The Cry Of A Person Drowning In The Swamp

Rabash, “A True Prayer Is Over a True Deficiency:” When a person wants to observe the Torah and Mitzvot(commandments), in order to bestow upon the Creator, it natural for body not to move if it doesn’t see any reward in it. So there is no way he can work for the sake of Heaven and not for his own good. Here the exile begins, which means the sufferings, that no matter how hard he works, he doesn’t see that he advances, but that everything is based on self-love.

It turns out that the suffering and the pain he experiences are because he cannot work for the Creator. He wants to work in order to bestow and the body, which is totally enslaved to the shells doesn’t let him aim at this goal. Then he cries out to the Creator for help, since he sees that he is in exile among the shells and that they dominate him, and he sees no way out, so that he can be free of their domination.

Then his prayer is called a true prayer, since it isn’t in a person’s power to leave this exile…and since this is against nature, only the Creator can take Israel out of this exile.

A person goes through the states of exile and redemption internally, in his attitude to his nature and to the Creator; there are these two forces, two goals for which a person can work and aim himself at: either for his own benefit or for the Creator’s benefit.

He knows instinctively what it means to work for his own benefit and he does so naturally. Then he begins to criticize himself. This recognition usually comes from the work in the group, in the study, in dissemination, in using all the options to draw the Light that Reforms upon himself.

Then a person sees that all his intentions and his appeals, all his movements were aimed only at his own good. In the meantime he determines only this fact, like a psychologist who understands that this is nature. But if he begins to disagree with this, it is already an influence from Above, a real call from Above.

Thus a person begins to feel that he is in exile. The more he tries to stop working for his own good in different situations and to turn to bestowal upon others, upon the Creator, he feels that he is more in exile, under the domination of Pharaoh.

If he actively struggles and tries to leave his intention to receive so that he won’t constantly think about himself, then the contrary happens, and he sinks more deeply into his ego, like into a swamp. The more attempts a person makes to get out of the swamp, the more it swallows him.

He cries out and gets no response! On the contrary, the Light that comes and that seemingly reforms, shows him more clearly how immersed he is in his desire to receive, that has absorbed everything up to the most subtle appeals, thoughts, and desires. Previously he didn’t see that he is such an egoist and now he discovers it more and more in great detail.

He sees that he is totally in Egypt, thinking and worrying only about himself.

The more he tries to get out of exile, the more he sinks into it, until “and the Children of Israel sighed from the work,” which means that he has reached such a dead end that the only thing he can do is cry out…

A person cries out when he sees that there is no other way to change his situation by himself. This is called a true prayer, which in response he gets the force of bestowal, the force of the intention to act for the good of others. This is what he calls redemption.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/12

The Purifying Fire Of Love

The Creator will not leave us alone because we have to become strong enough to lead the whole of humanity. Imagine what kind of preparation we need to go through.

So the main this is to grit your teeth despite the fact that the Creator will attempt to divide us in various ways, give us all kinds of reasons (moreover, so logical, so rational, that it needs to be done in a different way), but if this is against unity—reject it immediately! Any plans that appear to us as real and good if they tear the group apart, we should not take them into account, we should turn away from them. Our training is designed in this way on purpose because it all comes down to unity and nothing else.

That is why, you should not even listen to any other suggestions, but just check whether this leads to the unity of the group or not. There should be no fights. There needs to be even greater compression, even greater concentration, so that this compression lights a fire within. When this fire lights, it will unite all the hearts, all the desires in one common desire.

This is the so-called fire of love that burns all the impurities, all the waste, all the toxins. And what remains is only the purest of what exists in everyone’s heart. We do not even know what it is, but it remains only from the fire of love.

This fire is terrible, very harsh. If you go through it, then you reach the level when only one common desire is created in you, and in it, the group reveals the Creator.
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From a Meal at the Georgia Convention 11/7/12

Don’t Lose Time In Vain!

It is needless to say that we all need to unite and especially in Georgia where a desire for unity, peace, and being good neighbors is considered the most exalted human desire. I think it is clear that we need to be together, study according to one methodology, and not look for anything else. Later, we will discover that all of that is one, indeed, but we shouldn’t dig into that or go away.

First of all, it is important to reach the level of attaining a spiritual world where we see its roots. Then, there will be no problems. I really want our friends who are in various searches just to put it aside until the time they can understand.

Then, it will be clear that all of us come from Babylon, and Kabbalah comes from there as well. Kabbalah embraces all the teachings. Then, there will be no more conflict and no searches.

When a person begins to study the science of Kabbalah—when he still hasn’t entered into it and doesn’t realize what a spiritual world is and begins to match words and various expressions—all of that is not serious. He is sorry for the time and, most importantly, for bringing discord, dissention, and separation into a group and the entire world Kli.

He doesn’t even understand that by doing so, he creates a point of sickness that spreads this disease across all of our enormous body. Thus, he will suffer, not to a small measure due to the violation that he did, but to the extent of dissonance that he caused in the entire group. I feel sorry for these people. They just don’t understand why they are getting carried away somewhere.

Trust me; it is not worth doing anything except working on unity. Any theory and any direction that causes separation do not lead to holiness.

Thus, we need to put all of these attempts aside and hold onto each other as if for dear life! As in the ocean, if there is anything that disconnects us, we will sink immediately, and, if we stick together, we will stay afloat. That is how we need to see this.
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From a Meal at the Georgia Convention 11/7/12

The Limits Of Clairvoyance

Question: How can you identify a Kabbalist? Even though the spiritual work is concealed, can the fact that a person speaks about correcting our desire be some indication of that?

Answer: I don’t know. He may have read Kabbalah books many times and describes their content to you. Well, what of that? Is he a Kabbalist according to this? Or is it enough that his blessing makes your body tremble?

And what if a person says something and it happens a couple of days later? There are quite a few people in the world that can foretell the future, but a fortuneteller is not a Kabbalist. He tells you what will happen to you in this world, but it has nothing to do with Kabbalah and nothing to do with spirituality.

A well-known fortuneteller, Wolf Messing, accurately foresaw the events that were to happen in the future including world wars and peoples’ fates. He even predicted the day and the hour of his own death. During the crisis with Cuba, he actually revealed all the cards, describing the concerns of the two sides and the consequences of any move. As a result, the two sides reached an agreement and eliminated the threat of war.

A person can feel what is about to happen in the world, since everything already exists, but is concealed from our perception. For us it is a secret, but in fact there is no time and it is about the levels that are revealed one following the other, so there are people who can see “through” this order.

Imagine that I am short-sighted and it would take me five minutes to get close enough to you to recognize you. On the other hand, if I put on my glasses, I will be “closer” to you without having to wait five minutes and will immediately identify you. Time and distance are the same thing, the same essence, it all depends on the “glasses”…

One way or the other, such abilities have nothing to do with Kabbalah. Different secret agencies use such techniques, but clairvoyants are not Kabbalists.

A Kabbalist is a person who identifies with the Creator and is already on the spiritual ladder. What is more, it is a person who can already receive in order to bestow on the third level of the first Sefirot.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

The Creator Is Revealed Within The Unity

The next level after love of friends is love the other as you love yourself. We connect not only with the point in the heart but also with all the other values which complement one another like one harmonious chorus. And then I begin to love all the attributes of all the friends because they complement me and I complement them, forming one complete whole.

Through the point in the heart we are not able to connect in order to reach equivalence of form with the Creator. We reach equivalence of form with Him when all of our attributes become completely connected, complementary with each other. Therefore, love the other as yourself is the level on which unity, that is, the Creator is revealed in man.

From here it is clear how important my friends are to me. Their importance is that without them I am not able to reach anything. We are all parts of one creation and we broke and feel ourselves as divided. Everyone is an egoist, feels only himself, and others he feels only to the extent that according to his concepts, they can help him or bother him. This means that friends are only important in mutual work, and it is only when I constantly annul myself in front of them that I am able to connect to them. This is the importance of the group.

Attainment of the goal depends on our constant longing from the beginning egoistic point of each person, the point in the heart, via the group, via the connection to the revelation of the Creator within it. This means the quality of the One, the Unique, the Unified.

The “Creator” is specifically an attribute and not something that exists personally. We can’t feel anything in separation. We feel the manifestation only on matter. Thus, when we speak of a certain force, we mean where and how it is expressed.

Accordingly, when we speak of the Creator, we mean the attribute of unity, uniqueness, love, bestowal, the attribute of abundance, the completeness that is revealed in us. Otherwise, we can’t speak of Him since we don’t know how it can happen externally to us.

So the group must reach a state where it will demonstrate the attribute of the Creator.

From here appear many different conclusions: “How to make a friend”? How to relate to him: as to greater or smaller than myself? Like to a student or to a Rav?

It turns out that all of the answers are correct: Also as an equal, also as a student, and also as a Rav. At first sight, how can he be equal to me, if all of us have completely different natures!? He can be equal to me only in one thing: I am not able to attain the Creator without him and he can’t without me. It seems that from the beginning we are partners in adversity.

And afterward we begin to operate in the following way: Each one of us needs to be above the friend in order to help him, and to be under the friend in order to know how to receive inspiration from what he has, to receive from him the recognition of the importance of the goal, and to yearn for unity. This longing is lacking in each one of us and will always be lacking. It is possible to receive it only from others.

Thus I work with the friends: He is greater than me, he is smaller than me, he equals me. And then a connection really takes place. The main point of this work is called, “Make yourself a Rav and buy yourself a friend.”
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From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

Growing Recognition Of The Current Moment

Today we are only beginning to suspect and discover that we are mutually and tightly connected, and are conducting research on the topic, and writing various articles about it on the Internet. But it wasn’t that way before.

Ten years ago I couldn’t speak about this. In 2005 I presented a document in Arossa, Switzerland at the World Wisdom Council, and the refused to agree with me. Four years ago I spoke with a Nobel Prize winner in economics and told him that the world was in a crisis and that everything will disintegrate rapidly, just like at the time of the Big Bang when the universe was created! He didn’t agree with me.

There were many such people. I gave lectures in the US at different universities, colleges, everywhere.

Five weeks ago, I met a representative of the EU in Italy. I told him about what was going on and he understood me—something that has not happened before. He wrote down everything, like a student, and asked me again and again, but his conclusion was: “I agree with everything that you say, but we cannot put this into practice; we cannot solve this, we don’t have anyone to turn to at the moment, no one will understand, although you are right.”

This means that gradually the world is advancing toward the recognition that we are in a closed space, under the influence of the forces of nature, not above them, and that we cannot do as we like as human society also has certain attributes that were given to us by nature.

We have to study these laws and to abide by them since otherwise we will feel bad. And most importantly, when nature is locked and becomes global there are mutual interactions of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking components, and then our negative interactions can affect the world of the still, vegetative, ad the animate just as it is happens now with hurricane Sandy or tsunamis.

This means that all these levels of interaction are interdependent and it turns out that man by his wrong attitude to other people and to nature affects everything, since man is the highest level.

Here we need the wisdom of Kabbalah since it tells us how we should organize ourselves. If we don’t become round as our ego is, which means mutually interdependent, we will find that we are opposite from nature.
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From the Georgia Convention, 11/5/12, Lesson 1

Envy That Helps Us Advance

Question: You say that envy helps us advance. I don’t understand what we need envy for.

Answer: I envy everyone. Yesterday when people sang during the meal, I really envied them: Why can’t I sing like that? Or when someone quickly grasps the material that we study, I also envy him: Why can he do so and I can’t? Is this envy bad?

Imagine that there are people here that seem on a much higher level than you; it is very good that they have attained something. But I haven’t? How can that be? How can they and not I?

You may say: “So do you want them not to attain this level either?” No, I want them to advance even more, but I want to advance with them, which means that it is positive envy that pulls me forward. I don’t want to bring them down, I want to follow them forward; it is a very important point.

Envy usually means that I don’t want the other to have what I envy in him, but for us envy is different—it means that I want the same thing that I envy.

Question: I have never envied anyone. How can I envy a friend when I know that the Creator has given him a certain attribute? Suppose there is a good computer and a bad computer that cannot be good, this is how the Creator has made it.

Answer: No you are calming yourself by that, because you are lazy. Now you have to feel sorry that you are lazy.

Question: Yes, I am lazy. I understand that this is my attribute and there is nothing I can do about it, so I say to the Creator: “That’s the way we are, the way You have created us, so what do you want of us?!”

Answer: First of all, all the questions a person asks are legitimate and right, since they stem from the desire in him; there is nothing we can do about it. But the whole group should evoke everyone else, otherwise they will continue to sleep. Here we have to play.

Why do we organize different games now? Because I have to show the friends that I am on a higher level than they are, and that there is something else in me: “What, you don’t know yet? I already know this,” etc. We have to tease one another and to hint that there is something great in spirituality, since otherwise we will not move. The Creator will remain concealed until we discover Him by our equivalence of form, so there is nothing we can do. We have to envy one another.

Envy is an essential attribute. Everything is created for a reason. Under no circumstances should you suppress anything in you. You should feel envy.
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From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

From Point A To Point B With The Science Of Kabbalah

Kabbalah is science and the system and the realization of the attainment of the Creator. Our goal is to reveal Him, and that is why there is no science higher and more important. After all, any wisdom is evaluated by its goal. Kabbalah is complex: It is not only explains the procedure, but also accompanies us throughout the entire process of its realization.

In the article “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence,” Baal HaSulam writes: As a whole, the wisdom of Kabbalah concerns the revelation of Godliness, arranged on its path in all its aspects—those that have emerged in the worlds and those that are destined to be revealed, and in all the manners that can ever appear in the worlds, to the end of time. In addition, Ramchal writes in the book 138 Gates of Wisdom: The entire wisdom of Kabbalah is designed only to know the management of the higher will: on what He created all these creatures, what does He want from them, and the end result of everything in the world.

And here are the words of Baal HaSulam from the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah:” This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.”

From some highest Source that I do not know, a sequence of roots descends along which, as a creature, I can achieve the revelation of the Creator. Firstly, on the way from above to below, the Creator constrains Himself more, and my receiving desire is growing until all the roots disappear, leaving me with the last one—the point in the heart (•). And on the way upward, I reveal the Creator a little bit, time after time, getting to know Him, passing through 125 roots.

Thus, the system, as well the passage of the way, connects me to the Creator. The guide and the path from point A to point B is the science of Kabbalah. Ultimately, it is a means of revealing the Creator.

There is a ladder between the Creator and the creature. It leads from the properties of the creature to the properties of the Creator, and along the way their properties are combined with each other from zero to one hundred percent. This is what Kabbalah is: It tells not about the properties of the Creator as such and not about the properties of the creature as such because this essence is incomprehensible to me. I just study their relationship, the form dressed in matter. I can attain it, know it, feel it, understand it; I have access to it. I do not know what the Creator and the creature are separately are—I study only their combination.

This ladder is enough for me to affirm my “I” relative to the property of the creature and relative to the property of the Creator. My I is the middle line (green on the diagram), it is neither the creature nor the Creator. After all, the creature is the receiving desire. And the true I is the form of bestowal in which I clothe the receiving desire when I mold myself in the likeness of the Creator. I shape these features like clay, and then the Creator breathes in life, and the “doll” comes to life.

This happens on each degree. This is the realization of the “wicked,” that is the creature, ascending to the degree of the Creator; in other words, the revelation of the Creator to the created beings is the science of Kabbalah.

Hence, it is clear that we have nothing else to do in life but to satisfy our basic needs and to devote the rest to this science. Today, we are approaching the basic level. Life itself, the crisis will cleanse us from excesses within a few years, if not sooner. Then, in desperation, the world will discover that for a few thousand years it advanced along the wrong course and now it must change direction. Of course, it was not a mistake, but preparation, the realization of the previous degrees of development, still, vegetative and animate, to finally come to the science of Kabbalah.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Where Are Our Desires And Thoughts Located?

Question: Where is a person’s desire located: in the body, outside of it, in the air, or next to the person?

Answer: There are no desires in the body at all. We can replace every single organ in one’s body, make as many transplants as we want, but we won’t impact the human in that body whatsoever.

When half a century ago Professor Barnard from South Africa made the first heart transplant ever, everybody worried: “What will happen with the patient? What will he feel afterwards?” Nothing at all! The heart is simply a mechanism that pumps blood, nothing more than that.

Even if we make a brain transplant, nothing will change. Our brain is not a thinking unit; it doesn’t form thoughts. It’s only a conductor that connects us with the universal field of reason. Our desires also exist in the same field, and not in our bodies. Our body seemingly exists in that field and merely perceives it. A little induction brought upon us is in fact life that we sense.

Question: In other words, in the integral reason, when a person enters the general field of love, he starts to use his conductor by all 100% and thus develops it further?

Answer: Yes, but it will be not the same brain that we currently have!

We only have a tool similar to an induction coil that picks up the field outside and it triggers certain currents in it. And what we feel is these currents, those of them that we are able to recognize, master, and be aware of. In reality, however, the field that surrounds us is tremendously powerful and intense.

Question: By intensifying our “coil” by 100%, do we expand our awareness?

Answer: It expands only when we connect with others. So, if we want to “launch” ourselves and turn into a reliable “solenoid,” we have to penetrate into and acquire other people’s desires, to contemplate and feel how we can get closer to others and help them get closer to each other.
[92157]From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 11/3/12

The Uniting Enemy

Question: What should we do in the integral group when a harmful person shows up and the moderator has to throw him out? Should we leave such a person in the group?

Answer: We can let him stay only if he can cause useful damage, since above it we can clarify our connection and, our love: “How should we place ourselves against him?” Without an enemy it is very hard to unite, the enemy unites. So on the whole, we have to see and to support such a state of destruction, but to a certain limit.

I think that the group will see the advantage in that and see that it all happens under the influence of nature that intentionally works this way. Just as we have to rise above the inner ego that grows in us, we also have to rise above the growing external ego.

Question: Does this mean that we should educate such people, cope with them and not expel them?

Answer: Not cope with them, love them! Honor them for helping us advance.
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From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 10/3/12.

What Is A “Group?”

Question: Under what conditions can we see that a group exists and that is headed towards the goal?

Answer: A group that is headed towards the goal is a collection of people for whom there is only one goal. They know what it is, they perceive it among them, and feel it. They study together from Kabbalistic sources; they check themselves according to these sources, and work on the connection of their points in the heart, which means that the main thing for them is the connection as they ignore all the other attributes. If a person years for unity in order to reveal the Creator, it is enough for him to be my friend even if he can be an unpleasant person in every other aspect; it makes no difference. Gradually we all understand how to adjust ourselves to one another and to get closer.

A group is a collection of people who understand that in order to attain the Creator they have to work on themselves, to study, and to lead a certain lifestyle. They have to meet on a regular basis and to be so strongly connected that it will constantly lead to connection and unity.

If they just rent a place and gather there, it doesn’t mean that they are a group yet, they meet physically, read together, and then go their own way, does that make them a group? According to the wisdom of Kabbalah everything is determined by the internal awakening and not by the physical bodies.

A group refers to the yearning of the points in the heart to become one whole. Only then it is called a “group.” So we still need to work a lot on this.

But when all the people yearn together for one goal, understanding that only by that will they connect above all the differences, they bring out the Creator’s attribute and by that, overcome the shattering—then they become a group.

So it turns out that all our contrasting attributes are in one egoistic desire. It is as if all the egoistic desires that are opposite from ours, that are in contrast to one another, are now in one sack. We restrict our desires, place a Masach (screen) above these attributes and focus our points at the Creator, at equivalence and bestowal.

It turns out that our connected egoistic desires are left below while our intentions to connect and the yearning for the Creator, to resemble Him and to become equal to Him are above them. This is how the soul, which means the one collective Partzuf is created.

The soul is one. There aren’t many souls. There is only one vessel for everyone. If we create it, we suddenly discover that is has already been created! We only try to discover it and by our attempts we suddenly discover that we already exist in it. This is because that one whole creation already exists while the shattering occurred only with regard to our consciousness. When we yearn to advance we ascend above our current feeling.
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From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

The Mystery Of Our Freedom

A human being (Adam) is a new action, new creation, developing according to the internal program, inherent in the primary “drop of semen.” To this program, this form, given by the father, the mother’s material is added. Then the program begins to be realized, manifest itself, and the material takes the form of a human being.

A person is born from a mother like an animal. However, we talk about our inner structure, how we give birth to ourselves spiritually. And here is a special condition before us: We have to create our form ourselves.

Question: But is an animal not capable of this?

Answer: An animal remains an animal. It cannot become a human being. It is the foundation above which he is formed. In general, the still, vegetative, and animate nature is the platform above which we build the human form.

Question: Who can build it?

Answer: The “drop of semen” that lies above the animal degree. It contains everything, except the material. But when the material is added to it, the necessary form does not appear automatically like in the animal world; we have to find it ourselves. In the spiritual world, a person creates himself with the Creator’s help.

Initially, I do not know my future spiritual form. I should want it, look for it and try, going in faith above reason as much as I can. I act, striving for something that seems like bestowal to me, and these efforts suddenly bring me to a “discovery,” a new form. Yes, I was thinking about it all that time, but still could not imagine what it would be in reality. Now, when the form of bestowal is dressed in me, I attain it.

How did I get it, not knowing where to go exactly? That is why it is called a “discovery”—it is a surprise for me, not an expected result.

Question: So, what is my free choice?

Answer: Your free choice is to seek this form with the help of the environment, by all possible means. Namely the environment builds my future state, creating its form according to the principle of a matrix that puts pressure on a tin ingot from both sides, giving it the desired form. I am that ingot, the initial material, lying between the two parts of the press: The group is one side and the teacher and studies are the other.

And the fact is that I put myself under this press. I am ready to accept various forms and just want to annul myself, like an ingot that could be given any shape. Thus I acquire the human form.

Question: Where is freedom here?

Answer: It is impossible to be just free, if you are free, it means from something. In reality, you can be independent only from the evil inclination. That is why the Creator created the evil inclination first: pride, self-importance, and other egoistic qualities, relative to which we can check ourselves: How much you can cancel them, sacrifice them in order to take any form that the teacher, studies, and group require from you? If you accept their “pressure,” the Creator fills this new form with the spirit of life. And if not, then not.

When you would like to leave the group, but still decide to stay, then you go toward free choice. The choice means to rise above the evil inclination. Then, you will really feel free.

But now the time has not come yet: Is it possible to let a baby who barely learned to walk choose? He will break something. It is impossible to create a reality of freedom immediately when you have all the qualities opposed to the Creator and you have the opportunity to agree or disagree with Him.

However, today it is not required. Gradually, you realize that you do not have choice for the time being while you are under the dominion of the egoistic desire. Only it acts in you, and you have nothing else, no other force in resisting egoism in something and putting up with it in something else. You still need to go forward, study, and draw a lot of Reforming Light in order to acquire the second force.

In the end, finding yourself between two forces, you obtain the whole world, completely different values, a new understanding. Then, we will talk about free choice.

It is no coincidence that the right to vote is given at 18 and not before. Imagine if 10-year-old children could vote. Then candidates would state from the screen without any constraint: “I will give you candies! I will provide everyone under the age of 18 with the latest generation of smartphones!”

In general, we see that everyday life does not offer a person freedom. And there is no such desire. Today, you do not think that you need choice because you feel you are free. You do not feel that the Creator fully controls you.

And that is why He teaches you: First, He gives you the egoistic desire and then puts obstacles on the path to its realization, as if someone prevents you. You do not understand yet that everything comes from one source, and that is what you are taught.

Question: How can we accelerate this process?

Answer: Through playing with the correct environment, with the group. Replace a vague relationship with the Creator with a real relationship with the group. You can do this. If you want with the help of environment to change how the Creator treats you, you have the opportunity. Instead of the Creator, accept the group as a factor of influence and you can control your life freely.

We hear this, but do not yet feel it. No problem, awareness will come soon…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam