The question that just won’t be silenced and has to be answered with a “blow to the jaw” is the question of who’s more important: me or the Creator? Me or the neighbor? The force of bestowal or the force of reception?

If this question stands clearly before me and I understand that whether I will progress or get into a fiasco depends on my getting a clear answer, then the need for the constant support of the environment becomes obvious to me. But on the other hand, what is that environment? And what kind of support does it give me? In essence I receive my own Kelim, desires, to the degree I want to bring them closer to me. After all, all of reality is me.

By working with the environment, I raise it in my eyes and in it I find the importance of the Creator. In essence I have been given the force of the breaking so it would help me work on myself in this way.

My “I,” which includes all of reality, divides into two parts:

1. the part that I experience as myself
2. the part that I experience as the world, other people, and everything that is outside of me.

Why did the creator break me in two? It was in order to make it easier for me to correct the part that is outside. I raise its importance in my eyes by awakening the importance of the friends and motivating them to work on me as if they have freedom of choice or more independence than I attribute to them.

We have to understand that the force of the breaking acts for our own good. The part called “the neighbor,” meaning everything that is outside of me, will be corrected by me if I treat it precisely as the neighbor. I correct these desires which seem foreign to me by placing myself in front of them and wishing to unite with them.

My “self” is just the point in the heart, while “the neighbor” is my entire Kli, the entire vessel of the soul. If I weren’t divided into these two parts, then I would not have the opportunity to correct the “external” desires. I would never be able to analyze, check, and sort them, or to demand the forces to work with them.

However, I am located outside of them and correct my attitude to them. This is the illusion I get—as if I correct my attitude to the neighbor by the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.” And I do not yet perceive, understand, or feel that in essence, this is my soul. I was given the force of the breaking, which depicts a deceptive picture of “others” in my eyes. But that is exactly how I can start correcting my Kelim, working against the force of repulsion by striking it, blow by blow.

Thus, it is possible to imagine our work this way: A person initially receives all of creation in the capacity of his soul and understands that all the forces of disunity are a fantasy intended to confuse him. In actuality, reality is not cut off from him at all. That is why a person strikes and “blunts the teeth” of this force of the breaking, this illusion. He should see this as the entire work that he has to carry out.

And he keeps going until he knocks out all the teeth, plucks out all the weeds so the rose growing among them, so Malchut would bloom in its real form, full force. This is the Shechina, the common soul.

It is in this light that I have to see the environment, the friends, and the Creator. Everything that seems external to me is an inseparable part of me. The force separating me from the only thought and desire, from the Only One, is the force of disunity that I must break.
[35489]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If all our work is to find the place of our breaking, what are we lacking then in order to do it?

Answer: You simply don’t want to reveal it! Why should you disclose your envy and hate? It is much easier and safer to remain apathetic.

A person feels that the friends, “the others,” simply don’t seem to exist. In Kabbalah, “the other” is a person whom I feel as being outside of me. I know that everybody is supposed to be within me if my perception of reality is correct, yet I feel them as outsiders in relation to me, someone who is distant and abhorrent. And it frightens me: Do I really hate the parts of my own soul this much?! That is exactly how the force of the breaking feels. I know that it is a lie, and I want to fix my distorted sight!

Try to attempt to see that all the friends are related to you. Even the whole world already sees how round and interconnected it is. But we don’t arrive at this conclusion from the external side due to the lack of choice. This is what the rest of the world does, by getting blows that point at people’s interconnectedness. Our path is internal and in this way, we gradually discover that all of us are one whole and are linked in an integral system.

Knowing all this, I look around and see people who are alien to me. I don’t feel what they are thinking about, what they desire. Moreover, I don’t even care about them; I am unable to keep focusing on them, let alone feel them. Not even one of them!

In other words, I realize that it is a total breaking: I am ill with a horrible disease. In fact, I see that I completely lost my sensitivity, my ability to feel all these parts that must become mine. I am disintegrating like a corpse. After all, death is when the life force leaves the body and it starts turning into dust. I feel as if I am losing my arms and legs. It throws me into a panic.

I can see and feel all of this in the organs of perception (Kelim) that evolve in me thanks to the study of Kabbalah and that in the future will become my properties of love and bestowal. But love starts with our revelation of hate towards the others, and we begin to hate it within ourselves.

And now I am living this hate, my inability to feel the other because I don’t care about him. And even worse than that, I measure my success by their failures. The worse they feel, the better I feel. What a perverted and distorted perception it is, and how blind I am that I think of the others in this way.

Rabash gives an example of a person who suddenly finds out that the child next door who annoyed him so much is in fact his son. It is possible to repair this picture only if you strive to see how everyone in the group is eager to correct this distortion together.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: If Malchut is the desire to receive pleasure, how can she gather all the souls under her wing?

Answer: Malchut is the will to enjoy. It used to include all the desire to receive created by the Creator. Later, it was broken in order to give this desire a capacity to know itself and the Creator, and based on that knowledge, to perform autonomous actions. In other words, it broke into multiple, fragmented parts that feel hateful and disconnected.

Malchut is the point where all the broken parts used to reside. Now, by their own free will and effort, these fragmented parts are gradually coming into oneness in the same Malchut, in their root.

It could be described in other words: The created being, in its experience and perception, is divided into multiple parts which seem alien to one another. These parts must keep uniting together until they feel bonded. An example of such oneness is the upper one, Zeir Anpin, which manifests according to their effort.
[34585]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Until recently we have been developing in our egoism under the influence of the informational genes (Reshimot)—everyone on his own. Now we are beginning to develop under the influence of common Reshimot—all together. And we can see that the entire world is connected like one single system.

In the past everyone could open his own “window” (like on the computer) where he was building his life without any connection with the rest of people, and he was able to do whatever he wanted. But today it does not work this way. And the problem is that we are unaware of the connection between us and everyone’s place in the common system where he or she is connected with everybody else.

It is a tragedy that we are now facing the system which is becoming revealed to us as a unified, global network, while we do not fit it and do not know what to do with it. After all, internally, every one of us still has remained an individual egoist who wants to act as he wishes.

However, a completely different system already acts upon us. The previous epoch has ended, and a new time has come. The new forces have started influencing us, which work with all of us together.

Therefore, we have no other choice but to study this common, integral system. We have to learn its structure, how it acts upon us, and how we should adjust ourselves to it. We simply cannot survive without such a study. This is why everyone is obliged to study Kabbalah.
[34447]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/2011, “The Study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Kabbalah, the method of attaining the upper world, includes two parts:

1. The first part tells us about how to unite with each other, or how to try to connect and unite;
2. The second part tells us about how to evoke the influence or effect of the upper Light upon us.

Before we begin to study we have to be perforated by the aspiration to unite our desires. Then every person will have a much greater desire than his own. He will begin to be permeated by thoughts, qualities, and desires of other people who also aspire to the same result and the same goal as he. This should be our main intention before the study.

A person who hasn’t prepared for the study in this way misses practically everything because the influence of the upper Light does not come upon the desire of each person, but upon the aspiration that each of us has toward others, meaning on our mutual aspirations to unite with one another, with everyone all together into one common desire.

If I imagine this one common desire and wish to be included in it “as one man,”as before the breaking of Adam into separate souls, then my aspiration receives the influence of the upper Light. Then I really gain spiritual attainment as a result of these efforts.

However, if I come there and listen without these efforts, without making attempts to be included in the common desire, then the upper Light does not have anything it can influence inside of me. I did not provide a surface or basis that it can influence and therefore all of my actions will only elicit purely formal knowledge. That is, I will hear and memorize what is written in the book, but no more.

Therefore, it must be crystal clear to us that the upper Light comes only to our mutual efforts. They have to be mutual! Therefore, the condition for attracting the Light to us is the same condition as was required during the reception of the Torah: “To be as one man with one heart.” Only in this case does the Light come.

So let us try to think this way.
[34265]
From the 3rd lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: We see that man is a predator. The entire meaning of his existence is to devour his neighbor and reach his own goal. If we attain mutual guarantee and the earth’s population will increase to 20 or 25 billion, how will all of this actually take place?

Answer: What’s the problem with having twenty billion people? Imagine that they are all your relatives and you feel like one whole with them. It completely doesn’t bother you that they are together with you. On the contrary, you change your attitude to them: You feel good when all of them are as close to you as possible.

Question cont’d: But what will happen if there are no limits?

Answer: Every person makes a limit on himself. Imagine a mother who has twenty billion children. Does this number bother her if she has everything they need? She exists in the world of Infinity, meaning in the world of absolute Light, satisfaction, fulfillment, and abundance.

Of course, it’s difficult to imagine how a person changes. But if you are next to your beloved and you really love him without any calculation, then you want to be with him all the time. You always want to be next to him and as close as possible.

Then what would be the problem with having twenty billion beloved? You won’t feel that there are twenty billion people. You will feel that they are all together with you. This state is the most desirable and comfortable one.

In reality you do not split them up into twenty billion, but there is just one you. This is called inclusion.

Our obstacle is a psychological problem. We cannot imagine how this will happen. We imagine that we exist in bodies, but when we reach mutual guarantee, then instead of the bodies, we will feel every person’s inner potential.
From the 2nd lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: Who belongs to the human level of development, and who to the animate one? Does this depend on the region where a person lives?

Answer: This has nothing to do with any corporeal parameters. The still, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature exist in all the people living on Earth. And every person must reach his perfect state at the end of his or her development.

The key issue here is one’s aspiration towards it, which absolutely does not depend on any of us. All souls are gathered together in their initial state, in the initial informational record, referred to as Reshimo in Kabbalah. And every one of us has a place in this hierarchy of souls.

For this reason, when the time comes and a point in this global mechanism must begin its development, the person who possesses this point feels a certain pressure, and this pushes him forward. And the only thing that depends on him is the speed of realization of this Reshimo and its kind: good and fast or slow and evil. Nothing else is up to him.

So, in every region there can be people who are already striving towards spirituality. And this does not depend on one’s location or quality of life.

In Europe we have found a lesser number of people like this so far; the most are in South America and Russia. But, generally, they live everywhere: in China, Iran, Japan, Africa, Australia. We have students everywhere; they are of different races, nationalities, and social levels. And we are not able to foresee which ones are yet to strive ahead, how they will do it, and when. This is completely unpredictable.

We do not know the order of development of every part of the common soul. Just like an embryo in a mother’s womb develops in a certain order, the parts of the single collective soul of humanity, all of us, also develop in the same order. Every individual soul also develops according to the same image and similarity to the collective soul.

Question: Can we say that if the question about the purpose of life has appeared in a person, in other words, that if he has acquired a point in the heart, it means that he is already working with the “human” level?

Answer: Yes, if he has acquired a point in the heart, and he is beginning to ask about the purpose of life from within it, he is already working on the “human” level.

But he can “conserve” himself on this level for many years. Practically, he will not be able to do anything if he does not find himself in a group, near authentic sources, and next to a teacher. Regrettably, there are people like this, and it saddens me to see them. They were with us, and then they stepped away and froze. I hope to see them back soon.
[33127]
From Lesson 1 from Moscow 1/14/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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Question: What is so unique about the Berlin Convention? What do we have to do there? What should each of us and all of us together do, as well as among the groups?

Answer: Right now whether you want it or not you are under the impression of the things I say. It’s as if you are slightly suppressed and included by me into one single desire, a unified thought. And that unites us.

All of these qualities, means, desires, thoughts, the things we have already gone through, the things we desire, our aspirations, the huge amount of people and groups—all of this comes together into one. The result is that it works on us, giving us a very powerful, progressive impulse.

But we have a “small problem”: It seems to us that we have a small egoism and must only overcome it, turn some small knob, press some button, and by that we will have finished the job. We don’t understand that there is a great system at work here. It’s not just a “tumbler” that someone on top wants or doesn’t want to switch. We are in a system of two opposite forces: bestowal and reception. And until this system does not work by its dialectic, by its motion forward, by the law of the unity of parts, this won’t happen.

We only accelerate the time with our efforts, but we will never be able to make a jump. This is impossible due to the nature of things. Everything is done by way of gradual, sequential, and strictly determined movement, step by step. And through this step by step movement forward we constantly come closer to success, the moment when it will “shoot out.” The transition will happen! And it will be sudden.

Our conventions greatly accelerate the movement and therefore they are very important. During the several days that we are together and around us there are also many people around the world, during that time a very serious processing takes place in the degrees of our inner development.

One way or another a million states have to pass over us. We have to go through them. And every convention occurs differently, having new aspects, new forms, and feelings.

Therefore, the Berlin Convention is bound to be special because it will be a meeting of people who are permeated by the desire and qualities of the environment where they live. That environment is very bad; Europe is a very problematic continent, the source of all problems and wars, and having extremely great egoism, although it is already dwindling now, along with our entire civilization of the past. Still, it’s a tough nut to crack. That is why this convention is extremely not simple, and in fact, the most difficult.

The easiest Convention is one held in Latin America. The people there are fiery, open-hearted, and sincere. I have never met people like that anywhere. After that comes Russia. But in Europe things are most difficult, and the more difficult things are, the more interesting, and the more spectacular is the result and effective the work.

Therefore, I hope to have your support, both physical and virtual, so that we will “work on” Europe all together.
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: When we are in the common system of souls and attain the Creator’s level, do we still remain cogwheels in this system?

Answer: Yes, when we are in this system and similar to the Creator, we still remain cogwheels. However, each one of us gains absolute freedom because when spinning together with everyone according to the desires of all the others, precisely through this one feels total freedom.

If I love them and spin only for their sake, with all of their qualities, then I am absolutely free. Of course, from the egoistic point of view this appears opposite. But if I treat them altruistically and with love, then this is precisely so. That’s because I don’t have any other desires besides spinning for their sake. If I have this opportunity, then I am free.
[33120]
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/14/11, The Zohar

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Question: Would it help our spiritual development to know exactly where we are on the scale of the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels? What does our progress depend on? What instruments could help us determine where we are? And how can we change?

Answer: All of this is determined the moment a person comes to the group. He can begin evaluating himself only in relation to the environment: How much does he aspire to his friends, to the common desire of bestowal, to feel everyone as one desire?

This common desire is the Soul that was created. And if we attain it as one whole, then in it we will feel the quality of bestowal, the Creator. It was precisely in order to enable measurement, attainment, and control over our state that the common soul, creation, and desire were divided into an infinite multitude of parts. Every part of the desire, every person thereby received the opportunity to imagine the other parts as united, depending on his aspiration to this state.

If this person or part begins to work to unite with all the other parts, seeing them as perfect and receiving from them the right aspiration forward, the motivation, the importance and value of spiritual development, then he gains absolutely clear abilities to measure his state and to receive help from outside.
[33130]
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/14/11, The Zohar

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