A question I received: How does The Book of Zohar want to direct us?

My Answer: The Zohar directs us only to revealing the world inside us and there finding all the possible inner notions – myself, the world, a the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels. After all, everything we can only imagine now, including ourselves, is inside of us.

If I relate to The Book of Zohar in this way, knowing that it reveals myself to me, then the book will tell me about me. Everything I read in The Book of Zohar takes place inside me. I am essentially a screen, and the force of desire depicts various forms, images and actions on my screen. On different levels of my desire to enjoy, this force either depicts inanimate objects, or the vegetative world, or the animate world, or the human world. All of these pictures appear inside of my desire to enjoy and they are drawn by the force of desire.

Similar to how we see images on a computer screen, there is a “photo camera” inside us that creates an illusion of the reality that appears before us. But in actuality, there is no reality; it is all our desire to enjoy receiving these impressions from the force that acts inside it, depicting various images inside the desire. We, in turn, discern these images as inanimate objects, plants, animals and people, depending on the level of desire that they are depicted on.

Therefore, while reading The Book of Zohar, I have to imagine that I am a small world and everything is inside me; the ocean, mountains, colors, sounds, trees, people and all events are taking place inside me. Then I will gradually start to shift from images that are being described by The Zohar to qualities and forces. Instead of responding to the words of this book by imagining animals, people, trees and all the things happening to them, I will gradually begin to discern these qualities within me. In essence, there are just two qualities – reception and bestowal, but they can be present in varying degrees and expressed in different ways.

We have to try to recognize everything that is being described by this book. As soon as we really make the transition to the world of forces, we will begin to see the truth and to understand that all the images we now see are an imaginary world, and in reality, it is all just forces. And then, behind these forces, we will gradually start to discern the One, Single Force – the Creator.

That is how we have to read The Book of Zohar.

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The Zohar: When man sinned with the Tree of Knowledge, he lost all his Light and was left with the lowest desire of all creatures (without a screen). He was emptied of Light and understood that he is the most despicable of all the creatures in the world (because the force of his desire was greater than his screen). Therefore he became the most cowardly of all the creatures.

All other creatures are stronger than man. This is really so. We don’t even realize how much weaker we are than other creatures, such as microbes, insects, birds, and animals, and how dependent we are on them for everything.

Our desire is the coarsest; it has the highest Aviut (thickness) and we don’t even have a screen to conceal it or protect ourselves from it. This is why the “human being” inside of us is so small and his desire is so weak that as soon as any animalistic desire emerges in us (such as the desire for money, fame, sex, or other pleasures), we immediately surrender to it, let it control us, and look for a way to satisfy it.

We do not have power over these desires; they can do anything with us. And that means that a man is weaker than all the other creatures – “a human being” in me is weaker than all my other inner desires.

The Zohar: And when a man sins, he is told that a mosquito is worthier than him. But if he did not sin and kept his screen, then he would have turned his desires into merits and would have attained the highest Light.

But when he sins, he loses the degree of the Light and is left with a huge, empty desire that turns into a defect. And then even a mosquito is worthier than him since it was created with a purer desire.

None of these animate desires inside me have free choice, and therefore we are not required to correct them. We have to correct only what belongs to the “human” level in us. Then all our other desires join the “human” level, which is the only level we should worry about.

We do have freedom of choice and a connection with the Creator on the level of the “human” desires. The other desires simply join and support the “human being” in us.

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A question I received: What is the screen? What is it made of and how can I recognize it?

My Answer: The screen is a force that enables you to think about others instead of yourself. It is when you acquire a different way of thinking, feeling, and making decisions. When this happens, it is as though you are born anew!

This is called a miracle – “The miracle of coming out of Egypt.” It is when you come out of your egoistic desire and suddenly begin to care for others. All your thoughts begin to work in this manner.

Right now it seems like a frightening change. Who would want this? And even though we do talk about this, inside we are very afraid of it.

However, the Upper Light will perform this change on us. I don’t know how it will do this. It will simply happen in the same manner as it created us. This change in a person is called a miracle. The Light that created our desire can also perform this “upgrade” on it.

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Currently we wish to approach the Creator from below upwards in order to attain Him. However, when we disseminate, we move together with Him. Therefore, a person who does this is considered an equal partner of the Creator.

The Creator cannot carry out the dissemination instead of us or disclose Himself in our world. If the Creator was revealed in our world, we would automatically aspire for Him like for something incredibly valuable, great, and worthy. Then, we would never get rid of our egoism. Our egoism would be obsessed with the Creator to such an extent that we would go crazy wishing to receive His fulfillment. Therefore, He has to conceal Himself until we perform a restriction on ourselves and rise above our egoism.

When we do, we will be able to reveal Him in order to become similar and, at the same time, opposite to Him. If I make this shield or screen for myself that blocks me from Him, then the Creator can be revealed. There will still be a 100% concealment between us. The only question is: does He conceal Himself, or do I conceal my egoism from Him? To the extent that I form my own screen, the Creator can take the screen off of Himself. The dissemination of Kabbalah, the revelation of the Creator to the creation, is not something that goes against us. Rather, it is when we move together with Him and become His partners.

Then we will even be able to walk ahead of Him by disseminating the knowledge about how to reveal Him. We will then be His messengers, agents, and helpers – His hands. That’s how important our mission is to the Creator, let alone to all the people who are suffering like small, foolish children, without even understanding why they are suffering.

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What are the desires or the souls that were shattered? At one point, there was one screen that united us.  But then the Light came and revealed to everyone how we are all different. Although we all strive towards the Creator, each of us bestows in their own way.

It’s like a bunch of family members all trying to feed one baby. The mom gives him the porridge, the grandma wants to give him milk, while the grandpa insists that only bread will make the baby healthy. Each one wants to give something to the same baby, but in the process they all argue with each other.

The desires become shattered because the connection between them breaks, and due to this breakage, they also lose the chance to bestow to the Creator!

We have to understand exactly what is shattered.  Only then will we know what needs to be corrected. We will find that the only way to build a human being (the middle line) is by reuniting all the pieces of the soul which have lost their connection with each other and it will become clear that the only way to unite the pieces around them is centered around that very same baby that first connected them.

Imagine that the whole family starts hating each other.  The mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and everyone else all wish the baby “well” according to their own criteria, while denying the opinions of the others. So, what will bring us back together? Only the love toward the baby. Each one of us will then be willing to rise above his own egoism and lower his head for the baby’s sake.

This is why unity between us is possible only if we wish to reach the state of bestowal towards the Creator. We will then unite all together with Him into one whole.
(From Part 2 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”)

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Our world does not pertain to the spiritual world; therefore, there is no need to correct it. While living in this world, I discover a point in my heart – the embryo of a spiritual desire. I need to extract it from the other desires, expand it, and correct it in a way that will make it possible to reveal the spiritual world within it.

Our world remains the same. Until the very end of a person’s spiritual correction, he should feel this reality without trying to correct it with his own strength. Why? Because it is impossible to do so! History has taught us this through every step of our development.

With this attitude towards our world, the science of Kabbalah differs from other sciences, spiritual and corporeal methodologies, belief systems, and religions. In other system, people direct their efforts within the plane of our world, which is not where they should. Our world will only change for the worse due to those actions, since it does not become truly corrected and more time passes by.

Yet if a point in the heart awakens in a person, by following the path of Kabbalah, he begins to widen his point in the heart until it encompasses the sphere where he perceives the Upper World, the Upper Dimension. He begins his ascent from this central point, acquiring a screen and the Reflected Light, which is the force of bestowal.

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Even now, we are all in the World of Infinity; we just don’t feel it. Everything depends on our qualities, because the Upper Light is the unchanging quality of bestowal and love.

We don’t have to work on correcting our egoism and we don’t need to fight it. What we have to work on is building the quality of bestowal and love (the screen) above it, so we will be able to receive the Light inside this quality and discover the Creator. This is why in Kabbalah, the work and the reward are the same thing.

This is different from the earthly or religious systems where the work takes place in one place and the reward is given elsewhere. Moreover, if you could get the reward without the work, you would happily abandon the work. In Kabbalah, the only reward is to become bestowing and loving like Him.

It is written: “The reward for a Mitzvah is the Mitzvah (Schar Mitzvah – Mitzvah).” This is followed by knowing the Creator or merging with Him (Schar Mitzvah Ladaat HaMetsuveh). On the other hand, in religion people think that by performing commandments mechanically, they will earn a reward in the world to come, and once they get there, they will have everything. This is what religion tells us, and this is the fundamental difference between religion and Kabbalah, which says that we have to receive our reward here and now! There is nothing waiting for us after death, besides the next life cycle where you will get another chance to reveal the Creator within yourself.

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A question I received: What does it mean that “an inner change creates a new state”?

My Answer: The science of Kabbalah explains that everything occurs inside us, inside the desire to receive pleasure that was created by the Creator. There is nothing outside of this desire. Everything occurs inside the same matter of creation relative to the same Malchut of Infinity, including the actions of restriction, the creation of the screen, the descent, and the distancing from Infinity down to our world.

The descent of creation from the World of Infinity can be likened to a person who is slowly losing consciousness, and who gradually loses the understanding of where he is. It seems to him that the world and the situation outside is changing, while actually, the only that changes is him.

Therefore, it’s because of the inner changes that happened in us that instead of the World of Infinity, our inner state appears to us as the Worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, or this world. This is how we “descended.” Now we have to “rise” along the same degrees of perception from below upward. All the changes of perception occur only inside a person.

Each of our inner states is called a world. Our present state is called “this world.” If we change it, it will be called “the World of Assiya,” then “the world of Yetzira,” then “the world of Beria,” and so on.

How do we change our state? We do it by changing the relationships between us. We are given an opportunity to return to Infinity, due to the fact that each of us feels that he exists separately, distant from the others. We are separated by the “thickness” of our desire, hatred, egoism, the feeling of rejection from others, pride, and lust for power.

However, if a person understands that by uniting with others, he will return to the state of Infinity, and that he has to return there in spite of these new difficult conditions, in spite of our rejection of one another, then he begins to work. He begins to create a connection with others in spite of his egoism. He does not destroy his egoism, and in fact, he doesn’t do anything with his ego. He simply builds a connection with others above it. This is called building a screen over the desire. That is how the desire turns into a Partzuf.

The rejection between the souls remains and grows constantly, but a person builds bridges over it, creates connections between the souls, which become higher and higher. It’s precisely due to the growing Aviut (thickness) that a person raises himself to higher spiritual degrees every time – above the evil. This is how one ascends along the 125 degrees of connection between all the souls.

As a result, a person achieves a perception of the World of Infinity, which is 620 times greater than before he descended to this world. “Six hundred twenty” does not refer to the quantity, but to the level of realization, understanding, perception, and sensation of life and existence. We acquire this understanding and perception in the World of Infinity instead of our initial state, where we felt like a mere drop of semen and had no opportunity to do or perceive anything.

However, now, when we return to that same state of Infinity, and our sensation is 620 times deeper and stronger, we feel that we are on the same level as the Creator, the Upper Force, which created us and all of creation.

Therefore, our inner changes in regard to others create a new state in us, which is called a new world. All the worlds are within us, and we feel them to the extent we go through inner changes through our connection with other souls.

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A question I received: Where is my “I” in the system of spiritual forces?

My Answer: “I” is the one who reveals them. “I” is the screen upon which they become revealed. “I” is the degree of similarity and revelation. In the spiritual world, it is impossible to draw differences, because you reveal it by means of interaction (Zivug) and unification. It is impossible to divide the spiritual sensation into the attainer and the attained.

Spirituality is a sensation of commonality; it is the result of your involvement with the Upper Level. You are not called “creation” until you reveal the Creator. And when you have this sensation, it is impossible to draw a distinction between Him and you. The creation and the Creator cannot exist without one another, and you reveal this to the degree you become similar to Him.

So, you ask, “Where is my ‘I’ here?” “I” is the degree of your similarity to the Creator. Without it, you don’t exist in the spiritual world.

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A question I received: Kabbalah says that there are 230 years left until the end of the world. Will babies still be born in 231 years – in the world to come?

My Answer: We think of time in terms of our perception of reality and therefore we can’t grasp the way a person alters reality by changing his or her attributes. Reality is what I feel within. By changing my inner attributes, I discover a different picture of the world.

Take a computer screen, for example. When you press a button, you change the pictures that appear on the screen. That is how you are now living in different pictures, jumping from one movie into the next.

The 230 years that you are talking about, and babies that are or aren’t born, are not real issues. That is because when you rise to the spiritual dimension, you will suddenly sense that everything you used to perceive, all these bodies, people, men, women and children, this entire world, including you who eats and drinks, simply don’t exist.

You will suddenly realize that what you saw before was just an image on the screen, while in reality this picture was drawn by the two real forces standing behind it all – the will to receive and the will to bestow. The “reality” you sense now, simply does not exist. It exists only on your screen.

What does it mean to give birth, to build a house, and to live in this world? It is a certain combination of these two forces, which create such a picture for you. And that’s all! So, you don’t have to wait 230 years to experience the sequence of images that will come one after another.

What does it mean to live in the world? Is it my body that lives? I exist in a specific form of the will to receive, until I complete all of my corrections, whereby I will attain the will to bestow.

I have to rise from the lowest point, called this world, until I reach the highest point, adhesion with the Creator. Then, at the last stage of the correction process, the Lev HaEven (heart of stone) will also be corrected.

What happens after that? The picture changes, altering everything along with it: all the attributes, awareness and comprehension. If you ascend spiritually even a little bit, you will already begin to sense that this world is what you feel within. The sensation will shift, and something different, more internal, will emerge to take its place.

Everything takes place inside your desires. This is why it is written: “I saw a reverse world.” And that is why there won’t be anyone left in 230 years that will still perceive the world the way you do today.

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