Spiritual Sabbath

Question: Our inner understanding of the Sabbath is different from the religious understanding in Judaism based on the materialization of the commandments.

Answer: The physical engagements that religious Jews observe on an everyday basis are material replications of spiritual actions,Kabbalah recommends following them.

However, Kabbalah doesn’t teach us just to fulfill physical actions in this material world, nor does it recommend sitting and doing nothing on Saturdays. Kabbalah teaches us to correct our ego during the six week-days, i.e., to connect with others. When we establish a clear connection with others, we will realize that we are incapable of connecting with them on our own on the seventh day.

We see that communism, socialism, communes, and kibbutzim cannot change the state of affairs in the world. This is possible only if we act according to the scheme that gives us the opportunity to correctly collect all the broken parts together during the first six days, resulting, on the seventh day, with all our desires and aspirations to assemble everybody back together accumulating and being glued together under the influence of the upper force that once broke them apart. Therefore, by gathering the parts of the common soul back together, we allow the Light that once shattered them to glue them together again.

By acting so, what do we achieve? When we work for the six days, we begin to understand exactly how exactly these parts can be assembled, we see whether they match, how they impact and help each other, how they self-annul in front of each other and then connect above their egoism.

But we are just trying! People are unable to do anything on their own, which is what Soviet Russia and other countries of the world tried to do; some societies are trying to do so now.

But this is impossible because we lack the force that is able to change things because we are only in our will to receive. But if we do it correctly, we will gradually accumulate the Upper Light, then after we finish constructing this system, the Light will influence us and completes it.

If we leave it as is or just neglect it, we won’t attain the right connection with the Light. In fact this is what the shattering was for, so that now from the broken lowest point, we should glue the broken parts together into a new whole. The breaking was in order for us to understand the properties of the Light, to connect, and to rise to its level. This is the purpose of creation, the reason for everything that happens with us and in the entire universe.

Therefore, the seventh day of the week is the cornerstone and is called “Sabbath –Shabbat” from the Hebrew word “shvitah,” which means exemption from work. We allow the Light to work instead of us and to be included in it. The six days are not about actual days; they are  actions that can be done, for example, in 15 minutes, but it could take you two months.

Every seventh stage should always be that in addition to your efforts, you  look to the action of the Light and begin to understand its properties. In other words, the Light’s qualities enter the system of mutual connection that we have created. And then we ascend the next level and attain the properties of the Light to the degree of our efforts made during the six weekdays.

This is how we work, week after week, until we reach the complete reunification of all the broken parts into a single unified soul and attaining the Light that acts inside the system, that is. the Creator:  the original force that made the entire universe. This is our work, our goal, our advancement.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

First Thank, Then Ask

Question:  What is each friend’s work to constantly hold everyone in a collective prayer (raising MAN)?

Answer:  Each and every one must discover within himself a deficiency regarding the group and disseminate this to others, in other words, to show love to your friends. And, besides this, we need to awaken all to a general concern for correcting the world, bringing everyone to form a single family.

We need to speak about this between us, disseminate this to the entire world, and provide confidence to every one that this is precisely what the Creator wants. Toward this form of humanity, as one family, we need to go forward and raise this as a prayer.

First of all, we need to praise and give thanks, to speak about the greatness of this mission and all of its components. And then we ask for the revelation of the Creator to the creatures, i.e., that everyone will feel the importance of bestowal. This is called the revelation of the Creator to the creatures.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/14, Writings of Rabash

The Concept Of Survival Of Humanity

Opinion (Orazaly Sabden, PhD, professor and academician, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Kazakhstan, President of the Union of Kazakhstan Scientists): “The planet is undergoing significant changes. All the living on earth have to survive and adapt to new conditions. The reason for change is the rapid development of civilization with its aggressive and regressive actions. The problems of globalization are increasing and can break everything that has been accumulated by humankind for centuries. Major social, political and economic problems in the world are aggravated. The world community cannot find a way out of the current situation. Now, humanity is in the first phase of a global ecological catastrophe. The vast resources of the biosphere will end by the end of this century.

“The Earth is a planetary home of civilization, which consists of spirituality, scientific and technological revolution, the environment, space, security and economy. There is a need to develop a model of global governance and regulation of global processes.

“Now we need not the divisions of countries, authorities, but vice versa – planetary cooperation of nations and ethnic groups. Appropriate institutions should be created to deal with this.”

My Comment: Exiting a dead end is possible only by recognizing the need to change not the external conditions but human nature. Although this seems impossible, one, there is no other solution, and two, if we use the method of integral unity, the problem of re-educating people can be easily solved.
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The Evil (Impure) Spirit

Question: Does dissemination require physical actions or are one’s internal thoughts enough?

Answer: Those who only think without acting are called the impure spirit. In the spiritual world, there are forces, all sorts of spirits and demons; there are thoughts that are not accompanied by any actions.

When one goes through a restriction and obtains a screen, the reflected Light practically works with one’s spiritual vessels. In this case, one is capable of spiritual actions without being involved in materiality. However, it depends on the situation; we know that Baal HaSulam traveled to Poland to meet with workers who participated in a May Day demonstration. He published the newspaper The Nation in Israel, which caused a tremendous adverse reaction that continued till the last days of his life.

Our world is the world of actions. If you don’t do anything in this reality, you cannot even fantasize about it. After all, the practical implementation is confirmation of our thoughts, that we really are in this action.

So if you already have screens and can work with them, you can do without materiality. However, in this case one will undoubtedly seek any opportunity to connect with the general public and correction through this action. After all, one understands that “the Creator dwells among His people,” at the lowest level, and that from there you can start your correction.

The only thing that might stop any of you is an objective assessment that clearly demonstrates that approaching the general public may harm the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah and the world’s overall correction. In this case one should stop and wait. However, this situation is not valid anymore today because everything is already opened. We are in a world that has been in need of a practical correction for quite a long time now.

You cannot just work on the Internet and assume this is sufficient. Even if your group decides that you are needed in this or that particular field of work, you still have to participate in physical actions and common work. Without physical activities that involve real people, we will never correct their souls. Period!
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/14

An Intention Embodied In Action

Question: What is more important in mutual guarantee, the physical obligation (to awaken the friends, telephones, etc.) or an intention about the group with thoughts and intentions?

Answer: An intention about the group with thoughts and intentions is not just important but necessary. But people who think that this is enough are sadly mistaken, because theory without practical action is dead.

So if you can also practically strengthen and increase your participation in gathering the group, then it is a full and final action. An action cannot be completed with only an intention. It is possible to check it only when you embody the intention in the action itself.
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Yearning For Love

Question: When I feel causeless hatred towards a friend, I cannot figure out how to get out of it.

Answer: Hatred lacks a foundation; it is a spiritual category that manifests in a person without a reason; it is simply because his egoburns in him.

Such issues can only be solved together in a discussion with other friends. The idea is that the correction is realized specifically when a strong rejection appears between us.

Unfounded hatred is a clear and accurate discovery of shattered desires. It is said that rejection became the reason for the destruction of the Second Temple, when instead of connection, solidarity, mutual assistance, and love between people, suddenly intense hatred flared up. And this is what led to and caused the shattering of the collective spiritual Kli (vessel).

So, when such situations like these appear, gather together quickly and try to discuss them in the form of a workshop. First, without any agenda, without touching anyone personally, and without intending for a mandatory solution for the question, which concerns all because manifestations of unfounded hatred exists in each one of us.

It appears all the time for some unknown, inexplicable reasons or without any reason: Well, I cannot stand him, I cannot come to an agreement with him, we don’t understand each other, or something pushes me away from him.

It is necessary to clarify whether there is some reason by gathering into groups of five or ten with friends to discuss the issue. At the same time, I cannot say that I feel dislike someone, but I want to find out why my attitude to him is revealed in this way.
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A Vessel With A Bottleneck

Question:  Why do those who follow the spiritual path experience the same problems like the rest of the world and have no answer for them?

Answer:  Why do you say that there is no answer? There is an explanation for every problem; our incongruity with the Light, which already should be revealed in us. This is where all problems stem from.

If your desire to receive is less corrected than it should be, the Light that has to appear in the desire to receive is felt as sufferings, problems, pain, and disasters.

The dissimilarity with the desire to receive on the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking nature causes ecological crises: problems with vegetation, crop failure; diseases of animals, of people, and all of humanity.

Your desire to receive is to blame for all that because it hasn’t undergone the right correction yet. It makes no difference what the problem is, they all stem only from the lack of similarity of the vessel to the Light.

Suppose the desire should be 20% corrected by now, but it is only 2% corrected. So 18% is revealed in the form of the Light pressuring the vessel as the posterior of the Light, in the form of sufferings, troubles, and misery.

The word “troubles” (“Tsarot” in Hebrew) stems from the Hebrew word “narrow” (Tsar), and it refers to a narrow place, a bottleneck,because you don’t open your vessel. You don’t have enough Light of Hasadim to expand and to open the vessel, and so the Light is before it pressuring it. You can feel this pressure as troubles, problems, diseases, and disasters.

We have to correct the problem on the same physical level that it appears, and at the same time ask for its correction from Above, from the Creator, this is operating on both planes. Baal HaSulam says that we should go to the doctor to get medicine and follow his or her instructions, but at the same time it should be clear to a person that it is all useless and depends only on the Creator, not on the doctor.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/14, Writings of Rabash 

A Vessel Suitable For Storing Light

Baal HaSulam, Letter 13: Indeed, I feel all of you together, that today has been replaced for you with tomorrow, and instead of “now,” you say “later.” There is no cure for that but to exert to understand that mistake and distortion—that one who is saved by the Creator is saved only if he needs the salvation today. One who can wait for tomorrow will obtain his salvation after his years, God forbid.

We only need to work on our deficiency. The entire problem is reaching it. And the deficiency that is directed correctly immediately becomes a place for the discovery and absorption of spiritual properties, the Upper Light.

All of our work must be only on deficiencies, on this desire. And the desire must be through equivalence and accommodation to the Light according to all the laws of physics: The vessel and the Light need to match each other according to their frequencies and location. It is impossible to use a sack to store water, or a jar to prepare cement. Everything has its own container, and that is how it is in spirituality; this is a very basic and important condition.

The problem is that we don’t feel that there is no need to work on the Light, which is available in abundance and is in absolute rest, and that we need to work on the vessel, on our deficiency. The deficiency can only be attained through mutual work among us. To the degree that we actively yearn to attain the corrected spiritual state, then to this degree the Surrounding Light will help us to prepare the right request, until it is revealed as Inner Light.

This happened to you due to negligence in my request to exert in love of friends, as I have explained to you in every possible way that this cure is enough to recompense for all your faults. And if you cannot rise to heaven, then I have given you a way to move on earth. So why haven’t you added anything in that work?

The vessel is the collective soul that existed before the shattering of Adam HaRishon. And to the degree that we gather the parts in order to return it to its right form in order to bestow, so we approach performing our correct function.

This is expressed in love of friends, in a mutual connection in order to resemble theCreator, so that the connection between us will be according to spiritual laws: love and mutual guarantee.

Certainly we discover ourselves having characteristics and directions that are opposite this, but then we have something to pray about, meaning to raise MAN. And in an answer, we discover help from Above and fulfillment, as it is written: “The Torah was not given except to those who eat manna (Man),” meaning to those who are nourished by their requests to the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Bringing A Sacrifice Is Getting Closer To The Creator

The initial essence of the creation is the desire. The desire is actually neutral and can be aimed at any direction, toward itself or toward others, it can be anywhere and in any manner. But when an egoistic intention of in order to receive for one’s self is added to it, it becomes cruel and evil since it is focused not only on the filling for itself but also on the inclination not to give to others.

All of a person’s nature is the evil inclination. It says: “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” The evil inclination is called our desire that has the constant intention of in order to receive for itself.

Rejecting the egoistic use of the desires is a spiritual action called “bringing a sacrifice.” In other words we sacrifice our ego not by annulling it but by annulling the egoistic use of the desires.

Bringing a sacrifice is a person’s ability to actually cut off pieces of his desires on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature.

All the desires are divided into four parts: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature. Each part has its own manner of the correction of its ego to altruism, tobestowal.

The simplest work is the work with the desires on the still level of nature. The Torah represents the construction of the Tabernacle, the preparation of different objects from gold and precious stones, the use of salt in the food, the water, and everything we obtain from the earth.

All the plants in nature belong to the desires on the level of the vegetative: grass, seeds, cereal, and the food that is prepared from these materials like bread that is made of flour, etc.

The different categories of desires on the animate level are described in the Torah in the form of birds, fish, and animals, and they are already sublime egoistic desires that have to be killed in a certain ritual and the carcass has to be freshened in a special way.

Each of the corporeal desires of a person has to be processed in a special manner so that it can be transformed from an egoistic use to altruistic use. This is what the laws ofKashrut refer to, which means that they are cleaned of the ego.

The last level of the desires is the human desires, when we already have to work on ourselves. This highest intention is called a priest (Cohen), a lower one is called Levi, and an even lower one is called Israel (the masses).

To bring a sacrifice means to change the desires from an egoistic level to an altruistic level. On the other hand it isn’t a sacrifice since in Hebrew the word “Eid” (victim) means getting closer, which means an action which brings us closer to the Creator.

On the whole all the laws and the rules that the Torah presents refer only to the correction of the ego. The main part, the sacrifices (“Kurbanot” – victims), are the levels that describe a person’s getting closer to the Creator and the correction of the ego to altruism—from hatred of others to love of others.

All the spiritual actions are performed inside a person in the group when he is together with friends who share the same ideas and with whom he clarifies the elements of his inner and external behavior: how to cooperate with them correctly and how the group affects each of its members.

Thus, each one, together with the general force of yearning for bestowal and love that is revealed among everyone, gradually reveals such altruistic attributes that can actually raise the group above the egoistic level. This is called the transition from our world to the upper world.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/24/13

A Pure White Temple Within The Soul

Question: What is the most prominent sign of being in exile?

Answer: We want to reach mutual bestowal and we have no power for this; we want to give contentment to the Creator, and it’s possible to do this only through mutual bestowal between us. Our goal is to build an infrastructure called mutual guarantee. From an inability to do this, we feel ourselves in exile.

Redemption means that our desires are organized, connected, fixed, and linked so that we acquire the form of pure bestowal. This means they take on the form of the Creator, the bestower and loving. We build from ourselves a model, an example, a form similar to the Creator.

There are 125 levels of resemblance like this, 125 portions in which we can resemble the characteristic of bestowal, of love, more and more in all kinds of ways with tighter and tighter guarantee. This is the work of Israel, and that part of it is done in Egypt, in the wilderness, until we reach the construction of the First Temple.

We need to feel all of these states. This is not talking about building a structure from clay and bricks. The construction is done from our substance, from desire, where we correct it and whiten it, and then from that grows a house of Kedusha, the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash).
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Strong Connection With The Group

Question: What does it mean to be very connected to a group in the right way?

Answer: It is called seeing my future, all of the next steps toward the goal, receiving the reward; it is all of my realization that is only in connection with the friends. And friends are not physical faces.

In order to be connected with them, it is not enough to hug and dance together with them; rather, it is necessary to unite into one heart, into one desire.

And this desire needs to be found outside of us, as if the heart goes out of my body and is connected with all the other hearts. If a person has an inclination like this, then through it he can understand what the Kabbalists advise us to do.

All changes in the direction of connection of the hearts will be right, they will naturally, correctly, and appropriately show us the direction of connection.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/14, Writings of Rabash 

The Psychological Shield Of The Ego

Question: Why do we constantly receive blows after we work well and carry out your advice? Will this process ever come to an end?

Answer: Your complaint is identical to the complaint of the Jews in Egypt who blame Moses: “As soon as you went to Pharaoh, he began to beat us! Don’t go to him anymore; don’t harden his heart; let sleeping dogs lie!”

This is the process, hardening the our evil inclination, as it is written: “A person should always provoke the good inclination over the evil inclination.”

Question: When will it come to an end? Where are we headed?

Answer: I don’t understand why you ask such a question. We are headed towards the state in which we will not ask about the outcome of our actions because we want to reachbestowal. After you overcome this psychological barrier (Machsom), the spiritual world opens up before you.

You will cease to ask about your future, but simply will bestow as if into a void. This will be your pleasure. This inclination will open up a new space, a new dimension, for you. You cannot perceive the spiritual world with your egoistic vessels of “when, where, and how?” It’s right here, but it can be revealed to you only with an opposite inclination. You don’t have the right vessels for it.

Question: So when will the Light finally cut me off my ego?

Answer: When the work becomes the reward for you. There is a psychological barrier here, which doesn’t let you ascend above this demand and to see, to know, to acquire, to be filled with, and to perform actions without expecting any response in return but only in order to bestow. Only this inclination will open up the entrance to the spiritual world for you. But don’t try to perform actions of bestowal in order to open it.

I think that successful dissemination can be helpful. We don’t have any powers and will not have any in the future. We need another very large, broad, and strong belt of people around us who will support us.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/01/14, Writings of Rabash

Dual Control Of A Single Power

As a result of our work in a group, in studying and in dissemination, we need to reach such a state in which we feel that we are under the control of two authorities, two forces. One control is the control of our ego, the evil inclination, the king of Egypt Pharaoh who holds us in slavery.

But sometimes, more or less, depending upon the advancement of the person, another control is also discovered: the good inclination, the power to bestow, the yearning to go outside of oneself towards the other, towards the friends, towards unity, connection, and so forth.

A person is in the midst of such dual power, under the control of two angels: the good inclination and the evil inclination, which hold him by the hands on both sides and guide him forward towards the goal of creation. Certainly the evil inclination also acts according to the program of the Creator and helps a person to advance independently, exercising his freedom of choice.

If he didn’t have free choice, he would be like a beast and not an Adam (man). Through clarifying for himself how to use the evil inclination and the good inclination, the power of reception and the power of bestowal, and choosing how to advance with the right mixture between them, he builds himself as an Adam in the likeness of the Creator.

The connection between the evil inclination and the good inclination begins from the first approach to Pharaoh together with the Creator. The person begins to establish these two forces one against the other. The two forces are under his authority. He decides himself according to his inner state, which of them manages him now and can even pass from one control to another control in that he chooses who has control over him and why, if he is able to do it or if he requires the help of the higher force.

Pharaoh wants to control, and if the person agrees to the evil inclination separating him from the Creator, then he truly is in the Egyptian exile. That is, he attributes some kind of independent control to his evil inclination and says that he is not ready to resist it and is in complete servitude to it.

Of course, if a person thinks this way, it is a sign that he is a slave. But everything depends upon the person himself. He decides and determines in which form Pharaoh will use him or if he will use Pharaoh.

And all of this work was to reveal that there is no other force involved, as it is written “I, myself, and not a messenger.” A person clarifies that the Creator is above the two forces, beyond both the good inclination and the evil inclination. These two forces come from Above. Through the two forces, the good inclination and the evil inclination, that are revealed to him alternately, a person reaches the final conclusion and decision that there is a force beyond them that plays with him through these two angels: the good inclination and the evil inclination.

Sometimes one of them comes to a person and sometimes the other one, which is why one feels he is thrown from one extreme to the other, in two directions. But thus it forms a relationship both with this force and that force, and ultimately with the one higher power, the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/02/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A Vague Revelation Of The Creator

The Torah, “Exodus” (Pekudei), 40:33: He setup the courtyard all around the Mishkan and the altar, and he put up the screen at the entrance to the courtyard, and Moses completed the work.

The building of the general vessel in which the Creator can be revealed has ended. A person’s preparation for the attainment of the Creator has ended.

Now, we are required to perform special, inner work for the creation of such conditions in which the upper force will be revealed in a person’s seemingly corporeal attributes.

The Torah, “Exodus” (Pekudei), 40:34-40:38: And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan. When the cloud rose up over the Mishkan, the children of Israel went out in all their journeys. But if the cloud did not rise up, they did not set out until the day that it rose. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the Mishkan by day, and there was fire within it at night, before the eyes of the entire house of Israel in all their journeys.

If we examine what the Torah says through images in our world, we can cross the Sinai desert in two weeks. However, the Israeli nation wandered in the desert and actually camped there for 40 years. So, this is how the preparation of the place for the revelation of the Creator is described allegorically. If we have a desire to reveal the Creator, He is revealed but not in a clear, external manner.

The point is that there are different levels and grades on the part of our desires, of coming closer to the state of love and bestowal in the connection between us. Although some of our desires have attained the level of Moses, the other desires do not adhere to this state. Therefore, the revelation of the Creator is vague at the moment.

The cloud and the smoke are signs of the right and the left lines. Fire is revelation and a cloud is concealment.

This refers to the initial states of our spiritual development, leading to a complete connection. There is already a vessel (a corrected desire) formed in a person, and he knows that when he continues to work, he will discover the upper force in this vessel. It is a very serious stage in our spiritual formation.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/16/13

A Real Picture Of The World

The Torah, “Exodus” (Pekudei), 38:22: Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, had made all that the LORD commanded Moses.

Bezalel means “in the shadow of the Creator” which means theMasach (screen) that the ego builds in resembling the Light according to the materials in us. They are all upgraded according to the level of Aviut (thickness).

The Torah, “Exodus” (Pekudei), 38:24: All the gold that had been used for the work in all the work of the Holy the gold of the weaving was twenty nine talents, seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the holy shekel.

Shekels are not coins but a measurement of gold since everything was measured by its weight in ancient times.

Here we have a full account of the gold and silver and other materials that were used in the holy work.

There are materials that belong to the level of the still, like clay, gravel, etc.; materials from the vegetative world, as wool and different plants, and materials from the animal world like hides and cotton used to make cloths etc. They all symbolize desires from the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature.

In spiritual work we raise these desires to the uppermost level called Adam (a human being) and create the Tabernacle, the vessel for the revelation of the Creator.

All the desires are inside a person, and the person is the vessel for the whole world. It is because the world is inside me and not on the outside, although I feel that it is corporeal, material, real, and that it exists outside of me.

When I feel these dualities I can calibrate myself to return as often as possible to the right picture of the world. This helps me re-examine my attitude to those around me, to the ecological environment and to all of humanity.

All the wars in the world are actually inside me. They occur before my eyes since I am like a projector that projects before me everything that happens inside me: battles, problems, explosions, space, etc.

This feeling is gradually revealed inside me under the influence of the Light, and I begin to feel that all the troubles and the problems in the world are a projection of my uncorrected attributes. First I have to correct myself, and by that I correct the whole world. This is the correct perception of reality.

Unfortunately, we want the opposite: to correct everything around us so that we will feel good internally. But this happens according to the thought of creation in order to focus on the right attitude, the correct perception of the world.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/16/13

On The Way To Ideal Relationships

Question: In the wisdom of connection there is an exercise called “the ideal husband.” Is it worthwhile to change this into a game where each of the members of the family describes the others to himself as ideal?

Answer: Certainly; this is very interesting. But at the same time, we must always leave some kind of delta (incremental change) that in the meantime we are far from being the ideal; rather, we only agree about an ideal relationship between us; we want to reach it, so we are drawn towards it somewhat.

This standard is, in fact, unattainable because all of us are human and everyone has his own ego. But we need to yearn to rise above ourselves as much as possible, to connect together, to value this state and consider it as the ideal.

Such a state must become a shared general familial standard. If we play with this correctly with the children, they will be much happier than us because we come to this in the second half of our lives.

Question: There is another similar game called, the “Joy of Concession.” Indeed it is difficult for us to concede something to each other, but this is easy in the form of a game. Suppose a daughter says, “I’ll be back from the party at 11 o’clock.”  The father says, “At 10.” Well Dad, “Let’s play ‘Joy of Concession.’ Lost! At 11.” And he concedes. Is the game useful like this?

Answer: Only if this is mutual and to a certain degree of reasonableness. First of all, the child doesn’t need to manipulate with this. Second, he must understand that with this he is entering into the trust of others, inviting them to trust him, he must take all of this into account.

In other words, the parents give him their trust, but together with this, he should accordingly carry out what they require of him. Suppose that they let their daughter come home at eleven o’clock at night, but this is on condition that someone will accompany her or meet her. They must demand that she be responsible for what she does.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 12/11/13

Redemption Is Life, and Slavery Is Death

Exile differs from redemption since it lacks the letter “Aleph,” which means that the Creator is revealed in the time of redemption. Thus, we prepare our deficiency for Him.

I must picture my connection with the Creator even when I am in exile. It is like a void, a place of deficiency, that later is filled by something. However, this deficiency already has the form of the future redemption. It begins to take on the right formation. According to it, I begin to understand what the exile should be and what I expect of it.

It isn’t redemption from the pots of beef, onions, and garlic. So, what is the redemption exactly? Perhaps, I suffer and feel the exile on the animal level or the level of a plant, but not on a level of a human being, Adam, who resembles (Domeh) the Creator.

The entire difference between exile and redemption is the presence of the Creator. At the end of the exile, I must picture what it is like when this is the only thing missing. It turns out that I already have an impression, that I know what must be revealed.

I must be ready for it, to expect it, as if I already can taste what the redemption should bring me, what liberation, and what freedom from the angel of death. What symbolizes life and death for me? Life is redemption and slavery is death.
[131513]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/14, Shamati #190

To Give My Ego To Slavery

Question: There are types of dissemination that require all of us to be out in front of the public. But what should be done if not everyone has the ability and talent required for that?

Answer: I only know one thing. If I want to execute an action correctly, I need to put myself into the hands of the group so that it will decide and determine what I should do. It could be that they will say, “Sit and don’t do anything since you will spoil it all.” And so that will be my participation in the dissemination.

I can be a driver, an usher, a lecturer. It doesn’t matter what I do. But it is preferred that the group decide that for me and that I don’t decide anything for myself. That means being a slave. I am in spiritual work.

And then I am released from all the doubts: I was told and I do it in the best and most completely naïve way, without entering my mind into it. My mind is only for understanding what they want me to do and to carrying it out in the best way without going into my “I,” into my initiative.

Thus, there needs to be the leadership that includes experts in dissemination who decide and determine what to do, who themselves participate in all these activities in order to be an example to everyone. And everyone needs to follow them. And those who don’t want are drilling a hole in the general boat, and we don’t need him at all in the group.

A person needs to understand that he needs to purify himself from all these forms of the ego, from the worry of it not being pleasant, from the doubts about doing this or that. If you simply cannot carry out what the group decides, then leave the group. After all, you must rise above your beast.

The group is stronger than you, and if you receive its protection, then execute and be happy that you now have the opportunity to do it. And if not, then you will stay with your ego and have no chance to advance. In this case, no need to bother the others. Go rest, we will meet in the next incarnation.
[130595]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Apparently I Am A Slave Of Pharaoh

Question: What does it mean to ask to be above Pharaoh?

Answer: To be the slave of Pharaoh means to clarify with certainty, with mind and heart, that I am not ready to do anything except what the ego, the desire for pleasure, dictates to me now. That is how I discover Pharaoh,  the power that controls me now.

However, how can I know that this is Pharaoh? It is on condition that the Creator invites me to go with Him, when He says: “Come to Pharaoh.”

This means that the second power is revealed, the Creator,  the power of bestowal in contrast to the power of reception. And then I can clarify relative to every one of the forces and decide when I am under the control of the Creator and when under the control of Pharaoh. Ultimately, “the children of Israel sighed from the labor”, we are not prepared to remain in slavery to Pharaoh any longer.

99.9% of the time of my entire life, I am under the control of Pharaoh and am not ready to be freed from this control. The more that I advance, this percentage grows to just about 100%. First I didn’t think that I belonged to Pharaoh 100%; I thought that I fell into the ego rarely, like all people.

Then I felt myself in the Egyptian exile and I didn’t feel this at first. For the first seven years of plenty, I was also under the control of Pharaoh and fulfilled all of his orders, but I agreed to this and therefore everything was wonderful. I didn’t feel myself in Egypt, in slavery. I had knowledge, control (Joseph managed all of Egypt), and I was filled with plenty.

However after that it became clear that all of this wasn’t good. In reality nothing changed except my assessment. What seemed to me as good, spiritual, causing advancement, now seems completely otherwise now. I see that all of this was egoistic, not spiritual, but absolutely materialistic, and there is no advancement in it, rather the opposite. Therefore this is called the “seven years of famine.”

No change took place except in our perception. Everything is determined by a person’s attitude, but outside nothing changes.

Question: If I am completely under the control of Pharaoh, how can a request for redemption be built within me?

Answer: When I discover that this is Pharaoh, then the opportunity to ask is created. If I begin to understand that I have business with Pharaoh, this means that the second force already exists in opposition to him, the power of the Creator. Otherwise, I would not have discerned that Pharaoh is in front of me; rather, I would have lived a normal, good life, advancing in studying, in dissemination, and in the group.

Why is it suddenly bad for me? It is because I determine that this life is bad. Apparently what do I lack? Yesterday everything was still okay. Right, only today everything is no longer okay because I have new demands and I don’t agree with a life like this. Here the seven years of famine begin.

Question: What is the difference between my request to rise above Pharaoh and the state where I am found beneath him?

Answer: One of the criteria is: Who wins: the power of reception or the power of bestowal? Where do I get the reward I deserve in exchange for my efforts? No one works for nothing and I also want a profit.

My profit can be in the vessels of reception or in the vessels of bestowal: either I feel that the profit belongs to me or to someone else. And this someone could be close to me or far away and even a hated enemy. This depends upon the degree of correction of my desires of bestowal.
[131540]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Black Letters That Describe The Light

In spirituality there are no letters, there are no symbols through which one can comprehend it. Spirituality is comprehended only with vessels that we gradually construct within us. Baal HaSulam writes in Letter 14: “All the multiplication in spirituality relies on the letters that are sucked from the materiality of this world…,” meaning that from the states through which a person passes, as is written: (Isaiah 45:7) ‘…and creates darkness.’”

We are not ready to grasp the Light, we perceive it according to its absence, according to the black letters on the white background. In such a form we reach awareness of the Light from the darkness, from the troubles, from the absence of Light.

A person doesn’t have the vessels for discovering the Creator, discovering the characteristic of bestowal. He doesn’t know, doesn’t understand, and doesn’t feel this. This is found beyond him. To explain bestowal to us is like teaching a dog to be a person: to understand, to feel, and to make decisions like a person. This is simply impossible.

Everyone is born on the level of a beast, as it is said: (Job 11:12), “…from a wild donkey a man will be born.” And only the Light that is summoned by us builds the level of Adam (man) in us. So we require all kinds of “letters” that are built in us from darkness. Some kind of illumination, some kind of small revelation, reaches us and suddenly all kinds of deficiencies and problems are revealed. So over this contrast of one opposite the other, we learn about various states until they are all connected into spiritual sensations and discernments.
[131544]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam