Question: How can we awaken care for the whole world inside our hearts?

Answer: We all exist in one spiritual vessel, in one desire. The Creator created one soul and it is impossible to selectively care for just one part of it, but only for the entire, full vessel. Nothing exists “partially” in spirituality.

If we are talking about bestowal, then we have to be concerned with becoming a candle for the Creator, which means correcting the full vessel. Since the Creator made one, single desire, bestowal can only awaken in all of it entirely. And as Baal HaSulam explains in the article “Mutual Guarantee,” we exist only for this sake.

Therefore, a person who does not care for the common vessel does not care for himself. We just have to open our eyes and see that this is the exact same thing. The world is an imprint of what we have inside; it only seems to exist on the outside.

Therefore, the aim isn’t for “me to care for the world,” but to open my eyes, to see the truth and understand that care for the world and care for yourself is the exact same care. We have to dispel this fog and clearly see that this is one soul!

Instead of “awakening care for the world” inside myself, I have to take care of myself—of why I don’t see that the whole world is my spiritual vessel, my soul.

From this it is clear that I cannot stop caring for the world under any circumstances because this is the main part of me. Everything I feel inside of me now is just my body, and this sensation called “the body” will die one day and will disappear from my consciousness. And only the care that I will acquire for my external “body” will become revealed to me as my soul and will remain with me forever. In it I will acquire my true, eternal life.

This is the inner revolution we have to go through. Essentially, this is the meaning of passing the Machsom (the boundary separating us from the upper world). When a person begins connecting and identifying himself with what is outside instead of the ego that he previously perceived as being himself, this is called passing the Machsom.

Baal HaSulam says that this requires only a psychological revolution. This blindness and deception holds the reason for all of the evil we feel now.
[65711]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12

Related Material:
The Whole World On My Shoulders
Feeling The Suffering Of The Whole World
Not One Link Is Redundant

Filed under: Body and Soul, Collective Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Integral Upbringing, Perception, Q&A, Spirituality - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” Item 113, The Two Great Lights: The moon was not at peace with the sun for she was ashamed of her. … The Creator told her, “Go and diminish yourself.”

We are talking about the adaptation between the created being Malchut and the Creator, the first nine Sefirot by which the Creator is depicted to the created being. According to the degree that Malchut adapts to the first nine Sefirot, it reaches adhesion with them, pursuant to the principle of “By Your actions, we know You.”

The adhesion is realized by equivalence of form, balance, or homeostasis between two objects as we call it in our world.

Although one of the two great luminaries Malchut has no light of its own, it is still great and shiny, and can be as important as the sun, the Creator, because although by itself it dwells in darkness, it can go on to shine.

The desire to receive is called the Earth. Its level of bestowal is the moon. The force it gets in order to bestow, to correct itself, and shine at night, comes from the sun, from Zeir Anpin in which there is Light from upper Bina.

So, there are two lights, the small light and the great light. The purpose of the development of the small light is to reach the same size, the same light, as the great light so that there will be two great lights. In this way, the created being will reach the same level, perception, and consciousness, and everything that the Creator wants for him. This is the adhesion of the created being with the Creator.
[65721]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, The Zohar

Related Material:
It’s Hard Being Human…
The Soul Of Every Living Thing
The Path To The Upper Oneness

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, My Similarity to the Creator, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Does our request to the Creator become stronger because we repeat it many times?

Answer: We advance only thanks to our requests. If we want to hasten our advancement, we have to learn to ask! Because there are no other actions in spirituality but to raise a request (raise MAN), all our actions are aimed at raising our first prayer to be accepted Above.

It’s like writing to some organization or to a girl you’re in love with. You send her letter after letter, until she finally answers you. But if she answered your 100th letter, you can’t say that she answered that letter necessarily. She answered all your 100 letters that influenced her! It doesn’t mean that you could have sent her this 100th note and that’s all.

This is how we develop. All these years you develop in order to finally raise MAN, a prayer, to stabilize the right request and only that. All the previous rehearsals were so that you would feel and discover exactly for what you should ask. The Light doesn’t need that, but you do! You’re doing that for yourself and by that you are creating your vessel, your desire, and then the Light will come and correct it.
[65301]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/12, Shamati #240

Related Material:
At The Peak Of Intention
Light For All Those Lying In The Dust
A Prayer, Growing Secretly In The Heart

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Prayer and Intention, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: It is said that before rising onto the highest level, Rabbi Shimon fell into the state of “Shimon from the market.” What “market” is this?

Answer: “Shimon from the market” lives like a Rothschild. He has everything he wishes in this world: power, money, honor, longevity, and so forth…it is just a dream. However, he feels that he is at the lowest level at that point.

Indeed, the market seller wishes to become a Rothschild, and this is exactly the state that Rabbi Shimon fell into. It is an ascent for you while, for him, it is a descent.

We are talking about a qualitative evaluation here. Rabbi Shimon had water and the carob tree, while Shimon from the market had a table overflowing with food. So, what is he suffering from? Why does he feel so low?

He is suffering from a loss of spiritual consciousness. He has everything except what is most important. Shimon from the market provided for himself for the rest of his life, yet he does not feel happy.

The point here is that Rabbi Shimon understands the abyss that lies between him and Shimon from the market, and he does not agree to it. He is feeling even more hurt by the fact that he feels this way himself.

Shimon from the market is always full. He sells his goods and in the evening he returns home satisfied, having everything he needs in life. The wife, the kids, and everything else are in order. Everyone is healthy. There is no shortage of anything.

However, when Rabbi Shimon falls into such a state, he feels that he has nothing behind all of this abundance. He cannot stand this life. Each moment of it is hell. For him, this is not life.
[65393]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/11, “The Peace”

Related Material:
Don’t Skip The Steps, You Will Need Them Later
“To Proclaim Your Truth In The Night”
Towards Spirituality Through This World

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Q&A, Suffering - 1 Comment →

Baal HaSulam: “The Freedom”: The truer and more developed views are never in the hands of the collective in authority, but rather in the hands of the weakest, that is, in the hands of the indistinguishable minority. This is because every wisdom and everything precious comes into the world in small quantities. Therefore, we are cautioned to preserve the views of all the individuals, due to the collective’s inability to tell wrong from right among them.

All of creation makes up one Partzuf which is divided into five levels of coarseness (Aviut). The Lights are dressed in it in the reverse order: The greatest Light is dressed in the purest vessels, the weakest ones. This is also reflected in the structure of human society: The smallest, weakest Lights are typical of the coarsest forces and the strongest ones, while the greatest Lights are in the upper levels, those that have the greatest forces but are the finest.

The potential of a mechanical collision is negligible compared to the intensity of an atomic explosion in which sublter processes take place. So obviously, in one kilogram of an atom bomb there is much greater energy than in many tons of ordinary explosives. It all depends on the quality of the material, not on the quantity.

So the individual and the general are opposite to each other. But they are within one structure and thus have to complement one another. This way, in whatever relates to the general, one must take after the collective, while in whatever relates to the particular and the picture as a whole, it is namely an individual who examines it, and so one should take after the individual.

This contradiction is only an apparent one. When we understand that it is one form, we immediately see what belongs to what, meaning to what important people have to lower themselves by caring for their people, and to what the people have to lower their heads and listen to the great ones.

First and foremost, we must acknowledge the fact that we are all united by one form (Partzuf). Later we will be able to understand the principles of mutual dependency and its parts and the cooperation between them on the way to the general success.

First we must realize that we are all connected to one whole. No “poverty line” can divide us into upper and lower. No one can look at others indifferently and pretend that it doesn’t concern him. This means that we can’t “break” anyone, on the contrary, everyone should be taken into account and we should understand that we cannot manage without one another. Our success doesn’t depend on oppression but rather on mutual completion.
[65735]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, “The Freedom”

Related Material:
Switching To Bestowal
Turning Many Into One
Simplicity On The Outside, Unity On The Inside

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Free Will, Integral Upbringing, Mutual Guarantee, Society - 1 Comment →

It is common knowledge that before one begins to study the wisdom of Kabblah, he must first study all the books of the Torah, Talmud, and Mishna as if to enter the “Pardess” gradually: to start from the simple explanation—Pshat, then to go on to the hint—Remez, then to allegory—Drush, and finally to the secret—Sod.

Actually, however, the order is the opposite: It means that a person goes from Sod, from the first level in which he still doesn’t understand anything, to Pshat in which everything is revealed to him clearly and simply in the world of Atzilut.

We need to go through the worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, and Atzilut to change from secret (Sod)—the world of Assiya, to allegory (Drush)—the world of Yetzira, to hint (Remez)—the world of Beria, and to simple interpretation (Pshat)—the world of Atzilut. It turns out that the Kabbalistic books are a simple interpretation (Pshat) because they reveal to us what is really going on and are closer to the truth, to the source, because they speak directly about the Light and the desires.

In all the other forms such as the Bible, the Mishna, and the Talmud, this revelation was concealed. Therefore in our days it is possible to start studying Kabbalah directly.

Furthermore, in the past there were additional levels on the way to spiritual revelation because it was impossible to start studying the wisdom of Kabbalah without acquiring all the corporeal sciences, the “seven wisdoms of the world.” The wisdoms weren’t just physics or chemistry, but also music, dancing, art, etc., the ways of man expressing himself in our world.

It was impossible to start studying the relationships between the desire and the Light, the internal mechanism, without knowing how the desire receives and is impressed by the Light and expresses itself in our world. It is only from such a distant external form that a person would gradually approach the internal revelation.

So until today we see many customs and external rituals in all the religions and beliefs. They are the external expressions of the internal experiences of man.

After all, how can a person in this world blindly approach spirituality? First he needs to make an acquaintance with what is going on here, and with the help of the external forms, to try to penetrate the material more deeply, like water seeping through sand. This is how people reached spiritual attainment in the past.

We don’t understand how a person perceived reality in the past and in what a time we are privileged to live. After all the previous generations and the development of the Reshimot (the informational genes), we are at such an advanced phase today in which anyone can come straight from the street and start studying books like “The Study of the Ten Sefirot” or “Shamati“!
[65508]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/12, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Related Material:
The Physics Of A Wider World
When The Hidden Becomes Revealed
Kabbalah Uses The Most Precise Language

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: We are presenting a new ideology to humanity: the transition from separation and competition to unity and mutual concern in order to provide for the vital necessities and social needs of every person. This means that we need to offer people a new paradigm of social relationships. What will attract them to it? What will happen to the huge mass of people who will be left without jobs or will be working only part-time?

Answer: They will learn to take part in different activities geared toward gradually acquiring the desire of the human level and its fulfillment.

Question: But they don’t want this….

Answer: They wish to live and enjoy in addition to providing for their basic needs. Every person has a large vessel of desire. Its lower part pertains to the essential needs—let’s call them as a whole “food.” This is the animate degree, the desires that have to do with food, sex, and family.

Above that are the so-called “extras”: desires for wealth, honor, and knowledge, which pertain to the human degree. And here I am told, “You need to fill this whole part with bestowal to the neighbor. Everything you wanted before now needs to be directed to benefit others. Only in this manner will you be able to receive fulfillment in this part of the vessel.

Today people live in order to satisfy their own needs. One’s basic needs will be satisfied, but in all other respects a person will experience emptiness: “My body is satisfied, but now what?” One no longer receives anything extra due to the crisis. This pertains to even those at the top since they too live from the profits that will vanish as the economic bubble deflates.

So from what can I receive pleasure as a human being? I ate and now what? And this is where a replacement of fulfillment will occur. While previously everyone wished to stand out, show how good, strong, and wealthy he was so that others would envy him, now this no longer will be the case. The terrestrial globe is not meant to eternally provide for these games of ours. From now on, fulfillment of the human degree will be achieved by caring for humanity. We can no longer scoop away from each other; now, on the contrary, we need to fill each other.

This is the only solution and it is offered to us by the science of Kabbalah. You can fulfill everyone, yourself included, for the sake of bestowal; and for the sake of reception, you will not be able to fill yourself even a tiny little bit.
[65732]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, “The Freedom”

Related Material:
The Transition To Bestowal As A Natural Process
Closed Societies And Integral Education
The Need For a Contemporary Understanding Of The world

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Economy, Education, Free Will, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Our dissemination should be simple: We need to bring humanity to a realization of the fact that the present economy is collapsing due to reasons that are beyond our control, due to objective circumstances. No one is to blame; this stage is implanted in the nature of human society itself, and it is meant to unite us and cause us to create a new integral society that will live according to laws of mutual guarantee.

First we begin to study, and meanwhile our thought process and approach change: From narrow and straight they become complex. And then we begin to understand how to build systems of interaction among people, business partners, systems of government, and so on.

But first of all is learning: an integral education. As Baal HaSulam writes, up to three generations may be required before humanity begins to practically build a new society. That’s how much time is needed for a person to realize the changes and begin to think differently.

But until then, we will live by producing everything that is necessary for our basic needs and gradually advancing to an integral worldview. The crisis will do away with all the overabundance and lower us to the level of producing the vitally necessary goods. It is already clear: Rising unemployment in a single complex world economy gradually takes away profits from everyone, including those at the top. Yachts, diamonds, and huge bank accounts—all this will disappear. Whether we want it or not, the world will come to a different economy.

And we, in turn, need to prepare every person for the upcoming turn of events as much as we can. Of course we need to explore how to build the new economy, but generally it will construct itself. After all, the economy is a replica of the interconnection between people. The financial and economic system is essentially a copy of our egoism. Therefore, by changing ourselves we will automatically begin to change our relationships in all spheres, including the economic.

We don’t need sharp movements. We don’t need to speed up the wave. We don’t need revolutions or methods of force. Everything will occur naturally; it is precisely as Baal HaSulam wrote in “The Works of the Last Generation”: “The concept of collectivism needs to catch up and ripen in the human mind in no less than three full generations of peace and mutual agreement. Thus the world has yet to experience many rotations and experiments before it reaches the final stage. And there is no simpler path for the maturing of ideas than the path of Kabbalah.”
[65725]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, “The Freedom”

Related Material:
Switching To Bestowal
100% Bestowal Already Today
Mutual Guarantee Above Our Differences

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Economy, Education, Free Will, Integral Upbringing, Kabbalah Dissemination, Mutual Guarantee - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” Item 119: The lights of David’s Malchut depict the depiction to the degrees from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, where there is no face of a man. That is, the degrees from Chazeh and below rise and become included in David’s Malchut, which is the face of a man from Chazeh and above.

A depiction means a level of some degree. Depicting is like mating because in a Zivug, the degrees come out in the proper depiction according to the quality of that Zivug, to correct the depiction of all those who are included in the face of a man, in an inner depiction.

Within creation there are four types of desire: still, vegetative, animate, and human. They develop step by step because the Creator’s intention is to bring this creature through the still, vegetative, and animate levels to such a developmental degree that it desires to become human. After all, the creature doesn’t become human naturally, as Nature or the Creator would make it happen. No, the human depiction is revealed in this creature only as a result of preliminary understanding, comprehension, desire, efforts, and pleas—everything that stems from itself. That’s the only way it happens!

That is why this development is gradual. Little by little, over the course of tens of thousands of years’ worth of our development throughout history, on all our preceding and very distant degrees, we essentially “sow” within the inner qualities of perception, so that today in our generation, they would awaken and help us to realize our purpose. Indeed, at the human level we must resolve for ourselves the form and manner in which we must grow, why it must be this way and not that—to truly mold “from a piece of marble” something that didn’t exist before, something that has never been mentioned anywhere and lacks any kind of example.

I need to come to know the Creator, and then fashion out of myself, out of this “piece of marble,” the same form accordingly. And the Creator doesn’t reveal Himself in this process, for if He would reveal himself, I would only take from Him something superficial. Whereas I need to study Him, dig down to reveal the inner essence, from my very innermost desires and across the depths of all my degrees—still, vegetative, animate, and human. And then I am to decide whether or not to become similar to the Creator, for this is completely opposite to what I desire initially. Building a human is very hard and meticulous work that takes tremendous attention to every detail. This is precisely the work we study in the Book of Zohar, in the Chapter “Two Great Luminaries.”
[65714]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, The Zohar

Related Material:
Before A Critical Ascent
The Accelerating Human
Man Does Not Give Up

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Evolution, Inner Work, Spirituality, Zohar - No Comments →

Opinion: (Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, is former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission): “European leaders are working feverishly to create what German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling a ‘fiscal union’ to restore private investor confidence in Europe and rekindle growth. Unfortunately, what she advocates will thrust Europe into a deeper economic crisis and leave European leaders without the fiscal and monetary policy tools necessary to combat recessions.”

My Comment: But no one knows how to solve these problems, or everyone acts as if they do know. In any case, we need more time to become aware that our egoism, envy, and pride are elements of our evil nature and to realize the necessity to unite for the sake of our survival.
[65670]

Related Material:
How To Avoid The “Zombification” Of Europe
2012: A Decisive Year For Europe
Bleak Prospects For 2012

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, World - No Comments →