The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 551: “Reckless as water, you shall not have preeminence” because when the sons of Reuben wage war in the world and defeat many nations, the sons of Reuben will not remain in kingship because they will make war in the holy land.

As the authors of The Book of Zohar describe the systems of the worlds and phenomena to us (and to the extent that they do it), they perform multiple corrections in this system of governance. It seems to us that they simply tell us about the events that took place in the past. However, when the Kabbalists go through the spiritual states that they tell us about, they reveal them within themselves and by doing so, correct them. In doing so, they prepare for us the space that has already been corrected so that we could ascend to it.
[22529]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/10, The Zohar

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It is written in King Solomon’s Book of Proverbs (Mishlei): “He who spares his rod hates his son.” Parenting is built on judgment and mercy, just as we are governed by judgment and mercy from Above. There is no place here for unconditional love because the child must sense a balanced influence of these two forces.

In so doing we show him that he has freedom of choice. Let him make his choice every time, but he has to know that the wrong choice will instantly result in a negative reaction. As he grows, the child will acquire increasingly greater freedom for independent action because the negative response, for example, the “rod,” will be increasingly concealed. In the end, we will raise a person who lives in a wide world and knows that he exists between these two forces, reward and punishment, and that in order to follow a straight path, he has to actualize his free will in every step he takes.

The attitude toward all children, from the littlest ones to big kids like us, has to stem from exerting and controlling judgment and mercy, gradually annulling them in accordance with the education level. We give the child more and more freedom, passing to him control over himself, until he comes out into the world and accepts from us these “reigns” of judgment and mercy, so as to become an independent person in their optimal combination, in the middle line.

This is what we instill in him, and he accepts from us the right and left lines, reward and punishment, and continues to build himself with their help.
[22507]
From the Talk on Education 9/29/10

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When we ascend above our ego and connect ourselves with others through the ties of love and bestowal, we sequentially go through all degrees of Bina. The first phase of Bina is GAR de Bina. It designates the unwillingness to use my egoism, the fear to take or to harm even though I receive an opportunity to do all of this without any punishment. This is the way I gradually rise above my egoism.

The second phase of Bina is ZAT de Bina. I’m given a sensation that everyone depends on me, and I begin to suffer because I am unable to fulfill others, as it is said: “More than a calf wants to eat, the cow wants to feed.” I begin to feel desires of others and attach them to myself. I feel the entire world as part of myself.

However, this is not the egoism of a mother who receives pleasure when she feeds her child. I act above the hatred which does not disappear. Each time I correct the rejection of my neighbor. I feel the desires of others as alien to me, and I hate them. At the same time, I begin feeling them as mine due to the Light and the force of correction. All connections happen due to the anti-egoistic screens.

When I begin to bestow upon others, I always feel how much I take from myself and pass on to them, how I empty myself because of that, and how I become fulfilled only because I fulfill them. These corrections upon corrections is the path upward, back to the World of Infinity.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/10, "The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings"

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Question: What does it mean that we engage in things that are private but don’t reach the things that belong to the general?

Answer: We can carry out all the actions that accompany corrections, such as hold friends’ assemblies, study, and help the group and the friends; we can make a lot of fuss like ants in an anthill, but the most important thing is: What do we want to attain through it? Do we desire unity, mutual guarantee, love, and a connection between us in which we will reveal the Creator?

We forget about this. A person works very hard and then asks, “Where’s the reward? Where’s spirituality? Where’s the force of bestowal?” He does not understand that he still hasn’t done anything to attain it. He exerted a lot of energy and made many actions to disseminate, and by that he really did move the world closer to correction and advanced in the general sense. He did not run away from the path and is gradually accumulating the right inner demand. As years go by, he will reach the truth, the understanding that he lacks only the right intention.

However, he forgets that this intention has to accompany every action! And that is why he still hasn’t reached spiritual attainment yet.

That is how he stretches out the time. It is written that in order to enter the spiritual world one has to prepare the intention for 3 to 5 years, and in our times it takes even less time. However, everything depends on uniting together in the right intention.

Right now we have conditions that others before us couldn’t even dream about. Never have there been so many favorable conditions in the world for revealing the Creator, such as books, communication means, and friends who think alike all over the whole world.

However, what we are still missing is the most important thing: the intention of bestowal. This is the most difficult thing to achieve and the reason why the world still doesn’t feel that we are the source of Light. Everything depends on our intention during every action, even the smallest one. There cannot be any compromises in this regard.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/6/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Question: Is there an advantage to studying together in a physical place over virtual study via the Internet?

Answer: Without a doubt, if a person has an opportunity to be present physically at the lesson at one of our centers, to take upon himself the obligation to attend the lessons regularly, this is more effective than a virtual connection. However, if he has no opportunity to be physically present at the lesson together with his friends, this means that the Upper governance has not arranged these conditions for him, and he does not lose anything by connecting to the lesson via Kabbalah TV or the Internet.

But this is only true if the Creator has arranged it so, meaning the person lives somewhere far from all our study centers. If a person lives in Israel, for example, I cannot imagine a situation where he is unable to attend a lesson at least once a week at one of our many centers throughout the country.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/1/10, Kabbalah Learning Approach

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “The Righteous Feels Good and the Righteous Feels Bad”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived in the Land of Egypt),” Item 624
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 123
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings,” Lesson 7
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