We should speak about the greatness of the goal in the group, about our desire to rise above our nature, which we cannot remain in any longer, and about the need to reach connection between us. We have enough troubles. If we want to improve our lives in this world, we have to draw positive forces, a positive attitude regarding our connection.

I turn to all the friends so that together we will discuss how we can reach this connection. We have to do our best to imagine the good connection that existed before the breaking of the vessels when there was one soul, one vessel, one thought, and one feeling for all, so that everyone will feel the others as if we belong to one body and are in it, which is called “as one man in one heart.”

Everyone, even if he feels himself, will perceive the others as cells in one organ, and that each cell gives to others and bestows upon them so that the whole body will function properly. If we understand that this should be our inclination in order to attain a state in which the Creator is revealed, Godliness, the Upper force, spirituality, then all the means and the opportunities are in our hands. The Creator puts our hands on the fate and says: “Accept it as goodness.”

The whole world supports us in this work to such an extent that life is becoming hard and meaningless. However, on the other hand, there is a new illuminated road that opens up before us and a delightful and special opportunity. Thus we build an ark in which we can save ourselves and perhaps even the whole world from the flood that is approaching and which is rising higher and higher. In the meantime, this flood only scares and threatens us from a distance, but it’s already felt here and there spreading chaos and helplessness.

In our first meeting with a group or with the public, we have to explain that spirituality is totally based on the power of mutual guarantee. It is purposeful that we first feel distant from one another, opposite from one another, hate and are repulsed by one another. It is on purpose that we are all at the foot of Mt. Sinai in a state of mutual hate, like the students of Rabbi Simon.

But it’s a good state, since by overcoming it, we can acquire the Godly attributes. As created beings, we can only feel a state of “the advantage of the Light from the darkness.” If we have these two discernments, then in the contrast between them we can see and feel one another. We cannot see only Light or only darkness. But we can see the Light in contrast to the darkness or the darkness in contrast to the Light. Therefore, the Creator has arranged this state for us so that we will be able to attain, feel, understand, and attain Godliness.

This is the goal of our first gathering. This is where a group begins. If we want to start the spiritual path, we have to know that it starts from attaining the first condition: the attainment of mutual guarantee. The attainment of mutual guarantee is also divided into several stages: first we should understand and accept things and then start fulfilling it gradually until we reach mutual guarantee. This is actually the first phase.
[124254]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/13

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Question: The air is always full of love during our conventions, how can we intensify the feeling of love before the convention in February? How can we maximize it? How can we absorb the warmth that envelops you and be filled by it?

Answer: There is only one way to do it: preparation. The creation itself is an indication of that. I am equipped with a desire, with excitement, I worry because I want to fulfill the most important thing, and not only in this life but in all my reincarnations. I have already come to this world so many times that I don’t want to be born again and live here. Even egoistically without an intention of in order to bestow, without any connection to the Creator, but simply. So I have to see this as an unprecedented opportunity, a unique irrevocable opportunity.

What will I gain from this convention that cannot happen anywhere else? There are no such events in our life that can push me so strongly forward along the spiritual path.

Question: What should our preparation focus on? What should my yearning focus on?

Answer: On mutual connection. Through this connection, I will receive what everyone attains and gains. I envy them, I envy the friends who prepare this whole event for us, and I yearn to be incorporated.

It is said: “There is a person who attains his spiritual world in an hour.” So I have come here in order to attain everything the friends have attained. This is possible. In spirituality, like in connected vessels, the abundance is poured from one vessel to another. If I connect to someone who is great, I am also great. This is the rule, so let’s do it.

This is how I want to work and this is the only reason I am coming to the convention. We have another month of such intensive preparation. A person who wants to will be ready to attain his world.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: What can I say to a person who wants to “attain the world in one hour”?

Answer: It is said: “There are people who attain their world in one hour.” In one hour means by one action. One action can only refer to connection. Attaining one’s world in spirituality refers to a certain revelation of the true reality in contrast to our fictitious reality. The stronger we can connect, reaching not just a quantitative change, but a qualitative one, the sooner we reach great success and discover a new world.

We are preparing for a great convention with this motto. Although it doesn’t mean that this motto should actually be written, this will be our intention: to fulfill this opportunity and to attain the spiritual world in one hour. At the congress, we will meet people who are distant from us, people who have had no contact with us, those who have learned about the wisdom of Kabbalah via our TV channel or the Internet and do not know each other.

We invite everyone and we hope and expect them to reach a feeling, an understanding, of what spirituality is by being incorporated with us. We can do this in a short time during the days of the convention or even in the few hours that a person will attend the convention with us. Therefore it is said: “There is a person who attains his world in one hour.” A person a long the journey of his life doesn’t know where the greatest treasure that can give his life meaning is. We, on the other hand, do have a special book, The Book of Zohar, which we want to open for everyone.
[124160]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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In our days a very great conflict is being created between the elites and the impoverished masses. With every passing day the gap between them grows and is acquiring threatening dimensions. The tension is growing in society. We see how nationalistic, fascists regimes are gradually rising in many countries as a natural reaction to what is happening.

The elites cannot part from the movement towards wealth. With each devaluation, they are becoming wealthier, while the masses become more and more impoverished and lack perspective. A serious problem is created in society. The tension and polarity reach very great dimensions and already begin to be felt in the developed nations.

The third world nations still live in poverty and it’s doubtful if their inhabitants will ever succeed in reaching a condition of wellbeing. A question about the future of the world is appearing: What can be done about all this? The wisdom of Kabbalah warned about the development of events like these. What we talked about 10 – 15 years ago is beginning to be realized now; moreover, this is being realized very rapidly.

We can expect to see conditions that will not be good for us. People feel this. The feeling of no escape can be seen in their lack of desire to raise families, to give birth to children. A tremendous number of people living in the western nations and in America (65 – 70%) suppose that it will be much worse for their future children than it is for them; therefore, they don’t want to give birth to them.

In such a complicated time like this, the wisdom of Kabbalah has appeared, a hidden method for changing the world, which has waited for this moment and which warned about it many years ago. We know that Baal HaSulam traveled to Poland to convince people of the need to change. He wrote to many leaders in the world trying to prevent the Second World War. For Kabbalah speaks about this, that according to the development of creation in four stages there may be four world wars.

Kabbalah begins to proclaim louder and louder that it has a means for helping the world that has no need for anything besides this. We see how the greatness and importance of scientists and philosophers has fallen, how the leaders of the nations are gradually impotent. This is the natural movement of evolution which cannot be stopped.
[124149]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Three 12/15/13, Lesson 5

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Question: Should women inspire the men?

Answer: Women can inspire men better than anyone else. Imagine that your wife is impressed by you and keeps saying: “You are so clever, so handsome, so special! I look at other men and see that you are much stronger and better than them!” If a woman felt that way about you, you would immediately run home and sit by her like a little boy listening to everything that she says. This is what men are like.

Women can manipulate men anyway they like. If a woman is clever, if she aims at the goal and understands what she does it for, I will only be grateful to her just for starting to work on my nature. I will not brag and be proud of being a “macho.” On the contrary, I will be totally honest with her: “The ego is my nature, it is a contemptible zero! Help me exit it! Let’s resist it and change it together. Then we will do the same with you.”

This is where we should annul ourselves. Let’s be our own psychologists a little and look at ourselves from the side. This is the only way we can exit this state. We also try to do the same thing in the group, by putting ourselves above it and then below it so that it will impress us.

We have to do the same thing in the family, by constantly ascending and descending one with regards to the other, but what for? In order to attain the upper goal! So I don’t care about the relations with the family as long as they are aimed correctly and are set on the goal. A woman is your major assistant, she knows you better than anyone else, so her right attitude towards you can help you exit your nature quickly.

We should have special courses for teaching married couples about the right mutual relations and how to change people’s egoistic nature. You will see how you will be able to positively influence your kids afterwards. They will be good, kind, disciplined, and wise. We should take advantage of such opportunities. The main thing is to be more mature. The importance of the goal justifies everything.

We know that in the past Kabbalists were actually happy when they had bitter, angry wives. But our wives are not angry or bitter. They are following the spiritual path with us, helping us, and advising us as to how we should work with our ego and use it for the right cause.

We need to understand that we are connected only for this common goal which determines our relationships, and that we do everything to attain it. This means that I don’t want to play with your ego in any way; I don’t want to use it in order to stab you, no! We should behave wisely, gently, and tactfully with regards to one another to the extent that we can use ourselves and our partner correctly.

This is what we should learn. You cannot imagine what a great tool this is for our correction. We can change our planet with it! To be honest, you don’t need anyone but a female ally. You need the group only in order to connect the two of you correctly.

In any case, during the transition period there are quite a few families in which the partners are moving in different directions. In that case a person needs a group. By the way, a group of women is very serious support with regards to the men’s group. Take this seriously. Progressing through the right methods of interaction, you will see how much it helps you.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries,” 12/14/13, Lesson 4

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Question: Integral education makes our children more positive and kind. But, on the other hand, the science of learning of our world, in spite of this, is based upon egoistic fulfillment. Every child would like know something better than his classmates do. There is a certain duality. Doesn’t this influence the process of learning in a bad way? Won’t the child loss the intention and the taste for the science of learning of our world?

Answer: Egoistic characteristics were given to us so that we would use them correctly. Here competition is required. Envy, this is a person’s best characteristic. Without it he would not advance. We would have remained living in the trees or in caves; we wouldn’t have come out from there if not for envy and competition.

Therefore it is forbidden to take this from the children in any way, but rather only to direct them correctly so that both competition and envy would be for the purpose of bestowal: Who among us does something much more and much better for a friend, for the group, and so forth.

Then a person really blossoms, everyone encourages him, he does great work both for himself and for others, brings everyone great benefit. But these awakenings in people should not be killed in any way, especially in children. Only try to change them gradually, to transform but not reduce them.
[123295]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12/13/13, Lesson 1

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Question: The moment you reach a group, you have no problem in nullifying yourself towards the friends because you see their greatness. And after this, when you are included in the group work and they begin to humble themselves toward you, then your “serpent” immediately raises its head and begins to whisper: “Look, you are just like them.” How is it possible to deal with it so as not to succumb to all its schemes?

Answer: First, don’t think that you can somehow win in this struggle or even to stop it; this is impossible. It is certainly possible to flee from it entirely. But the spiritual way amounts to this, that you must transform the evil “serpent” into the good “serpent,” that is, transform all of its poison into medicine.

In order to do this, we must create a relaxed and serene atmosphere between us so that it will be comfortable to think constantly about spiritual elevation. Around us there must be an atmosphere like this in which I feel very good: I don’t make an effort and I don’t get tired.

Suppose that we are in a convention now that is tiring and we are falling asleep in spite of it all, but it is necessary that we have a feeling of softness, freedom, warmth, and lightness.

All of this must be lifted, raised, entered into the heart, and not passed through the intellect. It is pleasant for me among the friends in the group; I don’t get tired and I feel much better myself than when I sit in the living room on the sofa. A state like this is what we must attain in a group. Incidentally, women can do very much for this.

Prepare tea, coffee, light refreshments, be concerned for each other, at least create a relaxed, calm environment because internally we are under much tension. Especially if I must monitor myself all the time about what I am thinking, how I evaluate my states, then it is necessary to do this in order to make work with my “serpent” easy. In fact, the group can neutralize it, put it to sleep so much so that it will be very easy to go forward.

If it is hard for you, you become tired, or you try to flee homeward; this is a sign that your relationships in the group are incorrect. If you are tired while you are in a lesson, this is a sign that you do not comprehend the material correctly; it is not clothed smoothly on your heart.

Furthermore, the conditions in a group and in a lesson must be close to the spiritual state. And the spiritual state is eternal, not because it is like this in itself, but because you want it to be eternal. Therefore, it is up to us to yearn for our mutual relationships to these states, where you want them not to end, like a meeting with your girlfriend who gives a sensation of brightness, love, reciprocity, and warmth. This is all in your hands.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 4

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The goal of the spiritual work is to acquire the attributes of the upper world. We call it upper but it is actually the only world there is. We, however, are external to it, as if senseless, unconscious, like in a dream.

How can we awaken from this dream in which the ego closes us in like a cocoon?

We are immersed in ourselves since we constantly think about ourselves and want everything only for ourselves. As a result, the space around us is distorted since all the forces are drawn inside and are locked up in there. So it is as if we are in some kind of cocoon made of forces and cannot see anything external to it.

There is a huge world around me and I am just a tiny point, an embryo, that cannot exit the cocoon and feel what is actually happening.

All this is arranged that way in order to help us be born independently. The birth should be on our account since otherwise we will not feel the real enormous world we live in but which we don’t feel at the moment.

In order to feel this world, we have to gather and establish in us the senses for perceiving this world. Thus, we will discover exactly what we lack and how to feel what we don’t perceive.

When I do something by myself, I know exactly what happens in every part of this “machine.” If I start to illustrate a machine  to someone and show and explain how it operates, it will take many years before a person understands its structure and all the subtleties will still remain a riddle for him. He will find it hard to understand why I have created the parts of the machine from special materials that I have put together this way and not any other way, how I thought about it, and jumped out of bed in the middle of the night when an idea came to my mind and drew it. I remember such times in my life.

A person who studies this, looking from the outside, will not understand anything anyway. You have to give birth to yourself, and then it will be yours. So we have a mission: to give birth to ourselves in the only, big, eternal, perfect world, in the Creator’s world, which is the only force that wants us to want to know Him and to attain and to reveal Him by ourselves.

He has created a special state for us called our world or this world in which we live like in a cocoon tightened by a great egoistic energetic force, so that we will begin to actually feel and to attain the Creator outside His luminous world. It is in our world that we can give birth to ourselves by gradually developing and creating in us more and more new attributes that can help us discover the Creator’s world and gradually resemble Him.

But how can we break through this massive egoistic protection, through the border, which we have to change?

As strange as it may seem, this is why there is a very special attribute when people come together. By getting together, we create a special energetic form. If each of us gradually exits himself and connects to others, the preliminary conditions for the attributes that exist in the real world are created.

Although we are inside a cocoon, we already manage to move in it somehow and to do something among us by partly connecting to some common form that is gradually formed as everyone tries to annul himself and imitate others, to some extent at least, and to connect with them.

A person experiences pangs of conscience since he sees that all the others manage to exit themselves, can sacrifice something and give in to others, and that they are not so tight-fisted, arrogant, and cruel and can be considerate of others; the connection between them is somehow natural, but not for him. He doesn’t succeed in anything.

When a person goes through such states, he is cleansed internally according to our collective efforts to get closer and to create a certain form that resembles what is external to it, inside the cocoon, by our mutual yearning for connection.

Don’t be put off by this, don’t fear, don’t think that it is a return to the old socialism, since there is nothing to be ashamed of here. Try to do everything that you can in order to nullify your individual egoistic urges and to attain something that is collective.

It is this collective “something” that will eventually be born and which will be called a soul.
[123419]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 4

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Question: I don’t understand how we can change the intention of corporeal desire. How can I eat for someone else? Should I change it in the first place? I often hear that we shouldn’t touch our corporeal desires…

Answer: You shouldn’t change your desires in any way, but you should change your intentions.

Why not? Because I dedicate my life to attaining the upper state and being immersed in our world is only in order to change our intentions.

The Reshimot (reminiscences) descend into our world so that we can operate in it. At the same time our intention is a minus while an action can only be a combination of a minus and a plus.

You are saying: “I love to eat, I love a girl, I love to sit with friends in a bar or to watch a football game, etc.” That’s true, you love all that. These are your desires, so why can’t you use them with the right intention in order to rise to the goal, to return to this world but not from the same level you fell into the Reshimot, but in order to rise until the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) on the spiritual ladder.

Why do you think you can’t do that? By ascending from one level of Reshimo to another level, you are already completing a good reincarnation and not living your life in vain. You may reach the end of correction in this life, and it is possible in our times.

But even if you go through another round, next time you will already be in a different state, on another level. In our time we are actually in such states that we can reach the end of correction. This is the goal!

So we shouldn’t think that “a thousand enter a room and only one comes to the Light.” This isn’t true anymore; you shouldn’t worry that you have certain negative urges, as it may seem to you. If you engage in correcting the intentions, at the same time you shouldn’t worry about a thing. Just keep on asking yourself whether you do whatever you do for yourself or for the one you perform the action with, is it in mutual cooperation with the friends, a woman, etc. If it is mutual, then it is good.
[123410]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12/13/13, Lesson 1

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Question: When I was informed that there was a convention, I didn’t have a shadow of a doubt that I would come to it. But as the time for the convention approached, more and more external and internal obstacles appeared. One moment I was enthusiastic that I was traveling to a congress, and in the next moment, the opposite, I had no urge to travel at all; this occurred innumerable times. Why are we given obstacles like these?

Answer: The obstacles depend on how much you feel them as such. But if you were to feel that for every obstacle, for every small disturbance, whether some thought or confusion, that you had received a great reward in all kinds of ways, then would this seem like an obstacle to you? This would be a means for attaining a good, eternal, and perfect state. Therefore it depends on how we look at it.

You lack the sensation that “There is none else besides Him.” And He set up the obstacles for you; He simply wanted to give you more possibilities for fulfillment. Difficulties, despair, overcoming them, these are all your efforts that you invest so that afterward, when at the convention, you can feel and get more. Therefore you need to thank the Creator for the so-called “sufferings,” for now, specifically thanks to them, you feel a greater fulfillment.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 4

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