The Book of Zohar, “VaYikra,” Item 99: “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together, as well”… For their love, the Creator calls them, “servants,” as it is written, “For unto Me the Children of Israel are servants; they are My servants.” Afterwards He calls them “sons,” as it is written, “You are the children of the Lord your God.” And after that He calls them “brothers,” as it is written, “My brothers and my friends.” And because He called them “brothers,” He wished to place His Divinity in them and He will not stray from them. Then it is written: “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together, as well.”

A person’s sacrifices means that he begins his work against his basic nature in order to connect so that he can reveal the Creator inside him.

The gradual dwelling of the Creator in a person takes place according to the still, vegetative, animate, and the speaking levels of nature, which are called respectively called servants, sons, and brothers.

We go through all these levels in our attitude towards one another, and in our attitude towards the Creator until we reach complete total mutual connection between brothers and become brothers with the Creator. Only when we are together do we become brothers.
[131838]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/24/14

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Question: Part of the connection workshops that we have done were dedicated to clarification of the difference between the sexes. First the women talked about how they see the men and how they see themselves.

Then the men expressed how they see themselves and how they see the women. This picture was compared, and it was surprising to see how different we are.

After that both the men and the women seemingly gathered all of their characteristics into a few “baskets,” and began to think about how to fulfill these qualities of the other sex: What do they want and what could they give to each other? Is it worthwhile to use an exercise like this as a game in family circles with adolescents?

Answer: This is very difficult, because here it is necessary to gradually become detached from yourself, to begin to think with the head of another person, to live in his desires, to enter into him. It follows that the abilities are mine and the desires are his, as if I live with my body but with his desires, in that we complete them and he completes mine. Here we go out to another level of cooperation, to absolute bestowal.

This is integration with each other. This is really true love: not physical, not platonic, not sexual, but precisely true integration with each other. It is doubtful that this exercise is appropriate for the family because in it the gender differences are blurred and appear differently. If we arrange this game for a circle of adolescents, then this must only be in a very advanced group.

To begin with, I would insert a discussion among the adolescents in the form of a courthouse, where a person would look at himself from the side, discussing the others not from his point of view but from the side of the other, as an arbitrator. That is how they would learn to be flexible, to discuss not only themselves but also others. This is what you need to teach them.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 12/11/13

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Preparation for the Lesson

Shamati #86 “And They Built Store-Cities”

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Parashat,” “BeShalach“

Writings of the Ari, “Shaar HaKavanot,” Pesach

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 16

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Opinion (Ethan A. Huff, writer and health enthusiast): “When discussing the issues surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) — that is, organisms bearing the genetic traits of other species or bacteria — the focus is typically on how safe (or unsafe) these novel, food-like products are for humans. But distinguished risk engineer and two-time best-selling author Nassim Taleb thinks an even bigger problem with GMOs is their threat to the planet, and the statistical likelihood that they will eventually lead to the collapse of life on Earth. …

“Because they represent a systemic risk rather than a localized one — GM traits are known to spread unconstrained throughout the environment — GMOs will eventually breach the so-called ‘ecocide barrier,’ leading to catastrophic ecosystem failure.

“‘There are mathematical limitations to predictability in a complex system, ‘in the wild,’ which is why focusing on the difference between local (or isolated) and systemic threats is a central aspect of our warnings,’ Taleb is quoted as saying by Fool.com, noting that it’s essentially impossible to contain the inevitable spread of GMO traits far and wide.

“‘The [precautionary principle] is not there to make life comfortable, rather to avoid a certain class of what is called in probability and insurance ‘ruin’ problems,’ write Taleb and his colleagues in their paper. ‘For nature, the ‘ruin’ is ecocide: an irreversible termination of life at some scale, which could be the planet.’

“GMOs are not ‘scientific,’ and nearly every argument used in their defense is flawed

Besides using math and risk-based analysis to show that GMOs simply cannot coexist with nature as is commonly claimed — GMOs will eventually contaminate the natural world around them — Taleb also deconstructs many of the ‘arguments’ used by GMO advocates to defend the commercial use of untested transgenic materials, including the oft-repeated lie that GMOs are no different than natural organisms. …

“Taleb also draws attention to the deceitful strategies of biotechnology companies in trying to legitimize the continued use of GMOs through fear. Claiming that famine, starvation and widespread crop failures will occur if we all fail to adopt GMOs is no different than playing Russian roulette in order to get out of poverty, claims Taleb — such an approach is hardly scientific or logically sound, and yet these and other tactics are the basis of the pro-GMO agenda.

“‘What people miss is that the modification of crops impacts everyone and exports the error from the local to the global,’ concludes Taleb and his colleagues. ‘I do not wish to pay — or have my descendants pay — for errors by executives of Monsanto. We should exert the precautionary principle there — our non-naive version — simply because we would only discover errors after considerable and irreversible environmental damage.’”

My Comment: Except changing human nature from egoistic to altruistic, there is no other way to reduce consumption to a reasonable level and to stop treating the planet not as a living being, a system, with which we must be in equilibrium. This rests on the change of human consciousness, which can be achieved only through integral education.
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Baal HaSulam, Letter 13: Indeed, I feel all of you together, that today has been replaced for you with tomorrow, and instead of “now,” you say “later.” There is no cure for that but to exert to understand that mistake and distortion—that one who is saved by the Creator is saved only if he needs the salvation today. One who can wait for tomorrow will obtain his salvation after his years, God forbid.

We only need to work on our deficiency. The entire problem is reaching it. And the deficiency that is directed correctly immediately becomes a place for the discovery and absorption of spiritual properties, the Upper Light.

All of our work must be only on deficiencies, on this desire. And the desire must be through equivalence and accommodation to the Light according to all the laws of physics: The vessel and the Light need to match each other according to their frequencies and location. It is impossible to use a sack to store water, or a jar to prepare cement. Everything has its own container, and that is how it is in spirituality; this is a very basic and important condition.

The problem is that we don’t feel that there is no need to work on the Light, which is available in abundance and is in absolute rest, and that we need to work on the vessel, on our deficiency. The deficiency can only be attained through mutual work among us. To the degree that we actively yearn to attain the corrected spiritual state, then to this degree the Surrounding Light will help us to prepare the right request, until it is revealed as Inner Light.

This happened to you due to negligence in my request to exert in love of friends, as I have explained to you in every possible way that this cure is enough to recompense for all your faults. And if you cannot rise to heaven, then I have given you a way to move on earth. So why haven’t you added anything in that work?

The vessel is the collective soul that existed before the shattering of Adam HaRishon. And to the degree that we gather the parts in order to return it to its right form in order to bestow, so we approach performing our correct function.

This is expressed in love of friends, in a mutual connection in order to resemble the Creator, so that the connection between us will be according to spiritual laws: love and mutual guarantee.

Certainly we discover ourselves having characteristics and directions that are opposite this, but then we have something to pray about, meaning to raise MAN. And in an answer, we discover help from Above and fulfillment, as it is written: “The Torah was not given except to those who eat manna (Man),” meaning to those who are nourished by their requests to the Creator.
[131730]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 13: You should know that there are many sparks of holiness in each one in the group. When you assemble all the sparks of holiness into one place, as brothers, with love and friendship, you will certainly have a very high level of holiness for a while, from the light of life….and the salvation of the Lord is as the blink of an eye.

The truth is that this is an effort that none of us is prepared to make. So we are negligent, lazy, and discouraged. But along with this, it is very easy! After all, this is the way everything is arranged.

Try to revive an organ that has been separated and cut off from the body. No matter how much effort you make, it will not work. But if we attach it to the body, then it immediately receives everything that it needs, all the nourishment; it renews the mutual exchange of materials with the body and begins to live.

The vessel is not found in any one of us but only in the connection between us. If we move the emphasis from ourselves to the connection between us, to a space that we must fill with a dense field of the power of love, then we discover that there is no empty place in the world, rather specifically what was concealed is revealed there.

The main thing is to clarify and to reveal where to focus attention, where to invest efforts, and where I need to expect and pressure for compensation.
[131722]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: What does it mean that a student conceals himself from his teacher?

Answer: A person cannot completely open himself up, even to himself, and certainly not to others, including his teacher. But the students have to clarify states that occur between them. They must constantly ask about that and clarify, not what each one feels individually, but the relationship between them.

There is a period in the spiritual work when a student has a lot of questions, but for some reason he doesn’t ask them and keeps them to himself. Even if it tortures him and pressures him and makes him feel angry and upset, he cannot bring these questions out and ask them. It happens to everyone when he clarifies these questions by himself.

But these questions have to be clarified and asked between the friends. If it isn’t personal but general, as it is revealed in the vessels among us, it has to be clarified.

Whatever each one feels inside him doesn’t matter. What we feel among us is the vessel for the revelation of the Light and that’s what’s important! The work in the group is in order to change the focus from what I feel inside me to what I feel about others and what happens between us.

It is as if I look through binoculars and have to constantly change the focus from myself to everyone, to the whole group, to what happens between us and not in each of us.

Then I understand that my negative attitude towards someone hurts all the connections in the group. So it cannot be that you don’t love someone but you do love others. There is no such thing since by that you already corrupt all the relationships. And because you cannot tolerate this, it must be corrected.
[131715]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: If the greatest advancement occurs when you make the greatest efforts, should we specifically look for the most difficult places to disseminate?

Answer: When we disseminate, we should look for more inner connection with the people we disseminate to. Dissemination depends on how much we annul ourselves before them in our dissemination and, at the same time, bestow upon them.

It is like when parents relate to a small child. On one hand, the parents take care of him, guide him, and do everything for him, and on the other hand, they do everything according to his will, for his own good.

This should be our attitude towards people, just like a parent towards his child.
[131715]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/14, Q&A with Rav

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Question: Why did Baal HaSulam and Rabash observe the Pesach customs so carefully?

Answer: Pesach is the exit from the egoistic desire for myself to the desire to bestow. It is called the exodus from Egypt, where Egypt symbolizes the whole evil inclination, our ego. The ascent above it is the exodus from Egypt.

First we have to perceive it spiritually and not corporeally. But there are customs that we keep in this world because of the connection between the corporeal branch and the spiritual root.

The spiritual root is expressed in different forms of intention and actions of bestowal that we have to perform, which mean actions of giving with an altruistic intention. The acquisition of the ability to bestow is called the exodus from Egypt.

When we operate this way in the spiritual world, we feel which corporeal branches in our world match these spiritual roots. Thus, Kabbalists have determined corporeal customs, as it says in the Torah that during this time we should eat special bread, “bread of affliction,” Matza, unleavened bread.

The difference between Matza and bread is that Matza doesn’t contain yeast; it contains only flour and water. This dough has to be kneaded for a certain length of time: 18 minutes, according to the spiritual properties, 9 Sefirot of the Direct Light and 9 Sefirot of the Returning Light, excluding Malchut. After all, it is Malchut that makes the dough sour, and so we use only 9 Sefirot of the Direct Light and the Returning Light, without Malchut, a total of 18 Sefirot. In our world it is expressed by 18 minutes.

We are allowed to keep the flour and water together for 18 minutes until the dough reaches the oven, which stops the developing connection between them. We don’t add any spice to the Matza, just flour and water.

Matza is the same bread but without the Malchut. It was pulled out of it, so Kabbalists have determined this custom according to the corporeal branch of the spiritual root. All these symbols are reminders of the exit from the ego, of the ascent over it. All the Pesach customs stem from how we feel ourselves in the spiritual roots that are detached from our ego, from the desire to enjoy, and when we move on to the desire to bestow.

There is nothing holy about these corporeal actions, but they are important because of their relation to the spiritual root. In the spiritual world, everyone has to perform these actions, while in the corporeal world, we perform some of them and there are some that we don’t perform.
[131711]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/14, Q&A with Rav

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