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

Daily Morning Lesson: September 12, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson – Nov 17, 2021

Baal HaSulam. Shamati 62. Descends and Incites, Ascends and Complains

Reader: Hello, friends, for the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from November 17, 2021, about Baal HaSulam’s Article 62, Descends and Incites, Ascends and Complains. We'll begin by reading the article, which you can find in the writings of Baal HaSulam. Article 62, Descends and Incites, Ascends and Complains. 

Of course, also on the websites.

Reading: (00:34) 62. Descends and Incites, Ascends and Complains

I heard on Adar Aleph 19, February 29, 1948

“Descends and incites, ascends and complains.” One must always examine oneself if one’s Torah and work do not descend to the abyss. This is because one’s greatness is measured by one’s measure of Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, meaning on one’s measure of annulment before the Creator.

In other words, self-love does not merit reference, and one wishes to annul oneself completely. This is because in one who works in order to receive, the measure of one’s work is the measure of the greatness of oneself. At that time, he becomes a being, an object, and a separate authority. In that state it is difficult for him to annul before the Creator.

However, when one works in order to bestow, when he completes his work, meaning that he has corrected all his vessels of reception for himself from what he has from the root of his soul, then he has nothing more to do in the world. It follows that one should think and concentrate only on that point.

The sign by which to see if one is walking on the path of truth is if he is in the form of “descending and inciting,” meaning that his entire work is in a state of descent. In that state he is in the authority of the Sitra Achra [other side], and then he ascends and complains, meaning feels that he is in a state of ascent and complains about others. Yet, one who works in purity, cannot complain about others, and always complains about himself, and sees others in a better degree than he feels himself. 

Reader: We'll continue to the lesson.

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Question (Bishkek): (03:10) It is such an article, it takes you by the soul, and you know, it is written about me. When I ascend, I feel good, as if I am lower, and then I ascend?

M. Laitman: Untrue, this is not written about you, it is written about me!

Student: You know, you described it so beautifully, it's like a wheel, and I see that we're going through the revolutions of this wheel many times – up and down, up, and down. The question is, is there an end to this or is this an ongoing process?

M. Laitman: This is what I'm waiting for, that finally we will start it and finish it. This process doesn't have to be long, but we have to get it in our mind, in our emotion, that it all has to be realized in the Ten. Let go of the whole world, we don't care about what is happening there, that's the still. We need, inside of the Ten, to arrange such states, just to be in such a form where each one helps the other. Each one annuls himself before the others, and by that he actually becomes higher spiritually. And our Tens will start to become spiritual Tens; at least start with the very first annulment, which is called, the first spiritual degree. It is very difficult because a person doesn't quite understand what is going on with him, but this is what we need, this is what we need.

Student: Can I be more precise: I'm corrupt and I can't understand, but it turns out that the article is endless, it's without an end point. Because you explained we have to reach this perfect state where everyone is connected, and we lack this addition at the end of the article. 

M. Laitman (Source Text/ Commentary): (05:34) Look, this was a speech, let's say, that Baal HaSulam said before, well, I'm not sure what the context was. And that's what he said, so I cannot say, he didn't really write it – this is what he said, he spoke, and Rabash wrote it. I don't think that it's worthwhile to add anything to this. This is really, it seems to me that this state, it's kind of closed – what else can you add to this? One should always, one must always examine himself, first of all, always examine oneself. 

If one's Torah and work do not descend to the abyss, 

Right? 

This it because one's greatness is measured by one's measure of Dvekut, adhesion, with the Creator, meaning on one's measure of annulment before the Creator. In other words, self-love does not merit reference. 

This we can already check, 

but rather one wishes to annul oneself completely. 

How does one check himself? The Creator should be revealed in the center of the Ten, in the connection among everyone. So, I need to always check myself whether I am annulled before the connection in the Ten. And this is how each and every one should do. The moment that we do this in the smallest measure – but we do it – we make the condition and the place for the Creator to be revealed, that's it. And then He is revealed among us, according to the extent of our annulment towards each other. You have nowhere else towards which to annul yourself because the Creator is never revealed in such a way that you can annul before Him. The fact that you annul before the center of the Ten, this is considered that you are annulling before the Creator, that's it.

Because, 

I'm continuing to read, 

This is because in one who works in order to receive, the measure of one's work is the measure of the greatness of oneself. 

So, then he becomes more and more proud. At that time, he becomes a being, an entity, an object, and a separate authority. 

In that state, it is difficult for him to annul before the Creator. However, when one works in order to bestow, when he completes his work, meaning that he has corrected all his vessels of reception for himself, 

Well, with whatever is revealed now, 

From what he has, from the root of his soul, then he has nothing more to do in the world. It follows that one should concentrate all his thoughts only on that point, meaning that he annuls himself before whatever is revealed. 

The sign by which to see if one is walking on the path of truth is, he can see it, if he is in the form of descending and inciting specifically, 

Meaning that they keep adding ego to him, meaning that all his entire work is in a state of descent, this is what he feels. 

In that state, he is in the authority of the Sitra Achra, the other side, and then he ascends and complains. 

He has all kinds of complaints against others and the whole path and in general, meaning he feels that he is in a state of ascent and he complains about others. 

He feels that he is high, he is in a high state. 

Yet, one who works in purity cannot complain about others and he always complains about himself. And he sees others in a better degree than he feels himself. 

Look, we can expand this article and make a few books out of it, but really, everything is written, here, succinctly.

Student: Thank you, I really wanted to thank you for this article. 

M. Laitman: The most important thing, as Rabash would say, is anything but leave, this is what it says in the Torah, Anything but leave. You have to stay in the Ten and feel yourself that you are in this boat. And as much as you can assist everyone, then advance, that's it, and then you reach the goal.

Question (Turkiye 4): (11:16) Sometimes we feel states which is not an ascent and not a descent – like hanging on the air with emptiness between heaven and earth. How can we overcome these states that we feel?

M. Laitman: Check your state relative to the friends, check your state relative to the friends; and then you'll see how you are in a state where you have something to do. If you feel yourself, on the one hand, that you are the lowest of all the friends. And on the other hand, you have what to do in that state in order to add to the society because you're among them, you must be active. So as much as you can check yourself from below and from above, meaning you should be in the lowest state and also in the highest state. And then you're not annulling, you are placing yourself, positioning yourself correctly relative to the Ten. Always, we always check ourselves relative to the Partzuf that we're building, we are arranging. 

Student: You also told a friend that we have to annul towards the center of the Ten. What is the center of the Ten, center of this connection? And what am I annulling myself towards?

M. Laitman: I annul myself towards the boat – the boat is ten Sephirot, it's a group. There's no one or two or three people, rather the connection between us, what the Creator wants us to carry out under the conditions that he is placing for us for each and every one. He gives each and every one internal conditions, internal. The ego, all the qualities and all the conditions, why? So, with everything that's in me, I must sort out these qualities and connect with others in order to arrange us as a circle, as a Sphere, as a boat, as a vessel in and of itself. This is the work of each and every friend: How he can arrange all the friends in one vessel and to feel that this is up to him. He can be in place of Malchut, the lowest of them all, and he can be as the Keter, the highest of them all. This way, he checks himself and the Ten, and that's how he works on them.

Student: Is it done by me or the upper light? My position in the common vessel of the Ten – in the boat – does the upper light arrange that or myself? 

M. Laitman: Of course, everything is done by the upper light, and to the extent that I can annul before it and I do what he wants from me. I discover how he's doing everything and how, in adhesion to him, I understand more and more what's going on. 

Student: You said you have to connect that inner qualities you have inside you to build this boat as Ten. What kind of inner qualities are we talking about – desires, thoughts, intention, what?

M. Laitman: All the desires and thoughts, everything you want, in order to connect everyone into one boat, one vessel. There's no clear answer in there because all your qualities, each one has a collection of qualities. And a person has to connect them as much as possible to friend in order to add, to complete everyone to one vessel.

Question (Moscow 1): (16:43) If it's hard to see a specific person in the Ten, how do we work on it?

M. Laitman: It's very simple: If I cannot annul myself towards a friend to see him as greater than me, it's not a question, it's the Creator arranging it, so I have to work towards his friends with greater effort. It's not that the friend appears to me the way he is, rather it says, they have eyes but they cannot see. We cannot see the friends, we see what the Creator is showing us, He's arranging this for us, Ge corrupts our sight. If my ego enters my sight, my eyes, and I see everyone is small and despicable, if I correct my ego, if the Creator corrects it, I see everyone as righteous, as great, as wise, and so on and so forth. We don't see anything except for what the Creator arranges for us to see. That's why we're always playing this game with Him and we should not forget about it.

Question (Kyiv 3): (18:24) It's still not clear to me, what is this behavior, what does it mean, declining, descending and inciting? 

M. Laitman: It's an evil inclination that's doing it. Who's doing it, the Creator, of course, There's No One Besides Him. How does He awaken us? Through the complaining. 

Student: Why? 

M. Laitman: In order to awaken us. In a form that is opposite to Him, so that we would grow here, we would develop in us the opposite of what he's doing. We are working against the Creator, He's growing the evil inclination, it scares us off each time. It seemingly doesn't let us reach anything easily in order to raise us, to grow us, like you do with a small child. You bring him games and challenges to overcome, to work with, so he would develop himself. We do the same.

Student: What is the difference between descents and insights, ascents, and complaints. In the descents and in the ascents here, in both of them we hear complaints towards the friend. So, what's the difference between the two?

M. Laitman:  I think you have to work on it by yourself. You think that what you will hear from me will correct you, it's not true. Like little kids, you have to put in a great deal of effort and want it and want it until it enters a person's qualities. Look what they write, look how spirituality is set up. They want everything to enter through your intellect and through your feelings, and it cannot be, because your mind and your feelings are built on your ego and your will to receive. How can you bring something that is not made of part of your mind and your feeling. it's the opposite form. Explain to me, explain to me this, explain to me that. There's no explanation for this. You will work and you will see that a mind and a new feeling awakens in you, and then you will understand and you will feel, this is the only way it works. As much as I will show you and reveal new things to you, nothing will happen. It all depends on your effort.

Student: You're aiming us very well towards the work in the Ten, we will discuss it today. But when you said that I am ascending and being prideful and I complain, I feel the others as lower than me. So, when I descend, I should actually see them as great, but the text says that I'm actually inside, so it's confusing. 

Reader: We will read a few more times and talk with the friends, and if you still have some questions left, you can ask. 

M. Laitman: I think you can solve your problems.

Question (Turkiye 1): (22:34) We study in Ten to connect between us and to build our Kli to the Creator. How do these articles help us, our work in the Ten? 

M. Laitman: We have to implement them in the Ten – I don't understand the question. What we are reading, we should read at least even ten times until we begin to understand what it's talking about, and the understanding is mostly from talking to one another and reading the article until we chew it as much as possible with your teeth. You know what it means to chew, to take a piece of food and turn it into such a state – I don't know – a state where you can swallow it, you can absorb it, you can live off of it. And we do it in the Ten, we all argue, we all add, we all agree or disagree. And then through those things, when you have opposing things, like in your teeth, for each tooth you have an opposite tooth. And by that we come to a state where we are able to chew it, and after chewing it, we also cut it. We don't only cut the food, we also grind the food until it becomes not crumbs – but like a, like a quality that you can swallow. We'll learn about it, it's written, how it's happening, how it's being absorbed. We need to do all these actions, if we wish to connect to what we're receiving from the Creator. It's not simple to receive the upper light, in a way that we will grow by it. I don't see that we're finishing this tiny article, but it's a good sign! 

Question (French): (25:41) What advice can you give us, to do the self-examination that he's talking about in the article? 

M. Laitman: You need to talk several times, read it, and talk about realizing, implementing this small article, and then we can repeat it, all of us together, no problem. As long as it's clear, also how to build the right attitude to each article, how to absorb it, how to work with it. Because we are going through advanced states, such a large quantity as we have today, we never had it in history before. Such a large number of people entering into the world, knowing, becoming acquainted with the Creator, so you have to work on it.

Question (Latin 2): (27:00) What can I do in order to be certain that the friends are in adhesion and they're aiming themselves to the center of the Ten. Even friends that don't show up for every morning lesson. What can I do to have more confidence, more certainty, that they are on the same level of adhesion, enthusiasm, and annulment, like the friends who show up every morning? 

M. Laitman: You can't see it until you become the smallest of everyone, the lowest of everyone. If you will lower yourself more than anyone – more than everyone in the Ten – then you will see what more can you do in order to connect the Ten and raise it higher.

Question (Spain 2): (28:08) This exercise of feeling ourselves lower than everyone, in which way can we check if we're doing it, correctly; if we're truly in the right process? 

M. Laitman: I recommend to read a few times during the day the articles we are studying in the morning. That's what will perform the spiritual work on us. 

Question (W Brasil 3): (29:18) Each time that I enter a descent, should I make the group greater in my eyes, more and more? 

M. Laitman: Of course, meaning if I wish to reach the Creator, I need to reach a state where all my friends are on the same level as the Creator – it's truly so. It's unbelievable, how can such a thing even be, they are like me. Well, according to my intellect, to intellect more or maybe feelings more, according to their soul, they're more, they're greater. Is this what it's about, is this what's happening, what's going on? Yes, indeed, a person has to reach a state where there's nothing outside the Creator in the world. And even when he sees the friends before him, he sees what the Creator is presenting to him. Since, by that he comes to adhesion in the Creator, the recognition of the Creator, and he begins to see more and more that all the qualities in the text in the friends are not the qualities of the friends, it's the Creator that's formatting him in this way. Where if he clings to the friends in this way, he clings to the Creator – the Creator in the group, in all those characters. He gives a person the opportunity to calibrate himself, to cleave to the Creator. 

Student: if I see that everyone is connected, can I deduce that my work is done? 

M. Laitman: Our work never ends until the end of correction, and the end of correction, so when I begin to see the whole world in this way – in this work that's before me – ahead of me, so by that I will discover the Creator. All of humanity, all the people, every person in the world, including the still, vegetative, and animate degrees, they all come to us in such a way that if I arrange myself correctly towards them, then I come to equivalence of form with the Creator. 

Question (W PT 14): (32:12) What is necessary for the Ten in order to work on the way of purity and not reach that state of complaining? 

M. Laitman: Why is it needed? Because this is our goal, to resemble the Creator, to make ourselves, each one of us and all of us together in the Ten, into the image of the Creator. The image of the Creator in us is called, Adam, one who resembles the Creator, that's what we have to do.

Student: They're asking what's necessary for this? How to do it. They are asking what is necessary for the Ten in order to work on the way of purity and not reach that state of complaining?

M. Laitman: It's needed, because by that we come to adhesion in the Creator, to resemble Him, to come closer to Him at least. And this is our work, this is the process that all of humanity has to go through, and we are the first to go through it, as a group. 

Question (W Toronto): (33:30) Is the work on the way of truth, does it precede the work of purity? 

M. Laitman: The work on purity and the work on truth, on the path of truth, is really the same. You can interpret it as two parts on the way, but relative to us for now, it's the same.

Question (W Moscow 8): (34:56) How in the state of dissent can a person show an example of the importance of the goal?

M. Laitman: By annulling before the society, that's his work during the descent. And the others who see that he annuls himself in this way – like a baby, towards the grown-ups – by that he shows them his greatness. 

Question (W German): (35:27) Is it enough to have concern for connection in the Ten in order to be in a state of self-annulment? 

M. Laitman: If I annul myself towards the Ten, then I cancel myself and there's no more work for me, there. Everything is included in my work relative to the Ten, towards the Ten. 

Reader: They were asking whether working on connection? The question was whether work on connection in the Ten is sufficient to reach self-annulment. 

M. Laitman: Yes, I said it's enough. It's entirely enough from now until the end of correction. You have no more than ten Sefirot, that's it, and you need only to delve into them and you'll begin to see the connection between these qualities. It doesn't need to be a Ten, precisely a Ten. Rather, a few friends who wish to reach adhesion in the Creator. Adhesion in the Creator is attained in the adhesion between you, the adhesion between you is the vessel; and adhesion with the Creator is the light that will fill that vessel.

Question (W Rehovot): (37:56) You said that the Creator advances us through complaints. So, who is the one who's complaining? And is it permitted to complain on the spiritual path?

M. Laitman: Of course, without complaining, we can't reach the goal if we won't identify what's good and what's bad. How can we grow ourselves, develop ourselves, educate ourselves? How will we know what is good and what is bad, how we should be between the two? We position ourselves – if you can say it in this way – we position ourselves according to the conditions the Creator is giving us. It's like a mother and her babies, it's like little kids, right? We create these conditions for them, we set those up and between those conditions, they try to act, to play, to do something in nature, obligates them from within. And we establish or set up those boundaries on the outside and the person arranges himself in this way.

We go back to men, thank you, women. It's very pleasant to have you with us! 

Question (Tel Aviv 4): (39:40) In our work, this enslavement to the Sitra Achra, the other side, the will to receive, is that necessary or should we resist it all the time?

M. Laitman: Without the will to receive, it's called, help against, against the Creator. How can we detect the Creator otherwise, if we won't have this darkness, how can we see the light? You cannot see the light without darkness. You must see one against the other, only in the difference, in the contrast between the two because we are created beings. They say that the Creator is in one quality, and He doesn't need the opposite quality to feel everything. It's like, you know, they say, there are special light beams and neutrinos, such that they can travel through space without any restriction. They pass through every kind of material; they just pass through. Nothing can stop them. This is somewhat similar to the quality of the Creator. He is present everywhere, He does not consider anything, His quality is above all those things we can discuss. 

Because nevertheless, we are speaking about things from within the matter – the matter that is either below the will to receive or above the will to receive. Meaning, below the will to receive is in order to receive, or above the will to receive is when He is using the will to receive in order to bestow, but He is using the will to receive. That's why our work is darkness and light, darkness, and light, and how to combine them together. You will later understand how the darkness can express better, can increase and highlight the light even more. The greater the darkness we receive, by that we will be able to get to know the light better. We will be able to see in the light various modes and opposite states from the light. Where do we get all of that when we are climbing the ladder of degrees? Our coarseness is growing and from the growing coarseness, we begin to feel all those modes that we have that exist in the light: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Yechida.