Question: What does it mean to “put oneself completely into the hands of the environment”?

Answer: It means to feel, to realize that my future is bound up in the group. I have to establish relations with the friends, I have to integrate in them. Whether they want it or not, I have to be inside, at the very center, and that’s it. I have to dissolve among them, and even if they don’t feel that, it does not matter. I have to be like an embryo in the womb, a baby in their hands—in any way and at any cost that they will ask. There is no question about a price: Whatever they tell me, I will do.

Thus, I am beginning to realize what self-annulment is. And this teaches me how to reach the point of Machsom.
[105951]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee”

Related Material:
So The Group Will Absorb Everything
The Group As A Spiritual Entity
Dissolving In The Group

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: “When all of Israel became responsible for one another.” [In other words, each individual is completed by others.] “Because the Torah was not given to them before each and every one from Israel was asked if he agreed to take upon himself the precept of loving others in the full measure, expressed in the words: “Love thy friend as thyself.”

Here we see the description of the situation when everyone feels that the main question surfaces in him. Everyone asks himself: “Do I really agree to love the other?”

This is a principal question and it determines my whole life. After all, I don’t want to go on living in this “interest club”; I am here in order to attain something. I’m here all the time, and put a lot of money and energy into it, although I could succeed in many other areas. In fact, there are many very talented people here who can have everything the world can offer, but they have given up the rewards of this world, and sit in the lessons motionless. Is that right? Is this the way one should live his life?

So, we have to ask this question about love persistently: “When will it finally surface?” “When will the need of loving the other as myself grab me by the throat?” Why do I need to analyze the current situation as to how much I love myself now and how I relate to others?

After all, I see myself as part of the nation of Israel, which means those who want to reach Yashar-El (straight to the Creator), to be similar to Him by actions of bestowal. This is the only way we can reach adhesion with Him, which is the purpose of creation. What can I give Him? The only chance I have to learn the attribute of bestowal from Him is to be like Him in my attitude to others. I have to discover that He loves everyone and bestows upon them. Then by operating in the same way towards others, I become like Him, I am in adhesion with Him, and I evince Him in my action that realizes the love of others.

This means that each and every one in Israel would take it upon himself to care and work for each member of the nation, and to satisfy all their every needs, no less than the measure imprinted in him to care for his own needs.

This is already the measure of my attitude towards the friend: to care for him as much as I care for myself. It’s similar to how a mother constantly worries about her baby. Until I reach that, I don’t fulfill the goal of Israel, don’t have the minimal equivalence of form with the Creator, and I remain on the “animate” level. But if I care about others more than about myself, I am called “human.”

Question: What is the “nation of Israel”?

Answer: These are people who have to reach adhesion with the Creator. Practically, I identify them by their ability to act mutually, to make mutual efforts. With whom can I stand before Mount Sinai? With all due respect, it isn’t with members of parliament and not with my neighbors, but with people who understand me and who are ready to step forward with me on the path of mutual concessions and mutual connection in order to discover the upper force in it and to bring Him contentment. They are my “nation” for the time being.

Later this concept will expand and envelop the whole world.
[105713]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (The Mutual Guarantee)”

Related Material:
Mission Impossible?
We Need A New Start
A Blaze Erupts From The Sparks

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Israel, Mutual Guarantee, Q&A - No Comments →

The spiritual body is the lower part of Bina, ZA, and Malchut, that is, the AHP, the receiving desires. We are there all the time, only the depth of the desire (Aviut), the Reshimot, changes. Depending on this Aviut, sensations also change, and thus it seems to us that each time we are in a different place, in a different world, in a different reality. Everything changes: I and my environment. I was a child, now I am already an adult, and accordingly, the environment changes: work, friends, wife, children, a big world around me, and the entire universe.

This entire picture appears within Reshimot that are awakened within my desire for pleasure, and my task is to interpret this picture correctly. But how can I feel, grasp, separate, and evaluate these properties? Where can I get such mind and heart?

In the name of this, I try to separate and become distant from my feeling and intellect, to be able to relate to them as only to the auxiliary instruments and not my own essence. I feel myself as a point that observes from within this feeling and intellect, behind the thoughts and the heart. It looks at the world through them.

If a person tries to draw this picture of his world, he gains an ability to influence it, to change it. It’s impossible to change the Reshimo I’m in. It’s only possible to hasten development and realize it so that the next Reshimo will come faster.

But it’s not just about the speed. I have ti realize the current Reshimo in such a way that it will maximally approach the world that is revealed in me in the external form. All that is now revealed in my mind and heart, meaning in my internal vessels, and all that is revealed outside of me in external form: the still, vegetative, animate, and the speaking levels of this world, all this is governed and advanced only by means of the Light that influences the Reshimot, that is, comes from the Creator, from the one Source.

And even though I feel that the inner and outer forms are in opposition, in confrontation, cancelling each other, I have to organize them so both conditions are preserved. On one hand, “a judge has only hat his can eyes see,” and the world in front of me is the true world. But on the other hand, I know that “there is none else besides Him,” and only He manages the world.

I feel the gap between these two forms as a real battle, the strongest internal conflict. Baal HaSulam describes this struggle in one of his writings, in the metaphor of the faithful servant of the king that fights with imaginary thieves and robbers seemingly attacking the king.

We have to understand that all the problems are revealed against the principle of “there is none else beside Him” so that I will clarify my characteristics, desires, and thoughts, which disclaim the oneness of the upper force and which cause me to think that there are other reasons for the imperfection of my picture of the world. This form comes from the Reshimot so that I will attribute everything to the Creator, to the Light.

But we can’t do this. The more we advance, the images become more contradictory, shattering the heart and mind of the person. The human mind is not prepared to reconcile these opposites. In the beginning, this contradiction doesn’t seem that terrible, but afterwards it reaches such degrees that a person simply is not prepared to agree with this. He can’t unite the behavior of the Creator, who is the Good who does Good, with the evil and complete injustice that he sees in front of him.

Only a third partner can resolve between these two contradictions, as it is written: “The one who makes peace in His heights, He will make peace among us.” It follows that a person absolutely needs the Light that Reforms. He truly needs this so that the Creator will rule over him and will change his mind and heart.

And so he “connects with the Sefirot,” discovers within himself, within his receiving desires (the lower part of Bina, ZA, and Malchut), the Light coming from GE. Thus he identifies with the upper force and feels in what state, in what world, the Light of Nefesh–Ruach–Neshama, he is.
[105645]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/13, Shamati #68

Related Material:
In The Middle Of The Crossfire
The Spiritual Body In The Form Of Sefirot
A World Structured At My Request

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2013-04-25_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’25.4.13′]

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

Question: We are now on the threshold of three big conventions. What state does the world group need to reach as a result of the upcoming conventions?

Answer: At these conventions, we need to reach the entrance to the upper world, to begin to feel it, at least temporarily!

Before a person enters the upper world, he moves like a worm that tries to get out of a radish. He sticks his head out a little bit and pulls back, comes out and back again. He moves like a piston, back and forth.

Similarly, we do the same: We stick our heads out and back, stick out and back, until we accumulate the desired pressure and use it to finally come out of that radish, from our world. Thus, there are moments when we gnaw at the peel of that radish and begin to break it.

This is a difficult step, but I hope we will do it at our conventions and at least begin to get outside, to breathe in a different reality.
[105856]
From the Virtual Lesson 4/21/13

Related Material:
The Way Of The World Group
Merge Into One Heart
The Dance That Lasts Eternity

Filed under: Conventions, Inner Work, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Question: Can we say that a linear, individual problem solving method (for example, finding a solution for drug addiction) amounts to the further growth of this phenomenon?

Answer: Yes, we can. These problems will continue expanding since our egoism continues unfolding. If we don’t involve people into altruistic interaction, they won’t even know what to do with themselves and will feel as if they are being totally torn apart.

That’s why various problems such as drug addiction, terrorism, suicides, and so on will become regular phenomena. People have to do something with themselves, but they don’t know what exactly they should be doing. So, these problems will only grow. The only thing we can do is to teach everybody how to enter a new integral sphere of nature.

First, people have to learn how to organize themselves in a small integral environment. Then, they will feel that it makes them so much more comfortable when they are going through various unfortunate situations, such as family issues, social problems, and so on.

People will feel safer and more confident. They will even feel that the world they are connected with becomes much friendlier to them, not to others but to them particularly.

Individual self-regulation starts taking place, a homeostasis that fills us with completely different feelings, sensations, and potentials.
[105210]
From a Talk on Integral Education, 4/2/13

Related Material:
Once Upon A Time There Lived A Husband And A Wife…
It’s Good At Home, But It’s Better With The Team
Who Will Pull Us Out Of The Gutter?

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Integral Upbringing, Society - No Comments →

Question: Contemporary social sciences don’t provide suitable terms for defining our next state, when we all become connected. What’s the way of conveying this phenomenon through the scientific language?

Answer: You shouldn’t use old terms since they will be understood conventionally. Here, we have a chance to “shine” and develop a new language.

Question: What can be “new” except integrity? Scientists have a hard time understanding the terms “integrity” and “commonality” since they sound rather abstract to them.

Answer: Back in Soviet times, I used to constantly hear the word “commonality.” It’s a very adequate word! We gradually rise to benevolent good connection between us, reciprocal inclusion into each other, merging and establishing contacts that allow us to make one big picture (a mosaic) comprised of each of us. Every one in this mosaic is a separate part preoccupied with how to match with the “protrusions and concavities” of others, how to complete others correctly.

Perhaps “integrality” is too abstract of a notion. On other hand, “inter” and “enter” are prefixes that are used on a constant basis; we just have to get used to them. “Integrality” can be replaced by some other words. I am using it because it seems to me that it defines very well the upcoming state that the world will be in soon.

Question: The main disparagement brought up by the scientists is as follows: “How can a psychological state of mind lead to financial well-being or to the disappearance of diseases?”

Answer: Let’s refer to statistics. Where does financial instability come from? Isn’t it originated by our egoism? Aren’t all banks usurped by a small elite group that “gobbles up” everything and yet doesn’t take good advantage of what they have? All “greenery” that they collect just deteriorates.

Why is our healthcare the way it is? It’s because it’s much more profitable to sell medications and create diagnostic devices than to cure illnesses. It allows selling more medications, thus generating more profits. In other words, even the healthcare system is just about increasing somebody’s profits.

Should we even mention the education system? It’s a complete failure. The same applies to family values, upbringing children, arts, culture, etc.

When scientists study all spheres of our life and explore many social phenomena, they see that the cause of negativity is human egoism. It spoils everything. Have a look at our culture or science! It has nothing to do with science anymore; rather, it’s a source of finances. Nowadays, everything is for sale and purchase.

In other words, egoism consumes everything there is in all countries, all over the world.… Everything is subject to “cutting” and “sawing.” Isn’t it clear that we have to correct ourselves rather than the external world?

And what can be corrected in the surrounding world?Something that we’ve managed to distort? But then again, we don’t know how to approach these issues since we lack these sensations and don’t know how to fix things. Let’s try to “repair” ecology. It will take us forever since so much has been already destroyed. Where shall we start? Where shall we get money? Who will give it to us? Who will allow us to act? Who cares? “I’ll die tomorrow, but I am still alive today…”—this is how our egoism works.

We will never be able to correct what has been already damaged unless people start regarding themselves differently and see the entire world from a different angle: through integrity, reciprocity, harmony, consideration, and at least some elements of complicity. This explains why the world continues to roll downhill. That’s why integral education is our foremost and most urgent task.
[105215]
From a Talk on Integral Education 4/2/13

Related Material:
The Relationship Between The Language Of Kabbalah And The Language Of Integral Education
Shared Contact
Everyone Has Their Own Predisposition

Filed under: Education, Egoism, Integral Upbringing, Society - No Comments →

Question: Today people feel the gap between real life and their psychological well-being. I remember our grandparents didn’t experience this discrepancy. Meanwhile, for a contemporary person (even if he has a family) a good psychological atmosphere is separated from the material well-being. Is there a way to demonstrate that these things are nevertheless connected?

Answer: It doesn’t matter if they are strangers to each other or a family. They still have to attend the same seminars, listen to the same explanations, thus rising above their egoism.

Before, our egoism was not as big as it is now! Once upon a time there lived “a husband and wife”; they had a “hen” (meaning a household, a home, a vegetable garden, etc). A husband worked, his wife took care of the home. It was an old-fashioned household arrangement. The family life revolved around the home, community, children, and so on.

Today, it’s nothing like that. At this time, we all work for somebody else, for some society, for something unintelligible. In the morning, we take our kids to kindergartens, then we rush to our jobs, and after we are done for the day, we head to supermarkets…. From there, we run back home, quickly warm food, feed everybody as soon as possible, wash the kids, and go to bed. The next day, we repeat the same pattern.

Is it similar in any way to the previous way that family life was set up? Before, people used to have a home, a household. Today, we only call it a household. Everybody has individual possessions; even spouses have separate bank accounts.

So, we have to teach people at our seminars to rise above their egoism and unite beyond it. Otherwise, family will cease to exist since our egoism cuts us off from others, pushes us aside, while we take no action in response. And the state officials cannot do anything here. Two egoists cannot be forced to stay in one territory.

Why do I need a family? I go to work and earn my own money; I don’t need anyone! If I need to, in the evening I can bring home whoever I want. I can go to a supermarket, buy ready-made foods, warm them in microwave, and eat them for dinner. The whole arrangement serves the purpose of allowing everybody to live separately. Manufacturers of consumer goods get maximum benefits if there is only one person in the household since two single people will buy more of everything: refrigerators, TV sets, and washing machines.…
[105212]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” 4/2/13

Related Material:
Concerns And Prospective
Overview Of The Integral Education Course: Family Relationships
No Need to Envy Your Cat

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Egoism, Family, Integral Upbringing, Q&A, Society - No Comments →

We always clarify the issue of “there is none else besides Him” in our conventions. It’s a very important issue because it actually opens up the essence of the wisdom of Kabbalah, meaning the method for the revelation of the Creator, the only force that operates in all of creation.

Besides this force there is nothing else indeed. Everything else is what it generates, develops, what it motivates and manages. Everything depends on this one unique force. It makes no difference whether we call it “Nature” or the “Creator”; it creates and manages everything, but it’s actually one.

Unlike other parts of nature (the still, vegetative, and animate), man has a goal, a role, a purpose, and he has to attain it: to discover this force and to feel it. The perception of this force and its revelation happens according to the basic law of physics, the basic law of nature, the law of equivalence of form: To the extent that our attributes are similar to the Creator’s, we feel Him, become part of Him, and merge with Him.

The Creator constantly pushes us towards this state so that we will attain Him. This movement occurs from the beginning of the creation to its end, until we fully discover Him. We start the path of revealing and attaining the Creator while being in our world.

Our world conceals the Creator from us.

The Creator influences this world. He influences us and if we perceive His influence correctly as essential so as to attain Him from within and from this world, then we advance towards the Creator. We are given the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to attune ourselves to the revelation of the Creator through the outward shell of our world.

By revealing the Creator we attain our source, our root, the state of eternity and perfection. We can detach from our body to such a degree that our body (drawn as a point from which we attain Him, the point in the heart) and our world suddenly disappear.

We begin to feel that there is one Creator in all this, one upper Light. Everything that was previously depicted to us, our body, the five senses, by which we felt ourselves and the world, all seem to evaporate, disappear, and through this we see the one upper Light.

This is the state we need to reach. It’s very real, much more real than our “illusive” world. The article “There is None Else Besides Him” tells us how to do that.
[105510]
From the European Convention 3/23/13, Lesson 3

Related Material:
In The Middle Of The Crossfire
The Meaning of Merging With The Creator
The Joy Of Returning To The Family Home

Filed under: Conventions, Inner Work, Perception - No Comments →

Torah, Exodus, “BeShalach,” 17:14 – 17:16: The Lord said to Moses, Inscribe this [as] a memorial in the book, and recite it into Joshua’s ears, that I will surely obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. Then Moses built an altar, and he named it The Lord is my miracle. And he said, For there is a hand on the throne of the Eternal, (that there shall be) a war for the Lord against Amalek from generation to generation.

In general, a human being cannot conquer the quality of Amalek. But he has to create a situation when he places himself between the Creator and Amalek and really wants for the Creator to eliminate the property of Amalek within him.

A person needs Amalek. Otherwise, he won’t have a  connection with the Creator. In other words, the egoism (Pharaoh and so on) deliberately pushes us to the Creator. Without this pressure, we wouldn’t feel a need for Him.

In the end, corrections are made thanks to Amalek. But because he manifests in various forms, they are given different names.

Comment: Interestingly, when we read the Torah, we understand that all movie scenarios are extremely trivial and insignificant compared to it. They don’t even come close to the unbelievable height of the Torah.

Answer: There is no doubt about it since the Torah describes the inner world. It depicts completely different pictures of internal connections among everything there is. We recognize the system that unites us, see the properties and energies of the Universe, and become aware of everything that exists and happens between us. Undoubtedly, it’s a great action! A person rises to the level where his body no longer exists and there is only him inside these great forces.
[102743]
From KabTV’s “The Mysteries of the Eternal Book” 2/11/13

Related Material:
Who Wins Over Amalek?
The War With Amalek
The War Against Amalek

Filed under: Inner Work, Torah, Zohar - No Comments →