To Believe Or To Check?

 

Question: For a religious person, the greatest motivation comes from faith. What can you offer a secular man?

Answer: A secular person can be offered knowledge instead of faith, then he will understand the highest construct of nature, called the Creator and not just believe what he was told.

Question: But why is there enough faith in the upper force in religion and not in secular people? You are speaking now, but I do not have faith in it.

Answer: Because we have outgrown this state. We cannot live only by what we are told.

Question: Is it much more difficult for secular people?

Answer: Of course.

Question: If I were religious, I would just believe your words and know how to proceed for the rest of my life. And here you are telling me, and I don’t know, maybe you are right, maybe not.

Answer: Absolutely. So you need to discover it.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 8/28/20

What Baal HaSulam Contributed To The Spiritual System

Baal HaSulam “One Commandment”: Earlier sages chose a private way for themselves and I chose a general way, since in my view, it better suits the Godly matter to be clothed in eternal letter-combinations that will never change. I wish to say that with physical success, they will not change in any place and in any time. For this reason my words are limited.

Because of the above reason, I was compelled to express spirituality in a general manner. Yet, instead, I chose to explain all the details and spiritual combinations down to very small details, which have no other source and origin other than this collective, that is, the purity of Kabbalah. And since I clarify the spiritual details without clothing in corporeal combinations, it will do much good to the development of attainment. And this wisdom is called “the wisdom of truth.”

Only after many twists and turns and revelations along the way, a person walking the path of truth begins to realize what changes Baal HaSulam has made to it. It seems that he just wrote new texts but in fact, we are talking about changes in the system itself.

In general, every Kabbalist makes changes in the system through his corrections, his additions. That means to “clarify” the system as a whole or in details, in one form or another. The essence is not to describe the spiritual world in some words or in a certain style. No, Baal HaSulam streamlined the system and added such components so that a person advancing along the path could use them, constantly receiving support, assistance, acceleration, and so moving on.

In this, the analysis and clarification is done both in details and as a whole and takes more distinct forms necessary to move toward the goal of creation at a higher rate in comparison with those which provided the system earlier, before Baal HaSulam contributed his efforts, his changes into it.

Each Kabbalist adds something, each of them produces systemic changes, and it is not related to just writing a book. In the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Baal HaSulam talks about the sages of Talmud who have carried out such corrections in the system, so that instead of asceticism, we could advance through efforts and studies. He himself has made such a correction, by which we can, instead of studying, be more engaged in actions between us: dissemination and unity.

The Light that Reforms depends more on the actions, called the “study of the Torah.” And to “study the Torah” means to learn actions of bestowal, to learn to make them in such a way so that the Light of Hochma would clothe in the Light of Hassadim and they become the “letters” of life. Thus a man is writing the book of Torah on the tablets of his heart and advances on the path.

We learn from the “Book of Life,” we live it, experience it in practice, and reveal its letters in the form of states that pass through our desires, vessels. And Baal HaSulam arranged everything so that going through our individual actions we gain knowledge of the system as a whole. We seem to look at the big screen with the general picture, in the corner of which there is a small fragment with a part of it. Similarly, a surgeon sees general data according to the patient’s conditions and, at the same time, on the small screen, a specific location of the ongoing operation.

Thus, moving individually, we are imbued with the same impressions of the total process.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Roundabout Path To The Mystery Of Life

Question: I really don’t understand how scientific progress can hurt humanity?

Answer: Science is a search for the Creator through our material minds. Scientists conduct numerous studies and experiments with the help of our five corporeal senses in order to find the upper force. All kinds of scientific research are aimed at discovering the Creator and solving the mystery of life.

We intend to attain the upper force, understand the structure of creation, find out its goal, and unveil the secret of our existence using our physical brain and bodily senses. It is not possible. This road leads to a dead end. After thousands of years of scientific development we have ended up in a crisis that no science is able to fix. Science is not capable of ensuring even our material well being.

Science is a method of disclosing human weaknesses and a means of discovering mistakes in our quest for solving the mystery of life and finding out the goal and essence of our existence through our earthly sensors and brainpower. Science chooses roundabout routes; however, it still leads us to the right conclusions. Our task is to realize the incongruity of our efforts and learn to completely rely on the Reforming Light.

The goal of world development is to make us disappointed in ourselves. It is said: “There is no happier moment in one’s life than when one becomes completely disillusioned in one’s abilities.” In fact, it is really a huge discovery! Imagine that all of humanity undergoes this process.

When it happens, we’ll realize that nothing but a prayer can help us; in other words, nothing but raising MAN and acquiring the upper force’s help will let us act correctly and attain our goal. There is nothing we can do except realize that out of the darkness it is the Light that determines everything. Light is faith.

Today, we can talk about these issues openly. About fifty years ago, nobody would agree with these ideas, including me. I was the most zealous advocate of scientific progress. I thought that science was everything!

Years passed. Humanity became disappointed in science. Nobody expects scientists to make discoveries that humanity can really benefit from. All discoveries are doomed to bring us harm because they contradict the goal of creation and the means of its attainment since they urge us to rely on our brainpower.

This explains why we cannot expect science to help us achieve positive results. Unless we stop relying on scientific progress and discontinue our “enchantment” with the magnitude of our intellect, nothing can really move us forward. We’ll simply continue along the road of scientific advancement.

On the other hand, we cannot neglect science since it is a path that nevertheless leads us to the goal, even though it does so indirectly. Any road to the Creator is sacred. At the end of our path, the angel of death will turn into the holy angel. “The angel of death” will absorb all our mistakes including scientific evolution.

The problem lies not in science per se, but in the fact that we rely on ourselves and count on our pride, on our belief that we can reach a good life without connecting with the Creator. This mistake is common for those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah but turn it into a theory. It is the most serious error that is called Klipa (shell, the evil force).

Our task is to accurately follow all instructions and study the Torah instead of playing tricks with our minds. There is a very thin line between these two processes. Studying the wisdom (Hochma) of the Torah means revealing the Light of Hochma with the help of the Light of correction that is embodied in the Torah. The wisdom of the Torah is the Light of Hochma dressed in the Light of Hassadim.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

The Flight Path Into The Spiritual

I have a problem: I do not know how to advance toward the spiritual goal. I do not see it, and I cannot aim at it. This is why I constantly need to analyze to make sure that I do not deviate from the path. This is because even the slightest deviation in the beginning can lead to my inability to reach the goal, even if I continue going in the correct direction.

However, I will think that I am going in the true direction, and I will not even notice “having strayed from the path.” This is why it is best if I stop, check where I am, and maybe even go back. Then, it may be possible for me to continue correctly on my path.

However, which signs will help me determine and make sure that I am advancing in the needed direction, even though the goal is concealed from me?

After all, for instance, for a rocket to hit its target when it is launched, the course of its flight is calculated according to very complicated formulas taking different factors into consideration: wind, speed, earth rotation, and so on. However, at least, we know all these laws.

However, when speaking about the spiritual goal and rising to every new degree, we need to do the entire analysis in the beginning of the path while we do not understand anything yet, do not see the Creator, do not imagine the path, and who will tell me whether I am wrong?

This is why Kabbalists say that the correct formula for the attainment of the goal is “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” Besides that, it is necessary for all three of its components always to be equal; none can prevail over another. All of them need to be together, constantly tuned into the same point.

Israel is a person in the world who strives to come to the goal: straight to the Creator (in Hebrew, Isra (straight) and El (Creator). The Creator is a level of Bina, and Bina is the property of bestowal, Hafetz Hesed.

What is the Torah? It is the Light that Reforms. In other words, I always need to strive toward a certain correcting force that can influence me and correct me until I reach a state where Israel, Torah, and the Creator will become one.

The Creator is the root toward which we strive. He is our goal, the absolute, complete property of bestowal. In other words, when I correct myself completely in all of my desires, my correction will be called the Creator (HaKadosh Baruch Hu).

This is why, before I undertake anything—whether it is my thoughts, desires, or intention—I need to hold on to all three components within me every moment in order for them to be equal and give me the sensation of unity between them.

Then, I will walk correctly toward the goal.
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From a Lesson on “Kabbalah for Beginners” 11/17/10

Knowing The World We Live In

Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.

We live in a certain reality and sense ourselves and things that surround us. We instinctively want to know what these things are. In essence, people are just egoistic desires to fulfill themselves. Naturally, awareness of our place in the universe helps us find out which things are useful for us and lets us avoid harmful influences, and allow us to achieve the most beneficial results.

We spend a certain amount of time in this reality and wonder about what was and what will be. We strive to be impervious and live in the best possible conditions to enjoy perfection and eternity. We are pushed to this need by our desires.

Thus, each one of us has a natural craving for reaching the authentic reality in which we all dwell.

At this time, we are not masters of our fate. We have no idea what will happen to us in a second and generally speaking we are unable to decide anything on our own.

This upsets us and as a result we build “lines of defense” to protect ourselves from heat and cold, robbers and wild animals, from everything that is bad for us: We construct houses and yards creating a distance between us and others. We always care about being in the safest situation. It stems from our desire to receive.

Therefore, a person wants to know exactly what is going on with him, where one is at each given moment, what reality one lives in. People develop sciences to be able to experience pleasant sensations every single moment of their lives.

At the same time, we toss aside everything away that doesn’t bring us pleasure, for example, space exploration. Previously, it was of great interest; however, nowadays we see that it is not worth investing heavily in this. Calculations have demonstrated that this program will not generate any gain. Where there is no profit, there is no reason. Likewise, we don’t pay as much attention to exploring the depths of the sea or the Earth anymore. People care about things that are close to their hearts.

However, if we view the whole picture, we’ll see that we lack knowledge of the system we are in. We see that everything in the system is in constant movement; everything is planned; everything is interconnected, including us; but we don’t know the essence of what is happening to and around us. Thus, the knowledge overall system is the most important thing. From it we learn everything.

Our attempts to develop a systematic approach have never reached any tangible success. We become disappointed with earthly sciences since they don’t provide us with clear knowledge that would allow us to control our destiny, our lives, nor do they allow us to correctly fulfill our existence or go beyond it.

This is where the wisdom of Kabbalah, the most ancient science, steps in. Before Adam, very few people possessed knowledge about nature. Their knowledge was based on their direct contacts with nature. Adam discovered the wisdom of Kabbalah; as a result, he caused the entire wisdom to be revealed.

We don’t require more knowledge. If we understand how to correctly influence the system that governs us and all other worlds, the entire universe, we won’t feel a need for the minor additions of physics, chemistry, etc. They don’t make any sense since the wisdom of Kabbalah encompasses everything. It teaches us what is worth doing in various spheres of life and what’s useless. We don’t need to go into details of molecular and atomic structures or comprehend the laws of the inanimate, vegetative, or animate world. When we feel the entire system as a whole, we sense each of its details and realize what our relationship with them should be so that it works to the best of our interests.

It means that all scientific disciplines can be explored through the wisdom of Kabbalah to their full depth, up to their final stage.

Baal HaSulam states that the wisdom of Kabbalah is the general knowledge that covers everything. It is revealed as a complete knowledge to all of us at the end of human development. And, the wisdom was opened to a chain of individuals beginning with Adam and further to his successors.

The ARI wrote that after the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, there appeared a man (Adam.) He had some similarity with a higher, new stage. However, later there showed up a genuine Man (Adam) who revealed and started to explore the system in which he appeared. That’s why his name is Adam HaRishon (the first Man).

Adam HaRishon’s perception and attainment is beyond others. He is the one from whom we trace from those called “Adam”—the chain of Kabbalists from ancient times till nowadays. The words “You are (named) a Man” is about them, whereas all the rest of us are still at the “animate” level.

And yet, at the end, all of humanity will have to reveal the level of Man and fully realize the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

The Most Important Job In The World

We have entered a very peculiar stage of human development.Evolution brought us to a sensation that this world is uncomfortable, wrong, and unsuitable for us; it really doesn’t matter whether it is our fault or not.

To what extent are we to blame, I cannot say. After all, we only act the way we are able to. People are what they are! What can be done about it? Can we demand more from them? Should we make this world a better place or should we continue “rotating” together with it? In general, are we really capable of acting differently by going against our nature? We are governed by our nature; this is how we are built. Can we change anything?

We see that our life is difficult and uncomfortable; the future does not appear rosy to us at all. Is it in our power to alter our life?

At this point, the wisdom of Kabbalah steps into the picture. This knowledge explores the entire reality and the human in it. Kabbalah’ exploration of nature is extremely deep, researching must deeper levels than all conventional sciences. This wisdom explains exactly what can be done to change our reality for the better.

In essence, we arrive to a very easy and obvious conclusion, which is not news to us: The problem is in our egoistic nature. We are driven by our egoism, the force of separation among us. Each one pursues one’s personal benefits and relishes being “superior” to others by making others “inferior.” People feel happy when they feel superior to their neighbors.

If we were not driven by this force, if we strived to unity and equality, we would feel much better. Mankind has always thought that they could achieve equality and justice. There have been many battles and revolutions throughout history, but we see that all of them were useless.

So Kabbalah teaches us how to live a good life. Besides many other benefits, it explains how to attain balance and similarity with nature. It shows how to avoid hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, cold and heat waves, global warming, extinction of plant and animal species, etc. People are the only ones who can balance out all levels of nature so that all of its parts (inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking) will achieveharmony and accord, thus living a good life in a state of homeostasis.

On top of that, our work on attaining a correct type of unity contains one detail: out of the entire humanity, this work is entrusted to a small group that from the Babylonian time, from the cradle of human history, demonstrated that it is capable of, interested in, and meant for this role. This group aspires to unity and in essence is ready to take care of the rest of humanity that is not concerned about things like that.

When this group emerged in ancient Babylon, it was named “Israel” meaning “directly to the Creator (Yashar-El).”  It aspires to attain unity. The Creator (El) in essence is “The One”—the unified reality.

Today, after three and a half thousand years, this group doesn’t match the role it was chosen for. However, similarly to ancient Babylon, in present Babylon there emerge people who also strive to unity. That’s why they too are called “Israel.” Implementation of their predestination is a must for them.

Besides, there are people who were a part of the group named “Israel” at one point in the history, but later they dropped their ideals. They also are obligated to participate in the quest for unity. Thus, there are several circles of people whose duty is to partake in the process of the world correction.

1. First of all, there are the parts of Israel who awakened on their own to fulfill this work. No matter what country they are born in, they are a part of the desire to save humanity.

2. Those who belong to Israel by the fact of their birth, by heredity. They also are involved into the process even though they don’t know it, don’t understand, and don’t want it.

3. The rest of humanity.

Today, unity turned into a universal heritage. All over the world, people who understand that only by attaining unity can we escape all disasters caused by our antagonism with nature; they are trying hard to find solutions to the crisis we are presently in. Gradually, sooner or later, they come to the wisdom of Kabbalah. It occurs that this knowledge is a source of correction and a cradle of understanding and energy.

Kabbalists wrote a lot about what exactly can and will save humanity. Moreover, the wisdom of Kabbalah explains that we should not run away from misfortunes as wild animals from a burning forest. On the contrary, our current state “hides” nature’s deep intention to elevate us to a higher level ,not just by sending us disasters to force us look for salvation. This scenario isn’t worthy of nature’s perfection.

The thing is that by self-correction and unification we rise to a new level of existence and go out to a broad and impeccable world, into the reality that exists above matter. We will see that our genuine life, our true bodies and souls, are there.

Kabbalists explains to us what the ways of awakening to the real life are. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is meant for.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

What The Study Of The Ten Sefirot Is Talking About

Question: Right now we are studying The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES), Part 2, “The Connection Between Ability and Intention.” I cannot concentrate and relate this to myself and understand it.

Answer: We are a desire to receive pleasure, and the intellect is developed only to serve desire. So as long as you haven’t begun to feel within you what is described, you cannot use these parameters of desire. Will it be possible to use it and with what intention?

But there are people who have the ability to learn, not inside themselves, within the desire, but by constructing a model in the mind. They learn the Talmud “theoretically” without using it on themselves. Unfortunately, that is how everyone is learning today!

But the Torah specifically requires “practical” learning (sensory, within the desire), i.e., on ourselves, on our desire. And as long as it isn’t, as long as you cannot go through this state in sensation, you don’t understand what the Talmud is saying.
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Kabbalah Is A System Of Laws of Nature

Question: According to what I have understood, every person must reach the wisdom of Kabbalah. But if, for example, he falls into another stream when searching for the spiritual way, does God punish him for this? And when a person enters into the spiritual way, why do events even worse than before happen to him?

Answer: Different things happen to a person all the time in order to push him towards the right goal. If he behaves correctly, he goes forward according to the laws of nature; so things are good for him. If not, then this system of forces influences him negatively.

The wisdom of Kabbalah talks about how nature is built, not about a God who supposedly sits and thinks about how to punish someone. Only the laws of nature exist (call them God the Creator, it makes no difference)! So there is no reward and there is no punishment.

Kabbalah is not a religion; it speaks only about the force that develops us, that we should get to know and comprehend. If we attain it, then we develop quickly and easily and reach the correct goal that was determined before this force.

But this does not mean that if I open a Kabbalah book today things will immediately be better for me. What are you talking about? Do I know how to behave correctly, how to use the laws of nature correctly?

It is is like it is in physics, like in any science! If I know how to use the laws correctly, then I benefit from it. But if I opened a book but still don’t know how to use the laws that are recorded there, I cannot claim that I won’t make a mistake. There is nothing miraculous here. There is a system of laws we are learning to be able to use correctly.

So it is impossible to relate to the wisdom of Kabbalah as to some religion or magic or sorcery, where I apparently began to learn it and in spite of it all, things are bad for me. The idea is that you still don’t know how to use it. And when you learn, then to that degree, things will be good for you. This is as it is in every enterprise. This is clear materialistic knowledge.
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From the International Summer Camp In Bulgaria “Day Two” 7/12/14, Lesson 4

Emotional Science

Question: What is the difference between caring and service? You say that we must attract the future states. This is unclear because it truly doesn’t exist within our sensation.

Answer: Certainly. So, this is not understandable. We understand only what is given to us in sensation. The matter of the world, of creation, is desire. So, feelings are primary. First, we feel, and after that we begin to understand what we are feeling, the reasons, all kinds of connections and everything that is happening within the desire itself. We understand how it is reinforced and  how it is possible to recover it, and so forth.

It is very important to understand that the main thing is desire, meaning feeling.

What touches upon the difference between care and service? Well, “service” or “usage,” these words are not good because they indicate that we must do something without ourselves understanding what. This is what has been taught to us, commanded and forced upon us. I am not saying that this is bad. For instance, service to a nation is something else. However, this is something that cannot be in the spiritual way.

In the spiritual path, it is necessary to attain everything emotionally within ourselves and, after that, explore our emotions. On what level of desires areShoresh (root), Aleph (first), Bet (second), Gimel (third), and Dalet (four) found? WhichLight is extended into these desires according to our intention? The degree of intention—Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet—determines the amount of the Light that is revealed, in other words, the intensity, the strength of feeling of the Creator which is discovered in that desire.

All of us must begin to feel to such a degree that when reading a book, we experience and measure our feelings at the same time. The book must be our spiritual and emotional guide in the full sense of the word so that we will laugh and cry when we read it, for it is talking about which activities I must carry out within me at every moment.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a very emotional science, but only for someone who can feel these emotions in himself already, and, if not, then it will seem dry to him.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/9/14, Lesson 1

Zohar For All

Question: We are going to have an international convention soon in which we will celebrate the publication of The Book of Zohar adapted to the new generation. What does this mean?

Answer: By working with this book we are aware, understand, and feel that we have a source of power that belongs to the upper nature, to the force that manages everything to the smallest detail, to the smallest cell, to the last atom. The Book of Zohar has a special quality that allows us to connect to this force and to be inspired by it. Thus we will be able to understand and feel it and work according to it.

We have no other key or connecting channel, other than The Book of Zohar. All the otherKabbalah books were actually written so that we would approach the main book and use it correctly. So we celebrate the publication of Zohar For All.

We have to understand that we are on the verge of a new era, moving on to a level of a new development. We have to disseminate this book all over the world, and produce many other supplementary materials that will serve to bring people closer to it.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/17/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A Thousand Enter A Room And All Go Out To The Light

Question: It is said a thousand enter a room and only some are honored with the discovery of the Creator. Therefore I am overcome by fear, do I have the potential to discover the Reshimot?

On the one hand, I understand that spiritual work is a great benefit and at the same time I cannot be released from the fear. How must one work with this?

Answer: We know that hundreds of millions of people want to be rich, famous, and in control. How many of them attain that goal?

The spiritual goal is compulsory for all. The expression that a thousand enter a room and only one attains the goal belongs to the Kabbalists from the previous generations. In those times it wasn’t required that everyone attain the spiritual worlds and those individuals who merited this acted according to very complex laws. They had to maintain very rigid and difficult conditions in order to enter the upper world.

In our day, every housewife, every simple guy from South America, from Siberia, from Israel, from the United States, and from other regions can attain this without any preparation; the desire simply ignites within them and this is everything. We are entering a state like this where everyone without exception must advance to the goal.

We even turn to those who don’t have this desire, in order to awaken it in them and prevent forward advancement under the influence of suffering because the world is already in a threatening state; we see where everything is advancing. Therefore the condition in which, “a thousand enter and one goes out” is not relevant for us. Today everyone must go out into the spiritual world even those who have not yet entered, not to mention those who are like us.

Today this condition doesn’t work, forget it. The Kabbalists simply reminded us of that to spur us on a little bit, for in spite of it all, one must relate to this very seriously. This is within our power.

The Kabbalists are apparently telling us, act in those frameworks in which you can and then you will succeed. This is saying that you must dedicate all of your spare time to inner work. At least it’s necessary to try to direct our intention to this all the time.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12/13/13, Lesson 1

The Most Practical Science

Question: Do we need the “street” to continue the development of the integral method?

Answer: Sure! The wisdom of Kabbalah and technique of Integral Education as part of it is a practical material realization of the ancient wisdom. Seemingly the entire theory is explained to us, but at the same time, not all of it.

What the Kabbalists of the past left to us from ancient days until our time is described very sparingly. You cannot imagine how many parts are missing! They could not convey all of the nuances of this system that comes from the upper world and descends downward; rather, they gave only a small stream of information that explains in what manner this is connected to us. All the rest of the parts of this immense system are not imperative for us.

We will discover them to the degree of perception of the spiritual world, on every level, in breadth. Therefore, the Kabbalists recorded only what would help us to rise from level to level. Even though these are thick volumes; however, in fact this is only scanty information about the enormous system, about its behavior, about the reactions, about the correction, etc.

Kabbalah is the most practical science. Without practical actions, all of its books are “dead.” And practical action is first and foremost, correction, which is not possible to do without going out to the people. You yourself don’t feel the necessity of your correction, not from above and not from them. By necessity you must be in the middle so that both this and that will press upon you. Everything is realized only in communication, in the use of the method among the people.

But you must more or less recognize the entire system in spite of it all; you must have a strong group that stands behind you. Everything must be gathered together. In going out to the public, you must feel that you are their representative; you must feel that you are found together with them. Without this feeling you cannot give the masses the integral energy that acts to change reality.
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From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/18/13

We Ourselves Create The Creator

An idol worshiper is one who works for the benefit of his egoism and turns it into an idol.

The nations of the world that create images and builds statues are not considered as idol worshippers because they are not aware that their original nature is the desire to receive. In other words, there are those who create corporeal images and there are other people who create imaginary images.

Ask any Jew why he closes his eyes when he says “Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God the Lord is one.” He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even understand that he does it because it is forbidden for a person to imagine any image!

The Creator is the attribute of bestowal and love and He exists only within our correct inner desire, and we can discover this attribute only according to our desire. Otherwise He doesn’t exist! He doesn’t exist in any place, not even as the Surrounding Light. Simply, we speak this way in order to express in some way the spiritual attribute in our corporeal language.

The Creator, (Bo-re) means “come and see,” and if you reach your vessel, you can discover Him. And He doesn’t exist outside the vessel. It is impossible to explain this to a simple person. He thinks that if he believes, this means that there is a Creator.

Actually, there is no basis for this. We ourselves create the Creator, which arises within us in from some kind of transcendental dimension according to our properties.
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From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/23/13

The Language Of The Revelation Of The Creator

Baal HaSulam “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”: The names, appellations, and Gematrias belong entirely to the wisdom of Kabbalah. The reason they are found in the other languages, too, is that all the languages are included in the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is so because these are all particular cases that the other languages must be assisted with.

The language of Kabbalah is the main language of revealing the Creator. In principle, all four languages of attainment are intended for this. However, the other three languages (Tanakh , Halachah and Haggadah) are “accompanying,” they are included in the language of Kabbalah but exist by themselves to add different touches by their presentation.

Thus there is one language for the revelation of the Creator, containing four facets; the most important one is the language of Kabbalah. It includes everything, it is higher than the rest, and it is included in everything. All the symbols, all the forms of presentation, everything we read in the books of Kabbalists are written by the language that they had created to explain the revelation of the Creator to the human being. Everything is intended only for this.

Therefore, as Baal HaSulam writes in “The Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” the one who opens books written by Kabbalists of different generations, i.e., by people who are in spiritual attainment, and use it not for this purpose, he brings adverse consequences upon himself. Instead of praising the approaching dawn like a rooster, he becomes like a bat, living only in the darkness and strongly resisting the light of day, which is already approaching for us.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Belonging To A Kabbalist

Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”:Clearly, when one ponders and contemplates words of the Torah that pertain to the revelation of the Creator to our fathers, they bring the examiner more Light than when examining practical matters.

This is how Baal HaSulam recommends we read books that tell us about the relationship between a human being and the revelation. The articles, letters, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the Sulam commentary to The Book of Zohar, in fact everything we received from Baal HaSulam and Rabash are books that are especially for us about the revelation of the Creator to the created being. They are written in different styles but they are all about this.

Some of them explain things directly and describe the spiritual work psychologically, so to speak, like the letters and the articles. In other articles we read about the connection between the wisdom of Kabbalah and other sciences, but they are also about the revelation of the Creator to a person. We see this especially in works talking about TheBook of Zohar and in The Study of the Ten Sefirot.

All these books and texts were written during the drawing of the Light. Kabbalists discovered the Light in different states and levels and wrote accordingly. There isn’t one word or one letter that was written before the writer had attained the specific state that he described in the text.

So when we read these texts, we can receive the power in them. It is by these texts that we connect to the writers, and then we can draw and enjoy the Light that Reforms, but this is only if we yearn to resemble them in their simple faith and receive everything that they have. While reading his writings, I want to be like the Kabbalist, to annul myself, to belong to him, and by that I turn on the Light that he has prepared for me.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence“

Learning To Listen To The Teacher

Question: When is a person considered a student of his teacher?

Answer: A student is called someone who adheres to his teacher (meaning in the inner way) and tries to “suck” everything possible out of him. Like a baby who is sucking milk out of his mother, a student is trying to suck out of his teacher everything he has and to grow, meaning develop what he receives.

He is not capable of receiving all the knowledge, attainment, and sensation instantly, but he can obtain the tools in order to develop everything within himself. After all, a child receiving his mother’s milk does not digest it inside of him, but rather he turns it into meat, muscles, and bones. He is building his organism and developing himself. The same thing happens here.

We have to understand that from a teacher we receive something that we wish to receive and only in the form and to the extent that we put forth our efforts toward it. We do not hear what the teacher says; we only hear what we wish to hear. The work of a student is to annul his psychological obstacles and begin to listen to the teacher. In other words, the work of a student is the annulling of his ego.
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From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/20/13

The Passage Through The Worlds

It is impossible to invent something that doesn’t exist in nature.Perhaps there is no analogue in the material we build it from or on the same level, but it must exist. We take all the examples and the analogies from what already exists in nature; we cannot invent anything that is totally new.

It is fundamentally impossible. There is only one new point in all of creation—something from nothing (Yesh Mi Ayin). Everything else, except this “initial act of creation” (GenesisMaase) is a consequence of the meeting of the vessel and the properties of the Light in different connections. So we can take an example only from the existing attributes and create parallel forms.

Everything that we build in our world, which means in our egoistic feelings, is called “this world,” and there are examples for that in nature. If we want to continue our development by studying nature’s wisdom, we have to develop a new perception that is focused onbestowal. Then we can also fulfill the examples of in order to bestow by ourselves.

We cannot receive examples of the upper attributes from this material world, and so all the scientific progress ends on the border between our world and the upper worlds. Even before science has exhausted itself, our material desire to receive reaches a dead end and comes to an end. Our development ends at a certain point since we cannot find new examples we want to implement in this world.

Most importantly, we have lost the desire to look for them in order to invent new things and thus advance on the material level. We are in a point of transition, on the verge of the revelation of new spiritual desires.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/21/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

We Should Take The Initiative

Question: The wisdom of Kabbalah has used four languages throughout history: the language of the Bible, the language of Halacha(Jewish Law), the language of the Haggadah, and the language of Kabbalah. Can we say that the language of the integral education is the fifth new language that we use in order to communicate with the world?

Answer: No. It’s more like the language of Kabbalah, adapted for “babies.”  It’s because we speak to people about love, connection, submission, about the collective force of bestowal that is revealed in the connection between us. This force is revealed from a higher level and dwells among us just like wisdom for the masses. We explain the psychology of integral education using today’s terminology behind which there is no other but the wisdom of Kabbalah: the Sefirot, Partzufim, the worlds, ascents and descents, mutual connection, Reshimot (reminiscences), etc.

Question: If in the past it used to be enough for me to study the wisdom of Kabbalah and to connect with the friends and the group, do I also have to study this style of Kabbalistic language today?

Answer: Yes. It is the uniqueness of integral education. Similarly, we explain to children and adults the same things in different ways. The connection with the world goes through a different level of communication and we have to learn it.

It’s the Light that Reforms that corrects everyone. It doesn’t come to the masses if we don’t participate in the process. If the world starts connecting independently, it will speed up the pace of advancing along the path of suffering.

For example, if Europe begins to strengthen the union that it needs so badly today, it will lead to Nazi regimes, and local communes that abuse others. But if we work on the unity of Europe, then it will take on a spiritual form, according to the rule of “love thy friend as thyself.” Therefore, we mustn’t give the world time to start the egoistic connection. Only if we initiate the process of connection among them will it lead to a positive result.

Question: How can we do that?

Answer: By using the media, through our groups, and mainly through the general network that connects all of us “below the surface.” Through it, we will influence people and they will begin to understand that we have the right method of correction and no one else.

In fact, accepting integral education is the criterion that a person is ready to be corrected. This is the fulfillment of the wisdom of Kabbalah, as it says in the articles “Matan Torah”(The Giving of the Torah) and “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee). So our role is to become teachers, a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” with regards to the nations of the world. This is actually the field where we perform our external actions—”a field blessed by theCreator.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

The Incubator Of Immortality

Rabash, “A Prayer of Many”: With that, we can interpret the words of the holy Zohar, which advises those people with an inner demand, who cannot accept the state they are in because they do not see any progress in the work of God, and believe what is written (Deuteronomy 30:20), “To love the Lord your God, to listen to His voice, and to cleave unto Him; for this is your life and the length of your days.” They see that they lack love and Dvekut[adhesion/cleaving] and they do not feel the life in the Torah or know how to find counsel for their souls to come to feel in their organs that which the text tells us.

The advice is to ask for the whole collective. In other words, everything that one feels that he is lacking and asks fulfillment for, he should not say that he is an exception, meaning that he deserves more than what the collective has. Rather, “I dwell among my own people,” meaning I am asking for the entire collective because I wish to come to a state where I will have no care for myself whatsoever, but only for the Creator to have contentment. Therefore, it makes no difference to me if the Creator takes pleasure in me or can receive the pleasure from others.

In other words, he asks of the Creator to give us such an understanding, which is called, “entirely for the Creator.” It means that he will be certain that he is not deceiving himself that he wants to bestow upon the Creator, that perhaps he is really thinking only of his own self-love, meaning that he will feel the delight and pleasure. Therefore, he prays for the collective.

A person begins to search for the meaning of life above the ordinary, earthly interests: food, sex, family, money, fame, knowledge. He does not even wait until the final outcome of his earthly quest to become aware of its worthlessness, but believes the opinion of the environment under which influence he develops. And if society has already verified these values and become disenchanted in them, then a person does not need to check them; he immediately switches from these earthly goals to the next, higher goals.

So, he begins to question, “What’s the meaning of life? For what do we live? Is there any reason to continue living except for the animal fear of death? Will this life came to nothing, or might it be an opportunity to continue to exist for some eternal purpose?”

All these questions lead him to the wisdom of Kabbalah if he is lucky. Besides it, nothing can give him the answer, and if humanity keeps on developing and judging itself, then its condition will not be enviable. It will not find an answer anywhere else. This is why the use of drugs is on the rise. What can those millions who are unemployed do while at the same time are wondering about the meaning of life? They are pushed on both sides, despairing because life leaves them no opportunities to enjoy it and because they refuse in advance to look for those opportunities that according to general opinion bring no contentment.

But the person in whom this true question about the meaning of life has been awakened, which is related to the spiritual quest that is beyond the usual householder’s interests in food, sex, family, money, fame, and knowledge, he must find the answer to this question. That is, he wants to look beyond this life into its root to understand where it comes from, who controls it, where it flows, and to what form of existence it is intended to lead us.

These people who are involved in finding the root of this life gather into a special “active” society. They not only develop due to their environment, but also develop it themselves. That is, they join the environment to do mutual work, becoming an incubator that accelerates a person’s development and points him in a certain direction. A human being seemingly does not want to rely on what nature allows him to harvest in a natural way (eggs, chicken, meat, grains, fruits, and vegetables) but creates favorable conditions artificially, meaning he builds an artificial environment. And then he can approximately know what produce he will get.

He can adjust the temperature in the incubator to get more eggs and the humidity in a greenhouse to get a larger harvest. In the same way, he can create a favorable environment in which to grow himself. Affecting the environment, he can regulate the direction of his development and its final goals. For many generations, we have taken the Kabbalists’ advice to speed up our development through a specific environment, without waiting until all of humanity comes to the same understanding albeit by the path of earthly suffering.

In this specific society there are principles, “Each shall help the other” and “God dwells among His people.” This means that it’s possible to establish a connection with theCreator only through connection with the environment that will direct us to the Creator. This society is built on the basis of equality and unity, mutual guarantee, as one man with one heart. And then within that unified heart, we will reveal the Creator.

That is why, all our work is to adjust ourselves correctly, like a musical instrument, so that it’s not out of tune but seeks the Creator truly. If we come together with this goal and there is the Reflected Light between us, meaning an altruistic attitude, mutual guarantee, concern for each other building to love, then inside it we reveal the force of the Creator to the extent of the strength of this connection. Thus, we go through 125 degrees from the very first, initial connection to complete unity with each other.

Thus, we adjust our vessel to the sensation of the Creator and begin to feel Him inside ourselves. The Direct Light is revealed in the Surrounding Light, giving us a sensation of life in the upper world: in the field of the force of bestowal instead of the force of reception. And the only thing that is required is to correct one’s vessel that will lead us to corrected relations.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/13