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

Daily Morning Lesson: September 15, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. What Is “A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain” in the Work? Article No. 37, 1989

Reader: Hello, in the first part of the lesson, we will study a lesson from Rav from October 7, 2002. The lesson is based on an article from Rabash called, “What Is ‘A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain’ in the Work?” You can find it in “The Writings of Rabash,” or you can go into the link in the study materials. We're going to read it together in the Ten. We have 26 minutes to do so, please.

Reading: (01:07) What Is “A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain” in the Work?

Article No. 37, 1989

It is written in Midrash Tanchuma (p 318b): “Behold, I place before you. It is written, ‘From the mouth of the upper one, the bad and the good will not emerge.’ Moses, too, set before them two ways—the good and the bad, the path of life and the path of death, a blessing and a curse. There is an allegory about an old man who sat by the roadside before two roads: One, whose beginning is thorns and its end is a plain, and one whose beginning is a plain and its end is thorns. He sat at the beginning of the two and warned passersby, telling them, ‘Although you see that this one begins with thorns, take it, for its end is a plain.’ Anyone who was wise, listened to him and took it. He exerts some, but he goes in peace and comes in peace. But those who did not listen to him went and failed in the end. Therefore choose life; you and your descendants.”

To understand this in the work, meaning in the work of observing Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], we should discern two ways: 1) Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], 2) Lishma [for Her sake].

It is known that in the work, we should discern between the purpose of creation and the correction of creation. The purpose of creation is for man to achieve wholeness, meaning to be rewarded with the delight and pleasure that the Creator wishes to give to the created beings. This is called “His desire to do good to his creations.” Because of this, all created beings yearn only to receive delight and pleasure.

Therefore, each and every day, a person yearns anew to receive delight and pleasure, and does not settle for what he had in the past. Rather, each day a person begins to receive delight and pleasure. This means that each day, a person must receive delight and pleasure. Some people receive pleasure now from what gave them delight and pleasure in the past. However, if they cannot receive pleasure from the past now, it is not regarded as enjoying the past now. That is, a person must feel pleasure every day. A person can feel pleasure even from what he gained yesterday, or he can feel pleasure today because yesterday he received respect, and so forth.

It follows that “His desire to do good to His creations” must mean that a person will feel each day anew that he receives pleasure. However, he can enjoy only from the pleasure he receives in the present from both the past and from the future. In feeling pleasure, if he enjoys in the present, this is regarded as having pleasure.

For this reason, in both corporeality and spirituality, a person must feel that he enjoys life now, regardless of the past or the future. Even with the greatest delight and pleasure, if he does not feel the delight and pleasure in the present, he could die because of the torments he is feeling now because he has nothing to enjoy.

But this depends on the level of suffering he is feeling now, and in this, meaning in the measure of the suffering, no two people are the same. Yet, all people must feel pleasure in the present. But as in corporeality, such as in eating, drinking, and sleeping, some people need to eat a lot, drink a lot, and sleep a lot, etc.

Likewise, in feeling pleasure, there are differences between people in the amount of need to feel pleasure. Some people need to feel a lot of it, and some can do with little. But they are equal in that they all need to feel pleasure in the present. If they cannot provide for themselves pleasure in the present from what they had in the past, and cannot depict for themselves some future pleasure that will shine in the present, they cannot exist in the world. This extends from the fact that the Creator’s will in the purpose of creation was His will to do good to His creations.

For this reason, each day we are given one hundred blessings to bless, as our sages said (Minchot 43), “One must bless one hundred blessings every day. Also, each day, one must say four Shema readings [text that is read four times a day]: ‘Shema of offerings,’ ‘Shema of Maker of Light,’ ‘Evening Shema,’ and ‘Shema by the Bedside,’ as well as to pray three times a day.”

This shows that in spirituality we must draw a unique light each time, which pertains to the work that one is doing. The reason is that the creatures are incapable of receiving the delight and pleasure that the Creator contemplated giving to the creatures all at once, due to the correction that took place, which is called Tzimtzum [restriction]. For the creatures to receive the delight and pleasure in vessels of bestowal and not in vessels reception in order to receive, according to the work of the creatures, the abundance extends down to them.

It therefore follows that when a person begins the work, since by nature he does not understand that it is worthwhile to do any movement unless it is for his own sake, Maimonides says that we must begin with observing Torah and Mitzvot in order to receive reward, since a person cannot understand otherwise. But afterward, a person is shown that he must do all his deeds in order to bestow.

Since the body cannot agree to this path, the person begins to ask, “Why can’t I work like the rest of the world, whose labor is all about the acts, and who have no work on the aim to bestow? But when I am told that I must walk on the path of bestowal, my work is twofold. That is, I have work observing Torah and Mitzvot in practice, as well as work on the aim to bestow. It follows that I have twice the work as the rest of the world. So,” his body yells, “What do you want from my life?!”

This means that the body asks, “Why do I deserve such a punishment, more than other people, in that I have extra work that the general public does not do? For this reason,” says the body, “I will not let you work even in action. Even though you cannot aim to bestow, I have no interest in them whatsoever. Therefore, I will object to your actions because you do not want to work for yourself.”

It follows that if a person wants to walk on the path of truth, he should make three discernments in his work: 1) Work to observe Torah and Mitzvot in practice, 2) Work on the intention. That is, he does not want any reward for observing Torah and Mitzvot, but works not in order to receive reward. 3) When a person wants to work, meaning observe Torah and Mitzvot without any reward, his work is twofold: on the action, meaning that he has great resistance to observing Torah and Mitzvot, even on the act itself, since the body objects to observing Torah and Mitzvot without any reward. It follows that although he still cannot aim to bestow during the work, since the body objects to these intentions, there is also resistance to the act itself, even without the aim. The body asks, “What are you doing?! You say that you do not want any payment for your work in observing Torah and Mitzvot.” It follows that he not only has work on the aim, which does not happen in the work of the general public, but he has twofold work in the act, as well, as it is more difficult to observe Torah and Mitzvot in practice.

Conversely, the bodies of those who work in the manner of the general public do not resist the work in practice all that much, since there, the body cannot ask, “What is this work for you?” because it gets immediate answers when he says to it that he believes in reward and punishment so he is not working for nothing, but he will be rewarded for his labor.

But with those who want to work on the path of truth, meaning in order to bestow, although reward and punishment apply to them, as well, meaning that they, too, believe in reward and punishment like people who work like the general public, yet, their reward and punishment are not similar to one another. The reward and punishment of the general public is in self-benefit. That is, they believe that if they observe Torah and Mitzvot they will receive reward for their own sake. And if they do not, they will be punished and will also lose the reward for their work.

But those who work in the way of the individuals, their reward is that the Creator gives them the privilege of working only for the sake of the Creator and not for their own sake. All of their pleasure is in being able to bring contentment to the Creator, and the punishment is if they stay under the governance of the will to receive for oneself. This is their whole punishment.

They believe in what our sages said, that the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” That is, they learn in order to receive reward, which is that they will emerge from the control of the evil inclination, which is the will to receive only for themselves, and will be able to work solely for the sake of the Creator. Certainly, on such an aim, the body, which is the desire to receive for one’s own sake, must resist giving one the powers to be able to uproot it from the world.

It is as our sages said with regard to King David about the verse, “And my heart is slain within me.” Our sages said that David killed the evil inclination by fasting. Naturally, even to the act—when a person still cannot aim in order to bestow—the body immediately resists and does not let him make a single move, since the body knows he wants to use those actions in order to kill it, as said about King David.

It follows that even when actions are without the aim, the body already shows great resistance. The only way is that in everything he wants to do, he must have the Creator’s help. That is, for every little thing a person wants to do on the path of individuals, he must ask the Creator to help him do them. Yet, we must know that the fact that the person must ask the Creator for every single thing he wants to do because it is difficult for him, this is a great correction by which one gains the need to always pray to the Creator.

In other words, a person has what to pray for. Otherwise, it might happen that a person will not need the Creator’s help. Therefore, a person gains in that he is always connected to the Creator in that he needs Him. Otherwise, a person might do the best deeds, but the deeds will not obligate him to remember the Creator while performing the act, although he goes to do good deeds. This can be because he has been brought up this way, and it can also be without remembering who commanded him to do so, but simply out of habit.

Conversely, when it is hard for him to do those deeds, he must ask the Creator to help him. It follows that during the act, he remembers the Creator because he is asking Him for help to do the act. This is a great benefit that a person should pay attention to the fact that he has something that reminds him that there is a Creator in the world and we must serve Him.

According to the above, we can understand what we asked, What is a road whose beginning is thorns and whose end is a plain, in the work? The thing is that there are two ways in the work of the Creator: 1) for one’s own benefit, 2) for the Creator’s benefit.

The way of self-benefit is called “whose beginning is a plain,” since the body does not resist it so. Because the body believes in reward and punishment, it agrees to work although it exerts itself in this work. But when it looks at the reward, this work is regarded as “whose beginning is a plain,” meaning that the body understands that this way is acceptable because it is for one’s own sake.

But “its end is thorns.” That is, in the end, he sees that he cannot feel His Providence as The Good Who Does Good, as it is written (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 138), “As long as the receivers have not been completed so they can receive His complete benevolence, which He had contemplated in our favor in the thought of creation, the guidance must be in the form of good and bad, reward and punishment. It is so because our vessels of reception are still tainted with self-reception. When we use the vessels of reception contrary to how they were created, we necessarily sense evil in the operations of Providence in relation to us.”

Thus, “its end is thorns.” “Thorns” means that this way inflicts pain, meaning that after all the work that one has exerted in Torah and Mitzvot, he still does not feel His Providence as good and doing good.

This causes him the matter of reward and punishment in his work. That is, the fact that His guidance is in the form of good and evil, from this extends reward and punishment, as it is written there in the Sulam [Baal HaSulam’s commentary on The Zohar], “Hence, when one feels bad, denial of the Creator’s guidance lies upon him and the superior Operator is concealed from him to that same extent. This is the greatest punishment in the world.

“Thus, the sensation of good and evil in relation to His guidance brings with it the sensation of reward and punishment, for one who exerts not to part from faith in the Creator is rewarded even when he tastes a bad taste in Providence. And if he does not exert, he will be punished because he is separated from faith in the Creator.”

According to the above, we can understand what we asked, What is a way whose beginning is a plain and whose end is thorns in the work? It means that the way that the general public works, in order to receive reward, “its beginning is a plain.” That is, the body does not resist this way because it is told, “You must believe in reward and punishment for your own benefit.”

That is, if it observes Torah and Mitzvot, the self-benefit will gain. And if it does not observe, the self-benefit will lose. A person can understand this because this is man’s inherent Kli [vessel], called “will to receive for oneself.”

But “its end is thorns.” That is, in the end, he does not achieve wholeness, the reward of seeing that His Providence is in the form of good and doing good. Instead, he is placed under the governance of good and evil. It follows that although “He alone does and will do all the deeds,” this is nonetheless hidden from those who feel good and evil, since at the time of “bad,” the Sitra Achra [other side] is given the power to conceal His guidance and the faith in Him, as written in the Sulam. Thus, they will “die without wisdom.” This is called “its end is thorns.”

Conversely, the way “whose beginning is thorns and its end is a plain” means that those who want to walk on the path of truth and achieve the degree of bestowing contentment to the Maker, its beginning is thorns, since when a person wants to work only for the sake of the Creator and not for himself, the body objects to every single thing he does, and each time, he must overcome anew, and every time he overcomes and the body resists, it stings him and afflicts him like thorns.

It follows that the way he is walking is as though walking on thorns, and each time, he wants to escape from the campaign. But “Anyone who is wise, listens to him.” That is, one who has faith in the sages listens to him. “He takes it. He exerts some, but he goes in peace and comes in peace,” as it is written, “For her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace,” since afterward, when he is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he walks in a way that is on a plain.

This is as it is written, “When the Lord favors man’s ways, even his enemies will make peace with him,” since then he is rewarded with the delight and pleasure found in the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations. When they are rewarded with vessels of bestowal, it is written there in the Sulam, “At that time, His private Providence will be revealed throughout the world, since now, once the evil and the punishments have become benefits and merits, it will be possible to attain their Doer, for they have now become fitting for the work of His hands. Now they will praise and bless Him,” as it is written, “Therefore choose life; you and your descendants.”  

Reader: Now we will move on to the lesson from October 7, 2002. 

M. Laitman: (26:44) We read an article from the “Rungs of the Ladder,” Volume four, “What Is ‘A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain’ in the Work?” This is those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. This is what the path is like. Why? Because anything that we attain, we attain it from the opposite state. So if we need to reach wholeness, eternity, the degree of the Creator, adhesion with Him, then certainly, in all the points that we need to be in at the final state, opposite that, first of all, we need to be in the opposite state. These are unpleasant states, truly terrible states, that we cannot simply pass through them. It's, let's say, there is a state where we're in adhesion with the Creator, and to be truly in the complete opposite state from that, that is something we cannot tolerate. A person can suffer because he's a will to receive, meaning he feels, he's sensitive to pleasure or suffering. So just like you cannot tolerate a great pleasure, you cannot tolerate great suffering either. It actually gives an equal sensation of pain, both this and that. It's the same pain with both a surplus of pleasure or a surplus of suffering. Therefore, on the right line and also on the left line, we need to advance in both of these things bit by bit like that, from the lighter to the heavier, until we truly enlarge our vessels so that we're capable of suffering both great deficiencies and also great fulfillments. And it all comes bit by bit until a person accustoms himself. It's also with respect to pleasures in this world. We see how difficult it is and how much time it takes, all the more so on a path beyond the barrier when a person is already stepping on the degrees of the Klipa- the shell, and opposite that, the Kedusha, holiness. And therefore, actually, certainly the beginning of our path is thorns, and its end is a plain.

And here we have to make supports, the environment, the group, books, authors, the daily schedule, so it will all direct the person as much as possible to like go through this field of thorns as quickly as possible and with minimal damage. That is, it is possible to accumulate forces and walk whichever way it is. It was possible in the early times when the will to receive wasn't so great, so they entered suffering, they entered fasting, and all kinds of limitations. We are not capable of that. So there is a different method. We have to organize our environment, organize the place, and make our path through the thorns wisely, as we call it. We cannot really walk straight through the thorns. Yes, somebody wanted to ask something?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:42) When these sufferings come against the attainment of the Creator, how are they felt in a person? Is it physical suffering? Is that how a person feels it?

M. Laitman: With anything that you want to achieve, first you have to think about the vessel where you will attain it. I hear there is some nice dish, Ciorba, a Romanian dish, Ciorba. Yes, I just don't know what it is. Some Romanian once told me that there is something like that, but I see how excited he is. How can I be excited just by thinking about this slogan, this holy name that will bring me pleasure, “Ciorba?” I don't know what kind of a dish it is, so I now need in some form to go and achieve a deficiency like this Romanian person has, who has a deficiency for his Ciorba. How do we do that? That's the way. That is, always, before you think about something good that you want to have - well, godliness, it's good, the Creator is good, spirituality is good, eternity, wholeness - think about the opposite, the opposite of that, that is, on what you will have to feel that you lack that. What is the opposite state that you have to be corresponding to it?

Student: And how does the person succeed in?

M. Laitman: Yes, exactly, how can we be in the opposite state? And we have to enter this state seemingly through self-choice. I need to build a vessel, now I also am going to build a vessel by myself, and without me asking of the Creator to give me this vessel, it's not going to be. And what is the suffering in this vessel? The suffering in this vessel is that I need from the will to receive to build this vessel that will be in order to bestow. If it's a vessel of the will to receive, meaning corresponding to pleasure, then certainly, by my nature, I seemingly want it, but this vessel should also be in order to bestow. That is, the suffering has to be twofold, seemingly, both that I don't have a feeling and also that the feeling that I'll get is in order to bestow. There's a special twist here that we don't quite grasp, a deficiency that is not a deficiency. And this is why the path is very narrow, and we truly have to walk consistently in a conservative way so that we don't deviate, because these little things can take a lot of time. And the blows that you get when you deviate from the path a little bit are not taken into account that you're advancing on the path. They're only in order to bring you back to the same course, so it's a shame. You can get out and spend a few years on the side, and you get blows and blows and blows until you decide, yes, it's worthwhile for me to go back. And this whole exit, this detour that you took in going out and coming back, it's not considered as anything. It's a mistake. It's like you're traveling somewhere, then you make a mistake, and you're told, you know, you really should go back. This is why we should always think about two things, what we attain and how do we attain it, the vessel. And the main concern should be about the vessel. The filling is there abundantly, with great abundance.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:35) How does a person bring himself to the feeling that he's missing the Creator? Where does he take that reality from?

M. Laitman: To bring himself to the feeling that I lack the Creator, that's not a problem. The problem is correctly decipher who is the Creator. You see, if the Creator is good, beautiful, important, and strong, then everything is in Him. That is, I will have all of it. This is how I decipher. So there's no problem. So I want it. I don't feel pleasures around me, so I want Him. But if I advance onward, they want to advance me to a state called Lo Lishma, where this Lo Lishma also includes my thoughts, that I want to give to the Creator. To give to the Creator, meaning as He gives me, as He bestows, I also seemingly want to bestow to Him. When I already begin to feel in these thoughts that actually these thoughts of bestowing upon the Creator begin to emerge in me, I feel darkness in them. Where you feel despair, darkness, lack of appetite for spirituality, hopelessness, all kinds of things like that, these are precisely the places where the desire to bestow to the Creator begins to be born. And they seem to us truly, you know, I'm better off dead than alive. I don't need that. But this is the beginning of the desire to bestow that you'll have. And the person runs away from that, from those states. He doesn't want to feel them in any way. And we have to feel them in truth, but immediately sweeten them. How to sweeten them? With the importance of the Creator, with the importance of spirituality, with the importance of the goal. But I don't see how. So here, there has to be a society, there has to be something, some kind of a record that will constantly drip into your ear, that this is important, it's worthwhile. And just like in this world, that for a great goal you're willing to suffer, it all depends on what you see ahead of you. So it must be work on both ends. The goal is important, and the vessel for it has to be the opposite of it. And it is also important with respect to the goal. These two things, if I hold on to them, then I sweeten my suffering through the goal that exists ahead of me, and then I'm able to suffer it. And otherwise, I can't. Our problem is that we always enter the left line, as if the left line, that's what we call it with words, it's still not a line, it's not left. That's the problem. We don't adhere to the right, to the importance of the goal. Baal HaSulam says that we have to be in that 23 and a half hours a day. Imagine to yourself how much we're missing out from that pace by being the opposite, always in lowliness. The upper light descends on a person, it operates on a person not just when a person studies, it operates on a person according to some kind of equivalence of form. Even if it is surrounding light and it shines on us from afar, meaning even without a screen it shines on us, but what does it mean that it shines without a screen and from afar? Nevertheless, we have to make conditions in order for it to shine for us from afar and without a screen. These conditions that we appreciate it, we wait for it to come, we want it to influence on us. It's not just like that. This is why during the study it's very important to be in wholeness, in joy, in inspiration. According to that, the surrounding light shines more. And if you come and you cry about your life, meaning you curse the book and the Creator and His idea of creating you and bringing you to something, you don't want anything. That everything will not exist and I along with that, then what's surrounding light? What progress? And there's no way out of it, you understand, only the society. If a person is in that state, then as it says, a person cannot save himself from imprisonment, you can't do it alone. And he cannot turn to the Creator. So all that remains to him is the friends on the side. That's it. Those parts of the souls that are connected to him, and in them for the time being, there is some life, and he has none. That's it. This is why it says either togetherness or death. This is how it is.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:36) If I, let's say I'm in such a state, I create a connection and I'm seemingly doing what you're saying, but it doesn't open up. The state remains. What's not okay with me? 

M. Laitman: I don't understand.

Student: If I'm in such a state, that I am in the left line?

M. Laitman: If you are not able to awaken the Creator to answer you, then you lack the vessel. It's very simple. We learned that way, that AHP of the upper one has everything for your whole path until the correction. He has all the answers for you, all the feelings, all the corrections. He has everything. He's waiting. You see, He's waiting. If your desire, your request somehow corresponds to what He has, then immediately that opening opens up and you receive what you need. The problem is, as it says, make your will as His will. The match between the vessel and the light. You have to ask precisely for what you need, for correction, for filling. Then you will get it immediately. On His side, there's no hindrance. You don't have to pray to ask of Him. The request is actually the construction of the vessel. You don't need to knock on His door and yell and seemingly have a problem that He doesn't want it. To pray means that you judge yourself, right? This word “Lehitpalel” [to pray], that you directed to yourself, you see. So you have to do these things by yourself to prepare them. It's simple.

Student: What is that? To ask for the right thing?

M. Laitman: To ask for the right thing means to build the right vessel. That's it. 

Student: I don't know. But I don't see a thing.

M. Laitman: We have many systems that work this way. It's a simple thing. Anything which is to the benefit of the child, the parents are happy to give it. It's just that the child should ask for what is to his benefit. If he asks for something which is not to his benefit, he's not going to get it. So it's the problem with the parents or the child? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:33) If a person goes on the path, another step, meaning he annuls himself, demands every stage for the prayer, and the answer to this prayer, it's all foreign. When it starts, it's easy, but all of that is still…

M. Laitman: The answer to the prayer, when you're walking in the field of thorns, it's not greater thorns. The answer, the response to the prayer is a correction. What is the correction? That the Creator is revealed, that's it. He shows you who He is, what He is, how great He is, how much He's great, eternal, and whole. And this gives you the force of faith, as we call it, to go against your desire, so that you no longer feel, you no longer feel that your desire is harmed by it, that you neutralize it when you don't give it anything. It's the opposite. You feel that you're going towards something great, that you're going to receive.

Student: And then to grow me and to bring me to the next stage, He brings me even bigger thorns. 

M. Laitman: And then, yes, to bring you forward even more, certainly it's greater thorns. What are these thorns? These thorns are exactly the deficiencies you need to get a greater degree, a greater appetite, a greater hunger, so that you will enjoy food that is more rich, more complex and fine.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:57) Now, in the stage of preparation, before a person gets reward, we say that the society is the means by which I should grow constantly the goal, the importance of the goal. And it's supposed to for you to want the biggest obstacle for the goal that awaits his friends, that you will want within yourself an obstacle that's greater for him to pass it through you, in order to pass through you.

M. Laitman: No, no, no, no. A person shouldn't think about greater obstacles or worse things that he will have. God forbid, he should never think about that ever. He should always think about one thing only. I want the Creator. I want to be adhered to Him. I want to receive from Him all the things that He has, His qualities, His feelings, everything. Think only about the good. Never think about the bad. And if bad comes to one, then immediately by being adhered to the good he's immediately nevertheless able to turn towards correction. 

Student: This he can receive only by the society, because within himself he can't. 

M. Laitman: It's either the society or me, or it's either me, the Creator, or the society. The Creator is hidden. Only the society can save me. That's it. 

Student: Also in the corporeal world, where we see how the society brainwashes you and turns you in directions that you live in it. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And constantly, even the things that you receive in the desire to receive, if still a person sees a purpose for which the process that he's going through is not so pleasant or long, he departs from it. Even if the purpose was more or less clear, but a society that works on these things for the desire to receive is capable of receiving, all the senses, all the directions are optimally faced, and still a person will not want to necessarily have the goal. 

M. Laitman: We see that everything depends on the society. You know, you can't see the goal, everything is so difficult, there's no hope. But if the society comes together, if it generates in itself, within itself, the importance of something that he doesn't even know what it is. And we see such examples. Look how entire nations live, in Afghanistan, or all kinds of places, and what ideals they have of their own and their own goals, and how they despise this America and all of this. You think it's just because they don't have anything? This is why they behave this way? No, it's not because of it. But a society can create for itself such goals, right, both spiritual and corporeal, and it will hold it even though it has nothing. That's incorrect. The society does everything. Whether you want to or not, you also have certain ideals in your life, certain criteria by which you walk. This is how you were built in your family and in the society. And they are already greater than concrete things, concrete things. You can't run away from them. The society is holding you.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:10) But even if I now take some goal that, let's say, I was built towards from the age of zero, and I see that the process towards it, after I tried a few times to reach that goal, it's a process that doesn't do good to me, right? I won't keep going towards the same goal, even though the goal seems clear to me, even though the society is strong enough, the strongest society there is. Let's say, why am I here? Probably in the society that I've been, it was controlling me from all directions, all of its ideals, but still…

M. Laitman: So the society you were in before couldn't provide you with a filling for the new desire that suddenly popped up, right? Suddenly, you get such a desire that in the society, you didn't see a response for it, a desire for money, honor, sex, all kinds of things. In a society, you could get it. If you wouldn't get it in that society, you travel abroad. There you have the kind of life that you wanted. But if you always run from one society to another society: I want to get a specific pleasure, I've come back to my family; I want to get a particular pleasure, I go with my friends somewhere, or to play football, or somewhere. You see, I always choose societies that will provide me with the pleasure. This is what a person does. It's also a lack of society. When I isolate myself, that too is a society. It's an environment. That's it. Now, suddenly I received a desire that is not about being isolated, and not overseas, and not somewhere, no matter where I see myself, it doesn't fill me. So where will I find such a society? Again, society. There's no choice, only a society. Where will I find such a society that will supply me this filling for this new desire? So you came here. You came here. That's it. Now, here you saw somewhat that, yes, it's big and everything. Some of the things in the beginning of the society answered you with, and now no. Why not? Because it's very simple. You need to adapt yourself with more precision to the society and to adapt the society more precisely to yourself. That's the work you need to do. By this, you're building your vessel. Some was given to you, but now, buddy, you start working. If you don't start working, you won't have those inner vessels, and you don't want it. You disregard the society, and also the society doesn't relate to you. They're also to blame. I'm not just saying it to you. It's mutual. Also, the society is not built correctly. It doesn't look at each and everyone, it doesn't care for each and everyone. And that's what happens with each of us. You don't have to care for each and everyone, but if within there was a fire burning all the time, there was this constant desire to awaken the others, and through that awaken oneself, then you wouldn't have to pay attention to what's happening to each and everyone. Simply the general flow where the trend would already, you know, suckle everyone in and enter them inwards into that same pipeline, and we don't have that. Build it. You're a strong guy with big ambitions. Please, an opportunity is given to each and everyone here. No one. I'm saying this seriously. There's no one here that is more than the other. The newest friend, the weakest friend, doesn't matter. Each should grasp this and start working. And I'm saying, this is the really spirituality. And there're some things that are corporeal, that people jump, like according to nature and habit, how a person finds himself in the society, determines his status, but in spiritual work, you understand, there's no such thing as work, of just jumping. There's those who are organizers, there's all kinds of safety people, and the ushers of sorts. That's spiritual work only. It's talking about the spirit, of the Ruach. No one's jumping here. Please. The place is free.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:41) I have a question which is a bit difficult.

M. Laitman: Is it difficult for you or difficult for me?

Student: I don't know.

M. Laitman: Every day you have a different stone, no?

Student: No, it's the same stone.

M. Laitman: It's the same stone? I thought it was green or something. 

Student: Oh, I can't replace it.

M. Laitman: You know that there's a new era in humanity now. What was written in the books back then is not correct today.

Student: What?

M. Laitman: It doesn't work that it should on a person. I'm saying this seriously. 

Student: No, I'm going to try it with a small book of Psalms.

M. Laitman: Oh, you're reading Psalms to get together, then you're already starting. The stone itself doesn't help. Okay. 

Student: You can put a book of Torah, maybe. It's going to be heavy. 

M. Laitman: No, no, no. I'm not laughing. I'm not. It's fine. It's very… I respect it. A person searching for something that will help them, gradually reaches it. How are we? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:42) What is all of this mess for?

M. Laitman: Oh, It's in this very simply: “Go to the craftsman who made me.” What's all this mess for?

Student: What's all this mess for? All the evil and the corruption and murder.

M. Laitman: Oh, that. 

Student: The suffering, the light. Why all this mess? What for? 

M. Laitman: This whole mess is… 

Student: What is it about? 

M. Laitman: In order for us to scrutinize the only thing, the only thing for which really everything exists for.

Student: That I know. 

M. Laitman: Well? 

Student: That's my way. 

M. Laitman: You cannot scrutinize it, but only…It's a consequence of the shattering of the vessels. And if you don't have this pile, where here, in each thing, there's all the things, and they're all in a way that between good and evil are mixed, and all the qualities, you won't be able to reach the truth. One word, truth. 

Student: Why reach the truth? 

M. Laitman: Now, to reach the truth, you need to have all the contradicting or opposing things, and also the minds to be able to clarify and scrutinize this contradiction, and also the forces, meaning there are many things that… Right now, you have nothing, you understand? Not a preparation for this, not the forces to do so, not the understanding, not the vision. You're simply, you're lacking everything, and simply this pile of things that you need to scrutinize in order to reach the truth appears like you can't approach it, you can't touch it, you can't put your hand in it, it's impossible. How can I get to know this? Like a baby standing before the world. 

Student: The path and the vessels, I'm not looking for the path, I'm on the path.

M. Laitman: How do you know you're on the path?

Student: Because I'm here.

M. Laitman: That's not enough, you have another hundred people that are like you here also, and they think they're on the path, and they're not on the path. I can sign that.

Student: I'm asking because I've been doing these processes with myself, not from yesterday, I've been four years of exploring now.

M. Laitman: But you can't, if you have yet to reach the end, you can't say that this path is leading you there. At the beginning of the path, you can't say that it's the right path or not.

Student: What irritates me is that from each day, when I look back, I see progress, I see that…

M. Laitman: You're becoming wise.

Student: I feel light.

M. Laitman: This is all an illusion. It could all be an illusion, there's millions of things like this.

Student: That's why I'm asking.

M. Laitman: (56:47) There are those who are more advanced and see more light, and more understanding, and more attainment, and are filled with things that are good. I'm not saying that it's nothing, but it seems to them like it's spirituality. And it could be an illusion. Baal HaSulam writes in his letter about this, that there were people in history that are willing to cut off their hands and feet, only in order to attain a little of the truth. They were ready for anything. And they're truly in such states in relation to godliness. And nothing happened to them. And how many people suffer in work camps, in such things, with horrible deaths and threats. That is not proof that… Meaning, it's not specifically that from that we come to the truth. And in short, you have no discounts today. 

Student: A basis? 

M. Laitman: A base that you can say, this is according to what I will read the truth. 

Student: A scale?

M. Laitman: A scale, or some kind of detailed conditions that you have in your hands.

Student: Well, direct me simply on my heart. 

M. Laitman: But it aims me, my heart, you understand? With my heart, I've been in already such things that you don't know. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:20) How can I be better in the preparation? 

M. Laitman: What's better than that? You weigh in your vessels today as much as good. Thank God, every day is better than yesterday. And this way is correct, I understand that. 

Student: No, I really want to give in order to give, without…

M. Laitman: Yes, giving in order to give is fine.

Student: With respect to nature and people throughout this whole creation, this creation which is the Lord…

M. Laitman: Yes, I understand. 

Student: Through everything. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What's all of this for?

M. Laitman: First of all, if you really had a desire to give in order to give only, then you would already know what this is all for, for sure. You would simply be connected with all reality, because all reality is in the manner of giving in order to give. So, the fact that you're standing shocked before everything and you have no touch, no way to touch this, it's a sign that still your thoughts and desires are not exactly with nature, and that nature is everything giving, and that's why you don't understand the answer. This answer is that everything is in order to reach the truth. 

Student: I understand that. 

M. Laitman: Well? 

Student: I understand that my question is a bit earlier. It's more about the very initial point.

M. Laitman: What?

Student: Is everything that we do, all of this faith, all of this greatness, truly what directs me is this light. I see light, I go towards it, that's what I want. I'm not interested in anything else, but is all of it true? It's not some one grand illusion?

M. Laitman: An illusion. What you see, lights and faith, and you're going towards that, that's all an illusion.

Student: That's what directs me.

M. Laitman: Well, that's an illusion, meaning what was defined in your vessels and mind and heart, which are considered to you like some kind of definitions that are lofty, and you're going towards them. That is according to … Yes, it's true, you don't have anything else, it's true. These are things that are really in your soul, and they're serious, and you're willing to do it and want it, and it means that you have good intentions and nice, but…

Student: But that's the only thing I have to hold on to, and I ask myself, maybe it's also an illusion, like an illusion inside an illusion, inside an illusion.

M. Laitman: Yes, there's a book called the Kuzari, meaning, who wrote it? 

Student: Yehuda HaLevi. 

M. Laitman: Yes, Yehuda HaLevi, where he tells there about a king, the Kuzarim were like a nation that was living in southern Russia, it wasn't Russia yet, it was before Russia, where he was looking for the Creator, he was searching for the Creator. And he did all kinds of deeds like you, and the Creator was revealed to him, and told him, seemingly, that what you're doing is not what needs to be done. It seems to you that it's correct, but it's not correct. Search, and then he went to search with the Christians, with the Muslims, with the Jews. That's where he tells the story about that. That's exactly how it is, that's the question. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:44) So the whole thing is simply a quest, a search?

M. Laitman: It's a quest path.

Student: All in all, it's a search, simply searching?

M. Laitman: Constantly, constantly, the creation of the vessel is a search, a search of what is the desire with which I connect to the Creator, and this desire that you build is you're building the Creator within you. You understand? What are you doing? You're building your vessel, which precisely suits the AHP of the upper. The AHP of the upper is the Creator, and you need to be in contact with Him, under the condition that you're adapted to Him, so you build your vessel of Galgalta ve Eynaim, and also the AHP later, where you're exactly like Him, and this is where you build yourself from yourself the Creator, the image of the Creator, and you need to do this, and in truth we need to do this existence from absence. That's creation, existence from absence. It's truly like that, it's the real truth, it's the absolute truth, but we don't agree to this, because there's confusions, and hard work, and well, hard work. In every work I have a goal, I know what it is, I have the forces I need to invest, I know when I will receive reward, meaning I have a certain control, so the labor is the payment, and that's it. Here it's the soul that you need to give, that's right, but it's possible, it's probably possible.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:20) I simply woke up, maybe I'll share, I don't talk about here, but suddenly I had this inner eruption.

M. Laitman: What?

Student: I woke up this morning, I had this illumination as I woke up, and I wrote it down in the simplest manner, the way Columbus discovered America, meaning maybe he didn't know about America, he had some desire, he was inside of a fixed bubble, kind of, he realized he exhausted himself in that bubble, a desire to search, emerging to see what's beyond the ocean, what's behind the horizon, and this brought him to create at the end this new place, this great world. It's actually the desire itself, the desire to the search.

M. Laitman: You know, there's people who love to go into caves, and there, in caves, there are places with water, and inside the water you have all kinds of additional orifices, and you kind of, if you penetrate into them, you can well, you go into even deeper place. But when you enter, you don't know if you can exit. And on the way back, you don't know if you'll have the oxygen to come out. This is underwater cave diving. It's a little similar to what we're doing. I mean, a person needs to search, to shorten the path of searching. You're given here all kinds of, you know, it's like they drip you all kinds of ideas. In truth, what you're reading is all their actions, which are not what we think. What I'm trying to say is that the problem is that we are stopping our search. We're pausing our search. You understand? We're not willing to go into that cave. You understand? Maybe there's an opening there to get out. And if you understand, this is possible to do only if we take forces from one another.

Student: Okay, now the… I don’t want to take any more time. Thanks.

M. Laitman: But the search needs to be all the time. Nothing will come out of the book. The book is…

Student: It's a vessel.

M. Laitman: It does its work, but…

Student: The intention, to make an inner intention.

M. Laitman: Yes. That's why it's written, what to do with children who have become old. Despaired, stops jumping and searching.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:58) That is, to think about the Creator, that I decipher the Creator correctly, so it's bestowed. It's not a thing about myself, that I do not exist. But how is it possible to persuade me that it's a good thing? It's to my benefit to think about myself. I mean, how can the society convince me?

M. Laitman: A person doesn't need to convince himself that it's to his benefit or not. He needs… Do you understand? You want to work against the problem against which we're not capable to withstand. You want to break the barrier with your forces. I want to jump above my head. I don't know how to describe such a state. You must do only one thing. It's hard for you. You're not capable, run to the society. There you will find the forces. I have a problem, I'm despaired, my spirituality isn't worth a thing, corporeality isn't worth a thing. What can you do? I now need to search for the forces. Where will I take such forces from here? Where will I get the hope from? Where will I get the goal from? Me. When you start searching within yourself, you'll never come out of that. You won't come out of it. You have only one way. We can't solve any of our problems directly. From the desire to receive to the desire to bestow, you have no penetration. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:41) Can the society convince me that not thinking about myself is good?

M. Laitman: The society can convince you not to think about yourself but of the Creator, and that's it. What do you have to think about yourself? I don't understand. He writes in the article for the conclusion of the Zohar: just like the Creator doesn't think about Himself, there's no greater separation from the Creator than a person thinking about himself.

Student: But maybe I can't do it.

M. Laitman: You can't, go to the society. That's what I'm telling you. If you can't, go to the society.

Student: I understand that.

M. Laitman: If you can't, go to the society. What do you understand? If the society will supply you with such importance of the Creator, that you will constantly think about Him, as if you're not there. You want to adhere to Him. He, He, He, and that's it. Enter all your attention into your heart, and that's it. It's considered that you're for yourself, and you're not thinking for yourself. But think that you're yearning from yourself, but you're adhered to Him, and you don't enter into yourself truly.

Student: But what if I feel that actually, precisely when I come to the society, with some kind of rejection, repulsion from the society, and when I want to come, I feel the opposite. I don't feel that I'm getting here what you're saying, but exactly the opposite.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: What does it mean?

M. Laitman: It's not important whether the society weakens you or strengthens you. You have to improve it. You must adapt it to yourself nevertheless. That's what Baal HaSulam writes. That this is the only choice. This is the only action you're capable of doing in this world. In all the rest of the things, you're a puppet. A golem. Simply don't think of anything else, because there, everything will work out how it needs to be, and it doesn't depend on you whatsoever. Besides one thing, just understand, if he says that the only choice a person has, then what else do you have to jump for? And all the rest of the things, you simply need to flow with the whole world in the framework of what they're doing, and what they're giving, it doesn't matter. Only in spirituality you need to build for yourself an environment. That's what you have to put your attention to. The rest of the things, you have no choice whatsoever. You're in the hands of the corporeal or spiritual nature as one, and that's it. Let go of all the rest of the things. It's simply, it's being like Don Quixote. Don Quixote; it's like you're doing something, but it's as if it's written so clearly. And we're saying, oh, it's all in the hands of the Creator, there is None else besides Him, it'll work out. And besides the society, we're willing to do everything. This points to us how this thing is the only important thing. We are all, simply, we're all robots, golems, I don't know, puppets on strings. Say what you want to say, besides this. This is the only means you can come closer to the Creator with. And this remains with you from all the so-called openings that appear to you, only that one opening remains for you. 

Student: Even if there's a state where I feel, I feel everything. 

M. Laitman: It doesn't matter. I know states. I don't know anything. I'm telling you what he writes, read it again. You don't have one other parameter, not in qualities, not in desires, not in thoughts, in anything you can determine your future state, meaning to determine something, to do something besides this. Understand? We have no choice. We simply have no choice. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:07) You said earlier that basically for all kinds of corporeal work, regardless of what, even if they seem great, there's always those that are jumping for it. But for actual spiritual work now, I don't know about others, but about myself, what does this matter?

M. Laitman: You're saying there are so many engagements in all kinds of things that we don't know exactly what belongs to spiritual work and what doesn't. So, what belongs to spiritual work is anything by which I build the society and myself toward the society and the society towards me. That's the only thing that pertains to spiritual work, but it has to be with the intention to reach the goal, reach the Creator. Otherwise, you know, it's like a society of mockers or communists who wanted to do good to each other.

Student: How do I make it so that society won't just be just this record that repeats itself for not playing at all?

M. Laitman: We start building from scratch, and it doesn't matter if it's completely artificial. Afterwards, it won't be artificial but egoistic. So we will see that we are advancing. What does it mean advancing? That we will really see benefit in I'm hearing, he's hearing, he's hearing about godliness and all that, that it's great. So, oh, so we are making progress, and that will be a good Lo Lishma, not for her sake.

Student: We're in this state, though. It sounds like a scratched record.

M. Laitman: If it exhausts itself in some way, we have to look for other ways. I don't know.

Student: How do we take the next step?

M. Laitman: I don't know. I don't know. I gave you all kinds of forms, for example, ways. I'm serious, I'm not touching it anymore. The spirituality that is in society, I don't touch it. It's your choice. You received all the teachings. I'm serious. I can yell at all kinds of functions, you know, in some work that was done or not done. And that too I will gradually avoid. Yes, everything's clear? Let's study. 

Reader: Let's share your impressions from the lessons and what we're taking from it to realize in the Ten.

Reader: Let's move on to the next part of the lesson, but beforehand we'll sing a song together.

Song: (01:21:01)