By our efforts to be included in the center of the group, we will learn what mutual guarantee is. This isn’t a theoretical concept and not some static state; it is a method, a plan, of the connection among us. It absolutely determines how we “stick” to one another, like cogwheels.

But we must constantly remain both close and separate from one another because it is this state that enables us to keep the uniqueness of everyone and to find what everyone’s part is in the general life. Everyone adds and enriches the others by wanting to adhere to everyone, despite the feeling of separation.

It is like a living organism in which every organ keeps its uniqueness and doesn’t annul itself among the other organs, forgetting the special job entrusted to it. On the contrary, it performs its job faithfully by using all its special attributes and discernments and by them expressing its uniqueness to others.

One is green, another is yellow, and a third one is blue; everyone keeps his color, but we all contribute our colors into one whole wonderful picture. Therefore mutual guarantee and the concept of connection itself are revealed only in the center, where we learn to combine the two ends—personal freedom and our collective dependence.

We begin to respect our separation and understand why the Creator created us with an evil inclination. We see how He helps us by standing in our way to connect. The ego is no less important than the force of connection, standing directly in front of it equally. Only by the gap between the two—on the one hand, the feeling of my oppositeness and on the other hand the equality—do I acquire an understanding, recognition and mind.

I remain separate and still adhere to the center. Thanks to that, all the infinite space between the separation and the adhesion, the whole distance between the point of this world and the world of Ein Sof, becomes the place for the revelation of the essence of the Creator. Otherwise, I would never be able to attain Him. I would remain as one point that was lost and melted into the Light.

Therefore our main constant work is to clarify the center of the group, in order to find our place and to discover this concept more clearly until we reach Gmar Tikkun (the end of correction). On the way we attain the worlds, Partzufim, and the upper Sefirot because they all symbolize our relationship.

Everything the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about, the whole path, starting from the point of unity that exists thanks to the upper force until the point of unity that was created by our efforts, is the revelation of different ways of connection among us, called the worlds, Partzufim and Sefirot.

But when we clarify the system of connections among us, we discover that it actually determines the conditions for resembling the upper Light. So our connection is increasingly more adapted to the upper Light and accordingly the Light is revealed in this connection as the force of vitality, the force of attainment and understanding. This feeling of life grows stronger until all the connections among us are corrected and then the Light, the force of life, is revealed in its full measure.
[78593]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/12, “Talk About the Workshop”

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Question: Is it true that during the workshop we seemingly, enter the center of the group, and during the lesson from The Zohar, we are already reading from within the center of the group about what is taking place there?

Answer: It depends on how a person scrutinizes and feels himself. It could be that he simply reads or even when he constantly thinks about it, even if he doesn’t listen or understand the words themselves, the reading itself bestows holiness and purity on him, and this advances him.

Or it could be that he also longs to connect with the text, to understand what is written there, since after all, spiritual acts are spoken about there. The ten Sefirot, either on the smallest level or largest level, are the same ten Sefirot. This means that everything that is written here, without doubt, takes place in the first and lowest Partzuf that I acquire.

I acquire the first ten Sefirot, at the level of “pregnancy,” and in any case, also everything described in The Zohar will take place there, the entire Torah from beginning to end, at every level. It’s like a holographic picture, and therefore, it is written about me. Even if we are speaking about the Partzufim that are so very high like Atik of the world of Atzilut, and Abba ve Ima (Father and Mother), it all takes place in each level and in all kinds of details, but it takes place. Therefore, the text gives me a feeling of belonging, and it helps me to yearn. The main thing is that I want to be under its influence, like in a shower of light.
[78575]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/12, The Zohar

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson: Talk About the Workshop

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet (Genesis),” Let There Be Lights,” Lesson 103

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 7, Item 3, Lesson 8

“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 156

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From a lesson of Rabash: “Israel that are in exile—Divinity is with them.” We learn that the vessels of Malchut descend downwards, when the Upper rises, the lower rises too, but an explanation is needed here, and we should understand this too. We learn from everything both the negative and the positive. We learn about the restriction of Bina and we learn about the sweetening of Malchut. “Israel that are in exile—Divinity is with them.”

When they are in exile, they are tasteless, and they say that their Torah is also tasteless. Do you understand this or not?

So one feels the Upper in the same way he feels himself. This is called “restriction.” On the other hand there is “sweetening,” and this is called “I am the Lord residing with them in their impurity.” Although they are not purified yet, there is still the dressing of the Lights in the form of Surrounding (Lights), which are evoked each time, without inner vessels.

When a person is awakened, he doesn’t say: “I want to wake up now.” It isn’t like pressing a button. He is awakened, it happens by itself. This is called the “Surrounding Light. When it comes to the lower it is called “the Inner Light,” the lower raises MAN. Do you understand the difference?

When the lower does it the lower is the host. The Upper…a house, he wants to re-enter. There is no longevity. The awakening—has no longevity, well!

This is also called the raising of MAN—the lower wakes up by itself.

Listen, there is an attitude and there is a reality. I am speaking about an attitude. The actual reality begins only after a person attains his vessel of receiving. We are only speaking about the attitude and not more than that.”

The Creator always takes care of a person who wants to advance. But sometimes it is revealed as he brings a person closer to Him, and sometimes He exiles him. The exile is felt when the Upper restricts Himself and bestows in a different way, by the “Surrounding Light.”

While getting closer to the Creator and the awakening the “Direct” (Esher) Light is more active and during the time of exile, the “round” (Igulim) Light is more active. But a person is always being taken care of from Above if he exerts himself in his advancement.

Therefore it says: “He who resides with them within their impurity,” (Leviticus 15, 16), which means that the Divinity is in exile together with a person, since he was exiled intentionally and it is meant for the servants of the Lord in order to advance them by another hidden Providence, of the Upper Providence. The desire to reveal Him is the true desire.
[78380]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/12

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Question: At the Sunday seminar you said that the center of the group did not exist before the breaking of the vessels because the three lines did not exist then, and now we are forming it. What does that mean?

Answer: We have a collection of data, but we have to gather it together into one ourselves.

Let me give an example. Suppose we used to have a mosaic image depicting the sun, clouds, a meadow, and several animals and people on it. It’s a pretty picture. Then this picture was broken into parts and the parts were mixed up.

Now you have to put the picture together again, but it will not be the same as the previous one anymore. That’s because you are adding your own component to it, the difference between what was created from existence and what was created from absence. In other words, the difference between the Creator and the creature is embedded into the mosaic, and the image transforms from flat to multidimensional.

In Kabbalah this is designated as a 620-fold addition. However, this is not talking about a quantitative addition, but about new details in the perception of reality.
[78691]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/12

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Question: How can we reach the center of the group?

Answer: We must constantly think about our common force so it would correspond to the Creator. It has to grow forth from our equal cooperation, where every person bows down his head, joins the group, and raises the friends in his eyes since without them he would not be able to take one step toward the goal. His mind and feeling are born out of unification, and inside the unity, he finds his soul. Thus, aspiring to the center means aspiring to one’s soul.

No one has his own, separate soul. Baal HaSulam writes that only one soul, one common vessel was created. Therefore, without revealing the center of the group, we remain on the “animate” level, outside of the spiritual world, outside of our soul, and exist in the material bodies.

We must constantly form the center of the group. It is a point, like an elevator that rises up the spiritual degrees by the might of the unity of its constituent parts, rising higher and higher, to greater quality, to a greater concentration of our aspirations and desires. This enormous field is the “territory” of our common vessel.

The Creator endowed us with various qualities by means of the breaking, and with the help of intention we focus on the central point.
[78694]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/12

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Question: What kind of an effort do we need during the seminar? Should it be a burst like that of an attack, or a fine internal search?

Answer: The seminar and our path in general are completely based on feelings, since we are clarifying everything inside of our material, the desire to enjoy. The desire perceives itself through feeling, but in order to realize the different states experienced, we need the mind. The mind comes to us only on the elevated levels, when we begin to unite desires in hope of reaching a corrected vessel. And this is when we begin to form our spiritual mind.

Prior to this we are only at the disposal of the earthly, animate mind, which helps us to better serve our egoism. This mind does not ascend higher than the level of this world because the lot of a slave adjusts to his master. That’s why those feelings and the mind with which we exist now are completely limited by the level of this world and don’t have anything pertaining to the spiritual. And here, it’s not important how smart a person is. This absolutely does not relate to the spiritual.

With the new feelings and mind, which do relate to spirituality, we now begin to develop in the search for our common point. This sensitivity must localize in the area where we are connected to each other, in the center of the group. The mind will appear in order to uncover the various subtleties in this and to help us unite. These are already the spiritual feelings and mind, belonging to the spiritual ladder.

That’s why at the seminar the inspiration precisely for unity must reign, and not a simple enthusiasm in the hope of receiving new knowledge and for the development of the self. If I want my awakening and preparation for the seminar to join into this work, then from the very beginning I need to focus myself only towards unity. This means focusing on the importance of unity, the importance of the group and friends, and not to long only to attain something by and for myself. It’s a pity for those who exert such futile efforts, since they will be left out of the circle.
[78571]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/12, “Talk About the Seminar”

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Question: Although you warned us that we cannot be late to a workshop, we still had latecomers. Did we do the right thing by taking pity on them and accepting them into the common circle instead of making a separate circle for the latecomers?

Answer: It’s baffling how people can allow themselves to be late for a clarification of this kind! It’s the same case as when the Ari invited his students to go to Jerusalem and perform the final correction, but no one came at the appointed hour. I don’t understand how a person can be late to a gathering devoted to spiritual work.

Everything depends only on the preparation, on concentration, on the desire for it to happen. We need to start thinking about it for several hours before the workshop. Nothing will happen without preparation, we need to prepare the desire.

In everyday life, the feeling of hunger and other needs rise up on their own thanks to hormones and natural processes in the body. But when it comes to the spiritual, I myself need to arrange my desire through the environment. There is no desire in me for anything spiritual that would arise on its own like the need for food, sex, money, power, and knowledge do.

I was given only a single point in the heart so that I could develop my spiritual hunger from it. And everything else besides that point needs to come from the environment. Before the workshop, I need to arrange such an environment that it would influence me and I would arrive with an already prepared desire. Otherwise I will miss all the opportunities, as though I’m suddenly invited to a festive meal bursting with food, but I didn’t know and had just eaten a full meal. I look at all this abundance and don’t know what to do with it.

Preparation is essential. Thus, people who come late and burst into a group from a different world, from their job, or from a store; they cause harm. They cannot penetrate the common circle right away, at best only towards the end of the workshop are they able to somehow grasp the common feeling, and they interfere with others for sure.

Therefore, you shouldn’t welcome them with open arms right away, but verify what has happened: Is it truly the most important event in their life? I would not allow latecomers to enter. It’s necessary to take care in advance about not being late since we’re talking about the salvation of the soul. After all, haven’t you come in order to build the place where a soul is received?
[78565]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/12, “Talk About the Seminar”

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In the News (from Bloomberg Businessweek): “It’s just after lunchtime on a drizzly day in the Amsterdam suburb of Bos en Lommer, and the line of people waiting to fill their bags with free rice, juice, potatoes and bread is lengthening.

“The market is one of 135 food banks in the Netherlands bailing out people trying to survive on less than 180 euros ($234) a month, the threshold to qualify for the aid. Organizers say demand for the service rose 20 percent in the first quarter…

“Europeans everywhere are changing jobs, homes and habits to accommodate lower pay, shifting markets and slowing economies. …

“The crisis is now at the door of nations previously considered invulnerable such as the Netherlands. …

“‘The lines will get bigger and bigger as more people lose their jobs and have trouble paying their rent or mortgage,’ said Piet van Diepen, a food bank board member.

“In the Netherlands, more than 23,000 people get aid from the food bank, he said. The numbers also are increasing in places such as Britain, where figures showed this month that the economy has slipped back into recession amid the biggest budget cuts of any of the 10 largest EU countries.”

My Comment: This could be an opportunity to send these people to courses on integral upbringing. In a few months, the face of Europe could change. Social relations, mutual guarantee, communication, and sense of community would lead to the similarity to the fundamental law of nature of unity and cooperation.

To that extent, we would feel that social and political tension decrease, and we would discover new mechanisms of the regulation of social life. As Baal HaSulam writes, the country that decides to implement the system of uniting society through the education of its citizens will become the most prosperous and exemplary country in the world in a few months.
[78327]

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In the News (from Business News Daily): “According to a study of co-author Bryan Bonner, an associate professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, ‘for groups to be successful, they must exploit the knowledge of their (individual) members effectively.’

“The research, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, proved this by looking at how both individuals and groups answered difficult questions. …

“’People find they often know more than they think they do. They realize that they might not know the whole answer to the problem, but there are a couple things they do know that might help the group come to a solution.’”

“Therefore, leveraging what individuals already know is the key to solving a range of problems, according to the research.

“According to Bonner and co-author Michael Baumann, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas in San Antonio, improving the ability to transfer old knowledge to new situations may be as simple as attempting to solve problems with others. This is because, when several people team up to solve problems, the group has several viewpoints to bring together in order to reach a solution.

“’Although the sheer amount of brainpower it takes to consistently and effectively transfer learning from old to new is beyond many individuals, groups of people working together can actually be very good at it,’ the researchers said.

“With that in mind, this research may not only change the way organizations go about solving problems, but also how organizations are constructed in the first place.”

My Comment: At all levels of unity, the likeness to the single organism of nature is good. Gathering separate people into a single organism immediately creates not only a simple sum, but more than the sum of them, precisely due to the force of the similarity to unity, the property of the Creator.
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