Question: When you speak about our intention before reading The Zohar, you do not use the language of The Zohar or of the Sefirot. You speak about feelings, but the text that was written by Rabbi Aba in a concealed form doesn’t help us feel it.

Answer: On one hand, this is true. On the other hand, when we study about how Malchut rises to Bina and descends from there, and how AHP rises and descends, and how the souls rise, you can feel that although it is about the attributes on spiritual degrees. We already have some emotional response to words like the rising of Malchut to Bina, restriction, the small state (Katnut), the great state (Gadlut), Yenika, or Ibur. Although it is about the Sefirot, you still can add some feeling to it, even without having these attributes yet.

All these feelings are not real until we cross the Machsom (barrier). There is nothing we can do about that.

However, the writing styles and the descriptions of spirituality are very different. See how Ramchal and AGRA wrote, and how different they are from one another. Look at Baal HaSulam and Rambam. Rashi, who wrote commentary for the entire Tanakh, Peshat (simple) commentary, was a great Kabbalist. See how he expresses himself in ordinary, everyday language that is clearly understood by everyone. How he concealed himself!

You are asking why Rabbi Aba wrote The Zohar in such a concealed way, but he didn’t conceal anything. It says that Rabbi Aba knew how to reveal in secret. This is the revelation in the concealment (Megillat Esther). This doesn’t mean that he wrote anything. It is said that Rabbi Shimon spoke about what he attained, Rabbi Yossi and the other disciples heard and discussed the revelations, and Rabbi Aba heard everyone and wrote.

It isn’t a matter of manual writing. It is about how much each of them dressed himself in the collective revelation that they attained as a group, about how much each of them added clarifications since each one revealed the general attainment in his own personal attribute. And that’s how they eventually composed for us the steps of the ladder which we climb and advance. In fact, this is what the authors of The Zohar did.

There is the world of Infinity, and we have to start from our point of shattering, from the center of the sphere, from the dark. So, where are all the steps of the ladder that we have to climb? It is true that the Light descended from top down, along with the creation of the worlds and the steps of the ladder, and it is the Creator who did all that.

However, the authors of The Zohar fulfilled this process from the bottom up. This means that they wrote The Zohar, as it is written: “Write on the tablets of your heart.” Therefore, they also belong to the level of the forefathers, which extends from Adam to Abraham.

It is as if they paved a path through the forest for you. They have walked it ahead of you and cleared the way for you. They put up signs and carved steps on the steep slopes. They left the means for you to ease your way. This is what the authors of The Zohar actually did.

Then you are following their footsteps—and suddenly a thought from Rabbi Yossi, Rabbi Chiya, or Rabbi Aba crosses your mind. You feel that they were there before you and what they did at every point. This is what it called to write a book.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/2012, The Zohar

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Question: Suppose an unemployed person came to you and asked: “What exactly should I do?” How would you answer him?

Answer: I would say the following: I want to explain that you are not unemployed. Today families, countries, nations, the world, the entire human society, all of us are entering a completely different existence. We do not have to work for 10 hours a day, but rather we need to organize our life in a completely different way. Everyone inevitably will come to this; you’ll see that you are not alone.

In China, one million people are laid off daily, and this is escalating. The same happens in Europe and America. In Africa, people did not work and still do not work. In practice, we are approaching such a state when the notion of “jobless” or “unemployed” is erased. A person should create an environment where he will feel comfortable. If this requires work, then he will work; if it does not require work, then he will not. Work is not an end in itself.

Let’s think and discuss what should be the form of humanity if today billions of people are released from their work as something unnecessary, superfluous, and even harmful. I received a letter from my student who works in China. He has a large business selling Volkswagen cars, which are very popular in China. He writes: “We have not sold a single car since the beginning of the month. It is a disaster!” And they used to sell a hundred a day. Do you understand what is going on?

So, what can I do with an unemployed person who is standing in front of me crying? This is a natural trend in our evolution. Let us see where it leads and take the necessary steps to ensure that we do not feel inadequate because we do not work. Perhaps, it is not necessary to work. Maybe, all our work only harms nature, us, and the environment. It obviously destroys the environment and possibly us. What can we do that is more enjoyable instead of what we were doing before? This is what we can talk about.

We just need to show a person that this is an objective reality, and if he understands, then he will see that his life is getting better, not worse.
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From a “Talk  on Integral Education” #13, 12/18/11

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Question: Is the introduction of the integral education and upbringing a long process? How should we start it?

Answer: This is not a long process because in any case, we have to complete this path within the next 228 years if it occurs without our participation.

We already shortened it significantly. We can also make it shorter so we will go through it in the nearest future. It is quite possible! It depends only on us!

The shortening of the path is a repeated, accumulative process. It is impossible to even convey this: The difference is the same as between walking and flying on an airplane.
[73494] 
From “A Talk on Integral Education” #14, 12/18/11

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Question: Is my aversion towards a person a wonderful opportunity to create integrality?

Answer: Yes, of course. Let’s look at each other simply as we do with our good friends or our children and feel each other as a result of that. If I make an effort regardless of the fact that it’s unpleasant for me to listen to someone, then in spite of my antagonism and thanks to this effort, I will begin to feel him better. This means that I will have acquired a new instrument of perception. A person is pushing me away, but in spite of that I overcome the aversion by creating from the positive and the negative feelings inside of me a distinct instrument of entry into it, and I begin to feel it.

If I didn’t have the aversion towards it, it would be very difficult for me to make contact with it. I would have simply accepted what comes out of it in a pleasant form and would adapt it inside of myself according to my perception. But when I do it in an opposing way, it’s as if I am penetrating into this thickness, this force of overcoming, and then the contact with the person is created inside of me.

That’s why as we grow, the people who were previously pleasant to me are now suddenly being revealed to me as unpleasant, pushing me away from them, and vice versa, I am being averted from them. However, I understand that thanks to the opposition, I get the opportunity to penetrate deeper into them.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #13, 12/18/11

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Question: When a person asks you a question, you listen to him carefully, even if he speaks for a long time and is boring or talks nonsense. Why listen to the person’s opinion, and for what? One can tell that it’s important for you.

Answer: At times, I suddenly interrupt someone. I feel what a person needs to experience: either a somewhat scornful attitude from my side or on the contrary, collaboration, support, and respect, which would help him either from the good or the bad side so that he would consequently begin to respect himself, and so on. There are many reasons for my differentiated relationship towards everyone.

You observe me among the three hundred students with whom I have been building spiritual relationships throughout many years. These are not everyday, ordinary relationships, but on the teacher-student level.

I have a very strong motivation to push a person, to direct him, to lead him out of a state of descent, or on the contrary, to support, to strengthen him, to not let him descend—today, and tomorrow it may be different. All of this is very much “alive” and it is dictated by one’s inner situation at a given moment, meaning in what state a person is in and what is happening to him. It’s impossible to give a formula for this.

The motivation comes from inner feelings. Like an artist in a theater, getting into character, reckons that he has to perform one move here and another one there, and they let him do this because this comes from within him. It’s the same here.

Question: At the courses of integral education, is it important to listen to a person’s opinion, let him have his say? How is this regulated?

Answer: It depends upon what stage the group is in. If the group is at the beginning stage, the chatter may take hours. The group is being built gradually, people are getting used to each other. At first, we do not forbid breaking the group into parts or pulling it together. If the people become tired, we take breaks so that they can have a cup of coffee, smoke a cigarette, and so on.

Besides, at the very first lessons, entrance and exit is free for everyone. Suppose a person wants to relax a little, or something is pressuring, obliging, or stressing him, or maybe he remembered something that the situation may have brought up. A very smooth, liberal relationship is necessary here.

The only condition is that a person must not bother others. This is obligatory. That’s why all telephones are switched off so there won’t be any external distractions. We are trying to smooth out everything as much as possible. In everything else, each person enters the study in his own way and at his own rate.
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From “A Talk on Integral Education” #13, 12/18/11 

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Question: Each of us is getting ready for the Vilnius convention. How can we create an integral of all the collective efforts, which will unite them into a single whole?

Answer: Suppose there is some indefinite form in front of us. How can we measure its area? To do that, I take a small square (1 мм²), so tiny that it can enter every corner in the form. The sum of all the areas of the tiny squares will be the desired result. This sum (∑) is an integral (∫).

With the help of an integral I can calculate the sum of many parts, their collective sum: unity. Suppose the sum equals n. But we calculate an integral from zero to infinity (∞), in other words, from the tiny square to infinity. Then we will definitely not go wrong and will fill the whole given area.

This is the difference between an integral and a usual sum: When we calculate it, we don’t determine the number of the parts because it can be infinite.

Question: Every such “tiny square” is one of the friends. How can we become an integral and not a sum?

Answer: Everyone should be small enough to be able to enter. This is enough, and he doesn’t ask for anything else, doesn’t have any conditions. It doesn’t matter in which corner I am, it’s fine. The key is to be included into everyone so that I have no egoistic essence left, no desire except for one: to be part of this integral.

Question: How can we attain that?

Answer: With the help of the Light that Reforms. It is necessary in order to be included in the group and to receive the Light of Hassadim.

Question: What should be our prayer in this situation?

Answer: You pray for everyone, for unity. You understand that you have no “area” of your own—you are that small. At first, it seemed to you that you were filling the whole area. But gradually, in order to be included in the group, in an integral, you minimized yourself, until you became a “tiny square” and lost all the “area,” that is, your self-importance, independence, and individual reality. Then you are really worthy of being part of the whole, and you become included in the revelation of the Creator.

Question: Does this mean that our integrality is a result of our self-annulment?

Answer: Of course. And from that I demand unification, revelation, and adhesion for everyone.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2012, “Introduction to TES“

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Vilnius Convention, Lesson 3
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Question: What is self-annulment? What does it mean, to nullify yourself before the friends?

Answer: It means that I serve my friends: Let them reveal the Creator to the full measure, while I will only help them. They won’t know about it. In the same way, it doesn’t matter to a mother whether her baby is aware of her care and concern. She is simply devoted to him without any reservations. Similarly, I want to help all the friends realize their hopes so that through that they and the Creator could delight in each other.

And what about me? I remain a hidden factor. Just like the Creator who conceals Himself behind the scenes in this world, I, too, want to lead all of humanity towards His goodness in a concealed manner.

Just be careful: Great pride lies in this approach.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2012, “Introduction to TES“

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I think that in the course of the year to come, humanity will realize that it’s impossible to continue this race of overconsumption, overproduction, and bank inflation. This bubble must burst and we must begin to consume reasonably and implement fair distribution of work and resources amongst everyone.

The many hours that will free up a person’s day as a result of these changes will be taken up by integral education and upbringing, where each person will begin to feel a new level of existence, a spiritual state and will gradually begin to feel a sense of commonality. In this common desire, this common intention and direction of thoughts, we will begin to attain the next level of nature and its harmony. Our bodily sensation will begin to disappear because our bodies exist on the animate level.

This is the state that we’ll eventually have to reach. Nature will assist us in two ways: by giving us blows and by revealing new horizons.

I feel that this year is very powerful and fundamental. We must do everything in our power to keep humanity from going in the direction of protectionism and division. We must help people realize that we need to direct our course toward further connection.

Europe is already starting to realize this. Today’s European market serves as an example. They play the game of “What will happen if we divide?” and then encounter enormous problems. Therefore, their course is directed toward further globalization and integration.

This is a change, a critical realization of which direction to take and where the salvation lies. I hope that Europe will ultimately overcome this special peak by going in the direction of further integration and connection; otherwise, it won’t survive.

If they do move toward integration, then they will discover enormous strength and opportunities, and they will serve as an example to all of humanity. They will not have to re-develop their manufacturing industry that they’ve moved to the East and Asia, primarily to China.

If this process takes the right course then we’ll see humanity developing in a good gentle manner and it would be a good example for everyone. This would be a rosy picture. I hope that it happens this way.

If we don’t move in this direction, then unfortunately, there may be great international and global problems, which will ultimately lead us to the same results.
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From “A Talk on Integral Education” #14, 12/18/11

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