Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2012-08-22_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’22.8.12′]

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Question: You recounted many obstacles that a person meets when he begins to work in the group. One of them is that they can appear as opportunities to a person; they can appear very tempting and attractive, able to improve his life and not interfere with his engagement in spiritual work.

Answer: They all interfere with spiritual work. Otherwise, they are not obstacles. It only seems to you that if something breaks, if something happens, then you have to fix it, and then you can return to spiritual work, but actually it is an obstacle that is specifically against your spiritual work. Each kind!

Question: If a person wants to deal with some of his regular corporeal desires so that they don’t distract him, then would that also be an obstacle?

Answer: As it is written, “If there is no flour, there is no Torah.” We must create all the needed conditions for existence, necessary and sufficient, like in mathematics. This means to conduct a regular life. Today, also, that might not be so simple. Everything depends on what I consider sufficient. for myself

Once I asked Rabash about this, and he gave me a very interesting answer, “The essential level of self-sufficiency is such a degree that you would be happy if there was no need to deal with it.” This means that you would be happy if you didn’t need to eat, drink, sleep, purchase a Chevrolet, or go on vacation to the Caribbean Islands. The essential level is what you really are forced to deal with—forced—and you are not at all happy about it since you must maintain the life of this body in order to rise to the next level. What do you need for that?

If a person’s mind is in the right place, he simply doesn’t pay attention to what is essential to him. Take any musician or writer who “lives” in their work. For any creative person, creativity is everything. He doesn’t need anything else!

It doesn’t matter to him how he looks and what he eats. He “burns” with his work. Thus, when you burn with your work, then there wouldn’t be such a question.
[85955]
From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/17/12, Lesson 2

Related Material:
Obstacles Guide Us On The Way
Lessons About A New World: Let The air Out Of The Balloon But Not The Demons Out Of The Bottle
Don’t Hope For a “Maybe”

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: The friends in the group told me what I need my ego for. What do I need the ego that I feel on the outside on the street for?

Answer: This is all part of your soul! Malchut, the soul, or humanity call it what you will, all are actually you. So, who are all the rest? They are all parts of you, only about you.

This means that it is a multi-layer structure of seven billion where all the individual souls connect, and instead of one plane, the outcome is a sphere. So, you absolutely need everything. Therefore, a cynical, disrespectful attitude toward anyone in this world seriously hinders your spiritual advancement.

In fact, you must reach a state where you perceive all the people in the world, the totally negative ones and the totally positive ones, as close to you, as inseparable parts of yourself. They are actually nobody. With regard to you, they are puppets, and they operate only in order to provide the right background for you to get closer to the Creator.

Question: I can’t stand my ego. I have no choice; it is an inherent part of me, but I can escape anothers’ ego or drive them away.

Answer: Where do you see someone else’s ego? If you feel it within your ego, what do you actually feel? It is your own ego. It seems that the world is divided into a multitude of people, but, even now, you are speaking with yourself.
[85949]
From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/17/12, Lesson 2

Related Material:
The Picture Of Creation Hanging On Two Hooks
Head To Head With The Ego
Studying Myself In The Mirror Of The World

Filed under: Conventions, Egoism, Perception, Q&A, World - No Comments →

Question: You said that we have to play actively in front of each other that we are at the next degree, so that others envy and follow us. How can this be expressed? Should we simply be good, kind, helpful, smiling and this will excite and draw the friends? Or should we be firm in relation to the goal? How should I show this in order to cause maximum envy?

Answer: We are in the world of Infinity, the full connection with each other. The only problem is that we do not perceive it. We are like blind kittens. We need to begin to feel where we are in reality through our properties.

That is why the 125 spiritual degrees are called the rungs of revelation, the revelation of what you exist in. But you are underdeveloped and don’t feel that. Here now, as if in the same space (although not actually in the same space, but in other dimensions), there are plenty of various phenomena, objects, relationships, and actions. We feel none of this; it is outside of our senses.

Some people, including psychics, sense this a little. In fact, it is so. Bedouins living in Israel feel what’s going on 100 miles from them according to various manifestations of nature. But all this is at the level of our world. Psychics like Wolf Messing feel a little higher of course, outside of time, because the next degree raises man above time, etc.

That is, we play the next higher level, thus wanting to attract the forces of nature to ourselves so that they pull us towards it. We do the same thing in our lives; people play: I want to be like someone, for example, like scientists or musicians, I play this, do exercises, and thus come closer to them.

Why do the exercises pull me towards this? Because I’m attracting the same upper Light, only at our egoistic level. This is a physical law: If I aspire to something, these forces of aspiration realize everything. Therefore, we must become inspired to play.

But most importantly, we have to desire this inside ourselves because initially we are connected with each other, and if I want something, our desires concentrated together and directed at the same state will lead us to it.

That is why there are people who are dancing in front of you with a harmonica and inspiring others, and there are those who are standing modestly on the side and cannot even join the circle or sing along with everyone else; there are different people, it doesn’t matter. Externally, we must also show this for our friends in order to be inspired together. But the most important thing is an internal aspiration.
[85917]
From Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/17/12, Lesson 1

Related Material:
125 Steps From Me To The Creator
Seeing The World Through Desire
Pray For The Internal Power Of Bestowal

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, My Similarity to the Creator, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Unity - No Comments →

Question: How can we imagine our first shared spiritual degree correctly?

Answer: This is when you are fully united with each other and the full property of bestowal is manifested between you. That’s all! You have united with everyone and feel that you are at the next degree, the upper world.

You see the entire history of humanity, its foundation, the root cause, and its future higher state in which we ascended together. We exist there on all 125 degrees, and you simply reveal them. When you enter the spiritual world, you reveal 1/125^th of the perfect state.

The upper force is revealed inside of it, and you begin to feel to a certain degree, its properties, the laws of exchange between souls, laws of behavior, where it all leads, and all the mechanics. This is a huge attainment of upper wisdom. It is called the science of Kabbalah. This is what fills us, the so-called “Light of wisdom” (Ohr Hochma), which gives us the maximum fulfillment.

It is natural that you feel yourself already existing in the body since the body exists next to you in order for you to correct yourself through it. But your entire existence is already associated with that level of information, the fulfillment that you have just revealed. You are in it. This is your “I.”
[85895]
From Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/17/12, Lesson 1

Related Material:
125 Steps From Me To The Creator
The Spiritual World – The World Of Qualities
The Spiritual World Isn’t Mysticism

Filed under: Conventions, Q&A, Spirituality, Unity - No Comments →

Question: Is fulfilling the principles that Rabash conveys in his articles essential in order to attain spirituality, or is it sufficient to keep the group’s statute? For example, can I criticize a friend if I think it is for his own good, that I would be doing it out of love for him?

Answer: You have no right to teach anyone since you will always find a justification for your actions. You have to see the friend as great in “faith above reason.” This means to accept the fact that he is great and that only your egoistic eyes cannot see it. But! There are two buts here.

The first but is whether he is a real friend: Does he participate in the connection and unity in the group? This is the important condition and actually the only one. Does he yearn to participate in the connection and unity in the group? If he does, he is a friend, if he doesn’t he isn’t one.

Second, the criticism should be only regarding his participation in the group or in the work that he does. Suppose he works here as an electrician or in dissemination and he does something wrong, here we criticize him, which means that we try to correct his slips. But this doesn’t affect my love for him as a friend in any way. In such a case, I treat him as a performer of some physical work and that’s all. The two aspects have nothing to do with one another.

If he is a real friend, that is, he works for connection and unity, then I must simply accept him as absolute, as the Creator. “From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” It is the same thing! Rabash writes beautifully about it saying that eventually the group is corrected only by love among all its members, which becomes the Creator.

So we don’t criticize a friend, but express our love to him openly. It is an essential condition. Thus we work correctly against our ego.
[85889]
From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/16/12, Preliminary Lesson

Related Material:
My Friend Is A Representative Of The Creator!
Each Friend A Treasure
My Friend, The Great Sage!

Filed under: Conventions, Egoism, Group Work, Love, Q&A, Unity - No Comments →

Opinion (Geoffrey Roberts, British historian): “The political and economic crisis of the EU might help a new European Hitler to emerge, warns professor Geoffrey Roberts. He believes the current rise of ultra-nationalism in Europe resembles that one of 1930s as history tends to repeat itself. …

“’If the eurozone collapses, if the EU collapses, the most likely scenario it would be replaced by different fronts of nationalists. Good question is what forms of nationalism, how extreme and dangerous they are going to be.’
“’That is the historical lesson, what happened before WWII, particularly the 1930s when there was a crisis similar to the one we’re going through now. The result of that was the rise of extreme nationalism, the emergence of a number of authoritarian and Nazi-type regimes in Europe.’”
From Baal HaSulam’s book The Last Generation: It turns out that the world erroneously considers Nazism a particular upshot of Germany. In truth, it is the upshot of a democracy and socialism that were left without manners, religion and justice. Thus, all nations are equal in that; there is no hope at all that Nazism will perish with the victory of the allies. Tomorrow, the British will adopt Nazism, since they too live in a world of democracy and Nazism.

Remember, that democrats too must renounce religion, manners, and justice like the Marxists, because all these are loyal servants of the assertive in the public only. They always place obstacles before the democrats, or the better part of the public.

It is true that thinkers among the democrats keep a watchful eye that religion and manners are not destroyed at once, for they know that the world will be ruined. However, to that extent they also interfere with the government of the majority. Once the majority grows smart and understands them, it will certainly elect other leaders, such as Hitler, since he is a genuine representative of the majority of the public, be it German, British or Polish.
[85611]

Related Material:
What Hides Behind The Illusion Of Progress
The Danger Has Not Passed
A Hungarian Coup

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Crisis, News, Politics, Society - No Comments →

Question: Can those people that are undergoing integral education show an example of a small model of integral interaction, which we’ll be recreating later on?

Answer: No, the people in the group are unable to demonstrate anything except a good attitude towards one another that may not be noticeable to an outside observer but only noticeable by those in the group. The good interrelations are felt only by them.
[85667]
From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 8/19/12

Related Material:
A Breakthrough Into the Integral Dimension
Upgrading human Psychology
The Perception Of A Single Field

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: How do we include ourselves into other people’s desires? How would I know what others want?

Answer: It doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t care about what the other person wants. We should only “pretend” that we want to treat them this way.

People don’t have to tell us about their secret desires and thoughts. We should try to connect only with those desires and thoughts that are intended to create a community that is more advanced than ours, although it’s the same for all of us. We shouldn’t take any interest in one’s personality, one’s family relations, nor in anything that pertains to their material life. All we have to concentrate on is one’s aspiration upwards, to the next level. That’s why we shouldn’t get into their “animal” psychology and interrogate them: “What are you thinking about? Tell me more about yourself, so that I can communicate with you better.” Why? You shouldn’t do it.

It is better to talk about the next level and communicate at that degree; let’s play “as if” we are already there. Let’s imagine what kind of society it will be then, what our attitude to the family, children and their upbringing will be at that time. It’s not that we are simply sitting and contemplating how good it would be there, but rather we deliberate about how to make the entire society integral.

In fact, we are playing a very serious game! The “speaking level” in us is being created solely by us, not by nature. Nature only stimulates us to act; we are the ones who are supposed to attain this level. Let’s ascend to it on our own before nature begins to force us. Let’s voluntarily be born at the next level; otherwise, we’ll get there anyway, but by huge affliction. No matter what, nature will make us do that.

Contrary to all prior levels, we should be aware of and recognize our ascent. People should tune themselves into such a mode by playing this game and getting trained in various voluntary groups that are heading towards a breakthrough. On this basis, we’ll broaden the integral methodology, add more ways to participate in the process, and increase the number of games.

Although, the games shouldn’t be too extensive since we don’t ponder on animal psychology, but rather play “as if” we are already at the next level: “What does it look like? How do we build our social and family relations, and our economics? How exactly do we feel unity? What are integral nature and integral humanity? What are integral intellect and feelings?

Let’s penetrate into these things and we’ll see that many new layers that seem totally amorphous and lifeless today will be revealed to us; we have to make a breakthrough and penetrate into them by applying serious efforts. When we overcome the psychological barrier and are born into a new dimension at least a little bit, we’ll see a huge world of new sensations and knowledge that are beyond our matter. In our world, there are only three types of matter: inanimate, vegetative, and animate. As to the “human matter,” it’s about the energy that is “deprived” of the material substance of this realm. We’ll see a totally different layer of the world, a new dimension.
[85304]
From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/29/2012

Related Material:
The Perception Of A Single Field
The New Image of the New Man
From Linear To Quantum Reasoning

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash “What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends,” (Starting with: “And regarding ‘Buy yourself a friend'”) 

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt “Safra de Tzniyuta,” Lesson 2

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 1, Part 3, Chapter 10, Item 2, Lesson 23

Kabbalah for the Student, “Time to Act”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →