Question: How can I feel the others if the heart doesn’t feel that they are close yet?

Answer: You have to think that the others are part of your soul and that only by the connection with others can you build the vessel for receiving the Light, the revelation of the Creator, the revelation of the true state, which means bestowal. The world of truth is the world of bestowal. We, however, are under the domination of a lie, in some fantasy that this world seemingly exists by the force of receiving. We have to think about this as much as we can, until it’s clear that everything exists according to the force of bestowal.

Our fictitious and distorted perception that forces us to think and feel differently is only in us. So because of it we don’t see the real world, and we are like blind people walking in the dark, feeling our way by holding on to a wall. We don’t understand where we are!

Thus, all of humanity is wandering blindfolded in the dark. We have to make our greatest efforts in order to remove this concealment, and then we will see that all of reality exists only by the force of bestowal and love. We will see reality as some kind of an enchanted fantasy world in which everything operates by the laws of total bestowal. We wander around this enchanted city and we have the chance to constantly correct and improve ourselves, by acquiring additional power of bestowal each time.

Thus we increasingly assimilate in this city and can use everything and understand and feel more. This is called ascending the spiritual ladder.

But the moment the spiritual ladder is revealed to us, it becomes clear that all of reality is bestowal and love alone. Besides, there is a small bubble in this reality in which we sleep, like in a coma, not regaining consciousness. This sick fantasy is only in our heads like in a mind of a person who has lost consciousness and different fluid, chaotic thoughts, flow in his mind. This is what is happening to us now…

The reality of our world does not exist! It’s only a kind of fantasy, but it’s very important since only from it can we ascend to the truth.
[109182]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/04/13, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”: Thus, because of their ancestral merit Israel succeeded, and over 400 years they developed and became qualified and sentenced themselves to a scale of merit.

In the course of exile, we face external resistance and reveal the force that does not let us unite, although we want to become one. This force is divided into four layers of Aviut (the “thickness” of desire), and this is what the concept of “four hundred years” indicates. In general, similar breakdowns and measurements stem from the initial structure of HaVaYaH.

If evil, preventing complete integration, is manifested, this means that the sons of Israel had completed the Egyptian exile. This applies to us: If we want to rise to the level of receiving the Torah, meaning the method of correction, then first we must feel ourselves in exile. This growing feeling brings hatred, rejection, alienation, and inability to unite to the three levels of egoistic desire that are called “Egypt” and to the last, the fourth level of burdening of the heart that is called “Pharaoh.” His manifestation is accompanied by the “ten plagues,” and as a result we exit Egypt, meaning feel the necessity to unite in spite of the evil that is being revealed, and flee Pharaoh, ready to receive the Torah.

We are crying, calling, and then the force comes that leads and raises us above the receiving desire. Now we are not in Egypt, we are above the ego, and from this moment on we are ready to become like one. The Light that Reforms affects us, and at Mount Sinai, the mountain of hatred (Sinah), we become a people.

Then, we proceed to the correction of Egypt, begin to “scrape off” this desire, layer by layer, and raise them to bestowal in the property of “AHP on the rise.” At the end, only the “inaccessible” parts of desire (the “stony heart”) will be left in Egypt, which will be corrected last.

So, when the fragments of the general soul of Adam HaRishon begin to connect again, the first who join this process are “lighter,” more sensitive parts. You and I do not understand what type of soul those were who left Babylon together with Abraham and to what source exactly, to what point of the general soul, he belongs. This is the point in the heart Adam HaRishon. In any case, this is the process of correction based on the method of Kabbalah.

Of course, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the science of the highest order belonging to all of humanity, encompassing the entire general vessel and not limited to its individual fragments. It contains the whole reality beginning from the world of Infinity. However, it is used only by those people who can add efforts themselves and accelerate instead of developing “according to schedule.” Without waiting for the correction in their term, they raise MAN, meaning the request, in advance, and help others to do the same. Thus, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the property of the whole world.
[109279]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We have to constantly see before us the good example of the friends who show us an example of greater power and greater dedication. When I look at a weak friend, even if he is on the same path I am, I also grow weak. We have to agree that we work together and empower one another.

Just seeing weak people, even in our society, causes us harm since it weakens us by setting a bad example. I look at the friend and I also begin to think that I can study less and not come to the lesson every day.

So I have to see a burning fire in everyone. The society must demand this from every member. No one can just remain on the side and study quietly in the corner. He has to set an example for others. I have to feel that I receive vibes of yearning for the goal from everyone, how new daily changes occur in them with regard to the Creator and the environment, so that I will feel as if I lag behind the others who are advancing quickly and will be drawn by them, and so that I will envy their success egoistically and will not be able to calm down. But if they don’t provide me with all this, I don’t need such a society.
[109936]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/13, Writings of Rabash

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Everything, but the moments in which I begin to see the goal through the group, adhesion with the Creator, the accurate direction that gives me an accurate picture of the goal before me, is all considered idolatry. It’s a very concrete clarification: Who am I doing this for, for myself or for the benefit of the Creator, which means who is enjoying that fact that I exist now?

There is no other means of keeping myself in the right direction. A person manages to exert himself for a moment and to direct himself towards the goal through the group, and the next moment he already needs more support from the group. Thus it constantly increases. If he doesn’t receive this support, he will not hold on in the right direction. This means that he doesn’t add to his measure so it will fill up and then afterwards his first spiritual level will be revealed. It’s a very clear condition, with very simple laws and forces: The Light opposite the vessel and the Masach (screen), which now must be built between them.

In order to stay on track, I have to constantly connect “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator”—23½ hours a day. Then I can spend the half hour that is left on self-criticism of the inner factors that help me stay on track, which is the group. There is nothing but that, and my advancement totally depends on the environment.

So I dedicate 23½ hours a day in search for a stronger environment, to justify the friends and judge them to a scale of merit, looking for and collecting every grain and bud of awe. I allow myself to be critical only half an hour a day so as to find out what is wrong, why, and how to correct it.

But I work with the society during the whole 24 hours, by connecting Israel, the Torah and the Creator. It’s because the Torah is the Light that Reforms that operates only through the environment. This is the only thing in which we should engage. You can even check whether you are moving in the right direction or not by the number of hours you spend a day on it. If you don’t know how to examine the direction by yourself, then you should at least impress others, this is called serving the other!

You can, of course, offer the friend a sandwich. The main thing he needs from you, which is the reason he is in our society, is a good example that evokes him; I have to provide him with such examples.

If I only worry about that, then it will undoubtedly keep me on the right track, even if I don’t see it. Suppose a beginner who doesn’t understand anything yet is required to do only one thing: To impress the others by the fact that we are on the right track. Then he will surely advance together with everyone else on the same wagon, although the others have been studying for twenty years and he has just arrived. This is how it works.
[109932]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/13, Writings of Rabash

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As our sages said, “…All is in deposit, and a fortress spreads over all of life. The store is open and the shopkeeper sells by deferred payment; the book is open and the hand writes. And all who wish to borrow may come and borrow, and the collectors return regularly, day-by-day, and collect from a person knowingly and unknowingly. And they have what to rely on…”

Question: Who are the “collectors?”

Answer: They are the forces that push me forward, but they still demand my personal exertion since otherwise I will have no desire for it. Everything revolves around the desire: whether it exists or not. Accordingly, I receive powers and a filling. The forces ignite the desire in me and the filling extinguishes it. So the collectors can work in both directions.

Question: Why were these forces given this name? I imagine it as some income tax collector…

Answer: It’s even worse than that. Suppose I enter a store and receive a basket of products that the owner registered on my account. Time passes and I don’t return, I don’t answer the phone, and then the owner sends some people to me to collect the debt.

The collectors actually serve me but on certain conditions. Actually it’s the same landlord who persistently asks me to pay the debt. In other words I have to exert myself and to make an effort for what I have received. After all, I asked to pay by credit for these products: “Give me power, give me health, give me energy, and then I will work and pay for everything. I will take part in the lessons, in the activities in the group, I will connect to the friends, I will do everything, just give me the powers to do so and then I will pay by the intention of in order to bestow.”

Question: So it only seems that the owner is not in the store.

Answer: Of course. There are some “lucky” people who live only on their immediate income and are free from any worries about the corporeal world. Great sums enter their account every month and they don’t do anything. Their life is simple; wealth doesn’t “drive them crazy” and they don’t feel that they need anything. It’s simply “Heaven,” and you can get whatever you want. When I look at such people, I see that they have no idea what a vacation is since their whole life is a vacation and they “float” above the ground.

So it only seems that they take goods from the store without any account. In fact there is a very great debt building up behind them, a debt that I wouldn’t wish myself. Since then the correction of the soul will be very…

Question: Still, on the outside it seems that everything is good for them.

Answer: Imagine that a thief manages to steal several million dollars and he spends it carelessly, but at the same time the police are tightening the rope around him; how will it all end? This is the reason that we bring integral education to the world and we are trying to explain to people that humanity is actually stealing from the earth. We mustn’t just deplete it of all its natural resources and do whatever we feel like. Nature is “round” and inseparable, and we mustn’t penetrate it without knowing its laws. Eventually we will have to pay the account. Today it’s very clear, we see that the time to pay the debt has come and in different areas, on different levels, and the cost will be blood…

In the meantime the threats are rapidly increasing and it’s integral education that will help us prevent disasters. It will explain to people that their debt is growing and they can recuperate like the people of Nineveh when Jonah the prophet was sent to them. He explains to them that the Creator will soon present them with the account and will demand the payment, and then they will reform.

First, having no choice, people understand that they have to change the relations between them and later their forced actions will evoke the Light that Reforms. Then they will feel that it’s worth it even without the Light and without any excuses.

If we succeed in spreading the method of integral correction, of mutual guarantee, the new perception of education, then everything will be different. If we don’t succeed, then it won’t. One way or the other, the whole world will unite into one whole and we will be in its center, or more accurately in the center of the “bomb” that may go off. If we don’t succeed everyone else will unite in order to eliminate us.

Question: So what can we do if we can’t count on a miracle?

Answer: Nothing, except for dissemination and prayer. We evoke people, they join us, and together we all finish the work. If you lack powers, turn to the Creator for help, after all, you are not asking for yourself any more, but for others.

Question: So what does our success depend on?

Answer: Only on the recognition of the importance of the mission that is before us. If according to my nature I cannot be a teacher, I will arrange and prepare the classrooms. If I am not eloquent, I will disseminate material on the street. There is always something one can do and its importance determines everything.
[109897]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/07/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: With what should I associate myself: The desire to unite everyone or to become united?

Answer: First of all, we associate ourselves with the desire to become united. Certainly! We go from the center to the periphery.

I have to tell myself that I am the center of the world, the center of the group. This is stated in the articles of Rabash. That is, the action is mine, but I do not know the actions of others. That is why I have to state that everything depends on me, and if I correct myself, by this I correct the whole world. And if I lead it in one direction or another, then it depends on me how it will change.

So first of all, it is my uniting all of them, and then my desiring to join them. That is, my goal is the functioning ego. We do not kill it, do not run away from it, but rise above it. By “rising” we mean that we control it. This is what a person has and nothing else.
[109940]
From the Preparation to the Convention in Krasnoyarsk 6/13/13

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Our major mistake is that we differentiate and detach the group, humanity, and reality from the Creator. We don’t understand that we don’t have to take care of Him, but that we should fix things in reality and correct the vessel as it says: “I would rather they left Me and kept My Torah,” since the whole Torah is one law of “Love thy friend as thyself.”

The Torah speaks about love of the Creator as the last commandment, which I reach after all my previous actions. Of course I meant to reach it first and this is why I performed all these actions, but I don’t reach it immediately and only yearn for it.

First a person clarifies what his attitude towards the Creator should be until he finally begins to hear that it is called bestowal and love. A person begins to hear, which means that he has an inner response, that it really is so and that the whole world, all of reality, and all of humanity are nourished only by that one force.

Then I realize that it’s possible to actually acquire this force, which means consciously and realistically by using a group, a special society, and not just by using nice words as the whole world does. I am included in the group and through it intend to attain the Creator, clarify my attributes in this special society and correct them in order to connect with the friends “as one man in one heart,” and thus reveal the Creator in the connection between us.

If we manage to connect as one, He will also be revealed as one. Therefore it says “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” Then the society becomes important to me like the Creator, and in fact they become one. Then I begin to understand that the Creator Himself does not exist! It’s the relations between us that we clarify and reach mutuality and connection; this connection that we establish between us is called “the Creator.”

Every time we attain a special level of connection between us, we have a new and different Creator that is greater and more sublime. The Light is revealed in greater intensity and I have to constantly connect “Israel, the Torah and the Creator.” I, Yashar El (straight to the Creator) reveal the connection “as one man in one heart,” in the group, “love thy friend as thyself,” by  all the conditions of mutual guarantee, in order to discover the attribute that connects, ties, and fills us that is called bestowal and love or “the Creator.”

We have all the necessary means to do that, all the necessary conditions. We don’t lack anything, but we only have to work on it more, “Do whatever is in your power.” Then we will discover the Light that Reforms in the connection between us in the collective vessel that will correct our vessel, and then we will discover the Light that fills it.

We have to constantly work on it as if we make dough and constantly knead it until everything becomes one in our feeling. Sometimes we understand this and sometimes this realization disappears, but it has to penetrate the heart. You can make sure that you feel the importance of reaching a connection between us from the very start. Then you feel moved to tears as the connection between us is revealed a bit and it seems so great.

But afterward, the next stage is revealed in which hate and repulsion are evoked in me. We have not discovered this yet… Only after understanding how important the connection between us is and the warm feeling that is revealed in it, the feeling of clarity, and the necessity of the connection, I suddenly begin to discover repulsion and hatred in contrast to it.

It’s evoked in me and I cannot control it since it is my “Pharaoh.” But I already understand everything from one extreme to the other, both from the side of the Creator and from the side of “Pharaoh.” The clarifications between them already begin in me; let’s hope that we will soon reach this hatred after we go through the phase of feeling the sweetness and warmth of connection.
[109340]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/06/13, Writings of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World”: Everything is evaluated not by its appearance at a given moment, but according to its measure of development. Everything in reality, good and bad, and even the most harmful in the world, has a right to exist and should not be eradicated from the world and destroyed. We must only mend and reform it because any observation of the work of Creation is enough to teach us about the greatness and perfection of its operator and Creator.

From here clear and far-reaching conclusions can be made. Everything that happens in the world at every moment comes from the single source, from the Creator. I correct only my own perception, my own vision. Moreover, I correct it in only one direction: to achieve bestowal fully. Thus I discover the world, which is less distorted by my nature, more complete; I see that this is its true, immutable form.

Question: If we correct only our perception of the world, then why do we need to disseminate among other people?

Answer: I want to bring them closer to the goal through dissemination. In fact, they are parts of my soul. The whole world is parts of my soul, and I work with them twofold: on the one hand, I carry the Light to them, and on the other hand, I create the condition for them to get closer to me. The main thing is that thanks to these two actions, directly and “through the back door,” alternating them we unite, and eventually I return all the parts of my soul.

This is the way I have to look at the world, including the still, vegetative, and animate nature. All reality is the essence of my soul, a unified desire. It’s revealed to me now because by definition, I cannot feel anything but it. The desire is my “sensitive material,” and I need only to reveal its reality correctly. I work on that, on correcting my own perception.

How? According to the principle of “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Why? I do so because now parts of my ego, which distort the picture of the world, seem remote to me, often disgusting, opposite, and I have to correct my perception.

Thus, in the end, I correct only myself. That is why Baal HaSulam writes that even bad things should be not destroyed, but corrected. Now they are bad, hateful in my eyes, and when I correct my vision, my attitude, they will become good and useful for me.

It’s impossible to correct anything in the world, but oneself. We already see that this brings only harm. And hence it’s necessary to understand that all the corrections, all the positive changes, are realized precisely in our attitude.

Even if I see the most evil person in front of me, I need to correct myself so that he ceases to do harm. You can destroy someone only if he wants to stop my action of correction, meaning to kill me. Thus, he leaves me no choice, and in this case it will also be a correction. However, while I have a different solution, I must act, work on correction, so that evil is eliminated from the world.

Question: Still, why do we tell people about the integral methodology as if we want to convince them of something?

Answer: Because in this manner we assure the correction of ourselves. To whom do I explain the method? I explain to the parts of my soul. However, I do not correct them, but just give them a tool to correct themselves. And for me, this is self-correction.

We must imagine a system where my parts are outside of me, and that is why I can correct them in this way. I do not destroy or suppress them, but pass the method of correction by gentle explanations. I care about them to the extent of how much they are able to use it, and to the extent of their inability, I create the conditions for them to get closer to me. However, I do not pull them by force, do not demand obedience. After all, we are separated by the evil inclination and I have to correct it. In other words, I do so and they approach me, in spite of mutual rejection. And thus, I return them to the source.

We have to think about this picture. An evil motive penetrated the unified desire, broke it into pieces and scattered them in different directions. Now, when instead of belonging to one whole, we experience oppositeness, hatred; we need to understand how we transform this separation into unity; in the new power of our unity, we need to understand why we start correction in this way, preserving everyone’s uniqueness. I have to protect the egoistic desire. It’s like the “Angel of Death” that will turn into the “Pure Angel.” Without it, the whole creation is worthless.
[109564]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati No. 99, “He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous”: …if one does not have any desire and craving for spirituality, if he is among people who have a desire for spirituality, if he likes these people, he, too, will take their strength to prevail and their desires and aspirations, although by his own quality, he does not have these desires and cravings and the power to overcome. But according to the grace and the importance he ascribes to these people, he will receive new powers.

This means that we are capable of controlling our lives and advancing to the goal. First of all, one has to clarify if the goal is really worth sacrificing one’s life for. This life will not repeat. It’s impossible to try, then get disappointed in the goal and start living anew. It will not happen.

So, one has to check diligently whether it’s worth spending one’s life for and then join the company of the people who exercise, share, and cherish the same aspirations. It will allow us to obtain this aspiration from them, meaning that we regard our goal as something great and have the energy to attain it.

After choosing the goal, one should select the environment that is able to empower him to attain the goal. After that, one starts working on making his environment pleasant for himself. The more one gets inspired from one’s surrounding (from his friends’ advancement and from the importance of their activities) the more one manages to diminish oneself and become subordinate to one’s friends’ influence, the more one acquires energy and inspiration to attain the goal and will by all means achieve it.

Consequently, after we choose the goal and the corresponding environment, all our subsequent work is only about getting as much impact and stimulus from the environment as possible. Without it, we won’t have any energy; we will be “tossed” up and down. We will waste lots of time by uselessly swinging up and down and being in foggy states. It’s called “not a day, not a night.” Thus, we won’t even notice how our lives will end.

So, the most important thing is to cling to our friends, stick to them, get a “warm spot” next to them and nourish ourselves with the importance of the goal. This is how relationships of a person with the society and one’s duties in regard to others are outlined. It’s necessary to enhance the society not by enlarging it in quantity, but qualitatively. Beyond everything else, we should pretend and demonstrate to our friends how precious our goal is and how important our environment is to us. We should set an example to others of how to diminish ourselves in front of the group and in regard to our goal. Rabash described all of the above conditions as essential laws that should be used to create a group in order to empower each friend with enough energy to attain the goal.

All depends on the “attractiveness” of the group in one’s eyes. This is what one has to work on. That’s why it is written: “It would be better if I was forgotten, but my Torah would be treasured, since Its Light Reforms.” The Light works within the connection among people. So, please leave the Creator alone, since He will reveal Himself as soon as we manage to establish a correct connection among us.

I recommend everybody to talk about this issue in the evening with their families. A short conversation and reading of a small portion is quite enough, but it’s very important for everybody, for women in their circles and for the kids.
[109561]
From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/13

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Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”: This is the key to understanding the weakness of world-reformers throughout the generations. They regarded man as a machine that is not operating properly and needs mending, meaning to remove the corrupted parts and replace them with good ones.

And that is the tendency of all world reformers—to eradicate any harmful and bad in the human species… and it is true that if the Creator had not stood against them, they would certainly have by now cleansed man entirely, leaving only the good and useful.

But don’t we want to correct the world? So, what makes us different from others?

Comment: Only the Light that Reforms corrects and we attract it.

Answer: True. We do not make the correction but draw the Light so that it does its job. We seem to open the valve which was blocking its path. That is why we do not belong to those “world-reformers” about whom Baal HaSulam writes. After all, they want to do all the work themselves.

This is a fundamental difference. Take a look at what happens to the world: No matter how much people strive to solve its problems, all is in vain. In fact, it is necessary only to allow the Light to correct the human being and accept the result. Do not do anything else—only let the Light work. Any additional action is not just unnecessary, but harmful.

This is what we should understand and then all our deeds will be aimed at bestowal. By adding the correct intention to them, we allow the Light to work on the world, on the entire still, vegetative, animate, and human nature; the Light will adjust everything according to our strengths, our desire, to the opportunities that we open before it.

We do not interfere in the process of correction; we do not know what is good or bad, what the order of actions is, or how to implement it. We just want to open the path to the Light and that is all.

Of course, we would like to know more, to understand what is happening, participate in work, take part in the process, to be active… However, all these impulses should be directed only at one thing—to let the Light in.

If we act in the wrong direction, if we want to perform this work ourselves instead of allowing the Light to do this, then we are only causing a bad addition to our activities until we learn the lesson and understand what is required of us.

That is why, if we want to advance, in principal, we have to focus on the correct intention and actions and only those that give the Light the opportunity to correct.
[109734]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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