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Shamati #8: “What Is the Difference Between A Shade of Kedusha and A Shade of Sitra Achra”: It is written (Song of Songs, 2), “Until the day breathes, and the shadows flee away.” We must understand what are shadows in the work. The thing is that when one does not feel His Providence, that He leads the world in a manner of “Good that doeth good”…

The Creator’s governance is absolutely good. This is the attainment we have to reach. The Creator is unchanging and we are not waiting for Him to change in any way. It is written, “I did not change Myself.” One who is eternally good and does good cannot become different. He is absolute and His bestowal is constant. The upper Light is at absolute rest and fills everything.

However, we reveal the One who is good and does good by changing our perception so that we go from negative infinity, from a reality that appears worse than death, to positive infinity, the greatest good, and then regardless of our own sensations, above them, to feel that everything is good. That is the kind of screen (Masach) and perception that we must acquire.

In the egoistic desire we will feel the worst possible states, which we cannot even imagine, and still, above our desires we will correct ourselves so as to understand and to feel that this is the best possible thing. That is the kind of difference that must open up between our sensations within the desire and what we will reveal consciously.

The Creator does not change. He just constantly sends us states that become more difficult and unpleasant, both for the animate body and for the soul, so that above them we would form the opposite perception, permeated with bestowal and love. By carrying out bestowal, precisely above all of the heaviness I reveal the Creator’s good will and come to identify myself with Him.

Thus, a person reveals spiritual life only on the background of difficult and bad circumstances. Otherwise he can’t tear away from our world and enter spirituality.

Today this process is taking on global proportions. That’s because until now we developed in regular egoism – first linearly, and over the last 200 years, exponentially. However, egoism still did not connect us with one another into a global, integral whole. But today the whole world is a group – one that is disconnected, broken, and in need of correction.

This group divides into two parts:
– The “99 percent,” which becomes more and more interconnected and interdependent with each passing day, and more constrained in their lives. This is expressed differently everywhere, and the tendency itself emerged only recently, yet it is developing at a high rate.
– The group within this society, being the “one percent.” The inner group is differentiated by its desire to attain the secret of development: why does it occur and for what purpose? What is happening to us? What is the reason for the current process? How can we control it, or at least go along with it?

That is where we come to the notion of a “shadow,” which makes a person’s life difficult and hurls upon him as a burden that becomes more and more heavy, depriving him of interest in the usual pleasures. Likewise, a person wishing to advance spiritually feels heaviness in his understanding and consciousness and has a difficult time remembering the importance of the path and the goal. All of this happens so we would understand that we have to take the reins into our own hands, and that all the difficulties are evoked by the evil inclination, which the Creator made. The upper Light constantly brings us new problems and greater heaviness so we would see the “shadow” in this and ascend above it.

The thing is that when one does not feel His Providence, that He leads the world in a manner of “Good that doeth good,” it is regarded as a shadow that hides the sun. In other words, as the corporeal shadow that hides the sun does not change the sun in any way, and the sun shines in its fullest power, so one who does not feel the existence of His Providence does not induce any change Above.

The Creator’s attitude to us remains the same, absolutely kind, and it is only our sensation that undergoes a change so we would rise above doubts and questions, continually accepting the Creator’s governance as 100% goodness. When we complete one ascent, we are sent a greater shadow, meaning greater heaviness, confusion, doubts, and thorns among friends. But no matter what the Creator arranges between us, we must collect ourselves and understand that everything comes from Him. There is no one besides Him. And therefore, at every moment we have to realize His goodness.

If we do not complete the current moment with the sensation of the One who is good and does good, then we do not advance since we did not overcome the current degree yet. Therefore, in every state we must first experience bad sensations, confusion, and lack of energy to come to the lesson, a loss of interest in the path and in unifying in the group. This happens constantly, and if we do not concentrate at every moment, then the focus immediately disappears. That’s because our egoistic desire works non-stop, like a counter with wheels that are always moving. It constantly “thickens” our desire so we sink deeper into the life of our world.

As a result, if we do not support the connection, if we do not help one another, if we do not “cling on with our nails,” then we disperse in every direction. The groups falls apart and suddenly we cannot find anything from its foundations. That is the meaning of “shadow” – freedom from past obligations, lack of sensitivity, which suddenly seeps through between us like a thick fog, immersing everything into darkness. This shadow conceals the goal from us, the importance of unification and the spiritual path.

In the end, all shadows – external and internal, private and general, come in order for us to make efforts, to work in spite of them and above them to reveal involvement, unification, connection, and eventually – the Creator, the One who is good and does good. Even if we do not clearly see the Creator and His governance, yet by means of an analysis with our feelings and mind we will nevertheless reach this sensation. This is the completion of the current level where we correct the evil inclination, which the Creator gave to us.

The evil inclination surfaces only between people who want to unite, who intend to correct the breaking. It does not become revealed to the masses, the “99 percent.” They do not have the evil inclination. They are not planning to unite with one another in order to correct the spiritual breaking. Only we go through this correction, attaching them to us.
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From the lesson in Brazil on 5/3/12, Shamati #8

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If I could peep out of my small envelope and see where I am in this global world, how I treat all of humanity, which as one soul goes through different changes, by approaching its perfect state, I would perceive my life a little differently. I wouldn’t look at my personal life, at a life that is as small as an ant’s life, that shouldn’t be taken into account at all.

If you are included in the great global process together with others, you will feel that you are in the infinite flow of life. In the meantime we should learn what to do in order to feel the eternity of nature and to be included in it. Then from this height you will be able to solve all your personal problems.

But if we try to fix them on the ordinary corporeal level, we will not be able to solve anything. The evidence for that are all the futile attempts to correct the current situation taken by governments. There is no other means to correct our personal state, except for integral education and upbringing.

Therefore, a woman who feels miserable today since she couldn’t find a partner with whom to build a family and have children should understand that this is how nature wants to compel her to be included in the whole world as a woman.

As a result of being included in the world, which is the result of the integral education, she begins to understand the connections she should have with others. She begins to feel how good this connection in mutuality with the whole world is.

Then she will meet the right man and they will begin to learn how they can support one another mutually, in order to rise to the spiritual level and to become one, although they can still be different and stay each in their own ego.

The moment the personal perception changes, everything will immediately work out. They will want to be more strongly connected and to have children, so that the mutual connection can be implemented spiritually. This spirit will oblige them to build a family.
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From a “Talk About a New Life” #19, 2/02/12

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In fact, the whole Torah talks about intentions as well as the direction people should orient their desires to, working, shaping and organizing them in such a way that they gradually achieve a higher level of similarity with the Light. The Light doesn’t descend to us in its original simple and abstract form; it’s already “pre-shaped.” After the Light enters desire, it transforms it in accordance with Its own qualities so that they start matching each other.

In our world, we see how water easily enters the vessel and takes its form. However, in spirituality it’s different: Merging doesn’t happen until the shape of the filler and the vessels completely coincide. This state is called “merging” or “full similarity of properties” that should be adequate to conditions which are different at each particular level of advancement. At a higher level, a stronger similarity of properties is expected; each subsequent step requires a much higher degree of matching until we achieve a phase when the vessel acquires the shape of the Light and they finally unite. This is the reason we constantly search for the correct form that will allow us to correspond to the Light’s shape.

The Light is always kind and makes good. It’s always the same; it permanently stays in absolute calmness, as it is said: “I, HaVaYaH, do not change Myself.” It means that His intention is always the same. All changes happen within us, and that’s why we have to constantly search for a form that we should acquire in order to be “appropriate” for the Light, the Creator.

Similarly, when people fall in love and try to gain reciprocal feelings, they think about how they should look, what to talk about, and how to behave so that it’s right and acceptable to the other party. When it comes to the Light, we should act likewise.

The Light brings forth certain conditions that are called “spiritual steps.” Each of them is associated with a specific type of Light that is “dressed” in a particular shape and stays within an adequate vessel. Our task is to bring our “garments” to similarity with Him. Then, the contact between the Light, Its “clothing” at a higher level, and desire (altruistic clothing of the Light at a lower step) will occur. Only under such circumstances will they unite.

The entire Torah is dedicated to this process; there is nothing except it. At each level, from the worst and the lowest up to the loftiest and highest, everything is defined only by similarity between the vessel and the Light. Correspondence of the vessel and the Light is called “intention.” It’s about what the vessel is oriented towards and what it strives to achieve. There is nothing else in this realm.

It only seems that there are material objects around us in this world that confuse us and hide the real essence of our activities from us. Whatever we deal with in this world, we still interact with levels of our adequacy to the Light.

The language of Kabbalah talks about this openly and clearly; it explains the kind of inner changes we have to achieve in order to reveal the general Light. Our duty while learning Kabbalah is to “try on” everything we learn and see if the “dress” fits us and at this point figure out what our unity should look like.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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“Joseph” stands for a point within a person that can grow only when it’s positioned in the Pharaoh’s kingdom (egoistic desire). The tiny spark of Light is called a “ thin candle” (Ner Dakik). The “thin candle” deliberately places itself inside the ego since it grows within the ego and eventually transforms it into bestowal. Thus, Joseph got to Egypt, grew (expanded) there (meaning that his brothers joined him). He represents a spark that develops only inside a human ego.

Egoism is built in a way that it can only value something that it regards as “lucrative” (beneficial). It identifies “profits” only in the type of fulfillment, which is called “women’s work” as opposed to overpowering fulfillment which is called “men’s work.” This is why it’s said that Pharaoh ordered every single Jewish boy killed and left the girls alive.

We give birth to “sons” and then kill them because we have no idea how to work with intentions for the sake of bestowal. Then, they are re-born through our attempts to bestow at least minimally, but our ego yet again kills those efforts. Our intellect recognizes that that we have to bestow and we even manage to generate such intentions, but then again nullify them with our ego.

Our work is to recognize through our desires that we happen to give birth to our “sons” and then destroy them again. We are terrified by what we did, and by the fact that we have nothing else left. After going through torture and realizing that we are incapable of doing anything about the state of affairs, step by step, we acquire a new desire: a new informational Reshimo that is called “Moshe” (Moses).

“Moshe” begins to grow and develop in the Pharaoh’s house. It looks as if he comes from Pharaoh’s side. Pharaoh develops and elevates him, teaches him wisdom, empowers him. After 40 years spent in Pharaoh’s palace, Moshe got everything except that he wasn’t exposed to knowledge about the Creator.

Moshe continued to grow within his desires, which underwent correction and felt that in spite of all his efforts, he cannot convert them into bestowal. At this point gradually his desires acquired the “point of Moshe” meaning the spark that at first was hidden to the extent that it was totally elusive. However, the spark continued to grow. Because of it we carry on giving birth to our “sons” meaning intentions to bestow. We believe that we are able to give and again-and-again we “kill” our efforts.

A person continues to exterminate his “sons” until with a huge regret he starts to realize that all attempts to bestow do not lead anywhere. We give birth to a “son” (intention to bestow), which is in fact our next level that directs us to “depart” from Egypt. This step is a result of our effort in the group work; it stems from our actual deeds. At some point, we really acquire a desire to bestow, but later on we cool down and act egoistically once again. It means that Pharaoh “swallows” our newborn children.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/12, Writings of Rabash

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We have to understand that there are only two states in our life, in our reality: a state of darkness, a shade, or a state of Light, connection, the revelation of the good and the benevolent. There is nothing in between. If by hearing about it a person constantly tries to clarify the states he goes through, whether it is a shade or the revelation of the Creator, he will advance by the middle line.

Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 8: “What is the Difference Between the Shade of Kedusha and the Shade of Sitra Achra“: “Instead, all the changes are in the receivers. We must observe two discernments in this shade…”

The first is when a person can still unite with the friends, by overcoming the thoughts about separation and the “blurring” of the senses. He can still overcome the darkness and the concealment; he still understands that he has lost the goal, the way to the Creator.

But on the whole, no one conducts actual self-criticism, “Why do I feel this way? Where is this feeling coming from?” I am not my own psychologist, I simply feel good or bad, like a child. I don’t calculate who sends me these thoughts and these feelings. I “stew” in them, and sink into my body, like a small child.

Yet a person must know and examine himself: “What has summoned my feelings and my thoughts? How can I ascend above myself, above the current state? How can I get out of this swamp by pulling myself by my hair?” A person always looks at himself from the side, “Yes, I am deep in my egoistic desire. Yes, it controls me. True, it doesn’t allow me to connect, it doesn’t let me get up for the lesson, it forces me to disconnect, it makes the daily life with all its dealings seem more important. But I see that I am in this state and that it is opposite from the goal.”

How can I understand and recognize this? When I am still connected to something external, to the group. Here comes the moment of truth, I can check whether I was really connected to the group or not. If I wasn’t connected, I only feel myself: I feel bad, I don’t want anything, etc. Furthermore, I don’t even try to account for this and simply flow along without any special thoughts or desires.

But if I were connected to the group, if I had an alliance with the friends, according to which they have to help me even if I fall and turn in anther direction, the inner connections is kept, I would care about how they see me, and I wouldn’t totally forget about my commitment. They would support me and I would be able to see myself from the side and to clarify my feelings.

Thus I will be divided into two: my own self and my attitude towards the group. Only then, by holding on to the connection with the friends, will I be able to clarify and check myself and by that to start the ascent that follows the descent. Otherwise, I have no chance; I simply fall and leave. So a person can overcome the first type of shade, by justifying the current state and understanding that it was sent to him by the Creator. Then he can call the Creator for help.

Why do I turn to Him? Not in order to feel better, because then I would be asking to annul my evil inclination, which He has created, by adding the Torah as a spice for it. So I should ask for the spice, so that the power of love and bestowal, the power of connection, will come from Above and enable me to advance towards the other line.

“When one still has the ability to overcome the darkness and the concealment that one feels, justify the Creator and pray to the Creator that the Creator will open his eyes to see that all the concealments that one feels come from the Creator.”

When a person is left helpless and sees no way out, when he curses the Creator, the friends and life, he is still looking at himself from the side and suddenly sees a chance for a breakthrough, he can demand that the Creator will save him. Why? Because he does not accept the state when the Creator’s providence seems bad, and he cannot justify Him. A person feels bad because he thinks badly of the good and the benevolent, by being opposite from Him. If life seems bad, it is a sign that I am opposite from the Creator.

We have to build a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light above all the hard situations. Even in the worst situations I must see the Creator as their source, as the Light that is full of all the infinite abundance, but that is broken inside me and turns into a bad feeling, into a shade, into darkness, since my attributes are opposite from the good and the benevolent, opposite from the attribute of bestowal and love.

Thus we advance each time we clarify things correctly. The main thing is to constantly discover this point, “What do I feel? Who is sending me this feeling? Why am I experiencing this feeling?” This is the whole principle of our work and this is what divides humanity into the 1% and the 99%.
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From the Lesson from Brazil 5/03/12, Shamati #8

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Opinion (Evgeny Abramyan, Russian scientist and futurologist): “In order to survive and preserve civilization there is practically no options for mankind but to stop the endless chain of destructive wars and learn to resolve contradictions by way of negotiations and compromise. To begin with, radical reforms need to be implemented in the system of education and in the media as they strongly influence people’s attitudes and behavioural patterns. …

“Propaganda and education directed at promoting tolerance, peacefulness and equality, suppression of aggressiveness, ethnic and religious hatred, and imposing limits on consumption where it is excessive. Use of the rapidly developing information technologies, global information networks and distant educations, for the purpose of mindset transformation.”

My Comment: Politicians and military leaders always used scientists for their purposes, throwing them scraps from the table and getting what they needed themselves. Once, Plato and Aristotle warned scientists against disclosing science to politicians, egoists. But scientists couldn’t resist, they wanted power and money themselves. Thus, they sold themselves and serve the rulers until this day. In reality, science must be hidden, as the science of Kabbalah, and become revealed only to the extent of its correct use.
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In the News (from Rutgers): “Even if humankind manages to limit global warming to 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F), as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends, future generations will have to deal with sea levels 12 to 22 meters (40 to 70 feet) higher than at present, according to research published in the journal Geology. …

“‘The difference in water volume released is the equivalent of melting the entire Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets, as well as some of the marine margin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet,’ said H. Richard Lane, program director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the work. ‘Such a rise of the modern oceans would swamp the world’s coasts and affect as much as 70 percent of the world’s population…’

“This research highlights the sensitivity of the earth’s great ice sheets to temperature change, suggesting that even a modest rise in temperature results in a large sea-level rise. ‘The natural state of the earth with present carbon dioxide levels is one with sea levels about 20 meters higher than at present.’”

My Comment: The Flood will not happen again (as God promised in the Bible); however, nature will put pressure on egoism and in every way force it to be corrected, until people take their place in its system.
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Question: Suppose we have an integral study group, which needs some guidance, to be told what it will deal with, what process it will go through. What should we start with?

Answer: For the new members there should be talks about the world, about the new trend, about evolution based on the ego, etc. First we have to prepare a serious theoretical basis of the practical perspective of human history, of society, and of ourselves. A person is gradually brought to the question of “what’s next?” Suppose we have explored the modern world, our development, the development of man and all of nature, and where it’s leading us. We don’t even see the lack of free choice, the dynamics of our development, and the collapse of the ego as the engine, as the source of our life and of our advancement. We reach a crisis, what’s next?

Next, of course, there are different goals in nature. We are now at such an intersection in which we have to totally change our attitude towards the world because the ego with which we grew before has suddenly stopped working.

So where is it leading us? It’s leading us to its negation. We see that in all the problems, in depression, drugs, terrorism, and even the crisis in the family and society. The main thing that hurts us most of all is the economic crisis because we, as beasts, need to eat and to supply our basic needs. Here we find ourselves in a state where we will not be able to supply the basic needs, especially in the world that we have created around us, a world that is a huge urban jungle, in which we all have to do something in order to get what we need.

It’s very easy to destroy such a world. It’s so sensitive to the slightest inability to adapt that millions of people can find themselves cut off from food, water, and the supply of energy and other resources. We cannot even imagine how delicate and fragile the world we’ve created is, and if something goes wrong, just a little, it will collapse like a house of cards. All this will collapse and what about us?

As a result of our development, we have brought ourselves to this very unstable state. You can imagine cities around the world with a population of 20 million people, but even in cities with a population of 2 million people, what will happen when these people are cut off from food, electricity, water, or a sewage system?! This is the end!

There is a need for mutual cooperation among countries, without which we cannot manage. No country can provide its own needs by itself any more. So we can see that the world is really very fragile and unsafe. We are showing people all this, explaining the general trend and why nature and the ego have brought us to this point so that we will rise above the ego, because in the present state we are unable to adapt to the global integral nature. How can we be mutually connected to it, meaning being included in its integrality, in its sphere, in harmony, with our ego?

This is why we need guidance by which we can show people that there is another way to develop. When we psychologically change ourselves and people, we will see the world not from an egoistic perspective, but from an integral altruistic perspective. We’ll be able to form a totally different society that will be in harmony with all the natural laws. And then having no choice, a person, the family, the society, the state, civilization, and all of humanity will reach such harmony with nature that we’ll recover all the fragile balance on earth, internally and externally, with the rest of nature. This is possible only if a person changes from an individualist into a person of the universe. This is what we have to bring to people.

Now let’s see how this can be done: Can we leave the individualistic, egoistic perspective of the world? Can we change the egoistic glasses and see everything through integral lenses? What will I gain from that? In other words, I have to take care of everyone. Is it possible? I shouldn’t take myself into account, is that possible? Do I have to totally “leave” myself? What about me and my family, and my relatives? How can we aim at mutual cooperation with others so that we can form a unified society?

What does unified mean? It is when each of us doesn’t feel himself, but only the society, like ants, who only understand their cooperation. None of them has a separate role, a separate goal, size or priority, but all are operated by a collective mind, a program, and meticulously carry out all the orders of the program. Is this possible? This is where nature is leading us. On such a level we will reach total harmony with it.

What do we gain from that? Although it sounds a bit like a fantasy, we are gaining the feeling of eternity, the feeling of infinity, because all our feelings today are within the limited ego, while here we move on to a different feeling, outside ourselves. Then a person doesn’t feel his own beastly body anymore, by rising to the next level, to the next dimension called “human,” which we didn’t feel before. He isn’t in his “animal” anymore, but rises to an upper level. Until today we were actually more developed animals.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #17, 02/28/12

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In Mitzvot and transgressions, only the intention is what bestows on our general system, on the revelation of the upper Light, on the ability to resemble the Creator. Of course, it also includes the simple relations of the corporeal world relating to others, the world, humanity, nature, and ecology, since your attitude includes all of your feelings. But the Mitzvot and transgressions exist only in relation to the connection and resemblance or lack of resemblance to the Creator.

This is so at each level, inanimate, vegetative, and animate, whereas the last level, the speaking, is the one that executes all the transgressions. If the desire to receive at the level of speaking that is going to connect to the Creator, to resemble Him, does something that is opposed to connection, then that is called a transgression.

“Israel” who longs for the Creator, is the one who makes the transgressions, whereas the “nations of the world” don’t make transgressions. With them there exists only seven Mitzvot of the sons of Noah. The man who in the meantime does not enter the path of direct ascent to the Creator, which is called, “Israel” (direct to the Creator), also needs to relate kindly to others: to maintain nature, its balance and ecology, to have court houses, provide for justice at the level of humanity, not to eat meat of a still living animal, etc.

But the spiritual Mitzvot and transgressions belong only to the ladder of the spiritual levels, to the right and left lines. Without any feeling of a transgression, you won’t be able to discover your evil inclination and won’t feel your need for the Light that Reforms. Thereby you arrive at the middle line.

Thus it is said,” There is no righteous in the land who hasn’t sinned.” We need to discover all the transgressions of our ego, since without that we won’t have a need for correction. If it is written that “the righteous is as full of Mitzvot as a pomegranate,” this means that in the beginning he discovered within him that same number of transgressions.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/02/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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