In the News (from DailyMail): “Being a nurturing mother is not just about emotional care – it pays dividends by determining the size of your child’s brain, scientists say. …

“According to neurologists this sizeable difference has one primary cause – the way each child was treated by their mothers. …

“The child with the larger and more fully developed brain was looked after by its mother – she was constantly responsive to her baby, reported The Sunday Telegraph. But the child with the shrunken brain was the victim of severe neglect and abuse.

“The consequences of these deficits are pronounced – the child on the left with the larger brain will be more intelligent and more likely to develop the social ability to empathise with others.

“But in contrast, the child with the shrunken brain will be more likely to become addicted to drugs and involved in violent crimes, much more likely to be unemployed and to be dependent on state benefits.

“The child is also more likely to develop mental and other serious health problems.

“Professor Allan Schore, of UCLA, told The Sunday Telegraph that if a baby is not treated properly in the first two years of life, it can have a fundamental impact on development.

“He pointed out that the genes for several aspects of brain function, including intelligence, cannot function.

“And sadly there is a chance they may never develop and come into existence.”

My Comment: Love, that is, inclusion in the desires of another, is the major property of our world and the upper worlds. The only difference is that in our world this attribute is concealed from our being able to identify it as essential and develop it. Therefore, it is given to us as a command—a guideline that is necessary to follow in order to bring myself and the world to perfection.

Naturally, the same quality of love is beneficial at all levels.

In the case of children, our natural (animalistic) instincts switch on, which are sometimes interrupted by opposing super-egoistic, human ones, when we hurt our own children by choosing ourselves before them, in which case people are “more beastly” than beasts.

Exiting into a higher world rests on love—in spite of and over our egoism. We are building love, leaving rejection beneath it, covering hate with love—and with the least screen, we begin sensing the upper world.
[94778]

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Question: What is the correction of the world?

Answer: We are on the highest level of a general system because we yearn to be above ourselves. The previous lives have made us the way we are.

There are different illuminations in the world, and this whole system is mutually connected. But the signal comes from above. The Light goes through us to the world and then spreads everywhere. This is called the “correction of the world.”

I don’t correct anyone. If we correct ourselves, then the Light is transferred through us to all the other parts of the world. Most people cannot draw the Light; they cannot correct themselves; they don’t understand; they don’t know; they lack the desires. Try to talk to them about the meaning of life and what does it mean to them. It isn’t good or bad, since in the meantime they have no such desire. What is more, these people make up 99% of the world population, and it is up to us to correct them that way.

On the other hand, Kabbalists speak about our obligation to pass the wisdom of Kabbalah on to them, so that they will feel that there is hope and that there is an ideology of correction, that there are levels the world has to go through in order to be corrected, and that we can ease this path for them and make it simple and quick. They have to know a little about it, only generally. The actual correction takes place under our internal influence on them, since we are all connected in one network.
[95088]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 2

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Question: How do we work in the group to focus our intention and to achieve the right desire to ascend?

Answer: We have to imagine the ascent from our world to the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) as something that is attainable now, at this very moment. We constantly play it in the group and in the workshops. We constantly imagine it as the desirable state. I want to be constantly included in it; this is my goal in every movement I make. Only if we imagine this goal do we summon upon ourselves the good and beneficial influence of the Surrounding Light from it.

It is a physical law. To the extent that I yearn, I summon the force of the Light upon myself, and it operates and influences me and corrects me by drawing me to a new state.

Question: So does this means that we have to see our friends as great, even if I don’t agree with them and don’t feel that they really are so?

Answer: Of course! What does agreeing or not agreeing have to do with it? Who am I? I am a small, worthless, uneducated person, who has no attainment of the spiritual world. I criticize my friends because I feel comfortable with that, out of my egoistic attributes. It seems to me that they are all wrong and that they are all bad. Of course, I mustn’t accept what I see and hear as the way they really are.

On the contrary, I have to understand that my ego is between me and my group. I see them through the ego and receive everything from them through it.

This means that the questions of who they are and what I receive from them have no solution until I annul my ego.

But when I annul it, I will be able to see what is before me. Then I will see that it is the Creator! Not the friends, not the group, but the Creator! I will see a totally perfect state.

Now, when I am detached from them, inside my ego, when I am in a kind of an egoistic cocoon, how can I judge anyone?
[95085]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 2

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Question: The general ego is growing during the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It turns out that we seem to accelerate the growth of the ego. And as long as we delay the connection between us, humanity is becoming more egoistic.

Answer: The ego is not transferred from us to humanity. It does indeed develop sharply, but it is in us. To the extent that you aspire and yearn for the love of friends, you feel that you hate them and are rejected by them. Those who do not yearn for spirituality don’t feel anything. They have the ordinary corporeal animal egoistic urges, and nothing more than that.

If I strive forward to the “plus” with the friends and attain let’s say “plus one,” I immediately feel “minus one.” But if I am on level zero, on the initial corporeal level, I am just an animal. This means that it is an ordinary corporeal ego.

Spiritual ego is a totally different matter; it appears only in order to push me to an even stronger connection with the friends in the group. First it all seemed okay, fine: “Let’s connect guys!” We rent a place, everyone is burning, everyone is working. Suddenly we feel that we cannot even look at each other. This means that a negative spiritual level has started, and that’s a good thing.

Now is the time to rise above it, to rise to the next level “plus two.” And then again “minus two” appears.” And thus, over and over again. Without this zigzag we would not develop.

Can you imagine what ego people who rise have, like Rabbi Shimon’s students who wrote that they were ready to burn each other?

When you reach such a level, these attributes appear in you. So we have to establish an environment. You will not be able to attain this level without a strong group to support you and direct you. It “shakes” you when it is necessary so that you will wake up and see where you are; it obligates you and the others to perform your duties in the group, pulls you to dissemination, wakes you up at night, etc. It is impossible to advance without it.

At first a small ego appears in the group. But if the friends don’t notice it, if there isn’t someone who can help them, the group falls apart. There are many such groups. I hear about it occasionally.

So, we should actually be happy that serious signs of the spiritual advancement appear. This is already spiritual egoism.
[95020]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 1

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Question: What is the work in the middle line and how can I feel it?

Answer: The middle line doesn’t actually exist. After all, there are two forces active in nature: the force of bestowal (in red) and the force of receiving (in black). A person is neither one of them. The two forces emanate from above. There is the force of bestowal that created the force of receiving that is opposite from it. These two forces, let’s say plus and minus, exist in nature and everything stems from them: the still, vegetative, and animate. Man is of course a “spiritual creation” and exists in the comparison, in the connection of these two parameters inside him. 

The Masach (screen) is the plus, and the ego is the minus. Connecting them inside him correctly is above his ego, and by following faith above reason, a man stabilizes the middle line. This is the whole art.

This means that on one hand, I want to get closer to the friends despite my ego, since we discover the spiritual world only in the connection among us (the yellow part in the drawing).  And our ego (the black circles in the drawing) remains and grows even more.

Sefirot and worlds appear among us, in which everything is revealed. The upper world is external to us, external to our ego and above it, above the connection between us. Therefore, the whole wisdom of Kabbalah is based on the principle of “love thy friend as thyself.” Why? Because when you work on it, exit yourself, and build a kind of a sensor in the external form, you begin to feel the whole filling upper force. You may call it the Creator or the upper force, whatever you wish.

This is our work, and it is fulfilled in the middle line.
[95017]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 1

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Question: What is the difference between egoism in the spiritual world and egoism that we sense in our world?

Answer: There is no egoism in the spiritual world. It is a completely different “egoism,” which cannot be compared to ours. The egoism there is a force opposite to the force of love and connection. It is manifested precisely to the extent to which it can be used by a person as a basis for greater connection and unity; whereas in our world, egoism is the only force of the entire creation. It is simply material egoism just like animals have; however, it is more advanced.
[94892]
From the Virtual Lesson 12/2/12

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The vessels of bestowal that once were separated, fell to the vessels of reception, and now are found there, under their control. This state is called “exile” and it is expressed in the fact that the desire to receive is using the quality of bestowal in order to bestow in order to receive.

This means, “exile” is a spiritual concept, that is not simple. I reach it truly, when I know that I bestow to the Creator in order to receive pleasure from Him. I am all Klipa, and this is to say that I am in exile, on a very high spiritual level of tainted connection with the Creator. There are only two forces: to receive and to bestow. And I, the receiving force, received the force to bestow, I hold and use it for self-pleasure.

Today, however, I do not feel that I am in exile; to the contrary, I identify with the desire to receive. If I would identify with the desire to bestow, then I would have said that I am in exile, under the control of Pharaoh, meaning of the ego. Each time that I want to bestow, I would have suddenly felt that I act in order to receive.

We can divide the exile of Egypt into phases, according to the feeling of the exile. Baal HaSulam writes about it in his Letter 14: And the thing is that the measurement that the people of Israel thought that Egypt enslaved them and disturbed them from their work for the Creator, and in the same measurement they really were in the Egyptian exile. Everything depends on the “user,” the one that receives, feels. For example, when Moses killed the Egyptian, the Jews denounced him. They didn’t feel that they were in exile, but to the contrary, it is Moses and not Pharaoh making their lives hard.

So when the breaking happened, the vessels of bestowal, or the souls of Israel that are called Yasher Kel, meaning the intention to bestow, fell to the vessels of reception, to the intention to receive. But this thing itself doesn’t mean anything. We need clarification, the results of which we will be able to identify either with the vessels of reception or with the vessels of bestowal. If in Egypt, I identify with the vessels of receiving, I am blossoming, like Pharaoh, that is building beautiful cities, Pithom and Ramses, for him.

And from the other side, to the one that wants to reach bestowal, these are poor cities, cities of danger: “Maybe we will not be able to exit the control of the ego, the control of Pharaoh?”

Therefore, we must understand where we are. The one who has a point in the heart, the one who already yearns to the wisdom of Kabbalah, to the revelation of the Creator, he needs to always check himself: “What in me prevails now, the desire to receive or the desire to bestow? If it turns out to be the desire to receive, then I am a worker of Pharaoh; if the desire to bestow, then I am “Israel in exile.”

This is the first discernment, then from it, if one develops it, one finally exits the exile. As Rabash writes in Shlavey Sulam (The Rungs of the Ladder) (1985/1986),  Article 6: It is found, that exile is the state of the Kli, and redemption is the Light and bestowal. And precisely from within the troubles, when we feel that we are under this control, that the new vessel begins to form, with which one exits exile. There are no ready vessels; “vessels” are new discernments that we give birth to from the work in Egypt, in exile, the four phases, which eventually create a complete desire, that then feels that it became redemption for us.

Actually what is escape from Egypt? Who are you running away from? From the desire to receive? No, it remains as the desire to bestow remains. So why does Pharaoh invert?

In the first stage, the group of Abraham exits Babylon, meaning, from the desire to take advantage of the Creator for their own good. In other words, vessels of bestowal made a “restriction” on their desire to receive, which at that time couldn’t be corrected, and they separated from it. Later, this desire grew—Isaac appeared, who represents the “left line,” and he separated from Esau. Each time desire to receive is added to us, and we make clarifications and disconnect from it, leaving it for the future, until we will be able to work with it.

We only add to ourselves, to the intention to bestow, the vessels that we are able to correct.

So “Pharaoh” is a very big desire to receive that came after the people of Israel prepared themselves for the new stage. First they completed the next degree in the desire to receive called “Jacob.” Then the need to continue to grow was created, that is called “hunger in the land,” and they descended to Egypt.

In the beginning, Pharaoh was good and their life in the new place was good. They felt that the addition of the desire to receive did not disturb the desire to bestow. So at first, they managed in Egypt—they controlled their desire to receive. So it wasn’t the exile yet, but “seven years of satiation.”

And later, when the sons of Israel connected to the new vessel, it turned to the “seven years of famine.” The desire to receive continued to grow, and at some point, I am not capable of doing anything with it Slowly he “swallows me,” and puts me into the desire to bestow in order to receive. Pharaoh takes more and more from the children of Israel, and they are powerless against his control. This desire simply swallows them, like a crocodile, and nothing is left from bestowal, and Pharaoh grows. Finally, from within the total darkness, the point in the heart awakens in us—Moses that will take us out of Egypt.

This is the path of the desire to receive, and these are the typical discernments for it. The whole story is developed inside the desire. After exiting slavery in Egypt, we come to “Mt Sinai,” the mountain of hatred (Sina). This is the same Pharaoh, only in a different form. Later, again and again, we are faced with growing egoism. Each time in a different form, and this allows us to continue to make corrections.
[94321]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/12, “Exile and Redemption”

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Abraham’s group exited Babylon and became a nation. It reached its private end of correction at the level of the First Temple, the Light of Mochin de Haya. Immediately following that a descent occurred. In other words, a chain of exiles followed.

During the Babylonian exile, the people of Israel still remained at a spiritual level that was higher than at the time of the Egyptian exodus. Only after the Second Temple was destroyed, did it fall completely. First the bestowing vessels (the spiritual part of the nation) were shattered, then the receiving vessels collapsed, resulting in the desire becoming subordinate to the egoistic intention. In the first stage, the altruistic desire only changed its vector, but it didn’t break completely. In the second stage, the broken receiving vessels were included into the desire that belonged to the nations of the world, fully applying the pressure of exile on Israel, which now is coming to an end. Compared to the situation today, all previous exiles were just “temporary zigzags downward” and only at the last stage, the people of Israel were mixed with other nations and joined them in their genuine opposition to the Creator.

So, if all the other exiles were measured at the prior stages, the last one plunged Israel to the very bottom, depriving Israel of all spiritual Light. In Babylon, they still were a nation, although they were fairly disconnected. When Haman gave them the impetus to unite, Mordecai only needed the Light of Hassadim to bring the people together. But today, that would not be sufficient, since the shattering has penetrated much deeper and now requires a more powerful correction. At the time of Mordecai, Jews were detached in their bestowing Kelim, but they didn’t hate each other, and and it was very easy to reconnect.

In Shamati , Article 144,  Baal HaSulam writes: Haman said that in his view, we will succeed in destroying the Jews…, meaning that he can separate them even more and bring them to an even bigger egoistic desire that would lead their bestowing vessels to shattering and would force them to hate each other even more, thus making them subordinate to the receiving vessels. …because they are separated from one another; hence, our force against them will certainly prevail, as it causes separation between man and God. And the Creator will not help them anyway, since they are separated from Him. The law states: The Light cannot impact desires that are in the state of detachment.

This is why Mordecai went to correct that flaw, as it says: “the Jews gathered,” etc., “to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life.” This means that they had saved themselves by uniting. There is nothing but the force of unity and the power of separation. The latter is Haman, Pharaoh, etc., and the former is the righteous in every generation.

Hence, “exile” and “redemption” are measured by the level of unity or the level of separation. One should not imagine some periods of time, distances, or nations… The only thing that matters is unity: When the nation was more united, it was the level of the First Temple; when the unity weakened, it was the Second Temple; when the unity is even less than that, it is exile. Once again, our states depend on the degree of our connection.

The evil forces aimed towards disintegration elicit an egoistic desire in the people of Israel. Behind these forces, there is the Creator, because there is none else besides Him. He instigates these states to make people comprehend the heaviness of the burden they are carrying and make them go through multiple hardships in order to force them to wake up and rise to unity out of their helplessness and weakness.

So, the real exile happens when all bestowing vessels work for Pharaoh. They build the prosperous cities of Pithom and Ramses; they aspire to bestowal, but the results of their work are applied towards egoistic desires. It’s bestowing for the sake of receiving; it fills the “treasury” of egoism.

Even those who disagree can’t rid themselves of slavery, since egoistic profits keep them in their selfish shell and make them bestow for the sake of fulfilling their receiving vessels. Our desires keep growing, but they permanently stay empty. We spin our wheels until we begin screaming to the Creator; in other words, until the global crisis hits us. This is exactly what is happening now. Let us hope that we will be able to wake up the “Egyptians” and entice them to act.
[94134]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/27/12, “Exile and Redemption”

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The wisdom of Kabbalah consists of two parts: the concealed and the revealed.

“Concealed” means forbidden to reveal. And what is the point in revealing? Indeed, everything can be written in books, but what a person can get from them depends on the state he is in. Thus one of the parts of the wisdom of Kabbalah is called “concealed,” because it is revealed only after certain conditions are fulfilled as a person goes through the cleansing of his ego.

It is also called that way since the upper part of the world of Atzilut is inaccessible to us. Even if I learn about the smallest, initial level of the spiritual ascent and am still in the worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, Beria and only later enter the world of Atzilut, still, even the smallest level I am on, the first ten parts called “one level” (one level is made of ten Sefirot), already gives me an idea about all of creation, but in a minimal way, on a small scale. Then I rise and see, like on a map that I read on a larger scale, everything there is enlarged.

But being at the bottom, I cannot bring the concealed part, GAR of Atzilut, its upper part, close to me in any way, which means to depict it. I can imagine different lower levels more or less, and then too I am always wrong, since every upper level is a new attribute regarding a lower level. Still, I can somehow imagine it, but not the levels that are concealed or that are called secret. All the levels below them are called revealed and we can reach them all, anticipating in advance what revelations they will bring us.

The first Partzuf of the world of Atzilut is called Atik, from the Hebrew word “ne’etak” – “cut,” detached and cut off, from our attainment. The next Partzuf is called Zeir Anpin, and the upper part of its “head” is called Keter, or more accurately Kitra (in Aramaic), and this part is also concealed.

Everything that is below this part is gradually revealed to us: Kruma of Avira, Mocha of Avira, Mocha Stima. The structure of all these parts is very interesting, since it is from them, from the revealed part of the head of Arich Anpin, that the Providence descends into our world, that our fate descends.
[94499]
From a Virtual Lesson 11/25/12

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Question: How should the lower use the connection with the upper for correction?

Answer: The lower has to nullify himself in order to receive from the upper. It’s as if you are drowning in the river and someone throws you a rope so that you can hold on to it and reach the shore. For you “catching the rope” means reaching the initial level of equivalence of form. This initial equivalence of form is called annulment.

Later the work becomes more difficult. Although you have nullified yourself before the upper and have caught the “end of the rope” and you already have a link to it, you know that in order to start receiving in order to bestow, you have to create an inner deficiency in the link in addition to the self annulment and the simplest adhesion with the upper. Here a person has to act against his own opinion, thus inserting his deficiency into the upper and going through phases of Ibur (gestation). Otherwise, it will lead to nothing. “A man’s pride shall humiliate him,” and this is a very big problem.

In our work, the group has the role of the upper. It should be a concept, an idea, the embodiment of perfection in my eyes, since the actual connection is already an upper attribute. Here an addition to self-annulment is required: By nullifying myself I adhere to the upper, and by continuing the work of annulment, I determine the connection with Him.

In other words, by my initial self-annulment, I make a contact with the upper, with the group, with the teacher and the study. But in order to enter it, in order to receive from it, I have to nullify the “flesh” of my desire, layer after layer. This period is called “the nine months of pregnancy,” and eventually it will become a birth.

[94679]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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