Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 157

If the Final Disappointment Comes Only at the End of the Path, Why Should We Constantly Remind Ourselves About “There Is None Else Besides Him”?

If a person finally despairs and then turns to the Creator only at the end of the path, why do we constantly say, “There is none else besides Him”? Why must we turn to Him all the time? It seems one could sit, wait, forget about Him, and work within oneself as if He does not exist, until one eventually becomes disappointed with everything, and subsequently some “point” in the mind and heart will awaken and remind us to turn to Him.

The matter is that if we are not unceasingly relating to “There is none else besides Him,” then all the effort we seemingly make on our own is directed at another goal. We miss the target and do not advance in the right direction.

What is disappointment in our own strength? It is disappointment meant to establish that “There is none else besides Him.” That is the true point of disappointment.

What does it mean to reach the final correction? We are in a certain state right now. What does it mean to reach the final correction in this state? It means to reach it with everything we currently have. We do not know what else we will have later or whether there will even be anything more than what we have now. Perhaps what we have attained up until now is already the final correction and there are no further degrees? How can we know where we stand on the ladder? We do not know anything.

If we can now completely and absolutely connect our qualities within ourselves, the state we are in, and our environment (both our inner and surrounding conditions), together with the Creator, and if we can bind all these factors into one unified whole without any difference between them, this constitutes our final correction.

What will take place on the next degree and whether it even exists, who knows? Perhaps everything is about to become revealed in the next moment? We should not think about what will be. We need to act now.

If at this point we become disappointed in our own strength and turn to the Creator, that is the best possible action. Why?

It is because if we truly attempt to connect these three variables together, we arrive at the awareness that we cannot. This is a sign that we truly directed ourselves at uniting these three factors. It is like a person who aims a rifle, where they align their eye, the barrel, and the target into one straight line. If we cry out to the Creator that we are incapable, this is a sign that we have indeed found Him. If we are not precisely directing our appeal to the Creator, we still believe that we can succeed by our own strength.

If we truly turn to the Creator and the Creator performs this unification for us at our degree, it is as though we are in the final correction. We acquire an inner light, a spiritual standing, perhaps a part of the final correction. But how would we know it is only a part? We would not. We do not know everything, and accordingly, we do not know the value of that part within the overall picture. Kabbalists say there are another 620 such states until a person reaches the final correction.

A person becomes disappointed with trying to unite Israel, the Torah, and the Creator as one. Only from this work do we despair. This is the work, and it is what “There is none else besides Him” means. We despair of our inability to accomplish this unification. There is nothing else to do but this.

Moreover, if we despair at being unable to make this unification and turn to the Creator, it is a sign that we are indeed close to unity, perhaps already within it, because we turn to the Creator from the very state we have reached and want to connect the two: “There is none else besides Him.” What else is there besides this? It is that tightly connected.

This is the sign that we have truly turned to the Creator and not to something we imagined to be the Creator. It is the test that we have directed our path and our vision precisely at Him.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 156
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 155
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 154

Question: If the cause of our states is constant, what changes? Is it the states themselves?

Answer: Yes, states change, the form they are clothed in changes, but the cause remains the same. The cause is the lack of the revelation of the divine in you, in your matter, in your desire.

Let us put it this way: a person is a “black box” divided into thousands of cells. In each cell, the degree of revelation of the Creator is different.

For example, the Creator wants you to reveal Him in a certain place right now. So the Creator arranges a specific state for you in which you reveal Him. Through this, you bring about the correction of that state and receive the next one. This continues until you reveal the Creator in every single cell, until you have corrected all states.

From all the states sent to you, you somehow reveal the divine presence. At the same time, these states intensify your desire for spirituality and provide a deeper understanding of reality and experience. You transition from double to single concealment.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”

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Question: How does the transition from double concealment to single concealment happen?

Answer: The transition from double to single concealment takes place here, within this world, slowly and gradually. A person fluctuates between one state and the other, and thereby gradually moves to a state of simple concealment.

What is single concealment? It is when, against the backdrop of any event that happens to me, I feel it is sent from above, that the Creator is behind all this. Gradually, this feeling begins to accompany a person constantly, and one lives with it even before the Machsom (spiritual barrier). This happens much earlier, accumulates and manifests in our sensations.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”

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Question: What role does the group play when we go through different states?

Answer: We need the group for several reasons. Actually, there is only one reason, but since the Creator is still hidden from us, this reason is divided into several sub-reasons in relation to me. At first, I feel the group reminds me of the importance of spiritual work. Its influence helps me get back on track with my work. Without a group, I lose the correct direction.

All this is just at the beginning of the path. As I progress, I begin to see the group as a part of my soul. The spiritual construction is designed in such a way that there is a part of my soul in each person, and ultimately, I must unite with each of them. I do not know how yet, but I will have to do it somehow.

We are taught that all this is arranged as a pyramid. I have to unite with everyone, but not in the same measure. I connect with some souls on the inanimate level (Domem), with others on the vegetative level (Tzmeach), and with others on the living level (Chai). In other words, I unite with all the parts of Adam HaRishon‘s common soul, but with each on a different level of unity.

Ultimately, I need friends around me who I can work with as one Kli (vessel). They and I will function as organs of one body, one Kli. That is how we must work. Indeed, we see the most advanced and effective designs in our world are based on this method.

A person alone simply cannot advance. All he can do is somehow come to realize, over millennia, that he cannot break into spirituality alone. Anyone who flees from society is completely hopeless.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”

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