Question: What does it mean when you say that the Reflected Light (Ohr Hozer) is realized in the group?

Answer: The Reflected Light is realized in the group since we are unable to imagine spirituality, the soul, or the Upper Light, as of yet.

If we take seven billion people, and ask each them very seriously and carefully what they think spiritual work is, it will become clear that each one of them has a different opinion, and no one has a clue what they are talking about, yet, all of them have some idea about it. That’s why we never want to act theoretically, only practically.

In other words, we are not interested in fantasizing. Kabbalah is a purely, practical science, a science of understanding the true system of the universe through the tools that are in my hands. Anything that is spoken theoretically, I don’t care about, because anyone can say anything they want.

Today, we agree with some things, “Yes, that guy is surely right!” Tomorrow, we realize that it was nonsense. That’s why we don’t “buy” any words, hypotheses, or theories. We refuse to take them into account. It is a prerogative of philosophy that, nowadays, already has turned into a household name.

I remember my meeting with physicists in San Francisco, the authors of the movie What the Bleep Do We Know? I brought a friend of mine, a professor and doctor of philosophy, to this meeting. At that time, I planned to write a book together with him. These physicists did not even look in his direction. They could not hide their contempt. Physicists research reality and we respect them for that and look forward to further contact with them.

It is exactly the same practical approach that we should have. With it, we need to approach the world. Only then would we be able to persuade others that this methodology has practical value. Baal HaSulam writes that we should make a space where we would show the entire world how this methodology works, what happens to people who are involved in it, and what kind of future they can anticipate. The only way to achieve this state of affairs is to show it to them as a model! That’s why there is no place for theoretical speculation.

You can object to my words by saying, “You only sit for three hours a day with your students, and all you do is read, and read, and read.” I do it only to attract the Upper Light. It is outlined in Item 155 in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot. We do it solely to attract the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), and there is no other meaning behind it. That’s why, in my eyes, those who are very knowledgeable and those who know nothing are absolutely equal.

There are people who remember many quotes by heart and know how to use them. They help me in my group work and assist me in preparation for the lessons. However, in spirituality, it doesn’t matter if a person is hardworking or very able. One’s realization is possible only within a group!

It is said that studying is available not only to wise men since one’s advancement doesn’t depend on their aptitude. Only one factor, a strong group, defines everyone’s success! It is the only criteria of attainment.

When one grinds one’s teeth and forces oneself to join the group against one’s egoism, one eventually begins rejecting his group-mates, “I don’t want to be with them! It’s disgusting! I am ready to do anything, but I don’t want to go to friends’ meetings, and I don’t want to do anything together with them.”

Why do we need to disseminate? Do you think that we do it in order to tell the world about us? No! We do it because it is our joint work, our common mission. While working together, we attract others and, thus trigger even greater Surrounding Light onto us. However, the real Surrounding Light that connects us with each other and organizes us descends to us only when we disseminate.

If, in the process of dissemination, someone experiences multiple predicaments but continues one’s work, one attracts an even bigger surrounding Light.

Consequently, first of all, people reveal their egoism; that is, they clearly realize that they don’t want to be a part of a group. In the beginning, our resistance is quite small. Then, it gradually grows. Contrary to our ego, we begin searching for various methods to join the group. Our inclusion into a group that happens against our egoism is, in fact, reasonable. We already understand why and for what purpose we do it; that is, we go by “faith above reason.” One should find strength to act contrary to what is on one’s mind and in one’s heart.

Only then will the Surrounding Light descend.
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Question: What is the purpose of falling in love?

Answer: It is to bring a person to bestowal, to encourage one to get out of oneself, and, by experiencing “personal” love of the opposite sex, one would understand that love must be applied to all of humanity and all of reality.

We aren’t born with a feeling of natural love for all of humanity. We just don’t have this desire or need built within us. On the other hand, we have an urge for sexual love. It’s a very strong impulse, the most important one that comes right after the basic need for food.

Freud is right. In essence, this instinct outlines the basis of human society. We must explore it so that, by using it, we can take care of humanity and build correct interactions among people.

Question: However, the feeling that is generated by this instinct is accompanied by a lot of confusion.

Answer: It is true. We have no idea how to use it. We confuse sex with love. Moreover, we are lost between true and false values.

For example, if I look at a woman and sees that she is very fashionable. I “fall in love.” My criteria, my internal measurements, that are imposed on me by society force me to go against my nature, against nature, and against the correct behavior that would lead me to a right type of contact with this girl and in fact a correct connection with her.

We should enlighten people in the areas of personal and social psychology, to “clear” it a little bit from the sediment of society and show people who they really are, what they need and why they are unhappy. We should explain that they fill themselves with substitutes, whether it is gluttony, going on vacation, various adventures, and so on, because no matter what they do, people are unable to satisfy their basic instincts. All this should be taught.

Question: The first love is an extremely strong sensation. When I fell in love for the first time, I felt life at its utmost vibrations. It was as if someone pressed a button on a remote control and added maximum volume to my internal world. I went out of my boundaries. When one is in love, one feels alive as never before. At the same time, one’s life vibrates between two poles, happiness and disappointment. I was full of energy. It seemed to me that I could turn the world upside down and squeeze it in my palm. I was ready to do anything to win the heart of my beloved. What kind of power is it? Why is it that when we are in love, we acquire so much energy that can’t be found anywhere else? What source does it come from?

Answer: This shows you that you can gravitate to a total stranger and enjoy connecting with him or her to such an extent that you need nothing else at all. Even if you are not ready for sex, it’s something else. It’s close to sex, and yet it is not the same. Moreover, it is quite the opposite. If we combined this enchantment with sex, they would devour each other. It’s more of an abstract, platonic love.

This example demonstrates that there exists another type of internal connection that is quite different from, let’s say, the one that exists between a host and his guests. I am ready to do whatever is needed to get feedback, to achieve unity, and find mutual relationships.

I need nothing, but that reciprocity. All I want is to retain a precious thread that is not of physical nature, not bodily, but, rather, is deeper and more spiritual. I necessitate it and aspire to it. I cannot eat, drink, walk, study, or think of anything external. I am not myself anymore. It’s something that drags me out of myself. I dream to see the one who has stolen my heart. There is nothing more important in life than her or him. Nothing at all is even close to this feeling. It fills my horizons.

This is love that everyone goes through at some point in life. We are involved in a special situation, the program that demonstrates to us that there is a special type of Connection (spelled with a capital “C”) being installed in us.

As a rule, the first love doesn’t last long and, most often doesn’t end up with physical closeness. Everyone undergoes this wave so that each one of us can have a sample of spiritual connectedness, rather than just having reminiscences of a specific person.

It’s not by accident that classmates are so glad to find each other on the Internet. They are driven by a subconscious desire to return to the innermost, original feeling. What’s so important if, a dozen years later, I see the girl who, at some point, was the most wonderful person in the whole world for me? Will I be touched or revived by seeing her many years later, or shall I be upset? What can we say about our ex-love at this time in our lives? What can we learn from this spark that was not extinguished by any of life’s winds nor covered by the ashes of our life experiences?

Our first love remains fruitless in the material sense of the word. We haven’t married these people, nor did we have sexual contact with them. Instead, we are filled with a “program,” knowledge, sensations, that demonstrate that there exists this kind of Connection and a kinship of souls. Then, in the relationships that we acquire later in life, we consciously or subconsciously seek the same feelings and try to resurrect them, at least, to a minor extent.

It’s not about the appearances of our beloved ones, not about the innermost image of the girls that happened to captivate young men’s hearts, but rather, it’s a sensation that each of us wants to get back.

This desire can be awakened in all, and in old age, it beckons even stronger than ever. After all,  a person sees that, besides this feeling, there is nothing of value in life, nothing real. This warm source gives us energy to live. It lives in us and pursues a high goal. With its help, we can begin correcting not only our family relationships, but also social interactions. I assume that the key to success lies particularly in this field.
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From the “Talk About New Life”  6/20/13

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In our development we need to pass through such a state where we lose our previous form. This is like a grain of wheat that is planted in the ground and is completely decomposed. Only a Reshimo (reminiscence) remains, whereas the substance itself transforms into dirt, transforms to become nourishment for the new form that appears after the decomposition.

Which is to say, a descent from the previous state occurs and after this an ascent to the new state. And in the lowest point of the shattering only a Reshimo is left that is transformed and changes into a new Reshimo, into a gene of the new state. The right form for birth and growth is like this, both for the plant and the animal, and even for the person in our world, and likewise in spirituality as well.

Otherwise we could not pass from one state to another state. There must be transformation here, a new ten Sefirot. From the previous Partzuf of ten Sefirot, to the new Partzuf of ten Sefirot only the Reshimot pass. That is what happens in our world because the spiritual root is revealed in the physical branch, and likewise with our inner development. The same one law acts in everything. It follows that every new state is attained on the way only by our abandoning the previous state, changing our consciousness, comprehension, and approach in that it’s felt in us as incorrect, not appropriate, and therefore we upgrade ourselves to a new level.

In spirituality this is much more prominent than in physicality. If in physicality the person doesn’t change his consciousness, his outlook on the world, his view, his opinion, then he doesn’t grow. He only adds to the previous consciousness and therefore that same small child remains except with more dimensions. The sign that a person has grown is that he is transformed in understanding, in consciousness, in effort.

He gets control over these states and brings himself to a state where suddenly all his previous control, all his previous approach, disappears. He is no longer able to remain in it and he feels himself powerless, lost, not knowing what to do next. On the spiritual path we call this state a descent. We feel ourselves confused, not understanding what is happening to us, and after that we reach a new state. As a general rule in normal life, transformations like these don’t happen and the person simply goes and adds to the old baggage and therefore never gets a new form, so he remains the same child in his old age.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/02/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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First of all, we need to understand that dissemination is spiritual work! And if someone does not agree with this, does not want or understand it, then he needs to clarify this state and he will see that it is true. We are talking about inner work that is changing a person. The spiritual world is within the human being and consists of his inner changes. To enter a new world, the world of correction, means to switch human properties from reception to bestowal. A person does it within himself.

When we go to disseminate this knowledge to the outside world, we think that we go outside of ourselves. But it is not so. The whole world is like one body: the inanimate, plants, animals, and people joined into one material that must reach correction by means of the human degree. The human degree also consists of the same four levels, and correction begins from the human level of the human degree, that is, the most refined, special people who have a thirst for spirituality.

Thus, although our work is internal and the correction takes place inside of the person, still its essence is that I connect with the entire universe. It may seem like the opposite, that if I am a Kabbalist that I need to sit locked in a room and perform my internal corrections secretly. But this is a misconception—the exact opposite of reality. If my matter, my soul, is outside of me and I am just a point that has to connect with everyone, then it turns out that by reaching out to everyone with dissemination, I awaken my matter.

Coming to people, we need to explain that we should not consider ourselves dependent on any external forces. No one will help us, not municipalities, not the government, not any committee, not other countries, UNESCO, or the UN. The whole world is made up of egoists, and the higher they’ve climbed the corporate ladder is evidence that they are even greater egoists than the rest.

That is why you will get no help from anyone starting from your neighbor all the way to the very top. Everyone will only want from you and will squeeze out of you as much as possible. If you have not given up and still have some hope, if you are angry that you don’t get any sympathy, this shows your complete naivety. A person who understands the world and the nature of creation places no hope on anyone. If everyone is an egoist, it would be better if they leave me alone. All their “care” will be to my detriment. It cannot be that any good deeds come from egoism.

This is the correct view of the world as evident according to the despair that humanity is experiencing now, beginning with the government and the leaders of this world who have lost all hope of getting out of the crisis. And if we understand this, then what is left for us is only to go out to people and explain that gold mines, mountains of abundance, health, strength, safety, and everything necessary for a happy life is in front of them. And all this is right next to you, in your connection with others in your neighborhood, city, country, all over the world, in the connection between people.

From that moment, we turn a person from the external view of discontent by someone outside, to his inside. He understands that he needs to establish a relationship with everyone around him by himself and build a happy life. A person’s hopes can only be placed on oneself. He must try to improve his life in his immediate environment, in his field of vision.

If we start to methodically work on improving our relationship with each other, then precisely there inside this emptiness, we will suddenly discover the source of inexhaustible energy, pleasure, health, and opportunities to solve all problems, the upper, unnatural forces capable of making any change. Then, we will not depend on an authority sitting somewhere on top. After all, he will want to squeeze even more out of us and nothing else can happen.

It is impossible for any good deeds to come out of people who are corrupted by egoism. We have already seen this example in our history. They do not hear us and are involved in their problems. Let’s also take care of ourselves. How much can we put up with this? We do not depend on anyone in this, and it is in our power.

This explanation brings a person to inner work. It seems to us that we get out, but actually we return parts of our soul to inner work. Since the entire universe is one human soul, the more you connect with others and feel them as part of your soul, the more you correct your soul. This is called practical Kabbalah.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: It says that a person’s height is measured according to his responsibility, whether he is devoted only to his town or to his nation, or even to the entire world. What is meant by “devoted to his town, to his state, and to the world?”

Answer: Devotion means that we attribute all the parts of our soul that seem foreign to ourselves. We do this although they are detached from us by a great egoistic desire, by indifference, and by the desire to profit at the expense of others, to be more important than others, to avoid suffering by causing others pain.

If I turn my entire ego into a means to reach adhesion with others so that each one and all of them together will be more important to me than myself, it means that I am devoted to them like to my own kids and that I am ready to give them everything. I turn my ego, which separates me from others, into bestowal according to my height.

If I can relate this way only to those who are close to me or to neighbors that live in the same town I live in, it doesn’t mean that I am very high. However, it requires a great effort to perceive the entire world as my relatives. After all, these people are distant from me to begin with. There is a greater ego between us, a much greater quantity. So, it requires a much greater intensity, a greater height, in order to overcome the ego.

It seems that it is only about quantity, but quantity is related to quality. The concept of quantity doesn’t exist in spirituality, only quality. However, quality is made of quantity, just like computer software that thanks to the capacity of the memory can offer totally different options. The difference is actually in the quantity of memory cells that operate, but this quantity makes the qualitative difference. Thanks to this difference, I can understand, feel, and perceive more.

Thanks to this additional quantity, I begin to understand the Creator. The number of neurons in our brain and the connections between them determine our cognitive ability, which means that the quantity is related to the quality. Still, it isn’t as we imagine. We cannot calculate to what extent we must expand in width in order to reach something in height. These concepts are related, but we cannot work with this formula yet.

We don’t see the right formula since our perception isn’t integral; it isn’t analog. It is digital, discrete. Everything is segmented—1,2,3—while in spirituality, everything is according to a circular calculation and not a square calculation like in our world. This is why we cannot simply count quantity in width and height, and say how something should be.

All our exertion is quantitative as if it were possible to measure it in kilograms, but, later, it rises to Ein Sof (Infinity) and is incorporated in Malchut of Ein Sof, in our MAN, and in response we receive MAD. Thus, all our exertion returns to us in an analog, integral manner, and it isn’t digital anymore. Our constant connection with Ein Sof is added to this connection, and this disrupts our calculation.

However, it is thanks to the connection with Ein Sof, from which everything comes back to us, that we have a chance to bring our exertion into Ein Sof each time and to save it in the right box. Then, we heal the whole system by our personal exertion by even the smallest action! Our exertion doesn’t insert some small cube into the general structure, but melts in all of Ein Sof.

Then, when the bestowal from Ein Sof returns to us, it makes actual changes in us and raises us to the next level. Although we see our actions as digital and limited, when they reach Ein Sof and return to us, they build an analog, integral form in us that is similar to Ein Sof.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: You say that dissemination is the fulfillment of the goal of creation. What is the message of our dissemination? Is the goal to set an example of how to behave in society or to present the actual method? Perhaps your articles which are edited in a modern fashion could be presented as cards or movies? Can such a message be conveyed when a person writes a script or a book for example?

Answer: I explain the basics of the integral education to you, how to approach people and the world, but I am not a man of actions. I cannot even feel today’s generation correctly. I perceive it only through you, only through what you tell me.

Although I read a lot, about 20 to 30 short articles and news items a day about science, culture, politics, and different events in the world, I am still not very connected to people.

I cannot be any different. Everyone knows me, and so it affects people’s attitude toward me. So, making contact with the people wouldn’t work.

You must promote everything. I allow each of you to do as you wish—to write, talk, and create—as long as it is checked if you want it to be right. I don’t object that members of Bnei Baruch write their own books as long as it is censored. Why? It is so it will be right.

No one has any intention of using you. You can write independently everything that comes to mind, beginning with poetry, songs, and serious commentary on The Book of Zohar. It is your business as long as it comes out correctly in the literary way according to the wisdom of Kabbalah or according to the integral education that we are revealing at the moment. It is because I don’t know it either and I simply am revealing it through what is going on in the world now.

If you take what we have done in the last five years, then you will see that we have actually preceded Rabash. The only major trend in the world should be the revelation of the Creator to the created beings. By definition, this is the basis of the wisdom of Kabbalah. The goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings in this world.

Today, we have brought the wisdom of Kabbalah and the revelation of the Creator in this world to our world and have made another step forward thanks to integral education.

We have dressed Kabbalah with a connecting element that helps adapt it to modern man, to modern society, to this world, with the help of the integral method, roundtables, workshops, and so forth. We have done what did not exist before.

Rabash brought us the idea of a “group,” and we have changed it from a group of Kabbalists who speak about the importance of the Creator and the importance of the goal into a roundtable for different people who speak about the connection between us.

Thus, we have put another type of clothing on Kabbalah so it can come in contact with different types of people, which is good for them and for us. We now can engage seriously in developing this method and expanding it.

You can do whatever you like since our method is built on the connection between the unity of all the people in the world and the Upper Light that operates in it. It will go on this way, and so you must write about it and do whatever you want, even write doctoral theses.

Integral education is the future of the world. There is nothing but that. The world will not want anything else since it will find the only means to relax and succeed within it. Its good future depends only on that.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

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Question: How can I never be detached from the Creator?

Answer: If I do not feel the Creator, if there is a complete separation, it means that I return to the animal state and can do nothing by my own strength. So, I need a daily schedule, regular work that I have to perform. Then, this still level, my schedule, will bring me back to life. I will begin to read, study, and take part in some actions, and thus will recover. I would not be able to do this myself and would never go back to the Creator.

Thus, everyone should organize for himself mandatory activities during the day that when necessary will bring him back to some connection with the upper management. And after I have regained connection, (after I worked on an article, talked to someone, did something), then I return to spirituality, even if not yet in feeling and in the heart, but at least in thoughts, with the mind.

I read, edited text, studied it, did my part. I do not have a sense of connection with the Creator yet, but due to the environment that inspires and pulls me along, I am starting to wake up and come to life. And the heart and the mind begin to bring me back to spiritual work. I understand that I must reveal the Creator, the upper management, in everything that I see before me.

Someone yells at me; there are some problems at home, at work, and I try to recognize the Creator beyond all these people and events so that the external picture of reality does not overshadow Him and does not become that “iron barrier” between us about which Baal HaSulam writes. I want that picture, the outlines that I see, to help me reveal the Creator instead of hiding Him. This is the difference between the concealing screen and the revealing screen: It all depends on how I will be able to change one into another.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/7/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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If I have a big, strong, good society, I am like a kid who follows this example, trying to do whatever the friends do. In that case it isn’t hard to resemble the Creator at all. A good society will teach me how to do this, just like a grownup teaches children.

I have to make efforts on my part, but they should be more qualitative each time. The society sets a clearer example for me each time, while I receive a greater hardening of the ego each time from the Creator so that I will be independent in my attitude to the group and free of its influence.

My desire to receive keeps growing and I have to work with the group and the Creator in order to overcome the growing ego. It’s like a child who grows and becomes lazier and doesn’t want to make any efforts anymore. A person is given a chance to benefit more by seeing the importance of the society, the goal. His desire to be bigger like the Creator is like a child in our world who dreams about being a pilot. But he must always participate to some extent (like a child does) by trying to see the society as more important. If I see the society that helps me resemble the Creator and come in contact with Him as more important, it means that I connect “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator,” and this helps me focus directly on the goal.

It turns out that it’s impossible to manage without the society. I have to constantly follow the example that it sets for me so that it will seem as great as possible. This is important in order to acquire equivalence of form with the Creator and to perceive that I will eventually receive everything that is good from Him without any concealment.

Now I also receive an infinite filling from the Creator, but the problem is that my desire to receive is opening gradually and slowly. Now, I use, let’s say, only one percent of my whole desire. So instead of the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), I feel only one percent of it. This one percent is divided into my right and wrong attitude towards the Creator, which means that there is always concealment.

This is how I advance, step by step, like a child growing in our world. I feel the concealment with regard to the society, the Creator, and my qualitative advancement. It’s because I shouldn’t just grow like an animal by remaining the same child but simply bigger. It’s rather the human being in me that should change for the better each time.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/06/13, Shamati #8 “What Is the Difference Between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra”

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