Question: What actions can help one be freed from thoughts about oneself?

Answer: The only action that can truly separate me from thoughts of myself is incorporation into the group. I must do everything in my power until I reveal the inner force of the environment that I have attached myself to; until then, nothing else will help.

At first I perceive the environment as if I were a seed that has fallen into dry sand. But then I begin to see that this is soil that contains certain minerals and moisture that can nourish my growth. This “moisture” is the quality that can soften my egoism so that I begin to desire the attribute of bestowal. And the “minerals” are the light of Hochma, which can provide nourishment for my development. In this way, I begin to receive the lights of Hassadim and Hochma from the environment and grow to the extent that I annul myself before it.

Then I already understand that annulling myself before the environment is a beneficial and correct decision egoistically. For now, it comes from my egoism. I have no intention yet to bestow selflessly. I want to annul myself before them in order to be nourished by their environment and grow. If growth is possible only through bestowal, then I am ready to think about bestowal. But for the time being, it is still a calculation for my own benefit.

I want to acquire the quality of bestowal and become a giver. This is a special kind of egoism; one that leads toward the spiritual world. We will have to change such vestments many times on the way until we reach true bestowal without any calculation for ourselves. In the meantime, we do not know what that is. Only the light that reforms can give us this shape. And along the way we will change many more forms, which are each more cunning and egoistic than the last and which are all opposite to the final form.

At first it seems that we are advancing well, that we have already come close to bestowal and are almost entering the spiritual world. And then suddenly it is revealed that all this was still concealed reception. In this way we continue to develop. The main thing is to constantly receive support from the environment, to annul ourselves before it, and not to fear any states because you are on the path.

What is needed is a collective prayer, that is, for my thoughts and desires become the same as the inner thoughts and desires of the group, that I delve ever deeper into the group and want to flow together with everyone in one current to such an extent that wherever they go, I go, without any criticism from myself. This is called collective prayer. What everyone wants, I want too.

For me society is not something external, but the inner desire of the group, although later I will discover that the same force acts within all external people as well.

In summary, if I wish to advance correctly, I have to do everything possible to join the group and not look at external faces, but at the inner thoughts and desires, and strive to unite with them. This is what collective prayer means. Whatever this society desires, whatever it strives for, I join them and I yearn for the same.
[39190]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, “Preparing for the New Jersey Convention”

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