The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 96: Three Degrees NRN. The most hidden is given to the wise at heart. Three degrees cling to one another—Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama.

All of The Book of Zohar and the entire wisdom of Kabbalah speak about spiritual degrees. However, what is a spiritual degree? What is ascension? What do we ascend in? In the corporeal world, a greater fulfillment of the desire to receive pleasure (in terms of food, sex, family, wealth, recognition, and knowledge) is considered to be an ascent. This is material “ascension” since it is dictated by the aspiration to receive egoistic pleasure.

In contrast, spiritual ascension is greater bestowal to others. A spiritual force is the force of bestowal, whereas a material force is the force of reception. This shows that the science of Kabbalah speaks about ascensions in bestowal.

Where can I actualize, verify, experience, and perceive this ascension and be certain that it is real? I can do this in the group. This is why the Creator broke the connections between the souls. He gave us a perception of this reality called “this world” and a diversity of numerous similar creatures that we call “people.” However, in essence, they are all souls who have lost the sensation of spirituality and live solely in the corporeal world. Thus, instead of experiencing our spiritual vessel, which is the will to bestow, we feel the material desire that paints a reality for us where we live in our bodies in this world.

What are we left to do? In our present state, we must start yearning for bestowal and mutual guarantee. Then, we will become equivalent to the nature of the spiritual degrees that the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about, and we will be able to ascend the steps of bestowal.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/10, The Zohar

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We can only change how fast we advance and how quickly we pass through the various states in our development. An animal doesn’t experience change, while a person does since the egoistic desire grows in a person day by day. From the dawn of humanity and during multiple lifetimes, our egoistic desire grew on its own. We were not aware of it and could not do anything about it. Now, however, we have to participate in the process of creating our new desires for bestowal. This is in our hands. We can change the speed of our progress through our own efforts.

Depending on the speed, we will know what goal we are advancing toward and how we feel about it. Do we desire it or not? If we do not desire change, we walk the path of suffering. If we do, we walk the path of Light. Other than the speed of our advancement, we can change nothing. What helps us in this process is the Surrounding Light that we draw during our studies and self-analysis that we perform through the group. How quickly we clarify our desire depends solely on how fast we unite.

This is why it is written: “We shall do and we shall hear.” We can perform actions without understanding all the fine details. But by first going above our reason like children, we gain knowledge and perception in the end. In some few months, a person begins to discern certain changes and states within. This is the result of the path he has walked, although what exactly he had gone through was unknown to him beforehand. All we need to do is follow the recommendations of the Kabbalists in order to expedite all the necessary changes.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/10, Article, “And There Was Evening And There Was Morning”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

What Is The Basis Of The Wisdom Of Kabbalah?

In this introduction, I would like to clarify matters that are seemingly simple [they appear to us as such]. Matters that everyone fumbles with, and for which much ink has been spilled [in every generation], attempting to clarify. Yet we have not reached a concrete and sufficient knowledge of them. And here are the questions:

1. What is our essence?
2. What is our role in the long chain of reality, of which we are but small links?
3. When we examine ourselves, we find that we [the created beings] are as corrupted and as low as can be. And when we examine the operator who has made us [the Creator who is perfect and absolute as those who have revealed Him claim], we are compelled to be at the highest degree, for there is none so praiseworthy as Him. For it is necessary that only perfect operations will stem from a perfect operator.[For the action’s result and quality testify to its maker.]
4. Our mind necessitates that He is utterly benevolent, beyond compare. [If He includes everything in Himself and is the basis of life, then He must be perfect] How, then, did He create so many creatures [all of them!] that suffer and agonize all through their lives? Is it not the way of the good to do good, or at least not to harm so [fill their existence with evil]?
5. How is it possible that the infinite, that has neither beginning nor end, will produce finite, mortal, and transient creatures? [The creation of a finite creature suggests the existence of the quality of finiteness in the Creator].

- Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 1

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Vaetchanan,” Selected Excerpts
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It is written: “I created the evil inclination and the Torah for its correction.” We have gotten used to all these sayings and think that they are just pretty words about the Torah. However, in reality, this is all very profound and serious. If we do not approach the Torah studies correctly, we suffer from it. The Light is a powerful force that influences us, and with its help we can reach either goodness or the opposite.

This “opposite” is also a path, meaning that revelation of evil lets us achieve goodness as well. We see this through the example of the last exile. Exile means that we are torn away from spirituality and have no chance to reach a connection with the Creator until the end of the exile. However, how can we study the Torah while we are disconnected from spirituality and have selfish intentions? All your studies will be for the sake of self-gratification, receiving a reward, not even “Lo Lishma,” that is, they will be completely devoid of the right intention.

Yet we already understand that precisely because we study the Torah (the external Torah, not Kabbalah) during the exile, we thereby draw the Surrounding Light. But instead of bringing us closer to correction, this Light distances us from it. This means that we use the Light of the Torah as a “potion of death.” However, thereby we discover that we are immersed in evil, and with the descent of the generations, when “the face of the generation has become like the face of a dog,” we reach a state about which it is written: “And the sons of Israel cried out from this work.”

In other words, whether we are in the state of spiritual attainment or the exile, we constantly use the Light of the Torah, doing so either from the negative or the positive side. Without this we would never be able to reach a sensation of exile, the need for redemption.

Therefore, now, when we exist in such a special state which Baal HaSulam calls “the generation of the Messiah on the threshold of redemption,” it is very important for us to understand that all this is a condition given to us from Above. We, however, haven’t accepted it yet. What does this mean? It means that we were given an opportunity to start using the same Light that Reforms, the Light that returns one to the Creator, in a new way, so that it will return us to the Source instead of distancing us from it as it did during the exile.

During the exile our intentions were constantly directed at ourselves: how can we benefit by using the Torah in this world and in the future world? Now we need to change our intentions. Due to this we will change the influence of the Surrounding Light on us, and it will truly return us to the Source – directly to it, rather than through its reverse side.

Hence, now we need to primarily think about the intention with which we approach the studies. The more clarified, desirable, and precise our intention will be, the better we will organize ourselves in such a way that our prayer will become a “group prayer,” and we will all unite into one whole standing opposite to the single Source. The more we do this, the more we will advance.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/10, The Zohar

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “You Stand Today, All of You”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Lech-Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 106
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 9, Lesson 15
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 22, Lesson 19
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Question: During the Congress, how can we keep from forgetting that the Light influences us if we work correctly, that darkness is an integral part of the work, and the group is what holds us up during a period of darkness?

Answer: Before such a big Congress as we are to experience in a few days, as well as during and after it, a person goes through various states: ascents and descents. One should be happy that changes are occurring in him. And the more rapid and intense these changes are, the better it is.

Our only concern should be uniting with others instead of searching within ourselves and analyzing our feelings. We should constantly try to merge with the common field, and place ourselves under the influence of the group without any extra reasoning.

Set aside all the clever discernments for now. The Congress is not the time to sit alone in a corner and check what this or that state means. Otherwise there will be “more talk than action.” At a time like this, actions are of the greatest importance, as it is written, “We shall do and we shall hear!”

Everything at the Congress will depend on how much you include yourself in the group like a little child who is among adults. He doesn’t think with his head; he just wants to imitate them. As they laugh, I laugh. As they cry, I cry. As they listen, I listen. And I do this because I want to receive inspiration from them! Then it will not matter who is a beginner and who is knowledgeable and experienced; who is small and who is big. Just try to tune into the environment and you will feel how you receive the power of bestowal above your reason.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/10, “And There Was Evening And There Was Morning”

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Kabbalah TV Channel 66’s Kabbalah for Beginners, “Recognition of Evil”
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