Question: Baal HaSulam writes that the whole world has to enter the boundaries of the mutual guarantee. What does that mean?

Answer: Indeed, right now the whole world is entering the conditions of mutual guarantee. Stated differently, in our times all of the conditions have come together for mutual guarantee to be accepted in the whole world.

Obviously, this is a gradual process. Until now we have developed inside of our egoism, which increasingly grew stronger, and we operated only by using our environment for our own benefit. We constantly “modified” the external environment, while in the meantime, egoism grew bigger.

And today, a very curious occurrence has happened: the environment which we constantly wanted to change to suit ourselves became a rigid, fixed, interconnected, wholesome system. We cannot change it any longer. On the contrary, it is letting its temperament come through, is putting pressure on us and is ready to elicit changes in us by means of disasters and problems.

The external environment consists not only of ecological, natural factors, but it is also the human society, the interconnection between us in different areas and aspects: in economics, education, family life, healthcare, and so on. Every one of us lives in this environment.

Previously I changed it as I wished, in whatever way was most comfortable for me. Stated differently, I changed by nature, and I changed nature. But now nature is appearing as an integral system to me and I have to change myself. In the past I changed this natural system, but now it is pressuring me and changing me. It is becoming increasingly more integral, cramped, wholesome, and soldered together, and because of that, it squeezes me in its clutches, forcing me to take on its standard whether I want it or not.

After all, I am inside of it, and when it comes right up to me, “skin to skin,” I don’t have a way out and I suffocate. I have to change.

I perceive nature’s communication with me in the form of crises, suffering, and great problems. This is the path if we go through it by the pre-scheduled program. However, in nature’s globality and integrality, I can see something good and desirable ahead of time, and then I will be happy to take on its form and “put it on” myself, becoming similar to nature.

In any case, it is necessary to observe the law of equivalence of form between myself and the environment, between us and nature. In order to be similar to the form that nature demonstrates to me today, I have to be wholesomely connected with all humanity, and all of humanity—with the still, vegetative, and animate levels. This is the meaning of existing inside the single nature.

First of all, I have to take care of the human society, including its attitude to the ecology. And for that it is necessary to change man so that people, countries, and ecological circles would unite with one another, so upbringing would become unified, so equality would set in all over the world.

It’s not equality of religion or faith, culture or customs. They can remain the way they are. But above them there has to be a common equality in which everyone are united. And even though differences are preserved inside, they do not interfere with what’s important. It is written, “Love will cover all sins.”

Besides, we have to care for the still, vegetative, and animate nature so we don’t destroy the earth, which is intended for all of us, and so its important resources won’t run dry.

We have to think about the future, but we are not doing that today. We mine oil from the earth, which is the basis for 90% of our production, be it plastic parts, energy, or others types of production. If we simply burn oil for the wrong needs, then we are robbing our grandchildren. Nothing will be left for them. And therefore, we must already think about how to act.

Thus, unification should not be limited by the current moment, the short-lived desire to mollify the situation and avoid problems. Unification must involve a vision into the future, a program for the future, an inventory of what we are leaving to our children.

We have already passed “the oil peak” and have shifted to the phase of exhausting the remaining reservoirs. So what will we leave to our descendants for an inheritance? After all, oil is necessary not only for burning, but also as raw material for the production of various goods. And on the other hand, we don’t have any comparable source of energy.

Unification between us will bring us to unification with nature, and then we will understand how to properly use the natural resources, how to make the transition to equality, to a normal, balanced economy with fair distribution.

Otherwise there is such a great meltdown in store for us that we will not be able to come out of it. If we exhaust the natural reservoirs, we will be simply left with nothing, and we won’t have anything by which to keep living. We won’t have a wealthy relative who can help us in an emergency situation. We will not survive this crisis with the previous means because it does not have alternative solutions.

What’s at stake here is not just oil, but many other resources of the earth. We think that there is no end to their abundance, but that is not so. Over several decades of reckless high rolling, we have discovered the bottom of the “bottomless barrel.” The time has come to shift to a new, global approach.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/11, “Arvut”

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A letter I received: The Toronto Group spent an incredible weekend full of love and unity in the Canadian wilderness. There are no words to describe the sensations experienced by all. What we can say for sure is that there is a strong sensation of advancement toward our common goal and lots of fuel in our tank to begin preparations for the Toronto Convention!

[Show slideshow]

Excerpt from a letter of one of the participants: “We were sitting at night and singing, the mood was festive and warm, the fire was burning, the men were standing together, hugging—they looked so identical, reliable, and solid, like a rank of solders.

Suddenly, a feeling came over me that I’m sitting here with my spiritual nation which has never fallen from spirituality, and this is the life that never ends….”
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In our times physical actions don’t determine anything. Nature is demanding the right attitude from us. And this is the problem. We shouldn’t give out free help to people or take the last shirt off our backs. What’s required from you is a different attitude. You have to change yourself rather than the way you act.

Until now we acted physically, the way our egoism or false altruism desired. We gave out bread to the poor and generally speaking, tried to change the world any way we liked. But it’s been enough. The results speak for themselves. From now on, we are the ones who have to change.

Instead of changing the world, we want to change ourselves with the help of external forces. This is the new tendency. On this path we will see how everything we have managed to concoct is becoming corrected.

But it’s difficult for a person to grasp this. He thinks, “What, I have to change? Why don’t you just take 10% more in taxes from me instead.” And therefore, this requires the public opinion. It will make easy what now seems difficult. And then it won’t be so difficult anymore. If everyone starts thinking about this, then I will happily join them. After all, the influence of the people around me works by itself. It does not depend on me, I don’t determine anything. I depend on others.

And therefore, we don’t have to turn to every person individually. The most important thing is to change the environment, the general way of thinking in the world. And everything else will come along.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/11, “Arvut”
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In the News (from huffingtonpost.com): “Approximately 48 percent of Americans say they think that a Great Depression is either very or somewhat likely to occur within the year according to a CNN Opinion Research Poll, the highest percentage of respondents that have stated that level of certainty since CNN first started asking the question in October 2008. Respondents’ fear that they would soon become unemployed also spiked to an all-time high of 30 percent….”

“‘That’s not just economic pessimism,’ CNN polling director Keating Holling told CNN, reflecting on the polling results, ‘that’s economic fatalism.'”

The nation’s overall unemployment rate sits at 8.8 percent and the rate among white Americans is at 7.9 percent. 15.5 percent of African Americans are out of work and still looking for a job.

During the global recession (1929-1939), later called the Great Depression, the highest level of unemployment rose to 23.6% in the USA.
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Opinion: (M. Delyagin, Director of Research, Institute of Globalization Studies (IPROG), kapital-rus.ru): The world financial crisis is merely an external manifestation of humanity’s integral transformation toward a radically new structure of human society.

Information processing technologies gave rise to a small group of managing elite. Consequently, 70% of the population are unneeded and have to be utilized either physically or socially. Global communication has created the most profitable business: shaping public opinion. This qualitatively changes the character of human development: While previously, over the entire course of human history, humanity grew by reforming the natural environment, today it is beginning to feel the necessity to change itself in order to survive.

Therefore, all previously developed sciences existing up to this day not only will be unable to assist us in our subsequent evolvement, but rather will hamper it, as pertains to the whole humanity. In fact, today it isn’t the world that needs to be changed but man himself, which signifies dismissal of science and technical revolution.

Simplified communications erode the system of government. The world’s civil society is called to constrain the world’s government. Global advertisement has imposed on humankind the desire to strive for high-grade consumption, which resulted in tension, terror, and migration.

The depth of the world financial crisis is underestimated due to the lack of understanding that the old paradigm of global evolution has run its course. A qualitatively new world financial system is due. Humanity’s integration has surpassed the capacity for controlling it and it demands to be stepped back and restored to manageability by simplifying the process of its development.

We are called to intellectual revolution, to form a new type of consciousness, which will bring humanity out of stalemate not by extinguishing its part, but rather by facilitating collective progress.

In the new era of human development it is necessary to do the following:

1. Comprehend the essence of the new stage of humanity’s evolution;
2. Define the model of the forth-coming human development;
3. Identify major issues (challenges) requiring a solution, which will shape the progress of human society within the parameters of this model;
4. Work out specific guidelines and rules for international organizations, governments, and businesses;
5. Form and aim public opinion and that of the elite toward harmonizing human development in the new evolutionary setting.

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We are glad to introduce our Cameroon group. They came together from different cities around the country for a gathering of friends.

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Remoteness from the Creator is the Reason for All Suffering

When all human beings agree to free themselves of their will to receive and have no other desire but to bestow upon their friends, all worries and jeopardy in the world would cease to exist. And we would all be assured of a whole and wholesome life since each of us would have a whole world caring for us, ready to fulfill our needs.

Yet, while each of us is only in egoism, it is the source of all the worries, suffering, wars, maladies, and pain.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 19
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Remoteness from the Creator is the Reason for All Suffering

The property of our uniqueness, of being the center of the world extends to us directly from the Creator, who is single in the world and the Root of all creations. But in the Creator this quality evokes love for all, while in us it connects with our narrow egoism and drives one to to use the entire world only for oneself. This is how the sensation of singularity becomes the source of all the ruins that were and will be in the world.
– Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”

Pleasure and sublimity are measured by the extent of equivalence of form with the Creator. And pain and intolerance are measured by the extent of disparity of form from His qualities. Thus, egoism is loathsome and pains us, as its form is opposite from the Creator.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”
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Question: Egoism shrewdly and inventively depicts various pictures before me. How can I discriminate the lie in them, which appears like love for others? After all, all kinds of religions and methods also talk about love.

Answer: In our world “love for the neighbor” is a simple, primitive game of small egoists. Can you really find real, exalted love for the neighbor anywhere, which is really practiced on an ongoing basis?

True, people create separate settlements in order to live in love with one another: There is a village like that in Italy, one in India, and an entire city in Asia. But if you look a bit closer, you will see that they are still the same egoists who just decided to introduce more comfortable social customs. This is more comfortable and pleasant for them, and therefore, they have united in order to make their lives nicer.

Once upon a time kibbutzes flourished in Israel—agricultural settlements with collective property similar to a collective farm. People decided that it was worthwhile for them to live together because this brought them more benefit. “Let’s give up some of our egoism and then we will feel good.” Everything’s clear about this, but is this really altruism?

Humanity supposes that conceding to the neighbor makes a person an altruist. However, people who are slightly more informed about human nature or who study the science of Kabbalah know that any concession has to come with a profit. No matter what a person is giving up, you can find what he is gaining by that. Even if the profit is concealed, it is definitely present.

For example, I am willing to live in a kibbutz because this removes my worries about how to arrange my life. Is that not a profit? I have no worries. I simply do what I am told. But development follows its course and with time kibbutzes became outdated. As a whole, these kinds of communities have no future.

We already see that all forms of interconnection between people have to change due to the egoism that grows in them. Changes continue to take place, and this inner dynamic has to be realized in some way as there will be an explosion otherwise.

This happened over the course of history to various religions, faiths, and methods. Today they are undergoing a worldwide outburst because man has set out on a search once again. He is conducting the final revision: Can these methods offer anything real?

After this analysis these practices will fall for the last time. After all, today we are checking them in relation to the integral mechanism that nature places before us. We have never had this criterion yet. People are once again turning over the pages of all sorts of practices, confessions, and mystical teachings, trying to understand: Can they help us in the new, integral world?

This process will take a short time and will quickly come to an end with all the expectations crashing down. Everyone will see that it is pointless to wait for help from them. Any subject that is checked will persist for a few years at most after which it will reveal its inadequacy.

After all, if you don’t change man’s nature so he becomes just as integral inside of him as nature itself, then no recipes will help him. The only method that makes man global, integral, and united with others is the method of attracting the Light that reforms, the science of Kabbalah. Every person just needs to be given the opportunity to realize his evil. Then all the means and their combinations will turn out powerless, and this entire business of “spiritual” tricks will end up non-existent.

Man will not be able to calm himself down because the world has changed and the problem is no longer how to calm down, but a “conflict of interests.” No one will be able to survive in the integral system without becoming fit for it.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/11, Matan Torah

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In essence, what we study in Kabbalah is the process that we have to go through. The science of Kabbalah explains to us what is the world, why and for what  it exists, and how we exist in it and realize the goal of creation.

Kabbalah points to the part we have to realize ourselves by setting it apart from everything else, which does not depend on us. We have to concentrate all of our forces precisely in the area that depends on us, making this victorious breakthrough and attaining success on the path to the goal.

Therein lies the entire Kabbalistic method: to show man this point, the tiny button among thousands of various buttons and switches that are not connected to anything. It’s like you are standing in front of a huge control panel to the world, but in reality it’s a dummy.

Only one button is connected to the system, and that button is lost among huge switches, bulbs, and color coded panels. Your whole life you press on buttons, click tumblers, tug at levers, shift sliders, spin wheels, and tune dials, but there are no results and you die as if you did not spin anything.

And moreover, all of your efforts accumulate into one tremendous negative charge, which you will still have to correct in the future. After all, egoism grows in every generation.

Therefore, at the end of the day, the science of Kabbalah explains to us where this secret button is found, which cannot be distinguished or recognized among thousands of others. This is precisely the button we must constantly press in order to advance.

Thanks to it, we begin to understand the system, to guess what is happening behind the panel, to surmise how the other buttons are confusing us and why only one of them works. In short, we reach the understanding of who we are, who is on the other side of the mechanism, and how this mechanism operates to connect the Creator with creation and creation with the Creator.

From everything there is in this world, we have to press one button called “love for the neighbor.” Only by means of this button will we be able to activate the system. All other buttons are a bluff, a lie. Together with billions of your contemporaries, you can press, spin, click, and nudge at these counterfeits, just like the past generations did just to pay their last debt in futile attempts.

Therefore, we have to understand how to find this special button and how to press it, how to use our free choice to act correctly, without letting anything go by us. We have to explain this to ourselves and to others so it will become clear to all of us: other actions, which are not connected to pressing this button that commutates (reverses the direction) love for the creatures with love for the Creator, are futile and useless. Moreover, they just increase the minus in our accounts and we will still have to return to them.

If your actions lead toward the goal, they get recorded in your account. Thanks to them, you advance forward, understanding and feeling more. However, if your actions are false, then you will have to become aware of this lie, of your mistake, and the harm you caused in order to correct it and then to keep moving further.

Thus, it turns out that we accumulate a highly undesirable addition, and therefore, we have to be cautious of actions that are inherent to the “correctors of the world.”
All the corrections that we have to carry out, meaning presses on the right button, are called “using the Torah and commandments.” I consist of 613 desires and by pressing on the button, I evoke a certain force that corrects me with its influence, turning my 613 desires into actions of bestowal.

If I restrict the desire, creating a screen and reflected Light above it by correctly interacting for the sake of bestowal, then this desire transforms from a transgression to a commandment. That is how I have to correct all of my desires on all five levels of Aviut of each of them. This is my work, which we have to perform by pressing the right button, meaning by establishing the right connection with the neighbor.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/11, Matan Torah

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