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.
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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!
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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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Question: The transition to a new level must be conscious. What exactly do we need to do to make conscious actions?

Answer: There is nothing specific we can do to make our transition, actions, and journey conscious. We only can wait for changes to happen within us under the influence of the upper Light. My efforts only evoke the upper Light, the upper energy, which affects me.

Even now I do not know what will happen to me in the next moment, even in my regular life. All this comes from the outside and is revealed from Above every moment of my life.

It is the same with spiritual work. I direct myself toward the quality to bestow, but it has to come to me and affect me, and then I will begin to understand what is happening to me. I myself can only contribute to my aspiration, but I am unable to understand.

Here, we need to be acutely aware of the fact that our drive upward, forward, is always accompanied by a question, a desire for it to actually happen. The upper Light comes from Above and provides a response. It gives us the answer since nothing can come from us. I only wait for the upper Light to manifest within us.

Since we do not have a strong enough question, desire, and drive forward yet, Ohr Makif (the Surrounding Light) does not manifest sufficiently. Is a question equal to the first portion of the Light in its intensity of desire appear in us? This is what matters.

Reaching this level means that we are reaching the threshold value of our question, our aspiration, our desire. Then, we find the answer right away. The Light always operates in a discrete manner, like inside an atom. When an electron drops from one orbit to another, it releases a quant of light. In order to lift it to an orbit, it needs to be charged with a quant of light. Then it rises and once again drops and releases a quant of light, and so forth, according to the laser principle. Nature is the same everywhere. This is why the same principle operates here.

We must rise to the threshold level.

Right now we are on one level, and we continue jumping up to reach the second level, but we are not reaching it yet. We constantly slide down, losing this level, try to rise again, and once again, we lose it. How do we jump over and rise to the next level? Once we rise to it, we will no longer descend, or fall from it.

Let us say that you are trying to jump onto a table. You jump halfway, three quarters of the way, or a quarter of the way. Every time, you fall back to the ground. Once you manage to land on the table, you will continue to stand there.

This is what we need to do. We are not willing to accept anything less than this.
[75307]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 2

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Question: During seminars on connection, it is very important to speak from the heart without any slogans or clichés. If somebody feels unable to say anything, is it possible that support from the group moderator or someone else could help him to say a few words?

Answer: The thing is that the world we want to experience, the next level, is not verbal. There are no words or any information exchange besides nonverbal information on the level of frequencies that are called our thoughts and feelings. These are special frequencies.

There are people who can perceive them. Because when we don’t know a person, we instinctively tune into his frequency and sometimes capture his thoughts. There is nothing supernatural in that. Thus some people feel others at a distance. All of that is achieved through a connection to a higher common informational layer.

But we connect not just to an egoistic informational layer like psychics, but rather, to a higher informational layer that operates us and is called the upper force. It is called upper because, unlike our egoistic force, it is altruistic and is built upon bestowal, not upon reception.

It is important to understand that we influence each other without words on the level of this force. If our words do not correspond to our thoughts, then they have no effect. Results can be reached only when we want to be givers. Even though we are not yet altruists and don’t actually seek unity, but want to be so, then this desire works. Meaning, our thought and words shouldn’t contradict each other. There should be at least some desire and aspiration in them. Therefore, our internal thoughts, internal pressures, and aspirations, which are called prayer, are sufficient.

There are cases in our practical work when people sit a few hours in a row without saying a word. Rabash and I practiced the same approach during meals or other events when we sat for 30-40 minutes in absolute silence. I remember that millions of different thoughts swept through my head at that time. You wander somewhere in the deep corners of yourself, you are being thrown out, but then find the way into the right thoughts, and then get carried away again.

Thus a person gradually teaches himself the proper intention because only through a right intention, it is possible to penetrate, reach, and enter the next higher informational layer.
[75314]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 2

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Question: Negative feelings, irritation or even hatred appear in us when we begin to unite. What is the right way to work with them?

Answer: We need to divide the world into two parts: the way it appears to me, to my egoism, and the way it actually is. What is the world like in reality?

Once we reveal it in our common desire, we will see that it is full of Light and absolutely perfect. There is nothing to correct in it. In other words, we only need to correct ourselves, only our personal attitude toward the world, our personal perception.

This is why we need to divide the world precisely into the way it appears to us through the prism of egoism, and the world that actually exists outside of us. It is simply the upper Light that is in a state of absolute rest and has just the one quality of complete bestowal and love.

This is why we need to separate these two sensations within us. One sensation is the real sensation of irritation and objections that appear purposefully so that we would rise above them and perceive the group as something absolute and perfect, where all the friends are the greatest people in the world who are absolutely corrected. I, alone, must include myself in them and be like an embryo inside a mother.

The actual things they say and their influence on me does not matter. I am given these obstacles purposefully so that I would manage to get inside through these obstacles and be inside my friends as I imagine them to be absolutely perfect in the state of rest with me inside them.
[75310]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 2

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