Question: Why would I suddenly want to be part of some new system?

Answer: You have no choice. We operate as slaves to our desire.

I may either have a desire to enter this system, which beckons me secretly and stirs up questions in me: “What am I living for? Why? What’s the point in my life?” Or I may ask: “What’s the point in my life?” because I don’t have enough to make ends meet. Or I may be green with envy because the neighbor’s grass is always greener.

The kind of suffering makes no difference, and whatever it is, it helps us advance. This is how we are made. If we didn’t feel these deficiencies, we wouldn’t move at all. Our free will is not to choose the desires themselves, but rather how to use them. And when we are under the rule of two forces, the force of reception and the force of bestowal, we can choose how to use them. But I don’t choose the desire itself.

Before a certain desire begins to operate in us, we are like dull robots that can’t move. Without a desire I am like a lifeless doll without a battery.
[56540]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/2011, Shamati #42

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Contrary to animals, we develop with the help of science. However, this isn’t free will yet. Science only advances us a bit forward. Animals are driven by blows and their instincts, but since we hardly have any instincts, we develop by blows and science.

Scientific advances allow us to see and resolve problems in advance. For example, x-rays enable us to identify a disease and to start treating it without waiting for it to actually appear. Without x-rays, only the pain could tell us that there is a problem.

Thus science helps us suffer less, and we pay dearly for scientific knowledge. However, it is still the same beastly tendency: the desire to be free of troubles. Science doesn’t raise us to the human degree since it is part of the animate level. By using it, we compensate for our lack of instincts, that’s all.

Animals manage very well without doctors. They know how to eat right, how to give birth, and how to build their shelter. Animals do everything by instinct, while we replace instincts with science. This is actually the role of science—to serve our egoism so that we will suffer less.

So we also examine our development on the animate level. Even when people become aware of the necessity to unite and connect, they don’t know how to attain it.
[56425]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/2011, “Peace in the World”

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Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World“: Four properties are provided for that purpose: mercy, truth, justice, and peace. Those attributes have been used by all world reformers thus far. It is more correct to say that it is with those four attributes that human development has advanced thus far…

It is only by these four attributes that we manage ourselves in order to bring ourselves to the end of correction. So how do we discern them? Many can speak about mercy, truth, justice, and peace for hours, but can we agree on what these attributes are?

It isn’t simple, but Baal HaSulam, knowing the spiritual nature, wrote that this is what we have to clarify in order to manage ourselves and the world. We don’t know what a corrected world is. We are all corrupt and so it seems to us that any egoistic improvement is already correction. However, for Baal HaSulam, the corrected world is a world in which all the possible deficiencies are totally filled. How is that possible? We will have to find that out.

First, we have to understand that we will never be able to fill ourselves egotistically, but only in bestowal because while there is no restriction on bestowal, there is on reception. So how can we desire to receive in such a way that receiving itself will make us understand that it is worthwhile to bestow?

We can develop in this direction by blows: Every time that I want to receive something, I receive more and more blows, until I finally come to the conclusion that it is better not to want to receive egoistically. Then I begin to hate my desire to receive, and I don’t know what to do with it anymore. “So, perhaps I will enjoy bestowal?”

And so different flaws bring me to a point where I ask for the desire to bestow, for the power to bestow, the power to connect to others. This is the road of suffering and asceticism about which it says: “Eat bread with water sparingly and sleep on the ground.” In the past people used accept this and thus advance to bestowal.

It is the same today, if people don’t accept the wisdom of Kabbalah and the explanation about the development of the world, they too will advance in the same way. They will want more and more, but will get less and less, and as a result of suffering, people will begin to feel that it is worthwhile to be together, to bestow upon each other, to connect, to restrict our ego, and even to totally erase it.

We see that in wartime, when the troubles descend upon everyone, people begin to connect. Even animals are not afraid of one another when there is a fire in a forest or an earthquake, and they all escape the danger together. The common problem unites them because the fear of death is greater than the fear of hunger. Clearly, they don’t become “righteous,” but the desire to satisfy their hunger is pushed aside by a greater desire to survive.

We are the same. Of course, we can advance towards correction by suffering. It will compel us to aspire to bestow and to destroy our ego, the source of all the evil in our world. But this is a long and painful way.

This is why we were given an alternative—the way of the Torah. Why? Why do we need this other way? It is because we don’t reach free will by suffering. We only run away from it, like animals. Out of despair, we are even ready to bestow, but it is only because we feel bad when we receive. We don’t choose bestowal by our own free will, but as a result of our suffering as we have no choice. This is the degree of a beast, not man.

In order to bring us to the human level, we need two forces: the force of bestowal and the force of reception, with free will lying between the two. This is the path of people who have the point in the heart.

People who don’t have the point in the heart will also have free will: They can choose to follow those who can lead them forward.
[56427]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/2011, “Peace in the World”

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Today we are entering a system that shows that we must act on bestowal, on the connection between us, on the connection with the group, and on some new transformations. We are in crisis: Not us personally, those who study Kabbalah, but the world feels this way. Where does it come from? What is a crisis in general? It is the feeling of world egoism relative to the system that begins to be manifested in us, like a picture on photographic paper in the developing tray. Gradually, like from the fog, a new picture appears, and this picture does not match us.

Suddenly, the properties of the Light, bestowal, and the connection between us, emerge in us, while the egoistic, individual properties (rejection, the use of each other) exist in humanity. The juxtaposition of these two systems and their impact on each other form an immense, multifaceted, new construction: on one side, the egoistic system, and on the other side, the altruistic one.

We never had this before. We have always had only an egoistic system, and we worked within it. Desires emerged in us, and we realized them. We thought that it was all us: We want to evolve, we want to act, we want to work, and we want to do everything.

Why? It’s because we identified the egoism that arose in us, our desires, with ourselves. We had no questions about their origin because we felt them as ours: I want this now, and then that and that. I didn’t have a question as to why I suddenly want. I want. I don’t feel as if someone gives me these questions, “inserts” them into me, and I start to work. No! I totally merge with these desires; I feel as one integral whole with them. These are my desires that arise in me: I want.

How does this suddenly happen? I am an average animal with natural, instinctive, petty desires, necessary for my existence. And all of a sudden, we have new egoistic desires that are related to the development of technology, society, family, education, upbringing, culture, science, banking, financial and economic connections between us, trade and exchange, discoveries of new lands, development, and communication. From where did this develop in humans as compared with the animal world that does not evolve in this way?

The fact is that our egoism develops all the time and urges us to realize our new desires more and more. I don’t feel that the desires that emerge in me from somewhere come from outside. I feel that they arise from within me, and that is why I rush to realize these so-called “my” desires.

In reality, they are not my desires. I just don’t feel that they are not mine. And thus, I run forward and act. I don’t feel that I am like a small, wind-up toy bunny, which is wound with a key and it jumps. I don’t feel this until the right time, until our time now.
[56098]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 9/25/2011

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Question: What will integral education give people? What will it build in them?

Answer: Through integral education, I build a correct attitude toward my own qualities and I’m able to use them for the well-being of others. It doesn’t matter what my desires are. I become free and find expression for everything that there is within me. If my intention is directed towards benefiting others, I don’t need to analyze and categorize my qualities as good and bad. I simply use all of them for the sake of good.

This is when I’m truly free. I’m not afraid of my environment, I’m not afraid of myself or the Creator. I can bestow with my qualities and I’m capable of anything. Everything is revealed before me, and the Light of Infinity flows through me.
[55912]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/2011, “The Nation”

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The still level of nature has existed for billions of years, the vegetative level of nature for hundreds of millions of years, the animate world has been developing for millions of years, and then finally, only 200 to 300 thousand years ago, humans appeared. For a long period of time, humans have been developing the same way as animals. Man was driven by the force of nature that created him and left him no choice. As if involuntary, we went through the still, vegetative, and animate forms of the human level, until we reached the level of human within human.

What is it that separates a human from the preceding level? The difference between a human and an animal is that a human doesn’t act only instinctively, blindly obeying nature. The life of an animal is entirely governed by instincts, which are passed on from generation to generation. Only days after being born, an animal stands up and is ready for an independent existence.

However, a human needs an environment for his growth. If a person is left in the woods, he’ll grow up like a real animal and will only vaguely resemble a human. He won’t speak or walk upright. That is, a person is fully dependent on his environment. The kind of environment he develops in will determine what he will be because his development isn’t programmed definitively in nature, but requires a social implementation.

A person doesn’t possess the instincts necessary to survive. He can’t discern a medicinal plant like a dog can or how to avoid what’s harmful. Unlike an animal, a person can’t act according to inner instinctive programming that would ensure his well-being.

We all know what would happen if we granted freedom to a newborn. An animal is much smarter than a baby; it makes no mistakes, whereas humans make mistakes all the time. That is, an animal is endowed with all necessary instincts, while a person only has the minimum.

On the other hand, an animal can’t learn a lot of things. It only can be trained or tamed. Even after living for hundreds of thousands of years alongside humans, a dog still remains a dog because it acts according to its instincts.

A person doesn’t possess these instincts. He has to acquire a form of behavior from his environment, and precisely as a result of this, he develops. This is why people have achieved such great development in comparison to the animals that have lived alongside them and practically remained unchanged.

In essence, a person used to be an animal as well, but something very important was instilled in him: the ability to develop by means of his environment. If he uses his environment for his development, he can achieve great success.

This is why the still, vegetative, and animate levels have no freedom of choice. A person, on the other hand, can induce additional development through a specific environment, and this constitutes his free will. After all, a person can change his environment and thereby change himself.

For this reason, judgment and higher calculation exist only in regard to a person: Who he is and how he used the opportunities given to him by nature and whether he realized the freedom of will that determines his entire development.
[55517]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/23/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Do the masses have freedom of choice to join bestowal?

Answer: Neither AHP nor Galgalta ve Eynaim have freedom of choice. They find free choice in the middle third of Tifferet only by uniting with one another.

Of course, the choice of AHP is not the same as that of Galgalta ve Eynaim. The choice of the masses is expressed by realizing that they have to complete work on unification as fast as possible—not by the path of suffering, but by means of conscious and voluntary connection to the spiritual leaders.

We shouldn’t look down on AHP for the fact that it is being led by a shepherd. Galgalta ve Eynaim is also following the Creator, the force of bestowal, the program of creation, like a flock. This is not what makes us special. We are special because we accelerate the time by looking for an opportunity to bow down our heads on our own. This is our freedom of choice.

However, AHP is no less significant than Galgalta ve Eynaim. Rather, it is more significant.
[55654]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/11, “The Nation”

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We already understand that we are all connected by a close mutual bond and that this connection works in the world differently than in the past. A new condition, a new coefficient, has been added to our interrelationships, which we still cannot take into account because of our nature. We are not familiar with the system we have been hurled into, and so we cannot do anything about it.

Therefore, Kabbalists say: We should first learn what the system is and understand the situation. Then will we know how to arrange our life.

We cannot continue to advance by our own powers. If we refuse to learn, we will learn by terrible blows that will show us how stubborn and ignorant we are. In any case, we will have to “go back to school” and study the science of Kabbalah. It wasn’t given to us without reason—it is about the system of reality opposite to us, about the upper world.

We should not delude ourselves: By studying this system, we will not be able to correct the financial system or find new business management methods under the new conditions. With the study of the science of Kabbalah  we will only realize that we must ask for the power of correction.

The method of Kabbalah will not enable us to continue “improving” the world by our merciless egoism. It will only enable us to acquire a new power, the power of bestowal, in addition to our power of receiving. Only when the power of bestowal dominates the power of bestowal will we know what to do with ourselves and with the world.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is not a practical manual for solving all problems by using the usual egotistic approach. The studies will only show us how to ask for an internal change. Only having changed internally will we understand what to do with the world.

This is why the method of Kabbalah had to be revealed externally, artificially. It doesn’t grow in us naturally from within. It is given to us from the outside so that we will exert effort and ask to correct ourselves.

Here we are given free will: I am facing a new system, a new method, and now I have to develop the will to change inside me. I am in my ego facing a new system, a new world. The science of Kabbalah is what adapts me to the new world. It helps me reach a state in which I ask for correction. Then I will change: Besides my egoism, I will also have the attribute of bestowal, and I will understand how to approach the new world correctly.

[55364]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/2011, “The Nation”

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Question: Why is the network of our broken relationships not revealed to us? Why are we not shown the cause of all evil so that we know where to put efforts?

Answer: It’s because then we would correct ourselves out of hopelessness. Our efforts would be regular egoistic work. It would be like earning money for food. In spirituality, it is not considered work if I am pushed by the simple threat of hunger.

In reality, without any need, I have to want to strive for the goal for which I feel no need. My nature does not oblige me, and I develop a completely free desire, independent from anything. Bestowal is not conditional for me; I do not need it; I do not depend on anybody or anything. Like the Creator, I am above everything.

And then, I discover my dependence on others; I want to bestow, to serve them, and to be the last, the lowest of all. Otherwise, the work is done not by me but by the Creator.

In my spiritual work, there is a point that I need to grow constantly: the point of freedom that is totally unknown to us in our world. At this point, I depend on no one and can do nothing. The whole world is at my feet with no effort on my part. This is where there is the opportunity for real work.

To bring me to this point, I am sent troubles and problems, thanks to which I learn. But then, when I actually get acquainted with the spiritual world, my work will turn into its opposite, as if switched to reverse. I will be told: “Take everything!” And I will refuse this gift.
[55199]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/2011, “The Nation”

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Question: How much longer are we going to suffer like stubborn children that do not wish to create a good environment? How do we overcome our stubbornness?

Answer: We need to convince ourselves of the need to advance. Otherwise, we will suffer. We should be ashamed of the fact that the world is suffering, and we are not giving it what we can and what it needs. We truly should feel guilty for the suffering of the world. Let this shame burn us, finally causing us to do something.

The individual calculations that we use to justify ourselves as we sit home and do nothing are of no use here. Regardless of what may seem to us, we need to use all our strength to be imbued by the suffering in the world and see that we are responsible for leading it to correction.

It is truly a big problem if we treat the world and people with neglect, thinking: “Let them suffer; maybe then they’ll change.” They cannot change. Only we can change, and then through us, they will be provided with ready decisions.

On the spiritual path we reveal that the world is our own system. Now imagine that for many years you purposely caused people harm, treated them as enemies, and enjoyed it, and now suddenly you discover that they are your children. Imagine the misery you feel now, as you remember everything that they were forced to endure because of you.

This is the part of shame that is revealed to us. Therefore, in order to reduce it, we need to hurry ahead of time by rejecting personal calculations. Whatever happens, do not pay attention to the behavior of people. After all, the Creator purposely presents them in this manner so that you would think only about bestowal and wish them good.
[54915]
From the 1st Lesson, Kabbalah Convention in Toronto, 9/6/2011

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