reception that was created inside it.

Everything else forms from the opposition between these two forces. It is forbidden for us to imagine anything besides them since we imagine everything else detached from the true sensation. If you desire to return to the true sensation, then you must make efforts to try to return to the authentic picture, as if you are gaining consciousness from an unconscious state.

Therefore, when reading Kabbalistic articles or The Book of Zohar, and even when going about our business in this world, we have to try to reveal the forces that govern us, the roots of what we perceive in this “seeming” world. When reading The Zohar, we must constantly make these efforts. If you are always trying to reveal, using this book’s text, the qualitative picture, the picture of qualities, forces, and desires, then by so doing you evoke upon yourself the force from that state, from two forces, reception and bestowal, and this influences you.

The Zohar speaks about how to find the connection between the two forces. This is all of reality. It doesn’t matter what exactly I am reading: Aba ve Ima, ZON, ascending, descending, the state of adulthood (Gadlut), the state of smallness (Katnut), and so on. In actuality, there are no words in the sensation of the spiritual world. There is just a combination of two forces in all sorts of forms, and that is the true reality, the only one that exists.

One quality belongs to creation and the second one to the Creator. It is impossible to speak about one without the other, but only about the connection between them, ranging from nearly total disconnection to total unity.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/11/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Are the efforts I make my spiritual reward?

My Answer: The reward is the screen and the Light that Reforms. We cannot measure and evaluate our efforts. We must have the screen and the Light that Reforms. They are the only things we have to obtain. Everything else you can have in abundance, take it!

The Light that Reforms is the permit to receive. Much like a theatre ticket which allows entrance to a particular show, the Light that Reforms allows one to take a specific portion. According to the amount of this Light that appears in you, you will be filled, and merged with the Creator and the abundance that exists in the entire creation.

Take it all, but only in the measure of the Light that Reforms. Therefore, your reward is the Light that Reforms. Everything else we don’t need to earn. The Upper Abundance will fill our spiritual vessels (Kelim), the will to receive, but only when we obtain the Light that Reforms.

However, I need fulfillment not in order to receive pleasure, but in order to examine and measure how much I bestow. Even though my fulfillment gives me tremendous satisfaction, it is still measured in the Light of bestowal, the Light that Reforms.

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In order to perceive reality correctly we need to bring together all the forms that are revealed to us. Only a person’s inner world exists. Infinity is not infinite distances; it is boundless unification! At a certain point a barrier emerges in this World of Infinity, determining how close you can be to me. That is, within this Infinity, an egoistic desire is revealed and it creates a distance between different parts.

This distance between desires, between the ego is imaginary. And as a result, the worlds begin to be spread from Infinity downward, meaning that a sensation of distance between different parts emerges in the same place. This is called a descent of the worlds or intensification of the concealment among us.

After all, this distance is not physical but sensory. We need to transition to a more internal perception. We should realize that I can be physically close to or distant from certain people while feeling that they are either close to or distant from me; one factor is completely independent of the other. In spirituality, this imaginary world of distances does not exist, only feelings do. We measure sensory perception in Sefirot, Partzufim, and the worlds according to equivalence of properties between spiritual objects or desires.

On the one hand, certainly there are differences between desires as they are each different. But on the other, they are similar to each other since they strive to be together regardless of their unchanging natural differences. Only this “distance” is measured in spirituality, and it is only this “closeness” in intention that we aspire to achieve.

Despite the differences among our initial desires that are so infinitely distanced from each other, through the screen and the Reflected Light (mutual bestowal), we will achieve a common aspiration to become close. We will reach sensory unification which will be infinite and devoid of any boundaries. In our desires we will feel infinite, physical distance so to say, while in our sensory aspiration to be together, we will step over this boundary and feel our infinite, boundless unification where we all exist in one point.

These two forms of measurement should coexist together and provide intensity to our unification and adhesion. One form is the infinite distance that separates our desires which are opposite to each other, while the other one is endless, boundless unification of everyone, in one point in a common intention and aspiration.

From the Talk about a New Internet 6/4/10

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A question I received: What does it mean to justify the Creator? How does this process manifest inside a person?

My Answer: One justifies the Creator, all of creation, the entire process of development, and the Upper Governance when one goes through all 125 degrees behind which the Creator conceals Himself. When a person takes the concealment upon himself, he nullifies the Creator’s concealments and sees that the concealment was there for his own good, in order for him to build his own screen.

By virtue of working above the concealment, a person acquires revelation, understanding, sensation, and knowledge. Thus, he rises from the animate level to the human one. A person conceals himself so that the Creator does not need to conceal Himself. It is written, “Because Moses hid his face, he merited the revelation of the Creator’s face.”

The Creator can only be seen in the Reflected Light. When you conceal your will to receive pleasure, you perform a restriction on it, and thus create the Reflected Light. Then, in the Reflected Light you reveal the Direct Light.

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

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