Question: If we speak about the connection of the levels of the upper, the middle, and the lower, then the upper is the teacher, the middle is us, and the lower is the 99% of humanity. Sometimes we manage to feel the unity between us and sometimes we don’t. How can we constantly hold on to the point of unity in order to convey the importance of unity to the people?

Answer: In the articles of Rabash it states that the friends should gather and speak about the greatness of the Creator and the greatness of the teacher. Of course, neither the Creator nor the teacher needs that, but it is necessary in order to raise the students.

If we raise those through whom we receive the Light, we thus connect to the upper source and begin to receive bestowal from Him. Then the understanding of unity and the connection with the upper source are revealed among us.

When we go out to the external circles, the feelings and understandings of this unity and the connection with the upper are conveyed to them.

Just like children who learn many things from their parents, whether they want to or not, and imitate them in different ways like their characteristic behaviors and habits, and their positive and negative responses, so will the external circles receive our feeling of unity and connection to the upper source. This happens in a natural manner.

The wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t speak about anything that is supernatural, but only about how to learn to be one whole in order to be in harmony with the still, vegetative, and animate levels, to learn from nature, which is what everyone is calling for today.

People used to believe that we had to conquer nature, that we are above nature and smarter than nature. Now everyone is beginning to understand how stupid and much more limited we are than nature. Nature is perfect!

The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us how to learn from nature and how to reach a state in which we will discover its total integrality, the deep and total mutual connection. If we attain that, the masses will also accept it and perceive it since our thoughts and feelings will flow unto them. They will begin to think like us and also perceive everything as we do.

Why is it that what people think that whatever happens on one side of the world is suddenly understood on the other side? It is because we are all mutually connected.

Therefore, when we go out to people and connect to them, the direct mutual connection works. We will perceive their different yearnings and they will perceive ours. Their shattered yearnings and their egoistic desires will force us to yearn for unity in order to correct them. Our unity and connection to the upper will help them perceive it and focus themselves in that direction for correction.
[139875]
From the International Summer Camp In Bulgaria “Day One” 7/11/14, Lesson #2

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The wisdom of Kabbalah describes creation from the level of Infinity (Ein Sof). In Infinity everything exists and Infinity exists in regard to the Creator. In Infinity, the Light and the vessel are found in a wondrous oneness, for they are equal, support each other, and shape each other because there is no Light without a vessel and there is no vessel without Light. They exist in a permanent state.

And in continuation, in order to acquire a vessel that was created in Infinity and is found in unity with the Creator in awareness and understanding of its state, five worlds (concealments) were created: Adam Kadmon (AK), Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya (ABYA). And this world is found under all the worlds, detached from them. We are completely detached from the spiritual system, not understanding at all where we are found and what happens there.

The border that passes above us is called the Machsom. It determines the reality within which all of us are born and live, the present level of development from generation to generation. A single Infinity fills the entire Infinity. And the Light of Infinity bestows to us in the form of Ohr Makif (OM), which awakens us to evolve. We depend upon it, and in the present stage it is up to us to learn to find a common language with it.

We must know how to awaken its influence on us, how to approach it, as a result of whatever actions it bestows upon us more or less. It is necessary to “play” with it all the time, to accommodate ourselves to it. Just as a person exposes parts of his body to the sun in order to get a tan, exactly like this it is up to us to work internally regarding the Ohr Makif.

We still don’t know how to approach the influence of the Light maximally; its influence is always positive; it is always for the good, granting us happiness and wealth in every sense, truly with total bestowal. But in the meantime this is Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) for us, because we have not accommodated to its inner characteristic.

The guest must be like the host. The host provides everything for him and only wants to give more and more, and the guest is ashamed, he is not prepared to bear this. So he makes a restriction on himself and says that first he must build himself according to that law in order to bestow back to the host. Only in such a circumstance and to this extent can he receive all the goodness from him.

That is how we receive Inner Light from the Creator, to the degree that we are ready to bestow to Him. And this is possible only in relationship to someone who loves you. When I bestow to a person whom I love, I enjoy my bestowal, like a mother who takes care of her child. Giving is a sign of love. Therefore, if we accommodate ourselves to the love that we expect from the Creator, we will feel it.

How do we attain it? How is it possible to be a guest who knows how to respond to a relationship with the host? How do we learn what giving is? Because I don’t know what it is now; for I am entirely immersed in narcissism, in reception for myself.

Here I can only use the preparation that made the spiritual vessel that was in connection with the Light from the start. Then the vessel went through a shattering, shattered itself into fragments in order to discover how much it differs from the host. It wanted to discover the evil in itself because only in this way could it resemble the Creator.

Previously, in the world of Adam Kadmon, a “division” was made in the Light into NRNHY and a division of the vessel into KHB and ZON. And in continuation, between the worlds AK and Atzilut the breaking of the vessels was made. And the one great vessel was divided, broken into a multitude of parts, each one of them closed in upon itself, within its ego, within a desire to receive for itself. It was closed in such a way that it was not ready; it was not prepared to feel the “other.” It only feels what happens within itself. This is its nature.

All the billions of vessels descended until they fell into this world and our universe was created from them. And later on the matter of the universe began to develop from below to above already. During the course of this process the planet Earth was created and upon it the plants, the animals, and the human species evolved.

That is how evolution continued in our world, the sparks that fell from above began to connect between them into blocks of matter, stars, planets, and galaxies, and after that on the face of planet Earth into various natural forms of plants and animals of which we are a part. If previously there had been a process of fragmentation that was a result of the “breaking of the vessels,” now this is talking precisely about the connection of substances, components. The vessels fell and began to connect with each other. For this they were not required to carry out actions with consciousness and understanding. On the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate, the particles connected themselves into atoms, the atoms connected into molecules, and the molecules connected into more complex structures, into biological bodies. So, gradually the matter of the still transformed into the matter of vegetative and animate.

But the level of man doesn’t belong to our world; it is still ahead of us, and in the meantime, we are a more developed part of the animate world. Our lives are subject to precise principles: all of us do what brings us the most benefit. Each one acts according to his personal good. It is clear that we try to “get along” with each other, so that we don’t “eat” each other, but in the end, in spite of it all, each one of us is concerned about himself. This is our program. That is how we find ourselves in opposition to the Inner Light. But the Surrounding Light acts upon us in a unique form, and in spite of it all advances us towards greater connection. This is even though we are made more and more egoistic through connection.

The substance of the still is satisfied with existence; it only keeps itself from destruction; therefore, in order to shatter it, a power that is higher than its egoistic power of preservation is needed to act upon it. It has no other shortcomings. The vegetative substance is not satisfied with this; it wants to grow, to breathe; it discharges what is harmful and absorbs what is beneficial; it spreads and multiplies. The ego of the vegetative substance is different from that of the still.

That is how the Surrounding Light inserts its energy, connecting more and more fragments, more and more components, constructing living cells that multiply, feel the environment, and learn to use it for their development. On this level the ego is already connected to the environment.

The animals are not only aware of the environment, they also move from place to place, produce offspring, and are concerned about them. In other words, within their ego is rooted the power of giving that is intended for their use.

And we humans exploit the environment even more on all the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. You see our ego is more developed, and in addition, it continues to develop. Animals don’t develop like us; they simply become extinct and in their place other species come.

On the other hand, people change from generation to generation with increasing speed. Five hundred years ago a son was like his father, and the grandson was like both of them, the same life, the same profession, and the same clothes. But today people are changing all the time; it is as if they are reborn. Essentially, his life is spread over a number of generations.

Why does the Surrounding Light work on us, manage us in a form like this? In order that we will become more and more complex. The more complex the structure, the more difficult it is to be concerned for it and to support it. The more complex the connection between the desires, the more egoistic they are and they acquire greater inner powers. They see the external world more and more egoistically, searching for the opportunity to exploit and profit from everything. Ideally, we would like to scoop the whole world into our hands. The Surrounding Light created us like this.

Today this has brought us to a crisis. Nature, or in other words, the Light or the Creator, has brought us to the maximum of our original nature, but we discover that as a result of this we feel worse. Apparently we have no more stock of positive forces that will make it possible for us to get along with each other and receive almost optimal pleasure.

In fact, we would like to move the process in other lines; it is clear to us that it is worthwhile to give children the best education, to strengthen the institution of the family, to correct ourselves so as not to be aggressive, to build a society that is friendly, egalitarian, better….

But everything is going in the opposite direction, and a minute percentage of the rich control half of the wealth of the world. They are themselves afraid; they don’t know what to do, but on the other hand, they are not ready to give that up, they are not ready to distribute anything. All of their kindness is directed towards self-benefit in order to soften and straighten out the situation and no more than this. But even in this they are unsuccessful.

And so, in the end, the Surrounding Light brings us to the “recognition of evil.” Therefore many are asking the question, “What is to be done?” “What kind of a life is this?” Many enter into despair, use drugs, tranquilizers, and antidepressants. Medications like these are even prescribed to students in school, and recreational drugs are sold to everyone; the main thing being for a person to relax and die quietly.

This is not done maliciously but from a lack of choice. And all this is a result of the influence of the Surrounding Light. For it must show us our true state. So with its help we have reached some kind of understanding of evil, asking about the meaning of life. Questions like these push particular people to suicide, to murdering other people, or using drugs and so forth. And there are those who understand the main question with a little more sensitivity. This depends upon the Reshimot, on the spiritual gene, that is inherent in a person and makes a new feeling possible. There must be a solution, an answer to all of this. I must reach a particular source that will truly give me an answer for why I am living and what is the reason for my life.

If the Surrounding Light brings a person to this, how nice. So the question itself awakens the potential latent in it and the Light brings him to a place in which people like him are gathered. These are not bodies but sparks, the most internal questions, the inner potential that is gathered by the Surrounding Light. Essentially, this is all that it did, it gathered the scattered fragments, the elementary particles, the atoms, the molecules, the cells, etc. It simply continues with its work, gathering everything together. And our convention is also the work of the Surrounding Light. It gathers the desires that yearn for what is above. And after we are gathered, we search for the answer how to solve the problem. And here, after the Creator brings a person to the good lot and says to him, “Take it,” there are two possibilities:

• Either we continue unconsciously to be under the influence of the Surrounding Light that has taken care of us until now;
• Or with the help of the group, together with the Surrounding Light, we consciously participate in the process with understanding and emotion.

This is to say, we must be connected with the Surrounding Light. It is up to us to understand how we influence it and how it influences us, and how it is possible to control our evolution with its help. From now on we receive free choice. Therefore, it is up to us to think only about how it acts and how we can change and hasten its activity. This is what it is up to us to learn; therefore, it brings us to the place of learning.

Here they explain to us that in the end it is up to us to carry out the activity of the Surrounding Light. Just as it gathered matter, formed more and more complex structures, so we must also continue the work. We continue to do that with ourselves, with the help of the means that are standing at our disposal.

The Light brings us to a group, and I must work for the sake of connection in a group as one body, one system. That is how I advance together with it, and then I see a partner in it. Now it no longer pushes me towards something; rather, I use it not as an opposing force but as a helping force that is found in my hands.

And essentially this is the entire wisdom of Kabbalah. It tells how to utilize the connection between us from now on so that the Surrounding Light will help us. The small connection that there is in the beginning will expand more and more until it encompasses all the people in the world. And then we will go back in that way to Infinity to complete connection.

If we don’t succeed, don’t want this, then in spite of it all, the Surrounding Light will correct us, will act as, “He hath made a decree which shall not be transgressed” (Psalms 148:6). You see it is up to us to reach the final correction during a defined period of six thousand years. Many things have already been done and a little more is left for us. Through the connection between us, with the help of the Surrounding Light, we must bring ourselves to accommodation with the characteristic of the Inner Light.

The essence of the Inner Light is bestowal and love. We don’t know what this is. Here we must understand that there exists a unique “network,” model, pattern, in the whole world, and it is up to us to connect to a group in accord with this, all the time anew. In the world of Assiya we are connected into an “ellipse,” in the world of Yetzira into a “triangle,” in the world of Beria into a “square,” and in the world of Atzilut into a “circle”—all the time the link between us, the group connection, receives a new form, more and more qualitative.

If we try to do this, we seemingly insert ourselves into some kind of “pattern.” This is not easy, not pleasant, not good, but there is no choice, for we must be more and more “attached” to each other. Each one “polishes” himself, contracts himself, and becomes more and more integrated with others. And so time after time we insert ourselves into the pattern of connection more and more qualitatively. And the Surrounding Light helps us with this. If we invest effort in order to enter into the pattern, then it will help us. It helps us even if we make a mistake; it pushes us almost as well as a school teacher.

But if we become lazy, its influence becomes negative and brings us to a state opposite to the state we must reach. So without a choice we learn what is positive from the negative. One way or another, everything is done with the help of the Surrounding Light. “Raising the prayer” is the shortcoming that we discover in regard to the Surrounding Light. And the “answer to prayer” is the Light that comes to us and pulls us forward. During this process we advance.

The main thing is to remember and imagine to ourselves at every moment that it is up to us to accept a new form of connection. We enter into a new pattern all the time: So I mold myself, create myself, depart from the material of my desires and see in it the material where I am the maker.

This is exceptional work, work that causes unbelievable pleasure, pleasure on the level of the Creator who molded the creation. This is the Upper Light, the Light of NRNHY, that arrives and fills us. There is no greater pleasure in all of creation than seeing ourselves as a creator. On the one hand, you recognize the material because you are found in it, and on the other hand, you contract yourself, go out of it, and begin to work on it from the outside in order to put the “donkey” into the “stable,” into the right pattern: ellipse, triangle, square, or circle. Clearly, this is not talking about geometric shapes, rather about characteristics; they are born in us and we give birth to them one from the other and feel that we have changed.

This is truly unique work, a great gift from the Creator that makes it possible to feel what it is to be a creator. And all this is incumbent upon us. And at the end of the way, after we have built the image of the Creator from ourselves, we feel and understand the entire creation and reach adherence, which is the essence of the final correction and the goal of creation.

When we begin to work on Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) within a group, we understand this goal and work all the time in the presence of the Surrounding Light and are directed towards the Inner Light, aspiring to be like the Inner Light with the help of the Surrounding Light. And while advancing, we understand more and more that “there is none else besides Him.” He acts within us, He awakens all of the thoughts and desires within us, He gives us all of the opportunities through the environment, He awakens everything except for one point, and this is the point of our free choice.

So through connection with a group, I find my new form. He molded me up to here, and the search for the next form is “my true self.” I organize, research, and am found in development, in a search for my most advanced form. This is the principle of “there is none else besides Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35); we are constantly working with the help of the Surrounding Light in order to reach the Inner Light.
[127134]
From the “World Zohar Convention,” Day Two 2/6/14, Lesson 4

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Question: You said that under the bestowal of Ohr Makif  (Surrounding Light) we begin bestowing to an empty vacuum, which we don’t feel. What does it means to bestow to a vacuum?

Answer: We have to come to a point that we will bestow without demanding any reward in return so the act of bestowal itself will be for us a fulfillment, a reward.

Question: How can I understand that I perform an act of bestowal?

Answer: Let’s assume that in front of you stands a very respected personality or a person that is famous and known all over the world. You will feel respect and awe, and would want to give him a gift. You feel satisfaction, because in a way, you receive a gift since such a respected person has received a gift from you.

That is how you have to work with everyone that you love or respect, because love is expressed in the gift. I want to do something pleasant for the other, because I enjoy when I give him something and he receives from me. Kabbalah is arranged on this principle. I give or bestow to the Creator, but I actually receive pleasure from it.

Question: It is not about corporeal gifts, but about relationships?

Answer: Try also to practice with corporeal gifts. But of course, the main thing is the relationships. If you love a person, you look for possibilities to give him something. And not because you want to bring him pleasure, but because you enjoy it. You relate to him like a mother relates to her baby. She will cover him with a blanket, then later take the blanket off. She will check on this and that. She will watch him, and if he is not smiling, she will play with him, so he will smile. This is the law of love. The law of love is the law of bestowal! If I love someone, then giving to him fills me with pleasure. He takes and enjoys it.

Question: But I need to know what he wants?

Answer: Right, it means you need to feel him. No problem, feel! Let’s assume that a person you love has a birthday tomorrow. You think to yourself, “What present will I give him? What does he want? What are his needs? How do I bring him joy?”

You would calculate: “Should I do it this way or that way? How is it better to get to know him? How do I best reveal him? How to feel? What to give to him?”

These calculations are based on attaining of the Creator. Otherwise it will be egoistic! Because at the time of spiritual bestowal, I bestow and enjoy. I bestow more, I enjoy more. But each time I have to clarify what he wants and what else I can bestow to him.

Question: How does one know? Does one guess?

Answer: No, ask him to tell you, so you will be able to fulfill him, and with this, you yourself will be fulfilled in his Light.
[138296]
From the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14, Lesson 3

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Question: Is there a universal criterion for the right result of our dissemination?

Answer: How can one determine the result of our dissemination and not be proven wrong? There is only one criterion: effective practical unity in which the Creator is revealed.

This is because the final goal of all that we do is the discovery of the Creator within us, that general natural force that connects us. Ultimately we begin to feel how this world actually disappears and we are left feeling only two forces: reception and bestowal, which cooperate between them, and we are found in full harmony with this system.

In creation there is nothing other than the Olam Ein Sof (the world of Infinity). All the rest is already an imaginary feeling that destroys us.

So we need to try with all our might to measure our unity: How high it is from our ego, how much it is not aimed toward receiving for oneself, how much it is found outside of each one of us, in the center between us, and can actually be similar to the Creator in its character.

And then this change will already have its net practical embodiment in physical data: “levels,” “Aviut” (the thickness of the desire), “screen,” “Ohr Hozer” (returning light). It will then be much simpler and easier for us.

I will be able to see according to our friends and according to myself in what manner we bestow, how it is necessary to draw this from one to another, how each one of us must act. That is how we can measure the willpower of one another.
[140507]
From the Convention In Sochi “Day One” 7/13/14, Lesson 1

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Question: Humanity in its development and attempt to speed things up has cut down quite a few trees. If in my participating in a group and trying to carry out the Kabbalistic method I don’t understand the concrete laws of nature and cannot weigh how my actions will manifest, how can I make correct actions so I won’t make matters worse?

Answer: Everything is much simpler. If it is for the good of the group, then your movements are considered to be positive. If not, then our movements are considered to be negative, and so they require correction. So it is necessary to “give it to you on the head,” so you will understand that you have been acting incorrectly until you learn to act in accordance with the group.

All the rest of humanity is simply managed from above, they have no freedom of choice. And your freedom of choice lies in directing your actions consciously towards the good of the group.

So it is necessary for there to be a precise scrutiny at every moment, not to miss even a second of life and to constantly adjust myself precisely: “I am either there or here”; you understand that freedom of choice is only given for this and that is how it is realized. If you realize it, you are said to be alive. If not, it means that you only exist.
[140657]
From the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14, Lesson 3

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The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that the person can discover the entire system within which he exists while found in this life, in this world. In this world we can exist like all of the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate and not be different from it. We come into this world, live for a designated time, and disappear. We come and we disappear, like all animals, for we also belong to the animal kingdom.

But we can attain the higher level that controls us, manages us at every moment in our lives. Orders and decisions are born on that level that descend into this world and manage us. Suddenly we get thoughts and desires and act in different ways. We don’t know what will be born today. Suddenly we meet people, are involved in various events that we ourselves didn’t initiate. That is what happens at every moment.

Kabbalists explain that all of this was planned from the start. There are people who even feel these situations in advance. It is clear to us that we don’t plan them. But this is concealed from us so much that it seems to me that there is freedom of choice, that I am free to do whatever I want and that nothing is limiting me. And if nobody around me is limiting me, so where do the thoughts come to me from, from where are desires awakened? I don’t know. I simply want, I think, and that’s it.

All of this comes from the system in which we are found and all of us are linked together. This system constantly makes calculations about how to bring us to a higher level of development called the Creator. It is called this because it is above us and all orders, all thoughts, desires, and circumstances descend to us from there.

Throughout history there were a multitude of people who discovered this higher level and told us about what is happening. This higher level wants us to ascend to it so that we will grow from the animal level to the level of Adam (Man). A man is someone who has a head, who doesn’t get desires from above and from the environment, who feels with heart and mind, but molds them himself from an understanding of the general system.

It is up to us to reach this state. And so we enter into a state in which all of us include not only ourselves but the whole of nature, the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate. And it is up to us to take account of all of humanity in all of its generations from the past and the future and also the various states that are found beyond our short individual lives. And this short life becomes something unimportant. After all, the person who begins to rise and to be integrated into the enormous system sees that it is infinite, unlimited. This is the goal of our development that we must attain.

That is how nature is built that brings us to this development. We discover the process, and the discovery of the process is called the wisdom of Kabbalah.

The question is, how can we discover the entire system in which we exist so as not to get bad thoughts and desires that push us in various directions from it, but to discover within ourselves the good thoughts and desires that are useful for advancement so that we will develop in the best, most convenient and shortest way? What is the difference between these two forms of development?

The difference is that in the first way we receive our orders from nature; we develop through suffering, discovering all the time what we are missing and feeling dissatisfaction and suffering, and we are forced to search for the best way. It always happens that we feel a blow and after that something good, and again a blow and again the good. This is escaping from blows; this is the way of suffering.

But if we advance by way of the wisdom of Kabbalah, we ourselves look for how to advance, we shape a future state among us that is better, and we ourselves scrutinize what is good and what is bad. We don’t need to get the deficiency through blows; rather, we clarify it among ourselves and advance without prior suffering, in a rapid way. For we ourselves discover the deficiencies and the fulfillment, and that is how we advance in a wonderful and beautiful way.
[141041]
From the Convention In Colombia “Day Two” 7/26/14, Lesson 1

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Question: All of our efforts throughout the day, other than the morning lesson, are mixed because they are arranged in circles for both men and women. I have a feeling that in general the women are not felt in these circles, they become “as delicate as a dandelion”….

Answer: You don’t feel the female ego? But why should it be discovered? There is no such Mitzvah to be a big egoist. On the contrary, if what you have is already corrected, it means that you are a spiritual person. But if you don’t know what must be corrected in you, it means that you aren’t working on yourself, so the ego hasn’t been discovered in you.

Comment: An impression like this is created that among the women there is a lack of inner unity. Each one is for herself.

Answer: And who is hindering you? You are complaining that the ego hasn’t been discovered in you. But the Upper Light is what must reveal it, the same Light that influences you and from which you will feel yourself as a big egoist. This means that the ego is discovered when you invest effort.

So you must try to serve others more and more, work on unity, on helping. When you finish working on this level, they will show you that essentially you are a big egoist and have been doing all of this for your own sake.

In no way do we create negative actions or awaken negative thoughts or desires in ourselves. We advance forward and upward only, never backward and downward. We never do that. And after a person finishes work on the present level, the next level of ego always appears.

But if you don’t even feel the ego within you, then you remain on the previous level. This means that you are expending very little effort to make our group a single complete unit in your eyes.
[140696]
From the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14, Lesson 3

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Question: In the external public we work with, does the ego grow? Do they feel this growth or is their ego poured into us?

Answer: The main thing is what we get. Certainly the ego of the masses also increases, but it changes its form; it becomes organized on a higher level. It could be that some of them reach a state in which the point in the heart breaks out, for there are still many people in the external world in whom the point in the heart is working internally and in the meantime hasn’t been revealed externally.

And there are also those in whom it is not revealed; they connect with us as an additional part of us and suddenly they get everything that we have gained through our continuous effort. That is how the order of development is revealed.
[140694]
From the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14, Lesson 3

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Question: In our ascent to the next level, we must connect its ten parts into one to advance even more; in other words, we increase this difference with another ten through the combination of additional ego. How does this happen? Is this somehow connected to our going out to the external public with the desires that we get from them?

Answer: If you are affected by the suffering of humanity, which is called “Don’t detach yourself from society,” then you will unwillingly include them within yourself and elevate efforts in the group and for the Creator.

Question: But I perceive their suffering egoistically. I look at them; things are bad for them and I think: “What if it I felt so bad?”

Answer: Continue. It’s okay. Gradually your opinion about them will change. Your thoughts will gradually move towards particular work. You will soften a bit and no longer be so egoistic.

Question: How is this connected to a group? If I am affected by the external crowd, somehow I must move this into the group and digest it?

Answer: Suppose that something hurts me. How can I deal with this in my group work? There is no way. It enters into my work and that’s all there is to it. What don’t you understand here? These are simple human characteristics.

If the suffering of the external public becomes my suffering, if I am affected by it, then it works within me. But if I am so devoid of feeling and indifferent that they don’t make an impression on me, I need to cry about this and ask for it to soften me, that the Creator will make it possible for me to feel them.

Why doesn’t He give me this opportunity? It is so that I will ask for more from Him, so that I will feel the necessity for even this kind of contact with Him.
[140691]
From the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14, Lesson 3

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We learn how the creature deteriorated from one point of unification to separation, to gradual fragmentation, to the discovery of greater and greater forces, to building a system of connection between the parts. Even before the shattering, there existed various characteristics and the forces between them.

In such a way we learn about the whole system of connections between the future creature and the Creator, between the characteristic of reception and the characteristic of bestowal, and about the cooperation between them. This is the system of higher forces, higher worlds. And to make it possible for us to truly exist, despite and in contradiction to the Creator, a shattering happened and our present state was created. From that we began to advance towards trembling.

It must be understood that this fear, this awe, and concern, this anxiety are the measuring tools with whose help I feel the level, the world in which I am found, and whether I am concerned about myself in our world or I am concerned about others in the higher world.

In general, it is a great and wonderful fortune that we were given our situation in the world where we feel the ego that separates us, because with its help we can measure how close or far we are from the exalted goal. This is expressed in a comparison of the beastly fear in our world, an apparent concern about the next world, and dread on a higher level, where we depart from the framework of our mundane concern and logic and are concerned only for what is found outside of us. Through this we begin to resemble the Creator. It is precisely here that a person measures his state, the level on which he is found. Clearly when we are in an egoistic state, we are not prepared to come out of it unless a higher force acts upon us, which is the characteristic of bestowal (the Creator) in a form that we call Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light). It illuminates us from a distance, in secret, because we do not have characteristics that are similar to it. We awaken its influence on us, only to the degree of our efforts to approach each other.

This is an internal, voluntary movement. It is as if I am trying to enter into the feelings and mind of every friend. I withdraw from his external appearance, the external problems and characteristics, and everything that touches upon his mundane characteristics. Only his heart interests me, his yearning for detachment from himself towards connection with others and rising above his beastly state. This is to say, it is what raises a person above his donkey. It is up to me to feel what is happening within his heart and connect it with my heart.

It is the same thing regarding the mind. The various characteristics, thoughts, intentions, and problems don’t interest me, only what belongs to our development. In that way, it is up to me to take from my friend, his point in the heart, his point in the mind, and connect these two points with my two points.

In myself as well, I examine and emphasize only my yearning for the Creator (my point in the heart) and my mental orientation towards Him (my point in the mind). That is how all of us connect with one heart and mind to something whole, as if we are building a spiritual likeness from ourselves composed of heart and mind.

So where is our dread? The dread is when we succeed in building our common point, the pure heart that we have assembled and the mind that we have assembled, and we rise as much as possible, as much as we are detached from what we imagined for ourselves in the mundane sense. A permanent dread is awakened in us as to whether we will succeed in maintaining our collective structure.

This happens within every group of ten, and after that in all of the groups of ten together. Later, our convention will be connected with all the mirror conventions that are held in parallel with us in one spiritual space.

We must hold onto all of this within us and be constantly concerned that this structure will be felt more and more as real in every moment. In the beginning, it is only some kind of a hint, but gradually it becomes thicker and more solid. We even find some new characteristics within our united heart and mind.

We truly begin to feel something, and then we feel the division of this perimeter into ten Sefirot, meaning that we reach a spiritual structure within which we feel active forces, the Creator.

In this way we begin to feel Him and how He maintains our inner structure together, which is the ten Sefirot. All of us are included within this structure and each one feels the ten Sefirot within his particular individual perception, within his original spiritual characteristics, within the point in the heart and the mind.

Each one of us discovers his creation without disturbing each other. Our souls are included in each other and become connected so that eventually a general picture of the Olam Ein Sof (world of Infinity) is created.

We are already connected between us on levels that lead upward and the ten Sefirot become increasingly clear. Within them are discovered immense internal characteristics, combinations, coalitions, systems, and connections. Ultimately, all of these together become a Sefira that is composed of infinite emotional and intellectual connections.

In this way we reach attainment of the Creator, meaning attainment of the immense mind and emotion that fills this Sefira. This is the way that we must go together.

So the main thing is the characteristic of bestowal, and so we must fear falling into our mundane scrutinies, into our natural corporeal concerns. In a convention we must limit this to the level of necessary subsistence only.

We are trying to reach the state of trepidation in this manner.
[43956]
From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Lesson 1

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