Question: When we speak about love of others, it seems trivial to most people. How can we convey our message to them?

Answer: Don’t talk to them about love of others. Instead, explain the laws of the integral system that demand a stronger mutual connection between us. The separation in humanity is growing and so is the need for connection. This is why we feel worse and worse.

These are simple things that can be presented by a linear diagram. Every day, we need to increase the connection between us. By 6,000 years, we will have to unite all of our desires. Today, we are being required to connect at a certain level, let’s say, X₂. In the year 2012, the requirement will rise to the level of X₃. If we don’t reach this level, we will experience suffering according to our incompatibility with nature.

Today, we experience a crisis, a fall, and it is perfectly natural. However, we can reverse the trend if we raise our level of unity. If we do that, we will feel a rise instead of a fall. It all depends on us.

We have the wisdom of Kabbalah that was meant to develop the recognition of evil in us. Indeed, the more we lag behind, the more separated we become. The Light increases, while we are more detached and disconnected, and this makes us feel worse and worse.

The Light lets us feel the global and integral world that is mutually connected in all of its parts. Accordingly, we gradually feel that we are becoming more and more opposite to the integral world. So, we are not speaking about love, but about the laws of nature, about its development.

After the December convention, we will see that the world will be deteriorating much faster. On our part, we will be able to hasten the development in a positive way, and we must make every effort to achieve that.
[62073]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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At the lessons, among other things, we learn about the structure and the interconnection of the spiritual worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot. A question arises: Why do I need to learn this? After all, I only need to attract the Light that reforms upon myself?

Even if no Kabbalistic books have been published in my own language, I can sit in the lesson and listen to the reading of The Book of Zohar without understanding the words. This is truly enough. Baal HaSulam, for example, had a few students who did not know Yiddish, the language in which he taught.

However, something else is being concealed here. As we advance, we begin to feel, to discern, various spiritual phenomena inside of ourselves. So, what do we do with this? This is why a person studies the wisdom of Kabbalah in the form of his internal, spiritual psychology. Thanks to it, everything joins together into one picture.

Of course, it does not happen right away, but still, a person gradually discovers within himself what he has studied in the lessons. In the same way that a child studies a language, he remembers words, associates them with objects and events, and then brings meaning to each word, including a wide spectrum of shades, details, and perceptions.

That is why we have to know the material and to study the language of the science of Kabbalah that describes our deep psychology. As Baal HaSulam says, it is very important to enter into Kabbalah from the side of materialistic psychology as well. This is how we study ourselves, starting with the animate level and proceeding to the human one.

Clearly, we do not need a university course on psychology. This would only add to the confusion. However, when we come to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is worth it to search within ourselves for those details of perception that it talks about.
[61752]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/2011, “Preface to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: I have different feelings while studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. How can I know that they are real, not fantasy?

Answer: Our only spiritual criterion is the group. I must see the collection of our desires. I want everyone to be connected by the power of mutual guarantee, above corporeal life. Let it flow as usual; after all, I am born, live, and die against my will.

However, here we are talking about man’s basic yearning, about the higher degree where we must connect. I check myself in relation to that common power. That way, I have a scale by which to determine what spirituality is. All other “pictures” are imaginary and mistaken.

On the other hand, if I can’t imagine the collective force that dwells in the group, it is an accurate indication as to how far I have diverted from the spiritual direction. People imagine spirituality in all sorts of strange forms, while the only support, the only spiritual essence for us is the collective power of the group. Otherwise, you will not be able to picture anything correctly.

This should help you understand how wrong your approach has been thus far. You pictured spirituality in a completely different way. It drew you in different directions, except for this one. So hold on to the right course and each time adjust it only in the direction of the group. It makes no difference what we read or study, it is all aimed toward our unity, and nothing but that.

Even if you hate someone, it still has nothing to do with good or evil as the Torah describes it. This is because the Torah only speaks about the unity of friends in the group. Take the shell off spiritual essence, detach yourself from home, family, work, and the rest of the world, and leave only the powers that we want to connect in your perception.

You are looking only for the collective power in the study and friends, and you should interpret every word of the wisdom of Kabbalah through the prism of this concept. Only thus will you be able to advance in the best possible way. Any other form of advancement will lead you through the path of suffering.
[61738]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/2011, “Preface to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: How can I concentrate my powers and not spend them on foreign causes? All disturbances come from the Creator, so how can we fight with them?

Answer: Of course, all disturbances come from the Creator so that we will better understand ourselves and advance more efficiently. They are only called disturbances. We don’t understand that they are actually advice that helps us advance correctly. If we listened more carefully to what is called “the Creator’s voice,” we would advance more quickly toward the goal.

The problem is that we don’t hear Him, and we don’t notice that He is constantly talking to us. The system of forces that we are in, the field of forces, the general bestowal, the power that created us, constantly continues to influence us. However, it does so only up to a certain limit so that I will listen to Him, at least a little, so that I will notice Him. Then, I will understand what He is saying.

This is how we are built. The Creator is on the edge of our feelings, of our perception. He demands that we only increase our sensitivity a bit so that we will begin to feel Him.

The sensitivity is increased when I understand that “there is none else besides Him.” Everything that He wants to say is in my favor, and He is good and benevolent at any given moment, good or bad. If I knew that, I would bless the evil just as the good because there is no evil.

If I felt that way, if I could understand it, I would constantly look for what He is trying to tell me by my present state. There is a group around me, a family, the entire world, internal and external problems and worries, good and bad, but what does He want to tell me by all that? How can I balance myself in the complicated situation that I am in?

Kabbalists tell you what to do: How to direct yourself in order to try to feel the Creator and to aim yourself accordingly. This means that you discover the Light that reforms, and according to the level of your feelings and understanding, you begin to arrange your internal attributes, feelings, and desires.
[61735]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/2011, Writings of Rabash

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It used to be that only those wanting to know the meaning of life and its purpose would come to Kabbalah. They wondered what we are born for, why we die, and why we undergo such difficulties in life.

A person wants to know, and even if well-off in the material sense, he will continue having these questions because they come from the speaking, not animate degree. Man is not a dog; if we put him in a five-star hotel, he’ll still feel bad and want something more for the soul.

This is clearly seen in Europe. Before the crisis erupted, the most developed and affluent countries had the highest suicide rate. Now that these countries are experiencing a crisis, the suicide rate will drop. People will begin to appreciate life and new desires will awaken. Even a slight desire for improvement will give people a sense of life.

No matter what degree of wealth a person has, taste is always felt through contrast. People like to remember past suffering of hunger and the taste they found in a stale piece of bread because the taste depends on the deficiency.

Today Kabbalah is for everyone, not only for those wishing to attain sublime wisdom, but for all simply seeking a better life. The crisis has spread worldwide. Evil has become global, not local or national as in previous generations. And because of it, people seek to discover the cause of this evil.

Past generations also suffered greatly, but it was suffering on the still, vegetative, and animate (bodily) levels. However, today’s problems are worldwide and affect everyone, therefore it forces people to search for answers. That is why people come to Kabbalah to improve their situation. But here they are met with an explanation summed up in one sentence: You can only enjoy bestowal, only out of love of others!

A person would like to enjoy thousands of different things in this world, but is told: Sorry, the party is over, and you will not be able to enjoy it. In fact, before this, enjoyment was only being used as bait, to awaken you in order to increase your desire. To do this, you were given entertainment, cars, trips, and various other temptations so that you would want to enjoy more and more.

But now it’s all over. You will not have an opportunity to enjoy. The crisis will deprive you of all material acquisitions, and nothing will be left. Yet on the other hand, you already cease to feel any pleasure. Even if you could pay and enjoy all that is possible, you will not feel the taste in anything.

This is the stage of development we are approaching without even knowing it, and in the end it turns out that we are not able to enjoy. This is the real problem of the world! Everything is in full abundance, and we’re able to reach such material prosperity where everyone has everything needed: homes, vacations, good food, and so on. But people will not find taste in this kind of life.

We are nearing a state where satisfaction can only be collective, global. The mutual connection among us that is being revealed now is not in money but in pleasure! I will not be able to receive pleasure before I fill you.

But I hate you and am ready to tear you apart! How could it be that I will fill you before I fill myself? It means that I have to love you first? It is simply awful! Yet, without that I can’t enjoy life or feel, at least a little bit, that I have something more than a dog’s life. A dog’s life is a life in which I only satisfy my desire, but feel no taste. I have everything all day long, but feel as if I have nothing.

These states are being revealed to us because the human level of desire is being revealed within us, which is higher than the still, vegetative, and animate levels. Thus, we can have everything in the material world and feel that death is better than this kind of life.
[61747]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Writings of Rabash “Concerning Love of Friends”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “And the Land was Tohu (Chaos),” Item 18, Lesson 11
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 2, Chapter 1, “Igulim and Yosher,” Lesson 1
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Freedom“
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Question: After the convention, I feel enormous separation and repulsion, which I never felt before. Can this be a result of my working incorrectly at the convention?

Answer: After the kind of unity and ascent that we felt at the convention, if a person feels separation, repulsion, and confusion, these are correct states. Resistance from our egoistic nature has to mount, and to counterbalance it, we have to fight these states.

If we maintain ourselves in that same point of unity that we attained, then by virtue of egoism which becomes attached to it, this point will start to grow. We received an example, and we must live in that same inspiration. We already contain a state called “unity,” which we attained at the convention in the clearest, most vivid form. I must preserve this state, trying to remain in it at every moment of my life.

True, now I will immediately receive all kinds of disturbances, but they are all intended for me to strengthen myself more in the same point that I attained at the convention. Then this point will grow based on all of these disturbances. They will enter it and will support it with the help of my efforts. And then this point will expand. That is how I grow this point to the size of the first spiritual level. I don’t have any other opportunity to grow in spirituality, but only by virtue of the disturbances, “help against me.”
[62921]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: After the unity we felt at the convention, should a person studying with us virtually or online go look for a physical group to be in?

Answer: Going to look for a group today is not the same it was 200 years ago, when a person would leave his home with a staff in hand and go off to search. Today a person enters the Internet and is already together with us, in the common group. He already attended the convention and understands what this is.

Should he look for a physical group? I don’t know if he has that opportunity. The closest group might be several hours away from him.

Yet one should try to stay connected to people nevertheless. Sometimes you have to feel how much you don’t want that connection. Maybe by connecting to others virtually, you idealize the situation, thinking that you are already united with them completely, while in fact you are hiding behind the computer screen. So come out from behind the monitor and connect with them in reality. Go and see whether this is possible….

Obviously, now, after our unification at the convention, we are starting to feel confusion, repulsion, and separation—states that are opposite to unity, one against the other. That’s because in order to grow, we must always advance on two legs. Therefore, don’t be surprised that we are suddenly finding ourselves in opposite states. We must finally get used to the fact that these states have to alternate and follow one another.

Therefore, if a person does not have a close connection with a certain group, then he doesn’t go through these states dramatically, quickly, and intensely. All of this gets drawn out and “smudged” for him. He must nevertheless have some sort of physical connection with others. After all, we are in this world and cannot annul it completely. We cannot turn this world into a virtual world. We are here in our bodies and all sorts of connections between us because this is important. We accelerate time by having a physical connection between us.
[62923]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What does it mean to direct all our thoughts and desires toward the Creator? How can we incorporate the Creator into this entire process?

Answer: First, we have to do everything in our power to connect in order to feel unity. We should constantly feel this unity above all the disturbances we experience in our thoughts and desires. No matter what I do, I do it feeling that the group is inside me. If you can, try to imagine that the Creator also fills us and is inside us.

I warn you: We will not be able to hold on to the state of unity felt during the convention much longer. More serious obstacles will arise, and I won’t be able to connect to the friends and will surely forget about the Creator.

These problems are given to me on purpose so that I will try to attach myself to the group and ask the Creator for help, demand that He carries out our connection. The Creator is the attribute of bestowal and love, and I want the attribute of bestowal to dwell among us.

If we don’t see ourselves as corporeal bodies, but rather close our eyes and feel the field in which we share a common sensation, then the one who stabilizes, fills, and sustains this feeling, the main force that arranges, creates, and maintains all this is called “the Creator.”

The force of bestowal existing in creation is the Creator, His front side, and the force of reception in creation is His back side. And I am the black point of “existence from absence (Yesh Mi Ain)” situated in this force field of bestowal and reception.
[62862]
From the st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Spiritual work focuses on the unification between us and the merger with the upper force that shapes us. How can I quickly, correctly, and effectively unite the three factors: myself, the group, and the Creator? To achieve this, Kabbalists wrote their books for us. In reality, these books are intended for them so they can share impressions and unite with each other.

When I read a book written by a Kabbalist, he reveals to me what he has discovered himself. Of course, he writes not about the material world, but about his spiritual attainment, about various spiritual states, and while reading, I also experience them.

In our world, reading fiction, I imagine myself as the hero living through the described situation. However, reading a Kabbalah book, a Kabbalist does not fantasize, but experiences the appropriate spiritual state, feeling the same as the author. In his time, the author revealed some reality, and now I enter it, describing it within myself by means of spiritual forces.

Kabbalists could limit themselves to the technical language of symbols, like programmers who write codes in “computer language.” Sometimes, we see those “hieroglyphs” on the screen and cannot comprehend them. Indeed, nothing else is required. After all, I only need to know how to combine my desires: in what form of bestowal, relative to whom and to what. Accordingly, I describe a particular state. I perceive a picture of reality within myself, in my desires and thoughts, and it can be described in a simple way.

The Book of Zohar is different. It is written in a poetic language and addresses our feelings, using the concepts of our world and its psychology. We should not forget that we actually talk about the spiritual world, about our inner reality, how we are united with each other. Any state described in The Book of Zohar shows me how I, the group, and the Creator unite together again. This is the only thing one should think about while reading The Zohar, and then the book will definitely help us reveal the relationships at the higher degrees.
[62850]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/2011, The Zohar

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