Question: The friends are trying to convince me to change my opinion and agree with the group. This upsets me because I forgive them their mistakes and am ready to continue our path together with them. Why don’t they admit that I may have an opinion different from the group? It is unpleasant.

Answer: Of course, it’s unpleasant. Tomorrow, the friends may come to you and say that the group has decided to wear the same uniform: a clown hat and waistcoat, one half blue and the other red. What would you say?

It’s not some kind of a rational argument about what path to take where opinions are divided and both parts include many people. So you could agree with any of them, and in any case you must not follow the opinion of society: one or the other, if not with the “communists,” then with the “capitalists.” There is no problem because society accepts both.

But what if tomorrow the group tells you something that generally is not accepted in society? You say that you cannot walk around in a clown hat, then what can you do? It’s impossible that some are wearing caps and others are without them; the group should be homogeneous. My actions must get closer to the goal. If according to Baal HaSulam, the goal requires such a path, then we will have to do it.

Comment: I would continue to be your friend but without a cap!

Answer: But then you are not a friend to us. The word “friend” (Haver in Hebrew) comes from the world “connection” (Chibur). If you do not agree with us, then you cannot be our friend. As unreservedly as you accept the duty to walk around in a clown cap, you have to accept the duty to disseminate integral education.

In general, this should not be a question for you. There is a mentor who decides, and this mentor is not me but Baal HaSulam. I just explain his ideas and we should just carry them out. If a person does not do that, then why should he be with us and waste time? He will gain nothing because he goes with us only where his egoism allows him. As soon as egoism protests and it’s necessary to advance a bit above reason, he cannot overcome this.

I do not disregard these people because they have a strong opinion. If they conquer its resistance, they will make good progress. But if they do not conquer it, they will just be a nuisance for everyone else. This is drilling a hole in the shared boat. Thus, they have no place in our boat of mutual guarantee.

The path is built from a set of points, each of which does not stand out from the rest, but is connected with the previous and the next. Thus, together they form a line. Only in this way will this trail take you to the entrance to the royal palace.

In everything else where your egoism reigns, on the left and on the right sides of the path, you can agree with the group. But all this does not belong to the spiritual path. You only need these disputed points from everything that there is in front of you. Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that he is glad that sinners are revealed. It would not be possible to advance without this revelation. Precisely it’s the revealed sinners that come to the holiness of the day. Due to the Light that sanctifies the path, you suddenly see obstacles in front of you and rejoice in their revelation.

I am therefore delighted to see how these sinners are revealed in the students, because without this, they would have nothing to work on. If you do not want this work, you can go to a different place, the religion of Hasidism. There, you would not be required to overcome in faith above reason, and you would just study.

Here, you will not manage without the power of the group and the force of the Creator in order to attract the Light that Reforms. You are obliged to stand with friends around Mount Sinai, the mountain of hatred, and despite it, desire to unite. This is the condition of receiving the Torah, the Reforming Light that shines from the top of the mountain.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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