The one problem in every state is that in this world we cannot connect two opposites into one. Modern quantum physics also deals with the fact that light is both a wave and particle. Although a wave and a particle are not perfect opposites, physicists cannot understand how they can be integrated into one phenomenon. They cannot see a phenomenon yet in which two total opposites connect simultaneously, as it happens in the spiritual world, but they already see the beginning of this phenomenon.

A person who studies Kabbalah faces a similar problem, not on the level of the still nature, not like in physics, but rather on the level of thoughts, intentions, and feelings—on the fourth level compared to the first level of the still nature. The first levels are the still nature, the vegetative, and the animate, and only afterward is there the human level that determines what’s in a person’s mind and heart, the feelings thoughts, the power and the insight.

This dualism brings about many problems. On one hand, I have to see the truth and I see it through my own eyes—this whole corporeal world is corrupt, it is in a crisis, and I am also in a crisis. On the other hand, if I correct myself, I will have nothing else to correct and then I will have nothing to do, since the whole world will seem corrected and it will indeed be so. I will see it this way since “one judges according to one’s own flaws.”

In the meantime there is no dualism in that, the dualism is in the fact that on one hand I have to bestow upon the whole world and to worry that I will be able to bestow upon everyone. On the other hand, I have to understand that I am doing all this for myself and that this world doesn’t need that. All the corruptions that I see in it only show me where I have to work, and they were made especially for me.

There is the same contradiction here as in the story of Abraham who was told that he had to sacrifice his son Isaac, but that through him he will multiply—these are two contradictory things. This is how we should see our path: On one hand we worry about correcting everything in the external world, on the other hand, there is nothing to worry about, since all of reality is already in a state of absolute rest and is corrected.

A person should be grateful to the Creator for the one moment in his life in which he was awarded some contact with the upper force. The question is how we can understand that. But if a person was in contact with the Creator for even one moment, it isn’t just any moment. After all, he could penetrate that moment and enter the upper world through it, the eternal world in which there is no time and so every moment is an eternity.

So if a person can really be grateful for that one moment, he is already at the end of correction or has at least corrected his current level.

This is the reason that it is hard for us to be in spiritual states and to accept them, and this is on purpose by the way. All our work is “above reason;” we have to accept the spiritual conditions as “an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.” And although we don’t understand them, a “habit becomes a second nature,” the Light will gradually influence us and build new desires in us. Thus we will reach a state in which all the opposites will connect into one. Then through them, we will be able to enter the spiritual world.

On the one hand, our ego increasingly separates us from others, since “he who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater.” The distance between the desires remains, but we work on it so that by the intentions we will connect into one whole. It turns out that everyone is infinitely separated from the others, but in our intentions, we are in one common point and the Creator is in it.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13

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In the process of the spiritual work we begin criticizing our friends. We should stop doing it immediately and acknowledge that the Creator does it to us on purpose. He hardens our hearts and sets up bad situations so that we get desperate and appeal to Him for assistance and request our friends’ help, thus enhancing our liaisons and the intention to unite with each other.

Therefore, we must be prepared for the permanent shutdown of connection with others and constantly remember this because we will come across thousands of distractions on our way. We should keep in mind that it is the Creator who disrupts us acting via other people.

We should always stay tuned to “There Is None Else Besides Him.” At the same time, we should continue working according to our own system. We must realize that we work against the Creator and that it is He who permanently leads us. Likewise, we put a little child on the floor in order to teach him to walk. He cries because he is afraid to make the first step, but we continue pushing him ahead. Thus, he eventually learns to walk.

In order to reveal the Creator’s property of bestowal, we need to have a natural intention to connect with others. If we rebel against it, we should acknowledge that this sensation comes exclusively from Him and that He wants us to apply more effort. The more exertions to advance that we make, the more obstacles on our way He creates. He hardens our hearts and sets up hindrances.

So, when we look at our friends and see lots of negativity, we must understand that it is He who draws this picture for us. He does it on purpose so that we rise above our sensations and begin to justify, love, and appreciate our friends, irrespective of our negative thoughts and ideas. We always should keep it in mind!

The same applies to the group. When we think of the group in a scornful manner, “Why do I need them,” it means that it is time to remind ourselves that it is the Creator who commands us.
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From the Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

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In principle, conventions never end because the level that we achieve at each of them is just a small leap, a launching pad for further advancement. Everything depends on what thoughts we have when we leave the conventions: forgetting about them or holding everything that was there by means of our inner effort, and in any case not letting this state cool off!

Gradually, you will get used to constantly monitoring yourself from inside and rising above obstacles. Thus, the impressions from conventions will increase, and you will understand more: where I actually was and what happened there.

You will discover an amazing state that you did not experience firsthand at the convention. It appears after the convention when all sorts of interferences will start to emerge: on the way, at home, in everyday life. If you rise above them constantly, not reacting to the external things, but holding the state received at the convention inside yourself, then you will see how much you feel new nuances in it. Awareness will increase! If you begin to raise yourself with the help of egoism above all the problems, then you will begin to understand what it means.

That is why a convention is a potential leap of which you are not yet aware. After it, you enter in a chaotic sensual state where everything is mixed, and only then, when you begin to work on your egoism so that it does not cool you down and lead you to the side, then you will become aware of this state. It becomes yours, bright and personal; you pass it through yourself. That is why the moments of seeming distancing from the state received at the convention are very important.

Try to hold it all the time! We can hug, kiss, leave—it does not matter, but inside everyone must keep this state! Anti-egoistic work on oneself should be permanent! Do not destroy the ego, but work on it together with it! Then we will rise.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 6

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In the News (from BBC News): “The Institution of Mechanical Engineers said the waste was being caused by poor storage, strict sell-by dates, bulk offers and consumer fussiness. …

“According to the report – “Global Food; Waste Not, Want Not” – from the UK-based institution, as much as half of the world’s food, amounting to two billion tonnes worth, is wasted. …

“The report said that between 30% and 50% of the four billion tonnes of food produced around the world each year went to waste.

“It suggested that half the food bought in Europe and the US was thrown away.”

My Comment: From Above, we are given everything, enough in all the areas of our lives, and only our egoism turns all the good that descends from Above into evil, in the form of health, education, food, weapons, culture, science, etc.—all that we do, we do to our detriment because there is egoism at the heart of our actions, as it is said in the Torah, “help against you,” which in any case turns everything against us.

That is why the only method to correct the omnipresent “distortion” is to replace our egoism with its opposite property—bestowal and love. It is not difficult at all if we do it together. The only problem is to start, and it is purely psychological!
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In the News (from The Province): “Teachers have flocked to a Utah firearms training programme to teach them how to tackle an armed assault like the Sandy Hook massacre, which left 20 children and six teachers dead earlier this month.

“More than 200 teachers responded to the Mass Violence Response Training course offered by the Utah Shooting Sports Council, a week after the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful national gun lobby group, launched a controversial campaign to put armed guards in every school in America.

“Utah is one of two states in America that allows licensed teachers to carry concealed firearms on school premises.”

My Comment: Egoism develops, satisfaction diminishes, frustration and stress grow; so, it’s not surprising that this kind of shooting will occur more often if no attention is paid to people changing by means of integral education; no laws will be able to restrict similar incidents.
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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, “What is the Acronym of Elul in the Work”: Yet, there is a condition to that: It is impossible to obtain disclosure before one receives the discernment of Achoraim (Posterior), discerned as concealment of the Face, and to say that it is as important to him as the disclosure of the Face…

It means that when one comes to a state where one has no support, one’s state becomes black, which is the lowest discernment in the upper world, and that becomes the Keter to the lower one, as the vessel of Keter is a vessel of bestowal.

The lowest discernment in the upper is Malchut, which has nothing of its own, meaning that she does not have anything. And only in this manner is it called Malchut. It means that if one assumes the Kingdom of Heaven—which is in a state of not having anything—gladly, afterwards, it becomes Keter, which is a vessel of bestowal and the purest Kli. In other words, the reception of Malchut in a state of darkness subsequently becomes a Kli of Keter, which is a vessel of bestowal.

We have to work hard and do everything that we can, as it says: “Do everything that is in your power” until we reach a state that the Creator’s “posterior” and the Creator’s “face” become equally important. This means that you will see the Creator’s work on you both in the concealment and in the revelation. If you want to work in order to bring the Creator contentment and not for your sake, then you receive both the concealment (the “posterior”) and the revelation (the “face”) gladly.

You will see no difference between the Light and the darkness, the difference between them is only felt in the corrupt desire to receive, but in the corrected desire, they are equal. Thus all your reflections regarding the good Providence disappear. All the states of the concealment of the Creator’s face become equally important and desirable to you, just like His revelation.

Then you reach a state where there is no more concealment. Since everything is determined by your perception, according to the person who receives. In the meantime, you conceal the Creator’s actions as the good and the benevolent from yourself by your desire to receive, and instead of the good, you see everything as black and evil. When you correct yourself, you discover that everything was good and corrected before and the only thing that had to change was your perception.

Thus you come to understand that it is your Malchut with all its thickness that reaches the great bestowal of Keter by turning its force of receiving (the thickness) into bestowal (purity). It isn’t just a change from receiving to bestowal, from receiving evil to receiving goodness. You, with all your egoistic material, will participate in the disclosure of the goodness by purifying it in order to feel the Light and bestowal as good in it, and instead of the ego, to change it to bestowal.

By that you make your contribution, participate, and build the revelation by yourself. It is by the thickness of your desire to receive that you increase the Creator’s bestowal by increasing it from the small spark of the Light and from a small point of desire to the size of Ein Sof.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13

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Baal HaSulam, “600,000 Souls”: It is said that there are 600,000 souls, and each soul divides into several sparks. We must understand how it is possible for the spiritual to divide, since initially, only one soul was created, the soul of Adam HaRishon.

The spiritual world is like a holographic picture in which each part includes the whole picture, but in a minimized form. It is like looking at someone from a distance or close up—this is the difference between the part and the whole.

This means that although the general soul seems to be divided into many souls, into many people, it is one and exists in everyone but in different “dimensions.”

The question is why do the different dimensions create such different perceptions for different people.

In fact you and I are one and the same. We are simply looking at one soul from different distances. The spiritual picture is not really divided; it only seems closer or further away to us.

If, for example, I see the world of Assiya, I actually see the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), but in the dimensions of the world of Assiya. The difference is only to what extent I can discern the world of Ein Sof in my vessels, in my current desires.

Accordingly, if there are only seven billion people living in the world, it is because this is how the general soul is divided in our eyes today. In each of them there is a spark of that soul, but in itself it is one. The sparks are hidden until the time comes. They are immersed in our ego and are more like black points. They are the posterior of the soul, its embryo that is “dressed” in the desire to receive that wakes up one day.

Today about a million people in the world are connected to this awakening in one way or another. In the previous generations sometimes just a few came together. This is the structure of reality and that’s the way it should be. Everyone returns to the general circle according to the root of his individual soul until we unite and erase all the differences between us.

After all, in a whole body all the cells are equally important—just like an indivisible holographic structure. Every part is equal to the whole, since without it the whole will disappear.

But on the way to the end of correction everything is built in the form of a pyramid; everyone follows the “shepherd”; this is the order of the correction of the souls. That’s also the way it was with the Jewish people when they were on the spiritual levels: There was a king, there was the great priest, there was the Sanhedrin…

Today it is a bit different: Our bestowal flows into the general network of connections that is spread in one soul and hastens the development of the world, without its knowing for the time being. Later, as new troubles and problems come along, when the confusion grows, people will look for and understand that it isn’t in the power of religion nor in the power of politics to help them.

Humanity will face the threat of a general global annihilation and will cry out for help. Then people will hear the message of Kabbalists. But these will be very difficult situations and we have to be ready for them. After all, we can soften these moments, so that they will appear for only a moment, like the parting of the Red Sea, and will be solved immediately.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/13, “600,000 Souls”

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Question: At what new degree should we aim before the conventions?

Answer: Our goal is to exit from ourselves, above ourselves.

By getting closer together, we begin to feel how much this pushes us away, how we withdraw into ourselves and cannot let ourselves be close to make a step forward. The state of revealed rejection, the inability to come closer is the real egoism.

Egoism is not the feeling that we experience in daily life: at home, at work, in communication with people. That is small animal egoism unrelated to the ego we must correct.

We need to correct precisely that egoism that appears during our attempts to become close to each other. Our job is to act against it.

Moreover, in each successive action, egoism pushes us away more and more, and this certain amount of pressure on it and the rejection lead a person to a state of despair. And if a person does not abandon the attempts to continue to act against it, taking part in all the events, he starts to realize that help can come only from Above, only if a special force comes because he is not able to do this himself.

Of course, it is impossible to say in advance, “I am not able to do anything, let someone help me.” To do this, in fact, you need to reach a state of despair. But this only happens when you have put every effort, filled the so-called measure seah (“seah” is an ancient unit of measure) and still have reached nothing. Suppose, you have filled the entire “bag” or “glass” with your efforts, and then at the very top, at the last step you feel: “That’s all! Only from Above can I get help, only that will help me.” It is the moment when a person has an opportunity to ask, and he gets help.

Can you imagine how much effort we need to make? But if we do this together, in mutual aspiration, everything happens very quickly, and if done separately, then it can take not only years but incarnations.

That is why, using our events to unite, we still need to strive and prepare ourselves to break the shell of egoism, to go beyond it, and to connect with the points in the heart. Then we will achieve the same thing that I hope the men reach at their convention. And then we will be uniting.
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From the Virtual Lesson 1/6/13

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Question: What state does a person go through at the lowest point of the descent and what is he supposed to do then? What is our mistake?

Answer: If I fall to the bottom of the descent, then at this lowest critical point I cannot do anything by myself. It is as if I am neutralized by all the Light that operates on me.

The Light operates on me during all the phases of my development (the Surrounding Light 1), and under its influence I descend. Its action leads to my descent by adding a corrupt desire to me. Eventually I find myself at the lowest point in which I cannot do anything. There are no means by which I can ascend; I am under the total influence of the ego.

But the moment I begin to rise, at least a bit, thanks to the gap between the new state and the state I was in, I already have to do something independently. I rise to the first state with the help of the group, but thanks to the level I rose to, I now have to start doing something by myself: to raise MAN, a prayer, a request, to exert myself. I have to draw the Light by myself in order to start its influence according to my invitation and not through someone else.

I cannot wake up and pull myself out of the lowest place independently and without help: “A prisoner cannot rescue himself from prison.” But the moment I rise a bit with the help of the friends, I can already carry on by myself. I am not a prisoner that is chained down anymore! I have a friend who helps me on the outside to get out of this pit.

But if after I have been helped to rise a bit, I am too lazy and don’t exert myself, if I don’t immediately turn to the Light that Reforms, but wait and rise simply with the current of time, with the help of the environment, then I don’t draw upon myself new spiritual powers.

The moment I get an opportunity, I immediately have to start working by myself. Otherwise the Creator will help me get out of the pit once or twice and then leave me since I don’t do anything on my own. He sends me help: through the group, through the friends, in different ways, but if I don’t respond to it enough, He leaves me.

It turns out that He has to add evil and sufferings down below where I fell, different corporeal problems, so that I will finally understand that I have no choice and that I have to rise. I understand that it is worthwhile to exert myself a little and to advance for the lowest corporeal reasons. I will try to escape from corporeality to spirituality because I feel bad in my ordinary life.

In that case I don’t rise by drawing the Light that Reforms but because of ordinary animal sufferings.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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We will have to go through many states in the spiritual work. The first, easiest, and most essential step is to invert from “I” to “we.” After all, “we” still includes me, and in it is included our general pride. Everybody disappears in this concept, not only me. We see in our regular lives that it’s relatively easy for a person to identify in such a way with a group, with a military unit, with the family, to tie himself with other bodies.

Later on, greater and more difficult discernments will arrive, more personal correction. I begin to worry precisely about the most hated people who cause me the most troubles and problems. And it is not even just hatred, I open the highest degrees of hatred and repulsion that an ordinary person cannot even imagine and feel. I, however, must rise above all my ego and reach such a state that this most-hated person, whom I would want to trample, becomes more dear than myself, and I prefer that he will get all the best, and nothing will be left for me.

It’s not easy to attain such a correction, but certainly in the end it has to be like this, and not just in general, but towards specific people. At first we go from my personal “I” to the general “we,” and afterwards, in “we,” the elements begin to reveal, meaning “Him.”

And in all these actions, the rescue is only the greatness of the Creator that rises above my self-importance, in order to help me happily get rid of my “I” for the sake of another’s benefit. I will be thankful for the opportunity that was given to me to turn my hated ones to the Creator’s beloved ones, because from them He will get greater pleasure.

This is such terrible “masochism” that can’t even be imagined, but it’s all based on the greatness of the Creator. We are required to raise this greatness to such a degree that nothing will remain from my feeling of “I.” This is called “existence from absence,” and we are returning to this absence. But this is still not the limit to self-nullification! But we will talk about the next steps later …
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From the Preparation the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/13

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