World Zohar Convention, Day Two, “There Is None Else Beside Him,” Lesson 4

World Zohar Convention, Day Two, Workshop 3

World Zohar Convention, Day Two, Lesson 5

World Zohar Convention, Day Two, Lesson 6

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Right now we need to clarify which problems must actually be solved before and during the convention. Otherwise this will not be called a “convention,” a convening, a connection.

Question: It is understandable that we need to feel happy about connection. But must we also be afraid of not attaining a connection?

Answer: There is a particular age below which the child is exempt from commandments (Mitzvot) because he is small. After that we begin to educate him and say to him what he is allowed to eat and what he is forbidden to eat, or that one can do something this way and is not allowed to do it that way.

The first commandment is called “fear” in the presence of the Creator. I am afraid of whether or not I will be able to give Him contentment, will this action make Him happier, what will make Him less happy? For this, I must reach an age of maturity, “Bar Mitzvah,” meaning a level when a person is aware that he is responsible for his thoughts, intentions, and deeds of correction. A “Mitzvah” is correction. The question is, have we reached this age?

If we were already like this today, we will feel the fear, the apprehension: “Friends, the goal before us is to give contentment to the Creator! If we don’t do this, it will be very bad.” This will be very bad not for ourselves, but bad for another, for others; otherwise, this is not called a “Mitzvah” if I am thinking about myself. But if we succeed in giving contentment to the Creator, this will be good for the entire world! What will be with us doesn’t matter to us.

This means that we must make many preliminary corrections before we reach realization of this first commandment of fear, of apprehension, of the thought, “Am I giving contentment to the Creator or not?” It’s forbidden for you to get some kind of benefit from this in return for this will no longer be a commandment, this will not be bestowal, this will not be giving contentment to the Creator. It’s possible to bring contentment to the Creator only if there is no self-interest, if one is making Him happy without considering personal loss or gain. We must still rise to this level by making a restriction on our ego so that the result will not be considered in relation to ourselves.
[126431]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We should feel that we are in the desert and that we will remain in the desert, in desolation, in emptiness, if we don’t reach the state in which we can delight the Creator. We will only have the idea that we did it, that we are trying to do it, and that we are getting close to it. Then, there is a higher level, and we don’t want to know it since the exertion itself, delighting the Creator, is our reward.

The emptiness that is created between us always will be the place that the Creator must fill according to our state. The higher we ascend the spiritual ladder, this emptiness will take on a new form, a new essence, a new identity, until finally we will reach a state in which we will ask for nothing except for the opportunity to make an effort in total darkness. This darkness becomes a place full of Light for us.

It is said:.”Darkness will illuminate as Light.” But how can that be? After all, it remains darkness! For us, it isn’t darkness anymore. If we bring the Light of Hassadim (Mercy) into it, our impulse to bestow, the darkness turns into Light and night turns into day.

If we turn ourselves into a vessel that can work only in order to serve all of creation, this vessel becomes a conductor of the Light. We actually are ready for this transition which is a totally new phenomenon that never existed before. Therefore, we can reach the right action by our mutual effort. Our action isn’t in feeling and understanding the Creator but rather in discovering the right deficiency. This is the only thing that is required of us.

When we have the right deficiency, we immediately will discover that we are already on a certain spiritual level. Even now, we are already in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), but we discover only part of it according to our deficiency and one day, we discover all of it.
[126722]
From the Preparation for the World Zohar Week 2014 1/29/14

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World Zohar Convention, Day One, Lesson 1

World Zohar Convention, Day One, Workshop 1

World Zohar Convention, Day One, Lesson 2

World Zohar Convention, Day One, Workshop 2

World Zohar Convention, Day One, Lesson 3

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I am very glad that we have such an extended convention, long meetings between all the friends around the world. This allows us to be integrated with each other, to connect, and unite. First of all, it says that from Above we are allowed to do that. All the forces of the Creator are intended to help us, to give us a chance to unite. The rest is up to us. 

Somewhere between two and three weeks before our convention, a new attitude came to us from Above: focused, aimed at us, the desire of the Creator, Who waits for us to rise to Him. Therefore, we have to take this challenge and begin to work with it. We are in a state when everything has been already transferred to our hands and depends on us. 

I very much hope that we will not miss this chance. You noticed that shortly before our convention, we suddenly had an opportunity and readiness to explain the direction to the goal more clearly and openly. The lessons have risen to a new level and have become more accurately directed at it. So, I am very glad that we are on the threshold of correct connection. We have the power for it. I am very proud of you, of our chance to get together and bring great joy to the upper force that cares about us. 

We just have to thank the Creator for the opportunities presented and quickly realize the chance provided. We received it and not accidentally. Why have we all of a sudden received such a connection with the upper force that we have the opportunity to reveal it as managing everything, enveloping, and filling everything? Why does It want to raise us and make us its partners? This is huge luck. We are just the lucky ones! 

Therefore, we must accept every friend as a great special person in his generation, chosen by the Creator from many millions of people and brought here where our friends from around the world gathered. This is a great state that has a huge impact on all of humanity. 

Neil Armstrong once said, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Indeed, this is what is happening to us only in a spiritual sense, and it strongly advances the world. Therefore, we need to honor every friend and collectively thank the Creator.
[126734]
From a Talk During the Meal 1/29/14

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We have already experienced the first feeling of connection, but the question is how do we continue using our experience? If we simply enjoy the pleasant feeling and the tranquility, then we are clearly using the illumination that comes to us. As a result of the loss of the illumination, we feel a descent. As Baal HaSulam said: “Shame on he who does not constantly step up his efforts, but makes a complaint, separating himself from the Creator.”

Therefore, we must constantly work on increasing our desire and efforts on this inclination in different forms among the men and the women, in different circles. We know that Ramchal’s students took turns in studying continuously from The Book of Zohar. There was always a small group that was responsible for keeping the general state every hour of the 24 hours in a day. We may also have to do something similar in the future. We have an opportunity to organize this duty around the clock all over the globe, in all our groups on every continent. It makes no difference whether it’s a big group or a small one, any small effort that one small individual makes is like a great effort that a grownup makes.

Now we should fear the descent back to the domination of the ego. We feel good and pleasant; we have experienced some unusual feelings and we are starting to enjoy and to analyze them, but no matter what I feel, what is important is to constantly remain above my feelings and my calculations and to yearn only for bestowal. When I am in bestowal, I don’t feel myself and I don’t even think about it. I only ask for bestowal: For whom am I doing all this?

I live thanks to the intention to bestow and not in the state itself. In the spiritual world, the state itself is not included, only what you add to it, the acceleration, and the derivative.
[126559]
From the Talk at a Meal 1/27/14

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Question: How can I rejoice and be serious simultaneously?

Answer: It depends on a person’s development. We see that children cannot display complex feelings: They are either happy or upset and cry, again and again, instantly moving from one to another. A serious grownup, on the other hand, understands that there are different states in life and one can feel both joy and sadness.

A whole person understands creation and knows how to connect its ends, so the worst feelings on one end and the best feelings on the other end support one another and intensify one another. He understands that this is how the matter of creation is arranged, in contrasting poles of darkness and Light, and that they must both exist one opposite the other.

If a person feels that this system exists and operates between these two ends, he is happy that he has both the force of evil and the force of goodness and that they don’t extinguish one another. By connecting on the middle line, the right and the left lines do not extinguish or nullify one another, but rather, support and amplify one another by 620 times.
[126486]
From the Talk at the Meal 1/26/14

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Integral Education Convention, Day Three, Lesson 1 “There Is None Else  Beside Him”

Integral Education Convention, Day Three, Workshop 3

Integral Education Convention, Day Three, Workshop 5

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Raising the Heart by the Paths of the Creator

To achieve real unity, we must attract the Light that Reforms. It’s possible to attract it only by giving respect to the greatness of the goal, the group, the friends, and the upper force that takes care of us and to which we are heading. Thus, we come to the relationship with the Divine.

Having achieved that, we act together as commandos (like all those in our world who unite in groups), and from this point we begin to aspire more to the Creator. In order to come to the Creator, we need to raise our own importance. There is no other choice, not because we want to walk arrogantly turning up our nose at everyone else, but because it’s necessary. We need forces in order to connect even more deeply, we need a stimulus that will give us energy and an urgent need in compromises and unity.

Where do we get this stimulus? The answer is “to raise the heart by the ways of the Creator.” This means that we must rise above everyone, certainly not above the group, but above the whole world, all the ages, and all the generations. We have to be proud that we are the pioneers, the last generation that paves the way for all of humanity. We have to cultivate group pride, purposeful, positive pride.

This pride should be born through force: I am not happy about it and not wholeheartedly proud, I just have no other choice but to increase pride. And it’s a lot of work.

We should look for opportunities to strengthen and maximize mutual guarantee. Where can we get the “appetite” for it? As a rule the appetite for mutual guarantee comes from a wider environment. For this we have to work precisely on the awareness of the importance of our environment relative to a wider environment.

In other words, we work with our group and raise its importance above each of us. After that, we need to raise the importance of our group above a more external environment. Only then can we connect the desires of humanity and strengthen mutual guarantee.

We cannot strengthen mutual guarantee if we close ourselves within the group. This is possible only by connecting external vessels and opening the internal ones. “The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh”; this is not about a person who does nothing but about a person who does not care about expanding the vessels (Kelim). That’s why he is a fool.
[126636]
Preparation for the Integral Convention, Nine Stages On The Path To Unity, Point 4

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Question: To what level do we need to rise today? What exactly must we emphasize in attaining connection between us?

Answer: The first task is: “Love covers over all transgressions.” All evil that is revealed is discovered within the entire system and doesn’t depend upon anyone personally, even if it seems that this comes from someone or is discovered in someone. Everything that is revealed comes from the general integral system even if I see it locally and attribute it to a particular person and not the Creator. This is a defect in my comprehension.

All of the problems and defects are revealed so that I can rise above them again with faith above reason. If I discover negative characteristics in a friend (a friend who is with me on the path), this is a sign that I can accept him with faith above reason, with love.

All of the troubles and all of the joys, everything that happens with all of us, we must register this in our shared account and not attribute it to someone or something separate. This is all a game from above that the Creator plays with us.

The second task: We are not gathering in order to connect among us! We are coming to discover the Creator! And in order to discover Him we connect between us. Don’t confuse what is secondary from the essence.

Regarding everything that happens, we must feel first that this comes from Above and “If I am not for myself who will be for me?” and ultimately everything that happens is happening according to the program of creation. But in the middle, between these two points, the beginning and the end, I must reveal full devotion, nullify myself, and beyond this nullification, help everyone also to become like this as well.

First I nullify myself completely. And when I finish totally nullifying myself, then above my nullification, I begin to help others to do everything that they want. This is called reception for the sake of bestowal. Remember that our convention is not a convention of connection between us; instead, it is a convention of connection with the Creator.
[126426]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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