Shamati, Article 159: And it came to pass in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died… (Exodus) The greatness of the ego, all the good corporeal life, a person’s desire to feel better in life—everything falls, collapses, and dies. So what can a person do? This is what humanity as a whole and every individual are going through now. We cannot operate according to the ordinary ego for the ordinary corporeal causes.

And then, the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, which are those who yearn for spirituality, even if they don’t know what it is yet, and those who are already close to it, who somewhat understand that spirituality symbolizes bestowal and love regardless of their personal interests. Thus they begin to check themselves and see that they cannot go on this way.

This is a pyramid that contains those who simply cannot be consumers and serve their ego through those who have already clarified that spirituality symbolizes bestowal instead of self-love. Everyone takes his place in it and everyone “sighs” in his own point from this egoistic bondage.

There are those in whom the “point in the heart” has awakened, and there are those who simply suffer not knowing why. Everyone sighs under the burden of their situation, not knowing how to fill themselves.

And their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage—they don’t just cry, it is because of the hard work: from the futile attempts to fill their ego or from those that are more advanced but still cannot leave their old habits and take upon themselves the burden of God’s work and start working in bestowal and love of others.

But despite everything, “And God heard their groaning.” The Creator hears everyone that responds to what the Creator does with him. The system is built in such a way that the upper takes care of everyone according to a person’s level, but especially those who understand and have to aim themselves practically at bestowal and love in the group, in “brothers sitting together,” among those who yearn for the Creator.

They suffered so much that they could not bear it any longer. Then the people pleaded with prayer so much that their cry came up unto God; they were exhausted by this work. But on the other hand we see that that they were saying: “Would that we had… when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full.” And they also said, “We remember the fish which we were wont to eat in Egypt for naught…” which means that it seems that before everything was fine.

A person has two points at the same time: One is corporeal and the other which is seemingly spiritual. So he is between them and the further apart they are, the more space he has, and the more he knows his place and what he does.
[74802]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/12, Shamati #159

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Question: History shows that the development of humanity throughout ten thousand years could not change human nature. What force can help do this?

Answer: There is such a force in nature. When you are trying to become an integral part of nature, you suddenly begin to receive some kind of force, support. This is a law of nature. It is as if nature is moving towards you.

This is not mysticism. In my activities, I am very distant from various mystical explanations. We simply see this. We need to try to be integral in the same way a child who wants to become an adult does; he simply plays as an adult.

What does integral methodology consist of? People get together; at first they listen to a course of integral education, and then they enter the circle of integral development. In the process of development, we begin to practically create from them one common structure.

When people gather together, clarify the internal psychological problems of unity between them, and create one common desire and common thoughts, they suddenly begin to feel some force, a support. This force, the support, is formed in a group, in the collective that practices the methodology of integral connection. With that, we are stimulating a hidden force, which exists in nature, which we, as egoists, individualists, do not notice; we ignore it. However, when we get together, it begins to manifest. This is the force that is capable of changing us.
[74594]
From a Lecture Šiauliai University 3/22/12

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Question: What does it mean when you have to jump into the “Red Sea” in order to escape from “Pharaoh?”

Answer: It is a state of despair when Pharaoh, your ego, pushes you from behind. He doesn’t leave you, he wants to swallow you, to eat you, and you feel that being in it is worse than death.

When the Twin Towers burned in New York, people jumped from the 50th floor. It was meaningless, but a person simply cannot stay in the fire. For him to stay even a second outside the fire seemed like redemption, and so he jumped.

A person feels the same way while escaping from Egypt. You cannot stay in this situation one second longer, and you are ready to jump into the sea, no matter where, for you it is redemption. When you reach this state the sea opens up.

You overcome the splitting point, the breaking point, and there is no way back. You have already reached the decision and by that have totally killed, cut, and broken the connection with your ego.

Question: Has the ego today reached this state, that you can overcome it only together in a group?

Answer: Yes, this is a collective point in the group that is described as Nachshon that jumped into the water first.

It is the point of “Moses,” that is the center of the group, but which changes its role each time, according to the attribute that is revealed in it each moment.

So the point of Nachshon is revealed in the group, when all the group is convinced that unity, closeness, and mutual support, is the most important thing for it.

At the same time, people don’t mind that they are in the dark. What’s important is to get closer, even if they die together. It is more important than being alone in the ego and existing in it in a most comfortable beastly manner. This is all our free will.

Then the sea is split, which means that you simply discover the next level, meaning the jump into the “Red Sea.”

This is the end of the period when you lived under the control of your ego. From this moment onwards you don’t return to it.

You never return to the previous level. If you think you are in a worse situation, it is only because you were given the next level, which isn’t corrected yet.
[74634]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 4/1/12

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We are nearing the exodus from exile only when we begin to understand that we are in it. “Exile” symbolizes my perception of everything that I receive in my desire to receive as worthless and unimportant. Everything that is in my ego belongs to “Pharaoh,” and I am allowed to receive only what is necessary.

This doesn’t mean that I have to limit myself in every way, like a monk living in the desert. I simply don’t see anything material as very important, and accept it as necessary for my existence. All my life is devoted to achieving love for the Creator, the general attribute of bestowal, through the connection with others.

If a person has such an internal necessity and he is included in the group, he begins to aim himself correctly, which means to hate everything he receives in his ego, trying to be satisfied with what is essential. At the same time Pharaoh bribes him and gives him everything. This means that he builds beautiful cities for his ego, Pithom and Ramses.

He feels that in relation to the intention of in order to bestow in which he wants to be in his thoughts and heart, he is in exile, because he has no powers to bestow. Then he feels that he has complaints towards the Creator, for not helping him come out of exile, which means that He doesn’t let him be the one who bestows.

But in the meantime a person’s desire is very small and he has to go through 400 years in exile. This means that he has to raise his desire until he will really want to bestow.

All our work in the exile in Egypt is in a group in which everyone grows stronger and receives from others the greatness of the goal, the pure bestowal, and the nothingness and meanness of his preset state in which it is impossible to achieve mutual bestowal. From a spiritual point of view, this is very bad.

So a person begins to perceive the term “exile” correctly: exile refers to bestowal, the ability to bestow, and so he really feels that he is in exile in Egypt. Until he reaches a state in which he cannot bear it any more. Then the “ten plagues of Egypt” begin.

A “plague” or blow symbolizes the fact that you are offered different good corporeal things, but in spirituality you receive nothing, and a person feels this as a blow.

He feels the hardening of the heart, and the corporeal desires keep growing. He has no choice. He understands that the egoistic desire will continue to grow and to confuse him by distracting him and drawing his attention to different corporeal goals, different clarification in the group, so that he will overcome the corporeal ego by the contact with the friends. Only from them can he learn to appreciate the way and the goal of creation more, the greatness of the Creator, and the meanness of the egoistic filling.

One can receive all these values only from the society, from the environment. Then, despite the difficulties and the interruptions, he still adheres to the group above his feelings and his mind because only in it does he find protection and salvation. He understands that otherwise he is lost. He understands that only when he looks above the egoistic desire because from the point of view of the ego the situation could be wonderful and bring knowledge and other benefits.

When he interprets the whole situation correctly, he discovers that he is facing Pharaoh. This stems from many reasons, attributes, and attempts that he accumulates for 400 years in exile in Egypt: the four phases he has been through in each of his desires to receive when he raised the yearning for bestowal above it, which is called “faith above reason.”

Going through these four phases is called “the time of preparation.” And when it is about to end, a strong resistance to the ego is revealed, called the ten plagues of Egypt, darkness. These are final clarifications and revelations that really help a person exit the slavery to his ego.

Thanks to them he grows stronger and finally escapes in the dark, at night, feeling them in his desire to receive with one point that leads him, called “Moses.” Thus he raises his ego and achieves redemption.
[74637]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/12, Shamati

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A person decides what to consider the day and what the night: what is good for him and what is bad. Sometimes, he is given awakening, raising of the spirit, great light, and he understands how wonderful it is to enjoy and come closer to spirituality. He calls it day, but in reality, it is light in his egoistic desire. Egoism enjoys, and this is not called spiritual advancement.

Or maybe he feels in the dark, exhausted, but his mind understands that this state is useful for advancement. And although in his desire to enjoy he experiences unpleasant sensations, it is said: “I sleep, but my heart is awake.” The desire to enjoy feels darkness, but the point in the heart—Light. A person understands that this darkness is useful for him, descent precedes ascent, and he needs to prepare even greater desires for this. And the desire comes from darkness.

That is why it all depends on what a person values, what he considers the day and what the night—in his sleeping egoistic heart or in the point in the heart, which is burning and yearning for spirituality.

If a person begins to separate one from the other, then he already has two points, according to which he can aim and direct himself exactly to the goal. One point is his ego. And it is good that egoism does not feel anything good. The darker I feel in my egoism, the greater my desire (Aviut) will be above which the point seeking the goal exists.

The main thing is to separate these two points and all the time hold them correctly against each other, finding out with what I identify myself. Do I choose the direction that leads me to the Creator, although my path lies in the dark, do I consider it good? Then, I can be sure that I move correctly because my egoism is not interested in rushing there, like a thief, running ahead of everybody else and shouting: “Catch the thief!”

My ego does not want darkness, and I rise above ego, above reason, and want my bestowal to be above reception. And this is a good state in which my day and the day of the Creator are the same day.

And if I suffer that I feel bad and have no interest in advancing, it means that I follow my desire to enjoy, my ego. I run there where my egoistic heart, but not the point in the heart, calls me: This is the difference.

We need to try to divide ourselves into two parts: the point in the heart, which faithfully adheres to the goal, to bestowal in any situation, no matter what happens, and the heart itself, which is always eager to receive. Its appetite is growing constantly. Darkness reigns in my heart, and there is a ray of Light in the point in the heart; this means that I directed myself correctly. And I achieve this through the environment, group, external force, which is needed to pull the point in the heart out of the egoistic heart and aim it at the goal.
[74550]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/12

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Question: Each time I go to a convention, I feel a kind of heaviness, a burden that pulls us to the ground. You said that this would soon pass and we would feel the unity. How is it possible to get rid of this heaviness? What can help us?

Answer: The only force that can help us against our ego is the importance of the goal, the importance of the group as a means of attaining the goal. But the most important thing is the goal.

If we work on the importance of the goal so that it becomes the most important thing, we won’t feel that the ego disturbs us. We will begin to feel that the ego is a sign of the places within us that we still need to correct. It shows us where you can still make efforts, where you can still correct something.

It’s like a broken car engine: In the place where something is knocking, the valve needs to be adjusted, in the place where something is whistling, the connections need to be fixed, and where it is heating, water needs to be added or something needs to be cleaned.

Your ego works in the same way, showing what is still uncorrected in you. If you advance towards the goal, if you want to direct yourself correctly, you discover the ego as “help against you. ”It pulls you by the legs, and this means that you don’t have enough strength. Here you must add strength and then advance forwards.

If you didn’t have this indicator, you wouldn’t know what you need to correct, just like in the engine or, for example, in our body. The biggest problem in the physiology of the body is the diseases that progress without us feeling it. During this period they don’t even cause pain or any other negative sensations. While if I feel unpleasant sensations, I immediately go to a doctor and stop the disease in the beginning of its development, and not when it already reaches a state where it isn’t possible to cure or to operate it.

That is, we need to relate to the ego correctly and rationally; we have to interact with it and not just annul it: “I don’t want you! I hate you!” No, the ego is support along our way.
[74108] 
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 1

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Question: In order to come out of Egypt our ego has to go through the “ten plagues,” what does that mean?

Answer: The ten plagues of Egypt are the ten plagues that a person feels on himself, on his ego, which help him get rid of the ego. If I didn’t feel the blows, I would want to stay in the ego. But because I feel the blows while in my ego, they help me break away from it.

Each blow is stronger in quality than the previous one. Suppose I lost everything that I have in gambling, (although it isn’t about that at all), the next blow can be the loss of someone dear, etc. Actually nothing in the world happens with money and not with one’s relatives and not with anything, but the inner feeling is as if you lose everything.

There is an article in the book Shamati about that, when a person enters spirituality he thinks that he leaves the whole world, his family, and that he is detached from everything. This detachment is necessary. The ten plagues help us rise systematically above certain layers of our ego until we totally exit it, which means that we escape it.

Above the last level we are in total darkness making one more effort. The darkness symbolizes that we don’t know what is expected ahead. But since we are headed towards the attribute of bestowal, the darkness helps us.

If you are moving forward towards the Light, your ego is only too happy about it. But when you are moving forward in the dark, you can be sure that the ego will not disturb you, won’t do you any evil, and won’t take everything for itself afterward.

Question: That means that this is some kind of a trick?

Answer: This “trick” was in Egypt before the ten plagues, when no matter how hard we tried, everything was aimed at the ego. Therefore, “The children of Israel cried from the work” in building the two cities Pithom and Ramses.

Here, however, this is it, here we are headed towards the dark and not towards the Light as we were used to saying. What is more, all these blows and all the advancement are based only on our growing connection, which brings the group to this state where on the one hand the ego is revealed, the great internal hatred, and on the other hand, the clear recognition that only mutual guarantee can lead the group forward. What does that mean?

When you see that there is great hatred, you are ready to connect with everyone in order not to ever worry about anything for yourself, but only about others. All your enemies are also ready to care about one another. This readiness is revealed despite the great hatred, when you can’t even imagine how it is possible to wish these people good, and that you now have to think about them as the most important thing and in no way think of yourself. A serious, juicy detachment from the ego is taking place here!
[74545]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 4/1/12

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Question: Can the Book of Exodus help us get out of egoism?

Answer: The fact is that any spiritual action must first be reflected in our world. That is why the story of getting out of egoism was first shown in a small group of people, and today it is repeated in the whole world.

No book in the world can help us with that. Only by passing the stages of correction, will we be able to understand and comment on it correctly.

This is a problem because people read it like a historical novel. But I see in it the description of the most serious internal changes in a person, which he must pass through in relation to the group and together with it, finding within himself a force that is called “Moshe” (Moses) from the word “Limshoch” (to pull out). This force pulls the group out of egoism and raises it to the revelation of the Creator.

Moshe is the point of connection that we reveal between us, and which guides us. The upper Force is revealed inside this point.

Thus, we come to Mount Sinai, to the mountain of hatred, around which we stand. It divides us, and we see only hatred in front of us, but we stand around it because we have nowhere to go.

In spite of this hatred, we have to guarantee for each other in our collective mutual guarantee. But if we get stuck in hatred, in egoism, that will be the place of our spiritual death.

Question: But after the exodus from Egypt, there was no state when a whole group got out of egoism. Next, only individuals exited, but not groups. There is no such experience. What should we do?

Answer: You should continue to work. And we are doing it. What is the difference? The work in the group was described then, so it came from there: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” “from the love of friends to love for the Creator.” That is all described in those sources.

That is why there are no other principles. The spiritual system, the system of all the worlds does not change; it is manifested in the same way just on the lower layers of egoism, which must be corrected. But the laws remain the same.
[74543]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 4/1/12

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Until the “Exodus from Egypt,” we go through many different periods, adventures, and states that are quite dramatic where we stand before the egoistic force trying to do something with it. On the whole, we don’t need to fight it; we should only aim ourselves at the right connection among us. Then this force will help us.

It is constantly evoked, creating interruptions and problems, which you should solve by mutual cooperation with others. You solve them by rising above them; you are building love above hate.

It is impossible to reach anything without obstacles. They are what help us unite, just as other obstacles and minor problems give a taste to love. Otherwise it would be one continuous feeling, which would be tasteless and totally not understood.

We should prepare ourselves for these states, so that each time, when we are repelled by the unity among us, we will immediately respond to it correctly.

If a person is depressed, feels dissatisfied, disappointed, powerless, he should understand that he must forcefully “bring” himself into the group and then his eyes will immediately open up. And he will feel life and different emotions.
[74483]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 4/1/12

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The Holiday of Pesach (Passover) begins tomorrow. We have to understand what it is. Firstly, “Pesach” is the most important state. We remember this exodus from Egypt in all the following corrections. Why? Because this is the foundation, from which the ladder of spiritual degrees begins.

Secondly, Pesach is the spiritual birth of a human being.

Thirdly, we are talking about darkness, in which we build the preparatory base for our corrections because we have nothing else to correct except what is disclosed in “Egypt.” These years of preparation, on the one hand, are useful because they reveal our corrupt desires; on the other hand, they are hard because exile is an unpleasant thing.

However, in reality it all depends on how we accept what is happening, trying hard to comprehend, understand, and recognize this state, how much we are aware of its necessity in the group, and how much we can feel blossoming in it.

Similarly, the Middle Ages was a dark period of history, which was characterized by confusion, human brutality, the cruelty of inquisition, religious aggression, and animalistic mores. However, going deeper, we see that it became the preparation for the outburst of the Renaissance, for the development of science and other subsequent achievements.

Until the end of the Middle Ages humanity was obtaining big vessels, desires. Then, a cultural explosion took place, and the Age of Enlightenment began during which we used what we had prepared before. Now, we are approaching a logical result—the crisis of all the desires having been exhausted and there is nothing else to do in our world.

If we draw parallels with spirituality, the current preparation allows us to reach the end of correction and use our desires correctly. After all, we revealed our evil during the period of Egyptian exile. That is why all further corrections are called the “memory” of the exodus from Egypt.

In this case, evil is revealed to us only in the relationships between friends. Consequently, if we correctly perceive the problems arising between us, we prepare ourselves for ascent. We must request correction from these states; however, on condition that we want to unite, we feel the need for it, see that we cannot, and nonetheless continue to push. The less we succeed, the more we press.

We need to reveal bestowal namely in this mutual pressure between us. Even if instead of it, we on the contrary reveal reception, evil, manifested above good, we do not retreat, do not relax, and do not despair. We are going to the end, until the state about which is said in the Torah: “and the children of Israel groaned from the work” (Exodus 2:23)

It will not be just moaning; we will really feel that we are powerless to do anything else. That is when a person raises his hands to the Creator and merges in the collective prayer.

Thus, we should respect the current period. We cannot exit it until we prepare the desire for further corrections. It is impossible to receive revelation from Above, if we do not push, forcing the upper force to reveal us our evil.
[74562]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/12, Writings of Rabash

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