It is said that we are a shadow of the Creator, the reflection of this force—the property of bestowal and love. That is, on the basis of those desires, of the shortcomings that are revealed in us, we can guess from the manifestation of our egoistic properties how to invert them, to change, to turn them into the opposite.

Naturally, we are not able to do this ourselves, but our intentions, our efforts attract the Surrounding Light, and it leads us forward. In this case, each of us, on one hand, is a teacher, and on the other hand, is a student relative to his friends. Let’s recall Rabbi Yossi who said that he could not leave his students because he would be nothing without them. Everything that he revealed, he revealed because he worked with them. And so is everyone else.

That is why we interact as follows. On one hand, we show others how they should work, inspire, long for bestowal and love, meaning, everyone is a teacher relative to the other. On the other hand, everyone is a student relative to the other because he puts himself lower than others and thus can receive inspiration, intention, and sensation from everyone else. Existing in this interaction, we come to equality, in the equal line.

There is no equality in nature; we are totally different and have different sets of properties. There is not a single person who is like any of the other few billion people. And when we, not paying any attention to our natural inclinations and properties, begin to act in this way: once, bowing the head before others, and  another time, on the contrary, showing how to work between ourselves, then we become equal to each other. This is the key to unity, movement towards it.

In this way, we create the condition, in which the Creator is revealed: the great unified force of nature that connects the entire nature together. This is a global, integral force that began to expand from the point of the Big Bang and that built our matter in the lowest layer of the universe, and that we must bring back to unity. And this is the human being’s mission.

In principle, a person is different from the still, vegetative, and animate nature only by its ability to evaluate the lack of unity in nature that begins to be manifested now and is the source of our universal global crisis.

A crisis means not breaking, but the birth of something new. It is its property, and this is its true meaning.
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From the Convention in St. Petersburg 7/12/13, Lesson 1

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Our role is to understand that there is one and only one global nature, and we are the ones who need to connect it through mutual integration, through our intentions. Therefore the concept of “There is none else besides him” is derived from the unity of nature; there is nothing besides the one system that includes everything within it.

And it seems to us as separate because we are also separated, and therefore we don’t see the world as it is but see it according to the condition in which each person feels it solely and only individually within himself. The reason the world seems to us as separate, mutually distant, can be found in the lack of mutual connections between each other; this is discovered more and more with each passing day due to the fact that our ego is constantly growing. Moreover, its acceleration is growing acutely hyperbolic; we see how every year, every month, every week, and even every day, everything in the world is changing very rapidly. And this change is happening specifically because the same changes are happening in us. The world is felt solely and only individually. Therefore the method by which the world is felt correctly is derived from this as well; if we change our characteristics, then we change how the world is felt.

Currently there has already been much work done on this subject by philosophers, psychologists, and physicists. Scientists are gradually beginning to approach the awareness that the world depends on our subjective feelings, yet they are all identical. While everyone feels the world differently, they all feel it in the same manner through our egoistic characteristics. If we correct them so that the characteristics become opposite, then certainly we would feel the world differently: as integral and mutually linked. From here is derived one of the assumptions of our method: “Don’t think about correcting the world…” By these words we mean humanity. We don’t correct the world; rather we correct ourselves. So we begin to feel not only the world, but also ourselves within it completely differently. Ultimately, our movement from the present state, which is called “our world,” to the future state, which is called the “world of the infinity,” is in its entirety an inner correction of how we feel the world, and no more than this.
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From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day One” 7/12/13, Lesson 1

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A letter: “The convention in St. Petersburg was so amazing, it was simply an image of the future world, as if I awakened at last into the real world. I was very sad towards the end, since I couldn’t say goodbye and the whole world seemed dark all at once. Then, on the plane I started listening to the lectures from the convention again, which revived me. It was as if the lecture during the convention made notches in my heart and then when you hear it a second time every word is revealed and implemented within.

The lectures were certainly incredible. Every word contains the method of life and how a person should find happiness and a meaning to life…

I think this miracle took place since it was such a homogeneous space, thousands of people, but in fact none of them were there by chance and so you know that no matter which way you blindly stretched out your hand, you will find a hand stretched out to you everywhere and an open heart…it is simply an awesome feeling!”
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Question: What should we do with all the interruptions that our friends all over the world encounter now: One is getting divorced, another had his money stolen, another had a car accident, and another was hospitalized? How can we work with such problems?

Answer: There is nothing we can say about our spiritual path except to be patient and to study gradually and systematically, and at the same time solve the problems gradually at the normal pace.

You must constantly feel that you are doing that since it’s the Creator who presents these problems. When you solve them, you are incorporated into the force of nature at the same time, which thus gives you a chance to solve all the problems in the world at any given moment and to hold on to the right intention.

There is nothing but that. I am saying this because I have been through that myself. I have been through some very hard times when I had very serious and complicated legal and economic problems. The Creator turns things around so that you won’t know what to do.

In that case we must simply shrink ourselves and solve the problems together with Him, while we understand that “there is none else but Him.” He makes us deal with these problems, like we do with small kids (we know that we only learn from problems), and you solve them.

When you solve them corporeally, you are constantly holding on to the right intention that everything that you receive comes from Him. Thus you carry on a dialog with the Creator and are constantly holding on to this intention, to this inclination. In addition to that, there are the friends, the study, and everything else. This is the only way to see things! Just don’t cut yourself off! The gap is already a result of a deviation from the original direction.

The main thing is to constantly hold on to the right intention, quietly and calmly and to act only to the extent that you can hold on to it. You will see that there is a solution to everything. Suddenly, everything calms down as if you have poured water on a flame, the water is poured and everything becomes quiet.
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From the St. Petersburg Convention 7/11/13, “Preparatory Lesson

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There is the path of suffering and the path of Torah (the Light). The entire world is moving by the path of suffering, and we are moving by the path of Torah. However, in its turn, the path of Torah is also divided into the path of suffering and the path of Torah. If a person is not able to awaken the dawn himself and the dawn is compelled to awaken him, then he advances by the path of suffering. That is, he descends into the darkness of the night, exposing himself to blows, earthly and spiritual, and remains in this descent until he climbs out from there. In this case, this also is called the path of suffering, but nevertheless, it is suffering on the path of spiritual development rather than the usual earthly development.

In contrast, there is the path of Torah when a person moves due to taking the desires from the environment. On this path, there is also a division on the path of suffering and the path of Torah. Entering the path of Torah, a person needs to pass the four stages of internal HaVaYaH, after which he enters the clear, true path of the Light. There, we already are ascending straight up by the beam of the Light.

Until then, you need to go through many clarifications of what the path of Light is. It is said about this, that if you are worthy, your work will be done at the expense of others. This does not mean that you take advantage of them as is done in our world, but you really use the ready vessels that the Creator prepared for His revelation and placed them in your friends.

Now, on the eve of the convention in St. Petersburg or any other convention in the future, we need to understand that our spiritual tools are in others. Preparation determines everything because we want to advance by the path of Light (Achishena), ahead of blows that approach us from behind: earthly and spiritual problems, various descents and detachment, and loss of interest.

It is said about this path in the Torah—about the people who did not listen to Moses—that, all the time, there were disagreements, frictions, disputes, and clashes between them to such an extent that Moses tells the Creator, “Leave me alone. I’m tongue-tied and cannot talk to them. They don’t understand me! They will not believe me!”

Already, after coming out of Egypt, in the wilderness, they constantly had problems and arguments. Moses would be glad to be free of his mission, but, on the other hand, he constantly protects the people, that is, the friends. Moses is an example for every one of us, showing what one should be in relation to others: Take care, and tell them everything that you have in your heart to awaken others and to straighten their path.

This is the way everyone should behave in relation to others. On the one hand, you must be great relative to the group, the giver, giving them everything that you have—inspiration, joy, the greatness of the goal—like Moses, the leader of the people. On the other hand, there is no more modest a man than Moses. That is, you become the smallest from the highest. This is the example of the attitude toward the group that the Torah gives us.

If you have found yourself in this state, do not believe that it is possible to labor and not find. You must find the desire suitable for the revelation of the Creator. The desire is your duty and revelation will happen immediately. The Creator, the upper Light, is just waiting for your smallest equivalence of form with Him to become revealed in your vessel at once.

He is already within you. As it is said, “I am the Creator, I dwell in you and in all your sins.” He is already here. Just reveal His first manifestation, the first HaVaYaH!
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/28/13, Shamati #117

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What will the future society be?

There is not much written about this. We will discover it gradually, on our own, in the process of building and shaping it. The principles described by Baal HaSulam make it clear that it will be a society of equal people, according to the same principle, which operates in the group, all are equal, all are friends.

Friend (chaver – חבר) derives from the word “connection” (chibur – חיבור). It literally means “entering” into each other, complementing one another by contributing our desires and thoughts. In this condition, we are united. That’s why the only concern of ours should be the way of “replenishing” others.

When we gather together in “tens” for workshops, we try to implement this principle. We should only supplement each other, never argue, and by no means “act smart.” The only thing that we need to do is fulfill our friends and provide mutual support. There is no room for anything else.

This clarifies the principles of a community life that Rabash talks about. This is a principle that has to be put into the core of the group we are building. It is not acceptable when a friend hurts or harms others. In order to build the future society, we should first build it among us so that it becomes an illustration for others. It should be based solely on mutual assistance; there cannot be any “dirty tricks” played on each other whatsoever. The group charter should reflect this.

However, Baal HaSulam writes that the future society—not a group, but society as a whole—can be built only after people rise to this developmental level, become ready to give up their egoism, and create a new type of social relationships. We need to bring them to this condition. So first of all, it is very important for us to act extensively and broadly open courses on integral education wherever possible.

By doing so, we’ll create a society of equals, a society in which everyone will get as much as one needs and will work for the good of all. Each will receive as much as he or she needs for normal existence and the rest will be redirected to create the same conditions for everyone in the world.

Nothing beyond basic necessities will be produced. However, it is not about contracting or reducing manufacturing of consumer goods to a minimum! No, we are talking about normal, human living conditions that we should not exceed. It’s no secret: If we get out of balance with nature, we begin to destroy it and eventually, in practice, we destroy the house we all live in.

The principles of building the future society are very simple. We physically feel and sense them when we are with our groups. Gradually, to the extent of the advancement of the groups and their “satellites” (non-Kabbalistic groups of people engaged in integral education), new extended communities will emerge. Gradually, they will expand their “territories,” establish rules of their own, start schools and other establishments. Gradually, they will become more connected.

On the other hand, this process can also be directed from above. We make attempts from the top, since any crisis begins from the top and goes to the bottom; everything is rotting from the head. We see that many countries are in totally desperate situations and we believe that sooner or later their governments will understand that there is a system of knowledge that can correct people, thus, allowing us to correct our civilization.

Let’s hope that it will be clear before too much blood is shed.

To sum up: If we want to advance personally, it’s possible only if we expand. If a group stops expanding, if it doesn’t “widen,” it stops advancing. And this is not because there won’t be new people joining it; we just have to work with the rest of the population to the best of our capacity. For that, before anything else, we have to organize and prepare ourselves. That’s why it is so important to engage in the methodology of integral education.

Some of you regard it as a burden, useful or useless, or even harmful. But this is not a burden; it is the same Kabbalah, the same kind of organization of society, or rather fragments of the soul, into a single soul according to the principle “love thy neighbor.” There is nothing new here; it’s just an explanation of all the laws of connection that exist betewen us. These laws are clarified in a plain, normal, human language and are obvious to everybody, not just to Kabbalists. That’s it, nothing more.

Even our groups are seriously engaged in studying and concentrating on the parts of the wisdom of Kabbalah that are the easiest to implement. Similarly, we teach others the rules that are the easiest for them to apply to reality.
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From the Convention in Krasnoyarsk 6/14/13, Lesson 4

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Question: Love means friendship and friendship, love. Why is there love between parents and children, but there is no friendship?

Answer: Basically, today, neither exists. We are in such a state of heightened egoism when children and parents no longer feel love for each other. We are not to blame; it is just what it is.

Today, many things are changing in humanity. People do not want to have children, do not want to create a family. There are those who agree to have a family but do not want children, and to the contrary, they want to have children but do not want to have a family. In general, everything is not right.

In my youth, everything was a bit different, and now I look at young people and do not understand them. They have a completely different nature. It is a sharp change of generation, hastening of time, and even greater changes are ahead of us.

The fact is that there is a rise of desires that are not yet expressed in us clearly, but are detached from the previous degree; that is, we are moving more and more away from the animate world. In other words, human nature, human egoism, is increasingly manifested in us. Therefore, we become detached from the previous animate level, and we lose the natural instincts aimed at creating a family and raising children. They acquire a nominal character.

All this leads us to correction. Meanwhile, people are moving under the influence of the new desires that are awakened in them, and then they will begin to recognize them, moreover, recognize them as harmful. How can we correct this? It is only by correcting our intention, working on mistakes.
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From the Convention in St. Petersburg, “Preparatory Lesson”

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Question: What exactly must we come to as a result of this convention? Is it perhaps to some common feeling of love between friends?

Answer: There are no common feelings. We need absolutely complete correction. We do not go for less. We are going to become a single image of a unified human, to gather everyone in a unified system. That is all and nothing else!

This is the first convention for which we were preparing in advance with the awareness that we are coming here in order to work seriously. This is not the convention where I go on the stage and everyone listens to me, expecting some interesting stories and then dances and sings. This is the convention where we are working within ourselves all together.

The most important action takes place between us, within us! I only correct you a bit and remember it should be between everyone, and I am there with you.

We are preparing for the first time since the convention, and all our subsequent conventions will be organized in this manner. Maybe in time they will take a different form and become practically virtual, but they all will be aimed at concentration, on compressing our intentions to merge them.
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From the Convention in St. Petersburg, “Preparatory Lesson”

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Question: The architecture of St Petersburg struck me. Every building is a masterpiece, and all of them are built to delight a woman. If a woman’s desire is so strong and can force people to build palaces, how can we make it work in a spiritual direction?

Answer: Leveling, the equalization of women and men is taking place today. We see this in sexual relationships, at work, in our daily lives—everywhere. I think that naturally the same thing happens in our spiritual movement.

It seems to me that those properties that women have acquired, say in the last 50 years (although it started a long time ago), bring them closer to men, and in turn, men invisibly “drift” toward women. That is, their natures are moving closer to each other, becoming less opposite.

Women work, are involved in politics, participate in everything on the same level with men, and in many cases show themselves as more able, more gifted. We know how women work for us, how much they long for bestowal, for spiritual attainment. A women’s desire for spiritual attainment is much higher than a man’s.

So, I think that we do not need to focus on the women’s issue as such, it does not exist. In most cases I hear some subconscious sensation behind the women’s questions—that allegedly they deserve more.

You do not deserve more. I am serious. You deserve as much as the men. You do not need to complain that “we are so weak, thrown somewhere at the back.”

The woman is a human being; the woman is part of the group, part of our society, the same as in the modern world in general. So, there is no women’s issue. Work as the men do, and you will get the same thing. We cannot manage without each other. We work together!

Your task is to build between yourselves and together with the men one whole: the men’s group or part of the women’s group. We are above our nature in the intention to unite with each other because we all have the same root; it is one force for everyone. I think that everyone is equal in our world group.
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From the Convention in St.Petersburg 7/11/13,“Preparatory Lesson”

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Question: In principle, everyone is able to love. Some love children, some love a husband or a wife. Why, when we come together, is it so difficult to invest the feeling here, although we seem to have the goal, the intention?

Answer: It is because our intentions in everything, except what we are engaged in, are egoistic, and that is why they are aligned with our nature, in the same direction. My intention is to quench my thirst. I take and drink. It means that I quench my desire and the intention helps realize the desire.

Here, to the contrary, the intention is opposite to my desire. That is, I use my intention to change my desires to the opposite, invert them, and that is why we go against our nature. This is huge internal work that requires enormous effort, the support of the environment, and experience.

Moreover, people get angry not understanding how they can orient themselves in this process. Seven billion inhabitants of this planet, all the countries and civilizations, act absolutely egoistically in relation to each other, and suddenly we talk about the need to realize the Biblical commandment, “Love thy neighbor.”

But how? After all, it is hard to do even in the group, not to mention to a greater extent, on a universal scale. However, we will not correct ourselves otherwise; we will not change ourselves. Either we will do this through suffering, if we wait for it, or ourselves, by drawing the Light.

If we focus on the right action, that is, by getting together fully, applying effort, concentrating on the intention and action, then we can succeed. The most important thing is to make this action the first time, and, only then, do you begin to understand how it happens.

Question: Why do we love children? What kind of feeling is this?

Answer: This is an animal instinct. As an animal loves his offspring so the human being loves his children. You do not love someone else’s; you love your children. However, to love someone else’s child, you will only be able to this when you correct yourself. We are heading toward this.

To speed up this process you will need to get together and support each other. To “get together” means to try to unite mutual intentions and efforts, to stop feeling oneself, but to feel others. If you force yourself to do this, you will find out that all the others are already in there and are waiting just for you.
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From the Convention in St. Petersburg, “Preparatory Lesson”

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