Question: What does our true work consist of: going out into the external environment and disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah, or is it something internal, the realization of inner changes?

Answer: We do not produce any changes, neither external nor internal. However, within our consciousness, there is a certain pull toward action, a drive to do something. In principle, all abilities are given to us from above, yet they must be united and used in such a way that I myself wish to advance precisely in the direction that the Creator indicates to me.

If we carefully examine this direction, we will discover that it always stands in opposition to our egoistic nature. And if this is not so, if the direction toward the Creator does not contradict my egoism, then evidently, I have inaccurately determined that the Creator has placed my hand upon the correct choice and proposed that I strengthen myself in it. When I truly choose the direction of the Creator, it must be a direction of pure bestowal, opposite to my nature.

As a rule, we do not see the correct direction so clearly and choose something close to it. Gradually, over time, the path becomes clearer; we acquire a narrower resolution, a more precise power of resolution, and then we begin to see it more distinctly. But this takes time.

If we were to see everything at once, we would run away from it, because “good fate” belongs to the category of Din (judgment, restriction). A person is incapable of this! One arrives at it gradually, little by little. A true choice, when the Creator truly places my hand upon something, is something that burns like fire. What does “good fate” mean? Good fate is bestowal!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

The obstacles placed before the desire to receive cause the development of reason. Then a person can make a free choice. If the desire to receive cannot be fulfilled immediately and does not see this opportunity, and is trying to learn how to do it, it builds a certain system for itself.

In particular, when a person is not under the pressure of pleasure before him, he can build an attitude to pleasure that depends not on his desire to receive but on the greatness of the giver of the pleasure.

This is called the transition from Lo Lishma (not for the sake of the Creator) to Lishma (for the sake of the Creator). That is, a person does not work for pleasure or the expectation of fulfilling himself, but to fulfill the master who gives pleasure. Because the master wants the person to receive, it pleases Him.

When a person receives in order to please the Master, it is said that all his pleasure and all his actions are no longer receiving but giving. That is, two actions must be performed here: the first is to shield oneself from receiving pleasure, to make a restriction, and the second is to use the desire to receive and enjoy only to the extent that it can fulfill the master. That is, to check how much I feel the greatness of the master.

The degree to which I value Him, disconnected from my own pleasures, determines my subsequent action. It follows that this action is entirely performed in Lishma (for the sake of the Creator), for the sake of the Master.

There are not numerous actions needed, just one: to shift the crucial turning point from the feeling inside my desire to receive to the feeling of the importance of the master.

When the Creator becomes more important in my eyes than the feeling inside my desire to receive, it is called that I have crossed the Machsom. To the extent that He is more important to me than my sense of pleasure, the higher my spiritual degree is.
[352375]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

It is known that if you give something important to a person who does not know its value, and there are people who do know its importance, that thing will move to those people either by theft or by losing it, for the person will not know how to keep it, and there are people who know its value and they will steal or find it and not return it to the owner (Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”).

Question: Does this mean that if something is important to me, I try to acquire it in some way? And if there is no other way, do I steal it or exchange it for something else?

Answer: It is said, “Go and earn from one another.” We are constantly in relationships of buying and selling with each other. I give to him, he gives to me, and so on. Thus, everyone does something in the world, and everyone needs everyone else to serve him. This is how we are built.

We constantly choose what seems to be more important in our lives, and therefore, we must always carefully examine what is truly important to us.

Human nature is such that if something is important to us, we begin to distinguish it from other things and discover aspects, qualities, and characteristics that we did not see before, but now suddenly discover them. We become experts in this area like no one else, a professional in our field.

Everything depends on the importance a person attaches to a particular thing. In our lives, we single out one task, begin to focus on it, and then it becomes our primary focus, while everything else becomes secondary. Then I truly become an expert in that matter because it is the only thing I need. So we must analyze who am I, what is important to me, how do I work with it, and what I choose as my primary focus.

Rabash is speaking about importance here. If there is something that is important to me, I try to reach it by all possible means and acquire it at any cost. After all, first of all, when I look at something, I say: “I want this,” like a child. Look at children, a small child does not ask whose it is; he wants to grab it, and that’s it. Only for him this is forgiven; he is still naive.

The same is true with us: the first thought is “I want,” and then the “but” begins: “It’s not mine, what will happen to me because of it, maybe yes, maybe no.”

So, when is this called theft? Theft is when I know for sure that it belongs to someone, but I do not think about them and I try to acquire it against their will. Moreover, I do it secretly: perhaps secretly from myself, not realizing that I am stealing; perhaps secretly from the one from whom I am stealing; or perhaps both at the same time.

What can be worse than theft? When I do not look at myself or at you at all, but simply come and take it by force. That is robbery, assault, and the use of force. In short, there are many different concepts and details here, and all of them are used in spirituality.

There is not a single quality in us that is not used in spirituality. On the contrary, in spirituality they use the “good” sides of the qualities of theft and robbery. They are used against the desire to receive, when I “steal” from it in all kinds of ways and extract parts from it for use for the sake of bestowal.
[352176]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/26, Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

Question: Is there a reward that corresponds to the effort exerted?

Answer: In spirituality efforts are rewarded, but not in the same way as is customary in our world where I demand more for less effort, and the boss offers less pay for more effort. And so we haggle, negotiate, and settle on something.

In spirituality, I work against the upper light. To the degree I become similar to the light, it enters me, and this is the reward. Here there is no bargaining and there can be no correct or incorrect decisions, actions, or consequences. Everything is in order within the laws of nature.

Question: Then how can I understand the contradiction “exerted efforts and found?”

Answer: It means that in advance I do not know exactly the light that I will receive because I have never sensed it. The attainment I will reveal is a secret for me now. I know what will be, but I cannot say exactly what or how because I am not ready yet. I do not have any “means” with which I can receive this information, this sensation and say “this is what I am heading for!”

I know that I am heading for my next, higher rung of bestowal, the connection of the entire system, which is called love. Love is dependency within the system.

If any system that we make (for example capacitors, resistors, coils, etc.) functions correctly, then we say that it exists in love with another, meaning in complete understanding of the mutual program, the connection. It is the same thing here.

Question: Does it mean I make efforts to annul myself and think about others?

Answer: Self-annulment is necessary; otherwise, I will not become included in the system.

Comment: But I do not know when I will receive a reward for this.

My Response: Inclusion into the system is the reward. Imagine that there is a completely interconnected system where everything is occurring in a living analog mode. If I include myself into it, I will exist in it. My existence in it is my reward.

If I do not exist in it yet I have to work on myself in order to connect to it and become integrally connected with it. This is my work.

Question: Let’s say I have made an effort. When will I connect to the system, will it remain a secret for me?

Answer: It is impossible to say because I do not even know what else I have to complete in order to become totally integrated into this system. Of all the capacitors, resistors, coils and thousands of other elements I do not know exactly what I have to take into my change in order to connect to them. I simply have to annul myself so they can format me to fit them.

In essence our task boils down to annulment of my “I.” Let the rest of the scheme, whether it is electronic or human, it does not matter which one, adapt me to itself. I simply give myself to it. This is the condition of the first restriction (Tzimtzum Alef).
[231403]
From a Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/22/18

Everything that happens to us is initially done by the Creator, but we cannot see this. Baal HaSulam writes that the science of Kabbalah is a method of “the revelation of His [the Creator’s] Godliness Creator to His creatures in this world.”

I am not performing any action here through which I would be able to change the reality, the governance of the Creator, His influence on me. I am not performing any action that would change anything in me or around me; I am merely revealing what is happening.

I gradually discover what is actually happening in the existing reality when people around me, then the Creator together with the environment, later me and the Creator, and ultimately only the Creator become a factor in fulfilling the Torah and the commandments. 

The fact that people from outside facilitate the fulfillment of the Torah and commandments does not mean that they are the influencing factor. In truth, it is the Creator, but in a concealed form, and His desire is to be revealed.

We must pay attention to this, because we deviate from the goal by thinking we are going to change reality. We are going to reveal reality! The difference lies in our perception, in the revelation relative to us, and only that. Here, there is a very fine line, a barely perceptible point. If we grasp it correctly, we acquire the right attitude toward what we are going to do, toward what is going to happen.

I am not going to change the world; I want to change my perception, nothing more! That is all I need required because everything is created perfectly, and only my perception is damaged; that is the only that I need to fix. Then I will be able to feel myself in a bright world full of abundance and goodness, my senses will perceive everything as it truly is!

To attune yourself to the correct approach is 90% of the work. Based on this, it is necessary to understand that the correct direction is that you attune yourself to bestowal.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

It therefore follows that we should make several discernments in the Torah: 1) one who learns Torah in order to know the rules, to know how to observe the Mitzvot of the Torah, (Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?“)

That is, why does one study? In order to know what must be done in the material world. And then a person studies and fulfills the commandments.

 2) one who learns Torah in order to observe the Mitzva of learning Torah, as it is written (Joshua 1), “This book of Torah shall not move from your mouth, and you shall contemplate it day and night.” RASHI interprets “contemplate it” as “looking in it,” every thought in the Torah is in the heart, as he said, “The contemplation of my heart is before You” (Ibid.)

Here it speaks about “studying Torah in order to know the laws, how to observe the commandments of the Torah,” meaning that there is something more in it than just performing commandments. There is value in the study itself when one must attach the heart to it. There are corrections that the Torah performs in the heart. These are corrections to make us better, when the Creator wishes that the Torah will support us, and through it we will be strengthened.

3) He learns Torah in order to be rewarded with the light of the Torah, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination; (ibid.)

This is the level when a person already knows that the Torah was not given merely to correct his animalistic heart so that he simply becomes better and thereby fulfills the commandment of studying Torah, but that there is something special in the Torah—light.

I have created the Torah as a spice because the light in it reforms him.” By this he will be rewarded with faith, and to adhere to the Creator, and then he will become “Israel” for he believes in the Creator in complete faith (ibid.)

That is, a person already considers himself wicked, and the Torah corrects him so that he will become better.

4) Once he has been rewarded with faith, he is rewarded with the “Torah, as in the names of the Creator” (ibid.)

In other words, he already receives the light of Hochma within the light of Hassadim. This light of Hochma, which he receives according to the level of his correction, is called the names of the Creator.

In The Zohar, this is called “The Torah and Israel and the Creator are one.” At that time he is rewarded with the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, when the creatures receive what the Creator wants to give to the creatures (ibid.)
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/26, Rabash, Article 12, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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“In the multitude of people is the King’s glory,” it follows that the greater the number of the collective, the more effective is the power of the collective. In other words, they produce a stronger atmosphere of greatness and importance of the Creator. At that time, each person’s body feels that he regards anything that he wishes to do for holiness, meaning to bestow upon the Creator, —as a great fortune (Rabash, “The Agenda of the Assembly – 2”).

Everything depends on how much we in the group express the importance of our goal, the importance of revealing the Creator, and the importance of creating the conditions for His revelation. The main thing is not to forget this and to constantly awaken in ourselves the fact that the Creator is the light that fills everything, and that He is revealed only to the extent of our similarity to Him. If we attain even 1% of similarity, to that extent we will reveal Him. And if there is 2%of similarity, that is how much we will reveal Him.

Therefore, on the one hand, each person must feel that he exists in the ten as one tenth of it. On the other hand, he must feel that he is the Malchut of this ten and is responsible for the desire of the entire ten.
Gradually, we will study all our roles in these ten parts, each of which will shape the common soul, that is, develop additional qualities within it, and then we will begin to feel the Creator more.

How much does an embryo, or even a small child, feel the world? It lacks the senses, the qualities, for this. In the same way, we must gradually acquire the quality of each Sefira, and thus feel the Creator more and more strongly. That is, each of us must position ourselves as each Sefira.

And so, in different combinations, in different configurations, we will assemble ourselves together and “turn” the Creator: in one state, in another, in a third, like a Rubik’s Cube. In this way, we will turn ourselves relative to one another and reveal the Creator in ever greater changes.

It would seem, what is a ten? In fact, it turns out to be an infinite possibility of combinations of all qualities and desires, both of the heart and of the mind.
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From the International Kabbalah Convention Moldova, 9/5/19, Lesson 0

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Question: When a person comes under the impact of the upper light, they appear a bit strange, as if they actually used a drug: dilated pupils, increased activity, a feeling of love toward everyone. What is happening to a person at that moment?

Answer: I do not think that he can have such strongly expressed external symptoms. However, who knows?

In principle, this is all the effect of the upper light. Behind our physiology, there is nothing hidden except light and vessels. Therefore, the influence of the light on the vessel, even in the form of surrounding light, in any case causes all kinds of excitations, similar to excitation from chemical substances.

So, if we measure the reaction from the influence of the light and the reaction from sedatives or stimulating effects of certain medicines, we will see an identical external reaction.

Question: But due to what does this happen? Does the light influence the point in the heart or the physiology of a person? In general is there such a concept as “the light influences physiology”?

Answer: Of course! What does “influences” mean? Increased pulse, of course! Inner excitement, of course! Increased blood pressure, of course! That is, this is a natural consequence of excitation, no matter what caused it.

A medicine is the same light, only in our understanding it appears in some material form, in some chemical elements. So what? This is also the influence of the light, only clothed in such a carrier.

Suppose I am drinking coffee. Do you think that the matter is in the coffee, in this brown liquid that I am now drinking? No. This is connected with some small influence of micro-light that affects me this way. That is all!

In fact, matter does not exist. If you erased this image now, you would see a more inner screen on which one force, one desire, uses a second force, a second desire, and so on.

You would see nothing but endless vectors and how they change under the influence of one another. The vector called “coffee” changes all the sums of vectors that are in me at some definite level called “the body.”
[352134]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The Most Powerful Drug” 9/30/10

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Question: What place does physical observance of the commandments occupy in spiritual work?

Answer: All the commandments are merely expressions of spiritual laws in our world. Unfortunately, their physical observance gives no result. This is confirmed by the fact that, despite two centuries of Jews observing the commandments, our condition has only worsened.

In the code of laws, the Shulchan Aruch, there are many rules that speak about love for one’s neighbor, about correct and kind relations between people. But we pass over them as if they were written for small children and not for us.

We consider, for example, that the most important thing is to perform the ritual of washing of hands. Yet this ritual speaks about cleansing our hands from egoism, from the desire to take the whole world for ourselves. The same applies to all the other commandments.

It is said that “a commandment without the correct intention is dead.” Therefore, if we observe them only in a physical form, then unfortunately, we will not obtain any positive outcome except an ever-growing egoism that increasingly divides the entire nation, including religious people.

We have come to a state where returning to the condition of connection between us becomes mandatory; without it humanity will lead itself to destruction. And if we take the books of our sages, we will see that they speak precisely about this.
[163436]
From a Public Lecture in New York, 7/20/15

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Question: How should an ordinary person who does not strive for connection with the Creator but wants to live calmly and simply on this earth relate to what brings them to prayer, to those misfortunes, to those troubles?

Answer: Naturally, a person does not want suffering or prayer or anything.

Question: And how should I relate to this? Should I run away from them, cut them off?

Answer: Of course. It is best to run away from them; that is what everyone does.

Question: Meaning, if I am not striving for anything and just want to live this life well on this earth?

Answer: In that case, “lo em ve lo s’kharam”—“no suffering and no reward.”

Question: And what is your advice to such people?

Answer: Try to live peacefully. Even lower, even quieter, even calmer. And live like that.

Question: So that the waves pass over us?

Answer: Yes. But that is fate. There are people who want this. There are people who do not agree with it. And there are people who do not agree, but after a couple of blows, they agree.

Question: So one way or another, these blows put a person in their place if they are here and want to live their life here?

Answer: It depends on the root of the soul.

Question: What is the advice for those who strive for the Creator, for connection?

Answer: For them, the most important thing is closeness to the Creator, and it does not matter what the path is, whether they receive a couple more blows along the way, or something else.

Question: So one way or another, they will and must relate to these blows as help?

Answer: Yes. If we strive to achieve connection with the Creator, then various obstacles and conditions are placed before us, and we inevitably see that we cannot fulfill these conditions in any way, only if we receive serious help from above.

Question: Meaning, if we strive for connection with the Creator, then we can be grateful for all sorts of obstacles?

Answer: Of course. The stick—yes.

Question: The stick? So, when, as you always say, “kiss the stick that beats you,” then we kiss it?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: And otherwise, we will have to…

Answer: And otherwise, we move with our egoism along such winding paths like little fish swimming.
[352190]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/19/26

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In the article “Lishma and Lo Lishma,” Rabash wants to clarify the fundamental difference between these concepts. The difference lies in the kind of fuel that drives a person to act.

First of all, we must understand what our actions are in general, and whether we are their masters. If we act based on the desire to receive, then every time we see some pleasure, some fulfillment of desire, immediately, without any calculations, we want to obtain it. Desire precedes calculation; first the desire is created, then reason. The mind is an addition to the desire in order to achieve what is desired.

Therefore, the moment the desire to receive sees some fulfillment, it wants it, and only then does it begin to calculate how to achieve it and if it is possible, simply to fill itself. If the desire were not hindered by any limitation, it would be fulfilled, and would not require any planning or calculation.

But since there are conditions for filling oneself with pleasure, the desire to receive must undergo a process of calculation to achieve fulfillment. Then it develops a system that we call “reason,” “calculation,” “the Rosh of a Partzuf,” alongside itself. These categories arise because it is impossible to satisfy the desire to receive directly.

It turns out that, to the extent obstacles arise in fulfilling the desire for pleasure, there are more opportunities for mental development and for personal involvement of the desire in this process.

Thus, in order to give this desire independence, it is necessary to place obstacles before it 100% in every state and in various variations of its manifestation, on all paths leading to self–fulfillment.

Only these obstacles will give the desire to receive an opportunity to analyze what I want, why, how I come to fulfillment, whether it is what I want, whether it truly fulfills me, and what is preferable.
[352371]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Question: The fact that I am holding on to the group is not my choice. The fact that I sit here, listen, read, and discuss are also not my choice. So where then is freedom of choice?

Answer: You did not come here of your own will. Each of us now already sees that we did not appear here by chance; meaning that the Creator brought us. In general, the thought to come, listen, and sit, does not come from me. Everything happened somehow, suddenly, almost unconsciously. It is clear that for the first few months I came and sat here, operating on the fuel received from the Creator.

The efforts begin with descents. Just as the Creator gave me an impulse and brought me to this place, luring me with “candy” to make me feel as if I could sweeten my life here, so now He is taking it away. In order to remain, hold on, and strengthen even more, I need to make great efforts.

The unchangeable spiritual law says: “You have borrowed from Me, and I am collecting.” The Creator gives you strength, gives you direction, and provides an opportunity, but later you will have to pay for it.

Otherwise, it is impossible. How will I be able to rise to a higher degree if I am not familiar with it, if I do not have enough strength for it, and if I have no connection with it?

We think that in spirituality everything is like in this world: I have strength, I have desires, I can see what I am going to acquire, I make calculations, analyze, clarify, check, inquire. Not at all; everything is different in spirituality. Here, the higher degree is detached from you, not felt by you, incomprehensible to you. And even if you reveal something in it, you discover that it is absolutely opposite to you and repels you.

Thus, the law is simple: “You have borrowed from Me, and I am collecting.” That is, you are given the opportunity, everything is given to you from above, and later you will have to return it. Therefore, the efforts consist in strengthening in the direction that the Creator indicates.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to follow the path and method of Baal HaSulam [who described to us this entire path], the way by which to climb the degrees of man and not remain as a beast (Rabash, “Purpose of Society – 1“).

In our world there are inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature. If we want to rise above the human level, we must unite with one another.

If, above all obstacles, rejections, hatred, and unwillingness to unite, we achieve connection between us, we do not need anything else. The science of Kabbalah does not teach us any actions other than mutual unification.

If in any group in any point in the world, people are able to rise above their mutual rejection and connect with one another, they will reveal the Creator, the upper force, the upper world, their eternal image, called the “soul,” because they will create the condition for the revelation of the upper force in the connection between them.

Therefore, the science of Kabbalah is universal; it has no limitations except one: above your egoism, connect with people like yourself who want to unite together in order to reveal the Creator. There are no other conditions beside that.

Baal HaSulam adds to this: There is no point in hoping that the time will come when we will be able to achieve the goal of our development in any other way. Undoubtedly, we achieve it only through connection between us. Then we will see that the upper force is pushing everyone toward connection: the inanimate, the vegetative, the animate, and the human levels.

We see how everyone is connecting more and more whether they want to or not under the pressure of all kinds of problems and sufferings. The world is becoming increasingly interconnected, technology and means of communication are developing in this direction. This is how the upper force, the only one operating in the universe, pushes the whole world toward unity through great pressures and sufferings.

However a new, different path has opened for us: we can advance toward unification ourselves, increase the speed of our unification, and work among other selves as in a laboratory, constantly connecting more and seeing what we achieve in the process.

Therefore, according to the advice of Kabbalists, we unite in tens, in small groups, so that it will be more convenient and easier for us and so that we can increasingly connect in a more flexible and manageable way, and see how we reveal the upper force in one form of connection or another. According to the type of our unity, we reveal it, since our vessel determines the revelation of the light in it.

Therefore, we do not have to advance unwillingly toward the ultimate goal where all parts of nature will unite together in an integral, global form as a single whole. We can accomplish this work not under the pressure of suffering, but with understanding, awareness, and self-control; we can choose the speed of advancement, see how we are doing it, and also draw all of humanity to follow us.

After all, if we bring them along, drawing after us, we become stronger, and then the upper force is revealed with greater power, because it is no longer thousands of people who unite, as in our world group, but millions and even more.

Accordingly, we reveal the power of the upper force in all its depth, in all its scope, in all its systems, we attain how it reigns over everything and governs everything, how this entire system operates. This is called the revelation of the Shechinah.

There is no greater pleasure than to see this harmony, how all parts of creation—different, scattered, hating one another, distant from one another—come to connect with each other and between them, not merely a connection is revealed, but mutual love. This fills us and gives us the sensation of eternal life.
[163417]
From the International Kabbalah Convention 7/17/15, Guadalajara, Lesson 1

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Comment: In 1938, a Swiss scientist accidentally developed LSD, a drug that supposedly shows a person a different reality. Those who tried it began to look at the world differently and allegedly felt a state “beyond time.”

My Response: I cannot be an expert on this question because I have never taken drugs. I have always believed that they are false, a disconnection from reality. With such means it is impossible to break beyond our world, to rise above time, space, and movement into a different dimension. They are simply various psychosomatic sensations. We disrupt the proper functioning of the brain and therefore supposedly soar in some other space.

It is clear that this has nothing to do with Kabbalah because a person does not acquire the quality of bestowal and love for the surrounding world. A person can somehow be tuned to this with the help of drugs, and be convinced that he will, so to speak, begin to love others, be cheerful, happy, and inclined to communicate with others. But all of this is only because we tuned him in that way and gave him means that suppress the feeling of egoism in him.

It is the same as if a person received some emotional wound or, on the contrary, a great gift of fate, but did not change himself and did not acquire new qualities.

It is clear that those people who take drugs do not become obvious altruists, and they do not see the world as kind, good, and purposeful. They see all kinds of distorted pictures within themselves.

Therefore, this has nothing to do whatsoever with the world that a Kabbalist reveals to the extent that his egoism is transformed into bestowal and love, into a quality opposite to the nature in which he was born.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalah and LSD” 10/1/10

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State 1 (our present state) is “bestowal to oneself” in which our pleasure and desired fulfillment reside.

State 2 (the state we want to reach) is bestowal to the Creator, which will be our pleasure, and here there is a contradiction.

In bestowal to oneself, both the action itself, the work, and the reward are all in one direction, in one line. Therefore, this is called the direct light, and everything here is clear to us; the beginning and the end, and the attainment of this final goal all stream in one direction, toward myself.

But if I want bestowal to the Creator to be my pleasure, then there is a problem of the opposition between intention and result because I need a correction of intention, which is against my desire!

Bestowal to the Creator must turn into receiving pleasure for me! And I am obliged to enjoy it because that is the purpose of creation, but the enjoyment must come from bestowal, and this is completely opposite to me!

The goal of creation is enjoyment, and the correction of creation is bestowal. But these two conditions contradict each other. This is the main obstacle and difficulty in our perception that always blocks our path and deprives us of the opportunity to realize what we intend.

On the one hand, we must apply great efforts and do a tremendous amount of work, and on the other hand, its result does not depend on us; it is given from above. We only reveal the desire in ourselves the desire with our work; we do not obtain the goal itself; we attain the Kli, the vessel that can contain it.

Therefore, these two opposites—bestowal to the Creator and enjoyment from this—can be united only through our adhesion with Him. And only the upper light, which changes our nature, can bring us to this adhesion.

From a state in which the heart rules over a person, and therefore, in the terms of Kabbalah he is called a “sinner,” we must pass to a state in which the person within us rules over his heart, and therefore, is called a “righteous one.” There is only one solution for attaining this goal: a Kabbalistic group, which serves an example for us, a framework, a template in which we can check ourselves and see to what extent we correspond to this goal or not.

The group is able to instill in me that nothing is more precious to me than bestowal to the Creator! But, on the other hand, I reveal that I am capable of nothing and only the Creator can help me. In this way I come to the necessary desire, to a prayer.

But presently, these two polar opposites do not exist in us: Keter and Malchut, direct light and reflected light, the inverse correspondence of light and desire, all exist only in the corrected Kli where the intention is opposite to the desire.

This is the model we need to build within ourselves for the first time, the first ten Sefirot, and then we will acquire an inner structure, like the first cell of a new organism from which the embryo of the soul will further develop.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10, Rabash, “What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?”

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There are four states people go through when performing Torah and Mitzvot.

What does it mean to perform Torah and Mitzvot? For religious people, it is what they were taught at a young age: to perform certain actions and they perform them. If they had been taught other actions, they would performed those.

In this case, as Rabash writes, the reason and motivation for fulfilling the Torah and Mitzvot is external influence. This does not mean that I perform commandments because I am afraid of these people or that I want to be considered great among them, good and righteous, a respected person, etc. It doesn’t matter what other reasons there may be, the main thing is that I do what I was taught, nothing more. In general, I fulfill other people’s desires.

For someone who has been used to doing this since childhood, it becomes second nature; otherwise, he feels bad, and by doing his usual actions, he feels good. Whether a person was brought up this way or converted to faith at a later age, he looks at his environment, which obliges him to perform certain actions.

And indeed, the environment has wonderful laws. You must attend the synagogue. It is not right to  not go there to pray. You are obliged to celebrate holidays according to certain rules and to dress in a certain way. You are obliged. Society sets thousands of laws for you. And this means that you fulfill the Torah and the commandments under the influence of external people, and not of your own freewill.

Whereas we are talking about correcting one’s desire. In this case, you set your desire aside, as if you remove it from yourself, place someone else’s desire into yourself, and fulfilled it. This is called a “good soldier,” who uses his body, and, by placing the commander’s desire in it, obeys his orders. For the religious masses, this form of observing the commandments is acceptable, which is very good. Otherwise it would be a mess, chaos.

The second type of motivation for fulfilling the Torah and Mitzvot is the Creator in combination with external people, who promote and compel the observance of the Torah and Mitzvot. That is, a person begins to incorporate a certain admixture into his previous calculations, as if “contaminating” them. He is already beginning to consider not only the environment, but also the Creator.

What does it mean to be with the Creator? This means that a kind of conflict arises inside a person, an internal contradiction. This is not yet a clash of two opposing sides; it is not yet two poles.

Two opposing authorities cannot exist in me at the same time, or I would be torn apart by not knowing whom to listen to, or whom to give preference to. I cannot be aimed in both directions. I have only one desire. I cannot tune in to two, so a problem arises. This is the beginning of the path.

The third condition is when “only the Creator obliges him to fulfill the Torah and commandments; not external people, but the person himself is also the reason for fulfilling the Torah and commandments.” This is the third type of motivation, when the Creator obliges a person to fulfill the Torah and the commandments, and the person himself, as Rabash writes, “is the reason.” I would say that he contributes to this.

And the fourth type of motivation is that the reason for fulfilling the Torah and the commandments is only the Creator, and there is no one contributing to this. This is called “the introduction of the mixed-multitude into Kedusha.” In this case, there is absolutely no other contributing or even supporting factor, where we say that a person strengthens himself along the way and supposedly does something on his own. No, everything is done exclusively by the Creator. But this is the level of complete adhesion with the Creator.

As a result, it is revealed to a person that all these are the ways of the Creator’s governance. It is not that I act one way or another as I advance, but as I work hard, I reveal various factors that compel me to act.

At first these factors seem to be external people, then external people and the Creator, then me and the Creator, and in the end, only the Creator. It is just that in the process of his development, a person begins to reveal what the reason is for his existence, and who is the source of his existence.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Question: Is the revelation of the Creator, in fact, the revelation of a new form in oneself?

Answer: The revelation of the Creator’s face is called the manifestation of His importance because, in fact, this is what I seek. This is not the revelation of pleasure, but the revelation of His superiority, His properties, and His perfection. It helps me to respect the Creator more than my desire to receive.

This desire constantly grows in a person. More and more Reshimot (spiritual records) surface. In other words, more and more of the left line is added to a person. Then he needs to reveal the face of the Creator as a greater, more exalted one who affects him more so that he can resist the desire to receive, and respect the Creator more than his selfish desire. This means that a person has the strength to work for the sake of giving.

It follows that the desire to receive was originally created in the size of the Creator; both are equal in magnitude. However, a person feels the magnitude of the desire to receive only in accordance with how much he is able to overcome it, and at the same time, to reveal the Creator as important and great.

Each time it is like a game. At first, the desire to receive is hidden from us; we feel only a small part of it in the form of reality of this world. In fact, this is the same general reality, only it is called “this world” because we perceive it without taking the Creator into account.

All else, apart from this level, we already perceive in accordance with the reality of the Creator, meaning, we actually feel the Creator, which is called the upper world. “All else” means that we already consider the importance of the Creator relative to the importance of the desire to receive.

This desire gradually grows, starting from the lowest, smallest state, until it reaches the level of the Creator. It helps us to ask the Creator time and again to show us more and more of His importance, greatness, and superiority. And when we reveal the Creator and prefer to bring Him pleasure rather than serve our ego, then we adhere to the Creator’s form, absorb it, adopt it, and it truly becomes our form.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29 “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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However, we were given one place on which we can work without any reward. That is, even when we still do not have a taste for Torah and Mitzvot due to the Tzimtzum, there is one advice, which is to work in greatness of the Creator, how privileged we are to be serving the King (RABASH, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma“).

Question: Do these words apply to us who are in this world?

Answer: I want to enjoy. This is how I am. My desire to receive perceives nothing in any other way. There is something before me; I receive it and enjoy it. How can I work differently? I am able to work in another form only if I nevertheless receive some pleasure.

Without pleasure it is impossible to live, impossible to move. I can enjoy only from what I receive. We are confused about this because this is our foundation, which has not yet been clarified. Clarifying it takes years of persistent, serious work.

The question is this: can I move from the place where I am now in any direction by even one meter? My answer is: yes, I can, but only on the condition that you fill me with, say, a liter of fuel, or a hundred calories. Then I will be able to move from one place to another. Where will I get the hundred calories from? In various ways, but I must receive them.

Thus, I have two possibilities. Either I receive the hundred calories from all kinds of pleasures that supposedly exist around me or from seeing how great the Creator is. I have two fueling stations with which to set my desire to receive into motion at my disposal, and that is all.

If I am able to work due to the greatness of the Creator, then I become a perpetual motion machine, and I depend on nothing. In that case, my machine can operate without stopping; it no longer depends on any external, insignificant factors. This is our entire goal!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Before the invention of road-signs as a means to put order in traffic, police officers would stand and streamline traffic. At that time, many people were angry and had grievances against the officers for not doing their job right, and that they were not noticing the line of cars.

But today, the streamliner of traffic has become inanimate, mindless. So, now each one accepts the verdict of the road-sign (traffic light), and no one gets angry with it or asks it for favors (RABASH, Article 28, “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?“).

On the one hand, the Creator places a traffic light before us, and these laws of nature are absolute. You can curse the traffic light, but it will not help, except perhaps only in the case that you turn to the cause, to the one who operates it. In our days, sometimes when traffic is heavy, you can see a police officer directing traffic. Then you have someone you can shout at.

But if this cause is unknown, you do not see the police officer, the traffic light works according to an internal mechanism, and you do not yell. You have no one to turn to because the governance is concealed. Nature! From this example it is clear how much understanding the cause raises you to a different level in relation to the situation.

If I know that it is the Creator who arranges everything for me, then I immediately turn to Him. I do not look at the traffic light; I look at the police officer. If I see both the police officer and the traffic light, I look at the one who directs the traffic because salvation will come from there. Then all the laws of nature lose their importance.

That is why the Creator does not reveal Himself. Because if He were revealed, I would cling to Him because of my will to receive, and I would never be able to come out from under its control. This is what originally happened with Malchut of the world of infinity. In order to free oneself from this, there must be a restriction, a distancing, and the desire to receive must be corrected into a desire to bestow.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/26, Rabash, Article 28, “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?”

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Baal HaSulam’s “There Is None Else Besides Him” is a special article that addresses our relationship with the higher force, that is, with our lives, with what happens to us, how we can understand this life, and how we can form a more correct perception of it.

It is said that there is no other force besides the Creator, and that only He governs everything. If a person feels that there are many different, contradictory forces, this is done deliberately in order to knock us off the correct intention that only one force exists, and thereby, on the contrary, to strengthen our orientation exclusively toward it.

Precisely through being directed toward the Creator and being pushed away from Him through rejection by all kinds of means, a person begins to understand that everything comes from the Creator and in this way completely binds himself to Him.

This is not achieved easily; it takes many years. After all, our entire life is structured in such a way as to reveal the oneness of the Creator. Therefore we must constantly remember that “there is none else besides Him.” This is the main commandment for a person in our world, where everything is arranged solely to divert him from the direction toward this single force that governs him.

The benefit of these rejections is that a person begins to understand that he cannot be connected to the Creator by himself, he cannot hold onto the thought that all disturbances come from the Creator, and that everything happening to him directs him toward the Creator.

In the end, he becomes despairing, does not know what to do, and precisely through the Creator’s “negative help” (which exhausts him and tosses him from side to side as if there were other qualities, forces, problems, or illnesses in a person, anything at all except the Creator), he reaches such a state that, despite all these actions, he nevertheless rises above them and clings to the Creator.

Only through correct overcoming of all obstacles can a person cope with these disturbances. Yet one sees that there are always more obstacles. Rarely in our lives do we feel that everything comes from the Creator and that we are directed toward Him.

Usually such thoughts occupy only a few minutes a day, and only if we think about it at all. If we do not, days, weeks, perhaps even years, or an entire lifetime can pass in such a state.

But if a person constantly tries to create a community, conditions, and an environment around himself that will inevitably push him toward the Creator, then he can truly grasp Him, not let go, and beg that the Creator holds him, so that through all the events of life he may be directed toward the Creator.

Everything depends on the extent to which one can implore the Creator to open one’s eyes and heart, so that he may feel in his heart and see clearly that he has a connection only with the Creator, and that only the Creator directs him, turns him, and guides him.

In general, everything that happens to us is done by only one force. It is neither good nor bad. First and foremost, it is simply one force. And when a person begins to understand the plan of creation, he already evaluates this force as positive.

It becomes clear to him that all the rejections were necessary only so that he would not be satisfied with a small connection to the Creator, but would truly reach states in which nothing else remains for him in the world; it is either death or adhesion with the Creator.

Then one develops a very clear appeal to the Creator, and asks Him to truly help and give him the strength that would unite him with the Creator forever.

Now he understands that all the obstacles that seemed insurmountable to him and that he hated were sent by the Creator Himself, and that arose within him only in order to push him away, and at the same time to truly draw him closer to the Creator. For precisely through the obstacles was he obliged to go against them and thus connect with the Creator more and more until complete adhesion.

And the Creator very precisely measured the obstacles given to a person. Knowing human nature, He sent absolutely correct, exact obstacles to each person individually, so that by pushing off from them, the person would again draw closer to the Creator.

This was done so that a person would realize that everything is carried out by only one positive force, and that there is no other force in the world besides the Creator. In other words, there are no negative forces in the world.

The negative force is the person himself, his egoism, and around him there is only the Creator, who directs only positive force toward us. And if we evaluate this correctly, then no problems arise, and we move forward solely along the path of drawing closer to the Creator.

In Kabbalah, unlike all other philosophies, methods, and sciences, there is another special aspect: a person begins to understand that he has no freewill at all. Various thoughts arise in his mind and desires in his heart, and he has no control over them since this is all governed by the Creator. That is, the Creator is within a person, and governs his mind and heart, his thoughts and desires.

And we can do nothing about this. From all the events that happen to us, we must only establish that there is a single source: one unique, unified, higher force.

And no matter how we act, correctly or incorrectly, we must understand that it is the Creator who leads us through all kinds of actions. Therefore there are neither crimes nor punishments in the world. There is only one thing: everything was created in order to reveal the oneness of the Creator. We must reach this state.

And all our worries that “if everything comes from the Creator, then what depends on us?” are mistaken. We must be careful not to worry about ourselves, be detached from our “I,” and feel ourselves above it. Only then, by correctly distancing ourselves from ourselves, can we recognize the oneness of the Creator’s governance.
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From a Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/1/19

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