Question: Can it be said that a person ascends to the Creator from a state of darkness?

Answer: It all depends on what darkness is for me. I can be full of life while in that state.

For example, the World Cup has just started, and people are engrossed with it from morning until night. If I could interest them in the purpose of creation as intensely as they follow the ball, it would be simply wonderful! In other words, it all depends on what I see as darkness.

Suppose I am deeply drawn to this World Cup, yet I realize that all my thoughts and desires connected with it are darkness! But there is nothing I can do about it! And indeed, what is the purpose of creation matter compared to this? This championship contains the entire taste of life for me. But I define it as darkness. In fact, it is light for me, but my state, my attitude toward it is darkness! And then I begin to search.

Of course, my search is artificial, but I hope that someone will eventually change my state. So I force myself, willingly or not, to join a group that will help me, that will “brainwash” me, so that I will acquire different thoughts. Thus, everything depends on what we define as darkness.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work? ”

The depth of spiritual attainment is determined by the depth of the corrected desire. With each new generation, increasingly coarser (more egoistic) souls descend into this world.

For this reason, the Kabbalists who lived before the ARI (16^th century) had a small ego and could not reveal the elements of creation in full detail, such concepts as the Masach (Screen), Tzimtzum Aleph, Tzimtzum Bet (the first and second restrictions), and Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light).

They worked with these spiritual forces, but their origin and actions were not yet fully clear to them. Consequently, they could not describe them with complete precision.

It is like seeing a picture and even being able to paint it while not knowing how colors are decomposed into a spectrum, what wavelength each color has, how those wavelengths affect us, and how they are perceived as sensations.

Without sufficient depth of desire, it is impossible to reach the underlying causes and explain how the light connects with the desire.

The ARI was the first to reveal the distinction and connection between the direct light and the reflected light due to the uniqueness of his soul in its full depth.

In addition, the era of the Messiah was beginning and souls requiring correction started to be revealed in the world.

Before that, came the period of exile during which the ego had not yet manifested itself in a form ready for correction.

Therefore, it is said that all the Kabbalists before the ARI explained Kabbalah primarily from the perspective of the direct light (the Kabbalah of the Ramak), whereas the ARI explained Kabbalah from the perspective of the reflected light (the Kabbalah of the ARI).

Baal HaSulam continued the ARI’s method and made it applicable for our generation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/9, Baal HaSulam, Letter 29

In spiritual work, a person must constantly choose the right line and turn toward the right. According to many Jewish laws, we are required to give preference to the right over the left: in putting on shoes, clothing, and so on. All of these are hints to spirituality. But how can we choose the right line over the left in our actions?

A person must perform such actions that will lead him to choose the right. He never performs the action itself, for he is the result of a combination of forces descending from above. Therefore, one must try to ensure that, under the influence of these forces, he becomes more connected with the right line.

Rabash gives various pieces of advice on how to achieve this: study more, and during the study ask that this happens; be with the friends and listen to their advice on what the right line is and what the left line is; try to clarify for yourself what this is and exalt the right line within yourself.

So start thinking about it and try to clarify this concept. This is precisely what we study: how to make the right decision. Many things operate according to the same principle: choosing a goal, selecting the means to attain it, making an accurate analysis of the situation, and then trying to connect all these things together.

For example, we want to gather together and decide how to publish books in Hebrew, specifically in what external form. We still do not know the details: what the cover should be, what illustration it should have, and everything else. I must clarify what the issue is, by what means I can solve it, and what questions I need to answer, in other words, how I arrive at the certainty that a particular format is the best possible one.

In this simple way, without unnecessary philosophizing, we choose only what is essential. We do not feel that this relates to our spiritual work, but in fact it does, and it is very closely connected to it. If we know how to present our work in the group correctly, and indeed everything we do in life, then we will never make a mistake.

This is the process of clarification and decision-making. We do not know on what basis to make decisions or how to make them, but the decision is the result of the process of our work, and it will be correct if the process itself is correct. This aligns perfectly with our spiritual laws.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is “Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson” in the Work?”

We should understand for what purpose a person should know that he fears God (Rabash, “Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?”).

What does it mean that a person must pass a test? Who is testing him, and for what purpose? And why, at the very beginning, should a person say about everything he encounters: “If I am not for myself, who will help me?” That is, he must begin the action as though he has the ability to accomplish it by his own strength without the intervention of any other force, as though he himself is acting, and not the Creator or His messenger.

Then, after he has completed the work, whether he succeeded or not, but has done everything he intended to do, he must say: “There is none else besides Him.”

What does saying this before the work and after it mean? How does merely saying these words help? Here we are speaking about a person’s spiritual state before performing the action and after completing it.

We know that the light builds the Kli and performs every action within it. The Kli is the result of the light. It is entirely under the influence of the light and is incapable of making any independent decisions. It has no other option than either to agree or disagree with what is happening, according to the depth of its awareness of what the light  is doing with it.

Without a doubt, the Creator performs everything. Yet a person must come to the perception that everything he does, everything that happens to him, is the Creator’s action. This is the essence of our correction: to heal the blindness of our senses, of our perception.

Therefore, when a person utters a blessing or offers a prayer, it does not mean that something will happen afterward because of it. On the contrary, both the blessing and prayer are felt only in relation to the result that the person has already attained through the light’s influence upon him.

The light influences the Kli, and the Kli begins to feel what the light is doing to it. From Aviut Aleph to Aviut Dalet, it receives impressions from the lights of NRNHY, according to the order of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida.

This continues until the person attains the full depth of the Creator’s intention toward him and understands everything that the Creator wishes to accomplish. Accordingly, the Kli truly reaches a state in which it shares the same action and the same awareness as the Creator. Then either a genuine prayer or genuine gratitude arises within him.

What does this mean? It means that the person has truly reached a state in which he understands what the Creator is doing with him, as it is written: “From Your actions we know You.” He then knows precisely which actions have passed over him, who brought them about, for what purpose, and what they accomplished within him. To the extent permitted by his spiritual structure, he has completed his work: he has examined and felt the Creator’s influence.

As a result of fully feeling and understanding the Creator’s action upon him, he becomes similar to the Creator in that very action and accepts it completely. This means that he justifies the action and brings himself into equivalence with it, that is, he becomes similar to the Creator through His actions. And through this awareness, correction comes. Thus, he completes that stage.

Then the Creator acts upon him once again, and again he must say: “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” This means that he must personally examine everything and carry it through. In this way, he comes to know the Creator’s action upon him. Then after reaching a state where he has understood everything, he says: “There is none else besides Him.”

He truly sees and knows that only the Creator acts. And now, having understood each of His actions completely, that is, having reached the state in which he feels within that action that the Creator is “Good and does good,” he himself acquires the intention to be good and to do good.

This is what is meant by: “From Your actions we know You.” Through the actions that reveal what the Creator does, a person comes to know Him with his own senses. Based on this knowledge, he transforms his own feelings so that they become like the Creator’s. This is called adhesion, equivalence of qualities and intentions. The fact that, at the end of his work, he gives thanks means that he has completed that degree, examined it, corrected himself, become similar to the Creator, and is ready for the next action.

Therefore, everything begins with: “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” This is the entire work of the “spies,” the work of examination and scrutiny. A person regrets, agrees, struggles, and continues searching until he understands the essence of the Creator’s action. When he finally accepts it as good, he justifies it, brings himself into equivalence with it, and ultimately becomes like the action itself.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/26, Rabash, “Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?”