Preparation for the Lesson 

Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” Article 8

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Divinity,” “All the Dwellers of the Worlds Are Included in Malchut” 

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 108

Lesson on the Topic: “European Convention,” Lesson 5

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Preparation for the Lesson 

Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” Article 40

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16

Lesson on the Topic: “European Convention”

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Question: What must happen to create a new Kli (vessel) in a person above his present desires?

Answer: For this, first of all, there is a need for support that can be obtained thanks to the group, the teacher, the study, and dissemination.

Submission is the first and principle act regarding the Creator upon which, afterward, all the rest is built. After all, our desire is egoistic, so the first action must be the submission of the ego. Someone who is ready for this tries to implement what the group needs and what the teacher asks, to be stimulated by the learning, and to invest himself in dissemination.

The main work here is clarification through the emotion and intellect. After all, it could be that a person carries out many physical actions, yet doesn’t make any calculations about them, or the opposite, all day he makes various calculations, yet doesn’t realize anything. These calculations aren’t worth anything. This is only philosophy.

Everything begins from submission because without the submission of the ego and the intellect that serves it, it is impossible to begin to work above it. I must pull out my desire to receive, study it, and subdue it. Submission is the first activity on the way to adhesion. After all, with the desire that is in me now, I will not be able to get closer to the Creator in any way.

So, I bend it, criticize it, and clarify with which part it is possible to work and with which part it is not possible. I don’t have anything except a desire to receive, so I begin to learn how it is possible to change it, in which directions. For example, I approach the friends even though I don’t feel anything at all, but I understand that I must do this.

Thanks to this, by implementing changes in my previous state and bringing myself forward a bit, I correct my attitude. I sacrificed myself. I helped the friends. I carried out the advice of the teacher. I passed from the F₁ state to the F₂ state. Even though these two states are within my ego, there is a difference between them, a delta due to my change. I can learn from the example of the change that I made and the results that were received by using this as the first brick in building my nullification of the self.

I already have something in my hands. The state that I have attained is better than the previous state, and so I call it a “pleasant and kind bride” (Talmud Babyli, Ketubot 16b). I received a higher and more beautiful Kli, and so Beit Hillel (the school of Hillel) doesn’t force me to lie. It only shows me that it is up to me to attain this state.

Beit Shammai speaks about the present situation, whereas Beit Hillel speaks about a desired state, but one that will happen eventually. When I attain it, reach it, then, state F₂ becomes the main state for me. This state needs further work so that the F₂ state of Beit Hillel will become realistic. It is the point of view of Beit Shammai from which I clarify the desired state F₃ of Beit Hillel. That is how I continue and advance further.

However, I first use the delta between the states of F₁ and F₂ as the unit of measure: a millimeter, a centimeter, and a gram of correction. I use it as a model, as a standard, a scale of measurement, and armed with this, I can advance.

Question: What must be done to advance from state F₁ to state F₂?

Answer: It is necessary to see the two states from the point of view of Beit Shammai and from the point of view of Beit Hillel, “a beautiful bride as she is” and simultaneously “a pleasant and kind bride.” However, a person himself has no chance of seeing state F_2; for this purpose, he is given a teacher and the books that he must listen to. He must accept what is said by the teacher as truth, and the teacher says, “There is none else besides Him,” “the Good who does good.”

If he sees the bride only as unattractive as she is, then it is necessary to continue to work in a group, study, and disseminate. Respecting the teacher means carrying out what he advises regarding your advancement. This means carrying out activities and watching for a response of the Light, similar to a bride who must prepare herself, and only then will the groom come. The right actions will necessarily cause a response from the Upper Light.
[130221]
From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/12/14

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Question: Why is it said that it was refusal and rejection that later become a new receptive Kli?

Answer: I have nothing other than an appetite, hunger, a feeling of lack or fulfillment. This is our essence. This is the unique characteristic that I can use. Also within me is that point from Bina, which helps me change my attitude towards the desire to receive and the feeling in it, the feeling of lack or the feeling of fulfillment. The desire to receive with the feeling of lack or fulfillment is Malchut. The point from which I can observe and examine it is the point of Bina. Because Malchut is an offspring of Bina; this ability exists within it.

When I use the point of Bina and identify with it, I can see how Malchut suffers or enjoys fulfillment or the lack of fulfillment. I now want to take Malchut and change it so that it will be like Keter. To do this I must bestow, like Keter. So I summon all of the Light that there is in my Malchut, but I don’t enjoy feeling this within me but through passing it through me to others. In this way I will be like Keter, like the guest who makes himself like the host.

I enjoy the Light that I receive—not the Light itself, but transmitting it to others. If I were simply to return the Light to the Host, I would not give Him contentment. I must enjoy the Light within my Kelim by giving pleasure to the Host, and this is the enjoyment that I transmit back to the Host.

And here we can already see what the NRNHY is. I simply receive Light, and to the degree that within me I am ready to feel the pleasure that I am giving to the Host, it receives the form that is called Ohr HaNefesh, Ohr HaRuach, Ohr HaNeshama, Ohr HaHaya, and Ohr HaYechida. This depends on how much I allow myself to enjoy it and whether I can transmit this to the Host and feel how much He enjoys the entire extraction that I am prepared to bring out from this enjoyment, and how we connect together in the same enjoyment. The Light is shared between us; otherwise we cannot connect. Here my desire and His desire are connected into one. All of this is done using the receptive Kelim, yet not in their usual form, but above them, meaning, above their usual significance and usage.

Question: How do I know that the Creator has pleasure?

Answer: For this you need to feel Him. So you demand revelation. You demand revelation not to enjoy it, but only to know if you are giving Him pleasure. This is the right request. This is exactly what we must demand in order to work.

Question: In the physical world, how must I feel pleasure from the Light within my desire?

Answer: There is no this world or next world; they differ only in the different attitude to pleasure, where it is felt. If you enjoy giving pleasure to others, this is called “the spiritual world.” If you cannot enjoy transferring it to someone else, it means that you don’t feel him as yourself, so you are still found in the material world. In your eyes, the system is still not connected.

Question: What force can keep me on the way because it is impossible to exist without any pleasure?

Answer: Help from heaven—only the Creator can help. It is good when a person depends on the Light that Reforms. This is called “help from heaven.” It is written that after death when a person reaches the heavenly court, he is asked: “Were you engaged in Torah? Did you expect salvation?” “Engaged in Torah” means, did you attract the Light that Reforms and “you shall love your friend as yourself” meaning, did you realize the great general rule of the Torah?

When you were involved with this, did you expect salvation, that the Light that Reforms would come to you and give you the power of bestowal and love of others and through that the love of the Creator? A person is only asked about this.
[129892]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation for the Lesson 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Igrot,” Letter 17

Lesson on the Topic: “European Convention,” Lesson #4

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Question: I am concerned about the situation in China. What can be done to transform advancement through suffering to advancement through the way of Light?

Answer: If a strong national government still existed in China, in their place, to save China I would send the entire population to a mandatory course on the subject of Integral Education. By this means it would be possible to attract a very great Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light). And it makes no difference how much they would understand. There is no need to understand; rather, the need is to simply carry it out, just as everyone once read the writings and quotations of Mao Tse-tung from the Little Red Book; so now everyone would also be involved in Integral Education as a wonderful tool.

In my opinion this method is close to them and they are ready to do it. This is imperative; there is no other solution, and otherwise we will be approaching some extremely tragic events. What is to be done with hundreds of millions of people who are left without work, income, and are hungry for a slice of bread? What will they do in cities? Also returning them to villages is no longer possible. This is a problem of the whole world.

In fact, as of today, the world just about doesn’t need China. This period ended rapidly; it lasted around twenty years. There was rapid prosperity, and that was it; there is no longer a need for it. The whole world is in a crisis, nobody needs to buy anything. The United States is not interested in the continued prosperity of China because it must provide work for its citizens. And besides that, Chinese production is not as cheap as it was before.

There are a multitude of reasons, but we don’t understand them and think that it might be possible to correct something with the help of various economic levers, decreasing or increasing interest rates. But nothing will help. In this manner it is possible only to pass the time. We are approaching world war, but in the meantime we hope to postpone it a bit.

It is impossible to extinguish the negative baggage that humanity is accumulating more and more. There is no solution to any of these questions. After all, masses of people, weapons, hatred and strife between everyone are connected to this; all of these have become an insolvable problem. If there will be local flare-up, the fire will spread all over the world. As of today the state is deteriorating rapidly not just towards local flare-ups between individual nations, but in the formation of two very large blocs that are against each other.

The Creator expects our correction. Forces are revealed and shaped according to the lack of work on our part. Here the laws of nature are active. If we don’t open the crater of the volcano to release a little of the pressure that is gathering in it, then it will heat up until it will ultimately erupt.

It is now impossible to release the pressure through specific actions in one place or another in the world, as had been done until now. The world requires correction, connection. But it is in a state that is very far from connection, nobody wants to hear about this. All the organizations that were once established for the sake of connection, as in the example of UNESCO, the United Nations. and major international organizations, with time have become political forces. No organization has remained that will work for the benefit of building connections between people.

We have reached the final point of clarification, and understand that it is impossible to build something with the help of an “egoistic person.” Now the question is will people want to accept Integral Education? For if this will not be, it is frightening to think what will happen to the people of Israel. The whole world will pounce on us. This is a very serious problem towards which one cannot turn a blind eye.

So going out to disseminate is a question of survival for us. Our survival depends on our going out to disseminate and the degree of our success in it. The high spiritual method is becoming something very practical in life. Spirituality, dissemination, and preventing the threat of world war are all connected. Suddenly, in a moment, the world can be transformed, so we must relate to this with great seriousness.
[130236]
From the 3d part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How can we unite if the breach between the different streams and sectors seems impossible to bridge?

Answer: That’s the way it should be at the end of the exile. It doesn’t surprise me. We have reached this state as a result of ages of evolution. The modern world is the advanced level of the evolution of our ego. It is good because the ego is revealed in its clear and specific form on this level. The only thing missing is the recognition of evil: we have to understand that we feel bad precisely because our ego shows us that it is the source of all evil.

We still lack this recognition, which means that we shouldn’t just suffer because we feel bad, but rather we need to discover the reason for this evil. At the moment we don’t associate the split between us with a military escalation somewhere in the world, with demonstrations, with problems that come up all the time, and with the rising cost of living. We don’t associate all that with our ego, and therefore we still lack the recognition of evil and simply feel bad.

We have to work on that and to explain that it is actually the lack of connection between us that is the source of every form of evil and that the correction is also lies in the same cause—the renewal of the connection between us.

Humanity itself will never be able to discover this dependency and that the lack of connection between people has a destructive effect on nature and on the ecology. We can convince people that the separation has a bad influence on society and leads to breaches between religious and non religious sectors, between the rich and the poor, between different streams; it also leads to problems in the educations system—but all this belongs to the human level. When we speak about the effect on the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature it becomes hard to explain that.

People have to undergo terrible afflictions before they can see the connection between these things. Therefore, it is our obligation to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah, and Baal HaSulam says that the time for that has come.

Question: Can we convince people by setting a personal example for them, by showing them the good outcomes that the study of Kabbalah can lead to?

Answer: I don’t think it will help even if we run around and demonstrate beautiful examples of connection between people. Our main work is to use our intention. We have to perform actions, but most of all we have to focus on our intention and not look for solutions other than integral education.

I don’t think we will be able to make any progress through our actions. Actions are important, but they take place on the account of the Upper Light that operates according to our intention. The action itself on which the intention is based is not so important. We simply have to use all the options that open up from above.

We are nearing the right intention all the time—this is all our work. Consequently, we draw the Light and we don’t need anything else except the Light. I am not armed with a gun or a spear, but only with the intention that I have to use in order to draw the Light.
[129918]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Why did Kabbalists prevent the spread of ordinary science among the Israeli nation?

Answer: Kabbalists did not prevent the spread of science, it simply developed to the extent that it was necessary. After all, before the destruction of the Temple the whole nation engaged in spiritual attainment in absolute devotion. Why should they have studied insects in the jungle or electricity?

External science explores how we should work with different expressions of the Light in this world on the lowest level. It is useless if I can work directly with the Creator, with the same phenomena on a higher level. There I am actually incorporated in the actions and work with the phenomenon, and that is a huge difference.

Compared to this sublime work, external science is simply a game in a kids’ sandbox. This is the reason that the nation of Israel did not engage in science beyond what was necessary for building or in order to satisfy the needs of the body. What is the point in dealing with it any more than that?

There were people who knew how to process leather, how to prepare food, and how to build houses, how to do anything that was a basic necessity, but not more than that: for a living, for the family, for the next generation. It was impossible to live without it and so they had to provide those needs.

But money, respect, and knowledge are human desires that lead to a breach in society and were therefore kept on a minimal level. It was only after the Israeli nation was exiled that they gradually began to descend lower and lower.

They couldn’t engage in anything else when they were in exile and so they engaged in anything that was possible, especially in commerce and in developing the banking system since they could engage in that everywhere and it gave them a sense of security. They could secure their future this way.

Thanks to the fact that the Jews dispersed all over Europe and the Middle East, they could establish a network similar to the modern integral network in commerce, industry and finance. They began to build it more than 2000 years ago. If a Jew from Spain reached Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, or the countries in northern Europe he could always find Jews there with whom he had a common language; he could find a place to live, to understand their lives and they could understand him.

This was not the case among other nations. There were only small villages in Europe which were so far away from one another. On the other hand, it was easy for the Jews to build such systems because they felt that they belonged to one nation, to one Creator; they studied from the same books and read the same prayers. Moreover, they never knew what the future would bring. If you are a person that can be counted on because you fear the Creator, I can leave a sum of money that I have saved for times of trouble. If something should happen, I can always come to you and you will give me back what is mine.

This is how the systems of commerce and industry developed. There was no need for external sciences because they had their own system. Books were transferred from place to place. It was a very strong network. This is actually how humanity began to wake up and advance from the age of barbarism.
[129748]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation for the Lesson 

Writings of Rabash “Rungs of the Ladder,” “What Is the Foundation on Which Kedusha (Holiness) Is Built”

Writings of Rabash “Rungs of the Ladder,” “Which Degree Should One Achieve So He Will Not Have to Reincarnate?”

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts, Chapter “Divinity,” “When the Son Does Not Do the Will of His Father, His Mother Has Permission to Strike Him”

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 94

Lesson on the Topic: “Preparing for the Convention”

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Preparation for the Lesson 

Lesson on the Topic: “European Convention,” Lesson #3

Writings of Rabash “Rungs of the Ladder,” “What Is the Foundation on Which Kedusha (Holiness) Is Built”

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16

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