Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 265

Chapter 23. Strengthening the Group

The thought of creation is to create a created being that will have the same perfection as the Creator. This is His desire to do good to His creations, in a complete, eternal, and absolute measure. In order to reach this state, the created being must go through the entire path from the extreme opposite of perfection, from lack of perfection to true perfection, which is the degree of the Creator. Therefore, the nature of the created being is evil, the “evil inclination,” the opposite of the Creator’s nature.

The means for passing from one extreme to the other is, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” which means that the Torah was given only in order to purify the created beings through it. That is, it was given to enable the created beings to see the evil within them, to correct it according to the measure of the revelation of the evil, and thus draw closer to the good. The Creator is called “The Good That Does Good,” and we can draw closer to the Creator only if we acquire the quality of good and the action of doing good, like the Creator.

Where will we get this desire from? The Creator gave us freedom of choice. What is choice? There is one action that we are free to perform, which is to choose what influences us, good or bad things. By doing so, we determine our independence and individuality. We can join a society whose entire concern is advancing to the Creator, or a society that advances toward all kinds of other goals. That is our sole choice.

It is written that from the beginning, the Creator does not simply leave us in bewilderment and confusion, but brings us to a good place, to a good society, and tells us: “Take this for yourself, be in it and strengthen yourself. Strengthen the society as you would want it to influence you, so that genuine mutual work will take place, and this will bring you to the goal.” In other words, no one can say that the Creator did not give us an opportunity to choose.

Therefore, the first point into which we are born is the opposite of perfection, and this is necessary. Later, we only discover more and more of its true form, how opposite it is from perfection, according to the extent by which we want to attain perfection. And the end is also clear, absolute, and prepared. The path, too, depends on the structure of the soul, which has already been predetermined by the general structure of Adam HaRishon. But the path itself depends on us, whether we take the Creator’s choosing us and the Creator’s choice to bring us to a group, and build a group increasingly directed at the goal. According to the extent of the flaws that become revealed in us, we will need to improve ourselves.

Indeed, all the work is work in the society, in the group. The actions we perform to organize the society, for dissemination, at meals, on Shabbat, and on holidays, are what advance us. It is not the actions themselves, but the action toward expanding and strengthening the society, both in breadth and in height. This is the only means in existence. There are several necessary conditions: a society, a group, inner work in the framework of the group, connection among the friends, acquiring a strong desire from them, which is called “buy yourself a friend,” and investing in the society. It is actually quite complex, and the results come slowly, but this is the only choice, and according to such a choice, the flaws become revealed, and likewise, the flaws become corrected.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 264
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 263
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 262

Question: Are there specific exercises for exiting one’s “I,” or does everyone find their own path independently?

Answer: In fact, this is a person’s personal work, his inner work, in relation to the group and to the world.

One can also use exercises. For example, in the morning we agree on a particular motto and work in accordance with it throughout the day.

This helps because it unites us, allowing us to strengthen our collective efforts, and direct our intentions more precisely. It is worth doing.

However, here too, the work remains a personal work of each individual. A person’s connection with the Creator is, after all, a personal connection. Everyone attains their own personal adhesion with the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 10/5/26

Question: What should my intentions be during work when I spend eight to ten hours away from the group?

Answer: All your intentions during work are within the group that you carry inside you, in your heart. You are with it.

A person must become accustomed to the fact that he consists of several layers. The innermost layer is the Creator, above it is the group, the next layer is the family, and beyond that are work and the entire surrounding world.

A person must live in all these layers simultaneously and feel that, inwardly, he is divided and separated.

But gradually, as he advances in his inner work, he will discover that all these layers are actually one. He will see that one force unites everything and acts within everything, and then he will have no problems.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 10/3/26

Question: How can one remember the Creator throughout the entire day? How can one bring Him into every moment?

Answer: We are in Malchut of the world of infinity, which is entirely filled with light. However, instead of this eternal, perfect state, we see and feel our own properties, which paint the material world for us.

So, if we want to direct ourselves toward the goal, toward feeling the world of infinity, we need mutual guarantee from the environment. Friends must give us strength, desire, persistence, diligence, and awareness of the importance of the goal.

After all, my only goal is to acquire the right desire and nothing more. Even if I constantly lack the concern to bring contentment to the Creator, just as He bestows it upon me, that is the focus.

One might object here: I don’t know what He gives me. Judging by my life, one could argue that it might have been better if He gave me nothing.

That is true. Of course, everyone’s denial is according to their own flaw. Therefore, my attitude toward the Creator can be defined as follows: I want to reach a state in which I will wish to bestow upon Him.

The result itself will come through the influence of the light, through the efforts we make time and again. The light pours down again and again, and suddenly these illuminations create a desire in a person.

We do not know what Lishma is or what awakening from above is. But when it comes, a person can say: “Now I know; now I understand.” We must make efforts, like a small child—and from these efforts, a sensation will emerge. Not before.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/11, Baal HaSulam, “Lishma Is an Awakening From Above, And Why Do We Need an Awakening From Below”

How can a group set an example for me if it consists of people just like me? The fact is, I am initially made to depend on them. I have an ego, envy, a sense of self-worth, and I depend on my friends to fill these Kelim.

Question: What is it that envy in them?

Answer: You are afraid they might have more than you. This is called envy. It is as if you are comparing what is in your Kelim with what is in theirs. Since you remain in similar qualities and feel Hisarons (unfulfilled desires), it hurts to see the other is well.

On the other hand, “a shared trouble is half a consolation.” If everyone is feeling bad, the situation is not so terrible; you are not increasing your Kli at others’ expense.

But if you have a little less than others, it feels like a nightmare, because your vessels include both your Hisaron and others’.

From the very beginning, since the breaking of the vessels, you have this preparatory foundation: a sense of your friend. Only humans have it. The inanimate (Domem), vegetative (Tsomeah), and animate (Chai) levels lack this; they do not have envy. They experience no such feeling.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/26, Rabash, “Go Forth from Your Land”

Question: What happens to the animal desires and what should my attitude toward them be?

Answer: Our attitude toward our animalistic desires for food, sex, family should not change. As with all other desires, we should not fight them at all or fixate on them. We should simply acknowledge that they exist.

How much I want or do not want to use them depends on the degree of my correction. I should not lock myself in a monastery or become a hermit in life, go on a strict diet, or anything of the sort.

The truth is that the rule “there is no coercion in spirituality” applies throughout the entire hierarchy from top to bottom. If your mind is focused where it should be, then your heart will follow your thoughts, and your actions follow your heart. For example, there is no need to worry that sometimes you perform actions that do not seem particularly good to you, following the impulses of the body. It is fine; everything will be resolved and corrected.

As the saying goes: “The mother will come and cleanse what her son has done.” That is, correction will come, and either the behaviour will cease or it will happen in a different, corrected form. Don’t pay attention to anything else; just keep your mind in the right place, in thoughts shared with the group all directed toward the Creator.

If you begin to ruminate and lament about how bad you are, you will become immersed in these thoughts. But at least after some action or incident—no matter what, you return to the Creator again.

Not regretting the past for even a moment but moving forward is the rule that we must implant into our patterns of behavior. Otherwise, you will sink into despair and devour yourself, as it is said: “The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh”: “Am I really like this? Who am I after all?”

Leave yourself alone, connect with the group in striving toward the Creator. Forget about yourself; you must come out of yourself and not think about “where I am and who I am.” You do not yet know who you are. You will still discover this, and then you will truly tremble. There is nothing to think about here; it is simply bad; it stops your advancement.

In general, one never thinks about the past moment, only forward. One must not turn around and look at something behind oneself. This is done only if the group, or a person sets aside a specific time to examine what happened to him and how he related to it.

Rabash gave his grandmother as an example. When he did some mischief, she would say to him only: “Baruch, be careful.” And two days later, she would call him over: “Baruch, come here. Do you remember your offense? Now I am going to give you a beating.” Try doing the same.

The accounting is done, if it is necessary at all, without the participation of nerves and emotions—in the mind, when you have already completely emerged from the feeling of the past.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 10/5/26

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 264

Is It Wrong to Feel Satisfaction from Spiritual Work and Progress?

On one hand, we need to feel satisfaction from the work we are engaged in, otherwise we will not thank the Creator, but curse Him.

On the other hand, we must understand where we are in order to prepare our vessels for further progress and correction. RABASH writes that every matter, every discernment, contains two polar opposite states within it, and we must become accustomed to this. Also, on the contrary, we must not become accustomed to it, but seek these two states. The more we scrutinize them one against the other, the more they grow and move further apart from each other, which is a sign that we have discerned these matters and are ready to advance.

Also, if we do not pay attention to this and feel no opposition between these discernments, it is a sign that we have not examined any point in the work. Therefore, there is no reason to be surprised when we discover that in every state there are always contradictions and confusions between the discernments, that they struggle and interfere with each other, and that things do not work out. This is normal. In fact, this is correct and good. An ordinary person escapes these states, while those who engage in inner work must not only agree with them, but wait for such states to reach us. “For out of Zion shall come forth the Torah.” That is, the extent to which we exit Kedusha (holiness), from this comes the Torah. This is called “a thing and its opposite,” and it continues until the end of correction.
From a Talk on the Article “The Difference between the Work of the General Public and the Work of the Individual” 6/18/2002.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 263
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 262
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 261

Question: What does it mean to be together in one state? What does this togetherness look like?

Answer: What does “together” mean? It means that each person feels truly at home only when they are connected to the goal of attaining the Creator. As for everything else, each person approaches it according to their own emotional makeup, but all feel an equal degree of rejection.

Question: Regardless of their own personal state?

Answer: There are different personal states; there is nothing more to say about that. But all of them are intended to advance us.

You need to awaken in a friend the feeling that you are somehow transmitting to them your own sense of the importance of the Creator and the need to recognize His greatness. You influence them, and they feel certain waves coming from you.

Question: Is this within my power, or does it depend on the friend?

Answer: It is within your power in relation to all the friends. Without a doubt. Start doing it, and you will see what happens. There is enormous power in this; it is a tremendous force. This is a degree entirely different from all the other wandering thoughts and forces around us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

Question: Where does one acquire a Hissaron, a need, to be in a group?

Answer: A person has no need to be in the group. The need will not arise on its own. It will arise only on condition that the group itself shows the person the extent to which he needs it; otherwise, he will not attain the goal. The group will not provide the person with any other goal; he must know this too. Here, in our group, he cannot attain anything other than one goal. Nothing else.

If he thinks that he will find a cozy place here, delicious food, social gatherings, excursions, and so on, then the atmosphere must be such that only someone striving in the right direction feels good in it.

Everything else may be good or not so good, comfortable or not quite comfortable; that is unimportant. The backrest of the chair should suit only someone who thinks precisely this way.

Even if there are the most delicious meals here… I can show you states in which you receive everything in your life: money, fame, anything you want. However, I will introduce something into this situation that will make you run away from all of it. You will run away because of one single thing, for example, shame. And you will not want any of it; it will be easier for you to die.

The same should be true in the group: a person who is not connected to the goal should feel here that “death is better than this kind of life.” “I do not need this kind of life; I am running away from it.” We had such a case when one of the students suddenly cried out: “What are you doing here?”

It was simply a classic example. He suddenly felt what stood before him, and he ran away in the blink of an eye. That was a genuine revelation. Do you remember that outburst of emotion? He had never experienced anything like it before. In the middle of the lesson, he suddenly cried out and ran away.

In the same way, it must be clear to everyone that they will feel good here and feel that this is their place only in one particular case. There is no place here for anything else.

Question: How can we reach this?

Answer: This is what you must build. That is what it means to “build the group.” The shape of the chair’s backrest, which allows only someone whose head is turned toward the Creator to sit on it; that is what a correct society is. Perhaps I lack the words to express it, but little by little, we are nevertheless beginning to sense these boundaries in some way.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

Question: What is the difference between different Kabbalistic authors?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that there are differences between the books of different authors, both from an inner and an external perspective, including differences in the language in which they wrote their works.

Of course, we are talking about Kabbalistic authors. Each has their own degree, their own character, and their own measure of revelation. Therefore, we should learn only from one special soul: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the ARI, and Baal HaSulam (Yehuda Ashlag). It is one and the same soul that manifested in this world in three different eras, using the same method to reveal the method of correction.

As Baal HaSulam writes, there may have been other Kabbalists who were even greater. For example, Rabbi Akiva was a much greater Kabbalist than Rabbi Shimon. However, none of them were sent here to become our teachers. Therefore, we must study the books of our teachers.

That is essentially all there is to it! If this is not enough for someone, and they try to dig up something else with their enlightened intellect, perhaps, thanks to their wisdom, they will find the way, but only several centuries from now.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

Question: What enables me to exist  between the intention for the sake of receiving and the intention for the sake of bestowal?

Answer: Only a force from above, the surrounding light (Ohr Makif). Within myself, there are no such capabilities.

Question: It is said that one must work against one’s desire, yet crossing the Machsom, requires a strong desire. How can these things reconcile?

Answer: We must not work against the desire. Desires themselves are neither good nor bad. No human action can be called good or bad if we are speaking about the spiritual rather than the human level. I must focus only one thing: is this action being performed for the benefit of the Creator or for the benefit of the person himself?

There is no need to examine the desire. Let us suppose that someone stole something; then perhaps he actually performed a very important and useful deed. Maybe it was an operation for the sake of the state, for the sake of the motherland, for the sake of saving humanity from some evil forces, who knows. We cannot consider an action in itself and declare that it is forbidden.

Baal HaSulam writes that everything should be considered, not in an abstract form, but in a form clothed in matter; that is, to clarify for what purpose it was done. He says that you cannot simply insist on the concept of truth. The Torah forbids this, saying that truth is truth, but there is also a human life.

Therefore, it is necessary to look, not at the action, but at its essence, to examine for whose sake it is being performed. That is precisely why I say that if we constantly think about the concept of bestowing, it will become clear to us that by doing so, we are checking who benefits from it. Bestowal is performed in relation to what is outside of me.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/26, Rabash, “The Rosh Hashanah Prayer”

Question: Does a person enter a state of double concealment only when suffering increases, or can an excess of pleasure also lead to this?

Answer: Double concealment is a state in which I do not sense the Creator at all and I attribute everything that happens to fate. In that case, it does not matter whether I enter this state through the sensation of intense pleasure or great sufferings.

Let us consider the state of the Kli (vessel) in the first of the four stages of the direct light. Here the Kli perceives itself as experiencing pleasure, to a greater or lesser degree, or even suffering; that is, it feels fulfillment, and within that fulfillment it senses the root stage included within the first one. It feels its root, the Creator, the one who fills it.

We need to clarify the relationship between myself and the Creator with regard to the Kli: to what extent does the presence or absence of fulfillment affect whether I pay attention to the master or not, or whether He completely disappears from me and I am truly only within my own sensation in the Kli.

Then the relationship between the Kli (the extent to which it feels itself fulfilled or senses the absence of fulfillment) and the master (the extent to which He is felt in a person or not) indicates the level on which the person is.

Of course, when the sensation of either suffering or pleasures prevails over the sensation of the master at a given moment, it disconnects me from the master. I see a million dollars, forget about the Creator, and steal them. Or, conversely, I have lost a million dollars, so I forget about the Creator and cry, because I have nothing in the whole world except the sensation of my loss.

Even doctors and physiologists say that in the body’s internal reactions, there is no difference between a person who is crying and one who is laughing. The body performs the same work.

Therefore, we speak of the level of sensations much like an absolute value, as in mathematics, without taking into account whether the sensation is positive or negative. We are speaking about the level of impression, whether it is positive or negative, when the impression within the desire to receive grows so great that it disconnects me from the master and rules over me.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/26, Baal HaSulam “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 1”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 263

How Can One Sit Before the Book, Demand Correction from the Creator, and at the Same Time Be in Wholeness?

During the study, we should be in wholeness. The study of Torah is the study of light (Torah = light). If we want the surrounding light to shine upon us with intensity, we must aspire to the greatest possible equivalence of form with it. The light is perfect, whole, high, upper, and in order to bestow, without any concern for itself, absolute giving. We should seemingly detach from ourselves, not think about ourselves, direct ourselves as much as possible toward the light, and accordingly the light will draw closer to us. This is according to the purity of the vessels.

There is another matter as well. How can we attract the light and demand it if we do not think about ourselves, about our trouble, about what we want corrected, or about the state we are in? Here we are discussing the coarseness (Aviut) of the vessel. What should we choose: wholeness or deficiency? We should choose both. In Kabbalah, we learn that in every state there are both coarseness (Aviut) and purity (Zakut), two extremes, Malchut and Keter. Malchut draws the light and Keter receives the light.

Therefore, it is said that we must prepare for this even before we approach the study. We must prepare these two points. We need to know well and examine the question of why we need this at all for ourselves. “What is the meaning of our lives?” That is on one hand. On the other hand, we need to also know the answer to it, which is “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” that is, that the light we can attract through the study will solve all our problems and bring us to the summit.

In other words, before the study, we need to think both about ourselves and about the greatness of the Giver, and then approach the study. Gradually, these two points will become one during the connection between us and the Creator, even though they are opposites. Only when Malchut is used like Keter do they connect, and then there is no inner division, opposition, or polarity within us.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 262
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 261
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 260

What does it mean that a person is in double concealment? Can all people existing in this world say that they are in such a state? No.

The matter is that a person in double concealment has already felt a certain revelation of the Creator and has received definite sensations as a result of the development of his soul. Because once he has Reshimot, and within him are recorded all kinds of memories of various impressions from the Creator, he is thrown into all kinds of states, one of which is double concealment.

Therefore, he is now in a state in which the sensation of the Creator has completely left him, and he remains empty. He does not feel the source and senses only suffering. But if he takes a book or receives some reminder and a thought about his present state suddenly arises in his mind, then he will be able to interpret it correctly and understand that he was in double concealment.

The moment he correctly defines his state, it will no longer be concealment, and he will understand that before this, he was in double concealment, because Reshimot from several states have now been revealed within him: from what was before he entered double concealment, then from the unconscious state of double concealment, and finally from his present state when he, as it were, returns to life.

By recognizing the state familiar to him from past experience to which he is now returning, he determines that before this, he was in an unconscious state.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/26, Baal HaSulam “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 1”

Question: When working, are you only in a curse or only in a blessing?

Answer: No. As we rise above the Machsom, we are alternately under a curse and a blessing. After the breaking of the vessels, while under the curse, we can take the Kelim of reception from there, correct them, and transition to a blessing. So every time, we transfer the Kelim from the rule of many to the rule of one.

The rule of the one is the Sabbath (Shabbat); on a weekday, we can use the rule of many when we descend to uncorrected Kelim of reception. The power of many means I think I, too, am in control of the situation and can do something. These are desires in which there is no oneness of the Creator.

What connects these two types of power? What kind of lever helps me move from the left line to the right, from a curse to a blessing? This is Lo Lishma. From Lo Lishma we come to Lishma. Although your own desire to receive is still present in Lo Lishma, you seem to want to act for the sake of the Creator, seemingly with the intention of giving, yet you clearly know you are doing it for the sake of receiving.

In Lo Lishma, you work for the reward. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“: if you clearly see that you will not receive a reward in your Kelim of reception, you cannot act. Therefore, this state is called “Lo Lishma” (for oneself). Moreover, it becomes an indisputable fact on which you base your decisions.

“Yes, I would really like to do something for the sake of giving. It is very important; I got that impression from the environment. I do not see the Creator. If I could see Him, I could act truly for the sake of giving. Seeing Him would give me the strength to act for the sake of giving.” The light that comes corrects the Kli; this is the meaning of seeing the Creator.

However, when I cannot see Him, when I am in the dark, I can only get a similar impression from my environment. So, no matter how much I pump myself up about the importance of the goal, it still is not the light, nor is it the correction of the Kli through the light. This is, so to speak, a correction through brainwashing. This brainwashing makes me feel like I want to act for the sake of giving, but if I get nothing from it, I cannot do it.

Thus, we are talking about very vague things, in their own way. There is no light here coming and correcting the Kli. On the contrary, man has created a situation where he seems to draw strength from the environment, not from the Creator, and this strength seems enough for him to act for the sake of giving. Everything is conditional, but I ingrained this condition into the situation; I created it.

If a person does everything this way, the Creator responds to him for real, not within the framework of a game a person started.

Lo Lishma is a game: “I wish it were like that.” The same way kids make believe they are building something. But when I tried and did everything I could, as if it were already about spirituality, then the Creator comes and really gives me spirituality.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?”

Throughout the day, I find myself in all kinds of social settings, and I must always position myself and determine the appropriate way of perceiving them so these environments not only do not harm me with regard to my primary goal, but perhaps even help me.

Suppose that, out of necessity, I find myself in a gathering of frivolous people where everyone chats about this and that, talking nonsense. Even from this I can learn how much more important my own environment is to me, and how base the things that occupy the people I am observing at that moment are. I do not feel contempt for them, but such an outing into the world can also help me see how important the things I possess really are, and how important the life I lead is.

After all, everything is understood through comparison. My time at work, at home, and in all sorts of other situations can actually help me appreciate more highly the environment I am in here and recognize how important sublime goals are to the people present here.

Comment: But I am talking about the environment that consists of good people.

My Response: If I am among ordinary people, not thieves or murderers, but people who possess good human qualities, what do I gain from their good qualities? They have simply put on good “makeup,” having received an excellent education in concealing their unappealing qualities and displaying their so-called virtues to others.

Each of them plays their role perfectly, like prim and proper Englishmen. So, what does that give me? Perhaps I should learn to do the same myself? In doing so, I would lead myself into a double deception: not only would I be lying, but I would also believe that it was the truth, and that everything should be exactly that way.

So what is the purpose of such an environment?
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?”

Question: Is the state of double concealment a very advanced state that helps a person return to the sensation of the Creator whenever the opportunity arises?

Answer: This is incorrect. Double concealment is not a more advanced state than single concealment.

The face of the Creator signifies goodness. In this state, I feel the master and feel the goodness that comes from Him. Single concealment means that I believe in the master although I do not see Him clearly. I simply know that He exists, and I feel that all kinds of situations that confuse me come from Him, but I also attribute these situations to Him.

My Kli (vessel) is uncorrected and cannot feel that I have a connection with the Creator and that I receive only goodness from Him. I do not have a screen over my desires, nor do I have an intention for the sake of bestowal over each of them.

In single concealment, I do not see the Creator’s governance clearly, but I understand that what happens comes from Him. This state is called simple concealment.

Throughout the day, we may find ourselves in all kinds of unpleasant situations and still think that the Creator governs us through these situations and carries out various plans concerning us by means of them.

He wants me to detach myself from my desire to receive. Therefore, He sends me all kinds of disturbances so that, with their help, I can rise above these desires, stop wanting to be dependent on them, and so on.

This means that in a state of simple concealment, I do not mentally detach myself, not in my thoughts, although I still do not explicitly feel the Creator, from the awareness that the Master exists and that I receive some kind of suffering from Him.

Sometimes I can say that this suffering is caused by my own uncorrected state. At other times, I can say that it comes to me from the master to confuse me and correct me, and that He has some good intention toward me in these actions. But if I still do not detach myself from the Creator in my thoughts, this is a sign that I think well of Him.

It is a sign that I still justify Him even if I cannot do so in my sensations, because what I feel is bad, and I cannot say that I receive pleasure from Him. Instead, I say that I receive a bad sensation from Him because through this He wants to help me grow. Alternatively, I can say that what comes from Him is good, but it seems bad to me because I am opposite to Him in my properties. All these states are called simple (single) concealment.

But when I completely stop thinking about the Creator while experiencing a bad sensation, this is called double concealment. For example, I was in a state of simple concealment and thought that the Creator was sending me all kinds of troubles and problems in order to educate me, make me wiser and more understanding, and strengthen me.

But if the troubles intensify and I enter a state in which I forget about the Creator, then this state is called double concealment.

What determines whether a person is in single or double concealment? The magnitude of the troubles and misfortunes. There is a certain threshold within a person up to which he is prepared to endure suffering and while experiencing it say that it has come to him because he is not equivalent in his properties to the Creator, for the Creator is good and does good. Yet, He wants to bring a person to a state in which he too will be good and do good.

In other words, to some extent, the person justifies not his own state, but the Creator. This is still called single concealment. But if he experiences such immense suffering that it prevents him from remaining connected to any cause of that suffering and he is completely unable to justify the Creator, then his connection with the Creator disappears, and everything becomes dependent on chance, fate, nature, and his surroundings.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/26, Baal HaSulam “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 1”

Question: When a person is in a group, what is important: only their intention or their actions as well?

Answer: It is impossible for actions not to be important in our world. Who knows a person’s true intentions? Even the person himself does not know his intentions. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the science of the hidden.

Intentions are the main thing: for what purpose, why, toward what end, and in what direction I am thinking, aspiring, and directing my desire. These intentions are hidden from us so a person can only determine whether an action was correct after it was performed through the reaction it produces.

Therefore, we must take the action itself into account. Naturally, even the worst-looking action can be clothed in another intention. However, in our state, within the group, while we are still below the spiritual level, we do not see what exists beyond the external: intentions, desires, and thoughts.

The spiritual world is a state in which I perceive these as tangible, existing things. I see that there is a field of single thought, a single program, and one desire, called the Creator, which acts and sets everything into motion.

But before I see this field and become included in it, whether by my own volition or not, and before I reach such a level of reality, the external actions of people are very important to me. I am influenced by them.

I see one person sitting at a computer for hours preparing material for others, another hurrying to give lectures, a third doing something else. And I am inspired by this. I still experience reality through the sensation of bodies and do not see thoughts the way I currently see only the body.

When I enter what is called the future world, the next degree, and see thoughts and desires, truly holding and sensing them, and they become more important to me than bodily movements, then, of course, I will no longer need bodies. But for now, within the group, it is very important how we move, act, and present ourselves to one another.

To do the opposite, harboring good intentions while our external actions appear contrary to them, is to exploit another person’s integrity and let them down, which is wrong. For example, I cannot pretend that I have stolen something and expect a friend to force himself to think that I have done something wonderful because he is supposed to judge me favorably and think well of me.

Such things are forbidden. In relation to the group, outwardly, I must appear as a good friend and show the group precisely my good external actions. I must act this way because it increases love.

At first, I see the friend as an egoist. Then I see myself as an egoist while I no longer see him that way. And afterward I feel shame to the point that I cannot look him in the eyes. I truly feel ashamed to look at him and ashamed to see myself wanting to use him for self-gratification, to take advantage of him in various ways; then correction comes.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot 10/5/26

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 262

What Determines the Pace of Progress During the Time of Preparation?

Only attention determines the pace of progress during the time of preparation. We can go through these states half asleep, or we can be very sensitive. The pace and depth of progress are determined by the sharpness, direction, and attitude toward the study. We need to view the study as a means. There is no need to know what is written on the page. We should want to know and to interpret what is written in depth so that it will give us more discernments and additions that we can incorporate into the search for spirituality and not search for knowledge.

Why does Baal HaSulam write that we should repeat definitions a thousand times and know them by heart? It is because he wants the student to gradually get it into his head that what he reads must be interpreted differently, in a spiritual manner. For example, if he reads about a “circle,” he should immediately imagine, instead of the word “circle,” the quality called a circle, not the shape itself. Therefore, he writes, “Know the definitions by heart,” so that the student will be pushed toward a more internal and profound interpretation.

Delving into the study in order to reach inner discernments, and demanding that the study brings us to Lishma, paves the way for us.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 261
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 260
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 259

Question: What is nature of the state I am currently in, a state that I perceive as the best possible one? 

Answer: The point is that this is my present state in which I have attained the Creator, and I want it never to be less than that. This state must be constant for me.

What does it mean for this state to become less? I demand to diminish myself; I demand Katnut (from the word “Katan,” small). That is, I ask that at least this state always remains.

If a greater state (Gadlut) comes, that is good. But I am concerned about Katnut so that I remain at least at this degree.

It is just like the world of Atzilut, which, while in a constant state, sometimes rises and sometimes descends. But when it descends, it descends to its constant degree and no lower.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/26, Rabash, 1987 “What Is Making a Covenant in the Work”