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We are all connected by a “cobweb” of forces that penetrate all our relationships. On the whole, these are either the forces of reception or the forces of bestowal. If a person discovers neither of the forces, it is as if he is hanging in emptiness. Usually, however, either the positive or the negative forces are revealed to him, and together they weave the general network.

So the “cobweb” exists and it is up to a person to what extent he feels it, to what extent he is in it, and to what extent he wants these forces to be either corporeal or spiritual.

We may say that we are in a “fixed” position in this network, regardless of our physical location. And the saying “he who changes his place changes his luck” refers to spiritual “coordinates.” If I move from one country to another and see different people and a different environment around me, it doesn’t mean that I have changed my position in the system in any way.

I am in the same point, in the same network, but now it simply seems to be different. Even if my “luck” has changed, meaning the forces that act upon me, it doesn’t mean that I have changed my location in the spiritual network. Only the manifestations, the “garments,” the scene in the Creator’s theater, by which He manages me, have changed. But the director is the same, and the play is the same play, and behind the new set there are the same side scenes.…

Question: But what should I emphasize? Where should I make an effort?

Answer: The Creator tells me: “I have brought you to a point of choice, now realize it.” He has brought me to the group, but it is only the place of choice, while the choice itself is in my hands. It is like coming to the ballot box that has already been prepared for me, and now the choice is mine.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/30/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Question: People who participate in the integral workshops have different levels of experience. What is the best way to form the circles? Should we put together more experienced people in one circle and beginners in another?

Answer: The experienced participants can be together in a circle with the beginners, but only for the purpose of enriching each other. In other words, you want to train the experienced participants so they could conduct such workshops themselves in the future and, at the same time, you want to show the beginners new amazing approaches, questions, answers, and discussions that for now are impossible among the beginners themselves.

Therefore, the best way is to mix the group:  Seven or eight out ten participants should be beginners, and the rest of the group should be more experienced people who do not suppress the beginners, but only guide and support them.
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From a Talk on Integral Upbringing, 04/02/2013

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”: However, prior to being rewarded with inverting the desire to receive in us through Torah and commandments, into reception in order to bestow, there are strong locks on those gates to the Creator, for then they have the opposite role: to drive us away from the Creator. This is why the forces of separation are called “locks,” since they block the gates of approaching and drive us away from the Creator.

But if we overcome them so they do not affect us, cooling His love from our hearts, the locks become doors, the darkness becomes light, and the bitter becomes sweet. Over all the locks, we receive a special degree in His Providence, and they become openings, degrees of attainment of the Creator.

We should see only the forces that operate on us in every event in our lives. It doesn’t matter how they operate since they are all meant to push us towards the Creator, to discover and to adhere to Him.

If a person works together with these forces and cares for his physical needs only to the extent that it’s necessary for the existence of his animate body, dedicating everything else for the needs of his soul, then by trying to clarify these forces and to criticize them, he discovers that there is nothing coincidental in this world and that everything happens only so that he will adhere more strongly to the Creator.

He reaches a state in which he finds himself not facing the forces that separate him from the Creator, who is on the other side. But when he hears an invitation from the Creator: “Come to Pharaoh!” This means that the person and the Creator stand together side by side, stepping forward against Pharaoh together, while these forces step forward against them. The Creator says to a person: “Hold my hand and we will go together!”

This is a very important point a person has to clarify in his life, as he clarifies where he is with respect to the Creator and with respect to the obstacles. Are he and the Creator on the two sides of the obstacles; that is, do the obstacles separate the person from the Creator? Or does a person annul himself and adhere to the Creator, so then he finds himself in His arms, or holding His hand, like a child next to a grown up, and then both of them face the obstacles, as it says: “Come to Pharaoh!”

Then the work changes since he holds on to the forces that come in order to strengthen the adhesion between them, to connect the person to the Creator. It’s like a dog that barks at a child, thus forcing the child to cling to his mother or father out of fear. That is, if a person is on the same side as the Creator who invites him to go to Pharaoh together, then these forces are immediately felt as help. Then Pharaoh operates in order to bring them closer together, and this is the whole difference.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/29/13

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In the News (from predateli.com): “The social situation in the EU remains critical. Residents panic and leave their countries in search of a better life, mostly young and educated professionals. Last year, 80 Portuguese were leaving for Angola daily. …

“Unemployment has reached a record level of 16.5%, which is 1.5 million of working-age people, 40% of them – young people under the age of 25. This is the worst indicator in the EU after Spain and Greece. Even the police and military went to the street to hold rally. …The representative of European Commission Jonathan Todd confirmed: ‘In Europe, the social crisis continues to spread. No significant improvement is expected in the member states of the EU, including Portugal.’”

My Comment: People ask me why I stopped describing the state of the EU. It’s because we all see that there is no real news, meaning no changes! Everything in the world continues to move down the slope and, for the time being, no one wants to hear about “Integral Upbringing” of the population. Try to do everything possible to bring this idea to the elite. The good news can be only in this.
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Question: How is spiritual and inner work divided in the corrected world? Do inner differences between people receive external expression?

Answer: In the corrected world everyone will realize what he must carry out 100% in order to correct his desire. For everyone, this is according to his level and desire.

Some people will learn from morning to night and will realize the material that they have learned internally. This will be their function, similar to the creation of software. Others will be occupied most of their day with organization, dedicating only a small part of their time to learning. Some of the people will be the operators, some will realize themselves in service, and so forth.

Everyone will act according to the degree of his deficiency and its expression in this world. This is because a person expresses himself according to his inner desire, according to his level within the general system, divided into five levels of Aviut (the density of desire). Each one of us belongs to different parts, to different “organs.” It could be the “liver,” or the “brain,” or the “lungs”…. In a complete system everyone is important because every organ and every part has its function that establishes all of our external deeds.

Therefore, quantitatively and qualitatively, my corrections are derived from the spiritual source of my soul. Accordingly, being a corrected “cell” in the right place within the totality of souls, I need to receive the Light that Reforms.

It’s said: “There is no coercion in spirituality,” “a person learns where his heart desires.” According to its influence, the system itself establishes a person’s place, and it’s up to each one to take account of himself regarding the form of his chosen participation. Possibly, this “review” will make it possible for him to advance. And perhaps the person will understand that he is not ready for more than this; he will be satisfied in the outer circle, and this will be the place of his correction.

Not all of us need to strive inwards. The outer part of every level is found within the inner part of the lower level, and together they build a pyramid of “overlapping” parts of Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP. This is a universal principle derived from spirituality.

Possibly, you dream about universal equality. All are equal in a sense that, from Above, each one is given all that is required according to their desire (vessel). And with everything else, all of us are different. Democracy from the side of the Creator is that all of us are loved to the same degree, and all of us comprise one circle of adhesion. Together with this, there is a hierarchy that characterizes the spiritual ladder up to the end of correction.

Therefore, decision makers are those who reach spiritual heights and desire more wisdom and adherence, not those who want more money and control. Such people were once called the “Sanhedrin” or “The Great Assembly” among the people of Israel.

On the other hand, the concept of “equality” in modern society is destructive. This vision of equality brings fascism. All the sociologists, the political scientists, and people of other professions know that a fascist regime is the most egalitarian: They always talk about the “common citizen,” about the “common worker” and so on. We know the results. Therefore, the right structure is a spiritual pyramid in which each has an equal opportunity for self-realization.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Torah, “Exodus,” 19:12-13: And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying: Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death;

No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live; when the ram’s horn soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

Question: Why are there all these conditions for coming near Mt. Sinai?

Answer: A “Mount” stands for 125 degrees of ascent to the Creator, and it includes a person’s entire ego. Five worlds x five Partzufim x five Sefirot = 125 degrees. These are the stages according to which a person has to change internally as he climbs the levels to the very top, merging with the Creator.

In the meantime, the nation is standing at the foot of the mountain. It has not yet received the Torah, the instructions for the correction of the ego, and so it cannot “touch” the spiritual ascent without being ready for it.

When a person works with his ego and wants to start the spiritual ascent with it, in his current form, he will only be confused and destroy himself. It’s like a child who cries “I want to” and enters a place that he shouldn’t, and we have to protect him from endangering himself. It’s the same thing here, when a person who doesn’t know the instructions, cannot even approach the spiritual ascent unless he knows them.

After all, the instructions tell him how he should gradually correct himself, according to which stages and in what way, and it’s the only way a person can ascend. What’s more, he will face problems on every level: He will be pushed down from the mountain; he will fall and climb again, trying to climb from one level to another like a child who is not strong enough yet to lift a leg.

A person is thrown back, he falls, rolls a few levels downwards, and then has to climb again; however, as he climbs to the previous levels, he already understands them better. He thinks to himself: “Wow! Now I get it!” He tries to climb a bit higher, and he falls off two levels lower. Then, when he ascends from the lower level to the middle level and then to the higher one, he begins to understand the middle level better since he discovers in it not the Light of Nefesh but the Light of Ruach.

He begins to understand this level better, and then he falls three levels downwards. Otherwise, how can he understand that? In order to understand all the reasons, he has to descend. It’s from this state, when he is created as existence from absence, even before the creation of our world and before his current understanding of how he is and what he is, it’s precisely from this point that he has to understand his current self and how to go on.

So, from the current point of our life, we remember the years that have passed and understand them better than when we were just living them. Therefore we say: “Was it so or was I dreaming?”

That is, our life was like a dream. Now, if we attain the upper levels and look back from our current level, we begin to understand that all this was predetermined precisely so that now I, in my current form, will be able to see my whole past and agree with the one who has prepared all this for me: the Creator.

Question: Does this mean that I justify the whole way, no matter what I have been through, all the suffering?

Answer: The point is that now I don’t see all the suffering anymore. I see the necessary changes that I had to go through in order to be in contact with the Creator today. This is why there are always greater descents than the previous ones.

The Book of Zohar tells us about Rabbi Shimon who has been through all the levels of the spiritual attainment, and when he was just one level away from the end of correction, he descended all the way to the bottom; only then did he feel that he was facing the last 125th level.

Question: Does this mean that he had the spark of the last level left in him?

Answer: Otherwise he wouldn’t be at the bottom, since it’s possible to measure one’s self only compared to the top. So a person cannot advance spiritually if he doesn’t receive the method of correction and has not been through three days of alienation from his ego.

The three levels are necessary in order to totally detach one’s self from one attribute and to move on to the next one. It’s because the two levels that are close to one another have something in common, and a person has to be not between two levels but between three levels, which means that he has to move from the lower level to a higher one and then to an even higher one. Then through the middle level he detaches himself from the lower level.

Afterwards it’s possible to correct oneself in order to “wash one’s garments,” which means to correct a certain level of the ego, the fourth part.

Then you can come close to Mt. Sinai—to a certain circle. You have to see this circle and to understand yourself, your egoistic attributes compared to the altruistic ones. The more a person corrects himself, the higher he can climb the mountain, which symbolizes the ego and rising above it. After all, all of Pharaoh’s ego, everything that Egypt stands for, the universal ego, has turned into Mt. Sinai.

You could only escape from Egypt, but here you have to rise above your ego and to start working with it. The difference between these two states is that in the middle you receive that method of correction, the Torah. After all, without the method of correction you cannot even begin to correct yourself. Now you have a chance to climb the mountain.

Question: What does it mean “no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned,” and “when the ram’s horn soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount?”

Answer: A stone stands for the ego, “the stony heart.” The ram’s horn is the descent of the upper Light of the attainment, of the revelation. I receive it by hearing (the attribute of Bina). When I begin to hear the sound of the ram’s horn, it corrects me and I begin to see, which means that the sight, the understanding is revealed in me. Sight is a higher level.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/18/13

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A person is composed of two components: his own “I” and his existence. We can forego our own existence by bringing proof to our ego that it’s worth it. We see that the world changes, its values change as well, becoming less and less materialistic. The desire to receive changes not only quantitatively but also qualitatively, and therefore prefers more subtle fillings.

Besides this, there exist many types of people, and each enjoys different things: music, art, or sports, which are considered to be more “spiritual” than simple “materialistic” occupations. But essentially these are all types of materialistic egoistic fillings, and they are all the same in relation to a person’s spiritual development. The only difference is in this is how much a person prefers personal preoccupation in comparison to collective preoccupation. This determines his development.

There have always been people who loved to work for the good of all. They provided inspiration to people to make social revolutions, stood at the head of charitable movements, and helped the needy. Ten percent of all humanity have an inclination towards bestowal, their ego enjoys bestowal. This lets a person feel superior, to respect himself, to be proud of himself, even if nobody knows about his good deeds. This is a special type of egoism.

But to forego “self” is already impossible. It’s possible to do something like this only through the Light that Reforms and even this is not directly, but indirectly. The person invests himself in a society, tries to be included in it, and then the Light begins to influence him and to change him through the society.

Only in a form like this is change possible. This is a unique patent since in truth, we don’t want this to happen. It’s impossible to desire this for real, but since we nevertheless are able to act in this way, the change in us happens. This is called “I have labored and I found.” We are prepared to make a particular effort to be included in the environment, as if we have the desire to bestow, as if we want to discover the Creator and bring Him contentment.

All this is “as if,” but in this game there is a kind of condition for all of these efforts to enter into the system for “fun” but for real, as if we truly desire it! And the system begins to react to us. While the person isn’t really asking, yet suddenly he finds an answer. And he always finds something that he didn’t expect at all, and therefore this is called a “find.” This is always discovered as a surprise, quickly, abruptly. Thus through external corrections we reach internal corrections, through correction of the existence of reality we correct reality itself.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/13, Writing of Rabash

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We are in a very special relationship with the Creator. If a person puts all his egoistic hopes in Him, just like all the people in this world, then everything is fine. Everyone believes that the Creator is good and that He sends us good things and cares about us. Although people suffer, they always find a justification for that. We see that it isn’t too difficult to hold on to a simple belief. Billions of people truly believe in the existence of an upper force and are ready to make different sacrifices and even to sacrifice their life for this belief.

It is so simple since it stems from our ego. A person praises and glorifies the Creator and is ready to exert himself and to perform different religious rituals. However, we cannot even think about Him and are skeptical about whether or not He really exists, if He is the good and the benevolent, if everything comes from Him. It is so difficult because it doesn’t stem from the ego, but from the point in the heart, from the form that is opposite to everyone’s general attitude towards the Creator.

However, we were given an environment so that our attitude towards the Creator will not stem from the ego, but from the opposite factor. Through the environment, we can really ascribe ourselves to the Creator to the extent the society increases His importance in our eyes. The more we all consider the society to be important, the more a person can attribute greater importance to the values that are accepted in the society, including the importance of the Creator.

If a person ties the environment with his point in the heart, then the Creator is inside the society and He gradually enters a person, enters his point in the heart. This is what we should demand from our group. Without this, there is no chance that we can reveal the Creator—by only connecting the environment with our point in the heart so that the Creator becomes revealed in their connection into one whole.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 31, Lesson 2

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The Book of Zohar, Introduction “The Rose,” “Mirrors of the Sulam,” Item 1, Lesson 4

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 10, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 64, Lesson 41

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee,” Lesson 7

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