Question: Looking from the outside, it seems that we are engaged in a mad chase after unification, love, and bestowal. What do we actually expect in return? How can we picture the rewards?

Answer: I will receive a soul for these efforts.

I either live or die like an animal, just don’t end up as prey for wild beasts, but rot in the ground, or I acquire a soul and live an eternal life. It is not after the animate body is gone but actually now, while living in this world.

Plants, for example, don’t feel what animals feel. Animals live a much richer life than plants. It is exactly for this reason that a “two-legged animal” doesn’t understand that eventually, it lives a physical life although it could acquire eternity.

It is impossible to explain that eternal life is unlimited: I am not limited by my physical body, not by my desires, not by time, and not by motion—not by anything at all. I transcend all these limitations and exit my boundaries.

How? It is very simple. Everything is prepared for me. A whole was broken to pieces. Each of these parts feels its boundaries and limitations. However, if it wants to come out of it, it can do so. This exit of one’s boundaries is the connection with others.

I work against my animal desire and, above it, I acquire a human, a higher desire; that is, I acquire a new vessel. I live in it and feel the unlimited life in it. It has no boundary that is determined by time and space, and there is no current “self.” It is because the spiritual world is not my “self” at all. There, the competition is over the greater connection, over the greater bestowal that leads to unlimited, infinite dimensions.

Everyone must reach that. It is impossible to settle for less. The goal of creation, its plan, the current crisis, and our entire life obligate us to do so. The only problem is how to organize this. All the necessary forces for that are ready, so use them. However, we don’t want to draw them to fulfill this goal.

Still, whatever the mind doesn’t do, time does. So, it isn’t a hopeless situation and a Human can emerge from every “animal.”
[106809]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/5/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” Item 18: Therefore, the Tana (Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai) described the Arvut as two people on a boat, when one of them began to drill a hole in the boat. His friend asked, “Why are you drilling?” He replied, “What business is it of yours? I am drilling under me, not under you.” So he replied, “Fool! We will both drown together!” (VaYikra Rabba, Chapter 4).

We are all interconnected in a global, total, integral network. However, according to the program of creation, this network is discovered gradually.

It was first revealed on the still level during the process of the formation and evolution of the Universe, until the Earth was formed. Later, this network was revealed in a stronger form on the vegetative level, and then, as it is written in The Book of Zohar, “The flower buds appeared on the earth.” Eventually, vegetation covered the planet and the network was revealed even further, passing to a new level, the animate one.

This process is derived from the four basic phases that appear one after the other. The network is revealed more and more. Some species become extinct, others are born. Nowadays, we see the disappearance of some species and revelation of other species all the time. All this is a revelation of the general network which, in its last phase, compelled the apes to come down from the trees and turned them into humans.

Gradually, the connection between all parts of reality has been manifesting slowly, directing those who were apes not long ago to new relationships of mutual exchange, driving them to kill each other, which doesn’t happen with other animal species. Animals only test who is stronger to discover who is the leader or who owns the territory, but in humans the impulses are stronger…. Ultimately, all of our evolution is discovery of the network that links all parts of reality.

Today, on the final level of this world, having passed through the three phases of the speaking level— the still, vegetative, and animate—we have reached the level of the “speaking of the speaking,” and we need to attain this height.

In the general network, the category of Israel is the key one and it establishes the entire process. This category includes those who already have a connection with the force that manages reality, with the upper governance. And among them, there are the “righteous” and the “wicked” who affect each other.

All this is inevitable because the network is being discovered more and more, thereby revealing a comprehensive and general integral nature in which everyone has great importance for the system. Therefore, it is worthwhile for us to publish this knowledge about the Arvut (mutual guarantee) between everyone. After all, everyone necessarily influences everyone else. Ultimately, his influence turns back on him, doubling the damage that he has caused to the society as a whole.

Meanwhile, it is difficult to notice this. The truth is revealed only in exceptional cases, under the pressure of major disasters. However, in spite of all this, we can draw a picture of the general system for the person from which he can derive that he belongs to everyone and that everyone belongs to him. Today, the world has become sensitive enough to listen to this message and feel this condition.
[106818]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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Question: Is it necessary for those who are engaged in the method of integral upbringing to have a certain image and possess specific knowledge, or is their ability to correctly unite with others the only thing that matters?

Answer: In the nearest future, all of humanity will become unemployed. Even now, if we wanted to limit ourselves with what’s necessary for life instead of producing numerous useless things just to buy them and then throw them away; if we lived in harmony with nature and created a normal, balanced society, we would figure out that there is no need for us to work at all.

There is a huge amount of resources to satisfy everyone’s needs. If distributed among everyone, it will be sufficient for life.

No matter what, we are approaching this state. We see that, with each year, unemployment grows and the need for working people drops. Society will feed the unemployed, dress them, build apartments for them, and so on. However, on what will these people be spending their time? They will be “tuning up” communities and all civilization, thus making it integral.

This explains why the method of integral upbringing speaks not only of the ways to attract people to groups and conduct seminars on city parks’ green meadows, but also focuses on the fact that people will be working as reformers of the world. It is a very serious job that will take all of their time.

They will be in charge of a correct distribution of social labor products among everyone and serving each other. All these processes will be saturated with the right social relationships. Before anything else, we must teach people this method from the point of view of the integral laws of nature that maintain correct collaboration on the still, vegetative, and animate levels. It is the sole responsibility of humans to embrace this nature and treat it like an essential integral element.

Explanation of the peculiarities will take a long time. They must be explained in detail with concrete evolutionary, historical, and psychological examples. Moreover, we have to continue developing people culturally since even harmonious feelings that are built in accordance with the rule of “golden section” still need a good tune up so that they are oriented toward unity and a more profound mutual understanding. We have to be on the same wavelength and understand great scientists, poets, writers, musicians, and so forth.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that we need to make sages of everyone and expect them to be similar to the great medieval writers, poets, musicians, doctors, and scientists who managed to combine these great features in one person. At the same time, everyone will have to advance in numerous fields such as drawing, dancing, music, science, and so on since it broadens people internally. They begin to better understand the world and acquire a chance to connect with others. They become much more developed and rich, thus having more in common with others. They will have more topics to discuss, more common points of interest, and a bigger desire to share their opinions.

It’s not about a narrow existence when one earns, buys, and throws away or, in the morning, takes a child to kindergarten and, in the evening, rushes back home, having the same scenario repeated every single day.

We must turn people into Humans. For the last one hundred years (since Charlie Chaplin’s movies showed the mass production conveyer-belts and through to today) people have practically turned into robots. Consequently, we are facing an enormous amount of work which is not only about bringing people up but also about educating them.

There is no sense in gathering people for seminars and persuading them to say beautiful words while holding each other’s hands as if they were little children. First, we must bring up a human being within them; that is, to “deify” them and raise them to the level of a Man. Adam derives from “similar to the Creator,” alike with nature.

So, just conducting seminars is not enough. It should be a very serious job throughout the entire day. Partially, people will spend time attending to themselves and to others and taking care of everyone around. For example, our youth study for half a day and, for the rest of the day, they participate in creating special educational materials.
[106885]
From a Talk on Integral Upbringing 4/4/2013

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There can be three states in the exercise of the “tens” (connecting in groups of tens): At one time, I am below everyone else, another time, I am the upper one, the one who bestows, and the third time, we are all equal. Equality is a result of the first two states, and it is the middle line.

We cannot stand equality nor measure it. We actually don’t have it. We understand what it means to be above or below others, but we lose sensation where equality begins. Even a missile cannot focus straight on target and constantly must feel a certain degree of deviation. We have to feel a certain degree of deviation in everything.

So, we are given the balance from Above as the middle line, which comes together with the revelation of the Creator. The vessel and the Light, the middle line and the Creator, come together as a sign that you have exerted yourself enough and have attained a certain level of accuracy in different measurements that now enable you to feel the middle line and the Creator to a certain extent. For example, you have measured 10 pounds of the vessel and 10 pounds of the Light, and the fact that there is a deviation of 10 ounces in these 10 pounds is ignored from Above.

Next time, you will attain the middle line in those 10 pounds, and then you will value it as 100 pounds, and the accuracy will not be in the range of 10 ounces, but of 1 ounce. Thus, each time, you value your adhesion with the Creator more and thereby expand your vessel. The accuracy grows, that is, the middle line becomes increasingly thinner and thus more qualitative.
[106916]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/13, TES 

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You will attain everything within the “ten,” which is a group made of ten friends that works on the connection between them (an exercise that we conduct at present), and not just by studying The Zohar or Talmud Eser Sefirot. You don’t know how it will all be revealed, but it will be revealed.

Question: How should I act with regards to my “ten?”

Answer: Sometimes, I have to check myself with regards to that ten, this Minyan (a quorum of ten). Sometimes I have to see this Minyan as one person, sometimes I have to see myself above the ten and to bestow upon others, and sometimes I have to see that I am lower than them and to be under their influence.

Sometimes we feel that we are together, as one force field, in which we are equally incorporated in one another and each one is made of all the ten. When each of us is already made of all the ten and is incorporated in all the ten again, it becomes 10×10, that is, 100. The 100 are incorporated in the ten again and become 1,000, and so on. Eventually we fill this area in our mutual incorporation so densely that it becomes a whole, solid surface upon which we reveal the Creator.

I can imagine that it is I who brings the deficiency to the ten and the others worry about me like ZAT (the lower seven Sefirot) of Bina. I am in them like in a mother’s womb and compel them to draw the Light that Reforms upon me so that I will adhere to them more strongly and will bestow upon them and help.

I can also discover this attitude in the ten when we all connect into one whole. After I bestow upon them and receive from them, I attain this unity with them, feeling that not only do we share everything but I also expect to reveal the Creator as a result of this unity and this partnership. The moment the “ten” attains the concept of Minyan (a connection of ten people), I reveal the Creator in it.

It says: “I came and there was no man,” which means that the wholeness in which the Creator is revealed was missing. Therefore, the Creator says: “I came and there was no man.” “Man” is the image in which the Creator can dress.
[106913]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/13, TES

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Opinion (Wu Jianmin, President of the China Foreign Affairs University): “The world is deeply interdependent, especially in economic terms — a remarkable achievement.

“The common challenges the world faces have never been as severe as they are today. They include climate change, terrorism, environmental degradation, drug trafficking and pandemics. No country, no matter how powerful, is able to cope with these challenges alone. The human race is bound to unite in order to meet these challenges for their survival.

“The notion that war is the last resort for settling international disputes has become obsolete.

“War and revolution was the theme of the past epoch. But the theme of today’s epoch is peace and development. It is irresistible.”

My Comment: This is the freedom of will: In which way do we advance towards similarity with Nature, towards a unified humanity: unwillingly, through wars, or consciously, by means of integral education? After the war we will nevertheless have to choose the method of coming together, which instills in people the desire for unity, as necessary and essential according to the laws of Nature.
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Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“: In the generation of the Messiah anyone can reach adhesion and attainment. 

We are in the days of the Messiah and can enter the spiritual world, although we will have to sweat in order to do that.

After millennia of evolution, the desire to receive has been revealed in its fullest on the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature. Only the speaking level is left, which we uncover thanks to the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is the reason that it is revealed to everyone unexceptionally. We can attain all the 125 levels and reach the end of correction.

In the past, in the generation of Rashbi, Rabbi Shimon’s group, who wrote The Book of Zohar, were given this chance. Today, however, although we are small and worthless, lowly and weak, the structure of our vessels is fit for The Book of Zohar.

It is just like an embryo that is not a ripe human being yet, but still belongs to the same species and only must develop. It is the same with us who, unlike previous generations, “fit” The Book of Zohar and can use it to draw the Light that Reforms, and this is why it is revealed.

Anyone who thinks that it is forbidden to study the wisdom of Kabbalah should understand this. Things have changed since new human desires are appearing that belong to the generation of the Messiah.

“The generation of the Messiah” is the name of a period when the Light called “Messiah” comes and acts on the vessels. On the previous levels, we advanced by the egoistic evolution, according to the principle of “go and make a living from one another,” in the egoistic sense. Today, the desire of the fourth level, on the human level, is developing, and thus we all depend on each other. After all, a human being (“Adam” in Hebrew) is someone who feels that he depends on and is incorporated in the whole. This state is expressed in the global crisis of the modern world.

Everything begins from the Light that flows upon the first three levels of humanity: the still, the vegetative, and the animate. These levels are not mutually connected as they should be. They are not compatible with the upper system and the Light that comes from there. After all, the Light brings us the wholeness of the ten Sefirot, while the vessels are dispersed, their Sefirot are dispersed and separated, and so they experience a shattering, a crisis in different forms.

So, what should they do? We should unite, but how? Using their logic, they try to unite and correct where they feel the crisis—in cultural life, in education, in industry, in technology, in finance, in commerce, and so on. And, indeed, why not? “Wherever things are bad, this is where we must correct the situations so that it will be better.”

Yet, as a result, we experience even greater troubles. After all, the problem is not where we feel the emptiness, but in the means of filling this void. So, there is no point settling for a struggle in trying to fill this void.

Here, humanity faces a new source of pressure: the need for what we call Masach (screen). After all, the only way we can receive the Light correctly is if we connect with others in ten Sefirot. When you develop mutual bestowal in this connection, you become similar to the Light and its attributes, and then it fills you.

So, a totally different approach is needed today. The crisis is felt as an empty void, but the solution is not in egoistic fulfillment, but in unity.

People generally understand that together, they can manage in life. At the same time, in their attempts to unite without the integral system, they only contribute to worsening the situation. It is because the point isn’t just connection, but connection with the Creator, through Israel, according to the spiritual hierarchy.

In the past, the vessels of Israel were above the nations of the world. After the shattering, they fell, and now the nations of the world are above them, seem more prosperous, and of course don’t feel the need for Israel in order to come out of the crisis. It is because they are actually above Israel; they are not shattered, while Israel is, and so they see themselves as the religious authority, as responsible for the world and for everything in general.

In the current circumstances, this feeling is natural, and the correction must come by understanding the general picture, which will lead the nations of the world to the method of correction. Until then, all their efforts will lead to the opposite results, as is happening in Europe that has created a common market. Today, the Europeans should understand that unity is only possible according to the integral method thanks to the power of Israel in it.

This is the reason that many forms of unity in the world get stuck. We are the reason for that, those who represent the level of Israel. We must be ready to pass on the message about that to humanity: The real connection can only be through us. Otherwise, if they will begin to unite by themselves, this only will make things worse, and wars will immediately start all over the world.
[106179]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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Rabash, Shlavei Hasulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article 38, “What is a Glass of Blessing Should be Full, in the Work”: Since it is hard work to constantly overcome one’s self and annul before the upper one, so that the upper will make what the upper wants of it. This is called Ibur, which is the state of smallness that is most restricted.

On one hand, it’s a state of smallness (Katnut), a state of an “embryo,” the lowest possible level, and on the other hand, it’s a state of greatness (Gadlut). The point here is at what level I remain as an embryo. It’s because the phase of Ibur (conception) includes all the states and all the levels. Only later do I move on to the levels of Yenika (suckling) and Mochin (mind), when I already work with my desire in order to bestow, by continuing the same direction of self-annulment that is on the embryo level. Then, however, I already annul myself not only by restricting myself, by limiting my desire, but also in using it in order to bestow, in the same direction that I started using it initially.

Thus, the level of embryo, which is the basis for everything, is great and unique. On this basis the future human being continues his embryonic phase, but he already uses it differently. One way or the other, we constantly annul ourselves before the Creator, before the upper Light, so that it will show us our nature and will give us more strength.

To annul myself before the upper one means to rise above my current self and to take on its form. An “embryo” (Ubar – עֻבָּר) is a static state of someone who passes (Over – עוֹבֵר) from one state to another. What’s more, he moves feeling rage, and against his natural desires since he constantly clarifies and overcomes himself under pressure.

At first this path looks very difficult and unattainable. Is it possible to live this way? Of course it’s impossible if we had to act alone. But the Creator has created the shattering of the vessels for us, and we can work in a state of an embryo with the help of the environment, and not by ourselves. We are surrounded by friends and work with them. Thus our work is divided into many parts according to our efforts, and each part joins the others. So eventually we collect the right efforts for the state of Ibur, and we finally accept it.

We should thus understand that the difficult part is not self-annulment, but the unity and connection in the group. If I join the friends, I will have the power to become an embryo.
[106271]
From the Men’s Convention “The Next Step” 4/26/13, Lesson 2 

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Question: Along the spiritual path discover the evil of the ego, and yet, it is also pleasant since I aspire for something else.

Answer: If I enjoy the pain, even if it also connects me to the Creator, it is impurity, called a Klipa (shell) that protects the fruit until it ripens. It protects me so that I still will keep the connection with the Creator, but it isn’t the right state yet. After all, the sweetness in this pain is a sure revelation of the Creator. I feel that the pain comes from Him since otherwise, He cannot draw my attention. If I agree with this egoistic sweetness and enjoy it, it means that I am in impurity.

The question is to what degree can I bear the pain in the current state and at the same time, understand that it is essential in order to keep the connection with the Creator. How can I not fall into pleasure through this pain? How can I stop the moment I am in contact with it and immediately get on the right track?

After all, I am drawn to the sweetness. I descend and succumb to the deviousness of the ego, which lures me like a snake by the sweetness of this purposeful pain. Different religions and faiths based on the suffering of the righteous stem from this.

Question: How can I focus the process on the right path?

Answer: I ask the Creator who is Good and Benevolent for help. He wants me to feel good in the connection with Him and that the good will lead me to Him, but how can I do that?

If I feel emptiness, threats, troubles, and darkness in my egoistic desire, then, as a result of my hopelessness, my desire to receive looks for the source of evil, even if it is the Creator. It remembers some preliminary higher cause from which everything stems.

However, what should I do if I enjoy, if my desire is full, if I feel that the entire world is at my feet? My life is just fine, and I am fully satisfied, and nothing or no one threatens me. I have endless bars of gold in my warehouse. I am healthy, full of energy, and I have something into which to invest them.

At the same time, all this hides the Creator from me and bars any thought about Him. If the pain and emptiness push me toward Him, then the pleasure keeps me away from Him.

The question is, how do I prefer to advance: by the path of pain or by the path of pleasure? After all, in this state, the hard way is the way of pleasure that “encloses” me and eliminates all the options. How can I think about the upper force when I lack nothing in life?

It turns out that the path of “I shall hasten it” is not simple at all as compared to the path of “in its time.” When I advance according to schedule, my powers are enough. The suffering, the emptiness of the egoistic desire, pushes me to the Creator. At the same time, only along the path of “I shall hasten it” do we have free will.

If I want to hasten my advancement when I feel good, I need a group. My private desire is “fattened up” and “heavy,” and so I simply need the friends, additional external desires. Only by the connection with them can I advance.

The more I advance toward the end of correction, the more external desires I need. My inner desires are filled, and they immediately throw me off-track.

Question: When is the Creator revealed this way?

Answer: It is when you want to restrict Him, in other words, when you stop wanting Him and instead, want to bestow upon Him. After all, when you ask for His revelation, you want to discover the attribute of bestowal, real bestowal and not like “commercial” one when you give something in order to get something in return. This is bestowal in order to receive. On the other hand, when you begin to at least bestow in order to bestow, even not to receive in order to bestow, you begin to come to know the Creator’s attributes. Later, when you receive in order to bestow, you already begin to locate the attributes of the Creator within you, to identify them within you, and to attain Him.
[106522]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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