Question: On one hand you talk about the Ohr Makif as if it is something wise, passionate and alive. But on the other hand, the Light is at absolute rest, and only according to my changes does its influence on me change. How can I resolve this contradiction in me?

Answer: There is nothing wise besides the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light). Everything else is an egoistic desire for pleasure that at every moment wants to get a maximal feeling of existence and fulfillment.

This desire can grow under the influence of the Light to very high parameters according to the Reshimot (reminiscences) that are found within it. But the desire grows in only one way: to enjoy with even greater feeling, more openly and prominently according to whatever its internal combinations are, but only for enjoyment! It doesn’t know anything else!

The Upper Light, which influences it all the time, invites impulses and stimuli for greater and greater fulfillments in it. And since the egoistic desire becomes further away from a pure nature, it acquires distorted and monstrous forms within us.

But we play all the time and lie to ourselves and others by hiding our essential nature so that it is not seen in us. Behavior like this is typical in humans but not in animals.

The levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, operate only according to the principle of “maximal reception with minimal effort” to bring themselves to a state of fulfillment. Desire chooses their actions and evaluates them like this. So the natures of the still, vegetative, and animate don’t make mistakes. They have very clear algorithms.

Every level sees particular options for attaining the most fulfillment of its desire, choosing from them what requires the least effort because efforts deduct from the fulfillment attained. And this results in a simple formula according to which all levels of nature operate.

Look at any healthy animal, how it behaves with precision. But if it is sick, then its natural program errs and the animal begins to behave differently. We see this immediately.

So the Ohr Makif acts everywhere in everything; it is the only thing that exists!
[137942]
From the Sochi Convention 6/10/14, Lesson 2

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Question: How must we begin to correct the situation? The event that is most worrisome these days is the kidnapping of the boys. What should we do?

Answer: The boys were kidnapped because we have not realized our role and have not connected as a people. Now, after these tragic events, the people have begun to connect.

But they are connecting because of trouble and not because they want to reach mutual bestowal. This is not the right connection.

Baal HaSulam wrote in the newspaper The Nation that Israel connects under the pressure of external factors like nuts in a sack. Understandably this also helps, but not much.

As long as we have not begun to hate our egoism more than anything else in the world, the correction will not begin. Direct all of your hatred for the kidnappers at your ego, then it will help. The solution is only in the fact that we don’t have anything to hate besides our egos. We must teach all of the people about this. We have no choice, for this is the only thing that will truly help us. The method was given to us for this.

All of the people are now enraged against the terrorists, blaming the poor boys who hitchhiked. But it is written: “I will place over you a king like Haman and against your will you will return to the good” (Sanhedrin 97b). This is what is done through the terrorists. Is there something that they can do through their own desire and not through the desire of the Creator?

Rabash told a story about how a school teacher gave a student who misbehaved blows, and the student had to kiss the stick. In this way, the student acknowledged that the problem was not with the stick, rather everything was found in the hands of the Creator. If you curse the terrorists, it is as if you are cursing the Creator, since indeed, all of the means are found with Him.

We harm ourselves with this even more, as it is forbidden for us to hate the people who bring troubles upon us since they are indeed doing the will of the Creator. We must direct all of this hatred at ourselves, our egoism.

As it is written: “Neither them nor their reward” (Berachot 5b). Why do we feel pain and then try to heal it if we could aspire to love and correct everything from the start? All of our problems would disappear immediately!
[137602]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/18/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: As a young person, what can I learn from an old person?

Answer: A young person can learn a different attitude towards life from an old person. That is, he can understand that the achievements that seem important to him now are not important at all, and it is worthwhile for him to fill his life with what will allow him to leave his footprints behind him forever. This is specifically what an old person and someone approaching old age wants.

And then we come to integral education whose task is to explain a system of eternal connections exists among us. Within it we can express ourselves and remain in a form filled with a new spirit of bestowal to others.

During the time of our egoistic reception we cannot do this, and then we die, such that nothing is left of us at all. But if I connect with the others in bestowal, then I acquire an eternal power that acts by itself and doesn’t require reception from others. And so this power operates all the time. If I am included in this power of bestowal and love that fills all of reality and go along with it, then I increase this power through my desire.

That is how I am included in this field of power and begin to live in it. And I will never die! This is my “self” that succeeds in becoming mixed with the power of bestowal in an eternal manner, for this altruistic power itself is eternal.

For this it is only necessary to change my psychological perception. Now I perceive myself as living and existing according to what I get. To the degree that I have aged, my egoistic powers weaken and dissolve. I age, and gradually lose all desire until I die. This means that the force of my needs dies as it becomes smaller and smaller, until it disappears completely.

Among us this is called “death.” But if I develop the power of bestowal and love within me, then I will not feel death. I will see how the power of bestowal fills the world, and with my new desire, I am included in this power and add intensity to it. I let this power of bestowal be revealed through me as if it is clothed in a new body. In this manner, I acquire a new life that is spiritual and not physical!

This body is beastly and I feel that formerly I was living with a single egoistic spirit, and now I live with a completely different spirit, which is the spirit of bestowal. And with this spirit of bestowal the angel of death has no control over me.

This spirit of bestowal is revealed to the people who are surrounded by it, and so it transforms them into very useful members of society. It is possible to gather people of retirement age, who already feel that they are approaching the end of their life, and explain to them how they can become eternal. And then we don’t end life along with this physical body because we don’t identify ourselves with it; instead we build a new body, a body of bestowal instead of egoistic reception.

So if a person doesn’t want to feel aging as a gradual decay until his lamp is completely extinguished, it is necessary for him to attain bestowal and discover the system of integral connections in which he will feel his eternal existence before his physical body dies.

Question: What kind of conclusion must the young person make from life being constructed such that eventually his or her time will inevitably end?

Answer: From a young age it is necessary to teach a person that this life is an ascent until the age of 30, and after that it is a descent and death. And therefore we must use all of this life to make a constant ascent from it that will never end!
[137253]
From the program “A New Life” 4/22/2014

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The Midrash Says, Chapter “Shemini”: And then there was the fire of the Shechina. All Jews saw the pillar of fire descending from Heaven, entering the Mishkan, consuming the sacrifices on the altar, and settling there. Seeing this miracle, they fell down and gave praise to the Creator.

Correction of the strongest, most evil and bitter egoism manifests itself as the most powerful Light, as the all-consuming fire. Mutual hatred, repulsion, rivalry, detachment, and negation are replaced by love; however, internally everything remains the same. That’s why when two opposite properties touch, there appears the fire between them.

Moreover, this state becomes permanent and we can never get rid of it. In spirituality nothing ever disappears. When we attain a certain level, we don’t fall from it. We get additional, as yet, unrevealed egoism in which we are submerged. In general, it is not a descent, but rather an ascent along the left line. Therefore it is said, “the pillar of fire settled on the step.”
[136400]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/15/14

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Throughout its entire history, humanity has invented numerous methods of social correction. Along with the progress of humanity, the structure of society acquired new shapes and turned into a more complicated configuration. Consequently, methodologies of augmenting human society have improved and become much more substantial and sophisticated. This is the reason philosophy was brought about, followed by psychology and other social sciences.

Among them, we can find both religious and social movements that are aimed at correcting our society. People are always dissatisfied with the environment they live in. In fact, it’s really a problem. Many studies have been conducted and countless books written on this topic; however, social problems still remain unsolved.

What all these methodologies have in common is that hey are all understandable to mankind. Each methodology can be explored, understood, and implemented. And although none of them have ever brought any benefit to humankind, people do not give up on them and still hope to implement them. People still hope that eventually they will find a way of making them work.

Lately, the growing frustration and sense of powerlessness is becoming clearer by the day. It is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot do anything with our nature, which is the cause of all evil in the world.

Our egoism, our evil inclination, has been expanding over several thousand years. We advance due to our ego. In fact, we really progressed, constructed, and evolved because of our egos. Actually, everything that was ever built and created by a human being in this world was done by a monkey that at some point in its evolution came down from the trees, a monkey that happened to have a mounting egoism which eventually forced it to turn into a human being. Egoism made a monkey develop socially in cities and countries of its habitat. Egoism encouraged the monkey to build, invent, and discover.

We had no doubts that our advancement would carry on. Based on what scientists, economists, and philosophers state today, humanity still hopes that it will continue developing. What else can people hope for? In fact, is there any other way to advance if not for our egoism? It’s the only force in this world that pushes everything ahead and governs every atom, all galaxies, each person, as well as all still, vegetative, and animate nature.

Everything moves because of our egoism. However, during the last 50 years this progressive force that made us advance, create, and construct turned into a “malicious demon,” a cancerous tumor that devours us. Previously, our egoism was used for creativity, although currently it doesn’t produce anything anymore; on the contrary, it destroys everything around.

The systems that were created for our benefit such as high technologies, medicine, education, and culture now work against us. Moreover, they harm us. Modern medicine, instead of healing us, aims to profit from us. High technology destroys the environment. The educational system cripples our children.

There is nothing we can do about it since we are positioned inside our egoism that has turned into a malignant tumor and gobbles itself and everything there is. Thus, it kills the body, all of  humanity.

Nobody in this world has a solution to the current situation. If there is only one force in nature, what can we do about it? We have nothing in our possession but our egoism. Our egos govern us, they push us ahead, accompany and embrace us from ahead and from behind. We know nothing but our egoism. We are totally at its mercy and have no idea where it leads us. Even approaching an abyss, there is nothing we can do against it. That’s why scientists, philosophers, and economists now cling to old values that were in use many years ago, irrespective of the fact that our world is rapidly and strongly declining. Nobody can change this state of affairs!

So, why don’t we, those who learn the wisdom of Kabbalah and who have the second force that is capable to confront egoism, go out and provide others with the recipe for salvation? Why don’t we participate in all the mass media? Why don’t we shout in the streets or give away our books at each street corner? Why don’t we flood newspapers and magazines with our articles? Why don’t we do all of this? Why don’t we meet with scientists, philosophers, well-known artists, and educators?

We actually held several meetings with them. The answer to these questions is very simple. Our methodology is based on having a point in the heart; we simply do not have a chance to explain to others that there exists another force that is capable of opposing our ego, a force with the help of which we can correct egoism. They don’t understand, feel or believe in such a force.

It doesn’t matter if they are religious or secular; they are just unaware that this force exists. Even if it is written in books they consider sacred, they still lack the internal sensation and do not have two bases. And inside we have both of them:  our egoistic inclination and a point that pulls us in a different direction. This point can provide us with the positive force in addition to the negative. We can unleash a war between these two vectors and correct the evil power by the benevolent force, because the Light that the latter contains reforms.

So, we have no chance to appeal to those who don’t have the internal prerequisites. They won’t understand us! They will consider us mystics, and dreamers. This explains why there is no other way to prove that our path and our methodology are correct except for bringing explicit examples. Baal HaSulam writes that we have to show a model that will convince people that our methodology is correct and that it really works! They won’t understand the mechanism of how it works, but the facts will speak for themselves.

If we manage to provide such an example, we’ll then have something to advertise, something that will serve as proof and will appeal to others. It’s impossible to make them feel it directly. The example should be clear and shared not only by us, some special people, but it also has to be apparent to the general public. The example should become known to thousands around us, then they will take part in building unity among everybody. They will feel that bestowal, giving, unity, warmth and love that awaken in us are the best rewards. They will exert to achieve these sensations, leave their egoism behind, and unite with each other on the basis of equality.

Our activities should be very simple: address regular people, unite them, and take care of them until we create an example that will be obvious to everyone. Then, we will be able to advertise this form to introduce people to the method.

The general public won’t understand its deep essence, but those who attain unity will feel where the source of the positive force is. Thus, the methodology will spread. That’s why we are making big and extremely important steps that will demonstrate to the entire world the essence of our methodology; we have to show others the outcome and set an example for the entire humanity.

I certainly hope that our joint care for the general public will help us unite to the extent that inside our strong association we will sense the internal fire and feel the power of bestowal. It will reveal itself in the very center of our unity, in the core of the group, and we’ll feel it. Those who join us without studying the wisdom of Kabbalah will simply feel that they are happier. They will feel good because their desires and goals will be fulfilled through having positive relationships with others. It will give them a sense of confidence; they will feel safer and will finally resolve their most vital problems. People will realize that everything is great about their lives, each one of them according to their level of desires.

Let’s hope that we’ll manage to set such an example for humanity and that it will demonstrate to everybody that it’s not about just empty words, but that it is really possible to trigger the benevolent force in our lives, and that with its help, we can correct the evil inclination by turning it into good.
[118955]
From a Talk during the Meal 10/23/13

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In our world, there is a very strange phenomenon: man, who develops from generation to generation. He develops his mind, and thus changes his environment.

But the mind itself develops due to the environment and so it cannot ascend higher than the attainment of the environment and how to make better use of it. This is what makes man so different from other animals. He uses nature and the environment a bit more than other animals, and that’s all. The animals’ desire is limited and definite, and it doesn’t grow from one generation to the next but is only filled by simple things: food, sex, family. That’s all an animal has.

People also enjoy the same pleasures, but they also enjoy wealth, domination, and knowledge. This makes human beings much more active but also worse and more egoistic than animals. It is because the power of the ego is unlimited when it comes to these human pleasures; a person wants to swallow the whole world, and thus ruins it. He ruins his environment to such an extent that it becomes more and more difficult to survive in this world ,which is supposed to be for the benefit of man.

After all, man has intellect so that he can arrange a better and more comfortable environment. But there is something here that ruins all this: our egoistic desire.

If we look and assess our life from this perspective, it is better not to be born at all and not to be doomed to such afflictions. Baal HaSulam says in the article “Peace in the World” that if a person calculated and weighed all the pleasures in life and all the sufferings, he would prefer not to be born at all.

But there is a purpose for being in this world. It is only for this purpose that all of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and especially man exist. It determines our character and all the inner and environmental conditions. All this is meant for our spiritual development.

Our spiritual development is the ascent from our current state to the spiritual world, which means unity, bestowal, and the love of others. But it is defined with respect to us, and in fact, spirituality is called the Creator, the Light, the One who bestows and loves.

We discover all that as the Creator’s nature and we call it spirituality. Our nature, on the other hand, is called corporeality since it stems from the matter of the desire to receive; whereas the Creator’s nature stems from the Light, from the force of bestowal and love and so it is called spirituality. It is based on the wind in contrast to the rain.
[134931]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Throughout its entire history, humanity has advanced due to its egoism. It started 14 billion years ago at the time of the Big Bang after which inanimate matter began developing. Later, plants and animals appeared on the face of Earth. However, now in the 21^st century, we are approaching the speaking level.

This is why we find ourselves in a major, integral crisis that involves all spheres of our life. We cannot live in peace with our spouses, children, bosses at work, friends, or neighbors, nobody! Even with ourselves!

Hence, we feel absolutely miserable. All the smart and super-complex systems that have been built won’t help us because human society is not balanced with the rest of nature.

There is a gap between humans and nature because the latter is integral, whereas we remain individualists. In other words, there is a “plus” on behalf of nature, and our part, on the contrary, is a “minus.” This difference is so huge that we cannot enjoy our lives. No matter how hard we try, we won’t be able to escape dramatic problems that eventually will unfold.

That’s why in the course of history, the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed from the people, waiting for the time when humanity developed its egoism to a certain level. Starting with ancient Babylon and up to our time (for approximately 3,500 years), Kabbalah was a hidden science.

Humanity progressed without having a clue about the wisdom of Kabbalah. Because humanity failed to implement Kabbalistic knowledge in ancient Babylon, we had to continue advancing our egoism up until this time. Currently, the wisdom is revealed. At this time, we are in the second point of the revelation of Kabbalah . We are the first ones who study it, thus we are receiving a chance to correct ourselves.

If we don’t succeed, our egoistic advancement will proceed for a little longer. Then, the wisdom of Kabbalah will again be concealed for a certain period of time during which terrible catastrophes will take place, such as a third world war, numerous disasters, etc. Afflictions will continue, unfolding until awful tragedies trigger a new revelation of Kabbalah. Complete desperation will eventually force humanity to implement this knowledge.

This is our current state. That’s why we have built a system that allows us to study, implement, and disseminate the methodology. Today, the entire humanity represents a new Babylon. It means that we have to work on our correction because it is the only way to change ourselves.
[134607]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day One 5/09/14, Lesson 1

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Question: It says in The Book of Zohar that during the construction of the Tabernacle the world was given love, justice, peace and unity as a present.

Answer: The Tabernacle is a Divine patent of connection between two opposite forces that complement one another.

In our world there is only hatred, rivalry, dispute and disagreement. As they accumulate more and more, they turn into a war and then everything quiets down for a while. But peace and the tranquility are only a period of transition to the next level of hatred and competition.

Unfortunately, the Divine patent isn’t known to man, since we see that throughout our history people hate one another, no matter how hard they try to establish different frameworks of diplomacy, ethics, laws, etc., among themselves.

In the past, there were certain norms and codes of behavior that don’t exist today. No one is ashamed of anything, no one is ashamed of anyone, and competition is a natural thing.

In the past, man, not money, was in first place. The main values were a person’s cultural needs and his perspective. This is how he was brought up.

Today, however, everything is measured in terms of money. Young people don’t choose a profession according to their inclinations but because the pay is high.

We have simply ascended to the next level of opposition between two opposite forces and now we should reach a very serious and special state where we will not be able to live in hate, envy, competition, rivalry, conflicts and disputes.

Today everyone agrees that resistance is felt towards everyone else and everyone feels resistance towards certain individuals, but that doesn’t really worry anyone, “So what? That’s the way I am and that’s how I relate to others.” This is a very good state because it is here that the the truth is revealed.

This is how we live and this is our nature. The crisis is everywhere as we see part of humanity starving, while another part discards food, but people ignore this calmly, “So what if people are starving, we don’t care.” We feel no compassion but only rivalry and hatred towards everyone.

Thus we need to reach a state where this rivalry becomes unbearable because otherwise these two opposite forces will get so close to one another that there will be sparks between them that will burn us and bring us to the end of our existence.

We need to feel this threat directly, not with regard to all of humanity, but with regard to ourselves, because we don’t care about anyone but ourselves.

When this feeling reaches our internal “I,”people will realize and acknowledge the fact that there has to be a way out of here since there is a splitting point in nature that allows us to exit this state. Then, thanks to our great egoistic desire, we will begin to search and demand from inside ourselves the way to the opposite state. And we will find it because we have a method to create such a resistance between us by which we can change our work in mutual hatred  to love, justice, mutual understanding, and equality.

This is all our work. This is why we were given a head and knowledge, so that we will not advance in the dark like a mole, but along the path of the Light, seeing the goal before us.
[134533]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/06/13

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When we come to a convention, we find ourselves in the company of people who are strangers whom we have never seen before. We don’t feel and don’t understand each other, but this is not important. If I know that I must connect with others in order to connect to the Creator, then I can enter any group.

It doesn’t concern me who is sitting there, from what country they come, or even what language they speak. The main thing for me is to participate emotionally and internally in this circle.

It is not important to me if we are speaking the same language and we know each other well, if we are close friends or seeing each other for the first time. This doesn’t change anything. The main thing is to rise above our ego and to want to be integrated into their circle in order to attain unity and through it, to let the Creator hear what we want.

So the rules of conduct in a group or at the time of a workshop are as follows:

1. Nobody thinks about himself. There is no me!
2. Everyone must feel that the rest of the friends are greater than himself (I < 9). In everything, the friends are higher than I am and I disappear in them as the smallest.
3. Connection above all of our particular, personal characteristics is the Kli (vessel) in which the Creator is discovered. For the Creator (Bore) is “Come and See” (Bo Re); this means that we reach this state and find the Creator there. So our Kli is equal to the Creator. To the degree of the intensity of the Kli, its power (Bo), I can discover the Creator (Re). There is no measurement of the Creator. We don’t know His true measurements. But we discover Him according to how much we have prepared our Kli (Bo): to this degree we see Him (Re).
4. At the time of the workshop nobody disagrees with the opinion of another. There are no questions: Each one only adds (10 = 1 + 1 + 1 …). What is important is the pluses and not the ones. The one whose turn is next only adds to the previous one, and nobody argues.

Even if I haven’t succeeded in rising above my critical attitude and it seems to me that someone else said something wrong, I must immediately correct myself. If I hear that a friend said something wrong, this means that I am not okay.

So everyone only adds and adds to what was said by the others. Someone can give some kind of conjecture, I continue, and then comes the next one in turn. So we constantly add. There are no great or small in our connection, all are equal.

It doesn’t matter what kind of seniority one has in a group, young or old, or more or less understanding. Among all of our physical characteristics in this world there is nothing that can violate our equality. In the spiritual world, all of us are equal, like children to their mother.
[134844]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 2

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Opinion (Yuri M. Kagramanov, publicist, culturologist): “Is there a means to prevent the decline of European civilization? Since the beginning of the 21^st century, at Western academic crossroads, there were talks about the need for the Second Enlightenment, which would give a new impetus to European civilization – just as the classical Enlightenment did.

“The cultural elite falls into the mass like in the quagmire, and humanity not only became mature, about what the intellectuals of the Enlightenment were dreaming, but fell back into childhood: it is interested only in the body, comfort, well-being, the power of material things … the infantile humanity of the 21^st century demonstrates the flaws inherent in children: gullibility, immorality, cowardice, ignorance, propensity for violence, the spirit of a herd.

“The confidence of Enlightenment that the human being is able to take the world’s fate in his hands is completely lost. We need not ideology but worldview – it is a much broader concept, and it has been always determined by geniuses.”

My Comment: There will be no Second Enlightenment as the masters of academic Europe envision. Egoism bloomed only once and gave its fruit, and today we are reaping it! The Second Enlightenment should be altruistic, and it will be given to the world not by egoists but by those who have mastered the way out of it, that is, Kabbalists. The Second Enlightenment is called “Integral Education of the World” or the “wisdom of connection.”
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