Before every lesson, a person should think: What will I receive from this study? This inner preparation before the lesson should prepare him so that during the study he will be able to think correctly. This is possible. A person simply needs to accustom himself to it, and gradually it will become natural. There are many things we must do in a very simple, uncomplicated way, “like an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.”

Why have we been given reason and thought? To search and discover the one thing that is truly worth holding on to: to study, to examine what is happening to us. This study should lead us to the conclusion called the recognition of evil. I should not resist anything, nor should I force myself to do anything. That is of no benefit.

I need only pay attention to what the Creator is doing to me! From this, I gradually begin to understand: who I am, who He is, what He wants, why He arranges these things for me, and with what subtlety He does so. Through this, I slowly come to know nature.

Kabbalah is the study of nature, but in a broader sense. It includes the world of causes, where everything is conceived and prepared, and from there extends to our nature, to ourselves, and to our environment.

Thus, by studying ourselves, as it is said, “From Your actions we shall know You,” and “From my flesh I shall see the Creator,” we come to study the whole of reality.
[358790]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/26, Rabash, “What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work?”

Related Material:
“Buy” the Qualities of the Creator
Develop Yourself
A Book Is a Spiritual Matrix

Whether a person is in a state of descent or ascent depends on how he evaluates his condition, either according to the actual spiritual reality or according to his own attitude toward that state. For example, I forget where I am and begin recalling how yesterday I played cards with my friends, drank beer, and felt good and happy. At that moment, I considered that time to have been an ascent.

Then suddenly I “wake up” and ask myself: “What am I thinking about right now? Where am I? What am I immersed in?” At that point, I begin to realize that this is actually a descent. In reality, we can determine whether we are in an ascent or a descent only in relation to the surrounding light. If we truly want to evaluate where we are, this is the only criterion.

A person may be sitting here in a chair, yet inwardly be traveling around the world. As it is rightly said: “A person is where his thoughts are.”

But we are speaking about a situation in which, for example, a person is completely immersed in the study, yet torments himself inwardly, and that is not the right thought. Or he is thinking about matters connected with his activities in the group, and that is not it either. During the study, he should feel himself and the entire group connected to the Creator through the material they are studying. That is truly the state toward which one should aspire.
[358786]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 7/7/26, Rabash, Article 28, 1991 “What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Measure of Ascents and Descents
Spiritual Descent or Ascent?
Descent Is Disconnection from the Creator

Question: In a state of descent, how can I find the strength to awaken from below?

Answer: In order to allow a person to make an effort, an independent movement, he is left alone. Instead of being pulled toward the goal by a force from above, he is blocked from reaching it. However, this does not start right away. Initially, a person is slightly guided in the right direction, which allows him to experience and distinguish certain things, albeit in a limited, beginner’s way.

Suddenly, this is halted, and the person is given the feeling of being completely disconnected, with a foul mood, he falls in both animal and spiritual lives. What is this done for? It gives him a sense of the desert when he does not know what to do or where to go. And his current state is not good either.

When a person does not have an inner state called “the present” or a surrounding light, which shines from afar and is called “the future,” it leads him to a state of despair, to a feeling of lack of fulfillment from both the present and the future. He feels unable to live either in the present or the future.

This is done to show a person what state he is really in when he is not cared for from above. Is it possible to do something in this state? Almost nothing. But still, it is possible to analyze a little and find out to what extent it is beneficial to advance with the help of the forces granted from above. At least this: to want them, to appreciate them.

Ultimately, these states teach a person about his true state when he is not “cared for” from above. That is why these states are good, because they build a person. Otherwise, when he is given all kinds of fillings and is lured in—this is not a great achievement, anyone could advance this way.
[358876]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/26, Rabash, “When Should One Use Pride in the Work?”

Related Material:
Difficulties Are The Help From Above
Goodness Has To Become Revealed
Want To Know The Creator? Done Deal!

Question: Why is the connection of religious people with the Creator imperfect?

Answer: Baal Sulam writes at the end of Introduction to The Book of Zohar that the people of Israel do not belong to this world, and the Germans once felt this. Jews are not a nationality, not a people, but something irrational.

In the Torah, it is said that the Creator wanted to give the Torah to the other nations, but they did not want to accept it. Then He gave the Torah to the people of Israel, scattered us throughout the world, and sent us into four exiles so that we would intermix with other nations.

In exile, we fell to the level of the “nations of the world.” Now, we must correct ourselves so that the Galgalta Eynaim (GE) are corrected, and only then can we elevate the AHP to GE.

Baal Sulam says that the entire nation of Israel is guilty of not fulfilling its mission in the world, of not realizing itself as a spiritual guide. But there are those who are more guilty and those who are less guilty.

And it is those who study only the outer part of the Torah, neglecting the inner part, who cause the greatest harm to the entire nation of Israel and to the world as a whole.
[358449]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”

Related Material:
Becoming the Nation of Israel
Return to the Internal Part of the Torah
Internal And External Interpertations Of The Torah