Opinion (Francis Fukuyama, American political scientist, political economist): “The theme that connects recent events in Turkey and Brazil to each other, as well as to the 2011 Arab Spring and continuing protests in China, is the rise of a new global middle class. …

“In Turkey and Brazil, as in Tunisia and Egypt before them, political protest has been led not by the poor but by young people with higher-than-average levels of education and income. They are technology-savvy and use social media like Facebook FB +0.45% and Twitter to broadcast information and organize demonstrations. Even when they live in countries that hold regular democratic elections, they feel alienated from the ruling political elite. …

“A 2012 report by the European Union Institute for Security Studies, using a broader definition of middle class, predicted that the number of people in that category would grow from 1.8 billion in 2009 to 3.2 billion in 2020 and 4.9 billion in 2030 (out of a projected global population of 8.3 billion). …

“None of this is a new phenomenon. The French, Bolshevik and Chinese Revolutions were all led by discontented middle-class individuals, even if their ultimate course was later affected by peasants, workers and the poor.

“While protests, uprisings and occasionally revolutions are typically led by newly arrived members of the middle class, the latter rarely succeed on their own in bringing about long-term political change. This is because the middle class seldom represents more than a minority of the society in developing countries and is itself internally divided. Unless they can form a coalition with other parts of society, their movements seldom produce enduring political change. …

“No politician in the U.S. or Europe should look down complacently on the events unfolding in the streets of Istanbul and São Paulo. It would be a grave mistake to think, ‘It can’t happen here.’”

My Comment: The question is with what they will go to people. The problem is not to cheer up the masses, but to lead them to real changes. Real changes can happen only if they occur in accord with the development of nature and society, that is, towards the integration of humanity.

Therefore, the only real solution to all urgent problems of society is in the implementation of the method of integral education and upbringing among the general population. Reconstruction and resetting of the social structure is possible after that on the basis of the acquired knowledge and new skills of integral interaction.
[111481]

Related Material:
“Inequality Is Holding Back The Recovery”
The European Crisis: Homelessness Spreads To Middle Class
The Crisis Will Last For Many Years

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

The Book of Zohar, “VaYiera” [And the Lord Appeared], Item 453: Man is created in utter wickedness and lowliness, as it is written, “When a wild ass’ foal is born a man.” And all the vessels in one’s body, meaning the senses and the qualities, and especially the thought serve him only wickedness and nothingness all day. And for one who is rewarded with adhering unto Him, the Creator does not create other tools instead, to be worthy and suitable for reception of the eternal spiritual abundance intended for him. Rather, the same lowly vessels that have thus far been used in a filthy and loathsome way are inverted to become vessels of reception of all the pleasantness and eternal gentleness.

Moreover, each Kli whose deficiencies had been the greatest has now become the most important. In other words, the measure that they reveal is the greatest.

The more we work, the more deeply we penetrate the thickness of the desire and discover more problems, an entire complex of interferences. All this is in order to give enough “flesh” to the evil that is inherent in us and between us. In other words, it is to reveal the breaking.

We are now working on unity and discover the forces that are oppose it until we reveal the breaking on the first, lowest level.

Then, we will have to overcome it. How? We restrict all the forces of separation and darkness. At the same time, they remain because it is impossible to cancel evil. We just rise above it. There is no need to correct everything that we have. It will only get worse. No, we lock our evil within and rise above it. It is said about this, “Love covers all transgressions.” It does not correct flaws, but covers them.

Evil must remain. It is not turned into good, but good is built above evil. Everything is arranged in nature in this way, and this is the key to perfection.

We want to get rid of evil. We do not understand what good is in the wolf eating the sheep. A person reflects on his qualities, lamenting what he has done in life. Don’t eat yourself up. On the contrary, one needs to accept the facts and think about something else: How can he form the opposite properties above it? This is the question: Where is the Light that Reforms? If evil has been revealed, then, obviously, I can build good above it.

In this case, good and evil must be of the same size, and then the middle line appears between them. We will achieve nothing without it and will not come to spiritual interaction (Zivug).

Therefore, we need to identify the necessary state more and more, looking for a way to achieve the first contact with the Creator.

Before the meeting in St. Petersburg and during the convention, we will face all sorts of obstacles, distracting circumstances, external impressions, or we will “soar in the clouds” instead of carrying out the right work. We will be sent various surprises from above, according to the order of our states, and, even if we all strive for unity, we still will face a descent. We can feel it even on the first day of the convention, moreover, in a stronger form provided that we have prepared ourselves well. Suppose, after registering at nine in the morning, I feel tired around noon and begin thinking, “Why, actually, have I come? What am I doing here?”

It is very good because, then, we will have to work on ourselves, to “kiss the rod” that hits us and bless the evil as good.

Hence, one sees the extent to which he is worthy to build the screen (Masach) now. After all, the screen is formed above all the senses, interferences, and troubles that are manifested, and the main thing in this set is hatred. This is what love covers. Without these “transgressions,” we will not come to true spiritual love. It is built only above hatred.

That is why the technology of virtual communication is flourishing in the modern world. It is in order to reveal hatred. However, to prevent it from turning into a war, we must simultaneously provide people with the method of correction. Everyone will know and understand what is to be done under the circumstances.

This is the only means: unity above separation, love above hatred.
[111542]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/13, “From Hatred to Love by the Light that Reforms”

Related Material:
Asking To Love
The Path To Goodness: Step By Step
The Group Is The Ground For The Revelation Of Nature’s Secrets

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Mystery of Letter Kaf in the Word Anochi (I)”: Malchut, clothed in the worlds, is called “I” and distributed to the world of Assiya. Precisely it is the division which every man feels himself existing as he is.

Developing, a man wants to conquer the whole world for his own sake and pleasure. This is the force of breaking in the world of Assiya, as it is said (Prophets, Melachim (Kings), I, 1:5): “I will be king”—because of the spiritual sparks that have not yet been revealed.

We must understand that the receiving desire, detached from the Creator, which feels itself as opposite to Him and seeks to dominate over everything is artificial in its essence. It does not exist in reality, it is created as something imaginary to be in polar opposition to the Creator.

It exists only as part of perception, in order to create a sense of oppositeness to the Creator. And only in this it should be given importance: It is important only because it enables us to feel oppositeness to bestowal and for no other reason. Based on it we can build a relationship with the Creator.

Now we do not touch Malchut, as such, the end of the line of Infinity, in the center of the circle. We will touch it only if we present ourselves before the Creator. The receiving desire does not exist until we place it opposite the Creator. Only then there is me and there is the Creator, and some line is stretched between us, the link, from which it is possible to begin the path.

This point is opposite to Him in all its properties and is hidden, and it begins to be revealed to the extent of my ability to imagine the Creator as its opposite. Otherwise, it shows me nothing but troubles, meaning not itself, but its external manifestations. But gradually, unlike the entire world, I approach its internal essence, distinguish it in front of the Creator, and then I start my own line.

Thus, it is important to remember: We do not eliminate this point; we understand that we need it. However, we must constantly go into it deeper and deeper. If I want to know materiality, then we have to contrast it with spirituality, to place the point Malchut before the Creator. One cannot exist without the other in this set.

If I imagine a certain reality without the Creator, opposite to it, then I live in an imaginary world.

This is the difference between the lowest state that precedes the first spiritual degree, the state in which I oppose the Creator and the imaginary world, which I do not connect with the Creator in our understanding.

The real “I” appears only when the property completely opposite to me, the Creator, is before me. And then, confronting Him I “lay claim to the throne,” which is manifested in various forms. For example, I can admit that He is eternal and powerful, that He determines and provides everything, and nonetheless, as a small child, I want everything the other way; I want to take His place. This is also included in the scope of claims, “I will be king.”

Thus, what is important is not power itself, but the desire. If I want to take power in my hands at least in something, this is already my real I. After all, the thing is, who is the head, who decides? And if it is clear to me that it is either me or the Creator, then I already enter into relationship with Him, even if not yet in a spiritual way.

How can I come to this? It is very simple: I begin to realize that the Creator rules in me I completely. Even my opposition to Him He creates on purpose to advance me on the path of development. As a result, I include both opposites and start building a correct relationship between them.

Baal HaSulam illustrates this by the example: Going to work in the morning, a person is guided by the principle, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” And at the end of the day, he admits that there is none else but the Creator.

At the first stage of the process, I become aware that there is no one but  Him. I realize this relative to myself in all my desires and thoughts, in feelings, and the mind (and I have nothing else); the Creator has absolute power.

Who am I then? A deeper detail of perception, a higher spiritual degree. Since He reigns in me fully, then I state this on the basis of some new point. Thus, every time I reveal a deeper “I” until the fourth stage where the force of breaking occurs.
[111533]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/13, “From Hatred to Love by the Light that Reforms

Related Material:
To Stand Before The Creator And Become Like Him
The Creator Is Known By His Actions
Why Does The Creator Need Me?

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

Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 3, Chapter 8, “Histaklut Pnimit“, Item 88: All we have to do is to clarify once more and raise all the souls that fell from Adam HaRishon (first man) into the Klipot (shells) and bring them back to their root just as they were before the sin of the tree of knowledge.

And where is the shattering point, the point where my “self” is revealed? Where does it stem from? It is a result of the shattering, since everything other than the shattering is the upper Light and is unity and connection. It is because of the shattering that a “short circuit” between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow is created.

Then this point of the “self” is revealed and only by our efforts to connect can we discover this point and do the work we have to do in contrast to it: to change from “I” to “nothing” to the Creator, and “nothing” doesn’t mean that He does not exist, it means that He actually does exist and fills everything and that “There is none else besides Him.”

This means that our goal is to constantly connect so we will all “shrink” as much as possible. By that we discover two things together, both the “self” and the “nothing,” the Creator. Between them I will discover the whole spiritual ladder around which there is the whole circle, all of Ein Sof (Infinity).

If we begin to ascend this ladder from the bottom up, if we ascend from one level to the next, we connect everything that we have to correct, the whole circle, except for the part that we cannot come near, called “stoney heart.” When I ascend up a line it means that I correct not only that line but the whole area that is not revealed yet; I correct the ten Sefirot on the line, and everything else is the Surrounding Light. But it is already a Surrounding Light that is made of different couplings that I have made. I have received the Inner Light in the coupling and in contrast to it the Surrounding Light. Then I ascend to the next level. This is actually the whole corrected vessel. The Surrounding Light is in the “stoney heart” that will be corrected at the end of correction by “Rav pealim mekabtziel.”

By having created a whole corrected vessel I ascend to the next line, to the next level. Then I continue my line and acquire a greater Inner Light and accordingly, also a greater Surrounding Light. Thus I clarify both each time.
[111530]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/04/13, “From Hatred to Love by the Light that Reforms”

Related Material:
I Am Disappearing And Growing
A Desire, A Point, And Light
Giving In To The Dominion Of The Friends

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

Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”: …the Creator is, in and of Himself, complete and needs no one to help Him to completion, since He precedes everything, it is therefore clear that He does not have any will to receive. And because He has no will to receive, He is fundamentally devoid of a desire to harm anyone; it is as simple as that.

Furthermore, it is completely agreeable to our mind as the first concept, that He possesses a desire to bestow goodness upon others, meaning to His creatures. And that is evidently shown by the great Creation that He has created and set before our eyes. For in this world there are beings that necessarily experience either a good feeling or a bad one, and that feeling necessarily comes to them from the Creator. And once it is absolutely clear that there is no aim to harm in the nature of the Creator, it necessitates that the creatures receive only goodness from Him, for He has created them only to bestow upon them.

Thus we learn that He has only a desire to bestow goodness, and it is utterly impossible that any harmfulness might be in His domain, which could emit from Him. Hence we have defined Him as “The Absolute Good.” And after we have learned that, let us take a look at the actual reality that is guided by Him, and how He bestows only goodness upon them.”

We don’t see it this way. For us, it looks like everything is upside down in this world. Compared to inanimate, vegetative and animate nature, the speaking level suffers much more than others. The more advanced a person is, the bigger his distresses are. So, where do we see the “Absolute Good” here?

It applies to another level of existence, to a different plane of life. Here, there are no traces of the Absolute Good, nor can we expect that, at some point, things will become better. On the contrary, throughout all of history, we advance solely toward evil. The truth is that we develop in order to realize our evil inclination that is built into our nature, our properties. It doesn’t matter where exactly since everything is the same. That’s why it is useless to hope or wait for positive things in this world.

As to the Absolute Good (the Creator) and our connection with Him, we are unable to even fantasize about it since we are restricted by our present boundaries. It doesn’t have anything in common with this world at all. There is no link between this realm and the upper force whatsoever. All we have here is the will to receive that continues to change. However, there is no “Good that does Good,” no “Absolute Benevolence,” no Creator!

The purpose of this world is to reveal the fact that we cannot tolerate this realm any longer. The trick is that we should reveal this fact and disclose the reasons that cause this state. Not only am I in pain and scream about it, this pain must explain why I go through it and how to rid myself of it.

Otherwise, I will control my pain to reach a better state. This doesn’t mean that there will be no pain in my life, although I will reach a different, higher level of attainment, understanding and realization that will allow me to control myself by using my aspiration to the delight and the affliction as the reins for self-control. At this stage, I don’t want to rid myself of suffering or enjoy myself. I begin to understand and clarify exactly to what I should aspire. Regardless of my aversion to affliction and my desire to be delighted, I still want to behave correctly. Gradually, while pursuing this path, I substantiate what “correctly” means.

This type of analysis begins in our current state and continues from one stage to another. Gradually, we begin recognizing potential features of the Absolute Good. It takes a lot of time and lots of clarification. It is a process that makes it possible for us to define what’s good and what’s bad.

Then, we regard these concepts not just based on what we feel, but purposefully. Thus, we move forward. We rise above the “animal” analysis of what’s good and what’s bad, which is based on our positive or negative sensations. Rather, we switch to a human-type analysis that relates everything to the upper goal. We place the upper goal ahead of everything. Only through the upper goal can we distinguish between good and evil.
[111380]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/13, “There is None Else Besides Him”

Related Material:
Until The Shadow Clears Away
How Can We Justify The Creator?
Evil Is Our Inability To Feel Love

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work, The Creator - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 19

The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “On the Night of the Bride,” Item 125, Lesson 43

Preparation to St. Petersburg Convention, “They Shall All Know Me – From the Least of Them to the Greatest of Them,” Lesson 5

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2013-07-07_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’7.7.13′]

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

Question: Ten years ago each person had his own ideal of some kind, and it was possible for all kinds of collectives (communities) to work in a beneficial way. Whereas today all the ideals that gave them energy have suddenly disappeared. Can it be said that some kind of new single ideal will appear in their place?

Answer: Yes, it is kind of an ideal that through an agreement between us with the right communication between each other, we will begin to fill ourselves with a feeling of a higher existence, much higher than anyone would feel alone. And people will be ready to give everything for this! Otherwise what kind of a life would this be? It would be frightening to look down. A desire will exist all the time to float in the air.

Within our unity we need to find a common collective power that gives us vitality, unites, supports, and nourishes us mutually, a power that exists not in each of us, but is created between us only through integrating correctly through the right mutual cooperation.

Question: If a stranger were to arrive in a collective like this and were successfully integrated into it and reached a common goal, what would he feel?

Answer: The person would reach the level of a completely different life. Suddenly he would understand that in this life it is possible to have such sensations, such stimuli, that don’t exist anywhere: not at home, not in the family, not on the street, and not in big stores anywhere. It is impossible to see this on television, it cannot be found on the Internet, so we become depressed, we are found in a “burned out” state.

Whereas here a person suddenly begins to understand that he has “entered and penetrated” into some kind of other world! Not just that he is full of happiness but also “inner light,” completely disconnected from any physical phenomena.

He is ready to work for nothing, as they say, for the sake of an idea, only to feel the embodiment of light giving him life.
[108991]
From KabTV’s “Through Time” 3/20/13

Related Material:
A “Reset” Of Desires On The Level Of Developed Egoism
How To Fill The Void?
The Secret Of Success

Filed under: Integral Upbringing, Spirituality - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 42: Indeed, you should know the reason for our great distance from the Creator, and that we are so prone to transgress His will is for but one reason, which became the source of all the torment and the suffering that we suffer, and for all the sins and the mistakes that we fail in. Clearly, by removing that reason, we will instantly be rid of any sorrow and pain. We will immediately be granted adhesion with Him in heart, soul, and might. And I tell you that, that preliminary reason is none other than the lack of our understanding in His Providence over His creations, that we do not understand Him properly.

We don’t understand the Creator at all. We are simply in the dark imagining whatever we feel like, creating different beliefs and methods in our imaginings of the soul and the next world, etc.

We cannot even imagine the corporeal world properly, since this whole reality is also concealed from us. We are in a state of absolute numbness, and it’s as if we are dreaming totally detached not only from the upper world but also from the current reality.

The problem is that we don’t know the Creator, which means the upper Light that operates on all of reality. We don’t see that He is good and benevolent. What’s more, we don’t perceive, understand, feel, or identify His actions and their essence in any way.

This is why we need the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to get to know these actions and to fulfill the principle of “we will know You from Your actions.” Then we get to know the Creator and His nature and that He is good and benevolent. We also get to know the goal of creation which is to do good to His created beings. We are also included in this by the Light that Reforms.

The revelation of the Creator to the created being is vital so we will justify Him and adhere to Him, which means to do whatever we have to do. Thus the wisdom of Kabbalah is the only tool that can help a person rise from the imaginary, fictitious reality to the only true reality there is.
[111463]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/13, “There Is None Else Besides Him”

Related Material:
Seeing The Uniqueness Of The Creator
From Your Actions We Shall Know You
How Can We Please The Creator?

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

Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah,” (The Giving of the Torah), Item 11: “This exaltedness and Dvekut, which is guaranteed to come to us through our work in Torah and Mitzvot, is no more and no less than the equivalence of the branches with their root.”

• All the gentleness, pleasure, and sublimity become a natural extension here, as we have said above, pleasure is only the equivalence of form with one’s Maker. And when we equalize in every conduct with our root, we sense delight.
• Also, everything we encounter that is not in our root becomes intolerable, disgusting, or considerably painful to us, as is necessitated by that concept. And we naturally find that our very hope depends on the extent of our equivalence of form with our root.

Thus we advance by pleasures and sufferings. On the whole we should establish the equivalence of form from both parts. I have to create of myself a form that is similar to the Light.

But the upper Light has no form; it is total bestowal and absolute love. So how can I create the form of the Light in my desire to receive that has a form?

I “undress” from all the egoistic relationships that I have and establish connections of love above them. So internally I am totally made of a desire to receive and its external expression becomes a desire to bestow.

As a result I find myself in front of the Surrounding Light, in front of the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity), and I make the image of the Creator for myself, by myself. This is why this level is called Adam (a human being) which means to resemble the Creator (Domeh in Hebrew).

The Creator himself has no form, but we discover Him by getting closer to Him and by that we “create” Him.

Baal HaSulam, “The Secret of Gestation and Birth”: It is similar to a Rav and his student, when the Rav’s only inclination is to empower his student to be like him and to teach other students like himself. In the same manner the Creator is content when the created beings create and renew His image. Our force of renewal and development is not really new, but a kind of imitation. And our level of development is measured according to the level that the imitation matches the work of nature.

We fulfill all that in the mutual connection between us. We were given a chance to overcome the ego between us if we use the means that we have correctly: the lessons, the workshops, the conventions, etc. The most important thing should be to reach connection, so that the connection will resemble the Light and mutual bestowal to some extent.
[111460]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/13, “There Is None Else Besides Him”

Related Material:
Either Him Or Me!
Cleave Unto His Qualities
The General And The Particular Attainment

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →