It is said that if the method of Kabbalah if used correctly, it becomes the elixir of  life, and if not, it becomes the potion of death. A potion is not meant for pleasure, it is a medicine that can give us life or turn into a potion of death.

Question: How can I know that I am using the potion correctly?

Answer: If you take it together with all the friends, it helps you. Do you open your mouths together in order to receive the medicine from the Creator? Do you create a collective vessel for the potion of life? After all, “life” is the Light, bestowal, and so it can only be revealed in such a vessel.

Question: Does that mean that as long as I am in concealment I drink the “potion of death?”

Answer: No, you drink the potion of death if you want to use your friends only for your own benefit. The two concepts,”the potion of life” and “the potion of death,” refer to those who already have free will, those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah in a group with a teacher.

Question: How can we use this medicine in the Arava convention in order to live and not to die?

Answer: At the foot of Mt. Sinai the people of Israel were given the choice: If you unite as one man with one heart, you will receive the Torah, the Light that Reforms, and will aquire life. If you don’t unite, the Light of the Torah will become death for you and here will be the place of your burial.

Well, are you coming to Arava? Or are you scared now?

Question: But still, how can I check whether I am using the medicine correctly?

Answer: No one can know except you. Buy yourself friends and they will help you.
[69866]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/2012, “Introduction to TES”

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Question: There are thousands of students worldwide that read The Zohar with us during the morning lesson. This is a very powerful and high quality force. Why don’t we feel the results of our studies? Why doesn’t the correction come now? Why do we have to wait for the Arava congress?

Answer: We don’t have to wait for the congress! The correction can come right now. It really can! Everything depends on our efforts, not on the time or place.

However, since we exist in the spiritual framework that’s called this world, we can be impressed, not by changes in desires and intentions, but by external actions.

After all, what are our bodies, hands, legs, and all the matter we see around us? They are our desires. Only these are desires on an inanimate level so we can work with them even without intentions. We set them up and receive impressions for them.

However, these are desires! And we use them because we exist in them. When we advance to a higher degree, it will no longer matter whether we’re at a congress in the Arava or in the middle of a noisy market place.
[69951]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/12, The Zohar

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We are going to the convention in the Arava because we urgently need the forces of unity and cohesion. They will give us the power and the understanding to bring correction to the world. There is no greater force in the world than our unity. All other means are material, whereas we have the spiritual force, allowing us to change the common system and transform the universe.

Our universe submits to a limited number of constants, such as the speed of light. It’s enough for a tiny shift to occur in these fundamental dimensions, and then all of nature will become different. When constant values change, our world won’t be able to exist in its previous form.

Thus, we can slightly adjust the correlation of these constants with the help of the spiritual force. And then the world gradually “flows” and changes form. No one is aware of it, but suddenly everyone becomes smarter and more perceptive, everyone’s eyes open, people understand and feel more, and every person rises in his consciousness, coming intro greater contact with the idea of unity and realizing the need for change.

We are turning on the Light that reforms for people, and it develops them. However, it does not develop them in earthly wisdom, but in the upper wisdom, the wisdom of unification. That is the path we must open up to humanity with our unity.
[69976]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/12, “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot”

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Question: We have to reach a deficiency for the desire to bestow in the Arava convention…

Answer: We don’t need anything but that. It seems that this is only half way, but in fact, it is half of the coin, the other half of which is provided by the upper one. It is enough for us to desire to unite so as to reach mutual bestowal in order to bestow upon the Creator.

We call it “a need for a deficiency.” But we don’t feel a desire to attain unity yet so that thereby we could bestow upon the Creator. Therefore, we build a compound deficiency made of a double filling. We do not intend to settle for a need for a deficiency so as to feel this deficiency during the next convention.

The need for connection will bring us to bestowal in the group. And there is another need: to bestow upon the Creator. Both relate to the same intention.

Question: We have to yearn for perfecton and this will provide us with the right desire. How can we make sure that the picture of perfection doesn’t hide the need for a deficiency from us?

Answer: We want to attain the desire to bestow in order to unite. Thereby we can carry on our desire to bestow upon the Creator and to reach adhesion with Him. One way or the other, it is all dressed on one “skewer” and is on one line. You shouldn’t draw any differences here. Think about this a little and you will see that there is no problem here.

If you mention the word “bestowal,” you continue to draw the line towards the Creator, without stopping on the way. Bestowal requires connection with the friends because only that will summon the reforming Light that brings the attribute of bestowal. Why do we all need this attribute? Do we need it in order to have a nice beastly life? No. It is in order to reach bestowal upon the Creator. Why do we need to bestow upon the Creator? Perhaps He doesn’t need it at all? No, He has no such deficiency. Our goal is to reach adhesion with Him because by that we bring Him contentment. We please the Creator not by bestowal, but rather by adhesion.

Question: How can we tie a need for a deficiency with a need for adhesion?

Answer: We need the influence of the Surrounding Light so that we will understand that bestowal is the solution for all the problems. It brings us to everything we want to attain. I want to desire to connect and this is what I ask of the Creator, of the Light that Reforms. But what for?

I want to desire to connect in order to reach adhesion with the Creator. This adhesion is part of my way, part of the calculation. Therefore, the plea cannot be whole if the three elements are not welded into it: Israel, the Torah, and the Creator. This is the nature of our desires, and we only need to understand it. Then you will see: You need to add the Creator to your plea. Otherwise there is no reason to connect in our world. You don’t want it, you didn’t come to study Kabbalah in order to connect with others in social protest.

Therefore, when you discover your desire fully, you reach the formula: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” Just part of the sentence, part of the clarification isn’t enough. When we go out to the desert, we cannot cut our request in the middle of the sentence. If the request is whole, it must end with the word about the Creator because it is from Him that you get the power to perform changes, the power of the reason, awareness, and understanding. Everything comes only from this source, and so our requests have to end with it.

Otherwise, it is like sending a letter with no addressee. If you do that, no matter what you write, you will clearly get no reply and the letter will be lost mid-way.
[69770]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/2011, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” 

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All conventions must be permeated with a single idea. The idea is quite simple. The upper Light exists in a state of absolute rest, without any changes. It exists in total bestowal and there are no restrictions on its part. All restrictions on receiving the Light come from us, to the extent of our opposition to the Light.

Therefore, the only thing we need to do is to change ourselves and to some degree become similar to the Light. The Light bestows love, connection, and balance; hence, we must posses these qualities at least to some degree. By obtaining these qualities, we’ll be able to sense the upper Light, the qualities of love and bestowal within us.

This quality, this sensation is called the Light or the Creator. When we obtain the Light’s qualities, the Light will begin to dwell within us, and we’ll sense it and exist in it. We’ll observe ourselves and the world from within this quality because we’ll exist on the next degree called the upper world. This is what we need to attain.

This attainment can only come with the help of the upper Light because it has to influence and correct us. But how can we evoke its influence if the Light exists in a state of absolute rest? We have to desire this and the Light will correct us. The Light can only influence us to the extent of our desire and according to the specifications of what it is we desire.

If we wish to receive only for ourselves and to use our world egoistically, the Light influences us accordingly: It alienates us, thereby worsening our position. However, if we wish to become similar to the Light and to draw closer to it, then in accordance to our desire, the Light draws us closer. Basically everything depends upon the upper Light, on how it will exert its influence in relation to our appeal for it.

Therefore, all that’s required from a person is the desire toward love and bestow. And then, the Light will affect us, will give us the desire to bestow and love, which will become our Light. In other words, the upper Light represents an aspiration towards bestowal, a quality of love. This is what is called the measure of fulfillment of the spiritual vessel.

So, we must posses a great desire for bestowal, love and unity. This aspiration toward the Light will make us loving and giving and will allow us to exist on the next degree, in the quality of bestowal, in the upper world.
[69635]
From the Unity Day Lecture “To Acquire a Desire to Give” 1/29/2012

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Question: We have a life-changing Convention ahead of us. Every moment is important for preparing for the common attack. How can we carry out the attack so it would merit an answer?

Answer: I think that we aren’t getting ready, but have already started the attack and must raise the bar at every second.

We shouldn’t wait for the trip out to the desert to start uniting. The Convention is unification. So why don’t we start it right now? Maybe we should even cancel the trip? Let’s carry out what we planned right here, what difference does it make?

Let’s give some real thought to what we want. All we need is the unity of hearts, here and now, and not in the Arava in a week. Already now, every moment must be used to the maximum for uniting.

If you wait a week, then these days will go by in vain. Every moment is a peak. The Convention is already happening.
[69860]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/12, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: What can we do to prepare for the Arava convention?

Answer: Try to imagine that this is your last chance. It isn’t about the corporeal life that many are ready to give up. Half of the world’s population would happily push a button that would enable them to die painlessly if they could. People are not afraid of dying, but of the process of dying.

Therefore, we have to oblige ourselves to think about the conditions we are given today. After our conventions, after the preparation and the connection, there is simply no way back. The entire world worries about its future and doesn’t know what to expect. It is helpless in the face of the developing crisis. If we don’t find the power to connect, we will not be able to help ourselves or the world. If we fail, we will not end corporeal life, but spiritual life.

The women must understand this. They should worry about us and put pressure on us. The men, too, must understand this. We must rise above everything that separates us, above all the arguments and the misunderstandings, above the quarrels and the conflicts. In fact, they can stay the same—this will enable us to rise above them even more. A person grows only in resisting the growing egoism. So, as far as we are concerned, let the ego grow even more. All we need is endurance, and then we will succeed time after time.

I am optimistic. We have power in Israel and throughout the world. Even if several groups experience hardships, eventually everything will work out. This is our way. It is the same as with the childhood diseases that we cannot escape. What is more, they strengthen us and make us immune for life.
[68599]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/2012, “Preface to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: Before the upcoming Arava convention, should the group outline the desire, the feeling of deficiency, that is closer to the higher degree?

Answer: We don’t need the feeling of deficiency. We have to yearn for perfection, and from that we will arrive at the right deficiency. We are going with songs and joy; we are drawn to connection and to mutual guarantee, and to everything that is concealed in this higher degree.

No one intends to sit and cry, having covered his head with ashes.
[69668] 
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” 

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Question: Next Saturday, more than 250 people from our groups throughout Israel are going to assemble in Rehovot. What should our attitude be in order to acquire the right deficiency?

Answer: First, you should rest before the gathering. I recommend that you go to sleep early, without any unnecessary talking, at 8:00 p.m. at the latest, or even earlier, so that you will be full of energy and lively the next day.

When you get up, you should spend at least 45 minutes preparing yourself and the classroom. You shouldn’t speak much with one another. It is better to sit and read inspiring passages, and perhaps sing a little.

We must be in a calm atmosphere, in spiritual upliftment, in a delicate feeling. This is the preparation for the lesson. Then we will connect, all the groups around the world.

Question: Should we evoke the joy toward the Arava convention at the same time?

Answer: A morning lesson is a serious matter. We should be happy internally because we are coming in contact with something that is eternal and unique, where we go through serious states. The joy during the lesson is a general feeling that doesn’t burst forth.

Our general preparation, the general thought during the lesson, is aimed at mutual incorporation. However, everyone does his own work, personally, when he corrects himself in order to incorporate with the others.

Then we will take songs and preparation passages with us to the Arava so that, with them, we will go happily to connect among us. There, the atmosphere will be a bit different: self-annulment reinforced with general activity.
[69665]
From 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: I do not recall a similar rate of holding conventions. What is so special that is now happening in the world and is influencing the events?

Answer: The world is accelerating a lot. Our state is changing very fast. We have come to a critical barrier. Even if a part of us were to cross it, everyone else would gradually begin to squeeze through this barrier following the thread of our connection. So it is very important for us to do it.

Essentially, we need to have yearly conventions on every continent. And the convention we are now having in the desert is just our personal trip. We are not doing this for all, but our group needs a shake-up, and you with us. But there is no need to come here from overseas for this.

Conventions are an opportunity for everyone to meet, see each other, to communicate. They are necessary.

People need to be shaken up; they need to unite. I hope that at the upcoming conventions all of us will gather ourselves internally, achieve the common point of our unity, adhesion, unity. And the contact with the Creator that we will discover there will clearly guide us forward with open eyes and open hearts.
[69524]
From the talk “To Acquire a Desire to Give” 1/29/12

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