“In general examination, we find that there are only two commandments to follow in the society. These can be called 1) “reception” and 2) “bestowal.” This means that each member must, by nature, receive his needs from the society and must benefit the society through his work for its well-being. And if one breaks one of these two commandments, he will be mercilessly punished.”

Baal HaSulam, The Peace article.

Kabbalists write what can be described as user manuals for spiritual development, though sometimes in yet unattained concepts in a difficult to understand language, and sometimes it can seem very straightforward. It is always either about “reception” or “bestowal.”

There’s a concept called the law of equivalence of form, to resemble or be equivalent to the qualities of the Creator, which in one word is bestowal. And the created being is opposite in the quality of reception. When we are equivalent, we become close, and we are distant when we are opposite.

A question arose during one of the lessons on the topic: Is it the environment that can help lessen the distance from the Creator’s qualities?
This is precisely what we see in the above excerpt from Baal HaSulam, but what does it mean to be punished for something that’s not yet known or understood. Once the point in the heart awakens, the desire to resemble the qualities of the Creator (to reach bestowal), and we realize that we are the will to receive, then the process begins, then the process begins, since realizing that one is entirely the will to receive is realizing also that there’s a different quality of desiring to bestow. This is “the advantage of the light from the darkness.”

So, how do we learn what is bestowal?

Rabash writes, “A person has a desire for spirituality within him, which comes from himself. In other words, even when he is alone and there are no people around him to affect him, or from whom to absorb some desire, he receives an awakening and craves to be a servant of the Creator. But his own desire is certainly not big enough for him not to need to enhance it so he can work with it to obtain the spiritual goal. Therefore, there is a way—just like in corporeality—to enhance that desire through people on the outside who will compel him to follow their views and their spirit.”

And continues precisely about the importance of choosing a good environment as a study group, “This is done by bonding with people whom he sees that also have a need for spirituality. And the desire that those people on the outside have begets a desire in him, and thus he receives a great desire for spirituality. In other words, in addition to the desire that he has from within, he receives a desire for spirituality that they beget in him, and then he acquires a great desire with which he can reach the goal.”

We see here that our way to enhance the desire for the quality of bestowal is through the environment, from others we can acquire and grow the desire to discover the Creator, from our small starting desire we can increase this desire to greater levels - to discover the Creator to a greater extent - to what wouldn’t be possible alone.

We get enough desire to start, but in order to reach the goal, we need to enhance the desire, which fills our fuel tank for continuing on the path, and we do this with others. They look for me, and I look for them, and if we connect our desires then we have a great desire to advance toward the goal with our unique piece of the puzzle.