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

Daily Morning Lesson: February 3, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. What Is, “Calamity that Comes upon the Wicked Begins with the Righteous,” in the Work? 9 (1989).

Recorded Lesson Original lesson date: March 21, 2003

Reader: Hello, dear friends. In the first part we will study from a lesson by Rav, from the 21st of March 2003, it is based on the article, What Is, “Calamity that Comes Upon the Wicked Begins With the Righteous,” in the Work” in the writings of Rabash. In Hebrew, it's in volume 2, page 1823. We'll read it together in the Tens. Tens that finish ahead of time, are welcome to start the workshop on the main points in the article. 

Reading: (00:51) Rabash. 9 (1989). What Is, “Calamity that Comes upon the Wicked Begins with the Righteous,” in the Work?

Our sages said (Baba Kama 60), “No calamity comes to the world unless when there are wicked in the world, but it begins with the righteous.”

We should understand why the righteous deserve calamity if the calamity should come to the wicked. Why is it the fault of the righteous?

In the work, we must first interpret what is calamity, what are “wicked” in the work, and what are “righteous” in the work. To understand all this, we must know what is “work.” Also, we should understand why we need to work in the first place, meaning what do we gain by having to work? After all, who created all the things that exist in the world? It was all done by the Creator. Thus, for what purpose did He create this world, where we must work for everything we want to acquire, whether corporeal needs or spiritual needs?

To understand all this, we first need to understand the meaning of the whole of creation, meaning for what purpose the Creator created the world. The answer to this is as our sages said, “to do good to His creations.” For this reason, He created creatures and imprinted in them a desire and yearning to receive delight and pleasure. This is called the “purpose of creation.” Since this is not in equivalence of form with the Creator, the creatures will feel shame in the delight and pleasure.

Hence, a correction was made, called “Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment,” so as to receive only with the aim to bestow. Since the lower one must make this Kli [vessel], and this is against nature, since the Creator created the creatures with a desire to receive delight and pleasure, for this reason, everything that is not natural is hard for one to do. This is called “labor.”

It therefore follows that labor does not mean that a person must exert himself. Rather, it is a result. Since it is against nature, it is hard to do this act, and this is the labor. This is so between man and the Creator, but there is the same correction between man and man, in order not to have shame, for man is afraid to eat the bread of shame.

For this reason, we were given the matter of negotiation, where the employee gives the landlord the work, and for the work, he gives him money. Naturally, there is no shame here.

Also, between man and man, the landlord’s wish is not that we would labor for him, but that we would work for him. This pertains to the product, which is the matter of swapping—the employee gives the host the produce, and in return, the host gives him money.

With a buyer and seller it is to the contrary. The seller gives the buyer the product, and the buyer gives the seller money. One way or the other, both must give. Otherwise, if one gives and the other only receives and gives nothing back, then there is disparity of form here, and the receiver feels shame.

It follows that the purpose of the labor is not the labor, but rather that in order to prevent shame, both must give. Since by nature, man is created only to receive, this is the labor. Thus, the labor is only a result and not the aim, meaning the purpose. It follows that it is not the labor that we need, but the equivalence of form. The labor comes because we do not have this by nature.

Now we can understand what are “wicked” and what are “righteous,” and why “No calamity comes to the world unless when there are wicked in the world.” In the work, “calamity” means that the delight and pleasure are not revealed, meaning that it cannot be revealed to the created beings that His desire is to do good to His creations due to the disparity of form. As long as man has no vessels of bestowal, which is called “equivalence of form,” this is the reason that detains the abundance from descending to the creatures. It follows that “wicked” is one who is remote from the Creator. Thus, in the work, “wicked” is one who is in disparity of form from the Creator, who is not in the form of “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.”

It follows that the upper abundance cannot descend to the lower ones because of the quality of “wicked” in a person, since in the work, it is considered that the person himself consists of the wicked, which are the sparks of reception. This is the meaning of “No calamity comes to the world unless when there are wicked in the world.” This means that the fact that the abundance is not coming to the world, this is considered a calamity that comes to the world due to the will to receive in man, which detains the delight and pleasure.

By this we can interpret the whole matter of the wicked who do not obey the Creator. He commanded us through Moses that we must obey the Creator, or He will punish us. We should ask about this, We can understand that a flesh and blood king, who demands respect, would punish anyone who did not obey him, but why does the Creator punish for disobeying Him? Does He need honors and to receive respect from the created beings? And if He is not respected, is He offended?

It is like a person walking into a henhouse and giving them orders, and they do not obey him. Can it be said that the person is offended by them? It is much more so with regard to the creatures and the Creator. How can it be said that the Creator is offended by the creatures when they do not obey Him, and that for this reason, He sends them calamities?

However, we should believe that the whole matter of the Creator’s vengeance is not for the sake of the Creator, but for the sake of the creatures. That is, the punishments they suffer bring them to be rewarded with the delight and pleasure, which is the will of the Creator that the creatures will receive from Him.

This means that the suffering brings the creatures to take upon themselves the matter of bestowal, for only they are the real Kelim [vessels] that can receive the upper abundance that the Creator wants to give them. This is the meaning of what is written, “No calamity comes to the world unless when there are wicked in the world.” For this reason, they suffer. That is, everything they do in the work gives them a bitter taste, since they have no vessels of bestowal, for only in them do the delight and pleasure shine. It follows that the wicked, who are the reception within man, prevent the reception of the good.

It is as Nahmanides said (presented in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, Item 1), “There is a difference between ‘One,’ ‘Unique,’ and ‘Unified.’ Interpretation: ‘Uniting to act with One Force,’ when He works to bestow, as is fitting of His Oneness. When He divides to do His work, and His operations are different from one another, and He seems to be doing good and bad, then He is called ‘Unique,’ since all His different operations have a single outcome: to do good. It follows that He is unique in every single act.”

It is as we interpreted, that the matter of “calamity that comes” is not a matter of vengeance by the Creator for not obeying Him. Rather, it is that He wants us to obey Him and observe the Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the creatures, and not for the sake of the Creator, since He has no deficiency whatsoever for which He needs something for Himself.

All He wants from the lower ones is that they will receive delight and pleasure without any unpleasantness, but that the pleasure will be utterly complete. If there were shame while receiving the pleasure, there would be no wholeness in the pleasure. It follows that the calamity that the wicked feel is for their own good, as this will induce the correction of their actions.

However, we must know the meaning of correcting the actions in the work. It is that on each and every act we do we must place an intention. The intention is that with this act, we want to bring contentment to our Maker. By this we will achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. When doing the act, it must not have an aim to benefit himself, but all of his concerns should be how to please the Creator.

These people, who want to walk on the path of bestowal, are called “righteous.” That is, although they still have not achieved the degree where their whole intention is to bestow, they want to achieve it. They are regarded as “walking on the path of the righteous,” meaning to achieve the degree of “righteous.” They are named after its end.

But those who work like the general public, who are not concerned with the intention, to achieve the degree of “righteous,” we do not speak of them in the work on the path of truth. Rather, they belong to the work on actions. Their intention in Torah and Mitzvot is as Maimonides wrote, that “they are taught in order to receive reward.” Only those who have already understood that we must work for the sake of the Creator are regarded in the work as walking toward achieving the path of truth.

Although they have not reached it, Maimonides says to them, “They are shown that secret bit by bit.” And what is the secret that is forbidden to reveal “to little ones, women, and uneducated people”? The secret that the act alone is not enough, but there must also be an intention to bestow and not receive reward. Rather, his whole pleasure is in his ability to serve the Creator. This is his reward, and to him, it is worth a fortune. This is why they do not need anything else in return for their work, but the fact that they are serving the King is their entire pleasure, and this is what they expect.

Now we can interpret what we asked, If the calamity comes to the world because of the wicked, why does it begin with the righteous? The answer is that the righteous in the work are those who want to walk on the path of truth. Although they have not reached it, they are walking on that line. Hence, we must know that this calamity is that they feel the taste of dust in Torah and Mitzvot. Where they should have felt that “They are our lives and the length of our days,” they feel a bitter taste.

They ask themselves, But the purpose of the creation of the world was to do good to His creations, so where is it? We see the opposite! We should feel sweetness in the work when we are serving the King without asking for any return, but we see that the body objects to it. This causes them to understand that this entire lack is because the King is a lowly king, and has no importance.

Otherwise, they should have felt the importance of the King and would have annulled before Him, since we see that inherently, it is a great privilege for the small one to serve the great, and we have no work annulling before the great. Why, then, do we not see this with regard to the Creator? We must say about this that the Creator, who is the King of the world, we do not believe in His greatness. On the contrary! In The Zohar, this is called “Shechina [Divinity] in exile” or “Shechina in the dust.”

Thus, all we need is faith that the Creator is a great and important King. It follows that specifically among those people who are called “righteous,” who want to be righteous and serve the Creator without any return, they see and feel the bad in them. That is, they feel the calamity that they are unable to receive delight and pleasure because of the wicked within them. It is simply that they feel that they are wicked, that they are lacking faith that the Creator is a great and important King, and you have no greater wicked than this. They simply see that they are lacking faith in the Creator. It follows that when are the wicked in a person revealed? Precisely when one wants to be righteous.

By this we should interpret what is written, “but it begins with the righteous.” “Begins with the righteous” means that the calamity begins to be apparent and felt from the beginning, meaning as soon as one begins to shift from the work of the general public to the work of individuals, for the work of individuals is called “the path of the righteous.”

For this reason, our sages imply that immediately, as soon as one wants to work in order to bestow, the calamity appears in a person—that he feels that he is far from faith in the Creator, and therefore far from receiving the delight and pleasure that He wishes to impart upon His creations. In such states, a person sees in himself descents and ascents. Thus, the meaning of “but it begins with the righteous,” is that “begins” means when he begins to enter the path of the righteous.

But those who work like the general public do not feel that they are placed under the control of the evil. They do not see that they are lacking faith in the Creator. On the contrary, they know that they have so much faith that they could give to others. They even preach to others why they are not walking on the upright path, so they would understand that what matters is spirituality and not corporeality.

When these people hear their words, they think that the admonition they are giving them, that we must do everything for the sake of the Creator, they must know what “for the sake of the Creator” means, for otherwise they would not preach. But in truth, they do not even know what is to bestow, for bestowal is against nature, and when a person sees how difficult it is to prevail and engage in the work of bestowal, how can he rebuke another? He sees that he is lacking faith, to believe that the Creator is a great King, since by nature, the small can serve the great without any reward.

But when people from the general public say that we must work for the sake of the Creator, they do not even know the meaning of the words, except what they heard when they were taught. They did not understand what they had heard, but they continue this slogan because in them, the evil is only as a hairsbreadth, as our sages said, “To the wicked, it seems like a hairsbreadth, and to the righteous, like a high mountain.”

This is so because there is a correction that a person will not see more bad than he can correct. For this reason, “wicked” in the work are those who have no need to work for the sake of the Creator, but engage in Torah and Mitzvot for their own sake. Therefore, the bad in them, which is the will to receive for oneself, is apparent in them as bad. This is regarded as the evil inclination being as a hairsbreadth.

But the righteous—who want to walk on the path of bestowal and begin to correct the will to receive—see each time that the bad in them appears to a greater extent until it becomes in them like “a high mountain.” Therefore, they cannot lecture others because they are busy asking for faith in the Creator for themselves. This explains what our sages said, “No calamity comes to the world unless when there are wicked in the world, but it begins with the righteous.” 

Reader: Let's enter together the lesson from the 21st of March, 2003.

 M. Laitman: (25:58) We heard the article from “The Rungs of the Ladder,” volume 5, What Is,” Calamity that Comes upon the Wicked Begins with the Righteous?” Why? Creation is called the will to receive, and the will to receive includes in it all the records. All the records are laid in it to correct itself by way of cause and consequence until it resembles the Creator precisely. The upper light that shines on the will to receive is called Boreh, Creator. And the will to receive is gradually, from stage to stage, it becomes more complex, refined, comes to correction by the upper light. The upper light is in absolute rest. Meaning there is no change in action on the will to receive. And all the calamity that he mentions here, all the things that are revealed, are revealed from within the will to receive, within us. That is why about the light- the Creator, we say that He is One, unique and unified. What does that mean? The fact that He attracts on us through all kinds of different actions toward a single goal, He is called One. The fact that He is working on each one of us differently, in accordance with our state, each and every one of us differently, although it is one light- rather we constantly change. Then according to the plethora of actions, seemingly, He is called single. 

That means that they are drawn to one purpose, as if to Him, from all of us. And unified is from His side that His actions, although it is a single action, but they come and they spread out into many different actions, one is different than the other, because the will to receive in each one is different, and is constantly changing. But however it may be, the light is one, and new qualities are always revealed in the created beings, and that is why the creature has a feeling that He is changing, and it seems to him that the light also influences him differently, although it is not so. It is a created being that changes. Those changes have what we call either the path of Torah or the path of suffering. If the creature itself yearns for change, that each time by changing his state into his next state that will resemble the light more, bestow to the Creator, then according to his intention he's called righteous. Because he wants to change, and quicker becomes quicker and clearer what qualities he needs to correct. This is the meaning that the wicked are revealed specifically in the in the righteous. That's what he says in the title of the article that the calamity that comes to the wicked starts with the righteous. Because it starts with the righteous, a person wants to become righteous, then he discovers that the wicked is sitting inside of him and all of these eruptions from within are truly calamities. Specifically by summoning the records from within him for correction the records are revealed, the calamity is revealed from within him, then he's rewarded with a quick correction and he completes his path. That's the idea of the article. Any questions? 

M. Laitman: (31:52) In other words everything depends on man. If he's developing naturally or he's developing personally. If he's developing naturally this is called the host or the landlord. And if he's developing, he's in a process of personal development he wishes to develop by himself, he yearns for it - this means that he follows the path of Torah. It's called the son of Torah. That is why the opinion or the reason of Torah is opposite from the opinion or the reason of the landlords. He has a completely different perception of the world. He understands his relationship with the Creator differently. He perceives it until he grasps it, until he begins to reveal the Creator and begins to live as alive in the spiritual world. The difference if either a person yearns also for the same goal that he has to come to by which it is called- after which it is called a single Creator, one Creator, because the purpose is one of all the actions, or he can take this path through the path of suffering. Meaning, wicked and righteous we determine only according to the person who works. 

One who does not work, meaning does not wish to advance on his personal path, his personal correction, he is neither righteous nor wicked. We don't speak of him at all; he's a beast. Meaning he advances naturally according to how the upper light and the records in him are so worked together to bring about all kinds of changes in him without any participation by the person. Therefore such a person- a man is not revealed from this kind of person, and is not considered neither righteous nor wicked. Rather those who yearn to become righteous to the extent of their yearning they reveal the measure of wickedness in them, and these wicked are coming to correction. Meaning the wicked that is revealed it's a sign that this measure, this record, is coming to realization, the correction. 

Therefore, the righteous, wicked, wicked, righteous, righteous, wicked, these are the stages that the servant of the Creator constantly walks through, and these are desired states. And to the extent that a person labors, these states begin to change and to replace one another with greater frequency in him, and that's how he advances. And there's no reason to fear the feeling of oneself as wicked and to reveal the wicked qualities, because if the wicked qualities are revealed, it's a sign they are worthy of correction, whereas if a person feels that he seemingly is not wicked, he does not feel the wicked qualities in him he is asleep in that relaxed state. It's a sign that he did not put in the necessary labor that is sufficient for corrections. Meaning the bad feeling about himself, his qualities, his behavior, the other way around, the behavior of the Creator with him, it doesn't matter. It's actually a desired feeling. It's a sign that he's going through the stages of development at a good pace. Do you have any questions? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:14) What does it mean to correct this quality? How does a person even know that he's correcting it? 

M. Laitman: To correct, what do you call it, each one of us has a desire to receive pleasure, the light of pleasure, and not more than that. The fact we are in this body, and we have this picture of the world, it doesn't matter. It's not important. We speak of our essence. Who are we, really? Not this envelope of biological matter: still, vegetative, animate. This will to receive from the very beginning is in opposition to the light, and ultimately he has to acquire the same form as the light. We need to go through this process of development, like it or not, and the light constantly shines on us. The will to receive is under the influence of the light, and it changes under the influence of the light. But the problem is that we feel the pressure of the light because we are diametrically opposite to it, negatively speaking. To the extent that we change inside of us according to the light that shines on us, we feel the pressure on us, His actions on us, positively. The light does not change. The change can only come from us, and there is a spring inside of us that constantly reveals another quality, another quality, another desire. And each desire that is revealed, if I wish to adapt it to the light, then I feel evil in this desire because it comes and is revealed in a form that's opposite from the light, and because of this opposition, I feel bad. And these desires are revealed in me more and more until I begin to feel that I don't know how to live my life, and my life is truly horrible. I don't know what to do with them. This is what humanity is gradually revealing. This path is called the path of suffering until of all the blows that we receive, we'll come to a state where we have to somehow save ourselves from the evil, from the sorrow, from the danger of destruction. But there's no escape but to adapt the desire to receive to the light. It's simple. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:39) This adaptation, this is what the correction means? 

M. Laitman: The adaptation of the will to receive to the light, it's called correction of the will to receive, and it is up to us. What does it mean it's up to us? We don't actually make this correction the light makes the correction. But it cannot correct the will to receive before you want it to correct it. And your desire here has to be conscious, intelligent, has to be a mature desire. You have to know what you can attain by this and to truly want it. So we can help only in that. Meaning by wanting the correction ourselves, wanting the correction before this showdown comes between the light and the desire, before the evil is revealed. If we desire the correction before that, we will never feel bad, we'll always follow the good. This is the desirable path. This desirable path, it seems like we're only running away from trouble, but there are greater things there. It's not that we merely escape the troubles, rather we begin to understand that the light is more exalted, that it is eternal, that it is whole and complete. Meaning it has such qualities that are more exalted than our will to receive, and how they are valued. And then gradually, by getting to know it, we begin to wish to be like Him, not because by that we will escape the troubles, rather because it is more exalted, it is whole, complete. Meaning the calculation will be, will not just be inside the will to receive that I will feel a little better, rather the calculation will be in that the light is more exalted. If a person begins to want corrections in this way, not because I will feel good, this means that he truly wishes to be like the Creator, like the light. Meaning he doesn't just want to bring the pleasure for itself from the light, rather he wants to be like it. Then we can say that he enters the light, he ascends. So this is the meaning of coming out of this world into an upper world. And then he comes to a truly different life, a spiritual life, one that we have no feeling about whatsoever for the time being. But these corrections, meaning this demand, the goals that gradually change in a person, and he begins to discover a greater, more exalted goal, this comes to a person gradually to the extent that the light influences the person. And all of this is called correction. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:41) This matter of the desire- until we truly cross the barrier it's impossible to truly know if my desire is real. As much as I might search for where is my true desire is, I have no yardstick with which to measure it. It always feels like it's not real. So, through which kind of measurement is it possible to begin to examine these things that you talked about? 

M. Laitman: How can I test or examine my qualities and desires? Are they real or not? Is the goal real to me the way it appears to me or not? How can I measure it in what I have? Is it real or not? Real relative to what? 

Student: I mean in the work, with respect to what happens in the work. 

M. Laitman: A person always sees everything from within his vessels. We have no way of seeing anything in a truly truthful way, a real way. There's no such way. It says each one judges according to his own flaws. What was correct for me today, yesterday appears today as some nonsense or even a lie. If today I could meet myself from yesterday, I would start fighting with it. I would beat it up, you know. I don't know what I'll do. Like me with you, the same thing with myself. I constantly change. So what truth can there be relative to which standard, which scale, which for something whole and eternal? I don't have such a thing relative to which I can measure it. We also learn in the wisdom of Kabbalah, what is Creator, Boreh? It's a degree that's greater than me. That's it. That's what I could feel. And that degree which is slightly bigger than mine, higher than mine I can't feel anything about it. For me, that is the scale I relate to. The next degree I ascend to it. It's called adhering to my Creator- I become like Him. Then I discover there's an even higher degree the Creator constantly changes, and it becomes greater relative to me, the way I grow up. And there's never something eternal and whole and perfect that is revealed to me until we reach the end of correction. 

When we come to the end of correction, the light fills the vessel completely, then we have true scale of things and true measure according to our vessels that cannot change any longer. Because beyond that, it's called the eighth, ninth, and tenth millennium - it is already coming out to higher degrees, where it's not our vessels there. But Baal HaSulam writes about that there's nothing definitive until the end of correction. We can't determine anything with certainty, and it's clear that today becomes yesterday's doubt, and so on, and so forth. 

You see it every day how humanity is revealing everything. Today we're already wise. We know that we can say about anything that this is it. But 100 years ago, 200 years ago, even 30 or 50 years ago, how many movements did they have? Or people or philosophies or ideologies, that yes, it is true. This is the truth. But after 5 years or 50 years, it doesn't matter. Everything went. It was gone. That's how it is in spirituality. It's a matter of development. Also in corporeality and also in spirituality, nothing is definitive. Because our vessels are changing. If my record will change in a minute to a greater record and another light will be revealed, a greater light and all my changes, meaning my needs and understandings and lusts and the revelation of the world and the qualities of the world and relationships, everything changes. So I can't even say that today it's like this or like that relative to yesterday. Yesterday it was in yesterday's vessels. Today it's in today's vessels. Every degree comes with its own vessels, and it's filling. If I want that at least in each and every state I will have some kind of a grasp on the eternal, then in each and every state, as much as I can, I need to resemble the light that comes to fill me, this means to the Creator who is revealed to me. So, at least to some extent, I already belong to something that is certainly eternal and whole. This is what the Kabbalah actually offers us. He tells us that it's worthwhile to do. There is nothing else. You exist like a small record in a sea of light. And so, this is the only thing that you can do, is to adapt the record to the qualities of the light. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:25) How can I do it before I know what are His qualities to adapt to it? What kind of actions can I do? 

M. Laitman: Well, the actions they write about, that there is this article, “The Freedom” or free choice, and it tells you what you can do. That in all the things that you have before you, all you can do is only to change the society, so it will influence you with the desire to resemble the light. Take “The Freedom” article and see what he writes there. That from all the things that exist before you, all the things that are within you, from the four kinds of elements of data that you have, there's only one element that you can change. And this is the environment, it can be changed by you. So it turns out that you shouldn't even think about what will I do, what is worthwhile for me to do, and in general, why am I like this, or anything else, except for choosing a society that will influence you in how you want to be tomorrow. That is all.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:52) Three lines at the end, two feelings. This is the life and the length of our days, and the bitter taste. 

M. Laitman: The difference between feeling, for these are our lives and the length of our days, and?

Student: The bitter taste. 

M. Laitman: We're talking about a person who is drawn to the goal. For they are our lives and the length of our days, means that according to one's corrected qualities, when he already has a certain measure of identification with the Creator, and accordingly he feels the eternity and wholeness, he says, “for they are our lives and the length of our days,” when the inner light already fills his vessel, this is light that brings life. And the bitter taste is when he feels differently, when the vessel is still revealed without correction. And the next stage is when the correction will come, and also the feeling will come, for they are our lives and the length of our days. But this is still the previous state. Nevertheless, in the bitter state, we also speak about a person who is going through stages of development, and stage after stage, he will reach, through these stages, also the corrected stage. Without the revelation of the vessels, you cannot reach the correction and filling with light. And so the bad feeling has to be there nevertheless. The only question is, what does it mean, “bad?” It could be bad like a beast. We beat it up, and it feels that these are blows, and it wants to run away, but it doesn't understand why. Or if we relate to the revelation of the bad, the revelation of our natural, bad, egoistic desires, as something that is necessary, something that comes towards correction, then we already relate to this whole revelation of bad, of evil, as good, because this is a vessel. It's something which comes before the next stage, when I'm going to correct my vessels. So it turns out that the person who directed himself correctly towards the goal he knows that the stages of development must include the revelation of the vessels and the correction of the vessels. The revelation of the vessels and correction of the vessels - each time that it starts with, there was evening and later on and there was morning. First we acquire the vessels from the darkness, and then comes the light, the filling. So for him, the revelation of the vessels, also the revelation of the bad qualities that are the opposite of the Creator - this is also sweet. It cannot be that a person who relates in a beneficial and effective way to all the stages of his development will ever feel a bad taste. If he feels bad, it means that he forgot about the goal and he only feels those vessels that are revealed as bad. But if in that moment he'll come back to the goal and hold on to it, then in that same feeling of his bad egoistic vessels that are the opposite of the Creator, it will invert into a good feeling, because now he finally sees what is inside of me I'm going to discover next. And here you can actually say that everything depends on the society, because a person truly exists only inside of his nature. And if the development is only from within his nature without help from the outside, he'll always fall again into a feeling which is either good or bad. He'll simply be controlled by it. But on the other hand, the society can add to him the understanding and awareness and the knowledge from the outside, so seemingly it adds to his nature positive discernments, discernments that are necessary for him in order to hold on to the goal more than he exists within the feeling. So he will always be in the correct awareness that he is actually going forward and correcting himself, so he'll never fall into that bitter feeling and he won't stop himself in a way. Meaning that support, the strengthening from the society is necessary.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:53) When he moves toward the goal, it looks like they're more with themselves than they are in bestowal before they start on this path.

M. Laitman: What was the last sentence?

Student: This is what we call incorporation. 

M. Laitman: We who are here a few years together already we begin to be similar to each other in our behavior, in our perception in how we relate to life, how we relate to the goal. Certainly, since we all engage in the same thing, how will we not become similar? Of course, each one of us goes through different stages, and each one feels these stages that he feels them, and it's not someone else. But nevertheless, the correction is the same correction, and in that there is no difference between people, but rather each one compared to the other has some very small personal internal change. But the method is the same method. We learned from the same books. The upper light works in the same ways on each and every one. So this is not called incorporation - it simply stems from our nature. We were all created from the same soul of Adam HaRishon, and this is how the upper light works on us. Whereas the incorporation begins when we want to combine together our yearning towards the goal and nothing else. But rather my yearning towards the goal seems to me as small and not capable of holding me locked on the same thing for 24 hours in the sharpest way, so that each and every moment I will be focused like a laser beam that is directed towards something. So, the more we will be incorporated with each other, precisely in that and not in anything else - not with our troubles and not with any other things, but only in that - that I want a goal, and you want it, and he wants it, and him, and him. Imagine to yourself what kind of a force I will then receive. Instead of wanting the purpose of creation for, let's say, five or ten minutes a day suddenly I will want it for five hours. And in these five hours I'll have enough forces to think about it, and I will have understanding and discernment so that I can focus this thing: how am I positioned towards the goal and the Creator here, and the created being and the society in the books. So here I have many elements of data inside that can give me the possibility to perform a deep criticism that binds me very strongly to the goal. And alone it is simply impossible. And if I'll acquire such forces from the society, it will be simply almost like someone who's almost blind and he restores his vision, so finally he can see what he has before him. This means that we need to become incorporated with each other only in one parameter, one thing - the yearning towards the goal, or in other words to increase the greatness of the Creator in our eyes. It doesn't matter how you call it, but only Him, only Him. And everything else is different in each one. 

Student: How do we do it? 

M. Laitman: How do we do it? He writes about it: that we need to think about it and talk about how to do it. But it should be clear that if we don't do it, then each and every one will advance towards the goal on the path of suffering. And if I will acquire from the others they're longing towards the goal, according to how much I'll receive it from them I'll already advance on the path of Torah. What does that mean? That I will already long more than how I'm built to yearn by my nature. Within himself the person can never find the forces to long for the goal by himself, because I'm built in a certain way. I'm built in such a way that as much as I will yearn for the goal, it will only be enough for me to either advance on the path of suffering or maximum to understand that I need to take forces from the others. You see, this means that the maximum that I can do to help myself is that I see the goal and it is desirable in my eyes. Finally, I discovered that this is how a person needs to be, this is what I need to yearn for. So once I've discovered that the forces of my soul, the emotional forces within me are insufficient to reach the goal - they're only enough in order for me to turn to the society and from there I'll get the forces to reach the goal. And if we do not do it, if I don't realize my forces in such a way I'll remain on the path of suffering. And I can draw it out for 30 years it won't help me until I'll finally realize that the method nevertheless has to be the way that Baal HaSulam writes, “Through the Social Change”.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:28) Someone is very devoted and he works on greatness?

M. Laitman: To be devoted or to be active - it doesn't mean anything. That is, there's a person that by his nature he's devoted, he's active, he does a lot. But here it depends on: what am I doing it for? What am I investing in? What do I want to get out of it? And later on, how do I apply what I receive? How do I add it to my emotional forces towards the same goal? How do I go along with that? And this has to be there every moment. Baal HaSulam writes in “The Freedom” article: "One who changes each time, one who chooses each time a better society, he is actualizing the only free choice that he has." That's it. There is nothing else to do here.

Student: How does he know what is a better environment? According to the external actions?

M. Laitman: How does he know what is a better environment? It's not that he knows what is a better environment or an environment that's less good. To choose an environment means that he is going to build it. This is what it means to choose. What, do you have before you some selection, some number of societies? Are you going into a supermarket or what? You don't have that. Go and check a few other societies if you want to go ahead. I actually respect that. They can go and check what is happening in other places. And Rabash also told me that when I asked him. Indeed, in that you have free choice, and in that I am forbidden from stopping anyone. If you come to me and ask, is it worthwhile for me to go and check? They say there they also study. You will always hear from me, yes, go and do it. Go and check. And this is not some flaw in the relations between us. It's not a flaw. By this, you are actualizing the only thing that you can do -to choose. And you will never hear from me that this is not worthwhile or don't do it. Except if it's something where they have drugs there or other things that you won't be able to get out of it. You see. But to go and check, all the more so. Each one should go and check in a conscious manner, in a good, correct way. You go in, you check, you come out, it doesn't matter. That's very good. But ultimately, what remains for you is that you have a society. After you've chosen, somehow, let's say so you have a society, and this is already a choice that is according to your inner Reshimot, your record. That you feel that apparently here, this is a society by which I'll be able to develop my record. And this is according to the inner feeling. But after that it is your work. What does it mean? How can you demand from the society that it will change each time according to you? You need to change it towards yourself according to how you want to be tomorrow. That is all. Let's say that I govern a country. And I want that my citizens will think in a month from now this way or that way. So, I take out of my treasury a few coins and I pay very well to some advertising company, and they place in all the streets big ads, the way I want it on TV, on the radio, and in other places. And a month from now my citizens, my residents, will think differently. This is what you should do with your desires. You have yourself that you want to change yourself. That's the key. And all the other desires, they don't listen to you. So, advertise to them through the society. They should create all of these advertisements and influence you. This is what you have to buy. As it says, buy yourself a friend. Or spend some money and buy it. This is through labor. Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:24) We see that we always want to grow the desire. 

M. Laitman: We say that we always want to increase the desire. Not just increase the desire. The desire towards the goal. 

Student: Only specifically, we have to get to know all the possible desires, or only that specific desire? 

M. Laitman: I don't know. Look, I treat people. I have such people who come to me and say, I want to quit smoking. I'm talking about nice things. They're worse examples. Help me to stop wanting. So, I see that there are desires, and they want to specifically stop them, not to feel it. Then there are those who say, I can't sleep. I want to sleep. Give me a desire to sleep. It's not natural. It's not normal. Or a mother comes and says, the child doesn't want to study. Do something so that he will study. This means that there are desires that it's worthwhile to truly to destroy them, to diminish them. And there are those that we have to cultivate. So, what are you talking about? I don't know. You're saying we need to increase a desire. It depends on which desire you're talking about. 

Student: You go through a process with yourself.

M. Laitman: To begin with, in principle, we're not the landlords of our desires. We're not the landlords. I have no control on my desires. They're revealed. So to begin with, what comes to me in such a way, then I look at myself. So I have no control on what will now pop out of me. And also, we don't know what I will want a minute from now. But after I already have desires within me, I have to sort them and check what's worthwhile, what's not, and in which way. But this already depends on the society that I'm in. You enter some society, and there they want a certain goal. So, whether you want to or not, suddenly this begins to be important for you, and this desire grows. Or in another, go to another society, it will be a different desire. So, that choice is in your hands. That is all. 

Student: Also, every single desire needs to be scrutinized?

M. Laitman: If you can scrutinize each and every desire then you can build the society in such a way with such external conditions that certain desires will grow, and other desires will be the opposite. They'll be gone. And that's what we need to do. By that, you start being similar to the Creator. You see, what you're doing here, it's a whole laboratory. Except for the desire that He created, there's nothing. And here you're starting to play with it. It's as if in your hands. He gave you this external vessel that you can put yourself on that table, on the laboratory, all your desires. Then you can take those external vessels, like in an operation, a surgery, but you take all passions in society, desires in society, and from all those desires you have, you build your image. That is in your hands. Not you yourself, but through the environment. We'll learn about it. 

Reader: We will share impressions from the lesson, and what from it we're taking to implement in the Ten.

Reader: We'll move to the next part of the lesson. First, we'll sing a song.

Song: (01:18:40)