Question: What does it mean to be very connected to a group in the right way?

Answer: It is called seeing my future, all of the next steps toward the goal, receiving the reward; it is all of my realization that is only in connection with the friends. And friends are not physical faces.

In order to be connected with them, it is not enough to hug and dance together with them; rather, it is necessary to unite into one heart, into one desire.

And this desire needs to be found outside of us, as if the heart goes out of my body and is connected with all the other hearts. If a person has an inclination like this, then through it he can understand what the Kabbalists advise us to do.

All changes in the direction of connection of the hearts will be right, they will naturally, correctly, and appropriately show us the direction of connection.
[131864]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/14, Writings of Rabash 

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Question: What is the most prominent sign of being in exile?

Answer: We want to reach mutual bestowal and we have no power for this; we want to give contentment to the Creator, and it’s possible to do this only through mutual bestowal between us. Our goal is to build an infrastructure called mutual guarantee. From an inability to do this, we feel ourselves in exile.

Redemption means that our desires are organized, connected, fixed, and linked so that we acquire the form of pure bestowal. This means they take on the form of the Creator, the bestower and loving. We build from ourselves a model, an example, a form similar to the Creator.

There are 125 levels of resemblance like this, 125 portions in which we can resemble the characteristic of bestowal, of love, more and more in all kinds of ways with tighter and tighter guarantee. This is the work of Israel, and that part of it is done in Egypt, in the wilderness, until we reach the construction of the First Temple.

We need to feel all of these states. This is not talking about building a structure from clay and bricks. The construction is done from our substance, from desire, where we correct it and whiten it, and then from that grows a house of Kedusha, the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash).
[131761]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: What do the 400 years of exile that the Creator promised for the descendants of Abraham symbolize?

Answer: Exile is the discovery of the desires to receive that must be corrected. They are discovered gradually through the Upper Light, layer after layer, to the degree that we can tolerate it.

One cries about how difficult this is, another says he sleeps in the lesson, the third totally flees from here, but in spite of all this, someone will remain and be able to discover his evil.

This is called 400 years of exile: clarifying and discovering that we are not ready for connection, but want it very much in spite of it all. Therefore, this is done in stages and not all at once.

400 years (year – Shana) symbolizes 400 changes. Every change is a heaviness of the heart and a new darkness that comes as a reward for my effort, the desire to connect with the friends. And now I feel even more difficulty, I understand that nothing will help. I reject connection, I don’t want it, I am entirely crushed inside and lack power.

I don’t feel any taste in connection; I have no relationship to and interest in this and everything inside is completely transformed for me! Once I was on fire because I understood the importance of connection, whereas now I am totally extinguished.

We need to see how the Creator works on us, how He is ready to break us apart in a moment, to empty us completely. Once I thought and dreamt about this; I was drawn wholeheartedly; I was ready to burn myself just to reach the desired goal. And now I am now ready to talk about all kinds of nonsense, even worse than the most primitive person on the street.

But if I overcome this descent through connection with the friends, mutual guarantee, and so forth, this is called that I have passed through one stage of exile. How many stages like these do I need to pass through so that this will be considered 400 years for me? I don’t know. Redemption takes place in haste, suddenly, like the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt.
[131757]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The initial essence of the creation is the desire. The desire is actually neutral and can be aimed at any direction, toward itself or toward others, it can be anywhere and in any manner. But when an egoistic intention of in order to receive for one’s self is added to it, it becomes cruel and evil since it is focused not only on the filling for itself but also on the inclination not to give to others.

All of a person’s nature is the evil inclination. It says: “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” The evil inclination is called our desire that has the constant intention of in order to receive for itself.

Rejecting the egoistic use of the desires is a spiritual action called “bringing a sacrifice.” In other words we sacrifice our ego not by annulling it but by annulling the egoistic use of the desires.

Bringing a sacrifice is a person’s ability to actually cut off pieces of his desires on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature.

All the desires are divided into four parts: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature. Each part has its own manner of the correction of its ego to altruism, to bestowal.

The simplest work is the work with the desires on the still level of nature. The Torah represents the construction of the Tabernacle, the preparation of different objects from gold and precious stones, the use of salt in the food, the water, and everything we obtain from the earth.

All the plants in nature belong to the desires on the level of the vegetative: grass, seeds, cereal, and the food that is prepared from these materials like bread that is made of flour, etc.

The different categories of desires on the animate level are described in the Torah in the form of birds, fish, and animals, and they are already sublime egoistic desires that have to be killed in a certain ritual and the carcass has to be freshened in a special way.

Each of the corporeal desires of a person has to be processed in a special manner so that it can be transformed from an egoistic use to altruistic use. This is what the laws of Kashrut refer to, which means that they are cleaned of the ego.

The last level of the desires is the human desires, when we already have to work on ourselves. This highest intention is called a priest (Cohen), a lower one is called Levi, and an even lower one is called Israel (the masses).

To bring a sacrifice means to change the desires from an egoistic level to an altruistic level. On the other hand it isn’t a sacrifice since in Hebrew the word “Eid” (victim) means getting closer, which means an action which brings us closer to the Creator.

On the whole all the laws and the rules that the Torah presents refer only to the correction of the ego. The main part, the sacrifices (“Kurbanot” – victims), are the levels that describe a person’s getting closer to the Creator and the correction of the ego to altruism—from hatred of others to love of others.

All the spiritual actions are performed inside a person in the group when he is together with friends who share the same ideas and with whom he clarifies the elements of his inner and external behavior: how to cooperate with them correctly and how the group affects each of its members.

Thus, each one, together with the general force of yearning for bestowal and love that is revealed among everyone, gradually reveals such altruistic attributes that can actually raise the group above the egoistic level. This is called the transition from our world to the upper world.
[131842]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/24/13

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The Book of Zohar, “VaYikra,” Item 99: “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together, as well”… For their love, the Creator calls them, “servants,” as it is written, “For unto Me the Children of Israel are servants; they are My servants.” Afterwards He calls them “sons,” as it is written, “You are the children of the Lord your God.” And after that He calls them “brothers,” as it is written, “My brothers and my friends.” And because He called them “brothers,” He wished to place His Divinity in them and He will not stray from them. Then it is written: “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together, as well.”

A person’s sacrifices means that he begins his work against his basic nature in order to connect so that he can reveal the Creator inside him.

The gradual dwelling of the Creator in a person takes place according to the still, vegetative, animate, and the speaking levels of nature, which are called respectively called servants, sons, and brothers.

We go through all these levels in our attitude towards one another, and in our attitude towards the Creator until we reach complete total mutual connection between brothers and become brothers with the Creator. Only when we are together do we become brothers.
[131838]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/24/14

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 13: Indeed, I feel all of you together, that today has been replaced for you with tomorrow, and instead of “now,” you say “later.” There is no cure for that but to exert to understand that mistake and distortion—that one who is saved by the Creator is saved only if he needs the salvation today. One who can wait for tomorrow will obtain his salvation after his years, God forbid.

We only need to work on our deficiency. The entire problem is reaching it. And the deficiency that is directed correctly immediately becomes a place for the discovery and absorption of spiritual properties, the Upper Light.

All of our work must be only on deficiencies, on this desire. And the desire must be through equivalence and accommodation to the Light according to all the laws of physics: The vessel and the Light need to match each other according to their frequencies and location. It is impossible to use a sack to store water, or a jar to prepare cement. Everything has its own container, and that is how it is in spirituality; this is a very basic and important condition.

The problem is that we don’t feel that there is no need to work on the Light, which is available in abundance and is in absolute rest, and that we need to work on the vessel, on our deficiency. The deficiency can only be attained through mutual work among us. To the degree that we actively yearn to attain the corrected spiritual state, then to this degree the Surrounding Light will help us to prepare the right request, until it is revealed as Inner Light.

This happened to you due to negligence in my request to exert in love of friends, as I have explained to you in every possible way that this cure is enough to recompense for all your faults. And if you cannot rise to heaven, then I have given you a way to move on earth. So why haven’t you added anything in that work?

The vessel is the collective soul that existed before the shattering of Adam HaRishon. And to the degree that we gather the parts in order to return it to its right form in order to bestow, so we approach performing our correct function.

This is expressed in love of friends, in a mutual connection in order to resemble the Creator, so that the connection between us will be according to spiritual laws: love and mutual guarantee.

Certainly we discover ourselves having characteristics and directions that are opposite this, but then we have something to pray about, meaning to raise MAN. And in an answer, we discover help from Above and fulfillment, as it is written: “The Torah was not given except to those who eat manna (Man),” meaning to those who are nourished by their requests to the Creator.
[131730]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 13: You should know that there are many sparks of holiness in each one in the group. When you assemble all the sparks of holiness into one place, as brothers, with love and friendship, you will certainly have a very high level of holiness for a while, from the light of life….and the salvation of the Lord is as the blink of an eye.

The truth is that this is an effort that none of us is prepared to make. So we are negligent, lazy, and discouraged. But along with this, it is very easy! After all, this is the way everything is arranged.

Try to revive an organ that has been separated and cut off from the body. No matter how much effort you make, it will not work. But if we attach it to the body, then it immediately receives everything that it needs, all the nourishment; it renews the mutual exchange of materials with the body and begins to live.

The vessel is not found in any one of us but only in the connection between us. If we move the emphasis from ourselves to the connection between us, to a space that we must fill with a dense field of the power of love, then we discover that there is no empty place in the world, rather specifically what was concealed is revealed there.

The main thing is to clarify and to reveal where to focus attention, where to invest efforts, and where I need to expect and pressure for compensation.
[131722]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: What does it mean that a student conceals himself from his teacher?

Answer: A person cannot completely open himself up, even to himself, and certainly not to others, including his teacher. But the students have to clarify states that occur between them. They must constantly ask about that and clarify, not what each one feels individually, but the relationship between them.

There is a period in the spiritual work when a student has a lot of questions, but for some reason he doesn’t ask them and keeps them to himself. Even if it tortures him and pressures him and makes him feel angry and upset, he cannot bring these questions out and ask them. It happens to everyone when he clarifies these questions by himself.

But these questions have to be clarified and asked between the friends. If it isn’t personal but general, as it is revealed in the vessels among us, it has to be clarified.

Whatever each one feels inside him doesn’t matter. What we feel among us is the vessel for the revelation of the Light and that’s what’s important! The work in the group is in order to change the focus from what I feel inside me to what I feel about others and what happens between us.

It is as if I look through binoculars and have to constantly change the focus from myself to everyone, to the whole group, to what happens between us and not in each of us.

Then I understand that my negative attitude towards someone hurts all the connections in the group. So it cannot be that you don’t love someone but you do love others. There is no such thing since by that you already corrupt all the relationships. And because you cannot tolerate this, it must be corrected.
[131715]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: What does it mean to ask to be above Pharaoh?

Answer: To be the slave of Pharaoh means to clarify with certainty, with mind and heart, that I am not ready to do anything except what the ego, the desire for pleasure, dictates to me now. That is how I discover Pharaoh,  the power that controls me now.

However, how can I know that this is Pharaoh? It is on condition that the Creator invites me to go with Him, when He says: “Come to Pharaoh.”

This means that the second power is revealed, the Creator,  the power of bestowal in contrast to the power of reception. And then I can clarify relative to every one of the forces and decide when I am under the control of the Creator and when under the control of Pharaoh. Ultimately, “the children of Israel sighed from the labor”, we are not prepared to remain in slavery to Pharaoh any longer.

99.9% of the time of my entire life, I am under the control of Pharaoh and am not ready to be freed from this control. The more that I advance, this percentage grows to just about 100%. First I didn’t think that I belonged to Pharaoh 100%; I thought that I fell into the ego rarely, like all people.

Then I felt myself in the Egyptian exile and I didn’t feel this at first. For the first seven years of plenty, I was also under the control of Pharaoh and fulfilled all of his orders, but I agreed to this and therefore everything was wonderful. I didn’t feel myself in Egypt, in slavery. I had knowledge, control (Joseph managed all of Egypt), and I was filled with plenty.

However after that it became clear that all of this wasn’t good. In reality nothing changed except my assessment. What seemed to me as good, spiritual, causing advancement, now seems completely otherwise now. I see that all of this was egoistic, not spiritual, but absolutely materialistic, and there is no advancement in it, rather the opposite. Therefore this is called the “seven years of famine.”

No change took place except in our perception. Everything is determined by a person’s attitude, but outside nothing changes.

Question: If I am completely under the control of Pharaoh, how can a request for redemption be built within me?

Answer: When I discover that this is Pharaoh, then the opportunity to ask is created. If I begin to understand that I have business with Pharaoh, this means that the second force already exists in opposition to him, the power of the Creator. Otherwise, I would not have discerned that Pharaoh is in front of me; rather, I would have lived a normal, good life, advancing in studying, in dissemination, and in the group.

Why is it suddenly bad for me? It is because I determine that this life is bad. Apparently what do I lack? Yesterday everything was still okay. Right, only today everything is no longer okay because I have new demands and I don’t agree with a life like this. Here the seven years of famine begin.

Question: What is the difference between my request to rise above Pharaoh and the state where I am found beneath him?

Answer: One of the criteria is: Who wins: the power of reception or the power of bestowal? Where do I get the reward I deserve in exchange for my efforts? No one works for nothing and I also want a profit.

My profit can be in the vessels of reception or in the vessels of bestowal: either I feel that the profit belongs to me or to someone else. And this someone could be close to me or far away and even a hated enemy. This depends upon the degree of correction of my desires of bestowal.
[131540]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: There are types of dissemination that require all of us to be out in front of the public. But what should be done if not everyone has the ability and talent required for that?

Answer: I only know one thing. If I want to execute an action correctly, I need to put myself into the hands of the group so that it will decide and determine what I should do. It could be that they will say, “Sit and don’t do anything since you will spoil it all.” And so that will be my participation in the dissemination.

I can be a driver, an usher, a lecturer. It doesn’t matter what I do. But it is preferred that the group decide that for me and that I don’t decide anything for myself. That means being a slave. I am in spiritual work.

And then I am released from all the doubts: I was told and I do it in the best and most completely naïve way, without entering my mind into it. My mind is only for understanding what they want me to do and to carrying it out in the best way without going into my “I,” into my initiative.

Thus, there needs to be the leadership that includes experts in dissemination who decide and determine what to do, who themselves participate in all these activities in order to be an example to everyone. And everyone needs to follow them. And those who don’t want are drilling a hole in the general boat, and we don’t need him at all in the group.

A person needs to understand that he needs to purify himself from all these forms of the ego, from the worry of it not being pleasant, from the doubts about doing this or that. If you simply cannot carry out what the group decides, then leave the group. After all, you must rise above your beast.

The group is stronger than you, and if you receive its protection, then execute and be happy that you now have the opportunity to do it. And if not, then you will stay with your ego and have no chance to advance. In this case, no need to bother the others. Go rest, we will meet in the next incarnation.
[130595]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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