Question: The global crisis has already announced itself publicly. When will the public start asking questions about what’s going on? When will the storm come?

Answer: This depends on us. We have to do our best to disseminate the method of our correction. Our message is simple, and we can offer it to the governments of the countries that are already in trouble.

The key problem is what to do with the sky-rocketing egoism. A human being has a normal, earthly desire to be provided with all that is necessary for his existence. He needs food, family, and the other things he can’t do without. Besides that, his egoistic desire aimed at receiving more keeps growing. It is so inherent in every one of us that we can’t even define what a basic necessity is.

Will a person be satisfied if he receives his daily bread, so to speak? No, he will not. What do we do with egoism then? What can we fill the black hole with?

The answer to this is as follows: Egoism grew so that we can transform it into spiritual desire, a spiritual vessel filled with attainment, bestowal, love, and finally with the upper Light. How is it done? How do we make a transition from a society of receivers, insatiable in its quest for material wealth, to a society of minimal consumption, grounded on basic needs?

If we don’t, the world will not be able to exist due to our rapidly depleting the planet’s natural resources. Consumerism will not be able to satisfy our egoism anymore. The people of the world won’t be able to shop store to store, filling their carts “to the gills.” The feast is over, and from now on, everyone gets only what he or she needs.

How then do people get fulfilled? We have to send all these millions to school. They will receive all the necessary goods in exchange for their studying. Otherwise, they are not entitled to even that much. And indeed, why should they be? Trouble is trouble, and everyone is in it. The government provides them with basic necessities, everyone continues to live where they do, stability is preserved, and at the same time, everybody starts studying.

What do they study exactly? They study the laws of life in the integral system. In reality, they are the laws of the group, but Kabbalah is not mentioned during the lessons. The subject is systems and mechanisms pertaining to a unified society. Getting all that they need, at least during the class, people hear and study the facts proving that we don’t have another way to survive but through unity.

You are dealing with “savages” coming to learn, who wish only to make money and get certain benefit. But gradually, they begin to understand there is no other option, that we have entered a new system, and that the world will develop differently now. Consumerism is finished; this type of society is dying out. It didn’t live that long anyway, at maximum for a hundred years, from the end of the 19th century through the 70s-90s of the 20th century. And even during this time there have been crises, including the Great Depression of the 30s.

Thus, people begin to study, while the government provides them with all they need, which is much less costly than creating new jobs. The latter is pointless since nobody will be buying what may be produced. Besides, the raw materials and energy are almost gone.

Thus, the most concise and cheap solution is to send people to school, regardless of where it may be: at home via the Internet, in theaters or auditoriums, or anywhere else. The key is to place everybody in an educational framework. In the meantime, studying is going to make one wiser and allow him to understand that he is entering a new world, where the previous laws do not work. Baal HaSulam writes it as well: We must all go to school and learn yet again how to live in the future.

Eventually, thanks to the studies, people will gain a new desire and start perceiving changes in it, until they come to understand that fulfillment can come from another, higher degree. The process will be gradual since we are dealing with a gigantic mass which is beginning to ripen. It will truly transform us as well.

As of today, we don’t have any other options. This is why no one can find anything. But just imagine how much Light these hundreds of millions can draw by merely listening to what they are taught. This is the solution that Baal HaSulam is pointing at, the solution that suggests itself to us logically since there aren’t any other means except for bringing people a little closer to the Light.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Shamati #4 “The Reason for the Heaviness”
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Question: Can you describe in more detail the right direction that is mentioned in the verse, “If the desire is directed correctly, this is the key to success”?

Answer: A person in our world is always in motion. At every moment we desire something, are directed somewhere, and are doing something.

If my direction at every moment of my existence corresponds to the motion of nature, if I don’t digress to the side but move in exactly the same direction, without any angular transgression, then my motion is optimal and I attain the goal to the maximum and in the best possible way.

Therefore, I must constantly control myself by checking: Am I moving correctly in my thoughts, desires, and actions, according to the direction that the upper force, nature, desires for me to move in? This is the key to success.
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From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention, 6/10/11

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We should never perceive the relationship between men and women as antagonistic. On the contrary, we have to see each other as help. If we are talking about the unity of the world, then first of all this is the mutual support of its two parts—male and female.

These parts come from the common root of creation: the Creator or Light, and the desire or the vessel filled with Light. In addition, this vessel goes through all sorts of forms as it changes. And inside of this vessel, both of us— the male and the female parts—have to work together integrally, like in an ideal family.

The common, collective image of the man has to work together with the common, collective image of the woman. They must work together conjointly, mutually, and clearly, each understanding the nature of both of us. A man understands himself and the female nature, while a woman understand herself and the male nature, and together we act sensibly and wisely, as educated, serious adults who aspire toward a common goal.

The goal is attained through the connection between us. It is written, “Man and woman, and the Creator between them.” That is to say, the Creator’s revelation takes place precisely in the right connection between them, on the screen that appears between the Light and the desire. That is how we must complete one another, mutually and constantly. There is no part, no tiny detail, not one phenomenon in nature, in our relationships, in our world and the spiritual worlds, that does not have mutual supplementation, unification, and adhesion of the male and female parts.

In our world this is not apparent at all. We do not even imagine this mutual supplementation, unification, and adhesion. But in the spiritual world this is a necessary condition. And depending on what levels we are on, these levels are determined precisely by the mutual supplementation and unification, until we unite together.

Therefore, the right understanding of our mutual work is the most important condition of our success. I would say that there is no problem that could be solved separately by men or by women. They are always solved one through the other, meaning that women’s problems are solved through men, and men’s problems are solved through women. This lack of understanding, the belief that it is possible to exist separately, “What do I care about them!” (usually, this is how men feel about women), and “We will solve everything on our own and will do everything ourselves!” This attitude that men tend to have is completely incorrect. And naturally, on the part of women it is also incorrect to think that “Men will do something, will solve everything, and everything will be OK, and we will receive something by being next to them.”

Initially, from the very first step, there has to be clear, inner contact. It shouldn’t be external, physical, visual, or even verbal, but precisely inner contact, which occurs through the upper force, through the next level, instead of directly between us. Then this upper degree will be expressed inside of this unity. It’s like a minus and a plus, and some kind of resistor or device between them that starts working precisely in this way, by virtue of the poles that are connected to it.
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Kabbalah explains that in the beginning only desire was created, and it was filled with pleasure, the Light. Then, to make the foundation for the future human, this desire was broken into pieces. It remained the same desire but was shattered into numerous fragments, not resembling each other at all. These parts are completely different and do not perceive themselves as being together, do not feel each other. What one wants is not understandable to the other.

The first state is called “the world of Infinity” (∞), and the second, “the breaking of the vessels.” As a result, we have seven billion scattered, broken pieces. On the drawing, they are close together, but in reality, they are internally divided, separated by such walls that they cannot tolerate each other. Everyone feels only oneself, thinks only about oneself, and nobody remembers that once they were one single desire. These are us in our world, in division, to which we were intentionally brought.

The vessels that used to be one whole are completely alienated from each other; they do not even touch each other in their sensations. One of them is me, and the other is you. And if we want to form a soul between us (it is built exactly between us), we must create resistance (R) in the middle.

Why is it needed? The fact is that everybody wants to enjoy but just for himself, nobody thinks about others, and rejection reigns between us. But if we begin to extend the threads of unity to each other, if at least we do not wish evil to each other, then we will rise from our egoistic degree to that of Bina, where I will no longer want to hurt you. This is already the neutralization of egoism.

If I also wish to bring you good that you anticipate in accordance to your ego, then I begin to work on your ego in order to fulfill it. This is the degree of Keter, the degree of love.

This is the process we have to go through, rising first from the degree of egoism to the degree of Bina, in order not to bring the other harm, and then onto the degree of love.
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From Lesson 1, Convention in Spain, 6/3/2011

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The representatives of Ashlag Research Institute (ARI) Rachel Laitman and Norma Livne took part in the 27th International Women Leaders Conference on “Science, Technology and Innovation: Education and Training for Women and Girls.” The conference was hosted in Haifa, Israel.The event was organized by UNESCO, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MASHAV), and the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center.

Delegates from more than 50 countries attended the conference, at which Mrs. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, and Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, the UN Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, were present. During the conference, our representatives had an opportunity to hold further discussions with UNESCO in relation to the joint projects in the area of global education.
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How can the method of Kabbalah be put into practice and run as a lab experiment? After all, Kabbalah is a purely practical science; it doesn’t philosophize, nor does it tell us how many angels govern the heavens and where a person goes after he or she dies. No, a person receives a chance to reveal his next state of existence here and now.

How do we achieve it? How do we find equilibrium between the forces of reception and bestowal in order to uncover the upper world, spiritual life, our soul? We have an opportunity to put it into practice. Even if I have only one friend, together we can construct a system of mutual connection between us that will allow us to attain the human degree, which is higher than the animate level of development at which I presently exist.

What makes me feel alive today? I was born from a mother of an animate degree as well, and I was raised in the “animate setting.” As a baby, I suckled milk; then I started to walk, grew in size, and stepped into the world. What are the criteria of human, not animate, growth?

When my friend and I, despite our egoism that pushes us apart, rise above it, the level we pass through while doing so is regarded as the Machsom (Hebrew for “barrier”), which enables me to stop thinking about and be free from myself. This is when I stop being a slave to my desires who keep chasing the bait, unable to resist.

This ascent is regarded as “spiritual birth.” It is then followed by the periods of nurturing, childhood, and maturity, all of which are stages of spiritual growth. Today we view ourselves as mature, important, and “right,” but such a view is purely corporeal. If we look through the glasses that filter all but the spiritual picture, it would look blank. Spiritually, we don’t yet exist. We are yet to enter the stage of spiritual conception and be born into the spiritual world.
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From Lesson 1, Convention in Spain, 6/3/2011

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The interview that I gave to EFE News Agency in Spain was published on international portals in several countries. EFE is the leading Spanish language news agency and the fourth largest news agency in the world.

The list of international portals and sites that placed the interview includes Yahoo News, MSN Latino (USA), Terra (News  and Science sections), Yahoo Brasil, UOL, Globo, and others. The interview was published on several Internet sites in Mexico, Bolivia, Columbia, Argentina, and Spain.
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Love of Others Is the Means to Attain the Love of the Creator

There is no other cure for humanity but the acceptance of the commandment of the upper governance: bestowal upon others for the sake of the Creator, which consists of two stages:

1. “Love thy friend as thyself,” which…means that the measure of work to bestow upon others for the happiness of society should be no less than the measure imprinted in man to care for his own needs.
2. “And you shall love the Creator with all thy heart and soul….” This is the goal that must be before everyone’s eyes when laboring for one’s friend’s needs. This means that he labors and toils only to be liked by the Creator.
   – Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”
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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: The prophet conditions peace in the whole world with the filling of the whole world with the knowledge of God.

Thus, the solution to problems in the world is “the knowledge of the Creator.” Until the whole world, from the smallest to the greatest, according to their fully disclosed desires, is filled with the knowledge of the Creator, it will not reach perfection, peace, and contentment. Till then, there will always be forces that agitate, shake up, and push the world to be filled with the knowledge of the Creator, a state where the Creator fulfills His creation.

Our eyes can see how the unhappy patient writhes and squirms from the unbearable human  pains. After all, humanity has already thrown itself to the extreme right, as in Germany, or to the extreme left, as in Russia, but not only did they not ease the situation for themselves, they have worsened the malady and agony, and the voices rise up to the sky, as we all know.

What our mind suggests is not going to help at this point since we always deflect to the right or left. At times, we keep holding on to the middle line, but usually only while moving from one extreme to the other. Consequently, we end up in one trouble after another, and there is no way out until we know the Creator.

The “knowledge of the Creator” points at the correction of our desires so that they are fit to become the vessel for knowledge (Daat), meaning to become filled with the Light of Hassadim (Mercy) with the illumination of Hochma (Wisdom), as Sefirot Hochma (“wisdom”), Bina (“understanding”), and Daat (“knowledge”), HBD.

Question: How is the world going to get filled with the knowledge of the Creator?

Answer: People will start learning how to bestow to all, while existing with everyone together in a global, integral, and analog system, where we yield to each other, are bonded and integrated into each other, where mutual bestowal and even love rule.

Until we unify into this kind of system where everyone feels the collective desire of all and strives to fulfill and service it, like a cell in the body, we won’t come to perfection. Till then, misfortunes will keep increasing and pushing us toward this perfection.

This is what we call “the knowledge of the Creator”: Each of us becomes a vessel of knowledge. Zeir Anpin and Nukva ascend to Hochma and Bina and receive from them fulfillment, according to the desire they have raised. Hence, they are regarded as “the vessel of knowledge.” They reach the degree of “adulthood” and, together with the parental Partzuf of Aba ve Ima, transform into HBD.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/2011, “The Peace”

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