Preparation to the Lesson
My reward is the ability to bestow, to love.
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Part 1, on Baal HaSulam’s Letter #26
When man reaches the secret door, he starts to understand what it means to part with egoism. He then retreats, until he fully strengthens himself.
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Part 2, on Item 9 of “Preface to the Sulam Commentary“
We are lacking the desire of all humanity in order to reveal the Upper System that connects us all.
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Part 3, on Item 156 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“
For the modern generation, the only means to make spiritual progress are the books of Baal HaSulam.
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It is written, “There is not a blade of grass below that has not an angel above it that strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow,’” which means that everything comes from Above. And this general governance from Above is the shared path of the whole world’s development.

However, when we try to attain the goal of creation, we subject ourselves to the individual governance, which operates by a different rule: our desire, our prayer (MAN) from below precedes everything else. It is only afterwards that the Light (correction) descends from Above. That is why any new spiritual state that emerges within us is a result of our desire for it. However, we have no control over the actions that take place; we merely ask, demand and desire for something to happen, and then the Light from Above, from our next degree, performs this change within us and we ascend onto the next degree.

The entire skill of the spiritual work is to understand this, and then to begin to feel and act in this manner. All that is required of us is to investigate, scrutinize and ask for something, and as soon as our request is made correctly, it draws an instant response from the Light.

Therefore, all the changes begin with man, but are carried out by the Creator. The Light remains in the state of absolute rest, waiting for us to demand these changes.

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A question I received: When a person is on the path of spiritual development and is going through the period of concealment, he feels lost and confused. He understands that egoism is evil, but he is unable to part with it. Where can he find the strength to do this?

My Answer: We go through many different states throughout our life, and the states are different for every age group. At every moment in time, all kinds of inner changes take place in us with the speed of atoms spinning inside us, faster and faster. These changes take place inside our desires, on an unconscious level.

For several billion of these inner actions, there’s one instant when a “number shifts” inside us, like in a meter with many cogwheels spinning inside it, when suddenly the meter shifts from “0” to “1.” After that everything spins around inside for a long time again, and then the number jumps from “1” to “2.” This is what happens inside us as well.

This is why we have to allot some time for these actions to transpire. The same thing usually takes place in our regular lives: we often find ourselves in a situation that drags on and on, until it’s suddenly over “by itself.” And when you’re in that situation, you know that you have to change, but you just can’t.

It takes time for things to change. Meanwhile, we have to act as an “ox in a yoke,” since we can’t tell exactly what is happening to us, we don’t understand the actions taking place.

Later on, when a person enters the spiritual world, he begins to understand everything. He acquires new desires of bestowal, and through them, he is able to discern billions of actions in a single instant. This becomes simple, like his body.

However, today the same actions are also taking place inside us, infinitely fast. We have to be patient and wait, meaning that we have to continue along our path. At one point, the present state will reach an end, the “number will shift,” and we will agree to bestow.
(From part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on Shamati #18)

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A question I received: I have completed a few courses, attended the Tuesday lectures and participated in a Congress a couple of years ago. Now, I am listening through the Internet and reading the books, but I have a strong repulsion from taking part in dissemination. Further, I don’t feel a gram of spiritual advancement. I don’t want to feel used in any way. Does this mean that I won’t be able to advance with acceleration?

My Answer: You are making no progress. The dissemination of Kabbalah is the means for your own personal spiritual development because it is precisely in connection with others that you will build a place in which you will reveal the Creator. You haven’t yet grasped the method and haven’t used it correctly. Best wishes!

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Even when a Kabbalist has already reached high spiritual degrees, it is still very beneficial for him to study books by other Kabbalists, because this enables him to see reality through other people’s qualities. After all, every person sees the world from his own point of view.

By learning how others perceive the spiritual reality, one begins to see it through each corrected soul, and thereby quickly joins the common soul. Picture it this way: at first I am a point inside a circle. As I correct myself, I build a connection with Infinity – a line from the center of the circle to the Light surrounding it. Then, by connecting to all the other souls, I broaden this line, like a sector, until it comes to include the whole circle. Now the whole area of the circle is my corrected desire. Therefore, I can only correct myself completely by uniting with the other souls.

However, this is still not enough, because my personal circle is flat. But there are more circles like mine – other corrected souls. When all these circles unite, they form a sphere with one common center. This means that I start seeing all the corrections of all the souls from their point of view.

Why is this? It is because the Creator looks at each soul from Above and activates it. And I have to reach the same level. Therefore, I have to “clothe” into every person and see his correction from his point of view – from within his soul.

Only then will I reach equivalence of form with the Upper Force. It is not enough for me to correct my own “flat surface.” I have to correct one surface after another, circle after circle, until they all unite into one sphere.

This is mandatory in order for us to reach similarity to the Creator. Each person has to unite with others in this way and to look at the world “through” them.

And after that, everyone has to unite all together, so all the individual spheres will be united into a “rounder,” more perfect dimension. At that point, all the individual differences between all the people will disappear completely. But this stage is already above the corrections we make…
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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Preparation to the Lesson
The beginning of a person is the point in the heart, which enables him to become similar to the Creator.
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Part 1, on Baal HaSulam’s Letter 28
In spirituality, the 613 desires don’t become revealed separately, but as a single complex.
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Part 2, on Item 6 of “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”
We are inside a global system: no matter what you touch, all people participate in your action.
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Part 3, on Item 152 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”
The spiritual world is not a magical forest filled with characters from a fairy tale, but a reality that becomes revealed inside you.
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A person who’s searching for spiritual development feels as if he is sitting in a basement, in absolute darkness, and he wants to escape from there. Yet he has nowhere to run. He has to bring the Light to the dark basement he is in.

The entire humanity is in that basement, and any attempt to escape will be punished. However, the punishment does not come immediately. It seems as though you receive an opportunity to escape, to come outside, but then a painful blow comes your way. And this goes on until you learn to see the connection between your attempts to escape and the blows.

This is not simple. We are in a global, integral, confined system, where the punishment for your offense does not come right away. In fact, the punishment seems to come from a completely different place. This happens to us so we will gradually discover that the entire universe is a single system, in which we exist eternally.
(From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A question I received: What is prayer (MAN)? Is it our desires that we raise to the Upper Level? How do our desires develop until they become ripe for the Upper Level to hear them?

My Answer: We develop our sensitivity and internal recognition of our desires. The spiritual world is not quantitative, but strictly qualitative. It only seems to us that in order to rise from one level to the next, we have to become stronger, but in reality, what has to become stronger is our scrutiny and sensitivity.

We have to become more perceptive and work on ourselves with “fine tweezers.” Real strength lies in being able to go ever deeper inside yourself in order to distinguish and classify more and more qualities within. This is how you grow: by developing your sensations and your analysis of them.

In our world, a baby grows in size according the number of pounds he gains. However, we do not evaluate his intellect according to the number of pounds he weighs, but according to the skills and qualities he has acquired. We evaluate how smart he is by what he is able to understand and do.

The spiritual world is built inside us by the Light. The Light descends upon us during the study of the Upper World and builds new qualities inside us. In the place where you felt nothing before, you now begin to perceive various new qualities and phenomena. When we read descriptions of the spiritual world, we don’t understand anything, similar to a cat that hears classical music and perceives it as mere noise. At times, we listen to the lesson while hardly being able to keep our eyes open.

But it is precisely in such semi-conscious states that the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) influences us.

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A question I received: You often mention that everyone has to attain the quality of bestowal. But when someone’s giving, it means that someone else is receiving, doesn’t it?

My Answer: Yes, but the person that receives does so in order to give, in order to please the giver with his reception. The balance you speak of remains, but on another level, free of reception.

I am taking from you because my action gives you the opportunity to show your love to me. In that case, my response is not called reception, since I am doing it for your sake.

The spiritual system works according to the principle where you don’t receive anything from anyone; all you can do is give. You give to everyone. You fulfill them and they are pleased to receive from you, because that way they can demonstrate their quality of bestowal to you. When a person receives in this case, he is actually giving. That is to say, he offers others an opportunity to give to him.

In our egoistic world, family members who love one another can establish a similar kind of relationship, where each one indulges the other by acting the way the other one wants.

But that’s still a small, animate level. In the spiritual world, however, such relationships make us similar to the Creator, because we bestow and are able to boundlessly receive from others in a reciprocal relationship.

Then each one of us and all of us together become “conductors” of endless information and energy through the entire creation.

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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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