In the News (from Espanarusa.com): “The economic crisis has disappointed Spaniards so much that 14% of unemployed people aged over 30 are willing to work for free, with no financial reward. The survey revealed that among the Spaniards, who have a job, 18% do not receive a salary. Three out of every four explain that working for free will help them find a paid position in the future.”

My Comment: Society is not obliged to provide everyone with work, but it must take care of providing basic necessities for everyone. It also should take care of integral education for all the citizens in order to bring society to equilibrium with Nature.
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In the News (from Business Inquirer): “The world’s political and business elite gathered in the snow-covered resort of Davos on Wednesday, aiming to instil some confidence in the global economy amid tentative signs of recovery.

“About 45 world leaders will rub shoulders with around 2,500 lobbyists, journalists, captains of industry and economists in the picture-postcard Swiss ski resort for the five-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). …

“Organizers have chosen the theme ‘resilient dynamism,’ reflecting the need for an improvement in the structure of the global economy to resist sudden emergencies like the eurozone debt crisis.”

My Comment: As long as politicians and economists are not aware of the dead end in egoistic protectionist development, do not recognize that the future of the world lies in global integral development, sustainable production and consumption, avoiding excessive production, and accept the need for equal rational consumption by all the people in the world, up to the point of full integration of all of humanity as the next stage of our development, the crisis will inevitably force us to recognize our mistakes through its dramatic manifestations.
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Looking at the creation as a whole, in every object, in every part of it, we can recognize a measure of desire: desire to preserve itself, its properties, its state. This pertains to any part of inanimate, vegetative, animal, and human nature. Each one is characterized by a particular degree of desire since desire was the only thing that was created. On our part, we just add to it when we have a chance to work above it.

At the still, vegetative, and animal levels, we live within desire and don’t understand how it can be changed in height, size, and application. On the other hand, a human degree in a person acquires a capacity to comprehend this, start wanting to change, and apply the desire in a different manner, and this ability to modify the application and realization of desire doesn’t let us rest.

We see how people live today: society dictates the size and nature of their desire, and they, like soldiers, strive to carry out the orders they receive. After all, they are given an impression that it’s for their own good. However, those who receive an additional need to work above their nature, above their desire, which is, in fact, nature’s entire material, are deprived of rest. They wish to learn, desire to know how matter, nature, can be employed, how to re-direct and “deploy” oneself so as to achieve something above nature. This is a totally different approach: not to be inside nature, but namely above it.

This is what the science of Kabbalah teaches: to use desire living not in it, but above it in order to keep attaining the upper reality. “Upper” means above desire, above the creation’s matter. We must learn how to govern desire to remain above it without sinking to the bottom, but, rather, going with the waves and using the breath of the wind, the “spirit” breathing over the sea. We need to live by something that lies above these “depths,” to breathe air, inflate sails with the wind and use the water solely to glide over its surface.

That’s what we gradually learn in this study. We learn to use our nature, the matter of desire, to control it from outside of ourselves, to restrict and turn it in the required direction, to verify and modify it, not as our nature dictates, but as we choose. This ability we can obtain with the help of the science of Kabbalah by studying the systems we have to know and as a whole, the system of the worlds, 125 steps of changes, calibration of desire. We figure out how to use it each step of the way in order to achieve something above it.

In addition, above it, we reach the degree of the upper force that created this desire in which all of mankind lives. We use the matter of desire solely to “ascend” over it and form for ourselves a spirit, equivalent to the upper force. This is the spiritual equivalent called “Human” (Adam).

Thereby, we use the matter itself and the force that created it; we construct ourselves from both. This is how a person becomes independent from matter, meaning desire, and from the force, meaning the Creator who created this desire, and gets on his feet on his own. Now, he is comprised of matter and spirit, but in the form he has found by himself and has chosen freely.

This is what our goal is, and we won’t rest until we reach it. That’s how we are made. Some will select this path by necessity, as simple workers. However, they will have to comprehend their task, although not at high degrees, not at the level of the root cause of creation. They will follow us, whereas we won’t be at peace until we attain the equivalence that we are to create on our own, the image of Man, free from both the creation as well as the Creator. From Him, we only learn how to build ourselves in His likeness, but the Creator does not obligate us to it. On the contrary, it is the independent evolution that allows us to realize that His form is the most correct one, the best, most desirable, and profound.

Yet, we do not accept the importance of this form automatically, but rather, work by way of “faith above reason,” become unplugged from the conditions of our material and the upper force, and in this disconnection from everything, attain the value of the property of bestowal which is the highest there is.

These things will unfold in us later on, but for now they already should be giving us a some sense of importance and understanding of the work that requires us to rise constantly above the mundane. We seek pleasure in part from knowledge, habits, and all types of values that have been planted in us. We strive to ascend just as high as possible and enjoy changes, even if it is not very pleasant for our matter.

We simply need to get used to it. Spirituality, or the new form, by way of small actions, time after time, pulls us higher and higher, a little more and then more. And spirituality should be something that we desire.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/13, Shamati #213

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Question: If positive and correct surroundings ever emerge in Israel, what will it look like?

Answer: I spoke about specifics in Israel yesterday in Ashdod at the lecture that was dedicated to “What Awaits Us in 2013.” All we can expect is the result of our own work. Whatever we accomplish, we’ll get back accordingly. We are the masters of our destiny and all depends on what we choose.

If we know how this world is organized and governed and have some idea on what the upper force is, the way It acts and where It leads us, if we follow it and become Its partners, we will easily and quickly reach success. In this case, everybody will follow us and we will be blessed both in this world and in the upper world.

If we don’t do that, we will have to go through very harsh adversities, mostly in the fields of safety, healthcare, unemployment, anti-Semitism, etc. We will be subject to very strong pressure that will obligate us to do our job anyway and give the method of correction to the entire world.

The world has always hated Jews without any clear understanding of the reason for this animosity and they blame the Jews for all their troubles. Today, we have to explain to others why they hate us so much. Actually, unless we fulfill our mission, there is reason to hate us. However, hatred by itself won’t help. Other nations should be assisting us in the mass distribution of the wisdom of Kabbalah masses; it will bring all of us to correction.

The time has come; there is no point in waiting for something particular to happen. Whatever comes about will be an outcome of our desires. This is what I talked about at the lecture.

We have to move in this direction, and Israel will become the center of the worldwide education where the Light will spread to all.

This means that there will be a large integrated education academy. It will be based on a strong and solid ideological platform; thousands of people will learn how to act together in connection with each other. For without connection, there is no force. They will be similar to the Sanhedrin, and unity will let people develop new and innovative methods of educating children, adults, and various sectors of society and will provide answers to their questions.

So the method of correction will spread from here all over the world, and our regional groups will become major educational branches that will adapt and translate the study materials to suit their countries and regions. They will hold workshops, lectures, discussions, and broadcasts in the media so that the methodology will quickly spread everywhere and the world will see it as the only way to achieve a good and comfortable future and satisfaction.

And then, thanks to integral education, people will see that there is another “dimension” behind it. People will see that unity offers them the possibility of a special uplifting, and they will aspire to it. This is the way they will attain the Creator. It is said: “All shall know Me from the least unto the greatest.” The wisdom and general desire to unite with the upper force and nature, to achieve harmony, universal integral relationships, internal connection, and worldwide community based on the principles of mutual guarantee will spread throughout the world.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/13, “The Peace”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash “You Stand Today, All of You“

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Shlah Leha,” Lesson 11

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 1, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Lesson 2

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Writings of Rabash “Letter 29”

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If a person intends to bestow upon others without any resistance, not against his will, then it is the same as the whole world does, as is accepted among different beliefs and fanatic religions.

There are many charities that help people in hospitals and in other difficult situations. Their desires are consistent with their actions, and therefore it is called “bestowal” only in action. After all, the action, the intention, and the desire are all in one direction, not meeting any inner resistance. So a person is in high spirits, feeling good about himself since he believes that he receives a reward in this world and in the next world.

We, however, act against our natural desire, and feel the inner resistance since we don’t want to bestow and to love others. First we discover an empty space inside us, and we don’t feel any inclination, attraction, or connection to bestowal. But when we begin to work by rising above all that, we come out into the spiritual space.

This kind of work really bears fruit. It doesn’t dull us like in the fanatic approach since there is a difference between receiving and bestowal. After all, our inner desire is to receive according to our nature, but if we rise above this natural desire and yearn for bestowal, looking for an environment, a society, that will help us build this attribute inside us, then we are obligated to draw the force of the Creator that will help us become bestowers over our egoistic desire.

Therefore, we need an environment that needs the Creator, since otherwise we will not be able to establish bestowal on top of receiving. Then we will be able to build the inner space inside us that will be filled with the Light, and in it we will start feeling and understanding all of the upper spiritual reality.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/22/13, Writings of Rabash 

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Devotion is required of us along the way; we are required to annul ourselves, to “take on the burden of Heaven,” which means devotion.

We see similar qualities in animals: If something bad happens to his owner or if his owner has a problem, a dog feels it and is very dedicated to his owner. Is that the same devotion we speak about here, or not?

What is the difference between devotion on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature and the level of the “speaking”? The slave gets used to his owner, feels his dependence on him, and is devoted to him, just like a dog. In what way is he different from a servant of the Creator?

Being enslaved to the Creator is devotion to a nature that is opposite from a person’s nature. I am in a state of submission and self-annulment between two polar points that have split. Inside me there is my desire to receive and in it, I feel my ego, different claims, problems, and disappointments. I feel all that and do not nullify it, it lives inside me, but above all that, I gradually acquire recognition and the understanding, spiritual devotion opposite to my egoistic property.

The gap between these two forms of nature that are inside me is clear, understood, and familiar. My devotion rises above my reason, and the greater the desire, the higher I rise above it. In an opposite manner, the gap, the tension, the distance between the egoistic nature and the altruistic nature, between the intention of in order to receive and the intention of in order to bestow, for myself or for the Creator, the gap between these two poles grows increasingly larger.

It says: “He who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater” and “a person cannot fulfill a Mitzva unless he failed in keeping it before.” It means that we have to fall and to feel a greater depth of our ego, of the evil inclination, of the snake, and only from there can we rise to higher levels of selflessness and complete devotion.

These two points do not annul one another. Instead we fill the distance between them with recognition, understanding and our love that rises above hate: “Love will cover all transgressions.” This is the difference between our spiritual devotion and religious devotion.

Religion requires a person to follow with his eyes closed, and the less he understands, the more devoted a believer he is. He does whatever he is told, without trying to understand. The fewer doubts he has, the more surely he advances with the flag in his hand and the fanatic look on his face, and the more respectable he is considered.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, however, it is the doubts, the confusion, the different problems and inner clarifications that generate rich discernments, thoughts, and inner ideas. They are all opposite from the Creator and the work in order to bestow, but above them, a person builds his devotion, since thanks to them he can understand and feel.

Based on that, he builds the understanding and feeling, perceives the world from one end to the other in the two forms, in all possible feelings and understandings. He doesn’t have a narrow perspective and doesn’t advance with his eyes closed, but fully recognizes the ego, and thus builds his attitude to the attribute of bestowal by understanding the property of the Creator.

He raises the attribute of bestowal above the attribute of receiving; independently and consciously, he consents to surrender himself to serve and love. This becomes his Creator.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/22/13

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We have to respect the feeling of confusion, darkness, blurriness, and powerlessness. It says “respect the sons of the poor since the Torah will come from them.” It is these poor who have nothing, who feel a growing emptiness in their hearts and minds, who are unable to concentrate and find their way around in these states, who are thus preparing their vessels in which they will receive the Torah, the Light that reveals to them all the spiritual discernments.

So the main thing is to get used to studying in darkness and in the light. This is symbolized in the Kabbalists’ tradition of beginning their studies at midnight. This is what Kabbalists did throughout the ages, and even King David used to get up at midnight in order to “awaken the dawn.” It is because at midnight the Zivug (coupling) of the upper Aba and Ima begins in order to awaken the vessels to receive the Light.

If a person wants to attain the Light, the state is called “day.” He has to try and awaken the vessels to receive the Light in their lowest and darkest state, when he is “asleep” and doesn’t feel himself.

We don’t notice these discernments yet, but we will soon learn how to discern them in order to see everything in the darkness and in the light, and to know how to use every state in the clearest and most conscious manner. The main point now, after the ascent we attained in the convention, is not to leave the work in such times, which are not really understood, are not pleasant, and which do not fill us.

Such times come along so that we will face them, and despite the heavy feeling in our egoistic desires, which don’t understand the darkness, we will remain in connection and rise, and thus build the vessels for the next ascent.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/22/13

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, article 25, “Things that Come from the Heart”: In other words, all the concepts upon which he builds his building, saying one must always follow in the path of the Creator, is founded in the Dvekut with his teacher. Thus, if he loses the foundation, then all the concepts are powerless, since they will now be lacking the foundation.

Hence, one must not rely on one’s own mind, but cleave once more to books and authors, for only that can help him, and no wit and intellect, as they are lifeless.

Question: What is adhesion?

Answer: On the whole, adhesion is when two people have the same desires, the same thoughts, and the same values. In that case they are “adhered” to one another.

The question is how can two people who are so different be adhered? They are different in every sense and do not match in any way. There cannot be perfect adaptation in nature, so can they attain resemblance and become “adhered” to one another?

If each side rises above himself and doesn’t want to use his attributes for himself, but rather gives the other everything that is in him, and the other also wants to rise above his personal interests and to act in favor of the other, then they resemble one another. In what way? In giving, in bestowal, which means that they are “adhered.”

How can this be attained? They cannot do this on their own, the Light is needed here to connect them. This means that in order to be adhered, two people need the Creator between them. It is a kind of a “sandwich” with the Light in the middle, and this is called a spiritual unit. You can also compare it to a small dumbbell.

Question: So how can we draw the Light so that the adhesion will be realized?

Answer: First, each one has to rise above himself and ask himself: “Why should I adhere to someone? What is adhesion? Could it be that I want to connect with others to achieve something in this world, like in socialism? Or do I want it in order to attain the Creator? Who is the Creator?”

In short, in order to reach the simplest action, I have to renew the whole system since there is no halfway in spirituality; everything in it is integral. Just like in a holographic picture where in order to change a small line I need the right scale to change the whole picture.

So every question that we have actually includes everything in it. If you ask what we have to do, the answer is simple—do it all. We need to clarify who the Creator is, what we need this for, what the act of creation is, what freewill is, and what “each one shall help his brother” is, what the group is, etc. Everything should be included in this. We can see this picture in different resolutions, but one way or the other, everything is in it.

Question: Can we rise above our general, “round” desire to receive like in a hot air balloon, and keep this general state between us?

Answer: Each of us is an egoist, and spirituality is what is between us connecting and bringing us together.

What I feel inside me now is called “this world,” and what I feel between us is called “the upper world.”

If you and I are close to one another and differ only by one measure (1), then I feel the Light of Nefesh. If the difference between us is doubled (2), I attain the Light of Ruach between us since now I have overcome a greater distance. On the one hand, our ego grows and separates us, but on the other hand, we adhere to one another despite the ego, and by that attain a greater intensity.

Our mission is to hold on to this state and to constantly return to it, and if you want, you can take it upon yourself. What else do you have to do in this world except for that? Take a decision where your life should flow and whether you want it to flow in the spiritual dimension. I cannot dictate this to you. At the Arava convention I gave you an example of what you should do. If you want to fulfill this, then do it and the results will be according to this fulfillment.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/13, Shamati #25

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