Question: A samurai came to a sage and asked him whether hell and heaven really exist.

“Who are you?” asked the sage.

“A samurai,” the warrior.

“You are lying,” said the sage. “You have the face of a beggar.”

The samurai drew his sword. The sage said:

“This is how the gates of hell open.”

The samurai understood and, bowing, put away his sword.

“And that is how the gates of heaven open,” said the sage.

My question is this: Is it possible not to draw the sword in response to any insult? In other words, is it possible to not to go through hell before reaching heaven?

Answer: It is very difficult. I think it is practically impossible.

Comment: So, the whole road to heaven is paved through the hell you go through. That is a serious matter.

My Response: What else can you do? This is how we were created. This is our incomparable egoism.

Question: In principle, it does not forgive anyone; it must immediately respond?

Answer: Yes. The first thought is to draw the sword, because that is how we are. There is no escaping it.

We cannot simply flip a switch so that good would govern us. Because “I created evil,” these are, in a sense, the words of the Creator. “And I created the Torah for its correction.” But initially there is evil.

Question: Why was evil created in the beginning?

Answer: It was so that a person could become aware of his nature from one extreme to the other, from evil to good. To experience both manifestations fully, and then incline toward good. Only then, will good govern the person over evil. But one cannot exist without the other.

Question: So, one way or another, we enter heaven through hell?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Then in what is the wisdom of a person? We say, “A person is wise.”

Answer: It means seeing in advance, without having to go through hell at every step, that you need to act differently. But this is acquired through very great trials and experience.

Question: So the experience of constant hell leads a person to become wiser?

Answer: Of course, like that Japanese sage.

Comment: You often speak of a person becoming resigned. You have even used the words “submission,” “annulment,” and “self-annulment.”

My Response: These are all very complex states that require a journey through hell. I do not believe that a person can overcome themselves in advance without extensive experience. It is impossible.

Question: You are talking about rising above one’s egoism. What does it mean to rise above egoism?

Answer: It means sensing egoism in all its possible manifestations in life, even in nature, and constantly rising above it. Bowing one’s head, that is, reducing one’s egoism, reducing it, belittling it, suppressing it.

Question: If one constantly performs this exercise of suppressing one’s egoism and annulling oneself, will it help?

My Answer: I do not think this exercise is even possible; it is philosophy. It is possible only through gradual training within a suitable society. There must an environment where everyone wants this. They cannot do it, but they want to.

Question: Do they feel that they cannot do it?

Answer: Of course. There must be a recognition of evil. And then, all together, facing one another and helping each other, they can crawl out of that stinking pit.

Question: Please tell me, who does the responsibility for climbing out of there actually fall on? On us?

Answer: On us! Ask, plead, think, speak, and show examples to one another, and thus act. And each one whose egoism is greater, they naturally rise higher. In general, this is the work.

Question: If this work is carried on within a society people who want to transcend their egoism, does it help others?

Answer: It helps others not merely by example. It does not even matter whether they see it or not. Because this is a force of nature, and in this way, it is added to the common equation of nature and first outweighs egoism, and then altruism.

Question: In principle, you are saying that if this group manages to rise above itself, it will begin to lift everyone else along with it?

Answer: Yes. We must act.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/11/23

Comment: Everything you are talking about concerns both inner and external work. On one hand, these are different things, and on the other hand, they cannot be separated.

My Response: Inner work is my private work, concerning my personal connection with the Creator. External work for the sake of society is directed outside of me, not inward but outward. These two things seem to be different.

How can they be combined? If I do not bestow anything to society, I will not be able to grow. Try sitting with books and you will see how much you deteriorate. Nothing will come of it. Stop all our external activity and you will see what will happen to us in two weeks. For ourselves, we do not need books or films.

You cannot express your desire for spirituality if you do not work in dissemination.

Question: So, essentially, we need to think about how to connect with other souls?

Answer: We do not know yet how to connect with the souls or how to facilitate truly working for them. This is still far from us; we do not yet possess the true intention for the sake of bestowal when all we think about is that others should truly feel good. There is a general task within which we take action, knowing that otherwise things will go badly. In this accessible form, we offer people a way out of the existing situation.

But later, when a person passes the barrier and establishes a connection with other souls and the Creator appears in him, their work takes on a different form: one gradually begins to relate to all souls as parts of their own soul. Thus, by including them within themself, they trigger processes of correction in them thanks to which they receive light into their Kelim. This is what is meant by a person rising upward, approaching the Creator.

Therefore, the rule “love your neighbor as yourself” is the most important. What does the rule (Klal) mean? It is the general (Klali) law through which you attain the purpose of creation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Question: Wherein lies our wisdom, our maturity? I mean, our growing up seems to be that when we give something to another person, we give them not the best and keep the best for ourselves. Why does this happen?

Answer: Because our egoism inevitably turns everything upside down.

Question: Are we aware of this?

Answer: We are aware of it. I even remember this from my own experience. When I was about two years old, I also behaved this way, I would give away the best. But then I felt compelled to spoil it. Someone gave me two postcards and told me to give one of them to my cousin. I didn’t know which one to give because they were both beautiful, colorful, bright, and attractive. I had to do something to one of them. So, I bent a corner, rubbed it a little, and then gave it to her. I was already wiser.

Question: But did you understand that you were deliberately damaging it so that you could give it away without any problem?

Answer: So that I would know which one to give. Otherwise, I couldn’t choose between the two.

Question: Does it become more frightening as we advance?

Answer: Of course!

Question: When does this feeling arise: “What am I doing?! How can I do this?!”

Answer: You have to study a lot and learn from examples. It isn’t simple.

Question: But does this realization come to a person, or might it never come?

Answer: It depends on the person.

Comment: So perhaps it does come, and then he is horrified to discover that he always wants to give others the worst.

My Response: Yes. You see, I still remember this example to this day.

Question: It really enters the heart, apparently.

When a person understands this and feels, “This is what I am like, and I don’t want to live according to this nature,” what should his actions be? Suppose I realize that I always give others the worst.

Answer: If this is already changing within a person, and he begins to become aware of it, then this is already the road toward correction, toward self-examination, and so on. That is already something significant.

Question: So can I tell myself internally that I have already begun along some kind of path?

Answer: Probably, yes. You are already getting closer to self-examination.

Question: I remember you telling us how you were sitting with your teacher, sorting coffee beans. And it was really getting to you that you had to sort every single bean, every single bean.

Suddenly your teacher said to you: “Think this way: You are sorting this particular bean for your teacher, for the coffee your teacher will drink from this bean.” And so on. And this one, for example, is for the friends.

Tell me, at that moment, does this give a person strength? You essentially regarded your teacher almost like a father. Does that give a person strength?

Answer: To be honest, I don’t think I understood it fully at that moment. But in general, of course, it is a great example.

Question: Did your teacher Rabash, live this way?

Answer: He lived this way. I remember when he told me this, I realized that I was completely missing the point.

Question: So when a person finally understands that he is “not missing the point,” does that mean he has come out onto some kind of straight line, onto the path?

Answer: Yes. It is good for a person to reach this state.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 8/19/26

There is a rule that one cannot do anything unless he feels pleasure in it. While doing it, work without pleasure is called “labor” (Rabash, “What Are ‘Blessing’ and ‘Curse’ in the Work?”).

If, on the one hand, I would like to do something, but on the other hand I am unable to do it because I do not see any reward for that action, then this is what is called effort.

We can imagine a reward for almost anything, except for that one thing that goes against our nature: the intention to bestow. As long as it is a matter of the intention to receive, whatever it may be, I can always see some benefit in it.

I can convince myself and picture things in such a way that I find at least some foothold and feel that it is worthwhile. But if we are talking about an action for the sake of bestowal, there is no corresponding pleasure in my Kelim; it is not felt in them, and therefore I cannot perform it.

Try to imagine an action in which you give away everything you have, absolutely everything. If you perform it correctly, you will not be able to feel any pleasure from it. You could find pleasure in the honor you receive or in something else, but we are talking about performing the action correctly.

Thus, there is only one action in relation to which we can put ourselves in a situation where we have no fuel with which to perform it. This is what is called effort. Effort is my attempt to perform an action for the sake of bestowal and revealing that I am incapable of doing so. This state itself is called effort.

Question: And I perform it?

Answer: What do you mean, “perform it”? You cannot, you are incapable of performing it. But when you establish for yourself that this is truly the case, this is already called effort.

It is written that the person would not do this if he did not know he would be paid for the effort. So what should he do? He must increase his awareness of the importance of the intention to bestow. But how? Why?

Here a person finds himself in a situation where he has nothing more to do. He discovers his own weakness, seeing that no matter what he resorts to, his own strength, his nature, his awareness, he has no connection whatsoever with the intention to bestow.

However, if at the same time, a person gathers all kinds of impressions from outside himself, hearing from others that the intention is more important than anything else, while he himself does not feel any taste in it and is unable to achieve it, then he has two extreme points, two poles. And from between these two poles comes the prayer, to which he receives an answer.

These two factors are connected to one another: If I work on recognizing the importance of the intention to bestow, then I am shown more and more clearly that I do not have it. At the same time, I should not work in order to discover my inability as quickly as possible. It is impossible to work negatively; that would be self-deception.

You must work toward actually attaining the spiritual action, toward performing it. Then, in contrast to this, you will be shown that you are incapable of doing it. We must always work positively.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘Blessing’ and ‘Curse’ in the Work?”