In the article “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?,” Rabash gives examples of desires that arise from states opposite to holiness intended to lead us to the highest holiness. Therefore we should not be surprised by any extreme states that arise within us.

A person rises higher and higher, and then suddenly falls into an abyss. Once again, evil seems to descend upon him from all sides. Unexpected things happen that seem completely out of place. “I am working for the Creator, so how can this be happening?” Yet it appears everywhere—at home, at work, in the country, everywhere.

We must accept all these states as the most suitable conditions for advancement. Especially now, as we begin to work with the understanding of what true effort is, even more difficult questions and doubts will arise. They come so that we may clarify what genuine intention is, how to demand the light that reforms, and what it means to be in equivalence of form with the Creator.

All these concepts are acquired gradually. A person refines and polishes them until he extracts a pearl from an enormous heap of waste, because at first he cannot distinguish one thing from another. Therefore there is no need to fear. The higher we rise, the more terrible and more lowly things are revealed within us.

Of course, it is impossible not to be afraid. Each new degree is higher than the previous one, and the “bear” appears even larger, while a person feels like an even smaller child standing before it.

But then the degree gradually passes. The person grows to the measure of that degree, begins to train the bear, and turns it into a “bear cub,” a useful and effective force. And so it happens every time.

Baal HaSulam writes in “The Giving of the Torah” that the greater a person becomes, the more he cares about things that are distant from his own body. At first he cares only about himself. Then he begins to care about things outside of himself: his children, his family, his friends, society, his city, his country, the world, and eventually all of reality.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/26, Rabash, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work? ”

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Question: Is there any difference between the general concept of faith and faith above reason?

Answer: It is very difficult to explain the concept of “above reason” before the Machsom. But during the preparation period, it can be explained as follows: a person is not merely present in the group, they must make efforts, annul themself before the friends, and accept what exists in the group above reason.

This means that he wants to be under the influence of friends. In other words, he begins to convince himself that what he hears from them is correct. This is truly “brainwashing.” Rabash writes that habit becomes second nature.

I will say it differently. We are in a group in which there is something revealed and concealed. The concealed forces, unknown to us, are who we truly are; this is already a spiritual force. And the force that is revealed to us is what we see as to how imperfect we still are.

For a person who is in a group and who lowers himself before it, it does not matter what level his friends are at. By convincing himself of being “small,” he receives the influence of the hidden force present in the group. The entire group may not be at a high level of spirituality, but through it, he receives forces from its spiritual root that they themselves have not yet received.

It turns out that a group may consist of twenty people, none of whom are particularly special. But suddenly one of them decides that he wants to be 100% under its influence. Then he is influenced by the group’s inner spiritual force, and even such things, the existence of which the others do not even suspect, nor do they know where they come from.

In other words, do not think that if someone lowers himself before the group, he will receive what everyone else has, or will be corrected to the same extent as everyone else. No, it will be much more than that.

He can attain spirituality by using the force of the group, even if the entire group is still in corporeality. One thing is, in essence, not connected to the other, since what is due to them comes according to their personal work, while what is due to him is according to his personal work. Therefore, let us say that for my personal advancement it is not important what is happening with you. As the saying goes, “I learned from all my students.” Students may be small, yet through them it is possible to gain immense wisdom.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/26, Rabash, “Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah”

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Israel (a person directed “straight to the Creator“), the Creator, and the Torah (the Light that reforms) must unite into one whole. This is also called the “middle column,” the “middle line.”

The work in three lines (the right, left, and middle) stems from the fact that the created being cannot do anything by its own powers. For it is created from an inanimate substance—the desire to enjoy—which by itself cannot move (change) in spirituality since it lacks the desire to bestow. Only the desire to bestow can move in the spiritual world, which is built from forms of bestowal, intentions of bestowal, something that wishes to give to another, to come out of itself.

But if the created being acts in a different form, then it is as though it does not exist in spirituality. It exists only in our imagination! The Creator has created such an imaginary picture within our perception so that we may somehow exist before attaining the qualities of bestowal.

Spiritual movement and spiritual reality, are possible only in bestowal. One can exist in spirituality only if one moves within this bestowal. It is impossible in spirituality to stand still, to stop and do nothing, as happens in this world. Spiritual space is above time; that is, it is constantly in motion through bestowal, which continuously intensifies.

And since the created being initially has no ability to bestow, and does not even know what it is, a restriction (Tzimtzum) is first made on its desire to enjoy. Then a connection is established between the created being’s desire to enjoy and the Creator’s desire to bestow through the second restriction (Tzimtzum Bet), through special actions that prepare our reality while still in the spiritual worlds.

Afterward, the shattering takes place. The boundary between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow is broken in order to connect them with one another. And from this connection there emerge worlds standing opposite one another: the worlds of holiness and impurity. Between them there appears a “neutral place,” from which an independent created being can grow.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/11, “Preparation for the New Jersey Convention”

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The Torah is called “the science of life” because it gives life, the revelation of the light of Hochma, in the will to receive. This can be only to the extent that the will to receive is corrected by the light of Hassadim in the intention for the sake of bestowal, and only then when the left line can join with the right and be as the middle one.

What is the middle line? In nature there is no middle line; there is only the Creator and the creation, the nature of the Creator and the nature of the creation. The middle line means the extent to which the creation can correct itself and become similar to the Creator.

That is, the middle line is in the creation. In the language of Sefirot this means that there are the first nine Sefirot (the qualities of the Creator) and Malchut (the quality of creation). And to the extent that Malchut can be similar to the first nine Sefirot in its actions, this will be the middle line.

In accordance with the correction of Malchut, we have holidays (Hagim). “Hag” comes from the word “Mechuga,” “compass” (as if “circling”), because this state returns on every degree until the final correction. Then all the holidays will disappear, and there will be only one constant state. And until then we have stages of correspondence between Malchut and the first nine Sefirot, between the left line and the right.

At the end of correction there will be no middle line; there will be neither right nor left, but only one single line. The degree of revelation of the light of the Creator within creation, the degree of the clothing of the Creator in creation, is called the middle line. After the final correction this revelation of the Creator and the receiving of the light will become boundless.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/26, Rabash, “Why Is the Torah Called ‘Middle Line’ in the Work? – 1”

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