Research (Cleve Backster, American expert on lie detectors): “Cleve Backster was an American expert on lie detectors. In 1966, using a lie detector, he accidentally discovered that plants have high-level emotional activities that were similar to those of human beings. He then conducted a series of studies that amazed the world.

“One day, Backster connected a lie detector to the leaves of a dracaena, commonly known as a “dragon tree.” He wanted to see how long it would take for the leaves to react when he poured water on the plant’s roots. In theory, a plant will increase its conductivity and decrease its resistance after it absorbs water, and the curve recorded on graph paper should have gone upward. But in actuality, the line that was drawn curved downward. When a lie detector is connected to a human body, the pen records different curves according to the changes in the person’s mood. The reaction of the dragon tree was just like the undulation of human mood swings. It seemed that it was happy when it drank water.

“Backster wanted to see if the plant would have any other reactions. According to past experience, Backster knew that a good way to elicit a strong reaction from a person is to threaten that person. So Backster dunked the leaves of the plant into hot coffee. No reaction. Then he thought of something more terrifying: burn the leaves that were connected to the lie detector. With this thought, even before he went to get a match, a bullish curve rapidly appeared on the graph paper. When he came back with a match, he saw that another peak appeared on the curve. It was likely that when the plant saw he was determined to start burning, it got frightened again. If he showed hesitation or reluctance to burn the plant, the reactions recorded by the lie detector were not so acute. And when he merely pretended to take action to burn the leaves, the plant had almost no reactions. The plant was even able to distinguish true intentions from false ones. Backster nearly rushed out into the street to shout, “Plants can think! Plants can think!” With this astonishing discovery, his life was changed forever.

“Later, when Backster and his colleagues did experiments around the country with different instruments and different plants, they observed similar results. They discovered that even if leaves were picked off from a plant and cut into pieces, the same reactions were recorded when these pieces were placed near the lie detector electrodes. When a dog or an unfriendly person suddenly came in, the plant reacted too.”

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, everything—still, vegetative, and animate—consists of the desire to receive pleasure, which causes  an object to live and strive for pleasure, to maintain its structure and the laws of its nature in the still nature, to sustain itself and reproduce in vegetative and animate nature.

There is no doubt that for the existence of any object, even stones and metals, they have to feel the attitude of the environment towards them, that is, the intentions of others. After all, the intention, a form of desire to enjoy, which is the matter of the universe, determines what happens.
[96319]

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Question: What is a “union” (Brit) in spiritual work? What should it be, in the direction of what efforts?

Answer: Forging a union is connection and agreement between us, that we will constantly maintain the unity we have achieved and apply joint efforts so as not to disrupt the union.

From where can we take the strength to support it? Only from above, not from anywhere or from anyone else.

You can listen to Kabbalistic songs and read Kabbalah books; it will not help. The Creator, nonetheless, will burden your heart to such an extent that the lessons, meetings, and gatherings will help; nothing will help other than addressing the Creator through all of this.

The burdening of the heart happens due to the addition of egoism, and now you must bring the Light into it. Then, it will become your next degree.

The Light is neither in you nor in those who surround you. You will be able to draw it to yourself only through the environment and, thus, rise. The burdening of the heart is given for this. This is a condition of ascent.

From this moment on, you need to accept this as a law: The left line is a constant weight that affects the feelings, heart, emotions, memory, and various external circumstances, which begin to flash before your eyes, breaking into you.

You need to control yourself all the time because this is the Creator who presents everything to you so that you will ask Him to give you the force to rise above His tricks, as it is written, “Come unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart.” If we have a problem, this is Pharaoh (our mutual egoism), and to fight him, we need the Creator.
[96275]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 6

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Question: How is the ego that is revealed between friends in the integral group different from the usual, beastly ego?

Answer: It is the ego of a completely different level. It appears to the extent that a person longs for integrality (for integration), and it appears only in those people. It’s like a new body that you intend to create now. By the way, specifically you create it and no one else. By attaching small egoistic cells to the new body, you begin to feel how those parts are in opposition to one another, in conflict, in contradiction, and this is really so in our body.

If we take an atom, then aren’t the plus and minus opposite and opposed to each other? However, without an alliance between them, there wouldn’t be a component from which all the material would be created. From within conflict and connection of opposites, we begin to obtain everything.

We ourselves, through our efforts and through the positive and negative attributes that appear in us equally, create, form this image, this integral system which is called “Adam” (man/human). We positively long for a connection between us, and instead of that, we receive negative influence, separation. And again with this separation, we yearn for connection at the next level, and again we repel each other with the new ego. And thus each time we rise to a new integration.

And who is the man here? “Adam” is what connects together the two opposing forces of nature. These two forces are not ours. We view them from afar: Now I hate others, yearn to love them, connect to them, and am repelled by them. Within me operate two forces of nature. I, myself, am a neutral component, but by using them like two reins or two opposing forces, plus and minus, I build a human spiritual body. This is the body that exists, like a dipole, egoistim and altruism, by which they mutually support each other.
[96272]
From KabTV’s “An Integral World,” 11/26/12

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Question: In the popular book The Secret, author Rhonda Byrne outlined the methodology: The universe is joy and bliss, and in order to be acceptable to it, we have to be joyful and happy. We have to ask the universe to give us everything we want and behave “as if” we have already have it and are very happy about it.

Answer: It’s good comforting advice. Kozma Prutkov used to say: “If you want to be happy—be happy.” By the way, it’s very true.

As children, we imagine ourselves playing in our next developmental step; if we do so, then we are being pulled up to it. The question is: How do we envision our next phase? Is it a step of bestowal, love, and connection with the rest of the world? Is it about liaisons with everybody who are a part of one indivisible, integral whole? Or it is a stage of receiving overall energy, universal love, and mutual understanding? If we visualize our next step for the sake of uniting with and bestowing to others, then imagining this state is very beneficial for us.

Comment: The authors of The Secret do not explain this. They know nothing about it. So the people who try to live up to the advice given in the book complain that they constantly forget that they are happy, and they frequently become upset about minor things.

Answer: This happens because they don’t have a methodology, and they do not participate in group trainings.

If they had the correct group training, then they would naturally move in the right direction, not because of the guidance that is detailed in the book, but due to the correct training. Visualizing ourselves as happy through bestowal and love, by building a system of mutual connection among everybody is actually the correction of egoism.

Even if the authors of the book created groups that I just described, they wouldn’t be able to provide pertinent guidance to them since they have never experienced the sensation of the upper space, the next dimension, the level that is called “Man.” They simply won’t be able to direct these groups; they don’t know how to work with them. All they would do is provide them with a psychological practicum, nothing more.

Comment: They are trying to talk about absolute, unselfish love without having any idea of what that is.

Answer: They can copy us as much as they want. They are only helping us by gradually preparing people and setting up various types of analyses that will eventually facilitate people’s understanding of our methodology.

I wish them luck. Why not? They somehow “evoke” people to search for a way out of their animate state; at least they lead them somewhere. I don’t think that anything that occurs in the world is wrong. All that exists is a necessary step for something else…
[94835]
From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 11/3/12

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Question: In our present state, are we capable of true integrality, the way it should be ideally?

Answer: No. True integrality is something we can study from analog systems, from ideal or closed natural states, where each part is dependent on all the other parts. They are all completely interconnected through an infinite number of connections at various levels. Each part defines all the others. It’s a particular kind of holographic, analog circuit, where both input, output, and all sorts of other states happen simultaneously, and therefore, it’s impossible to say who’s first, who’s last, and what follows what.

It is a system where everyone feels absolutely everyone else as oneself. It’s an inclusion of everyone into everyone in such a complete, absolute form that the self-interests of each part are not taken into account at all, and only the work of the entire system is considered—the system becomes the main thing. And then subdivisions occur within it of what is more important for it and what is less. Each part works for the entire system and sees itself only in the capacity of a giver to it. This is called “integral inclusion.”

Naturally, our egoistic nature is completely opposite to this state. We cannot become included into one another, we can only take in, sense, and be connected with each other to the extent that we are interested: by sympathizing, and so on.

Our nature is absolute egoism. We don’t notice what doesn’t pertain to our ego: Our sensory organs capture and communicate to us only whatever is useful or harmful to it. This is why altruism doesn’t appear to us as a possibility for existence. We usually replace it with some kind of partial alliances or by drawing closer to each other, but all of these aren’t true altruistic properties, which are described in the integral system, but are the very same egoism that works in certain relationship to others in order to co-exist and no more than that. In other words, we do not have anything to do with the true integral system.
[95936]
From KabTV’s “Integral World” 11/27/12

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Kabbalists talk quite a lot about the “horde,” about the mixed forces that left Egypt together with Israel. This is actually the great problem that is standing in our way: the use of the Torah and the wisdom of Kabbalah not for the purpose of correction. Horde also refers to “those who fear God and worship Pharaoh.” On the one hand, they fear the Creator, but on the other hand, they wish to fill their egoistic vessels of receiving.

Question: What is the “horde” in my feelings, inside me?

Answer: They are revealed when you use what you acquire while you study the wisdom of Kabbalah for your own good and not for the Creator. Here you can say: “But in such a case all I am is the horde, I am all the evil inclination.” So what can I do if it’s still not a clarified state?

Actually it is about high levels. When the Light reveals my desires, I discover these parts in me. A man is a small world, so all the parts exist in each of us. Our work is to sort them out, to define them and to allocate a place for them, to cover them by the Masach (screen) and to know how to use them correctly. Just like a baby who learns to control his body, so do we have to control our desires: to cover some of them, to reveal others, and what’s more, to do it in the right time. A person behaves differently in different places and in different situations. It’s the same in spirituality.

But the moment I activate myself, I learn about the upper desire and about my desire; I learn to use different means correctly in order to resemble the Creator; I understand which “organs” I should activate in me and which not, in order to be called “human,” Adam (one who resembles the Creator), under different conditions, at different angles, and in every situation. I operate my “puppet” in order to resemble Him, and then internally I actually become Him. The “puppet” remains a puppet, and later when I acquire all His thought, there will be no need for it anymore.
[96059]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/12, The Zohar

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Question: We need to connect in an inner form, in our desires. But how can I approach the desire of the friend?

Answer: For you, your inclination to the Creator is enough. Only with this inclination, without trying to dig deeper, do you connect. Both of you do not understand this desire that the Creator “planted” in each of you. But precisely this desire in the friend, and only it, is important for you. This is a subtle inclination from the refinement of the soul. You love the friend’s spiritual spark, his inclination to the Creator. His character and his customs are not important to you; it is only the Creator who connects you, because “in Him our heart will rejoice.” It is in Him. You want to meet in the Creator.

The other desires are connected in a different way; they remain in you and simply are searching for fulfillment together. But practically this is not unity with the other, but it is taking advantage of the other.

And we on the other hand, do not connect only between us. Light comes to us that bestows upon our desires, connects us, and dwells in us, in our connection. And then all of us together are glad that we gave the Creator the possibility and the ability to be revealed.

Therefore, for you, it is enough for you to have the inclination for the truth, for the Creator, for the goal. You yourself still do not know where you are going to, but the yearning exists already, and you need to always raise and care for it. How? By connecting with the friends. As a result of it, enough yearning will appear in you that the Light will correct you, will connect to a big single desire that in it you will reveal the Creator and will rejoice in it.

From day to day it will be clearer to you how to use all kinds of means in order to prepare yourself for the new state. You will not succeed in understanding it in advance, and you don’t need to demand understanding but the force of bestowal in “above reason.” Precisely by this yearning for bestowal above reason,” the knowledge will be revealed you and you will know.
[95530]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: We need to be directed by what we see; we need to use our senses, our knowledge, our reason. And on the other hand, there is the principle of “above reason,” and through it, the wisdom of Kabbalah expands the research of how one needs to correctly pass from their own understanding to rise above reason.

Answer: The whole upper world exists above our current knowledge, meaning, above the ego. In this manner, “above reason” symbolizes not for the ego.

By that, we are covering the gap between the levels. By revealing the new network of connection between all, we see it as the foundation of all the laws of nature. It is as if nature lies on this network, and we begin to observe its parts in fields, in mechanisms, that activate people. We are penetrating through such layers, which in comparison to them, the atom seems like a coarse thing. The intentions are revealed before us. The forces that precede the matter, that are activating the atoms, the waves, the light waves.

In our perception, we are passing closer to the beginning and we see everything in a new intention, in Ohr Hozer, in Ohr Hassadim, above our current knowledge.
[95589]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/12, “The Peace”

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We need to understand that the more we advance, the more difficult the work becomes. Now when we don’t see a reward, it is easy for us to work. We only have to believe that we will get a reward. The friends tell us that there is a great goal ahead, the Creator’s greatness, for which we should work, and I run to it as if I see how great He is.

Actually I don’t see that; it is the environment that has persuaded me, and I receive energy and fuel from that. I need to keep only one condition in order to work for the right cause: to annul myself before the friends. This means that of all the conditions, I have to keep only one condition: to lower myself. Then the group will begin to impress me and to evoke the greatness of the goal in me, the greatness of the Creator, the reward, to motivate me. This is enough to make me run forward.

It is the easiest condition. After all, when later the Creator’s greatness is really revealed to me, how will I be able to work not for myself as if there is no reward if you know that at the end of the month you will get a million dollars? And it is for the easiest work, like opening the door for someone once a day, for example, and that’s it. How can I get rid of this thought? Now I have to work very hard, against my desire to receive.

The whole way, from one phase to another, to the extent that we advance, we discover what big and important business we are dealing with, the most profitable business. We will have to overcome this notion, as if we have nothing and to detach ourselves from our egoistic desire and hide.

It is very difficult. The first current condition that we have to keep is much easier; it is the simplest of all. So we finally have to keep it and to end this phase! I have to annul myself in order to receive from the environment the greatness of the goal, the greatness of the Creator, and the group, so that it will give me the fuel to advance. Only one condition is required, a small concession of my ego.

Then all these concessions will gradually grow and won’t be just self-annulment, but I will start working with the desire to receive. Each time I will have to agree or disagree, until I draw the Light upon me.

If I don’t manage to annul myself, I have to connect to the Light that Reforms. First I try to subdue myself by myself, but then I see that I cannot do that and that the resistance in me only increases. Then I begin to look for a way to annul myself and only then do I feel the need to draw the Light to help me. Now I already know what I have to look for during the lesson.

We have to write down the principles we will work on, so that this work will be shared by everyone. Everyone has to make efforts and to care about mutual guarantee and the collective fulfilling of the principles.
[95851]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/12, “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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From Baal HaSulam’s article “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”: …it is the path of Torah, meaning the extensive preparation one must make to prepare the purification of his body before he is actually rewarded with keeping Torah and Mitzvot.

This is talking about the so-called “preparation time.” A person comes to study Kabbalah, but he doesn’t yet understand where he is. He starts with some introductory lectures, then he gets acquainted with a group; he participates in various workshops and common work. If he joins a group, he picks up new values and attitudes from his group whether he wants to or not. This is how one’s preparation period begins; it lasts until one reaches a state called “Lishma,” meaning that the Reforming Light begins to impact him in a way that his desires are altered.

“Completion of the Path of Torah” stands for “asking for a miracle,” meaning enjoying the process of bestowal. One has to wish to rid himself of selfish interests. However, he has to aspire to this condition not because he wants to escape sufferings, but rather to become capable of bestowal. Giving must become one’s only pleasure. When a person rises above his egoistic desires, he is still preoccupied with various problems, but it will be for the sake of caring for others. He regards only this kind of behavior as “life.”

Once while driving with Rabash to a sauna, I asked him about the way to check my level of “Lishma.” He explained it to me as follows: “A friend of yours is returning an envelope with some money that he owed you. There is $1,000 in the envelope. You count the money and see that there is $999. You think it’s not a big deal and decide that most likely your friend simply miscalculated the amount and overlooked that it is short by $1. You think that it’s not even worth mentioning it to him. So, you seal the envelope and close the deal.

This is called “acting within reason.” If you count the money or if you are driven by any sort of calculation, it means that you are ruled by your mind. If you count the money, and still accept your friend’s estimation, (it’s obvious that he wanted to return the whole amount of $1,000), then you accept the envelope without any hesitations whether or not it contains the whole amount you are supposed to receive back. It means that you go beyond your own opinion and above your mind.

It doesn’t matter, how much your friend has returned to you. You accept any amount from him as if it is a thousand dollars; there is no minimum that you would accept. You don’t bring up any conditions, nor do you even think of his possible mistake. It is simply impossible! By accepting $999, you are $1 “above reason.”

If you open the envelope and see that there is only one dollar ($1) enclosed in it, but you still accept it as if it were one thousand dollars ($1,000), it means that your “faith above reason” is $999 worth. It is quite significant…

It is the kind of faith that doesn’t let you get anything in return. You take the Creator’s judgment or your friend’s estimation for granted; thus, you feel as if you received the whole amount back. You feel “as if” your friend returned to you the full amount of $1,000, 100%. This situation fulfills you and empowers you to rise from the level of “Lo Lishma” to “Lishma.”
[95501]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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