Eighteen Talks With the Beginners

How can a person perceive the desire? In order for a person to know what he wants he must first try it, since by doing so it leaves a pleasurable perception or taste inside of him. The pleasure was sensed and now it’s gone, at which point the person aspires towards it. This is what the real Kli must consist of. Meaning, the light has filled it in the past, and the Kli has tasted the entire force of the sensation of pleasure from the light’s presence. Then the light disappeared and now the Kli passionately longs to feel the taste of the light once again...

According to the thought of creation, we have to come to the state where we can live and exist according to the spiritual laws. All of the misfortunes that occur for each of us, as well as all disasters and catastrophes, take place in order to bring every person and humanity as a whole, to carry out the spiritual commandments during their life in this world...

Only the Upper light of the Creator is able to raise a person in this way; to provide the answer to all his human efforts for the spiritual, to bring him to the state where desire for the spiritual is so great that it does not let him fall asleep and suppresses all other desires...

When a person begins to study Kabbalah, it seems to him that he is moving backwards or standing in place. But in fact, this is a major sign that he is moving forward. The reason for this is that he evaluates his states in his not-yet-corrected perceptions...

My teacher wrote down everything that he heard from his father. When I came to study with him and started asking difficult questions that bothered me, he would always avoid the answer, until finally one day he offered me his notes to read. Here I would be able to find what interests me and understand what I have to understand by rereading them when I am in different states. This would be enough to last me for my entire life, even when he is gone...

A person of our world does not have a soul. However, when he begins to desire the spiritual he acquires a “point in the heart” or an embryo of a soul that demands a person’s return to his spiritual root according to his nature. The soul yearns for the Creator and pulls the person along with it. The person does not know where he is being pulled because the Creator is still concealed from him. However, this point of the soul is pulling him somewhere, even though this is not yet the real soul...

When we are in this world and we begin to study the spiritual world, we first learn to build our inner attitude according to the spiritual world, and then we gradually learn the external attitude. The Creator wants us to live in this world according to spiritual laws. The more a person is able to exit out of his “I” to the outside, the more he acquires the ability to feel the spiritual and to rid himself of his body, which is the cause of all his problems...

We begin with the state connected to the pleasures of this world, such as money, social status and family. That is, everything relating to the animal level and a small amount related to the human level. In this state it is impossible to sin or perform a commandment. We can only do so in the spiritual. If a person is ready to restrict the use of these desires or more precisely, ready to direct one's use of the desires for the sake of the spiritual, then we acquires the ability to enter the first level of the spiritual world. The light on this level is much greater than that of our world...

It seems that right now you and I are sitting here in the group, and someone out there is determining our fate for us. However, this is not the case. It is true that we do not determine anything. If we already understand this and we are ready to suffer through the next advancement, this means that we have slightly distanced ourselves from the animal state and we are ready for the spiritual state. In this case, we will receive it. However, if we do not yet have this kind of readiness, then we will not receive anything from above...

It is not sufficient for you to love the Creator and to desire to attain union with Him. You must also hate the evil within yourself and hate your own nature, which is the desire for self-gratification a person is unable to rid himself of. This realization of evil occurs when a person observes the state he is in, sees the entire evil that is in him, constantly suffers from it, understands how much he is losing, and sees that he is unable to get rid of it on his own...

In Kabbalah, a person is named according to his or her desire to receive. For instance, if a person wants to attain the Creator, sense Him, bond with Him, he is called “Israel”. This is so even if he just started his path, does not yet see the Creator, and has no idea where he is going to or what he will achieve. However, a person's desire determines everything. Thus, when a person carries out the Creator’s will, he is called a Kabbalist; a Kabbalist who attains a certain spiritual degree is called “He who attains” ...

What we are going through is similar to the experience of when one is engaged in study that includes practical training. Sometimes, the surrounding world looks so gloomy that we see the situation as if it was the end of the world and there is no way out. But later, through training and study, we realize that this is not the case...

Introduction to the Book of Zohar: "We find that the law of oppositeness of form operates in the spirituality. According to this law, souls whose properties differ from those of the Creator, separate from Him the same way as two objects in the corporeal world, cut apart by the ax. And the distance between them is proportional to the oppositeness of form"...

"And now we will reveal the opportunity to comprehend the fourth investigation. If the system of impure forces is so diametrically distant from the holiness of the Creator that we cannot even imagine it, how is it possible that they manifest and descend from the holiness of the Creator itself? And moreover, the Creator Himself executes and maintains this"...

The desire to receive is essentially the desire of creation to delight corresponding to the abundance and pleasure emanating from the Creator. We feel this desire to delight and the Creator wishes our enjoyment. To simply feel the desire to delight cannot be named “creation”, rather it is referred to as nature, Elokim. Accordingly, if we act following commands of our nature, then we are similar to an animal, without possessing a spark of the soul, which the Creator imparts in us from above...

We can consider the desire to receive as the desire to bestow. If I know that you will enjoy the fact that I take your gift I will certainly take it. A taker within myself turns into a giver by giving you the pleasure from receiving your gift. Hence I use my own desire to receive but in a different direction...

Does our body remain after the Final Correction of the intent? Nothing is said about our biological body. It does not belong to the area of correction. Nothing changes in it except for the process of aging. Correction is necessary only for the desire to receive and enjoy. Our body is a piece of meat that needs sleep, animal pleasures, food, rest, etc. It has nothing in common with inner spiritual corrections...

Can a person really say when he deserves a reward and when – a punishment? For instance, a piece of a balcony falls down, killing a man passing by; a natural disaster occurs, etc. Is there anyone we should blame or punish? Or, let’s say, a child breaks something. We can punish or even beat him, but we will discipline a child according to our animal perception of reward and punishment, that is, will transfer our perception and attitude to him...