Question: How do I feel joy when evil gets revealed?

Answer: You can’t feel joy. When you receive a blow, you have to feel through it, and only afterward will you work with it. It is impossible to protect yourself beforehand in order to feel an embrace instead of a blow.

Evil unfolds not as evil per se but as an ability to become aware of it, and it’s something totally different. To become conscious of evil means that you disclose your ego as evil when you receive greatest pleasure, when you are in the most wonderful and ravishing states that your ego can possibly imagine, in the states which nothing can supersede.

The blow is not when today, for example, you receive something unpleasant so as to force you to know your evil. It won’t be the realization of evil, but rather some evil being revealed. Becoming aware of one’s evil means that while being in the greatest states I feel my ego as evil. And then, I start feeling hatred toward these specific states which make me feel so good.

In other words, the awareness of evil and evil itself are two opposites. That is why this process is regarded as learning to know your evil since I engage my mind which helps me to expose evil within good. To the degree that I reveal it, I discover the blow that comes from it, but I don’t experience the blow itself. After all, evil doesn’t manifest clearly; it is always perceived as good.

A serpent unfolds mainly when you are feeling the most pleased. And only thanks to the Light that descends to you, as well as to your environment, do you get to know that this evil is the “angel of death.”
[33946]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/2011, Baal HaSulam, Letter No.5

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Question: Some ten to fifteen years ago, a question was raised about Russia’s national cause, the program of rebirth. It has quietly disappeared and was replaced with a spiritual void. How do you see Russia’s national cause, the program of its development?

Answer: Over the course of these years I have met with many people, cabinet members, mass media, and I have spoken a lot. I was hoping to find a response specifically in Russia. First of all, it’s because I have traveled around the world and through all of my students around the world, I feel the soul of every nation. And I have never seen anywhere else the same response and aspiration for truth like previously in Russia.

There was a national cause. I was hoping that this national cause would serve as the basis for showing how it needs to be realized. In other words, some time ago (I am emphasizing some time ago), the desire of the Russian people was to show to the entire world that they have a soul, a purpose, and that this purpose is above pragmatism, above one’s pocket and other materialistic interests, that they have something ahead of them, something for mankind to follow. It was really like this until year 1995 or 2000.

Lately when I begin to speak to people about this and continue to develop the same ideas, regrettably, people seem to laugh at me and speak to me as if to a child. They say that all of this is in the past and think that there is nothing to discuss there. Unfortunately, I see that this cause has simply died.

But I do not think that this is possible. I think that people are simply suppressed, and eventually it will be possible to resurrect it because this inner request needs to exist among the people. I hope that it will manifest. But currently there is simply no one to speak to.

Back then I also met with very influential people and spoke to them about the things that can be done. I warned them: Look what is written in Kabbalah, a science of general nature and its development, look where we are heading. Essentially, everything happened the way I said it would happen: the financial crisis, and so on.

I do not want to be a prophet, but this obviously and naturally comes from the egoistic curve that keeps developing. But I heard a very simple answer: “We have money and an army. If we can change something using these two things, then we are ready to listen. We do not have anything else.” From the government’s point of view this is the truth; every country says the same.

But I continue to think that the world is still to be well shaken up, we cannot avoid it. And then everything that is now stagnant will get agitated, and it will be possible to speak about bringing this cause back. But this cause must be based on similarity to nature; it cannot be some made-up idea forced onto people, like the Bolsheviks did.

When you work together with nature, you do not make mistakes. You can be going ahead of it or trying to catch up. But when you go with it in unison, this becomes the best and most comfortable social development. But when you go along with it knowing the formula of its development, what it demands of you, then you completely protect yourself from any catastrophes and even any negative influence. In other words, there will not be any illnesses, large epidemics, earthquakes, or fires, there will not be anything. You simply exist comfortably.

And you suddenly begin to feel that all your actions in the world bring you five hundred, a thousand times more benefit than today. This is simply because nature seems to favor you; you are properly going along with it. This is the only thing Kabbalah reveals: the formula of human development that we must follow together. In other words, one can either develop under nature’s steamroller which rolls over us and develops us in spite our egoism, or if we choose to go with it, this will be an easy and pleasant development.

I do not see another force in the world like the force that the Russian people have in their character, their aspiration to have a cause, live for it, even suffer in its name, as long as it is a real cause. And this is why I still think that this movement comes from the inside, this request is still to arise and it will be possible to properly realize it. And then you will really become teachers of the masses who will simply want to find out about the world they live in. It will be possible to tell them about it, show it to them, reveal it, and in this way reach the state where the entire world will be kind as nature requires us to be.

I think that this will happen. I think that it will not take long, judging by the rate of development, the events around the world, it will quickly make us come to our senses.
[33801]
From Lesson 3 in Moscow 1/16/2011

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Berlin Convention, “The Necessity for the Right Environment, Lesson 6
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

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Question: You have mentioned that social Internet communication networks match the natural laws of development. Indeed, Facebook is phenomenally successful: It has half a billion users. It is becoming a vital attribute of modern life. Why does man enjoy virtual communication so much? What is so special about it?

Answer: Our nature is the desire to receive pleasure, to fulfill ourselves, to feel, to understand, and to hear something new. As we see, today’s television offers thousands of channels, but if you go on the Internet, it has absolutely everything you want, an infinite amount of information. And all of it derives from our desire to enjoy.

If this desire can find its fulfillment, it’s good. But if we cannot fulfill it, we develop Internet communication networks in such way as to receive greater and greater fulfillment. This goes on until, gradually, we realize what’s what, and then all that doesn’t completely satisfy our ego, our evolved desire, gradually loses popularity and expires.

Even the ego itself can see that it benefits from being connected to others. Although it’s still a long path, yet little by little, not only individuals but entire countries that used to hold each other as rivals start realizing that today they don’t have much choice. We can’t fight forever, or is it worth doing so until we destroy each other? And we can’t but agree that it’s better for us to establish certain ties and communicate. Thus life teaches us to unite.

Therefore, Facebook is quite an exemplary phenomenon. It is accessible to anybody in the world who wishes to be visible, from a president of a country to a porter. As an example, the President of the United States Barack Obama has 17 million “friends” on Facebook. And anyone can do the same. It’s good because to a certain degree, it meets the demand to reach internal connection. And I think that it will teach us how to develop more internal ties to replace the physical, material ones.
[33930]
From a TV program “Ask the Kabbalist” 1/20/2011

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Question: If the realization of evil occurs due to the lack of unity, then how does a woman experience this realization if she doesn’t do any practical work in uniting? How exactly should she feel unity?

Answer: This is just like within a family. How can you explain the entire family life in detail and what the relationship between the husband and wife means?

A man and a woman are two images that compose all of humanity, and together they have to create the image of a single soul. This is why the group must consist of male and female parts which have to unite with each other in their work and mutual support.

There should never be any insistence if a husband or a wife does not wish to partake in this. There is no coercion is spirituality, therefore, there shouldn’t be any pressure. But in the group the mutual help from both sides should resemble simple family dynamics.

Without women it’s impossible to advance because they are the carriers of natural desire and, therefore, are closer to nature. Without men it’s also impossible to advance since they’re the conductors of this upper energy that’s passed on to the female part. It means that we depend upon each other in our spiritual development just as we do in our corporeal life.

Our connection in the group should be like a connection in the correct family unit, where we complete each other. We already see families in all parts of the world where the wife, the kids, and the husband are all taking part in this process. We’re organizing virtual schools.

I would like for the women to be a lot more active. I don’t understand why the women’s part of the groups suddenly quiets down, becomes less active, and exists along with the men but slightly beneath them. I don’t understand this.

I have many women helping me with translations and with processing the materials. I have more faith in them then I do in men because women are more devoted to their work and they won’t let you down. For this reason the women’s group should be “heard” more.
[33805]
From Lesson 3 in Moscow 1/16/2011

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Question: From the Kabbalists’ point of view, what is the role of religion and other practices in the modern world?

Answer: Religions originated from the concealment of the upper world from us. Everything is concealed from us: the present, the future, what will happen tomorrow, what happened before our life, and what will happen after it. Religion is based on the lack of knowledge, on faith in something.

Kabbalah has nothing to do with it. It is a science. It absolutely does not operate with the notion of faith. It is a method of developing an additional possibility to perceive the world that surrounds us. But at the same time, Kabbalah expresses its opinion on events around the world, the reason for the development of beliefs, convictions, and religions.

In our world there is a total of 3,800 different methods, convictions, beliefs, religious practices, and so on. They appeared because we do not know what is happening and we exist in an unpredictable world. We do not see a connection between us. We do not see the reasons behind the events or what is about to happen to us around the corner. We do not know anything.

This is why people develop a need to somehow find out, or if that’s impossible, then to at least protect themselves, get some kind of insurance, a guarantee, if possible. And here arises the possibility for such religious methods. Essentially, these are psychological practices that provide us with comfort.

Naturally, there will not be a place for religions once we reveal the upper world. And this is why religions usually are not very fond of Kabbalah, the real Kabbalah, which works as a science because it reveals the things that were unknown to people.

But on the other hand, religions are necessary. They have appeared in us and exist in human society so that people would develop, so that they would think that something bigger and higher exists. Religion is a preliminary action, a preparatory stage, to begin to enter the upper world. For this reason, after several thousand years of different religious practices, there comes the time when people develop the need for an actual understanding of the world because nature simply does not leave them any other possibility.

Right now we are entering such a degree of resistance of nature that it will obligate us to attain it. We will find ourselves in such an unpredictable state, where we will not know what will be happening the very next moment. It is impossible to exist this way. We see that we are already destroying the family unit, we do not want to have children. Humanity is already moving towards a state where there will be nothing but drugs to get away from reality.

In other words, we are coming to a state where we must see the entire picture. Only then will we have the energy to have a reason to live, create, exist. Today we do not have a bright tomorrow of this kind. We have come to a level which is followed by nothing else but the revelation of the next degree, the next dimension.
[33810]
From Lesson 3 in Moscow 1/16/2011

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Question: How do we raise the value of the goal in the group, the importance of the morning lessons, assignments, and the interaction of all group members between themselves?

Answer: There isn’t another question or problem except for the one single issue that Rabash describes in all of his articles. Baal HaSulam merely outlined it as he didn’t have such a burning issue regarding the groups. He had with him only five or six individuals.

When I first came to Rabash, he also had six or seven students his age. I was 33 while they were over 70. “How do I advance like this?” I asked him. He replied: “It won’t work for you; you need a group.” So, I started giving lectures, leading discussions, and brought him about 40 young men. Our entire work likes solely in unifying our yearnings for the Creator, towards the revelation of a singular force of Nature. The work is grounded on unification.

Alone, you cannot disclose anything. All you have is a mere point in the heart, which is your desire for the Creator which has been evoked in you. You must place the group between you and the Creator. As a result, it will become that “platform” where you feel the Creator. You cannot experience Him in any other way! Otherwise, this dimension remains empty for you, and you cannot fill it up and feel its fulfillment. Therefore, all our work lies solely in this.

“Quarrels” in the group? It’s very good that you have them. But they should be not for the sake of reconciling and relaxing afterward. They are needed to invite the Creator! It’s the only reason why He instills all the problems between you. Nothing else!

There are “quarrels” of other types, which are not connected with relationships between the friends, but rather with family, children, lesson schedules, group development, and the circulation of Kabbalah. That is another story; it is our regular life.

But our internal relationships, common work in building interconnection that is destined to reveal the force that fills the space between us, this can be done only with His help. This force manifests in two different ways: It either transforms our desires by unifying them and making them common, or it fulfills our collective, transformed desire. But it is still common!
[33819]
From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/16/2011, “A Prayer of Many”

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Question: What should we do in order to reform the negative attitude among the friends into an understanding that everything is initiated by the Creator?

Answer: It’s very simple. As soon as I feel there are some problems between us, specifically between us, I can immediately call on and directly draw the upper force which will make peace and harmony between us, as it is written: “He who makes peace in heaven makes peace between us.” I as if can make or force Him; I can understand why it is occurring between us and why He does it.

Generally speaking, you can make claims to Him only so that you get corrected. As to what happens between us, I should say: “All of this is my fault, and no one else is to blame in any way.”

Suppose I feel tension, some kind of conflict, between you and me. It is not because you are corrupted. Sages say that everyone who judges another does so in the degree of his own egoism, in the extent of his own corrupted nature. Looking at you, I always see you as bad when, in fact, it is my own reflection in you.

Therefore, I must always demand correction. Until I see you as perfect, I am not transformed. And all of this pertains only to our interconnection, the goal of which is to come to the Creator.

One can feel this only when he enters the group which enthusiastically works with this, understands that this is where the purpose of its existence is contained, exists solely to work out within all possible interactions, and comprehends that while doing so, it transforms all of creation and plows the soil for others.

After all, we are part of the integral system, its root, the “cap.” Today, we are the groundbreakers in the new generation that will be the first in mass to unveil the upper world. In other words, we lay the groundwork for the rest of humanity.

What takes place among us should be treated creatively, as in a laboratory. We should view ourselves as experimenters and relate to ourselves, to egoism that arises in us, as if it’s something supplementary or foreign that we should experiment on. We should treat it just like the Creator does: from the side.

As soon as I start treating my egoism as something aside, having fully risen over all problems that will have appear in me, then will I exit Egypt. And afterwards, I start unveiling the Creator, but not all at once since it’s not that simple. In the beginning, I am in the process of the correction of my desires. This is regarded as “forty years of wandering in the desert,” but it is something totally new. In truth, I battle with egoism in the desert in order to conquer it and create between us the property of bestowal, the attribute of Bina.
[33822]
From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/16/2011, “A Prayer of Many”

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Question: I am certain that each of us wants to build an environment that would be pushing him or her forward since that is all we talk about. On one hand, we desire such an environment, while on the other, we discover our inability to choose this environment even though everybody wishes for, seeks, and hears that it is necessary. How do we get out of this state?

Answer: You are asking me how to “walk the talk,” to move to the inner action in the heart? Ask the Creator! There is no chance it will just happen on its own. You need to keep begging.
[33651]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Two Points”

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There is a certain sequence of states (spiritual degrees) that a created being has to undergo experientially, comprehensively, and consciously. At each degree, a greater desire with all of its properties, individual desires, and forces gets revealed to a person. In this manner, a person starts attaining the spiritual world, the Creator, by constructing Him within oneself.

But first of all, on our part, there has to be a desire. Otherwise, how can we feel all of this? The Creator cannot give us the good that we do not want, or we will feel very bad! If the Light gets revealed without the desire for it, it feels as horrific darkness.

Night is not lack of light, but rather the greatest Light, GAR de-Hochma. But we are seeing the “back” of it, its “reverse side,” since it has come, but we don’t have a vessel for it. This is why we feel so terrible. And come to think of it, why do we? Aren’t we given pleasure? But if we don’t want it, this pleasure is worse than any pain for us.

This midnight Light (darkness) descends to us from adhesion (Zivug) of Aba ve Ima that prepare Kelim (vessels) for the dawning day. First, a spiritual degree, all its 10 Sefirot, has to unfold in full, after which we take its small part and work with it all “day” long. But the “night” is a revelation of the enormous Light.

Therefore, we need to pass through all of these states: day and night, evening and morning, in order to obtain a desire thanks to which we will be able to enjoy. And this is not a desire to receive, but a desire to bestow.
[33702]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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