Question: Currently the entire Internet is buzzing with prognoses that some unpleasant events will take place in December of 2012. What does Kabbalah say about this? Please reassure the world!

Answer: How can I calm you down?

I think it all depends on us, including you. I am not going to calm you down, but completely the opposite because we indeed exist in a very sharp freedom of will and December and the entire next year depend on us. In addition, these states, which we will have to go through, are completely determined only by our world group and by no one else.

Thus, I will not be calming down anyone of you. On contrary, you have to feel very clearly that the entire world depends on you. You have to consciously realize this, meaning that you need to have a serious attitude toward our task, a constant mutual aspiration in your hearts.

Do you feel how our hearts are gathering more and more into one ball? Only this will save our situation and will make it wonderful. It will be wonderful in the sense that we will remember that we have to be closer and more united until we get all of our one heart together. Then we will not be fearful of any calendar.
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From the Georgia Convention 11/6/12, Lesson 3

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A human being (Adam) is a new action, new creation developing according to the internal program, inherent in the primary “drop of semen.” To this program, this form, given by the father, the mother’s material is added. Then the program begins to be realized, manifest itself, and the material takes the form of a human being.

A person is born from a mother like an animal. However, we talk about our inner structure, how we give birth to ourselves spiritually. And here is a special condition before us: We have to create our form ourselves.

Question: But is an animal not capable of this?

Answer: An animal remains an animal. It cannot become a human being. It is the foundation above which he is formed. In general, the still, vegetative, and animate nature is the platform above which we build the human form.

Question: Who can build it?

Answer: The “drop of semen” that lies above the animal degree. It contains everything, except the material. But when the material is added to it, the necessary form does not appear automatically like in the animal world; we have to find it ourselves. In the spiritual world, a person creates himself with the Creator’s help.

Initially, I do not know my future spiritual form. I should want it, look for it and try, going in faith above reason as much as I can. I act, striving for something that seems like bestowal to me, and these efforts suddenly bring me to a “discovery,” a new form. Yes, I was thinking about it all that time, but still could not imagine what it would be in reality. Now, when the form of bestowal is dressed in me, I attain it.

How did I get it, not knowing where to go exactly? That is why it is called a “discovery”—it is a surprise for me, not an expected result.

Question: So, what is my free choice?

Answer: Your free choice is to seek this form with the help of the environment, by all possible means. Namely the environment builds my future state, creating its form according to the principle of a matrix that puts pressure on a tin ingot from both sides, giving it the desired form. I am that ingot, the initial material, lying between the two parts of the press: The group is one side and the teacher and studies are the other.

And the fact is that I put myself under this press. I am ready to accept various forms and just want to annul myself, like an ingot that could be given any shape. Thus I acquire the human form.

Question: Where is freedom here?

Answer: It is impossible to be just free, if you are free, it means from something. In reality, you can be independent only from the evil inclination. That is why the Creator created the evil inclination first: pride, self-importance, and other egoistic qualities, relative to which we can check ourselves: How much you can cancel them, sacrifice them in order to take any form that the teacher, studies, and group require from you? If you accept their “pressure,” the Creator fills this new form with the spirit of life. And if not, then not.

When you would like to leave the group, but still decide to stay, then you go toward free choice. The choice means to rise above the evil inclination. Then, you will really feel free.

But now the time has not come yet: Is it possible to let a baby who barely learned to walk choose? He will break something. It is impossible to create a reality of freedom immediately when you have all the qualities opposed to the Creator and you have the opportunity to agree or disagree with Him.

However, today it is not required. Gradually, you realize that you do not have choice for the time being while you are under the dominion of the egoistic desire. Only it acts in you, and you have nothing else, no other force in resisting egoism in something and putting up with it in something else. You still need to go forward, study, and draw a lot of Reforming Light in order to acquire the second force.

In the end, finding yourself between two forces, you obtain the whole world, completely different values, a new understanding. Then, we will talk about free choice.

It is no coincidence that the right to vote is given at 18 and not before. Imagine if 10-year-old children could vote. Then candidates would state from the screen without any constraint: “I will give you candies! I will provide everyone under the age of 18 with the latest generation of smartphones!”

In general, we see that everyday life does not offer a person freedom. And there is no such desire. Today, you do not think that you need choice because you feel you are free. You do not feel that the Creator fully controls you.

And that is why He teaches you: First, He gives you the egoistic desire and then puts obstacles on the path to its realization, as if someone prevents you. You do not understand yet that everything comes from one source, and that is what you are taught.

Question: How can we accelerate this process?

Answer: Through playing with the correct environment, with the group. Replace a vague relationship with the Creator with a real relationship with the group. You can do this. If you want with the help of environment to change how the Creator treats you, you have the opportunity. Instead of the Creator, accept the group as a factor of influence and you can control your life freely.

We hear this, but do not yet feel it. No problem, awareness will come soon…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Can any person, including me, rise to the upper level, appealing to His nature? Can I consciously rise to that level or is it only based on my feelings? If we talk about consciousness, does Kabbalah distinguish between reason and mind?

Answer: Kabbalah says that the human essence is composed of desires and thoughts. The desire is the main thing because it is the real matter of the world. The desire spins electrons and molecules, causing connection and disconnection of elements; the desire is everything.

But on the still, vegetative, and animate levels, the desire is carried out instinctively, compulsively. Everything acts like this, including the people who also belong to the animal level.

A person who begins to study Kabbalah tries to rise to the next level of desire, that is, to change from the property of reception to the property of bestowal. Then he begins to use reason, but not the one that exists next to our egoism in order to gain more in every movement, in every case. Animals also have such reason, as does any plant or stone that all the time tries to take the best position relative to the force of gravity or to preserve its structure. We are speaking about the free mind.

Freewill appears only when a person has two opposing forces—to receive and bestow. And new real reason appears between them. It is not the one that is attached to the desire and helps it gain more, calculating its actions, but the reason that arises on the oppositeness of two desires and causes the creation of a middle structure, consisting of both forces, reception and bestowal, the so-called the middle line. A person who has these two forces and builds himself out of them, is actually free and reasonable.
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From the Georgia Convention 11/05/12, Lesson 1

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Question: You always say that The Book of Zohar can sometimes be a cure and sometimes poison, what does that mean?

Answer: Kabbalists describe this dilemma by using the allegory of choosing between the elixir of life and the potion of death, or by bringing the example of the rooster and the bat. Everything depends on a person’s intention: Is it the urge for the goal that drives him? This doesn’t mean that by opening a Kabbalah book he necessarily has to focus himself on the true goal because otherwise he will receive the potion of death. It is impossible to demand such things. So the Creator gives a person the right intentions, just like a baby who is under the full supervision of a grown up.

Even if a person comes to study without any basic knowledge and thinks about anything he feels like, it isn’t actually he who thinks and who is operating. From Above he is provided with constant supervision and care. If you could see this from the side, you would see that a person is like a newborn baby, that he has nothing of his own. It is simply a system, a “body” that functions according to a plan. He is equipped with everything that he needs, absorbing and emitting what he has to and thus grows. At this point a person has no freewill and no discernments.

Gradually, however, he grows and begins to move independently. At first he doesn’t feel responsible for what is going on, but later he begins to consciously perceive something and to shout intentionally at something, etc. Gradually he begins to understand what is good and what is bad and under which circumstances he feels good or bad. Accordingly he is played with and shown what he does correctly and what he doesn’t.

There are those who hear better and there are those who hear less, it depends on your innate attributes and on your upbringing. Generally speaking, it is about a huge system called Shechina that takes care of every one and brings everyone to the end of correction.

So, I cannot tell you when a Kabbalah book gives life and when it brings death. First a person is taught all this and after several years he understands that only in a group can he fulfill himself and move on from a corporeal connection with the friends to an internal, spiritual connection.

And then it his choice to reach for the opening of the spiritual network between the friends. It may be concealed from them, but he wants to reveal it. This means that he is attracted to life since this network is totally filled with bestowal.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/12, The Zohar

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According to modern science, the universe originated about 14 billion years ago. Some “spark,” completely not material, with a plan concealed within it, marked the beginning of the formation of matter. It was a spark of energy that included within it the design, desire, and ultimately, the whole fabric of our universe.

Just imagine, a myriad of stars and galaxies from this one spark. The thought, the plan, is able to give birth to matter without any limits. Another billion stars? Here you are! We simply aren’t able to grasp the difference between the levels of our world and this spark. His plan activated the development of matter up to the human level.

And now, a person living on this Earth, in our world, must knowingly, consciously, and voluntarily clarify what this spark is, the spark that created the universe. The spark wants man to discover it, to merge with it, with its thought and purpose, desire and intent.

Man is truly the crown of nature, but in the meantime only in potential. We will become the crown when we connect with this spark, when we understand what its thought is and what plan got realized from it, down to the appearance of humanity in our world.

All the other systems that lie below this thought were designed only to awaken a person to ascend the steps of the still, vegetative, and animate nature. One doesn’t control them; one can’t change anything there. In the end, one must awaken and rise higher in order to attain that same plan, that same thought of creation that created our entire universe and everything that exists in it.

This to where man’s development leads him; he must achieve it. By our leaning in this direction, we suddenly will feel the harmony between us as well as the harmony with the still, vegetative, and animate nature that is entirely governed from Above. We need to join the higher system, just like a person in our world searches for connection in the “higher circles,” and then all the lower systems will undoubtedly come into order. We, however, sink into the problems of the subsystems.

The general plan is built in such a way as to constantly put pressure on us, encouraging a connection with the “correct destination.” Thus, the reasons for unpleasant and painful events that threaten us with death and even the worst suffering aren’t worthwhile searching for. We can’t be cured from the diseases by treatments at the same level.

Actually, we can only take “tranquilizers” that will allow us to worry about the root of the problem. And on the contrary, by our trying to be satisfied by curing the symptoms, we only invite upon ourselves double beatings.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/10/12

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After the shattering, under the influence of the informative genes (Reshimot), the shattered desires go through different states detached from spirituality on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature. And so they gradually understand their state until they finally reach the human level.

Then they begin to understand that something brought them into our world, into a state in which they feel only themselves in a special desire called “body.” It is as if a particle from the upper world was thrown downward and immersed in some liquid in which it has remained.

Now a person is faced with a dilemma: Should he work for this world, for the sake of adding, for the benefit of the body, or should he work for the benefit of the soul? He has to choose one of the options.

Of course the choice isn’t up to a person, but rather stems from the reincarnations he has been through on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature where he examined his state. A soul that has come closer to its fulfillment is called a “high soul,” and with it a person can already decide to act for the benefit of the soul and not of the body.

In order to act for the benefit of the soul, a person needs this whole world to help him reach the awe of the Creator. Fear is a spiritual vessel, a desire aimed at bestowal. The illumination from above called the “Light of the soul” is dressed into this desire, or more accurately into the intention that is built on top of it.

This intention is built from the depth of the desire (the thickness), a Masach (screen), and Returning Light—which make up a person’s spiritual vessel. Of course it is possible to develop it only from this world when we ascend from it up to the height of 125 degrees.

People who have reached this fulfillment according to their Reshimot come together. The upper Light operates on everyone equally, but if the informational genes are revealed, the Reshimot that are ready for this correction come very close to one another aspiring to connect. As a result a person comes to a group in our world.

But after he comes to a group another law begins to operate on him, which allows him freewill. After all the Reshimot have to be fulfilled in a person’s desire.

Even if it says “I am the first and I am the last” and “there is none else besides Him,” the preparation for this revelation, for the recognition of the greatness of the spiritual goal from the darkness of exile, is totally in a person’s hands.

Here nothing can be done. Whether this load seems heavy or light to a person depends on the height of the goal and on how much a person values the one he serves.

If he disrespects the teacher, the group, and the Creator, then nothing can help him. After all, these three components are inseparable and supreme for a person. If he doesn’t value them, he will eventually divert from the path and leave the spiritual development

If he works on it as he makes every possible effort so that it will save him, it will help him belittle his ego, his corporeal mind, and his life experience that seems to have some value. It is revealed as totally useless before the new states he has to go through, but it will also empower him and give him fuel to advance along this path.

This is only possible if the greatness of the goal, the group, the teacher, and the Creator are more important to a person than his egoism.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/09/12, Writings of Rabash

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Rabash, “Association of Mercy with Judgment”: … when there is open Providence, there is no room for choice. For this reason, the Upper One raised Malchut, which is Midat Ha Din (the Quality of Judgment) to the Eynaim (eyes). This created a concealment, meaning it became apparent to the lower one that there is a deficiency in the Upper One.

On one hand, the Upper One is elevated, and on the other hand, the lower one doesn’t find Him appealing; there is something repulsive. On one hand, a spark in the desire (a point in the heart) is anxious to attain spirituality. Moreover, the external world presses on us and concocts numerous negative circumstances; it does not promise any pleasures except the ones that we might receive in the future. On the other hand, we have to compromise, since we clearly see a deficiency in the upper.

What kind of deficiency is that? The upper one is not as bright, attractive, or beautiful as we thought.

In that state, the qualities of the Upper One are placed with the lower one; that is, they are deficient. It follows that these Kelim (vessels) are equal to the lower one: as there is no sustenance to the lower one, there is no sustenance to the Higher qualities.

Here are the sensations that the lower one goes through: At first, I really aspired to the next stage, I rushed to it more and more, and then I discovered what the meaning of my next step is. It turned out to be unity with and love for my friends. It turns out that I have to feel them all as one heart; I also have to give up a lot of things; moreover I should be applying lots of exertions and be happy with what I do. And, I don’t feel happy at all…

A place between the two gaps is in fact a point of choice. Every day, each of us senses an endless number of these points. If we happen to clasp them and select the right one, or at least try to do so, then we would discover the upper one within the shortest time possible. We should never miss them! Although, when these moments happen, we don’t feel any need in anything at all; we simply surrender to our sensations and continue to live our miserable lives.

While analyzing our next, higher, and more advanced state, we discover that it is full of concerns and that it brings lots of problems to our current egoism. One has to love one’s friends, serve them, think of them, and take good care of them, treat them better than oneself.

“Who needs it? Are we capable of this kind of behavior?” Doesn’t it mean that we sense a deficiency in the upper one or that we don’t find enough energy or life sustenance in Him? Sometimes, for a couple of minutes we feel a nice sensation, an inspiration; however, as a rule it is the other way around.

It is called a descent: One neither feels life in the upper one, nor does one find it in the state of bestowal, love, or unity. One has no desire to correct oneself.

In that state, there is room for choice.

This is exactly a state that offers us a choice. It’s a very important moment of self-acknowledgment: I don’t want anything, I have no needs, I am getting weak, and am ready to surrender unless the state I am in modifies itself without my participation. There is nothing that attracts me, neither in material nor spiritual life: I feel hopeless in both worlds.

… the lower one must say that all this concealment that one feels is because the Upper One restricted Himself in favor of the lower one. This is called, “when Israel is in exile, Divinity is with them.”

In such cases, we should come to an understanding that the upper one deliberately “plays” this game with us. He cannot do otherwise; He cannot embrace and elevate me as if I were a balloon. If He did so, I would never attain anything and would remain a baby in the adult’s hands forever. Of course, a baby feels good and safe; he can even play at the height he is elevated to, but he doesn’t grow.

The lower one grows only if he strives to reach the upper. One cannot abide without personal exertions. The upper one should not raise the lower one if the latter doesn’t partake in the process. Otherwise, the upper one simply would “destroy” the lower one by not letting him grow and advance. It’s similar to a situation when parents do their child’s homework for the child.

So, we have to realize that the upper one helps us absolutely every given moment. There shouldn’t be even one second of waiting for something to happen on His behalf as if He ever hesitates. From the point of view of the upper one, we are always in the optimum state for our further advancement. We should keep paying attention to various signs through which He addresses us by His intentionally descending to our current state.

…whatever flavor one tastes, one says that it is not his fault for not tasting liveliness, but that in his view there really is no life in the Upper One.

Although, one has to clearly understand what is going on.

And if one becomes stronger and says that the bitter taste he finds in these nourishments is only because he does not have the proper vessels to receive the abundance, because his vessels are for reception and not for bestowal, and regrets the Upper One having to hide Himself…

So, our vessels, desires, are corrupt. In fact, if the upper one would descend to us, we would sense Infinity since each of our next steps is the world of Infinity for us. That is why it has not been disclosed to us yet: We don’t recognize it in our vessels. We perceive it only within a very narrow range; whereas, there is something enormous and multi-faceted in front of us. We simply don’t see the higher level; it covers up everything around from one horizon to another; there are no boundaries that define the space for us.

As a result, the upper one descends to us in the form of a depressed, unsafe, and corrupt world. Moreover, we approach states and sensations that will be even more devastating for us. The upper one lowers to us in order to let us sense Him. The lower He is, the worse we and the world around us will look in our eyes, since our properties are opposite to His.

That’s the reason we are currently experiencing a crisis; the upper one approaches us, thus making us unconsciously sense the difference between Him and us. The “crisis” is a gap between our current state and the state of the upper one. We have to come to balance and stay in harmony with Him, and that requires integral education that will help us understand Him better.

In general, this is a point of freewill. We have to realize that each thing that we sense as being less than Infinity is a state that was specifically formed for us by the upper one in order to give us a chance to choose.

It means that we should feel sorry not about the fact that the world we live in is bad and that we are miserable here, but rather about the point that the upper one had to lower to us, to diminish Himself and present Himself as being smaller than He really is, and that He even had to look unappealing and evil in our eyes.

…this allows the lower one to slander; this is considered MAN that the lower one raises.

On one hand, we notice that the upper one is low; besides, the higher level doesn’t look attractive to us yet. On the other hand, we recognize that it only seems so to us in our sensations. If we perceived the world through real vessels, we would regard the upper one as the Infinity within us. This discrepancy is the core difference between this realm and the world of Infinity.

So, at this point we raise MAN: our request to be corrected. We look for possibilities to justify Him, nothing but validation of Him. Let our states stay the same; let them not bring us any pleasant sensations anymore: All we need is to justify His actions and thank Him for acting so. Consequently, we don’t ask for our own sake, but rather for the sake of the upper one. We request power and understanding, but we don’t ask for sensations; all we should care about is the justification of Him no matter that we continue feeling bad. If our sensations improve, we will egoistically praise Him. No, that’s not what we need. On the contrary, we want our sensations to remain the same, but rather that our understanding and perception be altered. Thus, we grow.

We consist of two parts: intellect and emotions, aspirations and desires. We go forward using both of them as we use both legs while walking. Let’s say, I want to stay in my current sensations, and by “leaning” on this “leg” I make a step ahead with the other “leg”; that is, I stop being blind, see my current state, and justify it, or let’s say I want to expand my brain, then if my sensations remain intact, I really advance since I justify my emotional state although I continue to suffer, but I realize that I grow due to my affliction. I am not sold out to or bribed by a good sensation.

Later on, when our minds expand, we will lean on our new intellect, and if it stays the same, we will ascend to the next level of sensations. Besides, our emotions will not overshadow the intellect, as it happens when pleasures force us to lose our mind.

It’s the other way around; we make one step with one “leg,” while at the same time leaning on the other “leg”: When we fix our emotions, our intellect rises; when we fix the mind, our sensations rise. Consequently, we go through endless changes in both our minds and sensations.
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From the North Convention of Unity 9/20/12, Lesson 2 

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Our whole path is aimed at exiting our ego, the only collective attribute in which we exist and that locks us within this tiny ball of feeling the reality of this world. In order to start managing ourselves, we need another force in addition to our desire to enjoy: a desire to bestow. With these two forces we can already begin to operate.

This means that we lack the force of bestowal that comes from the general force, from the Creator, from the attribute of bestowal, which is the real nature. This is why the word “Creator” in Gematria is “nature” (in Hebrew). And our desire to enjoy does not exist in nature, but is external to it.

All our work and our goal is to achieve the desire to bestow. Thanks to this we are incorporated in the Creator, acquire freewill between these two forces, and can become similar to Him, which is called the human level: the level of Adam.

We can only reach the power of bestowal by the connection in the group, which is a model of how we should fulfill it. In the group we feel how much we need bestowal, or the opposite, how unnecessary it is to us and how hateful it is, since it is opposite from our nature.

Thus we begin to work artificially and cry out like children who demand things they do not deserve. But children use our parental love and we still concede and do what they want although we know it is just childish whining.

It is exactly the same with us. If we also ask for bestowal egoistically, although no one needs it, and “nag” the upper one with our crying: “Give it to us, give us!” like nagging children, we will eventually get it bit by bit and will gradually be impressed by it. In addition to that, we are impressed by our actions and by our acting that we want bestowal, and so eventually we really begin to want it.

Thus we are impressed by one another about the greatness of bestowal and spirituality, although we don’t really see anything good, great and valuable in the desire to bestow, but rather the opposite. This means that we are acting like in a theater, and by this acting we develop; we are in an intentional lie and it is clear to us that all our prayers are false and our attitude isn’t real either.

We are aware of that, we know it and we declare it openly because it is the only opportunity we have to get ourselves out of the state we are in now. By this acting, we build ourselves under the conditions of the current state in order to reach bestowal from the desire to enjoy.

The lever by which we can do that is based on a spiritual spark, the point in the heart, with which we can start acting. It is a tiny point in the heart, which we perceive and start developing. If we perceive it like an end of a rope that was thrown to us, we can raise ourselves above our egoistic desire to the desire to bestow, like rising above the floor and penetrating the second floor through a tiny hole in the ceiling. Then with the help of this rope, we can pull our whole desire to enjoy, which fills all of the lower floor and gradually transfer it to the upper floor—rising from Malchut to Bina.

The spark that was inserted into us is a spark from Bina that fell upon us from the second floor through a hole in the ceiling. Through that hole we can move to the second floor and then pull our whole Malchut from there.

It should be clear to us that we are working with egoistic attributes. We are only playing with bestowal and don’t imagine that we are already righteous. If we still don’t know who we really are, we will undoubtedly know: The main thing is not to fear the truth.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/12

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There is an increasingly growing need for connection in the world today. On the one hand, the integral connection in the world is revealed, and on the other hand, the lack of our adaptability to it is expressed in the form of a crisis.

In order to help people who have the urge for spiritual development, which means for connection and unity, in this unity, in resembling nature, we will be able to reveal the upper force that manages it, to feel, see, and learn to master the system that controls us, the so-called upper world—for this we gather and want to gradually adapt ourselves to the state of balance with this system, with nature. Such a gradual, step-by-step approach is called the levels of the spiritual ascent, a spiritual equivalence.

These are serious, complex levels since we must overcome them and resist our ego. It is by resisting it that we get to know and attain this system.

Just as every system in our world operates on two counteracting forces (plus and minus, contraction and expansion, and so on), in between them there is a mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, or other mechanism, and these two forces are the forces of the development and motion of this mechanism, and in our bodies there are two constantly opposing forces. On the whole, they can be reduced to forces of absorption, absorption and secretion. We exist on the basis of these two forces. They more or less counterbalance or alternately act on levels of nature except for one interesting object: man.

A human being is under the influence of one force only: the egoistic force that controls, manages and rules him, and does whatever it wishes with him. There is no other force that is opposite to our ego, and this is our problem. So, we cannot be balanced, wise, and do what we want, but constantly do what the egoistic force compels us to do, even though it may harm us.

Look at what is happening in the world now! We are sawing off the branch that we are sitting on. We are polluting the air we breathe, cutting down forests, turning large areas into dry deserts, causing icebergs to melt, and bringing about disastrous changes in the climate so that soon it will be impossible to exist on this planet. The pace of this crisis is accelerating threateningly, and we cannot do anything about it.

Why is nature doing this? It is to show us the extent to which we are managed by this one egoistic force and how much we lack the other force that is opposite to it to at least reach a balance. Even if we were totally opposite to the egoistic force, even if we were absolute altruists, we couldn’t exist either. After all, there must be a balancing force between these two forces, the law of equilibrium, the law of the correct switching.

So, we need the other force, and we don’t have it. However, it is found on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate natures. It is instinct!

Instinct causes animals to perform certain actions and not others. It restrains them and doesn’t push them to perform misguided actions. If a lion sees a stronger lion, he will retreat. There is a clear chain of command, check the strength and instant retreat. That is, there are restraining forces with regard to nature and to different phenomena, no matter what. Animals operate according to the simple principle of the ordinary animal ego that is balanced by a protective instinct.

We don’t have that. We are deprived of it, but we need to acquire it since otherwise we will find ourselves in a condition that threatens our existence!

The wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed in our times so that, somehow, we will be able to acquire this second force that restrains and balances our ego. It is opposite to the ego. It is called altruism, the force of bestowal, the force of love.

If we can discover this force in nature and, in some way, perceive it inside us and begin to mutually balance the two forces, we can be sure that that our existence will be secure, comfortable, good, and desirable. Otherwise, our future development will be simply disastrous. We see how we are lost in the ego from day to day and that it will begin to consume us while we are still alive and eventually leave us no hope of survival.

This is why we hold conventions. We do this in order to acquire the force that is opposite to the ego, to try to balance the two opposing forces inside us, and to attain the middle point in which we can be free—with freewill, freedom of choice—so that we can manage ourselves and advance. This is what we want to achieve.
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From “A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 9/23/12

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Opinion (Stephen Pratt, an associate professor, Arizona State University): “Scientists at Arizona State University have discovered that ants utilize a strategy to handle ‘information overload.’ Temnothorax rugatulusants, commonly found living in rock crevices in the Southwest, place the burden of making complicated decisions on the backs of the entire colony, rather than on an individual ant. …

“Previous research has shown that ant colonies have the ability to compare the quality of two potential nest sites – even if no single ant visits both sites. Pratt and Sasaki hypothesized that a colony could choose a high-quality nest from many more options more effectively than individual ants, because each member of the colony assesses only a small part, or portion, of available sites, and then shares the information with the entire colony. …

“The pair designed experiments with artificial nest sites to evaluate the ants’ decision-making abilities. Both colonies and individual ants were given two levels of tasks. Ants had to choose between two nests, or they had to choose among eight nests. In both experiments, half the nests were unsuitable. Nests are frequently chosen based on entrance and cavity size, as well as darkness and other features.

“Researchers discovered that individual ants made much worse decisions when faced with eight options rather than two, meaning that they experienced cognitive overload. Colonies, on the other hand, did equally well with either two or eight options, showing that they could handle the harder problem as a collective.

The study shows what Pratt believes to be the answer to two questions: What do you get out of being a collective intelligence? And secondly, why and how is a group smarter than an individual?

“‘Living in a group is costly in many ways, so ants must get some benefit from doing it,” said Pratt. ‘By sharing the burden of decision-making, colonies avoid the mistakes that a solitary animal makes when taking on too much information. What’s great about these ants is that we can see exactly how they do this, by making sure that no ant has to process more information than it is able to.’

“Pratt added that this is one problem ants can solve, but that there are other problems ants face that we might be able to learn from.”

My Comment: In nature, preference is given only to a group, not to the individual, because there is no free will there. But it is the opposite on the spiritual path: the choice is up to the individual. So it is in human society, all the decisions must be made together, through the average result, but the direction of the spiritual movement should be given by the one who sees this path, the one who has already passed; that is, the spiritual path is dictated by the leader (Moses).
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