The Rise And Fall Of Democracy

Opinion (Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, permanent fellow at the IWM Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna, the author of In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don’t Trust Our Leaders?):“The paradox of the modern world is that the democratization of society has ironically led to voters’ loss of power and the rise of social inequality while globalization liberated the elites but deprived them of legitimacy and capacity to govern.

“Today elected governments run the majority of states in the world. … Democratic ideal reigns uncontested and the will of the people expressed in free and fair elections is accepted to be the only real source of legitimate power. In the 21^st century democracy has dispensed with most of its critics but, unfortunately, none of its internal contradictions.

“Democratic ideal reigns uncontested and the will of the people expressed in free and fair elections is accepted to be the only real source of legitimate power. … democracy and good governance can coexist only under a regime of limited suffrage. In their view the real sovereign is not the people, but reason. So, voting should be discussed in terms of capacities rather than rights. In the 19^th century, capacity was translated as property or education; only those with the right education or enough property could be entrusted with the power to vote. …

“While we all agree that democracy means we should be able to influence decisions which affect us, in reality this is not the case. We are frequently consumers of decisions made by governments we have not elected. In a globalized world we depend more than ever on the decisions of others, those who never were and never will be part of our community. And therefore there is a natural urge to make sure that those others do not make the wrong choices. Truth be told, democracy was never that great at preventing people from making mistakes. …

“So, instead of choosing between sovereign democracy, globalized democracy, or globalization-friendly authoritarianism, political elites try to redefine democracy and sovereignty in order to make the impossible possible. The outcome is democracies without choices, sovereignty without meaning, and globalization without legitimacy. …

“While democracy treats individuals as equal (every adult has an equal vote), free enterprise empowers individuals on the basis of how much economic value they create and how much property they own. … Voters can decide who will be in government – their votes still ‘choose’ the winning party, while markets decide what will be the economic policy of the government, irrespective of who wins the elections. …

“The problem is that this unstoppable spread of democracy has both destroyed the borders between the different spheres of human activity – those which should be run by vote and those which should be run by professional competence, and at the same time de-legitimized the popular elected democratic institutions. …

“The logical consequences of such attitudes are, on the one hand, the secular trend of decline of electoral turnout in most Western democracies, and on the other hand, the tendency where people least likely to vote are the poor, unemployed, and the youth, in short those who in theory should be most interested in using the political system to change their lot.

“So, the paradoxical outcome of the expansion of democratic principle of self-governance outside of the political realm is that now that we vote on everything, the political power of the voter has declined. …

“In the days of national democracies, the citizen voter was powerful because he was at the same time a citizen-soldier, citizen-worker, and citizen-consumer. The citizen-soldier was important because the defense of the country depended on his courage to stand against the enemies. The citizen-worker was important because his work was making the country rich. And the citizen-consumer mattered because his consumption was driving the economy. But when drones and professional armies replace the citizen-soldier, one of the major motives of the elite’s interest in public welfare is substantially weakened. The flooding of the labor market by low-cost immigrants as well as outsourced production have also reduced elites’ willingness to take into account citizens’ interests and opinions. The fact that over the course of the recent economic crisis it became evident that the performance of the U.S. stock market no longer depended on the consumer power of the Americans is one more argument why citizens are losing their leverage over the ruling groups. It is the decline of the leverage of the citizen-soldier, the citizen-consumer, and the citizen-worker that explains voters’ loss of power but also the growing ungovernability of modern democracies.”

My Comment: People’s participation today means thousands of demonstrators on the streets who reject government decisions. In the future, the quality of governing will be determined by the opportunity to turn protest movements into coherent positive demands and structured political force. This will be possible through the implementation of integral education for the masses. In this case, they will be able to realize the changes that must be made in society.
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Willingness For The Obscurity Of The New Level

Question: Before the lesson I think about the Creator, during the day I think about the connection with the group, when do I also think about the Light that Reforms?

Answer: The Light that Reforms is in all the gaps between my desire to reach a certain state and my reaching that state. The Light that Reforms is also between my current desire and the correct desire I should have.

The Light is in my lack of connection with the group, the lack of attraction that I feel, and the need for it, between the state of yearning when I am attracted to the group since I strongly feel its importance.

The Light is everywhere and in everything, in building the spiritual vessels, the restriction, the Masachim (screens), the intentions; in other words, whatever we do, we only need to think about the Light. Any change of the desire and any correction of the intention is possible only by the Light. Nothing operates except for the Light, neither negatively nor positively. We only need to add our component each time but without dictating to the Light what it should do exactly.

We only add the need for the changes, like a baby who wants something: He doesn’t offer any clever clarifications or specify exactly how it should be done, what should be done, and to what degree; he is totally dependent on the grownup.

I express this dependency in the society to such an extent that I don’t determine how the Light should operate and what it should do. The deficiency that is revealed is enough to help me adhere to the group even more, and the Light does everything else. It may even throw me to some new discernments, or to an unknown dimension; it is its business.

I use the only component that is up to me: the connection. I don’t even build this chain—my special connection with the group to affect the Light that Reforms—I don’t determine anything at all since I am always on a level of an embryo with regard to the new state, and I prepare myself to complete uncertainty. The most I can do is to be in state of smallness, like a small child.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/14

Our State Is Excellent!

Question: When does the Light that Reforms influence a person and bring him to the love of others?

Answer: The Light constantly influences us: It either influences us according to the natural pace of evolution that is called Beito (in its time), or according to a program called Achishena (I shall hasten it), which is hastening time. But the Light constantly influences us.

On one hand, it is said that “the Light is in a state of absolute rest.” On the other hand, we call it the Light that Reforms, which means that it can influence us in a different ways, either more or less. Of course, the Light is in a state of absolute rest, but I spur myself by the environment: the books, group, and teacher, thus increasing my sensitivity to the Light.

Lets say we are going out to disseminate. Before we go out we really think that we want to attain the love of others in order to attain the love of the Creator, and thus delight Him. We would like to perform this action out of real love, but unfortunately we don’t feel it yet.

So we act even out of self-interest (Lo Lishma): We want to attain spirituality, to know about it, to feel it; we expect to reveal the heavens. When we operate this way, even with the intention of “not for its sake”—as it is said: Mitzvot (commandments) don’t require the right intention—it still works. The Light illuminates on me from a distance (this is why it is called the Surrounding Light), and thus helps me advance.

So all my work is to check which of my actions are the most beneficial in order to spur and to draw the Surrounding Light. The most beneficial action, according to the law of the equivalence of form, is closest to the properties of the Light, with increasingly closer connection, namely: bestowal, love, identification, closeness, embrace, kiss, coupling.

We should yearn for that, and I am ready to yearn for that, but only on the condition that I get something from it, i.e., I will be rewarded with new feelings, understanding, and by opening my eyes to reveal the secrets of the Torah so that the heavens will open up for me. I want this and cannot do anything with my desire to receive!

Never mind, I need to work with the desire that I have. It is not up to me, but is arranged that way from Above by the Creator. I work with whatever I have, even if it is clear to me that I do everything for my own sake, and the Surrounding Light gradually fixes my intentions and makes them right. This is how we advance.

If we reach the love of the Creator from the love of the created beings, then the most beneficial thing we can is to take care of the created beings! So dissemination—or as it is said, the role of the Israeli nation, obliges us to bring all of humanity to the Creator—is the most beneficial action for anyone who participates in it. We only need to understand this, to interpret it correctly, and to tell each other about it. Then we will understand that we are in an excellent state. We have received unique opportunities.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/14

So That The Group Will Become Dear

Question: We need to nullify ourselves towards the friends. Is there anything that we don’t need to cancel?

Answer: We need to nullify ourselves towards everything, except for those urges and awakenings that direct us towards the center of the group and the Creator.

In other words, there is nothing I don’t need to nullify myself to. So what is in me?! You want to ask: “Is there some beneficial ego in me that I cannot contact and live in agreement with it?” No.

Question: When they asked you: “What is there to do, if someone isn’t liked by the group?” You answered: “It is necessary to change internally and externally.” What did you mean?

Answer: We need to attain such a state where we like everything and in spite of everything that happens we love our friends anyway.

You must change yourself. Indeed you love your children even though they have many negative characteristics. Why? It is because they are yours. So the group must also become yours.
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Be Concerned About Others

Question: When a disaster happens to someone, the first thought is that “There is none else besides Him,” but the second thought is, “It’s good this didn’t happen to me.” And this smallness shows you that if you dig a bit deeper, you will see that there is nothing there.

Answer: No, this is not showing smallness, rather the Creator is showing you that you are an egoist and that in your relationship towards others there is nothing besides ego.

Question: So what is there to do?

Answer: Ask to be corrected to a state where you will be concerned for another to such a degree that it would be preferable that you would be sick instead. When the person wants to be sick instead of another, he becomes absolutely healthy. But this is only if he asks for the sake of correction.
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Working And Clarifying!

Question: When we work together a ”collective head” is created,which helps us clarify things and quickly leave bad states. But on the other hand, I hear friends say: “This state must simply be.”

Is “must simply be” always possible or is it only with the close connection with friends, or can you train yourself psychologically?

Answer: You can train yourself so that the distance or the circumstances will not come between you. It is possible since everything depends only on our state.

A mother, for example, can feel her child and constantly think about him, even if she is at work or far away from him.

Question: So why should we work so closely on mutual guarantee? What is the benefit in that?

Answer: Mutual guarantee provides us with the place where we receive the revelation of the Creator. Everyone has to be incorporated in mutual guarantee. Nothing can be fulfilled without mutual guarantee. An individual is not a soldier in the battlefield.

Notice how ignorant we are when it comes to fully understanding what the place is where we reveal the Creator. So we have to keep on working and clarifying all the concepts and states much more.
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The Magnetism Of Bestowal

Question: How do I measure my state outside of the desire to receive and is this possible if we are within it all the time?

Answer: It means that I am ready to remain in the present state forever, that is in Hafetz Hesed, no matter what happens. And the further I rise, the lower my state of Hafetz Hesed descends downward, meaning that it extends to the lowest level. This is called measurement outside of the desire to receive. In a state of Hafetz Hesed I don’t make any measurements, rather I try to stay as low as possible in a permanent state.

This is considered that I am measuring outside of the desire to receive if I don’t attribute benefit as fulfillment for the desire to receive. I receive the ability like an iron bar lifted in the air by a magnet. Thanks to the magnet, the iron can hang in the air. So it is also with the desire, to the degree that the Light influences the desire, raises it above an intention for the sake of reception, it can be hanging in the air with an intention for the sake of bestowal.

The desire itself is unchanged, but its direction transforms from being for oneself to another, meaning, toward the Creator. That is how we rare able to measure outside of the desire to receive.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/2/14

Manna From Heaven

Question: How did the children of Israel walking through the desert receive “Manna from Heaven” and were nourished by it?

Answer: They encountered new challenges and troubles each time as they increasingly revealed their evil inclination, and then they had what to pray for and what to clarify.

First, we have to feel bad and when the evil is revealed we begin to ask and to clarify why we feel bad. From inside his ego a person begins to clarify why he feels bad and wants to eliminate the source of evil.

If he is developed enough, he begins to ask about the source of evil, about the cause for evil, about the purpose of evil. This stems from the fact that he is already connected to the upper force by some inner sense. His desire to receive has already reached level four of Aviut (thickness) of the clarification. Then he feels that he is connected to the upper force by fate. This is why astrologers, fortune tellers and so forth are so popular these days. It all stems from the same reason, as waste material from the right search.

We advance in the desert and discover new problems and troubles that are connected to the upper force through a point called Moses. This means that there is already a system that belongs to holiness that includes studying and dissemination actions that tie us to the Creator.

There is also a corrupt system—this world, which we want to connect to us, and so we go out to the public. To the extent that we go out to the world, we can correct ourselves. But without dissemination we cannot correct ourselves in any way. It is thanks to the dissemination that we advance in the desert together with all our groups.

Thanks to being in the process of studying and dissemination each one begins to live more and more by his prayer, by his appeal to the Creator through the group. Then he feels that it revives him and so it is called MAN. MAN means that you adhere to the force of bestowal and you want to be in it.

You don’t yearn to fill your vessels of receiving, but you totally want to remain in the appeal, in giving. You are given these powers so that you can raise MAN, which is a request to remain in the desert and not to demand anything but the opportunity to turn to the Creator in any situation.

This is the work of clarification in the desert and you live by this work. You have nothing and you don’t need or want anything. Gradually we begin to feel it. This is depicted to a person only after a very long time since it requires an inner change of his systems, of the system of his soul. Gradually he agrees to be more and more part of these pictures.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/6/14

The Influence Of The Conventions On The Surrounding World

Question: After we conducted such a gigantic event as the convention, with great help and power, we could feel and understand its real results. What is the influence of this convention on regular people?

Answer: The problem is not how much the convention influences society. On this level the Creator doesn’t influence the world the way that we influence it.

The idea is that the influence of the Light on our world exists through the higher power, the control of the Creator and the influence of the Light through us, through our control, through our agreement, through that amplifier, that system that we ourselves create. This is a completely different influence on the world that the Creator cannot carry out by Himself. It is not in His ability! We can because we are on the level of this world and within it.

Suppose that my child is going to kindergarten. At home I cannot influence his behavior at all, so I ask his friends to influence him on their level and under their influence he will easily begin to change. But I, with my abilities, cannot do anything.

This is to say, what we did in this convention had a big influence. But again, there is a hidden part of this influence and there is a part which is revealed: a part which is revealed in the upper worlds and a part that gradually begins to be revealed in our world already.

First, we hasten the movement of the world; we shorten the time of its ripening.

Secondly, an understanding of the movement is beginning to be awakened among many people: where we are going, where this world is moving.

Besides this, individuals who are close to this are beginning to wake up, the point in the heart is awakening in them, just as it once was with you. And now under the influence of this powerful convention that we held and on the level of our world, a more intense influence of the Light is being revealed to them, and under the influence of the external surrounding field their point in the heart, their personal potential, is beginning to be awakened.

And the most important thing is that we have passed from the way of suffering to the way of Light in our world. We have truly added a lot of Light into it.
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A Crucial Question

Question: How is it possible to attain equivalence of form with theCreator if everything is already determined by Him from the start?

Answer: Certainly everything is painted by the Creator in advance! How you will reach this state is not painted: will it be from receiving blows or voluntary? And this is very important.

Sometimes we think: “What difference does this make?! Maybe they will give me blows; in any case sooner or later, I will be in the completion of correction and everything will be okay.” No.

Advancement by blows is like being a disobedient son; this doesn’t bring contentment to the Creator. You neglect this opportunity. With this you think, “It doesn’t matter to me, I got tired”;  in fact, you are saying with this, “I don’t want to bestow pleasure to you.” Turn this question correctly; turn it over to the Creator. In this case you will be able to direct yourself correctly.

In truth, every state is determined from the start, all 125 levels. But how you rise from level to level, this is determined by you.

So I want to emphasize that people who simply want to rise from level to level are egoists! They think only about to what level they must rise. Whereas, people who want to give contentment to the Creator say: “The ascent to the coming level itself is not important to me. What is important to me is how I behave between the stages so I will give Him contentment. I don’t have any need for the levels; take them. I want to give You contentment, and nothing more.”

And it is called “complete bestowal” when a person doesn’t think about and doesn’t ask for a payoff. So the question here is crucial: Do you want to enjoy what you are doing or do you want to give pleasure to the Creator?
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The Butterfly Effect

Opinion (S. Islamov, Ph.D.): “Everyone knows what the water cycle is: Water evaporates from the surface of the earth and seas and rises into the lower atmosphere, where it accumulates into clouds and upon reaching a certain concentration of water vapor in the clouds, droplets begin to form and then merge, and then moisture falls in the form of rain or snow back to earth.

“Beginning in the last century, humanity brings more disturbances in the work of this mechanism, and the problem is not in carbon dioxide, which is considered the producer of the greenhouse effect, but in plain water. There was a rapid increase in the combustion of natural gas, and by burning it, we take oxygen from the atmosphere and contribute carbon dioxide and water. Two billion tons of water is thrown into the atmosphere annually.

“Consequently, the system of the water cycle responds even to a relatively small impact – this is called the “butterfly effect.”

My Comment: So, floods in Europe will only become more frequent as long as humanity is not able to reduce energy consumption and hence the volume of fossil-fuel combustion. Therefore, the process of extreme climate change will continue until we come to our senses under the influence of integral education and reduce our consumption to a reasonable level.
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Instinct And Intelligence

Question: What are thoughts and how do they influence the general system?

Answer: Thoughts appear where there are some desires that are found in opposition and in conflict with each other, and a need is created to balance them in some form.

If, due to a lack of difference in desires, no thought appears, then only instinct operates.
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The Center Of The Group Is A Place For Solving All Problems

Question: Do you suppose that we already have the possibility of bringing everything to the center of the group and solving all our questions there?

Answer: If you are thinking of advancing spiritually, meaning toward the characteristic of bestowal, then you simply have no other choice. The center of the group is the point of departure for a channel that leads us by way of all the worlds to world of Infinity. Nothing else is given to us.

The center of the group is a place in which we balance each other. Everyone is different, but all are equal. All help each other even though all are different. In that, we completely nullify ourselves and absorb the desires of the others in order to realize them. Afterward, we present one complete and unified desire, and in this manner enter into this conduit through which we rise to the world of Infinity.

Question: Is it possible to bring material questions to the center of the group?

Answer: It is possible for a group to come with all kinds of material questions and to try to solve them with your friends. In every case, this will be much closer to the truth than what you would decide by yourself.

If all of your friends would be on a particular spiritual level, mutually balanced (this is talking about a group that is more or less correct), then in such a manner, you will be able to solve the problems in your lives.
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A Duet: The Creator And Created On One Violin

Question: Today, many of our friends are going out to meet the public who will be hearing about the wisdom of Kabbalah for the first time. How can we acquire faith through the public?

Answer: Faith comes from the Creator and the deficiency for it comes from the public. We, on the other hand, must be in the middle as the coordinators, as a link. We reach the public with our intentions to delight the Creator since they are the general vessel of the soul that is before us, and we want to make it one so that the Creator will be revealed in it so that we will delight Him.

By going out to the public, we should feel that we are the Creator’s representatives who have received a wonderful opportunity to delight Him. We show the public that we have such good will and an open heart, without any self-benefit or any demands, but only the inclination to do them good.

If we reach the public with this intention, we will succeed. We are in a state of Hafetz Hesed with regard to the public and with regard to the Creator, which means that we receive the ten Sefirot of Hassadim, the level of the priests (Cohanim). The main thing is to prepare properly, just like musicians who tune their instruments. This is actually the way we should calibrate ourselves, as if we draw the bow over the strings of a violin back and forth, thus checking the inner inclinations with which we go out to the public and the inner inclination with which we turn to the Creator. This way, the abundance, the Light, will flow through us to the public without any interruption on our part. The deficiencies of the public rise from the bottom and the Light descends from Above, the desires from below and the Light from Above.

Try to tune yourselves this way, and you suddenly will feel that you are managed totally on the one hand by the public and on the other hand by the Creator.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Like Fish In A Sea Of Light

We need to feel that we are totally within the Light, like a body that is immersed in water. From all sides, my body is surrounded by water that is closely connected with all of my movements.

In this state, I need to feel that I am within the Upper Light so that through each of my tiny movements, in thought or in desire, in each tendency of my heart and brain, I immediately invite the Light to come to me. This happens immediately without any transition. I need to reach this sensation in my life.

All of us are drowning in these waters and receive oxygen only at the instant when we move towards each other. If our hearts are drawn to unite between each other, then we have something from which to breathe. If the heart does not want to unite, then we cannot breathe without air. We need to feel this state in our spiritual work: We are submerged within a sea of Light, like water, and the oxygen only depends on the connection between us. Thus we need to somehow force our hearts to strive towards unity.

The presence of oxygen depends on our closeness to each other. And then we begin to connect, not in order to receive oxygen, but in order to give joy to the Creator! How can we raise the longing to receive oxygen to longing to give joy to the Creator, even though I am suffocating without air?

In the end, we reach the state where we suddenly cease to need oxygen and feel like fish in water! We don’t even think about it, but only on how we can bring Him joy.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/14, Workshop

Always At A Crossroads

Baal HaSulam, Shamati #53, “The Matter of Limitation”: …This is the meaning of, “Serve the Lord with gladness.” This is so because during the Gadlut it is irrelevant to say that He gives them work to be in gladness, since during the Gadlut gladness comes by itself. Instead, the work of gladness is given to them for the time of Katnut, so that they will have joy although they feel Katnut. And this is a great work.

This is called the main part of the degree, which is a discernment of Katnut. This discernment must be permanent, and the Gadlut is only an addition. Also, one should yearn for the main part, not for the additions.

In our work, we reach an intersection a crossroads, a fork in the road, after which we already have to measure our states along the spiritual road, either inside our desire to receive pleasure or outside it. Everything depends on where we measure our state, our success, our continuous progress.

If we measure it inside the desire, we are happy about the greatness: the height and the filling. It is the left line that pulls us to the side of the ego, according to which we aspire to see and to measure everything. On the right line we measure everything in relation to thegroup and to the Creator.

On the right line, we don’t notice the state we are in and accept every state as the perfect state. This means that we don’t take our feelings into account, no matter what the Creator sends us. We always measure everything according to bestowal, which means outside ourselves. On the left line it’s the opposite: I have no other thoughts but thoughts about myself and about what happens to me, and this is the only thing I worry about all day long.

Accordingly, the work along the two lines is different and it depends on what I demand in each state. If it is the right line, I demand to remain the way I am or worry only about how not to lose the direction to bestowal upon the Creator through the environment and through all of creation.

Here I work on my smallness in order to make myself as small as possible. I only want to bestow upon the Creator as much as possible and not to feel that I bestow or that He enjoys my bestowal. This means that I diminish the response in every possible way, cut off all the wires and all the ways by which I can get a response for my action of bestowal, which I try to increase as much as I can.

This kind of work is in maximum bestowal and zero reward. To the extent that I can perform clean calculations with regard to absolute bestowal without a reward, my spiritual level is measured accordingly (like Rosh-Toh-Sof). Thus I already stabilize myself and begin to mutually work with the Creator, as the Creator opens up more and more opportunities for me.

When I am stabilized on the previous level, I ask for more and more powers in order to increase my bestowal. Of course, I have to overcome my ego more and more in order to attain this and in order not to receive any reward in return. And what I do receive from the Creator I have the opportunity to turn into bestowal, and this is extra work in addition to this work. This is how we advance.

The problem is at the actual crossroads, the split that is created. This work is repeated on every level. As we ascend to the next spiritual degree, the shattered Reshimot(reminiscences) are revealed and I have to stand at this crossroads in order to be sure where the left line is and where the right line is. I cannot simply turn to the right and not look to the left at all.

This is impossible because one line is based on the other line. If I follow the right line correctly and reach a certain point, the left line also grows to the same extent, but I cut one line from the other, and so the “trunk” (Toch) and “end” (Sof) of my spiritual Partzufare created. The place in which I calculate things is called “head” (Rosh). Thus I begin to build my spiritual Partzuf. This is practical spiritual work. This is all based on the picture of the world that the Creator depicts for me as a result of my attitude to reality.

Question: Where is the point of our independence in the drawing?

Answer: We are independent only at the crossroads, but it always exists. We have to constantly feel that we are at a crossroads, as it says: “They should seem new to you every day.” All the time we have to decide and always choose the right line, and instead of erasing the left line, we should advance me on top of it.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/2/14

Struggle And Don’t Surrender!

Question: During the three conventions that have passed, and in particular after them, there is a hatred of the Creator, the friends, and the “point in the heart” that is revealed. How should one work with this hatred?

Answer: If possible, don’t work with the hatred itself in any form. The more that you “chew” on all the negative characteristics and emotions that appear within you, the more you will be linked to them. You will exist more within them, and you will be nourished by the impure forces (Klipot). Therefore you shouldn’t remain in these states.

I understand that they are like leeches; they cling onto a person from all directions and suck his blood. But in every way possible you must rise above states like these with an inner yearning for the friends, for the Creator. It’s forbidden in any circumstance to remain with the Klipot. This will begin to fill you with a completely different fulfillment, the opposite of the Creator, from which it will be very difficult to depart afterwards, because you will begin to get used to it.

We are compelled to do something! The moment feelings like these appear, we must struggle with them. Begin to play, to sing, to read something from our materials, to become involved with spiritual work in any form, only don’t remain in a state that is the opposite of the approach, don’t become distant from Him.

In no way should you begin to dig into whatever hatred appears, where it comes from, and for what. Even in the end, this will bring you to something good; in spite of it all, there is no need for these thoughts. They are given to you as disturbances, so begin to work against them, meaning leave them at rest. If you are in some kind of connection with the forces of impurity, with these thoughts, even if inside yourself you begin to curse them and seemingly don’t love them, but you are with them all the time, you are feeding them, and they live from this action.

Question: How is it possible to help a friend leave a state like this?

Answer: Drag him to a group, arrange a feast for him, but don’t sit and complain about his fate—sing, learn, do something together. Help the friend, in other words, don’t leave him with negative thoughts, rather with all your power pull him out of them. This is the only way.

But if he is against this, you are not obliged to remain together with him; rather, it’s necessary to show him prominently that if he doesn’t want your help, you will abandon him. You don’t have to “die” together with him.
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There Are No Disturbances That Cannot Be Overcome

Question: You say that there are no disturbances that cannot be overcome. So why are there cases where disturbances remain in spite of everything?

Answer: The only reason is a weak preliminary connection with the teacher, the group, and the sources.

There are no disturbances that cannot be overcome. A thought or desire is always sent to us like this; it is possible to overcome it. The next level appears before us and it is possible to approach it either by the way of sufferings (Beito - “in its time”) or in a good way (Achishena – I will hasten it”). If we go by the way of sufferings, then they surround us to such a degree that we are ready to overcome the obstacle that is placed before us by any means. But for this, we pay with time and blood.

If we go in the good way, then we rapidly overcome the disturbance because we are connected with the friends, the books, and the teacher from the start, and we know that the disturbance comes from the Creator. We can hold onto this thought like a bulldog and not let go for even a moment: “At least hold on for a little longer, another second, and then another!”

Don’t think about what lies ahead of us! A good athlete knows he has a second to hold on, then another second, and after that another; only in this case will he have the strength. And someone who thinks ahead isn’t psychologically strong enough. We only have the strength if we think about the present moment and we concentrate the time, the place, and the effort, all of the circumstances into one point.

It is not the disturbance itself, not its form, or circumstances; nothing depends on us, only the connection with the center of the group.
[129079]

Praying Means To Beg That My Heart Will Be Ignited

Question: Why does it say that a person should judge himself to the scale of merit? Does he do it by himself? Isn’t it the Upper Light that operates on him?

Answer: We don’t say that the upper force operates here, although it does everything. When it says that “a person should correct” it means that a person demands that the Upper Light correct him.

It is the same in our world when we speak about a house that was built by a great architect. Did the architect actually build the house? He planned it and there were hundreds of people who built the house. But we say that the house was built by the architect and sometimes even hang up a plaque with his name.

We also don’t speak about the forces that we operate. There is the Creator who is good and benevolent, “There is none else besides Him,” He gave a law that cannot be broken: the law of equivalence of form that determines all the levels on the spiritual ladder. But all our appeals, all our work, depends only on us. If we activate ourselves by feeling the right yearning, we will receive the Light.

It is a constant supply that never ends and never changes. Everything depends only on our equivalence of form with the Light. So we don’t say that the Light corrects us. If everything is ready and He is good and benevolent, everything is determined by my desire for positive changes, and the Light immediately operates in full power.

Actually I don’t even have to ask it to do so. Therefore we don’t say “to beg” but “to pray” to the Creator because I have to beg myself and activate myself and not Him. I am the one who has to reveal my desires, and all the actions are meant to ignite our heart. The Upper Light is in a state of absolute rest and the problem is only in our heart.
[129111]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/14

Shedding Tears Of Joy

Question: I cannot do anything when I see hatred, pretense, and fraud in the way the friends behave.

Answer: Of course. Nobody is perfect. We are all spiritually defected. We all want to be corrected. When we ascend even a bit towards theCreator from this state, our actions are very desirable to Him.

It’s absolutely natural that I see that the friends are also as filthy as I am in their thoughts, in their feelings, in their evil plans, and in the different negative urges that they have. If I correct all that, I immediately fall into these defects over and over again. At least we acknowledge the fact that we are in one great sewage hole and that all our flawed thoughts and desires are our initial state.

Your tears are wonderful tears of the recognition of our state. It already indicates that the Upper Light influences you and helps you understand where you are in relation to it. It’s already the recognition of evil and not just some low level, but a state from which you can advance and leap forward.

So we have to turn these tears into tears of joy and to thank the Creator for giving you this recognition of your state and such support! You are not isolated on some Finnish farm weeping over your fate.

You are in a big group that provides you with support. You have a whole healthy system and you know that you are part of it, how it operates on you, and how you should use it in order to reach the center, the absolute balance. You have all that! So your tears are just the beginning, only the recognition of your state. I would even say that you are crying over yourselves. You should at least attribute it to yourselves and shed tears of joy since you understand who is managing you, and whose path you are following. It will come. Hold on to us and everything will be all right.
[129185]

What Do You Prefer?

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69:When one increases one’s toil in the internality of the Torah and its secrets, to that extent, one makes the virtue of the internality of the world—which are Israel—soar high above the externality of the world, which are the nations of the World.

So everything depends on preferring internality to externality. These two parts are essential in the Torah, in our actions, in our intention, in our desire, in everything. We should always distinguish between what is more internal and what is more external and prefer one to the other.

Thus a person focuses himself on the right goal and advances. In fact there is nothing else we should do but to prefer internality to externality all the time, to clarify what is internality and what is externality, and to prefer one to the other.

A person is like a dipole, or like the needle of a compass. I prefer that the needle would constantly point at spirituality as a result of placing it on top of corporeality. Whatever is closer to bestowal, to the internality of the group, to the internality of the world, to concentrating my efforts, should always be above anything corporeal. This clarification is actually the only thing I am required to do at any given moment, and nothing but that.

Question: How is the thought of creation integrated in this division into internality and externality?

Answer: How could the thought of creation be fulfilled if we didn’t have the freewill to prefer internality to externality? This is how we fulfill it.

The thought of creation is to do good to His created beings, to bring man to the Creator’s level so that he will be independent and will also resemble the Creator. This is already two opposites: How can you be independent and at the same time resemble the Creator? This is a paradox. So we always work in faith above reason, in bestowal above receiving.

The externality is close to my ego, it is my life; I want that my self-love, my desire to receive, will always be full and that it will feel good. I want to feel good and comfortable in it, that everything would be nice and peaceful. The internality is bestowal: It’s worrying about others, adhesion to the society and the teacher, and through them, adhesion to the Creator.

If I don’t prefer one to the other, how will I choose? How can I form myself? This is all my work. Without this I will not be able to form myself in any way.

When a person wants to acquire a form, he summons the Light that Reforms and it does the work. But without a person’s yearning there is no independence and there is no attainment of the Creator since there is no vessel, there is no desire.
[129008]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam