In the News (from Journal Gazette & Times Courier): “What are you doing to keep your relationship alive? A University of Illinois study highlights the importance of five relationship maintenance strategies that couples can use to preserve or improve the quality of an intimate relationship. …

“The research showed that openness, positivity, assurances, shared tasks and a shared social network are strategies that couples can use to make their relationship better.

“To ‘open up’ your relationship, we encourage not only talking about your feelings, but getting your partner to talk about what she is feeling as well. Positivity entailed being a ‘fun’ person and acting upbeat and cheerful as you interact with each other.

“It’s also important to assure your partner that you’re in the relationship for the long haul, to divide household chores and responsibilities equally, and to make an effort to include your partner’s friends and family in some of your activities.

“The study showed that a person who practices one of these five strategies is likely to practice the others as well. And a partner who notices that one of the strategies is being used is apt to be tuned in to their partner’s efforts in the other four areas.

“Persons who use any of these maintenance strategies will not only be more satisfied with and committed to their relationship, they are also likely to continue to love and, yes, even like each other throughout its duration.

“Although these strategies work, challenges may arise when couples don’t see or value each other’s efforts in the same way. These approaches had the most influence on the quality of the relationship when persons believed their partner was also performing relationship maintenance.”

My Comment: An environment determines the future of everyone and every couple. Regular talks, discussions, and family workshops are the key to understanding and inclusion into each other and this is a guarantee of the life of a couple as a whole.
[97942]

Related Material:
Men Do Not Like To Feel Somebody Else’s Sadness
Harmony Between A Man And A Woman
If There Is No Shadow, Then There Is No Sun

Filed under: Family, News - No Comments →

Our advancement in the last 2,000 years of exile was of a different character. The nation of Israel gradually lost the spiritual level of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) that they had, became more and more mixed with the “nations of the world,” and descended to the corporeal level. In Kabbalah this process is called the “descent of generations.” We talk about descending along the steps of our world from the state in which there is still a certain illumination from spirituality, until the very bottom where it is dark.

These are the laws of nature: Everything depends on the relation between the upper Light and the Reshimot (spiritual genes) below. Today when the descent has ended and the ascension is before us, we then determine these relations when we change the coefficient in the set formula; in other words, when we insert the connecting link, the measure of the equivalence of form, between the Reshimot and the Light.

During exile, we could not do this; thus everything happened in its time. It is not by chance that the Kabbalists knew and wrote about the time when this period would need to end. The Reshimot descended lower and lower, deeper and deeper within the egoistic desire, and it became “coarser” to the extent of “burdening of the heart”.

However, today the descent is over, and we see that according to the surrounding world: All the areas of life are on the brink of bankruptcy. Family, education, culture, finance, business, and even religion‑everything today is penetrated with unrestrained and acute egoism.

Thus, we went through 2,000 years of very hard work. The world advanced and Israel descended from its spiritual degree, and here, when the world is collapsing under the blows of the crisis, they stand “face to face.” The correct connection, the correct combination between the “nations of the world” and Israel has been created. And now it is possible to begin the ascent. The present state is desirable and highly productive.
[97929]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13, Writings of Rabash 

Related Material:
Israel Is All the People Who Aspire Toward the Creator
Israel’s Role In The World
When Israel Unites With The Nations Of The World

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Inner Work, Israel, Unity - No Comments →

Question: It says: “I awaken the dawn and it isn’t the dawn that awakens me.” Is there a certain sequence of internal events that allow me to awaken the dawn as quickly as possible without any delays and to establish the connection with the group and with the Creator?

Answer: We can only hasten time and the desire to become Adam (human).

According to scientific data, the universe is 15 billion years old. Humankind has developed for hundreds of thousands of years, and it is only in the last 30,000 years that we have begun to approach the true level of Adam. This evolutionary process takes time.

As people grow older they suddenly feel that everything is so temporary, “Life has gone by and I haven’t even noticed…” This is our corporeal existence: it goes on and suddenly you feel that you are old and that you are about to “leave the scene.”

In spirituality it is different. In spirituality you know and feel how many discernments you have been through, how the world has advanced and what people have learned by approaching spirituality.

There were long periods of “delays” in history. The last exile lasted for 2000 years, and the great sorrow is that the process seemed to be halted from Above. People suffered simply because there were not allowed to advance towards the goal, they burned and yearned for it, but there was only darkness in response.

Now, however, the opposite is true: I am given everything from Above, even more than I can absorb, but the trouble is that I don’t need it; I actually want other things and suffer because I don’t have them.

We find ourselves in the middle, in the “section” between exile and redemption, as the attitude from Above has changed. Today things have been “opened” for us from Above, all the doors are open and the food is actually brought to our mouth, and all we have to do is to open our mouth like nestlings, but we don’t want to…

In order to awaken the dawn, we have to start by “mechanical” actions. It is because during the spiritual descent a person is “dead,” still. So start moving, organize a clear and accurate daily schedule and make sure that you follow it carefully. Look for different things to hold onto, take upon yourself different tasks that cannot be avoided…

There are many hours of powerlessness ahead. In such case, I for example, begin to work on articles by Baal HaSulam and Rabash. It is a kind of “hobby.” I correct them, delete commas, change words and phrases, and put them in a simpler language, etc. By this mechanical work we try to get back on track. It is because in the current descent we have nothing internal left, and we can only make external efforts. We need mutual guarantee, support from the friends, and a rigid schedule is necessary.

In any case, the exit from the descent depends on our efforts. Therefore it says that Israel hasten time. The Light comes from Above, of course, but we awaken it.

On the whole, we are advancing at an extraordinary speed these days, and I really have great hopes regarding the Arava convention that will be held this weekend. You will see. It will be much more qualitative than the previous conventions and we will feel discernments that we can organize and compare with each other.

An inclination, tension, readiness and the ability to stay “fit” and navigate ourselves internally is building up in each of us, as if we are holding a steering wheel in our hands. A person actually has to feel, to discover this “steering wheel” inside him: The road is opening before us and internally a person constantly stabilizes himself on the road and stays off the shoulders of the road.

We are so close to that, so close to this mutual control when I know how to behave with the Creator, and then I can actually “drive” by myself…
[97935]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13, Writings of Rabash 

Related Material:
Hurry To Wake Up Before Dawn
I Awaken The Dawn
How To Turn A Descent Into An Ascent

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Evolution, Group Work, Inner Work, My Similarity to the Creator, Prayer and Intention, Q&A - No Comments →

The one problem in every state is that in this world we cannot connect two opposites into one. Modern quantum physics also deals with the fact that light is both a wave and particle. Although a wave and a particle are not perfect opposites, physicists cannot understand how they can be integrated into one phenomenon. They cannot see a phenomenon yet in which two total opposites connect simultaneously, as it happens in the spiritual world, but they already see the beginning of this phenomenon.

A person who studies Kabbalah faces a similar problem, not on the level of the still nature, not like in physics, but rather on the level of thoughts, intentions, and feelings—on the fourth level compared to the first level of the still nature. The first levels are the still nature, the vegetative, and the animate, and only afterward is there the human level that determines what’s in a person’s mind and heart, the feelings thoughts, the power and the insight.

This dualism brings about many problems. On one hand, I have to see the truth and I see it through my own eyes—this whole corporeal world is corrupt, it is in a crisis, and I am also in a crisis. On the other hand, if I correct myself, I will have nothing else to correct and then I will have nothing to do, since the whole world will seem corrected and it will indeed be so. I will see it this way since “one judges according to one’s own flaws.”

In the meantime there is no dualism in that, the dualism is in the fact that on one hand I have to bestow upon the whole world and to worry that I will be able to bestow upon everyone. On the other hand, I have to understand that I am doing all this for myself and that this world doesn’t need that. All the corruptions that I see in it only show me where I have to work, and they were made especially for me.

There is the same contradiction here as in the story of Abraham who was told that he had to sacrifice his son Isaac, but that through him he will multiply—these are two contradictory things. This is how we should see our path: On one hand we worry about correcting everything in the external world, on the other hand, there is nothing to worry about, since all of reality is already in a state of absolute rest and is corrected.

A person should be grateful to the Creator for the one moment in his life in which he was awarded some contact with the upper force. The question is how we can understand that. But if a person was in contact with the Creator for even one moment, it isn’t just any moment. After all, he could penetrate that moment and enter the upper world through it, the eternal world in which there is no time and so every moment is an eternity.

So if a person can really be grateful for that one moment, he is already at the end of correction or has at least corrected his current level.

This is the reason that it is hard for us to be in spiritual states and to accept them, and this is on purpose by the way. All our work is “above reason;” we have to accept the spiritual conditions as “an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.” And although we don’t understand them, a “habit becomes a second nature,” the Light will gradually influence us and build new desires in us. Thus we will reach a state in which all the opposites will connect into one. Then through them, we will be able to enter the spiritual world.

On the one hand, our ego increasingly separates us from others, since “he who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater.” The distance between the desires remains, but we work on it so that by the intentions we will connect into one whole. It turns out that everyone is infinitely separated from the others, but in our intentions, we are in one common point and the Creator is in it.
[97923]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13

Related Material:
A Correction In “Couples” On All Levels
Connecting Two Opposites? Only In Spirituality
The Common Language Between Us And The Creator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Group Work, Perception, Unity - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: We can all plainly see that the human species must lead a social life, meaning it cannot exist and sustain itself without the help of others. Therefore, imagine an event where one retires from society to a desolate location and lives a life of misery and great pain there due to his inability to provide for his needs. That person would have no right to complain about Providence or his fate. And if that person were to do that, meaning complain and curse his bitter fate, he would only be displaying his stupidity.

This is because while Providence has prepared for him a comfortable, desirable place in society, he has no justification to retire from it to a desolate place. Such a person must not be pitied, since he is going against the nature of Creation. And since he has the option to live as Providence has ordered him, he should not be pitied. That sentence is agreed upon by all of humanity without dispute.

A person who retires from society will certainly suffer. This is the way we are built; we need society. It’s because no one can provide everything that he needs for his existence by himself. It’s the same with animals, and all the more so with humans.

Question: But why does Baal HaSulam use such a blunt language?

Answer: He wants to show that there are clear cut truths in nature: If you want to remain human, you have to live among human beings. If you want to be an animal, go and live among animals. A child who is born in a herd of cows takes an example from what he sees and becomes the same up to his physiological limits and possibly even beyond these limits.

The environment determines everything, no one promises you anything. By choosing the environment you determine your own future. So choose who you want to be; which society you want to join. There is a need to be accurate here: First you decide who you want to be, and then you enter the right environment that will turn you into who you want to be. Ideally, if a person advances correctly by adding his feeling, by checking himself, by listening to his attributes, then he will always find the right place, the right environment that will advance him gently and lovingly.

Unfortunately, we don’t know how to calculate things correctly in order for all of that to happen. The right environment is right at your side, but you don’t choose it. You keep on returning to different external circles, external societies, and are impressed by them. Eventually, you receive even the good impression through the prism of the external distortions and are left with nothing…

If you entered one of the environments “head on,” no matter which, you would find that environment very beneficial. But today you are mixing them and confusing them and you don’t know where you feel good and where you feel bad. It’s because there is no accurate discernment of any of them, only the mixed and blurry contours.

So it turns out that the real problem is actually not about entering a bad environment. On the contrary, get in and check it out. But this mixture of environments leaves us confused: we don’t know what we have received anymore and from where and cannot decide…
[98014]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/13, “The Peace”

Related Material:
In An Environment Of Different Forces
Turning To The Group Is Turning To The Light
“The Place” To Build Your House

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

In the process of the spiritual work we begin criticizing our friends. We should stop doing it immediately and acknowledge that the Creator does it to us on purpose. He hardens our hearts and sets up bad situations so that we get desperate and appeal to Him for assistance and request our friends’ help, thus enhancing our liaisons and the intention to unite with each other.

Therefore, we must be prepared for the permanent shutdown of connection with others and constantly remember this because we will come across thousands of distractions on our way. We should keep in mind that it is the Creator who disrupts us acting via other people.

We should always stay tuned to “There Is None Else Besides Him.” At the same time, we should continue working according to our own system. We must realize that we work against the Creator and that it is He who permanently leads us. Likewise, we put a little child on the floor in order to teach him to walk. He cries because he is afraid to make the first step, but we continue pushing him ahead. Thus, he eventually learns to walk.

In order to reveal the Creator’s property of bestowal, we need to have a natural intention to connect with others. If we rebel against it, we should acknowledge that this sensation comes exclusively from Him and that He wants us to apply more effort. The more exertions to advance that we make, the more obstacles on our way He creates. He hardens our hearts and sets up hindrances.

So, when we look at our friends and see lots of negativity, we must understand that it is He who draws this picture for us. He does it on purpose so that we rise above our sensations and begin to justify, love, and appreciate our friends, irrespective of our negative thoughts and ideas. We always should keep it in mind!

The same applies to the group. When we think of the group in a scornful manner, “Why do I need them,” it means that it is time to remind ourselves that it is the Creator who commands us.
[96870]
From the Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

Related Material:
The “Left Line” In The Group
If The Group Divides Into Factions
It Won’t Help Us To Play Love

Filed under: Egoism, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Unity - 1 Comment →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2013-01-16_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’16.1.13′]

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

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

Filed under: Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: How should we prepare for the Arava convention in the days we have left?

Answer: First, the desire is not corporeal so you don’t need a cable to connect to with the friends in order to exchange impressions or to build a network of pipes through which our desires could flow from one to another. The mutual connection already exists in reality, and although the men don’t feel it yet, they are all filled with the female desire and feel the results of the female convention that took place yesterday.

Desires know no barriers, and so all our successes are passed on to a collective vessel without any delay. After all, we are all one desire, one soul. If we unite, if we attain a certain equality, then it spreads not only among us but everywhere. It isn’t by chance that Rabash kept abreast of the news. We will see how the spiritual events are reflected in our world; by our aspiration upward, we activate spirituality and from there activate corporeality, and as a result new conditions are formed in this world.

Today, before the Arava convention, we have to feel as if we are approaching Mt. Sinai. During these three days a person cleans himself and should cut himself off, as much as possible, from all the daily interruptions. Then, of course, new interruptions will come his way, but they will already be according to the connection for which he prepares himself.

Here we must limit ourselves and draw a line, a real cut between the worries of this world and the worries about the convention. We have to be clean of all the corporeal accounts with the world, which can be very simple if we go there and turn off our cell phones. But it can be more complicated with the group. Eventually you should be left with only the spiritual accounts with the friends, and we already start preparing for that, or more accurately, it is not the preparation but already the fulfillment.
[97932]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Leading The Desire To The Light
Preparing To Meet The Light
Only Preparation Counts

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Duality makes our work very difficult. I tried to explain yesterday at the “One Global Women” convention that on one hand, women need to prepare a collective, huge desire to pass it to the men for their work. They must be sure that their desire rules the world, controls the men, and starts the process of correction.

But on the other hand, in order to do it with the right attitude aimed at bestowal, they also need to know that at the moment they reach the correct desire, they will feel in it that everything is corrected and the men are complete righteous, not needing any correction.

It was difficult to explain these two seemingly incompatible opposites, but I still tried to make them clear and to bring this idea to the workshop.

Baal HaSulam writes in his letter (No.41): “Spiritual attainment is based on two opposite forms that are immediately revealed in man: one is from the part of the body and one is from the part of the soul,” that is, the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. The desire to receive is called the body, and the desire to bestow—the soul, and that is why a person experiences this dichotomy.

“Due to his nature, a man is not able to simultaneously analyze the body and soul as two parallel concepts and tries to tie them together in one concept. And therefore, it is difficult for him to attain spirituality as two opposites that cannot be combined into one object.”

Indeed, we sometimes feel that we are just torn apart and do not know what to do with ourselves. The heart contradicts the mind, and the mind does not agree with the heart; such conflicting thoughts and feelings are overcoming him that it is impossible to tie them together into any stable picture.

“It is like the story of Abraham, who was told that all his offspring will come of Isaac, but now the Creator ordered him to sacrifice him. And of course, nothing is changed in reality on the side of the Creator, and these contradictions are formed only on the side of the receiver. And that is why Abraham rejoiced …”

All our sufferings stem from the feeling of two opposite things that we cannot combine. The basis of any discomfort is an insoluble contradiction between two incompatible opposites. And you have to accept them in this conflicting form and be glad that we can rise above them and continue until they merge. In fact, this is the entire correction.

Indeed, one may ask: what do you need to correct? “Existence from existence” (Yesh Mi Yesh) and “existence from absence” (Yesh Mi Ain—to be able to glue them together: the Creator and the creature. This is the basis of correction, of all our work. That is why this work consists of little by little, by tiny portions, gradually getting used to accepting, understanding, feeling, and being glad that we carry out this work to connect two opposites.
[97920]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13

Related Material:
A Correction In “Couples” On All Levels
We Imagine Bestowal Relative To The Environment Of The Group
Learn To See The Light In Bestowal

Filed under: Body and Soul, Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Unity - No Comments →