There is nothing we can do. We cannot sit idly and torture ourselves, but we must exert ourselves. But we don’t work according to what we feel since otherwise we wouldn’t move. If I obey my feelings and my sensations, I will always remain in the same state and won’t be able to do anything.

My feelings, my desire to receive is in a certain state and while I am immersed in my desire, in my matter, I can’t act against it. Luckily I have a mind by which I begin to study my feelings, so I understand that my state, my feelings, are bad and that I must change them.

By using my mind, which is totally opposite from my feelings, I begin to imagine the next state, the upper level that operates on me and influences me if I yearn for it, like an embryo for his mother. I begin to think about how I should hide myself, how I should “hide under its wings,” and how I can enter the upper level and adapt myself to it.

I think only about the form of the embryo, about the impression that I will receive from the upper if I penetrate it even egoistically and provide myself with its protection and concern. So I imagine what the mother’s womb that I want to enter is like and I understand that it’s the group that is established by my relations with the friends. I gradually begin to do my best to establish such relations with the friends.

Thanks to these small efforts that stem from the mind, I begin to advance, “everything is cleared in the mind” since when it comes to feelings, I am simply dead. But by using my mind, I can think about it a little and imagine this picture: the order of the states of the two levels, the lower and the upper. I imagine how the lower enters the upper, how it’s possible to arrange such a state with the help of the group and how to lower myself before them so that they will become the part of the womb that will pass the upper Light on to me. If I lower myself before them, I will be able to receive the Light by them and not even know it.

So I repeat that we mustn’t remain under the total control of our feelings that tear us apart during the descent. We have to imagine the relations between the levels and where you are with regards to the upper, to use the mind a little in order to exit my feelings and to look objectively at the state I am in and what can be done in it, even if it is artificial.

A person begins to imagine levels and states and influences his feelings by his mind and thus has food for thought. This is how he begins to establish his new state. The Light that Reforms comes and takes a person out of the bad mood by implanting in him hope and confidence with which he returns to the friends.
[110919]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/21/13, Shamati #40

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Question: What do the  groups of tens need to do in the framework of preparation for the convention?

Answer: First of all, you need the materials for the convention so you can create a connection with what is happening there with all your might.

Question: What kind of environment, what kind of an atmosphere, do we need to create in the World Kli to help every friend have ready access to the convention, to raise all of us together to a new level?

Answer: Remember how you prepared for the birth of your child or your wedding, externally and internally. Understandably, the main thing here is inner preparation: “Where are we going? Towards connection. What else can we do to succeed in connecting and with this connection discover the Light, the characteristic of bestowal, which is discovered to the degree that we become equal to it?”

Ultimately I need to come to the convention completely ready, without expecting any surprises except for one, our connection, and nothing more. I don’t need new wisdom, I want connection. And with this I will feel the text with a new depth and in general everything will seem new to me, sparkling, and bright.

And on the contrary, if there won’t be connection, I must feel that I am left with nothing.

That is, we must see and understand that everything depends on connection, and connection depends on preparation.

Question: About whose connection should I be more concerned, my preparation or that of the friends in the  group of ten?

Answer: That of the friends. If we are speaking about spirituality, first of all I need to be concerned about the spiritual needs of the friends. This is called the “prayer of the many,” a prayer for the friends. It is said, “Whoever prays for his friend is answered first.”

Question: What will we require at the convention for a transition to a complete inner scream?

Answer: The preparation. Specifically we don’t scream because we are not prepared, we don’t add a “penny and another penny,” so that they will combine into one great scream. Instead of this we wait: “So, when will the breakthrough come already?” This will never happen without preparation.

Question: How can we avoid falling into a lack of participation at the convention?

Answer: This again depends on the atmosphere and the preparation. If the person is ready, then he apparently sinks into a force field that won’t readily let him go.

Question: Do we need to see a passage through the “Red Sea” at the convention in St. Petersburg?

Answer: And even Arvut standing before “Mount Sinai.”
[110818]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/25/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”:  For although everyone has “his own source,” the forces are revealed openly only through the environment one is in. This is similar to the wheat sown in the ground, whose forces become apparent only through its environment, which is the soil, the rain, and the light of the sun…And as we have clarified above, only in the matter of the choice of environment is man’s reign over himself measured, and for this he should receive either reward or punishment.

We thus understand to what extent we have to worry about strengthening the environment in order to make it as big and as qualitative as possible, which means strong. It has to be invincible thanks to its size and quality, so no strange society or strange thoughts from respectable, influential people around the world, or large crowds will be able to affect us, our way, our goal, and our method.

The moment the feeling that our way just disappears, our connection with this process weakens a little even if we are not aware of it, and then to the same extent the upper Light weakens. Then a person loses “big time,” since he is not under the influence of the one force that can change his fate anymore.

So the only worthwhile engagement in life is to raise and strengthen the society. There is no freewill regarding anything else and there are no forces that can bring about any changes. The whole world will follow us if we keep our society on the right level. It is by the Light that Reforms that we draw upon our society that we manage everyone.

If there is no Light, then we immediately fall back into the path of suffering and return to the same path of corporeal life that manages the whole world. So we have to constantly raise our environment and expand it qualitatively, which is the only thing a person has. So integral education is meant to strengthen our vessel and to draw as many more new people as possible no matter if they are not totally aware of the method as long as they accept it and relate to it and get to know it.

Now, when it is “book week” in Israel, we have to invest in the public as much as we can, disregarding the expenses and the physical effort. Thus we invest in our own internality by raising our environment and strengthening it and its walls. Besides, we are also doing external work, outside our “walls,” by creating a different system of public relations and of bringing people closer to us, thus strengthening the public opinion.

The main thing, however, is still working on the connection between us since through it, in the network that connects all of humanity all over the world, like underground water, the Light that Reforms will spread and change people.
[109673]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” “One’s Greatness Depends On the Measure of One’s Faith in the Measure“

The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “The Donkey Driver,” Item 98, Lesson 37

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World,” Lesson 8

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We should know that everything depends only on our preparation. All the states are already prepared in advance and are registered for every day during the 6,000 years. The timetable of 6,000 years is called the “the press of evolution,” which pressures us and pushes us forward thus forcing us to perform all the actions that were prepared “in its time.”

But all our work is to move from the natural path of our evolution (“in its time”) to the path of the Light, of hastening time (“I shall hasten it”). By that we don’t follow the calendar by advancing from one day to the next automatically, but we advance only according to our preparation.

“I shall hasten it” is cleared only by our preparation and not in the state itself. We can say to what degree we are in the state of “I shall hasten it,” which means to what extent we are working in spirituality, according to the efforts that we make in order to attain a new state.

The spiritual work is done according to the action that comes from Above. It is very important to emphasize that everything is measured by the preparation that precedes the action: what we did, how much we did, what efforts we made, how we climbed up the King’s mountain, and what we did for Him, for the group, for the friends. All this comes first and foremost!

Thanks to our preparation we reach the desirable state, which we didn’t really understand. We simply determined that we want to reach it and it didn’t even matter that we couldn’t imagine it. It is because you cannot know what a certain state is before you reach it.

Therefore the preparation is so important and we need to do everything that we can. And what you have to do will become clear in the process: what exertion you have to make and how to fill your measure. A moment before that we don’t even know that it is about to happen.

Only at the end when we complete all the work we have to do, does a special action called “Rav pealim mekabtziel” arrive, which is like the end of correction, but with regard to the current vessels that we have prepared. This action connects all our small actions into one big account (as it says: “many pennies add up to a large account”) and then the next level is revealed. It is a small personal level of our correction, but it is the same process as in the general end of correction.
[110933]
From the Talk About the Preparations for the Congress of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/13

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Preparation is the key to success!

• From this moment, I have to imagine the convention in its ideal form. What do I need to do this? Gathering of friends—what should they be? Emotional experiences—what kind and by what external means can we achieve them? Lectures—on what topic? Perhaps, I will recommend my own. What questions do I prepare; what would I like to ask after the lectures and workshops? How do I connect with everyone? How am I getting ready to perceive everyone? As a guest? As a host? As a friend? As a student? As a teacher? As a servant? Who am I in relation to everyone? And how should I behave in each state of this spectrum?
• I am working on what is the most difficult for me. For example, if I do not like to dance with everyone all together, then I prepare myself to participate in this in advance, sparing no efforts and pressuring myself with all my strength.
• I will try to stay in the correct intention constantly, to hold myself in it all the time because everyone depends on my intention. It is true that I transfer the Light through my thin “pipe” to them and thus I have to stay “online” constantly. I need to talk to my group of ten: everyone supports everyone else, so that none of use loses this “pipe.” We share it, and we want to turn it into a wide channel of communication for the entire convention.
• I am concerned that no one is disconnected from the right intention—concerned to the point of inner trembling, in fear and anxiety. When something happens to the baby, it is a disaster for us, the “end of the world.” Now, I worry even more. The problem is that this fear is not in our hands; we cannot feel it well; we are not sensitive to the detachment from intention. So, I should be literally in a fever, shaking with fear for everyone so that they do not lose the intention. Success depends on this.
• No matter what the friends do, no matter what they say, what songs they sing, I want everything to turn out for them as it should. I constantly worry and care about them as the mother of a baby who started doing something. I look at him with anxiety—if only he will succeed. It is said about this, “a concern in one’s heart, let him tell it to others.” My concern is transmitted to all.
• I try to come as early as possible in the morning to prepare everything, to speed up everything, and to start uniting with the friends, to sit and sing together even there are only fifty people, but we are already starting to fill the “space” of the conventions with our feeling.
• Each time, on the way to the convention and back, I try to make sure that none of my friends lose the mood, the intensity.
• The gathering of friends must be moving, emotional, as much as possible to prepare us for the lectures, talks, or workshops that will follow them. This is very important. All the speeches and songs should have a clear program and in the right proportion. The gatherings may not be long, but should be heart-felt. Without this preparation, a person will not be able to be included in the overall atmosphere, to the “air” of the convention, which should be breathed in, lived. The main thing is to affect and touch everyone. We need to think seriously how to achieve this.
• We need to find a mutual feeling, a mutual heart—obtained with the help of mind. We are rationally working on the feeling to become united.

[111035]

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The time allotted for the correction is 6,000 years, but it refers to the corporeal timetable. This means that in 6,000 years we have to complete the correction, or we can complete it much earlier, by the right preparation on our part. This is called “I shall hasten it” (hastening time), instead of “in its time” (during the natural process of evolution) by the path of sufferings.

So if we want to reach new states, we have to draw the Light that Reforms and we have to check by what corporeal actions we draw the Light that will prepare us properly. In the meantime our actions are corporeal, which means in order to receive. But although our intention is egoistic, in order to receive, we can draw the Light of correction and so it is called the Surrounding Light.

If our preparation is correct, the Light influences us and awakens us according to our efforts. Our efforts are in acting before the friends and showing how important the goal is for us, and how each of us is ready, yearning, and burning for it. Even if a person doesn’t feel such enthusiasm he has to act that way and show much greater enthusiasm externally than he actually feels.

A person who doesn’t do that actually sins and thus destroys himself. He is thrown out and the Surrounding Light doesn’t take care of him. The Surrounding Light illuminates and operates according to the connection between people. A person who doesn’t spur others as much as he can according to the conditions he has received from Above draws himself away from the Surrounding Light.

The Surrounding Light is in constant motion and calculates things automatically: To what extent do I use the means I was given, accordingly I draw the Light closer to me or away from me. If I open myself to others and try to spur them, I become a kind of a pipe through which the Surrounding Light can influence them.

So we begin by simple, totally mechanical actions that have nothing to do with spirituality. But thanks to them, the Surrounding Light begins to illuminate more strongly through me, and thus I awaken myself and others. This is how it works. Accordingly we prepare ourselves by trying to connect, and then in this connection we are rewarded with a greater and more powerful illumination and also with a greater revelation.

This means that everything depends on the preparation of our vessels and we should start from corporeal actions that are far from spirituality, which everyone can do, even the youngest undeveloped person. It makes no difference if he doesn’t really understand what is going on and finds it hard to focus on the intention since his unique power that depends on his effort is taken into account.

Kids who run around and make great efforts grow fast! Then a person begins to feel lazy and has different egoistic accounts. He stops running around and prefers to rest, and so he stops developing. When we reach the state in which we don’t need to develop physically but rather spiritually, we begin to slow down the pace of our changes until we totally stop developing and are thus inclined to die.
[110940]
From the Talk About the Preparations for the Congress of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/13

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #190, “Every Action Leaves an Imprint”:  And certainly, tasting from the next world requires great preparations during the six days of action. To the extent that one has prepared, so is one’s sensation.

But without any proper preparation to extend the spiritual taste of Shabbat, it is to the contrary: He grows worse due to the corporeal pleasures. This is so because after corporeal meals one is only drawn to sleep, and nothing more, since after eating comes sleep. Thus, his eating brought him lower.

Sabbath is a special state; it is a kind of a next world, a special day which is a corporeal sign of the spiritual end of correction, which we will reach in the future, called “Sabbath.” It is a spiritual state and not a specific day on the calendar that is printed on paper or that appears on the computer.

We yearn for this special state called the Sabbath and this day comes when we arrive at the state that we want to arrive at. The corporeal states arrive regardless of our desire in the time that they are meant to, which is called the natural process of evolution, “in its time.” But the spiritual states come only according to our inner preparation. If we make the necessary inner preparations then we are incorporated in a state called a new “day.”

So a “day” has nothing to do with the calendar but rather depends on our preparation. If I complete the preparation, I am incorporated in that “day,” and if I don’t, then an endless number of corporeal days can go by, but the spiritual day doesn’t arrive and so a new state doesn’t begin.

The spiritual state totally depends on the preparation, but the preparation is by corporeal actions. It means that I have to do everything that is in my power, as it says “everything that is in your power, that do,” and “he who doesn’t work on the eve of the Sabbath, what will he eat on the Sabbath?” So everything is determined by our preparation.
[110944]
From the Talk About the Preparations for the Congress 6/26/13

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Question: I have not felt happy about being on the spiritual path for a long time, what am I doing wrong?

Answer: Your ego is poisoning you and erasing the joy. Apparently your environment is not strong enough and so it cannot impress you. You must have the right environment that will enable you to work above the whining.

We will constantly hear the whining inside our ego. All our dark evil forces are there and they constantly try to draw all our energy for their own benefit. It is actually our inner hell. We, however, have to face them by building our Heaven above them: the attribute of connection, of bestowal, whole and complete love, the feeling that I am like a baby in the arms of the society. I give them everything that I have and in response I receive total support.

Then I feel joy since I discover that everyone worries about me. I have nothing to worry about since I am in a world that is absolutely good. Everything is wonderful and cannot be any other way if we have such relations with our environment.

Although all this is built on top of the dark forces that remain inside me and want to separate us, and I actually feel these evil forces in my stomach; it is clear that they are devotedly doing their job since they are the Creator’s messengers. After having given all of myself to the environment, I am absolutely sure that I can be above these evil forces. I only want to annul myself and to dissolve among the friends, and this is my only hope, sense of security, and joy.

I have no other option, no other way. I throw myself into them like into a pool and am among them ready to give them everything, as long as I receive the light of security. This light provides security since the upper Light is in it. This is what we should do!
[110670]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/13, Shamati #58

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Nothing can be achieved without effort. Until we finish our work, we will not finish forming our vessel and therefore will not be able to reveal the final state. Our states are programmed from above so that is why Kabbalists could tell in advance when it should happen to us.

They have asked us to perform actions with “the acceleration of time,” as Baal HaSulam called for in the1920s. But people did not want to listen to him and therefore they went through the path of suffering: through the Holocaust of world’s Jews and all the problems of the wars that accompanied the establishment of the State of Israel. Imagine, how much suffering could have been avoided if they had listened to his warning and had begun to build the state of Israel 30-40 years earlier, avoiding the Holocaust and all its implications, and had built on the principles described in his article “The Last Generation.”

We have to do this today, after we have gone through the path of suffering, of natural development. This is a good example of what we could have done and how as a result we went through this state, surviving the crisis, the difficulties, the Holocaust, the terrible suffering to come to the state where we are today. This is called neglecting preparation!

Today, we are once again given the opportunity: after the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the establishment of the world Kabbalah group, and the revelation of the method. Once again, we are in the preprogrammed state that has a schedule according to which it will develop naturally (Beito). Or in every square of this schedule, at every stage, at each step, to which we have to rise, we act with the help of the Light (Ahishena). If not, then we will have to go through the same stage by the path of suffering. It all depends on our preparation.

That is why you need to take it seriously in anticipation of this large convention that will take place in St Petersburg in July 2013. We can be very well prepared for it. We already have examples of the states to which we have to come, the experience of physical activities to which we have to add only intention: What do we do this for, what we want? This is what we need to clarify.

There is still plenty of time ahead: We have two weeks and we must apply efforts. Because our state depends on it, on whether we will go through the path of suffering or the Light. And besides, you finally need to switch from calculations for yourselves, your suffering or pleasure, to the thoughts about the Creator and to evaluate relative to Him, whether we bring Him joy or we do not care.

I hope that everyone will ask himself how he participates in the preparation. It does not matter where you will be physically during the convention physically—most important is how you will prepare yourselves to become connected with everyone in collective unity, without any difference or distance, eliminating any external influence. According to this, you will be awarded advancement or even revelation.
[110928]
From the Talk About the Preparation for the Convention in St. Petersburg 6/26/13

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