Question: What is the difference between caring and service? You say that we must attract the future states. This is unclear because it truly doesn’t exist within our sensation.

Answer: Certainly. So, this is not understandable. We understand only what is given to us in sensation. The matter of the world, of creation, is desire. So, feelings are primary. First, we feel, and after that we begin to understand what we are feeling, the reasons, all kinds of connections and everything that is happening within the desire itself. We understand how it is reinforced and  how it is possible to recover it, and so forth.

It is very important to understand that the main thing is desire, meaning feeling.

What touches upon the difference between care and service? Well, “service” or “usage,” these words are not good because they indicate that we must do something without ourselves understanding what. This is what has been taught to us, commanded and forced upon us. I am not saying that this is bad. For instance, service to a nation is something else. However, this is something that cannot be in the spiritual way.

In the spiritual path, it is necessary to attain everything emotionally within ourselves and, after that, explore our emotions. On what level of desires are Shoresh (root), Aleph (first), Bet (second), Gimel (third), and Dalet (four) found? Which Light is extended into these desires according to our intention? The degree of intention—Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet—determines the amount of the Light that is revealed, in other words, the intensity, the strength of feeling of the Creator which is discovered in that desire.

All of us must begin to feel to such a degree that when reading a book, we experience and measure our feelings at the same time. The book must be our spiritual and emotional guide in the full sense of the word so that we will laugh and cry when we read it, for it is talking about which activities I must carry out within me at every moment.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a very emotional science, but only for someone who can feel these emotions in himself already, and, if not, then it will seem dry to him.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/9/14, Lesson 1

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All human beings are bearers of a particular part of the one and only collective soul: Malchut of the world of Infinity. In the right state of resemblance and equivalence to the Light, this is called Adam (from Domeh, meaning similar). All of us are shattered into parts, distant from each other, so that in spite of our natural rejection called egoism, we can connect above it.

To the degree that we begin to yearn to approach each other, the shattered desire that is in us gradually will begin to be discovered more and more, and we are egoistically repelled from each other more and more strongly.

Through our opposition to the mutual rejection and building a mutual connection above it, we enhance the intensity of the vessel of the collective soul that is composed of two opposing forces: repulsion and attraction. Accordingly, with our desire above the ego, a greater and greater Light is discovered: the characteristic of bestowal.

As it is written, (Proverbs 10:12) “Love covereth all transgressions.” Therefore, they are necessary, and the degree of the gap between the crimes and the love determines the volume of the vessel in which the characteristic of bestowal and love is revealed. A small vessel (a small contrast between hatred and love) becomes greater and greater until the contrast becomes infinite, and this is the world of Infinity.

That is how we advance forward. Everything depends upon the intensity of our work. If we build ourselves in the right way, we don’t flee from the opportunities for connection that appear with us in all kinds of physical conditions, like studying and dissemination, wherever possible. This is a necessary condition with whose help we hasten and accelerate our way.

With this, the attitude toward a friend and the entire world must be like the relationship to the Creator because this is discovery of Him. That is how He is revealed to me. If I try to approach Him, I must say that everything that is happening comes from Him. In this case, I already am justifying everything that is around me.

This is because, from the start, everything is determined by Him, just like all the characteristics and all kinds of movements within me. The Creator is found in everything (both within me and in what is outside of me), and the relationship between the internal and the external is the middle third of Tifferet, there, where the person feels free choice.

Therefore, such a correct intention accelerates our path.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/9/14, Lesson 1

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Question: How is it possible to reach equality in a convention in order to balance the entire system?

Answer: We will not talk about equality, but we will talk about connection. And from connection comes equality. It is not necessary to cut off heads and line everyone up according to one standard for this. On the contrary, everyone must grow as high as possible and be integrated in a general connection. Equality comes from this.

There is no need to limit anyone. Limitation never leads to anything good. The only thing we need is connection, and from this is born the feeling of what it is to be equal.

We want to join, to embrace, and to connect. And on the basis of that feeling that appears as a result of all these actions, we begin to connect equally. This is because connection cannot exist if we are not equal. Connection between differences; these will become the higher and lower levels.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/5/14, Writings of Rabash

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Convention in Sochi, “Discussion on the Conclusions from the Activity in Sochi”

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A group should create conditions to accommodate everybody who has a desire to develop their points in the heart. We don’t know in advance who has a point in the heart and who doesn’t. Spiritual desires by all means will gradually appear. It’s quite possible that at some point these desires may stop evolving and a person may abandon the path.

We have to support those who get into an “accident.” We need to help and strengthen those who are in need of our care. A group should constantly think about these situations and maintain everybody at their maximally highest level. The group must constantly feel if they are in the state of absolute integration or not. Currently, we sense one dissolved desire and one focused intention, and everything else is overboard. This state should be constant.

This  may result in all sorts of quarrels and misunderstandings on the everyday level regarding how we publish a book, issue a newspaper, etc., with anything that is not directly associated with spirituality. Things that are not a part of the spiritual path are not subject to spiritual laws. We can argue, fight, and disagree with each other, but still do everything in our power to detach these situations from our internal group relationships.

It is similar to a mother who reprimands and punishes her child even though she loves him to the depth of her heart. For her, it is vital to take care of her child. We should follow this example because in this world this is the only model that is abundantly clear to everybody.

Each one of us has to constantly ponder how he, as a member of the group, can create maximally optimal conditions to ensure others’ development and flourishing at each given moment in time.

Sometimes downfalls happen that trigger jealousy, resentment, negative thoughts, and a critical attitude between friends.

It is very good since it gives us something to work on. One has to evaluate one’s actions correctly. The group has to create the surroundings that promote immediate analyses of one’s attitude to others and its adequate and prompt correction so that one returns to the group at a new level of unity.

We have to work very seriously with our intention; it has to be directed towards the group as a whole, aimed at our collective unanimity and at creating an atmosphere that holds everybody afloat. Otherwise, nothing will work. It’s about a constant and yet benevolent tension. Our desire to have this kind of tension is so strong that we easily get used to it and don’t consider it burdensome at all. It should not trouble you. It won’t exhaust you! On the contrary, it will promote your spiritual life.

At the same time, when we study and go deep into the material we learn together, the group turns into one whole and thus grows. This is how everybody advances, step by step. Individually, each friend feels that he is an internal part of the group like a fetus in the mother’s body; each one sees the group at its new level and continues considering friends to be higher and better than him and experiences a good jealousy toward others. It’s a positive type of envy since it pushes one to connect with others.

A person starts understanding that attainment of the next level is generally very easy: there is something one can cling to, a place where one can be enclosed and where one can be dissolved. This process happens effortlessly. All we need is to tune into it and be in the environment that support this disposition. That’s it! This is enough to be brought into the flow.

Later, our entry into the connection that manifests itself as the Sefirot, all kinds of ties among numerous qualities, and becomes more precise and deep. There are 10 major properties. Besides the major 10 Sefirot, there also are private, individual Sefirot, i.e., each of the 10 Sefirot contains a new set of 10 Sefirot, etc. However, we need only the first 10 Sefirot. We have to start sensing them first.

Connection between us turns into a force that allows us to bestow. When we achieve this connection, we start sensing it as one whole even though it is comprised of totally different forces that oppose each other: Hesed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. They are as opposite to each other in love and hatred, and jealousy and kindness. So when we connect them together, we get exactly the mass that reveals spiritual states. We disclose spirituality in this mass.

A group has to relate to each of its members like a mother to her child so that each friend develops correctly, has the right mood and attitude and prepares for spiritual growth instead of being in a static state. Every new day cannot be similar to yesterday.

That’s why we have to examine ourselves and analyze our internal states. If I don’t see what to work on today, it means that I didn’t work yesterday. It also means that a new prerequisite for my correction does not emerge in me. Our growth is based on a gradual and cumulative correction of the problems that arise among us in the group, in the connection between us.
[113802]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7.13.13, Lesson 4

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Question: How can one learn the language of the Creator and how should we respond to His message?

Answer: We must understand that everything that happens must be resolved in this life according to how things work in this world. All these physical laws are also determined by the Creator and people have determined that they need these laws. So it makes no difference if they seem good or bad to us; I must keep them. This is because they are all derived from one source; there is nothing other than that.

When I get some problem, I must determine that it was sent by the Creator. I must resolve it as is customary. But I arrange things such that I operate within the connection with the friends, with the group. Even though it is personal and is irrelevant to anyone else, it obligates me to connect more strongly with the group.

And actually, physically, I respond to this problem exactly as someone else in my place would. Only he would not think that with this the Creator is drawing his attention to Him, with this He is giving him  this work; rather he would simply solve it in the framework of this world.

I also solve the problem in the framework of this world, but actually, this world becomes the spiritual world. And that is how I advance. For me every event in the material world becomes a reason for spiritual advancement, for resemblance and greater equivalence to the Creator.
[135658]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 4

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Question: Is it enough simply to recognize the fact that everything that happens is sent from Above, or must one do something else?

Answer: It is not enough just to say that everything comes from Above. There are many people who talk this way. But what is important is not what the person says but how he reacts.

Does this recognition that everything comes from Above obligate me to attain this source? Do I perceive everything that happens as the language of the Creator through which He speaks to me, and do I try to change so as to become like Him, or am I just saying that all of this is from Above?

If I understand that everything comes from Above, both pleasant and unpleasant events, to bring me closer to the Creator, then it makes no difference what kind of impact it has on me, because I want to get closer to Him. He can beat me, and I want to flee from Him and forget about Him. But I must rise above my ego and say that it is not important to me how He affects me: if it is good or bad for my ego.

I always want to draw nearer to Him so that good and evil will have relevance to my ego only and not to myself, not to my consciousness. And it could be that evil advances me towards the Creator more than the good. So He will send me more evil, and I will rise above it.

It is said that “Those who love the Creator hate evil,” because evil is considered to be not the trouble or the blows that I feel. If something distances me from the Creator, this is called evil, and if it brings me closer to the Creator, then this is called good.

And then this corrects me to some degree; I begin to feel pleasure that I advance towards the Creator, even through blows. And I suffer if something distances me from Him, even if it is pleasant. If I get some kind of physical pleasure and take it into account and understand that I am distanced from the Creator through this, then this makes me suffer.

That is how a person begins to change the corporeal, beastly, egoistic desires into desires that depend on closeness or distance from the Creator, which are called vessels of bestowal. We need to go through this process.

If a person moves from desires like these to others, this means he is crossing the Machsom and entering into work for the sake of bestowal, into Lishma. He now carries out all actions only for the sake of advancement and feels all advancement as pleasure and no longer feels the blows. He is already disengaged from his ego through which the blows pass, and has pleasure from advancement only.

This may seem difficult, complicated, and hard to comprehend from a psychological point of view, but don’t worry, this is possible and we will reach this. We are already prepared to absorb and understand and begin to realize it.
[135654]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 4

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A person who yearns to discover the true world, who wants to know for what and why he is living on the face of this earth and what is happening here in general, sees himself as an investigator who learns about the world in order to understand and to feel it. But in fact, this is not the right approach, because in the center of the world, the higher power is found and not us. It moves and determines everything. And if we want to investigate the world, then we must always adhere to that higher power.

In order to truly discover the picture of the world, it is necessary, first of all, to see this source of all of reality and all that happens within it. I must know that everything is derived from a single power. And all creatures, including myself, the still, vegetative, animate, and humans, everything that exists in this world, what we know and what is still unknown, is received from this higher source.

I must concentrate my attention specifically on that, on the Creator. This means that all the events that happen with me and with others, all of our feelings, all of the past, present, and future—everything comes from the Creator and for only one purpose, to bring us to Him.

But so all of us will come to Him, it is necessary to receive all kinds of observations from Him; it is not important whether they are negative or positive. We need to be always be between these experiences and observations, and so time after time we learn about Him more and more.

These stages of our advancement towards the Creator are called “five worlds” (Olamot), which comes from the word “Alama (concealment)”: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, after which comes the world of Infinity where we merge with the Creator as a single whole. So step after step we approach Him, let’s say 20% with every stage, until we reach one hundred percent resemblance and equivalence to, understanding and perception of the Creator.

If follows that I don’t ascribe all of the internal feelings of our body and personal experiences to those people around me who seemingly cause them, but instead to the Creator. All of the people, the whole world, including my body and myself, are moved by Him. So I only need to know how to relate correctly to all that is happening: First of all, remember that everything comes from the Creator; second, it comes to teach me to understand Him.

This means that I must draw conclusions from all these states through which I am passing and see a good sign in what I now feel. This is because the Creator didn’t create anything bad and if I am directed towards Him, then I cannot feel anything bad. But if I am directed in some other direction, then it will be bad for me. As I continually follow, like radar, this view of the world and everything that is happening, I absorb the attitude of the Creator, meaning that I see that everything is coming from Him to direct me towards Him and only with what is good.

So it is written: (Psalms 97:10), O ye that love the LORD, hate evil. We begin to discover that when we are aimed in the right direction, towards the Creator, then everything that opposes bestowal is discovered as evil. This is because being directed towards Him requires us to be like Him. This is what we must learn during every second of our lives.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 4

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It is impossible to direct myself towards the Creator alone because I am compelled to go out of my ego. And so I must be connected with other people. It is desirable that we have ten people.

If we unite together to find the Creator, then we begin to see that only through the disengagement of each one from himself and disappearance into our connection can we abandon our old vision and focus on the Creator. This is like stereo pictures that look like a chaotic drawing with lots of lines. But if we look at this picture with unfocused eyes, then we begin to see all kinds of images in the depth of the picture.

That is also how we need to disengage from our egoistic view of the world, which is typical of everyone’e nature. In this vision, we lock ourselves artificially in a very limited world, and to leave it, we need to open our senses.

This is possible only by creating a new focus. It is necessary to see the world, not with our egoistic eyes, but with the eyes of the group, and then a new focus appears in all directions. Thus we enter, not a three-dimensional world, but a world of infinite dimensions, where in every direction and passes some plane coordinate axes. If I want to advance correctly, first of all I need to act through the group. There is no other mechanism for nullifying the focus of my vision and directing it spiritually. Only through the group can I try to feel something spiritual.

If I feel the world through the group, this is a sign that I have focused on the spiritual world, similar to the efforts to see the stereo picture. The main thing is to discern that everything comes from the Creator to teach me to understand Him. The world is His language with which He speaks to me.

Someone screams at me and there’s a set of events that takes place at every moment, while I must try to understand what the Creator wants it to tell me, what kind of reaction is required from me towards Him.

This means that first of all I must understand that this comes from Him. After that, I decide how I must react to what is happening. The reaction must be such that through what the Creator said to me and my desire to answer Him from within, between us we become closer, meaning that I understood Him and I did what He expected from me.

And then with everyone, I will behave exactly in this form: with the children, in the family, with people near and far. The clarification of my attitude towards the Creator, the reception of information from Him and responding to it, is called intention. And after that there can be action. We must be involved with this at every moment in our lives.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 4

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #1 “There is None Else Besides Him”: It is written, “there is none else besides Him.” This means that there is no other force in the world that has the ability to do anything against Him. And what man sees, that there are things in the world that deny the Higher Household, the solitary source, the reason is that this is His will.

The Creator wants to give us the feeling that supposedly there are other forces and sources of influence existing in the world: the person himself and many other people.

And it is deemed a correction, called the left rejects and the right adducts, two forms of higher supervision for teaching a person. Meaning that which the left rejects is considered correction. This means that there are things in the world, which, to begin with, aim to divert a person from the right way, and by which he is rejected from Sanctity, from connection with the Creator.

And the benefit from the rejections is that through them a person receives a need and a complete desire for the Creator to help him, because he sees that by himself he cannot hold the right picture of reality. Since he sees that otherwise he is lost, it will be gone, he is lost in this world.

Not only does he not progress in his work, but he sees that he regresses. It constantly becomes more and more difficult for us to keep the connection with the Creator. And so many abandon this way; they think that they may not be suitable for it or that the way itself is not right and leads to an unattainable goal.

We don’t understand that the difficulties are given to us intentionally. It is good that we don’t succeed! For then we feel a need for the Creator and begin to approach Him, and don’t just cleverly overcome some kind of task. The Creator intentionally gives us more and more difficult tasks that cannot be carried out so that we will ask for His help; we will want to approach Him and not struggle with the difficulties by ourselves.

Before we were able to adhere to the Creator, we try to understand and feel what is happening in life. In the beginning everyone burns with excitement and is full of energy. But after this, we gradually cool off and begin to see that it is not easy. And the main thing is to understand at the same time that this is a natural process.

We don’t advance egoistically from one success to a greater success. Specifically the lack of success in perceiving reality, in understanding the world, is a good sign. It shows that we see how much we are not ready to get along by ourselves and we need the help of the Creator.

The main thing here is not to flee but to continue to advance. If a person doesn’t judge what is happening according to his earthly intellect but perceives correctly, then he understands that disappointment, despair, confusion, and lack of success are sent by a higher power, that there is none else besides Him. Then he comes to the decision that no one can help him but the Creator Himself. This causes him to make a heartfelt demand that the Creator will open his eyes and heart, and truly bring him nearer to eternal adhesion with God.

This means that he demands to approach and adhere to the higher power itself and not the solution to his material problems. He doesn’t want to change and understand the world; rather, he wants to connect with the Creator through it. It thus follows, that all the rejections he had experienced had come from the Creator. This means that it was not because he was at fault.

Precisely because the Creator doesn’t give the possibility of advancing, apparently confuses, rejects, and creates disturbances, He presents help to a person by showing him his deficiencies in his present state by sending him thoughts and arguments that are against spiritual work. And this is all so that the person will see that what he lacks is union with the Creator, and not prosperity in this world.

And as much as he overcomes, he always sees how he is farther from holiness than others. He looks at the friends and sees that they all seemingly advance, while he doesn’t. But he, on the other hand, always has complaints and demands, and he cannot justify the Creator’s behavior, and how He behaves toward him. This pains him. Why is he not one with the Creator? Finally, he comes to feel that he has no part in holiness whatsoever… However, this is what causes him to come to realize that only God can help and really bring him closer.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 2

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