I can say with hope and confidence that we are standing at the threshold of real spiritual actions. If we convince ourselves that they become revealed inside of the interconnection among us and this is where the Creator is revealed, if we desire this, then all the opportunities are right in front of us.

The entrance has been opened to us from above and now it is our turn to take a few steps to come inside. And these steps are pretty easy to make because they are ensured by unification. It’s not that every person is walking forward by himself, but he is going inwards, toward our common center where we will reveal the Creator through our mutual push toward love, empathy, and mutual bestowal.

The time really has come. I am not comparing myself to Abraham or Moses, but the states that become revealed appear the same as back then. Let us make efforts and you will see this actually happening.

We are starting to make mutual actions which bring us the revelation of the Torah, meaning the revelation of the Light which corrects the evil inclination and reveals the Creator inside of us.

I am talking about this completely seriously. Even 9 to 12 months ago this did not seem so realistic and practical to me, but now I see that we are undoubtedly capable of this. We have received the permission from above and now it all depends on us: Will we take this upon ourselves or not? Neglect would be a very grave mistake that would bring about great trouble.

I very much hope that the holiday of Passover, my visits to the groups outside of Israel, the Moscow Convention, and other events will serve as a big, good preparation. This is possible. Everything is open to us and the whole world is helping us. Everything that is happening in the world is just help to push us forward.

However, we have to be careful. In one of his letters Baal HaSulam writes the following to his student, “A year ago your state was much better, but now you are in a descent. However, don’t lose faith in mercy. Maybe you will succeed again.”

Now the time of awakening from above has come and an opportunity is being given to us. However, we have to attach the awakening from below to this. There can never be any indulgences in this regard.

Awakening from above is a very big help. That’s because you don’t have to convince the Creator that you have a good desire. He gives you the opportunity Himself, “Just ask Me and I will pay for it.” You can take the merchandise, the shopkeeper will record your debt in the book, and you will pay for it later. First enter spirituality and then you will pay it back.

That is how we advance. After all, we can’t manage without the spiritual force, but when we do have it then we can make spiritual actions and will return the debt later. Now we have the chance to receive a loan and to acquire the spiritual world. And later on we will pay for it—there’s no problem.

So let us hope that we will understand what kind of opportunity we have before us. It will be unforgivable to lose it by not uniting as we should.

This very much depends on how we use our time. The present moment is very important. And you shouldn’t look around at the external world, waiting for it to move forward today or tomorrow. That is not up to us.
From the talk at the evening meal on 4/9/11

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Question: After the WE! Convention how can we maintain ourselves in the same state that we achieved there, since usually a descent always comes afterward?

Answer: We cannot allow ourselves to get into a descent, similar to how a mother cannot say she is sick when she has a baby in her arms. There are situations in life where necessity eclipses everything. Only if the mother is on her death-bed should someone else take care of her baby.

Likewise, in our case we do not have time to take a break, to engage in idle talk, or to get into descents. The world around us is developing very quickly and we are falling behind, but we are obligated to walk along at its rate.

More and more we are starting to feel just how much all of the bad things happening in the world are connected to us because we are falling behind with our correction. Therefore, I don’t even allow myself to have thoughts about a descent after the convention. This is impossible!

Besides, until the summer we will still go through a row of important events, including conventions in Italy, Spain, and Moscow. We have to unite all together and prepare for them. Therefore, we don’t have any breaks to take since everything is very compressed in time. And that’s a good thing because it corresponds to the speed at which changes are happening in the world.
From the lesson on 3/25/11

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati No.86 Article: “And They Built Store Cities,” To: “Now We Can Understand What Our Sages Wrote…,” Lesson 2
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Passover, Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” “And Pass Over the Lentil and Two Mezuzahs (Doorposts),” Item 75
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 6, Part 15, Item 40
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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam “The First Innovation”
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My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice and Principles for the Week

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The story of the exodus from Egypt and the traditions related to it are intended only to point to our inner states. We are in a notch, in trouble, with blows falling upon us, in the atmosphere of an escape, a rush, and darkness. In essence, this is the process of spiritual birth, comparable to the birth of a physical body.

This is what we have to achieve. But how? After all, we are always running away from suffering. So how can we not run away from the state of coming out of Egypt? In the material world I can find myself in a situation where there is only one way out. But in spirituality everything happens according to my desire. If I don’t want to experience Egyptian plagues, then I don’t experience them. But then I will take the thorny path along with all humanity under pressure from the “developmental press.” However, I want to accelerate the path. So will I really put myself under the blow?

Kabbalists answer: You shouldn’t reveal the blows and problems somewhere out there, but only in the current state. How? Could it really be that in my sensation I have to “turn” reality from good to evil? That’s right! You might say, “But when I feel the evil, I will run away!” Actually, no, you won’t. That’s because you will reveal the evil in relation to the higher goal. You have to assess spirituality as something desirable and truly priceless. Then the current state will seem bad to you. That way you will be able to move forward without abandoning the path.

We awaken the spiritual goal so it would shine for us. Then we desire to attain it, while the current state becomes exile, darkness, Egyptian plagues. This enables us to raise the importance of spirituality in our eyes, to elevate the importance of bestowal, love for the neighbor, and the unity of friends to such a degree that the exile will become unbearable and we will have to run away from it.

Question: If the exit from Egypt happens in such difficult conditions, how should this be combined with the optimism and energy that fill us after the convention?

Answer: We aspire only to goodness, and then the current state seems unbearable to us. On the path of acceleration I reveal good states ahead and compared to them the current situation seems bad to me.

I do not have to suffer in a dead-end at all, not knowing what to do with myself. The latter approach is called “advancing in due time” until the “developmental press” will nevertheless We have to reveal the goodness ahead. This makes all the difference. By comparing the current state with the desired unity, with love for the neighbor and bestowal, I feel that I am in trouble, in darkness. That is how I prepare myself for spiritual perception, already now forming spiritual values within myself. By elevating bestowal in my eyes, I prepare for redemption and accelerate the path.push me forward.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/11, Preparation to Going Out From Egypt

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Our egoism is “help from the opposite,” which we have to use in order to ascend to the Creator’s level. And it works in two areas. The first is a person’s connection with the group where his egoism works against “Israel” (the intention “straight to the Creator”). The second is when our ego comes forth against the only force that controls the world, meaning against the Creator. Our ego rises up against these two forces and resists them by every means possible and at every moment. That is why all of our work is aimed only at this.

The more we aspire to attain a connection among us in bestowal, love, and mutual guarantee, the faster we will reveal that we are incapable of this! And then we will have to turn to the Creator and deal with Pharaoh who stands against Him. We know from the story of Egyptian slavery that Moses, the leader of the nation of Israel who spoke with the Creator, did not appear right away. All of this occurs after many years of exile in Egypt when the nation of Israel already cried out from the difficult work and screamed out to the Creator. Only then did one Jewish woman give birth to a boy Moses, and then this entire story begins to unfold. This new force called Moses rises up in a person.

That is where the work against Pharaoh begins. We discern whether it is worth it for us to attract the upper force in order to create a connection in the group that will fuse us together as one nation with one heart, so much that we will reveal the Creator inside of that unity. That is to say, the work takes places in two areas. First of all, this is difficult work that made “the sons of Israel cry out,” which is when we want to build our spiritual vessel (desire) and are unable to. And then we scream, not knowing what to do.

That is when the second phase begins, where we discern: Whom do we yell at and how? We have to reveal the upper force. We want it to be present inside of our union, and not just in order to make our connection with each other come true. Our entire connection has to happen in order to reveal the force fo the Creator, the force of bestowal and love.

We work through these two phases, and as long as we don’t complete them fully, uniting all of Israel and attracting the Creator instead of Pharaoh inside of us, we will not be able to come out of Egypt. This exodus occurs as an escape in darkness, extremely rushed.

There are several steps that we have to make in the direction of this exodus. The Light that illuminates these steps leads us to realize that there is just one upper force, “There is none else besides Him.” Only He influences us and leads us through all of these steps and all of the states. All of our sensations, thoughts, and desires comes to us from above. What depends on us is only one single point of freedom: To relate everything that is happening to the Creator.

We realize this free choice in the group by uniting as one man in order to reveal Him, and He is present inside of the group. That is how we prepare for the exodus from Egypt in order to ascend above our ego and to shift to being ruled by the force of bestowal.

This is the greatest event in a person’s life. It’s not an accident that the whole Torah starts with the Exodus, and the month when it happens is called the beginning of all the months. The beginning is enumerated from the exodus from Egypt because all of the Torah and all spiritual life is built only on this foundation. This is the beginning of a “human being” who starts to grow up from the animate existence, the growing force of faith called the force of the Creator, which rises above the earthly, animate knowledge. All of this begins with the exodus from the egoistic Egypt.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/11, Writings of Rabash

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Writings of Rabash, “Until The Ruler Of Egypt Fell”: One must work for the sake of the heavens, meaning for the sake of bestowal. In exile this assessment was made under the power of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt.

I do not know what real bestowal is or how it is possible to give anything to a person who is completely detached from me, when there are no “common foundations” for kindness, such as commonly accepted morals, the respect of others around me, or anything else.

Some people throw money around and squander entire fortunes, and they feel pleasure from this. They receive sufficient compensation for their “bestowal.” One person is satisfied by a kind word, another by being remembered well by the future generations, and a third by self-respect.

In the West there is a new trend called “a dollar a day.” A person contributes a dollar a day to feed a hungry African child who will never find out who he is. Yet, contributions like this also bring satisfaction because I am giving someone life. What is a dollar compared to the feelings this elicits in me?

However, we are talking about total separation from self-gratification. We cannot imagine or feel such a thing in our life. We do not understand how it is possible to give to someone without any response in thought or sensation. This is concealed from us.

This is the meaning of exile when we first encounter it: It turns out that I do not know what pure bestowal is. I am separated from spirituality precisely in this regard.
Egypt (Mitzraim) means a notch (Metzer), and a notch means a scantity of mercy when a person only knows how to receive, without bestowing anything.

We are yet to discover that we are devoid of any premises of bestowal and only know how to receive. If I receive, then I give. But in general, this is not bestowal. I just call it that way because in our world we judge a person by his actions instead of his intentions. Intentions belong to the science of Kabbalah, while actions belong to the opinion of this world.

“Width” is generosity, great bestowal. A “notch” is the opposite, a lack of bestowal. Thus, the power of Egypt was that every person could make actions only in return for payment.

This is us. But we don’t really realize this and that is why our state is still not considered exile. Our lives our OK. True, we’re Egyptians, but so what?
He does not let them carry out even one action without payment, only for the sake of bestowal.
This is our Pharaoh. And we don’t even realize that he controls us. The power of Pharaoh becomes revealed only when you want to do something for the sake of bestowal and discover that you are unable to. That is when Pharaoh, the Egyptian King, is revealed. But until then, you are sitting on the throne yourself and doing whatever you want.
This means that Egypt was a notch for Israel.
In other words, it obstructed the direction of straight to the Creator (Yashar El).
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/11, Preparation to Going Out From Egypt

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Question: How can I learn to place more importance on the intention rather than the understanding of the text when we study the Kabbalistic sources in the group or when I read them alone?

Answer: When I read alone, I also have to think that we all are connected together. It is as though I plunge into our collective desire which connects us into one, where we are united all together even though we don’t feel it.

I try to be on the same level. Being together with everyone inside the system that connects us all, where we all share the same desire and energy, I wish to sense that there are no differences between me and the others.

Then, when reading the text, I try to penetrate into its essence as much as possible and, most importantly, not to disconnect from the inner connection between us. If I need to give 99% of my strength to the thoughts about our connection, I have to do that. Then I use only 1% for understanding what I read. Sometimes I don’t even know what I am reading about: So big are the distractions that come to me.

However, I should not worry about the fact that later on I won’t be able to tell what I just read. The key is to wish to connect with everyone when my eyes follow the letters. This is enough for the text to influence me.

I specifically want to emphasize that first of all you have to think about the connection between us, and only then you may read and understand the text as much as you are able to.
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From Lesson 4, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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In our world the only thing we know to do is to receive. Therefore, without the science of Kabbalah the world would slide down to total self-destruction. If not for the notions of the Creator and creation drawn from Kabbalah, if not for the opportunity to attract the upper Light, the force that corrects us, if there was only this world in front of us, only the earth rotating in cosmic space and us on its surface driven by our nature, then we would exterminate life here over the next few decades. This is confirmed by scientific research, which can definitely be trusted. The earth’s resources are limited, and after eating them all up, we would die of starvation.

In our world there is no solution to this process. We are deliberately being led to an irreversible state in which we will have no means of salvation left. The purpose is for us to reveal our Pharaoh, our egoism, which destroys us and does not allow us to do anything. As a result of this process, all of humanity has to feel a need for the Creator.

Research shows that over the next few years the world will face an extremely cruel lack of fresh water and other necessary resources. Theoretically, by the end of this century we will finish off the remains and will have many chances to die. And there is no solution. The world’s best minds cannot find it. But they are so smart that they can see a dead-end that has no way out.

And indeed, how can we come out of it? We do not have a chance of restricting our evil inclinations. You cannot advise people to consume less due to lack of any other choice. If everyone starts receiving the minimum wage and no more than that, then starting tomorrow no one will be able to make a move. And what would be the point of that? That is exactly what happened in Russia after the revolution. If motivation were to disappear, then the world would freeze. Even if you gave out medals for selfless work, it wouldn’t help.

I have to feel that another person is lower than me in some way, that I have earned more or have attained something greater. If I don’t have this, then what compensation can you offer me? If my neighbor receives 5000 dollars, then I need at least 5001. But if everything is equal, then a person just can’t live that way.

That is why today we are facing a problem that does not have a solution in our world. We are unable to achieve balance with nature. Eventually everyone will understand what is a global, integral world and what is homeostasis. There are many movies and research on this topic which all talk about how we have to practice moderation. The only problem is that we are unable to hold ourselves back.

Pharaoh comes forth from the shadows inside of us, obstructing all attempts to tame our appetite. Soon this will come to the surface: People will look at themselves, seeing how they are powerless, walking toward death and not being able to stop. Baal HaSulam describes this through an allegory: The angel of death brings you a drop of poison on the tip of a sword and you open up your mouth to swallow it and die. You are unable to overcome yourself and are waiting for this final drop.

That is why the dissemination of the science of Kabbalah is necessary. An exemplary group is needed, capable of demonstrating the true solution to the world. This group has to become “a Light for the nations” and from above to pour upon them the spiritual mind and feeling. Otherwise the world has no chance.

Similarly, in our particular case there are also no chances. The difference is that we ourselves want to feel this dead-end state because we know that after that the upper Light will become revealed to us, being a new force, the force of bestowal that will pull us onto a different level. And we must do the same thing for the world even though people are unable to aspire to this ahead of time.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/11, Preparation to Going Out From Egypt

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Question: Does it make a difference in a person’s correction process whether he reads Kabbalistic sources from a book or from a computer screen?

Answer: When I’m talking about something, in my mind I picture the source of my words: a book or Rabash’s words. I never had this question because at that time I couldn’t have had it; therefore, I don’t have a clear answer. But in my opinion, there is no difference.

There are people who are used to reading a written text, and there are those who have become used to reading from a computer screen. I open the books only during the lessons. All of our books can be found and downloaded from our website. One can accommodate his or her needs: make notes, change the font size, and so on. Yet, it’s still important to open up a printed book.

I think that all our books should be a part of every friend’s home library. After all, a book is more than just a collection of printed pages. It is a reflection of a spiritual object, a certain idea that contains a deep inner meaning.

A book’s prototype and its predecessor is a scroll (Megillah), from the word “Gilui,” meaning revelation. Try reading from a book and from the screen: You will sense a greater depth in the way you relate to the written pages.

During our lessons, when millions of people are studying together, I would like all of us to read from the books and to see each other on the computer screen.
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From Lesson 4, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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