Question: In our time, most people feel that time seemingly slips through their fingers. We deal with urgent, pressing matters, and the most important we leave for later. How can we use time to realize every minute optimally? Is there a concept of a “waste of time”?

Answer: Of course! But everything is relative. Humanity has been evolving throughout history for many thousands of years. The question is: Can I grow faster than my generation, accelerate time as if I jump over decades? If not, then can I successfully realize time in my generation?

I live in the time period in which I was born. Can I use this time most effectively? And what does it mean “most effectively”?

Suppose, I can fill my life by satisfying the basic desires—for food, sex, family, wealth, fame, and knowledge—inherent in every person in a certain combination, depending on what importance he attaches to each of them. This combination of six desires, defining the purpose in life, makes us different from each other.

But if we talk about the realization of my general desire in which, for example, 10% of the desire is for food, 20% – for sex, 10% – for family, 20% – for wealth, 40% – for power and knowledge, the question arises whether I stay in the same desires I was born with? We see we don’t. My aspirations depend on the society I am in, on the measure of its influence on me.

I can use my properties, inclinations, and desires according to the environment. That is, the environment influences the way in which I will use all my inclinations to achieve pleasure. Indeed, the desires for food, sex, family, wealth, honor, and knowledge are the sources of pleasure with which I want to fulfill myself. In essence, I am the desire to enjoy.

The question is how the society I exist in affects me. The surroundings can suddenly increase my desire for science, power, or money and food, sex, and the family will lose their former importance to me, and I will use them only in order to achieve fame or power. And it may happen the opposite way.

It depends how a person realizes himself in society. Although his natural inclinations are very important and over time they still direct a person to a certain niche, peculiar to him.

But there is always a struggle between the individual and society. The individual wants to realize himself as much as possible with the help of society, and the society wants to absorb the identity and use it for its own benefit as much as possible and not take into account the personalities at all. After all, the person does not have intrinsic value to society; it only matters how they are integrated in it.

If I want to manage my time, I should be developed as much as possible both in personal and social terms because only in connection between them or on their border will I find my optimal self-realization.

After all, I should feel where society is heading, what its goal is, where I am directed according to my natural inclinations, what the goal would be if I could change the entire world for my own benefit, what could be in the connection between me and society, and how I realize myself with the help of society, in which I exists.

This means that I am going to manage the time of my life, to realize it in the most effective manner.
[147277]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/22/14

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: From the beginning of Creation, all people have reservations, and the Thought of the Creator necessitates them to come to the feast, knowingly or unknowingly.

This plan certainly will be fulfilled, and it is all a matter of time. After all, the evil forces we develop return to us like a boomerang, pressuring us and bringing us to the right decisions.

The goal will be obtained one way or the other, and we actually are bringing it closer by using our developing ego incorrectly so that eventually it acts against us, forcing us to respond.

On the whole, until recently, the process of evolution was good for us. We developed new tools, introduced competition, built a banking system, developed commerce, discovered continents, and basically, everything was just fine since it helped us advance.

However, in the 20^th century, we exhausted this form of development and for the first time began to see that there is a limit to our advancement. We found ourselves at a dead end. We have exhausted our ego and today it is beginning to destroy itself. We have seen clear signs for that for a while now. In 1971 for example, the gold coin in the US was replaced by a paper note. The eruption of the ego had many consequences, but the main lesson was that future problems will force us to change our lifestyle, the formula of human existence.

The question is whether blows will force us to grow wiser and to understand how to avoid problems along the way, or whether we will be able to identify what is coming in advance and begin to change ourselves.

Slow evolution will lead to totalitarian forms of government like in Germany or Soviet Russia in the first half of the last century. These are the two ultimate forms of the ego’s development, and we may be witnessing them again. What is more, this is exactly what we are advancing toward; however, today, it is called “Armageddon,”or we can force ourselves artificially against our growing ego to develop the good, anti-egoistic force of bestowal instead of the force of receiving between us.

So, let’s develop this way. This is actually what Kabbalists tell us: use the force concealed in nature. It can dominate us just as our ego dominates us today. So far, the evil force has dominated the good force, receiving dominated bestowal. However, now, the force of bestowal can dominate the force of receiving. This means that they will be balanced just as the wisdom of Kabbalah explains and teaches us how to understand the balance between them. After all, it is impossible to use only one of the two forces. The force of bestowal, absolute love, can be a destructive force. Generally speaking, each of the forces blinds a person, and he doesn’t see anything before him. If we accept one force only, we will be captives of that force. Only the right balance of the two forces we find inside us is called the Adam (Man) in us. It brings us to the realization and to the true feeling, to receiving and to bestowal, that allows us to use all of nature and build ourselves in the middle of these two forces.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, there is no other way that we can develop. In the worst case, we will reach it through blows and sufferings. However, the blows will not create the right form in us. We must make the choice by ourselves, make decisions, and gradually establish it inside us so that we will grow wise and understand the connection between us and the Creator through our efforts to build our home, the Divinity (Shechina).

However, we are like a stubborn kid who refuses to learn, and so the troubles come: the disciplinary measures that force him to begin learning. If he would learn from his books, there would be no need for the blows. On the contrary, he could save time and avoid the sufferings.

It is actually impossible to advance on the path of “in its time” (Beito) since then you stay in the same place without moving, like a donkey, until you are beaten and have no other choice.

Baal HaSulam says that the guests will come to the feast knowingly and unknowingly, so we should listen to him.
[146573]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The difference between a person and a cat is that a cat doesn’t make mistakes because it is connected to nature, with the force that moves it called nature or the Creator. This is the power of the overall system that manages the cat and shows it how to behave at each and every moment.

So a cat never makes a mistake. It doesn’t even think about what it is doing; it only acts and that’s it. It is constantly managed by the system, and so every one of its jumps are precisely calculated. A cat acts like a perfect machine.

A person, unlike a cat, is not a perfect machine. On the contrary, he doesn’t know how to act and constantly makes mistakes. Even though he has received additional senses and intelligence in comparison to other animals, he is not managed by nature.

This is called his freedom of choice, which determines how he uses his human emotion and intelligence. And if he doesn’t take the entire general system into account, he always activates his intelligence incorrectly and harms himself. After all, his ego causes him to err.

If we intentionally don’t learn how to use our intelligence correctly, we always harm ourselves. The proof for this is in the entire history of the human race that has gone on for thousands of years, yet development isn’t good and beautiful anywhere. It is accompanied by wars and problems, searches and disappointments, and failure is followed by failure. We try to do things for the best, but things only become worse.

The time has come to say, “Enough!, We are tired of all of these failures, the hatred, the problems in the family.” One by one, families fall apart, since in our development, we have reached the recognition of evil.

This is no longer just the miserable life that we lived before when nature pushed us to development through blows. In our time we have reached a level of intelligence and feelings by which we can see we have been developing by suffering that is only increasing. We are talking about a third world war. So, are we unable to stop it?

Modern man no longer wants anything from life except drugs or antidepressants. He doesn’t want to start a family and bring children into the world. He doesn’t want to take any responsibility. In this situation, we come to the month of Elul, to repentance. But this means that the solution to this bad situation is already illuminating us and redemption is near. We are ready to stop this flawed development, this negative trend. We have had enough suffering!

This is the sum total of the month of Elul, our decision to develop in a new form from now on. It means that we decide to reach balance with nature, to approach the higher power through establishing new rules of behavior based upon, “and you shall love your friend as yourself.” In this way, we reach balance with nature and become like the higher power.

Human society must reach full mutual support so that by itself, it will control that additional intelligence and feeling that has raised us above the level of the animal, prevented us from balance with nature and took us outside of the realm of its control. This means that we must arrange our reason and feeling through connection, unity, and love between us.

In this way we complete ourselves on the level of Adam (man) and make the entire system homogeneous, integral, connected, united, and completely mutually dependent, like everything else in nature. This is called love.

We don’t understand what love is. Love is to be in partnership, in the right connection with all the rest of the parts of nature. You feel them and do what they need and they feel you and do what you need, like a healthy body in which all of the organs are in a mutual connection such as this.

The understanding that we must reach such a connection is called the month of Elul, repentance.

Question: So what is it necessary to think in a time like the month of Elul, in order to change life into a better life?

Answer: In our world, only the good connection between people is missing. There is full abundance, but everyone suffers because of their intolerable character. We must correct this, and we have the opportunity to do so.

If we direct ourselves towards correction, it would be a wonderful result of the self-criticism that we do in the month of Elul. So we truly advance according to its name: Elul, meaning,  “Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li” – “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine,”(“Song of Songs” 6:3).
[144508]
From KabTV’s“ A New Life” 9/14/14

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Question: In my spiritual work, I am unable to connect the Creator and the group. What should I do?

Answer: Who gave me this group? Who brought me to it, organized everything? Who directs all the people who are sitting in front of me?

In the group of ten, there are nine people besides me, and they are all ready to unite with me. Who is directing them all, who selects them, prepares, and pushes them towards connection with each other? What force does all that if not the Creator? There is no other force. I only need to reveal how He does this, how He guides everyone by the strings, like a puppet-master, and in what manner He gathers us together.

And where am I? Who among us has freedom of will, where is it manifested and in which precise inner motion?

Then I begin to think, to look at the others, and realize that the Creator did everything, and He gave us the opportunity to increase the desire for mutual connection in order to reveal Him, so that from the hidden puppet-master He would turn into an evident one, the one who will fill all the empty spaces between us. Suddenly, with all our strengths, properties, and intentions, with our desires and thoughts, we start to complete each other in a way that arranges a perfect system where everyone fits each other ideally.

Therefore, apart from the possibility for connecting perfectly, for aspiring for unity, everything else is done by the Creator. We only need to show movement toward the ideal connection. And this, too, will be done by Him, but we need to try to remain in aspiration for it.

We do not know, do not understand, and do not feel. We only want for it to happen, with His help.
[144727]
From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Lesson 2

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Question: If only a person who has the point in the heart has the freedom of choice, does this mean that one must not demand for others to change? This means that everything depends on us?

Answer: We do not demand anything! I always keep repeating that Kabbalah needs to be disseminated in a very discreet manner. It’s only for those who want it.

We should not solicit those who are not interested, “There is no coercion in the spiritual!” We only need to show to those people who already have acquired the desire for spirituality, “the point in the heart,” that they have a place to go with this desire and develop it.

After all, this person feels bad. He does not understand why he does not know where to realize a desire that he is feeling. So, let him find out where he can realize it, and we do not address the rest. Let them stay as they were.

However, in our world, there is a nation called Israel. These are souls that once were on the spiritual level, but have fallen from it into corporeal desire.

They all must study Kabbalah and correct themselves. This is because they have been through the breaking; at one time they already had risen to the spiritual and fallen.

Even if the point in the heart is not awakened in them right now, they still have it, and we must bring this knowledge to them, and especially those who study the “external Torah,” instead of the “inner Torah.” They must absolutely study Kabbalah, and this is the only way the world can be corrected.

There is no other possibility to improve it and free it from all the misfortunes. All the problems in the world happen because of the lack of Light!

The only way to attract the Light to the world is by studying Kabbalah, which attracts the Surrounding Light. There are no other ways to do this.

Kabbalah is the means of connection with the Upper Light, the revelation of the Creator to the creatures, the revelation of Light to the desire to receive. It connects us to the Light. It teaches you to build an anti-egoistic screen.

These are the only three components: desire, Light, and the screen in the middle. All of mankind is on the bottom, the Creator is on top, and Kabbalah is between them as the means of attaining the screen.

This is why anyone who wishes to get rid of all misfortunes needs to try to come as close to it as possible because he attracts the Light by doing this. And the way we will feel in our desires depends only on the Light.
[28793]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/5/10, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: At what stage of the work does a person attain freedom of will?

Answer: Only after he has acquired a soul, after spiritual revelation.

A spiritual Partzuf is divided into two halves: the upper half-Keter, Hochma, Bina, Chesed, Gevurah, and the upper part of Tifferet; and the lower half, the lower part of Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut; and between them, the third part of Tifferet.

The upper part is comprised of desires to bestow, and the lower part is made of desires to receive. What is the middle then, the third part of Tifferet? It is not related to reception or bestowal, and here is where the freedom to choose what will you do with it is.

But you, like Buridan’s donkey, can’t pick either direction, are torn apart, unable to make a choice, until we discover that herein lies an opportunity to unify these two halves: the upper and lower halves to work together in the third, middle line!

I unify these two forces, the force of bestowal and the force of reception, and they start governing me together. This is called “receiving in order to bestow,” when the two forces work in harmony with each other.

This is the essence of Kabbalah, and for this reason it is called “Kabbalah” (reception); after all, it teaches how to receive these two forces, bestowal and reception, in such a way that they complement each other. And thereby you build your independence, true freedom.

You are independent of the Creator and simultaneously like Him! You learn from His example while remaining totally independent. You don’t have any other model to follow because receiving these two forces is mandatory. But how to accept them and be like them, in that, you are totally free.

Here, in middle between these two forces, in the middle third of Tifferet, lies our soul that we are constructing ourselves. The freedom of choice begins with the revelation of the Creator. It is written: “The dead are free,” which means that when egoistic desire dies, the two forces, reception and bestowal, stand facing each other, and you are between them, and then you are free. After all, you can work with both these forces equally.

Even though it seems to you that you are standing between them not knowing where to move since on one side you have the desire to receive and on the other the desire to bestow, but when one destroys the other, only in this condition, are you in a neutral state and may act freely.

As for now, we are all under the authority of the only desire to receive, and we have no desire to bestow. Therefore, until we have acquired the will to bestow, we are as beasts controlled by nature; but once we have obtained it, we become free and solely in the desire to become similar to the Creator and construct a human (Adam), which means “similar” to Him.
[27096]
From a lesson, 10/8/10, BaalHaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Question: You always say that people can advance through virtual study.

Then why is it so important for everyone to physically gather at the convention?

Answer: We operate in a huge and multifaceted world.

In other words, in relation to the upper force, the Creator, the force of bestowal that influences me, I can be everywhere and in different states: closer or further from the center, some virtually connected to the lessons, some don’t even have Internet and they read books, others are physically present at the lesson, some are members of outside groups, and some do not have a group nearby at all.

In other words, every person is where the upper governance has placed him or her.

According to the strength of the influence, the physical location of our convention is in the center of the circles, and everything else is either closer or further from it.

I need to understand that my presence at the central point during the three days of the convention provides maximum influence. This is why, if I have the freedom of choice to come and connect, I must come!

If I do not have the opportunity to go, I need to see where I will receive the strongest influence: in a regional group, or, if I am not able to get there, then watching the broadcast together with a friend, or alone at the edge of the earth, or maybe I am not even able to watch the broadcast, but only to listen…

But I need to find the strongest contact: this is my only freedom of choice.

If you are in the same area of the convention, you can stay at home and watch everything on the computer; this is your choice. But you should know that it is impossible to compare the experience of being inside the convention site to not being there.

You can also be an outside observer even inside the convention venue, or you can be in it with your entire heart and soul; this also falls under your freedom of will—“to receive the most influence from the environment.”

So see for yourself.
[24201]
From the lesson 10/19/20, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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According to logic, there isn’t any freewill. After all, there isn’t any free movement; everything is controlled by the forces acting in nature and is subordinate to one upper force encompassing the entire universe.

If someone feels differently, it is simply due to the lack of knowledge of the general system. If I am within the system in which I was born and which defines everything for me, how can I be free from it? The general force of nature acts, leaving no empty space, for the entire system is closed and works as a well-coordinated mechanism; so where can it give me freedom?

There is no thought or desire in a person where the upper governance would not be present initially determining the person’s actions. Freedom begins when we wish to unite in the group with our points in the heart and begin to look for where we have free choice. We wish to establish a connecting field between us, the former place of the breaking. And this field, created with our ties, is the place of real freewill.

It is another dimension, which has never existed before, a completely new plane of existence. If we discover a new space that never existed in creation, we exit this world into some other dimension, another world. We can say that are immersed into creation deeper and deeper and discover a tiny hole through which the entrance to infinity suddenly opens to us.

In the same manner, having corrected the state of the breaking, we don’t go back to the initial stage that preceded it, but due to the fact that we have attained it through our freewill, we enter a new realm that never existed in nature: the realm of our freewill.

We build a state among ourselves that will serve as a spiritual vessel: a new vessel, desire, will to receive (Tarach), and in it a new Light, NRNHY, which is 620 times greater! The names that existed before the breaking may have remained the same, but their essence has become completely different.

This is why it is so important for us to find this point of our freewill where we will be able to break free into the new dimension.
[24551]
From a lesson 10/22/10, “The Freedom”

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Question: Can a person be free, and if so, in what ways?

Answer: First, you need to figure out what freedom is and what is being sought? Are we looking for freedom from the angel of death as it was carved on the tablets of the covenant, searching for eternal spiritual life, or do we believe that we can be free in our materialistic everyday activities?

Kabbalists explain to us that in regular life we don’t have any independence whatsoever, but rather all our life is already predetermined and each step is previously scheduled for us. Freedom is possible only if we rise above life to the decision making level, to the spiritual level.

This is where freedom of choice exists since there are two opposing forces at this level, receiving and bestowal; whereas within our world, there exists only one force, the one of receiving, which only allows us to accept more or less depending on our understanding of what we stand to gain or lose.

In other words, everything depends on our simple understanding of where we win or lose more. Thus, there is no such thing as freedom at all! I always weigh before deciding what to choose. After I evaluate the “cost” of something, there is no freedom of will left in me to go against it. My nature is tuned to maximum receiving and minimal giving. This is how we act in everything, consciously or not.

Sometimes it looks like we can go against our earthly logic, but it is an illusion since a deeper egoistic interest that defines our actions hides behind it.

But when we rise to the spiritual level and attain the desire to bestow, which works together with the desire to receive, we begin to have balance between these two desires and remain between them, in the middle third part of Tifferet, not leaning towards either side. We are not choosing what is more attractive to us, receiving or bestowal, otherwise it would not be considered an option, but rather depends on our evaluation.

Freedom of choice is possible only if I am between two forces, positive and negative (bestowal and receiving), and if I manage to set up myself between them as if I were an engine in the circuit.

Thus, I use both forces since I have freedom to build myself by including myself in both forces; this gives birth to a new reality. The free choice that we possess in spirituality allows us to build the Creator! The Creator is me but in a corrected state. That’s why He is called “Bo-Re” (come and see).

You build a new reality out of these two opposite forces. Before we reach this state, there is no freewill. There is no way to obtain freedom of choice by selecting from one force only or from two opposing forces; only if we manage to correctly connect them together do we get a third component called, “Adam  (Man)” or “The Creator.”

Our desire is made by a reverse imprint of the Light, so if it senses only itself, it turns out to be something dreadful!
[27100]

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Question: How do you attain simple faith?

Answer: Simple faith is absolute bestowal, Hafetz Hesed, when I try to be free of all my pragmatic thoughts, when I think about the friends and about the group and try to exist only in order to fulfill our connection.

The first phase is the minimal attainment of the level of mutual guarantee in the group. We begin to understand that different forces constantly are operating on us. Of course, they all come directly from the Creator’s trying to separate us and disrupt our connection, to divert our attention from thinking about the upper force, about connection, about unity, about the goal of creation, and about our obligations.

These forces arrive continuously in different forms, in different directions, confusing us, and dulling our senses. It isn’t in our power to resist them if there isn’t the right spirit in the group that can help us survive. Therefore, as it is written, “They helped every one his friend.” This is our obligation.

Otherwise, the days will go by, and everything will change, but a person will remain the same. So, each one must support the others and worry about them so that they will worry about him. A person cannot worry about himself since these forces operate on each one, pressuring him on all sides, trying to tear him from the others by forcing him to worry about himself.

The moment he focuses on himself, it is very easy to detach him from the goal of creation. It is because the real goal of creation is in the connection among everyone. Therefore the impure intentions are the Klipot; it is not thoughts that separate a person from the Creator. The entire world is ready to think about the Creator, to cry out to Him, to go and pray in different holy places. A person has no problem doing that.

The goal is unity, connection. As long as a person holds on to it, he is fine. However, the moment he breaks away from this form of connection, he is no longer a danger to the Klipot, and they leave him alone. He can study by himself, acquire knowledge, but that doesn’t disturb the egoistic forces. They allow him to observe all the Mitzvot (commandments) very carefully, everything but connection, everything but “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Everything else doesn’t disturb them. On the contrary, if he has no intention to advance toward the love of others, all the other actions pull him in the opposite direction.

So, when the point in the heart awakens in a person, it is important to know how to fulfill one’s freewill. The Creator brings a person to the good fate and tells him: “Choose!” And this is what a person must do, that is, understand that fulfilling the Reshimo (reminiscences) is only through connection.
[137432]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/15/14

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