A letter I received:

Hello Dear Group! This letter is from the “Gulf Service” sailors. We want to share our common joy: Our small group consisting of three people was together with you during the Berlin convention. We watched lessons (we downloaded them as we were unable to watch them live) and tried to connect our desires to the one common desire “Yashar-El.”

After the end of every lesson, we discussed the lesson, asked questions of one another, shared our opinions, feelings, expectations. The convention had a great effect on a friend who has recently joined us: He showered us with questions and shared how impressed he was with such an enormous gathering of friends.

We conducted the same seminars that the groups had; we discussed the same questions. And, of course, we arrived at the same conclusion that European and world unity can only be attained from the current state of lack of connectivity through the circulation of Kabbalah. To do this, we need to use all the means that exist, all the connections, all the media, and “infect” with it as many people around the world as possible.

We were together with you throughout the entire convention; we sang and raised L’Chaims with you. And we have received an enormous inner fulfillment and joy, just like the entire World Kli.

Wishing you all the best,
Sergey, Yura, Maxim,
“Gulf Service,” the Atlantic Ocean, the Angola shore
[34098]

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Shamati #1, “There is none else beside Him” Not only does he not progress in his [spiritual] work [and does not see any clearance ahead], but [it seems to him that] he regresses, that is, he lacks the strength to observe [the Creator’s will] even “for his own sake,” [while it is the Creator who pushes him forward].

We don’t create a real egoistic desire that is able to overcome anything. Instead, we start experiencing weakness, indifference, and our operation by automatic pilot. “Let happen whatever will.” We just go with the flow. Sometimes things are a bit better and sometimes a bit worse.

That only by genuinely overcoming all the obstacles, above reason, can he [advance forward]. What does “genuinely overcoming above reason” mean? It’s when in spite of one’s desire and thoughts, without having any predisposition to do so, a person begins to connect to the teacher, the group, and the books. Altogether this is all called “the environment” or the surroundings.

But even in this case, when he begins to connect to them, he is still thrown about, up and down and in relation to the teacher, the group, and the sources or books. Sometimes he wants to and sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he believes it and sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he’s sick and tired of it, and sometimes he strives forward, and so on.

As the difficulties mount, a person starts to feel that there is nothing attractive or special on this path, and nothing motivates him to advance. There is no spark, nothing really worth giving up his life, career, and success for.

As a result, a person falls. His fall is serious, real, deep, and pretty lengthy. Thus, he reaches the final decision that not the group, nor the teacher, nor the books, nor exertion—nothing will help him in the world besides the only governing force, the Creator.

All the times that a person fell and rose, all the states that passed over him were all in order for him to feel total and absolute dependence on no one but the Creator. Imagine how much a person has to be beaten from all sides, shaken up, pushed away and attracted, and shown the existence of a great number of forces and various causes for his states so that in the end he would become convinced that there is nothing besides the one, single Force. If it doesn’t help me, then no one will. Only it will come to my rescue if I demand it.

That is when the following need arises in a person: for the Creator to definitely help him. The formation of this demand is also very not simple. It does not happen in one moment, but it gradually surges up in a person, becoming vividly expressed, fierce, and persistent. Like a child who demands what he wants no matter what—just give him what he wants, and you can’t convince him any other way. That is the kind of state we must reach. And in this state the Creator really does help us.

Only those people who truly want to draw near the Creator, so they will not settle for little, meaning remain as senseless children, they are therefore given help from Above, so they will not be able to say that I have everything and what else do I need?
From the 4th lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/29/11

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Kabbalah, the method of attaining the upper world, includes two parts:

1. The first part tells us about how to unite with each other, or how to try to connect and unite;
2. The second part tells us about how to evoke the influence or effect of the upper Light upon us.

Before we begin to study we have to be perforated by the aspiration to unite our desires. Then every person will have a much greater desire than his own. He will begin to be permeated by thoughts, qualities, and desires of other people who also aspire to the same result and the same goal as he. This should be our main intention before the study.

A person who hasn’t prepared for the study in this way misses practically everything because the influence of the upper Light does not come upon the desire of each person, but upon the aspiration that each of us has toward others, meaning on our mutual aspirations to unite with one another, with everyone all together into one common desire.

If I imagine this one common desire and wish to be included in it “as one man,”as before the breaking of Adam into separate souls, then my aspiration receives the influence of the upper Light. Then I really gain spiritual attainment as a result of these efforts.

However, if I come there and listen without these efforts, without making attempts to be included in the common desire, then the upper Light does not have anything it can influence inside of me. I did not provide a surface or basis that it can influence and therefore all of my actions will only elicit purely formal knowledge. That is, I will hear and memorize what is written in the book, but no more.

Therefore, it must be crystal clear to us that the upper Light comes only to our mutual efforts. They have to be mutual! Therefore, the condition for attracting the Light to us is the same condition as was required during the reception of the Torah: “To be as one man with one heart.” Only in this case does the Light come.

So let us try to think this way.
[34265]
From the 3rd lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: Can you please explain what the right way to work with the Light is?

Answer: The right way to work with the Light is very simple. The difference between Kabbalah and religion (and all other methods) is that religion asks the Creator for Him to change and to become better, while Kabbalah says, “The Creator is absolute and only you can change.”

The Creator is Light, meaning the only force in the universe inside of which we exist. This force is unchanging and absolute. Therefore, the only way to work with the Creator is very simple: The more similar you are to this force, the more it influences you, and the less similar you are to it, the less it influences you.

This works by a very simple formula. If you studied physics in school then you have to know it: The influence of any source upon an object that is placed in the field of its influence is inversely proportional to the distance between them squared. When I come twice as close to the object that influences me, then its impact on me is four times greater. That is how things work in the physical world and it is the same in the spiritual world.

Therefore, if you come at least a little bit closer, you will see that the Light’s influence on you is squared. That is how we work with the upper Light.
From the 3rd lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: We undergo thousands of various states. How important is it to keep track of or record them in order to pass through each stage consciously?

Answer: It’s a very good question. In the very beginning of my path I asked my teacher this question as well: Should I keep track of all my states? “Today, I feel this way and view others that way.” Will it help if I write down each state I am in: my view of myself and the others, how well I understand, my awareness of myself in this world and of the world itself. Should I establish, let’s say, ten facets and try to review them once a day or possibly once every few days (depending on how my states change)?

My teacher said that it’s worth doing so at the beginning stage. It helps a person. For instance, I look back and see that I had already gone through something similar, and nothing terrible happened: I came out of it. Or I use records for future reference.

How much does this help in advancement per se? It is impossible to relive all the details of the past no matter what. After all, you are now living the next state and cannot feel as being in the past. You don’t comprehend it, as it were; it is a completely different person.

We descend from Above downward along the 125 spiritual degrees, and we get inhabited with hundreds of thousands of Reshimot (informational records). Each Reshimo is a spiritual state that contains all of the worlds, universes, and all there is as a whole.

So, when this Reshimo is working in me, I can feel and think only as it dictates. A Reshimo is gone, and I, like after pushing the button “delete,” don’t know or understand anything. A new Reshimo appears, and I act according to it.

We are a system that constantly experiences a Reshimo, an informational gene which unfolds in it. We are living through this gene. A sequence of such genes gives us a sensation of life, flow, and motion.

Therefore, being in some state today and reading about the states you were in a week or two weeks ago, may not aid your understanding of them at all since you are not living them right now. Try and see for yourself. But it is still useful, at least so that you may understand that you don’t even understand yourself.
[34148]
From the 2nd lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: Why is the process of asking a question so difficult? Why is it difficult to clothe the inner processes into a verbal casing?

Answer: It’s because when a person feels pain, he screams. But he does not know exactly what is hurting him. That’s why we invite a doctor to make a diagnosis. Similarly, when a baby feels pain, he cannot say exactly where he feels the pain.

It takes a very long time to go from the inner pain, problem, or disturbance to the sensation, “What are these disturbances? Why are they happening? What is their purpose? What are they about? Where are they taking me? What should I do with them?” All of this is part of the process of one’s inner maturation.

We learn in the science of Kabbalah that the Light has to go through four phases before it builds the right desire for itself. The first thing I feel is something unfamiliar to me. Then I suddenly feel the state opposite to it—that I felt something, but now I don’t feel it. After that I go on to feeling and not feeling at the same time, and that is how an inner comparison begins. Only by comparing these two opposite sensations do I start to reach an opinion regarding what this is. After that, from the understanding of “What is this?” I start to attain the primary cause—from where did this emerge inside of me?

This is an entire succession or sequence of a person’s inner maturation where he can already come and say, “Yet, this is what is hurting me. This is why I feel bad. This is my question. This is what I demand to solve by receiving an answer.” It isn’t simple.

On our part we have to try to help him, like a baby. It doesn’t matter that he’s screaming. That means we have to go to him, pay attention, and try to figure out why he feels bad, even though he can’t even ask for this. Let’s find this common contact.

This problem exists on all the levels. If you ask me, then I go through the same thing. When we move forward, we continuously encounter something that isn’t clear: “What? Why? How? From where? Where is it connected and with what? What are the reasons and the consequences?” As this entire chain starts gradually being born, the question starts to come through. And then, from the right question follows the answer.

After that things become unclear again. I ask, “Why? What is bothering me?” Once again there’s a question and an answer.

Therefore, we have to work on the questions.
[34194]
From the 1st lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: What role does asceticism play in human development?

Answer: Kabbalah has a very negative opinion of various restrictions. It does not demand anything from a person with regard to his earthly life. In principle, you can do anything you want.

It’s a different matter when you become engrossed in all sorts of fetishes in this earthly life by introducing some kind of special customs, habits, and exercises to it. Live normally. If you like doing yoga, then do it. If you like running in the morning, then run. If there’s a certain diet that is healthier for you and another that’s less healthy, then eat accordingly. None of this matters. The most important thing is not to turn anything into a cult.

Kabbalah treats every person absolutely normally. It doesn’t care about how a person lives, what habits he has, and what his customs, religious convictions, and inclinations are. Who he is in the earthly life doesn’t matter one bit.

We are once again returning to the essence: Egoism rises in us in order for us to compensate for it above ourselves. That is why it doesn’t matter one bit what I am like. Limiting yourself in food or applying any kind of methods—none of this will help. Nothing will help.

On the contrary, a person who does some kind of physical exercises or keeps some kind of strict boundaries thinks that he has already advanced forward, has achieved some kind of level, that he is righteous and so on.

This can only confuse people. Therefore, live normally, calmly, eat well, and think about your health and profession. Take part in all the things that your surrounding society does.

And together with this, study Kabbalah. This balance or normal state is the most preferable one. Fate has placed you in this environment so go with its flow. Then you will see that in reality, everything around you is in the ideal state, besides yourself.

A minus is compensated by the right plus.
[34198]
From the 2nd lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: We see that man is a predator. The entire meaning of his existence is to devour his neighbor and reach his own goal. If we attain mutual guarantee and the earth’s population will increase to 20 or 25 billion, how will all of this actually take place?

Answer: What’s the problem with having twenty billion people? Imagine that they are all your relatives and you feel like one whole with them. It completely doesn’t bother you that they are together with you. On the contrary, you change your attitude to them: You feel good when all of them are as close to you as possible.

Question cont’d: But what will happen if there are no limits?

Answer: Every person makes a limit on himself. Imagine a mother who has twenty billion children. Does this number bother her if she has everything they need? She exists in the world of Infinity, meaning in the world of absolute Light, satisfaction, fulfillment, and abundance.

Of course, it’s difficult to imagine how a person changes. But if you are next to your beloved and you really love him without any calculation, then you want to be with him all the time. You always want to be next to him and as close as possible.

Then what would be the problem with having twenty billion beloved? You won’t feel that there are twenty billion people. You will feel that they are all together with you. This state is the most desirable and comfortable one.

In reality you do not split them up into twenty billion, but there is just one you. This is called inclusion.

Our obstacle is a psychological problem. We cannot imagine how this will happen. We imagine that we exist in bodies, but when we reach mutual guarantee, then instead of the bodies, we will feel every person’s inner potential.
From the 2nd lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Rabash, Shlavey HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article “A Prayer of Many”: It is written in the holy Zohar (Beshalach (When Pharaoh Let) and in the Sulam Commentary, Item 11), “And she said, ‘I dwell among my own people.’ He asks, ‘What does that mean?’ He replies, ‘When Din is present in the world, one should not part from the collective and be alone because when the Din is present in the world, those who are noticed and are noted alone are caught first, even if they are righteous.

We tune into the upper force through The Zohar. We are told how to tune ourselves to comprehending this force, which leads to its perception, its revelation. “Din” is one of its manifestations in the form of justice. A transgression of one or all evokes a corresponding reciprocal action. Under no circumstances should man separate from the society around him.

How does this happen? Different actions and sensations are evoked in us. This gives me the opportunity to keep myself in the society above and in spite these difficulties and sensations, even if by separating from this society I would immediately feel comfortable and avoid problems. Everyone is getting punished, but I can step aside. They even tell me: “You can step aside, this does not concern you.”

And still, even though the righteous did not sin together with the rest, they are judged first when they separate from them. In other words, man is being tested this way on whether he wants to enter the egoism of this world and remain in his comfortable “bourgeois” state, or if he is willing to remain together with everyone in one bundle, even if  this makes him uncomfortable, for the sake of attaining the upper world.

Hence, one should never retire from the people because the mercy of the Creator is always on the whole people together. This is why she said, ‘I dwell among my own people, and I do not wish to part from them.’

The attitude of the upper force always manifests towards everyone together and never towards private individuals. “Among my people” means among those who want to come together.

We need to take this into consideration. When we are in the group, and we begin to feel different frictions, egoistic actions, we need to understand that we are being “played” on purpose. If we still were to join together regardless of these "games" (every time, every moment), we would be raised upward.

But if we were to yield and step away from the problems, refusing to solve them instead of rising above them in unity, naturally we would once again become submerged in our daily life and stop understanding what Kabbalah tells us.
[33401]
From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/16/2011, “A Prayer of Many”

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Question: What is going on with the European Union? A month ago, a collapse seemed inevitable, but now everything looks all right?

Answer: It is indeed so, and it is going to repeat many more times. There will be an impression that a collapse is imminent, and then it will seem that everything is going to be okay. Only through such gradual, step-by-step development do we become aware that we must change.

Generally, it is necessary to understand that nature’s goal is not to annihilate us. The collapse must be internal. It has to occur in our consciousness, in our awareness of how wrongly we treat ourselves and the world. It’s not in the fact that I was hit by a hurricane, tsunami, an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, or freezing weather.

All of this is necessary solely in order to pull us out of our own swamp, elevate us, and force us to start thinking. As a matter of fact, these particularly consistent acts—a sudden blow and its retreat until the next blow hits, then another blow and retreat—gradually pull a person out of himself.

With each new step, we think it is all the same, but in fact, it is not so. Each new time, we process another type of egoism, its greater part. One blow to the ego, the second, and the third one, but we don’t feel the difference and don’t realize that each time, our egoism processes completely new degrees.

Egoism is diverse, and until it reaches its very last state, nothing will change. This is why we need to pass through so many small blows.

We experienced many of them already while descending from the world of Infinity into our world along the 125 spiritual rungs. These rungs contain billions of various actions and events that we must live through in our world. And we have to work them out during our incarnations, in these lifetimes.

There is nothing accidental; nothing can happen out of the blue, by leaping over the spiritual rungs, or by skipping spiritual states. We have to swallow every pill, which is the only way to learn. There is no other option.
[34151]
From Lesson 2 Berlin Convention 1/28/2011

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