Question: Currently the entire Internet is buzzing with prognoses that some unpleasant events will take place in December of 2012. What does Kabbalah say about this? Please reassure the world!

Answer: How can I calm you down?

I think it all depends on us, including you. I am not going to calm you down, but completely the opposite because we indeed exist in a very sharp freedom of will and December and the entire next year depend on us. In addition, these states, which we will have to go through, are completely determined only by our world group and by no one else.

Thus, I will not be calming down anyone of you. On contrary, you have to feel very clearly that the entire world depends on you. You have to consciously realize this, meaning that you need to have a serious attitude toward our task, a constant mutual aspiration in your hearts.

Do you feel how our hearts are gathering more and more into one ball? Only this will save our situation and will make it wonderful. It will be wonderful in the sense that we will remember that we have to be closer and more united until we get all of our one heart together. Then we will not be fearful of any calendar.
[92669]
From the Georgia Convention 11/6/12, Lesson 3

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Today we are only beginning to suspect and discover that we are mutually and tightly connected, and are conducting research on the topic, and writing various articles about it on the Internet. But it wasn’t that way before.

Ten years ago I couldn’t speak about this. In 2005 I presented a document in Arossa, Switzerland at the World Wisdom Council, and they refused to agree with me. Four years ago I spoke with a Nobel Prize winner in economics and told him that the world was in a crisis and that everything will disintegrate rapidly, just like at the time of the Big Bang when the universe was created! He didn’t agree with me.

There were many such people. I gave lectures in the US at different universities, colleges, everywhere.

Five weeks ago, I met a representative of the EU in Italy. I told him about what was going on and he understood me—something that has not happened before. He wrote down everything, like a student, and asked me again and again, but his conclusion was: “I agree with everything that you say, but we cannot put this into practice; we cannot solve this, we don’t have anyone to turn to at the moment, no one will understand, although you are right.”

This means that gradually the world is advancing toward the recognition that we are in a closed space, under the influence of the forces of nature, not above them, and that we cannot do as we like as human society also has certain attributes that were given to us by nature.

We have to study these laws and to abide by them since otherwise we will feel bad. And most importantly, when nature is locked and becomes global there are mutual interactions of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking components, and then our negative interactions can affect the world of the still, vegetative, ad the animate just as it is happens now with hurricane Sandy or tsunamis.

This means that all these levels of interaction are interdependent and it turns out that man by his wrong attitude to other people and to nature affects everything, since man is the highest level.

Here we need the wisdom of Kabbalah since it tells us how we should organize ourselves. If we don’t become round as our ego is, which means mutually interdependent, we will find that we are opposite from nature.
[92376]
From the Georgia Convention, 11/5/12, Lesson 1

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There are four levels of development of the desire to receive in spirituality: the still, vegetative, animate and speaking.

The desire acts according to the force that is in it.

If it is a force on the level of the still nature, the desire keeps its structure and resists external forces as much as it can, so that they wouldn’t penetrate it and wouldn’t break it. There are materials that are more or less strong, more or less stable depending on the intensity of the desire of the specific still form. Some materials are very hard to break down, while others are malleable. Another question is which materials are eventually more resistant to external influences, a rubber wheel, for example absorbs the blows despite the external shaking and penetrations, while a stone or iron ring breaks down much faster.

This is how we check our desires according to their internal hardness and not their physical hardness: how do they resist external changes. Even in our world we see the difference between rubber and iron that can resist external changes but breaks down when something penetrates it.

After the level of the still nature there is the vegetative level. Its desire is stronger and greater, and it can resist external influences, sort them out and use the beneficial elements. It checks and sorts out external factors, absorbs what is beneficial and emits what is harmful.

Thus a very complex act of clarification takes place for which the desire of the vegetative has to know its own structure, how and what it exists for, what is beneficial for it, and what is harmful. The vegetative does this clarification instinctively, and by that we can understand how one should operate on the spiritual level of the vegetative.

The desire of the animate level can choose its environment, and so it can move from place to place. It needs a mate to reproduce. Birth is a real creation here, as if the Creator creates a new creation. In spirituality it is indeed so, and unless one acquires the force of Bina it cannot give birth.

The desire on the animate level can take on many forms. In addition to knowing itself, it also knows different phenomena that reveal smaller and bigger desires. Thus the animate level sees its life from one end to another. Animals have offspring and bring them up. On the whole, at this level, there is an instinctive inner program of knowledge of one’s life, even though it is limited and inevitable.

Animals move around and feel where it is good for them and where it is bad. They can choose the environment. The vegetative hardly influences the environment, but only protects itself from pests and to a certain extent opens up to beneficial external conditions such as sunlight, air, moisture, etc. On the other hand, animals choose and change the environment; they move from one place to another, they make themselves a place to live, and reproduce. To a certain extent they feel the other, including their prey, which they also have to understand and feel. They feel the other especially when they gather in flocks, which have a clear order and hierarchy.

These are profound things but they are still fulfilled instinctively.

As for us on the level of the speaking, everything has to be above the desire to receive, above the restriction. We should only understand that a person has to get to know the new world.

In the spiritual world there are 620 desires that operate on every level:

• The still level is ready to resist any changes of its ego, by keeping itself under the Masach (screen), under the protection of the restriction, that is, above all the egoistic desires.
• The vegetative level uses its desire to receive from the egoistic shell of the Klipot with the help of the Light that Reforms, and begins to empty it and clarify what is good for it and what is harmful. It absorbs what is beneficial and emits what is harmful, opening and closing itself, as all its actions are aimed at bestowal, but still operating within the general, with no personal clarification, not giving birth to anything independently. The creatures on the vegetative level remain within the framework of the general desire and change together. In other words, a person can be above his personal egoistic desire, but he cannot “bend” or change society yet, he cannot encompass it and correct it internally.
• The animate level with its desire to receive can exist in the Creator’s world almost limitlessly.
• A human being includes all of the environment inside him, the whole world, and becomes a “righteous that is the foundation of the world.”

Baal HaSulam speaks about it in article 115 in Shamati, which is also called “Still, Vegetative, Animate and Speaking.”
[92475]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/12, Shamati #115

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Question: Suppose a person sits and watches himself: “I want some water, then I want something else, and I don’t know what else I want.” Will a simple experiment help him understand that the essence of his desire is to enjoy?

Answer: A person will see that each time new desires emerge in him. He doesn’t know where they come from; first he wants one thing and suddenly another and then something else.

On the other hand, he can program himself, which means to focus himself on certain desires and to remember something that brought him pleasure. In this case such a great desire for that pleasure develops in him that he begins to yearn for it again: “What do I want? Oh, I forgot, there is some ice cream in the fridge,” and he takes out the ice cream or he may remember that he wanted to go somewhere interesting or meet someone interesting, or read some interesting book or see a movie that he prepared to see and so on.

This means that we evoke ourselves when we don’t feel pleasure. We don’t feel the pleasure when we fill ourselves. I am full, which seemingly means that everything is fine, but my life is tasteless. Even when we seemingly have everything, we lack that addition of excitement. We invent new sources of pleasure and incentives, but in fact it is the same ego.
[92030]    
From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 11/03/12

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Question: Under what conditions can we see that a group exists and that is headed towards the goal?

Answer: A group that is headed towards the goal is a collection of people for whom there is only one goal. They know what it is, they perceive it among them, and feel it. They study together from Kabbalistic sources; they check themselves according to these sources, and work on the connection of their points in the heart, which means that the main thing for them is the connection as they ignore all the other attributes. If a person yearns for unity in order to reveal the Creator, it is enough for him to be my friend even if he can be an unpleasant person in every other aspect; it makes no difference. Gradually we all understand how to adjust ourselves to one another and to get closer.

A group is a collection of people who understand that in order to attain the Creator they have to work on themselves, to study, and to lead a certain lifestyle. They have to meet on a regular basis and to be so strongly connected that it will constantly lead to connection and unity.

If they just rent a place and gather there, it doesn’t mean that they are a group yet, they meet physically, read together, and then go their own way, does that make them a group? According to the wisdom of Kabbalah everything is determined by the internal awakening and not by the physical bodies.

A group refers to the yearning of the points in the heart to become one whole. Only then it is called a “group.” So we still need to work a lot on this.

But when all the people yearn together for one goal, understanding that only by that will they connect above all the differences, they bring out the Creator’s attribute and by that, overcome the shattering—then they become a group.

So it turns out that all our contrasting attributes are in one egoistic desire. It is as if all the egoistic desires that are opposite from ours, that are in contrast to one another, are now in one sack. We restrict our desires, place a Masach (screen) above these attributes and focus our points at the Creator, at equivalence and bestowal.

It turns out that our connected egoistic desires are left below while our intentions to connect and the yearning for the Creator, to resemble Him and to become equal to Him are above them. This is how the soul, which means the one collective Partzuf is created.

The soul is one. There aren’t many souls. There is only one vessel for everyone. If we create it, we suddenly discover that is has already been created! We only try to discover it and by our attempts we suddenly discover that we already exist in it. This is because that one whole creation already exists while the shattering occurred only with regard to our consciousness. When we yearn to advance we ascend above our current feeling.
[92445]
From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

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In the News (from Spiegel Online): “Loneliness is a common feature of Western civilization; the number of people living alone is growing; there is a growing segment of households, designed for single people. Moreover, isolation is characteristic of both the elderly and the youth. Family ties become more fragile. Against a background of declining marriage, the number of families whose members have to live separately is increasing.”

My Comment: It seems like a paradox: The city does not gather, but divides people. Thus direct communication is replace by other means of communication. The growing egoism does not tolerate direct communication. This will lead to all sorts of psychological and social problems. But I think that the crisis is developing faster and will force the acceptance of the need to implement integral education everywhere. And it will change the connection between people. The quality of these connections determines our future.
[92564]

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Question: If we are ready to meet several times a week, to read and discuss things, what prevents us from connecting with the friends?

Answer: Your egoism. It will grow every day, and it will find increasingly greater flaws in your friends so that everyday you will look at them with greater aversion.

Question: Won’t I know the reason for this?

Answer: There can be many reasons. Don’t you believe me? In a year from now we will ask you and you will tell us how you are doing.

There are times when people are simply indifferent: You come, study, you seem to be needed, helpful, and then after getting used to this, you simply stop noticing the fiends for a while.

Then as you work with them, you feel criticism towards them; you find bad points in everyone, until it comes to actual repulsion and alienation.

But the real hatred appears when people are seriously working on connection. Then the true ego appears and is revealed very strongly. This is where the actual serious work begins.
[92398]
From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

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Question: In our world there are laws that we must abide by. How can I check my intention practically to see whether it is egoistic or whether it is the right intention?

Answer: How can I practically check my intention and advance? You are right, the most important thing is the intention, but you won’t be able to advance by yourself, I don’t know of any person who could study the wisdom of Kabbalah by himself. You will have to connect to us. Without a group, a teacher, friends, and assistance, you will simply waste a lot of time. So for a start, read the material for beginners. But if you are really interested and if you are about how I can change my intention, that is a high level and it already quite serious.

It is simply a waste of efforts and you are confusing yourself by that and will need much more time in order to come out of this confusion. You should connect to us. We are prepared for any situation, in any language, English Georgian, Russian, Hebrew, whichever language you want. Our books are published in 27 languages.
[92297]
From the Georgia Convention 11/5/12, Lesson 1

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Question: We always say that a person is the desire to receive pleasure. But to many people this isn’t clear unless they are studying the wisdom of Kabbalah where it speaks about concepts like the Light, the Creator, and so on.

Answer: Why?! Learn anything: physics, entropy, thermodynamics, and laws such as these. They all say that each body in the process of its development tends to a state of rest. Not only a person but all of nature (still, vegetative, and animate) strive for fulfillment, maximum rest, and abundance. That is the law of nature.

What is “rest”? It’s when all the desires to be filled are at the most comfortable state, which is what any creation aspires toward at any level.

Question: What would you advise so that a person would understand that? Should we maybe have him watch himself during the day?

Answer: You need to give a person a few lessons in psychology and explain it. We teach this in integral education, which explains about the ego being our foundation and explains its principle attributes. We teach how it develops, how it brings us to the crisis, how it brings us to recognize our evil, and to recognize that all of its attributes are egoistic.

The ego is actually our main property. And within it is a collection of our attributes: laziness, desire to reach the goal, jealousy, greed, everything. Both the good attributes and the bad are all egoistic with the purpose of filling itself. In addition to that, animals think only of how to fulfill themselves; however, man receives pleasure also from draining others. This means that he measures himself according to others. With animals this doesn’t exist. In this we are different from them.
[92033]
From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 11/03/12

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Question: Can any person, including me, rise to the upper level, appealing to His nature? Can I consciously rise to that level or is it only based on my feelings? If we talk about consciousness, does Kabbalah distinguish between reason and mind?

Answer: Kabbalah says that the human essence is composed of desires and thoughts. The desire is the main thing because it is the real matter of the world. The desire spins electrons and molecules, causing connection and disconnection of elements; the desire is everything.

But on the still, vegetative, and animate levels, the desire is carried out instinctively, compulsively. Everything acts like this, including the people who also belong to the animal level.

A person who begins to study Kabbalah tries to rise to the next level of desire, that is, to change from the property of reception to the property of bestowal. Then he begins to use reason, but not the one that exists next to our egoism in order to gain more in every movement, in every case. Animals also have such reason, as does any plant or stone that all the time tries to take the best position relative to the force of gravity or to preserve its structure. We are speaking about the free mind.

Freewill appears only when a person has two opposing forces—to receive and bestow. And new real reason appears between them. It is not the one that is attached to the desire and helps it gain more, calculating its actions, but the reason that arises on the oppositeness of two desires and causes the creation of a middle structure, consisting of both forces, reception and bestowal, the so-called the middle line. A person who has these two forces and builds himself out of them, is actually free and reasonable.
[92244]
From the Georgia Convention 11/05/12, Lesson 1

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