At The Critical Moment, You Get A Second Wind

Please know that if you go alone, you will never have the forces needed. The same path that is possible to pass within a year will take you fifteen years to pass, and, in the end, you won’t reach any result, except for recognizing that you need the group.

However, if I work correctly with the group, then always at the time of a descent, it will awaken me. And it is not necessarily through obvious physical methods, but it will come from above as an inner awakening after I have joined myself in connection with the group. At the time that I am able to, I constantly think about it: How can I attain connection where there is my exact place within which I am included, like in a “puzzle?” I want to feel my place in this puzzle and constantly think about it, only about the connection. After all, this is the place with which I associate the future revelation of the Creator, which will connect us.

If I constantly invest my efforts in this, then it can’t be that I will fall and am left without any forces. My friends will help me.

Imagine that, like an element of a mechanism, I am a part that is included in a system. I constantly insert this force within this system, the desire to connect, by awakening the others. And, at a certain moment, I die; in this element, the ego suddenly grew, and it can no longer do anything, standing still like a care with a flat tire. And, then immediately, to the extent that I “inflated” the others, they now begin to work on me.

In our body are the same processes; all the time there are ascents and descents, contractions and expansions, absorption and emission of various substances in different systems. So the body constantly operates, and that is called being alive

To live means that there is a time to give and a time to receive. This is how each cell in the body operates, large or small. And, if I do not, then there won’t be any life. I can receive awakening from above, but only in order to awaken myself and return myself again to work with the environment. The environment is like a battery for my efforts, which then return to me.

First, I need to do everything in my power. I can’t say that now I am in a descent and wait until the group will give me strength. In any case, I need to invest efforts according to how much strength I have left, and then begin to receive forces from the friends. I just can’t fall into their arms in advance.

You will be convinced from your experience that it works specifically in this way, and huge accumulations of strength will be revealed to you. Take as much as you want. It’s like on a long run when your strength is gone, but you continue to run anyway, and then you pass the critical point when you get a second wind.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

The Lock That Shows That There is A Door Behind It

“Preface to The Book of Zohar”: Indeed before we are awarded to turn the desire to receive in us to receive in order to bestow, by the Torah and Mitzvot (commandments), there are strong locks on the gates to the Creator, since they have an opposite role then, to keep us away from the Creator. Thus the forces of separation are called locks, since they block the gates of closeness and distance us from the Creator. But if we overcome them, so they don’t influence us and cool the love in our hearts, the locks become openings and the darkness becomes light and the bitterness becomes sweetness, since for all the locks we receive a special level under His Providence and they become openings, levels of attaining the Creator.

This happens even before we go through the Machsom (barrier) into the spiritual world and before we acquire the attribute of bestowal with which a person begins to work. Even before that, the locks gradually become an invitation for a person’s feelings and perception.

First, he begins to understand that the locks were put there for his own good. Then, he really feels that by seeing the benefit that each descent and fall brings him, every problem in life and all the confusion, both the closest and the most distant ones. He begins to expect a positive result in everything that happens, and this focuses him correctly and straightens his path toward the goal.

Eventually, a person begins to justify everything and to be grateful, even during a time of a descent and confusion when enemies and adversaries attack him. He knows that they are all forces that were brought from Above to correct his way.

He sees the good angel, instead of the stormy waters of the flood. He sees God’s hand in everything that happens. He gets this feeling thanks to his experience and the gradual acquisition of the force of bestowal, until finally, he really is rewarded with the revelation of the force of bestowal and begins to use it beneficially for his advancement.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/12

Do You Want To Be Dressed In Bestowal? Try It On!

Question: When I act before a friend, trying to make the goal seem more important in his eyes, must I act according to what I think is great or according to his attributes?

Answer: What do you mean, according to what you think? You must take into account only the friend. When a mother takes care of a baby, what does she think about? Is it about what is good for her or about what is good for the baby?

When I act before the friend, I aim at the highest goal. Of course, it isn’t in an exaggerated manner, but I try to convey encouragement on the spiritual path gently, from the bottom of my heart. This also impresses me. I lie to myself, as if I really want it.

As a result, I receive more Aviut, “thickness,” a deeper desire, and then I suddenly fall. However, this fall is a result of my efforts. I summoned the descent by myself, and this is already a great step forward.

There are descents that simply wait for me along the way, but there also are descents that come as a result of my efforts. They are totally different, and I receive them differently since my vessels are ready for this.

I have made something higher of myself; I have “drawn” myself anew in an attempt to be equal to the spiritual level. I am impressed by bestowal. I judge everyone to the scale of merit. I justify the Creator, my past and my present. I “blow up” all this by myself, helping the friends, yearning for mutual guarantee, living and breathing it, and, suddenly, I feel a descent in the vessels that I have created myself. Although they are not real, although I only was acting, thanks to my “performance,” thanks to the “costume” I tried on, I get additional Aviut.

In fact, I have gained an upper form and have jumped the gun, and it is as if I built it independently, and the Creator only adds the “matter” of the desire to it. By my inclination forward, it is as if I have built a large “me” in advance, and the Creator only agrees with me and fills the drawing, the “bubble” I have created. He has filled the airy body with “flesh,” with the matter of the desire, and, now, I am already in a higher state.

Thus, I advance with the help of my imagination. Of course, things are a bit more complicated. I don’t just make a “drawing,” and the Creator “colors” it in, but it is a wonderful means to advance.

In addition, there is one more thing: By acting before the friends, I actually build the Creator, the future state of bestowal. This is because I cannot imagine the Creator as higher than myself on a higher level. For me, it is the same thing. I either imagine myself or Him.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/12, Talmud Eser Sefirot

The Creator’s Circle Of Volunteers

Question: How does this world help us establish the intention of in order to bestow? How can we tie our daily concerns, work, and family to the spiritual work?

Answer: First of all, a person should stabilize the correct relations in the group and in the family as much as he can to secure a reliable back, and only then go out into the world.

Here he must think which circle of the world he should turn to, with what message, when, and what state the society is in. Today things change drastically from day to day, and a person has to decide accordingly and not just act thoughtlessly.

But first we worry about group solidarity. Sometimes in order to form group solidarity it is better to go out into the world and to unite by external collective actions that will connect the friends. But first we must worry about the internal actions that are the most important.

It says that Israel (those who yearn Yashar – Kel  -straight to the Creator) are the fewest of all the nations. We should understand that Israel is a kind of a bubble. If a person is included in this bubble he is called a Jew or Israel—all these names that carry the spiritual message. If a person doesn’t belong to the spiritual message he is not called Israel, he is simply a person from Babel.

It is very important that we understand this. If a person takes this mission upon himself, he becomes Israel, and if he doesn’t, then he isn’t Israel.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/09/12, Writings of Rabash

In The Web Of Mutual Connection

Question: It’s quite difficult to introduce the formula of “love your friend as yourself” into the existing concepts and to explain it in scientific language.

Answer: Why? Say, if not for the present crisis that distracts us from further development, that is, if we continued to develop international commerce and economics, we would arrive at the completely interconnected integral system. In one place we produce something, in another place consume, manufacture, one thing is connected to the other—all the earth is entangled in the network of various mutual connections.

In this event, how could I predict or plan something, and in general, do something successfully? Suppose that we are two businessmen and want to sign a contract. Can we compose it if we don’t take into account the entire network of international connections?

Question: If I have a structured network and I concluded its laws of development, I can predict this development. Here contracts appear and anything else you like.

Answer: No, because it still depends on millions of people like you, if you all cooperate with each other. You are sitting as if in a web!

Then completely different, integral laws operate, and we can’t control them. We don’t control them. Our egoistic mind allows us only to work between us: The third one is unnecessary, and that’s the only way. We can’t grasp the integral system since it’s an analog system where everything is mutually connected, and we can’t work out these kinds of systems.

It turns out that by signing a contract with you, I don’t know how much it will be implemented since at the same time all the others will also sign their contracts, and everyone will become antagonistic. So what should be done?

Only if we rise above our personal interests to one common interest and begin to feel it as personal to us (imagine what level we must reach), only then can we work together like ants in their society. They operate on pure instinct, the general force directs them.

If we come with our intellect to this kind of society, that would be ideal!
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From a TV Program: “Integral World: Formula of an Integral Society” 7/1/12

The Reason For Which We Gathered Here

The goal of the society is to raise us to the human level. This is possible only by the greatness of the Creator, which we don’t see in our darkness. But it is in the dark that we can establish new values among us that have no egoistic foundations.

We know that these values are totally unjustified, since otherwise they would stem from our ego. But the spiritual foundation is above the ego, like theSefira of Yesod that is above the Sefira of Malchut. So everything depends on the foundation we choose: is it just dust that is totally inanimate or dust from the ground(Adamah) that already resembles (Domeh) the upper, as a man (Adam), similar to the Creator?

It all depends on our priorities and on what we consider to be important. We begin to play with the importance of the Creator, the teacher, the group, the study, and the goal and it becomes a most important and serious game in the group. It is because in our ego, in our desire, we only see darkness. The ego constantly grows, thus increasing the darkness. But if on top of this darkness we develop the greatness of our common goal, everyone in the group receives fuel and energy to advance through the darkness.

This means that instead of advancing by the stick that pushes us from behind, we choose by ourselves to be drawn forward to the greatness of the upper, to the greatness of the attribute of bestowal, mutual help, connection, love, and all the supreme values that are specific to the Creator’s nature.

It is for this purpose that the Kabbalistic group is based, and as such it must keep itself by constantly its goal, its basis, more and more accurately. The members of the Kabbalistic group are heroes in quality not in quantity. Only people who can really advance this way should join it. Therein lies our strength, because we want to achieve the greatest possible similarity to the Light, to grow in height and not in width.

And this is why we gather here—to establish a society where each of us follows the spirit of bestowing upon the Creator. And to achieve bestowal upon the Creator, we must begin with bestowal upon man, which is called “love of others.” (From “The Purpose of the Society,” Rabash)
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/09/12, Writings of Rabash

The Secret Of The General System

We have to examine which conditions and rules and which types of connection should be among us, so that we will generally feel the mutual connection as a spiritual system. In this system everyone nullifies himself and connects with others by incorporating in their desires and impressions, their thoughts and goals, as if they were his own.

Everyone changes and nullifies his desire; it becomes formless. “Personally, I don’t need anything. I want to receive your desires and to fulfill them for you.” This means that I am “dressed” in the form of bestowal like in a new outfit. My desire becomes raw material, a shapeless mass. It has power and potential, but now you are guiding me to where you want, to what is good for you.
This is a “servant of God;” a person that dedicates himself to the service of bestowal. This allows us to be mutually connected with one another in the spiritual network where everyone fulfills only the desire of others.

Then I discover that these are not strange desires at all. Thus I begin to exit myself, and I immediately feel that there is only one general collective mutual desire.

It turns out that the system is harmonious, and this special desire is not typical of the “leg” or the “arm,” or any part that I imagined, but of the whole. I discover that the system has a mind, an internal part. I discover it and receive instructions from it through the whole system and connect to it in a reverse connection.

This is the connection with the Creator, but it comes after I feel the general “body,” the general harmony of the mutual bestowal.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/12, Writings of Rabash

Every Lesson Is A Contact With Ein Sof (Infinity)

If during the lesson you hold on to the right intention, you would feel a great spiritual filling during this time. It is all according to the customer’s desire: What you want is what you get. A great Light is revealed during the lesson and it is a pity if you don’t use it.

A spiritual filling indicates that your previous raw desire is being attracted to spirituality, like GE. Then it connects with the desires of others, with AHP, that portray the Creator for me so that I will fill Him. This is what fills me; I am filled by bestowal. Just like a mother who is happy when her baby eats, wiping his round cheeks with pleasure. The fact that she filled him is her filling.

It is the same with me; I have no other goal in life but to fill the friends. By filling them, I fill the Creator. I use my vessels to fill their needs, to provide them with what they want. They want to advance towards the goal, to feel its greatness, and I provide them with that. I only evoke them positively: increasing the greatness of the goal and of the Creator by acting like the Light with regards to the vessels.

You should leave the lesson with great joy for having been in contact with the eternal infinite system, in contact with the Creator. Even though, in the meantime, this contact is unclear and unexamined, I still come out with a plan of what I am going to do from this moment onward. We should renew the fixed plan each time so that it will be relevant for each specific day. I have to decide what I am going to do every day until the next lesson.

I change my plan according to the new awakening, the new attitude, both the physical and the internal. Try it and you will see that it is a varied change, which takes place in a different manner each time. Every day is different from the next and not like it seems today. We will be impressed by every point in our advancement, each time as if it is the whole world.

I must pass all the personal awakening I received during the lesson to the society so that it will grow to the size of the whole society. I want to pass all this in the form of my gratitude and love to the Creator. If I do that, it will return to me and will increase my desire even more, the awakening will be greater in order to bestow upon the friends again.

This work is in the thoughts and our desire. I don’t need to run after every friend trying to wake him up physically. Internally I must simply explode and externally I must work very calmly so as not to harm the friends. Externally I have to dress in the state of the friend, in his desire, in order to do what is good for him and not what I want.

Even internally you will later relate to yourself and work with the vessels of the others because you will treat yourself only as a machine that serves others. You will have no other interest in yourself.

How can you check if you are working correctly? If you want to awaken the greatness of the goal in the group—general bestowal and love in the group, in all of humanity and love of the Creator in order to delight in it yourself and to make others happy—this is enough to test.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

An Ocean Of Water Drops

The correction cannot take place at once; it is done gradually, step by step, since it is about the Reshimot (reminiscences) that remained after the shattering. It is the correction of the shattered vessels that must first each be clarified. Before that, there must be the clarification of the first vessel in order to build the next big vessel on top of it and then the next vessel, which is even bigger.

It is because everything is shattered, and the shattering can be corrected only in small parts, each part individually according to its level of shattering. The whole spiritual structure is made of discrete vessels that are connected by so many ties that they become one integral analog system.

It is like water that is made of separate drops, each of which is connected not only to the drops next to it, but to all the other drops, and not through other drops but directly. If you are in the world of Atzilut you are directly connected to Moses and to Rabbi Shimon.

So there is a difference in how the vessels are corrected after the shattering. It seems that we are connected to some friends by chance, thus joining some spiritual system and some Light. But by that, we activate an infinite number of ties. So the correction is gradual since it requires our clarifications.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

General Mobilization

Only our persistence in feeling the necessity for connection can save us. Stop playing with other things hoping that something will change with time, enough of dealing with other things. All the related activities are necessary only in order to support the main thing: understanding the need for connection.

Here there must be an unceasing collective effort until we succeed. We mustn’t run away or divert from this goal in any other direction. Whatever we do is only meant to reinforce our efforts to connect. We should feel concern that goes from heart to heart, until we succeed. There are no concessions here and the conditions are known: constant fulfillment of the Reshimot (informational genes) according to the principle “I have labored and I have found.” If we can, we overcome, and if we can’t, we don’t. It must be a clear goal before our eyes and we must all mobilize for the mission.

There are new students who don’t understand yet and do not feel total despair; there are old students who have grown too weak and have found themselves caught up by routine. But on the whole, we have to strengthen one another. The prayer can only be for connection; otherwise, it isn’t heard. If we don’t yearn for connection, for mutual bestowal, to bestow upon the Creator, then everything else is all the “potion of death.” We must clarify this thoroughly.

The main thing is the general concern. Even if I don’t actually feel the concern in my heart, I must still show it to others. Even if I don’t feel enthusiastic about the goal of creation at the moment, I must still act before others. Otherwise I must not be part of the society.

It must be the main condition: A person is in the society in order to strengthen the hearts of the friends on the way to attaining the goal by increasing the importance and the greatness of the goal. If he doesn’t do that, there is no room for him here. It is better that a few people reach the goal, since otherwise what is the use of all the millions around us if they don’t attain anything and if the spiritual force doesn’t rule the corporeal level?

So the society should demand from everyone: You either keep your obligation in strengthening the friends as to the greatness of the goal, the greatness of the connection, or you leave. Just like that.

As for beginners, the mission should also be clarified to them to the extent that they can perceive it, since other than that there is nothing.

Many years go by before a person begins to hear to some extent and to perceive the message. But we have accumulated enough experience, powers, knowledge of the sources, and exertion in order to fulfill it. What is more, the external reality demands that we do it.
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From the Preparation for Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/12

Attaining The World Through The Lens Of The Group

I have to attribute all the powers I get to one source so that by acting together with them, I will be able to analyze myself and the whole world and then start operating in the opposite direction towards the source on my own.

There is me and this upper source, and between us there is the whole world. But the whole world can be compressed to the dimensions of one group so that it is clearer to me how I should work with it most effectively. Then I don’t have to clarify my attitude towards the whole world, towards all of reality, but the group is enough for the time being. All of reality is focused for me in this group, like through a lens.

If I work with nine other friends with regard to the Creator, like through a magnifying glass, then in this lens, I focus the whole world, the entire view of the universe: from me to the Creator and back to me. This is how the law that says that the general and the particular are equal operates. This is why the infinite creation with the infinite number of Partzufimand worlds are concentrated in the ten Sefirot that I determine, through which I relate to it. All of reality is now concentrated in the one particular section that I have chosen.

This is a great help for us and it is possible thanks to the shattering. Before the shatteringthere were no general and particular, which only appear after the shattering. Thanks to this we can achieve better results by attaining the general through the particular.
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From a Talk about Inner Work 9/30/12

A Simple Law Of Revelation

Everything is very simple: the Creator is revealed in the connection among us. Therefore I should look for where I can work on the connection among us all day long. Where are the wires that I can stretch in order to connect us to one another? Between whom should they be stretched, between which desires? How should I connect everyone, and by what? What is the work I have to do?

It says that the Creator is revealed in the connection among us. If there are ten people, it is enough. We only have to connect and He will be revealed. But have I taken any practical steps towards connection? We only speak about connection, and the Creator is not revealed. So what should we do? Continue until the Creator is revealed.

It is a law! He will certainly be revealed as soon as the correct need for connection compatible to Him arises and is sufficient for the very first level of revelation, Nefesh de Nefesh. Or we will open up the opposite relationship, the opposite of Nefesh de Nefesh, so we have an indication that a desire to connect occurred and was revealed in the opposite, and then we will cry out so that the Creator will correct us.

This outcry comes automatically, since one action leads to another action. So when we cry out, the Creator will correct the connection among us and will be revealed. The broken part will be revealed to us in the coarsest from of separation between ten people. Then we will discover an increasingly more delicate shattering.

First we discover the shattering in its most primitive form: 10 big parts of egoism, opposite from one another trying to tear one another to pieces with their teeth, instead of connecting and holding on by their teeth, like cogwheels. Then we ask for correction and connect more coarsely, and so the Light of Nefesh de Nefesh is revealed. This is already the revelation of the Creator to the created being.

This is a very coarse form of connection, which we are capable of at the moment, 1/125 of the connection. Then the same thing takes place, but the resolution is higher. There are the same ten Sefirot, but we penetrate more deeply into them by discovering more and more individual parts.

The main thing is to discover the first ten Sefirot, the first level, because this is how you are born and take on a spiritual form. Then in this form, you already begin to improve. The most difficult part is to overcome the first level.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/12, Preface to The Book of Zohar

Taking Advantage Of Each Moment

Question: How is it possible to be in the same state that we felt during the work in the workshop every moment?

Answer: What is a workshop? During the workshop I enter a certain state of communication, in an environment that helps me begin to clarify and analyze myself with great intensity. Thus within a short time during the workshop, I can go through numerous states by my being integrated within the others, within their feelings, and they within me. It could be that I am not able to express it in words, but all of this happens in me in frays. I can be in the same conditions by myself on the street, and be mentally in contact with the others. You must try. I have no other advice.

Question: Does a factor of support exist here?

Answer: The factor of support is essential. Like in ballet, if your partner releases you, you will fall. Thus support is everything. Without a group, you are like a ballerina who is dropped.
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From “A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 9/23/12

Five Seconds Of Life A Day

The friends should make sure that I don’t fall and they should constantly think about me. I have to repay them for that because they also need this kind of support. Only if we mutually worry about one another, will no one fall or forget the goal. We will hold on to one another.

We have no chance of achieving anything if we don’t all support one another. If we don’t do that, we won’t exit the ego. This is mutual guarantee.

If I cannot think about others, it means that they don’t think about me. It is both the cause and the result that exist simultaneously under the condition of our mutual collective covenant. Then the Creator resides in it and thus fulfills our covenant. Without this we will undoubtedly forget about Him and start having foreign calculations by supposing that we advance and years may go by leading to nothing.

A person cannot keep on the right track by himself. Do you know how many moments we can count during a whole day in which we really advance: 3-5 seconds at the most! They are so few because each of us lacks the external support.

The vessel of my desire is external to me and I have to make efforts to attach it to me. If we don’t operate this way with regard to others, we do not operate correctly and therefore we don’t draw the Light that Reforms, because the Light operates only within our mutual work. It comes in response to our yearning.

If there are no such yearnings, the Light around us waits passively. “His honor fills the world,” but we have to activate it. We have to keep this main condition: mutual guarantee that is made of our collective interdependence on one another and of the obligation to everyone. Without it no one can succeed, even if we assess it from an egoistic point of view and what is more if it is about high intentions.
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From a Talk about Inner Work 9/30/12

The Point Of Choice Between Two Abysses

Rabash, “Association of Mercy with Judgment”: … when there is open Providence, there is no room for choice. For this reason, the Upper One raised Malchut, which is Midat Ha Din (the Quality of Judgment) to the Eynaim (eyes). This created a concealment, meaning it became apparent to the lower one that there is a deficiency in the Upper One.

On one hand, the Upper One is elevated, and on the other hand, the lower one doesn’t find Him appealing; there is something repulsive. On one hand, a spark in the desire (apoint in the heart) is anxious to attain spirituality. Moreover, the external world presses on us and concocts numerous negative circumstances; it does not promise any pleasures except the ones that we might receive in the future. On the other hand, we have to compromise, since we clearly see a deficiency in the upper.

What kind of deficiency is that? The upper one is not as bright, attractive, or beautiful as we thought.

In that state, the qualities of the Upper One are placed with the lower one; that is, they are deficient. It follows that these Kelim (vessels) are equal to the lower one: as there is no sustenance to the lower one, there is no sustenance to the Higher qualities.

Here are the sensations that the lower one goes through: At first, I really aspired to the next stage, I rushed to it more and more, and then I discovered what the meaning of my next step is. It turned out to be unity with and love for my friends. It turns out that I have to feel them all as one heart; I also have to give up a lot of things; moreover I should be applying lots of exertions and be happy with what I do. And, I don’t feel happy at all…

A place between the two gaps is in fact a point of choice. Every day, each of us senses an endless number of these points. If we happen to clasp them and select the right one, or at least try to do so, then we would discover the upper one within the shortest time possible. We should never miss them! Although, when these moments happen, we don’t feel any need in anything at all; we simply surrender to our sensations and continue to live our miserable lives.

While analyzing our next, higher, and more advanced state, we discover that it is full of concerns and that it brings lots of problems to our current egoism. One has to love one’s friends, serve them, think of them, and take good care of them, treat them better than oneself.

“Who needs it? Are we capable of this kind of behavior?” Doesn’t it mean that we sense a deficiency in the upper one or that we don’t find enough energy or life sustenance in Him? Sometimes, for a couple of minutes we feel a nice sensation, an inspiration; however, as a rule it is the other way around.

It is called a descent: One neither feels life in the upper one, nor does one find it in the state of bestowal, love, or unity. One has no desire to correct oneself.

In that state, there is room for choice.

This is exactly a state that offers us a choice. It’s a very important moment of self-acknowledgment: I don’t want anything, I have no needs, I am getting weak, and am ready to surrender unless the state I am in modifies itself without my participation. There is nothing that attracts me, neither in material nor spiritual life: I feel hopeless in both worlds.

… the lower one must say that all this concealment that one feels is because the Upper One restricted Himself in favor of the lower one. This is called, “when Israel is in exile, Divinity is with them.”

In such cases, we should come to an understanding that the upper one deliberately “plays” this game with us. He cannot do otherwise; He cannot embrace and elevate me as if I were a balloon. If He did so, I would never attain anything and would remain a baby in the adult’s hands forever. Of course, a baby feels good and safe; he can even play at the height he is elevated to, but he doesn’t grow.

The lower one grows only if he strives to reach the upper. One cannot abide without personal exertions. The upper one should not raise the lower one if the latter doesn’t partake in the process. Otherwise, the upper one simply would “destroy” the lower one by not letting him grow and advance. It’s similar to a situation when parents do their child’s homework for the child.

So, we have to realize that the upper one helps us absolutely every given moment. There shouldn’t be even one second of waiting for something to happen on His behalf as if He ever hesitates. From the point of view of the upper one, we are always in the optimum state for our further advancement. We should keep paying attention to various signs through which He addresses us by His intentionally descending to our current state.

…whatever flavor one tastes, one says that it is not his fault for not tasting liveliness, but that in his view there really is no life in the Upper One.

Although, one has to clearly understand what is going on.

And if one becomes stronger and says that the bitter taste he finds in these nourishments is only because he does not have the proper vessels to receive the abundance, because his vessels are for reception and not for bestowal, and regrets the Upper One having to hide Himself…

So, our vessels, desires, are corrupt. In fact, if the upper one would descend to us, we would sense Infinity since each of our next steps is the world of Infinity for us. That is why it has not been disclosed to us yet: We don’t recognize it in our vessels. We perceive it only within a very narrow range; whereas, there is something enormous and multi-faceted in front of us. We simply don’t see the higher level; it covers up everything around from one horizon to another; there are no boundaries that define the space for us.

As a result, the upper one descends to us in the form of a depressed, unsafe, and corrupt world. Moreover, we approach states and sensations that will be even more devastating for us. The upper one lowers to us in order to let us sense Him. The lower He is, the worse we and the world around us will look in our eyes, since our properties are opposite to His.

That’s the reason we are currently experiencing a crisis; the upper one approaches us, thus making us unconsciously sense the difference between Him and us. The “crisis” is a gap between our current state and the state of the upper one. We have to come to balance and stay in harmony with Him, and that requires integral education that will help us understand Him better.

In general, this is a point of freewill. We have to realize that each thing that we sense as being less than Infinity is a state that was specifically formed for us by the upper one in order to give us a chance to choose.

It means that we should feel sorry not about the fact that the world we live in is bad and that we are miserable here, but rather about the point that the upper one had to lower to us, to diminish Himself and present Himself as being smaller than He really is, and that He even had to look unappealing and evil in our eyes.

…this allows the lower one to slander; this is considered MAN that the lower one raises.

On one hand, we notice that the upper one is low; besides, the higher level doesn’t look attractive to us yet. On the other hand, we recognize that it only seems so to us in our sensations. If we perceived the world through real vessels, we would regard the upper one as the Infinity within us. This discrepancy is the core difference between this realm and the world of Infinity.

So, at this point we raise MAN: our request to be corrected. We look for possibilities to justify Him, nothing but validation of Him. Let our states stay the same; let them not bring us any pleasant sensations anymore: All we need is to justify His actions and thank Him for acting so. Consequently, we don’t ask for our own sake, but rather for the sake of the upper one. We request power and understanding, but we don’t ask for sensations; all we should care about is the justification of Him no matter that we continue feeling bad. If our sensations improve, we will egoistically praise Him. No, that’s not what we need. On the contrary, we want our sensations to remain the same, but rather that our understanding and perception be altered. Thus, we grow.

We consist of two parts: intellect and emotions, aspirations and desires. We go forward using both of them as we use both legs while walking. Let’s say, I want to stay in my current sensations, and by “leaning” on this “leg” I make a step ahead with the other “leg”; that is, I stop being blind, see my current state, and justify it, or let’s say I want to expand my brain, then if my sensations remain intact, I really advance since I justify my emotional state although I continue to suffer, but I realize that I grow due to my affliction. I am not sold out to or bribed by a good sensation.

Later on, when our minds expand, we will lean on our new intellect, and if it stays the same, we will ascend to the next level of sensations. Besides, our emotions will not overshadow the intellect, as it happens when pleasures force us to lose our mind.

It’s the other way around; we make one step with one “leg,” while at the same time leaning on the other “leg”: When we fix our emotions, our intellect rises; when we fix the mind, our sensations rise. Consequently, we go through endless changes in both our minds and sensations.
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From the North Convention of Unity 9/20/12, Lesson 2 

Growing In The Group

Our main force is the ego. Except for the ego there is only one small point in everyone’s heart and we have to connect these points. If we connect them into one big point, we’ll feel the spiritual world inside. Then everything will come together: me, the group, and the upper force.

On the other hand, the ego wants to push all our points away from one another. It’s actually meant to push us in the opposite direction from connection, and this is why it’s called a “help against.”

How should we build an environment that will help us fulfill the points in the heart and our egoistic forces so that together we’ll connect into one big wonderful point? Despite the interruptions of the ego, by using it, we want to connect our points in the heart into one point. How can we use the power of the ego to achieve this goal?

The point is that I don’t know the way to the spiritual world. For me it’s a question mark hidden from me. How can I reveal it? How can I focus myself correctly? With the help of the group, I use my ego in the opposite way; it becomes a “helpmate” (Ezer Ke Negdo) and helps me focus myself accurately on spirituality, on the Creator. This is only possible in the group when I work with the point in the heart in order to turn the ego in the opposite direction, (the broken green line in the drawing). Then instead of pulling me downwards, the ego will direct me correctly, so that I can enter the spiritual world.

So there is only an ego and a point in the heart in a person, and with the help of the group, we change the ego and find the way to advance in the opposite direction each time.

Actually, it isn’t only about the egoistic desire to receive different things in our world. It’s a special ego aimed only against connection, against the collective point in which I discover the spiritual world. This is why I disregard and ignore all the desires and the thoughts that are not related to connection. Instead I work in the group trying to connect with others, and I discover how opposite I am from that: I don’t want anything of the kind, I hate the friends and I can’t even think about connecting with them. It’s this repulsion that’s the real ego opposite connection. Everything else doesn’t matter.

The group has a key role here: It increases the importance of unity in my eyes and constantly spurs me and obligates me to keep it. Only the environment (Sviva) leads me to the unknown, serving as a model that helps me subdue myself and still connect internally. The environment actually brings me to connection.

Thus we actually ascend to the first level (step 1) above the Machsom (barrier) when we turn our entire ego, all the rejection and the resistance to connection and unity to the opposite direction—to the force of connection and unity. This is the meaning of “help against.”

Then we move on to the second level. Here the ego is revealed again, but this time bigger than before, since it already belongs to the next level (step 2). Here I have the choice of unity with the help of the group, where the ego begins to show itself again. If I am not attracted to unity, I don’t discover it.

This is why strangers don’t understand what ego we are talking about. The point is that it isn’t just human relations; it isn’t about good deeds and intrigues. People believe that treating others badly is egoism and treating others well is altruism. We judge only by the point of unity. Therefore, after I discover the first level, I want to go on and connect to the group. I discover the ego on the second level (Ego2), and I work against it and ascend to the second level. On the whole there are 125 such levels on the way.

Eventually I reach perfect unity, with all of humanity; we are all together in one point called the “drop of unity.”

What kind of environment should it be in order to allow me to discover the right ego, to separate it from the animal ego of this world, and to turn it into a driving force? How should the environment influence me so that I will reach the goal?

Furthermore, how should we use our conventions, when we mutually influence one another, so that this powerful connection will allow each of us to discover the point of unity: “Where is it? What should I do in order to attain it? How do I enter the upper world? How do I discover it?”

How should we worry about everyone in order to allow them to reach this inner point (the center of the group), our “womb” (Rechem)? After all, we enter the group as if we enter a mother’s womb, and we develop like an embryo. How can we prepare such a “wrapping” for each of us, in which each one will develop like from a drop of semen?

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From the Convention in Italy Day One, 9/28/12, Workshop 1

Until One Transforms Into A Human Being

The method of Kabbalah is meant to change a person until he turns into a human being (Adam), meaning the one who is “similar” (Domeh) to the Creator. Every given moment, day after day one has to work to uplift the importance of this method and persistently keep referring to it. After all, we are perpetually being thrown back from spirituality as if the Creator distances Himself from us.

It seems to us that our states continually change: We get closer to the Creator and then further away from Him. But obviously, it happens only in our sensations. In fact, new informational genes awaken in us, and we have to correct them.

One has 613 desires concerning the Creator. We’re not talking about material desires of this world, but about the desires specifically for the Creator. Only these desires should be corrected until they become similar to the Creator’s attitude to us, that is, are completely directed at bestowal and bringing joy to the Creator.

The Creator’s original thought in the plan of creation was to delight the created beings. A person also has to reach the same state so that his goal becomes to bring contentment to the Creator. Similarity of properties with the Creator elevates a person to the Creator’s level and he mergers, unites with Him completely, thus reaching the ultimate goal.

On the way to achieving the goal, there are many stages of advancement. At the first stage, during thousands years of human history and by going through numerous reincarnations, man develops regular earthly desire to enjoy. Reincarnations replace each other because the desire constantly grows and wants more and more as new informational genes (Reshimot) perpetually reveal themselves in it.

It’s not worth paying attention to bodies that live and die, but rather to the informational genes that reveal themselves in the desire to enjoy, thus giving us an illusion that we exist in our body.

At the second developmental stage, an aspiration to reveal the Creator, to find the meaning of life, emerges in a part of the desire, meaning in certain people. The first person who ever received this kind of desire was Adam HaRishon. This is why he is considered the First Man, and many others followed him. Such people are called Kabbalists as they accepted the method of correction that lets them reveal the Creator to the extent of the similarity of their properties to His.

Kabbalists also go through numerous developmental stages and reincarnations, but these reincarnations are quite different because one is in the attainment of the Creator, the governing force that rules nature.

Having received the first awakening towards spirituality, we enter a so called preparatory period. At this stage, we again go through many states, but this time they happen in accordance with the method, to the degree of our understanding of it. Even though the method is available to us in the form of reading materials, it has not been disclosed in our souls yet.

This is how we advance: by building the group and trying to inspire each other. The main work is in enhancing the importance of the method and transforming ourselves. Nothing can be changed in this reality except man himself; a human being is the only one who can be changed.

Besides, we have to clarify what exactly can be changed: only the intention on one’s desire. Desires per se are not changeable; leave them alone. Man has 613 desires that are related to the Creator, and he has to change intentions on these desires from egoistic to bestowal.

In fact, a person doesn’t feel that he has 613 desires, or that they are of an egoistic nature, or that he wants to take advantage of the Creator. For the time being he has no relationship with the Creator whatsoever, no connection with Him. Gradually, the connection with the Creator begins to reveal itself, thus letting us discover our evil inclination. If a person is still immersed in his egoism, he needs correction called the Torah, “a spice to it.” With its help, a person can change his intention by redirecting it from his own sake to the benefit of the upper force, which means that he has fulfilled a commandment.

Thus, according to the order of the desires that reveal in a person, he carries out 613 corrections (613 commandments), until he corrects the entire vessel and receives the entire abundance that the Creator has prepared for him—but with the intention to return it back to the Source. This is how one reaches the goal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/12, Shamati #175