Being on this side of the Machsom (barrier), we don’t see the reasons for our actions and we think that we are independent. However, the result actually is predetermined and it summons the actions that will lead to it.

Question: But it says that even if the reward is guaranteed, we still have to do our work. So is this our independence, our free will?

Answer: I wish we would come to that and see that the whole world of Ein Sof (Infinity) is spread before us. No matter what you do, the Creator gives you everything that is good, but like a guest sitting before the host, you are prepared to receive from Him only through “restriction” and a Masach (screen).

Question: And each time a person has to decide: “Am I now going to do what should be done?”

Answer: Of course. Then you discover bestowal on the part of the Creator.

He wants to teach you to receive in order to bestow. On the part of the Creator there are no limitations, but He does that in order to bring you to His level where you will acquire the understanding and the recognition and not just the filling that is only the means. If you receive more or less, it is only the means, while the goal is to reach adhesion.

Adhesion is not the filling, but the pleasure from being similar to the Creator. It is above the game of the “Lights and the vessels” and this is the fulfillment of the “point in the heart,” it is the utmost pleasure.

On the one hand, we say that the goal of our development is the adhesion. On the other hand, we say that the goal of creation is pleasure and delight. So it turns out that adhesion equals pleasure.

Actually, it is always about levels of pleasure, since the desire, the vessel, doesn’t feel anything but that. The pleasure is behind every detail of my perception. For example, I differentiate colors to the degree that they bring me pleasure.

In every situation we measure the pleasures and usually connect according to their forms because we have a similar form. Upward and downward, strength and weakness, heat and cold, we check everything according to this principle, and it all stems from the impression of the desire from the filling or from lack of filling.

Our desire is divided into many discernments and shades that are determined by our five senses according to parallel ranges and levels. One way or another, there is nothing but the desire. Everything is measured by my feeling, even the most neutral things. I don’t feel and don’t identify anything that doesn’t touch my feeling. Every discernment I make receives an “emotional sign” which I measure. Behind all the words and the names there are the emotions, the state my desire is in. This is what our language is based on.

Question: I know the pleasures that fill me. I know what I yearn for. But what does it mean “to resemble the Creator?” What kind of filling is that? The feeling of belonging to something great?

Answer: If you take the internality of your heart, something that is very deep and personal,   and try to connect this hidden spark to the center of the group, you will fulfill your “point in the heart.”

Question: And this means to resemble the Creator?

Answer: Yes. because the center of the group is the depiction of the Creator. This is the picture that is depicted in your vessels. You don’t know what Light is by itself. For you the Light is a phenomenon that you discover in the vessel. When our vessels are connected, when each one annuls himself and wants to reach the connection of all the points into one, this is the depiction of the Creator. This means that we are adhered to Him.

Thus, if I am adhered to the group, I am adhered to the Creator. There, inside among the friends are all the discernments of His portrait.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/12, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Lesson: Talk About the Seminar

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet (Genesis),” “He Carved A Carving in the Upper Light,” Item 1

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“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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Question: How do you preserve the permanent state of the convention from now on?

Answer: A convention is a leap through unity. If we have such exercises of unity once a week by having intensive workshops called “friends’ meetings,” we may not need to have big conventions in order to advance anymore. We will rise from one week to the next by preparing ourselves from one meeting to the next.

Everything depends on the preparation, which determines what level of unity we will be able to attain in the workshop. We need a big desire, the recognition of the importance of the goal and the uniqueness of such a meeting as a special action, as the only method by which we can create a place for the revelation of the Creator.

From one week to the next we will live with the feeling of the coming friends’ meeting and yearn for the lesson day by day. Before the lesson we can also feel as we do before the workshop. The lesson can be as intensive, because in the lesson we speak about the same internal work but in different words. On the whole, we are talking about the same topic—the revelation of the Creator to the created beings, where it takes place and under what conditions.

All our collective actions should be seen from this perspective no matter what we do. It all depends on how much a person appreciates every opportunity he is given. Therefore, we shouldn’t wait for conventions if we don’t prepare ourselves from one lesson to the next, from one friends’ meeting to the other, and from one convention to the next one.

Otherwise a big convention by itself will not be very useful—it will summon a temporary awakening but not an ascent. If a person doesn’t come with the previous impression, he will not be granted ascent, advancement, and a greater connection. This is because he hasn’t prepared himself for it; he hasn’t yearned for it and has no deficiency for it. He will simply be impressed from everything else, but will not attain a specific fulfillment.

So it turns out that we feel elated from one convention to another, but then we fall again. The elation should be before the convention and the convention itself should be a level upwards. In this convention we managed to do that to some extent. After having risen to the next level and having felt that we are in a state of descent, disappointment, and fogginess, we should immediately start preparing for a new meeting. This meeting can be in the next lesson, the weekly friends’ meeting, or a big convention.

Everything is determined by the preparation. There shouldn’t be any “dead time” in which I just sit and wait. I have to increase the deficiency inside me or to fulfill it by connection.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/12, “Talk About Past Conventions”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Lesson: Talk About Past Conventions 

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet (Genesis),” “The Separating and Connecting Firmament,” Item 368, Lesson 99

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 7, Item 3, Lesson 4

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“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 138, Lesson 62

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Question: How should I feel my group as a result of the workshop?

Answer: The group is “one” because only one soul has been created. And the more I reveal the structure of a single soul, the more I reveal the group.

A group is not a material concept, not ten physical bodies sitting in a circle. The group is what we build above our egoism through the connection between us, downplaying our ego and raising the importance of connection, the Creator, the Light. The farther apart we take these two opposite points, raising the importance of bestowal, love, and connection, there above, we begin to feel as one.

Everyone feels not himself but only this collective one, outside of his body, his thoughts and desires. We all feel just this desire and one thought “as one man with one heart.” This is called the group.

If everyone acts like this during the workshop, we build a common locator in our group, which begins to pick up all the other “units” in the hall, formed from each circle or approaching this. And then I will start to feel through this sensor all the souls of the righteous existing in the spiritual world. This becomes my vessel with which I work in the spiritual world.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/12, “Talk About Past Conventions”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” p. 137: From the aforementioned, you will learn that the Holy Torah, whose Height is endless, did not emanate or emerge from before Him as it appears to us here in this world, since it is known that “The Torah and the Creator are one,” and this is not at all apparent in the Torah of our world.

Question: If the Creator is completely concealed, how can we talk about the real Torah? After all, the “Torah” is correction.

Answer: That is why we are talking about the Torah of our world. The “Torah” is essence, connection with the Creator. The “Creator” is the general Light, but the “Torah” is partial lights that reveal the desire, correct and fill it.

In our world, there is a means that allows us to reach the Light, the Creator. We aren’t locked in desires; we are activated by a slight illumination. Suppose, I am drinking tea and enjoying it; in other words, there is a light, corresponding to my desire, and I work with it: I want or don’t want, accept or reject. We are talking about micro-portions of the Light that can be obtained in the egoistic desires of our world.

Besides that, there is a degree, preceding the spiritual world. This is something completely different, the state Lo Lishma, when in despair, I start using my material, egoistic desires to achieve bestowal. And although my motives are questionable, this is already connection, a possibility to apply efforts on the way.

Thus, I was given the end of the thread. As if Kabbalists left me a “note,” and if I use it as intended, follow their advice, then I establish connection with them, and they help me as the grown-ups help a child.

I was given an initial desire, the point in the heart or troubles, from which I need to escape. I was awakened, and I am not just an “animal”; the mind and desire, Reshimot, inner states and external situation, fear for the future of the world, and my own future wake up in me. The foundation has been laid.

And afterward, no matter what, at some time I will need so-called the help from Above. And searching will help me find the truth—the Light that Reforms.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: At the Convention I discovered that I do not have a desire to connect with others. How can I receive this desire?

Answer: It is natural that we do not have a desire to connect. We live in a world where disconnection and disunity grow from one day to the next. People hide behind computer screens and mobile phones, and all other means that create an illusion of connection instead of real unity.

But we like this more! 99% of all devices that are manufactured are designed to help a person avoid connecting with others. They create the illusion that we do not have to meet and look one another in the eyes, that it’s enough to look at a small screen and to press buttons. No one looks at one another. People walk down the street like zombies aimed at the destination point, and they practically do not talk to one another.

The whole world is growing more and more distant from one another. My ego forces me to restrict my connection with others to the maximum, so I need a separate apartment and separate food. I build my habitat so that I have all the household appliances in my home and so I don’t have to depend on anyone. Soon robots will do all of our housework and I won’t need anyone at all. A person feels best when he is alone. And if he suddenly gets bored, then he calls someone or sends an e-mail.

With this form of our egoism’s development, the aspiration to unite is simply opposite to our material nature. And it is clear that people coming to the Convention to unite feel uneasy. Moreover, the more developed a person is, the more resistance he feels, as it is written, “One who is greater than his friend has greater egoism.”

This pushes many new people away, as well as long-time, good, strong students, throwing them out of their boundaries. We must understand that this is every person’s natural reaction. And if someone leaves, that does not mean that he is ready for spiritual advancement, but he simply did not receive sufficient support and a patient attitude from others.

Every person should receive the opportunity to work at the Convention and to participate in some way, and gradually, time will do its work. If a person has a great egoistic desire, he cannot immediately accept the fact that we have to be connected.

The average person will happily agree to sit together with everyone and to sing. But for an individualist, who has strong desires – egoism, pride, and love of power – this is unacceptable and unbearable, and he runs away. Therefore, we have to give these people the chance to “cook over a low fire.” It’s like preparing a dish where every ingredient is cooked separately and at different times, and afterwards everything is combined together in one pot. Likewise, there are all kinds of people in the group, and every person has his own cooking time! But in the end everyone will unite and will cook together.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/12, “Questions and Answers about past conventions”

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Question: What role should our American friends play in relation to the world Kli at the upcoming convention in New Jersey?

Answer: I think that of all the countries, the US can influence the world in the most efficient way. After all, we are talking about a very powerful nation that others listen to. All mass media of the world comes together in the US. The US has a great influence.

Moreover, the modern crisis is mainly revolving around it, ant the crisis continues to expand and deepen. And this is why, if we wish to affect the world, the main tool for doing it is here in the US. It is necessary to organize a strong, united American group—then we will be heard and will be able to “sweeten” the crisis so people would understand the situation that they are in and would come to correction, instead of simply tolerating new disasters.

Today, mankind looks like a stubborn child who does not want to do what he needs to do. And at the same time the parents cannot give in because his entire future depends on it. He must finish school despite his lack of desire, and this is why he experiences pressure and misfortunes until he finally passes the exams.

We have spent thousands of years developing egoistically. The growing egoism constantly increased its pressure, and we kept realizing it in feeling and mind. Our desires kept getting stronger and we advanced. However, right now a new stage is beginning: Instead of the egoistic power of reception and hatred, we must develop another power in us: the power of bestowal and love.

For us to feel the need for it, disasters can be sent to us, which are already echoing. We are naturally speaking about a lengthy process, one that does not encompass the whole world simultaneously; however, overall, the disasters are meant to bring us the knowledge that our egoism has completed its development and we should not expect new marvelous results from it.

Moreover, being a part of the world, we cannot make decisions only for ourselves. For example, when things are well somewhere, we also get a share of the Light even though we could be in a very somber state.

But no matter what, we need to understand that the process has begun and is moving forward. All our systems have been expiring and even collapsing for a long time now. Everything people have developed over thousands of years while realizing his growing egoism is beginning to fall apart. However, even though the collapse is already taking place before our eyes, we do not yet realize it and do not understand that it is possible to move down another road. This is where the problem lies: We need a science, which will explain global tendencies to us.

An instinctive development is enrooted in the still, vegetative, and animate nature. There is no choice, thought process, and conscious movement forward. But it is the opposite way with us: Unlike the rest of nature, our development was forced by a single power from one generation to another and over the course of a person’s entire life. Now we must also receive a second power beside the egoistic one, and begin to balance it in order to control our life with two “reins.”

While a single power was driving us, it encompassed our entire world. But now, when a second power is being revealed before us, we must choose between them, we must decide the right way to work with both of them. Thus, for the first time in history, we are receiving two reins in our hands, we can use “both legs” to walk, we can use both powers of Nature: the positive and the negative—to control both ourselves and Nature. This will help us rise to the degree of the Creator, and we are being impelled to do it from Above.

The positive power of bestowal, love, and unity has been influencing us for the past 50-60 years, pushing our development in this direction. We have not been noticing what has been happening, but meanwhile, since the Second World War, full intertwining of connections between countries started to form with greater intensity, and the world seems to have become “rounder,” more interconnected in all its parts. It was the war that initiated this process.

Since then, the positive power was being revealed in the world. So far it has been bringing nations and countries closer, mixing them and creating interactions between them. As a result, the world now appears to be pretty round and integral; however, people do not yet understand the situation that is taking place. This is because it was being formed automatically, mechanically, without people feeling it, instinctively, through force.

But then the modern crisis came, which essentially explains to us that we must control the world, we must make our systems correspond to the two powers, which operate on the global scale.

Still, we do not realize this. The rulers of the world, economists, financial analysts, and merchants – everyone continues to act according to the old rules. This also takes inertia into account; however, it will end, and we will still feel how serious and deep the world crisis is in the next year or two. We will have no more strength left to keep concealing it.

For now, everyone is instinctively trying to mask it and ignore the obvious: both ordinary people and governments. This situation is very dangerous and can lead to an explosion. Kabbalah also speaks about the possibility of the third, nuclear, world war.

And this is why it is very important for us to explain what is happening in the most extensive, simple, and accessible manner: in different forms, in different languages, to every person and everyone together, from one side to another, and in every direction, to give people the opportunity to perceive something and start thinking in this direction. This way we can “sweeten” the current transitional situation so everyone would understand that there is no other solution, we have entered a special historic process.

So, the US is a leading country in the world, both in positive and negative aspects. And this is why we must gain as much strength and influence over public opinion as possible here, to bring to the people the knowledge about the process that has begun.
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From New Jersey, the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/10/12, Shamati 

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Humanity has been developing for ages, but in which direction? If we look at nature, we see that nature tends toward balance. Heat and cold, pressure and vacuum, balance each other.

All natural phenomena tend toward the balance of forces and mutual inclusion, as this is the most constant and stable state that is pressure-free. Eventually, everything will balance. By that, we can understand what Kabbalists tell us about our situation and about the fact that we must reach a state of balance with the Creator, with general nature, since the Creator and nature are the same thing.

What does it mean to reach a state of balance with Him? The Creator is the attribute of bestowal and love, and we should reach the same thing whether we like it or not. The Creator constantly bestows upon us, and from inside, operates the “engine” of our growing ego so that we constantly feel that we are under growing pressure, in a state that is increasingly unbalanced with the Creator.

This obliges us to do something. Until now and throughout our history, meaning our development, we have been trying to balance the pressure with the help of different technologies, social structures, habits, and means to protect ourselves from the heat and the cold, from pressure and other such changes.

Nature is constant, while we are constantly developing from the inside by a chain of Reshimot (reminiscences) that constantly change. Our resistance toward nature constantly grows.

All the changes take place inside us. Even if we see an external world that changes, such as geological and historical periods, generations, or whatever, it all takes place inside us.

We radiate this reality outward, although there is actually nothing on the outside. A person is a closed “box,” and the picture of the world is depicted inside it. However, he feels this picture as though it were on the outside.

Similarly, our eyes turn this picture upside down. The eye catches the entire world in an opposite way, then the brain converts it again. If we were to put on special glasses that do the same thing, after a while, the brain will get used to it and convert the picture in the right direction. This illustrates the fact that all changes take place inside me, not on the outside.

Therefore we say that, as it is written, “There is none else besides Him,” the one constant force that operates and influences me. He has prepared all the Reshimot (informational genes) inside me, and everything that I discover in my life, in my world, in my reality, is the result of the Reshimot. They are responsible for everything I can see, hear, taste and feel.

I constantly must try to remember that, if something needs to be changed, it is me. The Kabbalistic method isn’t meant for the correction of the world, but, with its help, a person corrects himself and his perception. So, despite common knowledge, if a person wants to enter the spiritual picture, he must refocus his vision.

Stereograms are based on the same principle. In order to see them, a person must refocus his vision. How can we change the focus in order to discern the new layer of reality? It is very simple. We must accept the world as a reality that is managed by one force and that all the changes are taking place through my Reshimot.

I constantly try to perceive and understand the situation, to remember that I always am facing the one force inside me and that the Reshimot that are constantly changing inside me are opposite to that force. So, I must reach the balance we spoke about every moment in my life.

The main law of nature is that, despite everything that is evoked inside me, I build myself so that I can be as similar to the Creator as possible, and not to differ from Him in my attributes. This is the main thing.

By attaining the current level, I rise to the next level. Thus, I balance myself with the Creator in every parameter, in all 125 degrees, by becoming totally equal and similar to Him, and achieving total balance.

On the whole, it is a simple schema. The world is constant, but he changes inside me, colors it anew each time, and I must be balanced with the force that gives and stabilizes the current picture for me.
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From the One Convention in New Jersey 5/12/12, Lesson 3

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Question: Do we have to feel the parallel shattering before every new level?

Answer: Of course, otherwise we won’t be able to rise up to it. By receiving corrupt desires, we correct them and build the next corrected level from them.

This new level has never existed before; we are creating something that is totally new. We only receive the material and build new steps from it. This is because we evoke the Light of NRNHY in all the worlds, although to us they only had the faint Light of Nefesh. After all, we bring our desires and clarifications into it. We add our egoistic desire to receive to the desire to bestow, by evoking and correcting it.

The corruption is revealed in us, and we correct it. Now in these desires, which are obtained each time, become 620 times greater than the desire that was created during the descent from the top down, we receive the Reforming Light and then the Light that fills the vessel.

No matter what level I am on, suppose on level 30 from the bottom, I will receive a Light that is 620 times stronger than the level itself because I am adding my desire, the spiritual yearning, my work. This is what happens on every level.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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