Comment: Well-known coach and business consultant Erik Bertrand Larssen developed a methodology based on his military experience and wrote about it in his book called Hell Week: Seven Days to Be Your Best Self.

Larssen believes there are three models of highly effective cultures: the military, business, and sports. The military teaches us to push beyond our limits to discover we are capable of more. Athletes demonstrate how to set and pursue goals systematically. Sports also teaches us that victory is not achieved under the spotlight on the final stretch but through daily, painstaking training.

However, in your view, the mind merely serves the desires.

My Response: We should not go against desires. A person cannot truly change them. What I can do is split my desire into smaller parts: one becomes two, two become four, and so on. There will be a chain reaction. The only real option is to prioritize one desire over another, higher one. And that depends on the society around me.

Therefore, if I am in a group that values higher desires over my personal ones, I can easily let go of my bad desires and adopt their good ones.

Military, sports, and business, all involve self-coercion. But I do not want to coerce myself. I am weak. Why should I subject myself to such extreme states? The body does not like that.

Question: There are different approaches. What is the key to the Kabbalistic method in order to say: “Guys, you are looking in the wrong place”?

Answer: The key or secret lies entirely in the environment around you. Nothing else! If I join the right environment, and this environment knows how to motivate and influence me, tempting me with hints and exercises like with a child, it can shape me however it wants.

Kabbalah, first of all, calls for building a correct society where everyone can progress further.

Question: Can you name a few principles that such a society follows that others could take as a model?

Answer: A Kabbalistic society is very simple. It is built on the principle of gradually bringing people closer together by rising above their small, narrow, personal egos.

Members engage in specific exercises called workshops where they discuss these ideas and attempt to connect and open up to each other. This path involves rising above the natural egoism of a person despite his inherent tendencies.

A person begins to feel like they are entering a kind of elevator, lifting him beyond our nature. It is as if they detach from the Earth and enter a “cosmic elevator” that rises higher and higher, beyond our universe into an entirely different, anti-egoistic universe. In this realm, everything is based on the qualities of bestowal and love, as opposed to the qualities of reception and hatred inherent to our nature.

This gradual transformation occurs under the constant and increasingly changing influence of society.

This model is lifelong and spans all lifetimes because it elevates a person beyond life and death.

A person begins to perceive, see, and feel this! He rises above our egoistic nature and therefore transcends the level of biological life and death. He no longer identifies with his physical body, but starts perceiving himself as an energetic entity called the soul.

I am speaking about a methodology that allows a person to rise above himself and transform into something eternally existing and non-egoistic. It enables him to become acquainted with the Creator, reveal the upper world, and break free from the confines of the small, narrow space in which we exist.

If someone has not just idle curiosity, but a deep, inner yearning, it is possible to work with him.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/10/18

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By His almightiness, the Creator devised a tactic by which a perceptible reality would appear to the lower ones.

It is called “darkness,” as in “and creates darkness” [from the word “creates” (Boreh).]

The term “Creator” (Boreh) is derived from the words “Bo” (come) and “Reh” (see). That means Come and see darkness, and from it, you will begin to understand who you are and what exists besides the Creator. That which exists beyond the Creator is what you will come to be.

In other words, the absence of light and our faint grasp of it, which we perceive as darkness, is the real reason for the perception of the light. This is the meaning of “As the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” That is, all of our perception of the light comes from within the darkness (Baal HaSulam, “Ohr HaBahir”).

The Creator encompasses everything; after all, “There is none else besides Him.” To attain Him, the most important thing for us is the feeling of darkness, its analysis, and its perception.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

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In our time, spreading Kabbalistic knowledge has become the greatest and most important condition. The Creator is waiting for the correction of the entire Kli, absolutely all of it.

And only to the extent that you strive to give to others, to draw others closer, can you say that you are working for bestowal. All your other actions, aside from dissemination, are still egoistic, no matter how you look at it.

We engage in dissemination solely to tell people that they must unite.

For the people, unity means a better, safer, more pleasant life. But for us, unity means bringing the shattered parts of the common Kli closer to the Creator. To the extent of mechanical unity, the upper light impacts them and thus helps them unite even more.

For the people, this does not matter. What matters to them is that it guarantees their good future. That is what we need to convey to the world. Today, the world desperately needs unity! The global world is completely divided and fractured. It is a terrible state!

I will tell you only one thing: you are currently underestimating this, but the descents, ascents, and the time each of them takes all depend only on the intensity of our outreach to the public, the masses.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

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Question: How can one learn to deal with strong emotions like anger, hatred, and aggression? Should these emotions be expressed outwardly, or should one learn to restrain them? Where is the line for overcoming them?

Answer: If you are not in a specific environment that influences you and where people set the right examples for each other, you will not be able to move forward.

If you are alone, you will always be falling and rising, but it will hardly be real progress. That happens only to make you realize the necessity of achieving connection between us.

Rabash and all other Kabbalists write that without efforts toward unity, no spiritual work is possible. It is realized only through ever-deepening connection between us. Only in this way.

Question: But what if both my husband and I are in a group, yet I still cannot cope with these emotions?

Answer: I understand that you cannot cope, and that is how it should be. It will always be this way! Evil will always exceed good so you ask for the correction of evil; otherwise, you would become complacent.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 2

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 192, “Foundations”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 39

How Can We Acquire the Creator’s Qualities Emotion-Free?

We cannot rely solely on emotions. How can we compare one feeling to another and discern which is genuine? Reason must guide this process.

There are concepts of good and evil, sweet and bitter, truth and falsehood. Sweet and bitter are emotional judgments, while truth and falsehood are intellectual evaluations. To distinguish correctly, we must use the measures of truth and falsehood rather than sweet and bitter, which can lead us away from Kedusha.

It is beneficial to understand the opposite of Kedusha, but even such understanding requires intellect rather than relying on emotional measures like sweet and bitter.

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Question: In order for a request to the Creator to be correctly formulated, should it include our current state, a vision of the future state, the effort of my inclusion in the group, and the changes that this group must undergo?

Answer: Yes, a request to the Creator must include all of this. That is why it is called MAN, (Mei Nukvin), where “Mayim” (water) is a quality of Bina, and “Nukva” is a quality of Malchut.

In other words, we should have a sense of our current state and a desirable vision of our future state, my capabilities and the capabilities of the group, in what way we should be united, and in what way I wish to reveal the Creator, the quality of bestowal.

Do not confuse the revelation of the Creator with anything else. This is the quality of bestowal, love, and connection. This is the only way the Creator manifests in us; otherwise He does not exist at all. We do not know what the upper force is in itself, we only know its manifestation in us.

Let’s say we are talking about electricity. How do I know what it is? We only know the manifestation of this property, this effect in some of its actions. It passes through a conductor, is heated, its voltage is changed, and so on.

That is, we study any quality by reaction. For example, we do not know what the force of gravity is, but we know that it is a quality that is inherent in matter, and nothing more. We always study reactions.

We do not know ourselves, the group, or the Creator Himself, but we study only the external manifestations of these forces. Therefore, when we turn to the Creator, the most correct approach is to envision His influence as a consequence of our changes.

And what could our changes be? Only group changes. The Creator is a quality of bestowal. Where can I observe this quality? Only in my connection with the group and in no other way.

Therefore, if I turn to the Creator, I must envision my current state, the one I am with the group, with the world, and in what state I will be after some time when the Creator’s action is realized.

How is it implemented? In a greater closeness between us. And then, to the extent we get closer, His quality will manifest itself—the quality of bestowal and love. We will begin to feel it as a quality of the upper world. This will be the highest spiritual attainment. There is no other way.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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A person should pay attention to this and believe that the Creator is tending to him and guides him on the track that leads to the King’s palace. It follows that he should be happy that the Creator is watching over him and gives him the descents, as well. That is, a person should believe, as much as he can understand, that the Creator is giving him the ascents, since certainly, a person cannot say that he himself receives the ascents, but that the Creator wants to bring him closer; this is why He gives him the ascents.

Also, a person should believe that the Creator gives him the descents, as well, because He wants to bring him closer. Therefore, every single thing that he can do, he must do as though he is in a state of ascent. Therefore, when he overcomes a little during the descent, it is called an “awakening from below.” Each act that he does, he believes that it is the Creator’s will, and by this itself he is rewarded with greater nearing, meaning that the person himself begins to feel that the Creator has brought him closer (Rabash, Article 6, “When Should One Use Pride in the Work?“)

The most important thing is our reaction to any negative or positive action, meaning that we should constantly evaluate whether they elicit an equal response in us.

It should not matter how my beast feels, good or bad. The main focus is on perceiving the Creator’s communication with me. My response depends on how I react without words. If I receive something negative, I respond to Him with love; if I receive something positive, I also respond to Him with love.

When is my response more pronounced: is it to positive experiences or negative ones? Certainly, it is more evident with negative experiences. This demonstrates that I truly aspire toward Him, rather than merely seeking to experience something pleasant from the Creator.

We must learn to interpret the signs of the Creator’s closeness to us. We can be very near to Him and yet feel what comes from Him as something negative. However, instead of provoking a negative reaction in us, this closeness inspires gratitude. It allows us to demonstrate a positive attitude toward Him above the negative feelings.

This process builds the screen (Masach): restriction (Tzimtzum), screen (Masach), and reflected light (Or Hozer).
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is None Else Besides Him”

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The revelation of the Creator represents two mutually opposite actions for us. On the one hand, the revelation should awaken even greater egoism in us, our difference from the Creator; on the other hand, we should give this egoism the correct form in which we would become like the Creator.

These two opposite forms should be in us simultaneously and go in parallel: left – right, left – right.
The left line is the difference from the Creator. Moreover, this difference can be qualitative or quantitative according to different parameters.

At each of the 125 degrees, there are three more degrees: conception (Ibur), the small state (Yenika), the large state (Mochin). The 125 degrees are an ascent through the five worlds to complete similarity to the Creator.

At these degrees we always go through two states: the difference from the Creator and the similarity to Him. Each step is determined by these two opposite actions, sensations, adhesion, and revelations.

Therefore there is a left line, a right line, and a middle line. In the left line, our egoism is awakened; it is our difference from the Creator. In the right line, we make  egoism into His likeness, as if we give this egoism the form of the Creator, and then we are called “Adam” (man).

In the middle line, a person connects with the Creator, that is, the right and left lines connect and form adhesion with the Creator that is called “Dvekut.”

This is our work in three lines. Everyone who advances further, his egoism in the left line increases, but he can correct it with the help of the group and with the help of prayer to the Creator.

Thus the left line is egoism, the right line is its correction, and the middle line is the connection with the Creator based on what a person has acquired in the left and right lines. This is how a person approaches the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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