Either Mutual Guarantee Or Self Love, There Is No Third Option

From Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” (text of the article in bold):

And you evidently find that the giving of the Torah, to a person,had to be delayed until they came out of Egypt, which means until he escapes his ego and decides that he doesn’t want to be connected to it any more.

Only then do they became a nation of their own. Now a person is ready to connect with all the friends in order to develop above the ego.

Then all their needs were provided for by themselves without dependence on others. The group wants to establish itself in a way that only the attribute of bestowal will reside among the friends in order to create and to stabilize the force in order to bestow upon the Creator.

This qualified them to receive the above Arvut, and then they were given the Torah.By that they qualify themselves to the connection called “mutual guarantee,” that is stabilized and revealed to them by the Light that Reforms, called the “Torah.”

It turns out that even after the reception of the Torah, if a handful from Israel betray and return to the filth of self-love… This means that it isn’t speaking about the final success, since they can always return and fall and leave the mutual guarantee. …without consideration of their friends, that same amount of need that is put in the hands of those few would burden Israel with the need to provide for it themselves. This is because those few will not pity them at all. If every member in the group doesn’t invest all his powers and add to the mutual guarantee, to the general mutual connection, or if he completely leaves the way, his power is lacking in the whole system and because of such people everyone descends.

Hence, the fulfillment of the Mitzva of loving one’s friend will be prevented from the whole of Israel. The vessel is called “mutual guarantee,” and the Light, the feeling that fills them, is called “love.”

Thus, these rebels cause those who keep the Torah to remain in their filth of self-love. The “keepers of the Torah” are those who constantly worry about connection and for that draw the Light that Reforms so that their connection will be compatible with the Light and will grow in intensity towards a greater connection with the Creator, such people constantly hold on to the Torah and the Mitzvot (commandments), which means to corrections and connections which are increasingly greater and more complicated.

…for they will not be able to engage in the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself,” and complete their love for others without their help. It is necessary to constantly reinforce the mutual guarantee, the connection among them, and it is there that the Light of love is revealed in an increasingly growing intensity.

As a result, all of Israel are responsible for one another, both on the positive side and on the negative side. “Israel,” which is the yearning for Yashar- El (straight to the Creator) is possible only by mutual guarantee. On the other hand, without mutual guarantee there is no Israel, which means that they are not called “Israel” if there is no mutual guarantee among them.

“Israel” and “mutual guarantee” are synonyms that symbolize the spiritual vessel in which the Light of is revealed.

On the positive side, if they keep the Arvut until each cares and satisfies the needs of his friends… A person worries about the whole general vessel, so that he will be in mutual guarantee and in connection on all sides, in a whole integral system.

They can fully keep the Torah and Mitzvot. They constantly add corrections to what is revealed to them. Of course, corruptions are revealed to them, as it was with the children of Israel in the desert. Here the Torah is needed, which means the study and instruction that shows them how to correct the corruptions that are revealed after the exodus from Egypt. By rising above their “Egypt”, the children of Israel begin to stabilize the nation of Israel, by drawing the Light called the Torah and by being constantly on guard, ready to learn how to do that. This action, this process, is the “nation of Israel,” that advances straight to the Creator.

They can fully keep the Torah and Mitzvot, meaning bring contentment to their Maker. And this is actually the goal and the reason for this whole work. Only two states can be here—either mutual guarantee or self-love, it cannot be somewhere in between.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”