Question: Essentially, I don’t have any freedom of choice. Nature rules over me. So does everything really depend on me?

Answer: Creation begins with the still level, followed by the vegetative, animate, and human degrees. The human degree, too, begins to develop from the still level and undergoes the same stages. This was the course of evolution on Earth over millions of years.

Finally, we have reached the degree of “human within human” and become accountable. We used to live like animals under a stick, but now we have to meet certain demands. Whether we like it or not, today we must undertake certain actions.

A few thousand years after what happened in ancient Babylon, we are handed the method of correction once again. Free will, as well as responsibility that comes along with it, begins specifically with the “human within human,” with our current level. Hence, we are talking about absolute goodness, about the purpose of creation, and about how to stay on course, in order to advance without cataclysms.

Conscious development begins now, while until this time suffering spurred egoism on to develop. Without these “injections,” it wouldn’t have made a single move.

The still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature do not possess free will. Neither does a human being who exists at the still, vegetative, or animate level. The possibility of free choice appears only now. After all, now you have the “point in the heart” and you can use it to connect with the friends and find Infinity in your unity.

Choice is impossible without inner struggle. You choose with whom you want to be: your friends or yourself. It’s either we or me.

Absolute goodness is awaiting all of us at the end of the path, but you have received the opportunity to choose, and hence you can already aim at it. For this, you have to always hold onto the middle line, using your “Self” and the environment together.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/2011, The Principles of Global Education

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At the human level of this world we can study, know, and somewhat control the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature. Albeit not in the best possible way, we nevertheless are able to understand and change nature to a certain degree.

However, we cannot control humanity, the human society, and today it manifests increasingly clearly in everything we do. We are unable to raise a new generation, our own children, correctly. Previously, we didn’t think of it, but today we are facing a problem: The young generation is completely detached from us, and we are unable to do anything with the young.

If we could turn them into reasonable, good people (though we ourselves don’t know what it means), then at least our children would have a good life. All generations hoped that their hard life will pay-off with the success of their children. But today we are in a transition period: We as if rolled over the peak of expectations and started to descend, having lost any hope that the life of the next generation will be better than ours. This is why people no longer want to start a family and have children.

Essentially, we face the following problem: If we want to build a normal life for seven billion people on a simple, corporeal level, we need to exist at the spiritual level. By being at the human degree (4), I can rule over the lower levels: the still (1), vegetative (2), and animate (3). But in order to keep my own degree under control, I must rise above it, to the spiritual level (5). Then from it, I will be able to govern my own human degree (4).

So the state of affairs is very simple: To repair education, family, interpersonal relations, business, ecology, economy, to deal with new diseases and viruses, I must know where all of it stems from, for what reason, where the forces that govern the human level are. These forces do not exist here, and it means that I must rise to a higher degree.

This is why Baal HaSulam rejoiced in the opportunity to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah to the entire world, and not just to himself, to a handful of disciples. And although this “handful” grew to a few million people who follow our lessons and materials, we nevertheless talk about everybody in the world.

Soon we will reach a state which we can’t even describe. Without an elementary knowledge about how to govern this world from the fifth degree, man won’t be able to succeed in any area of social life. Even today the programs humanity initiates to benefit family, country, and the world get stuck and fail.

Hence, Kabbalah is needed not just to help you and me enter the spiritual reality. Massive crises accumulate into one multi-system crisis that pushes the entire world toward the ascent to a new degree.

We stand out from the rest of humanity by the fact that, being at the fourth level, we received the “point in the heart,” the desire to enter the fifth level. We are motivated to move forward by a good impulse, while the rest of the world is being pushed toward it by enormous suffering that hits it from behind. We are being lured with a “candy,” the aspiration toward something good, while the rest of the world moves out of hopelessness, being pushed with a “stick.” They are like animals that do not know where to go, how to cope with disasters that occur everywhere. And it is only the beginning.

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From Lesson 1, WE! Convention 4/1/2011

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Question: Why was the wisdom of Kabbalah concealed throughout the millennia?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed for thousands of years because our egoistic development in this world had to reach its ultimate limit. We have reached a state when everyone of us, being an isolated egoist, has gone through the egoistic aspirations for food, sex, family, wealth, fame, power, and knowledge and now feels that no earthly pleasures can fill us any longer.

This is the problem of egoistic development: No matter how much we advance in our egoism, we nevertheless feel unfulfilled. After all, I’m unable to fulfill myself in my ego since pleasure with which I’m trying to fill my desire immediately quenches the desire due to their opposition, like in a short circuit.

Desire is a lack of fulfillment, a “minus,” while pleasure is fulfillment, a “plus.” By coming in contact, they neutralize each other. For this reason we feel that the instant we reach any satisfaction from food, sex, or other earthly pleasures, it starts to diminish.

But in any case, all our attempts to derive pleasure from food, sex, family, wealth, honor, power, or knowledge were necessary. And now we must rise from this egoistic state to the degree of unity between us. That is, to a smaller or lesser degree, we are already willing to admit that this life does not bring us pleasure and ultimately, we feel emptiness, a “minus.”

Then we approach a new stage. We reveal that any cell of the general organism is able to exist only in connection with the others. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed until the emergence of a pressing need to unite.

Today in all areas of our life we discover that we are all tied together and can’t escape our global interdependence. Never throughout history has humanity felt so dependent on each other. Hence, the wisdom of Kabbalah is being divulged now in particular so as to present the method of the correct unification.
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From Lesson 1, WE! Convention 4/1/2011

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The tendency manifesting today was clear for the Kabbalists tens, hundreds, thousands years ago. They talked about our epoch having calculated its time frame precisely based on the general laws of nature.

Throughout the course of history we were developing under the influence of the force that was pushing us forward. As our ego increased incessantly, we transitioned from process to process, from formation to formation in society, family life, education, culture, and so on.

We were advancing by means of the negative force alone and hence Kabbalists were able to calculate how much it would take for humanity “to hit rock bottom,” meaning to reach the need to rise to a new level and, instead of being developed by egoism, advance by means of another force: the force of universal unity.

The calculation pointed to the end of the 20th century, year 1995. From that time on, we will have to reveal for ourselves the method of correction of man who knows how to unite with the others into a single whole—absolutely, globally, and integrally.

Granted, today we are just at the beginning of this path. It is yet to continue. However, we, the people who received a gift from Above, “the point in the heart,” the aspiration upwards, have to turn to the entire world with an explanation about what is happening. By this we realize our predestination, warrant the impulse we received, and lead humanity towards the ascent to a new state, a new degree.

It is a very special degree. The body, the parts of which are disassembled and even opposite to each other, feels sick. But if they begin to unify in harmony and inter-connection, then instead of feeling the illness, the body will sense the life of a higher order. This is how we, with our animate body, feel ourselves at the human degree. The body is an animal, but there is something in a human being that brings him or her back to a higher degree.

And now, by uniting with each other in harmony, we acquire a sensation of a life higher than our present one. It is our spiritual life.

Surely, we have to work on this in the group. This is the primary responsibility that has been placed upon us. In addition, it is our duty to bring the entire world to this, to mitigate the enormous suffering that we may evoke by advancing by means of the negative force, being pushed with a “stick.” Indeed, we already see that humanity’s misfortunes are becoming increasingly unexpected and dangerous.
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From Lesson 1, WE! Convention 4/1/2011

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I am in a net of forces that influence me. Their sum total is nature. So what is its goal? What does it want from me? Where is it leading me?

It’s clear to me that my development unfolds purposefully. I am convinced of this by the example of the other parts of nature. For example, a small, sour fruit grows into a large, juicy, sweet apple.

Just as the vegetative and animate levels of nature develop, so I develop, going through opposite states that are good and bad. It is impossible to advance only on one side. I alternate them, taking a step with the left and then a step with the right, again and again. I continuously reveal a lack that corresponds to the future fulfillment.

That is when I make a calculation: Where is this process leading? Where does nature direct me? Then I see that it obligates me to undergo social development. Over the course of the last several millennia humanity needed to develop society more and more, and within the society, to develop the interconnections among us.

We revealed evil, our egoism, our hatred to one another, and as a result we are starting to understand the need to unite. In the modern, global world, this is becoming clear.

What is the use of this? The use is that I will enter the next level of my development, the level of the common nature of the universe. I will attain absolute goodness and will acquire similarity to the perfect nature.

Therefore, I do not take into account the intermediate states which I go through on the path. If I hold the goal in front of my mind’s eye and constantly think about it, then I feel good now as well. The most important thing is to “float up” above all the present sensations, both the good and the bad.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/11 on Global Education

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Question: The theme of the upcoming convention is, “We make it real.” What do we actually have to do to make it real?

Answer: “We make it real” means that we are revealing the true reality instead of the one we imagine through the prism of egoism, the will to receive.

We include two forces: the will to receive and the will to bestow. If we are under the power of the will to receive, and the will to enjoy only gives us a slight life force, then everything we feel, determined by the role of reception, is called this world. But if we reach the state where everything will be determined by the will to bestow, it will be called the upper, spiritual world.

Thus, there are two forces in the world and you determine what you want to feel, in what world or reality you want to be. If your will to receive rules over the will to bestow, then you feel this world. And since the will to receive is limited by the amount of pleasures it is able to absorb inside, therefore our life is limited.

However, if you want to experience yourself in the will to bestow, then you will feel bestowal, and that is already life and eternal, unlimited development. Our presence in the will to receive is real. It exists and we are in it, but it is far away from life because we only imagine that it really exists. The entire realty of the will to receive, its very matter, comes from the will to bestow that is present inside it. That is why it is unreal, similar to a children’s blow-up toy. We get the impression that it is alive, but the air filling it, its entire life force actually comes from the will to bestow; it is not its own. That is why our world is called an “imaginary world.”
From the lesson on 2/18/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can an egoistic heart ask for bestowal?

Answer: Of course, an egoistic heart is unable to ask for bestowal. It prays for something that it deems better for itself. It doesn’t know how to pray in any other way.

However, the nature in which a person exists is one thing, but how he uses that mechanism is a different matter. Even though he is an egoist and his prayer and attitude to others are egoistic, nevertheless he arranges this entire mechanism in such a way that lets him attract the Light that reforms.

How does the Torah, the Light that reforms act? I am an egoist and I plan on using it egoistically, but through that I activate a mechanism that attracts Light to me that turns me into the opposite of what I am today. This means that this Light returns me back to its source.

If I was already asking for bestowal on my own, then I would not need to be brought back to the source. Everything would already be clear. However, everything is arranged so that even when I shout for bestowal, this is still reception in disguise.

The same thing happens on every level. When I ascend to a certain level and check: What did I pray for? What did I do? What love for the neighbor did I talk about? What I find is that it was all egoistic. What seemed like holiness on the lower level appears as “garbage” when you look at it from above.

But there is a special mechanism of ascent: the connection between AHP of the upper one and Galgalta Eynaim of the lower one. If I face darkness and confusion, and I lower myself before the society that helps me to do so, then I attract the Light that reforms. I mix Malchut with Bina – mercy that reigns in the upper one, with the force of judgment that is in me. That is how I attain my correction.

Therefore, we are not required to be holy from the beginning, but only to organize everything to the extent we are able in order to attract holiness to us. Before that, I am opposite to it! Otherwise, how would it be possible to correct yourself after the breaking?

Every time we receive any new state, all the previous states are erased from our memory so as not to confuse us. The current state is also not very clear to us and from this darkness we have to start arranging everything so as to attract the influence of the upper force to us – the influence of the higher level, the quality of bestowal that we don’t have. We continuously receive a new force and become a new creation.

This is what the common prayer is all about. It is the prayer to acquire the force to be included in society and to feel care for the neighbor.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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You and I were not created by accident. The Creator wanted for creation to become the same as He, and everything happening to us is moving toward this goal. Therefore, on this path we have to go through the realization that we are divided, separated, and hate one another. However, we receive the force to unite above this hatred, which gradually increases more and more. That’s because we cannot overcome and rise above all of the hatred reigning in us all at once. But if we can overcome it gradually, step by step, then we will acquire the quality of bestowal, mutual attention, care, the quality of Bina that does not allow us to do to another what we hate. And after that we reach love for the neighbor “as for ourselves.”

That is why the entire science of Kabbalah, which is called the science of truth, talks only about unity. It’s because inside unity, we, people, attain the qualities of the Creator.

If people get together and unite in one desire in order to multiply every person’s forces and give each other the guarantee that through their common efforts they will attain the desired goal and will gain greater confidence, this is called “a society of clowns and liars.” That’s because they think that through their unity they will be able to gain greater egoistic benefit. Therefore, their common prayer acts destructively and separates them from the goal.

A person has to understand that he unites with others only in order to discern how to ascend above his nature. It’s not to receive greater force from the society or to satisfy the demands of his egoism, but to enter inside this society and start bestowing to it. This is the only force we should look for.

The force of bestowal to society comes form the Light, from the Creator, from what is concealed inside of a person’s relationship with the society, the group. That is to say, the group has to consist of people who unite precisely in order to attain the Creator, the common quality of bestowal.

The Creator does not exist separately from creation. The quality of common bestowal does not exist unless there is a person who reveals it. Therefore, if a person includes himself into the group that aspires to the quality of bestowal and there he desires to find this force, to attain this quality, he starts to understand from his unity with others that this care about society, inside of which the quality of bestowal exists, or care for the Creator, which is the same thing, is the prayer of the society.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Question: What prevents a person from reaching the prayer of society if he already sees that all his intentions are for his own sake?

Answer: The problem is that a person understands that his intentions are egoistic, but he is willing to tolerate that. That’s because he only sees how ugly these intentions are, but he doesn’t understand what kind of harm they cause him. This is the entire problem!

If I simply accept the fact that I am an egoist, then so what? But I have to feel how this is killing me. Only then will I be able to separate from my egoistic intentions. My own ego will separate me from the thing that causes me harm.

So at first, I separate from my egoistic thoughts by virtue of egoism itself. That means Pharaoh brings the sons of Israel closer to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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The history of humanity is the history of egoism’s development. Today, we witness how egoism cannot bring satisfaction to people any longer. Previously, I yearned toward the future: I wanted to buy a car, a yacht, a plane, and so on. But now, profitable and promising desires do not surge in me anymore. After all, I always seek pleasure in something new, but there is nothing new left.

The sensation of fulfillment, pleasure in my desires, is in fact the sensation of life in me. If I do not feel fulfillment of a desire, there is no life either since the desire is dead. Thus, helpless, I am even willing to die so as to not feel this inner emptiness. This is the centuries-old script that propels us toward the future.

Nowadays, humanity subconsciously creates problems and confusion, and acts foolish solely to not feel the inner void. People are willing to fight, make revolutions, anything, in order to feel at least some fulfillment, no matter how negative. For instance, if I don’t have an appetite, I take something sour so as to feel an urge to eat something and enjoy.

If we don’t choose the correct course, such behavior will lead us to war. And we will succumb so that afterward we would feel somewhat better: Finally, we have something to live for. Indeed, why not to fight to refresh and renew ourselves?

It is a very big problem. Governments and media are very well aware of it. That’s why they keep trying to confuse the public by supplying all kinds of excitement for them that will prompt people to do something and receive satisfaction from it. Otherwise, people will face emptiness and will start throwing their leaders off their thrones, sweep away all borders, and commit suicide out of hopelessness.

It will be impossible to control them. How can one rule over a person who doesn’t care about or enjoy anything? So, one should understand that the public is being manipulated on a massive scale, including via the Internet. It isn’t an accident that it is has got such a boost, and it is hardly surprising that it is so accessible and strives to enter every home. It isn’t for us—it is so they may control us.

This is the only way to control people today, by showing them additional “sources of income,” meaning fulfillment. Otherwise, a person will be willing to do whatever it takes since life without pleasure loses all its value for him.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011, The Principles of Global Education

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