Question: A person learns by example. What kind of examples should one see all around?

Answer: One should see solidarity and a good attitude toward others, above self-love. Indeed, the work is precisely in rising above the ego.

In life, typically if I’m at odds with somebody or if I don’t care about them, I don’t even notice them. I couldn’t care less about my coworkers—my relationship with them doesn’t extend beyond a friendly greeting. In light of the above, if we want to escape all the troubles, we must extend deliberate bonds above our ego. On the level of this world we perform the same work as in the spiritual: We begin to express a slightly warmer attitude toward one another. Why? Because our duty is to establish a connection. After all, therein lies the special power that is capable of mitigating our problems.

Such must be our approach: above the isolation and indifference we form—perhaps not love—but a mutual connection, so that we could feel as one nation.

It’s no accident that the crisis is demolishing borders and clearly demonstrating that all people are interconnected as though we all live in the same country. If we were to combine all our systems into a single whole, we would rise above the crisis.

It follows that I must find strength and direction in my environment, which must convince me of one thing only—that our unification will neutralize all problems. Everything that’s fraught with negativity today will instantly turn positive, as if by the wave of a magic wand.

Question: So all we’re talking about are positive relationships?

Answer: Yes. That is sufficient. I don’t care about anybody else, but together we start working on building a better society through the connection between us, one that’s brimming with life, prosperity, and optimism.
[85320]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How do we really address the Creator without making an idol for ourselves?

Answer: Man makes an idol for himself instead of the Creator because it’s easier for him that way. Egoism is always trying to switch the goal, the means, and the values with which it would be much simpler for it. He searches for some kind of fulfillment for his pride, a quick fulfillment or compensation.

Our ego is unconsciously avoiding suffering, which is imperceptible to man who is incapable of catching it by its tail. And if he has already gotten stuck in it, he can’t make correct conclusions.

This is a problem. Only if man receives the correct definitions from the environment, friends, and books, and listens to the teacher’s advice, then possibly, he may be able to keep safe from the “evil eye.” It’s written that in most cases death comes from the evil eye, meaning that when man looks at the spiritual, he does not look with a kind eye, but with an evil, egoistic one, turning it to his benefit. This indicates that he is unable to cleanse himself from his self-interest and thus “buries” himself.

So how does one save oneself from the evil eye, which kills man? Try to look at the world with the eyes of another, meaning, with the eyes of the friends. And then you will see it objectively, regardless of your ego.
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From the lesson on a letter by Baal HaSulam, 8/8/12

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Question: If I were to regard my partner as a mirror where you see your faults, then this will keep bringing me back to myself. Thus, instead of developing a connection with my partner, will this exercise then only focus on me?

Answer: But instead of hiding in my own shell, I must rise above all this. Let’s start everything from the beginning, from point zero. I look at my wife and see a number of faults. Now I begin to apply all these faults to myself because it’s written that: “Every person judges to the extent of his own corruption.”

For this reason I get back to myself and say that all these flaws are in me. If I were perfect I would not see any of this. If I loved my wife, I would not see any faults in her! It’s like a mother in relation to her child who does not see anything bad in him. This is the way natural motherly love works, blinding you. And even when the mother notices certain faults in her child, she loves them and considers them to be cute.

In other words, primarily, I begin to understand that all the faults I see in my spouse are in me and the reason I see them is because of my lack of love for her. This is why I must raise myself to a level where I stop seeing faults in her, like a mother and her favorite child. This is called, rising above your egoism.

With the help of my spouse, I have performed certain measurements in me and have evaluated the level that I am at and the height to which I must ascend to rise above myself. It turns out that I have a partner who helps me rise above my nature. Imagine the treasure I have at home; this is a real treasure!

For now I have only risen above my ego by using my partner as a mirror. Now I am moving on. I have risen above myself and I no longer work with my desires and qualities. In this neutral state, I try to feel, examine, and understand desires, qualities, aspirations, and the goals of another person, for example, my spouse’s. I try to accept them as something that matters most to me and live to fulfill them.

I feel that if we were to mutually act this way, from both sides, then our life would be beautiful. The problem is that I am unable to remain in this state. It’s very difficult and requires a lot of effort. I am able to keep it up for a few minutes, but then I drop it and require support. It’s simply impossible to constantly remain in this state, this awful pressure.

It’s very easy to be egoistically thinking about yourself as nature constantly provides us with fuel for this. There’s a constant egoistic engine incessantly spinning in us, working from morning till night and even while we sleep. And this requires enormous strength, inhuman efforts, which I am simply incapable of. So what do I do?

This is the way we reach the next decision. The first decision was to rise above my egoism. The second one is to accept my partner’s egoism instead of my own. Then I see that I am unable to remain in this state and I need an environment and support. The environment serves as the source of power and significance, which essentially is the same thing. In other words, it must provide me with the sensation of the incredible importance of this work above my egoism and for the benefit of my neighbor. It’s able to give this to me. And then, I will feel even freer when taking care of my neighbor than when I was taking care of myself. It’s as if I have nothing to worry about, this is the kind of freedom and peace that I feel.

First of all, all my problems and hardships disappear because I have risen above my nature. I feel like I live in a world full of kindness. I only care for my neighbor, free of worrying about myself, like a bird, soaring in the sky. This is the way I will feel, if others give me energy, importance, and aspiration.
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From a “A New Life” 7/12/12

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Question: How can we preserve the state of joy when you feel that ego puts pressure on you?

Answer: Any state, the left and the right ones, are manifested in you under the influence of the Light.

If any state is manifested not under the influence of the Light, as in an ordinary person, there is nothing you can do. And if under the influence of the Light, then you should be in joy, even if you feel below everything, unsuccessful, etc. Nonetheless, this is a manifestation of evil, the expression of your ego that rises at the next level and which will give you new attainments.

That is why, we should receive the bad state with no less joy than the good one (in the senses); that is, they must be equal to you. When negative characteristics and feelings rise in me: evil, anger, all sorts of descents, some bad evaluations, a sense of anticipation immediately emerges in me: “Now, I begin to ascend above this. This will be the next degree.”

Due to this, I should feel this state, but not “dwell” on it. I should feel it a little, but only in order to implement it in the right direction. Then, when I feel it, there is joy in me. It is like an athlete, overcoming an obstacle, who believes that he can handle it, and this leads him forward. The left line—a sense of evil, descent, weakness—is in fact the most productive.
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From a Virtual Lesson 7/29/12

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Baal HaSulam, “Thou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before:” Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, meaning the revelation and concealment of the face of the Creator. This is because indeed, “His kingdom ruleth over all,” and everything will return to its root because there is no place vacant of Him.
A person has an opportunity to be in connection with the upper force, with the Light that advances us, either directly according to the likeness to Him, or in the opposite form according to the discrepancy, and, of course, both these approaches can be combined in some way. It is not necessarily one direction or the opposite to it, that is, either zero or 180 degrees, but we are always under the influence of the Light, and we have no freedom of choice in this. The Light always affects us. What depends on us is only to choose whether His face is turned toward us or the opposite side is.

Kabbalists tell us about this because we are able to influence this. After all, there are plenty of very important systems operating in the spiritual worlds about which they do not say a word to us because we cannot establish any communication with them. These systems affect us only from one side, and that is why nothing is told about them.

Of all the great systems, Kabbalists reveal to us a small fragment through which we can change our destiny. They do not tell us anything about the part where we can do nothing with ourselves.

That is why, if Baal HaSulam writes that the Creator embraces us behind and before, this means that we do have the opportunity to feel the Creator, not on the opposite side, but to reveal His face, and it will change our destiny the entire 180 degrees. To do this, all the time we need to seek the revelation of Shechina—the power of love and bestowal that we are trying to reveal according to the similarity of our properties to It.

However, the opposite side is disclosed when we act according to our own conditions, our egoistic properties. If, in all these situations, we are not trying to achieve congruence with upper management, to reveal His face, then His opposite side is revealed to us.

This determines how we will feel upper management. If the opposite side is turned to us, then in the dark, we think that we are able to do something ourselves. We believe that we operate and manage ourselves, but, for some reason, we do not succeed.

When upper management is turned toward us, we reveal the other side: that the Creator acts in everything. We discover this if we are not going to change anything except ourselves. We want to turn ourselves toward the Creator.

However, finding that He acts in everything, we also reveal that He is kind and does good and that is why we are pleased to see that all our actions come from Him. This is the essence of open management that is always good. Hidden control is always felt as pain and suffering.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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At first, we attribute all of our vices and virtues to ourselves. When some bad quality is revealed within a person that is unbearable, then he begins to be sorry about his past or current actions. He especially regrets the past, either the immediate past or that farther away. However, because of this he doesn’t lower himself; it doesn’t make him humble although it may seem so to him.

Instead of regretting the past, he must decide above this feeling of regret, which is given to him by the Creator, that there is none else besides the Creator. After all, everything that happened in the past was done by the Creator. And man has no reason to regret it.

On the contrary, he must not give into his egoistic feelings supposing that he is now a righteous person if he repents for his bad deeds, his bad attitude toward someone, his mistakes, weakness and anger. After all, the Creator arranged everything this way and it is He who is showing man that he is not able to connect all of these events with the Creator.

That’s why one needs to regret not about the past or what happened, but about the fact that you are currently unable to attribute everything only to the Creator. And if that’s so, then where does the vanity of a man lie? Not in the fact that he was once bad, but in the fact that he can’t determine above all his perceptions, that there is none else besides the Creator. This is what his lowliness and weakness lies in.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/12

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We constantly have two feelings inside us: One is the “point in the heart,” and the other one is external to it. We all see a “double” world. This perception is given to us on purpose so that we will be able to correct ourselves and the world.

If you saw the world one dimensionally, like an ordinary person who perceives the world only on the corporeal level, then you wouldn’t be able to manage. If, in your ascent up the spiritual ladder, you perceived only the spiritual form that is revealed on the next level each time, this would also be a problem since you wouldn’t be able to serve as the link between the spiritual world and this world.

So those who ascend the spiritual ladder are given the perception of this world as “Shimon from the market,” and also the perception of the spiritual world. They perceive a double reality, but this doesn’t disturb them.

Until the full redemption of egoism of the world is achieved, the final correction, when all the souls are connected, which we must bring, we will continue to live in this world.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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All the events are revealed to a person because of his incomplete perception because of his uncorrected sensations. The world is depicted as incomplete according to a person’s perception and understanding. But we should understand that this imperfection is not in the external world, but in ourselves.

The current global crisis doesn’t develop around us but only in our perception. But the moment we correct ourselves, all the external problems will disappear. It is because the world doesn’t exist in itself, but only in our feelings; it is within us. As soon as we correct our attributes, all the disasters and the problems, the storms and the crises immediately disappear. None of this exists; the upper Light simply fills all of reality…

The difference between truth and lie is only within a person. First by clarifying all the blows that hit him, he should understand that there is a purpose and a reason for them, as it says: ” I am the first,” which means the reason, and “I am the last,” which means the purpose. These blows come so that a person could correct himself and realize that his perception of reality is false.

It operates like a “helpmate.” Since if this evil remained in a person, he would never reveal it. But since the evil is revealed on the outside, it is as if it is against him, and so a person can discern it. Our ego magnifies this evil many times by enabling us to see it in others in its most prominent form.

We look at our evil as if through a magnifying glass and see it 620 times larger. This helps us reveal it and it is called a “helpmate.”

I reveal this evil in others, but I understand that it is the opposite and that it is inside me, and thus I can correct myself. A person has to constantly check himself and whether he has the right perception: He must immediately turn all the evil that he sees on the outside, see it in himself, and correct it.

So when I identify with what is outside myself, I perceive this attribute as good for me. I accept it and am in it by correcting myself. Thanks to it, I can check myself with regards to the group, with regards to others, with regards to the Creator.

It turns out that the perception of the external reality helps me find the evil in me in my internal reflection, and to understand that it isn’t the world that is destroyed, but that it is me who is ruined, since this is how my evil is revealed. It is by correcting myself that I correct the whole world. This is called “judging myself and the whole world to a scale of merit.”

Let’s hope that we will be able to understand and to digest this, to perceive this picture and to convey this correct and healthy approach to the whole world, to all the people. Then, by the correction of man, we can heal all the problems. The first difficulty is to change my approach and instead of correcting the world, we should understand that we should correct ourselves.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the whole world we see around us is a reflection of our internal attributes, just like a mirror. But in order to keep it simple, we should explain that a person should correct himself first so that he can later correct the world. This is because a corrupt person builds a corrupt world and a corrected person can build a corrected world.
[84700] 
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: If we have to build a new relationship that is higher than pleasure, does that mean that we cease to enjoy?

Answer: It all depends on what I enjoy. We have to demand pleasure; we shouldn’t look for sufferings. On the contrary, we should enjoy but from connection, adhesion, brotherly love, the love of the Creator. No one says we have to weep.

Our vessel is a desire to enjoy that constantly demands and checks itself to see whether it has received a filling or not. I work with a “screen and Returning Light” when I restrict my desire. But I cannot suffer from this restriction since it would not be wholeness; it would not be the right state. If you suffer because of a certain action you have performed, it isn’t a whole action. It isn’t a spiritual action.

It may eventually bring you to spiritual actions by the recognition of evil, thanks to which you will understand that you have to change. But you should know that it isn’t right. A spiritual action should be preformed joyfully. There is no pain in any movement or in any spiritual step, since otherwise it isn’t wholeness. I know that I have performed a spiritual action if I perform an act of bestowal and I enjoy the fact that I bestow. It is like a mother who gives to her child and enjoys it even more than the child himself. There must be pleasure in every action since the Creator wants to bring pleasure to the created beings.

Then we begin to discover that in these actions of bestowal there is 620 times greater pleasure. This is the reason that so many people in history tortured themselves just to feel the Creator and reached nothing. What could they feel if they brought afflictions upon themselves? It is not the right way.

On the contrary, it is your human ego that promises you that you can approach the Creator this way. This is why there are traditional fasts and restrictions in different religions. After all, the religions were created thanks to the ego, after the destruction of the second Temple and the disappearance of spirituality. People were left in the dark and for ages they perceived spirituality from the point of view of the ego, of the desire to enjoy.

The ego understands only the impure corporeal pleasure. This means that the action that is opposite from it is suffering. So whoever tortures and restricts himself more, sitting in the same position all day, meditating and living on a bowl of rice is apparently righteous.

But in the spiritual sense it is just the opposite; the goal is to bring pleasure to the created beings. So if you want to follow this goal in every action that you make, you must reach pleasure—but only from bestowal. This is the hard part. After all, how can I enjoy bestowal if I am opposite to it? So the Light that Reforms comes and reforms me.

It is very simple; we should just constantly hold on to this principle. There is no room for afflictions and suffering; on the contrary, if we aspire for connection from the start, we should feel that by that we reach life and pleasure. This is why mutual guarantee is so important because it lets each one feel how important the goal is, the high spirit, which is like a breath of fresh air.

It turns out that the pleasure is not only permitted, but it is obligatory! Pleasure is a sign of advancement. There is no prohibition to enjoy; the whole idea is the way you enjoy. Now I enjoy that fact that I receive on the account of others and harm others, dominate someone, oppress him and feel above him: I receive a great reward, domination, an understanding. I have to turn this pleasure in the opposite direction: as I would treat the one I love—like my own child or someone that is close to me.

If I treat a stranger this way, it will open up a field of study for me—a place where I can see whether I really change or not, whether I receive pleasure by helping others. Others may still be strangers and distant from me, but I correct myself and thus bestow upon others and enjoy this bestowal.

If I don’t enjoy it is not considered a spiritual action. The intensity of the action is measured not according to how much to give another, but according to how much I enjoy it in my desires. This is exactly how we advance. It is a very important point in which all the clarifications take place.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/12, Shamati #2

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Question: Why is it that even now, when the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed, that there is a danger that the externality will control the internality?

Answer: Everything is revealed on the background of the growing ego and this is also where the danger is; how will we end the correction: in order to receive or in order to bestow? Which path will we follow, the path of the Torah or the path of suffering? It is because the positive force grows opposite the negative one.

So there aren’t fewer problems with the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is because we are less able to hear anything and because there is an increasing hardening of the heart. It isn’t by chance that the last blows before the exodus from Egypt were so hard.

Question: But is it possible to distort the idea itself in our times?

Answer: A person wants to contradict things automatically and unless he feels that, on the one hand, he has no choice and, on the other hand, he can save himself by this method, he will not accept it. So he has to be approached very gently and the truth has to be wrapped in such wrappings that will not evoke any resistance in people.

It isn’t a matter of “inverted propaganda,” but human nature, the ego that is a “helpmate.” The Creator is there as the “Pharaoh” who doesn’t want to hear anything and causes different interruptions so that you will correct yourself that way, learn how to rise, and understand the wisdom of Kabbalah more deeply in order to overcome the obstacles more powerfully and discover the truth until you begin to teach others. It is all part of the process of correction. It cannot be a short and easy path.

No matter how many more enemies and adversaries there will be, we need to understand that it is a result of the system. How will the heart of Pharaoh be revealed? Only by tenacity and cruelty. It may seem that one or two blows are enough; why do we need all the plagues of Egypt all the way to the “death of the firstborn?” But Pharaoh doesn’t give in; even the escape is in the dark.

So we have to be gentle and explain again and again and help people face their ego. No matter what they may say about us, there is no other way. Just as we cannot choose the character of our children, we have to take care of them lovingly, no matter what. The child may go wild and not listen, he may be too naughty, but what can you do? After all, it is my child, he was born, and I have an internal connection with him that cannot be broken.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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