Baal HaSulam, “One Commandment”: I say that the first and only commandment that guarantees the achievement of the aspiration to attain the altruistic intention is to resolve to not work for oneself, apart for the necessary works—to merely provide for one’s sustenance. In the rest of the time, one will work for the public: save the oppressed, and every creature in the world that is in need of salvation and benefit.

In these stern but precise words, Baal HaSulam explains to us how the world should exist. We have entered this path already: The world is interconnected in all its parts and is experiencing a global crisis.

Almost a hundred years ago, Baal HaSulam wrote that humanity became one family in which all people depended on each other. We did not notice it then, but today, we clearly see it and, after many crises and with a great delay, become aware of the situation. Tremendous efforts will be demanded from us to correct the flaws and especially that terrible form of human relationships, natural for us today.

Until now, reading these words of Baal HaSulam, we perceived them as something fantastic and unreal. Why didn’t he disclose a half, a quarter so that it would not appear so nightmarish and unacceptable to us, so that it could be digested by adding a variety of spices? However, a very severe picture, opposite to our nature, is unfolding before us, and it sets its strict condition: “Whether you like it or not, here will be your place of burial or your eternal life. One or the other. The choice is yours.”

In our world, we have to implement the principle of “love your friend as yourself.” Everything that is entrusted to us is focused only on this action: to acquire practical, complete, perfect bestowal, flowing from each person to the entire world. And for himself, a person should get as much as he needs for his existence. According to his degree, he chooses the necessities and gives the rest to others.

In our time, we asked Rabash, how we could test ourselves in this calculation. He gave wonderful advice: If you were glad to get rid of the necessities, it means that is it. If you desire nothing for yourself, no water, food, or shelter; if you want only to perform bestowal, as an angel, as the force apart from the body, and you are happy about that, then you have come to the correct decision, and you can receive the necessities from the world.

In this case, you will not overdo it and will get only the vital things because you are not glad to receive them. On the contrary, you would get rid of them, but you cannot because you need them to perform bestowal. You do need food, water, clothes, a home, and things like that.

This is a very difficult condition, and of course, people immediately want to “push it aside.” We do not see life in this existence: It is better to die. How can I perform bestowal to everyone and take only the necessities? Where is life then? How can we satisfy our ego? After all, it did not disappear.

In reality, you are not required to live like an animal, grazing in the pasture and demanding nothing else. On the contrary, you must become a human, meaning to release your entire huge ego for the benefit of others, to put it in the service of others.

What will I get in return? How can I act to bestow? My egoistic desire is like a machine that can run only on fuel. I can make the whole world happy, but what is there for me? For a good reward, I will give people everything I have. But what is the payment?

We have to understand that Kabbalah is a science, physics of the spiritual world and does not deal with fantasies. Fuel has been prepared for us, and the reward is such that it is worth working for bestowal and fulfilling the entire world.

Our reward is the revelation of the Giver. There is nothing greater in the world, and this is what we will get. This means that we must work for the sake of the attainment of Him.

This is the highest reward of all: to be in the adhesion and perfection with Him, at His degree. As if He frees a place for me next to Him, and I look at others from the height of my degree: “Unhappy, how miserable and low they are. Of course, I help them, what can I do?”

This attitude is called Lo Lishma, and it is natural at the beginning. The key is to start and not to be lazy. But as a result, we become imbued with complete bestowal because this is the only law that we need to perform.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/2011, “One Commandment”

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When we are reading The Book of Zohar, we always ask ourselves the same question: Why do we need this book? After all, it’s totally incomprehensible and speaks about some magical, unrealistic things and actions that sound like commandments we’ve learned from this world, and about people, animals, or landscapes, such as rivers, hills, or mountains.

We have to understand that The Book of Zohar has to become the revelation of the upper world for us, and our lower world is merely an imprint of the upper one. Suppose I am building a tower from a piece of clay, pour plaster into it, and then it hardens taking the shape of the tower. Next, I lift this cast off, and I get a patrix and a matrix, a stamp and an imprint.

The upper mold is the upper world, and the mold that remained on the ground is the lower world. Thus the upper and the lower worlds correlate with each other. Hence, although we are speaking about the lower world and all that is happening in it: the hills, seas, roads, animals, people, or sun and moon, we should still constantly remember that they point at its projection: the upper world.

The Zohar describes the upper world, while the lower world is its imprint. What in our world is regarded as the desire to receive pleasure, in the upper world is the desire to bestow. As we seek to enhance our desire to bestow and to reach spirituality by unifying during our studying together with the group, we will become not the individual points scattered throughout the world, but make a certain, albeit material, form, part of our lower world. This is our group in the lower world.

But in fact, there is such a group in the upper world, and we are already there, in mutual bestowal and oneness, in a completely correct state since the initial (1) and the final (3) states already exist in Infinity. We should think solely about how to draw the force, desire, and means from the state where we are corrected, in order to actually reach it, to make it real—to ascend to that upper dimension in our sensation and understanding, in our life.

Therefore, here in this world, we must get to feel our unity and visualize our being in the upper group, above, as fully corrected, in unity and mutual bestowal, in our higher state. Besides, as we desire that from Above, from that very upper degree, the Light will expand to us, affect, and pull us up.

Thus, The Zohar speaks of our upper state by using the words of this world, the language of the branches. And I, while reading it, should constantly think about my being in total union with the group, in mutual bestowal, since that’s where I find the upper world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/2011, The Zohar

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In order to reveal The Zohar, we have to reach the state that is suitable for revealing it. The upper Light is at absolute rest. The Creator is simply concealed inside of creation because creation is unable to be in a state where the Creator would be revealed in it.

Therefore, the changes can only happen inside of creation. Creation has to change so it will attain the conditions for the Creator’s revelation, according to one law: equivalence of form.

As soon as we attain any measure of equivalence with the Creator’s quality, we reveal Him. The minimal quality in which we reveal the Creator by becoming similar to Him is attained when we unite with one another with a minimal connection.

How is this possible? Above the force of repulsion that separates us from one another, above the hatred and the unwillingness to unite, we try to awaken a desire inside of us, a persistent need to unite in our internal aspirations, in mutual bestowal, to create a state that expresses the quality of the Creator—mutual connection, bestowal, and unification at least to the smallest degree.

But even if we are unable to make this happen, we have to desire for it to happen. Then the force concealed in us, the Creator, will help us, will bring us closer together, and will build the state of unity inside of us, making it come true.

In essence, there is nothing else for us to think about other than to try to reach unity between us from the repulsion and hatred, and to reveal the latter, we also need constant persistence and aspiration.

Therefore, while reading The Book of Zohar, we have to try to constantly think about the network of connection among us, which already exists, but it exists in mutual dislike, the lack of the importance of unification. And we have to desire for it to transform to its opposite form—unification between us. When our unification becomes at least somewhat similar to the Creator, to the Light, then the Light will start flowing through it, which is called the revelation of the Creator to creation.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/11, The Zohar

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Opinion: (Yuriy Tchaikovsky, The Zigzags of Evolution): When the body is stressed, it activates the genetic search mechanism. The genetic system cuts out and stitches fragments of genes until it finds an option which produces an antibody that can bind the invading antigen. The adjustment process takes about two days. Created in this way, the antibody intensively propagates (clones itself) to fight the infection and is stored until the end of the life of the organism.

This occurs in four steps (stages):

1. The antigen is carried right through the immune cells.
2. There, on the other end, it is dissected and presented.
3. Antibody variants are created, which differ from one another only by one or two elements (nucleotides). Procured antibodies are applied to the stretched out, presented antigen, and the adjustment takes place.
4. Once a suitable option of lymphocyte is found, it gets cloned and stored in the genetic system of the body for life.

This targeted selection is done by an antigen itself. It is as if the gene is at the tailor’s shop, where it acts as a fit model to produce a new garment that is subsequently put into mass production. The result is the formation of an antibody that is completely opposite to the antigen.

The formation of an antibody may even result in the production of an artificial antigen. In this case, a new piece of genetic information is born, which has never existed in nature before.
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In the articles “The Giving of the Torah” and “The Mutual Guarantee,” Baal HaSulam explains that the rule of “love thy neighbor as thyself” is the formula of our correction. We can correct ourselves only in the connection with others.

Conversely, without this connection, you have no opportunity, no place for correction. What can a person deprived of the connection with others do? This is exactly why the breaking occurred and the evil inclination was created so that above it, we would extend our threads to one another. This is all that is required of us.

In the first stage, we unify as Hillel, the sage, taught: “Do not do to the friend what is hateful to you.” And then we move on what Rabbi Akiva advised: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Thus we reach the end of correction and realize ourselves according to the Thought of Creation.

“The Torah,” the method of correction, is given to us if we agree to become as one man with one heart. With this method, by working in a group, we can demand correction from the upper force, the Light, or the Creator.

Essentially, the process of correction can be called attainment of the mutual guarantee, which is a certain connection between all souls. “Souls” are the giving desires in people. If people forge a bond and desire to bestow to each other, the form of this connection is called “mutual guarantee.”

There are people in the world whose desire lights up with a spark, a seed of altruistic desire. If they unite to blow these sparks up in each and all together, if they support and help each other to grow the sprouting forces in order to tie them together, then they form a system that fulfills the conditions of guarantee. In this interconnected, integrated system, all of them are as one man with one heart, according to the condition on which they had received the method.

Thus they reach the property of mutual guarantee, and in it, the upper force is revealed. It was specifically this force that gave them the desire, planted the sparks in it, and presented them with the method of correction that enables the friends to become similar to it in properties. It is revealed in them precisely according to the magnitude of this equivalence.

Hence, in the collective work to correct the world, some people wake up before the others. These people aspire to correct themselves, to achieve the unification and guarantee, a fusion between them, and merge with the upper force accordingly. They are aspiring directly to the Creator (Yashar El) and want to realize their desire in their relationship, as well as all together before Him. This is why they are called Israel; they are special and must lead by example, as an education force for the rest of the world.

In all other people this spark, the impulse to bestow, does not emerge from within. Only sorrows of life will make them realize the necessity of self-correction, but even then, they cannot do without those who are called “Israel,” those who attain some degree of connection, who implement the method of correction. That is why at the end of the article “The Mutual Guarantee,” Baal HaSulam quotes the Bible that the sons of Israel must become the “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation.” Priests do not have possessions: They only nurture the people, assist, and organize it.

Thus we, those yearning toward the goal of creation, have to understand that by transforming ourselves into bestowal to each other, we are merely preparing ourselves for the real job, for bestowal to the world. This is our destiny, and for this we were awakened before the others.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/27/2011, “The Peace”

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In the News (from nytimes.com): “Europe’s debt crisis, as well as natural disasters and political uprisings, are prompting investors both big and small to seek out investments that promise to protect their portfolios in the event of economic Armageddon.”

My Comment: Previously, diversification was meant to protect investments from a market collapse, but since today they are certain everything will collapse, they are seeking how to make money on it.

They use the insurance principle: They pay in the event of a collapse from the funds accrued specifically for this. Give egoism a chance, and it will be happy to profit from its own death.
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Opinion: (Stephen S. Ilardi, Professor, the University of Kansas, thedepressioncurebook.com): “Most Americans work long hours, eat on the fly, and lead increasingly sedentary, isolated lives. Alongside this lifestyle, depression rates have skyrocketed: approximately 1 in 4 Americans will suffer from major depression at some point in their lives….

“Our bodies were never designed for the sleep-deprived, poorly nourished, frenzied pace of twenty-first century life.” That is, depression is the brain’s reaction to stress.

My Comment: Depression is a reaction to inner emptiness. A person can live through anything if only he can justify the misfortunes in his life. Then, difficulties enhance the effect of victories and achievements. The main cause of depression is a lack of motivation and purpose.

If the environment demonstrates special values ​​that are equally important to all members of society, a person feels that he is part of the society and acknowledges its goals as his. In this case, there is no void; public opinion gives him assurance that there is something to live for. If, however, the cause of depression is not removed, drug treatment is the only option.
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Freedom of the Collective and the Freedom of the Individual Are Equal

The general and the particular are equal, and likewise, our world resembles the upper one: Even within the smallest atom (molecule) of water, we find a complete system of sun and planets orbiting it, exactly as in the big world.

Similarly, within man, the inner part of the world, you will find all the images of the upper worlds: Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, as the Kabbalists have said that the Rosh is Atzilut, through the Chazeh it is Beria, from there to Tabur it is Yetzira, and below is Assiya.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Meaning of Conception and Birth”
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Shamati #207 “Receiving in Order to Bestow”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

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

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