Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom:” Now we have come to a clear understanding of the sentence concerning the freedom of the individual. Indeed, there is a question: “Where did the collective take the right to expropriate the freedom of the individual and deny him of the most precious thing in life, freedom?” Seemingly, there is no more than brute force here.

What should we do if collective interests are more important than personal ones? Can a society constantly force me to take care of it? Would enforcing this help us? Therefore, we need education.

Parents also decide for their child to what faith he will belong, what school he will attend, what kind of education he will get, and with what views he will be imbued. Practically, they define his whole life in advance. Are they given such a right?

Meanwhile, the father and mother predetermine their child’s future by their very existence; moreover, they develop certain character traits in him.

The family, kindergarten, school, and environment—all these factors together form a person, and thus, at the age of 15-20, he becomes an individual for whom everything has been decided in advance. What rights does society have to make out of me what they want: a bun, pie, loaf of bread, or bagel? But that is how it happens

This order of things stems from the law of following the majority. The “majority” means a conscious society that feels and understands that wellbeing depends on the fact that every person takes care of the whole, that is, cancels his egoism and unites with the community.

In this case, society or parents can really require everyone to study collective interests. Moreover, society is responsible for educating all its members about this principle. Therefore, it is said that the father should teach his son a “craft.” We are talking about the same system, teaching bestowal.

Thus, the universal law of a complex system is observed from which there is no escape. A person initially knows what he is—one of its “cogs” and he has to function properly. However, acting as a “cog” in spite of his evil inclination, a person has an opportunity to reveal the whole system, obtain its power, and gain wisdom and a sense of the entire environment, the total large vessel. Thus, he ascends to the degree of the Creator.

In essence, “to follow the majority” means to follow the Creator. The environment and the Creator are the same: the general law of bestowal, the all-encompassing giving force. However, at the initial stage, we restrict our explanations to the description of the unbreakable global connection, which leaves us no alternative, but integral unity. We describe the work of bestowal to the Creator in its current form as the work of bestowal to society.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12, “The Freedom”

Related Material:
Fathers And Sons: Who Lacks Understanding?
Spiritual Freedom Of An Individual
Children And Free Will

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