Humanity has been developing for ages, but in which direction? If we look at nature, we see that nature tends toward balance. Heat and cold, pressure and vacuum, balance each other.

All natural phenomena tend toward the balance of forces and mutual inclusion, as this is the most constant and stable state that is pressure-free. Eventually, everything will balance. By that, we can understand what Kabbalists tell us about our situation and about the fact that we must reach a state of balance with the Creator, with general nature, since the Creator and nature are the same thing.

What does it mean to reach a state of balance with Him? The Creator is the attribute of bestowal and love, and we should reach the same thing whether we like it or not. The Creator constantly bestows upon us, and from inside, operates the “engine” of our growing ego so that we constantly feel that we are under growing pressure, in a state that is increasingly unbalanced with the Creator.

This obliges us to do something. Until now and throughout our history, meaning our development, we have been trying to balance the pressure with the help of different technologies, social structures, habits, and means to protect ourselves from the heat and the cold, from pressure and other such changes.

Nature is constant, while we are constantly developing from the inside by a chain of Reshimot (reminiscences) that constantly change. Our resistance toward nature constantly grows.

All the changes take place inside us. Even if we see an external world that changes, such as geological and historical periods, generations, or whatever, it all takes place inside us.

We radiate this reality outward, although there is actually nothing on the outside. A person is a closed “box,” and the picture of the world is depicted inside it. However, he feels this picture as though it were on the outside.

Similarly, our eyes turn this picture upside down. The eye catches the entire world in an opposite way, then the brain converts it again. If we were to put on special glasses that do the same thing, after a while, the brain will get used to it and convert the picture in the right direction. This illustrates the fact that all changes take place inside me, not on the outside.

Therefore we say that, as it is written, “There is none else besides Him,” the one constant force that operates and influences me. He has prepared all the Reshimot (informational genes) inside me, and everything that I discover in my life, in my world, in my reality, is the result of the Reshimot. They are responsible for everything I can see, hear, taste and feel.

I constantly must try to remember that, if something needs to be changed, it is me. The Kabbalistic method isn’t meant for the correction of the world, but, with its help, a person corrects himself and his perception. So, despite common knowledge, if a person wants to enter the spiritual picture, he must refocus his vision.

Stereograms are based on the same principle. In order to see them, a person must refocus his vision. How can we change the focus in order to discern the new layer of reality? It is very simple. We must accept the world as a reality that is managed by one force and that all the changes are taking place through my Reshimot.

I constantly try to perceive and understand the situation, to remember that I always am facing the one force inside me and that the Reshimot that are constantly changing inside me are opposite to that force. So, I must reach the balance we spoke about every moment in my life.

The main law of nature is that, despite everything that is evoked inside me, I build myself so that I can be as similar to the Creator as possible, and not to differ from Him in my attributes. This is the main thing.

By attaining the current level, I rise to the next level. Thus, I balance myself with the Creator in every parameter, in all 125 degrees, by becoming totally equal and similar to Him, and achieving total balance.

On the whole, it is a simple schema. The world is constant, but he changes inside me, colors it anew each time, and I must be balanced with the force that gives and stabilizes the current picture for me.
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From the One Convention in New Jersey 5/12/12, Lesson 3

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Question: Do we have to feel the parallel shattering before every new level?

Answer: Of course, otherwise we won’t be able to rise up to it. By receiving corrupt desires, we correct them and build the next corrected level from them.

This new level has never existed before; we are creating something that is totally new. We only receive the material and build new steps from it. This is because we evoke the Light of NRNHY in all the worlds, although to us they only had the faint Light of Nefesh. After all, we bring our desires and clarifications into it. We add our egoistic desire to receive to the desire to bestow, by evoking and correcting it.

The corruption is revealed in us, and we correct it. Now in these desires, which are obtained each time, become 620 times greater than the desire that was created during the descent from the top down, we receive the Reforming Light and then the Light that fills the vessel.

No matter what level I am on, suppose on level 30 from the bottom, I will receive a Light that is 620 times stronger than the level itself because I am adding my desire, the spiritual yearning, my work. This is what happens on every level.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: How can I advance toward bestowal if my aspiration is egoistic, for my own pleasure, stemming from this world? After all, I can’t do it any other way.

Answer: Don’t worry about that, for you have all that you need for spiritual advancement: a group in which to actualize your desire for the spiritual, where the Light (Creator) is revealed. What else could you possibly need? You have a system that helps you grow, like a caring family!

You receive support from our great world group, from lots of friends. Besides, the whole world in general supports you by revealing its worthlessness with each passing day. These conditions are so favorable that we really have nothing to complain about. It’s even a bit upsetting. Are we really so powerless that we must be clearly shown the breaking of the egoistic world to convince us that there is no other path but this? This speaks to our complete feebleness and inability to resist our desire to enjoy; that’s how small, destitute and hollow we really are.

In the times of Baal HaSulam, the world surged, chasing after pleasures and wealth, and aspiring to develop science and new technologies. But today the world feels only disappointment, as if we are being deliberately supported in our path.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: How do we learn to attract the Light to correct us?

Answer: The difference between our state and the spiritual degrees is that even while living in a lie, in egoism, we can attract Light towards us from there. You cannot do this on a spiritual degree because everything obeys simple laws there: You are already inside the system and you receive only what you are entitled to according to your place and state.

But we get concessions in our world. And even though we think that it is cruel to us, it is very gentle with us. In it, we are like infants, who can scream and falsely demand things that they are not entitled to, and receive them even though it is a lie.

This is the entire meaning of existence of our world. I do not wish to connect with my friends when I am in my normal, regular egoism. But I hug them, sit with them, I try to connect and attain unity. And even though all of this is built on absolute egoism and there is nothing here but it, it is like child’s play in a sand box or with Legos, which he uses to learn. As a result of my efforts, I suddenly acquire a mind, proper perception, and sensation, I begin to grow, I acquire a certain understanding and definitions.

But mainly, my games become much closer to reality, and little by little, I learn to connect with others, cancel myself out, yield, study, read primary sources, and attract Light. And then I suddenly begin to feel the importance of bestowal and I believe that there is really something in it.

The external world is also helping us in this with its crisis and suffering because it is already hard to envy when you see the state that regular egoists of this world are in. This world is really a find for us. All the other degrees already are a system; only this world is a unique place. This is why the entire freedom of choice is revealed specifically on this lowest degree. Our work lies in always making this choice in the dark.

And then we will have another job: analyzing the quality of connection, when we constantly are raising our spiritual “qualifications,” adding details as we are revealing the wealth of the manifestation of the King, His revelation. But no one will give us concessions any more, as it is now.

This is why this period of preparation is so long, exhausting, and just drags on, because later we will use the entire degree of this world for the rest of the ladder. This is exactly why we can correct the entire 125 degrees only by living in this world. And even on the very last degree, I must first feel like I am in my lowest state possible, the state of a “market merchant.”

I am not speaking about the physical world, a certain special reality, which is becoming established in my brain. I must feel like I am completely separated from others in it, but at the same time attract Light with different, false efforts to connect.

And I will also need this corporeal degree, even when on high degrees in the World of Atzilut. Without it I will not be able to correct the actual point of creation, “created out of nothing” (Yesh Mi Ain). It is impossible to unite with the Creator without adding to every degree from the separation you have experienced between this world and all the worlds.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Lesson: Talk About Past Conventions 

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The Book of Zohar –  Selected Excerpts, “Beresheet (Genesis),” “The Separating and Connecting Firmament,” Item 365

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Preface to the Book of Zohar, Item 33, Lesson 19

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“The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“

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Question: You said that we must constantly return to the corrected state and to keep it in mind. What is that state?

Answer: The point is that when a person attains an integral connection with other people in a group that isn’t too big, he remembers that, he has an impression called Reshimo, (reminiscences). This impression is emotional and it is stored in him as a memory, but it is an active memory.

This means that with the help of any state that resembles it we can always fulfill the Reshimo and to actually begin to experience it anew, to live in it and to immediately feel in it the ease, the lack of restrictions, warmth, security and the exit from any crisis, etc.

When a person begins to exit himself and connect with others, he sees that all the problems he felt before were felt by him because he had a different perception of reality, “for himself” and not “from himself.”

So the main thing is to leave a very accurate impression of mutual cooperation with the world around him, with the environment, in a person and to teach him habits and how he can return from different states to this basic state. Then we will return to it on different, higher levels, despite the possible interruptions, with the help of different environments, in any environment.

Question: How often does a person have to return to the corrected state during the day?

Answer: He should constantly be in it. I try to turn any state I am in into the corrected state.

Question: How can it be intensified, how can it be stronger and more powerful?

Answer: It is possible to intensify it by the resistance that I feel in order to return to it. Eventually, when I overcome the resistance I feel, it becomes a coefficient of intensity. My experiences of cooperation, the oppositeness of the states “to me” and “from me” will accordingly be clearer, more distant and stronger.

Question: When you describe this phenomenon I see it as an individualistic process, but we are always saying that it is a group process.

Answer: It is a group process, but we are talking about an individual effort within the group process. Later, when the process stabilizes as a group process, everyone will begin to feel a unified partnership. This is the state in which individuals become one whole, just like many drops merge into one in which no division is felt, but rather is the feeling of one big unified drop.

But we are saying that these states are constantly changing—groups break up and reconnect. We are not speaking about one group or about the fact that humanity has become such a group. Therefore, the individual component of my work with all of the environment becomes the main thing here.
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From “A Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/27/12

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The mere fact that a person studies according to the method of the integral education changes him in such a way that his paradigm and his feelings change the world he lives in, and he feels the world as a totally different place. We can say that by creating an imaginary world for a person, we change his natural, psychological, internal parameters. On the whole, today we develop in an absolutely beastly manner and we see that we can’t go on existing this way. This means that we can change the world only by our perception, and this is what we are doing.

Here we already begin to feel that a real, deep internal change is taking place in a person, and we can see how he changes internally and the whole world becomes different. Life is basically a feeling of something that doesn’t really exist; it’s simply how you feel it.

So we have to constantly perform very serious psychological work, in workshops, making acquaintances, in our feelings, in the definitions: What does reality mean, relatively and objectively, what is society, who am I, and what is the status that we should hold on to since everything is constantly changing and is very vague? Suddenly the world and I become something that is indefinite, dependent, and where you can lead a person in every direction that you want: Where will we be?

We must have this feeling because on the one hand it relates to the options a person has. On the other hand, these feelings should be free, and a person must feel that he can change the world and himself and tie himself to others. Others will also perceive this world that is actually a tiny image that froze in our imagination, in our impression, and can be changed.

The main thing is to depict the right picture for a person and what it should be: a full exit from himself outwards and the feeling of the only force of nature, which is the force of bestowal and love, of goodness and mutual cooperation. When we stabilize this image, this feeling, in a person’s mind and the society supports it, we begin to change fearlessly, and there will actually be an internal transition from the egoistic perception of reality (into me), to the external perception (from me).
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From “A Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/27/12</span

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I spend my whole life taking care of myself, both internally and instinctively and consciously, intentionally, and deliberately. In this case, how do I change my nature to the complete opposite? How can I learn to love my neighbor? After all, to love my neighbor means to think only about him, to place my entire body at his service, all of my means, abilities, and generally everything that I have. And to do that to such extent that I won’t have anything left except for this point of desire to bestow to him and to relentlessly care for him so that he would feel as good as possible.

This is how a mother cares for her child. Nature itself directs her to tirelessly care for the little one, and the only thing that interests her in life is that these few pounds of flesh feel good. She thinks only about how to settle him comfortably, what to feed him, when to change the diaper, and on the whole, what to do with him so that he would feel even better. No other care exists for her.

How can we follow her example so that we would treat all of humanity in the same manner, with the same devotion? It’s unrealistic!

But could Nature actually set impossible conditions before us? Why, then, did we come to a completely opposite state? Why are we wholly immersed in self-concern? Moreover, although animals constantly care about themselves as well, people, in addition to that, want to profit at the expense of others, to use them, to impose their power and opinions on them, to bend them to their will. A person delights in towering over others. What is more, he enjoys when they feel a little worse than him, when he is in a more advantageous state compared to them. A person constantly evaluates him or herself relative to those around him, and only through that does he establish the extent of his satisfaction.

If egoism led me to the point where I want to feel like I’m above everyone and where I need them only in order to sense my own superiority, then how can I change this nature and transition to an opposite state? Perhaps it’s worthwhile for me to imagine a utopian situation in which I care about my neighbor and receive pleasure from that, like a mother who cares for her baby? Suppose I would love others the same way that she does and I would constantly be caring for them, then, maybe, I would feel absolute self-realization in this?

However, I don’t see any means for achieving that. What would oblige me to that?

In fact, humanity pondered this for thousands of years. Throughout history many books have been written, many attempts were made to implement something similar: to build a good environment, to form corresponding organizations. Even hundreds of years ago, utopians attempted to create the conditions for good and kind relations between people in different corners of the world. However they didn’t succeed in implementing these initiatives.

In the course of our development, we were becoming more intelligent and getting to know human nature better and better, and now we understand that we’re incapable of rising above our own nature. Maybe that’s even a good thing. Maybe it will give us something special. But building such a society is impossible: a utopian idea indeed.

And this is why in our societies we restrict ourselves to laws of conduct so as not to harm our neighbor too much. We have lawyers, accountants, sociologists, psychologists, politicians, and so on, and they normalize social laws. We unite with each other, but only in order to receive services. For example, a municipality cares about order in the city, about garbage cleanup and other services like kindergartens, schools, cultural centers, and so on. We’re willing to reckon with the needs of everyone, and in this case, of course, it’s worthwhile to unite. After all, thanks to that each person pays a relatively small sum for a broad range of services. These things are clear to us since through them we receive a real, calculable benefit.

But when it comes to changing people’s attitudes in the realm of feelings and emotions so that a person would take his neighbor into consideration out of the calling of his own heart, this is something that we can’t do.

And here we come to an understanding of that special state of crisis that we’re in today. It’s a very strange crisis, and in its essence, it pertains to the relationships between us. Using all the same previously attempted egoistic formations, we sought to build a more comfortable society for everyone, taking common interests into account one way or another. We understand that an excess of disgruntled people will lead to clashes and irreconcilable conflicts, and this threatens to provoke civil wars. Throughout all the ages, we’ve been aware that our egoism needs to be reined in well so that we wouldn’t devour each other.

However, all of these calculations were constructed under an “egoistic umbrella”: We understood that such is our nature and that we need to restrain ourselves within certain boundaries. Even if our world shimmers with egoistic facets, it still requires a single mechanism in order to prevent the outbreaks that threaten to destroy all our achievements. This is how humanity came to create the World Bank, the UN, and other international organizations, how we came to closer communications and more complete accounting of interests.

In particular, during the last century we realized that it’s necessary to take each other into consideration more. The two World Wars have showed us that nobody wins in unbridled warfare—on the contrary, everyone suffers a loss as a result and everyone pays a dear price for it.

That’s why humanity created all kinds of communities and communication channels. There are even “red buttons” in Moscow and Washington for establishing emergency contact in case of a global threat. A certain form of trust exists here simply because it’s clear to all involved parties that nobody would come out of a conflict squeaky-clean and profitably. Thus, realizing that there is no alternative, armed with an accumulated basis, we can now establish certain interactions and communication.

On one hand, it’s still an egoistic approach, but on the other hand, such turn of events still leads to closeness between us. Even though we increasingly hate and want to kill others, it’s becoming clear that they’re just as strong, and thus it’s worthwhile for us to take each other into consideration.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” #13, 1/11/12

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In the News (Yelena Dobrovolskaya): “A new qualitative understanding of unity between human beings and Nature has been reached due to recent scientific discoveries within the last decade. They clearly demonstrate that interaction between genetics, our way of life, and the environment are much more complex than we previously thought.

“A ‘quant’ is a basic unit of nature. Energy levels (nuclear, atomic, and molecular) represent a ‘quantum ladder’ which reflects the way matter organizes itself; the highest (the fourth) level is ‘taken’ by living creatures.

“Modern medicine which we call ‘Western’ or ‘academic’ is based on a chemical paradigm and classic physics. It follows the principle of visualization, which means that science can only explore objects that can be observed without a device such as a microscope. This primitive approach can be easily understood when we review the history of biology and medicine. Both were formed during medieval times, were subject to religious dogmatism, and suffered greatly from constraints of the Inquisition that fought with ‘heretics.’ The protests of the bravest scientists of that time carried signs of a spontaneous materialistic world outlook.

“Physics of living matter (a new direction in Natural science) turned empirical medicine and biology into fundamental knowledge. Quantum medicine emerged only during the last decade; it’s a medical contribution into a new perception of life, health and disease. It views living organisms as open quantum systems with a complex structure that possess a self-reviving, self-educating configuration, which is able to synchronize its parts both internally and externally.”
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