Question: Integral education is learning about the mutual interconnection of everything. Can we teach in our environment by way of example that there is no black and white, rather everything is variegated? Could it be that this method will awaken those around us to think integrally?

Answer: The idea is that we can think integrally, yet we cannot ourselves be integral.

What does it mean to think integrally? How can I make decisions that do not disrupt the equilibrium of the world, that are only for its good? For if they are not intended for the good of some part of the integral system, then they will only bring harm. How can I make decisions today to carry out some activities to create companies, to realize investments, create new kinds of products?

Today I can no longer do this. The world has become so interconnected that if I don’t take its integrality into account but simply implement any economic, financial, technological, manufacturing, cultural, or scientific activity, then I cause harm. Therefore, what has been done from that moment in which close to a century ago the world began to discover its integrality, is that we have been harming ourselves because subconsciously, within the soul, we have no feeling of integrality.

Suppose that I know what my family is: my wife, children, parents, and relatives. I feel all of this; within me, I have a representation of my family. And therefore if they ask me to do something for them, I automatically describe to myself if this will be for their good or will it cause harm, for within me there exists a representation of the family.

The same thing is relevant to the world as well. Suppose that I am the manager of some large corporation or the president of some nation. What kind of decision can I make today, because no matter what I do it affects the entire world and comes back to me, to my nation, to my family? No! It’s best to sit and do nothing.

We see what is happening today in the management of the nations, the businesses, and so forth. Gradually it’s as if everything is failing, disappearing because people feel that their decisions will be incorrect in every circumstance. They are beginning to feel the lack of information more and more: Where am I, what am I doing? This feeling will grow all the time. The person will begin to feel that he is lost.

We must understand the integrality of the world as without this we cannot exist. And the Wisdom of Kabbalah explains it. Therefore we will be needed because only we can reveal to the world its true structure: The mechanism of the structure of all kinds of simple decisions even to maintain and strengthen the family in the right way, to educate the children properly, to regulate the relationships within the family between a husband and wife, relationships between families, in society, and so forth.

For the crisis has already reached the person himself, he no longer lives with his wife and children, not with the parents, and so forth, rather only with himself. Therefore we are found in crisis. And so it is also in Scandinavia. People simply know how to subjugate themselves to be satisfied with what there is. They don’t see anything else; so what can a person do? He can enter more deeply into his shell like a snail and sit quietly.

We must show that we have a solution. First we must highlight the problem, reveal it, explain it correctly, and after this, show that it is possible to solve it, that it is impossible for us to wait, otherwise from the side of nature, terrible blows will land on us. Then people will listen to us.
[116005]
From the Stockholm Convention “Joy In Unity” Day One 8/30/13, Lesson 1

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How can you verify that we are advancing correctly? It is clear that a person is too fond of himself and always evaluates himself in terms of his egoism subconsciously. We are not able to verify the correctness of our path objectively.

The only opportunity for us to change is by acquiring a situation like the guest and the Host, by feeling a special treatment from the Host which transforms us from enjoying the fulfillment to beginning to enjoy the One who gives the fulfillment. That is, we rise above the desire and the Light that fills it, which are directly connected to each other in the natural, physical form and move on to the level of the relationship between the guest and the Host.

The guest is not the desire to enjoy itself, but a new property built inside of it which is familiar with the Host, understands Him, and feels His attitude. There is a desire and fulfillment, and above them, their mutual relationships are suddenly revealed. That is, the “2^nd floor” is built between the Creator, not His actions, but the Creator Himself and the created being, where the image of the Creator is formed.

Then a conflict breaks out on the 1^st floor between the vessel and the Light and the relationship between the Creator and the created being on the 2^nd floor. Therefore, the created being feels an inner contradiction. Every time my desire changes, my attitude towards pleasure changes. I am starting to see it in a new way, and according to this I have to choose the correct goal.

So, I am given the first starting point. If I want to establish a relationship between myself and the Creator on the 2^nd floor and not on the first, then I should please Him as much as He attempts to please me. The reason for my creation is His love for me, the desire to bring me pleasure. And how can I do the same thing for Him in return?

I need to explore this, to try to find out how I can please Him during my life: What He wants, what He seeks, what will make Him feel good. It is hard to figure out because if I do something to bring pleasure to the Creator and feel it, then I will receive more pleasure than I can bear. I would be so corrupted by selfish pleasure that I would never be able to get out of it, to rise above it to the 2^nd floor .

Therefore, beginning with the first man, Adam HaRishon, we are provided with help in this world. Kabbalists tell us that in order to reveal the relationship between the human being and the Creator, I need the correct environment in which I can perform such actions that will bring Him pleasure. After all, the environment is desire and pleasure independent and unrelated to me. I do not feel it. And if I can fill a foreign environment that is outside me: the still, vegetative, animate, and human, then I will bring pleasure to the Creator. It is a very simple principle.

The only problem is that I cannot bring pleasure to someone else because I only think about myself. That is my nature. But no matter what, I have to try. And if I want to bring the other person joy for the sake of delighting the Creator, the entire process has to be on the 2^nd floor because it does not depend on my own enjoyment.
[116017]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/13

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Question: What is the “Creator?” I feel the force of the group revives me and connection with the teacher as the force vitalizing me, but I do not feel the Creator.

Answer: The Creator is the force that animates everything, thanks to which we exist. There is some force in nature that moves everything. Why do electrons spin in the atom? There is a driving force that is hidden even more than all these tiny elementary particles that make up the entire world. This force is the cause of your life.

Matter itself cannot act. It has no force however great a person may seem. Once they thought that a royal person had something special: blue blood, exceptional qualities. That is, some sort of sanctity was attributed to him, but it’s just an animal body of the same flesh and blood. It is possible that the body has a special spirit, but it is not given as a birthright. Everything is attained only through efforts.

Thus, we are not referring to matter itself, to some image. This world has nothing that would have the power to correct the world, to keep it in the correct form. A very deep inner force acts in this world that is beyond all matter, beyond the electrons and the smallest elementary particles. This is the force to which we turn.

We will feel it when we have a vessel for this, but if we did not aim at this initially, all our actions would be futile. We must think about it to the best of our understanding, our feeling, and these efforts eventually will lead us to the feeling of the Creator; none of my explanations will help.

I explain just for you to make efforts to not forget that you need the Creator and cannot perform any action without Him. Let’s suppose that you are going to give a lecture, a workshop, and you want to succeed. People want to use this workshop to lower their taxes and scream about how bad they feel. You can stay with them only on the first floor, but you can go up to the second floor, which means intention, connection to the higher force that especially arranged everything, and it puts pressure on us, calling us to draw attention to it and come closer to it, to rise to the next level of development.

Then, you will be connected with a group practically and not just be inspired to give a nice lecture. It no longer would be empty calls to unity as the communists did. After all, Stalin also called the people to unite, and Hitler did that as well. They both were socialists. However, we must understand that we are not talking about unity as such but about creating the space for the revelation of the Creator!

This should be our sole and original intent. Otherwise, we will not succeed. We will continue a few more years that will teach us failures like in Russia, Cuba, the Kibbutzim, and all other places where they tried to achieve such unity. All these attempts ended in breakdown for one reason only: They were not made for the sake of the Creator. They were not successful only because of this.

That is why I keep repeating that bringing pleasure to the Creator is the cause of all of our actions and their result, and we should not forget about that in the middle. Only then will we succeed, and then we will see that all the previous failed attempts in all the other places were the preparation for our success. We will succeed due to failures because they prepared the ground for us.
[115940]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/13

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Question: In fact, we need only to correct our egoism that prevents connection. Then, why do we develop the entire methodology of integral education? What else can we talk about besides separation and unity?

Answer: Indeed, nothing else exists. However, when you begin to go deeper, when you enter, it is found that there lies the entire higher wisdom. It is inherent in the desire to receive and in the desire to bestow.

After all, all our actions converge in this dualism. There is only the “plus” and the “minus,” two opposing forces. However, look at what they produce by interacting with each other in this world: all the sciences, including physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, astronomy, medicine, psychology, and so forth. Everything is built on the interaction of two opposites, the entire world, the universe with its set of laws and myriad details.

In spirituality, we add to this the screen and the Reflected Light. The response from the minus, the material that wants to be like the plus—that is, the Light—and then something absolutely new emerges. It is not just the relationship between the plus and minus, but their relationship between each other. The minus begins to relate to the plus completely differently. It rises above itself, its knowledge, its mind, and acts opposite to its own nature in the likeness of the plus. The created being learns from the Creator what to do, and it does this.

Much more complex laws are manifested here, which we study. This is great, truly boundless wisdom. It grows seemingly from nothing, from two opposites, one of which only wants to be like the other. It would seem, let it become like the other. However, you open the door slightly, and, behind it, you will discover the ocean without end.
[116089]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Out of the 60 men in our group, only 15 go out to meet the public to disseminate integral education. How can we harness others to this mission?

Answer: If only 15 men out of 60 go out to meet the public, what do the others do? Is it too hard for them to carry a bag, a pointer, a board or anything of the kind and to participate in the dissemination in some way?!

I am serious! We have to participate somehow since it is necessary for us, I understand that 15 people is quite a lot. If 25% of the group goes out to the public it is great!

But others should also participate and even help passively. They can collect questions, help the others, make contact and answer questions about organizational matters. Eventually a greater desire will be spurred in them. What’s important is that they participate and feel the general collective power.

What does it mean to go out to the people? We have to feel what they need and connect to their desires, connect their small desires and absorb them. Therefore I say “make his desire your desire.” This is called “love thy friend as thyself.” When you begin to absorb their desires, you will begin to feel that you have to satisfy them just like a child’s desires. Then you get a totally different feeling regarding the group, the teacher, and the Creator and you begin to demand from them.
[115926]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Question: How can I be sure that I am developing? How can I verify that I am not standing in place and not found to be regressing?

Answer: My development is determined according to how much I am conscious of my dependence on the other, on the friends, on the teacher, on the learning, on the entire world, and on the Creator. On one hand, these means open me; on the other hand, I discover my implementation in them.

If everyday I feel more of a need for a group, for support, for the Creator, for the Light that Reforms, if I feel more dependent upon them, if I am weak, powerless, at a loss without them, this indicates I am advancing.

The spiritual path differs from the physical world in which, on the contrary, we judge advancement according to independence and a lack of dependence upon others. When a person develops spiritually, he feels more clearly how much he requires and depends on everyone.

I cannot be without the desires of the lower levels and without the help of the higher levels. So who am I? I am the one who builds the right relationship, expanding the connection with the general public and with the spiritual levels by way of the group. Without these two components I am nothing.

After all, I come to the group with my personal desire, and therefore, I am egoistic. This is enough for a start, yet a year goes by and what’s next? If I continue my path with my personal needs, then I will only get one thing: the exercise of the ego. Therefore I need to go out to the external society, to the general public, to the greater world, and attach the desires of the people to myself in order to bring good to them.

I want to bestow to them, even though in the meantime, it is egoistically. I am cloaked in someone’s need and this need brings me to a group; with it, I turn to the Creator, and only through this appeal do I get an answer. Now I am directed towards bestowal at least in some way, and this is thanks to my going out.

And conversely, if I don’t go out and am enclosed within a group, then I am working only with my personal egoistic desires, with no chance of success.

This is the reason that it is so important for us to “go out to the public.” The Kabbalists of previous generations could not do this because the appropriate conditions had not yet been created in the world. This was very painful for them, like it is for a mother who is incapable of nursing her infant.

Today, however, all the necessary conditions have been created and we must penetrate into the desires of the people in order to join with them to connect in a group. And then by means of this connection, we can raise their desires to the Creator.

Even though the needs of others don’t matter to my ego, in spite of it all, I want to help them, and I reach a group that is connected with this intention to bestow and together we raise our requests to the higher power, to a higher level. We need three levels here:

• the world,
• we, as a means for correction,
• the Creator.

It is written about this: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” This must be the intention that precedes action.

This intention may come from either the Creator or the creature. On the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate, it comes from the Creator and everything is found to be under His control. Yet we want that the intentions will come from us; we want to rise to the level of the “speaking.” Since this is called Adam (man), this is what forms and builds the intention. The intention itself is essentially the Adam in us.

So I form the intention, on the basis of those desires that I received from the “people,” from the people to whom I turned to for their correction (1). The Creator inserts these desires into them after sending them certain troubles. When I discover this (2), I take these troubles upon myself, and, in fact, here the aspiration for bestowal is already found. Now I have a desire that is equipped with a Masach (screen) and intention.

Even though, in the meantime, this is not true and is egoistic, yet together with this, the system gets its future spiritual form. This is because through my turning to people, I at least emulate bestowal and work with their desires and not mine.

I could never hold on to a screen and the Returning Light with my particular desires. This is because if I lack something, I remember the Creator only so that He will satisfy my needs. Yet now, when I am equipped with the desires of the other that don’t belong to my ego, I am truly ready to think about the Creator.

Thus, the foundations of the spiritual vessels (Kelim), desires, are laid in an egoistic appeal to the people with which I can to turn to the Creator with the request: “Help them!” This action teaches and brings me to a kind of spiritual image, and therefore in response, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) or the Light that Reforms arrives.

To do this, I connect with the group and we raise the “prayer of the many” to the Creator. Yes, it is still egoistic and entirely false because we are not yet corrected, but even in such an uncorrected request there is a grain of spiritual truth. Its nucleus is already correct.

After that, Surrounding Light arrives from the Creator by way of the group, but it doesn’t reach me directly. It is left in the group and this helps us to connect until our additional connection includes the outer circle within it and awakens the discovery of the Inner Light (Ohr Pinimi).

So the desire of the other is extremely important. It allows us to build the entire chain in the right form.

And after that, we receive the Light that Reforms, and with its help we are truly concerned about the others and their desires, and they are connected to us more and more as if they are ours, and they oblige us to be concerned about them more than about our personal needs.

Anyway, we are always working with the desire of the other. And therefore dissemination establishes the right arrangement for the entire process, shaping us as necessary. Without this we have no chance to succeed.
[114970]
From the 4^th Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Exile and Redemption”

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Question: What should we do if there are strong and very experienced friends in the group who used to be very active in dissemination in the past but do not take part in it now? It is a very bad example. Should we just wait?

Answer: You can wait and you can also interest them in another type of dissemination.

After all, what is the problem? On the whole when a person comes to the group, he agrees to participate in everything. Then he begins to understand that it is actually about the ego. “Oh, I don’t want to.” I may shout: “Let’s break through the Machsom (barrier)!” But when the time comes to actually break through and go out to the general public, I get scared. This means that I no longer move forward.

One must be persistent. I understand that it doesn’t depend on a person and that he is given such a state, but on the whole, people should be asked to participate in what they can do best and where they can be more active. Otherwise they will not advance.

You cannot imagine the opportunities we have today. Going out to the masses is the practical fulfillment of the wisdom of Kabbalah for the first time in almost 6000 years of its existence. We are on the verge of the phase for which all of nature was created, all of creation.

What the Creator did with regard to all of His creation is now fulfilled by the creation itself; we have to fulfill this. Can you imagine what an opportunity this is?! But suddenly we throw our hands up and say: “It will pass somehow, it is difficult….” This is the lack of the importance and completely short-sighted.
[116001]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Question: How can we bring the Creator contentment?

Answer: Bringing the Creator contentment means to discover Him. This brings contentment to Him and to all of humanity. The contentment of the Creator and of the created beings is the Light that fills the vessels: pleasure from filling the desire and from the attitude, which means on the first level and on the second level on the corporeal level and on the spiritual level. This is the Creator’s goal—to fully fill the vessels—and it brings contentment to Him and to the created beings, and so they both adhere to each other.

It is better to do less, but with the right intention. It isn’t about the quantity. If you need to spend more time to prepare, it is worth it. People are connected; if you talk to certain people you contact them, influence them, and if it is done correctly with the Inner Light that conveys the feeling, then it will later spread from them to all the other people they are in contact with. It will spread and influence everyone, they will do it subconsciously.

But if these are just corporeal actions, people can be inspired, cry, and shout like a crowd of fanatic fans at a performance of a pop star. They can also be impressed by the nice words of some talented speaker, like Trotsky, for example. But this will not lead to any positive outcomes but rather to destruction. So preparation is the most important thing before every action, the intention to bring the Creator contentment.

This is the only thing I think about all day: How to add my intention to my work, since this is the secret for success.
[115938]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/13

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Question: Can working with the social networks be considered valuable dissemination?

Answer: Although the Internet is widely used and you can practically convey scents through it, we cannot really feel people without physical contact. We can’t!

Even businessmen say that nothing happens without a personal touch. Although they can contact their partners on the other side of the world through banks, they still fly over to meet them. They have to meet them personally and to discuss different issues in conventions or over a meal. The personal contact is very important.

Even heads of states visit each other, and it isn’t because it’s an essential ritual but because this contact is necessary between human beings. Something happens here which cannot take place any other way.

You can imagine any virtual connection that you like, virtual love, etc., but it’s all a substitute and nothing can replace the physical connection. Of course, working on the Internet is essential, but still, when I visited Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk, I had such a connection with people over there that nothing can replace it. This contact is very important.
[115924]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Question: Our group is composed of ten people and we consider ourselves to be a “group of ten.” Is it necessary to divide the group, do we need to change the composition of the “group of ten”?

Answer: If you are simply a “group of ten” and you don’t have more people, there is no need to break it up; remain with this group of ten.

When I talk about mixing the groups of ten, I mean large groups, groups like in Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg where there are large numbers of people who can be divided into groups of ten and can change all the time.

For example, our leading students, our most active friends, whom you see all the time, suddenly find themselves in a group of ten with those you never see on the screen. These people sit quietly, don’t stand out, some of them have difficulty speaking Hebrew. And surprisingly, our active students discover wonderful people among our “silent” students who are very active internally and not externally, so it is simply wonderful to work together with them in a group of ten! And after this, they tell me that they never thought, didn’t feel, and didn’t know that we have such strong friends like these.

Therefore it is very important to mix, in completely different, opposite conditions, and combinations.

Suppose that ten people gather in order to solve some question together; through a discussion in the center of the group, they attain such a connection where each one goes “outside of himself,” and then the question is much better clarified because it becomes closer to the Creator. We begin to look at it this way, as the Creator looks at it, and from this we can solve this question.

With this, the role of the group of ten is finished. The next time, the group of ten will work identically.

Question: If we mix the group of ten, what do we do with the reading of the evening passage and the articles of association? Maybe it is necessary to leave the reading with the previous group of ten?

Answer: Now we are fully involved with the care of virtual education; we are going out to people both through the Internet and also directly. For us this is the most important thing!

Therefore all of your thoughts and reflections on mixing or preparation like this or in another way, all this is childish talk. When you begin to go out to the world and work with strangers, problems about this, questions about this, will arise for you; you will have a pressing need to be in a group of ten and to connect yourselves with the Creator, with me, with the whole group or the group of ten because otherwise you will not be able to do anything outside!

The audience with which you are beginning to come in contact will obligate you to find the correct contact between all the components: the Creator, yourselves, your group, me, the world group, and so on. But if you don’t go out to the people, then no need like this will appear within you. Therefore all of your theories regarding the groups of ten, in what manner to mix them, seem irrelevant, lacking any serious healthy basis.
[115870]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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