Question: When we turn to the general public we first of all propose they unite in order to solve their daily troubles. Then the real meaning of the unity will be revealed, is this true?

Answer: Yes. From an egoistic intention (Lo Lishma—not for Her sake) we move on to an altruistic intention (Lishma—for Her sake). Baal HaSulam writes about it in the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot (items 138-139): “People turn to the Torah from the worst state.” We may ask, who let them? Who gave them permission to do so? The sources describe in legends how the angels asked the Creator: “How can You give Your Torah, Your study to such lowly creatures?” But Moses beat the angels by asking: “Do you feel envy? Is there an evil inclination in you?” This is the only way; we have to use the force of the Light in the situations that the Creator sends us on purpose when there is nothing in our soul.

So we have to present the method of correction to people and explain that we should connect and unite. The more softly and accessibly we convey this message, the faster they will accept it and will not deteriorate into real hunger and real critical states.

Today we are not dying of hunger, but we do feel the limitations and the growing pressure of the circumstances. If now, while the situation is not threatening yet, we manage to convince people, things will work out. If we don’t, things will get worse and deteriorate to a level in which we will be able to meet the masses and reach them. Then we will be able to present the right explanations to them and they will listen to us.

But we have to bring them the information about what is going on now, out of love and concern. Not even a fraction of the evil has been revealed and we already have to think about how to overcome the crisis. But today we “go out to the people” not in order to take part in demonstrations, but in order to explain.

What is more, in Israel we cooperate with other social movements in order to create a connecting network among the people. There are many organizations and circles that can cooperate with us in the process. Our participation is enough in order to start the support from Above.
[84856]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/5/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

Related Material:
Truth From The Belly
The Effect Of The Majority
Integral Upbringing With No Sudden Movements

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A, Unity - No Comments →

Question: How can we convince ourselves that we are waiting for not an ordinary convention, but really there will be something special at this convention?

Answer: First, we have come to the state where the world demands this. The world has long been in a “desperate state,” but all this is just masked, obscured. But no matter how you hide them, the problems have already come out from under this cover. And that is why, while they are still trying to hide something, it no longer helps.

So, on the one hand, we see that the world forces us. And this is the most important thing since Kabbalah was revealed because the world is beginning to come to integral interdependence. But no one, except Kabbalah, has the method of preserving society, peace, family, and oneself in this integral interaction.

That is why Kabbalah was waiting for this moment to be revealed and to become the method of constructing a new society. We have to demonstrate on ourselves how to do this and learn from lectures and workshops how to teach this so that it is very clear and simple.

Every person who comes to the congress, in principle, is a potential distributor who will be able to give lectures, organize workshops and roundtables, etc. At least, if a person is not able to learn everything, he will still be able to absorb something and then finish his studies in our courses. I very much look forward to it.

We have to go through all the states that a person must pass beginning from zero and finishing with full connection with each other.
[84623]
From a Virtual Lesson 7/29/12

Related Material:
A Jump Into Eternity
The Era Of A Round Correction
The Convention In Kharkov: The Next Degree

Filed under: Conventions, Crisis, Education, Integral Upbringing, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A, Workshops - No Comments →

All the events are revealed to a person because of his incomplete perception because of his uncorrected sensations. The world is depicted as incomplete according to a person’s perception and understanding. But we should understand that this imperfection is not in the external world, but in ourselves.

The current global crisis doesn’t develop around us but only in our perception. But the moment we correct ourselves, all the external problems will disappear. It is because the world doesn’t exist in itself, but only in our feelings; it is within us. As soon as we correct our attributes, all the disasters and the problems, the storms and the crises immediately disappear. None of this exists; the upper Light simply fills all of reality…

The difference between truth and lie is only within a person. First by clarifying all the blows that hit him, he should understand that there is a purpose and a reason for them, as it says: ” I am the first,” which means the reason, and “I am the last,” which means the purpose. These blows come so that a person could correct himself and realize that his perception of reality is false.

It operates like a “helpmate.” Since if this evil remained in a person, he would never reveal it. But since the evil is revealed on the outside, it is as if it is against him, and so a person can discern it. Our ego magnifies this evil many times by enabling us to see it in others in its most prominent form.

We look at our evil as if through a magnifying glass and see it 620 times larger. This helps us reveal it and it is called a “helpmate.”

I reveal this evil in others, but I understand that it is the opposite and that it is inside me, and thus I can correct myself. A person has to constantly check himself and whether he has the right perception: He must immediately turn all the evil that he sees on the outside, see it in himself, and correct it.

So when I identify with what is outside myself, I perceive this attribute as good for me. I accept it and am in it by correcting myself. Thanks to it, I can check myself with regards to the group, with regards to others, with regards to the Creator.

It turns out that the perception of the external reality helps me find the evil in me in my internal reflection, and to understand that it isn’t the world that is destroyed, but that it is me who is ruined, since this is how my evil is revealed. It is by correcting myself that I correct the whole world. This is called “judging myself and the whole world to a scale of merit.”

Let’s hope that we will be able to understand and to digest this, to perceive this picture and to convey this correct and healthy approach to the whole world, to all the people. Then, by the correction of man, we can heal all the problems. The first difficulty is to change my approach and instead of correcting the world, we should understand that we should correct ourselves.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the whole world we see around us is a reflection of our internal attributes, just like a mirror. But in order to keep it simple, we should explain that a person should correct himself first so that he can later correct the world. This is because a corrupt person builds a corrupt world and a corrected person can build a corrected world.
[84700] 
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Correction Of Evil: Going All The Way
Checking By Action
The Picture Of Creation Hanging On Two Hooks

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Inner Work, My Similarity to the Creator - No Comments →

Opinion (Larry Lang, professor of finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong): “Larry Lang was reported by The Epoch Times as saying that China’s economy is on the ‘brink of bankruptcy’ and that ‘every province is a Greece.’ …

“According to the Chinese government website (www.gov.cn), the audit found 10.7 trillion yuan of local government debt at the end of 2010, a result of easy loans made possible by the government’s 2008-2009 stimulus injection. …

“The audit discovered that 1033 such companies have problems such as false-financing, the registered capital being unpaid-in, illegal provision of funds and the withdrawing of them by local governments and departments, involving a sum of 244.15 billion yuan,” the audit said in its findings. …

“In a controversial series of claims, Lang said that overall debt in China was as much as 36 trillion yuan (US$5.68 trillion), official inflation figures of 6.2% were as high as 16%, domestic consumption represented only 30% of economic activity and that there was ‘serious excess capacity.’ He added that despite government headline figures of 9% growth in GDP, production had actually shrunk in China.

“‘Once the economic tsunami starts, the regime will lose credibility, and China will become the poorest country in the world,’ Lang concluded in the lecture.”

My Comment: Everything is just unfolding, but since the script is already open, it makes no sense to talk about it. We are facing either a new understanding and correction of people and social relations or a world war, after which we will repeat evolution and nonetheless come to correction.
[84288]

Related Material:
The Chinese Are Buying Up American Cities
“Chinese Economy Already In ‘Hard Landing’”
World Bank: China Faces Crisis

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, News - 1 Comment →

Question: Baal HaSulam says that if we don’t keep the balance between the forces of receiving and bestowal, nature punishes us. Why should people be punished if they don’t know anything about it?

Answer: It isn’t “punishment” in the usual sense, but rather the way a person is evoked to self-correction. On the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, the “punishment” is the correction itself. On the other hand, on the human level the punishment is the awakening, the push so that a person will hasten his correction in “I shall hasten it” and not in “it’s time.”

In the meantime we develop according to the first three levels—the still, vegetative, and animate—and our development is a natural, instinctive process, which we call “according to schedule,” “in its time,” according to the plan. Kabbalists knew in advance the approximate dates of the different phases, but starting from the 15th century, the wisdom of Kabbalah became part of this as it was meant to speed up the process. Since then, part of humanity continues to receive “ordinary” blows and problems that lead to scientific, technological progress, while another part began to receive special blows, that are intentional and by which people are evoked and turn to the wisdom of Kabbalah. This awakening started from the Baal Shem Tov who actually opened the gates to the internal work for the Jewish people and founded its principles for the future generations. He didn’t write anything, but he disseminated the method to an unprecedented extent. He was an exceptionally practical man, considering the conditions in his time.

It was the Baal Shem Tov who initiated the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah for the masses. He had power that was given to him from Above, of course, to insert the sparks into the devastated nation that had been through troubles such as poverty and pogroms in Eastern Europe. He organized people and built a general network among them. He began to reveal to them the structure of the spiritual reality: the five worlds, Sefirot, Partzufim… then The Book of Zohar became accessible to the masses, which again was an unprecedented event. It was possible for the Hasidim to keep it on their bookshelf since the wisdom of Kabbalah was not forbidden anymore.

The first students of the Baal Shem Tov were great Kabbalists. They founded Hasidic movements and wrote books that the people could accept. These books, which are written in a very emotional, beautiful language made people accustomed to the internal work.

It isn’t by chance that Baal HaSulam thinks very highly of the Baal Shem Tov; after all, he started a true Kabbalistic revolution and opened the door that used to be locked for all those who are interested in it. He himself is still a mystery; we can talk about his actions but not about him.

His students carried on his work, each according to his character, and eventually all the Hasidic movements made a great step towards the fulfillment of the wisdom of Kabbalah among the people. People began to respect the spiritual attainment, the self-annulment and the love of others. Concepts such as “Love thy friend as thyself,” and “Worship the Lord with joy” became part of life. It was a time of very intensive internal work.

Only two hundred years later there was a descent, when the Hasidic movement became a “ritual” and the internality became externality again.

If we come back to the question, we are concealing the facts from ourselves; we don’t want to hear about them, and the moment we forget about the spiritual work, we are immediately back in our corporeal work. Here the ego that controls us operates and it conceals even the slightest connection with the Creator from us; it conceals His actions, His existence. We don’t want to know anything about Him.

It isn’t by chance that this concealment is so great; it builds the space for a person to stabilize himself. On the other hand, he is reminded of what’s important and is evoked and brought to the group. This process will gradually spread all over the world, but first there is the period of darkness, which is the basis upon which a person should build himself in the future.
[84557]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/02/12, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar”

Related Material:
The Era Of the Last Generation
Descent Of Kabbalists
Under The Control Of Concealment

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” p. 57: If the worshipers of the Creator had at least engaged in the internality of the Torah and extended a complete Light from Ein Sof, the whole generation would have followed them. And everyone would be certain of their way that they would not fall. But if even the servants of the Creator have distanced themselves from this wisdom, it is no wonder the whole generation is failing because of them. And because of my great sorrow, I cannot elaborate on that!

If the masses studying the Torah understood what the true teaching is… That is how they call the wisdom of Kabbalah, but they do not want to learn it. And yet, if they had taken up this science, of course, we could have made great corrections, both quantitative and qualitative. And then our situation today would be different.

Who is more aware of this gap between the desired and reality than Baal HaSulam, when instead of internality we are preoccupied with externality? The end of the 19th century, when the return to the land of Israel was allowed, was the latest milestone. In general this period lasts from the time of the Ari, the Messiah, son of Joseph.

Rabbi Abraham Ben Mordechai Azulai writes in the “Introduction to the book, Ohr HaChama [Light of the Sun]” 81:

The prohibition from Above to refrain from open study of the wisdom of truth was for a limited period, until the end of 1490. Thereafter is considered the last generation, in which the prohibition was lifted and permission has been granted to engage in The Book of Zohar. And since the year 1540, it has been a great Mitzva (precept) for the masses to study, old and young. And since the Messiah is bound to come as a result, and for no other reason, it is inappropriate to be negligent.

From here, we can understand at least a bit how much we lose because we still neglect the science of Kabbalah, and what harm it carried to the people then and to this day. In essence, we make a great offense.

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that: “The entire generation would have followed us.” Does this mean that everyone should learn the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: It is not accustomed to speak in the subjunctive mood, and yet: If the religious people in those generations had studied Kabbalah and added the hidden part—the writings of the Ari and the teaching of Baal Shem Tov—to the explicit part, then over time, we would have corrected ourselves. First of all, we would have felt reality correctly. People would not have abandoned the religion; the time of the “Haskalah” (the Age of Enlightenment), caused by separation from the right direction in human development, would not have arrived.

After completing a period of spiritual exile, in the 15th century, the Jewish people would have continued towards salvation and ascent.

It was from that time that “the era of the last generation” has begun. Even then we had to become engaged in Kabbalah, that is, the method of correction that carries the Light that Reforms everyone, and all of us together. Then the nations of the world would have received illumination through us, which would have changed their attitude.

However, we did not engage into the internal part of the Torah, the science of Kabbalah, and thus, we did not have connection with the Light. It affected us in its own way, according to the new epoch, and this made our path more difficult. Instead of the Light, the world grew dark because we were not able to accept It. Darkness is the same Light that we cannot discern in our corrupted desires. If we had corrected ourselves, we would have felt Its approach as something desirable. However, everything went to the contrary; we don’t want the Light, and It turns into darkness for us, terrible suffering.

That’s the problem: So far, people were engaged in the Torah only externally, in the studies. “Externally” means not in order to correct the soul. The exile in which we are was caused by the fact that we don’t correct ourselves, but study without advancement. Once, we had to act that way, but chronologically this period ended in the 15th century. We are 500 years behind.

Question: Today, it turns out that the secular part of the population is closer to the Kabbalah.

Answer: Right. Let’s hope that situation will change. In the meantime, the religious part is going through the stage of the awareness of evil in themselves and in the contemporary events. Little by little, in different forms, it begins to realize that. And this will happen in a couple of years.

In any case, we are not going to correct anyone but ourselves. Anyone who wants to join the process of correction is welcome. In the total system, we are all interconnected; so let’s hope that this will affect everyone.

If the religious audience had begun to study Kabbalah, of course, we would have quickly come to general correction. However, such are the conditions, such are the properties inherent in the receiving desire.

In addition, we must understand that what we face is a consequence of the breaking and exile. This part of the people should behave in this way. Indeed, we are all driven by nature, and nothing is beyond its scope. During the exile, a person is in the nature of the desire to receive; he does not feel his connection with the Creator. The upper Light and the Creator are not revealed to him and there is no connection. On the other hand, he is content by studying the Torah and the Commandments in their current form. And that is why, tied by the left line, he just cannot get out of this state.

This is the result of the path we have traversed, and we cannot accuse anyone of anything. We look at these social events as researchers, objectively, remembering that there is none else besides Him. So it had to happen.

As for the practical corrections, we need to understand that now everything depends on us. We demand nothing from anyone but ourselves. This is our approach to every part of human society and to everyone: We must give him the best explanation, and then it is his free choice.
[84452]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/01/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

Related Material:
Religious Resistance To Kabbalah
Accelerate The Time Of Liberation
Why Was There A Prohibition On Kabbalah Before?

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Kabbalah Dissemination, Kabbalah Study, Q&A - No Comments →

Opinion (Lester R. Brown, president, Earth Policy Institute, Washington, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse): “In the summer of 2010, record high temperatures scorched Moscow from late June through mid-August. … The record heat shrank Russia’s grain harvest from roughly 100 million tons to 60 million tons. This 40-percent drop and the associated grain export ban helped drive world wheat prices up 60 percent in two months, raising bread prices worldwide. …

“If the July temperature in Chicago were to average 14 degrees above the norm, as it did in Moscow, there would be chaos in world grain markets. Grain prices would quickly climb off the chart. Food prices would soar worldwide. Many grain-exporting countries, trying to hold down domestic food prices, would restrict or even ban exports, as they did in 2007–08.

“Oil-exporting countries would try to barter oil for grain. Low-income grain importers would lose out. Instead of being dominated by scenes of smoke and fire in Moscow, the TV evening news would run live footage of food riots in low-income grain-importing countries and carry reports of spreading hunger, falling governments, and failing states. With governments collapsing and with confidence in the world grain market shattered, the global economy could start to unravel.”

My Comment: Nature forces us into the corner, and it will be doing this until we realize that we have to change ourselves instead of the world.
[84378]

Related Material:
The World In Food Crisis
Apocalypse Attacks Humanity
The Earth Is Experiencing An Apocalypse

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Education, Integral Upbringing - No Comments →

Question: Should we only be telling about the integral methodology to those people who have problems?

Answer: I think that we simply need to disseminate the knowledge about the presence of an integral methodology. Gradually, in a short time, people will start to “lighten up,” to understand, and to feel that the only possibility to survive is exactly in this.

We stand in front of such serious problems that humanity has never faced. Man has entered into an opposition with nature. He has never reached this border before. And now he has arrived at it and is facing a wall that is not letting us go any further. This is, on the one hand.

While on the other hand, the developing force is pushing against us, pressing us against the wall in front of us. And we will have to do something about it.

That is why it is necessary to give people the knowledge, data, and information, at least about the fact that the integral methodology exists, that now we are undergoing this kind of a development, and that there is no other way out. At the same time, we need to teach, having the latest scientific data as our base.
[84143]
From the Virtual Lesson7/15/12

Related Material:
To Change A Person
Instructors Of Integral Education: Worth Their Weight In Gold
A Guide To Solving Problems

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Today, many are already saying that we have come to a state, when we need to be changing not the world around us, but man himself. Man has always stood in the middle and changed the society, industry, and technology—everything around. It is not so now. Now all of that is falling out of our hands.

We must first change man, and then we will be able to create a new environment around him, new social, political, economic, and other relations. Only after that will we understand how to change the world.

That is why, today, nobody has any methodologies, no “tools” to change anything. Many recognize this today. What people only started to sense earlier, 20-30 years ago, to slightly realize it ten years ago, today is being talked about it. It is not in the mass media yet, but they are already talking and understanding that the world, having gone through the post-industrial state, the postmodern state, must now enter a new state.

And the next state of the world is the change of the human. We must step up to the new level on which we will become fundamentally different, and on it, we will build a completely new world. This is not fiction; we will see this. It is advisable to talk about it, desirable to keep trying it, because this way we decrease the suffering and blows on the way.

I think that within the coming half-year this will be felt on a very large scale.
[84149]
From the Virtual Lesson 7/15/12

Related Material:
Instructors Of Integral Education: Worth Their Weight In Gold
Against The Wall
Mutual Responsibility Course: A Post-Crisis Crash Course

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Integral Upbringing - No Comments →

We hear more and more new details on the news about the general global crisis, although many things still remain unsaid. The real situation is much worse than we know. The world leaders themselves are not aware of the actual extent of the problem.

So we have to disseminate the method of correction as fast as we can. It’s our duty. We haven’t developed it enough. We have to accelerate things and “hit the gas pedal.” Then we’ll be able to prepare it and to present it to the world.

In Israel things are also going from bad to worse, and this is only “mild decrease” from Above. They are meant to make us feel pressure and to want to “sweeten” them. We have to explain to people exactly how we can sweeten the bitterness.

We hear about it, we understand what’s going on to a certain level; we have received an awakening from Above. If we don’t try as hard as we can to develop the method in order to present it to the people, we are putting ourselves in grave danger.

We’ll be the first to experience all the troubles in order to awaken us to fulfill our vocation. Baal HaSulam writes about it at the end of “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar.” He says that the Jewish people are responsible for the nations of the world and so we are also responsible for the Jewish people. If people have been awakened, if they can hear what needs to be done and they don’t do it, I won’t rejoice at their troubles, but I am telling you in advance that the troubles will undoubtedly arrive. It’s because the Creator has assigned a special role for each one and we mustn’t escape it.

Here is a passage from Baal HaSulam, Letter 18: And so there is no correction for a person, but to straighten all the present moments and all future ones so that they shall be dedicated and presented for His great name. Whoever postpones a moment before Him, since it is difficult, reveals his stupidity to everyone, since all the worlds, and all the times are worthless for him, when the Light of His face is not dressed in the changes of the times, although a person does change by them in his work.

We have no choice; we have to devote all these moments. If you don’t do that you automatically summon upon yourself the right account. Your inaction will not drown in piles of overdue paper work like in the case of public servants, and no one will pity you, since we are in a system that has clear laws.

You were awakened. By fulfilling it you feel a positive response and can go on. What’s more, you are not required to do more then you can, since this is a closed system that takes all the parameters into account. But if you don’t fully respond, you’ll feel the pressures that are put upon you accordingly.

So if you are sitting and waiting for something, it’s a great pity, the results are inevitable. I don’t understand what you are waiting for if you already have the opportunity to connect through the group and to wake up from the dream. Let’s hope we will be wiser.
[84364]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/31/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

Related Material:
Giving the world A Push Towards The Good
And what Would You Do In The King’s Palace?
What Will Let Us Pass The Rubicon?

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Unity - No Comments →