Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2012-02-06_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’6.2.12′]

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

We are in a state where precisely the “prayer of the pauper” can save us. This means that a person has nothing and he does not need anything, besides one thing – to revive his soul. He does not ask for anything beyond this.

We are going out to the desert, which reflects our inner state, because the desert is poverty. And we don’t desire anything, other than to acquire the point of contact with the Creator, to revive our soul.
In return we can receive all the benefits of our current level, instead of the drop of unity with the higher level, which is always called the Creator for the lower level, creation.

We lack desire for the higher level, a desire just to unite with the upper one, to feel that we are inside of Him like a drop of semen that begins to develop.

This should be our intention while reading The Book of Zohar.
[68865]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/12, The Zohar

Related Material:
“I Seek My Brothers”
The Prayer Of The Poor
A Request That Does Not Need An Answer

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Prayer and Intention, Spirituality, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Let us say that we have gathered a group of people and are teaching them integrated unity. Sometimes several people wish to express their opinion simultaneously. But I interrupt everyone because I want for everyone to listen to me. This is an egoistic action because people are obligated to listen to me. How do you make it altruistic?

Answer: The action itself does not matter. The main thing is to create the right connection between people! Then they will probably interact properly and any of their actions will occur as desired. This becomes realized during the process of education.

At first the entire integrated upbringing course curriculum must be completed: who we are, what we are, what is our freedom of will, and what is the influence of the environment. Practical work begins once a person acquires a certain amount of knowledge.

Question: When two people are interacting, is it possible to show that one person is using his egoism and acting in an integral manner, while another person is acting egoistically?

Answer: This depends on the inner state.

Let us look at a surgeon for example. “He is cutting a person! Is this for real?” Show this image to someone out of our world, who does not understand these actions and he will immediately either stop the surgeon or kill him. And a lot of money is paid for this surgery.

Every medicine is poison, but its proper use makes it a medicine. The symbol of medicine is a biting snake! This means that even subconsciously a person understands and sees that everything negative in nature can be used in a very positive way, and it only depends on us. This is why the view of an unprepared person will not explain anything.

Sometimes parents punish a child by spanking him. Of course sometimes nowadays, they cross the line. But when it is done from the point of view of education, upbringing, when the child needs to be kept from hurting himself, it is best for me to smack him and use this way to prevent him from harming himself. So it is necessary to know this entire system of relationships.

I think that the main problem with modern psychology is that first it needs to introduce upbringing. The psychologist needs to educate his patients. But he has no time for this he only has a little advice. Of course they do make certain adjustments, but not drastic changes.
[67866]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” #7 12/14/2011

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing - 1 Comment →

Question: Public opinion is a very powerful educational tool. How can we use this tool in groups in integral upbringing? What do we encourage? How do we bring out the desired behavior which corresponds to integrality?

Answer: We take time during discussions and conversations to show examples of correct and incorrect behavior and interactions; we analyze the motives, the different subconscious and conscious incentives, ones that are instinctive and conscious: instinctive being those that come from nature, and instinctively acquired from the environment during the upbringing process when habit becomes second nature.

We try to separate all of this, explain where it comes from, why it comes from the past society in which we grew up, and why we now need to change, and especially why we need to change and reeducate our children.

But if the children continue to be educated in the same environment with the same adults, it will be another several generations until they change. What can we do to change our children now? To do it we are the ones who need to change first.

I think that the interactions between parents and children, love for children, the desire to give them a good new world is a very strong factor of influence on the adults. And it must impel us to make a change so that we do not just play at, but we will actually build a good society for our children.
[67856]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” #7 12/14/2011

Related Material:
Poison Is Not Always Bad
The Era Of Global Education
Is It Possible To Befriend A Mother-In-Law?

Filed under: Children, Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A, Society - 1 Comment →

Question: Will Europe become attractive to the world once again?

Answer: If it wakes up, shakes off the desperation and helplessness and begins to search aloud for a new path, then despite aging, decaying, and financial and cultural crises, it will become attractive once again, just like an awakening Phoenix bird.

Actually, the search for new ideology lies in integration in particular, and the example of unity of Europe will attract attention, sympathy, and interest for the whole world.

Question: Who is the Biblical ancestor of the nations of the world?

Answer: Adam HaRishon (the first man) had three sons: Seth, Cain and Abel. Abel had no children and was murdered by his brother, Cain. All of Cain’s descendants were killed in the flood. Seth’s descendants, Noah’s family, were saved from the flood and all of humanity came from them.
[68583]

Related Material:
Kids, Don’t Quarrel, Play Nicely!
A Time Of Change
Did Noah Really Exist?

Filed under: Q&A - No Comments →

Aspiration is something that goes beyond ordinary desire. Desire is given from Above. It becomes revealed within me and I begin to want something. Let’s say a desire to eat some soup has appeared within me. I realize this desire and fulfill myself. My “me” is totally absent here. A desire simply became revealed and it realized itself.

Aspiration is called something that originates not from my desire for the fulfillment that is currently given to me, but rather, it is an additional desire to give pleasure to the Host who gave me this soup. This additional desire appears above the fulfillment. After all, He also gave me this desire for the soup. I want to show that I want this soup because He is giving it to me. This is called an aspiration.

I discern that I received the desire from the Creator and that the fulfillment comes from Him too; all of this is in order to create a connection between us. However, I don’t want to receive this fulfillment in a direct form. I agree to receive it only for the sake of my attitude toward the Host. I make a restriction on the fulfillment that He brings to me, but this is also terrible because it’s like pushing away the Host. However, I’m going for it for the purpose of rising and using this fulfillment, but only because it comes from Him.

I reveal the aspiration for the soup and the desire for the soup itself, which comes from the Creator. I do it only after my decision to receive for His sake. This means to reveal “the initial point of the letter ‘Yod’,” the head of HaVaYaH, Keter.
[68648]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
A Wonderful Cake With Spiritual Filling
In Search Of Spiritual Hunger
What Is A Spiritual Necessity?

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

It is not by mere chance that we find ourselves standing opposite each other with nuclear bombs. Everyone hides a few thousand behind his back, in addition to all the types of weapons that fill satellites in space, and which are ready to fire off as soon as there is an order. Not by coincidence do we experience such aggravation and sorrow. All this is meant to bring us to the realization that we have no choice, and if we wish to reach a good life, we need to turn our relationships around completely.

In the middle, between love and hatred that lives among us, is the crisis! This crisis tells us, “You will not be able to survive on this planet if you don’t turn your hatred into love!” That is, if you don’t begin to trust each other in matters that pertain to atomic bombs, banks, and everything else, and if you fail to see this system as round and integral, since that is in fact precisely how it is whether you like it or not.

Understand that you simply have no other choice with the form in which this analog, integral, and completely interconnected system works that is filled with deadly weapons and hatred, you have to turn yourselves around! Otherwise, you will be left without as much as a slice of bread.

It no longer is just some personal problem that we can brush aside. You simply will not be able to provide the most essential things for survival.

The financial crisis is causing millions of protesters to come out to the streets now. The country itself could be very wealthy, such as Germany or the United States, but due to complete indifference toward each other, it will be impossible to provide a normal life for people who are jobless. They will go to the streets and destroy the whole country.

It doesn’t matter how much money and food resources the nation has hidden away. With the lack of sharing between us, we have a world where half of the population is dying of hunger, and half is throwing out more food than would be necessary to feed the other half. And they cannot come to a consensus with each other because they don’t think about each other.

Therefore, we see that we will not make it without reaching universal love. However, this word has already acquired a certain impure connotation, meaning sexual, false, or naive. Therefore, we can talk about complete mutual partnership: penetrating into another person’s desires, understanding what he needs, filling his necessities, and having concern for him. We must achieve this; otherwise, life on earth will come to an end.

If this is the general law of human survival, how can we begin to live in accordance with it? I need to organize all the thousands of desires that I have in order to not use them only for my own sake but to take into account the interests of others in each of my desires.

I need to be connected with the whole world. I don’t need to know what every person looks like, but there should be a feeling in me that we are all together and I am taking care of every person as though I am taking care of myself. I pour myself a cup of tea, and I worry about everyone else also having a cup of tea. And if others have no tea, to the extent that they desire it, I too will not take any tea for myself.

It is like a mother who cannot take care of herself until she feeds her child and ensures that he is full, healthy, and happy. She simply is unable to think about herself while he lacks something. We need to learn to reach this opposite state from the state of complete egoism.
[68668]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 6, 1/3/12

Related Material:
Israeli Bank Governor: “The Situation Is Difficult And Bad
If Love Is So Important, Then What Are We Waiting For?
Introductory Lecture: The Mutual Gaurantee

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Society, Zohar - No Comments →

The wisdom of Kabbalah only speaks of inner work, correction of the soul, revealing the Creator to the created, and all the images in its stories constitute different types of desire through which we view the world. The desire to bestow is called Israel, (Yashar-El, straight to the Creator). “Israel in exile” is the desire to bestow with an intention of self-benefit. “Nations of the world” are the egoistic desire to receive.

If the desire “Israel” is in exile, its intent becomes egoistic, meaning it becomes bestowal with the intent of “in order to receive.” Hence, Israel in exile can gain much greater benefit than the “Egyptians,” than the regular desires to receive. That is why it has been said that after the sons of Israel descended to Egypt, they multiplied, became rich, fattened, became important, and had plenty of onions, garlic, meat, and fish.

In other words, all desires received the filling they wanted. After all, they were working in bestowal in order to receive: They used the force of bestowal to benefit egoistically. And of course, they succeed more than “the nations of the world.” As it written, the nation of Israel mingled with the other nations, learned their ways, and achieved greater success because they know how to use bestowal even in order to receive.

That is why it is very difficult to exit the ego; it requires special work. A unique force is required to extract the egoistic desire to bestow from Egypt, the desire which is so advantageous to Pharaoh who can’t receive the same from his own people:  the simple, egoistic will to receive.

Israel on the other hand, work for their own benefit, using the spiritual force to fill their corporeal desires. Surely, the ego doesn’t want to lose them; they become the primary means for receiving its fulfillment, which can’t be received from anything else. Nothing can provide such great fulfillment.

And so, how can Israel’s desires become disconnected from the ego? They have to undergo two corrections because they work in bestowal with the intention of in order to receive, not just the Egyptians (the desire to receive), rather the will to bestow, which learned from them, hence, it fell even lower than Egypt. Egypt doesn’t have the option of using the force of bestowal for egoistic fulfillment.

Everything begins from the moment the Egyptian king dies and those desires that worked in bestowal for self-benefit suddenly stopped feeling fulfillment in that way. There’s nothing to work for any more; our king died, disappeared! That means, I stop feeling why I’m studying and working. I don’t see the reward any longer. And then, “And Israel cried out from the work.”

At first, we knew the purpose of our work; we worked hard and gained egoistically. We were faithful slaves of the ego and wanted nothing beyond that. And now, all of a sudden, hard work begins without the clarity of knowing why.  We don’t feel the purpose in egoistic bestowal: That is help arriving to us from Above. The development reaches a state in which we’re incapable of enjoying that, we cry out in desperation and then begin to search.

Indeed, if there’s nothing to enjoy, “This life is worse than death.” There’s no life, no sense of fulfillment. And if there’s no pleasure, a person is prepared to commit suicide, rather than feel the emptiness. Then the work of exiting Egypt begins, which lasts “many days.”
[68780]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/5/12, Shamati #159

Related Material:
Cut Pharaoh Off
The Front Brakes
Spiritual Assembly Line

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Inner Work, Prayer and Intention - No Comments →

Question: At what stage should we introduce students who study through virtual courses of the Education Center to veteran students and the groups?

Answer: I don’t think it’s possible to restrict this connection in any way. In general, it’s best not to intervene; it should occur by itself. And certainly some of our experienced friends need to assist the teacher in working with new students, by giving lectures, answering their questions, and helping establish communications with them. However, the veterans need to be careful not to show themselves as “big” since by doing so they would undermine the image of the teacher in the eyes of the students and prevent them from the possibility of learning in the correct manner.

It is possible only to learn from a “great man.” Conversely, if you think he is small, then you are already the teacher and he is the student. Thus, it is very important that the assistants don’t stand out, but remain as assistants to the teacher and display a respect for the teacher. They will set an example for the students and will elevate respect for the teacher in their eyes, and this will help the students receive more from him.

After all, in the wisdom of Kabbalah, the material is comprehended according to the importance of the teacher. The more the student annuls himself before the teacher, thus he will be considered a better student. We are not talking here about knowledge that I comprehend with intelligence, but specifically about how I see myself as small in comparison to the teacher, or the teacher as great in comparison to myself. The greater the gap between us, the more abundance will descend on me. There is no measurement for abundance in itself. I define its intensity precisely according to the same greatness that I elevate the teacher in my eyes. This is very important. The assistants need to correctly build the relationship of the new students to the teacher. Success depends on this.
[68767]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/5/12, Learning Kabbalah

Related Material:
How To Start Hearing The Teacher
Spirituality Cannot Be Expressed In Words
“Things That Come From The Heart, Enter The Heart”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Q&A, Spiritual Teacher - 1 Comment →

Question: If I try to become integrated, will I be guaranteed a good life?

Answer: Of course. There is nothing better than obtaining harmony with nature, which evokes all of the forces upon you. If you exist in harmony with these forces then you enter a state of absolute comfort.

We have never experienced such a state before. Our lives consist of running from great suffering toward lesser suffering. We can’t even imagine what a comfortable state means. What it can mean is that I no longer feel my body. Do you understand this? The only reason we feel our bodies is because we’re in pain; otherwise, we wouldn’t feel them.

The state of total comfort takes away a person’s sensation of his body. The body sort of melts away from his perception, as though it no longer exists.

Question: If this is so obvious then why aren’t people grasping this opportunity?

Answer: It is like a small child that doesn’t want to apply any effort, but the effort needs to by applied. We are trying to make this process easier by creating a good environment that will make the process simple, easy, and nice for the person who enters it. However, this requires great resources, as well a supranational organization that has these resources at its disposal.
From a “Talk About Integral Education” 12/16/11

Related Material:
Harmony That We Create Ourselves
Getting Acquainted With The Universal Mind
That Loud Word “Nature”

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing - No Comments →