The fact is that by constantly developing, the ego was pushing us forward. We always wanted something new and were always chasing something. But today the ego has become flat; it has reached its maximum and, most importantly, become global. It has retired into its own shell.

As a result, we have become closed between ourselves and totally dependent on one another. We have created a closed analog system between us in which everyone is so dependent on others that through a chain of four acquaintances each of us is connected to all the people in the world. What’s more, today there is no need to fight: It’s enough to cut off a certain country from the mutual cooperation with other countries, and it will immediately collapse because it cannot exist on its own.

This was never the case before. A country could isolate itself and be independent. It could survive on its own. It had enough resources to produce energy, food, and everything the population needed, and there were no special problems.

But today we cannot do anything if we are not connected to tens of other countries. We have to buy, sell, and exchange goods, to constantly receive, send, and so on. We’ve become global, we’ve become closed. It wouldn’t be a problem if at the same time we were changing ourselves.

So, we have remained the same individualistic egoists while the world has become global and closed. Hence the discrepancy between the two systems.

On one hand, there is a discrete system, in which each of us wants to live alone: “I don’t need a family. I don’t need children. I don’t need anyone. I want to be independent and not depend on anyone.” This is how our ego speaks today. On the other hand, nature shows us the opposite: You are totally dependent on everyone. You cannot exist by yourself. You must be connected to everyone, and not only you, but your society, your state, and the whole world.”

This is the contradiction between the two systems: the general system we are in and our personal, individual, internal, system. This is the crisis since the two systems cannot work together. And this is what we feel.

So how can this problem be solved?
[73547] 
From the Vilnius Convention 3/22/12, Preliminary Lesson  

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In a way, we have always known what to do and where to go. Nature has always pushed us from behind: We wanted to evolve, to do more and to expand, to develop science and technology—everything we could.

Today we don’t want anything. We got stuck, turned silent. Our ego, which throughout history was humanity’s driving force, has ceased to work. It doesn’t evoke any urges or impulses in us, it doesn’t push us forward. We’ve been through many changes in society, we’ve developed, built, created, and made revolutions. Humanity has constantly tried to do something, to move forward. We were searching.

Today there is no search. There is no paradigm of thinking, no accurate, clear plan of what we want and in which direction to develop. This is what characterizes our times.

The main problem is that it applies to everyone. There was never something like this in history. All the countries and continents: Oceania, Asia, North and South America, Europe, the Far East, Japan, China, and Africa, all have all developed in their own way, at their own pace and were not dependent on one another.

Suddenly we’ve become so dependent that this problem has become global. We find ourselves in a world where everything is mutually connected. We don’t want it, but the mutual connection is so strong that it manifests daily and affects virtually each of us. If something happens somewhere in the world, it is surely and immediately reflected on us. We see what is happening in the stock markets in New York, Tokyo, Germany, or Frankfurt, what is happening with the oil or metals.… If there is an earthquake, a hurricane, or a volcano that erupts somewhere, it is reflected on everyone. We are in such a changing world that we cannot even imagine what to do next.

If we draw a simple graph of the development of the ego on a time axis, we will see that we used to develop more or less evenly. Only in the 20th century has our ego grown very sharply. We have made a breakthrough in every aspect of life: in technology, education, and upbringing, in developing the lands and conquering space. Suddenly we find ourselves on a “landing.” We’ve achieved the maximum of our ego, and it doesn’t push us anywhere anymore. We’ve reached this state since the end of the last century.

This is a very serious problem, which great men and great minds are dealing with. But today we are starting to research and understand it, and are beginning to realize what has happened.
[73550] 
From the Vilnius Convention 3/22/12, Preliminary Lesson 

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Now, we are creating a new sense organ. The science of Kabbalah is not just the science of reception; it is the method of developing the highest sense organ in us.

It does not exist in a single person, but is revealed between people when they are trying to create this interaction between them that will reveal the Upper Force that will fill the entire space between them.

Only we can stimulate this detector, this sensor. It can appear only between us, not in every one of us, but between us. To the extent that we strive to get closer to each other and turn into one whole, we will discover this force that fills us according to the law of the equivalence of form, the law of similarity, balance, and homeostasis. This is the method of Kabbalah.

I remember when I started studying with Rabash and did not understand anything yet, he told me a few phrases that I remembered, although I did not understand what he meant. He said: “The most important thing is to develop a sense for the Creator Who fills everything, for this force of nature that surrounds us.”

To develop a feeling? I did not know what it meant “to develop a feeling.” In general by nature, I am a scientific kind of person; I want to understand instead of feel.

It took a long time before I realized that this is achieved not by the mind, but only by developing an additional sense organ.

But the feeling can be developed only if we cooperate among ourselves, turning into one whole, like this great force around us.

We have gathered here to unite, to create these conditions between us so that it manifests itself. To the extent of our connection, our getting closer to each other, this force will be manifested.
[73642]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 1

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Today, we will talk about the crisis that affects all of humanity and of its possible solution that the method of integral upbringing affords.

Humanity has entered a difficult period and turned into such a state that it feels completely lost.

At the very least, people who are concerned with society, family, education, upbringing, and public, governmental, and social problems; they cannot find solutions to the problems that arise in every individual, society, and government activities. We find ourselves in a state that we cannot understand.

However, in recent years (70-80 years), scientists have been suspecting what was going on. Starting with the 1920s, the first articles appeared suggesting that the world was entering a completely different area of development, that it was rising to a totally different level: the level of integral development. Many researchers wrote about this. In the 1960s, the famous Club of Rome talked about this, as well as by many researchers and organizations.

And today in the process of the crisis, we came to a very deep state from which we cannot find the way out.

Previously the crisis touched only the problems of raising and educating children. We were unhappy with what was happening, but somehow put up with it, although we saw that the schools did not educate children, that our children suffered from bullying, violence, and abuse at school. But we tolerated that.

Then, we began to notice how people suddenly stopped caring about the family and the family started to disintegrate, which didn’t happen 100 to 200 years ago. Throughout human history, it was accepted that a person lived in a family with his parents and then created his own family; then, his children did, and they were all united in a common home, but now everything is undergoing a critical decline. People began to divorce, children to move away from their parents, people don’t want to get married or raise a family. This is also a crisis because this phenomenon is not natural for us, people.

And what will happen to future generations? We are already facing a demographic problem where the elderly outnumber the young. And who knows who will provide for them in old age. What will happen to you if you do not have children? Who will support you?

People do not even think that one generation supports the other. At least, three generations are necessary: the elderly, the parents, and the children so that they support, educate each other, pass along knowledge, care for the household; the young care for the elderly, and the elderly convey their experience and life values. There is nothing like that.

Then, there are problems with drugs and depression, depression that is so strong that doctors today consider it the number one disease of the century, not only the disease in itself, but also its consequences. The cause, the root, of the majority of the diseases in the world is depression, intense anxiety, detachment, and helplessness.

The latest crisis involves a crisis in science, education, in all things. The crisis in science began from the point that we stopped believing in science. Once, we thought that through science we would reach a good life, conquer space, settle on other planets and have unlimited possibilities ahead. And suddenly, we closed all the space programs; we are no longer interested in space exploration; we do not think that we can find anything there. In the end, everything is slowing down. A person feels depressed; He does not want anything.

The latest crisis is the economic crisis. It is the hardest and  most difficult because it affects all aspects of our lives. Food, healthcare, heating, security, everything depends on the economy. But the economy refuses to work; it no longer works and we don’t know why. Companies close, financial “bubbles” inflated, and all manner of mishandling of money occur. And everything that was supposed to develop well, to our benefit, turns against us.

But what is interesting is that no one can deal with it, neither eminent economists nor politicians, but we are all willing to help them because we will not survive without the economy. It turns out that we do not know what to do. A huge number of high-ranking politicians, heads of states, the G8, G20 get together and can solve nothing. They do not know what to do.
[73554]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/22/12, Preliminary Lesson

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The science of Kabbalah describes the stages of development we must undergo in getting closer to each other in order to reveal the Upper Force. According to our aspirations toward unity, our nullifying our egoism and ascending above it and uniting, we reach the first level and feel this force at the level of Nefesh (inanimate level). We begin feeling something is between us, but still can’t exactly grasp it. There are some sensations, but they aren’t definable or determinable yet.

Later, with a stronger yearning toward each other, we reach a stronger connection and start feeling how to “penetrate” each other a little and to feel the connection more. From this, emerges a higher sensitivity, the ability to feel. And not just to feel, but to determine and understand how we do it. Thus sensation at the level of Ruach, the level of motion, appears. According to our movement toward each other, we can get in touch with this force with different strength more or less according to the nuances of our encounters. Our movements and understanding of this upper force happen in some sort of a dialog: in our effort and in its response, the reaction of the upper force.

We advance further in establishing even greater harmony among us and start feeling just how to connect, but also what to give and to receive from the other. Then we reach the feeling of the upper force and communicate with it either in bestowal or reception from it. This level is called Neshama the level of Bina, an extremely high level.

Then we get to an even deeper perception of interaction among us: which way to work with them receiving from the other or giving to others through oneself. By giving to others through oneself, we reach the level of the Light of Hochma or Haya.

And finally, we reach the state where we feel everyone as one whole. There are no differences, no communication, no transitions, and no transmission, but everything merges into one drop of water and then all separation fully disappears. We reach the level of Yechida (from the word “unity“)—the complete unity among us and the upper force.

These five levels are achieved only to the extent of connection between us; when our personal egoism, protectionism, and everything personal is removed, a person ascends and lives only by the commonality.

In order to develop this possibility, such an instrument of perception, we gather into a group during congresses, in all our actions, and gradually develop this within ourselves.

Our time is special because it forces us and moves us toward that, and not only us but all of humanity is moved toward the initial stages when a person still doesn’t understand what it means to “develop feelings, unite, and connect to others.”

It takes many steps before a person finds out: “Why all this? Do I have this?” He acts automatically by looking at others. And only later, something starts gradually “moving” inside as if snapping from inside.  He starts feeling something else, something new and absolutely unknown appears there, like an entrance to an absolutely new area, which was completely hidden before.

And the world helps us with that today by staying in an absolutely incomprehensible and confused state. All the people in the world from young to old, poor and rich, strong and weak, nobody knows where they are. Everyone is searching, but doesn’t know where. They act mechanically trying to live the life that used to be, but it is no longer there.
[73639]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson #1

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Vilnius Convention, Lesson 5
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Vilnius Convention Workshop 4
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We have justified claims: We are repeating the same thing over and over again when trying to unite. “When will this be over? When will we get what we want?” The answer is simple: When we won’t want it.

Rabash, “Shlavei HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder)” 1989, Article 12, “A Blessing and a Curse”: A person should know that every beginning of the work is called “day,” and a person’s prayer that the Creator brings him closer to the work is called “day.”

Thanks to our prayers and requests, thanks to the mutual relations we build between the Creator and us, we clarify and refine our right request, until it enables us to feel the spiritual world. “A prayer” is the work of the heart: polishing, purification, preparation. If we ask, demand, and scream, our prayer turns into a connection with the Creator, which has gone through the group and become a “prayer of the many.” This is the only way to reach Him.

When we arrange everything correctly, we constantly polish, clarify, and prepare our vessels of perception in order to feel spirituality in them. On the way we demand: “Give me!”, but gradually we begin to fine-tune our desires and demands, directing them towards bestowal, towards unification with the friends, towards distinguishing the form of general bestowal, the Creator, in this unity, who is revealed according to the principle of “come and see.”

And so gradually the mind and the feelings in our vessels reach the right parameters and enable us to feel the spiritual world. It exists here and now, and we are in it, but we don’t feel it.

Therefore, a prayer is a process in which we prepare our vessels for the spiritual perception.
[72037] 
From the Arava Convention 2/25/12, Lesson 7 

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Question: Each of us is getting ready for the Vilnius convention. How can we create an integral of all the collective efforts, which will unite them into a single whole?

Answer: Suppose there is some indefinite form in front of us. How can we measure its area? To do that, I take a small square (1 мм²), so tiny that it can enter every corner in the form. The sum of all the areas of the tiny squares will be the desired result. This sum (∑) is an integral (∫).

With the help of an integral I can calculate the sum of many parts, their collective sum: unity. Suppose the sum equals n. But we calculate an integral from zero to infinity (∞), in other words, from the tiny square to infinity. Then we will definitely not go wrong and will fill the whole given area.

This is the difference between an integral and a usual sum: When we calculate it, we don’t determine the number of the parts because it can be infinite.

Question: Every such “tiny square” is one of the friends. How can we become an integral and not a sum?

Answer: Everyone should be small enough to be able to enter. This is enough, and he doesn’t ask for anything else, doesn’t have any conditions. It doesn’t matter in which corner I am, it’s fine. The key is to be included into everyone so that I have no egoistic essence left, no desire except for one: to be part of this integral.

Question: How can we attain that?

Answer: With the help of the Light that Reforms. It is necessary in order to be included in the group and to receive the Light of Hassadim.

Question: What should be our prayer in this situation?

Answer: You pray for everyone, for unity. You understand that you have no “area” of your own—you are that small. At first, it seemed to you that you were filling the whole area. But gradually, in order to be included in the group, in an integral, you minimized yourself, until you became a “tiny square” and lost all the “area,” that is, your self-importance, independence, and individual reality. Then you are really worthy of being part of the whole, and you become included in the revelation of the Creator.

Question: Does this mean that our integrality is a result of our self-annulment?

Answer: Of course. And from that I demand unification, revelation, and adhesion for everyone.
[73272] 
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2012, “Introduction to TES“

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Vilnius Convention, Lesson 3
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Vilnius Convention, Lesson 4
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Question: Please notice how long a feeling of awe is held and even increases from the first convention in the Arava to the second one, and now it is moving towards the European convention in the Baltic States.

Answer: This state should be constant and increasing all the time, but with a sense of confidence and joy. Moreover, our joy, our inner elation should be such as if we really feel the need to unite.

Question: When you slightly felt a lack of joy, you said: “The movement must be on two feet!” One “foot” is awe and the second one is joy. What did you feel?

Answer: I saw that everyone was in a state of fear, awe and even sliding towards heaviness. It should not be like that!

We are in a state when the entire Light surrounds us, when “there is none else besides Him.” This unified force not only surrounds us, but also wants to be manifested in us, and causes this pressure in us.

However, besides awe, we still need admiration, joy, and confidence that we are under its guidance.

Indeed, we see that we pass the inner states that are constantly changing: We begin to understand more and feel more. We already begin to expect how everything will happen. Possibly, a common feeling will be revealed between us, which will draw us, pull us in, and we will see and feel the world and the entire universe only in terms of our common mutual system, where we seemingly “disappear”: My “I” will disappear and even perhaps “we,” and there will be something—a common “it” and this common entity will be filled with a single property of bestowal and love.

I believe that many people have this anticipation. I personally feel it through their inner inclination, which should be constantly excited in awe and in joy.

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