Question: My parents got divorced and that left its imprint in me. I know that there are many people in my generation who are affected by this as well. We are afraid of women. It is very difficult to trust them.

Answer: I don’t understand your problems because we talk about absolutely different things. We don’t talk about men and women as biological bodies, a set of chromosomes, genes, and hormones.

We talk about men and women as traits of nature (and it is very important to us!), when we as adults understand how to use our strengths and weaknesses properly in order to reach a common goal. Serious people gathered here who want to reach that and don’t care about everyday problems between men and women in our regular life. We get away from a material life and rise above it. We want to use our spiritual qualities, either masculine or feminine, in order to support each other and rise. We must go together toward the goal in order to reach it.

Each of us has his or her own mission, own role, but can’t be without others. Only our mutual combination makes our connection productive.

We learn about Aviut (desire) and Zakut (screen). It is necessary to have both as complementary and equal to each other. One cannot exist without the other. If a screen were bigger than Aviut, where would it appear from the start? A screen cannot be different because it appears only on top of a desire. If a desire is bigger than the screen, it means it is no longer aimed toward bestowal, but toward reception. Thus it is important to have a right combination of masculine and feminine qualities.

I’d like to emphasize that we talk about qualities, not about hormones or other material traits. Under the concept of “a woman” an aspiration toward spiritual is meant, and “a man” is a realization of this aspiration that absolutely doesn’t apply to this world.
[75499]
From the Vilnius Convention 3//23/12, Lesson 2

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Question: Why was the last convention in Israel held in the desert? Is symbolism really that important to Kabbalists?

Answer: We saw that it does matter and make a difference. The first time we went there because we have a big, serious group of 40-50 people there, who are scattered throughout a number of smaller spots in the desert. They live in their small houses in the middle of the desert and farm for a living, growing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, figs, bananas, and so on.

It virtually never rains in the desert, you have a few drops once a year at the most. Therefore, what we have witnessed was a supernatural phenomenon. Even the people who were born in that area and have lived there for 40+ years have never seen anything like it. Let alone the fact that the rain was accompanied by thunder and lightning, which is entirely unnatural for the desert. We view this as a good omen.

Why the desert? It’s not the desert in the traditional sense. There were mountains there. Essentially, it’s empty land, but not sand.

Interestingly enough, there are huge reserves of water underground: from saltwater, like in the Dead Sea, to water with salt concentrations, like in a regular sea or ocean, to plain, so-called sweet water. Depending on where you drill the earth’s crust, you can produce a different type of water. And while there’s an ocean of water underneath, above ground is the desert.

This is why the locals grow special fruits and vegetables there. Depending on the concentration of salt in the water they use to irrigate their crops, they get a particular flavor. For instance, figs are very sweet by nature, but if you irrigate them with saltwater, they grow to be several times larger and several times sweeter because they need to as if fight the saltwater.

There is also a nature reserve where special horned animals are bred. Many international organizations fund the reserve because special genetic experiments are conducted there.

In short, it’s a very interesting place. In the desert you can truly isolate yourself from outside distractions. We’ve already gone there several times, and we liked it. But this time, obviously, the convention surpassed all expectations.

I think that the convention site and the timing were chosen well. We should all be happy with what we’ve attained. We felt ourselves as a single whole, and through that we can continue to develop within us the rudiments of viewing the world in an integrated way. And from there we can reveal the Creator, as per the law of equivalence of form.
[75493]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 2/26/12

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Question: I have understood more than I have felt at this convention. Is this normal or did I miss something?

Answer: Understanding without feeling is also good. At least you have seen the unity of people, you have seen their aspiration, you have understood that our attainment of reality is based on this specific aspiration.

Without uniting, we cannot create the sensor where we will be able to feel the upper world, the Creator. This is exactly why we are broken and exist at the very bottom: to start putting the pieces of the upper world together. And as we put it together, we will discover and feel new elements of the true, real, spiritual, world.

And we will see our world the other way around, as getting further from us, because essentially, it has nothing—it is smaller than a point. It is under the point of the straight line, under the “feet” of the Partzuf of Galgalta. There is Sium, or the end of all the Partzufim, and the point of our world is even lower, under it, meaning it is as if it doesn’t exist. And we exist in it, but it is like we are “nonexistent.”
[75481]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 2/26/12

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Question: Are there people who have already reached the fourth level of development, the level of Man? Could it be that these are certain leaders in the world?

Answer: Unfortunately, the leaders are very far from that because only the greatest egoist can be a leader in our world. This is because our world is egoistic, and so in order to climb to the top, you need to be the greatest egoist with a very big desire.

There are nearly two million people around the world who study the method of the integral upbringing in the framework of the ARI Institute. Many other different organizations and circles are engaged in that as well.

I hope that the year 2012 will be a special year because many changes are about to take place now, and we see that the speed of these changes is increasing, particularly in terms of understanding and adapting the integral system to humanity. So we will see great changes, and I hope they will be for the better.
[74955]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/22/12, Preliminary Lesson

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We exist as parts of a system, similar to elements of an electronic system. Therefore, everything that happens to us conforms only to the way the entire system reaches the end of correction.

It says: “The outcast will not be turned back from Me” and “Everything will return to its root.” Everyone returns to their root, and together we all return to our general root. But we want to shorten the way, to reach the goal by hastening time (Achishena), here and now, quickly, to understand and to feel what we are doing as much as it is possible, in order to perform these actions of bestowal consciously, with understanding, and not to advance by the way of suffering (Beito, or in its time).

There are two problems. On one hand, I have to agree to perform actions of bestowal. On the other, I have to understand that I should calculate and prepare these altruistic actions. These two types of work are called “the work in the mind” and “the work in the heart,” and they are both opposite to nature.

Therefore, we do our best to organize the right system among us, as if we are connected, as if we love one another, as if we complement one another, as if we are cogwheels in a general system, and as if we connect with the Creator, in order to bring Him contentment, and with all of humanity, in order to correct them and bring them to the same action.

All this is “as if.” We do everything as if jokingly, like a little child who, having put the constructor pieces together, suddenly discovers that it is still a toy. He thought that he would build a tractor, he did his best, he assembled it, and then he discovers that it isn’t real, but made of plastic and doesn’t move at all.

But in our spiritual work, the moment we build this “demo,” this “counterfeit,” knowing that it is a game but building it correctly, according to the demands of Kabbalists, the Light that Reforms influences us immediately and makes it real.

This is the whole trick. We only need to understand that this is how it works. We try to put the parts together, in love, bestowal, unity, connection, by faith above reason—it makes no difference how we call it on our level. Clearly, everything is fake. But we try to put this construction set together, and according to our efforts the Light acts and turns it into the real picture.
[72135]
From the Arava Convention 2/25/12, Lesson 7

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Question: The convention in Brazil is approaching. What can it give those who will physically participate in it?

Answer: If a person has already taken part in our conventions and cannot make it this time, it may not be so critical. On the other hand, these people already understand that the convention is worth the effort. As for people who have never been to a convention, they should do their best to be there.

Today our conventions are first and foremost about connection. People don’t just come to hear me lecture. The convention springs me into action so that I form a vessel, a desire, together with everyone. Then I feel the difference between my private thoughts and the thoughts of the general circle. These are two totally different levels of thinking and feeling.

The convention enables a person to feel the taste of unity a bit, which is essentially the “posterior” of the Creator. When unity takes hold of a person a little, he discovers that there is a special hidden sensation here, the “point of unity” that Baal HaSulam talks about. If a person discovers charm in the unity with the group, he reaches the path that leads to the Creator.

Thus, the convention is a rare opportunity thanks to which a person can continue marching safely onwards because he already has the right impressions. I don’t think it is possible to attain this without an actual, physical connection.

Therefore, it is very important to arrive in person. A person who has already been to a convention generally understands that he should go—at any reasonable price. But if you’ve never felt that, then listen to some advice: Come and that’s all. In a country like Brazil, the next convention will probably be in another two or three years. It is even worthwhile to take a loan and to repay it later in several monthly payments. By this you are buying yourselves a true asset, and if you miss it, you will regret it later. A reasonable debt isn’t so bad. Don’t postpone the main thing in life for later. I strongly recommend that you come.
[75412]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/2012, Writings of Rabash

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Here is another set of pictures from from the European Kabbalah Convention that took place in Vilnius, Lithuania March 23-25, 2012.

[Show slideshow]

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Question: Do you recommend us to pretend that we already are in spirituality in order to accelerate our advancement? How do we do it?

Answer: How do we play with children? We show them how to do things. They want to become big and they play! And we often play with them.

We need to do the same. All of nature, a person’s entire growth is based only on game. Even now we play big, great people who are equal to the Creator. We want to ascend by one degree and become equal to Him. Can you imagine the audacity of this behavior?! Yes, I want to be like this!

When I wanted to become a doctor, a driver, or a cowboy as a child, I played pretend. Now we also play. Anywhere you go, play is really the method of ascending to the next degree. A person begins to age as soon as he stops playing. This is why I need to play even now without being ashamed of the fact that I do not know or understand who I am, why I need the group, and so on. We must pretend and play, and then we will achieve everything.

We are like a child who makes an effort and evokes the same upper Light; after all, the same force develops all of us. Only we now wish for it to develop the next level in us, based on the example we draw from the upper nature, and not our world.
[75379]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 2

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Question: Should women act as if men already are in the quality of Lishma (altruistic intention)?

Answer: No! Women should not think that men already are on such a level. They must view them as children: All of us are participating in this game together. They treat men as a mother treats her children and as a wife who sends her husband off to work.

They say that there is a woman behind every successful man, and this is really true. It cannot be any other way. So we want to be some lucky men!
[75376]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 2

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Question: There always has to be a connection between a man and a woman. When they are a son and a mother, this connection is of the son’s love for the mother and the mother’s love for her son. When they are a husband and a wife, this connection is the woman’s love for the man and the man’s love for the woman. When these are friends who share a single aspiration and goals, there needs to be sympathy and friendship between them. What kind of connection should we have?

Answer: In our world, the connection between a mother and a child or a man and a woman and so on comes from us being on the same egoistic level and trying to achieve something on it. There are only two of us who exist: a husband and a wife or a mother and a child.

But in our case, there are three of us: men, women, and the upper force—the Creator. In Him, the three of us connect together in mutual love. It’s never the two of us who connect! This is not animalistic love or a physical dependence. It ties us together only because we have one goal, and in it, all of us connect together into one common whole. This is why this is a completely different feeling, which has nothing in common with animalistic attraction towards one another.

Pardon me saying this about a mother’s feelings for her child, for example, but basically this is what exists on the animal level.

But here only the Creator and nothing else obligates us to have this connection. It is only the Creator because we demand for Him to manifest between us. We would be absolute strangers without Him. In other words, every time there is a relationship between myself and my friend, a man or a woman, I imagine the revelation of the Creator between us.
[75374]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 2

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