The next level of our development is called “Human” but the human level isn’t our physical body and it isn’t the level that we’ve created in our civilization. After all, our civilization is built only upon serving our animal desires: food, sex, home, family, wealth, fame, power, and knowledge. None of these desires extend beyond the level of serving our corporeal needs.

It’s crucial for us to elevate above these corporeal needs to a spiritual level and to obtain the essence of a human. This is the next phase of development that humanity is now facing. The ease of this transition depends upon the extent to which we help ourselves to be born in this new realm, on this new level. Otherwise all of humanity will experience terrible birthing pains, which will be bloody and violent. Ultimately we will still be born on the next level. However, if we advance toward this consciously, then we help the birthing process just as the fetus does: The mother pushes him out and he helps her.

Today nature is pushing us toward being born through pressure and crisis. In its translation from Greek, the word “Crisis” means “birth of something new.” It’s not a downfall; rather it’s a revelation of something new, which is, of course, accompanied by birthing pains. This is why we must help ourselves to be born.

It truly is a birth and it’s a special one. In the past we weren’t consciously involved in our advancement, we were simply pushed by nature and we advanced egoistically. Now we elevate above our animal egoism, above our level, and consciously enter the next level where we will represent an integral humanity. This is being revealed today as nature is invoking us, pressuring us, and showing us our interconnection. Through this we obtain a total balance and harmony with nature. This truly is a healthy and conscious birth of humanity.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/29/12

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Igrot (Letters),” (To: “Because of that”)

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 153

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 1, Part 3, Chapter 7, Item 8, Lesson 18

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Nation”

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A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah

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Question: What can I do for the group while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: Connect with everyone and to be in the same intention. Rabash says that all the sparks in the hearts of the friends unite into one big flame of love. Therefore, we should try to connect all the small desires, passions, inclinations, and intentions.

There is a great difference when there are thousands of people with us here and all over the world connecting by reading the text and thinking about how to connect with spirituality, and the fact that each one thinks about it separately.

If everyone’s separate request rises, it is a lie. It isn’t a lie in the corporeal sense when people deceive one another, wanting to use one another, which is natural.

Here it is about you wanting to relate to the Creator falsely. What does that mean? If you do it alone, then you undoubtedly do it since it is your nature. However, if you do it by connecting to others, you are already giving up something, you take them into account and you cooperate mutually.

So if millions of people yearn for spirituality, but separately, the outcome is very weak and is practically negligible, although they make efforts, study, and do something. We can see this in those who study the revealed Torah.

If we connect by wanting to attain spirituality by mutual bestowal, we are immediately in equivalence of form with spirituality, and if you ask for something, your request immediately arrives in a vessel of bestowal, since it goes through the connection. Accordingly it evokes the Light that will return to you from the Creator, the Light that Reforms.

So to yearn for the goal by yourself is a waste of time. These are futile attempts. To yearn ten times less but through the connection with others is a million times more efficient.

This means that our work is not quantitative but qualitative, better less but with the right intention.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/9/12, The Book of Zohar

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If you were privileged to receive the Creator’s blessing, which means a spiritual ascent, that you can pray, study and work, then you should do everything in your power as you do that. You feel that suddenly you succeed in everything that you do, so use this wonderful opportunity, make an effort and do your very best. This is because there will be times when you won’t be able to lift a finger.

Besides, you should invest in the group as much as possible, like in a bank account that yields great return when you need the money. This is your savings account for rainy days, just as you fill the fridge with food for a week, just like a pension fund for old age, or like medical insurance in case you are ill.

If our vessel is a vessel of receiving, it can accumulate power, understanding, energy, readiness, and a connection with the cause and keep it for times of trouble. The point is that our vessel is made of two parts: the revealed and the concealed. The revealed part is my small vessel that I feel in our world: food, sex, family, money, respect, control, knowledge, and a little bit of spirituality just to add some spice.

But my true vessel is all the created beings: all the still, vegetative, and animate nature and human beings in this world. These are all my desires. If I invest in them, it comes back to me even without my knowing.

So if I have a chance to invest in others, I should do so, since it will undoubtedly come back to me. Everything I invest in them now is somehow related to bestowal, since I feel them as strangers to me. Therefore, the evil inclination is called a “helpmate,” since it helps me even now.

If I work with the friends, with the world, by wanting to invest my powers in them and bring them to goodness, I actually invest in my spiritual vessel in the spiritual sense by working against my desire to receive. I can do that even mechanically. It doesn’t matter what my intentions are as I do that as long as I perform the right actions. Our ego is a great help as it works against us.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69: From the above we can thoroughly understand that the Torah, too, contains internality and externality, as does the entire world. Therefore, one who engages in the Torah has these two degrees, as well. When one increases one’s toil in the internality of the Torah and its secrets, to that extent, one makes the virtue of the internality of the world—which are Israel—soar high above the externality of the world, which are the Nations of the World.

A person in our world is attracted to a wisdom, to a source, to a filling that suits his nature. Everyone has his priorities: special colors, special sounds, or a special lifestyle. We acquire many of these preferences from our family. On the whole people are different and still there are certain types of characters in this spectrum.

A person can be interested in science or music, he can be calm or active, closed or outgoing, inclined to physical work or mental activity, to express himself one way or another; these are all the results of our diversity. A person chooses a suitable occupation and the means to succeed in life according to his nature.

We too are not different. Each of us has followed his own path until he decided to change his priorities at a certain point and to deal with something else. It happened because our nature changed.

For the same reason there are those who yearn for the external Torah: They study the sources and the main thing for them is to know what they say. They don’t go into the internality; they don’t try to penetrate an unfamiliar world, they don’t follow the clues that lead to the Creator, to His actions, to His revelation. No, a person reads the text and doesn’t want to imagine something higher than this world. When Kabbalists speak about a “theft” they understand that someone stole something. The egoistic desires that steal the fruit of my work remain “out of the picture.” They interpret “damage,” as actual physical damage. “Trees,” “rocks,” “the Temple,” are all concrete objects in our world.

There are those who cannot stand such a superficial approach and are attracted to the internal essence.

Eventually, everyone chooses what he wants to deal with on one level or another, on a corporeal level or on a more internal level, and the depth of the level can also differ. On the whole the external Torah is really opposite from the internal Torah.

Therefore, it is impossible to judge a person’s greatness by his attraction to the wisdom of Kabbalah. He simply feels more comfortable here; it belongs to him. In the same way people who like to draw feel comfortable in a drawing class. The internal attraction does not depend on the person himself. Accordingly, there are people who are attracted to the external Torah and it is because they are made that way.

This is why our message is different: No matter what a person is attracted to, we still explain what he should do by rising above his natural inclination. Actually Baal HaSulam emphasizes here that it is a person’s obligation to be above his natural inclination, which creates a balance between his internality and his externality.

Question: How can I be sure that I am developing my internality and not my externality?

Answer: I feel it when I begin to be considerate of others. Only I can know it. On the outside everything may remain the same. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the “Hidden Torah”…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: If eventually everyone will know about the wisdom of Kabbalah, then is the mutual guarantee movement a temporary means?

Answer: Yes, but we don’t know how long it will take. After all, the point is not the name but in approaching people according to their desires. If in the meantime, a person wants to know how to succeed in his material life, I have to wrap my wisdom in wrappings that will be pleasant and comfortable for him.

On the whole it is about Lights and vessels, but for him these Lights should be expressed in good health, in his children’s education, in a comfortable life, a vacation, etc., so I explain to him that it is possible to attain all that by unity and by giving to others.

Its essence is the same: the correction of the vessel. There is no other activity in this world. The question is only on what level a person acknowledges this. I measure his exact level of awareness and always give him the dose that he can digest and which I understand is for his own good. I dress the corrections with “clothing” that he can accept since he sees that it is for his own good.

I don’t suggest that a person should give up his comfort and devote himself to hard work and to the well being of others. I offer him a pleasant way to unite, which he will actually enjoy and which will also bear good fruit. I don’t tell people that something bad may happen to them, I don’t assign a fee for the wellbeing; on the contrary, together we use the wonderful means and reach wonderful results.

Accordingly I don’t feel the mutual guarantee as an obligation either, but as pleasant mutual help and concern for one another. It is all in the form of a “sweet syrup,” like for children. These are the same corrections, but in a hidden manner.

Question: So at what point is there a switch from mutual guarantee to Kabbalah?

Answer: I don’t know. It may be in another 30-40 years and it may be tomorrow. You see how things are happening now at a much greater pace.

But it doesn’t matter to me, I do what I can at the current historical moment and not more than that.

Question: Will only those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah be able to understand the real reason for the problems?

Answer: That’s right. The others will reach it either by the path of suffering or through our dissemination.

We are not hiding the role of the wisdom of Kabbalah, but why should we shout it in vain? Since things are getting worse, we can explain to people the reason for what is going on. But again, we don’t promise that there will be new problems, but we provide solutions for the current problems. We don’t call this solution “the wisdom of Kabbalah,” but “unity.” Why should we use a term that scares some people and is repulsive to others? After all, we are not changing the meaning, but getting closer to people. We don’t wave our finger at them scolding them, and we don’t scare them with stories about approaching disasters; we don’t condemn the egoism but offer them an idea: “Let’s unite together correctly and we will all feel good.”

No one can object to this and we will overcome the disrespect—the main thing is to get started.

We should tell people what they want to hear, we should speak so that they can perceive our ideas and implement them in their everyday life. Otherwise they will hate you; they will block the idea and disparage and discredit it. This is why it says: “Educate a child in his own way.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Opinion (Vasily Klucharev, a neuroeconomics researcher at the University of Basel, Switzerland): “By studying the activity of neurons, neuroeconomists come to the conclusion that a human being is not free in making decisions: They are predetermined. If some information is given at the entrance (the brain), the output will turn out a quite predictable result. There is a certain predetermined decision-making mechanism.

“From the neurobiological point of view, a decision is a pattern of neuronal activity. Our brain receives very “noisy” information at the entrance; it makes sense to save it in time, integrate it, and only after a certain threshold to opt for the best solution. If we follow this neural model, which accumulates information, compares alternatives, and based on that decision makes our decision, the notion of “freedom” disappears. In this regard, every human being is a sort of puppet.

“In my opinion, the idea of freedom is a kind of social illusion. This is not a new idea. If we turn to the works of Spinoza, Kant, we find the same views, only presented from a philosophical position. I like Spinoza’s expression: ‘A man deceives himself, talking about freedom. He just does not know the real causes of his behavior.’”

My Comment: Kabbalah speaks of the illusion of freedom on the first pages of the textbook for beginners because its first task is to bring people to the condition in which a person develops freedom of decision and action. However, such conditions arise during the study of Kabbalah as a method of correcting our egoistic nature to the opposite, altruistic nature through awaking in oneself the force of bestowal—the Light.

Only to the extent of the manifestation in a person of the property of bestowal along with the property of reception, the two opposite properties, strengths, and qualities, does a person get an opportunity to act freely in their right combination, in the middle line.
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Question: What can we do so that everyone would continue feeling the congress as their home after the convention ends?

Answer: The fact is that every person should leave with the feeling as if he has created a virtual place for himself where he actually physically exists. Wherever he goes, he still stays in this place. He constantly lives in this energy, in this sensation.

Wherever he might be afterward, whether it is at home or at work, somewhere far away, thousands of miles away from the place of the congress, he still exists inside this energy, inside this balloon, inside this sphere, because there are no distances in spirituality. Therefore, it is very important to attend the convention physically.
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From a Virtual Lesson 7/29/12

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