Question: Both teachers and students are in trouble today. Teachers are helpless: They don’t have the tools to answer the challenges of the modern world. Meanwhile, students are feeling a new, qualitatively higher level of hostility towards the process of education. They have absolutely no desire to go to school….

Answer: I think that both sides are close to discussing these issues together. After all, the dead end, which everyone clearly sees, is beneficial neither to students, teachers, nor to the education system.

I think that in such circumstances we should become a connecting link: We should present our view on the problem to society and make our suggestions on massive changes in the educational system. There should be a book describing our method in detail so that it can be applied in practice.

Indeed, under these new conditions, the Department of Education is losing control over schools. Resentment and ineffectiveness will reach such a level that students will stop coming to classes. Teachers, on the other hand, will be unwilling to follow unrealistic and unfeasible orders coming from above.

That’s why we should offer a book that would present our recommendations on how to change this situation under the present conditions and onward. It shouldn’t be just a list of measures, but an upbringing manual. Teachers need to be taught how to bring up children, how to build reciprocity in a classroom, and so on. That has to be a full-blown methodology, not just isolated pieces of information.

Moreover, this book will be meant for both a teacher and a student. There is no need to hide anything. We are talking about a manual which would prepare them for interaction and mutual understanding.

We have to realize that before, connections in our egoistic world were built from top to bottom. Rulers of the world were forcing their power onto people, and this was the way all the other systems, including the education system, worked. However, the situation is changing: Rulers and parliaments can no longer govern the country, people can no longer receive support from them, and a connection is disappearing.

This is what is happening in the classrooms as well. Before, everyone sat in front of a teacher and received a weekly portion of knowledge and instructions. Everyone had to study to pass exams. The situation is changing now: Both sides are no longer capable of sustaining such a relationship because an integral connection is being revealed, according to which everyone should be equal, just like Bina and Malchut become equal to each other. Only this way a new system will be revealed: Methodology will be passed from generation to generation through equal relationships.

With time, by developing finer technologies, the world will realize that these new achievements are connecting us, and by that we are receiving a new “energy”: the Light that Reforms. By virtue of this Light we will suddenly be able to truly act in a human society, among us, in our interconnection—to such an extent that it will become a new step in a creative process.

On the next level of the world’s development, we will have to use the force of our connection to literally create new things. I don’t want to look like a dreamer, but I will nevertheless give an example: Let’s say we will create a printer that will use positive energy flowing among us to produce prints. These are the heights high-tech industry can reach: By feeding its creations with the force of unity among us, we’ll be shaping matter into different new forms. It doesn’t matter what it will be: houses, cars, and the like…. We still don’t understand to what extent our world is changing now.

Getting back to the education system, it has to join the process of changes before all others. This is, indeed, a worldwide problem today.
[51702]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/2011, “The Nation”

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Question: In the beginning of September, we are having a convention in the north of Israel. Today, with all our efforts directed towards external dissemination, what is the importance of such “internal” gatherings?

Answer: One does not exclude the other. As a group, we are studying the science of Kabbalah: the roots of creation and its correction and the spiritual actions of a person that stand behind his corporeal acts. In his interaction with others, willingly or unwillingly, a person activates an enormous mechanism that he is not familiar with. We study this mechanism and learn how to understand and operate our internal actions by means of external acts. Essentially, this is the purpose of our study.

We are studying the system and find the points where we are connected with it, where the spiritual system ends, giving a way to the corporeal one: the bodies and forces of our world. The connection of these two systems lies in my desire: If I cancel it in relation to the other, I see him or her in spirituality. If I lower my head before the other, he or she becomes my spiritual Kli (vessel). This is how I ascend to spirituality.

A fellow human being is above my current “I,” beyond the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality). If I treat him the way I treat myself, I ascend to his level and we become one whole. This is how I cross the Machsom.

I transfer new pieces of my evil inclination, which I have down here in this world, to the other. First of all, I saturate my attitude towards him with bestowal for the sake of bestowal, correcting the so-called “mistakes.” And later on, I switch to correcting the “transgressions.” This way, I move my point in the heart upward, revealing the evil inclination in me. As a result, by proper connection with the other, I raise myself to a higher degree.

The “other” is humanity. The rule of loving thy neighbor as thyself applies to the regular people. It seems like I was given an exercise: to change my attitude towards them. Without their knowledge, I’m transferring my “I” into the spiritual world, realizing the transition stage. The science of Kabbalah explains this using special terms, but to put it simply: In this way, we acquire a good and safe life for ourselves and our children.

Getting back to the question, the benefit of our conventions is in the study and, most importantly, in internal connection and unity. Only when we connect, become closer and closer, and cancel ourselves before one another, only then do we have something to address the world with.

First and foremost, we bring the spirit of unity. This is why we need unity events, when the friends gather together for a few days. We plan to hold such a big international gathering in December. Without that, we won’t have the power of unity to pass on.

I hope that our December convention will take place on a new level. Then, all the friends who come here from around the world will get so much strength that they will be able to lead the dissemination of Kabbalah worldwide as all the events that are happening in Israel now will eventually come to their countries as well. There will be a need for the method: Even if unconsciously, the despair that will overwhelm people will open their hearts towards unity.
[51691]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/2011, “The Nation”

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Shamati #110 “A Field Which the Lord Has Blessed”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “VaYakhel (And Moses Assembled)” “What Is Sabbath,” (start with: “Bina receives three lines…”), Item 182, Lesson 11
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 2, Chapter 2, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Chapter 3, Item 38, Lesson 20
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 98, Lesson 45
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Nation,” (start with: “Only individuals have gathered here…”), Lesson 8
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We are moving toward balance with nature. It aspires to bring all of its parts to balance. The difference between temperatures gets balanced out, the wind balances out the difference in air pressure, an object that is thrown falls down toward the place where it will find balance with the force of gravity. The process is aimed at a balanced state everywhere and in every regard. In any area, be it chemistry, physics, biology, and so on, everything is built upon this principle. Everything aspires to equilibrium, to a relief of pressure. Everything submits to the law of entropy. Nature wishes to become appeased. It does not tolerate differences and fluctuations in any parameters.

Eventually, everything has to reach balance. And now the law of nature is demanding balance in human society. We see outbursts and disorder, and this is nature’s way of demanding balance. The still, vegetative, and animate levels have already had their turn, and now it’s the human level’s turn. The desire for balance is emerging within us, but becoming balanced among us means becoming “as one man with one heart.” We might all be different, but there is one criterion: We are all obligated to mutually support one another.

And there is nothing to be done about that: Whether we want it or not, nature will win because it is a tremendous force.

A question arises: Why won’t we disappear, like the mammoths and dinosaurs? Why don’t we just leave the stage like a part that doesn’t fit? After all, our discord with nature is much greater than that of the extinct dinosaurs. However, unlike them, we have a mission, a predestination, a goal: We have to correct ourselves and transform our initial nature. They were unable to do that and they disappeared with the natural course of evolution, whereas we are obligated to bring ourselves into balance with the current phase of development.

That is why we are brought to states where our lack of harmony with nature will become expressed in the gravest forms, but it won’t get to total extinction. 90% of the world might disappear, but some people will remain nevertheless in order to change human nature and reach the necessary balance.

This is the goal and we have no other way to go.
[52967]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/11, “The Nation”

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Question: When there are many people sitting in a hot room, there will always be one person who is cold and who forces everyone else to turn off the AC. Say most of humanity is able to adapt to the impending changes. But what should we do about those who are stuck and are not ready to leave the current state?

Answer: It’s important to correct yourself rather than the world. True, I want to elicit external movements and I try to help people understand the process and method of self-correction. However, in essence, I only care about how to correct myself. I do not correct my neighbor. I give him the method in the gentlest form possible, but I do not make him act; this is already his choice.

Therefore, we do not bother people who aren’t ready for change in any way, shape, or form. They aren’t ripe for it yet. When disseminating the Kabbalisic method, we let every person assess it for himself. I have already stated on numerous occasions that I don’t care how people accept our message. I listen to their responses only to improve the presentation: to state something in a new way and to answer a question that bothers someone. But if I have given all I have and a person still rejects and scorns my words, then I treat him with respect. To me this is also a sign of success because I was able to approach him and reveal his resistance. This is the correct reaction for him today, and nothing can be done about that.

We turn to the outside world only in order to improve ourselves. And if we improve ourselves to the best of our ability, then I don’t have any complaints about people’s responses. Let’s wait another year, or five more years.

However, if we go too far, this will be coercion and we won’t be leaving a person with the opportunity of free choice.
[52963]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/11, “The Nation”

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The entire creation is divided into the four levels of development: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. And human development also follows the same four stages.

On the still level, a person does not hesitate to agree with everything the upper governance does with him. On the vegetative level, he acquires his own desire, agreement and disagreement.

To rise to the animate level means to have one’s own character and destiny, direction and individuality, that is, to perform a special purpose in creation, posses an active force within a general, large machine of nature, and turn its gears correctly, according to the actions of the Creator, but with one’s own hand.

When a person himself becomes like this enormous machine, he is called a human, Adam. That is, he encompasses all this mechanism of nature and manages it instead of the Creator; he becomes included in the general program of creation. This means to rise to the human level.

Nowadays, humanity begins to awaken to rise above the still to the vegetative level. That is why we feel discomfort and the loss of direction; we do not know where to go and why. And in the coming years, many such events will be manifested, which will puzzle people and deprive them of understanding how to go on.

This will involve the simplest, seemingly clear things and not high principles. Suddenly, the basis of life will disappear: The economy will stop functioning; relationships between people will disintegrate; confusion will overwhelm the power structures. It’s as if a fog falls and everything becomes unclear.

Everyone who came to Kabbalah began to study because at some point, he felt that he had entered such a fog. In other worlds, a person no longer feels that he is the master of his life with everything following a clear order. Here, an obscure factor appears that confuses him.

The protective function of the body starts operating, which wants to feel confident and secure, to stand firmly on the ground, to hold control in its hands, and to know that one has a job, money, health, and pension. But suddenly you see that all this as if disappears in a fog.

The entire humanity will feel this condition. And when, instead of being someone’s personal state, it will start to happen on a great scale, it will be frightening. But this will push us to the next level, will force us to seek protection, a new foundation, and will bring us to the vegetative level.

On the vegetative level, people will be compelled to look for how to hold onto each other, that is, how to achieve global and integral connection voluntarily, consciously, and with the understanding that they cannot survive without this.

It’s as if we are all standing on a raft floating on the water. Imagine that everyone makes uncoordinated movements that rock the raft in opposite directions. In order not to topple the raft, we must hold onto each other and maintain balance all the time; otherwise, we will drown! This feeling will reign in the world.
[52683]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/2011, Shamati #115

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Question: Two forces act in the world: the force of bestowal and the force of the desire to receive, created as existence from absence. What is my “I,” my intention? Where does it come from?

Answer: We do not feel the Creator because we are in one desire: the desire to enjoy. Even if I want to give, it is just for fun. In reality, I am confused in intention and action. My action can be either reception or bestowal. And it can be accompanied by the intention to receive for myself or the intention to give to the other. There is nothing else, and this is our whole life.

In our world, there is an action to receive and an action to give to the other, as well as the intention to receive for oneself. But the intention to give to the other is non-existent; I do not have that ability. I can give something to somebody or receive something from somebody, but my intention is directed exclusively at receiving for myself, whereas the intention to bestow to the other belongs to the spiritual world, but I cannot reach it. It is not my fault: I am created like that.

There is no confusion here at all: My entire routine is aimed at self-enjoyment.

What I need is an intention, and it is the most important thing for me (!), regardless of what action I perform: giving or receiving. I perform bestowal to my child, to those whom I love, to friends, and even to my employer because I receive a reward in a natural way or in money, in the form of respect, power, and so on.

The key here is the intention, according to which I operate. How can I achieve the intention for the sake of bestowal to fellow human beings? And what will it give me?

This is where the problem occurs. If all of reality exists outside of me, then what I currently receive inside is only its tiny part called “this world.” It is terribly small, tight, limited in time, space, and everything else, but by crossing to the other side, I will get rid of any limitations.

This is the difference between the intentions. If my intention is aimed at myself, I will not be able to feel anything greater than I perceive today. If my intention is directed at unity with the other, to be in him, then I save myself from this horrible life with its fatal end and ascend to the next degree of life; I live outside the body. The only difference is in intention.
[52692]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/2011, “One Commandment”

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Question: How far must humanity go to realize that the true problem is the ego?

Answer: We will need to go to the very end. And I already see the economists starting to speak the words of Kabbalah and likening our ego to a cancerous tumor.

What is the limit that the world must reach before it reaches this awareness? Near complete self-destruction since that is how our ego works. It is just like the tale of Pharaoh. Imagine a big, beautiful land, a veritable oasis amidst the wretched world of old, which ruins itself completely following the ten Egyptian plagues, and the only reason is that our pigheaded ego insists on standing its ground.

And it’s incapable of doing anything else because it doesn’t feel or understand that there is a solution. We can use this example to see that we must always go to the ego and demand: “Let my people go!”
[52731]

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Shamati #121 “She Is Like Merchant-Ships”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “VaYakhel (And Moses Assembled),” “The Fire on Sabbath Eve,” Item 169, Lesson 10
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 2, Chapter 2, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Chapter 3, Item 31, Lesson 19
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 95, Lesson 44
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Nation,” (start with: “It is therefore evident that the national love…”), Lesson 7
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Question: How is it possible to envy the Creator?

Answer: I envy the Creator for being the one who bestows. After all, I learn these qualities from Him, and how else can I learn?

The problem is that for us envy is directly connected to egoism. And if I envy someone, it is like I don’t want him to have something good. This is bad envy.

Good envy is when I wish to become like the one I envy. The problem with our perception is that we don’t see the difference between the qualities themselves, which are not good or bad on their own, and their implementation, which determines everything. We assign our egoistic desire to these qualities from the start because we have gotten used to working in such a way that all qualities, all “9 first Sefirot” clothe onto the egoistic desire, the corrupted Malchut.

However, if we imagine these qualities as clothed onto the corrected Malchut, then envy, lust, and honor will seem beneficial qualities that help us come out of this world and rise higher. Everything depends on whether we use them to reach bestowal.
[52422]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/21/2011, Shamati #9

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