A Miracle Is A Revolution Of Perception

Question: What is the meaning of the miracle that the holiday of Chanukah celebrates in the inner work?

Answer: There are several miracles that occur in the inner work. The first miracle is the exodus from Egypt. The second miracle occurs on Hanukkah, and the third—on Purim.

A miracle is a revolution in one’s perception of reality. The actual reality I am in is unchanging, it is the world of Infinity. But such revolutionary changes take place inside of me that I receive a new perception, a new nature, such a drastic change that I see the whole world in a different way.

This is similar to a baby that comes out of the mother into a great, light, world, which is signified by his birth. And this is a miracle because it is not a simple continuation of the regular growth of the fetus, but it signifies a total revolution and an exit to a new level of perception. This transformation can only happen by virtue of the Light’s influence upon us.

When the Light finishes raising my desires to the first ten Sefirot, I am born on the new level in the new ten Sefirot, on the next level.

There are several revolutions like this: the first is when we go from the period of preparation into the new world, through the Machsom, and begin to work in the small spiritual state. Then, after this miracle of coming out of Egypt, there is a gradual ascent, the state by Mount Sinai and the revelation of the upper force, the miracle of Chanukah. All of this seems to be one process, beginning from the passage of the Red Sea and on. A revolution in a person’s perception of reality takes place, and all of this occurs by virtue of a change in his desires under the Light’s influence.

A miracle is when all of my previous desires undergo instant change, a total revolution.
[63966]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/11, Writings of Rabash

Integral Education With No Sudden Movements

Question: How can integral education, which explains the general mutual connection, help us come out of the economic crisis smoothly?

Answer: We don’t perform the correction on the economic level, the financial level, or in the mutual commercial connections among us, but in our awareness and our recognition. We have to recognize the mutual connection among us and the need to adapt to nature.

It is as if we all buy a pair of new integral glasses. When a person puts them on, he will see one “round” world. He will see that we are all connected and that we depend on one another. We are so interdependent that only I can feed you and you can feed me. By ourselves, we will all die of hunger.

This seems terrible to our egotistic nature, but from now on there is no other way. And we can see that it is really close.

So we have to raise people’s awareness and then with this new perspective, we will gradually change our life. Our life will change because of the changes in us, whether we like it or not. How will we see it in the banks and the stock markets? This is another question. Fist let’s start to change, and then everything will begin to take shape.

This process will undoubtedly flow in the right direction because when we understand the total mutual connection, we will not be able to harm one another.

Therefore, integral education is primary and it should be arranged above all else. There is no need to dig too deeply. The shortcomings of the current situation must be disclosed precisely to the extent that it will make us realize the need for education and that only integral education can save us. We should recognize the fallacy of the current system, but not touch the system itself. It is so rotten, that it may collapse as a result of one careless movement and leave us with nothing.

Question: But there are “fires” that must be put out now

Answer: If you start with integral education, you will see how they immediately begin to subside. And besides, there is no other method. It isn’t the first time that the best experts are dealing with this problem. How many meetings took place and how many promises have been made—but no solution? No one has a fire extinguisher. Everyone says what he thinks: give money, save money, be careful of saving….

So I repeat: The solution is on a totally different level.

In the meantime we should stop making any unnecessary movements, keep things quiet, and publicly declare that we should be very careful. After all, we are up to our necks in the swamp and any wave we might make may drown us.

Instead we should rise to another level and activate the education system. Then, when we look at the world through these new glasses, we will know how to solve our problems. We will know it internally. Thanks to the new education, people will begin to change, and thus change the balance with nature’s forces. We will accumulate the power of mutual help and will improve the mutual relations among people and among nations, and gradually come out of the old, crisis-stricken world.

Above the old system, we build a new system: This is the same mutual guarantee, but it is now adapted to specific fields like education, the family, the state, society, industry and the economy. The principle of mutual guarantee will be determined in every field according to a person’s internal changes.

I don’t know any other solution. The problem is only in realizing this and here we are at a crossroad: Should we go on using the usual methods that will eventually bring us to the rise of Nazi regimes, wars, and mass destruction, or should we follow the path Kabbalists recommend?
[63823]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/11, Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

Who Are You Working For, Pharaoh?

We start off trying to connect. “We” meaning those people in whom the point in the heart has awakened; they were gathered together from Above. And after we are gathered together, we have to fulfill the task we’ve been entrusted with: to realize our yearning and desire, and exert ourselves in order to connect.

And then we will reveal that we’re unable to succeed in this and that our ego will not let us do this. Our egoism stands between us, separating us and moving us away from each other, and doesn’t let us connect. And even if we succeed in this, it can only be in order to achieve some material goals. But we’re unable to connect into a true spiritual vessel.

This is where Pharaoh is revealed to us. In our normal material life he doesn’t give us any trouble and lets us be well-off. You can get pots full of meat and garlic—anything you want, but only as long as you remain under the reign of the Pharaoh.

But when we try to lift above the material, the corporeal, Pharaoh starts raising his objections. And his resistance shows the person the same strength of connection, which he has to achieve in order to reveal the light. As it is said in the article “The Secret of Conception and Birth,” that due to overcoming the resistance of the previous degree, the desire of the next degree is born.

We reveal the Pharaoh, our ego, more and more, and make more and more effort in order to snap out of it, rise above it and reach a connection between us, that is, to make ourselves similar to the light. Thus we reveal that the Pharaoh hinders us and we try to escape and run away from him, maybe not defeat him, but at least separate from him.

It is clear that I will not subdue him and won’t be able to reign over him. But if I succeed in disconnecting from him even for a short moment, this is called exodus. This is how we flee from the first prison and then reveal the real barrier. The same Pharaoh turns into Mount Sinai.

We fled from Pharaoh, but now we have to show how we really overcome him, as without him, we cannot achieve a truly powerful connection between us. If it weren’t for the ego, we would be completely devoid of any powers, good or evil. Therefore, we need Pharaoh so we can overcome, rise above him, and there connect..

Psychologists say that quarrels, which sometimes arise between family members, allow them to reveal stronger connection and love, they sharpen the feelings. It’s like hot pepper and spice, which are added to food so that it isn’t bland, these differences and clashes give flavor to relationships.

That’s why we need Pharaoh in order to understand what mutual responsibility and connection are. Without his resistance we will not find out what prevents us from connecting. Even the feeling of connection that has already been achieved cannot exist without the opposite force hidden inside it that works against it. Because we are the creatures, and we have to include in us two forces: the connecting one and the rejecting one, the Light and the darkness.
[63800]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/11, Writings of Rabash

The Miracle Of Light And Connection

Our unity above Pharaoh stands for the correction of the bestowing desires, which symbolize the holiday of Chanukah, the lighting of the Chanukah candles.

Every spiritual root must touch its corporeal branch once, and this is why all these events took place over the course of the descent from above downward. At first there was the exit from Egypt, the building of the First Temple on the degree of Mochin de Haya—a very high state. And then the fall from it, the breaking of the Temple and the Babylonian exile where the miracle of Purim took place. Then there was the correction and the building of the Second Temple on the degree of Mochin de Neshama. But we were not able to hold on here and once again were exiled. The war with the Greeks and the miracle of Chanukah happened during the time of the Second Temple—in the small state(Katnut).

And then the Greeks completed the separation from the spiritual, which corresponds to the First restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph)—the fall beneath the Machsom, the barrier that separates the spiritual and corporeal worlds.

And when we begin to rise from below upward—in the reverse order, we first pass theMachsom, then we acquire the spiritual vessels which correspond to Hanukkah, and then—Purim.

All miracles happen because of the Light that returns to the source, but they are realized through the connection in the group. Everything depends only on our connection. By connecting more—we rise and become free, and by connecting less—we fall and become exiled. Our ascent depends on the strength of our connection with one another, and our descent depends on our distance and separation from one another.

There is nothing else! We will continue to rise until we unite as one man with one heart, when “The Creator and His Name will be one.”

For this we need to reveal the entire system and see how complex and rich in it, and the enormous amount of connections we can reveal in it and use. Everyone connects with everyone else, repeatedly multiplying each other by mutual inclusion in one another, and this goes on infinitely, like in a holographic image.

And this is qualitative infinity, rather than quantitative—an infinite connection. Our connection keeps growing until the discrete, digital sum becomes analog, until there is no difference left between us, like droplets of water that merge into one great drop. This will mean that the final correction, Gmar Tikkun, has been reached.
[63797]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/11, Writings of Rabash, “The Miracle of Chanukah”

Disturbing Disturbances

Question: The modern man truly finds shelter within the walls of his apartment. He also tends to search for information that is faceless and unobtrusive and watches some kind of funny sitcoms on TV. And it’s unclear how this global interconnection will affect a person. If I’ve locked myself up inside my apartment, how will all these concerns you are talking about reach me?

Answer: They will reach you through unpleasant states. If everything continued as before, nothing bad would happen because of it. You lock yourself up in some kind of cocoon and you exist inside it—this is a comfortable state for you. You don’t want to change it, you don’t want to marry, have children; you don’t want to have close relationships with your friends because this is usually considered an obligation. Your parents have become a complete nuisance: You have to call them and, what’s even worse, visit them and so on.

If everything continued like this, this would be the best thing in the world—I was born, detached from my parents, made myself a cell inside this hive and that’s it, I exist in it. But the thing is that the goal of nature is to bring us to a balance with itself, that is, to make us integral, absolutely interconnected, like elements of one analog system.

All parts of this system depend on each other, and if there is a surge, a disturbance in a certain part of the system, it is passed on to the whole system, the whole system also comes to a disturbed state, and then gradually balances itself according to its laws and comes back to a standstill. We proceed….

And in any of these states of balance or imbalance, all the elements affect each other. It is an absolute interconnection! And this is the interconnection that the person feels, especially in a non-static state.

In a static state everything calms down. And when all the bonds are equal, I find myself in the center of them, like a spider in the middle of the web, and I feel balanced. I have to coexist within these boundaries, but because they are balanced around me and I am in the middle, I don’t feel their pressure. This is how everyone feels.

But the system is alive and natural. Nature always directs us to a certain state, set out as the goal of its existence. That’s why we will feel constant disturbances, slants, lack of balance, disruptions in homeostasis. And that’s why we will feel unwell.
[63699]
From a talk on Integral Upbringing, 12/11/11

Swept Away By The Flow Of Light

The system is arranged in such a way that a person in search for the meaning of life always finds a teacher. If now some person awakes on the other side of the world in a life full of all the material joys, yet he begins to suffer and eat his heart out due to not being able to find the meaning, he will undoubtedly “accidentally” find us on the Internet. Or, he’ll fly to some other country and suddenly discover our book at some store.

This will happen without a doubt, since it is all a field of desire. We don’t need to look at people, books, some material objects—they all are manifestations of the energy field that exists in constant movement to achieve inner balance.

I am not worried about any person in whom the point in the heart is revealed because the moment that he needs to, he will find all that is necessary for him. I remember how once a friend and I would sit together every evening, reading Kabbalistic books and trying to study them on our own. Obviously we didn’t understand anything. And suddenly I told him, “Let’s go to Bnei Brak and find ourselves a teacher.”

I remember that moment perfectly. First I uttered the phrase, and only then did I begin to think about what I had just said. This is how it works: Instantaneously, in a flash, when the required inner potential in a spiritual charge is achieved and you come into contact with the pressure of a new field, your charge and this field reach such congruence to each other that you begin to flow on a different level of this field, Light. And this flow once again brings you to state of balance, but now on a different degree.

But physically this new state of balance is expressed in your finding a teacher, your coming to a place where you can receive fulfillment. A Kabbalist looks at this and sees everything that is happening inside, like he is watching a computer screen from the other side, from the inside.
[63582]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/11, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

An Intermediate Form Between A Person And The Creator

The Creator created us as material opposite to Him—the desire to enjoy, which does not feel or understand that there can be something except itself. We feel only ourselves and wish to receive and derive pleasure from everything else. Every person feels only his own desire and the fulfillment in it. These are the only two states perceived by the desire to receive: yes/no, 0/1. This is how egoism works, and this is the order of work that we observe in nature in many instances and in different cells.

However, in order for the desire to enjoy to exit itself, to rise above its quality of perceiving good and evil only within its ego, and to feel good and evil outside of itself, we need some special tool that does not exist within the egoistic desire. The egoistic desire lacks any foundation for rising above and creating something opposite of itself.

We don’t even know what this opposite means; we cannot imagine what the spiritual world is. In order to reach it, we need to perform the kind of changes in ourselves that the desire to enjoy is incapable of performing! Nonetheless, this is our duty: to reach, understand, and execute them ourselves. Otherwise we will not receive independence and become equal to the Creator as is instilled in the goal of creation.

Thus we are given a means called a group—something foreign to the egoistic desire. In regard to this strange object, the egoistic desire feels the same as in regard to the Creator, considering it nonexistent so to speak. It does not give it any independent value and simply wishes to use it. However, it understands and feels it is in connection with it.

On one hand, the egoism wishes to use the group like any outside object. On the other hand, it can use it in the opposite form: in order to achieve bestowal, a quality that is opposite to it.

Therefore, we have an intermediary form between degrees, a means of transition—like corals are between the inanimate and vegetative levels; a mythical half-plant, the “field dog” between the vegetative and animate levels; and the monkey between the animate and the human levels. And the intermediate form between man and the Creator is the group.

If a person joins a group and is able to work with it for bestowal, he will be able to rise to the degree of the Creator. One needs to try to reach this by his own effort, since becoming like the Creator means, first and foremost being independent, understanding, feeling, and demanding your changes on your own.

All of this is supplied to us by the environment. Therefore, it is written, “One who aspires to the Creator (Isra-El), the Light of correction and the Creator are one whole,” and “love for the creatures leads to love for the Creator.” We need to view our environment as a means to achieve the goal of creation. To the extent that the goal of creation is important to you, you should value the group to the same height.

This pertains not only to those in whom the point in the heart has awakened that pulls them toward the goal of creation; it pertains to all of humanity. Everyone will need to build such examples: societies or small states that will serve as examples, which everyone else will emulate while trying to draw closer.

In this manner, the whole world will advance correctly, nearing the form of the new human being, the new humanity. Consequently, we need to achieve love for the Creator—similarity to the quality of bestowal and altruistic perception. Love for the friends is a means for achieving this goal.
[63466]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/11, Writings of Rabash

The Vision Of The Man Who Has Seen The Future Of Humanity

We began to study Baal HaSulam’s article “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” which appears to me as his most important introduction among all the others. Partly, it includes the excerpts from The Book of Oracles by the ARI, written by his disciple Chaim Vital. In fact, this introduction contains the entire path that we need to go through in order to reach the goal.

Although we have plenty of other materials, nothing explains the path along which we should advance and change as consistently, step by step, methodically, and deliberately. Other articles and introductions give us a general view of the wisdom of Kabbalah or view it from some particular angles.

But this introduction selects a very narrow, aimed line to show the person, either religious or secular, who starts with the question about the meaning of his life, how to achieve his ultimate realization with all the difficulties and scrutinies on this path.

This is why this introduction is unusually deep and not easy for beginners. It takes years to begin to assimilate, understand, and find oneself in it. It needs to be studied in small portions, carefully, until a person grows and might be able to reveal more. We must understand that this introduction was written by the man who stood at the head of a new era, the last stage of human development, which was to go from unconscious to conscious development.

Now we need to rise to a new level from the stage at which we could not even be called human beings but only highly developed animals acting in accordance with instincts and fully managed by the forces of nature. Something designed to be similar to the Creator begins to develop inside this creature.

We need to understand the man who was at the beginning of this process, his approach and view, and try to emulate him.
[63493]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/11, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

A Wonderful Method, Patented By The Creature

At the beginning of creation, we were in a state of perfection due to the upper Light and did not have any private desire. Now, we are returning to the same state and exist inside the upper Light due to our own desire. This desire we have acquired does not become extinguished; on the contrary, it grows.

Why does it not become extinguished, even after it becomes filled with the Light? After all, we know that when the Light fills the desire, it annuls it. Normally, when I receive what I want, I stop feeling the need for it. I have no more reason to strive for it. At first, I feel pleasure, and then it disappears: Both the desire and the pleasure do.

It is a very curious thing that the desire that we acquired does not disappear. We achieve a never-ending desire by connecting with each other.

This is because the one desire that exists in the world of Infinity has divided into a multitude of pieces. These pieces contradict each other; every piece acquires a feeling of independence and distance from the others. This is why, when we begin to connect with each other, we do not cancel our egoism. Instead, we unite above it, above all the differences.

It turns out that we keep our desires despite our connection. When everyone connects with others, each one acquires a full, common desire, the entire Malchut of the world of Infinity, the entire, infinite vessel. And this desire no longer disappears because one will always feel like he is against the rest, opposite to them. However, at the same time, he connects with them with all his heart and soul.

For now, we are unable to understand how it is possible to be simultaneously connected with the others, yet separated from them. How can both be at the same time? This is precisely what we now need to study, from the point of unity we have attained, and to build a middle line.

These two lines, the right and the left, negate one another. If they connect, the right (fulfillment) and the left (desire), they would cancel each other out. However, when they connect though the middle line, they do not become annulled because the middle line connects them and includes them inside of it.

It turns out that, even though there is desire and fulfillment, the fulfillment is accepted in the opposite desire because I want to give to others through it. When I enjoy for the sake of pleasing my neighbor, my pleasure does not end. It does not annul the desire because I am enjoying on behalf of another.

Here, the creature acquires a very special patent, a special method, an ability to increase its vessel to enormous dimensions without any fear of annulling it. The solution lies in our including ourselves in one another and thus advancing, until everyone acquires the entire infinite desire with the entire fulfillment.
[63018]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/2011, Writings of Rabash

The Group: My Beacon In The Dark

We always need to check whether we are advancing correctly and acquiring a new force of desire and the intention to use it for the sake of bestowal and in no other way. So how do you evaluate yourself to see whether you are facing the Creator, heading toward Him?

For this purpose, apart from the Creator, we need another point of reference that provides the required conditions for advancement. It turns out that the solution is quite simple. Using the Light, we can increase the point of desire created by the Creator. Breaking it down into pieces, we can feel ourselves in contrast to the Light. The force of egoism and mutual separation stands between us. Instead of the power of love and bestowal, it is the force of reception, the quality of the ego, which is opposite to the Light.

When we begin to feel these pieces and try to become closer to one another, working against their desire, we will necessarily attain the goal: adhesion with the Creator. It turns out that connecting these distanced and opposite desires and connecting to the Creator is the same thing. This is because we become similar to the Creator, the Light, to the same extent that we become closer to each other.

This is why it is so important to love your friends and connect to the group. The laws and actions that we carry out as we connect with each other are the same laws and actions we need to carry out in relation to the Creator. In this way, we attain connection, love, correspondence, and adhesion, everything that is contained in the goal of creation, as it is written: “From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.”

We are given an initial point, and having it and our desire, we are in the beginning of “a field which the Lord hath blessed.” We must cross this field without becoming lost in it. This is only possible by connecting with friends.

When we are unable to work the proper way or when we try doing it but are unable to for reasons that do not depend on us, we enter the Egyptian exile, even though this is also a stage of the journey we must experience. However, it is only possible to come to this after getting lost in the field. This wandering around in the field is called the Egyptian exile.

Then, this field takes us out of Egypt. There, we receive the method of correction called the Torah to correct ourselves. This field turns into the desert and later, into the land of Israel. However, all of this is the same field, the same desire to enjoy that we must make similar to the Light.
[63096]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/2011, Writings of Rabash