There are two feelings simultaneously getting along together inside of a desire to enjoy: above reason and inside reason. Inside reason, I develop the perception of the vessel, desires, and above reason, the perception of Light.

I join the whole world to this desire and I do not separate this world from the spiritual one. I perceive everything as one whole and I relate it to matter, which is impressed by the Creator. I need to feel it with my matter, so that the whole of the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels, which I now feel, and which will yet be revealed to me in all of the upper world, all of this belongs to me, my vessel, my matter, my Malchut.

While the Light—the Creator’s actions, the upper force, fulfilling, bringing to life, and controlling—remains above the perception of my vessel. However, all of this is also attained inside of me and is not left somewhere high up there in the unknown.

“A judge has no more than what his eyes see.” We only talk about matter and form clothed in matter. Matter is the desire of the whole of humanity (it is not important, whether it understands it yet or not), and of all of the upper worlds as well. While the form clothed in matter is the Light filling the desire or the quality of bestowal clothed in the quality of receiving.

I relate to the quality of bestowal as much higher above reason as possible. I want for it to become manifested in me from the highest possible level of faith “above reason” acting in my matter, which must be clarified as accurately as possible “inside reason.”

However, both of these actions are inside of me and there is nothing else besides this: the matter and the form. Matter is the desire to enjoy, while the form, which it takes on, is the form of bestowal. I relate to the first one inside reason, while I relate to the latter one above reason.
[70807]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/12, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Rising Above Knowledge
What Is That In Your Hands: A Rod Or A Serpent?
Faith Above Reason Is Bestowal Above Reception

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 87: As long as one has not been awarded the complete, clear, and absolute attainment, love is completely beyond one’s ability, since it depends on the understanding of the heart, and no labor or coercion will help here.

Obviously, what you are told and what you think is not enough. Sometimes, a person imagines that he has already attained love and infinity. It happens to everybody. How can we tell such illusions from reality? How can we check whether it is in fact a spiritual revelation?

Revelation means that a person has obtained the property of bestowal. He checks himself and acknowledges his love for the created beings and his group; he sees that he attains the Creator (that is, the property of bestowal “clothed” in him) from within, due to the general interconnection between his friends. Hence, he feels that he rises above his egoism, the receiving desire, by staying in touch with it, but at the same time being outside of it.

At this time, he is comprised of two parts:

• the previous body: egoism, the desire for pleasures;
• the new body: the desire to bestow that includes the power of giving, which eventually becomes his soul. He lives in it and wants to expand it.

Both parts exist as one and cannot live without each other. They can be compared to dumbbells: A person feels that he is torn between its two parts, two spheres, and brings them into balance. At first, step by step, he annuls one of these two parts and enhances the other. As a result, additional power is being given to the left part; it becomes heavier and triggers an adequate enhancement of bestowal. As a result, the magnitude of both parts grows, and a person advances as if stepping in turn on each foot: The desire grows on the left side and bestowal develops on the right side.

These efforts lead to revelation that occurs in the middle, thanks to the “thickness” (Aviut) and purity (Zakut) of the desire. Besides, a person understands that in order to reveal anything, he needs its lower part—his egoistic desire, resistance. He starts to value resistance since with its help he connects his Aviut with the desire to bestow and from the two layers creates a screen (Masach), on which spiritual images appear.
[69404]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/9/2012, “Introduction to TES”

Related Material:
How Can You Resist Love?
The Privilege To Love
An Echo Of Love

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

Question: Why do we speak only about the feeling of deficiency? Why do we forget what is expected at the end of the process, about the benefits we will reap?

Answer: In other words: “What will I get from all this?”

Actually, this is also true: We have to increase the importance of bestowal in our eyes. It is called “Lo Lishma” (for oneself). Because on one hand, I want to reach the goal, absolute bestowal, in which my “self” will dissolve leaving no traces, and on the other hand, where can I get fuel for that? How can I make even one step towards that which simply annuls me?

Therefore, we should nevertheless imagine something related to receiving. We cannot advance without it. So lie to yourself, but as if to a third party, as if you are lying to someone else. “Yes, I am advancing towards selfless bestowal, I will have nothing, I don’t need anything, I only want to be incorporated in others, to love others without any consideration of myself, without any benefit for myself…. But on the other hand, I will feel wonderful, I will attain the spiritual world, eternity, and perfection.”

Lie to yourself so as not to remain powerless. And it isn’t really a lie because the Creator is good and benevolent and the goal of creation is pleasure. But it is pleasure in such desires that do not seem attractive at all today.

Besides, as Baal HaSulam says, we should keep the balance between the force of reception and the force of bestowal. I should give as much as I receive. By doing so I bring all of nature to balance and this balance is the healthiest state. It is about our health, about the ecology, as well as about human society and family life. Instead of getting divorced, people will live together in peace and raise children. A person will rise above his short life and will see the whole infinite process, the great path, part of which he is travelling now.

When you reach balance with nature, your eyes open and you see everything. So start balancing yourself now, look for the balance between reception and bestowal with yourself, with the friends, with the family, and with the world. This is because you are discovering one of the 125 degrees, the lowest degree, the zero level.

All our history, all our evolution, brings us to the state in which the imbalance is revealed openly. Everything may be expected in the future: plagues, wars, and so on. It is all meant to show you how imbalanced you are. Many scientists are already talking about the need for balance (homeostasis).

So balance yourself in the present state, and you will rise to the next degree. There again you will have to balance things. Eventually you will see that all this is one complex, nature, the Creator, one force. Then it will be easier to reach balance with it. This is all our work.

So whoever wants to be healthy, satisfied, and happy should establish balance.
[69437]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/2012, “The Peace”

Related Material:
No Point Bluffing
Bestowal Without Reward
When The Creator Is Near

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Can we discuss everyday life problems in the integral education course, connecting them each time to integrality?

Answer: If we’re saying that the general and the particular are equal, it means that we can tie this to family. Very much so! In other words, you immediately transform from a classroom, a group, into a family and establish integral conditions within in.

At the same time, nobody probes into another’s private world. What we’re doing is creating a family, something common above us where you and me are we. Then we automatically connect children to it and they, too, become part of this integral system. Completely new relationships within a family arise.

The most important thing is not to pressure anyone because normal, correct development requires an inner harmony between a person and their inborn qualities. I shouldn’t conceal, destroy, and diminish them, or anything else of that nature. I need to reach such a state where, conversely, my inborn qualities will blossom in me completely.

We don’t understand why we should preserve all our negative qualities: deception, envy, jealousy, hatred, a hundred types of fears, and so on. But they all have their resolution, their realization precisely in this final state. As a person develops, he gradually sees that these qualities are necessary for him, that he applies them, except in the opposite form, when these fears force him to be integral and bring him “outside of himself,” instead of pushing him inward.
[69309]
From a “Talk About Integral Education” #8, 12/14/11

Related Material:
Escaping From The “Cage” Of Stereotypes
A Baby Stroller That Fell From Heaven
Don’t Bother Me In My Comfortable Dungeon!

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: The majority of people aren’t capable of expressing their thoughts and desires. They simply have a collection of some prescribed clichés. A person doesn’t think about self-expression and instead is concerned with avoiding saying something inappropriate.

In the course of integral education, can we talk about how important one’s inner self-expression is since whatever one feels, thinks, and sees is more critical than the collection of stereotypes and clichés?

Answer: I approach the world seeing that everyone has blinders on: People are unsociable, they don’t want and are afraid to open up because they will immediately receive a negative reaction.

In this regard, we need to leave them alone. Let every person live “inside himself” just the way that they are. We don’t need to break him, don’t need to drag him, kicking and screaming, out of his “cage.” He doesn’t want to come out, yet you open the door, break it down, and drag him out of there, while the miserable fellow digs in his heels and refuses to leave.

This is not good. Through this you invoke resistance, and people stop trusting you. You barge into a person’s private life making it neither lighter nor better, just more difficult. This person spent their entire life hiding, he or she knows that opening up means making oneself vulnerable. And here you are, pressuring them.

What needs to be done? We need to create a common integral level above the person, above us, and then we will be able to peacefully ascend onto it. I remain as myself with my own qualities, but at the same time I connect with the others on this common level. I can talk about general love, general interaction, and universal mutual guarantee because in this case they are not egoistic and personal to me. We are not touching egoism yet.

It is as if you’re taking them on an adventure on a magic helicopter and they participate in this game. They agree to ascend, agree to play, agree to interact. This isn’t forcing them to open up and allowing themselves to be vulnerable; it doesn’t pose a threat to their narrow inner egoism.

Allow them to gradually feel this state through, to exist and linger in it for some time. Let them warm up in it a little, to thaw, “squeeze,” and “probe” each other, to understand that this is possible. Then, from within this state, they will begin to influence themselves on their own and you will see that they’re different.

They will suddenly discover that they don’t need to take care of this “cage” in which they exist and in which they constantly hid from the others; it stopped being important to them. But this is something that they’ll decide on their own.

Question: In that case what should we talk to a person about?

Answer: About the goal, about what’s ahead of us. We need to exalt the goal so that goodness beckons us forward instead of evil pushing us from behind. Precisely this!

A person develops when you feed them, when you take care of them. Then he becomes “plump,” like a child, and grows. He requires the kindest possible impressions.
[69312]
From a “Talk About Integral Education” #8, 12/14/11

Related Material:
Harmony With Oneself
A Baby Stroller That Fell From Heaven
Don’t Bother Me In My Comfortable Dungeon!

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: There was an incident when in a group psychotherapy discussion one woman said that she cannot allow herself to bear a child because she won’t be able to support it, to afford to even buy a baby stroller, to which one man replied: “You give birth to that baby, and you’ll see that someone will bring you the baby stroller, they’ll give it to you and all will be well.”

In an integral society, while a person is pursuing his correction, sooner or later he will arrive at a point where nature will supply him with everything. How can this be explained to a person? Should a woman be thinking about a baby stroller before she bears a child, or should she first give birth and then see what happens?

Answer: The fact of the matter is that we cannot tell a person about the system that exists above him. We strive towards it—it is the system of “Adam.” In many techniques and practices people take advantage of the fact that they aspire towards its level and attempt to draw the forces from the future upon themselves. But to tell a person that they need to act in a certain way, to aspire towards it, and they will see that it works, it is all unsubstantiated at a given moment, and this is why it is difficult for us to work with this.

To the extent that a person includes himself into the integrality of society that creates a field of mutual guarantee around him, to that extent he can act in this manner because he feels himself in the arms of society. But for that he needs to connect to it, to actively participate in it, and to perceive this society as perfect. And then naturally he will evoke the forces of nature and the movements from society, which will indeed bring him a “baby stroller.”

But to talk about the fact that we exist in this single unified field, that we evoke it, and that correspondingly, it reacts to us… Certainly, psychologists and sociologists can talk about this. That really is something that we can understand and sense exists: This is our collective mind, our collective desire, our subconscious influence on each other, the common opinion. But we still need to work carefully with it because we are dealing with people who aren’t capable of immediately perceiving these subtle matters.

Therefore to simply say “Just give birth and you’ll receive a stroller…”  Where from, exactly? What are you basing this on? With this you will simply discredit yourself in the eyes of others as an impractical  person, someone who is detached from reality. I don’t think that this is the right approach.

First and foremost, we need upbringing, and the practical application comes a little later. We need to lead people to the point where they are able to see what your basis is and they can begin to suggest solutions on their own. Don’t impose certain behavior on them. They will see for themselves based on your explanations that here it will probably work out.

And this is what is referred to as “educate your child according to his ways,” that is, make it so that a person will probe and feel out his own path. You educate him or her, and thus they choose their path correctly.
[69316]
From a “Talk About Integral Education” #8, 12/14/11

Related Material:
Harmony With Oneself
Escaping From The “Cage” Of Stereotypes
Don’t Bother Me In My Comfortable Dungeon!

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Writings of Rabash “When Is One Called the Work of the Creator in the Work”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “Moses and Two Messiahs,” Item 247, Lesson 70
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 6, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 17, Lesson 30
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 101, Lesson 47
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2012-02-26_declamation_blog-rav_full_mus.mp3 title=’26.2.12′]

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

We have come back from the convention in the Arava desert, where we rose to a very high level and began to feel the real essence of the group. From now on, we can look at the whole world, all of reality, all of life through this group, so everything taking place in this world will be a result, an imprint of our connection with one another.

In reality, Kabbalah says that first there was a single reality, one spiritual system. Then it broke into many parts, which feel that they are separated and do not belong to one another, that they are unconnected.

Next, this sensation of a lack of connection disappears as well and is replaced by the opposite feeling: the desire to use others in every way possible, since they seem completely alien to me, and to mercilessly exploit them for one’s own benefit. Because of this, our desire started being called egoistic.

Accordingly, I began seeing a different reality: Instead of the spiritual one, where everything within my field of vision was connected together and was mine, the world became disconnected, partitioned, fragmented, and threatening to one another. And it was so to such an extent that I began perceiving all these parts as not living in my heart, but as external, felt through vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. It’s as if they are living their own life, separate from me, and therefore I can use them. There is me and there is them. That is how we start relating to one another.

We have to return from this broken state to the sensation that everything assembles together again, connects, grows closer, depends on one another, and connects one with the other. Reality becomes closer to me and enters my feelings, uniting into one whole. Then I begin to see that there is a group of people in it who are close to me in spirit, and in connection to this, are called my friends. Together, we make joint efforts, trying to unite and to really become the image of one man with one heart.

This kind of unity is called mutual guarantee. Like in a human body where all organs are connected together and work in total harmony, we too want to unite our thoughts, hearts, and all our actions so all of this would exist as a single organism, one system.

We see that the whole world is also moving closer to this opinion and understanding, even though it is doing so under the influence of material blows, which are far from the spiritual goal. But we want to help everyone else come closer and turn into our partners in seeing the causes of what is happening, so we would all unite together.

Then we will understand that all of human history is a goal-oriented process, leading us only to unity. As we advance toward unity, we will begin to see that the world was not created of iron and stone, the way it appears today in our five senses, but that it submits to one goal, one process. Everything else is just matter that carries out actions according to one program, which aspires to bring everything back to a single form.

The more we yearn for this program ourselves and desire to become active, involved, sensitive, and useful participants in it, the more we bring our consciousness and involvement to a higher level, thus bringing ourselves and the whole world to unity.
[71037]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/26/12, “Purpose of Society”

Related Material:
Assembling The World From Its Shattered Parts
You Will See Your World In Your Life Time
The Pyramid Of Mutual Guarantee

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Unity - 1 Comment →

Question: Our goal is adhesion with the Creator; it is the top priority for all of us. According to the law of equivalence of form, the goal itself already unites us. But we see that this is not enough in order to advance, and that we should make greater efforts in connecting. Are these efforts the only means we have to advance towards the goal, or are there other means?

Answer: First of all, the end of the action is in the initial thought. The final result is adhesion with the Creator. That means that we have to be in equivalence of form with Him, because adhesion is achieved only according to the equivalence of form.

Equivalence of form means to be like Him. Like Him is pure bestowal. That means that I have to go through the phases of correction in which I gradually advance towards the state of “like Him.” For Him it is 100% bestowal and for me it is expressed in receiving in order to bestow, which is the highest level. Below that there is to bestow in order to bestow. But now, I am even further below, in bestowal in order to receive and even in receiving in order to receive.

On my present level, instead of discovering unity, the connection, the one system of souls called “Adam,” in which I feel the Creator and all His bestowal, His whole appearance, I discover a shattered, confused, and destroyed world. But I should understand that it was given to me like a Lego to construct, like a puzzle to put together. After all, “one sees through his own flaws”: I see before me this shattered world; because I am broken, so it seems to me that the world is broken.

So I have to view everything before me as a copy of my internal system, my feeling and mind—to the extent I am broken, I see this world as broken—instead of seeing in it only the upper divine system that operates and exists in it.

This means that all our work should be aimed from the inside out because everything that seems to be existing on the outside is the imprint of my internal attributes. I need to correct myself, and then the world will be corrected. It isn’t as “world reformers” claim that we should carry out this or that reform. There is nothing to do in the world except for disseminating the method of correction and integral education.

Actually, when I disseminate and deal with education, I also take care of the parts of my soul, which at the moment I feel as detached from me. Therefore, I should take care of them this way, as if they are on the outside, and bring them the knowledge, and the method of education. But then, I discover that everyone is like my group, inseparable parts of the one, unified system, together with me.

Therefore, we should try to see the whole world internally. After all, it is all one, one whole; there is no this world and the spiritual world, but rather one system that in the meantime seems to me to be out of order. So what should I do in order to see it as one vessel? This is what our actions are aimed at. If we approach our work plans this way, our dissemination, our internal work, and the different connections among us—we will succeed.
[70997]
From  the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/26/12, “The Purpose of Society”

Related Material:
Common Trophies From The Military Operation In The Desert
Returning To The Truth
Don’t Be Afraid To Be Infected If You Want To Be Charged

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