Question: How should I feel my group as a result of the workshop?

Answer: The group is “one” because only one soul has been created. And the more I reveal the structure of a single soul, the more I reveal the group.

A group is not a material concept, not ten physical bodies sitting in a circle. The group is what we build above our egoism through the connection between us, downplaying our ego and raising the importance of connection, the Creator, the Light. The farther apart we take these two opposite points, raising the importance of bestowal, love, and connection, there above, we begin to feel as one.

Everyone feels not himself but only this collective one, outside of his body, his thoughts and desires. We all feel just this desire and one thought “as one man with one heart.” This is called the group.

If everyone acts like this during the workshop, we build a common locator in our group, which begins to pick up all the other “units” in the hall, formed from each circle or approaching this. And then I will start to feel through this sensor all the souls of the righteous existing in the spiritual world. This becomes my vessel with which I work in the spiritual world.
[78229]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/12, “Talk About Past Conventions”

Related Material:
The Builders Of A New Reality
One Instead Of Billions
A Person Is Between Keter And Malchut

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A, Unity - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” p. 137: From the aforementioned, you will learn that the Holy Torah, whose Height is endless, did not emanate or emerge from before Him as it appears to us here in this world, since it is known that “The Torah and the Creator are one,” and this is not at all apparent in the Torah of our world.

Question: If the Creator is completely concealed, how can we talk about the real Torah? After all, the “Torah” is correction.

Answer: That is why we are talking about the Torah of our world. The “Torah” is essence, connection with the Creator. The “Creator” is the general Light, but the “Torah” is partial lights that reveal the desire, correct and fill it.

In our world, there is a means that allows us to reach the Light, the Creator. We aren’t locked in desires; we are activated by a slight illumination. Suppose, I am drinking tea and enjoying it; in other words, there is a light, corresponding to my desire, and I work with it: I want or don’t want, accept or reject. We are talking about micro-portions of the Light that can be obtained in the egoistic desires of our world.

Besides that, there is a degree, preceding the spiritual world. This is something completely different, the state Lo Lishma, when in despair, I start using my material, egoistic desires to achieve bestowal. And although my motives are questionable, this is already connection, a possibility to apply efforts on the way.

Thus, I was given the end of the thread. As if Kabbalists left me a “note,” and if I use it as intended, follow their advice, then I establish connection with them, and they help me as the grown-ups help a child.

I was given an initial desire, the point in the heart or troubles, from which I need to escape. I was awakened, and I am not just an “animal”; the mind and desire, Reshimot, inner states and external situation, fear for the future of the world, and my own future wake up in me. The foundation has been laid.

And afterward, no matter what, at some time I will need so-called the help from Above. And searching will help me find the truth—the Light that Reforms.
[78125]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

Related Material:
Through Contradictions: Truth
Do I Check Myself?
“Things That Come From The Heart, Enter The Heart”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Q&A, Torah - 1 Comment →

Question: At the Convention I discovered that I do not have a desire to connect with others. How can I receive this desire?

Answer: It is natural that we do not have a desire to connect. We live in a world where disconnection and disunity grow from one day to the next. People hide behind computer screens and mobile phones, and all other means that create an illusion of connection instead of real unity.

But we like this more! 99% of all devices that are manufactured are designed to help a person avoid connecting with others. They create the illusion that we do not have to meet and look one another in the eyes, that it’s enough to look at a small screen and to press buttons. No one looks at one another. People walk down the street like zombies aimed at the destination point, and they practically do not talk to one another.

The whole world is growing more and more distant from one another. My ego forces me to restrict my connection with others to the maximum, so I need a separate apartment and separate food. I build my habitat so that I have all the household appliances in my home and so I don’t have to depend on anyone. Soon robots will do all of our housework and I won’t need anyone at all. A person feels best when he is alone. And if he suddenly gets bored, then he calls someone or sends an e-mail.

With this form of our egoism’s development, the aspiration to unite is simply opposite to our material nature. And it is clear that people coming to the Convention to unite feel uneasy. Moreover, the more developed a person is, the more resistance he feels, as it is written, “One who is greater than his friend has greater egoism.”

This pushes many new people away, as well as long-time, good, strong students, throwing them out of their boundaries. We must understand that this is every person’s natural reaction. And if someone leaves, that does not mean that he is ready for spiritual advancement, but he simply did not receive sufficient support and a patient attitude from others.

Every person should receive the opportunity to work at the Convention and to participate in some way, and gradually, time will do its work. If a person has a great egoistic desire, he cannot immediately accept the fact that we have to be connected.

The average person will happily agree to sit together with everyone and to sing. But for an individualist, who has strong desires – egoism, pride, and love of power – this is unacceptable and unbearable, and he runs away. Therefore, we have to give these people the chance to “cook over a low fire.” It’s like preparing a dish where every ingredient is cooked separately and at different times, and afterwards everything is combined together in one pot. Likewise, there are all kinds of people in the group, and every person has his own cooking time! But in the end everyone will unite and will cook together.
[78308]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/12, “Questions and Answers about past conventions”

Related Material:
There Is A Place For Everyone In The Convention
The Convention Is For Everyone Who Is Willing To Be Included
Four Conditions

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Q&A, Unity, Workshops - 1 Comment →

The greatness of Kabbalah is that it gives us the method that enables us to evoke spiritual energy, which corrects our nature and miraculously unites us. We have nothing to worry about; we only gradually need to establish a connection in the group and maintain a fraction of unity and mutual guarantee in mutual actions. This is sufficient to evoke the Reforming Light.

On one hand, there is an enormous journey before us, severe and difficult changes which require immense human effort. But on the other hand, there are no actions that we need to do on our own, the only thing we need to do is evoke the Light, which will do the work.

Many people try to correct themselves on their own, and they assume that this is possible. However, this will never happen; they will become disappointed, stop studying, and leave the group. This is because their efforts are not directed towards the Light, they want to do everything on their own instead of asking like a baby sitting on his mother’s lap asks.

I need to feel that I am in the Creator’s arms, feel that I am dependent on Him. And then, once I understand that any action begins with a request directed towards Him, I will stand next to Him, holding His hand, like a child who does not yet let go of the adult. I will pull Him after me to correct my faults. Once I discover uncorrected thoughts and desires in me, I will consciously and deliberately direct Him towards specific faults that require correcting.

So we grow by bringing out the things that are not corrected between us that are set up by the breaking and asking the Creator or the Light to correct them. Initially, before we know how to talk to Him, we simply point to the problem: “Correct!” Then we will explain to Him what we want just as parents demand for the child to tell about his “misfortune” as if we did not understand what he needs. Here there is a need for communication, reaction, explanation, and the child’s participation, more and more of it. He realizes part of the action, and the adult realizes the other part.

In this way we study the Creator’s “profession,” we put ourselves in His place, until we correct the entire system and acquire His status.

So, make a note in your heart: We do not perform any actions. Regardless of whether we feel bad or good, whether we see any faults, whether we want to correct something, first of all, we need to illuminate the damage as much as possible and then understand that only the Light will correct it. All the actions and connections in the group, the misunderstandings, fights, and other things are evoked by the Creator so we would invite Him to reveal Himself between us. It is written: “The One who establishes peace in His heights will establish peace between us.” The only thing we must do is raise MAN, a prayer, an appeal for correction. I “pray,” which means that I judge myself, become a judge to myself, and then I evoke the force of correction.

This is the way to act, by strengthening the connection between us. Groups must follow this principle and be like organs of a single body caring for each other. After all, everyone who falls also drags down the others. Sometimes events in a group are not caused by the strengthening of egoism before an ascent to the next degree, but by a descent of another group. After all, when a certain part of the body becomes sick, the sickness also transfers to the others.

At first, the right kind of state needs to be established in the groups, and then among the groups. We need to take care of each other, we need to unite and be concerned for our common spiritual health, then over just a few months we will reveal the spiritual world, and in a few years we will complete the correction.

We have not yet begun this work; we don’t yet act consciously and correctly either in groups or in their interconnection. These things come out gradually, we need to be conscious of them and understand them, and for this we need an inner demand. Nothing will come on its own without your demanding it.

So, we need to clarify this rule of mutual guarantee through mutual unity. And we only unite through a common prayer, when we together understand that only the upper Light will establish peace between us.
[78217]
From the One Convention in New Jersey 5/12/12, Lesson 3

Related Material:
Hanging On By Our Teeth Or Connecting As Cogwheels
The Best – For The Friends
Obligate The Creator To Help Us

Filed under: Conventions, Mutual Guarantee, Unity - No Comments →

Man finally is realizing that he is not the master of nature and that nature is the supreme power of the world. Thus, it is necessary to lower our heads and abide its laws.

The rules of nature to which we should become equivalent in everything we do are the following:

• Nature runs on sunlight
• Nature uses only necessary energy
• Nature brings form in accordance with function
• Nature recycles everything
• Nature rewards cooperation
• Nature is based on variety
• Nature requires experience in local conditions
• Nature limits excesses from within
• Nature reveals the power of restriction

However, Kabbalah explains that, by keeping these laws, we turn from bad creatures to neutral ones. If we correct our anti-natural egoistic qualities into altruistic ones, we will climb to the top, eternal, and perfect level of nature.
[78015]
Source:  Integral Education

Related Material:
The Need To Follow The Laws Of Nature
Learn To Live In Balance With Nature
Balance That Causes Development

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing - 1 Comment →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2012-05-18_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’18.5.12′]

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Question: What role should our American friends play in relation to the world Kli at the upcoming convention in New Jersey?

Answer: I think that of all the countries, the US can influence the world in the most efficient way. After all, we are talking about a very powerful nation that others listen to. All mass media of the world comes together in the US. The US has a great influence.

Moreover, the modern crisis is mainly revolving around it, ant the crisis continues to expand and deepen. And this is why, if we wish to affect the world, the main tool for doing it is here in the US. It is necessary to organize a strong, united American group—then we will be heard and will be able to “sweeten” the crisis so people would understand the situation that they are in and would come to correction, instead of simply tolerating new disasters.

Today, mankind looks like a stubborn child who does not want to do what he needs to do. And at the same time the parents cannot give in because his entire future depends on it. He must finish school despite his lack of desire, and this is why he experiences pressure and misfortunes until he finally passes the exams.

We have spent thousands of years developing egoistically. The growing egoism constantly increased its pressure, and we kept realizing it in feeling and mind. Our desires kept getting stronger and we advanced. However, right now a new stage is beginning: Instead of the egoistic power of reception and hatred, we must develop another power in us: the power of bestowal and love.

For us to feel the need for it, disasters can be sent to us, which are already echoing. We are naturally speaking about a lengthy process, one that does not encompass the whole world simultaneously; however, overall, the disasters are meant to bring us the knowledge that our egoism has completed its development and we should not expect new marvelous results from it.

Moreover, being a part of the world, we cannot make decisions only for ourselves. For example, when things are well somewhere, we also get a share of the Light even though we could be in a very somber state.

But no matter what, we need to understand that the process has begun and is moving forward. All our systems have been expiring and even collapsing for a long time now. Everything people have developed over thousands of years while realizing his growing egoism is beginning to fall apart. However, even though the collapse is already taking place before our eyes, we do not yet realize it and do not understand that it is possible to move down another road. This is where the problem lies: We need a science, which will explain global tendencies to us.

An instinctive development is enrooted in the still, vegetative, and animate nature. There is no choice, thought process, and conscious movement forward. But it is the opposite way with us: Unlike the rest of nature, our development was forced by a single power from one generation to another and over the course of a person’s entire life. Now we must also receive a second power beside the egoistic one, and begin to balance it in order to control our life with two “reins.”

While a single power was driving us, it encompassed our entire world. But now, when a second power is being revealed before us, we must choose between them, we must decide the right way to work with both of them. Thus, for the first time in history, we are receiving two reins in our hands, we can use “both legs” to walk, we can use both powers of Nature: the positive and the negative—to control both ourselves and Nature. This will help us rise to the degree of the Creator, and we are being impelled to do it from Above.

The positive power of bestowal, love, and unity has been influencing us for the past 50-60 years, pushing our development in this direction. We have not been noticing what has been happening, but meanwhile, since the Second World War, full intertwining of connections between countries started to form with greater intensity, and the world seems to have become “rounder,” more interconnected in all its parts. It was the war that initiated this process.

Since then, the positive power was being revealed in the world. So far it has been bringing nations and countries closer, mixing them and creating interactions between them. As a result, the world now appears to be pretty round and integral; however, people do not yet understand the situation that is taking place. This is because it was being formed automatically, mechanically, without people feeling it, instinctively, through force.

But then the modern crisis came, which essentially explains to us that we must control the world, we must make our systems correspond to the two powers, which operate on the global scale.

Still, we do not realize this. The rulers of the world, economists, financial analysts, and merchants – everyone continues to act according to the old rules. This also takes inertia into account; however, it will end, and we will still feel how serious and deep the world crisis is in the next year or two. We will have no more strength left to keep concealing it.

For now, everyone is instinctively trying to mask it and ignore the obvious: both ordinary people and governments. This situation is very dangerous and can lead to an explosion. Kabbalah also speaks about the possibility of the third, nuclear, world war.

And this is why it is very important for us to explain what is happening in the most extensive, simple, and accessible manner: in different forms, in different languages, to every person and everyone together, from one side to another, and in every direction, to give people the opportunity to perceive something and start thinking in this direction. This way we can “sweeten” the current transitional situation so everyone would understand that there is no other solution, we have entered a special historic process.

So, the US is a leading country in the world, both in positive and negative aspects. And this is why we must gain as much strength and influence over public opinion as possible here, to bring to the people the knowledge about the process that has begun.
[77469]
From New Jersey, the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/10/12, Shamati 

Related Material:
Now That You Have The Method, Pass It Forward
Climbing The Steps Of Conventions
Israel’s Role In The World

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Economy, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A, World - 2 Comments →

In the News (from Bloomberg Businessweek): “German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European Union leaders will discuss plans to bolster economic growth in the 27-nation bloc at their June summit.

“The EU may consider strengthening the European Investment Bank as part of their plans, Merkel was cited as saying in an interview with the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper published today. Countries can already use EU structural funds more flexibly to help small and mid-sized businesses, she said.

“Merkel rejected providing new government stimulus to foster growth, saying that policies must focus on creating jobs and improving competitiveness, according to the newspaper.”

“The amount of the guarantee will increase but significantly in the coming years. EFSF aid aims to stabilize countries and allow them to gradually return to the markets. In return, the States must meet strict conditions to the budgetary stability and competitiveness.” Source: Best Finance Blog

My Comment: No-one will be able to suggest any new financial policy and moreover the program for exiting the crisis because the cause of the crisis is not in the plane of economy or finance, but rather in human relations. The crisis of human relations (the revelation of the breaking of the souls) can be cured only by the upper Light (Ohr Makif). The program for exiting the crisis is called Kabbalah (according by the sources of Baal HaSulam, not the one selling holy water and red strings). In general, the time of the total revision has come.
[77968]

Related Material:
Europe: A New Direction In Fight Against Crisis
The Desired Instead Of The Actual
Financiers Are Still Hoping!

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, News, World - No Comments →

Question: What is the role of the guide, of the moderator, in a group of integral education and upbringing?

Answer: It is much easier to study theory than to manage people and teach them practical lessons by bringing them to conclusions that they cannot arrive at by themselves. On the contrary, those who study according to this method reach these conclusions and experience this method themselves and invent a method of self-reform when they suddenly begin to feel that the group is the “artist” that sculpts something totally new from them.

With an unexpected feeling and impression, they perceive how far they can change. In addition, what previously seemed illogical suddenly becomes ordinary and what was imperceptible before is suddenly perceived and accepted much more easily, and even things they disagreed with suddenly seem different.

So first they begin to study the influence society has on a person. At the same time, each one discovers, quite surprisingly, how dependent he is on the environment and to what extent he can be manipulated by the environment.

We can compare it to a weight loss support group, or to alcoholics anonymous, or to a group of people trying to quit smoking, etc. It isn’t about quitting a certain habit and formatting a totally new personality: it isn’t your “formatting” according to the same egoistic pattern, but acquiring a totally new perspective, a new nature, a new code of behavior, and changing people.

Sometimes it may be quite unpleasant, or at least very surprising, because a person doesn’t even think that he can change himself so easily, by using the environment.

The environment is willing to help him in that. If it operates according to a certain method, and explains to people what they have to turn into, then there is an accurate mutual cooperation in the group, when they play together and this collective game, just like in a theater, turns them into totally new people. What is more, the role they are playing remains part of them.

There are many “buts” here; the question is whether the role they begin to play remains part of them forever. Does it become part of them like the permanent memory of a computer? Or is it temporary and it may change by different attributes, functions and other roles? This depends on the guidance a person receives and the guidance of the group, and on whether these groups will become a constant incentive that influences people.
[77109]
From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/27/12

Related Material:
Being My Own Instructor
How To Become A True Instructor
An Inspiring Teacher

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “BeHukotai” Selected Excerpts

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Bahar” Selected Excerpts 

Filed under: Torah, Zohar - No Comments →