We are in a state where precisely the “prayer of the pauper” can save us. This means that a person has nothing and he does not need anything, besides one thing – to revive his soul. He does not ask for anything beyond this.

We are going out to the desert, which reflects our inner state, because the desert is poverty. And we don’t desire anything, other than to acquire the point of contact with the Creator, to revive our soul.
In return we can receive all the benefits of our current level, instead of the drop of unity with the higher level, which is always called the Creator for the lower level, creation.

We lack desire for the higher level, a desire just to unite with the upper one, to feel that we are inside of Him like a drop of semen that begins to develop.

This should be our intention while reading The Book of Zohar.
[68865]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/12, The Zohar

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Hate is inseparable from love. This principle should be engrained in me so that it becomes my program in relation to the world, through which I look at everything. In this form, I always will be in the middle line, in the middle third of Tifferet, Klipat Noga, in the point of my free choice.

Otherwise, I cannot orient myself and do not know where I am: in the area of bestowal or reception, or in a complete fog. Until I form two opposite lines, I am not in the world, which can be a reality.

So we go through so many ups and downs until we begin to understand the weakness of being only in the right or only in the left line. To be just in the right or just in the left is an egoistic state, Klipah Ishmael or Esau.

And if I am in the right and in the left line in order to connect them and rise above them so that the right line is always a bit higher than the left one (as there is always an inclination to the right), then I build the middle line.

But they both are present and support each other. Through this system of two lines, it is possible to see the importance of bestowal, in comparison to reception. And if there is no reception, how can we check?

Therefore, hatred and rejection must exist. A person, who is not in close contact with his friends, does not want to connect, and stays on the sidelines, might have excellent relations with others, might be a good friend, quiet, and calm, but not be involved in the work.

On the other hand, someone, who is argumentative and volatile and who cannot get along with anyone, may be able to establish inner contact with friends. Not only do we need to consider this criterion check judged by such outward appearances, but everyone needs to examine oneself inside.
[68195]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/31/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You said that instead of aspiring for fulfillment, we should aspire to desire, necessity. What does it mean to aspire to a desire? What does it mean to get fulfillment from a desire?

Answer: A young man is walking down the street and glowing with happiness. Why? He loves a girl.

Tell me, what does he get from this love? Why does this feeling fill him so much? What does he receive? He doesn’t receive, but is ready to bestow. He wants to unite with her, to love. I am not talking about love between adults, about sexual relations, but about a higher feeling, even though it is also based upon reception.

You love a person and want to do something pleasant for him. You want him to be happy and aspire to unite with him.

Besides hormonal attraction, which even animals experience, we received such an exalted feeling so that we would learn something from it. After all, nothing was created in vain. That is why in our biological organism, in this protein body, there is a certain inspiration from this kind of feeling for the neighbor, called love of one person for another.

Why does this fulfill me? Feelings fill us. Love is filled by the fact that I exist in bestowal rather than reception. And if I receive something from someone who loves me, then it’s only to awaken me to respond to the Light. But in essence, if love lives inside of me, then I enjoy by bestowing to the person I love, without receiving from him.

This is a law of nature and nothing can be done about it.
[68030]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/12, The Book of Zohar

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Question: Is one’s proximity to spirituality measured by the love that is felt in one’s heart? And if we don’t feel love, does that mean we are not in spirituality?

Answer: Spirituality begins when a person feels that it is inside of his mutual connection with the friends whom he sets apart from the entire rest of the world for this reason. There he feels his new, different existence, which is different from the previous—inside of this connection, in which there are no calculations besides connection and mutuality, where they all embrace the Creator together.

They embrace the very quality of bestowal that reigns in them, which they desire to reveal. They want to feel such joy from it as if they are immersing in cool water on a grueling, hot day. In the same way, we want to feel the quality of bestowal filling us.
[67940]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/29/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What makes us create “idols” and assign spiritual properties to material things and actions?

Answer: We are like infants: each of us carries around a baby’s pacifier, a doll, or a toy. Those who haven’t grown up yet need something that they can hold onto. They require something that they are used to, that is intertwined with their parents’ house, something familiar and comforting.

Nobody knows how to behave, what to say, and what to expect when they get to a new and unknown place. One feels discomfort, can’t relax, and gets nervous. It’s quite different at home where everything is familiar, clear, and easy. We speak one language with our friends and family.

We are built similarly to the spiritual realm, which is the origin of such order of things. How can we abide with the situation that is opposite to us in phase? In order to familiarize oneself with the surroundings, a person needs some kind of foundation that is usually made of simple symbols. The farther people are from spirituality, the weaker they are and the more they depend on external objects. The general public is in more need of relying on them, whereas individuals depend on them less.

All external traditions of Judaism started at the time of the destruction of the temple. Prior to that period of time, material symbols were not necessary since people lived in spirituality.
[67149]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: It’s difficult to put all of one’s energy into the request for correction and to come out “empty-handed” again and again. How can we keep from getting disillusioned in the path?

Answer: What are you asking for? To have the true request, or for something else? You don’t need anything besides this. If I turn to Him with a request, I must constantly check to make sure that my request is the best, most correct and precise one, that it hits the goal right on target and I don’t demand anything from it. Why would I need anything else? After all, any answer to it would already be a payment, and I don’t desire payment.

What do we aspire to?
- I aspire to unity, togetherness, bestowal, to give pleasure to the Creator!
- Please, go ahead, you’re doing it.
- I just want to know whether He likes it or not…
But if you find out that you are doing something pleasant for the Creator, that will be the greatest pleasure for you, and you will receive it for your own sake.

By going through all these states, where you don’t receive anything and keep going, and you do it over and over again, you thereby build a screen with which you receive a reaction from the Creator that you give Him pleasure, and this won’t enter your receiving desires, but will be above them.

But for now, if you received a reaction in return right now, this would give you enormous satisfaction. Say you wrote a letter to someone very great, and that person received it and responded to you, saying, “I got your letter.” That would be enough, you would already be happy.

Therefore, as long as you aren’t protected from this kind of pleasure, you won’t receive any reaction in return.
[67577]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/12, The Zohar

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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “To Be A Man, Social Psychology”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

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Question: Sometimes we go through very unusual, powerful states. It’s good if you’re in the group, next to the teacher and friends, but what should a person do in this case if he studies alone at home, virtually?

Answer: It is written that “The Creator heals all broken hearts.” I am not the master of your states. Rather, the Light that comes to a person precisely considers his level, state, personality, the root of his soul, and all parameters. We are unable to calculate all of this and to say how this should all be in every case.

But if we do everything that is necessary, then our progress will always be optimal. A person is influenced from above in a way that was precisely calculated according to millions of parameters in order to elevate him from the current state to the next one.

It is not your concern to assess and check all of this. You cannot understand it – all of this is seen only from attaining the general system from above downwards. When you rise to the World of Atzilut, to its uppermost part (GAR) and connect with Partzufim Aba ve Ima (the upper Father and Mother), which are very high levels, then you begin to see how the plan of creation works. This is the greatest pleasure of all possible ones.

This is called the illumination of the Shechina – the sensation of how the goal of creation, the upper mind, the upper force, the plan of creation, which is all Love, fills all of Malchut of the world of Infinity and brings it to correction in all of its details. This is a person’s absolutely perfect state.

But don’t be afraid that the states a person goes through in the meantime can bring him any harm. They are, in fact, phases of the soul’s healing. It’s like a person who was sick for a long time and suddenly feels a sudden improvement and becomes healthier. Suddenly his sensations sharpen, his eyes open, and he gains forces inside, and thus the illness gradually passes. That is how we gradually get better…
[67340]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/23/12, Shamati

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A person goes through phases of concealment and revelation on his spiritual path. Yet concealment is not an easy thing. Who is actually concealed? Where did He disappear to and where is He? After all, concealment is part of the revelation.

If I feel that someone is concealed, it means that I know him, I know who he is and how he should be revealed. In this case we already have something to talk about regarding concealment: After all, I already have an understanding, an attainment, a certain feeling, but they are the opposite of revelation.

So how can it be attained? First, I have to understand that at the moment I am detached in a state of unconsciousness. Then I probably have to feel that something is concealed from me. This is already a step forward. Then I go through a double concealment and a single concealment, followed by partial revelation and complete revelation.

So how do I go through all these phases? It all depends on the how the Creator is revealed to me. The question is: How can I hasten His appearance?

He wants to be revealed before the created being, and we too, at the moment, seem to want to reveal Him. But then it turns out that we actually don’t want that at all, because to reveal the Creator is to reveal the attribute of bestowal that rules the world, and to become one who totally bestows. This means that I become restricted; I lose myself, and totally forget about myself. My “self” ceases to exist. I can’t even think about this. So do I want the revelation of the Creator?

Here we begin to understand that it isn’t that simple, it involves very serious things, and they are all concealed inside a person. According to our nature, we hate the revelation of the Creator. After all, it is in contrast to the egoistic pleasures that we want. His gradual revelation is depicted as something awful to me: It is as if I rule the whole world and suddenly some monster begins to cut off pieces from it, one piece after another, until there is nothing left and it also swallows me. What’s more, I have to agree to that, to want it, to look for it, to beg for it.

So we see that the chain of these events isn’t revealed to us directly; we have to go through a preparation process that is not simple. First I enjoy the revelations, which may be pleasant or unpleasant for my egoism. Then I have to acquire a feeling that is above egoism, and then I see the opposite picture, that I am no longer being guided by the feelings of bitter and sweet, but by the criteria of truth and false.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/19/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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There is a rule: “if you leave Me one day I shall leave you for two.” This is similar to the rule of “to reveal a portion and conceal two”… it is a preliminary condition for the creation of the vessel.

A person is intentionally given the option to fail, which is called “if you leave Me one day,” and then he has to work to correct himself for two days. This means that he leaves the level he was on, falls, and sins. But he falls to an even lower level: not to the egoistic level that is the inverse of the level of bestowal he had reached, but to an even lower level. Not to minus one (-1), but to minus two (-2), and then he has to ascend to the second level, to plus two (+2).

When he finally arrives to +2, he falls to -3, and then he has to rise to +3. We progress in this way; all these actions benefit our advancement. When we fall, we have to work twice as hard.

The main thing is not to lose the persistence, not to stand still because you see that you are not getting any reward. Each time we need to find greater reward that is more and more detached from corporeal life. We should learn to measure the reward in relation to the common good: to what extent can I work and the others receive.

I have to make efforts that the reforming Light will bring me closer to this attitude in which I will receive more and more fuel to work for the benefit of all the others and not my own. This is how my advancement is measured.
[66837]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/18/12, Shamati #108

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