Audio Version Of The Blog – 08.15.13
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If you come to a person at the right time when he has despaired and does not know how to switch to new criteria in order to experience the sweetness rather than bitterness, then he will listen. That is the essence of the crisis.
Previously, we have always looked for and found the means to do this, due to this, humanity grew and advanced, like children who grow because of their toys that become more goal-oriented, and thus they change their tastes, understanding, and awareness of what is called sweet and what is called truth.
And when we reach the end of egoistic development, we discover that we are in a bitter state, which is impossible to turn into the sweet one. There is neither truth nor false that can help in this and change us so that we feel sweetness instead of bitterness.
Here we come with our method of integral education and explain that there is a force: the force of connection between all people. Due to it, we will achieve sweetness that simultaneously will be truth. This sweet truth is revealed not in someone individually, but within our common unity.
People will not be able to reveal this knowledge. Even if they begin to unite with each other, everything will turn into either a circus or a criminal gang; nothing good will happen.
We must be aware that if we do not succeed in our mission, then in the future, criminal association awaits our world, that is, the Nazi regime, about which Baal HaSulam warns in the article “The Last Generation.”
If our method of integral education is not successful, then the world will be won by the fascist doctrine, which is also based on the sweetness derived from unity. But this unity is founded on hatred of others. The whole world then is divided into two halves: mine and all the rest. And we are building our unity not on the love of others but on the hatred of others, and inside it we find sweetness.
Although this Nazi approach is contrary to the goal of creation and development of nature and cannot hold out for long, this possibility exists for a short time.
[114577]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Question: How is it possible not to flee from the spiritual work when you feel emptiness? On the one hand, the feeling is unpleasant, and on the other hand, it is understood that this is the right direction.
Answer: The only action that the person can do is to strengthen himself in the right environment. This is what is given to us. I do this in whatever way I can through all kinds of activities, be it in a physical, mechanical, intellectual, moral, or emotional form. It doesn’t make a difference how. And if not, then scream to the Creator; this is good.
Now, they will show you that you can be found among friends, to sit among them, to sing together with them. Then comes disappointment. After that, you will begin to carry out some other activities, perhaps not to sing, but to study together with them or not, but to disseminate together. You will be disappointed all the time. All the time, you will feel that this is not enough in order to be mixed with them, and so it is until you have apparently done everything and, in spite of it all, you feel empty. Then, you will begin to cry and scream, and with this as well, you gradually will reach a need to mix with them, but you are not ready to do this by yourself, for only the Creator does this. This is to say, there is you, them, and the Creator between you. That’s it, a marriage. That is how this works, but gradually.
You see that in every distinction there is the gradual gathering of negative potential, until it explodes, and every time that it explodes, then the last state is the feeling of absolute exhaustion when nothing can help except turning to the Creator. If you already have prior experience, then according to states of this type, you already can determine that these are moments appropriate for realization.
[114429]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5
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Question: What is that blind alley from which a true desire is born?
Answer: This is the egoistic “blind alley” that we pass through all the time when our powers are completely disappointed and suddenly the discovery comes that there is help from the Creator here. This is a small transition.
This is not yet a crossing of the egoistic “barrier” but the understanding that only the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) must act here. Nothing else can be here. You are passing through cycles like these where you are disappointed completely and find yourself understanding that the Creator must be here and then get disappointed again and again.
These cycles gradually accumulate in every form of disappointment, reaching a general state where you pass over all the required possibilities, and their summation takes place.
When this integral develops, there comes one general disappointment in all of its capabilities, and a true demand is created that only the Creator can tear through all of this, and this happens. Then, apparently, He has no choice because you already have understood that only He must be present here, and in truth you have a precise and clear demand for this, which is to say: the Kli is ready!
Until then, these disappointments and recognitions that the Creator must act here must repeat themselves as much as possible.
If a person sits with his hands folded and eats himself up, this means that he is not found under the influence of the teacher, the group, and the method, and therefore, cannot quickly realize that all this is intentionally arranged for him from above so he will be disappointed in his possibilities and will understand that the higher power is required here.
In our world, this is not happening because people have no yearning for connection and unity, and therefore, there is no exit toward the higher power. For them, the connection is considered to be a physical gathering, “Ah, connection! So, we gathered and dispersed,” whereas for us, when we desire unity, this awareness takes place because, without the higher power, we cannot attain unity.
[114426]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5
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Question: Is it worthwhile to understand that, essentially, there is no free choice now?
Answer: Indeed, in our times, there is no free choice. The world is deteriorating while we are standing on the side watching. This is not good. Humanity is apparently sliding downward and we need to try to hold them, to stop them.
I say this seriously. I feel as though I have gigantic hands or I have a gigantic net in my hands, and I must stop everyone because they are being drawn downward, and if left unchecked, they will pull us after them. This is not desirable. The program of nature, the program of the Creator, cannot be changed.
He is like a loving and strict father Who takes His belt in hand and begins to teach His rebellious son.
[114419]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5
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Question: Must we yearn for the joy that we speak about all the time or will it come naturally?
Answer: We constantly should feel joy. This means that I am filled with the spirit of life that comes through the group that constantly keeps me focused on the importance of the goal, that we are special, that we were chosen for this mission, for this great work in order to serve others.
Since it pleases the Creator when we serve others, it is the greatest and most important work for us, and it must be done with joy. Otherwise, you probably are headed in the wrong direction and are not connected to the Light, to the Creator.
You cannot weep and perform the spiritual work simultaneously. You need to focus yourself.
See what King David says in the book of Psalms. He describes great problems that one encounters along the spiritual path, but it all is done with joy. Therefore, these are not just prayers, but a song!
[114417]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5
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A series of lessons of integral education, based on the two courses of the Intensive English Program of the English Language Institute was completed at Westchester Community College in New York. Both experimental classes attended by about forty students allowed them to build a semblance of a good environment.
These informal, non-credit courses are based on intensive teaching of the spoken language for students who came to the US to study business, engineering, and medical research, etc. Among them there were several future Catholic priests, a scuba diving instructor, tutors, and nannies, as well as young people, preparing themselves to a variety of occupations in the United States.
The average age of the group was 25 years; the level of previous education ranged from high school to graduate studies. Geographic demographics included: 30% – Asian (China, Korea, Japan), 40% – Latin and South American, 5% – Middle Eastern (Syria, Iran, United Arab Emirates), 2% – African, 3% – Haitian, 20% – European, North American, and Russian.
The advanced level of the language and students’ education allowed building a program based on the integral education training and “The New Life” interviews with Dr. Michael Laitman about life in the future world. The students were meeting with the teacher and each other at the class three hours a day, five days a week for three months, allowed the teacher to use the language more freely as a tool of presenting our material and giving the students a sense of interrelationship, the desire to be integrated, and an understanding of the new world and their role and potential for achieving happiness and good future together.
The students were given the training materials in disseminating integral education, articles, and videos for discussion. The students had fun playing games, constantly worked in groups, and created five team projects with visual presentations to demonstrate their understanding and perception of what they had learned and to share their feelings and impressions with the class.
The course contained more than ten topics, including: the difference between leadership and authority, a better way to success, whether competition is beneficial for children, how to find balance between us and nature, what a grownup person, is and others. The more they worked together, the closer to each other they became and the more deeply they felt how they are similar despite differences in ethnicity and what their common hopes for the future are.
Two weeks ago, the director of the program came to see the work in the classroom for an hour and half, and he happened to watch a team presentation on the topic of success. The students studied the success of various famous people and found that their success depended on the overall contribution of people connected to one goal, one vision, and loyally to the cause as a family.
What surprised the director, as well as the teacher, was that some of the participants completed their portion of the presentation by saying that schools teach them many things, but no one teaches them to live and love and that is what they would like to continue studying. Later, the program director said that he was impressed by the fact that the students had learned to work well together well, harmoniously on complex problems.
The session ended with screening of the movie Crossroads with group discussions in circles, sharing experiences and using games. The movie Crossroads was used as a visual, academic material, and the students loved the film. After coffee, watching a movie, and the activities, the students were asked to share their conclusions of what we need to survive in the world and to build a better future.
Almost everyone answered “to change oneself and to start to be integrated with other people.” Although during the entire term they were immersed in the topic of integral education, after seeing the movie, they found more accurate formulas of how to change the world through oneself – beginning with small actions in their immediate environment, in the classroom, at home, with friends, at work, and in their countries where they may soon return to.
It is hoped that a few months of training in integral education and a good environment gave these young people, but not such naïve representatives of the people of the world, useful information about life and feelings that will help them determine what they want from their future and what needs to be done to stop being afraid of it.
Currently, a few college teachers are working together to structure an official integral education course, possibly with credit in the new future, to include the course in the college, and then to make a proposal to the New York State Education Department and other states in the US in order to help launch a reform of the education system.
The photos show: a team presentation “How to Come to Equilibrium Between Man and Nature,” the screening of the movie Crossroads and related events.
[114135]
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Question: What can we do to avoid the ten plagues of Egypt that are expected?
Answer: The ten blows come down on “Egypt,” which means on our desire to receive. If we transcend this ego, we don’t feel them as blows but as forces that help us detach ourselves from the ego and be free of it.
There is a physical, emotional, or ideological connection that depends on the five levels of our existence. The more I detach myself from the desire to receive and rise above it and don’t identify with it, the more the blows change with regard to me. First I begin to feel that it isn’t I who feels these blows and later they become more and more external.
On the third and fourth levels of Aviut (thickness), I feel these blows on me, on the second level of Aviut, I feel that they are external, and on the first level of Aviut when I already exit my desire, I discover that these blows actually help me. On the root level, I bless these blows and the fact that they helped me detach myself from “Pharaoh” and escape from him. Thus I experience the blows from one level to the next.
These levels can be felt in every state in our life. The more connected I am to my Pharaoh and the more I depend on him, I first feel that he treats me well like during the seven years of satiety, and then I feel bad like during the seven years of hunger, and then come the blows and the exodus.
[113979]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/02/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Question: Why is the Creator revealed to us through despair?
Answer: Despair is a very good state, but only when it won’t be the final state. After despair it’s necessary for a solution to come.
Despair is when I look at my desires and see that I am not prepared to do anything. This is wonderful! Baal HaSulam writes that there is no happier state in the life of a person than when he feels that there is nobody who can help him, not even himself: In general, everything is breaking down and in crisis.
Baal HaSulam, Letter 57: There is no happier situation in man’s world than when he finds himself despaired with his own strength. That is, he has already labored and done all that he could possibly imagine he could do, but found no remedy.
At this moment he begins to understand that only the Creator will help him and then a true demand to the Creator appears within him. Therefore despair is a wonderful feeling, only that it needs to be properly formed.
There is nothing like this, that we go through something and it’s incorrect or it’s unnecessary in the direction of the goal. Our efforts give us the right intention as to how to relate to what we are going through. In any case we need to pass through those states; only that the right relationship regarding them hastens the way, softens it, and transforms it. But in every circumstance this is according to the same pattern, these are the same states, and you cannot do anything about it.
You were some fragment in the corrected Malchut of the world of infinity (Ein Sof). This Malchut was shattered into fragments, and as in the case of any uncorrected part, you must grasp the location of your corrected fragment. There is no place to escape from this! You must again be gathered and grasp that part in the shattered circle. This circle will already be in consciousness, 620 times more perceptible than before, but this will be the identical circle completely, the same desires (they don’t grow, you see), but they simply become recognized.
[114347]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5
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Question: You said that our desire is not fully formatted yet and that there is still another component or a step we have to take that is missing. How can we attack and in what direction exactly?
Answer: In what direction should we advance in order to draw a greater Light upon ourselves? In the direction of connection, so that it will bring the Creator contentment.
Forget about all the nice words and start using emotional human language and then you will feel what you lack. This will be your attack.
What should this attack be? Who are we attacking? We are attacking only ourselves in order to systematically shatter and soften our internality.
I don’t want to calm you down, but you have been through many states during this convention. Today is the third day of the convention and at this point we usually end everything and everything gradually fades and people begin to think about leaving. It isn’t the case now and it shouldn’t be; no one is thinking about that; everything is focused only on the last blow, the last effort that will be revealed as the place where the Creator is revealed.
The place where the Creator is revealed is when a person joins the general connection. After all, each of us envies the fact that the others are more strongly connected than I am: I hear one friend, a second, and a third one and I feel how connected they are and think to myself, “Dear God, how can that be? What about me?” I don’t feel that way; I am really not there yet.
Should the strong desire to join the friends and to lose myself among them be the main desire and should I think about what I am doing this for only later?
We can, of course, clarify our intention before we act, but here and now we must first act.
[114299]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5
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