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

Daily Morning Lesson: November 9, 2026

Part 1: Rabash.  A Righteous Who Is Happy, a Righteous Who Is Suffering. Article No. 38, 1985

Reader: Hello. In the first part, we will study a lesson by Rav from October 14, 2002. It is based on the article, "A Righteous Who Is Happy, A Righteous Who Is Suffering." You can find the article in “The Writings of Rabash,” first volume, page 182 in Hebrew. We will read the article together in the Ten, we have 42 minutes for that. The article, "A Righteous Who Is Happy, A Righteous Who Is Suffering."

Reading: (01:01) A Righteous Who Is Happy, a Righteous Who Is Suffering

Article No. 38, 1985

The holy Zohar interprets the matter of “a righteous who is happy, a righteous who is unhappy (Ki Tetze, item 13): “One who is righteous and unhappy, it means that he is from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, since evil is with him. There is not a righteous who will not sin in this evil because it is with him. A wicked who is happy is one whose evil inclination has overcome his good inclination, and it was said about it, ‘He is happy,’ for the good is under the authority of the evil. And because the evil governs the good, he is wicked, for the one who prevails takes the name. If the good overcomes the bad, he is called “a righteous who is unhappy,” for the evil is under his authority. If the evil prevails over the good, he is called a “wicked who is happy,” thus far its words.

To understand the matter of good and evil in general, we need to know that since the root of the creatures extends from the Sefira of Malchut, and Malchut at her root is called “receiving in order to receive,” this is the root of all the evil that is in the creatures. This is so because that desire separates us from the root, for we learn that the thought of creation is to do good to His creations, and created a deficiency existence from absence, called “desire to receive delight and pleasure.”

But since in spirituality Dvekut [adhesion] and separation pertain to equivalence of form, and since the Creator is the giver and the creatures are the receivers, there is disparity of form between them, and that disparity of form separates us from the Creator. Thus, we cannot receive the delight and pleasure that He wants to give us, and which was the purpose of creation. For this reason, to receive the good, we need to qualify the Kelim [vessels] to work in order to bestow, and then we will receive the good.

It follows that our evil, for which we have no delight and pleasure, is nothing less and nothing more than the self-love within us. This is what interferes with our receiving the delight and pleasure, and this is what causes us death, as it separates us from the life of lives. This is why we are called “dead,” as our sages said, “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead.’”

When we consider our evil, the way it speaks with us and wants to control us, with what force it comes to us to listen to its arguments, we should make four discernments here: 1) We can resemble and attribute to repentance from love (although repentance from love is a great matter, here we are speaking only with respect to the attribution). 2) To approximately resemble repentance from fear. 3) He cannot overcome and repent, but still remains broken and shattered because he cannot repent. 4) He is not impressed by his inability to overcome the evil and repent.

We will explain them one at a time. It is known that when one wants to go on the path of doing everything for the Creator, where in everything he does he thinks what benefit the Creator will derive from this, and does not think of his own benefit, then the body comes to him with arguments. It begins to slander this path, called “the path of bestowal and not for one’s self-benefit,” and argues the arguments of Pharaoh and the argument of the wicked, which are regarded as “mind and heart,” namely “who and what.”

When a person begins to listen to their arguments, he begins to wonder because he has never heard such strong arguments coming from his body as the ones he hears now. When he began the work he thought that each time he would advance further toward the goal, meaning that each time he would see that it is worthwhile to work for the Creator.

But suddenly he sees that where he should have had a greater desire to serve the Creator, he hears rejection from the body, which tells him now, “Why don’t you want to go the way the whole world goes, where you should be meticulous with the nitty gritty actions, and concerning the intention you should say, ‘May it be as though I intended.’” “But now,” says the body, “I see that you are paying attention specifically to the intentions, meaning that you can aim that everything will be for the Creator and not for yourself. Can it be that you will be different? Don’t you want to be like everyone else, who say that this is the safest way? And the evidence of this is to look at everyone else, how they behave.”

At that time begins the work of overcoming. That is, he needs to overcome their arguments and not surrender to their demands. He must certainly give them clear answers to what they are making him see, that his desire to intend that all his works will be only to bestow and not for his own benefit is against reason, since reason mandates that since man was created with a will to receive delight and pleasure, and there is a natural demand to satisfy it—or else, why does he need life if not to enjoy it, to satisfy the body’s demands—and so it lets him understand that this makes perfect sense, and there is no excuse to answer its arguments.

The clear reply should be that we believe in the words of the sages, who taught us that we must go above mind and reason. That is, true faith is specifically above reason, and what the mind understands is not all true, since with respect to the Creator, we learn that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor My ways your ways.”

Here begin discernments in the order of the work:

The first degree is when he tells his body, “All your arguments you’re telling me make sense, and I agree with you. However, you should know that since the real path, as I received it from faith in the sages, is above reason, but I did not have a chance to show that the way is really so, that I am going above reason. But now that you are coming to me with your arguments that we must go within reason, and slander the way of bestowal and faith, I am happy that you are coming to me with your slander because now I can show my thoughts, that the basis on which I built the work of the Creator is on the path of truth. That is, now I can say that I am going above reason. But before you came to me I did not have a chance to show my way.

“Therefore, I like your arguments because you did me a big favor by slandering before me. That is the slander I heard from you that caused me to repent, since now I must overcome with faith above reason. It turns out that the one who causes me to take upon me the burden of the kingdom of heaven in bestowal and above reason is specifically your slandering. Had you not come to me with complaints, I would not have needed to take upon myself the commandment of faith. But now I must repent.” Thus, he is not upset with the slander he had heard.

We can compare this to how we relate to repentance from love (although in truth, repentance from love and repentance from fear are two great degrees), as our sages said, “Repentance from love—sins become to him as merits.” We can also interpret here that sins became to him as merits.

We should understand how sins become merits. Sins means that a person is angry that sins came to him. Merits are when a person enjoys from having acquired merits. So how can it be said that sins have become merits? What is the sin here that the body comes with its complaints about faith, which he took upon himself above reason? Also, how can there be a greater sin than one who slanders holy faith?

However, if he repents from love, meaning now that he repents and takes upon himself faith above reason with a clear mind, he decides to go specifically by the path of faith, since now he has two ways before him and he decides. Thus, he has room for choice. But before it came to him with slander, although he took upon himself faith above reason, it was not so evident that he has two ways before him. But now he is making a real choice, determining that he must go specifically with faith above reason.

It therefore follows that he is happy with the slander he has heard, and likes the slander that they spoke about faith, although it is sins. And since they caused him to have room for choice, so it becomes revealed to him that he really wants to walk on the path of faith above reason, it turns out that these sins are as important to him as merits, for without them he would not have room for choice.

It turns out that with the repentance he is making now, he is happy with the work that has come to him now, and this is regarded as repentance from love. That is, he loves the act of repentance he has now performed. At that time, his causes, which are the sins, are regarded by him as merits, meaning that he loves them as merits, for one does not go without the other. He has approximately the relation that light and Kli [vessel] have. That is, the deficiency that the sins caused him is called a Kli, and the repentance, that he has made the choice, is similar to the relation of the light. This is the first degree in the order of the work.

The second degree is that although he overcomes the slander that the body speaks about the path of truth, which is bestowal and faith, and he repents, meaning answers the body, “All I hear from you is only what you say, that the mind dictates, but I go according to what I heard, that the basis of the work of the Creator is faith above reason. That is, I do not go according to the dictates of the mind, but above the mind.” Therefore, this is real repentance.

However, he says he would be happier if he did not hear their slander because he was in danger of perhaps not being able to make the choice. It follows that this repentance is regarded as fear. That is, he fears the work of overcoming, for it is hard work, since when a person is tested it is very difficult to choose the good.

It follows that this repentance is related to repentance from fear, when sins become to him as mistakes. Because he has repented the sins, they become as mistakes, but not as merits, since merits mean that he is similar to merits. Thus, as a person longs for merits, he is happy with his work, with being given a chance to make choice. But when he fears slander, he himself is saying that this is not merits, but rather similar to mistakes.

It follows that although he has elevated the evil into Kedusha [holiness], meaning corrected the evil by repenting, that degree is lower than repentance from love, since he himself did not turn them into merits. Therefore, this is regarded as the second degree in the work.

The third degree we should discern in the work is that when the body comes to him with its known arguments, when it slanders the mind and heart, and he surrenders to them and cannot overcome them, he must descend from his degree. That is, where he previously thought that he was regarded as being among the servants of the Creator, now he sees that he is far from it, since before the body came to him with its known arguments, he thought that he was already fine, meaning that he had no desires for self-love and he is completely in order to bestow.

But now he sees that he cannot overcome its complaints. Although now he is not actually being tested—for now all the arguments are only in potential—he still sees that he surrenders to its arguments and cannot take upon himself faith above reason and say, “I want to walk only in a path of bestowal.”

Now a man sits and wonders at himself, how the situation has been overturned. It seems to him as though it is a repeating cycle, and he who always looked at his lowliness, has fallen in there himself and cannot come out of that place though he remembers how he always loathed those people and regarded them as small and childish, and always stayed away from them. Now he is there and cannot come out of there by himself.

Now he sees similarly to the story that is told about Rabbi Yonatan, who had an argument with a priest. The priest said that he could change nature, and Rabbi Yonatan said that it is impossible to change the nature that the Creator created. Only the Creator Himself can change it, but man himself cannot.

What did the priest do? He took a few cats and taught them to be waiters. He dressed them in waiters’ clothes, went to the king, and told him about his issue with Rabbi Yonatan. The priest prepared a meal and invited the king and the ministers. Before the meal, the priest reiterated the matter of being able to change into a second nature, and Rabbi Yonatan said that only the Creator can change it but not man.

Subsequently, the priest commanded and said, “Let us eat first, and then we will conclude our debate.” Promptly, the waiters, meaning the cats, walked in, dressed just like real waiters, and set the table. They brought the dishes to each and every one, and the priest and the king and ministers were in awe at the wondrous acts of the waiters. Now everyone saw that there is no point in arguing after the meal, and everyone were surprised at Rabbi Yonatan sitting so calmly, unimpressed with the act that proved unequivocally that man can change nature.

What did Rabbi Yonatan do then? It is said that once they finished the meal and the waiters stood and waited to serve the guests, Rabbi Yonatan took out a box of tobacco. When everyone thought he was going to smell tobacco, he opened the box and out came several mice. When the waiters saw the mice coming out of the box and running away, they promptly left the guests and chased the mice, as is in their nature. Then everyone saw that Rabbi Yonatan was right.

The same thing applies to us. When the body comes and begins its slandering, showing tangibly the taste of self-love, he promptly leaves the Torah, the work, and the Creator, and runs to obtain self-love, where the body shows him the pleasure of it. Then he sees that he is powerless to exit self-love.

It follows that here, in this situation—when he sees now how he is immersed in self-love because of our nature—it is regarded as having achieved a certain degree in the work. This means that he has reached the degree of truth, called “recognition of evil.” Now he knows that he must begin his work anew, for until now he was walking on the way and deceived himself, thinking that he was above everyone, but now he sees his real state.

Therefore, now he has a place of deficiency to pray to the Creator from the bottom of the heart, since now he sees how remote he is from the work of bestowal, that one cannot come out, but only the Creator can help with it. This is the third degree, which is lower than the two previous degrees.

The fourth degree is the lowest compared to the first three degrees. Sometimes the body comes to him with all its arguments and he listens but does not answer at all. However, he takes its arguments seriously and even sees that it is natural that he cannot perform acts of bestowal. And he remains in self-love as he is used to, without any excitement. He is very composed about it and forgets the place and state he had a moment ago, before the body came to him with its questions, when he thought that he was not like the rest of the people, whose work is built on self-love. Rather, now he feels that this is the way to work, the same as everyone works.

It follows that from all the questions that came to him—which must have been a herald from above in order to give him a chance to rise in his degree, either as the first discernments, which is similar to repentance from love, or as the second discernment, which is as repentance from fear, or as the third discernment, which is to have a deficiency, meaning when he could still pray to the Creator—now he sees that it is impossible that man will be able to help himself by himself.

Now he comes to a state where he believes and sees what our sages said (Sukkah, 52), “Rabbi Shimon Ben Lakish said, ‘Man’s inclination overpowers him each day and seeks to put him to death, as it was said, ‘The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death.’ Were it not for the Creator’s help, he would not have overcome it, as it was said, ‘God will not leave him in his hand, nor convict him when he is judged.’’”

He sees that the body really does seek to put him to death, meaning that it wants to separate him from the life of lives with its arguments. Now he sees that he cannot overcome it by himself, and he waits for the Creator to help him. It follows that the questions that came to him were not in vain. Rather, they gave him room to pray from the bottom of the heart. But in the fourth degree, when he takes everything casually, it is as though the questions came to him in vain, pointlessly.

However, we must know that for a person who has started to walk on the path of bestowal and faith, nothing goes in vain. Rather, after some days or hours, he comes to from his situation after hearing the slandering and sees something new: how a person can fall from a high degree to a degree that is the utter lowliness compared to the state that he was in. And still, he had no sense of it. Rather, he felt that as though nothing has happened, and he took it all very peacefully, agreeing to remain in his current state. He is calm and in a reasonable mood, where previously he thought that if he could not advance in spirituality he would rather die than live. He was always quivering and agitated about how to advance, and always looked at calm people who engage in Torah and Mitzvot dryly, without any thought or mind, but simply going by rote.

But now he doesn’t feel that he should receive support from anyone, or that he lacks a deficiency. Rather, it is simply natural that person wants to live in peace and not search for faults in himself, but sentence himself to a scale of merit. That is, he has many excuses for everything he thinks is a flaw. But mainly, he wants to live painlessly because he remembers that previously, when he did think about spirituality, he was full of suffering and was always worried. Now, thank God, he has no concerns over spirituality and lives like all other people.

But later, when some awakening comes to him from above, he becomes concerned with spirituality again. At that time he sees something new—man is not his own boss. Rather, he is in a catapult, tossed from above as they choose, and he is in the hands of those above. That is, at one time he is given thoughts that he should throw away all the corporeal matters that pertain to his own benefit. Another time he is tossed down into the corporeal world, meaning he forgets about all the spiritual matters.

It turns out that even the fourth degree is a degree, for he is given a chance to learn from this to see the truth, for by this he can come to cling to the Creator by seeing that he is dependent on the Creator. At that time he will awaken to ask of the Creator to help him out of self-love and achieve love for the Creator.

However, this is a long way. The order is as Baal HaSulam said, that one should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” One should say that everything depends on man, since the choice is given entirely to man, and he should not wait until an awakening comes to him from above.

But after the fact he should believe that it is all Private Providence, and man cannot add anything to His work. Rather, he must do as it is desired above, and he has no free choice. This is the best and shortest way, since one spares time and suffering, for one does not suffer due to the prolonging of time.

It follows that we find four discernments when a person begins to walk in the order of work of bestowal and faith:

1) When the body comes to him with its arguments of slander, he accepts them with love. He says, “Now I have a chance to keep the commandment of faith above reason, for otherwise I would be working only within reason.” This pertains to repentance from love, meaning that he loves this repentance.

2) When the body comes to him with its arguments of slander, although he overcomes them, he does not like this work, since it is hard work to overcome when he hears slander. This is similar to repentance from fear, when sins become to him as mistakes, as he would be happier if they did not come to him.

3) When the body comes to him with its slander, he surrenders under its arguments and hasn’t the strength to overcome. At that time he feels bad about himself because previously he thought that he was already regarded as being among the servants of the Creator, but now he sees that he has nothing. He regrets it, but he cannot help himself. It follows that the situation he is in pains him.

4) When the body comes to him with its slandering, he crumbles under its load, does everything the body tells him, and takes everything calmly. He promptly forgets that he was ever a servant of the Creator and feels good about himself, as though nothing has happened. Instead, he enjoys his situation because now he has no suffering from not thinking about the work of the Creator, and he wants to continue all his life in this state. Sometimes he doesn’t even think about that, meaning he doesn’t think at all about life’s purpose, but is simply happy as he is.

These four states can be compared to four degrees that our sages said: 1) a righteous who is happy, 2) a righteous who is suffering, 3) a wicked who is suffering, 4) a wicked who is happy.

Although our sages are referring to high degrees, with respect to the relation, we can still compare. We will call the first state, which is similar to repentance from love, “a righteous who is happy.” This means that he feels nothing as bad because the sins has become for him as merits.

We will call the second state, which is similar to repentance from fear, “a righteous who is suffering,” as The Zohar interprets above: “A righteous who is suffering—when the evil is under his authority.” That is, he controls it, for he has repented on the slander he had heard from his body. But since the sins have not become merits, it follows that he has sins but they are as mistakes, since the evil is under the authority of the good. It follows that he still has evil, but the good controls it.

The third state is when he surrenders under the evil when he hears slander from the body. He doesn’t have the strength to repent on the slander and accepts it. However, he regrets not being able to overcome it. We can call this “a wicked who is suffering.” Although he is wicked, meaning he is not repenting, he feels unpleasantness in this situation, which means that he is suffering from not having the strength to overcome.

The fourth state is when he accepts the slander calmly, and doesn’t even feel that he has just heard slander. We can call this “a wicked who is happy.” That is, although he is wicked, he is happy this way and does not feel any flaw about himself. 

Reader: Now, we will move to the lesson from October 14, 2002.

M. Laitman: (42:45) We heard an article from the third volume in “The Rungs of the Ladder," "The Righteous Who Is Happy, the Righteous Who Is Suffering." It's from “Devarim,” the portion of “Ki Tetze” or "When You Come Out." When a person goes out to the work of the Creator, until he reaches the goal, he goes through all kinds of states of changes, and each and every state is not the same as the previous one. We need to get used to it and accept every change with a purposeful understanding that this is how it has to be. And stages are likewise, until the barrier, we go through these stages of development.

A wicked who is happy, a wicked who feels bad, a righteous who feels bad, a righteous who is happy, is according to the measure of correction that a person goes through, to what extent he agrees with Providence that is working on him and with the goal that he has to attain with the forces that compel him to advance; they compel him to advance. Accordingly, he is measured. That is, with respect to Providence, he is measured if he is righteous or wicked, if he feels bad or feels good, according to how much he adapts himself to Providence. Because we have a will to receive, a will to bestow, an intention in order to receive, an intention in order to bestow, accordingly, we have four degrees of our attitude towards the Creator's Providence. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:56) What does it mean that he adapts himself to Providence? 

M. Laitman: He adapts himself to Providence, he justifies Providence to the extent that he can adapt himself to Providence, to the extent that he equalizes his form with the Creator, to that extent he can justify the Creator. I can't say, "You are good," if within me this quality of good that I point to does not exist. I can't say, "It is good," I can only get to know it and be in it and truly say it is good after I have attained it. And before that, when I say, “good,” during the time of preparation, well, we say that it's one opposite the other, so that state is not real. Therefore, a person must, with his senses, with his vessels, he must rise on all of the degrees and reach equivalence of form, because only in such a way he can justify, he can understand, he can recognize and accept what the Creator does, only in a way that he does it himself, and not somehow, theoretically, to say, "Yes, it is good."

"Yes, this is good," it's not regarded in spirituality. Only to the extent, according to the measure of the match with the Creator, can we say anything about Him. And then you say, “it is good,” because you acquired that quality. And before that, one says that it's bad, the Creator is bad. Here there is, it's really something that's very simple. Either according to our measure of equivalence of form, we justify the Creator, or according to the disparity of form, we curse Him. That's it. There is nothing in the middle. If there is something in the middle, it's called concealment, that we do not understand the state that we're in. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:08) He's talking about the four states here. The last two sound a bit like single concealment and double concealment, but you say that the first two are also in the time of preparation. Righteous who feels good, and righteous who feels bad, where is that in the time of preparation? There's no such equivalence of form. 

M. Laitman: In the stage of preparation, we have no oppositeness of form or equivalence of form. Only above the barrier, you have the oppositeness of form, which is the forces of the Klipot, the shells, the left line, and the forces of the Creator, the qualities of the Creator, which is the right line. Both Kedusha [holiness] as well as the Klipa [the shell] are above us, above the barrier. We haven't reached it yet, therefore we're not yet wicked, and all the more so, of course, we're not yet righteous, because it's one opposite the other. The wicked and the righteous are two states on the same degree each time. The more you rise, in every degree one rises, there is wicked and righteous, wicked and righteous. You have both this and that.

Now, when he's on the left line, then he's truly drowning, immersed, how can I say it? He's immersed inside his uncorrected vessels, he's immersed in that, he feels it, he lives it, that is all of his internality, his thoughts, his desires. All of this, he must feel it entirely, and then he's called “wicked.” And he feels this state opposite the Creator, and that state is a true state. Then the right is completely concealed from him. Otherwise it won't be a true feeling, as it is for us: an ascent, an ascent, a descent, a descent. Now you can be in an ascent and say, "Hey, I'm mighty," but if you have the experience, you've seen already how it could be the opposite, right? “There's none as wise as the experienced one.” And you see that a person depends on his state. If they replace his internality, he's a different person. So above the barrier, the internality that is being replaced, it is truly, these are actual concrete states, both the shell and also Kedusha. Before the barrier, it's one state opposite another, and corresponding to that, we have all of the states. They're not so conspicuous, so not so great, wicked. We cannot define them, measure them, speak about them clearly in terms of measures and where it is and in what, but we do have something corresponding to it. We have wicked and righteous, and one is happy or suffering also, and a person who approaches the barrier, he justifies the Creator more, is more drawn to Him, to the true Creator, not the way he depicted to himself who He is, what He is, what kind of a character He has. This is how it is.

And maybe you're asking, but we learned that before the barrier, one is in the most opposite vessels, right? So even though he's in the most opposite vessels, he's also nevertheless also in a desire to adhere, and the greatest grace of sanctity. You see it's one opposite the other, and there are always two states. These two elements are always, they always exist in every state, who I am and who He is, and how do I relate to Him. So actually, it's three things, and they actually compose each and every degree., they determine the name of the degree, its essence.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:10) But the issue is that before the barrier, like you say, before the barrier, we can't determine our degree, the essence of it, we can't name it, so how could it be there are such clear states before the barrier?

M. Laitman: These are not clear states before the barrier that I can define them, these are not states that I can come back to and write them down and carry them out exactly, or following a few states, I can be back in them - these are not states. Above the barrier, I go through the states, and these states that I go through, I have control over them. In them, I liken myself to the Creator. These are degrees of adaptation, of equivalence, right? And these degrees are clear degrees, and they're inscribed in me, because I carry them out according to the records. And then I truly take the records, I implement them, and to the extent that I have implemented them, to that extent, I replace the Creator, I become similar to Him, I take Providence to my own hands on that degree, and so on.

Before the barrier, we don't have that, but correspondingly, we do have states that are foggy, but we do have something that corresponds to it. This whole world is like that, it corresponds to spirituality, the whole of our creation below the barrier. And we have here all kinds of discernments, but they are kind of not clearly defined, and it's not that we can control them. It's as in a dream, this is how it is written.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:05) The state of a righteous who feels good 

M. Laitman: A wicked who feels good

Student: A wicked who feels good

M. Laitman: Is when a person determines he's wicked and feels good being in his wickedness, in opposite of form from the Creator. 

Student: So, there isn't much difference here. 

M. Laitman: These states can occur also to people who are very advanced. Suddenly he falls into a state. In each and every degree, we have such states also. This means in width, as we call it, in the Sefirot, in width, in each and every degree. And a person who is in some state, even though he knows and he feels that he's not yet, it's not yet corrected, and he's studying, but now he, right now he doesn't care about the goal and the Creator, the only thing he cares about is to feel good, and he wants to gain more through the study and by belonging to Kabbalah or something else, maybe honor or something, then it is considered, and he determines to himself, "This is, this is how it is," and he agrees with it, that this is how it is, and he cannot do anything about it, that this is how it is. He looks at himself from the side and he determines that, "Yes, I'm in such a state." So he determines, he himself determines, it's not that someone else tells him, he determines that his state is now a wicked who feels good. And he has nothing that he can do about it. He doesn't even want to ask the Creator. So he'll stay in such a state. So he objectively looks at him from the side, at himself, and he determines that, "Yes, this is my state, to such an extent that I don't want anything to change. I feel good." 

Student: What moves him? 

M. Laitman: What moves him, that's something else. But we're talking about the state itself. How to get out of it, what can I do, that's something else. We're talking about the states, and a person determines it by himself. We're talking about what the person determines, not that their degrees exist in and of themselves. There are no degrees in spirituality. In spirituality, a degree is what you determine. They have to take you through your awareness to determine your true state in each and every state. But after you determine it, then this is called, your name is determined accordingly.

Student: Well, does the transition between these states happen gradually, or?

M. Laitman: These states are replaced gradually. And also, in this gradual replacement, there are all kinds of leaps in order to teach a person the gaps between the states, or have impressions in between them. But each time, there could be all kinds of jumps, ups and downs that are quick within the process, all kinds of changes of states. But the process itself, nevertheless, continues. It's not so important.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:14) Can you explain to me the concept of a wicked who feels good, a righteous who feels bad? In reality, the wicked do feel good. 

M. Laitman: In our reality, in this world, indeed, the wicked always feels good. He knows how to manage in this world, because this world is wicked, so it fits the wicked. And the righteous, for him, the world is truly foreign and evil. 

Student: I want to hear…

M. Laitman: This is how the common people speak, and it's correct. It's a fact. So, what's next?

Student: But there's also a righteous who feels good. 

M. Laitman: In spirituality, if you truly want to feel good spiritually, just like in this world, the wicked manages, in spirituality, the righteous does. 

Student: So, how come not everybody chases after that?

M. Laitman: Chase what? Spirituality?

Student: Yes, everyone should move to spirituality, because they'll reach “a righteous who feels good.”

M. Laitman: You're asking, why does everyone want to go to spirituality? 

Student: How come they don't want it? 

M. Laitman: Why they don't want it?

Student: Yes, if a righteous feels good, everybody should want to run after spirituality.

M. Laitman: Why run to spirituality? 

Student: Why isn't everyone running? 

M. Laitman: I'm saying that no one is drawn to spirituality, and we would not be also, if we would know what that is. 

Student: But they tell us that at the end of the way, a righteous who feels good. 

M. Laitman: What we're told, we translate it to what feels good to us. We, you know, block spirituality, put some nice curtain over it, and we paint all kinds of things we wish to have. And then we want this curtain. We think that when the curtain opens, I'll have what's painted on it. So, I run towards the curtain, and I want to open it up, and then begins the work. I receive some change, turbulence, all kinds of things. I suddenly see the curtain a little differently, still good for me, but kind of different. But I agree with it. Why? Because in the meantime, I suffered some blows, and I saw that in this world, after all, I feel worse. And then I accept my next state as good. Meaning, each time we are being corrected to see spirituality in a truer perspective.

But if this would be open to us right now, there would be nothing more despicable and hateful and horrible to us. You don't know what that is. It's not pain, it's not death, it's just eternal bad that would open up to us like that. That's something. And the Creator would be seen to us as a source of evil.

M. Laitman: (59:33) Just as now it is hidden from us that evil comes from Him, as if evil doesn't come from Him, only good comes from Him, right? If that were revealed, what are you talking about? We are in complete disparity of form. You would hate everything there is there. Why does the smallest upper degree, the closest to you, remain hidden from you? You can't bear it, you can't tolerate it, so you're talking about opening up all the degrees until the final correction, the end of correction. You would just become cancelled by that horrible sensation, horrible feeling. This is called the illumination of Malchut, both for better and for worse. We don't understand what is disparity of form. You understand? The end of correction is …. I don't know, I don't have more words.

Student: If each one would want to do it with a group… 

M. Laitman: Perhaps you're asking, how are we nevertheless given some lie, such a portrayal, that we think it's good for us? This is the matter of concealment. The concealment is a kind of internal system within us that knows the whole truth to bring it down to all the degrees and transform it according to my state so that it seems as good to me, that truth will seem good to me. And the truth is that until that truth descends and it inverts and becomes falsehood to me, and that whole mechanism is called concealment. Or we can call it the five worlds. It's inside me, this whole thing.

You know what? Until I see and hear and feel in all of my spiritual senses, as well as my corporeal senses, I feel Ein Sof, infinity, Creator, spirituality, the end of correction, the complete state, perfect state. But when it passes through all of my senses, it doesn't change it, but it already passes to the mind and enters my will to receive, which is behind the senses. And then I receive from the will to receive some deciphering, how to put it?

Student: Processing the inputs.

M. Laitman: Yes, processing the data, and so how the will to receive deciphers it for me. So this whole truth and the end of correction and all those things give me now a form that I can see and feel. That's in my senses and in my understanding, the way I currently understand. So the concealment exists within us. It's like a kind of a box or a mechanism that lies behind the senses and between my sense of self. And we're only working on this, that box. It has intentions in order to receive. They should be gradually corrected in order to bestow. What is the equivalence of form that will be? What comes out of the box and enters the box will become similar things. They won't transform or become smaller. This means that I make a correction over this box. So nothing changes other than my perception.

Student: It's difficult to understand it.

M. Laitman: Yes, it's difficult to understand. But no, this portrayal is actually quite simple. Just draw up the five senses. Then they come through wires to a box and from the box they reach a place called “the will to receive.” That's it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:32) It's not difficult to understand this depiction. It's like this whole way, I have to feel as though I'm lying to myself, and in the end I'll reach…

M. Laitman: One who wants to correct himself, where some point awakens in that box for him, and from that point he corrects the entire program, the program of perception, from in order to receive to in order to bestow, so, he is given, according to that point, which seems like some foreign point there, right, the point of the heart. So, he's given an opportunity to see himself from aside, from aside meaning from that point. So, then he can be objective and look at himself, "I'm this, I'm like that." But a person off the street, he doesn't see it. It's interesting to see that even psychologists speak this way. How do I do, and how do I act, and how do I work? But it's not the same thing.

Question (Internet): (01:06:01) Question about your doctor from Tibet. There are all kinds of other methods to get out of the body, look at the body from the side, meditate, things like that. I did a lot of these methods in the past. What's wrong about that?

M. Laitman: I don't see them as wrong things, what he's doing. He's not making any idols from it, that Tibetan doctor. He doesn't bow towards anything. He doesn't have some stereotypes, he's willing to learn anything. He doesn't build for himself, I'm not sure how to say, he doesn't build for himself any predefined characters, or he feels from his natural refinement. First of all, he's a doctor by profession, and a good physician. He explains well and correctly the action of the body on behalf of just plain medicine. He also explains these things according to other methods, energies, all kinds of places in the body. We don't have many words for this, so you can call it these chakras, you can call it some other words from different methods, but he knows that everything he speaks about and what he works on, these are physiological matters. These are things that our body, as part of the universe, as part of this world, it belongs to the whole universe, belongs to this general field that exists, the energetic field that exists in this world, and our body also doesn't work on the level of metabolism or fluids or gases, but it also works on the level of exchanging energies. So, he works on that level. So, to him, every organ in the body, let's say, just like to a regular doctor, it's only a kind of a pump or some chemical part that secretes and absorbs. So, to him, every organ, other than this, which he understands and knows, he has an additional picture, where each and every organ is a kind of a source of energy in both taking certain kinds of energies and also emitting and sending energies.

So, it's like the body, have you seen some X-ray photos or CT photos or things like that? There’re also now magnetic pictures that they're working on. So, there'll be things like that soon as well, you'll be able to take some picture of these energies that are emitted by the organs. These are physiological things. It gradually opens up to us, but it's all below the barrier.

Student: That wasn't the question. The question was if someone does a meditation, for example, about observing the thoughts.

M. Laitman: Of course, if a person observes, then he accumulates a certain energy or accumulates energy that he can control, good or bad. This is called the evil eye and good eye. In our world, there is such a thing. So, okay, so what's the question? These are corporeal things. There's nothing not corporeal about this. You can go to primitive tribes, and they can do things that… It's not called spirituality. It's just controlling forces of our nature that we just don't control because we went in our development in a different direction. And actually, the people who are less egoistic, they control that more. And we went in a more egoistic direction of development. So, we started developing into matter, and they, as if, as if developed into the spirit of our world.

Student: The question is, how does this obstruct our advancement? 

M. Laitman: And what does it bother our advancement? Because the person just finds that that's enough for him. If you're allowed to engage in it, medicine and good things for people, then you're doing good. If you engage in something that's bad for people, then you're doing bad. Just like anything physical: you take a stick or you take a candy. Only in this, there are things that are much more strong and powerful. And all kinds of the KGB or the FBI or something, they also use this. There's institute for this, and many people are sitting and studying this and creating all kinds of things. In our days, there are already amplifiers for thoughts. There’re all kinds of things that, meaning levels of technology, both spiritually and corporeally, that are as if spiritual, that humanity kind of connects them together and works accordingly.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:52) The question is not about them, I know all those.

M. Laitman: I don't know that. I'm telling you what needs to be natural. 

Student: Here, if someone has some pain in his shoulder, then someone comes and massages it, gives him a massage. In the same way, why can't you say, "Just shut your eyes, look at the pain, drive it out, do that"? Can that cause a person confusion, following which he will start thinking about, imagining all sorts of things? Or is that legitimate? 

M. Laitman: Our problem is that we don't know the boundary between this and that. I don't have anything to say. People can make an idol or an image from anything and detain themselves and their spiritual development. That's why we're taught to begin with, who will teach you, and what you'll learn, and what your goal is. And who knows if you'll start being satisfied with just that. In the end, a thing that heals yourself is allowed. Yes, there is a mechanism in this world called “a doctor,” that will heal, and that enters into correction as well, into the system of corrections.

Now, you're saying that, oh, you can come to a person and tell him, "Think that you don't have pain," and do all kinds of mind over matter. Right. I work with him in a different way. He's causing me pain, and I'm exiting the pain. I'm rising above it. But then he feels, because he receives a response from the energy, he feels that I've exited that. That was also with the Chinese doctor that we went to once. But you see, I didn't study that. Spirituality does not teach these things simply because it's a corporeal thing. It's matter. There's nothing in it, it's corporeality. When I have no dialogue with him, because he's in a feeling that this is energy, and that we don't have common words, and I have nothing to speak, because these are very simple things. I don't have such techniques. I can't do like he can. But if he's doing something, then I feel that he's doing it, and I can also respond to it, also on the same level. But it's not that a Kabbalist is in these things and altogether engages with this. 

Student: Again, put simply, a Kabbalist now has a headache. He's studying, his head hurts. What to do? This physical body, the beast, hurts. So he can take an Acamol, some pain relief, or he can get a neck massage.

M. Laitman: There's a stronger one, Optalgin.

Student: Optalgin, right. He can get a neck massage, and it'll pass. Or he can shut his eyes, imagine something, whatever technique. It takes five minutes, and it'll also pass. 

M. Laitman: Yes, it's the same thing, same thing. Depending on the levels, if you look at the pill, or the massage, or guided imagery, then you'll see that it's the same thing. It's the same energy, eventually. Only that when you receive it and use it in different ways, in a different level. But in the end of the matter, it's the same energy. It's the same light. It's not the light that we reveal above the Machsom, the barrier, but it's below.

Student: I know it's the same thing, but it's not customary for us.

M. Laitman: I'm telling you, it's not customary to use such things, because in my eyes, he's a real doctor. Also, the acupuncture, and all the pressure points, and they're all medicine. They're all healing things that talk about fields of forces. He talks about the force that clothes matter. I, in truth, don't see anything spiritual in this. Only in his treatment, when he's treating, feels a person's energies, and then he can see, more or less, where a person is, at what degree, or what level his body is living. Not the spirit, the body. But through the body, he already sees a little bit of internality. He can't say, what my degree is, or anything like that. And that's it. He doesn't have words for that, and it doesn't touch these things, for sure. For him - there's these primitive tribes, there's one, two, five, to ten and then a lot, so a lot, millions, and a lot - there's no number for him. That's how it is with him. There's nothing to envy. But it does stop development. He won't be able to develop.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:34) Why? It's not supposed to interface with the desire for spirituality, seemingly. Why can't a normal doctor, then?

M. Laitman: His stigma, the direction that he's creating balance, is at the degree that he doesn't understand the spiritual. Where you're living with the cosmos, with the universe in harmony, exchanging energies, yin and yang there, and all. It doesn't matter what there is there beyond that. Do you understand? But his goal, by feeling himself whole, and feeling peace and wholeness, that's not a deficiency for equivalence of form, for seeking godliness. It's a deficiency for equivalence of energy to the universe. When I will be with this inanimate in an equal manner.

Student: And if he suddenly gets a point in the heart?

M. Laitman: If he receives a point in the heart, he'll receive. But I'm telling you that this technique does not lead to a deficiency. It's medicine, like every other healing practice. Bring me a regular doctor, a doctor like him, it's only that his tools are much stronger, that is true. But it's a horrible treatment. I can say that it's horrific. I never felt such pains than dealing with what he does. It's like, truly, in a moment you're losing consciousness.

Student: But it helps.

M. Laitman: Yes, but the pain also benefits, actually. But the pain, yes. But it does benefit the pressure in the head, which is what I mostly had. My blood pressure was felt in my head, always, like, beating like that, pulsing. Sometimes I couldn't hear words. And today I'm a little bit more, kind of, it came down a little bit more patient. It was very important for me. In corporeal reality, it really bothered me in communication with people, etc., here at home, and everything, it came down a little bit. Yes, I look at this only in that kind of a way. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:49) What does it mean to agree with Providence?

M. Laitman: If we had one like this here, we would use Him, well, for the bodily needs. 

Student: To agree with Providence, what does it mean? Providence, what is that thing? 

M. Laitman: To agree with Providence, means that everything I feel in my world is something perfect because it comes from the upper force. Not because I feel good or feel bad, or I am connecting to the past or the future in something, somehow, but for a simple reason, because it comes from the Creator.

Student: So what does it mean to disagree with the situation?

M. Laitman: This is considered that I am certainly at the degree of a righteous, a Tzaddik. These can be horrible things, terrible things, and a person says that it is the best, most whole, perfect thing because it comes from the Creator. We can't understand how this happens and what lie there is in this or truth. In a way, like they tell about the stories like Rabbi Akiva, they're scratching off the skin off of his body and he's reading "Hear, O Israel" prayer. Meaning, it's not understood to us, but we're talking about the greatest shell compared to the greatest sanctity, and they're connecting on the highest degree.

Student: So what does it mean to disagree with the situation?

M. Laitman: Because skin is the final degree of the body, and from the face, meaning the degree of Hochma, the degree of light, yes?

Student: What does it mean to disagree with the situation? Meaning this gap, agreeing with Providence but not agreeing with the situation. How can a person start working in this? 

M. Laitman: Not agreeing with the state and agreeing with the Providence, means that you don't agree with the state that I'm immersed in my nature of the desire to receive, and I agree with the feeling that I'm correcting that state and becoming agreeing. That's the left line and the right line on the same degree.

Reader: We will now share our impressions from the lesson in the Tens, and talk about what we take to implement in the Ten.

Reader: Let's move to the next part of the lesson, but first sing a song together.

Song: (01:28:35)