Question: What is velocity and acceleration in spirituality and how can we use this?

Answer: The idea is that nature pushes us towards development through suffering, that is, through a feeling of lack of fulfillment in the present state and the possibility of fulfillment in the next state. And these are the forces of evolution: the negative force from behind and the positive force from the front.

The more that we advance, more negative forces are gathered from behind and fewer positive forces attract us from the front. We see that since we advance according to our egoistic nature, very little is illuminated for us up front. Therefore the world is in a state of apathy and depression.

And here we are reaching a condition where we must explain to people that all the negative forces are not driving us so that we would flee from them, rather so that we can understand the new way of our development, meaning, to change the intention, the relationship to the other, to the world, and in this way, to the Creator.

The main thing is the intention. The desires are determined and arise and are realized only to the degree that it is possible to do them with the right intention.

In our world, the velocity of advancement is determined for us from behind, in that it moves and pushes us forward through negative influence and we move forward at a constant speed.

Studying Kabbalah makes it possible for us to carry out a hastening or contraction of time, which is the same thing, with the help of three components: the group, the study, and dissemination.

Speed is that parameter that doesn’t depend on us; nature moves us towards the goal. And on the other hand, acceleration depends on us.

Velocity is not a contraction of time. It is known that the way of correction takes 6000 years, from the first correction that was made by Adam 5780 years ago to the last correction that we will reach in another 220 years, whether we want this or not. This is called the path of velocity.

But at the same time, there exists the possibility of acceleration. To the degree that we accelerate our way, we change it qualitatively because we want this ourselves.

For example, there is a difference between a small child who is required to learn and is constantly under pressure, and a child who is interested in everything himself and successfully studies. He can quickly finish the lessons at school and feels that he is in this process himself as if he were in an easy and good game. And that is how it is with us, too.

If we choose a group and within it like in a small world, in a small society, we create all of those conditions that will advance us forward, then we will reach the goal much more rapidly than under the steamroller and pressure of nature.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 2

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Question: In the first semester, I felt that something was happening within me; in the second semester, I actively participated in work; while in the third semester, I discovered that in fact I didn’t understand anything and no feeling remained other than the fear of getting lost. And even though I hear the morning lessons, I don’t hear them.

Answer: You personally, together with several other students, are passing through a unique internal period of preparations for the new state. So don’t hurry, this will pass. Suddenly an awakening will come to you and you will begin to feel something completely new. This will not be entry into the spiritual world yet, but already some kinds of spiritual sensations.

The idea is that the inner program is changing within us. It is being perfected all the time and everything is happening like in a computer: You are uploading new software and after that you must do a “restart” to pass from one level of work to another.

This is exactly what is happening to you now. The inner perfection of the adaptation of the program to this and to the spiritual world is being realized in you and soon you will begin to feel more.

And the state of confusion, emptiness, lack of understanding, and messiness, will return quite often; otherwise, you could not advance forward. This is typical for everyone, but gradually you will get used to it.
[124644]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 2

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Question: Why can’t I hold on to the feeling of unity, to the “raspberry ball,” it keeps disappearing?

Answer: It doesn’t matter if it disappears. We should look at the benefit of our actions and if I can add effort I am happier that it is lost than if I have it, because what I already have is mine. If I stall even for a second in the state that I have achieved, it begins to rot.

The moment I begin to enjoy my state, I should understand that it’s an egoistic pleasure. If I enjoy the change of states, the derivative, which means not the speed but the acceleration, the increasing speed of the changes, then it’s the right pleasure. If I simply enjoy the state itself, then it’s already a shell.

Just like in physics, a body that moves at a constant speed which may be very high is considered to be standing still, and with regard to me, it isn’t moving. It can be considered to be moving only if its speed changes. So if your speed constantly grows, you can be glad, and it’s a good joy. It’s called “joy of a Mitzvah,” since you are constantly adding, which means that you are raising more and more desires to correction.

What’s more, you mustn’t enjoy in a constant state. You should advance like an old man who is bent, constantly looking for a deficiency in order to accelerate his speed.

Question: How can we hold the raspberry ball?

Answer: The raspberry ball can be held only by the group’s effort and with the help of the Upper Force. We must constantly play with this ball, like dough when baking matzah, which you cannot stop kneading even for a second, until you put it in the oven. It cannot be kneaded longer than 18 minutes: the nine Sefirot of the Direct and the nine Sefirot of the Reflected Light, and then immediately in the oven!
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

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In his article “The Peace,” Baal HaSulam writes: This is done by the law of development imprinted in Creation against humanity’s will, where the deeds of the wicked themselves necessarily instigate the good deeds, as we have shown above.

We are all under the influence of this law that drives us forward through suffering.

However, the Creator gave man the mind and power and let him control and guide the law. It is possible to accelerate and boost the process of development at will freely, independent of time.

How can we realize this opportunity that was given to us?

Our desires are irrelevant; they always remain absolutely the same and we cannot diminish, increase, or develop them in any way. We have to forget about them as if they do not exist, because we do not control them. Kabbalah says that it is only intentions that we can control. It’s not about limiting our desires, nor is it about what we should do with them. It is written so, but what’s implied in these words is the intention.

However, if we are able to somehow change our intention, how do we do it? For that, this world is given to us. We are in a very interesting state: As opposed to spirituality, we can kind of act altruistically, bestow, connect and love with the intention “for our own sake.” In other words, this world lets us deceive ourselves.

This interesting state is under all the spiritual worlds.

Five worlds descend from the world of Infinity to our world: Adam Kadmon (AK), Atzilut (A), Beria (B), Yetzira (E), Assiya (A), and the very last, our world.

Usually we think that it is a very primitive, worthless world. In fact, it’s not so. Here, we can act with intention. Intention and action exist in all other spiritual worlds, but there they are united and equal; there, they act only to the extent of their intention to bestow.

In this world, it is opposite: One can act both for the sake of receiving and bestowing simultaneously. At the same time, our intentions are directed solely at receiving for our own sake. In other words, in this world we can perform actions that are opposite to intentions and have intentions that contradict actions. It is a very interesting phenomenon.

When we watch a small child, we clearly see his simple actions and very plain intentions: He grabs everything only for himself. Animals act the same way. It’s obvious. That’s why we love them, since they don’t lie to anyone; their actions and intentions do not contradict. They totally lack guile.

A grown man acts externally with internal intentions. He can be very polite, respectful, and kind and at the same time pursue a goal that might hurt someone only for the sake of his own benefit.

However, this opportunity is given to us only in this world in which contradictory actions and intentions are possible, to completely objectively and independently start our ascent to the upper world. We are the ones who choose how to rise to spirituality because we are given the opportunity to act for the sake of bestowal, although our intentions remain evil—for our own sake.

How can we pull ourselves to the upper world? It’s very easy. We have to place ourselves in a community of people who are given the same opportunity to act and have intentions as other normal, egoistic and artful people in this world, i.e., those who understand their nature at least a little bit. They have a desire to change their intentions, although the only thing that we can actually change is actions, not intentions.

If we join this group of people and act supposedly for the sake of bringing pleasure and benevolence to each other, we would like to connect with one another in one unified whole and make mutual bestowal our goal; in this case, we act correctly, for the sake of bestowal, but our intentions are wrong. We cannot do anything about them.

However, if we study Kabbalah together, in a group, we learn how the unity of intentions and actions are implemented in the upper worlds. Then, a special illumination descends from the upper world to us and changes our intention.

Our actions are normal; we are oriented towards each other in order to connect, whereas our intentions remain “for our own sake” (Lo Lishma.)

Under the influence of the Surrounding Light called Ohr Makif (O’M), which is a special energy, an extraordinary force, we start changing; to the degree of our transformation, our surroundings also modify from “for the sake of ourselves” to “for the sake of others” or “for the sake of our friends” and later on for the sake of something greater and higher. This is how we approach a state of Lishma and begin sensing ourselves in the intention to bestow.

To be in the intention to bestow is to exist in the upper world because in this intention we start perceiving totally different, higher properties of matter. We start exiting ourselves, from our state that is limited by sensations of this world, and as a result, we rapidly move ahead to the same goal nature leads us to.

By voluntarily aspiring ahead, we avoid suffering. Our sufferings are now called “afflictions of love” since now we think of how to move ahead more effectively, how to better trigger the Surrounding Light to us, and how to faster change our intentions.

We perform minimally required actions in regards to the group and humanity, since humankind has to rise to the same goal: to change from the intention “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of others.” Physical actions do not matter much. We need them only to show the place where we can implement the power of the Surrounding Light, the force of the Light of correction.

Therefore, the study of Kabbalah, which tells us about what is perceived with the help of correct intentions—the so-called Light of Bestowal (Ohr Hassadim) and the Returning Light (Ohr Hozer)—helps us change our intentions and start sensing and attaining the upper governance, the upper force.

It explains why we need our friends so much, because only among them, only between us, can we make internal work that corrects our intentions.

This is why our main goal is to reach a desire to attain a new state that is pre-destined by nature and to pursue it. Nature wants to take us out of the state named “this world” in which we are present today and raise us to the world of Infinity. This is our final goal.

If we clearly understood these things, we’d know that it is most urgent and essential for us to create groups that interact with each other in all their parts so that all our actions are directed to some kind of bestowal. By acting this way, we can evoke the correct Surrounding Light to us during our classes and it will correct our intentions.

Kabbalah tells us that all the Creator made was just one desire— Malchut of the world of Infinity. Then, in this desire emerges the intention that goes through shattering (shevira) in the world of Nekudim.

Further, in the worlds of Atzilut (A), Beria (B), Yetzira (Y), and Assiya (A), it gradually starts to resurrect, whereas in this world, desires and intentions remain broken into 613 parts.

Our work is in the correction of the intention “for our sake” to the intention “for the sake of bestowal,” “for others’ sake” in each of our desires. Then a desire will be considered corrected.

In other words, when we study the science of Kabbalah, the Surrounding Light descends to our intentions; in their turn, they attach to desires, and then corrected desires enter the upper world. This is where we start sensing the spiritual world. Thus, by gradually correcting ourselves, we rise to the level of 613 desires until we reach the final correction.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention Day One 12/13/13, Lesson 1

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Question: What is the difference between the concept of mutual guarantee and the raspberry sphere?

Answer: You can define the first state of unity in a dozen ways. The idea of this analogy simply occurred to me at a certain point. I wanted to express the special feeling of warmth that everyone feels which is pleasant and illuminating in itself.

Mutual guarantee is the connection between the broken vessels that connect above the breaking as they understand that we must be connected. The strength of the connection, the need for it, its vitality and the responsibility we feel for one another is called mutual guarantee. This shows to what extent I am responsible for others and feel them inside me as myself.

Mutual guarantee is an inner state of connection that takes into account all the conditions: how we connect, with what vessels, on what level of Aviut (thickness). It refers to the vessel that is about to connect. It’s because of the separation between these parts and their connection, the growth of the left line and the right line, one in contrast to the other, that we put together the concept called mutual guarantee.

In the mutual guarantee, that is our spiritual vessel, we begin to receive the Light that Reforms and see that we are corrected. Then our mutual guarantee is corrupted again and we have to correct it once more. Everything is included in this concept. Baal HaSulam wrote two articles: “The Giving of the Torah,” since we have no way to correct ourselves without the upper force, and the article that followed it “Mutual Guarantee,” which explains how we operate and manage the upper force in order to ascend to the goal of creation.
[124663]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

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Our only problem is in establishing the right connection. At the moment, we are not connected at all, but when the connection becomes stronger and tighter, we will need to find out how to fulfill it. Suppose I have several millions of strings to tie and you have several millions of strings to tie and we need to find out how to connect them correctly: which string connects to another, in which frequency and when, in which sequence and order.

The main thing is to feel the importance of the goal. Mutual guarantee is an inner feeling that we should reach that determines the inner state of the new reality. It isn’t just a point of connection between us; it actually expands afterward and becomes a point of the new reality. This is why we need the feeling of importance that empowers us so much and which sustains and promotes the point of mutual guarantee, which later becomes the mutual guarantee between me, which includes the whole world and the Creator.

This is the importance of the goal, the importance of the group, and the importance of the friend. I have to constantly clarify things, find out what I need in order to increase the idea of mutual guarantee at any given moment: what is redundant, which means, what I don’t need. The importance of the work should be great and we have to evoke it in every friend.

Eventually, we return to the greatness of the group that must impress everyone in a different way, by igniting envy, passion, a desire for respect and control, in other words, by using every means to spur us on and to shake us. This is how everyone should work on everyone else. Mutual guarantee begins when I see that it’s my responsibility that my friend should simply be in a good mood by being among us, and then this mutual guarantee develops more and more.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/31/13, Lesson on the Topic: Preparation for the Convention

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Question: What are the lines of similarity between the wisdom of Kabbalah and Sufism and where do they diverge?

Answer: Sufism is not contrary to the wisdom of Kabbalah. They speak about the same thing. But Sufism doesn’t explain the technique of the construction of creation, the system of creation, and its conduct. It’s more adapted to the masses since it speaks about the solution to human and spiritual problems but on the level of our world.

Sufism doesn’t explain the structure of the upper world in the precise form as is recorded in the wisdom of Kabbalah:  Sefirot, Partzufim, Olamot, Ohr, NRNHY, KHB ZON, Tzimtzum, Masach, Ohr Hozer, and all the rest of the concepts. Only in the wisdom of Kabbalah is a description given of the “celestial mechanics.”

In principle, you could say that you have no need for it. Yet in fact this is not so. When you begin to attain the upper world, then these mechanics becomes necessary. You cannot make order and clarification within you, relying only on your emotions or the guide. For you the guide has already transformed from being a person into an internal characteristic. You don’t see faces, rather you feel the Creator. Then you require deeper definitions and emotions, you must work with more subtle and more measured states.

I am not a big expert on Sufism, but it seems to me that it is a part of Kabbalah. And if we penetrate more deeply into true Sufism, then it’s possible to discover where that divider is found beyond which the wisdom of Kabbalah is imperative. According to its foundation, Sufism is the right study for leading the person precisely towards the goal, but up to a particular limit.

The idea is that with all of us there are different levels of ego. Sufism stops at a deep level of ego. And for people with a big ego, Sufism is not enough; they require a greater weapon against themselves. Therefore they require the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Unfortunately, Sufism has stopped its development for some time. Today in the Muslim world it’s not wanted at all. This is a great shame because once there was a connection between Jews and Muslims through Sufism.

Question: I have friends among the Sufis. Can I try to explain to them how the level of their development could be changed in this way?

Answer: I think that it’s not worthwhile to attract those who are involved with Sufism to the wisdom of Kabbalah. We are against coercion. We have free entry and exit. They can come, listen, and go; there is no obligation here. But I would give them some popular book on Kabbalah so that they will see where there are similar lines and where there is a difference.

In principle, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the inner part of the Torah and most parts of the Koran are based upon the Torah. The Torah constitutes the basis for all the religions. Therefore there are no contradictions here.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Three 12/15/13, Lesson 5

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We are just trying to figure out all the components of the concept of mutual guarantee. The guarantor of this guarantee is the Creator, the Upper Force. And this force should be manifested in every action: at its beginning, in the middle, and at the end. The Creator is very “jealous,” and if we forget Him, He immediately abandons us, and we fall right away since all our progress occurs only because of Him.

What is the difference? After all, the Creator supports all of nature: the still, vegetative, and animate levels. But there we do not have to participate in our relationship with Him consciously. But on our human degree of development, we have to be  directed to the Creator all the time. Otherwise, what kind of man is Adam if he does not dream to become like (Domeh) the Creator?

Thus, we need to worry about the missing component in our advancement: about the Creator! We may not immediately succeed and at first we will have the feeling that we lack something to maintain our unity. Indeed, we always start with the revelation of our breaking. But the Creator must be at the beginning and at the end of any action, and in its every moment.

He should connect us like the force of guarantee, the correcting force, the example that we want to see before us, the reference system. I see Him in all the friends and inside the raspberry ball: the point of our unity. I understand that it is He who realizes our connection and unity. I see only Him-Him-Him!

In essence, what do we work with friends for? We work together on the revelation of the Creator between us! He is the most important, honorable guest, we wait for Him, getting ready for His arrival! We prepare such a connection between ourselves, such expectation and hopes so He will come!
[124660]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

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We need patience and time in order to understand the concept of integral education. We began to talk about it three years ago and during that time some people have left us, others still don’t understand it, and there are those who don’t want to hear or know anything about it. We hardly hear what it is about. I hope that at least during the month we have left before the convention I will be able to break this resistance.

It is the “iron wall” that Baal HaSulam speaks of! The wisdom of Kabbalah is integral education, but we don’t want to accept that. People express their objection to the idea of integral education and leave the groups and cannot understand our work with the public. This is natural, since we are fighting against the main egoistic principle of the whole world.

So give us time to advance a little. Let’s hope that there will be a breakthrough in a month and the idea that the change depends only on mutual guarantee will be imprinted in everyone. This is what we are discussing now: The means for spiritual change is mutual guarantee. Do you want this change? Go ahead. But I warn you that if this is what you are coming for, bring money—a banknote of mutual guarantee. If your banknote is valuable in terms of mutual guarantee, you will receive everything.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/13, Lesson on the Topic: Preparation for the Convention

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The language of the method of integral education and upbringing is the language of emotion, and with it, we must turn to the masses.

It is very important to show people how friendly we are to each other. They must feel us as one collective whole, as if we were born from one mother. There is no difference between us. We think identically, understand each other without words. A new spirit, a new orientation, emanates from us.

Many times, I have asked the new ones who come to study with us what brings them to us. Most answer, “I found myself by chance in one of your lectures, and, at first, I not only didn’t understand anything, but I also didn’t hear anything. I was very far from this. However, what attracted me was the unity among your people. One sits on the Internet, the other at the projector, the third arranges the sound, the fourth takes pictures, and two assistants work in full cooperation with the lecturer, and all six of these people work as one. A small kibbutz is felt among them, a mutual feeling of one another and not particularly professional. They live with something in common.”

This is precisely the sensation that we must convey to our audience, and this is their lesson. The wisdom of Kabbalah is not transmitted with any words. You can learn it for ten years and in the end simply become philosophers who don’t feel inner changes. It is conveyed only through inner sensations and feelings, through the inner force that passes from teacher to student, and this depends on the link between us.

Therefore, first and foremost, the link between the audience and the lecturer is arranged when the audience begins to feel that something unique is happening here: A unique inner force is entering into him that dissolves in him, and we transform into one comprehensive, homogeneous body. This is specifically what is important to convey to the listeners about the method of integral education.
[124224]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Three 12/15/13, Lesson 5

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