Question: If I attain the purpose of creation, is there a difference whether I reach it by a long path or a short one?

Answer: There is the path of Torah and the path of suffering. I advance either by receiving blows or by striving to become similar to the Creator. In both cases, the goal is the same. It is said that the store is open and the shopkeeper keeps the account. You take from this store in any case, whether you want to or not. You must take, you must live, you must receive pleasures.

A person is charged for what he takes, whether he is aware of it or not. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the article “The Peace.” “What difference does it make whether a person is aware or not?” he asks there. Don’t I see the shopkeeper and simply take from the store, from this life (since that is how I am built)? Or do I know that there is a shopkeeper and that what I take, I take on credit and must eventually repay?

The difference is that the shopkeeper does not care how much you take; the store is for you, everything is for you. It is not without reason that at the end of the article it says that everything is ready for the feast. Everything was created for you from the beginning, and of course, in the end, you will receive it all.

But what matters to the shopkeeper is that you relate to all your “purchases” in this world, in this store, purposefully. Because in this way, you will relate to creation as He does and attain His degree. This is the true pleasure: to be in the position of the Creator; He wants you to reach it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World Was by Largess?”

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Question: When I lift a friend’s spirits, aren’t I adding satisfaction to his will to receive? And must he then somehow return this work to me?

Answer: The point is that everything depends on what your words are clothed in right now, on your intention when you praise a friend. I am not exalting him personally. I am exalting the idea of bestowal toward one another that exists in our group. By doing this, I educate the whole group and myself about how special and spiritual the act of bestowal is.

With the intention to praise a friend, by thanking him in front of the group, I must evoke a certain attitude toward the act of bestowal, not toward him personally. This should elevate all of us to the level of appreciating the importance of bestowal.

This is a problem we can observe in our ordinary daily life. I can give you something, and you will accept it with love because it feels good to you. But I can give you the same gift in such a form or with such an attitude that you will want to get rid of it at all costs. You will feel very bad. In other words, I can evoke all kinds of sensations in you through the very fact that I give you something.

We must clothe the praise of a friend in such an intention that I am elevating, not the friend, but the Creator who has given us the strength to act. Because if you had not received these forces from the Creator, you would not be able to do even something insignificant that is good toward me.

It turns out that for the sake of good relations between us, we turn, not to one another, but to the higher force that gives us the ability to do this.

First, the fuel, the intention within each of us directed toward bestowal, can be given only from above if we are worthy of it. By this we glorify the higher force, not ourselves.

Second, it becomes arranged in such a way that no matter how much you praise someone in the group, we cannot become proud of it, because the overall atmosphere is such that this simply cannot happen. We are occupied with advancement, not with looking at one another.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/26, Rabash, “Purpose of Society – 2”

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Thus, the sages have found an adequate language without trouble by which they could convey ‎their attainments to each other by word of mouth and in writing from generation to generation. ‎They have taken the names of the branches in this world, where each name is self-explanatory, ‎as though pointing to its upper root in the system of the upper worlds….

For this reason, the sages of Kabbalah have chosen a special language that we can call “the ‎language of the branches” (Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 1, Inner Observation).

The language of branches is a language for communication, not for attainment.

For example, when listening to physicians, I may understand certain commonly accepted terms, but not their inner meaning because I am not a doctor. I do not know exactly what they are saying about the functioning of organs, medical parameters, tests, and so on. That is, the language of doctors may consist of words familiar to me, yet I lack the knowledge required to comprehend and evaluate them.

The same applies to Kabbalah: I may read Kabbalistic books in any language, and at the same time understand nothing in them. Therefore, there is a difference between knowing the words and understanding their meaning.

The language of branches does not speak about the mechanical meaning of words such as “screen,” “restriction,” “reflected light,” “direct light,” Hassadim, Hochma, and so on. Rather, it speaks about the fact that a word in our world designates a branch stemming from its root in the spiritual world.

When perceiving a certain word, I hear the name of a branch in our world and instantly imagine its root in the upper world: the quality of bestowal, closeness, separation, connection, and so forth, that is, everything relating to the interaction of parts within the single system of creation.

Question: Can a Kabbalist not know which spiritual root corresponds to a particular branch?

Answer: It is entirely possible. It depends on the level of the Kabbalist.

In general, the system of HaVaYaH is revealed relatively quickly, and afterward all kinds of nuances begin to appear, secondary and tertiary discernments, and so on. These harmonics add a great deal of feelings, and very important ones at that, because the quality of perceiving spiritual properties and actions depends on them. Therefore, even the slightest shades produce a tremendous effect and add depth to spiritual information.

Question: Suppose The Book of Zohar describes people, animals, gardens, the fruits of trees. Why was it necessary to convey everything specifically in this way?

Answer: Because this is the language of branches. The authors of The Book of Zohar could not write otherwise since these are the names of parts of our soul.

Question: Why then did Baal HaSulam write differently, using Kabbalistic terms such as Zeir Anpin, Malchut, and so on?

Answer: The matter is that in describing spiritual properties, there are four languages. Baal HaSulam used the language of Kabbalah, not the language of branches.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/1/18

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Question: Is it really true that all my future states already exist up to the very end of development?

Answer: Of course, because time does not exist. Right now, you can only decide whether you want to be in that state or not, and you move along the axis of states. And then your time can go backward or forward, however you wish.

Question: Then how does my present state differ from all the future ones?

Answer: If you advance along the axis of time (more precisely, the axis of states) you increasingly discover that you are dealing with the upper light, with the Creator. You begin to feel Him, meaning the force that governs you and your entire reality. This is the force of bestowal and love that wants to develop you so that you can perceive it and rise to its level.

Question: And how is this connected to my future?

Answer: This is your future! Whether you want it or not, you must come to this.

There is the force of bestowal and love, the “Creator,” who created us from “nothing” and gives us all these states to feel until we sense Him and begin to act the same way as this force. The Creator helps us develop to His degree. This is our future: “To become like the Creator, knowing good and evil.” We must become similar to Him in our qualities, equally giving and loving.

Question: And how do we move between times?

Answer: We move through time by wanting to become like the higher force. We advance; we “sanctify” the times, meaning, we ourselves want to progress along the axis of states, the axis of time.

Question: So it turns out that the future does not come to me; I myself walk into the future? How do I do that?

Answer: You imagine the next states on the axis of time and change yourself so that you exactly match them. In this way, you advance.

Question: Are the future states known in advance, or are there alternatives?

Answer: No alternatives! The entire axis of development is already set, and one must go through all the states on it.

However, one can pass from state to state by one’s own desire, or one can be driven by force, through suffering. We have only two options: either advance to the next state in the right and good way, knowing the future state and working on yourself to reach it faster, or refuse to do this because it goes against your egoism and you are lazy. Then the system still pushes you forward, but only through blows.

Question: Is it possible to live without the sensation of time?

Answer: It is possible. If we take our development into our own hands, we rise above time, and pay attention only to the states we go through. And when does this happen? Beyond time. Right now, I can go through many states at whatever speed I wish, and move myself toward the perfect state.

Question: And what awaits me in this final perfect state?

Answer: Absolute goodness, such that it cannot even be imagined. Just as a child cannot imagine what awaits him in adult life.
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From KabTV’s New Life 934 – “What Is the Future,” 12/19/17

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