Question: I understand that it is necessary to annul yourself. And what if one of the friends criticizes and continues to do so? This complicates the work. What should we do?

Answer: We must understand that nothing happens in vain. If there is a person in the group who does not yet accept this, show him or her an example of how you annul in front of each other.

Awaken envy in him of how connected you are with each other, understand each other, how close you are to each other so that he sees it from the side, in his egoism. And then he will understand that he has no other way, that he must also annul himself like everyone else.

Play on egoistic properties. Our egoism is created in such a way that we can—with its help—re-educate it into altruism, because it is envious, looks at others, wants to be better than others, higher, stronger, and so on. Egoism can be played with.
[292249]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Question: How can we annul ourselves before the ten if we are part of it?

Answer: So, annul, each one in relation to the others; without this, nothing will happen. You can, of course, continue to be a part of our large international group, but nothing will happen.

All in all, you must realize that there is no spiritual correction except by replacing our animal egoism with a spiritual property, which is the property of bestowal, connection, and love.

Question: Should every desire that appears in us be reduced to zero?

Answer: There is no need to bring anything to zero. We cannot do anything with desires, they are our essence. We just need to understand that desires lead us to correction, to similarity with the Creator, to merging with Him, to revealing Him, and we must use them in that manner.
[292301]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Rabash. Article 21 (1986) “Concerning Above Reason”: And as was said, the same can be obtained by adhesion of friends—new qualities by which they will be qualified to achieve Dvekut with the Creator. 

I do not have properties with which I can come to the revelation of the Creator and merge with Him. These properties are in my friends. I am Malchut, which must absorb the properties of the first nine Sefirot. And this can be achieved only if Malchut reduces itself, that is, limits itself in its egoism and gives itself over to serving the connection with the first nine Sefirot. This is the work of Malchut. Therefore, we have no other way to come to creating the vessel that can reveal the Creator except from incorporation with friends to incorporation with the Creator.

And all this can be said while he sees the merits of the friends. At that time, it is relevant to say that he should learn from their actions. But when he sees that he is better qualified than they are, there is nothing he can receive from the friends. 

And he cannot come closer to the Creator naturally. He will not have those properties with which he can approach the Creator. That is, I cannot reveal the Creator in my properties, but only if I annul myself before my friends and absorb their properties into myself. And it is so for everyone.
[292259]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Adhering to the Friends” Lesson 3

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There is a special power in the adhesion of friends. Since views and thoughts pass from one to the other through the adhesion between them, each is mingled with the power of the other, and by that each person in the group has the power of the entire society (Rabash, Article No. 14, (1988) “The Need for Love of Friends”).

The need for love of friends is explained by the fact that if I do not connect with them, and a good, correct connection is called love, then I have nowhere to receive my spiritual Kli (vessel).

Naturally I will not be able to reveal the Creator and the upper world, and I will remain in my lonely, disconnected state, and will feel only my personal inner egoism, that is, our world.

There is a special power (a special exceptional result) in the adhesion of friends. Indeed, due to their merging, views and thoughts pass from one to the other, i.e., unite in them.

Therefore when everyone wants to be united with his friends, the streams of upper light pass through them, which unite in them. And everyone, except for his little egoism, receives influence from everyone else and already consists of the qualities and thoughts of the whole group.

Each of them and all of them together have a mutual, united, combined Kli, a vessel, in which the Creator then reveals Himself.

Each is mingled with the power of the other, and by that each person in the group has the power of the entire society. That is, our advancement is based and depends only on our unity. Not from anything else!

You may know perfectly well what is written in books, you may be a great Kabbalah scholar-theorist, but you will never become a practitioner if you do not have a group, if you do not unite with everyone. This is stated in the article “The Arvut – Mutual Guarantee” and other articles by Baal HaSulam and Rabash.

You cannot do anything. We are created as egoists, separated from each other. If we rise above our individual egoism, then in each of us we create such conditions that we can reveal the upper world.

Our advancement is based and depends only on our connection. We reveal the upper world within it, meaning we reveal the Creator. And the magnitude of the connection forms a spiritual Kli, our common soul.

Everything is determined only by our connection. This is the most important thing, and I would say the only one. But on the other hand, the main and determining factor is the magnitude, power, and strength of our connection.
[292255]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Adhering to the Friends” Lesson 3

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It is important even for a great sage to nullify himself toward his disciples. He has, of course, a million times more wisdom than they do, but he does not have the properties of mutual connection and bestowal, which they cultivate among themselves because there are many of them, and he is one. Therefore, he is ready to lower himself toward them.

That is why a Kabbalistic group in its spiritual value is higher than any single Kabbalist, higher than any sage, because the property of mutual bestowal is manifested in it.

The most important thing we need is the maximum nullification of ourselves toward the group, before its internal setting, in internal connection, and thus bring ourselves closer to the property of bestowal, the property of the Creator. The Creator is in the center of the group, and as far as I can approach this center and begin to feel it, to this extent I can reveal the Creator.

A group is a collection of small, but goal-oriented people. They still cannot do anything spiritually and do not understand where they are, but they have gathered together. Therefore, their assembly is higher in spiritual construction than a great Kabbalist who is alone.

After all, they build the Creator within themselves, that is, their state is more promising, and therefore the Creator is more concerned with them.
[292046]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Adhering to the Friends” Lesson 3

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Question: How can self-nullification be renewed when a new stage in egoism is revealed?

Answer: You must strive to nullify yourself in front of your friends all the time. Constantly check whether you cancel yourself before them, how much you cancel, where and in what else you can cancel. And then we will have mutual inclusion into each other and thus the revelation of the Creator.

But the principle of cancellation before friends must be fundamental. There are people who very quickly begin to understand and accept it, and there are people who have such great egoism that they do not hear it.

I also went through a very difficult path until I began to feel that I was in the power of egoism so much that I did not hear words about canceling myself in front of my friends. This is a problem for many. But in fact this is not a problem; it is simply the first step that we need to overcome, and we cannot get away from this.

Therefore we need to help each other, set an example, and read relevant articles. In particular, Rabash writes about how honor, power, and glory help a person overcome himself in order to cancel himself in front of a group.
[292246]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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The Creator has created a special condition: a group with the help of which we can come to Him. Otherwise, we could not have come and would have remained at our level in an egoistic existence.

The group is a wonderful, special quality created in caring for us. This is Adam’s soul, which has shattered, and a part of it is in each of us. When we gather in a group, we must gather them together, and then we can come to the Creator.

In fact, we have a huge, amazing, unique opportunity, to gather together on our earthly level, to gradually bring this gathering of ours to a spiritual level in at least something. By the similarity of our striving, even still egoistically, we evoke the influence of the upper light, the Creator, and thus begin to pull ourselves up to Him.

This is the way to become like Him, to rise above ourselves, and to get closer to the Creator. All this is the group! Only through it will we be able to make this journey. Otherwise, we remain at the lowest level (animate) in which we were born.

The group is a special tool and the only way to rise from the level of an animal to the level of the Creator.
[292011]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Question: The more I annul myself, the more I rise above my egoism, right? Does this happen continuously as I connect with the ten more and more?

Answer: Yes, the more I annul myself, the closer I come to finally really annulling myself. This happens to the extent that egoism is revealed in me now, but not completely. It will be revealed for a long time over all future degrees.

But for the time being I have to carry out the work that was given to me so that in spite of my egoism, when I annul it, I unite with my friends and annul myself before them.

The moment I achieve the state of annulment of my ego to a certain degree—meaning I make a restriction on it—I receive an opportunity to use the upper light and begin to ascend. This is a different kind of work.

Right now we are talking only about the first stage of our movement toward correction, and this is annulling ourselves before the friends. This is what our world was created for. We are going through a great historical panorama and are participating in this from generation to generation in order to create all the conditions for complete annulment.

At each degree we must keep the restriction and then rise above it in order to use our desires in the opposite direction, in the direction of bestowal. Then, in this quality of bestowal, we will begin to feel some kind of similarity to the Creator. This is already a feeling of the upper light that will fill us.
[292194]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Question: If everyone in the ten is a zero and each annuls their desire, then there will be no desire at all, then what do I annul to?

Answer: Then you will no longer have to annul yourself before anything because you will be completely annulled. This is the first point from which you will begin your spiritual ascent.

Annulling ourselves before the others is the task of each of us at the starting point of the spiritual path. That’s where we will start our ascent. This is the task we are facing now.

And then the whole ascent will be based on the principle of faith above reason, when the quality of bestowal will prevail in us over the quality of reception.
[292191]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Question: Is restriction taking the position of an observer?

Answer: No. This is not assuming the position of an observer, but rather a restriction in the use of one’s egoism for the sake of something. You must explain to yourself and know exactly why and for what you are restricting its use: maybe you’re ashamed, maybe you have some other benefit from it. All this should be clearly formulated for yourself.

Question: How do I check how much I annul myself in front of my friends and how successful I am in it?

Answer: You can’t measure it yet, but then at the next degree we will be able to do it. In the meantime we should just annul ourselves. The whole work starts with annulment.
[292188]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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