Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Nature has prepared a wonderful foundation in the mother’s womb so that no stranger may harm the new life. It tends to its every need like a trained nanny who will not forget it even for a moment…. Like a loving mother, it brings it to such loving, loyal people it can trust, called “Mother” and “Father,” to assist it through its days of weakness until it grows and is able to sustain itself….

But those who examine that reality from the perspective of provision and persistence of existence can clearly see great disorder and confusion, as though there were no leader and no guidance. Everyone does that which is right in his own eyes, building himself on the ruin of others….

Bear in mind that this oppositeness, set before the eyes of every sensible, educated person, has preoccupied humanity even in ancient days. And there are many theories to explain these two apparent opposites in Providence, which occupy the same world.

On one hand, we see that nature is wise and assiduous toward every creature. It develops every element successively and carefully. Look at the structure of organisms, their ability to grow, to give birth to offspring, and to interact. Everything is built in an integral form, every person has his own place and is in balance with others. If we could see the balanced world, undisturbed by human despotism, we would reveal a wonderful system, one that is not static, but perfectly balanced for development.

However, we do not see the causes of this development and do not understand why everything has to be precisely this way. Therefore, we do not understand the phases of the path. Besides, we look at it through the prism of our egoism and evaluate it according to our criteria. Therefore, we see the world upside down, as if flipping it over in our perception.

Nevertheless, from scientific research it is clear to us that in order to develop the species, nature has created, produced, and formed all of the necessary systems that take care of the ideal creativity.

But on the other hand, a problem arises with the subsequent existence. Once any part of nature grows up and “stands up on its own feet,” it starts fighting for survival and integrating into the environment without parental help. This happens to all living creatures, but among people it takes on the most difficult forms because a person has to prepare for life in a society that is complex and artificial, built upon a multitude of mechanisms. Envy and lust for power ignite within him, pushing him to oppose others. Others seem successful, while he seems to be lagging behind them because of his nature or due to the circumstances.

Nature, which took such great care of us while we were growing, now places us in conditions that require efforts to survive. So does the Creator exist or not? If everything was all right, then we would say, “Thank God.” But if everything is not all right, then what you can say?

This is the problem that Baal HaSulam describes before he talks about the attempts to solve it.
[49845]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/31/11

Related Material:
Stubbornness Always Has A Limit
A Systematic Discrepancy
Hiding In My Own Shade

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Perception, Science, Society, Suffering - No Comments →

All of humanity is now facing a choice. We have advanced in our egoism until it closed us off inside one integral system where we are totally interdependent. Therefore, today’s world has become global, meaning the connection between us has become universal and mutual, and we cannot do anything to circumvent it.

That is why we are losing the ability to control this kind of world. After all, it is becoming similar to the upper system, and these two systems exist parallel to one another. One is a system of rigid, mutual connections, like Malchut of the World of Atzilut or the World of Infinity, which is already in the corrected future state. And the second system is our present state where we, egoists, are confronting one another.

If we were just individual egoists, then each of us would experience small misfortunes and problems, but we would know how to fix them. However, today, when our development has brought us to a state where this entire system is being rigidly blocked and closed, we do not know what to do.

Each of us is no longer able to cope with the problems of his life. The crisis is breaking out everywhere: from our private lives in the family, at work, and with ourselves, to the global crisis of society, culture, education, and even ecology, meaning in the nature around us.

The crisis is being revealed everywhere—inside of man and outside of him. And he does not know how to cope with it because he is in a closed, integral system. And now we have no choice left: Under the pressure of suffering, we will have to find a connection between us that will be similar to the upper system so these two worlds, the upper world and this world, would match one another, until they unite completely, into one whole.

Now we are setting our own boundary toward which we want to advance in the direction of this correspondence. But to the extent we do not wish to advance, this “unwillingness” will boomerang back to us in the form of suffering. For example, according to the program of creation, to the timer that shows how the flywheel of development has unraveled, I already have to be on a certain level, for example, I had to have come “10 centimeters” closer to spirituality by now.

And the whole world has to advance in this way even though there are different people in it. Some understand things better, and others—worse, and others yet do not feel anything at all. After all, just as all of nature consists of different levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human, the same division exists inside of man as well.

But the whole world, its whole mass, must now take a step forward. And if we do not do that, then this delta, the lack of our progress, will be felt by us in a negative form, as suffering. But the suffering will still push us to advance.

That means you won’t be able to run away from this work. The engine continues to run, and if you still don’t want to work, then instead of a “-1” you will receive a “-2” and then a “-3,” and so on, until you reach such enormous suffering that you will no longer be able to refuse to budge.

Stubbornness always has a limit. In reality we are very sensitive to pleasure and pain because our matter is the will to enjoy. Therefore, there is no doubt that eventually, the world will advance.
[49751]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/11, Shamati

Related Material:
Transformation Of The Familiar World
Globalization: We’re All In The Common Circle
Integrality, Penetrating To The Bone

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Suffering, World - 2 Comments →

People still don’t understand that our salvation lies in unity. Unity is a real force, our shield and sword. We have to go forward with it.

Today, when protestors demonstrate, they are trying to break the government’s egoism with their egoism. I am not saying that the people are wrong to advance demands, but in the modern world this approach is no longer effective. Today the world is driven by a “round” force of a closed, integral system. When you enter this circle together with others, you become similar to the integral nature, and then you achieve success. If, however, you are not in the common circle, you bring destruction to yourself and others until everything falls apart completely.

Look at what is happening in the USA. The whole world is looking at Americans, but like little children, they are unable to reach an agreement about the national debt ceiling. The ceiling has already been raised several times, but suddenly it’s as if they are stuck, like something is blocking them. Everyone is pleading, “Raise it! Keep printing dollars, we need them. We will stockpile them like pickles in a barrel. After all, without them we simply don’t know how to live. Don’t deprive us of this green current since otherwise we will be left with nothing!”

But the Americans are unable to reach a decision because they have not taken on a “round” form. And the same problem will be expressed in every sphere. A country that was healthy and successful just yesterday is suddenly finding itself in a meltdown. Like a sand castle, once it reaches a certain height, it comes crumbling down, buried beneath its own weight.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/11, “The Peace”
[49560]

Related Material:
The Wind Of Change
The Urge To Unite
What Will It Take To Make The Simplest Person Realize That We’re All Interdependent?

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Economy, Egoism, News, Unity, World - 1 Comment →

Question: What sentence can I write in front of me in capital letters so that every time I get distracted and my thoughts wander, I could come back to it and refocus again?

Answer: Imagine a state that is worth constantly aspiring to, and describe it so this sentence would immediately remind you that you perceive reality as divided and broken up into different parts only because you are inside of egoism.

As soon as you discard this view through your ego, everything becomes a single whole. It’s like you are looking at reality through a curtain that has small holes in it and what you see seems to be made up of separate parts. But then you remove this curtain from your eyes and all of reality turns out to be one.
From the 2dn part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/11, The Zohar
[49518]

Related Material:
The Inner Vision And The World Of Forces
The Point From Which One Enters The Spiritual World
Study With Happiness

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Perception, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Zohar - 3 Comments →

Question: How is our work on mutual guarantee connected with the rest of the world?

Answer: The people of the world have a need for mutual guarantee which comes from the breaking, from being in a bad state, from sensing the crisis.

But we don’t have that need. We feel good because we sweeten our egoism with the study materials, thereby “clogging” it. Even the desires of the outside world pass us by and we don’t feel them. People lack food, sex, familial relationships, money, honor, power, and knowledge, but we are fine because something much greater is promised to us. True, we haven’t attained it yet, but we are already “floating” above the material desires.

Thus, it turns out that the external world’s need for mutual guarantee, for unification, is much greater than ours. People roam about from morning till night, not knowing what to do and not having a solution, but we are fine. Everything’s clear to us and we are almost righteous.

So who’s worse? Who’s farther from the goal of creation by their desires: them or us? We are worse. Therefore, in order to force you to help them, to correct them, they are turning their hatred toward you. They are driven to this by forces operating in the common system. The Light influences people so they will, in turn, influence you. After all, their desire is greater than yours. And thus, they come up to you with hatred, whose consequences will turn out very grave if you keep dragging things on.

Question: Can I do anything besides working on mutual guarantee in the group?

Answer: What’s necessary is precisely your work in the group on mutual guarantee, in order to splash it out into the world.
[49343]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/11, “Arvut”

Related Material:
The Problem Exists. Who Has A Solution?
Focus On The Mutual Guarantee
The Task Only We Can Handle

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Mutual Guarantee, Q&A, World - No Comments →

The new era demands a new upbringing and we have to inculcate it in the nation. This is the reason why we are first turning to scientists, and next, together with them, to the government in order to demonstrate the need for global upbringing to the power structures. Only this will enable us to smoothly join the interconnected world.

However, even if we achieve a general agreement with this condition, we will still be far from realizing it. How can the government be convinced? How should society be built in practice? In our opinion, the changes must first happen inside of man. The people of the country have to change, become different, integral. They have to desire unity and feel how to achieve it from the inside. Then this general atmosphere will start changing every person’s environment and will even penetrate the corridors of the government.

If the parliament affirms laws of mutual guarantee in order to impose them from above, this will take on coercive forms, but there is no coercion in spirituality. Man has to undergo inner changes that lead to the spiritual phase of development. Therefore, without suppressing anyone, we have to provide the right influence and education to people, but instead of doing this in the name of the government, it should happen through integration into the education system.

We cannot force anyone to build a new system of interconnection. That would be equivalent to placing a person in a dungeon, isolating him from everything he is used to. Connections have to be formed gradually, thanks to the inner changes inside a person. By changing, he will start interacting with others differently as well.

Until now we changed under pressure from egoism, which rages inside of us. It grew from one generation to the next, and as a result, we changed the world. But now the situation is different: The world is not changing any longer. It is being expressed as “round” and integral, and it is us, the people, who have to change.

In this case, how can the government and parliament help us? The authorities still don’t understand it, but their only way to help is to create a system of upbringing that will give people a new form. Only then will it be possible to change anything in the country. However, this process takes time. It cannot be accelerated by parliamentary creativity in lawmaking. There are many laws, but who actually observes them?
[49333]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/11, “Arvut”

Related Material:
Without Possibilities, But With A Choice
Who Has A Bigger Desire To Unite?
What Is Mutual Guarantee?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Egoism, Kabbalah Dissemination, Mutual Guarantee, Politics, Society, Spirituality - No Comments →

There are different levels inside of our will to enjoy, which are desires that haven’t yet formed completely for egoistic reception on the last, 4th degree. They are on the degrees 0, 1, 2, and 3. Inside of them we feel various opportunities to enjoy something. These are our egoistic “first nine Sefirot.” After that, the last stage is me, Malchut, wishing to enjoy through them.

However, in the will to bestow, other opportunities arise before me—to enjoy for the sake of bestowal rather than reception. If I make a restriction on my will to enjoy and start thinking about how I can bestow to the neighbor, then in front of me I see all sorts of possibilities of bestowal in relation to the egoistic desire I have restricted.

Therefore, I feel that I am built out of the “first nine Sefirot” and Malchut, and I begin to work practically in order to realize myself through the opportunities of bestowal that become revealed to me. That means that Malchut works with the first nine Sefirot.

If we examine the connection between us, then every one of us is Malchut, while the “first nine Sefirot” is what connects me to others. The distance between me and the friend becomes revealed to me as the “first nine Sefirot” if I want to bestow to him. And to the extent I can realize them inside of me in order to give these nine Sefirot the force of bestowal, to that degree I attach my Malchut to them. That way I turn the distance between them from the “head” (the Rosh of the Partzuf, from the calculation) into its inner part (Toch, where the Light is revealed).

This is determined by the extent to which I was able to raise my desire and attach it to the connection between us in order to practically realize these first nine Sefirot. Now the “inner body” of my spiritual Partzuf forms between us. And its “ending” is my desires, which have remained under restriction, which I cannot use yet.

After that the conditions change and I once again work the same way. That is how I go through 125 levels until I use my entire desire on its entire depth. The main principle here is that only my desire works, while the “first nine Sefirot” change according to it.
[49227]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Related Material:
Who Coloured The White Light?
The Prayer Of Eighteen Sefirot
An Umbrella For Egoism

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Prayer and Intention - No Comments →

The Zohar, Chapter “Truma,” Item 759: Once the Nukva was adorned—meaning built by [Partzuf] AVI [Aba ve Ima]—and ZA and Nukva returned to being PBP [Panim be Panim], that shape of man, ZA, came by craving for the Nukva. There, in the Nukva, the second man of Beria was engraved and depicted, as his form. It is written about him, “And begot a son in his own likeness, after his image.”

The Book of Zohar talks only about what is happening in the network that connects the souls. The entire sum total of these connections between us is called “the upper world,” whose pictures are described by The Zohar, including forces, Lights, various forms and images. There is nothing more for us to imagine because this is what we are living in.

Each of us individually is a desire to enjoy, and outside of every one of us, in the connections between us there is the upper world, filled with Light. Therefore, I have to “wrap up” my will to enjoy, cover it as if in a shadow, perform a restriction on it and create a screen and reflected Light, and then to exist outside of it, in my relationships with others.

This is exactly what The Zohar talks about: which form or image I take on in relation to others. If I do this, then I reveal everything we read about in The Zohar. Otherwise I am inside of myself, in my will to enjoy, and I feel only this world.

We can perceive either inside of us or above us, outside of us. “Outside of us” means in the attitude to the neighbor, where “a neighbor” is the people with whom I want to build a connecting network. This is called “the group.” If I relate to the whole world in this way, then the group is the whole world.

While correcting my qualities, if I desire to reveal the force that founded everything, then I reveal it according to the law of equivalence of form. As soon as my connecting network with others acquires a spiritual form, a spiritual essence, the true mutual bestowal, the level of mutual guarantee even on the first stage, then inside of it, I immediately feel the Creator.
[49184]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, The Zohar

Related Material:
The Radiance Of The Integral Soul
Man Is A Formula Of Connection
Everything Is Revealed Between Us

Filed under: Collective Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spirituality, Unity, Zohar - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “Arvut ”: It is written, “You shall be My treasure from among all peoples.” This means that you will be My treasure [a special quality, Segula], and sparks of purification shall pass through you onto all the peoples and the nations of the world.

Segula is a special action by which we correct our egoistic intention to an altruistic one. I do not know exactly how this action is actualized, but it enables me to change, to acquire a second nature, to enter the next dimension, a reality that lies above my current self. And I don’t know exactly how this occurs.

That is why the exodus from Egypt is called a “miracle” and why the force of correction, the Light that reforms, which is contained in the Torah is called “a special quality”—Segula. I don’t have any idea about how it works. I only see the results, as if a certain “illumination” effuses upon me or a certain force works on me, and I become different.

Thus, even though I don’t understand how Segula works, I activate it by carrying out the conditions I am told about. “Do this,” write the Kabbalists, “And you will receive that.” I cannot trace this connection. It is not within my power. I simply know that specific actions on my part will bring about a specific reaction, although the cause and effect chain remains unclear to me. That’s because it originates from the Light, from the Giver, while I am still in the egoistic desire and do not see or feel Him. The contact with Him is still unclear to me, just as I don’t understand the mechanism of the return connection by which the Giver influences me and changes something inside of me.

That is why this kind of action is called “special.” A child has this same “special means” while playing and growing in our world. What actually causes his growth? We are so used to seeing how children develop by playing that we don’t notice how it happens. What force is activated by a child’s contact with a toy, with pictures in a book, with animals he sees, or with the cars that pass by him on the street? How do the images of the big world that he wants to come closer to, form something new inside of him? To us this is the regular routine, but in essence, this is the same “special means” at work.

A child wants to grow and is drawn to all sorts of forms of the adult world, and that’s how he really grows. Likewise, if we want to advance, we have to carry out several actions in order to activate the upper force that raises us. In a child the yearning to grow is instilled naturally, while we have freedom of choice: We have to organize an environment, the study, and ourselves, and attach the intention. That is how we develop.

Thus, “Segula” is the result of certain actions a person makes, even though he does not know exactly what he activates and how he is activated in response. With us this is expressed in our relationship with the upper Light, while in children—in their relationships with the surrounding world. The same principle operates in the interactions between the “nations of the world,” meaning all those who do not aspire to the Creator, and “Israel,” meaning those who do aspire to Him. Our relationship with the Creator is similar to their relationship to us. After all, they do not have a spark, a connection with Him, an aspiration for Him, or a desire to reveal Him. Only troubles push them to search for something better. That is why we bring them the science of Kabbalah in an adapted, accessible form.

The invitation to reveal the Creator does not say anything to them. They need a good life here and now, and nothing more. Accordingly, we reveal our message gradually to them, in the appropriate form, and they use us as a “special means,” as a “treasure from among all peoples.”

By being connected to us, they “suddenly” start acquiring forces, understanding, and desires that they did not have before. These “sparks” come from Infinity, from the Creator—through us to them. As a result, the “special quality” operates on all the levels.
[49236]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, “Arvut”

Related Material:
The Problem Exists. Who Has A Solution?
The Point From Which One Enters The Spiritual World
The Zohar Will Help Everyone

Filed under: Children, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Free Will, Israel, Kabbalah Dissemination, Prayer and Intention, Torah - No Comments →

We have never been in the situation that we are in today. We have never experienced a discrepancy between two systems. Today all of us together constitute a common, integral system (“We”), but it is egoistic. And at the same time we are inside of the natural system, which is permeated by bestowal and love. The difference or gap between these two systems is what creates the sensation of a crisis.

This difference keeps growing because we are developing in our egoism, while the upper system is coming closer to us. In particular, the crisis is being expressed precisely due to the revelation of nature.

In the past we expanded our system over the course of history, until we reached today—integrality and interconnection. However, every person continues to operate within his narrow interests, even though he can no longer shed the global bonds and is entirely dependent on others.

As a result, we end up with interdependence and mutual hatred, which stand in extreme contrast to the force of bestowal that influences us. Moreover, on the inside we are bound together with one another and at the same time, disunited to the maximum. And in addition, we are opposite to the Creator.

This opposition and difference in qualities brings us troubles. They are only starting, but at the same time they are inciting man to discover the reason for what is happening. After all, if something bothers or harms us, we pay attention to it.

Therefore, today, for the first time in history, the science of Kabbalah is being revealed to us. The time has come for us to consolidate so the Creator and creation would unite by a single force, a single connection. In other words, the time has come to correct the crisis, to get rid of the troubles, and to achieve discovering the system we are in, which is impossible without attaining the upper force.

We do not see the integrality of the natural system because we are not integral on the inside. We are discrete, disunited, and singular—each of us is by himself. I don’t have an integral mind, an integral way of thinking, and I cannot take the whole world into consideration.

But on the other hand, we constitute one whole, and by the law of a single body, I cannot make a single action unless I am sure that it will have a favorable affect on all of my systems. That is why we cannot attain success in anything.

In the modern world, no matter what system you look at, everything is falling apart: education, culture, the economy, relationships between people, families, children’s upbringing, and so on. Everything that we have created in the process of our development is crumbling. And this process will keep growing worse, becoming expressed more and more.

The problem here is not that we “screwed up” somewhere, because everything was initially programmed. It’s just that today all of our systems are opposite to the integral, correct system. Now I have to take the whole world into consideration, but by my nature, I am not accommodated to that. So what should I do?

I care only about myself, or at most—about my family, environment city, or even country…. But caring about the whole world? Even if I wanted to, how can I make this happen? I don’t have any preliminary base for that. For that I would have to be different on the inside. I must have an integral system inside of me so I would naturally think about the world as a whole just as I think about myself. That is the only way I will attain success in the economy, industry, and trade—in everything.

Otherwise, there will be no success. Today this is still weakly expressed, but soon the picture will begin becoming clearer.

Thus, nature or the Creator is obligating man to feel that he is part of the whole, a particular soul that belongs to the common soul. We suffer because we are not parts of the whole yet, and by this suffering each of us is being pushed to unite with others. However, the path of suffering is very difficult. As we know, it can bring us to death, and we’ll still have to suffer a lot until we get there.

That is why the science of Kabbalah is being revealed, wishing to explain the current state of affairs to us, to show us the system we are in, and to teach us to change ourselves, transforming from discrete fragments into integral parts, each of which contains all of the others.

For the first time in the history of human development, man no longer changes nature on the outside, does not make external egoistic actions, and does not use all of his knowledge to change something outside of him. The external changes have ended. Everything has become finally formed on the outside, has frozen, and won’t change any longer. From now on, I am the one who has to change.
[48934]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

Related Material:
The Fruit Has Ripened
Kabbalah For The World
In Nature’s Clutches

Filed under: Collective Soul, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Economy, Egoism, History, My Similarity to the Creator, Society, Suffering, Unity, World - 1 Comment →