Question: After the congress, we are constantly trying to hold on to the level we reached there despite the  additional egoism we discover in us now. How is the state that is revealed to us now related to the process we are going through?

Answer: We cannot ascend as we would like to since we don’t value our exertion, which is our reward. Now, after the convention, we have to be happy that we have lost the taste of unity and that we don’t feel any desire to connect. Our relations have become dull, tasteless and dark. But this is actually great since now we can try to fill the emptiness that is revealed by ourselves!

We have to see this opportunity as a present. It is indeed a real gift from above. We wanted to bestow and now we have an empty void that we can fill! When will we feel such a void again?

The state of unity in the convention was given to us as an example so that now we will be able to do the same thing by ourselves. In the convention we were given the “plus” so that now, when the “minus” appears we will do the same thing. The plus is the example that came from the Creator. Now we have a chance to repeat His actions and to reach the same result.

The plus stands for an ascent and the minus stands for a descent. The Creator has given us an example, He has revealed to us the feeling, the form, and now you should do the same. We, however, don’t value this exertion and don’t feel grateful for it, but rather curse the Creator and resent what He has done with us. We neglect the chance to become like Him.

It is during a descent that we can provoke and draw upon us the Surrounding Light. The whole problem is that we have to do it but we don’t.
[113192]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam writes that there is only one soul, only one desire that was created. Spirituality is not divided into parts, therefore it is found completely in each one of us and all together.

“In each one of us” means that if I can include myself in everyone, then I discover the collective soul, which is to say not only those billions who are living now, but also those who have not yet been born and will be born in the future. This is not the picture we imagine.

In other words, this is one volume, one soul, one substance. It’s revealed to us only to that extent that we can properly exist and on the level of intensity that we can interact.

In accordance with that the properties of each person are determined,  and every particle in each one of us. There are people who are characterized by dissemination, meaning contact with large numbers of people, and there are those who are the opposite, they are characterized by connection with a narrow circle of people but with a high level of intensity of connection with them. That is, it’s according to quality or according to quantity; in each of us there is both this and that according to the characteristics of his soul.

For instance, the heart, while it’s clearly involved in its narrowly focused work, connects to a multitude of organs. Whereas, other systems, like the blood vessels, the lymph system, the nervous system, and others, on the other hand, extend everywhere, reaching every part of the body. Our connections are also like this. It’s possible to see this in regard to that for which the person yearns. I see this in regard to my students, for example, how much they are more or less able to find themselves (as far as I can see).

But generally there is no significance to this, because the Light apparently puts us where we are. There is nothing new, we only hasten our development by attracting the Surrounding Light. On the other hand, it will advance us anyway according to the plan of Nature. But this program is found only on the level of the Light of Nefesh (from the word “Nefesha”), which means the inanimate state.

That is, the Light pushes us all the time and we flee from it because this pressure is perceived as negative; we are always developing in this way. But this kind of development is not good because it can lead to great natural disasters, wars, and the like. And if we don’t do anything, then this is all ahead of us.

Conversely, if we invite the hastening of the Upper Light, its increased illumination upon ourselves, then we will advance more rapidly.

Baal HaSulam in “Letter 13,” writes about work in a group: You should know that there are many sparks of holiness in each one in the group [among our friends], when you assemble all the sparks of holiness into one place [into one desire], as brothers, with love and friendship, you will certainly have [that is, attain] a very high level of holiness for a while, from the light of life [the level of bestowal].
[112771]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 3

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Question: How do we actually advance in “faith above reason?”

Answer: Although we got to know that we were advancing during the convention, we also received another great addition. Now we not only believe in the teacher and in our correct advancement, but we also understand that in addition to that now we have to advance in greater “faith above reason.” This means that thanks to the message we received, we can advance in greater faith now.

If we advance correctly we will encounter greater problems as the ego will pull us more strongly backward and we will still have to advance above it and against it. “Faith above reason” means faith against reason.

How can we advance against reason? When we advance in spirituality, every level annuls the previous level according to the spiritual law of “negating the negative.” Each time we grow, we become wiser and more clever and our knowledge on the next level is opposite from the knowledge on the previous level.

Every Partzuf is made of ten Sefirot, from Keter to Malchut. Malchut of the upper becomes Keter of the lower, which means that it changes its attributes to the opposite attributes. However, when we ascend, Keter of the lower becomes Malchut of the upper, and thus also becomes the opposite.

Malchut is the attribute of receiving and Keter is the attribute of bestowal. So each time we ascend, we need to turn the receiving into bestowal, to “faith above reason.” When you ascend to the next ten levels, since your Keter has become Malchut, it’s as if you negate all your previous knowledge and all the ten Sefirot you had on the previous level become the opposite and are incorrect in the next state.

It’s like speaking to a child who sees things from his level, while you see it totally differently. The reasons and the actions are different, although you see the same outcome.

“Faith above reason” is faith against reason. It always negates the previous reason and you should advance against it, which means above it. I have the previous knowledge and still I advance according to faith.

When Rabash explained to me what “faith above reason” is he gave me the following example: Suppose a friend has borrowed a thousand dollars from another friend and wants to give back the money. When he gives him back the money, it turns out that there is one dollar less in the envelope. He asks whether the friend has returned all the money and his friend tells him that he did. Does he begin to think who is right now? No. If the friend says that it’s a thousand dollars, I accept it as a thousand dollars. This means that I don’t believe what I see, since now I have my friend’s eyes instead of my own eyes. I don’t believe my feelings and what I know; I advance in “faith above reason.”

What my friend tells me means the external vessels, the external attributes are more important to me, and I accept it as more accurate information that is clearer and more correct than mine. So if the group decides something, I immediately accept it and although it’s clear to me that there is less than a thousand dollars here, I accept it as a thousand. It’s a substitute for me. On the whole this seems totally illogical and unrealistic, and it is indeed so.

Baal HaSulam says that certain people may seem wicked and others righteous according to their attributes and then we see them in the opposite manner, certain people seem rich and others poor and then we see them oppositely, certain people seem clever and others foolish and then the opposite. Everything depends on us. In the spiritual world we change the picture completely by changing our attributes. The bodies and the connections between them are revealed in a totally different manner.

So “faith above reason” is the means by which we advance and ascend the spiritual ladder. We cannot do it otherwise! ”Faith above reason” is faith opposite from what we knew previously. If we don’t have faith against what we knew before, we would never rise from one Partzuf (state) to the second, the third, and so on. This is how the transition takes place.

If we were given the message and felt that we are on the right track during the last convention and that our teacher guides us correctly, although we didn’t really believe that, we have a problem now. So where is our faith? How can we close our eyes and disregard what we know? If we don’t, we will advance egoistically. For the first time we are given a real chance to conquer our next level in an attack “above reason.”
[112963]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

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Question: We are now disseminating integral education. Basically, this is actually the wisdom of Kabbalah that has been adapted for use with the masses. I would like to know the relationship in percentages, how much should be invested in internal dissemination and how much in external dissemination?

Answer: Usually scientists investigating the different effects and phenomena of nature, put everything in formulas and graphs depicting the dependencies.  Then, based on this, they begin to examine the appropriate materials, and after experimentation they translate everything into practical technological processes required for life.

Before technological development reaches the store shelves it goes through a long process. In the beginning scientists are involved with formulas, graphs, physics, mathematical calculations, and apparatus. And then you will see the devices packaged in boxes in stores. Every housewife can buy, let’s say, a microwave, put it in the kitchen, plug it in, and heat up rolls.

Can you imagine the path of development from the study of microwaves and their impact on various objects, etc. to the housewife warming up pie for her family! Even though she is not familiar with the principle of how the device works, this doesn’t interest her. She only knows that it is necessary to set a particular temperature, a particular time, and then she will get warm pie. This is also physics and its utilization.

That is how it is with the wisdom of Kabbalah. It explains the structure of the world, the forces that influence us. But according to the level of the person, he could learn it as advanced physics, namely the inner nature of things, or as a practical application on himself.

We investigate the wisdom of Kabbalah in its pure form, with the help of graphs, formulas, and a large volume of complex texts. You yourselves know how many years it can be studied, but not be fully explored. But in practice, it only explains the interaction between two forces—the positive and the negative—as they are correlated and integrated in the bond between them, the resulting environment that is formed between them, how we can change so it is comfortable and beneficial for a person so that these forces can be used more effectively. But the problem is, in order to use these forces correctly, a person must be corrected.

Apparently we don’t use the cooperation between these two forces (the positive and the negative) on the level of our internal characteristics, but on the egoistic level, we try to enslave not only all of nature, but the family, the nation, all of humanity and the entire earth, and make of them whatever may come to mind.

And this becomes possible for us to a certain extent but not more because nature doesn’t allow this. That is, it isn’t possible for us to manage the same two forces on the next level. This level is revealed to us only to the degree that our form becomes equal to these two forces. Rather it is only if the person begins to change his nature that he can then use these forces and manage them.

Our world is a space in which we exist with our egoistic nature, because that is how we were born and developed, and within this framework we can use the positive and negative force in an allowable range.

The next levels are 125 levels of opposition between these two forces. These are not just levels of strength or ability, rather they are new qualitative levels, from which, due to the connection between them, completely new life forms are created. We are not prepared to penetrate into this, since it is possible to understand these levels above us only to the degree that we become equalized with them.

Currently, all of humanity has entered into the latest crisis because it has already evolved to a level for which it must change and rise from the lowest level to the next level. We are beginning to feel this now.

The transition to the next stage involves a change in our nature from egoistic to altruistic. And here a problem is aroused. We are learning how to change our nature based upon the fact that we ourselves are attracted to this. But most people are not attracted to anything, so nature and the crisis will force them to be involved with this.

They will not be occupied in it as we are. We learn the method itself, the structure, the cooperation between the two forces, the energy field between them, the Lights, the mingling between the forces. All of this can be translated into the language of pure physics or the language of emotion because everything goes through the person or into other forms of expression. We are familiar with this from our sources.

And the common man, who is not pulled forward like us, must nevertheless rise to the next level, for life will push him through suffering; he will not have to do this. He is like the housewife who uses the microwave. We only need to show him, to teach him, what to press and everything will be all right.

And it is necessary to think about this. Therefore it is up to us to rewrite this method in the most simple and accessible form, for our physical and our spiritual future depends on this. Which is to say, if we want to reach discovery of the next level, the next stage, even the next dimension (although this sounds mystical, we are not mystics), then it is up to us to adapt the method to ourselves and rewrite it in a simple form for others.

If we take a textbook about the laws of Newton on the university level, we see that these formulas are quite complicated, but in school we learn them as short and abstract formulas: mass, velocity, acceleration, free fall, and so on. Exactly like this we must rewrite all of our complex laws, the integral relationships in their simplest form. This is a very serious problem and we must take care of it.

We learn about the relationship between the two forces according to the relationships between a man and a woman in a family or parents with children or other relationships on the physical level or in the connection between two systems: positive and negative in the form of Abba ve Ima or ZON or Arik Anpin and Atik. Even though the names change, the principle remains the same, a linkage between plus and minus. Depending on the strength of the relationship between them, the height of the system to which they give birth is established.

Through conversations about “A New Life” or discussions of other subjects, my interior is not changed at all, since for me it is the same diagram. This is exactly how it is at the time of the lesson, during the three hours we jump from subject to subject; however, I don’t get exhausted at all, I could teach another ten hours. You would get tired, but I wouldn’t because for me there is one model.
[111120]
From the Convention in Krasnoyarsk 6/13/13, Lesson 3

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Every level summarizes and incorporates everything that takes place within it. We constantly are learning from ourselves about the states and characteristics through which we pass, which gradually accumulate, and after this, like a gauge, reach a stage where zero becomes one, and after that, again reach a stage where one becomes two, and so on. That is also how it is with us.

However, when the number one or two appears in me, it appears as a negative sum of all the previous negative discoveries above which I can rise, and I now rise above all of them together, and the first positive level is created for me.

Therefore, we must understand that the Creator is never revealed to us in a good way. He forces us to change, and then we feel Him, which is to say, our own corrected states will be felt by us as characteristics of the Creator.

Therefore, we don’t need to look somewhere else, rather only within us, clarifying where the characteristics are that are operating against connection that were created as a result of the shattering of the collective soul. We discover them and rise above them all the time. That is how we advance. This is to say, love covers over all unintentional mistakes and all crimes, and we advance according to this principle.

Now, when we are found in a good atmosphere like this, lacking mutual concern, first and foremost, we must make a “heavenly firmament” above us, such an environment, such a dome, that will hold all of us in constant awareness that we need to discover within us the opposition to connection and surmount it all the time.

If this doesn’t appear in us, this is a sign that we don’t yearn for connection, but when we truly yearn for it we immediately feel the opposition. This is because in spirituality there is no stopping. Immediately, all kinds of disturbances will be added to us as stages of advancement.

Many of the source texts talk about how the Kabbalists felt mutual hatred for each other. In The Book of Zohar it is said that the students of Rabbi Shimon felt such a mutual hatred that they were ready to burn each other to ashes, a fire of hatred burned among them.

Apparently, they had nothing about which to dispute. All of them were poor and lived in a small cave. About what did they feel hatred? It was because they wanted to get close to each other to correct their nature and discover with this the characteristic of bestowal and love, the Creator.

Therefore, the great power of the environment, the group, a constant reminder that if the group works correctly, then all the oppositions that appear among us are our only means for spiritual ascent.

From bricks like these, the corrected characteristics, the soul is built. The characteristics of rejection are the shattered parts of the temple of the soul. By connecting them, we rebuild this Kli, vessel, our collective soul.

We make an effort to connect and eventually discover the evil in each of us: We don’t want to connect. Along with this, we need to feel the pressure of the group so that we won’t flee from the hostility and hatred that appears in us about some of the friends or all of them. Under pressure from the group we begin to yearn for connection in opposition to the force of separation. Therefore, the pressure of the group must be strong.

Through yearning for connection, we begin to understand that, not only do we require the pressure of the group here, but also a higher power, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), and so three compulsory components appear: ourselves, the group, and the Surrounding Light. Through them, this problem is solved and we connect.

The next time, it is the same thing. That is, the conditions for connection transform into a start. So, after connecting, again we need to search for an even greater reason to connect, and again, we get rejection and descend, over which we rise again, and go forward. We all are going through a process like this.
[112514]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day One” 7/12/13, Lesson 2

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Question: How can we work with the pride that was revealed after the convention?

Answer: After the convention there was indeed a revelation of pride especially in Europe. Every part of the world has its typical problems and weaknesses and Europe and Russia are different in that sense.

What is pride? In regard to whom and to what? A person has to clarify this by himself:

• I feel pride because I understand and know everything, for having attained something and now I am great and have everything. This will pass and disappear by itself in a couple of days.

• I feel pride because I am several levels above everyone else, and they are unhappy, struggling with their small crises, while I am above them, I understand everything and don’t really care about anything as I look upon them from above. This is wrong.

If we speak about connection and about the fact that we have to correct the shattering between us, then eventually we have to worry about everyone as about our own children. I don’t think that you would relate to people like that if you felt that they were your children, but this is exactly how we should relate to them.

Actually, I see no reason why you should be proud. What is so special about you? What have you attained by yourselves? Nothing.

You were in a group, you were brought, pushed, and different actions were performed on you. You participated passively without understanding the essence of why and where this should lead to. You didn’t even aim at the current state and didn’t know what it is like. This means that your actions were not focused and so it turns out that you were lucky. So what are you proud of?

I can tell you from my own experience that the higher a person ascends, the more he advances, and the closer he is to the Creator, the more humble and low he feels. It is because he sees the action of the infinite Light that arranges everything at any given moment that builds and revives everything.

Keep on working and the feeling of pride will pass. The main thing is that it shouldn’t divert you from your spiritual path. If there are any diversions and you behave like obstinate children, I am used to it. Therefore, nothing can be done but to gradually get over it. We will learn how.
[113122]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

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Question: If the wisdom of Kabbalah is a science, how can we tie it to “faith above reason?” After all, faith seems to negate science.

Answer: We are on a corporeal level together with the sciences, the arts, and so forth, and in them we can develop.

However, how do we develop? It is only within the ego. The ego develops, and we develop with it, but as of today, the ego actually has ended its development.

Which sciences and arts are we talking about? We see that today everything seems to be stuck, delayed, and coming to a dead end, to a crisis. It has been going on for several decades now. Perhaps people simply don’t understand, but scientists do.

The ego reached its peak and has stopped developing after 6,000 years, having started from a zero point until today. We have been through a process of evolution during this time and have risen to a certain level in the fields of arts and sciences in which the ego has already exhausted itself.

We actually feel that we don’t want anything anymore. Today, we don’t pay attention to anything, and even space research and other sciences don’t interest us anymore.

So, how do we move on to the next stage now? The next stage is a totally different level, and we also must grow in it since there, too, may be a new unknown ego or certain desires.

This transition must be very special. We don’t even understand what it is. It is a transition to a new dimension.

It is totally different in its attributes, there are totally different forces and different connections. It is like our world, but in a totally different way. The still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature are connected according to different laws, the laws of a new dimension, the laws of what we call the spiritual world.

The new dimension is called the spiritual world since faith above reason dominates it, which means bestowal above receiving. The goal of corporeal existence is receiving. In the spiritual world, however, the goal is bestowal.

So, how can we move to an opposite perception in which the Keter of the lower becomes the Malchut of the upper? How can we move from the egoistic ten Sefirot to the altruistic ten Sefirot? It is only if we perform an operation on ourselves in faith above reason.

“Reason” refers to what I had on the corporeal level, and “faith” is what guides me on the spiritual level. Thus, I raise myself.

This is why it says in all the sources that the most important thing for us is faith above reason.

What is the practical meaning of faith above reason? It means that our previous reason gradually cools down. We are given help here since we cannot advance by our previous reason and immediately begin to rise above it. This is why there is a certain descent after the convention, the addition of ego.

In spite of and together with this, we must ascend and advance more powerfully toward the connection between us. This is why we must study, try to connect, disseminate, and do everything to achieve a stronger connection between us.

We should feel opposite inclinations since we must do everything in order to delve more deeply into it. Our global group must connect more strongly. This is why we should study, disseminate and do everything that needs to be done. It is all only in order to connect internally to the same feeling we had in the convention, but on the next level, on a higher level.

What do we lack in order to reach this? We lack the actual actions.

There is Isra-el, which means “Yashar Kel,” (straight to the Creator). This means that Israel is every friend who yearns for spiritual attainment. There is another part called “Torah,” which stems from the Aramaic word “Oraita – Ohr – light.” The concept of Torah includes the group, the connections, mutual guarantee, and so on, everyone’s adhesion to it, our goal. This is the exact path by which we must advance.

[112960]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

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Question: How effective are spiritual processes in small groups of two or three people?

Answer: This is the problem with our virtual friends, with our individual friends and others. We have so many students who are scattered in various corners of their countries in:  Australia,  New Zealand, China, several European nations, South America, and so forth. Therefore, these congresses still form and connect us and give us the opportunity to focus together.

But the lack of a physical group remains a problem. I cannot imagine the solution. I know only one thing, when I asked Rabash for permission to move closer to him, he first turned me down and he was right; it’s necessary to check if your desire is real. And only two years later did he allow me to move.

Therefore if a student seriously studies with us for a long time, he needs to think about how to move to a place where there is a group or where it is possible to organize one. I don’t see any other way out.

As much as possible I think about this all the time and hope that with the help of a virtual system it will be possible to connect people and give them a feeling of unity, but in the meantime, a computer screen separates them. The person protects himself from others through the screen.

So what is the problem? Making people connect with others. We are found in a state that “connecting with others” means to sit together, to breathe together, to learn together, to hate the friends, to love them, and so forth.

And the Upper Light gives us all kinds of problems here, intentionally “causing friction” between us, rubbing us together, to remove the membrane from the heart. The hearts rub together in order to undress them. How is it possible to do this when you are found in a virtual connection? I can’t describe this to myself. Personally I would be happy to be with everyone in a virtual connection: I “type” some information in an email and that’s it, you are already “in love” with the friends.

Where can you really feel hostility to the point of hatred as those friends in The Zohar felt?! You can immediately unplug the computer or protect yourself with some kind of emoticon (smiley) and that’s it! How could it be otherwise?

I feel this with us in our country. There are groups that maintain a gentlemanly distance. There are those who are closer, participate more, want to integrate with us more, and want to build our center together. When there are opportunities for work, then the participation of each is tested. The idea is not just participation, rather it’s working together. This is what is essential. Therefore you must understand that it’s necessary to gather and organize in groups, and to organize large groups with departments, with an institute for distribution, with children’s groups. In general, all this is imperative.
[112794]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 3

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Question: As a general rule, rejection is not with respect to the group but a friend. What is the working program in this case?

Answer: I don’t think that this is so. A person must see that he has an aversion to working with the group, to connecting with the friends, to dissolving into them. And if there is any kind of special prejudice against someone, it may gradually pass. Therefore there is no need to focus attention on this. It is not worthwhile.

First of all, what should interest me is how to “get into them,” to adhere to them. The main thing is that I shouldn’t manage myself, rather they manage me. This is what is called dissolving into them. This is to say I don’t have my own thoughts and desires. This is what is with them. And this is everything.

The moment that you make such movements, the Surrounding Light immediately acts and influences you. Experiences like these bring this, the Light cleanses you all the time and adds all kinds of contradictions to you, but you try to do it again. And after you pass through a necessary amount of attempts of this kind, attainment eventually arrives. And the group might not even know anything about it and may remain at the same level in which it was before, as in the example of Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma.
[112800]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 3

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Question: When I come to pray out of total despair, do I need to ask that I will change, or do I need to ask that a friend will advance spiritually?

Answer: Prayer is called a desire in the heart, the uncontrolled yearning of the heart. I can say whatever I want, nothing will help, and it’s just all movement of the lips. I could dance, cry, or roll on the ground; this also yields no results. The main thing is what I am feeling in the depths of my heart.

A desire is called heart and the fourth phase of my desire is what is most concealed from me. Sometimes when it is revealed I tremble from what is there. And this aspect is felt by the Light, contacts it, because it’s like the four letter name of the Creator.

The last phase is actually found in contact with the upper phase Keter. A yearning for connection appears in it which is opposite that of “Keter”: It either wants to control it completely (in which case this phase is called “Pharaoh” who wants all the Light held within itself), or the opposite, it wants to resemble “Keter,” the characteristic of bestowal.

We have no control over this phase, in fact we don’t sense it and don’t feel it. Here all kinds of practical actions are required! This is not just sitting and meditating; the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t recognize this! All this doesn’t exist! You can go deeply into yourself, think that you could have all kinds of intentions, but all these are internal investigations that are ultimately determined by preliminary work and work that follows. These investigations are compulsory only to understand what I have attained, how much I can feel who I am at the present moment.

Therefore, if we truly want to summon the surrounding Light onto ourselves, action is required; as a result, the influence of the Light gives form to the right yearning of our desire in its latest aspect. As it is written, “The Creator puts the prayer in my mouth.” Even if the person is not thinking about anything, but mechanically carries out what is necessary, in the end, it will result in his most normal thoughts transforming into the most wondrous thoughts.

And the opposite is also true. The warning exists: “His wisdom exceeds his actions.” This is not allowed! It is believed that when a person’s wisdom exceeds his deeds, he kills himself spiritually. All kinds of philosophies, intentions, thoughts, and studying from morning to night is not good. Our world is a world of action. We are found in the last phase of the world of Assiya, translated as “action.”
[112797]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 3

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