Each convention is like an ascent to the next degree. In the convention you receive the rudiments of new sensations, which you have to develop. If you don’t, they die away, disappear.

You saw something at the convention, you heard or sensed something new: a new idea, a new inner movement, a new relation to others, and how others help you. Later you have to realize all of it in practice.

You have to go over, and perhaps more than once, everything that we’ve covered during the convention, to internally process, pass it through yourself, like through a meat grinder, and realize it in the group, in dissemination, and in the relationship with yourself and with the Creator. You have to put it all together into one general worldview, one picture of the world, being aware that thereby you are forming your view on everything, including yourself and the Creator. All of it has to become one unified whole within you.

How can I put everything that is happening on this sphere into one unified whole? Everything is happening only in order for me to bring this sphere into balance, harmony with the Light that exists at absolute rest, and so everything else has to come into balance with it. I’m responsible for bringing this entire system into a state of balance, harmony, and similarity to the Light.

We have to form in ourselves this view of the world and then realize it.
[76292] 
From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/12, Lesson 5 

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I gave a talk about how women should prepare for conventions within the framework of the program “Rungs of the Ladder.”

The host of the program was Rachel Laitman, head of the Internet Department of the Arvut Movement.

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Question: Why do we organize workshops, and how helpful are they?

Answer: Kabbalah is a practical science. That is why all the millennia while we didn’t have to do practical work it was hidden from people, and only few scientists, Kabbalists, developed this method and adjusted it each time for the generation in which they lived.

But they didn’t show this method to people, simply from generation to generation along the way as they developed, they modified it until the entire humanity reached our time and found itself in the integral global crisis, that is, in an obvious egoistic Egypt, in the feeling of exile from something good, kind, natural, and normal.

We see that our nature is destroying us; we cannot get out if it ourselves and are hostages of our egoism that drives us to such dangerous actions that we may just ruin the entire civilization. We are destroying nature, the Earth, and the environment in which we live, and in general are making a terrible future for our children.

Why do we raise them? I look at children whose parents create intolerable conditions in advance. Why do they give birth? Today you love them, but what will happen to them tomorrow? You are doing things so that they will not be able to live! They will die a painful death! Don’t you feel that?! No, the human being doesn’t feel that, he is still blind.

However, he is slowly beginning to realize that. But even knowing this, he cannot change himself yet and act differently. Nonetheless, he still uses everything possible, sparing nothing, taking nothing into account; it doesn’t matter what’s left to his children. That is how we relate to nature, society, everything.

Therefore the science of Kabbalah is revealed today in order to explain that this is called slavery, it’s what is called the expulsion from spirituality; namely this is the worst state, the most opposite to spirituality. And in order to help us get out of it, to pull ourselves out of it, the science of Kabbalah is revealed. Therefore, it has been revealed today when we should practice all its advice, laws, and rules.

But to put them into practice, we first need to learn.

And we have to learn this, as usual, in groups, at school, by helping each other, by studying textbooks and conducting workshops in small groups—a prototype for future work with the whole humanity.

Therefore, workshops are necessary; they are the most important thing! They are the real true realization of Kabbalah in principle; it exists for this purpose. It’s not a theoretical science, not philosophy, but namely a practice.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012

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Question: How should we relate to the newcomers during the convention?

Answer: I wouldn’t say that there is a big difference between the newcomers and veteran students. It’s because when all people incorporate into one another, the difference is always there, and in principle, in this case it’s not important how much a person knows or at what level he or she exists since this is a reflection of the entire humanity, which consists of the smallest to the greatest ones, those who already understand and maybe even partially sense the upper world. Hence most important is for everybody to incorporate into one another.

The veteran students have to help the newcomers. They have to work at full force, participate actively, and set everything into motion. We will hold preliminary talks with them on how to conduct workshops, how to talk with everybody and get them involved, and how to relate to everyone with warmth. Most important is to set an example.
[76305] 
From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012

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Conventions are the necessary step to create a unified Kli (vessel, desire). If above all our problems, contradictions, distances, and differences in mentality and understanding we try to unite, then due to the differences between us and the connection above them, we will reach a powerful desire measured by the contradictions within it and the connection above it. This is the purpose of conventions. 

I understand that there are huge problems in every group and internal distances between the groups. That is why the main thing at the conventions is to try to rise above them. Don’t destroy, but learn to overcome the problems by uniting above them by “faith above reason” or love that “will cover all sins.” Let’s cover everything within us with this “blanket” and build our common desire for the Creator above this. It should be precisely like this, at the top, above all the contradictions. 

Everything that we have passed through, all the problems, the hardening of the internal Pharaoh—everyone’s personal Pharaoh and the common Pharaoh between us—all that has been given to us from Above, from the Creator. And now we only need to think about unity, how in this unity, according to the law of equivalence to the Light, we discover the upper Light in ourselves, in our connection between us.

The conventions, consisting of lectures and various exercises on connection, are dedicated to this.
[76235]
From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012    

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Question: How can we best prepare ourselves for the period of conventions so as to create a feeling of a unified group?

Answer: We will work on this at the time of the conventions as well. To do this, we need to re-read the article “The Freedom” and Rabash’s articles about unification. We need to study again the shattering of the spiritual Kli (vessel), how it shaped our earthly perception of ourselves: We now see that we are distant from one another, existing in opposition to one another, in a growing egoism, hatred, and various egoistic desires.

We have to understand that our nature is made to be so opposite to the Creator on purpose, in order for us to rise above it specifically from contradiction, starting from the opposite state, and thus be able to sense Him, since otherwise we would be incapable of it. We begin to feel and build ourselves in similarity to Him specifically based on the contrast between our nature and His.

Hence the most important preparation is to repeat the material that we study all the time: a little bit from Kabbalah itself—about the shattering of the vessel and its correction, as well as the topic of the development of egoism from Adam till our days covered in one of the “Talks about a New Life.” In general, we have lots of materials on this subject.

But most important is to simply know why you come to the convention. You come there to participate in the general Kli, in the general desire, which we all created and in which we will sense the Creator.
[76232] 
From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012  

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It’s said: “Those who love the Creator, hate evil.” `That is, we are given a reference point: If you are in the state of love for the Creator, then you hate evil, hate egoism, and this should be felt simultaneously; otherwise, you are straying from the direction. You will think that you love the Creator, but if you don’t feel the hate for egoism at the same time, then, you have no direction, it vanishes. In order to align it, to make it a straight line, on the one hand, you have to strengthen it in the hatred for evil, and then the second point will be precisely aimed at the love for the Creator. We don’t know what the Creator and the love for Him is. But if we start with the hatred for egoism, this is already a direction.

It’s said in this case: “Those who love the Creator, hate evil,” and they are whom the Creator saves from this evil. Therefore, our work is to reject and repel egoism and to attract good, bestowal, and love.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/12, Lesson 5

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What is the connection between the hatred of evil and the salvation from evil? On one hand, simply by being human, we understand that when I hate something I distance myself from it. This guards and protects me, helps me to be safe from evil. But this does not work in the spiritual. There it must evoke the upper Light in order to correct me.

There is another instruction for understanding this, which states the world is only created for two states, either the state, perception, and comprehension of absolute evil or the state of absolute goodness. There is no other option. In other words, the world is created either for absolute sinners or the absolute righteous; it is one or the other, there is no third option. This is why it is worse to be an incomplete righteous than an absolute sinner. How can this be? This is what is written. So what are the teachers showing us?

The fact is, they write, that from the Creator’s perspective there is nothing in the world that might have dual meaning, a little bit of goodness and a bit of evil. From the Creator’s perspective there is only absoluteness—either absolute goodness or absolute evil, either absolute bestowal or absolute reception.

And for this reason, when a person wishes to advance toward the goal, he has no right to accept that there is a bit of this and a bit of that in him! This is the worst quality, the worst state!

Accepting it is a bad quality. Being in this and consoling yourself that there is nothing horrible about this is a bad state: There is a bit of this and a bit of that in me, I am no worse or better than others, there are these and those. When I console myself with these kinds of thoughts I will neither be able to reach the state of absolute sinner or absolute righteous. When I fail to reach these states, I stay suspended somewhere and I lack the point of reference for advancement.

From the Creator’s perspective, there is no difference between good and evil. There is no double meaning from His point of view: absolutely everything is good.

In our state, in our world, when a person begins to perceive that everything comes from the Creator, then he is already analyzing his attitude towards the world. If everything comes from the Creator, I either perceive that the world comes from a good, eternal, perfect source or that the world is full of suffering, contradictions, and meaninglessness. And if so then I do not believe, feel, and acknowledge that the world is really eternal, perfect, and good as the One Who created it and fills it.

Why do we need this? When, from the beginning, we perceive the world as perfect, good, eternal, and full of Light, then the problem is in us, in our perception of the world, in our sensations. When I feel that it is opposite to this absoluteness that I am able to imagine, then I evaluate myself, my qualities, as opposite and egoistic. However, when I do not see anything good in the world, then I am a sinner—I am not justifying the Creator, I accuse Him of creating this. And if I do not feel either thing, then I do not even acknowledge the fact that He exists and that He has created and maintains all of this; in other words, I deny the presence of the upper force.

A person must clearly understand his attitude toward the world from which he comes, and what it is like in relation to the Creator.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/12, Lesson 5

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The world around us is in absolute calm, all filled with the upper Light. We must correct our feelings, our organ of perception. There is none else besides Him. What else do you want?! Here He is—in front of you, around you, within you.

Remove your “I,” and you begin to feel what kind of world is around us, in the form of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), and what kind of the world is within us, in the form of the Inner Light (Ohr Pnimi). Just remove the partition, and everything will be fine.

The separation is cancelled by restriction and then by the screen. In the beginning, egoism is annulled, and the Light passes through you freely. This state is called “Ibur” (conception), the state of being inside the mother’s vessel, when you are completely surrounded and exist inside Mother Nature, the Creator.

And then you start to grow like an embryo inside your mother, are born, and develop further. When you begin to convert your egoism into bestowal, in the likeness of the Creator, then something that exists independently, in the likeness to the Light, comes out from you. You don’t obstruct the Light that passes through you, but amplify it.

Only from the initial setting to “There is none else besides Him” do we continue to tune ourselves to the fact that the world is filled with absolute good. If I don’t feel this in the heart, desires, and don’t fully understand it in the mind, I am not corrected. Then, I find out how much I am not corrected.

These states are typically intermediate and require further development. It takes place in the group. When I make an effort and explicitly go establish harmonious relations with the friends, then I immediately see how much I don’t want that! My egoism is manifested instantly, pushing me away from the friends. This occurs naturally. And I reveal that I am a sinner, and a serious one. Then, I have an opportunity to go further to request correction. This is the next stumbling block and the next reference point.

The first reference point is “There is none else besides Him.”

The second reference point is to see that everything is absolute good through this focus, like through a telescope.

The third reference point is the group, through which I must see everything, in order to come to a clear understanding whether I am a sinner or a righteous one.

There are no in-between states. We should avoid them. This is appeasement that will lead us nowhere. We just lose time!
[76111]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/2012, Lesson 5

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Question: There are a lot of new people who are used to studying virtually. How can we describe to or give them a taste of the sensation of conventions so that they would come to the convention?

Answer: First of all, whoever can come should necessarily do so. If a person is given such an opportunity and he doesn’t utilize it, it harms him since he as if disregards an opportunity to connect. And he shouldn’t try to convince himself that it will be better for him to stay at home or with his group. If he can come to the convention, even if he is the only one from his entire group that doesn’t stay behind to participate in a mirror convention, he should still come, whoever can come should come.

Second, it is necessary to create certain conditions the way we did in the past, both during the convention in the Arava desert and the European Congress in Vilnius, meaning we should hold big mirror conventions.

Besides, we will broadcast from Bogota, Santiago, and other cities. There will be lectures for the 99%. So we will be in touch anyway, and you will feel this connection.

Question: How advanced should we be in order to come to the convention?

Answer: Not at all. You simply have to wish to be there, and then—you are invited.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012  

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