Question: Why do we organize workshops, and how helpful are they?

Answer: Kabbalah is a practical science. That is why all the millennia while we didn’t have to do practical work it was hidden from people, and only few scientists, Kabbalists, developed this method and adjusted it each time for the generation in which they lived.

But they didn’t show this method to people, simply from generation to generation along the way as they developed, they modified it until the entire humanity reached our time and found itself in the integral global crisis, that is, in an obvious egoistic Egypt, in the feeling of exile from something good, kind, natural, and normal.

We see that our nature is destroying us; we cannot get out if it ourselves and are hostages of our egoism that drives us to such dangerous actions that we may just ruin the entire civilization. We are destroying nature, the Earth, and the environment in which we live, and in general are making a terrible future for our children.

Why do we raise them? I look at children whose parents create intolerable conditions in advance. Why do they give birth? Today you love them, but what will happen to them tomorrow? You are doing things so that they will not be able to live! They will die a painful death! Don’t you feel that?! No, the human being doesn’t feel that, he is still blind.

However, he is slowly beginning to realize that. But even knowing this, he cannot change himself yet and act differently. Nonetheless, he still uses everything possible, sparing nothing, taking nothing into account; it doesn’t matter what’s left to his children. That is how we relate to nature, society, everything.

Therefore the science of Kabbalah is revealed today in order to explain that this is called slavery, it’s what is called the expulsion from spirituality; namely this is the worst state, the most opposite to spirituality. And in order to help us get out of it, to pull ourselves out of it, the science of Kabbalah is revealed. Therefore, it has been revealed today when we should practice all its advice, laws, and rules.

But to put them into practice, we first need to learn.

And we have to learn this, as usual, in groups, at school, by helping each other, by studying textbooks and conducting workshops in small groups—a prototype for future work with the whole humanity.

Therefore, workshops are necessary; they are the most important thing! They are the real true realization of Kabbalah in principle; it exists for this purpose. It’s not a theoretical science, not philosophy, but namely a practice.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012

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Question: How should we relate to the newcomers during the convention?

Answer: I wouldn’t say that there is a big difference between the newcomers and veteran students. It’s because when all people incorporate into one another, the difference is always there, and in principle, in this case it’s not important how much a person knows or at what level he or she exists since this is a reflection of the entire humanity, which consists of the smallest to the greatest ones, those who already understand and maybe even partially sense the upper world. Hence most important is for everybody to incorporate into one another.

The veteran students have to help the newcomers. They have to work at full force, participate actively, and set everything into motion. We will hold preliminary talks with them on how to conduct workshops, how to talk with everybody and get them involved, and how to relate to everyone with warmth. Most important is to set an example.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012

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Conventions are the necessary step to create a unified Kli (vessel, desire). If above all our problems, contradictions, distances, and differences in mentality and understanding we try to unite, then due to the differences between us and the connection above them, we will reach a powerful desire measured by the contradictions within it and the connection above it. This is the purpose of conventions. 

I understand that there are huge problems in every group and internal distances between the groups. That is why the main thing at the conventions is to try to rise above them. Don’t destroy, but learn to overcome the problems by uniting above them by “faith above reason” or love that “will cover all sins.” Let’s cover everything within us with this “blanket” and build our common desire for the Creator above this. It should be precisely like this, at the top, above all the contradictions. 

Everything that we have passed through, all the problems, the hardening of the internal Pharaoh—everyone’s personal Pharaoh and the common Pharaoh between us—all that has been given to us from Above, from the Creator. And now we only need to think about unity, how in this unity, according to the law of equivalence to the Light, we discover the upper Light in ourselves, in our connection between us.

The conventions, consisting of lectures and various exercises on connection, are dedicated to this.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012    

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Question: How can we best prepare ourselves for the period of conventions so as to create a feeling of a unified group?

Answer: We will work on this at the time of the conventions as well. To do this, we need to re-read the article “The Freedom” and Rabash’s articles about unification. We need to study again the shattering of the spiritual Kli (vessel), how it shaped our earthly perception of ourselves: We now see that we are distant from one another, existing in opposition to one another, in a growing egoism, hatred, and various egoistic desires.

We have to understand that our nature is made to be so opposite to the Creator on purpose, in order for us to rise above it specifically from contradiction, starting from the opposite state, and thus be able to sense Him, since otherwise we would be incapable of it. We begin to feel and build ourselves in similarity to Him specifically based on the contrast between our nature and His.

Hence the most important preparation is to repeat the material that we study all the time: a little bit from Kabbalah itself—about the shattering of the vessel and its correction, as well as the topic of the development of egoism from Adam till our days covered in one of the “Talks about a New Life.” In general, we have lots of materials on this subject.

But most important is to simply know why you come to the convention. You come there to participate in the general Kli, in the general desire, which we all created and in which we will sense the Creator.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012  

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Lesson from Colombia, Topic: Arvut in the Group

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Lesson from Colombia, Topic: Time of Change 

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Our goal is to reach a true prayer, which means to understand what we lack. It is true because it is accepted Above. This means that a deficiency on the part of the lower one and a deficiency on the part of the upper one have to be equal, the lower should ask for exactly what the upper one wants to give him.

This means that I have to feel that I only lack bestowal and the understanding that only the Creator can give me this filling: the force of bestowal and the ability to bestow, all the necessary conditions. The Creator has to reveal the desire to bestow and how to reach it inside me by showing me upon whom and what I can bestow.

This whole system of connection is called the Torah. And both the Light and our ability to bestow are included in it. But until then I have to work and first of all check what I want, what desires there are inside me, and to what extent they are all in order to receive.

Then I become included in the right environment and with its help, I gradually begin to change. I already begin to hear that the spiritual world isn’t meant for self-pleasure, but for the good of others. I realize this gradually and with great difficulty. I hear about it, but it takes a long time until I really understand this in my mind and feel it in my heart.

There is a great distance between simple awareness and actually doing something. We have to exert ourselves while in our natural ego in order to perform actions that are totally opposite to it, that are aimed at connection and bestowal. Even though it may be artificial and against my will, it is still called “above reason.”

But what can fuel my machine, what can be the reward? After all, I can’t work so that others will feel better, I don’t see any benefit in it and I can’t even move a finger for this cause, I can’t perform even the slightest action. My nature doesn’t work on bestowal energy. I don’t feel someone else’s desire as my own in a way that I can fill it and feel as if I fill myself.

In the meantime, I don’t feel anything, and it is as if others don’t exist for me. To fill the others is against my interests. So I operate mechanically, as if I bestow upon them and connect with them. Actually I do it for my own sake.

However, I understand that this is what “You labored and you found” means! I exert myself, and in the meantime the Light influences me and changes something in my soul. Gradually I begin to feel the greatness of the Creator and the importance of the environment, but it takes years to reach this internal attitude.

I advance by first realizing that bestowal is good for my own sake, and gradually I begin to perceive the importance of the attribute of bestowal itself. There are ups and downs on this path. One time I may value bestowal more and another time I may want to use it for my own sake, to enjoy the fact that I am on this path. Sometimes I don’t think about it at all, but only about receiving, and then I wonder about wasting my time and I have doubts about the whole way. So I advance by going through all these states.

The goal of the advancement is to bring me to a true prayer. I receive all the elements of this prayer from the environment. There is nothing in a person himself that can bring him to spiritual attainment. He needs a teacher that will constantly guide him, he needs a group in which he fulfills the whole process, and he needs books through which he receives the Light that Reforms.

These three elements are not part of our desire to receive and of the corporeal life. And they must be organized so that with their help we can attain the importance of the spiritual properties.

This is possible only by the Light. How can I otherwise wish for something that brings me no self benefit but only requires that I make efforts, and what is more to enjoy it. But the Light gradually cleans me and gives me this ability, and then I begin to value the spiritual connection with the Creator.

I attain a true deficiency, which is very powerful. Besides, its truth is proven to me since the Creator accepts it and responds to my request. Thus we meet Him for the first time “face-to-face,” the Creator’s deficiency connects with the deficiency of the created being.

This means that the Creator is revealed and then a person rises above his ego and begins to work in order to bestow. This whole process is divided into two parts: The first phase is the preparation for the true prayer. The moment we attain it, we begin to advance with it by gradually revealing a greater deficiency. But from the moment we attain this true deficiency our attainment of the Creator begins.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can we explain the influence of a Kabbalistic book on a person to the general population?

Answer: As I study a book on psychology, I begin to reveal different phenomena in myself. I talk to others in the group of people who want to change who are using the group therapy method. We work on ourselves, I uncover my reactions, I get to know my own character, and I compare it to others.

Suppose we are scientists who gathered in a group. Within it, each studies its own nature about the natures of others. A book helps us: It was written by an intelligent person who gives necessary explanations. Thanks to that, I no longer view myself from within, but try, to whatever extent possible, to look from the side, from an objective position, in order to understand who I am, what I am, what for and why… . What is this creature that is me? Of course, in our world there is no true objectivity, no real separation from oneself, but an approach does exist, and through its means we come to all kinds of results.

Freud, who was one of the founders of this approach, acted very logically. However, material society can only design experiments based on the details extracted from life, from the matter that appears before our eyes. If we grasp something from it on an empirical, experimental basis, then that’s what we can use without crossing the boundaries of a rational approach based exclusively on experimental data.

How is this different from the wisdom of Kabbalah? In it, I work exactly like psychologists do, without knowing or prejudging anything in advance. Desiring to know and study myself, I come to a group like to a School of Psychology. I have teachers and textbooks, and they speak to me about myself, explaining what it is that I am. Only their explanations penetrate further inward and touch upon the deepest layers of my being.

It turns out that there, on the inside, there are two forces: reception and bestowal, though not like the ones in our world, but fundamental ones, which govern me and all of nature. Kabbalah speaks about perception of reality, but again, penetrating deeper than psychology. I learn how I am connected to everyone else; I begin to understand to what extent the picture that I’m seeing is true. It turns out that when I address someone, I address that image which is depicted inside of me.

All these aren’t fantasies but real, material facts. I only need to check how I perceive reality, what in that perception depends on my properties, and which of those properties I am able to change.

And here they explain to me that there is a property called “reception” and I’m currently in it and it defines my entire psychology of the perception of reality. I look at everything through just one prism: “How can I enjoy what I’m seeing?” The egoistic desire inside me wants only one thing: to receive pleasure. And this is why the images that appear inside of me are dictated by my egoistic desire: Each time I am gauging the extent of pleasure or, conversely, of hatred and rejection. Should I bring a given detail closer or push it away? This is how I evaluate everything, and the contours of everything that I am seeing appear in this mirror. They seemingly appear in front of me, but in reality, they are within me, inside my receiving desire.

In this manner, I begin to understand how I am perceiving reality and how I can rise above the current perception, replacing it with a true one. “Your next degree,” Kabbalists tell me, “is a transition from a receiving view of the world toward a bestowing one.” I’ll simply acquire a new tool that will help me discover where I actually am.

And then, when I discover a second reality, two possibilities will appear before me: to perceive either through reception again or through bestowal. It’s impossible to make do with just one of these forms; I need to completely master both of them. By attaining reality in bestowal, I attain it in reception. It is written “The Creator made one against the other”; I ascend in two lines and they both grow in me equally until I acquire knowledge of the system, the method, the formula, which would allow me to use them in a form that is excellent for my desire. In other words, I fill both the receiving and giving desires within me in an optimal, best possible way. The formula is always based on a limiting value, such is its necessary condition: “You will receive nothing other than the maximum.”

This is what we study in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and we study it in a group, that is, in a laboratory that includes chemistry, physics, biology, zoology, and other components. On the whole, we explore the foundations of universal Nature, which, ultimately, is a receiving desire and a giving desire, and also intentions to receive and to bestow.

This is why I became so happy when I discovered it back then. In science, everyone is occupied with his narrow segment of the field—but then what? While here, the very foundations of Nature lay before us. First, we’ll reveal reality for ourselves and grasp the fact that everything is inside and there’s nothing outside. All of reality unfolds internally within its borders, and we reveal all of it completely.

We do not know what comes after that, but the approach remains entirely scientific. There are no contradictions here; on the contrary, the Kabbalistic method is so universal and all encompassing, so fundamental that it supplies us with ease and simplicity in everything.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/12, Writings of Rabash

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It’s said: “Those who love the Creator, hate evil.” `That is, we are given a reference point: If you are in the state of love for the Creator, then you hate evil, hate egoism, and this should be felt simultaneously; otherwise, you are straying from the direction. You will think that you love the Creator, but if you don’t feel the hate for egoism at the same time, then, you have no direction, it vanishes. In order to align it, to make it a straight line, on the one hand, you have to strengthen it in the hatred for evil, and then the second point will be precisely aimed at the love for the Creator. We don’t know what the Creator and the love for Him is. But if we start with the hatred for egoism, this is already a direction.

It’s said in this case: “Those who love the Creator, hate evil,” and they are whom the Creator saves from this evil. Therefore, our work is to reject and repel egoism and to attract good, bestowal, and love.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/12, Lesson 5

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What is the connection between the hatred of evil and the salvation from evil? On one hand, simply by being human, we understand that when I hate something I distance myself from it. This guards and protects me, helps me to be safe from evil. But this does not work in the spiritual. There it must evoke the upper Light in order to correct me.

There is another instruction for understanding this, which states the world is only created for two states, either the state, perception, and comprehension of absolute evil or the state of absolute goodness. There is no other option. In other words, the world is created either for absolute sinners or the absolute righteous; it is one or the other, there is no third option. This is why it is worse to be an incomplete righteous than an absolute sinner. How can this be? This is what is written. So what are the teachers showing us?

The fact is, they write, that from the Creator’s perspective there is nothing in the world that might have dual meaning, a little bit of goodness and a bit of evil. From the Creator’s perspective there is only absoluteness—either absolute goodness or absolute evil, either absolute bestowal or absolute reception.

And for this reason, when a person wishes to advance toward the goal, he has no right to accept that there is a bit of this and a bit of that in him! This is the worst quality, the worst state!

Accepting it is a bad quality. Being in this and consoling yourself that there is nothing horrible about this is a bad state: There is a bit of this and a bit of that in me, I am no worse or better than others, there are these and those. When I console myself with these kinds of thoughts I will neither be able to reach the state of absolute sinner or absolute righteous. When I fail to reach these states, I stay suspended somewhere and I lack the point of reference for advancement.

From the Creator’s perspective, there is no difference between good and evil. There is no double meaning from His point of view: absolutely everything is good.

In our state, in our world, when a person begins to perceive that everything comes from the Creator, then he is already analyzing his attitude towards the world. If everything comes from the Creator, I either perceive that the world comes from a good, eternal, perfect source or that the world is full of suffering, contradictions, and meaninglessness. And if so then I do not believe, feel, and acknowledge that the world is really eternal, perfect, and good as the One Who created it and fills it.

Why do we need this? When, from the beginning, we perceive the world as perfect, good, eternal, and full of Light, then the problem is in us, in our perception of the world, in our sensations. When I feel that it is opposite to this absoluteness that I am able to imagine, then I evaluate myself, my qualities, as opposite and egoistic. However, when I do not see anything good in the world, then I am a sinner—I am not justifying the Creator, I accuse Him of creating this. And if I do not feel either thing, then I do not even acknowledge the fact that He exists and that He has created and maintains all of this; in other words, I deny the presence of the upper force.

A person must clearly understand his attitude toward the world from which he comes, and what it is like in relation to the Creator.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/12, Lesson 5

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