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The Meaning of Spiritual Work

Q: Are there different ways to attain the spiritual world? What is the meaning of “spiritual work?”

A: Any work starts only after we enter the Higher World in our feelings, since we only then start climbing the 620 steps from the barrier to the end of correction. The period before crossing the barrier is called “the time of preparation for spiritual work.”

“Serving the Creator” Means Becoming Like Him

Q: What does it mean “to serve the Creator?” How can one learn to do that? How can one merit it?

A: This is exactly what the Torah teaches us. It was given for this sole purpose, and it speaks of nothing else. But only Kabbalah presents this work clearly and openly, because it addresses those who have a “point in the heart” (a part of the Creator from Above, the embryo of the soul, through which man starts to feel the Creator) awaken.
The Torah instructs how to expand this point and fill it with the Creator, turning man into a vessel that contains the Creator. It can be made possible only by likening one’s properties to those of the Creator, matching one’s intentions with His. As He gives to me, so I give to Him. This is the meaning of “serving the Creator.”

The greater the resemblance, the more one feels the Creator. It is called “sensing the Higher World.” The world is a fragmentary feeling of the Creator and when man ultimately completes his correction, the world disappears and one is tangibly filled with the Creator.

Are there Other Paths to the Creator?

Q: When I examine the questions in this book, I see that all the answers recommend studying the right Kabbalah books. Is it enough to study, or is there inner work that I should do, and if so, what is it?

A: At birth, there is nothing that ties a person to spirituality. Then, at the right moment, symbolically named in Kabbalah, “thirteen years,” the Creator sends a message to a person to come to Him.

From this moment on, a person must respond to that call. How? And how do you develop your own desire? For that purpose, Kabbalists wrote their books. There is no other way to develop except by them, under the guidance of a teacher who helps reading the books correctly, in a group, where the will grows as a result of the mutual group activity.

At the King’s Table

Q: How does a person who feels attracted to spirituality begin to learn?

A: The attraction toward spirituality begins when a person begins to feel the Creator. But as soon as one begins to feel spirituality and the Creator, one also feels Him as the Giver, and herein lies the problem. The presence of the Giver makes us feel that we are only taking and think only of how to take from this world for our own pleasure.

Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag used to tell a story about this situation, called “The Host and the Guest.” It is an authentic Kabbalistic story that all Kabbalists tell. Let’s assume that you are a host and I’m a visitor at your house. You know me perfectly well, as the Creator knows man.

This means that you, as the homeowner, know all the things I like, all my secret desires, with which you set the table. I, the guest, come to your house and see that the table is indeed set exactly the way I like. Naturally, I want everything I see before me.

The host warmheartedly invites me in. “Please come in, I have prepared your favorite delicacies.” I sit at the table. What am I supposed to feel? I understand that the homeowner wants me to enjoy with all his heart, but that, unfortunately, does not put my mind at rest, because his very presence prevents me from enjoying. If I hadn’t seen him and if the table had been mine, I could enjoy the delicacies and, would eat them without a second thought!

Similarly, the Creator has set a table for us. Then, he retreated – that is our present feeling. As soon as the Creator (the host) reveals himself, the problem arises because I see Him, the Giver, and I begin to feel like the ‘taker.’ That sensation of charity eradicates any pleasure I might receive.

Q: Isn’t it important that the homeowner prepared everything out of the kindness of his heart?

A: It’s not important. Even if the homeowner wants to give us everything, we would still remain the receiver and the Creator, the Giver. We cannot compensate for that difference. Only if we study the doctrine introduced by Kabbalah will our problem be solved.

The essence of the doctrine is that there is the Creator, the homeowner, who has a desire to give. As we see, He, too, has a need: He hungers for our joy. He suffers if we are not happy, just as the guest suffers when the feeling of shame stops him from eating the delicacies. At that point, everything depends on the guest.

Can he enjoy a complete and endless pleasure? On the one hand, if he eats the delicacies on the table, he will merely enjoy the food and that will be the end of it. On the other hand, he can rise to a higher degree of pleasure, to more sublime sensations, and by that equalize with the host.

How? By deciding to refrain from taking anything from the host! However, the result of the guest’s refusal is to throw the host into torment. He tries to persuade the guest to taste some of the food, and that opens up a possibility of doing something for the host, to give to him, instead of receiving from him.

How? By receiving from him, but only with the intent in mind to please him. Simply put, the guest does him a favor. By enjoying himself, the guest gives the host pleasure, thus moving from receiver to giver.

The guest uses his own hunger along with the fact that the host has prepared the food for him, that he wants to please him. He also uses the shame, without which the guest could never have stopped himself. The guest needs all those things in order to enjoy, and at the same time to give the host joy.

When the guest tastes the delicacies, he feels his host’s joy at his pleasure. This way, both become equal and mutually dependent!

That is the essence of the connection with the Creator. Man must gradually prepare himself, even before he begins to feel the Creator, and as soon as he’s ready, the Creator opens up to him and there evolves a process where man becomes the giver to the Creator -- just as the Creator gives to him.

Let’s assume that the Creator wants to give man a hundred kilograms of pleasure, but man is only capable of receiving twenty, and the other eighty kilograms cannot be accepted, because if he receives them, it’ll be only for his own pleasure and that would reawaken the shame.

When we visit someone’s house, we feel the same sensations. “I can take this, but I cannot take that. I don’t feel comfortable taking this, but I do feel comfortable taking that,” etc. It is an automatic behavioral response that occurs every time we cannot escape feeling like the receiver .

Man equalizes with the Creator to the extent that he can receive, in order to please the Creator. If, for example, I can receive twenty percent of the food from you, then it would be correct to say that in that twenty percent I have equalized with you.

In the spiritual world, equalizing with something means sensing it to the fullest -- its spiritual state, its thoughts, and its sensitivities. In other words, man receives the delicacies at the king's table as much as he is equal to the King, the Creator.

The ladder of the spiritual world is built according to that very principle: man receives more and more for the pleasure of the Creator, thus rising on the ladder until he can receive the entire one hundred percent. At that point, he can give to the Creator one hundred percent, just as the Creator gives him one hundred percent. Both are interdependent, taking and giving one another pleasure.

That is called a Zivug DeHakaa (spiritual mating) of man and Maker. That state is also called “the end of correction.” This is the state that we should strive to achieve.
It is an astonishing situation. Even the smallest connection with the Creator opens before man unlimited possibilities to attain perfection second to none, compared to the things we know in our present condition.

There is a constant standoff between the host and the guest, because the host wants the guest to receive the full one hundred percent, whereas the guest feels that he must overcome a dreadful feeling of shame stemming from the very presence of the host. This makes it impossible for the guest to enjoy the delights that the host had prepared for him.

This situation also exists in our world. The more spiritually evolved one is, the greater is the shame one feels, to the point that one might be willing to die if only to avoid the sensation of self-degradation.

Most of the time, we are afraid of contacting the Creator. The entire method of preparing man using Kabbalah is based on building that contact with the Creator, as well as man’s expectation that the contact will be pleasurable.

Q: We talked about feeling the greatness of the Creator. What is the meaning of the presence of the host for you, if you’re the visitor?

A: I feel him as the giver in every course, in every bite I take. What, for example, has changed in the salad, if the host is or is not next to you? The only thing that has changed is its inner content. The salad becomes more than a source of pleasure; it becomes a vessel by which I can make spiritual contact with something higher than myself.

Then, the nature, the will to receive all the delights becomes a means to attain something completely different, and a person sets sail into the spiritual sphere.

The First Spiritual Degree

Q: How does a person cross the barrier for the first time?

A: When we change our aim from “for me” to “for the Creator,” we begin to feel within (or around) us that which was previously hidden from us due to our nature of reception for ourselves alone. That new sensation is called the Upper World, or the Creator.

One feels the Creator according to how much of that aim is at one’s disposal. That amount is one’s first spiritual degree. In fact, anything lower than that degree does not exist. One can only rise from that basic step.

After the first degree, we get an additional desire aimed “for ourselves.” This makes us think we have fallen from the previous degree. However, that feeling comes because we have been given a new, corrupted will.

The “fall” is the sensation of the next degree in its corrupted state. Thus, each time a person corrects the corporeal aim from “for myself” to the spiritual aim of “for the Creator,” the fall is mended and one ascends to the next degree. (In fact, a person must crave this correction, but the Creator is the one who actually fixes it.)

Q: If a person has already felt the Creator, can that feeling disappear forever?

A: When we have moved on to the Upper World, we carry on upwards. Everything develops according to our efforts, where the degree of our efforts determines the rate of our development. But if we have not yet moved into the Upper World, and can only feel the surrounding Light, then this feeling stems from our will to receive for ourselves. Therefore, it cannot be guaranteed that future sensations will necessarily be spiritual.

Q: Can a person make such a terrible mistake and do something so wrong when “touching” the Upper One, as to make that door close and never open again?

A: It is impossible to think of anything that does not belong to one’s current degree. When a person reaches a certain level, it determines one’s every wish, thought, plan and mistake. It works like internal software.

It is said,“Sanctity only increases, never decreases.” Generally speaking, nature moves ever forward. The drop should be accepted as a situation where one receives a new vessel, a new desire.

Deciding To Restrict

Q: Is it possible to delight the Creator without giving something up, without restricting myself, without performing the first restriction, but only changing the aim from“for me” to“for the Creator?”

A: When you begin to delve deep inside and feel your own nature in all its lowness, you’ll understand why it is natural to be fooled by it. Our nature always puts on forms that are “real,” “genuine,” “useful,” and “desirable.” It is impossible to grasp that all our actions are performed only to please ourselves.

Therefore, we must cut off any contact with the desire and the pleasure. That is our “restriction” - the decision to not follow our own corporeal nature. Later on, we will reach such a level of correction that we become completely indifferent to the outcome.

Only after that phase, and according to the measure of correction, can we begin to contemplate how to act, not for ourselves, but for the Creator. Now we can see that correction is made of several consecutive steps, which necessarily begin with the restriction.

Analyzing Desires

Q: How do Kabbalists determine which desires can be corrected and which can not? Are there considerations in Kabbalah or does everything come with attainment and experience?

A: The Creator created the will to enjoy because His attribute - to delight - and His desire -- to bestow - are total and complete. But the will to enjoy needs to be corrected, perfected, and made complete. A person does not possess an independent will. Without feeling that the will comes from within, a person cannot truly enjoy anything.

The will to enjoy originates in the Creator, but in order to feel pleasure, you must feel His absence. What is the pleasure that stems from the Creator? It is the pleasure we receive when recognizing the perfection of the Creator and His stature. These alone are worthy of being received as pleasure, because that is the most sublime state.

Therefore, the creature should be together with the Creator, and be as the Creator. Being with someone and being as someone is only possible when we equalize our attributes, desires and thoughts.

But how can we creatures, with our will to enjoy, want to delight in the Creator, in His perfection and His stature, and make that will stem from within ourselves?

For that purpose, the Creator hides Himself. By gradually descending from Above, He slowly distances Himself and creates five worlds (in Hebrew the word, “world,” also means “concealment”): Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya.

Each degree, or each world, is another degree of concealment of the Creator. Below these worlds is our world, where the Creator is not felt at all. The will to enjoy is five worlds apart from the Creator, until the Light reaches our world, which is why we only feel ourselves in this world. But that can only be felt through the concealment that the worlds create. Thus, if the Creator is completely hidden, we creatures are left alone.

The whole of nature in our world is in exactly that state. The still, vegetative, and the animate only feel themselves, and remain with that feeling, whereas the speaking creature, man apart from feeling himself and his will to enjoy, begins to feel a longing for something higher, too.

While the Creator is in a state of total concealment, the creature cannot feel that the Creator is hiding from him . Yet, the very sensation of distress, originating from the absence of the Creator, indicates His existence and the possibility that one can feel Him.

The prospect of aspiring for the Creator arises in us because there is a spark from Above within our will to receive. That spark is placed in us in order to let us choose which is best: the perfection of the Creator, or our own situation.

In order for that to happen, the desire to feel the Creator’s nature and His attribute of bestowal is implanted within our egotistical desires. This implantation is accomplished by a spiritual process called “the breaking of the vessels” (a “vessel” is a desire or aim).

That process mixes the attribute of the creature - to take pleasure - with the attribute of the Creator - to render pleasure. Thus, man gets to choose which of the two is better and more complete.

The process of choice is called “the correction of the breaking.” It is a process that spreads over many life cycles under the providence of a special system designed to manage the correction, called “the world of Atzilut.”

At the end of the correction, the creature (the soul) wants to resemble the Creator in everything. Once it has gone through all the states of equivalence of form with the Creator, and through the comparison that the creature renders between itself and the Creator, the creature justifies the Creator entirely.

Equalizing the attributes (the equivalence of form) brings adhesion with the Creator, and, in this way, we grasp His thought. That, in short, is the whole story. The rest, you’ll just have to discover by yourself.

The Ability to Decide

Q: I still want to better understand the term, “analysis.” You say that scrutiny should be at the beginning of any learning process. Yet, since a true analysis cannot come at the beginning of the learning process, I wonder what efforts we can make in our desires to change ourselves? Can a prayer for this change come by itself?

A: We can never force ourselves to change. We can only change if we are changed from Above. If we are not granted new attributes from Above, nothing will help; not my words and not your will. Therefore, all we need do is make an effort. The change will come from Above, but it may not be as we would want it to be, but quite the contrary. Up Above, they know better…

Therefore, the first stages in the study and the advancement are the regular reading of all the texts. Read the books of Baal HaSulam, Rabbi Baruch Ashlag and mine, especially the parts you are attracted to. There is an Upper Light in the text that works to gradually change you. Just filling yourself with what is written in those books will enable you to analyze your condition from a point of view that is not corporeal or physical.

Then, the texts will begin to act within you, and the Light will gradually penetrate you and begin to change you gradually, though at first you will not be aware of it. As a result, you will acquire an inner knowledge, an ability to sort out which is closer to spirituality and which is farther.

Correcting Surrounding Light

Q: Where does the correcting force come from, and how exactly does it do it?

A: In order to help climb to the next degree, the superior degree lowers down its bottom part, called AHP ( Awzen, Hotem, Peh), to the degree below it. As result, we realize how we should change, how we can be corrected and where to receive the strength for it.

The correction is performed through the Surrounding Light, since in the lower vessel there is still no screen in which to take the Light. Just think about it: if it could take in the Light, it wouldn’t need to be corrected, would it? The correction always comes from the superior degree, to which the vessel should rise when it is not yet corrected. That is why the correction is always induced from the outside, through an Upper Force that works as a Surrounding Light.

The Screen: a Spiritual Decision

Q: The screen enables the soul to make decisions in the spiritual world. Do people in our world have a similar instrument they can rely on?

A: People in our world do not know anything yet, because they are blind and groping in the dark. They should only do what it takes to get them into the Upper World, meaning, they should attain a screen. We cannot appreciate a situation ahead of time and make decisions because we have not received the screen, the force of the Creator. We receive the screen as a result of the effect of the Light on the desire.

Q: How can we attain a screen if we have no Light?

A: There is a hidden effect to the Light; its influence can be aroused only by reading genuine Kabbalah texts. The screen is acquired through study, absorbing the texts, and connecting with the Rabbi. Therefore, it is important to read genuine texts, because even without understanding them we advance forward in the right direction. The hidden Light does influence!

As for the time a person is in our world, it is said in the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot that “Whatsoever thy hand attaineth to do by thy strength, that do (Ecclesiastes 9, 10).”

This is so because only after tremendous efforts can a person attain the effect of the hidden Upper Light. This will give one the power to be redelivered, enter the Upper World, and experience the reality of the sensation of the Creator. Then, the person will receive the very first screen, and behave in such as way as to please the Creator, as opposed to receiving for self alone.

Q: Why is the Creator called “Existence from Absence?”

A: In the beginning of creation, Malchut is called a point, a black point over the face of the white Light. After that, it spreads and covers the whole of the white Light and corrects itself in such a way that it shines like that Light, along with it. That Malchut is called “Existence from Absence,” because the “will to receive pleasure” did not exist prior to creation, and hence was not felt. When we begin to feel that our whole nature is actually a desire to delight in the Light of the Creator, we are then considered a creation.

The Iron Wall Around Us

Q: From the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot (item 1): “First, I find it necessary to destroy an iron wall that has separated us from the wisdom of Kabbalah, since the ruin of the Temple and up to our current generation…” I have three questions for you on this issue:

1. Of what is this wall built?

2. Under what conditions was it erected?

3. Why is this wall standing between Israel and Kabbalah?

A: 1. The iron wall is inside our hearts, between its egotistical intention“for ourselves” and the point in the heart, the screen, and the altruistic intention“for the Creator.”
2.The disciples of Rabbi Akiva (who taught, “Love thy fellow man as thy thyself”), experienced a downfall. They descended to the level of unfounded hatred, and with them, the entire Jewish people fell. There were earlier declines in spiritual level, such as the destruction of the FirstTemple, and from then on, such downfalls have continued to the present day. However, in our time begins the process of realizing the need for correction, and along with this, the rise of souls to the barrier and beyond it.

3.The barrier is an iron wall that separates us from the spiritual, from Kabbalah. By definition, Kabbalah is not a science of entering the higher world - that is only a part of it. Kabbalah is a method that teaches how to unite with the Creator and achieve the goal of creation, meaning Kabbalah actually starts beyond the barrier.

4 .The barrier stands between Israel and Kabbalah because the desire called “Israel” (with the aim“for the Creator”) is under the power of egoism (Egypt), surrounded by this wall. Today, this desire feels the need to escape from “Egypt.”

Crossing the barrier

Q: Please answer my question: Do people feel when they actually cross the barrier? If so, is this feeling lasting or temporary? I mean, can a person know certainty that he is already THERE?

A: We go through all processes both before and after crossing the barrier in full consciousness, but the crossing itself is impossible to predict in advance. Crossing the barrier is a one-way climb to the spiritual world, but never back to ours. We are aiming to achieve Lishma, the intention“to please the Creator,” complete unity with Him, like a fetus inside its mother’s womb. Hence once filled with such a sensation, we will realize that we are THERE.

Q: In “The Attainment of the Worlds Beyond” there is a line: The lowest spiritual level is the level at which the spiritual becomes more important than the material. Do I have it right – when a person values the spiritual more than the material he steps into the spiritual?

A: Yes, but it cannot be achieved coercively. It can only be achieved under the influence of the Higher Light, as must all changes we go through.

Q: Does a person who is in the spiritual need a rabbi, a group, and books?

A: The answer is yes, and more than before. However, at this point the student already understands how much they are needed!

Q: Is it right to say that ... one who is not in the spiritual evaluates everything through egoism?

A: Yes.

Q: Therefore, would you say that a person who is in the spiritual evaluates everything through altruism, since egoism has been corrected?

A: Yes, to the extent that it really has been corrected.

Mitzvot in Kabbalah

Q: What is a precept (Mitzva) and what is a prayer in Kabbalah?

A: A prayer in Kabbalah is a precise and written instruction that was written in a Kabbalistic prayer book from instructions given by Kabbalists. It is the management of the system of creation.

Observing Mitzvot means observing spiritual laws. The Mitzvot, in and of themselves, don’t have any rational basis, because a Mitzva (singular for Mitzvot) is an action and law in the Upper World. Those are (altruistic) rules of bestowal, of giving; therefore, their reflection in an egoistic world, such as our own, appears strange and irrational.

There isn’t any natural reason to observe Mitzvot. They can be observed or not observed. You will not break any of the rules of our world if you do not observe them. However, a person who wants to become equal with the upper laws on an external level does observe them.

One should want to observe the Mitzvot in our world, too, according to one’s level of spiritual development, and not because of some fear or some anticipated reward. They should only be observed from a desire to equalize with the Creator in as many parameters as possible.

Q: How do Kabbalists relate to observing Mitzvot?

A: Many people think that, for some reason, Kabbalah slights Mitzvot. But Kabbalists refer to observing Mitzvot as any other religious person does. Kabbalah even praises Mitzvot and gives them a higher, spiritual meaning. This is because, according to Kabbalah, a “ Mitzva” is a term that relates to the spiritual world and not to ours.

An ordinary person thinks that Mitzvot represent the Creator’s desire for people to observe them when they are in this world. But the wisdom of Kabbalah explains that Mitzvot denote a spiritual nature, laws of the Upper World, by which the souls and the operations of the Creator live.

Just as there are natural laws in our world (gravity, electricity, chemical laws etc.) so there are laws in the spiritual world, and they are called Mitzvot, as simple as that. We must observe the rules of the world we live in because we exist in them and cannot refrain from obeying them. By studying them, we can utilize them as efficiently as possible, because we cannot act against nature.

The natural laws of the spiritual world are sharp and crystal clear to the extent that a person can be in them, meaning in the Upper World. If a person does not observe them, that individual only feels and exists in our world.

But we can only observe Mitzvot, meaning the laws of the Upper World, if we have a “screen,” the aim “for the Creator,” by having a desire opposite to our natural one, and detachment from our egos.

Consequently, the Mitzvot can be observed to the extent that we retire from our egos, and the level of our submission to the Upper World.

Is it possible to retain the attribute of receiving for self (egoistic) in our world, while observing the laws of bestowal, of giving (altruism), of the Upper World, the spiritual Mitzvot?

No, it is impossible. The laws can only be acted out mechanically, in substance, according to how they reflect their roots.

That is why, by performing what the Torah writes about, with our attributes in this world, we are observing Mitzvot, the existence of their symbols in this world, although not observing in the spiritual sense.

Q: What is the origin of observing Mitzvot?

A: Mitzvot in our world are a replica of actions performed in the spiritual world. Those actions, which are also called Mitzvot, are performed in the spiritual world using the screen, which is the aim “for the Creator.” Only actions with the screen constitute the essence of spiritual laws.

When we rise to the spiritual world, we do not become just another resident, but our presence there stems from our observance of the laws of the degree that we belong to. For example, we can exist, walk, move, and fly, only because we learned to use the law of gravity correctly. The same principle applies to a person in the spiritual world. By observing the spiritual laws (called “observing Mitzvot”), we enter it and become a resident. When all 613 Mitzvot are observed, it means that we will follow all the laws and observe them to the fullest.

Q: What is the place of Mitzvot in Kabbalah?

A: Mitzvot are, in fact, spiritual laws and their place is above our world. In order to really observe them, one must first rise to the spiritual, Upper World. We observe the Mitzvot in our world only because we want to somehow equalize with the Upper One.

We do not affect anything by observing Mitzvot only in our world. This, however, does not negate the observance of Mitzvot in our world by those who still cannot observe them in the Upper World. All Kabbalists were as religious as everyone else, in the sense that they observed Mitzvot in our world, with their corporeal body.

We have to understand that observing Mitzvot in our world only demonstrates a desire to observe them in the Upper World, nothing more. For example: on Passover ( Pessach) and on Sukkoth, Kabbalists are particularly meticulous about observing Mitzvot that relate to these holidays, and even more so than others. Passover symbolizes the rejection of leavened food (will to receive), or egoism.

On Sukkoth, the thatch symbolizes the screen, the increase of the power of faith above reason. The rejection of the will to receive and the screen are the foundations of any spiritual ascent, which is why Kabbalists especially cherish those holidays and stress their importance by observing their actions in this world.

Q: Does a person who studies Kabbalah have to observe Mitzvot?

A: No. You can begin to study without any preparation. No one will ask you anything. Afterwards, you will decide for yourself whether to observe Mitzvot or not.

Q: Can one attain spirituality simply by observing Mitzvot?

A: No one has ever attained the revelation of the Creator by merely observing physical Mitzvot. This is because one who takes the path of Pshat (literal Torah), cannot feel the necessity for spirituality. One comes to Kabbalah because of a different need.
I have already said that in our main textbook, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, which is a complex and profound composition, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag asks: “What is the meaning of my life?” Did he have to write more than two thousand pages of completely mathematical text to answer it?

Without understanding what happens in the spiritual worlds, you cannot understand what happens in our own, or answer the question, “What is the meaning of my life?”

Kabbalistic meaning of Mitzvot

Q: In your last book, you wrote about Mitzvot (commandments). It's very difficult to observe something without any understanding of its meaning or the corresponding laws in the Upper World. Where can I find materials on the Kabbalistic meaning of Mitzvot?

A: Read the answer to the question, "Can I change the world?” The meaning of Mitzvot is that when you observe them in their true sense, not by your hand and legs, but with the aim directed toward the Creator, then you can grasp Him in this desire, become equal with Him, and merge with Him. This way you reach out to Him and this is the real meaning of any Mitzva.
In our world, observing Mitzvot is necessary only to fulfill the act and place Kabbalah studies above it.

Correct the Aim

Q: You often use the term, “aim.” Which should I prefer when the aim contradicts the Mitzva?

A: A Mitzva is a correction of man’s inner intentions, which makes the phrasing of the question incorrect. We need not correct anything but the aim, meaning our intent to delight ourselves alone, the aim for ourselves.

Man’s nature is not to take anybody else into consideration, and to work only for himself. That is man’s essence. Our only duty is to alter that nature, and that is the only thing that we can call “correction.”

There can be no contradiction between a Mitzva and an aim. The Mitzva is a gradual process of correction of the aim, from“for me,” to ”for the Creator.” Man must correct that aim at all cost. The mechanical acts that a person performs in this world, which are called Mitzvot, are not spiritual Mitzvot, but customs whose actual spiritual meaning is unintelligible to us.

Everyone MustPass Correction

Q: I understand that one Kabbalist can do the work of seven billion people. But I don’t understand why everyone (including women, children, old and young, retarded, etc.) must feel the pull toward the Creator and go through the 125 degrees to accomplish the final correction.

A: The structure of the collective soul -- the First Man -- consists of parts that are called Galgalta and Eynaim ( GE), and parts called Awzen, Hotem, Peh ( AHP). GE are the vessels that a Kabbalist works with in our world. They are vessels sufficient for the unconscious preparation of everyone in the world to have a point in the heart. But after that, everyone must travel alone. By “everyone,” I mean every individual soul.

There are partial and incomplete life cycles, and there are those who walk in pairs with other cycles and thus correct one another, such as a retarded child and its agonizing mother. We cannot see the goal and the common correction of souls that are linked like that because they are very complicated and involve many cycles.

We are not supposed to occupy ourselves with these matters, as they only divert us from the main issue: if we are given a place, a life and an understanding of the goal, we must act!

When you attain the goal, you will understand everything, whereas now it will only confuse you, causing you to possibly miss your chance in this life.

Thus, our desires to understand what is happening do not match our level. They are sent to us from Above so that we will fight them, not follow them.

One Hundred and Twenty Five Degrees

Q: To what extent can you separate between each of the 125 degrees? Let’s take, a Kabbalist who has reached the spiritual world and is in, for example, Bina of the world of Assiya. Is the Kabbalist aware of exactly where he is?

A: Since even the smallest part of reality is comprised of all the other parts, it is thus made of ten Sefirot. Therefore, in the very first attainment, there is already awareness of all existence, since the whole existence is no more than ten Sefirot, only 613 times higher, clearer and more detailed.

In other words, after reaching the first degree, one can already sense all the parts of reality, but in a way that’s appropriate to the first degree.

The three degrees of the soul’s development - conception, infancy and adulthood -- exist in each of the 613 degrees. Of course, unless one has gone through all three states in the lower degree, one cannot attain them. But after the cycle of conception, infancy and adulthood, a person can already understand all the situations, even to the end of correction.

However, the end of correction itself is unattainable because it has no parallel in lower degrees. The end of correction is the last degree. It is called “the coming of the Messiah,” which comes after the Light that corrects the evil forces, the shells.

The Way to Change

Q: Can I change myself without studying Kabbalah?

A: No. Changing means attaining the attributes of the Upper Light. That is why only through the Upper Light, which shines from Above, can the correction be performed. This is why it is the only way to change yourself.

Only the Screen Can Correct Us

Q: Why do you say it is impossible to improve one’s character? I think one can improve one’s character with the help of psychology, but it is a waste of time. If there is something negative in a person, it must be the best thing for their correction.

A: It is correct that nothing we receive at birth can be corrected. The Creator initially designed it in a rigid, unchanging form. Hence the name. Domem, deriving from the word, Dmama (stillness).
The only thing that does change is the intention behind a spiritual desire, namely, our attitude toward the Creator. Only the intention“for His sake,” born in us as a result of our efforts, is new. The rest cannot be changed.

It is only revealed in us according to the need and ability to create a new intention, “for the sake of the Creator.” That is how we study it – there is the vessel, the Light, and the screen that is created by us.

The Cause of Fasting is Misinterpretation of Kabbalah

Q: Rabbi, Kabbalah does not deal with physically observing Mitzvot. But if I want to change, push myself forward, and rise spiritually can I use the system of fasting for that purpose, such as 5 days of fasting, then a break and so on continuously? Or is it of no use at all? Naturally, in addition to the fasting, there would be Kabbalah studies, listening to lessons, etc…

A:Fasting will never help you improve yourself or become spiritual. It will only make you think of your“spirituality,” nurture your vanity, and make you demand a reward from the Creator …
I suggest you have a big snack and move forward! Eat right, keep fit and study Kabbalah.

Our Behavior and the Spiritual Worlds

Q: In your articles and books you repeatedly stress that our behavior in this world is in no way connected with the spiritual worlds. Therefore, one may conclude that man can pass the barrier between our world and the spiritual world, and still behave immorally in this world (commit serious crimes, treat people badly, and so on). Is this true?

A: Since all the corrections must be carried out within, achieving the goal of creation means correcting the desire. No external actions can be defined as such. Only changing the desire itself from“for one’s own sake” to“for the Creator’s sake” is regarded as a correction.
Only by inner efforts can people bring about such changes in themselves and attract the surrounding Light. When their properties are thus changed, it will lead them to the Creator. Any outside pressure is only superficial.

We see how external restrictions fail to make us better (correction facilities, jails, etc.). They only conceal the vice and make us unable to quickly correct it.

Hence, unlike all other educational systems, Kabbalah calls upon man “to study with the proper intention in a group, with genuine books under a Kabbalist’s guidance, attract the powerful Higher Light, and achieve the goal in this very lifetime.”

The Light itself changes us; there is no other force capable of correctly doing it. Thus, Kabbalah is the only means of correction. When the time comes, all immoral traits will be mended, but for the time being they are needed exactly as they are. The evil was made by the Creator and one should not destroy it, but rather turn it into good.

Q: Can it be said that the changes in character are actually an expression of what was already in them? Though these previously hidden traits seem new, was their “changed character” actually sitting inside and only now surfaced?

A: We are surprised when normally reserved Englishmen or Germans suddenly turn into barbaric murderers. Here are some insights on this:

There is a story about a man who tried to convince a Kabbalist that man’s nature could be changed. He said that even cats can be made well mannered and invited the Kabbalist to see this for himself. The guest came and, upon his host’s invitation, the doors opened and cats dressed as waiters began to bring in the dishes. Everyone cried out in amazement, but while no one noticed, the Kabbalist took a mouse out of his pocket and set it free. When the cats saw a mouse on the floor, they abandoned everything and rushed after it.

We are caged within our nature, and correction is possible only if we receive the power to change from the outside. Any inner power is a part of our nature; hence it doesn’t correct us, but only puts on an external disguise.

Good Deeds Come Only From Above

Q: What does doing good deeds in our inner work mean?

A: Good deeds are everything that leads towards the purpose of Creation and towards uniting with the Creator by matching our properties with His. Every act of correcting our souls and assisting other souls as parts of the collective soul is called a “good deed” because each one reveals that “Thou art good, and doest good.”

Q: How can you aspire to do good deeds when you know in advance that it’s impossible?

A: Try it and see. How else can you expect to know who you are?

The Light comes as a result of our efforts, and only if we aim for the good can we learn how bad we really are. So if we believe we are good, and testify to it, we reveal precisely what phase of spiritual development we have reached.

The most important thing to remember is to read as much as possible; this way you’ll feel your true nature much faster.

Sensing the Good

Q: How do I avoid pain?

A: The Creator leads the world and is in constant control of it. There is nothing in the universe but the Creator. Creation is beneath Him and the Creator is the sole ruler. There is no other force but Him.

We fully grasp this when we become Kabbalists, but only our readiness and how much we can adapt our mental attributes to the Creator’s Light will determine whether or not we receive what the Creator wants to give us.

The less we can adapt to the Light, the more we suffer. The aim of the Creator is always for the best, but our own senses turn good into anguish when our attributes do not match those of the Light.

It all depends on our own attributes. If they match what we receive from the Creator, we feel the true intention of the Creator. The wisdom of Kabbalah reveals how we can alter ourselves until we reach a perfect match with the Creator, ultimately feeling only the good and the eternal.

Kabbalah teaches how to receive correctly from the Creator, and feel what’s coming to us from Him.

Change: A Reincarnation

Q: Why is it that, when you are in a certain situation, you cannot even imagine the possibility of a different situation?

A: Every situation is considered a life cycle. If the situations are extreme, they are called a “catapult,” meaning the running around of the soul from one end to the other after the body dies. The sensations of the self and the people around one in every situation are called a “world.” Thus, each time one enters a new state, that person is actually in a new world.

The ego, whose root is in Malchut de Ein Sof ( Malchut of the infinite), does not change. What changes is the screen over the ego. This changes the extent of its connection with the upper nine Sefirot, the attributes of the Creator. That way, when Malchut feels that the nine Sefirot are outside it, it feels itself in a completely separate world. If it weren’t for those nine Sefirot, Malchut would only feel the pleasure or the lack of it in itself.

But when it bonds with the attributes of the Creator, it feels Him in them. That feeling can be either conscious (when a person is in the spiritual world), or unconscious (if one feels only this world). It can be felt inwardly (in the senses) or outwardly (concealed), and we call it “the world,” or “my world.”

Thus, you can see how miniature changes in your natural attributes, in your smallest particles, generate a completely different picture in you. That picture is so different, it makes it hard to say that we are dealing with the same person. And indeed, these are two different people. Their insides are different, but their outside - the physical body - remains the same. That is why it is said that at any given moment, meaning after every change, we are different, reborn.

Contradictory Opinions

Q: Why is it that I always doubt ideas that I myself presented a minute ago?

A: The truth is that everything changes within you all the time. The contradictions in you astonish you, and indeed it is astonishing to see how such many contradictory views can exist at the same time in one person, especially when changing from one minute to the next. This, in fact, is how you are taught that everything is given to you from Above, that everything stems from the Creator, where all the contradictions merge into a single perfection.

And it is thanks to that merging, and your closeness with the Creator, that you’ll be able to attain the contradictions within you.

Estimation and Self-Scrutiny

Q: How can I get used to analyzing after each act? If I fail to analyze it, does it mean that the act was superfluous?

A: Only reading Kabbalah over many months can bring you to feel and appreciate what goes on inside you, assess your thoughts and examine your actions from the point of view of the Kabbalah. Then the scrutiny will begin, meaning the ability to criticize yourself from the perspective of the truth.

Before one attains this ability, a person is like any other beast, because there’s nothing within but one’s animate nature. Only when the seed of the future sublime soul appears can a person appreciate self correctly. Only then does one stop being a beast and become a man, for “man” is that part of God within us.

A New Brain

Q: Since I’ve begun reading Kabbalah books, I feel as though my brain has been reprogrammed. It seems that all my moral values have been turned upside-down. I think more and more about simple questions whose answers I thought I already knew. Can you explain what is happening to me?

A: What you are experiencing is the beginning of an understanding of new values, a new appreciation of the world around you, a new and more mature approach to life. These changes take quite long time to happen, because it is impossible to make such drastic alterations instantaneously, and to bring a person from this world to the next. This is because the human brain, the nervous system and the physiological systems, the links and the relationships with the outer world, all lay heavily on us and present a counter-weight.

But you have already begun the changes in the soul, so keep asking your questions. That way you should begin to feel the first results of the study on your inner world.

During the Ascent

Q: When I feel myself in ascent, when I feel a purpose in the spiritual work, do I have to remind myself that the revelation of the Creator is only in my corporeal vessels, and start looking for deficiencies in that state in order to avoid falling?

A: An ascent is meant to be a springboard to rise even higher, not to descend. Read a lot and as regularly as possible to find in the texts what you could not see before. Do not, under any condition, enjoy the feeling of the ascent itself. Instead, control yourself, and along with the feeling of the ascent remember the very cause of the ascent and the contact with the source of that state.

The whole difference between the first and last conditions of creation is in man’s sensation of the Creator. It is like the example of the host and the guest: the guest takes what’s been prepared for him, but he doesn’t feel who gave it to him. Only the feeling of the giver differentiates the two situations.

That is why we must try not to get disconnected from thoughts about the Creator when we meet with obstructions. The disturbances that He sends us are all in order to strengthen our relationship with Him.

The minute you forget about the Creator and focus only on the sensation of pleasure at your situation, you will begin to decline because the pleasure will be for yourself and not for the advancement.

It is not self-affliction, but rather a learning process meant to link the cause and consequence together. You can learn the rest from the article, “There is None Else Beside Him.”

New Desire, New Correction

Q: The spiritual world is a world of altruistic desires. Our world (this world) is a world of egoistic desires. One who puts a screen over the desires of this world and acquires altruistic desires of the world of Assiya will never be able to want the sensations of “for oneself.” If that is the case, how can we ever climb to higher worlds?

A: Everyone has private desires that were given to them from Above in order to feel them in this world. These desires can be measured for quality and quantity. When we can restrict them (avoid using our desires only for ourselves), that is when we cross the barrier, the gateway between this world and the spiritual world.

The ascent to the higher degrees comes after we acquire a screen -- after the correction of the intent to receive for ourselves, over the new and greater desires to enjoy. Afterwards, these desires are used as much as possible, as long as the intent is to give to the Creator, to enjoy for Him. By doing so, we bring Him as great a pleasure as He brings us.

You’re right. If one has nothing to correct, one cannot rise. If one altered the aim on the new desires from ”for me” to“for the Creator,” only then can one ascend.

The ascent is the receiving of a new egoistic desire and its correction. It is the alteration of the intent from“for me (shells)” to“for the Creator (holiness).” The measure of the ascent corresponds to the intensity of the corrected desire.

Once a person has been given a desire with the intent“for himself” and has corrected it to an aim “for the Creator,” that person rises to a higher spiritual degree. The old desire, however, is replaced with an even greater new desire with the intent for himself, and again the intent must be corrected. That is how we progress.

The Right Aim

Q: How do I create the right intent within me?

A: In order to feel the Creator, we must build within us the intent to receive pleasure in order to benefit Him. For this purpose, we must read the right texts. There is only one force that can free us and bring us out of our nature and place in us the right aim – the reforming Light of the Kabbalah.

There are special books that were written especially for that purpose, and only there is the Light strong enough to reform. These are the writings of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, the writings of the Ari and the Zohar (written by Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai).

Adapting, Preferring, But Not Waiving

Q: Can you say that relinquishing the pleasures of this world shows that one has a desire to live in the spiritual world, or is that not enough?

A: The Upper World, meaning man’s sensation of the Creator, is a better state than the state of this world, so we must aspire to it as something perfect and not out of fear of punishment.

In this world, too, before we attain the Upper World as something sublime, we indulge ourselves with pleasures. In fact, this is necessary in order to spiritually develop and build the right kind of connection with the Creator. A person who nullifies the desire for pleasure cannot continue to develop.

For this reason, it makes no sense to reject this world. . We must simply learn how to accept this world in order to enjoy it in a complete and eternal manner. Here is where we can utilize the wisdom of the Kabbalah, and for that purpose it is good to do the following:

1.Feel the Upper World, meaning the Creator.

2.Be convinced that the Upper World is far better than our own.

3.Understand the method of adaptation to that state.

4.Realize that situation and be perfect and eternal in every way.

The Need For Contact

Q: You always recommend reading. What can I do if it’s impossible to read at some point in the day, yet at that time I feel a need to bond with the Creator?

A: At all times and under any circumstances you can find the Creator within you, calling you to bond with Him. The problem is that the connection keeps cutting off. The Creator wants to deepen the connection, so the minute a person gets in any kind of contact with Him, He immediately erects obstacles along that person’s way. This is done so that a person will sustain the contact despite those obstacles, and thus strengthen the bond.

It’s true that man cannot always sustain contact, but he’ll gradually succeed.

Before the Revelation

Q: What can be done when I still don’t have a permanent contact with the Creator? Can you feel the Creator before there is a screen?

A: It is impossible to anticipate the next step. On the contrary, creation is purposely made in such a way that we cannot foresee the next step, otherwise we’d be like a thief who runs before the crowd yelling, “Catch the thief, catch the thief!”

You needn’t be sorry for the things that are still not corrected in you, things that prevent you from moving forward to bonding with the Creator. In fact, it is precisely that regret that pushes you to continue working on your nature and wish to be redeemed from it, from the intent“for yourself.” That separation between your heart and your mind, between the desire to enjoy and the intent“for yourself” will indeed happen.

It is written (Psalms 126, 1): “When the Lord brought back those that returned to Zion, we were like unto them that dream.” This is a transition stage similar to when a child is born; it comes over us from Above without our being aware of it. But past the barrier the work is entirely different.

Only intensive reading of genuine Kabbalistic texts hastens the way. I recommend that you read the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot ( Breaking the Iron Wall, item 155).

Attempts to Feel the Spiritual

Q: I’m trying to feel the restriction, the screen and the corrected desire. Is it possible to implement them in my everyday life?

A: Anything you think you can implement, implement. Otherwise, look around you. It does not matter that later you will realize that what you see is not exactly accurate.

Use incorrect analogies; it doesn’t matter. In our world, everything is allowed because this world is here to teach, and the mistakes we make in it are not considered mistakes. Rabbi Baruch Ashlag always used to compare it to how in the past, when paper was expensive, a child would be given a piece of slate to write on so as not to waste precious paper.

At any given moment, we are faced with a different picture of the world. Each new degree is a negation of the previous. Therefore, take your sins and your mistakes in the right proportion -- you should correct them, because without doing so you cannot rise to the Creator. When you use your desires with the right intent, you will rise up to the most perfect and eternal state.

Confidence and Faith

Q: Fear of disappointment stops us from being happy in the present. Does it also hold back my progress?

A: For Kabbalists, attack is an ongoing operation. The fear is not the fear itself, but a fear that results from the lack of ability to feel the purpose.

Feeling the purpose is called “faith,” and it is faith that gives you the confidence to tackle pain. The disciple becomes a creature clinging to the purpose of life only to the extent that he or she can glorify the greatness of the purpose of creation. Therefore, if we work on glorifying the goal, nothing seems scary.

In addition, what is important about the goal is its connection with the Creator. After all, the Creator Himself is the goal! If you constantly strive to reach the goal, send for thoughts about Him within you, link anything that happens to you with Him, and then you can really do anything. You will acquire confidence, and the fear will leave.

There cannot be disappointments if the perfect and eternal leads you to Him. So all you need to do is to demand to feel Him!

The Awakening of Feelings

Q: Ever since I was a kid, I believed my feelings weren’t real. They awaken in me a sensation of boredom and a desire to escape them. I want to feel something real!

A: This is a correct perception of the world we feel. The world is not felt for what it is, but more like a dream, as King David wrote, “When the Lord brought back those that returned to Zion, we were like unto them that dream,” (Psalms 126, 1).

When the Creator returns us to Him, we feel that until that time, we were dreaming.

Unnecessary Fears

Q: Is there something I should not touch while I am working on myself?

A: I don’t understand the fears and worries of those who think that during the study of the Kabbalah we can“touch” something dangerous, something beyond our understanding, or even fall to dangerous places.

These fears are unfounded, and only a complete revelation of the universe can change our inner world. It forces us to change because we can no longer lie to ourselves, and a deliberate concealment on our part creates inner compromise, which stops the whole process of change and spiritual development.

When I first started to study with my rabbi, Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, I was amazed at how deeply a person should dig. Bring everything to the Light, be afraid of nothing (although it can be very unpleasant!), and then ask the Creator to allow you to see even deeper.

The Righteous and the Sinner – Constant Struggle

Q: When the righteous “look” at the sinner, the sinner disappears briefly, then returns to “pay a visit” more wickedly! And as soon as the righteous close their eyes, the victorious sinner is back. How can I keep my righteous vision ever vigilant?

A: This is the constant inner work of the righteous and the sinner in us. But it is said that there is no need to try to destroy our sinner. Instead, we should turn that person into a righteous person. Then, the work will start to be creative. The work itself continues beyond the barrier and until the end of correction.

How Do I Avoid Falling?

Q: It is probably impossible to avoid falling altogether. But can we predict the falls before they come? After all, one never falls immediately. If that is true, perhaps it’s possible to try not to fall, or at least make it easier. Can the attempt to avoid falling today help me in my future situations?

A: There is no remedy against descents, and there cannot be one. That is because a descent is a fall into new desires of self-reception. Once corrected, they bring you up to the next degree. Each “next degree” is different from its former degree, in that you receive stronger desires. As a result, the power of correction “to please the Creator” is more intense.

They say that “holiness increases and never decreases,” but prior to correction, each new desire with the intent “for my own pleasure” seems like a descent to us, or a fall. However. That specific addition, once corrected, will seem to us to be the cause of the ascent.

The new desire is received when we fall into the stock of desires for pleasure, which is in us by the nature of our creation. Only then do we slowly begin to live with it and correct it, hence the falls. In fact, this is how we receive the substance for correction.

It is, however, possible to avoid a fall in many cases, meaning to receive the new, uncorrected desires without a spiritual decline and loss of contact with the Creator. This requires a different method: you consciously control the situation, choosing to face by yourself a stronger desire for pleasure, thereby strengthening your contact with the Creator.

The method is to search within for the deficiencies in your intents while still in the ascent, thus avoiding the need to wait for the Creator to “drop” them on you.

There is a story told by Rabbi Baruch Ashlag about an old man walking along, bent downward as though searching for something, knowing that there are still many desires for self-indulgence that he has yet to encounter in order to correct them and thus rise.

We define our own situations, according to our own feelings. Therefore, we can and should aspire to exit a situation that we define as a “fall.” We are where our thoughts are.

But other than that, a fall is any thought that is not of the Creator, but of other things. It doesn’t have to be a bad feeling, or one of depression; it can actually come while you are in a good mood, desiring to enjoy life, but without a connection to the Creator and the purpose of creation.

Therefore, the beginning of the fall can occur when we feel at the top of the world. Suddenly, in that blissful situation, we disconnect from the thought of the Creator and simply enjoy our good fortune.

At that very moment, even unconsciously and uncontrollably, the fall begins, even as we are still enjoying life. Suddenly, we realize that the fall has taken place, and that we are already down.

So let us learn from this old man, who, while still on the ascent, is already looking for ways to improve his situation. He begins to criticize his thoughts and his connection with the Creator, specifically when he is filled with the Light of Wisdom. Because he so badly wants to find his deficiencies (in his intent“for the Creator”), he doesn’t fall because he turns all thoughts that are not of the Creator, if they ever come, into a correction, which then leads to a further ascent.

Spiritual Ascents and Descents

Q: What does it mean to say that a descent brings another descent, and in between we will not feel any ascent take place?

A: When a person regards every situation as a descent, meaning when one is dissatisfied with everything, it is an excellent situation. If that person were satisfied with the present situation, progress would stop. Clearly, it would be best if one didn’t stop at all until the end of correction!

But if it is one long descent is it felt as several descents, with no ascents between them? It must be that the ascent is felt as several separated ascents because it relates to several areas: aims, the form of the pleasure, the feeling of disappointment in former goals, and the giving of new meanings to old values.

Generally speaking, all these are excellent situations. It is through them that the desires are created, and the vessels in which to perceive the Creator. After all, there is nothing more opposite to man than the Creator. Therefore, ultimately, the Creator is sensed only in the opposite sensations to those sensations that we feel toward ourselves.

An Abrupt Chain Reaction

Q: Please explain the meaning of “One sin leads to another.”

A: “One sin leads to another” means that one violation leads to another. Man receives pleasure from theft, stealing someone else’s Higher Light for himself. Damaged vessels start demanding more, consequently, “he who receives 100 wishes for 200, he who receives 200 wishes for 400.”
When we fall to a lower level, it generates overall weakness and leads to further falling. The new and lower surroundings tempt us with new sins (receiving for ourselves) distancing us from the Higher Light and obstructing the Light’s influence on the vessel.

Adapting to Spiritual Downfalls

Q: When downfalls come, I start cursing the entire world and lose the desire to live. Afterwards, while reading your articles, I feel ashamed. But the downfalls return, and they are very deep, and there is no way to get used to the fact that it’s only a game sent from Above, just an exercise. Any advice?

A: Practice and experience will turn feelings into wisdom and you will begin to evaluate the states you are in not just from your feelings, but also mentally, measuring, changing and comparing them, and seeing the connections.
Everything comes with time. How much time it will take to balance between the feelings and the brain, to long for the Creator not just emotionally but also mentally, depends on the efforts you apply.

Sticking With the Ascent

Q: During a spiritual ascent, when you’re supposed to think about a lower situation, does that mean that you have to artificially descend to that situation?

A: Only the evil force pushes us to suffer and“eat our own flesh.” Never, under any circumstances, should you look for lower situations because “one is where one’s thoughts are.” The lower the situation one is tied to, the more distant one is from the Creator.

Q: Is it true that when in low situations, it is good to remind myself of good situations?

A: No. It’s not good to remind yourself how good you felt during the ascent, because you’ve already fallen from that. If you now rise up again by remembering that ascent, it is not a correction or a new distinction. Quality-wise, your current degree will be no better than your former one.

Therefore, it is best to search for new reasons to rise, make new assessments about the greatness of the Creator, the purpose of creation, and the nothingness of your own situation, etc.

Speed as Frequency of Corrections

Q: In Kabbalah, there is a notion of “speed of passing states.” Could you please explain what “speed” is in the spiritual sense? And how can we feel that it depends on us?

A: In the spiritual realm (of sensations), advancement is defined as “the changing of feelings,” determined by changing the attitude toward the Creator. The subtle nuances of these relations, “I vs. the Creator” form in us the sensation of spiritual motion. All the other changes are either not spiritual or preparatory.

In other words, movement is a changing of intentions from “for me” to “for the Creator.” The frequency of such changes determines the speed of the movement in the spiritual realm.

Discovering the Light Within the Darkness

Q: I’ve realized how selfish I am to people around me. It is terrible! I dream about changing. Is this the right request; is that the prayer that He awaits from me? After all, I want to correct my relationship with people, not with Him.

A: You describe your situation correctly and analyze it well. You’re right. Now you are being shown that one of your attributes is bad, but you are not yet shown how it feels compared to the qualities of the Creator.

The Creator is still hidden from you, and you still don’t feel Him. But it is through that comparison, through the gradual discovery of your negative attributes, that you’ll begin to feel the Creator as something opposite to your own nature on the one hand, and as something near, soft and kind to you, on the other.

Then you’ll understand the principle of “as far as light excelleth darkness” (Ecclesiastes 2, 13). We are all vessels, and therefore can only understand the Light as something opposite to us, or else we would feel it as pleasure and not as another attribute.

He and I

Q: How can I go through all these difficult times?

A: If I feel something negative about myself, at first I am infuriated. I want to scream, to be free from the distress. Then I calm down and try to understand that the Creator sent this sensation to me for a reason. If I prepare myself ahead of time to realize that everything that happens to me comes from the Creator, that He is the One who sends me the problem, along with the sensation that it comes from Him, that situation is called “concealment of the face.”

And we awaken, because we are now faced with a problem. It is not only a blow, but a special message from Above. Here begins our spiritual work. We, who cannot see that there is a message from the Creator that comes along with the blow, are more like animals.

If we understand that the Creator is the Source of this blow in order to wake us up, we begin to relate to things from the perspective of “the point in the heart.”

We must always try to remember that there are only two realities in the world: “Him” and “me.” Even after you have accepted that everything that happened to you came deliberately from the Creator, there is still a great deal of spiritual work to be done.

The first thing to remember is that you must never simply settle for the understanding that the Creator sent you this message, and then calm down, and continue as though nothing happened. By doing so, you are seemingly erasing that message, and are waiving a chance for advancement that was given to you by the Creator.

From Despair to Bliss

Q: I feel bad for not having a true desire, one that doesn’t let me sleep. Can we genuinely say at some point that we have done everything we possibly could to attain our goal? How can we reach it?

A: It is as Baal HaSulam writes: “There is no happier moment in one’s life than when one finds oneself completely desperate of one’s own strength. Meaning, that he has already toiled and done everything he could possibly think of and found no cure. For then one is worthy of a genuine prayer for the Lord’s help, because one knows for certain that one’s own efforts will be of no avail. But as long as one still feels that something might still be done, one might still be able to do, one’s prayer is not complete.”

Therefore, it is necessary to quickly make the full amount of effort, in quality and quantity, in order to attain complete awareness of the necessity of God’s help. But other than that, it is always vital to work on the need to attain the purpose; otherwise all that you will harvest is despair.

Here is a winning recipe: Read, translate and help spread the Kabbalah (the most helpful of all), pray and ask of the Creator, as much as possible, and what the mind will not do, time will.

Changing Situations

Q: How do situations change? For example, when we feel powerless and realize that this is our true state and there is nothing we can do about it at the moment, how do we exit to another situation? Or should we accumulate a certain number of such situations until the Creator Himself delivers us, because we are passive and cannot demand strongly?

A: Our changes and ups and downs do not depend directly on the amount or quality of our labor, the power of our study, or the work of our group. We can never see that the increase in changing situations depends on our labor because we cannot see the difference between our current and future situations.

Sometimes, although we put in a great deal of effort, we suddenly feel the next situation as harder and harsher, or we suddenly experience rapid progress, while we have done almost nothing!

Only in the future, when we have passed these situations, will we understand their causes and effects. Therefore, we must go on regardless of the immediate results, because the explanation will be given only at the end, when its necessity will also be understood. However, we are built to always want rewards for our actions, the response that we think we should get. Over time, we gradually gain patience and experience, even when we do not get an immediate answer to every question. One simply toils on.

On Whom Do We Depend?

Q: After having read the Rambam, whom do I ultimately depend on, myself or the Creator?

A: Everything is in the hands of man, and everything is in the hands of the Creator (“all is foreseen and permission is granted”). This is exactly what The Rambam dealt with. One should say before the act that everything depends on him: “If I am not for me, who is for me?”

But faced with the outcome, one should say that it is the Creator’s will and the Creator’s doing, since “there is none else beside Him.” We are always within the boundaries of time and cannot perceive how it is possible to be outside them. Therefore we cannot imagine how everything can depend on us, and at the same time depend on Him.

Where’s the “I”?

Q: It is said that in the beginning of every act I should say: “If I’m not for me, who is for me?” and at the end I should say: “There is none else beside Him.” How do I relate to emotions during the act, and where am I in my decisions?

A: Exactly because we still lack the sensation of the sameness between our “self” and the Creator, we should artificially awaken a situation where we are, so to speak, completely cleaved to the Creator, as though there is no difference between us and the Creator.

Then there cannot be the question, “Who is the performer, me or the Creator?” By awakening the state of adhesion and with our power of will and yearning for the Creator, we will begin to, over time, actually feel that state.

But that does not conclude our work. Progress is possible only through contradictions. Therefore, during the act and before it, we should ignore the existence of the Creator and force ourselves to act, not in false pretense, but as though the Creator is really gone.

These exercises are necessary because suddenly, in that phase, we begin to “believe in the Creator,” “to be righteous,” although we cannot actually feel the Creator.

Q: Why does man prefer to believe, rather than to act directly and realistically?

A: It is because the evil forces, the shells (our corrupted desires) that are not cleaved to the Creator intentionally stop us from acting. This makes it possible for us to try to correct these thoughts and desires.

You might say that all these obstacles originate in the Creator: in the beginning, He sends us thoughts that He exists. It is His obstacles that prevent us from acting. At the end, He sends us thoughts that He does not exist, and those, too, are obstacles that we must overcome.

All these obstacles regarding the presence or absence of the Creator exist solely to give us a chance to make an effort. That effort corrects our thoughts and our intentions.

Ultimately, man sticks with the thoughts of the Creator. He does not follow the thoughts of the Creator, but rather cleaves to them, meaning that man’s thoughts and the Creator’s become identical.

Baal HaSulam once wrote about it in a letter:

“I have already said on behalf of the Baal Shem Tov, that before a Mitzva is performed one mustn’t think of private providence, but on the contrary, one should say,” If I’m not for me, then who is for me?”

But when the act is done, he must believe that it is not by the might of my hand that I deed that Mitzva, but only through the grace of God, who planned it for me in advance, and I was compelled to obey.

So it is with matters of this world, because spirituality and worldliness are alike. Therefore, before a man goes out to the market to earn his daily bread, he should remove his thoughts from Providence and say: “If I’m not for me, who is for me?” and do everything other people do in order to make their daily living.

But at night, when he comes home with his pay in his hand, God forbid that he should think that because of his ingenuity he made that profit. Even if he had been lying in the basement the entire day, he would still have made that same amount, because that is what the Creator had in mind for him and that is the way it must be.

And although these ideas seem to contradict one another and are unacceptable, still man must believe them, because that is what the Lord had stated about him.

And that is the secret of the unification of HaVaYaH Elokim. HaVaYaH is private Providence, where God is everything and needs not the help of dwellers of clay houses. “ Elokim,” in Hebrew numerology equals “nature,” where man behaves according to the nature that He had imprinted in the corporeal heaven and earth.

When man keeps their laws as all other animals, but along with that believes in HaVaYaH, that is in Private Providence. By that he is found to be uniting the two in one, and thus brings great contentment to his Maker and illumination in all the worlds.”

Now we can understand the three aspects: Mitzva, sin and choice. The Mitzva is the place of holiness, the sin - the place of the evil side, and the choice, which is neither Mitzva nor sin is what holiness and the evil side fight over.

When man makes choices that do not fall into holiness, he makes that whole place fall in the hands of the evil side. And when he gets stronger and performs unifications with holiness, he makes the area of the choice a holy place again.

I have interpreted the words of our sages - “the healer has been given permission to heal” - according to that, meaning even though the healing is undoubtedly in the hands of the Lord and no human counsel shall move Him from his place, still the holy Torah tells us that He
“shall cause him to be thoroughly healed (Exodus 21, 19)”, meaning to tell you that it is a choice, the place of battle between holiness and sin.
So we find that we are obliged to take over that choice and turn it over to holiness. And how is it taken over? When we go to see a doctor, and the doctor gives us a remedy that has been tested a thousand times, and when the medicine works and we are cured, we must still believe that without that doctor the Lord would still heal us, because the length of our lives has been predetermined, and instead of praising the human doctor, we should praise and thank the Lord. By doing that we take over the choice under the authority of holiness.
Other matters of choice fall into that category, too, which is how the boundaries of holiness are expanded, until we suddenly see our full stature and we are all in the holy palace.

I have explained that matter to you several times before, because that issue is an obstacle to many people who have no clear concept of private Providence. They want to trust instead of work, and furthermore, they want to eradicate the questions from their faith and receive signs and omens above nature, and for that they are heavily punished.

That is because since the sin of the first man, the Lord has presented a correction for that sin by uniting HaVaYaH and Elokim, as I have explained. That is the meaning of the words: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread (Genesis 3, 19).”

It is natural that what one attains with great efforts, one finds hard to say that it is a gift from the Creator. Thus, there is room for one to make an effort to completely believe in Private Providence, and decide that even without these efforts, one would still achieve all that. By that that sin is sweetened.”

Me or the Creator?

Q: How do you reconcile the contradiction between “everything depends on me” and “everything is predetermined by the Creator”?

A: All these ”exercises” of how and what to think before an act and after, are needed for the preliminary feeling of the Creator, in order to get a grip on His Presence. Because we cannot yet feel the union of our self with the Creator, we should force ourselves into that feeling, and only then will we be able to feel the unity with the Creator.

Before and during any act, we should completely overlook the Presence of the Creator, and pretend He is nowhere near us. What stops us from acting that way rationally? Why do we suddenly begin to believe that the Creator will help and try to be righteous?

The answer is that the evil forces, the shells, (our corrupted desires) did not unite with the Creator and deliberately prevent us to do so. This enables us to make an effort and correct these thoughts and desires.

Of course you might say that all these disruptions come from the Creator. He first sends us thoughts that He exists, which is in fact an obstacle, and finally He sends thoughts that He does not exist, which is in fact another obstacle. All these obstacles are there to urge us to try to correct our thoughts, because ultimately, our thoughts and the Creator’s unite.

Not only do we follow the thought of the Creator, but we unite with it, meaning our thoughts and the Creator’s don’t take the form of cause and effect, but are simply the same.

Reward and Punishment

Q: If the Creator exists, He must be looking over everyone with eternal love. Why, then, are there so many who are punished?

A: Your question only indicates the place you’re in, because we can only draw conclusions from our own degree of development. If we rise spiritually, everything will change for us: our conclusions, our opinions and even the way we see the world. We will see the world as something good, perfect.

However, in your current situation, you can only see a fraction of reality, where it is very hard for you to justify and understand the Creator. I know that from my own experience.

Let’s wait until the Creator is revealed to you, and then you will be able to justify Him. He who justifies the Creator is called “righteous.” One must become a complete righteous to discover the Creator and His actions and know everything about Him, in order to justify Him.

For that, we must be identical to the Creator because we can only know if we become like Him, out of equivalence of form. I suggest you read Baal HaSulam’s Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot.

Correcting the Senses

Q: Is there a Kabbalistic technique of behavior through which we can“soften” or limit the reception of evil?

A: Everything comes from the Creator. In principle, only one thing comes out of the Creator: simple Light, total goodness. In our corrupted senses we feel it according to our equivalence with it, ranging from the total opposite, to what it really is.

We perceive the difference between us and the Light as pain. That pain can be unconscious, as when a person doesn’t know why the world is in such pain, or it can be conscious. This occurs when we begin to feel the Creator and feel that the Creator is not a source of pain, but rather a source of pleasure, and the reason for the pain is the difference between our qualities and those of the Creator.

The way to delivery is quite simple - study only the writings of Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai), the Ari and Rabbi Ashlag. Our pain will gradually fade and instead of asking, “Why don’t I have…,” we will begin to ask “Why don’t I have love for Him?”

Afterwards, we will feel the “pains of love” -- the desire to cling to the loved one. In the meantime, these are just words (and pretty worldly ones, too), but only when we have attained these situations can we understand their spiritual meaning. Sometimes even ordinary people feel they are experiencing these situations and begin to write about them.

In any case, I urge that you read a lot, without specific order. Read everything that we have published, and as a result, you will go through a variety of situations that will teach you how to live.

Your connection to a leader, a rabbi, a Kabbalist, is a must. Otherwise, in a moment of weakness, you might get distracted. You’ll return to Kabbalah, obviously, but it can take a very long time, perhaps several lifetimes.

Conscious Worthlessness

Q: I try to do things that the Creator needs, but then I begin to feel self-loathing and disgust. Everything I ask seems false, but still I go on as though something is pushing me from behind. Is there another alternative for me?

A: There is only one choice: to go on reading Kabbalah books and listening to our music. Also, exercise for an hour or so, as much as you can, with the aim that it will help you come out of your situation.

What the mind cannot do, time will. These situations are experienced by anyone on the path, and there will be many more such reactions. It is called “the recognition of evil,” the recognition of the worthlessness of our nature.

Afterwards, embarrassment will be replaced with genuine shame, which we mentioned as the reason for the first restriction. Generally, I can advise you to put your thoughts on paper; this – accelerates these situations, speeds your awareness, and therefore changes them. In short, – it will help you pick up the pace.

Overcoming Indifference

Q: What should I do when I suddenly begin to treat circumstances that come to me from Above with indifference: I just don’t feel anything, not the pain, and not the pleasure that I would normally feel. What is that situation? Should something be done about it, or will it go away by itself?

A: All the feelings are given to you from Above. And they are necessary. You will see that for yourself, if not now, then later on. During such times, the most important thing is to look at yourself from the side and see how there is nothing you can do with yourself.

For that purpose you can get all sorts of situations from Above… you’ll see that without reward, without pleasure or a goal, you cannot even lift a finger. Your mood, your goals and your view on life can be changed instantly from Above. You must examine these situations.

Kabbalah is the study of the nature of creation, a study you perform on yourself, your flesh, your pain and your joys and aspirations—from the finest to the most gross.

It is not easy going through stages of indifference, but in order to accelerate them, the best way is to be in a group of people who are like you, who study Kabbalah as you do. Do something with them, anything at all, for example, give classes in Kabbalah or help with circulation. Any physical act that is aimed at the purpose helps a great deal in overcoming a state of indifference. Our job is to pick up our pace.

States of Indifference

Q: Why is it that instead of enthusiasm, I suddenly feel complete indifference?

A: Any person who begins to be aware of the purpose of creation, the attainment of Him and the means to do it, is in fact being given an invitation from Above to study the wisdom of Kabbalah. The rest is up to you.

Whatever you feel (and it doesn’t matter what it is, because you’ll experience many different feelings, ranging from complete indifference to anxiousness) is given to you so that you can advance. Therefore, the only answer is to go on studying diligently, regardless of your changing moods and desires.

Inner Struggle

Q: Why is there a difference between the understanding of the mind and the feeling of the heart? Why is it that after a person has already followed his heart, because he couldn’t go any other way, he finds that his mind was right? Why this struggle in me and how do I cope with it?

A: What happens within you are inner examinations of yourself and the beginning of the study of your self. It is quite possible that you have performed this analysis of yourself earlier, before you began to study Kabbalah. Psychologists deal with this, as well.

The difference is that psychological analysis is not done under the influence of Kabbalistic texts, but by studying ourselves within the framework of this world, in the degree of the human mind.

When one studies Kabbalah, one’s entire analysis is a consequence of the effect of the surrounding Light on one’s soul. Therefore, you will eventually relate your feelings to the contact with the Creator. Read more, especially parts of the material that you like. It is also good to read Psalms. Search for a discussion of similar situations in the articles.

You’ll see that you’re going through what they went through. You’re progressing toward the goal, although the road seems confusing, tiring, tedious and empty. Nonetheless, it still leads you toward the goal, toward eternity and perfection.

True and Bitter, or False and Sweet?

Q: When I read Inner Reflection, I wanted to enjoy myself, but instead I began to feel desperation and a guilty conscience. Why?

A: The heart can either feel pleasure or pain. The brain analyzes true or false, and you are the one who must choose which is more important: the truth (however bitter), or falsehood and sweetness. That choice is in everything you do, and it is a factor in the process of your correction, your inner change.

Thou Shalt Not Kill

Q: What is the most effective way to stop enjoying for myself and start enjoying for the Creator, without killing my desires?

A: One cannot change one’s desires, as they are given from Above. He cannot even change His aim directly. It is said that “the Light reforms.” So the results only gradually become apparent through efforts in the study, and through the attempts to be connected with the rabbi.

You will acquire the sensation of the Upper World, the Creator, and make your progress by yourself, through the desire to receive strength from Above.

“Restriction” - the Gateway to Spirituality

Q: Provided I strictly follow the condition of the first restriction, how many years will it take me to at least get a feel of the Upper World?

A: The minute you can perform the first restriction of the desires you are given and not use anything for yourself, but for the Creator, you will feel the Creator and the Upper World, according to the strength of the restriction you performed and the number of desires that were corrected on that restriction.

If you can later on turn your previous corporeal aim from reception for yourself to spiritual aims of reception for the Creator, you will perform spiritual acts with those desires. You will take control, instead of being guided by the Creator.

The Time of Preparation

Q: It is promised that within one life cycle, a person can go through all the stages, beginning with the first desire for spirituality and ending in the completion of correction. In case the cycle is not completed, wouldn’t it better to just“kill the time”? After all, this life was given for the sole purpose of correction!

A: In his Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Baal HaSulam says that within three to five years a person can reach the Upper World and begin to climb the ladder. But that is only ideally. In real life it takes twice or even three times as long to succeed.

What I am saying now refers to souls of the 1990’s, but things should take less time in the 21st century because the souls that descend today are a lot closer to spirituality to begin with.

“My Sons Defeated Me”

Q: Why is the last phase of the four phases of development characterized as an argument with the Creator?

A: The maturity of the soul and one’s desire are determined by one’s desire to rise above one’s current level. The still level is characterized by a lack of independence, the vegetative is more independent, the animate, more independent than the vegetative, and man is the last of these phases. Man actually consists of these four phases.

On the still level, man does not change and remains in the state he was born at. On the last level-the “man” in man-he wants to leave his receiving nature and fight the Creator, who has given him that nature. The Creator created the receiving nature, and man forces Him to change it.

Blaming the Creator

Q: How is it possible to avoid disappointments along the spiritual journey? After all, it is more convenient for us to think that the Creator deprived us by not giving us a desire to come near Him, so we justify ourselves and blame the Creator. But if we understand that, can we correct these processes inside us?

A: There is nothing in us that should not be there. We remain precisely as we were created, but if we try to correct ourselves, we correct the way in which we use our attributes, those we were born with. All we change is the intent, from doing“for us,” to doing“for Him.”

So you needn’t complain about your preliminary qualities, and if you were put here, you might as well look around you and start doing something about it.

Q: How is it possible to avoid the letdowns during the spiritual journey?

A: The letdowns are unavoidable. They are actually positive, because they are a sign of your dissatisfaction with your desire for pleasure. They are signs that you’re going in the right direction. A person who works for self is full of energy because that person believes that this way promises eternal bliss.

Q: But it is easier for us to feel that the Creator deprived us.

A: The question is, how do we react once we feel the dissatisfaction with our condition: do we blame the Creator for not pampering us, or do we ask for help against our own nature?!

Q: …and then we justify ourselves and blame the Creator.

A: Reverse the order. Blame ourselves and justify the Creator. There is an inner contradiction when we blame the Creator for not letting us draw near. Nearing the Creator means that we are in a state where we want nothing for ourselves, but take everything that comes to us as the best possible thing, because we believe that everything extends from the Creator.

So what request is there to talk about?

Q: It is easy to blame the Creator for not giving us a desire and a way to approach Him.

A: If we continue to say that the Creator doesn’t“let us approach Him,” then that is exactly the situation where we have something to ask. We must ask that the Creator render more qualities of love for our fellow creatures, so that we will be completely satisfied with how the Creator leads the world, and instead of cursing Him, we will bless the Creator.

We can certainly do that.

Being in the left line is necessary to reveal new attributes of self-reception. After that, we correct them, become filled with Light and knowledge, and thus rise above our former state. It happens all the time.

We can only accelerate the speed of the ongoing process and cut down on our lingering at each phase. It all depends on our adaptation to a certain situation.

Whining and blaming the Creator is easy because it relieves us of acting or making an effort. But what the mind does not do, time will. Everything passes, and we will gradually get used to these changes and begin, to a certain extent, to control them. In any given situation, we should act as it says: “Whatsoever thy hand attaineth to do by thy strength, that do” (Ecclesiastes 9, 10).

Even if you don’t know how to do it, it doesn’t matter. Just do it. Even the most misunderstood, mistaken act speeds up the pace and brings you closer to the next degree, which is always closer to correction than before.

Breaking the Screen

Q: It is said that the higher the Sefira, the greater its desires and screen were before the breaking, and the lower its sparks fell at the loss of the screen. Why?

A: A higher Sefira means a greater desire and thus a stronger screen to match it. Of course, if the screen is lost, a greater desire remains bare. What’s left is a greater desire for the self than in the lower Sefira, whose screen and desire are smaller.

Hence the rule: he who is spiritually greater has greater desire. And if he falls, his fall is deeper, and he becomes worse. It is the same way in this world, but in the spiritual world the distances (differences in attributes) between ascent and descent are enormous.

If you really put your mind to it, you can go through all the passages and advance without paying attention to your moods and your inner mental state.

What is Spiritual Faith?

Q: Faith should replace all the senses, as though the entire reality were laid before one’s eyes, despite the absence of the sensation of the Creator and His guidance. Is this not blind faith?

A: You mustn’t believe blindly in the Creator, since faith is acquired only through the screen, which is the sensation of the Creator. There is faith that is the Light of Bina, Light of mercy, and there is whole faith, which is called the Light of Mercy with the illumination of Hochma. The latter is the one we want to attain.

Then the vessel/soul-man-is in its perfect state at the end of correction, after it has returned to its root, the Creator.

Increasing the Importance

Q: How can you intensify the importance of the purpose of life and the greatness of the giver?

A: Baal HaSulam answers it this way: by studying, in a group, and under the guidance of a rabbi.

The studies must be made up solely of texts that were written for the exclusive purpose of bringing one to the Creator from the very first word.

Why do you need a group? All the souls are, in fact, one soul, divided into many parts by our physical sensations. Spirituality“pours,” so to speak, from soul to soul, and if there is a strong bond between the members of the group, their body does not pose an obstacle on their path toward the Creator.

On the contrary, it is through overcoming the disturbances of the body to the contact between souls, that the feeling of spirituality intensifies to the extent of being able to sense the Creator.

The rabbi must be a Kabbalist, a disciple of a renowned Kabbalist from whom he had received the exact method of the study, studied it himself and completed at least some of the way.

Faith Above Reason

Q: What is this method called “faith above reason?”

A: There are three paths one can take: above reason, within reason and below reason. Reason is the self of man, his concepts, his mentality, and his education.

Below reason - is action without self-criticism or examination. It is a state where reason is not taken into account; fanaticism, faith at all cost, is accepted without examination. The more capable a person is of disconnecting the mind and going by faith alone, the closer the faith is to being “below reason.”
This expresses itself in fanaticism and training that people follow blindly, beyond question and doubt. This method is used to teach certain habits that people keep for life. Therefore, the more a person is prone to “faith below reason,” the more stupid such people become, to the point where they begin to believe in miracles and similar phenomena.

Within reason - means that a person examines and accepts only that which is suitable for one’s conception of reality. It is an inner faith, a state where a person relies on reason, senses and everything available from the inner nature.

Above reason - means that a person examines data, sees that it opposes one’s perception of reality, but accepts it anyway, even if it is against one’s better judgment and understanding. Why? Because this reason stems from the Upper One, Whom one trusts more than self.

All our modes of operation are narrowed down to “ faith above reason.” The higher the degree, the more one gives. We cannot understand it; we cannot see how we can attain such a high degree, put in the effort, and find the energy to nourish that toil.

However, it is possible with “faith above reason,” despite the desires and the understandings of the body, because the desires of the body belong to the current degree, whereas we wish to climb to a higher one. Therefore, we are given more and more knowledge in the form of disturbances, and the more we relate to them with “faith above reason,” the wiser we become.

In fact, we rely on that reason for our progress, using it to rise“above” it. That knowledge remains within us as a basis we trample on. Thus, we grow wiser and wiser from one degree to the next. You will gradually understand this through your own experience.

If Kabbalists simply tried to erase those disturbances as ordinary people do, they would remain in “faith below reason.” But they examine them, face conflicts and work against them, which is why they gain knowledge against the faith, and build the faith over the contradictions, over the desires of the body. That is why they can understand things that are beyond our conception.

In other words, the spiritual world opens before them, because they acquire the screen with “faith above reason.”

“Faith Above Reason” in the Context of Group Work

Q: How does “faith above reason” work in the context of the group?

A: We must always keep the Creator in the background of the image of the world as we see it. We must always try to think of the Creator in our subconscious. Then our thoughts will be in the right direction: because we are with friends, who are also in a state of searching for the same goal.

That is why everything I get from someone in my group today is probably a disturbance that I must confront with faith above reason, and accept what he tells me, justify him. By justifying him, I rise to a higher spiritual degree.

To go with “faith above reason” means that I accept and agree with my heart and soul with everything that happens to me. When one of my friends criticizes me, I should accept everything that comes from it as good and true with “faith above reason,” because I cannot see the actual truth with my egoistic vessels.

When we manage to move a few steps forward when doing these seemingly simple exercises, meaning when we try to receive everything that comes to us as the desire of the Creator, we begin to feel how the Creator relates to us.

That is still not a revelation, but it is the beginning of our spiritual contact with the Creator. That is how we begin to connect with the Creator.

We understand that the Creator is now hidden, and sends His messages through the people around us. Thus, we begin to feel the involvement of the Creator in everything that happens in our lives.

This is a genuine feeling, and this contact becomes permanent, and the key factor in our lives. This is the way to the entrance to the spiritual world, the strengthening of the contact with the Creator and the rise to a higher degree.

A Common Goal

Q: Why do we need to agree with our friends?

A: When we see that our friends are right, we don’t have to justify them. We simply have to accept their thoughts and agree with them. Thus, we acquire new knowledge. This is also the case when love makes us agreeable with another. In both cases, we do not go through any process of correction.

If it is not an external reason (a boss at work, pain, loss, love etc.) that makes us agree with another, but because we must work together for the same goal in order to attain it, we will make a thousand tests for the sake of unification to discover which of us is right.

But after that, regardless of the consequence, we will agree with our friends. That decision is called “faith above reason,” because we accept it against our better judgment.

Why would we do this? Because the goal necessitates it. The facts support our opinion, and we accept our friend’s opinion against our common sense and because of our common goal .

Attaining a Higher Spiritual Degree

Q: How can I attain a higher spiritual degree?

A: How do we rise from degree X, to degree X+1? In our world, a person can only raise one’s physical body. In the spiritual world, a person raises one’s spiritual body and one’s aims. For that, we must be able to alter our aims to fit the new spiritual degree.

But if all of our feelings change, how will we be able to change ourselves? The way to do it is through “faith above reason.”

We behave against every value, understanding and attribute that we have in an X spiritual degree, and blindly accept all the attributes of the X+1 as true, although they completely contradict our nature and seem completely unreal and unnatural in our current condition.

The abilities of a higher degree allow us to give more, and to become even more detached from our own needs. At the moment, we may be incapable of it; it seems unnatural. We think that only a madman could do this.

However, we must accept them with faith above reason, and adopt them as our own. If we succeed, the Creator will raise us to the next spiritual degree, closer to Him, and we thus become an embryo in the next degree.

Like an embryo in its mother’s womb, we agree to unite with the Creator with our eyes shut. There are no other means to come to a higher degree.

Now we can understand why it is impossible to do this without help from Above. We must aim at “faith above reason” instead of trying to understand with reason and logic, even if it were possible.

Within a group are always opportunities to accept a friend’s opinion. The group should become a place where one becomes mentally ready to advance with “faith above reason.” We must constantly practice on one another in order to understand what “faith above reason” really means: to accept the opinion of another, even if we completely disagree with it.

When I examine my own friend’s attitude toward me, I always start the analysis with my intellectual ability and my desire for pleasure. I cannot ignore the situation, I cannot forgive, but I must come to a point where, although I completely disagree with him, I accept his idea because I want to reach the goal with him.

I must not compromise. We have to fully acknowledge the evil. If I don’t understand the origin of my knowledge, how can I ever rise? And over what?

If I don’t understand the opinion of my friend, how will I accept it? I have to analyze everything and accept his idea, although I vehemently object to it, although it pains me, and makes me suffer and hate.

It is true that my friend is just as much of an egoist as I am, perhaps even a bigger egoist, but that should not matter. We must focus on practicing, on trying to accept our friend’s ideas over our own.

We thus have an opportunity to do something with “faith above reason.” However, after we decide to accept a friend’s reason, we agree with them heart and soul. It is new knowledge, in a higher spiritual degree, which now becomes our own.

Rabbi Baruch Ashlag writes in his essays about how the group works. He says that when a group of Kabbalists is founded, they get a chance to practice the relationships within them, hold grudges, and finally rise above them, because it is the only way by which they can rise to a higher spiritual degree.

The Boundaries of Love

Q: Loving is dangerous. The minute someone realizes you’re willing to do anything for them, they take advantage of it. Isn’t there something like that in the relationship between the Creator and us?

A: Love can only exist where there are no boundaries! But if it is unbounded, it awakens disrespect and perhaps even hatred in the loved one. We find examples of that in the way children treat parents who are totally devoted to them. Therefore, in order to reach absolute and lasting love, the Creator created a system of inter-relations between Him and us.

At first, both He and His Love are concealed. This is done to prevent a situation where, after realizing how much love is available to us from the Creator, we begin to hate Him.

Therefore, we must first come to a state where we want to give everything to the Creator, and only then will we be able to sense correctly, without harming ourselves, the love of the Creator. We will then be able to receive from the Creator and express our eternal love to Him.

This is an eternal and unchangeable state. For that reason, the first commandment in the Torah is to fear God, and the second is to love Him. The Zohar says that the fear does not relate to a fear of losing the love, because the fear of losing is selfish. The fear is a spiritual attainment of the question, “Have I done everything I possibly could for the Creator?” It is much like a mother treats her child, except in this case, our attitude toward the Creator becomes the same as His attitude toward us.

You must understand that to perform an act of kindness means first and foremost to exit the boundaries of the desire to be kind only to yourself, and to be able to perform acts of kindness, regardless of how you feel. In this situation, any desire to give yourself pleasure, whatever form it takes, will not destabilize your desire to continue doing good.

Thus, it all depends on who does the good act and not for whom it is done. The question is, what are one’s intentions when one performs an act of kindness? Does one mean to benefit the person for whom one is doing the act, or does one mean to be rewarded for it?

If there is a link between an act of grace and a reward, the grace is not a grace, but another way to receive pleasure through a third party. That is what we call, in our world, “love.” But true spiritual love can only be attained after the first restriction, meaning the restriction of your own desires to receive for yourself.

That is the correction of our desires through the screen, because only if that correction takes place is the link between the desire (the act of the receiver) and the pleasure (the response of the giver) broken. That correction can only be attained through the wisdom of the Kabbalah.

What is the Barrier

Q: It feels so good when you can love, and so bad when you can’t. Does the pain of not being able to love go away when I cross the barrier or only at the end of correction?

A: The pain stems from your natural desire to enjoy yourself in this world, and it will be gone even before you cross the barrier. The barrier is the relinquishing of the thought, “for me alone.” In fact, it is the relinquishing of every single thing in this world. The abandoning of the thought, “for me alone,” already relates to spiritual desires and pleasures.

Agony in the Spiritual World

Q: In our world, man suffers the agony of this world, and in the spiritual world, the spiritual agony, which is much harsher than the pains of our world. How can one agree to replace lesser pains for greater pains?

A: Spiritual pains are pains of love, pains that are linked with the question, “What more can I do for my love?” They are called “sweet pains.” These pains never diminish; they exist so you can feel the pleasure of giving, the adhesion with the Creator.

No Love without Faith

Q: This is how I understand what’s written in The Book of Zohar: a true love is faith in the true Creator. Faith in the true Creator is the true attainment of the Creator. The true attainment is a true understanding. The true understanding is when a person sees, or distinguishes, or learns – and at the same time, if his attainment is correct--that what he attains is love for the Creator and faith in Him, since without faith there can be no love.

A: You’re right. There’s nothi