A Female Ally

Question: Should women inspire the men?

Answer: Women can inspire men better than anyone else. Imagine that your wife is impressed by you and keeps saying: “You are so clever, so handsome, so special! I look at other men and see that you are much stronger and better than them!” If a woman felt that way about you, you would immediately run home and sit by her like a little boy listening to everything that she says. This is what men are like.

Women can manipulate men anyway they like. If a woman is clever, if she aims at thegoal and understands what she does it for, I will only be grateful to her just for starting to work on my nature. I will not brag and be proud of being a “matcho.” On the contrary, I will be totally honest with her: “The ego is my nature, it is a contemptible zero! Help me exit it! Let’s resist it and change it together. Then we will do the same with you.”

This is where we should annul ourselves. Let’s be our own psychologists a little and look at ourselves from the side. This is the only way we can exit this state. We also try to do the same thing in the group, by putting ourselves above it and then below it so that it will impress us.

We have to do the same thing in the family, by constantly ascending and descending one with regards to the other, but what for? In order to attain the upper goal! So I don’t care about the relations with the family as long as they are aimed correctly and are set on the goal. A woman is your major assistant, she knows you better than anyone else, so her right attitude towards you can help you exit your nature quickly.

We should have special courses for teaching married couples about the right mutual relations and how to change people’s egoistic nature. You will see how you will be able to positively influence your kids afterwards. They will be good, kind, disciplined, and wise. We should take advantage of such opportunities. The main thing is to be more mature. The importance of the goal justifies everything.

We know that in the past Kabbalists were actually happy when they had bitter, angry wives. But our wives are not angry or bitter. They are following the spiritual path with us, helping us, and advising us as to how we should work with our ego and use it for the right cause.

We need to understand that we are connected only for this common goal which determines our relationships, and that we do everything to attain it. This means that I don’t want to play with your ego in any way; I don’t want to use it in order to stab you, no! We should behave wisely, gently, and tactfully with regards to one another to the extent that we can use ourselves and our partner correctly.

This is what we should learn. You cannot imagine what a great tool this is for our correction. We can change our planet with it! To be honest, you don’t need anyone but a female ally. You need the group only in order to connect the two of you correctly.

In any case, during the transition period there are quite a few families in which the partners are moving in different directions. In that case a person needs a group. By the way, a group of women is very serious support with regards to the men’s group. Take this seriously. Progressing through the right methods of interaction, you will see how much it helps you.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries,” 12/14/13, Lesson 4

There Is No Tomorrow In Spirituality

The Zohar — Selected Excerpts, Parshat, “VaYikhael,” Item 112: Now that the upper King and Queen (Malchut) are in bonding and joy in those kisses, he who needs to ask questions and make requests shall make them because then is a time of good will.

Question: What is a “time of goodwill?”

Answer: A person has to look for chance and for a time of goodwill that is illuminated upon him from Above. This is actually true, the giving of the Torah occurs every moment, and every moment you have good opportunities. The Creator has no time, there is no today or tomorrow. It’s all with regard to a person who attains spirituality and all the changes are for the better or for the worse. It sounds as if the Creator is changing, turning from side to side, to the good side and to the bad side. A person feels all these changes inside him.

So we have to look for the opportune moment and not relegate it to the Upper Providence: “I will wait and perhaps things will change one day. Tomorrow will be better.” What does it mean “tomorrow will be better?” Today, the next moment, you will create a state called “tomorrow!” You cannot do so if your animal doesn’t allow that, if you are seriously ill, God forbid, or if you are very tired, since we don’t exist above the body yet. But if you can, then there is no such thing as a time of goodwill from Above, but only from below; everything depends on your efforts.

Although we do sometimes feel that a “cloud” covers us and that we are in the dark or things are blurry, we should wait and it will pass. It says: “Time does what the mind doesn’t do.” So does that mean that there are good and bad times?

Still it’s all with regard to a person, as Baal HaSulam says: “and he who can wait until tomorrow will attain his mind when his life is over.” There is no tomorrow in spirituality. Don’t wait even a second!
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From the 2^nd Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/13, The Zohar

Write It On Your Heart…

Question: How can we organize the mutual cooperation in the group so I will change it and it will change me in return? Are the articles of Rabash enough for us today or do we need to add something to it?

Answer: You should determine what we have to add to the articles of Rabash. Everyone adds something. It’s as if everyone rewrites the entire Torah. The Torah is not a book but actually a person’s whole attitude towards the Creator, towards everything that comes from Above.

A person has to rewrite the Torah, as it says: “Write it on your heart.” He has to write the Torah back from himself to the Creator, about the upper Providence and everything that was created, about everything that descends upon a person from Above and is arranged for him. A person has to respond internally and return it to the Creator. This is called “writing the book of the Torah.”

So everyone is called “a student who renews the words of the Torah,” since he does it by himself, out of his desire and he writes what no one else can write, none of the parts of that infinite desire. Everyone writes by himself.

Therefore, there is the commandment for everyone to write a book of the Torah. In the past, people actually sat down and wrote it.

You are asking if we have to add anything to the articles of Rabash, yet each time you read an article, you understand it differently, it means that you rewrite it, add something to it and write your own article. Every time! All this is written because you work with your desires. Every time you organize your desires differently, it’s all added to the general desire, to the general correction, until all these forms reach the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun); this is called writing.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/13, The Zohar

What Are We Afraid Of?

Baal HaSulam, “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”: The secrets of the Torah are revealed only to those who fear His Name, who keep His Glory with their hearts and souls…

Question: Is there a connection between our fears and the trepidation in front of the Creator?

Answer: Our personal fears and the trepidation in front of the Creator are connected through the chain of cause and effect.

The Creator sends corporeal afflictions to us in this material life; all of them are in essence fears. We are afraid of not having something, of not being able to provide for our existence; we worry about our children’s future, etc. Later, due to our studies and under the influence of the Light that Reforms, we gradually rise above our earthly fears and approach a transitional step where we replace the fears of this world with spiritual fear.

We advance due to our material fears; it happens when the time comes. It is a result of our development. This is how all of humanity progresses. However, we tend to advance with the help of the second type of fear. How can we obtain it? How can we start fearing that we won’t be able to please the Creator?

Those whose souls are able to achieve the second kind of fear come to the group and begin advancing. They need to change their individual fears and start worrying whether they are able to help the group, their friends, and through them, the Creator. “I don’t know Him now, but if I get along with my friends, I will definitely get along with Him too.” If people are ready, they are concerned about their group, the general public, anddissemination. They are afraid of whether they are able to aspire to go outside of their borders, beyond their personal interests. If we implement the possibility that is given to us in this world, if we manage to form the format that will eventually let us enter the spiritual realm, it means that we are advancing
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

It Is Time To Build An Incubator

Question: What should I do if I am not built for this work? I have engaged in this work for so long and I have the desire to escape from it all the time.

Answer: You’re still not doing anything. You think that you engage in internal work and that you are advancing, but the advancement is assessed in regard to one’s connection to the group. Now let’s see if you are under the influence of this environment, that you have determined this, and they don’t just impress you automatically.

When you come to the group, it naturally influences you whether you want it or not. You are like a small child who hasn’t learned anything yet. You were just born, and you are taken care of like a baby: diapers, milk, etc. You grow and advance completely unaware that you are totally in the arms of the upper.

But later you are required to participate and connect to your environment: at least to smile at your mother, to reach out to her, to learn something. This means that you must interact with the environment. Do you participate with the environment in anyway, at least like a baby? Do you smile at it? Do you wave your arms and legs with joy like to your mother, when the group approaches?

Our society has to be like a caring mother, or like an incubator in which a person can mature very quickly on the path of “I shall hasten it” and reach the end of correction. There is no other way.

Question: But what can keep me in the group? What if they throw me out?

Answer: We don’t throw anyone out of the group. Even if your egg has not cracked but just lays in the corner of the incubator its whole life. Only if it stinks and begins to spoil and poison our society will we have to throw you out. But as long as you are passive, it isn’t that bad. Even if you are considered a burden on society, we are ready to carry you on our back. Only a person who intends harm has no place among us; everyone else does.

People leave because they don’t listen to what they are told: that spiritual fulfillment is possible only though connection. This connection has to be in the form of an incubator that warms us. Rather than the Creator, the group has to be the good and benevolent for a person. A person cannot advance without an environment, without a group. There is no other way, you either do so or you don’t.

Also there is a good chance for success as there are new opportunities now that no other generation before us had, not since the beginning of humanity in this world. Today we can begin with massive, open dissemination, unlike Baal HaSulam who started to bring people closer very carefully, one by one, mainly from the Orthodox environment, although there were several secular people among his students.

Today we can open the wisdom for all. This means that it is time to build an incubator for the small circle, for the wider circle, and for the whole world. It is our duty to build it. We are the ones who have received the awakening for the Creator, and so we have to build the incubator for all of humanity. This means that we should be the transition, a kingdom of priests.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/13, The Book of Zohar

Our Leader: It’s The Ego

Question: What role does the ego play in the transition to a new formation, considering that it has finally evolved?

Answer: It will help us in that it shows us where and how to add the opposite force of good so that they will develop in a mutually balanced manner.

The ego is our leader in that it shows what must be done. The egoistic desires in every case will determine the activities of the person, we don’t remove anything here in any way, and we don’t discard what we created. We only add a positive component to everything that is now gradually dying and animate.

Question: You said that the altruistic force is a creative force. Can the ego also create?

Answer: It can create in a wonderful way. See what it did with us? All this is for the good. There is nothing wrong in nature.

This is the program of nature that we carry out unconsciously under the influence of its forces. Every time that we feel it is bad for us in a given state, we begin to move towards the next state, towards a better state. The ego subconsciously shows us that it will be good for us here, and there, no. It directs us from within, telling us what to do.

The ego manages all of our strength, all the characteristics, and leads us forward precisely and sharply. Sometimes we fall into something, suppose in the building socialism or something else, but this is only to understand the ramifications of the blind alley, and after that we continue to develop further.
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From KabTV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/2013

Two Partners: Egoism and Altruism

Question: In the past, at the time of the transition from one system to another, did the ego also require altruism or not?

Answer: Egoism nourishes itself by always conquering something. It is like a cancerous tumor that gradually grows while not yet being apparent. And now it is grown to the last stage and is beginning to devour itself.

Until the ‘80s, all of the systems that we constructed served to extend and expand a particular goal. We flew into space, to the stars; we went deep into the bowels of the earth; we built great cities, and we created new technologies. We developed under the influence of one and only one force, and we thought that this would continue forever.

If we were to continue to develop further in this way, we would advance ourselves only externally and not internally. Human development was done in a mechanical, technological manner: Instead of two hands, I would have had twenty; instead of seeing for a distance of two kilometers, I would have seen two hundred thousand kilometers ahead.

In this case, the human became an appendage of a machine, an appendage of a computer. So today the egoistic system begins to work more and more against him. The human has become unnecessary to it.

We have grown to such a state where we must discover the meaning of our existence. Now, for many people, in particular among the youth, the reason for living, the aspiration for some kind of goal, has disappeared. “What is there to strive for? I exist comfortably, I don’t need children, a family, or serious work; what will this give me? It is better if I sit somewhere with friends, have fun. What else is there to live for; what is the reason for living? I will play a little and die, like everyone”.

Therefore the question now is, either to give a person a motivation for living, or drugs. And here Kabbalah or the method of integral education show people a completely different way: to get from nature a second anti-egoistic power. It is precisely this power that created and developed the ego so that we would consciously get it from nature and could mutually manage the two forces of our development.

One of them can inspire us forward with good, through the goal that shines from afar. And the second is like a developmental steamroller that chases me, and I flee from it like that poor coyote in the cartoons.

Question: But even the altruistic force requires egoism, at least in this stage?

Answer: Yes, for this, the ego develops. And now it shows that if we don’t balance it through the altruistic force, it will devour us, like a cancerous tumor in the human body that devours the body and in the end kills itself.

What does a cancerous tumor mean? This is a disrupted program of the development of the body, of the functioning of its cells, where they begin to proliferate beyond their contained space and have an opposite effect.

In principle, every cell has the possibility of cancerous development, but they are always found in harmony between them, in a relative balance between positive and negative forces. But when one of them becomes greater, then another either disappears or there is a disruption in the polarity between them, and in this imbalance destructive development appears.

It is the same thing in society as well. We should begin quickly, through a second positive force, to balance the entire human society that has become a cancerous tumor. And this is the remedy for its recovery.

Unfortunately, at the time of healing cancer, we are satisfied with suppressing the egoistic development of the cells through various kinds of short radiation, thereby killing them. This is not a cure. It is not necessary to kill human society or to do anything else with it. You just need to add the second developmental force to it.
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From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/2013

The Process Of Societal Decay

Question: The present state of humanity is a typical picture of the degradation of all of humanity. If we take the Roman Empire as an example, there the system deteriorated and broke apart so much that every part worked only for itself and for the whole, and therefore, the commands of the authorities lacked power. The terrible process of societal decay began. And now we are speaking about a much larger scale that humanity has never experienced.

Answer: And even now this is happening without sword and spear, just as it was then! If we see humanity as some kind of unified system, various societies developed at different rates, but in general, it was a collective system within which individual units were damaged. But the system was always restored, whereas today the state is such that no healthy societies are left because the crisis touches all of humanity in general and damages the entire system.

The Kabbalists predicted these phenomena on a completely scientific basis. If we take our ego as the basic force of nature from which all social and even natural laws are derived, then in the end, the ego must grow to a state like this where it subjugates everything that exists, meaning that it will destroy all the connections between people.

And while in the beginning it acts to create these connections, yet after it arranges them, it reaches personal satisfaction. This happened in the mid ‘50s of the previous century, when everyone thought that humanity was entering a state of the infinite development of the consumer society in which everything was for the good of the person: schools, universities, culture, science, the conquest of space.

Various societies encountered this in different ways, yet they specifically wanted to attain this goal. Egoism attracted us towards this type of development. And as a result of this, when we systematically connected and organized reciprocal worldwide global connections, we immediately began to die, like the Roman Empire.

To date, we certainly see that we don’t have the ability to use these connections correctly. They all act not only against the person himself but also against the entire society, and destroys them. In this connection it’s possible to see the nature of the cancerous growth in the body clearly as it kills everything that nourishes it and in the end itself dies.
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From KabTV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/2013

A Magnifying Glass For The Upper Light

Question: What does it mean to try to connect while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: Reading The Zohar is the time when you shouldn’t use your mind but your soul. Now you have to think about how we should connect in order to be like a magnifying glass by which we draw the sun rays in order to light something that is under the glass.

How can we concentrate and focus on this point? If we do, we will feel the Light that influences us going through us, illuminating our desire to receive and changing it. Then the desire will restrict itself, acquire a Masach (screen) and will begin to work.

Our whole work is done by this magnifying glass that is becoming more powerful. Our work is in the growing concentration of the group in quantity and quality so that a stronger Light will come and bring us to a more substantial and more qualitative connection. Then we will discover the spiritual state in the connection between us. What we discover is called the spiritual world.

Question: Do I build this magnifying glass by my efforts or is it created by everyone’sefforts?

Answer: By all our efforts. The magnifying glass itself isn’t important. What’s important is the central point in the magnifying glass, in which all the rays of Light connect and descend through it.

Question: How do we know that all our efforts are successful?

Answer: According to the result: You you will receive the desired change, as it says: “I labored and I found.” The exertion is in the connection between us, in one heart and inmutual guarantee, and the finding is when we discover between us the first attribute of bestowal called the first spiritual level.

Question: What will change in me after this change?

Answer: You will not only want to bestow but will also be able to bestow.
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From the 2nd part of the the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/08/13, The Book of Zohar

Now It’s Your Turn To Be King And To Rule

All changes occur in the desire to receive while the Upper Lightis in a state of absolute rest. At the same time, we know that everything comes from Above and that there is none else besides Him, the Creator, and that He alone decides and acts. So how can it be that one time we say that everything is determined by the Light and another time that everything depends on the vessel, on our efforts, on the desire, on our exertion, and our work?

We can see it in two ways: from the perspective of the Light or from the perspective of the desire. But it’s clear that all the attributes and the software that are part of the Light operate in a concealed manner on the desire and activate it. This is called the “force of the operator on the operated.”

We can assess the Light that operates the desire according to its actions in the desire. This means that all our revelations start from the vessel, from the desire. I don’t reveal the Creator who operates on me, but rather, within my vessels, I discover the phenomena by which I guess that He operates inside me.

The Light is always there and I only discover its influence. Then it seems that my desires are full and that they begin to illuminate like sparkling Lights, but they only reveal the Light that is already in them. So it’s better to look at the vessels from the side, since it helps us focus on the work correctly and not wait for something to come from Above from the Light.

The Upper Light doesn’t stop its illumination on the lower even for a moment. This means that its influence doesn’t change because it’s good and benevolent for all. The force doesn’t change, but only the vessels do under the influence of this force. I must say so since it obliges me to take care of my vessels, to think about the connection with thefriends, and to absorb additional spiritual deficiencies from them.

Thanks to the additional deficiency that I receive from the connection, by the greaterimportance of the goal, I demand the Light! I don’t ask it to illuminate on me more, but rather to open up my desire, and then the Light can influence me more.

My desire opens up and the Light remains the same. This is a significant difference in approach. Do we just pray and ask for mercy or do we know that everything depends on our work? Our desire is a result of our work and of the connection between us. This is how we seem to operate the Light, but, in fact, we only open the channels in our desire to receive in which the Light can be revealed.

If I speak from the perspective of the vessels, I oblige myself to constantly worry about them. I don’t wait for the Light to change, and I don’t shed a tear when it doesn’t operate on me and doesn’t fill me, and I don’t blame it for what it did to me and to the whole world in the past. This means that I don’t see the Light as responsible for everything as people commonly do when they make a mistake. After all, nothing depends on the Light because “He has given a law that cannot be broken.” He has given a person everything, like a scepter, so that he will be king and rule. So everything depends only on me and there is no one else I can count on.

Therefore, we must go out to disseminate and support the group and not be materialists and mystics who count on some hidden upper force. This is the great difference between the different religions and Kabbalah, that is, between beliefs and science. In Kabbalah all the tools are in our hands since we know that our desire determines everything and that the Creator doesn’t decide anything; He actually gives us full control.

So why do Kabbalists say that everything depends on the Creator? If we discover that everything is up to us, we will discover that everything is indeed up to Him, according to the work that we do. Therefore, it says, “I have exerted and I have found, believe!” But this is actually something the world isn’t ready to accept. Only by our efforts can we reach anything, and otherwise we can keep on praying forever. At the same time we say, “if only one could pray all day.” This means that we should reach a deficiency in our prayer that will be constantly renewed thanks to our work on the connection between us. So the prayer is the work of the heart, above our desire. This is a critical point and it is the foundation of all the spiritual work. This is the bone of contention that distinguishes the wisdom of Kabbalah from all the other beliefs.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/13, Talmud Eser Sefirot

The Ego Of A Person Who Works On Himself

Question: How can we defeat the Klipa of Canaan?

Answer: The Klipa of Canaan is the disrespect one feels towards the means for his spiritual advancement. It is revealed after a person decides to start the spiritual work and to come out of Babylon, which means of the general ego. This ego is revealed in the meantime as a person’s personal ego.

The ego is defined as the force of repulsion one feels towards the friends in the group that yearns for unity and mutual guarantee. When we begin to work on unity, the repulsion that I feel towards every friend is called my ego. This is already the ego of a person who works on himself.

But the first ego that was revealed in Babylon is a personal, individual ego that I feel I must exit. I feel bad and uncomfortable. I am not sure that it is the ego yet, but I simply want to exit the shattering, the shattered life in which nothing works out. I feel confused. The tower of Babel symbolizes the initial clarifications when we realize that if we connect we will feel good, just like in integral education.

The Klipa of Canaan is the egoistic force that appears in a person in the form of disrespect towards the spiritual work, the teacher, and the group. He is ready to connect to the Creator only: This is his goal. He wants to continue working individually, by himself, and doesn’t need the group. He even sees the teacher as a mere source of information.

This is all our work. Everything starts from Joseph who is the most important figure, which means the attribute that collects (Osef) everyone to this point. Neither the friends, the group, or the teacher demand respect or need any special treatment. It is only needed in order to focus us correctly on the attainment of the Creator like an elite military unit that operates according to this principle, according to these values.

Everyone should understand that no matter how much he lies to himself, the greatness of the Creator and the goal cannot be greater than the means, which are the teacher, the group, and the study.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/13

Looking For The Door

The work of the spiritual teacher is called a “mantle” (robe of the high priest). Baal HaSulam says in letter 26: This is why this work is generally called “a mantle,” as it is an overcoat, “beyond” human conception,” since the teacher dresses his pupil in it. “And in which there is a combination, as in the edges of the Kli, which is the place where the filth is collected. This means the ego.

During the training period, he is in a state of “to and fro,” as are all those who seek the opening. This means the exit to the next level. And in the last moment of the march when he is close to the opening, but he doesn’t know that, since the opening suddenly opens up at the last moment. When a person completes the left and the right lines and the only thing left for him to do is to create the middle line, this opening opens up.

But if he hasn’t done so yet, then when he approaches the opening, then, of all times, he grows weary and turns back. This is called Zahav (the golden), from the wordsZe Hav (give me this), which means from the doubts: What for? Why? This vessel of gold is the most precious of all the other vessels, but it’s built out of the disappointments and the disrespect of everything that we go through. For the movement is done through the craving and the longing for Dvekut (adhesion) with Him, which is built gradually by such maneuvers, when a person almost reaches the opening itself, but doesn’t see it. And it is this place that he is repulsed by since there is the greatest filth, and so a person turns back.

He is also called “a bell” (Paamon) because he doesn’t have the strength to open and he turns back, thus spending his time going to and fro (Paama) again,  time and time again, looking for the opening.

Also, he is called Rimon (pomegranate) because the Romemut (sublime, exaltedness) of above the intellect surrounds him from all sides. This is the place where the greatest filth has been accumulated and a person cannot overcome it or leap above it if he doesn’t work in exaltedness, above the intellect. Hence, again he is calledRimon for otherwise he would fall entirely. The only way to go through this is with our eyes closed, in exaltedness, above reason, by the power that one receives from theteacher, from the friends, and from the books.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Under One Blanket

Question: Why is the Surrounding Light attracted when I give friends gifts?

Answer: Because I give a present to a friend not because I want to deceive him, entice him, and obtain some simple earthly benefit from him, but only for the sake of the spiritual goal.

The point in the heart is important to me, and I work from that point on his desire to receive to fulfill his desire to receive; that is, I give him a gift. But I do it because it is important for me to attain the Creator; He is the root cause of everything (No. 1).  For this, I operate my ego (No. 2) and give a present to my friend’s ego (No. 3).

I can influence his ego with a gift, but I influence his point in the heart by the Light that Reforms (No. 4). I cannot influence his point in the heart; it is a spark from above, a part of divinity from above. But the Surrounding Light does influence it because starting with my first action I made this calculation that attaining the Creator is more important to me than pleasing my egoism. That’s why I do all these steps even though I would gladly remain lying on the couch and doing nothing.

My friend begins to wonder: Why am I doing this for him? If we study together, I could tell him directly that the intention of the gift is for our spiritual advancement, that I bring him the gift to buy a friend, and with his help to reveal the Creator. And when the friend is awakened by my words, my gifts, and the Surrounding Light, he will also make the calculation that it is most important to attain the Creator (No. 5).

After many such gifts (one is not enough), I “buy” the friend. In ordinary life, without the addition of the importance of the Creator, we just “bribe” a person and his egoism through giving him presents. As a result, he begins to show me favor too, to help me, as usual: “You give to me, I’ll give to you.” Or we have common interests and we help each other realize our egoistic desires: go fishing or play soccer together.

However, this scheme is very special because I, through the Creator, begin to start influencing the friend, his point in the heart. From this, his point in the heart is awakened and he is compelled to do the same actions toward me. He must do so! From his point in the heart, his egoism is influenced (No. 6), and, with it, he gives me gifts (No. 7). It turns out that he performs the same cycle of actions toward me.

Since we both work in such “cycles,” we bring our points in the heart closer together. They begin to work on the same wavelength so closely that they are as if under one blanket (No. 8). And then, due to the Surrounding Light, the “blanket” turns into a screen(Masach) (No. 9).

It is an inexorable law. A man can cry for a thousand years, but until he has fulfilled the laws, it will not work. If the requirements of the law are fulfilled, then success is guaranteed. It is called: “The law is fixed and cannot be violated.”

We need to understand that we exist within nature in its system of laws. We only need to learn these laws thoroughly and find out where we have made omissions until we obtain the desired result.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/13

So You Won’t Fear the Future!

There are no coincidences in life because we operate in a system of forces. There was a shattering and now we discover its results, which have to be revealed. It is only by our work that we can determine the pace of their revelation and how ready we will feel when we receive all this data, the shattered Reshimot (reminiscences).

If we are ready for the revelation, then we accept it gladly since the revelation allows us to rise above it each time. But if we are not ready for it, then we feel the revelation of theReshimot as a descent, as bad and unpleasant states. It can be in the form of troubles with friends, the world, or even disasters and wars. The way the Reshimot are revealed depends on us, but they must be revealed since the shattering already happened and now everything is revealed according to this.

For the time being, a person should understand that everything is according to plan, but a person is given a chance to prepare himself for it and to sanctify the new states, which means to accept them in the form of “I shall hasten it” (Achishena), as good states. His preparation determines whether he understands that everything that happens is for his own good, and whether he will immediately overcome the obstacles, rise above them, and continue his ascent. Then he will be happy about what is happening in each and every moment, no matter what is revealed.

He is not afraid of the future since he has prepared himself for it; he has a group, a connection to the Creator. He has prepared the vessel, and now he only needs to reveal the deficiencies, the shattered Reshimot. He asks: “Where are they?” which means: “I awaken the dawn.” This means that he waits for the shattered Reshimot in order to cope with them and climb the mountain of the Lord.

So he doesn’t complain about any event in the present, he is ready to accept everything and understands that it has to be revealed since parts of his shattered soul are being revealed. He shouldn’t regret the past either, although many regret their past, feeling despair, suffering, feeling disappointed, and torturing themselves: “Why did we do this, why did we fail?” They look back and regret the mistakes they made in life.

A person doesn’t understand that this was a predetermined revelation of the Reshimotand whatever happened, happened. He should accept it as coming from “There is none else besides Him,” from the uniqueness of the upper Providence. A person goes out to work in the morning and should work hard all day long, as “if I am not for myself, who is for me?” but in the evening when he comes back home he should say, “There is none else besides Him,” whether he worked or not. The Creator has arranged everything, which means that no matter what he finds himself in the same state in the evening.

So we cannot regret the past. That’s the way it had to be and everything is predetermined. No matter if I made any efforts or not, the outcome is not up to me.

It turns out that we have to worry about the future and have to prepare ourselves. But then again, everything that has to be revealed will certainly be revealed since I have to reveal all the parts of my soul. But everything depends on me: on how I accept the revelation and whether I am ready or not. I need to bless everything that is revealed, as it says: “I am happy about the wicked that are revealed!”
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The Intention Is The Means For Changing Ourselves And The World

Our entire problem is in the intention of our actions. A person’s actions are divided into physical and moral aspirations, inner desires that can be expressed in a particular form in his actions. We live in a world that is composed of two components: our inner aspirations and the outer actions. The most important thing is the inner aspirations to which, in general, we don’t attribute much importance.

It is clear that the world around us is directed toward a particular goal, and the form of our advancement doesn’t depend on us at all. We see that all our programs and projects lack value, and we cannot realize them. They disappear somewhere and in their place various other events arrive. You see that we don’t control anything. We make all kinds of revolutions, build something, aspire in a particular direction, but at the end, everything turns out differently and we cannot understand what is happening to us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that the world is under the influence of absolute laws that we must know and not just observe, and we must use them in the right way in order to reach the best state possible for us in the field of the application of these laws.

In any case the world will reach the goal. A person, whether he wants to or not, will reach a state that was planned from the start by nature and toward which it has led us for billions of years.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is possible to reach this final good state in two ways.

One of them is the way by the forces of nature. This way is unpleasant, bad, pushing us forward through suffering and influences our ego, our instinctive desire, which acts automatically to be in the most comfortable state that we can choose for ourselves, consciously or unconsciously, at each and every moment.

When nature develops us through suffering, it shows us the inferiority, baseness, and vulnerability of this state, and then through this state, we are forced to seek something else. However, the idea is that nature constantly leads us in this form so that we choose the next state according to its goal, and eventually we advance.

Thus we advance by the way of trial and error because we don’t know our next state and don’t understand what it must be in comparison to the previous state. We flee from the previous state without aiming for the next state; we move forward unconsciously: The main thing is to hide, to escape from the suffering just as every animal instinctively flees from danger.

This advancement, in any case, brings us to the goal, but by a long and difficult path.

As a result, we are invited to understand the whole chain of events we have been passing through over the course of thousands of years of our evolution.

In this way, we discover a very interesting truth: the need for the change in intention in all of our actions. In other words, our actions can remain as they are. The main thing is to work on changing our intentions, and this is, in fact, talking about a change in myself.

The most difficult thing for the person is to change himself. What do I want from what I am doing, from my life, from every state through which I am passing?

You see that the intention I am now maintaining, either consciously or unconsciously, is only for my own good or for the good of others. In this case, I must change in some way! How can I rise above my nature, change myself, my intention?

The Kabbalists say that this is the main thing, the most important thing for the person. There is no need to do anything else. We try to change our lives, our society, and the wisdom of Kabbalah says that everything changes through a change of intention. If we change our intention, we change everything. If we can control our intentions, we control the entire universe, all the worlds!

Therefore, if, today all of the intentions in all of my actions are only for my own good, I must transform them so that in every activity they will be only for the good of others.

Is this possible? In principle, no. If we look at the reality that surrounds us, we see that everything acts only egoistically. In other words, we and the nature around us—human society, all inanimate objects, plants, animals, and humans—only act for their own benefit, for themselves, and cannot change in any manner.

However, if we continue to act this way, we will cause even greater suffering. And now it is evident in our world at an increasing rate: All kinds of troubles are coming upon us that are becoming more and more threatening.

On the other hand, in each and every generation, there are a number of people (in our generation they are many) who are beginning to understand that they must reach something else, to go out to another level of existence, to another level of intention, to understand what is happening and rise from the level of the activated to the activator.

This desire acts in the subconscious of all of us. Among a part of us, it is revealed less, among another part, more. In other people, it is revealed in various, unique forms. We see the ways in which people come to us, how they find us. You see that we exist in the field of our intention, and they are attracted to it and join our groups.

Many of them disappear after this, returning to their world. Many of them certainly don’t understand why they came as it seems we didn’t explain this to them in a good way and in our lessons and workshops about Kabbalah. Therefore, we must advance and correct ourselves in this also.

However, in a general manner, in our time, there are already many people who aspire to change their intention so that, through the two intentions—for their own good and for the good of others—they can begin to manage their state and the state of the world that surrounds them.

Therefore, even though our first intention is absolute egoism, an intention for our own good, we can correct it. For this, intelligence and control were given to humanity.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12/13/13, Lesson 1

A Road Paved With Stumbling Blocks

Question: What is it like under the guidance of a spiritual teacher? Is it like a trip with a tourist guide in London or like dangerous mountain climbing where you cannot take a step to the left or to the right without a guide since you might fall?

Answer: In a tour of London you can listen with half an ear to the tourist guide and at the same time walk around as you like. But is this similar to the spiritual path, which you know nothing about?

You have to enter spirituality. The guide tells you that in order to enter spirituality you have to keep certain conditions, but you say that you don’t accept half of these conditions but keep on following the group. How can that be? Can you climb a mountain if you don’t accept half of the guide’s instructions? You have to be as obedient as a baby and totally annul yourself in the arms of the guide.

Question: But I am not a baby I am an adult! I gained a wealth of experience in my life and I have studied with other teachers before.

Answer: You are even less than a baby! If you don’t listen to the guide’s advice, you are like a grownup with the tiny brain of a baby who doesn’t let others take care of him. There are strict laws here that cannot be changed. You cannot ask for mercy like in court. In court you can still cry and plead for mercy. But here there are no manipulations that will help: There is a law, “He has given a law that cannot be broken.” Choose: Do you accept it or not?

There are many people who climb mountains and there are always those who stumble and fall into the great abyss, back into the domination of the egoistic forces, the Sitra Achra. Only few reach the king’s palace that is on the mountaintop: those who have the patience, which means that they try as hard as they can to follow the guide, against any thoughts they may have and against their own mind.

These are the small differences that determine everything where you encounter the resistance of your mind and cannot overcome its demands and do the opposite compared to what the teacher or Baal HaSulam demand of you. It is because you agree with everything else in your ego, but here you encounter what is against your ego, and it is here that you need to ask for help and to ascend.

These are the points that you encounter and which you cannot overcome. They connect and become a line, a path that brings you to the Lord’s palace. It is impossible to advance any other way. You say: “But I agree to everything else!” It is wonderful that you agree, but everything else has nothing to do with spirituality. Spirituality is only in the points where you don’t agree!

You advance only through the points where you disagree: one point after the next. You have to agree on them, under the influence of the environment, the study, etc. but your agreement doesn’t have to be pragmatic. If you agree to disseminate as the teacher asks because you hope to receive a reward, then it is not working in faith above reason anymore, but for a corporeal reward.

We should be careful in using the points of friction and not making them worthwhile. You cannot agree to disseminate in order to feel that you are great standing before a crown or in order to make money. You have to follow these stumbling points in faith above reasonand then these points will turn into a line.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Zohar For All

Question: We are going to have an international convention soon in which we will celebrate the publication of The Book of Zohar adapted to the new generation. What does this mean?

Answer: By working with this book we are aware, understand, and feel that we have a source of power that belongs to the upper nature, to the force that manages everything to the smallest detail, to the smallest cell, to the last atom. The Book of Zohar has a special quality that allows us to connect to this force and to be inspired by it. Thus we will be able to understand and feel it and work according to it.

We have no other key or connecting channel, other than The Book of Zohar. All the otherKabbalah books were actually written so that we would approach the main book and use it correctly. So we celebrate the publication of Zohar For All.

We have to understand that we are on the verge of a new era, moving on to a level of a new development. We have to disseminate this book all over the world, and produce many other supplementary materials that will serve to bring people closer to it.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/17/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Control Over The Intention

Question: If in my daily life a small desire to direct my intention to bestow to the Creator appears and then quickly disappears, what can I do in order to focus on it? How can I help myself, should I draw something on my hand, or do something else?

Answer: You remind me of those years when I was learning withRabash. I also drew a symbol on my hand so that I would not forget the intention. When I was sitting behind the steering wheel in the car, the symbol on my hand was constantly flashing before my eyes, as if to remind me that I must think about the intention in order to bestow. This is so unnatural for us such that it cannot appear in a person’s head without some kind of external reminder.

So do everything possible: draw something on your hand, set an alarm clock, and activate some signal on the cell phone so that every five minutes it will remind you about the intention. It’s not important which actions you do, they could be very different. The main thing is not to interrupt them; rather, just simply go back to control the intention.

The moment that you prefer it you will feel a difference between our world and the spiritual world, because only the intention differentiates us from the spiritual world. The moment that some inclination appears within you, you will immediately feel that you are entering into a completely different matrix of sensations; you will begin to feel the world differently. It will suddenly begin to be like in a movie and then an absolutely different picture will appear.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12.13.13, Lesson 1