Question: I have a question about becoming disconnected from this life. What happens is that the desire for the Creator leads a person away from corporeality. It seems as if I force myself to love my child, husband, family and go to work because I am supposed to. It feels like a game. For a woman, it is an endless torment, meaning that internally, you are in a state of desire, but live in this world as if playing a game.

Answer: It is indeed so. A person cannot tear himself or herself between the two, three, or five desires since desire can be only one. What is the solution then?

I heard the same question from men and women alike: “How do I go on without losing desire toward this world, my job, family, and significant other? How can I keep up with it all if a greater desire consumes, pressures, or annuls the smaller one?”

This occurs if you don’t link and accept all these desires as coming from the same source. You must gather, connect, and make such a “medley” out of them that would erase all the differences entirely. Desire for the child, the husband, the Creator, the group, the parents, and the purpose of creation itself must be unified. It has to “string” all these desires as if on a shish-kebab.

If this isn’t the case, then your work is not wholesome, and you are not wholesome in your desire. This will not do for we are given such diversity of desires in our world so we may pull them together and view them as one.
[45501]
From the 7th lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Question: What does it mean to become a sage in Kabbalah?

Answer: A “sage” is a person who has gained wisdom (Hochma). However, the Light of Hochma remains at absolute rest, and in order for us to obtain it, we have to possess the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), the “garments.” This means that a “sage” is honored not for his “wisdom,” but because he has made himself a garment from the Light of Hassadim, which “wisdom,” the Light of Hochma, was able to clothe in.

We regard the Creator as the sage. A wise man is regarded as “Talmid Hacham,” “a disciple of the sage,” since he is learning how to obtain wisdom (Hochma) to let the Creator clothe in him. We honor Kabbalists for the anti-egoistic screens and faith they acquired, thanks to which the Creator’s wisdom had clothed in them. It isn’t the case that they simply got smarter naturally. Hence they are called the “disciples of the sage,” the Creator.
[45313]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How do we explain to the public that the era of unbridled consumption is ending?

Answer: A person doesn’t need explanations to feel hungry; however, when the crisis hits, only the government can provide them with food.

Question: So we are building a state of common welfare, aren’t we?

Answer: We certainly are since a state’s job is to provide everybody with food, shelter,  clothing, healthcare, and so on. Vital necessity is not a loaf of bread and a glass of water per day. No, we are talking about a normal existence but not more than that. As to the rest, we educate a person how to receive ideal fulfillment from another source instead of running after the “blessings of civilization.”

It is coming to an end anyway, and there is nothing we can do about it. The world is sinking into crisis, which is supposed to demonstrate to us that we cannot consume more than we need. You may not wish to accept it, but nature will force you to, like it or not. Besides, we can’t explain to the public what’s happening and tell them how they need to act, meaning how to build a new government, a new integral world, unless we send them to school.

As we teach little children, so will we teach adults about the laws by which the world operates, the world that they now find themselves in. After all, if a person doesn’t comprehend the mechanisms of a fully integral world, he or she cannot survive in it. There isn’t a more effective and affordable solution to transform people than global education.

Do you wish to keep getting what you need? Here you go, just don’t forget that you are supposed to come to the lesson. You want to riot? It won’t solve your problems.

Recently, Amr Moussa, the Egyptian presidential candidate, has admitted that instead of a new beginning, the revolution has resulted in a deeper crisis which doesn’t seem to be ending. In his words were sincere pain; he did not expect this turn of events. It isn’t his or Mubarak’s fault: They simply didn’t see the process as a whole. People thought the new government would find the funds, but money alone is useless.

Hence, there is no other way but to figure out how many tailors, farmers, and other workers we need in order to keep a small percent of the population in the necessary areas of production, while the rest of the people have to be sent to school. There is no alternative, this is the way it has to work. This is the only solution that will provide people with the basic necessities so they don’t riot and understand that there is no place to go: The is the new world and the integral system we live in.

The truth is that we have stepped into a new territory rather than into a crisis; we must operate in the new format governed by different laws. And we have to pass through this bottleneck in order to reach perfection.
[45270]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Writings of Rabash, “Make For Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend“
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

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My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice for the Week

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I hope that this convention will become a turning point. We will start treating each other more seriously; we will finally start getting closer to each other; we will stop paying attention to which country we are from or that we are opposite, different.

We must rise above all the borders that separate us. We have to form a single space, and I really believe that this will happen. We must break all the barriers. Otherwise, we won’t get to the next degree.

What kind of Machsom (the barrier) do you expect to cross if you differentiate between you and me, between this and the other, between black, white, yellow, red, and so on. This immediately places a wall in front of you.

That’s how it should be in every group. In each group, we have to rise above our ego. After all, we are simply being played with from Above. The Creator deliberately gives us this egoism from the left side, and we can’t climb it.

We always see shortcomings in others. This one is disgusting to me because he picks his nose, that one because he talks in such a way, and that one because he looks at me in a strange way. This one is fat, this one is thin, this one is arrogant, and so on. Where do we get this from?

There are thousands of reasons not to connect with others. I have no problem doing this. I’m ready to push everyone away and will find a reason to be right in every case. How can I rise above this? If we don’t do this, nothing will work.
[45358]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Question: I do not feel that my spiritual progress depends on the men. How can I hasten the emergence of this feeling?

Answer: There are many women who feel self-sufficient. They are involved in dissemination, watch the lessons, and they are together with us with their heart and soul. They do not feel that they are dependent on the men. That does not matter. They are still included in our collective desire, Kli. They are nevertheless together with us.

Even if a woman is completely engaged in a particular work such as translation, processing materials, or something else, her participation covers everything because dissemination is virtually the most important application of women’s desire. It’s similar to giving birth in our world.

Thus, the participation of women in dissemination is their best action for correction. There are many women who exist somewhere separately, not in contact with others. Maybe we need more virtual contact. I am in favor of a good virtual connection. But even if a woman is on her own and takes part in dissemination, she is still in our collective aspiration to move forward. She definitely feels that and advances with us.

I have many such examples. I work with so many women on the blog, in the processing of materials, in translation, in book publishing, and in many other capacities. I value this work highly. They are loyal, trustworthy assistants, and I see their progress. Even though the women’s group is not organized well, they are advancing, and advancing well along with everybody else, at least as well as the men’s group.
[45364]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Question: How can you explain this phenomenon that urgent questions that arise today are answered by you tomorrow?

Answer: It is a very good question! I often hear about this from my students. They say that perhaps I know, that I intentionally ask someone a question and give him an answer the next day, or someone asks today and I “catch” his or her questions, and the like.

It is nothing like that. It is very simple: A question emerges in you, a desire to be filled with some information, some sensation. You become included in the group, in the lesson, and get an answer or fulfillment. In the same way, you can take my lesson from a month ago and see that I answered your question. This is only because a question has emerged in you—only because of this.

The Light is called the answer; it is all around us in unlimited quantities. Even now, we are in the world of Infinity, but we only feel its smallest, darkest part. There are many concealments around us, 125 curtains of concealment. Thus, we sense only our world.

Once a person has a desire for a more exalted state directed not inside himself but outside, he immediately begins to discover new questions and to get answers. It all depends on desire; there is nothing else.

The Light around us is at absolute rest, and you attain it. What we lack is desire. Thus, if I connect with the group, if I try to connect with the friends, I perceive their desires. Then, I acquire a larger vessel, a greater opportunity for fulfillment.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is the main directive of Kabbalah. This is the key tool for receiving the Light. What does “love your neighbor as yourself” mean? It means that you need to attach his desires to yourself. Then, you will have at least twice as much. In reality, it is not even twice, but multiplied by the resistance of your egoism. You will have a huge desire.

While you are connecting your friend to yourself as yourself, you have to rework all your egoism from reception, from rejection, into bestowal. You form a massive vessel. The Light will fill it right away, and you will reach spiritual attainment.

So, if I ask a question today, I can get an answer today and tomorrow; it does not matter when. Usually, it happens during the lesson when you are included in the collective desire and in the collective Light which thereby manifests around you, in the so-called Surrounding Light.
[45383]
From the 3rd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/11/11

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The science of Kabbalah has an interesting section about the way we perceive the universe, about how man attains the world in which he lives. Why do we feel the world precisely in this way? Is our world really the way we perceive it to be, or is it completely different? In reality, after it passes through our five senses, it acquires a specific form in our perception. We observe precisely this picture, rather than having a direct, objective perception of the actual world.

Today scientists research how the world is seen by butterflies, bees, snakes, and dogs. Every creature sees it in its own way, in different ranges, through a schema of color or scent, and so on. Every creature has its own kind of orientation in the world and sees its own picture, which differs from what others see.

So why is the picture precisely this way in our eyes? And what is it really like from the objective point of view? Can we even attain a truly objective worldview? This is what the section of Kabbalah called “Perception of Reality” talks about.

However, the most important part of Kabbalah is not the descent from above downwards from the world of Infinity into our world, but what happens afterwards. The most important thing for us is the Machsom and the subsequent path upwards. This is what we are now facing, what we now have to go through. We have to go through it in practice, not in theory, and we have to go through this path all together.

We have to implement this as fast as possible so the negative force of development won’t pressure us from behind, giving us a negative stimulus. In ancient Rome, Stimulus meant a sharp stick that was used to prick donkeys so they would move forward. Thus, it’s important for us not to feel this stimulus on our flesh, but to aspire forward ourselves, with the help of the positive force that is given to us for now.

This is essentially the reason we have gathered together. We can get together and get organized, and we can start feeling each other internally, even without physical contact. Let’s feel that by uniting with one another we become similar to the common, global nature. Then, inside of our unity, we will reveal the common field and will feel that we are rising slightly higher. This is realistic and I hope that you and I will do it.
[45526]
From the 1st lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Man’s Essence Is the Will to Receive

The desire [to receive, to enjoy] is the [primary, only] essence of the person.
– Baal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard), Article No. 153, “A Thought Is an Upshot of the Desire”

The essence of all the details in reality is no more and no less than the will to receive [the difference between all parts of creation in all the words comes only from quantitative and qualitative differences in their desire for fulfillment].
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 20

The very essence of the soul is the will to receive [pleasure, fulfillment]. And the difference we can tell between one object and another is discerned only by its will.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 21
[44436]

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