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Question: What do you mean by the notion of “love”?

Answer: I mean that every one of us constantly lives others’ concerns.

It works the same way in the group, where we begin to work in practice mode so each of us wishes to create the most comfortable state for others. That is, I have to understand and feel others. I must continually send them the corresponding signals – verbal, physical, thoughts, and etc.

I must exist in mutual guarantee with them, where every one of us provides all the others with such an attitude or sensation among us that I am sure that by influencing them, I receive the same influence from them upon myself. Therefore, we constantly ascend together above our egoism into qualities opposite to it. This kind of mutual work is the most important work in the group.

After adopting this method, we will constantly feel repeated descents into egoism, “gravity,” and the emergence of various obstacles. This will continue until the full correction, until our full ascent above egoism.

However, in any state within the group and even outside – at home, and with others, I will immediately focus on the same idea, the same practice. And as a result, I will be able to interact with the whole world correctly.
[77260]
From the talk about integral upbringing on 2/27/12

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Initially in the world of Infinity we united as one, like one body all of whose parts are necessary to one another and totally interdependent. After descending from Infinity into our world, we became completely disconnected because all of the space between us was filled by egoism, which pushes us away from one another.

This egoism is constantly growing, and therefore, as history progresses we feel more and more flawed. But there comes a moment when egoism stops growing and reaches satiation. That is why people today are overcome by disillusionment and despair, and depression is becoming the most widespread illness in the world.

Man is losing the meaning of life. Previously he did not ask those kinds of questions since the egoistic desire constantly grew within him and pushed him forward. It deceitfully told him , “You want this, and this and that! You definitely have to get that and become bigger than everyone else!”

But today a time comes when we no longer want anything. And in addition, the general world crisis is unfolding, leaving us with no choice but to search for a way to change the situation and achieve correction, where correction lies in ascending back to the world of Infinity and becoming one man again. Yet this unity is already attained by our own efforts, meaning through work against our egoism, for the sake of unity.

This is the most hateful work to us, and we do not want it. I am willing to do anything but this – anything but to unite with the friends! I feel good by myself, this is comfortable! After all, my entire nature is the will to enjoy, and all I need is to fulfill it. I only want fulfillment.

Every person thinks only about how to make things better for himself at every moment. Our organism and brain works only to keep itself in the most comfortable state. And that is how our entire life goes by. Every person thinks only about how to make things better for himself now and in the future. All of our calculations revolve around this and we are incapable of thinking about anything else. All I care about is my own body. It turns out that I am doomed to a life of a poor, miserable animal that tries to support its body in every possible way so it would live for several decades and then die. But if all of life really comes down to just this, then what’s the point in it?

That is why it is so difficult for us to work against our egoism. There is a great psychological problem here, preventing us from reuniting with others in circumstances where our ego has reached the maximum mark. That is why the science of Kabbalah comes and explains to us how to do this by uniting into a small group.

Through the group we begin to attract this special force to us, which is concealed in nature and is called the Light that reforms. And if we try to extract this concealed force from within, it will surface and do wonders to us. It will correct us completely, will change us so we will be able to connect with others. And then a group will begin to come together among several friends, which will become a mini-model of the corrected humanity in which our unity is realized.

Instead of the previous, negative force of egoism, which separates us in a broken state and has various names (Pharaoh, Haman, Bilam, Balak, and all the “sinners,” meaning forces of disunity), inside of our connection we will begin to reveal the enormous positive force. This is the force of connection which comes to replace the negative force of disunity and is called the Creator. This is the force of bestowal, the force that gave birth to us and unites us. In it we reveal the program of creation and its goal.

That is why we have to unite into a group, since by virtue of that we will feel a higher state – the presence of a higher, concealed force, the Creator who is between us. We just have to reveal Him! Let us hope that we will feel this awakening inside of us during seminars, as a result of our efforts to unite with one another. This can even happen to a person who is at a convention like this for the first time.
[77268]
From the 1st lesson at the Brazil Convention, 5/3/12

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The group exists only in order to reveal the Creator, the force that bestows and operates on us. By adhering to It, we rise above our corporeal existence and feel the eternal life flowing in their infinite flow. The bodies change from one generation to another, but we regulate the connection with the soul and exist in it unified forever.

We can attain that only by connection and unity. Although it isn’t in our power to unite, the upper Light, the Creator is the one who unites us, but with the help of the group we can discover the need, the necessity for that. We need a great desire, a great need for the Light to unite us. So under what circumstances will we want that? It is in the state of separation.

This is why the negativity is revealed in the group: conflicts, separation, and alienation among the friends. We have to be ready, we have to know that all these things are revealed so that we will regulate the connection among us and unite above them.

Eventually the following picture is depicted: Below there is the ego (Ego) that separates the friends, and we connect above it by our mutual love (Amor). At the same time, no one disturbs the others. Even if I don’t get along with the friends, even if there are conflicts for different reasons, it all happens on the level of the human ego that separates us. Above it we build the connections of love.

The ego constantly grows, and we have to make greater efforts in order to be connected above it, above the jealousy ,hatred, passion, pride, and domination. I hug the friend internally despite everything that I feel against him.

The main thing is that the love doesn’t annul the ego, so that they will both grow stronger in their resistance. The ego is Malchut (M), and love is Keter (K). We don’t know in advance what tension, what gap will be between them (Δ), but eventually (℧) it has to make up the first ten whole Sefirot. Then I get a vessel in which I feel the spiritual world, the Creator, the Light.

This will happen only if Keter already grows inside me, which means the desire to love the friend above the great hatred is enough to create the first ten Sefirot.

All the problems in our relationships should be examined as urges that push us forward. Every “malfunction” indicates that we are worthy of intensifying the love and the connection among us. If a person cannot do that, if he doesn’t know about the tool that enables him to build the connection above the repulsion, his ego isn’t increased, and he lives an ordinary life. It is only from us that the growing ego constantly demands to be in mutual connections.

We did a great work in connecting during the convention. We felt what it means to be together in the warmth of mutual cooperation. Later we will feel how our desire grows weaker, how the tension diminishes, and how the indifference takes over. Thus our ego has grown, by asking a “logical question”: “What do you need all this for? We’ve celebrated enough…”

It is a perfectly natural feeling for a person, and he doesn’t feel that he is being played upon from above and that his ego is being increased intentionally by summoning rejection, indifference, and fatigue. It is all done on purpose, so that a person will overcome the obstacles. Try not to forget this, make a sign for yourself, try to see how the only force that exists Above is lying to you and confuses you so that you will begin to understand above your mood, “in which direction the wind is blowing,” and you will reach Him.

By rejecting us, this force wants us to want Him. It is like a woman who is courting a man, and seems to be keeping him away, rejecting him, only to ignite his desire. The wisdom of Kabbalah calls this a “dance”: We are getting closer and then getting further away, again and again, until the desire grows strong to be ten whole Sefirot. Then the Creator will be revealed to us and we will adhere to Him in a true connection.
[77203]
From the Brazil Convention 5/06/12, Lesson 5

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Question: The Creator gives us everything; He provides translators, study rooms, learning centers, etc. Why can’t He grant us correction?

Answer:  The Creator can give us everything, but He cannot make creation attain Him and become similar to Him.

What does that mean that the Creator grants us assemblies and provides us with land? Why did He create our congresses and countries we live in? What do we need them for? We could have stayed in the World of Infinity and that would be it. Why have we descended through five worlds to this realm? To sense the problems and experience the states we all go through? Who needs them? If you ask anybody in the world, you’ll see that no one wants them.

The Creator made only one thing—a point!—nothing more. Light entered the point and started to interact with it. The property of the Light is bestowal; the quality of the point is receiving. They constitute two opposing states: plus and minus, a microscopic power of the Light (bestowal) and a tiny force of receiving contrary to it. These two forces constantly continue to evolve.

The Creator didn’t do anything but this. The Creator is something intermediate, external, that is called Atzmuto (By Himself.) In order to attain the properties of Atzmuto and be able to perceive Him, we have to combine both properties together so that they become equal, similar to each other; the property of receiving should become identical to the property of bestowal. In other words, the property of receiving should learn to bestow the way the giving power does.

When we become equal to the property of bestowal (the Light) we start balancing between these two forces, thus experiencing the force called Atzmuto, which created both Light and desire. The Light originates directly from Atzmuto and is in fact His property called “something out of something,” whereas egoistic desire represents “something out of nothing.” Still, both of them stem from the Creator.

Therefore, as soon as we achieve similarity between desire and Light by making them parallel to each other, we start sensing a third force.

In Kabbalah, this notion is expressed by the idea of three lines. The left line stands for the power of desire (egoism); the right line signifies the power of the Light (bestowal), whereas the middle line is the third force that emerges out of comparison between the first two.

When we receive a part that belongs to desire and at the same time get another part from the Light, we compare them within ourselves in a way that they become balanced and equal; that’s how we reveal the Creator by utilizing the middle line.

We are talking about physical laws here; there is nothing beyond them. It is the same way in any science; we use the method of comparison in order to find a third parameter, the initial value. How else we can define it?

In order to be known, we need to demonstrate at least two of our opposing properties so that by comparing them another person can recognize and understand who we are. Only by contrasting various qualities is it possible to comprehend, measure, and weigh something.

This is the reason why the Creator gave us the possibility of existing between a “plus and a minus.” By receiving from Him and comparing what we have received, we attain Him. This applies to all spheres of our life. In technology, we determine what the source of energy is by knowing who the consumer is. Without egoism or the Light that flows through our ego, we cannot realize or sense who we deal with.

After the Creator generated a black point that is opposite to the Light, two qualities (plus and minus) continue to evolve on their own. There is nothing else going on. The act of creation stopped at that point; furthermore, we see that advancement happens by itself and originates from the two opposites. There is no interference on His behalf any more from Atzmuto (He, Himself.)

Our nature constantly evolves. That means that we can pronounce: “The Creator doesn’t exist!” We see that everything around us complies with certain norms; life is defined by rigid laws that exist universally.

However, if we strive to find Him (achieve the upper level) we have to start equating. How?—Only by positioning ourselves between “a plus” and “a minus.” How do we place ourselves in such a condition?—Only if we associate our “minus” with our ego and manage to link the “plus” with the group.

Under “our ego” we do not mean the desire to party, drink, eat, entertain, or have lots of leisure time. No. We mean our resistance to becoming connected with our fellow group members. This is the only factor that makes a difference. If we continue trying to unite with our friends beyond our ego, we will eventually get such a dipole, such strength of magnetic field that we’ll be able to reveal the Creator within it. At this level of merging with the group, the property of Atzmuto emerges.

I am talking about elementary physical conditions and laws. We cannot ignore them. The problem is that we have to be situated inside this scheme. We’ll try!
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 1

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Opinion (Ashok Gadgil, Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory): “We are a global civilization, we have global operations, global economic activity, and we are dependent on the resources of the planet. Our civilization is so big and powerful that we can mindlessly destroy a thin film of life on our planet…

“As a result, the main task, in my opinion, is to find out what should be the laws of the new economy: consumption, population, industry, the management of society.

“Studies repeatedly show that the best way to control the population is to educate women. Education stops the oppression of women and solves a lot of social problems.

In nature, every kind wants to multiply and flourish, but all kinds live in harmony with other species on which they depend. And only a human being wants to take the whole area.

“This behavior cannot be a long-term pattern of behavior. We need to evolve, rather than to increase consumption, destroying the world. Today, few people think about future generations, everyone thinks about the current moment.”

My Comment: Kabbalah says that if we had liberated women from work and sent them to the “courses of integral education and upbringing,” we would have:

– been released from the burden of unemployment,

– ceased to produce unwanted goods,

– stopped depleting resources,

– stopped polluting the planet.

and women, freed from unnecessary work, and on the basis of acquired knowledge, would have dealt with education and upbringing of their men and children, and we would have found a solution to the crisis in all areas.
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In the News (from Socioline.ru): “Psychologists and sociologists have long assumed that antisocial behavior can spread like an epidemic, but this theory has remained controversial. Experiments have shown that people often violate the accepted norms of behavior when they see that others do that. The “bad example is contagious” is interpreted broadly: seeing that someone violated one of the accepted rules, people allow themselves to violate other rules.”

According to the “the broken-window theory” of James Q. Wilson and George l. Kelling:

“At the community level, disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence. Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in run-down ones. Window-breaking does not necessarily occur on a large scale because some areas are inhabited by determined window-breakers whereas others are populated by window-lovers; rather, one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.

“But vandalism can occur anywhere once communal barriers — the sense of mutual regard and the obligations of civility — are lowered by actions that seem to signal that ‘no one cares.’ We suggest that ‘untended’ behavior also leads to the breakdown of community controls. A stable neighborhood of families who care for their homes, mind each other’s children, and confidently frown on unwanted intruders can change, in a few years or even a few months, to an inhospitable and frightening jungle. A piece of property is abandoned, weeds grow up, a window is smashed. Adults stop scolding rowdy children; the children, emboldened, become more rowdy. Families move out, unattached adults move in. Teenagers gather in front of the corner store. The merchant asks them to move; they refuse. Fights occur. Litter accumulates. People start drinking in front of the grocery; in time, an inebriate slumps to the sidewalk and is allowed to sleep it off. Pedestrians are approached by panhandlers.”

My Comment: The environment shapes consciousness and then a person’s behavior, and he is not able to resist his surroundings. The ability to shape oneself according to your desire and decision comes down to finding a suitable environment that would form you. So, free will is to choose those who “mold” you.
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Question: It isn’t clear how a modern person who doesn’t want to have children will suddenly have this desire.

Answer: It is thanks to the fact that we begin to connect mutually all over the world. By forming connections based on love above the repulsion and the unpleasantness, we begin to understand the internal power that is concealed in these relations. We will see to what extent bestowal upon others fills us.

Then a woman would want to be in such a relationship with her husband, with a certain husband and not some random partner, as we see these days. Then they will be able to establish a mutual relationship and to build a family, not on the biological, sexual level, but on the level of the spiritual connection. In such a family they will feel that it is possible to expand the relationship, fulfilling it through children. This is all the result of a person’s learning to connect with the world.

We’ve always lived egoistically. We gave and received egoistically, but now the whole world will reach an altruistic connection. First it is in the form of to bestowing in order to bestow, and then it is in the form of to receiving in order to bestow. We will understand that it is worthwhile to reach such a form of receiving in order to increase our bestowal.

It may seem like lofty language, but according to the pace of our development this future is very near. Of course, it is very hard to understand this, as long as a person doesn’t change. But by changing gradually, we begin to understand the level we are on and a bit above it.

I think that the more a person corrects himself, by becoming more integral and connected to others, by treating others with love, bestowal, concern, mutual understanding, and mutual guarantee, his attitude towards the other sex, towards his or her partner, will also change and so will the attitude to family ties and to children.

After all, we’ve never felt what love is. We acted according to our natural instincts and accordingly we chose the right spouse. But now our close relationships will be based on an internal feeling after we’ve learned to live above our ego.

Nature obliges us to establish such global relationships around the world. Then we will not look at the other sex on the beastly, physical level where the family has already collapsed. We will create a family alliance on a higher spiritual level, and will establish connections of mutual bestowal.

By this mutual bestowal I will begin to feel differently about my spouse and he or she will feel the same way about me, so there will be a new connection between us, as it says: “a man and a woman, if they were granted, Divinity is between them,” which means a special connection. Thanks to this connection, we will begin to think about children. This will be a totally different family, we are not going back to what was in the past, but rather will raise our connection from the corporeal, physical level to the level of the souls, to the spiritual level.

The family will have the same form: a man, a woman, children, but the meaning and the goal will be totally different.

[77087]
From a “Talk About a New Life” #19, 2/02/12

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Question: Let us say that there are dozens of integral learning groups in a certain neighborhood. How can they later merge into a single whole?

Answer: Today, having such a powerful mass media and ways for people to connect, we simply need to invent plenty of games, ways for people to be included mutually, like TV shows or fun attractions like panel games, when different groups meet and interact with each other. They begin to show us ways to change one another, how a person positions himself to affect others in a specific way.

Later, groups generally become diffused. They do not stay forever static like some frozen organization, community, city, dwelling, or middle-aged union. They do not. In the end, this will be a society where many people, or even everyone (I am referring to the future), will understand how they can make every situation work for them and be for the sake of others at the same time.

Once they understand this, they will see clearly how to interact and communicate with each other. In other words, any time they interact will be to help themselves and others have the best integral interconnection. They will work on being integrated with others every single moment, and thus will always feel a certain unity, which they already will feel and perceive as their and the world’s completely different state.

They will feel above our world in this unity, as if they were floating in a completely different human concentrate where different laws of behavior exist, the so-called “laws of commutation,” laws of unity and integration. By supporting each other in this and constantly being above our egoism, they begin to perceive a different kind of reality.

When a person is surrounded constantly by people who agree to play this kind of game, then this game gradually turns into a completely new kind of communication, and then the perception of a different space where, instead of receiving from others, we give to others. We work in a direction that is opposite to our current direction.

This new direction allows us to become free of our limitations. Instead of viewing every state as a state that obligates me and offers me the opportunity to take from the outside, on the contrary, I regard them as states that offer me the opportunity to come out of myself, become freer, and stop being limited and confined to myself.

Moreover, everyone else supports me in this. In the end, I will reach a comfortable, unrestricted state. It does not obligate me toward anything. On the contrary, it gives me an opportunity to feel free.

I am referring to relationships between people that we yet do not see anywhere today, but if we teach people these kinds of relationships, then in the end, they will aspire to this state. Once there are many people like this, they will overcome their egoistic resistance and communicate with each other above their egoism in a new mode. They will perceive a higher reality in it. We need to bring them to this.
[77101]
From “A Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/27/12

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