The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Morning Lesson: June 10, 2026

Part 1: What Is Above Reason in the Work? Rabash. Article No. 6 (1989).

Reader: Hello dear friends! In the first part, we'll learn a lesson from Rav from September 5, 2003. It's based on the article, What Is Above Reason in the Work? We'll read it in the Ten, we have thirty-one minutes.

Reading: (00:45) What Is Above Reason in the Work?

Article No. 6, 1989

It is written in the Musaf [supplemental] prayer of Rosh Hashanah [Hebrew New Year], “Thus said the Lord, King of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: ‘I am the first, and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.’” We should understand the words “King of Israel.” Is He not the king of the nations of the world? After all, He is the king of the world.

The thing is that we should know that all that we say about the Creator is not about the Creator Himself, as was said about this, “There is no thought or perception in Him whatsoever.” Rather, all the appellations we attribute to the Creator are how the creatures attained Him according to these names, as it is written, “By Your actions, we know You.”

Therefore, although the Creator is the king of the world, even if the created beings do not want to recognize His kingship, He does not need their consent in order to be king over them. He rules without asking them and does what He wants. No one has any say in the world, but He does what He wants and He does not need the consent of the created beings, as it is written, “I believe in whole faith, and He alone does, is doing, and will do all the deeds.”

Yet, we could ask, If He is king over us without asking us, why must we take upon ourselves the burden of His kingship, if He rules over us in any case? The answer is that we must know that He rules over us, and before a person takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven above reason, meaning that we cannot understand this within reason, and a person cannot see that His guidance is in the form of good and doing good. Instead, every person feels lack in pleasure, in enjoyment in his life. Each one thinks that if he could see that he immediately receives what he prays for and asks of the Creator, which is called “within reason,” he would not have to believe that the Creator hears the prayer, since he would see with his own eyes that the Creator helped him.

But when he prays to the Creator several times and thinks that the Creator does not grant his prayer, as evidenced by the fact that he did not receive anything he prayed for, then a person must strengthen himself and say that he believes what is written, “For You hear the prayer of every mouth.” Since this is against reason, because reason shows him that the Creator does not answer him, when he overcomes and says that what the intellect and reason oblige him to believe, he says, “I am not looking, but I believe in the sages who told us that the Creator does hear the prayer of every mouth,” this is called “faith above reason.”

By assuming the burden of the kingdom of heaven in this way, we are later rewarded with “And you will love the Lord your God with all your heart,” and with equivalence of form, called “vessels of bestowal,” the Kelim [vessels] in which the Creator bestows the delight and pleasure that He wanted to give.

Now we understand what we must attain by crowning the Creator over us, since by this we acquire Kelim with which we can enjoy the Creator. Therefore, while we have no connection with the Creator, He does not give us anything, meaning that we cannot enjoy something that is not in us, meaning we cannot enjoy the Creator.

Only to the extent that a person believes in the Creator, he can say that he is receiving from the Creator. However, one who does not believe in the Creator cannot receive from Him. Only to the extent of the faith in Him can one receive from Him what He wants to give to the created beings.

However, it takes a lot of work to achieve the degree of assuming the burden of the kingdom of heaven. 1) A person must know that if he has no faith in the Creator, how can he ask anything of Him? 2) What will it give him if he has fear of heaven? That is, for whose sake should he assume the burden of the kingdom of heaven? Is it for his own sake or for the Creator’s sake? If we say that it is for the sake of the Creator, the question is, What will this give to the Creator if we believe that He is the king? What does this add to Him? We can understand that a flesh and blood king needs respect, but does the Creator need the creatures to respect Him? Is He needy of His created beings?

This is as it is written in the “Introduction of the Book of Zohar” (Item 191): “Fear, which is the most important, is when one fears the Creator because He is great and rules over everything. He is great because He is the root from which all the worlds expand, and His greatness is seen by His actions. And He rules over everything because all the worlds He has created, upper and lower, are regarded as nothing compared to Him for they add nothing to His essence.” In other words, all the creatures do not add anything to Him.

Thus, why do we need to work for the sake of the Creator, as it is written, “All your works will be for the sake of heaven, and not for your own sake”? After all, the Creator does not get anything from our work for Him because He has no lacks. Why then do we need to work in order to bestow?

Indeed, this is only for the sake of the created beings, for by this they will be saved from disparity of form from the Creator and will be rewarded with equivalence of form, called “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.” It is not that He needs them to work for Him, as though He needs the respect of the creatures. Rather, by working for the sake of the Creator, called “only for the sake of heaven,” the creatures will benefit from this and will enjoy. This is called that the Tzimtzum [restriction] and the concealment were in order to bring to light the perfection of His deeds, meaning for the creatures to be able to enjoy without feeling any shame. This is the meaning of equivalence of form and Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.

By this we will understand what we asked about the words, “King of Israel.” Is He not the king of the nations of the world? The answer is that in the work, every person is a whole world, as it is written in The Zohar. For this reason, man consists of the nations of the world, and of Israel. Therefore, the meaning of “king of Israel” is that when a person takes upon himself the kingdom of heaven, He is called “king of Israel.”

In other words, “Israel” means Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], when a person says that He is his king. In other words, he does not say that the Creator is the king of the world from His perspective, meaning without the created beings accepting His kingship over them of their own volition. Rather, “king of Israel” means that the person consciously takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven.

The “nations of the world” means that He rules over them unconsciously. That is, the Creator is the king of the world although they have no idea about faith in the Creator, and do not even want to think about the matter of the kingdom of heaven. This is considered that the Creator is the king of the nations of the world, meaning rules over them and does what He wants without their awareness that He is doing and will do all the deeds. This is why when it says, “king of Israel,” it refers to those who have taken upon themselves the kingdom of heaven consciously and willingly. This is called “king of Israel.”

This is as it is written (Avot 3:20), “A person repays consciously and unconsciously.” “Consciously” means “king of Israel,” and “unconsciously” means the nations of the world, whom He rules although a person is unconscious, and does not even give one thought to faith. This aspect of man is called “the nations of the world within a person.”

Accordingly, “Thus said the Lord, King of Israel” means that to those who have taken upon themselves the burden of His kingship, it says, “his redeemer, the Lord of hosts.” That is, they feel that the Creator has redeemed them from the nations of the world, whose control is in the mind and heart. “In the mind” means that the nations of the world say that only what reason confirms is true, and they do not give a person permission to go by the way of believing above reason. “In the heart” means that they do not let a person emerge from self-love. Rather, they say that what the heart wants and feels that it is for one’s own sake, these actions they permit. But if a person wants to work in order to bestow, they resist with all their might and a person cannot emerge from their control. Instead, the Creator Himself redeems him from their governance.

This is the meaning of the words, “king of Israel and his redeemer.” That is, once they have taken upon themselves the kingdom of heaven, called “king of Israel,” they attain that the Creator is his redeemer, meaning that only the Creator redeemed them from the control of the evil, and they themselves were powerless to do so.

In this way, we should interpret the words “Lord of hosts.” This name means, as Baal HaSulam interpreted, that as he said, Tzevaot [hosts] are two words: Tze [leave/go out] and Ba [comes]. That is, Tzava [army] are men of war. These are people who go each day to fight the evil inclination. They are called “army.” Therefore, after they have been rewarded with redemption, meaning after they conquer the evil inclination and emerge from the control of the evil, their conduct in the work is by way of ascents and descents, which is called Tzevaot [plural of Tzava (army)]. Meaning, at times they emerge from their control, and then are under their control again. Thus, the name for ascents and descents is Tzevaot.

During the work, a person should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” At that time in the work, they think that they themselves are doing the ascents and descents, that they are men of war, called Tzava, “mighty men.” Afterward, when they are redeemed, they attain that the Lord is of hosts [Tzevaot], meaning that the Creator made all the ups and downs they had.

In other words, even the descents come from the Creator. A person does not get so many ups and downs for no reason. Rather, the Creator caused all those exits. We can interpret “exit” as “exit from Kedusha [holiness],” and Ba [comes] as “coming to Kedusha. The Creator does everything. Hence, after the redemption, the Creator is called “Lord of Hosts.” And who is He? “The king of Israel and his redeemer.”

Accordingly, we should interpret what is written, “The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau.” Har [mountain] means Hirhurim [thoughts/contemplations], which are thoughts that lead to the state of Zion, from the word Yetziot [exits]. Mount Zion means contemplations and thoughts that bring descents upon a person, meaning that he ejects himself from Kedusha. These thoughts—it will later be revealed—are where the deliverers ascended from, “to judge the mountain of Esau.”

The “mountain of Esau” means thoughts and contemplations pertaining to wicked Esau. “To judge” means to conquer and subdue the contemplations of wicked Esau. And what is the meaning of “The deliverers will ascend”? Who delivered them to conquer the mountain of Esau? It is Mount Zion. That is, the thoughts that caused them to exit the Kedusha, meaning the descents, are themselves what helped them conquer the mountain of Esau.

This is as it is written, “From the blow itself he makes a bandage.” The fact that they had descents, which is called “a blow,” since at that time he fell from the Kedusha into the authority of the Sitra Achra [other side], from this itself came only good. This is also called as it is written, “He brings down to the netherworld, and He lifts us.” By seeing that one is worse than everyone else, it makes him do what he can, and not rest until he sees that the Creator took him out and delivered him from the control of wicked Esau. This is the meaning of the words, “The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau.”

It is written, “And the kingship will be the Lord's.” This means that specifically then, the kingship will be the Creator’s, meaning during the redemption, as it is written, “The king of Israel and his redeemer.”

And before this, is the kingship not the Lord’s? Who else governs the world? We should interpret that Malchut has two names: 1) Zion, 2) Jerusalem. In the work, we should say that Zion is when she is still not revealed in and of herself. This is called Malchut that is inside, meaning it is still not evident to the creatures that Malchut is the ruler of the world, and there is no other force in the world, and only the Creator is the king. This discernment is still hidden from the creatures. This aspect of Malchut is called “Zion,” meaning Yetziot [exits] from Kedusha.

At that time, a person thinks that the Sitra Achra governs him because he feels that he has no need for spirituality. This means that faith in the greatness of the Creator is in concealment. Sometimes, he exits the work to such an extent that he forgets altogether about the existence of the work of the Creator. This is regarded as having fallen from his state, when he worked enthusiastically and thought that from this day forward he will remain permanently in the holy work.

Yet, after some time, he suddenly sees that he has been completely ejected from Kedusha. That is, he does not remember the zero point, meaning he cannot recall the moment he was ejected from Kedusha and fell to the corporeal world, since during the fall, a person is unconscious and remembers nothing. As in corporeality, when a person falls from a high place, he does not remember having fallen. Only when he comes to, he sees that he is in the hospital. So it is in the work.

This is regarded as “Zion.” That is, at the time of redemption, when he sees the kingdom of heaven openly, he attains that the Creator has delivered him from wicked Esau. Then Malchut is called “Jerusalem,” whose governance is revealed. This is the time to see that all those descents came from the king, as well. That is, all the foreign contemplations and thoughts they had, no other force was there, but the Creator sent them. In other words, the Creator sent them the descents, as well, so that through them they would need the help of the Creator.

It follows that Mount Zion—as was said, that “The deliverers will ascend to judge the mountain of Esau”—now they say that Mount Zion was also Malchut, called “Zion.” In other words, her power was concealed, and she helped judge the mountain of Esau. That is, they conquered the quality of wicked Esau, meaning corrected the quality of Esau, and now they attain that there is no other force in the world.

This is the meaning of “And the kingship will be the Lord’s,” meaning that now they see that the kingship was the Lord’s then, too, and not only now, but before, as well, since there is none else besides Him. Now that they have been redeemed, they attain that this was so before, as well.

However, during the concealment, we also must believe that the Creator does everything. But this is above reason. Conversely, now they attain that this is so. However, afterward, they will need to come to the end of correction, which is called “in the future,” and at that time, “The Lord will be king over all the earth,” meaning even over the nations of the world. This means that the Creator will be revealed among the nations of the world, as well, as it is written, “For they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.”

This is called, “The Lord is king over all the earth.” That is, even before the end of correction, the Creator is the king over all the earth, but this is called “unconsciously.” That is, they do not know that the Creator is the leader of the world, as it is written (in the Morning Prayer, in the Shema de Korbanot section), “Who in all Your works in the upper ones and in the lower ones will tell You what to do and what to work?” Only He does everything, and there is no other force in the world but Him.

However, this pertains to the people of Israel, who believe in the Creator. With respect to them, it can be said that the Creator is the king. That is, consciously, meaning that they, too, know that the Creator rules over them. It is not necessarily that the Creator Himself knows that He is the king, which is called “unconsciously.” Rather, they took upon themselves the burden of the kingdom of heaven as faith above reason, and they regard it as though it were within reason.

This is called “consciously,” meaning that in the work, “faith above reason” means we must believe although the mind does not see that this is so, and it has several proofs that it is not as he wants to believe. This is called “faith above reason,” meaning he says that he believes as though he sees it within reason. This is called “faith above reason” in the work.

In other words, it is a lot of work for a person to take this upon himself; it is against reason. This means that the body does not agree to this, yet he accepts it nonetheless as though it were within reason. Such faith requires help from the Creator. For this reason, for such faith, a person needs to pray that He will give him the power to be similar to Him as though he had attained it within reason.

In other words, a person should not pray to the Creator to help him understand everything within reason. Instead, he should pray to the Creator to give him the strength to assume faith above reason as though it were within reason.

But before this, he must have faith in the sages that such is the will of the Creator—that we will take upon ourselves faith in the Creator above reason. And here, in this order, begins the ascents and descents. Sometimes he grows stronger in faith, and sometimes he falls from his degree and must believe, while he is praying to the Creator, that He will help him. Yet, he does not see that he received the help he needs.

Then, too, he must believe above reason that everything comes from the Creator, and at the same time say “If I am not for me, who is for me?” Then he comes to the state of “Mount Zion,” and then to the state of the “mountain of Esau,” for all the work at that time—before we are rewarded with redemption—to emerge from their control.

At that time, we come to know the work, as it is written, “Thus said the Lord, King of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: ‘I am the first, and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me,’ and the kingship will be the Lord’s, and the Lord will be king over all the earth.” It is as it is written, “All who are of flesh shall call in Your name, to turn to you all the wicked of the earth; all the dwellers of the world will know and recognize.” That is, at that time, everyone will know that the Creator is the king, and before this, only the people of Israel know that He is the king.

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Reader: We'll continue to the recorded lesson.

M Laitman: (31:40) We read the article by Rabash, What Is Above Reason in the Work? That, in order to reach this state called, to acquire the ability to be above reason, that means that a person reaches Rosh Hashanah, what does that mean? That he reaches the Rosh – the head of all his states – and he discovers that the Creator, the Lord of Hosts; meaning that a person went through all the states of ascent and descents called, leave and come, and going through them makes him like a soldier. That, from all his descents he is heart-entered – meaning he built inside himself this army by overcoming above reason, above all the disturbance called, above Esau, he climbs that mountain of contemplating. It comes to him according to the structure of his soul and when he overcomes them above reason, he reaches from the mountain of Esau to the mountain of Zion, meaning from the exits, he reaches the ascents. Then by this work, by contemplating above reason, he acquires the force of Bina; that's why he's called Israel, Yashar-El. That everything towards the Creator, he gets from Bina. Then comes from the revelation in general, that the Creator is ruling over everything, to the private guidance that the Creator is the King of Israel. King of the world, means that from his own state he discovers it. and the King of Israel means that, above reason, he discovers it through the work. Israel meaning Yashar-El, above reason, then he discovers that the Creator is also taking him through all the cases he went through.

Then, from Mount Zion he reaches Jerusalem, from Malchut of Zion to Malchut of Jerusalem. The end of this state that he discovers that the Creator is the King on all the land, meaning on all his desires in the past and the present. That he checked the adhesion with the Creator upon all the desires of his soul, that's called that he reaches a state called Rosh Hashana. That's the Rosh, the head, the highest state upon everything he did in the desires of the soul. That's the holiday of Rosh Hashana, meaning on one hand, you could say that it's the beginning of something new; that there's already an ascent, and a state above all the corrections. And you could say that it's actually a summary of what a person went through in all the years that he has passed and that is a result of correcting all the desires of the soul. When he reaches this state, it's called that he reaches Rosh Hashana, the head of the year.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:44) Above reason means that for all my questions, I want answers specifically from the Creator. Meaning not to find the questions in me with my own mind, it's better to receive them from Him. That's how I express my connection to Him, that's how it's expressed. Now, what is the connection between that and bestowal? Is it also a kind of connection you need to form with Him? The qualities of bestowal, I need to acquire them from Him, what is the connection?

M. Laitman: What is the connection between the bestowal that I have to acquire, I don't know why, but it says that I need to. And above reason, that I also don't know why but they tell me I need to. Meaning, in me, there is no desire and no impulse for bestowal, for above reason and all these things – I don't know what it is. From all the cases that I go through when I get a rejection, that's what he calls Zion or contemplations. From all these cases, I reach a state that I must discover the reason of why it's happening to me. Why is it bad for me and, also, who is doing this bad to me? When I bump into this question, it's actually the same question: what is bad, why is it, who is it coming from? It's all a question about my source, about the Creator; I start feeling and seeing from everything that's happening to me, that me, directly, I cannot discover Him. And without discovering Him, I have nowhere to run to, I just can't just sit silent. All these states obligate me, necessarily, that I will go and discover Him. Then it turns out that I can discover Him, not in my five senses but only above reason, what does that mean? As much as I am able to not go in my own qualities, to be above them, meaning that in my mind, in my understanding, it won't be revealed who the Creator is, Oh He's doing this or that, I'll see exactly what He's doing. But in this way, I'll never get any revelation; I'll get a certain understanding that, yes there's someone there, but the actual recognition, I won't have it.

(40:34) I need to reach a state that I receive a certain feeling from Him but not in my senses. That's called that I, as if, reach reason but not His revelation; that's called that I discover Him in the sixth sense or in the force of faith. Faith above reason, what does that mean, the force of faith? It's in the quality of Bina that a person acquires and before he acquires it, he has no idea what that is. You can say, in order to bestow, we also don't know what that means. You can say, sixth sense, that we also don't know what it is; but if I acquire that quality, then I have an ability to connect to the Creator through this supernatural perception called faith above reason – in quotes, something I don't know what it is. Without understanding, meaning without attaining it in the vessels of reception, without feeling, meaning without attaining it in the vessels of reception. Because understanding and feeling is what we receive in our vessels, and what we understand that we get in our vessels. I do not have that, I have something completely different above it; some kind of completely different vessel of perception called reflected light, a spiritual vessel, the sixth sense you can call it. Meaning all kinds of things that we don't exactly know what it is – some new channel opens in us towards the Creator; and this channel truly works in a way that, in it, we discover the Creator and in it, we can do this. In our regular senses, in our regular channels, it'll never happen. Now, in order to somehow, we want to give this connection a certain name so we say, faith above reason, just to show that it's not in our senses and understandings and where it usually happens, but above that in a different manner.

Student: (43:53) It's a kind of initial action that you need to make?

M. Laitman: It's not an initial action, it's an action that is already beyond the barrier, that if a person is rewarded with this action, even the smallest one. Above all senses and vessels, that is called that he already passed the barrier ,and then he enters a ladder of degrees that the degrees are as much as he can acquire this perception of above reason. Above his own reason, meaning the 125 degrees he ascends, that's called that his reason is revealed – his vessels of reception, 125 times, one after the other, each time more and more – his reason, his desires become greater and so on. And upon that which is revealed, he acquires the vessel above it, above reason. When he acquires that entire ability above reason – to be in contact with the Creator – that is called that he reached Rosh Hashana, the head of all the changes that change inside him. Shana, a year that he's been through inside him in all those cases.

Student: Meaning, that it doesn't help me to understand intellectually what, above reason means?

M. Laitman: No, it's not something intellectual, it's, I'd say, it's acquiring a different ability that isn't in us. It's a completely channel above reason, above nature, that a person discovers that there's even such a thing, now, we don't know what it is, that there is such a thing. And definitely that's what we call the sixth sense, spirituality, the correction of the reason of the vessel of reception of a person—no matter which way you want to call it – the force of Bina that we acquire. How do we reach it? Only through what he said, through the contemplating in the work: coming out and coming back in.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:45) He says, here, that there's the first path through which we discover that the ascents and descents are actually, they're not ours, they're also God's actions, the Creator's actions. It follows that it is just a cause for us to discover the work of, above reason, so why, for what do we have this whole process if we know that the Creator does everything to begin with and we don't have even any tiny action that we take?

M. Laitman: How are you so confident that the Creator is doing everything, and just to say it, you don't even discover that it's just names, it's just words. It's not that you definitely live according to this but it's written – that's what they say. That, we have some kind of upper force that controls everything and None Else Besides Him, okay, I heard. But it's not that you live in this revelation and you identify with it and that determines all my thoughts and all my deeds. And I feel, I feel myself like a glove that my hand is inside there, that He is determining all these processes in me. From turning around all the atoms, all thoughts and desires, all the results in the beginning and in the end – that's how I feel the Creator clothing in me. That's called that I can truly say that He is the King, I have reached such a revelation and also beyond that revelation, I've also agreed to it. The fact that I agree, and if, even if it wouldn't clothe in me, that the upper force would clothe in me. So from within myself, inside me, even without any obligation from the outside, I'd still perform the same actions like He does. Meaning, not only agree with Him but in my forces I do the same process like He's doing, did I reach that? I'm just saying it, I don't even know what and how He's doing it, I don't know Him, not His actions.

That's why he says, Rabash, that there's what we call the King of the world and there's the King of Israel. The King of the world is just like that, the world is saying, the material world, yes,you know, the Creator is great! But Israel is called the one who attains Him through Yashar-El, from really yearning to reveal it. Yearning to reveal it, meaning that he's willing to relinquish knowing and go in faith above reason; that's the difference between the knowledge of the Torah and the knowledge of the landlords. Just to say it – everybody says it and they think that they're already corrected at the end of correction – and Israel, when they reach it through great work. That they align all their intentions and desires to be towards the Creator in a way that they become like Him. And, then, when they discover Him and become like Him; then they can say that they reach a state where they could say, He is the King of the world. What is the world? Me, entirely, and I have checked and felt and agreed that He is leading me. What is the agreement? That, if not Him, if He wouldn't exist, I would exist in the same form meaning, by this, I build the image of the Creator in me. I build it myself, that means I grow from zero to Ein Sof, to infinity – I become, to an equal degree, like Him.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:33) He really explains everything with the will to receive, that He will never ask for suffering?

M. Laitman: He won't ask, correct ,but through the suffering brought to him by—what is suffering? By all of his desires being revealed to him as being mismatched with the Creator, incompatible with the Creator, yes? They must all be fully compatible with the Creator, one opposite the other. The Creator shines with His light on all of the person's desires gradually, slowly. And then, the person sees in each and every desire, he senses, perhaps, he doesn't still understand but he senses that something is wrong. And this suffering, these are revelations of our disparity of form with the Creator; even now, when I feel suffering, whatever it may be that causes the suffering, just something itches me or something itches – it's an indication that I'm in some way different to Him. It could be on the beastly degrees through to the spiritual, very high spiritual degrees, all these signs of pain, they're all from this mismatch between the light and vessel. And the revelations, these revelations push a person to the goal. We don't need to be so smart; if we pay attention to this, then we can hasten our acceleration, the acceleration of our recognition of this, if we don't pay attention, then it's through greater suffering.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:20) What does it mean to pay attention?

M. Laitman: Attention, meaning to the source of the suffering.

Student: I know?

M. Laitman: What, don't you know? Well, you're just saying. Someone told you or you read in a book – if you didn't read in the book, would you know, is this called knowing? Knowledge means to receive the light into the vessel, that is called knowing; what is knowing? If a person is just suffering, it doesn't mean that he knows. Knowing means to know the source of the suffering.

Student: To know as much as I want, it's not even up to me.?

M. Laitman: Gradually, you are shown how you can get to know your source, your origin, the sufferings, itself, indicate their origin. Then you have to just study it, to want to study it, to work against the suffering, what does it mean, against the suffering? It's not that, if I’m suffering, then the issue now is this: either I run to get rid of the suffering, or I look at myself as if in a laboratory, dissecting my own flesh and looking, observing why am I suffering? This piece I need to cut and check why it is that I'm suffering; by that you acquire reason, an intellect which is above reason.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:02) The dialogue I can have with myself about what I'm suffering, it's in the regular vessels I have?

M. Laitman: Your dialogue with yourself, that is through the regular, usual vessels, correct, but because you engage with a method written by people who are already corrected at the end of correction. By that you receive this power from them called, the surrounding light; of course, if there was no force from above, you would just be chasing your tail, you know? Revolving around this whole thing with your intellect, with your desires, you would never emerge from these inspections to a height. You'd always be on the same plane, it's like philosophers – what's the difference between us and them? They use the intellect but they do not draw upon themselves the surrounding light. If you study these special books, special sources in order to draw the surrounding light, then you're beginning to use the height, like the force that is above you, above your nature, that's the difference. Or you use only your intellect and your inspections, then you're like a philosopher, on the same plane always. Of course, no correction comes from the surrounding light, you just become more cerebral, in a very shallow sense, in this world. Meaning it doesn't allow you to get rid of the suffering or reach the source of the suffering—just whatever, whatever intellectual conclusions, that is called philosophy. True, if not to draw the upper force, to correct, to help me, to help me not remain in the pain and not ameliorate the pain, but rather to get to know the source of the pain, that is man's work.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:27) The demand from the Creator, that's what you can ask for?

M. Laitman: There are many things to this because the moment the upper force – this upper force begins to affect us, the surrounding light – then our request changes, we begin to ask not for fulfillment but for correction. We begin wanting to be similar to that light, first of all, with no awareness as to what is happening to us. And then, we are conscious of it, it's like in the first discernment of the four phases of direct light. She wants to receive, she wants to enjoy the light and then, suddenly, gradually, she starts wanting to bestow like Him. That is the outcome of the influence of the light upon us, meaning, if not for this Segula, this unique power, we would not have been able to achieve anything. Meaning, the difference between the wisdom of Kabbalah and philosophy and other methods is that it uses the surrounding light. In our corrected state to draw from there the force of correction which already exists, we already exist there in our corrected form. From my corrected form, my corrected status, I draw upon myself to my current state, this light, this force because I want to be corrected. I want to be there, that's it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:16) In faith above reason, is it like a temporary means to reach revelation of the Creator, and after the barrier we don't use it? Is it a temporary means to reveal the Creator?

M. Laitman: Faith above reason, that is the spiritual vessel, the Creator's quality clothed in me – Bina within Malchut. Malchut acquires the quality of Bina and that is called faith above reason. Reason is the quality of the Malchut, faith is the quality of Bina, so Bina within Malchut is called faith above reason. If a person uses this thing, this faith above reason to, ultimately, fill the Malchut. That is the process or the inclination of the Klipa, the shell; but if he uses it in the way in which it's truly faith above reason, that is the process that serves sanctity, Kedusha. It's either to bestow in order to receive or bestowing in order to bestow, or to receive in order to bestow.

Student. It's using two forms: before and after the barrier?

M. Laitman: Faith above reason, the power of Bina can be used in two forms like in our world, there's also a result, an offshoot of that. I can, seemingly, bestow upon a person and by bestowing upon him I can receive from him, right, in a concealed kind of way. It's always reception for us but it may seem to us that we're giving, as if we're doing something like that. Either my intention is exploitation: if I want to exploit the Creator for my own interests, my own benefit, this is called Pharaoh, the shell. Or I turn to Him for His sake, to His benefit with no desire for myself, this is called faith above reason in its clean way which is called holiness.

Student. Is the reason different than a feeling?

M. Laitman: Reason and emotion—reason is called attainment within the vessels of reception; clear attainment is called reason. Faith above reason means that I don't go to attain with my vessels of reception, that is not my goal, yes? Rather, my goal is to be in equivalence of form, to adhere to faith which is above reason, above the vessels of reception.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:32) Can we combine a different method like yoga or meditation with this?

M. Laitman: Is it possible to combine some other methods like yoga, meditation, and so on with the method of Kabbalah? It is impossible because they are all methods opposite to Kabbalah, contrasting. In that you don't use the vessels of reception in order to reach some kind of feeling, status, recognition of awareness of something. All these methods repress the vessels and don't develop the vessels—all of them as one. Like, this method is called, the wisdom of Kabbalah, Kabbalah means reception; they are the methods of how not to receive, all of them, how to receive the least possible. They tend towards veganism or breathing less, thinking less, wanting less. Something less than the usual, meaning to diminish a person, to lower him from the degree of man to the degree of the beast or the degree of the plant or even to the degree of the inanimate. The source of this is ancient Egypt; there, you had the absolute height of this. Even from a dead body, they made something that does not decompose as with the mummies – it's also all the eastern methods. There is a spiritual source to this, and of course there's also a corporeal justification to it: if you have masses of people, you give them this ideology that a person needs to want less in life and then he'll be better off. This thing is acceptable, it immediately yields fruit, everyone understands it, and also there's not much of a choice. Sometimes you take it and you make of it something spiritual, spiritual symbolism, right? Not just ideological but rather it comes with some spiritual justification existing above our life and death, that by this a person is also awarded with some eternal reward. Then you're already turning it into a religion — religion — and a terrific force. And when can that force explode? It's only because within us, throughout the thousands of years of man's development on earth. The ego of the person keeps developing, meaning, it exists in each one of us, but it opens up more and more from generation to generation, facilitating advancement.

Whether we want to or not, we are realizing our ego, and then the world develops, as we call it. We do various things — good, new, bad, it doesn't matter what — but we're being pushed to do something new. This is due to the new desires, which from incarnation to incarnation are revealed in each one of us. And then even those nations who had this ideology to want less, yes, they reach a situation where that's it, they cannot sustain it any longer. And even in such danger, like, let's say, China — the danger China faces — we see through that, that they just have to start becoming like everyone: to open the borders, to open themselves up, and to begin to use the will to receive like everyone. It's impossible to always have oppression and be closed, and all these teachings within a century, they will all fall and nothing will remain of it. People who now come to India, they just go on a trip, nobody can really be in it; and if so, they turn themselves into some kind of primitive animal, which doesn't use all of its potential but only to the point of. I don't want to talk about it too much, but it's the last shell that still exists against development, against advancement. We cannot go against this maneuver, this development of the will to receive. So, within a decade, two decades, it'll all pass.

Those who are capable, for the time being, who can flee their suffering towards such teachings or are capable of shutting themselves off, to detach a part of the mind and lower themselves to this low degree and truly settle for that, they're not for us. They're still people with a rather primitive mode of thinking, underdeveloped. Let that be also, but the world is advancing very rapidly, and from all of this — veganism even — it's all against nature. Meaning it's not correction, it's running away from correction. By that, we will attain nothing; maybe some temporary calm, artificially so, and nothing more.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:30) So, the ego was important for the advancement of the world?

M. Laitman: The ego is not only important for advancement — there's nothing but for the ego – the ego, it's forbidden for the ego to be measured, for it to be repressed. The ego has to develop and we have to take care that it is corrected and used properly and not be repressed. Because the ego is the whole of our nature, the will to receive, and you cannot erase the will to receive, nothing will help you – nothing will help you do it, by that, you will only come to trouble. It's simply — the whole world is one big ego on various levels: the inanimate, growing, living, speaking. And the goal of the world is to bring us to the full use of this force of the ego, and not to erase. What, are you erasing this very substance? You can't. Aright, give a person an injection, make him a plant; of course, you won't feel anything then, but you even lower him under the threshold of consciousness. He'll suffer less, of course, of course, he'll suffer less, but to what extent can you do that by various methods? And so, it's not religion, it doesn't matter of which kind; none of these methods, it's not a solution. This still has to be revealed, yes, but it's already being revealed.

Student: Is it right to say with the intention to want to change the state?

M. Laitman: The ego is the desire to be instead of the Creator, I will rule, that's the ego of a person. And that's what each one wants to say. Like Pharaoh says, Who is the Lord that will hear His voice? That's a sign of our ego, that's it.

Student: So, the ego is just the path, the part of the process?

M. Laitman: It's not a part of the process but rather I can remain in being instead of the Creator — that I'll rule instead of Him. And I can reach a state in which I'll understand that I want to be similar to the Creator, to acquire from Him His qualities. And then, instead of Him, to rule — instead of Him – it's not against Him.

Student: Is the measure above reason in the Kelim something that we attain, and does it increase the love that you create?

M. Laitman: The measure above reason needs to be over the whole reason; meaning over the whole reason of a person there needs to be a covering, a covering over the vessels of reception, that's how it needs to be. To reach the state of, love the Lord, love the Lord your God, means that I make a correction over my reason, on all the vessels of reception. Meaning in above reason I have acquired the vessels, and now I'm in the state of love the Lord your God. Meaning, in the vessels of reception, I have exactly that suitability for the quality of Bina. When I use them not just to resemble Bina, but also in the vessels themselves, in the receiving in order to bestow. Not just in bestowing in order to bestow but, also, in receiving in order to bestow.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:56) What is the difference between eastern practices that you mentioned and restriction? What is the difference between those eastern practices and the restriction?

M. Laitman: In our correction, we reach a state that we restrict the desire to receive and we don't use it. And afterwards, we start to use the desire to receive, receiving in order to bestow. And what's the difference between the state, or this action which we do the restriction over the desire to receive, versus the eastern methods in which we really subdue the desire to receive? It's a clear difference, first of all, in the wisdom of Kabbalah, a person starts to develop his desire to receive. And in no place is it written that we need to subdue, suppress the desire to receive, in no place it's written that way. But instead, you need to work on the closeness to the Creator for the light to correct the desire to receive. And the more of a desire to receive you'll have, you'll need more of the light. So each time you'll need to attain more of the light for the correction of the desire to receive that's constantly growing. And that's how you go when you reach a state that you and the light that you attain through the study, you attain that your whole desire is basically against spirituality, against the Creator – it's for your self-pleasure. And you reach a state that you want to go from in order to receive to in order to bestow. For that, you need to stop using the desire to receive as it is, and then you pass to in order to bestow: to the desire to receive, which works in a different method, of in order to bestow.

So here in the middle, there is this method, there's this action called restriction, what is a restriction? I restrict not the desire to receive. I cannot restrict it, I also — I don't suppress it, I don't do that. Just, I and the light that shines to me, I see that my previous use was bad. And then, by me seeing to what extent it was bad against the Creator, then I stop using it. Not that I restricted it, I stopped using the previous form of fulfillment of the usage method, and go to a different method of usage. Again, the method of using the desire to receive — not to suppress it but to develop it – and specifically here, when it's greater, you can receive more and more. And then, whoever is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater. Meaning, the restriction is not to erase the desire to receive. The restriction is to restrict, meaning to abstain from using the previous method and to reach the spiritual method, that's it. And I never pay attention to the height of the desire, let the desires be as great as possible, I don't care, the more the better! I just need to care only for the correction, for the desire to receive to be in suitability, meaning, the intention in order to bestow, only that. Meaning, we don't need to pay attention to our desires, and we don't care which desires we have: to kill, or give me the greatest transgressions. It doesn't matter, they all come from the Creator, He is sending them to me. And I don't need to erase them, erase what I receive from Him? No, what I receive from Him, I need to reveal if it's revealed to me, it's a sign that I need to correct it, that I can correct it.

Therefore, the whole method is called the method of reception, of how to work with the vessels of reception. Now, the rest of the methods, each and every one, they work on suppressing the vessels of reception, as much as possible. And what's good in those methods? That a person feels good. I know,like in Russia, look how many people are wishing for what they had, for the good that they had there. It wasn't good at all but what was there? I know that I have this and this type of salary, and this is my house, and this is the work, and no one's throwing me out of work. Children are going to the kindergarten and the school. Everything is in its own place and its order, and it's sure and confident. Okay, I don't have these great things, or a big business, or all these matters, everything is suppressed through the government. But there's a general suppression, and the sorrow of the many divides it in half, and that's it. And today, most of the people would be ready to return to that, to that same state. What do I need all of this freedom that I have here? And each one does whatever he feels like – now I just have envy, and hatred, and pride that arose. And also the culture was in such a way that everyone's a swan, and it's okay. It was planned very nicely: if it wasn't for the ego of a person that's constantly burning and growing, then it would be possible to build such a regime. And also with the Chinese people, it worked very well for many years, but it's impossible to remain in such a thing.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:05) On page 13, it is written, I believe in complete faith. What is complete faith and where do we take it?

M. Laitman: There's faith, and there's complete faith, what is faith, and what is complete faith? Faith is called the quality of bestowal – what a person acquires from Bina. If he reaches Katnut towards Galgalta ve Eynaim, to bestow in order to bestow, it means that he acquires the force of faith. And if he can join to Galgalta ve Eynaim the AHP, meaning to receive in order to bestow, that's called complete faith — meaning there's the light of Hochma within the light of Hassadim.

Student: Would it be correct to say that in advancement, faith above reason becomes faith within reason?

M. Laitman: Faith above reason never turns into faith within reason because we acquire — we don't understand it — which is why we're seemingly speaking about a world that we don't understand. And it seems to us like in our concepts, it happens in faith above reason, these qualities of bestowal, spiritual qualities. They are completely disconnected from what now we have at the moment. Faith above reason, it's truly above reason, it will never be felt within reason. This work, Bina and Malchut, it remains forever: Malchut will never be able to change, the desire to receive, as it was created, it remains. It loves to enjoy fulfillment, and its fulfillment is the Creator . Or you could say light, it doesn't matter, it's the same thing, and the desire to receive remains in this way. You can change its usage, but not it itself. And therefore it's forbidden to relate to it, to suppress it, or to change it in something, nothing. You want to use it differently? Please! Add upon it a direction, meaning, how to use it, for what do we use it; but it, itself, like it was, it remains. Now you'll understand that the whole difference between the Klipa and the Kedusha, it's not the action but the direction of the action.

Like Rabash gives an example: he takes a knife and he starts to cut a person: if it's for the benefit of a person, then it's called the surgeon; if it's for self-benefit, then it's called the murderer. The action, the same action, remains, the desire to receive must be full with the light of Ein Sof — just like in Ein Sof before the restriction – and this way after the restriction, and in the final correction, it must be full. And this is the difference in our method, which is called the method of Kabbalah, reception, which is an essential difference. Because we never take care of the desire to receive, but we acquire intention in order to bestow which we cannot build, but only through the upper light, through the surrounding light, which brings us this intention, the quality of Bina within Malchut, that's called the intention. And all the other methods, because they cannot use the surrounding light, they have no connection to this spiritual source from which the light comes, they don't have it.

M. Laitman: (01:24:18) So they turn to the desire to receive itself, and they see that the desire to receive is the source of all the evil, so we want to erase this evil. We need to erase it and to want as little as possible, and to limit a person from being bad – it's as if you cut a person's hands off. Okay, so he won't now be able to harm in a few specific ways. That's okay, but did you correct something by that? You made a certain distortion over creation, which is why the desire to receive will remain and the actions upon it, everything remains, what are the actions? It has 613 desires, that all of these 613 desires need to be full, that's it. With an intention, without intention, it doesn't matter, they by themselves are demanding the fulfillment.

And this still needs to be revealed right now. In the upcoming time, all of this difference, this essential difference between the method of Kabbalah and the rest of the methods, this will still get revealed. And because of that, there are all sorts of other methods around Kabbalah, and like all sorts of clubs and centers of Kabbalah, who knows what? That's exactly in order to scrutinize the method, itself, of what it is; there'll be a lot more of such questions around it and all sorts of, you know, like talismans and red strings, and all sorts of superstitions, and whatnot. It's so that to scrutinize the method, so it'll be truly clear and clean, and true. It's a sign that needs to get scrutinized right now; and also those methods themselves, it's forbidden to suppress. Why, why do we need to do that if, according to the desire to receive, there is still some kind of a deficiency in them, and if somebody can still be satisfied with them, and if somebody can still find some fulfillment in them? It's a sign that he hasn't scrutinized it to the end, and if he hasn't scrutinized it, he must be in it, he needs to scrutinize it. Which is why Kabbalah does not destroy, and does not change any other method as well. And says that each and every one of these methods, there is room for them during a certain time because all of these methods, they stem from a person's desire to receive, it's people that invent them and develop them. The person thinks that through them, he can reach a fulfillment until he reaches the recognition of evil - that these methods don't give him any fulfillment, then he must still remain in them. Which is why everything has a right to exist, and the Indian people, and Chinese people, and all sorts of whatnot – even the names that I don't quite understand – each of them needs to exist. And as much as you allow them to blossom, then more quickly they'll discover their emptiness. Meaning, just like it's forbidden for us to suppress the desire to receive and that way it's forbidden for us to suppress every method which appears to the desire to receive, that it can fulfill itself. Because we know that ultimately, there's no other choice between the method of Kabbalah, the method of the usage of desiring to receive because this is a whole matter of creation. It won't help you to go against nature, nature is above us.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:09) When we receive a desire, do we do certain discernment, scrutiny on these desires? What are we doing, what are we not doing, why different desires? How do we relate to these desires when they appear?

M. Laitman: We relate not to desires but to the One who gives the desires, that is our correction. He who is within his desires, it means that he is within his animal, his beast. And there, he is not going to find any solution, any fulfillment, any rest or fulfillment, correction. Within the desire, there is nothing, it's empty; if you want to fulfill the desire, then even to fulfill it, you need to turn to the source of the desire. You need to come to the source of the fulfillment and not sit within the desire, itself. The fool sits with his hands folded and eats himself. That's what we're doing, all those who look within the desire, itself. So, we have no choice, the Creator gives us the sensation of emptiness within our desires. By doing that, He brings us to the question as to where is the source of the pleasure, the fulfillment, where is the fulfillment? And then, according to this, we must aspire to the fulfillment. We must think of Him and not of the fact that we're empty; not to suppress the desire, and not to think about the desires. And not be connected to them, to be above them, to be above them and aiming at the source, which is where I can fulfill them. This is how I cleave to the upper one, it's not that thereby I disconnect from reality, I don't detach or disconnect from it. I simply know that within the reality itself, there is no answer. The method is very logical, very precise, and very scientific, it's not an accident that we say that the wisdom of Kabbalah includes all other sciences. It's not that it's just lovely and beautiful, it's just a little difficult to explain for now, we don't quite have the words.

Reader: Let's share impressions from the lesson and what we're taking from it to realize in the Ten. Then moving on to the next bit of the lesson, beforehand we'll sing a song!