Question: How effective are spiritual processes in small groups of two or three people?

Answer: This is the problem with our virtual friends, with our individual friends and others. We have so many students who are scattered in various corners of their countries in:  Australia,  New Zealand, China, several European nations, South America, and so forth. Therefore, these congresses still form and connect us and give us the opportunity to focus together.

But the lack of a physical group remains a problem. I cannot imagine the solution. I know only one thing, when I asked Rabash for permission to move closer to him, he first turned me down and he was right; it’s necessary to check if your desire is real. And only two years later did he allow me to move.

Therefore if a student seriously studies with us for a long time, he needs to think about how to move to a place where there is a group or where it is possible to organize one. I don’t see any other way out.

As much as possible I think about this all the time and hope that with the help of a virtual system it will be possible to connect people and give them a feeling of unity, but in the meantime, a computer screen separates them. The person protects himself from others through the screen.

So what is the problem? Making people connect with others. We are found in a state that “connecting with others” means to sit together, to breathe together, to learn together, to hate the friends, to love them, and so forth.

And the Upper Light gives us all kinds of problems here, intentionally “causing friction” between us, rubbing us together, to remove the membrane from the heart. The hearts rub together in order to undress them. How is it possible to do this when you are found in a virtual connection? I can’t describe this to myself. Personally I would be happy to be with everyone in a virtual connection: I “type” some information in an email and that’s it, you are already “in love” with the friends.

Where can you really feel hostility to the point of hatred as those friends in The Zohar felt?! You can immediately unplug the computer or protect yourself with some kind of emoticon (smiley) and that’s it! How could it be otherwise?

I feel this with us in our country. There are groups that maintain a gentlemanly distance. There are those who are closer, participate more, want to integrate with us more, and want to build our center together. When there are opportunities for work, then the participation of each is tested. The idea is not just participation, rather it’s working together. This is what is essential. Therefore you must understand that it’s necessary to gather and organize in groups, and to organize large groups with departments, with an institute for distribution, with children’s groups. In general, all this is imperative.
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From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 3

Related Material:
Moving To A New Home: For And Against
Don’t Impede Yourselves
Don’t Hide Behind A Computer Screen

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Work | 1 Comment →