Research (Cleve Backster, American expert on lie detectors): “Cleve Backster was an American expert on lie detectors. In 1966, using a lie detector, he accidentally discovered that plants have high-level emotional activities that were similar to those of human beings. He then conducted a series of studies that amazed the world.

“One day, Backster connected a lie detector to the leaves of a dracaena, commonly known as a “dragon tree.” He wanted to see how long it would take for the leaves to react when he poured water on the plant’s roots. In theory, a plant will increase its conductivity and decrease its resistance after it absorbs water, and the curve recorded on graph paper should have gone upward. But in actuality, the line that was drawn curved downward. When a lie detector is connected to a human body, the pen records different curves according to the changes in the person’s mood. The reaction of the dragon tree was just like the undulation of human mood swings. It seemed that it was happy when it drank water.

“Backster wanted to see if the plant would have any other reactions. According to past experience, Backster knew that a good way to elicit a strong reaction from a person is to threaten that person. So Backster dunked the leaves of the plant into hot coffee. No reaction. Then he thought of something more terrifying: burn the leaves that were connected to the lie detector. With this thought, even before he went to get a match, a bullish curve rapidly appeared on the graph paper. When he came back with a match, he saw that another peak appeared on the curve. It was likely that when the plant saw he was determined to start burning, it got frightened again. If he showed hesitation or reluctance to burn the plant, the reactions recorded by the lie detector were not so acute. And when he merely pretended to take action to burn the leaves, the plant had almost no reactions. The plant was even able to distinguish true intentions from false ones. Backster nearly rushed out into the street to shout, “Plants can think! Plants can think!” With this astonishing discovery, his life was changed forever.

“Later, when Backster and his colleagues did experiments around the country with different instruments and different plants, they observed similar results. They discovered that even if leaves were picked off from a plant and cut into pieces, the same reactions were recorded when these pieces were placed near the lie detector electrodes. When a dog or an unfriendly person suddenly came in, the plant reacted too.”

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, everything—still, vegetative, and animate—consists of the desire to receive pleasure, which causes  an object to live and strive for pleasure, to maintain its structure and the laws of its nature in the still nature, to sustain itself and reproduce in vegetative and animate nature.

There is no doubt that for the existence of any object, even stones and metals, they have to feel the attitude of the environment towards them, that is, the intentions of others. After all, the intention, a form of desire to enjoy, which is the matter of the universe, determines what happens.
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Question: What is a “union” (Brit) in spiritual work? What should it be, in the direction of what efforts?

Answer: Forging a union is connection and agreement between us, that we will constantly maintain the unity we have achieved and apply joint efforts so as not to disrupt the union.

From where can we take the strength to support it? Only from above, not from anywhere or from anyone else.

You can listen to Kabbalistic songs and read Kabbalah books; it will not help. The Creator, nonetheless, will burden your heart to such an extent that the lessons, meetings, and gatherings will help; nothing will help other than addressing the Creator through all of this.

The burdening of the heart happens due to the addition of egoism, and now you must bring the Light into it. Then, it will become your next degree.

The Light is neither in you nor in those who surround you. You will be able to draw it to yourself only through the environment and, thus, rise. The burdening of the heart is given for this. This is a condition of ascent.

From this moment on, you need to accept this as a law: The left line is a constant weight that affects the feelings, heart, emotions, memory, and various external circumstances, which begin to flash before your eyes, breaking into you.

You need to control yourself all the time because this is the Creator who presents everything to you so that you will ask Him to give you the force to rise above His tricks, as it is written, “Come unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart.” If we have a problem, this is Pharaoh (our mutual egoism), and to fight him, we need the Creator.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 6

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Question: How is the ego that is revealed between friends in the integral group different from the usual, beastly ego?

Answer: It is the ego of a completely different level. It appears to the extent that a person longs for integrality (for integration), and it appears only in those people. It’s like a new body that you intend to create now. By the way, specifically you create it and no one else. By attaching small egoistic cells to the new body, you begin to feel how those parts are in opposition to one another, in conflict, in contradiction, and this is really so in our body.

If we take an atom, then aren’t the plus and minus opposite and opposed to each other? However, without an alliance between them, there wouldn’t be a component from which all the material would be created. From within conflict and connection of opposites, we begin to obtain everything.

We ourselves, through our efforts and through the positive and negative attributes that appear in us equally, create, form this image, this integral system which is called “Adam” (man/human). We positively long for a connection between us, and instead of that, we receive negative influence, separation. And again with this separation, we yearn for connection at the next level, and again we repel each other with the new ego. And thus each time we rise to a new integration.

And who is the man here? “Adam” is what connects together the two opposing forces of nature. These two forces are not ours. We view them from afar: Now I hate others, yearn to love them, connect to them, and am repelled by them. Within me operate two forces of nature. I, myself, am a neutral component, but by using them like two reins or two opposing forces, plus and minus, I build a human spiritual body. This is the body that exists, like a dipole, egoistim and altruism, by which they mutually support each other.
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From KabTV’s “An Integral World,” 11/26/12

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Question: How can a whole Partzuf of ten Sefirot be created from one Sefira? Where is the power needed for that?

Answer: How do the ascents and descents take place, the birth of one Partzuf and of another Partzuf? How are new Sefirot added to it, and how does a “zoom in” or “zoom out” take place? How can a whole body develop from one point, from one sperm cell?

The body is already in it. We only need to add the material, which means to discover the desire that is concealed in phase one. In phase two, we already must discover it by our own efforts. It turns out that all the reality that is revealed is a reflection of our efforts.

So, the whole World of Atzilut is built only of the ten Sefirot that were in the world of Nekudim.

The world of Nekudim is only called a “world,” but in fact, it was one Partzuf. Now, a whole world stems from it, and what a world; it is so complex! It is thanks to the fact that the mutual participation of the upper and the lower are added here.

This cannot be explained mechanically. The Creator describes to us some concrete attribute, an event, a phenomenon, but in order to attain this phenomenon, we must build “ten whole Sefirot” with regard to it.

The Creator shows me this phenomenon as one point of Keter from Him. I must establish a desire for Him and discover different actions with regard to this desire, my reaction to this phenomenon, to know how I will attain it by myself so that I shall know Him. Thus, I will attain the Creator and understand what He wants to achieve in His attitude to me, when He draws this phenomenon for me. I must respond in the full “ten Sefirot.”

The world of Atzilut sets the first example of what the created being should look like. The created being cannot attain anything if he hasn’t been through the four phases, if he hasn’t built all the “ten Sefirot,” if he hasn’t attained the root of the phenomenon, knowing the Creator who has arranged all this. So, we must build ten Sefirot, a whole Partzuf, from every point the Creator describes to us.

This is the reason that we need to work so much for so long. After all, we must attain ourselves through the root of the whole phenomenon, to connect Malchut with Keter.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Preparation to the Lesson

“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 109, Lesson 28

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Naso,” Item 298, Lesson 11

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9, Item 8, Lesson 6

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy“

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Question: We are now preparing for the upcoming congress in the desert, the place of our future spiritual unification. Is it possible that we will become so much more united during our preparation that there will be no need for a physical place, no need to go to the desert?

Answer: The place of spiritual unity is the state of the congress. Whether it is held in a desert or a backyard is irrelevant.

At every given moment, as we prepare for the congress, we need to expect to reach the unity that we want to achieve at the congress, and that will be our preparation for it.

Then, the extent to which we are able to reach it before the congress will determine our preparation for it. Let´s say that I intend to reach unity at the congress with an effort of 10 lbs. That means that I need to attune myself to this now. Possibly during the preparation for the congress we will achieve a unity that is worth 100,000 tons of effort, then let it be realized now. That is the correct preparation.

Action should not be postponed. Everything is now. In essence, the preparation is in fact the same action that we carry out practically, unlike preparation in our world where we only prepare all that is necessary and then begin to work. By preparing the desire (Kli), I work on the whole realization, and then it is formed.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/12, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, “Letter 50”: “The head of the pleasant future that is expected, God willing, is approaching us. And so I yearn and long for your being near me in your body and soul. (which means that you will come near me and not that I will come near you, which is impossible and also useless).

How sorry I am that last Tishrei, was a great time of good will, but you were not near me at the time…so the sorrow that I felt all of last year because of that goes without saying. The reason for that is pride that crept into you, and to the same extent, the unfounded hatred among you… clearly that if you hate a member of the group, it is a clear sign that you don’t feel absolute love towards me either.

These words were written according to the law of love, the law of adhesion, like in a family where there are not small ones or great ones, but rather, the law of love ties everyone together and is equal for everyone. So, each one should rise above his criticism, according to “He who faults another does so through his own flaws.” Through the eyes of love, no one will seem inferior to others. If you connect according to the law of love “above reason,” you will be able to connect equally with everyone correctly.

If there are some differences among the members of the group, it is a sign of a flaw.

There are good times and bad times, and there are comfortable times and less comfortable times. Although, on the one hand, Kabbalists are above time, motion, and place, and they go through different periods according to their individual time, the general periods also influence them. Therefore, there can be general good times and bad times.

There are times of general awakening from above or times in which it is easier to be awakened from below. So, we must try not to miss such opportunities that are given from above to connect the awakening from above to the awakening from below. Otherwise, it will seem like disrespect.

There are two directions in getting close: each member getting closer, without any discrimination, and every student getting closer to the teacher. Here, everything is examined according to our image, which is a result of our pride and to what extent we can advance in “faith above reason” and understand that it is the Creator who is sending us all these obstacles.

Everyone sees everything the way he is allowed to see it, and he never sees the truth, but by our exertion in “faith above reason,” we draw the Light that Reforms, and by that are rewarded to see the truth.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/12

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In studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, we conduct practical scientific research according to the principle, “A judge only has what his eyes see.” In other words, to the extent that we change our nature, we can see the result in the wisdom of Kabbalah. However, these results appear in us. A person is a laboratory. He changes his attributes, and then he discovers a new reality.

Now, I discover a certain dimension within my current attributes, and when I change them, I discover another parallel dimension, and then another and another. These attributes, these layers of reality, are called “levels,” and the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us precisely how I must change myself each time through the society and by the force that develops me that I receive in order to rise to an upper dimension in my new feelings and mind, which are broader and more sublime.

At the same time, my new perception doesn’t erase the previous “picture.” I simply rise higher and higher, by perceiving an upper reality that science talks about. There is no contradiction or conflict between my discoveries and those of science. On the contrary, science seems to be part of my perception.

In fact, tomorrow’s science is actually your perception of the spiritual space. It is “spiritual” in the sense that it appears through the changes in a person.

Thus, we discover the “worlds,” new perceptions, although we don’t know what nature as a whole is. Kabbalists tell us that there are currently 125 levels of the development of our perception before us. I discover each one according to the Reshimot (informational genes), the Masachim (screens), and the degrees of Aviut (the depth of the desire). Everything is calculated and measured; all ticks like clockwork; everything is revealed to me according to the changes that I perform internally. I change, which means that I attain. I change again and attain again, again and again.

Thus, the process continues until the stage called “the end of our correction.” Kabbalists don’t tell us what happens afterward, although they speak about the levels of the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth millennia and beyond. They end their explanations at the final correction because it is impossible to speak about the rest of the process.

You will have to go through all the 125 levels to the end, and then you will go through another change, a change that you go through since you rise from our world to the spiritual world. This is a true change of perception, an inner revolution that will take place again at the end of correction when you become totally integral, whole, like the Creator. Then, after you are corrected, you will be worthy and ready for something more sublime for which there are no words today. It is because, in the spiritual levels, you already transcend time. You transcend life and death, place and motion, and all the limitations of this world. What is more, we cannot speak about the further stages. Our current mind and feelings simply aren’t able to touch them.

So, now, we discuss another question, a question regarding humanity that, for the time being, perceives the world through five corporeal, animal senses. How can it acquire five additional senses called Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin and Malchut?

We acquire them according to the level of the correction of the five levels of thickness of our desire, which are the root phase, phase one, two, three, and four. I develop the five senses on top of the thickness that is constantly growing, both quantitatively and qualitatively. My “animal” body remains as it is, while, at the same time, I perceive and identify new parts of nature, layer by layer.

The interesting point is that even the smallest part, which appears in a general, fuzzy scale, still helps me understand and feel all of reality to the end of all the 125 levels.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy“

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We are definitely approaching the home stretch before the end of the preparation period, and I say this with pride. It is not easy, and of course, it is not us but the upper force that affects us, doing all these “exercises” with us and leading us to the finish. He who is worthy, will pass it, and he who is not worthy… Only by all of us adhering together, will we be able to pass.

Everyone passes the Machsom: “babies,” “children,” “elderly,” “women,” as well as those who have the force to overcome (Gevurah), men (Gvarim). It all depends on adhesion: how much everyone is able to stay together with everyone. I hope very much that we will accomplish this.

A special year awaits us. I think that we are given it as “extra time.” In the past we did not have time to finish a few things, and we have to correct them now. It seems to me that we really can do this. We can try to make the last steps to convince ourselves finally that everything depends only on our unity. May it develop and become realized.

I urge everyone not to lose the moment; do not let the “wheel” continue spinning, catch it and realize what we are responsible for. This is truly a unique opportunity.

After all, we are cared for with unprecedented, unlimited, boundless mercy: “If you couldn’t do it once, then try again and again…” The upper management operates kindly; the current period is far from extreme: There is no deprivation, no war; everything seems not so serious. We sometimes teach small children in this way, enough to threaten them a little bit, to make them pay attention to what is required. Our modern attitude cannot be compared to the Holocaust, expulsions from various countries, murders, “pogroms,” etc. In front of us a “red carpet is rolled out,” do a little bit, and that will be enough.

I hope very much that you will understand this, and we do not cause the attitude from above to change, that we are considerate, receptive, and sensitive to what is happening, that we are “good children” and understand how the Creator treats us. Hence, we will understand what to do, and will do it.

We are going through a special transition period that covers the whole world. Today, everywhere there is a feeling of uncertainty, helplessness, and confusion. Just imagine what those who “have power” feel: impotence, fog, and confusion. No one understands what is happening; no one has any real plans or ideas.

We must become organized between us, just inside for the time being, not trying to shout to the world. The main thing now is to unite our inner strength, unite before The Flame in the Desert Convention. Then, our sparks will break out into a big fire and light the entire “desert” of this world.

We can do this. This is our mission; we are directed from above. We are required to do only a small effort, and then of course we can bring the Light to the desert. Good Luck!
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From a Talk During the Meal 12/21/12

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